Chapter 37 - Opinions

Although it had only just ticked half six in the evening, Fox's that Friday was already humming. The band was playing – some enthusiastic newcomers that were raucously bouncing around on the low stage with infectious energy, the pizza oven was cranking, the drinks were flowing and there were plenty of happy patrons in that night. Daryl was one of them, and right at that moment he was staring at the pool table, cue resting loosely against his fingers, his mind wandering from the game at hand.

It had been a very good week.

Basically, all he'd done was go between work and the apartment, but now that he had Tahlia, everything felt brilliantly better than usual, even the most mundane of tasks, and he'd floated through each day with a grin on his face and his head full of her. Logically, he knew that as they were only mere days into their relationship (a word that still felt clunky and foreign on his tongue) this current level of buoyancy would be dated, this searing obsession would surely soon fade. He'd seen his friends, and more closely Merle, go through the honeymoon phase at the beginning of every relationship – a short spell of loved-up infatuation that inevitably evaporated and gave way to irritation and arguments – so while this part lasted, he wanted to hold on to it; enjoy every moment.

And so far, he certainly had been.

They'd stuck to their agreement to take the physical side slow, and they'd both been so well-behaved, so diligent at keeping things distinctly above the waist (though that had included meticulous exploration of every inch on offer; delighted discovery of every sweet spot, every gasp and tremble), and God, there'd been times that he'd been so achingly hard, so desperately needful of release he was sure he'd combust, but even that still felt good. It felt so terrifyingly good, so novel to want so much; to feel so feverish and consumed by someone; to feel so full and weightless all at once. His whole life before her had felt lukewarm at best, he'd thought that was all there was, would ever be, and now this cavern of glittering emotions had opened up right inside him and it was all so fucking wonderous that he secretly suspected he'd implode if they moved any faster anyway. So yeah. It had been a good week.

"Earth to fuckin' Darlina! You gonna take your shot, or you just gonna stare at the goddamned table all night?"

Merle's voice dragged Daryl out of his reverie, and he made a face at his big brother.

"Alright, alright, I'm movin'." muttered Daryl as he leaned over, took aim, and missed the ball he was going for by a mile.

Merle let out a derisive snort. "Maybe if you could get your mind outta your girlfriend's panties for a second you might actually sink one."

"Give it a rest, Merle." snapped Daryl. "This shit's gettin' real old."

"Not a fuckin' chance, baby bro." declared Merle jovially. "I been waitin' 30 years for you to get your first girlfriend so I'm gonna milk this for all it's worth."

Daryl puffed out a weary breath. He should have expected Merle's relentless teasing tonight.

It was just that during the week when there'd been no sign of Daryl at the house, Andrea had called Tahlia to check on his whereabouts, and shrewd as ever, she'd immediately heard Tahlia's blushing smile down the line and set to work on extracting the reason for it. Which meant that moments later, both Andrea and Merle knew about the long-awaited development between him and Tahlia. Daryl had slunk into work the next day fully prepared to weather a whole pile of shit from the guys, but nothing came his way. Seemed that no one else knew. And he wondered if maybe for once, his brother had chosen not to publicly rake Daryl over the coals, but instead quietly sit back and let Daryl and Tahlia ease into this and let people know when they were ready.

But he really should have expected this.

That very evening, Merle had bowled into Fox's and greeted their friends with a loud declaration of, "Lil Darlina has become a man! He's finally bumpin' uglies with Tahls!" And when Daryl instantly flushed cherry-red and responded with a savage, "Fuck off, Merle!", Merle just gave a smug grin, raised his hands in a placatory gesture and corrected with, "Sorry, sorry – I mean, they're datin'.", which, with the way he said it, somehow sounded so much worse and made Daryl's face burn even brighter and he dropped his head into his hands as everyone else's jaws dropped to the floor in thrilled surprise.

And it was just Daryl's luck that the whole crew was here tonight. Frankie and Justin and their housemates at one end of the table, Tanya and some of her art folk just next to them, Andrea, Sherry, Dwight and a couple of guys from the workshop at the other end, and Shadow at the pool table. Everyone except Tahlia, who was still at work. And because she wasn't there, the inevitable barrage of whooping and demands for details was aimed directly at Daryl and he'd immediately clammed up, refusing to spill a single word on the matter. Everyone had soon grown bored when they realized they'd get nothing out of Daryl and had moved on from harassing him, except for Merle who'd taken great pleasure in ribbing his brother with every other comment out of his mouth.

