I seriously need to get to work finishing this up. You guys are awesome and I agree with a lot of your private messages. You crack me up. Hope you all had a safe weekend and thanks for reading!

Chapter Eighteen

Merle sighed internally. If nothing else, things around here at least got a little more interesting. He knew that Damon and Daryl both wanted this family to pack up and ship out as soon as their bowls were empty. Unfortunately, he couldn't do that. It wasn't even the boy that had him concerned, even though he was proving to be a real bastard. It was the little girl that was making him uneasy.

He watched her while the man talked to his wife in a voice too low for him to hear. The girl stared down at the fire but her dark eyes seemed blank. She hadn't spoken and while she was eating, the movements seemed mechanical. He hated that he gave a damn. He really did, and maybe if he didn't have a daughter of his own, he wouldn't even care, but he was a father and he did care. He couldn't send them packing until he knew the little girl was okay.

His eyes moved from the blank stare of the girl to her father. His face was hard, almost brittle as he talked in a low harsh voice to the woman. She stared into the fire and nodded as the man spoke. Merle didn't know why this pissed him off so bad, but it did. Maybe it was because this guy was obviously used to throwing his weight around, using his power to rule over others. Unfortunately for him, things didn't work that way anymore.

"You got a problem?" Merle asked, unable to keep his mouth shut for another second.

The man's head came up and the smile he offered seemed genuine. "Not at all."

Merle eyed him. He didn't trust this guy. He looked up when he heard Piper approaching, frowning because she was watching the boy as he tore a stick into pieces and absently threw the pieces into the fire. When her eyes slid over to his she grinned. Sometimes he wondered if he should have busted her ass more when she'd been a little girl. Maybe she wouldn't be so damn cocky.

She sat down on the log across the fire from the man and his family. "I've been thinking," she said, glancing at Merle before looking back at the others.

"Have you now?" Merle asked, wondering what the hell she had up her sleeve. He knew by the look in her wide green eyes that something was brewing in that head of hers.

She nodded and Merle noticed the man staring at her, along with the rest of them. Even the little girl seemed to snap out of her trance long enough to take Piper in. Piper was a little slip of a thing and she had the delicate face of some ethereal being, which made it that much easier for her to catch people off guard with her blunt words and abrasive delivery. "I don't trust your kind, Richard," she said, her eyes narrowing.

Richard smiled but Merle noticed his wife and son glance at him. The boy seemed smug but the woman looked almost fearful. "I can understand why you would feel that way but I assure you-"

"Cut the shit. What the fuck do I look like to you, huh? A registered voter?"

Richard's eyes grew wide and he glanced at Merle, waiting for Merle to do something about his daughter's use of dirty language. Merle just shrugged and leaned back into his own log, waiting the girl out. It didn't take her long to get to the point.

"You're a shifty bastard and the only reason you ain't back on the road already is because my dad don't want your kids to get their asses eaten out there. Don't think for a second that any of us are falling for any of your saccharine crap, okay? I think it's important for you to know that here, your old title doesn't mean a damn thing."

"I would never try to assert my authority on you or your family," Richard said sincerely but Piper wasn't finished. Merle knew that much.

"Your authority? Really? What authority?" Piper asked, crossing her arms and glaring. "Hell, I'm a sixteen year old girl and I outrank you. You have no fucking authority."

Merle finally leaned forward and cleared his throat when it looked like Richard was about to choke. "What's your point here, girl? Not that I don't agree with you, of course."

She turned her eyes on him. "I don't think we should let them have too much leeway. I think they should bunk in the cabin tonight."

Merle scowled.

"Hear me out," she said, her voice softer now that she was talking to him. "We can put Damon in the loft with us because you know damn well nothing would happen to me or Sophia with him up there. Not with the way he enjoys making people bleed and stuff. These folks can have the downstairs and you can keep your bedroom door open so if they try something stupid, you'll hear it. We can all sleep armed."

"You can't be serious," Brody said angrily, glancing at his father who was staring at Piper incredulously.

"I'm serious. We don't know you," Piper snapped, sharp eyes pinning the boy.

Merle cleared his throat. "You want me to just leave Carol in there alone with them?"

Piper shook her head. "Of course not. There really won't be enough room."

Merle frowned. "Well where the hell do..."

Piper grinned then and Merle couldn't help it. He grinned right back. "Okay. But you know your uncle is gonna throw a damn fit about this."

Piper shook her head. "Just let me handle it."

Merle nodded. "Seems like that's what I shoulda done from the get go. Where the hell did you get your smarts from, girl?"

She shrugged. "Must be self taught. Sometimes you're a dumb ass."

He chuckled, enjoying the look of outrage on Richards face at the thought of being treated like a common criminal.

~H~

Daryl tossed another shirt over a low hanging branch. She was almost done and he was eager to get back to the cabin now to see what the hell Merle had figured out. He had even taken his one change of clean clothes and taken her advice, going upstream and washing the dirt off. Then she had to be a dick and smile at him and giggle about how she thought he was a lot better looking without the dirt. It made him want to roll around in the mud. She was always giving him shit.

