He took a swig from the drink in front of him, he didn't even know how many he'd had at that point, he didn't keep track anymore when him and Merle went out. It was easier for him that way, Merle got on his nerves less when he drank more, most nights anyways. Looking around Daryl saw his brother with his arm around a different woman than the night before. He looked back to the bar his glass was sitting on, his fingers tracing the grain of the wood. He knew he was way too drunk now because as he looked at the curves in the wood, he thought of the waves in her hair. He should have just stayed home.

Jumping when an arm slung over his shoulder, Daryl relaxed again when he saw it was just Merle. His brother slurred his words, "Need you to do me a 'lil favor baby brother."

"Nah." Was all he got out, knowing what his brother wanted.

"Come on, she's pretty enough." Merle grinned, "I just need you to take her so's I can get her friend."

"I don wan her." He pushed his brothers arm off of him.

"Fuckin shit's wrong with you? You don fucking want no one." Merles voice got louder, "That little uppity bitch still in your head?"

Daryl grabbed him by the collar, "Don call her that."

"Listen, I get it. Matthew said she was damn fine, curves in all the right places. If you gotta pretend that it's her to get it up, then do that." Merle smiled at him, "I'm trying to get us both taken care of."

"Nah." Daryl let him go, grabbing his drink again.

"What the fuck! Was the whore that good?" Merle got angry. "Maybe next time she's in town I'll show her the real deal and you how much of a whore she is as she begs for mo-"

Daryl didn't even give his brother warning as he turned around and swung on him. When Merle hit the ground Daryl yelled, "Stop sayin shit about her! You won fuckin touch her. I don wanna fuck none of them just for you to get your dick wet!"

"Fuckin bastard!" Merle yelled getting back up and running for Daryl, lifting him up and throwing him down on a table.

"This is Lumpkin County Police Department, you have a call from a Daryl Dixon, do you accept?"

"Yes." She answered quickly. The police, that meant he wasn't hurt right? When the phone connected once again, she repeated, "Hello?"

"Ren?" His voice was soft, curious, and god she'd missed his rasp.

"Daryl. Took you long enough to call." She let out a nervous laugh. "A-are you okay?"

"Drunk." He answered her and she laughed again. "Got arrested."

"For what?" She leaned against her headboard, pulling her legs into her chest, she didn't know how long they would be able to talk, but she was going to get every second she could now that she knew he wasn't hurt or anything.

"Got in a fight with my brother."

"Over what?"

"You."

She didn't understand, "What? Me? Why?"

"Cause he wanted me to fuck some girl so he could fuck her friend. I didn wanna." He hiccupped. "She ain't you. And he got mad that I don't wanna fuck no one else."

"What?" Her voice was almost a whisper. But she focused despite the somersaults her stomach was doing, "Why...what do you mean by that?"

"I miss you." He responded, his words slurring, "None of them are like you. And I don't like that. I like you."

"Daryl?" She stood up from her bed.

"I like you Ren." He repeated, his tone softer despite the drunkenness in it.

"What...what do you like?" It had been just sex they were having, she didn't want to think he was talking about anything but the sex. But the thought of him possibly talking about something else, something that she'd never heard him talk about at all really, and that he was possibly saying it about her, made her heartbeat faster.

"You. You're smart, nice, caring, you don look at me like they do. You look at me like I matter."

"Because you do matter." She spoke without hesitation despite her shock and confusion about the fact he didn't even say anything about their sex, he was legitimately talking about her.

"I gotta go now." He said, "Will I see you again?"

"Yeah." She answered, "You will."

The phone hung up before he could respond, and she looked at her phone. It was twelve thirty am, but she didn't care, Justin has woken her up later than that before. Dialing her bosses' number, she took a deep breath, "Hey, I need a favor."

Daryl had his head in his hands, the throbbing still very present from his hang over. Thinking back to the night before, he couldn't believe he actually called her, that in the four months they'd been apart it took him being arrested and drunk to use the phone number that had lived in his pocket since she'd given it to him. He listened as Merle threw up in the toilet of their shared cell and he just tried to ignore it. Merle spit out what was left in his mouth and moved to the floor sitting there, "Was she worth it little brother? Was she worth the time in jail when we could be getting laid?"

"Man shut up." Daryl didn't even look at him.

"You even get any pussy from her?" Merle smirked, "Or is it all just some fantasy of yours? I know Cheryl said that you couldn't even get it up last month when she tried to get some from ya."

He rolled his eyes as his brother laughed. "I said shut the fuck up."

"What? You gunna fight me again? Over some bitch you had a crush on that probably doesn't even remember you?" Merle laughed at him.