That had been going on for over an hour now and Daryl was seriously contemplating stabbing Merle in the neck with a splintered pool cue and going home.

Then Merle let out a loud hoot and jabbed Daryl in the side.

"Lookee, lookee! Your old lady's finally decided to show up."

Reflexively whacking Merle's hand away, Daryl swung his gaze around to see that Tahlia had just arrived, the sight of her sending heat surging up the back of his neck and a nervous fizz in his belly because he could feel the sudden burn of fascinated stares and expectant grins from their nosy-fucker friends scorching him already.

"Well?" goaded Merle with a lupine smirk. "Ain't you gonna run on over and say hello?"

Daryl was frozen to the spot. If Merle hadn't been making such a big deal of this all night then this part wouldn't have been an issue for Daryl. But as it was, he felt weighted down by abashment knowing that everyone was staring and waiting for him to make a staunch and stuttering spectacle of himself.

With all eyes tracking her approach, Tahlia paused for a bewildered moment as the realization of why dawned on her, then she affected a carefree saunter as she crossed the floor, waving a hand to greet the group with a breezy, "Hey everyone!", only slowing as she neared Daryl.

Stopping before him, she schooled her expression into as solemn a mask as she could muster, folded her hands demurely in front of her, and with a polite nod of her head, said with exaggerated formality, "Hello Daryl."

Daryl took in the sight of his girl standing in front of him, still and almost straight-faced (that mischievous glitter in her eyes belied her attempt at full solemnity) as even she expected his awkwardness, and he thought, fuck it. Fuck it and fuck 'em all.

So, without warning, he tossed his pool cue at Merle, who only just managed to catch it, and pinned Tahlia with a smouldering stare.

"'Bout time you got here." he stated gruffly, loud enough for all to hear. "Been waitin' for you all night."

Then he boldly strode the couple of steps to close the gap between them and grabbed hold of Tahlia, scooping his hands under her ass and hoisting her up, making her squeak in surprise and wrap her legs around his waist to steady herself, her arms loosely looping around his neck. Carrying her to the pool table, he dropped her down on the edge, scattering a few balls in the process, then still holding her tight, he leaned into her, pressing her backwards, and kissed her deeply right then and there.

The stunned silence soon broke with laughter and catcalls and applause from their friends, and it wasn't long before Tahlia was giggling too much to maintain any semblance of a kiss and she pulled back to gaze at him in flushed delight. "Well," she murmured happily, "I don't think anyone was expecting that."

To hide his own shy smile, Daryl pressed another lingering kiss to her jaw, just as a cackling Merle appeared next to them and clapped his big paws on their shoulders before briefly wrapping his arms around them.

"Glad you two little fuckwits finally got your shit together. Took goddamned long enough." he told them sincerely, his tone all rough fondness. "Now get off the fuckin' table so we can finish this game."

Elbowing Merle away, Daryl slid Tahlia off the table and gently set her back on the ground. "I'm gonna finish up here and let you uh…" He nudged his head towards the table where their friends were all still staring at them gleefully, hanging off the edge of their seats and chomping at the bit for details.

"Oh, great." She poked him playfully in the stomach. "You pull a stunt like that then throw me to the wolves, huh?"

Daryl fixed her with a stern look. "Dealin' with them is the least you can do considerin' how damn long it took you to get here. You didn't have to sit through Merle announcin' to the whole fuckin' place that we were 'bumpin' uglies'."

"Oh no!" snorted Tahlia, her hand flying to her mouth in amusement, Daryl's eyes glittering with the same. "I'm sorry! Ok, ok, my turn to take some of the heat. But if they eat me alive, that's on you."

"I can live with that." Daryl replied lightly, chuckling as he blocked a swipe from Tahlia. "I'll see you when the interrogation's over."

Thankfully, by the end of the pool game, the interest in their relationship had faded because really, no one was that surprised – the only real surprise had been the length of time it took for something to finally happen between them.

Catching Tahlia's eye, Daryl nudged his head towards the bar, wanting to steal a few minutes with her on his own.

"Thinkin' I probably owe you a drink." he said wryly as she joined him.

"One?" she retorted indignantly. "More like one hundred after that. There were a lot of questions."

