Chapter Two
The ringing of the phone brought her slowly out of sleep and Beth sat up, rubbing her tired eyes. When she realized she wasn't dreaming and the phone was indeed ringing she looked over at her alarm clock, the neon green numbers flashing back at her and letting her know it was after three in the morning.
"What's going on?" she murmured as she managed to slip out of bed, grabbing her robe on the way out of her room. She hurried down the stairs and into the livingroom, grabbing the phone off of the hook and pressing it to her ear.
"Hello?" she asked, her voice still groggy and thick with sleep.
"I'm sorry to bother you this early in the mornin' ma'am, this is Shane Walsh with the Kings County Sheriff Department. May I ask who I'm speakin' with?" the voice on the other end asked.
"This is Beth Greene." she answered, looking outside the front window to make sure her father's car was in the driveway, making sure he was home and hadn't relapsed into his old drinking habits.
"You must be Hershel's daughter, am I right?"
"Yes. Officer, if I may ask, why have you called at this hour? Is everything okay?" Out of the corner of her eye she saw her older sister Maggie coming down the stairs and walking towards her, turning on the small lamp right in the doorway.
"Miss Greene, may I speak with your father please?"
"Yeah, gimme a minute. Maggie? Can you go get dad?" she whispered as she covered the phone with her hand. The older girl nodded and hurried down the hallway to her parents' room, "He'll be right here, sir." Only a few seconds passed before she could hear her father and Maggie coming back down the hallway and Beth hurried to hand the seventy year old man the phone, sitting with her sister on the overly cushioned couch by the telephone.
"This is Hershel Greene, may I ask who is callin' at this hour?" her father asked, scratching his stubble on his neck. They sat and waited, straining to try and hear what the man on the other end of the phone was saying. Hershel listened to the man, rubbing his forhead and sighing with frustration.
"Alright, I'll be there in about fifteen minutes. Lemme get my shoes on." With that Hershel hung the phone up and looked over at his two daughters who sat with breaths held waiting to see what was so important they had to get a call at three in the morning from the Sheriffs office, "Two men broke into the clinic and they have them under arrest. I'm gonna go to the station and let 'em know if I wanna press charges or not."
"Did they do any damage, daddy?" Maggie asked as she tucked a lock of her short, dark brown hair behind her ear and pulled her blanket tighter around her shoulders.
"I'll let ya know when I go look at the damage. I'll let you girls know if I need ya tomorrow at the office but until then go back to bed and get some sleep. I'll see you two at breakfast." With that he grabbed his keys and jacket by the front door, flipping the outside light on on his way out and heading to his truck. It wasn't the newest or the nicest looking, but it ran and got him where he needed to go. It also had plenty of room to haul his family around in during outings.
He drove through the sleepy little rural town that lay on the outskirts of Atlanta, looking at his clinic as he drove by and sighed.
"Well, let's see what Rick and Shane have in store for me." he muttered as he rolled his window down and felt the sticky hot air blow in.
"Sorry about this bein' so late, Hershel." Rick said as he met the older man in the hallway, Hershel reaching out and shaking his hand.
"It's all right, Rick. Let's just get this over with. How many intruders?" he asked as he adjusted his suspenders.
"Two brothers, Merle and Daryl Dixon. Do the names ring any bells?" Hershel thought for a moment, but ended up just shaking his head, "They're in the interrogation room right now. Follow me." Rick lead him into a dark room where he saw a large window and through it, the two brothers who sat handcuffed next to each other.
"The older one, the one on the left with the bald head, that's Merle. He's got quite a record on him, multiple trips to juvenile detention, and was dishonorably discharged from the military after punching a sergeant and spent sixteen months in prison. The other one, Daryl, though has a clean sheet. The whole way here he acted like he didn't want anything to do with breaking into your clinic."
"This is like those rooms they have on all those cop shows. Can we listen to them?" Hershel asked and rick nodded, reaching over and flicking a switch on a panel next to the window, "They can't see us right?"
"Correct. It's a one way." Rick said, hearing their voices flood the speakers in the room.
"Come on, lil' brother, jail ain't gonna be that bad." Merle said in his raspy voice, kicking his feet up onto the table and crossing them at his ankles.
"I can't believe I let your stupid ass talk me into doin' somethin' this stupid. The fuck you thinkin'?" Daryl snapped and Merle only laughed, readjusting his cuffed hands on his stomach.
"I needed money." he answered with a smirk.
"For what?"
"For...things."
"If you needed money for goddamn drugs, or just to pay off a fuckin' prostitute so you coud get ya a little tail, then I'm gonna strangle you with these fuckin' handcuffs." Merle only laughed and tilted his head back, closing his eyes and yawning loudly.
"Hey!" he shouted and Daryl winced as his voice echoed in the room, "When we gonna get to go back to our fuckin' cell? I gotta take a piss and I want some sleep!"
