So this was just supposed to be a short bit in the bar as the intro to the next chapter, but then it turned into THIS!

Chapter 14 - Let's talk about sex

Friday night at Fox's two weeks later saw Andrea, Shadow and the Dixons at their usual corner table waiting for the rest of the usual crew to arrive, pizza in front of them and beers in hand.

Well, nearly in hand.

"She'd better stop her yammerin' and bring us that beer or I'm gonna go get it off her myself." grumbled Merle as he glared over at Tahlia who was standing at the bar with a tray of freshly poured pints, chatting animatedly to some sandy-haired jock.

"Why don't ya go buy your own goddamned drinks, then?" snapped Daryl, even though he was just as keen to have Tahlia back at the table, albeit for a different reason.

Things were good between them; better than they'd ever been.

They'd seen each other a couple more times over the last two weeks – a spontaneous Wednesday night dinner at a new Chinese restaurant across the park; a rainy Sunday afternoon couch session at the apartment where they binge watched a bunch of episodes of the docuseries Long Way Round (and though Tahlia was bored two episodes in, she would never get bored of how engrossed Daryl was in the show and the way he lit up commenting on the motorbikes - that she could watch for hours); and a Tuesday morning coffee at the shop just on the corner from Tahlia's work that she absolutely didn't have time for, but Daryl had called saying he was 'riding past on his way to work' (opposite direction, but she didn't question that) so she had made time because she didn't want to pass up a moment with him.

In addition to that, they'd been in contact most days. Daryl really hated phones, but it wasn't possible to see Tahlia as often as he'd like, so he'd had to make his peace with texting (still minimal wording, no emotion, no extras) and phone calls (better than texting, but nowhere near as good as face-to-face). All in all, it was worth it. Made him feel all warm when he saw her name flash up. Had him wondering what the hell he used to think about all day before he met her.

"And who was that?!" demanded Andrea as Tahlia appeared back at the table, her cheeks a little pinker than usual, her eyes a little brighter.

Tahlia gave a coy shrug as she passed the beers around. "Some Dutch tourist on holiday here for a couple of months. He's just passing through town for the night." She turned to put the empty tray on the next table and glanced up to see the man in question casually leaning on the bar and smiling over at her, and she broke into a reflexive grin of her own before sitting down opposite Daryl, who, incidentally, was not smiling.

"A gorgeous tourist who's only in town for one night?!" said Andrea excitedly, leaning forward on the table. "Get back over there! This is your chance, Tahly! But no more talking."

Tahlia snorted and waved a dismissive hand. "Oh my God, no. Shush."

"Chance for what?" drawled Merle, downing half his pint.

"Slow down." Andrea elbowed him. "Only one drink, remember? Then we're on the road."

"But you're drivin', ain't ya?"

"Sure, some of the way. But I need you need to be awake enough to keep me entertained without annoying the shit out of me."

With a good-natured chuckle, Merle obediently set his glass on the table and Daryl stared at him then shook his head, still unable to believe the fact that his big-mouthed, trash-talking older brother was voluntarily heading down the line for the weekend to meet – and stay with – Andrea's mother and grandmother, who lived three hours south. Daryl had never known Merle to meet any girlfriend's family unless under duress, and he'd certainly never expected Merle to be so agreeable about the whole thing, but then again, Merle was looking all kinds of different now that he had Andrea. Different in a good way, Daryl reckoned, that much was true.

"So?" said Merle, raising his brows at Tahlia. "Chance for what?"

Tucking herself against Merle's side, Andrea said matter-of-factly, "Tahly's never had a one-night stand."

Daryl's hand tightened around his glass as his gaze snapped over to Tahlia, his mouth drying instantly.

"I have so!" she countered indignantly, although she seemed unperturbed by the sudden personal tack.

Andrea shot her a pointed look. "I'm not talking about only having sex with someone once, I'm talking about a hot fuck with a stranger with no getting-to-know-you and definitely no contact with them again."

"Oh. Yeah, no, I haven't done that." agreed Tahlia easily, taking a big slug of beer.

