A/N:Yay, new fic! First off, I want to give a HUGE thank you to Mary who has beta read this and fixed all of my stupid typos and helped me flesh this out. Second, this will be eventual Bethyl, but it will be kind of a slow burn soooo yeah. Third, I will be updating this every other Sunday, alternating updates with my other Bethyl fic 'Nothing to Lose', go check it out if you haven't! Okay, enough shameless self promotion, I hope you like this new fic, favorite/follow/review if you like it!

The best thing that ever happened to Daryl Dixon was an accident. A drunk, fumbling night, with a girl whose name he didn't even remember when the hangover wore off. The sex wasn't anything spectacular really, he'd had better, but nearly nine months after that night there was a knock on the door of the little apartment he shared with his brother. It was nothing spectacular, two bedrooms that only had dingy mattresses and whatever personal items they felt the need to take with them from place to place. Other than the rooms, there was only a tiny kitchen with appliances Daryl swore were older than Merle, a living room that had a small box TV and a couch with too many beer stains to count, and a bathroom that was so small you could barely move around in. It was a real piece of crap, but it was cheap and gave them a place to rest their heads and for them that was enough.

"Daryl why the fuck is there a baby on our front step?" His brother's voice rang through their tiny apartment. Daryl shot up in bed, his head pounding from a hangover and confusion running through his veins as he all but jumped out of bed and ran to the front entrance. Sure enough, there on the dirty welcome mat was a tiny, squirming, pink baby. Wrapped in a hospital blanket, in a carrier on his front step. Attached to the top of the carrier was a piece of paper, which Daryl cautiously took off.

"Daryl, Had this 4 days ago. Her name is Harley Rose Dixon. She won't stop crying. I don't think I want to be a mama, maybe you can be a daddy. -Opal"

Daryl's jaw dropped to the floor and he dropped the note, letting it flutter harmlessly to the floor.

"Nice going Darlina." Merle snorted, elbowing him in the side before picking up the carrier and brought it inside. Daryl couldn't move, he only watched in shock as his brother pulled the baby out of her carrier and cradled her.

"She's cute, good thing she doesn't look like your ugly ass." Merle snorted, glancing up at him. "Well come on, come see your kid."

So he did. He held her, using every ounce of control he had to not cry. She was tiny and fragile with big blue eyes and a small upturned nose. He was scared shitless, over a tiny human. He had no clue how to be a daddy, he was sure to fuck it up majorly.

He managed to convince Merle, which didn't really take much because he adored the baby after only knowing of her existence for a few hours, to watch Harley while he went to Walmart to get baby things. He must've looked like an idiot standing there, looking at diapers and burp cloths like they were bombs.

"First time dad?" An employee asked with a chuckle. Daryl glanced over at the blonde girl eyeing her, before nodding slowly.

"Yeah, single dad." He answered simply. He grabbed the smallest pack of diapers and tossing them in his cart, hoping they would fit Harley. The girl, whose name was Jess according to her nametag, nodded solemnly before motioning for him to follow her up and down the aisles, throwing pacifiers and rash cream and packs of onesies in his cart. When she was done she led him up to the cash register and helped him scan all the things before punching in a code. Daryl watched at the total was cut almost in half, his eyes widening in shock.

"Employee discount," Jess explained, shoving her hands into the pockets of her khakis. "I've got a two year old at home, I wish I had someone to help me out when I was sixteen, alone, and didn't have a clue what I was doing."

Daryl shifted his weight awkwardly from foot to foot, giving her a small nod in thanks. He wasn't used to people helping him, most everyone turned their nose up to him and his brother and left them alone. He wasn't used to kindness. "Thanks, means a lot." She sent him a beaming smile to him before wishing him luck and walking off to the store.

When he got back to his apartment, he found his brother on the couch with Harley on his chest, both fast asleep. He snorted, none of the boys at the bar would believe big bad Merle Dixon was wrapped around a newborn's finger. He let them sleep while he brought the baby stuff inside and organized it as best he could. When he was done he stole the couch cushion from underneath Merle's feet and covered it was an old, but clean, quilt before setting it beside his bed.

The first night, Daryl didn't sleep a wink. He laid in his bed, watching Harley sleep and looking at every baby website he could find on his prehistoric laptop. His heart raced whenever she moved or whimpered in her sleep, wondering what was wrong. Things were going good until her little mouth opened and she started wailing. Daryl scooped her up, rocking her clumsily while he fumbled through his apartment like a bull in a china shop trying to get to the kitchen. He managed to placate her after a bottle, and she had fallen asleep against his bare shoulder before he could even finish burping her. He had to get up twice more after that, once to change her, which was an experience in itself, and once for a reason he wasn't even sure of. Merle had been cranky the next morning, complaining about how he couldn't get any sleep because of the crying, but after one glance at Harley he was putty, kissing her little face.

