A/N – Sorry this has taken so long but I've had a lotta stuff going on. It's here now, and I hope everyone likes it because I'm still feeling kinda fragile...
Chapter 12
Beth sighed as she pressed her head against the cool glass of the bus window. She closed her eyes as she felt another tear slide down her face. She swiped at it in frustration as she thought about Daryl. She should have known that he wouldn't let her catch up with him, that he wouldn't stop when she called his name. She should have shouted her explanations after Daryl, told him how she loved him, not Zach, how she had tried to push Zach away and wishes now that she had just straight up kneed Zach in the balls. She wanted to tell him how slimy she had felt with Zach's hands on her, his mouth on hers and how it felt nothing like when Daryl had kissed her, touched her. Beth's stomach churned as her mind conjured up the image of Daryl's face, the hurt in his eyes, when he had seen Zach kissing her. She had thought that maybe he had really meant this to be a purely platonic favour that he was willing to do for her, that she was the only one who was feeling these intense emotions, this burning want, for the other. The look on his face told her otherwise. He had felt it too. She was sure of it. And it had taken him thinking that she felt the exact opposite for her to realise that he felt the exact way she did. Beth's head was hurting even thinking about it. She wasn't even sure if she was making sense to herself. Her heart had dropped when she had gotten back to the empty hotel room and she realised that he had gone. She hadn't even thought about the inconvenience of it, the fact that Daryl leaving Atlanta, leaving her, meant that she wouldn't be able to get home. She had wanted to go after him immediately but even Beth wasn't stupid enough to go running around Atlanta at night, trying to chase down Daryl Dixon. Which is how she ended up on the first bus home the following morning. Beth just hoped that he would hear her out when she got there, although she knew that was unlikely. He had ignored all of her calls and texts from the previous night and Beth decided that she had enough pride left not to leave him a voice-mail begging him to talk to her. So she had decided that once she got off the bus, she was going to march straight over to Daryl's apartment and make him hear her out, whether he liked it or not. She would make him see that Zach's kiss had meant nothing. Even the small touches, the mere brushes of their skin, made Beth feel more on fire, filled with more need, than the most passionate of Zach's kisses ever had. Beth idly wondered if this was how it had always been, if her and Daryl were destined to be together from the very start. She knew that he would scoff at such an idea but she couldn't remember a time when Daryl Dixon hadn't been an important part of her life. Even in the 8 years that they were apart, Beth had thought of him often, as much as she had tried not to, or pretended to herself that it wasn't really Daryl she was thinking of, more fond memories of her childhood, and part of her had always known this was not really the case. Beth blinked her eyes open, willing the tears not to fall as she glanced out the window. She hefted herself out of her seat, bags in hand, waiting for the train to stop. She was home again.
Merle shifted uncomfortably on the couch and reached for his beer. He took a large gulp before throwing his other arm over his eyes. Fuckin' Darylina. Merle hadn't gotten in til late last night, catching up with old buddies, and had just fallen asleep when his baby brother had burst in, ranting about some douche-bag and something about Beth. It had taken Merle a while to calm Daryl down enough to tell him what had happened. Merle sighed as he thought back to last night. He hadn't seen Daryl so worked up about a woman since... He didn't think he'd ever seen Daryl so worked up about a woman. Or about anything for that matter. Merle had known how Daryl felt about the youngest Greene for a long time, maybe even longer than Daryl himself had known. Merle had figured it out well before the two had stopped talking, back when they were still friends, only in their early teens, not really old enough to understand what they were feeling. Merle smirked to himself as he remembered the way that Daryl would talk about Beth, obviously out of ear shot of their father, and how he would try to hide the way his face lit up when he spoke. He wasn't sure how Daryl was going to deal with this, but he figured that if Beth was getting back with her asshole ex-boyfriend then she would probably move back to Atlanta. That'd be good for Daryl. Merle didn't want his younger brother to have to see Beth all the time, he didn't know if Daryl could handle it. Yeah, Merle figured, it'd be for the best if Beth stayed in Atlanta. Merle decided to get a few minutes shut eye, figured he was entitled to it, considering he had missed out on a lot of it last night while playing the concerned older brother. He thought he'd done pretty well of not angering Daryl further by keeping his mouth shut that no one would love him but ol' Merle. He knew it to be partly true, although Beth did love him in her own way. Just obviously not in the way that Daryl loved her. Merle closed his eyes and sighed as sleep began to seep it's way in. Then someone started banging on the door. Motherfucker. Merle groaned and cursed as he stood from the couch and swaggered towards the front door. The banging started again.
