A/N: Finally! I am back writing for Rickdrea. I suck. I'm so sorry to those of you who read Andrea Lives. I haven't abandoned it. It's just hard to get inspired. When I watched the finale (4x16 "A") this story is all I could picture so I had to write it. So this is dedicated to my wonderful Andrea Lives reviewers: PenumbraTheWolf, TrustInFaith, Lizzy100, JustLivingToLive, Legionary Prime, mari, Clark Luthor 322, Maxwell05DScythe. I promise to get back to that story!
"Carl, why don't you get some rest?" Rick gestured to the car to his left. It was early in the evening, but Rick wanted his son to get as much sleep as possible. The sun had just gone down a couple of hours ago. Rick, Michonne, Andrea, and Carl were settling down for the night on the side of the road. They had found an abandoned car earlier in the day and decided to use it as their shelter. It was the only form of shelter that they had come across during their trek to Terminus. They had been walking for what seemed like weeks without any rest, so Rick decided that they all deserved a night to recover.
"I'm fine," Carl whined.
"It's time for you to get some rest. You've gotta be tired." Rick reached a hand up to run through his hair. He was fed up with Carl's teenage defiance. It seemed like every time they tried to have a conversation it ended in an argument. Their relationship had been tense ever since escaping the prison.
Carl stood his ground, not making any moves to go lay down in the car.
Rick felt his blood boil and prepared himself for a face off.
Fortunately, Andrea cut him off. "You know if you sleep now you get to be with Michonne. She's pretty tired too. I basically had to drag her back here. And I know she has a stash of candy she's planning on eating once she gets in the car. Maybe she'll share with you." Andrea looked up at Michonne to see her jumping into the car and moving to lay down. "See?"
"Well I could go for some candy," Carl responded.
"It's all good. We will wake you guys up when it's time to switch shifts. Go ahead and take some time to relax." Andrea flashed Carl a reassuring smile.
Carl nodded back and jogged to the car. He disappeared from Andrea's view into the back seat.
Andrea smiled to herself. He really was a sweet kid deep down. She knew it was hard for Rick to parent him by himself, so she took it upon herself to help him out. She was beginning to understand how to deal with Carl's teenage attitude. But she also knew that some of the attitude and anger stemmed from the hurt that he felt from the loss of Judith. It was the one thing that she could relate to. The loss of a younger sister. It would take a while for him to come to terms with Judith's death, but fortunately he had the friendship and support of Michonne. They were really becoming close friends.
Andrea's thoughts were interrupted by Rick's arms wrapping around her waist. He nuzzled her neck. "You're amazing," he whispered into her ear. His breath was hot, a stark contrast to the dropping nighttime temperature. His beard rubbed her exposed neck and tickled it.
Andrea felt her eyes close and body relax into Rick's strong embrace. He was safe and warm, everything that she could ask for in a man. She couldn't remember the last time they were able to touch each other. Lately, all they could afford to think about was surviving. She moved her hands over his and held onto him. "I've missed you," she whispered.
Rick began kissing the side of her neck. His mouth was so hot. He kissed his way up to her jaw and moved to the back of her ear. It was one of her sensitive areas. He sucked on the spot and she let out a moan.
She turned around in his arms and pressed herself flush against his front. He groaned while pulling her tighter to him. His hands ventured under the many layers of clothes that she had covering her stomach. They felt like fire traveling all over her skin. Andrea kissed his lips. She was overcome with lust. She wanted him right there. She didn't care if they had to lay on the ground. She just wanted to be close to him. Her kisses turned wild and she bit Rick's lip hungrily.
He quickly diffused the situation before they entered a point of no return. He turned his head away from hers and pulled his hands out from under her shirt. They couldn't be exposed to walkers and other people by having sex out in the open. No matter how badly he wanted to. He buried his forehead in the crook of her shoulder and took in a deep calming breath. His nose rubbed against her neck and happened to feel her pulse racing. It was reassuring to feel her pulse and know that she was still here with him, a living breathing human. He allowed them a couple of calming moments before extracting himself from her warm embrace.
