Hello everyone!

Two updates in one day?! I know, I know... Practically unheard of, right?! But you have all just been SO positive and so kind and your lovely feedback (especially to the last chapter) has been so overwhelming... I just couldn't resist. So take this chapter as a thank you.

Before anyone reads this, I just wanted to make my line of thinking clear... I want to push this story on a little bit and so this chapter is set exactly one week after Daryl and Beth's date. I was set on having Merle as being a generally good character but there are blurred lines between good and bad anyway and I think that for now, I'm probably going to have him leaning more towards the nasty side. Don't worry, though - people can always be saved, especially when Beth Greene is on the scene, but I didn't want it all to be running TOO smoothly for them and wanted to add a bit of conflict to this fic. That conflict is coming in the form of no other than Merle Dixon.

I hope nobody is necessarily put off by it. Merle won't necessarily be a barrier to the relationship... more just someone who kicks up a fuss and causes a bit of trouble between them. But I wanted to make this story a little more interesting and add a bit more drama to it, so... you know. Yeah. I'll stop rambling now.

Enjoy!

"Pick up, pick up, pick up," Beth chanted down the phone in a hushed voice as it dialled, her eyes squeezed tightly shut as her foot tapped loudly against the tiled floor of the diner's kitchen, one of her thin arms wrapped around her tiny waist in some sort of attempt to comfort herself. It wasn't something that Beth did often, but there were times when other people (usually her mama or her sister) pointed out to her that in tense situations or times when she felt uncomfortable - or generally just vulnerable - she would wrap her arms around her torso and cling tightly to herself, as though she was trying to give herself a reassuring hug.

At the sound of Daryl Dixon's voice greeting her down the line with a gruff "'ello?", Beth's light blue eyes flew open in surprise, her lips naturally twitching upwards into an excited smile just at the sound of him. It had been two or three days since she had seen him because she had been given no other choice but to cover Tara's shifts at the diner as the other girl had apprantly extended her sick leave, and Carol was really struggling to find anyone who was willing to work the late shift most evening's - particularly on a Friday night, like tonight.

Beth had been given two days off in a row - Wednesday and Thursday, which was very unusual for her - and then she had been placed on the late shift tonight, meaning that even though her and Daryl had exchanged several text messages throughout the time that they hadn't seen each other for, Beth had not seen him - or heard his voice, either.

"Daryl!" Beth squealed down the phone, unable to contain her happiness or hide it from him, either. She knew that it was late - almost an hour past midnight at this point - but she had thought that maybe Daryl would still be out and about and awake at this hour, especially considering the fact that it was the weekend. "Oh, Daryl, I'm so, so glad that you picked up! I'm really sorry to ring you this late, but your brother -"

"Where is he?" Daryl asked, completely cutting her off before she could even begin to explain. Almost immediately after the last word was out of his mouth, Beth was certain that she could hear the sound of Daryl rummaging around with something, and the sound instinctively caused her to frown down the line.

"Here, at the diner," Beth explained, certain that she heard no other than a zip being pulled up from down Daryl's end of the line.

Had he been asleep? Had her call disturbed him, woken him up, maybe? The young woman supposed that it was actually pretty late on in the night now, and she suddenly felt awful for bothering him with this in the first place. Maybe Merle Dixon wasn't something that she couldn't handle for herself - of course, he wasn't the easiest of all men to be around, but she was sure that she had probably had to deal with much worse than him.

"I really am sorry, Daryl," Beth apologised, the guilt for disturbing him already eating her up. "It's just that Merle's... Well, he's real drunk, an' I'm jus' on my own here, so -"

"S'fine," Daryl interrupted her once again, completely cutting her off mid-sentence for the second time. "I'll be right there." With that, Daryl ended the call.

Pulling the phone away from her ear and holding it out in front of her, Beth couldn't help herself but frown down at the contraption, confusion and uncertainty painting itself over her pretty face as she registered the fact that Daryl had just hung up the phone on her. Even though he was awkward enough as it was in person and even more so on the phone, he was never usually that blunt or rude with her - instead, Daryl tended to be a lot more unsure, and Beth wasn't used to him hurrying to get rid of her in such a manner.

