December came round, Daryl was stood on the night watch, thinking hard how he was going to talk to Beth about the twins first Christmas, he had never had a tree and presents growing up, he desperately wanted to spoil the twins but he wasn't sure how Beth would feel about this, he heard someone coming up the steps behind him, it wasn't time for change over quite yet but it was getting close, he turned to see Glenn's head appear, he nodded at him then went back to concentrating on the tree line.

"Hey" Glenn said to him.

"Early ain' ya?" he asked

"Yeah got something to talk to ya about, Maggie didn't want me to worry Beth but I think ya should know, Hershel's cold it ain' getting no better and he's an old man." he said, Daryl looked down at the floor, he had come to respect Hershel, the man had been almost like a father to him over the past year.

"What's the Doc say?" he asked

"He said it ain' pneumonia at the mo, but it could change." Daryl considered this.

"Then we need to be making this a Christmas for everyone to enjoy and remember, the girls need this man." Glenn smiled.

"There's another run tomorrow" Glenn said

"I gotta take people into the woods tomorrow find a bloody tree" secretly he was excited he'd never had a tree before but he wasn't going to let on about that. Runs had been going on for weeks now, Daryl had done several himself, stashing presents for his family and friends away, so no one saw them, he'd never really done Christmas even as a kid, well apart from the year him and Merle exchange token gifts, he'd got Merle a bottle of JD and Merle had got him 20 smokes and a Zippo lighter, which he guessed had been stolen, Daryl's hand drifted towards the Zippo in his pocket and he held it in his hand, he kinda wished Merle was here to meet the twins, then again their language was bad enough.

"Alright the China man, see ya tomorra" Daryl said as he started towards the ladder.

"Good night Redneck, and I'm Korean." he called after him, Daryl chuckled to himself.

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The preparations were all in place and Daryl had hidden all the presents he had gotten for everyone in the apartment, he prayed Beth wouldn't be too horrified with the amount for the twins, he also prayed she wouldn't look in his wardrobe or she might get a head ache when they all landed on her. Only one more night to go, they had put the twins to bed and were sat in the living room, he felt fidgety and excited, every now and again Beth looked up at him, while he walked around the room, then out onto the balcony to have a smoke, then back in again, in the end she tutted and he looked at her.

"What is the matter with you?" she asked

"Nothing, bored." he said.

"Bored" she raised an eyebrow "so not excited then?"

"About what?" he asked her innocently

"About tomorrow? About all those present you have been hiding for weeks in that wardrobe, don't think I haven't noticed your clean clothes stacking themselves by the side of the bed, if the pile gets much bigger we could have our own ski resort." she smiled.

"Shush up woman" he said trying to act like he had no idea what she was talking about.

"Daryl, it's ok none of us has had a proper Christmas in nearly four years, it's ok to be excited." she reassured, he pushed one hand through his hair and nibbled at his thumb. "Just tell me" she put her book down and concentrated on him.

"Never done Christmas before, never had presents to give anyone, made me Ma a card once at school but the old man found it and tore it up, she died the following year." he explained

"You mean never, celebrated it at all?" she asked astonished, she couldn't understand why she was so surprised with everything else he had told her about his childhood why should this be anything different? But it had surprised her.

"Nope, so I wanna make it special for the twins, wanna make everyone special and their birthdays" he said in an apologetic tone.

"Then special they will be for us all, Daryl, I know how to break the boredom." she smiled, he stopped pacing and looked at her.

"You do?" he asked

"Oh yes and it should make you forget everything." Daryl walked over to the couch pulling her to her feet then scooped her into his arms, he stopped to turn out the lights and walked into the bedroom, she insisted he put her down and led down on the bed, Daryl sat on the edge of the bed removing his work boots then stripped off the rest of his clothes, he never wore underwear it was an inconvenience when you hunting, and had to take a quick piss.

He dutifully climbed onto the bed reaching his hands up behind his head a smile appearing on his face. "So ya not going to put on the dress you wore for my birthday?" he chuckled but she shook her head at him no.

"Was thinking of a suit to be honest." she smiled and started to slowly remove her shirt dancing around the room, she threw the shirt at him, then slipped the button undone on her jeans sliding them seductively down her thighs and kicking them off, she turned on the spot, dropping her bra strap down from her shoulder then the second looking over them at Daryl smirking, he giggled never before in his life had he had anyone do this and although blushing, it was definitely working, he watched as she slipped her hand up between her shoulder blades unclasping her bra, she turned to look at him bending over slightly as she dropped the bra away from her breasts, her pink nipples hard with excitement, she took either side of her small panties and began to pull them slowly down her legs and stepping out of them, she came towards him crawling onto the bed, Daryl could hardly contain himself, he grabbed her pushing her onto her back climbing on top of her, he took one of her nipples into his mouth biting down lightly, enjoying her moaning, he put his hand up and pulled on her other one, enjoying the feel of her body squirming under him, he placed a small trail of kisses down her body towards her dampness, he reached down between her legs opening her up and burying his tongue into her, he looked up watching her reaction, she whispered his name encouragingly and ran her fingers into his hair pulling him in harder, he moved his tongue onto her nub causing her to pull his hair harder, pushing to fingers into her now soaking wet slit, he moved them quickly until she came hard over his hand. Daryl went to crawl up between Beth's legs when she stopped him with a firm shake of the head, she flipped over onto her front then up onto her knees, Daryl took the hint instantly, going up onto his knees behind her, he pushed into her hard from behind, he set a fast pace ramming into her over and over, as she screamed his name out over and over again, he could feel how close she was so he reached his hand down between her legs, rubbing her clit franticly.

"Fuck me Daryl" she shouted and that was it he couldn't hold back any longer, he came heavily and she followed swiftly behind him, he felt her collapse underneath him, so he led down next to her pulling the duvet up over them, Beth turned onto her side looking up at him.

"Don't leave me" Beth whispered.

"Never Beth, Never" Daryl answered.