TWO.

"Ohhhh Brooklyn!" Brooke's receptionist, Kyra, poked her head into her boss's office. "Your hot sheriff boyfriend is here," she sang in her usual sing-song voice when Rick showed up. Which was everyday that Brooke worked. Brooke rolled her eyes at her overenthusiastic friend and stood up from her desk, handing Kyra a folder of papers.

"Fax these over to Savannah's Veterinary Hospital, please." Brooke found herself smoothing her skirt and brushing off her top on her way out to see Rick. She didn't know why she suddenly became so worried about her appearance in front of him. Maybe it was their secret moment from the night before? She shook the thoughts away as he smiled and held up a Starbucks drink for her.

"Awh, my favorite?"

"Double chocolate chip frappuccino, only the best," Rick's bright smile almost knocked her off her feet. Almost.

She felt a slight blush burn her cheeks at the way he examined her outfit since it was a little more revealing than she normally wore.

"Thank you." Brooke took the cup from his hand with a grin. She took a sip, nodding her head in approval. He always brought her favorite drink over on his 'routine' neighborhood drive through. Brooklyn may have not known better, but Kyra knew he only did it to see her away from Daryl's watchful eyes. "You seem to be rocking the hangover well."

"Nothing I can't handle," he shrugged his shoulders lightly, still a little embarrassed for his actions the night before. "Anything good today?" He took a seat in one of the cushioned waiting room chairs. She rose an eyebrow, wondering how long he was going to stay. Not that she cared, she always enjoyed his company especially on slow days such as this one.

"Nope." She shook her head, her hair slowly flowing with it. "A dog with a bad case of worms, cat with ear mites, another dog with fleas... the usual."

"Sounds absolutely boring." He beamed another grin at her and she placed a hand on the table to steady herself. When did her best friend become so swoon-worthy? "You should come with me to get lunch."

"Hmmm," she tapped her chin thoughtfully for a second, holding a finger up and looking through Kyra's date book. "Let me check my schedule."

"You seem pretty slammed," he replied sarcastically, looking around at the empty room before him. "Maybe you should slip away from the madness?" Just as she opened her mouth to agree Kyra came back into the building, the little bell jingling above the door to announce her arrival.

"Your," she coughed for a second, tearing her eyes away from Rick, "boyfriend is here." Kyra rolled her eyes and walked back over to the reception desk, sending Rick a knowing glance. Neither one of them were fond of Daryl. Although Kyra would openly admit she had the hots for Brooke's officer friend, she was constantly trying to push the two together.

Kyra watched with folded arms as Brooke and Daryl argued in front of the building. Rick's face grew stern and she could see his jaw tighten as the fighting ensued. Their quarrel seemed to intensify, Daryl knocking her drink out of her hand onto the ground and shouting something about 'your damn puppy' which Rick knew was not a reference to any of the animals she was working with.

"When are you going to ask her out?" Kyra's question ripped him out of his daydream of beating her boyfriend to a bloody pulp. His eyes widened, stunned for a moment that she knew his feelings for Brooklyn.

"What?"

"Well geez, it's pretty obvious." Kyra twirled a piece of her auburn hair on her finger, her brown eyes intensely locked on his blue ones. "You bring her a coffee, every day. I see the way you look at her, and how much you hate Daryl... which I'm not blaming you for."

"She has a boyfriend," he reminded her, a constant reason he refused to tell Brooke about the way he felt. Kyra scoffed, plopping down in her seat quickly.

"He's not a very good one, is he?" She began scribbling something down on a post-it note before looking back up at him. "You're a cop, why don't you like plant drugs on him or something?"

"It doesn't work that way," his eyes drifted back outside where Brooke was trying to walk away but Daryl was pulling her back to him, hugging her and whispering into her ear. Oh, here it goes. The apology that Brooke will surely go for and forgive him, like always.

"Why not?"

"Because this isn't a movie." He commented quietly, standing up from his seat when his radio went off. He spoke into it more rapidly than Kyra could comprehend, too many numbers too fast. "I gotta go, see you tomorrow?"

"Brooke's here, so I'd say yes." Kyra smirked mischievously as he nodded to her before walking outside. Daryl had just sped away on his motorcycle when Brooke turned around and slammed right into Rick.

"Sorry," she adjusted her clothes all over again, and dropped her eyes to the floor. He knew she was crying.

"Hey, don't be sorry." He titled her chin up to look at him and the corner of his lips tugged into a sympathetic smile. How he wished he could fix it all. "I gotta go though, you'll be okay?" He asked, tilting his head towards the police cruiser so she knew he wasn't ditching her for no reason.

"Of course," she straightened up and gave him a weak smile. "Lunch tomorrow then?" She asked hopefully, the disappointment reading clearly in her eyes.

"Of course," he parroted, his heart-melting grin still in tact. He walked backwards as he made his way to the cruiser. "By the way, Daryl didn't want me to tell you but... he's having a party tonight."

"Oh god," she groaned and pressed her palm to her forehead knowing exactly how all of his parties ended. At least she had a cop on her side this time for when they showed up. After he was situated in the patrol car, Brooke walked up to it and stood a few feet from the door, her hands planted firmly on her hips. He couldn't help but smirk at that. "Just so you know, every time you come in, I have to listen to Kyra gush about you for the rest of the day."

"Oh, how traumatic," Rick winked at her before speeding off to his call, leaving Brooke to wonder why he sounded so flirty, and why that wink made her light-headed.


"Thanks for coming along," Brooke smiled at him as she threw a few bags of chips into the shopping cart. He added another bag of pretzels before turning back to her.

