We practiced the rest of that week. Shooting arrows into inanimate objects, Daryl standing next to me on occasion to join in. He hit his mark nearly every time. He gave me the weekend off like he had promised, but it didn't matter. I took my bow and arrows with me, setting up pop cans and whiskey bottles in my back yard to practice on my own.

When that following Monday rolled by and we made it to our spot in the woods, he asked me to fire a 'test' shot before going on to moving objects. So, I loaded an arrow onto the string and let it fly, only using a couple seconds to aim. Bullseye! When I turned to see his reaction, 'stunned' was probably a good word to describe his expression. Luckily for me, I seem to be a pretty fast learner.

All of the second and third week into my training, we focused on moving targets. Starting with bigger objects, like a bail of hay, to an old stuffed animal, to beer bottles, to a piece of cardboard. All objects was tied with a string and hung by a branch as Daryl pushed it to make it swing. It took two weeks for me to get good enough to be 'promoted' to the piece of cardboard.

I almost shit myself when I first saw it. My mouth felt like it had dropped to the ground as I watched him attach the string to the top of it. He had cut it into a shape that resembled a person's head. It literally had a sad face drawn on it too. I immediately doubted myself. "How the hell am I gonna be able ta hit that? The wind'll make it flip while it swings."

He let out a small chuckle as he picked up his crossbow from the ground. "Yer gonna practice til ya get it. Ya said the same damn thing 'bout the movin' beer bottles KJ. So quit ya bitchin'" He gripped the 'head' and pulled it to an angle, letting go to make it swing left and right in the air. Quickly jogging over to where I stood, he lifted the crossbow up to his chin. The tip of the bolt swaying to match the motion of the moving object until he felt good enough to pull the trigger. His bolt swooshed through the air, passed right through the middle of the cutout and stuck into the trunk of the tree. Show off asshole.

And there went a whole MONTH of practicing with that. That's right, it took a whole month for me to get good enough to hit that target at least three times in a row. When Daryl had finally decided that I'm now an official archer, he finally took me out to hunt with him. I was already decent when it came to tracking and hunting deer, but squirrels, that was another story. Those little bastards can run. It definitely took me a long time to be able to bag those furballs without much problem.

Then one day I woke up and realized a full year had flew by. It had been a year ago today that I started my training with Daryl Dixon...and it began with us being bull headed. But in that year, Daryl and I did get a little closer. We weren't a couple or nothin', in fact, most would probably label us as friends. I'd say friends with benefits, since we did hook up a few times throughout the year, but it wasn't lovey dovey sex. It was just...well...sex. The first two times it happened, we were drunk. The third, well that was just a heat of the moment. However, he just simply calls us partners. As in huntin' partners. The weird thing about all three times though, he wouldn't let me take his shirt off.

I can admit that I've fallin' for that prick and I know he cares about me, but I don't know if he has those type of feelings for me. He's sorta awkward. It took him until just last month to finally open up to me about his family. How his parents were jerks most of the time, his momma burnin' herself to a crisp, Merle in and out of juvie when they were kids, his daddy in prison now for assault, but should be getting out soon. All the while, he's just survived by basically floating through life. Sticking close to his older brother. Merle most definitely isn't man of the year...but I have reasons to believe that Daryl almost sees him as a father figure.

And me...well I opened up to him a little too. I told him how I never knew my momma, since she died a year after I was born. I guess she had a heart attack and was just gone. My daddy? Well he wasn't as much of a dick as Daryl's, but he definitely wasn't grand either. He was a good father until I hit about twelve, after that he got hooked on all sorts of shit. Alcohol, heroin, downers then upers. Whatever he could get his hands on. His mother, my mamaw, helped take care of me until she died on my eighteenth birthday. I know right? Happy fuckin' birthday to me. After that I was on my own. Daddy disappeared on us when I was sixteen, I have no idea where he is to this day and I honestly don't care.

Oh, back to the whole Merle thing? Yeah well, we managed to stay out of his radar all year long, until yesterday that is. So...I guess I can take ya back for a minute.

We just got back from huntin'. We weren't gone long. I snagged two squirrels and a rabbit, while Daryl landed six squirrels. Of course, my stupid ass chose to wear daisy duke shorts to go huntin'. It was dumb of me because when I tripped over a branch, my left leg managed to get sliced open during my barrel roll down a hill. Whatever I hit cut me all the way across the front of my thigh, right under my shorts.

Daryl quickly helped me up and wrapped his arm around my waist as I wrapped one of mine over his shoulders. Good thing we wasn't too far from the house, so I didn't have to limp for long. As soon as we made it through the door, we dropped everything. I wobbled over to the sink so I could hold onto the edge of the counter.

