Not the most action-packed chapter but I needed to really focus on Beth for the time being. And I was considering just making this a Beth POV story and no longer writing chapters from Daryl's but I think his POV is very important to this story - especially with many not liking him at the moment. The slow burn continues. Thank you so much for your continued love and support for this story. I can't tell you how much it means to me to know that you are loving this story as much as I am loving writing it.


Daryl's been coming by every day – always around dinnertime. She doesn't mind adding an extra plate to the table but sometimes, he'll actually call her from the garage and ask her if he can pick up a pizza or something else for dinner instead.

"Tired of my cooking?" She teases him once, smiling into the phone.

"Nah. Jus' wanna give you a break tonight," he says and she hates her heart for flipping.

He's been coming by every day but she doesn't allow herself to get used to it because this is what he does. He's around and then he's not and she's just waiting for him to be gone again.

She tries not to go out that much. The stitches on her cheek are out but she officially has a scar now and she doesn't care what her family or Daryl says. It's obvious and hideous and every time she goes out to the store or anywhere, she knows that it's all people are looking at. She tries to wear makeup to hide it but she feels no matter how she tries to hide it, makeup somehow makes it even more obvious that she has something to hide.

She's glad it's the summer because she doesn't have to walk Matty to school and into the hallway where all the other parents are and have them all look at her scar. She's lost count of how many times her parents and Maggie and Shawn have told her that she's still beautiful but they're her family. They're supposed to say things like that to her. And she tries to tell herself that she doesn't care what others think. It's just a scar and they shouldn't be rude and stare but on the other hand, it's human to care about others and their opinions. It's natural to want to be liked and be looked upon as normal.

Sometimes, she'll just stand in front of the mirror in the bathroom and stare at herself until not even her own reflection makes sense anymore. She doesn't even really recognize herself anymore and that's more terrifying to her than anything.

"Mama?"

She's sitting in the chair in her bedroom right up against the window, hugging her knees to her chest and looking out. The view's not anything great. Just of the parking lot and the woods beyond that but she's been here almost an hour, looking out at nothing in particular and she doesn't seem to be able to pull herself away.

"Hmmm?" She asks and turns her head to see Matty standing in the doorway.

"We don't have any milk," he tells her.

"Alright, baby," she says and she turns her head back to the window. "We'll go get some in a little bit."

She doesn't hear him leave but a few minutes pass before there's another knock on the bedroom door. When she turns her head this time to look, she sees that it's Daryl.

She opens her mouth to ask what he's doing here but then she sees Matty poke his head into the room from behind him and she almost wants to start crying. Matty had gone and gotten Daryl because they have no milk. She can't even bring herself to leave the apartment to get milk and food for her son.

"Hey," Daryl says lowly as he comes into the room and he crouches down in front of her and she knows that he sees the tears glassing in her eyes. "Wanna go to the store? I'll drive," he offers and she just wants even more to cry because he's being so nice to her – has been so nice to her – but it won't last. Maybe next week or even tomorrow, he'll go back to pretending she doesn't exist and she wishes he would either stay or leave altogether instead of always leaving her balanced on the edge of the cliff like this.

Beth shakes her head. "I haven't been baking… I don't have that much money."

"It'll be my treat," he's quick to offer.

She just blinks at him and he shrugs.

"Figure I owe you with the way you're always feedin' me," he explains.

She shakes her head again though. "No. I take care of my son and no one else."

Ever since that strip turned pink back in high school, she accepts help in people watching Matty for her when she's working – especially from her parents – but she will not accept money. Matty is her son and she's his mama and it's her job to be able to take care of him.

"A'right," he says and then visibly swallows as he pauses a moment. "So, who takes care of you then?" He asks her and all she can do again is just blink at him.

She pins the hair on the right side of her hair back but she makes sure the hair on the left side of her face hangs down and sweeps across her cheek, acting like a fallen curtain over her scar. Daryl looks at her for a long moment and she waits for him to say something about it but he stays quiet.

They get to Aldi and Daryl hands Matty a quarter for the shopping cart and the boy is eager to push it all by himself without neither Beth or Daryl helping him.

She has thirty dollars in her purse and that's going to be more than enough to get her and Matty some food – at least for this week – and she knows she has to get back to baking. She has a scar on her cheek, yes, but she can still bake and baking is how she keeps the roof over hers and her son's head. She is not going to move back to the farm with her parents. She's an adult with a child and she needs to be able to take care of the both of them.

She has a scar now, yes, but that scar isn't going to keep her from being a damn good mom. She won't let it.

