You're All Grown Up Jude: High School AU prompt in which Rick and Daryl are legally married in a non-apocalyptic world. Follows the story of a surrogated baby named Judith as she battles her Freshman year in an unconventional family. Does not follow TWD series. AU. Slash. Rick/Daryl
Note: This story has nothing to do with the original Walking Dead series, some names, couples and characteristics are the same. And ignore the fact that same-sex marriage isn't legal in the state of Georgia.
Disclaimer: any and all characters are not owned by me, simply borrowing their images for readers entertainment.
Warning: Mentions and dustings of homosexual pairing, IF YOU DO NOT LIKE DO NOT READ.
Chapter 1: Judith Anne Dixon-Grimes
Judith woke with a start, pulled from a deep sleep she longed to continue as the alarm clock rang ambiguously on the nightstand next to her twin-sized bed.
Lazily creaking one eye open, she glared through a messy mat of her own chestnut brown hair and slammed a hand down on the snooze button.
In a delirious, half-awake state, Judith rolled over, slinging a sheet pressed arm over the edge of her floral print comforter.
The clattering of pans could be heard from down stairs where her daddy was undoubtedly preparing a meager breakfast, in the hopes of preparing Judith for her first day.
Crap. Today was her first day of high school.
Incentive enough, Judith opened her deep hazelnut eyes and sharply inhaled in an attempt to awaken herself through power of will, butterflies forming in the pit of her stomach.
Today, she started high school and the mixture of excitement and fear had yet to dull, even over the sweltering days of summer.
Blinking away the dryness of her eyes, Judith threw off her blankets and halfheartedly swung her bruised legs over the side of her bed.
Summer vacation had been filled full of excitement and hard work for the 14 year old youth. Trips to the beach style lake on the outskirts of town, playing games of tag and basketball in the streets of Atlanta, Georgia with her friends, helping her dad in the garage working on scrapped motorcycles.
Well not exactly helping. More like switching out tools and parts as she bothered her dad with questions and ideas that were ludicrous.
Leaning forward the young brunette yawned as she attempted to rub the remainder of sleep from her eyes, strands of mahogany falling in her face. A second time her alarm clock rung its demands, signalling Judith that 5 minutes had passed since she last pressed snooze.
Dragging her feet, Judith scooped up the outfit she had excitedly picked out last night, from atop her cluttered desk in the corner.
As she turned, eyes still drooping from sleep, her foot caught the leg of her desk chair, causing her to trip slightly and an incoherent curse to fall from her lips.
Her room wouldn't feel so small if it wasn't in a constant disarray, her daddy would say. Aside her desk, there stood a 4 layer bookshelf, jam packed with Judith's favorite books and collections. On the other end of the room, a moderately used dresser, acting as another place to stack various papers and knick-knacks, bottom drawer slightly ajar. Other than the scattering of papers, art supplies and projects, her room was rather void. Judith however, fancied herself an artist, decorating her walls with her work of paintings, sketches and posters of her favorite bands and artists.
Judith loved art. In every sense and form, be it physical, performing, or musical.
She was an active art student in middle school and loved her drama classes over every other.
Her dad would tease her, saying it was because she was such a drama queen that she felt like the ruler of her class.
Judith clammered across the hall, greeted by the sumptuous smell of bacon cooking downstairs, to the bathroom where she would shower and prepare herself for the day. The smell was enough to encourage her to hurry herself through her morning routine, as her stomach let out a small growl of need. Glancing down the light tan carpet-clad hall she took note that her parents bedroom door was still shut. This meant her dad was still asleep and that she should be courteous enough to keep it down until the whole household was up and moving for the day.
Judith lived a rather unconventional home life. She was born to two fathers through the use of a gestational surrogate or a (GS/ED) to be exact.
Her daddy was Rick Grimes, deputy sheriff of the local police department.
Her dad was Daryl Dixon, stay at home motorcycle mechanic.
The two were not however excluded to those names. As a toddler and child, Judith, just learning how to talk, would use all sorts of variations in titles to her two fathers: daddy, da, papa. Later on as she grew older and lazier she started calling each one things like: old-man and dad or just simply 'you' when neither knew exactly who she was talking to.
Her parents had started dating late in high school, all throughout college and through their early 20s until they got married. Although legally wed, neither took the others last name. It took 2 years of marriage before they decided to have a baby and officially start a family. However being born to two married men with two different last names had brought up some complications over the years. Wanting to make sure both family names were associated with baby Judith, her fathers had signed the birth certificate: Judith Anne Dixon-Grimes. Only 14 years old and she couldn't tell how many times they had to wait extra hours on end at a doctors office or airport because a receptionist had only put one of her last names on a formal document.
She had never really thought anything of it, not until she was old enough to know how human reproduction worked.
