The Spare Room

Summary: The bills keep piling up and if Daryl Dixon has any hope of improving his life, he and his brother are going to have to find someone to fill their spare room. The problem is that while he can't stand his new roommate, he finds himself falling for his roommate's girlfriend. Caryl. AU.

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters that you recognize from the Walking Dead.

Chapter 17

When Merle woke up the next morning, he was in pain. His entire body was sore, but his arm was throbbing. He needed a pain pill. He hauled himself out of bed, staggering a little as he tried to find his balance with his right arm strapped to his chest. He made his way to the bathroom, finding his pills in the medicine cabinet where Daryl had put them the night before.

Merle stared at the little white cap on the orange bottle. Child proof. There was no fucking way that he was going to get that lid off with an injured wing. Carrying his little bottle down the hall, he pushed his brother's door opened, intent on waking him and making him open the bottle…only when he did open the door, Merle found the very last thing he expected.

There were two women in his little brother's bed.

He stood in the doorway, blinking in surprise. It was rare enough for Daryl to have one woman in his bed, but to have two? That must mean that the pigs were flying around outside. Then, as Merle's eyes adjusted, he realized that Daryl was not in the room and that one of the women just so happened to be Carol Ann Taylor. What the hell was she doing in his brother's bed? Her boyfriend's room was the next one down. She get confused or something during the night?

Closing the door, he walked out into the living room. A quick glance at the couch told Merle that Daryl had opted to sleep out in the living room. Merle figured that the girls needed a place to stay and Daryl, ever the gentleman, offered up his room.

Honestly, sometimes the boy was too damn nice.

Merle reached down and shook his brother's shoulder, causing Daryl to jerk violently from sleep.

"The hell?" Daryl asked groggily.

"Could ask ya the same thing," Merle commented, "but first, ya need to open this shit," he directed, holding the pill bottle out to his brother. Daryl sat up and took the bottle from Merle to open it and palm out a little white pill. He capped the bottle and then handed Merle his pill.

"They say ya should take it with water," Daryl muttered, "Ya take the antibiotics?"

Merle shot him a look, "What do you think?"

"Point taken," Daryl groaned, getting to his feet, "Ya need to take that shit with food anyways. I'll whip us up some grub."

Merle nodded and followed his brother into the kitchen, "Your guests gonna be joinin' us?"

Daryl froze a little as he reached for the frying pan, but then tried to play it off like nothing happened. He shrugged and answered, "Reckon so. Ran into Carol's sister at Dirk's. She was messed up so we brought her here."

"And ya offered up ya bed to 'em? Ever the gentleman, huh, Boy?" Merle observed, sitting down at the table.

"Somethin' like that," Daryl said, moving to the fridge to find the bacon.

"And Mouse chose to bunk in your room instead of with her man," Merle added.

"Don't reckon she's too pleased with that asshole," Daryl said, "He got drunk off his ass last night when he took her out. I had to drive her home, but then I stopped off at Dirk's and we found Catherine."

"Knight in shiny fuckin' armor," Merle muttered. Merle was no idiot. He recognized that despite his warnings, Daryl was still making moon-eyes over that girl. Merle saw no point in it. She was engaged to Ed and seemed pretty dead-set on marrying him. If Daryl kept this shit up, he'd end up hurting and that was the last thing Merle wanted for his brother. He shook his head and said, "Brother, she ain't yours. Ya ain't the knight she wants."

"She ain't got no knight," Daryl commented, "She got the town drunk."

"Even so, she's marryin' that drunk, Daryl," Merle reminded him. Merle watched as Daryl bit the inside of his cheek to keep from saying something. It took him a moment or two, but he did eventually speak, if just to change the subject.

"Your money's in my jacket," he told Merle.

"Two grand, right?" Merle asked, perking up a little.

"Dirk gave me fifteen hundred," Daryl responded. Merle leapt to his feet.

"What? We agreed on two thousand!"

"Didn't know that," Daryl told him over the hiss of the bacon cooking on the stove.

"Fuck! Lil' prick!" Merle swore, "Dammit, didn't ya think fifteen was a little fuckin' low?"

