hapter 4: Chapter 4
a/n - I apologise for the delay in updating this story. If people are still interested in this AU Bethyl I am happy to keep it going over the summer :)
Beth stumbled out of the empty bar, linking arms with her best friend Amy.
"He's cute right?" Amy asked, chewing on her thumbnail, glancing over to where Randall was sat in his car looking back at them.
Beth shrugged, raising her eyebrows. He certainly wasn't her type, but Amy seemed pretty into him.
"Amy, come on," Randall called out impatiently, honking the horn.
It was past midnight and Bob's bar was about to close. After one too many tequila shots, Beth and Amy had called it a night. Beth had been slightly relieved, watching her friend flirting with Randall and his friends all night hadn't exactly been her idea of fun. Especially when a few of them had tried their luck flirting with her too.
She had been polite, but they weren't her type of guys. Too sleazy and loud, arrogant even. Clearly just hoping to get lucky for the night, they hadn't shown any real interest in anything she'd had to say.
"I'm sorry Zach didn't show up," Amy said, hiccuping slightly. Her focus all on Randall, looking over to where his head was poking out the side of his car window, grinning over at her.
"Really, Amy, it's fine," Beth stated firmly, rolling her eyes a little. "There is life after the guy who doesn't call after one date," she quipped, her lips breaking in to a forced smile. Zach was now the last thing on Beth's mind. Weird how she could go from obsessing over one guy, to someone else appearing out of the blue, making her realise how meaningless it had actually been.
Amy smiled too, looking back to Beth, her green eyes turning serious, "Want me to see if Randall can give you a ride home?" she asked. "I feel bad leaving you here on your own to wait for Glenn."
"No, I'm fine," Beth was quick to reply.
"Well if you're sure," Amy responded seriously still. Before her face turned more playful again, and she added with a small twinkle in her eye, "You could always call Deputy Dixon to come and pick you up again, I'm sure he'd be more than happy to oblige."
Beth felt her cheeks flush slightly, Amy had taken great delight in teasing her earlier, having spotted her getting out of Daryl's patrol car.
"You're blushing," Amy teased some more.
Beth shook her head, "He was coming this way anyway. It was one favour," she responded, unable to stop herself from smiling too.
"Well maybe he'll be expecting a favour in return," Amy giggled.
"Amy, aint got all night," Randall yelled.
"Go," Beth said waving her hand at her friend. "Glenn will be along to pick me up any minute, I'll be fine," she promised.
"Okay," Amy leaned in to hug her friend quickly.
"But be safe," Beth said quietly, before Amy dashed off.
Watching Randall's car speed in to the distance, Beth wrapped her arms around her chest. She slid her phone out of her purse. Maggie had text her earlier to say Glenn would stop by on his way home from work to pick her up, but he was late. The street was pretty deserted too. Unlike Atlanta, Beth's small home town turned dead after midnight.
Putting her phone back in her purse, Beth glanced down at the card she had stuffed in there earlier. Daryl's card. The mischievous side of her was tempted to call him now, to thank him again, maybe even see if he was in the area. She had tried to act casual around Amy, but the truth was, she was crushing on the sullen, handsome deputy sheriff, badly. But she knew it was just the alcohol making her think like that, she wouldn't normally contemplate calling a guy she barely knew at this time of night. Instead Beth fastened up the clutch on her purse, she wasn't brave, or possibly stupid enough to do something crazy like that. Instead she would just wait until she ran into him again by chance, giving him a shy smile, hoping to start a conversation to get to know him a little better. Right now she settled for just remembering the short car ride they had shared earlier.
It had been nothing really, just a lift into town, because he happened to be going that way too and it was the right thing to do as a sheriff's deputy. Rick or Shane, would surely have offered to do the same thing too.
