This story is pointless fluff and right now, it is exactly what I need to be writing in my life. The next chapter will have some Beth/Daryl alone smutty time.

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Chapter Five. Interview.

"Daryl! She's here!" Beth called out, her voice echoing throughout the house before she hurried out the door onto the front porch.

Sasha was just getting out of the car as Beth hurried down the steps towards her and both wore the biggest smiles as they collided into one another with laughter. They hugged one another so tightly as if they hadn't just seen one another the month before when Beth had come to Savannah to visit her and Sasha had talked with her about her next story. Sasha worked for a small publication – The Southern Way – and she wanted to write about Daryl and his renovation of their farmhouse. When Beth had heard the idea, she had loved it and when she had told Daryl about it, he had grunted and shrugged and hadn't said anything to agree to it but he hadn't refused to do it either and Beth had made the call to Sasha.

"I can never seem to look at this house enough when I'm here," Sasha said once their hug broke and she looked up at the house. "It's just so unbelievably beautiful."

"Thank you," Beth smiled and she had pride evident in her voice as she always did when someone complimented their home.

This was Daryl's pride and joy. He had spent months and countless hours ripping it apart from the inside and rebuilding it until it was this. A house worthy of being in a magazine.

The screen door opened and Daryl stepped out, coming down the steps towards them. Beth smiled. She knew there was no way he would dress up but he was dressed nice in Daryl Dixon standards. Jeans with no holes in them and a clean flannel shirt.

"Hi, Daryl," Sasha smiled at him.

"Hey," he grunted and they stepped into one another for a short embrace.

Sasha had always been the one friend of Beth's that Daryl had liked. She and Beth had been friends since college and Sasha had helped Beth sneak around to be with Daryl for a year before they made their relationship public and got married but that wasn't why Daryl liked her. Sasha was the only friend of Beth's he met who didn't look at her and then him and have that what the fuck facial expression at the idea of the two of them being together. She never thought he was trash or Beth was stepping down and though Daryl was always able to ignore judgments like that, he was silently grateful that Sasha was his wife's best friend.

"I could not get him to cut his hair," Beth smiled.

Sasha smiled, too. "He'll look fine. Besides, he has that whole scruffy carpenter look."

Daryl frowned a little, looking confused. "That actually a thing?"

"Our readers like their men to look like men," Sasha said but Daryl was still confused – maybe even more so now – and Beth smiled, rubbing his arm.

"Should we go inside?" Beth asked. "Or do you want to start out here?"

"We can start out here," Sasha pulled out a tape recorder and then looked over her shoulder to a man who had gotten out of the car with her. "This is Noah, my photographer. He's going to be taking a lot of pictures of the house today."

The young man with a limp in his step smiled at them.

"I've sent the kids to the farm today so they can't mess the house up. I've been on a bit of a cleaning frenzy," Beth said.

"It looks perfect, Beth," Sasha assured her with a smile. She hit the red record button on the tape recorder. "Could you give me a little history about the house? Do you know the history?" She asked.

"It was built in 1870 in the reconstruction following the Civil War," Beth began since she knew Daryl probably wasn't going to talk more than he had to. "It belonged to the Gibson family since its start and eventually, they added heat and electricity but in the 1950s, the son of that generation decided he wanted to live in Atlanta rather than here so the house had been empty since then. We bought it from Peter Gibson who is living in Phoenix."

"And what made you want to buy this house?" Sasha asked, looking to Daryl this time.

He was quiet for a moment, his arms crossed over his chest but relaxed. "Beth and me lived in a small house in the woods up there," he jerked his chin in the direction. "But our family was growin' and we needed more space. Our friend, Rick, told us 'bout this house on the market and we came to look at it."

Beth had a digital camera that she had taken pictures of the house throughout the process and she now held it out for Sasha to see the house when they first bought it. Sasha had already seen the pictures but she went through them now, shaking her head a little. She then handed the camera to Noah so he could look at them as well and then looked to Daryl.

"Daryl, what was it in this house that you saw anything worth buying?" Sasha asked.

Daryl just shrugged though and Beth looked at him for a moment before she stepped in closer to him and squeezed his arm gently. Daryl shrugged again.

"I think that's a problem a lot of people have. They look at somethin' and start makin' a list of all of the reasons it's a bad idea. It's too hard or too much money and too much work will have to go into it. But I saw the foundation was still solid and when I saw that, I knew the house wasn't a completely lost cause."

Beth smiled, looking to Sasha. "Daryl has always been able to build anything. With our first house, he built two extra bedrooms for our children and he built a tree house and people in town have hired him to build them all sorts of things," she said and the pride was back in her voice as she beamed up at Daryl.

