MA/N: This is a weird little one-shot loosely based on Brantley Gilbert's "You Promised"

*flashbacks are in Italics

You Promised

Merle looked down at the empty pill bottles scattered across the bathroom floor and hung his head over the toilet.

It had been months since he'd touched anything, months since he'd last seen Beth and months since he'd last felt like himself.

He closed his eyes and tried his best to shake away the pounding in his head, the churning in his stomach and the memory of Beth.

The way she looked in her cotton dress and bare feet standing in the middle of their driveway begging him not to go.

He knew she was crying but with the rain it was easy for him to pretend she wasn't._

"Merle, what are you doin'?" Beth asked when she walked into their bedroom.

"What tha hell does it look like I'm doin'? I cain't be with ya no more. I don't love ya an' I never have."

"No, baby, don't...don't say that," Beth pleaded, tears already running down her face.

Merle forced out a laugh, "You was stupid fer thinkin' I'd stay 'ere with ya."

She watched in silence as he continued to pack his things and never looked up at her.

He couldn't look at her. He couldn't tell her why he was leaving her, why he had lied about not loving her. How could he tell her that the whole town was talking about them, talking about seeing Beth buying a pregnancy test and then seeing a doctor a few weeks later?

He knew what she had done and he didn't blame her one bit. It would have ruined her life and that was the last thing he ever wanted. He never wanted to hurt her or have her blame him for something. Maybe, in some way, he was trying to protect himself but by leaving now, he was protecting her.

She followed him out of the bedroom as he went around the house picking up random things and throwing them in his bag.

When he reached the living room, he lifted his hand to take a picture off of the fireplace mantle but after letting it linger in the air above it for a moment, he pulled his hand back and clenched it into a fist.

As he turned back around, Beth threw herself at him. Punching his chest and screaming.

"You swore when I wore your ring it meant forever, you asshole! I've got it on! How can you say you never loved me? You promised me forever, Merle!"

Merle woke up crying and reaching out for Beth but all he found was an empty bed. Just as empty as the heart inside his chest.

He laid there awake until the sun had come up and was shining brightly through the window which only caused his head and heart to hurt more than before. That wasn't anything new though. Every night since the day he left her, his pain got worse and it certainly didn't help that after all these months, she wouldn't even let him try to explain why he left her.

There was a pounding on his bedroom door before Daryl slowly eased it open.

"Ya goin' ta work, man?"

"Fuck," Merle groaned. "Yeah. I'm goin'."

It didn't take him long to get ready and before he knew it, he was sitting in Daryl's truck, on their way to their shitty ass job at a local bar.

"Hey," Daryl called out to get his attention, "think I got a pack of smokes in tha glovebox, can ya get 'em for me?"

Merle swore under his breath as he opened up the glovebox and started digging around. He stopped when he fingers touched something that was out of place. Pulling it out, he wasn't prepared for what he had found. In his hands, staring back at him, was big, blue doe eyes. One's he'd loved looking into and could always get lost in.

The picture was of himself, Beth and Daryl. It had been taken on a hunting trip and it had been the first time she had killed a deer without any help from either if the Dixon's.

His first thought was to rip up the picture and throw it out the window but before he could, he found himself unable to stop the words that rolled out of his mouth.

"Turn 'round. I ain't goin' ta work. Gotta see Beth."

Daryl shook his head as he turned the truck around. He knew there was no arguing with Merle because in the end, Merle was going to do what Merle wanted to do.

Once they were back home, he gathered up some pictures and had Daryl call her, telling her he had some things to give her.

When she got there, Daryl left Beth standing on the porch while he went inside to retrieve the box of pictures Merle had gathered up.

After he had handed the box over to her, he handed her a faded, folded up piece of paper.

"Think ya might oughta read that now," Daryl told her.

She looked at him suspiciously but nodded and unfolded the paper anyways.

Daryl quietly moved back inside, letting Merle take his place in the doorway, while her eyes were glued to the letter.

"I wrote that after I asked ya ta marry me," he said, "was plannin' on givin' it to ya on the day we tied the knot."

He saw the tears falling down her cheeks as she finished reading the letter.

"It'll never work," she whispered.

Merle hit his knees in front of her, causing her to drop the box she was still holding onto, and cried.

"No, baby, don't. You're making my heart hurt. Don't say those words. Take it back. You know you don't mean that. You swore when you wore my ring it meant forever an' ya still got it on. Baby, you promised."

"We were different people then, Merle. Look at all the hateful things we've said. I'm just as guilty as you but you're the one who left."

Merle reached out for her and pulled her to him, burying his face in her stomach.

She gasped when she felt his arms tighten around her waist and his whole body tense up.

He let his arms fall back to his sides and looked up at her then back to her stomach.

She didn't stop him when he stood up and raised the front of her shirt.

Merle chuckled as Beth pursed her lips and squeezed her eyes shut.

Slowly, she reopened them to see him still standing in front of her. Anger and disbelief written all over his face.

"We said forever, Angel." Merle said as he watched Beth take off her ring.

"We're through, Merle. No matter what you do or say, nothing will change that."

He let her walk away, leaving the box of pictures at his feet.

Four months later, Beth sat beside Merle's hospital bed, cradling a small bundle to her chest.

A huge smile spread across Merle's face when he opened his eyes.

"What're ya doin' 'ere, Angel?" Merle mumbled.

She shrugged, stood up and sat down on the edge of his hospital bed.

"You stupid, stupid man. You took an overdose, on purpose. Why the hell do you think I'm here," she held her arms out, "and I wanted you to meet your son." She took a deep breath when he sat up and took the baby from her arms, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you but I thought that's why you left, that you had found out I was pregnant before I chance to tell you myself. You told me you didn't love me so I just assumed you didn't want me or a kid...until Daryl showed me the letter the paramedics had found with you."

Merle grinned as the baby began squirming in his arms.

"I only left ya 'cause I thought ya got rid of 'im. Ever'one said ya did an' I believed 'em 'cause I didn't think you'd want a kid who was a Dixon."

"You should have came to me, Merle. You shouldn't have listened to what others were sayin'."

Merle gently handed the baby back to Beth once he started crying and Merle's eyes grew heavy as slipped back off to sleep.

"Ya know I'll always love you, Angel. I have to 'cause I promised ya I would."

His words were slightly mumbled but she heard them and smiled.

"I love you, too, Merle. I promise I always will."