THREE WEEKS LATER

Rick saw Lindsey approaching the guard tower, a slight limp in her step. He was sitting on the rough ledge with his back against the wall. He watched her until she was out of view and took a sip from his half empty water bottle. Today had been another scorcher. The liquid was warm and did little to quench his thirst. He could hear her soft footsteps ascending the stairs. The guard tower door creaked open and she poked her head out.

"Hey. I brought you a little something. You mind?" She gestured to a pair of energy bars in her hand, and then pointed at the ground next to him.

"Not at all. I was getting a little lonely anyway," he murmured as she passed him one of the bars and sat down. He wasn't sure why he was being so open with her - he barely knew her, but something about Lindsey made him feel at ease, like he didn't have to put up the same strong front as he did around everyone else.

"Lonely, huh? That's the understatement of the year, don't ya think?" She smiled sadly at him. He watched as she tore open the package to her energy bar, and decided he should do the same instead of staring at her. Lindsey took a small bite and let out a groan of dissatisfaction. "What I would give for a bowl of Cheerios with whole milk and fresh banana slices…"

Rick chuckled quietly and took a bite of his own. "Not a cheeseburger?"

She shook her head and continued to chew. "I've seen enough raw meat to last me ten lifetimes, if you know what I mean. Don't get me wrong, I would choose Daryl's venison over a can of beans any day, but I loved cereal with fresh fruit. Jared and I used to go through two gallons of milk a week, just for cereal."

Lindsey laughed softly, but Rick could see her expression fall. He knew what was going through her head. It was the same thing that went through his head every damn day - happy memories of times long gone.

Rick cleared his throat and picked a small piece of dead grass off his pants. "Jared…was he your husband?" He dared a glance in her direction.

Lindsey was staring at the ground, her energy bar forgotten. She looked up at him, her eyes shimmering with tears. Quickly, she turned her head away from him and wiped at her eyes with her shirt sleeve.

"I'm sorry…I shouldn't have…," Rick began.

"No. No, it's ok. It's my fault. I brought him up," Lindsey interrupted, her voice a little raspier than before. She quickly cleared her throat and blinked back any remaining tears. "Yes, he was my husband. How did you guess that I was married?"

Rick pointed at her hand. "I saw your ring."

Lindsey nodded. "Ah, yes. I saw that you are wearing one as well. Don't worry, you don't need to say anything. I got curious about Judith and Carol told me what happened. I'm so sorry, Rick," she whispered.

He was grateful that he didn't have to say anything about Lori. It bothered him though that he didn't know anything about Lindsey and what she had been through. He didn't want to push her into talking about something that would make her upset, but the curiosity was egging him on.

"I feel like you know so much about me, but I know nothing about you." He waited for her response.

"Do you want the long or the short version?" Lindsey retorted.

"It's not like we have anywhere we need to be right now…" Rick gestured at their surroundings, the world in general.

Lindsey sighed and pulled her knees closer to her chest. He could tell it was a coping mechanism to help her get through what she was about to tell him. "Well, I guess I'll start with the beginning of this mess. Jared and I had gone to Atlanta for our anniversary. We lived in Kingsland, but thought it would be good to get out and see a baseball game in the big city." Lindsey threw Rick a knowing look. He had been in the city after the outbreak and it was a nightmare. He couldn't imagine being there during the outbreak. "Things went south pretty fast. We were downstairs having breakfast in our hotel when the news started to break. We packed up and headed out of the city. The media was telling everyone to stay and hunker down at the FEMA stations, but we knew better. Apparently, a lot of other people felt the same way and we got stuck in a massive traffic jam. At this point, everyone was getting out of their cars to see what was going on. We met another couple from Savannah while we waited." Lindsey paused. "Suddenly, everyone was running and screaming. I saw Jared standing on the other side of the car and then in a second…"

Rick watched as Lindsey started to shake, her tears rising up again. Some strange part of him wanted to wipe the first drop of moisture off her cheek, but he restrained himself. "You don't have to tell me this, Lindsey…"

"No, I have to! If I don't get this out, it's going to eat me alive." She paused, swallowing hard. "That's exactly what happened to my husband. A man ripped right into him…there was nothing I could do. Everyone was pushing me away from him. The couple we met, they grabbed me and pulled me out of there. They saved my life, but it was too late for my husband...that was the last time I saw him," she whispered.

Rick felt stunned. He couldn't believe she had just poured herself out to him. The grief on her face was agonizing, and he slowly felt his heart break for her. He had lost Lori, but he didn't see it happen - he had been grateful for that.

With a sigh, he scooted closer to Lindsey and put his arm around her shoulders, hugging her close to his chest. Wearily, she rested her head on his shoulder and let the tears fall silently onto his shirt.

A couple minutes later, she sat up, wiping the remaining tears from her face. She tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear and smoothed back the rest. Rick watched her closely, trying to gauge her emotions. Her brown eyes met his and softened slightly as she gave him a weak smile. "I'm sorry. He always told me that I say too much when I'm upset. You're a good man, Rick. Most guys would have run for the hills when they heard the first sniffle."

Rick gave her a playful smirk. "I was married once, remember? We get used to the crying." Lindsey laughed softly and shook her head. Rick felt relieved that he could put a smile back on her face.

After a moment of silence, she spoke again. "So basically, after that I stayed with a small group of people. We started with three. The most we had at one time was nine. Some people would break off from the group once they got close to their hometown or final destination. I wasn't traveling anywhere specific - just surviving."

"What about your family? Did you try to get back to them?" Rick questioned.

"Both my parents died before all this, thank God. No siblings. My uncle lives in Washington state, and my aunt lives in Vermont. There's no way I could make it that far. I haven't seen them in years anyway."

Rick nodded. At that moment, Carl and Daryl came into view in the courtyard. It looked like they were walking the fence to check for breaks. Daryl held a hand up to wave and Rick nodded back.

"I don't know how you do it, Rick. I can't imagine having a child to care for, let alone two," Lindsey stated, watching Carl follow Daryl.

"It's not easy, that's for sure. He means well, but he's made some questionable choices lately. As we all have." Rick glanced at her and blurted out the words before he could stop himself. "So, you didn't have any children?"

Lindsey continued to watch Carl as she spoke. "Almost. I miscarried six months before our trip to Atlanta." Rick closed his eyes and immediately hated himself for asking her that question. "I thought it was the worst thing that could ever happen to me. Our anniversary trip had actually coincided with the original due date, so if things had gone as planned, myself, my husband, and our newborn baby would all be dead right now." She exhaled an unsteady breath. "I don't know...deep down I almost feel like that would have been better. At least we would all be together."

Miserably, Rick opened his eyes and studied the side of her face; he could see that she was deep in thought. All of the sudden, the guard tower door opened, making them both jump. Maggie and Glenn were there to take over his watch and he didn't even hear them coming up the stairs. Showed how well he was doing at it.

Rick stood up and offered a hand to Lindsey. She took it, and he easily helped her up. His fingers lingered with hers just a moment longer than he meant to, and then let go. They said good night to Maggie and Glenn, and started down the stairs. Rick let Lindsey go first as he wanted to act like a gentleman, but he didn't feel so gentlemanly when his gaze automatically lingered on her backside as they went down. He kept his flashlight on the steps and willed himself not to look up from there.

Once they made it to the cell block, Lindsey turned to him. "Thanks, Rick. It felt nice to have someone to talk to."

"Glad I could help...good night, Lindsey."

"Good night," she whispered. Before Rick could turn away, she rested her hands on his chest, dropped a gentle kiss on his cheek, and walked away to her bunk.