Once he was finished pushing all of our stuff into a pile, he walked over to me and grabbed my hips, lifting me up onto the counter top. I sat as close to the edge as I could so I wouldn't get blood on my clothes. "Here." I looked up and saw him holding a damp rag to me. "Wash it off best you can, I got some ointment and bandages in my room."

I took it from him and began cleaning the cut as he disappeared into the living room. I tried to hold back the tears but hissed as the cold rag made contact to the still bleeding wound. It stung like crazy, but from what I can tell, it shouldn't need stitches.

It didn't take long for Daryl to come back with a roll of white bandage wrap and a tube of disinfectant ointment. By that time, I managed to get the cut pretty clean and the bleeding to stop, for the most part anyway. He sat what he had in his hands on the counter and stood slightly between my legs, reaching up to open the cabinet that was above my right shoulder.

I saw the bottle emerge from the cabinet and cringed. Hydrogen Peroxide. That shit usually didn't burn, unless the wound was kinda deep. My body shivered from the thought of pouring it on my leg. I was so caught up in my childish fears, however, that I was beyond weirded out when I finally saw Daryl unbuckleing his belt while still standing in between my knees. "W-what the fuck are you doin' Dixon?"

His belt was pretty much out of half his loops when I asked that. He paused and gave me a confused look before a smirk landed on his face. "Relax woman." He pulled the rest of the belt out like he was pulling a sword from it's sheath before handing it to me. "Take it." I took the belt from him and sat there frozen, staring at him as if he lost his mind or something. He grabbed the bottle of Peroxide in one hand and a gauze pad in the other. Once he saw my facial expression, he knew what I was silently asking. "I ain't gonna sugar-coat nothin'." He wiggled the bottle in his hand as if he was taunting me. "This is gonna hurt like hell. Put the belt in between ya teeth so ya got somethin' ta bite on."

I shut my eyes for a moment and let out a dramatically long sigh before mumbling, "Dammit." As he unscrewed the cap from the bottle and poured some onto the gauze pad, I tried giving myself a mental pep talk. 'Alright Kelsi, put ya big girl panties on and quit ya bitchin'. At least...that's what Daryl would normally tell me. He stood in front of me, patiently waiting for me with a cocky smirk plastered on his face. I took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Alright, take care of me Daryl." And with that, I put the leather belt in between my teeth and held onto the edge of the counter.

"Yeah...I'll take care'a ya." He placed his left hand on my inner thigh below the cut, his other hand hovering over with the gauze pad. "Ready?"

I reluctantly nodded my head and uncontrollably stiffened. Let me just confirm, that it most certainly did hurt like hell. I just clamped my eyes shut and bit down hard, my screams sounding muffled. My knuckles turning white as my grip continued to tighten on the counter top edges. It felt like it lasted forever when it all suddenly stopped. I must of zoned out or something, because one minute I was fighting off the pain and the next thing I know, he was already wrapping the bandage around my thigh.

But, right as he clipped the bandage so it would stay on, we heard the door fly open. Both of us involuntarily jumped, our eyes growing wider by the second. It was Merle and he looked pissed. He looked angrily confused at the two of us. And here we are, me; sitting on the counter edge all sweaty with Daryl standing in between my thighs. His left hand still resting closely to my inner thigh where the clip was. And because the cut was conveniently close to were my shorts stopped, from Merle's point of view, it probably looked like Daryl was trying to reach for my lady parts. Awesome.

The searing grin on Merle's face made my stomach churn. "What the hell are you in here doin' baby brother?" My heart was pounding. It felt like someone was gonna just run in here screaming 'busted', even though we wasn't even doing anything. Daryl quickly straightened his posture and took a few steps back from me while I subconsciously closed my legs, trying to pull my shorts down as far as they would go at the same time. The older Dixon finally stepped in all the way, closing the door behind him while letting out a small chuckle. "I know you're not in here tryin' ta hit this broad on the counters that we prepare our meals on, little D."

Both of our cheeks turned completely red. Daryl let out a grunt and glared at his brother. "It ain't like that."

Merle just laughed at that, his eyes moving to and fro between us before finally stopping his gaze on me. "Ain't you that chick that works at Jacob's Video Store down the street?" My body was shaking I was so nervous. We stayed out of Merle's line of sight for a whole year. How can we get caught now? I tried to look at Daryl for an answer, but he kept his head low, absentmindedly chewing on his thumbnail. My mind started spinning, trying to come up with something to say, but Merle was an impatient man. "What's a matter lil lady? Cat got ya tongue? Or did my brotha gnaw on it so hard it quit workin', huh?"

Finally my fear began to transmit into anger. So, I decided to give him a glare of my own while answering his first question. "Yeah...I'm that chick from the video store down the street."

