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…

Four.

Daryl woke up at dawn as he always did and after lying there for a moment, allowing his brain to wake itself up, he pulled himself from bed and could smell coffee brewing downstairs. That meant that Merle had probably come in sometime during the night. He was the only other one with a key to the house and when Daryl had initially given it, he admitted that he had been a bit nervous, expecting to come inside one day and find everything he owned gone and to the pawn shop already.

The problem with Merle was not only did he sell drugs, but he used them, too, and Daryl had tried to help get him clean over the years, but the thing with trying to get a person clean was it only worked if they wanted to get clean. Merle always had to make the decision for himself. And sometimes, he did stick to a thirty-day program and clean himself out and Daryl went to NA meetings with him, but then, almost like clockwork, Merle would run into an old "friend" and he would start using again.

But Merle Dixon had his own form of a code and he never stole from his little brother. He stole from other people, but never from Daryl and when he used the key to his house, it was usually just because Merle needed a couch to crash on.

Daryl put on his jeans and one of his flannel shirts and after tugging on socks, he pulled on his boots, lacing them up tight, and headed into the bathroom to use the toilet and to brush his teeth. Hearing medals as he stood at the sink, he turned and saw that Blue had come upstairs, now sitting in the doorway of the bathroom, wagging his tail at Daryl. He then heard a female voice and frowned, wondering if Merle had brought a woman over and why the hell hadn't Daryl heard them? Merle wasn't exactly a quiet kind when it came to that sort of thing.

Coming down the stairs, Blue on his heels, he went into the kitchen and sure enough, his older brother was sitting at the table with a cup of coffee clasped between both hands, and a woman was standing at the stove, scrambling eggs.

Daryl frowned. "Merle, I told you. Pru ain't here to be our maid so stop goin' and pullin' her out of her house jus' to cook for you."

Pru, Oscar's wife, turned her head upon hearing Daryl come into the kitchen. "Stop. It's just eggs and I'd rather cook him eggs than have him burn down your house when he tries it himself."

Merle grinned at Daryl at that, but Daryl kept frowning.

"Well…" Daryl said, going to the cabinet to get him a cup before pouring himself some coffee from the freshly brewed pot on the counter. "At least call Oscar and the boys over so they can eat breakfast, too."

He filled Blue's bowl with kibble since Merle hadn't done it yet and then turned on the little radio he had set up on the windowsill over the sink before sitting down at the table, unfolding the morning paper he had delivered to his house every day and which Merle had obviously gotten from the doorstep for him.

"You doin' okay?" Daryl asked, keeping his eyes down on the headlines of the front page though he admitted his eyes really weren't reading any of them.

"Good as always, baby brother," Merle grinned.

Pru came and sat down a plate heaping with scrambled eggs and two empty plates and forks. "You boys want toast?" She asked.

"Stop, Pru. Jesus," Daryl frowned up at her as she got to her feet. "Call the others and have 'em come over. I'll make the toast."

No matter how many times Pru tried, Daryl was damn uncomfortable with anyone wanting to wait on him unless he was in a restaurant and that was a waitress's job.

Pru rolled her eyes, but didn't argue as she went over to the old-fashioned rotary phone on the wall that was as old as this house was. Merle was shoveling eggs into his mouth and Daryl grabbed the loaf of bread to pop slices into the toaster.

Where Oscar was a large – almost formidable – man, a man who had served time in prison for attempted robbery, Pru was a little thing who's dad was a preacher in a church. As she explained to Daryl once he had found out, opposites attracted and she was a woman who had been raised in the church and she was taught to forgive and let those who sought it to have forgiveness and redemption.

Daryl wondered what Pru's thoughts on Merle were since everyone knew that the man was strung out more times than not.

Merle had told her once that she was pretty for a colored gal and Pru had promptly smacked him on the back of the head for that comment.

"…and now on the entertainment side of things," the announcer on the radio spoke. "Things are in a bit of chaos this morning in the world of music since it was discovered that singer, Beth Greene, has disappeared."

Daryl's head whipped towards the radio.

"That's right. Disappeared."

Daryl didn't mean to, but he practically pushed Pru aside as she spoke to Oscar on the phone so he could turn up the radio.

