I do not own any of TWD characters.
Sweet Dreams
Daryl had slipped back to their cabin twice to check on Beth. Both times Beth was knocked out and dead to the world – she was in the exact same spot he'd left her. Daryl chuckled under his breath – yeh, he wasn't getting any at all that night. Oh well, the next best option would be a good night's sleep. Daryl decided right then and there that he would high tail it out to the parking lot just as soon as the boat docked to grab their bags. The quicker the better – even five or six hours of uninterrupted sleep sounded like a treat right now. Just as he turned around he caught sight of Spencer Monroe wandering down the hallway where the sleeping cabins were located.
"You lost or something?" Daryl asked Spencer as he may have not so accidently bumped into the man's shoulder. Daryl didn't bother to cover up the southern drawl in his voice either.
"Do I look lost?" Spencer shot back.
Daryl pinned him to the wall with just a look. "No, not really" Daryl said "You look like you know just exactly where you're going."
"Maybe I do" Spencer continued to press his luck.
"I think you are lost Buddy. Best turn around and go back the way you came" Daryl said with an assured confidence to his voice. Daryl stood and blocked the hallway until Spencer tired of the stand-off and returned to the bar.
Daryl decided he'd go back to the cabin one more time and check on Beth. In fact, he thought he might just stay there until they docked and he could retrieve their bags for the weekend. That way he could watch Spencer get off the boat and get in his vehicle and leave. When Daryl got back to their cabin, Beth was awake and looking seven kinds of uncomfortable. Daryl saw where the front of the t shirt was wet – it was way past nursing time and Beth was miserable.
"Oh Daryl" Beth sighed. "Are we almost to the marina? I've got to pump – I'm about to die."
Daryl could kick himself for not bringing their bags with them when they first got here. Here Beth was in obvious discomfort bordering on pain all because she didn't have her breast pump.
"We should almost be there" Daryl told her. "Babe, I am so sorry I didn't grab our stuff when we first got here. It didn't even occur to me that this would happen."
"It's okay" Beth whined. "It didn't occur to me either. Heck, I've not been away for this long before. This is certainly a life lesson, isn't it?" Beth pointed to the front of her shirt.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Beth had told Daryl to take all the time he needed, that she would be fine. In fact, Beth wanted to pump, take a long, hot shower, and then crawl back into the bed. A poker game had been organized by some of the guys who weren't quite ready to call it a night yet and Daryl felt like he needed to play at least a couple of hands. Daryl told Beth that he wouldn't be long – he'd hurry back to their cabin so that they could snuggle and get a good night's sleep.
Daryl walked into the game lounge to see Dwight and Simon sitting at the far end of the bar. They'd been on duty tonight for any security issue that may have popped up – although nothing much ever happened on one of these outings. The two guys were busy putting away a plate each of nachos and other goodies from the night's meal. Daryl lifted his chin at Dwight, who he'd become pretty dependent on in the last several months. Dwight returned with a nod of his own before taking a swig of his Corona. Kelly was still hanging around as well. Daryl wasn't surprised at all by this – Kelly was quite the card shark and always wanted in on the action.
"I'm taking every bit of your petty cash fund tonight" Kelly teased Daryl.
"Like hell you are" Daryl joked back with his assistant. Deep down though, Daryl knew that Kelly would take every bit of cash he had in his pockets – the guy was that good.
Daryl walked to the bar where Spencer was still sitting and throwing back the free booze. He inwardly groaned at his presence. What Daryl wouldn't give to just be able to toss Spencer out on his ass – the guy was a class A douche bag. He couldn't even imagine why Negan was allowing him to hang around. Negan spotted Daryl and greeted him with a firm neck grabbing.
"Everything okay with our girl?" Negan asked Daryl.
"Yeh" Daryl replied. "She's just plain tired and wore out – needs to take advantage of being able to sleep all weekend if she wants."
"Yeh, I bet" Negan agreed. "Well, hopefully she can relax this weekend. And you too Daryl. Ya got fuckin bags under your eyes the size of the Grand Canyon."
"She needed to pump. She was damn uncomfortable – I feel like shit for not bringing her stuff when we first got here tonight" Daryl had lowered his voice, but apparently not enough to keep Spencer from eavesdropping.
Negan shook his head a bit. "She'll be right as rain in the morning. Our girl's tough."
At that comment, Spencer – speaking to no one in particular but loud enough where everyone in the room could hear "A real man would take care of those big ass boobs himself."
The proverbial "coulda heard a pin drop" described the atmosphere in the room. Kelly dropped the deck of cards he'd been shuffling for the past ten minutes and Simon damn near choked on a tortilla chip. Dwight stood so quickly that the bar stool he had been sitting on fell into the wall behind him, ready to choke Spencer out if Daryl instructed him to do so. As Daryl spun around to confront the moron at the bar, Negan shot Dwight a look to let him know that this was Daryl's fight. Reluctantly, Dwight stood down.
"The fuck you just say?" Daryl barked out at Spencer.
Spencer smirked and stood up. Then, he stupidly stated, "I'd suck those tits dry." This man had lost what little bit of sense he ever had Negan thought to himself.
"I'm gonna kill you, you stupid mother fucker" Daryl raged and then grabbed Spencer in a headlock dragging him away from the bar. Furniture was scooted out of the way and all the men in the room circled around them. Negan stood at the door with his arms crossed. He'd warned Spencer last year that if he ever crossed a line again as far as Beth was concerned that he would let Daryl have at him. He was keeping his word.
