I've always loved to see characters in mundane activities too. I get more of a feel for them as people. I love to have the brothers interact and tease each other. Sorry for the long hiatus peeps. Coming up you will see, more activity from Merle finally well enough to move around more and get used to prison life but then again he is Merle so we all know he is going to mess that up at least a bit, he loves his drama does our Merle. PLEASE REVIEW! I Need to hear your thoughts. I do plan some tweaking of earlier chapters. ENJOY! ~Lefty~

Daryl POV

He is a real opportunist, my brother. He also has never made much sense even to himself; being the impulsive unpredictable, Jack ass that he is. I was still stunned that he found a partner in crime in Skya. She seemed to have much better judgment than to allow him to use her in such a public place. So here I am pushing Liam behind me so he wont see his mother's " just fucked look" and my brother turns away to put himself together (damn he's clumsy now). She pops off the cot; faceplants bounces up and runs to the bathroom vomiting down the front of her shirt (the fuck?).

"The hell, Brother?"

"She's not feeling well"

"No shit Einstein. What yer doin to her?"

"We did it to each other, man"

"In front of kids?"

"Nah. The little one was sleeping & he was gone with you. None yer fuckin business anyway, Yer actin' like an old woman. Darlina"

"Humph"

"It just happened, shit man y'all got a stick up yer ass so far yer stomach should hurt. So go fuck yerself why the hell ya judging me?"

He gets up with his pants zipped and his shirt off baring his horrible looking back, He waits next to the haphazard bathroom stall that gives nothing left to the imaginations as the worst ever sounds of retching emerges. I watch him watching the emotions play across his face and consider the changes I see in my very warped brother.

The first is that he allows any emotion on his face at all, usually a mask of sarcasm or anger, never what you would call true feeling for others, but here I see concern in his face, He waits by the latrine door, swaying back and forth in discomfort. He is healing as well as can be expected from what Hershel and Skya have told me .Im actually surprised that he survived this long, that he didn't die of blood loss or infection. He is able to stand upright now and bring his shoulders back into his "marine stance" I see him do it (grimacing with discomfort) now that he is aware that Im looking at him.

"Whatcha starin at lil' brotha"

"Nuttin"

(Sure as hell not gonna admit that I been starin at his newest scars, and remembering where the constellation of old red scars came from. He carries and shows the scars that I never show, the shame that I try to hide, I was a child, raised by a similarly mistreated brother and later abandoned by the same. I feel embarrassment that his back looks so much worse than my own. I sometimes forget how he took so many beatings for me. I try like hell to lock those memories away. Just like he became an addict to deal with the shit at home then he got pulled into the dealing too.

"Right, yer full a shit ya little pussy jus like always".

"Hey man did you forget there's a kid standin here?"

He looked at me again and smirked at me n' Liam

"So kid tree rats huh? That's what I started Daryl on when I was teachin' him ta hunt. You look like ya did okay for the first time. Now ya gotta clean them, He'll show ya that next. There's an art to it"

He looks again at the door, knocking with his hand,

"Skya ya diving in the damn commode or ya gonna hibernate in there?" Holding his stump tightly around his ribs breathing fast

"Shit Merle Ill come out when Im done, leave me be dammit"

Skya seems grumpy as hormonal hibernating she bear. Merle better watch it or he's gonna have his gimpy ass handed to him sex or no sex.

He comes back over to Liam and I and crosses his sore looking arms, raising his eyebrows sarcastically

"So ya gonna show the kid how to prepare tree rats or ya jus gonna let them rot? Take em over ta tha table over there, show him what Paw Paw showed us"

I take his suggestion while he sits on his cot leaning back on the pillows on his good side watching us with a smirk his eyes tumbling back through his memories to the summer PawPaw took us in and showed us how to live off the land. Daddy never liked my Mothers relatives; he hated the Injun shit as he called it. My Cherokee heritage is what saved me when I got lost in the woods and when my drugged loser of a father couldn't bring money enough home to feed me. I survived on "tree rats" and plants and bunnies, groundhogs, snakes you name it. Georgia has a wealth of wildlife and plants if you know 0what to look for and how to hunt.

