Merle leads the two women to the building that he and his Pack were staying in. A Pack. It was weird having one, especially without his baby brother. Daryl had believed in an afterlife, even when Merle didn't, but the Beta couldn't help but pray he'd meet his brother there. At least he was until Andrea showed up. Believing in a place after death was something he'd pick up from their Mama.
Their Mama, Norman, was from a Nomadic Lycan Clan and part of the Anaik Awi: Clan of Deer. They were hunters and trackers, something that drew William 'Bill' Dixon to him. Norman had joined the Breeders society because of a low income and rebellious teenage years, something he had told Merle he sometimes regretted deeply.
"I'll never regret my pups, little Wayja." He told him once while watching Daryl suckle from him after his birth, "Never you two. And while your father is cruel for a white man by any standard, he has given me you and your brother. And for that I'm forever grateful."
"Merle?" A hand on his shoulder makes him jump, and he realizes he had been staring into space, just thinking. Everyone was in the room and staring at him. He sits down on his bed, dropping his prosthetic on Duane's, who jumps up to grab his equipment and goes on to tinker with it, a casual "Thanks Merle" thrown over his shoulder. He tucks his stump under a pillow when the two women keep glancing at it. He couldn't take his eyes off Andrea; she was one of the Quarry people who went with Rick to the CDC…. If she's here, then maybe….
"What the hell are you looking at Dixon?" Andrea snarls at him.
"How many made it?"
"What?"
"How many got away from the CDC?" When her eyes widen, he keeps going. He keeps his voice low, like talking about it would somehow break the spell, and the female Beta would disappear. "I went back to the Quarry and ya'll were all gone. Saw a lot of graves; I know why ya left. Followed the map Rick left for Morgan to the CDC and it was gone too. Couldn't smell if ya'll got away or not. Last couple months I've been think all you were dead and then you show up and…."
The woman seems to understand to some degree. "He made it out."
Merle's body drops into the cushion, and he cries silent tears with loud heaves of breaths that make it sound like he is laughing. Duane looks up and whines in question.
"Nothing pup. Old Merle just got some good news. My brother's alive." Merle chuckles and wipes his eyes, "Can't kill that little Awi even if ya tried."
Duane's eyes light up, "Awi? That means deer. Daryl's alive?"
"Yeah." Merle breathes, "He's alive."
Morgan purrs a little and bumps shoulders with Merle while handing him an open bottle of water. "It's getting dark. You're sure you can vouch for them?"
"I vouch for the blonde; don't know the other one."
"I vouch for her." Andrea says, frowning.
"There ya go Alpha. Now quit your whining and eat something." Merle grabs a jar of peanut butter and eats it with his fingers. Morgan's hands squeeze the back of the Beta's neck, his slight scruff, and turns black eyes on him with a growl. Duane whimpers but continues to eat. Andrea and Michonne watch on full alert, but Merle just looks up and says, "They touch him, and I'll put a bullet in both of them. Don't worry Alpha."
Morgan lets him go with a huff and checks on his pup. Merle raises a brow at Andrea while she gasps like a fish. She looks from the Alpha to Merle, "You didn't fight him; didn't even try. You never let Shane or Rick do that."
"I chose to follow Morgan." Merle huffs, "I'd rather have bared my neck to my old man than Walsh. Didn't know Rick that well and the first thing he does when we meet is hit me and handcuff me to the roof. Grant it I was high and not in the best of places-"
"When were you ever not on drugs Dixon?" Andrea scowls. Morgan and Duane both growl at the woman, but Merle just watched his feet.
"Every day but two for the last two years."
"What?"
Morgan sat beside the Beta and stared at the woman, "Everyone mourns differently for their pup on the anniversary of their death."
The two women stare at Merle, one in understanding and the other in shock. "What do you mean Merle had a kid?!"
