Stray // Daryl Dixon

If We Could Only Undo

I stood to the right of Daryl, watching him grow more frustrated with us by the second. Rick will not allow Merle to get anywhere near the prison. We discussed our next plan of action out in the middle of the road, Michonne waiting by our car patiently and Merle still passed out in the woods with Lincoln and Boston watching him.

"It's not gonna work," Rick spoke softly to Daryl. He didn't want to get angry with him, he knew Daryl was a good guy, but at the moment he was following his heart and not his head.

"It's gotta," Daryl snapped back.

"It'll stir things up."

"Look, the Governor's probably on the way to the prison right now. Merle knows how he thinks and we could use the muscle," Daryl vouched for him, trying anything to convince Rick.

"I'm not having him at the prison," Maggie said.

"He put a gun to our heads. Do you really want him sleeping in the same cell block as Carol or Beth?" Glenn also rejected the idea.

At the moment I kept myself quiet, as much as I hated Merle, I didn't want to fight with Daryl over his own brother. Although, the more he defended him and the more Daryl tried to ignore what Merle had done to us less than 24 hours prior to now was starting to get under my skin.

"He ain't a predator," said Daryl.

"Well, his buddy is--"

"They ain't buddies no more. Not after last night."

"There's no way Merle is gonna live there without putting everyone at each other's throats," Rick silenced the bickering. That set Daryl off. I watched him yell at Rick like the first day they met each other back on that mountainside campsite. Then, what I had never seen before, Daryl turned on me.

"So Red's brother and some guy we don't even know gets a free pass to the prison and yer gonna cut Merle loose?" Daryl shouted, swinging his arms towards me and where my brother stood in the woods.

I was done keeping my thoughts to myself now, "Lincoln and that guy got you to me!" I stepped in Daryl's face. He still seemed to tower over me, I looked up at him fuming. "Your brother was the one who brought me there! Daryl, look at my face. Merle didn't do this, but he may as well have 'cause we all would not be in this situation if it weren't for him!" My chest rose heavily as I tried to catch my breath, my heart was beating rapidly from how upset I was. I wanted him to know that, I wanted him to understand what position he'd be putting us all in if we had to bring Merle back.

He stared down at my face, his blue eyes boring into the slash across my cheek. His brows were furrowed before he relaxed the tension in his face, some guilt washing over him.

"Merle's blood," Daryl murmured. I stepped back from him, running my hands through my hair in frustration, walking a few steps away from the group to calm myself down. I knew where this conversation was heading. Daryl refused to abandon his brother.

"No, Merle's your blood. My blood, my family is standing right here and back at the prison," said Glenn.

"And you're part of that family," Rick reassured him, "But he's not. He's not."

I turned my head glancing back at Daryl, he already had his eyes on me. I could see him thinking, deciding what he wanted to do. "Fine," he said taking a long pause, still not breaking eye contact with me, "We'll fend for ourselves."

"That's not what I was saying," Glenn said like he was regretting how he spoke to him.

Daryl responded to Glenn, but it was like he was talking to me, still staring straight at me from beyond the group, "No him, no me."