I usually update Survivor on Fridays, but my muse and I really wanted to write this chapter instead. I hope you enjoy it! I am falling deeper and deeper in love with writing this story.

…

Ten.

As Aiden went to go talk with Merle and Carol about having another private meeting in the Pine Cone with their client, Beth went to the table they had sat at last time to get herself set up, taking out a tape recorder and her laptop as well as the files for the case they had so far and last, a notebook and pen. She liked to type her notes, but she knew that Aiden preferred to write short-hand. And she also knew that Aiden was always forgetting his notebook so before they had left the office to come here, Beth had poked her head into Aiden's office and sure enough, she had seen it sitting on his desk.

In the hours between lunch and when people started getting off work, the bar was nearly empty as it usually was except for a couple of customers that seemed to be regulars. Naturally, Beth's eyes went to find Daryl and he was behind the bar as he always was, getting a refill drink for the regular that was usually sitting there, doing his crosswords.

Daryl then lifted his eyes and met hers from across the room and Beth watched as his lips gave the slightest of quirks and Beth knew him enough now to know that that was his smile. And seeing it, a smile bloomed across her own lips as her cheeks turned pink and her stomach did that somersault that was now familiar whenever she was around Daryl.

Two days later and she could still feel his lips on hers. The kiss had been hard – to start off with – but then, after they both got used to the idea that they were kissing, it softened considerably. Just thinking now of how gentle Daryl's lips had been on hers, Beth nearly started trembling all over again.

From the parking lot, they had finally gotten into the pickup truck when the rain started falling a bit harder and Daryl had asked her if she minded stopping at Taco Bell.

"A man after my heart," she had beamed at him and he had noticeably blushed at that.

He had gone through the drive-thru and they sat in the truck in the fast food restaurant parking lot, eating their tacos and listening to the rain drum down around them.

And then he had taken her home and she had wanted to kiss him again, but she had been so unsure about what the next move should be. She really didn't have that much experience with guys and Daryl was just so different from the two previous guys in her life. She almost wanted to giggle at just how different Daryl and Jimmy were from the other. There was absolutely no comparison. At least, she hoped there wasn't. But even as that thought had the nerve to weasel itself into her mind, she knew that they couldn't possibly be. She couldn't imagine Daryl sleeping with her and then wanting nothing to do with her; only using her for a night or two and then tossing her aside like she was no one to begin with.

Would she and Daryl ever reach the point where they were ready to have sex?

Deep down, she hoped so. She had stayed far away from sex for the past few years – Jimmy doing a far greater number on her than she would ever admit to anyone – but the way she and Daryl just kissed – familiar and warm and so soft – she found herself thinking, for the first time in a very long time, of taking that step with a man.

"I can see you later, right?" Daryl asked, looking at her, but barely, as if he was too shy to.

Beth smiled instantly. "Of course."

And then, before her courage could flee her, she leaned across the bench seat, pressed her lips to his cheek in a quick kiss before hurrying from the truck and running up to her door.

Beth remained standing where she was as Daryl fixed a drink and then came out from behind the bar, bringing it to her. She smiled as he passed it into her hand and she saw that it was a whiskey and Coke – the drink he had made her during their last meeting with Philip. The last time he had made it for her, he hadn't made it strong at all – knowing her usual aversion towards alcohol – and it had been just what she had needed. She hadn't asked for it this time, but he knew that she would need it to get through this.

"Thank you," she said, looking up at him, feeling herself blush at his sweet gesture.

"Listen," Daryl said quickly, as if he had been building himself up to speak and the word had burst out of his mouth, unable to be held in any longer.

And for a second, Beth couldn't help but stiffen. That one simple word terrified her.

"Listen, Beth," Jimmy said, standing in front of her with his hands in his pockets. "I'm just not feeling it anymore, you know?"

She found herself holding her breath now, waiting to see what Daryl would say next.

He was not Jimmy. He was not Jimmy. She echoed this to herself over and over again on a loop. What happened with Jimmy had happened so long ago. She was an adult with a good job and her own house and Jimmy was getting married. Was she really still going to think about something that had happened in high school?

