Just a few more chapters and this is wrapped. Thanks for reading and putting up with my sketchy updating schedule! =)

Chapter Ten

Jenny was gone to work by the time Carol got up. There wasn't a note propped up by the coffee pot like there used to be when she had to go in for an earlier shift. Carol tried to not let that bother her, stoically pouring her coffee before going through the routine of getting ready for another boring day of school.

She showered, got dressed, gathered up her books and then waited by the window for her ride. Her eyes kept going to the clock and a sick sinking feeling had her shifting on her feet. She hadn't had a chance to talk to him before he left the night before but surely he would be here.

When she only had ten minutes left before the first bell was suppose to ring she shouldered her book bag and hurriedly yanked her bike out of the shed. She had never been tardy in her life and she wasn't planning on breaking that streak. She thought about calling him and asking what the hell he was doing but she refrained.

She wasn't going to be that girl. The one that freaked out and called every time her boyfriend did something uncharacteristic. So what if he wasn't here to pick her up. That didn't mean anything. Maybe he was sick or maybe his alarm hadn't gone off or maybe there had been an emergency. It didn't mean that he didn't want to see her. Of course, if any of that had come up, he could have called and told her so. It wouldn't have been the first time that he was going to be late and had to call to let her know. But he had called, damn it!

She wouldn't stress over it. Maybe last night had just been too stressful and he needed a break. That happened in relationships, right? Not that she would know.

By the time she peddled into the parking lot her stomach was in knots and there was a painful lump in her throat that she couldn't swallow down. The sound of an engine rumbling behind her had her stopping, planting her feet on the ground and glancing hopefully over her shoulder.

Daryl was there, coasting until he was stopped next to her and the smell of the leather jacket he wore seemed to loosen those bands that had tightened around her chest. She offered him a questioning smile but her hands were still sweating. She imagined they looked ridiculous parked beside one another, her on a twenty year old ten speed and him with a black and chrome monster rumbling between his legs.

"I tried to call but my dipshit brother must not have paid the damn phone bill. I tried to catch you before you left."

She swallowed and kept watching him, waiting for him to tell her that he didn't want to see her anymore because her damn sister was too much trouble and he didn't want to deal with it. He wasn't meeting her eyes and her mind went to the worst places it could dredge up.

"Look, I'm ditchin'. I have somethin' I gotta do today but I'll stop by your place later, okay?"

She studied him and then nodded, still feeling uneasy. She could feel eyes on her as other late comers pulled in.

The corner of his mouth turned up when he met her eyes and he leaned over, grabbing her handlebar and yanking her bike closer to his own. Without a word he kissed her, the kind of kiss normally reserved for those nights in her room when they were alone. When he pulled away he came right back, this time pressing his lips to her forehead.

"Can you manage to stay outta trouble without me?" he asked.

She smiled, the tension she had been feeling melting away and was now replaced by a deep longing she didn't quite understand. "Probably not since I'm about to get my first tardy," she said, her voice a little breathy.

He let go of her bike then and straightened up. "I'll see you later."

She should have asked him what he had to do but she couldn't exactly think straight at the moment. He had that affect on her a lot and by the time she thought to try to get any answers, he was in the process of a wide U turn and speeding out of the parking lot.

She rushed but still didn't make it in time, but her relief was so great that she didn't even care.

~H~

Merle banged the hell out of his knuckles again, yelled out a curse and then threw the wrench against the wall. It had been like this all damn morning and he was getting damn sick of it. His head wasn't in the game at all because he was worried about his damn brother.

He did that more than he liked to admit, and he always had. He wasn't very good at expressing it but he loved the fidgety little fucker more than the kid would ever realize and Merle was fiercely proud of him. He had lived through a lot, suffered a lot, but he had come out of it on the other side a stronger man than Merle could have ever hoped he would be. He was smart and loyal. And he deserved better than what he'd been handed in life. He deserved to be allowed to be happy and that damn girl did the trick. She made him happy. When she was around there was a light in the boy's eyes that had always been missing before and an easiness about him, an obvious lack of tension.

And Jenny could possibly fuck all of that up for him and it made Merle see red.

He knew Carol felt the same about his brother. Knew the girl was ass over tea kettle when it came to Daryl, but Jenny had a huge influence when it came to the girl and it made Merle nervous as fuck to think that things could end with them.

He looked up at the clock, the gears in his head turning. It was nearly time for lunch and he wouldn't be able to do anything productive around here until he knew for a fact that his brother and Carol were okay. He couldn't believe how fucking bent out of shape he was getting over his brother's love life, but he was.

He wasn't even going to think about what all of this meant for him and that infuriating fucking sister of Carol's. The only woman he'd never been able to get out of his head turned out to be the one that had the power to hurt his brother, and that left a bad taste in Merle's mouth. He just wished things could be easier.