Daryl looked at her and his own lips twitched in a smile.

"Noah, you can start snapping pictures of the outside. Beth, would you mind showing him around? Show him the tree house and the vegetable garden and the exterior?"

"Of course," Beth smiled widely and Noah smiled, too.

After they walked off, Sasha looked to Daryl. "And could you show me around inside?"

Daryl nodded and then turned towards the house, Sasha following him behind.

"We'll start here," Sasha said in the front foyer. She looked down to the picture that Beth had taken and then looked to it as it was now. Warm white walls and hard wood floors and a heavy mirror with a wood frame hanging on the wall. "I can't believe what you were able to do, Daryl," she then said in amazement because it was as she had said to Beth outside. No matter how many times she came here, she was always so amazed at the transformation.

She couldn't wait for this story and these pictures to be published. She knew Beth and Daryl didn't have all of the money in the world. Things had gotten a little better for them over the years – raises at work and Daryl with his side projects – but Sasha wanted it to be even better. She loved Beth and she loved Daryl and their crazy kids and they were good people. Sasha hoped that with this would only help them further because they were good people and they deserved good things to happen to them.

"What type of wood did you use?" She asked him.

"Oak," he answered. "Usually use oak for everthin' I make. Good, sturdy wood. And cherry oak is in a few places 'round the house 'cause it's Beth's favorite. Used it to make her a dining room table."

"I'll definitely want to get a picture of that, too," Sasha said.

"Hmmm," he said, his hands in his pockets.

She looked at him for a moment. "You really have no idea how incredible this is what you've done here, do you?"

Daryl shrugged again. "'s jus' a house."

"That you built into this," she swept her hand around.

He looked at her as if she was crazy. "Foundation was already here. Frame, too. Jus' fixed the inside."

"You did more than that, Daryl, and you know it," Sasha said. "And soon, everyone will know it, too."

Daryl looked at her for a moment, studying her. "You really think anyone is gonna care what I did here?"

"Yes," she answered without pause.

Daryl looked like he wanted to argue with her some more but at the same time, he looked like he wanted to believe her, too. But he said nothing and jerked his head towards the living room and even though Sasha had seen it all already, she took notes and asked Daryl questions, still recording everything.

Beth and Noah joined them from outside a little while later and Sasha showed Noah everything she wanted pictures of. Beth found Daryl standing on the back porch and she practically bounced up to him, coming to stand in front of him, her arms slipping around his waist. He smirked a little as he looked down at her, his own arms circling around her.

"You're in deep thought," she then observed.

"They 'bout done?" He asked.

"I think so. I invited them to stay for dinner," she said and he didn't say anything because he was expecting her to do that. "I can't wait to see this article. Sasha is so excited about it and Noah is taking so many pictures." She looked at him for a moment. "Aren't you excited?"

Daryl shrugged but didn't say anything. Beth couldn't help but furrow her brow as she kept her eyes focused up on his face.

"What's the matter?" She asked.

"Jus' think it's a waste of time," he answered truthfully.

"It's not," she instantly argued. "No matter what happens, your name will be out there and the world will see what an incredible thing you did."

"Jus' a house," he shrugged and turned his head, looking out over the yard because he didn't really want to look at her at the moment.

Beth squeezed her arms around him tightly. "It's our home, Daryl."

Daryl still kept his eyes turned from her but his arms squeezed around her, too.

…

The article was printed a month later and Sasha sent them a copy of the magazine before it hit the stores. Beth eagerly tore the envelope open and she gasped when she pulled the copy out. Not only was Daryl interviewed for a magazine but he was on the front cover. The cover and she stared down at the picture of their home for everyone to see.

"Daryl!" She called out and hurried down in the basement where he was at his work bench, putting some of his tools away. "Daryl," she rushed to him, holding out the magazine. "You're on the cover!"

Daryl frowned at her for a moment as if he didn't understand and his confusion only grew when he saw the front cover. His eyes squinted and he took the magazine from her, staring down at the picture. Beth stepped in close to him as he turned the pages gingerly until he found the story. Sasha had written nearly four pages with many pictures featured and Beth leaned in to see which ones had been chosen. Architect of his Own Dream. He snorted when he read what Sasha had titled the story but Beth elbowed him gently and leaned in even closer and they read the story to themselves silently.

"Makes me sound like I did some kind of miracle," he grunted.

"You did," she smiled and then bouncing up on her toes, she kissed his cheek.

Once the magazine was made public, the phone calls started coming in. It seemed like everyone in the family and their friends were calling to congratulate him and to say how much they loved the article and the pictures and Merle called to tell him that even he bought a copy and could he get his baby brother's autograph?

