Attention: Okay, do I have your attention? I thought it was worth a shot ;) Anyway, there is a cool new Caryl website called fansofcaryl dot weebly dot com. They have all sorts of cool videos and pictures and every Wednesday they have a fanfiction author come and do a live chat so people that read their stories can talk to them. So, tomorrow night at 7:30 I'll be there, ready and willing to hang out with any of you that deem me cool enough to spend your time with. Do to my piece of dung computer I really don't get to talk to you guys as much as I would like too so I reserved a less crappy computer to borrow for the occasion. I hope I get to talk to some of you! Now that I am done advertising myself like a shameless pimp, please read on. I hope you enjoy! Let me know if you can make it over to that website! =)

Shades of Greene

Glenn's palms were sweating as he walked down the dirt drive to the Greene farm. Time was running out and he wasn't waiting anymore. He had to see Maggie. The real Maggie. Not the Maggie from his dreams. There was so much to get done but he had priorities now and she was his. Just like Rick would do everything in his power to keep Lori and Carl safe and Daryl would do anything to save Carol and Sophia, he needed to finally meet Maggie Greene face to face. He had to save her and he had to save her family.

When the house came into view the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end and he had the creepiest feeling settle over him. His heart was beating hard and he did everything he could to channel that stronger version of himself. He climbed the steps slowly at first but then, after taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly he marched across the porch and knocked on the door.

It was still pretty early but he knew someone would be awake. This was a farm and farmers got up with the chickens. Literally.

When the door opened an attractive older woman with her hair swept up in a bun looked out at him curiously. He took off his hat, crumpling it in his hands as he looked at his feet. "Can I help you, son?" She asked in a soft voice that reminded him of Beth.

He looked up, meeting her blue eyes. "Yes ma'am, I'm sorry to bother you so early but I was on my way to town and I seemed to have ran out of gas. I was wondering if I could use your phone?"

She glanced behind her and then back at him, searching his eyes for a few long seconds before she finally decided that he was safe enough. "Certainly. Come on in," she said with a smile.

"Thank you," he said as he stepped into the house. The first thing he noticed was the smell. It smelled the same as the last time he had been here. It all looked the same too and he noticed goosebumps popping up on his arms.

"Right this way," she said over her shoulder as she led him through the living room and then the dining room.

"I'm really sorry about this, ma'am," he mumbled as he glanced around.

"No trouble at all," she said as she handed him a cordless phone.

He called the only number he really could. Unfortunately it was Daryl that answered.

"What!" Daryl nearly shouted into the phone, causing Glenn to flinch.

"Daryl, it's Glenn. I ran out of gas out on 19 and I'm stranded right down the road from..." He looked up at Annette.

"The Greene farm," she whispered.

"The Greene farm," Glenn repeated.

"Goddamn it! What am I suppose to do about it? Don't you think I got enough to worry about with a couple of car thieves and a goddamn murderer? Grow a pair and walk to a fuckin' gas station! Jesus Christ!"

Glenn sighed heavily. "So, you can't come and pick me up then?"

"Are you stupid? Got my plate a little full here, Glenn! Do what you need to do!" There was a pause on the other end and then Daryl's voice sounded much more calm. "You didn't run outta gas, did ya?"

"No."

He heard Daryl sigh loudly. "Well, I guess I'll see ya later then. Pretty smart, Chinaman."

Glenn shook his head and hid a smile. "Okay, if you can't do it then I'll figure something else out. Thanks anyway."

Without a word Daryl hung up the phone. Glenn was more than happy that he had decided to finally make his move this morning. It seemed like shit had hit the fan at home and he had just missed it. Thank God for small favors. He handed Annette the phone. "Thank you. I guess I'll be on my way then. It was nice to meet you."

He saw her look of concern and almost didn't turn around in time before a sly smile crossed his lips. He walked towards the front door.

"Wait," Annette said quickly.

Glenn turned and hoped he was giving her a curious look.

