I have five parts for this story planned. Just a short, little family story so we can check in and see how they're doing.

…

"Where the hell you goin'?" Daryl asked Hunter as Hunter moved towards the front door, putting on his jacket. Daryl thought he would want to stick around and help him interrogate Max when the kid came to pick Abby up in just a few more minutes.

"Heading out," Hunter said. "With Uncle Merle."

And normally, that would make Daryl stop him right then and there and make Hunter tell him just what exactly he would be doing with his Uncle Merle, but right now, Daryl had bigger things on his mind; like how not to punch a thirteen-year-old kid who was coming to pick up his daughter for their date.

Date.

The word just felt wrong on his tongue.

Hunter left and Daryl remained standing in the hallway, staring at the grandfather's clock that Beth had insisted they get from the second-hand furniture store as it counted down the minutes. Abby said that Max and his mom would be picking her up at five and ever since she had come home from school, she had been upstairs and Beth had been with her and Daryl had no idea what they could be doing. He wasn't too sure that he even wanted to know.

A date. Christ. Daryl didn't know how he was going to make it through tonight. Having boys was different. For the obvious reasons, of course, but really, with boys, you could just throw them in the deep end to see if they sank or swam and if they began to sink, you dove in and taught them how to swim. Girls though, daughters, you had to start off in the shallow end and your hands could never be too far away to catch them if they even thought of beginning to go under.

That was how he did it anyway and he didn't think any of his kids had turned out too bad with that parenting technique.

But as if being a girl didn't make her different enough already, Abby was the first female Dixon in years. It had been quite a few branches on the soiled family tree before a girl was actually born into the Dixon family and didn't willingly enter into it through marriage. Even if the Dixon's were close to one another and shared the sort of relationships to seek and share advice, no one in the family would be able to help Daryl as to how he was to raise a girl.

He had just done what he always did and followed his instincts so that was what he tried to do right now as he waited for both Max to arrive to pick Abby up and for Abby to come down the stairs from her bedroom.

Abby was going to be going out on her first date tonight and there wasn't anything that Daryl could do to stop it, but he thought of the ground rules he was going to set because there damn well were going to be rules. A lot of rules they had to follow.

The minutes ticked by until it was almost five o'clock and Daryl wondered if Abby and Max would object to having their first date in the living room where Daryl could sit in one of the armchairs and watch their every move the whole evening.

…

Beth knew she was being silly and she told herself that over and over again, but she couldn't help herself. As she finished the braid she was working on and pinned it back with the bobby pins from between her teeth, she felt tears stinging her eyes.

"What's wrong?" Abby signed to her.

"Nothing, baby," Beth answered with a shake of her head. She then gave her daughter a smile. "There. I'm all done."

Abby smiled and then stood from the bed and crossed the room to the mirror hanging on the wall above her dresser. She wore her blonde hair down as she always did, but she had had Beth braid the front locks and then pin them back. She wore the same green dress she had worn to school that day, but had put on a soft gray cardigan sweater over it so her arms weren't bare and Abby stood back enough where she could look at most of herself in the mirror's reflection.

Beth stood up as well and looked at Abby as she looked herself over and she couldn't help, but sniffle. Her baby girl looked so beautiful and she was going out on her first date tonight. Beth couldn't help, but be emotional.

Though Beth and Daryl didn't see a single thing wrong with her, Beth knew that Abby, most of the time, didn't feel normal and it wasn't just because of her hearing – though plenty of kids at school had made fun of her for it. She didn't feel normal because she liked to go barefoot and read an endless amount of books and slip into the woods for hours at a time. Beth remembered herself at this age, experimenting with makeup and hair styles and giggling with her friends over the hottest new celebrity. That wasn't Abby. It never had been and never would be and Beth loved her daughter and who she was more than anyone in this world.

And she knew Daryl would argue with anyone who tried to tell him this, but Abby was excited for her date for Max tonight for one reason. It made her feel normal.

Abby spun towards Beth and smoothed her hands down the front of her dress. "I look alright?" She asked, the first sign of nerves beginning to creep in.

Beth smiled and stepped forward, tucking a bit of hair behind her ear. "You look beautiful," she said and Abby, blessed with her mom's pale complexion, promptly burst into an obvious blush.

Beth kissed her on the forehead and Abby smiled up at her.

"You be yourself tonight," Beth then told her. "He wants to go out with you tonight so he can spend more time with you. Not a girl you think you should be."

Abby didn't say anything to that, but she nodded and was looking more nervous now and Beth gave her a smile and another kiss on the forehead.

"Come on. He should be coming soon," Beth said and Abby nodded, visibly swallowing as she looked at her reflection one more time. "Are your aids up?" She then thought to ask and again, Abby nodded.

"Beth!" Daryl then called from downstairs. "He's here!"

Beth looked to Abby and the girl had completely frozen, her fingers tangled in the hem of her dress, and her eyes widened. Beth pursed her lips together to keep from smiling and she put an arm around her daughter's shoulders.

