I cannot thank you all who has been supporting this story enough times. It means the world to me.

PS - I really love Emily's new haircut for Conviction.

…

Chapter Three.

Owning his own business and setting his own hours makes things a bit easier for him sometimes so when Doc tells him that she wants to see Louis again Tuesday morning at ten, Daryl has no problem making the appointment.

He arrives a little early and the exam room door is closed so he settles himself down into one of the chairs in the waiting room, Louis plopping himself at his feet. There's another woman sitting there, on the little sofa, with a box in her lap. She's older with wrinkles on her dark skin as if she has spent much of this life laughing. Daryl wonders what time her appointment is. Maybe she's really early to hers or maybe he has gotten the time wrong when Doc had wanted him here.

He doesn't worry about it though. He's not in a hurry today either way. He absent-mindedly rubs Louis behind his ears as he looks around the vet's waiting room that had once been the house's fancy sitting room. There are framed posters on the walls of advertisements for flea drops and heart-worm pills and how important it is to keep your pets vaccinated and another for good oral hygiene. Framed degrees from veterinarian schools are hanging on the wall as well – for Hershel Greene and Elizabeth Greene. There is a fireplace in the room and along the mantel, there are even more framed photographs – of the Greene family – mainly Hershel during his career, pictured with various animals at different times in life. The newest photograph is of the Doc in her cap and gown and degree in her hands with her older sister, brother-in-law and brother standing with her, celebrating her graduation day. Hershel Greene missing from the picture is so obvious, it almost hurts to look at it.

It is a small town and he knows of the Greene family just as everyone knows of the Dixon family. The Green family has always had a good reputation in their county. Hershel's dad apparently had been a mean son-of-a-bitch but no one's alive anymore to remember him. They remember Hershel and Annette Green though – and Josephine, Hershel's first wife – and they had all been the kind of people where no one could think of a wrong word to say about any of them. They were hard-working and kind and always willing to help anyone.

With all of his children grown and gone and Otis, his farmhand, getting a little older as well, Hershel often called Daryl for his help with some maintenance work around the farm and house and Daryl had always been more than willing to help. No matter what he told the man his fee, Hershel always paid more than he had to and never took it back when Daryl did his best to refuse. He did stay for dinner when the older man offered and as they talked – or rather Hershel talked and Daryl listened – Daryl began thinking that maybe, they had more in common with one another than anyone would think.

Hershel's sudden death had been a blow to the entire town.

But Beth's moved back and has taken over the Greene veterinary practice and it seems like the apple hasn't fallen far from the tree with that girl.

Daryl can admit to himself that she's nice. Hell, he can even admit that she's pretty cute but she reminds him too much of Amy. Too damn much. The blonde hair and blue eyes and Amy had been pretty nice and sweet, too – or so he had thought. And if he thinks that Amy had maybe been too young for him, Beth Greene is practically a damn fetus compared to him. He's already gone down the road with a younger woman. He's not going to do it again. Not that he even has to worry about it. Nothing will ever happen with the Doc. Since she's moved back, there are other men in town who have definitely taken note of her. Daryl's not one of them.

The exam door opens and Doc steps out then. She's dressed casually – blue jeans with the cuffs rolled up to her calves with Converse sneakers on her feet, a blue tee-shirt and her white lab coat. She is smiling and laughing as a big man – Daryl recognizes him as Tyreese – steps out with a Dalmatian hooked onto a leash. Louis immediately gets to his feet to go and sniff at the other dog but Daryl holds tightly onto the leash, keeping him close to him.

"Thanks for your help, Doc," Tyreese is saying to her with his wide grin.

"Just make sure you tell the other firemen to stop feeding him so much. Dogs don't need twenty meals a day," Beth smiles make and with a laugh, Tyreese heads out.

Beth looks to Daryl and the other women in the waiting room. "Jacqui, I have to see to Daryl and Louis first but then you'll be next."

"No hurries, doctor," the woman on the couch smiles.

Beth smiles and looks to Daryl. "You guys ready?" She asks.

Daryl stands without a word and leads Louis into the exam room. Beth closes the door once more and Daryl hoists Louis up onto the steel exam table. The dog's tail is no longer wagging. Instead, it's now tucked behind his hind legs and his ears are flat to his head.

"Don't worry, Louis," Beth says in that gentle voice of hers she uses on all of the animals. "I promise I won't hurt you today."

