From Where You Are

It's been 4 years since Beth left Claxton, Georgia with no intention of going back. But when Missy Shay dies mysteriously and the Dixon boys are falling into more and more trouble Beth can't find a reason not to go back.

(Spin off of Under the Peach Grove-don't need to read to understand)

Part 3

How drugs when drugs were
Undid the good almost entirely
But not entirely
Because good could always be seen
Glimmering like lame glimmers
In the window of a shop
Called Beautiful
Things Never Last Forever.
-You Were You Are Elegy by Mary Jo Bang

xxx

Beth remembers leaving Claxton like it was yesterday. She had gotten into a fight with Daryl the night before. A long loud screaming match in the middle of the street. She had left town the next day and had not looked back. Even though she had told him that she loved him.

That was her first of many mistakes, telling Daryl Dixon that she loved him.

Beth has known that she has loved him since they were kids. They would play house and every time they would pretend to be married, living in the small plastic log cabin that sits on the side of the Dixon house. She would tell him she loved him while they were playing and every time Daryl would laugh and tell her she was weird.

Telling someone you love them when you are 15 is a lot different when you are 5. And she had screamed it across the street to him her eyes full of wet tears, her make up running down her face in a black smudge.

Then, she didn't even wait for a reply. She had fled the scene and the next day she had left town altogether.

Beth knew that Daryl could never love her. Not really. Not in the way that she wanted. She also knows that that is a complete lie. If anyone has the ability to love someone with their entire heart it is Daryl Dixon.

Beth knows that she has been lying to herself since she left. Telling herself that there was no way that Daryl would ever love her. Maybe it was to make it easier, it hurt less to be away from him if she convinced herself that he didn't want her. But now it was unavoidable. She drove by the house next door and she was reminded over and over of Daryl Dixon and the woman that he is living with and the little girl that has his eyes.

It's like her heart is breaking all over again.

Chloe keeps talking, chirping away in Beth's ear. But she doesn't acknowledge her. She's too busy filling her head with lies.

'He's not yours.'

'He doesn't love you.'

Beth wants to throw the table over in the kitchen and scream. All of this has been building in her for so long.

When she was by herself in that little motel in Atlanta she would think of him. It brought her comfort. His gentle words, his light smiles, the way his fingers would run over her arm when he wanted to get her attention. In those moments she would pretend that he loved her. And she loved him back.

Chloe waves her hand in front of Beth's face and Beth promptly pushes her hand away.

"God, Beth what is going on?" Chloe asks with annoyance dripping through each word.

If there was anyway to put Beth's feelings into words it would be fuck. She feels that word every sense of it, fucked up, fucking sad, fucking angry.

A part of her feels like she is throwing a tantrum. One that would put a 5 year old to shame- all kicking legs and flailing arms.

Chloe groans loudly at her.

"I hate when you do this! It's like you're shutting down! Beth you aren't a computer! Come back to life please," Chloe says loudly from across the table, "I don't know why you are acting like this but it needs to stop."

Beth finally looks up to her friend. Chloe's hair is sticking out of the messy bun on the top of her head. Her eyes are puffy and red, like she has been crying- or maybe she's just sick. Beth furrows her eyebrows at her friend's appearance. How did she not notice sooner?

"Are you okay?" Beth asks. Chloe is the pretty one. The one that dresses up for every occasion. Some days she even looks like a runway model or one of the women Beth would see on magazine covers. Long legs, slick black hair, dark eyeliner. Now she seems to be half alive. All over her model looks taken from her.

"Allergies," Chloe says curtly. Her face is scrunched with annoyance at the change of subject.

"Seriously, Beth," Chloe pleads, "What happened in Atlanta?"

It wasn't so much what happened in Atlanta and more of what didn't.

Maybe Chloe was asking about those four years in Atlanta. What had happened? She had slept for weeks, not leaving her bed in that crappy motel. She had taken the bus to Señoia about a hundred times and every single time she would get right back on and take the bus back. Nothing had happened in Atlanta. She had wallowed in her misery and now she was back, wallowing in the same amount of misery in a place that felt as if it was closing in on her.

Beth wanted to tell Chloe what had happened, with Daryl she means, but it would feel childish. He wasn't hers. And she wasn't his. So why was she even upset?

"Nothing happened, Chloe," Beth states, "No one was there."

Chloe groans loudly once again and sits back in her chair.