Collected herself after another long few seconds, Beth finally shook her head from side to side before she pushed herself upright from where she had been leaning leisurely against the sticky counter of the diner's kitching, telling herself that she had probably been hiding away in the kitchen for long enough. After all, she had no idea what Merle and his friend, Martinez, were getting up to in the empty diner now that she had left the pair of them unsupervised.

As she opened the door to be greeted with the sight of Merle pouring himself a drink from over the counter of the bar, Beth desperately fought the urge to groan and hang her head in her hands. She told herself that Daryl would be here soon enough, anyway, and she was sure that if anybody could control Merle Dixon, it would be his younger brother.

Besides - the older man couldn't be all that scary.

Right?

.

.

.

"So wha', jus' cause you're suckin' my baby brothers dick, you reckon you've gone an' got 'im all pussy whipped?" Merle drawled. "I don't think so." He wheezed out a laugh just moments after he was finished, but Beth was too caught by surprise at both the language that the older man used and the loud sound of his laughter to even do anything apart from blink straight back at Merle, completely unsure of what to even say back to him.

Beth may not have known Merle much at all, but she knew enough about the man to know that it was more than best to just leave him alone and not provoke him.

"She fuckin' your brother?" Martinez asked, tilting his beer bottle towards where Beth was stood behind the bar, sounding as though he was in disbelief at the notion of Daryl and Beth sleeping together at all.

The young blonde couldn't help but frown at Martinez's tone. She knew that she wasn't much – all small breasts and narrow hips and innocent eyes – but all of her life, people had told her that she was a pretty girl, so surely that had to count for something.

"Sure is," Merle said, tossing a grin to his friend before he narrowed his eyes ever so slightly in Beth's direction. His whole demeanour seemed to change then, and even though he was still smiling, there was something in Merle's bright blue eyes that had Beth suddenly feeling a lot more uncomfortable – even though she had previously thought that to be impossible. "Ain't that right, sweetheart?"

Beth's heart was hammering in her chest so harshly that she was surprised that Merle couldn't hear it from where he was sat across from her at the bar. The young woman was used to being teased by other's – after all, she had grown up being the youngest of three children – but that didn't mean that Merle didn't intimidate her at all. In fact, he managed to do quite the opposite; and Beth wasn't a fool – she knew that Maggie and Shawn were absolutely nothing compared to Merle Dixon and Caesar Martinez.

With that thought, a pang of sadness and sympathy suddenly hit her in her chest, and Beth couldn't help but think of Daryl, imagining how it must have been for him as he grew up with none other than Merle Dixon as his older sibling.

Although Beth didn't know all that much about the Dixon brother's and their family history, she knew enough – knew that their father, Will, was a wicked man and that their mother (who always seemed to remain nameless, as though nobody had ever really bothered to get to know her enough to even know what she was called) was a drunk who burned herself down in the house that they had lived in. Beth knew that Merle had been in and out of prison for various crimes over his life, and even though he was back now, the youngest Greene had a feeling that his presence in town wasn't necessarily permanent.

Clearing her throat and putting on the most unphased expression that she could muster onto her face, Beth bit out an "I'm not sleeping with anybody," emphasising the last word. Unfortunately, though, her words only seemed to encourage the two men, which most definitely had not been her intention. Beth's lips turned down into a frown as both Merle and Martinez howled with laughter, Merle seeming to find her defiance a lot more amusing than his friend did.

As quickly as he had laughed and smiled all wolfishly in her direction, though, Merle's attitude changed. It was though a switched had been flicked inside of him, and as easily as he had laughed, the man was suddenly appearing to be much more serious than Beth had ever even seen him be before. Merle's body language completely changed as he took a defensive stance; his facial expression stoic, his back straightened where he sat on the bar stool, his shoulders broad as he puffed out his chest.

Beth started to panic before the older man even opened his mouth.

"Wha' you tryin' t'say 'bout my baby brother, girl?" Merle asked, his bright blue eyes narrowing impossibly in her direction as he slowly looked her up and down.

