Oh my god, this chapter is like 1k words longer than ANY chapter I've ever written! I hope it lives up to your expectations.

Daryl was nervous as hell, to say the least, as he arrived at Beth's house. He pulled into the driveway, shutting off his bike, as he took in his surroundings. The house was a modest size, painted yellow with white shutters. The flower beds were overgrown and the lawn needed to be cut, but he could definitely see that this place suited Beth's true nature.

Shutting off his bike, he was startled by a little boy running out to greet him. Mentally recalling the picture he had seen on Beth's phone, Daryl recognized the child as Jackson. He had blonde hair and blue eyes, and he was small, wearing jeans and a black hoodie, running around barefoot. "Mommy!" The kid helplessly looked back at the front door and then back at Daryl. "He's got a motorcycle! You didn't tell me that! You forgot to tell me that!" A small snort escaped Daryl's mouth.

Beth came out on the small porch rolling her eyes with a smile on her face. She seemed to glow, backlit by the setting sun "I'm sorry. I guess it just slipped my mind." She looked over at Daryl and gave a small wave. "Hi Daryl! You're early."

Daryl shrugged, putting a hand up to shield his eyes from the bright light. "Sorry, ain't really got nothin' better to do."

"Nonsense, it's not a problem." She began down the couple steps leading down to the driveway. She walked up to him and reached out, grabbing Jackson by his jacket and pulled him back towards her. "Don't touch." The kid scowled at being caught trying to poke at Daryl's bike, something that Daryl didn't even notice the kid was doing. Seemed he could get quite easily distracted around a certain woman. "Jackson, this is Daryl. Daryl, this is my son, Jackson."

Daryl didn't know quite what to do. How do you greet a child, shake their hand...pat them on the back? He opted for no contact, nodding at the kid instead. "Nice to meet you."

Jackson was apparently not one for pleasantries, looked up at Daryl briefly and back down at the bike. "Can I sit on it?"

Daryl didn't want the kid to knock it over while trying to climb on, so he put his hands underneath Jackson's armpits and lifted him on. The child's eyes lit up and he immediately gripped the handlebars, having to lean all the way forward to reach. "Wow!" He then proceeded to make fake engine sounds, as if he was really driving the thing.

"You probably just made his entire night." Beth leaned over, whispering in his ear. The soft breath hitting his neck gave him chills up his spine. He turned to look at her, finding himself inches from her face. Instinctively, he took a small step back, then he regretted it, the feeling of not being near her overwhelmed him in the weirdest way.

"Ain't nothin'. Just wanted to sit on the thing."

"Still...it's a big deal to him." Beth turned towards Jackson. "You wanna stay out here all night or you wanna come inside with me and Daryl?"

Jackson sighed deeply, debating his options, and even Daryl thought it was slightly funny at how dramatic the kid seemed to be. "I guess I should come inside." Daryl helped him off the bike, knowing the last thing this night needed was a trip to the emergency room for a kid with a cracked skull.

As they walked in the house, Jackson kept looking back at the bike longingly. Daryl chuckled at him under his breath. "It ain't goin' anywhere." This seemed to cheer the boy up a little bit, as he nodded and walked a little bit faster.

Beth held the door open for them, and as Daryl stepped inside he was instantly hit with the feeling of home. Whatever Beth had been preparing for dinner must be pretty good because as the scent wafted up his nostrils, his mouth began to water. The house had an open floor plan, which made it easy for him to have a view of the kitchen, living room, and dining room. All of the spaces were small but seemed inviting.

Jackson grabbed Daryl by the hand like it was the most natural thing in the world and began to pull him further into the house, carefully avoiding the pile of incredibly small shoes and a backpack in the walkway. "It's my job to give you the tour."

Daryl let the kid tug him into the kitchen which was pretty nice, something you wouldn't expect looking at the outside of the house. There were white cabinets with beige stone countertops and a bunch of fancy appliances. Child artwork graced the refrigerator, hung up by alphabet magnets. There was a vase of fresh flowers on the countertop and Daryl could spot misplaced cheerios on the floor. "This is the kitchen. It's where mom creates food. She's pretty good at that...except when she tries to put yuck things like carrots on my plate" He heard Beth laugh at Jackson's words.

