AN: From now on, I think I'm going to put the author's notes at the bottom of the text. But, I really want to thank those who have reviewed and favorited and/or followed this so far. Happy people like it, and please keep leaving reviews, they really help with motivation and keep the juices flowing :)

Thanks so much, and here you go!

September, ten years ago:

Melissa set her bags down by the front door and turned back to the two figures that were looking at her unhappily from the bottom of the stairs. Her mother was scowling.

"I don't understand why you need to leave at a time like this. We need you here to take care of things." Virginia Daniels declared. She tossed her newly highlighted hair over her shoulder and drummed her freshly manicured nails on the cabinet in the hallway.

"I told you, Mom, I have to leave. School starts in a few weeks." Melissa shifted the straps of her backpack so it rested on both shoulders instead of one.

"So, what, you get to live the life in New York and I'm stuck here by myself? Virginia demanded. "Miss Jones said she could train you to work at the salon. You could even just go to North Georgia Tech's Clarksville campus. It's close."

Melissa shook her head, sighing heavily. "Mom, we've talked about this. I'm going to college. It's a miracle they even let me enroll at Kingsborough this late in the game. The plan has always been community college for a year, then NYU. You guys will be fine."

Virginia shook her head vigorously. "No, Melissa, we will not be fine. I need your help here. Lenore's starting school soon and if you worked with me in the salon we would be able to pay the bills-"

"Mom, with dad's life insurance, you'll be getting a check from the state of Georgia once a month from here on out. You have Miss Warner to help with Nora. You don't need me to pay the bills; and as for the salon, you know that girly shit is yours and Nora's thing. You tried with me, remember? As I recall you said, and I quote, that I had 'issues with my femininity.'" Melissa opened the front door and started walking toward her car to put the bags in.

"Well, that's not the issue anyway. The issue is you're running away from your responsibilities." Her mother glared at her, furrowing her freshly waxed brows into a thin line. It was an extremely unattractive facial expression and Melissa knew if her mother saw herself in a mirror she would correct it immediately.

"Mom, please just calm down. You're going to give yourself a pimple." She felt her mother grab her shoulder and spin her around.

"You don't talk to me like that. I don't know why you're being so selfish." Virginia's tone was accusatory, as if Melissa was carrying out the greatest sin in the world. Melissa gazed into the eyes of the woman that had given birth to her eighteen years before and saw the panic and hurt there. Melissa felt a twinge of guilt. She and her mom hadn't been close for a long time. The woman just didn't understand her. Melissa had always been into climbing trees and playing sports. Her mother was a makeup and boys kind of woman, and had been quick to vocalize her disapproval whenever Melissa came home with dirty knees or when her husband would teach Melissa how to handle a gun or a knife. Her mother had quickly started devoting herself to Nora when she found Nora had the same "girly" interests as herself.

Melissa knew she couldn't stay here—not with the memories of her father filling every room in the house and the constant nightmares she endured remembering their last conversation. She didn't want to part with her mother on bad terms, however, so she chose her next words carefully.

"Mom, I know you're scared, but you will be all right. There are people here to help if you need it, and I promise I'll come back and visit during holidays. It'll be like I'm not even gone." She was lying through her teeth, but she just wanted to ease her mother's fears.

Moisture gathered in Virginia's eyes, but she blinked them back. "Fine then. Doesn't look like anything I say is going to change your mind so…yeah. I guess this is it."

Virginia put a hand on her daughter's shoulder and squeezed it. It was the most affection she ever showed Melissa these days. She started to head toward the house and turned to look at Melissa. "I'll send Lenore out."

Melissa turned around and continued putting her bags in her car, only turning when she heard the running steps of her sister coming down the front walk.

"Missy!" Nora yelled, running at full speed, her frilly pink dress billowing out around her. She rushed into Melissa's waiting arms. Melissa hugged her sister close, breathing in the scent of the special luxury shampoo her mother always bought Nora.

"Hey there, sweetie," she said. "You come to help me pack up?" She stood up and motioned at the remaining suitcases.