"We should get a fire going," he offered. He turned to face the car to make sure Carl and Michonne hadn't been witnesses to their public display of affection. He saw no movement between the seats. They probably passed out right when they hit the sheets, he thought.
"Yea," Andrea huffed. She began positioning the sticks that they had gathered earlier in order to build a fire.
Rick knelt down to join her. They worked in comfortable silence and quickly got their mini-campfire ready to be lit.
Andrea retrieved her backpack from the side of the car and dragged it over. She riffled through it, looking for a blanket that they could share. A couple of cans of food caught her eye, while simultaneously causing her stomach to growl. Hunger was not a luxury that they could afford, so they buried all thoughts of food. They hadn't eaten in days. She honestly couldn't remember the last time that they actually sat down to satisfy their appetites. She smiled. At least now they could eat a little bit of something. "Let's see...our options are tomatoes, lima beans, or corn." She glanced at Rick. He was feeding the fire some dry leaves.
He shook his head slightly in response without looking at her. "We should save what we have. I can wait."
She scoffed, but somehow his response didn't surprise her. "Rick, we've been running on empty for the past three days. I haven't seen you eat anything except a bite of berries. I don't want you to pass out. You're skin and bones as it is." She took the time to examine his body. She could tell that his clothes were baggier and his coloring was a little sickly. He even seemed shaky while kneeling over the fire. She was worried about him. She was worried about all of their healths, but especially Rick. He tended to sacrifice himself for everyone else.
He halted his work on the fire and turned back towards Andrea. He watched her for a moment and then hesitated, "I just...it's my job to take care of all of you. Carl, Michonne, and you need to eat."
She met his gaze. "Yea well who's going to take care of you? I think that's my job now. And I can't do my job unless you give me a little bit of leeway." She reached in her bag and pulled out two, small plastic packages. "Here, I have two packs of saltines. We'll each have one. No complaints."
He nodded and gestured for her to join him near the fire.
She gathered the blanket and spread it open. She dragged it with her and sat down close to Rick. She handed him his packet of crackers.
He wrapped an arm around her waist. "Where'd you get these?," he questioned, while examining the packaging.
She smiled up at him. "I have a secret stash."
He grinned, "I knew it. You're the hoarder of the group."
They both chuckled.
It took a moment for them to rip open the packages. They both hesitated. It was like they had forgotten how to eat. Andrea decided to initiate their 'dinner'. "Bon appetite," she said.
They finished chewing. "I feel like I forgot what food tasted like," Rick commented.
Andrea nodded in agreement. "Yea, I can't even remember our last decent meal." She tried thinking about the last time that the group was able to eat together. She couldn't do it. All she could remember was fleeing the prison and feeling panic.
"It was that spaghetti dinner that Carol made. We were celebrating your return." Rick unconsciously squeezed her hip, remembering the times that she was with The Governor.
She smiled dreamily and licked her lips. "Mmmmm. Yea and there was wine."
"A lot of wine for you," Rick added with a laugh. She was very tipsy that night. After all, she had just recovered from her time spent with a psychopath.
After a moment Rick added, "And Judith got sauce everywhere. All over her face. She started...," he faltered. "She started to cry."
Andrea's heart sank. She didn't want Rick to think about the guilt and regret he constantly experienced when talking about Judith's death.
His head fell. "I failed her. I failed as a father. I didn't take care of her like I should've. I just threw her to Beth whenever it got to be too much. And now...," he trailed off. It's too late, the unspoken words floated through the air.
Andrea shook her head adamantly, "You didn't. You did everything that you could."
Rick refused to listen. "I was too focused on everyone else that I ignored my own daughter."
"You did the best that you could do. It was too much." Andrea didn't know what to say. They had had this discussion before. She quickly realized that he would never feel better about the way he raised Judith.
"And Carl. I thought he would hate me. I haven't been the father that I need to be," Rick continued to berate himself.
"Well now you have your chance. He's at a tough age and you've been handling it. Once we settle down, things will get better." She wanted to relieve the hurt that he felt. So she chose to reassure him that he had done the best that he could do.
