I love writing this story and all of the fluff. I know there doesn't seem to be much of a story to it and just snapshots so thank you so much to those who are reading it and enjoying it.
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Chapter Seven. Meet.
"Shut up, Hunter," Luke growled as the two boys came into the garage after school, Luke heading straight for Daryl's bay and Hunter behind him, laughing so hard, he was barely able to stand. "I'm gonna smack you with a wrench."
"Sure you can catch me with your lips permanently attached to Mika?" Hunter kept teasing and Luke let out a growl that could rival one of their dad's before he spun around and shot out his fist. Hunter was too fast though, easily dodging the punch, and practically skipped away, still laughing.
But he didn't notice his shoelace untied and he tripped, landing flat on his face on the hard cement floor of the garage, and that made Luke double-over, laughing.
"What the hell are you two doin'?" Daryl appeared then, frowning. He went to Hunter and picked the boy up to his feet, dusting him off. "You a'right?" He asked.
"Luke has a girlfriend!" Hunter exclaimed, pointing towards the older boy, and Daryl turned his head to look at him curiously, his eyebrow raised, and Luke's ears went red as he became suddenly quite fascinated with the floor.
Daryl didn't ask him about it though. He'd leave that to Beth.
"Uncle Caesar!" Hunter said loudly as the other mechanic came into the garage from taking a smoke break out back. "Guess what? Luke has a girlfriend!"
And unlike Daryl, Martinez broke into a grin at the announcement. "Oh, really?" He gave the twelve-year-old a sly smile. "When did that happen? She a cute one?"
"It's Mika Samuels," Hunter informed them since Luke wasn't going to say anything.
"She related to Lizzie?" Daryl asked.
Luke nodded and finally spoke. "Her younger sister. She's eleven."
He had only met the girl a couple of times – whenever Carl Grimes brought her around when they were having something at the house. He knew Lori wasn't the biggest fan of her son's girlfriend – something about Lori thinking the girl was unstable or something like that – but Daryl never asked about it. Beth would know more than him but he couldn't help but wonder if Mika was like her older sister.
"They were kissing," Hunter was laughing again and Luke's blush deepened.
"Kissed," Luke felt the need to bite out, his glare never leaving his little brother. "We kissed once. I'm gonna go outside." He stalked past them all and as he walked by Hunter, he slugged him in the arm with his fist.
Hunter hissed and rubbed at the tender spot. "Touchy," he muttered.
Martinez laughed and shook his head. "Bit of a late bloomer," he commented. "I already had a slew of girlfriends by the time I was his age."
"There's nothin' late about my kid," Daryl frowned at him. "And I don't want him to be anythin' like you." Martinez just laughed again. "Come on, Hunter. Help me finish up my work for the day so the guy can pick his car up tomorrow morning." He put a hand on the back of Hunter's head and guided him to the car he was trying to finish fixing up before the garage closed for the evening.
Working on cars – they realized – was the only thing that could really calm Hunter down. The boy was still a bit of a terror – he was a Dixon, after all, as Merle liked to remind them – but when he was being too hyper or too annoying and was climbing at the walls, Daryl would pull him outside where they would do some work on the broken down heap of rust that he had bought a couple of months ago from a junk yard. It had been a Firebird once upon a time and Daryl would love to restore it to its former, and original, glory. Hunter wanted to help with every step of the way.
Some days, after school, the bus would let the boys off at Dale's Garage and would help around the shop until it was closed and they would go to the daycare center to pick up Beth and Abby. Dale paid the boys two dollars a day for sweeping and cleaning and to Luke and Hunter, it was the best thing having money of their own.
"I can't wait to tell mama," Hunter grinned as he helped Daryl change the windshield wipers on the car.
"You shouldn' torment your brother so much," Daryl said.
"But it's so much fun," Hunter replied in such a matter-of-factly way, it made Daryl smirk to himself before he could stop himself.
He knew Beth would be surprised and probably happy about this. Beth liked to say that Luke was growing into a very handsome young man and it must be a woman thing because Daryl thought Luke was fine. It's not like he was making people run from him in terror whenever he came around but Beth seemed proud that he was such a good-looking kid. And yet, him having a girlfriend would probably catch her off guard because Luke was like Daryl in a way. He was a shy kid – almost painfully so.
