AN: This one is short, and I'm sorry for that. We are in "fluff" mode for a bit, so for those of you who don't like it, I apologize.

I intend to write more, but I did make this a pretty short chapter/snippet. Basically I've been planning for a while, and I have a lot coming up, but I'm working through a little writer's block/lessened desire to write than I had before. I figured something was better than nothing and the little movements along keep me going.

Even though it's short and unsatisfying, I hope you like it. I'll try to get some more out soon. I promise we're nowhere near done yet, I just have to keep pushing to get it all out. I hope you're all still with me.

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Daryl and Beau were working on tearing down another house, but they were making slow progress. Daryl didn't mind that it was slow. It gave them work to do, but it didn't feel like it was urgent. Right now it didn't feel like anything was urgent and he liked it that way. It had been almost two weeks since their last brush with danger, when the battle had taken place, and things were just quiet around the community. It was a quiet that was much appreciated by all. In fact, Daryl thought from time to time, that if he didn't know any better, and he ignored the Walkers that gathered around the fences from time to time, he could almost believe that things were back the way they were before all this happened. Sure, they didn't have electricity, and they lacked running water, but those things didn't seem important anymore. They had plenty of what was important right now.

Beau hacked at some of the framework for the room they were tearing down. He was quieter than he normally was, and Daryl had a good idea that he knew why.

"You goin' through somethin' there, Beau?" Daryl asked after a bit of listening to the boys sighs alternating with the sound of his axe making contact with wood.

Beau sighed loudly again. Tyreese came into the room, having left briefly to go for water, and picked up another axe to start working. Beau eyed him a little.

"Did I interrupt something?" Tyreese asked, looking at Daryl and pausing in the swing that he was about to take.

"Nah, I was just tryin' ta figure out what's got ole Beau here frustrated, but he ain't said nothin'," Daryl said, going back to what he was doing.

After a moment of working, Beau finally decided that he would speak to Daryl and Tyreese, knowing well enough that anything he said to either one of them was likely to become common knowledge since everyone had long since figured out that everything was shared in that household.

"If I was tryin' ta get a girl to know I liked her, what would be the best way ta handle it?" Beau asked finally.

Daryl and Tyreese both stopped what they were doing and looked at each other for a moment. Tyreese chuckled.

"Man, is that girl you talkin' 'bout Sadie?" Daryl asked. "'Cause she ain't no girl, and she already knows ya like her. Hell, everyone knows ya like her. You been hangin' 'round her like she was in heat for the past two weeks."

Beau looked at both of the men in front of him, trying to decide if there was judgment there or not. He decided that he didn't think there was.

"If she knows I like her why ain't she said somethin'?" Beau asked.

"What do you want her to say?" Tyreese asked. All three of them had suddenly become far more interested in this conversation than they had in any halfhearted attempt to tear out this room.

"I dunno," Beau said. "Somethin'…I've never done this before."

"You mean…" Tyreese started. He didn't finish, but he shot a look to Daryl. Daryl bit at his thumb. Beau looked embarrassed and Daryl felt a little sorry for him. Prior to Michonne he certainly didn't have a laundry list of conquests.

"Maybe he's a late bloomer," Daryl said. "Listen, Beau, just 'cause you ain't done it yet don't mean you won't do it a whole lot when ya got ya a woman of your own, but take my advice an' pick ya one of these girl pups we got runnin' around to play with. Let Sadie alone."

"Let's just say I was thinkin' 'bout Stella," Beau said. "How d'ya get Michonne ta pay attention to ya?" Beau asked, deciding to ignore Daryl's warning against pursuing Sadie.

"Just tell her ya like her, tell her she's pretty or some shit like that," Daryl said. "She'll like that. Give her a kiss when ya feel man enough to do it."

Tyreese chuckled again.

"Daryl, man, you said Michonne kissed you, why are you telling this boy to just kiss a girl if he hasn't done it before? Would you have walked up to Michonne and told her she was pretty?" Tyreese asked.

"Well then how did you get Carol's attention?" Beau asked. If Michonne kissed Daryl first, that wasn't the way he was going, and he wasn't sure he had the guts to just walk right up to Sadie and tell her that he thought she was the most beautiful woman that he'd ever seen.

Tyreese chuckled again.

"I approached her nice and easy, kept a soft voice, and made no sudden movements," Tyreese said.

"Sounds more like you was comin' up on some kinda wounded animal," Daryl said.

Tyreese cocked an eyebrow at him.

"I hate to say it, but it's the same idea," he admitted.

Daryl nodded his head a little in understanding.

Beau just looked between them. This was great. He had no more information now than when he'd started this line of questioning. Sadie wasn't going to just kiss him, if she were she'd had ample opportunity by now, he wasn't sure he could muster up enough courage to just kiss her, and he wasn't certain she'd be impressed if he did. She wasn't a wounded animal either.

"Forget it," Beau said. He turned back to working.

"Hey," Daryl said, "you'll figure it out, but don't go tryin' to tree Sadie. Pick another one. Sadie ain't right for ya."