"Sleep with you and make a friend for life, huh?" teased Shadow from next to her, and Tahlia snorted.

"Can I list that as one of the perks?"

"So," continued Andrea, pulling their attention again, "I know that you're all about relationships, but since you're in this big drought between boyfriends – "

"Excuse me, it hasn't been that long!"

"- I just think it might be good for you to leave your heart and your head out of it for a night and have some no-strings, purely physical, passionate sex. Right?"

"Shit honey, gotta try it least once." agreed Merle, leaning back in his seat. "No time like the present."

Shadow gave a one-shouldered shrug. "Each to their own. I'd rather just have a cuddle."

"That actually sounds so much nicer to me right now." mused Tahlia, but Andrea was determined to push her point.

"Daryl! Back me up here."

Whipping his head to Andrea, Daryl's eyes widened. "What?"

She smiled sweetly at him. "Well, you're the king of one-night stands. Don't you think she should experience one? Tell her how good it can be!"

Cheeks flaming crimson, Daryl scowled at Andrea. "I ain't…" Swallowing the words because he probably wouldn't do himself any favors by trying to refute her first statement, he peeked over at Tahlia through his bangs. Of course he didn't want to encourage her into the arms of any man, but that wasn't the main reason he ended up shaking his head. "Nah. Don't reckon you should do that."

"Oh my God, are you fucking serious right now?" interjected Andrea in disbelief. "You're going to get all sexist about this? So it's fine for you to fuck as many randoms as you want, but not for Tahly. That make her a slut or something?"

"What? Naw!" said Daryl emphatically, then locked eyes with Tahlia, all sincerity. "Naw. That ain't what I mean. At all. You should do whatever you wanna do. I just think it ain't that safe for girls. Most likely you gonna be goin' home with someone stronger than you and if you don't know nothin' about them, haven't even had a proper conversation to get a feel for what they're like, you don't know where they're takin' ya or if there's gonna be other assholes there too, then…" Daryl trailed off, suddenly feeling put on the spot and he shrugged and dropped his gaze. "So, naw. Don't think you should do that. Think it's better for you to know someone first."

Then a pizza crust hit him in the forehead.

"You tryna give her a fuckin' phobia?!" demanded Merle, then he looked at Tahlia kindly. "Don't you listen to him, honey. If you wanna follow your pussy for a night and see where it leads, then you go do that. You gonna be just fine. And you ever end up in a bad situation, you just call one of us and we'll come get ya. Beat the shit outta any assholes for ya any time, too. Don't you worry."

Touched by the fierce loyalty that accompanied the friendship of the Dixons, Tahlia smiled warmly. "Aw, thanks Merle, that's sweet. But honestly, I don't think it'd be worth it for me anyway."

"Worth it?" cackled Merle. "Gettin' your rocks off is always worth it."

"Yeah, if you can." replied Tahlia drily, and Merle cocked a quizzical eyebrow, so Andrea took it upon herself to clarify.

"Tahly takes ages to come. And she basically never comes during sex."

Daryl choked on his beer.

"Oh my God, Andie!" exclaimed Tahlia wide-eyed, pressing a hand to her forehead. Naturally a very open person, she didn't embarrass easily, and she'd already had very in-depth personal conversations with both Merle and Shadow in the time she'd known them (Merle, in particular, had zero boundaries) so she was comfortable with the topic – just not that comfortable with it in front of Daryl. But it was out there now, so she took a breath, composed herself and gave a nonchalant shrug. "Loads of women find it hard to come during the act itself, so that's a non-issue for me, I'm more than happy to get myself off – "

Interrupted by Daryl's sudden coughing fit, she gazed at him in amusement as he quickly tried to regain control of his breathing, then she carried on casually.

"So that's why I'm not into sleeping with complete randoms. I just know it's not going to be that great for me. Sex is just better when I have feelings for someone. Deeper feelings, better sex. Isn't that true for most people?"

Andrea nodded. "Hmm, yeah, I'd mostly agree with that – although it is definitely possible to love someone and have bad sex."

"I just know you ain't talkin' 'bout your current situation, are ya, darlin'?" grinned Merle loftily, elbowing Andrea.

