Eventually, Daryl had stopped throwing up long enough to fall asleep. Thank the Lord. Merle didn't even want to guess what time it was. Reaching over to turn off the lamp, he spared one final look at his baby brother. The boy was laying on his side with his back facing towards him. A light sucking sound gave away that he had his thumb in his mouth; another habit he'd have to break his brother of, but for now he was too tired to care. Switching off the light, Merle buried himself into his pillow with the intent on sleeping away however many hours the night he had left.

If only life were that kind to him.

He's not sure how long he'd been asleep when he was awoken by his little brother's terrified whimper. Merle sighed; he was probably having a nightmare. Not an uncommon occurrence in their house. Rolling onto his side, he glanced over too see Daryl not laying down like he'd expected, but sitting straight up and shaking.

Merle was a firm believer in gut instinct. Whenever his gut started sending up red flags, he knew to trust it. And right now, it was waving one as massive as the American flags that flew over all the local car dealerships! In an instant, he was alert and sitting up.

"What? What's wrong?"

"T-There!" Daryl pointed towards the corner, voice filled with horror.

Merle tried to see where Daryl pointed, but it was too dark! Blindly, he felt for the lamp and almost knocked it over before his fingers found the chain and yanked it. The yellow glow illuminated the room and Merle looked around frantically, ready to kick ass, only to see-

—nothing…absolutely nothing.

And just after he'd given his gut such high praise. Figures.

"Tch, bonehead, you musta had a nightmare. There ain't nothin' in here." Merle said, rubbing one of his eyes with the palm of his hand. Leave it to Daryl to scare the shit out of him over nothing. If he weren't sick already, he'd kick his ass.

Merle opened his mouth to tell Daryl to go back to sleep, but the words never left because Daryl did not look okay, not anywhere near it! He was clutching the damn rabbit like it was the only thing keeping him alive and had his wide eyes fixed on the corner like something was about to jump out of it.

"Mer—" his breaths were short and rapid as he pressed himself further back against the bed's headboard, "Mer, it's there—its lookin' at me!"

Merle felt his heart start to race again. Maybe his gut wasn't so wrong after all. Tears fell down Daryl's face and his skin was glistening with sticky sweat.

Throwing off the covers, Merle got up and came to a stand next to his brother's bed.

"What's there?" Merle asked, glancing at the empty corner before turning his attention back to the sobbing mess of a child.

"M-monster," Daryl stuttered, skin flushed red.

Merle's face twisted in confusion. Was the boy going schizo, because clearly his brother was seeing something he couldn't.

"The only monster in here is you keepin' me from that gettin' my beauty sleep," he halfheartedly joked, trying to calm both Daryl and his own rapid heartbeat. It didn't work.

Daryl flinched, "He's starin' right at me…I—I don't want him here."

Damn, his brother was sweating like a whore in church.

Without saying another word, he reached out and placed a hand on his brother's forehead. Boy was burning up like a small furnace! Suddenly, Daryl let out a panicked cry and flung himself at Merle, gripping painfully at his waist and sobbing loudly.

"Make it go 'way! Make it go 'way!" Daryl screeched.

"Shhh!" Merle hushed, arms pressing Daryl further into his chest, more to stifle his brother's voice than out of comfort. "Yer gonna wake up, Pa!"

If his little brother heard him, he didn't acknowledge it and instead started clawing at him, frantically wishing to be held.

Merle obliged because what the hell else was he supposed to do with a hysterical kid? Lifting the scrawny boy into his arms as his heart pounded against his chest, he unconsciously started stroking Daryl's back.

"What's the monster doin'," he asked, mind racing for what he should do.

"Openin' its mouth an' s-squirrels is commin' out! P-Please make em' go 'way, please! It's gon' kill us!"

What…the…fuck.

This was starting to get really freaky. Should he try to force more water down his throat? Take him to the hospital? He'd have to go into his Pa's room to snatch the truck keys and haul ass before the old fart tried to stop him, but he'd do it if he had too.

He knew really high fevers were a bad thing, but their sole thermometer had been broken a couple weeks ago. He'd been digging in the medicine cabinet for some of that good, prescription opium his Pa had gotten for his bad back and accidently knocked it off the shelf. Oh well, whatever, he didn't need some stupid glass stick to tell him Daryl had a raging fever which was probably making him see things! He didn't need no doctor either! Merle knew what he had to do: get that fever down. And if he couldn't do that…then maybe he'd bring Daryl to them degree-waving folks in scrubs.

"Let's go outside, baby brother. Bet we can spot us some constellations," Merle said, grabbing his jacket off the floor.

