Hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas! I would have worked on having this up earlier but ff was acting up so I didn't think it would do any good for me to rush it. Okay, just a little warning here, I don't like Rick. I am trying like hell to keep that out of this story but a bit of my own animosity may have bled out into this. Hope you all forgive me for it! I hope you like this one and thanks for reading! You guys are the best =)

Democracy

Merle stood against the wall with Penny, Sophia and even Carl, standing between him and a lot of angry stares. He was a little bit surprised that they would feel the need to try to guard him from the rest of the group.

"She's been here this whole time?" Lori all but screeched, "And you knew about it?" This was directed at her son.

Merle rolled his eyes. "Course he knew about it. How the hell do you think Penny got here to begin with? I didn't bring her. Sophia and Carl came and kidnapped her from my house." Man that felt good. The blood seemed to drain from Lori's face. "Yep, they stole Carol's car and drove right to my house, broke in in the middle of the night and got her." Oh man, this was so great.

Rick placed a comforting hand on Lori's shoulder but moved it quickly. He glared at Merle. "I think we need to take this outside so we can get the whole story here," he said in a low voice as he shot a pointed look at Penny.

Carol took the girl's hand then. "Come on, sweetheart. I've got another stack of DVD's for you and Sophia to go through. You three can keep busy with that for a while."

Penny just nodded and went with her, Sophia and Carl trailing behind. Sophia glanced back at Merle worriedly. He just winked at her. It was kind of sweet that the kid would find herself worrying about him. Not many people in his life had done so. He was pretty sure his brother was the only one. Until now.

Merle pushed himself off of the wall and then stalked right past Rick, who was glaring daggers into his back. He could feel the man's angry stare. Everyone else was following him out the door. He could hear their feet moving across the floor but other than that everyone was quiet. He wasn't worried about this confrontation. He wanted it.

He kept walking until he was off the porch, standing in the early evening sunlight. He spun around quickly and was surprised at how close Rick was. Too close. His arms shot out like they had a mind of their own, knocking Rick back several feet before T-dog caught him.

Rick shook T-dog off and made his way back towards Merle. He had that same look on his face that he'd had the day on that rooftop. But this time Merle was sober and he hadn't provoked him. He was willing to talk about Penny and Philip. Rick was the one that was out of line. And Rick was going to get his teeth knocked out for his trouble.

Merle was ready for the confrontation, he craved it. But it never came. One second Rick was making his way towards him and the next Daryl was standing in his way.

"Move," Rick spat and went to take another step.

Daryl shook his head and placed a hand on Rick's chest, stopping him. "Nah, this ain't how this works, Rick. You wanted to talk. Talk. But this shit ain't happenin'. And that's my call."

Merle would have been lying if he said that he wasn't proud of his brother at that moment.

Rick knocked Daryl's hand away and Merle saw his brother stiffen at the touch. "He put his hands on me, Daryl."

Daryl closed the distance, his forehead pressed against Rick's. "Back up. Now," he snarled.

Rick looked like he was about to make a move but suddenly Lori was there, her hand gripping his upper arm and pulling him back. Merle looked up to the porch when he heard the screen door bang shut. Carol was coming towards them, stopping on the middle step when she realized that something was going on other than talking. He had a sinking feeling that Daryl was going to be the only one to have his back for this. Carol and Rick were close. As much siblings as Daryl and Merle were as far as she was concerned.

Merle was tired of this already. "You wanna tell me that I shouldn't have done what I did? If you knew half of what the son of a bitch did then you woulda killed him yourself."

"Don't talk to me about what he did!"Rick snapped. "I know what he did. I was on the receiving end. I wasn't on the inside, doling out his death sentences like you were."

Merle's gut twisted and before he knew what he was doing he was making his way towards Rick, his vision narrowing until the only thing that he saw was the other man's face. Before he could reach him, though, Daryl was right there, blocking his path.

"We don't need this shit, brother. Not now," Daryl said in a hushed tone.

"You know, I don't see what the hell the problem is," another voice cut through the tension and everyone looked over to where Andrea was standing, a scowl on her face and her arms crossed stiffly over her chest. "He was a monster. Maybe not yet but there isn't any other word you can use to describe him. Merle did us all a favor."

Rick looked at her like she was crazy. Of course he would. "He hadn't done anything yet," he argued weakly.

Andrea looked at him like he had grown three heads. "So what was he suppose to do? Wait until the world ended and try to hunt him down before he became a murdering savage? Wait until his little girl was bitten? I don't see the problem here."

Lori made a disgusted sound in the back of her throat. It was quiet but Andrea heard it. Her eyes cut over to the other woman's and narrowed even more.

"Go ahead Lori. If you have something to say then go on with it," Andrea said quickly. She didn't sound angry. She sounded like she was genuinely curious to hear whatever it was that was on Lori's mind.

