I do not own any of the TWD characters.

Company's Coming

As part of Beth's get her life back on track plan, Daryl had put his foot down about Beth getting up every morning to get him out the door with a hot breakfast and freshly packed lunch in hand. Of course, Beth being Beth, she had put up a fight – a monumental fight, what would come to be known as their first official fight of married life.

Beth was a planner – she always had been. She'd been up since four o'clock putting pen to paper all of the lists that she'd been formulating in her head overnight. They had company coming in next week for the Thanksgiving holiday and that meant lots of planning and preparation. That may have been what set Daryl off that particular morning – the fact that he'd gotten up at 5:30 and Beth was already sitting at the kitchen table sucking down coffee and scouring through recipes on Pinterest.

"Mornin Baby" Beth told him as she kept scrolling down the screen of her iPad. "Whatcha want for breakfast?"

Beth had, on more than one occasion, insisted that she would prepare breakfast for Daryl each morning before he left for work, and make sure that he had something in his hand for lunch that day as well.

"How long ya been up?" Daryl asked. No reply from the lady at the table. Daryl just stared at Beth and scratched his ass for a few seconds. "Nuthin" he said in a scratchy voice. "I'll grab some coffee at work."

"Breakfast isn't that nasty ass brew Kelly tries to pawn off as coffee" Beth deadpanned.

"Ain't no sense in you gettin up at the ass crack of dawn to take care of me when ya oughta be takin care of ya own damn self" Daryl snarled. "I want you to stay in bed and get at least a few more hours sleep instead of up and stewin around fryin eggs and makin sandwiches. Is that too fuckin much to ask?"

Beth was struck mute, but only temporarily.

"I'll tell you one damn thing Daryl Dixon. I'll tell ya what shouldn't be too fuckin much to ask" Beth now standing and with her hands on her hips. The volume of her voice kept going up with each sentence. "It shouldn't be too much to fuckin ask for you to let me take care of you. Ya ain't the only one that can take care of people ya know."

Daryl went to open his mouth, but apparently Beth wasn't finished yet.

"Coffee?" Beth sputtered and was now approaching Daryl. "Coffee? I've already told you that ya ain't goin all day long on coffee and junk from the vendin machine. Now, I asked ya what ya want for breakfast and I damn well intend on fixin whatever the fuck you request!"

"In that case, I'll take a steak – medium rare please, three fried eggs, homemade biscuits, and a side of grits" Daryl replied smugly.

Daryl turned to go back into the bedroom so that he could shower and get dressed for the day. When he returned, fully dressed and dangerously handsome, he sat down at the kitchen table where Beth promptly slammed a plate in front of him. Toast and scrambled eggs.

"Bon appetit" Beth said through gritted teeth.

"Where's the steak?" Daryl thought he'd push his luck just a bit more.

"I'll show you steak" is all Beth could come back with.

"That don't even make sense" Daryl laughed. "You gonna be a smart ass, ya need to work on your comebacks a little."

Didn't people usually fight about ex-girlfriends and spending too much money. Here they were bitching about who could and couldn't take care of the other one. Daryl shook his head at the irony of it all, remembering back years ago when his dad would simply just waylay his poor ole momma for burning the bread or yank her hair for humming to loud.

"You 'bout the damndest hard headed thing I ever come 'cross."

"Well ain't that the pot calling the kettle black" Beth spouted. Daryl rubbed his head in frustration. What the hell did that even mean? How had they suddenly been reduced to backwoods name calling and arguing? It was downright comical. They both stood there for a few seconds while the absurdity of it all came rushing in, a smile breaking out on each of their faces.

"I'm sorry" Beth giggled. "Shouldna called ya a pot."

Daryl looked confused. Really? That's what she was choosin to apologize for? "Well" Daryl laughed. "I'm sorry you're so damn stubborn."

"That ain't really much of an apology" Beth stated.

"Neither was yours" Daryl snorted and laughed. "Sorry I called you a pot?"

"Oh, hush up" Beth told him.

Daryl was late for work at that point, so make up sex (wasn't that a thing?) and coming to some sort of compromise over the whole breakfast and lunch issue would have to wait for when he got home that evening. Beth did walk him to the door though, and they were loving on each other pretty good. Well, as good as a couple could standing in the foyer with a small horse staring at them.