"You are a terrible liar," she states her fingers running over the edge of the kitchen table over and over. Beth watches Chloe's lean hands make smooth movements. Maybe if she pretends she isn't losing her mind then she will feel better.

Beth shakes her head at Chloe. "I'm not terrible you just know me too well," Beth says, "What happened in Atlanta doesn't matter. What matters is getting this paperwork sorted so I can find the stupid lease for this house."

Chloe seems unconvinced but doesn't push the matter any further. She sighs softly and looks back to the papers in front of her.

Beth watches Chloe carefully before resuming her work as well.

"If you want to talk about it," Chloe says softly, "I'm here. I know it's hard, Beth. But you have me. I'm always here for you."

Beth steadies her hands and looks up to Chloe. A smile pushes it's way into her lips as she studies her friend.

"Thank you," Beth says.

A knock comes from the front door and they both look over to it in surprise.

"Oh god," Beth says, as she stands from the table, "I really hope this isn't Mark. He'll probably just tell me how many days I have left before I need to leave."

Beth gives Chloe a nervous look before she turns and makes her way to the front door.

She pulls it open and freezes when she sees who is standing there in front of her.

Daryl fucking Dixon.

She slams the door shut in his face.

'Oh god what did I just do?'

"Who is it?" Chloe calls from the kitchen.

Beth turns just as Chloe makes her way towards the entrance.

"What?" Chloe asks as she takes in Beth's wide eyes and half opened mouth.

There is a knock at the door again and a deep voice comes through, "Beth. Open up."

Chloe's eyes go wide and her face mimics the expression in Beth's.

"Holy shit," Chloe mouths to her. They both continue to stand in the entrance hallway looking like scared children.

"C'mom, Beth! Seriously open the door!" Daryl calls knocking once again.

Beth feels like her heart is going to explode. Her chest constricts painfully as she forces herself to breath.

Chloe is the first to move. She heads out of the entrance and into the kitchen, leaving Beth's view all together.

The next thing she knows she is hearing Chloe talking outside.

"Oh hey, Daryl!" Beth hears Chloe's voice on the other side of the door.

Beth would laugh if she wasn't feeling so tense. Chloe had climbed out of the back window and went around front to distract Daryl. Who knows, maybe it will work. But Beth thinks that the odds aren't in her favor today.

"What are you doing back in town!" Chloe asks, "You got tired of babysitting Merle's kid?"

Beth sucks in a breath. That little girl wasn't Daryl's? Then that means that Carol wasn't Daryl's girlfriend or wife? Did that mean that Beth really had a full day of teenage angst over nothing? She feels like she might throw up.

Daryl grunts out a response that Beth can't make out through the thick front door.

"Beth isn't home," Chloe says slyly.

Beth wants to roll her eyes. Of course she's home she just slammed the door in his face.

Daryl snorts out and says, "She just slammed her damn door in my face!" At least they still think a like.

Beth could imagine Chloe's stance right now as she says, "Yeah, well maybe that means she doesn't wanna see you."

Beth lets her head fall back against the door. Her eyes close slowly as she waits for Daryl's response. For any response.

It's quiet for a moment on the other side of the wooden door. Finally Daryl speaks up.

"Don't know why she's so pissed at me. Just tell her I came by alright?" He asks. Beth hears Chloe give him a 'mhm' before the sound of his boots walking down the steps fills her ears.

After a few moments Beth hears the door knock again.

"Hey, Bethy," says Chloe soft and sweetly, "Open up."

Beth steps away from the door and twists the knob so that Chloe can slip in. Once her friend is inside Beth slams the door shut.

"I hate to play devil's advocate but maybe you should talk to him," Chloe suggests as she looks Beth in the eye, "He seems just as lost as you are."

Beth watches Chloe's back in disbelief as her friend saunters back into the kitchen. Her eyes move to the front door, her mind wandering to Daryl. He's back. And maybe that's a good thing. But Beth can't seem to believe it.

She had made a mistake. He came back for her. So why was she so afraid to open the door and see him? To hear his voice again? To hug him?

Beth closed her eyes tightly and shuts it away. She will deal with it another day.

XXxxXXxXxxXxxXxx

Chloe wasn't sure why she did certain things. She always tried to be a good person, always tried to help when she could. But she also tried to be tough. She had watched her mom get walked over by a different man every week, and she had vowed to never let anyone walk all over her, man or woman.