That had been an awkward and extraordinary talk about 'the birds-and-the-bees' she had had with both her parents at the tender age of 11. She had known before 'the talk' that her family was different. She was young, not stupid. She had quickly realized in preschool that she was the only kid in her class that didn't have a mother, but her fathers loved her and ran a normal household, so she never really questioned it.
Wasting no time, Judith clammered into the bathroom, dark maple wood floor creaking slightly beneath her bare feet. Switching on the light, she adjusted the knobs on the stand up shower to her liking and let out another throaty yawn.
Today was going to be interesting.
Ridding herself of her black/white plad PJ bottoms, white tank top and undergarments, Judith immersed herself in a warm spray that loosened her muscles and readied her body for the day to come.
20 minutes of vaguely washing her shoulder-blade length hair and pale milky skin, Judith exited the shower with a shake of her damp locks.
Quickly, she dried herself with a towel and dressed in her chosen outfit. Dark blue, worn out jeans, frays and holes decorating her legs and a black blouse that hung low on one side, revealing a bonney shoulder.
Judith plugged in her hair dryer that had been hidden under the bathroom sink and halfheartedly dried her hair. She stopped every so often to run her brush through the softening locks and parted her hair the way she preferred.
Satisfied with the blurry image of herself, seen through the steamy sink mirror, Judith placed the hair dryer back where it belonged and tiptoed back to her room.
Not bothering to shut her door, Judith patted over to her dresser where she picked up a few assorted bracelets and distributed them onto her wrists.
Two decorating each, on her right she wore a simple and elegant black and silver watch, along with a silver chain crafted to look like several skeletal bones connected at the ends.
On her left, she wore a red rubber wrist band that said 'fight the real disease' in white, blocky lettering. Along with that she had a noisy charm bracelet given to her by her dad last year at Christmas.
Respectively placed, Judith opened the top drawer of her dresser and rustled through for a pair of black ankle socks. Once acquired she sat on the edge of her still unmade bed, putting her socks on, followed by her pair of black and white All-star Converts.
Her skull-patterned school bag had already been packed the night before at her dad's request. Judith slung the Jansport backpack over one shoulder and headed downstairs for breakfast.
Taking the steps two at a time, Judith arrived in the dining room just in time to see her dad take his usual seat at the open end of the table.
The first floor of her family's house was spacious, the stairs connected with the landing of the living room next to a large brown felt coach that sits three and divided the living room from the dining room. Farther from the stairs next to the coach there was a plushy leather love seat angled diagonally away from the far wall to face the 42" flat-screen mounted on the wall. An entertainment system lay just below the TV, housing a DVD player and littered with various DVD cases. The living room, hallways and 3 bedrooms in the house where all covered in the same light tan carpet as up stairs, while the 2 bathrooms, dining room and kitchen where wood flooring.
The dining room consist of a conservative table that seats up to 6, pushed into the corner next to a large bay window that looked out on the back yard. The entirety of the house always had a warm, lived-in feeling and Judith couldn't imagine staying anywhere else.
Until the end of last school year her family lived in a small apartment on the opposite end of Atlanta. While her earliest memories where there, Judith did not find it hard to forget once settling into their new 2 story house.
Judith circled around the corner into the kitchen where the scents of fried bacon dictated her desire for food.
Rick, dressed in one of his freshly washed police uniforms, glanced up from the edge of his favorite white coffee mug.
"Mornin', dear." He offered to the wisps of hair that just disappeared into the kitchen, a soft smile befalling his lips.
Judith grumbled something of a greeting as she filled her plate with scrambled eggs, bacon, and a slice of toast.
Re-entering the dining room, Judith dumped her bag into an empty chair and took her seat next to her present fathers left.
Rick hunkered over his own breakfast, glanced at his daughter and smiled again. He couldn't believe it was his little girls first day of High school.
"So, ready for your big day?" He asked, not missing the slight shrug his daughter responded to out of habit.
If he had to pick one trait about his child that reminded him of Daryl, it would be that shrug.
"As ready as I'll ever be." Judith forced through a mouth full of bacon.
She knew that her daddy hated it when she shrugged off his questions, no matter how small the inquiry was. He had made a big fuss about it a few months ago when he had asked if she finished her homework, lecturing her about proper communication.
Of course it had only escalated because her parents had just argued. It wasn't a huge fight, but enough to put both of her parents on edge.
Both ate in silence for about five minutes before the feather-light sound of footsteps could be heard from the stairs.
Both Rick and Judith glanced up from their half finished meals to see a shirtless Daryl stretching his stiff muscles as he entered the dining area. Bronze hair in a disray, Daryl let out a silent yawn and approached the table.
"Mornin', sunshine."
"Mornin', dad."
Daryl, eyes still foggy with sleep, leaned down to place a quick peck on his husband's cheek before placing a second on the top of his daughter's head.
