Chapter Five
This woman was damn well gonna drive him to drink.
No one would ever accuse him of being overly friendly, but Daryl felt that he did alright when it came to treating the customers well without being too grumpy. Hell, that's how he won over Michonne—something she reminded him of at times like this. Yet this woman seemed intent on trying his patience, flirting not too much but enough, standing close and making idle conversation with a question every so often about his personal business.
Andre looked up from where he stood working on the repair to the engine. The way the woman stood off to the side, shielded her from him so all he heard was her end of the conversation. The boy shook his head and snickered softly at Daryl.
The attention flattered him a little bit but mostly it just made him uncomfortable. He'd always been like that when it came to female attention, not knowing what to make of it and whether he should be doing something about it. Now that he'd been with one woman for so long, he definitely didn't have much patience with this kind of thing. He cursed the fact that he'd attached his wedding band to his key ring, a habit after spending too much effort getting it clean and fixing the scratches to it.
The woman—Mabel as she'd requested he call her—leaned her hip against the side of the car. He'd caught Andre checking her out in her tight jeans and even tighter sweater, hair colored and styled to the hottest look of the moment. He wished she'd just go sit inside like he'd suggested. But after accepting his offer for a bottle of water that they retrieved from the office area (Etta lingering close by writing on her tablet) she'd returned to their side, adamant about getting to watch him work. Even when he'd told her that he had to spend the time supervising Andre's repair, she'd insisted that she'd love to watch and learn too. All she'd done was run her mouth though.
"So, it must be so nice being out here all day. It seems real peaceful."
"Yeah, it is nice." He leaned over the engine block trying to get a better view of the adjustments his oldest kid made. "That's good Dre. Keep an eye on it and then slip—yeah, just like that."
"And you get to work with your brother too? What a wonderful thing."
"Works out, I guess." He tried walking to Andre's other side to check out things from there, but Mabel repositioned herself at the corner so as not to lose sight of him.
Andre had done some really nice work on the task. His instincts were so good for it and he had the patience not to rush a job. Even Merle had never mastered that part. They talked out what he'd done a little, Mabel watching on.
"Might keep you around, kid." He ruffled Andre's hair, their usual joke making them both laugh. When he was little, every time Andre learned something new, Daryl said that same thing: might keep you around. Turns out he'd kept him around for the better part of a decade.
Daryl wiped his hand on the rag tucked into his pocket. I'm 'a go get the top-off kit and we'll finish up with the bells and whistles." That meant changing out the fluids and doing a routine maintenance check.
"I'll get it, Daryl," Andre said a little too quickly. Before Daryl could protest, the kid had walked off to the other part of the garage, wiping his hands and then pulling his ringing phone out of his pocket. Daryl rolled his eyes knowing exactly what—or who—had distracted the boy. He shook his head but smiled a little. He didn't mind letting the kid get one last phone call in before they left on their camping excursion.
Then he frowned when he realized his son's abandonment left him alone with Mabel. The woman remained leaning against the car, head cocked and grinning his way. Out on the side of the building, he could hear Sydney's giggles as she and Merle got into whatever trouble they'd conjured up. It was cool enough for his brother to lounge around outside, and he'd probably devised some game to get Syd to burn off some of her spare energy. A few times since they'd returned from the pond, his youngest had gotten Merle to chase her around for a bit before they disappeared along the side of the garage again. Sydney would leave him be when he got to dealing with a customer as she'd been taught. But his brother smirked at him knowingly, leering at Mabel and wiggling his eyebrows.
Checking to see that Andre still remained out of sight, Mabel took a couple of steps towards him and opened her mouth to say something.
In the distance, he heard a car pull in and drive closer to the entrance to the garage. Mabel's eyes shifted in that direction, and Daryl looked over his shoulder as well.
Michonne.
He instinctively took a step away from the woman, relief flooding him, followed by a bit of dread.
His wife parked her SUV in its usual spot. He could see through the windows where they'd packed it up good before leaving. When she walked toward him, a raised eyebrow was her only reaction to his semi-compromising position.
"Hey Mom," Andre said walking up and pocketing his phone. "Did you get everything?"
Michonne eyed Daryl one last time, curious but not openly. Turning to Andre, she nodded. "Got it all. We're good to go. You still wanna drive up?" She grinned knowing the answer.
"Uh, do I?" She held out the keys to him and he grabbed them happily, doing a little dance afterwards.
Michonne nudged her son's shoulder. "You really are a nut, Peanut."
