A/N: Thank you so, so, so much to everyone who continues to read and review. You seriously have no idea how much I appreciate it. Here's the next chapter, I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own. All rights go to Robert Kirkman, Frank Darabont, and all others involved. Obviously that is not me.

Chapter Eight

Glenn woke up before Daryl the next morning, an oddity in their relationship, so he quietly exited the RV and went to the woods to take care of nature. He was on his way back to camp when a twig snapped and Glenn stopped, holding his breath and cursing himself for not bringing anything but a measly pocket knife with him. Some leaves rustled and another twig broke but Glenn could tell it wasn't a walker but it was big enough to send a chill down his spine. When the noises stopped Glenn took a hesitant step forward but was greeted with the towering form of Merle Dixon clad in only a pair of jeans and his boots. The older man was covered in sweat and had a small trickle of blood running down his nose. It was too dark to see Merle's eyes but Glenn guessed his pupils were probably dilated again; Daryl had warned him about Merle's drug abuse.

"Well lookie here," Merle trailed his fingers over the line of hair on his stomach. "Looks like I found a chink in the woods."

"Morning, Merle." Glenn tried to keep it short, sweet and polite. Perhaps Merle was feeling generous today and would leave him alone.

"Did I say you could talk to me, faggot?" Merle hitched his thumb in the belt loop of his pants. Glenn just shook his head. "'M glad I found you, zipper head, got some things I'd like to discuss." Merle motioned for Glenn to come closer.

"What do you want?" Glenn didn't want to get within arm's reach of the redneck.

"What I want is fer you to get yer yellow ass over here." Glenn faltered but did as Merle said, stopping far enough away where Glenn could dodge a blow if needed.

"What's up?" There was no way Glenn was going to show just how terrified he really was.

"I wanna know why my baby brother lets you into his bed." Merle tilted his head to the side, looking at Glenn with nothing but curiosity. "You got something on him? You blackmailing him or somethin'?"

"What?" Glenn was shocked. "No! Of course not! I love him." And Glenn couldn't believe he was saying this to Merle Dixon, of all people.

"Love?" Merle scoffed. "Ain't no such thing as queer love. Now tell me the truth." Merle didn't have to verbalize a threat for Glenn to understand one.

"I don't know what you want me to tell you. I love him and that's it. No one is blackmailing anyone." Merle narrowed his eyes and looked Glenn up and down.

"Maybe it's 'cause you look kinda like a lady."

"I do not! I'm a man and trust me when I say Daryl knows it." And Glenn could have smacked himself for mouthing off to Merle.

"He suck yer dick?" Merle asked, inching closer to Glenn. "Do you force it down his throat to make him gag?"

"You're sick." Glenn replied, not backing down. "What part of 'we're in love' aren't you getting?"

Merle's hand was cupping his face then, big thumb caressing his cheek just like Daryl so often does. Glenn was surprised to realize how similar the Dixon brothers smelled, how the calluses were almost identical. Merle leaned in close so their faces we're at an even level and Glenn saw softness in Merle's eyes he had never seen before, the blue irises familiar. It caught him off-guard enough to allow Glenn's body to relax just slightly under the touch, eyelids fluttering. Merle Dixon was a conundrum. Merle let out a breath that smelled like stale alcohol and a mouth that hasn't been brushed in days but Glenn's brain shut off when large fingers traced his lips delicately.


Daryl woke naked and cold, Glenn gone from his side. Luckily no one had walked into the RV since Glenn had failed to lock the door behind him. He could hear people moving about outside, most likely making breakfast and preparing to leave again, and when Daryl stood his whole body protested. Quickly he got dressed not bothering with his mussed and untidy hair and exited the RV, crossbow in hand. Carl was immediately at his side grinning from ear to ear, that damn Sheriffs hat still on his head. At least he was slowly growing into it.

"Hey, Daryl!" Carl looked up at him. "There are some berries in the woods but we're not sure if we can eat them. Mom told me to ask you if you could look at them." He was practically hopping with excitement.

"Sure kid. You want to come with me?" Daryl was feeling generous.

"Really? Yeah! Let me go ask my mom." Carl ran off to ask and when Lori nodded to Daryl the kid took his bigger hand in his own and started dragging him off into the tree line.

They didn't walk far before Daryl saw the bush full of wild raspberries. He knew without closer examination that they were edible, ripe, and delicious. Whoever found the bush had been lucky, they could pick enough to bring with them and they would make a great snack.

"We can eat these," Daryl told Carl. The boy looked happy. "You find them?"

"I did. Dad and I came out here earlier to go to the bathroom and I saw them. What are they?"

"They're raspberries. Here." Daryl plucked one off and handed it to Carl. "Eat it, kid. They're good."