"Course not. I don't love you." she quipped cheekily then shrieked as Merle playfully caught her in a headlock. "Ok!" she gasped, shoving him away. "Ok! Geez, I love you, get off. Anyway, I guess my point was just that there's a different kind of thrill, satisfaction, in lust-driven, purely physical sex."

"Seems to be what gets you off, huh Darlina?" smirked Merle, settling casually back in his seat again. "In fact, I'd say that for you, the less you feel, the less you know 'bout someone, the better the fuck. Ain't that right?"

Unhappy about being dragged back into this goddamned conversation that he wished would just end already before his brain exploded, Daryl scowled.

Oblivious to his brother's discomfort, Merle carried on. "Yeah. I'd wage that's about true. Best when you don't even know their name! One time, we were on a Greyhound to San Antonio and there was this chick that Daryl –"

"Merle." growled Daryl in vicious warning, fixing his brother with a hard glare.

The older Dixon just grinned. "C'mon! That's a great story! Alright, what 'bout when we went to that gig and the back-up singer ended up missin' the second set coz you had her out in the storeroom? Or what 'bout those two girls - "

"Merle!" Daryl fired up and banged his fist on the table, rattling the glasses. "Knock it off! Want me to break out some of your stories?!"

Chortling at the threat, Merle then held his hands up in submission as Andrea punched him on the thigh. Then Andrea looked over at Tahlia who was gazing a little sadly at Daryl, who in turn had his own attention now fixed firmly on his thumbnail, and Andrea pursed her lips. She was still a little annoyed at Daryl for what he'd done the other week, and a little more annoyed at him for subsequently inserting himself front and center in Tahlia's life like they were goddamned besties now, clearly oblivious to the fact that Tahlia had feelings for him (which, Andrea knew that despite Tahlia's outward denial, she was still trying to get under control). And though Andrea was fairly sure that Daryl and Tahlia were building a genuine friendship, she would be really fucking annoyed with him if he ended up carelessly sleeping with Tahlia with no consideration of how much that would mess her up, as seemed to be his way. And she just didn't want her friend to be all hung up on a guy that operated in the complete opposite way to her; that was so different from the guys that had been good for her in the past; so Andrea decided that now might be a good time to remind everyone that Tahlia had a few stories of her own, and that it was a big ol' world out there.

First, she raised her eyebrows at Daryl. "You should really make sure you get tested. God knows what you've picked up out there." Then she waved a hand in Tahlia's direction. "Forget what I said about one-night stands, Tahly. You're so right – why would you bother? Especially when you've dated some incredible guys that treated you like a queen. Let's see…" She angled herself towards Daryl, who was studiously avoiding eye contact with anyone, and ticked them off on her fingers. "There was this chef, he was amazing – cooked gourmet meals for us all the time. And the guy in that band? Wrote a whole album of beautiful songs for you, didn't he Tahls?"

"Oh! Well, those songs could've been about anyone…"

Ignoring Tahlia's downplay, Andrea dramatically ticked off another finger. "And then of course, there was my fave who surprised Tahly with a trip to Rio. They hiked up to Christ the Redeemer and he proposed to her at sundown right under the statue! So romantic."

At that, Daryl's head snapped up and he finally met Tahlia's gaze, his own slightly wounded, his head swimming with all these things he now knew about her, things he didn't need to know, painting a picture of her that he didn't want to see, and this was the most confronting thing by far.

Andrea ploughed on. "Oh, and what about the French guy? True what they say about them being the best lovers, hey Tahls?"

"Ohkaaay!" declared Tahlia loudly, placing her palms flat on the table to push herself up to stand. "Enough of that ancient history, I think! You've got until I come back from the bathroom to change the subject to something that doesn't involve me or Daryl or sex." Shit. She immediately wished that she had phrased that differently.

Making a little strangled noise in the back of his throat, Daryl then jumped to his feet too. "Need a smoke."

It wasn't much later that Tahlia found Daryl alone in a dark corner of the courtyard with a half-smoked cigarette in hand, and she dropped down next to him on the bench seat, her thigh against his.

