Tell Me 'Bout Your Dreams

Beth crossed the grass and the parking lot, smiling the whole way as she locked eyes with Daryl. He stood up and away from his bike, tossing his cigarette to the ground.

As she approached, he asked, "Sorry I didn't text back—reckoned I'd talk to ya in person. Did I miss lunch?"

She stopped, leaving an arm's length of distance between them. "I thought you didn't wanna come."

He shrugged, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "Well, I called outta work an' Rick ain't gonna be free fer another hour. So I figured I'd stop by. Didn't know how late y'all were gonna be goin'."

"I woulda saved you a plate," she said, still smiling. "But we finished a little while ago, so there's not much left. I gotta help clean up. Did Rick get a hold of that rental car place?"

Daryl nodded. "Yup. He was right—they wouldn't give that kinda information over the phone. We're gonna drive up there an' see if he can talk 'em into it."

"In an hour?"

"Yeah. You wanna come with?"

"Of course I do."

"Alright. Merle been leavin' ya alone today?"

Beth's smile faltered at the mention of the dead Dixon. "Surprisingly. I kinda chewed him out last night when he told me the truth about the money. He got pissy an' disappeared. I haven't seen him since."

Daryl grunted. "Maybe ya actually got through an' made him feel bad."

She laughed. "I might be able to talk to ghosts, but I'm not a miracle worker."

He smirked, chuckling softly.

"So did Rick call the insurance place, too?" She asked.

"Yeah. He talked ta somebody, but I'ono if it was who he wanted. Guess they said we can stop by before they close tomorrow," he explained.

"Okay, good," she said. Then she paused before adding, "I think we're bound ta get some answers between both places. What d'you think?"

He shrugged. "Just hopin' yer right. An' that Merle won't have no more stupid surprises for us."

She huffed out a breath. "Yeah. Me, too."

"So y'all need help cleanin' up?" Daryl offered. He quickly explained, "Might save some time if ya got an extra pair of hands. Figured you'd wanna stop at home an' change before we meet Rick."

Beth glanced back over her shoulder to see that Maggie was still standing on the steps of the church, watching from afar. She turned back and looked up at Daryl with a smile. "If you don't mind my family makin' small talk, sure."

He grunted and flashed her a half-smile. "Nah, I don't mind."

Beth led the way back to the front of the church, where Maggie was still waiting on the steps, saying goodbye to people as they slowly filtered out the door.

"Hey, Daryl," she greeted with a beaming smile. "It's good to see ya."

Daryl stayed a couple steps behind Beth, nodding at the brunette. "Good t'see you, too."

"He offered to help us clean up," Beth said, slowly climbing the steps.

Maggie's eyebrows rose in surprise, but she only appeared more excited. "How thoughtful. Y'all got somewhere to be after this?"

Beth smiled, rolling her eyes at her sister's suggestive tone. "Yeah, we're meetin' up with Rick again. We have ta go talk to some people."

"Unless y'all have other plans," Daryl interjected, looking to Maggie with a hint of uncertainty.

Maggie laughed and shook her head. "Don't worry about it." Then she opened up the door and held it, gesturing for them to step inside. "C'mon, let's get started. More hands makes for less work."

A few minutes later, the last of the guests had left and the Greene family—plus Glenn and Daryl—were scattered around the gathering hall, collecting empty paper plates and aluminum pans, filling up trash bags with scraps of half-eaten food and plastic utensils. Hershel made his way over to Beth and Daryl, surprising them as they quietly worked to clean off a table.

"Nice to see you, Daryl," he greeted, smiling warmly and holding out his hand.

Daryl quickly turned to face the Greene patriarch and shook his hand. "You, too. Sorry I missed the event."

"No apology necessary," Hershel beamed. "We're always happy to have some extra help. I assume you two have plans for the rest of the day?" He glanced at Beth and winked, but she quickly looked away, blushing and rolling her eyes.

Daryl shifted his weight uncomfortably. "Yeah—if that's alright with you."

Hershel chuckled. "You're both adults. You don't need my permission." Though he flashed Daryl a stern look and added, "As long as you're keepin' my daughter safe and outta trouble, that is."

"'Course—I mean, absolutely," Daryl quickly replied, his voice cracking. He cleared his throat.

Beth wanted to melt into the floor right now. She could only imagine how Daryl was feeling.

"Y'know," Hershel said, raising his bushy eyebrows and returning to his soft-toned demeanor, yet remaining intimidating all the same. "You'd be welcome to join us anytime you like. Maybe this Sunday? For church?"

Daryl cleared his throat again, stroking his chin hair with one hand. "Um, maybe. I'll have to think about it. I appreciate the invitation."

