Hello y'all! So after i watched 409 i had this wonderful idea. What if the zombie apocalypse was just a dream? Instead of waking up beaten bloody rick wakes up in a hospital? This take place during 409 but goes in a ENTIRELY different direction before the end of the episode. I would like to know if this is something you would like to read more of even if it's only for one person. i'm not starting a new story at this point. I'm just testing the waters with this one. (i'm lagging soooo bad on my svu story)


Rick took a deep breath. For a moment he stopped breathing. He could feel the darkness surrounding him. He almost gave in, his body ached and begged for release, but then he remembered Carl. If he died he would come back as a walker, Carl would have to put him down, then his son would be all alone in the world. He would have no family, the group was gone. Carl at almost 13 years old would be by himself.

"Carl." Rick gasped out. He took some more deep breaths, that's when he smelled it. It was clean but in a way it burned his nose. The air had that hospital smell. Full of disinfectant, soap and he heard things. A woman's voice he didn't recognize calling out, he heard beeping and something like a whooshing noise. Rick opened his eyes but quickly shut them again. The bright light of the room hurt his eyes. He had to blink a few times before his eyes would adjust to it. He was in a white room, and there was flowers on the table next to him in a vase. It reminded him of the grandma vase Shane had given to him. Looking at it closer Rick realized it was the exact same vase. He took a better look around the room before he realized it was a hospital. Panicked filled his chest, the beeping noise got louder and more frequent. He attempted to start ripping off the all the tubes connected to him but before he could finish the job there were walkers all over him.

"Mr. Grimes you need to calm down." One of the them shouted. Wait, walkers can't talk. Rick looked around at the faces looking down at him. They were perfectly alive. Their skins bright and colorful. Their jaws not gaping at him trying to bite him. Moving, but words, not moans came out of them.

"What the hell is going on?" He thought before the darkness took him.

TWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWD

When he woke up again. He saw a tall brunette woman talking to, he assumed a doctor.

"Lori?" Rick called out. "It can't be her. She died. I saw what the walker did to her." He thought. But when the woman turned around, he saw Lori's face.

He started crying. Lori was alive! She was alive and healthy. She wasn't wearing the dress he last saw her in but instead jeans, and a t-shirt, along with those damn cowboy boots she always wore.

"I'll give you two some time." The man said as he left the room. Lori walked towards him. She sat on the bed. She slowly put her hand on his face and gently wiped the tears away. Rick went to grab her hand but got caught on something. He looked down t his arm and saw a Velcro cuff held him to the rail.

"They did that to stop you from ripping out your tubes." Lori said as she placed her hand in his. "I can't believe your awake." A tear leaked from her eyes. Again Rick tried to touch his wife but was again caught but the cuff.

"Please. I need to be loose from these." He said as panicked filled his chest.

Lori looked worried for a moment before looking behind her. "You promise to leave your tubes alone?" She asked.

Rick nodded his head.

Once Lori undid both cuffs Rick lunged himself at her, pulling her into a hug. "I can't believe you're alive." he mumbled into her neck

Lori was startled by the sudden movement but hugged him back. Now the tears came out even harder. She never thought she would be wrapped in Rick's arms again. The doctors had told her that he was never going to come out of the coma. That maybe she should start talking about taking him off life support. "Of course I'm alive." She laughed through the tears. "Why wouldn't I be?

Confusion was bouncing all around Rick's head. He was in a hospital. The whooshing noise he had heard earlier was traffic that came from his open window in said hospital room. Lori was alive. As for walkers, he wasn't sure. The last time he awoke from a coma the dead were walking. He wakes up again and now what? They disappeared? They found a cure? But how was Lori alive?

"What's happened?" Rick asked as he pulled from the hug but didn't let her go.

"You got shot, " Lori wiped at her tears. "after a car chase. There was a third gun man. Shane- Rick are you OK?"

"No, no, no." Rick whispered as he shook his head. "That can't be true." He sobbed.

"Rick, honey. It's OK, It wasn't your fault. No one knew." Lori said, mistaking Rick's fear.

"Dad?" Rick looked towards the door and saw Carl. He was holding Judith. His hair was just as long, but not greasy and unruly. His face wasn't covered in dirt, or anger. Instead it looked happy but confused. Carl looked to Lori. She nodded his head. Carl finished coming into the room he handed Judith off to his mother before throwing himself into his father's arms.

