Disclaimer: See chapter one.

Chapter 21

Merles Pov-

I woke up to find Violet and I had meshed together during our sleep. She had her back pressed firmly against me and my arm was around her waist holding her there. Her head was resting on the remainder of my arm that wasn't tucked under my head. The sweet smell of her hair filled my nose and the warmth of her body felt nice against mine. She was such a dramatic change from the other girls I had shared a bed with before. The main difference was that when I shared my bed with a woman in the past we never slept and after we were done I kicked her out. The women were never the same person but were always the same type, crack whores just wanting their next hit. I had paid for it too. I had to take sooo many antibiotics to get rid of the shit they had given me. But this woman was different, sure she was half my age, but there was something about her that brought out the nice side of me. Which was something I had made fun of Daryl for in the past, I always told him being nice was for pansy asses.

Violet stirred next to me causing her ass to press harder against me. I let out a breath at how good it felt and she moved again this time she moved away from me. She almost rolled off of the small bed but I kept my arm around her waist and pulled her back to me. She made a sound and woke from the sudden movement. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"Ya almost fell off of the bed, I caught ya."

"Thank you." She said turning over to face me. She smiled at me and I automatically smiled back. "You know that's the first night of nightmare free sleep I've had since this whole thing started?" she said.

"That's because ole Merle scared them away." I said and smirked at her before I kissed her on the forehead. She kissed me on the cheek in return then pressed her face into my bare chest and mumbled something. "Hmm?"

"Oh I was talking to myself." She said pulling away.

"Bout?" I pressed and she sighed.

"How I really don't want to face my brother this morning. He was really mean yesterday." I nodded my head.

"But ya got him back for that."

"Yeah, its not the first time I've punched him, probably won't be the last."

"So what was he talkin bout?" I asked curiously and her eyes darkened. "Ya don't have to tell me if ya don't want to." I reassured her.

"No I'll tell you. My senior year in high school I was dating this guy Adam. He seemed nice at first but about two weeks after we started dating I went to the beach with him and his friends and their girl friends. All of the other couples went to find private places on the beach and left me and Adam sitting in the bed of his truck. Keep in mind that he was the first guy I had dated since junior high. I was fine with makin out with him but I didn't want go any farther. He kept grabbing my ass and I kept pushing his hand away. He wouldn't stop and it was pissing me off so I pushed him away. He called me a tease and after I called him a pompous ass. He called me a prude so I kicked him in his balls and locked myself in the truck the rest of the night. When I got back to school on Monday, he had spread it through the school that I slept with not only him but all the guys that were there that night. After that I was known as the town slut." When she finished her story she buried he face in my chest again and I could feel warm tears against my skin.

"Well yer not a slut and he is probably dead now." I said trying to reassure her rubbing her back. She pulled away and looked at me so I wiped her tears away.

"You're probably right, and the memory was dead too until he resurrected it like one of those stupid walkers. You know something else he said is kind of sticking out in my head too." She said studying my face.

"What's that?" I asked.

"Uh, how old are you exactly?" she asked. "Not that it really matters to me, but I'd just like to know." I was kinda hesitant to answer her question. What if she changed her mind when she found out exactly how much older than her I was. I cleared my throat.

"Uherm I'm uh…45." I answered looking at the bed. She laughed and I looked at her. "What?" I almost growled.

"Sorry I didn't mean to laugh its just that wasn't my first guess." She said resting her hand on my side sending a tingling sensation through my body.

"What was yer first guess?" I asked.

"Thirty eight?" it was more of a question then an answer. "What? You don't look like you would be in your forties to me." She blushed and looked down at her hand on my side under the blanket. I laughed and kissed her hair causing her to look up at me. "So you don't care that I'm half your age?"

"Nope, as long as ya don't mind being with an old man." I answered and she laughed.

"You're not an old man." She said before she leaned in and pressed her lips to mine. The kiss deepened and she rolled over pulling me to lean over her. I had no idea why she wanted to be with me, but at that moment I didn't care. I moved to her neck and was rewarded with a low moan from her. I nibbled and she sucked in a breath through her teeth causing a hissing sound to feel the air. I moved lower to the hallow of her neck and I felt her lace her fingers into my short hair. I tried to move lower but she pulled my head up.

"What?" I asked.

"Uh, Merle we can't do this here." She answered with an uncomfortable look on her face. "Everyone will hear." She explained. So I flopped back down on the bed beside her. "

"Plus I… I've kinda never done this before." She admitted with a blush.

"Ya've never had sex before?" I asked hoping I had heard her wrong.

"No. I kinda gave up on guys after the whole Adam thing." She admitted and I groaned without realizing it. "Great now you probably think I'm a prude too." She said burying her face in the mattress.

"I didn't say that. It's just I've never been with a virgin before." I said and she looked at me.

"So you don't think I'm a prude?" she asked and I shook my head.

"Coarse not." I said and kissed her hair again. She hugged me tight burying her face in my chest again and I could feel her kiss my chest. I could hear a couple of people up and about in the main room. "Think it's time to get up." I said into her hair and she pulled away rolled off the bed and slipped on her boots. I hadn't noticed until that moment that her tank top had shifted to reveal a bra that barley held in her breasts. I noted that she wore pink a lot and her bra matched her shirt. She caught me staring and adjusted her shirt to cover her.

