"I burrowed in your love once

(Made it my home)

I burrowed in your love once

'Cause when you love

You set your heart on gold

We were capsized by the weight of it all."

-EZA

…

She hasn't stopped smiling.

It's been two days since she'd confessed her love for him while they were tangled up in his sheets and sinking in their post-coital bliss.

Before the shock even had a chance to start melting away he'd pinned her body under his and slid back into her wet heat. Daryl remembers the way she'd wrapped her legs around his waist and dug the heels of her feet into the muscles of his lower thighs, desperate to pull him further in. Her fingers had clutched onto his shoulders, leaving behind thin crescent-shaped cuts where her nails had torn through skin.

"Sing for me, songbird," he'd panted in her ear, grunting in pleasure when she'd squeezed her inner muscles and arched against his chest, the sheet that'd been securely wrapped around her long forgotten.

Her breath had hitched, eyes snapping shut as she turned her face to press an open-mouthed kiss against the corner of his lips, "I love you."

"Say it again," he'd demanded, increasing the force behind his thrusts and lowering his hand so that his digits could press down and swipe across her engorged clit. "Louder."

"I love you," Beth cried out, voice louder and broken, shuddering as her body trembled with her unexpected release and waves of pleasure pulsed from deep within her core and flowed out to the tips of her toes and fingers.

Daryl hadn't lasted much longer, slowing down and undulating his hips in shallow strokes to let her ride out the wave of her orgasm before pushing back into her for a few more hard and graceless ones and spilling himself inside her with a satisfied groan. He'd let his body collapse on top of hers for a few minutes, mindful not to drop too much of his weight onto her smaller frame, but Beth always seemed to like it the most when he held her that close.

Her breath was harsh and uneven in his ear as she tried to relax, and the soft little huffs of air that escaped through her parted lips blew across the thick strands of his hair. Her arms come up to rest languidly around his shoulders, and for once he doesn't tense when her soft skin makes contact with the scars that are branded as angry reminder of his past on his back.

"I love you," she repeats in a solid whisper, and this time her voice is free of lust and wanting and the only thing he can hear is her genuine sincerity and devotion, making it mean so much more to him; making it real.

He wants to tell her he loves her, too. Wants to look her in the eye and kiss her face as he repeats over and over how he loves her and how she's brought so much light into his world and how she makes him believe that there was more in life for him and that they can build a future together. He wants to tell her to go get her things from her Daddy's farm and that she can move in with him and that he'll give her anything she asks for and kill anybody who ever tries to lay a finger on her.

But the words won't come out, and he knows deep in his gut that there's a part of him that's still terrified that she'll realize how much better she can do. There's a part of him that still doesn't understand what she's doing here and even though he'll never purposely give her a reason to leave, he won't force her to stay if one day she wakes up and decides she wants to go. That part is simmering under his skin, fighting a losing battle between reason and desire, but it still has enough strength to keep his words in.

"You're the best thing that's ever happen' to me," he tells her instead of what he knows she wants from him, and Daryl feels like an even bigger coward when Beth softly cups his head, traces one of brows with delicate fingertips, and turns his face so she give him a kiss. When their lips separated she'd smiled at him and ran her thin fingers through his hair, rubbing little circles into his scalp until his body had relaxed under her touch.

And now they were sitting on dirty stools inside a dingy bar just outside of town.

"Can't believe you got me to bring ya here."

"I can be very persuasive," Beth giggles with a shrug, ignoring his surly mood and popping another one of her French fries into her mouth.

Daryl grunts, dropping his shoulders and taking a drink of his beer. "Your Daddy's gonna kill me if he ever finds out I brought ya to a bar."

The innocent smile that she shoots him is too wide and self-satisfied to sit well with him. "Nah, if he was gonna shoot ya it'd be for getting in my pants, not for bringin' me to a party."

"Girl, you're takin' too much pleasure in what's waiting for me when he finds out 'bout us."

"You're telling me that Big, Bad, I-Don't-Give-A-Damn, Daryl Dixon, who eighty percent of the people in this town are terrified of, is afraid of my Daddy? The retired vet who lives up in the farm?"

