I've had a random attack of Daddy!Merle feels, so this one and the next will be completely about Merle being a father. As usual, thanks for checking this out and I still don't own The Walking Dead.


"Son of a … Monkey!" Merle Dixon shouted from the kitchen. Carol lifted her head up from the edge of the bathtub and frowned, wondering what the hell was going on in her kitchen. There was a loud giggle coming from the mouth of her daughter, Sophia, so she didn't think anything bad was happening. Carol lied her head back on the edge of the large tub and shut her eyes again. "God... Mother.. Jesus!" Carol heard Merle yell again and she opened her eyes, lifting her head up. Once again, Sophia's loud laughter came up from the kitchen. If Sophia was laughing at her fathers attempts to not swear in front of her, she knew that nothing was wrong. She smiled to herself and decided that it was time to get out of the tub anyway, the water wasn't warm anymore and most of the bubbles were gone. Besides, she was hungry and knew Merle had brought home pizza earlier.

Carol sat up and pulled the plug out of the tub, standing to the feet. She turned the water on so she could use the detachable shower head to rinse the soap suds off of her. She rinsed the bubbles off of her and climbed out the tub, drying her body off before she picked up her robe and wrapped the plush robe around her body. Carol returned to her bedroom and dressed in her pajamas, returning the robe to the bathroom before she head downstairs. She'd had a long day at work and a doctors appointment, so when she got home and Merle was already home with their daughter, he just told her to take a long bubble bath, he could handle taking Sophia to her soccer practice and her dance class. Carol normally did it, so she was apprehensive of Merle doing all of that but when they returned home a half hour ago, everything must have gone well.

Carol walked into their kitchen, smiling at the sight in front of her. Sitting at the kitchen table was her husband, Merle, and their eight year old daughter, Sophia, with a deck of cards between them. Carol leaned against the wall as Merle glanced between his hand of cards and their daughter.

"Got any 5s?" He asked, the gentle voice he typically used with Sophia long gone and his normal gruff voice in its place.

Sophia glanced between her father and the cards in her hands, scanning her cards for any 5s. She didn't have any 5s, but she also knew that her father was getting really frustrated. He only had three pairs and she had six. "Go fish, Daddy." Merle sighed and reached into the pile to pick up another card, only to pick up a four. Hey, he had three of those now.

Sophia looked up at her father and glanced at the cards in her hands. "Do you have any fours?" She asked. Merle frowned and stared at his little girl, it was like she knew he had just gotten close to getting a four pair.

He set the cards down in front of her. "Oh, come fu- come on!" Merle exclaimed, much to the amusement of Sophia and now his wife. He glanced up at Carol and noticed her leaning against the wall and laughing. "This ain't funny, Carol." He grunted in his wife's direction.

Sophia turned her head to look up at her mother, a grin forming on her face. "Hi, Momma." She said as Carol walked over to the table and smoothed her daughters hair out before kissing her forehead.

"Hi, baby. Tormenting your father?" Carol asked.

"Daddy sucks at Go Fish." Sophia said as she watched her mother moved to rest her hand on her fathers back and leaned down to kiss her fathers cheek. Merle grunted in Carol's direction as she ran her hand over his back. She could sense his frustration as much as Sophia could, though both of them knew that Merle would rather get run over with a monster truck than ever take his frustration out on his family.

"And yer not very good at actually fishing, don't see me braggin'." Merle mumbled, wishing he could have a cigarette or a beer but Carol didn't want him drinking or smoking in front of Sophia. He understood, he probably wouldn't have started smoking and drinking if he hadn't seen his Daddy doing it too. There were other things he probably never would have done if he hadn't seen his Daddy doing them too.

Carol and Sophia both laughed at him. "Merle, be nice." Carol scolded playfully and gave him a playful nudge. Merle grunted and glanced at Carol as she stepped away from her family and walked over to the stove where several boxes of pizza sat. She pulled out a piece of pepperoni for herself and leaned against the stove while watching them play a game she never knew could be so frustrating.

Merle and Sophia finished the game of Go Fish, their third of the night, with Sophia once again winning. For once, Merle had been determined to beat his daughter in something. Normally he let her win games, but it was because they were games he could beat her at. After two more games, he still hadn't managed to win one. He was sure that Go Fish shouldn't be so damn hard, he could play poker really well why the hell couldn't he play Go Fish?

"Go get ready for bed, Sophia. You do have school tomorrow." Carol said as Merle pulled the cards back together. Merle was secretly thankful that she told Sophia to go to bed, he didn't want to play anymore but he knew if she asked again he would say yes. Sophia looked up at her mother and nodded, climbing out of the chair. She came around to her mother and wrapped her arms around her waist, resting her head on Carol's stomach.

"Goodnight, Mom. I love you."

"Night, baby. I love you too." Carol said softly, hugging her daughter close. Sophia pulled away after a moment and moved to her father, wrapping her arms around his broad shoulders. Merle couldn't help but smile as she hugged him, wrapping his arms around her tiny frame. Merle was always terrified he was going to mess his kid up like his father messed him up. He didn't know how to be a father, he just wanted to be a good father to her. Merle knew he messed up occasionally, but he was never going to treat Sophia like his old man treated him. His little girl was always going to be treated like the princess she was if Merle had a say in it.

"Thanks for playing with me, Daddy. And losing a bunch." Sophia pressed her lips into her fathers cheek. "I love you."

Merle turned his head to look at his daughter and he pressed a kiss to her forehead.

"Love you too, kid." Sophia pulled away from her father and went upstairs to get ready for bed. Carol followed her daughter after a few moments to tuck her in, shutting Sophia's door halfway before walking downstairs and into the kitchen where Merle still was.

