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Chapter 26

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Glenn flipped the page in one of the books Merle had brought him from the library. It was all about cars, and had a lot of new ones from as recent as last year in it. The book was informational - listed parts of cars, explained how to change oil and tires or refill various fluids. Glenn was more interested in the cars themselves. He was pretty excited by the fact that Merle had offered to teach him to drive. He didn't even need a license, and he didn't even need to be able to afford the car. There were so many cars parked around the city. A lot of them were burnt or had broken windows (people got destructive when the world ended) but Glenn had seen more than a few perfectly untouched cars. Beautiful ones with shiny paint, probably full tanks of gas, just waiting for Glenn to come along and claim them as his own.

He looked at the next page, running his finger tips over a photo of a shiny red Ferrari. He was really tired - an affect from his pain meds, but was so excited about Merle being back and didn't want to fall asleep again before the man returned from whatever he was doing. He was keeping himself occupied with the book so he wouldn't accidentally drift off. It was working too. All the gorgeous cars in this made him feel optimistic and excited, especially now that Merle had promised to help him find one and learn to drive it.

As he looked at the images in the book, he wondered what Merle was going to do about Donny. Glenn hadn't even been entirely sure what the nurse had done was even wrong. It seemed wrong... The fact that the man had told him not to tell anyone seemed wrong... The fact that Donny had closed the blinds and seemed angry when Glenn asked him to back off seemed wrong... But when he explained it out loud to Merle, he wasn't so sure anymore. It seemed like it could have been legitimate medical stuff - seeing if his muscles were normal - comparing them to muscles that were normal... Checking that his skin wasn't numb or discolored... Was it really wrong? It had been very uncomfortable and scary, but a lot of things at hospitals did. No one liked going to doctor appointments, because things were always painful or uncomfortable or awkward. Shots, blood pressure cuffs that got painfully tight, doctors poking and prodding... Having his mom with him always made Glenn feel more okay with it, but every doctor he'd ever been to had touched him more than Glenn would have let any other adult. He felt confused about what Donny had done. Maybe it was only so scary because his mom wasn't there. But then, the other doctors and nurses here hadn't done anything like that...

Glenn gasped softly as he heard the door to his room creak open. What if it was Donny again? He stared with wide eyes and exhaled a relieved breath when he saw that it was Merle instead.

"Is everything okay?" Glenn asked nervously. "Did you say anything to Donny? What happened?"

Merle smiled and paced across the room, sitting down on the side of the bed and putting his arm around Glenn's shoulders. "Don't gotta worry about him anymore, Glenn."

Glenn's eyes widened and he felt his chest grow gold. "What did you do?"

Merle narrowed his eyes as he looked back down at Glenn. He hesitated before offering a very simple answer. "Talked to his boss. They asked him to leave. And he did."

"Oh," Glenn looked down. That seemed almost too easy. "So, what he did was wrong then?" He still wasn't sure, and expected that if anyone confronted Donny's superiors about it, they wouldn't be sure either. It wasn't like what Tim had done, where Glenn was absolutely certain the man's intentions were anything but innocent. This time it was unclear and confusing.

"Yeah, Glenn. Very wrong." Merle frowned down at him. "If anybody ever gives you even a hint of a feeling like that guy did, you tell me, okay? And if I ain't here, tell someone else. All I had to do was tell his boss, and now he's gone. Was easy... So even if he told you not to say anything or you weren't sure... Just tell someone. If you feel weird about how an adult is acting around you, it probably ain't nothin'. You feelin' nervous and uneasy is a warning sign - your brain telling you to get the fuck outta there and tell someone."

"I couldn't get out." Glenn frowned. "I can't walk yet."

"I mean in general. If telling someone afterward is the best you can do, then do it," Merle told him. "Not that you'll have a problem like that again anytime soon. I'm not leaving again."

