Thursday Evening

When Daryl returned home from work and slumped down on the sofa amongst Charlene's many cushions he realised he needed to get out of the house and away from all things womanly. He'd done enough worrying and thinking about women for one day. He never had any of his current problems when he was with Merle. Problem number one being Miss Uppity which only lead to the rest of his problems such as thinking about how he should try to get a better job and wondering why he never stayed in school and went to college.

"Ya wanna go for a beer?" Daryl asked Jim when he sat down in the easy chair.

"Sure, Char's got her Mama coming over and…" Jim pulled a face and needed to say no more. Daryl knew all about Charlene's overbearing mother, the only thing his friend didn't seem to notice was how alike she was to his overbearing fiancee. Not that he was going to mention that to anyone or anything.

He didn't want to waste any more time sitting around so he jumped up from the sofa to change from his work clothes then they headed out on foot. The walk to the nearest bar, which happened to be Lynette's, wasn't so bad. The fresh air was nice after being cooped up in the museum all day. It made him realise that he hadn't been hunting much the past few weeks. In fact he hadn't been doing much of anything except chasing after a glossy haired temptress that fluttered around like she had no damn idea what she was doing. She probably did have no idea what she was doing. She was just doing what she always did and he was the sucker that was falling for it all.

Earlier he had been thinking about smacking Bax in his arrogant face when he returned from dinner with Kate but maybe he should have been feeling sorry for the man getting his head turned by all her perfectly innocent little ways. The way she talked, the way she walked, the way she bit that damn lip. She'd drove Daryl crazy with those little ways.

It was quiet in Lynette's and it felt like a million years ago that he was here with Kate. Yet it was only yesterday. He never usually did so much damn socialising and the experience was costing him a small fortune.

Cherry served their drinks, "Merle joining ya'll tonight?"

"I dunno," he grumbled.

Cherry's face fell. Daryl felt guilt of all fucking things when he should have felt bad for even thinking about encouraging the poor woman. Merle would never be interested in more than random fucking or maybe Merle just never gave anything else a fair chance, "I'll text him, tell him ya workin' an'... lookin' so pretty."

Cherry grinned, her eyes lashes fluttering, as she passed him his handful of change, "why thank you Daryl."

"Looking so pretty?" Jim's eyebrows raised so high they nearly tucked into the top of his hat as they went to find a seat.

"I ain't sure why I said that."

"You said it because your goin' goddamned soft…" Jim picked a table, his finger pointing, a wicked grin on his face now. "But you should really be saying that to your girl."

"I can't say somethin' like that to Kate."

"Why the hell not? Women love that shit."

"I dunno," except he kind of did know. Telling her how beautiful he thought she was came far too close to the truth of what he really thought about her and he wasn't prepared to let her in on that information. He didn't even want to be in on that information. "Jesus, let's just not talk 'bout 'er tonight. Please."

"Alright, don't get your knickers in a twist." Jim did what Daryl was almost sure was supposed to be his best English accent yet he ended up sounding more Canadian than anything else.

Not only did he not particularly want to talk or think about Kate he would have preferred to avoid the subject of women all together but that was out of the question. All Jim seemed to want to discuss was Charlene, the wedding, their future, deciding whether to extend their house or buy a new one. All subjects which Daryl had absolutely no opinion on except that he was glad of the distraction from Kate. Only every time he realised he was being distracted it only served to make him think about her again.

"I wanna ask you something…" Jim looked serious as he sipped his beer.

Daryl's first thought was that he wanted him to move out and despite all the times he contemplated leaving he didn't really want to fly from their cosy little home just yet, "sure…"

"I've been thinking for a while and… I want you to be my best man."

Best man. The title swirled around his head and he felt his chest puff up with a light feeling, "really?... what 'bout Jason?"

"Don't get me wrong, I like my kid brother… but he'd only drive me crazy. You and me have known each other since we were this big," he raised his hand against the floor to knee height. "Longer than I've even known my brother."

One of Daryl's earliest memories was helping Jim put chubby handfuls of fat worms in his Mama's purse. They couldn't have been older than three or four. The memory was a fuzzy one but he could still almost hear the subsequent verbal ass kicking and almost feel the smarting of a wooden spoon against his back legs.

"You're sure?" Daryl couldn't quite believe it.

"Yeah man… You know Charlene said yes to my proposal right away," Jim teased, "you want me to get you a ring too?"

"Ya can get me another beer."

