Chapter Twenty Three

Merle looked up from the book he was reading, using his finger as a book mark. His brows shot up when Cassidy slammed his door shut.

"Why the hell would she think it was okay to let those assholes stay here?" She asked, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring down at him. "Move your damn feet."

He sat up, pulling his legs up so she could sit down on the other side of the couch. "You shoulda known she would."

Cassidy shook her head. "It's all your damn brother's fault. He shows up and gets in her head and now she's all about doing the right thing. She used to be about killing people and asking questions later."

Merle sighed. "Face it. I'm all you got left, woman. All your friends have gone soft."

"I already know," she sighed and leaned her head back into the cushion. "I'm bunking with you, by the way. I'm not looking at them if I don't have to. This room is plenty big enough for the two of us. There's an air mattress in the room I was sharing with Michelle. I'll haul it in here later."

He eyed her. "There's plenty of other damn rooms you could take. Why the hell do I gotta share?"

She looked up, meeting his eyes and he was surprised to see a vulnerable look in them. He was used to her being hard all the time. She was like a force of nature, but the truth was, she was a broken woman and with this many men, men she didn't know around, she was scared. And if she wasn't scared she was damn close to it. And it wasn't really this that brought him up short. What did that was the fact that out of everyone here, she'd came here. She wanted to sleep in this room because he was the one that was occupying it and, obviously, she felt safe with him around.

"You sleep naked?" He asked, to break the tension.

She shrugged. "Sometimes."

He barked out a laugh to that and then finally he shrugged, watching her closely. "I guess I don't mind. I probably need somebody to watch my back anyway. That Korean kid wants to kill me and you know he's probably got some mean ninja skills."

She grinned. "What'd you do to him?"

"Tied him to a chair, beat the hell outta him and then left him there tied up with a walker in the room."

She pulled her legs up so she could rest her chin on her knees. "Maybe it's an Asian thing. Grudge holders. It's not like he died."

Merle nodded solemnly.

"You think this Rick guy is gonna cause us any trouble?" She asked after a few long silent moments.

Merle shook his head. "I don't think so. I think my brother wants to rip his face off as it is. He'll tread lightly for a while."

"You know, I don't get it. I know I complain about all of them, but at the end of the day, I'd lay down my life for any damn one of these assholes. They're my family. How the hell could he do that to her? Just toss her out like that?"

Merle sat up, tossing the book onto the small table in front of the couch. "You got me. I guess I can't say a whole lot. There was a time that I held blood above anything else. If you wasn't my kin, I'd just as soon piss on you than shake your damn hand. That's Rick. But he's like a politician. He looks out over his flock and he says the right things and makes them think that it's them against the world. But at the end of the day, Rick is out for Rick. Period. I've known that about him since the first time I met him. The difference in me and him, though, is I learned my lesson. He never will. Not until he's the last one standin' with his back against the wall and those kids blood on his hands is the only reminder that they ever existed in the first place."

She stared off into space. "How the hell does she expect me to be okay with someone like that here?"

He shook his head. "I don't think she's worried about that right now. You seen them. They're like a bunch of corpses. I think Rick will move on once him and the others get their strength up. My brother ain't gonna make it easy on him."

"Good. He don't deserve anyone taking it easy on him."

"Agreed."

~H~

The living room floor was covered in a thick plush carpet so Carol didn't feel too guilty about Rick's people sleeping there on the floor. Judith, her stomach full and her small fragile body scrubbed pink, had fallen into an exhausted sleep in one of the big overstuffed chairs. Carl was fast asleep himself at one end of the couch while a girl named Tara took the opposite end.

She dropped the pile of spare blankets and pillows onto the floor and it looked like some kind of messy child's fort. "This should be enough for all of you," she said quietly.

"Thank you," Rosita said, claiming a pillow and a blanket for herself. "Whatever is going on between you and Rick, that isn't any of my concern. The way I look at it, you guys saved our asses. I'm sure you know what it's like out there."

Carol smiled. She genuinely liked Rosita and Tara. They were both kind as far as she could tell. Abe was a different story. He made her a little uneasy and the other man, Eugene, was downright strange. But they all seemed grateful to all of them for the hospitality and Carol wasn't worried about anyone trying anything. "I do know what's it's like out there. It's damn hard. We lucked up with this place."

Rosita nodded. "Do you need any of us to take watch or anything? Abe and I can-"

Carol shook her head. "Rest. You all look like it's been a long time since you've had it. We'll talk more about what you're plans are in the morning."

