A Brother's Influence (A Daryl Dixon Story)

Daryl's got a girlfriend!

In the last three weeks, Daryl Dixon saw his life go from non existent to absolutely full. His days were spent at the plant working in textiles but his nights belonged to Chloe Johanson. After that night in the woods, a routine begin to build between them. Daryl would go to work and then come home and shower and either wait for Chloe or go pick her up at Amber's house. 

She was making a difference in Daryl's life and everyone could notice. For some reason, the junk around the house has been picked up, screen doors fixed and the inside of the house starting to remind Daryl of when his mama was alive, it felt homey. The inside part had to do with Chloe. When she would come over at nights, she'd suggest they work on this in the house or on that. A lot of junk that had built up over the years was thrown away and the house started to look like a home again. They'd eat dinner that she would cook or they'd go out for a couple of hours hunting. This woman was up for anything. She'd hunt or go fishing with Daryl, sometimes even Jr. would come along.

It was amazing to Daryl that people could actually get along like this. He was scared though, always waited for the day she said she was heading back to the city. He would take what time they had though and not complain. He was also scared that Merle would be coming back at some point. He always did and while Daryl could handle his brother, he was a bit much for other people, especially civilized people.

Chloe was set to come over this evening to have some dinner. Daryl was cooking up some steaks with some baked potatoes and salad, glad he was working to have the money to do so. He had gotten home from work and showered and had the potatoes in the oven. The television was on, finally turned back on after Daryl went back to work. 

Two quick honks told Daryl that Chloe had pulled up in the front yard. Daryl walked outside so he could see her get out of the truck. He loved the way she bounced and always seemed so excited to see him. He never had someone act that way towards him, it made him feel good.

"Hey girl," Daryl greeted as she bounced into his arms. "What's got you so excited today?" He took her into his arms and placed his lips onto hers. Ever so softly he ran his tongue around her bottom lip then once again had both lips pressed against her. They stood there for over 10 minutes just holding and kissing each other.

"I couldn't wait to get here to see you!"

"You say that every night, I ain't nothing special for you to be acting like that," Daryl whispered into her ear.

"You stop that right now Daryl Dixon, you are very special and don't you ever forget it."

"Yeah, yeah, let's go eat, I'm starving."

"Ooh, I brought some french bread and some wine."

"Now you're spoiling me, here let me carry that," Daryl said as he took the bag.

They went inside the house and Chloe looked in the cabinets for some glasses. After three weeks of dating, she pretty much had this house memorized and knew basically where everything was, in the kitchen at least. Daryl had set the table and she could smell the potatoes cooking in the oven. 

"I just need to put the steaks in..."

"Remember.."

"I know, some pink but no blood running out of the steak, I got you girl, I know."

She smiled at him. He had come to know her completely so fast it felt like a tornado. No one had ever taken the time to know all the little things like how her steak was done, does she like raisens in her cinnamon roll, cream or sugar or neither in her coffee. Daryl knew she was a Pepsi drinker and not a Coke drinker. If they went out to a restaurant and they didn't have Pepsi, he knew she would order iced tea. He knew she used Coalgate toothpast but never Crest. Even though he'd laugh, he knew she would cry in romantic movies. And that endured her to him.