* quick note - I have already received a couple of reviews about Daryl's job/pay. I will explain that more in a later chapter when he tells Beth about the job/company he works for. Thank you!

…

Chapter Ten. Cheerwine Chocolate.

When his boss called and asked him if he could get to the warehouse a little bit early to talk with him, Daryl was convinced he was fired. He wasn't sure what he had done to warrant losing his job but there was a part of him that wasn't necessarily surprised. He was a Dixon and they weren't exactly known for holding down a job.

But he had had this job for almost a year and he thought he had been doing a pretty good job. His boss had never complained to him about his performance before so Daryl had just assumed that he would be able to keep doing this job for a while. It was a steady income and he was able to pay his bills and rent and still have a little bit left over. He had even had health insurance for the first time in his life.

As he drove to the warehouse later that afternoon, he wondered where he would look for his next job. It was a university town so there had to be other jobs around.

There was an office building attached to the warehouse and the only other time he had been inside had been months earlier when he had first been interviewed and hired. He assumed it was like any other office. Cubicles and computers and file cabinets with a couple of green plants in the corners by the windows. Daryl wasn't entirely too sure what went on in here. Sales of some sort. Electrical stuff because Daryl moved reels of cable and wire and boxes of light fixtures every night, putting away deliveries and taking inventory and getting ready for shipments the next day.

The man in charge was Abraham – a large man with red hair and matching handlebar mustache. When Daryl first met him, he had gotten an ex-military feel from him and walking into the man's office, he had been right. Pictures of him with old comrades in different parts of the world, wearing their uniforms. He had been in the army for twenty years before retiring and entering the "private sector" as he called it. He was a bit of an odd man to imagine being any type of manager of an office but Daryl didn't have that much interaction with him and he could only assume that he was good at his job.

When Daryl walked in, some of the other employees were still there, sitting at their desks, clacking away on their computers or answering ringing telephones. They were all dressed in button down shirts and slacks or skirts and Daryl instantly felt out of place in his holey jeans and flannel shirt and he definitely didn't belong here.

"Daryl!" Abraham stepped out of his office and exclaimed his name in a boisterous tone that got the attention of a few of the others, curiously looking over at him.

Daryl left the front door and crossed the carpeted floor towards the man.

"Right on time," Abraham grinned at him and slapped him on the back with a rough hand before ushering him into the office and closing the door behind them both. "Sit, sit. You want something to drink?"

"Nah, I'm alright, thanks," Daryl said, lowering himself into one of the chairs in front of the man's desk and Abraham went to the mini-fridge to get himself a bottle of water. Daryl began running his palms slowly on the thighs of his jeans, wishing Abraham would just get on with it and fire him. Why be nice about it?

Abraham kept grinning though as he sat down in his own seat behind his desk. "Do you like working nights?" He asked, apparently diving right into it.

Daryl shrugged. "'s alright. Took some gettin' used to."

"You got a girl? How is she with you working nights?" Abraham asked, leaning back in his chair, it groaning a little beneath him, and unscrewing the cap from his water bottle but he didn't take a sip.

Beth immediately popped into his mind and he nearly began frowning because of it. Beth was not his girl. Nowhere near it and he wasn't going to allow himself to think of her being anything other than the girl who sometimes sat with him as they ate doughnuts and drank coffee in the mornings. She wasn't anything more than that.

Daryl shook his head. "'s jus' me," he said.

Abraham nodded and took a guzzle of water and seemed to be thinking something through. Daryl sat there, waiting, watching, wishing he would just get fired already if that was where Abraham was leading this to.

"Our warehouse guy who works the days walked out on us," Abraham said. "Claimed it was too stressful for him and he was tired of putting up with everything. Left us in a lurch and screwed us over. But then you immediately popped into my head and how hard you've been working here for the past ten months."