"Eh...carrots ain't so bad. Good for your eyes. You don't want to go blind, do you?" He figured he could at least have some fun while being productive, trying to scare the child into eating his vegetables.

The child rapidly shook his head. "I have to be able to see! I can't go blind!"

Daryl shrugged. "Then I guess you better eat ya carrots then, huh?"

Jackson nodded, eyes wide. "I will, I promise!"

Beth made her way into the kitchen. "Good, now continue on with the grand tour. I need to get dinner finished." She then began to shoo them with her hands.

Jackson grabbed Daryl's hand again, pulling him along once more. "We better git. She means business." They walked into the dining room, hardly stopping to pause. "This is where we eat. Sometimes we do art in here too. I painted the table once by accident...mommy wasn't too mad though." Glancing at the black table, Daryl could indeed spot the painted red mark. It was faded and chipped, but it was there. The next room up was the living room, which was so bright, Daryl felt the need to squint. The last bit of sun on the horizon peaked in through the curtains, making the yellow walls seem abnormally vivid. There were sheer curtains hung up, framed on either side by yellow and white ones. There was a couch and a couple of armchairs and a decent sized flat screen hung up above the fireplace. The decor was mismatched but fit well together, and Daryl thought that the room could have come straight out of a magazine. "This is the living room. We do a lot of living in here, especially when mom lets me watch my dvds." Jackson pointed towards a stack of board games on the built in shelving unit. "We play games too, we have lots of them. I'm good at winning at them." Daryl had a sneaking suspicion that Beth planned it to be that way.

Still, he nodded along enthusiastically, leading the kid to believe this was the most fascinating house tour he had ever been on. "Yeah? Maybe we could play sometime. If ya promise not to beat me too bad."

"I just can't promise anything like that. Mom always says that we don't make promises we can't keep."

It was clear to Daryl that Jackson was very attached to Beth and he could see why. Like she had told him before, everything she did, she did it for Jackson. Meeting the kid had actually proven that beyond a shadow of a doubt in Daryl's mind. They obviously had a good relationship and her child thought the world of her. "Fair enough."

The kid continued on, with Daryl trailing behind, slowly taking in the pictures on the walls in the hallway. There were many pictures of Jackson, some of them including Beth, in all different phases of their lives, like Jackson in a soccer uniform, and the mother and son together at what he could only assume was Jackson's birthday party. One particular framed photo stood out to Daryl. It was a picture of Beth, much younger, holding an infant in her arms that could only be a few months old. It seemed to be Christmas time judging by the background decorations and the little reindeer outfit that the baby was wearing. Easily putting the clues together, Daryl came to the conclusion that this was sixteen year old Beth with baby Jackson on his first Christmas. "That was at my grandpa Dale's and grandma Irma's house. Mommy says it was my first visit from Santa. I gotta be on my best behavior if I want him to keep coming back. I haven't made it to the naughty list yet." The kid sounded pretty proud of his accomplishment, but of course Daryl wouldn't know what that was like because Santa had never once visited him for Christmas.

Jackson stood in a doorway and Daryl peaked his head inside the room, seeing it was a small bathroom. Bath toys littered the tub and there was a colorful fish shower curtain hung up slightly uneven. "This is where we go potty and get clean." Daryl snorted at the comment, even though it was a basic way of explaining the use of the bathroom, it still sounded a little humorous.

Jackson brushed past Daryl, fully expecting him to follow, which he did. The next room up was Jackson's room. The kid happily threw his arms up in the air, clearly enjoying showing off the space to Daryl. "And this is my room." The bottom part of the walls were a light blue, with a big green stripe above it, then white leading up to the ceiling. The furniture was a light colored wood with hues of brown and gray, and the bedding, neatly made, seemed to be themed, with a bunch of cartoon cars with eyes all over it. There was a little stuffed rabbit in the middle of the bed, like a king on his throne. In the corner of the room there was an opened toy box overflowing with various toys. Simply put, the room was clean and simple for a child, nothing overdone, and yet, Jackson thought it was the best room in the world. While he had what he wanted, it was easy to tell that he was not a spoiled brat like most kids Daryl had observed. "It's where I keep all my toys and sleep...well sometimes. I like sleeping with mom better cause then I don't get bad dreams."

