He thinks the girl with the bubblegum lipgloss is named Cathy and she may or may not sit in front of him in english class. He can't know for sure though, since he hasn't exactly been to english class too much since the school year started. He's really banking on Merle taking him with him when gets out of juvy in a month. He's above the legal age to drop out, just turned 17 in fact, but he keeps going to school (or pretending to) because it's an excuse to give his old man when he's out of the house all day.

Not that the drunk old bastard cares much where he is, Daryl figures. He's been out for four days now, crashing on his buddy JD's couch and relishing not being woken up by Will Dixon stumbling towards him with a belt in his hand to give him a few lashings for not picking up the mail, or some other pointless shit like that. At JD's he wakes up to the smell of greasy bacon cooking and his momma hollering at both Daryl and her son to grab breakfast before they leave. JD's mother was a loud sort of woman, with a gravelly voice from too much smoking and too much green eyeshadow on her lids that made her look decades older than she really was. She was a sight for sore eyes though when Will was angry and always had a couch and a spot at her worn second hand table for Daryl. Not that JD had always had it easy, either. His momma might not have taken to beating him like Will did with Daryl but she had a habit of bringing home some asshole like his daddy that would take a fist or a belt or whatever was on hand to JD like they had some sort of right to beat on him. JD always fought back, Daryl figured you had the luxury to when it wasn't your own daddy, and it'd been months since there'd been someone in the house; except for him.

The days he spent at JD's were the easiest for Daryl. The newer scars on his back would heal and stop bleeding for a while before Will inevitably broke them open again. Plus, with JD's momma working the graveyard shift at the diner and sleeping all day, the two boys were free to roam the town as they pleased, school hours be damned.

It's how he found himself half kneeling, half standing against the bed of his truck on a friday night in the middle of December, some girl who's name he was pretty sure was Cathy pressed against the edge of it and rutting against him like the over-eager teenagers they were.

"Is it true you ain't got a mark?" she whispers to him, trying to make a grab for his wrist that's covered behind a long sleeve. He bats her hands away, his concentration already waning since he realized how disgusting that bubblegum lipgloss tasted and how this girl talked way too much. He was going to kick JD's ass for springing her on him when they got to the party hours before.

"Yeah," he grunts in response and thinks that maybe if he smears all the lipgloss away, kissing her will be more enjoyable.

"I think that's sexy. Means you ain't tied down to no one. You're free," she basically purrs and Daryl just makes an indifferent noise in the back of his throat. Not keen on telling her that it mostly means he's destined to be a mean drunk and a bastard; just like his daddy. He's distracted thinking about it: his daddy, his wrist, how much he hates bubblegum flavored shit, he doesn't even realize Cathy's gotten to work at the sleeve again, pushing it up and pulling her head back to get a better look. Daryl lets her stare, get her fill of it and doesn't even bother looking down until she's staring silently, a frown on her face.

"Who's Beth?"

Daryl's sure he feels her walk in; feels that for just a second the world stopped spinning and started going again in the opposite direction -or some other sappy shit that accounts for the flip in his stomach and the heat rushing to his face. He's on the other side of the auto shop, hunched over the hood of a car and he can hear her sweet voice, making the tips of his ears go red and warm even from where he stands and it takes him all of two seconds to drop the wrench in his hand. But just as he makes to turn around, he knows he's been caught.

"Daryl!"

He's made up his mind to pretend like he hasn't heard her at all and takes some long strides away from her, wiping his hands on a rag and making a bee line towards the bathroom; a place she probably wouldn't chase him into.

He's just a few feet away and he can hear the click of her boots getting closer and closer, already catching up to him. Long legs, he remembers; and then winces because he remembers that kind of shit about her; as if he should be surprised that he's not been able to get her out of his head for one minute.

He was so close to the bathroom door, so close to a door with a lock where he could gather his breath for so long that maybe she would get tired of waiting and leave, when Axel, mustached asshole that he is, materializes seemingly out of thin air to beat him there; locking the door behind him and leaving him trapped.

