AN: Here we go, another little chapter here.
I just wanted to give you the warning that this little story will be drawing to an end before long. If my planning and predictions turn out to be correct, we've got five or less chapters left to go before we'll be saying goodbye to this one.
I hope you enjoy the chapter! Let me know what you think!
111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
"I'll tell ya what the hell we gotta do," Merle said, overhearing some stupid piece of Rick's discussion with Glenn where he was telling the young guy something about his grand dreams of building up their "camp" while he conveniently forgot that their "camp" was in the back yard of an old man's farm and wasn't much of a camp at all, and it certainly wasn't theirs. "We gotta start figuring out where the hell we go from here and gettin' our asses ready ta hit the damn road. They ain't no kinda life here."
Daryl was healing, and so was Sophia. It wouldn't be long before the old man started looking at them sideways about the fact that they were worse than a bunch of traveling show people who had taken up on his lawn. They were eating his food, contributing little of their own, not that they had that much to give anyway, and they were using his resources. The old man wasn't going to take kindly to having them there much longer.
And honestly? Merle couldn't blame him.
He didn't entirely take to the idea of staying there, himself. The farm seemed secure enough, but he and Daryl had seen the perimeters of the thing and, though the fences were pretty well built, they weren't extremely sturdy. They were built to hold in cattle, but they weren't built to hold out Walkers if they piled up too heavily.
It was better, just as soon as it was possible, to shake it on down the road a piece and see if they couldn't find somewhere to pass the winter that was a hell of a lot more fortified than the temporary location they had right now.
"I'm going to talk to Hershel," Rick said, looking at Merle the way he always did…looking at him in the manner that almost made Merle snicker. He could see it all over Rick Grimes' face. Rick viewed him as a nuisance, the human equivalent of a bitch gnat humming at him. And he would have hated to hurt Rick's feelings by telling him that the feeling was almost entirely mutual. Or…maybe he wouldn't have hated it so much.
"Talk to him 'til ya fuckin' head explodes," Merle declared. "But talkin's talkin', and what I'm talkin' 'bout is livin'."
"He can't just tell us to leave," Rick said, looking at Glenn for support. The kid didn't know which way to turn, so he stood there with his mouth slightly open, waiting for the problem to take care of itself. "He can't do that. He can't throw us back out there, to the wolves. You know what it's like out there."
Merle chuckled to himself and nodded.
"Yeah," he said. "I do. Reckon I spent more time out there than you is. I'd bet my jewels that it's a helluva lot safer out there than it is here…push comes ta shove. Walkers get in here? Get in them damn fences…ain't that hard ta do, three good sized cows in one place'd do it…an' we're all fucked over good. Damn near as good as ya precious CD fuckin' C. You 'member what a close call that shit was."
"It's safe here," Rick said, some growl coming into his voice. He jumped slightly coming a little closer to Merle's face than Merle appreciated and he reached out, his hand going to Rick's chest, pushing him just hard enough to demonstrate to him where he thought the appropriate distance between them should put them both. Rick was undeterred, like a chiahua on a mission. Merle snorted at the thought. "We could have a life here!"
"Just one damn catch," Merle said, deciding the conversation was over. "Ain't our life ta have."
He turned, then, and walked away, going in search of his brother.
1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
"Man's about as reliable as a tire missin' all its damn bolts," Merle commented.
"The old man might let us stay here, though," Daryl responded.
"Let's just think about this shit, lil' brother," Merle said. "Would you, if you was in his shoes, want all our free loadin' asses up under ya?"
"We can help him grow food," Daryl said. "We got skills ta offer. We got a real damn doctor. Man his age's gonna need that."
"Gotta make it through winter first. Group our size? Eat him outta house an' home easy," Merle said. "Ain't got room enough for all of us if we ain't up under each other…we'll freeze our asses off winterin' hard in the damn yard just the same as we would on the road. An' who the hell you think's movin' in here if anybody is? 'Cause Rick Grimes ain't lookin' out for a single damn soul but him an' his."
Daryl frowned at him and Merle knew why. Hell, it wasn't that he didn't understand. He understood just fine. This? This was the first taste that either one of them had ever had at some kind of life like had featured on all the television movies they'd flipped past a thousand times before while killing days of their sorry lives. This was the first damn time that either of them had anything that even looked like a family, and it was the first time that their beds were warm in Daryl's case or warmed by the same body in Merle's.
It was a lot to give up so soon after you'd tasted it.
But it was forbidden fruit and it didn't belong to them at all.
