"Thinkin' about ya"

Daryl quickly typed a text message to Beth, while walking over towards a jumper cable sitting on the garage floor. It was mid-Monday morning and even though the shop was pretty busy, he couldn't get the past weekend out of his mind. It was the best two-day's he'd had in a long, long time.

"Hey Daryl, can you grab that wrench too?" Glen shouted over to him, and Daryl quickly slipped his phone back into his pocket and grabbed both the cable and the wrench, eventually making his way back over towards the car he and Glen were currently working on. "So, you haven't said anything all morning… you know, about you and Beth's little weekend getaway", Glen asked, his eyebrows shifting up and down as he insinuated that there was much to tell.

"There's nothing to say" Daryl said blatantly, not giving any reaction to Glen's guesswork.

Glen rolled his eyes, "Nothing to say? C'mon dude, did you talk to her about what you told me? Are you guys seeing each other or something now?"

Daryl continued working under the hood of the car, eventually muttering back in response, "Yeah, we talked… and I don't know, I guess were seein' eachother, if that's what you wanna' call it"

"Oh shit! For real?" a smile appeared across Glen's face and his eyes lit up, he was truly happy to hear Daryl's answer, "That's awesome dude, I'm happy for you guys"

Daryl nodded, trying to be as nonchalant as possible. He never really knew how to react when people made comments like that, because it didn't happen very often. Suddenly Daryl's phone buzzed and he dipped his oil stained hands into his pocket to retrieve it, finding a text from Beth across the screen,

"Thinkin' about you too… see you tonight?"

A small grin cracked across Daryl's face, and Glen immediately noticed, "That's her, ain't it?" he asked, poking at him for his expression; but Daryl ignored him, and sent a text back to Beth,

"Yes. Come to my place at 6, hummingbird :)"

"Hello?" Glen waved his hands to get Daryl's attention.

"What?" Daryl grunted as he placed his phone back into his pocket, "Yeah, it's her alright? Happy?"

"Ha! That is so awesome dude… we should totally go on a double date, you, me, Maggie, and Beth. It'll be fun"

Daryl massaged the bridge of his nose, trying to hold back a laugh, "Yeah we'll see… c'mon, we need to finish this shit" he said as he bent down towards the engine, "I gotta' get out of here on time tonight"

"Got it" Glen said with a sarcastic smile, knowing that Daryl wanted to leave on time so he could see Beth.

XxxxX

Daryl set his keys down on his kitchen table, undressing himself as he did so. He needed to jump in a shower and clean the oil stains off of him before Beth arrived, and he hadn't had much time left to do so. After leaving the shop, he quickly ran to the nearest super market to pick up something for the two of them to eat, being that he didn't have much of anything at his apartment. He basically had zero cooking skills though, and so the only thing he'd ever been able to make well enough for someone to actually consume, was breakfast. He wasn't sure Beth would enjoy eggs, bacon and croissants for dinner; but he took his chances, cause he knew if he even attempted anything else it might have turned out to be a disaster.

After making his way into the bathroom and taking no more than a ten minute shower, he returned to the living area, quickly dressing himself and drying out his shaggy hair with the towel. It was already 5:30 and Beth would be there soon, so he figured he'd start cooking the food on a low flame so I'd be almost finished by the time she arrived.

After setting the bacon in a frying pan on the stove and placing the croissants in the oven, his phone started going off on the table. Expecting it to be Beth, he quickly wiped his hands and jogged towards it; but it wasn't it Beth, it was Carol. After a few seconds of wondering why she'd be calling him, he picked up, assuming it must be something involving Sophia.

"Hello?" Daryl answered.

"Hey Daryl, it's me" she said plainly.

"Yeah I know Carol, what's up? Is Sophia okay?"

"Oh, yeah- no Sophia's fine. Listen I've gotta' talk to you, do you have a minute? It's important"

Daryl glanced over at the time, it was 5:45; but nonetheless, she said it was important.

"Yeah, I've got time. What's goin' on?" he said,

"Okay, so a woman named Jacqui Prescott came knockin' on the door this morning, she said she was an associate from some law firm here in town, and she was askin' for you, and whether or not I know about your whereabouts"

Daryl's eyes narrowed, "And, what did you say?"

"Well I told her I didn't know where you were; but she then asked to sit down and talk with me instead. Somehow she knew about Sophia being our daughter… Anyway, so we sat down and she pulled out this big ol' stack of paperwork. She said your father had an estate of some sort, and in his will everything was left to you"

Daryl found himself lowering onto the seat next to the table, trying to process exactly what Carol was telling him.