"My sister-in-law usually takes the shift from now until six, when I get back to work for the night crowd," he said. "I was wonderin'… I'm a pretty decent cook and I don't know what time you get off your own work, but I was wonderin'-"

"Yes, I'd love to," Beth said before he could fumble around any longer.

Daryl looked at her for a moment and then smirked. "There you go, inferrin' again."

Beth laughed at that and his smirk slid into a little smile. "So, you weren't inviting me to dinner tonight?" She asked.

"I was. But you gotta give me time to get it out," he said, grumbling, but with no bite. "Wanna ask you proper and all that."

"I'm sorry," she said, laughter still in her tone. "Please. Continue."

Daryl looked at her for a moment; studying her and so intently, Beth could do nothing, but stand completely still under his gaze. No one had ever stared at her like that; like he didn't feel like looking at anything else in this world if she was standing in front of him. Of course, she didn't know if that was what he was really thinking. She was just guessing because his eyes were dark and intense and her stomach gave another somersault.

"I'll make somethin' special," Daryl then said as if he had just come to a particular decision.

Beth smiled and shook her head. "You don't have to do that. Making something special would give me too big of a head and make me think I'm someone important," she said and was just joking, but Daryl was back to staring at her and her smile slowly faded as she stared up at him.

She couldn't help but wonder when she could kiss him again.

The door chose that moment to open and Statesman Phillip Blake entered the bar with his ever-present bodyguard, Negan, behind him.

Beth took a deep breath and then turned away from Daryl to watch the man see her and stride towards her. She realized she was still holding her drink in her hand and she stepped forward, setting it down on the nearest table for the moment, before taking another step.

"Hello, Statesman Blake," Beth greeted politely with her hand extended.

"Beth," Phillip shook her hand. "Thanks for meeting me here. I know it's a pain."

"Not at all," she responded with a smile – a true smile. It wasn't a pain at all. She got to see Daryl. She, of course, did not say that out loud though.

"Hello, Beth," Negan smiled at him as he reached in, sliding his hand over hers, shaking it.

"Hello," Beth said, still smiling politely – though a bit more tightly – and her stomach clenched and it was nothing like the somersaults Daryl gave her.

This man made her far more uncomfortable than Phillip Blake did – even after Beth had read and studied the report of what Phillip had supposedly done to the woman who was going after him. Though Beth knew that there was nothing "supposed" about it.

Aiden came back then and shook Phillip's hand and ordered two beers from Daryl as he ushered everyone towards the table Beth had set up for them. Negan went to go sit at the bar and when Daryl came to their table with the beers, Beth gave him a small smile and Daryl gave her the slightest incline of his head before heading back towards the bar.

Soon enough, Beth was grateful that she was tape recording this meeting because she found that every few minutes, her eyes would wander over towards the bar to look at Daryl. For the first time while working, she found herself being distracted from the case and she tried to get herself to focus, but all she could do was look at Daryl in his Pine Cone tee-shirt that hugged his biceps so nicely and think about eating dinner with him.

She hoped no one – especially Aiden – noticed.

…

"Hey."

Beth lifted her head to see Maggie poking around the side of her cubicle and once she saw she had Beth's attention, Maggie came and pushed some folders from the chair to the desk to sit down. Beth didn't say anything as she took the folders to put them in a more safe spot.

"Want to go to the Pine Cone tonight?" Maggie asked. "I think Glenn is driving me to drink."

Beth smiled a little at that. "What is he doing?"

"Completely ignoring me," Maggie frowned, slouching down in the chair.

Beth, still smiling, moved her eyes back to her computer screen. Maggie definitely wasn't used to that and Beth honestly hadn't thought that there were guys who existed in this world who were actually capable of ignoring her older sister. Maggie just had one of those personalities. She demanded attention.

"And why is he ignoring you?" Beth hit the print button at the top of her screen and then turned in her chair to the little printer on top of the little bookcase behind her. She had bought it herself – printing off so much every day, she'd constantly be walking back and forth to the big printer from her desk and though it was good exercise, it got tedious.

"He doesn't know if I'm sincere," Maggie said, wrinkling her nose at the word as if she had never heard a more offensive word. "Whatever. He's clearly intimidated by strong women."