"Nothin'," Beth quickly stuttered out, feeling incredibly flustered and anything but the confidant woman that she had been previously trying to portray herself as to both of the men who sat in front of her. "I just meant – "

"Jus' meant bullshit," Merle hissed, his lips turning upwards into a spiteful sneer, just the look on his face causing the hairs on her arms to prickle to attention. "You think you're better than 'im, huh? Think you're better than us?" Merle pounded his fist against his chest on the last word, his eyes never breaking contact with her own. "'S that how it is?"

Beth's light blue eyes widened at the older man's accusations, her head shaking back and forth at rapid speed as she attempted to shoot down everything that he was throwing at her. Although she knew that her trying to reason with Merle was in vain – mostly because it was him, more than anything, but also because Beth had a feeling that this whole intimidating bad-boy persona was all a part of an act, a front that he had in an attempt to intimidate her – Beth couldn't help herself but try.

"No," she said, her voice breaking slightly as she cried out. "Of course not, I –"

"Give it up, blondie," Martinez snickered from beside his friend before he took a long swig of his beer, seeming to be completely at ease with Merle's harsh words and his suddenly aggressive attitude.

Merle took a moment then to glance back at his friend and offer him a sly smirk before he slowly turned his head back in Beth's direction, returning his attention back to her. Within half of a second, Merle's expression had turned cold once again.

Before Beth could even open her mouth to say anything else to try and defend herself, the oldest Dixon raised one of his thick fingers at Beth so that he was pointing straight at her; the action not necessarily meaning much at all, but still intimidating her all the same – as though it was a gun or a knife that he was holding out as a weapon to her as opposed to his finger.

"Listen here, bitch," Merle spat out, looking as though he thoroughly enjoyed the way that Beth was backing up against the back counter of the bar and the way that she flinched at the sound of him cursing at her in such a bitter tone. "You ain't no better than any of us. 'Specially not my baby brother. So you better make sure tha' you treat 'im real nice, or I –"

"Merle!"

The sound of Daryl's voice booming across the deserted space of the diner caused Merle to tense up, the furious expression on his face seeming to cool down immediately as he halted in the middle of his threatening speech. Unable to help herself from reacting to the sound of Daryl's voice filling her ears, Beth's shoulders sagged in relief at the familiar sound of the rough voice – even if the younger of the two brother's sounded even angrier than Merle had seemed just moments before.

Part of the young blonde thought that maybe she had made a mistake by calling Daryl. Perhaps she should have just ignored Merle and Martinez and their teasing and left them to it. But even though she felt weak for feeling as though she needed to call him, Beth reminded herself of just how frightened she had been – especially considering the fact that she was working alone in the diner that was empty for most of the late hours of the night and the early morning.

Although there was a part of her that believed that Merle would never actually lay a finger on her, the older man was still intimidating and threatening and he certainly didn't seem to mind scaring her. With that knowledge, Beth decided that maybe she really hadn't been all in the wrong for giving Daryl a call.

The sight of Daryl bounding across the floor of the diner straight in the direction of his brother had Beth's heart fluttering in all sorts of unfamiliar ways, and her light eyes never broke away from his face despite the fact that he wasn't paying her much attention. Instead, Daryl's own deep blue eyes seemed to be locked intently on the back of Merle's bald head.

Apparantly, Merle didn't need to turn around to even glance over his shoulder at who was heading straight in his direction, right towards where he was now sat with his elbows resting against the counter of the bar. The smirk on Merle's lips spoke volumes for Beth as she realised that the older man genuinely enjoyed this; seeming to love the way that his brother shouted out his name just as much as he had appeared to have loved the way that Beth had been cowering from his presence just minutes before.

The older Dixon brother took one more long swig of his beer - finishing off the bottle - before he tossed it into the bin behind the bar, although from the way that he threw it and the fact that Beth had to jump out of the way of the glass, the young blonde thought to herself that Merle had most definitely been aiming more for her body than he had been the bin. The glass bottle whacked against the back of the bar before it fell into the bin, causing Merle to let out a loud hoot for the small victory.

Although she didn't want to really admit it to herself, Beth couldn't help but be slightly pleased and even a little bit proud when Daryl grabbed Merle's shoulder roughly, causing the older of the two brother's to spin his head round in Daryl's direction, the smirk on his face completely gone at this point.

