Please don't hate me for posting yet another story. This one will only have two parts to it though and it has been in my head since the last chapter of Orange Sky.

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Part One.

"How much is it?" Beth asked, looking up at the house.

"Forty thousand," Daryl grunted, looking up at it as well though his face was twisted into a frown, only growing heavier the longer he looked at it. "Should be givin' the damn thing away for free."

Beth would usually disagree and try to look on the bright side of things but looking at the house, she couldn't exactly see it at the moment. The farmhouse was falling apart to put it lightly. It had been white years earlier but weather had worn the paint away and now it just looked dirty and fading into a smoky gray color. Most of the windows were broken and she didn't want to imagine the water damage inside. It was in the middle of an open field – the house sitting on several acres of land – and beside the house, there was a large oak tree as tall as the roof.

"It does look like a hundred people were murdered inside," Beth commented and Daryl smirked, looking to her. She looked at him and gave him a smile. "What?" She laughed a little. "It does and you know it does. It's probably terribly haunted inside."

"I already asked Rick to check out the history," Daryl said.

"Really?" Her eyes widen a bit at that.

"Knew you'd freak out about it," he shrugged, looking back towards the house.

They were holding hands and at his comment, she linked their fingers together and leaned in a little closer to him, resting her head on his shoulder. They kept looking up at the house for a few more minutes.

"It could be something," she said softly. "Was definitely a nice house back in the day. Could be something again."

"Hmmmm," he grunted but said nothing more, looking at it, studying it. "Might as well go inside," he said. "If the outside's like this, can just imagine what the inside's like. It'll cost us more to fix it up than it will to buy this damn heap."

"Come on," Beth said, taking a step forward and gently tugging on his hand towards the house.

The porch steps creaked beneath them and Daryl pulled the key from his pocket that they had gotten from the realtor's office that morning. The screen door was barely hanging on its hinges and he was worried that the lock of the front door was so damn rusted, the key would snap off.

Luckily though, that didn't happen and he pushed the front door open into the dark hallway. He reached a hand out to the light switch on the wall but when he flipped it up, the light on the ceiling didn't turn on. Not surprisingly. There was enough sunlight coming in through the windows though but as he looked around, he realized that he didn't necessarily want that much light to see how shitty everything around them was.

He stepped aside so Beth could enter the foyer. It was all wood. The floors and the paneling that went halfway up the wall before faded and curling wallpaper went up the rest of the wall to the ceiling. It had been green wallpaper with roses but it was all so faded now, it was hard to tell what it had once been. There was a staircase in front of them that led to the second floor with a newel post at the bottom and it was no surprise when he touched the round finial at the top of the post and it rattled loosely. He sighed heavily and he was already making a list in his head of everything that would have to be done if he and Beth decided to get this piece of shit house.

He knew their family needed a bigger house. It had been small when it had just been him and Beth and then they started adding kids and now, it was just impractical to live there with their family of five. Could they? Probably but it was already damn uncomfortable and would only continue to grow more so as the kids got bigger.

Rick Grimes had thought of them when this house went on the market. It was an old farmhouse and it had been abandoned for years, the owner living in Arizona for years before finally deciding to just sell it. He knew the Dixons liked living in the middle of the woods, slightly isolated from everyone, and this farmhouse – while not in the woods – was still on a nice chunk of land with plenty of distance from anyone else, the woods bordering their property so Daryl could still go hunting anytime.

They had decided to drop the kids off with Hershel and Annette for the afternoon so they could go check the house out. Daryl didn't expect anything to come of it and they didn't mention a word to the kids that they were looking at the house. This place was nothing more than a fucking money pit.

He looked to Beth as she walked further into the house. To the left, there was a room that looked as if it was some sort of study, bookshelves built into the room and a fireplace in the far wall. To the right, there was the living room, another fireplace with a bay window and a window seat. It didn't surprise Daryl when Beth went right for that. There were still cushions – once red but coated with a thick layer of dust but Beth didn't seem to care as she smiled faintly and sat down, looking through the window out onto the front yard.

