Tuesday

Daryl was awake when Ms Ashwood arrived. In fact, he'd spent the last hour staring at the security monitors to watch a stray dog sniffing around some dumpsters at the side of the building when he'd spotted her Mustang pulling into the carpark and scaring the dog away. He looked at the clock on the wall besides him. She was later than she had been yesterday but still earlier than the rest of the staff.

Kate stepped out of her car in her high heels, bouncy hair and a skin tight pencil skirt. He wondered if she would come to talk to him before deciding she probably wouldn't. He definitely wasn't going to leave his post to face another dressing down from some dainty little ball breaker. He took a sip of his can of Red Bull that had long since gone warm as he followed her on the monitors. She threw her handbag into her office in one careless motion then shook out her hair with her hands before she headed to the breakroom.

The camera in the staff room was incredibly grainy but he suspected she was making a cup of tea. Last night when he had made himself a coffee he'd noticed two new mugs in the cupboard. One of them said 'best grandad' and the other one was white with little dinosaurs printed all over it. He'd thought it an odd choice for a woman like her but then he knew nothing about her. In between the mugs had been a huge box of Yorkshire tea and he could just about see her opening the box. He had the sudden realisation that watching her was a little creepy, but that didn't bother him enough to look away. Instead he rubbed his hand across his face, leaned back into the chair and folded his arms across his chest to make himself more comfortable.

Kate took her tea and walked around some of the other exhibitions, stopping to read the plaques and checking her watch intermittently. He didn't know what he was expecting her to do but she wasn't doing anything. Still, it beat staring into space and he was paid to watch the monitors after all. Eventually everyone else began to arrive and the show was over, it was time for him to go home.

Wednesday

Daryl sat in his swivel chair and threw a rubber ball in the air, higher and higher, counting how many times he could catch it in a row. He could see the clock was fast approaching the time Miss Uppity had arrived yesterday and he tried to ignore the monitors. He didn't want to be 'that guy', the pathetic loser that peeped on girls. But in the silence of the museum he could hear the faint slam of the heavy staff door and he whipped his head to the monitor. She was wearing trousers with a white shirt tucked into the front. She threw her bag into her office and ruffled her hair. He wondered briefly if she knew she was being watched before realising that it wasn't normal to assume you were being spied on by a degenerate security guard. Kate made her tea then looked around the museum. Just like yesterday.

Thursday

Daryl waited in the staffroom. What he was going to do or say he hadn't exactly decided but he'd spent all night on his own twiddling his thumbs and reading some crappy detective novel he'd found tucked away under the security desk. The silence, and boredom, had given him the courage to interact with her. At least this way he wouldn't feel like a peeping tom. All he had to do was wait in the room and she would make her tea and maybe they would talk about the weather. He could hear the clip clop of high heels long before the door swung open. Shit, what the fuck am I doing? Talk about the weather? Jesus, he held his breath.

Ms Ashwood's eyes were wide with surprise when they met his. "Good morning," she said curtly before hastily grabbing a paper towel and stepping out of the room. No tea.

Daryl scratched the stubble on his cheek before turning to face the cupboard and pulling out her dinosaur mug along with another. Before it even occurred to him that it might be weird to make the woman a cup of tea he was walking out of the break room and handing her the mug.

She eyed him curiously and for a heartbeat he thought she was going to leave him hanging, with her outstretched mug filling the void between them. Then she took her tea and he could relax. Goddammit, this was why he avoided doing this sort of 'friendly' shit. He was still unsure why he was doing it right now.

"Thank you Mr…" Kate scrunched her face and he realised she had forgotten his damn name.

"Daryl Dixon," he grunted. Fucking hell, she was the peak of his shift and he was an insignificant, forgotten interaction from three days ago.

Kate brought the rim of the mug to her red lips in a way that made him swallow hard.

"Bloody hell," she exclaimed. "How much sugar did you put in?"

"Just two…" Daryl's stuttered as he took a mouthful of steaming hot coffee, he'd given her three heaped spoonful's but she was making him too nervous to admit the truth.

"I only take one." The woman would be fucking lucky if he made her another cup of tea after this.

"I um… have four," he confessed and she snorted in mild amusement before a mountain of silence built between them. This was a terrible idea. Words refused to form in his head or his mouth and Kate held his gaze like they were locked in a staring competition.

"Hey Daryl," pierced the air and he turned to look at Hailee, the leggy blonde girl who worked in the gift shop. "I ain't seen you all week."

Kate used the momentary distraction to disappear behind a display case towards the breakroom with a swish of her light as air dress.

Hailee grabbed his arm with a pink lip-gloss smile. "I don't know how you manage to stay up all night… you must be exhausted," she cooed over him as she batted her eyelashes in the flirty try hard way that stroked his ego.

He had spent his entire first week with her hanging off his every word and prancing around the gift shop whenever he came into view. Shane had told Daryl that she had a boyfriend, but it didn't seem to stop her. Hailee was a nice enough girl in her own way, but she was like a dumb squirrel who jumped out of the tree wanting to meet his bolt. To a hunter there was nothing more appealing than the thrill of the chase as you tracked down more elusive prey. Although to most man there was a certain appeal to a woman who was more interested in you than you were in them and he was a man.

"Walk me to the shop," she cocked her head and he joined her since he had to get back to the security office anyway.

Friday

Daryl decided not to wait for Kate in the break room like a weirdo stalker. Instead he just watched her on the monitors, like a weirdo stalker. He'd made his peace with that now.

She was late. Maybe she was trying to avoid another awkward hot drink while he stared at her in silence. He would hardly be surprised. What the fuck was he even doing, watching her and trying to interact with her? He'd really gone off the fucking deep end this time. Maybe he should have stuck with Merle. Maybe he had spent too long on the outside of normal society that he could never be normal. Just some dumb redneck.

