[A/N: Thanks for the lovely reviews people, you seriously make my day! For those of you waiting for Asha/Daryl action, its coming - but there's a bit more tension to be had first...]

The group was set up in cell block C, and they had locked Asha in the anteroom to the main section of the cell block with Merle. The Korean man—Glenn—had asked whether that was a good idea. But Daryl had shot back that his brother wasn't a rapist. He clearly wasn't happy his brother was locked up at all, but one look at Rick and Glenn's face had convinced him that he wasn't going to win that argument. Rick had simply said it was easier to manage one section locked up then two.

Merle was currently asleep on another thin mattress on the other side of the room, sprawled on his back, noisily sucking in the walls through his nose. Asha was tempted to go across the room and kick him to make him shut up.

Asha hadn't cared that they'd locked her in with Merle. By the time she'd been marched stiff backed into the anteroom, stripped of her belongings and given a thin mattresses and blanket dragged out of one of the cells, there was no space in her for anything other than seething fury at these people for keeping her from her brother. She'd dragged the mattress to far side of the room and curled up on it facing the wall. Then she had studiously ignored everything behind her—the food she'd been given, the questions from members of the group through the bars.

She'd kept her back to it all, silent tears of fury, frustration and desperation streaming down her face in the dark.

She had listened though.

The group had grilled Merle on everything he knew about the Governor. It sounded like Merle had been some sort of henchmen for the guy. She heard all about the rescue mission Rick had led to get Glenn and Maggie back after Merle had taken them, and then the second rescue effort to recover Daryl when he'd been left behind. Her skin had crawled when she realised Daryl and Merle were describing being made to fight each other in a circle of deadheads. She heard all about Michonne's sudden arrival and Andrea. There had been several vicious comments about about what Merle had done to Glenn and Michonne, only shut down from becoming full out attacks by Daryl's growling.

It had mostly been sound that washed over her, bits of information that she stored away for future use. But it had left Merle agitated.

Asha kept her back turned to Merle, laying still on her mattress. Behind her the scrape of Merle's boots on the concrete beat out a steady rhythm as he paced about the room. He muttered to himself.

'Come on girly,' he said suddenly. 'I know ya ain't been sleeping through all that. Least ya can do is keep a man warm at night after I helped ya out. Got roof over ya head. Ain't my fault ya brother ain't here and Rick ain't exactly friendly.'

Asha grit her teeth and continued to feign sleep, hoping he'd work of his frustration and give up.

Scrape, scrape, scrape. His booted footsteps circled closer to her.

'Don't tell me you're one of those upright bitches who guard it like its the… It's a fucking self replenishing resource.' There was a hard edge to his voice under the suggestive leer.

Asha glared at the wall and wished he would shut the hell up.

His footsteps circled the room and came back to her. She could feel him looming close behind her. Then he crouched and leant forward, bracing himself against the wall and looking down at her. His face was all hard planes and shadows in the dim light, yet somehow there was enough light for his eyes to glint dangerously. The stale smell of his sweat filled her nose and she could feel his breath on her cheek when he spoke.

'Ain't polite to ignore me like that girly,' he growled. 'Ya sure as shit ain't sleepin'. So how 'bout it?'

'Fuck off Merle.'

'Oh I get it,' he drawled. 'Ya some sort a rug muncher right? Bet ya just never had a real man. I can fix that for ya alright.'

Asha flipped onto her back so she could meet him eye for eye. 'This ain't happening voluntarily,' she ground out between clenched teeth. 'So you can either do whatever it is you're going to do about it or shut the hell up and let me sleep.'

Merle's eyes widened slightly in the dark, and he hesitated.

Asha snorted scornfully. 'Yeah, that's what I thought.'

She rolled over and came up to her knees to face him, forcing him back out of her space. She was sure her face was dirty and tearstained, but she didn't care. She jabbed Merle sharply in the chest with a finger. 'You won't lay a finger on me. Because if you do, you just prove to these people that every bad thing they ever thought about you was right. You'd be outta here and on your own so fast your head would spin.'

