Aww, thanks for the reviews. You guys are the best! Reviews make me write faster. Do you hear that Lurkers?

Remember, I don't own the WD or any of it's characters...just my oc, HALLIE.

Content warning: bad language ahead.

Chapter 6

Hallie opened her eyes and looked straight into the deep blue ocean of Daryl's eyes, biting her lower lip unconsciously. She blushed furiously as Daryl kept hold of her hand. It was hot. She was hot. She could feel the blush on her cheeks and was aware that it was spreading down her neck and her chest. she could feel the heat radiating upwards. How long had she had her eyes closed? She began to panic, her mind racing. She tried to turn loose of his hand, but he held on tighter. His fingers curled around hers.

"Ya' remember." he said. "I know ya' do." he said in a low voice.

Hallie nodded her head. "Yes." she said weakly. "I do...some parts." If someone could have died from embarrassment, she would have been a goner. He knew what she was thinking. What she was remembering.

"Do you remember the couch?"

Hallie nodded her head. "Yes." she blushed even more. "Twice."

"And the bedroom?"

"Yes."

"And the kitchen?"

Hallie searched for a memory of them there. "N-no. I... I don't..."

Daryl interrupted her. "I was jes' teasin', we din't fool aroun' 'n there, we just did more shots. But we were totally..." he paused for emphasis, "naked."

Hallie laughed out loud., his joke cutting through her embarrassment. "You ass!" she said, thunking his hand on the table top, while it was still holding hers. "I wondered where all my good vodka went!"

Daryl grinned. "Yeah, that was purty' good stuff. Fer' vodka, that is. You ok now? You gonna' stop blushin'?"

"Doubt it." she grinned and rolled her eyes.

They talked some more and Daryl motioned for another round. Pete brought over the Bud and the Diet Coke and smiled broadly as he sat their drinks down.

Daryl took a long sip and sat his beer down, letting out a loud sigh.

"So." he said, nodding his head. He looked at Hallie with raised eyebrows, as if he were waiting on her to say something profound.

"So." she repeated.

"Now what?"

"What do you mean?" Hallie asked, looking down at her feet, knowing full well what he was getting to.

"What's next?" Daryl said seriously.

Hallie swallowed hard. "I don't know. I told you I'd never done that before. I don't know what comes next. I don't know if there is a next." She took a long drink of her soda. "I wasn't looking to start a relationship. I wasn't even looking to hook up. But we did...and it was great, don't get me wrong. You were phenomenal. But I don't know what should come next, Daryl."

"Oh." he said, his heart sinking. "Ok." he took a long swig from the bottle. "Guess we just play it cool then."

"Yeah. We just play it cool." she agreed, more than a twinge of disappointment in her voice. She knew she was lying. Hallie was lying to Daryl and to herself.

Daryl finished his bottle without saying much more and stood up. "Well, gotta go. See ya' round." he said and turned to leave. Hallie sat there, not knowing what to say. She stood up to return to her friends and he turned suddenly. "I..." he stopped, biting the cuticle on his thumb.
"Forget it." He turned and walked out quickly, his head down.

Hallie picked up her purse and made a beeline to the Ladies room, barely making it to a stall before she burst into tears. She sat on the toilet and flushed it repeatedly to muffle her sobs.

XXXXX

Daryl slammed the door to the trailer hard enough to rattle the pictures on the wall. He pulled off his boots and threw them into the corner with a heavy thud.

"Mother fucking sonufabitch." he cussed. "Play it cool ma' ass." he threw open the refrigerator door and pulled out a can of Bud. "I'll show ya' play it cool. I'll be a fuckin' iceburg. I'll be sa' fuckin' cool she'll think I sunk tha' fuckin' Titanic!" He slammed the refrigerator shut and popped the top, upending the can and draining it dry.

Daryl's hulking mountain of a brother came down the hall, shaking the mobile home with every step. "What tha' fuck're you so pissed off ' bout?" Merle said, scratching his belly under the work shirt with cut-off sleeves. "They cancel Dancing with tha' Stars 'r somethin'?" he stepped into the small kitchen and motioned for Daryl, who was now opening his second beer, to toss him a one as well.

"NOTHIN'." Daryl snarled. "Fuckin' nothin'."

"Nothin' my big lilly white ass. Yer' gonna' tell me what's wrong right now."

"Women suck."

"Yeah, they all do, but tha' best ones swallow." he said, punctuating it with a deep, wet belch.

"I don't wanna talk 'bout it." Daryl frowned. "I ain't touchin' another fuckin' woman the rest a' my God damned life." he shook his head and threw the second empty beer can in the direction of the garbage can. It missed the can and fell to the floor with a hollow rattle.

