A/N: Sorry for the delay. Between the flu and the holidays, this has been a trial to get written. By far not my greatest chapter ever but the characters are anxious to get onto other things so here it is. Thank you to Annelisa for dealing with lengthy whiny emails about how much this chapter sucked.
Takes place during Season 1 Episode 2: "Guts" and the beginning of Episode 3: "Tell it to the frogs."
Daryl did as he threatened to do, and left the following morning just before the crack of dawn without either of the twins in tow. They would just slow his ass down anyway. He couldn't even hunt all that well with Merle much less with one of those citified boys. They may be proficient with their handguns but they weren't hunters. They weren't even close. And neither could clean an animal to save their boney Irish asses. Not to mention their inability to keep their mouths shut for any length of time. No, Daryl was was better off going alone if he was going to come back with something to eat.
From the top of Dale's RV, Shane watched Daryl head into the woods, half wondering why his shadow wasn't going with him. Then he caught himself, and questioned why he even cared what any of that crew did. Shaking his head, he climbed off the top of the RV and set about shaking tents of everyone who was heading into Atlanta. The sooner they got in, the sooner they would get out.
"Can I see yer gun, girl?" Connor asked the woman squished between him and Morales in the back of the minivan. Glenn was driving, Merle has taken it upon himself to snag shotgun, and Jacqui and T-dog were in the center seat, nervously chatting.
Andrea looked at him for a half a moment like he just asked to see her appendectomy scar, completely confused and not the least bit interested in doing as he asked. "Why?"
Connor put his hand out, the back landing on her knee. "Just let me give it a look see, love."
"No." The Irish charm didn't work on Andrea even a little. And she certainly didn't need some cocky-as-fuck asshold checking her weapon for her.
He blinked. "No?" Connor wasn't used to people telling him no. Except Murphy, and even he didn't actually mean it most of the time.
The blonde shook her head. "No." Andrea turned her head to stare at him, making him almost wince with the scrutiny of her look. "Why this sudden interest in my gun, Connor?"
"Jus wanna see if ye have been takin care o it," he tried.
Andrea scowled at him. "You check any one else's gun while you are at it? Or just the girl's?"
"Is not like dat, lass." He grimaced, the crow's feet along the edge of his eyes deepening.
"Until you can tell me what its like, you are not touching my gun."
Connor caught Merle looking at him over his shoulder, giving him the what-the-fuck-crawled-up-yer-ass-you-pansy-ass-mom ma's-boy look. The younger man just shrugged and let it go.
The group all looked up as they heard Glenn's voice crackle on the radio announcing he had troubles with the geeks and had found another non-dead person. Connor pushed open the door, allowing T-dog and Morales to skedaddle out in their catcher's outfits, and waved Glenn and the tall dark haired man in a cop's outfit into the store. Once they were in, he softly a whistled for the Jason Varitek wannabes to scurry back inside before they attracted any more of the walkers.
He heard a scuffle and turned to find Andrea pushing the cop back against a pile of boxes, her gun in his face.
"Andrea No!" Connor yelled, reaching out to catch her elbow. This was not the time to panic. But she was well on her way of doing so. Standing wide-eyed, Glenn and the other men looked at him to do something. Why's it always gotta be him?
Andrea shot him a dirty look over her shoulder. "Let me go, Connor. He's killed us all."
The Irishman sighed. "Yer not gonna make it any better by killin 'im."
Her eyes narrowed but never left the man against the crates. "Might make me feel better."
With a glance at her gun, Connor exchanged a look with the man. The cop noticed the same thing Connor did. Andrea forgot to click off the safety. So until Conn heard that little click, he wasn't gonna worry too much about Andrea and her drama queen act.
Having determined that there was a chance to escape through the drain tunnel in the basement, everyone but Merle filed down into the murky depths of the building. Everyone stood around, staring at the hole until Rick encouraged Glenn to lay out the plan in his head.
As they started moving to their positions, an unmanly squeak came from the back of the group. Everyone turned to look at Connor who looked more than a little shocked before pointing over his shoulder at the red faced blonde behind him. "Was juss standin here," he started and stuttered.
Andrea threw her hands up in the air. "It was just...there." She gestured towards Connor's ass.
"It's always been just there," Jacqui piped up, her own cheeks blushing as glanced at Connor's now smug smile on his face, her eyes skidding from his blue soul sucking orbs. "You had to grab it NOW?"
Andrea shrugged and made a face. "Sorry?"
The plan to get out through the drain was a bust. And they had to come up with something else. And Merle was being Merle, and beat the shit out of T-dog. Even Connor couldn't pull him off the other man. When Rick handcuffed the coked up man to the pipe, Connor didn't interfere, figuring it was for the best to keep Merle contained and chilled out until they could figure out a good way to get out. Connor would deal with Merle when they got back to camp. The man needed to be adjusted out of the earshot of an audience, not in front of one. He wouldn't hear a word that Connor had to say, he would simply grandstand and run his goddamn mouth.