"What the fuck are you doin' here, Merle?" Daryl boomed out, the volume of his voice taking Beth by surprise. She was certain that she had never seen him so furious - the younger brother pracitcally seething - and she had most definitely never heard him speak so loudly. "I told you to stay away from this place."

(In the heat of the moment, Beth didn't really register Daryl's words and take them much to heart, but when she revisited the situation in her mind much later on, the meaning of his words hit her with full-force. Beth didn't need to wonder about whether or not Daryl had told Merle to stay away from the diner because he wanted his brother to leave her alone - that much was more than obvious, to the point where it wasn't even a question.)

"An' who are you? My ol' lady?" Merle snorted, Martinez chuckling from behind him.

Instead of saying anything else in response to Merle's sarcastic comment, Daryl just glared down at his brother, his chest heaving up and down as the rage that he felt practically burned from him. The two of them stared at each other for what felt like hours before Merle finally gave in, letting out a loud sigh.

"Was jus' messin' around with your girlfriend, Darylina," Merle said, holding up both of his hands as though he was pleading his innocence, his tone taking a similar route.

For the briefest of moments, Daryl's eyes flickered towards where Beth was stood, her back still pressing against the back counter of the bar. The youngest Greene girl was frozen to the spot, her palms gripping tightly to the wooden surface of the bar, looking very much like a deer caught in headlights. Her heart fluttered once again against her chest in the slight few seconds that Daryl held her gaze, but all too soon he was looking back down at his brother.

"She ain't my girlfriend, Merle."

Daryl's words stung more than Beth cared to admit, although she knew that he was just trying to help her out - just trying to get his older brother to back off from her, to quit his teasing and to leave her alone for good. Besides, it wasn't as though Daryl was exactly lying. Just because they had been on one date together and just because he had kissed her and just because he had called her afterwards didn't mean that they were anything at all.

Goodness, it didn't even mean that they were friends, never mind lovers, or partners, or anything of that nature. Beth Greene most certainly was not going out with Daryl Dixon, so she definitely wasn't his girlfriend.

But still, it didn't change the fact that it hurt to hear him speak about her like that. It hurt to hear Daryl offer his brother an answer to the question that had been swirling around in her mind for months; 'what are we?'

Seeming to be completely oblivious to the fact that Beth was pracitcally crushed by what Daryl had said, Merle laughed - and of course she should have figured that he would find his brother's rejection towards her amusing. That was the sort of man that Merle Dixon seemed to be, unfortunately, and Beth was quickly learning that his attitude towards women was not the one that she expected men to have - especially when his brother was just so different in every single way.

Even though the two of them may have been family; they may have shared blood and they may be kin, that didn't mean that they were at all the same, and Beth knew in her heart that Daryl Dixon would never speak to her or treat her the same way that his older brother had done just minutes earlier, even if he was absolutely furious at her. That just wasn't the sort of man that he was.

Before Merle could let out another smart remark, though, Daryl was jabbing one of his fingers into his chest and growling out a low "get out."

For a moment, the tension in the diner could have been cut with a knife; particularly when Merle slowly tilted his head so that he could glance down at where his younger brother's finger was still pressed against the material of his thin vest, and even more so when he hopped off the bar stool that he had been sat at quicker than Beth had seen him move all night. But just seconds later, Merle was smiling at his brother - genuinely smiling - before he began to leisurely stroll towards the entrance door, waving his hand behind him as though he was bidding goodbye and goodnight to them all.

And perhaps he was.

Martinez looked incredibly uncomfortable for a short while afterwards, until he pushed himself down from his own seat and followed Merle's lead towards the exit of the diner, chancing a look over his shoulder in Daryl's direction only to scurry a little bit faster when he realised that the surly man was staring straight back at him. Once the door had come to a close behind Martinez, Beth found that she could finally release the breath that she hadn't even realised that she had been holding, her line of vision turning from the closed door back towards where Daryl was still standing in front of the bar stool that Merle had been sat on.

The younger brother looked incredibly defeated.

"'M sorry, Beth," he sighed out after a moment, his deep blue eyes finally lifting up to look across the way at her.