He's always been good at avoiding confrontations, so he doesn't even hesitate when he turns and begins walking between some crates of tools, weaving in and out as if he would be able to lose her among four foot tall tool boxes.

"Daryl, wait!" he hears her say and this time she's so close that when he suddenly turns on his heel in a huff she just barely manages to stop herself from barreling into his chest.

"Ya actually chasing me?" he grunts out.

She catches her breath for just one second before biting back, "You actually running away?" when he doesn't respond and only focuses his gaze on the wall behind her shoulder, she continues, "We need to talk."

He grunts at that and still refuses to meet her eye.

"Like hell we do. I ain't got nothing to say to you. How'd you even find me in the first place?"

"I asked Rick."

At that, he cuts his eyes back to hers and fixes her with a glare.

"What? You goin' around telling everybody about this?"

"No! Just Rick because I needed to find you." Daryl snorts at the word needed as if there was any reason for her to need anything from him. "But so what if I had told everyone? It's not like it's a bad thing or something to be ashamed of," he doesn't fail to notice the way her voice trails off just so, as if growing more uncertain of her words as they leave her mouth.

He squints at her and opens his mouth and then closes it a few times, finding nothing to say to her. How could he possibly explain to her that she should be very much ashamed, or at the very least alarmed at finding out he of all people is her soulmate? Before he can find a way to put his thoughts into words though, her eyes grow impossibly wide, looking every bit a scared doe in the woods; staring down a bolt in his crossbow before it takes off in a run for its life.

"Are you ashamed of me, Daryl?" She asks, and her voice is so small and broken that he has to physically shove his hands in his pockets to stop himself from reaching out, dirty, greasy hands and all and pulling her into his chest out of a sudden and overwhelming urge to comfort her. To make sure nothing every gives her the wounded, startled look in her eyes and that brokenness in her voice; himself included.

Beth laughs a little sadly. "I know I'm probably not what you were expectin'," she shrugs and looks up at him with big blue eyes and she takes a deep breath, a little more conviction -and volume- in her voice when she speaks up again. "But I always figured this sorta thing would work itself out...I mean, if we're meant to be-"

"Stop talkin', girl," Daryl growls out, casting a nervous glance around the shop making sure no one has caught Bethe's words. A few cars away, he sees Oscar working in a car and pretending to not be eyeing them every few seconds; while Jim and Zach stand even further away, openly staring and muttering to themselves. The last thing Daryl needs is word getting out about this- Beth. This girl being his soulmate; Martinez would give him hell and once the guys at the shop knew, it would only be a matter of time (hours, really) before Merle knew.

But Beth is oblivious to his struggle and shakes her head at him, determined to get all her words in.

"I'm not gonna walk away from you unless you want me to. But you should give it a chance first before you decide that, don't you think? Daryl," she pauses for a moment and just stares with a small smile pulling at her lips, says his name like she can't believe she's finally saying it out loud, "you got my name," she says, and begins reaching for his hand but he snatches it back quickly and glares at her.

"You gonna keep talkin', at least do it outside. C'mon." He grabs her a little roughly by the elbow and leads her out of the shop, growling towards Martinez that he's taking his lunch as he walks by the front desk.

The diner he drags her into is a familiar place for him, he often takes his lunch hours in the corner booth with a coke, a burger and a glare for the waitress that seems to come and ask if he needs anything else every five minutes.

"You ever been here before?" he hears Beth ask as they walk in. The air conditioning is a strong contrast to the sticky Georgia air and it sends shivers up his bare arms. He nods towards Beth in response as he slides into his usual booth.

"I come here all the time. My friend Amy's a waitress here, so sometimes I come in and wait for her shift to be over before we go hang out." Daryl watches her make herself comfortable, taking off her denim jacket and fidgeting with the menus stuck behind the napkin holder as she chatters away. When she finally looks up at him, she has a bright smile on her face. "You think we ever ran into each other in here?"

