A/N: There's a couple of minor jumps in this chapter and also, please be aware that this is and will always be a Bethyl story. Bethyl, not Brick.

Oh, and there's not going to be any smut or "wife swapping" in this story, at least not in the way most would think.

Enjoy and Review!

Wife Swap

Chapter 3

"Rick, can you help me bring in the groceries?" Lori called out as she walked into the house.

Rick almost hollered out that was busy working on a case but he knew that wouldn't help matters none. He sat down the file he had been looking over and went out to help Lori bring in the bags. He carried them straight to the kitchen and sat them on the table.

As he turned away from her, he could feel her eyes on him.

"So that's it? You're not even going to attempt to help me put the food up?"

"Lori, I don't have time for this," he said, turning back to look at her. "I have some paperwork that needs to be done before tomorrow."

She rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips. "What happened to not bringing your work home? What if Carl were to see it?"

"Can we not do this now?" Rick pleaded.

"If not now, when? When will you have time to talk?" She reached over and dug through one of the bags on the table. "You see this?" She asked, holding up a package of steaks. "This was for you. I wanted to fix a nice dinner for us tonight because it's our anniversary!" She threw the package of steaks towards him, letting them crash on the floor and bust open. He took a small step back when she reached into another bag and pulled out a cake. "And this," she threw it at him. "Was supposed to be for us, too. But I guess none of this shit means a damn thing to you, does it? You'd rather work than be with your wife!"

He stood there, staring at her, not knowing what to say. He was used to her blowing up at him like this, unfortunately, it had become a regular occurrence in their day to day lives. But when she picked up a bottle of wine, he held up his hands.

"Lori, I'm sorry. We have two kids, two car notes, a mortgage, and other bills to pay. I have to work."

"Oh, so you're saying you have to work because I'm not? I work too, Rick, but my job is twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and three hundred and sixty five God damn days a year. I don't get days off, or vacation time. I don't get to stay home and sit on my ass like you do when you have time off."

"That's not what I meant, Lori. I just…."

"No, Rick. You are not giving me any more excuses. We're both going through things that we should go through as a husband and a wife, not as separate people. This is our marriage, we're married and neither of us can make excuses anymore."

"I wasn't makin' an excuse, Lori. I want to talk to you but every time I try, you always end up talkin'. We have to put you first in every conversation we have."

Lori rolled her eyes again and shook her head. "You never volunteer to talk. You always sit there and pretend to listen."

"How the hell can I talk when you won't give me the chance to?" Rick asked, taking a step towards her. "I've tried to talk to you."

"Damn, that's rough," Daryl commented and took a sip of his beer.

"If you think that's rough, you should've heard what she said last night," Rick said. "She had the nerve to say she never should have come back to me. She said that shit in front of Carl."

Daryl shook his head. "Lori bitches at you fer shit that she caused an' did an' Beth bitches at me for shit she cooked up in 'er head. Man, I don't understand women."

Rick nodded in agreement, took a bite of his pizza and asked, "How'd things go with Dr. Linson?"

"That woman is fuckin' crazy. How tha hell did Lori find 'er in tha first place?"

"I think dome friend of hers used that doctor when she was havin' trouble with her marriage. Turns out, she got divorced anyway."

"When are you goin' ta see 'er?" Daryl asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Tomorrow. Lori is leavin' for Savannah tonight, goin' to carry the kids to see her parents, so I figured it would be better if I went while she was out of town."

"Damn, you think she'd take Beth with 'er?"

Rick chuckled and shook his head. "I don't think this is that kind of trip. It's more like she's runnin' away from things again."

"Mr. Grimes," Dr. Linson greeted him, shaking his hand. "I'm glad you decided to speak with me again."

Rick shrugged. "I'm only here because I don't want to lose my wife and kids."

Dr. Linson pursed her lips together and nodded as she and Rick both took a seat.

"Mr. Grimes, why exactly are you afraid of losing your wife and kids?"

"Lori's gone to Savannah to see her parents and she carried the kids with her."

"Well, that doesn't seem all that bad. She's going to visit her family and has not given you a reason to think she's leaving," she paused and studied his face. "Or has she? Is there a reason for you to think she's leaving?"

"Oh there's a reason, a big ass reason, for me to think that. I know what she does in Savannah because I used to be friends with him. That's why she carries the kids to see her parents every month."

She leaned forward. "Lori is being unfaithful to you?"

"Yeah," Rick grunted.

"Are you sure that's the reason she's going to Savannah? Is there any other reason you can think of for her to go, one that doesn't involve her going to see another man?"

"Yeah," Rick said again. "But that reason isn't any better."

"What reason is that?"

Dr. Linson sighed once she realized Rick wasn't going to give her an answer. "Mr. Grimes, your wife has asked me to evaluate your marriage. I can't do that properly unless you give me the information I am asking for. What is the other reason your wife is going to Savannah?"

