***This chapter is a little less dark, but still kind of intense****

Love You 'till The End

I just want to see you

When you're all alone

I just want to catch you if I can

I just want to be there

When the morning light explodes

On your face it radiates

I can't escape

I love you 'till the end

I just want to tell you nothing

You don't want to hear

All I want is for you to say

Why don't you just take me

Where I've never been before

I know you want to hear me

Catch my breath

I love you 'till the end

I just want to be there

When we're caught in the rain

I just want to see you laugh not cry

I just want to feel you

When the night puts on it's cloak

I'm lost for words don't tell me

All I can say

I love you 'till the end

Merle was panicked to say the very least. He really thought he was going to lose his little brother, and it was killing him to think about all the times that he, nor anybody else had been there for Daryl. Shit, he knew why Daryl tried to end it all, the kid had absolutely nothing good in his life and Merle knew he shared in some of that responsibility. He made a silent bargain with God, keep Daryl alive and he would change, he would try to be what Daryl needed him to be.

Him and Trinity made it to the house in ten minutes, even with Merle carrying Daryl. Merle was now covered in his brother's blood. He had a dilemma, they needed to get Daryl immediate medical care, but if they took him to the emergency room Daryl would be involuntarily committed to a psyche ward because of the suicide attempt. The wounds on his wrist couldn't be explained away as an 'accident'. They laid Daryl on the dirty couch in the living room as Trinity applied direct pressure to the wounds, trying to keep the bleeding to a minimum. Neither one knew exactly how much blood he had lost, but to Trinity it looked like he couldn't possibly have any left in his body.

Merle ran to the phone and called the one person he could think of, his friend Carol, Ed Peletier's wife. She was in her mid twenties and a Trauma nurse at the hospital and if anyone could help him with this situation she could. He got in touch with her and she said she would be there in ten minutes.

Trinity refused to move from Daryl. She held onto his wrists like she could push the blood back inside. He looked so young and vulnerable in his current state. He had been there for her every step of the way so far, and she wasn't going to let him give up. She had to make him realize that he had meaning in this world, he was suddenly becoming her meaning to go on everyday. Right now he was lifeless, and it broke her heart to see him like this.

Carol arrived in just a few minutes and didn't even get a chance to knock on the door before Merle had it open and was ushering her into the house. She went over to Daryl immediately and checked his vitals and took a quick look at his wounds. "He needs a hospital, he is bad and his pulse is weak and thready. He has lost too much blood and he won't survive if we don't get him a transfusion." She said honestly.

Merle replied, "What do we do Carol? You know what happens if we bring him in as a suicide attempt, and add the fact that he is underage, the state will take him until his eighteenth birthday."

"Merle lets take him now, and we can discuss this in the car. I have someone who will treat him, and we will circumnavigate the ER. They will do it for me as a favor. Let's just get him to the hospital now." She said.

When they got to the hospital, Carol had Merle pull up around back near the morgue. Trinity shuddered at the fact they were so close to real death. She ran in and came out with a Gurney and they gently placed Daryl on it. He still hadn't awoken since they found him, which was close to thirty minutes earlier. Carol lead them down the hall to an elevator and straight up to a private hospital room.

A young Hispanic Doctor by the name of Hector Morales came into the room and shut the door. He greeted everyone and quickly went to Daryl. "Carol, he needs a transfusion. Let's get him out of these bloody clothes and into a gown and get him cleaned up. Can I ask any of you what happened to his arm?"

Trinity spoke up, "He had surgery just over a week ago, he broke his arm in an accident." She told him.

"Seems like he isn't having a good time in life right now. I am going to need to suture up these wounds and I want to put him on a Saline solution as well as an IV antibiotic just as a precaution. Do either of you know what triggered this?"

Trinity went to speak, but Merle stepped in and spoke for her, "Doc, we don't have enough time to tell you all the hell this boy has been through. Our pa got picked up on murder charges today and unfortunately it was his best friend, this pretty little lady right here, who's father he killed. I think Daryl blames himself."

As the Doc and Carol began to cut Daryl's shirt off of him a silence filled the room. Daryl's back was nothing but a mass of scars that told the story of all the abuse he had taken over the past seven years. Trinity's heart sank when she saw the obvious scarring from numerous lashes with a belt. It wasn't lost on Carol or the Doctor as well. Dr. Morales looked at Merle, and Merle confirmed his suspicions with his eyes. It was painful for everyone in the room. Maybe even more so to Merle, because he had been out drunk or high when the majority of the injuries had occurred.

Merle could feel his daily high escaping him, and he knew he would soon be showing withdrawal symptoms if he didn't get a fix. He now cursed himself for getting himself stuck in this vicious cycle. He slumped down in a chair in the room, and for the first time in as long as he could remember, Merle broke down. Carol went over to Merle and began to comfort him. She slowly began rubbing circles on his back and whispered words of encouragement in his hear. Merle slumped into Carol and she found herself wrapping her arms around him into a hug.

