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'How are you feeling this morning, daddy?' Beth asks, putting a plate with breakfast on the nightstand and then giving Hershel a quick kiss on the forehead.

'Thank you, doodlebug, I feel much better now that all my children are here. How's everything at the farm?'

Beth smiles; her daddy will never let his physical condition stop things on the farm from running smoothly.

'Everything's fine, but there is one problem,' Beth admits. 'Otis tried to start the pickup this morning and said that he'd rather walk all the way to Atlanta, than ever touch this damn thing again,' she mimics Otis' annoyed tone.

Hershel smiles. 'It's true, it's been skittish for quite some time now,' he pauses. 'Tell Otis to tow it to the garage down town.'

'Otis left; he said he couldn't waste any time, so he took his SUV to go to Atlanta,' Beth explaines.

'Would you do it then, Bethy?'

'But daddy, I don't know how to use the tow,' she find a pathetic excuse, her heart hammering inside her chest. Garage is the place she has to avoid at all cost. 'Maybe Shawn or Maggie…'

'I sent Shawn to Woodbury to get fertilizers from the fair. And Maggie has to stay here to take care of Nellie,' Hershel says and Beth knows there is no point in arguing any further. Everyone is busy and she is just being a spoiled brat. Hershel seems to have noticed her frightened expression. 'Bethy, is there a problem?' he asks concerned.

'No, daddy. No problem. I'll do it,' she says, deciding to man up and do something to help her family for once.

'Thank you, doodlebug.'

Beth sighs heavily when leaving Hershel's bedroom and, walking up to the pickup truck, she looks at the keys in her hand. She takes a deep breath. She can do it, it's not the end of the world. It is Saturday, maybe he is not even there.

'You don't have to do it, Beth,' she hears Maggie's voice and shakes her head, forcing a soft smile.

'I do, Maggie,' she turns around to face her sister, who is standing a few feet away from her, wearing gloves and holding a bucket. Maggie is so good at this. Frankly, she is good at everything; being a good daughter, responsibly taking care of the farm, dating a guy daddy would actually approve of, and most importantly, being strong. Beth can't do any of this things. 'I'll be living here now and eventually I will have to face him anyway. It is a small town, after all.'

'Yeah, but…' Maggie takes a step closer and puts the bucket on the ground. 'I just don't want you to be hurt, Bethy. What he did to you-'

'I'll be fine,' Beth cuts her off. 'And I'd really appreciate it if we could never discuss this again.'

Feeling guilty for talking to her in such manner, Beth lowers her eyes to the ground. Thankfully, Maggie doesn't seem to take it personally.

'Sure,' she shrugs and looks at the pickup truck. 'Just let me help you with the tow, okay?'

Beth decides she is not a little scared girl anymore, who is desperately seeking for a reason to live (like she has been when she met Daryl). There is no reason why she should be worried or even reluctant to go to the garage. She is a grown woman and can face the man who broke her heart. Beth is sure she can do it.

Nevertheless, she finds herself hoping that he isn't there. Even though something tells her she can't be that lucky.

As it is Saturday, the garage is pretty much empty; with only two mechanics available. Beth comes up to the secretary, and Amy smiles at her.

'Beth!' she exclaims, getting up and giving her a tight hug. 'So nice to see you. When did you come back?'

'Two days ago,' Beth shrugs and smiles timidly.

'How long are you staying for?' Amy seems to be sincerely happy to see her, and it makes Beth warm up to her a little, even though they never shared a friendly relationship; Amy has always liked Daryl and Beth was too jealous to be nice to her.

'Indefinitely,' she decides to go for a short answer, not willing to go into details.

'Well, isn't that good new?' Amy beams. 'Listen. We should go and have lunch together sometime soon. We haven't talked in ages!'

'Sure,' Beth gives her head a nod, starting to feel awkward. There is something strange about Amy's sudden affection towards her.

They are both quiet for a few moments.

'Oh, sorry!' Amy slaps herself on the forehead. 'How can we help you?'

Beth is grateful she decided to show some professionalism.

'Our farm pickup truck won't start. Jimmy tried to fix it, but now he is gone for the weekend and he didn't really know what he was doing anyway. So, if someone could take a look, that would be nice. The sooner, the better.' She struggles to give Amy a smile and keeps reminding herself to be polite. Besides, she has no right to be pissed off with the girl, she is not Daryl's girlfriend anymore.

'Sure. One of our mechanics is busy with another client right now, so is it okay if Daryl helps you, or would you like to wait?'

Those words irritate Beth. Obviously, Amy has known that she and Daryl broke up, and Beth suddenly feels claustrophobic; like privacy is too much to ask for in this town.

What if… At the thought of Daryl having a relationship with Amy, Beth shudders. He wouldn't, right?

Then she looks at Amy and thinks, why wouldn't he? Amy is pretty, nice and has always been somewhere around. Everyone knows she has a crush on Daryl. Beth tries to stop her mind from wondering in that direction. She doesn't want to think of it; it hurts too much.

'No, that's fine. Daryl can take a look,' she hears herself say and suddenly feels proud for being so mature. For being bigger than this.

'Of course. Give me a minute.'

Amy disappears in the building and Beth tries to stop herself from letting out a heavy sigh.

Daryl is quiet, which does not surprise Beth in the slightest. He was never a talker, but the fact that he seems to frown more than he ever did while looking under the hood of the pickup, makes Beth feel extremely self-conscious. Obviously, he doesn't want to have anything to do with her, why would he enjoy fixing her car?

It took Beth a few minutes to realise that she misses times when he was be working, and she would just talk to him. Even when they were together, he wouldn't talk much, but Beth knew he was always listening. So, she would ramble endlessly, telling him about her day or just remembering funny stories from her childhood and back from when her mother was alive. Much to her disappointment, she realises that she wants that again. Wants him to care and to listen, if not talk.