Rick stared at the doctor before looking down at the floor. "She's carryin' our daughter to see him."

"Carrying your daughter to see him?" She questioned. "What do you mean?"

"It's part of the agreement," Rick mumbled. "No one knows about it but we have an agreement with Shane, the guy in Savannah, that he can have visits with Judy when and where we say as long as he doesn't mention them to anyone and he doesn't show up here."

"So the reasons for the visits are for Judith's biological father to have contact with her? Does Lori's family know about this?"

"No. I don't think they do. Carl doesn't either."

"So how does this make you feel? Your wife carrying your daughter to see her biological father, I mean."

"I told you. I feel like I'm goin' to lose them."

"That is a fear, Mr Grimes, and while that certainly qualifies as an emotion, it's not what you feel. Do you feel angry, jealous, sad, or maybe on some level you feel happy about this? Tell me what it is you feel."

"All of it, I guess. Lori did this but it still comes back on me. She left when I caught her, came back and we made up, and then we found out she was pregnant but somehow it's my fault this has happened. It's my fault our marriage is failin' even though she's the one who left."

Dr. Linson clicked her pen and wrote something down on her note pad. "Mr. Grimes, have you tried talking to your wife, letting her know how you feel about your situation?"

Rick shook his head, "I've tried talkin' to her but not about that."

"I see. When will she be back from her trip?"

"She should be back Sunday night."

"Okay," Dr. Linson took out one of her cards and wrote down a date and time then handed it to him. "I want to see both of you here on Monday at eight."

He quickly nodded and stood up but before he could make it to the door, she stopped him.

"One more thing, Mr. Grimes. I won't speak a word of this to your wife, this is between you and I. But, part of the program is learning to communicate better and to share what you are truly feeling. If you both continue with this program, this is something I expect you to be able to bring up on your own, either here in sessions or at home, and you will need to figure out if it's something that can be worked out."

"Yeah," Rick mumbled to himself as he walked out of her office.

Beth tapped her fingers on the steering wheel as she waited in the driveway at Rick and Lori's house.

She knew Lori would be out of town but she wasn't worried about that. They were all friends and she could have a conversation with Rick without Lori being there.

As soon as Rick pulled up, Beth jumped out of her car and started towards him, only stopping when she saw the hurt and nervousness on his face.

"Is something the matter?" she asked.

"Uh….no. Just dealin' with some stuff at work."

She nodded in understanding and turned to walk beside him.

"Speakin' of work," she said once they were on the front porch. "I need to ask you for a favor."

Rick nodded and opened the front door, both of them stepping inside. "Sure, anythin'. What'd you need?"

She nervously wrung her hands together. "Daryl's been around Merle and he's been….well, I just need you to look into Merle and maybe Daryl, too."

"No," Rick interrupted. "Daryl's my friend, he's my brother."

"Rick, please. You're the only one that understands what's goin' on. You know Daryl's on parole. If he's doin' what I think he is, he'll go back to prison and knowin' Merle, he'll think it's funny as hell."

"Beth," Rick put his hand on her shoulder. "I saw Daryl yesterday and he was clean. He wouldn't come around me if he was doin' somethin' he shouldn't be, you know that."

She choked back her tears but was unable to keep her voice from cracking when she spoke again. "It's just, well, you know how he gets when he's been around Merle. He's been that way for weeks now."

"Bethie, has he done anythin' to you? Have you seen him do anythin' or are you assumin' he has because he's gone to Merle's."

"No, he hasn't done anythin' to me but I have seen him smokin' a joint. I know that doesn't sound like such a bad thing but I know he got it from Merle and that in itself is bad."

He took his hand off of her shoulder and sighed. "I'll see what I can do but I'm not makin' any promises. You know if he's doin' somethin' I won't be the one to arrest him and neither will Shawn. It'll be up to the Sheriff and whoever he puts on the case."

She shook her head. "I'm not askin' you to arrest him or to get him in some kind of trouble, I just want to know what he's doin' and if it's somethin' that could get him into trouble."

"I told you I'll look into it but I can't…."

"Turn a blind eye. I know, Rick. Just let me know before you tell anyone else, including Shawn."

"You'll be the first one I call," Rick assured her.

"Mr. Dixon," Dr. Linson ushered him into her office. "First of all, thank you for agreeing to meet with me again and second, I wanted to discuss a few things you brought up in our previous session. This is something I would like to clear up before we continue your counseling and definitely before we schedule your wife to come in for a couple's session."

Daryl gave her a slight nod as he sat down on the couch in her office.

"The last time you were in here, you brought up an incident that you admit could be a reason you're afraid of becoming a father," she said once she had sat down at her desk and had taken out a note pad. "Would you mind telling me more about this?"

He shrugged and mumbled, "I don't know what to tell you."

"Oh but I believe you do. Was this a one-time thing or has it happened on multiple occasions?"

"Jus' once," he answered.

