I apologise in advance if this chapter seems a little jumpy, but I've typed it all up in the middle of the night here and stayed up waaaay past my bedtime to edit it and put it on here for you. It's pretty long, too, and I WAS going to split it in half, but I thought I would treat you all with a bit of a longer chapter than usual as a big thank you for being so kind and supportive to me with this story.
Balancing three fics is more difficult than I first realised but you all make it so much easier with your motivating reviews. I seriously love hearing from you all so much, it always puts a smile on my face, especially when you all start guessing about what's going to happen and where I'm taking the plot with this.
Enjoy!
It had been a long day.
The journey home to America was much easier to organise when it was just Daryl who was leaving; but now that he had a wife to take into account, things seemed to be much more complicated and the general process seemed to be much more drawn out. Beth seemed to have more belongings than he initially realised and he wondered how on earth it was even possible for a young woman to own so many items of clothing. Most of the pieces she owned were dresses that she insisted she just had to take with them despite Daryl informing her that she could happily purchase more in America, and those dresses alone seemed to take up more space than all of Daryl's clothes combined. Daryl really didn't care much for fashion - never had, probably never would - and he wasn't very sure what the appeal of the flimsy material was for his wife, but he respected it all the same.
If dresses made Beth happy, then it made him happy, too; and Daryl reasoned with himself that they had plenty of room for her things back home in Georgia.
Home.
The thought of home tugged at his heart. Beth had grown accustomed to calling this house their home over the past two weeks that they had been staying there, and in all fairness, Daryl never made much of an attempt to correct her on that. But this house was not his home; never would be, never could be. It wasn't Beth's home, either; although Daryl had a feeling that the only other place that she had called home in her life had no business being her home any more, either. Daryl could only hope that his wife would enjoy the life that he would provide for her in Georgia, and reasoned with himself that maybe having her sister living not too far away from her would make her feel more comfortable in the strange country, more at ease.
It wouldn't be fair to attempt to speak for his wife or put words into her mouth, so Daryl didn't bother to when it came to the question of whether or not Beth would enjoy living in the south of his native country. Lots of things were different about life there, and he had been trying his best to explain those things to her in an attempt to ease her into the idea of what her life would soon be like. His wife seemed to understand that the weather was more extreme; winter's much colder and summer's much warmer, both extreme's of the opposite season's often becoming unbearable. To her credit, Beth seemed to be strong and adaptable and Daryl was confident that she would adjust to life in his home in Georgia with ease and grace.
Daryl tried to be as quiet as he could as he pushed open the door to their bedroom, but the hinges of the old door shouted out to him in protest as he nudged it further ajar. Daryl winced at the sound, cursing under his breath as he slipped inside of the room and pushed the door back to a close. The click of the handle seemed to echo loudly around the room and Daryl noticed that his wife was beginning to stir in their bed, her peaceful slumber broken by the noisiness of his entrance.
It was with a heavy sigh that Daryl sat himself down onto the bed, his back facing towards where Beth was sprawled out face-down in the middle of the mattress, mumbling something incoherent as she left her sleepy state and became more alert. The bed dipped with his weight as he tugged off his boots and then began to kick off his pants, stifling a groan at the chance to finally step out of his clothes once they landed in a pile at his feet. Daryl told himself that he would most definitely have to bathe either in the morning or the afternoon at the latest considering the fact that it was their last day in the country, but for now, the soft sheets of the bed that he shared with his wife were calling him to come and rest his head on the pillows.
Well, the sheets were calling him; but Beth was calling him, too.
"Daryl?" she whispered into the darkness, his name sounding more like a question on her lips.
Beth's voice was groggy and tired and he could hear her shift in the bed behind him, most likely pushing herself up on her elbows. Daryl only offered his wife a grunt in response as he began to unbutton his shirt, not turning to face her as he shrugged out of his last item of clothing.
"Come here."
Well, who was he to refuse Beth of anything?
He didn't. Instead, Daryl obeyed her gentle command, shifting himself so that he was lay underneath the covers beside her. It seemed like an instinctive reaction for Beth to scoot up slightly in attempt to make some more room for him, but Daryl was tired and needier than usually, desperate to feel her skin against his. The day had been long and stressful; filled with paperwork and discussions about how things were going to carry on in this house after the Dixon's left for America. In the end, it had been settled that the house and the staff who lived here would be rented out to an older man who was quite new to town, and Daryl had spent the majority of his day meeting with him and discussing the ways in which things would be organised for him.