Daryl stared at him, not allowing himself to assume he knew what Abraham was talking about. Maybe he was just the kind of man to compliment them before firing them. Daryl was not going to think that his boss had invited him in here to promote him. He had learned long ago that nothing good ever happened in life and getting your hopes up was nothing but pointless and disappointing.

"Was hoping you would consider switching to the day shift. Seven to four," Abraham said. "It comes with a little raise because the day warehouse manager does have to do a little bit more but I don't think it would be anything you couldn't handle. You would have to put up with everyone in this office though, including me," the man added with a grin.

Daryl didn't smile though. He had heard Abraham's words and he knew all of those words, and yet, he didn't entirely understand.

"Manager?" Daryl then echoed the one word he couldn't quite believe.

Abraham nodded. "You'd be in charge of the whole warehouse. Keeping track of inventory, unloading the trucks when they get here for deliveries, keeping track of paperwork, loading up the pallets and getting them ready for shipments. The warehouse would be yours."

Daryl took another moment. "I don't know much about paperwork," he then said.

Abraham's smile grew. "We'd train you. Hell, I still don't know about paperwork. I'm just damn good at pretending like I know what I'm doing. You need time to think it over? I'll give you a day but I need an answer by tomorrow afternoon. I hate to rush you but Monday morning, I need a guy in that warehouse, ready to go."

It took Daryl just another minute more. Not only was he not getting fired but he was actually being promoted. Warehouse manager. An actual manager in charge of something and for a brief moment, he imagined telling Beth about it and knowing she would be so happy and excited for him.

Why the hell was this girl always in his head?

"Nah, I don't have to think about it," Daryl said with a shake of his head. "I'll take it."

"Fantastic!" Abraham boomed with a wide smile. "You'll start Monday. Seven a.m. Take the couple of days off so you can start fresh. Oscar can handle the nights. Fantastic," he said again and then stood up, Daryl following his lead and standing up as well. Abraham thrust his hand out and Daryl shook it.

"Thanks," Daryl reminded himself to say and Abraham kept beaming. He headed towards the door but then stopped, turning back towards Abraham. "You mentioned about a little bit more money?"

"You make what? Twenty an hour now?" Abraham said and Daryl nodded. It was a meager living but it was more than enough for him and forty hours at twenty bucks for each one was more money than he had ever had before. "Warehouse manager, you're entitled to thirty," he said.

Daryl wasn't sure how he actually left the office because he swore he could feel the ground swaying beneath his feet as he walked. He kept saying the number to himself but he couldn't quite believe it and he wasn't sure if he even really understood it. Thirty bucks an hour. Forty hours a week. Two paychecks a month. After taxes and paying for insurance… what the hell was he going to do with all of that money? He had never had money before in his life and now, he was going to have more than he ever dreamed. He knew to most, it still wouldn't seem like a lot but to him who was used to living on dirt, this was going to make him feel as rich as any king.

He had driven his truck that day and before he even realized it, he had driven to the hardware store. He got out and entered, the bell ringing as he opened the door. Beth was standing at the register, checking out a customer who was bags of fertilizer. She lifted her eyes when she heard the bell and she burst into a smile the instant she saw him. Daryl felt his own lips twitch in response.

It had been a week since the police station and she came over to his place. He tried not to think about the way he had inhaled the side of her neck but he knew she hadn't seemed to mind. When he had finally pulled his head back and looked at her, she smiled faintly up at him and looked flushed and Daryl felt his stomach clenching like it seemed to do all of the time when he was around her.

He could feel it clenching right now.

He hadn't touched her since. Some mornings, she would be there in the doughnut shop and they ate their doughnuts and drank coffee and Beth talked about her classes. He rarely talked in return but he listened to every word she had to say. She loved music and was always telling him about some song or singer or something she was writing for one of her classes. He had almost asked her, more than once, to play him something sometime.

Beth finished ringing up the customer. "Have a wonderful day, Mrs. Palmer!" She called out to the woman and Daryl pushed the door open, holding it for her as she carried her fertilizer outside, the woman smiling warmly at him in return.