"You going to get up or what?" she asked breaking the silence and tossing my shirt to me. I got up and put it on.

"Oh I never thanked ya for tha cake, it was really good." I slipped on my shoes. "Daryl tell ya red velvet was my favorite?" I asked and she shook her head.

"No he said he thought you like the red one." She laughed. "I didn't know it was your favorite."

"Well it is just so ya know." I said looking at her. "What's yer favorite cake?" I asked.

"Hmm coconut maybe? I don't really have a favorite cake. I have a favorite pie though, chocolate." She said and smiled at me before she walked out of the cell and into the main room. I followed her to see Daryl and Lyla sitting at the table. Lyla spun around on the bench and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Well well what do we have here?" she asked smiling at us and I could see Violet blush out of the corner of my eye. "Vi can I talk to you outside for a minute?" she asked and Violet nodded and followed her sister outside. I sat down on the bench across from my brother. It was quiet for a minute before he spoke.

"So ya and Violet huh?" he asked with a smirk.

"Shut up." I said giving him a pointed look that he ignored.

"What? I was just askin." He said and I didn't respond. "Well."

"Well what?" I asked.

"Did ya get any?" he asked surprising me and I resisted the urge to punch him.

"Don't talk about her like that. Her brother is already accusin her of being a slut for even sleepin in the same room with me." He raised his eyebrows.

"Wow so ya really do like her." He observed and I nodded. "I really don't like that guy."

"I don't either little brother but he's the brother of our women, what can we do?"

"Yeah we can't just beat his face in like we would any other prick like him."

"So what do we do?"

"I don't know but guess what."

"What?"

"You totally called Violet yer woman."

"Shut up." I said glaring at him.

~meanwhile in the prison yard~

Violets Pov-

"Ok just so ya know I have no problem with ya being with Merle, but ya need to know the man can have a temper sometimes and he does drugs or he used to I don't think he still does." Lyla told me.

"I know he told me that. He told me about the drugs and that he tends to have a temper. I know and I don't care." I told her with a shrug of my shoulders.

"Mkay just want to make sure ya know what yer getting into." I nodded my head. "He's also a lot older than you ya know." She said eyeing me.

"I know we talked about that this morning and neither of us care." She nodded her head and smiled.

"So…" she kept on smiling at me.

"So what?" I asked confused.

"So did ya…do it last night, I saw ya in bed with him this morning." She asked making me blush.

"Ugh should have known you were goinna ask." She laughed. "No we didn't do anything. It scares me to even think about it."

"Scares ya? Why?" she asked with a concerned look.

"Because I'm a virgin." I said looking at the ground and her mouth fell open. "Look just because everyone said I was a slut didn't mean I really was." I said getting defensive. Even my own sister thought I was a slut.

"No I didn't say yer a slut. I just thought ya would've had sex by now."

"Well I haven't and I'm scared that I'm not going to do it right or something."

"Vi, there's no right and wrong way to have sex, just do what yer body tells you to and ya will be ok." She was trying to make me fell better but she was just grossing me out.

"Ok Lyla gross. I'm scared but I think I can figure it out myself." I said and she laughed.

"Ok I won't give ya advice, but at least let me give ya some condoms, because something tells me Merle doesn't have any and the last thing we need around here is a baby."

"Once again, gross. But thanks." I answered and she laughed.

"So who broke Leon's nose?" she asked with a smirk.

"I did. He was being a total ass and called me a whore when he caught me kissing Merle." She laughed.

"Well our brother is known for being an ass hole." She said still smiling. "Merle tell ya I tased him?" she asked with a smile and I laughed.

"Yeah he got a little mad when I laughed. When did you become such a badass?" I asked and she walked to sit in one of the chairs.

"Well, if ya remember I wasn't exactly wimpy before I married Kayde." She said taking a deep breath. "I guess it happened when the world went to shit and I had to rely on myself again." She said and I nodded my head. "Well let's get back inside and see what we can find to cook for breakfast." She said and got up from the chair.

We entered the building to find Merle and Daryl arm wrestling across the table. Leon, George and Greta were standing around watching and Lyla and I joined in. She was rooting for Daryl and I found myself rooting for Merle along with Greta. We clapped and cheered when Merle finally slammed Daryl's arm onto the table. I stuck my tongue out at Lyla who was pouting and she stuck hers back out at me before she laughed. "Hey Greta, Vi and I were headed to the kitchen, wanna come?" she asked and the woman nodded her head. Lyla ran up to her and Daryl's cell and came back down. She stuck something in my pocket and I reached in and felt three condoms. She laughed at the face I made.

We stopped at the supply cell on the way and grabbed pancake mix, and syrup. When we got to the kitchen I mixed up enough batter for each of us two pan cakes and Lyla cooked them while Greta sat on a stool at the bar. "So what are we going to do about Cammy?" Greta asked. "She seems to be back to her normal self from what I can tell. The true test would be letting her talk to you Lyla."