"You don't have anyone coming to help you?" She asked.

He shook his head. "My friend can't leave work so I guess I'll figure something else out. It was nice to have met you. My name's Glenn, by the way."

She seemed to only take a few seconds to think about her next words. "My husband, Hershel, is out at the barn. Why don't the two of us walk over and see if he can't possibly give you a ride to a gas station so you can get enough gas to get to where you are going."

Glenn gave her a smile and nodded. "That would be great, if you don't think he would mind."

"Not at all," she said as she walked him towards the door. "What good are any of us if we can't extend a helping hand once in a while?"

Glenn felt his smile falter. He could tell right away that this woman really was everything that Hershel and Maggie had told him she was. It made him more determined than ever to try and save her. There wasn't enough good people in this world, let alone that other place. They needed strong people but they also needed this. They needed kindness and they needed compassion just as much as they needed strength and determination.

He followed her to the barn and he stopped when Hershel came around the corner. He expected Hershel to give him a once over but he didn't. He stopped a few feet away and stared at him like he was seeing a ghost. Hershel's face was clean shaven and his hair looked much like it had when Glenn had met him the very first time. Glenn was pretty sure that Hershel was feeling the same strangeness that he had felt when he had met Carol that day he had delivered pizza to her house.

This changed things a little. It wasn't Carol. It was something else. Hershel hadn't met Carol yet so he shouldn't have recognized Glenn.

"Hershel, this is Glenn. He ran out of gas and I was wonderin' if you could give him a lift into town with the gas can. He doesn't have anyone to pick him up," Annette said in that pleasant voice of hers.

Before Hershel could even open his mouth to speak Maggie came out of the barn and stopped in her tracks. Her green eyes went wide and she dropped the bucket of feed she had been carrying.

"Well, my goodness Maggie, are you alright?" Annette fretted as she made her way towards Maggie.

Glenn's eyes locked on Maggie's just before she glanced up at her step mother who placed a hand on her arm.

"Just fine, mom. I just got a little dizzy all of a sudden," Glenn could hear the tremor in her voice.

Annette gave her a dubious look and handed the bucket back to her. "Maybe you should go lie down then," she said absently. She looked back at her husband and frowned. "Hershel?"

Hershel tore his eyes away from Glenn and met Annette's worried gaze. Annette put her hands on her hips and looked from Maggie back to Hershel. "What on earth has gotten into the two of you this mornin'? Hershel Greene, if I didn't know any better I would swear that the both of you have been out here sneakin' sips from a bottle," she wiped her hands on her dress. "Where might your manners be?"

Hershel gave her a warm smile a sighed. "I'm sorry."

Annette returned the smile and Glenn's heart clenched. There was a lot of love here that could easily be lost if he didn't play his cards right. Annette deserved to live and so did her son. He couldn't mess this up.

"So, he needs a ride somewhere?" Maggie asked suddenly as she handed Hershel the bucket.

Annette nodded. "To the gas station if your daddy isn't too busy to take him."

"I'll do it," Maggie said quickly. "I needed to go into town anyway. There's some things I need to pick up."

Annette looked unsure and Glenn didn't blame her. As far as Annette knew he was a stranger to all of them. It was one thing for a grown man to give a stranger a lift but it was something else entirely for their daughter to do it.

Hershel nodded in agreement and gave Maggie a long look before his eyes landed back on Glenn. "You two go on ahead then. You take care, son." Glenn didn't miss the heart that Hershel put into his words. Annette was frowning.

"Is there somethin' goin' on here that I ain't aware of?" She asked as she studied Maggie.

Maggie shook her head and started walking. "No, mom. Everything is just fine."

Glenn said goodbye to Hershel and his wife and then hurried to catch up with Maggie, who was walking quickly towards her car. She glanced back once, her eyes wide and worried but she turned quickly and kept walking. He kept stealing glances at her from the passenger seat as they made their way down the long drive. He couldn't really make out what she was thinking from the expression on her face.

