Y'all, while writing this chapter it dawned on me just how much I disturbingly love the character Merle and love writing him even more! Every time Jenni and Merle interact, I just have so much fun and I feel such a dynamic between the two that I honestly didn't expect. The thought of Jenni living at Woodbury during the time of Season 3 was conceived a long, long time ago and I always knew she and Merle would interact, but I feel a lot more inspired now for Jenni's story and even her relationship with Merle this time around and I think it's going to play out rather nicely if I may say so myself!

So, I apologize at any point if it gets too wordy or even a little off-point at times! Please feel free to call me out because I am in no way a professional and need all the help I can get...It's true, a fortune cookie told me so!

Also, consider this a warning because...well...Merle

But, anyway, not that that's off my chest...Enjoy Chapter 2! As always, please feel free to review!

It had been about two weeks since Jenni was cleared to go out again and two weeks since Merle started teaching her how to track. Today, Merle was testing her skills. She didn't know what he'd make her track, but he said it was coming and he was going to take her far into the woods to start. She made a joke about luring her out in the woods to cut her up into a million little pieces, but he just gave her a look and she remained quiet since then.

Jenni played with the rings around her neck, her fingernail tracing the engraving on her late husband's band. She thought about him a lot since Amelia made her debut. He had wanted a little girl so bad and he believed with all his heart that their new baby was going to be the one that changed everything. She was a symbol of hope. Hope for a future, hope for life, hope that maybe things wouldn't always be shit.

She wanted to believe the same thing, but she wasn't sure if she could afford to hope so recklessly. Right now, she couldn't think about the future. The present and keeping her children alive today was more important. They've only been at Woodbury for almost four months. She wanted to believe that this was the place her children would live long, happy lives and grow old in, but she knew better than to hope that much. Sometimes, hope could be dangerous.

Jenni looked up and watched Merle march confidently in front of her. Jenni always thought Merle looked like he was in his element every time they left the safety of their walls. He was an outdoorsman through and through. Of course, he was always more than ready to call it a day and head home, but a part of her suspected that he only agreed to train her to get himself out in the woods without the Governor keeping him on his leash.

She eyed the gun on his right hip and his knife on the left. He equipped the bayonet at the end of his prosthetic and he seemed ready to take on the world. That same, unbuttoned tan shirt hung limply around his lean, muscular frame and he just embodied the perfect soldier.

Merle reminded her of a lot of the men her father hung around as far as how he carried himself. She knew he was a man with many addictions, but she sensed many demons and regret being drowned out by them, as well. He was an asshole, for sure, and it was a unanimous thought by all of Woodbury and, well, anyone who met him. Jenni had called him that herself many times since meeting him and she'd never falsely accuse Merle of being anything but inappropriate and unpleasant, but there was something about him that drew her to him.

She knew it had to do with the teddy bear her infant daughter seemed so drawn to. She had asked Merle -after interrogating every other resident in town- about the darling gift and that faint spark of recognition in his eyes was impossible to glance over. Of course, he denied having anything to do with it, but he was the only she talked to that even knew what she was talking about. She never told Merle that, but smiled to herself at the obviousness.

Jenni took a deep breath and listened to the sound of the world around them. Cicadas screeched their shrill song and she could hear the sound of tiny feet scurrying away in the distance. She was never much of an outdoor person, but Emaley loved it more than anything, so she spent a lot of time outside to allow her oldest child the freedom to run, frolic, and play all day long. She smiled at the memories of laying out in the sun, a glass of sweet tea in one hand while looking out at her young daughter climb trees like a monkey and make mud pies after a nice Georgia rain.

"Did you and your brother spend a lot of time outside? Is that why you're so good out here?" Jenni broke the silence between them and sped up her pace to walk just a step behind him.

Merle was silent for a second as those piercing eyes looked at her from the corner of his eye and his mouth set in a hard line. "We're out here to train, little sister. Nothin' more."

Jenni noticed the muscles in his jaw lock at the same time his shoulders tensed. "I just thought it might be a little nice to talk...about before, y'know? Memories of how things were is what keeps me going."