A simple car ride or not though, Beth couldn't brush aside the butterflies she had experienced when she had noticed him looking at her the way he had as she had climbed out. She had seen him pretending not to be checking her out when his eyes had taken a peek at her legs and ass. Up until that point she'd had no idea what he had been thinking. The more she had chatted to him the more he had opened up, but she still knew next to nothing about him or what he thought of her, expect that he had sneaked a quick look at her body in those last few seconds before he had dropped her off.
A thought that excited her more than a little.
She looked up the dimly lit street as suddenly the bright lights of a car came into vision, and Beth breathed out a small sigh of relief presuming it was Glenn, the alcohol from earlier still rushing around her as she waited for him to pull up in front of her.
But as the car got closer she could quite clearly see that it wasn't Glenn. It was a dark coloured car with blacked out windows. It slowed down a little as it passed her, and Beth could make out a man with dark brown hair peering out at her through the tinted glass. She froze, something about him made her feel a little uneasy from where she was stood all alone outside the deserted bar.
To her relief, he then sped off, leaving her stood alone on the dark street once again.
She shivered a little, wondering whether perhaps she should have taken up Amy's offer of a ride with Randall, or even whether she should just call Daryl, he did say to contact him if she ever needed anything.
But before she had the chance to debate with herself internally any further, she could see a car suddenly appearing in the distance again driving slowly towards her. Beth felt her heart rate quickly speed up, hoping it wasn't the same creep from before back to take another look.
"Beth," Glenn said winding down the window, as the car pulled up beside her.
Beth smiled, looking over to see Glenn's bright red Porsche, she had never been so pleased to see her sister's boyfriend.
"I'm sorry I'm late, got held up," he explained as she climbed into the car next to him and he flashed her a friendly grin.
"Oh it's fine, thanks for stopping by," Beth replied, with a grateful smile in return.
Beth liked Glenn, he was smart, funny and the nicest of all the guys her sister had dated by a mile. He could be a little clueless at times, but he was good for Maggie and one of the family now.
Sinking back in to the comfortable leather seat of the immaculate air conditioned car, Beth suddenly felt another rush from all the alcohol she had consumed that night rush around her system. She hiccuped as she fastened her seatbelt, putting her hand up to her mouth as her blonde hair fell over her eye.
"Good night?" Glenn asked, grinning some more as they drove off.
Beth nodded, embarrassed, as she tried to stall her hiccups, before she replied, "I guess," forcing a little smile this time.
"Let me guess, you were out with Amy?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.
"Yep," Beth replied, hiccuping again, feeling like a naughty college kid again. Sometimes it was hard to remember she was an adult now, going out drinking in bars with her crazy friend Amy was completely legal and above board these days, even if did amuse the likes of Glenn still.
"You should try drinking leaning over a cup," he said, amused still, "For the hiccups."
Beth shot him an unamused look.
As if reading her body language Glenn turned up the stereo in the car, filling the air with music as they drove on in silence.
Beth glanced out the window, allowing her blonde hair to fall over her face some more as she tried to hold her breath to get rid of her hiccups and sober up a little. her big dreamy eyes following the dark shadowy outlines of the pretty rural Georgian countryside. No matter how much she might moan about being bored here, this was home. It always would be.
In no time at all, they seemed to be on the long deserted road leading to the Greene family farm. Rather than find it in total darkness as usual though, it was brightly lit by flashing lights and a couple of vehicles parked at the end.
Getting nearer they could see the lights were coming from police cars, there were a few people stood around too, and a barrier barricading off the end of the road.
"What the hell?" Glenn muttered, as he brought the car to a halt.
Beth put her hand to her mouth in shock, suddenly remembering her conversation with Daryl from earlier. Lizzie Sammuels was missing, that together with these cars and official looking people didn't look good and her heart sank.
A figure approached them, tapping on Glenn's window. He pressed the button to open it.
"You can't get through there, there's been an incident," it was Tara, the new trainee deputy from the sheriff's department.
"We have to get through there, we live down there," Glenn exclaimed. "What's going on?" he asked sounding a little panicked.
