I don't know... I'm very nervous that Daryl is so OOC in this story.

…

Twenty.

Daryl can't sleep, more than aware of the fact that Beth is in the bedroom across the hall, and he wonders if she's sleeping right now. He had helped her gather the things that she would need for the next few days while they cleaned up Dot's nursery from the water damage and back in his apartment, he grabbed his extra set of bed sheets from the closet and made the spare bed up for her.

"You don't have to do that," Beth had told him and Daryl had frowned a little at that.

"Don't have to do what? Give you clean sheets to sleep on?" He asked.

"You're doing too much for me already, Daryl," she began to protest, but Daryl didn't listen to her as he went into the second bedroom to get the bed ready for her.

When he had first moved into the apartment, he had just left the second room empty; nothing to put in there and no idea what to do with it. He honestly still is getting used to have so much room to move around in.

The house he lived in when he was a little kid and his mom was still alive was nothing more than a shack and then he lived in a trailer with his old man until he was sixteen and was able to get the hell out of there. And then, he just crashed on couches that belonged to friends of Merle's. When he moved to Scott and got himself a job and a place to live, it's the longest he's ever been in a single spot since he's been a kid and this is sure as hell the nicest place he's ever lived in. He has no problem calling this place his home.

He bought the spare bed unexpectedly – when he was thinking that maybe Merle would clean up his act and stay with him for a while. That hadn't happened, obviously, and Merle went to prison and Daryl was left with a spare bed that he didn't really have a need for.

Until now.

Now, it's the middle of the night, Daryl can't sleep and Beth is in that bed across the hall.

He wonders if she can sleep – being in a different bed in a different apartment. He wonders if Dot ever sleeps when she does or if she spends all night kicking Beth from the inside. He wonders if Beth is lying awake right now, just a few feet away, and thinking about him like he's thinking about her.

Daryl exhales a deep sigh and rolls onto his side, facing the window in the room now. The blinds are closed, but slivers of light from the lamppost on the street curb tries to push through into the dark room. He refuses to look at the clock; well aware that it is almost two o'clock in the morning and he has to go to work in a few more hours and he hasn't gotten any sleep. He tries to tell himself that he's exhausted; that he needs sleep, damn it.

But his brain doesn't seem to give a crap about that because it won't shut the hell up.

So Beth is across the hall in his second bedroom. No big deal. She's been sleeping across the hall from him for months now – with a few doors between them a much larger hallway – but still. It's all the same damn thing, isn't it?

No. No, it's not and he's not stupid enough to think that it is because for the past few months, Beth has been in her own apartment, in her own bed, but now, she's here; so close now that if she is to cough in her sleep, Daryl will have no problem hearing her.

Sleep is not going to happen. He needs to stop kidding himself. He sits up and shoves the blankets off of him. He doesn't regret inviting her to stay with him. Hell. If she had gone to the motel, he wouldn't be sleeping right now, either; too worried that something would happen to her and no one would be there to help her. It's good she's here – even if Daryl doesn't see himself getting sleep anytime soon. What if he's sleeping and she needs him? And then there is just the simple fact that Beth is here; in his home, where he lives. The girl he's in love with is just a few feet away. How is he supposed to get any sleep?

Daryl stands up from his bed and heads out of the room. He pauses at the closed door across from his open one, but he doesn't hear anything inside. After a moment, he forces himself away, heading towards the kitchen. He doesn't want Beth to think he's creeping outside her bedroom door and make her think he's some stalker freak.

Lemon usually sleeps on the couch and when Daryl turns the light on in the kitchen, above the sink, the kitten lifts his head from the couch and gives his tail a lazy flick, looking at Daryl with curiosity, wondering what the hell he is doing up at this hour. Daryl wishes he had an answer to give the animal other than him being pathetic who can't sleep when Beth is sleeping in the room across the hall.

Daryl fills himself a glass of water and then turns the light off once again, heading towards the living room and the couch. As he sits down, making sure not to sit on Lemon, he grabs the remote control from the coffee table and turns the television on, immediately muting it. He doesn't expect anything to be on right now. No one's up at this hour except insomniacs and drunks and since he doesn't have that many stations anyway, Daryl isn't expecting to find anything besides infomercials. He freezes though when on one of the stations, there is an old episode of Jeopardy playing.