Daryl turned away from the stove then and levelled Merle with a hard stare, "Beats the ever-livin' fuck outta me," he snarled, "I ain't no drug dealer. All I wanted was to get in, give him the shit, and get the fuck out."

"Ain't dealin' shit," Merle argued, "The deal was that I'd pick up the shit for fifteen and then Dirk'd give me two grand for my time."

"Yeah, well maybe ya should keep better company than Dirk Malick," Daryl griped, "At least ya fuckin' broke out even. Be fuckin' happy 'bout that."

"Pfft," Merle snorted, "I was told I was makin' a profit. Was told that it'd make up for them days we didn't work on account of the rain."

"It ain't that big of a deal," Daryl dismissed, turning back to the bacon, "Again, ya broke out even. That's a good damn deal when it's that fuckin' druggie we're talkin' 'bout."

Merle scowled and crossed his arms over his chest. He had had plans for that five-hundred dollars, plans that were now messed up by Dirk's cheap ass and a couple grand worth of hospital bills. That money was supposed to go towards Daryl's school fund.

"Next time, I'm gonna bust his ass," Merle growled, "Get our money."

"Ain't no 'our', Merle," Daryl snapped, "I ain't doin' this shit again. I ain't gettin' my ass thrown in jail."

Merle wanted very badly to argue that it was worth it if it meant that they'd get out of this shithole. He wanted to tell his brother that they needed that money now that he wasn't going to be working until his hand healed. Without it, it would take that much longer for Daryl to get to his schooling. On the other hand, though, Daryl had a point. If Daryl was in the slammer, then he wouldn't be able to have that better life that Merle wanted for him. Besides that, if Daryl knew that the account Merle had set up was being funded by drug money, he probably wouldn't accept it. Somewhere along the line, the boy had found a set of principles. Merle suspected that was Grandpa Norm's doing.

"Fine," Merle sighed, giving up on the subject. After all, there were other ways to get money, "So ya think any more on the whole extra roommate deal?"

Daryl just groaned in response.

0-TSR-0

Carol awoke to a warm body nestled against her own. She opened her eyes only to see the crown of her sister's blond head. She shifted slightly so that she wasn't getting a mouthful of hair and elicited a groan from Catherine.

"I hurt," Catherine moaned, burying her head into Carol's shoulder.

"I'm not surprised," Carol commented, "You had quite a night."

"Mary Ellen's cousin was going to a party, so we tagged along," Catherine explained without moving her head to look Carol in the face, "It was only a couple of drinks."

"What happened to Mary Ellen?" Carol asked, frowning as she thought about Catherine's friend.

"I don't know," Catherine admitted, "One minute she was with me and then the next, she wasn't. Where did you come from?"

"Daryl was giving me a ride home and he had to stop at the party to pick up some money for Merle," Carol explained, "He was the one who carried you out."

This got Catherine to lift her head and she looked absolutely awful. Her make-up was smeared and her hair was a mess. She groaned, "He saw me like this?"

"Oh yeah," Carol chuckled a little, shaking her head. Catherine moaned.

"Now I get why mom and you are so concerned with how you look," she said, "He probably though I was a mess."

"He thought you were a sixteen-year-old who was…uh…chomping at the bit to drown herself in a liquor bottle," Carol told her, remembering the conversation she and Daryl had the night before.

"Well, there goes any chance of being Mrs. Daryl Dixon," Catherine griped, rolling over onto her back.

"You didn't have much of a shot anyways," Carol teased, "You're too young."

And he apparently had his eyes on a different prize, her mind added, making Carol flush a little. Last night felt like a dream. She couldn't believe that Daryl had kissed her and that he apparently had feelings for her. He was the sort of man who could have any woman he wanted. Why her? Why now? Everything felt so complicated and knowing that Daryl had feelings for her made things even more complicated. She didn't know what to do. She was with Ed…the man who she loved and the man who promised to marry her. He had taken her virginity and therefore, it would be wrong not to follow through and take her vows. And yet…what had happened the previous night had scared and hurt her. She was sure that that was not the way a husband ought to act with a wife.

"Hey," Catherine nudged her, "What are you thinking about so hard?"

"Nothing," Carol lied.