Some kids, when they went through things that Luke and Daryl had both gone through when they were little – and Luke was still with his birth parents – it had them develop into products of the environment. They were taught at an early age to be silent; be invisible and no matter how many years Luke had been with them now, there were still traces of his old life that he clung to.
Daryl admitted that it was pretty impressive that Luke had not only approached a girl and expressed his feelings of like to her but had then kissed her. And Daryl felt weird for feeling a little proud himself to Luke being able to do any of those things.
It was no surprise that Hunter told Beth the instant they saw her when they went to the daycare and it was no surprise that Beth was both surprised and happy.
"I don't want to talk about it," Luke mumbled, his entire face in a deep blush now.
"Alright, we won't talk about it," Beth agreed though it was obvious that that was all she wanted to do. "Would you like to invite her over for dinner this weekend?" She then asked, talking in an almost cautious way.
Luke looked at her, somewhat horrified. "With Hunter there?"
Hunter gasped as if truly offended but they ignored him for the moment.
"We can lock him in the basement for the night," Daryl suggested and Luke looked so damn hopeful at the idea, Daryl almost wanted to smile.
"Mika Samuels," Beth whispered to Daryl as the boys raced ahead to the car and Daryl carried Abby in his arms. "I don't know her. She's obviously not like her sister. Maybe Lori knows something about her."
"Hmmmm," Daryl said and didn't say much else, not having really anything to say.
Silently, he felt bad for Luke. Maybe he should talk to him about keeping relationships a secret. That was one thing he knew all about. He still thought about it sometimes – Beth sneaking around to spend all of her time with someone like him. Opening his house and sharing it with her. Finding it harder and harder each time she had to put her shoes back on and leave.
But Luke was only twelve and he wouldn't understand the raw need a man would have to keep a woman near them. That need to always have her in his arms because if she wasn't, he would feel like he was being ripped apart from his limbs. That need to always make her smile and happy.
One day, Beth wasn't there and the next, she was and that instant he came out of the woods and saw her standing next to her car with the flat tire, he knew that girl was going to change his life – whether he wanted it changed or not. And he hadn't realized then just how badly he wanted it; needed it. Needed her.
No, Luke wouldn't understand any of that. But Daryl could teach him how to be discreet so Hunter wouldn't make his life so miserable.
Like Beth said she would, she talked to Lori. She didn't tell Luke that she was. She just casually asked Lori about Lizzie while they were at work and Lori just sighed and shook her head because the more she made her displeased feelings about Lizzie known, the more adamant Carl was about being with her.
"Do you know Lizzie's younger sister? Mika?" Beth asked.
"Oh, Mika," Lori smiled warmly. "Total sweetheart. I don't know that much about her just because her sister tends to take the spotlight but she used to come here after school when she was a bit younger. I know she's in the science club at school. Why?"
Beth was smiling and she shook her head. She didn't want to say that she was Luke's girlfriend. Girlfriend. He was twelve and she was eleven and it sounded so silly to call Mika that because what did they even do together? But if that was what Luke looked to her as, that was how Beth would look at her, too. She remembered being that age and having her first crush on a boy and how important it had all been at the time.
Later that night, they ate chicken and rice casserole for dinner and afterwards, after the dishes were loaded into the dishwasher and Hunter had gone into the living room, Beth felt it safe to approach the topic of that weekend.
"Do you know what Mika likes to eat?" She asked, still talking softly, not wanting Hunter to overhear even from the other room and over the television.
Luke nodded as he poured himself a glass of water. "She likes mac and cheese."
That made Beth smile. "I'm excited to meet her."
Luke glanced at her and then down to the glass in his hand. "When I talked to her today about coming over for dinner, she was super excited. Wasn't sure I was going to invite her but… I like making her smile," he then said barely above a whisper with a faint blush on his cheeks.
That made Beth smile and she slipped an arm around his shoulders, kissing him on the side of his head. "You are such a sweetheart," she said.
"Mom," he whined, his blush deepening, and she couldn't help but laugh a little.