The last time he watched this, he had imagined Beth and Dot being there, watching it with him, and now, Beth is actually here, in his apartment and here he is, watching Jeopardy.

He tells himself that it doesn't mean anything and it's just a stupid gameshow and it's been on for so many years, it shouldn't be a surprise that some station is playing it at this hour.

He tosses the remote onto the cushion on the other side of him and he sinks a little further into the couch and Lemon stretches his body out alongside Daryl's thigh, going back to sleep. On mute, Daryl can read the questions, but can't hear the answers, but it doesn't matter. He just keeps sipping his water and watching the show and tries to not be stuck on the fact that Beth is sleeping on the other side of the wall where his television is.

He stills when he hears mattress springs squeak and then a floorboard creaks and a moment later, Daryl hears the door to the bedroom that Beth is sleeping in open slowly. He sits up a little straighter on the couch and watches the hallway; seconds later, Beth appearing, looking as if she hasn't managed to get any sleep either.

She stands there and looks at him, her lips turning upwards in the tiniest smile.

"Fancy meeting you here," Beth says and he smirks a little.

He tries not to look at what she's wearing to bed – a huge tee-shirt that drapes over her massive bump that seems to grow every day and a pair of green pajama shorts that show off just as much thigh as the dresses she wears does and yet, to Daryl, this is completely different. This is what Beth sleeps in. This is what she lies in bed, wearing.

He feels his throat go completely dry at that and he takes a swig of water, reminding himself to swallow and not choke on it.

"Can't sleep?" He finally manages to ask.

"Dot is driving me crazy," Beth says as she moves towards the couch and she comes around to sit down on his other side so she doesn't disturb Lemon.

Daryl hurries to his feet and she gives him a smile as he helps her slowly lower herself down, a hand holding hers and his other on her back, and once she looks settled, Daryl sits down once more next to her. She gives a yawn and leans into him, resting her head on his shoulder, and Daryl expects himself to tense up at the affection, but he doesn't. Instead, he settles back into the couch once again and smiles to himself and tries to not make it obvious that he's smelling her hair. He doesn't want to scare her and make her think he's weird.

"Can I feel her?" Daryl asks.

Beth smiles and without answering, she takes his hand and guides it over her stomach.

After feeling the baby kicking up a storm, Daryl frowns. "Damn, lil' Dot, take it easy on your ma," he grumbles and Beth laughs. He leans a little closer into the bump. "If you're nervous, no reason for you to be. I'm gonna make everythin' as good as new before you come home."

Before he can stop himself, he kisses the bump and Dot seems to have settled down, but then he freezes, realizing what he had just done. He waits for Beth to say something, but when she is just as quiet as him, Daryl slowly – almost hesitantly – lifts his head again, too afraid to meet her eyes, but he does anyway. Her reaction isn't what he was expecting. He thought – for some reason – that she would be angry or even a little put off at his words.

But instead, Beth is looking at him and her eyes are welling with tears. Daryl lifts his head a little more, thinking of something he should say to her, but he can't think of anything.

He has a lot of things to tell her; he knows that. He's already told her that he loves her and he does, but there's even more than that. He wants to tell her that he's not going anywhere; that he has every plan in the world to stick around – if she wants him to. He loves her and he means it because even though he's never been in love before and hasn't had a lot of it in his life, but he figures that this has to be love because he's never felt anything like this before like he feels towards her right now.

He wants to tell her that – if she'll have him and if she wants him to – he wants to be a part of her life and her baby's for as long as she wants.

There's so much to say and yet, Daryl can't seem to say any of it.

Instead, Beth is the one to speak first, the tears slowly rolling down her cheeks and he would have been concerned if it isn't for the smile beginning to form on her face. She lifts her hands to his head, fingers sifting through his hair, and she gently pulls him closer.

"I love you," she whispers and then she kisses him.

…

Daryl's not sure why he's feeling so disappointed. It's just a house. He, Tyreese and Karen have worked on houses and apartments all over Scott and some in Baker, too. This house is just a house and they renovated it so it could be put on the market and someone could buy it. So there's no reason for him to feel disappointed when he drives past the house and the "For Sale" sign swinging in the front yard now has a "Sold" sign on top of it.