Daryl stares at her, thinking of what he would do if he ever had a daughter and he found out she was doing anything close to what he and Beth had been up to in the past month. "Hell yes."

"You're such a drama queen," she laughs, loud and sweet and he's transfixed by the way her whole body seems to shake with the emotions that run through her, like she felt everything so much that she couldn't hold those feelings inside of her.

A small smile tugs at his lips, and he doesn't even try to stop it. She does that to him; makes him happy and wanna smile without even trying to. "And you're fuckin' gorgeous, songbird, just like a princess."

A blush spreads across her cheeks, and a quick glance down to the sweetheart cut of her dress is enough for him to see that it begins between her breasts. He likes that even now, mixed in with the rough crowd that makes up the group he's always been acquainted with, she's still being herself. When he'd mentioned that Martinez, who'd grown up in the same neighborhood he had and was one of the few people Daryl considered a friend, was doing a grand reopening party for his bar, he'd half-expected her to show up with edgier clothes and a ton of makeup covering her pretty face in an effort to look older and fit in.

He'd been so proud and more than a little impressed when she'd shown up at his front step wearing a navy blue dress, with tiny red roses covering the print, that ended just above her knees. Her hair hung down in golden curls that were clipped back into a loose ponytail and her denim jacket served to keep away the chill that settled down at night, even in the middle of a Georgia summer. On her face there were only faint traces of eyeliner that made her eyes look even bigger than they already were and on her feet were her favorite pair of cowboy boots.

It was the first time they were stepping out anywhere together, the first time anybody would see them and know that they were a couple, and he was damn-glad that they were doing it this way. She wasn't hiding who she was or pretending to be someone she wasn't; she was proud and happy to be with him and he knew she didn't give a shit what anybody thought about them. Everybody who recognize her would immediately know that little Miss Beth Greene was hanging from the arm of the infamous youngest Dixon.

Daryl looks at her now, pale skin and golden hair shinning like a fucking beacon even inside this room with low lights and an even darker interior, looks at her and knows that almost every other man here is staring at her like she's the most delicious treat they'll never get to taste, and a wave of possessiveness hits him like a train.

He tugs at her arm, careful not to hurt her as he closes the space between them and drags her onto his lap. One of his hands tangles into the curls of her hair until it's settled comfortably at the base of her neck, and the other caresses the length of her side before stopping in her lower back, spreading his fingers until they're resting just above the curve of her ass.

The dark tint of her eyes lets Daryl know that she's expecting him to dominate her with his kiss now, but that's not what this night is about. Instead, he leans down until his lips are grazing hers, and he feels her shiver when his tongue gently touches against her own. Her jaw widens, allowing him all the access he'd ever need from her, and moans low in her throat as his tongue licks around the moist heat of her mouth. The hand on her back pulls her closer, angling his hips so she can feel the hardness pressing against her thigh.

He wants to show her how much he loves her, even if he can't say the words yet.

When they break apart, her eyes are glazed over and her lips are bright pink and swollen. She tries to grin at him, but it's ruined by the dopey smiley that's taken over her face. Beth tilts her head to the side, blinking at him twice, and then breathes out, "you know what?"

"What?" he teases her back, pulling on one of the locks of hair that'd been loosened from its proper place when his fingers had messed up the clip's hold.

"I'm gonna love ya all my life, Daryl Dixon."

…

Savannah Hilton Head International is chaotic.

There are children either crying or running in circles throughout the lobby as their anxious and overwhelmed parents struggle to keep them under control, lovers kissing each other goodbye in a heartfelt embrace before they must part, and rows upon rows of lonely souls shifting in and out of terminals that lead them to unknown destinations.

Beth finds it breathtaking.

She's always liked watching people, finding it fascinating how much could be learned from a person if one would only take a few seconds to just stop and look and listen.

Her momma had always told her that she had a gift for people; the ability to look at a person and see what they really needed. Annette would smile and tell her how proud she was that her little girl had been born with such a big heart and that she should never let anything or anyone take away her smile. She'd encouraged her to look for the best in people; the goodness in the world, and to always believe that everybody could be more.