"Carol," Catherine scolded, glaring over at her older sister.

Carol sighed. Catherine had always been her main confidante, but could Carol really tell her what happened last night? No. Catherine, though older than her years in a lot of ways, was still just sixteen…an innocent.

"Just thinking about how much trouble we're going to be in with Mom," Carol lied again, eliciting another groan from her sister.

"Is there any way we can lie?" Catherine said hopefully. Carol shrugged. It seemed that was going to be the theme of the day.

0-TSR-0

Ed felt like his head was going to pound out of his skull. He couldn't remember much about the night before, but he knew that he had drank too much and that Carol had seen him like that. He cursed his stupidity. After that whole fiasco with him hitting that dumb redneck, Ed had been trying to be careful not to drink around Carol. It had been clear from the get-go that Carol was too damn uptight about drinking and shit. Ed had thought that he had broke her of that line of thinking, but she had clearly gotten that attitude again after Ed gave that Dixon asshole a black eye. It pissed him off to no end that Daryl Damn Dixon was undermining all of the progress Ed had made with Carol in the last year. Since she'd been 'friends' with Dixon, she was talking more and more about going back to school in September, something that was a giant pain in Ed's ass. He didn't want to drive four hours to see his damn girlfriend and he didn't want her in the city alone without him to watch over her. Who knows what she'd get up to without him?

And speaking of that, Ed's mind drifted back to the moment yesterday in that piece of shit truck when she had told him about running into Daryl at Catherine's play. That ate away at him. There was something she was holding back about that 'run-in'. It was bad enough that she was spending time alone with the redneck, but the fact that she was keeping things from him was enough to get Ed's blood pressure rising. The fact that he didn't know what had happened at that theatre pissed him off. He wasn't going to be played a fool. He wasn't going to be like his father. The old man was too blind to see that his wife was fucking everybody in the fucking town until he walked in on the bitch doing another man. That wasn't going to happen to Ed. Ed wouldn't let his woman do to him what his useless mother did to his father.

Ed sat up and rubbed his hand over his stubble. He'd pop an aspirin, take a shower, and then figure out what to do about this whole Carol situation. He figured that there would be a lot of pussy bullshit coming out of his mouth for a while.

He opened the door and stepped out into the hallway only to find that the bathroom was currently occupied. He cursed the damn Dixons under his breath and waited impatiently for the door to open.

Ed was caught off guard by who came out of the bathroom. It was a young blond girl with wide green eyes wearing an old t-shirt and sweats. She looked like hell, with messy hair and bleary eyes. She looked like Ed felt.

"Oh," she said when she nearly ran into him, "Uh, sorry, Ed."

Ed frowned for a moment. How did this girl know his name? She must have sensed his uncertainty.

"I'm Catherine," she introduced herself, "Carol's sister. I don't think we've met."

"Right," Ed said, still frowning. What the hell was Carol's sister doing here? Then he looked closer at the clothes she was wearing. They were Daryl's. He recognized the sleep pants and the green and black t-shirt. Why would Carol's sister be here, at the house, dressed in Daryl Dixon's clothes? Unless…

Well, that made sense now. Dixon was just trying to get close to Carol so he could bone her kid sister. Apparently Dixon liked 'em young, the sick bastard. Maybe Ed didn't have to worry so much after all.

The sound of a door opening had both Ed and Catherine turning towards the sound. Daryl's door was open, but instead of the redneck, Carol stood in the doorway. Ed's jaw dropped as he stared at his girlfriend. Her hair was messy from sleep and she looked at little surprised to see him there. The worst of it was that, like her sister, she was wearing Dixon's clothes. Sweatpants and a stupid Meat Loaf t-shirt.

"Morning, Ed," Carol greeted in a small voice, holding her hand out for her sister, "Let's get something to eat, Catherine."

Catherine bounded after Carol and they walked towards the kitchen and Ed stood there for a moment, completely gobsmacked. What the fuck was his girlfriend doing in Dixon's room and why the hell was she wearing Dixon's clothes?