It's just a house. There will be more.

There's no reason for him to pull his truck to the curb across the street and park there and look at the house, but he does it anyway.

He worked on those hardwood floors for a week. He found Lemon under that back porch. He, Tyreese and Karen painted the rooms and installed new windows and electrical outlets and a new water heater and pretty much everything that could be replaced in a house, they did. The house had been one of the biggest pits when Karen and Tyreese had bought it for hardly anything at auction and it had taken the most work and in the end, it had turned out to be one of the nicest – if not the nicest – flips that they have done yet.

When they were finished and Tyreese and Karen put it on the market to sell, Daryl knew that it was too rich for his blood. He has money. Just not that much money, but still, he had hoped – deep down – that it would sit on the market for a while and the price would drop and Daryl would be able to get it for himself. He's never owned a house before – especially a house that looks like this. It's probably the nicest house in Scott now and that should have let Daryl know that ever owning it was even more out of his reach.

He wonders who's bought it and when they're going to be moving in. Scott keeps growing and that's a good thing. More people means more money can be pumped into the town, but these people better treat this place right. Too much sweat and aches and pains went into making this house what it is now and it better stay exactly how it looks right now.

After another moment, looking at it and telling himself again that there will be other houses, Daryl pulls away from the curb and heads towards the juvenile jail. That morning, as they both got ready for work after just a couple of hours of sleep each – both out on the couch – and Beth made oatmeal and pushed a bowl into his hands as well even though he doesn't eat breakfast except for a couple pieces of toast, she asked if he wanted to go to Denny's for lunch because they have this sautéed zucchini and squash side that she absolutely loves and with the cake batter milkshake, it's all she wants. The combination sounds pretty disgusting to him, but Daryl sure as hell isn't going to tell her that.

She's just a couple of weeks away from beginning her maternity leave and he wants to get Dot's nursery back in order by then so Beth can spend the last weeks of her pregnancy as calm and relaxed as possible instead of stressing out over every single thing.

He pulls the truck into the parking lot and is about to hop out, but he sees Beth already coming out, walking towards him with a bright smile on her face. Daryl will never tell her that as pregnant as she is right now, it looks like she's waddling. He smiles a little, too, as he gets out of the truck and walks to the passenger side, opening the door.

"Hi," she greets him with a smile and she tilts her head up and Daryl drops a kiss to her lips.

"Hey," he says with his own little smile and then taking her hand, he helps her up into the truck, before closing the door, making sure he's not slamming it on her skirt.

"How's your day?" Beth asks as he pulls the truck from the jail's parking lot and heads across the street to the Denny's.

"Good," he gives a nod. "Tyreese and me pulled up the floor in the Morales' bathroom. Not as much damage as we first thought."

That makes her gasp. "Really?"

"Really," he throws her a small smile. "So if there's not as much damage with theirs, yours shouldn't be that much to clean up either."

Beth lets out a breath at that. "That's the best thing you could have told me," she says.

He pulls into a parking spot as close as he can get to the front entrance of the restaurant. "Once we're done up in theirs, we'll get to yours. Cleanin' it out and paintin' and gettin' a new rug. It'll be back to new in jus' a lil' bit."

Beth is practically beaming right now. "You know it's not easy for me to lean across the seat," she says and he smirks a little before leaning over himself and she kisses him. "You are the best man I have ever met, Daryl Dixon," she whispers to him then.

He feels the tips of his ears turn red with embarrassment from the praise. "'s jus' because you haven't met that many guys."

"I have met all of the men I could ever want to know and you're the best. Next to my daddy, of course," she adds with a little smile and he smirks at that.

He wants to kiss her again so he does – short and light – and Beth sighs softly and it takes her a moment for her eyes to open again and she looks like it's the best kiss she's ever gotten. Daryl looks at her and he wants to smile a little and not for the first time, he thinks about the man who Beth had been with before. Aiden. Married and using the girl in front of him just for his own pleasure, not giving a shit about her feelings or what he did to her.

And not for the first time either, Daryl knows that if he ever crosses paths with him, he can't see Aiden being able to walk away after.

