This is a one-shot. I also have another story, (also a Rick one) called 'How Did We Manage This?' Read away! :) (Also, yes I know, it's my second Rick story, but damn - he's fine. Also FF be flooding up with Daryl, let's get some Rick in here!) .. Also, also, also (I use the word a lot) this follows the story line, but obvi bc it is a fan fic, it doesn't. Haha, please leave a review!

"Little girl? Little girl?"

I looked up from my mess of items on the gas station floor. Did I just hear? ... Nah, probably nothing.

In my lap was a bag of Jalapeno and Cheddar chips, a flashlight and batteries, four bottles of water, two granola bars, three cans - one of tuna, one of stew, and one I dubbed the 'mystery can' because the label was ripped off. I also had my backpack next to me, with extra clothes, and a small blanket. I also had a tiny first aid kit I raided from a car, and a dull hunting knife I found on a body. Laying on the floor on the other side of me, was a pistol with one clip left, so I only had six more rounds.

As I begun packing the stuff on my lap into my pack, I swore I heard it again.

"Little girl? I'm a police officer -"

Okay, this time, I could not have been hearing things, right? I stood up, and threw my pack on, and held my gun tight. I begun to approach the large windows to actually see a cop! A sherrif by the looks of him. That's not a little girl.. I thought. But this guy, if he was a cop, obviously he must have been able to hold his own, especially if he was a sherrif.

BANG.

The little girl, or what was left of her fell to the ground. Yeah, this guy - he could handle himself. I thought again about what I had. He seemed okay, calling out to the child first before shooting her zombie self to the ground, so I don't think he'd hurt me. Or try anything, if you catch my drift. I decided I would take my chances. Sure, I could protect myself too, but when you run out of bullets, and all you have is a dull knife, well, your chances don't look so good. I walked out of the gas station, and glass from a shattered windshield crushed beneath my boots. He sharply turned, gun pointed. Until he saw I wasn't a threat. He let it down, and begun to approach me.

"You alone?"

"Yes."

He removed his hat, and I got a good look at his face. Damn. Clear blue eyes, full lips, and hard face with gentle features. Dark hair, nice build... I liked this cop. What I liked most was the smile he gave me, when he extended his hand.

"Rick Grimes. I'm a sherrif."

"Belle Deen. I was a writer."

He frowned at my past tense. I guess he was trying to believe there was still hope somewhere. Yeah, right. Before I go any farther into this tale, I suppose I should introduce myself. You know my name. I'm 28, and was living in a place just outside of Cynthiana. I had an old Chevy Blazer, a golden retriever named, Ezio, and was a writer for a small magazine. I wasn't originally from Kentucky, but had got moved out here for about a year as part of a writing assignment - study blue collar life. Ezio died. Poor boy. And my blazer? Well, I left it behind when I ran out of gas and hit a walker which resulted in a busted windshield. Couldn't see shit out of it. Wondering about my family? I was an orphan, and pretty much kept to myself, so - I had none. My doggy was the closest I got, and I watched him being ripped apart. I tried to fight them off of him, but it was no good - I had to put him down myself. That's pretty much my story.

I looked down at my brown cowboy boots, almost the same as Rick's. It was odd, but in the moment, I was actually worried about how I looked. Navy blue tank top, blue intentionally ripped jeans, and light brown boots. Hair pulled up in a ponytail, black sunglasses. Pretty face, high cheek bones and light freckles. Hazel eyes and soft lips. Usually. Although, in that moment they probably looked cracked. I had a tattoo on the top of my left shoulder that read 'guardian angel', and a slim physique. I worked out, so I was a little muscular, but not overly, like on roids or anything. So aside from a little dirt smeared on my arms, and a little dried blood on my pants, I guess I looked alright.

I looked back to him. Brown uniform, with a peeking white tshirt underneath. Cowboy boots, and hat to match. He was muscular too, you could see it in his build, but like me, he too wasn't showing any signs of using roids. He smiled at me again. Had I been making it obvious I was looking? I had hoped not, I mean, I was wearing black shades. I stole my pair of Ray Bans from a small store on my way to the gas station. Figured, no one would miss 'em.