Unfortunately, it seemed like the man who was going to be living in the house was more than just slightly racist. Daryl had tried to warn Sasha about it as tactfully as he could possibly muster, but subtly had never been Daryl Dixon's strong point. Still, he was positive that the young woman had got the message and had taken it on the chin, too; and Daryl supposed that Sasha was as well-prepared for what was soon to come as she possibly could be.
It was a shame that this was her life, but Daryl was no hero and he needed someone to rent the house in order to keep paying Sasha her wages. She could have easily been forced into a working life - perhaps not with him, but with someone else - but as with all of his other employees, Daryl offered her a room to board in and food to fill her stomach and a little amount of money each week to get her by.
If Sasha didn't like it here, then she was more than welcome to leave.
Daryl reached out into the darkness and clutched onto Beth's wrist, the movement catching his wife by surprise - he could tell by the way in which she stiffened underneath his grip. In a matter of seconds she was relaxing into his touch, her pulse slowing down beneath his fingertips and she seemed to understand what he was silently asking of her despite the fact that she could hardly see his face in the black of the room. Beth moved herself closer to him so that the tips of their noses were just touching and their legs tangled around each other's beneath the sheets. Daryl slipped his hand from her wrist and was about to pull it back down to his side when Beth stopped him in his tracks, and Daryl could just about see the outline of her faint smile as she intertwined their fingers.
"Goodnight," Beth whispered to him.
Daryl initially responded by pulling their joined hands up to his mouth and pressing a kiss to the back of her hand before leaning closer towards her and pressing a chaste kiss to her soft lips. He would happily kiss her lips until he was starved of all oxygen, but he was far too exhausted to engage in any such activities tonight.
"G'dnight, Beth," Daryl mumbled back to her.
It didn't take much longer after that for Daryl's eyes to droop shut without warning and for him to begin to snore as he entered a state of sleep that was filled with dreams of Beth and her golden hair running free in the woods back home.
Rising with the sun was something that Daryl had been accustomed to throughout his entire life - at least since very early childhood - so it surprised him when he first woke up to find that the sun was positioned quite high in the sky. It took him a few moments for his eyes to adjust to the bright light that filled the bedroom and even longer for him to fully wake up out of his sleepy daze, and Daryl cursed under his breath at the realisation that it had to be at least noon.
Rubbing the sleep from his eyes with the back of his hands and mumbling under his breath about how much he had to do that day, it quickly dawned upon him that there was something else that wasn't quite right.
Of course: his wife was no longer in bed with him.
Daryl's protective instinct took over and without bothering to pay much attention to his surroundings (which was very much unlike him), he found himself peering over the side of the bed in an attempt to locate where he had positioned his shoes in the darkness the night before. He was contemplating all the places that Beth might be and was reasoning with himself that she probably wouldn't have strayed too far without him as he reached over the bed to grab his boots when he heard the soft sound of someone humming not so far away from him.
How he didn't realise that the door that led from their bedroom into the washroom had been opened, he couldn't quite say, but Daryl was quickly dropping his boots back onto the floor of the room as his head snapped over in the direction of the washroom. Beth's voice was soft and sweet - probably the nicest thing that he'd ever heard - and he couldn't help but be drawn to it. Daryl craned his neck as he pushed his body forward slightly so that he could get a better glimpse into the room only to see that Beth had settled herself nicely into the large white tub that was positioned in the center of the room.
She was a wonderful sight to see point blank, but especially so when Daryl had only just woken up and was still in a somewhat sleepy, dreamy state. A lazy smile was sprawled across her face as she looked right at him; her long blonde tresses falling over the back of the tub in long waves, the bubbles that filled the water hiding most of her slender frame from his hungry and roaming eyes.
"Good afternoon, Mister Dixon," Beth called out to him in a teasing tone, the lazy smile that had graced her features turning into a cocky smirk.
In some ways, it still baffled him how a woman who was a stranger to him just a mere two weeks ago could behave so confidently and so relaxed around him. It was all so natural and domestic and yet frightening at the same time and was most definitely not something that Daryl was used to.