Hershel nodded, smiling warmly. "Of course. It's an open invitation, no pressure." Then he turned his attention on Beth. "Should we set a place for you two at dinner tonight?"

She desperately hoped her face wasn't as bright red as it felt. "No, Daddy, I don't think Daryl's gonna be joining us fer dinner anytime soon. I'm not sure if I'll be home in time tonight. Maybe just have Maggie save me a plate."

He shrugged. "Alright, Doodlebug. I s'pose we'd best finish up here so you can run off to your next adventure." He gave her a teasing smile.

She laughed softly, but all she could think was, If you only knew.

Once the church was cleaned up and everything that the Greene's had brought was packed back into their trucks and cars, everyone began to part ways and head for home. Beth was riding with Maggie and Glenn, but Maggie was doing one last sweep of the church to make sure they didn't forget anything.

So Beth stood by the street with Daryl and his parked motorcycle while she waited.

"Sorry about my dad," she said, a crooked smile on her face as she gazed up at him. "He tries ta get everybody to come to church."

He shrugged. "Don't be sorry. He's just bein' polite. Can't say I've been to church in a while. Maybe it'd be worth a shot."

Beth raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Really?"

Daryl furrowed his brow. "Well, my brother sold my soul to a demon, so I reckon gettin' back on God's good side wouldn't be such a bad idea."

She tensed, but then he cracked a smile and she realized he was only partially serious. She chuckled and reached out to give him a playful smack on the arm. He laughed.

"C'mon now," he teased. "Can't tell me I don't got a point."

Beth rolled her eyes and gave him a playful look. Then she asked, "So you wanna follow us back to my house? Won't take me long to change, then we can go meet up with Rick."

Daryl's smile faded and he nodded, returning to a more solemn tone. "Yeah, 's what I planned on. He said we could ride with him into the city. I'll just park my bike at the Sheriff's Department."

"Sounds good." She paused, glancing back over her shoulder to see if Maggie had emerged from inside the church yet. She hadn't, so Beth looked up at Daryl and took a half-step closer, lowering her voice. "Um… I had a pretty weird dream last night."

He stared back at her with slight confusion, frowning. "A dream?"

"Yeah. But it didn't feel like a dream," she explained. "It was more like… another vision. But I wasn't expecting it, and I couldn't make sense of it."

He grunted, clearly intrigued. "What'd ya see? Can you remember it?"

She quickly nodded. "I can. But I didn't recognize the kids I saw, and right after they—"

"Kids?" He interrupted. "What kids?"

"Just two boys. I dunno. I think they were brothers. One was blonde, maybe like twelve years old at the most. He had a black eye. The other one had dark hair and looked like a teenager. But it was… really weird."

"Weird how?" Daryl's eyes narrowed, studying Beth's face, and the crease in his brow grew more prominent as he listened.

She hesitated for a second, trying to figure out how she could explain it so that he could try and picture what she'd seen. "Well, they… um, they were two boys, but they were also four boys. It was like two pairs of brothers with the same age difference between them, standing in the same spots an' sayin' the same things, but they kept flickering and changing back an' forth."

His lips were pressed tightly together and he was still staring at her, though he made no attempt to speak. He seemed to be following, so she went on.

"The younger one was beggin' the older one not to leave. Somethin' about being left behind with somebody. And the older one just told him that he had to stay behind an' take care of their mom." She paused and took a deep breath before she added, "And then they disappeared, and I heard Papa Legba talking to me."

Daryl's eyes widened. "Shit—for real?"

Beth nodded, frowning.

"What'd he say?"

She felt a chill run up her spine at the mere memory of Legba's voice in her head. "That I was visiting places I shouldn't visit. That he's waiting for me to return… But then I heard another voice. I didn't see her, but I know who it was: the Irish Witch that talked to me through Morgan, the one Maggie met when she was a kid. And she warned me that I need to be careful, because I'm more powerful than I realize and my Gift might take me somewhere that's too dangerous for me to be."

"Well, fuck," Daryl huffed out a breath of disbelief. "You sure it wasn't just a dream?"

She raised her eyebrows and looked up at him with determination. "I'm positive."

He grunted, shoving his hands deep into his jeans pockets and mulling over her words. Dread flickered across his face for the briefest moment, then he was worrying his lower lip and glancing away to stare down at the ground.

"I think it's a good sign," she said after a few long seconds of silence.

His eyes flicked back up to meet hers. "Why's that?"

"Because." She offered a weak smile. "Papa Legba sounded angry. And I saw one of his Hellhounds when I had that vision in the evidence room, and it was pissed. I could tell… So if he's gettin' mad, that could really only mean one thing."

