AN: Here we are, another chapter here.

I hope you enjoy. Let me know what you think!

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"Lookin' like a fuckin' mule eatin' briars, brother," Merle mused.

The comment, rather than making Daryl want to rein in his smiling in any way, only made him smile more dramatically. Not even Merle could rain on his parade at the moment.

"You got some shit against bein' happy?" Daryl asked as he stepped carefully along the ground and followed after his brother, avoiding some of the larger downed limbs and such that littered the floor of the woods that surrounded their community.

"I knowed you since you come outta our Ma," Merle said, "an' I ain't never seen you smile so damned much for so damn long. Hell—I ain't got nothin' against it, but I gotta admit that it makes me wonder what the hell you got to make you smile so damn much. You was so late to breakfast, I was startin' to think you was dead. Then you eat a whole plate of biscuits an' bacon like a man starvin' to death, an' now you ain't quit grinnin' since we left. Somethin' stuck in your gums?"

"Just had a good morning," Daryl offered.

Merle laughed to himself.

"I'm just givin' you shit," Merle ceded. "Hell—I guess I can understand it. Got you a wife that…she ain't that bad lookin'."

Daryl didn't expect to feel struck in the gut by such a declaration. He didn't expect, either, that it would make him feel slightly offended that his brother would suggest that Carol wasn't "bad looking," as though anything about her appearance could be considered to be disappointing.

"She's better'n not fuckin' bad lookin', Merle," Daryl said.

Merle laughed again.

"Easy, brother," Merle said. "I'm sure you gonna understand if I tell you that my lil' woman might not like to know that I was sayin' good things about your lil' woman's looks. Wouldn't wanna make her jealous or make her think I was lookin' for somethin' new."

"I could fuckin' say that Andrea's a pretty woman an' it don't mean I'm tryin' to fuck her," Daryl responded.

"I guess I never really looked at your little mouse all that much," Merle said. "Mostly she was stuck up under that husband of hers when I knowed her before. Didn't hardly dare to look in her direction 'cause I figured he'd clock her a good one if I did and Shane didn't seem to keen on the idea of killin' people you thought oughta go." He laughed to himself. "Of course, with my track record in that damn group, I didn't exactly wanna introduce that precedence either. Still—now that I'm lookin' at her, and she's lookin' a whole lot different than she was back then, I could say she's pretty. You ain't done bad." He laughed quietly. "And you can get your hackles down, brother."

Daryl did feel slightly relieved by the comment, though he had no idea why. He had no real claim to Carol. She wasn't really his wife. She wasn't his woman in any way. He did think she was beautiful and, in fact, she was the most attractive woman that he'd ever seen, but he had no real reason to be offended that Merle might not agree with that feeling.

It wasn't as though there weren't going to be plenty of men that felt that way in the community. And, as a woman with a baby, the men around the community would soon start to see Carol as someone who was perfect to have as a wife. They would soon start wanting to build a family with her. She would need Daryl for cover for only as long as she didn't want to be in a relationship. As soon as she was settled, comfortable, and looking to actually build a family again, she would take her pick of the men that would make good family men—the men who were raised to be good husbands and fathers.

Unlike Andrea, she'd probably be able to tell that a Dixon didn't have too much training when it came to fulfilling either of those roles. She'd want something better and, after the husband she'd shed in Atlanta, she deserved something better.

Still, Daryl pushed the thought out of his mind because it only made his stomach ache, and he had been enjoying the euphoric feeling that had settled over him since that morning.

"She's fuckin' beautiful," Daryl grumbled, as much to himself as to Merle. His brother snorted.

"I reckon I'd be pissed off at you if you thought any different," Merle said. "You oughta treat her ass right."

"Like you ever cared before how anybody treated a woman," Daryl mused.

"I ain't never condoned the beatin' of a woman," Merle said.

"Short of that, you ain't never cared what kinda asshole behavior you engaged in when it come to women," Daryl said. "I remember some of the women you messed with. I remember how the hell you treated 'em, too."

Merle laughed to himself.

"You'd do good to remember that a lot of them was a different caliber woman, too."

"Still, you ain't cared too much about walkin' some straight and narrow path and treatin' women right," Daryl replied.

"Lotta damn things I ain't cared about before," Merle said. "But today's a new day, ain't it?"

