This is a prequel to a bethyl ficlet, which I'll post too. I just liked this too much not to share it. Sorry its more Merle x Beth (not in a shippy way okay) but I'll give you more Bethyl soon. Thank you for reading, and reviews are always appreciated!
Beth had been to this bar far too many times this week in her attempts to drown out the pain. The aching in her chest, the pressure behind her eyes that had tears threatening to fall every second of every day, the pounding in her head from too much alcohol and too little food, it was all continuous. When she drank, it lessened. So she was going to drink. Beth could remember being really little, the times her daddy would disappear to the bar and drink for hours the same way she was doing now. So yeah, she knew it was a bad idea. A great way to hurt the family she had left. But how could she go home and see the pain in her daddy's eyes at the loss of another wife, and the loss of a son? How could she stand in front of Maggie, the one who was always so strong, and see how badly she hurt, not only over the loss of a brother and another mother, but because she felt the pain tenfold for her daddy and her baby sister? Beth didn't think she could. And despite the fact Maggie had come down here to beg her to come home, she didn't think she could. She wanted nothing more than to forget. Well actually, she wanted nothing more than for her momma and big brother to be home, safe, alive and with her. But she wasn't going to get that, never would have that again, so forgetting, she figured, was the next best thing.
She lifted her near empty glass to her lips and downed the rest of her drink as the stool beside her filled. Beth knew who it was. The man was loud and rambunctious, there was no mistaking him for anyone else. Not to mention he'd bugged her about her excessive drinking more than once since she started coming.
"Fuck girl, at this point I'm sure you've drunk more this week than I have my whole life!" Merle Dixon exclaimed as the bartender slid a beer across the counter to him. "You gotta stop this."
Beth furrowed her brow in a scowl and looked over at him. It wasn't the first time he'd advocated for her sobriety. When she asked why he was so interested in her business he just shrugged and told her a girl like her had no business staying stuck in the place she was in. She hadn't questioned him further, just emptied her glass stubbornly and had it refilled.
"Go away, Merle." She told him. She hadn't been here long. Everything was still too sharp. She didn't want to keep it that way.
"Not this time, girl." He said tipping back his bottle. "Gotta get you outta here!"
Beth didn't think she liked where this was going. She could handle, had handled, Merle being loud and joking, rough even, and giving her grins that would have made her shudder and turn away had she not had any previous base of knowledge about the man before her and knew he wasn't trying to be mean or intimidating or anything of the sort. But she did. She knew he was rough 'n mean even. Beth didn't want to field whatever it was he was doing right now. It was real close to concern if not full out concern, if you had the guts to say Merle Dixon had it in him to be concerned about anyone other than himself.
"Why?" Beth asked. "I'm an adult, and I'll do whatever I please."
"Know you will, girl, 's what the problem is." The older man told her.
"It's not a problem. Doesn't even have a damn thing to do with you." She glared. Beth wondered if Merle even fully knew why he took so much interest in her drinking.
"Fine, Greene." He sighed. "You can keep on drowning yourself in alcohol for now, but sooner or later you gotta get over it."
The door to the bar swung open calling her attention away from Merle. She was shocked to see her daddy standing in the doorway, Maggie just behind him. Hershel had sworn he wasn't ever stepping foot back into this bar. Beth was shocked to see him there, but she knew why he was there. He was there for her. She watched as he crossed the room and came to a stop in front of her. She hadn't realized tears were falling down her cheeks until he reached up to wipe them away.
"Come on, Bethy, come home." He told her and she stumbled out of her seat and let him fold her into his arms. She felt her sister join the mix and sobs wracked her body.
"I miss them so much, Daddy." She choked out as he held her.
"I know, Doodle Bug, me too." He whispered. "Me too."
It wasn't until much later, after all traces of alcohol had left her system, that she found it in her properly appreciate Merle Dixon's words, and the push he'd given her the entire time she was there. She wasn't so sure she would have left so easily without turning back if it weren't for that man. He may have been an asshole to the rest of the town, but Beth knew otherwise. He was a good man when he wanted to be, and she hoped she would have the chance to thank him one day.