A/N Thank you, thank you and Happy Saturday my friends! Shall we catch up with Bethyl? I say yes!
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Rick, Michonne and the children were coming for Sunday dinner and Beth had been a nervous wreck all morning over the prospect. Daryl kept trying to reassure her, "They're our friends Beth, they ain't comin' here ta pressure ya or judge ya, they're comin' here ta visit with ya. Now relax Baby please, you'll have fun I know ya will."
Five minutes after the Grimes family arrived she knew Daryl was right. Michonne had a big tray of deviled eggs, juice boxes for the children and a bottle of wine for her and Beth. Rick had beers for him and Daryl, Carl brought his bow so Daryl could work with him, and Judith was loaded down with Peppa Pig toys. Almost immediately everyone was laughing, sharing stories and having a Sunday Funday.
Daryl took Rick and Carl to the shop to see the progress on the stairs, the little girls were happily playing in Claire's room, and Beth and Michonne were putting the finishing touches on dessert. "Beth are you ready to start helping with Merle's case?"
It caught her by surprise but what surprised her more was how excited she was at the prospect. "Yes, yes of course I am just tell me what you want me to do. I'll do anything to help you and Merle."
"I plan to have you do a lot of research for me. We're going to have to try and dig up similar cases, and try to discover if we even have a precedent for asking a judge to review the case. We're also going to work on tracking down the witnesses, the bartender, the woman that the fight was all about and even the victim. If you can come over Tuesday morning I'll show you the best ways to do your research, and how to best assemble your notes for reviewing. With two of us working on this it's going to go far more quickly and efficiently."
It all sounded great until she asked, "How will I be searching, going through law books?"
"It's much easier to start the search on the Internet, when we get down to specifics, the fine details, then we can tackle the law books." Uh oh, a computer and the internet. But she didn't let on she was fearful. She was determined to help Merle and she was anxious to work with Michonne to try and gain his freedom.
"Yes, sure. I'll be over right after breakfast Tuesday morning."
"This is terrific Beth. I think you're going to enjoy helping with this, and the fact you're doing it for someone you genuinely care about will make it feel a lot less like work. Besides all of that, I'm really looking forward to working with you and to just spending some time with you."
"I feel the same way Michonne. I enjoy spending time with you and your family. I'm looking forward to getting to know you even better and learning about the work you do. And it means so much to me to have a chance to help Merle and to feel like maybe I'm helping you a little. Thank you so much for that."
She meant what she said, she was looking forward to her time with Michonne and looking forward to helping Merle. She told herself this was just another fear she had to try and overcome. She had until Tuesday.
Daryl and Rick walked in then, "Hey Michonne, um I talked ta Rick and he's good with it, so I's just checkin' with you wonderin' if you'd mind holdin' down the fort, keepin' an eye on Claire just for about 30 minutes. I'd like ta get Beth out on the Bike a little bit, she's never been."
"Of course I don't mind you two go and have some fun and don't rush. We've got wine, beer, juice boxes and snacks, we'll be just fine"
Daryl smiled at Beth then, hoping she wouldn't be mad at him. She just looked at his smile and knew she wouldn't disappoint him, "Okay Daryl just let me put my boots on."
He knew he'd kind of put her on the spot but it was the only way he could think to get her out on that bike without her building up a bundle of anxiety thinking about it. He'd apologize later for being such a dick.
He told her what to expect and he promised he'd take it slow. "If ya get scared, if ya want me ta stop for any reason just pat my helmet. I promise I'll pull right over. K?"
"Alright, I'll be fine let's just do this." She was scared, her tummy hurt and she prayed to God neither of them died this day.
She hadn't expected it to feel so different, the touching. They held each other all the time but yes this was definitely different. Not better exactly, but somehow it was more like just really hanging on to her man and counting on him to keep her safe. And she smiled to herself because she knew Daryl wasn't going to let anything happen to her.
It turned out she loved it. It felt like freedom to her, just like he'd told her it did to him. It was exhilarating and she felt kind of giddy, in fact she caught herself giggling. And she loved sitting behind him snugged up and hanging on tight.
After a few minutes he pulled over to see how she was doing, "Whaddya think Baby?" He was worried but hopeful.
"I think I love it so much Daryl! It's everything you said it was and I definitely want to ride more often. How soon can we go again?" And he laughed and hugged her, "I'd take ya anytime Baby, anytime. Ya make that Bike an me both look just a whole lot better."
