I know the summary probably sucks, but that's the best I could think of. So, this is a little something I thought up when me and Haitus80 were talking about ways to kind of redeem Merle. And we thought that he could either save Glenn or Maggie in the fight against Woodbury and I thought that maybe him saving Maggie would have a greater impact. This is probably not that good, but I'm actually kind of happy with it. Please tell me what you all think!

Merle lay on his back, trying to ignore the intense pain in his left side. He'd had worse, he told himself. This was nothin' compared to the beatings his pa use to give him. It was like a damn paper cut com-

"God dammit, woman!" He roared when the brown-haired woman above him pressed too hard on his wound.

"Sorry!" Her normally steady hands were shaking as she tried to stop more of his blood from pooling on the concrete below him.

It was a wonder that she had been able to drag him behind one of the barricades they had set up all over the prison grounds. He supposed it was the adrenaline most likely pulsing through her veins or the fact he had just saved her life and she couldn't just leave him out there to die.

The yard was full of gunshot sounds as they echoed off the walls and the occasional scream of the men, or women, that been hit. Or bitten. As far as he knew, no one in his brother's group had been injured, with the exception of him. They were all safely hidden behind stacks of metal and wood. Rick had all made sure they were ready for this war and Merle couldn't help but respect the man a little for it; he'd never admit it aloud, though.

The pain in his side suddenly increased.

"Fuck, woman!" He almost sat up this time, but the movement hurt him even worse. "What the hell ya doing?"

"I'm making sure you don't bleed out, you ungrateful bastard. Now, sit still!" She pushed firmly on his chest to put him back in a laying down position.

There was that fiery spark he had been use to seeing from her. It was a wonder she put up with someone like the Chinaman. Korean, whatever.

"We'll have to somehow get you inside, so that Daddy can look at you. You're going to need this stitched close."

"Like hell am I goin' anywhere while my baby brother is out here fighting that asshole!" He propped himself on his elbows and glared at her.

She glared right back. "Much help you'll be when you die of blood loss."

"Like I say; only Merle can kill Merle." He looked around, scowling when he couldn't see past the metal barricade in front of him. "Where's ya boyfriend at? I bet he's runnin' around here screamin' for ya. Why don't ya run along and find him. I'll be fine here. Ain't the first time I had to take care of myself." He held up his stump for emphasis.

"I dragged your heavy ass here and there's no way I'm leaving you. So, you can shut your mouth!"

"Hey now, there's no need to treat the man who just saved your life." He laid his head back down on the concrete and hissed when it pulled at his wound. Maybe he should go and see the old man, after all.

"Thanks for that, by the way." She pulled away his balled up shirt from his side, satisfied to see the bleeding had slowed down a little. But he wasn't home free, yet.

He grunted, not wanting to dwell on it, even though he had brought it up. He had seen the man, a teenager really, line her up in his sights; for some reason she had been fighting alongside him, her boyfriend across the yard. Mostly likely searching for the Governor, so he could end him himself.

Unfortunately, he had just run out of ammo and couldn't take the shot that would have taken the boy out. So, he had done the only thing he could do.

He had pushed her out of the way and took the bullet himself, hoping that it wasn't the last thing he did. He still wanted to see the look on the Asian's face when he found out he had saved his girl. Maybe he would finally stop trying to start a fight with him every five seconds.

Thank God, that boy had been a terrible shot. He vaguely remembered him, back when he was in Woodbury. He could have sworn he had asthma or some shit like that. Why the hell was he out here fighting?

The Governor must have been hard up for some soldiers; hell there was women and fucking children out there. Well, teenagers, but they were like children to him. Deep down, he was glad he had run out of ammo. He would have felt remorse if he had to kill the boy. As much as he made people think otherwise, he wasn't heartless.

Hell, when he laid in his cell, or cage as he called it, and thought about the things he had done to the Korean, he would feel something in his gut. He wasn't going to call it guilt, because he was Merle Dixon after all, but he did think that maybe he shouldn't have gone as far as he had. Maybe he should have interrogated the girl instead. He would have never laid a hand on her and he sure as hell wouldn't have made her take off her shirt. No matter how good her tits looked.

He must have blacked out for a second because next thing he knew those fine tits were pressed against his chest and the girl was slapping his cheek, none too gently.