Trinity thought this was probably the worse day of her life, she had lost her father and felt like she was on the verge of losing her first true friend. She knew she had to keep it together for Daryl and from the looks of it, for Merle too. She finally spoke to the Dr. "Is he going to make it Dr. Morales?"

"He should physically heal, but I don't know about his psychological state. Normally he would be admitted to a psychiatric hospital until his mental health can be assessed, but Carol has explained the predicament you all are in, so I am keeping this under wraps. I am going to admit him as an indigent direct admission, which means their won't be any questions asked, and their won't be any financial liability, but I really would like to talk to him myself one on one when he is recovered."

Trinity spoke for everyone, "Whatever you think it takes to get him better Dr. I don't know if Daryl will participate, but we can at least get him to try."

Merle spoke, "If you think that will help, then I will make damn sure he does exactly what you say. The boy needs help, and we will get it for him."

Dr. Morales spent the better part of an hour stitching up Daryl's wrists and administering a transfusion of three units of blood. It was close to two in the morning and everyone was exhausted. Trinity suddenly remembered that no one at her house knew where she was or what she was doing. She was certain her mom was completely freaking out, but she was more concerned about her brother Jonah.

Trinity made her way down the hall to a payphone and called her house. Fortunately it was Jonah who answered, "Hello, Trinity this better be you."

"It is me. I'm at the hospital with Daryl, he's bad off."

"Mom is going crazy. Why are you there with the son of our Father's killer Trinity? Are you nuts?"

"Jonah, I don't want to get into this right now. I can't come home, not with everything that happened there, and Daryl needs me." She told him, on the verge of tears.

"Do you need me to come up there to be with you? There are a few things I want to talk to you about." He said.

"Can we talk in the morning? Right now I can only focus on Daryl. Jonah, don't say anything to mom or anyone, but he tried to kill himself tonight."

"Trinity, to be honest, I'm surprised he hasn't before. The poor guy has lived in hell since his mom died. I never really talked to him too much, but he always looked like a wounded puppy to me. I'm sorry for freaking out when I found you were there with him. You should be right now, he's alive, and well mom…you know how she is. Ezra is coming into town tomorrow."

"Ezra? No, I'm not coming home anytime soon. I hate that man." She told him emphatically.

"I'm not a fan of the man either Trinity, but he is mom's father, and she needs him right now. Trinity, there is so much I need to tell you, and some of it involves Ezra as well. Please promise me you will take time to talk to me." He said, his voice almost pleading.

"We will talk, I promise. But just so you know, I'm not leaving Daryl until I know he is OK, physically and mentally."

"That's good Trinity. He needs you; hell he needs someone in his life. I have worked with a lot of kids in similar situations and to be honest, Daryl's case is as bad as I have ever seen. I'm proud of you Trinity for sticking by him." He told her.

Trinity couldn't stop the tears as Jonah sounded so much like their dad at this moment. Albert would have been proud of the man that Jonah was becoming.

"Thanks Jonah. I love you." She said as she hung up the phone.

She went back to Daryl's room and found only Merle and Carol in there with him. Daryl still was not awake and she hoped that he had enough fight left in him to get through this. She sat down beside him and began to sing to him as softly and quietly as she could. He had told her that he liked her voice, and she hoped that maybe it would bring him enough strength to come back to her. The only song she could think of was the Michael Bolton song she had heard on the radio recently, it was probably corny, but it had some lyrics that touched her so she sang them,

"Tell me how am I suppose to live without you, Now that I've been lovin you so long, How am I supposed to live without you, How am I supposed to carry on, When all that I've been livin for is gone"

Trinity couldn't help it anymore, so she grabbed his hand and began to sob. "Daryl, you can't do this to me, you mean to much. We will get through this, I promise you I will do whatever you want me to, just come back to me so we can fix what's broken. I promise, I promise, I promise…"

She suddenly felt Merle's hand on her shoulder and he pulled the young girl into a tender hug. "I promise you Trinity, we are going to do whatever we can for him. I've failed him, and you've done nothing but right by him. It's partly my fault he is so broken, and I think it's because I'm broken too. I'm gonna fix me, and we are going to fix Daryl. I've let him down for the last time."

Trinity fell asleep in the chair beside Daryl, never once letting go of his hand. Merle was trying to keep it together, but his addiction was getting the best of him at the present time. Carol had stayed the entire night, calling her husband and telling him she was working an extra shift. Carol had her own demons she was fighting at the moment, and Merle was all too aware of them. Her husband was an abusive asshole who refused to let her go. Her and Merle were growing increasingly close, but until she was able to leave Ed, they weren't able to proceed with any type of relationship. Ed had money and connections, and Carol was afraid of the repercussions if she left, both for herself and for Merle. Right now Merle was all that Daryl had, and until Daryl legally became an adult, Merle was going to have to take the role of guardian for him.

