(This may seem a little out of character and it may not be that good. I'm not sure how this is going to be received, but it's just how things played out in my head. Merle's a really hard character for me to write.)

Merle rolled around in bed. His head was pounding. He had no idea how much he had drank last night, but he knew it had to have been a lot. He rolled over from his belly onto his back and forced his eyes open. He noticed unfamiliar purple painted walls and noticed the comforted was mixed with splashes of black and purple. He turned his head on saw the blond woman asleep beside him. He brought a smug smirk to his lips at the thought of hooking up with her last night. Slowly the events of the night were retreating back to his mind. He remembered going to the bar with Daryl, he remembered taking a lot of shots, he remembered talking to this woman. She had a friend with her, right? Yeah, a tall black woman. He briefly wondered what happened to his little brother if he ended up here with this woman. Daryl had been pretty drunk too. Oh Shit! Merle thought to himself as he remembered Daryl approaching him with the other woman and saying he was going to leave the bar.

"Janet?" Merle called out. No that wasn't her name. Fuck. "Joanne" He tried again. That wasn't it either. "Jessica?"

"It's Jessie, asshole." The other woman finally mumbled.

"Whatever." "Where's my little brother at?"

"That guy you were with last night?" "He left with my friend. What's it matter."

"Shit." Merle cursed as he shot up out of bed.

()()()

Merle had no idea where the hell he was, but he noticed the woman's address on her mailbox and called a cab. He got the cab take him back to the bar and went to get on his bike. Daryl's was still there, right beside his. He felt really bad right now, really bad. His brother had been shit faced and he talked some woman into going to hit on him and somehow they'd gone home together.

"Fuck" he cursed again as he kicked the side of Daryl's bike.

He knew how much his brother cared about this Carol woman. When Daryl woke up and realized what he had done he knew he'd be a fucking wreck about it. There was no doubt in Merle's mind that Daryl would confess what he had to the woman either. His brother wouldn't be able to keep something like that from her. The guilt would consume him. He doubted that woman would take kindly to it either. She had told him how much she loved his brother, but they hadn't been together all that long and cheating was a deal breaker for most normal people. As much as he knew Daryl dating Carol had been a bad idea in the first place and that it would blow up in his face, him being the reason that was about to happen made him feel like the biggest asshole in the world If his brother knew he played a role in it, he wondered if he'd ever forgive him. Merle suddenly realized what he needed to do. He jumped on his bike and started flying down the road.

()()()

Merle practically flew off his bike when he reached his destination. He knew he'd helped screw things up bad for his little brother, but maybe he could somehow fix it, or make it not as bad. He started banging on the door hard and repeatedly.

"Merle?" Carol asked confused and in a groggy tone when she finally came to the door. "What are you doing here?"

She looked like she had just gotten out of bed. She had on shirt that was too big for. He'd bet anything it belong to his brother. Her short hair was sticking up everywhere and she still looked half asleep.

"Look, I need to talk to you. I fucked up okay. I did something stupid last night and I made Daryl do something stupid and it's all on me. You're not gonna be happy about this shit I gotta tell ya, but you gotta forgive Daryl for it. It ain't his fault. It's mine."

"What the hell are you talking about?" An all too familiar voice said to Merle.

His eyes grew wide at the sight of his little brother. He was standing there behind Carol now. He only had on a white wife beater and a pair of boxers. He looked like shit. His eyes were all squinted up and his hair ruffled up.

Merle made a face. He halfway expected the woman Daryl left with to show up too. He wondered if they were into that three way shit. Maybe that's why his brother liked her so much.

Carol looked at Daryl and then to Merle. A mixture of concern and confusion washed over her face.

"How the hell did you get here?" Merle finally said.

*****Flashback*****

Daryl? A female voice asked

Michonne? He said. His voice was slurred just about as bad as Merle's had been.

"What the hell are you doing here, Daryl?" Michonne asked as she took a seat beside him.

"I came with my brother. It's his birthday." Daryl was pointing off somewhere not even close to the direction Merle was in.

"Yeah, I think I just met him. He's charming." She added sarcastically.

Daryl and Michonne shared a laugh.

"What are you doing here?" He asked her.

"My friend Jessie just got a divorce and moved back here from Virginia. She wanted me to go out with her and take her mind off things. She's over there talking to your brother now." Michonne said as she rolled her eyes.

"She don't look like Merle's normal type." Daryl said.

"What's that?"

"Trash."

