Sorry for the delay! Hope you enjoy the chapter (and the next).

There was no way he would be able to sleep. It's too hot, his mind was too full. So he sat on the top step of the small porch he finally managed to fix, smoking cigarette after cigarette, his throat beginning to turn raw.

Blowing smoke up into the dark sky, thinking back on the day. He hadn't expected to have such a good day. He knew it'd be a good day because any day with Billie and Beth was a good day, the time he spent with them today, together as if they were some sort of the family was better than he anticipated. He hadn't expected to enjoy it so much. People and crowds weren't his thing. But for the first time in his life, he walked with purpose, with his head up, looking people in the eye as they passed.

He had a reason to be there, to take up the space his five foot ten inch frame needed. Billie gave him that purpose. She was all the reason he needed. It was all for BIllie.

Her mother was a different story. She gave him a different kind of purpose. She was a gatekeeper of sorts. One that, rightfully, guarded Billie. She also guarded her heart against him. He had it once, he was afraid she wouldn't trust him with it again.

He didn't remember the moment he fell in love with Beth. It just happened. One day they were together and he never looked back. He knew she was too good for him. He couldn't resist her and he didn't try to.

It had been the first real relationship for both of them. No one approved but Beth was over eighteen so not much could be done. The Greene's either accepted it or ignored it. Merle didn't care one way or the other. He wasn't one to begrudge his baby brother a girl like Beth.

Something that didn't bypass Daryl was that Beth was different around him. More reckless. Wilder. A closet rebel for a small town such as this. That wild side had always been there, he just gave her a safe place to let it out.

When she got a tattoo, written in fancy script high on her hip, Stay Wild Moon Child, he didn't try to discourage her.

When she got drunk the first time he only made sure she was safe. Hell bent on getting drunk, she procured a fifth of Peach Schnapps from someone. Well, he wasn't going to let her first drink be no Peach Schnapps, so he supplied the moonshine. He was there to hold her hair back when she puked the moonshine up.

When she decided not to go to college he supported her. Though he made it clear he thought she shouldn't stay behind because of him. If she wanted to go then she should. If she didn't want to then she shouldn't. He emphasized she needed to make that decision for herself, not for her parents and not for him.

He wasn't her keeper. He had no interest in handling her. That's not what she needed. She needed a space where she could just be. He gladly gave that to her.

They were both young and immature. Fighting like hell one minute, going at it in the alleyway behind the coffee shop the next. Hot fire and cool water. Two fundamental elements simultaneously coupling and clashing.

They never could be without one another for longer than the couple days it took for their tempers to wane. At some point, again he wasn't sure when things began to blur. His priorities began to shift. His affection for Beth never diminished inwardly but outwardly the drugs and dealing made everything convoluted and tangled.

In other words, he fucked things up.

The unmistakable rumble of a motorcycle interrupted his thoughts. Daryl was instantly on guard. A side effect of being a criminal in some facet or another for too long. His eyes narrowed in the distance, listening. He was the only one that lived down the dead-end road. His dad would use it to his advantage when he was making 'shine. Ol' Will was always prepared for whoever came over the hill.

He went back inside, slipped the Glock he now kept on top of the fridge into the back waistband of his jeans. Going back to the door he stood off to the side, waiting to see who this was and what they wanted.

It wasn't until the driver shut the engine off and removed his helmet that he recognized it to be Shane. Daryl forgot he ran into him earlier in the night telling him to stop by. It left his mind the second he said it, so preoccupied by Beth and Billie he'd been.

He and Daryl shook hands when he reached the top step.

"Didn't know if you'd be here, or if you'd be alone," Shane said in place of a greeting. "Thought maybe you'd be with Beth."

"Na' I'm alone. Just me and the trees," he said gesturing to the thick woods that surrounded the house. They couldn't see them of course. Save for the porch light, it was black as pitch this time of night.

Shane followed Daryl into the house. "I gotta say it's good to see you. Ain't really seen anyone in years. Wanna Coke?"

He and Shane would go without speaking to each other and then pick up where they left off with no problem. This time they hadn't seen each other in about a year. Shane reminded him of Merle and the times they'd all spent together. There were a lot of bad times but even more good times. That life he had with Merle felt eons away. Like a dream that quickly fades in the early morning light.

