[A/N: Happy New years all! Hope it has been a good one! Hope you enjoy this one, I had quite a bit of fun writing it.]

Later that afternoon, Asha leant against a door frame in empty cell block B, watching Merle shred one of the prison mattresses with the knife strapped to his stump. The sound of ripping fabric was loud in the quiet space and little tufts of synthetic stuffing floated into the air.

'Watcha doin'?' She asked.

Merle barely glanced at her. 'Best dope. I ever had was from a prison mattress.' He continued with the job at hand.

Asha came into the room and perched on one of the benches, crossed legs swinging slightly as she watched him.

Rip. Rip. Rip. Silence.

'What do ya want?' He asked when it became apparent she wasn't going anywhere. Hungover Merle was surly Merle it appeared.

She gave a tiny shrug. 'Was getting awkward out there. Someone was always watching me.'

Merle grunted. He tossed the mattress aside and started on another. He'd pulled a pile of mattresses out off the cells and was working through them methodically.

'Reckon you'll find anything?'

'What do you care?'

'Well hasn't being let out of the cell improved your temper? Or is that just the hangover talking?'

'Fuck off.'

Asha grinned, remembering where that conversation had ended up last time. 'You wish.'

Merle ignored her for a while, working on the mattress. 'You really gonna lit outta here?'

Asha shrugged. 'Maybe. Haven't decided yet. I'm not gonna find my brother hiding here.' She paused for a long moment. 'And I don't want any part of what's going on with the Governor.'

Merle spat. 'No-one wants any part of that.' He gave the mattress in front of him a particularly vicious tear.

'You reckon there's any chance these talks will sort something out?' Asha asked. 'If Andrea can even organise them?'

Merle snorted derisively.

'Yeah.' Asha said. 'Thought so.'

'Best thing would be to sneak in and kill the bastard whilst he's sleeping.'

Maybe Merle had more in common with Carol then he realised. 'You volunteering?'

Merle destroyed another mattress, hurling the tattered remains across the room in a cloud of fluff. 'Ya know ya gonna starve out there before ya find ya brother right?'

Asha grinned. 'Oh Merle, I'm touched. Might almost believe you care.'

'Just can't believe ya'd abandon me in the vipers' nest girly, after all we've been through.' He leered at her, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. ''Sides, I reckon ya startin' to warm up to me. You'll be snuggling up to me of a night time and begging me for it before too long.'

Asha laughed. 'Only if you shower first. And find some toothpaste...Maybe a change of clothes.' She smirked. 'And what would I really be getting out of it? Thirty seconds of up and down? I hear you old guys don't have much stamina. Sounds like a shit deal for me.'

'Bitch.'

'Redneck.'

'Whore.'

'Still wishin' Merle.'

He tossed another gutted mattress aside.

'So. How's this gonna work then?' Asha said.

Merle looked up at her startled.

She rolled her eyes. 'Not that. You. Them. Living with people you tried to kill?'

'Ain't none of ya business.'

'Might be if i stay.'

'What about ya brother?'

'Might starve remember? Besides, this could be a good base. It's near the river. I can get out there and back in a day and half, faster if I get hold of a car. Leave him some signs.' She swung her legs back and forth. 'Roof over my head when the weather's shit. There are definitely some upsides... Maybe I will stay.'

Merle grunted.

'So. Think they'll let bygones be bygones?'

Merle just grunted again.

'You knew them before right? Back in Atlanta?'

'So that's what this is about. Ya wanna know what type of folks ya shacking up with?'

Asha gave a tiny one shouldered shrug, legs still swinging. 'Well?'

'Assholes left me handcuffed to a roof. Rick, Glenn, Andrea, a wetback and couple of niggers, dead now. Don't that tell ya everything you need to know?' He waved his stump at her. 'Had to cut off my own hand to get off that roof.'

Asha's mouth twisted at his derogatory language. 'But you're such a delight Merle, what ever could you have done to deserve that?'

'Think ya so fucking smart don't ya girly?'

'They went back for you though, right?'

'Only cause Daryl made 'em.' He shook his head. 'They've changed since then though. Andrea's stopped screechin' long enough to figure out how to survive. Heard her sister got turned before they left Atlanta. Sweet kid. And Sheriff Rick, well… Rick's bat shit crazy. Guess he ain't quite realised his moralistic crap won't fly in this world.' Merle grunted suddenly. 'Or maybe he has. Maybe that's the problem. Maybe he's realised he ain't got the strength to carry the weight of what it takes to survive in this world.' He gave a sudden harsh bark of laugh. 'Gotta admit though, the chinaman's grown a pair. Took out a walker when he was tied to a chair.' There was an edge of begrudging admiration in the big man's voice. 'Takes serious balls to pull that off.'

Asha was silent and still for a moment.

'You tied him to the chair?' It wasn't really a question.

Merle's usual half sneer half smirk spread across his face. 'What's the matter doll face, forget what a delight i am?' He crossed his stump across his chest. 'A little bit of reality crushing all your fantasies of there bein' a heart of gold buried under here somewhere?'

'And then you pushed a walker on him.' Asha's voice was even, but her skin crawled.

Merle looked up at her for a long moment. 'Yes,' he said. His face was blank, but Asha thought she could see a shadow of self loathing in the tightness around his eyes. It was the only reason she didn't get up and leave immediately.

'We are what we are remember?' He said bitterly.

