It's been a busy week and this one took too long, but here we are again.

Hope you like it!

S.-

"Been caught buying cocaine and other stuff some years ago in Atlanta, managed to get another guy in jail.. looks like he'd gotten himself a good attorney or something", Andrea swallowed and looked up at Daryl. "Rumour is he runs his business from here, just to keep people from suspecting."

"Damn, how did ya find out all that stuff? Andrea, it ain't that we can walk 'roun' askin' everyone if they happen ta know 'im", he told her worryingly.

Andrea rolled her eyes at him. "I know that, Daryl. Shane came to the office this morning and I asked him. Told him you guys were working in his house and that you thought there was something weird about him, nothing more".

"''m sorry, shoulda known ya wouldn'..What else did he say anyway?". He lighted a cigarrete, already nervous about what he might hear.

"He said it was complicated, said every cop in town knew they should keep an eye on him, but that it was all they could do, that it wasn't their job to…you know, initiate further investigations or anything. He also mentioned he knew he didn't treat her wife right, Carol", she glanced at Daryl and let out a breath.

"I don't know Daryl, maybe you should just…", she stopped, but Daryl understood what she was suggesting. "I'm scared now, I'm worried… he even said if he'd known before he would have told me not to work for him". Andrea stood up and paced around the room, avoiding his gaze.

"He knows all that shit yet he won't do nothin' bout it?! Who tha fuck is supposed ta handle 'im if tha cops in town jus' won'´t?" Daryl spat angrily. "I ain't steppin' back Andrea, ya can tell 'im ya won't do tha work, fine by me.. but dontcha tell me ta walk away from this".

But she surprised him by slightly smiling at him.

"You really do care about her, don't you?", she asked him in a complete different tune of voice.

"It ain't jus' that", Daryl said defensively. "I wanna expose that son 'f a bitch for what he is, 's what gotta be done wit' people like 'im". He ducked his head but lifted his eyes to look at her. "I do care 'bout 'er though, pro'bly never cared 'bout any woman this way 'fore".

Andrea walked towards him and patted his shoulder, reaching over him for her purse.

"You're a sweet guy Daryl. It's a good thing she found you." She didn't catch the crooked smile that creeped on his lips. "Can you drop me somewhere downtown?".

"Aren' we supposed ta wait fer Merle?" he asked her, standing up anyway.

"He told me he'd go by himself, stole my car keys too. Never misses a chance of sleeping some extra minutes, that one", she explained, and Daryl snorted as he followed her to his truck.

"Mornin' there, damn hot mornin' too".

Merle forced a smirk. He'd planned this, getting to the man's house early so that he could take a better look without his brother's warnings. Because unlike Daryl, Merle had had his darker times, and he could figure these type of men out pretty easily. Hell, he'd been surrounded by them most part of his life.

And he needed to know what they were dealing with, because, sooner or later, they were going to have to deal with the man. Even when Andrea thought they shouldn't. Even when, if he'd been in Daryl's shoes, he'd have probably gotten the hell out of there, simply because the number of people he was willing to give a shit about was very limited. But his little brother was one of those people, if not the only one, and he was also a better man than he'd ever be. He knew by now Daryl wasn't going anywhere, so maybe he could use all the shit he'd been into to handle the situation as smoothly as something like this could go.

"Hot morning indeed". The man approached him and they shook hands. "I'm Ed".

"Merle Dixon. Ma brotha's in charge of yer refurbishin', but I'll be comin' ta help some days". He looked behind Ed and saw Carol watching them through the window. "Ain't wanna bother ya but I could use a glass 'f water, tough nigh'yesterday if ya know wha' I mean".

"Dixon?" the chubby man, who actually looked like he couldn't kill a fly asked him, brow raised.

"Dixon", Merle confirmed. "Why ya askin'? know many Dixons aroun?"

"CAROL! Come here and get my man a glass of water, will ya? and don't take all fucking day", the man barked. Merle's jaw clenched but he tried to keep his expression blank as he watched her quickly come out of the door, too embarrassed to make eye contact with him.

