The ride was silent and bumpy, not even noise from the radio played, she wasn't even sure if the center console worked. It was about an hour then they had to hike for around fifteen minutes and she never realized how muggy it was this far south, the short distance had her sweating despite the fact it was September. When they got to the tower the only way up was a tall ladder. It didn't bother Ren any, she was used to rock climbing with Becca.

Daryl watched her climb up, he watched a specific part of her as she went. He hadn't really gotten any action recently with Merle back in lock up. He didn't really go out without his brother and when he did, he didn't socialize. But this girl was beautiful, and he couldn't deny it.

Once they were both up, they went into the tower and Ren booted up the computer station as Daryl went and kicked back on the cot in the corner. He expected her to look at him and roll her eyes or scoff at him, but she didn't, she just looked at the computer in front of her. Daryl could hear her typing quickly, how people could do that he didn't understand, but she was really good at it. He watched as she would type, then click around, at one point she leaned back in the chair as some type of bar went across the screen.

She picked up the satellite phone and dialed a number from her cell phone, which Murray had been right, didn't have signal. She looked over her shoulder at Daryl, "Will it bother you if I have it on speaker?"

"No." He shrugged. Honestly, he was surprised she even asked at all. Most like her didn't care about what would bother him or his opinion on the situation.

Hitting the button, she waited while it rang. When it picked up, she said, "Hey Connor, it's Ren."

"Good morning beautiful, why haven't I seen your face today?"

"I was sent on the Georgia rush." She answered back.

"Well that's shitty."

"Speak for yourself." She smirked looking out the window, "You can't get a view like this in Silicone Valley."

"Yeah I always forget you didn't grow up out here." The man sighed.

"Virginia born and bred baby." She laughed, "Now as fun as this is, I didn't call for just a pleasurable chat."

"Are you finally going to accept my offer to take you to dinner? Because if so, best day ever!" Connor laughed.

"Nope, not for that either. I need you to get into an IP." She told him, "Be sure to run a full diagnostic."

Daryl listened to them off and on, other than the beginning of the conversation the rest of it sounded like a foreign language. Her body language though was a different thing, her back slouched when she joked with this guy, her hand running over the top of her hair, but when they got down to work her spine was stiff, ankles crossed as she leaned over the desk, he could tell something wasn't right with the way she rubbed the back of her neck. After two hours of her on the phone the two of them said good-bye and he watched as she let out a sigh, falling back against the chair.

"Problems?" He asked and she jumped slightly.

"Forgot you were there you're so damn quiet." She turned to see him, "And yes, major problems."

"Can you fix it?" He sat up, while he didn't need the towers to do what he did for the forest service, he knew they were crucial if something were to go wrong deep inside the forest.

"I can fix almost anything." She looked back at the computer with a sigh.

"But?"

"But it's going to take…well it's going to take a lot and a phone call to the CEO." She scratched at her head, "And I hate calling him."

"Why?" He asked.

She turned in the chair and looked at him, "You know that person where they ask you to do something, because they know you can do it, then when you tell them what you need to get it done they question every little thing about it because they don't think you know what you're talking about?"

"Yeah." Daryl knew plenty of people like that towards him, hell sometimes his own brother was guilty of it.

"He's like that ninety percent of the time." She told him and Daryl nodded. Ren looked back out the window and looked at the sun going down over the tree line, "We can leave now if you want, I know you wanted to be back by sundown."

"Alright, c'mon." He got up from the bed and went back to the door, starting on the ladder before she was even out the door. Daryl watched again as she came back down and this time, he reached out to put his hand on her back as she got to the ground.

Ren felt his hand on her back and knew this might just be him trying to keep her 'safe', but it was a little awkward as she wasn't unstable in the slightest. She shrugged it off as him being from the south and just being a gentleman, she was sure it was a polite thing here.

He drove her back to the main entrance and from there she drove back to her hotel. She unpacked her luggage and when she pulled out her laptop, she opened up to barely have any wifi. Sighing she was hungry anyways and needed a drink, so she packed her laptop into a bag and headed out to anywhere with those three things.

Walking into a place that only had two patrons in it she walked up to the bar and asked the girl behind it, "Do you guys have good wifi?"

"Yeah but you gotta buy something to use it." The bartender told her.

"Not a problem." Ren pointed over her shoulder at a booth tucked away in the corner, "Alright if I sit there?"

The woman nodded and she went over to the booth and pulled out her laptop. She started connecting to their database and looked at all the data from the diagnostics checks again. As she went through, she started filling out a requisitions form from her work, all the things she would need to get the job done. Ren was halfway done with the burger she'd ordered by the time she was done filling it out.

Leaning back in the booth she stretched her back and when she relaxed again, she saw a freshly opened beer bottle getting put down in front of her. Daryl was the one putting it there, "Looked like you could use it."

"You following me?" She smirked.

"Nah." Was all he said. He pointed to the laptop, "Workin?"

"Yeah. Filling out all the things I'm going to need to get you guys up and functional again." She sighed before taking a gulp of the beer.

