He always went where instinct and the winds took him. A feeling in his gut made him pause before stopping on the side of the road. The clear rumble of Daryl's truck drowned out the quiet thrum of everything around them. Several feet in front of them and off to the side of the road stood an older blonde woman. She was looking around while the engine of her small VW Bug was smoking.

Leaving the truck to idle the brothers just sat there a minute. "Shut up Darylina. Ol' Merle knows what he's doin'." Merle grinned over at Daryl before getting out of the vehicle and sauntering over to the sweet lil' thing up yonder.

Grumbling, Daryl stepped out and made his way to Merle, socking him in the shoulder. "We ain't got time for you to go runnin' after a piece of tail."

The woman's body stiffened, nerves filling her stomach as she heard the uproarious laughter from a man behind her. She straightened up watching two men head her way, one of them stopping halfway over as the other came to sidle right up to her.

"What's a pretty thing like you doing out here?" His voice carried as he got closer to her, a rasp to it.

"I ain't got time for this mister." She threw her hand to the side, dismissing him as she bent back over the hood of her car.

"Aww, c'mon now. . . Er'body has time fer Ol' Merle." He grinned, stopping just feet in front of her. His head tilted and a sly grin smug on his lips.

"I don't. I need ta get home, back to my family. My sister's sick." She walked away from him to get to the trunk of her car. From it she pulled a bit and a wrench and headed back for the engine, giving that man a wide berth as she walked around him. This man made her nervous though she did her best to hide it. His personality was big and suited his body with its' broad shoulders and thick hands.

Daryl sat back and watched as Merle kept striking out with the lady. He snickered, doing his best to hide his laughter. He stiffened as Merle was getting pushier. Daryl could clearly see the blonde's discomfort with Merle's inching closeness and pig-headed comments as she white-knuckled the wrench, ready to swing at any minute.

Daryl threw the remainder of his cigarette to the ground, twisting it under his heel to put it out, before heading over to his brother and pulling him away.

Merle's voice was low and rough as he spoke to the woman. "I'll be back, little bird."

"Leave 'er the fuck alone, Merle." His grip on his brother's arm was tight.

"Well. Ain't you a regular Superman Darylina." Merle snickered and sneered at Daryl.

"I ain't fucking jokin you piece a shit." The grip grew harder.

"You ain't lettin' no bitch git 'tween us are ya, baby brother?" Merle's head tilted to the side, the sneer evident now.

"Shut the fuck up." A tug of his hand shook Merle.

There was a steely resolve to Daryl's grip as Merle tried to break free. The hand covering his arm was tight and getting tighter the more the older brother tried to break free. Merle's eyes widened as he looked into the younger one's.

"Go save the day Darylina." Merle pushed away from Daryl and walked back to the truck.

The younger man was stunned and quietly followed after Merle, opening the passenger door and pulling his tool box out.

Patricia Roswell (ne Greene) watched on with every bit of curiosity she had in her blood. She sighed in relief knowing that the man named Merle wasn't coming back. However she was taken aback seeing the other one come towards her. What was this? Tag team a blonde day?

"Move." He was impatient to get outta there and the bitch was in his way.

"What?"

"Git outta the way. I'm gunna fix your hunka shit."

With that he got to work and 20 minutes had passed. At one point Merle wandered over and just stood there, hands tucked in his armpits, watching his brother work.

"I don't know what the fuck you did to this thing, but it's dead girl." For the final time Daryl sat up and wiped his brow. "I patched it up and it should be enough to get you home, but this isn't going far."

"What's wrong with it?" She wrung her hands and hung her head, teeth worrying over her lip.

"You got several chips in the engine block."

"You can't fix it?"

"Do I look like I can work magic to you girl? You'd have to replace the whole fucking thing. Ain't worth it. Better off getting a new set of wheels. What'd you even do to the fucking thing anyway?"

She looked up at him, giving a quick nod. "Thank you! So much! I have to at least repay ya'll."

She went right back to biting her lip, red creeping up her neck. And Merle looked on, grinning. "What'd you do to it, girl?"

She mumbled, her face getting even more red. "My kids took it off roading."

Merle sputtered and broke out laughing. "Wait? What now?"

Daryl closed his eyes and slowly counted as high as he could go in his head, his breathing was erratic and he didn't want to believe it.

Merle spoke for him, which was just fine. He was the quiet one after all. Will Dixon trained his youngest up right. "Yer kids are fucking idiots girl."

"C'mon Merle." Both men turned and walked away, Daryl carrying his toolbox.

"WAIT!"

"What girl?"

"I have to at least thank ya'll. Come back to the farm. We'll make ya dinner."

"Well, brother. We certainly can't pass up on that, now can we?"