Oh my goodness, I am completely blown away by the response being given to this story. I don't even know what to say except thank you an infinite amount of times.

…

Part Six.

It really doesn't surprise her. After the weekend she spent with him in the woods, how could she not?

She has a crush on Daryl Dixon. Every time he comes into the diner now, she feels her face warm and her heart beats a little faster and when he comes in, she wants to talk to him and when she doesn't see him, she wonders when she will again. For his part, he is still quiet – still grunting a lot – but he seems to smile a little more. At least, this is what she is telling herself because honestly, after their weekend together, he doesn't seem to be acting that much differently towards her at all.

And the more he acts like nothing happened between them, Beth begins to think she is being silly and slightly pathetic. Maybe the night they spent in the woods together meant absolutely nothing and she's trying to see something that just isn't there.

They talked and sat by the fire together and ate S'mores and looked up at the stars and at the end of it all, she had kissed his cheek but maybe she is blowing it out of proportion. She is the type of girl who likes to talk and has no problem doing so – especially about her feelings – but she knows that Daryl Dixon doesn't talk – especially about his feelings –and she doesn't want to put him on the spot and have him shut down even more.

So she doesn't say anything and she tries her best to get her heart to slow down.

…

She takes Lori up on her offer and asks if she can use her kitchen for the afternoon and when she comes over to the house on Saturday afternoon, she sees Sheriff Grimes in the driveway, the hood of his squad car open, and Daryl is standing beside him.

"Hi, Beth," Rick smiles as she comes up the driveway.

"Hi, Sheriff Grimes," she smiles warmly in return. "Hi, Daryl," she then says, turning a soft smile on him and her dang heart is skipping beats in her chest.

"Hey," Daryl grunts and doesn't look at her and she quickly moves her eyes away as she hurries up the path to the front door.

She hears a smack and turning to look over her shoulder to see what it was, she sees Rick smacking Daryl up the back of his head and saying something to him that Daryl frowns in response.

…

"Do you need any help?" Lori asks after showing her into the kitchen and Beth begans to unpack the shopping bag she has brought with her.

"Not at all," Beth shakes her head with a smile.

"Thank goodness. I am terrible at anything that has to do with…" she waves her hand over the butter and eggs Beth have set on the counter. "This," she finishes and Beth laughs softly. Lori pours herself a glass of red wine and sits at the table.

Beth hums to herself as she begins cracking eggs and adding oil and using Lori's handmixer and she didn't realize how much she misses having an actual kitchen until she's moving around one again. Lori gets up a little while later when Judith begins crying, waking up from her afternoon nap, and Beth is left alone. She takes out the two circular cake pans and preheats the oven and flours the pans before going back to the mixing bowl, smashing in the ripened bananas now.

She hears the front door open and then a moment later, Rick, followed by Daryl, enters the kitchen.

"Smells good," Rick comments and Beth laughs a little.

"It's not baking yet," she points out to him.

Rick just grins and grabs a bottle of beer from the refrigerator and hands it to Daryl before taking one for himself. "Excuse me both for a moment. I have to talk to my wife about something," he says and then with that, he leaves the kitchen and Beth finds herself alone with Daryl.

She looks at him for a moment and he looks at her and neither say anything. She turns away then, back towards the counter, and begins pouring the cake batter into the two cake pans, ignoring the feeling of his eyes on her. She then turns towards the oven and Daryl is there, opening the door for her.

"Thank you," she says softly as she slides them onto the top rack.

Closing the door again, she sets the timer and then keeping her eyes from him, she turns and begins work on the frosting.

"You wanna go out tomorrow?" Daryl suddenly blurts out and she turns her head instantly to look at him. "With me?"

He looks nervous, almost shifting from foot to foot, his fingers grasping the neck of the beer bottle tightly. But he's staring right at her and she knows that she hasn't imagined him saying those words to her.

"Oh, yes," she hears herself breathe out and Daryl looks at her for a moment, his lips almost twitching as if he wants to smile.

