Chapter 7

As they drove to the pharmacy she'd been taken from Cassie found herself actually warming to Merle. When he wasn't trying to live up to his reputation as an asshole he wasn't a bad man. He obviously cared for his brother, despite all his teasing and abruptness towards him when they were together. He seemed genuinely concerned that she didn't get hurt when they finally arrived at the groups farm, telling her to stay back and let him scout ahead. He returned to her hiding place and told her there was only one car parked outside, a large Cadillac.

"That sounds like Michael's car" she told him "He was the leader. It was that trunk we were forced into." She saw Merle look across at her and waited for the crude comment about being squashed together in a tight space. To her surprise it didn't come.

"You ready to go?" he asked "Got your gun all sorted, safety off, fully loaded?" She nodded

"I'm ready"

They ran to the back door of the farm and Merle pulled it open quietly. There was no one in the kitchen and they slipped in closing the door behind them. They moved into the hallway and saw a sleepy man, supposedly on watch. It didn't take much for Merle to grab him in a choke hold and drag him back to the kitchen.

"How many of you left? Where are they?" Cassie demanded, her gun against the man's head.

"Most of us didn't make it back from the farm, there's only me and Ed, plus Michael and Becca" he stammered "They're in the bedrooms upstairs" Cassie lowered her gun and exchanged a look with Merle, he gave her a tight lipped smiled and she turned away. As she left the kitchen she heard a small cry and the sound of a body being lowered to the floor. Merle was at her side a second later, wiping the blood from his blade, no remorse on his face for killing the man.

"Come on" he told her as they headed upstairs. In the first room they checked they found Ed, asleep in the bed. It didn't take long for Merle to plunge the blade into his jaw, angling it upwards to prevent him from reanimating, while Cassie held a pillow over his face to mask any sounds he made. They moved to the next room. It was Becca and she was awake when they opened the door. She saw Cassie and leapt from the bed, launching herself at the smaller woman, screaming her brother's name, trying to warn him.

"Go" Cassie ordered Merle "I got this, you kill Michael. He's the one that hurt Daryl the most." She lashed out as Becca tried to hit her, knocking the furious woman back. Merle ran from the room, heading for the last closed door upstairs, reaching for the handle just as it flew open. He found himself face to face with a tall man with greying hair and an annoying smirk on his face.

He managed to land a satisfying punch in the man's face before he struck back and the two of them began a vicious fight.

Cassie had pinned Becca to the ground and was landing blow after blow on her when Merle sauntered into the room. He leant on the door post watching the two women.

"Don't mind me" he smirked at Cassie "Can't beat a good old fashioned cat fight"

"Did you kill him?" Cassie asked between blows

"Course I did." Merle lit a cigarette and carried on watching "Choked the last breathe out of him, but figured I'd let him turn. Scum like that don't deserve an easy way out"

Becca let out a howl of anguish and managed to throw Cassie off her. She lunged at Merle and he laughed out loud as he easily caught her wrists. He twisted her round and threw her towards Cassie. At the last second she dived sideways toward a chair next to her bed. She grabbed a knife from the clothes piled there and lunged at Cassie, brandishing the blade. Cassie caught her hand and forced it back, the knife hovering near her face. She bought her knee up and rammed it into Becca's gut causing the woman to fold in half, losing her grip on the weapon. Cassie kicked her legs out from under her and she fell face down. Coldly Cassie dropped down, one knee on the floor at the side of Becca the other in the small of her back, holding her in place. She gripped the struggling woman's hair, forcing her to keep her head still.

"You and your sick brother won't hurt anyone else" She told her as she rammed the knife into the back of Becca's neck, forcing the blade upwards, driving it deep into her brain.

She left the knife embedded and stood up, wiping Becca's blood from her hands. She turned to Merle, who was watching her, an impressed look on his face.

"You're tougher than you look" he told her "Glad you're on my side"

She strode past him.

