Ch 10 A Greene Family Gift

The Christmas holiday was fast approaching and Daryl found himself in an odd predicament. He had never had a girlfriend for a holiday before, let alone a never hormonal and sensitive one.

Even though they decided they weren't going to exchange gifts he still felt a ton of pressure to get give her something, after all she was giving him a pretty amazing gift: their son. He decided to consult Ty being that he has been happily married for a few years.

"Look like ya thinkin hard on somethin man, I can see smoke comin outta ya ears" Ty joked "whats up?"

Daryl looked up from the engine they were both working on and sighed.

"Beth and I decided to not get each other gifts for Christmas cause we wanna get our boy this really nice oak crib...but I feel like I'm supposed to get her something..."he said biting his lip.

"Yeah, that's the tricky thing 'bout woman and especially in ya case..." Ty stroked his chin.

"I mean should I get her a ring or somethin'?" He asked cranking the socket wrench in his hands.

The word ring caught Ty of guard and he almost dropped an entire container of oil.

" Ya think she wants a ring?" Daryl asked elaborating on his question.

"All woman want a ring... but it's 'bout wither or not ya ready to give it to 'em... ya think ya ready for that?" Ty said looking his best friend straight in the face.

"I dunno...just feel like we're have this baby together... practically living together shouldn't I give her some kinda commitment?" Daryl asked looking down at his work.

"Y'all are havin a child together, in my book that makes ya just as married as Karen and me... ya think Beth needs something on her finger?" He asked.

Daryl shrugged his shoulders and grunted.

"She's never mentioned anything before..." he said "maybe after we close up tonight, ya could help me look?" Daryl said and Ty agreed.

Later that day they found themselves in one place Daryl hated most: the local mall.

They walked into the small jewelry store as were greeted by a pushy young sales girl.

She insisted that Daryl look at the newest collection of Leo diamond engagement rings pulling out several to show him. Daryl slipped a princess cut white gold solitaire on his pinky looking it over carefully. But there was just something about all these rings that were wrong.

None of them were Beth.

After about another hour in the jewelry store Daryl found just the right item, he purchased it and had it wrapped right then. On his way to Beth's he hide the box in his glove compartment.

Xx

Beth was full of excitement as they stood in front of all the ornaments in the Christmas section of Target. Being their first Christmas together and Daryl's first Christmas ever Beth decided they needed a fresh start with all new ornaments.

She discarded the ones her and Zach had together saying she and Daryl need to build new memories for their son. Something in her eyes pulled on Daryl's heart strings, he loved that his son would have happy childhood memories that were nothing like what he experienced. That was all thanks to Beth.

She insisted that in addition to the boxes of red, silver, and gold new ornaments they each pick out a special ornament for themselves and one for the baby together.

Beth chooses a silver music note for herself, making Daryl smile again thinking about how she had recently started singing to her belly. Daryl found himself thinking about her singing to a bundle in her arms in the near future.

The ornament Daryl chose was a gold bow and arrow. It wasn't exactly what he liked to use but close enough. Beth beamed at him holding the ornament, thinking about him taking their son for hunting trips and teaching him how to survive off the land.

They walked around the aisle to the children's section of decoration where they both reached for the same ornament. It was a silver hanging frame with blue ribbon to hold it onto the bow of the tree. It have a place where you could slide in a ultrasound picture and on the bottom it said 'coming soon' in cheerful font. This was definitely the perfect first ornament.

Their next task was their secret Santa gifts. They went over to the children's section where Beth could find a gift for Max. She settles on a Batman Lego set. Then they went to the other side of the store so Daryl could find something for Hershel.

He thought it was interesting that he had pulled Hershel's name. He looked around going down every aisle but nothing jumped out at him. Beth had given him several suggestions but nothing seemed good enough for his girlfriend's father.

Then they made their way to the front of the store Daryl was stopped by a display of watches. And it gave him an idea.

After they checked out they went to an antique store Daryl had known about when he purchased a gold pocket watch from the mid 1900's. It was perfect and his thoughtfulness almost made Beth cry.

Xx

A few days later it was time to get the most important of holiday decorations. Beth had bundled up in a jacket, scarf, and a crocheted hat to drag Daryl to his first ever Christmas tree lot.

She slipped her mittened hand into his calloused one as they made their way from the truck to the miles of trees.

Daryl had at first just wanted to get one of artificial trees but Beth said you couldn't get that Christmas smell from green plastic, so here they were. He was glad that they had made a point of doing this because as he watched other families with kids running around the lot picking out the perfect tree, he could see the three of them back here next year.

They walked for about twenty minutes when Beth stopped dead in her tracks.

"It's perfect!" she said pointing as a six foot blue spurs. It was just full enough but not too fat. They walked over and examined it closer.

