A/N Thank you all so much. Well Merle did it, he bought the house Baby wanted. We'll see how that works out for them. We're also going to meet Merle's little brother Daryl, and Merle is going to find out Daryl and Baby have history.
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They wanted to move in right away but it wasn't going to happen quite that fast. It would take three weeks before the house deal would even close. Fast really, but it seemed like an eternity to them. They were ready to get to work making the big old house a home.
He was planning to spring for a hotel room but that wasn't what she wanted at all. "Merle let's get a room like you had when we met, something that feels a little more homey."
"Ya sure Baby? I ain't afraid ta spoil ya you know." She insisted it was what she wanted. She wasn't complicating his life quite as much as he thought she might.
He did worry maybe it would be too much togetherness, that they'd start getting on each other's nerves, but it turned out to be fun staying together in the small room. They took turns cooking each other meals, but not at first. He tried to just do it all for her but she wouldn't have it and she let him know it. He liked her spunkiness, he knew he needed someone who'd stand up to him and call him out on his shit. Baby was that someone. But at night, when he held her in his arms, she seemed to need everything about him.
They kept themselves plenty busy, spending most of their days exploring the area, learning all about this place they'd be living. He'd been coming up there for years, but it was all new to her and he wanted her to feel the beauty of the area the way he did, and continue to be happy about the move she'd made.
They drove up in the mountains and they tested out the fishing, and they made love on the soft ground under an old oak tree. They went deeper in the woods where he taught her to shoot a pistol. One morning when they were feeling a little restless and crazy they got on the motorcycle and rode all the way to Columbus. They had a meal, turned around and rode all the way back.
They realized it was good they had this time, they had "life" things to take care of as well. She got her driver's license and he updated his with the new address. He opened a local bank account and he ordered some business cards. They went to the phone store and he added her to his account there, and he bought her a new smartphone. Then he taught her how to use it.
With the help of the librarian they found out where she might be able to take some classes, and they got her signed up for a community outreach program. In just a few weeks she'd be starting classes in beginning bookkeeping and a beginning computer class. She was scared and nervous just at the thought of going back to school, but then he took her in his arms and told her, "Baby, I got faith in ya. You're plenty smart, you'll see. Once ya get in the routine a goin' ain't gonna be nuthin' stoppin' ya. I'll even get ya your own laptop ta work on. You're gonna pass with flyin' colors."
They also talked a lot about the house and their plans for it. He was more than willing to update the kitchen and bathrooms but she told him she liked them just the way they were. So they made their plan, agreeing they wanted to get the inside cleaned and painted as quickly as they could so they could move in. The yard and the outside painting would come later.
What they didn't quite see was what was happening between them. They were too close to it to see it. They'd been total strangers less than a month before. Two people who outwardly could not have seemed more different. The big loud and seemingly self-assured man. The small, quiet and beaten woman.
As they spent all their time together they began to see and to understand just how similar they were. She'd learned he wasn't always so self-assured. Just like her he had his doubts and his insecurities. And she'd always seen herself as weak and needing someone to help her through life. But he'd given her a voice, he made her feel confident and she knew she could speak up about what she wanted and what she thought, he wouldn't be angry with her. What he knew about her he shared with her, "Ya don't need me or anyone else Baby. You're tough as fuckin' nails. If ya had a mind to, you could set the whole damn world on fire."
They found that being together the way they were, they both felt better about themselves.
Finally the day came when the house was theirs. The three weeks had seemed to drag on forever, while also seeming to fly by. They decided to take it one room at a time, double tag team style, but they agreed they didn't have to get it all done to start living in the place.
They cleaned and painted their bedroom and bathroom first. Once that work was completed they moved in. The kitchen came next. They knew it would take the longest but it was also the room Beth was most excited to work on, and she didn't want to stop working until it was done. He had to struggle to get her to quit at the end of their work day. "You're gonna make yourself sick Baby, then all of it's gonna have ta wait. Ya don't want that."
It took three months to get the house and the yard cleaned up, painted up and all his furniture out of storage and moved in. During that time they only seemed to have a few disagreements. One was the color of their bedroom. She wanted a pale lavender, "C'mon now Baby, give your man a break. I can't be sleepin' in a girlie room. Let's go with a tan color." She furrowed her brows at him, "I don't think so big man. You don't want to sleep in a girlie room but I don't want to sleep in a manly room." They ended up painting it pale green.
They had another argument about an old familiar thing, he let it slip into conversation again, "when ya get sick of me." She let him have it with both barrels and he promised her he would never say it again. And vegetables, she'd made him start eating at least a little bit of fruit and vegetables every day. "Merle Dixon! I plan to be growing a yard full of veggies and we have all these beautiful fruit trees. You have to learn to eat the bounty." As hard as he fought it at first, it surprised him to learn he enjoyed most of them.
She cowered again, it happened more than once. He'd move a certain way and it was like she'd duck and cover. They knew what caused it and why it may always be that way. There was nothing to be be done but hug it out and to know that stuff wasn't going to happen in their home.
