A Note from Me: Stupid real world making it hard to write fanfiction. *shakes fist* So I thought I'd do some freelance ghostwriting since I only work part time at my other job. Accept some jobs and all of a sudden boom, it turns into GIVE HER ALL THE HOURS at my regular job because some people quit and some other people were sick...and yeah. No Merle for me :( It's been awful. So here's a long chapter to make up for it!

"Any ammo?" Marie asked when Sinclaire slid out of the truck.

"Nope. Just pot."

"What?"

"Pot," Sinclaire confirmed.

"And you weren't going to tell me?" Marie asked, turning to Daryl with her hands on her hips. "Jerk."

"I just now got outta the damn truck! Ain't had time to tell nobody nothin'."

Marie snorted.

"Wouldn't've thought Preacherman would let ya anyway."

"Amos doesn't have to know."

"Unless yer plannin' to stuff cotton balls up his nose ya ain't gonna be able to hide it," Merle pointed out. "Yer a big girl. Ya wanna get high, get high."

"Damn right I want to get high!" she exclaimed. "What about you?"

Merle raised an eyebrow and then realized that Marie didn't know about his history with drugs. That was kind of nice. Anyway, the question was for Yank.

"I think I'll just observe the pothead in the wild," Sinclaire said dryly.

"I think yer gonna change yer mind," Daryl said. "Least I hope so."

"What difference does it make?"

"HIgh sex is better sex!" Glenn said from behind Sinclaire.

"What?"

"It is!" Glenn protested.

"How'd ya even find out?" Daryl asked. "We been here fer less than five minutes!"

"Marie told Carrie, Carrie told me. I came to remind you that I've always been your friend."

"I was gonna tell ya," Daryl said. "Ya just gotta hang on till it gets dark and the kids are in bed."

"You two would have made an excellent couple," Sinclaire commented.

"Hey! I'm only with him for the weed," Glenn said with a smile. "Don't be trying to tie me down."

"My apologies. I can see that you're quite the player."

The conversation picked up quickly; the twenty year old set chattering and comparing optimum munchy choices. Sinclaire caught Merle's eye and quirked her mouth in a half smile. His lips twitched, but he didn't really smile back. Instead he turned away and pulled a bag out of the back of the truck.

"We got this shit covered," he drawled into the heated argument of corn vs. potato chips. "Stopped at the gas station on the way back."

"Awesome!" Marie took the bag and dug through it. "You clearly know what you're doing when it comes to stuff like this."

"Been around," Merle agreed.

"I'm going to talk to Nate," Sinclaire said.

"The hell for?" Daryl asked.

Sinclaire didn't answer him; she just walked into the bar.

"Any luck with the ammo?" he asked eagerly.

"Not a bit," she said grimly. "But it gets worse."

She told him about the tank and the bodies. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully as she explained the details.

"Sounds like an execution," he said when she finished.

"That was my thought too," she agreed as she pulled the map from her vest pocket. "I'm wondering if there's a new threat or if it's that Governor guy Marie told us about. It's a pretty far range for him and there's really no reason for him to think there was anything to gain from heading into a state park."

"Unless he knew they were there."

"True." Sinclaire put her chin in her hands. "How could he have known though?"

"Someone must have told him."

"No shit."

"You're getting mouthy," Nate pointed out with a half smile. "I think the Dixon's are a bad influence."

"I know they are. Who do you think would have ratted though? Someone in the unit?"

"No motive," Nate said after some thought. "If they were bargaining for safety then he'd have already found them."

"What're ya'll talkin' about?" Daryl asked from the doorway.

"The Army," Sinclaire said. "Sit down and think with us."

He sat with his back to the wall.

"Coulda been that somebody went crazy and killed all the rest of the unit and left."

"That's highly unlikely," Nate said.

"Well then why don't ya think of somethin' smartass?"

"The supplies were gone," Sinclaire said. "I guess crazy Army person is an outside possibility. We're thinking Governor though."

"How would he know about it?"

"That's what we're trying to figure out."

"Rick says he saw a helicopter last time he went out huntin'."

Nate stared at Daryl like he'd started spouting beat poetry or something equally incomprehensible. It took Sinclaire a minute but she got it.

"Oh! You think that whoever was in the chopper was attached to the unit?"

"Yeah," Daryl said as if it was obvious.

"Sorry. It took me a minute to hop your train of thought."

"If they met up with that Governor guy then they mighta give him more information than they shoulda."

"We should ask Marie," Nate began.

"No," Daryl said. "She's real sensitive about that guy."

"If she has information we can use then it doesn't matter how sensitive she is," Nate answered impatiently.

"Let's not do it tonight," Sinclaire said, compromising with a long look at Bowhunter. "We'll have to in the morning though. Nate's right. She might be able to tell us if this is something he'd do. If it is, we need to consider our options. We might have to move."