Beau scoffed. He didn't verbally disagree with Daryl, but he decided to ignore him. He hadn't exactly heard anyone else telling someone who they should and shouldn't get involved with, and he didn't appreciate Daryl's decision to give him advice now.

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Michonne had always laughed at Daryl when he called her a predator. It was his way of saying that she had asked for them to have sex instead of him, but right now she actually felt predatory. She'd been waiting all day to get him alone, and now that they were finally alone, he couldn't stop laughing at her.

"You plannin' on rapin' me, 'Chonne?" Daryl asked. He had seen Michonne like this before, but maybe not quite this bad. She was sitting on the bed and he was circling around her in the room, watching her grow more and more frustrated.

"Daryl, get over here," Michonne said.

Daryl was always in the mood, so she wasn't buying that he wasn't in the mood for even a minute. She could tell that he was turned on, even with just the lamplight and even from this distance. He was toying with her, though, and she knew that too.

Daryl laughed.

"I don't know woman, I come up here tryin' ta have a civilized conversation with ya an' you done took off 'bout half your clothes 'fore I could even get the door closed," Daryl said.

"Daryl," Michonne said.

"Calm down, woman, I'ma give ya what ya want," he said, smiling. "I just think you oughta ask me for it, nicely."

Michonne huffed. He was enjoying this way too much, but at this point she'd do whatever it was that he wanted just to get him to come to bed.

"Fine, please come over here, Daryl," Michonne said.

Daryl smiled, that crooked smile that meant that he was up to something. Michonne shot him a look intending to tell him that she was only willing to play his game for so long, but she was sure something got lost in the translation.

"Hold on, now," Daryl said. "I don't think that was nice enough. I done a lotta work today an' now you're wantin' me to go an' do more an' you can't even ask nicer than that?"

Michonne glared at him.

"Daryl, would you please stop being an ass and come to bed?" Michonne asked.

"Really, 'Chonne?" Daryl askied, grinning now. "That's s'posed ta make me wanna come over there? Why don't ya do somethin' nice for me?"

"What do you want, Daryl?" Michonne asked.

"How 'bout ya put on somethin' pretty for me?" He said. He took his shirt off, dropping it on the floor and stood there with his hand cocked up on his hip.

Michonne couldn't help but smile at him.

"What do you want me to put on?" She asked.

"How 'bout that lacy thing you got?" Daryl asked.

"Doesn't fit, Daryl. In case you haven't noticed, I've put on a few pounds, here and there," Michonne said.

"You gotta bunch 'a stuff, 'Chonne, you tellin' me you ain't got nothin' pretty that'll fit?" Daryl asked.

Michonne sighed. She got up and finished stripping off what was left of her clothes, aware that Daryl was watching her. She went to the dresser and started digging around, hoping to find something that would interest him. She'd wear a plastic bag right now if it would bring him to bed.

"What do you want, Daryl? I don't have much to go on," Michonne said.

"You got somethin' yellow?" Daryl asked.

"Something yellow?" Michonne asked. She tried to act out whatever fantasies her husband had, but Daryl could be odd at times.

"Somethin' like that dress you was wearin' in my picture book," Daryl said.

Michonne thought a minute. She knew the dress. The picture he was referring to was his favorite one of the entire photo album that he flipped through lazily from time to time. She had actually loved that dress, and apparently so had he.

"No, Daryl, I don't have a dress like that," Michonne said. "I do have a shirt that's about the same color, will that do?"

Daryl shrugged. "Don't need pants no way, 'Chonne, not for what we're doin'."

Michonne smiled at him. Daryl was indeed a man of reason.

"If I put it on will you please come to bed?" Michonne asked.

He smiled.

"I'll come to bed, 'Chonne, an' I'll take care of whatever you got goin' on there," Daryl said. "I don't want no woman of mine sayin' I didn't take care of her needs."

Michonne dug through the drawer and pulled on the buttercup yellow shirt that she had in mind, feeling ridiculous. Daryl smiled at her, though, and suddenly she didn't feel nearly as ridiculous as she had moments before.

"You sure is pretty, 'Chonne," Dary said.

Michonne smiled at him. Sometimes she wondered what this life had done to them. Sometimes, like after the battle, she thought they were all cold. They could kill, and they had killed. Sometimes, when they buried someone they loved, she thought they were all detached. They'd come to accept the fact that at a moment's notice they lost the people they cared about. Sometime she thought that they'd become only shadows of who they once had been. Sometimes this life seemed cruel, almost unlivable.

Then other times there was something so good about life, like right this moment. She felt even guilty about how she felt right now. She had a comfortable bed that she was about to crawl into, a beautiful daughter. She could feel her baby squirming inside her, awakened apparently by her sudden movement from the bed, and the husband she could never imagine before all of this approaching her now with a smile on his face over her agreeing to just put on a shirt. It wasn't even that flattering, just a buttercup yellow shirt…but life had taught them that everything they had was something they had to value, even if it was just the beauty they found in a buttercup yellow shirt.

Daryl came over to Michonne, kissing her hard, his hands holding her shoulders. His mind already thinking about what would come next. Michonne gave herself over to him, letting him take control now. She knew that the game was over, and she'd won this round.