"Where were you headed?"

"Honestly, I didn't have a clue. I have no family - nothing. Was just looking to stay alive I guess."

He became quiet at the 'f' word. I snuck one more peek at him. He had a ring on his finger.

"You looking for yours, Rick?"

He nodded.

"You're welcome to come along for the ride. I've got guns, a lot of guns. And ammo. Sure it would be of help to you. Besides, I'm sure they've got a safe zone at the CDC. After I find my wife and son, we're going to head there."

"Okay, I'm sold. I'll come along, sherrif."

He smiled and led me to his police cruiser. Married? They really don't lie when they say all the good ones are taken. Gorgeous, sweet, nice, and ever devoted to those he loves. I'd hoped his wife treated him with the same respect.

"Belle? You awake?"

"Hmm? What?"

I woke up to my head on his shoulder. Oops.

"Why didn't you wake me?"

"You passed out as soon as we pulled out of the gas station, figured you were exhausted."

"I was on your shoulder, it must be asleep!"

"No, don't worry about it. I didn't want to wake you. It was just a friendly gesture."

"Well, thanks."

"No problem."

The car grew quiet, mostly because I had felt bad about sleeping on him. I mean, the guy had - has or had - a wife and kid. I peeked from the corner of my eye at Rick and bit me lip. Mind you, if I stay with him, and we don't find them, or he gives up - I called dibs. Mental dibs.

"So, you want to tell me about your family?"

"Lori, my wife - the funniest thing about her, she took every picture from the house. There wasn't one left on the wall. And Carl, my son - he's such a good kid."

"Sounds like you've got a great family, Rick."

"They are. When we find them, I'm sure Lori and you will get along great."

I laughed.

"What?"

"I'm sorry, it's just - if you were my husband, I'd be wondering what you were doing with me."

He looked at me, trying to hide a smile on his face, but ended up grinning along with me anyway.

"I know it's your duty - 'to serve and protect' - but just saying, sherrif."

"You aren't afraid to speak your mind, are you?"

"Nah. That's what made me a great writer."

"Why do you keep refering to it like that? Like it's not there anymore?"

"Because, it isn't."

"You don't know that."

I scoffed.

"Look around Rick - do you see anything that tells me otherwise?"

He became quiet and bit his lip. I understood why.

"Rick - Lori and Carl, that doesn't mean they aren't out there... I'm such an insensitive bitch sometimes. Seriously, you're going to find them. And I'll help, alright?"

He pulled the car over and wrapped me in a hug.

"Thank you."

When we started driving again, all I could think of was his scent. He smelled really good. That, and if we didn't find his family, God only knows what it would do to him.

A few days passed. We alternated between driving and walking. Wondering how we did that? Once the cruiser ran out of gas, we walked for a few hours. Then he found another car. Until that one ran out of gas, and so on, and so forth. Finally, not finding a vehicle, we walked up until a highway that must have once been busy. It was empty now.

"This leads us into Atlanta! I bet they're there!"

He was ecstatic. It was great to see him that way, to finally have hope.

During those few days, he spoke of nothing but Lori and Carl to me, told me a lot. How they fought, how he had been shot, about his best friend, Shane; how he was worried he and Lori were borderline divorce, and he still loved her. About all of Carl's birthdays. About everything. I felt like I could now say I knew Rick nearly inside and went much deeper than a pretty face, and I could say, even though his looks blew me away, and despite the fact I was attracted to him (and had called dibs) we were becoming best friends.

I thought back to right after the cruiser had ran out of gas, and a walker almost grabbed me because I dropped my gun - he shot it in the head, and saved me. So, I started playing twenty questions with him, decided I wanted to get to know the man under the cowboy hat. And he spoke.

Getting into Atlanta, everything was quiet (too quiet). Until walkers came creeping up from every single end. We managed to back ourselves up against a tank. A tank!

"Get inside!"

"What about you?"

He wanted me to climb in, but he wanted to stay out here and fend these freaks off himself? No way!

"I'll be fine, get in!"

"No way, Rick! Not without you! You have to much waiting for you!"

