Rick's Ruby: Crossfire

Summary: Rick and his group have found a permanent home, and he loves the beautiful girl by his side. In the old world, that would have been it. He could live happy. But "happy" is an strange thing when the dead roam the earth and the people that are left want you dead.

This is a sequel! PLEASE- if you have not read Rick's Ruby, you are most likely gonna be lost, so read it first! Due to overwhelming response to the first Rick's Ruby this was inevitable. Thank you Kit, Em, Mrs Hale, ScarlettBreezes, and Noell for giving me both the inspiration and desire to continue with this. I could never find better readers, period. Ever. Like, ever. I adore you guys. :)

Rick/OC, no slash, rated R for graphic lovin' and ass kickery.

Rick was sweating hard despite the frigid weather as he dug into the hardened ground with the end of a pointed shovel, patting in the wall of the deep cut in the ground. The farm that he and the others had taken was already more secure than anything they had found before, but a innocent idea from a 6 year old had inspired a potentially insane defense method.

They were building a moat.

Well, not a "moat" exactly. More like a six foot deep trench around the entire farm, and not filled with water. The idea was that the walkers that drifted too close would fall in and become stuck, and anything inside could be set on fire, eliminating the threat. The idea had come to them at dinner one night, when little Jeb had brought a book to the table to show Carl. In the picture was a storybook castle, with a moat complete with alligators swimming in the murky water. Jeb had asked why they didn't have a moat, and the adults at the table looked at each other with amused smiles.

"You're kiddin', right? You know how long that'll take?" Daryl had scoffed lightly, but when he saw Ruby shrug to Rick with raised eyebrows.

"Is it really that crazy?" Rick had asked out loud, thinking that if it added another layer of protection, it couldn't have been that insane.

The others had laughed, but it had started the wheels turning. "It's gonna be a job of work. This place is huge." Paul, Ruby's best friend, had said, but it had been quietly decided to give it a try. Especially after Jimmy had said there was a digger in the barn that would make the job a hell of a lot easier.

They had started working on it as soon as the snow had melted, and now, on an afternoon two months later, they were finally finishing it up. Jimmy was driving the tractor with a digger attached to the front, the gunshot Rick had mistakenly inflicted on him long ago nicely healed up over the winter, and he attacked the last ten feet of the trench around the farm voraciously. Paul, Rick, and Glenn were behind him a bit tidying up the thing with shovels, and Ruby and Maggie were on the fence just inside them, keeping watch. Daryl had been working with Ruby at crossbow targets for months now making her a quite capable shot, and she held the weapon tightly in her hand as she and Maggie perched on top of the metal fence, eyes peeled for walkers, or other survivors. They all know which was worse, and prayed the living kept far away while they worked. When they were inside, they didn't have to worry about confronting other people. They could just hide in the covered places they'd set up inside the gate and chase them away with harsh words and the occasional pot shot.

And it was something they had had to do twice since they'd taken the farm over from the disturbingly twisted Bob and Margie, Jimmy's aunt and uncle. Twice people had found their way to the high gate that surrounded the large farm, the first were two men with filthy clothes and filthier mouths. Long beards hung tangled and matted from their chins and they were scarily thin, their eyes narrowed and wary. When the men had threatened to come through the gate, guns blazing, Rick had been forced to fire on them. Perhaps, he thought as they were burning the bodies later, if the men had known just how many people the farm had protecting it and the kind of firepower they were working with, they would have walked away. But exposing themselves was not an option, and they did what they had to to survive.

The second visitor surprised everyone, though it probably should not have. The day Bob and Margie's had tried to take out Rick's group, the few survivors of the onslaught on their own people had included a woman, Ruth, and her son Benny. She had been just as hostile as her group, and fled the farm when she realized Margie was gone, even taking a failed shot at Daryl as she and her son left. But the winter had proved to be a hard one for them and they had shown up one late afternoon when the snow was knee deep and the wind frigid and blustery.

Jimmy had warned them she was still a threat, but they were human after all and while they refused to take her back in, they had set her up with an old green truck left on the farm and food, wood for burning. Daryl had been pissed, but they had all been glad to see her drive away.

"She must have gone back to her own farm." Jimmy had said as they watched the tail light fade away in the snowy air. "I can't believe she made it."

