Merle remained quiet while we were on the road, but as soon as we got into the forest he was rarin', and ready to go.
"The shit you doing pointing that thing at me brother?" He yelled, pushing me to the side to get to Daryl. His push caught me off guard and I fell to the ground. Daryl turned on his brother fiercely, looking at me before stepping to him. I shook my head, standing up easily and brushing myself off.
"They were scared, man." Daryl replied, still seething about Merle pushing me.
"They were rude is what they were. Rude and they owed us a token of gratitude." Daryl turned, walking away again, no longer listening to his brother.
"So we have Beau ask. She didn't seem ta have any problem talking to em." Daryl glanced at me over my shoulder, shaking his head again. "They didn't owe us nothing."
"Yeah. So you help people out of the goodness of your heart, even though you might die in the process. Is that something Sheriff Rick taught you?!" Merle yelled after him. For the second time Daryl turned on his brother.
"There was a baby!" he screamed. I stopped in my tracks, glancing off into the trees warily. Here was not the time for this.
"Otherwise you woulda just left them to the biters, then?" The brothers were quiet for a second before Daryl sighed.
"Man I went back for ya, you weren't there!" I narrowed my eyes, realizing we weren't talking about what just happened on the bridge anymore. "I didn't cut off your hand neither! You did that!" Daryl spat. He glared at Merle, who stood looking at him dumbfounded. "You asked for it! You asked to be locked up on that roof." My eyes widened at Daryl's words and Merle chuckled.
"You know what's funny to me? You and Sheriff Rick are like this now." Merle held up his hand, his two fingers crossed. Daryl stared at his fingers before his glare returned to Merles face. "I bet you a penny and a fiddle of gold that you never told him that we were planning on robbing that camp blind!" I gasped, taking a sharp breath.
"what?" I asked quietly, shocked, wanting desperately not to believe what he said. My hands found my face and I covered my mouth, staring up at Daryl wanting for it not to be true. Daryl looked at me, shaking his head, even angrier with Merle. Merle watched the two of us, a sick smile playing on his face.
"Oh. Was that something she didn't know about neither?" He seemed genuinely happy with himself, happy with how he'd driven some sort of wedge between us.
"It didn't happen." Daryl said quietly, again looking at me. Merle looked at me as well, his smile dropping. "Things changed!"
"Yeah, Goldilocks here laid the pussy down real nice for ya. Ya went and caught feelins, baby brother." Merle smirked at him. Daryl exploded, shoving his brother to the ground.
"Don't talk about her like that!" Daryl hissed. I jumped, startled by his tone. Daryl looked up at me, on the verge of angry tears. Her frowned at me and I swallowed. "Her name is Beau and she been there for me! Through a whole buncha bullshit that you was gone for!"
"I was gone because Officer Friendly and his Merry Gang of Welps handcuffed me to a damn pipe!" Merle said standing up indignantly. He was red faced and extremely pissed. "It's his fault I wasn't there to help ya!"
"How about when we were kids? Who left who then?" Daryl spat.
"What? Is that why I lost my hand?!" Merle sneered back at him.
"You lost your hand because you're a simpleminded piece of shit!" Daryl shouted, turning away from him. Merle lunged for him, grabbing the back of his shirt. Daryl fell to the ground and his shirt ripped as he did.
I bit back tears as I watched him, not sure why I was feeling so hurt about something that happened before he knew me. Merle stood over Daryl, breathing hard, but Daryl remained where he fell, staring at the ground. His gaze shifted to me and he frowned, tearing his eyes away. Merle took a deep breath, staring at something on Daryl's back, one of the many scars he had.
"I didn't know he was…" Merle trailed off. I watched the brothers confused and Daryl looked up at me again, grabbing his backpack and throwing it on. Something clicked in my head, those scars weren't from bar fights, and they weren't battle wounds. He didn't go to jail for hitting some hillbillies silly.
"Yeah you did! That's why you left first!" His words solidified my claim, Daryl had been abused by his father, and he went to jail fighting him for it. Daryl stood, walking past me quickly, not even looking at me.
