A/N Aw thanks you guys you make me happy. We love our rough boy, don't we? Let's see just what kind of trouble that man is up to now.

He'd come up rough, hard and mean. But he didn't blame his rotten childhood for the man he was. He was just fine with the man he was.

He was a survivor. He did what he had to do. The world may be a fucked up place, but he aimed to keep his corner of that world just the way he liked it.

Anyone that got in his way, well they'd rue the day they did.

But damn if he didn't have a big old soft spot for that sweet little artist.

And the thing of it was if he was going to convince her to give him a shot, he was going to have to present a little prettier picture of Merle Dixon. He knew enough about the softer side of life to know that.

So that's what he did. At work he was pleasant, he was accommodating, he was polite. To everyone. It was a damn job in itself.

She seemed to be tolerating him okay.

He'd planned to just bide his time, let her see what a good guy he was, then he'd make his final play.

But go to hell if he didn't start seeing that young gun Zach nosing around her. The kid had been with the department about three months, one of those pretty boys. Up and comer. And he'd seen that little piss ant leaning on her desk, chatting her up a few times. And she was smiling.

And Merle Dixon was aggravated to say the least. And his patience had run out. He'd be damned if that skinny little bastard was going to get a shot at taking her out before he did.

xxxx

She'd thought a lot about it after what happened and all. She was hoping that just maybe, well maybe he'd try once more. Ask her out. She was wishing that he would because now her opinion of him had softened. Warmed.

He'd been so good to her, so thoughtful. Even when she'd practically accused him he hadn't even raised his voice.

He'd gotten her coffee. He'd even guessed how she liked it.

And she couldn't deny it any longer, what had been a minor crush had become a major crush. And she knew if he asked her again she was going to say "Yes." She felt confident that he was a man that if he wanted to, well get more "friendly" than she felt comfortable with, he'd take no for an answer.

But now that she wanted to go out with Merle Dixon, it seemed like he'd moved her right into the center of the "friend zone." It was like he hardly even looked her way. Darn it all anyway.

And that newer Deputy, Zach, well he wouldn't quit hanging around her desk. It seemed like every time Merle did come around, Zach was leaning on her desk. Wasting her time.

Well that wasn't nice. She shouldn't say that. He seemed like a pleasant enough man. But she couldn't have been less interested in visiting with him. He'd hinted about them maybe getting together after work "or something" and she'd tried very hard to discourage the idea.

Without being mean of course. She didn't care for meanness. She always tried to be nice.

xxxx

When he walked in the coffee room Tuesday morning there she was looking all kinds of pretty. And damn, he'd finally caught her alone.

She was sitting at the little table, wearing a pink sweater and looking just as sweet as a damn cupcake. She had one of those tiny little muffins and cup of coffee. And she made his day when she looked up, smiled and said, "Good morning Merle."

Oh yeah, he had it bad and he knew it.

"Well good morning there Beth, how are ya today?"

"I'm just fine thank you for asking, and how are you?"

Yeah, way too sweet for him, but he didn't give even one little fuck. He wanted Beth Greene in a big, powerful way. And Merle Dixon went after what he wanted.

"Well I'm doin' pretty good Beth, but ya know, I could be doin' a whole lot better. Why yes I could."

And her little brow knitted, and he almost felt bad, and she asked all sweet and concerned, "Well my goodness is something wrong? Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Well as a matter of fact there is sumthin' wrong, an it just so happens yer the only one that can fix it. How ya can do that is, if you'd agree ta go out with me Saturday night." Damn, that was the corniest fucking thing he'd ever said. But hey, might work.

Aw and there it was right there, those pretty little cheeks got all pinked up and she smiled that damn knock out smile of hers, "Oh Merle, you're quite the fellow. And yes, I would like very much to go out with you Saturday evening."

And he almost lost it then because he was caught completely by surprise. He'd been pretty damn sure she'd say no, and he was going to just give up the ghost. Say screw it, wasn't ever going to happen. Have to move on.

"Well I'm honored Beth. How about I come by yer place at seven? We'll have us some dinner. Would that work out for ya?"

"Yes, that would be very nice. Shall I dress up or be casual?"

He almost blew it right then because he was going to use his standard line, "slip into sumthin' hot, sumthin' easy to slip out of."

But thank gawd he'd caught himself. "We'll be goin' somewhere special Beth. Wouldn't take a nice woman like you to any other kinda place." Damn, he couldn't remember ever being any cheesier.