"A'ight, I'm comin', keep ya panties on." Merle groaned as he swung the door open, expecting one of his drinking buddies from last night, maybe even Carol. He definitely wasn't expecting Beth Greene. "Beth, uh, sorry, I thought you were... Never mind." Merle shook his head. "You shouldn't be here, baby Greene."
"I..." Beth stammered, forcing herself to stand up taller, making herself look more confident than she felt. She hadn't had time to think about whether Merle would be here or how much Daryl would have told him. "I'm here to see Daryl." Beth hoped Merle hadn't noticed her voice shaking as she said his brother's name.
"He ain't here, Lil' Bit. 'Sides, I don't think he wants to see ya right now, after, y'know..." Merle trailed off and pinned Beth with an accusing glare. He didn't like being mean to Beth but he couldn't help but feel protective towards his baby brother.
"It's not... It wasn't..." Beth shook her head trying to gather her thoughts and the first of the tears she had been holding back slipped, unbidden, from her eyes and down her pale face. "Zach kissed me, Merle. I didn't want him to, I tried to push him back, but he's so strong and then Daryl walked in and he thought that I wanted to kiss Zach and I didn't. I wanted to kiss Daryl, I always want to kiss Daryl. Forever. I went after him but he was gone and now he won't talk to me at all and I..." Beth's speech had been so fast, Merle had struggled to keep up but now she was hiccuping between her words. "I love him, Merle."
Merle let out a low whistle, not quite sure what to say. He thought back to the story that Daryl had told him last night about how he had seen this Zach follow Beth out and the older Dixon figured it fit pretty well with this story that Beth was telling him. Hell, if he was gonna make a move on a girl who was with someone else, he would definitely wait for an opportunity to be alone, and that's exactly what douchey Zach had done. Merle rubbed at his eyes before glancing back at Beth. He nodded his head.
"I reckon he loves ya too, y'know. But I ain't never told ya that, if anyone asks." Beth offered him a watery smile and Merle thought quickly of a way around this. "Tell ya what, Daryl's gonna be at Rattlesnake's tonight, you know, the bar?" Beth nodded. "Might even be there all night, you understand?" Beth nodded again and stood up on her tiptoes to kiss Merle on the cheek. She smiled at him widely before whispering her thanks and bounding back to her car. Merle smirked at the blonde before closing the front door.
He heard the bathroom door open from behind him and turned to see his brother coming out of the shower, rubbing a towel over his shaggy hair.
"Who was that?" Daryl asked, jutting his chin in the direction of the front door. Merle turned to look at the door as if he had never seen it before and scratched his chin.
"Oh, uh, salesman." Merle nodded, as if trying to convince himself of this lie. "You better get yaself dressed, baby brother."
Daryl raised a quizzical eyebrow at his brother as he made his way over to the fridge, still dressed in nothing but a towel around his waist and the one in his hand, still rubbing at the back his head. He opened the fridge and got himself a beer, taking a long sip from it, before leaning back against the kitchen counter.
"We goin' somewhere?" He asked, when Merle didn't elaborate.
"Yep. We're goin' to Rattlesnake's." Merle smirked.
A/N - Sorry if it's a bit short, just trying to get back in the swing of things!