"And forgetting works just peachy for me, darlin'. So does the quiet." He retorted pointedly and stared ahead of him.

Jenni's shoulders sank in defeat and she huffed a breath. "I get it. There's things about before that I like to forget, too." Jenni remembered the dream she had two weeks ago and the memory of her father destroying their home in a drunken rage after the death of her twin sister and the abandonment of her mother.

Merle stopped abruptly and turned on his heel, squaring his shoulders as he loomed over her and curled his lip, desperately trying to bite back what he really wanted to say. "I ain't here to sit and talk about your mommy and daddy issues, sugar tits," he smiled at the look of offense sparkling in her eyes and watched her swollen breasts rise and fall as her breathing picked up in her anger, "unless yer feelin' all vulnerable and need ole Merle to make ya feel real good…"

Merle reached up and pushed the stray hair in her eyes back behind her ear and Jenni rolled her eyes, batting his hand away. "Ugh, nevermind, Merle."

His eyes glimmered at her obvious annoyance, clearly reigning victorious in this "heart-to-heart," and cocked his head at her. "Aw, c'mon, darlin'. Ya ain't tellin' me ya ain't a lil' tempted now? I mean, I thought we were havin' a moment just now."

Jenni cocked a brow at him and crossed her arms tight against her chest. "And why would I ever stoop so low as to sleep with a Dixon?" She spat the name out as if it was taboo and smirked when she saw him lift his chin and narrow his eyes at her.

"Ya ain't nothin' but a goddamn cock tease, ya know that?" Jenni couldn't help but laugh at his remark and rolled her eyes as he continued, "Ya remind me of my baby brother, sugar tits." He remarked as he took off again, not bothering to wait for her to react.

Jenni smiled again, a wide smile that brought a spark of life to her dark brown eyes and crinkled the corner of her eyes, and jogged to keep up with his long-legged pace. "Baby Brother's a goddamn cock tease, too?"

If looks could kill, Jenni would have dropped dead. He looked over and glared down at her as they walked, but Jenni noted how obviously flustered he was since he couldn't focus on anything, his hard-as-steel eyes desperately searched for something to drag him out of this conversation. "Shut yer damn mouth, little sister! That ain't what I meant."

At that, Jenni couldn't bite back the laughter that exploded out of her. She stumbled slightly as she threw her head back at the same time he took his good arm and shoved her away from him. "Let's just go back to not talkin'."

Jenni wasn't okay with that, though, but decided to have a little mercy on him. "C'mon, tell me about your brother! Please? I'll be your best friend…" Jenni bit the corner of her lip and smiled, trying her best to give him a flirty look without cracking, hoping that'd get what she wanted out of him.

"After all yer shit? Nah." Merle bit out dismissively, looking at his feet while he kicked a chunk of a fallen tree branch out of his way.

Jenni nodded once and arched a brow. "Well...we could talk about the bear..." She prodded, looking around at him as she bit her lip again.

Merle scoffed and glared at her. She knew how much he hated it when she brought up the bear and he avoided it like the plague, denying its existence. "What do ya wanna know about my baby brother?"

Jenni clapped childishly in victory and tucked her hair behind her ear as she thought about exactly what she wanted to ask him. "What was he like? Or, I guess I really mean, was he like you? I had a sister -twin actually- and we were like night and day…" Jenni let her question trail before she got to thinking or talking too much.

Merle didn't look at her as he answered, but she saw his shoulders tense again as he walked. "My baby brother was the sweet one, too soft for the world...before and after. Sunovabitch needed someone like me to keep 'im straight...keep 'im alive…"

Jenni looked up at him with her prodding, dark eyes and looked for any sign of him continuing. When he said nothing else, she just accepted his answer and thought it over. She barely knew the man Merle spoke about, didn't know his name, but she felt like the little bit of information he gave her spoke volumes.

Jenni chuckled humorlessly and bit the corner of her lip. "Sounds like the opposite of you...must mean he's a pretty good guy," she mused, hoping to rile him up, but he just stared ahead in contemplative silence.