"Hell," Daryl said. "Why should we be the ones to go? I say we just deal with this motherfucker and be done with it. How much trouble could one guy be?"

"Well, better safe than sorry don't you think?'

He agreed, but Sinclaire could tell it was grudging agreement. In a way she understood. There was certainly the temptation to just deal with it. However, she wasn't about to go in without all the information she could get. If they went in at all.

Sinclaire wished she hadn't opened her mouth about the pot before nightfall came. Almost everyone was ridiculously excited over the idea of getting high. They built up the campfire and everyone gathered around it. Carol had agreed to take Carrie's watch so she was there beside Glenn. Andrea had begged off, but to everyone's amusement, Dale was there. Lori was asleep, the kids were in bed, Amos was on watch with Carol and Nate had abstained, cementing him forever as a pussy in the eyes of the brothers Dixon.

"So?" Glenn said as Daryl opened the small plastic bag. "Let's do this!"

"Hang on," Merle said. "Ya gotta let him concentrate. My baby brother rolls a better joint than anybody I know."

Daryl took a second to grin at Merle before getting down to what was apparently serious business.

"It can't be that big of a deal," Sinclaire said from her place beside him.

Several people in the group shook their heads at her sadly, so she withdrew her opinion with a good natured shrug and watched Daryl work. The serious expression on his face was fairly adorable. When it was done he took the lighter Glenn handed him and lit up, inhaling deeply and passing it to Sinclaire who promptly handed it to Rick. Daryl rolled his eyes before exhaling slowly.

"Don't puss out like Nate," he said.

"I don't want to inhale that stuff," she defended herself. "It stinks."

RIck let out his breath slowly, the same way Daryl had and passed the joint to Glenn.

"You can't make her if she doesn't want to," he said. "Even if not wanting to is the wrong decision," he finished before she could say thank you.

"Seriously," Glenn chimed in as Carrie puffed. "This is good shit! And also, it is really well rolled."

Daryl inclined his head graciously. When the joint had made it around the circle and Merle had taken a long drag all eyes fell on Sinclaire.

"Peer pressure!" Carrie sang out with a grin.

"One of us! One of us!" Daryl and Marie chanted at the same time.

"Okay that was freaky," Sinclaire muttered. "FIne. Fine! It's not like I need any extra brain cells or anything."

Daryl held the joint out and she took it hesitantly.

"Yer gonna wanna cough," he said. "Don't."

Sage nods from all around the fire followed his statement. None of them looked too messed up. She put the joint to her lips and inhaled before passing it to Rick again and trying desperately to keep the smoke in her lungs.

"Ya can stop now," Merle said dryly when her face had gone cherry red.

She let out her breath in a whoosh.

"That's my girl," Daryl said with a grin.

She still felt okay. She was still in control of everything. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. When the first joint burned low, Bowhunter rolled another one. SInclaire thought that she should be worried about them smoking too much, but it seemed like too much trouble to actually worry. She didn't even want to worry about not worrying about the thing she should worry about worrying about. She giggled and leaned against Daryl's shoulder.

"What's funny?" he asked, watching across the campfire as Carrie turned what was left of the joint in her fingers deftly and blew the smoke between Marie's parted lips. He gave Glenn a thumbs up because, hell, that was sexy as fuck, and then looked back down at Sinclaire.

"Nothing," she answered airly. "Just things get funny sometimes."

"Sure they do," he said agreeably.

Conversation began to drift around the circle as the joint was passed. Everyone weighed in on everything, from the insane ending of Lost, The Sopranos and Inception to more important issues raised by Glenn.

"If you were on Star Trek-"

"Which one?" Rick demanded.

"Any of them. All of them. What species would you be?"

"Klingon," Daryl and Merle said at the same time.

"They are pretty cool," Sinclaire said. "I also like the Bajorans."

"They're the ones with the cute noses right?" Marie asked.

"And the earrings," Sinclaire confirmed with a nod. "And attitude. Plenty of attitude."

"I liked them too," Marie agreed. "So we're Bajoran, they're Klingon,. Dale's Vulcan-"

"I am?" he asked in amusement.

"It does seem to fit," Glenn agreed. "I call Captain Picard."

"Ya can't," Merle said.

"Why not?"

"Cause he's just human. This ain't about-"

"Captain Picard was never just anything," Sinclaire said firmly.

"That ain't the point. The point is that we're pickin' specieses-"

"Species," Dale and Sinclaire corrected together.

"Whatever. And Picard's human. So he's sayin' he just wants to be human and that's dumb."

"Is not!" Carrie said, putting her arm around Glenn. "All the captains were human right?"

Silence fell as everyone had to acknowledge the point.

