Beauty and the Bastard

Sitting on the edge of the lake watching my boys play in the water with their cousins. I wasn't watching children play. Oh no, I saw this too many times. No, I was watching my oldest son become himself once again. Jax was playing and laughing along with his family. Happy as can be, splashing the girls or dunking his twin. It is the cutest thing I have seen since the world went to shit.

I felt someone sitting down next to me as I watched my twins and Kane gang up on the girls. I smiled as their loud laugher rang in my ears.

"You got some really adorable boys." I look to my right to see the older blonde sister sitting next to me.

"Thank you, they are the best thing that ever happened to me." I said laughing as I watched Ryker put a frog on Stacy's head. "And they can be adorable at times but really they are monsters."

Andrea laughs along with me as Ryker continue torturing his older cousin. "You look really young. How old we're you when you had them? If you don't mind me asking."

I giggle at Andrea's nervousness and place my hand on her arm. "You can ask me whatever you want. If I don't want to answer, I won't. It's no big deal and I was 19 years old when I had them."

"Did you care for them by yourself?" She looked more nervous now. But I can understand that. Not a lot of teen moms have the best relationship with their baby daddies.

"I didn't have their father but I wasn't alone. I had my best friend and their uncle living with me." I said looking her in the eye.

"What happened to their dad?" Andrea lost her nervousness and gained curiosity.

"He left before we knew I was pregnant. That's how I found his brother. I went looking for him but that man didn't want to be found." I smile a little as I thought of Merle. He really did take my heart even after a month. I fell head over heels in love with my redneck. And he will always be my redneck until the day I die.

"What was he like?"

"He was an asshole." I laugh at her stunned face. "He really was. Cursing up a storm, getting into fights, drugs, alcohol, banging whores. He was a real Georgia redneck and I loved him. Hell I still do."

Andrea smiled softly at me before speaking to me softly. "I can see that. You have that look in your eye when you talk about him. You really do love him."

"With all of my heart and I'm going to find him again. At least for my sons."

"Speaking of rednecks, we have two redneck brothers that are with us. The ones that Shane doesn't want you to know about. The oldest, he is like that but worst. Calling every woman Sugar tits and being a sexist and a racist. I just want to warn you about him since Shane didn't."

"Thank you for telling me and Shane must have his reasons." I look up at the sky before looking back at her. "It's almost dark; we should get the children back." I stood up and brushed the dirt off of my jeans. "Kids, let's go!" I yelled, not caring about the rules. I don't listen to them anyways.

My leg felt wet as something wrapped itself around it. I look down to see Ryker's light gray eyes staring up at me with a big smile on his face. I laugh and run my fingers through his wet blonde hair.

"Have fun, Baby?" I asked as I picked Jax up and placed him on my hip. Ryker was still holding on to my waist as all of us walked to the camp.

"Yea Mama, can we go back tomorrow?"

"I'll see, Jaxy." I wave to Shane as I saw him staring at me in thought. He waves back before that slut Lori pulls him away with a glare in my direction. Being the bitch I am, I wave my fingers at her with a sweet smile on my face. Her glare darkens and I laugh. Andrea looks at where I'm looking at laughs also.

"Even I can see that you and Shane have nothing going on."

"That's cause Shane is my older brother." I told her as I place Jax down on the floor. "Go change into dry clothes then give me your wet ones." The boys nod before running into their tent with Kane.

"But you guys don't look alike." Andrea said crossing her arms over her chest as a cold breeze hit us.

"He and my other brothers are adopted. I was the only one that is blood related to our parents. Since they are my real parents."

"Wow, why did your parents adopted so many boys?" Andrea asked as the three boys came out of their tents in their pajamas. They hand me their wet clothes before sitting down next to Bullet.

Me and Andrea walk to the clothes line as I told her about my family. Andrea's sister, Amy, joins our talk with Lilly. I hang the boys clothes up to dry and my other nephews and nieces clothes too as they all ran up to me, handing off their wet clothes. The four of us sit in front of my tent watching as Bullet chased Kane and Ryker around. Jax was sitting in my lap, yawning every now and again. The four of us talked until the sky turned to black and Shane came up saying it's time to eat dinner.

