A Note: Before we begin, let me explain a few things just so you know what's going on. It's been REALLY hard for me to write Zombie AU stories because every time I do, I just want to channel my "54 Days" universe instead of doing something different and new so I lose interest because I struggle. And the other stories I have tried to write, my muse just wasn't "feeling" them as much as I hoped.
BUT this is the first time in a while I wrote so many words for this couple EASILY and excitedly. I have already mapped out chapter two so I hope you like this one and THANK YOU for being patient with me. I know this pairing/fandom is dying so it means so much to me to those still reading anything I attempt to write.
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Chapter One. New in Town.
"What do you think?"
Beth Greene looked with excitement she couldn't mask to her father as he stood there, looking at the house she had bought sight unseen. The only point of reference she had were the pictures on the real estate's website and yes, it wasn't the newest or the best unkept house in the world but it was where Beth needed it to be and more than that, it was a house she could actually afford without going completely broke.
It wasn't anything glamorous by any means. It was a plain white house with black shutters and the whole house looked like it was desperately in need of a power wash not to mention that more than one of the shutters had bird poop on it. It was a single level – one single step going onto the small covered concrete front porch. There was no driveway but two concrete tire paths for her car next to the house. A massive evergreen tree grew in the front yard but no other landscaping. A flowerbed, long forgotten and overgrown with every weed imaginable, was beneath the front window. There was Beth's mind raced with what she could do to this house to make it her home.
Hershel Greene was frowning, a line between his furrowed eyebrows, as he studied the house in front of him. Since graduating from college five years earlier, Beth had been living at home and working on building her savings. He knew that Beth could afford this house because she wouldn't have even attempted to put a down payment on it if she couldn't. Of his three children, his youngest definitely had her head on the tightest. Still, he was a father and that was what fathers did – they worried. Especially when their children moved away from home. He was the same when his oldest, Maggie, and her husband moved down to Orlando the year before and the middle one, Shawn, lived in Charlotte now and had for the past few years. Beth was the last to leave the nest and she had every right in the world to do that. That's what children should do. They needed to leave the comfort of their parents' home and experience the world for himself. And thankfully, she was going only two hours away. She was still in Georgia. He could visit her easily enough. He wouldn't though – not unless she wanted him to. He needed to give her time on her own without her daddy hovering around. And he supposed he needed time to get used to being on his own again, too.
"Well," he cleared his throat, finally answering her question. "It's not the worst house I've ever seen."
"It looks like we'll find more than one used crack pipe inside," Shawn jumped in.
Beth swiftly socked her brother in the arm. "The real estate agent told me that the person who lived here had been older and on his own. He died and had no family to pass it onto. It might not be that bad inside."
She thought of a man her daddy's age and how he was still far more than capable of doing just about anything. She admitted she wasn't entirely sure who she was telling that to. Both her brother and daddy and herself, too, she supposed. The pictures online of the interior hadn't looked that bad but anything in the right light could look nice enough.
Upon arriving in town, Beth had stopped at the real estate agent's office for the keys and she held them in her hand now as she walked through the grass to the single porch step. There was a battered screen door that she would have to replace and being sure to pull it open gently so not to rip it right off its rusted hinges, she slipped the key into the lock for the first time.
"The door seems sturdy enough so that's a good thing," Hershel noted from behind her. "They don't make doors like this anymore. It'll need repainting though."
Beth nodded in agreement. She would put together a color scheme for her house before she made final decisions. Turning the handle, she knew it would but she was still happy to have the front door pop open. The door opened into the living room. To the right, through an arched doorway, was the kitchen. Straight ahead, through the living room, there was a small hallway. Across from the front door, there was the bathroom and Beth knew that to the left in the hallway was one bedroom and to the right was the other. That was it. Five rooms plus one mud room. It was small but this was all she was going to need.
The carpet was worn and stained and would have to be torn up. She wondered what the conditions of the floors beneath it were. The walls were smudged with dirt in various spots and needed to be repainted. Once she did those two things and washed the windows as well, this house would seem like it was brand new.
First things first though. She went to a corner of the living room and set the animal carrier case down so they wouldn't be tripping over it as they went in and out for the rest of the day. "Here we are," Beth smiled and knelt down in front of it. "Our new home."