"Read that on a calendar somewhere?" Daryl asked. "One of them inspirational ones with the rainbows and sunrises?" Merle laughed in response.

"I feel like a fuckin' inspirational calendar these days, brother. Damn near feelin' full of rainbows and sunrises myself. Hell, I won't pretend I'm not lovin' the way that things are. It's a helluva lot better'n what the hell I had before these flesh-eatin' bastards started tearin' people up. Hell—maybe we all movin' up, brother. Maybe it's our time to shine. Lookin' at'cha lil' woman, I'd say she made a pretty damn good upgrade. After what the hell that asshole your woman was married to put her through," Merle said, "I'm glad she found her a sweet one."

"Asshole," Daryl muttered when his brother winked at him and smirked. Merle had always called him the "sweet one." Sometimes he did it sincerely, and really Daryl didn't mind it all that much, but sometimes he did it just to get Daryl's goat. Even though the words didn't really bother him, his brother knew that his very tone of voice could bother Daryl if he wanted it to.

"She gotta know by now you the damn sweet one of the family," Merle offered. "It's a damn shame she lost her lil' girl, though. Didn't know the kid too much, but…she seemed like a good enough kid. Deserved better'n what Andrea told me happened to her. It ain't all bad, though. That kid of yours that'cha lil' woman's carryin' has done got her lookin' like she's tryin' to smuggle a honeydew."

Daryl smiled to himself.

He remembered the feeling of the baby as it moved beneath Carol's skin. He remembered the image of it that the doctor had projected onto her screen. The printed picture of that image was framed and Carol had placed it on the dresser in the nursery that she'd quickly assembled. The baby in question was a new life. She was a little girl in the making and Daryl hoped that she would be happy and healthy.

He hoped she'd be something of a second chance for Carol. He hadn't been able to save Sophia. He hadn't been able to find her before she'd been killed by a Walker. He hadn't been able to bring her back to Carol like he'd dreamed of doing. A good mother like Carol needed her child, after all. She deserved her child, which she clearly loved. And a good mother, like Carol, deserved to enjoy her child without the presence of an asshole like Ed. Daryl hadn't been able to save Sophia for her, but he'd already promised himself that he'd do absolutely everything in his power to see that she was able to see this little one come into the world and live the good life that her sister had been denied.

"It's a girl, Merle," Daryl offered.

"So, I heard," Merle said. "Healthy. Strong. Looks good, so Alice says. She said the kid looks real good. Wants to feed your lil' woman a lil' extra, help her build up her strength an' all. She said it's gonna take a lotta energy to bring the little thing into the world. Wants to make sure your woman's got that energy on reserve. But she says it don't look like there's nothin' gonna show up wrong with the kid if she keeps on like she's going. Glad it's you with a girl, I can't imagine what the hell I'd do with one."

Daryl laughed to himself.

"Your kid might be a girl, Merle," Daryl said. "Hell—it ain't like just 'cause this one's a girl an' it's comin' first that means that you ain't gonna have one."

"What the hell would I do with a girl, brother?" Merle asked.

"Raise it right," Daryl said. "You into this turnin' your life around shit."

"You didn't miss the opportunity to point out that I been an asshole to women most my damned life," Merle said.

"Not to Andrea," Daryl said.

"Not now," Merle said. "I was an asshole to her before…"

"An' she ain't held it against you," Daryl said. "Let you put your kid in her, didn't she? Listen, Merle, I was mostly givin' you hell before. You've decided to change shit and that's good. Keep on changin' it. If you have you a daughter, then you treat her like you think she oughta be treated. You teach her about assholes like you was, so she knows to stay the fuck away from 'em until the clean up their fuckin' lives."

Merle smirked at Daryl. The corner of his mouth barely turned up.

"You think I cleaned up my life for good, brother?" Merle asked.

"Ain't you?" Daryl asked. "Because—if you fuck up an' hurt your kid? Or if you hurt Andrea at this point? I'ma be the one that beats your ass."

Merle shook his head.

"I don't wanna do that," Merle said. "And I want you to kick my ass if I do. It's just—feels good to know you think I really done it, you know? That it ain't bullshit."

"I always believed you could do whatever the hell you wanted," Daryl said. "You just had to want to come clean."

