A/N: Well it took over a year but I finally finished this story. Thank you to everyone who has read this story. I appreciate it. Let me know what you think.

Daryl had forgotten what it could be like with Merle around- what he could be like. This whole other person that he doesn't really understand or particularly like. A man with a mean streak and a hot head. A follower with a penchant for fighting Merle's battles for him. One that loves the escape that comes with a high because how else could he stand to be where he was. He didn't like looking around at the world he was embedded in. Thieves and tweakers, junkies and desperate people. The high always gave Daryl the ability to swallow his reality with a spoonful of endorphins and not give a fuck about anything except his brother. Not even his own life.

Except now, he has more than his brother- more to his life. There's Beth. And fuck. He knows she's not made for this shit. Too good to live a life in the fast lane- in Merle's idea of a fast lane. And yet here he was. Back to being the same redneck asshole with an even bigger asshole for a brother. Only this time he was dragging Beth down with him.

"Daryl"

He hears someone calling his name but his mind is blanketed in a haze.

"Daryl!"

This time it's more urgent and he forces himself to wake. Through bleary eyes he tries to focus on Beth's face. He has no idea how he got here, their couch by the feel of the lumps, and he has no idea what time it is. His mind is sluggish from all the hooch he sucked down last night with Merle at a bar. His head is throbbing and he can feel how swollen his eye is from taking a punch for Merle. The men Merle hustled for a few hundred dollars in a game of pool didn't take it too kindly.

Groaning, Daryl focused on Beth who was standing over him.

"Time is it?" he asks in a slur.

"it's almost seven. I need a ride to work. And you're supposed to work at nine."

Shit. He vaguely remembers having this conversation with her before. She works at a little diner as a waitress and he works at a warehouse boxing shit all day. It isn't exactly what he imagined but it barely keeps their bills paid.

"Where's Merle?" He's still too fucked up to drive his bike but Beth can take the truck.

"No idea but he isn't here. I didn't even know you were here until I woke up," she tells him in a soft voice.

She doesn't sound exasperated or mad. She sounds fucking tired and it eats at something in his gut. He doesn't know how to fix it. Doesn't know how to be that guy again. The one he was when Merle was locked up. The one who made his own decisions and didn't follow his brother around like a kicked puppy. But he knows he has to try. For her. Always for her.

In the end Beth gets a ride to work from the lady who lives next door. Carol. That's what Daryl thinks her name is. Nice lady who lives with her daughter. But there's something broken inside her that Daryl recognizes. He hasn't interacted with her much but he's seen enough to see himself reflected in her eyes.

Daryl is too drunk to show up at work and he knows he's going to be fired. Knows once again Beth will try to work more hours if she can or even try to get second job to make up for what money he is losing. It's not the first time he's been fired.

It's early afternoon when Daryl feels like something resembling a human again. He steps out of the shower after washing the stink of booze from his skin. He knows he needs to head into town to look for another job. He can't have Beth working two jobs. The least he can do after dragging her here is put some food on the table.

He's getting ready and shaving his face when he spots it. It looks like it had been hurriedly hidden and ended up only half concealed in the tiny garbage can. It don't matter though. Once he sees a small part of the white and pink box his heart starts racing and his breathing starts to hitch. He slowly pulls the pregnancy test box out of the waste basket. Inside the box is a test. It takes him more than ten minutes to work up the courage to look at.

When finally does look at it though his reaction is so unexpected that he drops the test into the sink and slowly slides to sit on the ground.

Negative. It's negative.

He expects to feel relief. For the churning in his stomach to slowly dissipate. For his breath to come easier. What he doesn't expect is the way his stomach drops. He doesn't expect the lump in throat or the burning in his eyes. He's disappointed and he can't understand why. For fucks sake he ain't in no place to have a baby. Not when he can still feel the proof of his bad decisions throbbing on his face. Not when despite the shower he can still smell the alcohol.

But he can't deny it. He's disappointed. He wishes Beth was having his baby. He knows it isn't right to feel this way. He's been a fuck up and an idiot ever since he got out here. Ever since he let Merle start running his life again. He hates himself for it. Hates that he ain't living up to the promises he made Beth.

Daryl runs a hand through his too long hair. It's time to grow the fuck up. Time to be the man Beth fell in love with. Time to tell Merle to fuck off for once in his life. Take control of himself and his life. If ever wants a chance of having that family with Beth- the one he never knew he even wanted- he has to do better. Be better.

And though she didn't even know it, that day Beth Greene saved Daryl Dixon's soul from the devil like the angel she was.

It took awhile but Daryl finally got his shit together. He got sober again. He found a good paying job as a mechanic in a good shop. Thankful the man who owned it was willing to take a chance on him. He was finally making enough money for Beth to quit her job as a waitress and take some classes at the community college. It's amazing how much more money they had when he wasn't funding Merle's idiocy.

Merle had been a sore subject for a long time. He didn't believe him when Daryl told him he was done. Didn't think Daryl meant it when he said he wouldn't be drinking and partying no more. He sure as hell threw a fit when Daryl stopped giving him money. All it took for Merle to take Daryl seriously was one punch to face when Merle suggest that Beth was the cause. When he told Daryl that letting some pussy get in between brothers was a bitch move.

Daryl hadn't known it at the time, but when Merle finally got it through his head that he was going to lose his brother if he didn't get his shit together he started coming to Beth. And of course his girl would never turn away from helping his brother. She knew how important Merle was to him.

So here he were five years later with a ring on his finger and his baby growing in Beth's belly. He was finally getting that family he wanted. Living the dream that saved him from the destructive path he was on. And when he finally held his little girl in his arms he knew he was no longer Beth's damnation and that the girls in his life were his salvation.