Alright, so. I decided I wanted to write a drabble series of Carol and Merle raising a child (in their teenage years, I don't know why I have a thing with them as teenagers together or them raising a child together, I just do and therefore it had to come out). I'm going to try to keep these in chronological order, but I can't guarantee that they will be.

Happy reading!

Carol sat on the edge of the tub in her boyfriends bathroom, holding the pregnancy test in her hand. She kept glancing at it, though she knew it wouldn't give her an answer for at least three more minutes. One line for negative, two lines for positive. She'd read over the instructions what must have been ten times before taking the test. Carol glanced up at the door like she expected her boyfriend, his brother, or one of his parents to come into the bathroom any minute and find her with the test in her hand, though she had locked the door. She bounced her leg while staring at the test, panicking with each moment.

When she'd missed her first period, she hadn't been too worried. She was a junior in high school, it was a stressful time. Wasn't the first time she had missed her period. When she missed her second one, panic had started to set in. After her third missed period, Carol drove to the next town over and bought a pregnancy test then returned to her boyfriends house and locked herself in his bathroom. She didn't want to take the test at her parents house, if they found out she even thought she was pregnant, they would flip. They never liked Merle anyway. Merle was a high school dropout who was in trouble with the cops more often than not. Merle was, in her fathers words, a "delinquent on a fast track to a life sentence". Her father hated that Carol refused to break up with him, hated that his daughter loved Merle Dixon. They'd done everything they could to keep the two of them apart but nothing ever worked.

Carol looked back down at the test in her hands and her mouth fell open as she saw the two lines form on the pregnancy test. She checked the box again, confirming that it was two lines for positive. She was pregnant. She was a sixteen year old junior in high school and she was pregnant. Oh God, her parents were going to kill her. And Merle, oh God how was Merle going to react? Even if they had been together for a year and a half, nothing between them was really serious. Serious enough to have enough sex for her to get pregnant, but it wasn't serious enough for her to even think about what was going to happen past high school.

"Carol?" Merle knocked on the door. Carol jumped and dropped the test, looking at the door as though she expected Merle to come barreling in the bathroom. She picked up the test, the box and the bag and shoved it in her purse. "You okay in there?" She turned the water on, splashed her face with cold water, drying her face off with her sleeve before she unlocked the door and opened it, flashing Merle a smile she hoped didn't scream 'I'M UPSET'.

"Yeah, long day." She said, shutting the light off behind her. "Ready to go to the movies?" She asked. Every two weeks, Merle and Carol went to this old one dollar movie theater that only played old movies from the eighties. It wasn't the most romantic date, but it was cheap and it was what Merle could do. Carol loved it anyway.

Merle looked down at Carol and nodded as she walked passed him and towards the kitchen, letting out the breath she was holding. She didn't want tell Merle now, she could do it later. After confirming that she was pregnant with a doctor, she knew that these tests weren't always accurate and she didn't want to tell him she was pregnant if she wasn't actually pregnant. "Feeling okay?" Merle asked as he followed her into the kitchen, speaking low enough so that his father who was passed out on the couch wouldn't wake up.

Carol looked up at him and gripped the straps of her bag as she zipped it up, nodding. "Just been a long day. I'm really looking forward to date night."

Merle snorted. "Ya gotta keep calling it that, don't you? Makes me sound like some fuckin' pussy." Carol rolled her eyes and she leaned up on her toes to press her lips into her boyfriends. As she pulled away, there was a hint of a smile on his face.

"Do you want to see if Daryl wants to come with us?" She asked. Daryl Dixon was seventeen years old, just one year older than Carol and two years younger than Merle. Carol and Daryl had several classes together, they were in the same grade despite Daryl being a year older. They'd been paired together for a project in biology, which led to Carol and Merle meeting.

"Every time we ask Daryl to come with us, he says no. That ain't gonna change, sugar." Merle said. Merle didn't even know where his little brother, he hadn't seen him that day other than in the morning.