Opening the cage door, she waited and after a moment's pause, Mayonnaise stepped out – slowly. The cat was a gray long-haired American Domestic and in cat terms, that meant he was a mutt cat. He was part of a litter that had been born in one of the barns on the Greene farm. Hershel kept the litter because having cats on a farm to keep down mice and other vermin was always a good thing. But for whatever reason, the gray kitten began following Beth around and decided that he wanted her. Beth was more than happy to have him. As for his name, Beth picked it because she liked it. Mayonnaise now looked around the room and Beth could easily tell that the cat was far from impressed.
"Don't worry," she smiled and scratched him lightly on his chin. He purred. "I'll get it fixed up."
"The only way to fix it up is to burn it down and start over," Shawn said from the kitchen.
Hearing a smothered snort, Beth's eyes whipped to her dad, looking as if he had just betrayed her because he had laughed at her stupid brother and his stupid opinions. Hershel met her eyes and with a smile, he shrugged, unapologetic. He went to her as she stood up and put his arm around her, hugging her into his side. Beth smiled, too, and with both arms around his middle, she hugged him.
"Let's get to work," Hershel then decided, taking a deep breath in preparation.
…
Beth didn't have a lot of things to move in besides her own personal belongings. There were a few pieces of furniture that she had taken from the farmhouse because her daddy had had almost too much furniture but Beth knew that she wanted to buy her own pieces for her new house. Once she started her new job and began getting paychecks, after paying the house's mortgage and her other bills, she would start shopping around. She would take her time and buy just the right pieces to start filling the rooms.
She had rented a small U-Haul that her daddy would drive back and return for her and Beth stepped from the house, going to the truck now, parked behind her car. Shawn was in the bathroom, "testing it out for her", he had said, and Hershel was checking on the water tank in the small utility closet in the mudroom. The realtor had promised her that it had been in good shape and Beth had hoped that the man hadn't been lying to her. As she came to the truck, her eyes went around what was now her neighborhood. The homes were spaced out so everyone had good-sized yards. There were no sidewalks or shoulders – just the two-lane road and then the grass of the yards and Beth would have to keep a close eye on Mayonnaise. He was generally an indoor cat but sometimes, he did enjoy going out into the yard and the last thing Beth wanted was him getting run over. She didn't know how fast cars drove down this road. There was a Dairy Queen just about one-hundred yards away, up the street, and she saw the line of cars waiting in the drive-thru. August in Georgia, Beth had a feeling that that Dairy Queen was always busy.
She unlocked the back and threw up the door, looking at what was inside. She wasn't entirely sure how they were going to do this, to be honest. At the farm, they had had family friends come over to help but here, it was just her, Shawn and daddy and no offense to him but Hershel wasn't as young as he used to be. She had her mattresses and bed frame, her dresser, a bookcase, a couch and coffee table, and the piano. They could never get this piano inside between the three of them.
"Need help?"
The voice was from behind her and Beth instantly turned towards it. There was a man across the street – at the house directly across from hers. He was kneeling on the ground, working on a motorcycle, but when she turned to look at him, he rose to his feet. Beth looked at him as closely as she could with a road between them. He looked to be around Shawn's age. No, she took that back. Late thirties or maybe early forties. His dark brown hair was on the longer side and he hadn't shaved for the past couple of days. He was lean but the muscles in his arm were visible. He was handsome.
(Beth didn't know why but she felt almost embarrassed that she would think such a thing.)
She exhaled a relieved breath. "That would be great, thank you," she smiled.
He had a rag in the back pocket of his jeans and he pulled it out to wipe his hands before he dropped it over the handlebars of his motorcycle and began to walk towards the street. From around the side of his house, a German Shepherd suddenly appeared and began trotting after him. The man stopped and shook his head, holding his hand up.
"Dog, stay," he said and the dog hesitated but then it sat down where it stood. The man looked both ways before crossing the road and coming towards her.
"Thank you so much for this. It's just me, my brother and my dad and I wasn't sure if we could manage it," she said. Now that he was close, she could see that he was definitely older than Shawn. Definitely older than her, too. A few of his unshaven facial hairs were gray. He didn't seem that old though. Her mama had started getting grey hairs in her late thirties so Beth couldn't even base his age off of hair color. "I'm Beth," she then remembered to introduce herself. She held out her hand.
