First of all, I have to apologize to my guest reviewers. I am the worst, I am so so sorry, I totally forgot to thank you in my previous chapters. Please accept my sincerest apologies. I will make sure it will not happen again. Here is a Bay/Daryl filled chapter for you, hope you enjoy.

Chapter 6

He had no idea how it had happened. Not really. He must have blacked out and was just now waking up. But then, why wasn't he surprised by where exactly he had found himself 'waking up'? 48 hours had passed since Daryl had taken Bay home and since he had convinced Patrick that he had no interest in Bay whatsoever, yet the pretty girl had found her way into his thoughts more than he'd like to admit. And now, here he was. It was past ten pm on Monday night and he was parked in front of the carpet factory, waiting for Bay to come out, in order to give her a ride home and to give her one of the two burgers with fries he had bought less than half an hour earlier. Just making sure she gets home safe and that she's got something to eat. Girl needs some meat or she's gon' keel over soon. He tried to tell himself that that was all it was, that he was just trying to get her to take better care of herself, but by now doubts about his motives were nagging at him. If he had no interest in her at all, then why did he keep seeking her out? Why did his stomach keep doing weird things when he thought about the times they had talked and had been alone together. Why did he have trouble breathing when he remembered how she had looked into his eyes Saturday night, when they'd had that last smoke in his car? Why did he keep thinking about those things anyway? Why was he thinking about her as soon as he woke up in the morning? Why had he thought about going to see her on Sunday while the others had gone to the movies? It was driving him insane. He'd practically spent all Sunday and today thinking about her, replaying their moments together over and over again inside his head. Why did it keep happening?

Because Pat is right and you like her, a little voice in the far far back of his head whispered to him and caused a strong feeling of panic to spread through him, because for a second he admitted to himself, that that voice might be right. However, he only admitted it for that tiny second, before he pushed all those pesky feelings and revelations down and ignored them as best as he could. That nagging feeling didn't go away, though. It was like a tiny hammer was knocking against one of his very sturdy walls, chipping away tiny piece after tiny piece of solid concrete, slowly yet steadily,unnerving him a bit. It might have started a long time ago. He'd been in that damn store every single fucking day since she started working there, whether he really needed something or not.

There she is. Daryl spied Bayanne walking out the gate, looking like she was tired and aching all over. He knew she had to be hurting, he'd worked that job himself for about two weeks and it really puts a strain on the arms and back, and she was so damn tiny, he really wondered how she did it. He slammed his hand down on the steering wheel to honk, having Bay jump in shock and clutch at her chest. She turned in his direction and squinted lightly in the dark.

"Daryl?" Bay was surprised to see him and a little part of her was jumping in joy. She had been a bit anxious yesterday, wondering if he would show up and drag her to the movie theater, and almost found herself wishing he would. That little part wasn't quite ready to go back to their previous cashier and costumer relationship, and it was excited to see him waiting for her. The rational part of her wondered what the hell he was doing and if she should really get in his car and let him take her home. His behavior was plain confusing. She hesitated and bit her lip while she looked at his car.

"Come on. What are you waiting for?" Daryl mumbled to himself as he watched her, feeling a bit anxious himself right now. It felt like hours had passed when Bay finally crossed the street and walked towards his truck. She didn't look at him, knowing she would blush a dark red, and after he had made it clear that he didn't like her, she didn't want him to see that. She opened the door and got in, only then sending him a shy glance and the hint of a smile.

"Hey."

"Hey." Daryl offered her that tiny smile where only the corners of his mouth were tugged up slightly. "Doin' okay?"

"Yeah. You?"

"Same." he started the car and started driving. "Hungry? Got a burger and some fries you can have."

What the fuck? Bay was usually not in the habit of swearing, but Daryl was seriously screwing with her head. He was picking her up, driving her home and now he was feeding her as well? It was totally bewildering. What the hell was she supposed to think about that? Talk about sending mixed signals. "I'm good, thanks." she declined politely.

"Come on, you gotta eat, Bayanne." If I buy the damn thing for you, you better damn well eat it. That was the part he had conveniently left out, though. He hadn't told her that he had bought it for her. He'd made it sound like it was leftovers and Bay didn't want to 'steal' food from him.

"Why don't you just keep it? You might get hungry later or you can eat it tomorrow." Bay argued, but Daryl shook his head.

"Nah. I want you to eat it, alright? Just do me that fucking favor." he said more forcefully than necessary and Bay's eyes widened in response to it.

