Chapter Eight

Daryl looked up from his truck's engine to check on what Michonne was up to. Just as she'd been doing since right after they arrived, she sat inside the cool office at the side of the garage, feet propped up and still munching on pizza. He smiled at the sight of her and went back to his tinkering, his fretting over her mostly gone.

She was supposed to be keeping him company while he worked and then they would watch the baseball game together. But fifteen minutes into it, the muggy Georgia heat had her running for cover. At first he thought she was still mad about the switch-up and then siding with Andre to spend the afternoon at the shop. But it turned out she was just tired and not up for sitting around a steamy garage when she could be relaxing in the more comfortable office area.

Good thing he still had Andre in his corner. The little boy was sitting on a stool Daryl had gotten for him so that he could watch as Daryl worked. The little boy was always full of questions that Daryl patiently answered as best he could. By now, the kid had gotten kind of good at recognizing the tasks he would work on when he was under the hood. He and the kid were a solid team even if Michonne had bailed.

So it was turning into a nice afternoon even though he really hadn't planned to end up at the garage today. They were supposed to just relax at Michonne's house like old times. But when the circumstances changed on them, he knew he'd make the best of it. He glanced back over at Michonne.

Daryl felt around in his pocket to make sure he hadn't left anything lying around in the driver's seat of the truck. Seeing Michonne leisurely check something on her phone, he decided she'd had enough downtime and needed to get back to being his wingwoman.

"Hey 'Dre, go fetch you mom. Tell her I got somethin' for her to see."

Andre got down from his stool, being careful not to rush or he'd get a scolding from Daryl and probably his mother too when she found out. "What you gonna show her, Daryl? You already fixed everything." That kid was no fool. Daryl had noticed as soon as he'd arrived at her house and found her fixing that bike that the woman was testy today. And Andre wasn't trying to get on the unpredictable end of that on account of Daryl.

Smiling, Daryl ran a palm over the little boy's curly hair. "Don't you worry 'bout it, little guy. Just get her over here and you'll find out along with her." The boy threw him a skeptical look before shuffling off to wrangle his mother. In the meantime, Daryl went back to the driver's side and put the key in the ignition so he'd be able to start the engine with no fuss.

A few moments later, Michonne came strolling over, Andre's tiny hand leading the way. "This better be good, Dixon. If you're gonna mess around with this truck of yours rather than watch the game with me, then I demand that you leave me in peace."

"Aint much of a game last I checked the score." The Braves were getting destroyed, as expected. That's why he'd grabbed Andre and left the comfort of the cool office to go fiddle around with his truck. Well, that and a few other reasons. If he'd stayed in that room with her, he would have eventually made a fool out of himself, for sure.

Michonne was oblivious to it all though, or at least she seemed to be which was all the better. "Doesn't matter how terrible our team is," she shot back. "It's our game to enjoy. Without interruption." Her smirk could sometimes be infuriating but this time he found the petulance to be pretty funny. After all, he'd already convinced her to come out here so he figured he was on a roll when it came to persuading her today.

"Won't take long no way. Just need ya to start the engine for me."

Andre's furrowed brow caught Daryl's attention. "I could have done that," he pouted.

"I don't think so, kid," Daryl said before Michonne could protest. He stuck his lip out a little and Michonne laughed quietly behind the boy's back.

She stepped into the driver's seat as Andre got over his annoyance and returned to his stool. Michonne kicked over the engine and the truck roared to life without any trouble.

"Is that good?" she asked over the noise.

After a cursory inspection under the hood, Daryl peeked back around it to make eye contact with her. "It's good. Kill it." She powered down the car and sat for a moment as he came around to join her. Andre peered from his stool waiting to see what task was next.

"Grab them keys for me." Michonne did as he asked and just before handing them over, she glanced down at the keychain and froze. As her jaw dropped in shock, Daryl's grin widened, taking in her reaction to his little setup. She looked up at the satisfied expression he sported; he enjoyed seeing her eyes go wider as he got down on one knee, sun glaring off the two wedding bands dangling from his keychain.

"How 'bout you hand those over and tell me you aint changed your mind 'bout bein' Mrs. Daryl Dixon."

