AN: First, I want to thank everyone following this story and the tremendous amount of support I have from great friends! I know every chapter seems like filler but bear with me because it's really important that I lay some ground work before the good stuff starts. This one is really special to me so just trust me, please?

As always, thank you to those have reviewed! 2carlaa, DarylDixon'sLover, sillymommy2010, heartherrk, Trixieviv, and (hahahaha love this one) 2 lazy 2 sign in. Ya'll are awesome and I think you for leaving me your feedback! That being said- on with the show.

Chapter 9

They returned to Atlanta just after three and made their way up to Beth's condo. Much to Daryl's chagrin, Michonne, Glenn, and Maggie were there waiting for them to arrive. Daryl looked them over uncomfortably but no one seemed to care.

"Where did you go?" Maggie started.

"Daryl had to get his gun for the job. You know Rick wants everyone that works for him carrying." Beth replied simply.

"So you decided to go with him?" Maggie bit back. Beth nodded with a smile. Daryl looked up at Michonne and expected to see her eyes hard but he was shocked to see the humor on her face.

"She's fine, Maggie. Lighten up." Maggie looked at Michonne, her mouth agape. "And close that mouth or you'll catch flies. Now can we get down to business?" She looked over at Glenn as she took a seat on the couch. Beth followed her and sat down next to her and across from Glenn. Maggie seemed to compose herself quickly and sat down next to Glenn. That left Daryl standing at the head of the couch and loveseat that faced each other. "Sit." Michonne didn't seem to care that he was uncomfortable.

"'M good. Let's get to it." He diverted his gaze from the empty spot next to Beth to her manager waiting for him to get to the point of all of this.

"OK, then. Tomorrow I need Michonne and Daryl to go out to the venue and get a lay out of the place. Daryl, you'll want to know the entrances and exits well. Michonne, get him up to speed on how we do things. Wednesday night she'll need to be there by six to get ready so we'll need to leave here by five thirty. Daryl, Rick should have a car by tomorrow but we'll go with what we're used to for now. I need you to keep a look out for Zach. You know his face so I expect you to spot him if he's there."

"Do more than that." Daryl muttered.

"No, you notify Rick if he shows up and keep an eye on him until locals can get there. You're not to engage him unless you have to." Maggie answered sternly. Daryl rolled his eyes.

"I don't think you needed to call this meeting just to tell Daryl that I'll be breaking him in tomorrow. What's this really about?" Glenn and Maggie exchanged nervous glances and Beth pushed herself up and walked to the window.

"The record label called this morning. They want to push up the debut of the new album by a few weeks. We had to cancel the gig in Florida because they want her to start pushing her new stuff before the release. That cuts us short on a month of tours. She's going to New York on Friday for a week of promoting. We've got an acoustic in studio for XM radio, she'll be an opening act for a smaller country group, and then they got her scheduled for Today. We'll be there for close to two weeks." Glenn looked at Michonne timidly.

"I'll need accommodations for Andre and his sitter to come with us but it should be fine." She shrugged and Daryl could see the couple visibly relax. Michonne looked at Beth. "You ok with this?"

"It's getting real and I'm getting nervous." Beth admitted to the window.

"It's all small time stuff now but the door is opened; there's no closing it." Maggie seemingly wanted to be encouraging but it didn't look like it was working from Daryl's perspective. Beth's shoulders tensed.

"Zach's only going to get worse. He already has some delusional assumption that she belongs to him. When this gets bigger he'll get bolder. I think that's what you fear, Beth." Beth nodded in agreement.

"Nothin's gunna happen to ya, girl." Daryl's mouth was opening and promising before his mind could stop him. She turned and looked at him; her eyes seemed to search his face for something. Whatever it was, she seemed to have found it because she smiled and the tension evaporated from her body.

"I trust you and Michonne. I just hope we don't need to bring anymore into this. I don't understand why they can't find him already."

"They will, Bethie. They will." Maggie stood up and wrapped her arm around her shoulder and squeezed her tightly. Daryl was put off by the sibling interaction. There was no name calling and no nagging to man up or shut up. Maggie was genuinely supportive of her sister and it was something Daryl had never experienced before. He cleared his throat and drew attention back to himself.

"When ya wantin' to go tomorrow?" He asked looking at Michonne.

"We'll go in the morning and knock it out early."

"Come get me when you're ready." Daryl looked over at Glenn and Maggie. "We done?" Glenn nodded and Daryl turned heel and walked out the door. Just as he stuck his key in the door he heard Beth's small voice behind him.

"Hey." He turned to acknowledge wordlessly. "Thank you for this afternoon. It was nice to just get away without worryin' about what is going on around me. I appreciate it."

"Don't gotta thank me all the time, ya know." She laughed and nodded.

"I know. I just want to." She turned and headed back to her door as he entered his, all the while thinking about citrus and strawberries.

Early the next morning Michonne knocked on Daryl's door to go check out the venue. They didn't say much to each other which was fine with Daryl. He figured they'd talk enough once they got where they were headed. She took him to this hole in the wall place with a bar on one side and a large concert area on the other. The place was much bigger than he'd given it credit for. Michonne headed to the bar to get the manager while Daryl was left to wander the room.

He took note of the side door next to the standing room with 'employee's only" taped to the door behind the sound area. He assumed that led to the employee area, but knew he wanted to see what was behind there as well. He ascended the small stairs to the stage and walked both ends to see what could be seen next to the stage which wasn't much. The backstage curved off behind a black curtain and not much was viewable which was unsettling to him. Michonne and a burly man made their way to him.