"Yeah moms are good at keeping the monsters away, huh?" Daryl's mom was very good at it, up until she died. The monster being his dad, of course.

"Come on, I can show you her room. She's got a big bed!" Such a simple detail to a child, but to Daryl it introduced an assortment of images he quickly tried to push from his mind.

He followed Jackson out of his room and further down the hallway to the next room. The door was closed, and Daryl suddenly felt like it would be inappropriate to be seeing such a private space...but she did say that Jackson was responsible for the tour, and to him, this was part of it. The child reached for the knob and twisted, pushing the door open. Immediately Daryl was hit with her scent, very floral. The room was painted a boring beige, the furniture all a smooth rich dark wood, and a light plush carpet covered the floor. The linens on her bed were a mix of white and green. This room was simple as well, but Daryl could think of a couple other words to describe it as well, including soothing and relaxing. There were also little hints of Beth throughout that Daryl noticed. Something that looked like a trashy romance novel on the nightstand, a sweater thrown on top of the dresser, and a pair of Converse on the ground next to the door. "This is mommy's room but I'm not supposed to be in here without her so no going inside." The child was careful to stay right inside the doorway.

"Looks nice." Daryl thought the whole house looked nice. It was well-kept and tidy, but definitely still lived in. It gave him perspective on how a building wasn't just a house, but instead, a home.

The tour had apparently come to an end. "And that's it. Do you like it?"

"The house?" Daryl questioned.

Jackson nodded. "Yeah. I like it. I think mom likes it. What about you? Do you like it?"

Daryl was amused by the kid, who had earned a chuckle. "Yeah, I like it."

Apparently, Jackson had pretty good timing because they heard Beth from in the kitchen yelling at them to come to the table. Jackson shut the door to Beth's room behind him and went off down the hall, with the older man following behind. Back in the dining room, Daryl could see the meal that Beth had put together, all set out on the table. There were green beans, mashed potatoes, and breaded pork chops. Beth saw him eyeing the food and smacked a hand to her head. "Oh god, I didn't even ask if you liked pork. I know some people are weird about it..."

Daryl shook his head, smirk on his lips. "Ain't never complained about any type of meat. I ain't picky."

She breathed out a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank god. Well in that case, have a seat and dig in." Jackson didn't need to be told twice, pulling out a chair and climbing up onto it, sitting with his knees underneath him. Daryl took the seat across from him with Beth on the end, in between them. They each loaded up a plate and by the time his was full, Daryl was trying to remain at least somewhat polite, even though inside all he could think about was how he wanted to devour the entire serving in just a few seconds. Jackson had the same idea, and seemed to succumb to his urges. It was fascinating to Daryl, how such a small person could put away so much food. Beth just looked at Daryl's face and laughed, finding his reaction to her son's eating habits amusing. "Yep, that's my boy." Beth reached over and gave him a slight pat on his shoulder. "You may wanna slow down before ya choke though." Daryl took his first bite and had to fight off the moan that threatened to escape from his throat. It was the first real food he had eaten in a while and it was just as amazing as it had smelled. Beth looked at him, waiting for his approval. "How is it?"

"Really good." He left out the expletives he wanted to add, but decided to refrain because of the little ears listening.

Beth smiled at him and thanked him before taking her own bite. They all ate, content with feeling their bellies with food, for a few moments with no one speaking. Jackson must have thought it was too quiet though, because he spoke up. "Did you play soccer, Daryl? I play soccer."

Daryl cleared his throat, slightly thrown by the random question. "Nah, didn't ever play soccer. You like it?"

Jackson nodded, with as much enthusiasm as he could muster. "It's so much fun! You should come to one of my games sometime."

Beth coughed at this, sounding a little like she was slightly choking on her food. "Don't talk with your mouth full, baby." She wiped her mouth with her napkin. "And I think Daryl's pretty busy on weeknights, so I don't know if he'll have time to come."

