Daryl had stormed off out from Carol's house. He had walked for a long time. His original plan had been to walk all the way back to the bar from last night and get his bike. However, his head was pounding and he pretty much felt like he had been hit by a big truck. He'd thrown up a few times on his little walk and wasn't sure if it was from being hung over or from how upset he was. Maybe it was a combination of both. He finally relented and reached into his pocket to call a cab. He saw the picture of he and Carol on the background of his phone and sighed. He kicked at the ground and murmured some more curse words.

"Where you at you son of a bitch?" Daryl growled when he made his way into his house.

"Calm your little ass down." Merle told his brother as he appeared in the living room.

Daryl was irate and he wasn't much in the mood for talking as he ran towards his brother and swung. Merle anticipating what he was about to do, ducked. Daryl missed and fell forward a bit and when he turned around Merle tackled him. The two were wrestling around on the ground now. Daryl managed to get a good hit on Merle's jaw. Merle maneuvered himself after Daryl connected with his jaw and somehow managed to get his little brother on the ground. He punched him in the face hard.

"Hit me again." Daryl screamed and stopped fighting back. "Just do it."

Merle was about to, but stopped when he saw the look on Daryl's face. He looked broken. Merle let go of Daryl and got up. He touched his lip and could feel blood pouring down from it.

"What are you so upset for anyway?" "You didn't cheat on her, you two should be fine."

"Yeah, well we ain't" Daryl hissed. "She broke up with me and it's all your fault."

"Broke up with you?" "What for?"

"Because you kept fucking with us. She said you won't stop until you win. She's right. I thought you'd finally decided to let me be happy, but then you went and pulled this shit. You went too far. Now everything's all fucked up."

"I didn't mean too, dammnit. I was drunk as shit. I didn't know what I was saying."

"Shut up!" "Just shut up and leave me the hell alone." Daryl said as he got up off the floor. "I found someone I cared about, someone that made this shitty life I had worth something. You fucked that up. I'm done with you, I'm done with this shitty house, done with this shitty town. I'm getting out of here tomorrow."

"Where the hell are you gonna go?" Merle asked.

"Somewhere you aren't gone be." Daryl said as he stormed off into his room, slamming the door behind him.

()()()

Carol heard someone knocking on her door. She halfway hoped it was Daryl. She was mad at him for the way he acted this morning, but she knew what she said had hurt him. She didn't think it was an excuse for him to yell and cuss at her, but she still loved him and wanted to talk to him.

"Didn't I tell you to leave?" She said coldly when she opened the door and saw it was the elder Dixon brother standing behind it. She went to shut the door, but Merle placed his hand in the way and held it open.

"You gotta come talk to Daryl." Merle said softly.

"No." She said plainly.

"No?" "Why the hell not?"

"You didn't want us together, well you got your wish. Now leave."

"Carol." Merle said softly. "What I did last night, it was fucked up. I was drunk and I was thinking about shit and I was thinking that Daryl was just gonna get hurt if you two stayed together. Not now, but later."

"Well you're right, he did get hurt and so did I and it's all your fault."

"I know that, but don't punish Daryl for something I did. It ain't his fault."

She hadn't been paying much attention to him before now. She wouldn't even look at him at first, she was too mad to look at him. Now, he was speaking to her softly and it somehow reminded her of how Daryl would talk to her. She looked up to meet his eyes and noticed his lip was swollen and busted.

"What happened?" She asked in a softer tone.

"Daryl and I got into a little fight."

"Is he okay?" She asked in a worried tone.

"He's fine. He might have a black eye a little later...but he's fine."

"After everything you did, you hit him too!"

"He jumped on me first, dammit." Merle said defending himself. He sighed. "That's not important right now, look just come with me to the house and talk to him. Please."

"Why should I?" "You're being nice now, but a few weeks from now you'll start doing this all over again. I'm not gonna sit around until you get him drunk again and send some random whore home with him. Sure, it was Michonne this time and she wouldn't do something like that hurt me, but next time it's not gonna be somebody I know." She said in tears.

"Daryl wouldn't have cheated on ya."

"Do you have any idea how drunk he was?" "Michonne and I had to carry him inside. I can't put myself through this. I can't put my daughter through this. You showing up and Daryl almost jumping you. She's seen enough of her daddy beating the hell out me. She doesn't need to see any more violence like that, especially not from Daryl. She loves him and trusts him."

