Daryl's POV in the next chapter.
…
Part Fifteen.
Beth laughs as Daryl tries to free his hands from the bubbles covering them and she sips from the beer bottle that they're sharing between the two of them. They sit in the claw-foot bathtub, her body between his legs, her back settled against his chest and the water is warm and the air smells of lavender. It's the perfect end to a hectic day. Hectic but good. Lori had totaled the takings for the day and she said it was a good opening. If numbers continue to stay around this, things will be good for them.
Her laughter fades as his hands slide down her arms and his thumb swiftly slips beneath the bracelets and he finds the scar as if he's always known it was there. And maybe he has known this entire time. He rubs light circles over it. She goes still and the beer bottle freezes in her hand and she's so relieved she's facing away from him because right now, she doesn't know if she would be able to look him in the face.
"You've never told me 'bout it," he says quietly, his thumb rubbing against the scar.
"No," she shakes her head.
"How come?"
She shrugs a shoulder then and wishes she had avoided this conversation with him for a little longer. "I'm ashamed of it," she whispers then, her fingers clutching the bottle so tightly, she wonders how strong a grip would have to be to break the glass.
"Showed you mine and it's not like I'm proud of 'em," he grunts.
"It's not like that, Daryl," she quickly shakes her head and she turns her head, looking at him. His eyes are intensely settled on her. "You make me ashamed of it."
His brow furrows and he frowns at her, confused.
"You've been through so many horrible things. Such awful abuse. And never once did you just try to give up on everything," she tries to explain. "My mom and brother died in an instant. One second they were here and the next they weren't and I… I was so sure I didn't want to live in this world without them."
Daryl is quiet and doesn't say anything.
"I knew it was a mistake though," she's whispering now. "The second I tried, I knew."
She exhales a shaky breath as if she's about to start crying and though she feels the scratchiness in her throat, she doesn't feel like she's going to start. She closes her eyes and leans her head back against the front of his shoulder. She feels his arms slide around her middle and hold her close, squeezing her almost too tightly but she doesn't mind and she doesn't want him to let go.
"You're the toughest girl I know," he says lowly, his lips right to her ear. "You don't know it. But you are."
And she admits that she doesn't know that and she certainly doesn't believe it but sitting in that warm bubble water with him, feeling the safest in his arms that she has ever felt, she thinks like maybe it's something she can one day start to learn. As long as he's there with her to remind her sometimes.
…
The first month at the bakery is going good. She figures out what sells the most and what isn't as popular so she can start dividing her time better making everything she needs to and giving the customers what they want. She still sells her desserts to T-Dog to sell in the diner and a few parents have commissioned her to bake birthday cakes for their children. It's all going to so good and she hopes her daddy is able to see all of this happening and he's happy.
Things with Daryl are going good, too. Really good. They're back to living in the apartment together and do mundane things together like grocery shopping and laundry and he'll come and pick her up from the bakery sometimes and they'll go to Rick and Lori's house for dinner. Her favorite time though is when they go to the woods for the weekend and sleep on the ground beside a fire and it's just them and the stars and trees and no one else for miles.
She tells him that she loves him a few more times, always whispering it in his ear as if she doesn't want anyone else to overhear and though he never tells her anything in response, he always seems to hold her a little tighter, his eyes lingering on her a little longer after she says those words to him and she begins to think that maybe she doesn't need to hear them from him because she knows he cares about her and maybe that is enough.
…
"You need to cut your hair," she laughs a little as she lifts her hands and pushes the hair hanging in his eyes back from his vision.
"Yeah?" He asks, sounding distracted or bored or a mixture of both but she can hear the amusement in his voice.
She looks at him for a moment, tilting her head slightly to the side, studying him a little. She then shakes her head. "No. I like it like this. Can't really imagine you with short hair anyway."
"Was short a few years ago," he shrugs as he keeps sanding down the piece of wood. He's been hired by Martinez's wife to build new cabinets for their kitchen and he's in the backyard, Beth keeping him company since it's Monday and the bakery is closed. "Didn' like it that much," he says.