"Have you made excuses for why you did it? Is there an excuse you've used in order to justify your actions?"

"Ain't no excuse fer what I did."

"Mr. Dixon I find that in situations like this, there's always an excuse. It may not be something you've admitted out loud, it could be something you're just telling yourself so you won't feel as bad about what you did."

"Why tha hell are we even talkin' 'bout this?"

"You hit your wife, Mr. Dixon. Before we continue with this I would like to be sure there's no chance of that happening again because of something that was said during a session," she said sternly. "Now tell me, did you do this out of anger or some kind of outside influence?"

"I was high," he began. "I'd been at my brother's house for a few days an' when I got home she was there."

"So you're saying you hit her because she was there?"

"Naw," he shook his head. "That ain't what I's sayin'. Shit, I don't even remember half a what happened that night but I remember hittin' 'er an' goin' through the glass door."

He looked up to see Dr. Linson watching him with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Go on," she said.

"After I did that to 'er, I's gon' leave so I opened tha back door an' somehow I fell through tha slidin' glass door."

"Do you remember why you hit her? Did she say or do something that pissed you off?"

"Naw," he replied. "It wasn't her, she didn't do anythin'. From what I's told, I went off on tha cops too an' one of 'em was her brother, tha other was a good friend a mine. I woke up in tha hospital an' they told me tha drugs I'd taken were laced with somethin' else. Guess it was trippin' me out 'cause they all told me I's talkin' an' actin' crazy."

"Are you still using drugs?"

"I ain't doin' that shit again."

"You didn't answer my question. Are you still using drugs?"

"Naw," he shook his head and stared down at the floor.

"Okay. This seems to have been an isolated event but, if you're not using drugs, I don't see why you would worry about this becoming a common occurrence if there were children involved. Would you like to tell me about that now or would you rather wait and share it in a couple's session?"

He shrugged.

"Mr. Dixon, please understand that I am not here to judge you or your wife, I want to help you. You don't have to tell me about any of this now, or ever, but I do expect you to talk to Beth about this at some point, and I hope we will be able to discuss it and the incident during a session."

"Is that all ya needed, doc?"

She stood and walked over to him.

"That's all but before you go, can I ask you to try to talk to your wife? You need to learn how to communicate with her. Just sit down and tell her whatever is on your mind, even if it's not important, I'm sure she would appreciate you trying and she won't get upset with you. She just needs to know you're there with her and that you're not going to turn away from her."

Daryl stirred the pot of stew he had cooking on the stove then went around the kitchen gathering up the rest of the dinner he was preparing for him and Beth.

He wasn't too sure about talking to her, and he didn't really want to do it, but Dr. Linson had made him feel guilty, not just for what he had done to Beth but that he was sneaking around to see her just so he could avoid bringing all of this up at home. But Dr. Linson had told him he didn't have to, he could talk to Beth about anything and she wouldn't get mad.

Yeah, he didn't believe her or half the shit she said to him, but he was going to try.

He heard Beth pull into the driveway and hurried around to set the food out.

"Daryl?" Beth called out when she entered the house.

"In here," Daryl replied.

He could hear her moving around, probably taking off her shoes, and her light footsteps to the kitchen.

"Somethin' smells good," she said from the doorway. "What's the occasion?"

"Didn't know there needed ta be one."

She smiled. "There doesn't need to be one. I'm just a little surprised is all. Usually I cook or we get take out."

He turned back to the food and dipped some of the stew out into a bowl and sat it down at the table.

"Here," he motioned to the spot where he'd sat the bowl.

Beth moved to sit down while Daryl fixed his own bowl and sat down across from her.

They were both silent as they each took a few bites and waited for the other to speak.

"How was your day?" Beth finally asked, knowing he hated to be the first to talk.

"Good," he mumbled around the food in his mouth.

After several minutes, Daryl pushed his bowl away and sat up straight and cleared his throat.

"How was yours?"

She smiled again. "It was good. Thank you for askin'."

This wasn't going too bad, he was talking and looking directly at her. He was happy with himself for doing that.

"I's thinkin' 'bout what you said, us needin' help an' all, an' I think you was right. There's some things that need ta be fixed with us."

She sat her spoon down and pushed her own bowl aside. "What do you think we need to fix?"

He shrugged. "I don't know but maybe we can work it out somehow."

She nodded in agreement. "I'd like that. Should I call Dr. Linson and set up an appointment?"

And there it was.

He felt himself choking on the word no and staring down at the kitchen table.

What would she think if they went to see this doctor and she brought up everything he had told her? She would surely be pissed then.

"Daryl, is everythin' alright?"

When she moved to stand up he stood and when she stepped towards him, he ran. Just like he always did. He went out the backdoor and headed straight for the woods.

He stepped into the shadows of the trees and turned back to look at the house where he could see Beth, standing there with her arms hugged around herself and crying.

He sat down against a tree, still out of sight from her but he could see the house, and took out a cigarette.