…

Part Nine.

She misses playing the piano but she has her guitar and when she has a spare moment lately, it seems like she's plucking strings and writing down music notes, humming the tunes to herself and testing them with lyrics.

"You're my muse," she smiles to Daryl because ever since this thing began between them, she has had so many words in her head that are just begging to be let out.

Daryl smirks like he does when he's not entirely sure how to respond to something she has said and she smiles, playing him the opening notes of one of her new songs. She sits in the middle of their bed and he lays down, stretched out beside her, and she plays for him, singing softly as if the song is meant for him and his ears only.

Maybe it is.

…

Rick and Lori are going out to dinner and Carl is spending the night with a friend and they ask Beth if she would mind babysitting Judith for a few hours. It's no surprise to anyone when Beth eagerly accepts and they come to the apartment, dropping the baby and a bag of her things off, promising to return before nine.

Beth absolutely loves Judith. Loves sitting on the floor with her and playing with all of the toys she has brought, loves watching a Disney movie with her or just walking her around the apartment with her in her arms, singing her songs.

She has always wanted to be a mother; has always wanted a baby of her own and the longer she spends with Judith, the stronger that urge suddenly becomes. And she thinks of Daryl next naturally. She has never been in a relationship like this. It's good and relaxing and being with him just feels completely natural. She loves him. She's not entirely sure when it happened exactly but one morning, she woke up and looked at him as he still slept beside her and just like that, she knew she was completely in love with him. She loves him and is so happy with him and she can only hope that she makes him happy in the same way.

She imagines having a baby with him. Imagines him as a father and holding their baby in his arms, talking to them in that quiet, slightly rough and gruff voice of his and the baby tugging on his hair. He would make such a good father. She knows it and she knows that that is one of those things that he will never believe so she doesn't tell him her thoughts and daydreams on the matter.

She knows there is still so much she doesn't know about him. He lets bits and pieces of his past slip to her and she can makes guesses to fill in the blanks and each time something else is revealed, she tries her hardest not to cry even if it's the only thing she wants to do. She wants to put her arms around him and let him know that he has her and she's not going anywhere.

But she doesn't because she doesn't know how he'll react. Talking about himself too much makes him so uncomfortable and she doesn't want to draw attention to it. It's not as if she feels pity towards him. She just wants to erase all of the pain he has ever felt and give him nothing but good things from now on.

She wants to tell him that she loves him.

But she doesn't because she sees the way he looks when he comes into the apartment and sees her holding Judith. He looks absolutely terrified.

…

Word of her baking skills spread around Evergreen and soon, she finds herself baking all sorts of things for people in town. She actually really loves being a waitress at T's diner but she loves baking, too, and it's helping bring in a bit more money since she has opened a bank account at the bank and has put away the rest of her inheritance, not wanting to touch any more of it.

"I'm guess I'm staying here a while," she smiles when she shows him her bank card and her library card and Daryl smirks a little, taking them from her to get a closer look at her signature at the bottom of each.

"Even I don't have these," he says and she giggles a little.

"Well, we live together. I suppose you can use my library card if you want," she tells him. "You do read, don't you?" She teases.

He just smirks. "Nope. Just some dirty, stupid redneck."

She smiles then and steps into him, sliding her arms around his waist. "I like you being dirty," she then tells him softly, her eyes staring into his.

Daryl stares down into hers, his hands slipping down her back and she shivers as his fingertips brush up beneath her shirt, touching the bare skin of her back. "I like you bein' clean," he says back in a soft voice and she nearly shivers again.

She pushes herself on her toes and kisses him then, his lips immediately pressing back against hers and before she realizes, he has lifted her up and sets her down on the counter next to her mixer and the bowl of chocolate cake she's making. His lips only leaves her to trail down her neck and she whimpers his name.

…

One thing she really loves about Daryl is how simple he is. Not simple-minded – she doesn't believe for a moment that he's as stupid as he sometimes likes to bring himself across as – but how simple he is in life.