"Look, Daryl," she said, pointing, and he came to stand behind her. The oak tree beside the house still had a tire swing hanging from one of the branches by a piece of thick rope. "The kids would love that. And it looks like a good tree house tree."

"You're gettin' way too ahead of yourself," was all he said. "Come on. Still a lot to look at," he said and he took her hand, pulling her to her feet again.

"That would be a good wall for the piano," she said, pointing to the far wall.

Daryl didn't say anything. He moved them from the living room through the open doorway that took them into the next room that was probably supposed to be the dining room, a lamp fixture hanging from the ceiling with spider webs built throughout it. The large window overlooking the back of the property was broken and he found the rock on the floor responsible.

"We could actually have dinner parties," Beth said.

"Sounds like somethin' awful," he grunted and she laughed a little, her fingers twining with his again.

He pushed open the swinging door that led into the kitchen and he let out a breath.

"There's mold," he said.

"How can you tell?" She asked, looking at the dust covered countertops and the ancient appliances. She doubted that stove or refrigerator would ever work again.

"Smell," he said. "You can't smell that?"

"I'm smelling all sorts of things and I have no idea what any of them are," she admitted. "Mold in the walls?"

He nodded and didn't say anything. "We'd have to rip this dry wall all down, clean it up and put new walls up. Bet the electrical's fucked in here, too." He looked up towards the ceiling where sure enough, there was a large water stain from something leaking above.

He then looked to Beth and she was looking around the dirty and dank room with a small frown.

"M'sorry, Beth," he said and she looked at him instantly. "This place is fucked. It'd cost us forty thousand to buy this house and prob'ly another fifty to make it livable."

She nodded and gave him a small smile. "I know." She looked around for a moment before back at him. "I just liked the idea about maybe living in a farmhouse like this."

He nodded, too. "Yeah, I know. I really liked the idea, too."

There was a door in the kitchen and he opens it, it creaking on its hinges. As suspected, it lead down into the basement.

"No way," Beth quickly shook her head. "There is no way I'm going into that basement, Daryl Dixon," she said.

Daryl just smirked though and took hold of her hand. "Don't think I'll keep you safe?"

He tugged her down the rickety wooden stairs with him, listening to her sigh heavily behind him, and her hand clutched his tightly. The windows were narrow and allowed little light in but it allowed enough in for him to see what he was looking for.

"What are we looking for?" Beth asked.

"Furnace, water tank, and I'm checkin' on how sound the foundation looks," he said. "Stay here," he put his hands on her arms and stopped her at the bottom of the stairs. "There might be nails or somethin' rusty on this floor and I don't need you steppin' on it."

"What about you?" She asked.

"I got 'nother tetanus shot just last year, 'member?" He said. "I'm good to go."

Beth stayed right where he stopped her and she watched him as he shuffled around. It wasn't like she knew what to look for with any of those things he said anyway. So she just watched him as he inspected one thing and then another, muttering to himself on occasion.

"How does it look?" She asked.

"Well, 'lieve it or not, the foundation's sound," he said. "Can hardly believe it. Wood holdin' up these floorboards are good, too. Would of thought for sure all of this would 'ave been rotted. Would probably add a few more boards though for some extra support. 'specially with the way Hunter runs like a buffalo stampede."

Beth smiled at that. "Makes sense."

"Water tank's older than you, prob'ly. We'd need a new one. Leakin' at the bottom."

"And the furnace?"

"Can't tell," he shook his head. "Hasn't been on for years." He came back to her, his hands taking hold of her hips. "Let's go up to the second floor. There's water damage on the kitchen ceilin' and I need to see where it's comin' from."

"Why are we still looking? I thought we decided this isn't worth it," she said.

He shrugged. "Just curious to see how fucked everythin' really is. If the structure is sound… everything else can be fixed."