"Okay," Glenn leaned back, snuggling closer to Merle, who was now sharing the bed with him. Fortunately, Glenn didn't take up much space, so there as room for both of them. He noticed Merle still had his boots on, even with his feet on the bed. He was on top of the covers though, so Glenn didn't suppose it mattered. "Why did you leave, Merle?" He wondered.

Merle exhaled. "I dunno, Glenn," he leaned back against the bed's pillow. "You scared the hell outta me getting shot like that. I was scared you wouldn't make it."

Glenn frowned. "Then why did you leave before you knew if I was okay? I woke up and you were gone..."

Merle stared ahead. For a moment, Glenn wondered if his question was going to remain unanswered. "I didn't want to know..." Merle finally said.

"You didn't want to know if I was okay?" Glenn stuck out his lower lip. It didn't make sense.

Merle shook his head. "I didn't want to know if you weren't," he clarified. "I'm doin' fine not knowing if my brother is alive or not... I just assume he is, because there's no reason to think he isn't. I figured I'd do the same with you... It wasn't the right thing to do... I wasn't thinkin'."

Glenn smiled. "So you don't want to be like a dad, but you think I'm kinda like your brother? Like you're my big brother?"

Merle laughed. "I've got forty fuckin' years on you, Glenn."

"So..." Glenn shrugged. "You don't want to be a dad, but you're already a brother. You know how to be a brother. It won't be as scary as being a dad. I can settle for that. I've always wanted a brother."

Shaking his head softly, Merle laughed again. "I guess you could look at it like that. If you gotta give it a name."

Glenn laid his head against Merle's arm and closed his eyes. "It doesn't need a name, I guess. You don't have to be a dad or a brother or anything else. You've just got to be Merle... And you are. We can stay here, or go back to the funeral home, or go live with Nora and Tracy... As long as we go together, I'll be okay with it. Someone told me now's the time to make new families, because so many people out there don't have their original families anymore. I think you and I are family now."

"Family never meant that much to me, Glenn," Merle told him, tightening his half-embrace around Glenn's shoulders. "If I learned anything growin' up, it's that family doesn't really gotta mean shit. I mean, it worked out that Daryl isn't too much of a prick, but beyond that, I don't miss my family at all."

"I miss mine," Glenn told him with a yawn. "But I have you now, and whether we're family or not, I don't feel alone anymore. I lost a lot of important people, but I found someone important too."

Merle didn't speak as Glenn snuggled down against him. Glenn didn't need him to. He knew by now that Merle wasn't as openly emotional as most people - that he wasn't going to come out and tell people how he felt unless how he felt was exceptionally negative. Merle's actions spoke louder than any words could have.

He had finally rid himself of Glenn for good. He could have easily stayed gone and moved on with his life, but he didn't. He came all the way back, because he cared. He helped Glenn fight back against the men in the street tormenting Tracy and Nora even though he didn't want to. He could have just let Glenn go then, but he didn't. The man had even gone out of his way to find books specifically because he thought Glenn would like them.

Glenn felt a smile tugging his lips as his limbs grew heavy and his mind relaxed. He felt safe with Merle's arm around him, and finally felt content for the first time since he'd arrived at this hospital. He didn't know what the future held for him and Merle, but he knew they'd face it together.

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Chapter 26 Random Trivia:
This was a really fun story to write. So fun in fact that it ended up nearly twice as long as it was when I first felt it was finished. I started it a literal year ago and finished the first draft so quickly, but my editing process takes for-fucking ever and my "finished" stories always end up much longer after extensive editing. I often read over each chapter so many times that I'm sick of it by the time I do my final read-through, so I assure you by the time you read this, I will probably be so sick of this story. I was also working on three other stories at the same time as this one, two of which are somewhat long - not as insanely long as this one though.

Merle and child-Glenn isn't something I ever really planned to write until it popped into my head out of nowhere one day, but I really loved working with father-figure Merle and child-Glenn... Especially because Glenn is so innocent and sweet and Merle is such a vulgar jerk. God damn. This was really fucking enjoyable to write... I hope you all enjoyed it too.

Thanks for reading. :)