He just doesn't understand men who hurt women; whether physically or some other way. He doesn't understand why his old man used his mom as punching bag. He doesn't understand when he sees a guy shove a girl or yell at her or even points a finger in her face. He's probably just not programed that way to understand – thank God – but that doesn't mean that he doesn't try to understand.

He looks at Beth and sees everything good in this world. She's kind and warm and pretty and she always has a smile for everyone – even the kids who are brought into the jail, throwing every swear word in the world at her and trying to spit at her. Daryl knows that if Merle wasn't locked up and came back here and met Beth, Beth would win his older brother over in no time. It's just who she is. She's just good.

And it just doesn't make any sense to Daryl that this Aiden guy couldn't see it for himself. And if he could see it for himself, Daryl doesn't get why Aiden just didn't care. Daryl knows he'd do anything for Beth. She just has to ask. And she's not even here yet, but the same for Dot. She's not his, and he knows he has no right to be in her life, but he wants to be and Beth has said that she loves him so he can just hope that she'll keep loving him because already, he isn't too sure what he'd be doing without them.

He knows Beth blames herself for Aiden even though the prick pursued her and never told her that he was married and the poor girl had never had a clue, but Daryl hopes that she knows that he will never hurt her like that – or in any way. He'd kill himself first.

"Where'd you go?" She asks, breaking through his thoughts, and she lifts a gentle hand to his face, her thumb lightly swiping along his cheek. "You left me," she teased.

Daryl shook his head. "I don't plan on goin' anywhere," he hears himself say.

He's still leaning in close to her and Beth moves her lips back to his, kissing once again.

Daryl's eyes instantly close and her bump is pressing against his own middle so he can't get as close to her as he can, but he still tries. He wraps one arm around her waist, tightening it, and he feels Beth's hands slip from his face and one comes to a rest on his chest and the other rests on his bicep, her fingers grasping the arm.

Their mouths eventually part so they can breathe.

"When you say that," Beth whispers. "I believe you."

"You should," Daryl responds. "I don't say things I don't mean."

Beth stares at him, looking into his eyes and nowhere else, and he wonders what she's thinking. She's usually an open book and because of those wide eyes of her, he can't imagine her being able to ever hide anything, but right now, he doesn't have a clue as to what's running through her mind and he wonders if he should be a little nervous.

He never would have expected a girl like this in his life; especially a girl he would fall for and it's not just because she's about to give birth to a baby who's not even his. It's just because he looks at her and he sees everything he's never had and didn't even know he ever wanted. He wonders what she sees when she looks at him.

"I really miss my family," she speaks in a quiet voice. "I was thinking of finally telling them where I am and when they come to visit me, I want them to meet you."

Daryl doesn't know if he likes the sound of that. He's never met a girl's parents' before, but despite that, he swallows and gives his head a nod. "A'right," he's able to say.

Beth smiles a little and her hand lifts to his face again. She begins rubbing her knuckles gently along his cheek and he feels like purring just like Lemon does. She's still staring into his eyes and he's staring into hers and he feels something changing around them, but he can't be sure what it is. He just feels it – whatever it is. Something is definitely changing and he can just hope that it's something for the better.

"You ready for lunch?" He then asks.

"God, yes," she says and Daryl hears himself actually let out a laugh.

…

"You're doing what?" Rick sits up straight in his chair and looks at Daryl and waits for Daryl to repeat himself because he's been around so much gunfire so he knows his hearing isn't what it used to be, but he's not some old deaf man and yet, he needs Daryl to say it again.

Daryl frowns at him as he sits in the chair on the other side of Rick's desk, a little slouched. He shrugs as if trying to play it all off as no big deal, but inside, his stomach is jumping around like he just drank too much Jacks and he's ready to throw up all over the place.

"You heard me," he practically mutters.

Rick gives him a stern look. "Say it again, Daryl. Unless you don't really mean it."

That gets Daryl sitting up straight and he gives Rick a glare. "'Course I mean it. I love that girl and I'm gonna ask her to marry me. Now are you gonna come help me pick out a ring or not?"

…

Thank you very much for reading and please take a moment to leave a review!