We Belong Together

Chapter 3

Daryl worked on the old sky blue chevy pick up as the radio played in the background. He tried really hard not to get distracted as he tried to replace the engine in the hulking piece of junk. Whenever he had something on his mind he would work on this vehicle, it took his mind off of things and he had something else to concentrate on instead of the angel with the blue eyes. Working on it was a favor to Tyrese for helping him bail out Merle a time or two and he was grateful to have the help from him. His brother didn't go afoul of the law very often but when he did it was always for some kind of drug possession or being drunk. "How's it looking, Daryl?" Tyrese came out of his office and into the workshop part of the building where Daryl was crouched over the hood of the dilapidated piece of crap truck. "It's coming along ok I guess....just need to get a few more parts and then I'll see if it will run. When we have that done I'll start working on replacing the spark plugs". "Cool!", Tyrese replied and gave his friend a pat on the back. "I appreciate you helping to fix this. I know it looks like a piece of junk but when it's made over it will run and look just fine." "Least I can do with you helping me bail Merle out a couple weeks ago. Asshole can't keep out of trouble", Daryl responded. Tyrese chuckled and nodded in agreement as he turned to go back into his office as Daryl continued to work on the truck. Then it happened again, that song. They played it several times today. Tyrese had the radio set to Hot 98.1 where they played mostly pop. He didn't mind, even though he preferred hard rock or classic rock as it was called. The lyrics of that song would always stop him in his tracks every time they played it. "I can't seem to live without your love. Suffocating here by myself dying for your touch. Spring time eyes that get you every time and I just can't seem to give you up, you're mine". Suddenly Daryl was transferred back in time to that day on the farm. It was the middle of a hot, Georgia summer and he had went out there to help paint the barn as a favor to Herschel Greene for taking care of Merle when he got into a bit of trouble with a drug dealer. Daryl couldn't take his brother to a hospital because they would've called the police on Merle and Daryl Dixon was tired of dealing with bailing his sibling out of jail for the upteenth time. As he pulled into the driveway, he noticed Maggie Greene out front. Waving to her, she came over to where Daryl was and gave him a quick nod. "Hey, I'm here to paint the barn, Herschel said I could start today". "Yeah, he told me you were coming today. You can set up over there," Maggie said pointing to an area beside the old, rickety barn. Just then, the front door to the farmhouse opened and out stepped the youngest Greene girl. Dressed in a black tank top, short denim shorts, with her hair pulled up in a braid. Her creamy white skin in contrast with the darkness of her shirt. Daryl stared at the girl. She couldn't have been more than 18 or 19, little more than a child but she didn't give off the air of being an innocent in that outfit with the way her denim shorts hugged the curves of her tight ass and her low cut tank top was clinging to her top half. He could tell she wasn't wearing a bra. As his gaze trailed over her, he glanced up to see her staring back at him as her stormy blue eyes met with his deep blue ones. He was too busy sizing her up to notice that she too was looking at him with scrutiny. She couldn't help but stare at his muscular arms that were exposed from his snug fitting, sleeveless t-shirt as she let her gaze move from his arms to his broad chest and over his tight abdomen. Daryl finally realized that she was checking him out and gave her one of his famous half grins. Beth realized that he noticed her perusing his body and blushed as she turned away and went back into the house. Daryl gave a chuckle as he turned and walked to the back of his truck to get the paint and ladder out of the back of his truck.He had been working for about an hour when the girl with the blonde hair came outside with a pitcher of lemonade and a couple of glasses. Walking over to the ladder he could hear her voice call to him. "Hey, you want something to drink?" she asked, staring at him with those entrancing blue eyes that she had. Daryl turned on his ladder and stared at the young woman. "Yeah, be down in a sec", he said as he finished what he was doing and then climbed down the ladder. The girl poured the yellow liquid into one of the glasses and handed it to him. "My name's Beth by the way", she said shyly to him. Daryl nodded at her and took the glass, putting it up to his mouth to take a drink. After he had his fill, he looked at the blonde and noticed she was again, checking him out. "Daryl", he said. "Yeah, I know who you are....your brother is Merle, right?" "Yeah, that's him", he replied. They stared at each other for a