Rain lightly pelted the roof of the prison. The light pattering noise kept Rick from falling asleep. He lay looking at the celling feeling almost restless. It had to be around 4 am and he could not sleep. Normally it was his thoughts that kept him awake however, tonight it was different. It was a soft peaceful noise that once sent him straight to sleep keeping him from even dozing. The smallest most mundane noise would wake him up in a flash now.

It was times like these when he could really think about how things were turning out and what steps he needed to do to keep everyone alive. This was the one time no one would bother him and he was truly alone to his thoughts. Rick didn't get much time like this. There was always someone who wanted something or was following him around. He had got over his maniac out of the loop phase and had mostly returned to himself. Deep down he figured his group was just worried he would go around the twist again and kill them all in their sleep or worse disappear them.

A soft sigh beside him disrupted his thought. Rick turned to look at the beautiful woman beside him. Sadie lay on her side holding onto her pillow. He smiled looking at her. She was the woman that probably helped save him. After Lori died he swore he would never fall in love again. That changed however, the moment he saw Sadie all alone in the middle of the woods. He and Darryl had gone out hunting when they came across her. At first she wouldn't even consider coming back to the prison with them and Rick wasn't so sure about taking another person in. Finally he decided it was a good idea and he didn't want to be responsible for a young woman to die out here all alone. Rick talked to her gently promising that neither he nor any other member of his group would hurt her and she agreed to come with them.

It only took maybe a month for Rick to be in love with her. At first she was very quiet and wouldn't say a word. Carol was the first to really get through to her. After that Rick finally got her to talk. He would get her to go on supply runs and keep watch with him to try to get to know her better. She wasn't annoying like some women he had been around that talked about themselves nonstop. For the most part Sadie would just sit and listen to him talk. She seemed to understand how he felt about Lori and everything that had happened there.

"You're not a bad person Rick. Bad things happen to good people. I'm sure she doesn't blame you about what happened. You can't blame yourself forever or you will never be able to love again."

Those words seemed to bring him back to reality and from that moment on she was all he seemed to want.

Fast forward a month or so later she was his. Rick didn't care that she was younger than Maggie all he could see was the potential with this woman.

Sadie moving in her sleep pulled Rick from his thoughts. He watched her as she frowned in her sleep before gently prying the pillow out of the grasp and pulling her into his arms.

"You all right?"

He asked gently as her blue eyes fluttered open. She nodded slightly before snuggling closer.

"Weird dreams again."

Rick sighed. She had been having nightmares since he had found her. That was possibly what led to them sleeping together so quickly. He seemed to be the only one who could get her to calm down.

"Your sister again?"

She nodded sadly not saying a word. Rick didn't say anything for a moment. Her family was a touchy subject. For the longest time Sadie wouldn't tell Rick what her nightmares involved. She would only say that they were terrible and he wouldn't understand. Finally one night she came to him while he was keeping watch and told him everything.

After the world ended and everything went to shit Sadie was stuck with her father, little sister, uncle and her father's friend. Everything was good for a little while until her father started to lose it and her sister died. Sadie sobbed as she told Rick about watching her little sister be shot and bleed to death before turning into a walker. Her father, devastated by his youngest daughter's death, wouldn't kill her instead; he kept her on a leash. He was convinced she could be restored if he could just find someone with some science sense. After a while of watching her only remaining parent completely loose his marbles Sadie took off on her own.

Rick gently tilted her face up to look at him,

"I'm sorry darlin. I know this is hard. Focus on something to get it out of your mind."

As he watched the tears begin to well up Rick quickly leaned forward pressing a gentle kiss to her lips. It didn't take long until she was eagerly kissing him back. Her kisses were always so tender that it made Rick never want to let her go. She reached up tangling her fingers in his curly hair before pulling away.

"What are you doing awake anyhow?"

Rick smiled,

"Rains keepin me awake."

Sadie looked a little unconvinced. Rick didn't sleep much at all. He usually only slept 3-4 hours and that was on a good night. She knew most of the time he had a lot on his mind. The guy had way too much on him at the same time she knew he was the best for the job of leader.

"You thinkin about that meetin today? That Governor guy sounds like a damn creep!"

Rick breathed in deeply before nodding,

"Any guy that would just randomly shoot up a prison and have fish tanks with zombie heads in them sounds a little off."

Sadie nodded. The 2 weeks had been hell on everyone in the prison. From Glenn Maggie getting kidnapped by Merle to Rick and everyone else having to break into Woodbury to rescue everyone not to mention this governor trying to shoot everyone to death; they all had a hard 2 weeks. Now Rick would go talk to this guy to work out a deal to keep peace between the two groups. Something however, told Sadie this wouldn't go as well as Rick hoped.

"Let me go with you…please?"

Rick sighed,

"I would really rather you stay here. It would be safer and I wouldn't worry as much."

Sadie sat up slowly looking down at Rick. She had fallen in love with him so quickly and didn't want to think about something happening to him. He knew she was upset and right away sat up pulling her back into his arms. Sadie didn't say anything for a moment as he placed gentle kisses on her should before moving up to her lips. His beard was rough on her face as he kissed her softly.

"Rick I want to go. Darryl and Herschel both will be there. I don't trust this basket case you are going to talk to and quite frankly I don't want to let you out of my sight."

Rick chuckled,

"We don't even know this guy and I think we both wanna lock him in a room with padded walls. Probably wouldn't hurt you tagging along. If any trouble starts though I want you to hide. Sadie I know you have one hell of a shot but don't go gettin yourself killed."

Sadie nodded with a smile now. This was usual protective Rick; always making sure that she would be safe and not doing anything stupid. Sadie contributed a lot of Rick's protectiveness to the way Lori died. Although she had never met Lorie; Sadie felt a lot of pain for the woman. She couldn't imagine dying the death Lori had died or the pain she had to go through.

"You think this prison has a padded cell? We could stick him in there and that problem is taken care of or we could just shoot him."

Rick pulled her back down into a lying position against his chest,

"That sounds like a good plan too. You know Carol isn't going to like you going. Sadie nodded. Carol had almost become her mother of sorts. When she first came to the prison only Rick and Carol could get a few words out of her. Now, with their help, she had formed close ties with every member of the group...everyone but Merle. She still hadn't really found much common ground with him.

"I'll talk to her before we go. She'll be ok with if it you're there I think."

Rick closed his eyes gently running his fingers through Sadie's brown wavy hair. He felt bad in advance for ticking Carol off. She had basically adopted Sadie as her surrogate daughter. He figured this was her way of replacing Sophia but at the same time helping someone else. The woman had a way of knowing when someone needed some love and attention.

Right as he was about to doze off Sadie's arms tightened around him,

"Rick?"

He opened his eyes slowly.

"Yeah?"

Sadie wrapped her leg around his waist keeping their bodies tightly together.

"Are you scared of this governor guy?"

He shook his head.

"Not really. I just wanna teach this prick some manners. Darlin I don't want you to be scared. I won't let a thing happen to you."

Sadie nodded with a smile feeling sleepy again herself.

"I'm not worried about that baby. I know you keep me safe. I'm more worried about that governor guy if he tries something. He won't turn out so well if Daryl gets ahold of him. He may never look the same. What a tragedy that would be."

Rick laughed slightly,

"Yes darlin a true tragedy. Now get some sleep it will be dawn soon."

Sadie's smiled snuggling as close to Rick as possible. After a few seconds he was snoring lightly. She tried to close her eye and go back to sleep. Tomorrow would definitely be one hell of a day and it was almost time to get started…