"You don fuckin know what you're talkin about." He leaned against the wall, at least knew she remembered him based on the phone call.

"Dixon!" A voice yelled from the front of the cell area. It was walking towards them, "You've got a visitor!"

"Who is it? Mary? Or is it Laura?" Merle chuckled, "You gunna let me get conjugal?"

"It's not for you. She's here to see Daryl." The deputy said as he reached the cell door and when Daryl looked over his heart stopped beating.

Her green eyes were framed by brown locks falling on either side of her face and her cheeks were pink from the cold outside. She had a scarf around her neck and a jacket on, but underneath it was the main problem, the dress she wore with stockings covering her legs. Out in the woods she only ever wore jeans and t-shirts, but she was beautiful standing in front of him now, he only wished there weren't bars between them, and that Merle wasn't there.

"What're-" Daryl started then looked back to his brother who was looking at her with a wide smile, eyes going up and down her body. He stood and went over to the bars, "What're you doing here?"

"Apparently making sure that 'I'm talking about the right Daryl Dixon'." She glanced up at the deputy. "Because I guess there's more than one person in here with that name."

"Just wanted to be sure ma'am." The deputy responded.

"Holy shit, is this her?" Merle finally stood, grinning at his brother's eagerness "Didn't know smart chicks could have a figure like that." Daryl shifted nervously, eyes avoiding hers as his brother walked over to him. Merle patted his brother on the shoulder as he looked Ren up and down, licking his bottom lip, "Damn little brother, I might just be able to understand it now, cause I'd have stayed in school if nerds looked like that."

She swallowed hard, keeping her eyes on Daryl and the bruises on his face, "I'm guessing this is your brother?"

"Awe hell," Merle smiled at Daryl, "You told her about me? What'd all you tell her?"

"Stop." Daryl muttered. Ren tried not to get angry, she was more uncomfortable than anything, but she didn't like how Daryl was around his brother, the way he shrunk away from himself. It made her think of the marks on his back.

"Enough, Ms. Reiter, if you'll follow me back." The deputy ended the tension filled encounter and she gave Daryl a small smile as they walked away.

When they were back out in the office of the county jail, she looked at the deputy, "What are the charges? Is there bail or something?"

"No, Bowers just wants them to either serve time or pay for their parts of the damage. Since neither of them really have steady jobs, it's one week in jail." The deputy told her.

"I'll pay Daryl's portion." She had planned on bailing him out anyways, but after seeing him with his brother, she didn't want him in there any longer than needed. She understood now why he'd never mentioned his brother to her until almost the very end.

"Really?" The man let out a laugh.

"Yeah." She answered, she had plenty of reasons to pay for his release, but the deputy only needed to know one, "I'm going back out in the forest tomorrow and Daryl's the only person I trust out there with me."

"Trust a Dixon." The deputy muttered, "Never thought I'd hear that."

"How well do you know him?" She asked as she handed the man her debit card.

"Not very well, just-"

"Then maybe you should get to know him better before you judge him." She cut him off, "Because I'm pretty sure that you're few run ins with him back there and hung over don't compare at all to the three months I spent with him."

"It's just I've heard things." He shrugged as he filled everything out.

"A cop who trusts hearsay." She raised an eyebrow at him. He handed her back her card and she finished, "Don't judge a person by what you hear of them, only judge them by what you personally know."

"Yes ma'am." The deputy smiled at her slightly embarrassed, "I'll go get him now."

Daryl had sat back down and was trying to ignore Merle being a pig about Ren when the deputy came back. "Alright you're good to go."

"Hot damn!" Merle laughed as he stood up, "I like this girl!"

"Not you Merle, she just covered Daryl." The deputy opened the cell door as Daryl got up from the bench and slowly walked towards the door.

"You really gunna leave me in here?" Merle walked up to him, "You gunna go with that bitch and leave me in here to rot?"

"You'll be out in a week." The deputy shut the door as Daryl kept his eye down to the ground, not looking at either of the two men. "His damages have been covered so unless you have someone willing to come down here for you, he goes and you stay. Period."

Merle grumbled as he laid down on the bench and Daryl was worried about what might happen when his brother got out, but he was also worried about what Ren might do now that she had to fly all the way there to get him out of jail. Plus, all of the stupid shit he'd said on the phone.

When he got to the office she was standing there waiting and when their eyes met, he saw more color flush onto her cheeks. Daryl broke eye contact, embarrassed, before looking back when he heard her say, with a shy voice, "Hi."

"Hey." He almost muttered back.

"My car's outside." She motioned to the door and he nodded before they headed out of the jail.

A/N: Thank you for the reviews guys! Keep letting me know what you think!