"Why didn't you wake me?" Daryl asked with a yawn before throwing the covers from his body.
He stood up and stretched, groaning happily to himself as he did so before he made his way towards the washroom, watching as Beth drank all of him in the whole way.
She shrugged her shoulders at him nonchalantly in response to his question, twirling a strand of her hair in her fingers.
"Well, at first, I thought you might have woken up when you heard me call for Sasha to draw me a bath..." Beth began to explain, her voice trailing off as she giggled. "But... you were still snoring when she left about twenty minutes or so ago."
Daryl rolled his eyes at his wife's tone and positioned himself silently beside her, resting on his knees next to the bathtub, his face next to hers. His fingers instinctively inched towards her curly hair and she made a sound that almost reminded him of a kitten purring as he began to massage her scalp and run his fingers through the silky golden strands, enjoying how smooth it felt beneath his fingertips.
The moments that they shared were becoming more intimate and tender, more purposeful and meaningful. Daryl didn't give it much thought as he reached out for the bar of soap that rested on the side of the tub and he pried it from where it was slightly stuck in position. Without giving Beth any warning, he dipped the bar of soap into the water so that it would run across her skin with ease and then he began to rub it across her shoulders and her collarbones, willing himself not to miss any inch of her body as he cleaned her.
His actions encouraged Beth to sit up slightly in the water, and in doing so she exposed more of her pale flesh to him. Daryl tried his hardest to ignore the signs of his growing arousal at the sight of his wife's breasts as he continued to run the soap over body, focusing on his task of cleaning her thoroughly in preparation for their journey.
"I didn't see you much yesterday," Beth said after a short while, her voice quiet and low.
Daryl nodded his head slightly at that.
"Had a long day," he mumbled, hoping his excuse didn't sound all too pathetic to her ears. After all, it was the truth.
His deep blue eyes flickered up to meet with hers and he swallowed at the sight of her smile, all soft and understanding as she gazed at him in a way that he wasn't sure he was familiar with. The look that she was offering him now somewhat unnerved him, and Daryl quickly shot his eyes back down to where he was rubbing the soap across her smooth skin.
"So is everything prepared for us now?" Beth asked him as his hand disappeared beneath the bubbles of the water, the soap running across her stomach and her lower back as he tried to commit every curve to his memory.
Daryl nodded at his wife in confirmation.
"And when is it that we leave?" she continued, her breathing becoming slightly laboured when Daryl dropped the soap from his hand back into the water with a plop and moved to trail the lines of her hips with his fingertips.
"At dawn," Daryl drawled, his voice rough and low as his hand edged lower and lower until he was greeted with her core. Beth spread her legs wider for him to allow him to have easier access to her center and Daryl groaned inwardly when she shuddered beneath his fingers, her head tilting back to rest against the tub, her eyes fluttering to a close as his thumb brushed against her clit.
Even under the soapy warm water of her bath, it was all too apparent to Daryl that his wife was wet.
Daryl knew that Beth was sad to be leaving Ireland behind her.
The pair of them may not have known each other for an excessively long period of time, but spending almost fourteen days with one another without much else to do other than bond with each other and get to know more about the other made it difficult not to pick up on certain traits about the other person. The two of them had become much closer than he ever anticipated that they would over the course of the last two weeks, and Daryl had to wonder how on earth things would be between them after a few more weeks, or months, or years.
If this was anything to go by, then Daryl Dixon was confident that he had a lot to look forward to when it came to life with Beth.
Daryl was a generally observant man, and it was more than evident to him that his wife was not feeling up to her best as the two of them set out towards the coast of Ireland in the early hours of the morning.
Beth was't tired at all, either. Although Daryl supposed that she had slept quite poorly the night before, waking him up as she tossed and turned and groaned in frustration. There was a time and place for everything, though; and Daryl supposed that as much as he wished that he was good with words sometimes (particularly times like these), he wasn't. And even if he was, Daryl knew that there would be no point in trying to encourage Beth to be more positive about their move to Georgia - not at the moment, anyway.