Daryl scoffed. "That's coz you girls are nosy as hell. Bet none of the questions came from the guys."

"You're right." laughed Tahlia. "All Dwight said was that he'd wondered why you'd been in such a good mood this week."

"Yeah, well I'm sure they'll give me plenty of shit when you're not around to hear it."

Stopping in her tracks, Tahlia toed the ground guiltily. "Um… on that, I should probably warn you…"

Daryl propped a hand on his hip. "What?"

Raising her gaze to inspect the ceiling for a moment, Tahlia then scrunched her nose apologetically. "You might get some shit around the fact that we haven't slept together yet. They were all very, um… fascinated by that. You know, because you're kind of known for…" She waved a hand around in lieu of finishing that sentence, and Daryl groaned loudly.

"Goddammit Tahly, you told 'em that?"

"No!" Tahlia quickly asserted, hand pressing against her heart. "Not me! They were grilling me about that side of things and I wasn't saying anything, so Andie piped up and told everyone we hadn't had sex because we're uh, taking it slow. She said she wasn't going to say anything at all but she couldn't help it because she thought it was sweet."

With an even louder groan, Daryl clapped a hand over his eyes. "Why'd you tell Andie?!"

"I didn't!" protested Tahlia. "I… I told Michy, and apparently she told Andie when they caught up for a coffee this afternoon. I'm sorry! I didn't mean to tell her, but Michonne is very good at her job. She could get information out of anyone. And, you know, Daryl," she shrugged sheepishly, "Girls sometimes talk about that stuff."

"Fuckin' hell. Chicks." Daryl grumbled, starting for the bar again. Merle would have a field day when that piece of information found its way to him.

"Aw, I know we're the hot topic at the moment, but it'll just be for tonight and then we'll be old news. You think you can handle that? We don't have to stay if it's getting to you."

"Nah, I can handle it. Let 'em say what they want." said Daryl assuredly, draping an arm around her shoulders and giving her a squeeze. Then he was struck by another thought. "Hey. What you said 'bout how girls talk – does that mean you know shit 'bout Merle and Dwight and Rick?"

Tahlia snorted and gave him a savvy nod. "Oh yeah. I've heard it all."

"Huh." Daryl considered that for a moment, feeling slightly better that at least everyone's business had been gossiped about at some point. "'Kay. Good."

Behind the bar, Tara had just finished serving a group and was watching Daryl and Tahlia approach, a wide grin on her face.

"I knew it!" she declared cheerfully as they stopped in front of her. "I fucking knew it. I had my money on you two since way back when you first met."

Resting his elbows on the bar, Daryl rolled his eyes. "Not you as well."

"I remember," Tara reached over to chuck Daryl on the cheek but he slapped her hand away with a frown, and she chuckled before continuing on, unperturbed, "You used to act all hostile towards her, but from my sober vantage point over here I could see that really, you couldn't take your eyes off her –"

"Ohmyfuckin'Gawd." muttered Daryl, dropping his head into his hands.

"And that's how I knew!"

"Aw! That is so sweet." simpered Tahlia, nudging Daryl.

Daryl elbowed her right back. "Shh." Then he gave Tara a pointed look. "I'm just here for drinks. You gonna give us any or do I gotta climb over and get my own?"

Ignoring his question, Tara cocked her head to one side, her grin widening. "That pool table kiss was very cute, by the way."

"It was, right?" agreed Tahlia heartily, snickering when Daryl shot her a traitorous look.

With a waggle of her brows, Tara leaned a little closer to Tahlia conspiratorially. "Just so you know, I've never seen him do anything like that before. Sure, he's had some drunken, messy hook-ups-"

"Tara." growled Daryl in warning, ignoring Tahlia's snort of amusement.

"- but nothing like that." clarified Tara. "Nothing kinda… romantic, you know?"

"Ooh yeah," Tahlia nodded enthusiastically. "It was romantic."

Daryl fixed her with a glare which did nothing to quell her wobbling smile. "Quit encouragin' this shit!" Then he turned back to Tara. "Do people got nothin' better to do than talk 'bout us? We ain't that fuckin' interestin'."

"Well, it's not every day you get a girlfriend, Daryl, so it's actually very interesting. This is history in the making, you know."

"Alright." Daryl threw his hands in the air, exasperated. "I'm done. I'm outta here."

Chuckling at Daryl's reaction, Tahlia poked him in the stomach and gave him an innocent look.