"Okay... I will." she finally agreed. "No need to get loud." she muttered, which made Daryl laugh a little.

"Ain't ma fault that you're fucking stubborn."

"Did you just call me stubborn?" Bay jokingly narrowed her eyes at him. Daryl just shrugged with that little smile clearly teasing her a little. Bay shook her head with a smile. "I'm not stubborn, I just didn't want to take any food away from you."

"Wouldn't offer if I'd want it for myself. Best remember that, Bayanne. I don't do nothing I don't wanna do, alright?"

"Alright." Bay tried not to smirk. He had a unique way of saying her name. Out of his mouth it almost sounded like a curse word, because he pretty much spat out the 'Anne', giving it a rough edge. Even though it might as well have been a curse word when he said it, Bay kind of liked it. He was the only one to do it like that, there was no mistaking who was talking to her and that little giddy part inside of her that might or might not be developing a crush on him, was excited about it. "Are you going to watch me eat it, too?"

"You can bet your ass on that. Gotta make sure that ya ain't gonna give it to one of the homeless guys on your street." he smiled for a short moment, then he unconsciously chewed on his bottom lip for another moment, before he finished what he wanted to say. "I ain't had mine yet,... Figure we could... ummm... eat... uumm,... in here... before ya go upstairs... ya know?"

What in the world? Now he wants to have dinner together? Okay, he really couldn't be more confusing if he tried. Maybe he gets lonely or bored or something when Jessa stays with Patrick. But doesn't he have an ass-load of other friends? He's gonna break my brain with this kind of behavior. Bay frowned, giving Daryl the impression that she didn't feel like staying in the truck for a bit longer, like on Saturday night.

"Or not. Don't care. Whatever. Just eat the damn thing, alright?"

"Okay." And cold again. "But we can eat together. Might be a nice change of pace. I always eat alone."

"Nah." Daryl waved her off, a little pissed off that she hadn't said yes right away. "Just remembered that I got somewhere to be after I dropped your ass off." Why do I even fuckin' bother helping that damn girl?

"Oh. Okay." Bay wasn't able to keep up with his mood swings and now she was almost glad that she would get to slip into her bathtub and eat in peace and quiet very soon.

"Why don't ya find someone to have dinner with if it bothers you?"

"I didn't say that it bothered me. Also, I guess that barely nobody eats dinner at this time."

"We do." Daryl argued with a smirk.

"Yeah,... I guess we do." Bay giggled quietly. Warm again. What are you doing to me, Daryl? "But then again, you're not a suitable dinner partner either-"

"The fuck's that s'pposed ta mean?" he interrupted her angrily, his accent more prominent when he lost his temper. "I'm good 'nuff ta buy yer skinny ass dinner, but I ain't good 'nuff to eat it with ya?"

"Whoa, okay hold on there, Mister!" That's it. She was tired and aching and he was screwing with her head on top of that. Bay had enough. "First of all, it would have been nice if you would have let me finish, because then you would have known that I wasn't saying that. Second of all, did I ask you to buy me dinner? Did I ask you to pick me up? Which reminds me. Stop the car, I'm getting out."

"Nah, didn't come ta get ya jus' so you can walk around in the dark again."

"Daryl, stop the car and let me out or I swear to God, I will combat-roll into the street right now. I don't care if I break twenty bones in my body doing it, I just want out."

"No."

"Daryl!" Bay put her hand on the door handle and started pulling, making Daryl slam on the brakes.

"FINE!" he yelled angrily. "You're fucking crazy, girl!"

Bayanne got out of the car and started walking, and Daryl started driving. He didn't drive away though. That would defeat the purpose of him making sure she got home alright. Even though they were almost at her apartment building, he went at a crawl right next to her, steaming mad like a bull. "Really? Ya really couldn't stand being in the car for another two minutes? Bayanne!"

No response from Bay, which made him clench the steering wheel in his hands so hard, it was a miracle it was still intact upon arriving at her building. "Bayanne! Bay!" he tried again and again to get her attention, but she chose not to give in. When she was about to walk into her building without so much as a goodbye, he decided it wasn't gonna happen. He quickly stopped the truck and jumped out, quickly breaking into a run to catch up with her before she had the chance to put the key into the lock. "Hey!"

"What?" Bay whirled around, finally facing and confronting him. "What do you want, Daryl? Really! Tell me, because I can't figure it out!"