"Listen to your heart, baby girl, and it will never lead you wrong."

Later, after her mother and brother passed away, after the incident, Beth had tried to remember and live by her mother's words. She tried not to be angry at Maggie for leaving with her brand new boyfriend instead of staying with her, understanding that her older sister had a found a different way to deal with her heartache and that it just didn't include her as part of the package. She listened to her Daddy as he read passages from his bible speaking of hope and faith and perseverance, even though she hadn't really believed she'd ever feel any of those things again.

She tried to let Patricia comfort and look after her, but the feeling of guilt that would rise in her chest every time she imagined the kind woman filling her mother's role in her life made Beth ultimately push her away. That same guilt had her avoiding Otis, who had always been nothing but kind to her, because she knew how much hurt she was bringing his wife. And Jimmy, who had been sweet and understanding with her even though their three-month long relationship shouldn't have required for him to stick with his suicidal sweetheart, had been asked to stop coming around.

It wasn't until the day her Daddy had stopped reading to her, placing the book down on the table and holding her hands in his own, that he'd finally gotten through to her.

"Bethy, if you don't have hope, what's the point of living?"

His voice had been low and broken while he stared at her with his kind eyes full of sadness for the family he'd lost and the youngest that might still follow. It was the first time since she'd taken that piece of broken glass to her wrist that her father had spoken to her as an adult; a woman capable of making her own choices. He'd put away his need to protect her at all costs and instead asked her to face her decisions and look deep inside her heart for a reason to move on, to stop simply breathing and existing and to come back to the world of the living.

Beth listened.

She came out of her room and started looking for Patricia and letting the woman who had always been like a second mother to her back in as she tried to mend her broken heart. She'd hug Otis when the man started coming in early every Saturday morning to pick her up so they could both ride into town to collect the farm's supplies. She spent all her afternoons tending after Nellie and riding him around their property before heading inside to finish her homework assignments.

And when a year and a half later she'd met a ruggedly handsome man inside a hardware store while Otis picked up shovels and barbed wire, she'd let herself feel the flutter that'd tickled low in her spine.

She hadn't let the fact that he was quite possibly double her age or that he was brusque and hardened stop her from pursuing this man who looked like the epitome of strength but had the deepest set of sad blue eyes that she had ever seen. There'd been something in the way he'd quickly turned his gaze away from her, as if he didn't deserve to even look at a girl like her, that had a little voice whispering in her ear: reminding her of her momma's words about trusting her heart and her daddy's advice on holding out for what was yet to come.

So she'd taken a chance, and ended up burned.

Beth looks at the man sitting beside her now, quietly reading his beaten-up copy of a Howard Zinn book on American Ideology as they wait for their flight to announced.

Pete Dolgen was the kind of man that romance novels were written about.

He was tall and handsome, with his dark brown eyes and pitch-black hair. He was fit and had a physique built up after years of military service for the U.S. Army, where he'd been stationed in Fort Benning after completing two more rounds than were requested of him and coming back home to Georgia a decorated Lieutenant for refusing to abandon his comrades in battle. Pete came from a wealthy family and Beth had met him at an exhibition that the Dolgens were hosting to raise funds for the art department at Savannah State University when she was starting her third year that Fall.

It's not long before she's always on his arm.

It begins with him taking her out for a hot drink at the local café and soon after she's his official date to all family events. He defends her when his mother scrunches up her nose and makes her dislike for the country girl obvious to the world, and tells his brother to shut his mouth when Mitch decides that she's only after his bank account. He never lets anybody try to talk her down or make her feel like she's not their equal.

But above everything else, Pete Dolgen was kind. He treated her like if she was a diamond in the rough; held her hand when she was sad and respected her decision not to talk about her past. He'd waited patiently for her to open up and didn't push for more than she was willing to hand out. Pete never tried to make decisions for her or treated her like a child even though he was just a few months shy of being ten years her senior when she hadn't even been legally allowed into bars.