"Well! That got pretty personal in there, huh?!" she stated cheerily then nudged him. "Don't worry, between the two of us I'm sure we've got plenty of tales about Andrea and Merle that will have them squirming in their seats."

His mind still in a tangle, Daryl didn't respond, didn't look at her, didn't move, save to offer her his cigarette.

"I don't smoke."

"I know."

So she took it and had a puff anyway, ignoring the acrid burn in her throat, ignoring the intimacy of wrapping her lips around the same spot where his had just been.

When he had his cigarette back in hand, he heaved a sigh. "That shit Merle said 'bout me? Was a long time ago. Ain't proud of some of the stuff I done. Like to think I'm a bit… uh… nicer these days. I mean, I ain't done nothin' that someone don't want, I would never, never…" he added quickly, turning to her, eyes wide with panic at the notion she might think he'd ever do anything without consent.

"I know." she reassured him, touching his arm gently. "I know you wouldn't."

"I…" he sighed again, his brow furrowing. "I don't want ya to think I'm just some… redneck asshole."

She smiled, green eyes twinkling. "I don't think that. I mean, I think that sometimes you like to pretend you're an asshole, but then you blow your cover by going and doing all these sweet, thoughtful things."

Huffing out a laugh, Daryl twirled the smoldering cigarette in his fingertips, then dropped it to the ground, crushing it under his boot tip.

"Don't do that shit for everyone."

"Guess I should count myself lucky then."

"Yeah." He elbowed her. "You should." Watching the remnants of smoke curling and fading in the air, his smile faded with the last of it and he stretched the silence a moment longer before quietly saying, "You were engaged?"

"Ah. Yes, I was. For a very short time a few years ago." Tahlia held out her ringless left hand and chuckled. "But as you can see, it didn't work out."

Daryl couldn't share in her humor. Having never been in a relationship, the idea of marriage, of loving someone enough to even consider it, was unfathomable, unattainable. And though it didn't make sense, he ached at the fact Tahlia had loved like that. Had been loved like that.

"Musta been serious."

Tahlia gave an easy shrug. All of that was so far behind her, it felt like someone else's life. "We were young and he was one for grand gestures. I think he was more excited about making a spectacle of the proposal than actually marrying me. We were only together for a few months after that before we decided that marriage was a bad idea and that we should break up instead - we were much better as friends. Now he's married to a lovely Canadian girl and they're expecting baby number two."

Daryl looked up at her in surprise. "You're still in touch?"

"Oh, yeah, I mean… I'm still in touch with most of my exes. Not that there are many." she added hurriedly. "Just a handful. There's no feelings there or anything like that, we've just stayed friends, that's all."

"Huh."

"Relationships can be nice, you know. Being with someone for more than sex." She smiled and nudged him. "You should try it sometime."

Ducking his head, Daryl tried to detract from his flushing cheeks with a derisive snort.

"It wouldn't be as awful as you think." teased Tahlia gently. "And it's not even that difficult, you just take it day by day and then before you know it, you've got someone around who you like sleeping with and hanging out with. Hear me out..."

If she was going to convincingly settle herself into the role of friend, she needed to show him that she was cool about his personal life, supportive; needed to outwardly show him that the idea of him and other girls didn't faze her. And maybe if she kept practicing, then soon it wouldn't. She took a deep breath. "So, this is what you should do: the next time you pick someone up, you stay with them for the whole night, you wake up with them, then you go for breakfast, chat, hang out for a little while with clothes on."

Snorting at that comment, Daryl turned his head to the side slightly so he could watch her out of the corner of his eye.

"Then you get their number. You message them a few times, nice and light, you know, just letting them know they're on your mind. Then maybe you go for dinner or a movie and back to bed again. Do that kind of stuff a few more times and you're practically there."

Daryl hooked his knee up onto the seat so he was turned to face her front on. "You make it sound easy."

"In my experience, a good relationship should feel easy. You just want to hang out with the other person all the time, do mundane things together."

