Maybe Memories

It had been 4 hours since I knew Daryl had gotten off of work. He wasn't back yet and it was really unlike him. I paced the floor as I called his work, where I'd really gotten nowhere. "Nah. Dixon left, just like I'm 'boutta. Can't help ya, sorry." Was all I'd gotten from his boss, or whoever was the one staying late.

"Shit." I muttered as I hung up the phone. I knew neither of the Dixons had cell phones, which was actually terribly inconvenient. I walked over to Merle and Daryl's place, hoping to find someone there, sadly the place was empty. "Shit!" I yelled, kicking the door after realizing the vacancy. I didn't know what else to do, so I decided to call Officer Grimes, hoping he'd have an answer for me.

"Officer Grimes." He answered, professionally.

"Rick, hi. This is Ellie. I have a quick question for you." I bit my nail, nervous for some reason.

"Sure Ellie, what's the question?" He sounded like he already knew what I was going to ask.

"It's Daryl. He hasn't come home, he was supposed to be back hours ago. Do you know anything?" I herd him clear his throat and I already knew he had an answer for me.

"Yeah, Mr. Dixon is here at the county jail. Bein' held on a few counts that I can't discuss with ya over the phone." I immediately grabbed my jacket and slipped my shoes on, heading for the car.

"I'll be there in 10 minutes." I hung up on him, too pissed off to have any more of that conversation. When I arrived at the jail, Rick was waiting for me at the front desk. "What the hell is going on?" I asked as I stormed into the room.

"First off, calm down." He looked irritated, but I disregarded it. "Now come with me, got a few questions for ya 'fore I let ya go see him."

I followed Rick back to an interrogation room in the station. I hated the idea of Daryl being behind bars, it made me anxious and I had a feeling Shane was behind this. "Please hurry, if you can. I want to get him out of here as quickly as possible." I said as I tapped my fingers on the table.

"It'll be quick." He smiled as he got out a pen and his note pad. "Do you recall me askin' 'bout Merle Dixon?"

"Yeah. You asked about where he was. I didn't know then and I don't know now. I was at his house today looking for Daryl and the place was empty." I wanted this to go by fast, my nerves were shot.

"'Kay." He jotted something down then made eye contact with me again. "What do ya know about Daryl's involvement with Merle and his drug business?"

I sighed, not wanting to answer this. "Look, all I know is that Merle brought his buyers around the house a lot, has for years. Daryl only got caught up in any of it because he lived at the house. To my knowledge he hasn't sold or done any drugs."

"We're holding Daryl on a few possession charges today. Do ya know what he had on him?" I was shocked at this, not really grasping what I was being told.

"Excuse me? He's been with me and to work, that's it. He hasn't even had the chance to go buy anything, especially with Merle out of town. How in the hell did you find anything on him at all?" I crossed my arms, smelling a rat.

"I'll take that as a 'no' then." He jotted something else down and my anger only grew in his silence.

"What was he carrying?" I asked, not believing he'd be stupid enough to get in this kind of situation.

"Crystal meth and cocaine. A lot of it." He raised an eyebrow at me to express his surprise.

"And how did he get caught with this then?"

"Officer Walsh pulled him over for speeding and-"

"Of fucking course he did!" I yelled, shocking Rick. I forgot that he hadn't known about my long history with Shane. "He's a fucking liar and a manipulative asshole! He told me he'd get Daryl in trouble and he did." I hadn't really meant to say it, but it slipped in my anger.

"Wait, Shane said what?" I snapped my head over to him, worried I'd just messed up.

"Nothing, just.. What do I have to do to take him home tonight?" I took a deep breath, and started to avoid eye contact.

"Ellie, I need to know what Shane said." I was a little surprised at him for not automatically assuming I was lying.

"You wouldn't believe me anyway, he's a cop and your friend. What's the point?" I shrugged, realizing I was in a losing battle.

"Ellie, I have reason to believe this was a set up. If ya don't cooperate with me, Daryl's gonna get charged with some shit he don't deserve." I locked my eyes with his, mine growing wide with shock and disbelief. "I wanna help ya."

"It's a long story." I warned, leaning on the table. He nodded, and I began the whole story like I did when I told Daryl. There were parts were he didn't look like he believed me, or that he wanted to, but he kept quiet. "So now that I'm back," I continued, catching him up. "Shane's been all over my ass. He didn't know I was back until you came to ask about Merle. He left me a note, telling me to meet him at the river at 3AM alone. I have the note at home to prove it. So I went and he tried to force me to go home with him and stay as some sort of prisoner or something. Daryl said he heard me leave and followed me, so thankfully he came out and diffused the situation. Shane threatened him and left. This was last night. And today Daryl is suddenly in jail on drug charges? It's insane. Obviously it was planted on him, you have to know that too." I found myself practically begging for him to believe me. I knew it was a long shot, but I had to try.

"Wow." He said, shaking his head. "That's a big story."

"I told you you'd never believe it." I sighed, feeling defeated.

