Daryl was elbows deep in the motor of a Ford when he feels his phone vibrate in his pocket. He grabs a rag wiping the grease from his hands, pulling his phone out of his pocket.
"Hello Mr. Dixon, this is Mr. MacManus Charlie's teacher, you are going to have to come to the school today, Charlie has gotten into a fight" Daryl could hear a hint of pride in his voice as he tells him the Charlie had got into a fight.
"Shit is she okay?" Daryl say.
"Yeah she is fine….the little boy not so much ….he looked to have a broken nose" Daryl couldn't hide the smile that came across his face when he heard that.
"Okay can I come in after school I'm at work right now, I can come down and pick her up is that okay?"
"Yes that's fine" It sounded like Charles teacher was nervous as he hung up the phone.
Daryl couldn't help but laugh as he hangs up his phone. "What's so funny baby brother?" Merle asks.
"Looks like your niece just broke her first nose" Daryl says.
"Damn go Char monster" Merle laughs.
"Where's Shane I have to go pickup my little Muhamad Ali?" Daryl laughs.
"He's in the office" Merle says.
Daryl throws his rag down and goes into Shane's office. "Hey I need to go pick up Charlie from school" Daryl says.
"What happen is she sick?" Shane asks.
"No…no my little princes got in a fight at school….broke a little boys nose" Daryl smirks.
"Damn….well you tell her, her uncle Shane is proud of her and remind me when I have my kid she can teach her how to fight" Shane says.
"Sure thing, see you tomorrow" Daryl says leaving the office.
"See ya later Merle" Daryl says as he leaves the garage, getting on his bike, he had to stop and get his truck. He pulls into his driveway parking his bike and getting his truck. He pulls into the parking lot wondering if Charlie's teacher had ridden his bike to work….sadly he hadn't.
Daryl goes into the school, and hurries to Charlie's class room, stopping at the door taking in the picture of Charlie and her teacher….he smiles at the man wearing a bowtie.
"Sorry I'm late….and sorry about all the grease I work at the garage" Daryl says all off a sudden realizing how filthy he was….how so unlike the guy sitting across from his daughter. He could swear he seen him mumble fuck under his breath….damn he must be real fuckin dirty Daryl thought looking down at his shirt.
"Um….no….thats….thats….um that's okay" Charlie's teacher stumbled, Daryl smiling at him thanking God that he wasn't the only one nervous about being here.
"Umm…come ….come on in Mr. Dixon" Mr. Dixon…Daryl fought the urge to tell him that was his dad not him.
"You can call me Daryl" Daryl smiles, extending his hand out to him…again remembering how dirty he was jerking his hand back to try to get some of the grease off his hand.
"Nice to finally meet you Daryl" Daryl was surprised when the teacher extended his hand out to shake his hand.
"Why don't you have a…have a seat and Charlie can tell you what happened today" the teacher says.
"Tell your dad what you did today and why" Connor says.
"I hit Tommy because he says I have a boy's name….I hit him hard….and he was bleeding from his nose" Charlie says.
"Tommy is the same boy she had the incident with yesterday," Connor tells him.
"Charlie, you know that that's not how to deal with stuff like that, what did daddy tell you to do hmm?" Daryl notices the teacher shift from where he was standing, moving back to his seat.
"Tell the teacher….or Aunt Maggie" she says hanging her head.
"Her Aunt Maggie Rhee….teaches here too" Daryl says he could see the look on the teachers face.
"So if you know what to do why did you hit the little boy" Daryl asks her.
"I don't know" she huffs.
"I swear I have not raised her to go around hitting people" he says, trying to hide his knuckles…hoping he hadn't already seen them.
"I think the best thing to do would be for Charlie to apologize to Tommy and no recess for three days" The teacher says.
"I agree" Daryl's says smiling at him, the way her teacher was acting kinda confused Daryl…..a lot.
"Okay Charlie I will see you tomorrow" Connor says.
"See you morrow" Charlie huffs.
"Thank you Mr. Dixon for coming in" Yeah he was going to have to tell him to stop calling him Mr. Dixon
"Anytime you need me all you have to do is call" Daryl says….meaning every word of it…for some reason he had an urge to protect him…..he wanted to keep him as Charlie's teacher. He smiles at him before turning to leave the classroom, Charlie's hand in his.
Daryl walks out to the truck "princess you know you can't go around hitting people" Daryl says.
"I know, I was just so mad" she says.
"Because he said you had a boy's name." Daryl says.
"And he pulls my hair….and takes my crayons" she says.
"Well, why didn't you tell your teacher, about that? Daryl asks.
Charlie just shrugged her shoulders. "Okay well next time tell him, is a nice guy you can tell him and he will deal with it okay?" Daryl says looking at her, as they pull into the parking lot of a store.
