Chapter 29

Violets Pov-

It surprised me when Lyla went to the house to check on the little girl. She had never shown any interest in children before the world ended and I knew she was always awkward around them. The end of the world had really changed her. I waited around the fire for her to come back from checking on the little girl, because I wanted to talk to her and tell her what Merle had said, but she never came out. Things between Merle and I were slowly going back to normal. He started kissing me more often and he would even hold my hand when we sat around the fire at night. So when he convinced me to come to bed and talk to Lyla later I went with him.

He went in the tent first and lay down in the makeshift bed holding the covers up for me to slide in. I surprised him when I didn't immediately turn my back and snuggle into him like usual. I instead slid in facing him and pressed my lips to his hungrily. He was stunned at first but quickly returned the kiss. I thought I had him when I moved my lips to his collar bone and nibbled causing him to let out a moan, but then he gently pushed me away. "Did I do something wrong?" I asked looking up at him in the dim light of the battery powered lantern.

"Uh, no, but…"

"But what?" I cut him off.

"I don't know." He responded frustrated and plopped down on his back on the blankets.

"Merle, are you scared that the condom will break again? Because I'm not. I mean what are the chances that it will happen twice?" I said propping myself up on my elbow to look at him.

"I don't know Violet. Maybe we should just wait and see if yer pregnant first." He said not looking at me.

"And how would that effect what I want to do right now? If I'm already pregnant then I won't get pregnant tonight, and if you use a condom tonight I still won't get pregnant. So what does it matter huh?" his reluctance was aggravating me. He groaned and rolled over catching my mouth with his. The kiss sent sparks through my entire body making me realize it was finally going to happen again, he really did still want me.

I woke up that morning totally naked in Merle's arms and blushed when I remembered last night. Thankfully we didn't have another accident. I tried not to wake him when I untangled myself from his arms to get dressed, but he is such a light sleeper that I was unsuccessful. "Where ya going sugar?" he asked as I put my clothes back on and made a face at the pet name he called me. "What that name not ok with ya?"

"Uh no it's fine, it's just, different I guess." I said sitting down next to him to put on my socks and shoes. "I was going to go see if Carol needed help with breakfast, and you're late." I gestured to the light coming through the tent flap and he groaned plopping back down in the covers.

"I'm starting to think we're never going to find the little brat." He said leaning up on his elbows and I slapped his chest.

"Don't call her a little brat. She is just a lost little girl, she can't help it." I said scolding him.

"Got my hopes up thinking Daryl found her yesterday." He said getting up and getting dressed. I didn't know what to say to that so I stood up and kissed him. He surprised me when he made it last longer than I intended and he smirked when he finally let me go. I felt the heat rush to my cheeks as I thought about last night. "See ya later sugar." He called when I turned at walked from the tent. I called later to him as I walked to the fire where Carol was sitting stirring the usual morning pot of who knows what.

"Need any help?" I asked and she shot me a mean look. "Jeez fine, don't say I never offered to help." I said turning around to head to the basket of clothes that needed to be folded and got to work. Merle left the tent and headed to where Daryl, Rick and Glenn were. Our eyes met, I flashed him a shy smile and he smirked at me then continued on his way.

"Do you even really know that man?" the question came from Carol who had moved from her pot to stand in front of me.

"Uh, yeah." I answered not sure why she was asking me that.

"You know he is just using you right? He is just looking for an easy fuck." Who did this woman think she is?

"Excuse me?" I asked standing up and putting my hands on my hips.

"You heard me. He is a horrible man, he doesn't care about you and he never will. As soon as he gets tired of you he will just go searching for some other little easy piece of ass." Did that bitch just called me a whore?

"How dare you? You don't even know him." I shot back. My face was getting red, I could feel it.

"Don't have to know him to know he's a piece of shit." She spat. Next thing I knew she was holding her face and a red welt was quickly rising on her cheek. "Fuckin little bitch." She hissed before her hand found my face, then it was on. There was hair pulling, slapping, scratching and even punching on my part before the men came over and pulled us off of each other. She managed to scratch my cheek and pull out a painful amount of my hair, but that was nothing compared to the black eye, missing hair, busted lip and scratches she would be sporting for a while.

"What the hell is wrong with you two?" Rick asked holding back a still fighting Carol while Merle held me back.

"Ask that judgmental bitch!" I hissed at him and kicked towards Carol trying to wiggle out of Merle's viselike grip. "Let me go, Merle!" I yelled uselessly trying to get away.

"Violet would ya just calm down?" Merle asked from behind me.

"Why? So she can talk more shit about the person I love?" I yelled at him still trying to get away.

"Ha! You think he loves you? You really are a dumb whore." Carol said still trying to get at me.

