True to Merle's projection, Daryl banged on the side of the box truck at the crack of dawn. Sinclaire sat up and stretched, Merle rolled over and swore. She only caught every few words.

"You know that when you say that about him you're insulting yourself too right?" she asked.

"Huh?" Merle squinted.

"Unless you don't have the same mother," she went on. "Then…"

"Get the hell outta my truck," he growled.

She laughed and opened the backdoor. She wasn't exactly a morning person despite the career choice, but teasing Merle sort of made getting up early worthwhile.

"You look cheerful," Lori remarked.

"Merle's funny," she admitted with a smile.

"You've got an odd sense of humor," Andrea commented as she walked by.

Sinclaire only shrugged and accompanied Rick down to the river to get the water bottles and submerge another batch.

"This is going more smoothly than I thought," Rick admitted. "I guess I have you to thank for that."

"You have the fact that you threw his cocaine off the rooftop to thank for that," Sinclaire admitted. "But I'll say you're welcome and take all the credit with no problem."

They ate a relatively civilized breakfast in the bar kitchen and then got to work, dividing into the teams they'd discussed before. The voices of the rest of the group blended with the hammering and occasional rasp of the saw. Shane was mostly quiet, only giving her orders that she had no choice but to follow since he was the one who knew what he was doing.

Over the course of the day she heard Merle's irritated, "What the fuck ya thinkin'?" several times. She heard a yell of pain followed by a sarcastic, "Man up. Or ya want me to kiss it an make it better?" from Daryl when Glenn hammered his thumb and wanted to take a break. Rick and Lori had an argument about what level actually looked like, but it was solved by Shane going to Daryl's truck, getting a level and tossing it Rick's way. Sometime late in the day Andrea and Dale took a break to fix some food and Daryl let Glenn go help them.

Sinclaire was impressed with the amount of work they'd gotten done. By night they should be finished. She found herself smiling.

"What ya so happy about?" Merle asked from across the room.

"We're almost done," she replied. "Isn't it exciting?"

"Yep. This is my happy dance," he answered without moving a muscle.

Daryl snorted as Sinclaire laughed.

"Ya excited too?" Merle drawled.

"Hell, I'm just surprised it's standin'," Daryl shrugged. "Remember the shed?"

"That was yer fuckin' fault little brother," Merle replied indignantly.

"Yeah, I made the mistake of leavin' ya alone while I went to the store. By the time I got back the damage was done," Daryl actually gave his brother a grin.

Even more to her surprise, Merle returned it with a shake of his head.

"If ya'd got the foundation right then that shed woulda stayed where I put it," he replied.

"So what you're saying is that we should sleep with pillows over our heads?" Glenn questioned, stepping back inside, clearly interested in the debate playing out.

"Couldn't hurt," Daryl answered.

"What happened to the shed?" Sinclaire asked, before Merle could explode with curiosity about Daryl and Glenn's relationship.

"We hung all the tools in it," Daryl explained. "Went in for supper…by the next mornin' the whole damn thing was leanin'. I got the stuff out of it; put it back where it'd been before I had my big idea…eventually the shed fell over all the way. But I know this won't." He cracked his knuckles and stretched, then said, "Cause Merle made T and Dale do most of his work."

Sinclaire and Glenn laughed; Merle flipped them both off and went back to what he was doing. Soon all the walls were in place.

As he was hammering the last nail Shane said, "I wanted to tell you something."

"Okay."

"I don't know what anybody else has told you about me, but I'm the one who kept these people alive this whole time. Rick showed up and the whole thing started going to hell…we lost a lot of lives because of him. Now I look at some of them as my responsibility. You want to protect Merle that's your business. But you mess with me again and you won't like the outcome. Are we clear on that?"

"What happened to "you don't threaten me and I won't threaten you?" she asked in a low voice.

"This isn't a threat," Shane answered, keeping her gaze level with hers. "This is just good information for you to have. It's better when everyone's prepared."

"And who is it you're so vigilant over?" she questioned. "Would it happen to be Rick's wife and son?"

He didn't answer; he just walked away. She shivered in spite of herself. He could be one creepy dude when he wanted to be. She wondered if she should mention it to anyone, but she didn't really know who to tell. She was too new to get into the politics of the group and if she told Merle he'd just go and get into a fight with Shane right away. She resolved not to worry about it. Maybe he was just being paranoid and overprotective. Maybe it would be different when he had a decent sense of safety. And maybe she'd be an idiot if she didn't make sure she was always armed and ready around him.

After supper Carol swept the rooms out with the broom they'd found in the pantry and then everyone started bringing things in and pumping up air mattresses. Sinclaire shook her sleeping bag out onto the mattress and then did the same for Merle since he was sitting out on the back porch with Daryl. She leaned against the doorframe and watched the brothers passing a bottle of water back and forth. That was really nice. It was sort of Kodak moment-ish; then Daryl said something in a low voice and Merle punched him in the arm.

"Ya motherfucker, ya really had me worried," Merle barked.

Daryl only shook his head and finished the last of the water in the bottle as he stood up.

"Yer an idiot," he said, walking inside and past Sinclaire. "Night Sinclaire."

"Night bow hunter," she replied. "Thanks for doing all this…"

"Hell I didn't do nothin' ya'll didn't do too," he said with a shrug.

"Not true, you have to hear Glenn whine about his thumb."

"Hey! I'm not whining. I am simply calling attention to my agony." Glenn protested from his mattress. "I mean look at it!"

No one obliged. Merle shoved Daryl out of the doorway and went to lie down. Sinclaire lay down as well and reached out to blow the lamp she'd found in the camping supply store out.

"Said he ain't fuckin' the chink," Merle said with satisfaction.

Sinclaire opened her mouth to answer, but they heard an outraged "What?" from the next room, which happened to be Daryl and Glenn's.

"Goddamn these are thin walls," Merle went on. "Ya heard me!" he answered Glenn, as he banged the wall with the palm of his hand.

"Better watch it," Daryl's voice came through the wall, dry and amused. "Ya put this one up."

"Go to hell," Merle growled, giving Sinclaire a dirty look in response to her wide grin as he blew the lamp out himself.

"He really thought I was gay?" she heard Glenn ask a few moments later.

"Hell, it wasn't you he was worried about," Daryl replied. "Go to sleep kid."

"Good night," Glenn replied huffily.

Sinclaire snorted with laugher and Merle reached across and smacked her in the arm. She returned the favor with a punch to his bicep, which led to what they both considered a quiet exchange of lightish punches and smacks.

Daryl, hearing the rustle of sleeping bags and the other general racket called, "Ya'll keep it down. There's people that ain't so lucky."

Sinclaire rolled over onto her back, scooting out of Merle's reach and said, "Night John-boy."

"Night Elizabeth," Daryl answered without hesitation.

"Ya'll watch too much TV," Merle muttered, throwing his arm over his eyes.