Upcoming chapters will include Daryl/Abby time (very popular request), Daryl and Beth's ten-year-anniversary, and one of Luke's art shows. Plus whatever the hell random idea comes to me. Thank you so much for your continued support of this story.

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Chapter Nineteen. Fight.

Beth had been reminding him all week. Friday evening, they were all meeting at Hershel's favorite Italian restaurant for his birthday and Daryl had heard and nodded each time. Of course he would be there. Hershel was a great man who he respected immensely; who had looked past his last name and had only showed support when Daryl had come to the farmhouse with Beth, wanting to marry her. The man had welcomed him into his family without a hint of doubt or judgment.

Of course Daryl would be there for the man's birthday dinner.

But the garage was always busy on Fridays and when a car was towed in at four o'clock that afternoon and Dale asked Daryl if he could take a look at it, Daryl had agreed as he always did. It was only four and Hershel's dinner wasn't until six. He would have plenty of time. And every minute after five, Dale would be paying him overtime and Daryl was never one to turn away from an opportunity to make some extra money. He didn't think it would take him that long anyway.

Beth had called the garage at five minutes after five, wondering where he was. Daryl had been surprised at the time and told her that he would be there soon. He just had to get himself cleaned up and then he would be on his way. But then he had found another crack in the engine block and had gotten distracted. It happened sometimes. When he was working on a car and found one problem and then another and another, Daryl saw it as a personal challenge to him to fix it. Even if someone told him that a car was past the point of fixing, Daryl wouldn't – almost couldn't – give up.

He knew he had to get out of there. He couldn't miss Hershel's birthday dinner. He didn't think the man would mind that much – not too much seemed to actually anger Hershel – but Daryl didn't want to miss it. And he knew that even if Hershel wouldn't be mad at him about missing it, Beth would be and even though he had hunted bucks who weighed more than his wife, Beth was a hellion when angry and he didn't ever really feel like testing her.

When he finally got out of the garage, it was almost seven-thirty and Daryl knew he was in deep shit. He jogged for his truck and didn't even stop to wash up first, showing up at the restaurant in dirty jeans and a tee-shirt with oil and grease spots and hands to match. The whole Greene family was there so their table was the largest in the restaurant, several square tables pushed together in the middle of the dining room. Hershel and Annette, Maggie and Glenn, Shawn and his newest girlfriend, Rosita, a waitress from the diner, – who the entire family liked and hoped this one actually lasted – Beth and the three kids, who exclaimed when he finally walked in.

"Dad!" Luke and Hunter both called out and Daryl hurried over, everyone turning their heads to look at him.

Everyone was smiling at him but his eyes went to Beth but she was the only one not looking at him, instead smoothing her napkin folded in her lap.

"'m sorry I'm so late," Daryl said, going over to Hershel and shaking the man's hand.

"Don't worry about it, son," Hershel smiled up at him. "I'm just glad you're here now. Work busy?"

Daryl nodded. "Finished it up though."

There was an empty chair next to Beth and he walked around the table to it, sitting down beside her though Beth still wasn't looking at him. They had already eaten and now, there were cups of coffee and empty plates from the cake they had had for dessert. A waiter appeared, asking Daryl if he wanted anything to eat or drink.

"Order something to eat, Daryl. We don't mind sitting here for a while," Annette smiled from across the table and Daryl gave a head nod, the waiter handing him a menu to look over.

"You should wash your hands," Beth murmured from beside him and he turned his head to look at her. She still wasn't looking at him though.

"Yeah," Daryl said as he stood up again.

"I gotta go, too!" Hunter exclaimed, practically leaping to his feet.

In the bathroom, he stood at the sink for nearly five minutes, scrubbing his hands as best as he could – getting rid of the dirt, grease and oil and Hunter handed him paper towels and pointed out to spots he had missed.

Back at the table, Shawn and Rosita were telling a story about a date they had gone to in Atlanta and had everyone laughing and Annette was giving her son clear looks about not ending this one. Shawn was a serial dater, always having a new girlfriend every time the family saw him and Annette and Hershel wondered if he would ever be ready to settle down. Shawn never seemed to be too interested in it though. He was having fun, as he liked to remind them all.

The waiter came back around and Daryl ordered the rigatoni with chicken and mushrooms and Abby crawled into his lap, resting her head tiredly against his chest as Glenn and him started talking about the car at the shop Daryl had been working on. He would keep glancing over to Beth but she didn't look at him once; busy talking with Maggie or Rosita or keeping Hunter still in his seat and it seemed like she didn't even notice him sitting next to her.