"Yeah and I'm a fairy princess. Wanna' see my magic wand?" he leered, grabbing his crotch.

"I said I ain't touchin' a woman again." Daryl pushed past him and stormed through the living room towards the bedrooms down the hall. "Didn't say I was turnin' gay, ya' fuckin' asshole."

XXXXX

Hallie collected herself and walked out of the stall to find Kelly leaning against a sink, arms folded, foot tapping impatiently. Hallie walked calmly to the sink and washed her hands. She dabbed at her eyes with a paper towel to remove the mascara smudges.

"I don't want to talk about it. I'm going home." Hallie sniffed.

"Well, happy fucking birthday to ME!" Kelly snorted. "I can't leave you crying in the bathroom."

"I'm not crying anymore. I'm done crying and now I'm going home."

"Yeah, where you'll just end up crying some more." she put her arm around Hallie. "Honey, what did he do? I thought you really liked him?"

"He didn't do anything. He didn't say anything. He asked what now and I told him that I didn't know what to do and he said we should play it cool and I agreed and then he left." Hallie tried to swallow the lump growing in her throat.

"Lemme get this straight. You have a one night stand with this guy, you tell him you don't want a relationship and he gets pissed off? Seriously?"

"I don't know that he was pissed off. He just left."

"Oh, Baby, don't you see?" Kelly rubbed Hallie's arm. "Sweetie, don't you get it?"

"Get what?"

"He likes you. You were more than a one-night stand to him."

"No. I thought guys didn't want strings. I though they just wanted to fuck and run." Hallie was near shaking by now.

"Most of them do. Apparently he doesn't. Apparently you made a real big impression on him, Sweetie." "Then why didn't he say that?" Hallie blew her nose on a piece of toilet paper from one of the stalls. "I like him too. Why didn't he say that?"

"Because he's a MAN, you dope!" Kelly giggled. "He's not going to tell you how he feels, especially so soon."

"Oh." she sniffed. "He didn't ask me out or anything."

"Hallie, you are not that stupid. He saw you in here again after banging you three times in one night and he whisked you off to a quiet table where you could talk. Alone. He held your hand, and yes I saw that part by the way, he flat out asked you what you wanted to do next. What did you expect? Roses and chocolates and a violin player? He was trying to tell you he wanted to see you again."

"Really?"

"Trust me. You better try to find him and soon or forget about him and chalk it up to experience."

"I dunno, Kelly. What if he's really pissed and doesn't want to now?"

"Trust me, you bat those green eyes of yours at him a couple times and tell him you were scared because you've never met a guy like him before and he'll be all over you." Kelly laughed. "That IS what you want, isn't it?"

"Yeah, I guess, I dunno. God, I feel so stupid."

"You are," she joked, "but I love ya' anyway, Seester."

XXXXX

Six weeks had passed and Hallie'd had no luck finding Daryl. She'd given up. She was mowing her backyard one Friday afternoon, earphones on, oblivious to the rusty Ford pickup truck that had pulled into her drive. The man who exited on the driver's side was huge, well over six foot and pushing 250 pounds. He was dirty, smelly, and pretty well drunk. He was not drunk enough, however, that when he saw grass clippings on the sidewalk and heard the drone of a mower he couldn't put two and two together and walk around the back of the house.

Hallie kept mowing, oblivious to the menacing man standing between her and the only exit out of the fenced-in yard. She continued to mow down the row, keeping her head down to keep her lines straight, singing along with the music, until she looked up and saw Merle Dixon standing about four feet in front of her. She dropped the bar on the mower and it came to a sudden halt.

Hallie looked in his face and was immediately uncomfortable. There was something about him she didn't trust and the fact that he was blocking her way out didn't make her any more at ease. She whipped out the ear buds and took a step back from the mower.

"Can I help you?" she said firmly.

"Well, Hot Stuff, that depends. You Hallie?"

"Who are you?" she asked, standing her ground.

"You first. 're you the one that broke my little brother's heart?"

"What?" she asked. "Who's your brother." She took a step closer and looked closely at the hulk in the dirty gray shirt. The minute she could see his clear blue eyes, she knew exactly who he was.

"You screw over that many guys you gotta ask who?" he said. "Well, maybe now that I look at ya', yeah, ya' look like ya'd have yer' share."

"I think it's time for you to get the hell out of my yard and crawl back from under whatever rock you came." she doubled her fists, as if that would have any impact on Merle. "I don't know who you are or why you think I know your brother but you need to leave. Now." Hallie hissed, her eyes flashing.

"Little lady, I ain't leaving until ya' hear what I have ta' say." he took a step towards her.

"Then you better start talking fast, Cracker, because I'm about to start screaming."