The mother had been trying to give Daryl an out, in case he really didn't want to go to one of her son's soccer games. Daryl didn't take it though. "Nah, I bet I could try to make it to one of 'em. Just let me know when."

"Cool!" This obviously made Jackson very happy. Looking at Beth, Daryl could tell it made her happy as well. She smiled at him and mouthed a thank you.

The rest of the dinner was filled with more random questions from Jackson, who seemed to like having Daryl around. Of course he was like the new toy, something exciting and unknown for the time being. Beth sat back and listened, so for the most part, it was just a conversation between Daryl and a four year old. It didn't end up being that bad.

When dinner was finished, Daryl was stuffed. He couldn't remember the last time he had been so full, and the feeling was almost uncomfortable. Beth gathered all of the dishes and brought them into the kitchen, placing them in the sink. Daryl got up to join her, planning on helping her do the dishes when Beth stopped him. "No! You're a guest, just sit, relax."

Jackson gasped. "Or he could help me take a bath!" He said it as if it was the greatest idea in the world.

Beth shook her head. "No Jackson, Daryl doesn't need to do that. I just said he's a guest, so he should be able to relax, not play babysitter."

"Come on mom! It's not that hard." The kid turned to look at Daryl. "You just gotta sit there and make sure I don't drowned." The grammar mix up earned a smile from the older man.

"I don't mind, Beth. Ain't a problem."

"Are you sure?" She bit her lip, still undecided on whether or not she should force him down on the couch and kick his feet up with pillows.

"Yep. Come on, Jax." Jackson's face lit up, now having his new cool nickname to be excited about. Daryl, now familiar with the layout of the house, walked towards the bathroom. Jackson followed behind. The kid was pretty cool in his opinion, so maybe that's what gave Daryl the confidence that seemed to come out of nowhere. Or maybe it had something to do with wanting to help Beth out a little bit, give her a bit of a break. In reality, it was probably a mix of both.

Daryl turned the faucet, waiting for the hot water to come out, while Jackson stripped off his hoodie and shirt. He tested the water feeling it was pretty hot so he turned the cold water on, letting the temperature balance out. When he felt it was good, he asked for Jackson's opinion. "How's that?"

Jackson carefully leaned over, making sure he didn't stretch so far that he fell in the tub. He stuck his hand under and gave Daryl the okay sign with his hand. "Good."

Daryl smirked. "I ain't half bad at this."

"It's not that hard." Damn, kid can't even let him have one win. "Bubbles, please."

Daryl located what must be the bubble bath and added it to the running water while Jackson stripped off the rest of his clothes and climbed in the tub. Daryl turned off the water when it was half full and then put down the toilet lid and took a seat. Jackson dumped out the basket of toys into the water and Daryl's eyes widened, wondering how many things one kid could possibly need to just take a bath.

Apparently the toys were just a distraction, as Daryl just sat there and waited, making sure the kid didnt 'drowned' while he played with his toys, clearly not as talkative as he was at dinner. When the pads of his fingers started to shrivel, Jackson decided he had played enough and began scrubbing down his body. When he finished, he held out the bottle of soap in Daryl's direction. "You gotta do my hair."

Daryl raised his eyebrows. "Uh, you said I just had to sit here."

Jackson frowned. "But if I do it, I get soap in my eyes and it hurts."

Daryl sighed, just letting the kid hold the soap there for a second before he grabbed it from him. He poured some into his hands and leaned over, as Jackson closed his eyes, rubbing it all over the kids head, very carefully. When it was done, he sat back, not sure what to do next.

With his eyes still closed, Jackson informed him what to do next. "The cup! You gotta rinse it out." Daryl located said cup on the corner of the tub and filled it with water. Jackson leaned his head back as Daryl poured it over him. When the suds were all gone, Jackson asked Daryl to get his towel. It was green, and had a hood with big bug eyes on it, making it look like a frog. Jackson stood up and Daryl wrapped the towel around him. "Now you gotta dry me off!" His tone made it sound like it was the most obvious thing in the world, and that Daryl was stupid for not realizing it.

"Jeez, sorry. New at this." He put his hands on Jackson's sides and moved his hands, providing friction that probably turned the kid red rather than actually drying him.

