Man, even when I'm not updating regularly, you guys are amazing! Thanks for all the comments and favorites! Been a long dry spell but with the season finale just days away, we're gonna have to fill in our Daryl habit with fan fiction until they return for Season III!

Chapter 12

"You gotta' lotta' fuckin' nerve accusin' me a' shit, ya' know that, lil' Brother?"

Daryl shook his head. "I ain't accusin' ya' a' nuthin', I'm just askin' ya' if ya' found anythin' when ya' were goin' through those bags today."

"Didn't find shit, 'cept some booze. Now get off my dick 'bout it."

"I ain't on yer' dick. Bein' damn defensive for somebody who didn't find' nothin'."

"Fuck you. Last I looked, this was a free country. If I wanna' get high, I'll get high all fuckin' day long, ain't you 'r nobody else gonna' stop me."

"Tell that to tha' walker what eats yer' sorry ass when yer' stoned outta' yer mind. Those was the rules when ya' came here. No gettin' high. It's too fuckin' dangerous."

"Or what?" the heavier man said. "Whatchoo' gonna' do, kick me out? After yer' lil' convict girlfriend went ta' all that trouble ta' find me 'n get those other fucks ta' let me stay?"

"Shut up, Merle, 'n leave her outta' this." Daryl was starting to get red.

"Oh, she's in this, Motherfucker, she's in this up ta' her neck. So ya' better both just leave me tha' hell alone 'r yer' gonna be fuckin' sorry. Now get outta' my face." Merle barked and crushed the beer can, throwing it into the bed of the truck unceremoniously and stomping off.

XXXXX

Aliya dried her hands on the dishtowel and turned around, resting back against the sink. She looked at Daryl, eyebrows raised.

"Yeah. He was." Daryl said, looking down at his beer.

"Damn it." she whispered. She moved to the table and sat opposite him. "Did he say what?"

"Denied it but I could tell. Christ, look at his eyeballs."

Aliya nodded her head. "Now what?" she said quietly, looking at Daryl, eyes wide.

"Wait it out. See what he does. I don't think it's crystal, that'd be too hard ta' come by nowadays. If it's oxy or smack, he may not be as much trouble."

"Until he runs out."

Daryl snorted. "Yeah. Then tha' shit'll hit tha' fan."

"Jesus. This could blow everything sky high. What the fuck did I do?"

"You didn't do nothin'. Merle's always been like this."

"But I brought him back here."

"'S where he belongs. With us." Daryl said, rubbing his temples.

Aliya had her head cocked sideways. She and Daryl hadn't really talked about there being an "us." They avoided the subject pretty much altogether. She knew that she had serious feelings for Daryl, but that was the extent of it. She didn't want to talk about it, didn't want to label it. She just wanted it to be what it was, no complications...and she sure damn didn't want to do or say anything to make Daryl feel pressured.

"I don't think the others are real happy with him being here." she said. "They'll be looking for a reason to send him away."

"Fine. Then we'll all find someplace of our own." he shrugged. "Fuck them."

"What?" Aliya was dumbfounded. "The three of us?"

"You wouldn't go?" Daryl looked at her, his blue eyes burning into her.

"Of course I would. I just didn't..." she bit her lip. "I guess I didn't know where things stood." she said, fidgeting with the hem of her t-shirt.

"'Tha' fuck ya' think they stand?" Daryl said, leaning towards her.

"I just didn't know you...uhm, that we were...ahh, shit. I didn't know you felt that way."

"Duh." he said, standing up, his chair scraping the floor. He walked out of the kitchen and down the stairs to the basement, his boots making muffled thumping noises on the stairs as Aliya's heart stopped for a second.

XXXXX

Aliya looked at the red-rimmed eyes and the murky complexion. The stubble was about three days-worth and Merle's clothes were as rumpled as the rest of him. He was about half-conscious, slumped in the easy chair in the room in the basement he shared with Daryl.

"Dipshit good ta' ya'?" he mumbled.

"Dipshit is very good to me, thank you for asking. Why?"

"Cos." he burped loudly. "If he ain't, I'm a' gonna' kick his ass 'till kingdom comes."

"Well, thanks for the concern, but I don't think you could even find your own ass right now, Merle. What'd ya' take?"

"Nothin'. Just nat'chur'ly mellow."

"Right, and I'm a six-foot tall black Jesus with a halo." Aliya threw a blanket around Merle's shoulders. "Sweetie, I'm worried about you. I know you found some shit at the airport and you been using ever since. Please, Merle. Just tell me what it is so Daryl and I know what to do when you run out."

"Why ya' so nice ta' me?"

