Resolution

Daryl

You finally decide to go look for Merle. You haven't gone before because you wanted to stay with Glenn and Garry more than you wanted to find out about your brother. You still want to be with them but Garry is two now and things are more settled and it seems like the right time. You think about it for a couple of days but before you can talk to Glenn, Rick finds you alone in the maintenance room and tells you Merle is here.

"He didn't shoot you on sight?"

"It's a good sign, isn't it?" Rick says, "You need some privacy. I'll send him back here."

You clean off your hands while you wait. You aren't sure what you're feeling or what you should feel. Excitement, relief and apprehension are there in equal measures. You're glad Merle is alive but this is also the showdown you've dreaded and even dreamed about. You hear footsteps in the hall and your brother fills the doorway.

He seems taller than you remember, leaner and harder, but his eyes are quiet not crazy which you'll take as another good sign. You study each other, assessing, and move toward each other and then you are hugging your brother after three and a half long years. He grips you tight, gives a final squeeze and releases. You both step back.

"You look good, Daryl." Merle is first to speak because your throat feels clogged although Merle's voice sounds a little funny as well.

"You, too." You take his right arm because you just remembered the missing hand. It didn't seem important compared to his presence but no doubt it's pretty damn important to Merle. There's a hook fastened to the stump. Trust your brother to find one in an apocalypse. "Is this going to be an issue?" Merle no longer seems like a rageaholic but you need to know for sure.

"No," Merle says. "It's over and done. Saw Grimes on the way in. I hear T-Dog is dead."

You nod. "Seven months later. I hate what happened. We went back for you the next day but you were gone ... mostly." You wonder if that's too flippant but Merle actually smiles.

"I cut my hand off to get away from walkers breaking through that door. But there were no walkers. All hallucinated. A guy asked me later if the cuff was so small I couldn't just cut off my thumb and save the rest of the hand. I don't remember. I got big hands and wrists so maybe it wouldn't have worked but truth is, I was so wasted I never thought of it. Been clean since then. From necessity at first and then when I had the chance again, I passed."

"That's good. Good for you." Sounds like Merle is being accountable for his actions. "So why the fuck has it taken you so long to catch up? I'm disappointed if you can't track better than that one-handed."

Merle hesitates. "Got sidetracked by the same reason I passed on the drugs. A woman I met and her daughter."

"Glad to hear it." Merle is different and if a woman and her kid are responsible, you're happy for him. He's probably not going to be as happy about the man and kid in your life. But something is wrong because Merle shifts uneasily.

"Thing is, I hope you won't make no remarks to her or the girl. You can say what you want to me."

"What do you mean?" You wonder who the hell Merle got mixed up with.

"She's a J.A.P."

"Japanese?" Is it possible you and Merle both wound up with Asians?

"Not a Jap, a Jew."

"Oh." Jewish American Princess. The irony strikes you and you start laughing. Merle's eyes narrow. He thinks you're making fun of him. "I'm not laughing at you, just the situation. Wasn't my intention to one-up you with an awkward relationship but I'm gonna win, no question. Remember Glenn?"

Merle frowns. "The Chink scavenger?"

"He's Korean but yeah, that's the one. We been together almost since you left."

Merle's jaw drops. He's speechless for a bit. "You ... he ... you're gay?"

"Yeah."

"How the fuck did that happen?"

"You really want me to describe it?"

"Please God, no." Merle smiles reluctantly, as you hoped he would. "Well, shit surely does happen."

"What are your girls' names?" Best to move on quickly and not give Merle too much time to think.

"Dana is the mom and Eden is the daughter, she's 12. One more thing, Dana is four months gone. I'm gonna be a father." Merle sounds kind of proud.

You smile and then with the best timing ever Garry shows up and comes over to you calling, "Daddy." You pick him up. If Merle was shocked before, he's completely dumbfounded this time.

"Garry, this is my big brother." You can't resist adding, "Your uncle Merle."

"I was two last week. We had cake." At Garry's age a birthday is the most important event he can remember. You set him down and ask him to bring his daddy and he runs out.

"We hit a rough patch. Glenn slept with a girl," you explain to a still stunned Merle. "We were back together right away and didn't know about Garry until he was two months old. His mother had just got bit and died. His grandpa got him to us before he passed."

"Jesus Christ, for a second I thought you mutated or somethin'. Wondered if I was lucky Dana is pregnant instead of me." Merle shakes his head with bewilderment. "Lemme get this straight. I take up with a Jew and you go gay. With a Korean. I got a kid on the way and you got a little boy calling you 'Daddy.' When did you get to be such a competitive over-achieving bastard?"

You tell him younger brothers have to try harder.

"Hello, Merle." Glenn is in the doorway holding Garry by the hand.

Merle nods. "Glenn."

Glenn bends down and smoothes Garry's hair. "Why don't you go play with Judy? We'll be along soon." Garry trots away.

Merle looks Glenn over. "Must be more than meets the eye if you turned my brother queer."

Glenn grins. "What makes you think I turned him?"

"So you're really together, huh? Havin' sex and all."