They had company and they'd promised to be back soon so they didn't push it. "Now that we know ya like it, we'll figure out how we can do a lot more ridin'."
But by dinner he could see the change in her. He didn't miss that she ate very little and seemed a little "off." After Rick and his family had said their goodbyes and headed home, he asked her what was wrong. She told him about the work she would do for Michonne, on a computer.
He just held her for a moment. "C'mon Baby let's go over ta the desk an give this a try." At first she simply watched him as he randomly Googled and searched different sites, and then he said, "Alright now tell me one thing you're really curious about."
She thought hard, "I have it! Cars, a nice midsize car, safe and easy to handle. How about that?"
"Sounds good. Now c'mere an search it." She sat in front of the laptop and as soon as her hands were poised above the keyboard it was as if they'd frozen. Her eyes were closed and she was trying to take slow, steady breaths. His palm was on her back and he was just rubbing softly and slowly. He didn't say anything he knew she just needed her time.
Finally she took a very deep breath, opened eyes and typed in "midsize cars." She took it slow, reading each site description before clicking through. After a half hour or so of looking, and seeming to have forgotten her fears she smiled, "I think I like this one Daryl," and she pointed at the screen.
"Looks good Baby but I think we oughta go see a few models, things are always a little different in the light a day than on the Internet." The words were no sooner out of his mouth than they both felt the weight of what he'd said. He immediately took hold of her, pulling her close to him, "Sorry, I shoulda thought better before I spoke."
"Don't be sorry it's true. Not just for what happened to me but you're right I'm sure, it's that way for everything. When you have time I'd love to go look but there's no big rush."
"I'll make time real soon I promise." And they were quiet as he continued to hold her until a tiny hand patted his leg and a little voice said, "Hug Daddy."
He scooped the little girl up in one arm, smiled and said, "How 'bout one a them group hugs? I like that idea." And Claire patted him on the cheek and they all held tight and Beth knew that she could do this. She had all the emotional back-up she needed.
Maggie called right after breakfast Monday morning. Daryl had just gone to the shop and Beth and Claire were finishing up the dishes before baking a batch of cookies.
"Glenn and I have made a big decision Beth, we've discussed it a lot. We can run our business from anywhere so we can live where we want. All his family is in Michigan and I've gone for so long with no family at all, until you came back. I need to be closer to you and he agrees, we both want to be closer to family. So we're putting our home here in Augusta on the market and we're going to start looking for a place up your way."
Beth felt those happy tears come to her eyes, "Oh Maggie that's wonderful, I'm so excited and I know Claire and Daryl will be too. As soon as we're off the phone I'm going right out to the shop and tell him. Please tell me you're moving to Ellijay."
"We don't want to crowd you but yes, we're thinking Ellijay or Blue Ridge."
"Maggie please don't look too far away, please."
"Bethie now don't get upset Blue Ridge is only 20 minutes from Ellijay. Maybe Daryl won't want us any closer anyway." And she'd laughed trying to lighten the mood. She knew Beth was a lot more sensitive than she used to be, and now that Maggie had heard her story she understood why.
Beth couldn't wait to get out to the shop and tell Daryl the news, and she was hoping he'd be almost as happy to hear it as she was. As it turned out he was happy because he knew it was important for Beth to reconnect with people, especially with the only family she had left. She was willing to try so hard to figure out how to bring his only family home, and family was something he felt they both needed. As far as he was concerned it was about the only thing their relationship lacked, extended family.
But there was that one other thing he wanted to do. "Baby I gotta go ta town right after lunch, there's a couple a things I need ta pick up. Ya need me ta get anythin' while I'm there?"
He was relieved when she didn't ask to go with him, instead she said, "I think Claire and I need to do some reading together after lunch, before she takes her nap. Tomorrow's going to be a busy day for us so we may not have a chance then. I'll check and see if we need anything, but I think we're good." She was kind of anxious to go look at those cars but she knew he was busy, and she didn't have access to her money yet so she could wait.
He was nervous hoping he was doing this right, but he just kept telling himself all he could was his best and follow his heart.
At first he thought he ought to get the biggest, the fanciest the shiniest one that he could possibly afford. But he quickly came to his senses. That wasn't the man he was and that wasn't the woman she was. They were people who loved and appreciated the simple things in life, the things you couldn't purchase no matter how wealthy you may be. Their precious child, their small home, the pleasure of just being together, of knowing they each had someone and that someone would always be their someone. Those were the things that held meaning for them.