"Hi," Beth then greeted him, coming around the counter. "What are you doing here?"

"Was in the need for some more birdseed," he shrugged and she smiled as if she somehow knew that he wasn't here just for birdseed.

"I knew I would see you today," Beth said as she led him down the appropriate aisle. "I woke up and saw a beautiful red cardinal right outside my window and I knew that today was going to be a good day."

It is illegal to own a Cardinal as a pet or to kill one; they are a government-protected wild bird species and protected pursuant to the "Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918."

Daryl heard his mom's voice in his head, reading off a fact from her bird calendar.

He picked up a twelve pound bag of birdseed this time and hefted it onto his shoulder. "Damn birds are eatin' me out of home," he pretended to grumble.

Beth laughed lightly and his damn stomach clenched. "They're used to you now."

He looked at her and his throat felt thick. He almost told her that he had gotten used to her now, too. He would never say anything like that and yet, he had felt the strong need to voice the words rising in his throat. Luckily, he was able to swallow them down before they could spill out past his lips.

"What time do you get outta here?" He asked instead.

"I close tonight. Seven," she answered.

"I got good news today. At work. Was wonderin' if you wanted to maybe go and get somethin' to eat with me. To celebrate?"

He heard the words he was saying and yet, he couldn't really believe that he was saying them. He was actually inviting to take her out to dinner. Was this a date? He had never been on a date before in his life and he didn't know if that's what this was but Beth probably would think that it was. Beth was the kind of girl who probably got asked out on dates all the time.

But the smile Beth gave him in that moment was all worth it. He'd take this girl out on a thousand dates if that's what she thought this was if she would smile like that again. How could Zach even get the thought in his head to slap this girl let alone actually do it? Daryl would never hit a woman and looking down at Beth as she beamed her own piece of sunshine up at him, he couldn't imagine ever doing something like that. He didn't understand guys who could and did. He always wondered if it was inside of him though. He was Will Dixon's son after all. Maybe one day, someone – maybe Beth – would just make him so angry and he would snap.

No. No way would that happen. It couldn't happen. Daryl would rather cut both of his hands off then ever lay them on Beth. He would rather never see her again.

"I would love to come and celebrate with you," Beth said and her smile never faded and her eyes never moved from his.

And because she wasn't looking away from him, Daryl couldn't move his eyes away from either.

He wondered if she had had any idea how much he was thinking of her lately.

"It ain't gonna be anywhere fancy," he felt the need to tell her and Beth laughed at that, shaking her head.

"I'm a college student. Getting something that isn't on the McDonald's dollar menu is fancy to me," she smiled and he actually felt himself smiling a little at that, too.

"Think I can afford to get you a value meal if you wan' one," he heard himself joking with her and she laughed again and he got this strong need in the pit of his stomach to keep trying to get her to laugh. He wasn't a funny guy by any means but Beth seemed to think otherwise and he almost allowed himself to like the way she thought about him.

"I can't wait," Beth said, still smiling up at him. "You'll come back around seven?"

He nodded once. "I'll be here."

Nowhere else I'd rather be, he silently added in his head.

…

He didn't know if it was a date. He wanted to tell himself it wasn't. He had never been on a date before and he didn't know if he wanted to go on one. He had gone through his life this long without participating in something anything like that. There had never really been a girl in his life who he had even been interested in. He had learned early on that most the girls wouldn't even look and if they did, they would then turn to their friends and laugh behind their hands at the poor, dirty white-trash redneck looking at them.

And if a girl did show interest in him, it was usually the kind of a girl Merle would go for. The kind that hung out at the bars who wore too much leather and liked showing off too much skin with too much makeup caked on their face and huge chests that Daryl didn't understand how they could walk without toppling over. They were trashy – just like him – and Daryl never understood why he hadn't been attracted to any of them but they were so comfortable with touching, it actually made him feel uncomfortable and they were all looking for a man to save them.