"Kirk and Picard and Han Solo-" she listed.

"No!" Sinclaire, Daryl, Merle, Glenn, and Rick said together.

"He was too!"

"Yes, he was," Rick explained patiently. "But that was Star Wars. We're talking Star Trek."

Carrie waved a hand. "It's basically the same thing."

G'lenn covered his heart with his hand and fell backward off the log they were sitting on.

"What?" she demanded.

"We're through," he groaned. "You're a wonderful girl, but we're through."

"Until ya wanna get laid," Merle said dryly.

When the second joint had made its way around the circle a few times Marie clapped her hands and said, "I have an idea! We should play Truth or Dare!"

"Fuck no," Daryl said promptly.

"You just volunteered to go first," she said with a grin.

"Truth," Daryl said quickly.

"Were you really a virgin before Sinclaire corrupted you?"

"Hey!" Sinclaire protested. "It was only mostly my idea!"

Daryl's response was incomprehensible because his face was buried in his hands.

"If you don't answer you have to take a dare," Marie pointed out. "The dare will involve a Britney Spears song and you taking off your shirt."

"Ya wouldn't do..." Daryl trailed off. "Ya would wouldn't ya? Fine. Yeah. It's true."

"Seriously?" Carrie asked. "Oh my God! You don't know how many times me and Tiff talked about what you were like in bed!"

"What?" Daryl, Merle, and Glenn asked at the same time.

"Well..it was before you," Carrie said weakly to both Glenn and Merle. "What?" she demanded of the rest of the group. "He's hot! I figured he'd be good in bed okay?"

"He is," SInclaire said, hoping to make the situation better. "I couldn't tell he was a virgin."

"You hate sex though," Carrie said.

"It doesn't mean I don't know good sex when I have it. It's all perfectly normal and above average."

"You're rating the sex above average?" Rick asked with a grin.

"Not the sex. The um..." Sinclaire stopped. "I think I'm saying too much."

"Wait," Marie said. "Are you talking about his-"

"Shhhh!" Sinclaire said as all the women turned to look at Daryl appraisingly.

"I'm dreamin' this right?" Daryl asked, face in his hands again. "Next thing ya know I'll show up nekkid in school."

"Okay," Sinclaire said. "We've humiliated Bowhunter enough for one evening I think."

"Hell baby brother," Merle said. "Worse things to be known fer."

After that it was Daryl's turn, but after he took time out to roll the next joint and get it started around, he ended up lost in a conversation with Dale so the game kind of died out. Sinclaire listened as he and Dale spoke seriously of distraction techniques.

"See...I'm thinkin' cows. Ya know. Fer a distraction," Daryl said. "Cause they're big and slow-"

"And I've seen Walkers eat them," Dale said with a nod. "You might be onto something. We should get cattle."

"That's what I'm sayin'!"

Marie edged over to add her two cents to the cattle debate while Glenn explained the finer points of Star Trek to Carrie, who looked completely zoned out. Rick had held onto what was left of the second joint and he was puffing thoughtfully.

Sinclaire glanced at Merle. He had his chin in his hand and he was staring into the fire. This was the quietest she'd ever seen him. He must have felt her watching him because he turned and glanced at her.

"You okay?" she asked.

"Huh? Yeah. Think I might head in soon. Them kids wake up damn early."

"Yep." She rubbed Zeke between the ears and gave Merle a half smile. "Feel like watching Zeke for me?"

"Guess I could. Why?"

"He's ain't a cat. He's a fuckin' demon," Daryl said. "Check this shit out."

He pushed his sleeve up.

"Bandages?" Marie asked, obviously unimpressed.

"There's scratches under the bandages. That's what I'm talkin' about. Cat hates me."

"He hates everybody," Sinclaire said, tapping Zeke's nose gently. "Don't you?"

He cuddled into her jacket and purred.

"Want to stay with Daddy tonight?" Sinclaire continued.

"How the hell'd I end up bein' daddy?" Merle asked as she sat down beside him and handed the small ball of black fur over gently. "Shouldn't that be Daryl's job?"

"Nope. It's Uncle Bowhunter. I refuse to share custody with someone afraid of a tiny little kitten."

Merle laughed briefly and pushed Sinclaire's hair into her eyes as he cradled the kitten in the crook of his right arm. He let his fingers rest in her thick, soft hair for a few seconds too long. She smacked his arm and shook her hair back over her shoulders as she gave him a smile.

Merle stood up without saying anything else and headed into the bar, leaving Sinclaire sitting there alone.

"All right then," she said to no one in particular. "I think the party is at an end."

"Yeah there ain't no sense in wastin' it all in one night," Daryl agreed.

"Whatever," Glenn said. "You just want us out of here so you can have sex."

"Pretty much," Daryl said agreeably. "I got catchin' up to do."