"…had a show last night in Montgomery and then a late-night CD signing. After the signing, that is when she had seemed to disappear into thin air. Reports have surfaced of her slipping out the back window of the music store though these are still unconfirmed at the moment. Her manager, Aaron Meeks, is not saying whether he knows where she is or not. All his statement says is that she is safe, she loves her fans and she will perform the shows that she will miss upon her return. But no word on when she will return. Where in the world is Beth Greene and why did she disappear?"

"Beth Greene fan?" Pru asked with a teasing smile.

"Hey! My toast!" Merle exclaimed through a mouthful of eggs.

Daryl popped up the pieces of charred black bread from the toaster and opened the window above the sink to air out the room. But he didn't even feel himself doing any of it. He just relied on his brain to make the automatic movements.

Disappeared? What in the hell did that even mean?

Had someone taken her? The report hadn't mentioned anything about a kidnapping, but would they tell the public something like that? Were the police involved? If she was taken by someone, they couldn't keep it a secret. They had to tell the public so others could help search for her.

Daryl's mind was racing and he was tempted to go back to his laptop and go on Google to read more about it. But he knew he couldn't because Merle and Pru were looking at him, obviously wondering what the hell he was doing. And he had to wonder that himself. He had met her for just a few minutes – Christ, had that just been yesterday? – and then he had left to get back home and she had gone back to her life. Or at least, he had thought she had. But again, he wondered why he cared?

He was confused as hell and his head hurt and it wasn't even six o'clock in the damn morning yet.

With a shake of his head, Daryl headed towards the back door. "'m goin' to check on the cattle," he said.

"You didn't eat anything," Pru said with a frown.

Without a word, Daryl swiped one of the blackened pieces of toast from off the counter and headed outside, Blue running out with him. He headed towards the fences and unlocked the gates, pushing them open, and Blue ran in, running around the cattle, barking, getting them out. They would roam as they always did for the day, walking themselves around the land, eating grass and lying in the shade and Daryl would be with them all day, keeping watch.

The heads he had just sold the day before, it had given him enough money to pay Oscar his pay, deal with the bills of the ranch and have a little extra leftover for food and other essentials. It wasn't an easy life. There was never a day off and Daryl had to be smart with the money – never knowing what would happen from month to month that might make money tight or even nonexistent. And anything could happen with the cattle. They could get sick, some wild animal could get himself through the fence that surrounded the acres of land, some act of God could decide to take them all out…

Daryl loved what he did, though, and he loved his cattle. Loved them so much, sometimes, it was actually damn hard to sell them to the meat buyers, but like he told Beth, their meat was good and went for a good price. There were some restaurants who only wanted to use Highland Cattle beef for their dishes and they were willing to pay for the product.

Daryl just wished he didn't need money sometimes. Sometimes, he wished it was just possible to have his land and his cattle and not need anything from anyone.

"Morning, boss!" Oscar called out as he stepped from his trailer. "I'm going to eat breakfast and then I'll come and start the day!"

"Take your time!" Daryl called back, already turning away, watching as the last of the cattle roamed out, taking their time in following the rest of the herd.

Oscar and Pru's eight-year-old twins, Jeremiah and Joseph, ran out of the trailer past their dad and raced one another towards the house. Blue took off after them, barking, wanting to be in the race, too.

The sky was a light cotton candy pink that morning as the sun rose slowly out in the east and there was a gentle – almost tickling – breeze blowing in from that direction as well. Daryl could tell that it was going to be a pretty nice early fall day. Maybe he'd sleep out with the cattle tonight. He hadn't done that for a few weeks. He actually preferred to sleep out with them in the winter; making sure they got through the night alright without some starving animal from the woods coming and making a feast out of one of them.

He remembered the piece of black toast still in his hand and took a crunching bite and he couldn't stop himself from wondering where Beth was and if she was alright. And then, he wondered why the hell he cared. She had just been some girl he had helped out of the bathroom window. Just a girl who he would never see again.

"Daryl!" Pru stood at the back door and called out to him. "Phone call!"

Daryl finished his toast as he headed back to the house. He figured it was Rick Grimes, the Sheriff, calling since it was still too damn early for most people. He had called the man a couple of days ago, telling him that a couple kids were shooting off firecrackers on the other side of his fence, trying to scare his cattle, and he hadn't been able to run off after them in time before they drove off. Hopefully, Rick had already found the kids and had them strung up by their ankles in the center of town.