"We can't say anything yet, there has been a serous incident and we're handling it," she responded a little robotically.
"Well we need to get down there," Glenn repeated a little angrier this time.
She nodded, "Wait there," she said, walking off.
Glenn put his hand up to run it through his jet black hair in frustration and worry. Beth quickly opened her mouth to tell him about Lizzie, but before she got the chance another figure in uniform appeared at his window.
Beth felt a flutter of butterflies as she recognised the familiar scraggly dark hair and deep blue eyes. It was Daryl. His eyes instantly floated over in her direction, meeting with hers in an unspoken communication.
"There a problem here?" he questioned in a low voice, his dark hair falling over his eyes as he leaned into the car, averting his gaze from Beth, to Glenn.
"We gotta get through, we live down there," Glenn exclaimed again to him, even more agitated now, lifting his hands off the steering wheel, gesturing in the direction of the farm.
Before he responded, Daryl's eyes flickered in Beth's direction once again. He was glad to see the pretty blonde back safely it was written all over his face. Despite everything that had been going on since he had received the call from Rick, she had been at the back of his mind all evening. He hadn't liked the thought she was out drinking in a bar, when there was a suspected murdering psychopath on the loose. He didn't even know her all that well, but something made him keep thinking about her and her well being.
He looked back to Glenn, with a quick nod of his head, he said, "You can go through."
He was about to turn away from them, when Beth spoke up stopping him.
"What's happened?'" she asked, looking straight at him, and her cheeks flushed a rosy shade of pink, partly from the tequila shots and partly from the effect his presence had on her.
He hesitated for a moment before he responded, "We found something."
"A body?" Beth exclaimed, her mouth gaping open in shock, his eyes confirming her worst suspicious without words. Things like this didn't happen around here!
"Jesus, who?" Glenn asked, shocked too.
"We don't know yet," Daryl replied truthfully, saying more than he knew he should. "Just try not to worry, go home get some rest and someone will be round to speak to you in the morning," he continued in an official voice.
….
"Thank goodness you're back," Maggie exclaimed, rushing down the steps to greet Beth and Glenn as they returned.
"Awful aint it? Ottis found her when he was out earlier, the body was right on the edge of our land. The police have been out there all night. Sheriff Grimes called in earlier to speak to Daddy," Maggie exclaimed, as they made their way inside. "Daddy told me about poor Lizzie too, that girl needed help, why anyone couldn't see that.." she carried on talking at them quickly and excitedly.
Beth nodded at her sister in acknowledgement, hiccuping again. "Damn it, they came back," she muttered to herself.
Glenn's phone suddenly rang, silencing Maggie for a moment. He put it to his ear, mouthing to her, "I gotta take this," as he wandered away from the Greene girls and up the stairs.
Beth let out another loud hiccup, cursing under her breath.
"You want me to make you some mint tea?"' Maggie asked, a concerned look crossing her face.
"Nah, I'm good," Beth replied, smoothing her hair behind her ears, averting her sister's fretting gaze. "I'm just going to stay up and watch some TV for a while before I go to bed."
"Well, just make sure you drink lots of water," Maggie lectured bossily, touching Beth's arm, before she turned to leave the room.
Beth rolled her eyes, watching as her sister left the kitchen.
Maggie's bossy ways irritated Beth, but she had to admit she also found them a little endearing too. The two sister's had grown close since their mother and brother had tragically passed away years before. Maggie had taken to mothering her younger sister, and despite being a huge pain in the ass some of the time, Beth didn't know what she would do without her.
Taking a clean glass out of the cupboard, Beth ran the tap, ready to fill it up with water. When she thought back to Maggie's suggestion of some tea, and she suddenly had an idea.
….
Glancing in the mirror, she wiped at her smudged eyeliner with her finger, pressing her lips together and running her fingertips through the edges of her now slightly tangled long blonde hair, she knew she wasn't looking her best. She would never normally be so bold, but something about this particular night, together with the warm fuzzy glow of the alcohol in her system still, was spurring her on.