"I had to man!" Merle called after him. I stared at him, struggling to come to terms with the newest information I'd learned about my lover. Merle looked at me, seeming sad. "I would have killed him otherwise." He said quietly. I shook my head at the man, turning and leaving him behind. I followed after Daryl quietly, leaving Merle where he was. "Where you going?"
"Back where I belong, back where we belong! With our family!" Daryl repeated, gesturing between us two.
"I can't go with you!" Merle pleaded with us. I tried to kill that black bitch! Damn near killed the Chinese kid." Tears formed in Merle's eye and for a second I felt bad for him.
"He's Korean!" Daryl replied to him, tired of his brothers political incorrectness. I looked up at Daryl, proud that he had finally used the correct term.
"Whatever! It doesn't matter man! I just can't go with you!"
"You know, I may be the one walking away, but you're the one that's leaving, again!" Daryl's voice broke as he spoke these last words and I placed my hand on his shoulder. I followed Daryl off into the trees quietly, tracing our steps back to the main road.
Merle ended up following us through the tree's, I heard him stomping after us, far enough that he was alone, but not too far to be away from us. We had closed the gap between us and the prison during the day, each step we took forward I felt the weight lifting from mine a Daryl's shoulders.
Shots rang out through the woods around and I stopped, listening intently. I looked over at Daryl nervously and he ran his thumb across his bottom lip.
"Semi automatic." I said quietly. More shots rang and Daryl took off running, his crossbow raised in front of them, we kept low and to the ground, reaching the edge of the trees. I could see the prison in the background and I my heart sank, realizing that that was where the shots were originating.
I knelt behind the brush, assessing the situations. All hell had broken loose and a van was parked in the middle of the yard, walkers running rampant everywhere. Guns were sounding left and right and I wasn't sure where to look first. I heard a desperate yell from the die of the fence closest to us and I looked. Rick was pinned up against the fence, fighting of two walker.
"Daryl!" I caught his attention, gesturing to the Rick. He nodded, aiming his bow and firing it, killing one of the walkers. Daryl stepped from the bush and I followed him, nocking an arrow and firing it. Merle ran from the trees, stabbing another walker with a long pole he picked up.
Only a few rounds did the job out here, most of the walkers were too far off to be considered a threat. Rick stood from the last walker he just finished bludgeoning, giving Daryl and I a quick nod. I smiled at him, one that was quickly wiped from my face as I looked at the yard. It was over run and I felt my face fall thinking of what we had to do to get through there.
"Hope you aint too tired Goldilocks, looks like we got some house cleaning to do." Merle smirked at me as I bent over to catch my breath.
There was a heated debate amongst the group the next morning. They locked Merle up over night, something I was thankful for, yet upset with. I was tired of his mouth, but I knew bars wouldn't stop that from running and he did just help to save Rick's life the day before. I felt he deserved a reprieve.
After the meeting it was decided we were staying. It was also decided we were no longer allowed outside during the day time, and only if necessary at night time. I decided to catch up on some much needed sleep in my bunk. My body was sore and I was tired.
I heard shouting from below, something about Merle staying with us, again with the tired argument from both sides. I rolled my eyes, sighing loudly as Daryl walked in, fastening the privacy curtain behind him. He stopped looking down at me.
"Tired of the arguing." I said plainly, laying on my back.
"You heard em down there." Daryl asked, picking my legs up and sitting down, placing my feet in his lap. I nodded at him, closing my eyes. "Bullshit. My brother is a piece of shit at best, but he don't deserve to be cut loose like a wild animal. They already did that to em once."
"I know." I said quietly. Daryl looked up at me, glancing at the floor.
"I guess we had more in common than ya thought." He paused again, thoughtfully, amused by something. I watched him curiously, confused by what he meant. "'Cept when I fought back I ended up in a jail cell." I frowned, finally realizing what he was talking about. "At least one of us got out."
"Hey, we don't have to talk about it." I told him quietly. I didn't really want to talk about it anyways. Whether what Merle said today was true or not, that wasn't my Daryl, it wasn't the man I knew. Daryl smiled up at me, a weak, sad smile.
