This is turning out to be a longer story than I originally planned on. And watching last night's episode, it really makes me want to write something for that, too. I really need to stop my brain with all of these ideas.

…

Part Fourteen.

"Staring isn't going to make him get here any faster," Lori says, coming up beside her as Beth stands at the front window, staring out, watching the street.

Beth exhales a small sigh. "I know. I'm just nervous."

Lori nods, understanding. "It'll be alright."

Beth is quiet for a few minutes, her eyes still not leaving the window. Her stomach is knotted and she hasn't been able to eat anything all day – not since Daryl told her the night before that he was going to go to the motel that morning and talk with his brother about some things. She tells herself again and again to believe in Daryl. He has told her that he wants and needs her and he isn't going anywhere. But as he has said himself, Merle Dixon has a strong hold over his brother and maybe Daryl won't be able to break away from him. Maybe Beth is losing him again right now and she doesn't even know it.

She stares out the window, waiting for him because he promised her that he will come to the bakery when he is done so he can continue building the display cases. And she wants to believe that he will come. It's just been so long and with each passing minute, her stomach somehow seems to tighten more and more and she doesn't know what to do with herself to distract herself.

"Come on," Lori rubs her back. "I have some more papers in the back office I need us to go over and sign."

Beth nods and it is only with great reluctance, she is finally able to turn away from the windows but her stomach knots don't lessen any more.

…

Lori has to leave because she gets a call from Carl's school that he's sick and she has to come pick him up so Beth is by herself in the bakery when she finally hears the rumble of a motorcycle. She perks up like a dog and then rushes for the door. Daryl pulls to the curb in front of the bakery and before he can even climb off the bike, Beth is rushing outside, feeling so elated and light, she's almost near tears.

Daryl gets off the bike and Beth launches herself at him and standing there in the middle of the sidewalk, his arms are tightly wrapped around her, holding her just barely off the ground so her feet brush against the pavement and her arms are a vice around his neck. She swears she can feel him smiling a little against the side of her neck.

…

"How did it go?" She finally feels brave enough to ask after he's been working on the cases for a couple of hours and she's been helping him.

He shrugs and he's holding nails in between his lips at the moment as he hammers so he can't answer her anyway. She waits a few more minutes until he's finished and his mouth is free.

"Was he angry?" Beth asks softly. Hesitantly.

Again, Daryl shrugs. "Merle's always angry."

She nods as if she knows that and she wants to say more but she really doesn't know what. She has no idea what Daryl has said to his brother and yet, she understands what he has done. For her. He has chosen her over his brother. His family. His blood. And though Daryl has even said that Merle's not good for him, he has shown such a fierce loyalty to him that the magnitude of Daryl actually stepping away from him – and for her – it makes the breath catch in her throat as she keeps watching him.

"What do you think?" He asks, breaking through her thoughts and it takes her a moment for her to realize what he's referring to.

"Oh," she smiles a little and looks at the first finished case. "It's perfect, Daryl."

"How you imagined it?" He asks and he's frowning a little, running his hands over the wooden case with the glass front, making sure there are no imperfections.

Beth nods quickly and she goes to him, slipping her arms around his waist. "It's exactly how I imagined it." She stands on her toes and kisses him lightly on his cheek. "Thank you," she says to him softly, her eyes staring at his face and it's just not for building her the cases but she doesn't know how to voice everything else.

Daryl looks at her, his eyes intently locked with hers, and he seems to know what she is trying to say to him without actually saying it. He nods once and his hand slips to the small of her back. Without a word, he presses a light kiss to her temple and she leans into him, resting her head on his chest, feeling his heart strongly beating within his chest. She closes her eyes and tries to clear everything else from her mind and focus on only that.

…

She watches him closely over the next few days. She can't help it. She feels like she has settled herself right on the edge of the cliff and she's doing her best to balance herself but she's terrified that Daryl is going to start resenting her or showing regret over what he has done; blame her for making him make a choice between her or his own brother and she'll topple right over the side.

She hadn't made him choose, had she? She doesn't think she had because she had been so convinced that he had made the choice already and his brother had won.