Who would have guessed when she'd sputtered up to his garage, that two and a half years later, he'd be at her feet requesting permission to be a permanent part of her life. Or that he'd be tripping over his words like one of those fools from those dumb romance movies she still makes him watch with her sometimes. Whoever would've planted that seed deserved a drink on him because he was thankful it had come to pass.

He'd never had much of anything to call his own, and nothing much good happened to him without a steep price being paid for the trouble. He'd gone from an angry kid hiding from his abusive father and asshole brother to wandering from spot to spot nearly drifting away, and finally to this drowning shack of a business Merle had won as payment off of a drunken loser with massive gambling debt. But Michonne was an unexpected force that just wandered into his life, first as an obligation, then as a friend and finally as a lover and partner.

For so long after he met her, for months after they became friendly, he'd expected nothing to come from their company for fear that she'd disappear. But she didn't.

When they broke up and he ached for her while feeling powerless to get her back. He'd written off his happiness as something he should never ever hope for. But instead, she'd held on.

She just got closer and closer to him until she was underneath his skin and pumping through his veins, giving him life as nothing ever had in his lonely, sad existence before.

Still on his knee, he marveled at how it wasn't too often that he could make this woman speechless. So even though his nerves were buzzing as he perched down on the ground, Daryl still got a kick out of the reaction. When Michonne got her wits about her again, he saw the glossy sheen of tears in her eyes and prepared himself for another one of her outbursts.

"Oh Daryl," she muttered. He cocked his head to the side, flashing her his usual expression of exasperation. Andre looked on, curious but excited, waiting on pins and needles to see what happened next. "Come here," she gestured.

Daryl rose to his feet and she pulled him to her, wrapping her arms around him and whispering 'yes' over and over again in his ear. At her shoulder, he beamed, so gratified to hear those words from her, not that he'd been too worried.

It's not like a proposal was entirely unexpected. They'd already agreed that they wanted to get married. Michonne had cut off any talk of surprising her with the proposal, calling it an "archaic act of patriarchal dominance." He'd grumbled about that, thinking it's what any decent guy should do for the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. She really could work his nerves with her 'modern woman' schtick sometimes. But it's what she wanted and he had to admit that it felt nice to make the decision together without a lot of pressure on him.

So they'd compromised. They agreed to talk about when the time felt right for that step in their relationship—and they'd done that a while back. But then he'd still get to surprise her with a proposal at any time he saw fit. She wouldn't need to see it coming so it was the best of both worlds. The only stipulation was that he didn't get her an engagement ring as she thought it was a waste of money. He couldn't find fault with that reasoning either, especially at this stage in their relationship.

Upon hearing about the engagement plans, their friends had called them the most practical and least fun odd couple on the planet.

Daryl had been holding onto those rings for a few weeks wondering how he could do things right and make her proposal memorable. He'd even broken down and asked Rick and Carol for advice on it since it's not like he had a whole lot of experience wooing a girl like that. Michonne never seemed to mind his lack of romantic experience which he was grateful for but on this, he wanted to do right by her because they'd fought hard to be together. She meant the world to him, both her and Andre.

Both of his friends suggested he keep it simple and there wasn't anything much simpler than proposing to her where it had all started for them.

"Did you think I'd change my mind?" she asked, pushing back from him. A few tears had fallen from her eye and he wiped them away, caressing her cheek as he did. "Although, I did reconsider when you ate that last piece of cake a few weeks ago." Her wry smile was met with a roll of his eyes.

"I wasn't worried. I already know that Dixon charm had gotten a hold 'a you."

They both chuckled at that. "What gave it away?"

Daryl dropped his hand from her cheek and let it trail down her shoulder to her arm and finally to her rounded abdomen where their daughter was nestled comfortably inside her mom, waiting to make her appearance in a few months time: little Marietta Dixon, named after the town where she'd been conceived and where he and Michonne had some of the most peaceful moments of their lives together.

When they'd ridden out on that vacation hoping to figure out where they were going with their relationship, he'd truly thought it was over for them. They'd agreed to be friends but to stop hurting each other by thinking they could surpass their differences and make a life together.