The man reaches into his pocket and pulls out his wallet, handing her a face-down photo before getting up and moving to Duane, who helps him wrap his stump again. Andrea and Michonne lean over the photo. It was a younger Merle, smiling and with longer hair, with a little boy at his side holding a buck's head up, both bare-chested. Daryl, kneeling next to them with a white beater on, forever pulling an arrow out of the chest and laughing up at the boy. The boy was biracial, black, and maybe…... Hispanic…. Asian? The three of them looked so happy, hunting together.
"Lemuel." Merle says; the two women look over at him. "He was about fourteen when he died of pneumonia, it's been about four years since then. My uncle was with him, while Daryl was on tour but I was serving time."
"Why?" Michonne asks. She cuts off whatever Andrea is going to say with a low rumble.
"Daryl was threatened and needed my help." Andrea looks up, shocked. "Some Alpha got it in his head that just because he gave money to our Pa, he had a right to rape my brother and call him his Breeder. I beat the fucker into a coma and got about six years for assault. One before Lemmy died and all the way up to the End. Daryl got me from the work release I was doing when the dead started walking and we were traveling until the Quarry."
"You said Daryl was on tour." The female Alpha says, "What kind of tour?"
Merle pulls out the dog tags, both his and Daryl's on the same chain now, and hands it over. Andrea stares at the tags and the Beta like she was just now seeing him clearly for the first time.
They don't talk again until the following day. Morgan cooks some food, and they head out, gathering more food and clearing Walkers off the traps. They keep to the same schedule for months, getting to know Andrea and Michonne better. The two women were close, but they kept to themselves when it came to the older men. They give Duane a chocolate bar whenever they find them on runs, which leads to Michonne talking about her own pup.
Michonne was an art collector with her Beta boyfriend, Mike, and his best friend, Terry, from Florida. They had joined a camp in front of a sports department store when they came to Georgia, but while Michonne adapted and learned to fight and wield the samurai sword on her back, her two companions stayed in camp taking care of her cub, a three-year-old named Andre. She had been on a run when the camp was taken and when she came back, her son was eaten, and Mike and Terry were high as kites and bit. She cut their arms off, pulled out their teeth, destroyed their jaws, and now uses them to hide her scent from other Walkers.
She and Andrea stay together, even when they sleep. Duane had moved to sleep with his dad or Merle, whoever wasn't on watch and let the two women take his bed. They sleep with Andrea against the wall, Michonne shielding her from any threats, the way an Alpha would with their Mate. Merle and Morgan make jokes and share meaningful glances the weeks leading up to their courting. No, neither are surprised when the first gift shows up in their camp. It does surprise them that the gift is a painting Andrea found in one of the houses and brings it home with them, presenting it to the female Alpha. The three males go upstairs while Michonne stares at the painting.
"I know you had one like it in your apartment. Do you like it?"
"Are you asking me to court you?" Michonne asks.
"If I am?" Andrea asks, "Will you not do it cause I'm a Beta?"
Michonne grabs the back of Andrea's neck and pulls her into a kiss. The Alpha laughs, "With other Alphas it's a fight all the time; Omegas can be clingy to the point of annoying. You've been mine since I found you."
They Court for two more weeks before Mating during Michonne's rut. They stay in a separate room with Merle bringing them food and water. The Beta was better suited for the job, as Andrea would see Duane as a competitor for Michonne, and Michonne would see Morgan as another Alpha making moves on her Mate the second he walked through the door. She still growled at the door anytime she smelled one of them outside, even if they were just passing through. When the rut was finally over, they came out with matching Mating Bites on the left shoulders.
The first snowfall. They were on a supply run, all five of them when it happened. Duane had been keeping track of the days in his school agenda, and as far as he could tell, the first Walker appeared in California back in April, the same month Rick had been shot. They were now on month 11, mid-February, give or take a few days, since the start of the end of the world. The Omega wrote a note in his agenda on the date, labeling it as the year's first snowfall.
He had gone through the whole thing and marked dates he found important. The first Walker appearance. His mother's date of death. Michonne and Andrea's Mating anniversary. His and his dad's, Michonne's, Andrea's (and Amy's), and Merle's and Daryl's birthdays. He even had Lemmy's death day and birthday written down with a note that Merle wasn't supposed to be alone those days; Duane got a hug and an extra candy bar for it.
