Whatever Happened To Normal?

Chapter 27:

"Wyatt's in blue- Jaxon's in red." Daryl glances between the babies and still, he is overwhelmed by them. They had to go back twice to have them identified and re-identified because they had forgotten the second they walked out the door. "Daryl, write it on your hand or something. If we take these babies back in there for a fourth time, they're going to call OCY on us."

"Okay, okay. Wyatt is blue. Wyatt is blue. Wyatt is blue. Jaxon is red. Jaxon is red. Jaxon is red."

"Ya good?"

"Yeah." Still looking unsure, Daryl frantically looks between babies and then at Glenn. Sighing, Glenn grabs a red and blue sharpie marker and grabs Daryl's arm. Taking the red Marker, he writes Jaxon on his left arm. Then grabbing the blue one, he writes Wyatt on his right. "Okay. I think I'll be good now."

"Finally. What's with you man? Sleep deprived or just stupid?"

"Both..." Going to the fridge, Daryl grabs two beers and hands one to Glenn. "How do you know about all this kinda stuff?"

"Well, Maggie and I have been trying to adopt a kid- so we have had a few trial runs. Let me tell you, it's just as nerve wracking- if not more. Having yer own kids- you kinda know what to expect, but adopting someone else's is ten times harder. You don't know anything about them and if you don't connect with them, then you'll never get through." Just what he needed to hear- that he has to connect with these kids to make them like him. It's bad enough he didn't want them, but now it's once more another ball game. "But you shouldn't worry. Yer here, taking care of them, being a dad. Beth's not even here. She's off her rocker, so..."

"Stop." Daryl growls and Glenn knows he's stepping in thorns.

"Oh...no, I didn't mean it like that. It's just, in sorry she's missing out on this. I want her to be here- it's all she talked about for the last two years and now, huh, it's just sad. I feel for her. You- not so much." Crossing his arms and scowling, Glenn throws daggers his way and Daryl comes to realize that this is a whole new conversation of blaming him. "You left her high and dry.

"Literally."

"It isn't funny asshole. You have no idea how hurt she was. No wonder she is the way she is right now. She wasted all her love and care on a man who abandoned her twice! And now yer playing the "I'm a good guy" role. Bullshit. I know guys like you."

"What the hell do you think you know about me? Huh?" Getting in Glenn's face, Daryl growls and Glenn has no where to go, thanks to the wall behind him.

"This is exactly what I know. You aggress because inside you feel small and unloved and were hurt too many times in yer life. So now, you act all tough and brutish because it's the only way you'll ever feel good about yourself and other people. Yer a loner, a loser, scum at the bottom of society and picking on the weak like Beth and I is the only way you'll ever feel full in yer sad pathetic little life."

"Beth isn't weak..." He lowly growls in Glenn's face as he slowly releases his grips on Glenn's shirt collar. Surprised, slightly frightened, and curious- Glenn cocks his head side ways and tries to find the angle at which Daryl is playing him. "She's just hurt. Too kind and accepting for her own good. I didn't ask for this- kids, this life- I know I'm a nobody. I don't live on butterfly wings and rainbow farts, thinking I'm the best guy who does no wrong. I know I'm an asshole and I've told her that MANY times before now. It's her who pulls me and tries to make me out to be something I'm not. She doesn't get that I'm not this guy. I'm just...I'm just trying to make her happy. Because at the end of the day, those big blue eyes captivate me and I love her."

"Shit man...rainbow farts?" They start laughing and Daryl shoves him slightly. "Haha, well- you love her- so man up and learn baby things. It's the only way you get to keep her."

"I just don't think I'm good at this."

"If you were Asian, yer family would scold you and shame you until you became better at what you were failing at. Since yer American, I could just pat you on the shoulder and tell you that you did a great job at failing and give you a puppy, but that won't help you either. So...we'll try something else."

"I don't think I like the sound of this."

"Haha. You shouldn't."

***

Sitting in a lounger, staring at the pool, Beth seems immobilized and mentally drained. She's been staring at this pool for the last two hours. Her mind literally blank and emotionless. The only thing she is even remotely thinking about is how many germs are in this spa resort. She's not normally the germaphobe, but being in a place like this is nerve wracking. All she can see is germs crawling all over everything- herself included.

"Beth?"

"What?" She says staring at the pool still.

"Can you look away from the pool for a few minutes. You are scaring a few older women who are trying to relax in there."

"There are germs Maggie. Everywhere. I can feel them crawling on my skin."

"What's up with you lately? Yer just...odd." Maggie leans over and feels her sister's forehead.

"I'm not sick. I just...don't like the germs here. The heat from the sauna an shot tub heat them up and they grow and spread. Crawling all over us. We could all be dead by morning."

"Beth...stop. What's going on in that head of yers?"

"I...I don't know. I don't know, Mags." Tormented. Her mind is tormented.