Dixon's Girl- TWD

Uncle Merle

Jody Pov

Daryl was back to work just a week after Daniel had been born. Meanwhile, I was no longer working, spending all my time with the baby. I wanted to be the kind of mother who was always there, but I still didn't feel the proper connection. This wasn't how I had imagined it at all

I was staring down at Daniel, had been for hours. I was just praying that a connection would suddenly click, but there was nothing. This didn't feel like my baby. I felt like I was babysitting. There was no hatred towards him, nothing like that. But he just didn't feel like my son.

There was a knock on the door and I answered it to see merle there. "Morning."

"Oh, morning merle. Come in."

He instantly went over to the bassinet and began talking to Daniel. "Uncle merles here. Yes I am. I'm the guy you'll be calling for a lift when you're too drunk to call your strict ass parents," he joked. Although it wasn't entirely a joke. I knew merle would 100% pick up my drunk kid

"Do you want a drink?" I asked him

"I'll make it. You've just had a baby. Sit with him and-"

"Please. I want to make a drink." I just wanted to be in a different room that with the baby. I went and made merle a coffee in the kitchen and handed it to him

"Do you mind watching him whilst I do some washing?" I asked him

"Are you sure? You can watch him and I can wash if you want."

I just shook my head and walked away to collect some clothes for washing. Before I even reached mine and daryls room, merle had hold of my wrist. "Is everything alright?"

My eyes began to water as I shook my head. "I don't like the baby."

"Alright. How bout your mama watches Daniel and me and you can go get breakfast out somewhere?"

"I'd like that."

"Go get dressed. I call Donna."

I was soon at a cafe with merle after he had bought me pancakes. "Thanks for this."

"No problem. You wanna talk about it?"

"It's just, daryl already loves the baby and i don't. I mean, I do love him. But there's no bond. I feel like I'm looking after someone else's baby. He's adorable and he makes me smile. But I feel like there should be something more." I was very careful with my words, not wanting to admit anything about how he was conceived.

Merle just scoffed. "Loads of women go through that."

"Really?"

"Hell yeah. Look, this whole thing about instant love is bullshit. Those women had 9 months to love the baby. You haven't. For you, your feelings could be compared to someone who found out they were pregnant a week ago. You're nervous, you're scared, and you just wanna eat pancakes and forget about it. Don't be so hard on yourself."

"Thanks merle. I really needed to hear that."

"You talked to daryl about this?"

"Yeah. He was nice and he keeps telling me it'll take time. This just isn't the kind of thing I can be patient for. But im trying. I can't do anything except wait."

After the breakfast I went home and saw mama rocking the baby in her arms. I kissed the top of her head to let her know I was home. "Hey mama."

"Hi honey. Why don't you go and sleep. I've got this."

"Really? You don't mind?"

"Not at all. Daniel is spending time with grandma, aren't you my beautiful baby?" She cooed at him, making me smile.

Thanking her, and merle for the breakfast, I went into mine and daryls room and lay down, almost instantly falling asleep.

The next few weeks went pretty much the same. Daryl would go to work. Mama would come round, sometimes with merle. They'd help me with the baby and I was yet to form a bond. But, everyday, I went on a walk with Daniel in hopes that even if I can't love him like a son, he can still know who I am.

As I pushed him in the pram, we walked through a park. "Not too cold are you?" I asked. With no response, I sighed, "I can't wait til you can talk."

"Once they start, they never shut up."

I quickly looked up, recognising the voice almost instantly. "Hi daddy."

"Hi pumpkin," he grinned, stepping towards me so he could see the baby in the pram

"I didn't know you and daryl were married."

"We aren't."

"Ah. But you have a baby? Well, I'm not here to judge. He is daryls baby, isn't he Jody?" He looked deep into my eyes, making me gulp like he did when I was a little girl

"Yes daddy."

"Because if he's not, then he's a piece of evidence I don't want around. You understand?" I knew the threats he was making. I saw the evil in his eye. And something clicked. I knew in that moment that I would do anything in my power to keep him away from my baby

"He isn't yours. Now stay the hell away from my family or I will kick you so hard that your balls go up your body and make you choke."

Stunned, he just stood there as I stormed away, my hands shaking against the pram. Instead of going home, I went to daryls garage.

He didn't even have time to greet me before I wrapped my arms around him. "Hey, what's going on?" He asked, kissing my head and holding onto the pram

"I saw my daddy. He saw Daniel."

"What did he do?"

"I told him you were the father. And he said if you weren't, then Daniel wasn't gonna be around much longer. But...I realised then that I would do anything for him. He's my son and I couldn't stand the thought of Freddie even having him in his thoughts. I know it wasn't a convenient time but I think we finally bonded daryl. It finally happened!"

Despite everything, the smile on my face was hard to hide and soon spread to daryls face. He kissed my cheek with a chuckle and then looked down at a sleeping Daniel. "You know that this changes things, don't you? Now he knows, you two aren't safe alone."

"I know. But it's alright. I think I should go to the police."

"Seriously? But, you said it would be too painful to stand infront of a court. You know I'll stand by your side, but you have to know what this means."

"It means our son will have a childhood without the influence of that bastard. I want Daniel to be safe and I don't care whether that means I have to go through a years worth of court cases. It'll be difficult yeah, but I'll do it for him. I'm his mama, I have to."

Daryl held my hand tightly and bought it to his lips. It would be a difficult road, but it was for the greater good of my family