Other days had little notes on what they did that day, including when they found Rick, and Andrea, and Michonne. It had been nine months since Merle had seen his brother, and not a day went by that he didn't miss him.
They were in a car when it started snowing, and they pulled over quickly when they saw that it was coming in heavy. Morgan, Duane, and Michonne all looked up suddenly, focused. Merle was driving, so he couldn't see or hear what they could, but he followed Morgan's instructions without question, pulling up to a house that had lights on in one of the upper windows. They piled out of the car and were quick to dart inside to get out of the cold, and then the Betas could hear what the others had. A woman was screaming and crying. Morgan and Duane sprint upstairs to help while the other three clear the house. When they get upstairs, the first thing they see is the woman's belly. It was huge, and the baby was ready to come out from the wet and bloody sheets. Then they see her face.
"Lori?!" Andrea runs to the woman's side, Michonne quick behind her.
"Andrea?" Lori smiles, "Never thought I'd see you again."
"Where are the others?" The blonde Beta asks, "Why isn't Shane or Rick or someone with you?"
"Rick killed Shane, back at the farm." Lori sobs, "Said he went after Carl. The others kicked me out of the Pack, I've been on my own for months."
"Rick wouldn't have just left a pregnant woman by herself." Morgan rumbles from where he was getting ready to help her with the birth. "What did you do?"
"Nothing." Lori frowns.
"How many made it off the farm?" Andrea asks.
"Everyone except Patricia, Jimmy, and Shane."
"Daryl got out?" Merle came into view, "He's alive?"
"Oh great." Lori snarls, "Another Dixon here to ruin everything."
Morgan and Michonne both growl at her, and even Andrea glares. "Leave him alone. Why are you alone?"
"Rick." Lori glares at Merle, "He fucked the Omega slut and knocked him up. When I told…. IT to abort the baby because Rick is MY husband, he refused and attacked me. We fought, and Rick banished me, choosing that stupid Knot Clencher over his Mate."
Morgan and Michonne jumped up to catch Merle when he lunged. He snarls and fights but makes sure neither cut themselves on the blade on his prosthetic. Andrea pushes him away from the bed and takes the knife off before he shifts. Merle's wolf was big and bulky with sandy blonde fur with a chestnut undertone. Michonne turns into a black one, slim and fit, and pulls him by his scruff away from the bed. His missing leg helps her move him, and when Duane shifts into a smaller dark brown and rust red wolf, Merle focuses on him. He pulls the small Omega pup into his chest and locks his paws over him, growling at Lori between grooming the boy's fur.
Michonne stays with Andrea and Morgan while trying to help the Beta give birth, but she makes sure Lori knows just how much she would rather throw her in a herd.
"Something's wrong." Morgan says, "The heads not crowning, the feet are. I can't push the baby up to turn him. We'll have to do a c-section."
"There's a scar still there from Carl's birth. Should be easy enough to find." Lori whimpers. Morgan finds it and cuts the skin quickly. If the baby dies in the canal and he can't get it out….
He finds the uterus and cuts it open, pulling the baby out and making sure it is breathing. A loud wail fills the room, and Merle and Duane both lookup. Lori starts crying again.
"You have to take it." She heaves. "Take the baby and go. Please, I'm begging you."
"Lori it's fine, you didn't lose to much blood." Morgan says, cleaning the baby. "I can stitch you up and you'll be fine."
"I can't raise that baby. Take it or leave it for a Walker but I can't take that baby." Lori pushes it away when Morgan tries to hand it to her. "I CAN'T!"
"I have a son, one that's heats are too drastic and un-chartable." Morgan shakes his head, "I can't raise another right now. Not like this."
"Michonne and I are Mated." Andrea says, "I refuse to raise a baby without her."
"It's too soon after Andre." Michonne chokes, "I can't…. I…"
"I'll do it." Merle breathes. He had shifted and walked over, taking the baby from Morgan. He adjusted his arms to brace the baby's head and tuck it close to his chest. Soft rumbles vibrate against the baby's body, and it calms down, letting out small chirps. Not a Beta, then. "I'll take care of the cub."