"I'll be right behind you, go!"

I stood my ground. He must have been annoyed with my stubborn attitude, because he finally climbed up the tank, grabbed me by the waist and pulled me up. We climbed in together.

"We're trapped. Now what?"

"We wait it out, I guess."

"They know we're in here, Rick."

"Shit!"

I looked at him puzzled. He didn't usually swear.

"I dropped the bag!"

"Fuck!"

He looked just as surprised at my profanity.

"Hey! Are you alive in there?"

We looked down at the radio attached to Rick's belt.

"Yes."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Someone else was alive! And they were helping us. All we had to do was run. We got out of the tank, and did what Glenn told us to.

I know you guys know the story from here, so I'm just skipping things. I hope nobody minds.

"Dad!"

I watched as the young boy grabbed his father. Cute. His wife wrapped him in an embrace and shot me a dirty look. Told ya, sherrif. I became aquainted with each member of the survival group. Amy, Andrea, Lori, Carl, Shane, T-Dog, Dale, Glenn, Carol, Daryl, Jim, Jaqui, and all the rest. Everyone was really nice to me, except of course, Lori.

T-Dog, Glenn, Daryl, and of course the Sherrif had gone out to rescue Daryl's brother. I personally didn't like the guy, but agreed with them going to get him. Shane and Rick were arguing about it, Lori included - so I stepped in.

"You just got here!"

She had told him, which was true, but hey, the guy was tough - she needed to cut him some slack.

"Rick will be fine. He knows what he's doing. He saved my life, and he's going to come back in one piece."

I put my hand on her shoulder, and she shook it off.

"Exactly, Lori. I'll be fine. You don't need to worry about me. Belle is right. I love you, I'll be back soon."

With that, he and the others were gone. She however wasn't over it. She turned to me, angrily.

"Listen, Belle - is it? He is my husband! I see the way you look at him, the way you watch his every move, and I don't know what happened between you two, but do you see this ring? He's married to me!"

I was taken aback by her comment.

"Listen here, Lori!" I mimicked her tone. "Nothing happened between Rick and I - so you best calm down. All I was doing was trying to reassure you that he's going to be alright! Rick and I are friends, and whether you like it or not, you'd better get used to me being around! No one is going to tell me what to do, and if you're so insecure and closed minded, you can ask Rick yourself if you don't believe me when I say nothing happened!"

Everyone left behind was now staring.

"I'm sorry everyone."

I began to walk to where a few were washing laundry. Lori ended up joining, but didn't have much to say. Shane had come along much later, and I had heard him and her conversing when I walked past to bring a load of clothes up to dry.

"Nothing happened between us."

She was telling him.

"Lori, no - there was, there was something and it was real. When you gonna tell 'im that it's you and me? When?"

"I'm not. I know what happened - and I reached to you out of comfort, but Rick is back now. And he isn't dead."

"That night Lori - those days after! You came to me!"

"I thought he was dead!"

She cheated on Rick! I couldn't believe it! Bitch! I saw red and hollered to them, "That's a poor excuse!"

They both turned to me. Lori walked up and slapped me across the face. I grabbed her and threw her to the ground, she liked to fight like a girl, pulling hair and such, but self defense classes don't teach you to fight that way. I punched her and split her lip. Shane pulled me off of her, and a scream broke the heated fight. Walkers.

One grabbed Amy, and I before I could blink someone shot it off of her, I had assumed it was Shane. I went along helping, shooting every walker I could, trying to help our group, until one of them grabbed me. I tried to fight it off, but it had knocked my gun out of my hand and had me pinned to the ground.

"Belle!"

Carl screamed out my name, worried. Rick was right he was a good kid. If I could just lift the bastard up, and grab my gun, I'd be okay - and Carl wouldn't have to be worried anymore. Rick was right, he was a great kid.

BANG!

Strong hands grabbed me and pulled me up. I was a little deafened by the gun shot, and my vision had become disoriented due to what I had supposed was shock, so I couldn't see who my savior was, nor could I tell until he wrapped me in a tight hug.

"Belle?!"

Rick!

