Sorry for the delay! I was gone all day on father's day and yesterday a friend arrived from out of state so I am up before dawn so I can update before I get busy doing something else and forget. Thank you for reading! =)

Chapter Sixty

Sophia was excited. She hadn't ever had an actual Birthday party that she had looked forward too. Usually it was just her and her mom and sometimes Ed. It was always strained and pretty pathetic. She still wasn't Miss Popular by any means but she had Piper and Damon and the other guys and she had so many people that gave a damn. It was going to be a lot better than any other party she'd ever had. If you could call them parties at all.

There were a lot of cars and bikes parked in the back once they arrived with the usual people milling about. The deafening roar of the others pulling up beside them had her grinning as she finally unwound her arms from around Damon's waist. She looked over at the bike that pulled up right beside them and laughed as Piper pulled her legs up and stood up on the seat.

"Damn it, Piper," the boy she had ridden in with grumbled. He happened to be Randy's nephew, Eli. He was a little older than them and Sophia had only met him a few times. He climbed off the bike, grabbed Piper and threw her over his shoulder. It was easily done since she only weighed about ninety pounds. Sophia's mouth dropped open when Piper wound her legs around the guys waist and kissed him. Kissed him in a way that had Sophia looking away. It wasn't the first time she had seen her kiss the boy but it was the first time she had ever done so out in the open like that.

Damon leaned down, his lips close to her ear. "Buck wouldn't let them date until Piper was seventeen. Eli's nineteen already so he had hang ups. Actually," he glanced over his shoulder, "If any of them saw this, whether she's seventeen or not, they'd likely string poor Eli up."

Sophia grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the crowd. She heard Piper's feet hit the ground behind her.

Piper squeezed between her and Damon and grabbed Sophia's hand. "What do you think they got us?"

Sophia shrugged. "I don't know. Clothes? I wouldn't mind having new clothes."

Piper made a face. "I asked for a tattoo. Maybe they got a tattoo guy to come out."

Sophia laughed. "You aren't even old enough to get a tattoo."

"Yeah. None of us are old enough to drink beer and stay out all night either and yet... Besides that, your boyfriend has a lot of tattoos and he's the same age as us."

Sophia laughed at that. Damon did have quite a few tattoos for a boy that wasn't even a legal adult. "You have a point."

"I always have a point."

"You do. You really do," Sophia said, rolling her eyes.

~H~

Carol rushed to put her dress back on. "I can't believe we did this," she muttered.

He glanced up from under his brow as he fixed his belt. He grinned. "I can."

She put her hands on her hips, glaring at him. "That's because this was all your idea. We should have waited until we were home. We're adults, remember? We don't need to sneak off and do this"

He stood up, yanking her forward. "But it's fun."

She tried to give him a severe look but she ended up grinning at him instead. "We need to get down there. I'm sure the kids are here now."

He pulled her out of the room and down the stairs. She had the overwhelming feeling that people would know exactly what they had been doing. As soon as they got outside Merle glanced over at them and then did a double take. He met her eyes and then his brows shot up.

"What?" She hissed.

"You're cheeks are all pink and you have a hickey," Merle muttered quietly so no one else would hear.

Daryl chuckled and slipped away, throwing her a smug look over his shoulder.

"Damn it," she grumbled, covering the side of her neck with her hand.

Merle shook his head and reached around, grabbing her hair tie and pulled it out so her hair could fall over her shoulders. She huffed and arranged it so no one else could see. "I swear he did that on purpose," she grumbled, slipping under Merle's arm.

"Yeah, I'd say he probably did," Merle grinned pulling her closer until she wrapped her arms around his waist. "But you're the one that picked him so you can't bitch about him now."

She laughed into his side. "Well, the good outweighs the bad anyway."

Merle snorted but before he could say anything someone else appeared.

"Merle, don't you think it's rude of you to cozy up to your brother's girl?" Andrea asked, raising a brow.

Merle seemed to stiffen so Carol moved so there was a little space between them. Sometimes she forgot that her and Merle had a strange relationship that others just may not understand. Like times like this when she was basically hanging off of him. "What do you want, Andrea?" Merle asked, not sounding very friendly at all.

Carol frowned but Andrea didn't seem to be very offended by the tone. She just smiled. "World peace. What do you want, Merle?"

He scowled and Carol studied their eyes carefully, now more convinced than ever that there was definitely an underlying current of tension between them.

She cleared her throat. "Well, I'm gonna go ahead and find Sophia. Andrea, I hope you are having a good time."