"Otay….why are we here?" she asks.
"Well we are going to get your teacher something to apologize for you fighting" he says.
"Otay" she says.
"So what do you think he would like?" Daryl says as they walk into the store.
"Bows, he likes bows" She says.
"Bowties….yeah he wears those ….come on lets go look" Daryl says.
They make their way to the men's section looking at the bowties. "How about this one?" Daryl says showing one to her.
"No, not that one" she says. Daryl looks around finding a blue one…"How about this one?"
"Yeah…that one" she smiles.
"Okay" Daryl says. He pays for the bowtie and they stop getting food from Rick's and heads home.
"Okay after you eat, you have to go straight to the bath, and to bed for getting into trouble at school." "Do you have homework?" Daryl asks.
"No….can I color before I go to sleep?" she asked.
"No princess that's what happens when you get in trouble" he says he hates punishing her for standing up for herself.
"Otay" she huffs.
They eat in silence it kills him to see her so upset, but he knew that she had to be punished for fighting. He gets her bath water ready, and gets her into bed. He goes back downstairs getting her folder, finding a note. He pulls the note out of the folder, reading it. He writes back thanking him for keeping the cursing incident to himself, and thanking him for calling him about Charlie's fight, and once again telling him that if any time he needs him to call, thanks for saying his name fit him and to please not call him Mr. Dixon he preferred Daryl. He told him he wished he would have said hi the woman was boring at hell. And also that he and Charlie had picked out a sorry gift for her fighting at school….and he hoped he liked it. Daryl folded up the note and put it back in Charlie's folder along with the bowtie that he and Charlie had got for him.
The next morning Daryl wakes Charlie up, getting her ready for school, he had decided to start taking her to school. "Come on Charlie daddy is going to drive you to school" Daryl says as they finish their breakfast.
"Otay….everyday daddy?" she asks.
"Maybe" Daryl says smiling at her.
Daryl drove her to school…..not secretly thinking he may see Connor….Mr. MacManus at the school. He was bit let down when in fact he didn't see him. "Okay me or Aunt Carol will pick up after school, remember to give him the present we got him yesterday okay." Daryl says.
"Okay, lo'e you daddy" Charlie says as she was getting out of the truck.
"Love you too princess" he says as he watches her go into the school.
Daryl pulls out of the parking lot, and heads for work, pulling into the parking lot of the garage, he could already hear Merle belting out some, Garth Brooks song. "Hey baby brother how is our little Muhamad Ali?"
"Well she had to apologize, no recess and she is grounded for the next three days" Daryl says.
"Why because she hit some little boy, he probably deserved it" Merle says.
"Well….he did but I don't wanna have to be bailing her out of jail in the next ten years because she is like her uncle Merle and can't control her temper" Daryl says.
"Good point" Merle says.
"So did you meet her teacher" Merle says.
"Yeah, Mr. MacManus…..she really likes him he's a good teacher" Daryl says.
"You mean Connor?" Shane says coming out to them.
"Yeah that's his name ….why you know him?"
"Yeah, he's a friend of mine met him and his brother when I was living in Boston when I was younger, I was the one that talked him into moving down here" Shane says.
"Did you know he was gay?" Daryl asks.
"Yeah, I tried to set him up Braxton ….but he was an asshole." Shane says.
"I bet Braxton was the one that got everyone up in an uproar about him being gay, some of them came down to the school bitching and complaining and took some of their kids out of his class." Daryl says digging in the tool box.
"That's a bunch a shit" Merle says.
"Yeah….hence the knuckles son-of-a-bitch had to bring both Mich and Charlie into an argument" Daryl tells Shane.
"Fuckin idiot" Shane says.
"Well I like him he doesn't pull the principle into every little incident the kids have" Daryl says, popping the hood of the car he had to work on.
"Yeah, him and his brother ….not so fond of the authority type" Shane laughs, we used to run the fuckin streets in and out of jail." Shane laughed.
"Really….him and his bowtie?" Daryl laughs.
"Him and them fuckin bowties…me and Murph has threatened to burn those sons-a-bitches" Shane laughs.
"Ah…leave the man to his bowties" Daryl laughs, as he starts working on the cars. Shane looking at Merle, both laughing at him.
"Oh I am going to leave early and pick up Charlie from school from now on, so Carol doesn't have too" Daryl turn back telling Shane.
"Okay" Shane says a smile on his face a mile wide.
Daryl leaves the garage, and heads to the school, when he pulls into the parking lot he sees Charlie sitting with Connor on the bench. He gets out of the tuck and makes his way to the two.
"Hey princess, ready to go home" Daryl says walking up to them.
"Yeah, bye Mr. MacManus" she says waving back at him as she walks to the truck.
"See you later Charlie….Daryl" he hears Connor say, turning back to wave at him.
