Born 2 Be Wild-A Merle Dixon love story

Chapter 63

  The next day gunshots startled me, it startled all of us. I was able to move around better so I went out in the hallway with Carl. We couldn't see anything, but we'd be able to take anything that tried to get in, out. As we were walking I heard someone speak. I put my arm out to stop Carl then placed a finger to my lips. I heard again, it was Rick. I motioned Carl in the direction Rick's voice was coming from. We came around the corner to find Rick, shining a flashlight at us.

"We heard gunshots." Carl told Rick.

"I need your help." Rick said. "Jessica, you stay here to guard Judith and Beth. I'm not sure what's going on, but you need to be here."

"You two be careful out there." I said as I went back towards the office and they left the building.

I stood guard outside the office that Beth and Judith were in until my legs felt like they would collapse. But even after that I kept pacing in front of the doorway. Like Hershel always says, we all have jobs to do. Protecting Beth and Judith is mine at the moment.

The sound of running footsteps and a very familiar voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

"I'm over here!" I yelled back.

Daryl came running around the corner, but stopped a few feet away from me.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

I didn't give an answer. Instead I ran towards him. He caught me in his strong arms and hugged me tightly.

"I could get you sick." Daryl said softly.

"I don't give a shit. We have meds to treat it now." I said, still not letting go of him.

"I missed you too." Daryl told me. I could hear the smile in his voice.

After I finally let him go I looked over his face. He looked okay to me. The only difference was he looked dirtier than he had when he left.

"I'm gonna go check on the others. I'll be back in a few minutes. Then we can head to C block. I need a nap." Daryl said when I was satisfied with the way he looked.

"Okay, I'll be here." I said as he was walking away.

I stuck my head in the door of the office to find Beth right next to it.

"Eavesdropping are we?" I asked, although I knew the answer.

"I might have been." She said, grinning up at me.

I rolled my eyes but smiled anyway.

"Do you love him?" Beth asked suddenly.

"Yeah, but not in the way that you're thinking. Daryl's my best friend. Always has been."

"You two kissed, back at our farm. You seem like more than just best friends to me."

"Daryl and I have been a lot of things. Us being a couple never really stuck. My heart will always belong to Merle Dixon." I told her.

"Why? He was a jerk."

I laughed. "Yes he was. But he was also a lot more than that. He was my savior when I was a kid and needed protecting. He was my rock when my mom died. He was the person who saw me at my absolute worst and didn't change his opinion of me. He was the father of my child, and he was my other half."

Beth didn't say another word on the subject of my love for Daryl or Merle. She just nodded her head and went to check on Judith. I hate having to explain the reasons why I love Merle, but in a way I'm glad that no one else knew him like I did.

Daryl came back not long after that and we went back to C block together. We both went to bed but neither of us could fall asleep.

"I'm too damn tired to sleep." Daryl said after he got tired of tossing and turning.

"I know how you feel." I told him, although I could have slept. The only thing keeping me awake was his constant movement.

Daryl sighed and punched his pillow before turning over. I decided that talking would probably help him go to sleep.

"Do you remember that bar in Blue Ridge that had those amazing loaded baked potatoes?" I asked

"You mean that one that you got us kicked out of? It was called The Black Cat and I remember it well." Daryl answered.

"I did not get us kicked out of there. It was the waitress that got us kicked out." I argued.

"You poured a pitcher of beer over her head and then hit her in the face."

"I also kicked her"

"Right into some big ass biker dude who nearly knocked your ass out."

"Merle busted a chair on that guy's back."

"I know, I was there."

"Since you were there you'd know it was the waitress that got us kicked out. She provoked me, more than once."

"That didn't mean you had to beat her down." Daryl told me, but he was laughing.

"You would have done the same thing. If she would have just left us alone like Merle and I both told her to, she wouldn't have gotten her nose broken."

"I think you broke some of her ribs when you kicked her."

"Bitch deserved it."

"All because she hit on Merle."

"I was willing to let it go. But she kept going on and on. Talking about how she'd slept with Merle when they were younger and practically begging him to go home with her."

"I got ready to fight the moment you wrapped your hand around the handle of that pitcher. I knew it was about to go down."

"Yeah, well she shouldn't have said that I wasn't woman enough for him. I showed her."

"You showed her how much of a man you could be." Daryl said as he started laughing again.

I grabbed my pillow and smacked him with it. But it only made him laugh harder.

"Do you remember what you said to Merle when we got out of there?" Daryl asked.

"Not exactly. I got knocked in the head a few times in the brawl."

"You said something like 'I can't go anywhere in this damn state without running into at least nine women that you've fucked.' Then you just walked off. I half expected you to hit him." Daryl told me.

"I wanted to. I used to wish sometimes when he was out at a dealer's house or somewhere getting shit faced that he'd just leave me. I'd always regret the thought afterwards, because I didn't really want him to leave, I just wanted him to stop all the bad shit he did. But now I would gladly take a rip roaring drunk Merle, or hell even a strung out Merle. I wouldn't mind dragging him to the shower again to sober him up under the ice cold water. I just wish I had him back now." I said as tears slid across my face and onto my pillow.

Daryl put his arm around me. "I know, I would too."