As he worked his way to the front door, Merle watched as Daryl's head swiveled in all directions, his face was twisted in fear and disgust. Merle didn't know what he was seeing, but knew it wasn't rainbows and butterflies. Must be like having a bad acid trip.

Merle placed a hand on the back of Daryl's head and carefully eased him against the crook of his neck as he whispered, "I got you, baby brother. Just close them eyes."

Merle stepped outside, immediately feeling the temperature difference. The cool air licked at his exposed back; a chill ran down his spine. His tired, heavy eyes shifted to Daryl who was shivering against him. He really hoped the colder air would help drop his temperature a few degrees.

"Where w-we goin'?" Daryl asked, voice muffled by the stuffed rabbit he still had clutched up to his face.

"Back of the truck." Merle answered as he walked down the steps towards his Pa's small pick-up. Instead of getting in the back, however, he went around to the passenger's seat. Opening the door, he began to dig through a small crate of random junk that lay on the floorboard. The bottom of the box had a crappily folded blanket which Merle hazardously pulled out, not caring how it jostled the items on top of it. The cover was scratchy, but thick and would definitely due its job of keep the brothers warm if they needed it. With that, he kicked the door shut and climbed into the bed of the truck.

Dropping the blanket next to him, Merle knelt down on the floor. Using his jacket as a pillow, he laid against it and readjusted Daryl so he was reclined against his chest, face staring up at the sky. He rested his chin on top of his little brother's damp hair. This was not the comfiest place he'd ever slept, but it could be worse. He'd probably be a lot colder if it weren't for the sheer amount of heat Daryl's body was putting off.

"We gon' use that?" Daryl asked, turning to look at the discarded blanket, "It's got spiders on it."

It didn't. Well at least not any big enough for either of the brothers to spot. Kid was still hallucinating.

"Don' worry 'bout that, I wanna show you some stuff," he said, raising a hand to point at the sky, "'member where I told you the Big Dipper was?"

Daryl was still staring at the blanket.

Merle gave the boy a shake, "Hey! Eyes on the sky!"

"But there's—"

"I don't care if Gerald Ford is standin' there with the entire Goddamn army! Look up at the fuckin' sky!"

His brother hesitantly did. Good. Hopefully he wouldn't see so many freaky things now.

"As I was sayin', the Big Dipper actually ain't no constellation. It's a part of one called The Big Bear."

Daryl wiped his wet eyes on the rabbit's face, "Big Bear?"

"Watch." Merle slowly traced the outline of it with his finger, "See it?"

"Don't look like no bear."

"Yeah, well, some assholes way back when said it did."

"Mer," Daryl whispered, "I'm cold."

"Well I ain't so shut up and keep listenin'!"

That was a lie. He was freezing his balls off, but Daryl was still too warm. A few more minutes of night air should do the trick though. So, Merle kept talking to fill the time. He pointed out every constellation that came to mind, the ones his crummy father had taught him and others that he'd read in books. Who knew if Daryl was even listening to what he was saying—all that mattered was that it kept Merle awake long enough to insure his little brother was going to be okay.

Time passed by and Merle eventually found himself with nothing more to say. Instead, he stared up at the sky through half-lidded eyes and lightly shivered against the cold. He was pretty sure he had dozed off once already. Daryl must have fallen asleep at some point if the light snoring was anything to go by. This felt like one of the longest nights ever. Stifling a yawn, he placed a heavy hand against Daryl's forehead. It was still warm, but considerably cooler.

Now he should probably take his little brother back inside, but…fuck it. This was one of the longest nights and his limbs felt like lead. Screw anyone who thought he would get up and move one more time! With sluggish movements, Merle grabbed the blanket next to him and spread it over both himself and his brother, a task that proved somewhat difficult as he tried not to jostle Daryl too much. The last thing he wanted to do right now was wake him up.

"Mer?" Daryl whispered, his voice heavy with sleep.

Son of a bitch.

"What?" he growled.

"Thanks."

Merle blinked and cast his gaze down at the top of Daryl's head. He knew his brother was thanking him for more than just the damn blanket. It was for the whole night. He did more than either of their parents had ever done, which wasn't that hard of a thing to accomplish. Merle was all Daryl had and Daryl was all Merle had.

"Don't forget, baby brother," Merle said, lightly tightening his hold on Daryl, "Ain't no one gonna take care of you like me. Not now, not ever."

Daryl's head moved softly against him, but whether it was a nod or simply nuzzling closer in sleep, he couldn't tell. Exhaling, Merle closed his eyes and almost instantly drifted off to sleep, feeling surprisingly content.

A/N: I hope you all enjoyed! Please let me know what you think so I know whether to write and share more stories about the Dixon brothers! Thanks for reading! :)