Chapter Six: Learning

"Yup," Merle cocks his head, eyeing Owen up and down, "So... how'd ya end up cooped up here with such a fine piece of ass?"

The man's large brown eyes bulge out of his head, "Uhhh, excuse me?"

"Ya know. How'd Mitch and ya and this Ed fella' end up here?" Merle presses on, wanting to learn more about Mitch so he could figure out how to get into her pants. While he never had any issue finding willing sexual partners before the apocalypse started, it had been a few months since his last fuck, having been in county lock-up for a few weeks before Daryl busted him out once the dead started walking. He had tried his hand with some of the women at camp but most were already partnered up. The only single ones were those lovely blonde sisters, but they gave the impression that they were scared of him. Anyway, it seemed as though they were more interested in the old man and his RV.

The neutral expression on Owen's face disappears as he furrows his eyebrows and narrows his eyes, "Mitch is my niece. Well she is Ed's niece and Ed had been my partner for the last thirty-two years, so she may as well be my own flesh and blood. Love her just the same."

"Ya a fuckin' faggot?" Merle spits out in disbelief. The man looked nothing like a queer and acted as straight as any good man Merle ever knew, "Guess that explains how ya ain't hittin' that…" he quickly says under his breath.

The room becomes uncomfortably silent, so when Mitch reappears with an armful of medical supplies, both men breathe a sigh of relief. Much to Merle's disappointment, a baggy black Metallica shirt now hides her curves. He finds some compensation in the fact that her sexy long legs are now showcased by denim shorts. "Uncle Ed is up and asking for you Owen," Mitch says with a grim look on her face, "his colour isn't too good this morning. He's getting weaker by the day. I'm afraid…"

Owen stands up quickly from the chair, almost knocking it backwards, thus interrupting her words, "Don't be thinking like that. He is stronger than you think, my dear," as he walks by Mitch he quietly says, "I'm on the other side of the wall if you need me… for anything, ok?"

Mitch smiles lovingly at the man as she tenderly touches his shoulder, "Save your worry for Uncle Ed, he is the one that needs it." Owen promptly heads into the adjacent room as Mitch walks over to the desk and begins arranging some medical supplies. She grabs a towel and places it under Merle's now blood-soaked bandaged arm, the movement causes him to wince in pain. She immediately notices this and bites her lower lip. She briefly ponders how to tell Merle this next bit of information and decides to straight up tell him how it is, "So you clearly need your bandage changed but the thing is… Well, we are running low on IV pain meds. All we have left is a bit of fentanyl. It works fast but doesn't last long and I'm worried I won't get everything done before that happens."

Merle shrugs his shoulders, he is more upset about not being able to get high than anything else "Do what 'cha gotta do, I guess."

Mitch methodically gets her supplies set up and once everything looks satisfactory, she walks over to the other side of the bed where the intravenous is running clear fluids into Merle. She grabs a syringe and instills the liquid into one of the ports in the tubing. Merle smiles to himself as that all-too familiar feeling rushes over his body, and he welcomes it with open arms. He barely notices her removing the old dressing until the layer closest to his skin is ripped off, "Christ woman!" he slurs as he turns to look at her.

She shrugs her shoulders, "Sorry. This wouldn't be so bad either if you hadn't gone all ragey on us earlier," she says with a sly smile on her face, "Should have listened to me. You reopened some tissue that had mostly healed. That was just stupid of you."

Merle runs his tongue along his teeth. If he wasn't trying to get a fuck out of her before he blew this joint he would have smacked her silly. Instead he takes a deep breath and says, "Ya knew I was gonna fall… was why ya untied me… y'all are a sly little thing. I oughta spank ya for that," finishing his sentence with a wink.

Much to Merle's surprise and ultimately delight, she bats her eyelashes at him and grins, "I have been a very naughty girl but you wouldn't know how to handle me, old man."

"Hey, I ain't that old sugar. I think y'all would be very happy with the Merle experience. I have been known ta…" a small groan escapes his lips as Mitch cleans off some of the pus and dead tissue from his wound.

"Sorry," her lips form a sincere apologetic smile, "Pain meds must be wearing off. Try to think of something to distract your mind… nothing dirty though. Can't have your brain losing any more blood," she says letting loose a small laugh.

Merle grins at the sound of her laughter. He starts to think that maybe it won't be so hard to stick around for the next few days. Mitch seems to have relaxed greatly since "Uncle" Owen left the room. Suddenly he grinds his teeth to stifle another moan as more pain shoots through his stump, "Distract me woman… How'd ya manage to end up here?"

"You want to full story or the cliff notes version?" Mitch laughs, looking up at Merle.

"I ain't going nowhere," Merle says through gritted teeth but immediately regrets his harsh tone as Mitch's smile slightly fades. Something in those beautiful hazel eyes tells him she needs to get something off her chest and the only way to do that would be by telling her story.

Mitch continues to clean his wound as she tells her story, "I don't know if Owen told you or not, but I came to live with him and Uncle Ed when I was twelve, after some shit went down with my mom. So we've always been pretty close. I had moved out after I started working as a nurse but I moved back in with them a few weeks before the world really turned to shit.

You see, a couple years ago Uncle Ed was diagnosed with liver cancer. For a while it looked as though he might actually beat it but then six months ago, he took a turn for the worst. Doctors said there was nothing left to do other than make sure he was comfortable. They ended up selling the house and moving into this shit-hole in order to pay for all the medical bills. When he became bedridden, I took a leave of absence from work and moved in.

This area was one of the first to be evacuated to the safe-zone but Uncle Ed refused to leave since he wanted to die at home… and there was no way I was just going to leave him and Owen. They are all I have left… So the plan had been to stay here until Uncle Ed passed away, then Owen and I would head out to the safe zone. I guess everything happens for a reason because not even a week later we heard it got completely overrun. Some of my nursing friends told me about the reanimating corpses before anything went to the news so we were able to stockpile a ton of supplies before the stores were cleaned out… We decided that we would just stay cooped up here until things settled down… securing the building was pretty easy since everyone else had left and there are only two ways up into the apartments. I guess we didn't do that good of a job because you got in...

Alright everything is all done. Shouldn't need to change it again until the night," Mitch smiles as she secures the last piece of tape. She gently places a hand on Merle's shoulder, "You should get some sleep," and starts to walk toward the door.

Merle reaches across the bed and grabs her wrist with his left hand, "Thank ya doll… but can ya do me one more thang ta help me sleep a lil' easier… been buggin' the shit outta me… can ya tell me how ya knew my name" He thought he may have told her during his drug-induced haziness, which was a strong possibility considering he had very little recollection of the past five days, but he wanted to know for sure.

Mitch turns to Merle and looks at him, her big doe eyes filling with tears, "You mean you don't remember me at all? Oh god…"

Merle shakes him head, "Sorry darlin', a lot o' years o' my life are kinda hazy. But I'm pretty sure I would neva' forget such a sweet lil' thang like ya…"

"You really don't remember me? That bar, that night… You promised me it was more than a one night stand…" Mitch pouts, "We slept together a couple weeks before things started happening… and…and… I'm pregnant… with your baby. Why else would I be helping you?"