Carol nodded, every time she asked if Daryl wanted to join them for their 'date night', he said no. She always offered anyway, figuring he'd want a chance to get away from his father too. "Come on, lets just go before your father wakes up then." Will Dixon was an asshole and a complete creep, even being in his presence caused Carol to have goosebumps.

With a glance back at his father, Merle picked up the keys to his truck off the table and walked his girlfriend back out to the truck. Merle unlocked the drivers side of the truck and climbed in, leaning over to push open the passengers side for Carol. She pulled the door open and shoved her bag onto the floor and grasped the top of the truck, pulling herself up into the truck. "You really need to look into fixing the door handle so you don't have to open up the door for me every time." She said as she pulled the door shut and pulled her seat belt on.

"Thought ya liked it when I open the door for ya? Some shit about chivalry or whatever." Merle said as he started up the truck. He rolled his eyes as Carol reminded him out his seat belt, but he pulled it on and buckled into the truck.

Carol smiled softly, the only reason Merle opened the door for her was because the handle passengers side door had broken off sometime before they'd met. He didn't open any other door for her, just the one to his truck. "Well I do, but say we rob a bank and we get caught because you have to open the door for me." She said as Merle pulled out of the small driveway and drove down the road. He glanced at her for a moment, raising an eyebrow.

"We're gonna rob a bank?" Hell, he probably would rob a bank. He always needed money, especially if he wanted to get the hell out of his parents house and get his own place. He had a job and he did some odd jobs around town, but getting his own place was expensive as hell. But Carol robbing a bank? Not only did she not need to rob a bank, but she was too good of a person to actually break a law like that. "You're gonna rob a bank?"

Offended by his amused tone of voice, Carol frowned and looked at her boyfriend. "I could totally plan a bank robbery." Carol said, crossing her legs and resting her hands on her lap.

"Plan one yeah, yer the smartest person I know. Ain't askin' if ya gonna plan a bank robbery." Merle said, driving towards town. The drive to the nearest theater was a decent drive from Merle's house out in the mountains of North Georgia, it was at least a half hour drive into town. Carol lived clear across town in a more upscale part of the town. It was a cheesy 'girl from the good side of the town, boy from the bad side of town' relationship, Carol and Merle both knew that. They got odd looks wherever they went because of it. Everyone knew who the Dixons were and everyone knew who the Wilsons were. The two families were as different as they could be. Carol and Merle were an unlikely pair, but somehow it worked between them. "Askin' if ya gonna go out and actually rob a bank."

"Pfft. I could rob a bank and get away with it."

Merle laughed at Carol as he drove. "Is that so?" He asked.

"Why are you laughing at me? I'd share the money with you." Carol said, crossing her arms over her chest as Merle continued to laugh at the idea of Carol robbing a bank.

"Like you need any more money."

"Daddy says there's no such thing as too much money." She quoted her father.

Merle snorted. "Yer Daddy also says I'm a bad, bad man and you should stay far, far away from me." Carol smiled to herself and chuckled, her father had said those exact things. And he had probably had been right, she was now pregnant. When they stopped at a red light, Carol leaned over and pressed her lips against his cheek.

"My Daddy was right about you." She teased, grasping his chin and turning his head towards hers so she could crash her lips into his. Merle smirked against her lips and returned her kiss, looking at her as she pulled away. "Why do you think I like you so much?"

"So that's why ya keep me around? Cause yer Daddy said ya can't have me?" Carol winked at Merle and sat back in her seat as the red light turned green and traffic started again.

When they got to the movie theater, Merle pulled up into the parking lot and turned his engine off. He turned to look at her and smirked. "By the way, if we rob a bank and you get caught because I can't open the door fast enough, well, I'm leaving your ass there." Carol gasped and huffed as Merle climbed out of his truck, grabbing her purse and holding it against her as she climbed out of the truck and shut the door behind her.

"I will turn on you for a deal quicker than you can drive that shitty ass truck out of town." Carol wrapped her arms around Merle's waist as his arms slipped around her shoulder, squeezing her shoulder.