He stares at her silently, not knowing how to answer but he has the feeling that if he'd ever seen her before around town, he would have remembered. He'd have to. Not for any reason involving the inner workings of soulmates but because she was, quite simply, the prettiest girl he had ever laid eyes on. He couldn't imagine anyone ever passing her by without remembering her for a while.

He shrugs at her instead and Beth's smile wavers at his lack of response but she lets out a little sigh and looks at him with eyes he swears actually sparkle.

"I don't think we did. I think if I woulda seen you, I just...woulda known. Wouldn't you?"

He can't help but let out a snort at that and he nods sarcastically.

"Yeah, cuz I woulda seen some girl that ain't even old enough to get into a bar yet and think that's what this whole shit was about."

He sees her recoil as if he'd hurled the ketchup bottle at her from across the table and he drops his gaze, regretting his words and feeling every bit the asshole he was acting.

"This shit..." she repeats in a small voice and she shakes her head and smiles to herself but he notices it doesn't reach her eyes. "I can tell the mark doesn't really mean much to you, but...I was always so excited, always looking forward to meetin' you. Sometimes it was all I had," she finishes quietly. He watches her tear apart a napkin as she watches her own hands intently and he feels like the biggest dick in the world for lashing out the way he was but damn if he wasn't terrified of all the feelings he'd experienced in the last twenty four hours. He didn't know he was capable of so much emotional turmoil and the stress of it was manifesting itself in anger and a desire to cut and run.

He was thinking about her, about what she'd told him and how she'd said she had always been looking forward to meeting him when a thought entered his mind and he glanced at her, his eyes narrowing and yet another feeling bubbling up in his chest and bursting to the surface with very little control from him.

"Is that so?"

She looks up at him questioningly and although it's completely illogical, the fact that she doesn't recognize the...the betrayal he feels makes him even angrier.

"You been waitin' to meet me? You're one of them girls that was always gonna wait around for it?"

"Of course, I-"

"Nah," he cuts her off before she can articulate the confusion in her face and he waves his marked wrist to her. Just minutes before he could barely find the words to say to her, now they're pouring out. This slight and this angst he's had hidden away for years finally finding an outlet. "You know this shit fades, right? Like Lori and Rick? Starts going away when the person forgets about 'em and shacks up with someone else? Three years ago this thing was almost gone; thought I was rid of you. What happened huh? Your prom date forget to pick you up and now you're here tellin' me your big dream was always meeting some redneck asshole old enough to be your daddy?"

He's breathing heavily, staring at her and her breath is labored too but she won't look his way; instead she concentrates on the tangle of bracelets at her wrist as she touches them lightly and mumbles out,

"My daddy's way older than you are."

He begins to come down from the sudden anger that overtook him when he sees her lack of reaction. He expected excuses to fuel that feeling that convinced him he didn't want anything to do with her, that they were better off away from each other. He wanted to tell himself that those days three years earlier that he spent staring as her name faded away weren't spent in a silent torture that made him hate himself for thinking that he hadn't even met her and he already wasn't good enough for her. He would never admit those thoughts to anyone; though he supposes that in letting the pent up anger out, he'd just done so to her and yet here she is, with nothing to say for herself and although if someone asked he'd say he wanted her as far away from him as possible, his stomach drops against his will when he sees her grabbing for her jacket and standing up from the booth.

He gets to his feet too, because he doesn't know what else to do and once she shrugs her jacket on she finally looks up at him and her eyes are filled with tears and he wants to reach out and do something thoughtful or say something smart that would take away all the dumbass things he just yelled at her. Instead he stands there staring wordlessly and she takes in a ragged breath and tries to keep the tears from spilling over but as soon as she opens her mouth they start running down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry about what happened then, Daryl. You gotta know that I'm so sorry."

He stands in front of that booth looking after her until he sees her climb into her car across the street and begin to drive away.

I swear this chapter had a happy ending in my drafts. I suppose I just owe you all some happy on the next one. Thank you for reading and reviewing. I love every single one of you and your reviews are what keep me writing (as slowly as I do that).