She didn't pull out of the drive onto the road. She threw the car in park and turned in her seat, her eyes searching his and her bottom lip trembling slightly. "Get out. We need to talk."

He nodded, feeling his eyes grow wide as he scrambled out of the car. All he could think about was holding her. He loved her. He felt it in his blood just the same as he did in those dreams. It didn't matter that this was the first time he had ever truly laid eyes on her. She was everything to him. She was the reason he kept breathing. He stood there while she walked around the front of the car.

She stopped just a few paces in front of him, her eyes growing wet with unshed tears. "Do you know me?" She asked. Her voice cracked and she took in a shaky breath.

He opened his mouth to say something but no words made it past his throat. All he could do was shut his mouth and nod.

"Glenn," she whispered right before the tears she had tried to hold back came pouring down her cheeks. He nodded once more and then almost toppled over when she threw herself into him, wrapping her arms around his neck.

His eyes looked up towards the blue sky as his arms wrapped around her in a tight embrace. She was here, real and alive and she knew him. He hadn't felt this good in weeks, even though she was sobbing into his neck. "It's gonna be okay, Maggie. Everything is gonna be different."

"I don't understand," she said, pulling back just enough so she could look at him, "You're real? How is this even possible?"

"It's a long story. A really long story. You've had the dreams?"

She nodded, unable to take her eyes off of his.

"When did they start?" he asked.

She shook her head. I don't know. A month, two months. I'm not the only one either. Daddy is having the same dreams, I know he is. He hasn't said anything to me but the way he's been actin' I can see it in his face. He's scared and I knew why. I saw the way he was lookin' at you. He knows you. He'd never let me leave the farm with a stranger."

Her dreams started as soon as his had. He unwound his arms from around her and cupped her face. "It isn't just me and your dad. Daryl, Carol, Sophia, Rick and Lori..." his words faltered when her lips met his. It was so familiar. They had done this so many times but that was just a dream scape. This was real. She was real.

"I need to know everything. I need to see them," she said once she pulled her face away from his. "I've missed them so much. How can I miss them so much when I've never even met them?" she was still crying.

"I'll tell you everything but I think we need to talk to Hershel too. Not in front of your mom. What about Beth? Has she been acting strange?"

Maggie shook her head, "I can't really say. She's still in school and she has a part time job after that and she's busy with Jimmy and friends. I've been helpin' daddy a lot. Do you think she is? Do you think that she's having these dreams too? What does this mean? Is all of that really gonna happen to us?"

She was rambling and scared and he hated seeing her this way. "We're all gonna be fine," he hesitated before he went on, "But it's happening. We have a little more than two weeks before the outbreak starts."

Her face paled but he was relieved when she hugged him again. "I'm so glad you found us," she whispered.

He buried his face into the crook of her neck and held her tightly. "Me too," he whispered back.

~H~

Carol watched Merle from across the kitchen table. Daryl was outside with Rick and Lori, who didn't know that Merle was here and definitely didn't know that Penny was upstairs with Carl and Sophia. Merle stared miserably into his coffee cup. She couldn't tell what it was that he was so miserable about. With Merle it could have been anything.

"Do you feel bad about it?" She asked, unable to keep the curiosity out of her voice. She knew he hated her but avoiding him wouldn't solve anything and she didn't want to keep sitting here in silence.

He lifted his eyes from his cup slowly and regarded her with a level look. "About killin' that piece of shit?" He snorted and took a drink from his steaming cup. "Fuck no I don't feel bad for it."

Carol sighed inwardly. Was he ever going to stop being so damn stubborn? Surely he didn't hate her that much. He could hardly bring himself to be civil.

"Ya think you would climb down off my brother if I told ya that he's been lyin' to ya this whole time. Ya know he's got himself a wife and a couple youngin's a few counties over, right?" He leaned back in his chair and crossed him arms over his chest, watching her expectantly.

