I do not own any of the TWD characters.

Wedding Bells

All of the men in the wedding party were gathered at several large tables down at the local diner. They were going to have a big greasy, country breakfast to see them through the day. The woman folk were having some fancy schmancy bridal luncheon with little sandwiches and cookies and punch and whatnot. The guys figured greasy eggs and bacon would be just about right for them. Everyone was there except for Daryl.

"Where the hell's Daryl?" Shane barked at Negan when he joined them.

"Hell if I know" Negan answered as he turned his coffee cup over so the waitress would fill it. "He said he had to run some last minute errands for Glen."

Everyone looked at Glen who appeared to be confused at first, but then agreed, that yes, he'd sent Daryl on some last minute errands.

By the time the guys had finished wiping every stray bit of runny egg of their plates with a biscuit and were rubbing their bellies, it was time for everyone to go somewhere, get showered, and dressed so that they could be on time for pre wedding pictures.

Daryl never did show up for the men's breakfast – and he was late and disheveled at picture time.

XOXOXOXOX

You could hear the laughter of old ladies, the tinkle of fancy glassware, and the buzz of excitement in the church fellowship hall out into the churchyard. Tera and Michonne were the last to arrive at the bridal luncheon. Well, Beth still hadn't gotten there yet either but no one had said anything. Maggie was all smiles and the Ladies' Sunday School class was in hog heaven hosting the traditional event they hosted for every bride in their church family. Delicate sandwiches and pastries, fresh fruit, and a lovely pink punch graced the serving table. There were the beginnings of a huge pile of gifts that church members had been dropping off all week. Maggie wouldn't open these now, they would be shipped to their home in Chicago – this wasn't a gift giving party, more of just a social requirement in this neck of the woods.

The older ladies did take advantage of the opportunity though to offer what they thought was sure to be some of the best marriage advice around. As Maggie politely listened, she just kept smiling and drinking the punch. Annette began to wonder if she'd medicated herself that morning. Finally, one of the ladies noticed that the maid of honor was missing.

"Why, Annette Greene" she spoke softly. "Where is that baby girl of yours? Isn't she the maid of honor? You'd think she of all people would be here."

"Oh" Maggie piped up. "She's such a dear. She's taking care of a few things I forgot. I simply don't know what I would do without her. "

Annette had the strangest look on her face. "Yes, yes" she reluctantly agreed. "That Beth – couldn't have done all this without her."

Beth never did show up for that luncheon – and she was late and well, you know, disheveled for pictures.

XOXOXOXO

Glen and Maggie's wedding went off without a hitch. The ceremony was sweet, not overly done, and the music was beautiful. Maggie was gorgeous and Glen was just so handsome. Lucille couldn't help but notice that Daryl hadn't taken his eyes off of Beth throughout the entire ceremony.

"Negan" Lucille whispered. "Negan." She elbowed him gently.

"Yes Dear" he said.

"Does Beth's hair look different to you?" Lucille wondered in a whisper.

Negan grunted a quiet response.

"I think she's cut her hair" Lucille continued.

"Why? Does it look like she got a hair cut?" Negan asked.

"Yes!" Lucille whispered. "It definitely does."

Negan shrugged. Hell, he didn't know if the girl had cut her hair. He just wanted to hop a plane and get back home. He was hungover, and tired, and he'd had all of these people he could stand for a while. Negan thought for a little bit that he'd like to whip Rick's ass – he had no idea why, but something about his self-righteous attitude pissed him off. And Shane – Negan definitely wanted a go at him. Cocky son of a bitch Negan thought to himself.

Negan wondered if he'd said that last part out loud because Lucille's head snapped to look at him. Lucille finally moved on to other topics besides Beth's hair. Some of the things she and others were talking about were how absolutely beautiful everything was. The all white flowers and big poofy pink bows with long trailing ribbons, the men's charcoal suits, the ladies' soft pink dresses – it was all stunning. Simply stunning Lucille kept whispering into Negan's ear.