"Got a lotta shit worth livin' for now," Merle mused. "Now I'm lookin' forward to days to come instead of thinkin' it's a pain in my ass that I gotta keep on livin' them days."

Daryl hummed at his brother. There was, and never had been, any reason for either of them to be secretive with each other about how they felt about their shit-show lives. They'd grown up in the same household and they both had bad memories. There were some parts of Merle's life that Daryl knew that he didn't know about and, also, there were some parts of Daryl's life that he hadn't shared with his older brother. Everyone had their secrets. All the details didn't matter, after all. They knew more than enough to understand why it was that the both of them went through what Daryl thought of as "dark spells" when they were a little too reckless and questioned if it was even worth waking up the next day.

Those dark spells came and went. There wasn't a constant blanket of darkness that hung over either of them, but they both usually knew that the darkness would return. Daryl could rarely remember, either, a time when—even if the darkness wasn't present—the clouds had completely parted for either of them.

It seemed, though, that Merle was sincerely basking in his own type of sunshine.

And Daryl felt a warmth that he had never really felt before—even if it wasn't truly his to feel.

"Got a lot to live for," Daryl mused.

"You too, Daryl," Merle said. "My baby brother—finally becomin' a man. Got him a wife and he's done gone and sexually inflated her ass."

Daryl rolled his eyes and shook his head at his brother. Merle chuckled in response.

"Asshole," Daryl muttered. Merle simply laughed to himself again and picked up his steps. He moved away from Daryl by the two feet that were granted to him by his quickened steps.

"Right over here's what the hell I wanted to show you," Merle said. "Right down here—not twenty feet."

Daryl hadn't tracked how far they'd come from the community, but he knew it had been a pretty decent distance. Ahead of them, as they walked, there loomed another set of fences. Daryl followed Merle and waved at T-Dog when he came into sight. He waved at Michonne, too, though the woman didn't wave back. She didn't look too amused, and Daryl didn't know if it was because she didn't like being on that particular duty, or because she was already tired of her companion. He certainly wasn't going to ask T-Dog about it in front of her.

"How's it goin'?" Merle asked as they approached.

"All clear," T-Dog offered.

"Matthew said they didn't see anything through the night," Michonne said.

"Nothin' at the other gates, either," Merle said. "Stayed outta sight, though, an' said a couple animals moved back an' forth 'cross the border."

"We haven't seen anything bigger than a rabbit," Michonne offered. "But that's typical for this time of morning."

"What is all this?" Daryl asked.

"We got two sets of fences surroundin' the community proper," Merle said. "And then we got this set out here. Three gates total. One on each side an' this one on the back side. We open the gates almost all day an' night to allow animals to pass through into our huntin' grounds, but we can close off the gates if we needin' some extra protection."

Daryl had to admit that he was rather impressed by the hidden layer of security.

"What about on the road side? Didn't see these out there."

"They kinda hidden on purpose," Merle offered. "They back a ways. Don't have to run all the way to the road to be effective."

Daryl accepted that explanation.

"It's not bad for huntin'? Havin' people out here don't lessen the animal population?" Daryl asked.

"Did at first," Merle said. "For the most part we go outside these fences to hunt. There's some animals that don't care, though."

"Or they get used to us," Michonne offered. "We also put out some food inside the fences to attract them. Once they've passed by us a time or two without any trouble, they tend to act like we're just another animal. We even have deer that regularly come in and out."

"They bring friends," Merle said, clearly a little amused at how stupid some seemingly intelligent animals could be.

"So, if the Walkers out here get too heavy," Daryl said, "you can just shut yourselves in an' you got an extra layer of protection."

"Go pick 'em off," Merle said with a nod. "If they get in, they still get stopped by the other fences."

"It's good for keeping out Walkers," Michonne said. "But it's also good for keeping out people."

"Unwanted people," Merle said.

"How do you decide who's unwanted?" Daryl asked.

"There's always been somebody wants somethin' for nothin'," Merle said. "We don't do charity, here. An' we don't tolerate thieves or respond to threats."

"You got a lot of problems with that around here?" Daryl asked. "You mentioned it before."

Merle hummed at him and gestured toward the open gates that would lead them out into the land that extended beyond the set of protective gates that, until that moment, had been a secret to Daryl.

"Walk with me, brother. I'll tell you about our neighbors."