Merle rocked back on his heels, eyes flashing and teeth bared.

'Daryl won't go with you,' Asha continued relentlessly. 'He made his call, you do what you keep threatening and he'll just cut you loose—' She broke off suddenly, brow furrowing as she thought furiously. It wouldn't be about her if it happened she realised, Merle would just be proving that he couldn't be part of the group.

Had Rick locked her in with Merle as a test? Did he want this to happen? Better to give Daryl a reason as soon as possible to cast his brother aside?

Merle hadn't moved, but the fury had faded from his face and he was watching her think with narrowed eyes. Then he chuckled, low and bitterly. 'He put you in here as bait.'

Asha started at hearing her suspicions spoken out loud. Her eyes flashed to Merle and she saw the gleam of recognition as he realised she'd been thinking the same thing.

'I wouldn't have thought it of the sheriff. Hell...he has changed. Ya got some brains on ya girly, picking up on that.' Merle laughter grew until its bitter sound reverberated in the little anteroom.

She grimaced. 'Go away Merle. I want to sleep.' She rolled away from him back to the wall.

He patted her familiarly on the shoulder and she heard him push himself to his feet and cross the room.

She didn't cry again after that, but she lay there for a long time wondering about the people in the prison group and this Woodbury place. Eventually the wash of exhaustion swept her away to sleep, where her dreams were full of the Yellow Jacket, and she could hear Nash's voice in the distance.

Asha rolled on to her back on the thin prison mattress and looked up at the grey ceiling and tiny barred window set high in the wall. Judging from the light slanting through the bars, it was early morning. No-one else seemed to be awake, at least she couldn't hear anyone else moving around the prison. She was amazed she'd managed to sleep, though the more she thought about it she probably shouldn't be. Yesterday had been physically and mentally exhausting—not that all her days weren't physically and mentally exhausting these days—but yesterday had been off the charts in that respect.

The fury—at Merle, Rick, everyone—had washed out of her overnight and she simply felt drained as she stared at the dust motes floating in the sunlight streaming through the bars. Her logical side rationalised what the group had done. They didn't know her, and had no reason to trust her. She couldn't blame them for that. She knew what came of trusting when you shouldn't.

Yeah, she thought dryly, you end up locked in prison with the lord if the rednecks.

And worse, whispered a voice at the back of her mind.

She shied away from that thought.

Now that the immediate blow of loss at not finding her brother at the prison had faded somewhat, she could see why going near Woodbury was a bad idea. Her mind returned to the red and white van and its cargo of walkers, the look on the Governor's face as he'd fired into the prison and the way Maggie had flinched last night. She shivered.

Not somewhere she wanted to go.

She could even, on some level, accept what the group had done to make sure it wasn't an option for her. But none of that help dull the ache that filled her everyday when she woke to the realisation her brother was gone, or blunt the desperate need clawing at her to find him. She was torn between not wanting Nash to be anywhere near the Governor, and desperately hoping that he was there, close by, and that they'd be together soon.

Not that she could do anything about until she got out of this prison.

The sound of keys rattled at the gate, and Daryl walked in with two bowls of a soupy type mush. He looked at his brother snoring, but bypassed him and came straight for Asha when he saw she was awake. He squatted down on his heels near her bed as she pushed herself into a sitting position. His blue eyes were clear and there was no hostility in him as he looked at her.

'Eat.' he said holding the bowl out.

She took it silently, then looked back at him when, instead of moving off, he just continued to look at her expectantly.

'Ya didn't eat yesterday,' he said.

'So you're gonna sit there and watch me eat this' she asked wryly, stirring the gloop with the spoon. Looked like some sort of porridge. Her stomach whined desperately at the thought of food.

'Mhmm,' he nodded.

For a spiteful instant she was tempted to throw it against the wall. But the spark of petulance only lasted a second before draining away. She really did need to
eat. She had intended to eat the entire bowl in silence, but Daryl spoke before she was halfway done.

'Ya get why we gotta keep ya here right? Why its too risky for ya to go near Woodbury right now?'