You decide a demonstration is in order. You say, "Glenn" and he walks toward you like he knows what you have in mind, which he probably does. He steps into your arms and you kiss, open mouths and tongue. You only kiss in public on New Year's Eve. Glenn has no objection to other occasions but he knows you just can't. It's not a gay thing. You don't care for PDAs. You never did like to see couples hanging over each other in public. But this is different and you're enjoying it and so is Glenn. Maybe too much. You're pressed together and he starts moving against you, as he's likely to do, and it's time to break apart before you get hard in front of your brother.

"I think I went blind," Merle says.

"I figured you might not believe it unless you saw it."

"Maybe so but I don't need more proof, if you don't mind. And I ain't kissing the bride because I don't want to know which one that'd be."

"You're taking this well," Glenn says.

"Merle was worried how I'd react to his news," you tell Glenn. "He's with a member of the Tribe of Israel."

"A Jew? So what?" Glenn pretends to be puzzled. "Oh, you hated them, too? Blacks, Asians, Gays, Jews. What about Mexicans and Yankees?"

Merle turns to you. "Is he always like this?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

"Dana has a mouth on her and some New York City attitude with it. I feel better knowing you get grief, too. Guess this is what they call Karma."

That night in bed you tell Glenn that Dana isn't Merle's type.

"Types don't matter so much anymore. Sometimes it just has to do with availability."

"Is that how we got together?"

"No, we got lucky. Besides, we weren't the only singles. Andrea, Amy, Dale, T-Dog. I don't count Shane. We could have hooked up with other men or women. We chose each other. But back to Merle's type. You didn't think he'd go for stunning with perfect hair and a manicure?"

"Oh, he'd go for her but I wouldn't expect her to go for him. And how vain is she?"

"She wanted to impress her man's family. I don't think she looks like that all the time. The pistols were a surprise."

"Yeah, a matched set for mother and daughter. And they know how to use them. That probably sealed the deal for Merle."

"Dana and Eden. I hope I don't forget and call them Penny and Marcy."

"I hope they don't name that baby Mason if it's a boy."

Glenn rolls over into your arms. "Speaking of Merle, that was hot. Kissing while he watched."

"It better not be Merle that made you hot."

Foreplay progresses and you recall that it's been awhile since Glenn topped. You're in the mood tonight so you hand him the lube and he gets that look in his eye. You end up half on your stomach and half on your side with Glenn behind you. He puts his chin over your shoulder and nuzzles your neck. You pull his leg around your hip. The moves are practiced but familiarity doesn't mean boring. You're no longer surprised that the sensations are always different. Glenn's hand reaches around to your belly and moves down, following the line of hair as it narrows then widens again. His fingers comb through your pubic hair and circle you. Your cock pulses against his palm as you begin moving in counterpoint to Glenn's thrusts. You forget to breathe regularly as you get closer and you're gasping by the time you climax. So is Glenn. He collapses against you. He doesn't pull out right away. You don't do this often so the fullness when he enters you seems new each time and then you feel a little empty when he softens and slips out.

You pull on underwear and tee shirts after you clean up because January is as cold as it gets in Georgia. Hours later you're awakened when Garry cries out. You reach for the crossbow by the bed and Glenn goes to Garry. It's probably a bad dream but you check the house to be sure something didn't wake him and then step into your boots and take a look outside. All clear.

Glenn is cleaning Garry up in the bathroom. Toilet training has commenced and it's going well but nights are still problematic. You hand them a fresh pair of pull-ups. Garry is tearful because he didn't wake up in time. Glenn assures him it's okay, especially since he was scared.

You squat beside him. "You're safe now. I checked. Everything's all right."

Garry comes to bed with you for the rest of the night. You kind of like his warm little body and baby smell. There's plenty of his childhood left but you can't help looking ahead to when he grows up and away from you and Glenn. You suppose it will happen so gradually that you'll adjust as you go along which is good because you don't care for the idea right now. Glenn is watching you across Garry who is already asleep again.

"I'm glad Merle showed up," you whisper.

"You were going to look for him soon, weren't you?"

"Yeah, I was about to tell you. But I would have hated leaving this. I don't want to miss anything."

In the morning Garry scrambles out of bed and runs to the bathroom. "Gotta go potty!"

"Me, too," you tell Glenn.

Garry is using his potty and you have the stool. Garry looks at your dick and his own but doesn't say anything.

It's still early so you both go back to bed. As Garry settles down he says to Glenn, "Daryl has a big pee pee."

Glenn doesn't laugh but he can't hold back a smile. "Yes, he does."

"You, too, Daddy. Mine's little."

Great. You and Glenn have given your son an inferiority complex or penis envy or something traumatic.

"That's because you're a little boy and we're grown up," Glenn says. "Remember how you got taller? Everything gets bigger. Ears and nose, fingers and toes."

You admire Glenn's ability to explain proportion. Apparently Garry is satisfied because he goes back to sleep. Normally that wouldn't happen but it was an interrupted night. A few minutes later Glenn nods and you quietly get out of bed and carefully take Garry to his room. When you return you close the door and strip.

"Good thing Garry doesn't know just how big your pee pee gets." Glenn is watching you from the bed. His is pretty big as well. You hope you'll have time to make use of them before Garry wakes up again.

A few minutes after you finish the doorbell rings. You hear Garry run to answer it then he comes to the bedroom. "Uncle Merle says get your lazy asses up."

One big happy family again.