A/N: Wow, the writer's block. My daughter started sports and a couple of other school activities, I ended up on the PTA somehow, and I've got an interview for a job this week that has me pretty strung out. Lots of tests and assessments beforehand, ugh. So basically, the creative half of my brain is only being allowed to run at like 50% normal capacity right now.

So I want to thank all of the people who have, and continue to, favorite and follow this story. But I'd especially like to thank all of the people who take a second to send reviews: You guys have absolutely carried the story this far. If it weren't for your excitement, enthusiasm, and support, I can honestly say I might've abandoned this project awhile back. But the reviews keep me going. They keep me re-working the story in my brain, they keep me writing, and most importantly; they keep me posting stuff online for all to see. I've come to find that it used to be a nerve-wracking affair, but you guys have made me feel welcomed and my words appreciated. So although I don't ever have time to message each and every one of you to say thank you- I do read every review and I'm telling you now: Thank You.

Anyway, enough of the sappy shit. Onward! ….To some more sappy shit. 3

Chapter 27

The sun descended behind the horizon, leaving the darkening sky streaked in orange and pink in its wake. The temperature had dropped again, and tiny flurries of snow were drifting down from the heavens, but it was nothing near as freezing as the night before when they'd been out searching for Sophia.

Daryl glanced at Beth, curled up in the passenger seat of her Jeep, her head against the window, fast asleep. They'd gotten practically no sleep the night before, and they were both exhausted. Beth's ankle had began giving out on her as they got closer to where they'd left the Jeep parked in the woods, so Daryl had had to assist her in making it the rest of the way.

After the insanity that had occurred on the riverbank, though, Daryl hadn't exactly wanted to get anywhere close to Beth, and he especially did not want to touch her some more. But her face had been pinched and determined as she had limped along behind him; obviously in a lot of pain. She hadn't been so bad off that he'd needed to piggy-back her out of the woods again, so he didn't offer. He really wasn't sure they'd make it to her surprise party at all if he ended up with her legs wrapped around his waist while he was carrying her.

Their intimate incident at the river had been a close enough call as it was.

In that small span of time, nothing else in the world had existed except Beth. His body still felt unsettled where she'd been pressed up against him, his skin still tingled from the trails her fingers had blazed. He'd completely lost his fucking mind when she slammed her lips into him; all coherent thought had flown right out of the goddamn window.

He hadn't meant for anything to go that far; he'd just wanted to take her out on her birthday and give her waitress friend some time to get the party ready, as he'd been requested to do. He thought of the waterfall because it seemed like a place she'd probably love; he was glad he could still remember where it was. He hadn't been there since before he skipped town with Merle a number of years back.

Glancing at the clock on the dash as he drove, Daryl grit his teeth in frustration. They were already forty minutes late to Beth's surprise party, and they were still a good fifteen minutes from town. Luckily, Beth had brought her little bottle of painkillers into the Jeep when he initially picked her up, so as soon as they were both settled in, she popped the cap and they each took two.

He was at least glad she was getting the chance to nap a bit before he exposed her to a whole evening of more events.

Daryl wasn't sure how the waitress had gotten his cell phone number, but the she had adamantly called and texted him a dozen times while he'd been preoccupied with Beth, trying to figure out where the hell they were at and what happened.

The odds of the waitress being able to get that many people to come to a last-minute surprise party weren't good to begin with. The weather was uncomfortably cold, and it was the night after half the town had been out combing the woods in search of Sophia; if everyone was even half as drained as Daryl felt, then very few people were probably even going to be able to make it to the party. And now, Daryl had accidentally lost track of time and made them an hour late. Some of the few people who showed up in the first place were bound to get tired of waiting around and leave…

He had probably ruined her party.

They'd finally turned off of the highway and pulled into town. Ten minutes down; he'd made good time. As Daryl rolled to a stop at the red light, he pulled his phone out and texted the waitress back. He didn't have her number in his phone, but he replied to one of the first few texts, which announced she was Sasha, and bode the question: where the hell were they at? After letting her know they were only a couple of minutes from the diner now, he slipped the phone back into his pocket, and hoped that they weren't too late.

Finally, they pulled onto the street where the diner sat empty; not a car in sight, and only a couple of lights on inside. He drove into the parking lot out around the side of the diner and it was likewise empty. It wasn't looking good.

Daryl chewed on the inside of his cheek as he put the Jeep in park and left it idling for the heater. Should he try to take her inside, or just wait for Sasha to text him back, or…?