"Was, darlin'. He ain't got me no more...so it's was."

Jenni rolled her eyes and rested one hand on the gun at her hip. "You know, this world changes people...Makes people step up...It can change people for the good. Your brother...I think he's out there because you showed him how to survive."

Merle stopped again, but this time he balled his fists and looked at Jenni over his shoulder, turning at the waist to glare at her better. "That group...the one my brother n' I were with...We were gonna rob 'em blind, sugar tits. S'what we planned from the start. An' that's just who we are…" Merle paused to completely turn to face Jenni and lunged at her, jabbing a finger into her collarbone with a snarl, "Ya know, maybe if ya'd been this nosey about yer own family, Jamie's brother wouldn't'a died...Maybe that baby o' yours wouldn't be growin' up without her daddy...but no...ya'd rather have yer nose so far up my shit than to pay any attention to yer own!"

Jenni cursed the tears she felt welling up at Merle's cruel words and she felt the anger and hurt boil in her stomach as his fiery blue eyes peered down at her, ready to strike at any given moment.

"If ya'd cared this much about Emaley, maybe ya'd actually have her instead of circling the woods for some dead girl-"

Hearing Emaley's name leave his lips, Jenni released the red-hot fury building in the pit of her stomach and slapped Merle across the face as hard as she could.

The piercing slap echoed in the quiet woods around them and Merle barely reacted besides grinning devilishly at her and rubbed his fingertips over the red mark already appearing on his cheek. "Yeah, yer just like my baby brother."

Jenni's brows furrowed low and she resisted the urge to slap him again and again and again until that stupid grin was smeared clean off his face, but she knew he had the advantage. Those broad shoulders and toned arms screamed a reminder of how much stronger he was than her. Any fight she'd pick with him would be immediately lost.

"Eat shit and choke on it, asshole." Jenni ended her remark by spitting on the ground by his shoes and spun around on her heel, stomping back the way they came.

Merle just chuckled and rubbed his cheek as he watched her storm away. "And where do ya think yer goin', babygirl?"

Jenni shivered at the pet name but didn't turn to face him as she kept on her way. "Back home. I ain't staying out here with you for another second."

Merle just chuckled again and shook his head. He watched her leave, plastering his well-worn, smug look on his face, and ignored the heavy feeling pushing on his chest when he heard her sniffle and watched her wipe her face with the back of her hand.

Chase sat in the circle with the others in the house T-Dog had spotted and looked at the exhausted, defeated faces around him. Weeks passed by and they still hadn't found anywhere for Lori who could give birth any time now. Rick was getting desperate and the seriousness of her condition was wearing down on everyone now.

Matt sat across from him, Kelly pressed tight against his side, and he pushed the thin chunk of beef jerky into her hand after she refused three times before that. It had been a while since either of the Stewart brothers had seen Kelly or any of the others smile. Chase kept his stories and trips down memory lane to himself now.

The only sound in the deteriorating house was the sound of Carl's can opener as he peeled back the canned dog food he found and the sound of Daryl aggressively plucking the owl he had found and killed, focusing on his task at hand.

He caught Lori's eyes as she sadly watched her son desperately open the can of dog food and he was sure the same thought was going through their heads as Chase tore his eyes away and stared down at the ground. They weren't that desperate yet, but Carl was trying. Trying to help, trying to show his dad that he was capable just like the rest.

Rick sauntered over and ripped the can out of Carl's hands before he got the chance to get it all the way opened and chucked it into the empty fireplace after inspecting it. Chase and a few others jumped at the loud intrusion and watched as Carl hung his head in complete embarrassment and defeat.

He wanted to crawl over, tell him it was alright, but he also couldn't think of a word to say to him. He wasn't the little boy Emaley spent every weekend with anymore. He was growing into a young man, reared up by the dead and decay of the world. If he couldn't figure it out for himself, how could he make it easier for a boy the same age as his daughter?

