I do not own any of the TWD characters.

Best Friends and Secret Projects

"I'm starvin" Beth giggled and rubbed her belly. "What's for lunch?"

Jeff joined in the laughter because no one could deny that the sound of a giggling Beth Dixon was contagious. "Well, I've got a grilled salmon salad, huge baked potatoes, fresh greens from my winter garden with some homemade dressing, and a retro frozen cranberry salad thing."

"Ya had me at grilled salmon"Beth squealed. "It's my favorite thing in the !"

"Beth" Daryl teased. "You had a chicken biscuit from Hardee's this mornin and ya said the same damn thing!"

"And at 6:30 this mornin, it was my favorite thing in the whole wide world" Beth smiled at her husband.

They all got into the house and Jeff directed everyone where they'd be staying so that they could deposit their overnight bags. The Dixons had been to Brad and Jeff's a couple of times already since Jacob's surgery so they knew their way around.

"Jacob" Jeff started "We're gonna put you and Micah in the upstairs TV room - we just got brand new sofa sleepers delivered yesterday. We're expecting to have ya'll over fairly regularly from here on out and it was something we'd been discussing anyway."

"Now listen" Daryl wasn't still completely comfortable with all of this hospitality. "We don't want ya'll goin to a bunch of extra trouble and expense on our account - we can just as easily sleep on the floor or stay at a hotel."

"Hush up Daryl Dixon!" Jeff snapped playfully. "That's the most ridiculous thing I ever heard. I can't tell you how excited Brad and I both are to have your family a part of our family now. It was like something was missing - ya'll are the ying to our yang!" Jeff and Beth both snorted.

Daryl rolled his eyes. "God, ya'll are weird. Can barely stand the both of yous together."

Jeff just rolled his eyes at the grumpy gus and continued with the sleeping arrangements speech. "Beth, you and Daryl, of course will have the downstairs guest room" the host continued, "and Katie Raye, we have an upstairs guest room but I kinda think you and Hannah would sure have fun sharing a room. It's up to you though."

Both girls squealed in excitement and ran off to Hannah's room.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Everyone had finished lunch, except for Beth. She was finishing up what was left of the grilled fish. Brad had made it home in time to eat with them. She and Brad were still at the dining room table while the kids were off doing something, who knows what. Jeff and Daryl were in the family room discussing insurance. Jeff wanted to go over some really cool "hidden" maternity benefits he'd discovered while nosing around their insurance the other night.

"Beth, everything going good for ya? Been feeling okay and everything?" Brad asked.

Beth nodded. "Yes, I've felt really good once I got over the initial shock" she laughed. "I just, well, you can imagine my surprise. This was completely unplanned - we thought we were done. You know, I told you, we'd tried and tried, and the two babies we lost." Beth got quiet. "Well, it was just a real big shock - to everyone."

"I bet" Brad smiled. "Jeff and I had discussed adopting another child, but I think we're fine. Hannah is so busy, and we're busy - I just think, ya know, things are just as close to perfect as they can be."

"Yeh" Beth agreed. "I get it."

"So" Brad tried steering the subject from anything that would make Beth sad. "We thought we'd go out for dinner tonight. There's this new Mexican place pretty close by that we've been dying to try."

Beth smiled.

"Oh" Brad second guessed himself. "Can you handle Mexican food right now? I didn't even think about your being pregnant and how spicy food might not go too well.."

"No, no" Beth patted Brad's hand. "I can handle the spice. I LOVE Mexican - it's my favorite thing in the whole wide world!"

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Ya'll be ready and packed up when ya mom and I get back from this appointment" Daryl told the kids at the breakfast table. "Merle's done gone and bought five freezers for the shop and they're being delivered this evenin. I need to be there."

"Five freezers?" Jeff gasped. "What on earth do you need five freezers for?"

"Part of the package for workin on Dixon Green Farms is ya get so many pounds of beef every month" Beth started to explain. "It's one of the extras we provide our workers - keeps them loyal and turnover low, helps them out with their grocery bill."

"We'd been storing the beef all over the two farms in various sheds and buildings" Daryl broke in. "Really, anywhere we had somewhere there was electricity, we'd stick a freezer."

"Kinda hard to keep track of inventory that way though" Beth added. "And since that's my department, I raised enough hell about streamlining the process. That main shop down from our house?" Beth looked to Brad and Jeff. They both nodded to let her know they knew where she was talking about. "Well, we already have the laundry facilities there for the yucky work clothes, we figured we would go ahead and make it the central location for all the workers to pick up their beef and other food items. They could pick up while they were doing their laundry."

"Wow" Jeff was really impressed. "Do they get as much as they want or just a certain amount? How does that work exactly?"

"Single men get five pounds of hamburger a month, families get ten" Beth rattled off. "Things like a chuck roast, or rib eyes, anything else but ground beef they can purchase for like, half of what they'd pay at the grocery. The only reason we charge for those cuts is we couldn't figure out how to distribute them fairly."