"You're going to have a wonderful time and I already can't wait to hear all about it when you get home later tonight," Beth told her, gently guiding her towards the closed door of her bedroom.

Beth opened it, but Abby stopped herself before stepping out.

"What are you and dad going to do tonight without me home?" Abby asked because she was always home and usually, with not having school tomorrow, they would more than likely pick a movie to watch together and make popcorn or watch a string of episodes of Cupcake Wars if it was on the television.

Beth thought of how Daryl had been over the past couple of days and she did her best to make sure her smile didn't give too much away. "I'm sure we'll find something to do," was all she said. "Oh! Your shoes. Don't forget your shoes!"

Abby looked down to her bare feet as if it hadn't even occurred to her that she would have to wear shoes and Beth admitted that it had almost completely slipped her mind as well. The only time Abby's feet were covered at all times was in the winter. But as soon as the seasons changed and the sun and ground were both warm enough, her shoes came off and stayed off for the majority of the time. Even in school, she wore black ballet flat shoes so she could slip her feet out of them as she sat at her desk.

Abby went to go slip on those shoes now and she then turned back to Beth.

"I don't want to kiss him," she signed to Beth. "Do I have to kiss him?"

"No, Abby," Beth immediately responded, firmly, walking to her and putting her hands on her shoulders, holding onto her. She shook her head. "You do not have to do anything you don't want to do. Ever. No matter what people say, you do what you want to do and you do what feels right."

Abby was quiet for a moment, thinking that over. "I don't know how to kiss," she then signed, her eyes lowering to the floor.

Beth smiled and putting a hand on Abby's chin, she guided her head back up so they could look at one another. "I had no idea how to kiss either," she said. "And when I had my first kiss, I was terrified that I didn't know what I was doing. But it was okay because the boy didn't know what he was doing either."

Abby frowned a little. "I bet Max has kissed tons of girls already," she said quietly.

"Well, then, I bet that if you two ever do kiss, he's going to hate it that he didn't just wait until you were his first kiss, too," Beth said and when Abby's lips began turning upwards into a little smile, Beth smiled, too.

…

Daryl looked at the little punk standing in his front hallway and he didn't even try to hide his frown directed right at the kid. Of course he was going to frown at the kid. What the hell was he going to do? Shake his hand and offer him a Coke? Hell. No.

This kid was the one to call her a jellyfish. No brain, no bones and no heart. And Daryl didn't care that the kid had apologized to Abby and had meant it and was now taking her out because the point was that this kid even thought of saying something that cruel to his daughter in the first place.

He knew that Max played football and because of that, he was probably considered one of the "cool" kids. School had this whole stupid social pyramid that didn't mean shit once a person left school, but kids never seemed to realize that.

The kid looked nervous. He wasn't able to hide it. Good, Daryl thought to himself. He should be nervous. He was about to take his Ms. Abby out. His only daughter. This kid was lucky he didn't answer the door, holding his crossbow and Max was lucky that Daryl liked his mom, Lydia, enough and feared his own wife just enough to stop himself from escalating it to that level.

Max didn't know it, but he was lucky that Hunter and Merle weren't there with them. They had no obligation to either Lydia or Beth to not kill him where he stood.

"Mr. Dixon," Max spoke suddenly and quickly and Daryl had already been staring at him and he kept doing so now, not saying a word. He just waited and Max swallowed and shifted a little on his feet. "I've already apologized to Abby, but I need to apologize to you, too."

Daryl still didn't say anything and his face remained blank so Max wouldn't be able to see that he was caught off guard.

"I'm really sorry," Max continued and it was obvious the kid wanted to drop his eyes to the floor, but he kept himself looking at Daryl. "I shouldn't have said it and I'm a jerk for even thinking of saying something like that about Abby."

"Not arguin' with you on that," Daryl spoke, his voice rough and gruff and Max's eyes finally did drop to the floor and he visibly swallowed again. He heard a door open upstairs and he looked up the stairs, but they weren't coming yet. He looked back to Max. "I don't think I need to tell you what'll happen if you hurt her again," he said and he wasn't even going to try and disguise it as anything other than a threat because that was exactly what it was.

"No, Mr. Dixon," Max's shake of the head was immediate and he looked terrified and Daryl supposed that would have to be good enough for now. At least the kid had had the balls to apologize. He didn't know if too many others would have bothered.

Both turned their heads and looked up the stairs when they saw Abby and Beth coming down, Abby coming down first and Beth behind, with a soft smile on her face. Daryl couldn't stop looking at his daughter. She was only thirteen and he didn't care how kids acted nowadays. Thirteen was still a damn kid. But tonight, she was thirteen and she was wearing a dress as she usually did, but she looked nervous, but she was still smiling and she looked so damn pretty. He knew his opinion was probably a little biased, but he always thought his daughter was beautiful. She was a mirror image of her mama. A mini-Beth and he thought his wife and daughter were beautiful all of the time.