She makes sure to get a gallon of milk as well as a half-gallon of chocolate as a treat to Matty for not letting having milk in their apartment in the first place and when they're at the baking section, she grabs some flour, sugar, baking cocoa and powdered sugar and from the dairy cases, she grabs a couple of boxes of butter and blocks of cream cheese and from the corner of her eye, she can see Daryl's lips twitch as if he wants to smile.

She always wears her hair pinned up when she bakes and when she comes out of the bathroom, her hair braided and pinned up around her head, Matty is sitting at the counter, finishing his bowl of cereal and when he sees her, he grins widely. Without a word, she smiles and kisses him on the head and then goes to get her apron, slipping it on over her head and tying it back behind her waist.

"Let's see if there's anything in the queue," she says as she leans over and wakes up the laptop sitting on the counter next to him. The day before, she had made an announcement on her ordering website that she's open for business and back to baking and her stomach's in a knot now, wondering if anyone really cares about her silly little cupcakes anymore.

She had been doing so well. She had been out there in their small town, making a name for herself. But then the accident and her scar happened. She just hopes what she's been working so hard for isn't ruined now.

Matty crosses his fingers on both hands and she smiles at him before she opens the mailbox where the ordering forms go once people fill them out.

"Three, mama!" Matty exclaims and Beth laughs, feeling her insides soar at the sight.

The first one has a subject of Welcome Back! and Beth opens it up to read the order and message sent along with it. Sheriff Grimes is turning forty and Lori wants to order some cupcakes for the party. Forty cupcakes and the man is a chocolate addict so anything Beth feels like baking, it's her decision. As long as it's chocolate.

Beth takes a deep breath and looks to Matty. "Want to help me with this one?" She asks.

"Oh, yeah," he nods and she laughs.

Beth has promised them that she won't say a word and she purses her lips together as both Rosita and Maggie sit in front of her, brushing makeup across her cheek before changing their minds and wiping it away to start again.

"Which shade is that?" Maggie asks and Rosita takes another bottle of foundation.

"New Ivory. It's the palest shade," Rosita says, giving the bottle a couple of shakes.

"I'm not that pale," Beth can't help but frown.

"Yes, you are," both Maggie and Rosita say at the same time.

Beth frowns at them but they just smile and Rosita begins to gently apply the makeup to her cheeks, focusing on the scar. She pauses for a moment to look over her work and then continues applying the foundation and then she picks up the powder and the brush. Maggie smiles at how it seems to be looking and she gets up, going to Beth's closet.

"It's just a barbecue," Beth tells her when she sees Maggie looking through her dresses.

"There's nothing wrong with looking adorable for a barbecue," Maggie quips and Rosita laughs as Beth rolls her eyes.

She doesn't argue though. She knows why they're making such a big deal about this and wanting her to look her best today. Not only has she baked the cupcakes for Sheriff Grimes' birthday party that afternoon but Lori has invited her and Matty to attend.

"And don't you dare bring a gift!" Lori told her when Beth had agreed over the phone.

It's the first place she's gone to since the accident besides the grocery store. She hasn't even gone to church on Sundays and though Hershel and Annette do not agree with the decision, they don't pick a fight with her and take just Matty with them.

This is the first place she'll be going with so many people there and though over the past few weeks, she has told herself over and over again that it's just a scar and a scar doesn't define her and she almost believes that completely now, she's still nervous about this afternoon; about so many people being there who will be able to see her.

"You're wearing your hair up," Rosita decides as she still continues working on her makeup.

Beth doesn't argue.

"You look so adorable when you braid it and pin it back. Like a Swedish milkmaid," Rosita continues and Beth can't help but laugh at that and Maggie and Rosita both smile as if they have never heard a sound better than her laughing.

She wears a yellow dress with white polka dots on it and her hair is braided and worn up and Matty wears jeans and a yellow polo shirt. They walk to the Grimes' house from their apartment – it being not too far away and Beth hasn't been too eager to drive anywhere lately – and carefully, she carries the two cupcake tray containers around to the backyard where Lori has instructed her to go.

"Mama, look!" Matty exclaims excitedly at the playground set the Grimes have in their backyard, currently being overrun by all of the children at the party that afternoon.

"I see," Beth smiles. "Help me first and then you can run off and play."

Matty nods and dutifully stays by her side as Beth spots Lori and heads her way.

"Beth, you're here!" Lori smiles and she looks so happy to see her – genuinely happy – it almost takes Beth aback for a moment. She wonders if her choosing to be a hermit in her apartment for the past few weeks have been that obvious to everyone. "You look beautiful!"