Daryl perked up. "That we're gettin' closer'an he wants us to be."

Beth's smile turned into a grin and she nodded eagerly. "Exactly."

But then his face fell once more and he was glancing away awkwardly, chewing on the inside of his cheek and shifting his weight from one foot to the other. "I, uh… I had a dream last night, too."

She was caught off-guard, her grin fading as she studied his expression and tried to interpret it. "Oh?"

He gave a curt nod, clearing his throat and keeping his gaze averted downward. "'S prob'ly nothin', 's just… I ain't had a dream that I could remember this clearly in twenty damn years."

She ignored the tingle of dread that was spawning within her gut and gently asked, "What happened in your dream?"

He shifted, gone quiet for a second while he tried to find the words to describe it. He still wouldn't meet her eyes as his voice came out low and hoarse, describing what he could recall, "I was on a rowboat out in the middle of the ocean. No paddles, so I couldn't even try ta control which way I floated. I couldn't see land anywhere an' it was all dark—the water, the sky, everything. I couldn't see any stars ta figure out which direction I was goin'. And when I looked down at my feet, I realized the boat was full of broken glass. Like somebody had smashed a hundred beer bottles an' left all the shards in one place. It was cuttin' into my feet and legs, I had some pieces stuck in my hands. I kept hearin' Merle's voice call out to me, but no matter how hard I looked, I couldn't find him. Then I saw a light, but it looked far away. I tried to steer towards it, but every time I stuck my hands in the water, it felt like the glass was cuttin' deeper into my skin. I finally got close enough to see it was a lighthouse, but it was real dim. Kept flickering in an' out. And everytime I started floating closer, the tide would push me back. I got frustrated an' jumped overboard. Figured I'd just swim the rest of the way. But then the water got real choppy, I couldn't keep my head above the surface. I just kept kickin', try'na keep my eyes on the lighthouse. Then I felt somethin' grab my leg—like a strong hand or a claw or somethin'—and it pulled me under. I woke up an' I couldn't breathe fer a few seconds… I was so damn sweaty, I thought fer a second that I really had gone swimmin'."

Beth stared at him with wide eyes, stunned. She blinked, watching as he slowly met her gaze with trepidation.

"I know," he grumbled. "It don't make no fuckin' sense. Just kinda spooked me, I guess."

"No," she said. "It does make sense."

Way too much sense, she thought. Florence, are you showing Daryl things now, too? Can you hear me? What are you trying to tell us?

Daryl furrowed his brow. "It does? How?"

She opened her mouth to try and explain, but she was cut off by the sound of Maggie's voice calling out from behind her. "Beth, are you ready?! Let's go!"

Beth turned to give Maggie a wave, signaling that she'd be there in just a second. Then she turned back and flashed Daryl an apologetic look.

"I'll tell you later," she said. "Maggie's not very patient. I'll see you at the house, okay?"

Daryl nodded in agreement and she stepped back, turning to walk away.

But she only got a few feet away when she heard him call out behind her, "Hey, Beth—"

She stopped and glanced back to see that he hadn't moved towards his bike yet, hands still resting snug inside his pockets.

"You, uh—I like yer dress. Looks real pretty on ya."

She couldn't stop the huge grin that spread across her face. Or the flush of pink that bloomed in her cheeks.

"Thanks, Daryl," she said, flashing him a bright smile from over her shoulder.

She felt like she was walking on air as she hurried over to Maggie and Glenn's car. And before she hopped into the backseat, she stole one more glance of Daryl as he revved up his bike and took off down the street.

She couldn't even try to tell herself that the fluttering in her stomach was due to hunger this time.

Crap.

Daryl was already parked in the long driveway by the time Hershel, Shawn, Maggie, Glenn, and Beth pulled up to the farmhouse. He told Beth he'd wait there for her while she ran inside and changed. Maggie and Glenn assured her that they could handle the rest of the unpacking and cleaning up, so she rushed into the house and up to her bedroom.

She tossed her purse aside and hurriedly changed into a pair of jeans and a long-sleeve tee, slipping on a pair of comfortable boots. Then she stopped at the mirror—the new one her dad had brought up from the basement to replace the mirror Merle had broken days ago—and checked her makeup, touching it up a bit.

As she stood by the door, double-checking that she had everything she might need in her little over-the-shoulder purse and preparing to leave, she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. She turned around, dreading what she knew she would find.

Sure enough: Merle was back.

"No longer announcing yourself?" Beth asked, her voice tinged with annoyance at the mere sight of him. "Or are you tryin' to give me a heart attack now?"

He scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Obviously I don't have to announce myself. You'da figured out I was here sooner or later."

"And what's it gonna take ta run you off this time?" She asked. "If we find somethin' else out and need your help, are you gonna disappear again?"

He scowled. "Maybe. Not like I won't come back. Y'all seem ta have this shitshow under control without my help so far. The hell am I gonna do, anyhow? Still can't remember bein' killed. Can't do much of anything—ya know, bein' fuckin' dead an' all."

Beth quirked a brow. "You can haunt people. Rick showed us the camera footage of what you did at the Sheriff's Department yesterday, ya know. He was almost convinced Shane was crazy till I explained the situation."

Merle smiled proudly, puffing his chest out a bit and chuckling. "Well shit, I was just havin' some fun. Takin' out a little pent-up anger. Lord knows Deputy Dickhead deserved every bit of it."

She shrugged. "I won't argue with that. But you missed a lotta real pertinent information whenever you flaked out."

"Psh." Merle was frowning again, sucking on his teeth and narrowing his eyes at Beth. "Where the hell d'you think I go when I ain't hangin' around you?"

She paused, taken aback. She answered uncertainly, "I dunno—off ta be by yourself? Or to go haunt somebody else for a little bit?"

He barked out a laugh and smirked. "Shit. You really think I'm some kinda simple-minded fuckin' retarded redneck, don'tcha?"

She pursed her lips and gave him a look that said, You really want me to answer that?

He sneered and rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest. "Christ, blondie. An' here I was startin' ta think you might not be such an airheaded bimbo after all."

"Oh, screw you," she snapped. "Where else would you go? A strip club? Since you can finally get in for free?"

"No, dumbass," he said. "If I ain't with you, then I'm with my brother."

Beth furrowed her brow, surprised and a little confused. "And what about when Daryl is with me?"

He shrugged. "Well, sometimes I go off by myself. But only 'cause I'm tryin' ta figure out where the fuck this Governor prick might be hidin'. Daryl was up pretty late last night, though. Talkin' to that bitch he lives with." He smirked knowingly and waved a hand through the air. "I know all about what y'all found out—how my shenanigans actually helped y'all ta get Rick on our side. How you fainted in the evidence room an' caught a license plate in one a them li'l visions. Hell, yer name came up more times'an I could even count, blondie."

She blurted out, "He told his roommate about it? About everything?"

Merle's smirk curled into a devilish smile. "Oh yeah. Every last bit. I'll bet she's writin' it all down in her diary as we speak." He laughed crudely.

Beth felt a twinge of anger. Frustration. Bewilderment that Daryl would spill this secret to his roommate, yet turn around and admonish Beth for confiding in Maggie.

But surely, he had his reasons. Maybe his roommate was the only person he felt he could really trust. Could she blame him for needing a third party to vent to? Or an outsider's perspective? Nonetheless, he was still a hypocrite for getting so upset with her for talking to her sister while he was sharing every gruesome detail with a woman that Beth had yet to even meet.

"Whatever," she quickly said, trying to sound as indifferent as possible. "It doesn't matter. He's waitin' downstairs, I have to go. We're gonna meet up with Rick and try to find out The Governor's real name."

"Yeah, I know," Merle said. "Why you think I showed back up? Ain't here to fuckin' gossip. Let's get a move on, princess."

She held back a snippy retort and turned on her heel, leaving the bedroom. And she didn't have to look back to know that Merle was following her.

Daryl tossed out his burnt-down cigarette as soon as Beth descended the steps of the back porch and approached his bike.

"He's back," she declared.

Merle laughed from behind her while Daryl handed over the helmet and she took it.

"Huh," he grunted. "'Bout damn time. He gonna fuck off again once we actually need 'im?"

Merle's laughter stopped abruptly and he spat, "Fuck you, Darylina!"

Beth smirked as she slipped on the helmet and hoisted herself onto the bike. "Let's hope not." She sat down behind Daryl and wrapped her arms around his middle.

"I won't go holdin' my breath," he muttered.

Then he started up the motorcycle, and the loud rumble of the engine drowned out any other smartass remarks from the dead Dixon.

Seconds later, Daryl and Beth were speeding away down the dirt road in the direction of the Sheriff's Department. But Beth's mind was racing even faster.

What if they couldn't get the answers they needed from this rental car place? That simply wasn't an option. They had to get an answer. Because deep down, Beth had a feeling that time was beginning to run short.

Papa Legba was getting agitated. His Hellhounds were growing restless. The Governor was out there somewhere, lurking around, waiting for an opportunity to strike at Daryl.

And she still didn't know if Merle was telling the whole truth.

to be continued…