One late afternoon they were sitting at their kitchen table and he was helping her on the laptop. That's when he heard it, the sound of an engine that and he knew so well. He smiled at her, "Baby brother's home from Valdosta."
He got up and hurried toward the door, she lagged a ways behind. She was a little nervous at the thought of meeting this young brother he bragged so much about. The sweet one, the archer. Merle threw the door open just as he stepped onto the porch. The brothers laughed, got each other in a bear hug and clapped each other on the back, hard, and they laughed harder.
Then she got a clear shot of the brother's face and she nearly passed out. She had to sit down in the closest chair. He smiled at her and she whispered, "It's you."
"Hey girl, looks like you're doin' much better these days. I see ya upgraded too. Good choice."
Merle looked between the two feeling confused and a bit jealous. Could Baby and little brother have...? Nah, nah that couldn't be it. He plastered what he hoped looked like a genuine smile on his face and asked, "You two know each other? How's that?"
Daryl looked at her, "You gonna tell him or ya want me to?"
Her voice was weak and shaky when she answered, "You."
He smiled the smallest of smiles, went over to her, nodded and put out his hand in greeting, "Name's Daryl by the way."
"I'm Beth."
Every kind of thought he did not want to be thinking was racing through Merle Dixon's mind. It couldn't be, his Baby and his Baby brother? Nah please dear God in heaven don't let it be.
Daryl suddenly looked so serious when he began to explain, "It was when I's on my way down ta Valdosta, not when I went ta stay for the work, before then. The first time when I's goin' ta check on the job. Seein' if I even wanted ta sign on. You wasn't down there in that little Podunk place on the way yet. Anyway, on my way back from Valdosta I decided ta stop in that same town, get a room, eat a good meal and drink myself into my happy place."
"I ended up in a crappy little dive drinkin' beers and insteada that good supper I's after, it was all about the jalapeno poppers and the chicken wings. Well-balanced and healthy dinin', it's what I'm into." Merle wanted to tell him to cut the crap and get on with the story. But he wasn't all that sure he wanted to hear it.
"I's throwing darts when I heard the commotion. I looked ta see what was what. Beth here was being pushed around by some squirrely little asshole. Then, like the slimy bastard he was, he grabbed ahold of her ponytail an started pullin' her out the door. I drained my beer an went right after em. Someone needed ta straighten that dickhead out an I decided it might just as well be me."
"He wasn't too big or too tough so it wasn't much of a job. When it was done an he was layin' there on the ground, bleedin' an beggin', I explained ta Beth that I'd be more'n happy ta give her a ride, but I couldn't be drivin' on accounta the large amount of beer I'd had ta drink. I give her a twenty an told her ta take a cab home, get her shit an get as far away from the little fucker as she could." Then he looked to Beth, "So ya did, huh?"
"Well not until it happened one more time. Then I met your brother. I've been with him since."
Daryl smiled at her, "Ya mean ta tell me it takes both Dixon brothers ta rescue one small blond?" He looked to Merle, "We're gonna have ta step up our game."
Merle was overwhelmed with thoughts and emotions. He was grateful his brother had been there for her. Amazed at the coincidence. Relieved it hadn't been what he first thought it might be, but sure in the knowledge he would prefer to know she'd slept with his brother rather than know she'd been beat on by that little bastard. And he was happy, happy to have them both there with him, his woman and his baby brother.
They settled in to a night of food and drinking, talk and card games. The brothers had lots to catch up on and Beth left them to it. She hadn't really been drinking much herself lately, it just didn't sound at all appealing. Her stomach had been out of sorts. She'd tried to keep that from Merle because she knew he'd worry. So, while the brothers got about the business of drinking, telling stories and laughing at their own jokes, she went to bed.
Daryl stayed with them two days before leaving for his own home and job just over 20 miles away. Before he left the brother's made a plan.
Daryl had time off coming and they were going to take three days together and have themselves a Dixon brothers hunting and fishing trip in the mountains. The trouble was Merle didn't feel all that good about leaving Baby behind. She worked and worked at convincing him. "Merle I'm good now. We've been together long enough that I'm not scared anymore. I have my gun and my knife, and anyway, just who the heck do you think is going to bother me out here? If Randall was going to find me it would have happened by now."
"I get what you're sayin' Baby and I ain't arguin' with ya. I just can't do it."
"If you don't I'll never forgive myself Merle. The last thing I want to be is one of those women whose husband can't go anywhere without her because she's too needy and clingy." All he heard was husband, and her eyes got bigger and rounder, she couldn't believe she'd called him that to his face.
"Is that how ya think of me Baby, your husband?"
Now her pretty little face had gone beet red. "It's kind of like we're married," she shrugged, "You know, we live here like a husband and wife and stuff. When I talk about you to my friends at school it just seems easier to say, 'my husband.' Boyfriend doesn't feel right. Please don't be mad."