"It's a boy." Morgan tells him. Merle whines a little and rubs his stubbled chin against the fair hair on the baby's head. The others in his Pack understand why; Lemmy had a little brother now.
"Not Dixon." Lori snarls through her sobs, "I don't want redneck trash raising my child."
"You're a fucking hypocrite." Andrea snaps, "Merle's raising the baby unless you can tell us why you won't." They knew none of their Pack would take the baby from Merle, but he still pulled it closer to him.
"There were two."
Silence.
Lori started sobbing, "Twins. They tried to come out at the same time, that's why one was stuck. It's gone." She taps the side of her head. Parents could feel their children in the womb, even though it was harder for Betas, "It got caught in the umbilical cord and suffocated."
"Lori…" Andrea whispers in horror.
The Beta smiles a tired, watery grin and lays back, "That was hours ago."
Merle had Duane and the newborn out of the room and in another before the first horror, pain-filled screams shook the house. Lori was giving birth to a Walker baby, and it was trying to eat its way out. The next scream is cut short with the sound of a silenced gunshot, then another. Duane was crying, wide eyes staring at the door. Merle checked the baby in his hands, praying this one wasn't dead and just didn't have the teeth or nails to hurt him. Closed eyes and a thumb in his mouth was what he saw looking at the baby. He smells him and doesn't smell death; his new little boy is ok.
Merle purrs to both of them and looks for a distraction. He nudges Duane and points at his agenda. "Why don't we record our newest Pack member's birth, yeah?"
The Omega nods and turns to the right page. He finds the last one he highlighted and takes out the pen/highlighter combo. 'Lori Grimes dies in childbirth- one baby survives and adopted by Merle Dixon.' He checks his watch and writes down the time, then turns to Merle. "What are we going to call him?"
"I'm not sure yet."
Morgan comes in with a blanket to wrap the baby in so it doesn't get cold, then they get in the car and head back to the town. They'd come back and bury Lori and the other baby, a girl, tomorrow. They get home and get something to eat, Morgan and Michonne making a run for baby food. Merle was feeding the baby while everyone settled in when Duane came over and sat next to him with a book.
"Will you read us a story?" Merle nods and shifts the baby, seeing it staring at Duane and grabbing at the air around him, cooing lightly.
"What's going on?" Michonne asks with a smirk.
"Merle's going to read us a story." Duane says again. The baby makes another grabbing motion and smiles at the Omega.
"Read us what?" Merle watches the baby turn his attention to Michonne and make grabbing hands at her too, giggling.
"It's Eragon; a book about dragon riders and magic and stuff."
"Why is he going to read us a story?" Now the baby was focused on Andrea.
"Because I asked him to read us one." And~~ back to Duane. Merle starts laughing. Everyone looked at him, even the baby who was pouting at not getting the attention he wanted.
"Reedus." The baby laughs, and Merle lets him chew on his finger. "That's his name, Reedus. We can call him little Reed."
Everyone smiles, and Duane writes it down. Morgan hums, "Why that?"
"My Mama was Lynomadic." Merle explained. "He always called me and Daryl by our other names; one's he said connected our souls to the earth. Wayja was my name. Wayja Naevu, the wolf of stone. The little wolf, always silently watching; fierce and frightening to be around until you earn his trust, then so grounded in his loyalty and protectiveness it was like trying to move a mountain with your bare hands. Daryl was his Ekqua Awi; little elk. A protector and warrior, alert, focused, noble, strong and graceful. He walked with purpose and intent, even if he didn't look like it. Always watching out for the little guy and wary of everyone who wasn't HIS."
He plays with Reedus's feet and gets a giggle out of him. "Reeds are like small bamboo that grow in the mush on riverbanks and in swamps. They offer protection to small animals and fish, but their roots are firm in the ground and hard to pull up. That's how I want him to be; generous, grounded and protective. Normally you wait to see how a child grows, let them get their own personality before giving them their second name but with how our lives are now…."