…..
Daryl was stood with his arms folded against his chest, deep in thought. It was late, well past midnight. Daryl didn't mind working late though, he found it was late at night when his mind tended to come alive the most. There was less distraction from the noise of other people. Not that he was exactly alone now. Daryl looked over to where his colleague Tara was chatting with one of the forensic women, Denise.
A girl had been murdered, found with horrific wounds all over her body that looked like some kind of savage bite marks, her flesh torn apart. At first glance it looked almost as though she had been attacked by some sort of wild animal, but the marks on her were unusual and not in line with an animal attack. Daryl had seen some pretty fucked up shit in his time, but this had to be up there with the worst, and one thing was for sure the person that had done this needed to be found and stopped, before they could do it to anyone else.
His eyes found themselves drifting over in the direction of the Greene farm, to suddenly see seemingly out of no-where a blonde girl wandering over in his direction.
Her wide eyes met his as she approached him, and he felt a small jolt of something he didn't quite understand hit him.
"Hey," she said a little hesitantly, with a shy smile.
"Thought you might be thirsty being out here all this time, so I brought you some mint tea," she explained, biting down on her lower lip, her blue eyes flashing at him through the darkness, as she held up a flask in her hands.
It had seemed like a good idea at the time, now Beth wasn't so sure as she glanced at the unreadable expression on Daryl's rough and handsome face, as he studied her for a silent moment.
"Thanks,' he eventually responded, taking the steaming cup from her, after she had poured it out. He'd never actually tasted mint tea before and he was pretty sure he wouldn't like it, but he took it anyway.
"Shouldn't be out here on your own," he mumbled gruffly, unable to prevent his eyes from looking over her profile. She still had the same black dress on from earlier, but she had a light grey hoodie on over the top of it now, and she had replaced her heels with some brown swede boots. She still looked hot, perhaps even more hot, he thought, his eyes resting on the bright blueness of her eyes staring back at him.
"I'm not on my own, I'm with you," Beth replied, giggling slightly, letting out another hiccup.
"Good night was it?" he asked, cocking an amused eyebrow in response to her retort.
Beth blushed and shrugged. "I guess," she replied. The truth being the only thing on her mind most of the night had been him. A sullen and somewhat unfriendly deputy who had given her one ride in his car to be polite.
Except in that short journey she had seen a different side to him. He wasn't the jack-ass Amy had always made him out to be. He was deep and thoughtful, caring even, and he had a sense of humour, a little different to most people, but Beth liked that, she liked him! Even stood next to him now in front of a murder scene, she was feeling the most intense sexual chemistry she had ever come across in her life.
She gulped, aware his gaze was flitting back and forth from her eyes to her lips.
"My friend was more interested in flirting with some guy, then taking to me. I aint really interested in flirting with random guys in bars, most of em are idiots, just after one thing," she blurted out, unsure where her openness was coming from.
The corners of his lips twitched up just a bit, his eyes widening, she was drunk still, and much as he hated drunken women, on her he kind of liked it. It wasn't often girls as sweet and pretty as her talked to him, and even drunk she was still sweet.
"That so," he responded, trying to keep a straight face and a respectable distance from her.
"Yeah," she replied softly, looking a little embarrassed. "I don't often drink this much either," she went on to explain. "It's just, it was doubles night and Amy is so persuasive, and now my studies are finished…" She paused, realising she was waffling on like an idiot. She put her hand up to her mouth, as she let out another small hiccup.
She shook her head, her face reddening even more. She didn't want him to get the wrong impression about her.
"Girl, you don't have to explain yourself to me," he said in a low voice, glancing sideways to see out of the corner of his eye, Tara was looking over curiously.
He repositioned himself away from the blonde slightly.