Before giving him a chance to answer, Daryl retrieved two cans from the fridge. Setting one in front of Shane who made himself at home at the kitchen table.

He eyed the can dubiously, popped the top anyway, and took a swig. They caught up on the past couple of years they missed out on. Not much had changed for Shane. He was still bumming around, just as Daryl had been. No plans for the future. Wandering around taking it day by day. Selling, dealing. Using.

"I can't believe you're working at the recycling center."

"Yeah, it's a shitty job. But it's honest work. You know there's not much 'round here."

"Oh, I know," he mumbled.

Shane stood and paced around the small house. If Daryl wasn't mistaking he was coming down. He had that tired, twitchy, irritable look he knew all too well. His hand shook when he drank from the can of Coke and his knee didn't stop jiggling the entire time he was sitting. Now he was pacing back and forth.

"Honest work?" He questioned with a thin smile.

"Yeah, honest work." He didn't expect Shane to understand. Hell, he himself wouldn't have understood a short time ago either. Straight work was for straightlaced chumps. Little did he know he would become one of those straitlaced chumps. Willingly.

Shane sighed like an exhausted father who doesn't know what to do with his troublesome son. He went to the window and looked out at the ink blackness past the porch light.

Suddenly he turned back to Daryl, focused now. Almost alarmed. "Nice truck. Where's your bike?"

"Oh," Daryl stalled by taking a drink. "I sold it," he said into the can of Coke.

"What?"

Daryl didn't respond, Shane heard him right. He stomped back to the table and yanked out a chair, faced his friend. "Tell me you're fucking kidding me."

"I'm not," he confirmed.

"Why the fuck would you do that? You've had that bike longer than most marriages last."

"I needed a truck," he explained simply. He understood Shane's shock. Understood that biker mentality. You broke up with girlfriends, divorced wives, skipped town, evaded the cops, but you never sold your motorcycle.

"You needed a truck? So you sell your bike? What the hell man?" Shane looked at Daryl like he didn't recognize his own friend. His brow furrowed in disappointment. "You coulda' at least sold it to me."

Daryl thought about that, but then he'd have to hear Shane go on about selling it and how he was changing, how he was selling out. Just like he was doing now.

"Save it, okay? I did what I had to do. It's gone now. Nothing we can do 'bout it. Sold it to some guy on Craigslist."

"Craigslist?" Shaine questioned angrily.

Daryl nodded, shifted his eyes to the windows behind Shane, shutting him out. He wasn't going to be lectured by Shane of all people. He'd never understand putting someone else's needs above your own.

Shane sat there for a while and pouted until Daryl broke the silence, outright asking him, "Why are you here?"

They'd both taken off at different points in their lives, both swearing they'd never come back. Yet here they both were.

Daryl could ask himself the same question. Except he didn't dare. Coming back here was meant to be - if he believed in such things. If he hadn't come back he might have missed out on Billie's life, he didn't want to think about that, didn't want to play that 'what if' game.

Shane lifted a shoulder nonchalantly, leaned back in the chair, kicked his feet out. Still brooding about the motorcycle. "I heard 'bout Merle getting busted. I'm really sorry about that. Fifteen years?" He whistled through his teeth. "That's tough."

Daryl nodded. Whenever he thought of Merle being in a jail cell for that long his chest got tight and achy. He would have been with Merle the day he got busted had he not been at home too hungover to get out of bed. Feeling sorry for himself, missing Beth though she'd been gone over a year at that point.

Guilt co-mingled with relief. Guilt for not being there with Merle and relief because he wasn't with Merle. It had been dumb luck.

Apparently, the judge was trying to set an example to those who dealt opioids because he stuck Merle with the maximum sentence allowed with an exuberant smile on his face.

"He sounded good when I talked to him the other day," Shane commented when Daryl didn't reply.

"I haven't seen him in a while." Hadn't talked to him either. More guilt singed in his chest like a heartburn that wouldn't go away. He made a mental note to figure out when he could make the trip to the prison. No more pussyfooting around it. He couldn't ditch his own brother. Ditch his bike? Yes. Ditch his old life? Yes. His brother? No. What kind of person could leave his own brother to rot in jail for fifteen years.

