Well, I thought I was finished. But I guess not.
Thanks for reading!
Daryl laid low the next day. He wasn't planning on sticking around, wasn't planning on making nice with the locals. He'd never been a joiner. If there was a crowd of people he was going in the opposite direction.
The town itself was small but expanding to accommodate the influx of people they received every few months. Deanna said they tended to come in batches. A family of four here, one or two people there. And then nothing for weeks at a time, especially in the winter months. Quite a few stayed, others regained their strength and left after a few weeks.
There was also an apparent 'baby boom', Deanna's words, not Daryl's, as there were four expecting moms. Not to mention the eleven children belonging to various families. Twelve if you included Chubs.
Deanna had come to gather Beta and Lydia and Chubs early that morning. Of course it had to coincide with the one time in Daryl's life he'd slept later than sunrise barring the time when he was sick at the cabin. Beth was wearing his discarded flannel leaving him shirtless, his jeans unbuttoned when he answered the knock at the front door.
"Mr. Dixon," she said, pleasantly. To her credit, she didn't even flinch, kept her eyes on his. Until she noticed Beth make a grab for her clothes piled on the floor next to the couch, then a barely concealed smirk crossed her lips.
If she hadn't known about them before, she did now. A flush crept up Beth's neck, her cheeks blazed, her clothes bundled in her arms, she said, "Morning, Deanna." Then she slunk off to the bathroom leaving Daryl to explain.
Luckily Daryl didn't feel the need to explain anything to anyone and Lydia, saving the awkward moment, came down the stairs carting Chubs on her hip, ready for the day. She and Beta were eager to join everyone for breakfast. He was sure food was the main reason for that but they also wanted to integrate themselves into the community as soon as possible.
The meals, breakfast and dinner, were served in the large room they used as a cafeteria. It was used for the same thing back in the mining days. The meals were prepared by community members in a kitchen connected to the cafeteria.
He was told they had several large gardens outside the walls. Everyone shared the provisions from those gardens and was expected to contribute. Planting, weeding, gathering, and cooking. Men, women, and even the kids. Everyone pitched in like some damned hippy commune. They were also encouraged to grow their own garden in the small space each home allotted.
The community, he was told had its issues, but overall everyone was happy to be there. Most importantly, they felt safe which was what Lydia needed most.
Beth left with Deanna to have breakfast and spend time with Maggie and Glenn and other members of the community she called friends. When Daryl was left alone in that house, the silence was deafening. He wandered from room to room. Basic setup for anyone that might come along. Each of the three beds in the rooms upstairs were made perfectly. A fitted sheet, a flat sheet, and then a heavy top blanket - all well worn and well used but clean. The walls were made of plaster probably using clay, mud, and water among other things. They were painted a light yellow. How the hell did they make wall paint, he wondered. The wood floor planks were hand sawn oak, shined to a smooth finish. It was actually pretty impressive.
Downstairs to the right of the entryway was the living room, down the hall there was the bathroom and a decent-sized kitchen. There was also one more small bedroom. This house was bigger and nicer than any house he'd ever lived in. Still, it wasn't long before he felt the walls were closing in on him.
He wanted to get out. Had to get out. Sweat crept down his back and along his hairline. He inhaled short gasps from his upper chest. It felt like he couldn't get a deep breath. He grabbed his bow from its spot by the front door and slung it over his torso. Thankfully they didn't make them give up their weapons, though it made him wonder what loose cannon roaming the streets of the community with an itchy trigger finger also had a weapon. Most of the ammo to every type of common gun had been used up a long time ago, while some had learned to make it on their own, very few had. Most people used homemade weapons, knives, or bows.
He left out the back door and stuck to the outskirts of town. People meandered about, going to and from the cafeteria, the sound of hammers off in the distance. Voices echoing. It bewildered him no one seemed to notice he was there, lurking, as it were, in the shadows. He was keeping his distance for his own good, not because he was spying on anyone. He wanted to find out what he was dealing with here. Who, he was dealing with.
Except for the guards at the entrance of the town, they were dangerously unaware. While they obviously worked hard at the upkeep of the community their infrastructure was lacking in some ways. Within the first hour of roaming around that first morning, he found a weak spot in one of the far walls. He was able to jump the wall using a nearby tree, bypassing the front gate and subsequently more people.
