* Please Review! Remember, Merle has controlled Daryl his whole life. Merle has a strong pull on Daryl, according to Reedus.*

" How the hell do I know who's baby that is?" Daryl snapped. Layla reared back like he had slapped her in the face.

" How could you say that to me?" She asked softly. Daryl shrugged his shoulders and looked down. " I can not even look at you right now!" She suddenly screamed out, making Daryl jump. She hit him in the chest with both her fists, pushing him away from her hard.

" Layla, calm down." Daryl said as he tried to grab her wrists.

" Fuck you!" She yelled as she wrench away from him. " That's why you won't touch me anymore, isn't it! You think this baby isn't yours!"

" Layla!" He yelled. As she pounding into his chest over and over again. " Stop!"

" You're a dick, Daryl Dixon! You know that!" She yelled. Layla turned from him and stalked over to the door. When she reached it, she turned so they were facing each other. She had tears running down her face and he hadn't even known she had started crying. " When you decide to stop letting Merle control you, come and find me and you better make it fast because believe it or not, you're about to become a dad."

Then she turned and unlocked the door. As she walked out, Daryl wanted to go after her but he stayed rooted to his spot. He put his hands on his hips and stared at the door as she slammed it shut. Why the hell did he say that shit to her? Merle had said it to him but Daryl didn't believe it. He knew the baby was his, there was no doubt in his mind and he had said as much. He had watched her closely, before and after they started sleeping together. She hadn't liked Shane and had always kept her distance from him. Dale was her blood relation. She treated Glenn like he was a child and she hadn't shown T-Dog anything but friendship. That baby was his.

XXXXXX

Daryl had asked around and knew that she had went to Carol's room. She was locked up tight with Carol and Maggie and they had kicked T-Dog out of the room. Daryl spent the day, roaming around the prison. Rick and Hershel had tried to come to him but Daryl had all but growled at them. He had nothing to say and didn't want to hear anything.

Layla hadn't come down for lunch but Carol assured him that she was going to bring his mate something. By dinner time Daryl needed to see her. He quietly took the the plate Carol had made for her, and Carol's key, and went to the room. He didn't bother to knock on the door when he reached it. He knew his Layla. If he knocked and said it was him, she wouldn't let him in. Daryl took a deep breath before he opened the door.

His Layla. His Layla and his baby.

Layla was sitting in a chair by the window in Carol and T-Dog's room. She was staring out of the window with her hand rubbing her stomach when she heard the door open. She sighed hard but didn't look away from the window. She wasn't in the mood to eat but she knew the baby needed it. She missed a meal, so did the baby.

" I think I know what I'm having" She said. " I can't say why or how I know but I just feel it. Did you have that with Sophia?" She asked as she closed her eyes and sighed again. A plate was set down on the table a second before his scent went over her. Daryl watched as her lips parted and her hand stilled on her tummy. Slowly, Daryl sat down in the chair by her, never taking his eyes from her face. " What do you want, Daryl? You going to accuse me of fucking my uncle too?" She said when she opened her eyes.

" No." Daryl said. Layla swallowed then looked at him. His right knee was touching her left one.

" Then what do you want?" She asked in a flat tone. Daryl pushed the plate towards her.

" I'm...sorry." He said. Layla frowned and shook her head.

" For what?" She asked. Daryl cleared his throat and sat up straight as he looked away.

" For sayin that shit." He said.

" Look at me when you say it." She said, making him look back at her quickly.

" I'm sorry for sayin the baby ain't mine and sayin you were sluttin around." He said quietly. " I know the...bug, is mine." Layla sighed and shook her head again.

" I don't get it, Daryl. Why do you let Merle do that to you? Why do you let him treat you like shit? Why do you let him try and destroy things for you?" She asked. Daryl sat back and looked back out the window.

" Just used to it." He said quietly after a while. " After our Mama died when I was a teen, Merle and our Daddy was all I had. Merle, took care of me when our Daddy was too drunk. With our Pa gone, Merle is all the kin I have." Layla leaned forward and let her hand come to rest against his leg.

" Not anymore." She said. He looked back at her. " This baby is your new kin. Your blood is running through the bug's veins, right now. Our group cares about you. Carol and I were beside ourselves when you moved away from us. When you started to shut down, I still came to you, didn't I? Carol came and tried to talk to you. It wasn't because we didn't care. It wasn't all because I wanted to get laid. We were worried, we cared. You need to stop with him. You need to stop letting him control you. Merle pulls the strings with you and that has to stop. You are going to be a father, you are a father. You have to stand up to him."