"Why are you so understandin? You aint even mad at me. You found out twice today that I was a liar," he trailed off, looking down at his hands and sighing. "I should have picked you…" He said quietly, looking back up at me. "Yet you still aint moved out of the cell." I sighed sitting up.
"I love who you are now, not who you were then." I kissed his cheek, and he grinned under my lips, a warm, full grin. I pulled away, wrapping my arms around his shoulder. "Even though I'm almost certain who you were then isn't nearly as bad as you keep saying." He chuckled and the room grew quiet. I watched him, still wrapped around him. "I love you." I said quietly.
"I love you." He turned looking at me, gently brushing his lips against mine. Slowly I climbed into his lap, twisting my hands in his hair, deepening our kiss. It had been a long time since we've had time to be affectionate towards each other, and I could tell from our kisses that it was something each of us longed for.
Slowly Daryl laid me down on the cot mattress, climbing on top of me. I reached for his buttons, undoing them tantalizingly slow, one at a time.
Daryl left a few hours later, but I remained in our cell. My legs still hurt and I hadn't gotten any rest while he was here. I smiled thinking back on it, turning the page in my book.
There was a knock on my bars and I stood, crossing to the curtain. I opened it, surprised to find Merle on the other side. I looked past him, hoping to see someone behind him, but I didn't. Begrudgingly I held open the door, letting him in. I drew the curtain, tying it off to the side just in case.
"Hello." I said warily. Merle looked the cell up and down. I had sort of made it homey, hanging small trinkets I'd found while I was out on runs, scarves across the bars. He smiled, looking at it all before turning to me.
"Spanish huh?" He asked, picking up the book I'd just read. I watched him quietly and he chuckled. "Don't worry, I wont lose your page." He set the book down, looking up at me expectantly and I nodded, growing more comfortable.
"Yeah. Thought it best to learn a second language. I worked in the ER so we saw a lot of different cultures and I had to help them all…" I trailed off. Merle raised his eyebrow at me, impressed.
"So yous a college girl. I knew it. Didn't quite take you for a spic." I cringed at his use of the word. The cell grew awkward again and he cleared his throat. "So, you got a fancy doctorate or something?"
"Why are you here?" I asked plainly.
"Didn't think you got enough of me in the woods. Thought I'd grace you with my company." He said sarcastically. I didn't smile and his face fell. He scratched his chin awkwardly and sighed. "I uh, I wanted to get to know my sister-in-law, since it seems my brother has taken some kind of fancy to you."
"Oh..." I muttered quietly, suddenly feeling like an asshole. "I'm sorry…"
"Nah, its okay. I wasn't exactly nice in the woods." My brain flashed back to what happened on the bridge. "I didn't ever think my brother could snag himself a college type. Guess I taught him well." I scoffed, crossing my arms. Merle looked hurt and he chuckled. "I'm an enigma to the opposite sex, and that's with one hand. Imagine me with two." He wiggled his eyebrows and my face went red.
"God." I muttered, shuffling where I stood. We both exchanged nervous laughter and grew silent again.
"Ya take care of him? Look after him and such?" Merle asked from out of nowhere. I looked up at the man, tilting my head.
"Yeah, we've uh… we've been through some shit." I thought back to the CDC, the creek at Hershel's. "But to be perfectly honest, I would be dead without your brother." I finished. Merle smiled at me, standing slowly.
"He could say the same about you, that much I can tell." He crossed over to me, his hand on the door to my cell. "Your a damn fire cracker, Goldilocks, don't need a microscope to see that either." He exited the cell, quietly shutting the door behind him. He gave me an approving look and I blushed, looking at the floor as he walked away.
Any DragonBall Z fans here? bc if so, go to youtube, look up the user Team Four Star and watch DragonBall Z Abridged. You WIL NOT be disappointed. i was in tears. Also does anybody have any good Vegeta/OC fics? bc obsessed.
Reviews are so awesome! I've been getting some good, constructive ones. They really keep me going!
Stay Beautiful!