They were at the restaurant for another hour as Daryl ate and everyone had their fair share of coffee and when the bill finally arrived, Maggie, Shawn and Beth paid for the meal, scolding Hershel when he made even the slightest move for his wallet.

In the parking lot, the family all hugged one another good-night as if they wouldn't all see one another the next day again for one thing or another and Daryl helped Beth get the kids into her Subaru. She didn't get in though. Instead, she closed the door once Abby was buckled in and finally turned on Daryl, her arms crossed over her chest. Daryl stood there, not moving or squirming. He had been waiting for this.

"You look real pretty tonight," Daryl said though he knew complimenting her would probably only piss her off more.

"Where were you?" Beth asked even though she already knew the answer.

Daryl took a deep breath, preparing for the gauntlet to be dropped.

They didn't fight a lot. Hardly ever. He knew other couples – Rick and Lori, Maggie and Glenn –had disagreements nearly every day with one another. It was normal – apparently. That's what Rick said about it. But Beth and Daryl had never been like that. Even for as different as they were from one another, there was just something that clicked. It clicked the second they met and they got along in such a way, fighting and disagreements were just never part of their relationships. It wasn't that they never fought. Those fights were just few and far in between.

"Was at the garage. A car came in at the last second and I started workin' on it. Couldn' seem to get myself to stop," he did his best to explain.

"You knew about tonight. You knew it was a dinner for my dad's birthday and I don't care what he said in there. You being here was important, Daryl," Beth said.

"I know it was," he said. "But I showed up. Ain't like I didn' come at all."

"You didn' even wash up!" Her voice rose a little.

"No, I didn', cause I knew I was runnin' late and I wanted to just get here," he said and even though he told himself not to, he found himself frowning at her. "Dale was paying me overtime to be there. You know how much money I just made tonight?"

He expected Beth to blow a gasket at that but instead, she just stared at him and he saw her visibly exhale as if everything inside of her just deflated. It wasn't the reaction he was expecting at all and he found himself taking a step towards her, stopping himself though and making sure there was still a distance between them.

"You worry about money too much, Daryl," Beth said in a quiet voice.

Daryl found himself frowning heavier now. "That's 'cause we don't have it, Beth."

"We have enough. We have all we need, Daryl. You don't need to break your back anymore working like you do. We have enough," Beth repeated. "And even if we didn't… this isn't what life is supposed to be like, Daryl. It's not supposed to be constantly thinking about or worrying about money. This is what it's about," she pointed to the restaurant. "Your family and being with the people who love you."

Daryl didn't know what to say to that. This fight wasn't going the way he thought it would. He almost would have preferred if Beth was screaming her head off at him.

"Are you sayin' I don't spend enough time with you?" He asked in a grunt.

She shook her head. "I'm saying that you could spend more."

"That's bullshit, Beth," he couldn't help from biting out. "Who the hell do you think I'm breakin' my back for all the time?"

Beth stared at him for a moment. "Have I ever, even once, asked you to do that? To work yourself to the bone? To come home late and leave home early? Or when you're home, to still be working? Do you, for one second, think that I want you to do that?"

"We got three kids," he said. "And I don't know if you've noticed, but we live in a house a hell of a lot bigger than some shack in the woods and the bills are a little bit bigger now 'cause of it."

"You don't get it, Daryl," Beth shook her head. "It's not about the money. Everything shouldn't have to be about the money. I know you think it is but it's not. It's about you being with me and the kids and that's all we want. That's all that matters. That is what we're going to remember for the rest of our lives. Not money. But you and all of us being together in moments like this night was supposed to be."

"I spend plenty of time with you. Don't know whatcha want from me," he mumbled.

And it wasn't the right thing to say and he knew that but he didn't know what else he could say. It wasn't as if he could tell Beth that she was wrong. She wasn't and he knew it. Beth was rarely wrong when it came to a lot of things and this was no exception. He did work a lot and he worked hard but he would never consider those two bad things for a man to do; especially to do for his family.

Beth sighed softly then but she didn't say anything else. She turned towards her car and he kept standing there, watching her as she drove out of the parking lot. And Daryl stood there for a few minutes more until he heard a rumble of thunder off in the distance and it finally prompted him to go to his truck and start driving home, too.

…

The garage was open for half a day on Saturdays but it wasn't necessary for him to go in, having finished all of his work the day before and if it got too crazy, he knew Dale would call him. As he and Beth were in the kitchen, making their usual Saturday breakfast for the kids, he could feel her glancing at him every few minutes, as if waiting for him to tell her that he was going into work for a few hours. Daryl didn't say anything though except remind the kids that someone had to feed Kyle.