She goes through the standard exam, listening to his heart, checking his teeth and his ears, running her hands down his body and legs, feeling for anything that might be unusual. She then looks to his snout, using careful, gentle touches.

"'ve been keepin' it as clean as I can," Daryl finally speaks up. "I usually take him to job sites with me but I didn' want to get sawdust near 'im."

Beth smiles at that and nods with approval as she keeps looking it over. "It's looking good. A little pink but that's to be expected after how many needles I had to pull out of him. I'm going to want to put him on an antibiotic. One pill, twice a day, for a week."

Daryl nods as Beth goes to one of the shelves and opens a drawer. She takes a moment, looking through the medicine kept there, and he can't help but look at her. She looks different today. He had just seen her the day before – colliding with her in front of Mitchell's drug store – and she looks the same and yet, something is slightly off. He just can't put his finger on it.

When she turns around with a brown pill bottle in her hand, he suddenly gets it.

"You cut your hair," he then says before he can get himself not to.

She pauses for a second – surprise clear on her face – and then she smiles, her hand going to her blonde hair that is now to her shoulders. "Last night. My best friend, Rosita, works at the salon in town and she came over to do it. Nothing too drastic. Just a few inches. A change."

"Looks nice," he hears himself mumble and he looks away but not before noticing the pink stain to her cheeks at his compliment.

"Thank you," Beth says quiet and after a moment, she clears her throat. "Here you go. One in the morning and one at night. Roll it in a piece of cheese or meat so he won't spit it out. It will help prevent an infection and hopefully, by next week, he'll be just as good and can get back out there, hunting and working with you."

Daryl nods, looking at the pill bottle.

"He's such a beautiful dog," Beth comments as she begins another examination, her hands running over the dog's body and Louis is panting, smiling at her as if he knows what she's saying. "I was so shocked when I found him. I couldn't believe someone would just dump a dog off at a rest stop and drive away. Of course, people do all sorts of terrible things to animals and they never make any sense to me."

Daryl's not too sure what to say though he agrees. He thinks there's a special place in hell for people who mistreat animals. One time, he had been tagging along with Merle – as he used to be prone to do – to one of Merle's friend's house and in a drunken stupor, Merle had kicked at a cat in the house that had been walking past. Daryl hadn't hesitated in punching his brother across the face. Drunk or not drunk, no one does shit like that in front of Daryl.

"He's been a good dog," Daryl nods. "I got 'im for Amy but she hadn't wanted him after…"

He trails off then and he really has no idea why he's just said that. He doesn't talk about Amy or the breakup and he's been doing his damn best to not even think about her. Of course, it's a small town so he's already seen her a couple of times. Nothing too up close and personal. Just sitting in the diner and seeing her through the window, walking past. Silently, deep down, he hates how good she's looking.

"Well, just between you and me, Amy's never seemed that smart to me," Beth quips then and he smiles at that before he can stop himself. "Alright," she takes a deep breath then. "I'm going to want another follow-up appointment with you two next week, once he's out of the antibiotic."

Daryl nods. "You got it. How much I owe you?"

This time, she doesn't seem to hesitate and be reluctant to charge him. She goes to her desk and sits down at the computer. As she types something out, Daryl lifts Louis and sets him down, keeping an eye on him as he trots around the room, sniffing at everything he can. Beth hits a button and a piece of paper spits out on the printer. Daryl takes it when she holds it out to him and he looks at the total, frowning.

"This it?" He asks.

He's not an idiot. He knows owning a dog isn't cheap and he shouldn't be complaining when a vet's bill isn't through the roof but this doesn't seem right.

"Yep," Beth nods. "Eighty for the pills."

He looks at her. "You still ain't charged me for Sunday's visit," he reminds her. "And aren't you supposed to be chargin' me every time you examine him?"

"You want a higher bill?" She looks at him, both confused and surprised.

"I want a fair bill," he says, setting the piece of paper on the exam table, pushing it back towards her. She doesn't pick it up again. She just keeps looking at him and Daryl returns the look, waiting to see what she'll do or say next. "We all gotta make a livin', Doc. You're no different," he says.

She shakes her head. "I make enough."

Daryl doesn't say anything to that. He just keeps looking at her. He knows he shouldn't be that adamant about this. If she wants to under-charge him, he should let her. But it's about doing what's right and he's a Dixon and he doesn't take anything unless he's earned it.