He hopped up into the cab of the truck without saying a word to the rest of the guys in the parking lot of the garage. He had to set them kids down and have a damn talk or he would worry all fucking day and not get anything done at all. He hit a stop light and grabbed his phone, calling the school ahead so they could give his brother the message to meet him outside for lunch. That was when they informed him that Daryl hadn't shown up.

Without missing a beat he asked if Carol was there and before the secretary could remember that that information likely wasn't suppose to be made public, the woman informed him that she was.

He didn't bother asking them to relay the same message to her and he had no idea where his brother could be other than home. Instead of talking to Carol he was just gonna have to have a chat with her sister, and that wasn't something he was looking forward to doing at all.

~H~

Daryl clutched the paper bag so tightly that his fingers started to cramp. He wasn't sure what the hell he was even doing here but there was no turning back now. He had somehow managed to make a mess of everything and the only two people in the world he loved were the ones suffering for it. So he had to make it right and the only way to do that was to lay it all out in the open.

He was sweating profusely and it had nothing to do with the heat. It was his fucking nerves. He felt nauseated and he wondered for the millionth time why the fuck he thought this was a good idea and why he hadn't talked to Carol about it.

He walked down the sidewalk, feeling very well like someone may feel walking to an execution room, even though there were planters overflowing with an eye catching array of flowers and an impressive fountain bubbling off to the side. Once he made it to the front doors he tried to pull them open but found them locked up tight. He scowled, knowing full well that places like this never closed. He contemplated knocking, or at least peering in to see if anyone was there but he decided against it. This whole trip had been stupid anyway. There wasn't anything he could say to change-

"Young man?"

He turned suddenly and was greeted by a heavy set woman with dark skin and the type of face that put people at ease. She was wearing a pair of lavender scrubs, ultra white shoes and a name tag he couldn't read from here. The same outfit he had seen on Jenny many times. He stood there, shifting from one foot to the other and wishing he hadn't decided to do this.

The woman smiled and stepped out. "Can I help you, sweetheart?" she asked.

The endearment caused his face to flame red and his grip on the bag tightened. "I was lookin' for Jenny. Jenny Mason," he muttered.

The woman frowned. "Oh honey, you are just adorable and in a few years you're gonna be a hell of a heart breaker, but Jenny's a little bit old for you, don't you think?"

Daryl felt his jaw unhinge. "What? No! I just brought her some lunch cause I needed to talk to her. About her sister. I ain't here to... Whatever the hell you think I'm here for!" My God this was fucking mortifying.

The woman's grin returned and she gestured for him to get moving. He followed her inside and he heard the door beep a few seconds after it closed. He turned at the sound.

"It locks automatically. It keeps our residents safe. When you're on your way out just use this keypad and punch in five two five three, hit enter and it'll unlock."

"Thanks," he said, glancing around a lounge area and taking note of how clean everything was. Overstuffed sofas and chairs arranged strategically around a huge flat screen television showing an old black and white movie. The floors were hardwood and gleamed under an array of ceiling fans that spun lazily. He'd expected something totally different.

"I'll show you to the break room but you'll probably have to wait on her a few minutes. Lunch time around here gets hectic when we're short staffed."

Daryl nodded and followed her down a long hallway that curved at the end, past a bustling nurses station and finally to a door at the end of the hall. He slipped inside and the woman disappeared. He glanced around the room and then collapsed into one of the chairs, plopping the take out bag down and sighing heavily. He had no clue what the hell he was suppose to say to this woman but it was high time they talked.

He was never good at this sort of thing. Merle was the talker. He was the one that handled situations, albeit a lot of times, he handled them all wrong. He wasn't sure how long he waited, lost in thought, troubling thoughts wondering if everyone he cared about was destined to be miserable.

"Daryl? Are you okay?"

His head snapped up at the sound of Jenny's concerned voice. She let the door ease shut behind her, her gaze running over him like she expected to find an injury. "Yeah, I'm good. I brought you food but it's likely cold by now," he said in a hurry shoving the bag across the table in her direction.

She frowned. "Why aren't you in school? Is it Carol? Did something happen?" Frantic now, her eyes wide and searching.

He snorted at that. "She's fine. Probably studying a book on how to study harder or some shit. I ditched today."

Now her look turned to one of disapproval but she sat down across from him and started digging into the take out bag. "You shouldn't do things like that, Daryl. Your education is important, but thank you for bringing me lunch. My question is, why would you do that? All things considered," she added dryly.

He looked down, tracing random patterns into the tabletop and wracking his brain, thinking of how best to bring up what needed to be said. Finally he just decided to lay it all out there the only way he knew how. "We needed to talk and I just figured that this was the only place we'd be able to do that without my brother or your sister around."

She chewed, eyeing him expectantly.