"Tyrese. Nice to meet you." The man extended his hand and Daryl shook it and nodded.

"Tyrese is going to accompany us on the walkthrough." Michonne headed to the left of the stage and seemed to notice the same things he did. "Going to need someone on both sides during the performance." Daryl nodded again and headed to the right and backstage. Tyrese followed Daryl which annoyed him instantly.

The backstage area was simple. To him, it looked like a dressing area he'd seen for strippers in movies. There were several vanities and dressing racks lining the small room and it was cluttered with lighting, sound, and band equipment.

"She have her own band or whatever?" He asked Michonne.

"Not right now. She usually uses the house band or recordings."

"And tomorrow?"

"House band."

"Gunna want to meet them." Daryl demanded. Michonne quirked an eyebrow at him.

"My guys are clean. No one gets in here without a background check." Tyrese was obviously offended.

"What do you plan on learning from meeting them?" Daryl just shrugged and moved past the vanities. Regardless, he wasn't backing down on his stance to meet these people that would be on stage with her. He noticed a back door and pushed it open to reveal a small back parking lot with what he assumed were the employee cars packed. He stepped outside and closed the door behind him and then turned and reopened the door.

"This door needs to be locked." Michonne commented and Tyrese nodded.

"If you don't mind me askin', this girl isn't exactly Beyonce. Why all the precautions?" Tyrese had every right to know. Daryl looked at Michonne, unsure of how she wanted to answer the question. She took the lead.

"She's got a stalker. Can't catch the little punk so we were hired to keep her safe." Tyrese nodded in understanding.

"I have a bouncer during show nights. Give me a description on the guy and we'll make sure he stays out." Michonne smiled and nodded.

"I love these kinds of gigs. Makes things so much easier." To Daryl, however, it didn't exactly make him breathe easier. A part of him hoped the kid showed up so he could deal with it and get home but the other part, the dominate part, needed to keep her safe by any means necessary. The dominate part; he didn't think he would ever understand. They made their way through the employee areas and took note of the security set up Tyrese had in place. Daryl was impressed for such a small bar. It didn't seem anything could happen without a camera spotting it.

Once satisfied, Michonne and Daryl nodded their thanks to Tyrese and left.

"You hungry?" She asked. Daryl looked at her quizzically. "We should plan tomorrow."

"Alright." She pulled the car out of the parking lot and went two blocks down to a small mom and pop diner. Daryl couldn't help but think that for such a big city there were a lot of privately owned shops and diners like these. They made their way inside and Michonne quickly ordered two coffees without so much as a question to Daryl and sent the waitress on her way.

"You're apartment smelled of coffee this morning. Figured you could use another glass."

"Ya part bloodhound or something?"

"Or something." She smiled but cut to business. "I know you didn't like the side stage. I didn't either. One of us on each side at show time, not Ty's men. Unless you're worried she'll distract you?" Daryl was shocked.

"Ain't gunna be a problem." He growled.

"Good. You'll go ahead of us and talk to the band if that'll make you feel better. Make sure the bouncer and staff knows Zach's face. Call me once everything is fine and we'll bring her in."

"I feel like secret service or some shit."

"Well, we'd be good at it. You're a hunter so you see what others wouldn't. You'd make a good cop, Dixon." Daryl outright laughed at that. "Things will get more serious when her popularity grows. We'll need to stay on our toes. New York will be our biggest challenge. I can't believe Glenn ok'd that shit so soon after what happened in Kentucky."

"Sounded like they didn't have a choice." Daryl defended for whatever reason. Michonne scoffed.

"They could have made a choice. They didn't. But we're just the hired gun." The waitress brought their coffee and nothing else was spoken as they sipped their beverage. No food was ordered either. Michonne seemed to appreciate Daryl's need for silence while embellishing in her own. When their drinks were gone she tossed a few bucks on the table and they made their way back to the condo. Michonne dismissed Daryl to his place while she went to talk to Beth.

Daryl made his way back to his apartment and spent a majority of the day contemplating why he felt the need to keep this girl safe.

Night began to fall and just as Daryl had resolved himself to getting on his bike for a ride there was a knock at his door. He wanted to yell in frustration but kept it pent up. How much more would these people need from him? Was it too much to ask for privacy? Could he even since he signed on for this? A million questions ran through his mind as he opened the door the find her standing there.

"Sorry to bother you. Rick and Glenn dropped off your car." She held out the keys for him and dropped them into his waiting hand.

"Figured Michonne'd let me know."

"Well, she's busy. She has a routine she keeps to at night and this didn't fall into it." Beth's weight shifted from one foot to the other as she looked down at the floor. After a few moments of silence passed she looked up and cleared her throat. "Well, see you tomorrow." She started to walk away.

"Goodbye." He responded and she stopped dead in her tracks and turned.

"Not goodbye. I hate goodbyes. Goodnight, Daryl." He smirked and nodded causing wide grin to pass across her face. "Goodnight." She whispered again and walked off quickly. He closed the door and looked at the keys in his hand and tossed them on the small table next to him. He threw the notion of a ride out of his mind and defaulted to sleep. It was going to be a busy day tomorrow with his first day actually protecting her.

AN: I hope you're still with me. Let me know by leaving me a review below!