Their moment of rest was cut short by T-Dog's whistle and it was back to their regularly scheduled program. Chase sighed as he jumped up, threw his bag over his shoulder, and joined the others as they rushed out the door towards the vehicles. Before stepping outside, Chase reached back and pulled Kelly by the arm in front of him and Matt followed. Besides Rick and his family, Matt and Kelly were the only family he had left. He had to know and see that they were okay at all costs.

Kelly ripped her knife out and stabbed it into the head of a walker that popped up around the corner and made a beeline for the nearest vehicle, holding Matt by the hand in a vice-like grip. Chase hesitated for a minute as he watched Lori and Carl make their way over to the vehicle Carol had climbed into and held the door open for them.

Knowing they were okay, Chase followed his brother and his girlfriend into the car they were in and slammed the door shut behind him, their driver immediately taking off.

It had been this way for weeks. At the start, they were able to find somewhere decent enough to stay for a few days, but those chances were getting slimmer by the day. Walkers seem to multiply at a rapid rate. Small towns and back roads were getting as dangerous as the cities. They had to find somewhere, anywhere, good enough soon. Chase wasn't sure how much longer any of them could really take out here.

He looked over at Matt and Kelly who sat huddled together in silence. As much as his heart ached at the sight of his brother with someone, he was happy. As shitty as the world was for everyone else, it was Matt's redemption. He was no longer the strung out, paranoid, selfish older brother that he had to support. He stepped up and protected his daughter and their little sister when Chase wasn't able to.

He wanted to find somewhere good for them, too. Everyone worried about Lori, and rightfully so, but Chase hoped to find somewhere safe for his brother and unofficial sister-in-law. They deserved a life and they deserved to live it without the constant fear of walkers ruining their happiness. Glenn and Maggie deserved the same. Their whole group deserved it after everything they went through.

Before they knew it, the walkers were long gone and Chase knew what was next. Once they found the right spot, they were going to have to stop and map out their next step. They were terrifyingly low on food and water and they couldn't make it very far without it.

Stopping not too far from a creek, Chase looked ahead and saw Rick's vehicle come to a stop and the rest of the caravan followed suit. They didn't have much time and they would have to be careful, but it was as good a place as any. They could hopefully stock up on some water while they were at it.

The rest of the group steadily and uniformly piled out of the vehicles and took position. Chase never bothered with the map and preferred to have Rick and the others take lead. It wasn't even a year yet and Chase had had his fill of maps and desperate searching. He'd happily follow wherever Rick and the others felt best, but he was done looking on his own. This setup was definitely the preferable one.

Chase took watch beside Carl and twisted his hat to the side when he came up beside him. Carl just scoffed and looked up at him with a small grin, turning his hat back to the right spot. He knew not to bother him too much while on watch and definitely had no intention of offending or insulting his newfound maturity. Still, seeing flashes of the boy that was still there was nice.

Chase listened absentmindedly to the sound of the others gathered around the map. It was just another rerun, the same trouble appearing like it always did. Herds were too big and blocking off their better opportunities and the safe zones were already picked clean. T-Dog was right, they had practically spent the whole winter running around in circles. He wasn't sure how much was really left out there. Not without taking a risk or making a huge sacrifice.

He heard Matt take off with T-Dog and some of the others as they went looking for water and Kelly walked over to where Lori sat in one of the vehicles. He smiled at the two and sighed. It was hard to look at Lori and not imagine Jenni, just in the same sense it was hard to look Carl in the eye and not see his little girl staring back at him. He was thankful for the reunion because he never imagined they could get second chances like that now, but sometimes it was rather painful to have your former life staring right at you.

That left Carl with Chase as Rick and Daryl split off in hopes of hunting. They wouldn't be gone long, but it was enough time.

After his dad had disappeared behind the trees and was no longer within hearing range, Carl looked up over the brim of his hat and cocked his head back. "Chase?"

"Yeah?"

Carl squinted against the sunlight as he contemplated what he was going to say. "When...If we find somewhere safe soon...do you think we can try and look for Emaley? I wanna help...I can help now."