She smiled and walked off to the corner of the room with her spoils, Abe following her. She hadn't really had a chance to talk to Rick yet. As soon as Daryl had left them alone earlier Cassidy and Michonne had nearly gotten into a brawl. Cassidy wasn't making it a point to get along with any of them. To her, they had all done Carol wrong and that wasn't okay. She'd even tried to explain to the other woman that some of them weren't even members of Rick's group when she had been banished, but Cassidy wouldn't listen.

Once everyone seemed to be settled she blew out the candles that lined the fireplace mantel and crept out of the room. When she stepped into the kitchen she stopped in her tracks. Rick was sitting at the small ornate table at the far end of the room, his eyes on his hands that were splayed there. He raised his head and the shadows from the lantern light made him look even worse than he had earlier.

She heard a sound and turned, realizing that Daryl was sitting up on the counter, his eyes on hers. She didn't know if he planned on shadowing Rick the whole time the man was here but she certainly hoped not. It had been a long day and they had barely slept the night before since discovering Merle and Cassidy's vanishing act.

Daryl hopped down from the counter and strolled towards her, his movements fluid despite the tension that was rolling off of him and suddenly, despite the stress of the day, her mind drifted to that moment right before that knock on their door interrupted them.

"Where's that gun?" He asked in a low voice, his hands going to her waist.

She was actually surprised that he was touching her like this in front of anyone but then again, he wasn't really the same man he had been. "I'll be fine," she said, her hands giving his forearms a reassuring squeeze. "He just wants to talk. I'll let him."

He kissed her quickly and gave her one last meaningful look before stepping around her and disappeared into the dark foyer. She took a deep steadying breath and went to the table.

"I'm sure you're tired and I'm exhausted myself so lets get this over with, Rick," she said, her voice level.

He held her gaze for a few moments and then nodded. "That's fair. All I was going to do was thank you for opening your door to us. These last few months have been... bad."

She smiled but it was forced and she knew he would know that. "You're welcome." She stood up to leave but he held up a hand. She lowered herself back into the chair.

"I think Daryl is wrong," he said, making sure he kept her eyes on hers.

She felt the sting of his words, knowing exactly what he was talking about but she found the sting fading quickly. She felt a slight sadness take it's place and even that was minimal. The sadness wasn't a result from his low opinion of her. It was sad that she had wasted so much of her time caring about the man in front of her. It was sad that he had started out with so much potential to be great in this world, but let it all slip away. And then, to her own surprise, she found an easy smile grace her face. "Daryl is wrong."

He sat up straighter in the chair but he waited for her to elaborate.

"But that doesn't mean that you're right. You see, Rick, when I did what I did, I had reasons. I had good reasons. I put a lot of thought into my actions and decided that I had to try to keep the virus from spreading. You were wrong when you accused me of being a threat."

He watched her, his expression guarded. "And now?"

Her smile widened. "Now I'm cold, Rick. To outsiders anyway, which is what you are." She leaned in a little closer, her smile falling away faster than it had come. "I will always love your children. I always have, and I would never do anything to hurt them. But I think Daryl believes that I wouldn't hurt you either. I think he believes that he has to protect me from you, but that isn't true. You are an outsider here. If I feel like you might relapse, you know, lose your ever loving mind like you did back there at the prison, I'll end you. I won't risk my girls safety for a man that I once deemed a friend."

"Are you threatening me?" He asked, his own voice just as low and dangerous as hers.

"Yes, I am. This is my family now and family has to look out for one another. I'll look out for them."

"I didn't come here for your help," he growled, not liking the tables turned on him.

"That's fine. The rest of your group did. Are you willing to take Judith and Carl and leave this place alone with them? Michonne would probably follow you but do you really think Glenn wants Maggie out there in her condition? And those others, they already made it clear that they have no loyalties to you."

He glared.

"Keep your hands clean and everything will be fine Rick." She stood up and headed out of the kitchen, the feel of his eyes boring into her back was like a physical touch. A cold angry touch. She felt a hand slide into hers and smiled to herself before looking over.

"That was pretty goddamn bad ass," Daryl muttered.

"Really?" She asked, her hand tightening in his. "Because I just came up with all that on my own."

At the top of the stairs he stopped, kissing her quickly. "You feel better now?"

She nodded. "I've been wanting to tell him off for a while now. I thought it would bother me, to see him looking at me like he didn't trust me, but it doesn't. It would have if I hadn't found you but Rick is no one."

He laughed and pushed her into their room, locking the door behind him. She felt like she may have handled that all wrong but there wasn't anything she could so about it. There would be eyes on Rick for as long as he was with them. All she was worried about were the kids being safe. She would worry about the rest of it tomorrow.

The rest of tonight belonged to the man that was now backing her towards the bed, his lips warm and demanding on hers.