And then they slept on it and realized that they were both full of shit.

They were in love and love was hard but it was also worth fighting for. They'd woken up separate and alone and it felt terrible when it could have, instead, felt so good being together, even through the difficult patches. This time it was Daryl who made the first move; he crept into her bed and slid under the covers with her, taking her in his arms as she welcomed him fully. Then they'd made love as the sun came up and didn't leave the room until it was time to check out. It was no wonder Marietta came to be during that time.

"…Oh that," she responded, covering the hand the stroked her rounded stomach and pecking him on the lips. "I knew you were up to something but I love that you proposed here, Daryl, where it all started: Merle sleeping off a bender, the Braves being terrible and then the two of us in this truck, you being the good guy and me being the damsel in distress."

"More like you bein' a pain in my ass, makin' me act all chivalrous and shit."

"I didn't make you do anything. You were into it so don't even try it," she said, running her fingers through his hair. "And when we go camping and fishing and hunting with Andre and Marietta, you can tell them how you underestimated your wife's survival skills."

"Mmm. Like the sound 'a that," he rumbled into her ear, kissing the lobe as he retreated. He leaned in for a more thorough bit of affection but Andre's groan cut them off.

"You guys!" He'd patiently let them have their mushy time but he'd clearly reached his limit.

"Alright, little man, hands off." He stroked Michonne's stomach once more and then helped her down from the high passenger side seat. He led her to the front of the truck where Andre sat and reached around to cover the boy's eyes.

Andre giggled and clawed at Daryl's much larger hand. "Hey!"

With his other arm, Daryl pulled Michonne close and kissed her soundly, not a long kiss but a satisfying one. He let both of them go and swung the ring-adorned keychain around on his finger before returning it to his pocket.

"Now you can go back and watch your crappy baseball game. I got what I wanted outta you."

Michonne smacked him on the shoulder and then waved her hand to push cooler air into her face. "I think I will. Don't be too much longer. This city girl needs more pampering from her fiancé."

He noticed the fatigue in her eyes, both from her long week and her ill-advised activities from earlier with all the fixing and cleaning up around her house she'd done. He figured that's why she was so moody and stubborn, insisting on repairing Andre's bike and teasing him about Carol even though she knew there was nothing going on with her. They were all friends, after all. He'd get on her later about working too hard and worrying too much, especially during week's like this when he had to be away from her to take care of the shop renovations.

She gave him one last kiss on the cheek and delivered one to the top of Andre's head too, making him squirm with embarrassment. "And by the way, who said anything about taking your last name? I don't think that's one of the things we agreed on." He would have popped her one on the ass if she'd been closer since she knew how annoyed he was with her on that hanging issue.

"We got time yet for me to wear you down and I'm gonna on this. And if I catch you liftin' anything like back at the house, you gon' be in a world 'a trouble. I done told you about tryin' 'a do too much when you need to be takin' it easy for Marietta."

Michonne flipped him off. The gesture both amused and aroused him. She loved to remind him that she'd done this pregnancy thing before and he did know she'd never put their kid in danger by pushing herself too hard.

"I thought we'd established that I always play to win. Think about that as I get back to 'takin' it easy'. That was before you decided to interrupt with all the romantic overtures and the making me love you even more."

She disappeared into the cool office, not waiting for his counter. Soon he'd be stuck with her and her smart mouth, not only through marriage but with the birth of their child.

He couldn't wait.

He finished up work on his engine and had Andre help pack his things away so he could close up shop and get Michonne back home to celebrate. As he watched Andre join Michonne in the office and crawl into her lap, he took a moment to appreciate what would shortly be all his to enjoy officially.

Daryl thought to himself that being the good guy definitely pays off. She may be playing to win but he'd long ago received his prize.

End

AN: And that's that. I know it's all terribly sappy but I was in that kind of mood with these two. All chapter titles are credited to Soul Coughing which helped fuel my push to finish the story.

Thanks all for reading and much appreciation for the feedback and the support. It's going to be a long seven months so I'll try to keep the Dixonne muse active in the meantime.