Hi there.

Just a short thing about Walking Dead. After season 3, before season 4. No yaoi.

Read & Review, and mostly, ENJOY!

Gamesplayers

Brothers

Rick rested his weight against the doorframe of the generator room, in the prison. He knew Daryl had heard him, but the Redneck acted as if he wasn't there. "You wanna' talk about it?" Asked the ex-sheriff.

Daryl was sitting on the floor, on the exact same spot where he had last seen Merle, as his brother had been scavenging the prison for drugs. Apparently. He was preparing arrows for his crossbow. "Talk 'bout what?"

Rick took a step inside the room. "Merle."

The hunted shrugged softly. "Nothin' to talk 'bout."

"You know," Started Rick as he came to stand beside Daryl, so he could see his profile, "when Lori died, I wanted nothing but to hide from everyone and everythin', and most important, I didn't wanted to talk about it."

Daryl slowed down on his arrows, yet he didn't look up at Rick.

"But it was a mistake. A big one. I got mad, Daryl. I was seein' her ghost, chasin' her. As if she wanted to tell me somethin' that I couldn't figure."

"So what?" Asked the hunter, voice hoarse, acting as if he didn't care.

Rick looked down at him. "Nothin'." He shook his head. "I just wanted to let you know that you can talk to me. You need to."

"I ain't needin' any sissy talk." Daryl looked up at Rick. "Merle was my brother. He dead, now. That's all." He returned to his arrows, working even harder than before on sharpening them.

Rick nodded and sighed. "Fine. Just know that if anything… we're here for you." He stepped forward to see the Redneck's face. "I'm here for you."

Daryl was quiet for a while, never looking at Rick. Then, he nodded. "Yeah..." He whispered lowly.

The ex-sheriff stood there for a while before he came to the conclusion that the Redneck wouldn't be talking to him. Not right now, at least. Without saying more, he exited the generator room.

Daryl waited until Rick was gone before continuing to work on his arrows.

Rick had taken an extra guard tour outside, by the fences. He walked close enough to see the faces of the walkers as they tried to bite him, something they wouldn't be able to do, thanks to the fences. He was in no-mood to kill any geeks tonight, and they weren't a danger. So he walked around, back and forth, looking for Lori's ghost and not finding it.

She had disappeared when he had brought the bus of survivors from Woodbury to the prison, as if she had leaded him to do this all along. Rick didn't know why she would have done something like that. Maybe it was to remind her husband of the man he was before? Someone who helped the victims and punished the perpetuators, instead of slaughtering people, innocent or not, to "protect what was his".

Rick thought of Shane, Lori, Dale, T-Dog, Merle, Andrea… Would it had been different if he had taken other decisions? Could he have saved them? If he had agreed to that deal with the Governor, could he had saved, at least, the oldest Dixon and the blonde? If he had been bolder in the beginning, could he had kept Shane from going nuts? And if he hadn't decided to kill an innocent kid, maybe Dale would still be here, making these Dale faces everyone grew found of. And Lori… If he hadn't killed Shane… Would she still be here?

His relationship with his wife had died, after all, when Rick had told her he had killed his former partner and best friend, making Lori's affection for Shane clear. After that, she had acted with her husband as if he was a monster for a while, and on his side, he couldn't bring himself to forget the way she had pushed him away. The way she had reacted. That she preferred, in the end, another man.

Sure, he was upset with her and Shane for their affair, but he had gotten over it. Lori thought he was dead. So did Shane. And Rick was –bitterly- happy to have seen the woman he loved with the man he had loved as his own brother, instead of some random asshole. Lori was safe with Shane, Carl too, and they still would have been if Rick wouldn't have shown up one warm afternoon.

Maybe he was the one who had fucked everything up.

He laughed softly. Bitterly.

He shrugged his thoughts away as a walker moaned nearby. Rick turned to look at it. Such an ugly bastard, it was.

He stopped walking and looked up at the sky, wondering how it could still be so perfect, exactly the same as it was before the world when to shit and the dead started to kill the living.

"You out stargazin'?" Asked a hoarse voice Rick recognized.

The ex-sheriff turned to face the man walking to him. "I take it you are as well." He stated, resting both hands on his hips.

Daryl came to stand beside him. "Jus' can't sleep. Thought I'd be better out here with ya' than turnin' around 'til ma' head spin." He said, looking up at the sky like Rick had done a few minutes before.

"Yeah. I guess I could use some company." He patted Daryl on the back. "I've been walkin' around these fences over and over again. Don't think we'll find any hole in it, though."

"Pity." Replied Daryl. "I hoped to put down some ugly-ass geek."

They walked together, not talking for a while. Rick was well-aware Daryl wouldn't be out there if his mind wasn't clouded with something, but he wasn't about to ask the hunter. He knew him well, by now. Knew the hunter would talk if he wanted to.

