Noah and Carl worked together to choose selected pieces of dry wood to place in the outdoor barbecue. As they stacked the lumber and added some kindling, Noah commented, "New Year's Eve kinda reminds me of when I was a kid, and a lot of our neighbors shot off fireworks at midnight."

"Oh," was all Carl could manage to reply. He'd always been in bed sound asleep at midnight every day of the year as far as he could remember.

Noah sort of smiled as he continued, "I mainly remember that because the loud noises upset Sadie."

"Your sister?" Carl asked.

"No, our dog." Noah's face went somber as it always did when he remembered Life Before The Turn. "She was a German Shepherd mix, and was such a good girl…but certain loud noises upset her. Thunderstorms didn't bother her, but Fourth of July and New Year's Eve…any occasion with fireworks. She'd pace around and pant and we thought she'd have a heart attack." e Hhkdkdk

He paused and chuckled. "The one thing that always calmed her down was riding in the car. So my Pop would put her in the car and drive around the neighborhood. My Mom used to tease him about pampering the dog but then he'd remind her that he also used to drive my baby brother around in his car seat the same way when he was a baby and was fussing."

"I don't remember much from when I was a baby," Carl commented, "but I remember back when things first Turned my Mom and Dad talking about a road trip we were taking and I kept barfing. They said they never got to the Grand Canyon, that they had to turn around and go back home because I was so sick."

Noah noticed the guilty look that came over Carl's face. "Hey," he said, "even if y'all had made it to the Grand Canyon, how much of it would you remember since you were so young? Instead your parents had a funny story to tell about why they had to cut their trip short." He smiled and punched Carl in the shoulder. "Better than a picture postcard, 'cause that's something that they probably told folks at parties and barbecues."

Carl's cheeks crimsoned at the thought of his parents sharing such an embarrassing story with other people. Noah noticed the boy's uneasiness and tried to comfort him. "Hey, it's what parents do. I wanted to hide under a rock every Thanksgiving when all of our relatives would come for dinner and my Daddy would play that darned video of home movies and there I was, a toddler taking my first steps and my diaper was falling right off of my butt."

Carl laughed out loud at Noah's memory. Noah smiled and raised his fists for a momentary boxing match, but as Carl responded to his light punches Noah felt a momentary wave of sadness. Even if his parents had shown that video at his college graduation or at his wedding, he'd gladly endure the humiliation as long as his family was still alive. After a moment he said aloud, "We'd best get this fire started."

‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡

Merle kept a mental calendar of everyone's "watch duty". Hell, that was one of his specialties back at the prison – keeping track of who was doing what, and at what time, and where their talents could best be used. So he knew that Maggie and Glenn were in their room, and it was (he hoped) soon enough after Maggie had returned from washing breakfast dishes that she and Glenn hadn't had time to…well…get all frisky. He knocked on the door of their room.

Maggie opened it, and Merle noticed Glenn standing not too far away, and (thankfully) fully dressed. Apparently he hadn't "interrupted" anything.

"Hey," he began awkwardly, "Um, do y'all have a couple of minutes? I want to talk to you about something,"

Maggie opened the door widely, silently inviting Merle inside. For as bad-ass as he'd been throughout his entire life, Merle felt nervous and shifted from foot to foot and looked at the floor as he spoke. "Um, I know that…well, we've had our differences in the past, but – "

"'Differences'?! That's what you call taping me to a chair and leaving a Walker in the room?" Glenn hadn't brought up that topic for a long time, but when Merle referred to it so lightly as a "difference" something in his gut just knotted up in anger.

Merle met Glenn's eyes for the first time since he'd entered the room. "All I can say regarding that is what we were taught in the Marines….'No excuse, Sir'."

Maggie sensed that Glenn was preparing to erupt, so she interjected, "Why don't you just tell us why you're here?"

Merle sighed and seemed to catch his breath. "It's about Beth," he said.

Maggie had a sinking feeling that that had been the purpose of Merle's visit. "What about Beth?" she finally spoke.