"What's his second name then?" Duane asks.
"Abesso; snake. A symbol of rebirth, transformation and healing."
…
It was days later when everything fell apart. Michonne and Andrea had gone looking for food and more formula when they had come across a camp. Men, all Alphas, were talking about a town, Woodbury, and making plans to return. Then another group, Woodbury men, said they had a message from the Governor and killed them all. They came straight back and told the others.
"We need to get away from here." Morgan says, "If they come any further than they are now…."
"No." Merle shook his head. He was feeding Reedus again while the cub scented him. The little boy loved Merle and would cry or chirp until he was in his arms again. He dealt with Duane and Morgan better than the women, but they all assumed it was cause Merle's scent was more pungent with them. "We need a way to know what they're going to do and where they're going to be. We can't have them finding out about this place or anything. We need to keep an eye on them, but not where they can find us and kill us."
"No!" Morgan snarls with black eyes, "You're not going to them!"
"I could be our fly on the wall." Merle snaps back, "I go in as a spy, work my way up-"
"Think about us!" Morgan roars, "We're your Pack now! Duane looks up to you and you just got a baby! You can't leave!"
"I am thinking about you!" Merle screams. He hands Reedus to Duane, and a gentle nudge has him running over to Michonne and Andrea, who are quick to take them from the room, already smelling what might happen. The Beta turns back to the Alpha.
"I'm thinking of those boys and how best to protect them!" Merle snarls, "I'm thinking how we can keep Michonne and Andrea away from a Delta Pack because you know what they do to women, even Alpha women, and the only people we've seen from these guys are other Alphas. I'm thinking of another way this could go, if we just run and run until they catch us, or we get stuck in a herd cause that's all that's south of here. I'm thinking that you are OUR PRIME, so it can't be you…. Not with Duane…."
Morgan was shaking in rage, his eyes turning red. He turns around, so his back is to Merle, and the Beta gets close, his shoulder touching Morgan's. "I've done this before overseas. In and out, if I play by their rules. Let me do this for our Pack; for our boys."
Morgan turns around and pushes Merle against the wall, kissing him deeply. When Merle gets over his shock and kisses back a little bit, the Alpha pulls away and sinks his teeth in Merle's neck. "SHIT!"
The Beta holds on tight while the Alpha marks him, and with a growl, he bites down on Morgan's neck too. The Alpha growls and rubs against Merle, grinding together until they both cum, and the Alpha's knot swells until it's painful. Merle shoves his hand inside Morgan's pants and squeezes. Their teeth stay locked in each other's glands until the Alpha's knot goes down, then they separate without looking at one another.
"You're part of THIS Pack; you're MY Mate now. Don't forget it while you're there." Morgan growls.
"I'll take one of the spare cars, head to the creek to wash away as much of y'all scent as possible." Morgan growls, and Merle throws a pillow at him. The Alpha looks at his new Mate. Merle had filled into a healthy weight now that he had food and wasn't on drugs. He'd ditched the torn button-up and vest combo from when Morgan had met him and was now wearing a black thermal shirt with a leather jacket and a clean pair of jeans; well, as clean as you could get these days. He looked healthy and in his prime, even though he was pushing his late 40s.
"They smell that cub or Duane on me and it's going to be a hell of a time keeping them away. Rule one of infantry; never give your bonds away. I'll clean as much of it off and find some Walkers to hide more of it."
"Will you tell them goodbye?" Morgan growls.
"Do you think I could leave if I did?" A no, then. The Alpha hangs his head and nods. Merle walks over to him and kisses his temple. "I'll be alright, Alpha. I'll come back to you and our Pack. Trust me."
The other Pack members come back in when they hear the car start and drive away. Duane goes straight to his dad and throws his arms around his waist. He starts sobbing when Morgan hugs him, and he catches the sight of the Mating mark. Michonne went over to scent their Prime, showing her sympathy for their loss. Andrea was holding little Reedus, who was just starting to wake up. When the baby looks around and can't find Merle, he frowns.
Then he whines.
Then chirps.
Then wails. The others felt like doing the same.