On Saturdays and Sundays, since they had the time for it, they had big breakfasts. This morning, they fried eggs and Beth cut up potatoes and made fried potatoes with bits of bacon tossed in. Neither of them talked as they cooked – though Daryl wasn't expecting them to have some huge conversation about it. They fought and when they did, they apologized and then moved on. He knew this one was his fault so he would have to apologize to her because he hated fighting with Beth. Whole damn thing just felt unnatural and he didn't know how other couples could do it. Rick had even said once that fighting with Lori was like foreplay for them and Daryl wished he hadn't had ears at the time so he didn't have to hear such a thing.

He knew people probably thought he and Beth fought a lot. They were just too different from one another to not have disagreements and he admitted that sometimes, he really didn't get why they didn't fight more either. And when they did fight, it always seemed to be about the same thing. Money. He knew he thought it too much and it could get him angry because he sometimes thought she didn't think about it as much as she should.

But she was right. Most of their relationship had been about Beth being right and he admitted that.

They did alright. They did better than alright. For the first time in his life – and their marriage – he was in a comfortable financial state. She had gotten a small raise at the daycare center and he had three different incomes coming in and they had a few more bills now but they weren't drowning. They were treading and that was the best place they had been at in years.

"Are we doing anything today?" Luke asked once they had all sat down at the table with plates of food in front of them.

"I don't think so," Beth shook her head as she poured Abby some orange juice. "Just laundry. You can help with that if you want," she then added with a smile.

Luke smirked a little. "Molly was wanting to hang out this afternoon."

"Is Molly your girlfriend now?" Hunter asked.

Luke just stared at him from across the table and Hunter grinned at him.

"What about us, dad?" Hunter looked at him. "We working on the car today?"

Daryl paused before giving his head a nod. "Maybe a little bit," he said and he dared a look at Beth, wondering if that would just piss her off further. But he wasn't getting paid to work on that car. That car was his project with Hunter.

After breakfast was finished, the three kids carried their plates to the sink and helped clear the table and then left Daryl and Beth to clean up the rest.

He set his coffee cup down beside her as she stood at the sink and he looked at her but just as he opened his mouth to speak, Beth beat him to it.

"I'm sorry," she said quickly, her eyes flying up to meet his.

Dayrl couldn't help but blink at her, having not been expecting that.

"I'm sorry for what I said last night. I never should have said that," she shook her head rapidly. "You take the best care of me and the kids and I shouldn't be angry or upset because you work. I'm grateful I'm married to a man who actually wants to work and not someone like…" she trailed off, trying to think of a way to finish that.

"Like Merle?" He couldn't help but smirk a little and he could tell that Beth was trying her hardest not to smile at that. "'m sorry, too," he then said in a lowered voice. "Not just 'bout last night though I'm real sorry about bein' so late for somethin' for your pops like that. But for workin' so much. Jus' wan' to give you and the kids everythin' I can, I suppose."

Beth's head was tilted up to look at him and she lifted her arms wrapping them around his neck and pushing herself up on her toes so her face was closer to his. And Daryl didn't hesitate in slipping his own arms around her, holding her close to him.

"I've already told you before, Daryl," Beth said in a soft voice, her eyes never leaving his.

She didn't tell him this time though but he didn't need her to because she was right. She had said it before. It seemed like every fight they had was about money and it was a statement that Beth said to him every time afterwards.

And he knew it was a true. He just tended to forget it sometimes. He was lucky enough to have a family who would rather have him more than anything else.

His hand went to the back of her head, cupping it, fingers in her hair, and he kissed her lightly. "Was thinkin' that maybe we have your folks over for dinner tonight. I can grill up some deer. We're gettin' plenty of green beans in the garden. The weather's nice enough for a cookout." As he kept talking, Beth's smile kept growing. He shrugged a shoulder. "Wanna make up for last night."

"That sounds perfect," she said, still smiling.

"Yeah," he nodded and his eyes darted down away from hers as if nervous. "Maybe it can be like one of those moments you were talkin' 'bout last night," he added in his gruff tone as if he was embarrassed from making the suggestion. His eyes lifted just enough to look at her again.

Beth didn't say anything to that but she didn't have to. Her smile and the brightness in her eyes were more words to Daryl than any she could actually say. And when he kissed her again, she was still smiling against his lips.

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