"Rick, shut her up." Merle warned. "Violet stop fighting me damn it." He hissed in my ear and I stopped fighting as hard. I noticed a crowd had formed close by and my sister walked out of it and toward me.

"Vi, ya really need to work on yer temper. Merle take her to y'all's tent and keep her there please. I need to have a little chat with Carol here." Merle started pulling me back towards our tent and the fight left me.

"Merle you can stop holdin me like that. I'm not gonna run back there and kick her stupid ass, even though I really want to." He let go of one of my arms allowing me to walk normal instead of being pulled around like a kid, but he kept his hand tight on my upper arm. He opened the tent flap and pushed me in coming in right after.

"Wanna tell me what that was all about?" he asked sitting down between me and the door. I didn't answer. "Jeez and I thought Dixons had the worst temper. Tell me what happened." He demanded.

"She said that you didn't care about me, that I was just a whore and that you would just move on when the next young easy target came around." I was staring at the floor trying to keep from getting up and beating her ass. "She called me easy and you a piece of shit." My fists were clenching and my knuckles were turning white.

"She's wrong, ya know that right?" I nodded still looking at the floor. "I ain't ever said this to a woman before but I really do love ya." My head shot up at what he said.

"What?" I looked at him confused and he smiled.

"I think ya heard me." 'Aww he couldn't just repeat it?' I pouted in my head.

"I love you too Merle." He leaned across the tent and kissed me making me forget all about stupid Carol and the shitty things she had said. That's when we heard Shane yelling at someone.

Talitha's Pov-

"What in the world is going on out there?" I asked no one in particular as I got out of bed and slipped on my pants and shoes. I got out of the tent in time to see Merle and Rick drag Violet and Carol off of each other. Carol had clearly suffered the most. I couldn't help but step up to the fight; she was my sister after all. I told Violet to control herself and that I needed to talk to Carol. This had to have something to do with what happened yesterday. Rick released Carol when Violet was a safe distance away from her. Rick made her sit in the chair Violet had been sitting in folding laundry.

"Wanna tell us what that was about?" Rick asked her but she didn't say anything so he told her instead of asking and she finally answered that she was just trying to warn my sister about the inevitable. "So calling her a dumb whore is warning her?" he asked and she nodded.

"Ya called my sister a whore?" I asked getting in her face. That got me a warning look from Rick so I calmed down.

"There's walkers in the barn." I heard Glenn say from behind us and we all looked at him. "Shane is trying to break the lock off of it and kill them. Come quick." He said with a worried look on his face and we all ran to the barn to see Shane break the lock and start firing down on them. Everyone was there and as soon as Kasey saw me she attached herself to my leg and pressed her face into my thigh.

Without thinking about it I picked her up and held her in my arms where she pressed her face into my shirt and cried. Daryl was in the firing line with the rest of the people from the Atlanta camp. Every one stopped shooting when Sophia walked out of the barn. I just watched as Violet ran over and threw her arms around Carol's shoulders and pulled her backwards. "Let go of me you bitch!" Carol yelled.

"Do you want to die?" I heard violet ask struggling to hold her back from her approaching dead daughter.

"Yes! Let me go!" So, violet let her go. She was almost to her snarling daughter when the shot rang out and blood exploded from Sophia's head. We all turned to see Rick with his gun still raised. Everyone walked away leaving Carol with her dead child. I brought Kasey to the house and sat her down on the couch. I noticed that someone had given her a bath and clean clothes. I kneeled down in front of her.

"Kasey are ya ok?" I asked the still sniffling little girl. She nodded her head.

"It's not the first time I saw the bad people die." She said wiping her nose and my heart fell. This little girl's life just got turned upside down and the future wasn't looking any better. "Miss Lyla?" the little voice pulled me from my thoughts.

"Yeah sweetie?"

"Don't be sad. They in heaven now." She wiped a tear off of my face that I wasn't aware had fallen.

"I know." I responded and she smiled. Only an innocent child could smile right now. She got up off the couch and walked to the window before I could stop her. I didn't know what would be going on out there.

"Who's that boy?" she asked looking back at me and I walked to stand beside her and look out. Carl was sitting at a table with Dale. I told her his name was Carl. "Will he play with me?" She surprised me with her question. She had just seem and heard people getting shot and she wanted to play? I don't get kids.

"I don't know lets go see." I held my hand out to her and she grabbed it. We walked outside to the picnic table and she tapped Carl on the shoulder. He looked at her then me then back to her.

"Will you play with me?" she asked and Carl looked back at me a questioning look and I nodded. He told her he would and she climbed up onto the table. I made sure Dale didn't mind having one more kid to look after before I went to find Daryl. I found him along with Merle, Violet, George, and Greta and a couple of the others at the barn loading up walker bodies into the back of Daryl's truck. Daryl explained to me that they were burning the walkers and burring Sophia and the ones that were part of Greene family.