"She better not be back." Rick had said dangerously, but she had not been forgotten. They all kept an eye out for her now when they were on watch, but hadn't seen either of them since.

Ruby saw movement come from the trees across the small field between them and the woods there at the back of the farm, and she hopped down off the fence, preparing to aim. She stayed quiet, focused, and when the walker got close enough she brought the crossbow up and let an arrow fly. It entered the thing's head around the left eye, and it fell to the ground with a silent thud.

"You're so good at that." Maggie had murmured when Ruby rejoined her on the gate, and Ruby grinned at her.

Jimmy pulled back from the trench when the last large scoop of earth had been removed, and they swiftly rounded out the last section with their shovels. It didn't have to be perfect, just indented enough to ensure that crawling back out was not an option once whatever it was that had fallen in had done so. It worked for a number of things, too, as it turned out. A few weeks ago a deer had gotten disoriented and fallen in, breaking it's leg. Paul had found it before the poor thing had suffered for more than a few minutes and put it down, and they had instant dinner for a couple nights.

"We'll finish up anything we didn't do tomorrow." Rick looked up at the soon to be setting sun, mostly hidden by frigid clouds on the cold day. "Let's call it a day, people."

Paul gripped a branch sticking out of the wall of the trench and pulled himself up. He held a hand out to the other below, and once they were all above ground, Rick hopped up on the back of the tractor and Jimmy began to drive slowly around to the front gate, Paul, Ruby, and Daryl walking behind. Glenn and Maggie had scaled the fence and taken off across the yard, anxious to spend a little time alone. They had been working double time the last week, wanting this to be done.

Ruby handed the crossbow back to Daryl, and he inspected it momentarily before nodding, like he always did. She was still the only one allowed to use it besides him, but as it was his pride and joy, she didn't take offense to the action.

"Good job out there today." He said as they walked. "Only missed the head once."

"I think the arrows help. They're easier to use than the homemade ones."

"If you can shoot, you can use any kinda arrows, Rub. I told you that." He said firmly, and she grinned. He was such a hardass.

"You're right. My mistake." She said with a wide eyed, mock deference, and he chuckled.

"Yeah, these are better." He conceded, looking at the quiver strung across her back, and she laughed out loud. She'd found the expensive, carbon tipped aluminum arrows in town when they'd first arrived there, and he took excellent care of them. Retrieving anything he shot that could be, cleaning them up and straightening the fibers on the ends, and she was thrilled he was so happy with them.

The winter had proved a happy one for the group, and as Ruby looked up at the snow just beginning to flurry from the sky, she hoped the coming spring wouldn't herald an end to the peace. With the freezing temperatures and the deep snow came a great decrease in walker activity. The dead seemed to grow sluggish, and they rarely saw more than one or two at a time anymore. Their days had circled around Carol and Beth's cooking, taking care of the animals tucked away in the barn, and being with each other at night around a roaring fire. The tired, worn looks in the faces and eyes of the group had been slowly being replaced with a happier glow, weight had been put on where they had been scary thin before, and if anyone were to stumble across them, they might not know what the group had been through just by looking at them anymore.

Reaching the front gate, Rick and Paul lowered the drawbridge they had built when they'd started the project. It was wide enough for their large black truck, and easily a foot thick to withstand the weight. Large chains had been attached to each side, and they used the tractor to move the thing down into place. Once across, it was repeated so it was tucked back up, truly making their home an island against the chaos of the world. Ruby looked back at the extensive trench as they walked back to the house, and smiled to herself. Paul saw, and put his arm around her shoulders. They watched Rick and Jimmy drive away to put the tractor up in the rear part of the barn, and Paul looked down at her happily.

"How you doin?"

"Good. And you're filthy." She said with fake disgust, shying away from his muddy clothes. He laughed, and pretended to smear some on her. Pulling her thick coat around her, she cackled loudly.

"Wonder if they got dinner ready." Daryl said gruffly from beside her, and wiped his dirty face on the back of his arm.

"I'm sure they do. We've been out here a while." She said, looking over at him. He caught her eye, looked down at his dirty hand, and in a flash he'd whipped it towards her face, leaving a long dark streak of mud across her cheek.