Michonne raised her eyebrows. She wondered if she should go stop Jessie from talking to the man. She decided against it. The two had been good friends back in high school. Jessie had gone off to college in Virginia and they had lost touch. She had contacted her when she moved back because she was lonely and wanted to escape all she'd been through. Michonne had agreed to go out with her. They weren't exactly best friends anymore and she doubted the woman would listen to her anyway.

"Does Carol know you're here?" Michonne asked.

"Mhm." He said as he swayed in his chair a bit.

"Does she know you're this drunk?"

"Uh uh." Daryl added shaking his head. "I miss Carol." He slurred.

"You want me to take you to her place?

He nodded. "She's gonna be mad…"

"Why?"

"She told me not to get into any trouble.."

"Don't worry, you're not in any trouble. I came over here to make sure your brother didn't cause you any."

()()()

"Michonne brought me over here last night. I told you I was leaving. Now, what the hell are you doing here?" Daryl snapped

"You knew her?" Merle asked shocked.

"Yeah, she's a friend of Carol's."

"That sneaky little bitch." Merle grumbled.

"What's going on Merle?" Carol asked sternly. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"I uh, I kinda thought Daryl went home with that woman last night."

"You thought?" "You thought?" "So you was just come over here and tell her that shit on something you thought?" Daryl yelled. Daryl was about to go off some more, but then he realized he heard Merle say this was all his fault. "Wait a minute, you said this shit was all your fault anyway." "What'd you do? Daryl asked as he narrowed his eyes at his brother and clenched his fists.

"Merle looked down. He shoulda just fucking went home.

"Merle." Daryl growled.

"Fine." He snapped back at Daryl. "I was drunk as shit and the woman I was hitting on had her friend with her. I told her to talk to ya."

"You did what?" Carol hissed. "I thought I told you to quit screwing with him."

"I was drunk as shit. I didn't mean to say it. I wouldn't of if I was sober. Relax, he didn't do shit anyway."

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" "Do you even know why you do the shit you do?" Daryl screamed. He took a step towards his brother, but Carol grabbed his wrist.

"Don't. We'll deal with this later." She said softly and then turned to look at Merle. "You need to go."

"Merle was about to say something else, but Carol stopped him. "I said go."

He turned to walk away and Daryl yelled out to him. "You best be glad she's here to stop me, but she ain't gone be there when I get home."

()()()

Merle had gone and Daryl and Carol went back into the house.

"I'm sorry about that." Daryl said as grabbed Carol's arm to turn her towards him. He hadn't looked at him since they came back inside. When she turned to face him her eyes were red and puffy and tears were streaming down her face. "Don't cry." He said as he pulled her into him and wrapped his arms around her. She pressed her face into his chest hard and he could feel the tears soaking threw his wife beater.

"I…can't…..keep…doing…..this." She managed to mutter between tears.

He broke the embrace and moved her to where she was facing him.

"I didn't do anything, Michonne brought me straight here. You know that, you talked to her."

"It's not about Michonnne…"

"I wouldn't done nothing with anyone else either, I swear. I didn't even know Merle told her to come talk to me. I thought she just saw me and came over to say hey. She didn't mention nothing Merle said."

"It's not that either." She said a she wiped her eyes.

"Then what is it?" He asked, pain worry clearly etched in his voice.

"Your brother really doesn't want us together, and I don't think he's gonna stop until we aren't."

"I don't care what Merle wants. It ain't happening. I'm not gonna let him screw this up for us."

"Daryl, he got you wasted and tried to send someone who he thought was a random woman home with you."

"I didn't do anything wrong and I wasn't going to. I wouldn't ever cheat on you. I love you." He said pleadingly.

"I know that, Daryl. I love you too" She said as she reached up and cupped his face. "But you're brother isn't gonna stop until he finds whatever it is that is gonna tear us apart. For whatever reason, he doesn't want us together. He's your brother, you shouldn't have to choose me over him. And I can't have him over here starting things like that. I can't have you and him almost fighting in my front yard. Sophia can't see that. She's been through enough. Maybe…..maybe we need to re-think this"

"What?" He said with his voice cracking, there was a mixture of anger and hurt it in his tone.

He felt like she had ripped his heart out and thrown it in the ground right in front of him. He loved her. He loved her so damn much, and right now she was hurting him more than he ever thought he could hurt. How could she just tell him she didn't wanna be with him anymore? She said she loved him, but if she really did how could she say this wasn't gonna work? Daryl started stepping backwards to move away from her. His head was spinning and he felt like the walls were closing in on him. He wanted to be anywhere but here right now. He had to get away from her.

"Daryl." She said as she moved forward and reached for him.

He pushed her hand away. "Leave me be. Stupid bitch." And with that he raced out of her front door.