Shuffling from around the way caught Daryl's attention next. Sydney came tearing around the corner and practically mowed Michonne down with the force of her grasp. Sydney had been real clingy with Michonne lately. If it kept on, Michonne mentioned they might have to sit down and have a talk with the little girl, make sure Sydney didn't have some worrisome reason for it.
"Mama, you're back!" She hugged her mother tightly around the middle. "You gotta hear about my frog."
"Your frog?" Michonne said, playing along. "I go away for a few hours and you've got a frog story?"
Sydney nodded. "Yeah, two frog stories. We heard another one about Papa."
"'Bout time you showed up," Merle said, now strolling around the corner after Sydney. "Got me lookin' after these youngins all day while you gallivant across the county doin' God knows what."
Michonne rolled her eyes, now so used to his brother's mouth. "Merle, have you been filling these kids' heads with frog stories?"
"So what if I have? The little one here almost caught one too. A Dixon through and through, that little Squirrel." He walked around to the other side of her. "And don't be comin' up in here fussin' at me. You know you like when I get to tellin' them kids stories 'bout the country." He made kissy noises at her as he passed, clearly annoying her yet only making his brother laugh. Crossing over to the side entrance to the office, he called out for Etta.
"Cookie, come tell your Mama how much you like my stories." Sydney loosened her grip on her mother but pulled her towards the building to go find Etta. Michonne let herself be led, flashing a put-upon look over her shoulder at him, an irritated expression laced with a grin of pleasure. She didn't seem phased at all to leave him alone with a strange, beautiful woman who couldn't stop making eyes at him.
He loved that she trusted him and her indifference was kinda hot, but, damn, would it kill her to act even a little bit territorial? If it had been him standing there while some fool went sniffing around her, there wasn't no way he'd be that cool about it. And she knew it too.
"Daryl, I'll finish up here if you wanna do the other checks." Andre had all the materials he needed to take care of the engine block.
He thanked Andre for the escape—the "other checks" meant looking in on the tires and poking around at various parts of the car. It kept him on the move and away from Mabel cornering him. She'd taken in the scene from before with a wild curiosity.
"Such a beautiful family," she commented.
Daryl couldn't help but grin at that. "Sure is."
"I didn't realize at first that the girls were her daughters. But both your assistant there and the youngest look just like her. Not so much the oldest girl, except for being darker-skinned."
Daryl hummed his agreement. "Etta's got more of a Dixon look to her."
"It's nice to see you all hanging out like this. Your brother looks really happy to have his family close by. Makes you wanna think about settling down, you know." She followed him as he squatted down to check the pressure on the tires.
"Yeah, it has its advantages I hear," Daryl replied, moving onto the other side of the car. Mabel remained at his heel.
"Do you ever think about—?"
The side-door to the office burst open and Sydney came running back out followed by Etta. Daryl frowned. "Hey, stop that runnin'." Sydney slowed down the rest of the way. Both girls had a bag in hand, probably some random stuff to pack into Michonne's truck. Etta stopped to say something to Andre; the boy looked over towards where Daryl stood with Mabel and they both started laughing. Andre gave her the keys and she walked towards the truck. Sydney waited impatiently for her, hopping from one foot to the other.
Seeing that Andre had his eye on the girls, Daryl went back to checking the tires.
"As I was saying, do you ever think about having a little more companionship than all this? I might be able to help with that."
Daryl stared up at her and frowned. What a bold thing to say to him after complimenting his kids.
Before he could respond, the girls came shuffling back in. Sydney smiled at him and put her fingers to her lips to let him know she'd wait until he wasn't working to bug him. Etta narrowed her eyes a bit at seeing him standing next to Mabel. She paused before following Etta inside.
"Mama says not to forget what time we're leaving."
Mabel perked up at hearing that. "Oh, so y'all are heading out soon?"
Etta cocked her head to the side, suspicious but holding her cards close to her chest. His little girl had good instincts for sure. "Yeah, we're going camping."
"Sounds like fun." She turned to Daryl. "I bet they'll have a great time camping out this way. Maybe when you're done with my car we can talk about—"
"All set," Andre called out from the front of the car. His eyes twinkled with amusement as he closed the hood. Etta had disappeared inside calling for her mom and Andre wiped at his hands as he came around to where Daryl and Mabel stood. "How 'bout those tires, old man?"
"Don't you start too," Daryl said. "Michonne already called me that earlier."
"Ugh, don't remind me about this morning. Gross." Daryl swatted at him and Andre dodged. "Old man."
