Sweet Angel of Mine.

I OWN NOTHING. Cue tears. This this dedicated to Athlete Girl! One of my favourite walking dead fanfiction Authors. This is my second meth fanfic soo hope you all like it.

Summary: Merle Dixon's found near the Greene farm by a little girl , who is she and will she lead him back to his brother. How will he protect her and himself near death while going through withdrawl.

Dedicated to Athlete Girl.

Chapter one: Sophia

Sophia Peletier ran away from the highway, she ran untill she had to stop and catch her breath. The little girl stopped next to a tree sighing she looked around, she lost the walkers. Running again, sophia ran into a little hunters cabin. Slowly walking in , making no noise. She snuck in quietly and sighed. Walking over to the closet, sophia found a blanket and pillow. Setting them down to make a makeshift bed, the little girl curled up and cried herself to sleep.

Waking up alittle later, sophia looked around to find anything to keep the walkers out. Not finding anything, she found some food and ate. After she was done, she went back to the closet. Getting into the small space, sophia closed the door to stay hidden. Sophia then laid down to sleep. Hoping someone was still looking for her. She sighed, hugging herself to keep warm. The night air had a cool breeze that night. Sophia shivered as she tried to sleep. Tossing and turning through out the night. Wondering if anyone was looking for her at all.

Almost near dawn, sophia finely fell asleep. Her breath even and slow. She woke awhile later, cold and shivering . Getting up, sophia slowly walked toward the window. Gasping when she saw walkers surrounding the area. Sophia quietly moved toward the closet once more. Hearing the groans made sophia cry. The little girl, moved quickly grabbing the blanket and pillow. Then she slowly returned to the window, making sure to stay out of sight. Looking at all the walkers , sophia gulped. Wondering how she would get away.

Stepping away from the window so not to be seen, sophia moved toward to the back of the cabin, where the back door was. Peeking in that window , she saw two walkers just roaming around. Damn she was stuck.

~walkingDead~

Merle Dixon staggered through the woods , he had escaped the roof in Atlanta. Luckily he was able to pick the cuffs lock. Staggering through the bushes, the ex Marine tried to find shelter. Shaking his head, merle ran through the trees. He'd only seen a couple walkers and killed them easily. He was feeling withdrawl coming on and near ready to pass out but he needed to find shelter fast. Before night fall.

Cursing as he tripped over a fallen tree, merle stood back up and continued through the woods. Coming to a set of bushes, merle knelt down slowly. Trying to clear his head. Merle looked out at the clearing. There was a cabin and walkers everywhere. Cursing under his breath, merle looked down at his gun. He looked back up , toward the cabin.

He saw a little girl inside, She looked alive and scared. Merle swore, loading his gun. Daryl would want to save her. Daryl would want to protect her, laughing merle stood up fast. Running out of the bushes gaining the walkers attention. Shooting the the first ones that came to close, merle knifed the others as he ran into the cabin.

Kicking in the front door open as he was shooting , he didn't go in untill all the walkers were dead. Once they were, merle shut the door and moved toward the bed the shotgun from the bedroom closet , merle loaded it and tossed it gently on the bed. Reloading his hand gun, he handed it to the little girl. He'd best show her how to shoot.

Sophia watched as the man went from room to room. She was trying to remember where she's seem him he handed her the gun , she gulped looking up at him.k kneeling down to her level, merle gently took the gun and told her where to put her hands and how to put the safety on and off. She listened to him , nodding when he asked her to repeat what he said. When she would he would smile and continue telling her how to use the weapon. Sophia smiled right back at him, maybe now she could find the group herself.

~walkingDead~

Rick Grimes was mad, mad at himself and mad at Shane. Shane thought sophia was dead, he didn't even want to try and look for the girl. Rick sighed, walking toward Hershel Greene. After he saved Carl, Rick owed the man. But now with Lori pregnant, they needed a place to stay. Rick talked to daryl but the Archer was still sore about merle. Rick looked over at said redneck and saw him talking with carol.

Heading to the house, Rick moved away from group and knocked on the greene front door. Waiting for them to answer it, Rick looked out at the land. They could stay here, but they needed to find sophia. Hearing the door open, Rick turned to see Hershel's youngest daughter. He smiled at her and asked to see her father. When she stepped aside, Rick walked in an moved toward the living room.

