Chapter one:

The Irish Pub in town had become Daryl's safe haven from his brother as well as his father, he drove there with his close friend Connor every Friday after work at the meat factory. They were sitting in their usual spots, positioned in front of one of the main TV's and close to the bartender that they often times had conversations with. The pub was nearly empty that night, they were on their second round of beers, and were complaining about their difficulties they had at work earlier that day.

"God that new worker is a fuckin' bitch," Connor groaned as he ran his fingers through his short hair. Daryl nodded bluntly in response to Connor's complaining.

"I know, she always takes things so fuckin' personally, she should know we're just jokin' around," Daryl added, his elbow propped up on the table so his arm could support his head, "I'm tired as hell, maybe we should call it a night soon," Daryl commented with a sigh, his muscles ached from manual labor they had to do that day and all he wanted was to crawl in bed and sleep. A few moments later a bell and the door rang, signaling the entrance of more people into the pub. The two men heard the laugher of woman and turned their heads slightly to see a small group of them in conversation.

"There's that lady you fancy," Connor laughed, he was referring to the woman with the short hair and layered shirts. Daryl glared at him briefly before returning his gaze to the woman, "they've been coming here the last few weeks, maybe they're gonna become regulars," Connor shrugged, Daryl nodded in agreement as he watched the woman sit at one of the corner booths with her friends. He watched the woman laugh wildly at a comment one of her friends made, he watched as she adjusted her shirt, and he watched as he quickly casted him a sideways glance and smile.

"Shit," Daryl grumbled quickly as the woman began laughing, Connor wore a smug expression on his face due to Daryl's embarrassment.

"Ya' know talkin' to women ain't that hard," Connor stated with a grin.

"Says you," Daryl snarled, "Ya' know how many times I tried talkin' to her? It ain't gonna happen," he huffed and took a swig of his beer.

"Yer such a pansy ass," Connor laughed before swatting Daryl playfully on the back.

"Ya' don't understand, all the women come crawlin' to ya' practically, I jus' scare them," Daryl gripped the cool glass in his hand tightly as he glared down into it.

"Ya do have one of them faces," Connor said as he glanced back over at the woman, "ya' know she's starin' right at yer' back," he smiled.

"So?" Daryl glared over at Connor's smug smile.

"So," Connor began, "that means she likes ya'," Daryl rolled his eyes.

"Than what d'ya suggest I do?"

"Walk over there and act like a fuckin' man fer once!"

"I don't know what the hell to say to a pretty woman like that!" Daryl growled.

"How about ya' say hi to her?"

"Then what? She's around all her friends, she'll get all embarrassed that an ugly ass guy is talkin' to her," he sighed, "I don't wanna embarrass her," Connor gave him a weird look before getting up slowly, "the fuck you think yer' doin?" Daryl asked with a somewhat shocked expression on his face.

"I'm gonna bring her over here, obviously ya' need some help," he said as he began taking steps over to the woman watching them.

"Sit the fuck down," Daryl growled under his breath, "great now they're watchin' us like we're a couple of idiots."

"Hey, yer' the idiot here," Connor laughed, Daryl grabbed his arm forcefully and pulled him back to his seat. Connor took his seat stubbornly and gave Daryl a stern look, "ya' need to talk to her, I see the way ya' look at her. Last week I swear ya' were starin' at her for ten fuckin' minutes straight," Daryl knew Connor was right, last week he had been observing the woman a lot, mostly because he began to notice the bruises she had on her body. He recognized those types of bruises because his mother often wore the same kind, his eye's just couldn't stray from her that night. He had wanted to talk to her so damn badly, but he had no idea what to say. Daryl took another swig of his beer quickly and slammed it down on the table before standing up.

"Alright, fuck it, I'm gonna go talk to her," he said sternly to Connor, his face full of determination and fear. He forced himself step towards the woman, all of which were absorbed with their drinks and conversation, no longer staring at Daryl and Connor. Daryl's body felt like it weighed much more than it did, his legs were tingling and he could feel his face slowly redden. He glanced quickly at Mitch, the bartender, and Mitch gave Daryl a smile and nod in reassurance. He was closer to them within a few moments, close enough where they halted their conversation to look up at him. He could only imagine how awkward he must have looked to them. He took a deep breath and looked over to the woman he wanted to talk to. His eyes caught her swift hand movement to cover her left hand, the hand that her wedding ring resided. He looked at her hesitantly, his fingers fidgeting with the hem of his flannel shirt.

"Hey," Daryl began, "I'm Daryl," his face was burning up and it didn't help that the woman's friends began giggling to eachother. His hands clenched into fists as he waited for her response.

"I'm Carol," she said sweetly, he made direct eye contact with her and froze in place, his thoughts halted and his breath caught in his throat. "Damn she's fucking beautiful" he thought to himself. The woman named Carol gave him a questionable expression from the long silence that hung in the air.

"Oh, um," he stuttered, "I was just wondering' if ya wanted ta' go out sometime 'er somethin," he said as his hand clutched awkwardly at the back of his neck. She laughed and his stomach twitched and fluttered at the sound.

"I don't really know you," she responded with a sideways smirk, his heart sank and she could see the disappointment in his eyes.

"Well, ya know we could change that," he mumbled half heartedly.

"You do seem nice though," she looked to the woman to her left as if asking her a question, the woman nodded and Carol turned back to face Daryl, "so I guess I'll take you up on your offer," her smile grew as Daryl's expression changed to a look of shock and confusion. There was another long pause, Carol cleared her throat in efforts to urge him to continue, "so where would you like to go for our little date?" she asked playfully, Daryl hadn't thought his plan through enough to know an answer.

"I dunno," he responded, which made the other woman break out in another fit of giggles.

"How about Red Sky? It's just down the street and it's a great place to have lunch, how about meet there at about noon tomorrow?" She smirked, Daryl nodded in agreement.

"Sure, that sounds great," he laughed, a small smiled coming to his lips, "see ya' there I guess," Carol smiled once again before Daryl turned quickly and headed back to sit by Connor.

"So how'd it do?" Connor asked with a laugh as he drank the remainder of his beer.

"I guess I have a date tomorrow," Daryl said with a wide grin.