He went in the little shop and was relieved to see the box still there. The same lady was working that had helped him and Beth and she smiled when he brought the box to the counter. "I see you noticed how she looked at it, how much she appreciated the beauty of this little box."
"Yes ma'am I sure did. Ya got anythin' like a weddin' ring? Sumthin' real pretty but, well ya know also kinda simple. We ain't real fancy folks."
"I think I have a few things you might like. It's all estate jewelry and most of it's from the Blue Ridge and Appalachia, so not much glamour but many are quite lovely in their simplicity."
She showed him five rings but one alone immediately caught his eye, it had a delicate look just like Beth. There was a little flower in the center holding a small diamond among it's petals. He picked it up and that's when he noticed it was engraved on the inside, it read, "Always My One and Only."
He held it up to the woman. "Ya know anythin' about where this one came from?"
"I do. I purchased it from a young woman out of Appalachia about three months ago, it had belonged to her grandmother. The grandmother and the girls' grandfather had been married nearly 70 years. They're both passed on now and she decided to sell all of their things. I was surprised she wouldn't want to keep this as a remembrance of her grandparents, but I guess some folks aren't very sentimental."
He nodded his head and sucked in that bottom lip just a little, and he knew it was the right choice.
He also chose a simple pair of earrings and a thin bracelet that seemed just right for her dainty wrist. He'd give her those another time, sometime real soon.
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Once she began to feel more comfortable working on the computer she found she enjoyed helping Michonne, especially feeling like she was a part of the effort to free Merle. Yes she was doing this for Merle, and yes she believed the system had treated him unfairly. She knew though she was mostly doing this for Daryl. She wanted to help give him back his brother. She knew no matter how hard he tried to cover it up, his brother's absence and the terrible situation Merle was in weighed heavy on Daryl's heart.
And they were indeed making some progress and Michonne was upbeat and positive. She told Beth to never give up hope, that there's always hope. Beth thought back to how hopeless she had felt not so very long ago and she believed Michonne, there was always hope for better days.
Two weeks later Michonne stopped by their home with big news, "Claire's birth certificate should arrive within a month or two. They'll put some legal notices in the paper and see if anyone comes forward to claim paternity, and if no one does, the document will be officially issued and Daryl you'll officially be a Daddy."
He didn't often cry but in that moment he felt the emotion rise to the surface and it nearly overwhelmed him, he just did what came natural. He picked Claire up and put an arm around Beth, kissed them both and held them close for a moment, and then he looked to Michonne and she saw the tears glistening in his eyes, "I could never thank ya enough Michonne, that's a day I can't wait for."
And Michonne just beamed a smile back at him because sometimes in moments like these, there are no adequate words.
He knew it was going to happen, but he didn't make some kind of big plan for it, not like he'd heard a lot of guys do. That just wasn't him and not really how he imagined this going. He'd know when it was right and he wanted it to be more spontaneous.
It was a random Wednesday night after dinner, just a week or so after Michonnes' visit. After Claire was all tucked in he and Beth went to sit on the porch. The night air was balmy and it felt good and they were both in a peaceful, mellow place. He smiled as he reached for her hand and took it in his, "Ya know I love ya more than anythin' an I try n tell that a lot. An I try even harder ta show ya how much ya mean ta me. How happy an grateful I am ta have ya be a part a my life. I told ya, I know I did, I want ya in my life forever. That's why I'm askin' ya Beth, askin' ya if you'll marry me."
He handed her the little box and her eyes were so full of tears she could hardly focus in on it. She lifted the lid and there, attached to a tiny jeweler's pillow lay the ring. "Oh." That was the only word she could speak for a moment. He just waited for her to gather her thoughts, he'd already said what he had to say and he knew she was feeling a little stunned.
It came out in a shaky, almost hoarse whisper, "Yes, yes Daryl, yes." He gently pulled her into his lap and they held each other, and now they both had tears in their eyes.
She kissed him and he put the little ring on her finger to see if it fit, and they both smiled as she told him, "It couldn't be more perfect. It's us and I love it."
"Did ya see the inside of it?" She looked and again her eyes filled with those happy tears. "This is so special Daryl, so perfect, thank you for being so good. And I love the little box. I can't believe you thought to go back and get it for me. But then again, I can believe it because you're that man, that thoughtful and good man."