"Merle! Merle, get up!" Her face was hovering over his now and she looked...concerned. Naw, his mind must have be playing tricks on him. No one cared about him, not even his baby brother it seemed nowadays. It looked like he had finally found himself a woman; it only took to the end of the world.

He had to admit that small, shorthaired woman had spunk. She had threatened to kill him if he ever hurt his brother. He knew he was an intimidating man, even more so now with a knife permanently attached to his arm, so he knew that he had taken guts. If Daryl wanted this woman, then he had his older brother's approval.

"Maggie! MAGGIE!" Someone was screaming.

The woman perched above him, shot her head around and screamed back. "Glenn! Glenn, I'm here!"

Just then the Korean rounded the barricade, out of breath. His face relaxed when he saw her unharmed, but then went right back to a hardened mask when he saw who she was with.

"What are you doing here with him?" His finger was twitching on the tringer of the rifle he held in his arms. Probably itching to add another bullet to his body.

"He saved my life." She said calmly.

"What? Merle saved your life? Look, Maggie, it may have looked like he saved your life but he was probably just trying to save his own ski-"

"He pushed me out of the way and took the bullet himself. Now, are you going to help me or not?"

Merle would have liked to laugh at the expression on the asian man's face, but his vision was starting to get fuzzy and sport black dots.

"We have to get him to, Daddy. He's lost a lot of blood." He felt someone yanking on his good arm and he slowly, almost as if he was moving through molasses, struggled to stand up.

Maggie wrapped his good arm around her shoulders and took some of his weight, which was stilla significant amount. The woman was strong. He just hoped he would be able to make it inside the prison without blacking out completely.

"You're going to have to cover us. Can you handle that?" Her gaze was hard on her boyfriend's, daring him to refuse.

With a sigh, he nodded and stepped out from behind the barricade and started firing.

He felt the woman beside him take a deep breath and looked up at him. Her face deadly serious and determined.

"You ready?"

He managed a smirk. "As I'll ever be, sugar."

"Daddy!" Maggie cried as they near the barred door to their cell block. Merle had grown increasingly heavier and she didn't know how much longer she could support him. It was a miracle she hadn't fallen underneath his weight as they made their way to the inside of the building.

"Maggie!" Her father showed up at the door, out of breath, from crutching his way to her as fast as he could. Beth wasn't far behind him, Judith in her arms.

"Are you okay?" His eyes slid to Merle. "Nevermind. I can see he's the one that needs help. What happened?" He crutched closer to the door and unlocked it.

"He got shot." She slightly stumbled as she walked into the cellblock. "He pushed me out of the way and took the bullet himself."

Hershel raised his eyebrows. "I'm going to have to thank him once he regains consciousness."

"Might as well thank me now, old man." His words were slurred and he struggled to keep his eyes opened. "Don't know how much longer I'll be up.

"Later then. Now, we have to lay you down so I can take a look at the wound." He led them into his cell.

Maggie was practically dragging him there and tried to will his legs to work for at least a little more. The last thing he wanted to do was crush the poor girl. She tried to lay him on the small bed as gently as she could, the bed creaking under his weight.

He reached out and grabbed her wrist with his good hand. "Thank ya." Then his eyes rolled back in his head and he passed out.

"No, thank you." She whispered and quickly left the cell. "I'm going to go back out there and make sure everyone is alright."

"Be careful!" Hershel called from Merle's side.

She could only nod at him, tears clogging her throat. If it hadn't been for the man, now unconscious on the prison bed, she probably would have been dead. She would never seen her father or sister again, or Glenn.

She owed the man.

So, I intended for this to be a one-shot, but I might add a second part. It depends how it is received. Thanks for reading!

I also want to run something by you all. For a few weeks now I have been working on a Merle/Maggie story. (I love the Glaggie, but this idea popped in my head while I was reading Haitus80's AWESOME story Fighting Back[if you haven't read it...go now and read it. You won't regret it!]). There will be a major character death in this story. And it's going to be a kind of sad story...and I'm not sure if I will pair them up romantically(I want to!) or keep their relationship platonic. I'm afraid to put it up here because I have no idea how it will be received, especially since I kill off a beloved character right away..but what do you all think?