So very glad that no one had a problem with how the last chapter played out! Thanks for all your kind words and I'm sorry that a lot of you were paranoid that something truly catastrophic was about to happen to them! This next chapter is has a filler feel. It does to me anyway. Lol Hope you like it anyway! Thanks for reading!

Chapter Twenty Five

Daryl leaned against the police cruiser, picking at a hang nail. Shane had wanted to meet him somewhere where no one would be watching. "You get it handled?"

Shane nodded. "Yeah. It wasn't too hard. He didn't try to press charges. I filed it away myself. The kid don't have anything to worry about."

"You talk to Martinez?" Daryl asked, knowing that the chief would do what he could to sweep it under the rug.

Shane nodded. "Yeah. A few of us are watching that Ed fella, just in case. What are you doing with this guy anyway? I knew you all were a bunch of neanderthals but I thought even you had standards," Shane said with an easy smirk.

Daryl chuckled. "Yeah well, he's a special case."

"Care to elaborate?"

Daryl just shook his head. "No time. The old man is back in town and I'm about to dump all this in his lap. He's gonna wring my neck. Just remember, if I turn up missin' tonight, it was the Mexicans and not my pissed off dad."

Shane laughed. "Yeah, and I'll start dropping those hints around the station tomorrow. If something happens to this guy, fingers will point somewhere else."

"Oh, somethin' is gonna happen to the guy. There's just a few things we need from him first." Daryl shook his hand and walked away but Shane stopped him, calling him back. Daryl waited for him to speak but Shane just ran a hand through his hair and looked at him, trying to hold back a grin.

"What, asshole? I got shit to do," Daryl barked.

"Tell me one thing and you can go."

Daryl gestured for him to hurry the hell up so he could get the hell back to the garage.

"I've been tryin' to figure it out but I can't. This has nothing to do with anything illegal, does it? This is all over a woman."

Daryl snorted and turned around. ""Fuck you, Walsh," he called over his shoulder.

He jumped on the bike and sped out of the parking lot, throwing gravel in Shane's direction just for kicks. He was looking forward to seeing his dad. It had been two weeks since he left and a lot of shit had happened since then. He was sure that Merle would tell the old man everything because Merle couldn't keep his mouth shut about a damn thing. And he'd have everything blown out of proportion by the time Daryl could get there and explain things right. But he'd needed to meet with Shane to make sure that everything was set in case anything came back on Damon. He was kind of the kids role model, being younger than most of the men. If Daryl let the boy get himself into trouble just for doing something he was expected to do then that would make Daryl a real piece of shit.

Not only that but things needed to be set up for Ed Peletier's untimely demise. He didn't know what it was but he had a feeling that he would have to kill the man eventually. He didn't have a problem with that. He had a problem with getting his ass arrested for murder.

That was the other reason that he needed to talk to Shane. Reasons that had a lot to do with Ed but not Damon. He needed a trail. He needed the word to go around that the man was trouble. Cops listened to cops. One of the good things about knowing someone personally in the bacon trade. Pigs stuck together. Even if a few of them smelled a little like gasolene. Like Walsh and Martinez.

He pulled around to the back of the garage and wasn't surprised to see twenty more bikes than usual and black clad men meandering about in the sun. He smiled to himself, somehow taking comfort in all those intimidating faces. This was family. If Carol and Sophia had this crowd at their backs then getting away from Ed for good wasn't going to be as hard as she thought. And he believed she really did want out. She'd talked to June about a job. She'd made it clear that she wasn't in the marriage because she thought there was a chance of salvaging it at all.

And, to his own surprise, he was ready. He didn't want to just drag her off to random places to fuck her. Not that he didn't enjoy the hell out of it. But it was more than that, even if this thought freaked him the fuck out. For the first time in his life he wanted what June and Odin had. He wanted what his own old man had had with his mama before she was killed. He had never wanted that before because he'd never imagined he would find anyone that he would feel that way about. He had never wanted to feel that way. He knew himself well enough to know that the chances of him finding that were slim. Very slim. So he had never pursued it. Turned out, he hadn't had to. It all just kind of fell in his lap.