Sometimes Chloe was jealous of Beth. The small blonde girl marches to the beat of her own drum, and she might not know it but she is tough. The toughest person Chloe knows.

She tries her best to be good. She really does, but then most of the time she ends up being bad. Lying, sleeping around, drinking, all of the things that teenage girls do. All of the things that she is beginning to really regret.

Chloe's still a bit hung over when she goes to the Dixon household on Sunday morning. The night before had been a blur of strange girls and large amounts of alcohol. If Beth had seen her- she doesn't even want to think about it.

She lifts her hand and knocks on the screened in porch of the Dixon house.

Beth doesn't know that Chloe is here. In fact Beth is at the city hall getting a copy of Missy Shay's birth certificate- so Chloe knows that she can get away with this without Beth every finding out.

There is no response to her knock. Chloe looks to the motorcycles, and the truck sitting next to the small home. She rolls her eyes and knocks once again, this time louder and with more conviction.

"What the hell is that?"

Chloe almost turns around, almost.

There were a lot of people that she doesn't get along with. Merle Dixon is one of them.

The front door inside the porch flies open and Merle Dixon emerges, all shaved head and dark eyes.

"Well looky here," Merle says, a wide grin growing on his face, "If it isn't little Lezzy comin' to say hello."

Chloe feels her eyebrow twitch in annoyance. Out of all of the people that Chloe has met in Claxton, Georgia Merle has always, and will always be, the most irritating out of all of them.

"Good to see you too, Merle," Chloe says with as little affection as she can manage, "Can I talk to Daryl, please?"

Merle quirks his eyebrows and looks over his shoulder.

"Yo, Daryl come 'ere," Merle turns back to Chloe and flashes a smile.

"Just one second, kid."

Chloe forces herself to remain passive. If Merle wasn't 6 ft and couldn't bench press three times her weight she would have knocked him out already.

Daryl comes walking over to the front door. His hair is sticking up in all directions, his eyes are puffy and he looks half asleep.

"Jesus," Chloe says, "You look like the dead walking."

Merle chuckles loudly and slaps Daryl on the shoulder.

"Little brother didn't get much sleep last night. Too much partying with ole' Merle," Merle laughs out.

Chloe eyes Daryl warily. He shrugs his brother off and turns his attention to Chloe.

"Don't listen to him," Daryl mumbles out, "We stayed in and drank 'shine."

"Not that it is any of my business," Chloe states. She walks up the short distance to the screened in porch and lets herself in.

"We need to talk, Daryl," She says looking between the two Dixon brothers.

Daryl nods, "Alright."

Merle continues to stand there expectantly.

Chloe eyes him before saying, "Shouldn't you be in jail or something?"

Merle barks out a laugh, "I was released! Tried to sneak into my old lady's house one night and ended up in the neighbors!" He continues to laugh at his own stupidity and Chloe can't help but smile a little. For a grown man he has the mind of a 13 year old.

"Merle," Daryl says warningly, "Give us a second."

The older man raises his hands in defeat, "Fine! I best be gettin' back to Carol anyways. See you later little brother!" He sticks his head into the house and yells a goodbye to Will Dixon.

He steps around Chloe and pats her on the head affectionately.

"Stay wild, shorty," He teases. He jumps away like a graceful cat before Chloe has a chance to send a slap his way.

Chloe watches the older Dixon go in slight annoyance, she waits until he on his motorcycle and the engine kicks to life before turning to Daryl.

"What happened between you and Beth when she left Claxton?" Chloe says jumping straight into the heart of the topic. She has learned, through trial and error, that the best way to get an answer out of the Dixon boys was to ask them straight forward, if they are given the chance they will dance around the question until you forget about it all together.

"Why does that matter?" Daryl asks raising his eyebrows.

Chloe wonders if he is completely stupid or if he is pretending that it isn't important.

"'Cause I would like to know why the two of you, thick as thieves, can't even manage to be in the same room together anymore," Chloe says, she rests her hands on her hips in an attempt to show him how serious she thinks this is. Daryl continues to seem puzzled.

"She's the one that's got a problem," He says with a shrug, "I tried to go to her house, you 'member. She slammed the door in my face."

