AN: So here's another little chapter for you.
Admittedly, this one kind of started to fill a sort of request for EnglishPoet18 who needed a little more Merle/Andrea in her life. After I thought about it, though, it fit and it was something that needed to be explored and it was something that was ready to be explored in the story. So that's what I did. I'm not sure if it's what she had in mind exactly, LOL.
Anyway, this chapter is a Merle/Andrea chapter, but I promise, as always, our favorite couple is still there and will be back!
I hope you enjoy the chapter! Let me know what you think!
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Andrea could easily admit that her preparations for Carol and Daryl being out of town made it look less like she was an adult simply staying alone in her house for a few evenings and more like she was a young teenager whose parents were leaving her unsupervised for the first time, but she didn't care. She'd gone to the video store and rented several movies that she hadn't seen…mostly because they were either probably super corny or too scary and Carol wouldn't have wanted to watch them with her. She'd also swung by the A and P and was stocked up with enough junk food to feed to a slumber party packed with young girls…but it was only her and Lincoln that would be surfing on the couch.
Andrea rummaged through Carol's drawers and found her favorite oversized sweatpants that Carol had somehow laid claim to. She slipped them on, not even caring that she was walking around the house naked. She dug one of the t shirts out of her own laundry basket that she'd "borrowed" from Merle, and put on a pair of her favorite socks that had snowflakes on the bottom that were supposed to keep her from slipping as readily as she padded around the house.
She moved Lincoln's steps over to the side of the couch that she didn't want to inhabit, and that she hadn't already made into a nice spot with blankets and a pillow for herself, and drug one of the dining room chairs into the living room to serve her as a footrest.
All that settled, she put the popcorn in the microwave and paced impatiently, waiting on it to finish popping while Lincoln sat on the floor near her feet and watched her every move.
"Your furry ass better sleep with me tonight," Andrea said to the dog, not minding having a conversation with him when there was no one around to mention it. "That movie looks freaking scary and I'm not sleeping by myself."
Lincoln just looked at her…though it wasn't like she expected him to speak. He was in this for the treats, that's all there was to it. Andrea smiled at his droopy eyes watching her.
"Worst comes to worst and I'll dab peanut butter behind my ears," Andrea said. "Then you'll sleep with me."
When the microwave dinged, Andrea yanked the bag out and ran, almost, to the couch, thankful for the snowflakes on her socks that probably kept her from having to explain to a paramedic how she broke her neck.
Andrea settled into her nest quickly and Lincoln joined her shortly after, bounding up his steps and plopping down with his head on her leg. She slipped him a few pieces of popcorn and started the movie, hoping this wasn't something she was going to regret.
After a while of watching the movie, Andrea was out of popcorn. She was thirsty and wanted something else to eat, but she was far too into the movie to move…and she was a little afraid to move. She loved and hated scary movies all at the same time. They absolutely terrified her and made her as afraid of the dark as if she'd been six years old, but she loved the rush and the thrill of being scared too and she couldn't look away once she'd gotten started.
It would have all been fine, too, if Lincoln hadn't started acting strange. He'd lost interest in Andrea and the movie both when the popcorn had run out and she'd let him stick his head in the bag to investigate whether or not she was telling the truth about the status of "no more" that had come upon them. He'd fallen asleep with her absentmindedly petting him until all of a sudden.
Once he perked up, without warning, Andrea got a little jumpy. She hoped that something on the movie had startled him and he'd settle down, but that wasn't the case at all. The short legged hound woofed a couple of times before flying down his steps and running back and forth between the two most used doors in the house.
Andrea did the only thing that a person in her situation could do for a second. She pulled the blanket up and watched the dog, wide eyed.
Daryl and Carol certainly weren't supposed to be back and Axel was working third at the mill. There shouldn't be anyone outside and now she was cursing herself for watching fucking slasher movies alone.
Andrea kept trying to calm herself, but when Lincoln went to the door that led to the carport and started baying at it, she couldn't remain calm.
She remembered that Ed was out there somewhere and it wouldn't be too far of a jump to think the man had figured out where they lived. They lived in Sweet Junction, after all, and nothing was exactly a secret, even if you were well known for being a motherfucker.
Andrea got up, suddenly genuinely worried about the way the dog was acting. She heard something outside and she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she wasn't alone. If it had simply been her that heard the noises, she might have contributed it to nerves over the movie, but Lincoln hadn't even watched the damn thing.