…

They had both walked to the Grimes' house that afternoon so Daryl offers to walk her back to the motel and she feels as if her entire body is burning now as she accepts. Rick and Lori insist that they both stay for dinner and after they eat and they all have slices of cake, Daryl lets Beth walk out of the house first and he follows and he mutters something under his breath as Rick wishes them both a good night.

They are both quiet as they walk. The night is quiet and humid and they hear both crickets and cicadas sing. It doesn't bother her that they're not talking. She is more than content just having him walk beside her.

Back at the motel, they stop at the front office and Beth sets two plates down in fron of Oscar. "One for you and one for Axel. Banana cake with cream cheese frosting," she says, smiling brightly at him.

Oscar looks down at the cake for a moment and then at her and he smiles a little, too. Beth almost wants to laugh. So many good things are happening today and when she turns back to leave, she sees Daryl standing outside, waiting for her, and her smile only grows. This time, Daryl looks at her and smiles a little, too.

…

T-Dog has given her Saturday and Sundays off from the diner – his cousin, Jacqui, taking over the Saturday shift. She has just left her husband and has moved to Evergreen to be nearer to her favorite cousin and T is helping her get on her feet, just a shift at the diner here or there and Saturday night is actually a pretty slow night so she won't be overwhelmed.

After Daryl walks her to her door and tells her that he'll come and get her sometime around noon, she smiles and slips into the room, able to cover her face with a pillow before she starts squealing. Daryl has asked her out. She is going out with Daryl Dixon. She doesn't know why he has asked her – Rick must have said something to him – but it doesn't really matter to her. All that matters is that he is taking her out.

She feels so silly and like such a girl but she can't help it.

She's happy and she feels like she hasn't been this happy in so long.

…

She knows Daryl isn't the sort to take her anywhere fancy and when she opens the door to him the next day, he is wearing jeans and a black tee-shirt and she smiles the instant she sees him. She is wearing jeans, too, and a pink blouse and he smiles a little, too, when he sees her.

He doesn't ask if she's ready. He just takes a step back so she can step out of the room, closing and locking the door behind her, and she follows him to where his motorcycle is parked. He climbs on and she climbs on behind him, her arms sliding around his waist without hesitation. And when he takes off, she feels the wind through her hair and she tightens her hold on him, resting her cheek to his back.

…

By the time they stop, her legs are numb and she shakily climbs from the bike.

"You a'right?" He asks, his fingers on her elbow.

She nods. "Just need a sec," she smiles. "My legs just need to get steady again." He nods, understanding, and his fingers slowly drop from her arm. She looks around to where he has taken them. "Where are we?" She then asks, seeing a gas station, a restaurant, and then another buidling – non-descript and she can't tell what it is.

"Don't tell T this but they have the best burgers in all of Georgia right there," he says and she smiles, laughter bubbling in her throat.

She takes his hand and she feels him stiffen almost immediately. She feels the back of her neck flush as she quickly pulls her hand away, wrapping both instead around the strap of her bag slung across her chest. She wants to apologize but she doesn't open her mouth to say anything and she doesn't look at him.

She hears him shuffle and then slowly, his hand is reaching out and he leaves it there, hanging between them. Beth looks at it and then slowly lifts her eyes to look at him. He doesn't say anything either and keeps looking at her. She gives him a small smile – shy and a little unsure – and then she takes her hand, reaching out for his and the instant she places it in his, she feels him squeezing it tightly.

His hand is rough and warm and she can't help but run her thumb in small circles along his skin. Daryl doesn't let her hand go even after they go into the restaurant and he asks for a table.

…

They sit in a booth beside the large plate glass window and he tells her to get anything she wants. She promptly orders one of the burgers and a chocolate milkshake. Daryl orders a burger for himself and a Coke.

"I thought you didn't like me," Beth hears herself confessing once their waitress has left and they are alone.

Daryl shrugs his shoulders and looks down to the table. "Just not real good 'round people. Don't always know how to act."

She nods and then smiles faintly. "I'm really glad you asked me out."