Daryl finally woke up, startled and confused. His first reaction was to try to rip the IV in his hand out, but Trinity reacted quick enough to get him to calm down before he was able to pull it out. She was relieved to see his color had returned, but he was incoherent and it took him a minute to realize what had happened.

"Trinity, you don't need to be here. I'm no good for you. It's my fault, all of it. I'm poison to everything I touch." He said, tears sliding down his cheek.

"Stop Daryl! You are not poison. Daryl, I love you more than anything, and I have never told anyone that before in my life. If you leave me, then that will kill me too. Why didn't you come to me? Stop trying to take the world on by itself. I'm here for you, lean on me Daryl." She said as she also began to cry. As gently as she could, she crawled up in the bed with him and wrapped her arms around him.

"I dreamed about an angel and she was singing to me. I just wanted to leave and be with her, she sounded so comforting." He told her.

"Daryl, it wasn't an angel, it was me and I am willing to do anything to make things right for you." She softly began to sing the words again that she had sang to him earlier and he closed his eyes as she wiped the tears from his cheek.

"Trinity, do you realize what you just told me?" He whispered.

"I do Daryl, and I meant it. I have never felt this for anyone. You have my heart." She told him.

"You have mine too. I'm sorry I put you through this, I just figured you wouldn't want anything to do with me, and I thought I had lost everything. I can't bear the thought of being without you. Trinity, I have fallen in love with you, and I never thought I was capable of feeling that way. That's why it hurt so bad knowing what my Pa did to your Daddy. Because of me, you lost someone who you adored. That's why I thought you would leave me." He told her honestly.

"Daryl losing my dad hurts, I won't deny it, It has barely sunk in that he won't be there for me, but it wasn't your fault. You had no control over your father's actions. When I saw you laying there in the floor of that cabin, looking so lifeless, a part of me died."

"I'm sorry Trinity. It won't happen again, I promise I won't hurt you like that. I wasn't thinking straight and thought it would be easier for you to live without me."

"No Daryl, you are the only good thing to happen to me in a long time." She kissed him gently on his forehead.

"So what does this mean Trinity, are we a couple?" Daryl asked.

"Daryl we are so much more than that. I don't ever want to be away from you. When you kissed me the other night I thought my heart might explode. I felt things I had never felt before. I know it wasn't the type of kiss you are used too, but for me it was the most intense feeling I have experienced." She admitted.

"Trinity, I don't know if you realize it or not, but that was the first time I ever even attempted to kiss someone. It's not like I had the ladies lining up to be with me, and to be honest, there was never any that I wanted to kiss. I'm not like my brother when it comes to women. I have to respect them before I can be attracted to them."

"Daryl, I love you, and I am going to keep saying it over and over again because it makes me happy to be able to tell you that."

"It feels good…No it feels amazing to hear that from you. Look, I'm damaged, we both know that, but I promise, I will try to get myself right so I can be what you expect me to be." He told her.

"Daryl, I don't expect you to be anything but yourself. That's perfect for me. Even with all your imperfections, you are perfect. Just promise me you will always be honest, and if you feel overwhelmed like you did last night, that you will talk to me about it. I don't care if we have had the worst fight known to man, I want to know so I can be what you need me to be for you."

Because of his brace on his left arm, and the IV in his right hand, he wasn't able to wrap his arms around her, but he took her hand in his, and pulled it to his lips and kissed it tenderly. "Trinity, I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

"Daryl, the feeling is mutual, but I was wondering if when you go home if I can stay with you and Merle for a few days, Ezra is coming today, and you know I can't be around him."

"Trinity, you don't even have to ask. What's mine is yours. I don't know how Merle and I going to make it, but we will find a way. Don't you worry about Ezra. He won't ever hurt you again. I promise."

"Somehow Daryl I know you will protect me. You make me feel safe and I want to make you feel strong. Together we can defeat anything."

"I know we can Trinity. I will fight for you, and you will fight for me, that will make us both strong for each other."

So our boy Merle is starting to come around and to step up for his little brother. He has some demons he has to get off his back, but he is falling in love with Carol, and this is going to be the catalyst to help him heal. We all know that Merle was a decent person deep down inside, and I want to show that in this story.

Please Review Review Review for me...If anyone has any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them, I read all of your reviews and try to respond to all of them. You guys give me good ideas!

Thanks guys- Now enjoy...I will have another chapter up tomorrow night...

Missy

XXOO