Ed felt his blood pound in his veins. She was fucking him. Her and her sister had been lured into some sick and twisted game by that piece of shit redneck. Ed was ready to kill the bastard. He stormed in the same direction as Carol and Catherine, rounding the corner that led into the kitchen.

"Catherine had a rough night," Carol was explaining to Merle, "She was at a party and got drunk and I didn't want to take her home like that, so Daryl let us stay in his room and he slept on the couch."

Ed registered this and stopped cold before he let his anger unleash. He glanced at the couch and noted the pillow and blanket still on it.

"Mighty nice of the boy," Merle said as he chomped on the bacon that Daryl was pushing onto his plate, "Thought ya woulda bunked with ya boyfriend."

For the first time that morning, Ed mustered a small smile. For being a redneck, Merle wasn't stupid. He knew the score.

Carol was quiet for a moment before shrugging her shoulders and explaining, "I wanted to stay with Catherine. I didn't want her to wake up alone in a strange place."

"I have the best big sister," Catherine said, looking at Carol appreciatively before sitting down across from Merle, "I'm Catherine."

"Merle Dixon," Merle said between mouthfuls, "Bacon?" he offered, looking to his brother, who, to Ed's chagrin, was looking at Carol. His dirty redneck eyes were locked on her, looking at her like he wanted to throw her against the cupboards. Dixon could care less about the little sister, who was looking up at him. Merle cleared his throat loudly.

"Here," Daryl said, moving to shove some of the bacon in the pan onto another plate. Catherine looked down at it and grimaced.

"No offense, Daryl, but that makes me want to throw up," she said. She did look pretty green around the gills.

"Alcohol does that to ya," Daryl told her, moving back to the stove, "What d'ya want? Ain't much here, so don't be too damn picky."

Catherine thought about it and looked over at her sister, "Carol makes the best pancakes."

"I could whip some up," Carol said, smoothing back an unruly curl on Catherine's head before she moved closer to the stove, taking over the cooking. Ed watched as Daryl stopped what he was doing, simply watching her as she moved beside him. Ed's lip curled in anger. Just like he had expected, the fucker was trying to move in on his girl and she…she was actually smiling at the asshole. Ed wanted nothing more than to charge in there and give that damn Dixon a good ol' knuckle-sandwich, but he restrained himself. Carol would surely object to precious little Daryl getting what he deserves. She was caught under his dumb-hick-aspiring-to-be-more shtick that he was pulling to steal her away. She was falling for it. It was unacceptable. Ridiculous.

"So what d'ya do that makes them pancakes the best?" Daryl asked from where he was leaning against the counter.

"Nothing special," Carol said, shrugging her shoulders as she searched for a mixing bowl, which that son-of-a-bitch provided her with. Ed noticed Carol blush a little as their hands touched. Ed stepped out of the arch that led to the kitchen so that he was out of sight as he threw a silent temper tantrum, screaming with no noise and mock-hitting the wall.

This was bullshit. Pure and utter bullshit! The thought of that asshole and Carol together made Ed want to scream. Carol was Ed's, plain and simple. He was not going to lose her and he was not going to let that son-of-a-bitch take her from him. It was bad enough that Ed had to watch that piece of shit stare at her, but the worst of it was that Ed didn't know what happened when Daryl and Carol were alone together. And he didn't know how often they were alone together.

There was the theatre.

And the time she had delivered pie to the house when Ed hadn't been there.

And who knows how many other times that Ed did not know about. Things couldn't continue on the way they had been. Ed couldn't remain ignorant about what his woman was doing or who she was hanging around with. He had to know what she was up to. She would not cheat on him with that useless redneck snake.

No, Carol needed to be around Ed at all times so he could keep her in line.

She needed to move in with him.

It would be risky with that dumb fuck in the next room, but this way, Ed could regulate when and how often they saw each other. Right now, he knew nothing. Hell, she could be fucking that prick for all Ed knew.

Ed shook off the thought. She wasn't fucking the trash. She knew better.

But Carol really needed to move in with him. He needed to know where she was. He needed to know who she was with.

He needed to marry her.

And he had just the thing to make her his.

TBC

AN: Well, Old Ed isn't as oblivious as he looks.

Please let me know what you think so far! Thank you for all of the wonderful and kind support!