"I bring my attention back to Liam and the tree rats, Um squirrels.

"As Merle told you there is an art to preparing a squirrel, you must never waste the gifts that nature gives you, and we honor it by preparing it right.

(I hear a snort which I don't pay attention to)

"My grandfather who I called Paw Paw used to say we skin it not like a nasty dead body but a gentle little animal who we would help take his little shirt off at the end of the day,'

I smile at Liam's unconvinced look

"You start by giving him some room in his shirt by laying him on his tummy pinching his skin and making a small cut. But mind don't cut into the meat. That's why ya gotta think like your making his shirt roomy before you help him outta it.

(I show him how ta pull the skin in opposite directions)

"It's like dividing him into shirt and pants, then you pull his shirt off, (I flip the squirrel over and lay him on his back)

"Then you remove his little wrists and head. You remove them by cutting around them like so but take careful of the tufts of hair still located near the wrist. My PawPaw said that these tufts of hair are scent glands, and ya leave em on can make the meat have a bad taste. Get rid o them. Do I got that right Merle?" I say as my nosy bastard of a brother creeps up behind both of us for a closer look.

He snorts, "I still say they're tree rats, and they'll keep you alive, ya just gotta limit yerself or ya might turn halfway into a rat like my pussy lil' brother did"

At this Liam looks horrified and leans around me looking at my butt as if he expects a tail. "You're joking Merle I don't see any tail or fur on him"

"Nah kid I said HALFWAY. He still looks human enough but he lacks the conviction that a Dixon man should have" He chuckles leaving that comment in the air.

He can only mean that he doesn't think I looked hard enough for him when I knew he was out there badly wounded newly missing his hand. He also is probably right. I found it so easy living with the group, not having to deal with my brother's twisted brand of love. I forgot that he was out there hurt, maybe scared. But I only remembered him leaving me, not waiting there for me, not trusting that I would come.

Dammit Merle I did look, you were gone! "Will ya stop bringing this shit up? I looked for ya every time I went hunting. I left notes every place I went. Will ya move on already"?

He grunts as he lifts his right hand stump covered with leather but still showing the angry skin of his scarred stump. "How hard is it do ya think brother to move on like this. I hit my face with the damnable thing every morning when I wake up and try to itch ma face; -Yeah man moving on is REAL easy"

"Shit ya ruin every good moment with this shit. Ya think I don't feel angry when I see you have to do things differently. I hate what you have been through. But I just want ya back, my brother, just to hunt with and protect these city folk with, they'll get used to ya, just stop messing with them, just help us all, you got a lot of skills, injured or not. Now shut up man and help me with the rats, Liam will hold them for ya right kid"

Liam nods and asks "Merle are you half rat too like your brother?" he says in his clipped Northern tones

(at this Merle make what only can be a -yuck face-he has reason to not like the taste of squirrel. My Paw Paw laughed so hard when Merle had eaten squirrel with the scent still in em)

. (I deftly remove the feet and head with my knife). Then I start on the bottom half

"Okay Liam now we take his drawers off. No not Merle's pants, pay attention here kid Im talking about the damn squirrel and don't start calling the damn thing a rat! Come on kid focus, Merle is just trying to mess us up."

He likes attention that way he can't help his damn self- never could, my brother.

"Now back to the squirrel stop looking at Merle" (who's grinning like the big fool he is)

"Pull the lower portion of the skin down to the ankles & carefully cut off the feet. So ya see just like getting him outta his pants like we do"

Liam looks at me wryly and smirks "yeah Daryl except where's your tail I thought that Merle said you had one"

Merle actually chokes in laughter and leans on the table rubbing his ribs, saying

"Shit kid you got him there, don't ya know that's why Daryl looks like he has a big ass, hiding his tail, my brother"

"The only big ass is the gimpy one that is messing with us while Im trying to show you how to prepare game, maybe he could make himself useful instead"

I hint broadly to Merle that he needs to help or get the hell outta ma way.