Wiping at the offending dirt, she looked at him with wide eyes. "I cannot believe you just did that."

He wiggled his eyebrows at her mischievously and Paul burst out laughing. Even after all this time he wasn't used to seeing Daryl even close to being... playful. It was just wrong. Pod person wrong. Ruby narrowed her eyes and scrubbed the dirt from her face, and Daryl just laughed, grabbing her roughly and squeezing her under his arm. She broke her false irritated demeanor and grinned up at him.

"Lock it behind you." Rick said when Jimmy followed him out of the barn. They kept everything locked now, whether they needed to or not. The two houses flanking the one they used were sealed up so tight a mouse couldn't get in, and all the outlying sheds as well as the barn carried padlocks to defend against any possible intrusion. God forbid walkers or ill meaning survivors got in, there was no place to hide that they wouldn't see.

Walking quickly across they yard, they caught up to a laughing Paul, Ruby and Daryl as they got to the front porch stairs of the main house. Jogging up them, he fell into line beside Ruby, and they all piled through the front doors, pulling off coats and shaking snowflakes from their hair. Things were hung up in the mud room off to the left, and Paul and Daryl headed right upstairs to get badly needed showers.

"Rick! Rick! Look what I drew!" Sally ran up to he and Ruby in the front foyer, her blond hair bouncing around her little heart shaped face, and a large, colorful piece of artwork in her hands. She smiled excitedly up at him, and Rick knelt down immediately to see what she had brought him.

"What did you do, Sal?" He asked, taking the paper from her and looking at it closely. He got a deeply impressed look on his face as she described how she'd thought of the sun, and the ocean she'd drawn and colored, and he turned it around at one point to show Ruby, who went wide eyed and awed for the child. It was actually quite good, she had a gift for the arts. She was hardly the same little girl they'd found hiding in a staircase so many months ago. Now, she was talkative, bright and outgoing with them, and she'd developed a major case of little girl crush on the handsome Sheriff. Whenever he was around she would sit near him, listen to his every word intently, and she was constantly painting or drawing for him. He and Ruby had nearly an entire wall covered in her artwork in their room, and Ruby loved to see them interact. He was attentive and gentle with the slight 7 year old, and it was sexy as hell.

"I'll hang it on my wall with the others. Thanks, Sal." He grinned finally and she nodded, smiling shyly.

"You're welcome."

Sally wasn't the only one with a crush that had grown and become terribly apparent over the winter. Rick excused himself, Sally's picture in hand, and ran upstairs to clean up quickly before dinner. Ruby took the child's hand and led her into the kitchen, where Carl was helping Beth set the table. That was the common thing now, Carl helping Beth whether she needed it or not. The pretty blond had garnered quite the attention from Rick's son, and he was usually around when she was. If he recognized that she only had eyes for Paul, or that their relationship had grown so much so that Beth had moved out of Sally's room and into Paul's (a fact that had floored Ruby when she'd found out simply because of the girl's sheer shyness, but delighted her all the same), then Carl didn't show it. Oh, to have the tunnel vision of youth, Ruby thought wistfully as she sat down at the table, Sally taking the spot to her left, and an empty seat left for Rick on her right.

The kitchen was alive with chatter. Carol and Beth bringing dishes to the table, Carl's attention going to Jeb, who was currently chewing his ear off on the other side of the table. Rebeccah and Jimmy at the end talking about something she couldn't hear, Hershel, Maggie and Glenn discussing the gate project. When Rick, Paul and Daryl returned, all seats were taken and they laughed and talked their way through dinner.

"It's wonderful to have the moat done." Hershel said, and Jeb grinned widely at the old man's words. The little boy had been so excited at the prospect of having his storybook picture come true, the entire house had adopted the phrase to describe the trench, and it delighted Jeb every time be heard it.

"We have to stay on point, not get lazy now that we have it, but... yeah. It's gonna help a lot." Rick nodded, taking a bite of baked potato.

"Buzzkill." Glenn hissed jokingly, and the table laughed. Holding up his glass of lemonade, he grinned. "This is great! I didn't think it would ever be done."

Glasses all around the table went up. "Here, here!"

"So, what's the next project?" Jimmy asked out loud, looking around at all of them.

"How about sleep?" Maggie chuckled. "We need a day off."