Chase sighed as he felt his heart thud uncomfortably in his chest. "I dunno, bud. Matt and I spent months looking for her and Daryl doesn't even know where to start-"

"We can't give up on her, Chase! She's family. We've already had to look for a friend once...we know what to do now…" Carl interrupted his excuses with a stern, demanding look in his eye. Chase almost smiled at how much he looked like his father when he did that.

"I want to find her, too, Carl. I do...It'll take a miracle, though. Especially to find somewhere safe enough that would give us the time and resources to do something like that." Chase finally responded after a moment of silence. Carl was resilient and didn't take no for an answer when he already had it set in his mind that that was how it was going to be. He wasn't quite sure who he resembled more now; Rick or Lori?

Carl nodded, knowing Chase wasn't just being pessimistic about the future. They spent almost eight months combing the woods hoping a can of corn was going to be the difference between life and death for their whole group. There was no denying how dire their situation seemed.

The two stood in silence after saying their peace. The others would be back soon and they needed to make sure they had the all-clear to pile back in and leave as soon as possible. He needed to focus, but he couldn't stop thinking about Carl's request.

He wanted his daughter, he truly did, but he wasn't sure how much hoping his heart could handle. He felt like he was failing his only child by wondering if he should give up and move on, but he also thought about the what-ifs. He had heard about the group's search for Carol's daughter, Sophia, and he couldn't stop thinking about the similarities. If he found Emaley walking amongst the dead or just her corpse…

He shook his head to clear his thoughts. No, he couldn't think about it. Not now, especially. Matt and T-Dog crawled back up the ditch with their jugs full of creek water. Rick and Daryl shouldn't be much longer. Matt helped T-Dog load the jugs into the back of one of the vehicles, laughing and joking without missing a beat.

Chase watched the two with a smile. Matt had had friends from before, but they all had selfish tendencies and were too self-destructive for his liking. Not that Matt was more innocent than those he hung around, but it still didn't help that that was who he allowed as his influences. But now, things were different. He seemed to hit it off with T-Dog and Chase couldn't have approved more.

His wandering thoughts were interrupted when Rick and Daryl scurried back onto the road from the woods, but empty-handed except for the few squirrels Daryl had tied over on a string over his shoulder. Instead of the mutual look of defeat and despair, Rick's eyes hovered over to Lori and washed over the rest of the group with a shimmer of hope that almost felt foreign.

Daryl shrugged his rope of squirrels off his shoulder and tossed it into the back of the truck as Rick waved Chase, Carl, and Beth over when he gathered close to the majority of their people. Allowing Carl and Beth to walk in front of him, Chase couldn't help but feel a little unsettled at the look dominating Rick's face.

"I know how this sounds and I know it sounds impossible, but while Daryl and I were hunting, we stumbled upon something. Something I think could be a gift to us, we just have to work for it," Rick paused for a moment as he tried to come up with the right words to explain his plan, "we found a prison. It has walls, fences, everything we've been looking for since the farm. There are walkers, but we have the room to control it. With all of us pushing in and fighting, I know we can do this."

Looks were shared and Chase was sure many thoughts were the same right now. Carol spoke up to voice the group's collective thoughts. "A prison? You really think we can take a whole prison?"

Rick's jaw tensed and rolled for a minute before he spoke again. "I know we can...and we will...it's our only shot and we aren't going to pass this up."

Chase watched as Rick turned and grabbed Matt to check on their weapons and ammo, his plan already forming in his head. He didn't know how he felt about the plan or if it was even possible, but he knew there was no arguing with Rick now, especially with his mind made up.

Stealing a glance at Carl as their previous conversation returned to memory, he shook his head at the painfully ironic coincidence. If they could successfully take something as gargantuan as a prison, it would definitely give them time to settle and piece together the broken shards of their lives, the room to really build a life for themselves, and could be a catalyst of better supplies and resources.

Carl looked over at him and gave him a knowing smile, probably thinking the same thing Chase was thinking. Perhaps this was the miracle they were all looking for...