Beth would have been an idiot not to let him stand by her side.

Their flight gets announced and she laughs when he scoops up her carryon suitcase before she can grab a hold of the handle.

"Oh, come on! The thing can't even weigh twenty pounds!"

Pete just grins back at her, offering his arm instead for her to lock around her own. She takes it, and they both know she won't let go until it's time for them to climb the steps onto the plane. "You're a lady; you shouldn't have to carry things when I'm right here to do it for you."

"You're aware that sounds awfully chauvinistic, aren't ya?"

"Well, yeah," he pretends to wave her off, and she knows it's only his manners and the respect that he was raised with that are at play here. "But you like it."

He ain't lying, and she pinches his arm softly at the same time that she bumps her hip into his and shrugs out, "I really do."

They keep moving towards the terminal and once they've taken their places in the front of the Business Class section of the plane Beth can't help but notice the way Pete's eyes are snapped shut and his fingers are turning white where they clutch onto the arm rest like a man holding onto a lifeline before he drowns. He takes a couple of deep breaths to force himself to relax and she stays quiet until after the plane takes off and they're flying steadily high above ground. Gently, she places her hand over his and waits until his grip on the cushioned metal eventually lessens.

"I know it's ridiculous and irrational," Pete sheepishly admits, dropping his gaze to his lap and turning his hand over so that she can slip her fingers between his. "I mean, out of all the things in the world that I've seen, riding an airplane should be the last thing to scare me."

"It ain't something to be ashamed of," Beth shakes her head, giving their interlocked fingers a squeeze. "When I was little and I would run into my parent's room at night because I was scared, my momma used to tell me that it was okay to be afraid as long as I was willing to look up the courage I needed to keep moving on."

"I wish I could have met her."

"Me too," she sighs, leaning over so she can rest her head on his shoulder even though the armrest hurts when it digs itself into her ribs. "I know she would have loved you."

"Hopefully your dad feels the same way."

"He will," she reassures him, frowning as she remembers the Greene family member that was most likely to cause trouble. "Honestly, it's Maggie you should be worried about. She has a tendency to stick her nose in people's business and the last time I brought a boy home poor Jimmy almost passed out during her dinnertime interrogation."

Pete winces at the visual, and the way his eyebrows scrunch together while he taps the fore and middle fingers of his free hand on his outer thigh warns Beth that something is bothering him.

"Do you think…" he starts off, hesitating for a few second before finishing his question in the most self-doubting tone she's ever heard him use before. "Do you think that they'll think it's wrong, us being together, because of how much older I am than you?"

She feels her shoulders stiffen as a verbatim of all the arguments that had been used against her ex-lover momentarily flood through her mind, like a slap across the face when you least expect it, and the jagged box she'd locked his memory in rattles around in her lungs so loudly that she's sure she'll feel the bruises by the day's end.

She wonders momentarily what Pete would think of her if he knew how she'd spent the summer she'd turned eighteen wrapped up in a man who was thirty-six. She wonders if he would be disgusted with her if he found out how easily and quickly she'd offered up her virginity to that man and how she'd cried and begged him not to leave her when he decided he was done with her. She wonders if Pete would change the way he looks at her, like she was the sun and the moon and the stars, the day she finally owned up the guts to tell him all the things she'd done before he'd come into her life.

After all, that man had looked at her that way, too, and just look at how that ended up.

No, she fiercely reminds herself, struggling to regain her breath and keep a smile on her face. Pete was not the same as him. Pete would never hurt her and he was a good and respectable man. Her family would see that and they would accept him just as she had, regardless of their age difference. There was absolutely nothing that they could use against him, and if at the end of their stay they decided they didn't like him, Beth would respect their decision but still go back to their home in Savannah and things would be okay.

Pete is still staring at her, waiting for an honest answer to settle his nerves or prepare for the worst. "I think," she pauses, looking for the best way to word her response and making sure he's listening to the honesty in her voice. "I think that they might find it a bit odd at first, but once they get to know you they'll see what I see and they'll understand why we're so good together."