He doesn't own a cellphone and he isn't entirely sure how to use a computer and she can imagine some hipsters living the same way, declaring that too many lives are ruled by technology and they don't need to live that way, but Daryl Dixon actually doesn't need to live that way. He has no use for any of it. Even grocery stores are just things of luxury to him because Rick and Lori have left him use their backyard as a place for a garden where he grows his own vegetables and he eats the meats he hunts and to him, there isn't too much of anything else he needs.

"What about milk?" Beth asks. "You'll get osteoporosis."

He shrugs. "What did people use to do 'fore they realized they could get somethin' like that from a cow?"

And that's another thing she loves. He really does act like it's the beginning of time.

"They considered thirty-year-olds to be their senior citizens."

His lips twitched at that. "I'm closer to forty. Guess that means I'm a walkin' miracle," he says and she laughs then. He looks at her after a moment. "Want me to start drinkin' milk?" He asks and she knows he's completely serious.

Her smile fades but her eyes are still sparkling. "And start eating some fruit, too?" She suggests.

"You're just pushin' it now," he grumbles and she laughs again.

…

It's not like she hates Shane. She doesn't hate anyone. But she really doesn't like when he comes into the diner and smiles at her. She does her best to smile in return because she smiles at everyone and she is polite to him because she's polite to everyone. And it isn't as if she's scared of Shane. There is just something about him, something in his eyes that makes her so nervous.

She doesn't tell Daryl about it. She doesn't dare tell Daryl because she knows that all she has to do is mention it to him and he'll do something on a surge of anger and impulse and she'll probably have to bail her boyfriend out of jail. And she loves her boyfriend and of course she would bail him out of jail but that doesn't mean she necessarily wants to.

Shane and Rick come in for dinner and sit at the counter and Shane always smiles at her in a way that makes the hairs on her arms stand up on edge. Shane has recently shaved his head and she isn't quite sure how but it makes him more menacing and she always feels the need to ask Rick why Shane is one of his best friends.

"What would you guys like?" She asks, standing in front of them with her ordering pad and giving a small smile, looking at Rick rather than Shane.

"Bacon and eggs for me, Beth," Rick orders with a smile. "Lori tried to make me pancakes this morning and they were terrible. Been starving for breakfast all day."

Beth feels horrible that she laughs at that but she can't help it.

"Lori's always been a horrible cook," Shane says with his own smile, his eyes settling on Beth. "Bake anything today, Beth?" He asks.

"I have a couple of slices of cherry pie left," Beth says and tries so hard to not show him just how uncomfortable she is with the way he is smiling at her. She can only hope that Daryl doesn't walk in right now because he will take one look at her and see how uncomfortable she is and she really doesn't want to bail her boyfriend out of jail tonight.

"Mmmmm. Sounds good. Love to try some of your cherry pie," Shane smiles and Beth doesn't even try to mask her look of complete disgust.

Rick elbows Shane sharply in the side and Beth can't get away fast enough.

…

When Daryl comes in, he is just sitting down when she hurries over to him with his glass of Coke and plate with a slice of cherry pie on it. She gives him a quick kiss before he can even open his mouth.

"Just for you," she tells him and his brow furrows and he has no idea what she's talking about but she doesn't explain it to him before she hurries away again.

…

Sasha still doesn't like Daryl and as one of her closest friends in Evergreen, Beth is determined to fix this. She knows that Sasha doesn't know Daryl and is rather just listening to all of those stories about him that really aren't about him but really all about his brother. So she does what she does and suggest they all go out together.

Both Daryl and Sasha look less than thrilled with the idea when Beth tells them both about it but Sasha sighs and agrees and Daryl sighs and grunts and Sasha comes over to the apartment for dinner because having this get together at the diner would just be too weird.

"Need any help?" Sasha asks, coming into the kitchen.

"No, no," Beth smiles and pushes her gently back into the living room. Daryl is sitting on the couch, looking just as happy to be there as Sasha is. "You should sit and talk with Daryl. Tell him all about that customer that came into the diner yesterday," she says, her smile wide and constant.

She goes back into the kitchen and Sasha sits down in the armchair across from the couch. She and Daryl look at one another and for a few ticking minutes, neither of them say one another.

"A guy came into the diner yesterday," Sasha says. "It was Zach."