It was funny that people would say nowadays that Daryl Dixon was a stoic man, Rick thought. Daryl was nowhere close to stoic: he didn't talk much, that was true, but when he had somethin' to say, it came out bluntly and straight to the point, and usually aggressively. Though the youngest Dixon had calmed down considerable since the first time Rick had met him, Daryl remained Daryl: he had a temper, and you were better off not messing with the man if you wanted your sorry ass to remain intact.

"Y'know." Started Daryl, after a while. "He was a loud-mouthed asshole, ugly as a walker's ass, but he was my brother. He was blood."

"I know." Whispered Rick, not surprised at all Daryl had come out to talk about Merle with him. "What he did, in the end, it was courageous, though. And it was to make sure you'd be safe."

Daryl stopped walking. He looked up at Rick, a fire in his eyes. "What he done, courageous?" He snorted. "He got himself killed. I was doin' fine without him goin' all kamikaze, didn't need that to make me feel any better fo' sure!" He hissed. "What Merle did, was prove he was a stupid, reckless, selfish bastard. Tha's all."

Rick raised a hand between him and Daryl, trying to keep the other man calm, for the hunter's voice had risen and he could hear the anger in his words, he could feel the pain in what he said. "Merle killed half of the Governor's men to himself, Daryl. Maybe that's the reason we're still alive today. His sacrifice wasn't worthless."

"To Hell with it! He dead, now!" Screamed Daryl. "He ain't some Goddamn Hero, now! He dead!" The Redneck got closer to Rick, menacingly. "Know how I found him? Huh? You know?"

Rick shook his head slowly, jaws tight. "No. I don't. You didn't say anything 'bout it, yet."

"He was on his knees, over some dead prick, eatin' him! My brother! A damn walker!" Daryl yelled, then walked away slightly, visibly about to explode. Or make something explode. "You didn't get that, Rick." He continued, voice a little bit calmer. "Lori didn't turn. Carl's still alive. Lil' ass-kicker is doin' fine. You ain't seein' your own family turn."

Rick swallowed his saliva. Daryl was right. He had been spared this so far. "You're right. I've been lucky."

The hunter turned to look at him, looking insulted. "No you ain't. Never said you was lucky. Your life went to Hell like everyone else's. I'm jus' sayin' you didn't get to see that. It ain't luck."

Rick shook his head lightly. "Then what is it? I don't get what you're tryna' tell me."

Daryl stared at him for a while, not answering. "Not tryin' to say anythin'." He shrugged. "Jus' pointin' out the facts." His voice was calm. He had relaxed.

The ex-sheriff nodded before walking up to Daryl. Standing in front of him, he rested a hand on the other man's shoulder, and made eye contact with him. "I know you feel like you've lost everythin', Daryl, but it ain't like that. Merle was blood, true. But we're your family too."

Daryl stared back, not saying anything, his face a blank mask. After a while, he nodded.

Softly, he walked away from Rick, resuming their tour around the fences. The ex-sheriff followed close behind.

"You figured out?" Asked Daryl, after they had walking in silence for a while.

"What?"

"What you said 'bout Lori… Her ghost followin' you and appearin' and stuff… You said she was there to tell ya' somethin' you couldn't figure out. Was just wonderin' if you did, in the end." Daryl said softly.

Rick stared at him. He hadn't seen that coming. Not from his ill-tempered hunter. "I ain't sure. She stopped appearin' when I let the survivors from Woodbury come in here."

Daryl nodded. "Why?"

"I don't know. Maybe she guided me back on track, to be a good guy who takes care of people instead of slaughterin' everyone on his way. It's my best bet so far."

The Redneck nodded, smiling very lightly. "I think she was tryin' hard, in the end, to get you back. And she couldn't. So she continu'd even after… Until you was back to bein' you, 'cause it's all she could get now." He shrugged lightly. "My best bet, so far."

Rick stopped walking. Daryl pushed on. The ex-sheriff stared at the hunter's back as he walked away. It was true, Lori had tried to fix their marriage. And Rick had ignored her, thought he would have time later to take care of this, to work it out with her. And he was wrong. He thought, for a moment, that maybe he should have talked to Daryl about this sooner. Maybe the man would've opened his eyes on the matter.

Daryl stopped and turned to look at Rick. "What're you doin'? We got fences to check. Com'on."

Rick nodded and hurried to join him.

Daryl could count on Rick to be his family now, but it also went the other way around too.

Even through this Hell that the world had become, good things could happen. And that night, it was the understanding that Daryl Dixon and Rick Grimes were more than survivors who were holding on to each other.

They were brothers.

Hoped you liked it. :)

Gamesplayers.