AUTHOR'S NOTES: The opening scene is taken from the movie Signs and adapted. I pictured Rick being called to an incident like this. Apologies in advance for any spelling and grammatical errors.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Walking Dead or its characters

WARNINGS: Car Accident Death

Loved Back to Life

Chapter 2

"Zack, I'm Deputy Rick Grimes but please call me Rick." Rick crouches down facing the man.

"Hey Rick" Zack manages and attempts to smile.

Rick returns the gesture, he's at a loss for words looks at Zack, "how do I tell him that these are gonna be his last breaths and in a few moments he's gonna die?"

Zack studies Rick's face "be honest, it's not good is it, I'm not gonna get out of this alive am I?"

Rick takes off his hat and sadly shakes his head no.

"No, I'm afraid it's not good, the car has you pinned down in such away and is supporting your body-" Rick trails off trying to find the right words, there isn't any. Zack reaches out and places his hand on Rick's shoulder.

"I'm a second year med student, I dealt with car accidents comin' into the emergency room all the time. I lost count how many traumas I'd seen, you never know what to expect when the rigs pull up but when the patients lay in front of you, sometimes you just know that their times up." letting out a heavy breath he continues, "I can't feel much now below my waist, the blood circulation is slowly cuttin' off."

Rick looks at Zack's broken body, the lines appear on his forehead again, this time more prominently, there's nothing he can do and catches Zack watching him.

"I'm ok, really, we all gotta go one day right? I had a good run" he jokes.

The look of fear and sadness doesn't escape Rick's focused eyes, he can see past the smokescreen put up by the young man, he gives him a look to say "you don't need to put up a front, speak what's on your mind".

Knowing he's been caught out, Zack lets out a deep long breath feeling exhausted. He finally feels like he can let his guard down, the other officers made him feel suffocated, he was holding in his breath, their stares, they looked at him feeling sorry for him, he didn't need that whereas Rick, he was shaken seeing him at first sight, he didn't blame him or any of the others but Rick had a certain something about him. He was a stranger, yet he felt like he could confess anything to him. Rick looked him straight in the eyes and did what the others didn't, be honest, made him feel calm and not alone, he didn't give him false hope that he was going to make it out like the others had, honesty - that's what he needed, he knew he was dying, he didn't need anyone to tell him otherwise. Rick wasn't in any rush to run away from him, he moves closer making himself more comfortable to talk to him, stay with him until the end. Zack closes his eyes and unburdens himself on Rick..

"I'm just not ok about leavin' her," he gulps "I was selfish, I took her away from everyone that loves her, was a part of her life and now I'm leaving her alone, she trusted me to take care of her, to grow old together."

Her? Rick thought and remembers Zack's fiancée. Rick's head spins round looking for any sign of Shane and the fiancée. The sound of a painful moan gets Rick's attention, he grabs hold of Zack's hand covered in blood, hoping any strength he had, he could just pass it through to Zack, just for a bit longer.

"I would've liked to have seen her one last time, see her smile, see her face before I closed my eyes, tell her how sorry I am and that I love her." Zack finally allows himself to cry, Rick grips his hand tighter.

"What's her name?" Rick asks softly

Zack takes a while to clear his throat and smiles "Miss Elizabeth Greene. Beth, my southern belle beauty."

Rick watches Zack lost in his thoughts, the smile not leaving his face

"How did you meet?" Rick asks

"She came to the hospital one day to meet her brother for lunch and when I saw her, I just followed her around, didn't know who she was, I fell in love the moment I saw her." Zack recalls.

"Everyone warned me not to go there, she was off limits that only got me more interested. I found out who she was when I was being assessed by one of the doctors. Beth is none other than Dr Shawn Greene's baby sister. Of all people's sister, she had to be his I fell for. He's incredibly annoying and over protective!"

"You were either brave to go after the boss's sister or incredibly dumb! She must be an amazin' girl for you to go runnin' after her?" Rick laughs remembering Shane had gone after the Sheriff's youngest daughter when they both joined the academy, it ended before it could ever start. The Sheriff made an example out of Shane, a reminder to anyone who would look at his little girl. Shane was used as the demonstrations dummy in defense training, it was high impact and no padding, the bruises were a reminder that his daughter was off limits. Shane got the message, he never went after the Sheriff's daughter after that.

Zack sees Rick's face animated for the first time, it felt good to laugh, he asks what was amusing and Rick tells him about Shane and Zack is laughing which ends in coughing, some blood comes out and Rick grabs his handkerchief and wipes away the blood and saliva.