He felt anxious, the decision was now made and he wanted to move to that next step, "When can we do this Beth, how soon? I'm ready."
She took his face in her hands and she smiled, "I'm ready too Daryl, so ready and so happy. You know how much I love you and I trust you in all ways, and I can't wait to be your wife. But there's just one thing I want to wait for, I want you to have Merle there and I'm hoping he can be, and I'm hoping it will be soon."
And then it struck her, "My gosh I was going to tell you after Claire went to bed, then you surprised me so beautifully I almost forgot!" He could see her excitement and he was anxious to hear the reason behind it. "Michonne has a friend from law school and he has a contact, a judge in the appeals court. He's going to talk to this judge and show him a motion Michonne's been working on. We're hoping he'll agree to at least look into Merle's case."
"Aw Baby if there's a chance I'll wait. Thanks for workin' so hard for my brother and carin' about him in this way. I don't know why ya felt so strong about it an it don't really matter, I'm just glad ya do."
He carried her to their bed and he laughed softly in her ear, "I'm practicin' for our honeymoon." And she was almost lost in a fit of giggles but she was also feeling the love. Especially when they were both lying on that bed, then it was all about each of them showing the love they were feeling in a happy and uninhibited way.
Two days later Maggie and Glenn came to town. Maggie had a list of properties they were going to look at and Beth could swear that list was a mile long, "It has to be perfect for us Beth because honest to gosh I'm never moving again."
Beth laughed at her and in a teasing voice asked, "Do you really expect that you, my beautiful sister, will ever find anything you think is perfect?"
Maggie laughed along with her, "That's the problem with you Beth, you know me too well. No I don't think I'll find anything that's perfect, I guess what I should have said is something I can make perfect."
Maggie and Glenn didn't make it back to Daryl and Beth's until almost dinner time, exhausted but happy. "I think we found it!" Maggie practically squealed. "It's only 10 miles away Bethie so not far at all, it's right between Cherry Log and Blue Ridge. It's not perfect but it's the closest thing to it we'll ever find. I can see us raising a family there and you and Claire coming over to help me bake cookies."
Glenn was looking like he'd been put through the ringer, "If this isn't it then I don't care. I'm not looking at another house. The truth is Maggie doesn't really want my opinion on any of this stuff anyway." He shrugged a shoulder.
Daryl didn't know their ways quite yet, so as badly as he wanted to, he didn't laugh at Glenn's words. But he knew he liked the man.
"Glenn I never said I don't want to hear your opinion, I always want to know your opinion and you know that. I may not care what your opinion is, but I'm willing to listen." Now Daryl was afraid the fight would be on, but Glenn and Maggie both laughed and Glenn just shook his head and said, "My wife is an honest woman."
They made their announcement at dinner and if Beth thought her sister had squealed earlier, she really heard it loud and clear now. Daryl swore Maggie flew off that bench and ran around to squeeze the life right out of Beth. "Yay! I love this and I love you, I'm so happy for you Beth." He hadn't been expecting that then she'd grabbed onto him and hug him close, "Daryl I'm so excited, you two are so perfect for each other."
Glenn was far more reserved, he smiled warmly at Beth, "Best wishes to you, I'm sure the two of you really are a match made in heaven." He gave Daryl a handshake and a clap to the back, "Congratulations man I think you're going to be real happy, you two are solid."
They laid in bed that night he held her closely to him, they didn't speak, neither really felt the need for words. He played his fingertips across her cheek while he looked in her eyes, loving what he saw there. It was many things, the purity that lay behind those sparkling eyes, that was something he was sure was a rare thing. He'd never cared for people just looking at him, staring into his eyes, but her eyes held a smile that illuminated the whole of his world. It wasn't just the beauty of them, because truth was the real beauty was deep within her, in her heart and in her soul, it just radiated from those eyes.
He kissed her deeply each of them keeping their eyes open and fixed on the other. They made a kind of love that expressed their deep feelings, the wholeness, the completeness they felt only with each other. A feeling they knew they could never have with anyone else.
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A/N Thank you so much for reading along, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I've told you many times how much I appreciate you following Daryl and Beth's journey with me, and I mean that sincerely. I'd like to read your review / comment for this chapter, Thanks! x gneebee
To see the chapter photo, which includes a photo of the ring and box, please visit my tumblr at bethylmethbrick and kindly follow me here, there, or both for story updates and new story posts. I'll see you next Saturday! Love ya large! xo gneebee