Beth's cheeks flush. "Thank you, Lori. And I've brought the cupcakes."

"Thank God. Rick and Shane both have been asking me about them," she says and with a hand fluttering over Beth's back, she guides her over to a table that has been kept clear. "I hope I ordered enough. I probably didn't but I wanted everything to be forty today."

Beth sets the cases down and then unclasps the lids, handing them to Matty to hold.

"God, your cupcakes always look like they belong on television," Lori says.

Beth feels her cheeks blush and she smiles proudly. "Dark chocolate with a cherry filling, chocolate buttercream frosting and topped with a fresh cherry," she explains as she takes each cupcake and carefully begins arranging them in a '4' and '0'.

Before she can even finish with one number though, Lori puts her arms around her and hugs her tightly.

She lost track of Matty long ago – occasionally getting a glimpse of him on the slide or on one of the swings of the playground set, shouting and running around with the other kids.

Shane is at the barbecue, deeming himself in charge of all of the meats at the part that day, and he makes sure Beth gets the cheeseburger on the grill that he deems to be the best. He slips it on the bun on her plate and gives her a grin and a wink and she smiles a little shyly at him in return. Lori's already told her more than once that Shane is a bit of a flirt and with her baking the way she does, she should expect Shane to flirt with her.

It's warm that afternoon and the coolers of drinks are kept inside, in the kitchen, where the ice has a chance to not melt immediately. As Beth heads for the back door, she sees that all but two cupcakes are already gone from the table and she smiles a little to herself.

Inside the kitchen, Lori is holding the Grimes' eleven-month-old daughter, Judith, on her hip as the baby sucks on her pacifier and rests her head sleepily on her mom's shoulder as Lori pulls more cheese and cut veggies from the refrigerator.

"Do you need any help?" Beth asks.

"Oh, no," Lori shakes her head. "You eat. Do you need anything?"

"I just came for something to drink. And I need to get Matty and get some food in him."

Lori smiles. "That boy is adorable. He looks just like you."

Beth nods and smiles. Everyone always points that out to her and it's not like she'll ever admit that she's glad that he looks like her and not that much like Jimmy but deep down, she knows that she is. It wouldn't hurt to look at a mini-Jimmy every day but with Matty looking more like her, it definitely makes things a little easier on her; as if being a single young mom isn't hard enough without having to see the face of her high-school sweetheart.

"I need to give this to you," Lori says and goes to the desk kept in the corner of the kitchen. She rifles for something in a stack of papers and then turns, holding out a check for Beth.

"Lori-" Beth immediately begins to protest once she sees the amount written to her.

"No arguments," Lori is quick to cut her off with a shake of her head.

Beth swallows a dry lump in her throat and looks down to the check once more. "Is this because you feel sorry for me?" She asks and can't help but wonder.

She hasn't actually thought of her scar for the past hour but that doesn't mean it's not there and even with the makeup Rosita has perfectly applied, it's still there to see.

"No," Lori says and looks at her straight in the eyes so Beth won't be able to doubt her words. "It's because you make the best cupcakes I've ever tasted."

Beth just feels the dry lump in her throat grow larger and dryer and she can't swallow it down no matter how hard she tries.

She and Matty are just leaving the party, walking down the sidewalk, when she hears the rumble of an engine and a pickup truck pulls to the curb just as she and Matty pass. She glances towards the driver and can't help but be surprised when she sees that it's Daryl.

"Hey," Daryl comes around the front of the truck and steps onto the sidewalk. He flicks the cigarette he's smoking into the street.

"Hi, Daryl," Matty grins up at him.

"What are you doing here?" Beth can't help but ask.

She assumes he's here for Sheriff Grimes' birthday party but she hadn't even known that they are friends. Not that she knows everything about Daryl and his life. She actually knows very little about him and she knows that it will probably always be that way – even though he seems to be trying harder to actually be her friend and no longer practices his disappearing act on her.

In all honesty, she's the one who's been keeping away from him lately.

"Rick and me are friends. Just got out of the garage and came over," he explains. "Any cupcakes left?" He asks, glancing to the empty trays she's carrying with her.

She shakes her head. "They went fast."

"Not surprisin'," he says. He pauses, looking at her.

There was a time not so long ago when her stomach would flap uncontrollably with butterflies whenever Daryl looked at her but now, she almost squirms as if he is scrutinizing her. She doesn't want anyone really looking at her anymore. She wonders if it will always be that way for her now.

