Meanwhile, Back on the Ranch...

=Then=

Glenn was wrong about the Dixons. Not wrong in the sense that they were good people and his first assessment of them had be mistaken, but wrong because he'd thought there was something redeemable about them at all. It didn't take long for the two of them to start slinging slurs about every non-white, non-christian that crossed their eyesight. Merle more than Daryl since Merle was more actively antagonistic and trying to get a rise out of people. That might even be what made Daryl's part in it all feel worse. It was just so casual with him.

The two never called him by his name. After the first week Glenn had given up on correcting them. He'd told them both he was Korean enough times that they knew. They just chose to ignore it. He'd thought maybe, just maybe, bringing back one of those books Daryl said he liked (and he had to go out of his way to hit a bookstore for it) would get a little bit of respect from the man. But no, it didn't. Just a quick 'thanks shortround' and then he was on his way again, off to do whatever.

=Now=

"They never call you names when you aren't here," T-Dog said, head tilting to the side as he looked at Glenn sitting next to him. After two weeks with the Dixon brothers in camp, he had started to notice a pattern to their racism. He just couldn't figure out the point of it.

Glenn's eyebrows shot up and a suitably unintelligent 'huh?' came out before Andrea chimed in from the other side of the fire, "He's right. Whenever you're walking around here and they want your attention it's 'chink' or 'chinaman' or something else, sorry, but as soon as you're off on a run and they haven't seen you for a while, they always ask about you by name."

T chewed on his squirrel meat, not really happy with it, as his eyes shifted across the half dozen low fires to the one the Dixon brother's shared. The fact that Daryl brought in so much freshly killed meat - even if it was squirrel most of the time - was one of the only reasons the rest of the camp hadn't asked them to leave yet. The group knew they owed a lot to the Dixons for their contribution. As much as they disliked the 'compromise' they had to put up with to get it.

His eyes shifted back to Glenn, who still looked completely stupefied, "They don't do that for anyone else."

=Then=

Merle called him over - Merle was usually the one calling him over - as he trudged back into camp. He altered his path so he was heading to the back of the truck even as he saw Shane start toward him from the RV out of the corner of his eye. If Shane got to him soon enough then maybe he could cut short whatever talk his brother-in-law wanted to have.

He still flashed a quick smile as he came to a stop and slipped his backpack from his shoulders. Out of habit at first, and then more genuine as Merle actually took the heavy pack from him and set it on the open tailgate. "Uh... thanks."

Merle smiled back at him and Glenn realized that it wasn't the kind of smile that made him want to cringe it. It actually seemed as honest and real as his had been. But then Merle was turning away from him and opening up the backpack. He cringed when the first thing he saw were the box of sanitary pads for the women of the camp, "They really got you pussywhipped, don't they?"

He was saved from answering as Shane finally made it over, "Hey there, Dixon. There something you asked Glenn to get you?"

"No sir," Merle's smile became that pleasantly mocking one Glenn was more familiar with as he started emptying the pack. "Just trying ta help out a little. Figure I'd teach the chinaman how to pack better. Be able to bring more back with him next time."

"Pack better?" Glenn managed to keep his voice from stammering in offense as he drew Merle's attention back to him. He knew how to pack his stuff.

=Now=

Shane put his hand on Carl's head and ruffled the kid's hair a bit as he nodded along with the others. The action was enough to draw the attention of the group. Most of them treated Shane as the default leader of their motley camp and over the tense days of the last few weeks had somehow trained themselves to watch for him. For when he moved, when he looked like he might be getting ready to say something. They looked to him now that same way.

"I think they respect you," he said slowly, eyes meeting Glenn's while his fingers gently combed through Carl's hair. The kid was curled up near him, Lori having already fallen asleep with her head on Shane's shoulder and her arm curled around her son's waist. Shane smiled and snorted a laugh at the return look he was getting. "I know, hard to believe. But I believe they respect you and what you do for us here. And I think they don't know how to express that. All they know is that racist bs they've been probably been spouting since the day they were born. Calling you by your name to your face would mean they have to acknowledge that you aren't as bad as they want to believe."

T-Dog snorted and shook his head, "Man, that is f- messed up."

"You were going to say something else," Carl grinned, trying to goad him on. "You can say it."

"I said what I meant to say," T insisted with laugh and a playfully pointed finger, "I own what I say and what I do. Honest people, like us, that's what we do. You're not going to call me a liar are you?"

Carl's grin grew wider as he shook his head 'no' and the group had a good laugh. The noise breaking the subdued silence that usually fell over the camp by that point. It drew the attention of a few others. Even Daryl turned around where he was sitting to have a glance at the commotion.