"OK, I ain't gonna pull no punches, I'm just gonna speak plainly. I love Beth and I want to marry her. I wanted to…well, why I'm here…I just…" He paused and then continued, "Your Daddy ain't here, so I wanted to ask your blessing, as her older sister."

Glenn started to blurt out that Hershel was no longer with them because of The Governor, but Maggie reached out her arm and stopped him. "Go on," was all she said."

"Like I said, I love Beth. I want to take care of her and protect her." He paused and added, "and she's told me that she loves me, too."

"Are you saying I can't protect her?!" Glenn interrupted.

Maggie turned to her husband and said "Shush!" It was obvious that Glenn was struggling to hold back a whole barrage of comments, but he reluctantly respected his wife's wishes.

"Merle," she said, "it's true that – well, to put it mildly – you got off on the wrong foot with all of us. But," she paused and looked straight into his eyes. "Beth has told me many times about her feelings for you, and I remember my Daddy…back at the prison…noticing her attraction to you. And he told me that if something ever happened to him he'd rest easier in his grave knowing that someone like you was caring for his youngest, his baby girl."

"I want you to know," Merle said with uncharacteristic sincerity, "that nothing, um….well, I have not violated your sister. I respect her and everything between us has been completely innocent."

"I know that," Maggie smiled gently, reaching out to clutch Merle's hand in hers, "and you have my blessing. And I think that you have Daddy's blessing from Heaven, too."

"Thank you," Merle said simply and then left the room.

"Hershel thought Merle could protect Beth better than I could?" Glenn asked moments later.

"Baby," Maggie tried to soothe Glenn, stroking his cheek, "I think that Daddy admired how devoted you were to me, and how much you did for everyone else in our group… You were stretched so thin already, he wanted Beth to have her own protector. And," she added, "you have to admit it was very nice of Merle to actually talk to us first about his intentions."

Glenn was silent for several minutes and then commented, "I remember asking your Dad for his blessing before I gave you that ring… Of all the folks left in this world, not only would Merle – this big ol' Neanderthal - be the last person I'd think Beth would fall in love with, but I'd never ever thought…" He seemed to be thinking while he paced back and forth "…that he would actually have the courtesy to ask us for our approval before, well, 'doing' anything."

"I agree," Maggie said as she grasped Glenn's hands. "He sort of danced around the subject, but he cares enough about Beth and our opinion to hint that he wanted us to know that they've never…you know… 'gone all the way'."

Glenn gazed into Maggie's eyes and saw complete conviction there. If she trusted Merle enough to be with Beth and take care of her, well, it was good enough for him. Maggie kissed him tenderly on the cheek. Her thoughts were still sort of racing around – she remembered back when her Daddy had referred to Glenn as "that Asian boy" and warned her against getting to close to him, because he and his entire group weren't going to be on their farm for very long. But after a while Daddy had changed his mind about Glenn and had even given him his cherished pocket watch. One memory that kept sticking in her mind, though, was how one night while chatting with her Daddy he compared himself to Merle, back in his "running around days", as he described his wild youth. He saw some good in the man she'd thought of strictly as an evil brute. But Daddy had never discouraged Beth's interest in Merle, much to her surprise. And she remembered that time when her Daddy told her that he'd rest easy in his grave if a man like Merle Dixon was there to take care of Beth. Beth had always been the baby of the family, so pampered and somewhat spoiled; Maggie had been surprised to hear her Daddy more or less give his "blessing" to a relationship between the two, despite their age difference and Merle's past behavior.

Maggie grasped both of Glenn's hands in hers. "You know, of course, that even if we hadn't given Merle an 'OK' to get married, he'd still watch over Beth and protect her."

"And Beth would be itching to consummate their relationship anyway, I get it," Glenn nodded with a wry grin.

"At least their first time won't be on the floor of a drugstore," Maggie gave Glenn a seductive smile. "Not that I minded that at all…" And with that she pulled him very aggressively to their bed and pushed him down onto the mattress.