He may not have been a very patient man by nature, but Beth was teaching him all of those tricks. And besides, no matter what some people thought of him, Daryl did have a heart. He tried his best to give Beth the space that she needed, even if that was difficult when they were riding together in his carriage side by side, and he continually reminded himself that this woman had never left her little town before, never mind the country, and that it was only fair to allow the space that she needed to process something as huge as this.
It took Beth around an hour or two of riding in the carriage in a slightly comfortable yet slightly awkward silence before she eventually chose to open her mouth and speak up to Daryl in an attempt to start a conversation. Daryl wondered whether or not the surprise he felt at hearing the sound of her voice filling the carriage was evident in either his facial expression or his tone; although if it was, Beth didn't give him any indication that she noticed.
"What's the ocean like?"
Of all of the questions that he had been expecting her to ask, that one would have never even featured in his mind, and Daryl struggled to find the words to answer her question. It was still strange for him to think of someone who had never travelled too far from their home, but he supposed he did live in a country that was built on immigrants and he also owned property all over the globe. Beth may have been well educated, but she was definitely not well travelled.
"Can't really describe it," Daryl told her honestly. "It's... It's really somethin' else."
Beth smiled at that as she gazed out of the window, giving him time to think about his next words as he tried to paint a picture of the sea for her in her mind. Daryl imagined that Beth had seen paintings and portraits of the sea so she didn't need a basic explanation of it's depth and it's colour. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat as he tried his best to set the scene for her.
"S'not always smooth," he explained.
Daryl would hardly describe himself as a poet, but he tried. For Beth, he would always try.
"It's... unpredictable. Some o' the worst storms I've ever seen have been at sea, an' I... Well. It's beautiful, though, you'll see. All wild an' anythin' but borin'. Even when the water's are calm an' still. It's just... s'just peaceful an' calmin'."
Beth turned towards him then, her light eyes searching his.
"So like you, then," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
Daryl wanted to laugh; to snigger at his wife's remark and shake his head and wave his hand at her dismissively.
But he didn't.
Instead, Daryl allowed his gaze to boar directly into hers.
Their eyes didn't part ways for quite some time, Daryl's breathing coming out slightly ragged as he looked at his wife with a strong and intense stare.
Maybe he was caught up in the moment.
Maybe he was thrown around with emotions, particularly due to the excitement that he felt to finally return home; to be with his wife and even her sister and the man that she loved, too.
Maybe he was being stupid.
Maybe he was still exhausted from the past few days of dealing with his drunken father-in-law and closing up deals and worrying about the racist man who was going to be paying him to live in one of his properties where one of his employee's was a black woman.
Or maybe it was nothing at all. Nothing but the simplicity of the moment that they shared just then.
Maybe it was the tenderness of Beth's voice, maybe it was the softness of her eyes and the kindness of her smile.
Maybe it was just Beth and everything that was her that made Daryl realise that he was falling in love with her.
The trip to the harbour where their boat would be leaving from the following morning took little over five and a half hours, including breaks so that the horses could drink water and the driver's could relieve themselves. Daryl was pleasantly cheerful about the timing, even if they were slightly behind schedule. Sometimes, Daryl forgot just how large the country that he called home was in comparison to other;s, and even though the journey that lay ahead of them was still going to be equally long and tiring, at least now it had finally begun.
Daryl hoped that his wife was just as pleased about it as he was.
"Are we spending the night here?" Beth asked as she craned her neck so that she could peer out of the carriage window.
Daryl nodded his head at her and quickly realised that she hadn't been able to see him as she was still gazing out of the window. His girl was mesmerised by the ocean, that much was clear to him already.
"Mmhmm," he hummed, scratching his chin whilst looking out of the window on his side of the carriage which faced towards the land.
A comfortable silence filled the air between them, and after a while of looking out onto the empty land, Daryl decided to lean back in his seat and rested his head against the palm of his hand. His deep blue eyes began to droop slightly whilst he thought about sneaking in a brief nap as Randall brought their carriage closer and closer towards the cabin that he and Beth would board in for the night.