=Then=

"You think this is any good?" Merle asked, clearly disbelieving. And there wasn't even a note of mocking to his tone, either. Like he was actually concerned about how much Glenn was able to fit into his backpack. The man picked up the box of pads and box of tampons and ripped the two open so their contents were dumped onto the truck bed. The two cardboard boxes were then tossed over with perfect accuracy to the low fire the brothers kept near their tent. "That right there is half your bag space. All boxy edges and no room to put more in without crushing it. Dump 'em out, put 'em in a trashbag, you'll be as good as gold, boy."

Glenn's expression darkened and he bounced back on his heels before pushing forward and shouldering Merle to the side so he could put the scattered necessities back into his pack, "Yeah. Sure. And I'll get my arm tore off by a geek while I'm at it."

Merle pushed back, sending Glenn stumbling a few feet as he started to get in his face, "You suddenly gone stupid, ching-chong?"

And then Shane was between them, one hand on his gun and one splayed lightly on Merle's chest, "Hey! Hey! Look at me! Back off and look at me!"

Merle's eyes slid slowly from where Glenn cowered with shoulders hunched to Shane's face to Shane's hand and back to Shane, "Get your hands off me, pig 'fore I make you squeal."

Shane did lift his hand, but only just. Enough that he wasn't quite touching Merle anymore, but not to the point of backing off. He met the older Dixon's eyes, not flinching even a little, voice a soft hiss that Glenn couldn't really hear. But whatever was said, it was a threat.

Merle stared for a long time, eyeing the man up and down before taking a step back and putting on that false smile of his as his hands went up, "Okay okay. We're all good. Just a misunderstanding is all. Was jus' trying ta help." His eyes fell back on Glenn and there was a promise of violence in them that had Glenn gulping and shaking where he stood. "You got them geeks on your heels, 'course you can't stop to pack right. You should talk ta me 'n Daryl later, once you're done handing this shit out. We'll help you figure out how to dump and run a little cleaner the next time you're out."

For all that it was framed as such, it was not a suggestion.

=Now=

"What do you mean, they don't do that for anyone else?" Glenn finally asked after their laughter had faded back to a low murmur and Shane had woken Lori so she and Carl could get to bed.

T-Dog leaned forward a little, to look past Glenn and Andrea and Amy, to where the Dixon brothers were now moving around, closing their fire down for the night. He leaned back and stretched his legs, keeping his voice low, "Just what I said. You leave camp sometimes before they know it and they'll start looking for you. Merle walks around like he owns the place like he always does, but he usually makes a rough perimeter walk before yelling at me or Dale and asking where you are. Daryl doesn't bother doing that kind of walk. He doesn't see you right away and he just yells up at whoever's on watch if they've seen you around or if you're on a run. But they both use your name."

He scratched at his cheek, pausing to have another quick glance at the Dixon fire as Shane sat back down. He followed T's line of sight and raised an eyebrow in question. T shook his head, then nodded at the Morales' fire, "He never calls him anything but spic. Even if he's down getting water for us to boil."

"I don't think he's ever used T's name," Andrea joined back in. "And I'm not going to repeat the word he uses for him and Jacqui."

"Oh sure, you can't say the n-word but you can repeat 'chink', thanks," Glenn bit back with a self-depreciating grin.

Andrea had the sense to wince a little and look down as she said 'sorry', though she was still smiling and another round of low laughter rippled through the group.

=Then=

Glenn took as long as he could to distribute what he'd brought back from his run before making his way back to where the Dixon's had set up. Daryl had come back not long before with a brace of six squirrels and three rabbits. He'd called his brother to start skinning them as soon as he'd gotten back, his voice ringing out loudly like he expected Merle to be holed up in the RV or on the other side of the camp trying to mess with someone. Like Merle usually was.

The two were now near the main cook fire, where Carol was often found tending to a soup pot or attempting to prepare what she could of the canned goods they'd had set out for the day. She was there now and there was still plenty of light out. The two brothers were joking about something or other and Carol was pretending to ignore them because Ed's eyes were on her. She still smiled at Glenn when he walked past to take a seat next to Daryl. There was space next to Merle, but he'd rather not be that close. Everyone could see the three of them, so he felt safe enough that if something did happen, Dale or Shane or T-Dog would be able to reach him in time to save his ass.

"'Bout time you got your ass back here, rice ball," Merle said casually as he set his knife to the last of the squirrels. The fur on them wasn't worth saving, so he'd gotten through them faster than Daryl had the rabbits. Glenn knew this because Daryl had told him as much the first time he'd brought back a string of squirrels for the camp to share.

"Was one of them walkers after you when you got that shit today?" Daryl asked, turning to squint at Glenn. He wasn't surprised Merle had already told his brother what happened.

Glenn entertained the thought of shrugging it off, but there was this flutter of hope that the brothers were actually worried about him and he pushed that thought aside, nodding instead, "Yeah. Two, actually. It was this gas station I've hit before. It's been clear the last three times so I didn't think about checking for geeks. I'd just grabbed the boxes when they came at me from the other side of the rack."