Nora backed up, putting her hands on her hips. "No, I came to help you bring stuff in the house. I do not want you to go."

Melissa sighed, kneeling down so she was the same height as Nora. "Honey, I have to go to college. Besides, you'll be so busy with school, you won't even notice I'm gone."

Nora shook her head vigorously. "No, no I will miss you! Who is going to read me stories and help me with my homework? First grade is hard! And, and you always know how to make the best Eeyore voice, and you sing the Spongebob song the best, even better than mom!" She was talking fast now, so fast that Melissa was starting to have a hard time understanding her. When Nora got worked up sometimes her speech became muddled and she always had to be reminded gently to slow down.

Melissa put her hands on Nora's shoulders, looking her directly in the eyes. "Slow down, Nora, slow down. Honey, I really can't stay."

"Is it…is it because of Daddy?" Nora asked, her innocent eyes looking at Melissa intently.

Melissa froze slightly, taken aback at Nora's innocent question. Melissa knew that Nora understood Melissa's sadness at their father's death, but for her to somehow connect his death to why Melissa was leaving was something she never expected. Melissa composed herself, and squeezed Nora's shoulders. She did what she always did when she wanted to shield Nora from the truth. Melissa lied.

"No, sweetie, it's not because of Daddy. I know it's hard for you to understand, but I just need to go. You and mom will be fine." She hugged the little girl to her, the guilt flooding through her. Of all the goodbyes, this was the hardest. She pulled back from her sister, and saw the tears starting to well up in her sister's eyes.

"Please, Missy. Please, don't go." Nora pleaded, Melissa's chest hurt.

"I don't want to, sweetie, but I have to." She straightened and put the rest of the bags in the car. Turning, Melissa hugged the Nora one last time. When she stepped back, Melissa saw Nora's eyes were filled with tears.

"Oh Nora, don't cry. I'm always a phone call away," Melissa said, her own eyes burning.

Nora put her hand to Melissa's cheek, gazing sadly into Melissa's eyes. "We'll be sisters forever, right?"

"Yes Nora," Melissa said, "And even longer."

She kissed Nora on the cheek and got into the car. Virginia came out of the house to stand by Nora. With a final wave out the window Melissa backed down the driveway and started driving away from her childhood home. Looking in the rearview mirror, she saw the two figures standing in the driveway watching her leave. Melissa turned her gaze back to the front windshield, telling herself over and over she wasn't really leaving anything really important behind. She hoped if she repeated it often enough, eventually it would be the truth.

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The wind had blown Melissa's hair free of its tight bun. She worked desperately to control the curls that were now flying in all directions as she sat huddled in the bed of Daryl's gray Ford truck, against Merle's Bonneville Triumph. Merle had fussed over the motorcycle, berating Daryl on his "pussy-ass pack job" and made a show of securing the wheels to the bed of the truck. He had put the weapons that were in the trunk of her patrol car in a bag and slid it under the seat in the cab of the truck.

"No room in the cab for you, girl," he said, "But ya can sit in the truck bed. Plenty of room next to the bike."

"Damnit, Merle, she can't sit back there. Can't trust her ta not run off the second we stop." Daryl argued as Melissa hoisted a bag Merle had given her in the back of the truck. Merle had gone back in the house looking for a few more supplies.

"I hardly think that you have the right to be talking about the issue of trust," Melissa remarked, pointing at the gun Daryl had been training on her since Merle had given it to him. She was tired of the dirty looks Daryl had been giving her all morning. "Here I am, a hostage, helping a couple of redneck drug dealers pack their shit and trusting them to not to put a bullet in my back. I'd say the trust issue is more mine to worry about, don't you?"

"Ya keep talkin,' I'm gonna kick yer ass," Daryl retorted. "No damn cop is gonna come to mah house an' insult me or mah brother."

"Is it really an insult if I'm speaking the truth?" Melissa asked, keeping her back to Daryl. She didn't know exactly why she was deliberately egging him on, but chalked it up to him losing his temper with her in the police station. If he hadn't been such a hothead she wouldn't have lost her own temper, and she wouldn't have been placed on desk duty to watch over Merle Dixon. And then she wouldn't be in this mess of a situation at the moment.

