AN: OK, here we go. A little update for those of you who wanted one. It's been a pretty long day here, and that's not always conducive to writing, but Sweet Junction has an odd way of making me feel better, even after a long day. Ha ha!
This one is not a Caryl centric chapter, either, but I promise there's plenty more of our favorite couple coming up! I'm going to try to get a chapter out for you tomorrow!
I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!
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Tyreese sat in one of the cracked booths at the Watering Hole with Merle across from him. He had only had one shot so far, but he knew that he was likely to have too many to drive the truck back tonight. The good news was that he was fairly confident that Loretta wasn't going to raise too much of a ruckus if he needed to leave it there and he could only hope that someone else would be willing to come and pick him up so that he didn't have to disturb the girls by asking Michonne to come and pick him up past their bedtime.
Merle was quite a few drinks ahead of him. If for most people drinking was a long distance marathon, for Merle Dixon it was a sprint.
"Ya lil' woman comin' ta get'cha?" Merle asked with a chuckle.
Tyreese shook his head. He wouldn't dare call Michonne after nine to pick up from drinking…especially not on a weekday. He was already considering the next day a vacation day for him. He wasn't accustomed to drinking and if he had to call in sick it may not be much of a stretch. At least he rarely called in and T-Dog was good at helping to manage things on any days that he couldn't come in for one reason or another. Tyreese wondered if Merle would take the day off too.
"I don't need the excitement of shaking Michonne up," Tyreese said. She didn't mind if he drank…at least not really…but she would probably frown on his company at the very least.
"Ya somethin' else…" Merle said, shaking his head a little.
"What happened between you and Andrea?" Tyreese asked. He waved down Loretta who offered him a broad smile from across the bar and held her hand up to indicate that she'd be bringing more drinks for them within the minute.
Merle chuckled and toyed with one of the empty shot glasses that polluted his side of the table. Tyreese hoped that Loretta at least brought them a bottle to cut down on the number of glasses if nothing else.
"Weren't nothin' between us that could happen," Merle said. "I ain't like you…like Daryl…ain't lookin' for no lil' woman an' no instant made family."
Tyreese chuckled and nodded his head.
"I know you're not like me," Tyreese said. "I can't speak too much for Daryl…but I could have sworn that there was something there between you and Andrea. You lived together for a little while there."
"Bitch was shackin' up at my place…ain't meant nothin'," Merle said. "Good damn thing she's gone…tell the truth…she was startin' ta think she had the right ta act like she's my ole woman or somethin'."
"Mmm…" Tyreese responded. He paused a moment to thank Loretta when she brought them a bottle of whiskey and took away the unnecessary shot glasses littering the table. When she was gone he turned back to Merle. "No…I could see how a man like yourself wouldn't want anyone acting like his 'old woman'."
Tyreese wondered if Merle was too far gone to catch his sarcasm. Merle poured himself another drink, tossed it back, and looked at him sideways.
"I reckon you just eat up the damn idea yaself," Merle said.
Tyreese leaned to the side and burrowed in his pocket, coming up with the felt box that he'd been carrying around for the better part of two weeks as he thought time and time again about what might be the perfect way to go about asking Michonne to marry him. He cracked it open and showed it to Merle.
"I do…actually," Tyreese said. "Unlike you, Merle, I don't relish holding onto my bachelor lifestyle. The life of microwave dinners and dirty socks…it's not as glamorous for me as it is for you. I found something I like…now I've just got to figure out the perfect way to ask her so she thinks I'm as good a prize as she is."
Merle reached over and took the box out of Tyreese's hand and looked at it a minute. He chuckled and handed it back to Tyreese. Tyreese closed the little felt box and buried it deep in his pocket again where it would stay hidden until he finally solved for himself the puzzle of when, where, and how that had been plaguing him.
"Ya fuckin' balls ta the wall with this shit, ain't'cha?" Merle asked.
Tyreese nodded and poured himself a shot. The thing about Merle was that he didn't bother Tyreese. He didn't bother him at all…at least not with all his talk of manhood or lack thereof. Tyreese had seen him do a number on a few men at work, but that wasn't something that Tyreese felt threatened by.
"Damn sure am," Tyreese responded, throwing back his own shot and smiling at Merle.
"Ya really willin' ta just turn yaself over ta that woman like that? Give up every last damn bit a' yaself?" Merle asked. He took another shot and Tyreese joined him, chuckling.
"See…that's how you see it. The way I see it, though, is that I'm not giving a single thing up. I'm gaining something." Tyreese took another shot for good measure and leaned back in the booth, starting to enjoy himself and enjoy the atmosphere…he was even starting to enjoy Merle's surly ass. "Hell," Tyreese said. "I still do everything I did before…it's just now I get to do it with Michonne…or with the girls."
Merle didn't say anything. Tyreese looked at him, amused. Had he actually succeeded in making the legendary Merle Dixon speechless?
"Let me ask you something…" Tyreese said.
Merle cocked an eyebrow at him, still silent. Tyreese wondered if the man didn't know how to keep up his constant battle if there was no one playing back with him. He wasn't getting the response that he needed so he didn't know how to continue…
"What is it exactly that I'm supposed to be so damn scared of when it comes to marrying Michonne?" Tyreese asked.