Just then, his phone beeped, and the text read, "We're ready."

Releasing some of his tension, Daryl shut the Jeep off and reached over to rouse Beth.

She sat up suddenly, looking confused for a moment before remembering where she was.

Then she looked over at Daryl with her giant sky-blue eyes and her face melted into an affectionate smile.

Never in his life had anyone looked at him like that, or smiled at him in such a manner. Of course, Beth had been doing it for months now, but even so, it still made him anxious. He couldn't figure out what this girl wanted from him. He knew what she thought she wanted; she'd certainly made her intentions perfectly clear. He still wasn't sure that she got him, though. Not who he was down to his rotten core.

She didn't grow up in this town; she'd never known his brother or heard of his father, or even had to endure Daryl as a teenager. He and his brother, and everyone else in his God-forsaken family, came by their bad reputations honestly. Hell, that was probably the only thing a Dixon ever did honestly.

Daryl had probably broken the record for the only Dixon boy to not end up in jail by the tender age of seventeen. In fact, he'd never even been to jail once, which was probably another Dixon record, although he'd had a lot of help slipping through the hands of the law thanks to his big brother, Merle.

His brother wasn't a model citizen, and he didn't even believe in honor amongst thieves; Merle lived by no man's code but his own. Despite that, though, Merle had always remained somewhat loyal to Daryl. He ditched him with their da as a kid because he couldn't stand being there anymore and he could get out, unlike Daryl, who was a minor and who'd been threatened with juvie if he ran away again. But Merle had always come back through town every now and then to check up on Daryl and bring him stuff. It was always a bunch of dumb shit, like firecrackers, lighters, or bottles of booze. It was the thought that counted.

As they'd gotten older, Daryl had finally been able to escape the oppressive, abusive clutches of his father, and he'd joined Merle in his dereliction. They'd travelled around the state, getting drunk, getting high, getting into bar fights, vandalizing shit.

Stupid shit, Daryl realized; such stupid fucking shit.

Daryl thought back to the person he was only eight months ago; before he got a call that his da' had died, before he drove in here on Merle's bike, before he landed a job at the shop, and before he stumbled upon some blonde prissy lost in the woods. The world as he knew it had shifted on its axis, and he along with it.

One thing he knew for certain; before Beth, there was nothing. He was nothing.

As he ruminated, Daryl watched Beth out of the corner of his eye while she stretched and yawned, looking unconcerned by the fact that he'd brought her to an abandoned parking lot in the dark and had a hold of her keys; if Beth had lived here and known what he was like as a kid, she wouldn't be sitting here now. She'd be just like everyone else, despising him. Judging him. Keeping their distance from him.

In her own way, Beth had turned him into something he wasn't; some hero on a pedestal. She called him when she needed help, she trusted him, and she relied on him.

"Where are we?" she asked, finally taking in their surroundings.

Daryl's chest felt like something was squeezing him tight. He felt like any minute now, the invisible clock would reach midnight, and Beth's spell would be broken. His coach would turn back into a smashed up old pumpkin, and whatever illusions she had about the great person he was would be shattered right in front of their eyes.

He couldn't say why he felt this way, but he did. There was a threat looming above them, and he instinctively knew it was going to go down bad, for the both of them. And soon.

Not wanting to ruin the whole night, though, Daryl made the effort to quell his thoughts and his insecurities, as well as the terrible, gut-wrenching knowledge that every second with Beth was ticking closer to expiration.

It wouldn't be that much longer before she realized he wasn't good enough for her; not that much longer before she found someone else that could actually make her happy…

He gave her a small smile as he pocketed her keys. "Come on."

Hopping out of the Jeep, he realized that the temperature had dropped a lot more than he'd thought on the drive over. Beth got out too, and huddled in her jacket as she walked over to him.

"So why are we here?" Beth asked, emphasizing the abandoned diner they'd parked beside.

"Well…" Daryl said, kicking himself for not having a good excuse already worked out.

"So you thought you'd just drive us to a vacant parking lot in the dark so you could have your way with me?"

Daryl, lost in his ponderings of good reasons they'd be at the diner, took an extra second to absorb what he thought he just heard.

"Wait… what?!" Daryl flinched, taking a few steps back to put some distance between them, thinking about how bad it really must have looked to her, and what an asshole he was for putting his hands all over her earlier and then giving her this impression now.