Andrea eased down the dark hallway as quietly as she could and slipped into her bedroom, taking the gun from her nightstand that Rick had given her at their gun classes. She swallowed hard and checked to make sure it was loaded. Satisfied that it was, she slipped back into the main part of the house and to the heavy wooden door that was deadbolted and locked with a sliding chain.
Andrea held her breath and moved the chain with as little noise as she possibly could. She swallowed again and slowly turned the deadbolt, hoping to surprise Ed with a gun pointed at his face before he could figure out any way to surprise her.
Hearing the deadbolt click out of place, Andrea slid Lincoln with her foot and moved around. She quickly opened the wooden door and flung it back, bringing the gun up and saddling it in her hands the way that Rick had taught them.
She had it aimed squarely at her would be assailant who was standing at the door with the glass door propped against his back.
"Fuckin' hell!" Merle spat.
Andrea gasped but thankfully didn't pull the trigger. Merle reached up and pushed her hands so that the gun was no longer pointing at him and Andrea tried to get her breath.
"What the fuck ya tryin' ta kill me for?" Merle spat.
"What the fuck are you doing sneaking around my house in the middle of the damn night?" Andrea spat back.
"Was lookin' for the fuckin' extra key," Merle said. "Daryl said the shit was out here."
Andrea dropped one hand from the gun that she hadn't lowered yet, though it pointed away from Merle, and reached the hand around, dipping it inside the rim of a light fixture right by the door. She pulled it out, holding the extra key up and Merle smiled.
"Too damn obvious," Merle said, taking the key. He pushed past her and came inside, dropping the key on the counter. "Find a better fuckin' hidin' place or ever' damn crook an' son of a bitch in Sweet Junction's gonna break inta the fuckin' place."
Andrea put the gun down on the counter now and Merle moved it farther away from both of them. Andrea closed the wooden door again and slid the locks into place. They'd gotten into the habit of hardly ever leaving the doors unlocked simply because they all worried about the possible return of Ed at any given time and without any warning.
"I could have shot your ass," Andrea said.
"Tell me 'bout it," Merle responded. "An' here I was, comin' over here ta make sure ya was alright. Ya ought not be here by ya fuckin' self…ya know Ed Peletier's a crazy bastard. What would ya done if it was him an' not me?"
"I'd have shot him," Andrea responded, matter of factly.
Merle chuckled a little, casting a sideways glance at Andrea and she huffed. Her heart was racing from the entire event, but she didn't want to admit it.
"Well…now what?" Andrea asked. "You interrupted my movie."
Merle smiled at her, looking at her sideways. It was the damn little sly smile that she had to fight to ignore if she didn't want Merle invading her brain.
"Reckon since I'm here, an' since ya damn near killed me…I'ma stay a bit," Merle said. "Watcha fuckin' movie with ya."
Andrea wanted to protest. It wasn't so much that she really didn't like the idea of Merle staying to watch what was left of the movie…she'd actually appreciate some company for her poor movie selection choices…it was that it was Merle, and she was afraid that things would get out of control, namely out of her control, if she let him stay.
Andrea sighed.
"Fine," she said. She pointed her finger at him and narrowed her eyes, trying to make herself hold as much authority as possible. "We're watching the movie, though, and that's it. You can go home after it's over…and I'm not starting it over."
Merle chuckled and nodded his head a little, reaching up and closing his hand over the one that she had pointed at him.
For just a second he stood there, her hand in his, looking at the two of them like he didn't know what to do. Then the smile returned to his face and sucked his teeth a little.
"OK…don't get'cha panties twisted, sugah…" Merle drawled. "We'll watcha lil' chick flick…but I ain't goin' home tonight 'less ya goin' with me."
Andrea looked at him, raising an eyebrow.
"I'm not going anywhere," she responded.
"Well…" Merle responded. "Me either."
Andrea opened her mouth to protest, but Merle shushed her, smiling as he did so…that damn devilish smile that showed that he was already light years ahead of her in this argument.
"Ain't leavin' ya here alone," Merle said, shaking his head. "Came all the way 'cross fuckin' town ta make sure Ed Pel-e-tee-ay wasn't over here with his damn hands 'round ya fuckin' throat. Don't reckon I'm goin' no damn where."
Andrea huffed. She didn't have a response, so she simply didn't say anything. She went to the refrigerator and fished out the jug of tea that she'd made earlier, fixing them both drinks in silence, and she gathered up a couple of the bags of chips that she'd been craving since before Merle had shown up on the doorstep. She went back to the couch and Merle joined her, pushing Lincoln farther down to the no man's land portion of the couch and settling in next to her in the dark.