"I was lucky, Beth is amazing, I never deserved her, I'm grateful to have met her and spent the last part of my life with her. She taught me a lot about this world, about me, things I never really knew or appreciated. She's into angels and soul mates, fate, I started believing too but guess I was never hers." there's sadness in Zack's voice. "I hope she finds her soul mate, falls in love, gets married and has babies, they live a long happy life together. I need to tell her it's ok to move on."

Rick thinks about himself and Lori. The first years were good, the honeymoon period and then Carl came along quickly after marriage and things got manic. Married life became a roller-coaster ride, more downs than ups, expectations changing, responsibilities and burdens increasing, sacrifices made and now he and Lori were never on the same page anymore, the light in their marriage was slowing burning low "we gotta stick together" and here young love just blossoming coming to an end. "Soul mates - do they exist? are we supposed to be miserable?" how unfair life and love have become.

Silence follows as both reflect back on their pasts. Time seemed to stop for a moment and then everything was going in full speed, Zack was beginning to deteriorate, he's face now paler "Beth!" he whispers, Rick knew that type of whisper, death approaching, he remembers the same whispers from his parents calling each other's names, his name, life slipping away, like the sand in an hourglass, time was running out.

"Beth isn't here yet, she needs to say goodbye, he needs to say goodbye to her and be at peace"

Rick's own breathing becomes wild, an internal panic sets in

"No Zack, stay with me, medic, help! I need help!" Rick shouts

"Zack, buddy hold on, you just gotta hold on, Beth will be here, you wanted to see her, her smile, you gotta hold in there… for Beth-"

"I feel no pain anymore, he's calling me, he's telling me everything's gonna be ok Rick, your here, take care of Beth, she'll take care of you!"

Rick jumps closer to Zack and taps his face trying to make him open his eyes, he holds his other hand "I'm right here Zack, Beth is on her way, open your eyes for me!"

The medics rush over and push Rick out of the way while they get to work, the booming sound of the approaching siren abruptly gets his attention. He wipes his hands on his trousers, not wanting to leave but before he knows it, he's rushing towards the car "please god, let this be her!"

Before his long strides get to a couple of steps, the car door flies open and a young petite woman with long blonde hair tied up in a ponytail jumps out before one of the Deputies can make it over to help her out. Panic was written all over her face, she frantically looks around and sees Rick and rushes towards him. Rick closes the distance between them can identify Beth as being the fiancée Zack described, pretty soft features, piercing baby blue eyes wearing a plaid shirt, fitted jeans and cowboy boots, her soft southern voice getting his attention.

"Officer where's Zack? is he ok? they said he was involved in an accident, he.."

Deputy Alby is running after Beth and stops when Rick puts a hand out to him. The deputy nods understanding but he gives Rick a look to confirm he couldn't tell her the extent of the accident, only that Zack was involved in one.

Beth stops speaking when she sees the wreckage of the bike she was too familiar with, her eyes wide in shock, Rick follows her gaze towards the smashed up bike, somehow it looked worse, like scraps. They both then look to each other, the excruciating pain on her face tugs at his heart, her eyes water, her mouth starts to tremble

"Where's Zack…where is he?" she whispers, he barely hears her but he does.

Seeing a lot of commotion up by the tree, she takes a quick look at Rick trying to figure out what he's not telling her. He's walking slowly towards her holding his arms out to calm down. He had a concerned look on his face. He didn't want to upset her, she was glued to watching him getting closer, his movements ever so slow. She hears the medic's shouts, thinking Rick's attention would be diverted, she starts to sprint towards the truck. Rick focusing on nobody but her acts quick and catches her in his arms, she struggles but he gets a hold of her tightly and she gives up as he holds her against him speaking calm and soothing to her.

"Beth, Zack was involved in a vehicle collision, he's awake and speaking but he is very weak, the medics are doing all they can with making him comfortable, they've given him medicine, he's not in much pain now, he-" this was harder than anyone could imagine, he hated himself for having to do this, what he was going to say was going to shatter her, her life is going to change forever once he says the next sentence.. "The car has Zack pinned in such a way it's holdin' his body up in place keepin' him alive, once the car is removed, there's nothin' the medics can do, the car for now holdin' him is allowin' him a few moments to stay awake. I'm so sorry Beth, I - "

Beth's body stiffens and then goes limp finally breaking down in tears. Rick will never forget the sound of her cries, they will forever be embedded in his mind, she was in so much pain right now and he pulls her back into his arms holding her securely. Knowing Zack doesn't have much time left, he whispers down into her ears,

"He wants to see you one last time, you feel strong enough to make it over to him?" Beth shakes her head trying to control her breathing, her whimpering doesn't stop, her emotions have taken over.