"Nice to meet ya darlin'", Merle said nonchalanty, and she gave him a small smile and mumbled something he didn't catch before walking back inside the house. "That's a fine lady yer married ta", he commented.

Ed shrugged. "Most women are, 'til you marry them", he said with a snort. "I trained her well though, never asks questions, always does what I tell her to do. It's how it's supposed to be, huh? she's got food and a damn roof, she owes me".

"Definitely man, gotta pay fer that shit, one way or anotha'", Merle said sarcastically, but it seemed Ed didn't catch the irony in his words because he simply laughed.

"Damn right. Looks like you and I could get along Merle, just let me know if you're up for another tough night these days.. I haven't checked this shitty town's bars lately", the man commented, checking something on his mobile phone.

"Always up fer it man, I can show ya 'round.. know tha best places ta get tha ladies and tha hard stuff", he winked at him and Ed chuckled.

"Told ya, we'll get along", and with that he walked back inside.

Carol saw Daryl get inside the property the second Ed headed straight upstairs. It had been two days without her seeing him and her heart started to hammer inside her chest, the embarrassment of having seen Merle fading away as she took him in, looking good as always despite his worn clothes, his eyes scanning around, probably looking for her.

She didn't think about it twice and just headed outside. After all, she was supposed to go to the groceries store and she'd heard Ed turn the shower on. And yes, maybe she'd turned reckless lately, but it was the only chance of seeing him she got. It was also that he'd woken up a side of her she'd thought was long gone, and despite the potential or real danger, it still felt good, taking the risk, feeling that she could want and be wanted, that she could love and be loved. Feeling that Ed hadn't taken that away from her.

"Hey there", she told him with a smile, intercepting him on his way in.

He smiled back at her, his thumb touching her cheek lightly. "Been lookin' fer ya, ya been alrite yesterday?"

She nodded. "I missed you though".

"Missed ya too". He turned his head to the side and Carol knew he was checking for people around, but Merle and two other workers were far away and apparently oblivious to their presence. He leaned in and brushed his lips against hers. "Ya goin' somewhere?"

"Groceries", she said boringly.

"Gonna walk wit' ya to tha gate, gotta take some stuff outta tha truck anyway", he told her, grabbing her arm.

They walked together the few steps out of the house and stopped by his truck, and Carol instantly leaned forward, pulling him in for a short kiss.

"I think he'll be gone this weekend". It was a wish more than a fact but it was also how it'd been lately.

"Can't wait", he answered, encircling her waist with his arms. "I fuckin' hate..", he started saying, but Carol brought her fingers to his mouth to silence him.

"I know", she said, and she replaced her fingers with his mouth and kissed him again. "Doesn't matter now, for now", she whispered on his mouth, feeling her stomach start to tingle and his breath invade her senses. He kissed her back and she smiled at how eager he also seemed to be for her, his tongue sliding between her lips and intruding her mouth, his hands moving to cup her face as he tilted his head to deepen the kiss.

"Damn", he hissed, his face flushed and eyes narrowed. "Hope Friday comes soon". He buried his face on the crook of her neck and placed a soft kiss on her clavicle, but her hand moved to his hair and she brought his head up, her lips crushing against his once more.

"I don't want to wait", she stated, and he fixed his eyes on hers and moved his arm behind him, opening the back of the truck. He silently stepped aside and she crawled inside with no further questions, a smile creeping on her lips when she saw him follow her and shut the door close, his lips instantly back on hers before she could even find a comfortable position, but she couldn't care less. She unconsciously leaned back until her back hit the side wall and he crawled over her, his fingers going down her neck until they reached the line between her breasts, and she searched for her bra and unclasped it, desperate to feel his touch all over her body.