"I thought you said you could handle it?"

"Handle you." growled Daryl before grabbing her in a headlock and tickling her mercilessly until she was gasping.

"Ok, no more teasing, I promise!" laughed Tara, watching on in amusement. "Just don't kill her in my bar. Right, so – beer?"

Daryl pressed a smirking kiss to Tahlia's head before releasing her. "Yeah. Beer."

"Actually," said Tahlia, dragging her fingers through her hair as she quickly tried to regain her composure, "Can you make me something fancy?"

'Something fancy' was an order unheard of at Fox's, and Tara raised a brow. "Fancy? Like what?"

"Whatever's going in a place like this. Surprise me."

"Ok! Two surprises coming right up!"

Daryl immediately shook his head. "I don't want no surprise."

"You have to." Tara told him matter-of-factly. "You have to have a special drink to celebrate the momentous occasion of you finally -"

"Alright!" Daryl raised a hand. "Alright, I'll drink whatever. Just as long as you stop talkin'."

Throwing a satisfied smirk over her shoulder, Tara flounced off to the bottles of spirits lining the back wall.

"You can wipe that look off your face." Daryl told Tahlia sternly.

"What look is that?" she asked, grin widening.

"That shit-eatin' one. Like you're really enjoyin' this. We're meant to be in this together, y'know, but somehow I'm the only one gettin' shit for it."

Tahlia batted her lashes and affected a posh tone. "It's because you handle it all with such grace, darling."

Daryl pinched her for that, but then squeezed her hand affectionately because his irritation was only surface level. It had been a very good week, and nothing could tarnish that.

"So," he said, "Tell me something that ain't about us. How was work?"

"Well…" Tahlia bounced a little on her toes. "I do actually have something important to tell you." Pausing for a moment, she sucked in a deep breath. "I handed in my resignation today."

Daryl's brows shot up. "For real?"

"For real."

A huge grin spread across his face and he lifted her off her feet and spun her right around.

"That's awesome, Silver! That's fuckin' awesome!"

When she was back on the ground, Tahlia pushed her hair behind her ear, a small apprehensive smile flickering on her face.

"I was going to take the weekend to think about it, but today I was reading through the partnership agreement, and I suddenly knew for sure I didn't want to go that way, I wanted a change of direction. So, before I could get all in my head, I just did it. Went to Hershel and resigned. He seemed really pleased – got all twinkly-eyed and told me I'd never regret this. It felt good. But also kind of… terrifying." Tahlia's eyes widened in worry. "I'm hoping I haven't made a huge mistake. Do you… do you think that was the right thing to do?"

Since Tahlia had mentioned her career crossroads dilemma earlier that week Daryl had done his best not to influence her decision, but now that she'd chosen for herself, he could speak his heart.

"God, yeah. Yes, absolutely." replied Daryl emphatically, holding onto her shoulders. "I think the mistake woulda been stayin' put. Don't get me wrong, you woulda been great at the partner thing, you'd 'a been runnin' that place in no time, but I ain't never felt like that's you, y'know? I reckon you'll walk outta there and never look back."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." he affirmed with a gentle kiss. "I'm real proud of you."

Relieved that she had Daryl's support, Tahlia beamed and was still shining when Tara pushed two tumblers filled with a swirling murky brown liquid towards them.

"Here you go!" Tara proudly announced. "I made this especially for you two. I call it… The Dahlia!"

"Nope." said Daryl immediately. "Nope. Ain't callin' it that."

"I am." replied Tara easily. "I'm going to get it added to the menu. Look, I even put a cherry in it to make it extra fancy."

"Thank you!" gushed Tahlia and she clinked her glass against Daryl's before they both took a sip.

"Ooh, that's strong! And delicious!" she remarked at the same time Daryl wrinkled his nose and muttered, "What the fuck?"

As Tara was pouring a round of beers and tequila slammers for their friends, Daryl downed the rest of his drink in one and banged the glass on the bench.

"That wasn't supposed to be a shot." Tara told him disapprovingly.

"I know. But I ain't takin' a drink with a damn cherry in it back to the table. Gettin' enough shit as it is."

"Drinks!" announced Tahlia as they deposited the trays on the table, their friends cheering. And before anyone could slip in a jibe that might send Daryl over the edge, she quickly followed up with, "I'd like to toast to the fact that… I resigned today!"