'Yeah Merle.' She held his gaze. 'But we chose what we do with it...And we aren't just the things we've done in the past.' She looked down at her hands. 'We can't be.'

She started swinging her legs again and waved at Merle to continue his destruction of yet another mattress. The room was quiet except for the sound of tearing fabric whilst she mulled all of that over. After a minute she said very quietly, 'and they're still willing to at least try to give you another chance.'

Merle stilled over the mattress, just for a second, before tearing back into it.

'I didn't make 'em go back for you,' Daryl said from just outside the door.

Asha jumped, then grimaced at herself for doing so.

The younger Dixon brother stepped forward from where he had been concealed in the shadows. 'Rick and T-Dog, they'd already made the call to go back for ya before I even knew ya were gone.'

'Shit baby brother, how long you been standin' there?'

'Long enough.'

'You make a habit of listening at doors?' Asha asked sourly.

'You make a habit of drinking other people's liquor?' Daryl bit back.

'Only when they leave it laying around.'

'Bastards didn't even offer to share,' Daryl grumbled.

Merle laughed. 'Hell little brother, I was doin' ya a favour and ya know it. Drinking with people ain't your strong point.'

Asha looked between the brothers puzzled.

'He's a mean drunk' Merle clarified.

Daryl grunted. 'Not always.' He looked at Asha and gestured with his head to the door. 'Ya mind? Need a word with my brother.'

She jumped down from the bench. 'Well, you let me know if you find any weed in this little search and destroy mission of yours, old man. Maybe if I get stoned outta my brain i'll be able to sleep through your god awful snoring.'

'I'm doing all the work girly, I ain't sharin' with ya.'

'Come on Merle, don't be like that. I thought we were workin' up a nice sense of domestic bliss in that cell.'

'What? Provided I keep plying ya with drugs and booze?'

'Firm basis for any relationship right?' She gave him a cheeky grin. 'Besides, if I don't start gettin' some sleep I'm really am gonna start kickin' you in the kidneys of a night to make you shut the hell up.'

She strode out into the corridor, but paused once she was just past it and flattened herself against the wall. Fair's fair Daryl.

'Ya seem to be getting along.' Daryl said dryly.

Merle grunted. 'She's smart mouthed bitch...but at least she ain't a judgmental one.'

Asha felt the corner of her mouth tug up before she could help it.

'Besides,' Merle continued. 'Ain't like I got a lot of options for conversation at the moment.'

Definitely one of the more backhanded compliments she'd received in her life.

'Ya trust her?' Daryl asked.

'For what?' Merle snorted. 'Not to kill me in my sleep? She ain't so far.' He paused. 'Reckon she really is just looking for her brother. I trust her to hold her own against walkers… reckon she'll pull her weight if she hangs around. But if i got between her and her brother… '

Daryl grunted.

Asha slipped away. Ever notice how you never hear anything good about yourself when you eavesdrop?

'Hey.' Daryl's gravelly voice was behind her. Asha was stretched out on her mattress, reading a book she'd borrowed from Beth.

She glanced up. 'Hey.'

'Tired of sleeping on the floor yet?'

Asha tossed a startled look over her shoulder. If that had come from Merle she'd have thought she was being propositioned. From Daryl, she wasn't so sure. He was leaning against the door frame, bare arms crossed, eyes hooded behind the dark hair falling across his face.

'What?' She asked.

'Got plenty of spare cells, thought ya might like a bit of ya own space.'

Asha snorted. 'Thought Rick wanted us locked up at night.'

'Cell doors lock.'

Asha pushed to her feet and walked over to the door to stand near Daryl. He shifted around so he wasn't touching her. She looked down the long row of narrow cell block openings and pictured being alone in one of those small places with the door locked. She shuddered involuntarily, and Daryl flinched back as she brushed him. She shook her head. 'No.'

'What? It ain't so bad...Once you get used to it. Beats the floor.'

'Not with the door locked.'

Daryl nodded and started to move away.

'Daryl,' she said. She reached out a hand but stopped short of touching him when she remembered how he'd flinched moments ago. 'I appreciate the offer anyway.' There was a long pause while her fingers hovered above his arm. 'Why'd ya make it?'

He moved his arm out of reach and shrugged. 'Put up with Merle's snoring for years. Man could keep ya awake through a thunderstorm.' Then he paused awkwardly. ''Sides, ya gonna get one if ya stay anyway. Might as well be now. Ain't like we're short on space.'

Asha searched his face with her eyes. 'Does that mean you want me to stay?'

He folded his bottom lip into his mouth and chewed on it for a minute. 'You bein' here, it's takin' some of the pressure off Merle. Be easier for him if ya stay.'

'I must have missed the meeting where I got appointed your brother's damn keeper,' she muttered under her breath.

'What?'

Asha scrubbed her hand across her forehead. 'Never mind. So makes no difference to you whether I stay or go?'

He shrugged, but the casual gesture was at odds with the intensity in his eyes. 'Just want what's good for my brother.'

'That's not what I asked. Rick doesn't want me here, and he's running this place. If you don't either...then this is gonna be hard.'

'Rick's a good guy,' Daryl said quickly. 'He's just... dealin' with stuff right now.' He squinted at her a little. 'Hang around, you'll see.'

He was avoiding her question.

She opened her mouth to pressure him when Maggie's call cut in from the door to the courtyard.

'Rick's back.'

[A/N: Hoping to get the next one up mid week sometime. As always, would love to hear your thoughts!]