"I'll talk to her when we get back, offer her some food again. She hasn't eaten anything since we got here and she has to be getting weak by now." Lyla said.

"Do I need to mix up more batter or do we have enough?" I asked Lyla and she said that we would have enough so I hopped up onto the bar. "Let me know if you want me to take over cooking." I said and Lyla laughed.

"We both know what happened last time I let you cook." And I laughed.

"What happened lat time you let her cook?" Greta asked and Lyla told her to story of when I tried to cook scrambled eggs when we were kids and I burned them so bad that they were not even eatable and we had to throw the skillet away because we couldn't get the eggs out of it. It took hours to get the smell and smoke out of the house. Needless to say I wasn't the best cook in the world back then, but I had had lots of practice over the years.

We all laughed at the story and it was quiet for a while before Lyla spoke again. "So Vi, Merle told me he likes Native American women, has he said anything to ya about that?" she asked and I shook my head. "Well he does. I know Daryl said he loves my hair, Merle probably does too. Can I fix it for you before we bring them the food?" I thought about it for a second and then nodded my head. I used to love it when she would fix my hair for me before I went to school.

She finished up cooking the pancakes and left to get her brush and pony tail holders. "So what did he say when you gave him tha cake?" Greta asked me. I laughed before I answered and she smiled.

"He asked me if there was a walker head under the bowl." and she laughed.

"Bet you feel better now don't you?" and I thought about it.

"Ironically I'm happier now than I have been in years. How is it that we can be so happy when the world and everyone we have ever known is probably dead?" I asked.

"Well sometimes it takes a disaster for a good thing to happen. Just kinda happened to take the world ending for you and your sister to find your soul mates." That made me laugh.

"I don't know if Merle and I are soul mates, I hardly know the guy really." She smiled.

"Ya'll are, I can tell by the way you to look at each other. It's the same way your sister and Daryl look at each other and probably the same way I look at George." I nodded my head before Lyla walked in happily holding a brush with ponytail holders wrapped around the handle. In no time she had all the tangles brushed out of my hair and had braided it to look like I had on a braided head band. The rest of my hair was long and flowing down my back. I held up a shiny metal plate from the kitchen and examined my hair. It was beautiful an I hugged my sister.

"Thank you, I think Merle will like this way better than my usual pony tail."

"Oh hang on I have an idea." Greta hurried outside. She came back in with a yellow flower that had been growing along the fence line. She stuck it in my hair near my ear and smiled in triumph. "Ok lets go see what he thinks and get these pancakes to our men, I bet their Hungary." She said still smiling.

We walked into the building and set the plate of pancakes down in the middle of the table. Merle couldn't take his eyes off of me. He watched me the whole time I passed out the plates and forks. I sat down on the end of the bench next to him and he placed his hand on my knee under the table and smirked at me before finally realizing what had been set on the table he everyone got their pancakes and added syrup. Everyone was too busy stuffing their faces to talk. When we were finally done Lyla grabbed the extra pancakes and put syrup on them. "I'm gonna go see if I can get Cammy to eat something." She said getting up from the table walked to the cell the girl was in. Daryl and Merle followed her just in case she needed them for something.

I noticed Leon glaring at me from the other end of the of the table. "Can I talk to you outside?" I asked and he nodded. We walked outside into the yard. "Why have you been acting like such a jack ass?" I asked straight out.

"You really don't know why?" he asked glaring at me.

"No, so tell me." I demanded.

"Because that man wants nothing more from you than to get in your pants." He said.

"You don't even know him."

"No, but the second he saw you I could see it in his eyes. He is a predator Violet. It is written all over his face."

"He is not! You need to get your fuckin eyes checked because the only thing written all over his face is grief."

"Yeah put there from taking advantage of young women."

"You are nothing but a judgmental son of a bitch. Why can't you just stop and look at what makes me happy? Why can't you just support my decisions for once? I have made pretty damn good choices for myself up until now haven't I?" He just stared at me. "Haven't I?" I asked angrily.

"Yeah." He answered hesitantly.

"Then trust this decision too. Do you think that if he was a pedophile or something that Lyla would even let him near me?" He seemed to think about it but didn't answer me. "Well?" he still didn't speak. "Answer me damn it!" he jerked his head up at my outburst.

"No I don't guess she would, but Violet, he is like twice your age." He was still fighting me.

"Yeah, over twice my age. So?"

"Violet, that's gross." That made me laugh.

"No its not. Grandma was 15 when she married grandpa when he was 23." He shook his head.

"That's different."

"Ok Hugh Hefner was 83 and he married a 26 year old woman." I said and he thought about it.

"Ok I guess your right, but I still don't like it." He said defeated.

"Well can you be a little less douche baggish about it?" I asked and he laughed at my insult.

"Baggish isn't a word." I sneered at him. "Ok fine I'll stop being a jerk."

"Thank you." I said turning and going inside Leon followed. Cammy was sitting at one of the tables eating her food. "Good to see you out and about." I said hoping she wouldn't bite my head off like the last time I had tried to be nice to her.

"Good to be out." She said simply.