Daryl nodded after a few minutes. Layla started to sit back. As her hand started to slip from him, Daryl's own hand shot out and grabbed her wrist. He pulled her towards him to make her touch him again. They stared hard at each other. She took a hold of his pant leg and he kept a strong grip on her wrist.

" I'm gonna try harder." He reassured her. Layla nodded.

" Okay." She said softly. " I need one more thing from you."

" What?" Daryl asked.

" We need to start having sex." Daryl's eyebrows went up as his hand tighten on her wrist. " I need it. I'm fine, I have been fine, and I'm tired of us not having sex. I'm done with it. I'm pregnant, my hormones are out of control and if you don't fuck me, I just might die." She finished up with a serious look on her face. Daryl nodded slowly.

" Guess we better go to our room then." He said, surprised at how her face lighten up.

XXXXXX

He was on his side, against her back as they laid in their bed. His left arm was straight out on the bed, under her neck. Her right leg was up and he was holding it by her inner thigh. He had it draped over his hip as he piston in and out of her. Her right arm was around his neck and she was pulling his hair. Daryl was sweating while she was moaning out. He was frowning with his teeth smashed together while his hips pumped harder than he had wanted them too but he was powerless to stop the movement. It felt too warm, too wet and too good to stop. She came in a hot, blinding mess, bring out his orgasm. Instead of his body freezing with it, he continued to thrust, drawing out the orgasm harder then ever for him. His tongue swiped across his bottom lap as he forced himself to breath. Her hand was opening and closing in his hair. Afterwards, he wondered to himself why he had held back from her, again. A sense of peace went over him and he felt like they would be okay.

And they were, for a week. During the day, they walked together, holding hands and talking quietly. She would grip his hand in hers and use her other hand to hold onto his arm. Daryl wasn't missing the snide comments Merle was muttering or the nasty looks he was sending their way, but he was choosing to ignore them. Layla didn't seem to notice them so Daryl was going to let it go. And he was trying his hardest to ignore the doubts Merle was creating in him.

At night, after dinner and after they went back to their room, Layla would sometimes take a bath. Daryl would wait at their bed, shifting his position back and forth because when he knew she was naked, he had a hard time not going to her. Sometimes he would wait until she came out, sometimes he would go into the bathroom and watch her. Neither way ended the same, with him losing himself inside her.

" So you really think that baby is yours?" Merle asked him during patrol one day. Daryl looked down to the yard from the prison. Layla was standing with Carol and Maggie.

" I know it is." He said.

" You know, it don't matter none if it is or not. What you think is gonna happen when it's born? You think it's gonna love you? You think that woman gonna love you?" Merle asked. Daryl's mouth tighten to hold back his answer. Merle patted his shoulder and leaned in close to Daryl. " Ain't no one gonna love you but me. Don't really matter what you think or what you want to happen." T-Dog came up to Layla and was smiling at her. He touched her stomach.

" She cares bout me." Daryl grunted in a low voice.

" Does she?" Merle asked why they watched her together. She was smiling down at her tummy while talking with T-Dog.

" She does." Daryl said.

" Does she know everything there is to know bout you?" Merle asked. Daryl's mouth formed a line, making Merle laugh. " She don't. Where the hell does she think you got those scars from?"

" She ain't ever asked." Daryl muttered.

" She ain't asked you? Well, you know why, don't you, dummy?" Merle asked. Daryl was staring at Layla as she looked up at T-Dog. " Because she pities you."

" She don't." Daryl said but his voice was uncertain. He knew she knew about them. They had had sex completely naked before. He hadn't wanted too but he had ripped his shirt off in the middle of it one time and she had almost cum just at the sight of him. She had touched his chest, raked her nails down it and his back but never knowledge his scars.

" Of course she does, why else would she not ask about them?" Merle said.

" Think she loves me." Daryl answered softly.

" Oh you do? And why's that? What is it about you to love? Nothing. She don't love you. She might love what your mouth and cock do for her but hell, I could eat her out and get that bitch off but that don't mean she loves me. She don't love you, she pities you." Merle wrapped his hand around Daryl's neck and pulled his little brother to him. " The only one who's ever gonna take care of you, is me. I'm the one who loves you, not her. If she wasn't popping out your kid, she'd leave your ass. Face it, Darylina, you ain't smart enough for her. You ain't good enough. If this was the world before the walkers, that bitch won't have looked your way. You pities you for your fucked up chest, she stays with you so you'll take care of that runt inside her. Best thing you can do if to leave her ass and come back to me. Let old Merle take care of you like I always have." He said.