"Quite a different tune from what you were saying just seconds ago upstairs," she pointed out to him, feeling the corners of her mouth twitch.

He shrugged then and looked around. "It's bad but Dixons aren't afraid of a lil' bad."

Beth couldn't help but smile at that. She wasn't being naïve or stupid. She knew this house would be a bad investment for them. She had been in charge of the family's finances ever since she and Daryl got married and she knew exactly how much money they had to work on a house like this.

And yet, she couldn't help but kind of want this – a bigger house for their family, her kids growing up in a farmhouse like she had – and she could see the gleam in Daryl's eyes, his mind turning over all of the projects restoring this house would entail and how she knew he would be able to do them all. This house would be his masterpiece.

"I am curious to see the bedrooms," she admitted and that made him smile.

They went back up the stairs and she swore that she heard a high-pitched squeaking from one of the cabinets. She didn't look to investigate though. She would have been surprised if the house didn't have mice. She headed towards the front staircase and Daryl was right behind her as she headed up to the second floor.

There was a door to the left at the top of the stairs and Beth poked her head in before stepping fully into the room. "Oh my gosh, Daryl! Look how big it is!" She couldn't help but give a quick spin. "This is like three of our bedrooms now."

Daryl went past her into the bathroom attached to the master bedroom. They would actually have their own bathroom. And as suspected, the thing was a fucking disaster. He smelled mold in here, too, and crouching down, he opened the cabinets beneath the sink, not surprised to see that the pipes were completely rusted.

"Daryl!" Beth suddenly screamed.

Daryl shot up so fast, he almost hit the back of his head on the sink. He rushed from the bathroom but she was no longer in the bedroom. He found her in the bedroom across the hall and as soon as she saw him, she nearly leapt at him.

"What the fuck, Beth?" He asked, his heart pounding, lodged in his throat. But then he saw the open closet door and the raccoon inside, pressing itself against the wall. He sighed and looked at her. "How long we been married?" He asked.

She scowled at him. "We don't have wild animals running around inside our house, Daryl Dixon," she frowned.

He smirked and looked back towards the animal. "Wish I had my bow with me. Could of gotten us some dinner to take back with us."

She sighed but said nothing as she gave him another look and then turned, leaving the room. There were three bedrooms plus the master bedroom and two full baths up here, as well. She couldn't believe how big this house was. She had almost forgotten what living in a big house like this was like. She loved hers and Daryl's little home but over the years, adding three kids to their family, it made the house seem miniscule even with Daryl adding rooms onto it. There was only so much he could do to make their home as comfortable as it could be.

She walked into the bedroom at the front of the house, the window overlooking the oak tree. She could imagine Luke in this bedroom, his easel right next to this window as he painted the light streaming through the tree leaves. She felt a soft breeze blowing through her hair and she looked up. She sighed.

"Hole in the ceiling!" She called out.

"In this room, too!" Daryl called back from the bedroom next door.

She sighed again and left the bedroom, heading to the one Daryl stood in. "So, can you patch roofs, too?" She asked as he stood there, looking up at the rather large hole. The room smelled like mildew and she wrinkled her nose.

"I can do anythin'," he said, shooting her a smirk and she couldn't believe when she smiled at that. She watched as he kneeled down and she jumped slightly as he easily pulled up one of the floorboards.

"Daryl Dixon, what are you doing? We do not own this house!"

She wasn't sure why but she felt her heart beating rapidly and she glanced nervously over her shoulder as if she was expecting someone there to catch them and scold them for damaging this property. Even more so than it already was.

"Some of these boards are rotten," he then stated, ripping up another one. "This place is gonna need plenty of lumber. Maybe I can talk to T about it. He can give me a deal or somethin' if I explain to him what I'm doin'."

"Well, you are one of his best customers," she nodded. "So… does this mean…"

He lifted his head and looked at her. "What?"

"Do you want this house?" She asked.

