Summary: So I intended to make this story longer, but I have three works in progress going and then I woke up in the middle of the night with this ending. I couldn't get back to sleep until I wrote this. For better or worse this story is over. Thank you to everyone who read and reviewed. I love you all :)
Chapter TextAdrianne was getting used to life the way it was now, it had been months and forever since she and Daryl had fought and she had listed her parents house to sell. The plan was to move within the month and start over. Michonne and Maggie understood her change of plans and they were to carry on with the plans of opening the photography studio together.
Maybe one day she would come back and live in Atlanta, and work with them but for now she had to get away from all the memories and start over. Sometimes it was hard to breathe, and living in such close proximity to him just made it worse.
One day, maybe years from now it wouldn't hurt and she could look at pictures of them together without sobbing but not now. She had fucked up and didn't know how to fix it, well that wasn't entirely true.
Adrianne's therapist was not in favor of her decision to make a geographical cure; otherwise she had made great progress processing her childhood and all of the mental chaos she went through. Her parents were alcoholics, sick and never should have been together. The example they set for her made her afraid to make the same mistakes they did.
Sometimes she wished she had been born into Merle and Daryl's family, their parents had been supportive and kind. Both of them were well adjusted and knew their feelings and lives. She was still trying.
Her therapist had urged her to speak with Daryl, because it was clear he loved her and she loved him. Adrianne was leaving it up to fate, she would not seek him out, it was possible he didn't want to be bothered and she wouldn't have blamed him.
/
Tara and Maggie were running the bar around eleven and Adrianne was in the back stocking shelves on her last night at work before she left to go look for a place in Philadelphia. Her parents house had not sold, but she was moving on and planning to just live on her savings until the house sold.
The mood was grim at Dale's tonight, first Andrea left for another job and now Adrianne was going, she had worked there since she was 22. This was where her friends all were but it was different now, this was for the best.
Adrianne lifted the case of beer and that was when she heard it. "The Beat Goes On" started playing on the jukebox. She came out of the store room and Tara was already making wild gestures to her that he was there. They had not seen each other in almost a year, she wouldn't even drive past his house for fear she would see him outside working on his truck or his bike.
Knowing he was here now, well it was fate making sure she got the closure she needed Adrianne supposed.
****The beat goes on, the beat goes on, drums keep pounding rhythm to the brain*****
Adrianne couldn't miss him, even if he was facing her; she knew that ass anywhere, the planes of his back and shoulders filled out his T shirt just right. To Tara's sheer delight, because it was plain on her face, Adrianne started to walk towards Daryl.
Halfway across the room she decided this wasn't going to be goodbye. It had been her intention to say goodbye to him like a grown up but she was overwhelmed with emotion as she approached him.
Eleven months of pure agony came crashing down on her and suddenly she didn't know which end was up anymore. She stopped for a minute and closed her eyes, trying to pull herself together.
Daryl could smell her perfume the minute she was in his personal space, peaches, she always smelled like peaches.
"Heard you were moving…" Daryl cut right to the chase, Merle had informed him that Andrea had the listing for Adrianne's parent's house and if he didn't do something she was going to be gone.
"Everytime something happens, good or bad it's you I want to call and I can't and I hate that." Spilled out of her mouth softly as she came to stand next to him and placed her hands next to his on the jukebox.
They stood there for a beat not looking at each other, side by side with their hands on the jukebox yearning to touch each other.
"I miss you…" He murmured without looking at her, "They don't have Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves..."
"I don't care...I miss you too…" She turned to him and met his eyes now for the first time in eleven months and fifteen days, Adrianne had kept count; it was like they were the only two people in the whole place. They could only see each other.
"Please don't move away until we talk about this, really talk?"
"Will you forgive me? Can we start over, you and me…is it too late?" Adrianne just let the words come out and didn't bother to think about it.
She never got to finish her sentence because he was picking her up and setting her on top of the jukebox. As he dove in to kiss her they said very few words but they were powerful.
"I'm never walking out on you again…"
"I'm so sorry…"
"Don't move away, marry me…"
/
It was the middle of the night and Merle and Andrea were standing in the driveway waiting to see headlights. The phone call they had been expecting just came and they were ready to do their part. Their job was the easy part when you thought about it.
"Here they come…" Andrea pointed to the lights coming from just a few blocks away. Daryl and Adrianne still lived in her parents house and had been happy for a long time now. It was less than a mile between the two houses; when they were kids he, Daryl and Adrianne spent all summer walking between their homes. Now as adults they sometimes did the same, but tonight they were driving, it was two am .
The tires ripped up the dirt driveway as they pulled up and Daryl was out of the car as soon as he put it in park to go around the car to pull the sleeping toddler out of the back seat. The little blonde haired girl stirred but didn't wake up. Adrianne was in the front seat and Merle called out to her, "You ok cookie."
She replied with a thumbs up as she tried to work on her breathing but Lamaze was bullshit.
"Daddy…" She murmured as Daryl handed her to Andrea and she gave Adrianne a sympathetic look from where she was standing.
"Shh Lorelei, it's ok…" Andrea reached her arms out and took the half asleep child, "Remember we talked about this? Mommy and Daddy are going to get your little brother now." Daryl reassured and the little girl went back to sleep in Andrea's arms.
Merle slapped his younger brother on the back as he walked him back to the car, "We got her, you two get going before she has this baby in the car…"
Merle and Andrea hurried into the house to put already asleep Lorelei in the bed they had there for her as Daryl and Adrianne sped away into the night to have their second child.