Beth turned back towards her desk and picked up her highlighter, her eyes scanning over the list of phone calls and marking each one at the particular time she was looking for. It was as she told Daryl. She didn't like this case because the more she researched and dived deeper into both defendant and plaintiff's lives from ten years earlier, Beth was more and more convinced that Lilly Chambler wasn't lying.

But as she also told Daryl, what could she do? This was her job. Phillip Blake had hired their law firm to defend him and Beth was supposed to help Aiden do just that. Innocent until proven otherwise. Just because things looked to be one way, maybe it wasn't like that at all. Maybe Lilly was making up what happened in that hotel room so many years ago.

"So, what do you say?" Maggie continued. "Want to eat mozzarella sticks and be my designated driver tonight?"

Beth lifted her eyes and stopped highlighting to look at her sister. She gave her an amused smile and found back the urge to roll her eyes. "As tempting as that sounds, I actually already have plans tonight."

Well, technically, she had plans until Daryl had to go to work, but she wouldn't tell Maggie that. She was tired of sitting in the bar, waiting for Maggie to be ready to go home. Tonight, she was going to go to Daryl's apartment and they were going to eat dinner, and hopefully kiss again, before going back home to flail around like some insane girl and read a book.

"Going home and getting into bed at five o'clock and reading doesn't constitute as plans, Beth," Maggie said, struggling to not roll her eyes.

Beth couldn't help, but frown at her. "I actually have plans with someone."

She told herself to not tell Maggie about Daryl. If she did, Maggie would definitely go to the Pine Cone tonight and be so relentless towards him, making sure he knew that she was the older, protective sister and she would more than likely do or say something to embarrass Beth. She would probably tell Daryl that Beth didn't have that much experience with men so he better not do anything to break her or Maggie would break him.

Like Beth really wanted Daryl to know just how completely inexperienced she was.

And she could just imagine how she would be if Maggie found out that Daryl had served time. That would really get Maggie being protective, whether it was called for or not.

But Maggie was looking at her right now and it was so obvious that Maggie didn't believe that Beth had plans with anyone and Beth felt her fingers tighten around her highlighter.

"With Daryl," Beth said, unable to help herself.

Maggie blinked at her for a passing moment. "With Daryl? Bartender Daryl? How did you swing that?" She asked. Beth's frown was instant and Maggie quickly sat up, realizing what she said. "I just mean-"

"I know what you meant," Beth said and she knew it was childish, but she turned her head towards her computer screen, wanting to end this conversation before it could even begin.

"Beth, I didn't mean it like that. I was just surprised because he doesn't seem interested in anyone. I mean, I see women trying to flirt with him all of the time."

She knew what Maggie was wanting to say, but right now, Beth felt like being angry and she felt like purposely misinterpreting.

"Right. Apparently, he has his pick of any girl so why would he pick me?" Beth asked, still not looking at her and pretending to be busy with work, when in truth, she couldn't decipher a single word on the screen in front of her.

Maggie let out a stream of breath through her nose, reminding Beth of a bull before charging. "Don't be difficult, Bethy."

Beth opened her mouth to retort, but before she could, Andrea poked her head around the side of her cubicle, peeking in.

"Hey. Do you have a moment?" Andrea asked her.

"Yes," Beth said, hurrying to her feet, not caring how eager she looked. She had to get out of there. Her cubicle was already small, but right now, with Maggie, it felt like both of them were trying to shove themselves into a shoe box. She paused in her scurrying away to stop next to the chair Maggie sat in. "Call me tonight if you need me to come pick you up," she said because Maggie might have annoyed her to no end, but she was still her sister.

Maggie nodded and looked up at her. She didn't say anything else and Beth followed Andrea out of the cubicle and down the carpeted hall towards her office.

"Is everything okay?" Andrea asked.

Beth exhaled heavily, feeling completely exhausted. "Sisters."

Andrea laughed at that. "Tell me about it."

…

Beth told herself that she had absolutely no right to do this. It wasn't any of her business. Daryl had already told her and it wasn't as if she didn't believe him. She had no reason to doubt him. He had been honest with her about what had to the biggest thing in his life and she didn't care. She really didn't and what she had said to him had been the truth. People made mistakes. They were people. It's what they did. As long as he didn't kill or rape someone… and it was obvious he was trying so hard to get his life back on track now.