"Who's an old man?" Michonne asked from the doorway. She held a shopping bag in her arms as she leaned against the frame. Her stance was casual but those eyes, well, they told a whole other story.
Mabel shuffled next to him, probably annoyed at all the distractions. "Well, I think you're looking good, Daryl Dixon." She reached out to touch his arm and Daryl jumped at the contact. Michonne snickered from where she watched a few feet away.
From around her hip, Sydney appeared carrying a stack of towels that she handed to her mom. "Papa's not old. Old people can't catch me." And then she stuck her tongue out at her father before taking off.
Daryl laughed and took off after her, unphased by Mabel's assumptions, Michonne's satisfaction, Andre's humor or Etta's scrutiny as she appeared next to her mother and relieved her of the load she'd been carrying. He just focused on the sounds of his daughter's laughter when he pretended to fall behind and then swooped in to capture her, picking her up and planting kisses onto her cheek. As he twirled her around, he barely registered Mabel's jaw hitting the ground or the amusement of his family when the realities of the Dixon unit finally sunk in. At least now she'd know why her flirtations hadn't gone anywhere.
As he handed off their youngest to his wife, a lithe, petit little thing for her seven years, he caught Michonn's eye and smiled at the predatory, possessive reflection he saw there. He realized that given Sydney's reluctance to interrupt him while he worked, she must have sent their youngest daughter after him.
That was more like it.
"You are getting way too old to be carried, young lady," Michonne said to Sydney as she put her down. Yet she kept her daughter close to her side as the little girl held on to her mother's middle. Etta shook her head grinning and passed behind them, repositioning the supplies and heading to the car.
Before returning to deal with Mabel—mainly to push her out of the garage so they could get on their way—he leaned over and kissed Michonne, a quick pull at her lips that she returned. "Thanks, Babe," he whispered. More loudly he said. "We're almost done here so if you finish packin' up the truck, we'll head out after while."
Michonne nodded and dragged Sydney inside still attached to her hip. "Come on, Squirrel, let's do as your Papa asks and you can tell me about this frog business that your Uncle Merle's filled your head with."
Daryl didn't want to deal with the awkward conversation he was about to have with Mabel but it had to be done. To his surprise, when he turned back to her, she greeted him with bright eyes filled with mirth rather than any negativity. Perhaps, she'd had time to process it and wanted to save face. He didn't really care as long as they could finish their business and get on with the day.
"You've got one helluva family, Dixon." She chuckled to herself as she said it, although he sensed the apology in her expression as well.
"That I do," Daryl responded. "Now let's get you back up and runnin'."
Later on, with the car packed, the garage locked up, and Mabel long gone, Daryl stood in front of the mirror in the bathroom, rinsing himself off as he got cleaned up from the afternoon's work. A click at the door revealed Michonne, who slipped inside and closed the door behind her. She wrapped her arms around him from behind and kissed his shoulder.
"Oh no you don't. I aint fallin' for your tricks twice."
She laughed but didn't respond—and didn't let go either. Daryl turned off the water and turned in her arms, loving the feel of her; loving the presence of their family around him; loving that he got to call all of this his. He held her and let it all soak in.
In the newly created silence, they easily picked up on the commotion in the hallway outside.
"I'm not gonna go get 'em," a female voice said in a hushed whisper.
"But it's your turn. I've gotten traumatized enough today," Andre said just as quietly. "If you wanna get outta here, you're going to have to go tell them to hurry up."
A pause. "Why don't we get Ny-Ny to knock?"
"'Cause they'll just send Ny-Ny back to us, like this morning."
"Uncle Merle?" Etta asked, a little desperately.
More silence as they shuffled back down the hall.
"I guess that's our cue," Daryl said, kissing Michonne on the forehead.
She scoffed. "I don't think so. I can't have these kids thinking they're running things. Let's wait them out a little longer. I'm sure I can find some way to distract you." As she spoke, she moved her hands up and down his back.
A booming voice called out from the distance. "No I aint gon' go nosin' around the bathroom to hurry 'em up. Y'all just leave your Ma and Pa be. Go on now! Hang out in the office and finish with that dumbass TV show y'all had me watchin'."
"Uncle Merle Rules!" Sydney sang and then all three of them laughed at their uncle. Daryl and Michonne laughed along with them.
"Now where were we?" Michonne said, running her fingers through her husband's hair.
Pulling her even tighter to him, he held fast to her waist and smiled. "Right here, Babe." He met her lips in a kiss that counted as one amongst thousands of similar affections. Yet each time felt like the best one.
Fini