"Yum!" Carl exclaimed, happily picking a handful and shoving them into his mouth. "Here, let's put some in my hat!" Carl took his hat off and turned it upside down and began piling raspberries inside.

Daryl watched on with an amused smile. That's when he heard the rustling. With a quick hand on Carl's shoulder to stop him he indicated for the kid to be quiet. Carl, who always seemed to surprise Daryl, immediately perked up and listened to his surroundings, unsheathing the knife hanging from his belt. Daryl walked towards the noise, crossbow raised, and Carl followed quietly behind him. Daryl almost dropped his crossbow when he saw his brother and Glenn suspiciously close to each other. When Merle put his hand on Glenn's face Daryl was about to jump into action, to protect Glenn, but the touch was gentile, soft; he had never seen Merle touch anyone with such tenderness. Daryl couldn't breathe, his heart clenched in a way he didn't understand and when he saw Merle touch Glenn's lips it felt as though his stomach dropped right out of his body.

Angrily Daryl turned away and he could feel his whole body burning with rage or embarrassment. Perhaps both. With a firm hand Daryl grabbed Carl and dragged him away and out of the woods, back to camp. The boy was silent but was looking at Daryl was confusion. When they broke the tree line Daryl shoved Carl away from him hard enough to make the child drop his hat causing the berries to spill. Daryl was seething, hand clenching and unclenching around his crossbow and he didn't know what to do with himself. All of the feelings coursing through him were completely foreign and Daryl couldn't comprehend them at all.

"What's wrong?" Rick was by Carl's side in an instant looking between his son and Daryl.

"None a yer business, Grimes." Daryl growled out.

"Merle and Glenn-"

"You shut yer mouth, kid!" Daryl moved like he was about to lunge at Carl but he stopped himself, biting his tongue.

"Don't talk to my son like that, Daryl." Rick requested, remaining calm. He looked at Carl. "What happened, Carl? Did you do something to Daryl?"

"I didn't do anything!" Carl assured. "It wasn't me. We were in the woods and we saw Glenn and Merle talking. They were touc-"

"I said shut the fuck up!" Daryl lost it then, yelling loud enough to echo. "You deaf or just dumb, kid?"

"What is going on here?" Lori ran up, holding Carl protectively.

"What's goin' on is you need to teach yer kid to mind his own damn business." Daryl looked around at the crown he had attracted.

"Carl?" Lori looked down at her son. "What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything." Carl was looking desperately at Daryl. "It looked like Glenn and Merle were about to kiss!" Carl managed to blurt out before Daryl could stop him again.

Everyone stopped what they were doing to stare at Daryl. He felt himself grow hot and uncomfortable under the gawking eyes and he didn't know what to do. Glenn walked out of the woods then, Merle not too far behind and they both stopped dead in their tracks when they took in the scene before them. Daryl looked between a red-faced Glenn and a shirtless Merle before slinging his crossbow higher on his shoulder and spitting on the ground. His eyes burned but he ignored it, wiping his nose with his hand and lowering his gaze to the dirt under his feet. He heard someone, T-Dog, whisper shit before walking away to disassemble his tent. Everything was dead silent for the longest time before everyone started going about their tasks again but Daryl could feel the eyes on his back.

"Hey." Glenn was by his side, placing a soft kiss on his cheek. Daryl flinched away. "What's wrong?"

"Nothin'." Daryl continued to take the tent down.

"Something is wrong. Tell me. Merle is in the RV, don't worry." Glenn went to touch Daryl's shoulder but the older man avoided the touch, turning to face Glenn.

"I said nothin' is wrong. Now how 'bout you leave me alone so I can get this done?"

"Are you crying?" Glenn asked, tone worried.

"I ain't cryin'!" Daryl barked and Dale glanced at them. "Now get the fuck outta my face, chink!"


Glenn walked away with his head down but he still saw the satisfied look Merle gave him. Part of him wanted to cry because really, Daryl never called him chink anymore; Chinaman, yes, Korea, of course, but chink was reserved for anger. The other half of Glenn wanted to punch Daryl in the face and ask him what the hell his problem was. Glenn thought hard and long about the past few days and what he possibly could have done wrong but nothing was coming to mind. Maybe Merle had done something, said something to Daryl to make him so furious. He had threatened Glenn, again, only minutes ago.

Merle's fingers on his lips were soft and gentile for a long span of time and Glenn held his breath waiting for the other shoe to drop. After what felt like an hour Merle's face morphed from serene and human to vicious and hostile, his large hand reaching out to wrap around Glenn's slender neck. The redneck wasn't squeezing hard enough to bruise but he was most definitely making it difficult for Glenn to breathe. Glenn struggled, tearing at Merle's hands and arms franticly, desperate for the older man to let go. Merle shook him, snarling like a wild animal and pulled him close so their noses were touching.