"Good… no strippers at my bachelor party or the boss will have your ass, and mine."

"Have ya decided what day?"

"Haven't you been listening to a single word I'm saying? She wants to get married next month…July 23rd."

"Thats pretty quick…" Daryl sniggered. Five years of waiting for a ring and only a couple months of being engaged, "she ain't knocked up right?"

Jim looked away, rubbing at his beard, before he took a gulp of beer.

He'd meant it as a joke to freak his friend out now he wasn't so sure it was the right one, "is she?"

"When I asked her to marry me she thought we might as well get a head start..." he took another gulp of beer, "now you can't fucking tell anyone, I mean it!"

Fucking hell.

Jim was going to have a child, be someone's Dad, a real fucking grown up. Daryl stared at his friends' anxious face and realised he was suppose to say something. What did people say? "Congratulations?"

Jim smiled letting out a puff of air, "thanks, I'm pretty excited, kinda glad you know. But seriously… don't say anything to anyone."

"Maybe I should get the beers in," Daryl stood up, slapped his hand against Jim's back, grabbed their empty bottles and headed to the bar. Instead of feeling horrified for his friend like he might have done a few months ago, he felt a little envious of Jim's life and that was even more horrifying than anything else. He wondered if they did 'Jim's Construction' hats in baby sized and if one day he'd be changing the name to Jim & Son.

Daryl took a drink of his fresh beer as he walked back to the table with a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach. "Why'd ya pick Charlene? Ya know… over the others." He had watched Jim steamroll through more than his fair share of relationships.

"That was easy. I keep wondering why she let me have her. Just don't tell her that."

"Ya think she's… too good for ya?"

"Of course, but then…" Jim thought about it before giving Daryl an odd look, "she's good at some stuff and I'm good at others."

Maybe he had a point. Maybe Kate had a fancy education but she probably couldn't fix a car, she certainly didn't fix that porch swing and she was probably too damn short to reach the top shelves in the kitchen. Not that any of that mattered really anyway, even though it loomed like an anvil over his head it was so easy for him to forget that she wouldn't be in Georgia forever. Maybe he could steal her away and keep her for himself so she never had to leave. The idea of her returning to England was bad enough, the idea of Baxter being there waiting for her with all the time in the world made his blood boil...

/

Kate let herself into Lou's house, calling his name and heard the clatter of commotion in his kitchen.

"Katy? That you Lass? Come and help me with the Yorkshire's," he shouted.

When Kate stepped into the kitchen Lou was balancing a cupcake tin filled with little pools of oil and batter in his hands as he bent over the oven.

"Get the oven door won't you."

She did as instructed, letting out a red hot blast of air and even more smell of roast beef.

"You didn't have to make all of this," Kate said.

"What else am I going to do all flipping day?"

Poor Lou, the Doctor had ordered him to take a week off work to rest his knee and if it hadn't been for Bax visiting she was certain her old friend would have gone crazy. "You could relax, read… start writing your new book?" she offered despite knowing that her suggestions would fall flat.

Lou grumbled under his breath as he hobbled around the kitchen to take a seat in one of the chairs, falling into it like he'd just finished running the London Marathon. How he was going to cope when he started his retirement in a matter of weeks she wasn't entirely sure except to say that his daughter was probably going to have her hands full.

"I brought pudding," Kate offered hoping to cheer him up. Right away his face softened, a smile twitching at his lips as he craned his neck to get a glimpse of the box he hadn't noticed her slipping onto the counter.

The white and blue polka dotted box contained a chunky apple pie with a lattice lid and dustings of cinnamon sugar. Lou's smile was satisfied but not overjoyed. Kate knew what would really make his day (and the perfect pudding) was sitting in her purse. "The piece de resistance," she held up the packet of Birds Powdered Custard. "Just like school dinners," which might have implied it would be disgusting, but there was something very comforting about thick, yellow, artificial custard especially when it was covering jam roly poly pudding but she was hardly going to be baking one of those so a shop bought pie would have to do.

Lou's smile was in full force now, "you're a good egg. You wouldn't mind pouring the wine would you lass?."

Kate found two large glasses, the bottle was already open and waiting on the side. She poured and passed Lou his glass while shaking her head at the sight him, sitting, exhausted in his chair as a stove full of of pans bubbled merrily on top of the hobs and the two ovens were filled to capacity with enough food to make leftovers for a week.