"Fine," Beth sighs after another passing minutes. "One-hundred. Is that better?"

No, not really, but he knows that that's all he's going to get out of her right now.

He goes into his back pocket for his wallet and goes through his cash. He uses cash for everything. It was another thing that used to bother Amy for some reason. She has credit cards and debit cards and she always has to check balances and how much she has in her accounts and pay more bills and Daryl never understood why he'd want to do all of that just for a piece of plastic.

He likes cash – handling it and easily keeping track of his spending. He has a checkbook at home and he writes out his bills that way. Amy had told him every week when he sat down to do it that it is so antiquated and can he please jump into this current century? He had just ignored her though about it. He likes writing his checks and balancing his account and keeping track of things himself. He sees people just swipe their plastic over and over again and it's always just seemed so dangerous to him.

"You're a very stubborn man, Daryl Dixon," she says as she takes the two fifty-dollar bills he hands her.

He snorts at that and slipping the wallet back into his pocket, he hooks the leash onto Louis' collar once more. "You ain't so easy yourself, Doc," he replies in return.

He tells himself that the room's hot that morning and it's the only reason her cheeks are a darker pink than they were just a second ago.

…

When he built his mom her little greenhouse in the backyard, he never thought anything would come of it. He had always liked working with his hands and building things; had taught himself how to and had only gotten better the more he worked at it. He built his mom the greenhouse because she loved to garden and complained that she could only do it in the warm months so he took it upon himself to build her something she wanted but hadn't even thought to ask for.

And when others saw the greenhouse he had built, he started getting calls, asking him if he was able to build them something. And building led into general maintenance for people and their houses and Paulie took him down to the bank and town hall so he could get the proper papers and titles and he could start his own handyman business with the focus mostly on carpentry.

Up and running for three years and Daryl admits that he's doing pretty well for himself. He's been in the black ever since he opened for business and he makes enough money where he's actually able to make a living for himself. The past year, it's gotten to be so busy for him that he had to hire someone else to help him. With T-Dog, they're able to do even more jobs and make more money and they're busy solid six days a week. T-Dog is a religious man and won't allow himself to work on Sundays and even Daryl knows that they all need at least one day off.

With fried eggs, bacon and toast by Paulie, Daryl sits at the table and eats his breakfast and sips his coffee as Paulie stands at the stove, frying more bacon. She takes one of the antibiotic pills from the bottle on the counter and wrapping it up in a piece of bacon, she tosses it to Louis, the dog catching it in his mouth and seemingly swallowing the piece whole.

"What's your schedule like today?" Paulie asks as she brings her own plate of eggs and bacon to the table and sits down across from Daryl.

"Workin' on puttin' that new hardwood floor down in Andrea's office. T and I should have it done by lunch and then she wants some new bookcases built. Got to go over that with her."

Paulie nods, pausing to sip her orange juice. "It's good you're doin' that."

Daryl knows what she means and he just shrugs, shoving another bite of egg into his mouth, scooping the broken yellow yolk off his plate with his toast. "Her sister broke up with me. Andrea didn'. And she's a payin' customer."

"I know, but a more petty man wouldn' want to be anywhere near anyone from Amy's life."

Daryl shrugs again. "'s a small town. Not easy pretendin' she doesn' exist."

"I know you don't wanna hear it," Paulie begins. "But I'm glad you and Amy are done."

Daryl lifts his head, looking at his mom. A frown begins to form. "You were always tellin' me that you liked her."

"Because you did, Daryl, and I wanted you to know that I supported you," Paulie explains as if it's the easiest thing to comprehend. "But she wasn' the one for you. I could tell that the very first time you brought her 'round to meet me."

Daryl is still frowning at her but he doesn't know what to say to any of that. This is really the first time Paulie has even hinted that she didn't care for Amy. Amy would say things sometimes – "I don't think your mom likes me that much" kind of things – but Daryl had just shook his head and thought that Amy was looking for something that wasn't there. He had always thought that his mom liked Amy and why wouldn't he think that? Paulie had never said anything differently.

Until now.

"Why you think that?" Daryl asks.

"Just a mother's intuition, I reckon."

Daryl keeps looking at her, waiting for her to say something else, but Paulie just goes on, eating her breakfast and smiling down at Louis as he begs at her side. He wants to ask her something else but he doesn't know exactly what. And they then both hear heavy steps on the back porch, which cuts the conversation off from continuing.