"What estate? What the fuck could he have had? And why on earth would he leave it to me? The fuckin' guy hated my guts"

"I don't know Daryl; but, it's a substantial amount of money… like I'm talkin' half a million dollars"

"What?!" Daryl said in exasperation, "There's no fuckin' way"

"But there is" Carol said plainly, "So, she said that it was left in your name, and that your brother is the beneficiary; but she doesn't know his whereabouts either"

"Nobody fuckin' does… he could be rotting dead for all anyone knows"

"I know, I told her that, and see that's the thing…" she hesitated for a second, "if they cannot locate you or your brother within a certain period of time, then the estate goes to next of kin; which means Sophia, that's what I need to talk to you about"

Daryl massaged the bridge of his nose, He still couldn't get past the fact that his father had all this secret money stashed somewhere and yet they could barely afford to keep the damn lights on in their house.

"So let them give it to Sophia… I don't want that assholes money" he finally said, shaking his head as he reached for a cigarette.

"Daryl… this is a lot of money we're talkin' about" Carol tried to reason; but he wasn't having it.

"I don't give a shit! I don't want anything that has to do with him… I don't have it now, and I don't need it. I never took a hand out from him ever in my entire life, and I ain't about to do it now that he's dead either"

The conversation grew silent for a few minutes, until Daryl continued.

"Jus' let them turn it over to Sophia… she could use it for college or somethin' when she's older"

"You're gonna' have to contact this woman than… otherwise, I'd be committing a crime by lying and saying that I don't know your whereabouts. You have to contact them and transfer it to Sophia, if that's what you want to do"

"Whatever, does the woman have a number?"

"Yes, it's 555-8525. She said she's in the office from 9-4 Monday through Friday. Call her and talk to her, maybe you might change your mind… jus' hear her out"

"I'm not gonna' change my mind, but I'll call her, so I can find out how to get this shit over with"

"Fine. Just let me know what's goin' on after you talk to her"

"Aright I will"

Daryl was about to get ready to hang up the phone; but then Carol continued.

"Daryl, the only thing is… what if Merle is out there somewhere?"

"I doubt it" Daryl said as he spoke about his brother, the thought still pained him, "It's been too long, god only knows what happened to em'"

Carol didn't say anything, afraid to say anything wrong.

"Listen I gotta' go" Daryl said as he heard the chugging of Beth's engine pulling up outside, "I'll call you when I talk to this woman"

"Alright"

"Tell Sophia I love her" Daryl said quickly before hanging the phone up and getting up to open his front door and greet Beth.

He had no idea what to even think, and his mind was a complete mess after that conversation. All he knew was that he hated his father more at that moment, and then he ever did.

"Hey you" Beth said with a big smile as Daryl opened the door and let her inside.

"Hey" he responded in a low tone, his voice a little hardened and his mind a bit distracted as he shut the door behind her.

Beth leaned forward to kiss him lightly on the lips, and immediately noticed his uneasy facial expression.

"What's wrong?" she asked, a little worried that he was mad at her for some reason.

"Nothin', sorry, I was jus' thinkin' about somethin', that's all" he lied and then kissed Beth back on the lips, "I'm glad you're here"

Beth reciprocated the kiss; but she still wondered whether or not something was actually wrong with Daryl, "Do I smell bacon?" she said with a confused grin, glancing over towards the pan on the stove.

"Yeah, I uh- I don't know, it was the only thing I could think of to get" Daryl said a little nervous, "Are you a fan of breakfast for dinner? Cause if not, I won't be offended"

Beth gave a warm smile and placed her finger on Daryl's lips, in efforts to quiet him from rambling out of nervousness, "Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day, its perfect okay?" Daryl gave a quick nod and Beth lowered her fingers, "I brought you something" she said and quickly reached into her bag; Daryl's eyebrows creasing in curiosity as she grabbed a medium sized box out of her bag.

"What's this?" he asked as she handed it to him.

"Jus' open it" she directed with a big smile on her face, "It's nothing too crazy, jus' thought you'd like it"

Daryl slowly opened the plain white box and pulled a medium sized frame out of it, which held a picture of him and his daughter at the park this past weekend. Sophia was hugging him tightly and they were both looking at the camera with big smiles on their faces. Daryl just stared at the picture for a few minutes, totally captivated by it. No one ever gave him anything really, his entire life, and even though it wasn't anything fancy, it was the best gift he could have ever received.

His eyes met Beth's and his hand immediately rose to her cheek, pulling her towards him and kissing her gently in between whispering "Thank you" to her a few times. After, he then wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tightly as he felt an overwhelming amount of thankfulness for having such a kind hearted and caring person in his life.

"So I guess it's safe to say that you like it then huh?" Beth said jokingly as Daryl loosened his grip around her.

"I fuckin' love it Beth, seriously, thank you… this is… amazing" he said as he looked back down at the picture again.