Andrea rewound the movie back to where she was before and tried to ignore that Merle was sitting beside her on the couch. It was the only possible way that she could keep herself from falling into some kind of Merle trap.
She also ignored when he slid his arm around the back of the couch and then settled it down on her shoulders in possibly the oldest move known to man. Instead, she focused her attention on the bag of chips like she hadn't eaten in days and tried to focus on whether or not the people in the television were intelligent enough to know that the killer is always right behind them.
Andrea shivered a little when she felt Merle's fingertips rubbing her ear. He had settled in close enough to her that they were huddled together and she could feel his warmth. She could smell him even over the oniony scent of the chips and her own breath. She wasn't paying the movie any damn attention anymore. Now her only focus was on figuring out what to do about the fact that she was sitting huddled with Merle on a couch in the dark.
Finally, Merle shifted a little and his hand slipped down behind her, dropping to her rib cage and pulling her into him a little. Andrea cleared her throat and moved the chips to the back of the couch, hoping that Lincoln wasn't going to take up mountain climbing and go after them if she stopped paying attention.
"What are you doing?" Andrea asked, turning a little toward Merle.
Merle's only response to the question was to bring his lips crashing against hers, his tongue invading her mouth. Andrea hated the electricity that shot through her when he did that. She hated that he had that effect on her with so damn little effort. She pulled out of the kiss, almost against her own will.
Merle chuckled.
"Damn girl," he said. "Taste like a fuckin' onion patch."
"It's asshole repellant," Andrea responded, realizing that she could smell her own breath and thinking that Merle Dixon was a desperate man if he tried to kiss her again.
And he did move in to kiss her again, but she turned her head quickly and he growled at her, his eyes shining in the light of the television set.
"What the fuck, Andrea?" Merle asked. "How fuckin' long ya gotta keep this shit up? Ain't not a damn soul in this fuckin' house but me an' you an' the damn stinkin' hound."
Andrea thought it was almost amusing that Merle didn't know how hard she had to fight this, or what she was fighting it for. The truth was that, at least some degree, she wasn't entirely sure what she was fighting it for.
"What do you want, Merle?" Andrea asked.
Merle chuckled a little and slipped his hand down to her thigh. He squeezed it a moment and then slid his hand between her legs, unashamedly brushing his fingers down the inside of her thigh until he rubbed against her. Andrea's breath caught in the throat when he rubbed her clit through the fabric.
"Ya know what I want…" Merle said, his voice low and gravelly. "An' ya want it too."
Andrea swallowed. Her head was spinning.
She let him kiss her again this time when he leaned in for it. She was caught off guard a second later when he pulled the scrunchie out of her hair and then dug his fingers into her curls, yanking her head back and licking her throat before she could protest any of the chain of actions.
"No…" Andrea said, almost feeling choked by the angle of her throat.
Merle stopped, but didn't let go of her hair that was holding her in the uncomfortable position.
"Don't pull my hair," Andrea struggled to get out. Merle let go of her hair and she straightened her head, locking her eyes on him. "I want something different," she said.
Merle scratched at his lower lip with his teeth.
"Hell," he said after a second. He looked at her and chuckled slightly. "Somethin' different for you, sugah? They ain't enough damn shit in the book."
Andrea ignored the front put on as a defense mechanism. She swallowed, maintaining eye contact with him even though she could see that it was making him a little uncomfortable.
"If you want to do this…" Andrea said. She paused. "If we're going to do this…then I want something different."
Merle looked at her now, all amusement having left his face.
"What'cha got in mind?" He asked.
Andrea tipped her head to the side.
"I want you to be…easy…gentle," Andrea said.
Merle grunted a little.
Andrea had never asked that of anyone before. She couldn't really be sure if it was something that she didn't like or if it was something that she'd told herself she didn't like because it had never been offered to her. It had never been something that she felt she had the authority to demand from anyone.
All the men that she'd ever been with…all the way back to clumsy high school fucks with guys looking to notch their dashes or break their virgin statuses had been rough. They'd never cared enough not to be. A fuck was a fuck…and a fuck when you didn't give a damn about the other person was all about getting the hell off…there wasn't time for gentle in that.
So Andrea's response had been to convince herself…and she'd done it pretty well…that those kinds of fucks were her favorite kinds of fucks. The rougher the better. The less he gave a shit, the more she liked it. She wasn't going to complain. She'd never have nothing but a smile and a thank you while she was putting her clothes back on.