Daryl was worrying that he had made a complete ass out of himself when he saw her pulling up. She practically fell out of her car as she hurried into the building, taking long purposeful strides until she was walking into her office and slamming the door shut behind her. Damn, she was definitely avoiding him. Or maybe he was overthinking it. He probably was.

He looked at Kate's Mustang sitting across from his truck in the car park and noticed that her headlights were still on. Shit, should he say something? Or would someone else tell her? He imagined her trying to start her car with a dead battery later on in the evening and knew he had no choice but to go and talk to her. Still, that didn't make it any easier. He had a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach like a hive of bees buzzing in a frenzy.

/

Kate slumped into the chair in her office and pulled her phone out of her handbag to look through her photos. This morning when she had been stuck in traffic she had seen a frazzled mother pulling her son along and waving her arms in the air before the boy burst into tears. She almost jumped out of the car like a mad woman until the loud squealing of car horns crying out behind her had woken her up from her daze.

Looking at her pictures wasn't helping. Nothing helped. She threw the phone back into her bag and shrank into the chair before a faint knocking at the door captured her attention. Kate straightened up and ran her fingers through her hair before she called "come in."

The door opened slowly to reveal the security guard standing hesitantly while he straightened his tie, "sorry to bother ya ma'am but I noticed you've left ya headlights on."

"I have?" Kate thought out loud as she grabbed her car keys and pushed herself up from her chair. She needed to pull herself together.

/

Miss Uppity squeezed past him giving him a breath full of her perfume and he drank it in greedily before he watched her sashay down the hall towards the carpark. Today she wore a deep red dress that was fitted to every curve and he watched her ass as she walked away. Holy fuck, he'd never in his life spent so much time watching a woman like her.

Daryl headed to the tiny security office to do the handover with Rick and Shane.

"I'm thinking of asking that new chick out on a date, you think she'll go for that?" Shane said as Daryl walked into the room.

"Kate? Let's see… she's attractive, smart…" Rick said.

Shane interrupted and batted the air like he was slapping an invisible behind, "great ass…"

Rick laughed, "Yeah, I'd say you have no chance."

"She's kind of a bitch… but I like that. Treat me mean keep me keen, what do you think Dixon?"

"She's alright, I guess."

"Alright? You hiding Miss America in your pants or something?" Shane laughed and the office filled with the smell of cologne as the man doused himself in a heavy layer.

Daryl shoved his stuff in his locker and left the staff room as quickly as possible. He was glad that now it was the weekend and he could spend the next two days not having to think about the woman. The week of nightshifts had made him feel slightly unhinged. At least next week he would be working in the day and would have his wits about him, rather than acting like a dumbstruck idiot fawning over a pretty face… and the rest. Alright she was attractive. Daryl would give her that. But Shane was right, Miss Uppity was a fancy bitch and there was no way she would ever be interested in a man like him. He convinced himself that he wasn't interested in her other than to look at. She was like the medieval cross bow that sat behind the glass display case. Jesus Christ, he needed to get laid. It had been far too long.

/

Kate sat in her mustang with her hands on the steering wheel and thought about starting the engine and driving away, speeding down empty roads until she was lost and all alone. Sometimes the idea of facing people was almost unbearable but she had promised Lou that she wouldn't do that again. And she hadn't, not since almost a year ago when they had been in the first week of working on their new exhibition. There had been a group of school children arriving at the museum and Kate was supposed to give them a tour and answer all their questions. One look at all their excited little faces as they climbed out of the school bus had been enough to make her run away and disappear from her responsibilities for three days. She was better now. She'd given many school visits and answered countless questions to eager little six year olds who wanted to know everything about being a knight, castles and sword fights.

Kate turned off her lights and took a deep relaxing breath before she climbed out of her car in time to see Daryl Dixon throwing a bag into the back of his truck. She thought about the cup of sugar he had made her yesterday as she watched his hand move to unbutton the top two buttons of his shirt before he lit a cigarette. The gruff security guard didn't seem like the kind of man that would need four sugars in his coffee but then what did she know about people? Lou told her she was going to end up a recluse if she kept hiding away and rejecting every offer of fun and friendship that came her way.

When Kate's fingertips touched the handle of the staff door that had locked behind her, she realised that she'd left her work keys in the office and rolled her eyes with an exasperated sigh before she looked over her shoulder to Daryl Dixon. She detested asking for help.

/

Daryl pulled on some sunglasses and was flicking through radio stations when he sensed the deep red presence of Miss Uppity's dress filling up his driver's side window. She ducked down and made eye contact with him. At least he was looking at her big brown eyes for the briefest moment before his vision crept to the neckline of her dress. Thank god he was wearing shades.

Daryl rolled down the window.

"I've left my keys inside…"

"Ya mean you've locked yourself out?"

Kate bit her lip and he watched her chest heave before she said, "yes."

Part of him wanted to make her uppity ass suffer and tell her to 'ask him nicely to open the door' but the part of him that wanted to be a gentleman to the woman who was too pretty for her own damn good won out. He climbed out of his truck and walked with her to the door before unlocking it and holding it open.

Kate glided through it and almost as an afterthought she paused and turned to say "thank you Mr Dixon."

This time she remembered his name and didn't say it in contempt. It rolled from her mouth with a gentleness that was akin to the way she spoke to Louis and he felt guilty for the lecherous long look he'd take down her dress. "See ya Monday," he mumbled as he let the door fall shut between them. Who was he kidding? Next week would be even worse than this week, he'd have the whole day to watch her saunter around, catching his eye with every flick or her hair or swish of her dress.