Ch. 3
Thanks so much for the response to the last chapter!
I think we're all a little tightly strung right now, so I hope this update helps a some :)
Unedited.
"Where've y'all been?" Rick asked as he pulled open the gate for them.
"Around," Merle answered and slung his arm over Daryl's shoulder.
Daryl squinted up at Rick and watched as he looked between them. "Are y'all drunk?"
Merle laughed, "I ain't. He is." Daryl pushed his brother off of him and tried to walk in a straight line back to the cellblock. He wasn't bad off, but an empty stomach and half a bottle of whiskey didn't mix. "We went to the meetin' place with a bunch of dead ones. We'll have until tomorrow, I imagine."
"I can't believe y'all. Beth told me y'all would go there, and I told her she was overreactin', but she knew. Wanna explain that to me and Hershel?"
Daryl turned his head a little to look at Rick who was glaring down Merle. He held his hands up. "Oh no, no, no, Officer Friendly. It ain't me."
His gaze whipped around to Daryl who shrugged. "I've been helpin' her with some shit," he said and kept on walking.
He needed to get away from everyone for just a little while, and then prepare for what was coming up. They had bigger problems to worry about than Beth and him.
"Ya really think I'd go after her?" Merle asked with a snort. "Anyone with fuckin' eyes can see how those two stare at each other when they think no one's lookin'."
Rick stopped and turned around to face him fully. "Whatdaya mean?"
Since he had been back in this prison, Merle noticed that everyone seemed to have on blinders when it came to everyone else.
The moment he got to the prison with Daryl and things had settled down a little, he saw how Beth looked at his brother, how she always tried to talk to him or seek him out. A few days after they showed up, Daryl started spending a good bit of time around Beth, and they were both gone at the same time a whole lot.
At first, he thought his brother had been nailing the farmer's daughter, but he quickly found out that it was all innocent. Then when he went to her cell, hoping to catch his brother in there with her, he just found her and her kind smile with a mouthful of unwanted advice.
"It ain't nothin' yet," Merle said and shrugged. "And if it was, it ain't no one's business but theirs."
"I trust Daryl," Rick said with a nod. "If somethin's goin' on, it ain't 'cause he's forcin' it. Hell, if she manages to get him to do anythin', I'd be surprised."
They stood there for a several seconds before Merle said, "They just need a little push."
"Ya should leave it alone," Rick said and turned back to the prison. "We got other stuff to worry about right now."
"There's always a reason not to do somethin'," Merle said and continued on, thinking of different ways he could get things started between his brother and the blonde princess.
"Go away," she said when he stepped into her cell. She was sharpening her knife, well, it had been his brother's knife, but now it stayed on her hip. No one else noticed, or at least, they didn't mention it.
"Well, hello to you, too, sunshine," he said sarcastically and sat down on her bottom bunk. "Where's the baby?"
"Carol's got her," she said and sheathed her knife before turning in her chair to face him. "What do ya want?"
Merle shrugged and touched the construction paper ladybug on her wall. "Ya wanna bone my brother, ya should really redecorate. A man likes to know he's with a woman, and you're room screams little girl."
Beth flushed bright red and slapped his hand away from her wall. "Those are for Judith, ya asshole. And I don't wanna bone your brother. Who even says that?"
"Ya wanna jump his dick," he said easily and watched her eyes widened.
"Get out, Merle," she said and pointed to the cell door.
"Just tellin' ya, he ain't gonna make the first move. Ya want him? You're gonna have to be the one to do the work." He said and stood up, walking to a little garden gnome on the corner of her desk. "This shit's just weird, Greene."
Her heard her huff behind him as he eased out of her cell and toward the ledge that overlooked the bottom level of the cellblock. Everyone was running all over, preparing for their great ambush plan, and he was walking around the prison like he wasn't supposed to be there at all.
No one really paid him any attention, so he sat down on the stairs and watched them scurrying around like little ants.
"You've got one good hand and two good legs," Carol said from behind him.
"Got somethin' else that works, too, if you're interested," he said with a smirk.
"I'll pass," she said and sat down beside him. "If ya could help pack up some stuff or move some pallets, that'd be good, though. Everyone here is doin' somethin', and you're here now, so it's your turn to put forth some effort."
"I just made sure we had some extra time to prepare, woman."
