DISCLAIMER: I do not own any part of The Walking Dead. This is for entertainment purposes only.

A/N: My apologies for the wait. Fair warning: Merle Dixon's mouth. I think that's all that needs to be said.

There's No "I" in "Team".

Daryl awoke to the ceiling of his truck cab and the sound of carrying voices. The fact that he had fallen asleep in his truck already wasn't a good sign—everything he thought he had dreamt had really happened after all.

He groaned as he sat up and rubbed his eyes. Whatever amount of sleep he got wasn't nearly enough. However, he tossed it aside and pushed it down. He had some questions that he wanted answers to and now that it was a brand new day with the sun shining overhead, he could maybe get just that.

Daryl managed to crawl out of his truck and shut the door behind him. He noticed the Merle must still be asleep since the tent looked untouched since night. That was fine with him. He figured if he was awake, he would have already heard him by now. Everyone else seemed to be awake and chatting amongst themselves. There were more people than Daryl realized.

"Good morning, sleepyhead." One of the young blondes bounced past him with a smile plastered on her face. She had to be at least in her twenties.

Daryl grunted in response. The realization hit him that he didn't know any of these people and he probably looked ridiculous standing there gawking at everyone. He was searching for Shane but was having no such luck in the matter.

"Guess you haven't been formally acquainted with everyone yet, huh?" A gray haired woman approached him. Her voice was quiet and soft, and she folded her arms in front of her chest. Daryl noticed a few bruises on her arms and could immediately tell they weren't any accident. They were from someone grabbing her forcefully.

"Nah, you're all a bunch a strangers to me," Daryl admitted.

The woman forced a small smile, "Well for starters, I'm Carol. And I believe you said your name was Daryl?"

Daryl nodded as she continued to point out everyone around the camp. There was Dale and Jim working on the RV. Then Andrea and Amy, the two blondes who were sisters—who by the way had no relation to Dale after all. The Asian boy, Glenn. T-Dog and Jacqui. The brunette woman's name was Lori, and her son Carl. Then there was the Morales family, which Daryl couldn't remember any of their names if he wanted to.

"My husband, Ed… And my daughter, Sophia," Carol finished. "I think that about covers it."

Her husband. She had an abusive husband; that's what the bruises were from. And the little girl who was playing with Carl had to have been her daughter. And fuck, if that all didn't remind him of Elena and Leah.

"I'm actually looking for Shane. Got a few questions for 'im." Daryl let his voice trail off as he turned his back to Carol and walked away. He couldn't face her right now. Not with those familiar circumstances.

And lucky for him, Shane appeared from out of one of the tents.

"You say something?" Shane approached him.

"Yeah, got some questions. What do you know about all of this?" Daryl didn't bother waiting to just jump right into it.

"What do I know about all of this…" Shane repeated reflexively, placing his hands on his hips. "I know it's not safe."

No shit, Sherlock. Daryl crossed his arms and bit his tongue, "What about Atlanta? News said something about headin' there?"

Shane dropped his gaze, shaking his head. "Atlanta's not safe. There's so refugee center, nothing. They dropped napalm on the streets. It's all gone."

Daryl shifted his stance just as heavy footsteps came up from behind him.

"Why the fuck would they drop napalm?" Merle joined in.

"Hey, you watch your mouth. There are children here," Lori narrowed her eyes at Merle as she walked by with a handful of what appeared to be dirty clothes.

Merle glanced over at Daryl. He could tell he wanted to say something back to that statement. Daryl shook his head to give him the nonverbal clue to just bite his tongue. Then Merle switched his gaze back to Shane.

Shane just shrugged. "Beats me, man. Apparently they thought rounding everyone up and torching them would solve the problem."

Merle chuckled, "Nice little barbeque, huh? Got anything about them cannibals?"

"You mean the dead people walking around?" Glenn popped in on the conversation now. When the three men looked over at him, he nervously stared down at his feet and adjusted the baseball cap on his head.

"Yeah, ye know something 'bout 'em?" Merle continued.

"We've been calling them walkers. You know, because they just keep walking. That's all they do," Glenn stammered.

"And tear into people's flesh," Daryl muttered.

"Well, I'll be damned. The chink's got a cute lil' nickname for 'em," Merle grinned.

Daryl wanted to just walk away at that point, maybe just dig a damn hole and bury himself. It's the first day and Merle's already shooting out names, clearly letting everyone know he's a white supremacist.

"Did you not hear a word I said?" Lori came back. She had her hands perched on her small hips, glaring back at Merle.

"Naw, I heard ya. Don' take too fuckin' kindly to bitches who try an' tell me what ta do." Merle remarked.

"Excuse me?" Lori tilted her head to the side as if to lean one ear forward.

"Are we gonna have a problem here?" Shane interrupted, stepping between Lori and Merle.