"The fuck are you talking about?" he stopped short and looked at her confused, not knowing what she was getting at.

"What am I talking about? I'm talking about your damn mood swings and your inability to decide whether you hate my guts or not. You're nice, you're an ass, you're nice, you're an ass. You tell me you don't like me, and don't get me wrong, that's fine, people don't like everybody all the freaking time, but then you're suddenly nice again and offer me cigarettes and picking me up from work and bringing me food and then you suddenly snap again and can't wait to get away. I mean... what's up with that? Don't think I'm not grateful for the things you've done. I'm grateful for you coming down here to bring me ointment or to take me home and all that, I really am, but I'm not gonna accept it if you throw it in my face and hold it against me the next minute, especially since I didn't ask you to do these things in the first place. I'm done, Daryl. I'm done trying to figure it out, so you tell me what it's gonna be." Bay decided she was not gonna cry about this guy one more night and she was on fire, whereas Daryl was speechless and walking backwards as she advanced on him and almost bumped chests with him during her rant. "I'm done having you screw with my mind every other minute. You have to decide. You can either stand to have me around and be my friend or you hate my guts and you stay away and all we ever say to each other will be polite small talk between cashier and customer. It can't be both Daryl!" By now Daryl's back was against his own truck and she was now poking him in the chest with her index finger with every word. "Pick one and stick to it! Are we clear?!"

Damn, she's a hot little thing when she's mad. Eyes all ablaze and everything. Should push her more often. She sure ain't afraid of pushin' back. Although it had been more fun for him to watch her put Patrick in his place, Daryl couldn't help but like that she wasn't afraid to stand up to him as well. As quiet and nice as she might be, she really didn't take shit from anybody. I like that. Daryl admitted to himself and had a hard time fighting a smirk.

"Alright." he mumbled with a nod.

"Alright what?"

"I'll pick one." he had the audacity to smirk, which had Bay even more irritated, but she let it rest. She had freaked out enough for the whole week just now.

"Good." Bay took a step back and readjusted the strap of her bag that was slung over her shoulder. She cleared her throat and nodded. "Good. You do that. Thank you for that ride and goodnight."

"Don't want the burger then?"

"Not until you made up your mind." she said while she opened to front door, and with one last look at him she went inside.

"So much for dinner..." Daryl mumbled as he got back into his car. Things hadn't gone how he had imagined it, but he wasn't angry or disappointed about it. He couldn't explain, but he felt like something had burst or had been broken, but in a good way. He was in good spirits, actually after her little outburst. At least he had achieved one part of his mission today; he'd gotten her home safely, even if it might have been a little 'special' during the last couple of minutes. He still chuckled at the image of her being all mad and almost jumping out of the car. She had some well-hidden fire inside of her and that intrigued him.

With the second part of his mission failed, instead of eating with her he went back to the parking lot where some of the guys were hanging out, discussing some ways to make some quick money this week. Some of them were going to 'masturbate professionally' and donate sperm , while Daryl was with the guys who would try to get some work as a handyman. He had a wide range of skills, he was sure if someone would give him and the guys a chance, it would be a good way to make some bucks. If all else failed they'd find a couple of dog owners who would pay them to walk their pets. It wouldn't generate much income, but it would be enough to get some food and drinks going for a night.

Bay woke up in the middle of the night from a nightmare. She was doing okay, but her subconscious hadn't worked through the whole almost-getting-raped-thing, and it let her feel it, by making her confront it in her dreams. The TV was still on and old episodes of MASH were running. It wasn't her favorite, but then again, she wasn't exactly watching anyway. She checked the time and saw that it was just past 2 am. In two hours she'd have to get up and get ready for work. If I'm awake, might as well go pee. She crawled out from underneath her blanket and took a trip to the bathroom and grabbed a glass of water on the way back. She felt restless and she was pretty sure she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep. She walked over to the window and opened it to get some fresh air while she drank her water. She noticed a police car stopping across the street, and the officer getting out. He looked around a bit until he seemed to have found what he was looking for. He turned on his flashlight and walked towards an old blue truck.

"Holy shit!" Bay almost choked on her water when she recognized the truck. It was Daryl's. He must be sleeping in front of her building again and someone must have called the cops to check it out. Bay was suddenly running on instinct. To her cops showing up was just never a good thing. She had too much experience with it from her parents' high times. She slammed her feet into her sneakers, grabbed her blanket and wrapped it around her shoulders while she ran downstairs as fast as possible. Once she got out of the building she saw a disheveled Daryl getting out of the backseat to face the cop and she ran right up to his side and slung her free arm around his waist, while the other clutched the blanket, acting like she wasn't even noticing the cop yet.