…
Hunter, of course, tormented Luke for the rest of the week because that was what Hunter did and Luke spent before dinner and after dinner up in the tree house just to escape him for a little bit. Daryl and Beth kept telling Hunter to stop and he would – for a little bit before beginning up again.
"Maybe we should lock him down in the basement for the night," Beth said softly as they laid in bed and the house was quiet around them as the kids all slept in their bedrooms and crickets chirped outside.
Daryl, nearly asleep beside her, managed to give a smirk. "Maybe Merle can take him for a few hours," he grunted.
That made Beth laugh softly. "Hunter would probably love that actually. He'd wind up being the bar's mascot," she smiled and Daryl smiled a little, too. "I thought the big brother was supposed to torment the little brother."
"You think Luke would do somethin' like that?" Daryl opened his eyes to look at her.
"Not for a second," Beth shook her head. "I remember when we first took him in all those years ago. I had people try and talk me out of it."
Daryl kept looking at her. She had never said that.
"Not only was a Dixon my husband but now I was taking a Ridgeway into my home. Some thought I was just asking for trouble," Beth continued. "But they didn't know Luke just like they didn't know you. It always took me by surprise… it still does. How sweet he can be when he was born into what he was. Just like you are."
Daryl was quiet. He knew exactly what she meant because he sometimes thought the same thing. About Luke and about himself, too. Luke was a good kid, a kind kid, and he was a hell of an artist. A Ridgeway or a Dixon, that boy was going to go somewhere in this life. And as for him, he had this house and these kids and this woman as his wife and he would wake up some mornings and just lie there, not wanting to open his eyes because he was convinced that he would open them to find himself still living in some shitty apartment with Merle.
On Saturday night, Luke was waiting anxiously by the front door and Daryl and Beth were pretending not to notice. When the car pulled up, Luke rushed outside to meet Mika at the car and tell Mr. Samuels that he could pick her up again around eight just as Beth had told him to say.
Beth tried not to look too eager as she came into the hallway, Abby on her hip, when Luke and Mika entered the house again. Mika's smile was warm and sweet but nervous, too, and she was holding a small bouquet of yellow daffodils in her hand.
"Mom, this is Mika Samuels. This is my mom," Luke made the introductions. "And that's my dad," he added when Daryl entered the hallway.
"It's so nice to meet you, Mika," Beth smiled warmly.
"It's very nice to meet you, too, Mr. and Mrs. Dixon," Mika said. "I brought these. I grew them myself." She stepped forward and held out the bouquet of daffodils.
"They're beautiful, Mika," Beth smiled, taking them. "Thank you so much. Daffodils are my favorite."
"Luke said," Mika nodded and seemed to be smiling a little easier.
"You grew these?" Daryl finally spoke.
Mika nodded. "My mom, before she died, loved flowers and she had a greenhouse built in the back of our house. I'm pretty much the only one in the family who takes care of it now."
"What else do you grow?" Daryl asked and from there, he and Mika went into the living room, Mika telling Daryl all about her different flowers and plants and how she grew tomatoes for her family because she didn't trust the pesticides the big chains used to grow theirs.
"Well, just like that, she's won your dad over," Beth said to Luke softly as they still stood in the hallway.
Luke smiled a little, looking at her. "I thought that would be a lot harder," he admitted. "Where's Hunter?" He then asked because he was surprised Hunter hadn't been running in here the second the car had pulled up in front of the house. But he was no where to be found and everything was quiet.
Beth smiled. "Your dad gave him a car battery. He's up in his room, cleaning it."
"Seriously?" Luke looked hesitant – as if he didn't quite want to believe that.
Beth just kept smiling and bending down, she set Abby down on her feet and then went to go put the daffodils in some water. Luke went into the living room, Abby following behind him, where Mika was sitting on the couch and Daryl was sitting in one of the armchairs across from her. They were still talking about plants and Mika was asking Daryl questions as he told her about plants that were safe to eat.
Luke sat down beside Mika. "My mom made macaroni and cheese for dinner. I told her how much you like it."
Mika burst into a smile at that and Luke smiled shyly in return as she slipped her hand into his and Daryl looked but pretended not to. Luke was only twelve but maybe he understood some of that need already.
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