Chloe chews on the inside of her lip in thought. Daryl and Beth had been inseparable as children. It seemed that up until the year that Beth had turned 14 the two of them were always together. Chloe had the pleasure, not exactly, of going to school with Daryl. Whenever another student asked him to hang out after school his answer was always, 'sorry I'm hangin' with Beth.' And Chloe didn't know until a short year later who exactly this 'Beth' person was, but she did know that she was something special- Chloe still thinks Beth is.

"Well, did something happen between you two before she left? I know that she was… kind of off after she left Claxton. I know how the thing with her mom really messed her up but… was there anything else?" Chloe asks seriously.

Daryl shuffles from one foot to the other and his hand immediately shoots up to his lips. He chews on the edge of his thumb in his typical anxious fashion.

"I know that look," Chloe says, she raises a long manicured finger and points it in Daryl's face, "I know that look so fucking well, what are you hiding?"

Daryl pulls his hand away in a rush.

"I ain't hidin' anything!" He exclaims shrugging off Chloe like he would a moth.

"Don't you dare go shruggin' this off Daryl Dixon!" Chloe barks out, "What happened? So we can make it better!"

There is a lull of silence between them and Chloe sees the exact moment that Daryl gives up. His eyes lower, his shoulders slump, and the light blue of his eyes turn deep and dark like the ocean.

"Oh," Is all Chloe can manage to get out.

It makes sense. Suddenly after a whole four years of dealing with Daryl angst and Beth slowly spiraling into a depression (that Chloe wasn't sure that she would recover from) it all has become crystal clear. They are in love with each other, and when Beth left she made a giant rip- a tear- between them that neither seemed to know how to fix. Good thing Chloe likes sewing.

"Well," Chloe says awkwardly, she clears her throat and stands up straighter, her slim shoulders raising to show confidence.

"We can fix it," She declares.

Daryl rolls his eyes and scoffs at her.

"Don't even know where to begin," He says, "When Beth left… the night before, at Timmy Mackey's party, you remember that night?"

Chloe had to wrack her brain for a moment. There were a lot of parties, a lot of long nights spent drowning in liquor and mistakes.

"I think so," Chloe says when something comes back to her memory, "Was that the night that Mike Bean tried to turn the swimming pool into jell-o?"

Daryl snorts out half of a laugh and nods, "The night before Beth left. The two of you went together and you called me drunk off your ass telling me that I had to come get Beth because she was being stupid."

All of the pieces fell together in Chloe's mind with a snap.

"Oh," Chloe mumbles out for the second time, "That was the night that she was hanging all over Timmy, and I thought that she was going to make a huge mistake." Chloe looks up to Daryl in awe before asking, "What happened that night?"

The sound of a car crunching on gravel caught Chloe's attention. She turns from her spot on the screened in porch to see a beat up old Subaru kicking up dust on the street.

Beth.

"Oh shit," Chloe says suddenly, she jumps into action and quickly jumps into the open door of the Dixon residence.

Will is sitting on the couch, in one hand is a piece of wood and in the other is a sharp hunting knife.

Chloe freezes by the door at the sight of him.

"Are you whittling?" She asks in disbelief.

"Sure come on in, Chloe" Will says in his usual sarcastic tone.

Chloe ignores the man and heads straight to the back window. Daryl is one step behind her, he keeps up in a silent fashion, watching with curiosity as Chloe opens the window and begins to climb out.

"She don't know you're here, huh?" Daryl asks with a low sigh. Chloe stops her movement as she is half way out of the window. She looks over to Daryl and says, "You can fix this, Dixon. It doesn't matter what happened. You should have seen her face yesterday when you came to the door. I haven't seen her look so alive since…" Chloe falls silent before picking back up, "I don't know what happened, and it doesn't really matter. Just make it right. Just talk to her! Break into the house if you have to!"

Chloe releases her hold on the window and drops gracefully to the grass below.

Daryl leans out the window and watches her.

"Trust me," Chloe says. She peaks around the side of the house to be sure that Beth's car has passed without her being seen. She looks back up to Daryl, "It's been four years," She says, "It's time we all moved on."

She turns on her heal and makes her way to her car which is parked in front of the pick-up truck.

Daryl watches her go, his head hanging out of the window. He sighs to himself and rests his head on his arm.

He can't help but wish that fixing his relationship with Beth was as simple as Chloe made it seem.

OMG what a delay. Writer's block has been brutal lately.

Let me know what you think!