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Need You Now

Chapter 40

The Past: Sunday, July 4th - Monday, July 5th, 1999

"Just a few more minutes, Mom." Sam pleaded, her voice muffled due to her head being shoved beneath the pillow. She'd stayed up later than she had planned to the night before, writing down the lyrics to a new song that never managed to come together, until nearly five in the morning. She felt the bed move beside her and peeked out from beneath the pillow to glare at the person who had flopped down on the mattress. "Cass? What are you doing here?"

"Well, let's see," Cassie held out her hand and counted off the reasons with her fingers. "I got home last night and found your car gone. Went to church to see if you'd be there and you weren't, and you haven't returned my calls. So, I'm here...finding out what happened."

"Church? What time is it?" Sam flung the pillow off of her head to glance at the clock on her nightstand, her eyes widening when she noticed it was well after lunch. "I can't believe I slept this late. I wonder why no one woke me up for church since I was home?"

"Your mom said you looked exhausted, so she let you sleep in. The whole family is downstairs getting ready to eat." Frowning down at Sam, Cassie asked, "What happened last night?"

"Merle happened." Sam frowned, sat up and crawled out from beneath the covers to get ready for lunch. "Like, maybe fifteen minutes after we got back to Daryl's house his stupid brother called and said he was in some kind of trouble. So, I got ditched at your house so he could go rescue Merle. You weren't there, so I decided to come on home."

"Dude, that sucks. I'm sorry. I know how much you were looking forward to last night." Cassie winced and reached underneath her buttocks to relocate whatever was poking at her. Pulling out a leather bound notebook, she inspected the cover and noted the initials etched in to the corner along with an intricate web of flowers. "Hey, is this what Daryl got you for your birthday?"

"Yes, isn't it gorgeous?" Sam boasted as she slipped on a pair of jeans and started searching for a shirt, settling on a lavender button up tossed over the back of an arm chair. Looking up after buttoning the last button, she saw Cassie had the notebook open and was clearly reading the song she'd worked on last night. Stepping up on to the king size bed, Sam towered over her friend and snatched the notebook out of her hands. "Hey! No looking! You know the rules."

"Like I knew you'd already christened it?" Cassie proclaimed and feigned an apologetic expression as Sam jumped down from the bed and tied the leather strands on either side of the notebook closed. "What little I saw looked pretty good though. I guess last night wasn't a total failure."

"Hmm, writing a song or finally having sex with the guy I lo...with Daryl." Sam's eyes grew wide as she realized what words almost came out of her mouth and how easily they'd flowed. Glancing up from the notebook in her hands, she saw the knowing smirk on Cassie's face. "Oh shut your hole, Delaney."

"Hey, at least you finally admit it. Of course, I knew before you did because I know you better than you know yourself." Cassie chuckled and crawled off the bed. "I'm starving. Let's go see what's for lunch."

Sam followed Cassie out of the bedroom and downstairs, not at all shocked to see the living room full of children who were wound up from being forced to sit still through church services and running around the room at full speed. Her oldest brother had three and Josh had two, she could only imagine what this room would look like when David and Tyler started having children and, eventually, herself. Sidestepping a serious game of chase, Sam and Cassie went in to the kitchen to see if any help was needed in there.

"Good afternoon, sleepyhead." Donna said as her daughter wandered in to the kitchen, still looking half asleep despite being fully dressed and ambulatory. "You looked so exhausted when you came in last night I thought I'd let you get some sleep."

"Thanks, I was more tired than I thought apparently. Need any help in here?" Sam slid past her mother and opened the refrigerator to pull out the ever present jug of sweet tea, spilling a good bit of it over the edge of the pitcher as she put it on the counter. "Or should I just avoid the kitchen altogether so there's no disaster?"

"You girls could set the table for me." Donna handed Sam a kitchen towel to clean up the mess. "Oh, Sam! Your grandmother called this morning. She wants you to come and visit this week. I told her you'd be down tomorrow around lunch, I figured a few days at the beach with your grandmother would be a nice treat."