Wealthy or not, Daryl couldn't purchase room's that weren't available, and unfortunately for Maggie and Glenn, that meant that they would be spending their night resting in the carriage that they had arrived in. Daryl would have offered for his sister-in-law and her lover to stay in his own carriage considering it was much larger and probably more comfortable than the run-down one that they had borrowed from a 'friend of the family', but Randall was heading on the long trail back home almost immediately after he had dropped Daryl and Beth off at their destination, and Daryl could hardly expect him to spend a night on the coast with nowhere to stay. There was only one room available at the cabin that they would be staying in, but Beth hadn't seemed all too disappointed with the news that her sister would not be joining them.
"Maggie's just grateful that you've agreed to allow her to accompany us in the first place," Beth told him when he had mentioned the predicament to her, and Daryl had simply nodded his head at that and accepted it to be true. Still, he couldn't shake the guilty feeling about it.
As he helplessly began to doze off into a dreamless sleep, Daryl felt Beth relax backwards into her seat and take his head in one of her hands, gently cupping his freshly-shaven cheek and guiding him over to rest on her shoulder. Daryl didn't bother to protest at all to her movements (not that he wanted to, anyway) and he revelled in the sound of Beth sighing happily when he nuzzled against her. Beth rested her cheek against the top of his head and Daryl inadvertently let out a small sigh of his own when she began to sing to him, her voice lulling him further into sleep.
"Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see."
The sound of his wife's sweet voice filling the carriage caused Daryl to suddenly feel much warmer and calmer than he had done on the whole journey to the coast. Daryl pushed away the negative questions that buzzed around his unconscious - questions regarding whether anyone had ever taken the time to sing him a lullaby in his whole life, even when he was a small baby - and decided that it didn't matter anymore. Nothing ever did matter anymore when it came to Beth. She was here now, and his wife was both his present and his future, and that knowledge alone helped Daryl keep the horrible memories of his troubled past at bay.
"...How precious did that grace appear, the hour I first believed."
Those words were all that it took for Daryl to finally drift off into an unconscious state where his mind could completely relax and shut off, even if just for a little while. The rhythm of the carriage and the pillow of her shoulder combined with the soft sound of Beth's voice spurred him on his way, and Daryl was confident that sneaking in a short nap here would hardly hinder his sleep tonight.
Beth continued to sing to him long after he had fallen asleep, and although he did not dream of images, he could still hear her voice soothing him as he allowed his body to rest.
.
.
.
"Daryl."
Beth's voice was soft and low, practically a whisper in his ear, and her delicate hand rested on the side of his face as she cooed her husband awake. Daryl's eyes fluttered open groggily and he couldn't help but groan in protest at the way the bright light filled the cabin and hurt his tired eyes.
"Mister Dixon," Beth chided, unable to help but giggle. "You have to get up. We've arrived."
His wife nudged him with her shoulder, causing him to push himself upwards from her so that he was sitting upright once again. His neck cracked almost immediately even though he made absolutely no attempt for it to, and he groaned much louder and with pleasure at the sensation.
"Hush!" Beth insisted, still giggling sightly as she playfully scolded him. "Randall is going to wonder what on earth we're gettin' up to with you making all sorts of noises like that!"
Daryl couldn't resist the urge to smirk at her words and quickly wrapped an arm around her shoulders, surprising her by pulling her in close and pressing a wet kiss to her lips. Beth squealed as he drew her in and began to squirm beneath him a few seconds into the kiss, a grin on her face when she managed to wriggle free from his grasp.
"Well," she said, wiping her lips that had been dampened from his sloppy kiss with the back of her hand. "You're certainly in a good mood, Mister Dixon."
When Randall knocked on the carriage door instead of opening it up immediately the way he almost always did, Beth shot her husband with a knowing look. Daryl chuckled to himself as he watched her cheeks burn pink when she cleared her throat and pushed open the carriage door, taking Randall's hand as he assisted her out of the carriage. Daryl followed closely behind her and took in a deep breath of the fresh and salty sea air, unable to hold back a small smile when a gust of wind rushed over them.
Seconds later, Maggie appeared at the door of her own carriage and called for Beth to come over. Beth obliged immediately, bidding goodbye to Randall before she gathered up her skirts and hurried over towards her sister's carriage. Whilst Beth busies herself with Maggie, Daryl turned his attention towards his employee and gave him a clap on the back of his shoulder, shaking it lightly and telling the young man that he was free to leave for home whenever he pleased.