"You what?!" demanded Andrea, and as all the focus shifted to Tahlia, Daryl gratefully swallowed his tequila and took that opportunity to sneak outside for a smoke and a few minutes to himself.

Dodging his way through the crowd in the courtyard, he made his way to an empty corner and perched on the bench seat there, contentedly sparking up a cigarette.

And then he saw Merle weaving his way over and any ideas he had about a moment of peace went tipping down the drain.

Merle dropped heavily on the seat next to him. "Gimme one of them."

"Thought you'd quit." replied Daryl, handing his lighter and a cigarette over. "Coz Andie told you to."

"Well, she don't need to know 'bout this now, does she." Merle took a long drag, then peered over at his brother. "Heard somethin' real interestin' just before. Heard that you ain't banged Tahly yet. Heard that you wanna take it slow."

And there it was. Already. Daryl puffed out a breath of annoyance and prepared himself for another roasting but was thrown by the fact that the mocking lilt he'd expected to hear in his brother's voice wasn't there, only cold, calm gravitas.

"And there I was thinkin' that the reason you ain't been home is coz you two have been goin' at it like rabbits." Merle casually continued. "Ain't never known you to keep your dick in your pants so long."

Daryl snatched his lighter back. Merle was forever trying to pocket them. "Godsake, Merle. It ain't even been a week. That really ain't long at all. We ain't all horndogs like you, y'know."

"A week." repeated Merle in contemplation, then pinned Daryl with another knowing look. "You been holdin' a candle for her a lot longer than that."

Daryl didn't bother to respond. That was old news.

"I told you months ago to get movin' on her, and yet you're still draggin' it out. The hell you waitin' for?"

"Ain't draggin' nothin' out, asshole. Just choosin' to go slower with her. I wanna do things different."

Merle stretched his legs out in front of him and tutted. "You be careful now. Don't wait too long."

Screwing his face up, Daryl spun in his seat to face his brother. "And what the fuck does any of this matter to you?"

Merle bared his teeth in a thing that wasn't quite a smile. "Just givin' you some advice, baby bro."

"It ever occur to you that I might not fuckin' want it?"

"Look," said Merle, his voice still infuriatingly level. "I know you. Better than what you like to admit. And I know that this love shit is new to you, so all I'm sayin' is that you wait too long to do the dirty with her and you're gonna end up makin' it a bigger deal than it is. You're gonna get all in your head 'bout it."

Narrowing his eyes in disbelief, Daryl slowly shook his head. Merle's earlier jocular ribbing was infinitely preferable to this weird conversation, and he glared coldly at his brother.

"That seriously why you came out here? To tell me that? Of all the messed up shit that comes outta your mouth, Merle." Forcibly crushing his cigarette under his boot tip, Daryl got to his feet and staunchly folded his arms across his chest. "First you told me not to touch her, then you told me I should touch her, and now you're tellin' me I ain't touchin' her fast enough? I can't fuckin' keep up! But you know what? I don't give a shit about your opinion on this. Or anyone else's. Only person I give a shit about is Tahly, and last time I checked, me and her were doin' just fine. So you can keep whatever the fuck you think you know to your goddamned self."

"Ooh-hoo," smirked Merle as he took a lazy pull on his cigarette. "She's always brought that fire out in you, huh?"

Daryl waved a dismissive hand. "I'm goin' back inside." Then as he was walking away, he called over his shoulder, "And I'm tellin' Andie that you been smokin'."

Churning over Merle's words, Daryl stalked back into the bar and silently cursed his brother. Typical Merle move. Seemed like whenever things were going well for Daryl, whenever things felt sorted, Merle took it upon himself to blast in and shake it all up, mess with his head.

As he neared the table, he could see Tahlia, wide-eyed, engrossed in a story Tanya was telling. Glancing up, Tahlia caught Daryl's gaze, a warm smile instantly glowing on her face, and Daryl felt himself quickly settling, stilling, everything Merle had just said fading into insignificance. If there was one thing he knew for sure, one thing he absolutely trusted in, it was what he and Tahlia had forged between them, and it would take a hell of a lot more than some offhand remarks from his mouthy brother to upset that.

Squeezing a chair in next to her, he surreptitiously caught her hand under the table and stroked her knuckles. Mild concern shadowed her eyes as she studied his face for a moment, checking to see what she could read there, but he reassured her with a smile, which she readily returned.