She rolled her eyes. "No, Merle." She waited for him to say something else but he only sighed and then took another drink before she went on, "Besides. When it comes to your brother, there's more than enough to share." She winked and then actually laughed when he choked on his coffee, spilling some of it on his shirt.

He stared at her with narrowed eyes for a few long seconds and then, to her complete amazement, he cracked a smile. A genuine one. Of course, she could tell that he was trying his best to hide it. "Well ain't you turned into a spitfire?" He mumbled, looking back down at his cup, the smile turning down into a frown.

She shrugged, feeling pleased with herself that she was able to squeeze at least a little bit of warmth from the man. It was a start anyway. She wanted him to know that she wasn't trying to put herself between him and his brother. She just wasn't sure how to go about doing it. She knew the man from the prison, not this man. This man had terrified her at the quarry. "Merle..." she began, meeting his eyes when he looked up. He almost looked sad. "I love him. Daryl." She expected him to sneer and throw around a few cruel words but all he did was nod sadly and look back down.

"You gotta real talent for pointin' out the obvious. Anybody ever tell ya that?" He asked dully.

She was actually starting to worry about him. He seemed... depressed. She didn't really know why she bothered caring. He had done nothing but make her and Daryl miserable and he had even gone as far as informing Ed where they lived. That could possibly cause her a lot of drama that they simply didn't have time to deal with at the moment. "Merle, what's the reason behind you hating me so much?" She finally asked.

He didn't look at her but a smile twisted his lips, this one was a humorless smile. "Cause I can. What the fuck did you expect? You think me and you was gonna hug it out from the get go and then paint each others nails? Come on now. Don't sit there and act like the feelin' ain't a mutual one, Carol."

She shook her head. "It isn't. I don't hate you. There towards the end we were actually pretty close. I was the first person in the group to give you a shot," she paused and then looked away. "Well, I did threaten to slit your throat in your sleep if you messed with Daryl, but after that, we were friends. Why can't we just skip to that part?"

He looked at her like she was crazy. "You threatened to slit my throat?"

She nodded. "I would have too, and I think you knew it. I told you already. I love your brother and I have no intentions of letting anyone hurt him. Even you."

He studied her in silence but she didn't look away. "And what about now?"

She felt the corner of her mouth tilt up. "Don't underestimate me, Merle. You hurt him and I hurt you back."

Silence fell over the kitchen and she finally looked away. She could still feel his eyes on her and she wished he would just say something. That was, until he finally did. She heard his chair creak slightly as he shifted his weight. "I don't feel shitty about what I did to that psycho. I feel shitty about the kid," he said in a low voice.

Her head snapped up. He seemed to be going out of his way to make peace with her. This was not what she had been expecting. She had expected a fight but he seemed to finally realize that he was fighting a losing battle. He didn't have to like or respect her but he did have to deal with the fact that she wasn't going anywhere no matter how hard he tried to push her out of Daryl's life. This was a really good start. "You shouldn't. Even though it's kind of hard to see right now, you saved that girl's life. She died. Now she gets to live."

He snorted and met her eyes. He looked tired. "Live?" He looked like he wanted to spit. She really hoped he didn't. "Are you forgettin' what the world is comin' too? I didn't save her from shit. She's gonna suffer along with the rest of us till she's either dead or wishin' she was."

Carol felt a pang of anger but she kept it under control. "We have this house and we have this land. We have each other. We're not just gonna survive. All of us are gonna live. We'll all be safe here."

He stood up then, giving her a look that told her that he didn't truly believe that for a second.

"Will you stay, Merle? Please?" She hated pleading with him but she knew that Daryl needed his brother.

He took his cup to the sink and sat it down. He leaned his arms on the counter with his back to her and his shoulders slumped in what looked like defeat. "What the hell else can I do?" he asked bitterly.

She felt bad that he already felt trapped here but she had to admit that she was happy that he had given up his fight. She had been scared to death that he would makes things much harder than he was. He would be okay eventually. She really did believe that.