Merry Christmas, no I havent' gone completely mad. Here you go this is a way of me thanking you all for the follows, favourites and reviews, please keep them coming as I find them wonderful. xx

Christmas morning Beth jumped out of bed and ran down the stairs, as dizzy as a little girl, she was really excited by the fact her entire family would be in the together at least for one day, Maggie had come home with her latest fling a guy called Glenn, her father had frowned a little but not willing to upset the whole thing for her mother he had kept himself silent. Shaun had been given leave to come home for a few days and her mother had been so excited she hadn't seen him in over three months.

Beth bounced into the kitchen, knowing full well her mother would be in there beginning to prepare for the feast they would have at lunchtime, as she walked towards her mother to give her a good morning kiss, she pulled her hair into a pony tail.

"Morning Ma" she smiled and kissed the older woman on the paper thin skin of her cheek.

"Good Morning Sweetheart" she smiled back "Daddy is on his way down, Maggie and Glenn went out to feed the chickens and collect eggs, Shaun was up at the crack of dawn so he could give your father some time off." Beth opened the fridge inspecting the contents till she decided on some fresh pressed orange juice, she closed the door and pulled a glass down to get herself some, then replaced the jug in its rightful position. She lent against the counter watching her mother in full force around the kitchen, it always made her smile, when her mother fussed.

"So do we get open presents early?" Beth squealed with excitement as Maggie and Glenn came in their basket overflowing with eggs.

"As soon as Daddy is down and has had his cup of coffee" her mother grinned at them all, they made their way into the living room, waiting the head of the household to make an appearance.

"I swear if he doesn't hurry up I am going to bounce on that bed till he wakes up" Maggie moaned, they all looked up as their father walked into the living room at that moment.

"You had done that young lady and I would have made you wait till everyone had opened their presents first." he chuckled, Shaun came bursting into the living room at that moment, his hair sticking up at odd angels, where the wind had caught it, he handed Beth a package.

"Found it at the front gate" he shrugged, Beth took the small package, it had been wrapped in brown paper and just said her name on the front in an all to familiar hand, she looked at her father and saw the frown in place.

"Come on Beth, open it up" Maggie coaxed her, Beth tore the paper off of the small box and slowly lifted the lid, inside was a simple silver bracelet, on it was a small but perfectly hand carved horse and a motorbike which sat beside it, everyone in the room stared at her in silence.

"So he's feeling better then?" her father pouted.

"Guess so" Beth said fingering the bracelet.

"Must have taken hours to do them" Shaun stated looking down at Beth.

"I should imagine so" she wasn't saying a lot, she felt uncomfortable in front of everyone, their judgemental eyes boring into her, then her mother said something that shocked the whole room.

"Oh Hershel, do you remember when you used to leave me gifts on the farm, Daddy would go mad when he found them, saying you were to old for me, you had been married had children, I had Shaun of course, my marriage had failed that's why I was at home again, but you didn't give up on me, you kept pursuing and eventually you won" she looked down at Beth with tender eyes "It is beautiful darling let me help you put it on" Hershel went to say something but his wife's stare hushed him.

"Now I do believe one of those rather large presents under that tree is for me and Hershel Greene if it is not the pan set I clearly requested you are in so much trouble." the whole room giggled at her and Beth began to breath again, all she wanted to do now was slip out of the room and ring Daryl to thank him for her wonderful gift. It knorred at her stomach as she waited patiently for the present opening to be over, everyone thanked everyone else for their gifts and started to move off, her mother and Maggie making their way to the kitchen Glenn hesitating then following like a lost sheep.

Shaun mumbled about finishing up in the stables, but Beth's was caught by her fathers thoughtful stare, she froze in his stare, her nerves reaching the surface she began to bite at her bottom lip.

"I think it was very nice of you to help him that day, but Beth he won't be able to provide for you, look at his back ground, you will be going off to college he will be stuck here, you only have a few months left and then you will be leaving here, is it fair on him to take this thing any further than a friendship, your friends, your family everything you have built around you could come crashing down!" he looked her with his pale watery eyes.

"Worked for you and Ma" Beth whispered.

"Yes my darling but our lives were already set out before us, we had already made our mistakes, I don't want to see him hurt you, everyone knows what the Dixon family are like" he sighed.