They had been working awfully hard to get it done, and most everyone nodded their agreement, but Jimmy laughed loudly. "You people don't know how to take a day off. Paint the house, build a moat. You've had a new job every day since you've been here."

"He's got a point." Ruby grinned. "And I, for one, think sleep sounds amazing."

"I don't see why we can't take a couple days off. Long as we keep watch in the meantime." Rick nodded. They had a steady schedule of watch shifts in place that had been working well. Daryl was on tonight, Maggie and Glenn tomorrow, and they hadn't had to use a lot of ammo over the winter, so they were still good on that. The fireplaces in almost every room of the house kept the gas and generator usage down for heat and they were great about turning things off they didn't need, so a trip out for more fuel could wait a good long while. They had drained a neighboring farm's tanks mid winter already to sustain them. And honestly, the thought of Ruby in his bed for an extended, uninterrupted period of time was too good to pass up. He shot her a look over his glass and she grinned. She always knew what he was thinking.

"Well, hallelujah." Jimmy quipped, and they laughed at him. Maybe they did work too hard, but it kept them safe. After dinner, they cleaned up quickly, and Daryl left the house to start his watch. A fire had been burning in the living room fireplace and, as usual, the house congregated for a short while in front of it before bed.

"Sally, you ready to go to bed?" Carol asked, picking up Jeb's book and going to lead him away. She knew what the little girl would say. It was the same thing she said every night.

"Can Rick tuck me in?" She looked expectantly at Rick, and he smiled. Standing up, he held out a hand.

""Course I can. Carl, you hittin' the sack?" He looked over to his son, who nodded.

"Yeah, I'll go up in a minute." Carl said, his eyes sliding over to Paul and Beth sitting and talking by the fire. His dad nodded understandingly, biting his lip. He hated seeing his boy hang on something that wasn't going to happen, but what was he going to say? It wasn't like he had a lot of choices in the meantime.

"Ok, don't stay up too late." Rick said, and he and Sally headed on up the stairs, Ruby following close behind. She nodded to him as he and Sally stopped at the second floor, and she continued on up to their room.

Rick clicked the light on in Sally's room, and let her step past him into the room. Much like Ruby and Beth had done with Carl and Jeb's room, they had painted here too not long after that. The walls glowed a soft pink color, edged in white. The same white "curtains" hung in the window, and a beautiful quilt Carol had made from old clothes lay on the twin bed. It was an adorable room for a little girl. The only thing that would make it identical to one in the old world would be toys, and Rick found himself wishing yet again he could find Sally a barbie or two.

The girl was already in her flannel pajamas, so she threw herself onto the bed and he went over to pull the covers over her. She laughed when he "accidentally" tickled her feet, and yawned finally when he pulled the quilt tightly up under her chin.

"'Night, Ladybug." He said, kneeling by the bed.

"'Night, Caterpillar." She smiled up at him adoringly. It was a line from a book she liked, one that she had told him about while back, and they said it to each other every night. Rick kissed her head, turned her moon nightlight on, and smiled at her as he left the room, leaving the door cracked a pinch according to Sally's strict request. Tapping up the stairs quickly, he let himself in his bedroom, and started to build a fire in the chilly space while Ruby was in the bathroom.

"You have got to be exhausted, babe." Ruby sighed as she clicked the light to the bathroom off a little while later, and found Rick stoking the now rolling flames. With the fire being the only light now, the room was deep and comfortable with the silvery blue paint she'd done the walls up in. She climbed into bed and rested her head on her hand as she watched him.

"Little bit." He nodded, finishing with the fire and hanging the poker on the hook next to the mantle. Standing and stripping his shirt off over his head, he did the same with his pants before climbing in next to her. She got over the top of him, and with her magic hands, began to knead the tension out of his back.

"Ugh..." He groaned softly, loving every moment of it.

"Did Sal get to bed ok?" She asked as she worked.

"Didn't make a peep." He said, moving his chin to the side so he could talk.

"Good. You're so sweet, tucking her in every night."

"Mmmm." He shrugged under her touch. "One of these days she'll feel all grown up and not want me to do it anymore."

Ruby grinned. "Well, I'm all grown up and I'll always want you to tuck me in."