"Okay okay ya little smart ass you're doin the next one so ya better be payin attention to ma lil' brother (he winks at me) He's better n me with this shit"

Now he shuts up chuckling to himself happy with successfully messing with me as usual, showing his affection in his teasing warped fashion, he then silently walks over to his cot finding Skya curled up there, eases himself down leaning on her as he grunts slightly in discomfort as his healing bones kick him.

I continue FINALLY

"Pull the skin the rest of the way off the tail. "no Kid yer doing this part ya jus gotta get used ta critter blood, at least its clean blood" to my surprise he goes white under his freckles and actually does it, maybe him taking pride in getting' those squirrels is making him want to prepare them too.

Okay kid this part is harder I gotta show ya this, yer doing better than I did. I watch as Merle groans turning over then sighs and lies down on his cot, his breathing slowing as he watches me instruct Liam as he once instructed me, a small smile playing along his mouth. He snorts as Skya wakes from being leaned on looking pale but better, she too watches me showing her son how to prepare squirrel. I look at her and cock an eyebrow at my brother, she snorts under her breath and shrugs, lightly blushing her answer.

Liam is looking up at me expectantly yawning but ready for more instruction.

"Take the knife and just above one of the back legs, where the leg meets the body, split the butt and break it open (Liam starts laughing when I tell him Im gonna split the butt bone). "This will make a hole just above where the tail is."

"Now pay attention kid ya gotta be careful with this next bit. Merle wasn't shitting when he called it an art. Ya carefully split the squirrel up the full length of its body 'till ya come out the neck (just like yer drawin' on him while he's sleeping). Gotta be careful not to cut the guts, or the meat will be ruined or taste like shit. If ya get some guts on the meat, ya need to rinse the meat with water, and I mean quick."

"Heads up Liam ya can do this next bit, I'll hold the knife with ya make a cut on the outside of the butt bone",

He makes sure cuts in the squirrel's butthole just like a natural; giggling like any other 11 year old boy who hears the word Butt.

"Good ya got that right - hey ya got a good touch for a city kid."

He pays better attention now that he has control of the knife again.

"This will open up the tail more, allowing you to get to all of the tail. Cut the tail off".

"This is the gross part little man; ready ta get dirty?"

(I just barely hear "eww" from Skya and her steps as she walks to a corner of the room with her blanket)

"Take your hands and reach inside the cut you made along the belly. Start in the chest cavity and pull guts and all out. It all comes out clean in one pull if yer lucky if not it'll taste like shit.

You are now left with a nice clean piece of meat.

"Now watch me carefully cut off the arms behind the shoulder blade, see here where Im cutting? Then you take your knife and cut the back legs off as well. Cut them along the hip bone; see that line between the body and leg. All you have to do here is slice the meat all the way around the leg so it loosens up a little, then just twist the leg off."

Now I cut the squirrel into two halves. Make your cut right where the ribs end. The rib section won't have much meat on it, but if put into a stew, the meat that is there will fall right off the bone and tastes really good. Take the other section of the body along with all of the legs, fry or bake and season to taste. Merle's wrong Squirrel is tasty if you prepare it right and it can keep us from starving especially when the dead kill the stuff living on the ground like the rabbits and deer when they're in a herd

I look up to hear Merle's smart assed comment and see him passed out on his cot snoring his many times broken nose right off his damn face. I'm amazed that he can breathe through the damn thing at all. Skya is curled up in a cool dark corner in a blanket like a sick dog snoring gently herself.

Okay kid let's get through the rest of these and we will give them to someone to cook in the morning. I can see you're tired just like your mom and my idiot brother. I roll Merle over to where he is quieter and prop him so he won't roll back onto his injured side. Hopefully he will sleep through the night, he had a big day today and knowing my brother he hasn't admitted to himself that he is exhausted from pushing himself too damn hard.

I walk back to Ian ready to prepare the rest of the Squirrels and find him slumped on the table asleep, I pick him up and ease him into his cot with his sister, then returning to prepare the remaining squirrels before finding my own rest, as the morning comes early and I have to check Merle's traps too.