"I remember how you were with Beth. I don't think your kind of logic is very useful when it comes down to someones life." Lori, too, didn't sound angry or condescending. Merle was confused at the lack of malice in either woman, considering it was obvious that there was really some animosity going on here.

"Well, if killing one man to save the lives of many is wrong," she gave a dismissive shrug, "then call me wrong."

"So, what's it gonna be? You gonna try to run me in? Book me on murder charges? We all know that you don't give a shit about losses, so long as they ain't yours right? As long as it's someone elses. Like my brother's?" Merle smiled, knowing exactly what he was doing.

Rick's face looked like it was carved from stone, his hands shaking with anger. "Of course I wouldn't lock you up. But we need to get this straight, if I wanted too then it would be done."

Carol finally made herself known right then. "Excuse me?"

Now it was her who the whole group turned to stare at. She came down the rest of the steps and took a defiant stance next to Daryl. Rick put up a placating hand but she waved it off.

"I don't think you understand what all of this is, Rick. See, we are all a lot more knowledgeable now. This is a democracy and the way I look at it is, all of this," She gestured around at the land surrounding them, "this is pretty much Dixon land. You don't call the shots now, Rick. I love you like my own brother but if you can't live here knowing that this group doesn't need dictating, then you don't need to live here at all. You aren't the leader here. We make decisions as a group. And Merle is a big part of this group. Andrea was right when she said that he did us a favor. He saved lives. And I think the reason you are condemning him for it is because it's Merle."

"Murder isn't right regardless of how you look at it," Rick said, sounding even more angry that his authority had just been wadded up and thrown in his face by who most had always considered the weakest member of their group. Even Merle had to admit that he was damn impressed.

"Really?" Carol asked, disbelief dripping from her voice. "Unless it's you, right? Does Lori know that your son shot another boy in cold blood? Or that you and Michonne and Carl drove right by a man screaming for help on the side of the road and you didn't even consider stopping? You went as far as stopping and taking the backpack that was lying next to his dead body on your way back to the prison. These are things you can't forget Rick. We all changed then. Merle did something to help us all. He did the same thing you would have done yourself."

"Carl... Carl killed someone?" Lori asked, her voice choked.

Carol looked up and gave her a swift nod. "A boy that was handing his gun over. Carl shot him in the head."

Lori took a step away from her husband, tears shining brightly in the orange glow of the sun. She turned then and walked slowly towards the house, her head hung low. Carol, deciding that the worst of the drama outside was over, went to follow her.

Once Lori and Carol were out of sight Rick looked at Merle once again. "She didn't see it happen or anything? Penny?"

Merle shook his head. "I was a little strung out to tell ya the truth. Forgot all about her bein' there at all until she woke up and showed herself. He was already dead by then and I didn't think it was right for her to find him like that. So I took her."

Rick stared at him, his expression still angry. Merle stared right back. "Well," he said after a long pause, "I guess there isn't anything to be done about it now other than just make sure the girl stays safe."

Merle kept his mouth shut and watched as Rick gave Andrea a hard look before storming off towards the house. Everyone else followed wordlessly. All but one.

Andrea was shaking her head at their retreating figures. "I don't understand how he can be like that," she muttered, more to herself than to Merle.

"He's a self satisfied asshole. Typical power hungry cop. What the fuck did you expect him to say about it. Truth is, I killed Philip in cold blood. He hadn't done anything yet." Merle watched her closely as she dragged her eyes back to him.

"You took actions to prevent a lot of people dying," she said firmly. "Someone needed to do it. I didn't kill him when I had the chance and people paid for that with their lives. If you hadn't killed him then I was going too."

Merle studied her. "You ain't no killer, blondie."

She met his eyes, "Neither are you. You did what you had to do back in Woodbury, I know all about it, but at the end of the day you were doing what you had to do to survive," she shrugged and fell into step beside him, "The way I see it, we're all killers now. We have to be. I plan on keeping my sister alive through this. Now that I know that's possible, I think I can bring myself to kill anyone that would try to hurt her." She cut him a dry look, "Or have sex with her. You keep that in mind Merle."

He stopped at the bottom of the steps but she kept going. He barked out a laugh before following her into the house.

~H~

Rick pressed his fingers against his temples and shut his eyes tightly. He was starting to get a headache. He knew that there was a lot to get out in the open when it came to Lori but damn if he didn't want to just forget all about everything for a few hours.

"I just need you to talk to me. Tell me the truth," Lori said as she leaned against their bedroom door. "Did our son... Did he do that?"

Rick sat down on the edge of the bed and looked up at her, feeling drained already. Feeling like he failed already. "He did. We got attacked and Carl and Hershel were in the woods. The boy was retreating. Couldn't have been more than fifteen from what Hershel tells me. He was handin' over his weapon and then..."

"No," she whispered. "How could he do that?"