But then he glanced at her face, and caught the grin plastered to it.

She was fucking with him.

Again.

"Nah," he said slowly, eying her closely for any sign of unease behind her expression. "Nothin' like tha'…"

He buried his cold hands in his jacket pockets, feeling off-kilter himself. He was always expecting her to wake up and realize she was dealing with a redneck asshole mechanic that everyone else in town rightfully disliked; but instead, she poked and prodded and teased him like she thought it was a funny thing to do. She had absolutely no fear of him, and it was baffling.

Before he saw what was coming, Beth was suddenly in front him, hooking her fingers through one of his belt loops. She used it to pull herself closer to him, and when they were nose to nose, she whispered, "That's a shame. I was kinda looking forward to another surprise from you…"

Her face was tilted up at him, her blue eyes heavy-lidded and surrounded in her dark lashes. The moon was nearly full, so despite the darkness, he could see a few of her dainty freckles sprinkled across her cheeks and the bridge of her nose.

Daryl leaned in, in spite of himself, his eyes dropping to her mouth, where she had her full bottom lip clutched in her straight, white teeth, and a small smile played about the corners.

Just as his nose brushed along hers and he inhaled a lungful of warm coconut scent, a female voice rang out in the darkness, causing them both to flinch, and Daryl to jerk back and put some distance between them again.

Air, he needed air.

"Hey!" Sasha repeated, heading toward them out of the back entrance, pausing to heft a huge bag of trash into the giant green dumpster next to the building. "What are you guys doing out here in the cold?"

"Nothing now," Beth implied suggestively, causing Daryl's face to heat up. Sasha would never approve of them being together like that. Not that he gave a shit what that nosy waitress thought, but she was Beth's friend, so Beth would probably care about her opinion. Once again, with her being the outsider, Beth didn't understand what everyone in town would think of her if they actually thought she and Daryl were together. Guys like him just didn't get with women like Beth. There was nothing more to it than that. He reminded himself of this over and over again. He had to; look at what just about happened, again! She was like a drug he was trying desperately not to get addicted to.

"Come inside, it's freezing!" Sasha said, stomping her feet on the pavement to get some of the slush off of them.

"Oh, okay. But we can only stay for a minute," Beth said with a bit of a sarcastic undertone. Then she glanced at Daryl with a devilish smirk on her face, and it was then that he realized it: She knew about her party.

It's not as though Beth was an idiot, so it's possible she'd figured it out as far back as when he'd insisted on leaving the river so suddenly, before they even had the chance to eat. Or do other things.

That thought process lead down the trail to the memories of earlier, when all he could smell was her damn coconut mingling with the fresh scent of the river; back to the feel of their limbs tangled together, and her soft lips burning paths across his skin…

Lunatic, he thought to himself as clamped down on those thoughts and fell in step behind her and Sasha on their way to the back entrance of the diner. He was glad for the darkness; his face felt aflame.

As soon as they stepped through the back gate and into the outdoor courtyard that was surrounded by all of the businesses on the block, Daryl was stunned.

At least thirty people hopped to their feet from behind tables or around corners to shout "SURPRISE!" as the trio walked in. The courtyard looked like they'd worked all day putting it together and Daryl was shocked that they could throw something like that together on such short notice.

There were plenty of mismatched tables, some square, some round, others long; but all were draped with white tablecloths. All of the place settings were adorned with silverware and there were tons of flowers in vases in the center of each table. Large white tents were set up over each collection of tables, and string lights had been hung crisscross between each tent, and even between the tents and the outer walls, giving the whole place the feel of being in an enchanted little place. Lit candles also flickered from everywhere, all mismatched as though everyone had been asked to bring some from home. There was a food buffet in one corner with a huge selection of homemade side dishes and desserts in containers, and Sasha's brother was slapping more meat onto a large charcoal grill they had going. Sporadically throughout, there were bulky propane heaters set up to help stave off the chill of the night settling in on them. A round table near the diner's back door was filled with gifts decorated in shiny paper and curly ribbon. Finally, Daryl noted that on the far corner near the buffet, there was another table set up where someone was serving alcoholic beverages in plastic cups.

In fact, as people started pouring forward to greet Beth and wish her a happy birthday, Daryl noted that the place was covered in plastic cups. People had obviously been waiting awhile… Plenty already sounded hammered as they hugged Beth uncustomary tight or slurred as they were talking to one another.

