Daryl felt a little light headed. How had his brother gotten his phone number? He'd changed it after the last time he'd gone to prison, swearing that Merle was too out of control, and that he wouldn't let him back into his life until he had real evidence that he'd made some efforts to change. He wasn't sure that would ever happen, though. It had been hard for Daryl, almost impossible really, since Merle was his only living relative and they'd been incredibly close growing up. Although Merle was 12 years older, he had always stayed close to Daryl, making sure he was taken care of, even long after Merle moved out of their parents' house. But Daryl had finally had enough of Merle. Over the years he'd gotten Daryl into more trouble and into more bad situations than Daryl wanted to remember, although Daryl had miraculously escaped any legal trouble. But in the last few years Merle had gotten heavily involved in a drug and prostitution ring, and for Daryl, his arrest had been the straw that broke the camel's back.
"Merle?" Daryl asked, noticing the shock in his own voice.
"You got any other brothers?" Merle said mockingly.
"How'd you get my number, Merle?" Daryl said, starting to move passed his feeling of shock, feelings of frustration now radiating through him. He'd worked so hard to overcome his past, his family. And he was starting to come into his own, and actually had a great life – he had a great job, an amazing girlfriend, and now a beautiful home. Of course Merle would choose this time to try to rope Daryl back into his life. But Daryl wasn't having any of it. He wouldn't let anything chance his life with Beth. He couldn't do that.
"You sound like you wasn't wanting to hear from me, baby brother!" Merle said, a loud chuckle coming through the phone.
And now Daryl was angry. "I wasn't, Merle. I can't deal with you anymore… not until you do something with yourself, clean up your life. I've started over now, Merle. And I've got too many good things in my life to let you drag me down". Daryl hated to turn his brother away, but he knew it was the best thing to do, the only good option.
"I'm cleaned up! I'm clean, I promise. And I'm gonna turn things around. And I've got a plan." Merle said.
Daryl doubted seriously that Merle's "plan" was something actually legitimate. Nothing he did ever was. "What's the plan then?" he asked.
"Can you meet up with me? So I can tell you about it?" Merle asked.
"Naw…" Daryl said dryly. "I… uh… I don't live there anymore. I told you… I've moved on."
"Moved, huh? Where you living now, then?" Merle asked, sounding a bit condescending.
"Out of state…" Daryl said, unwilling to give Merle any details about his new life. It wasn't safe, he thought. He was afraid Merle would try to find him, but he wouldn't give him any details that would help him do so.
"You're not gonna even tell me where you're living? You that afraid of me? Huh?" Merle asked, and Daryl could tell he was starting to get angry.
"No. I'm not telling you. I'm not afraid. Far from it. I just ain't letting you get involved in my life. You always ruin everything, Merle. And my life's good… real good. So forget it." Daryl said.
"Awww… Come on, baby brother. Don't be like this. You know you need me. I'm the only person that's ever had your back… the only person that ever really been there for ya!" Merle said.
"Yeah… well… not anymore!" Daryl said. And he hung up the phone.
He stood there for a long while, right in front of the milk case, just staring blankly at his phone, thinking about what just happened. He knew he'd done the right thing, but being so cold to his brother, his only relative, hadn't been easy. He wished he at least knew that Merle was okay, or that he had a good place to stay, had a plan to really get back on his feet.
He shook his head, telling himself to be stronger. He needed to do this for Beth. And with that, he snapped back to his current reality – he had to get home and finish getting everything ready for Beth's return. Tomorrow by this time he'd be on his way down to Georgia. And he hoped the next few days flew by – Thursday morning couldn't come soon enough.
The drive to Georgia seemed much longer to Daryl than the actual five hours of the drive. He was anxious to see Beth and wished he could just snap his fingers and fast forward to Thursday morning when he'd finally be with her again. He arrived at the Greene's family farm a little before midnight, exhausted from a full day of work in the hot sun and the drive from South Carolina. Half way, he thought to himself, he was halfway to Beth now and he looked forward to Wednesday's trip to Florida, knowing that once they got into the car and started driving every minute would put him a little closer to Beth.
He'd called Hershel a little after he'd left Hilton Head to let him know that he'd be late getting there, but Hershel had assured him that he'd be waiting up for him. He'd also encouraged him not to drive too fast, and to be safe, which Daryl thought was oddly endearing and very fatherly. He'd never had anyone to tell him things like that, and while he knew a lot of people would have considered it overbearing, it only made him smile.
Hershel quickly met him at the door after he'd stepped onto the front porch and knocked quietly on the door. He ushered him into the large farm house, which was completely quiet except for their footsteps. Hershel led Daryl into the house, taking the small bag he'd been carrying and setting it next to the stairs.