"Do you really think they're gonna dry just thrown over a branch like that?" Carol asked, shaking out one of his few shirts and carefully hanging it up.

He glanced at the lowering sky. "Ain't nothin' gonna get dry any damn way. It's gonna rain."

She looked up. "It might not."

"You just wanna argue. I ain't taken the bait. So fine. It ain't gonna rain."

She sighed and hung up the last shirt, turning to him with her hands on her hips. "I don't like arguing with you."

He glanced at her. "I ain't gonna argue with you over that either. You ready?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "I suppose."

He nodded and shouldered his bow, starting for the trees once she started moving. "Maybe we'll get lucky and Merle will have already sent those people packin'."

She was quiet as she walked next to him. He expected her to say something about that but she kept her mouth shut. The low sound of thunder in the distance had her cursing under her breath and he had to hide a triumphant smile.

Once the cabin came into view she finally spoke up. "You know, if you want, I can mend those for you."

He glanced at her and then followed her gaze to the holes in the knees of his cargo pants. "Waste of time," he mumbled, holding a branch back so she could slip under it.

She smiled. "Suit yourself. I kind of like it when you show a little skin."

His eyes raked over her as she ducked under his arm. "Look who's talkin'." Her own jeans were riddled with strategic holes. Whoever had owned them before had most likely bought them that way.

She flushed. "You have a point I guess," she muttered, no longer grinning as she scowled down at herself.

He knew she was uncomfortable so he shrugged. "It's a lot better than your bag lady clothes."

She smiled again. "I still can't believe I lost those."

He shrugged. She hadn't lost them. As soon as she wasn't looking he had burned them. All it took was one time seeing her dressed in clothes that were actually made to show off a woman's body to have him deciding that he wasn't going to give her an option to change back into the frumpy garb she had been wearing the day he had met her. He probably shouldn't have done it but someone needed to do something. They were awful.

Merle and the others weren't outside and as they came around the front Daryl noticed that the SUV was still parked where Richard had left it. Him and Carol shared a look before they crossed the small porch and went inside.

"Bout time," Piper said from where she sat at the table. "You missed a hell of a talk."

Daryl glanced around, scowling when he realized the family had taken over the floor of the cabin. Every spare blanket they owned seemed to be used to make pallets for the newcomers. "What the hell is goin' on?"

Merle came out of the bedroom, handing Kathrine an extra pillow. She thanked him quietly and then glanced at Daryl before continuing on with the task at hand. "They're campin' out in here for the night so I can keep an eye on things. Damon will be up there with the girls and my door is gonna be open."

Daryl felt his temper flare and he tried to calm himself down but he couldn't. There was no goddamn way in hell he was going to leave Carol here to bunk with people that she didn't even know. That none of them knew! "Where the hell is Carol suppose to sleep? That loft is barely big enough for the kids! She ain't stayin' in here with these people."

"Daryl-"

"Don't fuckin' start with me right now," he barked, turning his eyes on her.

She flinched at the sharpness of his voice and he almost winced. He fucking hated it when she did that shit. She should have known by now that there was no way in hell he'd ever hurt her.

Merle spoke up before she had a chance to say anything on her own behalf. "Figured you could just take her back to the shack with you for the night," he said, his eyes innocent.

Daryl glanced down at her but she was staring at Merle. He looked back up at his brother. "What the hell are you doin'?"

"I don't mind sleeping out here with everyone else, Merle," Carol said quickly.

Daryl looked from Merle to Carol but it seemed like they were having some kind of silent conversation. There was no way she could sleep in that shack with him. She would have to sleep in the bed because the goddamn floor was dirt. She couldn't sleep in his bed because it was his goddamn bed and it was already bad enough that he had to fucking dream about her being in it every night.

Then again, how the hell could he leave her here with these fucking freaks? And he wasn't about to suggest that she sleep in Merle's bed because he knew his brother and he wasn't going to let that happen.

He swallowed hard and then Merle met his eyes. He cursed under his breath at that look. It was a challenge. Merle knew how to push him. Merle knew him too well. When Merle's eyes slid back down to Carol he grinned. "If you stay here, you can bunk with me."

Daryl felt his jaw clench but then he felt Carol's hand on his arm. When he looked at her she looked like she was embarrassed over the situation.

"Maybe it won't be so bad," she whispered.

He swallowed.

"I'll sleep on the floor."

He shot Merle a hard look but Merle just smiled smugly.

"Really, do we look like we're in any shape to cause any of you people any harm?" Richard asked.

Daryl looked down at him. He was in the process of straightening out a blanket. Before he had a chance to think about it too much he turned towards the door and opened it wordlessly. He knew she wasn't following him and, sure enough, when he looked up she was standing there staring at the floor. "You comin'?"

She looked up, still looking indecisive but finally nodded and hurried towards the door.