Beth, however, didn't seem to mind, and she laughed and greeted people as they came. Daryl took the opportunity to slink away before he got equally as surrounded by the crowd, and he headed for the drink bar.

After tapping a keg he found next to the drink table, Daryl moved toward one of the heaters and watched Beth as the Sheriff and his wife were the next to go over and envelope her in a hug. They talked a bit, and something Beth said made them both laugh, although Daryl couldn't hear them over the music from the distance he was standing. Then, Beth suddenly began whipping her head around, scanning the crowd for something.

Her eyes locked on his, and he could tell they were shimmery with unshed tears. He'd certainly been shocked and overwhelmed that so many people showed up, brought food and candles, decorated the whole courtyard, and then stuck around while they were over an hour late. He knew he probably couldn't even begin to understand how appreciated Beth must've felt about all of it.

She should be used to the adoration by now, though, as Daryl saw it. Everyone loved Beth. It was impossible not to. Daryl doubted he was the only dull sucker whose day Beth could improve just by smiling at him.

Just then, she did exactly that; smiled at him profusely, and pointed as she said something. The Sheriff and his wife both turned to take Daryl in. Lori's smile was strained as she stared at him; she'd always been a bitch who hated his guts. She could kiss his ass.

But then Sheriff Grimes said something to the women and they all began threading their way through the crowd toward him.

Daryl shifted uncomfortably as Rick stopped right in front of him.

"Well, you don't look half bad considering the night you had!" Rick exclaimed, clapping Daryl on the shoulder like they were old friends. Daryl panicked momentarily, thinking Beth had told them about what happened at the river; but he quickly realized the Sheriff was referring to last night, when they'd been searching the woods for Carol's little girl.

Daryl grunted in response. He'd never been great at small-talk. The two stared at each other, and Daryl could see Lori come into his peripheral with a scowl on his face. Her opinion of him would never waiver. He was only shocked that she hadn't been able to poison Beth to him.

"Everythin' going alright, Sheriff?" asked a male voice from behind them. Daryl glanced over at the man as he approached, and grimaced to himself. It was Dale Horvath, the grumpy old dick whose yard Daryl and Merle had torn up doing donuts in on more than one occasion as kids. Just what Daryl needed, someone there to stir up shit and piss him off.

"Everything's good here, Mr. Horvath," Rick said, looking at the man like he knew there was bad sentiment brewing.

"Dale, it's so nice to see you!" Beth's soft voice interrupted the tension as Dale and Rick turned to smile at her.

"You as well, darlin'," Dale drawled, giving her an affectionate hug. "Happy birthday!"

Daryl knew there was nothing sexual about the way Dale was treating Beth. If anything, he saw her as one of his twenty-something grand-daughters. But Daryl hated the man, so watching him touch Beth at all was still irritating. He had to resist the temptation to get in the fucker's face about it.

"Thank you so much!" She replied, returning his hug.

Suddenly, she said, "Dale, have you met Daryl?"

Daryl nearly choked on the gulp of beer he was taking, and Dale jerked his head in his direction. All of the warmness had left the man's face, and he narrowed his eyes at him.

"Oh, I know Daryl alright."

Beth looked at Daryl imploringly; her beautiful face confused because she was innocent to the ways of the Dixons, as he has to remind himself over and over again.

"Yeah," Daryl drawled with a little menace in his voice. He hated the way Dale was looking at him. "We go way back."

Rick watched them with a bemused expression on his face, but didn't bother interfering.

"Daryl and his derelict of a brother used to drive their dirt bikes through my yard in the middle of the night, whoopin' and hollerin'. They'd scare the dickens out of Irma, tear up the lawn we worked so hard on, break her garden gnomes…" Dale turned away from Daryl with his nose up, anger making his features more angular, and the nostrils on his nose flare out even larger. "Public nuisances, the both of them. And ain't a one of them changed, either."

Suddenly, he rounded on Daryl and had a look of absolute disgust on his face. "Last I heard, that loser brother of yours was spending a good number of years up at the state penitentiary. What was he in for this time? Assault? Rape?"

Daryl practically snarled at the stupid fucker as he leaned into Dale's face. "What did you jus' say t' me?!" How fucking dare he start a bunch of shit with Daryl without any sort of provocation! He didn't know shit about Merle, Daryl told himself. But he knew he was lying.

