Times Are Changing

Daryl could hear the baby and Beth from the garage. He almost wanted to put the truck in reverse and take a drive instead of coming right on in. He had a few things to do before work the next day, and maybe Beth would have Jack down by then. 2 and a half months old and his son still was a finicky little hell raiser. He'd throw them off too by being a perfectly well behaved angel for a day or two, the go right back into the monster that would not quiet down unless he was either nursing or being walked or drove around. Daryl opened the door and caught the tail end of Beth singing This Little Light Of Mine.

"He been at that long?" Daryl asked softly as to not startle either of them. Beth turned around and Daryl frowned. "Why are you walking around while he nurses?"

"He won't stop crying. I've been walking and nursing him since you left. Walking and eating my lunch, nursing and doing chores." Beth said stroking Jack's cheek. "He's just upset today. He won't take a soother. Even when he's not nursing he wants to hear my heartbeat or have part of me in his mouth, so I can't put him down or get away." Beth said pulling her lower lip into her mouth. "I'm so tired." She added softly.

"Give him here." Daryl said holding his arms out. Beth broke the seal Jack had around her nipple and handed him off. Jack looked at Daryl and started to whine.

"I wasn't able to head out to the store. I tried but he wouldn't stop crying. I was too distracted to drive. I turned back and came home."

"Make me a list. I'll take him and you just reset. Have a bath, a nap or just sit down and do dick all." Daryl said walking over and wiping the few tears off her cheek. Jack instinctively rooted his head towards Beth and let out a few pathetic little cries. "You going to have to cry a lot harder than that to break me boy." Daryl said shifting the baby in his arms like a football. Beth sat the the table and scratched out a list of the essentials they were out of.

"Everything we need, the brands we use are the pictures already on your phone." Beth said reaching forward and taking Jack back. "Let me get him changed and dressed." She said as Daryl read over the list. Jack settled in her arms and started rubbing his fat little cheeks against her again. He really kicked up a storm when Beth laid him on a blanket behind the couch she used as a changing station and re diapered him and got a hat and sweater on him.

"Stop that." Daryl said leaning over and scooping the baby up. He held a hand down and helped Beth back to her feet. "We'll be back in an hour or two." He said ducking so she could slip the diaper bag over his shoulder. Beth handed him the car seat and leaned up to kiss him.

"Thank you." She said making her way down the hall towards the bathroom. Jack continued to fuss as Daryl strapped him into the car seat.

"You can keep that up all you want. We've got shit to do now boy." Daryl said lifting him into the truck. Jack quieted down a bit once it roared to life and Daryl pulled out and started on the way to town. He pulled out his phone at a stop light and texted Beth to let her know he'd bring her home something to eat. He continued on to the cafe and pulled up. Jack whimpered as Daryl made his way in. Shit he couldn't sit at the counter with a car seat, Beth would kill him if he just sat him on the stool next to him or on the floor. He made his way over to a booth and set the car seat beside him on the bench. Jack stared at the lights hanging above them in deep concentration.

"What can I get for you today?" The waitress asked as she smiled at the baby.

"I'm going need a clubhouse sandwich to go and I'll have a tuna melt with fries and gravy for right now. I'll have coffee too." Daryl said rocking the car seat with one hand. "Can I get a few pickle spears with the clubhouse?"

"It's for Beth isn't it?" The waitress asked. Daryl looked at her and nodded. "I worked with her before she quit. She loved clubhouses with pickles. She'd have ordered a side of pickles instead of fries all the time if she could. Is that Jackson?" The waitress asked.

"Yeah he was giving her a hard time. We're letting her nap." Daryl said. The waitress smiled at him like he was curing cancer before putting a rush on their order. Daryl pulled the hat off Jack's head and eased the sweater room his body. "Don't want you to be too hot." Daryl said as he added some sugar and milk to the coffee he was brought. The waitress soon made her way over with a glass of water and his sandwiches. Beth's was wrapped up with a smiley face on the box. Daryl started to eat, but Jack decided that the lights were not enough entertainment and started to cry pathetically. Daryl leaned over and lifted him from his seat and propped him against his shoulder and continued to eat with one hand.