When he came into the kitchen, Pru had made more scrambled eggs and toast – not burned – and everyone was sitting at the table, eating breakfast before the school bus came to pick up the boys, Oscar headed out to saddle his horse and go and check the fences like he did every other morning, Pru went to her job in town where she was a secretary for a contractor's office and Merle probably passed out on the couch.

Daryl picked up the receiver that was resting on top of the phone. "'ello?" He answered.

There was a slight pause. "Hello." The voice was quiet and unsure.

He recognized the voice immediately and his entire body went stiff. His initial reaction was to hang up because he was clearly imagining things. Why the hell would she be calling him? And at the moment, he was just going to ignore how relieved he felt to know that she was obviously safe and hadn't been kidnapped.

"This is Beth," she then said as if he didn't have a clue. "We met yesterday-"

"How'd you get this number?" Daryl cut in and he almost cringed because he sounded so damn gruff right then and that was actually the last thing he wanted to be. Not with her, and that was another thing he didn't want to think about. He was gruff with damn near everyone - which he usually wanted to be. Why should this girl who he didn't even know want himself to treat her a little differently?

"I'm sorry. Your number was on the website for the Highland Cattle Association… I'm sorry," she then said again and her words were rush and she was sounding upset and he turned his back on the others at the table so they couldn't see him close his eyes and clench his jaw for just a moment before he exhaled a breath.

"Where are you?" Daryl asked. "Can you say?" He then asked her in a much softer tone, not wanting anyone else to overhear. He wished this wasn't the only phone in the house and that the kitchen was crammed with people right now. It was a small blessing that Jeremiah and Joseph were fighting over the jar of strawberry jam.

"The Honey Dip in town," she answered and he swore the phone almost slipped from his hand.

"My town?" He asked.

"I'm sorry," Beth quickly rushed out again.

Daryl ignored that. "Stay there. I'll be there in a lil' while."

With that, he hung up the phone and turned back towards the table.

"Who was that?" Merle was the one to ask.

"Someone I found online who was sellin' their animal trailer," Daryl said. "You know I don't like strangers havin' my number like that, but he's in town right now so I'm gonna go and take a look at it."

"Want me to come?" Oscar offered.

"Nah. Stay here and walk the fences and I'll be back in a lil' bit," Daryl said, grabbing his truck keys from the hook he hung them from on the wall. "Thanks for breakfast," he said to Pru. "Have a good day at school," he then told the twins.

"Thanks, Daryl," Jeremiah smiled and Joseph took opportunity of his brother being distracted for a second to snatch the jar of jam for himself.

"What are you doin' today?" Daryl asked Merle.

If he was going to be bringing Beth back here – shit, was that what he was going to do? – he would feel better doing it if his annoying older brother wasn't around.

"Got a couple of people I gotta see today," Merle answered and Daryl knew that would have been his answer and he already regretted asking the question.

Merle was a drug dealer. He was a drug addict. He only did two things with his days. Deal and use. Daryl wondered – not for the first time – how long Merle could keep doing this. Drug addicts didn't generally have a long life span, but his brother was already in his fifties and Merle just kept on doing what he did.

"A'right," he said to them all. "I'll see you all later."

He kept a normal pace from the house to his truck parked out front, not wanting to hurry so he didn't raise suspicion; not that anyone inside had any reason to be suspicious. He was just going to town… to talk to some famous singer who, it seemed, had the entire entertainment world wanting to know where she was.

Beth's cds were still on the front seat of the truck from the night before and Daryl was quick to shove them into the glove box before he drove down the dirt road, his foot a little heavy as it pressed down on the gas pedal.

…

The little town of Gary, Georgia was hardly a blip on anyone's radar. It was a little farming town with just one stoplight in the middle of town, but Beth loved it the instant she drove into it. It immediately reminded her of her own hometown even though Senoia had more than one stoplight.

She told herself not to come here. There were a million other places in this world where she could go to disappear for a little bit, but… honestly. Who on earth would ever even think of looking for her here? Why would Gary even be a place that anyone looking for her would even know of?

Once Aaron got her through the back door of the music store and handed her the keys to the car – she had no idea who's car it was – she didn't tell him where she was going because at the time, she hadn't even known herself where she was going – but she promised that she would call him the first chance she got.