"Told you she wouldn't like me."

"Come on, that's the last of 'em."

When I finally came to, I saw Lori standing beside Shane, Carl under her arm. He pushed past her and ran straight to Rick. Lori shot me a dirty look, and I continued getting them until the near evening. Rick had asked her about her lip, and she had said she tripped and hit her face on a tree. I didn't want to have to be the one to tell him that his wife was or had been cheating on him. Especially with his best friend! But I knew no one else would.

One night, we were up keeping watch. We were sitting on Dale's RV roof and telling jokes, laughing. Suddenly out of the blue, he said one thing, and I knew, I had to tell him. I didn't know when, but I knew, I had to.

"I'm happy I met you, Belle."

That's it. That's all he said.

The time to tell he only came the next day, when Lori and Shane were seen arguing again and he had walked away from her, heated. Rick went to ask her what had happened, and she only said 'nothing.' We had been hanging laundry, and I saw the look on Rick's face when she shut him out - it sucked. So I couldn't hold it in anymore.

"Lori, just tell him."

She glared at me.

"Excuse me?"

"He deserves to know!"

She tried to slap me again, but I moved out of her way.

"You stupid little bitch! You think you can just come here and tell me how my marriage works?! You think you know us?!"

Before she could continue, I blurted "How you marriage works?! Lori - marriage doesn't work like that! You obviously don't respect him! I know him, and I'm starting to get a good read on you! He needs to know!"

She grew silent, and acted as though Rick wasn't there.

"Lori - what the hell is going on?"

She didn't answer, and I screamed out, "She cheated on you with Shane!"

Rick took one look at her, and threw his wedding band on the ground. "I'm done with you."

He walked away.

"I hope you're happy!"

Lori shouted.

They gave Rick a tent to have all his own, Shane coincidentally decided to bunk with Lori. You could hear her saying, 'no' though. She had gotten what she deserved. Walking to my tent that night, I walked past Rick. I considered knocking to see how he was, but then realized that it was silly to knock on a tent. Before I could call for him, he called for me.

"Belle?"

"Yeah?"

He unzipped the tent, and I saw him sitting in his jeans, shirtless. He looked tired.

I climbed in.

"Can't sleep?"

"Yeah. How about you?"

"Well, I was headed to my tent for that, but I don't think I'd be able to sleep after what happened today."

"Our marriage was ending. I see it now. It's just a shame it took me to this point to see it."

"I'm sorry, Rick."

I put my face in my hands. It felt good for him to know the truth, it just felt bad because I didn't want him to be sad.

"Hey, don't worry about it."

He spoke softly, and looked up to see him smiling.

"Everything happens for a reason I guess."

"I fail to see reasoning in this! I ended your marriage!"

"NO! She ended it! You had nothing to do with it, Belle."

"She acted like I did."

"It's funny - she had cheated on me, but she thought I had cheated on her!"

"Bitch." I whispered. "Oops."

He laughed, lightly. "Again, don't worry about it."

"What's going to happen with Carl."

"I guess she has him tonight - she's got explaining to do to him. And I have him tomorrow."

"And what about Shane?"

"Maybe in due time, I'll forgive them both. Right now, I'm choosing to be civil for Carl's sake."

"Good choice. I see reasoning in that." I giggled.

"Like I said, everything happens for a reason!"

We both laughed, thinking of the zombie apocalypse outside.

"What's the reasoning for the world going to shit?"

"It brought us together."

His words surprised me, and he kissed me.

He laid me down on my back and just kept kissing me. They were soft kisses, that eventually picked up speed. He pulled my shirt over my head and started kissing my neck. He pulled me under his small cotton blanket and pulled off my bra. I undid his jeans and slipped my hand inside, feeling his size. He moaned at my touch. He pulled off his jeans and got in between my legs.

"Rick, maybe we shouldn't tonight - won't it look bad to her?"

He brought his face to mine, breathless as I was.

"I don't care what she thinks."

He pulled my panties aside and entered me, causing me to moan loud. We made love until each of us collapsed fufilled. I fell asleep with my head on his chest.

"You know, I called dibs on you."

He laughed.