(As much as I love TWD, this season is bumming me out. I'm constantly on edge about my favorite characters and just have genuinely bad feeling about this season. Here's to hoping that I'm wrong. Plus, I am steady losing hope that these two will ever be a couple on the show. I am going to try and write another chapter now to give myself some therapy.)

Merle was able to get in touch with Axel and he was more than happy to agree to go bar hoping with him. Axel was going to come swing by and get Merle in a few minutes.

"I got in touch with Axel." Merle announced as he entered the living room where Carol and Daryl were now sitting.

"He going with you?" Daryl asked.

"Yeah, he should be here in a minute. You sure you don't wanna come, little brother?"

"Told ya, I can't." Daryl reminded his older brother.

"Right, right. You got work tomorrow. Oh, here's your phone. Nice background." Merle said as held his hand out to give his little brother the phone back.

Daryl took the phone quickly and shoved it into his pocket. He noticed his older brother hadn't taken his eyes off of him.

"How you getting home?" Daryl asked hoping to change the subject.

"I think we're gonna get a hotel for the night. Axel said there is one within walking distance of the bar downtown. No sense in me going and getting locked up soon as I get out. Besides, I think I need to stick around and keep my eye on things." Merle said in a serious tone.

"Don't piss all that money away I gave you from selling our old man's scrap metal on booze and cheap women." Daryl warned him. "It needs to last ya until ya find a job."

"Yeah, Yeah." Merle said.

Just then they heard a horn beep and Carol looked out the window. She noticed a truck waiting by the curb and knew it had to be Axel.

"Well, it was nice meeting you Merle. Maybe we can do this again sometime."

"Yeah, maybe." He said.

Merle left and Daryl decided to hang around for a minute.

"I'm uh, well I'm sorry about the things my brother said earlier." He said nervously.

"Don't be." She said. "I was having fun with it."

"Yeah, I noticed." He said letting out a nervous laugh.

She smiled at him. He was clearly getting uncomfortable and embarrassed again. It was kind of cute.

"You know?" "The way you talked about your brother, I was actually expecting a lot worse. He isn't so bad." Carol said, truthfully.

"You just caught him on a good night. He coulda been a lot worse."

"Maybe." She said.

"Well, I better get going. Plus, you still gotta get Sophia from Rick's."

"Yeah, I do. Although I think she'd rather stay there with Judith. I'm pretty sure if she had her way she'd end up with a little brother or sister." She joked.

He let out a small laugh. "Thanks again for tonight." He said.

"Anytime. He's your brother. He's welcome here too."

"Well, goodnight." He said as he turned to leave.

"Daryl?"

"Yeah?"

"You gonna be by anymore this week or are you going to spend the week with Merle?"

"I'm gonna hang out with Merle some, but I still got time for you and Sophia too."

Merle and Axel were at the bar downtown, the same one Daryl had gone to with T-dog a few months ago. The two had thrown back several shots by this point. There weren't many people in the bar, it was a Tuesday night after all. Merle hadn't seen a single woman yet. What shitty luck. He thought to himself. Without a lady to help keep his mind occupied, he found himself thinking back to his little brother and that little lady he was in love with. He honestly didn't know what was actually going on between them. Were they screwing, were they friends, were they together? Daryl obviously wasn't going to say anything about it. She had flat out told Merle when he asked they'd been screwing around the last 6 months. However, he didn't have any clue if it was actually true or not. He wondered what Axel knew?

"Hey Axel, what do ya know about that little lady my brother hangs out with all the time?"

"Not much. I know she was married to that guy your brother beat the hell out of for hitting her. I know she has a daughter. I asked her out once, she shot me down." Axel replied, as he downed the cup of beer that was just placed in front of him.

"Oh really?" Merle said with a laugh. "Why you think she did that?"

"Probably because I told her I thought she was a lesbian."

Merle shook his head. "Sure got a way with words, dontcha?"

"She had short hair and all. I don't know. I just kinda thought she mighta been." He shrugged.

"Dumbass." Merle said. "Anyway, you said my brother's always over there, are they together?"

"I don't know, Merle. I don't exactly hang out with Daryl. He's always over at her house from what I can tell or hanging out with that cop that lives near T-Dog."

"You live right over there by em. You ain't never seen em do no couple shit?"

"No, not really. I mean, he takes up time with her kid. I guess that's something you do when you're dating someone. But I haven't seen em kiss or nothing. Hell, it ain't like I sit out the fucking window and watch em."

"He spends time with her kid?" Merle said with an almost disgusted look on his face.

"Yeah, I've seen him kicking a soccer ball around with her and that cop's son a few times."

"Daryl?" "Kicking a fucking soccer ball around!" "What the hell!" Merle yelled.

"What are you so worried about it for anyway?" What's is matter?"

"No reason." Merle said. He knew Axel wouldn't understand.

Merle looked up and saw a woman enter the bar. She wasn't hot or anything, but it had been a long six months and she would do. He got up from his seat and decided for the moment he wasn't worried about who his little brother was or wasn't interested in. He had to take care of himself first.

Daryl stopped by Rick's house on his way home from work. The police station had been raffling off a gun to raise money for a family who lost their house in a fire. Daryl had bought some of the raffle tickets and actually ended up winning the gun. He was going to pick it up from Rick today.