"And get buzzed and get your brother, who hasn't had a drink in over a year, drunk. Ya've reached your quota for stupid shit today, Merle Dixon. It's time to be productive."
She stood up, and he followed after her, not really knowing the reason why. She was feisty and busted his balls when no one else would. He liked Carol. She was a good woman, but he knew that from before.
And so, he spent his afternoon, carrying pallets, barring doors, creating the perfect trap for the Governor's men, when he normally would have sat on the stairs and watched as the day passed, and he blended into the background.
The plan went off without a hitch.
That was lie. They were one guard tower short now.
The Governor, and what was left of his men, had run off, but based on what they had found after they followed them, it was pretty clear that he wasn't going back to Woodbury.
They bussed back the remaining Woodbury residents along with all the food in about two days, and once everyone was settled a little, him and Daryl went with Michonne to hunt the Governor.
After the trail went cold, Daryl and him stopped. She had revenge written all over her, though, and there wasn't a damn thing in the world that would stop Michonne from getting it and making him suffer for what he had done to Andrea.
Merle spent a good portion of the next week watching the new residents and getting a feel for them. Most of them were older, but there were some families with smaller kids, too. A few teenage boys that had managed to get out of the attack by playing sick or actually working the wall at Woodbury. They pledged their loyalty to Rick the moment he showed them what their leader had done.
Even though he understood the need to look to someone for guidance, but he had never been good about following. It was like there was a switch flipped inside his brain that always made him go the opposite way he was told. He didn't understand it, but he never questioned the compulsion either.
To kill time, he worked on fortifying the fences with the others and watching Daryl side-step Beth. It got downright funny to watch his brother tuck-tail and walk the opposite direction when the youngest Greene started their way.
When he got tired of all the dancing around, he caught his brother by the arm and said, "Quit bein' such a pussy. Ya gotta girl droolin' after ya, and you're gonna let one of those Woodbury boys take a shot at her."
Merle watched as Daryl clenched his fists. "Why do ya care so much anyway?"
"Ain't got nothin' else to do."
Daryl huffed and walked further down the fence, hitting his shoulder against Merle's as he passed him. They worked hard for few minutes before one of the other men along the fence whistled under his breath and caught nearly everyone's attention.
Merle turned his head to see what him and the other Woodbury boys were looking at, and caught the shine of blonde hair as Beth walked across the open prison yard, carrying Judith toward where her father sat.
"She's hot," one man said, only to get punched in the shoulder by another guy around Beth's age.
"Nah, she's beautiful," the kid said and stared her down with puppy dog eyes.
Merle snorted and turned back to work, only to see Daryl staring at the kid who was mooning over Beth.
"I wonder if she's with anybody," he said and leaned against his piece of rebar.
"Wouldn't hurt to ask," Merle said with a shrug. The kid looked over at him and grinned. He felt a little twinge of guilt for a brief second before it vanished as Daryl stomped off toward the cellblock.
The kid went back to work, but Merle kept his eye on Daryl and how Beth handed off Judith and followed after him.
"Boys, y'all kept the fences safe for a minute. I gotta check some shit out."
No one questioned him. They never would. He chuckled to himself, waving his knife hand over his shoulder at them as he took off.
Inside the prison, he quietly walked down to Beth's cell. He got right next to it before he caught heated whispers, and he peeked around the edge of the wall.
As soon as he did, Beth wrapped her arms around his brother's neck and kissed him a whole lot harder than he ever though she could.
Daryl stood frozen in place for about two seconds before he kicked himself into gear and started kissing her back, pushing her back toward the desk.
"Who'd've thought ya were a peepin' Tom?"
Merle jumped and almost tripped over his own feet trying to straighten up. Immediately, he motioned for Carol to follow him so they wouldn't mess up what was going on in Beth's cell.
Once they were a good distance away, Carol nudged his side. "So, why were ya bein' sneaky?"
Merle shrugged. "Been tryin' to set 'em up since we got back. My brother's got a thick fuckin' skull, though."
"You played matchmaker?" She asked, her face bunched up in confusion.
"Fuck no," he said and looked away.
Carol laughed and it made him want to smile, but he held it back.
"Who'd've thought." She reached and grabbed his forearm, squeezing once before letting go. "That was a good thing you did there."
He grunted and went back to work along the fence, trying to ignore the weird ache he felt in the middle of his chest.