'Risky for me or risky for you,' she snapped. Then regretted it immediately as Daryl's face closed over. Alienating him wasn't going to help.

He pushed himself to his feet. 'Whatever. You ain't my fucking problem. I didn't ask ya to follow us in to the woods and make a pest of yourself.'

That stung.

'I wouldn't be such a fuckin' pest if you just let me go.'

'Ain't happening.'

'Fine,' she bit back. 'But don't expect me to be happy about being kept from my brother.'

'Ya don't even know if he's there. Merle reckons he ain't.'

'Well he sure as shit ain't here. I'll take a 'may be' over a definite 'no' any day of the week.' She glared at him. 'And don't tell me you wouldn't be doing the exact same thing if you'd had a lead on where Merle was when he was missing.'

'That ain't the point'

'It's exactly the point.'

She was on her feet, advancing on Daryl, eyes flashing.

'Ya oughta be fucking grateful we bought ya in. Ya got a roof over ya head, walls—'

'Yeah its called a fuckin' prison—'

'Bowl of food. Should a left ya out there to starve since that's obviously what ya were doing.'

'I did alright.'

'Yeah,' his voice dripped with sarcasm. 'Ya been managing just fine.'

Asha waved her hands at him. 'Well so sorry I'm not keeping my appearance up to your high standards.'

He gave a short harsh bark of laughter. 'Ya seen yourself lately? I could break you in two without tryin'.'

Asha' mouth worked, but she had nothing to say. She was well aware that she'd lost some weight, particularly over the last few weeks, but this was getting ridiculous. 'It's not like anyone's living a life of plenty these days,' she eventually said bitterly.

Daryl strode past her and picked up the bowl she'd left on the floor. 'Oughta be grateful for what ya got then right,' he snapped. He thrust the half eaten gloop back at her and she took it begrudgingly.

She took a deep breath and backed up against the wall to finish eating.

How the hell had he managed to stir up her anger again so quickly?

Daryl turned to the other side of the room, where his brother—somehow—was still snoring. He nudged him awake roughly with a toe in the ribs and thrust the second bowl towards him. Merle woke up swearing.

'Shut up,' Daryl said, his voice still carrying the tension from his argument with Asha. 'Gonna be a meeting soon, see what we do.'

Merle muttered something, taking the bowl, then added in a louder tone when he realised Asha was awake. 'Mornin' doll face! Why don't ya scoot on over here and give old Merle a back rub. I'm all stiff from sleepin' on this thin ass mattress.'

Asha was gobsmacked. She had that thought last night's conversation had sorted that. But obviously establishing that Merle wasn't going to put his hands on her without permission didn't mean he was going to rein in his tongue.

'You wanna revisit that conversation we had last night,' she said. 'Or the one you had with my knee in the woods?'

Daryl looked at her sharply at the mention of last night, but her focus was all on the other Dixon brother for the moment. Merle was grinning, and the hard edge was gone from his voice. Maybe he wasn't deliberately being an ass, maybe he just didn't have any other conversational modes?

'Ah girly, ya gone an' hurt my feelin's now.' Merle moaned in mock sincerity, tucking into his bowl of gloop.

'Fuck off Merle.'

'Well… lets at least wait until Darylina here's left the room, I don't usually like an audience for that sorta thing.' He leered at her around a mouthful of porridge. 'Unless you wanna tag team the Dixon brothers.' Daryl's back stiffened and his jaw rippled. Merle flicked his tongue in and out of his mouth, still full of porridge.

Asha almost gagged, then snorted derisively— but it quickly got away from her as the complete ludicrousness of Merle's suggestion, coupled with absolute and inescapable lunacy of her present situation caught up with her. Her snort turned into a hiccuping type of laugh that quickly rolled into gales of hysterical laughter. The rational part of her mind informed her she was simply overacting to stress, but she couldn't stop. As she collapsed on her back, she caught a glimpse of both brothers looking at her with almost identical injured expressions, which left her gasping for air, forearm across her eyes, as her whole body shook with laughter.

...