"He's different Daddy" she tried

"He is one of them" stated bluntly.

"Daddy, I love you but please stop this, can't you just be happy for me?" she asked

"What about Jimmy, Zach?" he asked in exasperation.

"What about them? I don't want them, I don't want to be someone's token girlfriend" she stood staring at her father, he stared back at her for a long time then said.

"Go and phone him, thank him for your gift and then you may ask him around for lunch today if he would like to come and has no further plans. This is a one time deal Beth, if he can not control himself or his language in my house I will ask him to leave and never come back" Beth looked at her father in disbelief.

"Thank you Daddy" she mumbled, running upstairs into her room she grabbed her phone off of the table and dialled Daryl's number.

Half an hour later Daryl was sat on the porch with Beth, she handed him a small package from beside her, he looked down at it then back at her. He pulled the paper from the package, with his usual eloquence, then sat staring at the small object in his hands, it was a leather wrist band, pressed into the surface was a small deer, a squirrel and a motorbike, immediately he pulled it around his wrist.

"Thank you" he sighed the words so softly for a moment she didn't realise he had actually said anything.

"Your welcome" she gave a tight smile, he didn't seem very happy about his gift. "Are you ok? Is your leg still hurting?" she asked with concern.

"Na legs ok, just never had a present at Christmas before" he explained.

"Oh" Beth wasn't sure what else to say to him, luckily Maggie came rushing out of the door in excitement.

"Food's ready" then she bounded away again.

"Ready?" she asked him, he nodded standing up, Beth stood next to him, then taking a deep breath she took his hand in hers, she felt him stiffen at the touch then his fingers entwined with hers, this big strong man was as nervous as a kitten when they first leave the house.

"It will be ok" she smiled, still looking ahead, she watched him physically swallow, then she pulled him through the door so he couldn't chicken out at the last minute.

Dinner had only been uncomfortable for a while, but when Hershel had turned specificly to Daryl and raised an eyebrow at the young man's face, he asked him if he was ok, Daryl had shifted on his seat then looked up at Hershel and said with honesty.

"People actually do this s... Stuff? I mean the whole Charles Dickens thing?" everyone at the table giggled, as Hershel looked down at the table then back up.

"Yes son they do" he clapped him on the shoulder firmly "Now it's not made out of plastic so dig in and enjoy, my wife is the best cook I know" by the end of the meal everyone was pleasantly stuffed to the brim, her father had taken up residence in the living room with a can of beer and the television remote, Shaun sat beside him sipping at one of his own, deep in conversation. Maggie and Glenn had disappeared quickly so they didn't have to help with the washing up, Beth had been surprised when Daryl stood up still limping a small amount and started to fill the sink with warm water, her mother watching his every move he began to wash up.

"Daryl you don't need to do that" her mother said, he turned slightly to look at the older woman.

"My Ma, she weren't around to teach us a lot, Mrs Greene, but one thing she did was that when you go to another's house for you grub, you best remember to show the woman who cooked it enough respect to clean up after ward." he turned back to his task as Beth picked up the cloth and began to wipe up the dishes.

"You go and sit down Mrs Greene, Beth and I have this" he said to her, she simply picked herself up off the chair and went into the living room, they stood side by side listening to the sounds of the house hold, when Beth heard her father behind them.

"Going to put me to shame you are lad" he mumbled as he went to the fridge to collect another beer, he held one out to Daryl, who promptly shook his no. "Don't drink?" he asked him.

"I have a beer every now and again Sir but with the tablets I am on it would make it dangerous to drive back, I ain't me brother" he shrugged and finished the last plate in the sink, Hershel stood for another few seconds staring at the boys back, then walked into the living room.

They wiped the sides down, then hung to cloth on the front of the cooked, Beth turned to Daryl.

"Hey wanna go visit the horses?" she asked looking up at him through her long eyelashes.

"That sounds good to me" he shrugged placing his leather cuff back around his wrist, Beth struggled to do the clasp on her bracelet so Daryl reached out to help her, as he done the clasp up their eyes met each other, their wrists laying together side by side on the table showing their gifts to each other.

"Oh God kiss him already" Shaun said, Beth sighed as the magic was broken, she stood and walked towards the door punching Shaun hard in the arm.