"I'm nice to everybody." Aliya started to take off Merle's boots. "Come on, tell Aliya what you got stashed. I won't touch it, I just need to know how to help."

"I can fuckin' take care a' myself." he said, his voice low, his words run-together. "Don't need nobody."

"You may not need anybody but you sure seem to need that shit you been taking. Come on, Merle. Oxy? Vicodin? Tell me, Honey. You know I won't get into it. Daddy would slap me from the grave if I even thought about it."

"Mmm. Promise?"

"Felon's honor." Aliya raised her hand to her heart.

Merle let out a high little giggle. "Tha'ss right. You're Daryl's little jailbird. Hmmm." he said, almost nodding off. "Tweeeet tweeeet." he said in a sing-song voice, smiling sweetly. "Oxy. Big bag. Set fer' a whole month at least."

"Nothin' else, Sug?" she purred, trying to lead him to tell her more.

"Naaaaw. Nothin' else." Merle was starting to snore by the time he finished his sentence.

XXXX

"Four boxes of 9 mms'...box and a half of .44's,...34 slugs for the Mossberg,...couple-three boxes of .22's for the rifles." Shane took an out-loud inventory of the ammo situation for the rest of the group. "Plus whatever we got on each of us."

Aliya shook her head at Daryl, who was frowning as well. "How did we get so low?" she said. "This is way too low for my comfort level."

Daryl looked up at her from under his brow. "Know anywhere close?"

"We already got everything we could find." T-Dog shook his head.

Aliya looked at Daryl and then at Shane and T-Dog. "Maybe." Lemme do some checking."

"What, you gonna Google it?" T-Dog teased.

"No, silly, I'm gonna look in the damn phone book!" she grinned. Aliya walked to the cabinet, pulled a telephone book from the drawer and thumbed through the pages. She knew that in the panic of the first days of the outbreak, gun and sporting goods stores in the big towns would have been hit hardest by looters. Out here, though, out away from metro Atlanta, things might not have gotten so crazy and people may have just closed up shop. Hunkered down, as they called it in the South. She found half a page of firearms dealers, gun repair shops and better yet "prepper suppliers."

She loved the preppers. Bless their hearts, they had been waiting and preparing for Armageddon and they had all the right stuff. Weapons, food, water, power supplies, vehicles. Most of them, though, were expecting economic collapses, polar shifts, or other kinds of stuff. But not walkers, definitely not. Many of them went the way of their neighbors-realizing too late how this thing worked, getting bit, biting others and everyone turning. Hopefully the group would be able to scrounge enough ammo from these places to make them all feel comfortable again. Maybe some weapons and other stuff, if they were lucky.

"I'm going to make a list of places that are close and then we can do some more planning." she said, taking the phone book and sitting down to a tablet at the table. She pulled a pencil out of her twisted up hair and began writing down addresses with Shane looking over her shoulder.

She looked up once to see Daryl glowering at her. She narrowed her eyes imperceptibly and shot him a look that he immediately understood. She was real clear. He was being stupid. He knew she didn't trust Shane either, but still, it was hard to see him breathing down her neck. The well-muscled man stood up a little straighter and erased the frown. "Gonna check on Merle." he said, heading to the basement stairs. Aliya nodded and returned to studying the phone book.

XXXXX

Merle was slumped over in the easy chair in the office downstairs again, half out of it, the beer in his hand ready to tumble to the floor if his grip became any more loose than it was. The cigarette in the other hand had already burned a nice-size hole in the fabric f the armrest on the other side.

"God DAMN it, Merle!" Daryl yelled as he approached. "What the fuck? I gotta babysit ya' all tha' fuckin' time now?" He smacked the beer bottle and it clattered to the floor, it's remaining contents spilling on the tile and spreading outwards in a foamy circle. He grabbed the cigarette and slid it into an empty beer can on the tabletop.

Merle's head rose slowly and he started murmuring something barely intelligible. "What?" he slurred. "Whatsamatta' here, Baby Brother. I..."

his head fell again.

"MERLE!" Daryl yelled again and hit his brother hard in the upper arm with his fist.

"Damn it, Daryl, ya' don't gotta yell." he said, his words thick.

"Where is it?" Daryl said, his fists clenching.

"Where's whuuut?" Merle mocked.

"Yer' stash. Where is it?"

"Ain't got no stash. Go fuck 'yerself."

"I know ya' do, ya' told Aliya already, now where is it?" Daryl hissed. "Look at ya'. Yer' so outta' it ya' can't stand up."

"Leave me tha' fuck alone, I'm warnin' ya', son, just leave me alone." Merle tried to stand up but ended up falling back into the chair.

