Chapter 2

The talk between Rick and Merle doesn't happen. Early the next morning Rick is woken by Maggie's hand on his shoulder. He shakes away sleep as he looks at her pale face. "Company at the gates." She doesn't need to say anymore. He throws back the blankets not caring that Maggie sees his morning hard on. They've all seen each other naked since the farm was lost at one time or another. Hell he hears her and Glenn a few times a week having sex, and he's had the pleasure of seeing them at it too. Not that he thinks about it, he has his own fantasy and they don't feature in it. He drags on his jeans pushing his cock inside and buttoning up. Maggie is standing back at the cell door now. Rick grabs his belt tossing it to her as he grabs his boots in his hand and jacket in the other, he strides outside the cell tossing Maggie the jacket as he shoves his feet one step at a time into his boots without losing pace. Then he takes the holster buckling it on and finally grabs his jacket as well. It is bitingly cold outside, the wind is whistling today. Daryl is at the internal gate.

"Andrea and the dude in glasses," He says as he hears Rick move up behind him. "Some others too, don't look like no threat but there maybe more in the trees." He is careful to keep Rick behind him as he unlocks the gate and they start down walking slowly. Andrea is simply standing there with the man …. Milton, Rick finally remembers his name beside her. As he gets closer he realises that Milton is hanging by a thread and looks to have been beaten within an inch of his life. Andrea herself looks to have been beaten as well though nowhere near as badly.

"Maggie, get Merle and Michonne too," Rick continues to walk toward the gate slow and steady as he hears Maggie turn and start jogging back. Merle had lived in Woodbury and Michonne knew Andrea as she was now, not how she'd been.

He and Daryl halt at the external gate. This close they can see how badly Milton has been beaten. The man looks like he's going to die at any moment, the pallor of his skin, "You been bit?" Rick questions as something clicks in his brain.

Andrea answers for him however "No, I got it in time but he's got internal damage, should be in bed but insisted on coming," She looks over at him "If you die on me Milton," She trails off looking at Rick, "I was hoping Herschel would take a look at him while we're here. We're here to talk peace." Her words drop like a bombshell between them.

"Thank you for killing him, we could not have done that." Milton's voice is weak, barely more than a whisper and Rick realises that the Governor is the one who beat him.

"What kind of peace you talkin' 'bout?" Daryl is blunt at his side. Rick hears fast footsteps on gravel behind him as he sighs.

He tells Daryl to organise a vehicle of theirs for Milton to be transported to the prison in, he doesn't want their vehicles inside the gates. Then he motions everyone inside as Daryl talks to Michonne. They've brought maybe a dozen people with them including Tyrese and Sasha. "You, Milton and four others can come up, the rest of you stay here and wait." Rick turns on his heel trusting Daryl to watch his back which he does. He spies Carol up in the guard tower with an automatic rifle and stifles himself. He wants to do nothing more than tell her to get inside and put her head down. Michonne comes back down in the Hyundai and they get Milton inside and she takes off driving slowly toward the complex to where Herschel is waiting. He watches them help Milton out and inside as they walk back themselves.

"What peace you talkin' about then Andrea?" He looks over at her as they walk. She looks down at the ground as they move forward.

"I don't know Rick but we've got to do something, we can't continue on this way, you killed a lot of people yesterday. I know why you did and I get that but we have to get past it, people in Woodbury lost loved ones." Rick snorts and shakes his head, does she think they haven't? Has she forgotten about Amy, her own sister? In the next breath he realises the difference, Woodbury were not aware of how the world was these days. To them Rick and his family were the monsters, not the Walkers.

"Don't know that we want anything to do with you and your town Andrea, you ain't really got anything we want and I know damn well we ain't got anything you want either, so I figure if we leave each other in peace we should be able to co-exist fine enough." Rick stops talking as they come to the entrance of the prison. Carol has come out to the landing of the guard tower. She is looking down at Rick not even being subtle about it. The thought he'd had in his brain yesterday teased his mind again but Andrea putting her hand on his forearm sends it off into the ether this time. He watches Carol's look turn into a frown before he looks at Andrea. "What?" He asks as he shakes off her hand. He's never liked her touching him.

"Want, no. Need, yes." Andrea is firm in her response.