He didn't answer right away. He stood up and shoved his hands in his coat pockets and his eyes never left her face. "What do you want?"

She smiled and shook her head. "I asked you first. You do everything for us and for once, we are going to do something you want to do. And if this is what you want to do, restoring this… hovel, then that is what we are going to do."

"It's a waste of money, Beth, and we don't have it," he reminded her.

"We have the money to buy the house," she said. "We have the AAP money that we never touch and I still have my savings account that I haven't touched in years and my parents-"

"No," Daryl cut her off before she could even finish that line of thought.

"It's not a bad thing to have someone help you, Daryl. Especially family and especially when it's for something like this. My parents have always wanted to help us out but I knew we would always be able to make it on our own. But this…" she looked around the room, her eyes lingering on the hole in the ceiling before bringing her look back to him and he was staring right at her. "You want this house. I can see it. Outside, maybe not but the more we've been walking around in here… your gears are turning and I know you're imagining everything you can do in here."

Daryl didn't say anything. He stared at her for a moment and she didn't know if he would say anything.

"And I know you could do it, Daryl. You could make this house so beautiful again."

Daryl still didn't say anything but she could tell he was thinking all of this through. She took a step towards him and then another, closing the space between them until her fingers could close around the lapels of his coat and she tilted her chin up to look at him. He looked down at her so their eyes could meet and while his entire face remained blank, she knew her eyes were sparkling. She wanted to do this for him. She wasn't entirely sure of it herself but if she knew that anyone could make this work for them, it would be him. Daryl Dixon was the sort of man who gave and gave and didn't expect anything in return and it was his turn to get something, damn it.

And if her husband wanted this falling apart, piece of a wreck house, she was going to make sure this would happen for him.

"And our house now… we could use the money we get from selling it," she said softly, not sure how he would react to that.

That house in the woods had been nothing but a hunting shack when Daryl had bought it years earlier and had fixed it up into the livable house it was now. It was a good house. Such a good house. She couldn't imagine them having trouble selling it.

But that house was special to Daryl. For years, it had been just him in the woods, his own sanctuary. And then she had come and they had gotten married and had lived in their own little world out there for so long.

Daryl looked at her. "And where are we gonna live in the meantime? This house isn't gonna be fit for humans for a while," he said and his hands slowly slid to a rest on her hips and she smiled faintly as the front of their bodies brushed together.

"With my parents?" She suggested. He actually cracked half a smile at that and she couldn't help but laugh. "What? My parents love us. They would be more than happy to have us stay with them for a while until this house is up and running."

Daryl's smile faded and he stared at her. She made sure to keep her eyes locked with his because sometimes, he would do this. He would just stare at her and study her and he was always looking for something specific. What that was, she didn't know but she made sure she stayed still so he would always be able to find it.

"This could turn out to be a huge fuckin' mistake and then we would have no money and no place to live," he said.

She didn't tell him that they would always have a place to live because her parents would let them stay with them for as long as they needed. Daryl wouldn't want to hear that. Her husband was a very proud man and he had to be the one who put a roof over his family's head. He didn't want anyone else taking care of them except him. Very proud and very stubborn. And she loved him so much for both qualities.

"Daryl," she said his name softly and her hands lifted to the sides of his neck, thumbs brushing along his jaw line, making sure their eyes remained locked and they looked no where else but into one another's. "Do you want this house? And just remember, I'm your wife and we've been together long enough that no matter what you say to me right now, I already know the answer."

Daryl stared at her for a moment and though she could tell he was reluctant to do so, she saw him give a small smirk, his eyes falling from hers, looking down to the ground. Beth pushed herself up on her toes and kissed him affectionately on the forehead.

Her heart was beating in her chest so quickly and her stomach had dropped nervously to her feet but it would be okay. They could do this. Daryl could do this. She had always believed in him and she knew he could do anything. This house was going to be no exception.

…

Thank you very much for reading and please review!