Licking his lips, Daryl lowered his voice, leaned a little closer like he was about to confess a secret. "Thing is, there ain't been no one that I slept with that I also wanna hang out with."

"Maybe you need to sleep with more people." laughed Tahlia, trying to ignore the way her belly fizzed under the intensity of Daryl's blue stare.

"Nah." he replied slowly, seriously. "Thinkin' that maybe I need to do it the other way 'round."

Brow furrowing, Tahlia cocked her head to one side to ask what he meant by that, but just then, Andrea and Merle appeared.

"We're gonna hit the road now!" announced Andrea, stopping in front of them and pulling Tahlia up into an embrace. "Sorry about before, putting you on the spot, oversharing."

"Don't be silly, it's all good. We're all friends here!" Tahlia assured her with a laugh. "Drive safely, ok? And give my love to the fam."

"I will." Andrea kissed Tahlia's cheek, then pulled back and nudged her head towards the door. "Frankie and Tanya are here now. They wanted me to send you in to see them." Then she stepped in to drag Daryl to his feet and hug him too, but first gave him a pointed look. "No Amber here tonight."

"Good." he said gruffly, throwing an arm around her in return. He'd had more than one earful from Andrea about that debacle and he wasn't interested in any more.

"Maybe you should give her a call, brother!" Merle cackled, flicking Daryl on the back of the head before dropping an arm over his shoulders. "You got the house to yourself for a couple days. Can make as much noise as ya like!"

"Fuck off, Merle." retorted Daryl as he slapped his brother on the back. "Try not to be your asshole self in front of Andie's momma."

Merle chucked his head back and hooted. "Know what they say 'bout leopards, baby brother. Take it easy. See ya Sunday."

As Andrea and Merle left, Tahlia turned back to Daryl, their earlier train of conversation well behind them.

"They've ditched us for the weekend! We're on our lonesomes." (even though that was the norm for Tahlia now as Andrea spent half the week and most weekends at Merle's anyway). "Want to do something this weekend?"

Daryl rummaged in his pocket for his tobacco pouch, then dropped back down onto the bench seat. "I ain't stickin' 'round the city, neither." he told her as he started to roll another cigarette. "We got a cabin 'bout an hour and a half north, in the mountains. Gonna head up there in the mornin'. Go huntin'."

"Oh, right, sure." nodded Tahlia, trying not to feel disappointed. "I actually have a bunch of reading to do for work anyway, so I should probably get onto that."

Daryl licked the paper, then gazed up at Tahlia thoughtfully. "Come with me."

"Hunting?" asked Tahlia in surprise.

"Well," he shrugged, "Naw, don't gotta do that. But it's pretty up there. Think you'd like it. Come for the night. Do your readin' there. I'll have ya back early Sunday afternoon."

"Oh, no, it's ok." Tahlia waved a hand. "I don't want to crash your whole weekend."

"Ain't crashin' nothin'." Daryl kicked at her sneaker then leaned back against the wall. "What, like you got a better offer?"

Tahlia stuck her nose in the air in a faux-haughty manner. "Maybe. Never know."

"Maybe? Like what? You gonna try out a one-nighter with pretty boy inside?" teased Daryl, hoping his tone was light even though really, he was fishing, he needed to know.

Tahlia snorted and kicked him right back. "God, no! Especially not after all that talk tonight. I'll stick with my drought, thanks."

"You ain't missin' out on nothin'." Daryl assured her softly, then he tucked his unlit cigarette in the pouch and repocketed it as he stood up. "So, you comin' with me to the cabin?"

"I thought you were having a smoke?"

"Nah. Later. You goin' back inside, ain't ya? Come with ya. So?" Daryl raised his brows. "Cabin or not?"

"Suppose so. Unless I get a better offer." remarked Tahlia airily, laughing as Daryl flicked her arm, then they ambled back towards the door. "Do you really think you can handle hanging out with me for a whole weekend?"

Daryl squinted across at her, chewing his bottom lip for a moment, trying not to read into the fact that he already knew he could. That a whole weekend wouldn't be enough. He bumped her shoulder lightly with his.

"I'm sure I'll manage."