"I'll be right here with you?" taking greedy gulps of air, she can feel her heart beat racing but the steady feeling of Rick's heart beating against her back calms her, her heart beats begins to match his rhythm, saying nothing she starts moving, her feet don't seem to work properly, they feel like jelly, she nearly loses her footing, Rick helps holding her hand in his and his other around her shoulder, they walk slowly towards Zack. All Beth can hear is her heart's loud thumping, thump, thump, thump, her throat suddenly dry swallowing hard, the noise travels to Rick's ears, his eyes shift down to look at her, then back towards the truck, he can feel her whole body shaking he pulls her closer to him for support and grips her shoulder to reassure her, she's not alone.

A woman comes running after Beth calling out to her but is abruptly stopped by Shane

"Miss, stay behind the tape! this here is an accident scene" Shane huffs.

"Like I said to that guy over there, that's my friend and her fiancé, you gotta let me through, she needs me!" She attempts to get past but Shane blocks her path with his huge frame.

"Like I said sweetheart! can't let you through, you need to stay over there and let us do our jobs" Shane points towards the crowd of people gathered behind the tape. Young Deputy Leon Basset comes rushing over and Shane glares at him annoyed and leans into him a bit too close for comfort

"Leon take this chick and make sure she stays out the way, is that too much to ask?"

"S..sorry Shane, she got past me.." a terrified Leon replies.

Shane dismisses Leon "whatever, just move her along."

Leon turns round and sees the woman's face has turned red, he awkwardly reaches out to show her to follow but hesitates, he's never been good with women and this one looks like she might just bite his hand off.

She stares daggers at the back of Shane's head whose walking away, she pushes past Leon and jumps in front of Shane and nudges him hard in the chest.

"You son of a bitch! that's my best friend and her fiancé over there," she pushes him again "I'm not some bystander!"

Shane narrows his eyes to her now completely irritated

"Listen here Missy, what your friends need now is for you ta stay back, let them say their goodbyes, you wanna crowd over them waste what time they've left, fine..." Shane steps aside gesturing for her to go "go on over, interrupt them!"

The woman feels humiliated and pissed off that this cop is being so rude and insensitive towards her, "you jerk!" he could've been kinder, she was upset and only wanted to be there for both her friends, she crosses her arms across her chest. A minute had passed of both staring at each other neither breaking eye contact. Shane now clearly bored and fed up ends their standoff leans forward

"Don't make a scene, let them be, go stand behind that tape" Shane points into the distance, shakes his head and leaves.

The woman boiling at this point let's her hands drop to her side clenching and unclenching letting out a low growl, finally turning round making her way towards the tape, not because the jackass told her to but because she was able to calm down and think, Beth and Zach needed to be alone, she would rush to Beth when she saw the time was right, she didn't care about the stupid cop and his stupid tape, she would thump him or kick him where the sun don't shine if he tried to stop her again. Deputy Basset relieved follows and stands looking into the crowd taking guard.

Rick and Beth had reached Zach who's clearly tired and fighting to keep his eyes open. Rick gently manoeuvres Beth beside Zach letting go of her shoulder, he goes to release her hand but feels a pull. He realises that Beth's still holding his hand tight not letting go. He looks at their clasped hands and gives a gentle squeeze making Beth look to him, she shakes her head not knowing what to do, he goes to move her hand to place on Zack's but her gaze doesn't move from his, she looks terrified, he doesn't break the contact, the silent tears runs down her face and his free hand reaches up towards her face ready to wipe the tears away

"Beth?" Zach whispers

Both hearing Zack's voice, break eye contact, Beth releases Rick's hand and uses her sleeve to wipe her face away of any signs of tears. She finally finds her voice and gently answers Zack

"Yeah Zach, it's me"

Zach tries to turn towards her and a low moan escapes his lips.

"Don't try to move, I'm right here" Beth rushes closer and lays on the hood next to Zach both their faces centimeters apart, she begins to gently stroke his face and he sighs at the contact his body so badly needed, her gentle touch.

"I'm sorry baby, you said one of these days I was gonna get myself killed on that bike"

"shushhhh, don't think about that"

She places her lips on his, they continue to talk gently and quietly to each other and allow themselves to cry together. Zach whispers something to Beth and she just cries, he pleads with her and she nods to him. Zach content buries his face into her neck and gives her one last kiss. Rick nearby takes a few steps back watching them, swallowing hard holding back his own emotions, slowly turns around leaving them alone giving them the privacy that they needed in their final goodbye.