AN: So here's a little chapter for character/plot development.
I'm going to tell the truth. It's not the greatest chapter ever. It's probably not even good. Last night, though, was rough and I'm working on even getting any of my feelings under control. So, I figured it was best to soldier on in my stories with what I could get out and by doing that I'd get my groove back…since I'm going on with my stories no matter what happens on the show. So, I guess I wrote this just to keep us going and to keep us moving forward and to get my own feelings back. Please forgive me if it isn't the best…
I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!
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"Man I'm glad for ya that'cha movin' Andrea back in with ya an' stuff, but it's been a helluva damn day 'round my house," Daryl said, accepting the beer that Merle offered him as they stopped by the apartment to drop off the few boxes that Andrea needed to be moved.
Merle chuckled and nudged one of the boxes across the floor with his foot.
"What the fuck they done ta ya?" Merle asked.
Merle was actually in the best mood that he could remember being in for a very long time. Andrea was moving back in. Tonight they were going to have dinner with Carol and Daryl…which the women were at Daryl's house preparing under lock and key…and then she was coming back for good.
Merle wasn't even questioning his good mood, he was simply going to accept it.
Daryl huffed, leaning against the counter.
"Hell, ain't done shit ta me, but for the last three fuckin' days they been stuck together like fuckin' Siamese twins. One of 'em's almost always cryin' an' sayin' shit like it's the last time they gonna eat toast together or it's the last damn time they gonna watch this shit or that shit on the t.v. together. Ya'd think one of 'em was dyin'," Daryl responded.
Merle chuckled again.
"Women can be some strange damn animals," Merle said.
And women could be some strange damn animals. He was beginning to feel like one of them had turned him into something he didn't even recognize. He'd even cleaned the apartment up…at least as good as it was getting…in anticipation of Andrea's return.
She had him thinking shit he'd never thought before…shit he wasn't entirely sure he was comfortable with. Women were some strange damn animals and Merle had gone and let down his guard enough that one of them had gotten in.
But when he was honest with himself, Merle liked it. He liked it more than he'd liked most anything he'd done so far.
"Tell me about it," Daryl said. He chuckled then, swallowing back half of the beer in one gulp.
Merle cleared his throat.
"Been thinkin' 'bout maybe lookin' for a place we ain't gotta rent no more. Some damn where we could both toss out the boxes for good," Merle said.
He eyed his baby brother and wondered what the younger man would be thinking. He'd given Daryl holy hell for everything he'd done with Carol. He'd given him hell for giving into the upper crust lifestyle of buying some fancy little house, even if it was just a starter house. He'd given him hell for knocking her up and for wanting to be some kind of Brady Bunch dad. He'd really given Daryl a lot of hell about a lot of things in life, and now Merle was quietly eating his words because the very things he'd given Daryl hell for were the things that were beginning to enter into his mind as things he might not hate so much.
Daryl didn't give him hell, though. He didn't really even seem to respond more than to chuckle quietly, lift his eyebrows, and drink down another swallow of the beer before saying anything.
"Lotta damn houses out there ain't been sold yet," Daryl said. "If'n they was neighbors then I reckon they could stop this cryin' all over each other an' talkin' like they sentenced ta death instead a' like Andrea's movin' 'cross Sweet Junction to live just the hell where we all lived before."
Merle nodded his head slightly and offered his brother a half smile.
For all the hell he'd given his brother, Daryl was going to prove to be the bigger man of them. He wasn't' going to rub it into Merle's face that Andrea was right, and sometimes people change…and sometimes when those people change, the very damn things they think they want out of life and don't want out of life change too.
"Got the down payment," Merle said. "Just gotta talk ta Ty an' get the shit set up. Been savin' up too…"
Daryl cocked his eyebrow at him and polished off the bottle, setting it down with a hard thunk on the counter.
Merle rubbed at his face. He was feeling his nerves grow at just talking about this shit. Still, he turned without explanation, knowing Daryl would wait, and went to the little room that was originally planned to be Daryl's room if and when he needed it, but mostly it was just an extra room.
Merle had tried to figure out where in the room was least likely to be noticed by Andrea if he wanted a hiding place and he'd determined that between the ratty box spring and mattress was probably the best place. She had no reason to go snooping about there. He stuck his hand in, dragging it back and forth, until his hand made contact on the box he was looking for. He drug it out and carried it into the kitchen, offering it to his brother on his palm.
Daryl cocked an eyebrow and a crooked smile spread across his face. He took the little box and pried its lid open, smiling at the contents and chuckling softly.