Carol moved across the kitchen and opened the fridge up, pulling a bottle of beer out of the fridge. She wrapped her shirt around the lid to twist it off and moved towards the table, sitting it down in front of Merle before she sat on one of Merle's strong legs. One of Merle's arms came around her waist as he picked up the beer, taking a long pull of the bottle. Just what he needed after a long day of work and playing a stupid card game with his daughter. Merle liked moments like that with Sophia, knew she wasn't always going to want her father around. He cherished them, but he'd be damned if he ever played Go Fish again.

Carol smiled as she watched Merle drink from the bottle, thinking about when she first told Merle that she was pregnant. "Remember when I was pregnant and you were terrified you were going to be a terrible father and you were going to screw her up?" She asked, leaning against the table. He glanced at her over the bottle.

"Yeah?" He asked as he set the beer down on the table. Carol smiled and wrapped her arms around his shoulder, studying his face before she spoke.

"You're the best Daddy I could ever want for my little girl." Carol said softly, her hands coming up to cup the back of his neck and pull his mouth towards her.

Merle kissed his wife, his free hand grasping the back of her shirt. They'd been together for fifteen years; married for eleven of those years, something that surprised him to this day. He had never thought he was going to get married, he was twenty five years old and heading down a dangerous path when he met twenty three year old Carol at the grocery store. She'd changed him fifteen years ago, made him a much better person than he could have ever hoped to be. Merle would probably be serving a life sentence in jail now if it wasn't for Carol.

"Yer just sayin' that." Merle mumbled against her lips. Carol pulled away from him and shook her head.

"No, I'm not. There's no one I'd rather have children with." She said, tracing her fingers along the short hairs on the back of his neck.

Merle raised his eyebrow at her, there was something about the way she worded that. "Children?" He asked, staring at his wife warily. She rest her hand over her stomach, dragging her tongue over her bottom lip. They'd been trying for another baby for the last three years, but found it was getting more difficult with them getting older. "Are ya..."

Carol nodded. This wasn't exactly how she had planned to tell Merle that she was pregnant again, but what better time than to tell him than right now. "I'm pregnant." She watched his face, waiting to see how he'd respond to the news.

The grin that formed on Merle's face mirrored the one that had been on his face when she told him that she was pregnant with Sophia, but there wasn't a trace of fear in his eyes like there was last time. He glanced down at her still flat stomach and looked back up at his wife. He had no words that could describe what he was thinking right now. Merle reached forward and took a long drink of the beer, swallowing and glancing at her. Carol was pregnant again, was going to have another baby. They were going to have another baby, a little sibling for his daughter. He set the beer down and reached up to grasp the sides of her face, tugging her back towards him and pressing his lips into hers. "Wait, am I allowed to drink beer and kiss ya?" He asked, as if he had completely forgotten Carol's first pregnancy.

Carol laughed at Merle's question, they'd already had a kid, you'd think he'd know these things already. Her pregnancy had been surprisingly easy, she could only hope that this one would be as easy. "Did when I was pregnant with Sophia, she turned out perfect." Carol said, shrugging her shoulders and pressing her lips into his again.

Merle spoke when Carol pulled away. "Think she'll be happy?" He remembered when his mom had told him that he was going to have a brother, Merle had been ten years old and hated the idea of having a brother. Mostly because he knew both of his parents, knew he would end up being stuck taking care of the kid. And his assumptions had been right.

"She's wanted a little brother for years now." Carol said and stood to her feet, taking her husbands hand. They went into the living room, sitting on the couch together. Merle pulled her legs over his lap and looked over at her. He tried to imagine her pregnant again, pregnant with another one of his kids. He was in as much surprise as he was when she had told him about Sophia.

A little brotha. Hopefully Sophia would be a much better sibling to a brother than he was to his own brother. "If it's a boy.. Think we can name him after Daryl?" Carol looked up at Merle, surprised at the rare mention of his little brother. She'd never met Daryl or knew much about him at all, all she knew was that he died when they were kids. He'd never explained anything past that and Carol let him have that to himself. In the decade and a half that Carol and Merle had been together, he'd only mentioned Daryl a handful of times. Carol suspected that she would have never heard about him at all if Merle hadn't been talking in his sleep about Daryl one night and she'd asked him about it the next morning. She'd always wanted to know more about him, but never pushed her husband to talk about it.

Carol had wanted to name her first son after his father, but Merle rarely asked for anything like this and he rarely brought his brother up. She knew that had to be hard for him. Carol licked her lips and nodded, lacing her fingers through his.

"Yeah, Daryl sounds good." She said. Merle's throat tightened and he gave his wife a nod, squeezing her hand gently. Carol sat up a bit and pressed her lips into his cheek softly, leaning back against the arm of the couch. "What if we get another girl?"

"Then I'm gonna need a lot more beer." He playfully grunted. Carol rolled her eyes and shook her head as Merle's hand ran up over her calves. "Always liked the name Dianna."

Carol raised an eyebrow, thinking of Merle sitting around and thinking about what he'd name his kids. "Daryl Elijah and Dianna Charlotte." Merle glanced over at Carol and nodded. He liked those names.

"Yer not gonna change yer mind six times like with Sophia, are ya?" He asked.

"It was not six, it was more like four. Besides, can you see her with the name Ruth?" Carol argued, holding her head up by her hand. Merle grinned and rest both hands on top of her legs. "Hopefully by then you'll get better at Go Fish." Carol teased and nudged his side with her toe.

Merle scoffed and looked over at Carol, pulling her legs off of him and moving to just barely hover over her body. He spoke before capturing her lips in a heated kiss. "Fuck Go Fish."