"You've got to hear this story." Tahlia told him in a low voice. "Tanya was propositioned by this older couple at the gallery this week. They even offered her money!"

Daryl's brows shot up and Tahlia waggled her own. "She's considering it. Says the woman is super sexy."

Two drinks and more stories later, Tahlia was mid-laugh at something Frankie was saying when her attention dropped to her handbag hanging on the side of her chair as she felt the rhythmic vibration of her phone against the chair leg. Fumbling around inside her bag, she pulled out her phone, and first looking at the screen, she glanced up at Daryl in surprise.

"It's my dad."

Daryl's face clouded over. "What's he want?"

"Oh God." Tahlia blanched, one hand flying to her mouth. "He's probably heard about my resignation already."

"Don't answer it."

Jigging her leg in agitation, Tahlia stared at the singing phone in her hand for a long moment, torn. Then she shot Daryl an apologetic look as she jumped to her feet and brought the phone to her ear.

"Hi dad!" she chirped, all forced brightness, and she made a beeline for the front door to escape the din of the bar.

Watching her go, Daryl clenched his jaw. He hated that Tahlia's father still exerted so much influence over her when he was largely absent from her life; hated that he could shake her up and tear her down so easily; hated that she let him. Daryl wanted to follow her out, stand next to her all staunch and stern and be ready to snatch her phone and toss it away if he saw so much as a shadow of upset cross her face. Or better yet, he could do the talking to goddamned Oliver. There were certainly a few things he'd like to say. But he forced himself to stay at the table and wait for her to return because as much as the situation set his blood simmering, he would not fall out with her over her father. Oliver had done enough damage in Tahlia's life – Daryl wouldn't let him create a wedge between them, too.

Soon enough, Tahlia was slipping back into her seat, and she smoothed her dress, once, twice, three times too many until she couldn't avoid Daryl's laser stare any longer and she shot him a tight smile which couldn't hide the fact that she was a little rattled.

"It was about my resignation. One of the partners at my work told him."

"And? What'd he say 'bout it?" prompted Daryl carefully.

"Not much, but he wasn't happy. He wants me to go over for dinner tomorrow night, talk about it then."

"I'll come with ya." replied Daryl without hesitation.

Tahlia's expression softened in fondness, and she squeezed his thigh. "Thank you, but I think it might be better if I do this one on my own. He'll probably want to lecture me and you'd probably end up wanting to punch him and I'd really prefer to avoid that scenario."

Fair. Thought Daryl. Any situation that landed him and Oliver in the same room certainly came with a high likelihood that Oliver would end up with a fist in the face.

"Don't go, then. If you know he's just gonna have a go at ya, don't go round there. Who cares what he thinks." Daryl was getting really goddamned sick of people and their opinions tonight.

His last statement wasn't a question, but they could both hear Tahlia's silent answer clanging forlornly between them.

I do.

Clearing her throat, Tahlia shifted self-consciously in her seat. "Well... I feel like if I can just explain my decision and tell him about my new role then he might understand, you know? It's not like I'm jumping ship for nothing. I have a plan and I'm really excited about it. When he sees that, he might support me. He might be happy for me. That would be…"

She trailed off, but Daryl could see the gleam of raw hope in her eyes. All she wanted was for her dad to be proud of her, pleased for her, even just a little, and maybe Daryl was too cynical, but he secretly thought her hopes were fruitless.

Not that he'd tell her that. Not that he'd remind her that Oliver had only ever supported her if it served his own purposes. Not that he'd remind her that when she was almost fucking killed by Brooks last year, Oliver's goddamned support only extended to a couple of obligatory phone calls. He was never there for her, not when it mattered. But Daryl wouldn't remind her of any of those things, so he caught her hand in his and pressed a kiss to her knuckles.

"You never know, Silver, you never know. So… you ok? You wanna go home? We can leave anytime."

Tahlia's smile was bright and genuine. "I'm great! Things are good. With you, with work - I want to celebrate that. I want to stay out and get drunk and dance and drape myself all over you because now I can."

Daryl chuckled. "Sounds good to me. How 'bout I go get you another drink and then we'll move straight to the drapin'?"

As he stood up, Tahlia called sweetly, "How about a round of Dahlias?"