"Hey Daryl." Lori said as she answered the door. She was holding baby Judith in her arms. "Rick's upstairs getting a shower. He should be out in a minute. Come on in."

As he stepped inside the house he heard a ding.

"That's my time timer. I've gotta take the casserole out of the over." "Would you mind holding Judith for a second?"

"No problem." He said. She moved and placed the baby in his arms. He gently took her and moved towards the couch. Even though she was a month old and had put on some weight, she was still so tiny and fragile looking. "Hey little ass kicker."

Lori took the casserole out of the oven and headed back to the living room to get Judith. She paused for a minute before letting Daryl know she was in the room. He was looking down at Judith, speaking softly to her. She wouldn't have ever guessed Daryl would be so good with babies, or kids for that matter. He was great with Sophia and Carl too. She initially didn't want him and Carol together at all, these days she was more than ready for her friend to finally tell her something had happened between the two. She didn't think there was anyone better for her.

"You know, you'd make a good father, Daryl. Have you ever thought about having kids?" Lori said sincerely as she finally approached him to take the baby.

"Nah, not really and I'm not sure about the good father part." He said as he gently placed the baby back into Lori's arms.

"You're so good with her, Carl and Sophia too." She pointed out.

He shifted in his chair. This conversation was highly uncomfortable for him. He didn't want to get into a deep life discussion with Lori and explain why he would make a shitty dad.

"I ain't never even had a girlfriend before and you're over here telling me to have kids." He joked.

"Maybe you just haven't met the right person for that yet, or maybe you have and just don't know it."

Daryl raised his eyebrows and gave her a funny look. Before he could answer her Rick headed down the stairs and entered the room.

"Hey Daryl." "How are things going with your brother home?"

"He hit on Carol last night at dinner." Daryl said annoyed. "Then he asked her if we were screwing."

"What!" Rick said with a laugh.

"He doesn't exactly know how to have proper dinner conversation."

"What'd you guys do when he said that?" Lori asked.

Daryl carefully looked around the house to make sure Carl and Sophia weren't lingering anywhere. "She told him we'd been fooling around the last six months." Daryl said quietly and then turned bright red.

Rick and Lori looked at one another. Lori's jaw dropped a bit. Both slightly wondering if there was truth to it. They knew how close they were, they knew Daryl had stayed the night with her before. It wasn't that far-fetched to think that. Neither wanted to ask aloud if it was true

"I can't believe she did that." Daryl said. "Merle's been asking me since he found out I got locked up over Ed. I've been telling him no ever since then. He ain't never gonna believe I was telling the truth now. When I go home tonight he's gonna bring it up. If he's there." Daryl added.

As much as Rick and Lori wanted to, they weren't gonna ask Daryl if what Carol had said to Merle was true. He was very private and he was so shy. Besides, if there truly was nothing between them, he'd probably get freaked out if he thought that they were thinking that too.

"He didn't stay home last night?" Rick asked changing the subject.

"Nah, he went to the bar with Axel. Said they was gonna get plastered and rent a hotel."

Daryl stayed at Rick's and played around with the gun a while longer before heading home. When he opened the door to the house he found Merle sitting in the recliner watching TV.

"You done sprung for cable and everything." He told his little brother. "Getting mighty comfortable here aren't ya?"

"TV helps me fall asleep." Daryl said with a shrug.

"You been working this late or was you with that woman?" Merle questioned.

"I stopped by Rick's. Won a gun from this charity raffle thing. I left it in the truck."

"Ain't you just a saint?" Merle said very sarcastically

Daryl ignored him and assumed the best way to get him off of his back was to get Merle talking about himself. "So, how'd last night go?"

"Got wasted. There weren't many woman to choose from, but one finally walked through the door. I just ended up going home with her. Didn't even have to pay for a hotel." Merle announced proudly.

"And you wonder how you always end up with the clap?" Daryl said shaking his head and letting out a small laugh.

"At least I'm getting some action." Merle said as he scowled at his little brother. Suddenly he remembered finding that picture on his phone and how he had come to the conclusion that he was in love with that Carol woman. "By the way, you got something you wanna tell me?" Merle asked.

"What are you talking about?" Daryl asked, although he assumed Merle was gonna bring up what Carol had said at dinner last night.

"Don't play with me, boy. You know what I'm talking about."

Daryl assumed he did so he decided to just speak up. "Look, she was just busting your balls right back. I ain't never slept with her. I swear."

"I didn't ask you if you were fucking her. I asked if you had something you wanted to tell me." Merle said sternly.

Daryl raised his eyebrows. "What the hell you talking about?"

"I know you spend time with her kid. Sitting out in the yard playing soccer and all with her daughter. Ain't you just so sweet?" I know you have the picture of the two of you as the background on your phone, seen the way you was looking at her in that photo at her house when she was holding that baby. I've seen it all, baby brother. You're in love with that woman."

Daryl bit his bottom lip nervously. He hadn't guessed that Merle would suspect that at all. He didn't even think Merle knew enough about being in love to pick up on it when someone else was feeling that.

"Am not." Daryl said, almost in the voice of a small child.

"You ain't never gone get what ya want with her, you know that right?" "That's gotta be why you ain't tried nothing with her yet. You can play around with it in your head all day if ya want. Go play house with her some more and eat supper, go play daddy to her kid, but it won't ever change the fact that someone like you doesn't belong with someone like her. If you did, you'd already be together."