I always wondered what else these two darlings talked about while they were drunk...and I always wanted to write about Daryl telling Beth about his mom.

One thing I noticed while watching the TWD Season 3 marathon was that when Daryl told Carl about his mom's death, he said almost the exact same thing as when he lost Beth: "She was just gone."

Anyway...thanks for reading! :)

XOXO,

OceansAria :)

Daryl told Beth the story he once told Carl about his mom. Then, when they got high on moonlight and moonshine, he spilled even more about his childhood—about Merle, his dad, and his mom.

Her name had been Ann Marie Dixon.

"I remember," he drawled from across the porch. "When I was little, people always tellin' me how she'd been this beauty queen all throughout school. Won a coupla' local pageants, got homecoming queen, prom queen . . ."

"Wow."

"Yeah. See," he snorted a chuckle. "I couldn't believe all that 'cause with all the drinkin' and smokin' and partyin' she did . . . she didn't look so pretty no more."

Beth laughed along with him. "Daryl! That's so mean."

"What's it matter? She's dead."

They both sobered then, just long enough for the moonshine jar to be passed back and forth several times and for swallows to be taken.

"Anyway, 'fore she started sittin' in the bed all the damn time, she used to take me with her everywhere all over God's green earth," he went on. "To Walmart, to her friend Jeanne's house, even to the bar sometimes. She'd set me beside her on a barstool and the owner didn't mind. But I liked goin' to Jeanne's house. She was a lot older than my mom . . . kinda like a grandma t'me and Merle. They'd sit 'round, play poker and smoke, make me watch TV or play with one of her ugly little chihuahuas."

Beth just smiled; listening to Daryl's stories were like the days when her daddy would take her into the field to work, or to ride horses, and he would tell her all sorts of tales of the 'good ole days'. Hearing about his mom made her miss her mom—but it was worth it.

"Everyone said I was like a little dog myself, bein' yanked 'round on a leash."

"No, that's not true," Beth assured him. "My mom used to say I was her little sidekick. Took me wherever she went, too."

Daryl gave her a tiny smile. "She won't a bad mom. Just won't the best, either. After my dad started really . . . y'know," he adverted his eyes. "One bad time he really messed her up and that's what got her laid up. She didn't do much besides stay drunk or high after that."

"How old were you?"

"Dunno . . . eight? Ten?"

"God," Beth sipped her booze. "That sucks."

"Yeah."

"Was . . . was your dad torn up when she died?"

"He won't home. Off workin' some dead end, deadbeat job t' make ends meet. Jeanne took me to the hospital—though there won't hardly no body left—and she did all the legal shit that needed t'be done. My dad's sorry ass didn't show up till the next mornin'. He'd been off with his pals all night. I slept over at Jeanne's. He came to get me but she wouldn't let him take me . . . he was shit-faced drunk and angrier than a bat outta hell."

"What happened then?"

"Jeanne tried to get rights t' bein' my guardian, but my dad . . . he raised cain . . . wouldn't let me go. Still, she took care o'me often. Always took me back to her house after school, made me eat somethin' 'fore I went home."

Beth had a feeling she knew where the story was headed.

"Jeanne died when I was thirteen. Merle came home from juvie then went out on his own. Dad . . . got worse."

She winced at the thought of what he'd been through, of all the pain his childhood had held, all the joy that had been stolen from him. Biting her lip, she kicked her boot against his and shot him a smile when he looked at her through the hair in his eyes.

"Wanna hear about the most embarrassing night of Maggie's life?"

Daryl shrugged, took a deep chug of moonshine and wiped his mouth on his arm.

"Sure."

Beth sat up and forced another smile, a livelier one. Time to lighten the mood.

"Okay, so, it was her senior prom and Shawn decided to pull a little prank and put monkey glue in her nail polish . . ."

Changing the subject was worth it—especially if it meant getting to see Daryl smile.