But those weren't the only calls.

Sasha called to tell them that people were calling her office, asking for Daryl's number but she hadn't given it to anyone without talking to them first. People had seen the article and everything he had done with their house and were now calling from all over the state, wanting to talk with Daryl about getting him to come and do work for them. That just left Daryl confused. What kind of work, he asked and Sasha told him that he was probably the most sought-out carpenter in the state right now.

When she told him that, he held the phone, stunned for a moment before he cleared his throat even though he had no idea what to say. He told Beth and she just smiled as if she wasn't surprised at all.

He didn't know if he was going to actually do this or not but the first call he took was from a woman in Savannah who wanted him to build her a three-season porch onto her house.

"What the hell's a three-season porch?" He asked Beth with a frown once he hung up.

"It's like a sunroom. You use it spring through fall," Beth explained.

"Why wouldn' I just build it for all year?" He was still frowning.

She laughed then. "Well, ask her if that would be alright with her." She looked at him for a moment. "Does this mean you're going to take the job?" She asked.

Daryl shrugged. "Not real convenient." He leaned against the counter beside her where she was cutting up apples into slices. "Have to stay there until the job's done and what about Dale and the garage and you and the kids?"

"How much is she going to pay for this porch?" Beth asked, looking at him.

"Not sure. I need to go there and look things over and give her an estimate. What do you think?" He asked.

Beth was quiet for a moment, picking up one of the apple slices and taking a bite as she thought it through. "I think," she paused to swallow. "You should go this weekend, take a look at what the woman wants, see how much she would pay you and if it would be worth it and then come back and talk to Dale if you decide to take the job."

"Easy as that?" He smiled a little.

"Yep," she smiled in return. "Easy as that."

His smile faded and he fell back into silence and he seemed to fall back into doubt with it and she set the knife down, stepping over to stand in front of him. Her arms looped up around his neck and she felt his hands slide over her hips as they usually did. She gave him a soft smile and without saying a word to him, she stood on her toes and kissed him softly.

"What are you thinking about?" She asked.

"My job. Dale's been good to me and I love workin' at that garage," he said.

"No one ever said you couldn't work at the garage anymore," she answered. "I just think you should give this opportunity a chance. You love building things and you're so good at it and you'll get to show that to more and more people."

He was quiet for a moment, thinking that through. "Might get some real good money from rich folks," he then murmured and that made her laugh softly.

"Exactly," she smiled and her eyes were twinkling and Daryl looked at her for a moment, studying her like he sometimes – a lot of the time – did.

He lifted a hand to the back of his head then and she inched her face closer and he closed the rest of the space between them, pressing his lips to hers. She sighed against his lips and sank against his body, their lips melting together in soft, slow kisses – kisses he eventually deepened and she moaned softly as his tongue brushed against hers. She tasted like apples and something sweet that was entirely Beth and he kissed her deeply, only wanting more of it. He felt a tugging in his stomach and a twitching in his jeans and Beth must have felt it, too, because she pressed her body tighter against him.

"Gross!" Hunter suddenly exclaimed, coming into the kitchen behind them.

He began making gagging sounds and Beth pulled her lips back from Daryl's, looking at him with a smile. She gave him one more peck on the lips and then turned to see Hunter digging around in the refrigerator.

"Hunter Thomas Dixon, you are going to spoil your dinner," she lectured him as she went to get the chocolate pudding cup he was trying to take for himself.

Daryl reached out and took one of the apple slices on the counter beside him, crunching on it as he remained leaning there, deep in thought and not even hearing Hunter whining to Beth about how dinner was hours away and Beth pointing out to him that it was just an hour. He finished the apple slice and wiped his hands on his jeans before moving to the phone on the wall. He looked down to the scrap of paper still on the counter there and he dialed the number, talking with the woman and setting up an appointment for the weekend. When he hung up again, he turned and saw that Beth was watching him with a smile on her face and unmistakable pride in her eyes. He looked away, almost embarrassed.

"You think you'd want to come with me to Savannah this weekend? You and the kids?" He asked that night as they laid in bed, his breath already returning to normal but Beth was still panting beside him and as his hand slipped over her hip, he swore he could still feel her trembling. He wasn't going to lie. He was pretty damn proud of himself.

"Why do you want us to come?" She asked, reaching a hand up, brushing some of his hair back from his eyes.

Daryl shrugged. "Never taken the kids to Savannah 'fore. And I'd feel better if you were there with me," he admitted.

"If you want us there with you, then that's where we'll be," she smiled at him and he smiled a little, too, and she slipped her arms around him, nestling her head against his chest, and he held her tightly to him.

…

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