Chapter 2

Lina finally sat down exhausted. She had bathed, changed and feed her little man, and he had finally fallen asleep. She gazed at him, lovingly brushing a lock of hair away from his face, she should have known having a Dixon baby would be one hell of a handful. Lina never thought she would have this, a child of her own, a family. She had turned 28 on the day that she had Johnny and her entire sexual and romantic experience consisted of two one-night stands.

Merle had taken her virginity on the night he got arrested and Daryl had given her, her first and only orgasm less than a week later. She was shocked either night had happened, especially since they happened with the Dixon brothers.

Lina didn't have some grand explanation for doing what she did, she was curious, she had read about this kind of thing in her books, men pursuing women, throwing out smooth lines, touches, smiles and winks, all to get the girl. Nobody ever tried that kind of thing on Lina; nobody ever looked twice at her, so when Merle did, she figured it would be her only chance. Daryl had come and gone out of nowhere and she still wasn't entirely sure what had happened there. Both men had been extremely drunk, with Merle most likely high as well, she just assumed that explained their behavior and that maybe, they didn't even remember what they had done. She was wrong, Dixons never blacked out and the knock on her front door was about to prove it.

Lina sat for a minute in shock that someone was at her door so late at night.

"Open the damn door Lina, I know you're in there!" Merle's rough voice startled her out of her temporary paralysis. Swallowing a big lump in her throat she got up and unlocked the door. There on her small front stoop, stood both Dixons, her stomach dropped.

Merle didn't bother waiting to be invited in, he pushed past Lina and took a seat on the small couch in her living room. Daryl was a bit more polite and waited for her to move aside before following his brother in and sitting next to him. Lina shut the door quietly and placed herself in front of the small crib to the side of the couch, blocking it from view and placing herself between her baby and her two unexpected guests.

"How early was that baby?" Merle got straight to the point.

Lina knew this time there was no avoiding Merle's questions, he had her pinned to the spot with his eyes. Giving in, Lina decided that if Merle and Daryl weren't going to ignore the situation like she originally thought, then they might as well get this conversation over with.

"Johnny was two months early."

Merle nodded and looked over at his brother. The time-line made sense now.

"So which one of us is it? Unless you fucked some other poor saps in the week between us."

Lina looked down and shook her head.

"No one else, and I don't know. There's no way of knowing without a test, it was too close together."

Merle snorted "So you expecting us to pay for a test now?"

Lina looked up "No, Merle. I'm not expecting anything," she looked at Daryl "from either of you."

For the first time Daryl looked at her.

"So what? You think you gonna keep our kid from us?" Daryl scowled at her, and Lina was shocked to hear the anger in his voice.

"I didn't think either of you would care, considering…"

"Considering what!?" Daryl spat

"Considering it's with me…and..I didn't think you'd remember to be honest." Lina was genuinely surprised and Daryl's reaction.

"Kids a Dixon, woman." Merle was calmer but no less serious "May not have planned this but you ain't keeping us from what's ours."

"You aren't taking my child from me." Lina had not anticipated this reaction at all.

"Ain't planning on taking him, but you ain't keeping him from us either." Merle watched her reaction closely, he wasn't entirely sure how they were going to handle this but that kid was either his son or his nephew and family was family.

Lina relaxed a bit, OK if they want to see him from time to time, I can work with that, she thought.

"Alright, that wasn't my intention. I honestly thought you wouldn't be interested." She shrugged

Merle ignored that comment, getting up he walked to the crib where his son or nephew lay. He waved Lina out of the way and she reluctantly shifted over.

Daryl hung back but asked "How much for one of them paternity tests?"

Lina shrugged again "I never looked into it."

Merle looked down at the child in the crib. His skin bore all the signs of his mixed heritage. He wasn't as dark as Lina but he certainly wasn't white either, he had a head full of very straight brown hair, but when the kid opened his eyes and gave Merle a stare with those piercing blue eyes, he saw the Dixon blood in him loud and clear.

Johnny opened his mouth and let out an ear splitting scream before he started crying his head off.

"Shit!" Lina yelled "You woke him." She quickly moved to pick up the screaming child and Merle threw his head back and laughed.

"He's a Dixon alright! Hope you're ready for this girl." He looked over at Daryl catching the slight smirk on his younger brother's face and winked.

Lina was too busy trying to calm her angry child to notice the happy exchange between the brothers. When the child had quieted down some, Daryl asked another question.

"So are we gonna find out which one of us did it." He looked at Merle, who smirked.

"We all "Did It" little brother." He said laughing at his own joke

"I'm serious, Merle. Are we gonna find out?"

Merle looked at Lina, who stared back at him over Johnny's head.

"Don't know brother, maybe we need to think on this a bit." Merle walked out the door without another word to Lina, Daryl nodded at her and moved to follow his brother before pausing at the door and looking back at her.

"Why'd you keep him?" he asked looking at the child in her arms.

Lina thought about how honestly she wanted to answer the question. Knowledge was power and she wasn't sure she wanted to let the Dixons know how much she needed this baby. What if they try to take him away, just to be assholes?

When she didn't answer right away he asked again

"You said you didn't think we'd care, you expected to do this alone. So why'd you keep him? It would have been easier, cheaper to get rid of him, you wouldn't be the first girl to do it." Daryl knew of at least two girls that had gotten rid of Merle's babies. He hadn't fathered any of his own that he knew of, but he had always been more careful, until now at least.

Seeing nothing but sincerity in his face, Lina decided to answer the question honestly.

"I wanted someone to love and to love me back. I'll be good to my..our…child, I promise that."

Daryl was happy to hear that, she would love the kid, Johnny might be the first Dixon to grow up with love. Merle and Daryl might fuck things up but Lina would do right by the boy. He nodded at her again and walked out the door.

Lina closed the door behind them and sat down on the couch they had just vacated.

"So one of them is your Daddy, Johnny boy." She looked at her son "God help us."