"Mornin'." he grumbled out, making his way to the kitchen. He scrounged up what was left of the breakfast his partner had undoubtedly made and poured himself some coffee.
Judith, remembering that she had forgotten to get herself a drink, leaned back in her chair and set her eyes on the open space of the kitchen.
"Hey dad, get me something to drink." She through back, raising her voice slightly to be sure he heard her.
The unbodied voice of Daryl replied, "Excuse me?"
Rick chuckled slightly, knowing Daryl was trying to covertly remind their daughter to use her manners.
Judith noticed this too and let out an over exaggerated, playful groan, "Please?"
"Better." Daryl's voice could be heard along with the sound of the fridge door opening and closing snuggly.
Daryl emerged moments later, skillfully balancing his plate in one hand, a coffee mug in the other and a glass of milk wedged in between his forearm and chest.
First placing his own meal down, the home mechanic reached across the table to place the cup of milk in front of Jude and finally took his seat at the table, tucked in front of the bay window, to Rick's right.
The young brunette lent an elbow on the table to cradle her head on her fist as she continued eating.
'Boy, is this something to get used to again.' She wearily thought as she attempted to finish off her food, eyes still drooping.
Over the months of summer, Judith had fallen into a regular routine of staying up late and sleeping through the morning. Her dad had warned her if she didn't slowly get herself used to waking up early again she would be as good as a walking corpse by the time school started.
She, however, had been confident in her youthful body, that the amount of sleep she had wouldn't make a huge difference.
How wrong she had been, but there was no way in hell she was going to admit that to either of her parents.
The silence was broken again a few moments later when Daryl looked up at his daughter with a blank stare.
"Now I know wha's diff'rent."
Rick trained his confused eyes on him, wondering what his lover was talking about.
Still with blank features, however obvious that he was teasing now, Daryl continued, pointing his fork across the table at Judith, "You're out'a bed 'fore noon. You've showered too. What's the occasion? Got'a date or somethin'?"
Rick, plate cleared, leaned back in his chair, amused at his husband's antics.
Jude let a smirk befall her lips, playing along with her dad's sarcastic jab.
"Oh yah, its gonna be an all day thing, don't be surprised if not back before tomorrow. Thinkin' about just skipping the formalities and spending the night with em'."
Rick let out a laugh as Daryl tried and failed to hide the smile creeping onto his features.
Shaking his head he decided to amend the conversation, "But really, ya' got everythin' ya' need? Books? Pencils? Fancy-ass calculator with way too damn many buttons?"
It was Judith's turn to try and hide her smile.
When Judith had taken her final assessment at the middle school on the other end of town last year, her results came back fairly well.
Actually, more than fairly well, in fact Judith was at an advanced level for her age in Math, Science and English.
When she signed up for her freshman classes, her new guidance counselor approved for her to take 10th grade classes. This meant instead of doing Algebra and Applied Science, she would be doing Geometry, Trigonometry and Biology.
These higher classes however required her to have more advanced learning materials. This included her brand new Texas Instrument: Scientific/Graphing calculator which she would geekily admit to being her new prized possession.
With a full keypad, internal storage, color screen and multipurpose capability, who could blame her? This thing was nice.
Which is exactly why her dad loved to give her a hard time about it ever since he took her to get it a few weeks ago.
Stopping in at an Office Max while out school shopping, it had cost them $185 with her student discount.
Sure it was a requirement of her new classes but the thing would be necessary for any classes she took in the 3 years that followed, probably even in college too, so in the long run it was worth the money.
Neither of her parents had been seriously mad about it however. Just listen to them brag about how smart AND artistic she was to other parents and that point was obvious. While they loved bragging about her to others, they clearly loved teasing her even more.
"Yes, sir."
At this Rick stood and took his clear plate and now empty mug to the kitchen, giving them a quick rinse and leaving them in the otherwise empty sink. Whipping his mouth one last conscious time, Rick glancing at the watch wrapped around his wrist and straightened out his uniform. He didn't miss the way Daryl's eyes swept over his body hungerly from across the table or the way he superficially cleared his throat and diverted his eyes back to his plate in an attempt to distract himself.
Somehow in the early A.M. the two had woken, intertwined and aroused, resulting in slow, agonizing morning sex.
The feeling still present apparently in Daryl's libito, he couldn't help but admire his husband's attractiveness in that uniform.
19 years of being together, 16 years of marriage and 14 years of Rick being an actual cop and still he would occasionally catch himself drooling at the sight of Rick in that uniform.
Rick, wanting nothing more than to make sure his daughter got to school and then come home to spend the day alone with Daryl and an empty house. However, duty calls and it was only Monday.
Judith, noticing the eyes that her fathers were making at each other, scrunched up her face in disgust and decided that now was a good time to leave. She was not oblivious to her parent's love-making and while she was happy that they were 'doing it' rather than fighting, it was still gross. She would happily play the role of the clueless child in this regard, not wishing to engage either in 'that' conversation.