True to Negan's warning of "a junkyard dog protecting what's his", Daryl nearly beat the last breath out of Spencer Monroe. Oh Spencer got a few good hits in, busting Daryl's lip and giving him a concussion inducing butt to the head with the back of his own noggin. Barstools were broken, tables turned over, and dishes swept into the floor. Spencer knew that Daryl Dixon had him whupped, but he wasn't giving up yet. Spencer grabbed at the bar, trying to get to anything he could use as a weapon or for some self-defense maybe. He managed to snag Dwight's empty beer bottle, smashed it on the bar, and swiped at Daryl with it.
Unfortunately, for both men, Spencer made contact – right underneath Daryl's right eye. Unfortunate for Daryl as he was now bleeding profusely from a huge gash that was going to require medical attention. Unfortunate for Spencer as that move sealed his fate. Daryl took a running jump at Spencer, taking him to the floor where he proceeded to kick the absolute living shit out of him. Daryl had his foot on Spencer's throat and it looked as if he was going to just stomp the hell out of him. It was at this point Negan pulled Daryl off of Spencer.
"Alright, alright Daryl" Negan said. "That's enough – you don't want to do something you can't undo."
"Told him I's gonna kill him" Daryl snarled "and that's what I aim to do."
"Nope" Negan looked him in the eye. "Can't let ya do that Son – you've got a wife and baby to think of."
Daryl was livid. His clothes were ripped and bloody, his shoulder hurt like a bitch, and he figured he would need to have the cut on his face stitched up. Daryl was already cooking up the story he'd use at the emergency room – a skill he'd finessed in a former life.
The room was damn near silent again with everyone wondering what the hell to do now. A roughed up Daryl Dixon and a near lifeless Spencer Monroe were the focus of attention. Quickly, Negan began problem solving, trouble shooting, or whatever the hell you wanted to call it.
Negan looked around the room, his eyes falling on Kelly who resembled a deer in the headlights. "Kelly" Negan motioned for the young assistant to come to him. Kelly obeyed and Negan pulled a business card out of his wallet.
"End of the next dock over" Negan scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Slip 5A I think – Dr. Nelson's boat. He should still be up – they're night owls. Give him my card – tell him to get over here."
Kelly took off like his pants had been set on fire.
"Dwight, Simon" Negan yelled out. Immediately, the two men were front and center. "Take out the trash."
"Everybody else" Negan looked around the room at the few men standing around "let's get this mess cleaned up before Beth or Lucille get up and come in here to see what the hell's going on."
An hour later and Daryl Dixon was laid out on the food prep counter in the galley, still in his bloody clothes, with a doctor checking his eyes to see if he thought Daryl had a concussion or not.
"John" Dr. Nelson sighed. "I'm going to stitch Daryl up but only because he doesn't have a concussion. If I thought it was even remotely possible that he did have a concussion, I would insist that you all get to a hospital."
"Just stitch him up for Christ's sake Jim" Negan laughed. "Hell, he's alright."
The doctor rolled his eyes as he prepared to stitch the impressive gash up that was on Daryl's face.
"He's really going to need to see about this shoulder" the doctor added. "What happened here tonight?" he looked around the room and no one uttered a word. "Oh, shit, never mind. I think I'm better off not knowing."
Daryl grimaced a bit as the doctor started stitching him up, but he really wasn't in too much pain at the moment. Negan had handed Daryl a bottle of bourbon to nurse while they were waiting on Kelly to get back with the doctor and once Dr. Nelson had arrived, he gave Daryl a little something to numb the area around the gash.
Everyone heard one of sleeping cabin's door open and close. They all looked down the hall to see who was out and about, not having to wait long. Beth stumbled into the galley, pulled a glass out of the cabinet, and then poured herself a bit of orange juice. No one spoke, but just took in the appearance of what appeared to be a sleep walking Beth. There she stood in pink silky pajamas and bunny slippers, blonde hair all over her head – quite the vision even in her disheveled state.
"Hey Neg" Beth said sleepily as she turned to make her way back to bed. They all heard the door open and close. Everyone looked around at each other, no one brave enough to speak yet.
Finally, "Did she really not see Daryl laid out on the kitchen counter here?" Dwight asked no one in particular.
"Shit" Negan laughed.
It was only a matter of seconds though before the door opened again – this time it didn't close, but they heard stomping coming back towards the galley. The ears on her bunny slippers were flopping up and down. All were working hard at keeping a straight face – it wouldn't do to burst out into laughter at this point. The doctor just kept right at stitching up Daryl's face. Kelly stood right there as the doctor's noble assistant.
"Oh fuck" Negan laughed again, but this time it sounded like a nervous laugh.
"Oh my God Daryl" Beth screeched. "What the hell happened to you?"
Daryl looked over at his wife with a one-eyed goofy grin, "You should see the other guy."
Beth looked around the room at everyone watching what she assumed, hoped to be a doctor stitching up her husband. She stared at Kelly and wanted to ask what the hell he was doing but there'd be time for that later. "What other guy?"
No one spoke. Finally Daryl figured he better answer his wife before her screaming woke Lucille. "Spencer. That ass wipe Spencer Monroe – ain't nobody gonna talk 'bout my wife like that."
"Spencer?" Beth asked. "What on earth could he have said that was so bad that you had to get yourself all bloodied up?"
Once again no one spoke. "Daryl, for goodness sakes, you've got a three inch long gash in your face!"
OH FUCK Negan thought to himself. They were all thinking it because another bedroom door opened and closed. The distinct fomp, fomp sound of Lucille's bedroom slippers grew louder and louder.
"What on God's Green Earth has happened?"
The Queen was up.