few seconds as Daryl tried to figure out how this girl knew his name and knew of Merle too. "Oh, here, I brought you this," she said as she handed him a rag to wipe the sweat off with. "Thanks!" The blonde just gave him a small smile and turned back on her heel to go back to the house. Daryl just stared after her. Damn, Herschel must have been hiding her. He knew about Maggie but didn't know he had another daughter and a innocent looking vixen to boot. She carried herself like she was shy but he could tell there was another side to her...a wild side perhaps or maybe just a more confident one. He knew that she knew he was looking at her and she did the same to him. It didn't seem to be a secret with her and she didn't seem to mind. Nor did she mind doing the same to him. Daryl put the glass down on the ground and climbed back up on the ladder to continue painting. All during the afternoon, the blonde, Beth, would come out to give him some more lemonade or ice water. Each time he could feel her gaze on his body. Daryl found it to be both amusing and arousing at the same time. Lots of women would check him out when he was doing chores around the yard or the house when he was working for them. Didn't bother him much as he did the same on occasion. Some of them were pretty hot and he sometimes would take them up on the offer of a little something extra besides handy work or fixing up their vehicles. Providing of course, their man wasn't around. He wasn't the type to be involved with taken women if it was going to cause a problem. He didn't feel like getting a shotgun stuck in his face or in a brawl with some jealous guy. He picked and chose his women carefully. Most of the ones that he did have dalliances with, their man wasn't around at all. The blonde, however, was different. He didn't see a ring on her finger for one and she was Herschel's daughter. He never made the first move, they always came to him so if she was interested she'd have to make the first move since that wasn't his thing. He wasn't the type to be aggressive, at least not unless they wanted him to be but still, the blonde was on his thoughts. Something about her intrigued him.Over the next few days, Beth would come out and give Daryl drinks while he worked on the barn. At first their conversations consisted of just "Hey, how are you?" but then they began to get more comfortable around each other having long, drawn out conversations during Daryl's breaks from painting the barn. When the barn was finished, Beth had persuaded her father to let Daryl do other things around the property. Fixing the fence, painting the farmhouse and a few other odd jobs around the house. She knew that those things needed to be done but she had an ulterior motive for it as well since it gave her a chance to talk to Daryl more. She loved being around him and enjoyed her conversations with him, even though he didn't talk much. He seemed to listen to her, though. That was something that she really liked and needed right now. She told him of her mother dying and of her suicide attempt a year ago. They seemed to connect and even though Daryl didn't say much she could feel that he sympathized with her. One night, they were sitting in the hayloft in the barn with the radio on in the background just talking. It was around midnight and she had been there for hours with him. They were sitting closer together this night and as typical with Georgia summers it was still in the 80's even at this late hour with the humidity off the charts. There was a lull in the conversation and Beth looked over at Daryl. Inching closer to him, she softly put a kiss to his lips. Daryl was taken aback a little, though he could feel that she wanted to make a move on him. As she went to pull away from him, Daryl surprised himself by wrapping his arm around her and pulling her close to him and began to kiss her more deeply. The kiss lasted only a few minutes but Daryl could feel that he was becoming closer to this girl. Dare he even say that he cared for her. Something he had never done before. After that night, he and Beth were together almost every day. They were inseparable for awhile, until one night. That night she told him she loved him. "I love you, Daryl", she had said to him while they were in the middle of making out. He was floored. No woman had told him that. Not even his mother. He only looked in her eyes and then pulled away from her. After that there was a tension between them. She knew that he felt it for her but couldn't say the words back to her. She tried to be patient and thought that at some point he would be able to tell her he loved her but after a few months she realized he would never admit it. That was the beginning of the end for them.Daryl came back to the present. If he ever got the chance again, he would tell her how he felt. He wouldn't try to hide it from her or even push her away. The song was right....she was his. He was determined to somehow get her back