AN: Here we are, another chapter here.
I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!
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Merle had damn near wore a rut in the floor that ran all the way around the kitchen. For a while, Daryl had watched him and tried to figure out what he was doing, but finally he'd accepted that Merle probably didn't even know what he was doing.
"You gonna wear out the linoleum," Daryl offered, finally. He lit a cigarette and sat back in his seat. "Andrea's gonna make your ass replace it if you think she's gonna live here."
"I don't know where the fuck she'll live," Merle said.
"You lookin' for somethin' in that 'frigerator, Merle?" Daryl asked. "Or you found some kinda damn gateway to Oz or some shit back there? A motherfuckin' munchkin gonna just come out in a minute like...like how ya fuckin' do?"
Merle sighed loudly and straightened up. He slammed the refrigerator door hard enough that one of the fruit shaped magnets they'd acquired somewhere fell to the floor and clattered off to slide under the stove. Merle frowned at it like he was genuinely sad to see the plastic bunch of bananas go.
He'd been looking in the refrigerator at something like three minute intervals, but Daryl was pretty sure that nothing that hadn't been there before was going to magically be there. Their refrigerator wasn't much in the practice of growing food.
Merle grunted to himself, turned around, and opened the door again. At least to Daryl's relief, this time he came out with a beer.
"You want one?" He asked.
Daryl considered it.
"Yeah, that's fine," he said. "Gimme one."
Merle handed Daryl a beer and hesitated just before he cracked open the top of the can that he was holding.
"Might oughta not drink with drivin' out to Hershel's," Merle said.
Daryl laughed to himself. Under the table he kicked the leg of the chair across from him so that it slid out.
"Sit the fuck down, Merle," Daryl said. "That beer ain't gonna hurt you an' you gonna burn it off pacin' fore you get there."
Merle did finally sit and Daryl passed him the pack of cigarettes and the lighter. He grunted a thanks before he helped himself to a smoke.
"You freakin' the fuck out 'cause she might be knocked up," Daryl asked, "or 'cause she might not be?"
"Say she wants to move in here—then what?" Merle asked.
"Weren't you gonna build a lil' house?" Daryl asked.
"Gotta stay somewhere 'til it's built," Merle said. "Houses don't go up in a day."
"So she stays here," Daryl said. "Or you stay with her."
"They ain't nowhere to put a baby," Merle said.
"Build the house 'fore it gets here," Daryl said.
"What about you an' your lil' woman?" Merle asked.
"What about us?" Daryl asked.
"You gonna—ya know—move in together?" Merle asked.
"Shack up?" Daryl asked.
His stomach clenched at the thought of it. His pulse kicked up a notch. Suddenly he understood a little of how Merle was feeling. He liked the idea of it. A lot. But he was almost terrified to admit that. He was almost terrified of what Carol might think.
And he wasn't sure if there was any way that things could go that he wasn't going to be bathed in anxiety.
"You thought about it?" Merle asked.
Daryl swallowed.
For the first time since Merle had started wearing tracks in the floor, he seemed calmed and grounded. He held Daryl's stare intently.
"Course I thought about it," Daryl said. "I thought about a lotta damn things."
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Carol didn't know if Andrea had planned some kind of big reveal for Merle or not. She hadn't said anything about it while they'd packed the picnic lunch that they would take the farm. She hadn't said much of anything, really, since the tests had revealed that she was getting what she most wanted. She'd hummed a little, and she'd smiled a lot, but it seemed as if all her words had disappeared.
Sophia was practically buzzing, though. A pony ride and a baby belonging to Andrea might prove to be too much excitement for her in one day. She was practically bouncing around the house and Carol worried that she'd tire herself out before they ever got to the farm. She'd probably have a snack, ride the pony for fifteen minutes, and fall asleep on the picnic blanket for the rest of the visit.
But if that was what she wanted to do, Carol was going to let her. Honestly it made her heart throb with happiness to see how happy her daughter had become.
When Daryl and Merle got there—pulling up in the somewhat junker-SUV that they normally kept at the shop, but were using because it would hold more people for the drive—Sophia had bounded out the door almost immediately. She stayed back, as Daryl had taught her to do with his bike, until they got out of the vehicle. In a spurt of energy and excitement, she'd practically bounced over to the two men as they made their way toward Carol and Andrea, likely to greet them and offer to carry the picnic basket.
Carol held the picnic basket, and she took the keys from Andrea to lock the door because her hands were shaking. She'd calmed down, but seeing Merle had seemed to stir her back up again.
Carol worried that Sophia, excitedly chattering, might spill the secret, but when she paid her some close attention, she realized that her daughter was only excitedly trying to tell Daryl all her dreams about the wonderful ride that she and Hershel's pony would enjoy.
"You lookin' good enough to eat, Sugar," Merle called out.
He reached the ground just before the short porch steps and stood there with his arm resting on the start of the banister.
Carol didn't know if Andrea had planned some kind of big reveal for Merle or not but, if she did, it went out the window fairly quickly.
Andrea practically ran forward the three steps that the width of the porch allowed her to make. Merle anticipated what came next and straightened himself to catch her as she cleared the short steps and practically landed on him. He kept his feet, though, and caught her with his arms wrapped around her waist and her arms wrapped around his neck.
He laughed as he backed up and turned her around twice before he brought her feet to the ground. Carol noticed that, even though he was no longer holding her up, he didn't take his arms away from her.