"You're so serious," Beth suddenly exclaimed with a nervous chuckle. Crossing her arms across her midriff as she allowed her blue eyes to rest on his straight face.
"Just got a job to do," he responded, rubbing his face, averting her inquisitive gaze.
"So, what do you do when you're not working?" She asked playfully with a bright smile lighting up her eyes. She might be making a huge fool out of herself, but right now she didn't care.
"Y'know," he mumbled, shrugging his head awkwardly, flicking his hair.
"Don't 'y'know', me," Beth replied, imitating his shrug, still smiling. "What do you do when you're not working Deputy Dixon?" she asked again.
Suddenly she wondered whether she would regret asking him that. She had seen the look on his face when his phone had rung in his car earlier, it had been a personal call, possibly from a woman. She had thought she had seen the name Carol or Caroline come up, but she hadn't been completely certain. Whoever she was, she must mean something to him. Which made Beth feel awkward, jealous even, at the thought of him having someone special in his life. Even though she barely knew him and had no hold over him.
Daryl felt his body language stiffening as he pondered her question, the truth being he didn't do much in his spare time these days, not since he had turned to the dark side as his brother Merle had put it, and joined forces with Sheriff Grimes. Alienating himself from his old community.
"Spend a lot of time outdoors," he mumbled, giving in, "Tracking and hunting and shit.."
"I'd like to learn to track and take care of myself in the outdoors...maybe you could teach me," Beth laughed a little nervously. She could tell he found conversation difficult, not like Zach and other guys she had known, who would talk about themselves endlessly non-stop for hours.
He jerked his head in a non committal shrug.
They both turned silent for a moment. Taking in deep breathes of the crisp fresh night air.
Daryl put the steaming tea to his lips to silently sip as he stared into space. To his surprise it tasted good, really good, sweet and refreshing.
Beth chewed her lip, her eyes shot to his face from where he was stood beside her. She swallowed, before asking nervously, "Was it Lizzie?"
Daryl pursed his lips, "We don't know yet," he answered slowly and truthfully, for what that meant. The body fitted Lizzie Sammuels description, but no formal identification had been made.
Beth suddenly felt like a truly awful person, here she was taking a small pleasure in being out here with him and flirting every so slightly, fuzzy headed in the middle of the night - when the reason he was here, was because some poor girl, probably Lizzie, had lost her life in a gruesome way. He must be thinking what a terrible person she was, Beth thought.
Daryl shifted his head to get a good look at her face, instantly spotting the sweet expression on it from earlier was gone, replacing it now was a more tensive and worried one crossing her pretty features.
"Should we be worried?" she asked seriously.
Her intense bright blue stare, was met with his darker blue one.
"We'll catch the sonofabitch that did this," he stated, meaning it.
"I know," she responded with a little nod.
"But you need to make sure you take care, you tell your friend that too," he added, his tone deadly serious. He didn't want to alarm her further, but they were dealing with one sick fucker, no-one could afford to take any chances.
Beth pressed her lips together, studying the concern in his eyes. Before she thought back to Amy, she knew she should call her, check she was okay.
"It's late I'll walk you back to the house," Daryl said, glancing back over to Tara to see she was chatting to Denise again now, her attention away from him and his interactions with the young blonde Greene girl.
He took a small step further towards Beth, allowing her scent to fill his nostrils as his eyes travelled over her again. She peered at him back through her long fluttering eyelashes, digging her nails into her palm.
"You mind if I just stay out here with you for a few minutes longer? I'm not quite sure I'm tired yet," she asked shyly.
She was starting to sober up now, and realism was hitting her. The body of a girl, someone she had known, had been found on her land. She didn't know Daryl all that well, but she knew she liked being around him a lot he made her feel safe, and right now his presence was particularly comforting.
He blinked a few times, looking back at her, "Sure," he shrugged. He wasn't quite sure why, but he was glad she had said that. He was glad she was here.
a/n - Thanks for reading, would love to hear your thoughts.