Merle tried his damnedest to sweet talk, cajole, and finally insult Connor into getting him loose. Finally when time came to move on a plan, Connor was quick to volunteer both to get the hell away from Merle's incessant mouth and because Connor just don't trust anyone else to do it.
The plan had been simple enough. Rick, Glenn and Connor were wander down to the construction site, smeared with blood and guts and body parts, pick up a truck and head back for the others. Little did they know that was going to be the easy part. By the time they jacked the truck, the geeks were swarming in front of the loading docks.
Connor and Rick gave each other a knowing glance as they approached the pretty red sports car. They didn't say much as Rick stopped the truck and Connor opened the passenger door.
Glenn poked his head out between the seats. "Oooo!" he exclaimed. "Can I drive?"
Connor nodded and stepped out of the box truck as the younger man scrambled over the seat. Rick looked at them both, his eyes flashing with the urgency that matched his voice. "Keep 'em away from the loading docks."
The MacManus brother nodded as he made sure the silencer was properly seated in the muzzle of his gun. "See you at camp," Connor called before slamming the door.
Glenn had entirely too much fun flying around the block with the alarm blaring in the stupid, overpriced shiny ass vehicle. Connor regretted letting the kid drive. He took corners too sharp, almost throwing them into more than one corner store. And he wouldn't even go all "Grand Theft Auto"- running over the geeks- because he did not want to mess up the car. Connor just shook his head and hung on.
Connor signaled for Glenn to stop the blaring sports car once they reached the outskirts of town. "Feckin' noise is givin' me a headache," the twin muttered.
"What?" Glenn yelled over the squeal of the car alarm as he pulled the car to the shoulder, as if another car would be coming along at any time! Connor half expected the kid to hit his four-ways.
He just shook his head and climbed out of the car. Pulling his boot knife, he yanked open the driver's side door. Glenn jumped a little. Pissed off Connor with a 5 inch dagger in his hand will do that. Glenn liked the Brothers Grimm -as the others in the camp had nicknamed them due to their choice in dark clothing even though it was Georgia in the summer time- well enough. But they weren't quite all there. Especially Connor.
The twin just smirked at Glenn's jumpiness and reached for the fuse box inside the door. He pried open the door with his knife and quickly located the correct fuse. With the tip of the knife, he popped the little piece of plastic and metal into his hand, with an audible sigh of relief as the noise quit. With even more satisfaction he dropped it to the ground and smashed it with his heel.
Amy rushed the red car as they pulled into camp. Glenn didn't even have it in park when she was leaning in Connor's window. "Where is everyone else?" she demanded, looking into the backseat as if the rest of their group was lurking back there.
"They're coming," Glenn assured her.
Connor caught her eye as he got out of the car, his hand landing on her shoulder. "Andrea's fine," he promised, smiling a reassuring smile at her. He hoped it was still the truth. Andrea was fine when he had left her to go with Glenn and Rick and retrieve the box truck. He had no way of knowing that was still the case. They had no communication with Rick or anyone else in the box truck to ensure that everything had gone according to the plan.
They did not have to wait long to find out. The box truck arrived, parking at the end of the row of vehicles. Connor squeezed Amy's upper arm as the others started hopping out of the back. Andrea ran for Amy and he couldn't help but grin at their reunion.
"Tings go ok?" came his twin's voice from behind him.
Connor turned and threw an arm over Murphy's shoulder. "Picked us up a new recruit."
"Ye mean 'nother mouth ta feed," the dark haired brother said with a wry smile.
He just shrugged. "Dis one might actually be able to pull 'is own weight. 'e got us out o' dere when de rest o us stood around wit our heads up our asses."
Murphy shrugged, and nodded his head. "Can't be all dat bad den."
A shriek of "DAD!" from Lori's son made the twins' heads crank around to watch Carl rush to the new man, the one Glenn saved, and Andrea almost shot. They stood speechless as they watched the man gather a rather stunned Lori into his arms. Connor stole a look at Shane and saw a crushing look on the man's face before he could contain himself.
Leaving the family a bit of privacy to reunite, Connor looked around the crowd, going to take this time to talk to Merle about his bullshit attitude back in town that could have gotten them all killed. When he didn't see the older man's surly mug, he looked back to where the Triumph and truck were parked. His eyes slid over the area the four of them shared and didn't see the disagreeable man anywhere.
Last time Connor saw him he was still chained to the pipe on the top of the building. And T-dog had the key.
"Oi T," he called. "Where's Merle?"
Swallowing hard, T-Dog looked physically ill as he met Connor's eyes. "He's on the roof."
Not even hesitating, Connor strode over and got in the other man's face. "Why da feck is 'e still on da roof?"
The other man didn't flinch. He stood there, staring at Connor. "I dropped the key," his voice determined but sad at the same time. As he drew in his next breath, T-dog found dirt and dust gathering in his nose as he laid on the ground, his ears and head ringing from Connor's fist.
"Wanna try dat again?" Connor asked, drawing his gun.