She hates just how a single second has changed everything for her. If Spencer had waited just one second more at that stop sign. If that woman had actually stopped at hers.

She knows it's useless dwelling and thinking of things that never happened; torturing herself with what ifs.

"You want a ride back?" He then asks.

Beth immediately shakes her head. "No, it's a nice evening. We're just going to walk. And it's silly to drive us home when you just got here."

He shrugs. "Don' mind. This thing will go for hours."

He takes his keys from his pocket and goes to the truck, unlocking it and opening the passenger door, looking at her and Matty, waiting for them.

She puts a gentle hand on Matty's back and guides him towards the truck. Matty eagerly climbs up onto the seat and then she starts to climb up, too, feeling Daryl's fingers ghost against her elbow as if he's helping her.

There are the butterflies.

Once she settles herself in the seat, he closes the door behind her and then walks around the front of the truck, getting in behind the wheel.

"Here, kid," Daryl says and twists towards him, helping Matty get the seat belt across his middle. "Got it?" He asks.

"Yep," Matty grins up at him and Daryl smiles a little, too.

Beth clicks on her own seat belt but she notices that Daryl drives without one. She doesn't comment on it though. It's none of her business. It's stupid but definitely none of her business. She notices that he usually smokes when he's driving – the few times she's seen him pulling into the apartment parking lot after work, there's always a cigarette dangling from his bottom lip. But he doesn't light one now and she knows he won't either with both her and Matty in the truck's cab with him.

"What is this?" Matty asks as he listens to the song playing over the radio.

"'s Lynyrd Skynyrd," Daryl answers and then frowns at them both. "You never hear Lynyrd Skynyrd before?" He asks and when Matty shakes his head, he looks to Beth. "What the hell are you teachin' this kid?"

Beth laughs softly and shakes her head, not looking at him but rather looking out the front windshield. "I listen to all sorts of music. Just not a lot of Southern Rock," she tells him.

"Then you ain't listenin' to the right sort of music," Daryl grumbles and she can't help but laugh again.

When Daryl comes over for dinner a few nights later, she's not entirely surprised to see him holding a CD case and he hands it to Matty.

"Start with Simple Man," he informs the boy as Matty holds the Lynyrd Skynyrd CD and looks at it with excitement in his eyes.

It's not as if she doesn't like spending time with Daryl. That's the problem. She does. She really does. But it hurts her so much at the same time because he's been spending more time with her but she knows it's only because he feels sorry for her.

She has a scar on her cheek now that some days, she lets absolutely cripple her and she knows that he looks at her and feels sorry for her and if she didn't have this scar, there's no way he would be around so much. That's not what Daryl does. Daryl's there and then he's gone and then he's back again and he confuses her and gives her whiplash but he doesn't stay.

Except he's staying now and now that he is, she wishes he wouldn't because she still has such a stupid crush on him and spending all of this time with him lately, it's going to absolutely devastate her when he disappears again.

So, she makes a decision.

She doesn't invite him to dinner as much. She usually puts a post-it on his door during the day to tell him that she's cooking dinner and he's invited but she doesn't do that anymore. She goes days without putting a post-it on his door and she knows he won't knock on her door and invite himself over but still, around five when he gets home from work, she stands tense in the kitchen, waiting for a knock on her door that won't come.

It's hard with Matty. She knows her son absolutely adores Daryl and is more excited to see that man than he's ever been when seeing his own father.

But she needs to give her son a lot of credit because for a six-year-old, he's incredibly intuitive. He seems to always know whenever she's sad – whether it be over her scar or something entirely different, something he can never understand – and when she is, he wraps his arms tight around her neck and hugs her and tells her that he loves her and sometimes, that's all she needs to pull herself out of her funk. And when Daryl doesn't come over for dinner, he doesn't ask her about it over and over again, pestering her as to why he isn't there that night. Matty just eats his dinner and doesn't ask her about Daryl.

However, every time he sees Daryl, he can't keep the happy smile from engulfing his face.

And Beth doesn't know why she gets sad all over again when she keeps her distance from Daryl and he does absolutely nothing to try and keep himself close. But she did the same thing. When he disappeared, she took the hint and left him alone, it obvious that he didn't want to be around her at the time. Maybe that's all he's doing. He's just taking the hint.

"You are such an asshole, Daryl Dixon!" The exclamation comes in the middle of the night, echoing from across the hall.