He chuckled, reaching up and grabbing her, pulling her into his arms. "You better. And I'll do it. Every single night." They kissed deeply, his hands twisting into her hair till they both were gasping for breath. Falling back into his arms, she snuggled close against him with her cheek pressed against his chest, and his fingers working her back through the thin gray material of the nightgown she wore. They watched the fire flicker across from them, sending golden color over everything in the room.

"I love you." He murmured, closing his eyes and nuzzling her hair.

He heard the smile in her voice. "I love you, too."

Ruby slept deeply, but woke early, before even Rick and he was always up first. She dressed warmly in a sweater and boots, and pulled her hair into a ponytail as she left the room quietly.

"Morning." She said to Hershel, who was sitting at the kitchen table reading the Bible. He did that sometimes, and managed to make it not creepy after what they had been through with Bob and Margie. Something for which she was immensely grateful.

"Good morning, young lady." He removed his glasses and closed the book, leaving his finger in the spot he'd paused at.

She grabbed a coffee cup and poured herself some before joining him at the table. He'd made toast and only eaten half, and when he pushed the plate with the remaining piece on it over to her she took it with a smile. "What are you up to this morning?" He asked as she chewed.

"My turn to watch." She said and he frowned.

"I haven't seen anyone else, I hope you're not intending to go it alone, Ruby."

"No, Paul should be around here any minute. Don't worry." She smiled at his concern.

He looked amused, his eyes clear and intelligent over his broad nose. "Ruby, I've come to look at you like my family. It wasn't always that way, but maybe it's not blood that makes people close. Many of you are like my own children, so don't be surprised if I worry."

She smiled at the sweetness of it. She really didn't get a chance to spend much time with the older man, and in that moment she kind of wished that was different. He made her not miss her own dad with quite the same voracity that she'd had at the beginning. Her dad... The thought of him sent tears threatening to spring into her eyes. Coughing lightly, she nodded, and stood.

"Well, I better get out there. Talk to you later?"

"Be safe." He said, picking his Bible back up and she left the house as she checked her sidearm one last time. The walk to the front gate was blustery, but the sun was peeking out over the clouds brightly, making her wince. She kept a sharp eye out at the surrounding land beyond the fence as she approached the deer stand set up in the trees near the front opening. Climbing the ladder, she opened the hatch up top and saw Daryl sitting inside whittling away on a piece of birchwood.

"Morning." She smiled, and he nodded, moving over to make a place for her in the confined space. She didn't know how Maggie and Glenn spend so much time up here without major cases of cramps. "How's it been?"

He looked out over the field in front of them, his eyes narrowed and watchful. "Nothin' to speak of. A few deer, thought I'd go get 'em when you got here. Where's Paul? Thought he was with you today."

"He'll be here." She assured him, crossing her legs underneath her, leaning against the wooden wall of the stand. It was enclosed, and had been modified for the specific purpose of watch. Plastic inserts were facing out all four ways for optimum viewing, and a space of several inches under each one gave them the ability to shoot if they needed to.

"Aren't you tired? You're going hunting now?" She looked at him doubtfully. He'd been up there all night.

"I wanna stretch my legs, get dinner in before the good game is gone. Saw a ten pointer out there but the bow wouldn't reach him."

"Hm." She nodded. Good hunting was the man's weakness. "If I had known you weren't going back in I would have brought you coffee."

"Don't worry about it. I'll be back soon." He shifted, making his way to the hatch and opening it up. Tucking his flannel jacket around him, he began to climb down. "You need me, yell. I'll be close by, keepin' an eye till Paul gets here."

She nodded, giving him a little salute. He mimicked her movement and chuckled, closing the hatch behind him, and, from above, she watched him stalk to the front gate, climb over, and use a ladder they kept there to make a bridge across the trench. Using the big bridge was too much trouble for one person, so once he was across, he picked up the ladder and tossed it back out of reach. A few minutes later, he had vanished into the woods, and she got as comfortable as she could to watch over the farm.

The quiet settled over the stand and the surrounding areas, not even the sound of birds chirping in the early morning hour to comfort her. She yawned, and a creak from right below her made her jump.

"Paul, you scared me. You're never that quiet." She said loudly, and the hatch door opened again. Jimmy's head poked up through the hole and she looked at him, surprised.