But tonight, there was something different about her. She was still beautiful, but there was something else, too, and Daryl didn't know what.

Abby gave Daryl a small smile and then looked back to Max, coming to a stop in front of him, and both of them looked as nervous as the other.

Beth stopped on the bottom step and Daryl looked to her, but she was watching Max and Abby and it looked like she was about to start crying at any second.

"Hi," Abby – surprisingly – spoke first.

"Hi," Max quickly spoke in return. "You look… beautiful," he then said, whispering the last word too soft for Abby to hear and she leaned her head in a little, her brow furrowed, and Max, realizing that even with her hearing aids in, he lifted his eyes and looked at her. "You look really nice," he said this time and Abby smiled.

Daryl cleared his throat then and both kids looked at him.

"You got a curfew, Abby," he said and even though she had never had one before, she was going out with a boy tonight and she sure as hell had one now. "Eight o'clock."

"I'll tell my mom," Max nodded.

"And you'll just be at Marco's?" Beth spoke up.

"Yes, ma'm," Max answered. "I figured we'd get a pizza and then play in the arcade." He looked to Abby then before looking back to her parents. "If Abby wants to."

"That sounds like fun," Beth smiled and she moved her eyes to Abby and as if feeling them, Abby looked to Beth as well and Beth smiled at her.

Daryl frowned though.

That sounded like a terrible idea. Abby hated loud noises. That's why she loved the woods so much. That's why she hated going anywhere near the thoroughfare of the state's fair when they went and much rather preferred looking at the animals and jars of preserves people entered for ribbons. Luke and Hunter always went to go play the games and ride the rides, but Abby always wanted to find a spot in the world that was as quiet as she heard it.

When her aids were in and turned on, loud noises were her least favorite thing in the world. Living in rural Georgia was probably one of the best places for her to live.

Her teachers had all learned that and when there were thunderstorms during school, Abby had permission to turn her hearing aids off. Fire alarm drills for the students were always terrible days for her and she would clamp her hands over her ears and close her eyes and wish for it to all be done.

Taking her to an arcade with bells and sirens and other people playing games, to Daryl, it damn near sounded like it was an evening designed to torture Abby.

And as if Beth could read his mind, her hand gently slipped onto his shoulder and Daryl saw why. He may have been frowning, but Abby definitely wasn't. Girl was smiling as if she had never heard of anything better. And Max was looking so damn nervous, but he looked at Abby and saw her reaction and he started to relax.

"Are you ready to go?" Max asked and Abby nodded.

Beth stepped down from the bottom step and she and Daryl followed them to the front door. Lydia Moraine, Max's mom, was waiting in the car, behind the wheel in their dirt drive, and when she saw them, she waved and Beth waved in return.

"Have fun," Beth told them both.

Daryl said nothing, but he stood there and watched them and couldn't help, but frown at the whole thing. He was actually watching his daughter leave on her first date.

It was times like these when he really had no idea how he got to this place.

"Good night, Mrs. Dixon. Good night, Mr. Dixon," Max said to them as he and Abby climbed down the front porch steps.

"Good night, Max," Beth smiled at him. Daryl grunted something, but even he didn't know what he had intended for it to mean.

Beth and Daryl stayed on the porch as watched as Max and Abby walked side-by-side – enough distance between them where not even their arms brushed together. At the back of the car, Max opened the door for Abby and she gave him a shy smile before she slid into the seat and he closed the door behind her and walking around the car to get into the other side next to her. Lydia smiled and turned in her seat, saying something to Abby, and Abby smiled shyly in reply. Abby then turned and looked at Beth and Daryl through her window, still standing on the front porch. Beth gave a smile and a wave as Lydia pulled out of the driveway and then, a moment later, it was no one, but Beth and Daryl and the crickets.

Beth turned her smile on Daryl. "Very good job for not making him pee in our front hall," she said, only partially teasing.

"I still don't like this," he grumbled with a frown.

"I know," Beth nodded and she rubbed her hands on his chest. "But, just remember. It really doesn't matter if you like it or not."

"Yeah," Daryl said.

He couldn't really argue with that because Abby had just looked so damn happy and there was no way around it. He had meant what he said to Max, though. Hurting Abby in any way, shape or form would result in swift action on Daryl's part and he thought that Max was an idiot, but not that much of an idiot where he would do something and invite Daryl to kill him.

"Well, I actually thought you'd be a little happier," Beth said, breaking through his thoughts, and he looked at her as she gave him a smile, her hands still rubbing on his chest, and it took him barely a second to catch on.

They were alone. They had the house to themselves for the next three hours.

Hell, yeah, Daryl was happy – about that at least – and he dropped his hands to her hips and gave them a squeeze with a little smile, making Beth let out a laugh.

…

Abby and Max's date in the next chapter. Thank you very much for reading and please take a moment to review!