"Anything to help." He frowned as she continued to pile things into the cart for Daryl's party. "You're not paying for all this junk, are you?"

"Nope," she grinned at him and shook her head slightly. "You can add anything that you, preferably something expensive." She slid the credit card out of her back pocket and waved it in front of him. He quickly read who the card belonged to: DARYL DIXON.

"Something expensive?" He repeated with a smile matching hers. "You're still mad about the party, aren't you?" Brooke scoffed as an answer, starting to slowly load different types of sodas he requested as mixers for the alcoholic beverages.

"It makes it worse that he just assumed I would do all the shopping for it."

"Brooklyn..." He sighed and threw in some Swiss chocolate, not that he wanted it, but because she had asked him to rack up the bill; and honestly, if it would negatively affect Daryl, he was all for it.

"Yes?" She threw in a handful of frozen pizzas and spun around, one eyebrow raised in curiosity. She noticed he was doing that a lot lately, say her name, be on the verge of telling her something, then change his mind at the last minute. She was hoping he would just tell her this time.

Please just leave that jerk. I would treat you so much better.

"Don't forget," he nodded with his head further down the aisle, "the solo cups." He took over steering the cart while she shuffled down the aisle, grabbing enough to supply an army with drinks, and tossing them on top of all the other junk.

"Almost did, thanks." She smiled at him and progressed further down to get other supplies. He let out a glum sigh, why couldn't he just tell her? It really wasn't that hard to talk, and that's all he'd be doing, right? Not confessing, just talking.

Brooklyn, I love you. No, no, too forward.

Brooke, I've been in love with you since- no, too cliché.

"You coming?" Brooklyn's voice broke him out of his foggy thinking bubble. It popped quickly and he jogged the cart down towards her as she juggled a handful of cookie boxes.

"Sorry," he mumbled, watching her throw endless things in the already full shopping cart. "Do you really think you'll need all of this?"

"No," she smirked. "But there will be a lot of his loser biker friends, and they tend to drink- a lot." She sighed and tried to repress the memory of all the other parties he'd thrown in the past. "They are like a bunch of high teenagers, after they drink all they want to do is stuff their faces."

They continued to roam up and down every aisle at a leisurely pace. Rick watched her carefully, smiling to himself with every little quirk he noticed; things that Daryl probably didn't even know. She was constantly twirling her hair in her finger, a habit she did when she was zoning out. Or how she would bite her bottom lip when she was trying to make a decision. Did her boyfriend even know what color eyes she had? Those mint green gems that he'd stare into forever if given the chance.

"Rick?" Brooklyn peered at him with a smug grin. "Still with us?"

"Yeah, sorry... just got a lot on my mind." He shrugged casually, piling more groceries onto the conveyor belt as the 'ping' continued to repeat in the background.

"Work?" She asked, her lips turning down into a small frown.

"No... no..." he hated to see her upset, especially at his cause, "it's okay. It's nothing bad. I promise."

"Okay," she stopped briefly, hesitating on what she was going to say next, "you know you can tell me if anything is bothering you, right? You're my best friend."

"Of course, thanks Brooklyn." He smiled but it was only to hide how hurt he was just from those four words. It felt like a punch to the gut, and he was constantly reminded of it. You're my best friend, echoed through his head as he tried to keep on a happy face for her sake. After all the food and supplies were paid for, bagged, and back in the cart, they started to make their way out to the car.


As Rick unpacked the food and began setting it out on the counters, Brooklyn came out, dressed for the party. He couldn't help but give her a once over, she looked amazing, and Daryl wasn't even there to see him do it.

"Wow... you look great," he muttered out, unsure if he had said it all in one jumbled word since he had said it so fast, and his throat had gone dry in the process. Brooklyn spun in a circle, beaming a grin at him. She was sporting her new skin-tight black jeans, tucked into black high-heeled boots. As his eyes wandered further he saw she was wearing a very low-cut, sparkly tank top, another one of her shirts that hugged all the right places.

"Thank you," she did a mock curtsy before walking over to him, getting closer than he'd expected her to. She stood up on her tip toes, giving him a quick peck on the cheek. "Thanks for helping with everything, Rick. You're so good to me." She mused, looking up at him with the saddest eyes Rick had ever seen. She bit her bottom lip, instantly Rick's mind reeled; she was trying to make a decision, and since their faces were so close, he had a feeling the decision was about him. Brooklyn had been slowly inching forward until their lips were merely inches apart.

Knock. Knock.

Brooklyn smiled at him nervously, a blush creeping onto her cheeks after realizing how close they'd come to kissing, and neither had even started drinking yet. "I'll get it," she whispered, hurrying off to answer the door and further avoid the awkwardness she'd created.

Rick watched her go with a frustrated groan. He started to take the red solo cups out of the packing, glaring at the door as Daryl's voice carried into the apartment. He watched Brooklyn sway back into the apartment, her outfit making every curve ten times more obvious. Rick knew it was going to be hard to keep his eyes off her, and his mind as well. He gulped as he turned away thinking only one thing:

Daryl better have bought a shit ton of booze.


A/N: I have to admit writing a Rick story has so many more opportunities to include fluff. My other story, as much as I love writing it, has very little room for fluff because everyone knows Daryl Dixon does not do fluffy. Hehe, thanks for reading loves!(:
Thank you to everyone who has followed or added this to their favorites. Also, big thanks to Gloria, RebornRose1992, and ReadWriteLove715 for the generous reviews. I'm glad you guys like it! Here's to hoping you like this one too. *cheers*