"I ain't mad at ya Baby, just surprised is all." And fuck him, he was surprised. But she'd also made him realize something, he wouldn't mind being her husband one bit. Maybe that would happen someday.
After a lot of talk, a little more arguing and some very hot problem-resolving sex, Merle agreed to see things her way.
It wasn't easy for him to leave but he did see that maybe, just maybe, it was important for both of them. She had something she needed to prove, not to him, to herself. She could survive without him. He needed to see that too, he needed to quit stressing so much about Baby and learn to just enjoy his time with her.
He was holding her in his arms, running his hands over her body just a little, and he couldn't help but notice. Baby's breasts seemed a little bigger, her figure a little fuller. It made him smile, she'd been too thin. He liked this new rounder body.
Daryl showed up on Thursday night, a big boat hooked to the back of his pickup. He had a tent and the sleeping bags, the poles and his crossbow. Merle was in charge of guns, the food and the beer.
It was four a.m. Friday morning when they left. She kissed Merle, kissed Daryl on the cheek, told them both she loved them and to be careful. She told them to have a lot of fun and not to worry about her. Inside she was dying. She was having second thoughts, she was feeling a little scared. She'd be home alone. But she didn't want him to know. She really did want him to be able to have fun with his brother and not worry about her. He started to get in the rig when he turned and gave her one last big hug, "Love ya Baby. Gonna miss ya. Little brother ain't no fun ta cuddle with at all."
She had big plans too. She'd checked out a couple of books from the library, what Merle would call, 'them lady books all about love an drama,' she couldn't wait to read them. She had a test she needed to take and she also planned to make some pillows for the sofa, and new curtains for the kitchen. Besides those things there was the garden. Her little veggie patch was thriving and she enjoyed babying it along.
Daryl teased him as they drove, "So big brother, looks like ya got it bad for that sweet little Beth. When ya gonna marry her? Make some babies?"
There he was, stone cold sober and admitting to his baby brother, "Ya know I always have said I ain't the marryin' kind, but if I thought she'd have me I'd marry her in a New York minute. The makin' babies, well I still ain't the bein' a Daddy kind."
"I think she'd say yes, but ya ain't gonna know for sure til ya grow a pair an ask her. As for babies, she's probably gonna be the one ta tell you whether ya want one or not."
They both nodded and laughed over that, because yeah, Merle knew he wouldn't deny her anything she really wanted.
It was always good sharing time in the woods with his brother but man he missed Baby. They hadn't been apart even one night since that first night when she knocked on his motel room door. He was restless, sleep wasn't coming and he just couldn't seem to keep from worrying about her. He told himself she'd be fine and reminded himself this was good. It was her chance to prove to them both she was completely capable of taking care of herself for three days. Fuck, it wasn't like a lifetime.
The brothers both managed to bag a deer late Saturday afternoon and there was a cooler full of fish they'd caught. All real good eating. They wanted to get the meat home and get it cooled down so it wouldn't spoil. And as badly as Merle was missing Baby, he didn't mind one bit leaving way earlier on Sunday morning than first planned.
She was so happy with her sewing projects, they'd come out just as nice as she hoped. But she'd neglected the garden all weekend. She wanted to get out there early, do some weeding, turn a little ground, and still have time to shower up and be looking pretty when Merle got home that afternoon. She had something important she wanted to tell him.
She stopped on her way out the backdoor, she didn't have them. Why would she need them? She didn't. But on the off-chance Merle and his brother got home early she didn't want him to think she'd break the only rule he'd asked her to follow. He must have said it twenty times, she could still hear him, "Always keep the knife n the gun close by Baby. Always."
He'd bought her that pretty hand tooled belt with the knife in mind, and she slipped the big hunting knife in the sheath. She carried the gun, she'd keep it close, in her gardening box. She set the Beats pill on the back porch table with country music blasting out. They didn't have close neighbors, so why not? It was a cool but sunny morning, calm and pretty.
She had a funny thought and smiled as she was pulling weeds, she wished she could use the gun to shoot mosquitoes and chiggers. They were the only living creatures bothering her that morning.
She was singing along to an old Johnny Cash classic Merle loved, Folsom Prison Blues, when it happened. Someone grabbed her by the ponytail and yanked her up hard. She was so startled and so scared that although she opened her mouth to scream, no sound came out. It wouldn't matter anyway, who would hear?
He grabbed her from behind, arms locked around hers and she could smell the booze on him. He must have been drinking all night, and she felt herself cringe at his words, "Ya thought ya could get away from me, didn't ya? Ya little bitch. I told ya I wasn't ever gonna let ya go an I meant it. Whaddya doin' with that old bastard anyway? No way he can fuck ya the way I can. Lemme remind ya."
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A/N I know you're mad at me for leaving you here. Let me have it. Please leave a comment / review. The chapter photo of the Big Man and Baby is on my tumblr blogs gneebee and bethylmethbrick, check it out. I hope to see you all back her next Sunday for more of "It's Complicated." Until then remember, I love ya large! xo gneebee.