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Thanks to piratejessieswaby, Annelisa, Brazen Hussy, Pontythings, Lilone1776, FanFicGirl10, Emberka-2012, deelove1, Dino-SOAR and VanityMayhem.
Chapter 25.
Merle Dixon had always appreciated his baby girl's stubborn streak. Whenever Hope threw a temper tantrum or refused to do something Merle saw himself in the adorable girl, but right now Merle was finding his girls stubbornness infuriating.
Merle was on his hands and knees in their bedroom trying to coax Hope out from under the bed. Over the last few weeks Hope had decided she no longer wished to wear any form of clothing and anyone who tried to dress her met her fiery temper head on. The boys made sure that Hope was dressed in clothes with enough buttons and zippers stopping Hope's attempts to shed her clothing. Hershel had told them it was perfectly natural for children to go through this stage but it was of little comfort to the Dixon men.
Merle had managed to get her diaper on her but after that Hope had escaped and scurried under the bed. Merle had tried every angle to get Hope out. He had tried bribing her, shouting at her he had even gone as far as threatening to get Hershel or Daryl in the room.
Merle tried to move his body under the bed. "C'mon squirt."
"No!" Hope yelled. She gave Merle a look that let him know she wasn't going to back down anytime soon.
Merle rested all his weight on his damaged arm and made a swipe for Hope; the girl crawled backwards and laughed.
"C'mon Squirt we're gonna miss Peach's party. Don't ya wanna to get all dressed up in your party dress?" Merle couldn't believe he was trying to negotiate with a baby.
"Noooo Mine a stinky." Hope laughed wildly at Merle's attempt to reach her. "Ussy Ussy." She was almost taunting Merle.
Merle's temper was now close to breaking point. "I swear to god girl I'm givin ya to the count of ten then I'm gonna tear this room apart."
Hope blew a raspberry at Merle showing the lack of interest in his idle threat.
Daryl entered the room he was greeted by the sight of Merle's butt poking out from under the bed.
"What the hell is goin on?" Daryl knelt down next to Merle.
Merle made another grab at Hope. "Dada." Hope giggled she seemed to be overjoyed that both her men had now been drawn into this game.
Daryl whistled at Hope. "C'mon Bug come here."
"No icky Dada."
Daryl looked at Merle. "Go around the other side I'll crawl under the bed and flush her out."
Merle stood up and moved around the other side of the bed. Daryl dropped to his stomach and started to pull his body under the bed towards Hope.
The movement angered Hope. "Nooooo!" She screamed as she crawled from underneath the bed.
Merle grabbed Hope and pulled her up. "Gotcha."
"No, no, nooooooo!" Hope howled and threw her body around in Merle's arms.
Daryl stood up and grabbed Hope's dungarees off the bed. "No not them." Merle yelled over Hope's howling. "The flowery dress."
Daryl squinted. "What the fuck does it matter it's only Beth's birthday party."
Merle grunted as Hope bit down on Merle's arm. "Fuck." Merle growled. "Just put the fuckin dress on." Merle snapped.
Merle had been avoiding Beth since the night in the stable, if he had to be around her Merle made sure it was in a group. Beth wasn't a dumb girl she was incredibly smart she could see what Merle was doing and it had upset her. Merle didn't like seeing Beth upset so he had a plan to make her smile.
Daryl wrestled the dress on to Hope's body the girl kicked and screamed all the way through the process. As soon as the dress was on Merle put Hope on the bed, he looked down at his bleeding arm.
"Damn squirt you went and broke the skin." Merle licked his finger and wiped away the blood from his arm.
Hope sat on the bed grizzling. "No." Hope sniffled.
Merle handed Daryl a small hairbrush. "Put her hair up."
"What the hell, you had a stroke or somethin? Do it yourself." Daryl found Merle's behaviour rather strange they never bothered tying Hope's hair up before.
Merle shoved the hairbrush into Daryl's chest. "I can't do it I only got one hand." Merle sat on the bed he pulled Hope onto his lap. "I'll hold her just do them bunches like Beth does."
Daryl dropped to his knees and took a deep breath he could skin any animal but putting up a girls hair was all new to him.
Daryl picked up a hair band with a little pink now on it. "Okay Bug sit still."
Hope was sucking on her thumb, the little girl still wasn't happy her fathers had managed to place clothes on her body. "No." Hope whined through her thumb she kicked out her legs catching Daryl in the chest.
"Damn it Bug stop it." Daryl wrestled with Hope's unruly curls. "There done."
Merle placed Hope on the floor the small girl stood with her thumb in her mouth. Hope's pretty white party dress was tucked into the back of her diaper, her bunches were lopsided and to top it off Hope had a face like thunder. The little girl stomped her tiny bare feet on the floor and crawled back under the bed.
Daryl sat on the bed next to Merle and looked at him. "I ain't puttin her shoes on."
It had taken the boys another half an hour to get Hope out from under the bed. They made their way down stairs. The group had all gathered in the kitchen when Hope waddle in with a small bunch of flowers in her hand.
Beth's face lit up as Hope walked towards her. "Oh Hope look at you." Beth bent down to Hope's level. "Are those for me?"
Hope waved the flowers around wildly making a few of the dainty flowers to become decapitated. "Itsa Stinky." Hope moaned.
Beth looked up at the two Dixon men standing in the doorway. "What did you do?"
Daryl shrugged he walked into the room. "We just dressed her." Daryl picked up Hope. The small girl screamed and shoved the handful of flowers in Daryl's face. "Bug." Daryl grumbled. He took the flowers from Hope and handed them to Beth. "Happy Birthday Beth."
Beth took the handful of headless flowers. "Thank you I'll put then in water." Beth placed the flowers on a kitchen counter. "May I hold her?"