Thank you for the fuck…thank you for the attention. Thank you for not even pretending to give a damn so that neither of us has to be confused for even a second about what the hell just happened here. Thank you for being just like every other person in the whole damn world. Thank you.
And yet, here she was…for the first time in her life…asking it of the most unlikely candidate. But Andrea had no doubt that Merle knew how to be a gentle lover.
There was no hiding the fact that the man was an experienced lover…he bragged about his conquests, but there was truth behind his boasting, and Andrea imagined that he'd worn every hat imaginable at some point…every hat available to man even…if it meant making a conquest.
And now she was requesting that he change hats so that she could feel something different…even if she knew, deep down, that Merle was merely changing his costume.
Merle didn't say anything for a moment, but he maintained the eye contact that he found so uncomfortable and then reached out, stroking a scratchy thumb across her cheekbone before he leaned in, kissing her again.
"How's that bed holdin' tagethah?" Merle said, his voice low and gravelly in his throat.
Andrea swallowed.
"Why don't you come and find out?" She asked.
Merle got up from the couch and reached a hand out to her and she took it, letting him help her up. She grabbed the food off the couch without saying anything and tossed it at the dining room table as they passed by it toward the back part of the house…Merle not stopping in his slow leading of her to the bedroom.
When they got in her room, bathed only in the little bit of light that came through her window from the street lights outside, Merle stopped and cupped her face in his hands, bringing his lips back to hers. She felt him, without breaking the kiss, bring his hands down and find the bottom of her shirt and she let him lift it over her head.
He shed his own shirt while she rid herself of her bra. There was no need to pretend that either of them were modest…that they hadn't seen each other naked before…or that they didn't know where this was headed.
So skipping all false shows, Andrea went ahead and shimmied out of her pants and underwear, regretting instantly that she'd given up shaving since she'd split with Merle, but it was too late to worry about that now. Merle was out of his clothes quickly too and then he guided her back to the bed and she crawled onto it, sighing a little at the feeling of him moving over her, kissing her neck, sucking at her ear and gently catching it between his teeth…so different than the painful bites she was accustomed to.
He moved his hand down to her core and stroked her and she didn't fight her natural urge to buck and grind against him.
Merle chuckled softly, kissing her shoulder and licking down her collar bone before bringing his mouth up just to her ear.
"Ya gone native," he whispered.
"Sorry," Andrea muttered, once again regretting that her break up with the man had essentially also been a break up with her razor.
"I like it," Merle responded, dipping his head and licking and sucking at her nipples.
Andrea wallowed her head back on the bed, not even caring that they hadn't bothered to properly get into the bed. She closed her eyes, letting the feeling of his mouth make her brain spin. He knew what he was doing…this wasn't unfamiliar territory for Merle.
For what seemed like hours, Andrea was lost and swimming in the pleasure that Merle rained down on her…so different than the man she knew and yet somehow the same. His mouth, his hands…his mind completely on her. When he finally moved her around, without even speaking and pushed himself into her, she gasped at the full circle of feelings that went on in her brain without even asking her permission to be there.
And when Andrea opened her eyes, moving to pick up the rhythm that Merle had established, what surprised her most was that in the dim light of the room he was looking at her. Now the uncomfortable eye contact of earlier gone, he had his eyes locked on hers. She fought the urge to close her eyes again as they moved together…enjoying almost as much the way he was looking at her as the sensations that were coursing through her body.
And when she finally came, harder than she'd ever come before but with a lingering sensation of something different…she could only pant and moan at the continuing sensation that lasted even after he'd come, and spent from the sexual act itself, still rubbed his body against hers a moment before kissing her jaw and then bringing his lips back to hers.
Andrea didn't know what to say or even how to say it, and Merle didn't offer any words. When he was done, without even asking permission or commenting on the act that had just taken place, he crawled over her and settled himself into the bed. Andrea followed suit and crawled in beside him, her back against him.
He was snoring moments later, but Andrea lingered awake for a bit, wandering if she could believe anything that her foolish heart told her was true at the moment. Part of her felt there had been something there…some connection…something different. Part of her told her that the words that went unspoken between them were the same words for them both…but the other part reminded her that Merle was a man who had, no doubt, worn many hats in his life and this was just another that he dusted off when it was necessary.
Andrea knew she couldn't solve the feelings for herself, though, and that lying there and pondering them while Merle snored softly beside her would do little more than cause her to lose sleep. She sighed, finally, and worked her way backwards, closer against him, closing her eyes and falling asleep.