He nods slowly, too, and finally lifts his eyes to her. "Me, too."

…

They eat with Beth filling most of the conversation. She tells him all about the farm and her daddy before his passing and about Maggie. She mentions her mom and brother just a few times in passing because all of that is something she doesn't want to go into right now. And she definitely doesn't tell him about the scar on her wrist.

He doesn't say much but his eyes stay on her and he listens to every word she says.

…

He pays the bill and this time, he is the one to take her hand as they leave the restaurant and head back for his bike. He climbs on and without a word, she climbs on behind him and she feels a knot of disappointment in her stomach that the date is already finished.

…

He drives them back to Evergreen but he speeds right past the motel. She opens her eyes and watches the narrow, two-lane road is he taking them down, thick woods growing on either side of the road and she's not sure why but she's getting excited. He pulls the bike off to the side at a rather seemingly random spot and she is eager to walk beside him, her fingers twined with his as he leads them into the woods.

She hears water and he takes her to a small creek with a brown footbridge built across it. She smiles at him and he smiles a little bit, too, before she tugs him onto the bridge and she then sits down, swinging her legs over the edge and he sits down beside her. Her hand finds his again and she laces their fingers together and she looks at the water lazily flowing beneath them.

She grew up on a farm, yes, but she has never considered herself necessarily an outdoors type of girl. But just from being in these woods a couple of times with Daryl, she finds herself getting this want to always be out here in them. With him.

"Shane was gonna ask you out," Daryl says suddenly, blurting it out in his quiet voice, and Beth's head whips over to look at him. He's looking at her already. "Rick told me. Knew I kind of had a crush on you. Told me to move my ass and ask you 'fore Shane, or someone else, did."

"Shane?" She frowns a little at that. "I thought he and Andrea…"

Daryl shakes his head slightly, causing her words to trail off. "That barbecue at Rick and Lori's, we was really the two they were tryin' to set up that day."

Beth looks at him, shock clear on her face, and then she laughs a little. "Us?"

He nods, no longer looking at her. "Lori's been wantin' to set me up with someone for a long time now but… and then you come into town and she thought you were the sweetest girl. Thought someone like you would be good for me."

Beth is quiet for a moment, letting that settle in her mind, and then she looks at him.

"Did you…" she suddenly feels a nervous lump weighing down in her stomach as she tries to find the right way to word her question. "You did want to ask me out, right? You're not here just because one of your friends kind of forced you to be?"

Daryl's eyes cut immediately over to her, staring at her. "I don't do nothin' I don't wanna do," he said. She said nothing to that. "Now that you know 'bout Shane, you wish he was the one you were here with 'stead of me?"

Beth didn't even feel like she should have to justify that with a response.

She leans into him and pauses her lips a hairsbreadth from his. She looks into his eyes and he is staring into hers, not saying anything and not closing the distance between them either. She knows she will have to make the first move and yet, there is a part of her that wishes he will. Maybe she's still a bit old-fashioned and would like a man to kiss her first, to show to her that he really wants it.

Does Daryl want it? Want her?

Slowly, his hand lifts then, lightly coming to a rest on her cheek and she feels her eyes begin to flutter shut. She can feel his breath warm on her face and she wants to keep looking into his eyes and yet, she feels them sliding shut on their own accord.

Kiss me, kiss me, please kiss me, she pleads with him silently and she exhales softly when his thumb begins drawing circles on the apple of her cheek.

And then, just like that, his lips are being pressed against hers. The kiss is soft and light, barely there at all, but the instant she feels him kissing her, it is like in all of those romance movies she's seen and romance novels she's read. She feels actual electricity flowing from his lips to hers and she swears she hears something popping overhead. Fireworks.

She presses her lips back against his and her hands lift to his own cheeks and when he kisses her a little harder, she wants to smile and laugh and scream all at once.

But instead, her arms slip around his neck and she tries to get even closer to him and even as her lungs burn, she still doesn't pull away from him. She never wants him to stop kissing her for as something as silly as a need for air.

…

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