When Daryl walked through the door he paused as he was hit with the smell of something sweet and delicious mixed with something clean and even though it may not seem like that great of a combination, it surprising was compared to the scent of cigarettes, stale beer and sweat he was used to walking in on. He glances around as he kicks off his work boots, noting how the once messy living room was now spotless, everything in its rightful place and he swears there is even a damn sparkle on the coffee table in the middle of the room.
Now Daryl wouldn't say he was a dirty person - in fact his room was damn near perfect in the cleanliness department - but with all the long hours he had been pulling at the shop lately, he would admit that he had let the apartment go a little, after all, it wasn't like Merle picked up the slacked and actually contributed around the place. He was lucky Merle could shower and get dressed himself most days to be honest.
Daryl shrugs off his vest and as he heads toward the kitchen - where the delicious smell was getting stronger, making his stomach rumble with hunger - he pauses once again when he hears a small musical giggle.
He starts to wonder if maybe he walked into the wrong place.
But then he hears Merle's booming laughter and he continues on, now overly curious as to what was happening in his kitchen.
"Ya done lost ya damn mind if ya think I'm gonna be somebodies bitch, Peach," he hears Merle mutter, amusement and annoyance mixed in his older brother's tone.
"You're absolutely hopeless, ya know that?" he hears a teasing voice say next and he swallows hard as he suddenly recognizes the soft voice.
As he walks in to the kitchen he is met with the odd sight of Beth and Merle, glaring at one another over the kitchen table, a newspaper in between them and a bottle of beer in each of their hands. Beth rolls her eyes finally and gives up the staring contest, taking a sip out of her bottle and that's when she seems to notice Daryl there and he feels like a damn fool when he notices his heart rate pick up when her damn blue eyes lock in on his, widening slightly and a dazzling smile crosses her lips.
"Hey Daryl," she says in her sweet as sugar voice as she gets up, heading to the fridge. "How was work?"
He notices Merle look over at him, a suggestive smirk on his lips that makes Daryl glare back at him before he answers.
"A'ight." he shrugs lamely.
Beth smiles again before she opens the fridge and pulls out another beer, screwing the top off before she expertly slides it over the counter toward him and his hand instinctively reaches out to catch it.
"What are ya doin' here?" he asks before he even realizes the words are out of his mouth.
"Oh, right, well Merle left his wallet at the bar again last night and when I came by to drop it off, I well, I hope ya don't mind but I couldn't help but clean up a bit."
"Didn't need ta do that," Daryl mutters, taking a long swig of his beer.
"Ya kiddin'?" Beth says with a playful laugh. "I'm pretty sure something tried to bite me when I was cleaning by the couch."
Daryl hears Merle laugh as he feels his ears warm and he takes another drink of his beer for lack of saying anything to excuse the mess he knew his place was.
"Don't be shooin' her 'way baby brother. Damn peach tha' she is even made us dinner and brownies. We eatin' like kings tonight!"
Daryl feels his stomach grumble again and he just nods, trying not to look at Beth as she busies herself by the sink.
"Really, it's no trouble," she says, turning back around. "I was thankful for the distraction. Work has been so crazy lately." she just shrugs and then as a timer goes off on the oven, she quickly walks over to it. "Speakin' of, I hear ya finally got the weekend off Daryl, any plans?"
Daryl furrows his eyebrows as he looks at the blonde, leaning against the counter as he takes another sip of his beer. Merle is back to looking at the paper on the table, seeming to ignore the two but Daryl can't help but notice his eyes glance over at them every now and then.
"How'd ya know that?" he finally asks her.
"Dale told me; I've been buggin' him, or at least that's what he says, tryin' to keep updated about my car and he mentioned it," she says with a small shrug and an innocent smile.
It's too innocent though and Daryl begins to wonder if this tiny blonde standing in his kitchen, making him dinner and cleaning his apartment, had something to do with Dale giving him his first weekend off in almost two months and he suddenly has no doubt about it. She was a sly one, that much he knew for sure.