He blew out a heavy breath and met her eyes squarely. "Look, I know you don't like me. And I get why and I don't blame you for it. You likely look at me and see bad news but I'm not. If-"

"I don't dislike you, Daryl-"

"If," he went on, unwilling to let her stop him now, "If I thought I was bad for her, or if I thought her bein' with me would hold her back, I'd never talk to her again. I'd change my damn number, I'd go to a different school, hell, I'd leave town completely if I thought for one minute me bein' a part of her life wasn't good for her. But I am good for her. And I'm good enough for her. And the reason I know it is cause I would leave her before messin' up her life, even though that's the worst thing that could happen to me, I'd do it if it meant she'd be better off." He swallowed hard, hoping she was willing to really hear what he was saying.

"I know that you two like-"

"I'm tellin' you that I love her. And whether you like it, or you approve of it, don't make a difference because that ain't somethin' a person can shut off just cause it inconveniences somebody else."

"Daryl-"

"Carol and my brother are the only two people in the world I got, okay? The only two I know that would do anything for me, cause they care, and both of them are miserable and they're miserable because of me."

She frowned. "Because of you?"

He nodded, running a hand through his hair and wishing that he was better at this sort of thing. "Yeah, because of me. If it wasn't for me then you and Carol wouldn't be at odds. It hurts her and it drives me fuckin' crazy cause I know it's my fault. And my brother likes you, and you're the only damn woman he's ever liked in his life but right now he can't stand you and that's because of me too. So I just need some fuckin' help here cause I don't know how to make it right for them, without you giving me somethin' to go on. The only thing you want from me is to stay away from Carol and I won't do that, so there has to be somethin' else. Anything."

He was red faced and silently cursing when he was finally finished with his rant and he could only hope that he hadn't come off as a selfish asshole. But he wouldn't let her keep him away from Carol and he needed to let her know that that was one thing he wouldn't budge on. If that made him selfish, so be it.

Finally she looked up at him, imploring, her face giving nothing of her thoughts away. "I don't know what I'm doing," she said, her voice barely carrying across the table. "And you have to understand that that is terrifying."

He didn't say anything to that.

"Carol's always been different and I used to worry about that all the time. She never went out and she never talked about her friends, I guess because she never had any. I guess people couldn't see past the fact that she was just different. No one bothered to get to know her and I always blamed her for that. For never trying to fit in. I know I was wrong. But despite being worried, I knew how to handle her. I knew what I was up against when it came to her and it's always been so easy. Now she has you and I'm at a complete loss."

He chewed his lip. "She's still her."

Jenny shook her head but her smile turned genuine. "She's not and we both know it. You didn't just bring her out of her shell, Daryl. You took a sledge hammer to it. I want to trust her-"

"Then trust her," he said.

"And how do you suppose I got about doing that if she's sneaking around and lying to me?" she asked pointedly.

"She's only sneakin' around because you tried to put her on lockdown."

Jenny eyed him. "Because I caught the two of you in bed."

"Sleepin'!" His voice was defiant and he felt like he wasn't getting anywhere.

"I don't know that," Jenny said, sounding exasperated and before it could turn into the same thing it had the night before he kept going.

"And that won't happen again. I'm willin' to follow the rules. I'll only see her when you want me to. No more sneakin' in. Whatever you want, I'll do it. I want you two to be what you were and I want my brother to stop pretending like he don't give a damn about you because of me."

Jenny ran a hand over her face. "It isn't you, Daryl. I want you to understand that, okay?"

He nodded.

"And you wouldn't be here right now if you didn't care about her and I appreciate that."

He kept his mouth shut.

"So, for the sake of my relationship with my sister, I'm gonna back off." Before he could say anything she held up a hand. "But the sleeping over stops."

"I can live with that," he said, almost grudgingly.

"On school nights I want her home by ten thirty. Midnight on weekends."

"Okay."

"And I'll stop hovering so much. I have to trust you both so this is a fresh start. The first time the two of you lie to me then... then she's grounded."

He raised his brows at that. These were things he could definitely live with.

"And I'd never ask you to stay away from her. You're a good kid, Daryl, and she's lucky she has you. And you're right. You're good enough, and I'm actually really happy to hear that you feel that way. And none of this is really your fault but it's sweet of you to take the blame. This is all on me."

He looked away, feeling more relieved than he could have imagined. He stood up when she did and he was shocked that she came around the table and hugged him. He patted her back awkwardly and was relieved when she pulled away.

"No sex," she said sternly. "Keep it in your pants until you're both in your thirties."

He felt his face flush all the way to the tips of his ears. "I am!"

She sighed and stepped back. "I believe you. I have to get back to work and you need to get your ass to school. She didn't spend all that time tutoring you just so you can slack off and come and go as you please."

He agreed, walking with her back out into the hallway. She pointed him to the back exit and he slipped out, feeling like this trip couldn't have gone much better. She was gonna lay off and he was gonna follow her rules to a T and now maybe everybody could find a little peace.

He was sure as hell gonna miss Carol's bed though. But it was still a fair trade.