This story started when I was rereading my other work. It contains some ideas from "Fare Thee Well" and "Only a Foolish Sheep Angers the Wolf" and "Them", which are all mine so I'm not stealing…. Other than the characters, situations, and locations which I'm borrowing from AMC, the writers, creators, and actors of The Walking Dead. The story image was found when I googled baby angel (along with a dozen Anne Geddes images and some adorable babies in costume). It's from a page of wallpaper images but doesn't list its origins. I had to use it though, it's too perfect.
PLEASE READ - WARNINGS – this story contains some concepts that people may not like or may find triggering; such as: Rape, Sexual Assault and Molestation. Pregnancy. The existence of Heaven, Angels, and Ghosts. Fate and Predestination. If these concepts are going to bother you too much, please don't read this story.
*x*x*x*x*x*x*x* X *x*x*x*x*x*x*x* X *x*x*x*x*x*x*x*
Angel Mine
Merle
"When they found me I was near bled out, starving, thinking to myself a bullet might make a good last meal. Take myself a nice long nap after, wait for Daryl on the other side." Merle "Walk With Me"
*x*x*x*x*x*x*x*
"You gotta be shittin' me." Merle had never been more shocked then he was in that moment. He looked around in wonder and amazement, then glared suspiciously at the man who greeted him. "You're shittin' me, right?"
"No."
"I'm really supposed to be here?"
"Yes."
"Holy fuck."
The man chuckled, "Would you like to come in?"
Merle actually took a step forward, of course he wanted to go in. Then he paused, "Can I go back?"
The man shook his head, "No. Once you're in, you're in. Why would you want to go back?"
"Keep an eye on my brother. Gotta make sure he's alright." Merle backed away from the entrance, "I'm'a wait for Daryl."
"Are you sure? If his fate doesn't change, it'll be a long wait."
"Good," Merle turned away completely. He walked away, disappearing from sight.
"Told you," a second man joined the first.
"Yeah, yeah, you are all knowing, all seeing. It's not fair. He's earned his place here."
"His place will be here, when he's ready for it." He paused, "You didn't tell him the rules for going back."
The one assigned to Merle snorted, "Why bother? It would just insure he would break every single one."
*x*x*x*x*x*x*x*
Merle stooped next to Daryl, "Come on brother, don't sit here and cry over me, I ain't worth it. Get on with yah. Get back to them." Daryl got up wiping his face, then went to Merle's body. "Oh what the hell? Where you takin' me? You can't haul my dead ass all the way back!" He sighed and shook his head, "Idiot. Oh hey take the car. This car, right here, brother, you know how to hotwire it." He grinned as Daryl popped the lock and opened the door and leaned down under the dash. After a second the engine roared to life. "You got it! Yeah. What? No, leave me! Damn it, you gotta get back." He groaned loudly as Daryl wrestled his body into the back seat of the sedan. "Damn fool."
*x*x*x*x*x*x*x*
It was strange to stand and watch his own funeral. It was even stranger to watch people who he thought would spit on his grave grieving alongside his brother. Maybe the tears in Carol's eyes were for Daryl and maybe the song sang by Beth was for the baby in her arms. They stood around for a long time before Daryl finally turned away from the grave. Merle followed as Rick and Carol walked on either side of Daryl up to the prison. He glanced to the side, the baby was propped up on the Songbird's shoulder staring straight at him. He wiggled his fingers at her and she blinked and hiccupped. He stuck his tongue out and she stuck hers out in response. "Well shit." The baby yawned and closed her eyes.
*x*x*x*x*x*x*x*
Merle stayed close to Daryl throughout the battle. He yelled warnings, praised him, did everything he could to keep him safe, even though he wasn't sure he was making any impact on him.
In the days afterward, he pulled back a bit and just watched his brother. Watched him talk to Rick, to Carol, to Hershel. Watched him work, reinforcing the fences, secure the interior, making their home safe. Watched him hold and feed the baby.
The baby was an interesting surprise as she seemed to be able to see him. She would track him as he approached her and would mimic his facial expressions sometimes.
Then Daryl got it into his head to hunt the Governor. Merle could only see that ending badly. He yelled, screamed in his brother's face, all to no avail. He yelled at Rick, "Don't you dare let him do this!" at Carol "Tell him to stay!" and as a last resort as Daryl was walking out, he startled the baby in Beth's arms, hoping her sudden screams would turn him around. But Daryl still left.