On the other side of the fifteen-foot-high wall was the only place he felt truly himself, other than when he was Beth. Here, nature - unlike people, was predictable. The trees grew tall, the leaves fell to the ground. The wind blew. Water flowed downstream. The birds sang, insects buzzed, bit, and stung. Even the dead that walked the earth were predictable. They have one thing in mind, to eat you. It was simple. They all said what they needed to say in their very own language. It was a language he understood. Black and white, no convoluted double talk or deception.
The woods gave him comfort, shelter. Food. Gave him a way out of his life as a kid and as an adult. Here he could be alone. Only this time, his being alone was interrupted by his yearning for Beth. He didn't like being too far off from her. She was with Maggie and catching up with other friends she hadn't seen since last fall. He didn't want to trail behind her. He also didn't expect her to spend all her time with him. He didn't even want that. He wanted her to spend time with her sister.
But the further he got from the community the stronger the yearning became. It was silly, he'd be back to the community in a short while. He'd be laying on the couch, or in a bedroom if Beth had her way, by nightfall. The inner conflict confused him; the contradiction of wanting to be close to Beth when he never needed to be tethered to anyone before.
Merle had a hold over him his entire life. Being the big brother, he always took control. Daryl went along with it. He was a nobody and knew his place in the world and Merle reinforced that belief. It stuck with him well into the end of the world. Until Rick. Until Beth.
Some things follow anywhere you go, he supposed.
His relationship with his brother was different, he wasn't fixed to Merle like he was Beth. It was Rick who was the first one to show Daryl he was good. That he was worthy of a place in their group. They shared an incredible bond and he devoted himself to them.
It was Beth that showed him what love was and that he was capable of it in return.
"I really can't believe there's a baby in there," Beth said. Maggie was laying on the couch and Beth was sitting up under Maggie's knees, her long legs kicked out onto the third cushion. Beth's hand rested on her sister's belly waiting for the next movement.
"What else is it gonna be? It better not be just one big gas bubble," Maggie snickered.
Beth laughed, totally enthralled with Maggie's pregnancy. She wanted to know everything. By best estimates, she had six weeks to go. Maggie had suspected she might be pregnant when Beth was there last, she just didn't want to say anything. Didn't want to ''jinx it", as she put it. She'd thought she was pregnant a few times before but always ended up getting her period late. It had never been regular, to begin with, something that was frustrating to someone purposefully trying to get pregnant. There were no ovulation kits or pregnancy tests in the mountains in the middle of the apocalypse so there was a lot of guesswork that went along with trying to get pregnant.
She and Glenn had been trying for a while. Similar to Beth's train of thought, Maggie said they didn't want to stop life from moving forward. They wanted to create a life together. To Beth, there was something so beautiful about that.
Maggie said she wasn't afraid. Beth wondered how could she not be at least a little bit? Tough, stoic Maggie had to be nervous to give birth right now in the current state of things. Birth was scary enough.
"Denise has birthed a handful of kids now. Rosita's baby, Coco, was breech," Maggie assured. Beth squirmed at the idea of giving birth to a breech baby without pain medication. "She knows what she's doing."
Though Maggie was brave, she was tired. She didn't need to tell Beth that, she saw it in her eyes. Just walking from the cafeteria to the house she and Glenn shared winded her and she claimed she needed to lay down. That's how they ended up beached on her couch.
"Ya' think it's a boy or girl? You should really pick out a name, I don't like calling the baby it."
"I have no idea if it, I mean if the baby, is a boy or girl," she said over-enunciating the words. Maggie had always been the less sentimental of the sisters. It probably never occurred to her to be bothered by calling the baby it.
"Aw come on! You don't have any motherly intuition?"
She made a pfft sound with her lips. "Hell no."
"Maggie!" Beth griped. "You 'bout Mama'd me to death." They laughed at the memory. Maggie bossed Beth around like it was her job. She was also protective and fierce and she helped to instill a sense of responsibility in Beth. If you said you'd do something then you sure as hell better do it. Be upfront, help those who need it. She was a lot like their dad in that way.