Daryl shakes his head slightly. "That kid's an idiot."

"He asked how to pronounce waffle. Thought T was putting foreign words on the menu," Sasha almost smiles at that.

Daryl lets out a smirk at that. "He tries to hit on Beth a lot. Every time, she has to remind him that she's seein' me and he always asks her since when."

Sasha smiles a little easier now. "He asked me once if I wanted some white milk mixed in my chocolate cow and I told him if he ever said to me again, I would pull my gun on him."

"What'd he say?"

"I don't know. I've never seen a grown man scurry away from me," she says, almost laughing, and Daryl almost laughs, too.

When Beth comes out of the kitchen to tell them that dinner is ready, she finds Daryl and Sasha smiling and talking guns and it's not really the conversation she would have normally imagined during dinner but they are actually talking to one another and asking questions so it's the best dinner conversation Beth has ever heard.

…

They go hunting for the weekend again and he gives her a small smile when she's walking quietly beside him and she gives him a small smile, too. They've been tracking a deer and she watches him as he studies the ground and the leaves and she wishes she sometimes could just throw crawl into his mind sometimes.

She has no idea what he's thinking most times. Almost all of the time. She can ask him but she knows he won't answer. She won't even ask him how he's tracking this deer. She just watches him and takes in everything he's doing and when he he holds his arm out across her chest to stop her walking, she immediately freezes and holds her breath as he holds his crossbow up, taking aim. She doesn't see anything though. How does he know that there is something coming? She doesn't even hear anything.

But then, as if he had planned this, the leaves rustled and a fawn stepped through the bushes, its ears flicking and its tail swishing. Beth almost gasps at how cute it is. It's like Bambi. All wobbly legs and white spots on its brown fur and she wishes she could just take it home with her. Instead, her boyfriend is about to shoot an arrow through its heart and Beth bites her down on her bottom lip so hard, she nearly draws blood but it stops her from whimpering Daryl's name in weak protest.

She squeezes her eyes shut and waits for Daryl to release the trigger but after nearly a minute passes and nothing happens, she opens her eyes to find Daryl looking at her. His face is blank but she swears she sees amusement in his eyes. She moves her eyes and sees that the fawn is gone, its body not lying on the forest floor dead. She looks back to Daryl and he swings the strap of the crossbow onto his shoulder.

"You bring stuff for S'mores?" He asks.

"I always have stuff for S'mores with me," she says, giving him a confused look.

"Les' go," he says but she stops him, putting a hand on his arm.

"What about the deer?" She asks.

"Not gonna make you cry on a huntin' trip," he says, smirking a little.

"I wasn't going to cry," she frowns at him but he just keeps smirking. "Shut up," she says and this time, he actually smiles and when he tosses his arm around her shoulders, she is so surprised and confused for a moment but then she beams and leans into him, slipping both of her arms around his waist.

…

The next night, when she comes home from her shift at the diner, Daryl is already asleep in bed which is a bit out of the ordinary but she knows he has been working on a plumbing problem at the high school all that day and he's exhausted.

She changes out of her uniform and slips on one of his flannel shirts and she crawls into bed with a yawn. But she feels something soft brushing against her leg and her brow furrows, wondering what that is. She glances to Daryl but he is deeply asleep and doesn't even flinch when she turns on the nightstand lamp. And when she does, she almost gasps.

There, just for her, is a small stuffed fawn.

She looks at Daryl and she feels tears brimming in her eyes and she leans over, hugging the deer to her chest and pressing her lips to Daryl's cheek in a soft kiss.

"I love you," she whispers.

…

Sasha has a family emergency come up and T-Dog asks if Beth can handle the morning shift. She does with no argument and she gives mental props to Sasha for being able to handle the breakfast rush on her own because it's so much more intense than the dinner rush. By eight o'clock, her feet hurt, her hair is falling out of her ponytail, and she has maple syrup sticky on her fingertips.

But it's finally starting to slow down and she feels like can breathe again. As she is getting Dale a refill of his coffee, the door of the diner opens, the bell tinkling overhead and she nearly gasps and drops the pot when she sees who enters.

Merle Dixon is out of jail. Merle Dixon is back.

…

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