"Baby, I'm sorry. I was so stupid and I forgive you, okay? It was so dumb anyway, who gets mad over dirty socks laying around the apartment? I was stressed from work, I'm sorry for kicking you out and making you sleep down here. I'm sorry okay?" she rambled out of breath and looked at him imploringly. Daryl was speechless for the second time that night, he was still a bit disoriented from sleep, but he got what she was doing.

"You know this man?" The cop asked her and in an almost Oscar-worthy performance, Bay jumped a little, startled by the voice of the officer who she hadn't paid any attention to.

"What? Oh... I didn't see you there. Is there a problem, officer?"

"I got called down here to check up on a call we received about this car being repeatedly parked here at night and this young man 'staking out' the building... You know him?" the officer asked once more, while Daryl tried hard not to blush a deep shade of crimson, because now Bay knew just how much he'd stayed around.

"Yes. He is my boyfriend... we just moved here and don't know everybody yet. He wasn't staking out anything, we just had a bit of a squabble. Dirty socks and laundry laying around, I'm sure you heard just now... I worked the late shift at the carpet mill this past week and gosh, he always forgets his key, don't you baby? He's so forgetful, so he had to wait outside a couple of times... nothing to write home about officer." Bay smiled as genuinely as possible at the cop while Daryl gingerly placed his arm around her shoulders to help sell the act at least a little.

"And that squabble you had... That turn physical by any chance?"

"God no. He wouldn't hurt a fly, I mean look at him. He looks like an angel and he really is. I was just a bit of a bitch to him. I'm really sorry sweetie." Bay smiled apologetically at Daryl.

"'s alright." Daryl mumbled with that tiny close-lipped smile of his.

"So everything is okay here? That truck belongs parked here?" The officer asked for confirmation one last time.

"It does." Both answered in unison with their most innocent expressions.

"Okay. Try to get along, so this don't happen again."

"Yes, Sir." Bay smiled sweetly and took Daryl's hand in hers. "Come on, sweetie. Let's go upstairs and sleep."

What Daryl had so carefully avoided was suddenly happening; their fingers touched and it felt like they were getting shocked with a live wire. Their fingers interlocked while both their breaths hitched from that intense sensation that had shot through their bodies, and Bay started pulling him into the building, not looking at him while she did it. He was a bit flustered and didn't gather his bearings until they were halfway up the stairs. That's when he tugged on her hand to make her stop and turn around to face him. She was one step ahead of him and a bit taller because of it, having them directly look into each others eyes in close proximity. And there it was, that breathlessness that had befallen him all weekend just from thinking about the last time they had been close and looked at each other like this. But it wasn't just him, she seemed to be a little short on her oxygen supply as well, he noticed. His heart was racing and he got another shock when the image of him closing the gap between them and kissing her flashed in front of his inner eye. Hell no, you idiot. Don't you go fallin' in love with that damn crazy girl. Shit, fucking Patrick... But Daryl knew that Patrick was not to blame for anything, except maybe opening his eyes with the constant pushing and teasing. Sometimes ignorance really was bliss, because now he simply didn't know what to do with this little realization.

"What?" Bayanne's soft voice broke through his confusion, making him snap back to reality.

"How'd you know I was there? How'd you know bout the cop?"

"Couldn't sleep. I opened the window to get some fresh air. That's when I saw." Bay murmured under her breath.

"I should get back out there. Go home or something."

"Don't be silly. You can't go home because of Jessa or you wouldn't even be here, right?"

"Right." That was a lie. Jessa wasn't staying over at Patrick's tonight.

"Come on." Bayanne squeezed his hand gently and continued up the stairs. Why does holding his hand have to feel so damn good? Don't wanna let go. She shot him a short look over her shoulder and smiled a little. "You'll sleep here, we'll make it work."

Daryl nodded once and kept following her up the stairs. There was only one way to make it work... They'd both be on that sofa-bed, and that thought both excited and scared him.

"Can I offer you anything? Water? Sandwich? Gummi bears?"

"What's it with you and gummi bears?" Daryl laughed lightly when she locked the door from the inside.

"What do you mean?" Bay had no idea why her offering them was so funny.

"The night that I helped ya out,... you know... you wanted to give me gummi bears to thank me." Daryl smiled and felt bad at the same time, because he now realized how out of it she must have been when he had left her alone.