She leans forward again and brushes the hair from his forehead though it falls right back and she smiles a little. "I like having something I can grab a hold of," she then says in a quiet voice and even she feels her cheeks blush a little so it's no surprise when she sees the tips of Daryl's ear turn pink.
He lifts his head and looks at her and after a moment, he smirks and shakes his head at her. "Better watch yourself, girl," he says. "Got all this work I gotta get done so I can get paid and take care of you."
She feels her stomach flutter a little at that but she's still feeling playful. "You always take the best care of me," she says in a low, trying her best to sound flirtatious.
"Stop," he says though a smile is fighting to break through and she laughs softly.
…
Every day, she wishes her daddy was still alive so he could see how she has worked to make his letter come true. She has gone out into the world and started something on her own – something she really loves doing – and the people in Evergreen seem to like having her there with them. She has found her place and she wakes up every morning, feeling as if she has truly wound up where she has always meant to be.
And she has fallen in love. She has met a man and she has given him her entire heart and every time she looks at him, she hopes she can spend the rest of her life with him. And she hopes that he wants the same thing with her.
…
For Carl's birthday, she bakes a chocolate cake shaped like a Lego man because even though he's technically a teenager now, she knows how much he loves Legos and Lori had asked if it was something she is able to do.
When Beth brings the final product over to the house that morning for the party that afternoon, Lori gasps and immediately takes pictures and Carl exclaims that it's awesome. Rick promptly pays her more than the amount they had previously agreed to and ignores her when she tries to give him some of it back.
She goes home for a little back before she and Daryl are going back for the party and she comes in to find Daryl asleep on the bed. He had gotten up when she had even though she told him that it was Sunday and there was no reason for him to be up so early. He hadn't listened and he had taken a shower and when she left him to go to the bakery to finish the cake, he had been on the couch, drinking a cup of coffee. It seems like after she left, he agreed about having no reason to be up yet. He is always an early riser and she sometimes encourages him to just be lazy.
She smiles as she tugs off her shoes and still fully dressed, she crawls onto the bed to lay down beside him. He remains asleep though he can sense she's back because his head moves across his pillow a little closer to her. She watches him for a few minutes, studying his face – the long hair, the scruffy facial hair, the lines and creases and angles of his face.
He never believes her when she tells him he's so handsome. He just scoffs and shakes his head and turns away. Even after all of this time knowing her, he still seems to get so uncomfortable when she compliments him. Beth isn't one to be deterred though. She knows Daryl has gone through most of his life without anyone ever saying a kind word towards him and she supposes she just wants to make up for all of that. He deserves it. No one deserves it more.
"I love you, Daryl," she whispers to him even though he's sleeping.
"Love you, too," he then mumbles back and she feels the breath catch in her throat.
She stares at him with slightly wide eyes but he is still sleeping and she wonders if he has any idea what he has just said to her and if he even meant it.
…
"You're glowing," Lori teases her with a kind smile as they are in the kitchen, putting trays of hamburger and hot dog buns and condiments together to take outside to the back deck. Carl and his friends are in the midst of a water balloon fight, chasing one another around and shouting and screaming. Daryl had been helping Rick at the grill but Carl had pulled him into the game, telling him he needed help with logistics.
"Am I?" Beth asks innocently though she doesn't doubt that she is.
"Any reason in particular?" Lori asks.
Beth is quiet for a moment, actually thinking it over. She looks through the window over the sink and smiles faintly to herself as she sees Daryl crouched in the grass beside Carl, talking with the boy, a water balloon cradled in his hand. She feels a flutter in her stomach just from watching him.
She hasn't let on what he had said to her that morning in their bed in his sleep because a part of her is terrified that he was sputter and take it back and she wants to hold onto those words for as long as she can.
She looks to Lori to find the woman looking at her with a smile. Beth smiles, too, and shrugs her shoulders a little.
"I'm just happy," she says and she must have looked embarrassed about it for some reason because Lori reaches a hand out then, touching her arm.