"That's what I thought at the prison. Now I know that nowhere is safe." His words hung in the air for a while. They both knew he was right, but Andrea refused to accept it. She wanted to believe that in the future they could live somewhere safe. Sometimes Rick thought that she was too optimistic. But, in a way, she balanced him. They really were a great match.
"I'm sorry," Rick finally said.
"It's okay. You have every right to be upset," she responded tentatively. She rested her head on his shoulder. Then, grabbed his hand and thread her fingers in his. She wanted to comfort him. She especially wanted to let him know that he was not alone and that he would never be alone again. She would never leave him.
They both got lost in their own thoughts concerning each other well into the night. Somehow, Andrea had snuggled even closer into Rick's body. It was the most comfortable that they had felt in days. It was a luxury to even be able to touch each other and not have prying eyes.
Andrea was in deep thought. Their conversation had made her think about their future together. She had never felt like this before with any of her other previous boyfriends. She was content, safe, and happy. Truly happy. As happy as she could be in a zombie apocalypse. She wanted to express her feelings in words, but she wasn't sure how. She loved him, but she didn't want to scare him away by saying it out loud. She honestly didn't know how he would react if she told him. "Rick," she started.
"Hmmm?," he asked. He almost sounded asleep.
"I lo-"
"Well isn't this something," a new, rough male voice rang out.
Pure adrenaline shot through Andrea's veins. Her first instinct was to grab for her gun, but she was too late. A gun was already pressed up against the back of her head. She assumed the same was true for Rick, but didn't dare move her head to find out. She could feel the arm that Rick had wrapped around her body tightly squeezing her hip in alarm.
"Don't move," the man ordered. Their blanket was ripped away and tossed into the dirt.
Andrea started to go into full blown panic when she heard multiple sets of footsteps approaching from the tree line. And then she remembered that Carl and Michonne were sleeping in the car about 10 feet away from them. She prayed that they would wake up and be able to escape.
"Hey, Tony look at this. We found the son of a bitch," the man called out.
Found? Andrea's brow furrowed. They were looking for us? She didn't understand what the man was talking about.
"And looks like we got a nice surprise to go along with it," another voice said.
Andrea felt a tap on her shoulder. She closed her eyes and took a steadying breath. She knew that they were talking about her. The fact that she was a female.
"What do you want?," Rick growled.
"I want a piece of that ass." The man laughed.
Andrea could feel all eyes on her.
"She's the hottest whore we've came across in a while," the man licked his lips.
Andrea caught a glimpse of the man. He appeared to be older, probably in his fifties. He had a beer belly and looked dirty. His hair was long, shoulder-length and white. He would definitely be able to overpower her and maybe even Rick, since he was so weak.
"Danny, what do ya wanna do?," the man called Tony asked him.
Danny circled around Rick and Andrea, like a shark sizing up its prey. Without warning, he kicked his foot out and landed it directly into Rick's ribs. Rick doubled over in pain. "You piece of shit!," Danny yelled at Rick. And then he pulled Rick's gun out of its holster and flung it into the woods.
"Rick!," Andrea shouted out. She instinctively moved to help him.
"Woah there," Tony said to Andrea. He wrapped an arm around her neck and pulled her against him. He held a knife to her neck. And also pulled her gun out of her jeans.
"You know what you did! You killed our friend!," Danny screamed at Rick. "So now we're gonna kill your girlfriend and then kill you."
"Stop!," a new familiar voice rang out. Everyone halted and looked at the person. Andrea's eyes widened; it was Daryl. He walked closer to Danny. "I know them. These are good people."
"Good people? This scum murdered John in cold blood," Danny said to Daryl. "It's time for you to make a choice Daryl. Stay with us or be with them."
"They're good people. I'll take the punishment. Just leave them alone," Daryl pleaded.
Two men ran out of the tree line and tackled Daryl into the car. They started beating him to a pulp, unrelenting.
"Daryl," Rick whispered and moved to run to Daryl's aid.
Danny aimed his gun at Rick's face and cocked it back. "He doesn't have what it takes to do what needs to be done in this world. Now just how are we gonna handle this situation? We take the girl and leave you alone. It's a fair trade." Danny laughed.