Lost somewhere in delicious dreamland, Tahlia slowly woke the next morning to the even more delicious reality of Daryl's weight on top of her as he lightly nipped at her neck, his scruff a torturous tickle on the sensitive skin there, and she let out a low lustful moan.

Then his breath was hot against her ear. "I gotta go to work."

"What?" Her eyes flew open and she immediately pouted. "Noo! It's Saturday."

"And you know I work Saturdays." Daryl told her easily, rolling away from her to perch on the edge of the bed.

"But you're the boss. That means you can make up your own hours." countered Tahlia, reaching out to try and grab hold of Daryl, who effortlessly evaded her grasp.

"As the boss, I got a whole bunch of shit to get through today since I'm takin' next Saturday off coz you're makin' me go to a weddin'."

"Ah." Tahlia nodded as she sat up, propping a pillow behind her. "Yes you are and yes I am. God, you're already fully dressed. How did I not hear you get up this morning?"

"Guess you were snorin' too loud."

"Oh no, was I?!" Tahlia pressed her hands to her face and peeked out through her fingers. "Sorry! One too many tequila shots."

"Just one?" laughed Daryl. "Remember me carrying you up the stairs?"

"That's because I was tired, not because I was drunk." maintained Tahlia loftily. "Anyway, you're the one that passed out before I even took my shoes off."

Daryl squinted at her, lips quirking. "Tired, not drunk. So, whatchu up to today?"

"Mm… there's a spin class later this morning that I might go to. Sweat some of the alcohol out of my system. Then I'm meeting Michonne for lunch and we're going shopping. Got to buy a present for the wedding."

"And then… dinner with your dad?"

"Yep."

"How you feelin' 'bout that?"

"I really think it's going to be fine." replied Tahlia optimistically. "I'll make my case and he'll be totally on board by the end of it."

"Sure." Daryl nodded, hoping that she was right. "Call me. When you're done with him. I'll come back over."

Observing him for a long moment with a soft smile on her face, Tahlia shook her head. "You don't have to do that. You can take a break from me if you want to, I won't be offended. Just… hang out with the guys, have fun. I don't want you to get sick of me."

Scooping up a pillow, Daryl playfully whacked it across her shoulder. "Silver, if I get sick of ya, I promise you'll be the first to know. Call me when you're home."

Daryl's day went quickly – busy at work; home later with jobs to catch up on; off to Dwight's after that to watch MotoGP reruns with a couple of the guys. He'd sent Tahlia a few check-in messages that evening but hadn't heard anything back. Until one bland and very un-Tahlia message pinged through at 9 o'clock:

Home now.

With a bad feeling in the pit of his belly, Daryl wasted no time in speeding back to the apartment and found her already in her pajamas, folding laundry in the lounge.

"Tahly."

"Daryl, hi! How was your day?"

He knew that smile, the one topped with hollow eyes. He knew that shell of a thing, that mask, and his heart sank. "What happened?"

"Please tell me about your day."

"Tahly! What –?"

Her mask slipped and the anguish below shone through. "Daryl. Please. Just tell me about your day. Tell me something. Anything."

And in that moment he saw how she needed something else to grab on to, something else to fill her mind that wasn't whatever had just gone down. So even though it was the last thing he felt like doing, he started to talk. Told her about the cars that had come in, the work they had done. Told her about the oil fire in the kitchen of the diner down the street, how the fire engines had blocked the street for an hour. Told her all the dumb stuff the guys had talked about at Dwight's place, how Sherry had lost her shit at Dwight because he'd forgotten to do the grocery shopping.

And it was all so boring, so goddamned mundane that Daryl couldn't believe he was holding the floor with this, but she seemed engrossed – she was listening and nodding and making all the right noises, so he searched for more, more to say, about how Tex was moving to Kentucky and Justin's dad had gallstones and when he couldn't stand it any longer he paused then said gently,

"Now you. Tell me."

And time slowed for a moment as she gazed at him, a slow shuddering breath filling her lungs, and then she started to cry.

In an instant, Daryl was at her side and all he wanted to say was, I'll fuckin' kill him, but he managed to hold that in and soothe her gently instead as he folded her tightly in his arms.

He did his best to coax some words out of her, but none emerged and soon he carried her to bed and tucked her gently against him and held her until her sniffing stopped and her breathing deepened and held her still as they were swallowed by sleep.

Daryl awoke in the morning to pale yellow slants of light through the curtain gaps and an empty expanse of bed next to him.