"I'm real fuckin' honored, but I'm done married an' any damn way I reckon that shit's illegal in Georgia," Daryl said.
Merle growled at his brother and Daryl chuckled again, balancing the black felt box in his hand.
"Bought it two days ago," Merle said. "Been lookin' at it for a while…since I went in puttin' that necklace on layaway. What'cha think?"
Daryl eyed the ring as though he even knew what he was looking at, but Merle knew that Daryl was as clueless as he was about things like jewelry. Hell…he'd liked the ring when he'd seen it but he'd still asked the store clerk if it was a good one. If he was going to do this shit he didn't want no damn Cracker Jack prize.
"S'a nice ring," Daryl said. He nodded his head at the ring and closed the box, handing it back to Merle.
Merle considered the box in his hand.
"Ain't top a' the damn line…but then neither am I," Merle said. "What'cha think she'd say?"
Daryl smiled.
"Hell…I don't know," Daryl said. "She agreed ta move back in this shithole with ya when she's been livin' in our damn palace. Reckon she'd say yeah if ya wanted her to."
Daryl paused.
"Hell, Carol said yeah ta me an' I ain't even bought her a diamond. Biggest damn thing we lookin' into buyin' now is a fuckin' car 'cause Lil' Bit's gotta come out eventually."
Merle chewed at his lip and nodded at his brother.
"That damn doll ya got ain't made ya change ya mind 'bout the kid?" Merle asked.
Daryl shrugged.
"Damn doll's possessed," Daryl said. "'An I'ma be happier than shit ta give the fuckin' thing back tomorrow night…but the baby ain't refundable."
Merle chuckled.
"And if she was? Ya sayin' ya'd give up ya kid?" Merle asked.
He already knew the answer, but if Daryl was going to tease about he was going to tease with him. His brother was more damn gung ho about this kid than he'd been about most anything in his life. Hell he and Carol were already planning on having like ninety more as far as Merle could tell.
Daryl shook his head.
"Hell no," Daryl said. "An' she ain't gon' be like that damn doll no way."
"Prob'ly fuckin' worse," Merle said. "Damn doll ain't got but like a couple damn functions. Reckon the kids gonna show her ass over a lot more shit than the doll does."
Daryl frowned.
"Nah…she's gonna cry if she needs shit. This damn doll just cries ta fuck with ya. 'Sides…Lil' Bit's gonna turn into a real damn person ya can reason with," Daryl said. "Damn doll don't make no fuckin' sense."
Merle chuckled. He didn't know if maybe his brother was going to be surprised when he got the kid or not. Maybe he'd overlook every damn thing about the kid like most people he knew did just because it was his damn kid. Merle wasn't going to bust his bubble, though, not tonight. Tonight he was in too damn good of a mood to go busting Daryl's bubble.
Merle glanced back at the ring in his hand.
"I'ma put this shit up an' we can head back on over," Merle said. "Don't'cha say shit ta Andrea nor ta Carol…I ain't decided for sure I'ma do it yet."
Daryl nodded and shrugged a little.
"Weren't gon' say nothin' no way," he said. "Don't wanta do a single damn thing gonna make neither one of 'em hug all over the other no more."
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"Don't get too excited," Andrea said. She was standing near the sink trying to quieten down the overreacting doll while Carol cooked dinner. They were waiting on Daryl and Merle to get back so that they could eat, and both of them had had quite the run of their emotions since Andrea told Carol that she was moving back in with Merle. "You know Merle," Andrea continued. "I'll probably be back next week…"
Caryl glanced at her over her shoulder, her hands occupied rolling out biscuits she wanted to have ready to go into the oven.
"You're telling me that you don't think Merle has changed?" Carol asked.
Andrea shrugged a little.
"I think he's changed," she said. "But I don't know…I guess maybe I'm scared to trust it. Alcoholics relapse, drug addicts relapse. Being an asshole is sort of Merle's drug…he might relapse too."
Carol laughed and wiped at her face with her forearm, careful not to smear biscuit dough on her face and oblivious to the fact she was already wearing a good deal of flour.
"In that same vein," she said, "I should be waiting for Daryl to decide to up and run away again."
Andrea grunted a little.
She wanted to believe that the Dixon brothers had both really seen some kind of light…or that they'd been abducted by aliens…or whatever it was, but she was a bit of a Doubting Thomas when it came down to it.
She didn't think that Daryl would run away from Carol, at least not exactly, but she did worry how he'd react when the baby was born and that brought a level of stress into their relationship that just seemed to be absent right now.