"It's been a pleasure working for you, sir," Randall said, and Daryl just nodded his head before he made his way over towards the cabin that he would be staying in with Beth for the night.
It was hardly anything fancy, but it was something, and something was much better than nothing. It was only one story high and hardly very long at all, made of wood with an old door that clicked loudly when he knocked on it. Daryl fought back a smile when it squeaked open with a shout of protest and revealed to him one of his oldest friend's.
"Daryl!" Dale grinned, reaching out a hand and shaking Daryl's firmly.
It had only been a few weeks since the two men had last seen each other, but a lot had changed in that short space of time, too. Dale had a few years on Daryl, but he was a good man and a loyal friend, too. The older man owned the ship that would be transporting them all to America, and Daryl had made the journey to and from Ireland several times with the older man and his ship. Daryl had recently purchased one of the cabin's inside of the ship for a decent price and even if it did only really consist of a bed, a desk and a small wardrobe, Daryl supposed that it had to be better than sleeping on the lower deck where the rest of the passengers resided.
"How did the meeting with Hershel Greene go?" Dale asked, and Daryl shrugged his shoulders in response. Dale lifted a brow to that. "Are you spoken for now?"
"Guess you could say that," Daryl muttered in response, slightly embarrassed at the awkwardness of the situation.
Dale had never been the type of man to beat around the bush. No, the man was passionate about what he believed in and was honest, too. Still, he certainly wasn't holding his curiosity back right now as his eyes scanned the surrounding area for a glimpse of the woman who could be Daryl's wife.
Putting Dale out of his misery, Daryl turned his body slightly so that he was looking in Beth's direction, immediately spotting her as she stood on her tiptoes peering into the window of Maggie's carriage. Her back was turned towards the two men and she seemed to be completely oblivious to the fact that she was being watched whilst she chattered away to her sister.
"That's your wife?" Dale asked when Daryl turned his body back towards him, disbelief evident in both the expression and the tone of Daryl's friend.
It was difficult for Daryl to know whether or not he should be offended at how shocked Dale was on receiving the news that Beth was his wife, but he found that he struggled to bring himself to be and so he simply nodded his head at Dale. The older man let out a hearty laugh at that and began to shake his head from side to side, clearly very amused.
Daryl placed both hands on his hips and narrowed his eyes.
"Wha's so funny?" he asked, frowning.
"Nothing, nothing," Dale said reassuringly, waving his hands dismissively in the air as his laughter subsided. "It's just... Your wife. She certainly is not what I was expecting you to be coming back here with.
Daryl continued to frown down at the older man.
"It's a good thing," Dale said, only the hint of a smile on his lips now.
Daryl nodded.
"Okay."
Silence filled the air between them for a few beats until Dale cleared his throat.
"She looks like a beautiful young woman, even from a distance."
"She is," Daryl mumbled in confirmation, turning his head over his shoulder to look at Beth once more.
This time, it was as if Beth knew that Daryl was looking directly over at her, and she turned her head to face him from across the way where she was still stood on her tiptoes at Maggie's carriage.
Beth's eyes danced around Dale next to him as she inspected his friend, and when Daryl moved his head slightly to give her a nod of affirmation - one that said 'this guy is alright' - Beth finally allowed herself to break out into a wide grin.
Daryl held the gaze of his wife for a longer few seconds until she decided to break their eye contact and return her attention back to her sister, causing Daryl to follow suit with Dale.
The older man was looking up at him with a playful look of horror painted onto his features.
"My, my," Dale said, his tone light and teasing. "I never thought that I would see the day that Daryl Dixon was smitten by a woman."
Daryl tsk'd at him, shaking his head from side to side as he reached his arm out and pushed Dale in the shoulder.
"Quiet, ol' man," Daryl said as he brushed past Dale and entered the cabin, unable to hold back the smirk that was itching at his lips as he did so.
Bit of a fluffy one, but I wanted to push this story along ready for their journey to America.
I'm no expert on popular songs from the 1800's and in the end I decided to just settle with a hymn for Beth to sing Daryl to sleep. When I've looked it up online, several sites state that 'Amazing Grace' was first written in 1779 and I'm not sure whether or not Beth would have really known it, but for the sake of this story, let's just pretend that she does.
Thank you all for reading and please review!