"What do you want to see, sugar?" Merle asked as they stood in line. He looked up at the board with all the movie titles listed, scanning the list for a movie he wanted to see.

Carol looked up at the board and looked over the titles, glancing at Merle. "We could see Key Exchange." It was some romantic comedy and if Carol thought he was going to see a romantic comedy for her, she greatly over estimated how much he loved her.

"I will leave your ass here." Merle threatened. Carol giggled softly and looked back at the board.

"What about Return of the Living Dead?" Carol suggested. She never cared for zombie movies, they terrified her and left her with nightmares of being in the zombie apocalypse. "You can cop a feel when I get scared..." She teased as it was their turn to the ticket counter.

Merle looked up at the man behind the counter and pulled out his wallet. "Two tickets for Return of the Living Dead." He said, slapping a twenty on the counter. Carol let out a soft giggle as the man handed them their tickets and gave Merle his money back, giving Merle a nod. Merle and Carol got their drinks, popcorn and snacks before heading into the theater and find their seats.

Carol sat down on Merle's uncomfortable bed, rolling her shoulders as she leaned back on the bed, resting her head on the pillow. "God this bed is uncomfortable." Carol said, adjusting on the bed. Merle came into the bedroom, earning Carol's attention when he shut the door. She looked up at him and noticed the grumbled up paper in his hand. "What's wrong?"

Merle looked at Carol and looked down at the receipt in his hand, smoothing it out. It was a receipt for a pregnancy test, which he knew wasn't from his mother. After Daryl, she'd gotten her tubes tied at the order of his father. Daryl didn't have a girlfriend, so there was only one person whose test it could be. Merle looked back up at her and held the receipt up. "Are you pregnant?"

She looked up at him and licked her lips, sitting up and looking up at him. Carol probably looked like a child being scolded by their father instead of a teenage girl about to tell her boyfriend she's pregnant. "According to the home pregnancy test, yeah." She confirmed.

"Fuck." Merle said and grumbled up the receipt and tossed it onto the floor, sitting down on the bed next to his girlfriend. "Are you sure?" He asked in disbelief. They never used condoms and her father had refused to buy her birth control, so Merle really shouldn't be surprised that he ended up getting her pregnant. Suppose he just thought he'd get lucky and it just wouldn't happen.

"Yeah... The home pregnancy tests are typically... inaccurate but..." Carol's voice broke and she looked away from him, staring at a spot on his floor. "I'm pregnant."

Merle cursed again. "Fucking hell, how did this happen?"

"We've been having unprotected sex, Merle, did we really think this wasn't a risk?" Carol asked. Merle glared at her for a second then glanced down at her stomach. Christ, he'd gotten her pregnant. Fuck, what were they going to do?

"So what's the plan? What are we going to do?" Merle asked. There was no way that Carol would want to raise a baby with him, he could barely take care of himself. She was only sixteen, he was barely nineteen.

"Merle, it.. Doesn't have to be 'we'..." Carol's stomach clenched at the idea of Merle leaving her alone with a baby to raise, but she also didn't want him to have to stay around if he didn't want to. That wouldn't be any life for a child.

Merle scoffed at her response and he looked at her. "I ain't leaving you when I got ya fuckin' pregnant. Ain't gonna leave ya ta do this by yerself." He rest his hand over her knee and squeezed her knee in his hand. Carol rolled over and pressed her lips into his softly, wrapping her hand around the back of his neck. She rest her forehead on his and sighed.

"I'm scared." Carol said softly, biting down on her bottom lip. "My parents are going to kill me." Merle leaned forward and pressed his lips into hers softly.

"Ya got me, alright? I ain't goin' anywhere." He promised. Carol wrapped her arms around his shoulders and let out a heavy sigh, burying her head into his neck.

As Carol buried herself into his neck, Merle looking up at the wall and cursed under his breath. What the fuck were they going to do?