Rick leans against the fence, listening to the moans of the walkers from outside the fence. It's a nice morning, something nobody gets to really experience now, because there's always that fear deep down inside that something bad is going to happen today. It sort of ruins the pleasant look of the sun rising over the trees if he's being honest with himself. He lets himself enjoy it for a moment, before thinking about today's plan. He and Daryl spoke about taking a run into town and checking out a joint Hershel told them about, a pharmacy far out that people might not have thought about raiding.
"We gon' do it?" Rick turns as Daryl leans his weight onto the fence beside him. He's got a knack of doing that, just appearing when Rick thinks about a run. He nods, curling his fingers into the fence.
"It's worth a shot, we need medicine. We can't take any risks, we can't guarantee we won't need them. Best we get them now, and Hershel said there should be other shops there too and it's not near a town, so it should be pretty safe" Daryl nods, he doesn't always have faith in Rick's plans, but most of the time, when Hershel has input anyway, he trusts them fully. Rick watches as Daryl drags a hand down his tired face, catching sight of that familiar tattoo on his trigger finger. He's always wondered what it means, but he's never thought to ask.
"Aéquitas, what does it mean?" Daryl looks up sharply, like someone's just slapped him hard in the face before pulling his eyes to his hand. His face falters before he speaks.
"It's part of a latin phrase that means truth is justice. Veritas Aéquitas" He says the phrase quietly and winces before running his finger over the words. Rick wants to ask Daryl why he's got it, and what it means to him, but he knows Daryl well enough to know that too much prying into his personal life can send him into a spin so he doesn't.
"It's nice" he says instead. Daryl gives him a slight nod before turning back to look at the sun.
"I'll go and see Carl and Judith before we leave, better going early. In and out, as always" Rick walks away from the fence, but quickly glances back when he's at the door, and sees the sudden slump of Daryl's shoulders and he feels guilty. He knows he wasn't to know that the tattoo would strike a nerve, it was a normal question, but all the same.
He makes his way through the cold corridors until he's at the cellblock and tries not to wake everyone else up. Beth is already up, feeding Judith her morning bottle. He scoops her into his arms and smiles at Beth, who goes back to her cell. Sometimes, when he really looks into Judith's eyes he can see Lori and it makes his chest ache. Because by no means was their marriage perfect, but he'd loved her. He rocks her in his arms and she gurgles with glee. It's sad, he thinks, that she's got no idea what is really going on around her and that one day when everything's back to normal (because Rick still hopes) she's going to be able to tell people that she survived a zombie apocalypse when she was only months old.
"You're up early dad" Carl rubs at his eyes before kissing Judith on the cheek.
"Daryl and I are going on a run, just for some medicine. We shouldn't be long so we're going early"
"Just you and Daryl? Is that safe?" Carl questions looking up at his dad with curious eyes.
"It's not a big trip, we'll be fine." He passes Judith over to him carefully.
"I'm going to talk to Hershel before we go, Glenn's here so listen to him if anything should happen, ok?" Carl nods silently, watching his dad stroll away.
Rick locates Hershel in his sell, reading from his Bible.
"Daryl and I are going out, anything specific we need to look for?" Hershel sets his Bible down and looks up at Rick.
"Whatever you can get, we may need anything and everything at one time or another" Rick nods, holding a hand up in goodbye. When he gets outside, Daryl is already leaning against the car with his crossbow strapped across his back.
"Here, don't wanna forget this" Daryl throws Rick his shotgun before getting into the car. Carl and Carol open the gates for them. Being a sheriff, Rick used to think that getting out of prison was probably the best day of your life, but now, leaving the safety of the walls scares him half to death.
/
Hershel was right; it looks like nobody had bothered to look into the pharmacy to see what was there to take. They load their bags with the medicine from the shelves, not bothering to see what it was called or anything like that. They fill them until they can't put anymore inside haul them over their shoulders. Like Hershel said, there's a few other shops along side it and they agree to check them out. The first one is clothes, and they scrounge a few things hoping that someone back at the prison can get some use out of them.
Next door is a small grocery store and it looks relatively untouched, Rick looks at Daryl.
"Think we should go in?" He tries to look through the window, but it's thick with dust so he can't see anything.
"Yeah, I'll take the back you take the front" Rick watches as Daryl pulls the crossbow up to his chest and slips around the back of the building. He raps his knuckles on the window a few times when Daryl is out of sight; the sound attracts walkers, letting them know if any are in there. He waits a while, waits for a sound that doesn't come. He has his gun ready, just in case, and slowly turns the handle of the door. The sudden movement causes a cloud of dust to form; Rick bats it away with his hand while coughing. He steps into the shop, listening out for walkers. When he's sure there's none in the shop, he relaxes just a little and steps in further.
The shelves look barely touched, like everyone forgot that this little retail corner existed. His fingers trail over the dusty labels, there's food he hasn't eaten in a while and it makes his stomach growl.
"Take one more move, and I'll shoot you" He freezes at the voice, that's certainly not Daryl. It's a woman's voice, with an Irish accent laced through it. Rick doesn't move, he can't be sure that she's actually got a gun or not, questioning her isn't a risk he wants to take.
"Put the gun down, put your hands in the air and slowly turn around" Her voice is steady and demanding, and Rick can tell she has no qualms about what she said before just by the sound of her voice. He hesitates, knowing he should just turn quickly and shoot her before she has a chance to shoot him, but for some reason he complies. He does as she asked, putting his gun on the floor slowly, knowing his knife is still in his boot and turns towards her. At first glance, the woman looks harmless. Fair blonde hair and a pretty face, but once he's blinked once or twice, he notices her stance, the tattoos on her hands and the burning look in her eyes. It tells him he made the right decision to comply.
"Are you alone?" She asks, stepping closer to Rick.
"No" is all Rick says, not wanting to give the location of Daryl away, but knowing it would be safer for Daryl for his presence to be acknowledged.
"What do you want?" She asks, her eyes flickering between the two doors of the shop, watching for anyone else.
"Just some food, supplies are running low"
"Why should I let you take some?" There's something in her eyes that Rick can't read, it's like she wants to shoot him, but she can't decide on why.
"Because I have children" Something flashes in her eyes again and her hand falters on the gun slightly.
A noise comes from the other end of the shop, and the woman quickly pulls out another gun, pointing it towards the area the noise came from. From the corner of his eye, Rick can see Daryl slowly walking towards him with his crossbow poised and ready. He manoeuvres himself around the shelves, keeping his eyes on Rick the whole time. He must not be able to see the woman from his position. When he rounds the corner his crossbow is pointed directly at the woman.
But he doesn't shoot. Instead, Daryl's mouth goes slack and he drops the crossbow from its position. The woman also falters, dropping her guns to her side. They look at each other for a long moment, eyes searching each other, taking them in before they break. They run towards each other and their weapons clatter on the floor as they crash into each other. Rick looks at them, perplexed, Daryl had never had such intimate contact with anyone since he'd known him, and it was odd to see him holding the woman in his arms like it was natural. They stand there for a while, holding each other, and Rick swears he's never seen Daryl's eyes so bright.