"What do you think?" She asked.

"I donna what makes a good Christmas tree but it looks fine to me..." Daryl said.

She smiled and pulled on a few bowes.

"Nice and sturdy, not to fat at the bottom, not bare spots, and just the right height...I think this is the perfect first Christmas tree for our family, Mr. Dixon" she said and gave him a sweet kiss on the lips.

He loved how she would light up over silly things like this. He also loved when she called them a family. They looked for someone to assess them in first taking a picture with their tree, then helping Daryl load it in the truck bed.

They found a young man and Beth called out to him.

"Excuse me, sir could you take a picture for us?" She asked, when the man turned around she recognized his face even though it had aged several years since she had seen him.

"Jimmy! Oh my gosh! How are you?" Beth said in a surprised tone. The mans arm pulled her into a hug which annoyed Daryl to no end that someone he didn't know was touching Beth and their unborn son.

"Good, how 'bout you?" He asked looking her up and down, his hands still slightly on her elbows from their hug.

"Wonderful actually..."she smiled placing her hand unconsciously on her stomach.

"Sorry, this must be your husband" Jimmy extended his hand to Daryl.

"Jimmy, this is my boyfriend Daryl, Daryl this is Jimmy...we were high school sweethearts" Beth introduced and the men shook hands.

"You're really lucky to have Bethy... biggest mistake I ever made was leaving Georgia and her behind for college... now look at me, got a fancy degree and I'm still back here doing the same job I did in high school for my pa" he laugh.

"I'm glad you're happy Bethy... you deserve it..." he said rubbing her arm gently them turning his attention to Daryl.

"You have no idea how lucky you are man...you have a beautiful family..." Jimmy complemented in a way that was nice but almost sounded like he was telling Daryl he didn't deserve them.

"Yeah, I'm really lucky" he said putting his arm around her waist possessively.

"When's the little one coming?" He asked drawing his attention back to Beth, touching her stomach.

Beth knew Daryl didn't like it by the tighten grip around her, so she quickly turned into nuzzle into Daryl, removing Jimmy's fingers.

"Our son is making his appearance in March" she said putting her attention on Daryl.

She wanted him to know that she loved him and Jimmy was just a distant memory. She kissed his cheek and said

"Let's take that picture...would you mind?" She absent mindedly pushed her camera toward Jimmy, keeping herself wrapped up in Daryl.

He took the camera and the couple stood smiling in front of the tree her arms around his neck and his on her stomach. After the flash they naturally moved into a kiss and Jimmy snapped another quick shot. Then the two men loaded the tree into the bed of the truck and the couple was on their way.

Xx

That night they decorated Daryl's first Christmas tree. After it was completed they snuggled on the couch together and began their new nightly reading. They had just picked up a book of names a couple of weeks ago and were going through them a little each night.

So far they hadn't agreed on a single one.

"Oh, Richard is a good name" Beth point at the book.

"Naw, don't want the poor boy gettin called dick for short" he said wrinkling his nose.

This is how all the name conversations went. She'd say a name and he'd come up with some sort of mean thing other kids could call his son.

"Mathew?" She suggested.

"Mathew... Matt…a mat is something you whip your feet on." He shot down.

"Benjamin?" she suggested.

"Ben...bend over" he teased.

Beth shut the book with a sigh looking up at him from her position lying with her head on his lap. He gave her an odd look and she knew he was thinking something.

"What?" She asked.

"That guy... Jimmy...still seems to have a thing for ya..." he hesitated to ask about him.

Beth swag her legs down off the couch and turned to face him, cupping his face in her hands.

"Stop! He's nothing but an old boyfriend...I've never felt the way I feel with you with anyone else... I love you, you gave me our son..." she reassured him them softly claimed his lips.

Xx

Early Christmas morning, Daryl untangled himself from the blonde softly snoring in his arms. He slipped out of the room, turned on the tree lights, and started the coffee pot for him and the tea kettle for her.

Quietly he pulled on his boots and jacket to go down to get her gift from his truck. When he reentered the apartment, Daryl saw Beth sliding a small package under the tree. He silently watched her as she did this thinking how beautiful she looked under the multicolored lights of the tree.

Beth turned around and jumped when she saw him watching her.

"I know we said we weren't doing gifts...but..." she reached back under the tree and pulled the small green and red wrapped box out.

"S'okay I got ya somethin too." He said presenting the blue and silver box that fit in the palm on his hand.

They set the gifts on the coffee table and got their respective morning drinks. Beth let out her daily grown about how much she missed her coffee as they made their way back over to the tree.

She insisted it was a Christmas rule that you had to sit on the floor to open your gifts, so she carefully lowered herself to the floor with Daryl's help and he followed.