The broken way in which he was gazing at her was enough to make the young blonde certain that her heart was going to break into one hundred pieces of its own, and before Beth even knew what was happening to her body, her legs were moving on their own accord, her palms and her fingernails lazily tracing in a straight line across the wooden surface of the top of the bar as she made her way over to the other side where Daryl was stood.

It was only when she was standing directly in front of him that her cheeks began to blush and Beth realised what had happened; acknowledging the fact that she had brought herself over here as opposed to Daryl coming to her, something that she had been wanting for a while. There were times when the older man made a lot of effort with her, and then there were other times - other times like these when he seemed incredibly distant, as though he wasn't even sure that he was supposed to be around her, never mind speak to her, never mind touch her.

Beth tried as hard as she could to fight all of those negative thoughts that he seemed to have about himself for him, but there were occasions when it seemed as though she was fighting a losing battle. In that moment, as Daryl stared down at her, so many words hidden behind his tightly sealed lips, so many emotions hidden behind his glazed over deep blue eyes, Beth knew that any words that she might have of her own would never be enough to convince him that this wasn't his fault, to convince him that he wasn't to blame for his brother's behaviour.

All that she could do in an attempt to reassure the man that she was quickly falling for was to grab the bull by the horns - literally - and reach up on her tiptoes so that she could press a soft and tender kiss to his lips. It might not have necessarily been the response that Daryl had expected from her, and it certainly might not have been the way that Beth imagined responding to him, either; but as he returned the pressure of her kiss and seemed to relax into it, Beth found that she could accept the fact that this had most definitely been the best way to deal with what had happened that night.

The kiss was broken just a short while later, and there wasn't any possibly way that Beth could hold back the triumphant smile that lit up her features when Daryl pressed his forehead against hers and he nuzzled the tip of his nose against her own.

"I'm glad you're here," Beth breathed. Despite the fact that their kiss hadn't necessarily been all that passionate - more sweet and innocent, if anything - her chest was still falling up and down at a rapid speed as though she had just completed a marathon at record speed and her cheeks were still flustered as though the two of them had done a lot more than kissing.

Apparantly, Daryl couldn't help but smile at her, either; although his was more of a smirk than anything as he opened his eyes to meet with hers. "Even 'cause o' my dick of a brother?" he asked, unable to hide the disbelief in his tone.

Beth giggled softly and leaned up on her tiptoes to press another kiss to Daryl's lips. "He's not that bad," the young woman tried, but Daryl offered her only a knowing look in response that had Beth sighing in defeat. "Alright, maybe he is, but... I'm still glad that you're here."

Daryl nodded his head at that.

"Didn't know you worked the late shift on your own all the time," he said a few seconds later, his lips brushing against hers as he spoke.

The sensation of it tickled, and Beth couldn't help but smile at the feel of it, pulling her head away by the smallest fraction so that she could look up at him. "But you were here not that long ago when I was on the late shift on my own."

"Yeah," Daryl said, nodding his head. "But I didn't know that you were on your own all the time."

Not sure of what to say in response to Daryl's statement about her colleagues and the shifts that they worked, Beth just shrugged her shoulders sheepishly. "Guess not that many people like workin' it."

Daryl nodded his head once again at Beth's words. "Can see why," he said, narrowing his eyes a little bit as he looked down at her. "I don't like you workin' it."

It seemed as though this was another one of those moments that they shared after Daryl said something that he hadn't necessarily meant to, and it was only when he realised exactly what he had said to her that he seemed to fluster and become much more awkward and unsure of himself. Before any self doubt could enter his mind, Beth pressed herself up against him again and kissed him once more; the pressure of her lips on his much firmer and more determined this time, hoping that he took the hint that she was pleased with what he had said to her.

And although Beth knew that it was probably inappropriate to be behaving this way considering the fact that she was supposed to be working, when Daryl wrapped his arms around her waist and tugged on her so that she moved impossibly closer to him, she couldn't help but smile against his lips. When the kiss that they were sharing deepened so that instead of being chaste and sweet, his tongue instead was brushing against her own at a dominating pace, Beth knew that her world as she knew it was about to change. All of the thoughts of his previous words to his brother disappeared from her mind - "she ain't my girlfriend" no longer ringing through her ears - and for the first time since they last shared a kiss exactly one week before on their date, Beth felt completely relaxed and immensely happy.

