A/N Much love to you guys! Thanks for reading, I love hearing from you. Enjoy. Sorry for the shortness of this chapter, I promise I'll make it up with the next one.

Sam wakes to the bustle in the camp while everyone starts the day. She sits by the fire, trying to work out some of the knots in her back.

"It gets cold here at night" a woman with a Hispanic accent says "We should have some extra blankets somewhere. But the cold is why your shoulders hurt, shivering and trying to stay warm."

"Miranda, right?" Sam asks, she nods "That would be wonderful. Are you sure your family doesn't need them?"

"Yes, we have more than enough." she heads back to her car to get the blankets.

Sam ducks into the tent with the armful of blankets. Merle drops a small vial in one of the pockets on his vest and wipes his hands on his pants.

She drops the blankets on the floor "Look what Miranda Morales gave us. Her and he family had some extra."

Merle kicks off the corner of the blanket that landed on his shoe "You expectin me to take charity from some beaner? Get this shit out of here."

"No." Sam refuses "She gave them to me, and I intend to use them. I wasn't asking your permission, and I don't need your opinion."

Merle stands and gets right in front of her.

"Merle you better get the hell out of my face, right now."

"Or what?" Merle taunts.

Daryl can hear the argument from the edge of the woods and he hauls ass to the tent. Sam and Merle are nose to nose, shouting at each other.

"Get the fuck away from me." Sam shoves Merle hard and he stumbles back a few steps.

Daryl manages to catch his infuriated brother by the back of his shirt before he can charge at Sam.

"Take a walk Merle." Daryl all but shoves him outside "Go cool off."

"Why you protecting that bitch? Huh? I'm your brother, flesh an blood. She's expectin us to take handouts from some damn beaner." Merle struggles against Daryl's hold on his shirt.

"I'll take care of it Merle, go get some water or something." Daryl is finally able to let go of his brothers clothes when he starts walking away. He turns to Sam "What the hell was that? He woulda busted your face if I hadn't stopped him."

Sam, still on the defensive, fires back "I would have been fine. I can handle myself against one fucking backwoods racist redneck."

"You crazy?" Daryl stares at her "He's got least a hundred pounds on you. And military training."

"Ok, fine. So maybe he would have kicked my ass if you hadn't come by." Sam says, completely honest "But I would have gotten a few good punches in."

Daryl shakes his head at her inability to admit defeat, "Over what?"

"Miranda gave me some extra blankets, I got cold last night." Sam arranges some of the blankets in her sleeping area "I know he doesn't want any, but what about you?"

"Nah, I'm good." he shakes his head, but helps her fold the rest of the blankets.

"Were you out hunting again?" Sam asks, folding the last blanket.

"Somethin like that." he says "Wasn't really out there long enough to get anything."

"You seem at home in the woods. I always wanted to go hunting, but it's a little harder in the city." Sam says, genuinely interested "Do you think next time you go out I can come too? Maybe you can teach me."

Daryl glances away "Yeah, I'll get you next time I go."

"Cool. Thanks." she smiles

Sam smiles to herself the rest of the day, looking forward to the future hunting trip. She decided to avoid Merle as much as she can. As the sun sinks, Merle comes down and is tolerable to be around again. Even a little nice. When Glen asks for volunteers to go to Atlanta in the morning for a big run, Merle actually wants to go.

"Might as well be useful while I'm here." he reasons when Daryl questions it "See what the city's like an all."

Sam is still wary "You know, you're going to have to listen to Glen. He's done this before, knows how it works.:

"Yeah, yeah." Merle brushes her off while he walks over to Andrea, who also volunteered "Hey there Blondie, looks like we're gonna be a team."

Andrea rolls her eyes in disgust "I'm not letting you watch my back. No way."

"Well how 'bout I watch your front? I'd be ok with that too." Merle laughs as Andrea walks away "She just don't see the charm. Can't handle a real man."

Sam is worries as she looks the group over while Glen explains their plan. Glen, Andrea, T-Dog, Jaqui, Morales and Merle. That's just a recipe for disaster. But Merle seems to really want to go, so Sam keeps her mouth shut.

Daryl walks back over to Sam after a short conversation with Shane "We're goin huntin tomorrow, try an bag something for dinner. We'll head out round the same time as the other group. Probably spend the night out in the woods. So be ready."

"Ok." Sam says, containing her excitement.