Rick, not expecting that fell on his back but returned his son's embrace. Last time he saw Carl, he had been mad at him for the fall of the prison. "No" Rick thought. " the last time I saw him, I was leaving for work two years ago. "

Lori has stood up from the bed to give Carl and Rick more room. She rested her head on Judith's as she watched them.

Rick held onto his son and took a deep breath. Instead of sweat, dirt and walker gunk he smelled like he put on too much Axe. Rick laughed, he never thought he would be glad to have his son stink of bad cologne.

Carl finally let his father go and sat on the end of the bed.

Rick looked at Lori. "Can I hold her?" He asked holding his arms out to Judith.

Lori paused in her swaying, confusion on her face but passed her baby to Rick. Lori watched as Rick hugged the baby he never met. The way he was holding her was the same way he held Carl. As a father who missed his child. The doctor told her Rick would be confused now that he was awake but she felt like she was the confused one.

"I'll be right back." Lori placed her hand on his shoulder. He looked at her, nodded then went back to talking to the children. Judith seemed a little apprehensive about Rick but otherwise fine. It had been quiet a while since Lori had seen Carl smile, he was always moody now-a-days. She squeezed his shoulder then left the room.

"Excuse me?" She asked at the nurses' station. "I need to talk to Dr. Subramanian. It's about my husband. He just woke up from a coma."

"I'll page for him." The nurse nodded.

Lori walked back to Rick's room but didn't go in. Even though he had just spent two years in a coma Rick looked a little haggard. He looked exhausted. He had adjust the cot so he could lay down up sit still sit up. Judith now tucked into his side, was playing with his fingers as Carl talked about everything under the sun. While she was glad to see Rick and Carl together she also felt sadness. Carl ignored her most of the time and if he did acknowledge her it was barely more than a grunt. He was the same way towards Shane. Shane said they shouldn't let Carl see Rick because of that behavior, encase he acted the same towards Rick, Shane had argued but Carl had begged her to let him go. It had been the most she had gotten out of him for months. When she finally agreed to let him she even got a small smile out of it.

"Ms. Grimes?" She heard someone say her name.

Lori turned towards the voice and saw Dr. Subramanian. "Lori, Dr. S. Can we talk somewhere private?"

The doctor nodded. " Would you like to go to the cafeteria with me? To talk about Rick's condition?"

Lori nodded her head.

TWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWD

"He said he couldn't believe I was alive. Why would he think I was dead? And he knew Judith! He wanted to hold her. He acted like he missed her. How is that possible?" Lori asked.

"I wish had an answer for you but coma patients are very hard to understand. We may never know what the brain does for them. We've had patients wake up after years, sometimes they said they knew what was going on the entire time, other times they think no time has passed at all. All I can suggest to you in this matter is to talk to your husband about it." Dr. S shrugged his shoulders. This was something Lori liked about him doctor. He never acted like he knew everything and she was dumb because she didn't understand all the medical terms. He had been Rick's doctor for about 8 months now and she was glad she had decided to switch doctors.

"Here's what I do know. Your husband is going to need time to adjust. I suggest we keep him here for at least a few days. It seems like everything is OK but we still should run some test and monitor his brain. We'll also do some psychical therapy during this time as well. While the nurses would do exercise to help his muscles from atrophying he hasn't actually used them for quite a while. I think we need to keep him as stress free as possible. Have you informed him of your current situation? Shane was Rick's friend, correct?" Dr. S. paused a moment to take a bite out his salad. Lori nodded. While she was glad Rick had finally woke up, the realization of what that meant was starting to sink in. She sighed and looked down at her coffee. She looked back up when Dr. S. placed his hand on her's.

"Lori, these next couple of months are going to be hard. Rick is going to need a lot of adjusting. I know that's a lot to ask. If you feel like you can't handle this now is the time to voice it. Is there someone else you'd like us to call?"

"No," Lori shook her head. "He is the father of my son, and I still love him. We are his family. Carl still needs him. I need him. We can do this." She said, she was nervous but she wasn't going to leave him.


So what do you guys think? Disclaimer i know nothing about coma patients or what it takes to take care of them. I just assumed some stuff. As a heads up I love Lori so this is going to be a lori/rick story. They are going to be the main focus. I will slowly be bringing in other characters of the walking dead but not everybody is going to be big in the story. This will also be a caryl story but that will be a sideline story not the main focus. Like i said on top i'm busy with another story so it might be a while before this one is updated. leave me a review telling me what you think of this story. :)