"That one seems like he's nothin' but trouble. But the other one, he's interesting. I wanna talk to him, but only him."
"Very well. Shane." Rick said into his walkie talkie, the other officer responding quickly, "Take Merle back to his cell and let him get changed. I think he's gonna be stayin' with us for a while. Leave the younger brother though."
They watched Shane walk into the room accompanied by another officer and motioned for Merle to follow him, but told Daryl to sit as soon as he started to stand.
"See you back in our cells, lil' brother. Have fun!" Once removed Rick escorted Hershel inside and the older man sat down across from the younger redneck, folding his arms over her chest and sitting back against his chair.
"I'll be right outside the door, Hershel."
"Thank ya, Rick. So," he started after Rick left the room, "You must be the one who broke into my clinic." When Daryl said nothing Hershel only smiled and laughed softly, "My name is Hershel Greene. Your's is?"
"Daryl Dixon." he muttered, his voice quiet.
"Mr. Dixon. You look rough, but you don't have a record saying you're as bad as your brother. Quite honestly, I know I don't know you, but I'm lookin' at you now and I see that there is a good person in there somewhere."
"You don't know me at all." Daryl said as he clasped his hands, resting them on the table.
"As I said, but there's something there that makes me want to give you a shot."
"Shot at what?" Daryl asked, eyeing him suspiciously as he scratched the rough hair on his chin.
"A shot at paying back the damages you and your brother did to my place of business. How close do you live to here?"
"Wherever I park my truck at night."
"No home?"
"I ain't had a home in years."
"In exchange for food and board, you can work a whole season on my farm helping me and my family out. At the end of that season you walk a free man."
"I ain't no volunteer."
"I didn't say you weren't getting paid. Your first two weeks will be volunteer, as your pay will be fixing the damages done. After that you'll collect a paycheck every Friday from me. What you do with your money then is between you and your wallet."
"What makes you think I want to work on your farm?" Daryl asked as he sat back in his seat and placed his cuffed hands behind his head, "What makes you think I just don't want to spend a night in a jail cell and then be free in the morning?"
"Because I see it in your eyes when you talk. You want to take this deal but you don't want to abandon your brother. You can stay here, and pay for the damages done to my clinic out of your own pocket. Or you can come with me and put money in your pocket, a roof over your head, and food in your stomach everyday until the harvest season is over." Daryl sat for a moment and looked down at his hands he had placed back in his lap, watching the light glint off of the silver around his wrists, "I'll give you a few moments to think about it." Hershel stood and started walking towards the door, Daryl looking up at his reflection in the one way window.
"I'll take it." he said before Hershel could grab the handle and the older man smiled.
"I had a feeling you would. It'll be nice having a new farm hand, but there are a few rules."
"Great." Daryl muttered and sighed.
"You'll sit with us every day at the table for breakfast and dinner because it's good manners. No swearing under my roof, and no using the Lord's name in vain. My farm house was once a slave plantation, and we have converted the slave quarters out back into a guest house. You will be staying there. It's got a bedroom, small kitchen and small living area so you can be comfortable. Shirts and pants on whenever you leave that house, no walking around half naked. No drugs, no drinking, no smoking, no commiting any other crimes as long as you are working for me. Do we have an agreement, Mr. Dixon?" Hershel extended his hand out to him and the man chewed on the inside of his lip for a few seconds. How bad could it really be? Maybe the season would pass quickly and then he could be on his way.
"Yeah, we have an agreement." With that he reached his hands out and shook Hershel's who smiled and patted the top of his hand.
"Glad to hear it. Rick! Can you come in here?"
"One thing." Daryl said as he stood, holding his wrists out to Rick who unclasped the handcuffs, "Can I still go out huntin'?"
"I'm not really a fan of firearms."
"Good thing for you I'm a bowman."
"It's been a long time since I've seen someone use a crossbow. Very well, Mr. Dixon. I can respect a man who lives off the land."
"Do me a favor, and jus' call me Daryl. I need to get my truck back where I left it."
"Your truck was impounded and brought here. We'll sign you and it out." Rick said and gave Hershel's back a pat, "Looks like you got yourself a new farm hand. Don't worry, Hershel is a good man. He'll take good care of ya."
"Come along, I'll call Annette and make sure she knows we're on our way. Breakfast will be at eight in the morning and make sure you come hungry. My girls make enough to feed a small army." Hershel said as they made their way outside.
"Guess I'll follow you there." Daryl said as Hershel held up the keys Rick had handed him.
"Welcome to the family, Daryl."
Here's chapter two, everyone! Please let me know what you think! Thoughts, suggestions? Sorry if there are any errors, I had a bad allergic reaction at work and I'm trying to type through partially swollen eyes o_O