Daryl had never been able to save anyone before. Not his mom. Not his grandma. So why would anyone look to him to save them from their mile-long issues?

Beth was different in every possible way. She was good and kind and that goodness on the inside of her shone through to the outside and he hardly even knew her but he already knew she was one of the best people he had ever met. He could just imagine how his Grandma Liv would feel about her if she was still around and Daryl had the chance to introduce them to one another.

Grandma Liv had loved tea and had had boxes of it in the kitchen cabinet. Daryl had always hated it – no matter how much honey she had tried to add to it to try and get him to like it. He imagined that Beth probably liked tea, too, and when Daryl brought her over to the house, Grandma Liv would make a pot and she and Beth would sit down with their delicate tea cups and drink and laugh about silly things – probably all at Daryl's expense.

And then, once they had eaten their meatloaf that Grandma Liv had always made the best and Grandma Liv had sliced out pieces of the apple pie she had baked just for this occasion, and Beth was already outside, Grandma Liv would pull Daryl into a hug and smile up at him and tell him not to let that one go.

And Daryl would promise to her that he wasn't planning on it.

Daryl forced himself to shake his head at all of those damn thoughts. It wasn't real and it never would be. Grandma Liv was dead and he wasn't taking Beth out on a date. He had just gotten good news that day and she was the first person who popped into his head who he wanted to tell.

He didn't even know if they were friends. Beth probably looked at him as if they were and Daryl supposed he could look at her like that, too. If she wanted that.

He spent the afternoon cleaning the apartment – though there wasn't that much of anything messy to clean – and with the feeder full of seed once more, there was a flutter of activity as all sorts of birds came to eat and Daryl found himself just sitting and watching them for a while.

Around five, he took a quick shower and found himself standing in his bedroom, unsure what to wear. And he instantly felt stupid for that. What did it matter what he wore? And it wasn't as if he had some sort of extensive wardrobe to choose from. He wound up wearing what he usually always wore. Jeans that weren't dirty but had a hole in the knee, a tee-shirt, one of his flannel shirts and his jacket. He shook a hand through his hair and wondered if he should finally get it cut. It was getting a little long, he supposed.

He found himself scowling at himself in the mirror's reflection. What the hell was he doing? What the hell was Beth doing to him? He didn't even know this girl and she was flipping him upside down and he didn't understand the hell why.

When he went back to the hardware store, he was still frowning.

The bell tinkled and Beth wasn't anywhere to be seen so he stood near the front of the store, waiting, looking over the different rakes and shovels Otis sold.

He wished he had a bit of land for himself. He liked the apartment. It was definitely the nicest place he had ever lived in besides his Grandma's house for that brief time and the apartment was all his without anyone else there to trash it. But sometimes, he felt like it was slowly closing in on him and it was too damn small and he would have to get outside to the woods as soon as he could. He'd love to live out there. Just nothing but him and the trees and animals and no one else around for miles.

He found himself wondering if there was any property for sale around here. Maybe if he saved for a while, with the help of his new job, he'd be able to actually afford it if there was.

"Hey!" Beth's eager greeting reached his ears and he turned his head to see her coming up the aisle. The apron she wore when working here was gone and she had already turned the lights off in the back of the store. "I am starving," she declared and he felt his lips twitching as he looked at her.

She wore these jeans that looked as if they were formed to her legs like another skin, ready to be shed off at the end of the night like a snake's – his ears turned red at the thought of Beth undressing – and an over-sized green sweatshirt that looked as if it had belonged to a man before her, the sleeves so long, she had rolled them a few times so her hands were free. They were pushed to her elbows at the moment and she wore at least a dozen bracelets on her left wrist and he noticed that she was always wearing bracelets on that wrist.

"Ready to go?" He asked.

"I have been craving this value meal for hours now," she beamed and he smiled, too. Actually smiled. And Beth's own smile seemed to grow at the sight of it.