While Sam was very excited about spending a few days with her grandmother, her most favorite person in the family, she couldn't help but frown because the visit would mean she wouldn't see Daryl at all. But, she had to be honest about the fact that her grandmother wouldn't be around forever and, at eighty three years old, her presence definitely wasn't a guaranteed thing. "Ok, great. Yeah, I could use a few days at the beach. Plus, I miss Grandma Em something awful. I hate she couldn't make it to the party this year."

"Me, too, but Mom isn't keen on driving these days and absolutely refuses to let any of us drive all the way down there and bring her here. I don't know what we're going to do about Christmas this year." Donna lifted a pan off the stove and placed it on a trivet on the counter by Sam, who almost drooled down her chin at the sight of her Mom's fettuccini Alfredo. "Go on and set the table, girls. Lunch is ready."

Later that night, the phone rang shrilly while Sam was packing for the impromptu beach trip. Crawling across the piles of shorts and tank tops, she grabbed the phone on the third ring and breathlessly answered, "Hello?"

"Hey you." His voice came across the line, all gruff and coarse, yet sexy as hell. "Did I catch you at a bad time?" Across town, Daryl flopped down on the couch and toed off his boots, letting them fall on to the floor below.

"Of course not. I was just in the middle of packing." Sam leaned back on the bed, sprawling across the clothes she'd scattered about while deciding what to take with her to Savannah. "I got informed at lunch that I'm going to visit my grandmother for the week."

"Oh, well...shit. Guess that means I don't get to see you, huh?" Daryl grimaced, hating that his one night with Sam had been ruined because of his brother, who had barely even acknowledged what Daryl had done for him before hopping on his bike and heading towards Atlanta.

"I'll be back Friday. Um, my parents will be going to Birmingham to meet David's fiancés parents and start discussing wedding plans and I am technically supposed to go to Atlanta with Cassie to visit her cousin." Sam twisted the phone cord around her index finger and felt the butterflies start up in her stomach as she mentioned the next part of her plan. "But, Cassie said that if I wanted to just pretend I was with her and stay here with you, then she'd play along. I mean, if you'd even want to do that? Put up with me invading your house for two days."

"Hell yeah I would." Daryl replied with complete honesty. Although two days alone with Sam seemed like a slice of heaven, it was five days away and he wanted to at least see her before she went out of town. "Think you could come by the shop before you head out?"

"Absolutely. I'm leaving here about eight and need to get gas anyway, so I can stop by after that." Sam smiled brightly at the thought of spending the weekend with Daryl, no interruptions this time hopefully, and hated that it was still several days away. "I'm gonna miss you."

"Me, too." Daryl sat up and grabbed the pack of cigarettes he'd tossed down on to the coffee table before calling Sam. Fishing one out, he stood up to go outside to smoke it since the house had a no-smoking rule in the rental agreement. "I'll let you get back to packing. See you in the morning."

"Ok, goodnight. Sleep tight." Sam sighed dreamily as she sat the phone back on the base after Daryl wished her sweet dreams. Deciding that there was no point in packing too much stuff since she'd just be at the beach most of the time anyway, Sam gave up on being organized and simply stuffed a handful of shorts and tops in to the bag, along with several bikinis and suntan lotion. The real thing she needed to worry about packing was the bag she was going to take to Daryl's!

The next morning, armed with her luggage and guitar case, Sam piled in to her car after saying goodbye to her parents and headed towards town to get gas and see Daryl. After filling up her tank at the station, and grabbing the breakfast of champions of a cola and candy bar, Sam eased out of one parking lot and crossed the street in to another. She parked next to Daryl's bike, noted the lack of presence of Mr. Swain's personal truck, and headed inside the open garage bay door in search of Daryl. Finding him on the phone at the rear of the garage in the tiny office partially hidden by a cheap piece of painted plywood, she waited patiently nearby; letting her eye's drink their fill of him in hopes that doing so would last her the rest of the week, which was doubtful.

"Yes, sir," Daryl said in to the phone, his attention barely on the conversation he'd been having before Sam wandered in to the shop. Holding up his index finger to indicate he would only be a minute longer, he quickly jotted down what the caller wanted done on the car that was going to be brought in shortly and promised to have it done as soon as possible. "Not a problem. I'll call when it's done."