"Good, I'm glad. And you're welcome" she said with a smile, "I figured you needed some pictures around in here"

"That's for sure" he said, and then made his way over towards the desk, where he stood the frame up on top of it, "perfect" he said as he adjusted it just right.

Beth smiled as she watched and then took a seat on the couch. Daryl walked over and kissed her once more on the lips, before handing her the remote.

"I don't have cable or nothin' but you can find somethin' to watch while I finish cookin'"

Beth nodded and Daryl began walking over towards the kitchen.

"I can get used to this ya' know?" Beth shouted out jokingly, and Daryl turned around to see the blonde kicking her shoes off and stretching out on the couch, while she flicked through the limited channels.

"Oh yeah?" he shouted back as he started cracking open a couple of eggs, "I'll do it every day if you wanted; but under one condition though…"

Beth turned around on the couch with a smirk on her face, "Oh yeah, and what's that?"

Daryl turned around momentarily and gave her a quick wink, "As long as you provide the dessert" he said with a frisky smirk followed by a quick glide of his tongue across his top lip.

Beth blushed; just the thought made her body quiver, she'd never been so attracted to someone before, "We'll see" she said playfully before turning around and laughing at her own stubbornness.

Daryl just shook his head and continued cooking the food. Her playing hard to get was even more enticing to him.

XxxxX

Daryl leaned back lethargically against the couch, pulling Beth in towards him; her head resting against his chest as they both coped with the results of having full stomachs.

"Thank you for cooking for me" Beth said softly, as she entwined her fingers with Daryl's, softly stroking his thumb with hers.

"It was nothing special… jus' eggs and bacon" he said plainly.

"So what… it was still special to me" she said, glancing up at him through the corner of her eyes, "I'm really jus' a simple girl Daryl… I don't need anything fancy ya' know… jus' the effort is enough for me"

Daryl was unsure of what to say, all he knew was that he'd never had feelings for anyone so deeply in his entire life.

"You're somethin' else, ya' know that Beth" he whispered, staring down at the blonde cuddled in his arms, "I'm serious, I've never met anyone like ya' before"

Beth smiled as she stared at their entwined fingers, "Here I thought you hated me the first night we met" she said with a small laugh and Daryl let a chuckle slip from his mouth as well.

"Ha! I did, at that point… I thought you were nosey and annoying" he said while continuing to laugh, and Beth playfully nudged him with her elbow. "But I don't know… the more I talked to ya', it's like we jus' clicked or somethin'… I don't know, sounds cheesy I guess" he said, the laughter settling and his tone becoming softer.

"It's not cheesy" Beth argued, "I think it's sweet, and besides… after how I acted in the barn that night, I'm surprised you even spoke to me again… I'm surprised you didn't think I was jus' some classless dumb college girl whore or somethin'"

"Nah" Daryl said softly, "I knew you were jus' drunk and upset… although, I have to admit, I almost couldn't say no to you though"

Beth giggled, "Well I'm glad you did" she said, turning her face towards him, "I like that I can actually remember the first time anything happened between us"

Daryl stared at Beth's face, the moonlight from the window shining in and highlighting her features perfectly. He gently slid his finger across her forehead, swiping her blonde hair to the side as she snuggled into his shoulder.

"I have a question for you" he said softly, returning his hand back into hers, "you never told me what you're studying in college"

"Social Work" Beth replied simply, "I want to work with foster children someday"

Daryl nodded, but he wasn't shocked at all. Seeing the way Beth was with Sophia, he could tell that she had a way with children; that she was patient and loving.

"Wow" he said simply, "you really are amazing Beth, seriously"

Beth smiled and then turned to kiss him softly, "So are you Daryl Dixon, so are you".

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Carol walked outside to her job parking lot; she had a fifteen minute break to kill and she wanted to enjoy every minute of it, being that she was working a long nine-hour, over-night shift.

As she leaned up against the cement wall, she pulled her phone out of her pocket to make sure she didn't have any missed calls. After seeing nothing on the screen, she placed it back into her pocket and then leaned her head back, taking in the view of the night sky and shutting her eyes momentarily as she felt a wave of tiredness rush over her.

"Well, well, well" a familiar scruffy voice flooded her ears, "Don't you look tired"

Carol shot her head forward to find the one man she never expected to see standing in front of her again, "Merle?" she asked, completely confused.

A big devilish grin cracked across his scruffy face as he confirmed her question without even having to answer. Carol just looked at him, he eyes widened and her expression quickly changing from confusion to worry.

XxxxxX

A/N: I know a cliffhanger? Sorry! :) But get ready, cause things are about to shake up!

Again, thanks for the love guys, I appreciated it!

Until next time… xoxo