Lou liked to make Sunday dinner when he was feeling homesick or sad, when he was happy, or any other occasions. He never made it by halves, nor did he ever seem to make it on a Sunday. It reminded her that she was really going to miss all the time she had been spending with Lou this past year, the thought of it being over was enough to make a big lump swell at the back of her throat.

"How did you like Baxter?" Lou pried in his usual manner, distracting her from the melancholy feelings.

"He's an alright sort I suppose."

"Aye, he's alright…" he chuckled between sips of wine, a cheeky glow in his eyes as he stared at her, "not quite a certain southern gentleman though eh lass?"

Despite the implication she managed to keep a straight face, "I believe Bax mentioned growing up in Surrey."

"Aye he's from the south but I'm talking about a different kind of deep southern gentleman."

Kate set her wine on the table, her fingers running along the delicate stem on the glass, "I know exactly what you're talking about." Only she wasn't going to talk about it with an old gossip such as Lou. Nor was there really anything to talk about, except one kiss that had made her heart beat a little faster for 19 hours and counting.

That kiss, she touched her lips, lost in faraway thoughts and the oven pinged.

"Help me up Lass."

Friday Afternoon

Daryl had spent the morning avoiding Kate, as stupid as it was to avoid someone he spent so much time chasing. Even he realised how stupidly screwed up he was. In fact he could hardly remember the time before he had let this woman into his every thought, influencing him and taking hold where she had no cause to linger. He had even managed to resist the addictive urge to watch her on the monitors. He wasn't entirely sure if his reason for avoiding her was because of Baxter or because he didn't want to feel something for her. Although the latter seemed the worst of it.

Falling in love with someone had never been a problem that Daryl had ever come across so he was unprepared. He hadn't done anything to protect himself against it, instead he had happily given into all the soppy feelings that were turning him into the biggest dickhead that ever walked the Earth and he was damned if he was going to carry on with that shit.

All of his plans were short lived when Mr Blake was passing by and asked Daryl to see if anybody wanted to order anything from the lunch cart that visited the museum. He wanted to tell his boss to 'go and fucking ask them himself' but he needed this crappy job so he resigned himself to being an errand boy with a scrap of paper and a shitty pen that hardly worked.

He saved Kate for last. She was in her office, the door closed, dark and silent as he stared at the grain in the wood for long enough to know exactly how many knots it contained.

Don't be a pussy. Jesus, the other day he would have killed for a chance to talk to her. Right now he wanted to talk to her. The worst part was the whole problem was in his head and if Charlene and her substantial mouth had never said the word love he probably wouldn't be in this damn mess right now. He knocked, three loud raps that sounded like they might split the wood apart.

"Come in," Kate's voice travelled with authority through the wood.

She didn't look over when he entered, instead she remained captivated by her computer screen, rapidly touch typing on her clicky keyboard.

Half of him wanted to shut the door and leave her to it but the bigger half wanted to feel her eyes on him, "Mr Blake wants to know if ya wanna order anythin' for lunch?"

Kate's fingers slipped off the keys, her leg dropped from where it had been sitting crossed over the other one and she relaxed back in the swivel chair to look his way. The way she smiled encouraged his heart to pick up speed.

"Well, that depends…" she said, running her fingers through her hair, sweeping it from her face in a soft, delicate stroke that made him wonder how her hands would feel running over his body

Daryl stepped over the threshold of her office. Why fight against the woman? Why avoid feeling like this? "Depends on what?"

"On you."

Daryl narrowed his eyes, "me?"

Kate resumed her position at the keyboard, her gaze dropping from his and back to the computer monitor. "Aren't you going to invite me for lunch again, Mr Dixon?" she said, her tone casual like the answer to her question didn't matter at all.

Daryl pulled at his tie, straightening it down, as she clicked away at the keyboard waiting for his reply and damn if she didn't look pretty as a picture sitting there typing away with the Georgia sunshine beaming brightly through the window. Goddamn man catching woman. He was supposed to be the hunter here, yet he had somehow been walking right into all her little feminine traps. He half laughed before saying, "where do ya wanna go?"

She looked at him then, her smile bright, "surprise me."

/

When Kate had arrived at work this morning Daryl hadn't been waiting for her in the carpark like the previous day and she had quickly realised that she had barely spoken to him since yesterday afternoon. Not that she would ever want to think that she was keeping track of such things. The point was, that although she wanted boundaries between them she most certainly wanted any boundaries to be on her terms. The idea that he had been keeping his distance had been enough to make her want to throw her own ideas out of the window and when he had shown up at her door she had done exactly that.