Daryl was surprised to see her drinking it, she hadn't even batted an eye at it. He leaned against the other booth seat, "I just track and hunt for 'em."

"Apologies. I thought you worked there too." She gave him an awkward smile. He was awkward and straightforward, but in an endearing way.

"Can you get it done?" He asked.

"Oh, it's not a question of what I can do," She said as her phone started ringing, "It's a matter of what they're going to give me. Which is what this phone call is about." He just nodded as she answered, putting it on speaker once again. "Hey Frank."

"Serenity, how's Georgia?" The man asked.

Daryl had wondered what kind of a name Ren was, and now he knew. As he looked at her, delicate fingers around the beer bottle, her chin resting on the other hand as she looked down at her phone, her eyelashes covering her green eyes from him, it was a fitting name. She answered her boss, "Humid, so what was wrong?"

"You know he's going to ask why you need all that." Frank said.

"Yeah, but he should also know I'm working with tech that's older than me in some cases." She told him.

She heard a sigh, "Shit that is bad."

"Yeah, so I need converters and processers and all the fancy gadgets." Daryl watched as she scratched at the back of her neck again. "Frank, it's not like I'm asking to upgrade the whole system into the twenty first century. I don't want solar panels and the detection system, I just need the stuff that will allow the two systems to communicate."

"Maybe you should ask for that stuff though." Frank said.

"What?" Ren froze.

"You're the best we have, and Justin has had your self-sustaining and forest protection systems on his desk since you got promoted two years ago. He promised you you'd get to implement it, maybe this is the time to push the issue."

"Woah, woah, woah." She couldn't believe this, "Are you saying you called to see why I was asking for as much as I was and now, you're telling me to ask for more? Also do you know how long fixes like that would take? I'd be out here for at least two months, at least. Justin would never go for having me away that long.

"He's all about good publicity, this is that. It's greener energy, for forests, created and implemented by out best computer and electrical engineer, who just so happens to be a woman, that was also a child genius." Daryl didn't understand what half of what was said, but he was sure the man was exaggerating about this girl being a child genius…but he thought about it and she did seem kind of young. Frank continued, "Ren, if anyone would ever get the opportunity to ask for this, it's you right now. Take it. If your idea works out there, think of what it could do for the forests out here."

"What are my odds?" Ren asked.

"Right now, pretty good. I'd say two to one, he's in a damn good mood because you're out there right now taking care of things."

"I still don't know if I can be away that long." She sighed, her hand rubbing the back of her neck, she hadn't been able to keep it from hurting the past few weeks.

Her boss chuckled, "You can, the wedding isn't for another year and a half. You can do everything when you get back in maximum four months. Have Chris video call you when he tours places so it's like you're there, and you'll get an idea of lighting for the photos too."

Damn. Daryl thought. She was engaged. She didn't wear a ring, so it wasn't obvious. Looks like he wasn't going to get any from her unless she started it. Merle was the one who didn't mind trying to get in the middle of a relationship, even a married women's, but Daryl, he wouldn't get between a happy one. He'd only do it if the girl initiated it, and he didn't get that kind of vibe from Ren. She was too good for him anyways and he knew it, there was no way a girl like her would ever go for a guy like him.

"Better make your decision quick, Justin's calling and I'm adding him to the call." Frank said.

"What?! No-" Ren started.

"How's my golden child doing?" Justin's voice came over the phone.

"Good." Ren covered her eyes as she spoke, as if she was trying to hide herself from the conversation. She hated asking for things, and she hated knowing she was more than likely going to get it because of her background. "So Justin, I was thinking while I'm out here-"

"You're going to re-wire their whole system. Bring them into the future including your detection and protection systems." Justin cut her off, which Daryl noted was very rude, "That's what you were going to ask for right? You've been trying to get me to green light it very passively for the past few years."

"Yes sir." She replied still hiding.

"Well ask for it. And not passively either. Demand it." Justin said.

"Um…okay." She ran her hands over her head, wondering what the hell was going on.

"No ums." Justin butted in again before she could say anything. "Make me give you everything you need and more for this."

"Sir, these forest rangers are working with technology that's older than I am. It's not a good look for our company for them to say we deal with their systems." She swallowed deeply, building her courage, "It's also shit for the environment and that's also a bad look for our company. You got me because it made our company look good, now let me make it look even better. You're going to send me everything on my requisitions sheet. Then you're going to send me solar panels for all of the towers as well as the main ranger building, then we're going to test our forest fire detection method out here and work to see how we can prevent them."

"Very good." Justin said, a smirk in his voice.

"I'll be in contact with Ren while she figures out everything she's going to need for the upgrade." Frank said and then the phone cut off.

Daryl watched as she fell back against the booth chair and looked at him, her face pale and eyes wide, "Guess I'm going to be around for a while."

"Yeah." He turned around walking away, drinking his beer.

A/N: I know it's kind of a slow start in this story but please let me know what you guys think about the characters and how Daryl is. I like suggestions! Thanks :)