"Because I messed up. He thought I was the reason for a lot of deaths. Cause I couldn't kill people that needed to be killed. In his head, what if he let that boy live and he ended up hurting one of us? That would have been on him."

"Jesus Christ," she breathed. Her eyes were large and vacant, staring off to a time that haunted them all. "I saw it. I saw him pulling away. The day he said that he would have put Sophia down..."

"We don't have to worry about that now. Not here," Rick said quietly. "This place is going to keep all of us from doing things that we would have done in that other place."

"And what about you and Andrea?" Lori asked, wide eyes meeting his fiercely. "Is this gonna be my punishment for what happened with Shane? What happened between the two of you?"

He was quiet for a long moment, trying to gather his thoughts that seemed to be splintering everywhere. He hadn't felt this confused since the dreams first started plaguing him. "Nothing happened, if that's what you're getting at. You hadn't been dead for long. I needed more time to grieve." He couldn't help the look he gave her then. In his eyes, she deserved it.

"Rick I saw you when she got here. You can't tell me nothing was going on. And why are still punishing me for something I haven't done? For something I won't do?"

A heavy breath left him and he looked at the floor. "It's the fact that you have it in your heart to do it. Just because it didn't happen here, that doesn't matter. What matters to me is that you had it in you to do at all. And then after it was all over you..." He shook his head and looked at her, "You pulled away from me for killing him. You blamed me for that. But it wasn't my fault was it? You still weren't sure who it was you wanted and knowin' that drove Shane to doing what he did. Lori, you acted like you wanted me to kill him."

Lori's mouth fell open and she leaned into the door even harder, like she could no longer hold up her weight.

"When Andrea showed up that night at the prison, we talked. We talked for a long time. She didn't talk to me like you did. She didn't look at me like you did. She looked at me like I was something more. And I'm sorry if that hurts you now but I felt like I was more for those hours that I talked to her. More than I was to you for a long time."

Her tears flowed freely now. He knew that he was hurting her but he refused to lie. The truth was, he did know that in her heart she hadn't known who she had wanted back then. He knew that something she had said to Shane had driven him to make the decision to kill. He loved his wife. He had always loved her and he had tried so many times to show her how much. But now it seemed like there was little point in trying his hardest when he knew deep down his hardest would never be enough for her.

"Do you want to be with her?" She asked after wiping her tears away and raising her chin. She looked him in the eye.

Did he? He wasn't sure. "I wanted my family. I still do. But I don't know if I can just forget everything you did."

"I understand," she said, her voice unable to keep from breaking. He let her walk out without saying anything. He wasn't sure what was left to say. He had been trying to cope with the betrayal. He had been working on being a better husband. But he couldn't help but wonder if the problem just wasn't him.

~H~

"I shouldn't have said that," Carol said as she gazed out the window. Her tone was filled with regret, her arms wrapped around herself. Daryl looked up from where he was leaning against the counter.

"Why not? Do you really want him runnin' around this place barkin' out orders and makin' all the decisions? He's already tryin' to step back into that role." Daryl wasn't going to let her beat herself up over what she said out there. He couldn't remember ever being more proud of her. She was the one that did all of this. This wasn't Rick's kingdom to rule over.

"I didn't have to bring up what Carl did. I didn't have to bring up that man they let die." She still didn't turn around and her voice held a sad note that was really starting to piss him off.

"Why not? See, that's Rick's problem right there. As long as it's him committin' the crimes, or his family committin' the crimes then the crimes don't matter. You saw how he looked at Merle. Rick was like a brother to me back there but Merle, even though he's a real asshole sometimes, he's been my brother my whole life. If you hadn't said what you said then I would've."

She finally turned around and looked at him, unable to hide a small smile. "You're biased. If someone else would have said those things to him you would have jumped right down their throats for it."

He shrugged, narrowing his eyes at her. "Maybe. I ain't so sure no more. And I don't think nobody had the balls to give it to him straight like you did."

The look she gave him was a dry one. "Well I am happy you approve of the size of my testicles, Daryl. You do have a way with words, you know."

Someone cleared their throat and Daryl looked over to see Glenn. He looked uncomfortable to say the least. "Why does this always happen to me? I always come in at the exact wrong moment."

Carol's laughter rang through the kitchen and Daryl felt his face flush. The kid was right. Every single time something was said that could make him or Carol look like a couple of weirdos Glenn seemed to be right around the corner to hear it.

"Anyway," Glenn said with a shrug, "I wanted to make sure you were alright."

Carol nodded. "I'm fine. How did you know I would end up feeling bad about all that?"

"Because I know you," Glenn said with a grin.

Daryl wasn't looking forward to the tension that he knew was going to blanket the whole house after this. Andrea and Lori, Rick and Merle. He had a feeling that the drama from earlier was just the start. He sighed loudly and crossed his arms over his chest. Maybe he should move out the barn himself.