Buck had always told him that love wasn't what other people made it out to be. It wasn't something you had to work towards. It wasn't something that you eventually got after spending enough time with someone. It wasn't candy and flowers. It wasn't roses and hearts and pink fucking ponies. It wasn't something you had to strive for. Love was like a fucking snake in the grass, slick and dangerous. It came out of nowhere when you least expected it and it sank it's teeth right into your heart. It fucking hurt and it was confusing and it made a man do things he'd never thought he would do before. Love would rip you apart piece by piece and you would feel every rip. Live through every slow tear. And then it would put you back together but you wouldn't ever be the same again. And when that bastard bit you, you stopped. It all stopped. The world shifted. Everything you'd been would be seared away and then once you got used to the chaos of it, the only thing in the world that would matter was the woman that caused it all.

Needless to say, Daryl had never wanted anything to do with any shit like that but after Buck had told him that he had had a new respect for the man. He had fiercely loved Daryl's mama and losing her had almost killed him. Hell it had nearly killed them all. The only thing that saved him at all was Merle and Daryl, because they were the only thing he had left of her.

So, even though Daryl had never wanted anything to do with that mother fucking mess, he was already neck deep in it and it was stupid to pretend like he wasn't. At twenty seven he had convinced himself that he wouldn't have to go through it. He'd be able to just be him until somebody killed him. And then Friday happened. And goddamn had he tried to fight it. He'd tried to ignore it. He pretended like that venom wasn't running deep. But there was no use in trying anymore.

He parked his bike next to his brother's and climbed off. It wasn't hard to tell where Buck was in the crowd. He stood taller than all of them, an imposing figure. Daryl heard the truck pull up behind him but he didn't turn around. He was about halfway to Buck when a streak of red hair shot past him and he grinned.

Piper must have gotten news that Buck was back. Daryl may have been the man's baby boy but Piper was his whole fucking heart. She was a little shit compared to most, due to all the bullshit she had survived as a baby, but next to Buck she looked even tinier. Her head came up to about the man's elbow. When he spotted her his face softened and he grinned. Catching her right before she managed to slam into him and lifting her like she weighed nothing. She wrapped around him like a vine. She was a tough kid. Tougher than any he had ever seen. But that didn't matter to Buck. She would always be a little girl. One that never did any wrong.

When she'd been in kindergarten she had gotten pissed off and actually called her teacher a cock sucker. The man had been furious, reprimanding her in front of all of the other kids and not letting her participate in anything for the rest of the day. When Buck had picked her up and she had tearfully told him what had happened Buck had stormed right into the school, scaring the teacher so bad Daryl was sure the guy had pissed himself a little. No matter what, to Buck, Piper did no wrong. And it was obvious that her time locked away from her family had taken it's toll her her. Or her time locked away from her grandad anyway.

Buck finally set her down, his lips lingering on the top of her head for a long time before she finally stepped away. When he saw Daryl he smiled even bigger. For a bunch of hardened men, this group here had one hell of a soft spot for family. Daryl wasn't as enthusiastic as Piper had been but he was damn glad that his old man was home. Buck pulled him into a hug, squeezing him so hard that he thought his back was going to snap but he didn't complain.

"From what I hear you got a lot to report, baby boy," Buck said, meeting his eyes.

Daryl nodded. "Need to get a few guys together if we can. Think it's bout time to get somebody back in the old house."

The old house was the one that Buck had bought right after he married Merle and Daryl's mom. When she had died, when Daryl was nine, Buck couldn't live in it anymore. He also couldn't get rid of it, since she had loved it so much. Buck had offered it to Merle but Merle had turned it down, opting to live in the newer house with Buck rather than try to raise Piper completely alone. So the house still stood, empty. It'd take a while to get it ready and he wouldn't say anything to anyone just yet, but it was time.

"Never thought I'd see the day you got bit," Buck muttered.

Daryl snorted. "Yeah, you and me both."