"Don't forget a coat when you and Sam go out today" Daryl reminded Beth. "It's cold out."

"Yes, I know" Beth sighed. "Forget your coat once and it's all you hear about." Daryl would like to remind her of a lot more but figured he should leave well enough alone for right now.

"I'll be home early this evenin" Daryl mumbled against Beth's lips. "Help ya start cookin or whatever ya got to have done."

"I'll have a list" Beth giggled. "A honey do list" she added.

"Fuck you senseless better be on the number one spot" Daryl told her as he grabbed his case and coat. "Love ya Girl" Daryl gave her one more sweet kiss.

"We'll see. Love you!" Beth called out to him as he walked to the elevator. Daryl didn't push the elevator button until he heard the click of his front door.

The elevator dinged and the doors opened to reveal something Daryl Dixon didn't think he'd ever seen before. Lucille. Oh, he'd seen Lucille plenty of times, but she had on jeans and a sweatshirt. And pearls?

"What the hell ya doin?" Daryl asked Lucille.

"And good morning to you too" Lucille smiled at Daryl. "I'm helping Beth get the guest room ready for Rick and Michonne today."

Daryl grunted at that. He had seriously under estimated Beth's reach as far as putting people to work for her causes it appeared.

"And I think we're cooking" Lucille added with a smirk "and shopping."

"Cooking?" Daryl laughed. "Didn't know Lucille Negan cooked. Shopping, yes. Cooking, no."

"It's not that I can't cook" the lady responded "I just choose not to. However, I do follow directions well and I'm here to follow directions."

"Well, good luck with all that" Daryl told Lucille as the doors closed in between them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

While eating some toast with some of Annette's homemade strawberry jam, Beth and Lucille discussed all of the plans Beth wanted to implement for the family she had arriving within a few short days to celebrate the upcoming holiday. Lucille listened intently and offered small suggestions here and there.

"I have all the meals planned out" Beth said. "I've talked with Maggie and Rick both. Maggie will cover dinner Monday evening when we get them picked up at the airport. Tuesday is when we're all going shopping. The ladies are looking for formal wear and the guys are taking Andre sight-seeing. We'll all meet at Portillo's for lunch – Rick's treat."

"Sounds good" Lucille sipped her coffee.

"I'm takin care of supper Tuesday night, and we're ordering pizza on Wednesday night – that's a Greene family tradition 'cause the kitchen is usually always out of commission with all the holiday cookin."

"That certainly makes sense" the older lady agreed. "Now, Beth" Lucille spoke quietly. "Negan and I won't be around much next week. We want you and Maggie to enjoy your time together and with your Mom before she and Glen leave."

"You and Neg will be here for Thanksgiving dinner won't you?" Beth asked with a worried expression. Lucille tried not to laugh at Beth's newest nickname for Negan. "You have to come for Thanksgiving – ya'll are family. Ya just have to."

"Yes, of course, we'll be here for Thanksgiving" Lucille assured Beth. "We wouldn't miss it for anything. I'll be very busy next week though – you know I'm hosting an event for a lovely couple next weekend."

"That's what I heard" Beth blushed. She couldn't wait to wear that ice blue gown that she and Kelly had bought the day he took her shopping. Beth knew full well that the very special party Lucille mentioned was going to be a full blown out ball and there wasn't a thing she could do about it because she and Daryl had told Lucille that she could do anything she wanted – anything at all. Lucille had not divulged too many details, but Beth already knew from the invitations that had gone out, it was going to be quite an extravaganza.

"Well, we better get busy, yes?" Lucille asked. "You have a lot of items on that list of yours."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Lucille had changed the sheets on the beds in the guest room – the queen and the bottom bunk where they assumed Andre would sleep while Beth had transferred everything she had stored in that bedroom's closet to her and Daryl's bedroom.

"There" Beth stated. "Now, at least they can hang their things in here. I really need more storage space."

"There's never enough closet space Dear" Lucille agreed.