She didn't even mean to go to find Daryl. Why on earth would she go and find this man? She didn't know him. She had met him in a bathroom and he helped her escape some photographer who she flipped off and who wanted another. He was just a guy…

Just a guy who had had no idea who she was and Beth found it so refreshing and slightly intoxicating and she spent only a few minutes with him and she had felt so happy about the whole thing. But she couldn't do this. She couldn't just show up and expect him to be happy about it? Maybe he never wanted to see her again. Why would he? She was just some girl who he had helped and now, she was practically a girl from some Lifetime movie, stalking a man she had met for just a minute in time.

Pathetic had been the first – and only – word to come to mind, but Beth had been unable to steer the car in any other direction.

She drove through the night and came upon Gary just as the sky was turning a faint gray. The Honey Dip Donut Shop looked like a good place to stop – mainly because it looked to be the only business in town open this early. Not even the diner seemed open though she could see lights on in the back kitchen through the large front windows so it looked like it was about to be open, but she pulled in front of the donut shop and cut the engine.

Beth exhaled a breath. "What are you doing, Beth?" She asked herself, staring down at her hands in her lap as she continued sitting behind the wheel.

She pulled out her phone and sent texts to Aaron, her parents and Shawn, and Maggie – assuring them all that she was alright and she would let them know what was going on once she knew that for herself. Reports about her having run away would be out soon enough and the last thing she wanted was her family worrying.

Thankful for the slight nip of fall in the air, she had a gray beanie hat, which she put on now. Her blond hair was in two braided pigtails and she would have put on sunglasses – if the sun was even about the horizon yet, but wearing them right now would just draw more attention to herself and that was the last thing she wanted. She knew how small towns like this worked. If something stuck out or seemed a little bit odd, that was the something that the other people would remember.

She then took a deep breath and dialed the number that she had found on the cattle association webpage. A woman answered.

"Hello?"

Beth nearly swore. Of course a woman had answered. What did she think? Daryl lived completely alone with no people – no women – around him? Beth could still see his face so clearly in her head. Of course a man who looked like he did had a woman who answered his phone at five-thirty in the morning.

Beth remembered herself. "Hi," she greeted because despite everything, she couldn't just hang up. Her parents had taught her better than that and that would be just too rude. "Is, um, is Daryl there?" She asked.

"He's out with the cattle. Let me go get him for you," the woman said and Beth heard her set the phone down and she could hear a murmur of voices talking in the room, but she couldn't distinguish what any of them were talking about.

Was that his family? His wife? His kids?

What was she doing? She shouldn't be here. She shouldn't be calling him. He was just a guy she met and she was just some girl who he probably thought he would never see again; would never even dream of her just showing up at the crack of dawn on some random day, wondering if she could see him like some loony toon.

What was wrong with her?

She should just hang up. That was exactly what she should do. That was exactly what she was going to do. But then, she heard a slight rustle and then she heard him speak into the phone.

"'ello?" Daryl answered.

Her heart immediately rose up to her throat.

Beth left the car after hers and Daryl's conversation and headed inside. It was a small, warm shop that smelled like freshly-baked cake. There were a few men sitting on the stools at the counter, drinking cups of coffee, and everyone looked up when she entered. She held her breath, waiting for someone to have some type of reaction, but she got none and she nearly exhaled.

"Good morning," the waitress behind the counter, holding a pot of coffee in her hand, smiled. "Can I help you?"

"Yes," Beth stepped up to the counter. "Can I get a coffee and a maple frosted?"

"You got it, hon," the waitress smiled and went to fill her order.

Beth smiled, relieved that so far, still good. These people were curious because she knew that no one ever came through a town like this unless they were either lost or just passing through. They weren't looking at her as if they had any idea who she was and the longer it could be that way, the better.

There was a radio on the counter and it was turned to an early morning sports talk show. No way would they ever mention her on a program like this. Right now, it was the fall and the fall in the South meant a few things; one in particular. Football season was starting and right now, the radio host was talking about the Georgia Bulldogs and how their season was looking and an upcoming game they had against Auburn – a huge rivalry between the two.

Beth had grown up, watching college football every Saturday with her daddy and Shawn, but this past year, it had been a lifelong habit that had fallen away from her.

Maybe, if she stayed in Gary for a little bit, or even some random motel along a stretch of road, she'd be able to watch football game again.

…

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