Merle scoffed as though he'd asked a stupid question, but there was a long pause before the man poured himself another shot.
"Walkin' ya ass right into a bear trap," Merle said.
Tyreese chuckled.
"If marriage is a trap, and I'm asking her to marry me…it's not a very good trap is it?" Tyreese asked.
"See if ya singin' the same damn tune when she's drivin' ya ass fuckin' insane," Merle said, tipping an empty glass in Tyreese's direction.
Tyreese smiled.
"She already drives me insane," Tyreese said. "I love it, though."
Merle eyed him and grunted. Tyreese glanced around the bar at the crowd that was there. This wasn't the kind of place that he could frequent regularly. It just wasn't his speed. He was already getting anxious, actually, to call this an evening…especially since Merle seemed less interested in their conversation now that he could clearly see he wasn't going to get a rise out of Tyreese.
Tyreese checked his watch under the edge of the table. He figured about thirty more minutes and it would be fair to say that he needed to call someone…probably T-Dog to pick him up. He'd offer Merle a ride to his place, but he figured the man might stay here and drink. Tyreese assumed that if you didn't have any quality company waiting at home, the bar might be just as appealing as the silence.
He chuckled a little to himself, wondering why it was that men like Merle Dixon insisted so much on hanging onto that silence.
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"So I looked up this Philip Blake character," Michonne said. She was sharing lunch with Carol over her desk.
Carol frowned. Part of her wanted to know all there was to know about Philip Blake. She wanted to know what kind of man he was, what had led him to take Ed's case, what were the chances that he would get anywhere with the case…she wanted to know literally everything about the situation. The other part of her wanted to take the ostrich approach and ignore the fact that the man even existed and that he was trying to get Ed out of prison.
"What did you find out?" Carol asked.
Michonne shrugged a little.
"He's got an impressive track record, unfortunately, and he's handled a lot of criminal cases. Apparently our Mr. Blake has no aversion to playing with rats," Michonne said.
"So you're saying that he's got a good chance with this?" Carol asked.
Michonne nodded a little.
"I'm saying he's not a fish out of water," Michonne said. "This isn't anything new to him. He's worked appeals cases quite a few times."
Carol shivered a little at the thought. If he'd gotten other people off…for other crimes…then probably there'd be no issue for him getting Ed off in a case where she knew that things had actually been done somewhat against the grain. It would be like shooting fish in a barrel.
"Any idea how long?" Carol asked.
Michonne raised an eyebrow at her.
"How long what?" She asked.
"Until Ed gets out," Carol clarified.
Michonne frowned and shook her head.
"Now let's not go assuming that Ed's getting out," Michonne said. "His case hasn't even come up yet. Even when it does come up it's not something that's going to be automatic. He's not walking in the very near future even if he doesn't do all his time."
"Why do lawyers work for men like Ed?" Carol asked. She'd racked her brain since Michonne had told her about Philip Blake and the case that he was bringing to trial. She saw a lot of the things that crossed Michonne's desk and her father's desk and she understood many of the cases that they took. Most of them were just basic, everyday court cases. Things that normal people couldn't handle on their own. There weren't any bad people really…just circumstances that maybe got a little out of hand if anything.
Michonne shrugged.
"Money, Carol. That's why they do what they do. Philip Blake will drain everything that Ed's got financially…you can pretty much bank on that. He might buy Ed some time outside and he might stop him from having to give the money to you, but the money's just going to Blake in this situation. He probably doesn't do it for any real love of what he does, but if you work 'undesirable' cases you can charge bigger bucks because nobody wants them…and the better your reputation, the more you can charge," Michonne responded.
"And if Ed gets out and he…well…let's just say that he attacks me again…is it worth it to Philip Blake?" Carol asked. "How much money are we talking?"
Carol could feel a little of the panic she'd been swallowing down like daily bread rising in her chest and she took a few deep breaths to settle it. Michonne's frown deepened across the desk where they had their picnic of food spread out.
"Don't think like that, Carol," Michonne said. "It's not doing anyone any good for you to think like that. I don't know how much money it is, but people like Blake…the people willing to take the dirty cases for the dirty money…they don't think about anything else. They don't…well I hate to say anyone doesn't have any morals or ethics…but that's essentially what it boils down to. For Philip Blake it's nothing more than a paycheck and you and Ed both are nothing more than names on paper. It sucks, but there it is."
Carol nodded a little.
"So that's just it? There's nothing that we can do to counteract this? Nothing to make sure that Ed stays where he is?" Carol asked.
Michonne shook her head.
"This case doesn't have anything to do with you…at least not directly. Blake might make it about you, but that remains to be seen. This case is between Ed and the state of Georgia. There's nothing that anyone can do about it," Michonne said.
"Do you think Blake is going to drag me into it? I mean…am I supposed to be doing something…or not doing something? Is there anything that I can do to make this harder or easier?" Carol asked.
Michonne shrugged.