Tony began to drag Andrea away. He wasn't much bigger than Andrea, but he had a knife pressed up against her neck.
"Let her go!," Rick's voice growled at the men.
"Who do you think you are? You're not the one giving the orders." Danny whipped him across the face with his gun.
"Yo Dan, look what we've got here." Two tall men walked out of the shadows with Carl and Michonne at gunpoint.
Rick looked up from his position on the ground. His knees were digging into hard rock that was slicing into his skin. His mouth was dripping blood and his eye already appeared to be swelled up. "Carl," he wheezed in defeat.
"So that's your boy? Isn't that something we've got your boy and your bitch," Danny was laughing hysterically now. He walked up and kicked Rick several more times in the stomach.
Andrea was still being held against Tony, which forced her to witness everything. She was struggling against his tight grip.
The man behind Carl grabbed him by the back of the neck and forced his face into the ground. Carl was thrashing around, kicking and screaming.
"He's just a kid!," Michonne screamed.
"Shut your mouth," the man holding the gun to her head ordered.
Rick was slowly crawling in Carl's direction. "No...no," he continued to whisper.
Danny added fuel to the fire. "Take her and treat yourself to a good time," he told Tony, gesturing to Andrea.
Tony pulled Andrea full force backwards into the forest. She was struggling to breathe. Her fingers were digging into his arm that was around her neck.
"No!," Rick got to his feet and started to run in her direction.
"Dad!," Carl cried out. The man holding Carl down had started to cut Carl's arm with his knife.
"Don't you dare go anywhere or your boy is dead." He continued to taunt Rick by running the knife up and down Carl's arm.
By now, Andrea was already out of sight. Tony had taken her and there was nothing Rick could do about it.
"Alright, what do you want?," Rick asked the men again. He raised his hands in defeat, finally surrendering.
Danny snickered. "Get on your knees." He kicked Rick's legs which made him crash to the ground. Danny once again brought his gun up to Rick's head.
"Any last words for your son?" Danny cocked the gun back and prepared to fire.
Rick took a deep breath and hung his head. There was no way that they could get out of this. They were outmanned and outgunned. These men weren't leaving before killing them all. Rick just prayed that Carl would be taken out quickly. He didn't want his son to suffer.
Danny began counting down the seconds. "Three...two..."
Bam
Ricky's eyes squeezed shut. He heard the shot, but felt no pain.
"Shit," one of the men said.
All chaos broke loose. Rick turned around to see Danny's body sprawled on the ground with a bullet hole in the middle of his forehead.
Rick grabbed hold of Danny's gun and aimed it in the direction of the man holding Carl.
Two more shots rang out. The men who were beating Daryl were now dead on the ground.
Michonne was struggling with one of the men over his gun. They were pushing and pulling each other.
Suddenly the gun was raised in Rick's direction and fired. He went down with a bullet to the right shoulder.
It wasn't that the gunshot was a life-threatening injury, more so that Rick couldn't stand on his own two feet anymore. He felt defeated and exhausted. He couldn't put up a fight anymore. The force of the bullet slamming into his shoulder pushed him to fall flat on his back.
"Dad!," Carl cried out hysterically.
Rick wanted to succumb to exhaustion, but he couldn't. He had to save his son and find Andrea.
Rick pulled himself up and charged at the man holding Carl. The man released Carl immediately, pleading for his life. Rick saw red. He was blinding by rage. He knocked the man's knife out of his hand and picked it up for himself. Rick began stabbing the man, over and over.
He had finally lost control. There was no stopping him. All noise was drowned out of Rick's consciousness. Carl's tears. Michonne's pleads. Daryl's moans.
Rick felt a hand wrap around his wrist and holding it in place. His whole body tensed, preparing to attack. He studied the hand, which was when he finally realized that it was Andrea.
The knife fell from his grasp and he collapsed on the ground.
"Andrea," he whispered. His eyes began to tear up. He thought that she was dead.
"It's okay. I'm okay. We're all okay," she said quietly.
They squeezed each other tightly in an embrace.
Rick pulled back and stroked her cheek. "I love you," he blurted out.
Andrea laughed happily. "I love you too."
Thoughts? Thanks for reading!