Beth reminded herself of this over and over again even as she clicked open the program and her fingers typed Daryl Dixon into the search box.

She didn't know what she was looking for. She knew he had a record. He told her that. But being curious came with the territory of being a lawyer – even if she wasn't technically one.

Charged with criminal battery – and she frowned a little at that because that was actually a bit more serious than just simple assault. Simple assault was usually charged as a misdemeanor and even simple criminal battery was usually prosecuted as a misdemeanor. But Daryl had been sentenced to four years; out in two on good behavior.

She clicked on the file of trial notes. Not that there was much of a trial. Basically a sentencing since he pled guilty. He had a public defender; a man who had too many cases and not enough time, all working for too little money. Beth knew what kind of representation Daryl had received with a public defender. Representation left to be desired, that was for certain.

Daryl pled guilty and the judge had sentenced him to four years in the Western Georgia Penitentiary. That was quite a heavy sentence for criminal battery. Daryl's lawyer should have contested against that. Beth wondered if she would have been able to make it less for him. Maybe she could have even gotten him a probation sentence passed without him having to serve actual hard time in prison.

Probably not. She was a fantastic paralegal, but a paralegal was not a lawyer.

Beth glanced towards the clock in the corner of her computer. It was almost time to leave and head over to Daryl's. He had asked her to come around four-thirty, if she was able, and Beth had promised that she would be more than able to come at four-thirty. She usually got into the office around seven and worked a full day and Aiden and Andrea were actually pretty lax when it came to official work schedules. If a person didn't do their work, it wasn't as if they wouldn't be able to find out.

She had time to read a bit more and she clicked on the next file – and when she did, she couldn't help, but gasp when the photos popped up. The man, whoever he had been, looked like a piece of rotten fruit left out on the counter for too long. Bones were broken, skin was mashed, staples were holding his forehead together. What had he done to cause Daryl to have such a reaction towards him? She couldn't imagine the Daryl she knew – or was just getting to know – doing anything like this to another person.

Sometimes, he was so shy, he had trouble meeting her eyes.

And this man in the photos, Daryl had beaten him into a coma. A coma he was still in. The four-year sentence made a bit more sense now.

Her eyes scanned the report and she gasped again. Victim: Will Dixon. It had to be a relation of Daryl's. Will's name linked to another file of reports and Beth didn't hesitate in clicking on it. And where Daryl's file was the one case that had sent him away for the past couple of years, Will's file was quite extensive. She would probably need an entire day or two to read through everything; a sure sign that this man had been getting into trouble his entire life.

And he was Daryl's father. Daryl had beaten his own father into a coma.

Nearly to death, from the looks of it.

He was lucky he didn't get charged with attempted murder.

Beth clicked out of every window on her desktop as quickly as she could, feeling very much like Pandora at this moment and that she had just dared to peek inside of the box.

…

Beth wasn't sure why she felt nervous, but she did as she lifted her fist and knocked lightly on the door at the top of the stairs.

Soon after reading Daryl's file, she had shut her computer down and gathered her things, leaving the office and heading towards her car, where she sat for a few minutes, trying to push everything she had just read from her mind. She liked Daryl. She really liked him and the man she saw so often behind the bar – the man she had kissed – it just wasn't matching with what she had read on the screen. To beat a man almost to death, to beat him so viciously and violently, something that let everyone know that the person was capable of doing such a thing was sure to leak out and expose themselves.

Then again, Ted Bundy had been able to be completely charming to everyone around him before he was arrested for murdering dozens of women.

Not that Daryl was anything like Ted Bundy.

It was just…

She hated that she had let her curiosity get the better of her. It hadn't been any of her business. Daryl had served his time. He had paid his debt to society and he was out now, really trying to make himself a better life. She had seen that he hadn't missed a single appointment with his parole officer and had passed every drug test. He had gotten himself a job and he worked hard and before that happened, he hadn't had any sort of arrest record.