"I can just kick yer ass now. Can't talk anymore if yer unconscious." Daryl shot back, stalking over so he was right behind Melissa. When she turned he was right up in her face, looking down on her menacingly.

Melissa didn't blink or back down; she merely regarded him with disinterest. She spoke, keeping her tone neutral and even. "Fine."

She stepped back and started unbuttoning the blue uniform shirt she was wearing, and Daryl's eyes widened. "What the hell ya doin', woman? Keep yer clothes on!"

Melissa's eyes flashed. "No, you said you wanted to kick my ass. The least I can do is not let my uniform get dirty."

She had reached the bottom button. Daryl's eyes were bugging out of his head but his expression went back to his characteristic scowl when he saw she was wearing a black camisole tank top underneath the uniform. She started to remove the outer shirt when Merle's whistle cut through the air.

"Hoowee, ya got further than I ever did, Darylina. What ya say ta get her ta strip? Give her the ole' 'my momma's dead n' my daddy was a drunk' sob story?" Merle was leaning against the doorway of the house, a large Cheshire cat-like grin spread across his rugged features.

Daryl turned, glaring at his brother. "Shut up Merle. It's not like that."

Melissa set the shirt of the uniform on the ground and turned to Daryl, "So, are you ready to do this? Because I have to warn you, my dad was an expert when it came to grappling with thugs, and he taught me well."

With a growl Daryl threw his hands in the air. "Not gonna be any fight. Jus' get the shit in the truck an' keep yer mouth shut."

As he walked away to sulk on the porch steps Melissa heard him muttering under his breath, "Fuckin' crazy woman."

Melissa smirked, turning around and loading the last bag into the truck. Before she climbed into the back of the truck, she turned back to face Daryl, who was watching her with an incredibly pissed off expression.

"Next time you say you're gonna kick my ass, have the balls to back it up" she said, grabbing her shirt from the ground and hopping spryly into the back of the truck to take a seat behind the cab.

Now there they were, driving on the highway back to Clayton to pick up Nora at the hotel. Melissa was counting down every minute and every mile until they got there. After what she had seen on the highway, all she could think of was getting her sister and getting out of Clayton. When the man had come rushing at her, the man with the seemingly broken neck, she had thought she was seeing things. Maybe she had been mistaken about his injuries and he was going to be all right. Then when he had started attacking her and she had seen the feral look in his eyes, she thought he was sick with rabies, or whatever infection the other police officers had been dealing with and discussing all night on the radio. What they hadn't mentioned, though, was the smell.

Melissa had been backup on a few jobs that dealt with removing a resident from their home after they had passed away. The police were either notified by a passerby or relative that noticed the person was missing, or more commonly, noticed a strong, pungent odor coming from the resident's house. It was a smell that Melissa would never forget, and it was the smell that radiated off the man as he had attacked her. The smell of sulfur, sweat, and rotting meat. Death. It permeated her senses and even now she could feel it lingering in her nostrils and on her skin.

When Merle had delivered a perfect kill shot to the man's chest and the man hadn't even blinked, Melissa's heart had almost stopped. She had never been a person of faith or believed in the supernatural, but what she had seen was something she couldn't explain and this terrified the hell out of her.

She was a person of logic. When she was in law school at NYU, she learned all about the justice system. The rules were black and white, the lines clearly defined. If she went by logic, Merle was guilty of murdering an unarmed man, even if the man was attacking them. But what had happened on that highway completely blended the black and white into grey and blurred all lines for her. She wanted to believe the man was sick, or that he had been high on some type of drug. She didn't want to believe that a man reeking of death had attacked the both of them, surviving a broken neck and a shot to the heart in the process. She didn't know what the hell was exactly going on in Clayton, but the one thing she was sure of was that what was happening was dangerous. Perhaps more dangerous than anything any of the officers in the department had faced before.