"Well don't do that no more, dumbass!" Daryl barked at him and slapped the back of his head. It wasn't hard, just quick and sharp, enough to make Glenn wince. He probably deserved that. He hadn't told Dale or Shane that he'd had trouble. Shane would have insisted he start taking someone with him on the runs, that it was just further evidence he needed someone to watch his back. And he didn't. He was fine.

"Sorry," he muttered, shoulders hunching. "I learned my lesson. Promise."

"Good," Daryl ended the chastisement as quickly as he'd started it and stood up. His hand slapped Glenn's shoulder lightly to get him to scoot over to the seat Daryl had just vacated. Confused at the request, Glenn still did as he was asked. He wasn't sure he should have when Daryl bent over behind him and put a knife in one of his hands and pointed to the last rabbit with his other, "Now it's time you learned to skin these fuckers. Fiver here's the biggest so you got more room to make mistakes."

=Now=

Glenn's eyes drifted to the Dixon camp long after the two had both gone to bed. Dale was just coming down from his watch to join the group at the fire and Morales was heading up for his two hour shift. T-Dog watched the kid as silence reigned over them, each person lost in their own thoughts.

"So what have we been laughing about this whole time?" Dale's huffing and aching broke the spell and he was greeted with smiles.

"The Dixons have a crush on Glenn," Amy answered and Glenn nearly choked as his head whipped back around to stare at her while everyone else burst out laughing. She scooted over and pushed at the kid's shoulder, "Oh come on, it was funny."

Glenn could only sputter his denial of that while another round of laughs came, this time for his reaction. He honestly had hoped that was the last of it when Andrea started talking about sending a car down to the highway to watch for survivors since chatter on the CB had dried up.

Dale shook his head, "I don't think that's a good idea. What if we get someone like the Dixons? And I'm not trying to say Glenn's friends are bad people, but well..."

"They aren't-" Glenn started to protest but cut himself off at the same time T-Dog was asking incredulously, "They're Glenn's friends?"

"Well, maybe friends is a harsh word," ("you think?") Dale began and waved a hand at Glenn as if it would serve an adequate apology. "But you knew them before and-"

"You knew them before?" T burst out a little loudly and had to pull his voice in low before going on, "You never said anything about knowing them."

Glenn's hands were on his face, rubbing down it hard with a groan, "I only met Daryl before. Just Daryl. It was at Corey's bachelor party."

"Corey knew him? Corey never said anything about him."

Dale put his hands up to try and reinsert himself, "From the sounds of it you knew Corey, too. Did you go to the bachelor party?"

T-Dog opened his mouth, then shut it and shook his head.

"Well, there you go," Dale answered. "You didn't know all his friends and I'm sure he didn't know all of yours. People live in different circles. Those circles don't usually overlap more than a few people here and a few there. Now, I don't know this Corey, but if the two of you did, then I'm sure he was a good person. And if he thought Daryl was a friend enough to invite to his bachelor party, then maybe there's something he saw in him. But maybe, and I don't mean to speak poorly of those that aren't with us anymore, maybe he just wasn't a very good judge of character with all his friends. I don't think any one of us can say we've all made good choices in our friends. Sometimes we pick bad ones."

There was a guilty silence after and after what seemed like a good ten minutes of it, Glenn made to get up. Shane stopped him with a soft, "Hey. Before you go."

The kid waited there in a crouch, then slid back into his seat, "What?"

"About your run into town tomorrow... I think you should take someone to watch your back."

"No. I'm fine," he protested as he always did.

"I know you are, but I'm concerned for your continued safety. Carol told me-"

Glenn deflated immediately, a barely audible 'she didn't' escaping like the last bit of air from a balloon.

"-yes, she did. She overheard you telling the Dixon's about getting attacked on your last run when they were showing you how to butcher that rabbit a couple days ago. You got jumped and someone being there to watch for you would -"

"I always get jumped!" he hissed back, finally standing. "That's the point! That's why I go alone. Because I'm faster than everyone here and I can get away. Someone coming with me would just slow me down."

"Look, kid-"

"No! I'mnot taking anyone. I can do this myself. The only reason they even got that close was because I got lazy and assumed it would still be clear. I won't make that mistake again. Even if it's a place I've hit before, I'll check it first." He bounced from one foot to the other, keyed up now as he met Shane's eyes. He felt like he was being stared down, but this was something he didn't want to put on anyone else. He licked his lips and walked off with a second, firmer, "I'm not taking anyone."

Glenn decided he might like the Dixon's a little more than he liked Shane. They were pretty crap to him, but they hadn't heard his news and assumed he couldn't handle himself. They just reminded him to not be stupid about it next time and let him go. That didn't mean he thought well of them... just that... well, maybe Shane was right. Maybe they did respect him. In their own way.