Daryl handed Hope to Beth the small girl stopped her whining, she pointed her small pudgy finger at Merle. "No."
Beth kissed Hope on the cheek. "Oh dear have your boys been naughty?" Beth sat down with Hope on her lap.
Hershel smiled at his youngest daughter he was so proud of her. "You know it feels like only yesterday I held you in my arms like that Bethy."
Maggie gave a laugh she rubbed her bump. "Do you remember she used to cry when you put her down?"
Beth was doing her best to ignore Merle's presence in the doorway. "I wish mom was here." Beth replied sorrowfully.
Hershel stretched out his arm and his hand on Beth's shoulder. "Sweetheart your mother would be proud to see you so grown up." Hershel gave Beth's shoulder a squeeze. "You look just like her."
Beth felt a deep sadness birthdays were supposed to be filled with joy and happiness, all she could think about was all the loss and suffering.
Beth faked a smile. "Thank you all for all your wishes and gifts." She stood up and handed Hope back to Daryl. "I'm just going to collect some eggs."
Beth slowly walked out of the kitchen she didn't even grace Merle with a look as she left.
Carol tried to lighten the mood. "You know what we need to have at some point."
"What's that?" Maggie asked.
"A baby shower for you and Lori." Carol smiled. "We could have games and everything."
Daryl frowned. "Good idea you girls do that and us men will celebrate in our own way."
Maggie crossed her arms. "Oh yeah and how's that?"
Daryl smirked. "Avoidin hormonal women and playin cards."
Maggie playfully pouted. "Here was me hoping you'd be our stripper for the night."
Daryl let out a large snort. "No chance." Daryl kissed Hope on her rosy cheek. "Okay bug you be good for Auntie Carol today daddy gotta go on watch."
Daryl handed Hope to Carol and went to collect his crossbow ready for his shift on watch.
Merle walked around the large wooden fence checking for any weak spots in the structure.
Sophia came running towards Merle at high speed. "Merle can I talk to you."
Merle looked at the girl. "Depends did Daryl send ya?" Daryl had a knack of sending Sophia and Carl to him with any uncomfortable questions.
Sophia shook her head wildly. "No, it's..."
"It ain't about your body or sex?" Merle asked stopping Sophia in mid sentence.
Sophia shook her head again. "No please listen, it's Beth, she's crying."
Merle didn't know why but the thought of Beth crying made his heartache. "Why?"
Sophia shrugged. "I don't know she's in that stables."
"You tell Maggie or her daddy?" Merle didn't know why she had come to him with the information.
"No Maggie's busy with Glenn and Hershel is talking to Lori. I'd tell Daryl but he's on watch and you spend a lot of time with her..."
"Alright." Merle silenced Sophia. "I'll go check in on her you make sure there's no holes in the fence okay."
Sophia grinned she was pleased to have such an important job. "Yes sir."
Merle started the walk towards the stable he stopped halfway and changed his direction. There was something Merle had to do first.
Beth stood in front of Bluebell's stall crying, the old horse kept nudging at her tear stained face.
"Why you cryin?" Merle's voice made Beth turned she quickly wiped her eyes.
"I...it's..." Beth looked down at the stable floor. "I always though my mother would be here for me."
Merle nodded he stepped forward and held out a bunch of flowers. "For the ones Squirt shook to death."
Beth placed her hand over her mouth and gave a sad smile. "Oh Merle."
Merle smiled. "You believe in heaven right?" Beth nodded. "Then you gotta believe your whole family is in a better place."
Beth took the flowers from Merle. "I'm alone Merle. Maggie has Glenn even daddy and Patricia seem to be growing closer but me I'm alone."
Merle pulled an old rag from his pocket and started to wipe Beth's damp cheeks. "Nah you ain't alone. You got that Jimmy boy."
Beth placed her small delicate hand around Merle's large wrist. "I don't want Jimmy."
Merle looked into Beth's eyes. "You're too young..."
"Nineteen today and if we didn't have that calendar I'd never know my age. Age is an old concept now Merle." Beth let go of Merle's wrist.
"I'm an evil man." Merle replied.
With that one sentence Beth understood. Merle's doubts had nothing to do with age or what he may lose; Merle was the sort of man to fight for what he wanted no matter how the odds were stacked. Merle saw himself as the devil a man who wasn't good to anyone.
"The good man is the man who, no matter how morally unworthy he has been, is moving to become better." Beth looked deep into Merle's beautiful blue eyes. "I believe you're a good man and will become a great one."
Merle gave a snort of disbelief. "Yeah and you're just one person, the others they ain't willing to see what you do."
Beth moved her hand up to Merle's hair she tenderly played with his tiny curls. "It only takes one person to make a difference Merle."
Merle moved his face down towards Beth's face. He didn't know if what he was about to do was wrong or right, he knew only time would tell. Merle kissed Beth. It wasn't like the kiss they shared the other night. This time Merle was sure about what he wanted he wrapped his damaged arm around Beth's waist. Merle's free hand went straight to her butt pulling Beth's body tight to his own and he kissed her passionately. The sound of shouting from outside broke the couple apart.
"Stay here." Merle ordered Beth. "You hear any trouble you hide." Beth nodded.
Merle sprinted out of the stables he ran toward the front gate where Daryl stood on watch. Daryl had his crossbow aimed down at something or someone on the opposite side of the fence. Rick stood beside Daryl trying his hardest to sort out the situation.
"Look we mean you no harm." A familiar voice caught Merle's ears. "We just need some supplies or shelter. We're getting slaughtered out here."
Merle climbed up the ladder and stood up on the platform with his brother and Rick. Merle looked down at the people below him.
"You." Merle replied in complete shock.