I stand with a sleepy Jax in my arms. I sit on a log with Lilly and Ryker next to me. Jax is once more in my lap as I quickly fed him and myself. I brush his blonde hair with my fingers as we waited for his brother to finished eating. We say goodnight to everyone before walking to our tents. I climb into the boys' tent and place Jax in his sleeping bag. I kiss my sons forehead before turning to tuck Ryker in.

"I love you, Mama." I smile down army youngest and kiss his forehead once more. "I love you too, Ry."

I step out of the boys' tent once Ryker was asleep. I climb into mine and change into pajama shorts and an old males tee shirt. I think this one was Matt's. I whistled for Bullet and opened the tent flap for him to trot in. I zip up the tent before laying my head on Bullets side. I went to sleep dreaming about Merle, like always.

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I woke up to giggling. Turning my head, I saw Torrie lying on the tent floor with Bullet licking her face. I smiled and stretched before sitting up.

"Sorry Auntie Chlo, I didn't mean to wake you up."

"It's fine Tor, I needed to wake up anyways." I said as I ruffled her blonde hair.

I walked out of my tent with the two of them following. I waved to Dale who was sitting on top of his RV like always before walking into it. Andrea was sitting at the table with a gun in her hands.

"You know how to use it?" I smile as I watched her jump in surprise.

"Not really." A frown formed on her lips but I smiled.

"The easiest way of learning about your gun is taking it apart and putting it back together." I sit down across from her and take the gun from her fingers. "You would learn about the inside and it will help you learn about the outside." I take the gun apart slowly so she can see where each piece came from. I lay the pieces down on the table and spread my hands. "Now put it back together."

I sat with her as she put her gun back together. Never once did I help her. If I did then she would learn nothing. It took her almost an hour but the gun was back together correctly.

I smiled at her as she looked at her gun proudly. "Now take it apart and put it back together." She went to hand me the gun but I stopped her. "No, you take it apart." She nodded and went to work.

After she did this two more times, I taught her the next step.

"Now, your safety is a very important part of your gun. Not only does it save yourself but it saves other people. You want to have the safety on at all times, accept when you are shooting. Your safety is real easy. You see the little red light on your gun?"

"Yea, does that mean the safety is on?"

"It does. To take the safety off, you flick this switch." I flick the switch for her to show her where it is and what happens after. "Now, you know you are ready to shoot because you see the light change from red to green." I point the light out to her and she nods. "Now flip the safety on." She does what I told her and I take the gun from her hands. "Now this is how you stand. Feet shoulder length apart, arms straight, and you are relaxed. Never close one of your eyes. It will just mess up your aim." I finished while handing her the gun. She stands the way I told her but was too tense.

"Andrea, you need to relax more or you are just going to hurt yourself." She nods and relaxes her body. I shift her a bit but other than that she's good. "Now, we can't practice your shooting right now but at least you know your gun and your stance."

"Thank you." Andrea hugs me after she places the gun on the table. "How did you know that?"

"She was taught." Shane spoke from the doorway of the RV. He smiled at me proudly as he walked in. "I taught her about learning your gun but our father taught her how to shoot." Shane squeezes my shoulder as he walk past me and into the bathroom.

"He looked so proud of you." Andrea told me with a smile. I smile back and lead her out of the RV.

"He's only proud because I taught you what he taught me."

"No, it wasn't just that. He was proud that you know how to protect yourself and your boys."

"Yea well." I didn't know what to say because I wasn't used to Shane being proud of me. Andrea saw that and said nothing else on the topic. Soon she left to help the other women with the laundry.

"Do you want to come and help?" I look up from my sit in front of the fire pit to see Carol standing in front of me.

"No, I'm gonna catch up with Matt today. I haven't seen him since the outbreak."

"I understand. Have fun with your brother and please be safe." She places a motherly kiss on my forehead before walking down to the lake with my mother.

