**Complete**
Riley Grimes. The baby sister of Rick Grimes, a Sheriff's Deputy in King County, Georgia, a real southern man with a southern wife, southern son, and southern best friend, he's a survivor. Riley though? She moved to Maine when she turne...
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"Merle... I need you to wake up. Dare and I are gonna get married, and I... we... want you to be there. Come on Merle. Stop being a pussy and wake the fuck up." I growled out angrily. Carol and Hershel had managed to stop the bleeding hours ago. Dare and the others had come back with the food and left to go clear out the other cell block at least an hour or two ago, and Merle needed to stop faking it and wake up!
I glanced down at him again, lying, handcuffed to the bed, while I paced angrily in the small space left in the room. Glenn and Maggie had stayed when the others left to take the cell block. Something about Dare asking them to make sure Merle didn't kill me or something. And Lori and Hershel had cleared out as soon as I came storming into the small cell. Carol was the only one not afraid to stay with me, and she was sitting in a chair near the door, watching both of us anxiously, but I tried to ignore it.
"How long do you think?" I whispered out, finally sitting down on the edge of the bed near Merle's hip, when my feet were screaming at me to sit down.
"What do you mean?" Carol said gently, scooting her chair so she was next to me.
"How long until he wakes up? Human or walker. Doesn't matter. But how long." Carol let out a sigh, and tried to put her hand on my shoulder, but I shook it off, refusing to look away from the steady rise and fall of his chest.
"Well... if he died, stopped breathing... it could take anywhere from a few minutes to a couple hours for him to wake up as a walker. But... I don't think that will happen. He's made it this long. He's not bleeding anymore, and Hershel got him all sewn up. So, I think he will wake up. Human. I just don't know when." I nodded, but didn't look at her, instead, staring at Merle's face, like if I looked hard enough, he would magically open his eyes and everything would be okay again.
Honestly, I don't know if I'll make it without Merle. He's a huge part of my life now. We save each other. Often. I saved him that night up on that roof, he saved me the next morning from his brother, and we've been taking turns ever since. I haven't been able to talk to him as much as I would like, with the pregnancy and Lori and Daryl and everything, but he is still one of the four people I love with all my heart.
I would be heartbroken if he was never able to meet his niece or nephew, never able to see Daryl and I get married, never be able to find someone of his own, settle down, or not, if that's not what he wanted. But I always thought that nothing could hurt him, except him. And here he goes, proving me wrong. Damn. Does he love to do that.
After a few more minutes of silence, Glenn, Maggie, Lori and Hershel all wedged themselves into the room, Hershel inspecting the bandage, and even I could tell that it needed to be changed. He had stopped bleeding, but the bandage was still covered in blood, and it was just like a buffet for bacteria, saying 'Hi! I want you to come infect my arm and make me really sick so I die a slow painful death!'.
But before Hershel could say anything about it, and I could offer up more of my shirt, Carl came in, and dropped a bag on the floor.
"Thought you were organizing the food." Glenn said, confused, as we all stared down at the large bag.
