A/N: As always, for my sister.

This is brought to you by Lovely by Billie Eilish and Khalid

Chapter 18 -

Daryl put the truck in park and looked up at the old, white farmhouse in front of him. It was a gorgeous home, and it had been very well taken care of. His blue eyes looked out to the pastures and farmfield, and further out to the woods behind it. He could see several people working around the cattle and horses, putting blankets on them as the cool winter wind began to pick up. They were looking at a small possibility of snow in the coming days. Snow was an incredibly rare occurrence for this part of Georgia, so Daryl doubted that the livestock needed the layers for that. The cold snap that had hit quite suddenly was another thing. He heard Beth let out a small giggle as they watched them work.

"Better safe than sorry, but I don't think daddy is gonna need to keep those on the cattle for long. Weather is getting so weird these days, though. Let's go help 'im!" The blonde excitedly gathered her coat. Daryl chuckled and nodded.

"Alright, we can unload the truck after a bit," Daryl started as Beth threw her door open and jumped out of the truck. "Wait, Beth!" the hunter called out as he turned off the truck and raced to get his jacket back on and follow the running blonde out towards the field. The blonde skid to a stop as he opened his truck door, her eyes drawn to an older woman coming out of the house.

"Mama!" Beth called out as she jumped the steps and hugged the woman. Daryl smiled as he heard the older woman talking to his girlfriend. He took his time grabbing their bags and his crossbow, deciding to go ahead and unload the truck while the two women had their moment. "Yes, mama, that's him. Daryl," Beth called out to him as he finished grabbing their stuff, "this is my mama, Annette."

"Oh, come now, let's go get your stuff situated and get into the warmth of the house. I've got the fires going and dinner is on the stove finishing up," Annette put her hand on Daryl's arm as he and Beth walked by. He used his foot to hold the front door open for the matriarch so that she could enter before him, then used the same foot to insure that the door closed the cold air out securely. The heat of a fireplace in the living room rushed over Daryl and warmed his chilled hands and face. A delicious smell was wafting through the house from the kitchen, and his stomach growled in return.

"You'll be in your old room, Bethy, and Daryl, you'll be in this room over here," Annette pointed to a room down the hall from the living room and he dropped his bag on the bed. Beth took her bag from him and gave him an annoyed look. "Don't give me that look, either, Beth. You know your daddy would have a fit if y'all stayed in the same room. He almost didn't let Maggie and Glen share a room, despite them being married almost a year now. Their in Maggie's old room, upstairs, and Shawn and Tara are in his old room. This farmhouse almost isn't big enough for all our married, and dating, children. It'll be hard to have rooms for the grandbabies, when we have them." Annette gave Daryl a knowing look and winked, and a blush burned its way up his chest and neck to his ears.

"It's, um, nice to meet you, Ma'am," he reached out and shook her hand.

"Oh, no, Annette is fine. It's so good to finally meet you. We've heard a lot about you," Annette winked again and grinned. Daryl could hear Beth groan and call out to her mama to stop messing with him, making him grin. "Y'all better go on out there and help them out. You'd think having all of them out there working on this that it would get done faster. I've been watching them, though, they're just playing around." Annette paused her rambling to kiss Beth's forehead and straighten her jacket, buttoning it up despite Beth's groans about the heat of the house. "Go get them back to it, dinner will be done soon." Annette then focused her attention on Daryl, tsk-tsking him for weight a light jacket in the 'cold air outside.' He calmed her by telling her he had a heavier coat in his bag. Beth grabbed his hand and pulled him away from her mama, calling back to her that they'd be back inside shortly.

"I'm sorry if you feel overwhelmed," Beth whispered as the door closed behind them, "she has always been a bit of a worrier." Daryl shrugged.

"I'm not used to it. My mama rarely did that," he paused for a moment, remembering one time that his mother was coherent and awake enough to worry over his coat being torn back when he was younger, "but it means she cares. She loves you," he finished. He grabbed Beth's hand and the two walked briskly out to the field.

Sure enough, as the two got closer, they could see the five people who had been working on getting the cattle warm had paused and were laughing, telling stories. Beth grinned as she pulled him a little faster towards the group.

"Mama said y'all better hurry up!" She called out to them as they got closer. The group paused before letting out hollers of greetings. A young man, Shawn, if Daryl remembered correctly, hopped down from where he stood on top of a hay bale and swooped Beth up in a hug. The blonde laughed and hugged him in return before turning to Daryl, "Shawn, this is Daryl. My boyfriend." Daryl stood awkwardly behind her and raised a hand in greeting.

"So, Daryl...you're dating my little sister," Shawn grinned as he approached him. "Taking good care of her, I hope. There's a lot of land out here and a gun. I can hide a body. And have an alibi." Daryl shook his hand awkwardly before grinning.

"The woods would be your best bet. Or the hogs," he replied. Shawn let out a laugh before hugging the hunter, who stiffened awkwardly.

"Oh, you're good. You're gonna fit in here just fine," Shawn told him before introducing him to his wife, Tara. "She's just our supervisor out here. I won't let her help in anyway. Don't let her trick you into helping out. She can't. We're expecting a baby girl, we just found out. We haven't told everyone, yet, so keep it a secret!" Shawn whispered to the hunter.

"Congratulations," Daryl whispered back, before greeting Tara and whispering the same to her. He noticed how her eyes brightened and her hands went briefly to her layer covered stomach. His blue eyes found Beth's and he couldn't help but imagine her hands doing the same to her own stomach in the future. Obviously, with a shiny ring on it. He didn't want to be fed to the hogs, after all.