She thought of the man who had invited her to dinner; the man who gave her somersaults in her stomach. She couldn't believe that that man was capable of inflicting such violence upon another human being. But she knew she didn't know the whole story. Just glancing at his father's record, it was obvious to anyone that Will Dixon was far from being a saint. Not that that was any kind of excuse for his own son to beat him into a coma.

Beth sighed heavily and dug her fingers into her eyes.

Why did she do this? Why did she have to be so curious? Daryl had been honest with her and told her that he had served time and that should have been enough for her. That was enough for her. She really liked him and she was fairly certain that he liked her, too. She shouldn't hold the past against him when he was trying so hard to leave it behind him.

And with a deep breath, she pulled out of the law office parking lot and drove to the Pine Cone Bar to have dinner with Daryl. No one had ever cooked her dinner before.

A few seconds passed after she knocked before the door opened and Beth seriously felt as if all of her breath fled her lungs. He was wearing jeans and a tee-shirt as he usually wore and behind him, the apartment was warm and she could smell food cooking and everything she had read that afternoon about him fled her mind.

"Hi," she smiled.

"Hey," he said and looked at her for a moment before he seemed to remember that he should probably let her in and she smiled as he stepped back, ushering her through the door. "I can take that for you…" he said, gesturing nervously towards her coat and she smiled, taking it off and handing it to him, watching him hang it on the hook on the wall. There was only one hook and he jammed it on over his own jacket, making sure it stayed.

"It smells so good in here," Beth smiled, able to feel how nervous he was and her own nerves slowly faded. Her hand went to her stomach, realizing how empty it was since she hadn't had anything to eat since she had gone to T-Dog's food truck for lunch hours ago.

"I'm makin' pizza," Daryl said. "Is that… I saw at the grocery store, you bought some frozen pizzas and those are crap."

Beth laughed. "Pizza sounds amazing. You know how to make pizza?"

He nodded, moving past her to step back into the kitchen, and Beth followed after him, stopping in the doorway to watch as he went to one of the cabinets, pulling down a plastic cup. She saw that he had absolutely nothing in that particular cabinet except four plastic cups. He then went to the sink and turned on the faucet, filling it with water.

She smiled and took the cup he held out for her.

"Taught myself how to cook a bunch of things when I was younger," Daryl said with a short nod and he shifted his eyes away for a second before moving them back to her. "If I didn't learn how to cook, I'd just be livin' off fast food and that gets tirin' after a while."

"And it really adds up," she added. "There are people in my office who go out to Burger King and Arby's every day. It can get to be as expensive as a smoking habit."

"Yeah," he agreed. "Already got one of those. Don't need another expensive habit."

Beth smiled at him from around the rim of her cup and then couldn't help, but look around the apartment. It was the entire size of the bar that was below so it was a fairly large space. And she could see why Carol was wanting to take him shopping for things. He really didn't have anything except for a futon, a little coffee table – which his new laptop was resting on – and a television on a stand across from that. He didn't have a kitchen table, a spare chair or even a bookcase for the books that were simply in a few stacks beneath the window.

Unable to help herself, Beth crossed the room to see what books he had. She set the cup of water down on the coffee table and then lowered herself on her knees so she could look over the spines. A lot of the classics and a few nonfiction books on the Civil War and a couple on World War I. She paused when she came across a familiar one to her and she lifted her head to look back at him, seeing that he was standing behind her, watching her.

She took the book and got back to her feet, flipping through the pages of A Farewell to Arms.

"Had never read 'im before," Daryl said before she could say anything. "Figured I'd give 'im a shot since he's your favorite."

Beth looked back to him at his words. She didn't know what to say. She really didn't. He was making her pizza and was reading her favorite author just because he was her favorite.

She thought of Will Dixon's picture and she looked at Daryl standing in front of her.

Who was this man?

With no answers and without a word, Beth closed the space between them and once again, her hands found his cheeks and in her heels, she was a bit closer to his lips as she pressed hers to his. And this time, Daryl seemed to have been waiting for that because his arms closed around her almost immediately, holding her tightly to his body as he pressed his lips back against hers.

…

Thank you very much for reading! I hope you liked it! Please take a moment to leave a review.