"Daryl's right, ya know?" "I don't know why I do the things I do. I never have. I'm a damn mystery to me. But I do know one thing, I love my little brother and he's the only person in this world that means a damn thing to me. When you told him you two couldn't be together anymore, I've never seen him look so hurt and broken. He won't ever forgive me if the two of ya don't make up. I promise, I won't mess with the two of ya anymore. I mean it. Just go talk to him. I ain't one for begging, but I'll sit here all day asking ya to come if you don't."

()()()

Carol had finally relented and agreed to go with Merle. Although she didn't know why. She didn't like him and she damn sure didn't trust him. She and Merle didn't speak on the ride over. When she got to their house she headed straight for Daryl's room where Merle said he'd be and tapped lightly on the door.

"Go away, asshole." Daryl shouted thinking it was Merle.

Carol turned the door knob to see if it was locked. It wasn't, so she slowly opened the door. She saw him lying on the bed. Staring blankly at the ceiling.

He had heard the door opening and was turning to face Merle. "I said…" He began, but stopped speaking when he saw who it was behind the door. He looked at her for a moment, as if he was trying to gather what to say. "What are you doing here?" He said in a gruff voice.

She couldn't read the expression on his face. He seemed angry, yet he almost seemed relieved to see her.

"We need to talk." She said softly.

"Nah, I don't have nothing to say." He said, as he rolled over on his side so he wasn't facing her now.

"Stop being so damn childish, Daryl."

He rolled over to face her and raised his eyebrows at her. "What do you want lady?" "You want me to be happy that you said you don't wanna be with me no more?" "Cause I ain't and I won't."

"I didn't say I didn't wanna be with you." She clarified before adding "You think you're the only one hurting?" "You think you're the only one that's been scared about us or was worried that this was going to mess up?" She was yelling now and she was glad that they lived out in the middle of nowhere so no one else could hear them. "I've been scared to death this whole time too. Maybe you've never done this before, but I have and if you don't remember, it didn't exactly end well for me. I was married to an abusive asshole for 12 years who didn't appreciate a single thing I did. He beat me, he degraded me, he verbally abused me, and I'm more than sure he cheated on me more than once. I wasn't even good enough for a low life piece of shit like Ed, imagine how I feel now that I have someone worth a something. I've just been waiting for you to realize I'm not good enough. I was worried enough when we first got together that it would happen, then I find out Merle's trying to give you every reason in the book to walk away. Now he's moved on to getting you sloppy drunk and trying to throw women at you." She paused for a moment to catch her breath. "I can't wait around for him to get you drunk enough to cheat on me or until he finds the thing that sets you off and you just walk away on your own because you realize you can do better. And I can't put my daughter through watching you get mad at Merle and flying off the handle at him at my house either.

"You think you ain't good enough for me?" He said softly, as he pushed himself up off the bed and moved towards her. "Don't ever think that." He opened his arms carefully and looked at her. He wanted to know she was okay with him touching her. She didn't hesitate or move away from him. So he placed his arm around her and held her tight. "You're beautiful and kind and smart and you're one hell of a cook. I ain't Ed. I ain't my dad. I ain't ever gone be that kinda person. I wouldn't cheat on you, I wouldn't hit you, I wouldn't do anything on purpose to hurt ya." Suddenly it dawned on him what he had said to her earlier and how he had acted. "I'm sorry about what I said, I didn't mean it." He pulled himself away from her and looked her in the eyes. "I shouldn't have said that, no matter how upset I was."

She nodded. She wouldn't lie and say it didn't sting when he said that. It took her back to a place she didn't wanna be reminded of. Ed had said things like that to her all the time. She had never expected Daryl to. However, she had to realize he wasn't perfect and what he said was out of anger and hurt, not just to be mean and spiteful

"You were upset." She finally managed to say.

"Still don't make it right." He replied.

"You're not perfect, neither am I. We've both got things from our past that still affect us today."

"Yeah, guess we do." He said. "You remember what I said that night I showed you my back and asked you about Ed?"

"Yeah, you said our past is a part of us, but it's not who we are."

"Mhm." He said as he kissed her forehead. As he did he felt a sense of relief wash over him. He wanted this. He wanted her. And he was willing to do whatever it took to make sure he didn't lose her or screw this up. "I guess we both got things from our past that are gonna haunt us, but it don't mean we gotta let em consume us. I love ya and I don't wanna lose ya."

"You're not going to. I love you, too."

"I'll talk to Merle, let him know that he can't pull anything like this ever again." Daryl said.

"Merle's the one who brought me here, I think he finally realized what an asshole he was being."