I started helping them load up the bodies in silence. Daryl broke the silence when we loaded up the last body. "So how's the little girl?"

"Resilient as ever. She and Carl were playing last time I saw her." I answered.

"She seems to like ya." He said pointing over my shoulder. I turned to see her headed in our direction with Carl not far behind her. "Never seen hair like that in my life." He commented and I noticed that her tight curls bounced every time she took a step.

"I told her you were busy but she wouldn't listen to me." Carl said when he got close enough to be heard. "Dale asked me to watch her." What was Dale thinking?

"It's fine Carl." I said to him and looked down that Kasey standing in front of me, but she was looking at Daryl.

"Who is he?" she asked looking back at me and pointing at Daryl. I told her his name and she looked at him funny. "I saw him before." I explained to here that he was the one that found her at the old house and she nodded her head completely understanding. "Thank you Mr. Daryl." She said looking at him.

"Welcome kid." He responded and I noticed it was in the same choppy way he talked to me when we first met. He turned around to fiddle with something in the back of the truck and she pulled a face.

"Mr. Daryl?" she looked back up at him.

"Yeah kid?" he didn't turn around to look at her.

"What's that thing?" she pointed to his back.

"Huh?" he asked giving her a confused look. I leaned over and whispered in his ear to clarify what she was talking about. He pulled his crossbow off his back. "This?" she nodded suddenly getting shy. "It's called a crossbow." She just stared at if for a while.

"What's it for?" the question made Daryl nervous. So I jumped in.

"It's for getting rid of the bad people." Don't judge, I didn't know what to say.

"Like a gun?" she looked away from the bow and back at me and I nodded. "So I can't touch it right?"

"Right." Carl chimed in from behind her.

"Kasey did ya come out here for somethin?" I asked her and she shook her head causing her hair to slap her in the face. "Then why don't ya go play with Carl while Daryl and I work?" I asked her and she said ok and ran past Carl in the direction of the picnic table and he ran after her. "Stay close to camp." I yelled after them and I faintly heard Carl say yes ma'am.

"Yer Good with her." Daryl said from beside me and I turned to look at him.

"I am?" he nodded like I just asked the stupidest question ever. "I've never been around kids before." He didn't say anything and we got in the truck to bring the bodies to the burning sight. T-dog, Rick, George and Glenn got in the back of the truck.

"Did ya want kids before all of this happened?" his question surprised me.

"Uh…no. I never thought I would be a good mom." I explained and looked at him he was looking at my hand on my chest and I dropped it to my lap I hadn't realized that I had been grasping for a necklace again. We got out of the truck and unloaded the bodies. No one said anything as we unloaded them and set them on fire.

Daryl didn't say anything to me until we parked the truck near the camp. I was about to get out when he spoke. "So yer thinking bout em again huh?" My hand had once again gravitated to me neck without me realizing it.

"No." I dropped my hand back to my lap.

"Oh, I just assumed ya were, cause ya do that when ya think bout him." He was looking at the steering wheel. "Ya been doin that a lot lately."

"Daryl, yer the only man I think about now." I explained scooting over in the seat to sit closer to him.

"Then why were ya doing that?" he was looking me in the eyes now so I explained to him about how it was just something I had always done when I was stressed out or worried about something. He said that he understood and kissed me before he opened his door and got out. He held his hand out for me so I scooted across the seat and out of the truck. Kasey saw me and ran over to me.

"Miss Lyla, Miss Lyla look what I did." She said excitedly jumping up and down with a piece of paper in her hand. She stopped jumping and handed it to me. It was a drawing of a turkey made out of the shape of her hand and I smiled. "Isn't it cool? Carl showed me how to do it." She said excitedly.

"That is very cool." I said and handed her back the paper. She handed it to Daryl and ran away when he took it. "I think someone likes ya." I said and laughed at him when I saw his face. He shook his head at me and walked to the fire that Carol was absent from for once. He tossed some wood onto it. Everyone had disappeared while Daryl and I had been talking in the truck. The only people I saw where Kasey and Carl sitting at the picnic table. So I walked over to them. "Carl where did everyone go?"

"Your sister and Greta are in the house with Hershel's family, Dale's in the RV with Andrea and Carol. My dad, Tee, George and Glenn went to get Hershel from town. I don't know where my mom and Shane are at." He added with a shrug. I leaned my head back to look at the sky. It looked to be about three thirty or four. The sun would start setting soon. I didn't know where Shane and Lori were but where ever they were they were together and could take care of themselves. As for the rest of the men, I hoped they got back soon.