####################

She harasses him into sitting down and talking. Offers terms, a treaty. He senses Milton's thoughts behind a lot of the common sense stuff, Andrea has always had great ideas but Rick has never seen her have follow through, except with a weapon. Which is not to say she doesn't have it; just that he hasn't seen it.

Later that evening Rick calls a meeting in the guard tower so those on watch can attend and get a vote as well. "Andrea has offered us a place in Woodbury, houses, work to keep the town going. Milton confirms her offer. We'd be behind those walls, in theory we'd be safer than we are here." Rick stops there. He already knows he won't be going and while he wants the group to stay with him he recognises they have to decide this for themselves. "We don't need to vote on this, if you want to go, then you should go. I've already discussed it with Carl and we're not going. We want to stay here or find somewhere else close by so we can still see each other but we're not going to that town. Neither of us would feel comfortable there. And I think you should be aware that the people in that town have been protected, they don't know what it's like beyond those walls. To them we'll be invaders, foreigners simply because we've survived where they most likely wouldn't have." He stops speaking, letting what he said sink in. He notices Merle and Michonne look at each other communicating without words, they look back at him.

"We'll be stayin' put" Merle puts his left hand on Michonne's thigh and she puts hers on top of it. They're staying. Rick breathes a little easier.

"Ain't never lived in a town in my life, ain't gonna start now," Is all Daryl has to say on the matter.

Glenn and Maggie are looking at each other also communicating without words. Herschel looks over at them before looking at Beth. "Bethie?" He asks with a question.

Beth looks over at her father. She knows that he'd be better off in Woodbury despite the fact that she loathes the thought of leaving this group, her family. And she thinks of what advantages she'd have if she were there. She looks around at the group. Her eyes land on Daryl. She knows there is no decision for her to make, "Stay." She looks at her father as she says this. She is expecting him to disagree but he surprises her by smiling and nodding approvingly.

"Stay," Herschel repeats her word.

Glenn and Maggie look at each other again before saying in unison "Stay."

Carol looks at everyone as well, her eyes linger on Rick and Carl as she rocks Judith. She smiles in approval as well before repeating that one word again herself. "Stay."

####################

Months slip by. Rick, Daryl and Merle along with the rest of the group work as winter hits them. They hash out terms with Woodbury, terms that are profitable to both. The prison becomes more of a home. Rick has realised it's not right, even the way the world is now, they shouldn't be living here. There has to be a place they can fortify, smaller but with room for expansion in case they took in new people. Tyrese and Sasha were already making hints about joining them as were another couple that Daryl was teaching to hunt. That was part of their deal. Woodbury had to be taught how to survive, how to be self-sufficient. Rick thought it was ironic that the people sent here to learn survival from them didn't want to back. He wondered if it was a portent of things to come.

Of course it hadn't all gone easily. Woodbury had balked initially, it had taken smooth talking on the part of Milton, Andrea and surprisingly Merle for the treaty to be finalised. They got medicines, clothing, baby stuff. But for the most part Woodbury was getting stuff from them. Not that they couldn't spare the knowledge but, Rick had taken a long time to decide that he wasn't going to look for other's anymore. If they found then fine, but they weren't going looking. He knew it was more than likely the wrong thing what with the young people they had, especially Carl and Beth and Judith. No, he thought, not Beth. Beth had Daryl. He wondered what they were doing with each other these days. He barely saw them speak but they sure did watch each other when the other wasn't looking.

He stretches on his bunk pointing his toes and working out the kinks in his legs then straightening his hands in the air and circling his wrists. He's feeling relaxed. It's been a good winter, well as good a winter as one can get these days. But he's glad spring is beginning to hit them. He remembers the group meeting last night, Beth saying they needed to hit a library, they needed to learn to be fully self-sufficient. She wanted to learn about herbs and such to use for medicinal purposes. Herschel had been teaching her and Carol all winter about everything medical he knew, they all needed to multi-skill so they'd all taken some lessons in stitching, setting bones etc but Carol and Beth were the ones who were going to continue on the full medical training. It's a good idea, the knowledge she wants. Rick wonders about the prison library, in all their searching they'd never found it but surely the prison had one? He resolved to make finding it a priority.