Hanging up the phone, he turned back to face Sam a split second before she launched herself in to his arms. Smiling down at her, Daryl held on to her tightly and gave her a kiss. "Morning."

"Definitely a good one now." Sam snuggled against his chest, relishing the feel of being in his arms again and yet, hating that she'd have to leave soon if she wanted to get to her grandmother's around lunch. Glancing up at Daryl, she asked, "Everything go ok the other night? No problems?"

"Yeah,” Daryl shrugged and tried not to look away from her worried gaze. "Just Merle being Merle's all. Hate it messed up our night." Since he'd only just got to the shop and hadn't started work yet so his hands were clean, Daryl reached up and brushed back a stray golden lock, tucking it behind Sam's ear and out of her face. "What time you gonna be back on Friday?"

"A little after lunch? Cassie's leaving for Atlanta by three, so if I want to keep up the appearance I'm going with her I need to be at her house by then. I'll just hang out there until you're done with work, I guess." Sam let her fingers wander up and down his arm, lightly tracing the soft skin of his triceps as she gazed up at him.

"Shit, uh...Swain's off this week. Gone off to Florida on vacation, so I gotta work late this week." Unwrapping his arms from Sam's waist, Daryl reached in to his pocket and pulled out his key ring; unwinding one from the set. "Here. Just have Cassie drop you off at my place before she goes."

"Are you sure? I don't mind waiting." Sam held on to the shiny key as though it was the most valuable piece of metal in the world. She'd never had a guy give her the key to his house. When Daryl nodded and shrugged, as though the gesture wasn't just the sweetest thing that had ever happened to Sam, she slipped it on to her key chain with a smile. "But, what about you? How're you gonna get in to your house?"

"I got my ways." Which basically amounted to jimmying the lock open, but Daryl didn't mention that. Best to just let Sam think he had a spare key outside or something. Reaching out, he wrapped his arms around her once more and pulled her close to him; hating that it would be four days before he could hold her again. "Surprised your grandmother didn't come up for your party, big affair it was and all."

"She usually does, but she doesn’t really like to drive lately. Eyesight goes at eighty three apparently. I generally go visit every summer. I mean, who passes up a free beach trip, right?" Sam grinned up at Daryl, oblivious to the fact that he'd never been on a beach vacation. Tracing her index finger over the red stitched patch with Dixon scrawled across it, she continued, "Grandma Em is pretty cool though. Paints, even sells some to local galleries, teaches me how to cheat at cards, stuffs me full of food...you know the whole grandma thing? She's my favorite person in my family."

"Well, have fun. Try not to forget us working folks." Daryl hid his insecurity behind a halfcocked grin; not wanting to let on that the thought of Sam off at the beach meeting guys more suited for her bothered him.

"Like I could." Sam replied honestly as she looked up at Daryl with eyes full of the affection she held for him. She reached up and pushed a swatch of chocolate colored bangs out of his eyes and watched as it fell back in to place slowly. Easing up on to the tips of her pastel pink painted toes, she pressed her lips against his softly. "Pretty sure you'd be hard to forget, Dixon."

Notes

Ok, so here's the thing....I will be out of town next week on my usual posting days for Dragon Con. I am not going to risk taking my flash drive with me to update, because I am afraid I will leave it in Atlanta and be screwed. So, here's a little poll. Would you guys like for me to post 2 chapters today and 2 chapters tomorrow to make up for the lack of posting next week, or just resume normal posting when I get back to internet land in like 11 days?

Comments

@aphishinthec


Wow! Thank you so much. Glad you enjoyed it again. :)

Serenity Serenity
12/1/16

I binge read this too over thanksgiving weekend and literally could not put it down. I was a constant reader when the updates were regular, but sadly am the worst at remembering to review. Excellent story to binge read!!

aphishinthec aphishinthec
12/1/16

@Tripper


Squee! Glad you liked it just as much the second time around. :)

Serenity Serenity
11/28/16

So, I may have just gorged myself on this story and read it all over again in a few days. This is one of my very favourite stories of all time. So freakin' good. Thanks again for this wicked story!

Tripper Tripper
11/25/16

@Lunabelle4


Thank you so much!

Serenity Serenity
11/14/16