"Hands full?" Daryl looked up and grunted as Rick slid across from him.

"Takes after Merle." Daryl said gesturing to the baby.

"Mind if I sit here with you?" Rick asked smiling as a cup of coffee was quickly placed in front of him. Daryl shook his head and Rick ordered as well. "What are you guys up to tonight?"

"Hitting up the hardware and drug store." Daryl said draining his coffee and water. He picked up a fork and started on his fries and gravy. "Little guy was an asshole all day." He added as Jack fisted some of his shirt and started to suck on it.

"Yeah they can be little tyrants." Rick said with a laugh. "Don't let Beth catch you calling him an asshole though." Daryl grunted again.

"I think after today even she'd agree with me." Daryl said mouth turning up into a smirk. "Don't matter she's got a thing for jerks." He added. Rick laugh and thanked the waitress when she dropped off his soup and half sandwich. "We better head out. He's gonna need to eat again soon." Daryl said once he had finished. "It's on me." He added dropping enough money on the table to cover both bills. Rick tried to protest. "I know you put in a good word for Merle, even though he didn't deserve it." Daryl said.

"Well thank you." Rick said. Daryl nodded and carefully laid the baby in his car seat again.

"You should come out to visit. Beth's pretty lonely. I think she'd be open to start tutoring Carl again."

"That'd be nice. Lori tries helping him but it just turns into a shouting match." Daryl grunted. He kinda thought it was weird that Rick would let his son yell at his wife. Daryl looked down at Jack's pathetic attempts to look sad, when he was old enough to understand there would be no way in hell he'd be snotty to his mother.

"I better get going." Daryl said nodding one more time at Rick and making his way out of the restaurant with the car seat, diaper bag and Beth's sandwich. "You know you could sleep through our outing boy." He said once Jack started to cry as he strapped him into the truck again. Daryl quickly hopped into the front and started up the truck. Sure enough the engine did calm the baby a bit. He carefully pulled out of the lot and made his way first to the hardware store.

"Hello there son." Dale said greeting Daryl as he walked in the door.

"I'm here for the order for Ford construction." Daryl said shifting Jack to his shoulder. He handed over the company credit card. "I think it's tiles, grout, caulking…"

"Nails, screws, drywall and paint." Dale finished listing the items. "I have it already on a cart. You want me to bring it around to your truck?" He asked as Daryl signed the credit bill. Daryl nodded and looked down. Jack had finally dozed off. "You need some help loading?"

"I should be able to put him in his seat." Daryl said waiting by the cash as Dale made his way out back. He took over and hauled the cart with one arm through the door. "Alright little man. You sit tight." Daryl whispered as he lowered him into his car seat. He strapped him in but left the door open as he loaded everything into the bed of the truck and tied it down. Beth had been paranoid after reading horror stories of things flying through the back windows of trucks during bumpy rides, killing babies and he had promised her he'd always tie everything down and cover it with a safety net when the baby was in the truck. "Alright, next stop drug store." Daryl said to himself as he pulled the list out and flipped the through the pictures on his phone. "You shit more than your uncle. How do you need more wipes and diapers already?" Daryl started the truck up quickly when Jack grunted back at him, hoping the ride would slip him into a deeper sleep.

"Hey Pookey." Carol said when he walked in the door. Daryl nodded to her and gestured the the sleeping baby. He laid a blanket over the baby seat in the cart and carefully placed Jack in. He dropped the diaper bag in the basket and started down the isles. He grabbed two packs of wipes, a pack of diapers, but only one, the baby grew so much they were only buying one at a time. He added panty liners, deodorant and lotion for Beth and started looking for the salve she used on her nipples to keep them from cracking. He found it with the lip balms just as the baby woke up and gazed at him with a pained look on his face.