"You're fuckin' hopeless." Daryl said in a cold voice. "Bout as useful as tits on a boar. Nothin' but a god-damned addict. Plain 'n simple." He turned and walked to the desk in the room and began rummaging through drawers and searching for Merle's stash of pills. "Know it's here somewhere." he said to himself. "Fuckin' flush it when I find it."

"No, you won't." Aliya said quietly. She had walked in without Daryl hearing her and was standing in front of him before he knew it. "We need whatever's left. One of us gets hurt bad, a bunch of oxy could come in real handy. You find it, you give it to Dale. He'll keep it safe." she whispered.

"What 'choo two lovebirds whisperin' about over there?" Merle said in a sing-song voice. "I heeeaaaar youuuu."

"Shut up, Merle." Daryl growled.

XXXXX

"Hey, Sweet Thang." Merle oozed. "How 'bout you come on over here 'n sit next ta me. I won't bite, 'less ya' want me to."

Bridgette was sitting behind the garage on a blanket, smoking a one-hitter. She'd found the bag of marijuana and the pipe in a coat pocket when she'd gone through one of the suitcases from the airport. It was pretty good-sized bag and she'd been enjoying herself around this time almost every afternoon since she found it. Just seemed to mellow her out and give her something to look forward to during the day. She didn't see the need for sharing, she'd seen Aliya put quite a few things in her pocket: makeup, a pocket knife, no doubt for Daryl, condoms. It only seemed fair she got to keep some of what she'd found too.

Bridgette didn't budge, but she shot Merle a look that was more suggestive than threatening. "You stay away from me, Merle Dixon." she said unconvincingly.

"Aw, com'on Sugar, you don't gotta' be that way."

"What do you want?"

"Well, for starters, you could share whatcha' got there in 'yer pocket."

"No. Besides. You probably have your own stash." Bridgette looked at Merle wide-eyed as he sat down beside her.

"Maybe...maybe I do at that, Dollface." Bridgette scooted a little bit away from him. "You be nice to ol' Merle 'n maybe, jes' maybe I'll share."

Bridgette looked at the man with a fair amount of theatrics, her chin down, obvious pout on her lips. "What are you proposing?" she said.

"I ain't proposin' nothin', just that we could have a real good time if ya' wanted. Whatever your lil' heart desires, Sugar Tits" Merle scooted closer to Bridgette, his good hand between them, turning slightly to hid his missing one. "I ain't the Boogie man, I'm just...misunderstood."

"I hear you're a baaaad man. That I should be afraid of you. I shouldn't have anything to do with you." Bridgette leaned in towards Merle and ran a hand down the front of his shirt. "Are you as bad as that brother of yours?" she purred as her fingers traced circles on his stomach.

"Who, Daryl? He's a pussy-cat compared to me, Darlin'. I taught him everything he knows." Merle said, his hand now around Bridgette's upper arm. "How about we have a lil' party a' our own, right here, 'n ya' can decide fer' yerself just how bad I am."

Bridgette looked at Merle. The glassy, bloodshot, blue eyes were ringed with dark shadows underneath. He needed a shave, but nowadays, which of the guys didn't, she thought. She found that stubble too sexy to resist on Shane but now, on Merle, it was just unattractive. She could smell the beer on his breath and the Irish Spring soap he'd scrubbed with for his last shower. Merle was running his hand up and down her arm slowly. He was smiling a half-grin and staring at her in anticipation of her next move.

Bridgette crawled over his thickly-muscled thighs and sat on his lap, facing him, putting her arms around his shoulders. She leaned in close and kissed his stubbly neck as she ran a hand down to the front pocket of his sleeveless shirt. "Now, what do we have in this little baggie here?" she teased, withdrawing her fingers slowly to reveal a small baggie with a handful of white pills. She dangled the baggie between two fingers in front of his face. "Baby, you gotta share if you wanna' party with me." she said in a low, suggestive voice, batting her eyelashes.

"Well, be my guest, Precious." Merle smiled widely "Little mood enhancer never hurt nuthin'."

"Well, thanks, Hon." Bridgette said, pulling the baggie back quickly and depositing it down her shirt into her bra. "I'll give ya a call when I feel like that party, 'k? Bye now." She quickly hopped off the large man's lap and stood up, taking a couple steps back, making sure to clear his reach.

"Whaaaa-?" Merle stuttered and blinked. "Gimme that bag, ya' little bitch, that's mine." he said, clearing his throat and trying to reach for her leg with his one hand. "Get back here. We ain't...I ain't done yet."

"Oh, Merle, you are so done." Bridgette shook her head and turned quickly, picking up her feet and running back around to the house and leaving Merle standing now, more pissed and frustrated than bewildered.