Lucille stood admiring the job of sprucing up the guest room that she and Beth had accomplished in a short amount of time. Fresh towels and other toiletries put out in the attached bath, fluffed pillows and new coverings on the beds, and a newly assembled pac n play in the corner of the room made it look better than any hotel suite they could have put the Grimes family in. Beth left the room only to return with a stack of fluffy baby blankets she'd purchased just for this occasion.

"Look Lucille" Beth gushed. "Aren't these adorable?"

Lucille turned to see what Beth was talking about. When Lucille saw the fuzzy blankets, she tried her best to keep a neutral expression on her face. "Yes, they're very nice."

Beth noticed the instant mood change in Lucille. "Too much?" asked Beth.

"No, not at all" Lucille could barely look at Beth. "I said they're very nice" she snapped.

Whoah! As needy as Beth usually is around Lucille, she'd never barked at her like that. "Oh, okay" Beth said quietly. "I'll just drop them in here" Beth tossed them into the make shift crib and then turned to go back into the kitchen. Maybe Lucille was tired Beth thought to herself. I'll just leave her to have some quiet time for a bit.

Beth was standing in front of the fridge. Every now and then, she'd open a container and toss it into the trash – making room for all of the groceries that she was going to have delivered soon. That's where Lucille found her when she'd decided that it was time to share something with Beth that only one other person in the entire world besides her husband knew about.

"I have something I need to talk to you about" Lucille stated. "You should probably sit down."

"Lucille, what is it? Are you okay?" Beth started firing questions. "You're not sick again are you?" that particular question laced with panic.

Lucille put up her hand, "Beth, I'm fine" Lucille tried to calm the girl. "It's nothing like that. There's just something I feel like I need to share with you – something you should know."

Beth finally put her bottom on a chair and Lucille did the same. "Okay" Beth spoke cautiously.

"John and I are not childless by choice" Lucille began. Beth blinked her big blue eyes. "We thought it best to wait a while after we were married because, well, we told you how financially strapped we were when we first started out."

Beth nodded that she remembered being told that.

"After we'd been married for at least, oh I guess it was five or six years" Lucille said "we began trying to start our family. Didn't take long" Lucille smiled at the memory. "Unfortunately, I just had trouble carrying a baby to full term. I couldn't even get past the first trimester."

"Oh, Lucille" Beth cried. "I am so sorry. I had no idea."

"I'd had four miscarriages before we had a pregnancy to progress past that first trimester" Lucille continued. "Next thing you know, we'd made it past the second trimester. And then the third. We were so excited – beyond excited. Giddy even."

"What happened?" Beth asked, unsure if she really wanted to hear the rest of this story or not.

Lucille was having to wipe the tears away and so was Beth. Beth took Lucille's hand into her own and placed a kiss on top of it. "I delivered a beautiful, blue eyed baby girl after a horribly excruciating labor – only to be sent home empty handed."

"Oh no" Beth gasped.

"The delivery had been even more difficult on Emily than it was on me" Lucille explained. "We already knew that she had an issue with her heart, but the poor little thing just wasn't strong enough to endure the difficult delivery – she couldn't pull through."

"Her name was Emily?" Beth asked.

"Yes, named after Negan's mom" Lucille nodded. "After that, we both just kind of lost our way. Negan turned to booze and other women. I turned to pills and shopping."

Beth sat there with her mouth open. "I don't know how to respond to that" Beth admitted. "But, ya'll are still together. And crazy about each other. Right? You love each other. Right?"

"Yes, we love each other very much" Lucille laughed softly. "Lots of counseling for the both of us, rehab for me, and Negan finally giving up other women saved us."

"Did ya'll not want to try anymore after Emily?" Beth wondered aloud.

"We couldn't Dear" Lucille told her. "We'd wasted too much time being selfish and petty and trying to hurt each other – I felt like I was too old at that point and then, well, soon after I had my first run in with cancer."

"Does Daryl know any of this?" Beth asked.

"Some, not all" Lucille answered. "You can tell him if you want. I don't mean to hide anything from you two. I tell you all of this so that you might learn something from my mistakes. Don't waste time – life is too damn short to waste time. Figure out what you want in this world and go after it Sweetheart."

"I will" Beth replied. "I will."