Her thoughts had turned to Nora the rest of the trip to Merle and Daryl's house. Nora was at work, completely defenseless. She didn't have anyone there to protect her. And Melissa had realized she was desperate enough to ask the Dixon brothers, her captors, to take her back to town to get Nora.

Her last conversation with Nora kept running through Melissa's head and she put her head in her hands, the guilt building. Her sister's belief that Melissa didn't want to be around her couldn't be further from the truth. The long hours came with the job, and she had to make a living for her and her sister somehow. Melissa couldn't blame Nora for feeling that way, not after the way she had left for college and barely communicated with Nora or her mother for six long years. It was only when her mother died and Melissa had taken over as Nora's guardian that their relationship had been able to mend, to a certain degree. Nora still harbored a bit of resentment to her for leaving, and was never afraid to remind Melissa about it. No matter what Melissa did, it felt like she screwed up everything when it came to taking care of Nora.

Melissa put the heels of her hands to her eyes and breathed in slowly, trying to calm the storm whirling around in her brain. She had been awake for far too long and had too much time to think. To hell with this pity party, what she needed to do was focus. Come hell or high water, she was going to fix this. She was going to find her sister and she was going to get her out of here. Save for her little confrontation with Daryl, Melissa had tried to be cooperative with the Dixon brothers so they wouldn't suspect anything of her.

Being as discrete as possible, Melissa reached down and ran her hand over the side of her thigh. When she had ordered her uniform for the police station they hadn't had her size, so she had to settle for a uniform two sizes too big and hadn't bothered to order a new one. The pants were fairly baggy and she was grateful for that. They concealed the fact there was a massive weapon now hidden on her person. A weapon she had managed to conceal from Merle. Melissa felt the shape of the trench knife and settled back against the cab of the truck. When the opportune moment came, she was going to make her move.

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Daryl had been unpleasantly surprised when Merle had pulled up with the police officer, and he personally thought Merle had lost his mind when he said they were taking her with them. If Merle had just left her locked in the cell or something he would have probably gotten away scot-free. But no, Merle, as he always did when his pride took a hit, had to go and pull some stupid shit to reinforce his status as a man. This time he had taken the only woman on the police force as a hostage. Daryl furrowed his brow in frustration, still pissed as hell his brother had put him in this position.

Daryl looked at Melissa in the rearview mirror as they drove down the highway. She had shifted her weight so she was sitting with her back toward the bike so he could see her profile. She had finally gotten her curls under control and her hair was now pulled back in the tight bun he remembered from the first time he had seen her. She now looked to be lost in thought so he felt he could observe her unhindered. The bun only served to accentuate her sculpted cheekbones and strong jawline. From the angle he was sitting he could see her nose was narrow but slightly crooked, as if it had been broken and healed that way.

She had huddled her lean frame so she was hugging her knees to her chest, almost as if she was cold but Daryl knew it was probably the only relaxed position she could muster. The woman had legs for days and couldn't properly cross her legs to fit comfortably in the cramped truck bed. She hadn't put the uniform shirt back on, opting to just wear the black camisole top, and Daryl swore in the twenty minutes since they had left the house her already tan skin had darkened another shade under the oppressive sun beating down on the truck.

"Hope she burns to a crisp," Daryl muttered quietly.

"What's that?" Merle asked, turning from gazing out the window to look at Daryl.

"The bitch back there." Daryl said, swinging his head in Melissa's direction. "Got a mouth on her. Just thinkin' it'd be nice if she got a nasty sunburn or somethin'. Ya know, bring her down a peg or two."

"Aw, yer just mad she called yer bluff about kickin' her ass." Merle said, leaning back in the seat and lighting a cigarette. He opened the window a crack and flicked the ash into the wind.

He continued. "Yer right though, she is a bit of an uppity bitch. Thinks she's all clever and shit. Hell, I even bet she's a Democrat. It's not a surprise though, considering who her daddy was."

"What ya mean? Who's her dad?" Daryl asked, glancing at Merle out of the corner of his eye.