Waiting for Hershel , ricks thoughts strayed to merle. Maybe they could find him. Daryl did say merle was a tough SOB, maybe they could find him too after they found phia. With that in mind , Rick greeted Hershel with a offer he hoped the farmer wouldn't refuse. They sat down and Hershel looked at Rick in question

"I wanted to talk to you...about us staying here." Rick started, looking at Hershel closely.

Hershel thought for a couple minutes before speaking. "Are you sure you need to stay." He asked.

Rick sighed, he knew this would be hard. Getting Hershel to agree to the group staying was needed. They were still missing members. Sitting up more Rick went to speak.

"Sophia is still missing , Daryl's older brother is also missing but he can track us if we stay in one area." Rick commented.

Nodding, Hershel looked at beth and sat back thinking. If they left, he'd have his farm back. After what Rick told him about the walkers , he himself now understood. But after what Shane did with the barn , Hershel was still iffy on trusting them. But on the other hand, they did have a missing child. Looking at Beth smiling at him made up his mind. He'd let them stay. Knowing his girls would be safe once he passed away though he hoped that would be while yet. Looking at Rick , he nodded.

"Okay, I agree. Find your people and then we'll talk again." Hershel said standing up.

Rick stood, thanking him over and over as he headed out the door. Smiling at beth once , who smiked back. Rick than heard to find Shane or darylFinding Shane, Rick moved toward him and asked if they could talk away from the others. Shane nodded and the two left to talk privately.

.~walkingDead~

Days went by since sophia and merle left the cabin. After Merle showed her how to use his gun , sophia asked him his name. Which when he gave it to her she launched herself at him bannering about daryl and how happy he would be to see merle again. Merle just laughed patting her head lightly. Sophia stayed close to him as they walked, merle kept kneeling and looking for tracks. The groups tracks. He had them back tracking toward the highway. But then back to the cabin area. Sophia guessed daryl was long gone from here.

Three hours later and merle was once again kneeling close to the ground. There were foot prints on in the dirt. Merle gently grabbed sophia , getting her to kneel down next to him. Kneeling down, sophia watched and listened as he pointed out each print. The first print looked as if the person was dragging their feet.

"That's a walker." Sophia commented.

"Haha! Good girl phia." Merle spoke and turned to the other print that was going in the other direction. Sophia looked at it and thought for a minute and then smiled.

"Human?" She asked. Looking at the elder dixon.

Merle smiled as she answered all his questions, she had a rare gift. The gift of a hunter. After showing her the walkers prints , he then showed her the other. Sophia was silent for a minute before he saw her smile an answering. Once he got her answer, they followed the prints and merle started to lean on the trees for support.

Sophia would glance at him with worry. But he'd just tell her, he was fine. They followed the tracks until near sunset. That's when merle saw an arrow sticking out of a walkers skull.

"That's Daryl's!" Sophia cried out, running toward the cliffs edge. Merle ran after her skidding on the dirt, looking down , merle curse under his breath. His head was spinning and he was once again ready to just pass out. But not yet. Sophia screamed Daryl's name once she saw the younger dixon was out cold. She grabbed her gun and aimed at the walker that was staggering to him. She aimed and fired. The walker went down and daryl seemed to jolt awake.

Merle told sophia to stay near the tree as he slid down the cliff and met daryl half way. The elder dixon reached for his brothers hand an grabbed it in a sold grip. Merle heaved daryl onto the top of the cliff. Once he was laying down was when merle noticed the arrow sticking out of his side. Laughing to himself, merle gripped the bolts end and yanked it out.

Daryl yelled out in pain causing phia to hug him. After that merle ribbed his shirt off and tied it around his brothers wound with a worried sophia looking on and watching their backs,Merle slapped Daryl's cheek lightly to wake him enough to walk and stay alert.

It was about another two hours as they were less by a staggering daryl toward a farm the group had found. Daryl was in front while Merle was holding sophia by the hand wanting g to keep the little girl close. They walked through the woods for about a half hour until they came upon a clearing , merle was impressed. It was a nice little farm . Tugging phia closer to him , he questioned her on what she learned so far with hunting. The girl repeated everything he taught her. Smiling at her merle didn't see the three people running at them. What he did best was the gun shot. Turning toward where the shot came from , he saw daryl go down and yelled his name. Sophia was right behind him.