"Hey." He grinned, letting himself up.

"What's up? Where's Paul?" She asked, looking back at the house.

"He wanted to sleep in, I told him I'd switch with him." He moved up next to her, his wide shoulders brushing both the wall and her arm. He was big, but if Paul had been there, she'd be almost on his lap, he was so big.

"Sleep in? That's different." She'd never known the marine to shirk his duties for such a reason.

Jimmy shrugged, but raised an eyebrow in disappointment. "You that upset at spending the morning with me?"

Her mouth dropped open. "No, Jimmy. Not at all, you know that. Just surprised, that's all." She smiled reassuringly, and he seemed pleased by that.

"Good. Because I wanted to talk to you about an idea I had."

Rick woke up not long after she left, wishing he had done so earlier. He laid there in bed for a little while, wishing like hell Ruby was in his arms, but eventually he got up and dressed quickly. He brushed his teeth and wiped his face, clicked off the bathroom light, and let himself into the hallway. He and Ruby mostly did the morning thing with the kids so Carol could be free to cook or do whatever she needed to do, so he went to Carl and Jeb's room to wake them up. Letting himself in, he crossed to Jeb's bed and leaned over, patting the child's still back gently.

"Hey, Jeb. Wake up, buddy." He said softly. The boy slept hard, that was for sure, and was currently the wrong way in the bed, his little form huddled under the covers. A little more shaking and he began to stir. Poking his head up from under the blanket, he groaned softly.

"Is it morning already?" Jeb asked, yawning and sitting up, his little hands balling up and rubbing his eyes hard.

"Yup. Get dressed and come on down to breakfast." Rick nodded, looking over at Carl. "Hey, Carl."

Carl turned over and looked at his dad sleepily, but nodded. Rick left the boys to wake and dress, and crossed the hallway to Sally's room. He knocked firmly, then opened the door slowly, careful not to surprise the girl if she was already awake.

"Sal? You awake, honey?" He called out, and when she didn't answer he poked his head in. She was just then picking her head up, her blond hair a mess on her pretty head.

"Hi Rick." She yawned, sitting up.

He stepped in, and went to get bed, taking a seat on the edge. He grabbed the hairbrush from her bedside table, and she smiled, turning around so he could brush her hair.

"How'd you sleep?" He asked as he worked on untangling her massively thick strands.

"Good." She nodded. "I'm hungry."

"Not a problem. Plenty of food downstairs for you. You want me to pick out your clothes?"

"No, I'll do it." She said and he grinned. When they had first approached her about changing out of those horrible dresses she had been forced to wear before they had come and into the more modern and practical jeans and sweatshirts they all wore, she had been terrified. She was much more like a younger child than even seven years old, just now learning the things a "normal" girl would be accustomed to by now, like picking out her own clothes and knowing what she liked to eat. But now, she was running with it, loving the choices she could make.

He finished her hair, and tied it back with a band, and stood up. "Ok, then, I'll see you downstairs."

She smiled, and he left the room, making his way to the kitchen. Carol was already there, cooking, and bid him a good morning cheerfully when he entered.

"Kids on their way?" She asked as he poured himself some coffee, and leaned against the counter.

He nodded. "Yeah, should be here in a minute." The rest of the house was filtering in, and he went to the table when the kids showed up. He began to dish out eggs to Sally when Beth and Paul came in, and Rick did a double take.

"What are you doing here?" He asked Paul quickly, and he could feel his heart pick up dangerously. The man was supposed to be with her on watch. She wouldn't go out there alone, would she?

Paul frowned. "Jimmy offered to take my watch. Said he wasn't tired. I thought he'd tell you- he didn't?"

"No, he didn't." Rick said, getting a strange feeling in his gut. In an entire winter, no one had ever changed the watch schedule for something other than dire sickness. They depended on the continuity of the schedule. He finished up getting Sally's plate ready and stood, going to the back hook and grabbing his jacket.

Paul gave Beth a grim look and got up quickly, breakfast forgotten. He pulled his coat on as well, watching Rick closely. "What's on your mind?" He asked quietly, and Rick took a deep but steady breath. They left the kitchen and were soon heading over the hill toward the front gate. Oh, this couldn't be good...