"Sure smells good in here," Merle grins as he pushes open the back door and steps into the kitchen. Louis is immediately there, greeting him with an eager wag of his tail, and Merle rubs the dogs behind his ears.

"Hi, honey. Breakfast?" Paulie asks, already moving towards the stove.

"Thanks, mama," Merle says and gives her a kiss on the cheek before going to the coffee machine on the counter and pouring himself a cup. He plops down in the third chair at the table and gives Daryl a grin.

Daryl chews on a piece of bacon. "Lookin' like your night's just endin'."

"It sure is, baby brother," Merle nods. "And it was a great night. Some college boys came to Joe's and thought they knew how to play pool. Five hundred dollars later and the only thing they know now is that they don't know how to play shit."

He reaches into his pocket, pulling out a wad of bills.

"Here you go, mama," Merle pulls out a few of the bills and holds it out for her.

Paulie comes and sets a plate of eggs and bacon in front of Merle and looks at the money. She hesitates before taking it and they know she's only taking it because it had nothing to do with some of Merle's other business ventures. There's an old coffee can on top of the refrigerator and she pulls it down, prying back the plastic lid and hiding the money inside.

"Also saw Amy there," Merle continues as he begins shoving eggs into his mouth like a starving man.

"'m sure you did," Daryl mutters, finishing up his own breakfast and looking to the clock.

He has to go pick up T by seven so they can get to Andrea's law office in town. Andrea used to work in Atlanta at some fancy law office in a high-rise but she must have gotten tired of it because she moved back to their little town a few years ago and opened her own practice, offering her services to people around here that needed a lawyer but might not have the greatest funds to get one. She rented an office on the main street that used to sell porcelain babies and angels and had been out of business and sitting empty for a few years before Andrea came back and she is finally looking to remodel it more to her tastes.

The phone on the wall begins ringing and he's grateful for the interruption. He doesn't really want to hear about Amy and whatever Merle had said to her because even though Daryl told him to leave her alone, Merle's rarely one to listen to anyone.

He gets up to answer it as Paulie tells Merle to chew with his mouth closed.

"'ello?" He speaks into the receiver.

"Daryl?"

He recognizes Beth's voice immediately and he can't help but be concerned – and a little confused – because there's obviously something wrong if she's calling him this early. Why else would the doc need to talk to him at six-thirty in the morning?

"Yeah," he answers. "Wha's wrong?"

Beth exhales a deep audible breath. "I don't know what's wrong but I have no running water. I think something might be wrong with the pumps and the wells but I have no idea and Otis isn't here yet and I tried calling the plumber in town but it's too early for him and his office isn't open yet and I know you probably already have a million things to do today but I need running water for the practice-"

"Yeah," he cuts into her rambling. "That shouldn' be a problem. I gotta pick up my guy but we'll be over in a half hour? That a'right?"

Beth exhales again. "I cannot thank you enough, Daryl."

"It'll be an easy fix," he then hears himself say though he really has no idea if it will be or not. It just seems like the thing to say right then.

And he doesn't know why but deep down, in the pit of his stomach, he almost feels this need to want it to be easy for her because she sounds like she's on the verge of crying and even if it's not, he knows he won't stop working until the problem is fixed again.

He clears his throat. "A'right. So, I'll be there in a lil' bit."

"Thank you, Daryl," she breathes with relief again.

"See you soon, Doc," he says and then hangs up. He turns away from the phone, back to his mom and Merle still sitting at the table, who had clearly been eavesdropping. "Gotta go. Doc has a problem out on her farm she needs help with," he says to them.

He looks at them when both Paulie and Merle just smile in return, Merle's grin much wider than mom's – as if they're in on some joke Daryl didn't get the punch line to but Daryl doesn't ask them about it. They're always doing that to him. Since she was so young when she had him, Paulie and Merle have a special relationship that Daryl doesn't share. They are mother and son but being close in age, they're like bosom buddies, too, sometimes.

"Come on, Louis," Daryl says to the dog and he comes obediently trotting after him as Daryl heads out of the house and to his pickup truck parked in the driveway.

He'll give Andrea a call on the way and tell her that he'll be over a little later that morning than initially planned and he's not going to think why one call from her has made him make Doc his priority this morning.

…

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