"What's wrong buddy?" Daryl asked. Jack scrunched his body up and cried. Daryl knew it wasn't a whiny I want Beth cry though. This was an I need to poop cry. He placed his hand on Jack's stomach and slowly started to massage it while he worked his way to the pharmacy for some more Advil, condoms and lube. Most women to seemed to have a problem being too loose after giving birth, but Beth had become even tighter. Her doctor had winked at him after stitching her up and had said something about two daddy stitches, which Daryl didn't understand till he asked Rick about it. He had basically re virginized his wife, and the first time they had sex after the baby she had winced away from him. The next night she had him glistened up like a baby seal and had been fine. So Beth liked to make sure the lube stayed in the bedside table. Just as Daryl made his way to pay, the smell of shit filled the air. He looked down and Jack smiled at him as the receiving blanket behind him slowly started to display a brown stain that was spreading. "Oh fuck my life." Daryl muttered. Carol looked over at him and the lady in front of him turned to give him a dirty look.

"Daryl?" Carol asked as she handed the woman her bags.

"He shit himself." Daryl said lifting Jack up and holding him in front of him. Carol laughed at the poop covered back of the baby. "Jesus fuck it's in the back of his head!" Carol laughed as she led Daryl into the public unisex bathroom and grabbed a plastic bag for the dirty blanket and clothes.

"We'll wipe him off and wrap him in this." She said pulling out a thicker blanket from the diaper bag. She found a sleeper and the diaper supplies. "It's not the end of the world." She added as Daryl stripped him and tossed the diaper. She carefully rinsed his clothing in the sink and rang it out as Daryl used every wipe in his travel pack to clean him up. Carol washed her hands up and took the baby, trying to hold back her laughter as Daryl scrubbed up like a surgeon. "You hunt and gut are you scared of a bit of poop?"

"Ain't scared of nothing." Daryl grumbled. "He still smells." He added as they made their way back to the cash. Carol pulled out some Clorox wipes and wiped out the baby seat before ringing in his items that Mika had stacked on the counter for him while they cleaned up the baby.

"He'll need a bath when you get home." Carol said as Daryl thanked Mika for helping out. Daryl let her push his cart out and get the baby into his seat while he loaded their bags. Mika wouldn't accept his tip, and Daryl waved as she went back to work.

"You feeling better now?" He asked looking over his shoulder to make sure Jack was buckled properly. "You were so backed up no wonder you've been a little shit head." Daryl cooed as he started for home. Jack babbled the whole way home, but the happy noises didn't really bother Daryl. "Beth?" He called quietly as he came into the house.

"I'm in the tub." She called sleepily. Daryl pulled the baby from his car seat and stomped down the hall stripping him as he went. "What's wrong." She asked as Daryl dropped his sleeper and the wet bundle of dirty clothes in the hamper.

"He shit up a storm." Daryl said placing him in her arms. "Shit all up his back, in his hair." Daryl added as Beth shifted him against her shoulder and started wetting his hair and soaping him up. Daryl left and brought in their bags and put everything away. He heard Beth singing in the nursery and sat at the table and rubbed his face. Beth soon joined him. "He down?" He asked. Beth nodded and Daryl slid over her sandwich. "Got you extra pickles."

"Thank you." Beth said walking towards him. She stood between his legs and carefully unbuttoned his shirt. Daryl reached forward and grabbed her ass and massaged her through her sleep shorts.

"I want you too baby." He said leaning forward and kissing her collarbone as she pulled his shirt off. He looked at her in confusion though as she grabbed the wipes he had just bought and opened it pulling one out.

"You had shit on your shirt and on your cheek." Beth said as she tossed his shirt towards the bathroom. She sat in his lap and wiped his cheek off. She pulled her sandwich closer and took a big bite. "Thanks baby." She said leaning her cheek to his mouth for a kiss as she tried not to giggle with her mouth full. Daryl kissed her shoulder and laid his head against her back as she ate.

"I still want to, you know." He mumbled. Beth hummed as if she was trying to make up her mind, then circled her hips against him.

"Let me finish my sandwich." She said laughing.