"Well, maybe I'll just do something to make ya' scream. Then I'd guess I'd be tha' second Dixon to make ya' scream, huh, Sweet Cheeks?"

"What the fuck did you just say to me?" she said calmly, her eyes narrowed, jaw set.

"Ya' heard me loud ' n clear, Sugar Tits. Ya' fuckin' broke my little brother and it's time fer' ya' ta' put him back together. He ain't been right since the night you two did tha' nasty. I'm fuckin' sick o' his moonin' aroun'. He's like some fuckin' whiny-ass baby. First he can't find ya', then he's afraid ta' talk ta' ya', then ya' blow him off an' he's just been pissy ever since. I'm fuckin' sick of it and yer' gonna fix it." He pulled out a silver flask from his back pocket and unscrewed the cap. "Fix him or I'm gonna' fix you." he said.

"You're Daryl's brother?" she said quietly. "You're Merle?"

"In tha' flesh. Want me ta' prove it?" he said, wagging his eyebrows as he took a sip. "We gotta' big...family resemblance." he said, rubbing his crotch suggestively.

"No, thanks. I can tell by your eyes." she said. Hallie was dumbstruck. "Does he know you're here?"

"Fuck no an' ya' ain't gonna' tell him, neither."

"Merle, give me that flask." she said, taking a step towards him. They were within arms' reach of each other now. "I think I need a drink." He handed it to her, her hands shaking a bit as she took it and tipped it to her lips.

"Holy Christ!" she said, swallowing the clear liquid. "That ain't whiskey. Fuck, that's 'shine!"

"Ya' bet yer' sweet ass!" Merle said, almost proudly, taking the flask back.

Hallie struggled to keep it down as the fire erupted in her belly and spread to her esophagus as well, scorching everything the grain alcohol touched on the way down. She walked to the step of the small deck and sat down. Merle took a couple wobbly steps in that direction.

"How is he?" she asked softly. "Is he ok?"

"No, he most certainly is not fuckin' ok!" Merle bellowed. "Why tha' fuck would ya' do that to him?"

"I didn't know. I've only seen him once since..." her voice trailed off. "I don't know what to say. He got mad and walked out and I haven't seen him since."

"Well, you're gonna' find a way ta' fix it come hell 'r high water, Missy. My brother doesn't deserve ta' be treated like this."

"Like WHAT Merle?" Hallie snorted. "We spend one drunken night together and WHAT? What was I supposed to do, fall at his feet? Beg him to stay? Don't tell me you've never had a one-night stand and never called the girl back, Merle. Love 'em and leave 'em, right? Don't you dare try to tell me you've never done that to a woman!"

"Well, sure, lots a. times, but we ain't talkin' 'bout me now, are we? We're talkin' 'bout Daryl. 'An fer' the record, he don't. Not ever. He don't make a habit of screwin' every piece a' ass that walks by. He hardly screws ANY piece a' ass, so when ya' came along, Little Lady, ya' really fucked up his head 'n he ain't been right since."

Hallie blinked, disbelieving what she was hearing. "Merle, just how do you propose I fix your brother's fucked up head?"

"Well, first off, ya' gotta talk to him."

"I would if I knew where he was. He's not been to Pete's in six weeks."

"He's at tha' County Line. He'll be there fer' an hour after work. Ev'ry night. He never used ta' do that but since he's avoidin' Pete's 'cause you might be there, he's there all tha' time. Playing pool an' smokin. Tryin' not ta' think about you."

"Is he drinking a lot?" she asked.

"Fuck no. He drinks at home. Where he should." Merle took another gulp from the flask. "Ya' gonna go see him or m' I gonna have ta' drag that sweet ass a' yers' there""

"No. I'll do it. I want to." she said quietly, refusing Merle's offer of another sip.

"When?"

"I don't know."

"Not good enough. Tonight."

"Merle, I'd have to finish here and get cleaned up first. He'll be long gone by then." she said. "Will he be there Saturday?"

"Doubtful. That's why yer' goin' tonight."

"No, I can't. I have to finish."

"Tonight." the big man grumbled. "Get yer' priorities straight, Bitch. We're talkin' about ma' little brother here."

Hallie rubbed her head with her hands. She looked down at her shoes, green with grass stains, holes in the toes. "County Line?"

"Yup. Just 'member. Tonight. I'll know if ya' don't show and then yer' gonna be sorry."

"Did you just fucking threaten me, Merle? Seriously?"

"Take it how ya' want, just have yer' little ass there an' fix my brother."

"If I do, then what?" she said.

"Well, then I guess we'll all be happy fucking lil' campers, now won't we?" he said, weaving as he walked out the gate to the driveway.