"We just use that money to offset the cost of having the meat processed" Daryl stated. "Doesn't cover all the expenses, but it does help some."

"How are you going to oversee all that?" Brad wondered aloud. "I mean, is it self-serve or what?"

"It has been" Beth rolled her eyes. "And with the beef being stashed in lots of different locations, it was really hard to keep track of."

"The kids are gonna run it" Daryl told them. "It's just one Friday night a month. Each worker has to place his order by the Wednesday before, and the kids will have it boxed up and ready to go for them that Friday night."

"They can also order fruits and veggies, Mom. Don't forget about that" Katie smiled. "Any batches of garden stuff that the workers have had a hand in putin up - they get so many canned goods credits."

"And when they return the empty canning jars and rings" Beth said, "they get more canned good credit."

"Ya'll are rocking the whole self sufficiency thing out there aren't ya?" Jeff asked.

"Well, it's another way to let our workers know we love them, and we want them to have what they need" Beth answered. "If you knew where some of them came from and the lives they've led before landing at our farm, you'd be flabbergasted."

"Oh, I'm sure" Brad responded.

"Beth" Daryl nudged his wife. "You 'bout ready - your appointment is in less than an hour."

"Yes" Beth began to wipe her mouth and take one more sip of juice. "Katie Raye" Beth looked to her daughter "you still wanting to go with us this mornin?"

Katie nodded yes. "Yes, I've got all my stuff together. Uh, Mom, can Hannah come home with us?"

Well, that was unexpected, but Beth really couldn't think of a reason to say no. Beth looked to Brad and Jeff. "I don't mind at all - the kids are on break for the rest of this week. I know Katie Raye would love to have the company."

"I don't know" Jeff started.

"Please Dad" Hannah begged. "Ya'll said yourself you didn't really want me staying home by myself this week and I don't want to hang at the office every day."

"Really" Daryl spoke now. "We'd love to have her - ain't no trouble at all."

Brad and Jeff looked at each other again, both of them shrugging. "I think it will be just fine" Brad finally answered, then added, "but only if you're sure you don't mind."

"We really, really don't mind" Beth assured the couple. "We might turn her into a farm girl after all."

And with that statement, Jeff had a ever so slight look of panic on his face.

"Boys" Daryl addressed his sons. "Ya'll be ready when we get back, you too Hannah - gotta high tail it back to the country."

Hannah laughed. She thought Mr. Dixon was the funniest man she'd ever seen.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The ride back home was not nearly as quiet as the ride down to Atlanta had been. The two girls in the back seat made sure of that. It was one long giggle fest. As much as Daryl wanted Jacob to drive back for the experience, he wanted to make good time and he wasn't comfortable with Jacob driving as fast as Daryl was intending on driving.

Micah and Beth had the middle seat again. Micah went to sleep as soon as they got onto the interstate and Beth spent her time on PInterest looking for gender reveal ideas. Daryl grumbled that he thought that was the stupidest idea he'd ever heard of. Beth snapped back at him that she didn't get to do anything like that with the other kids and since this was their last go at it, she wanted a gender reveal.

Daryl countered with the reason they'd never had a gender reveal before was because they'd had their kids before people had completely lost their minds about shit like that. Katie just smiled to herself, she was the only one in the vehicle that knew the gender.

Beth kept scrolling through pinterest. "Oh" Beth exclaimed. "I think we oughta take this picture to let everybody know we're expectin." She leaned forward to show Daryl the pic. He scoffed.

"What the hell for?" Daryl snorted after looking at the older couple in the picture surrounded by half grown kids looking all kinds of disgruntled. "Everybody I want ta know already knows."

"Pffft" Beth blew out under her breath. Hannah smiled at the interaction between Katie Raye's parents - they really acted no different than her own parents.

"Hey Katie" Hannah whispered to her best friend. "How 'bout we get my dads to help us throw the best gender reveal party anybody's ever had? Daddy Jeff is amazing at planning stuff like this."

Katie Raye just smiled at Hannah. "I think that's a great idea - do you think they'll mind to help us out?"

"Not at all" Hannah answered. "This can be one of our projects this week."

The girls giggled and whispered the entire rest of the way back to the farm. At one point, Katie pulled out a notebook that she always had with her and began taking down some notes. "We need to make sure your dads will help us before we get too far into it" Katie told Hannah. "And then, we need to let my mom know that we're goin to host the party for her. I'm so excited!"

"I'll text them right now - tell them we're gonna call them when we get to your place - can't exactly talk to them about it right now" Hannah smiled and motioned with her head to the others in the vehicle.

Beth grinned at all the whispering going on behind her. Daryl looked in the rearview mirror at the girls, then looked at Beth. They both smiled at each other, probably both thinking the same thing. Katie Raye had been needing a friend for a long time - this was an answered prayer for them.