Judith slipped past her daddy, carrying her empty plate and half-full cup into the kitchen.
She downed the rest of her chilly 2% milk and rinsed her dishes. Her daddy's clean trimmed head popped past the door frame just in time for her to set her cup in the sink.
"Sure you don't need a ride, hun?" He offered casually.
Judith nearly scoffed at this, "And suffer the embarrassment of being seen getting dropped off in the squad car? No thanks daddy. I'm sure people will find plenty of other reasons to beat me up later."
She had meant for the comment to be light but the worry must have shun through her eyes.
Rick's lips dropped into something of a frown, "Now hun', I know you're nervous about going to a new school and all but you can't think like that. I'm sure you'll find plenty of good people there and besides, you'll always have Sophia."
Throughout Judith's school years she had been a victim of bullying, criticism and down right cruelty. While Atlanta was a larger city, word still got around that she was a middle-class, born to two gay men, secluded brainiac. She had really only had one friend who stuck by her all throughout the years and that was Sophia. A mousy little blond girl who had lived her fair share of bullying, at school and at home.
They had met in 1st grade as playground friends but became actual friends in 2nd grade, when both of their families lived on the north side of Atlanta. Out at lunch time one day she witnessed a snot-nosed little boy who she didn't recognize pulling at Sophia's golden pigtails and making fun of her because she had been crying. Judith, already not a fan of bullies of any kind, pushed the kid and told him to 'shove off'. They had been friends ever since. It wasn't until they were in 5th grade that Sophia confessed to her the reason she had been crying that day. Her parents had been arguing that morning which resulted in Sophia's father beating her mother black and blue. In 6th grade Sophia called her, voice laced with tears, telling her that her father had put her mother in the hospital. The next day they rejoined at school for Sophia to tell her that her father had been arrested, they were getting divorced and at the end of the school year she would be moving to the South side of town. While the distance was only a minor inconvenience, that meant that Sophia would have to change schools in her new district zone. They talked on the phone almost every night and made plans to hang out every weekend, but the absence of one another in school weighed heavy on them both.
It was a few months before finishing 8th grade that Judith's parents brought up the idea of upgrading from their small apartment to an actual house. Her fathers had tentatively asked if she was comfortable with switching schools and Judith jumped at the offer. A few weeks of house hunting in their spare time and they had happened upon this wonderful 3 bedroom 2 bath on the South side, moving it up to their top choice. A month later they got the good news that their application had been approved and they could move in as soon as Judith finished the school year. The young brunette had excitedly races up stairs to call Sophia and tell her the wonderful new arrangement.
Over summer Jude and Sophia spent the glorious days and nights rekindling their friendship and catching up their day to day lives.
Jude had hung her head slightly in thought as she took in her father's words, " I know, daddy. I just-" she shook her head trying to convey to him what this day meant to her, "I just figure this is my only chance to start off with a clean slate." She hadn't wanted either of her parents to worry. She knew that it weighed heavy on their shoulders, the fact that she had been verbally and physically attacked her whole life just because her parents were gay. She wished that she could explain how while she wasn't ashamed of her parents, it would be nice to not face constant ridicule at school, at least for a little while. She wanted to say a million things to ensure her comfort with the situation but words seemed to fail her at this morning.
"I'll be okay, daddy. Really." She smiled as reassuringly as possible.
Rick watched her features carefully, searching his daughters face for any lies. When none were found he nodded rigidly, "okay." He nodded again, more to himself and put on his best fake smile, "okay, have a good day, Jude. Love you."
"You too, daddy."
Judith held back as she listened to the muffled conversation of her fathers in the dining room. Soon after the sound of fleeting footsteps, followed by the closing of the front door could be heard, signalling her daddy''s departure.
Jude weighed her options and decided that leaving now would still put her early at school even after swinging by Sophia's place. She let out a huff, mustering up what little courage she could find and exited the kitchen. Her dad was still seated at the table, sipping at his coffee and looking through a large stack of papers of what could only be compiled information on his latest project.
"Isn't it a little early to be working, old man?" Jude cheekily bit out as she hauled her backpack over her shoulder.
Daryl glanced up from what looked like an order form for parts, "isn't it a little early to be so sassy?"
She smirked at this and shrugged, "early bird catches the worm and all that."
The man smacked his lips at this as his daughter made her way to the door, "guess so. Love ya', be good."
"Love you too." Judith through over her shoulder as she left the house for her first day.
authors note: thanks for reading, this is a test run chapter, if I keep the feel for it and people take to this prompt then I will happily continue. Please review and let me know what you think. Thanks everyone! This is rated M just in case, better safe than sorry, but I will provide warnings at the top of each chapter for sexual or violent content.