The Heart Won't Lie
Chapter 2
A week had passed by before Daryl returned home.
He would've been happy to stay with Beth and he knew the Greene's wouldn't mind but he needed to go home. He needed to check on his mama and to see if Merle was out of jail yet.
He snuck into the house after dark. His dad was passed out on the couch, beer in hand, and his mother was passed out on the bed with a lit cigarette.
Daryl shook his head and removed the cigarette from her lips.
Looking around it was clear he wasn't missed.
Returning to the Greene's house, he found Beth was still up waiting for him.
She took his hand and led him quietly out of the house and out to the tree where he proposed.
Daryl sat down and pulled Beth down onto his lap.
"Merle wasn't home?" Beth asked, breaking the silence they had settled into.
"No."
Beth laid her head on Daryl's shoulder, "You know you'll always have me, right?"
"Yeah an' I'm gon' try my best ta give ya ever'thin' you want," he leaned his head back against the tree and looked up at the stars, "I promise you, Beth, when we turn eighteen, we'll get married an' then we're leavin' here. We'll go anywhere ya want an' I'll make sure you get anythin' you want."
"Anywhere? Anythin'?"
"Yeah, anywhere an' anythin', " he looked down into her eyes.
"I don't care where we go, Daryl, but there's only two things I want from you."
"What's that?"
"You and a bunch of babies," she smiled.
"Well, I can give ya tha first one but I don't know 'bout tha other."
"Why not? You said you'd give me anythin' I want and that's what I want."
Daryl laughed, "Aight, if that's really what ya want."
They spent the rest of the night by the tree, under the stars.
Just before sunrise, Daryl woke up and eased Beth down onto the ground next to him.
He took out the pocket knife Beth had given him for their birthday and carved their names into the tree.
Beth woke up before he finished. She giggled at the way his face blushed when she saw their names.
She kissed him as they sat back down and watched the sunrise.
They snuck back into the house before anyone noticed they weren't in their rooms, at least that's what they thought.
Beth hurried to her room but stopped when she saw Maggie standin' in the doorway of her own room laughing.
"Busted!" Maggie said between laughs.
"Shut up," Beth mumbled and stepped inside her room.
Maggie followed and threw herself onto Beth's bed.
"So...?" Maggie drew out.
"So, what?"
"You're usin' protection, right?"
"Maggie!" Beth almost shouted.
"It's a legitimate question, Bethie. I don't want my teenage sister to make me an aunt."
"We're not doin' anythin', Maggie, so there's no need for protection."
"Yeah, right," Maggie smirked.
"We're not. We're waitin'."
"Waitin'? What're y'all waitin' for?"
Beth held up her hand, "This."
Maggie jumped up, "That's what you've been hidin'!"
Beth smiled brightly and both girls squealed.
"We're gonna wait 'til we turn eighteen to get married."
Maggie let out another small squeal and practically drug Beth down the stairs with her.
The girls stopped just outside the kitchen door when they heard their fathers voice on the other side.
"You know we love havin' you here," Hershel spoke, "but you know the rules, son and yet you still break them."
"Yes sir," Daryl said quietly.
"Hershel," Annette's tone was threatening.
"All I'm sayin' is, our rules should be respected. There's a reason we have them.."
"I know what you're sayin'," Annette interrupted him, "but this isn't entirely Daryl's fault. Beth snuck out with him."
Neither of the girls knew exactly what was happening but when Maggie looked at Beth, Beth swung the door open and walked right up to Daryl.
She took his hand and entwined their fingers.
"Daddy, I love him and he loves me."
Hershel stared at them blankly while Annette just smiled knowingly.
"I asked Beth ta marry me, sir," Daryl sounded confident but there was a shyness to his words, as if he were asking for Hershel's permission to marry his daughter.
"I think it's wonderful," Annette said, rushing to give both Beth and Daryl a hug.
"Bethie, Maggie and Shawn are not the only ones our rules apply to. They are for you to follow as well and anytime Daryl is here, he must follow them too. You both snuck out of the house last night and we know you have been sneaking downstairs.."
"But daddy, we're not doin' anythin'."
Hershel shook his head, "it doesn't matter if you were doing anythin' or not, Elizabeth."
He sighed and motioned for Beth and Daryl to take a seat. "So tell me, you want to get married?"
"Yes sir," Daryl said, "but not right now. We wanna wait 'til we're eighteen."
"That's good," Hershel said, "after you both graduate high school, what about college? Do either of you have a plan?"
Beth and Daryl laid out their plan for her mom and dad. After a few disagreements and Hershel insisting his daughter attend college, they came to an agreement that she would, after they were married of course and Daryl would follow her wherever she chose to go.
"Now that that's out of the way, both of you have to clean the stalls as punishment."
"Yes sir," they both said before running out of the house.
The stalls were cleaned before dinner was ready and they were called in.
Two days later, Daryl called his house but when no one answered he went back.
Daryl was afraid he'd run into his dad in a bad mood but when he opened the door, he didn't see him. He was thankful for that until he was knocked to the floor.
"Where tha hell ya been, boy?"
"Don't touch him," Daryl's mother called out.
He felt a kick to his gut, "were ya with that lil' whore?"
Daryl didn't know what happened next but he felt the burning pain in his back and he could hear his mother cry as his father beat her.
Daryl wanted to stop him but he couldn't make himself move. Not even when he heard Merle's truck pull into the driveway and heard his footsteps on the porch.
Merle was able to get their mother and some of their things into his truck before he pulled Daryl off the floor.
"C'mon. We'll get ya cleaned up soon as we get away from 'ere," Merle told him.
Daryl sat in the passenger seat, wanting to tell Merle to let him get out but unable to find the words.
Beth bounced into Daryl's room the next morning to wake him up for breakfast but all she found was an empty room.
She went back to the kitchen to ask if anyone had seen Daryl but nobody had.
"He called his mama yesterday," Shawn mumbled around his food, "maybe he went to check on her."
Seeing the worried look on his daughters face, Hershel spoke up. "I'll drive you over there after breakfast and we'll make sure he's alright."
Beth cleaned her plate immediately and ran out to the truck.
When they pulled up at the Dixon's home, Beth was the first one out of the truck.
Hershel followed, shotgun in hand.
Daryl's father had the front door open before they even reached the porch.
He was sporting a black eye, cuts and dry blood on his face, making Hershel pull Beth behind him when he took notice.
"Where's Daryl?" Hershel asked.
"He ain't 'ere. He left with that other fuck up an' their whore of a mama," he scanned his eyes over Hershel and his gun, "Ya threatenin' me on my own land, Greene?"
"No," Hershel looked at the gun, "it's just a precaution."
They two shared a few more words before Beth decided to speak.
"Do you know where Daryl may have gone?"
"Hell naw. They took a bunch of their shit though so I know they ain't comin' back anytime soon."
Beth jumped out of the truck and ran inside, straight to her bedroom after they returned home.
She cried herself to sleep that night and every night for the rest of the summer.
She had hoped that maybe Daryl would be in school when it started back up but month after month, that hope began to die out.
Daryl was gone.
A/N: Thank y'all so much for reading and all the wonderful reviews, favorites and follows. And again, a huge thank you to kevkye for her idea.
This is in no way the last chapter. There's more to come. :)