Now he just had to think about what place that was going to be because, well the kind of broads he usually ran with were the kind he'd take to a loud boisterous bar, buy them a some drinks, twirl them around the dance floor a few times, cop a couple feels, take them to their place, never his place, do what they both wanted to do and get the fuck out. True love kind of stuff.

Just the kind of love he liked.

But this little gal, she had the kind of stuff a man had to work for. This was going to take a while. He could be patient if he had to be, because he planned to have a taste of that. And he planned to have her willing and ready when he finally got what he was after.

That's what he told himself.

xxxx

She was so excited she couldn't eat her muffin. She put it back in that Ziploc and thought she'd maybe have it later for a snack.

She was already thinking about what she should wear, maybe she should buy something new. What about her hair, up or down? She wasn't sure. She was definitely going to get a mani/pedi Saturday morning.

But she couldn't be thinking about that stuff right now. She had to get to the court house. She was sketching a trial. An attempted murder case. She hated it.

It was a big case, and it was so unsavory. And she tried so hard when she was in the courtroom to not really listen, to just draw the people. And this case gave her nightmares.

She wasn't supposed to worry about the cases, or the defendant. She knew that, and most of the time she could handle it okay. But this defendant, a cruel looking man named Joe Jones, was just frightening. He looked scary and he sounded scary, and attempted murder is a scary crime.

It had been testified to in court that he was the leader of a group of what seemed to be very bad men. They would be in the courtroom too, sitting in the gallery. And they all made her so uncomfortable.

One in particular, a tall rangy man of about 35 made her a nervous wreck. He had long stringy dark hair and an evil looking grin.

She tried hard never to look at him because he gave her such a creepy smile it made her skin crawl.

She was leaving the courtroom at noon, going back to the Sheriff's Department building across the street to have her lunch.

Suddenly that dark haired man was standing in front of her, and he touched the side of her face and her hair, "Hey little one, ya look like ya need a strong man ta take care a ya. I can take care a ya in every way. Make ya feel real good. Real satisfied."

And he laughed an evil and disgusting kind of laugh, and she hurriedly got around him and almost ran to the office.

She went right to the Sheriff's office and knocked on his door, she was more than a little bit shaken.

He saw her knock on Grimes' door and he wasn't happy with what he saw. She was red faced, trembling and he'd seen that look before, the one she had on her face when she'd been at his house. The face that meant she was about to burst into tears.

Merle Dixon was pissed off and he didn't even know why.

But he knew how to find out. He hurriedly went over by the wall common to Grimes' office, and he leaned up against it with his cell phone out, like he was checking messages. But what he'd done was stick that tiny listening device there on that wall. He almost smiled thinking James Bond had nothing on him.

He had the Bluetooth in his ear and he was listening. And the more he listened to her tell the sheriff her story, the more pissed off he got.

He'd take care of this problem in a hurry, because the sheriff's department wouldn't move quite fast enough to make Merle Dixon happy.

He would not stand by and let some wormy bastard touch her, scare her. Wasn't going to happen.

He watched when she walked back to the court, he wanted to walk with her, protect her, kill that muther fucker who had dared to touch her. But he'd handle this, he wouldn't let her get hurt.

And he wondered why he felt so damn protective of her. Hell, he had other things to do. There was a big drug deal going down this afternoon in south county and he planned to be lurking, then he'd knock a couple of heads together and bring a few guys in. Another day, another dollar.

But first he was just going to keep an eye on her until she got in the court house, see who this asshole was.

Sure enough, the dirty bastard came right up to her just before she walked in the door. Yeah, he knew the type, and the type wasn't getting next to her.

But he'd have to go about this the right way, and the right way wasn't going to be on the court house steps. The right way would be a little more discreet than that.

In the meantime, he had some guys to bust.

xxxx

As soon as he'd booked the dealers he headed to Rick's office. He'd be spending a good part of his evening interrogating the scum, and he wanted a quick chance to talk to Grimes before he went home.

He had a question and the Sheriff was the only guy he knew, well definitely the only guy he'd ask, who might have an answer.

The first thing he did was give the boss a quick rundown of what had transpired at the scene, and how many guys he'd popped.

"Just tell me it was a clean bust Merle, nothing anyone can come back on us about."

"Now Sheriff that just ain't right, ya know all my arrests are good clean busts, no mischief, no coercion, nuthin' ta come back on us about." And he just gave the Sheriff his best full of shit grin and the Sheriff gave him one back.

"Yeah okay Merle. Just remember you don't get to just interrogate them and then split. Type up that arrest report."

"Yeah, yeah whatever. Anyway, I need yer help with sumthin'. Got me a date with a different kind a gal on Saturday night, wanna take her someplace special for dinner. Any suggestions?"