He needed to get onto giving Carl more education as well. He'd object of course but Rick was trying to think ahead, it would be a special person in a generation or two who would read and write, he wanted to instill the importance of that in Carl so he'd ensure it continued on beyond his own generation. If he survived. Rick's thoughts blacken and he deliberately brushes them off thinking instead of the laugh he'd shared with Carol tonight on watch. He'd started scheduling his evening watch with her looking forward to her company. And not because he enjoyed watching Daryl and Beth circle each other like two cats in heat when they had watch together. That would be just sick of him to look forward to their hissing and spitting at each other. Secretly he was hoping to catch them at it one night when he and Carol took over from them but for the last months he'd been severely disappointed. They were staying far away from each other despite the time the spent in each other's proximity. If nothing else Beth passed him several times a day when she went up and down to her cell.

No one else had moved up onto the first level all preferring to stay on the ground level cells. Besides Merle and Michonne weren't exactly quiet but it never seemed to bother Beth. Or Daryl now that Rick thought about it. Mind you they'd been listening to Glenn and Maggie for the better part of two years now so they were probably immune to the sounds of someone having sex within their hearing. Having that thought in his brain was causing Rick to think about sex in regard to himself. It had been a long time. And God he missed it. He never thought he'd say that but he missed the connection, emotional and physical. But he didn't want one without the other anymore and that wasn't happening. So he'd be making do with his own hand for a very long time. As these thoughts flit through his head he snakes a hand underneath his blankets. He's sleeping in his clothes as it's a cool night but he's undone his pants and taken off his belt for some comfort.

Before he goes any further Rick stops and listens to the sounds he can hear in the cell block. Herschel's soft snores. The snuffles and snorts from Carl's cell indicating he's dead to the world and dreaming. Elsewhere soft breathing. Judith whimpering in her cot against the opposite wall. Normal sounds for this time of night. Bringing his other hand under the blankets he quickly undoes his shirt buttons pushing it open. He rubs both hands over his chest, cruising his fingers through his chest hair before brushing them over his nipples. His breath hisses out on a sigh as he does this and they become erect. . Rick then pinches them lightly and feels a corresponding jerk from his cock. His eyes flutter as he leans his head back arching his neck. God but it would be good if it were someone else doing this to him. His mind supplies a face placing them beside him on the bunk. They're leaning over him as they run a hand down to his cock pulling it gently from his pants. They rub their palm over it softly bringing it to hardness before they smile wickedly down at him and inch down in the bed to take it in their mouth.

Rick groans softly as he thinks of this happening to him while his own hand takes his cock from his pants. His left hand fondles his balls, his nails scratch them lightly as his right grasps his cock tugging on it gently. He strokes his fingers up and down his length then lightly scratches his nails up and down it as well. He moans this time, still softly but loud enough to catch the attention of someone a few cells away. They still in their own bunk as they listen to his self-pleasuring sounds. Their own hands suddenly rustle under their covers heading south as they listen to the heavier breathing and now muffled moans coming from Rick's cell. They push under their own trousers into their panties as they slide their fingers inside themselves. They're already wet from having talked to him earlier this evening and playing with themselves thinking about that had already given them one orgasm.

Back in his own cell Rick is still stoking his cock to fruition. His breathing has deepened and moans are coming softly from his mouth muffled by the towel he's biting down on to keep him silent. It doesn't work but it reduces his noise level or so he thinks. He feels his balls tighten, drawing up. His back arches slightly off the bed, his head falls back on his neck exposing it vulnerably. And he comes, his semen splattering lightly over his pants and sheets. He lays there for several minutes allowing his heart rate and breathing to settle. Thinking of her while he masturbated always gave him a satisfying orgasm.

In the other cell breathing settles as well. They'd managed to bring themselves to orgasm at the same time Rick did which always made it good. It was only a couple of other times they'd heard him and were also in a position to do the same thing.

Rick cleaned himself up along with his clothing and sheets. Then he folded the towel he used and placed it back in its usual spot under his mattress at the head of the bed. He'd have to wash it one day soon when he went to the showers, it was getting stiff and smelly but tonight he just shoves it under the mattress before rolling on his side and puling the sheets and blankets up over his shoulders and head burying himself under them and falling asleep with that face in his mind.

A/N - And so begins the smut...more is coming readers, more is coming.