I'm now making this a drabble series. Hope you enjoy. I own none of The Walking Dead characters.

Eighteen

Premise: Post Terminus. Post Bethyl reunion. Michonne sees an interesting mark on Daryl's arm and wants to find out what it means.

Genre: Humor/Friendship

They all had gone through alot since the prison fell...since Terminus. No one was really in a mood to have a laugh or to relax. The major focus now was to get to Washington D.C. But Michonne was getting bored. She needed a distraction from all the things she and her companions had experienced. Pestering Daryl had been a past-time of hers back in the prison days and now she had a means to amuse herself once again.

It started when the two of them were cleaning themselves off after killing a few walkers. Michonne had noticed a strange mark on his arm, done possibly by permanent marker. It looked like a number but she wasn't so sure.

"What's that?"

Daryl looked up for only a brief second at her before focusing on his hands again. "Nuthin'." He hoped for her to leave it alone, but now a devilish smile appeared on her face. "Well now you just got me wantin' to know." She got up and walked past him. "I'm gonna find out eventually."

She made it a point to keep a closer eye on him during her free time. There was no unusual activity from Daryl. He interacted with everyone the same way he did before. Sometimes open. Sometimes not much.

But early into their journey to Washington, Michonne was witness to an unusual encounter between Daryl and Beth. Beth had asked her to go on a run to stock up on supplies for Judith...and she wanted to come with. Michonne was reluctant at first but Beth was too insistent and there no fighting her. She had gone through her own set of trials from the others after the prison and Michonne was impressed by how strong she came out from that...alot better than the others did at Terminus. The run had gone as expected. Together the ladies took out seven walkers. But they returned to camp only to find an extremely pissed-off Daryl, who noticed the blood and guts on their clothing. Michonne had never seen Daryl get angry with Beth of all people. He was not happy about her going on any runs no matter what the reason.

Rick had informed her that the two of them had made it out of the prison together before they were separated and now she understood. Daryl must have felt a huge amount of guilt for having lost her and was becoming rather overprotective of her. But there was a rather unusual tension between the two of them. It made Michonne wonder at first but she shook her head at the notion.

...

The convoy to Washington got as far as North Carolina when their fuel supply got low. They were forced to stop just miles away from a fueling station. Abraham wanted to keep moving but the others were exhausted, unable to do much. Aside from that, it was Beth's birthday. It was worth stopping for the night to relax and Maggie wanted it to be special knowing it would be the first since their father's death and since their traumatic experiences.

But Abraham didn't want to waste time. He practically dragged Daryl and Michonne to accompany him to the fuel station to get the gas they needed.

"Still not gonna tell me?"

"What?"

Michonne was smiling and by the way Daryl noticed as they were walking, it was not good. "'Bout the mark on your arm."

"Yer not gonna quit with that, are ya?"

"We can talk about something else," she said. "Like the way you've been treatin' Beth."

"What about it?"

She now looked at Daryl with a serious look on her face. "You've been treatin' her like shit. We go on one run together and you go beserk. What she ever do to you?"

Daryl growled back. "She didn't do nuthin'! Just lay off it!" Michonne allowed a small time of silence to pass between them before she knew what she had to say. "You can't keep blaming yourself for what happened...no matter how much you try. You should've seen her when we went to that store together. She's tougher than you give her credit for."

Before Daryl could summon up a response, Abraham called out ahead of them. "We've got company!" A large herd of walkers was heading down the road towards them. "This is the only way to the damn gas station. Let's clear 'em out!"

Michonne looked over at Daryl as they were getting out their weapons. "I know how to make this fast," she said. "We just have to make a deal."

"What kind?"

"You kill more walkers than me and I'll leave you with all of your dirty little secrets. But if I win...you tell me EVERYTHING."

Daryl was already aiming his crossbow at some nearby walkers. "Yer on." Despite his head start, Michonne was already taking out walkers by the dozen with a few quick swipes of her katana.

"Twelve..."

She could see the determination Daryl had to catch up with her. "Fifteen." But Michonne was not going to give him his satisfaction. She charged towards more approaching walkers. Abraham was taking them out at his own speed, but Michonne and Daryl were driven by adrenaline and a need to win their bet.

"Nineteen."

Daryl was now slashing through walkers. From the look of the count Daryl was now reaching 21 walkers but suddenly stopped. Michonne looked at him dumbfounded until a few more walkers came from behind her, forcing her to take them out.

"Twenty-two..."

Daryl looked at her. "Guess that means you win."

"Why d'you stop?"

Abraham called out to them again. "Hey! You two done comparing dick sizes over there? We gotta keep movin'!"

Daryl merely walked past Michonne with his head low and mumbled, "Killin' them ain't supposed to fun."

...

The trio had returned with their fuel as night fell. The others sat around their respective campfires, sharing Twinkies and cookies to represent Beth's birthday cake. As Daryl walked by the fire where Beth, Maggie, and Glenn were gathered he gave Beth a shy smile and she returned a similar smile back. Every part of him wanted to go over and join them but reluctancy had kicked in and besides that, he felt like he would only make things awkward being over there. This was Beth's time with her sisters while they both celebrated being reunited while still grieving the lost of their dad, and he felt the need to respect that.

He had gone to his own campfire, transfixed on the new mark he made unto his arm. But Michonne had come around and even though it was dark, she now had a better view of the mark. It was a faded 18. But now Daryl was rewriting over it so it now looked like a 19.

Daryl looked up at her. "A deal's a deal. What do you wanna know?"

"I think I'm starting to get the picture," said Michonne.

"What, this?" Daryl lifted his arm for Michonne to see. "That's just a reminder why it ain't worth it. Just one of many you know?"

But Michonne knew this wasn't some hormonal sexual attraction. For as long as she's known Daryl, he wasn't the type to seek after women to bang. His main focus had always been on the group as was hers. This truly was something deeper. "You're actually feeling this way...for her?"

Daryl couldn't give much of a response. He only gave her a quick look. One that gave her all the answers she needed. For Daryl Dixon of all people to be head over heels for someone was one thing...but for Beth Greene.

Soon Michonne couldn't contain the smile on her face...or the sudden snickering. It wasn't that she didn't believe it. Oh, she believed it. She knew what Beth was like and she knew what Daryl was like. The thought never occurred to her that they would collide to become such a thing but then she realized that Beth probably was the only one who could have that affect on him.

It was the sweetest and yet funniest thing she had ever encountered in the zombie apocalypse.

As her snickering turned into laughter, Daryl was getting embarrassed and annoyed. "Shuddup, woman! Yer gonna bring the walkers down on us!"

Her feet were stomping into the ground trying to control her own hysterics. It didn't last very long and she just let it out.

Everyone in the camp quickly turned to heads over to the sight of Michonne laughing wildly while Daryl sat there his face turning red. She had enough self control to keep herself from rolling around on the floor. It was hopeless now. Her laughter might as well had brought out every walker in the county.

"You think this is funny?!" Daryl said looking down at her. "How 'bout I tell Rick how you've been checkin' out his ass?!"

Michonne stopped laughing and gave Daryl a serious look. Before he knew it, his face was having a lovely meeting with the butt end of Michonne's katana.

So this was a thing I wanted to write cause I used to be a Dixonne shipper (even before Michonne's characters was introduced as I read the comics). But through their actual scenes with one another I think these two are much much better as a BrOTP and for some reason I keep having this image of Michonne finding out about Daryl's feelings for Beth and laughing her butt off in all the good ways. Hope you liked it. I will get back to "Married Life" soon hopefully.