If tomorrow never came

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead, or anything at all of value, please don't sue. I am poor.

Chapter 3: Have a problem? Have a Drink.

It was nearing three o'clock in the afternoon by the time Daryl got home from making sure Hayden's car got to the garage. He threw both his keys and hers into a dish by his door. The floors creaked as he stepped into the small living room of his trailer. He ran a tired hand through his hair as he let out a yawn. He walked through the small place he called home and entered the bathroom. He looked into the mirror above the sink and rubbed his cheek where the younger girl had kissed him.

Fucking women. He moved to his shower and turned on the water waiting for it to get hot. Slowly he undressed and stepped into the scalding water, letting it wash all his tension away. When he was done showering he didn't bother drying off or getting dressed he just let himself fall into bed. He was exhausted. Thinking back to before he helped Hayden he had just gotten off working a fourteen hour graveyard shift. His eyes shifted to his clock. He had a few hours to sleep before needing to go back to work. His head had barely hit the pillow before he passed out.

What the hell was that noise? Daryl could hear something ringing. He smacked his alarm clock groggily. It didn't stop. What the hell was it? His hand moved over to where his phone was and he fumbled trying to pick it up. He put the phone up to his ear and still half asleep let out a hoarse.

"Hello?"

"Hi, is this Daryl?" A female voice asked from the other side.

"Uhh, yeah." He adjusted himself into a sitting position trying to remember where he knew the voice from.

"Oh, shit did I wake you? I'm so sorry. I just wanted to tell you something about the car." She sounded genuinely apologetic.

"Darlin'?" The realization of who he was speaking to dawned on him. He looked around the room fully awake now. His free hand started scratching his bare torso.

"Depends on how many girl's you refer to as Darlin'." He could see the smile dancing on her lips through the phone.

"Jist yew."

"Well now I just feel special." Daryl adjusted the phone in his hand as he waited for her to continue. "Anyway, about the car... if you could please, please, please not open the glove box or the trunk I would be eternally grateful." She sounded a bit nervous now. "Please..."

"Why? Whut's in'it?" He asked.

"Can't tell you. But you gotta promise. Please."

"Alrigh'"

"Alright... what?"

"I promise." He rolled his eyes as the words escaped his lips.

"Thank you Daryl, you're the best." Hayden sounded relieved. "I'm sorry that I woke you up..."

"S'fine." He looked at his clock. "Needed tuh get up fer work anyhow." He had the phone resting between his neck and shoulder as he stood up. He looked around the floor before picking up a pair of jeans and putting them on.

"Okay, sorry for bothering you. Talk to you later."

"Bye." He dropped the cordless phone to his hand and hung it up. Normally Daryl Dixon was not a curious man, but as he mulled over the conversation he just had, he couldn't help but wonder exactly what it was she didn't want him to see. He pushed it back in his mind as he rifled through more clothes for a shirt and some socks.

He grabbed his keys before heading out the door and getting into his truck. Stifling a yawn he turned on the radio as he backed out of his driveway, and drove out of the trailer park. He didn't know why but he had this weird feeling itching at the pit of his stomach. He wasn't sure what it was but chalked it up to hunger. Christ, he hadn't eaten all day. As he drove his elbow was leaning against the door and he chewed on his thumb. What was he getting himself into? Offering to work on that car? He was already worn out from all the different jobs he did around town, and he just piles another one on himself.

"Daryl, you're the best." Her words echoed through his thoughts. Never had anyone said those words as earnestly as she had. He cussed himself out mentally. Was this what he had succumbed too? A pretty girl bat's her eyelashes at him, pays him a compliment, and then he just drops everything? When did he become such a pussy?

But the girl hadn't asked for anything. It was he who offered, he whom wanted to work on the car in the first place. Fuck. He needed a drink. Maybe he would skip out of work early and head to the bar. He sneered. Oh yeah. Where did he remember that from? Guess the apple doesn't fall to far from the tree. Have a problem? Have a drink. That was dad's motto. No wonder both him and Merle ended up, so fucked in the head. Daryl was agitated now. All this thinking had put him in a right sour mood. That's why he tried not to do it all that often. It just led to trouble.

The last time he really thought about something he found out that his girl had been cheating on him. Story of his life. Try and let someone in and start thinking, hey, maybe this time it'll be different. But it never is. He gripped his steering wheel so hard his knuckles were white. 'Fuckin' women.' He rolled his eyes.

Hayden had just hung up her phone. Her mother, who hadn't stopped smiling all day, walked into the room and sat across from her at the desk. The older woman opened her mouth to say something but for one reason or another decided against it. Hayden stretched, then stood up. It had only been hours since her car broke down, and being stuck in one place was beginning to drive her crazy. She never realized before just how much being able to take a drive whenever she wanted had meant to her. Sure, she could take a walk but it wasn't the same.

"I need to shoot something." She looked at her little brother, "Or beat someone up."

"I can take you." The seriousness in her brother's voice had her grinning like crazy.

"Oh you think? Then Come at me bro!" The words had barely escaped her lips when her brother jumped from the bed and lunged at her. She dodged him easily and gave him a quick tap on the cheek. "That the best you got?" She mocked him in a playful manner. They continued rough housing for a few more minutes while they're mother just watched. It ended with Hayden on top of the child tickling his sides. "Say uncle and I'll stop." Dylan could barely breath he was laughing so hard but he was determined not to give in. "Come on, just say it." She continued the tickling torture.

"Uncle! Uncle!" He finally cried out through fits of giggles. "You win!"

"That's right! The master is victorious! Bow down to your superior!" She danced around the room in a victory lap. Feeling better then she had a few moments ago.

"I almost had you for a second! I was close to winning."

"Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades."

"What? Nuh uh, Mom tell her I almost had her!" The young boy cried out.

"I'm staying out of this one." The pale skinned woman stuck her hands out in front of her. "I don't need her trying to kick my ass next for choosing sides."

"Damn straight!" Hayden laughed before ruffling her brothers hair. "Maybe you'll win next time."

"Damn straight!" Dylan repeated in the same manner, before looking at the disapproving look that Helena gave him. "I mean darn... darn straight."

Hayden flopped herself down on the bed that she and Dylan would be sharing and let out a sigh. She had no idea how long they would be stuck here. The parts for her car would have to specially ordered and who knew how long they would take to come in. As much as she didn't want to, she knew they would have to be back home by the fall. Dylan still had school, her mother would have to go back to work, and she... she didn't know what she was going to do.

She had finished University, and yeah she could go back to the tattoo parlour for work. Jack would always let her go back, but she didn't know what she wanted to do with her life. Five years of schooling and she still didn't know. She had thought she wanted to be a writer, so she majored in English. Then she thought about archaeology, and how she wanted to travel so she added another major for History. Then she was curious about what made the human brain tick, and what caused people to do what they do so she minored in psychology. She had all these degrees under her belt before the age of twenty two and she still just didn't know. She hated her brain sometimes. It was nauseating being smarter then other people, and it made growing up really hard. She had graduated high school at fifteen, two years younger than everyone in her classes.

That was one of the reasons she got mixed up with such a bad crowd when she was younger. Everyone was always older then her, and she just wanted to make friends. When she was eleven she started doing all the things her older friends did. They tried smoking? She tried smoking. They started drinking? She followed suit. She had been trying her damnedest to be normal. Everyone always thought she was a freak at first. Too smart for her own good everyone would tell her. Her home life didn't help matter any either. She turned her head to look at her mother. She couldn't blame her. It wasn't her fault that she had terrible taste in men.

Hayden let out a small sigh as she tried to gather her thoughts. Hiroshi, her father, was a total dead beat drunk. He was always beating one of them around. She could remember lying awake at night just listening to them yell. When he finally just up and left when she was six, she remembered being relieved. But the hurt was still there, and the anger. She had so much anger, that slowly built up inside her like a ticking time bomb. Then there was Greg, Dylan's dad. He never laid a hand on her or her mother, he just used his words. Made her feel like garbage, like she was worth nothing.

When she got caught with the drugs and the alcohol at such a young age he had a field day. She hated going home so much that she often stayed with her grandmother, but that wasn't good enough for Greg. Oh no. He wanted her broken. That's where all the boot camps, and the cadets, and being forced into military training came in. He had her mother so wrapped around his finger and convinced that she was a bad mother, that it was easy for him to get Hayden out of the way. Out of his family, that consisted of her mother and her baby brother.

'Being smart is a curse.' Hayden thought to herself. By sixteen she was living out on her own. She hated Greg, but had to thank him, because of him she was trained in so many different ways to kick his ass, if he so much as ever looked at her mother again. She smirked now. Bet he never thought that her mother would kick him out, and gain full custody of his child, leaving him with out visitation rights. Served him right! Things were finally starting to look up. Minus the car problems, but she would take what she could. Maybe she would just take a few years off, and act like a twenty two year old. Then she looked at her mother and brother. Fat chance of that happening, she was too grown up for her own good, and her youth was lost. But Dylan's was just starting and she figured she would just have to make his twice as good to make up for everything.

"Why do you keep staring at me?" Dylan finally spoke looking a bit agitated.

"You've got a booger hanging from your nose." Hayden cracked a smile.

"Ewwww, no I don't!" He wiped at his nose furiously. Hayden sat up and looked at the clock. It wasn't late but she was tired. She got all her things ready for a shower and walked into the bathroom. She stayed under the water for what felt like forever before getting out and drying herself off. She put on some pj's and brushed her teeth. When she left the bathroom Dylan was sprawled across the bed out like a light.

"Hayden." Her mother called from her seat on the motel room's couch. "Come here for a second." she patted the cushion next to her.

"Yeah?" She sat down beside her mom resting her head on her shoulder. "What's up?"

"I think that, Daryl is a very nice young man." Hayden lifted her head and cocked it to the side with a bemused look on her face.

"Okay..."

"A bit old for you... but-"

"What?" Hayden interrupted her mother shocked. Christ, she had barely just met the man. Sure she found him to be very attractive, and nice, but that was all. She wasn't thinking of him in any other way except as a possible friend. "I don't kn-"

"Mother's intuition. I saw the way you were looking at him earlier. Even if you didn't notice it." The way she looked at him? What the hell was that supposed to mean?

"I really have no idea what you're talking about."

"To be young again." her mother let out a sigh. "I"m just saying that even though, he's a bit older then you, I approve of whatever is to come."

"Uh, okay... thanks I guess... but you're crazy." She looked at her mom, who only grinned in response. Is that why she had been smiling all day? She wanted to see some strange Summer romance bloom? What an odd mother. Hayden rolled her eyes before saying goodnight to her mom and going to bed.

Why did she always have to say the weirdest things. Obviously Daryl was too old for her. He had to be at least thirty. There was no way she could picture anything happening between her and himself. Hell she didn't even know if he had a girlfriend. A girlfriend? She wondered what type of woman Daryl liked. If he preferred tall or short? Blonde or brunette? Tattooed to the gills, or none at all. These thoughts raced through her mind and the more she thought about it the more she was curious. What type of woman did Daryl Dixon find attractive? Did she at least make the cut?

She did not think of Daryl Dixon in a sexual manner. Until now. She cursed her mother silently for putting such thoughts in her head.