"Well—you ain't bawlin'," Merle pointed out. "That mean you got somethin' to tell me, Sugar?"
Carol waited on the porch. She glanced over at Daryl. She expected him to be watching his brother and Andrea—and he was, somewhat—but she didn't expect him to look at her and make eye contact. When he did, it surprised her and she turned her eyes away a moment before she dared to look back at him. He was smiling to himself, but this time he wasn't looking at her.
"She does!" Sophia barked out. She stopped hopping in circles around Daryl to run toward Merle. "She does! She does!"
"Sophia!" Carol barked.
Sophia stopped suddenly. She stood stone still. Everything in her demeanor changed.
"What, Mama?" She asked, her voice going soft. "I didn't tell her secret—I promised I wouldn't an' I didn't. I just said there was a secret. But I didn't tell it."
Daryl stepped forward and rested his hand on Sophia's shoulder. He squeezed at her neck and she tipped her head to the side to trap his fingers there. He laughed to himself.
"An' one way or another we knowed there was a secret, didn't we, Soph?" Daryl asked.
Carol frowned at him, but he winked at her. Sophia looked pleased.
"I didn't tell it," she insisted again. She practically pirouetted to turn around and smile up at Daryl. "I didn't—but we all know there's a secret!"
Daryl reached down and, catching Sophia under her arms, he heaved her up. She wrapped her arms quickly around his neck and wrapped her legs around his waist. Carol didn't miss that, for a fraction of a moment, Sophia rested her head against him before she straightened herself up.
"She ain't wrong, Sugar," Merle said. "So—if you got somethin' to tell me, then it's prob'ly best you just go ahead an' tell me."
Andrea stared at him. Carol couldn't see her face, but she'd seen enough of it earlier to imagine there might be tears even with a smile. Carol could see Merle, though, when he smiled to himself. Her heart squeezed tight. The way that he looked at Andrea said more than he could have probably ever put into words.
"I believe this is the first time since I met'cha that you was speechless," Merle said. "Gotta be some kinda record or some shit. You writin' it down, brother? Date an' time. Andrea ain't been able to find her tongue."
"I've got my tongue, Merle," Andrea said.
His smile renewed itself. Carol saw him squeeze Andrea. He brought her to her toes before he let her rest flat footed again.
"Yeah?" He asked. "So—what is it?"
"You didn't ever tell me if—if you liked Daddy or Father or...what do you like, Merle?"
Merle looked at her. He squeezed her visibly again. He stared at her again.
"You alright there, Merle?" Daryl finally asked after a moment. He shifted Sophia's weight and rearranged his hands, but she didn't seem to notice or care. "Is it you that don't got'cha tongue? You want me to write that shit down? Merle Dixon ain't knowed what to say?"
"Fuck..." Merle muttered. "Fuck...fuck..."
"Is it good, Merle?" Andrea asked.
Carol heard Andrea's voice shake. Merle must have heard it, too, because it was enough to break whatever stupor had taken ahold of him. He reached and caught Andrea's face. He held it in his hands and he kissed her. He kissed her dramatically enough that Sophia squealed over it and buried her face in Daryl's neck like it was something she wasn't supposed to see. She didn't stay that way long, though, before she turned back—arm wrapped tight around Daryl's neck—to grin at the two people who weren't interested in hiding their affection.
"It's the best, Sugar," Merle said. "Don't'cha worry about that. It's the best. An' you just—'member that. It's mine an' it's the best an' it ain't proper for no Prez's Ole Lady to be doubtin' no such shit."
Andrea accepted the kiss that Merle offered her after that, and the next.
Sophia put her hand on Daryl's face and turned it so that he would look directly at her. She furrowed her brow at him.
"Does he know the secret yet?" She asked in a loud whisper.
Daryl barked with laughter and everyone else followed suit. Even Carol found that she couldn't swallow it down.
"He knows," Merle said. He let go of Andrea and he turned. He reached his hands out to Sophia and she let Daryl make the transfer. Her body swung somewhat awkwardly toward Merle, but it didn't take him long to situate her on his hip the same as Daryl had done. "He knows. What'cha say, Kid? Ole Merle here—is he a Daddy or a Father or...what the hell you reckon his kid would call him if he was callin' him somethin'?"
Sophia looked at Andrea. She nodded at her.
"What do you think, Sophia?" Andrea asked.
Sophia looked over her shoulder at Daryl and got a nod from him. Carol made her way off the porch and walked over. Sophia looked to her for some sort of confirmation that she was allowed to answer the question.
Sophia had never truly been comfortable calling Ed anything. Carol had always called Ed her Daddy, but there were very few times in her life that Carol had actually heard Sophia refer to Ed as anything. He lived like an angry, unnamed entity among them. Sophia almost seemed to consider him an unnamed and unnatural thing that represented only danger.
She looked at Merle. He raised his eyebrows at her.
"What'cha think?" He pressed. "What would my kid like to call me? What would they want me to be?"
Sophia's earlier smile was gone. She looked at Merle with absolute seriousness.
"Daddy," she said. "I think—Andrea's baby wants you to be a Daddy."
Merle smiled. He laughed quietly to himself. He nodded his head.
"Yeah," he said. "Then that's what I'll be, right? That's just what the hell I'ma be. Come on—let's go see if we can't get us some cold chicken an'...I heard you was pretty damned excited to go an' see a man about a pony."