"Remember when you said you'd never settle down. When you said you'll never have kids." Beth rubbed Maggie's belly affectionately. On the contrary, she remembered wanting nothing more than to be a mom.
"Yep," Maggie shifted, trying to get comfortable. "It's a wonder I was the first to get knocked up. You were always the little Mama. Taking in every damn stray that came near the property. Always volunteering to babysit. You couldn't wait to have kids."
"You'll be a great mom, I know it," Beth said with certainty. She couldn't help the sappiness in her voice, the hitch in her throat.
"What? What's wrong?" Maggie asked, lightly bopping her on the arm affectionately.
"Nothing," Beth spoke a little too earnestly. "I'm excited for you."
Maggie sighed lightly. "Beth, don't worry. You'll find someone. I mean, sure the dating pool isn't as deep as it used to be but…"
Beth held up her hand. "No, no, no. You are not setting me up with anyone." She laughed but the idea made her terribly uncomfortable. She didn't want to imagine who Maggie might set her up with.
Most importantly she was interested in any of them because they weren't Daryl.
"Dwight was asking about you," Maggie said. She perked up from her late pregnancy stooper, easing her top half up onto her elbows.
"No," Beth said, trying to squirm away from Maggie. Her legs clamped down on Beth's lap, keeping her in place. She pushed lightly at her legs, laughing as she escaped. "Don't even think about it. I can probably kick your ass right now," she warned.
"Yeah right, little girl," Maggie scoffed with a laugh, making a lazy kick in the general direction of Beth. "Tonight at dinner, I'll have Dwight sit with us." She was using her older sister's authoritarian voice.
"Maggie," Beth warned. She'd always had a hard time standing up to her. Saying no to pregnant Maggie was almost impossible.
She'd hoped Daryl would join them for dinner. It was a bit of a stretch thinking he'd go. He had to be hungry. As far as she knew he didn't eat breakfast. She left him at the house that morning telling him she'd see him later, that she was going to spend time with Maggie. He said, "Yeah, 'course. Go ahead." She doubted he stayed there at the house. That had been three hours ago, leaving her wondering where he was, what he was up to.
Beth took their teacups to the island that separated the living room from the kitchen and leaned against the barstool.
"Dwight's a good guy. I think he's finally gotten over that skank, Sherri. Did I tell you she took off with Negan when he left?" Maggie said around a yawn. Her arm rested over her protruding belly, her eyes closed, a blissful calm on her face.
Once Maggie got an idea in her mind, it was hard to get her to shake it. Beth needed to tell her she was seeing someone. You're all I need in this crazy-ass world, Daryl had said. Surely that meant they were together.
"Maggie, there's something you should know," Beth said and immediately hushed when Glenn walked through the door, interrupting what she had to say.
Maggie said she had to get up and move every hour or so or she'd get sore. So she and Beth had gone to the house she was staying at with Daryl. Normally she'd stay at Maggie and Glenn's house but she wanted to stay at the intake house. Maggie thought she was staying there to make sure Lydia was comfortable with Chubs. Little did she know that was only a part of it.
She wanted to check on them, but she also wanted to see if Daryl was there. He wasn't.
When he finally did walk in the door, she felt herself take the first deep breath she had all day. Maggie was laying on the couch again, this time Beth was on her knees on the floor leaning over Maggie's belly. She had a ring Glenn had given her, one he'd taken from a jewelry store on a supply run, on a piece of string and was holding it over her belly.
Daryl stopped in his tracks, holding the door open like he was unsure of what he walked in on and might need to make a run for it. "What the hell is going on here?" He grumbled humorously.
Beth giggled, actually giggled, because she was happy he was there - that he hadn't taken off. Not that she thought he would have, but there was a slight nagging worry in the back of her mind that he might think this isn't cut out for him and leave. "It's an old wives tale called a ring swing. You take a ring, preferably the woman's wedding ring, tie it to a string and hold it over the belly. If it sways in a circle, it's a boy. If it goes side to side it's a girl."
"What if it stays still?" Maggie asked as that was what the ring was doing now.
"It means it's an alien," Beth teased. Daryl was standing behind her now, his shoe bumped into her barefoot, ever so lightly.