"It ain't that. I believe ya whole hearted." I gave him a look of question and he further explained. "Me 'n Shane got real drunk one night, he blacked out, told me the same damn story 'bout the dead girl, the swamp, even you. Jus' never knew you're name. Hell, I never even thought it was true, thought it was jus' drunk babbling." I was beside myself. Other than Daryl, no one had ever accepted this story so easily, no one ever believed me and I never got any peace or justice, and neither did the girl he killed. Maybe that was changing?

I teared up, feeling a weight being lifted off my shoulders. "Daryl is the only one who ever believed me."

He put a hand over mine that were crossed on the table. "I believe ya Ellie, and I wanna help. From now on, ya both gotta cooperate with me. It's gonna be a tough, slow, process, but I wanna get this taken care of. Trust me, okay?"

"Okay." I nodded, putting my faith in him. I felt bad for being so rude earlier. "What made you think this was a set up to begin with?" I had to ask.

"The fact that there was 'bout a pound of shit he got caught with, ain't no way that much is bein' pushed through this town. Not even Merle is gettin' his hands on that much at a time. That came from our evidence room. Noticed it was missin' this mornin' when I went to look through evidence for a few files. Watched camera and saw Shane took it. Every bit came back after Daryl got arrested."

"Can I take him home?" I asked, finding myself desperate to see him after realizing we had an ally.

"You'll be able to take him tomorrow. Got some paperwork on booking and releasing to do, 'specially with how much was reported to be on him. Gonna take a little time. Come back tomorrow at 5 and I'll release him to ya." I felt bad that he had to stay, but this was better than what could have happened.

"Thank you so much Rick. I can't tell you how much you've just helped me." I felt my heart swell with a gratitude I hadn't expected to come out of there feeling.

"Of course, jus' glad I know what's goin' on now. Come on, I can take ya to see Daryl if ya want." I nodded eagerly, though I was a little afraid to see him behind bars.

I was lead to his cell that he had to himself. There were a few others in surrounding cells, but there weren't many. He was laying on his back on a bed. It looked hard and terribly uncomfortable. His hair fell in messy tresses around his face and his eyes were closed. Rick left us and I placed a hand on the bar, taking a minute to steady my breaking heart. "Daryl?"

His eyes open and his head snapped toward me. He got up and his back cracked, he winced in a bit of pain and walked over to me. "Hey sunshine. Was wonderin' when ya were gonna come up."

"I didn't know what happened, I had to call Rick to find out where you were." I was relieved to see he was okay, even though I already knew he was fine. "I told him everything."

"What?" He already knew what I was talking about and had a blank look on his face, like he didn't quite hear me right.

"Long story short, I told Rick the whole Shane story. He believes me, Shane got drunk and told him one night but he didn't believe it was true until now." The look of shock on his face mirrored mine earlier.

"So what now?" He asked, looking every bit of anxious as I was.

"Now we play whatever game we have to get him behind bars." I shrugged, hoping it was just as simple as it sounded. But convicting someone of something that happened so long ago was tricky enough, let alone convicting a cop.

He reached between the bars and held my hand. "We'll end this shit. Promise, ya ain't gonna have to worry 'bout him anymore."

I smiled, finally seeing a solution to a seemingly age old problem of mine. I'd be able to sleep at night knowing he couldn't hurt anyone else. "Thank you. And I am so sorry about all of this. I feel awful that you're even involved, now look where you're at."

"It ain't on you." He didn't look angry or even at all irritated, just tired and sympathetic. He was the one behind bars, and he was the one sympathizing with me.

"I'll try to make it up to you." I smiled, not having any clue as to how one would make up for getting someone arrested.

"Don't. Just get me the hell outta here, soon as ya can." He shrugged, his tired eyes looked heavy and ready to close.

"I'll be able to take you home tomorrow. And I'll be here as soon as Rick calls, okay?" I squeezed his hand, guilt coursing through me relentlessly.

"Yeah." He sighed, rubbing the back of my hand with his thumb. "Be careful tonight. Keep the doors locked and the phone close, call Maggie if ya can, see if she'll stay with ya." Fear struck me for a moment as I realized Shane knew I'd be alone. "Get home, get some sleep. I'll see ya tomorrow, alright?" I nodded in response and he placed a small, caring kiss on my hand.

I smiled at him and made my way to the parking lot to go home. I felt nervous, staying by myself, Shane knowing I was by myself just made my skin crawl. I hadn't thought of it until Daryl said something. I was glad he did, but it put me on edge. I called Maggie and asked her to come over to stay the night with me. I told her pizza and a movie would be on me, and she was more than happy to come by.

I met her at the house and let her in, quickly locking the door behind me. I didn't want her to know why I was being so weird or where Daryl was, I just wanted an easy, fun girls night. I wanted to forget I invited her over to protect myself from a psycho, and that someone I cared about very deeply was sitting in a ail cell because of my drama. It hurt me, knowing I had to leave him there and I was cozy at home eating pizza and watching movies. I couldn't wait to get him out, but first, I had to deal with this sleep over and the third degree that came with it..