Sorry for taking so long to update this, I'm only working on two stories now so I promise to do better.

Daryl came back to the prison sad and dejected, he'd been out for nearly a month this time and there was no sign of his brother. He thought he'd found tracks matching his brothers bike, he even found a house that looked like it had been boarded up recently but nothing to prove it was Merle. He just about given up hope.

"Nothing?" Beth's sympathetic voice brought him out of his gloomy musings.

"No." he stripped out of his gear.

Beth stayed on the steps leading up to his little space. His perch wasn't as large as the cells but it kept him from feeling like he was locked up. The prison was his home now, all that was missing was his brother.

"I'm sorry." she answered softly.

Their relationship was still raw and tender, she hadn't let him so much as touch her but she had shown interest and concern over his search for his brother.

"I ain't found a body. He ain't dead." Daryl didn't believe Merle was one of them rotted fucks, he refuse to believe it.

Merle was alive, he knew that with all his heart but the knowledge made him feel even more guilt. His brother was out there and he couldn't find him, what if he hadn't found a safe place, what if he was struggling. His brother was a tough son of a bitch but if he'd found Emily, surviving would be twice as hard.

"Rick is looking for you." she changed the subject to avoid talking about Merle's possible death.

"Course he is." Daryl rubbed his face.

His position as Ricks right hand man was solidified now, after Lori's death their leader had had a break down and Daryl stepped up to help as much as he could. Beth hadn't been able to save Lori but she had saved the baby. Little Asskicker, as Daryl liked to call baby Judith, had been the beacon of hope their little group needed after so much suffering and loss.

The beautiful little cherub had taken up near permanent residence in Beth's arms and the sight of Beth strolling around singing to the baby had stirred up even more feelings in his twisted beat up heart. Every once in a while he'd picture Beth with a young boy, and maybe that boy had shaggy brown hair and blue eyes or maybe it was a little blondie with the wide innocent eyes of a little princess. Every once in a while he had those thoughts and every once in a while he'd have to shake his head and remember that he fucked up any chance of that, he'd fucked that up good and proper, and even if he hadn't, no kid deserved a Dixon for a father.

"Where is he?" he asked without looking at her, it was easier that way.

"He's in the room where we keep the weapons." He could see her shift out of the corner of his eye. "I…."

"Bethie!" her fathers voice rang from somewhere below, "Judy needs a diaper change and she's giving Maggie a hard time." Hershel made his way over slowly. "Daryl! your back." the older man smiled up at him.

"Yeah, Beth was tellin' me Ricks lookin' me. Got some stuff out in the truck if ya wanna send Maggie and Glenn out to unload while I find out what Rick needs."

"Sure enough. Axel and Andrew are making a case to join the group. He'd like your input." Hershel nodded.

"That's a hell ov'a request after the way their buddies acted." Daryl grumbled.

"Andrew did help." Hershel looked away thoughtfully. "After Lori, I'm not sure Rick is thinking clearly on the subject."

"That wasn't Axel of Andrew though." Beth interjected. "They shouldn't be blamed for that."

"They're still strangers, we don't owe them anythin'."

"We owe them for helpin' Rick, least we owe Andrew." Beth argued. Hershel looked at his daughter proudly.

"Fuck, I don't know." Daryl scratched his chin. "I'ma see what's what."

He made his way down the stairs trying to brush against Beth a little as he passed but she moved away to fuss over her father and demand he show her where Asskicker was. Daryl sighed, when the hell did life get so damn complicated?

Merle threw the empty coffee mug across the room angrily. "Another fuckin' dead end!"

He let himself fall onto the faded couch he'd spent one night on weeks and weeks ago. He'd lost track of how long he'd been trying to find Daryl, the tracks they had made weeks ago were muddled now, nearly impossible to read because of all mucking up the damn dead parade had done.

He was sure he had found a set of new tracks. Tracks that looked like they belonged to his brothers bike and wound up back at the house he'd found Emily and the McManus brothers in. Turns out he'd been following his own fucking tracks. How the hell that had happened he didn't fucking know.

He had lost everything now, his brother was gone, Emily was with another man, a man that loved her and took better care of her than Merle ever did - at least now that they weren't in the woods - Merle took better care of her when they were roughing it - at least he had that. Still, he was fucked, all he had was Woodbury, a town of people that didn't know him but respected him because without even fuckin' trying he'd become the Governors top enforcer.

It had all started because he was angry, angry with himself mostly, and angry with Emily for not being angry enough at him, and angry at the Irish brothers, one for fucking his woman and the other for being so damn understanding and reasonable, and he was angry as fuck because he could not find his brother, and all that fucking anger made him want to beat and kill and destroy. He had to hand it to the Governor, he know how to take a volatile asshole like him and turn him into a weapon, and better than that he knew how to take the weapon he'd made and point it at the best possible target.

The only thing with the Governor was that he was sure Merle was all anger and cussing and too dumb to see he was being used. Merle might be an asshole redneck but he wasn't stupid, he knew damn well what was happening to him, he just didn't give a fuck, as long as he got what he needed - namely being able to search for his brother and kill things - he'd be the Governors soldier

The Irish had been given the job of patrolling inside the town, keeping the peace and making sure that if the dead managed to sneak in, they didn't make it far. It was a good job for them, the town immediately fell in love with the two and it didn't take much convincing from either one for people to step in line. The Governor kept them from the uglier side of things, he didn't let them see the way the other enforcers took great pleasure in killing the dead and living alike.

Merle wasn't sure if what they were doing was against the code of the brothers, it was all in the name of securing the safety of the town but the thin line they had made between murder for protection, and murder to murder, was blurring more and more with each passing week.

Merle walked into the bedroom and stared at the bed he'd found Emily in, with Murphy right by her side. It should have been him. He fucked it up for a piece of ass he didn't even really want to fuck. No, he shook his head, he did want to fuck Andrea, he wanted to fuck every girl that was willing, but he wanted to fuck Emily more.

That was the worst part of it, he would have rather fucked Emily and he could have, he could have just grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her inside their tent and buried his cock deep insider her wet and willing pussy and she would have been happy. Instead he had a mediocre fuck to prove, what?, that he didn't need her?, that she shouldn't count on him?, that he loved his brother more?. Jesus, he was a dumbass, Daryl had been buried inside a blonde of his own, he didn't give a shit if Merle favored one girl over another.

He went and sat on the bed, he needed to rest a minute before he headed back to town. He breathed deep, soon he would be faced with Emily and Murphy holding hands while he patrolled the town, or Emily's small polite smile as she passed him quickly on the street. It killed him every time. He let himself fall on his back and remember a time when Emily would grin at him, when she would seek him out like she enjoyed his company instead of just tolerating it long enough to get by him. Merle got up and dusted off his jeans. It was time to get back. He needed to sleep before his night shift. At least he had a job to do, something to keep him occupied, it would have to do…for now.

The brothers are just missing each other by a day or two :-(