"Daryl," he said and gave her hand a quick shake. His eyes were too focused on the back of the U-Haul and she suspected that he was already wondering how they were going to handle the piano. The piano was definitely going to be the hardest thing to get into the house.
Shawn and Hershel came out of the house then and more introductions were made.
"Thank you for offering," Hershel said as the four stood at the back of the truck. "I brought a hand dolly to help out but still not sure if that'll do the trick with the piano."
"You just had to bring your piano, didn't you?" Shawn grinned at her and Beth socked him the arm again which only made him laugh and give her push in her own arm – pushing her right into Daryl.
Beth noted immediately that Daryl didn't even budge, his body strong and planted firmly. She saw the corners of his lips twitch upwards and she found herself relieved that he didn't think they were all idiots.
"Kids," Hershel said just like he used to when they, plus Maggie, were all shoved into the backseat of the car for family road trips. He then looked to Daryl. "How should we do this?" He asked as if they hadn't all just met Daryl the minute before and they all knew and agreed that his words were to be trusted.
Daryl was quiet, thinking. "It on wheels?" He asked, his eyes going to Beth.
"It is," she confirmed.
"Alrigh'. Le's take the truck and pull it back, reversin' it into the drive. That'll make our jobs a lil' easier."
Now that he had spoken more than just a couple of words at a time, Beth could hear the deep Georgia drawl in his voice. It was comforting to her ears. It made her smile.
…
Maxwell, Georgia was not only as small as it sounded but it was exactly where a person would assume. In the middle of nowhere – nothing but Georgia farms and woods and wide open sky around them for miles. The nearest Wal-Mart was nearly an hour away and there were no other grocery stores in town except an Aldi and a Dollar Tree. But Beth didn't mind any of this. She had moved to Maxwell for a job and she was going to love it no matter what. Yes, she had graduated and had taught for the past few years but now, for the first time, she was going to be an actual adult – out on her own, living in her own house that she had paid for, carving out something for herself that was hers and hers alone.
The town had three schools – Maxwell Elementary, Maxwell Middle and Maxwell High – and not only did they teach all of the children in Maxwell but the surrounding towns that were even smaller and couldn't even be considered towns at all. Maxwell High School also had an excellent debate team that went to the State Finals just about every year as well as an excellent football team, which, in the state of Georgia where football was just about as important as fresh air and clean water, a little nowhere town like Maxwell having their team be Divisional Champions eleven times in the past twelve years was everything to everyone there.
When Beth had interviewed for the vacant teaching job in the high school's English department, she had made sure she took note of the school's colors and once she officially been hired for the coming school year, she bought some new navy blue clothes to wear to games on Friday nights.
Hershel and Shawn stayed with her for another day before leaving, giving her hugs and making her promise that if she needed anything, she would let them know. And then, it was just her and Mayonnaise in their home. She was able to have a few days to herself, buying groceries and other household things she would need, split between both Aldi and Dollar Tree. She unpacked her things and explored the stores in town. She was quick to discover that Maxwell had an excellent coffee shop in Jumping Java Beans. There was a furniture store and Beth explored it thoroughly. There was a round kitchen table and four matching chairs that caught her eye almost immediately and she went to inspect it closely.
"All handmade," a man suddenly appeared at her side as she looked closer at one of the chairs. There was a delicate carving of a bird on the back. "Local guy sometimes makes furniture in his spare time and I'm more than happy to sell it for him."
"It's beautiful," Beth smiled as she ran her hand over the top of one of the chairs. She casually looked at the price tag and quickly masked her disappointment. "I might be having something else in mind for my kitchen though." Lies, of course, because this set was absolutely gorgeous but she had a mortgage and other bills now, too, and she hadn't even gotten her first paycheck.
The man smiled and he seemed to understand everything she hadn't just said. He showed her other kitchen tables and chairs but nothing struck her like the first table and chairs. She told the man she would think it over before making a final decision and left the store. She might just look up the closest IKEA and go there instead.