And it was all because of the youngest Dixon brother.

His older brother was the biggest asshole that he had ever fucking met.

The worst part about it was that Daryl didn't even believe that it was his own personal opinion anymore. No, it had to be a fact; and Daryl decided that it was a long time coming that he was done with Merle's shitty behaviour and his even more shitty attitude. All that his older brother ever fucking did was throw it in his face that he had been the one who had looked after him when they were growing up, and even worse, all he had ever done - especially recently - was act as though Daryl actually owed him something for all of that.

But now that Daryl really took the time to think over it, he realised to himself that Merle had never even been there for him anyway; not now, not ten years ago, and especially not when they were both kids. Most of the time, his older brother would have been either locked up, drugged up and high as a kite just like their mama had been or just generally out of town; never caring much about what the hell was going on at home in the shithole of a cabin that Daryl lived in with their shitty excuse of a dad, never even giving a second thought as to whether Daryl was actually okay, whether he was safe and whether he was fed and whether he was even fucking looked after.

No, Merle Dixon had never been the type to care - never been the sort of guy who had ever given a shit about anyone other than his own god-damned self, and the bastard had always had the fucking cheek to behave as though he was actually surprised whenever Daryl mentioned something crappy about their foul excuse of a childhood. The time that Merle had seen that Daryl's back was just as messed up as his own - if not worse - he had come out with a load of bullshit; spewing off some crap about how he had always thought that their daddy would only ever do that to him, never to his little brother, and that he just had to get out and leave that place that they called a home or he would have ended up just killing their old man.

At the time, Daryl had never said anything to Merle; he had just grunted and shrugged his shoulders, hardly giving away any of his opinions on the matter. But the look in Merle's eyes had told Daryl everything that he had needed to know: that Merle understood the fact that Daryl didn't believe any of the crap that came out of his mouth, and that he didn't give a shit about any of it, either. As far as Daryl was concerned, when he had needed his older brother most, Merle hadn't been there - no matter how many bullshit excuses he gave, Merle would never be able to change that or make up for it, either.

The past was the past, but it didn't mean that Merle wasn't a shitty person.

Unlike his dickhead of a brother, though, Beth Greene, on the other hand, was most certainly not an asshole. In fact,t he girl was near enough anything and everything but, and quite frankly Daryl was sick to death of his brother's bullshit when it came to her. There had been several times in the past week when Daryl had warned Merle to leave both Beth and the diner alone. It had all been because fucking Gareth had ran his mouth about Daryl being at the fair and winning some pretty blonde girl a giant stuffed lion; but Merle being Merle had quickly gone and put two and two together, and he sure as hell hadn't shut up about Daryl and his new 'girlfriend' for the past seven days. The brother's had come head-to-head over it several times, but Merle never seemed to not find any of it amusing.

But as far as Daryl was concerned, tonight he had taken the whole thing completely too far, even by Merle's standards; and the worst part about it all was that Daryl couldn't ever be sure within himself that his older brother wouldn't lay a finger on Beth. Merle didn't live by the same code, the same sort of rules that his younger brother did, and Daryl had a feeling that as much as Merle thought that he was a good guy too, there was a line that Daryl would never cross that Merle definitely would.

When Daryl finally arrived back at home from the diner (where he had kissed Beth until they were both breathless, until her lips were swollen and her hair was messy and until the sound of a car parking up in the lot had signalled to them both that another customer had arrived), he was relieved to notice that Merle wasn't anywhere at all to be seen in or outside of the cabin. Daryl thought to himself that maybe his older brother had had some sense knocked into him - if not by Daryl's furious words, but then by his friend, Martinez. It was most likely Ceasar who would have offered Merle a couch to sleep on, although Daryl aready knew that Martinez's wife sure as hell couldn't fucking stand his brother (just like most everyone in town, though). It wouldn't necessarily be the first time that Caesar's wife had put up with Merle staying at her family home for the sake of her husband, though, and it wasn't as though Merle really gave two hoots about where it was that he was staying or with whom, or hell - even what it was that he was sleeping on.