Every day held a new challenge for Daryl, the feeling over complete cluelessness never left, but he made due. He and Merle almost cried when she took her first steps and Merle would never let him live it down that her first word was 'Mer', which he swore was her saying his name. Daryl was convinced it was just her babbling, because even as a baby she was a chatter box. By the time she turned three their apartment had turned from junky temporary house to a slightly less junky home with a lot more pink than Daryl thought he'd ever own. Baby dolls and coloring books littered the floor, and the sound of Harley's laughter was ever present. For the first time in his life, things were good because of his little girl, but three weeks after her fourth birthday the news broadcasts started. A virus, an epidemic was spreading like wildfire. The dead had started walking and had an appetite for flesh. Daryl almost laughed, the universe just couldn't let him be happy, could it? Now, along with the usual struggle of raising a child, he had to fight to keep her safe.

Daryl was in a panic. He had only walked away for a moment, to grab his knife and skin a squirrel, leaving Harley at their makeshift table to color. When he came back she was gone, the scribbled on paper the only evidence that she had ever been there. Running his hand through his hair his keen eyes frantically scanned the camp.

"Harley!" He called, looking in all of the tents and sticking his head in the RV. She was nowhere to be found.

"What's going on, is everything alright?" Carol asked when he opened her tent.

"Can't find Harley, she ran off." Daryl answered, the panic evident in his voice. Carol's eyes grew wide and she set her book aside before crawling out of the tent to help him look.

Soon enough Lori, Andrea, Dale, Glenn, Carol and Daryl were running around the farm shouting the four year old's name. They were all thinking the worst; it was doubted that Sophia, a twelve year old, could survive alone in a forest. Little Harley wouldn't stand a chance. The thought of his little girl alone in the woods with walkers all around her made Daryl want to throw up.

Only when he saw the front door to the farmhouse swing open and Beth Greene emerge, with his daughter perched on her hip, did Daryl release the breath he didn't know he was desperately holding. He ran to her, pulling her out of Beth's arms.

"I found her!" He called to everyone before burying his face into his daughter's curly hair. Relief rushed over him, she was safe. He set her down on the ground before kneeling down to look into her eyes. "Don't you dare run off like that again Harley Rose." He scolded. She hung her head, pouting her lower lip out. He sighed, spinning her around before spanking her bottom once.

His heart cracked when she cried out in pain, memories of him crying as the belt came down across his back as a child permeating his thoughts. He shook them off though. He was not his father. Spanking was discipline, punishment for disobeying. What his father had done was abuse, no more no less. He was not his father.

"Daddy, that hurts!" She cried, turning around and backing up against the wall of the house so he couldn't spank her again. Daryl fought the urge stop, he needed to punish her for not obeying, even though he didn't want to.

"You can't run off like that Harley, you have to let me know where you're going. I thought something had got you." He explained, kneeling down to her level. Her blue eyes were glossy with tears and her bottom lip was trembling, Daryl reached out slowly, smoothing down her unruly hair before kissing her forehead.

"'M sorry daddy." She muttered, wrapping her thin arms around his waist to hug him. He hugged her back for a second before pulling away and nodding to their tent.

"Go sit in the tent 'till I come and get ya." He instructed, sending Harley off. When she was gone, he set his head in his hands and groaned. That girl was going to be the death of him.

"You handled that real well." A soft voice came from behind him. He lifted his head, looking over his shoulder to see Beth still standing at the door. "When I was around her age I wandered off in the grocery store. My mama had a fit, ran around like a chicken with its head cut off lookin' for me. She found me in the bakery section looking at the cakes. She was screaming and I got the worst spanking of my life when I got home. It hurt like hell at the time, but my mom told me she still loved me and I never walked off again."

Daryl nodded slowly, not really getting the point to the blonde's story. "Thanks for finding her." He said instead. She gave him a small smile and a shrug.

"Didn't really find her, she just wandered into the kitchen asking if we had candy. I gave her a few chocolate chips, I hope that's alright." Beth said.

Daryl chuckled, of course she was trying to weasel sugar out of the strangers. She had a sweet tooth the size of Georgia.

"Be careful, give her one, she'll see where you keep them and she'll rob you blind." He said, shoving his hands in his pockets. "I better go talk to her, thanks again."

He walked off the porch and crossed the yard to the tent he shared with Harley, finding the tiny brunette lying face down on her Barbie sleeping bag, her tattered stuffed dog held firmly under her arm. She was sleeping and Daryl knew better than to wake her up and risk her being grumpy for the rest of the day. He settled for a kiss on the top of her head, smoothing her hair down with one hand before crawling out and zipping the tent up, letting his girl sleep.