Sorry for the wait! I have a few other projects I've been working on and I've been rotating between all of them. If things go as planned, in the next few weeks I'll be posting a new Caryl fic. I'm super excited about this one, and I really hope that if you decide to check it out, you'll enjoy it! :)

Chapter Twenty-Five

"Your...what?!"

If eyeballs could pop out of someone's skull, Merle's were dangerously close to doing so. It was almost comical.

"Carol is my wife." Daryl wrapped around Carol's waist. Instead of understanding what the gesture meant, Merle burst into a loud fit of laughter. The bug eyed look from earlier had disappeared. Tears even slipped from Merle's eyes as he continued to laugh.

"Good one, Daryl. You had me goin' there for awhile." He slapped his knee hard before turning his attention to Carol, who shifted nervously under the gaze. "So, how much is he payin' you to come here, doll? With your looks, probably a fortune."

"He's not paying me anything. We are really married Merle. I'm Carol." This time Carol held out her hand for him to shake, but he just continued to stare are her in disbelief.

"This has to be some kind of fucked up dream." Merle ran a hand down his face. "How the hell did you wide up with a woman like that?"

Daryl looked at Carol. "Do you think we should tell him?"

"Sure. Maybe he'll believe us afterwards." She gave him a weak smile and clutched her hands in her lap. Nervous.

"Kind of a long story," Daryl said. "But we got time. Well, I first met Carol at the convenience store in town." As Daryl told the rest of the story, Merle sat engrossed in his younger brother's words and Carol kept her eyes on the older Dixon, watching his reactions.

When the story came to an end, Merle looked at Carol with something unreadable in his eyes. "So, you just got married on Friday after knowing each other for two weeks?" His eyes narrowed and Carol felt Daryl get tense in his seat.

"Yeah."

"Why?"

She blinked in confusion. "What do you mean why?" Carol glanced at Daryl, hoping to get help, but he was glaring at his brother. "I don't understand."

Merle leaned back a little in his seat. "I'm sure Daryl, here, has told you all about the Dixons. We ain't looked on real fondly around here. What I want to know is why a woman like you got hitched to a man like my little brother."

"He's a good man," she answered immediately. "You say the Dixons are looked down on, here, but I haven't seen the reason why, yet."

"You're lookin' at one of them." Merle gestured to himself. "Got arrested for sellin' drugs. Doesn't get much lower than that." He seemed proud.

"We all make mistakes; it doesn't mean we're bad people."

Merle laughed and looked over at Daryl. "Looks like you found yourself a good one, Daryl. But seriously," his voice grew serious. "Why?"

"I love him." Carol said fiercely and held up her chin in defiance. She was not going to show weakness to this man, who seemed to be desperately looking for it in her.

"Oh, you love him," Merle mimicked. "Just like how our mama loved our daddy. Right, Daryl?"

"Merle," Daryl warned, his voice low.

The older Dixon just ignored him and looked at Carol. "Did Daryl ever tell you about our pa? How he used to hit our mama? How he used to hit us? Our pa was a Dixon through and through, just like Daryl. Just like me. Dixon blood runs through our veins, which means-"

"Daryl is nothing like Ed!" Carol nearly shouted. Daryl turned to her, eyes wide. Surprised. She didn't even know where that outburst had come from. But she couldn't stop. "He's not like your father, either. He's a good man, and I love him."

The words wouldn't leave her mouth for the past two weeks, but now, every chance she got, Carol would say them and she would keep saying them to Merle until he believed them. For some reason, the man couldn't seem to fathom that someone actually loved his brother and it made Carol pity and be angry with him. Everyone deserved love.

Except Ed.

He had gotten her love and destroyed her with it.

Merle was quiet for a moment, that infuriating smirk on his face as he looked between the two of them. By the way, Daryl clutched his fists under the table, she could tell that he wanted to punch his brother in the face. This meeting had not gone the way she had hoped.

"So, Daryl, why don't you give your lady friend-"

"My wife," Daryl growled.

"Your wife some money so she can get me somethin' from the vendin' machine. The food here is shit and I've been really cravin' some potato chips."

"No. She ain't gotta do shit for you, especially after the way you've been talkin' to her. In fact, I don't even know why we're still here." Daryl moved to stand, but Carol placed a hand on his shoulder and gently pushed him back down.

"I'll go," she said. "You and Merle should be able to talk without me here." She stood from the table and moved to go through the doors they had come in. There was a pop and snack vending machine just a little ways off from the sitting room.

"Wait, let me give you some money." Daryl reached for his wallet.