Carol reminded me of what my mother used to be like with me when I was younger. Always making sure I was safe and happy. Carol made sure I eat before walking off and she would make sure I ate everything on my plate. Carol is really a sweet woman and doesn't deserve to be abused by her husband. But it's not my place to jump in, even though I wish I can. I can only do that if he does it in front of me, which unfortunately he hasn't.

I stand up from my seat and walk over to where Matt was standing with the Asian kid. Glen I think, I'm not sure. I kinda stopped listening to Shane after the first two names was said. I don't even know how I remembered Andreas and Amy's names.

I started to sing the song Slide as it popped into my head while I walked to my brother. I can feel people's eyes on me but I ignored them as I hugged Matt's waist and kept singing. I'm not a bad singer since everyone told me I am. Even Merle and if Merle told me I can sing then I can sing. That man won't lie to your face, he would tell you the truth even if you didn't want to hear it.

Once I was done, everyone that was still in the camp clapped for me. I smiled and bowed dramatically before turning to the Asian. "Hi, I don't think we met yet. Well we never did since I wasn't paying attention to Shane. So, hi I'm Chloe." I stick out my hand and wait until he grabbed it before shaking his hand fast making his whole body move with our hands.

"I'm Glen." He said in between laughs as I kept shaking his hand. I smile and let go. He takes a deep breath, trying to catch his breath. That's my cue. I wrap my arms around his stomach and squeeze him as tight as I can. Glen once again laughs at my childish actions once I let him go. "Your definitely gonna make this time we have fun."

"Damn right I am!" I shouted as I jumped up and down in my spot next to Matt. "And now I'm stealing this huge man away from you." I don't wait for a response as I pulled Matt away from Glen. I pull Matt to the woods and climb a tree as he stood at the bottom. "What is Shane hiding from me?"

"What do you mean, Baby?" Matt lean against the tree I'm in and looked up at me.

"I'm not stupid, Matthew. He and everyone else in this camp are not telling me this mystery redneck brothers names, why?"

I heard Matt sigh as he ran his hand over his face. "It's cause the brothers last name is Dixon. No one but you and Lilly know if it's really the Dixons that is related to the twins. And Shane didn't want to tell you because he didn't want you to get your hopes up about them only to find out it isn't the boys' father and uncle."

I frown and try not to get my hopes up but that's a losing battle as I kept picturing Merle walking out towards me from the woods. "What are their first names?"

"That's the thing, the oldest one only told us their last name. He or his brother didn't say their first names and they don't call each other by their names. Only brother."

I sigh as my hopes dropped to the ground. I climbed down from the tree and hugged Matt once more. We walked back to camp, wrapped up in each other's arms. Lori once again glared at me but I was too down to even provoke her. Carol saw that and looked at me in concern. I try to smile but it comes out as a grimace. I look away as Matt lead me to the RV. He helped me in and pushed me into the back room. He sat down and placed me on his lap. He ran his fingers through my hair, trying to help me get out of my depressed mood.

"I know I shouldn't have told you but you needed to know. I had to tell you so you can ready yourself if it is him."

"And I thank you for that. I understand where Shane is coming from also. The both of you are trying to protect me and keep me safe but your right I did need to know. I need to prepare myself if it is him." I sighed out the last word as I rested my head on his shoulder. I close my eyes trying to picture what I would say if it is Merle but I come up with nothing.

"Mama?"

I open my eyes to see both of my sons standing in the doorway with Roxxi and Frankie standing behind them. I open my arms for the three boys. Jax automatically climbs into my lap while Ryker climbs up to sit on Matt's other knee. Frankie climbs to sit at his father's side. While Roxxi watches us with a loving smile on her face, we all laugh and joke around with each other. Now that really lifted my spirits and stopped me from thinking about Merle and Daryl but mostly Merle.

"Hey, sorry to intrude in your family moment but lunch is ready and the Dixons are here." Glen said as he stood behind Roxxi.

The Dixons are here. Oh My God.