He looked at her with dark eyes and kissed a path down her neck until he reached her cleavage, and she let out a moan when she felt his tongue encircle her nipple, his hand moving up and under her shirt to cup her breast as he worked her out, pulling apart only to move to give the other the same attention. Her legs parted and she threw her head back when she felt his lower body pressed against hers, creating an unbelievable good but exasperating friction.

"Daryl", she moaned, and his mouth found hers again, his tongue swirling with hers as his hand moved down and reached the waistband of her panties. "We gotta stop this Carol", he mumbled, sucking on her earlobe, but the way his hips were pushing against hers and his low, husky voice weren't encouraging her to stop. She unbuttoned his pants and slid the zip down, her hand reaching under his boxers and wrapping around him, his teeth sinking on her collarbone as she slowly began to move her hand up and down his length.

"Fuck", he hissed, taking both her pants and panties down with one hand as he used the other to balance himself over her, tracing her slit with his finger. She moaned and increased her speed, opening her eyes to watch him shut his close. "Yer so fuckin' wet", he whispered on her mouth before sucking on her bottom lip and sliding one finger inside her, which caused her to momentarily stop touching him, her hand landing on her side as she involuntary lifted her hips up.

"Oh, god", she growled when she felt his thumb pressing against her clit, and she arched her back and moved her hand to guide him inside her, but he pulled it apart.

"Ya in a hurry?" he asked her in a low drawl, his eyes fixed on hers as he replaced his thumb with the tip of his length, tracing circles around the sensitive nub down there and sliding it up and down but avoiding to push inside. She tried to answer him but the words didn't come out, so she simply nodded, her hips moving frantically in protest.

"Tell me whatcha want", he whispered over her mouth before kissing her once more and increasing her speed. She felt herself tense against him, waves of pleasure starting to build somewhere in her stomach.

"I want you Daryl, now", she managed to say, and he gave her a crooked smile and positioned himself, entering her so slowly she could feel him filling her inch by inch.

"I'm all yours baby", he told her, burying his head on her shoulder, and she shivered out of his statement. She wrapped her legs around his waist, pressing herself tighter against him, the angle making her moan a little too loudly, and he leaned to kiss her fiercely, his tongue moving back and forward against her own.

"Keep going", she said in between moans, and he obliged, thrusting and swirling harder and faster into her. An overloaded sensation started to grow in her body and she tensed, her hips lifting up to match his movements and her fingers digging the skin of his shoulders as all her muscles clenched and stretched and a massive wave of overwhelming pleasure began to hit each and every cell of her body. She felt his thrusts become unsteady and the next second he was coming too, his head colliding on her chest right afterwards.

"That was amazing", she said in between breaths, stroking his hair softly. He looked up at her and was half smiling, sweaty locks of hair plastered on his forehead. He looked just adorable and Carol admired how he could go from plain hot and sexual to cute and innocent in one second.

"Damn fuckin' amazin'", he replied lazily, but as if it'd just hit him where they were he stood up quickly, sitting on his knees and putting his boxers and jeans on. She followed him suit, and she knew these were the minutes where they both silently cursed the situation they were in, silently regretted, even, having been reckless even when they'd most likely be doing it again. It was bittersweet, and neither of them wanted to say it aloud because they didn't want to ruin what had just happened, those scarce and short moments in which it was only the two of them.

"Damnit, Ed. What tha hell ya want? It's fuckin' dawn".

"Easy got some interesting information for ya. But if you're going to be a bitch then I can just hung the fuck up".

"Spit it. Better be worth it."

"Daryl and Merle Dixon happen to be working on my backyard".

"You're fucking shitting me Ed."

"Now you listen to me, I don't care what the hell ya do about this, but they are doing a damn fine work in my house, you're gonna wait 'til it's done".

"You sure it's Merle and Daryl? Damn. You're positive it's them?"

"Didn't even remember their names Jack. The older one, Merle, he's a damn copy of yourself".

"Find out where they live".

"You going to way til their damn job is done? We got a deal?"

"Fuck you, Ed. Just find out where they live. I'll wait. But they better finish that job soon."