"I think we're done here. It's time to go home"

Merle shook his head as he stubbed out his cigarette.

"Damn PMS" he muttered as he followed her outside.

When they arrived back at the prison they were meet by an annoyed Rick , a relieved Glenn and a furious Daryl.

"The hell you doin', asshole?" he yelled at his brother "Takin' her back there like that. You tryin to get her killed?" Merle just grinned at him, throwing his arm round Cassie's shoulder. He was back in full asshole mode.

"Why you so upset, little bro, you jealous ol' Merle got some alone time with that sweet little thing?" Daryl took a swing at Merle, who caught his hand before the blow could land and pushed him away.

"Don't you go raising your hand to me again or you're gonna regret it" he snarled, joking tone gone as the brothers glared at each other. Daryl turned away, then suddenly span round and landed a punch to Merle's jaw. Merle punched back and suddenly the two brothers were involved in a fist fight. Rick stepped in and tried to pull Merle off, while Glenn reluctantly tried to hold Daryl back. Both men pulled free easily. Before the fight could start up again Cassie slipped between them, holding them apart.

"Stop acting like kids in the playground" she shouted "You're brothers for God's sake, meant to be there for each other" Both lowered their fists and stepped back. Merle flashed her a grin

"Have to say, girl, you got bigger balls than most of the men here" he laughed. "Aint many that'd step in the middle of a Dixon fight. Lucky I like you and don't wanna see you hurt." He turned away from everybody and sauntered from the cell block.

Daryl glared after him, then stepped back from Cassie. He stared at her for a few seconds then stalked away from her, heading outside.

"Are you okay?" Carol hurried over to her, concern all over her face. She noticed Cassie's hands, saw her bloodied knuckles and gasped.

"How did you do that?" she asked grabbing her hands.

"I met up with the woman that hurt us. She won't hurt anyone now" she said coldly, trying to pull her hands away. Carol gripped them tighter, pulling her to a chair.

"I'm not going to ask anymore but let me clean those cuts up, you don't want to risk an infection"

Cassie let her patch up her hands, cleaning them and bandaging them then set off to look for Daryl.

She found him on one of the walkways outside. He was staring through the wire, eyes searching the nearby tree line. He didn't turn when she approached him.

"What was all that about?" she asked, referring to the fight, He shrugged, still not looking at her.

"Don't just shrug your shoulders at me, what's going on?" She snapped and he finally turned to face her.

"Merle's an ass. He does crazy things all the time, expect that from him." he looked at the ground "Just thought you was smarter than that. Two of you goin' there on yer own was dumb"

She frowned at him "We were careful. Merle checked it out before we went in and we were quiet. I wouldn't have done it if it wasn't safe. Merle looked after me, he made sure I was okay" She stepped closer to him. "I had to do it, I couldn't let them get away with what they did to us… to you. What they would do to anyone else they got their hands on"

He glanced up at her briefly, before looking out to the trees again.

"Didn't get you out of that place so you could go running straight back" he mumbled.

"I can take care of myself" she told him "Why are you so bothered if I'm safe or not?"

"Don't wanna see you get hurt" he confessed quietly. She smiled slightly and moved even closer, reaching a hand out to his shoulder.

"It's nice you worry, but you don't need to. I've looked after myself for a long time" she ran her thumb along his jaw. He turned and faced her fully.

"Maybe I wanna worry 'bout you" Hesitantly he reached up and touched her cheek, his fingers moving to the back of her neck. When she didn't pull away he pulled her closer and her other hand slipped round him, sliding up his back to his neck, her fingers tangling in his hair. As they moved closer the door crashed open and an amused voice yelled out.

"Bout time you worked out what yer balls were for". They jumped apart and Cassie turned quickly, slipping past Merle, back into the prison. She heard Daryl's cursing and Merle's mocking laughter as the door closed behind her.

None of them realised that Merle wasn't the only one to see the near kiss.