So Merle went to the Governor, now alone and wandering. He tried to lead him towards an old house that he knew would collapse as soon as the man entered. Got him to go as far as the porch before the creaking floor warned him away. He found that a sudden sharp noise, like a clap, would sometimes attract a walker's attention so he led as many as he could to the man. When all else failed, and Daryl was tracking the man, Merle pulled on all the energy he could sense and pulled in a fierce thunder storm. The wind and rain wiped away all trace of the man's path. He watched Daryl circle for days trying to regain the track, whispering in his ear all the while, "He's gone. It's done. Go back." Until finally Daryl did just that. Merle followed him all the way back to the prison, standing behind him as Daryl stood there, "Ain't givin' up, baby brother, it's movin' forward. You gotta live your life for you. Go inside." Someone inside caught sight of Daryl and Rick and Carol raced out to greet him and bring him back in. Merle made one final trip to the Governor and watched him wander almost blindly, still moving steadily away from the prison.
*x*x*x*x*x*x*x*
The months that followed were quiet. Merle followed Daryl anytime he left the prison walls, to hunt, or just to escape the confinement. Daryl wasn't good locked in. More shit from their shitty father, he believed. But he always came back.
Inside the prison, he was one of the ones in charge. His little brother, telling people what to do. At first he seemed to look to the others, Hershel, Carol, even Glenn, but he quickly found his feet and started making decisions himself. Merle watched him interact with the others, watched how they treated him. Respectful, sometimes with awed appreciation.
He watched Daryl spend a lot of time around the baby girl. Calling her Asskicker of all things. Crazy kid. If she was overly fretful, he would take her from Beth and pace, telling her stories about the world before until she calmed down. Merle hung around the baby too, amusing himself by making her look and laugh at him.
One night late when Asskicker wouldn't settle. Beth took her down the corridor to muffle the cries. Merle followed and after a few minutes so did Daryl.
"Don't be goin' down here alone, Beth," Daryl said.
"I'm not alone, I've got Judith," she smiled as she hummed and rocked.
"You know what I meant, girlie," Daryl growled.
Beth patted Judith's back firmly, bringing up a loud belch. Merle grinned, "Damn, lil' bit, that was a good one!" Judith met his gaze and smiled a wide, toothless grin. He made a face and she cooed at him.
"Talkin' to the ghosts again, Judy?" Beth smiled.
"what?" Daryl asked, overlapped by Merle's "WHAT?" that they didn't hear.
"She does it sometimes, seems to smile or talk to empty air. Figure with so many lost here we're bound to have a ghost or two. This one seems nice, least with her."
It bothered Merle, that someone might figure out he was there. Not sure if they would, but it worried him. So he pulled back, studied from afar. Judith didn't seem to like his distance, growing fussy and irritable. So he came back to contact her when she was alone in her crib, or while she was with Rick or Carl who didn't seem to notice when she 'talked' or smiled at him. That's when he noticed that though Daryl would interact with Judith whenever, he seemed to prefer when she was with Beth. It made him wonder if it was really the baby he wanted to spend time with… or her surrogate momma. Which led him to studying the little songbird. The beautiful, spirited (he remembered her firing that gun to stop the fight), nurturing young woman. His brother always was the sweet one, attracting all sorts of female attention. But the harder, brasher, louder women always scared him off. The sweeter, gentler, quieter ones, them he liked. And young was good. Young, innocent. Least likely to have some disease his brother could catch. He looked around the prison. There were other women, other options, but he kept coming back to the little mama. The songbird.
He went back. Stood outside until the man who greeted him the first time arrived. "Want my brother to get the girl. Bout' time for him to hitch up. She's the best one for him now. Make it happen."
The man sighed, "It doesn't work like that Mr. Dixon."
"The fuck it don't. He deserves somethin' good after you people put him through a lifetime of shit and violence. So you go do what you need to do, but you make it happen."
Instead they sent another. A boy.
"Arrogant little prick, kissin' her like that in fronna ever'body," Merle sneered. Daryl picked up on the irritation and made a snarky comment about romance novels. "Gotta stake your claim on her, brother."
Merle followed Daryl on the run. He stuck close to his brother, just like always, so he wasn't aware of the helicopter on the roof surrounded by walkers. He didn't see what brought the shelf down starting the series of events that brought the roof in. When Daryl started to go to the boy, Merle leapt in front of him, he could tell it was too late, he also knew his brother would risk his life to try. "It's too late. He's gone. You gotta go. Now." Daryl turned away.
Merle followed Daryl to Beth's cell, but stood back as he talked to her. He heard the grief and the self-disappointment in his brother's voice and drew closer, just in time to see her wrap him in her arms. Merle was stunned into silence as Daryl returned the embrace. Merle smiled as they comforted each other for a long while. Then the baby woke up. Merle went to her and tried to distract her but Beth was right behind him. Merle stepped back out as Beth changed the baby, watching Daryl as he drew close again, like a moth, drawn in by her light.
Then the sickness hit. Merle split his time between Daryl and Beth with the baby. Popping back and forth to keep an eye on both of them.