"What?! Merle Dixon is taking a woman somewhere special?! Well I guess there really is a first time for everything. How about La Maison?"

"I ain't takin' her ta some fancy French joint, she'll know right away what a dumbass I am when I try ta pronounce them words."

And that damn Rick chuckled, "You have a point there buddy. How about the Fireside Room? They have great steaks and seafood. And for smooth operators like you, well it's even got a romantic atmosphere."

xxxx

Wednesday

He was dressed in his crappy undercover clothes and he looked just like a worthless lowlife. That was the look he was going for. And he was in a piece of shit old beater car he'd "borrowed" from the impound lot. He was waiting. Just patiently watching for that bastard to leave when court recessed for the day.

Here he came now and he'd fired up a smoke, and Merle Dixon knew that slimy bastard was waiting for her. Sure enough, as soon as she came walking out he was in her face.

He tried to put a hand on her hip and it was all Merle Dixon could do to keep from jumping out of the car right then. Beating the holy living fuck right out of that shithead.

But that would just cause him trouble, and he'd more than likely get stopped by a couple of sheriff deputies before he could do a proper job of teaching the guy an important lesson.

She'd done good, got away and made it right back over to the Sheriff's Department. Good girl.

The way that asshole laughed when he scared her was the last straw for Merle Dixon.

He followed him to some shit hole warehouse area, probably where their little gang congregated. Merle waited while the scum went in the building, he was in there an hour or so.

When he came out he had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of Merle Dixon, who grabbed him from behind in a choke hold. "Listen up muther fucker, ya stay the hell away from that pretty little sketch artist or I will kill you. Ya got my word." And then Merle Dixon beat him just short of death. Left him there on the ground.

He dumped the beater car behind one of the buildings and got his ass home.

First thing next morning the Sheriff called him into his office. "What did you do last night Merle?"

And he acted a little cocky, "Why Sheriff, I didn't know you was interested in hearin' the details a my social life. Sorry I ain't got more ta tell. Went home, had me a couple cold ones, fired up a fat one and ordered a pizza. I always get the damn munchies when I smoke a little."

"Don't push it Merle. I can only turn a blind eye to so much of your shenanigans. Let's talk about a little incident that took place last night."

"First, tell me this Merle, this special woman you have a date with Saturday night, it wouldn't happen to be Beth Greene would it?"

"Why Sheriff Grimes do ya have a detective tailin' me? Cuz yeah, that's who it is."

"So would you know anything about a Len Schwarz who's been harassing her?"

"Ain't never heard a Len Schwarz." Hell, that wasn't even a lie. He'd never heard the guys' name.

"Well someone has Merle, and someone beat him nearly to death last night. He was found in an alley in that industrial park off Washington St. I'd hate to find out you had anything to do with that."

"Now c'mon Rick, give me a little credit here, I'm more creative than that. Don't worry, wasn't me."

And Rick Grimes believed him, and yet he also knew Merle Dixon was a masterful liar and the man simply had no tells.

xxxx

He'd gotten himself all duded up, tie, sport coat, all of it. He was about to take a woman he had a lot of plans for out for a special dinner. Hell, thinking about it, it was like a first date for him. He'd never taken a woman out and wined her and dined her. Tried to get to know her, tried to let her know at least a little about him. That there, well it caused him to be just a little nervous.

That was a feeling new to Merle Dixon.

He was there just a couple minutes early, he hated lateness and he'd noticed she was always early to work. He rang the bell.

And she looked adorable. Her beautiful blond hair in some kind of cute little style, seemed kind of like a low, loose ponytail. No teased up hair, no phony hair color. And she had on a pretty little dress with strappy sandals and damn, this woman was so tiny, wasn't nothing to her at all. How had he not picked up on just how small she was?

She spoke when she answered the door, "Hello Merle." And she smiled.

And he didn't even think about it, it just came right out of its own free will, "Well hello there Darlin, ya look lovely tonight. I'ma be mighty proud ta be seen with ya."

And what he was thinking was she looked like a damned teenager and everyone was going to be thinking he was nothing but a dirty old man. Which he was pretty goddamn sure was exactly what he was.

But he didn't give a fuck because she was the prettiest girl he'd ever known, and by god he truly was mighty proud to be seen with her.

A/N Well, well, well. I'm not certain Merle Dixon knows exactly how the heck he feels. How about you, what are your thoughts? Thanks so much for reading, please comment / review. xo

This fic will post each week on Tuesdays.