"Will if ya don't keep that bitch on a leash. Ol' Merle ain't afraid of a little pussy." A smirk slowly crept across Merle's face as he winked at Lori.

"Oh—That's nice. That's real nice," Lori shoved Shane aside. "You know, Shane didn't have to offer you staying with us. He did it because that's the type of man he is—kind, caring, and just overall concerned for anyone in need of help."

"Ain't no one here in need of help."

Lori forced a laugh as Shane stepped back in front of her. Glenn slowly backed up and left to join Andrea and Amy. Now Shane was shooting a look between Merle and Daryl.

"I suggest you take a walk," Shane stared hard at Merle.

"An' I say you can jus' go fuck yerself," Merle spat.

"Merle…" Daryl shot him a sideways glance, his voice full of warning. Merle must have caught it too because he raised an eyebrow at him.

"The fuck's yer problem?" Merle snorted.

"Why don't you just head back to the tent?" Daryl suggested.

"You see something wrong here?" Merle held his arms up at his sides.

Daryl was doing everything in his power to not want to just flat out punch him. He chewed on the inside of his mouth with his eyes narrowed at his brother. He could tell from the moment he stepped foot over here that he was high. His eyes were glazed over and his attitude was but a simple confirmation. He knew he had to get Merle to back down and however he planned on going about it, he had to do it carefully. When Merle was high, he was angry. He wasn't quite himself. And Daryl had learned that the hard way years ago.

"Just c'mon," Daryl headed back towards their little makeshift campsite. He didn't look back to see if Merle was following. He knew if he did it would just send Merle over the edge that much more. He had to just play it cool and assume Merle would follow in step.

Just as he stopped by their tent, he could hear Merle's footsteps following. He threw his head up and shot another look at him, "What the fuck, Merle?"

"Man up, ya little pussy. Ain't gon' let nobody talk to Merle like that. That includes you, so ya best change yer attitude an' kick off them damn high heels."

Daryl stepped up and got in his brother's face. He half expected Merle to hit him for crossing the boundary line, invading his personal space. Daryl flicked his nose, "You're high as fuck. What the hell were you even thinkin'?"

"I was thinkin' I don't rightly give a damn. Now you best keep yer mouth shut, boy. One more peep outta ye 'bout these niggers an' democrats an' I won't take too kindly to ya next time." Merle snorted as he cracked his knuckles, brushing past Daryl to walk towards the tent.

Daryl could only sigh as he trudged over to the tree nearby and sat with his back propped up against it. He figured he might as well stay put and make sure Merle did as well. He'd just have to be careful with what he said and did around him until he came off his high. Wasn't that about right—Merle being high off his ass at a time like this. But it wasn't anything new.

He rubbed at his eyes as he looked over towards the main camp. He could see that Lori was staring over in his general direction, anything but happy. She had a slight scowl on her face as she busied herself around the camp and interacting with the others, mostly Shane. He could feel everyone's eyes on him after a while and he could sense the tension. But they were shooting glares at him. And that pissed him off. It appeared that once again, he was nothing but Merle's shadow—affiliated by relation. And wasn't that just peachy keen. If these people were just going to assume, Daryl would give them something to glare at him about.

Daryl didn't bother with even trying to get up and move around until Merle's snoring was evident from inside the tent. He knew he would be out for at least a couple hours or more, giving him some time to just kind of relax a bit and try to think some things through. He agreed with Shane that there was definitely safety in numbers. He figured it would be best to stick with the group at least until he found his bearings. There was no way he could manage it if it were just himself and Merle. He couldn't keep looking after Merle and keep an eye out for… walkers. Besides, this place was as good as any to hole up.

Finally coming to the conclusion they weren't going anywhere anytime real soon, Daryl decided to collect some wood for their own fire. He knew after today's events that the others would want nothing to do with either of them, and that most likely included them all sitting around a single campfire at night. Daryl couldn't picture it anyway. It was more of a joke.

"What do you want?" Daryl snapped at the sound of footsteps nearby. He turned to see that old man with the stupid hat on his head. Dale, that was his name.

Dale put his hands up in front of his chest in an innocent notion, "Now I don't mean to pry but I saw you last night. You were throwing something in the fire?"

Daryl froze and he could have sworn he felt his face grow warm with slight embarrassment and anger. How the hell did he see him? It was dark and everyone was asleep.

He tried to shrug it off, "Yeah, so?"

"I'm just concerned, that's all. If there's anything you'd like to share—"

"Ain't none of your concern, old man. Mind your own damn business," Daryl spat, taking a step forward as he narrowed his eyes. The last thing he needed was for Dale to go running his mouth about some speculation he fabricated in his mind. Nobody needed to know about his personal life. And he sure as hell didn't want any pity. It was his own damn fault it all happened in the first place.