Maggie held her breath as did Beth in anticipation, as though this was an exact science. Soon the ring began to swing in a circular motion. Beth looked up at Maggie, surprised to see tears in her eyes. She was truly happy no matter the gender, but she whispered breathlessly. "We already decided to name him Hershel if he's a boy."
Tears burned in Beth's eyes as well and she laughed. "I love that. I really love that." She looked up at Daryl over her shoulder. He appeared confused but still smiled down at her. He nodded his head at her, winking a quick wink before leaving the room while she and Maggie continued to laugh and cry and talk. They had months of making up to do and he didn't want to impede.
Beth made an excuse to leave the room when really, she was looking for Daryl. He hadn't come back yet and she wanted to make sure he hadn't slipped out the back. Again, it would have been fine if he had, it had been hours since she'd seen him, and well she wanted to be with him if only for a few seconds. He wasn't in the kitchen. The bathroom door was open and it was empty. She peered through the window of the backdoor. No sign of him in the yard.
A hand reached out from the bedroom to the left interrupting her thoughts. The hand pulled her into the dark room and pushed her against the wall. A scream inched its way up her throat but it was stifled against Daryl's lips. Instantly her body calmed and came alive at the same time.
His hand went from her wrist to her hip and traveled up her torso, cupping her breast tightly before coming to a rest on her neck, his thumb edging her chin. His tongue danced with hers, passionately, forcibly.
His touch reminded her of the night before. It didn't seem possible but every time they were together it was better than the time before. At the thought, she became instantly wet and wanted him right then. Who cared if her sister was in the next room? Maggie probably would, though. That wasn't the way she should find out about her and Daryl.
The emotions of seeing Maggie happily pregnant with Glenn's baby collided with her not having anyone for so long, thinking she never would find anyone, thinking she didn't need anyone. It made her all the more aware of what she did have and she was immensely grateful she'd found Daryl - quite literally.
She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him down to meet her, giving him her all in the few minutes they had before Maggie would waddle her way down the hall in search of her sister.
Though they didn't have time to take it further, her hand went to the bulge under the fly of his jeans. He moaned into her mouth. "Beth," he whispered needfully. His hand traveled further down, cupping her ass, pressing her against him.
"Where you been?" She asked when his lips traveled down her neck, sending goosebumps over her skin.
"'Round," was his vague reply. "But I missed you."
"You did?" Her smile pressed against his lips. He missed her? She slithered her right leg up his, hooking it around the back of his thigh. Her fingers nestled into his hair, pulling. "We should probably stop," she said, doing anything but stopping. "Before things go too far."
"All I need is five minutes, darlin'." He smiled, reluctantly pulling back, still holding her in his arms.
"Five minutes, huh?" She laughed. "We'll have to test that time limit."
"Beth?" Maggie could be heard calling from elsewhere in the house, wondering where her sister wandered off to.
Smiling slyly, she whispered, "I actually came back here to ask you something. Meet me at the cafeteria tonight? They're having a welcoming dinner for the new people."
He was instantly reluctant, dropping his hands and unfortunately stepping away. Cold swept through Beth without his body pressing against hers, without his hands on her. "No," he said frankly. His handsome grin softened the blow of his word a little.
"You gotta' eat sometime," she tried to reason with him. "And you won't be the only newcomer. They do this whenever they get ten new people." Looking up at him, she grinned. "Can't you even pretend you'd think about it?"
"Nope." He took her by her hip again, trailed a hand up under her shirt, breezing lightly up over her ribs. She squirmed because she was ticklish, making him chuckle.
"Think maybe I can persuade you?" She asked, reaching up on her toes, she placed small kisses to his lips again and again.
"Not with those tiny little pecks, ya' can't." He cupped her chin, running his thumb over her slick bottom lip.
"But you're saying there's a chance you can be coerced?" Her hands traveled up his chest, rounding the broad shoulders she loved so much.
"Maybe," he answered into her mouth.
She finally pulled away and made her way to the door. "Be there," she told him. "They'll ring a bell when it's dinner time and we'll figure out your compensation for going later."
She walked away even though her body ached for his, for his lips, his tongue, his calloused hands. When he touched her, even the graze of his fingers against her skin, it was a reminder that she was alive, not just living.