Beth's not asleep. Instead, she's sitting up in bed, reading Anne of Green Gables for the fiftieth time and she pauses to listen to the sudden noise. It sounds like Amy but like everything that has to do with Daryl, it's none of her business – even if whatever is involving him is loud enough for the entire apartment building to hear. Beth wonders why Dawn only complains about the noise she makes as opposed to the other tenants.

She turns her head and looks at the clock on the nightstand. It's just a little past eleven.

Even though she knows it hasn't bothered him, she gets out of bed nonetheless to check on Matty. Sure enough, the boy is still sleeping deeply in his bed. She creeps into the room and slips his arm back under the covers that was flopping over the side of the bed and brushing back some of his yellow curls, she bends down and kisses him on the forehead.

"If you want to drop dead, please feel free to do it!" Amy is shouting now and then a door slams so sharply, Beth actually feels herself jump a little from the noise.

Beth walks quietly to her front door as if someone will hear her do so and she peeks through the peephole but the hallway is empty. Amy has stormed away and Daryl isn't following after her. It's none of her business but she can't help but be curious. Did Daryl and Amy just break things off? And why would that make her chest feel light as if she's happy over that? That's terrible of her to be happy over someone else's suffering. Daryl's probably upset – or as upset as he'll allow himself to be. He and Amy seemed to have been dating for quite a few months and few people are actually happy when a relationship ends.

Maybe she'll be brave enough to go across the hall tomorrow and check to see how he is.

The next day, Beth puts a post-it on Daryl's door, inviting him to dinner and a little after five o'clock just like the other times, there's a knock on her door. Matty answers it and from the kitchen, she hear them talking to one another, Matty's voice excited as always whenever around Daryl and getting to spend time with him.

A moment later, Daryl comes into the kitchen and Beth gives him a small smile. Daryl just stares at her though.

""You think I feel sorry for you," he informs her rather bluntly.

She blinks at him, not saying anything; not too sure what to say. She doesn't know why she feels surprised that he's figured it out. One of the few things she's been able to learn about him is that Daryl is incredible observant. Of course he would have figured that out.

"But I don't," he shakes his head. "And I don't wan' you feelin' sorry for me either."

Beth is finally able to speak. She shakes her head. "I don't," she tells him honestly.

Daryl takes a moment to look at her – study her – and she wills herself not to shift under his eyes. But she can't look into his eyes for longer than just a few seconds before she turns her head away. She hopes he doesn't think that that means she's not telling the truth. She just doesn't like when anyone looks at her for too long. Hopefully, he's figured that out already.

He exhales a soft cloud of air. "It ain't like me and Amy had some great love story or somethin'," he says and even though she knows it's not her place, she can't help but say something about what she heard the night before.

"You two were together for a while," she points out to him.

Daryl just shrugs though. "Meant a lot less to me than to her." He pauses and he's the one to look away from her now; as if embarrassed or even ashamed. "I'm an asshole," he then adds in a quiet voice.

Beth's not too sure what to say to that. She wants to tell him that he's not but he's done too many things to her to show her that he actually is. She can't figure him out and she wonders if she'll ever be able to. Sometimes – especially lately – he can be so nice and almost downright sweet to not only her but to Matty, too, but sometimes, he's just that. An asshole.

She wishes there is a way she can get past this crush on him but it feels like no matter how long she tries to keep herself away from him, she tortures herself by inviting him around again and she is quick to discover that this stupid crush is still very much alive inside of her.

She wonders what she has to do to get rid of it because honestly, having this crush on Daryl Dixon is absolutely exhausting her and she can't ever imagine anything coming of it so why continue to torture herself? She has enough of that going on in her life without adding to it.

Summer is just the way she hopes. Busy. Birthday parties and outdoor barbecues and Fourth of July parties and every morning, she wakes up to even more orders sitting in her queue and her summer passes in a whirl of baking and piping and deliveries. She's doing well for herself and for Matty and she puts away some to be kept and saved in the bank and with the rest of the money, she pays rent and the bills and she makes sure there is always milk in the refrigerator.

And at the end of each week, she sits down to work on her finances and she sees her income growing – she's not rich by any means but she is able to provide a comfortable life for herself and her son and that's all she's ever wanted. She still has that five thousand dollar prize money in her bank account, collecting interest, and she has been adding to that with these past few months. Soon. She'll be able to rent her own small shop soon.

She looks to the chalkboard - the one Daryl has gotten her for her birthday - hanging on the wall in her kitchen. It's simple but she thinks Beth's Bakery will be the perfect name for it.


Thank you very much for reading and please take a moment to comment!