Burning deep inside Daryl's gut where no one could see, there was shame. Merle had been imprisoned for assault. Daryl hadn't asked what had happened the last time. Merle had always been a hot head, and there was no telling what the truth of the story was; there would only be Merle's version from Merle. Daryl didn't talk about his older brother to Beth at all, and that was the reason for it; he was embarrassed about him.

"You heard me!" Dale shouted, no doubt empowered with the Sheriff standing right there as witness; as though that made him safer from Daryl. The worst part is: Daryl wasn't like Merle at all. He didn't go around hitting everyone that pissed him off, and he certainly didn't pound on old geezers. But the way Dale's chin was quivering as they stared each other down, Daryl was willing to bet the old man would piss himself once he had some privacy; Dale would fully expect Daryl to be some dick who beat up elderly men. The notion only made him angrier.

Just as he was about to unleash a shitstorm, Daryl saw Rick raise his hands in anticipation of calming down the escalation. But there was no need for it, because before Daryl could utter a sound, Beth was stepping between the two men, her back pressed lightly up against Daryl in a defensive sort of way. "Oh Dale, you can't possibly mean that," she said, reaching her left hand back to tangle her warm fingers with Daryl's and gave him a reassuring squeeze.

Having her skin against his was like throwing ice water on his raging temper, and he felt himself begin to simmer down almost immediately.

"The… the heck I don't…!" Dale said with wavering conviction, frowning down at their entwined fingers like he didn't get what the joke was.

"I'm sure we have all done things we regretted as kids. I know I gave my poor daddy a grey hair or two!" she said, smiling at Dale. "I can't speak for his brother, but I know Daryl is a good person. I'm going to need you to give him a chance."

Dale frowned and opened his mouth to rebut, but Beth held her hand up and firmly said, "Do it for me, if nothing else."

Scowling, Dale shut his mouth and nodded, and then to Daryl's additional shock, Rick was the next to speak up.

"Mr. Horvath," he said, "didn't you hear? These two were part of the search party, helpin' us scour the woods for hours last night, lookin' for Carol Peletier's little girl. Daryl here is the one who found her and brought her back alive. He wouldn't give up the search when it got too dangerous, even when I told him to stay by the cars. You're lookin' at a local hero."

The look Dale shot him was incredulous, which was equally amusing as it was frustrating. Surely, the old dirtbag thought it wasn't possible for Daryl.

But then Beth leaned her head back and smiled up at him, and Daryl's anger at Dale dissipated altogether. He realized that he really never gave a fuck what the old man thought; it'd been Beth's opinion that he had been worried about. However, she didn't seem fazed by the notion that his older brother was currently serving time in prison for attacking someone. If she didn't care, then nothing else really mattered just then.

"So you were the man who found little Sophia!" said a guy from over Dale's shoulder. He'd apparently been eavesdropping on what the sheriff was saying. Before long, though, a number of other people came over, intrigued with the man who saved Sophia. He was suddenly being smiled at, patted on the back, and having his hand shaken. Beth had stayed by his side as people converged on him, which had helped keep him grounded and on his best behavior. He was a little distrusting of the fact that plenty of people seemed to openly admire him. It was as though, in the span of a single evening, he'd managed to wipe a little of the grime off of the Dixon name.

After twenty or so minutes of being asked again and again to tell people about how he felt when he found Sophia, how he'd tracked her, what made him so determined, and a myriad of other questions, Daryl felt his patience growing thin. Having so much attention was wearing him down.

"I hafta get a drink…" Daryl announced to no one in particular, finally disentangling himself and starting for the bar at the far end of the courtyard.

Beth grabbed his arm, causing him to pause briefly and look down at her. "Don't forget," she said with a smile threatening to break out across her face. "I liked you first."

Daryl felt some of the tension drain out of him as he snorted at her, amused by her reminder. She was right, though. She was the only person in this whole fucking town who ever gave him the benefit of the doubt; the only person to ever give him a shot and treat him like any other guy who wasn't a Dixon boy.

A small smile still tugging at his lips, he nodded at her as a confirmation; he'd never forget.

He felt her eyes on him as he made his way through the crowd of people, grabbing another beer and slinking into the shadows, back into his comfortable spot of anonymity. Once there, it became his turn to keep an eye on her. She flitted around thanking people, talking, laughing, and being offered drinks. Fairly regularly, her bright blue eyes sought him out and she shot a dazzling smile at him from across the expanse.

All he could think as he watched her was that he was fucked. So incredibly, undisputedly, absolutely, unimaginably, fucked.