Negan was beginning to zone out again – probably plotting how to get Walsh or Grimes alone before he left town. Occasionally, Lucille would throw in the comment oh, we're going to have to top this and wonder what type flowers our Beth will want.

Negan patted Lucille's hand. "I don't know Dear" he said sweetly, but it was definitely laced with a smidge of sarcasm. "We'll just have to wait till she and Daryl plan their wedding." That shut Lucille up for the remainder of the ceremony.

XOXOXOXO

The reception was held at the local country club, the same one where their engagement party had been hosted. They had to sneak Rick in the back door because he'd been banned on the count of beating the shit out of Zach out in the parking lot the last time he was here. Hershel and Annette had a strong talk with the entire wedding party about how an open bar doesn't give you the right to drink yourself into oblivion and make an ass out of yourself. As Hershel gave his fatherly speech everyone nodded at appropriate times, said yes sir occasionally, and tried to act like they were going to behave. When Hershel finished talking with them, he turned to walk to the food table to grab a snack. Annette still stood there though staring all of them down.

"Do not embarrass me tonight" she uttered. "Not a single one of you." A few snickers slipped out. "I'm not joking – the first one of you that gets out of control is going to regret it. I promise." Annette turned on her little two inch heels and click clacked across the dance floor to talk with the head waiter.

Everyone did their best to behave throughout the serving of the dinner and the cutting of the cake and even when the dancing began. After that, some of the older crowd began to make an exit. That's when the cases of soju were brought out. Cases and cases of soju – the Korean national drink. Oh, Uncle Pooch was excited about that. You know, cause he's all about culture and everything. The shots of soju were followed by many poktanjus – a bomb drink (think boilermaker of the Asian persuasion). Oh my!

Negan kept asking Daryl when Kelly and his crew had arrived. Negan kept noticing them in the crowd, but then they'd slip in and out – he'd even noticed one of them walking into the kitchen area several times. What were they up to? What were they even doing here he kept wanting to know. "Were they even invited? Weren't they all three on your couch at some point last night? I know I didn't dream it" Negan went on and on. Daryl did his best to dodge and deflect the questions.

At one point in the evening, Daryl experienced a moment of weakness and threw Beth under the bus. "Maybe Beth invited them" was all Daryl said and Negan took off looking for Beth to give her the third degree. When Beth figured out that Daryl had sent Negan her way to take some of the heat off of himself, she shot him a look that would send most grown men running for cover. Daryl just sweetly shrugged his shoulders as if to say "Sorry Babe!"

It was a good thing Glen and Maggie didn't have anywhere to be that night – they were staying at a little inn out in the country that night since their flight out to their honeymoon destination didn't leave until late the next night. The partying and dancing went on to all hours. Suffice it to say, a good time was had by all. All good things come to an end though and when it was finally time to call it a night, everyone saw the happy couple off and then did their best to make their own way home. The few sober souls left among the not so sober ones managed to get everyone home safely.

Lucille drove her crew home. Negan walked into the house on his own but as he began to stagger down the hallway, Daryl called out to him. "Hey Negan" Daryl said cautiously. "Beth and I need to talk to ya'll a minute."

Lucille had sat down on the couch to take off her shoes and was rubbing her feet. She looked at both Beth and Daryl – they appeared to be a little on edge. Yes, on edge and a bit goofy. Negan came back into the living room and joined his wife on the couch.

"What's up?" he asked Daryl in a very fatherly way. "Ya'll okay?" Negan looked to Daryl and then to Beth. Beth swallowed the lump in her throat.

"Everything's great" Daryl assured Negan. "We're fine – better than fine actually."

"Yeh" Beth said softly. "We just want to give ya'll a heads up."

"A heads up?" Lucille asked warily.

"We told Beth's parents earlier" Daryl started "and now we're tellin ya'll."