Merle Dixon strolled along the prison grounds as he walked towards the garden where his target was sitting in front of one of the several gardens Rick and Carl had planted under the guidance of Hershel. The older Greene was leaning up against a shed that Daryl and himself had built, having a conversation with Carol and Rick. Rick's son, Carl, was on the opposite end of the garden with a basket in front of him, begrudgingly picking pea pods. He growled, he'd hoped that he would be able to get Carol alone, even if it was just for a few moments. Merle cleared his throat to announce his presence, the four people in the group turning to look at them.

"Good morning, Merle." Hershel said as Merle was finally in earshot. Merle made a face at Hershel, his hand slipping into his pocket. He glanced down at Carol, who had turned her attention up to him as he came over to the group.

It'd be a good morning if I hadn't had to wake up before I got my morning sugar. Merle thought to himself, his eyes trailing over Carol's body over the cleavage that was obvious in her tank top. He grunted and looked back at Hershel, glaring at the all knowing Greene. "No such thing as a good morning, Hershel. Too damn early." He glanced up at the sky, there was still a strong smell of dew in the air. Merle figured it wasn't more than eleven in the morning, too fucking early to be awake. Eleven was good for just falling asleep after a long night of partying.

Rick had also noticed the look he gave Carol, he'd known about Carol and Merle's relationship; he'd caught them thinking they were being sneaky within corners of the prison. He hadn't told anyone, but he did tell them to be more careful about where they meet up, that was something the kids didn't need to see. "Thought you and Daryl were goin' hunting?" Rick asked. Despite everything that Merle had done for the group in the past six months; going on runs with his brother, hunting for food with his brother, killing the Governor, Rick still didn't trust Merle very much. Merle didn't blame him, though, Merle didn't really trust Merle. He figured the only ones that did trust him were Hershel and Carol, maybe his baby brother.

Merle nodded. "Went out, checked our traps and reset them. Caught a bunch of Thumper's and Rocky's. Ain't seen a Bambi in a while." He explained.

"I'm sure they're all just hiding from the Dixon brothers." Carol said from her spot in front of the garden. He looked down and watched as Carol plucked a nice plump tomato off it's vine, rolled it in her hand and dumped it in the basket at her feet. His mouth watered, he loved tomatoes growing up. Neighbor down the road used to have a garden, he and Daryl used to sneak into her backyard and steal her vegetables. Woman knew it was the Dixon brothers, didn't do anything about it. Everyone knew about Will Dixon and how cruel he was to his kids, while they didn't do anything about it, they didn't get the kids in trouble when they'd steal for food. Course, once Daryl and Merle weren't kids anymore, neighbors had no problem calling the cops on them then.

"Best behavior, Merle." Rick reminded as he came around the garden, patting his son's head before he began to walk up to the prison. Merle rolled his eyes and knelt down by Carol, glancing over the garden to glance at Carl. Carl quickly looked down at the pea pods he was picking, the too big Sheriff's hat falling over his face. When he looked up again, Hershel was following Rick back up to the prison.

"Think Rick just thinks I'm gonna wake up one day and go on a murderin' spree." Merle said to Carol, watching as she checked out the tomatoes in the vines, picking bugs off them. There wasn't must they could do to keep the bugs off of them, supplies to make natural sprays to keep them off were becoming harder and harder to find and finding chemicals to do it was just as hard.

Carol craned her head back and looked at Merle. "Well you did try to kill Glenn. A lot."

Merle snorted. "Six months ago. And I did kill the Governor, did everyone forget about that?"

Plucking another decent sized tomato off the vine, wiped it on her pant leg and dropped it back into her basket. "You didn't do that for us. You did it for Daryl, so you could stay with Daryl."

Merle grumbled and looked back up at the prison. He wouldn't deny that, he had solely done it so that he could stay with Daryl. So he could wipe the slate clean, be good with these people. Shit that happened with Carol happened long after he had returned from killing the Governor. "Shit, Glenn said he forgave me, can't Rick move past it?"

Carol turned to look at Merle and raised one of her eyebrows. "Did you really come down here to talk about Rick?" Merle opened his mouth to tell her that no he didn't come down here to talk about Officer Friendly, he had hoped to come down here so that he could get some action from Carol.

The teenager across the garden stood from his spot across the garden and came over to Carol, holding the basket that was full of pea pods. "I finished with the peas, do you want me to move on to something else?" Carl asked as he set them down next to the shed where they had placed the finished baskets.

Carol looked up at the frustrated teenager, then back to Merle. Taking pity on Carl, she spoke. "Why don't you feed the pigs then get out of here? I'm sure you can find something better to do, and Merle here won't mind giving me a hand finishing up, do you Merle?"

Merle leaned forward and reached into the tomato vine, plucking out a nice sized tomato without looking at it. He looked down at the perfect tomato, blowing dirt off of it. "Not at all." He said.

A grin formed on Carl's face, though his gut told him that a one handed man probably wouldn't be the best choice to pick fruits and vegetables out from the garden. "Thanks Carol, thanks Merle!" He exclaimed before taking off towards the pig pen. Carol smiled and moved to sit on the other side of the tomato vines, reaching back into the vines.

"So what did you come down here to talk about?" Carol asked after she picked a few more tomatoes. It seemed that she wasn't going to find anymore, so she set the basket aside and moved to the line of carrots they had planted, checking the carrots out.