She wondered how Merle was going to react to having her back at his apartment. How long would it take before he woke up next to her and realized he asked her to come back? How long until he realized what he'd said he could forgive her for?
She hated admitting that she lived waiting for the shoe to drop, and it was something she hoped would change one day, but it was wired into her by now.
"You're not saying anything," Carol said, drawing Andrea out of her thoughts for the moment. "That makes me nervous…you don't know something I don't know, do you?"
Andrea shook her head adamantly.
"No! God no! I was just thinking," she said. She shrugged a little and smiled at Carol. "It's just that things are a lot different than I ever really thought they'd be. And with the whole Ed thing? I guess I just thought that if you ever found out…if anyone ever found out…that you and Merle…"
"Stop!" Carol commanded. Andrea did stop speaking. The authority behind Carol's voice demanded it.
When Andrea looked at her, Carol narrowed her eyes at her.
"I told you that I'm not mad about Ed," Carol said. She shrugged a little, moving to the sink to wash her hands and looking out the window to make sure that the men weren't home yet.
Andrea thought that Carol had been ridiculously understanding about Ed. It hadn't seemed to bother her in the slightest. In fact, it seemed like it didn't bother anyone that she knew, no one that was actually directly affected in some way by the fact that she'd had sex with Ed. It was only people in town that gave her dirty looks, or people in the Korean restaurant where she worked.
In some ways Andrea almost wished that everyone was more upset. At least then she wouldn't feel like she was crazy for feeling as guilty as she did about things.
"Well, I'm going to make it up to you," Andrea said. "Somehow."
Carol chuckled and dried her hands on a dish towel, tossing the towel over her shoulder and covering her ears with her hands.
"Make it up to me by shutting that doll up," Carol said. "Please! What's wrong with it?"
Andrea flipped the doll over, hoping to find some evidence of what it was malfunctioning over. Flipping it made it cry, sure, but the damn thing never stopped crying. Flipping it was the least of their worries.
"I'm serious," Andrea said. "It's time to take the batteries out. I fed the thing, changed its diaper, burped it twice, and I've been rocking the thing since you started on those biscuits. Please let me take the batteries out…"
Carol sighed and rubbed at her belly.
"And when my baby starts crying and we don't know what she wants? What then? Are we going to take her batteries out?" Carol asked.
Andrea creased her brow at Carol. She chuckled after a second.
"Carol, this doll has absolutely no bearing on what you're going to be like with your own baby. Michonne said that she had to buy the class a new one because when she had hers it went crazy or something and she broke its head off swinging it at a door frame like a Louisville Slugger," Andrea said.
Carol laughed and then covered her face, moaning and obviously feeling guilty for laughing. She sighed deeply.
"This stupid doll makes me feel like a failure already," Carol said. "It makes me feel like Daryl and I would do better to leave the baby at the hospital and hope a couple with some sense to take care of it will pick it up."
Andrea frowned.
"Lincoln's OK," she offered. "And you sort of raised him. "And Michonne's girls are both fine…and she killed her baby doll. Yours is still alive."
"You're talking about murdering it now," Carol said.
"Murder is such a strong word," Andrea said, trying to feed the doll with the plastic bottle again. "I'm talking about…at the most…offering it some baby valium in the form of a screwdriver to the battery cover."
"Andrea, if we kill Demon Baby then Daryl's not going to be happy," Carol said.
Andrea chuckled. She could see that she was winning, but then it wouldn't be hard to win anything with Demon Baby screeching like it had been. Andrea had already decided this stupid doll was the best form of torture the government hadn't been using. You'd spill anything…hell, she'd confess to crimes she hadn't done…to stop the mechanical wailing after a while.
"Daryl doesn't have to know," Andrea said. "We take the batteries out of it right now. We have a nice little dinner, a quiet evening, and then you slip the batteries back in later, just as we're leaving, and Daryl gets his screaming baby doll back."
"You're evil," Carol said, narrowing her eyes at Andrea.
Andrea smiled.
"I always wanted my own Ethel," Andrea said with a shrug.
Carol sighed.
"Fine…" she said. "The screwdriver's with the other tools on the carport. Make it quick so they don't catch us…and I'm going to be Lucy, not Ethel."
"I came up with it," Andrea said, passing Carol the doll and stepping out the door to get the screwdriver. "That means you're totally Ethel."
"Fine," Carol called out to her. "I'll be Ethel…just hurry up and shut this thing up before Daryl and Merle get back and catch us.