"Look," Merle said. "We ain't leavin' no damn body behind. We hit the damn road, we takin' Andrea, Carol, Sophia, Al. We takin' 'em all with us and any damn body else wants ta leave 'fore they get their walkin' papers from the old man can roll out with us. But if we gonna be smart about this shit? We oughta get a move on just as soon as Al says you good ta go, 'cause winter's gonna be cold, brother, and that ain't gonna be the prime damn time ta start sightseein' the damn world like a bunch a' fuckin' hobo tourists."
"Carol and me," Daryl said, "were gonna ask the old man ta marry us. Andrea done told him we were married, but we figured we'd make it real. Talked ta Sophia about it an' she seemed like she didn't mind. Said she'd like us ta get married."
Merle hummed at his brother and then smiled, clapping him on the shoulder. He wasn't sure what to say at first, so he squeezed his shoulder and then dropped his hand.
"You always was like that," Merle said.
"No," Daryl said, shaking his head. "I weren't. Weren't never like that. Carol's the first woman I ever knew that I thought I could marry…always figured there weren't nobody that I wanted ta spend the rest a' my damn life with."
"'Cept me," Merle commented, teasing Daryl. He got an expression of irritation for his efforts. Merle chuckled and then got his expression together. "You wanna be a husband? An old man?"
Daryl sat there a moment, not moving, and then he nodded, his head rocking on his shoulders.
"Yeah," he said. "I do."
Merle mirrored the nod.
"Hell…get to it, then," Merle said. "We done stayed our asses here this long, we can stay long enough for you an' ya lil' Mouse ta chain up. Give us time ta talk…see who the hell's goin' with us an' who the hell's stayin' they asses with Rick."
Merle hummed.
"But don't'cha wait too damn long," Merle said, trying to put authority in his voice. "Tomorrow…two days…don't'cha wait too damn long. We movin' and we gotta be smart about that shit. Don't wanna get caught with our pants down."
Daryl nodded at him.
"I'll talk to Hershel today," Daryl said. "Tonight. Soon as I lay eyes on him."
Daryl was quiet for a moment. The way he was looking at Merle, though, Merle could tell there was something on his brother's mind, something that he hadn't addressed as of yet.
"What about you?" Daryl asked. "You gon' marry Andrea?"
Merle chuckled as a defense mechanism.
He knew that Andrea had told the old man that they were married. He'd heard about and she'd come to tell him about it herself, rushing at him like her ass was on fire, afraid that he was going to lose his mind or explode or something equally dramatic. He wasn't going to do that, though. He wasn't nearly as given to theatrics over little things as some of the people around there were.
He'd never wanted to be married. He'd always considered marriage the way in which you got trapped in your own personal hell with someone. It was all about taking a vow you were terrified to break, even if it really didn't mean a damn thing, so you stayed with someone you hated and would rather have been without…or, if you didn't know how the hell to escape it, some damn body ended up finding their own personal way into an early grave or sent the despised partner there.
Marriage just didn't appeal to Merle. He didn't like the idea of being trapped and tied to someone…he didn't like the idea of staying with someone just because he didn't have a clue of how to escape them.
But he'd also figured out that he wasn't opposed to the idea of being with someone, he was just opposed to the idea of feeling like he didn't have a choice in the matter.
Merle hummed at his brother and shook his head.
"Nah," he said. "Me an' Andrea? We married as we ever likely ta get. Hell…be damn lucky if we live a fuckin' year, why the hell we wastin' time gettin' married when ain't no damn body payin' attention no way?"
Daryl nodded at him. He didn't look bothered by the suggestion. He wanted marriage. He wanted that "tie" between him and the woman he was with. Merle just didn't care for it. They had different views on how it should work, but the fundamentals were essentially the same. There wasn't any need for anyone to go and get hurt over what the other was doing.
Merle clapped Daryl on the shoulder again.
"You marry her," Merle said. "You have ya damn ball an' chain…an' ya kid too. S'all just the same…but you do what the hell you need ta do, long as you do it soon."
Daryl nodded at him once more, made like he was going to get up, something he wasn't doing with the same speed as he'd done before his injury, but was doing a little faster than he had been moving, and then Daryl stopped and turned back to Merle, his thumb finding its way to his mouth for his teeth to pick at it a moment.
"If we gotta leave the group," Daryl said. "You really reckon we all gonna make it? Strength in numbers an' shit…we walkin' away from a helluva lotta people if they'd rather stay with Rick an' don't wanna go with us."
Merle cleared his throat and stood up himself, reaching a hand out absently to help Daryl finish straightening out, the tight muscles in his side stretching to make him wince a little.
"Ain't strength in numbers," Merle said, shaking his head at Daryl. "That's bullshit. Always has been. They's strength in strength. An' whether or not they go with us? I'd say we got us the Dixon monopoly on that shit. Get'cha shit together Daryl…we all gon' be just damn fine, but not if we don't hit the road soon."