Exchanging gifts he held the light weight green and red box in his hands examining it carefully. This was his first Christmas gift ever, he wanted to savor the moment.

Beth had suggested he go first, mostly because she thought the gift he had for her look suspiciously like it could contain jewelry, very meaningful jewelry, which one would wear on the left hand.

If that was the case she knew, being a hormonal pregnant woman, she wouldn't be able to stop crying long enough for him to open his gift. Daryl opened the corners of the paper slowly which made her antsy because she always tore open her gifts.

He slide a white gift box out of the green paper and pulled the top off slowly almost like he was expecting something to jump out and bite him. He removed some tissue paper and smiled.

Carefully placed in the box was a gold key on a single ring along with a small printed pass code, her pass code for the building. Another bit of folded paper caught his attention, it about an inch tall and an inch wide folded in half.

When he opened the paper he found that Beth had carefully printed something on it, a two word question: Move in?

Daryl was taken by surprise he hadn't actually been home to his place in over two weeks but she wanted to make it official. He looked up to see Beth eagerly awaiting an answer.

"Hell yeah" was his response, he leaned over giving her long passionate kiss.

Now it was Beth's turn. She tore open the paper to reveal a black jewelry box, new heart was now racing. She carefully opened the top and exclaimed "Oh Daryl! it's beautiful".

Inside sat a gold heart shaped locket with and an elaborate and elegant pattern etched in the surface. The heart hung on a delicate gold chain. It was probably the most beautiful thing she had every laid her eyes on, other than their sons ultrasound. Tears filled her eyes as she gently touched the pattern with her finger.

"If ya don't like it, we can take it back and get ya somethin else" he said nervously scratching the back of his neck.

He didn't know if she was crying because she liked it or because it was the stupidest thing she had ever seen. Beth broke out into a laugh with a huge toothy grin.

"Don't be silly, I love it! It's so beautiful" she said as she took it out of the box.

"Help me put it on" she said handing it over and lifting her long blonde hair up. Daryl struggle with the clasp but finally hooked it. She turned back to face him and asked

"How does it look?" The heart landed perfectly between her collarbones and the gold was a perfect contrast to her pale skin.

"Beautiful" he said as she held the heart pendant in her hand.

"Thank you so much! I can't wait to put a picture in it" she smiled. Daryl got up and went over to the counter where she keeps the mail in a basket. He remembered seeing an extra of the baby's first ultrasound in the pile. He found it, pulled out the scissor and cut it down to size. Then he went over to Beth and helped her remove it.

Opening it he slide in the ultrasound and closed it back up. He clasped it around her neck and placed a soft kiss on the back of her neck sending a shiver down her spine that felt like an electronic jolt. She turned to him and gazed into his eyes.

As if it was scripted they both leaned in for a passionate kiss. Their mouths moves against each other slowly at first but as Beth opened her mouth up to him more he dove in feverishly.

Leading him with her lips, she laid them back so their heads were just under the Christmas tree. Daryl laid awkwardly on top of her, afraid he was pressing to hard on the baby. Beth felt his hesitation and rolled so she was on top of him, knees bent straddling his hips, breasts firmly on his chest, and hands cupping his face.

Daryl ran his hands up and down her thighs finally coming across the hem of her over sized t-shirt, lifting it gently up and over her head. He gazed up at her noting how beautiful she was in nothing but her baby blue cotton panties.

He ran his hands along curve her growing belly, up to curse her swollen pink nipples. She let out a hiss, a mix of pleasure and pain as he carefully pinched them between his thumb and index finger. Beth smiled down at him looking like an angel in the glow of the Christmas lights.

"Welcome home, baby" she softly said looking down at him with warm eyes and a playful smile of her lips. Daryl sat up barely missing the bottom branches of the tree. Bending his knees, he quickly removed the fabric covering is hardened length. He cradled her gently to his body, his finger tips dancing across the creamy white skin of her spine.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling his head into the space between her breasts. Daryl nuzzled in between her engorged breast, tickling Beth's skin with his shaggy brown hair and brings goose bumps to the surface with his warm breath.

Running his hand down between them he pulled aside her panties with two fingers and began massaging the slick folds. A moan escaped her lips as he slipped the two fingers into her and sucked her left nipple into his mouth.

He worked his fingers in a rhythm as he brushed his thumb against her sensitive nerve bundle until her felt her clench his fingers and gush around them. Removing his juice covered fingers; he used them to aide in aligning himself with her opening. Just the wetness from his fingers alone was already making his flesh tinge.

He trusted up to meet her swiftly as breathily moans erupted from both of their throats. She forced her hips down tightly against his, rolling them around like she was circling a hula hoop. As she did so, he moved in and out of her creating a sinfully sweet rhythm like waves lapping against the rough shore when their hips met completely.