Jackson immediately started laughing. "That tickles!" He shrieked. It made Daryl crack a smile but he didn't stop, continuing on with the tickle attack. Jackson was giggling so loud that Beth came in to see what all the fuss was about.

"What's going on in here?"

"He's tickling me!" Daryl flushed red, trying to pull the smile from his face.

"Okay okay, calm down. Time for bed. Go put on your pjs."

Jackson obeyed, making his way into his room with Beth following behind. Daryl got up, not exactly sure what to do. He decided to go after the both of them. Jackson was pulling on his pjs as Beth grabbed the rabbit off of his bed. "Okay, you can go to sleep in my room with a movie on but only if you promise you'll actually try to go to sleep."

The kid looked up at her with eyes so innocent that you could practically see the halo above his head. "I will, mommy."

Beth took him into her room and tucked him in, putting Toy Story in the dvd player for him. She shut off the lights and closed the door behind her, whispering something about being a pushover, and invited Daryl into the living room. Beth plopped down on the couch and patted the spot next to her, so Daryl took a seat as well.

"You're really good with him."

Daryl's cheeks turned red once again. "Yeah? Was pretty nervous about meeting him. Ain't really been around a kid before."

"Well, you did a really great job. He likes you, I can tell." Daryl didn't say anything, not really used to handling comments like that. "I think he likes it, having a grown up man in his life that's not in his sixties. Plus, you have a motorcycle." Beth emphasized the last word, joking about Jackson's excitement over the bike.

"He's a good kid. You've done a good job with him." It was honest. He had come to that conclusion within ten minutes of meeting the child.

"Thanks, Daryl." Beth smiled, obviously pleased with the compliment. Daryl was proud to have put the small smile on her face. "And I know that if you do end up showing up to one of his soccer games, he'll be thrilled. No pressure though." Beth nudged him.

"Just let me know when, I'll be there." It shocked Beth, the certainty in his voice, and it made her stomach flutter.

"There's a game on Tuesday at five. At the sports park on Elm."

"Can't wait." It might have been a tad of an overstatement, but Daryl found he was in a much better mood when around Beth, and Jackson was just a comical plus.

They continued to talk, mostly about Jackson, some about work, some about their lives and when the night was coming to an end, Beth walked Daryl to the door and thanked him once again for all the help. "Sorry you had to play nanny tonight. I'm a horrible host."

Daryl shook his head. "Nah, you fed me that home cooked meal. Much better than most."

"Well, I'm glad you liked it." She smiled at him and leaned up, placing a peck on his cheek. The spot where her lips made contact burned hot as she pulled away. "Goodnight, Daryl."

He cleared his throat. "Um yeah, night." He walked out to his bike, resisting the urge to touch his skin where he still felt her lips and saddled the bike. Beth closed the door as he backed out of the driveway and he saw the front porch light go off. The night had been a success but now Daryl didn't know what the hell to think. Thoughts of Beth made his heart race while simultaneously making him feel nauseous and he wasn't one hundred percent sure what that meant. He tried to figure it out the whole ride home. He thought she was the perfect woman. Beautiful, witty, good sense of humor, and she was a great mother. There was no way in hell she'd ever want anything to do with him, in terms of a relationship, which was a word that Daryl didn't even like to acknowledge. She could do much better than that.

Beth leaned back against the door after flicking the switch for the porch light, wanting to smack herself on the head for pulling that shit. Kissing someone on the cheek was something totally normal, a friendly gesture she often used, but with Daryl it was different. He seemed to light a fire inside of her belly and she had to constantly focus on trying to keep her cool around him. It made her feel like some hormone fueled sixteen again, and history showed how well that turned out. It didn't help that he was so good with Jackson, the easiest way to her heart. She banged her head back, trying to forcibly remove the thoughts of her silly schoolgirl crush, one that nothing would ever come from. Daryl was an attractive man, with a good head on his shoulders, so she couldn't imagine that he would want anything to do with some teen mom turned porn star. He could do much better than that.

So this chapter was a lot of Jackson and Daryl getting to know each other, not a WHOLE lot of Bethyl so I hope you guys don't mind.

Thanks again to all my wonderful amazing supporters. You guys keep me going!

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