"Pr'olly goin' huntin'. Leave in tha mornin' if the weather stays." he shrugs, finally answering her first question.
"That's good, ya deserve a break." she says, pulling a glass dish out of the oven and setting it on the counter. He hears a small beep and watches as she picks up her cell phone, biting her lip as she glances down on the screen and Daryl has to take another drink before he gets caught staring.
She sighs softly. "Well that's Tara, she's watin' downstairs to give me a ride home."
"Awe, ya ain't stayin' for dinner Peach?" Merle drawls, looking back up from the paper.
"Nah, I promised Tara a girls night, but another time." she says with a sweet smile. "Enjoy your dinner boys." she smiles, picking up her bag off the counter and Merle waves, saluting her as he stands up, and she rolls her eyes with a small laugh.
"Car should be done next week," Daryl speaks up, following her to the door and ignoring Merle's wiggling eyebrows. "Parts should be comin' in this weekend and I'll get started on it first thing Monday mornin'."
Beth smiles. "Thank you, you don't have to be the one to do it though. I know Dale's been puttin' ya through the wringer lately." she says and with the way she's looking at him, Daryl is positive that she knows something he doesn't.
"Naw, don't trust any of those otha guys. Don't know what they're doin' half tha damn time." he brushes her off, not admitting that he had made Beth's car his own personal project, all but growling at any of the guys who touched it, warning them to keep their hands off it.
"Well I sure do appreciate it," she says and she takes a step toward him and Daryl stiffens, unsure of what she was going to do but she suddenly stops and takes a step back, as if she changed her mind and Daryl would never admit that he was a little disappointed, his curiosity getting the better of him.
"S'nothing." he shrugs and Beth smirks shaking her head as she opens the door. "Uh, thanks, for this," he mutters, awkwardly waving his hand behind him, motioning toward the now clean living room and sweet smelling scent in the air.
"S'nothing," she responds, mimicking him and he narrows his eyes, causing her to giggle as she steps out the door and dammit if it isn't the most sweetest sound Daryl has ever heard. "Bye Daryl, enjoy you're huntin' trip." is her final words and he watches her disappear down the hall before he shuts the door and makes his way back to the kitchen.
When he walks back in Merle is at the fridge, grabbing another beer and holding a plate stacked high with whatever the hell Beth had made them. He isn't too sure but he just knows it will probably be the best damn thing he's ever tasted. Merle pauses, closing the fridge and watches as Daryl moves over to the cabinet, grabbing a clean plate - that had been in a dirty dish pile in the sink when he left this morning - and begins to pile his plate.
"Woo'e, baby brother. Ya got it bad." Merle taunts with a laugh.
"Tha hell ya talkin' 'bout?" Daryl grunts, turning to look at him and he is met with a smirk.
"Don't act like ya don't know. When ya gonna man up and ask that fine Georgia Peach out on a date?" Merle waves his fork at him and Daryl clenches his jaw.
"Man, shud'up." he grumbles, heading toward the table. "Don't even know why she keeps comin' round here." he admits, not intending to say it out loud but it's too late now and Merle is just smirking like he knows the secret to the damn universe.
"Ya know, I asked myself that same question the day that blonde beauty first took me home but it didn't take me long to figure it out boy." Merle says, heading toward the hall where Daryl assumes he is going to eat in his room. "The answer little brother is simple, when a woman as good and fine as Beth Greene shows any interest in ya, you don't question it. It's a damn near gift and ya milk that shit as long as ya can."
With that, Merle disappears down the hall and Daryl hears his bedroom door shut a few seconds later. Daryl stares down at his plate, trying to wrap his brain around when Merle became such a damn poet. He takes another sip of his beer and that's when he catches sight of the newspaper Merle and Beth had been fussing over and he drags it toward him, curious as to what they were looking at. His jaw nearly drops when he sees that it's opened to the classifieds and that there are a few jobs circled on the page.
Beth is helping Merle find a job.
Daryl is fairly certain that Beth Greene isn't real. Ain't no damn way.