She wants to ask him what happened between him and Merle when he went to go see him at the motel but it's something else she's too terrified of to think of let alone actually ask him.

She keeps waking up every morning and he's in bed beside her and every night, he comes into the diner for dinner and he never looks at her differently than how he always used to look at her – pre-Merle – and she tries to get herself to relax because Daryl is there. He's still there and it doesn't look like he's going anywhere.

…

She stops by the motel to see Axel, Oscar and of course, Cornelius, just as Oscar is finishing up his shift and Axel is taking over for the day.

"Mornin', gorgeous," Axel smiles widely at her as she soon as she steps into the front office. "And what do we owe this pleasure?"

Beth holds up a contained. "I'm walking around town, offering free samples and enticing people to come to the bakery. The grand opening is on Saturday."

She peels the lid back and reveals cupcakes. Axel grins as he takes one and even Oscar cracks a little smile as he takes one as well.

Axel takes a bite, frosting in his moustache, and he lets out a moan. "You were sent to us from heaven above," he declares and Beth laughs a little, her cheeks warming.

"Is he talking about me or the cupcake?" She wonders to Oscar and the man just smirks a little, licking his own frosting. "Do you have any guests staying with you at the moment that I can hand these out to?"

Axel's smile seems to drop immediately and even Oscar looks uncomfortable.

Beth feels her throat grow dry and she does her best to swallow past it. "Room six?" She guesses and neither Axel or Oscar say anything but give the slightest head nods.

…

She doesn't have to do this. There is nothing that says that she has to give room six a free cupcake and yet, she feels her feet heading her in that direction nonetheless.

She knocks on the door and feels her knees quivering as she hears movement from inside. The door swings open and Merle Dixon stands there, his eyes squinting from the bright sun shining that day. The room past him is dark and smells stale of smoke and body odor and Beth sees a naked woman lying asleep in the bed.

"What the hell do you want?" Merle growls at her.

Beth swallows again and holds the container tightly in her hands. "I'm handing free cupcakes out today to advertise my bakery opening on Saturday," she says and she is silently commending herself for getting all of that out with throwing up all over this man's shoes.

Why does Merle Dixon terrify her so much? And how is it possible that he and Daryl are brothers when Daryl has never done anything except give her butterflies?

Merle looks at her for an eternal second and then takes a cupcake. "This how you keepin' my brother around? Feedin' him sweets? Knew you were like that the first time I saw you. Man can become addicted to a girl like you and the sweetness you got between your legs."

Beth doesn't say anything for a moment, staring up into this man's face. She tells herself not to be afraid of this man. This is Daryl's brother and while Merle may not be a good man, he won't hurt her. She tells herself that he won't hurt her. Not when she's standing in the open like this and Axel and Oscar are so nearby.

"I love your brother," she says, her voice sounding surprisingly strong but she knows that it's saying those words that are giving her the sudden bout of strength.

Merle looks at her for a moment and then smirks a little. "He don't love you though, sweetness. Never will neither. But you already know that," he says and with that, he steps back into the room and slams the door shut in her face.

…

She knows Daryl doesn't love her. She has never deluded herself into thinking he does. But to hear it from someone else, to have it actually confirmed and to hear the words, it encases her heart and squeezes so hard, it almost hurts and when Daryl comes into the diner that night for dinner, she can't even bring herself to smile.

…

"There's too much to do still," she weakly protests as Daryl tugs her towards his bike but she climbs on behind him nonetheless and circles her arms around his waist.

When he drives them out of town, she figures out fairly quickly where he's taking her. The bakery is opening tomorrow and she is going to be spending the rest of the evening and early tomorrow baking and she feels as if she has already lost her mind. Opening her own bakery. What the hell was she thinking when she made this decision? What if it fails? What if no one likes it? They like her desserts at the diner, sure, but would they actually come into her bakery?

Daryl stops them off to the side of the road and he has his crossbow with him but he always has his crossbow with him when he goes into the woods. He takes her hand and leads her through the trees and they come across the small footbridge.