He waited on the sidewalk outside for her as she finished turning off the lights and then closed and locked the door securely behind her. She then turned towards him and took a deep breath.

"Ready?" She asked him this time.

He nodded. "I brought my bike… I 'member how much you liked it that one time."

"I have been wanting another ride. I just didn't know if I could ask," she admitted.

Daryl swallowed, feeling his throat get a little dry at that. His hands were in his pockets and he shrugged, suddenly finding the sidewalk to be the most interesting thing around him right then to be looking at.

"Could 'ave asked me anytime," he muttered, probably too softly for her to hear him all that clear. He then lifted his eyes back to her and her smile had softened, but still on her face as she looked at him.

Damn this girl for being so pretty.

He climbed onto the bike and Beth followed, sitting behind him, getting herself situated and then sliding her arms around his waist. He took a moment, just allowing himself to feel her pressed up behind him. She was small and warm and how the hell could someone as small as her be as hot as any fire he had ever lit?

He thought of those girls in the bar and how he flinched whenever one of them had ever touched him. He had flinched and tense plenty of times when Beth touched him. Girl was too damn open with her affection all of the time but now, he found himself getting used to it. He supposed it was because he was used to her now.

He revved the bike up and when he took off down the street, he felt Beth's arms tighten around his waist and he heard her let out a happy laugh and Daryl let a smile slowly spread across his face in response.

…

"Absolutely perfect," Beth said with the voice of a person who was completely content with everything in her life as she dunked her last chicken McNugget into the small container of sweet and sour sauce.

Daryl had finished his Big Mac already and sat, unable to help but watch her eat as he sipped on his Coke through the straw.

The small town had two fast food places. A McDonald's at one end and a Taco Bell at the other and while Beth seemed perfectly happy with eating at a McDonald's for dinner, Daryl wished he had been able to take her somewhere – anywhere – else even though he reminded himself that Beth really didn't seem like the kind of girl who cared about things like that.

She smiled at him across the small plastic table with her eyes as she chewed and one corner of his mouth twitched upwards in response. He knew he didn't have to. Hell, he didn't even have to do this tonight. But he watched her eat, looking as happy as any fat cat who had finally gotten the canary, and he found himself making silent assurances himself that next time – if there was going to be a next time with her – he would be damn sure to take Beth out for dinner to a place without fluorescent lighting. Though he was pretty sure that even in the fluorescent lighting of the McDonald's, Beth Greene was still the prettiest thing in this whole world.

With his raise at work, maybe he'd be able to. Maybe, with his raise at work, he'd be able to do all sorts of things now. Things a man with the last name of Dixon had never really been able to do before. And maybe one of those things was take a pretty girl out on an actual date.

Daryl knew he couldn't really deny it anymore. He didn't know why and he sure as hell didn't know when it had happened but he sat there, watching her as she ate from her red carton of French fries, and he knew he wanted to take Beth out on a date. His first date with a girl ever and he wanted it to be with her.

He wondered if Beth would ever want to go out on a date with him.

He supposed he'd have to ask her.

Nah. He couldn't ask her, he was quick to remind himself. There was just no way this girl would want to. She had just gotten out of a relationship – a bad relationship – and he didn't want to maybe trap her into something with him when she was feeling vulnerable. And even though he didn't want to, he found himself thinking about her ex. Zach. The clean-cut sort of boy who was going to college and no matter how much of an asshole he was and no matter how much he didn't deserve it, that kid was going to have a life with a good job who made good money and would be the sort to be able to afford everything.

Beth needed a guy like that. Not a guy who slapped her around but a guy who would be able to give her anything and everything. Definitely not a guy who was nothing more than some manager of some small warehouse in an even smaller town and who could only take her out to McDonald's when he wanted to take her out.

…

Thank you so much for reading and please comment! I can't explain how proud I am of this story.

I know it's not my strong suit but I think I'm going to attempt Beth's POV again in the next chapter.