Scratching his chest as he wandered out of the bedroom he caught sight of Tahlia sitting out on the balcony, bathed in golden dawn. She looked peaceful, serene, the opposite of how she'd been at the end of last night, and quietly, he padded out and dropped into the chair opposite her.

She smiled at him. "Morning. You're looking relatively dry after all the tears I drenched you in last night. Sorry about that."

"Don't like it when you cry and there ain't nothin' I can do to fix it."

"You do more than enough just by being there." She looked out across the rooftops for a long moment, squinting in the sunlight, then she turned back to him, ready to talk now. "You can probably guess that last night didn't go as I hoped. I have a feeling that you already knew it wouldn't."

Daryl dropped his gaze to his hands.

She huffed out a soft laugh. "Of course you did. Thank you for not telling me how stupid I was to think otherwise. Well, I told him everything. How I didn't want to be a partner or stay with the firm; how Hershel helped me to get the role with The Innocence Project and how excited I am about it; how passionate I feel about helping people who really need it." Tahlia paused and wrinkled her nose. "Needless to say, he wasn't on board with any of that. Obviously, his daughter working at a non-profit organization does not give him the same kudos as a partner at a top law firm. So, I got the full lecture about his disappointment, how I was throwing my career away, turning it into a joke, how – well, you get the idea. Anyway, it was somewhere in the middle of that I realized that he's never cared about what I want, and he doesn't even know me. At all. He has no idea who I am as a person and he's not interested in finding out."

Hot rage bubbled low in Daryl's belly, but he did his best to keep it contained, keep his voice level. "Self-centered asshole. Only thing he cares about is himself. He's the fuckin' joke. It's his fuckin' loss, Tahly. Not knowin' you is his loss."

Tahlia smiled fondly at Daryl's controlled ferocity. The way he could fire up for her would forever send an electric thrill down her spine.

"I accepted that we weren't going to see eye to eye on the job front, but I thought maybe he'd be happy to know that I was seeing someone. I told him all about you, how incredible you are and how important you are to me, but when I asked if he wanted to meet you, he said he didn't see the point. Said he'd think about it when we had a couple of years together under our belts. So," Tahlia looked at Daryl sheepishly, "That made me mad. I said some things I probably shouldn't have, made it all a lot worse."

It made Daryl warm all over to know that she'd stood up to her father because of him – he remembered that Hershel once said that there'd come a day when she was ready to do that, but still he sighed. "Shit, Tahls. I don't wanna be the reason that you argue with him."

"You're the reason I feel brave enough to argue with him." she replied simply. "Before, I was always scared, thinking that I had to keep the peace because I needed him, but now I realize that I don't. I'm done with him. I'm ready to let it all go and just accept that things between us will never be the way I want them to be, and that's ok. And from now on, I'm not wasting any more energy on worrying about what he thinks or what he wants. That can stay in the past."

Leaning forward, Daryl placed a hand on her knee, squeezing lightly. "You don't need him. Shit, Silver, you're so strong that you don't need no one. But you got a lotta people in your corner who care about you, who'd do anythin' for you no matter what. Me especially."

"Thank you." she smiled warmly. "I feel pretty lucky."

"Luck got nothin' to do with it." Daryl sat back and rested his ankle on his knee as he studied her carefully for a moment. "You good?"

"Yeah. I really am. I feel freer already. Like I said, I want to leave that in the past and move on."

Her words reverberated with heart, with truth, and he knew she really meant what she'd said.

"'Kay." he nodded. "So, let's move on. What do you wanna do today?"

"What do you want to do?" Tahlia countered lightly. "It's your day off."

"All I had planned was hangin' with you."

A playful twinkle sparkled in her eyes. "You're not sick of me?"

Never. Daryl irrefutably knew. Never ever.

"Not yet." he casually shrugged instead.

"Alright…" Tahlia tapped her fingers to her lips then raised her brows. "Well, I was thinking of going for a walk, heading past the Sunday markets and getting some coffee, a bagel or something pastry-licious, then getting on the back of your motorbike and having you drive really fast to somewhere beautiful. Then later, we could have a slow afternoon back here cooking some good food, listening to a little music. Maybe top it all off with a shit movie on the sofa. Interested?"

It sounded damned perfect to Daryl, and he told her as much.

So that's exactly what they did.