"Okay, that's fair. I just wanted to make an offer. If you ever want to talk about it—"

"I don't. Now leave me be," Daryl cut him off again. He spit to the side and continued on with collecting more wood for a fire. After he picked up a few twigs and branches, he casually threw a glance over his shoulder and realized Dale had left.

He gave it some thought, about Dale. Maybe he wouldn't run his mouth. He seemed rather calm trying to talk to him, even with Daryl jumping down his throat. Perhaps he was a decent man. They always say that wisdom comes with age, and Dale certainly had quite a few years on him. He'd keep that in mind. If Dale did keep this between them, he could respect that.

It had been about four months now since Daryl had met Elena, two months since he met her daughter, Leah. It didn't seem like a whole lot of time but he had learned quite a bit about both of them in just that time frame.

He knew Elena was insecure, much like himself. She claimed to be shy and awkward but he didn't really see it. He learned more about her past, about Michael. How she always had the dream to be an aspiring artist. She loved to draw, and she was quite good at it. She had explained to him that's why she chose to be a teacher—an art teacher, so that she could still keep some of the dream. She was close to her sister, Skyler. She had specifically stated that 'not only were they sisters, they were best friends'. And she had explained more of what happened between her and Michael, how he had abused her and thrown her around like she was nothing. Though hearing that, Daryl clenched his fist.

Leah was a little different. She was able to grow up living an innocent life. She didn't have any memories of Michael other than a couple pictures that Elena had kept put away. Leah never asked much about her father. Elena told Daryl she figured it was because she thought it would hurt her feelings. Elena told him that she felt guilty for raising Leah without a father—that she should have tried to work things out with Michael. But again, Daryl had to clench his fists. He let her know that she made the best decision possible getting away from him and that men like that don't change. He knew that first hand.

"She's had a long day. She's completely tuckered out." Elena smiled at her daughter's form on the couch sprawled out in a deep slumber.

Daryl yawned, "I think I'm 'bout ready to join her. You're just borin' me to death over here."

Elena smacked him playfully in the arm, smiling.

Daryl turned the TV off and walked over to Leah. He carefully managed to scoop her up into his arms and carried her upstairs to her room, cradled against his chest. He could feel her hand grip onto his shirt just before he reached her room, making him stop and peer down at her face. She was still sound asleep. He realized he hadn't thought this through entirely seeing as he couldn't pull the blankets back holding her. Elena stepped into the room just then, apparently reading his mind. She fixed the blankets so that he could lay her down, pulling the blankets back up over her. Elena had her arms folded in front of her chest with a smile on her face.

"You'd make a great dad," Elena remarked.

They stepped out of Leah's room as Daryl pulled the door shut to a crack. "What?—"

"If you would have had kids, you would have made a great dad." Elena repeated.

"You don't know that," Daryl mumbled as he led the way downstairs. He stopped by her front door, expecting to leave soon so that she could get some sleep herself.

"Maybe not, but I can tell by the way you are with Leah. You're so gentle, and caring. And you can make her laugh at the silliest things. You should have a little more faith in yourself." Elena stood in front of him, her head slightly tilted up to look him in the face seeing as she was a few inches shorter.

Daryl shrugged, at a loss for words. He wasn't quite sure he'd ever be able to explain his feelings on the subject to Elena. He felt like he'd amount to nothing. He could never picture having kids for that reason. He felt like he would have failed miserably, or that he would have turned out to be like his old man. Though he could never picture himself hitting a woman or a child.

"Hey," Elena's voice snapped him back, her hand on his arm. "I mean it. I really appreciate everything you do. You certainly make life a bit easier and more enjoyable. For Leah and I both."

"I don't know what to say?" Daryl admitted finally. Elena forced a smile and leaned up into him, kissing him on the lips.

"You don't have to say anything. Just know that you are loved and appreciated." Elena continued, "And you are more than welcome to stay here any time you want. If you don't want to drive home."

Daryl nodded, trying to take it all in. The past four months felt like some sort of dream world. Elena was the first person to have ever said something like that to him. He was loved and appreciated? Hell, he barely knew what that even meant.

"It's okay. I figured I would give you your space, let you get some sleep. I don't live that far away." Daryl stared down at her, his eyes locking onto hers. He almost thought he could detect a little bit of sadness in her eyes. Was it something he said?

"Alright," She replied. "Just be safe and I'll… talk to you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, tomorrow." Daryl nodded. Elena leaned up against him once more, gripping the collar of his shirt as she kissed him on the lips. He carefully maneuvered his hands to her waist and kissed back.

"Good night, love."

Honestly, I have a difficult time trying to play out Merle's character. I just feel so wrong and dirty. I don't know how to bring that aggression out and even trying to attempt it, I feel bad for typing it. Ugh.

Any who, reviews are lovely! Thank you so much to those of you who are leaving them! I love to hear from you and see what you guys think. Y'all are my inspiration, really. :)