Carol sat on her knees, leaning forward as she checked out the carrots. He turned to look at her, feeling his cock twitch in his pants as he watched her bend over like that. Christ, this woman was going to give him a fucking heart attack. "Who said I came ta talk?" He flashed Carol a wolfish grin and the woman looked up, shooting him a warning look.

She looked away from him and a smile formed on her lips. No one had ever made her feel as beautiful as Merle Dixon, not any man she had ever been interested in or involved with. Carol and Merle were both in their late forties, but with each other they felt like they were teenagers without a care in the world. "Too early for that, Merle." She said as she dropped a handful of the carrots into the basket.

Merle reached his good hand into the tomato vine he was sitting in front of, large hand coming out with two medium sized tomatoes in his hand. "Ain't ever too early for that." Carol rolled her eyes and decided to ignore Merle's comment, feeling her stomach flutter at the look he was giving her. Carol went around the carrots, picking out ones that were ready and leaving those that weren't in the ground. Next after the carrots and past the peas Carl had already picked were the onions. Carol always loved onions, even if they were impossible to cut without crying a bunch. When Carol was finished with the onions, she found herself back with Merle at the tomato vine.

He had only picked out six or so tomatoes, causing a grin to form on her face. "I should have known better than to ask the one handed man to help me pick out the vegetables." She teased as she sat on her knees next to him, the heel of her boot digging into her ass.

Merle scoffed. "Real fuckin' funny." He said as he pulled his hand out of the vine. "Fuck!" He shouted as a vine tore into his finger. He removed his hand from the vine and brought his finger into his mouth, hissing.

"Christ, Merle, do you always have to hurt yourself?" Carol asked as she reached into the bottom pocket of her cargo pants. She fished out a decent sized band-aid and grasped his wrist, pulling his hand from his mouth. Carol wiped his finger off on her pants and opened the band-aid up, wrapping it around his finger.

His finger was wrapped up and no longer bleeding, a metallic taste in his mouth from his blood. He spat out onto the ground behind Carol and shook his hand out. Damn vine dug into his skin good, reminded him of a paper cut. Merle'd been shot several times in his life, but he'd take ten bullets before he'd want a paper cut. Carol discarded the band-aid wrappers into her pants and had gone back to the tomatoes. "What? Ain't gonna kiss it and make it all better?" He asked.

Carol looked back at him, rolling her eyes. "Are you serious?" She asked, looking at the playful pout Merle had on his face. When he simply held his injured finger out to Carol, she let out a heavy sigh and leaned forward to press her lips against the band-aid. "You are a 12 year old in a grown mans body." She said as she pulled away from him. He grinned and reached back into the vine, pulling a tomato out. He rubbed it off on his pants and brought it up to his mouth, taking a huge bite of it. "Merle Dixon!" Carol said as she watched as he took a large bite of the red fruit (Carol still found it hard to believe that a tomato was a fruit, but she knew it was).

Merle grinned as he pulled the tomato away from his mouth, the tomato juices and seeds sticking in his beard. Carol stared at the grin on his face while he chewed the snack in his mouth. The happy look on his face made it almost impossible for her to stay angry at him. Not a lot made Merle Dixon grin like that. She leaned forward and brought her finger up to his facial hair, brushing her thumb in his beard to push the seeds from his chin.

"Those are supposed to be for the whole group." Carol said as Merle brought the tomato up to his mouth and took another bite of it.

"There's enough fer everyone." He said through food in his mouth, nodding towards the basket on the ground.

"Tomatoes only go so far." She said as Merle swallowed. Merle shrugged and took another bite of it.

"Damn good tomato." He said to Carol like she should be proud of the tomato. Carol laughed softly and leaned over, taking a much smaller bite of the tomato in his hand, her lips brushing past his flesh. Merle watched as she pulled away from him, chewing and swallowing the bite of her tomato. He tossed the rest of the tomato in his hand into the basket, leaning over to crash his lips into hers, pinning Carol between the ground and his firm body.

Carol let out a laugh as Merle pinned her against the ground, his stump pressed above her shoulder. "Not out here, Merle.." She mumbled as his mouth tore from hers and trailed down her throat hungrily. "Someone could see."

"Ain't no one watchin', sweetness." He murmured against her skin. Carol looked over Merle's shoulder, looking up at the prison and over at the closest watch tower. If there was someone inside of it, she couldn't tell. The plants would probably block them and the noises from the walkers would block out any noises that could be heard. She let out a soft moan, shutting her eyes as Merle's mouth trailed over her glistening chest. Merle smirked as he heard the moan from her, her legs wrapping around his waist. She locked him in a vice grip, leaving him unable to move at all.

"Wait... Tonight... It will be more worth it." Merle growled as Carol told him to stop, but he knew that Carol was right. Getting worked up in the morning and aching for her all day made the fucking latter that night so much better. Merle lifted his head up and looked down at her. Carol wasn't surprised at the pure lust in his eyes, if anything it just turned her on even more. "I'll meet you in the library tonight, after dinner." She said, loosening the vice grip she had on his waist. He grumbled unhappily before climbing off of her, picking up the tomato he'd been eating.

"Leave me with a fuckin' hard on all fuckin' day." Merle growled. Carol rolled her eyes, thankful that Merle couldn't tell just how turned on she was right now, and having sex right next to the garden seemed like a great idea. She looked over at him, both still lying on the ground. She leaned over and took a bite of the tomato he was almost finished with, leaning over to press her lips into his afterward.

She spoke when she pulled away from him, smiling at him teasingly. "Shut up and eat your tomato."