Daryl kisses a path back to the center of her chest as she wrapped his head tightly to her. Her fingers ran through his hair scraping he's scalp gently. Daryl could feel her heart thudding against her chest as she panted out is name clinching down around him again, she through her head back in ecstasy.

She arched herself back and rode out her pleasure rolling her hips as she exploded around him. The feeling of her moist, tight walls around his cock, and her soft breasts against his cheeks, were too much to handle. He gripped her hips forcefully and powered up into her core until he emptied his manhood fully. Daryl fell back bumping his head on one of the limbs of the tree on his way back. Beth laid her head gently down on his chest as they worked to catch their breath.

After a few minutes, she dismounted him, adjusting her panties so they were again covering her fully, she curled into his side.

Beth looked up into his eyes and whispered "Merry first Christmas, Daryl".

"Merry Christmas, Beth" he said looking down at the tiny blonde woman in his arms, swollen from the weight of the child he had placed inside of her.

He felt so much love for her and the little boy he hadn't even met yet, that he couldn't understand how his father could have behaved so hateful toward his boys and wife.

They lay in each other's arms for a while longer staring up through the branch of their tree talking about what the next Christmas would bring for their little family of three.

Xx

Christmas dinner at the Greene farm was just as warm and comfortable as thanksgiving. Men and women divided in their stereotypical domains.

"So how did your gift go over?" Maggie asked munching on a carrot stick.

"Great! We talked about it on the way here and we're going to officially start packing up boxes at his place after the first of the year" Beth said she was noticeable beaming and that's when Maggie's attention went to the locket around her neck.

"Oh, Beth that's beautiful" she said as Beth opened it to show her the inside.

"Thanks, Daryl gave it to me this morning..." she hesitated to finish her thought "...when I first saw the box I thought it might his been a ring..." she let out a small laugh, feeling silly now for thinking that automatically.

"Is that what you wanted it to be?" She asked in her mothering tone.

"I don't know...I mean I obviously love him, we're moving in together and going to raise a child together...I guess I just don't want him to feel obligated to marry me just because of the baby, you know? If it happens later on down the road, it would be different." She sighed.

"I just think we have enough pressure right now ..."

Xx

"Bethy, play silent night for us" Hershel asked as he proudly wond the pocket watch Daryl had given him. Hershel was surprised by how thoughtful Daryl's gift was.

Beth sat down at the piano began to play. The family had eaten dinner and exchanged gifts now they were just relaxing in each other's company.

Daryl scooted to the edge of the couch resting his elbows on his knees. He couldn't pull his eyes from her when she sang. The way she leaned into the piano was hypnotic. As Beth pressed the last keys on the piano, she looked up to see Daryl watching her.

She smiled at him then let out a gasp clenching her chest. Daryl was startled by this, he turned over his shoulder to see Hershel and Glenn pushing a dark oak crib into the room with a grinning Maggie behind them.

Their extended family, the Grimes, turned their attention to blonde girl wondering why she was so shocked over a crib that looked to be very old.

Beth pushed herself up from the piano and headed toward her father, grabbing Daryl by the hand and pulling him alone. She reached out and ran her hands over the dark aged wood with tear filled eyes, looking over at her sister across the crib.

"I thought you had this in storage..." Beth said puzzled as to how it ended up here.

"It was but we're not going to be using it anytime soon... it tradition" Maggie said reaching over and grabbing her sister's hand and giving it a squeeze.

Daryl's eyes ran over the family heirloom noticing names burned into the back railing on the crib along with dates starting in the early 1920's. He traced the first name carefully with his index finger no longer listening to the conversation until Beth's voice pulled him back into the room.

"This crib has been in the Greene family for almost a hundred years... see this was my great grandma's name..." Her hand picked his up gentle and took it on a journey to brush the first name and date "...right here, she was the first baby...and all the way over here is Sierra, the last one... daddy are you sure this is ok?" She asked turning her attention to her father.

She was surprised that he would give this to them considering the circumstances. Hershel just nodded approvingly and hugged his daughter.

"This is amazing sir...thank you" Daryl said. He had never been given anything this nice before, even though it was for his son not him directly, it still felt like an incredible gift for him. Hershel reached out after he let his daughter out of his arms and pulled Daryl in for a hug.

"You're family now..." Hershel said into his ear.

Daryl froze, he had never known a father could be so gentle and caring; he wanted to learn more from Hershel to be that kind of father.

Later that night, as they stood together in their baby's room looking at the crib where he would sleep for the first two years of his life Daryl's mind went back to Hershel.

As he wrapped his arms around Beth's shoulders from behind and she reached up to hold onto his arms he whispered into her ear "we have an amazing family". That was the first time he had ever referenced her family as his own. Beth's heart felt like it was going to burst out of her chest with joy.