"Oh." She blushed and giggled a bit. "That's silly. I'm sorry. Since I still have them, I'm guessing you didn't want them?"

"Nah. Don't need them now neither. Had a big dinner, you know?"

"Ah... yes..." Bay figured he'd eaten the burger that had been meant for her, as well. "So,... uummm... I don't think I can go back to sleep, I have to get up in less than two hours anyway, so the couch is all yours. I'll be quiet."

"Nah, if you stay up, I stay up." he was fidgeting, swinging his arms and lightly clapping his hands, not knowing what to do with himself as he looked around until his eyes landed on the TV-set. "We could watch TV I guess."

"Sounds good. I have 'Men in Black' on VHS. Want me to pop that into the VCR?" Bay suggested, because she really wasn't feeling like zapping through all the channels to find something they could watch.

"Yeah, why not."

"Make yourself at home." Bay motioned toward the sofa-bed and retrieved the VHS from a small shelf on the wall.

Daryl toed off his sneakers and knelt on Bay's bed. He lifted the blanket out of the way and scooted towards the back of the couch, so they would both be able to sit comfortably with their legs stretched out. Bay soon joined him and covered their legs with her blanket. Even though she was pretty petite it was a tight fit due to Daryl's shoulders being insanely wide. Their arms touched from shoulder to wrist, even their hand touching a liiiittle bit, but neither made a move to separate by crossing their arms or shifting them to rest more in their laps. Feeling the other's warmth was kind of a nice experience for both of them and they enjoyed it silently for a bit.

"Why can't you sleep? Nightmares?" Daryl asked quietly after a while.

"Yes. Not that bad, but it's definitely still in my head."

"I'm sorry."

"No, it's not your fault. As a matter of fact, if it hadn't been for you those nightmares would have been way worse,... if I would have survived to experience them." Bay shivered as she thought back to that night. She brought her other hand up to rub her arm, rubbing his with the back of her hand in the process, before she rested it back by her side.

"Should have killed 'em. Dirty ass motherfuckers."

"It's good that you didn't. Wouldn't have wanted you to go to jail for helping me. You're a good guy. Thank you." She looked him directly in the eyes when she said it, smiling slightly when she noticed how he blushed and seemed to be uncomfortable with getting praise. He's so cute.

They fell back into silence, but this time it was a companionable one, instead of an awkward one. Bay didn't even realize that she was falling asleep. One minute she was watching the movie and the next her alarm woke her up. Her pillow felt kind of hard and her neck hurt a little and she soon realized that she was sitting up. She opened her eyes when she felt her pillow shift and looked at Daryl in surprise when he opened his gorgeous blue eyes. "Oh that's right..." she laughed with a bit of a hoarse voice.

"Yeah. Guess we were tired after all." Daryl yawned and rubbed his eyes after Bay had removed her head from his shoulder. She had slumped against him in her sleep and she discreetly checked for drool stains on his t-shirt. She would be mortified if she had salivated on him, but thankfully everything appeared to be dry.

"Looks like." Bay crawled out of bed and stretched her slightly crampy limbs out. Then she picked out some clothes from her closet and disappeared into the bathroom to get ready for work. Daryl scooted to the edge of the sofa-bed and grabbed his sneakers to put them back one. Once they were tied he rubbed his eyes once more and yawned heartily. What a night. A short night, definitely, but also kind of a good night, he realized with a little smile. As short as it might have been, this little sleep over had been nice. Guess I picked one... Daryl grinned to himself. Gonna be her friend.

"Wanna come to the store with me for coffee?" Daryl startled and wiped the grin off of his face when Bay came back in. He hoped she hadn't seen how he'd sat there alone grinning like an idiot. He rubbed his hands over his thighs while he cleared his throat and nodded.

"Yeah. Let's go. Maybe you can scrounge up some gummi bears for breakfast." he snickered lightly while he lead the way out the door.

Bay followed him, shaking her head with a smile while she locked the door. Why does he have to be so damn cute?

Thank you for reading!

Snowbird: Dog saliva, yum! I love dogs, but drool is something I just can't stand. I totally understand not wanting to do it again. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, even if the shyness flew out the window for a bit;-)

guest: Well it is a Daryl/Bay story, so we all know sooner or later they are gonna happen. I am very happy that you enjoy the story and that I am able to convey what the characters are feeling. I hope you liked this one as well. Take care:)