Carol held up a hand. "Don't worry," she made eye contact with Merle. "I got it." Then, she turned and left the room, knowing that once she was out of earshot, the conversation would be about her.

"That woman is usin' you, baby brother." Merle's eyes never left Carol's back as she walked out of the room. "I don't know what she wants, but there is no way in hell a woman falls in love with someone in two weeks."

"I fell in love with her first, and in less time," Daryl bit out. Those three minutes at the convenience score with only a few words spoken between them, Daryl had fallen in love.

"You've always been the soft one, Daryl. But that woman..." His eyes focused on Daryl. "Who the hell is Ed?"

In the retelling of the events that led to their wedding, Daryl had left out mentioning Ed, but with Carol's outburst, it couldn't be avoided. "Ed used to be her husband," he answered, getting angry just at mention of the man. "He used to hit her."

Guilt flickered for a second in Merle's eyes. Daryl hoped he was replaying their earlier conversation in his head and realized how shitty he sounded.

"I ain't takin' back what I said, though. That woman-"

"Carol, your sister-in-law."

"Carol is usin' you for somethin'. She's hidin' somethin', I can tell." His eyes bore right into Daryl's. "You know I've been always able to tell these things, little brother."

Daryl had enough. He didn't want Merle to know that deep down, he knew that he was right. Carol had opened up to him, but there was still something she wasn't telling him. Some times, he would catch her just drifting off, looking at nothing, and when he would call her name, she would start and look...guilty.

"I know what this is about," Daryl said, and stood up. "You're mad because things are goin' to be different, now. You ain't the only person in my life, anymore."

"That ain't it."

However, Daryl can read his brother like a book and he knew that was one of the reasons he seemed to be suspicious of Carol. Merle was afraid. Daryl almost relented and sat back down, but the way he had treated his wife kept him standing. Kept him angry.

"Look, I'll be here when you get out," he said. "You'll have the house to yourself. I'll be with my wife. I'll visit you and you can visit us, but if this is how you act around Carol, then I don't want you around. Got it?"

Merle's eyes narrowed and his mouth was set in an angry line. "So, that's how it's goin' to be, then?"

"Don't you dare play that damn card!" Daryl leaned forward on the table and hissed. They were probably making a scene for the two guards keeping watch, but he didn't care. "I was with you through all the shit you pulled, through all the times you went to jail and I had to bail your dumb ass out, with my own money. I never saw that money, again. I took care of you when you'd be high off your ass, so don't you dare try to make it sound like I abandoned you."

Daryl was so angry, he saw red, but the words continued to pour out of him.

"You've been in here for three years, and I've been on my own. Did you really think I would just pine at home, waiting for the day my brother would get out of jail and then, wait for him to screw up and have to go back?"

"Didn't you think you'd get your ass married?" Merle was angry, too, but Daryl knew he had no right to be.

"What? You didn't think anyone would love me 'cept you?" No one's goin' to love you 'cept me, baby brother, echoed through Daryl's head. Those were Merle's favorite words to him whenever he was high or drunk.

The door clattered behind them and Daryl straightened to see that Carol had just returned to the room. Her forehead was lined with worry when she saw that Daryl was standing and her eyes briefly shifting to Merle before coming back to Daryl.

"Is everything okay?" She asked once she drew near.

"Yeah," Daryl answered, trying hard to calm down now that Carol was here. "But we're leavin'."

"We just got here, Daryl. You and Merle have barely had enough time to talk."

"Oh, we've had plenty of time to talk." He stepped up to her and kissed her temple. "Let's go."

"Wait." She took a step away from him and walked up to the table to place the items in her hands down in front of Merle. "I got you a drink and a brownie, too." She smiled, though it was weak. "I didn't think you got any of that stuff in there." Carol straightened and crossed her arms over her chest to watch his reaction.

Merle didn't even look up when he reached for the snacks. "Thanks," he mumbled.

When Carol realized that was all he was going to say, she turned to Daryl, tears shimmered in her eyes. "Is this-It's because- I'm sorry."

Daryl immediately wrapped her up in his arms. "It ain't your fault, sweetheart. Let's go. Merle just needs to be alone, right now." Without glancing at his brother, he kept an around Carol's shoulders and they walked out of the room, out of the sitting room and into the parking lot.

Daryl hoped that Merle would understand that Carol was there to stay, and that she was now a big part of his life. Daryl loved his brother, but he wouldn't allow him to come between him and Carol. He loved her too much.

I love Merle. I really do, but he needs to figure some stuff out...even if he's not that far off from knowing Carol. She is hiding something. Don't worry, though, things with Merle won't stay this way. He'll come around some time. ;)

Thanks for reading!