"It's nice to see ya, son" Hershel said warmly, giving Daryl a hug before he realized what was happening. "I hope your trip wasn't too bad. Glad you're here. We're glad you decided to come."
"Thank you. I'm… I'm grateful you asked me to come." Daryl said. He was a little bit nervous all of a sudden, being in Beth's childhood home, with her family, all of a sudden the situation started to hit him all at once.
"Are you hungry? Do you need anything before you go to bed? You must be tired." Hershel asked.
"No… Uh… I'm alright. I might just have a glass of water… but I can get it." Daryl said. Hershel was right, he was tired. The only thing on his mind was taking a quick shower and getting to bed. Besides, he thought, the quicker he got to bed, the sooner tomorrow would come, the sooner he'd be on his way to Beth.
"I'll get it. Just a minute." Hershel said, starting towards the kitchen. Daryl took that opportunity to look around the living room where he was standing. The house was beautiful. It was obviously old, but it had been taken care of and definitely renovated, Daryl noticed, judging by some of the things that he noticed. The furniture was an interesting mix of antique and classic modern and Daryl thought it suited the house well – obviously Beth's mom was a good decorator. The house felt like a real home, like a loving family lived comfortably there. It wasn't overdone and felt warm and inviting – Daryl loved it instantly and couldn't help the little smile he felt starting to spread across his face.
Hershel wasn't gone long and handed Daryl the glass of water before picking his bag back up and started up the stairs. Half way up, he looked back down at Daryl, noticing that he wasn't yet following. He motioned towards him to follow, but not saying anything, and Daryl followed after him quickly, moving up the stairs and catching up to the older man once they'd gotten to the upstairs hallway. Daryl spotted quite a few doors, all of which were closed, and he assumed they were mostly bedrooms. Hershel ushered him to one at the very end of the hallway. He opened the door quietly, putting Daryl's bag up onto the large elevated bed. A lamp had already been turned on in the room and guessed that someone had prepared the room for his arrival.
Daryl spoke a small goodnight greeting to Hershel and Hershel left, shutting the door behind him. And it wasn't until the few moments afterwards that Daryl truly looked around and realized where he was – Beth's room.
He couldn't help himself from wanting to look at everything, touch everything – all the pictures, all the little trinkets, and all the memories from Beth's childhood and adolescence were laid out right there in front of him. Daryl went from thing to think, looking, touching, and thinking about child Beth and what she must have been like.
There were horse show ribbons, the vast majority of them first place. She'd told Daryl about showing horses, how she'd loved it when she was young, but once she was in high school she didn't have the free time to allow for much of it and the hobby and just kind of fizzled out.
There was a bulletin board filled with an incredibly large number of concert tickets. And Daryl wasn't surprised by that either – he knew how much Beth loved music.
There was a picture of her, obviously from her high school prom, where she was wearing a long yellow dress and a corsage, and a tall skinny blonde guy with a matching yellow tie stood goofily next to her. Daryl found himself oddly jealous of the nameless guy, his hands tentatively resting on Beth's hips in the picture. He knew it was insane to be jealous of a high schooler, especially because the picture was taken years before he even knew Beth. But he didn't like the idea of another guy touching Beth.
There was a framed series of pictures of Beth when she was a tiny little girl, maybe around 4, Daryl guessed, and seeing those photos made Daryl smile uncontrollably. In one photo her curly blonde hair was incredibly wild as she posed on the beach with a slightly older girl, who he guessed was Maggie, both wearing these hugely oversized pairs of clown-like sunglasses. In another she seemed to be singing – she was wearing pink cowboy boots and her mouth was open, her eyes closed, and her skinny little arms stretched out to the side, just like a professional singer would do on stage. And in the last one, she was holding a really ugly cat, that Daryl guessed had to have been a stray based on how dirty and mangy it looked, a huge grin on her face as she looked down at the cat, which, ironically was also looking up at her in that moment.
He'd looked at a lot of Beth's things, but those photos had to be his favorite. Little Beth was just as cute and sweet looking as Beth was now, and it was obvious that the spark and spunkiness she had now had come out in her at an early age. And it seemed like those three photos symbolized a lot about Beth – her love for her family, her love of music, and her desire to help others and do good things. Daryl held the frame in his hands for a long time, looking at the photos over and over, soaking in every detail. And he caught himself thinking about something he wasn't sure he'd ever thought so seriously about before in his life, children. And he knew in that moment he was really in deep – because all he could wonder was whether he and Beth's future daughter would look just like this little fireball in the photos in front of him. And he couldn't wait to find out.