"Try making this easier on yourself and quit worrying about it," Michonne said. "I'm going to set up a little dinner date with Mr. Blake…I'm going to invite him to Daddy's as a sort of 'welcome to the neighborhood'…then I'm going to see if I can't get him to have lunch with me or something once he thinks I'm not digging for information. I want to see if he'll dare to talk about the case any. Maybe I can get a feel for his angle if he's loose lipped enough."
Carol sighed and Michonne smiled at her. It was Michonne's best attempt at a soft, comforting smile given the situation and given that Carol could tell that Michonne, despite her best efforts to pretend otherwise, was at least a little concerned about the case.
"Carol…this really isn't about you. I don't think that there's anything that you can do now to change anything that Blake may or may not use to Ed's benefit. If he's a decent lawyer, and his track record shows that he is, he's already got most of the shit that he's going to pull out of his magician's bag of tricks. You just keep living your life and don't worry about it. What's going to happen is going to happen and those are bridges that we'll cross when we get there," Michonne said.
Carol nodded her head a little at Michonne and picked at her food.
"Hey…" Michonne said. Carol looked at her. "Let's change the subject."
"Good idea," Carol said.
"Tyreese has been trying to chip away at the stone mountain that is Daryl's brother," Michonne said. "I told him that it's not worth it. I don't think there's any getting through his bullshit."
Carol shrugged a little.
"I don't know if there is or there isn't. Daryl's been avoiding him and I haven't been pushing him in Merle's direction," Carol said. "Merle's not good for Daryl and Daryl doesn't like what he does to him."
"There's credit to be had for Daryl that at least he sees that," Michonne said. "And he's doing something about it. That's admirable."
"It is," Carol said. "I can see it eats at Daryl too, though, that he's not around his brother. I think he's torn somewhere between feeling like he needs to do what's best for him…what's best for us…and feeling this loyalty to Merle. I think he feels like he's letting him down."
Michonne nodded her head a little.
"Maybe so…" Michonne said. "I don't know what to tell you…except make sure you're there for him. If he and Merle have always been there for each other, then it probably is rocky not to be together…make sure he knows you're there for him."
Carol scoffed at Michonne.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Carol said. "I'm there for Daryl when he needs me…I have to be careful how much I try to pull out of him when he's not ready to offer it. That's the quickest way I've learned to get Daryl to draw up into himself like some kind of emotional turtle."
Michonne shrugged.
"That's the best you can do, then. How's Andrea handling the whole Merle thing?" Michonne asked.
Carol shrugged.
"She doesn't ever say much about it," Carol said. "She seems to be handling it fine…I mean she's not some big ball of emotion. Then again it's not like Merle could have ever been accused of being warm and fuzzy."
"A teddy bear he's not," Michonne said.
"Truth is," Carol said. "There's this neighbor we've got. His name is Axel. He seems like a real sweetheart…a little on the simple side, maybe…but sweet nonetheless. I've noticed that the past couple of days he's made it a habit to linger a little when he passes the house and when Andrea's home I can't help but notice that she's made it habit to happen to let Lincoln outside when he's lingering near the fence. I'm kind of wondering if they might end up eventually working up to something."
"You think he's Andrea's speed?" Michonne asked.
Carol wasn't really sure what Andrea's speed was. She knew that the woman didn't want the same things out of life that she wanted. Andrea made it pretty clear that she wasn't nuts about the idea of children. She didn't seem opposed, at least not entirely, to the idea of marriage, but she wasn't just hell bent and determined to get married.
The truth was that Carol believed Andrea could have been happy with Merle, just like he was, if only he were able to admit that there was something there. It wasn't so much that she was looking for any big firework shows from the man, as much as she was searching, it seemed, for some confirmation. It was really something so small in the scheme of things, but it was something that Merle didn't seem willing to do.
Given that information, who could really say what Andrea's speed was? Furthermore, Carol wasn't sure what Axel's speed really was either. He had a small little house like hers and he shared it with an oversized Chihuahua that grunted when she walked. Who could say what he expected out of life, if he even had any expectations.
"I don't know if he's her speed or not," Carol admitted. "I don't know what Andrea really wants…I'm not even sure that she knows exactly. I think he might be a nice change of pace, though, if she gives him a go. If it works, great. If it doesn't, she hasn't really lost anything."
"So do you think they'll give it a go on their own?" Michonne asked. "Or is this operation intervention?"
Carol laughed.
"You love to meddle, don't you?" Carol asked, teasing her friend.
Michonne smiled softly, cocking one eyebrow at Carol.
"Some would call it meddling," Michonne said. "I prefer to think of it as assisting the directionally challenged. They're not sure where they should go…I am…so I help them get to the right place. Call it what you like."
Carol smiled and shook her head.
"I don't know…I think they might get there on their own," Carol said. "I've been considering trying to catch him one day before Andrea gets off work, though…maybe mention that she's recently single. Kind of give him the green light if he's not sure if he should ask her or not…"
"Now who's meddling?" Michonne asked with a smirk.
Carol smiled and shrugged, her concern over Ed and Philip Blake momentarily forgotten in the somewhat exciting thought of helping a friend find something good in their life.
"It's for a good cause…" Carol said.