Thirty minutes passed and like they had agreed Kate went to meet Daryl outside and was pleased to see he was already waiting. They bypassed the carpark and headed away from the museum on foot. It wasn't long until she realised their likely destination. Piedmont park.

Before they entered the park they picked up lunch from a cute little New York style deli. Daryl's chosen sandwich was bigger than Kate's forearm and stuffed to capacity with pastrami and cheese. It both looked and smelled delicious but there was no way she had run six miles this morning to eat all those cheesy, meaty, mouth watering calories in one lunch. She let out a sigh before deciding on a bulgur wheat salad, a pot of blueberries and a bottle of water. She would feel good about her decision later when she was convincing herself that it was perfectly acceptable to eat half a tub of ice cream.

Daryl led the way in their stroll through the park as they decided on the perfect spot for their impromptu picnic. The winning location was the shade of a leafy oak tree that stood tall and expansive, all by itself amongst the freshly cut grass. Kate stepped out of her favorite black Jimmy Choo's and scooped them up by the heel before stepping onto the grass letting the prickly feeling of the blades crunch under her soles and tickle between her toes.

"I'll race you to the tree," she said suddenly.

Daryl turned to look at her, "I dunno…" he began and then he was off, hurdling away with a huge head start.

She chased him down but he still pipped her to the post. "You cheated!" Kate backhanded his chest.

"Ya never said anythin' 'bout rules."

She dropped her shoes to the ground, "there are always rules Mr Dixon."

"Well I wanted to win," Daryl slid down the tree trunk, until he was sitting, leaning against it, one knee bent and the other leg lying outstretched. "I don't mind playin' dirty."

Kate scoffed, "I'll keep that in mind." She sat besides him with her legs curled beside her, the skirt of her dress draped over the top covering them all the way to the tips of her toes.

He loosened his tie and the top two buttons of his shirt, an action she watched with a keen interest before her fingers were at the neckline of her own dress unbuttoning to where was appropriate for a picnic in the park. Even in the shade of the tree, merely sitting, it was still breathtakingly hot to be outside in the afternoon. She grabbed a clip from her handbag and twisted her hair into a loose bun to take the heavy heat off her neck and back.

"Have ya been 'ere before?" Daryl said.

"A couple of times." But never like this. Both times she had been alone, no one to talk to and no one to stir up the frenzy of butterflies that were in her stomach right now.

/

Daryl wasn't sure what to do with Kate or how to act around her. The whole walk over to the park he had wondered if he should hold her hand but hadn't dared. The whole time they had eaten he had wanted to say something but wasn't exactly sure what and now their lunch was gone he watched her take a sip of water, her head tilting back elongating her neck into one long expanse of soft sun kissed skin than ran all the way to where her dress was unbuttoned.

He swallowed down hard and Kate's big brown eyes caught his stare with the hint of a blush as she bit her lip before slowly screwing the cap back onto her water. When she had finished he took the bottle from her hand and threw it down on the grass. Maybe he didn't actually want to say anything at all. Instead Daryl leaned towards her, his hand wrapping around the back of her neck to pull her in for the kiss he wanted to take from her lips. It felt just as good as their first kiss. Her lips were soft and giving as she opened up to his mouth in the same unexpected way. He felt his blood heating up, his heart racing and a flood of warmth filling his stomach.

The only thing that had the power to make him stop was the fact that they were on the lunch break in the middle of a park. He nibbled her lip, tugging it like he had wanted to then lay a kiss on one of her rosy pink cheeks before he held her hand, pulling it between them to kiss the back of it even if she was still so close that he could have easily claimed her mouth again. His kisses wanted to find all parts of her.

Kate licked her lips, her eyes smouldering through the cover of her long lashes, as she whispered, "what was that for?"

"I had to do somethin'..." he kissed the very end of her fingertips, before running his hand along her hair that was mostly fallen from the bun she had twisted it into. "It's kinda hard not to kiss ya."

Kate's hand wrapped around his tie, pulling in through her fingers until she gave a playful tug on the end, "then kiss me again."

So he did and what was left of their lunch break, plus the 20 minutes they were late back to work, was lost but not wasted in kissing Kate.

A/N- Thank you for everyone who has left comments :) Glad you enjoyed some jealous Daryl, there might be more... eventually ;P although my initial time frame/word count idea for the first portion of this story seems to have fallen out of the window like I should have known it would.

Jean- I love that you looked up Blighty :D