She sighs as she sits down, hanging her legs over the side, and Daryl sits down beside her. He doesn't prompt her to talk before she opens her mouth and the words start spilling out.

"What if I've just made the stupidest mistake of my life?" She asks. "What if this doesn't work? I'll have no money and I'll be just some waitress for the rest of my life. That's not what my daddy was talking about in his letter. He wanted me to go out and do these amazing things and what if I can't?"

"Thought your daddy just wanted you to be happy," Daryl says in his soft voice.

Beth sighs because she knows he's right but she doesn't want to hear that right now. She wants to panic and wallow and he needs to let her do that without insisting on being logical.

"What am I going to do if this bakery doesn't work out?" She asks, looking at him.

Daryl's quiet for a moment and then shrugs. "You'll figure it out. You're tough, Beth. Toughest girl I know."

She shakes her head and thinks about the scar on her wrist hidden beneath the bracelets she still hasn't told him about. "I'm not tough at all," she protests.

"You put up with me," he reminds her. "That makes you tougher than you know. And no matter what happens… we'll figure it out."

She looks at him silently for a moment. "You and me?" She asks almost in a whisper.

"'Course you and me. Who else?" He frowns a little, confused.

And Beth realizes that that's exactly what she needs to hear in that moment. She leans into him and putting her hands on his cheeks, she kisses him.

…

The bakery hours are from nine a.m. to four p.m. but she's been awake and out of the house since six, in the back of the bakery, baking her cakes and cookies, brownies and cupcakes and filling the cases with everything. She makes sure the chalkboard menus hanging on the walls look as perfect as they can and when Daryl comes around eight, she has him put out the sidewalk chalkboard outside.

"It looks perfect, Bethy," Maggie beams at her. She has come to town for the grand opening. "And I am going to be your first customer. Slice of carrot cake, please," she says as she slides a five dollar bill across the counter.

Beth smiles as she goes to fetch it for her and she places it in the small white box with 'Sprinkles' on top and she hands it to Maggie along with a plastic fork. She watches with nervous anticipation as Maggie takes her first bite and Maggie looks at her for a moment, breaking into a smile and Beth exhales a deep breath.

Daryl then orders himself a coffee and two peanut butter cookies and when he tells her to keep the change, Beth smiles at him and feels her stomach flip and she leans across the counter, giving him a kiss.

"I love you," she whispers to him.

And it's okay that he doesn't say anything in return because it's nine o'clock then and the bakery is officially open and she suddenly doesn't have time to think about it because a couple of more people have come in.

Just like that, away she goes.

…

It is strange to her to have the grand opening on Saturday only to be closed on Sunday and Monday but Lori tells her that she has wet the people's appetites and now, they will be waiting with anticipation to return to Sprinkles again and Lori is her partner and seems to understand some of the business aspects better than her – having worked in the flower shop for years – so Beth agrees.

It's also strange to her to go to the diner for dinner and not working there anymore but after the bakery is closed for the day on Saturday night, Daryl comes to get her and taking her hand, he tells her that she needs to eat and he takes her to the diner.

They sit in his usual booth and Jacqui hands them menus though they don't need them and sitting there, Beth feels how absolutely exhausted she is. Not just from today but from all of the days before leading to this one.

"You a'right?" Daryl asked from across the table, looking at her.

She gives him a small smile and nods her head. "I can't wait to eat and then go home and drown myself in a bubble bath." He smirks a little at that. "Want to join me?" She asks and she's only teasing him and yet, just imagining Daryl Dixon in a bubble bath makes her giggle and she suddenly wants him to join her very much.

Daryl looks at her for a moment and then smirks again. "Fine," he agrees even as he's shaking his head at it all and Beth lets out a little laugh and she doesn't even want to eat anymore even as her stomach is rumbling. She just wants to get home now. "What am I gonna smell like?"

"Lavender," she beams and he grumbles the word under his breath as if he can't believe it and she can't really believe it either. It just makes her laugh again and she wants to tell him again that she loves him but she swallows the words down and just keeps smiling.

…

Thank you for reading and please review!