"Go near my brother again, and I'll have your balls as trophies-if you have any!" Merle demanded and released his hold, shoving the Asian man in the process. Glenn was visibly shaken up but rebelliously didn't respond. Merle was about to say something else when an angered yell came from camp and both men glanced at each other, recognizing the voice at the same time. When the others saw them exiting the woods together they were tight-lipped and silent, all except Daryl who was quite vocal about his anger towards Glenn.

Merle brushed past him, their shoulders touching and Glenn had to force himself to not cringe away. He heard Daryl throw something on the ground much harder than necessary and when Glenn looked over he saw Daryl glaring his him. And Merle. What the fuck? Glenn prided himself on being somewhat intelligent but at the moment he thought perhaps the zombie apocalypse was making him stupid because he had absolutely no idea what was going on. Somehow since the mind-blowing sex last night and his piss in the woods Glenn had pissed Daryl off.

Carl was staring at him from in front of the RV with a sad, far off look on his face and when Glenn caught his eye the young boy quickly looked away. That's when Glenn noticed all the strange looks he was getting from everybody, even Shane. So he managed to piss of Daryl and literally every other member of their group.

Shit.


They set off an hour later, cars packed and everyone's spirits high after a good meal and a decent night's sleep. Daryl swung onto the bike without a single word to anyone, taking off to the front of the pack, enough ahead of everyone else that Glenn had a bit of trouble seeing him from the RV. Glenn once again rode in the back of the RV, Merle across from him and Dale in the driver's seat. The gray-haired man kept twiddling his thumbs nervously and looking at them through the rearview mirror but never looked long enough for Glenn to catch his eye. Merle was napping; eyes closed loosely, mouth wide open with just a sliver of spit gliding out of the corner of his mouth.

Dale slowed down and Glenn looked up curiously, wondering what the holdup was. Everyone was pulled over but no one exited their vehicles except for Rick who walked straight to Daryl. Glenn couldn't hear what was being said but Daryl looked angry, waving his hand in front of Rick's face as though to brush the comment off. Rick nodded his head and then looked to where Daryl was pointing and Glenn followed the finger to set his gaze upon and rather impressive looking old Chevy truck. Then Daryl started stalking towards the RV and Glenn sat down as fast as he could attempting to look relaxed and casual but what resulted was Glenn sitting with his legs awkwardly spread with an ankle crossed at the knee. Daryl stared at him uneasily for a second before smacking Merle on the forehead.

"Wake yer ugly ass up, Merle!" Daryl yelled, jumping back with reflexes that looked natural when Merle swung out with a blade. He blinked up at his little brother before setting the knife down and laughing.

"You best have a good reason to be wakin' me up like that, boy."

"Found you a truck. Just like papa had when we was kids." He jerked his head and Merle followed without responding. On the way out Merle turned to give Glenn one last scowl.


Glenn was just dozing off when a loud hissing noise and the jerking of the RV sprung him into acting. He stood, eyes still half closed and wielded his bat, checking out all the windows for threats. Dale cursed from the front, wrinkled hand banging down on the steering wheel numerous times before he slammed the RV into park and swiped the sweat from his eyes. He looked at Glenna and sighed.

"The radiator hose again?" Glenn asked. Dale nodded and Glenn shouldered his bat, walking down and stairs and adjusting his hat before walking into the hot, Georgia sun. Even though fall was upon them the days were still sweltering. Rick, Shane, Daryl and T-dog were already huddled together.

"Hey guys, what's the plan?" When Glenn walked up to them they tensed and Daryl turned away fractionally.

"Daryl is going to scout ahead a ways, see if there's anything useful." Rick told him. Sweat was dripping down his kind face. "We're going to set up camp here for now, hold up until he comes back with news."

"Ok, cool. I'll go with you, Daryl," Glenn tried to smile at his boyfriend but Daryl only glared at him through hooded eyes, lips curling in something akin to a snarl.

"You ain't," Daryl held his crossbow higher. "Me an' Merle are gonna take the truck. You can just sit yer ass here with everyone else." Glenn recoiled as though Daryl had just struck him.

"If we're not back in 24 hours you best come lookin' for us." Daryl threw Rick a grin and shook his hands, rushing off to the Chevy when Merle began honking the horn. Glenn felt as though someone had kicked him in the gut and he wanted to rush to Daryl, tell him he loved him and to come back safely, beg Daryl to let him tag along. But he didn't, Glenn just watch the truck drive away until it was gone from his sight.

Glenn regretted it the next day when the Dixon brothers didn't return.

A/N: Please review and let me know what you think. As always I love to hear suggestions. WALKERS in the next chapter! I haven't forgotten those pesky little things.