Sad as it was to admit to himself, Daryl knew that he definitely couldn't put it past his older brother to have not slept rough or on the streets more than once in his life. The thing was, though, that Daryl couldn't even find it within him to feel sorry for Merle - not after everything that Merle had said and done, not anymore. At the end of the day, Merle was a piece of shit, plain and simple, and after the way that he had treated Beth - his Beth - that evening, Daryl decided that he was done with his older brother.

He wasn't just saying it this time, either. Daryl was done; and for good, too. As far as he was concerned, until Merle sorted himself out; until he got himself off the crack or the acid or whatever the fuck it was that he got high on, until he stopped with the excessive binge drinking and until he stopped with the dealing, too, then Daryl was done with him. There was no two ways about it anymore, no excuse that Merle could come up with. The guy would be fifty in a couple of years and he had fuck all to show for his life - hell, he didn't even have a job, never mind a house or a stable relationship or any sort of family. All that Merle had was Daryl, and if he couldn't get himself clean for the sake of his brother, then Daryl knew that he would never be clean for anything or anyone.

The decision to kick Merle to the curb wasn't necessarily an easy one of him to make, though, and it wasn't one that he looked at lightly, either. But Daryl knew in his heart that this had been a long time coming, but it had been the look on Beth's face when Daryl had first entered the diner, seemingly unnoticed - the look of pure fucking terror that had taken over her whole expression as she cowered underneath Merle's gaze - had been the thing that had sealed the deal for him. And as much as Daryl knew that he didn't want to necessarily cut Merle out of his life, he also knew that until his older brother sorted his own shit out, then he just wasn't welcome around here anymore.

Not in Daryl's life; and most certainly not in Daryl's home, either. Merle needed to grow up, and the only way that he ever would would be if Daryl treated him the way that he would treat anyone else behaving in the same way. Sometimes, you needed to be cruel to be kind, and this seemed like one of those times.

Despite the fact that it was getting closer and closer to two o'clock in the morning when Daryl finally arrived home at the cabin in the woods, the surly man knew that he was still too worked up from the events of that night (or morning, if he was being technical about it) to actually even contemplate getting any sleep, at least for a good hour or two. So without thinking anything more of it, Daryl kicked off his boots and let out a heavy sigh as he grabbed a large black trash bag from inside one of the kitchen drawers and quickly began to pace around the front room of the cabin, picking up all of Merle's shit and dumping it into the bag. All of the empty beer cans, all of the dirty underwear, all of the half-eaten take away pizza that had been left in the box for days... All of it picked up from his living room floor within ten minutes of him starting his task.

(Apparantly, Merle had thought that the couch was a lot more comfier than the bed in the spare room, but Daryl was sort of glad for it now - after all, it meant that there was less of a space for him to have to clear up).

The sight of the living room (small as it was) looking actually somewhat tidy and clean and hell, half fucking presentable again after not being for the few weeks that Merle had lived there allowed Daryl to feel just a tiny bit relieved at the decision that he had made. The younger Dixon brother made sure that he locked the front door to the cabin behind him before he made his way towards his bedroom, and within moments of him collapsing onto his bed, sleep took over his form and he was snoring loudly into the darkness.

Dreams of a certain blonde and her skilled mouth had him entertained throughout the night, and as much as Daryl didn't really want to admit it to himself (he just wasn't ready to, yet), he knew deep down that he had slept a lot more peacefully last night knowing that his brother wasn't there than he had done for the last couple of weeks.

Selfish as it might have been, not having Merle around was the best thing that had ever happened to him, and now that his older brother was off his case again, Daryl felt free once more. And fuck, that feeling was addictive - and he wanted more of it, too.

I hope it doesn't seem too unrealistic that Daryl would cut Merle out this easily, but I also have my fingers crossed that it is obvious enough to you all that there a few missing scenes from this chapter (e.g. Daryl telling Merle to stay away from the diner), and I just want to address the fact now that I will be revisiting these missing scenes in future chapters, but they will be in the form of flashbacks.

As always, thank you so much for reading and please review!