…
She made homemade brownies for Daryl and took them across the street. Hershel had already bought the man dinner – which he had done his best to refuse but Hershel wouldn't hear of it – but Beth wanted to do something else for him. He had saved her with him helping her get her furniture moved in and she honestly couldn't thank him enough. But she noted that her across-the-street neighbor was the quiet sort. He was outside, cutting his grass or taking care of his motorcycle, but most times, he didn't seem to be home at all. She left them on his front porch along with a thank-you card and two days later, he was knocking on her door, returning her empty and washed brownie pan.
"You gotta stop thankin' me," he let her know.
"Never," she laughed and smiled when he smiled. Daryl had a really nice smile and it gave her a churning tightness in her stomach she admitted that she didn't know if she actually wanted or not.
One night, Beth was playing the piano with the front door open so the welcoming cooler evening breeze could come in through the (newly installed) screen door and she suddenly heard shouting. Her fingers stopped moving but stayed poised over the keys. Yes, definitely shouting. She had met her neighbors, all of them coming over in the past few days to introduce themselves, and it was a mixture of older folks and young families, just starting out. She quickly learned that everyone was super nice and also, relatively quiet except for little kids playing catch and running through their sprinklers during the day. Who was shouting?
Beth turned on her piano bench and looked out the front window. Mayonnaise had jumped up on the windowsill, clearly curious, too, and wanting to see what all the noise was about. It was coming from across the street and more specifically, it was coming from Daryl's drive. His house was like Beth's and he didn't have a driveway but rather two concrete tire paths for his car next to his house. Currently, a car was parked there and a woman was standing at the driver's door, shouting at Daryl, who stood on his porch and didn't say anything but was looking at her and clearly listening to every word she said.
He just stood there and with no reaction, he took it.
Beth didn't mean to watch and she certainly didn't mean to listen but she couldn't stop herself. Who was that woman and who could possibly find reason to yell at Daryl like that?
…
"Are you supposed to be here?"
Beth spun around at the question and saw that a young woman, about her age, with long black hair and pale skin stood there, a paper cup of coffee in her hand. She had been in front entrance, by the front office, trying to figure out where she was supposed to go and she knew that she had looked a little lost.
"I think so?" Beth answered but then heard how unsure she sounded. She shook her head. "Yes. I am supposed to be here. I'm the new English teacher." And just saying that and hearing the words, she smiled.
"Oh! Hi!" The woman stepped forward. "Just to warn you, these staff meetings are always the worst. Our Principal is nice enough but he tends to drone on. Candy Crush has become my best friend during these things." Beth smiled at that. She had met the Principal, Mr. Horvath, during her initial interview, and Rosita was right. The man was nice but perhaps a bit dry. and together, they began to walk down the hall. "I'm Rosita Espinosa. I'm the French teacher and I know what you're thinking. Why isn't she teaching Spanish?"
Beth shook her head though that did cross her mind for half a second because Rosita was obviously Mexican. "Actually, I was thinking how I nearly failed French in high school," she smiled.
Rosita was taking a sip from her coffee cup and smiled around the rim at that. "We should get a drink after this. Trust me. You're going to need it."
"Sounds good," Beth readily and eagerly agreed.
The staff meeting was in the high school's library and Beth followed Rosita through the double doors. The tables were already occupied with other staff members and Beth recognized Principal Horvath standing at the front table with stacks of papers with him. Beth's eyes glided over the other people – her coworkers – but then she stopped short when she saw Daryl sitting at one of the tables, sipping his own cup of coffee and talking with another man sitting next to him. Beth didn't even look at the other man, she admitted. She was too busy looking right at Daryl and wondering what he was doing here.
"Daryl Dixon. Shop class," Rosita said in a low voice, close to her ears, having followed Beth's eyes. "He's also completely off limits. He's dating the gym teacher, Leah Shaw. Watch out for her. Something's wired wrong."
Beth finally moved her eyes away from Daryl to look to Rosita. "He lives across the street from me," she said.
"Lucky you," Rosita smiled and Beth knew that she was teasing but didn't mind. She felt her cheeks warm as she glanced back to Daryl. He hadn't seen her yet. "Seriously, though," Rosita continued. "Look out for Leah."
…
THANK YOU! Please let me know your thoughts.