Monday comes far too quickly but after spending the whole weekend in the woods and away from everyone and everything, Daryl feels like a brand new man. At least until he walks into the chaos that is work and he sighs, immediately going to work on Beth's car because the parts had thankfully come in - it had been nearly two weeks since she had first come in and he knew it couldn't have been easy for her getting around without a car.
It's around noon when Dale comes in and asks him how things are going.
"'Bout done, just gotta put 'er back together," Daryl grunts, leaning over the new engine grabbing his rag from his back pocket and wiping the sweat from his brow.
"Well that's good. Beth's here, walked over from the bar." Daryl curses as he drops the wrench from his hand. "Brought us cookies or something. That girl is too sweet for her own good."
"Pft," Daryl grunts in response, trying to get his mind back into the engine and not on the little blonde who was waiting somewhere in the shop.
"Well I'll let ya get back to it, come find us when you're finished," Dale says and Daryl just gives another grunt in response.
It's about another half hour when Daryl finally finishes and after wiping himself off as best as he could - though he knows there is still grease and sweat everywhere - he heads toward the office only to find Dale talking on the phone, Beth no where in sight. Dale sees him and nods toward the parking lot and Daryl walks forward without a word. He glances around outside, trying to catch sight of that familiar blonde hair and when he finally sees her, wearing a pale yellow sundress and cowboy boots he starts making his way toward her.
He pauses slightly, realizing she's not alone. He sees one of the new guys, Zach, talking to her and it isn't hard to figure out that he is flirting with her and Daryl isn't sure why but it makes his fist clench and he ignores the weird sensation growing in his belly. He curses himself because he has no reason to act like this, hell Beth could flirt with whoever the hell she wanted to and he couldn't do a damn thing about it because it didn't matter. Beth was nothing to him. He hardly even knew the girl.
But it isn't until he gets closer that he realizes Beth isn't reciprocating the flirting that the young punk was providing. In fact, she looked slightly uncomfortable, smiling politely but Daryl could see how her shoulders were tense and that she was slightly leaning away from Zach, who was getting way too close to her in Daryl's opinion. When she glances around, seemingly look for an escape route, she grins and Daryl notices the relief in her immediately when she catches sight of him and he tries not to feel smug at the fact either.
"Hey Daryl," Beth beams - interrupting whatever Zach was saying mid sentence - and Daryl nods in response, stopping in front of the two.
He glances at Zach who is all but glaring at him. "Ain't you got somewhere to be kid?" he grunts, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his smokes.
"On break." Zach says, pulling in the glare and glancing at Beth again. "Just talking to Beth here."
Beth gives him a tight lipped smile and Daryl snorts as he notices Beth eyes shift to him, pleading with him to help her.
"Yeah well Beth ain't interested in your talking, so go on, get." Daryl makes a shooing motion with his hands as he brings his lighter up, lighting his cigarette and Zach takes in a deep breath, raising an eyebrow, almost like he was going to challenge him on his words but when he looks back at Beth - who is now smiling apologetically, the kids shoulders slump and he walks away without another word.
Daryl smirks as Beth reaches out to slap him lightly on the arm.
"Daryl! Ya didn't have to be so mean about it." she scolds him but he can see the humor behind her eyes.
"Ya want me to get him ta come back?" he teases, and she glares at him.
"No," she says quickly, crossing her arms.
Before he can say anything else they both look over as they hear Dale hollering from the office, waving them back over. Daryl nods her ahead, motioning to his cigarette and she takes the hint and starts walking toward the office.
"'Sides," Beth says, turning around and Daryl feels that strange feeling in his gut again as he sees that playful smirk and mischievous twinkle in her eyes. "I prefer my mechanics a little more capable anyway." she shrugs and turns back around and Daryl is positive she is swaying her hips just a bit more than necessary.
Daryl curses as he stubs out his cigarette on the ground as he begins to follow her. Damn girl was going to kill him for sure.
Thank you for reading and please review! :)