He doesn't look completely convinced, but decides to let go of it for now. "Hopefully."

She hates the uncomfortable quietness, something so out of order with the tenderness that she's found with Pete, that follows his quiet declaration.

"You know we could have taken your car to the farm, right?" she asks him in hopes of alleviating some of the tension that's settled between them. "It's only about a five hour drive, less than that if we don't hit any traffic."

"I know," he agrees. "But I also know just how much you love flying in these things and I figured I could put up with an hour of nerves if it meant we got to do something that makes you so happy."

"Aww," Beth practically coos, leaning up so she can kiss his cheek and smiling wide as her heart melts at the sentiment behind his admission and ignoring the looks the old woman across the aisle is shooting at them. "You didn't have to do that, Pete."

He doesn't even hesitate. "I'd do anything for you."

She wants to tell him that she loves him and that he's wonderful and that everything will be okay once they get to the farm and that she's so happy that he's here with her now but the words get stuck in her throat and they refuse to budge and all she can manage to cough out is a pathetic, "me, too."

Beth pushes the armrest back, moving it out of the way so the space is free for her to lean against Pete and settle down in peace for the rest of their trip. His arms quickly open for her to fall into them and drape over her shoulders. She wiggles around in her seat until she's comfortable and sighs in contentment when she finds the perfect spot to rest her feet.

But then she can feel his breath fanning against her cheek and a quiet like laugh resonates in her ear. "What's so funny?"

"I just thought of something."

"And…" she prompts him to continue.

"It's just that since you love music and flying so much, maybe I should start calling you Songbird."

Beth freezes.

The box rattles viciously this time, stabbing its way into her heart with a violence that leaves her unable to breathe. If she thought the memories of her family yelling at her about him before had been bad, they are nothing in comparison to the memory of the soft whisper in his rough voice as he'd take control of her body and asked her to, 'sing for me, songbird.'

It's stupid, and she feels like such an idiot for letting him continue to affect her after so many years without seeing or hearing from him, but that doesn't stop the tears from stinging her eyes and she has to snap them shut to keep them from pouring out. She's out of Pete's embrace in a second, whipping her head around to stare at him from the neutral spot of her own seat.

"Don't ever call me that again."

It comes out harsher than she'd intended and his mouth drops open in confusion at her sudden outburst. "I'm sorry; I didn't think you'd mind it so much."

She turns away from him, focusing her attention on the ground below as she stares out the tiny plane window. Beth can feel his stare still being directed at her as he patiently waits for her to explain. "It just brings back bad memories."

"Do you want to talk about it?" he starts offering, placing a hand on her shoulder, and she hates that she flinches away from the contact as if he were the one to blame for her sudden spiral down memory lane.

"No."

She is not having this conversation with him now. Not on a plane while they're on the way to her childhood home for him to meet her family. Not right after he'd just reaffirmed for the hundredth time how much he loves her and proved for the thousandth how much he's willing to do to make her happy. Not when she can't find a place to run away to if he hated everything she's hidden from him.

This is not the fucking time to talk about Daryl Dixon.

He frowns, but accepts her answer and grabs for his discarded book from underneath his seat instead of trying to speak or touch her again.

By the time the plane lands in Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International, Beth wishes they had just stayed home.

…

AN: Hey all, hope you liked the update!

I'm a big advocator of giving credit where credit is due, and I'll be the first to admit that I got the "songbird" bit from tanglingshadow's "Halo," and from NR calling Beth that in an interview. I thought it was an adorable and fitting nickname. Hopefully neither will mind very much.

Next, I'm super thankful to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. This kind of story is more than a bit out of my comfort zone and it's really nice to have feedback and reassurance that I haven't completely lost it, yet. I try doing Review Replies but sometimes I just run out of time and I've started looking for a Beta because I always miss little things after rereading this so many times.

Also, I've finally caved in and joined tumblr. Don't know how to do much more than reblog but if any of you are interested my user name is paper-blossoms-everywhere.

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to take a second to review if you've got time!

(End of the extremely long AN.)