Shane nodded. He understood. Seeing Merle in jail was a reminder of where either of them could easily be. "I see why you came back here though. Beth's lookin' good," he smiled, his mood shifting quicker than a jackrabbit running away from a coyote.

Daryl's hackles needlessly went on edge. Shane wasn't the type to move in on someone's girl, not that Beth was 'his girl'. Not that Shane was Beth's type.

"That's not why I came back. After Merle was put away I didn't have anywhere else I wanted to go." Something had pulled him back here. He needed to come back where it all started. "I didn't even know Beth was back in town when I got here."

"I really thought y'all would be together for, like, ever."

Me too.

Shane knew that she left him. Came to Atlanta and took him out for a weekend of drinking and drugging to commemorate. That was the extent of it. They never spoke of her again. Until today.

"This town is like a vortex. Sucks us all back in."

"So, are you staying long?" Daryl asked, changing the subject.

"I dunno. Guess it depends."

"On what?"

"On whether or not you're willing to help me out."

Ah, Daryl thought, the real reason Shane was there. It wasn't just to check up on him now that Merle was in jail.

"I got some stuff to move. I could use your help," Shane finally admitted."Since you've gone MIA Negan's wondering where you are. We lost two of our best runners."

Negan. There's a name Daryl hoped to never hear again. He was the founder of the Angels motorcycle 'club' he'd been a member of since he was seventeen years old.

Faced head on with his past, Daryl kept his mouth shut.

"I'm guessin' you could use some quick cash."

"Uh huh. No way. I'm done with all that shit."

Shane's eyes widened. The can of Coke froze halfway to his mouth. He let out a small belch of a laugh. "What the hell?" He asked, setting the drink back down and leaning forward. "You're shittin' me."

"I'm not gonna end up like Merle."

Shane scoffed. "That ain't gonna happen to you. No offense to Merle but you're way smarter than he is. I heard he was wasted when they busted him. You just gotta keep your mind clear You'll be fine," he said dismissively.

"I'm done. That little girl Beth was holding today? She's my daughter." The word daughter felt large and cumbersome. Strange, yet right.

Shane's eyes widened in shock. "What the fuck man?"

Daryl chuckled. "My sentiment exactly. I was shocked when I came back here and found out. Still kinda am," he said, smiling to himself.

"You mean you didn't know Beth had a kid? Your kid?"

Daryl briefly explained how he found out about Billie's existence. Shane was almost as shocked as he had been.

"Why didn't she tell you before?" Shane asked. "Before she left you."

"Why would she tell me? I was in no position to be a father."

"I hear kids aren't cheap. They always need something. Shoes, clothes. Food."

Daryl thought back to the birthday party and how obvious it was to him that Billie had everything her little heart desired including a fucking pony. What could he offer her on his piddly little salary? It was tempting to take Shane up on his offer. In the end, the risk wasn't worth the reward. He'd work even more hours if he had to. Get a second job. A better job. He wasn't going back to dealing or the club. He was out of that business for good.

"So that's it? Just 'cause you got a kid you're washing your hands of the club?"

"Yep. I'm never goin' back to the life I had before."

He didn't even feel the slightest bit regret about it. This is where he belonged. Here in this town with Beth and Billie.

"How ya gonna support her?" Shane asked, annoyance sparked. "Working at the recycling center for a shit wage? What about the club? What about Negan? You owe him for taking a chance on a hoodrat kid like you."

"What about Negan?" Daryl asked. "The club didn't do shit when Merle went away."

They all faded away after Merle's arrest. Daryl was too much of a liability, afraid he was being watched by the authorities or who-the-hell-ever.

"You know that's what happens when someone gets busted. They can't risk it."

"Yeah, well I can't risk it either." Yes, that lifestyle had been more lucrative, it wasn't worth it. "I can't fuck this up. I have to do right by Billie." And right by Beth. "I can't risk Beth getting spooked."

I have no affiliation with the Angels (or Hells Angels). Don't come for me please. lol
Thanks for reading!