Things seemed to settle, until the Governor rolled up in a damn tank. Merle was with Daryl until he was sure he was OK, then went to check on Beth, only to find her running around the prison. "Damn it girl why ain't you on the damn bus?" Then a thought struck him, like a voice in his ear, "The bus ain't safe." He went to the baby and saw the big black guy scoop her up and run. So he did what he could to lead Beth and Daryl together. "Left, go left. That's it. Run. Go." Once they were together, he distracted what walkers he could.
He stayed close. He reminded him of the moonshine shack, "Can't let her first drink be that shit, brother." He knew drinking would turn his brother into an ass, but also knew it would let him open up to her. In the days that followed, he didn't have to do much, as his brother started to figure things out. He pulled back, giving them privacy, hoping his brother would find happiness.
He would curse himself when he wasn't there when his brother opened that damn door. When more evil came into their lives.
"What the fuck are you doin'?" he screamed at the ones in charge. "How could you do this?"
The man assigned to him sighed, "I didn't agree with the method, but the plans are in place. They may still change them, but for now… this is what's coming. They're strong enough to survive this. And they're strong enough to end the evil sent from below." He showed Merle the future plan. Watched him process it all. "I won't even ask if you're ready to come in now." Merle shook his head. The man cleared his throat, and whispered, "It's against the rules. But do you want to meet him?"
"Yeah."
*x*x*x*x*x*x*x* X *x*x*x*x*x*x*x*
There were many of them waiting. So few of them were chosen to go now. Times were dangerous and resources were few. They'd been promised that soon things would be better, and soon more of them would get to go.
He sat off to himself, watching below. He knew the perfect ones were there, he just had to find them. After a while, the others had stopped watching, instead occupying their time talking and playing with each other, but he kept watching. There were fewer to watch now, at least fewer living ones. The dead ones were everywhere and he watched them sometimes. Learning the way they moved, how they reacted. But the living were more important. His attention was drawn to one group. He watched them for a long time. One of them had already chosen to join them. A friend of his, who had been selected as strong enough to survive below and who had chosen them to go to. It didn't seem like there would be any way to go…then he saw the way their fate was changing, saw the opportunity. He went to the lists and found their names.
"I want to go. I want them."
The ones in charge exchanged worried glances. "Perhaps you should wait, little one. Their place on the list is not definite. You see what will happen, how it will come to be. Odds are good that the decision will come down to end it."
"Why? They're strong, they're good," he protested.
They sent him out of the room to discuss it. When the door opened, he was shocked to see the one in charge there. He leapt to his feet and stood in awed silence.
"Are you sure little one?" He asked. "It will be a difficult journey. There will be some who say it should not be, even some who should support this no matter what."
The little one sighed, "But they'll love me."
He smiled, "More than anything in the world. As soon as they know you exist."
The little one smiled back and nodded, "Then I'm sure. He's strong and brave and smart and he'll teach me to hunt with the crossbow. She's strong and brave and beautiful and smart and she'll teach me to sing. I want them."
"Well then you shall have them. But you must be strong, stronger than you can imagine. When you get there, you'll have to hang on tight."
"I will. Will they know me?"
He smiled again, "As soon as they see you."
*x*x*x*x*x*x*x* X *x*x*x*x*x*x*x*
Merle stooped down as the small figure walked out to him, "Hey."
"Hello. They said you wanted to meet me." He was small and slender, with massive pure white wings. Light blonde hair and big blue eyes. Already thinking of the life ahead, he was dressed in denim and leather. Jeans, t-shirt, leather vest with those magnificent wings spread out the back.
"Yep," Merle nodded. "So you're the one going."
"I'm gonna try," the little one replied. "They said it might change. Might not be."
"It's gonna," Merle said. "I don't like what's happenin' but I can see how it'll work out." He studied the little one. "So you think you're strong enough?" The boy nodded. "I dunno. Show me your muscles." Merle showed him how to flex his arm. "OK. I guess so. Let's go." He stood up and scooped the little one up.
The one assigned to him was startled, "Wait. You can't. That's against the rules."
Merle shrugged, "Tell the nice man bye, kid, we got places to be."
The boy turned and waved over Merle's shoulder, "Bye!" After a moment, he turned back to look forward. "Where are we goin'?"
"T'meet someone."
*x*x*x*x*x*x*x*
Now, when she's talking to you So, hush now little baby don't you cry
Make sure you listen close
'Cause she's gonna teach you everything
You'll ever need to know
Like how to mind your manners
To love and laugh and dream
And she'll put you on the path
That'll bring you back to Me
'Cause there's someone down there waiting
Whose only goal in life
Is making sure you're always gonna be alright
A loving angel, tender, tough and strong
Come on child
It's time to meet your mom
"Mom" Garth Brooks. Lyrics by: Don Sampson, Wynn Varble
Copyright: Emi April Music Inc. O.B.O. Emma And Maddie Music, Warner-tamerlane Pub Corp., Warner-tamerlane Pub Co. O.B.O. Precious Flour Music