She refuses to think that maybe he was never interested after all.

'How are you, Daryl?' Beth finds herself asking him, even though she didn't plan on saying anything at all.

He freezes when he hears that, his hand still holding one of the cables.

'Everything's good,' his answer is short and then he continues working, not looking up at her once.

Beth feels like a fool for expecting him to say something more than that. She has no right to expect him to talk to her at all. She remembers how her mother used to say that not everyone would like her, and that there is nothing wrong with that. But the obvious displeasure written on Daryl's face makes her feel miserable and want to be even more persistent. Maybe, if she is nice enough, he will at least stop hating her.

She refuses to think about the fact that she shouldn't care.

'How is Merle?' she asks the first thing that pops into her mind, regretting it instantly, remembering how Daryl never liked talking about his brother. He always explained it by saying that there was nothing to be proud about; having a brother like that.

'He's fine. Back in jail.'

'Do you miss him?' the question flies off her lips before she can get herself to keep quiet. Now Daryl does look up at her, and with that, Beth can't help but shudder with fear because of how intense his look is. Like he wants to snap her neck to get her to shut up. Unsurprisingly, he doesn't answer her question and lowers his eyes, getting on with the inspection of whatever is that cars have under their hoods. Beth feels the need to make the situation less tense. 'I missed Maggie so much when I was in California. It's okay to miss our family sometimes, you know.'

Beth looks down at her wrist and at the bracelets that cover up the scar that only few people know about. Daryl does too.

'Are you happy, Daryl?'

For some reason, his answer to this question seems like the most important thing in the world right now. Regardless of what he did to her, she wants him to be happy.

But Daryl just shrugs and nods at the same time, as if feeling unsure. Then he looks at her.

'Are you?'

Beth feels her heart speed up again, and can't help as the thought she tries to push away appears in the back of her mind. Maybe he does care.

'I am,' she finds herself telling him, even though she never actually contemplated the answer. That's when she realises that, to an extent, she is happy. Her daddy is alive, she is back home, and Daryl is talking to her. They are both quiet for a few minutes, and then she speaks up again. 'You know, back in LA, I really missed the winter. As much as I love summer and dislike cold weather, the dullness of constant heat just annoyed me. I never thought that winter would be something I'd ever miss.'

Beth has no idea why she's telling him that, but she just needs to change the topic. Talk about something less personal, so that at least some of the awkwardness disappears. Being naïve as she is, she genuinely finds herself believing that he is listening to her. That he is interested in whatever she has to say.

When Daryl finishes fixing the car and starts it easily, without any problem, Beth can't help but giggle a little. He could always do pretty much anything. That reminds Beth that she has fallen in love with him not just because of how talented he is, but also because he sees absolutely nothing extraordinary about it.

'Thank you, Daryl,' she says softly, not able to look anywhere else but his eyes. He doesn't look away either.

Just as she is about to say something else, Amy shows up.

'Daryl,' she says, and Beth flinches. 'I'm sorry to interrupt, but there is a call. They want you.'

The regret Beth feels is excruciating. She looks down and starts going through her purse, unsuccessfully trying to find her car keys. The pain that has dulled a little in two years suddenly returns, and Beth feels like its strength is suffocating her. She needs to leave right now.

Daryl promises to be there in a second, and Amy leaves reluctantly. Beth is still looking through the stuff in her purse, and she doesn't realise that her movements are becoming nervous, if not hysterical.

'Beth,' Daryl says and she freezes.

She thinks that she can't look into his eyes, not right now. She simply can't look at him and see pity in his eyes or – much worse – amusement. But she can't stop herself.

When Beth looks up, she realises she can feel tears brimming in her eyes, but the expression on his face makes her calm down. He doesn't look amused or sorry. He looks concerned. And Beth feels like that's the best thing that happened to her in a long time. Knowing that he cares.

Beth spends the rest of the day thinking about Daryl. Not that she doesn't usually, it's just that this time she can't stop herself from doing it. She doesn't sing while she works like she always used to; now she is just lost somewhere deep in her thoughts. She pretends not to notice Maggie's worried looks because of that reason.

To take her mind off it, she decided to bake something for dinner and finds a cherry pie recipe that she hasn't made since she left the farm. Beth only enjoys cooking when she can share the results with people she loves.

Daddy wants to join them at the table for dinner, and Shawn and Maggie help him walk down the stairs. As Maggie cuts the meat, Beth takes her pie out of the oven. The fact that daddy is there, sitting at the table with them, makes her feel happy. Her daddy deserves to be around family.

Just as she is about to sit down, she hears the front door open, and she turns around to see who it is. The assumption that comes into mind is simply insane, but her heart misses a beat as she waits to see the face of newly arrived. She realises that it's Jimmy and can't help but feel disappointed, but then she remembers she hasn't seen him for two years, so she sprints towards him, throwing herself into his hug as he lifts her in the air and spins her around lightly.

'Jimmy,' she giggles, feeling somewhat light-headed, and so she asks him to put her down. 'I'm so glad to see you,' she says and she beams at him, forgetting how ambiguous this might seem. She hopes Jimmy has gotten over his crush on her, and they can just be friends again because she loves him as a brother and would never want to lose him.

'You are the one to talk,' he teases her with a smile.

'Would you like to join us?' Beth asks. 'I made a cherry pie,' she shamelessly uses it as an argument and he nods, heading towards the table and taking a seat as Beth gets him a plate.

When she sits back down, she can't help but keep smiling and she sees that everyone else is smiling too.

Thank you so much for reading and please, review! :)