"I'm so glad," Lori smiles – small but warm – and Beth smiles in return. "And you've made Daryl happy, too. Believe it or not, that man is quite the surly one," she says and Beth laughs at that. "But since being with you… he smiles more. Actually gives answers instead of grunts. He's softened. Don't tell him I said that," Lori quickly adds and Beth smiles, shaking her head.
"I promise," she says.
They carry the trays out to the deck where Rick has just called to the kids that lunch is ready and they all come running. Beth is able to step out of the way just in time and she goes down the steps to where Daryl is standing, still with his water balloon.
"How did you get out of a water balloon fight unscathed?" She asks with a smile, taking in his dry appearance.
"The kids have shitty aim," he shrugs and tosses the balloon from hand to hand. "Don't take their time. Just throw without lookin' at the target," he says and she smiles as he turns her around so she's standing in front of him and they're both looking towards the deck. "Watch this," he then says in her ear and she shivers even though it's nearing ninety that day and they're all sticky with sweat.
He's wearing a tee-shirt with the sleeves cut off and she sees his arm muscles on either side of her. She knows it's silly but she thinks she loves few things in this world more than Daryl's arm muscles.
"Rick!" Daryl suddenly calls out.
The man is back at the grill and he turns at the sound of his name. Daryl instantly throws the water balloon and within seconds, it has made contact with its target – the target this time being Rick's chest and it bursts, the water soaking his shirt. She can hear Daryl smiling behind her as she breaks out into the laughter. The kids look and start laughing, too, and Lori is laughing probably the hardest.
Rick does his best to frown. "That's assaulting an officer of the law, Dixon!"
Daryl just wraps his arms around Beth, keeping her to his chest, and keeps smiling.
…
She is in the bathroom of the diner, shaking slightly, near tears, and when there is a soft knock on the door, she flies up to unlock it, opening it and allowing Sasha to slip through before locking the door again behind her.
"Okay. This one is just a five minute wait," Sasha says, pulling the pregnancy test from the nondescript brown paper bag she has just gotten at the drugstore. "I got the one with the shortest wait time, figuring you would want that."
Beth does her best to swallow. "Thanks, Sasha," she whispers.
Sasha looks at her and pulls her into a hug, Beth clinging to her until they both hear T-Dog ringing the bell from the kitchen and Sasha has to get back to work.
Alone in the bathroom again, Beth's hands shake as she pulls the test from the box and reads the directions twice through before sitting on the toilet. When she's done, she rests the test on the counter and leans against the wall across from it, staring at it and biting at the skin around her nails.
She has no idea how this has happened. Alright. She knows how this has happened but at the same time, she and Daryl are careful. She's on the pill. Something like this isn't supposed to happen at all. And though she has always wanted to be a mother and she has imagined having a baby with Daryl on more than one occasion, she wasn't expecting something like this to happen to them. Not yet.
Most days, she knows she and Daryl are happy together but sometimes, she still isn't quite sure how long he's going to stay with her. She sometimes still wonders if he actually wants to be with her or if one day, she'll come home and he'll just be gone.
Hot tears flood her eyes and she closes them, squeezing them shut. Daryl is a loyal man. An honorable man. If she is actually pregnant, she knows he'll stay with her. Because of the baby. And he'll probably spend the rest of his life, resenting both her and the baby because this isn't what he had planned. She doesn't know what his plans are but she doubts that this is it.
This isn't her plan either. She considers herself old-fashioned. She always thought she would be married before she had a baby. If she is to ever marry Daryl now, if he ever asks her, she knows it will be because of the baby.
She's not sure how much time has passed but when she opens her eyes, she sees something starting to form in the small display window of the test and she steps towards it on shaky knees and picks it up with trembling fingers.
A plus sign. A pink plus sign. Positive. She's pregnant. She's going to have a baby. She's going to have Daryl's baby. She and Daryl are going to have a baby together.
As her mind begins racing – and just like that, her entire world has changed – she stares at the test and feels herself begin to smile.
But she feels herself begin to cry, too.
…
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