I saw Daryl give me a look in my peripheral, silently asking me why I had to be a smart ass. Merle started to step closer to us, until something caught his attention. He finally noticed the pile on the floor of the kitchen. Our weapons and dead prey. However his gaze went back to us when he heard me hop down from the counter. I kept my distance from Daryl though.

Merle just stared at us for a few seconds before slowly walking over to our pile. He gently scoops up the rope that held Daryl's six dead squirrels and examined it. "So," he started as he positioned himself in front of his younger brother, "you're replacin' yer dear older brother for video girl over here?"

"We just went and caught dinner Merle, I ain't replacin' nothin'."

I'm guessing Merle wasn't convinced because he tried to hit Daryl with the rope of dead animals, but Daryl quickly ducked so it hit the cabinets instead. "How long have ya two been poundin' it out behind my back, huh?!"

Daryl shoved him a little to get him to step back. "I already told ya it ain't like that bro! Will ya drop it now?!"

Merle took in a deep breath as he leaned his back against the fridge across from us, trying to calm himself down. He gave Daryl a serious look. "Alright then baby brother...explain ta me what this is. If ya two ain't been gettin' it on behind my back...then why the hell've ya been sneakin' her in ta my house? Huh? Ya think ol' Merle here was too stupid ta notice the girly pink socks she left in my bathroom last week? Is that it?" Both of our eyes went wide at that. You mean to tell me he knew for a whole week now? Our surprised looks just made him smirk. "That's right. I caught ya. Now answer me."

Daryl let out a long sigh, avoiding eye contact at first before finally addressing his brother. "Look Merle, I've...I've just been teachin' her ta hunt. That's it. We go out, tag us some game, come back and skin em, then she takes a shower and leaves. That's all this is."

He crossed his arms over his chest, his smirk becoming more prominent. "Teachin' her ta hunt, huh? How much she payin' ya?"

I decided to answer that, quietly saying, "I'm not."

His smirk quickly disappeared. "I know my lil brother ain't stupid enough ta give free handouts, we ain't a damn charity." He gave Daryl a stern look. "She at least payin' ya in pussy?"

It got quite after that. I could see Daryl inwardly struggling. He wanted to say no, but he also didn't want to anger his brother any further. So...I decided to take one for the team. He's had enough stress in his life and I don't want what we have to be over. "Y-yeah..." they both looked at me then. Merle grinning and Daryl gave me a look that read, 'what the hell are ya doin' KJ?' "We're...we're uh...huntin' partners...with benefits."

Merle laughed hard at that, so hard he actually had to grip onto his side and use his free hand to keep hold of the fridge. "Hu-huntin' partners with benefits, huh?" He asked in between chuckles. Once he finally calmed down enough to catch his breath, he looked at me with a large smile. "What kinda freak show shit are ya into video girl? Huh? Shootin' down furry creatures turn ya on? Get ya gears'a grindin'? That it? That why yer leg's wrapped up? Ya teachin' my lil bro freaky moves? Ask him ta cut ya while he fucked ya?" He let out another hard laugh as he looked at Daryl. "Huh baby brother? This crazy broad teachin' ya ta cut n' fuck?"

Daryl narrowed his eyes at Merle, obviously not finding the joke as funny as his brother. He must of finally had enough of Merle's laughter, because he let out an annoyed grunt before saying, "Will ya shut yer mouth already? Ya over grown ape."

Merle tried to force his laughter down as he opened the fridge and pulled out a beer. "Now, now lil bro. No need ta get ya panties in a pinch." He twist the bottle cap off and took a big swig. Then his eyes landed back on me. "So he teaches ya ta hunt in exchange for some pussy. Sounds like a good deal ta me. I can teach ya a few things for the same price. What ya say there video girl? Wanna learn ta drive a clutch, hot wire a car?"

I glared at him hard, my fists subconsciously clenching at my sides. Daryl's brother or not, this prick is askin' for it. "I ain't one of yer lil whores Merle, so go fuck yerself!"

He chuckled a little before taking another large drink of his Budweiser. "Not a whore huh? Then what the hell do ya perfer ta call it?"

I started to open my mouth to go at him again, but Daryl interjected. Instead of just opening to cuss up a storm, my mouth completely dropped. "She's my girl."

He said that right when Merle started to take another drink, so instead of going down his throat, he ended up spitting the mouth full all over the kitchen floor. "Yer girl?! What like a pet-"

"No...as in my girl, girlfriend...she's..." his eyes looked at me for a split second before landing back on Merle. "She's my ol' lady alright? She ain't available ta nobody."

Holy sweet mother of God...did Daryl Dixon just say I was his girlfriend?