Merle made it to daryl just as Rick and Tdog did. They ignored him as they all helped daryl up. Merle was livid , wanting to know who shot Daryl. Rick was screaming for some guy named Hershel as they all ran. Merle picked up sophia and ran with them. Seeing carols worried face, he moved toward her and set sophia down in front of the crying mother. Sophia beamed at him as he caught his breath. Smiling back at her, merle nodded, she was safe and daryl was most like with the doc. With those thoughts , Merle dixon finely let himself pass out. The last thing he heard was sophia screaming his name and Tdog running toward him at full speed.

~WalkingDead~

Rick was pacing in the living room while Hershel worked on daryl. After he and Tdog ran in with daryl , Shane had come in dragging a unconscious merle with a crying sophia who was clinging to her mother. Rick had gawked at them but Maggie, Hershel's eldest had rushed Shane upstairs quickly. While her and patricia worked on merle. And this lead to rick paceing the living room rug into the ground , the whole group was now in the house.

Andrea and Dale were sitting by the window watching Rick pace the floor. Andrea knew Rick was worried about daryl , well she hoped it was only daryl. Merle was a loose canon. She didnt care for merle dixon. Sighing, she looked out the window. Dale was trying to get Rick to calm down but nothing was working. Hershel's youngest sat next to ricks wife, Lori.

Rick was looking up at the stairs , wondering when someone was gonna come down with good news or at any news. Rick sighed, sitting on the stairs and waited granted he wasnt a patient man.

~UpStairs~

Hershel Greene was now wrapping Daryl's head, the bullet had only grazed him and knocked him back from the impact of the bullet. So he wrapped him up then he headed to see his new patient , walking into the room. He saw the missing little girl clinging to the Man's body. He had Maggie pull her over to sit on Merle's other side so she could stay close but out of his way. Sophia told him everything she remembered

Sophia said, he felt dizzy and was sweating alot. They had taken breaks every half hour cause merle was tired alot. Hershel nodded to her, smiling that her answers. Carol smiled as well , looking at her daughter. While Hershel worked on merle. He set up an IV. Merle would need fluids and alot of them. Hershel asked Carol questions on merle and she answered the best she could.

Is he a drug addict?" Hershel asked. Carol nodded. Looking at merle with sad eyes.

"Yes, I just don't know what." She commented.

Hershel nodded. " Hell need fluids and food. He's going through withdrawl, the drugs have been out of his system to long. Detoxing him is gonna be a bitch" hershel said as Rick walked in holding up a tired daryl.

"He wanted to be with merle" Rick explained.

Carol moved toward a cot that was by the window and pulled it over next to the bed merle wason. Rick quickly laid daryl on it after sophia made it comfy for him. Smiling at the little girl, Rick looked at Hershel and waited. Daryl was awake but very tired and looked at merle, while answering Hershel's questions. Hershel thanked him as the doc set them both up to jest telling the group that merle would need their help. Tdog offered to be his mule when he could start walking..

Everyone in the room laughed lightly at tdog comment. Finding it sweet but funny. Daryl tried laughing but couldn't not with merle still out cold. He looked at his brother , seeing Sophia on his other side holding Merle's hand. Shaking his head, daryl just knew that girl would have Merle dixon soon wrapped around her fingers . He just hoped Merle would wake up so he could see it happen. Everyone save phia left the room so they could rest. Hershel gave sophia instructions on what to look for with merle if she would need to find a adult. Sophia listened and agreed, she'd watch him and if she got tired she would wake up another to watch him. Smiling at the girl, daryl watch the doc quietly leave them alone

A/N: woohoo hope everyone one likes this knew one and yes beth and Merle will meet in chapter 2 . I didn't want this going to fast it will be a slow burn! Unlike second chances. Again thanks for all the reviews on my other stories. Writing chapter two of Merle's Scars right now as well please bare with me IM ON A CELL PHONE so chapters will be slow in coming. Untill I get a laptop anyway ;)