Merle took another long drag of the cigarette. He blew the smoke out, watching it curl until it eventually faded away. He threw out the cigarette and rolled the window up the rest of the way, not wanting the wind to carry his voice. His voice was low when he spoke. "Her daddy was Lee Daniels."

Daryl's knuckles tightened on the steering wheel. With Melissa in the truck bed, he had to force himself to speak quietly. "Ya mean ta tell me the daughter of the dead police chief is in the back of our truck right now? The police chief who…"

Merle's look silenced him. Daryl felt his blood grow hot and he hit the steering wheel, fuming. He had to fight to keep his voice low.

"God damnit Merle, ya done did it now. We can't go back inta Clayton, all them cops's gunna be lookin' fer us. Ya know how important she is ta them? If her daddy was Lee Daniels they're gonna be searchin' the area with a fine-tooth comb, and ya tell me we gotta get her sister?"

Merle Dixon lit another cigarette and took a long, slow drag, flicking the match out the open window.

"Well, Darylina, when ya stop moanin' like a bitch in heat I reckon ya kin take yer head outta yer ass n' start usin' it instead. All them disturbances were takin' up the honorable Clayton PD's time. Way I see it, it's gonna be a while before they know she's gone, and when they do they're gonna wanna keep us happy." Merle gestured toward Melissa over his shoulder with his thumb.

"She's our insurance policy. They won't fuck with us if we got one of their own. It's called leverage, little brother."

"Yeah but what about 'er sister?" Daryl hissed. "Ain't nothin' she's good fer. We can just turn around an' leave now."

"Can't do that Daryl." Merle replied. "Her sister is all that girl's got left. Can't just separate 'em."

Daryl had to register what Merle said. "Ya tellin' me we're gettin' this bitch's sister out of pity? What the hell, Merle?"

"Shut yer mouth boy." Merle's voice was dangerously low. "It's her kin. Ya think if we jus' leave she's gonna go quietly? Look, we get her sister, she'll come quietly. I don't need ya up my ass 'bout this. Ya ain't seen what I did."

Daryl looked at Merle out of the corner of his eye. "What happened on that highway?"

Merle took another drag on his cigarette and blew the smoke out in untidy rings. "When we was comin' back, a man come up outta the woods and attacked like the Vietcong in 'Nam. Man was crazy, hissin' and growlin' an' shit. He attacked her than came at me. I shot a round in his chest an' his knee, but he just kept comin'."

Daryl shrugged nonchalantly. "So what? Musta been jacked up on that Vanilla Sky shit."

Merle shook his head. "Weren't that. I seen guys on that shit. This guy, I looked him in the eye an shot him in the heart…but he didn't die. Finally got him down with a headshot. I don't know what the hell's goin' on, but it ain't drugs. Cops think it's an infection, but it's all over town. That's why she's so freaked out."

"Well, what the hell we gonna do with' them? We can't take them all the way to Dahlonega."

Merle ruffled through the duffel bag at his feet. "Don't get yer panties in a twist! Ya keep on like ya are I'ma beat yer ass into next week. It'll be fine."

Daryl turned to his brother with a raised eyebrow. Merle continued rummaging through the bag.

"We'll take 'em to Dahlonega, figure it out from there. If the cops up here are still busy dealin' with all this shit, we can dump the women down there. That satisfy ya?"

"Guess it's gonna have to." Daryl muttered, unhappy with the outcome of the conversation.

Merle, meanwhile, had found the baggie he was looking for. He opened the bottle and poured a small amount of the crystal in his hand. He leaned his head down and quickly snorted the contents off his hand, groaning as the drugs immediately took effect.

Daryl knew no matter what he said now, there was no arguing with Merle. They were going to be headed to Dahlonega with a kidnapped cop and her sister as their hostages. They were totally fucked.

Merle Dixon muttered. "Don't worry little brother. Ole Merle's got this whole thing planned out."

Daryl turned and stared straight ahead, his hands tightening on the steering wheel. Yep. They were totally, unequivocally, one-hundred percent, royally fucked.