Andrea smiled, a genuine smile, at her and nodded. "I am. It's nice to finally get around this bunch for reasons that aren't so damn dire. Make sure you find me before the party is over. I'd love to talk to you some more."

Carol nodded, shot Merle an apologetic look, and then walked away to find Sophia. Whatever was going on with Merle and Andrea was their business. The tension was thick between the two of them though and she wanted nothing to do with it. She found the kids sitting at the picnic tables and was making her way towards them when someone grabbed her from behind, arms going around her middle and hands resting on the sides of her belly. She smiled.

"Why did you take your hair down?" Daryl asked, resting his chin on her shoulder.

"Because, you're an ass."

He chuckled and then kissed her shoulder. "I am. Figured Andrea thought to highly of you. I thought a hickey would white trash you up a bit."

She elbowed him in the ribs but all he did was laugh in her ear. "I take it this isn't the kind of party where everyone will be singing happy Birthday to them, right?" She asked, leaning further against his chest.

He snorted. "No. Last time we tried that Piper threw a fit. She was only five too so we stopped."

"I can see that. Who's her boyfriend?" Carol asked, watching as Piper leaned in, kissing a boy she didn't recognize.

"Oh shit. I told Merle and Buck this would happen," Daryl muttered. "That's Randy's nephew, Eli. He's not a bad kid but he's a little older. A few years ago Buck found out that they were sneakin' around and he told her she wasn't allowed to date him until she was seventeen. He thought she'd be over the kid by then but I'm guessin' that didn't happen."

"She wasn't allowed to date this whole time that Sophia's been seeing Damon?" Carol ask with a frown.

He chuckled. "See, that's where things get tricky. Piper is the baby and she's a girl. As much as I hate to say it, that's a game changer. Damon gets perks that Piper don't get cause he's a male Dixon and we're... uh... well, we do whatever the fuck we want. So Piper had to wait for the whole dating thing cause Buck and Merle are sexist."

She turned, staring at him. "And how do you feel about that?"

He shrugged. "Piper and me are different. She's more like a kid sister than anything else. I've snuck her out a few times to see him."

Carol's eyes grew wide. "And if Buck found out?"

He shrugged. "Then he'd kick both our asses."

"And if I had forbidden Sophia to see Damon?"

"Then I woulda taken her to see him anyway," he said without taking a moment to think about it.

She gave him a look that had him back tracking.

"Or I'd probably just talk you into letting her see him anyway." He tipped back his beer to buy himself a few seconds. "Look, Eli is a good kid. He's got a temper on him but we all got issues with that. He's a club member. We've known him his whole life. Hell, he's practically family. Buck and Merle were just looking at the fact that Piper was a girl and that was some bullshit. So I stepped in and helped her out."

"And if this baby was a girl instead of a boy?"

He scowled. "That's different. She'd be way to young to start seein' boys. But I wouldn't be a damn hypocrite."

She laughed. "And what about if she was fifteen and decided to date a boy just like you?"

He glanced up at the table where the kids were and then glanced down at her stomach before meeting her eyes. "You're an asshole," he muttered. "Besides, neither one of them boys got shit on me. When I was their age I was at my peek. Hell, when I looked at a girl I didn't see anything but a piece of ass. Those two are all love struck. And the point is, those girls, with this lifestyle, need those boys. I mean, look at'em." He gestured towards the table. "I had to physically stop Damon from killin' Ed that night. As long as she's with him, she's safe."

Carol's smile faded because she knew why something like that was important to him. The things he had been through would force him to look at things differently. He wasn't sexist, really, but the safety of their women was important to all of them and especially important to him. On the outside she could see how bad it would look. The way these men spoke really did make it seem as though women were property. In reality, she knew it was much more than that.

"So, when do we start? I want to see the look on her face when she realizes what you've done," she said, changing the subject.

He shrugged. "You think we shoulda got her a newer car?"

Carol felt her eyebrows shoot up at that. "Do you really think she won't like that car?"

"I don't know. I liked it. Merle liked it. Buck liked it. But it ain't gonna be our fuckin' car, you know?"

"She's going to love it. At least you got her something. I failed completely this year."

He cocked an eyebrow. "The car's from you too. Hell, if you divorced me tomorrow I'd have to hand you half of everything I own."

She shook her head. "You're ridiculous."

He nodded, "Yeah, I know." He threw an arm over her shoulder and led her towards the picnic tables.