Hey! How's all of my readers? Me? I'm so happy it's spring and that I'm finally over my stupid cold! I actually had to take a whole week off of work! I've never taken more than two days at a time, it was awful! But I'm better now and looking forward to planting flowers and going to the lake! Anyways, enjoy!
Abby smiled, not a bad way to end an otherwise bad day. Her and Daryl had exited the forest almost right beside her bike. As they walked towards it, a man walked down the driveway towards them. It took a moment but Abby knew the man and waved as he approached.
"Oh, it's just you, Abby, shoulda guessed." Robert, her old and now new neighbor, said as he walked over.
"Yeah it's just me." Abby said smirking.
"Was on the way home, saw yer bike parked in the drive. Thought I should check an' make sure it wasn't no hooligans." He said stopping just in front of them.
"I appreciate that, this place don't need no help lookin' worse." Abby said appreciatively.
"Yeah, I just heard you bought the place back. Your daddy and grand-daddy are probably turnin' in their graves right now. Glad a Grimes got it back. I'm sure you'll make it right." He said nodding his head.
"Well I intend to try at least." Abby said laughing.
"Good to know." Robert said smiling. "Who's this? Don't think I've seen you b'fore."
"This is Daryl Dixon, a friend." Abby said, indicting Daryl.
"Any friend of Abby Grimes, is a friend of mine!" Robert said enthusiastically, sticking his hand out. "Robert Callahan, pleased to meet you!"
Daryl took his hand and shook it, looking at him a little leery. Probably not used to people being so friendly with him but old Robert was friendly to everyone until you gave him reason not to.
"I have known this girl since she was in diapers." Robert continued. "Sweet as can be so long as you don't piss her off. She didn't inherit the Grimes level head like her brother."
"Hey!" Abby said slapping Robert on the arm playfully.
"Well, I'll leave y'all. Good evenin'." He said walking to where his truck was parked just off the road.
Abby smiled at Daryl as he climbed on to her bike and handed her, her helmet. Once she put it on and buckled it up, she climbed behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist. As he drove back towards town, she focused more on the man to which she had her hands on.
At first, she like the way he looked and talked but the more she got to know him, the more she wanted to know. She found him curious. In some ways he seemed confident, most certainly in his abilities but when it came to people he was very distrusting and damaged. She imagined it had something to do with the comment he'd made about his father, if your own father hurt you, then anyone would have trust issues. He also reacted to uncomfortable social situations with hostility and anger. He certainly didn't trust other men. He also didn't seem to trust women either but she was certain for different reasons.
Beneath his long sleeve plaid shirt, she could feel that he definitely had a muscular upper body and that made her whole body warm up and mind wander. While it hadn't been a long time since she'd been with a man, she hadn't had a lot of physical contact let alone shown true affection and it was starting to become very difficult resisting the urge to join this man in his bed. Thankfully, Daryl wasn't an overly flirtatious. If he had been, she'd probably be there now, or maybe in the woods.
Pretty much the moment Daryl pulled to a stop on the driveway, the porch light came one and out came Rick with Lori spying out of the window. Rick came up and quirked an eyebrow as they got off.
"I'm surprised she let you drive." He commented.
"He used to have his own but his brother totalled his bike. Missed drivin' one so I let him drive mine." Abby stated.
"The man has his own voice." Rick said to her then turned to Daryl and stuck his hand out. "Rick Grimes, Abigail's older brother."
"Daryl." He responded evenly, obviously trying to give a good first impression. "Daryl Dixon. She's talked a lot 'bout you."
"Has she? Good things I hope. Why don't you come in for a beer?" Rick asked sounding friendly but Abby was suspicious.
"Rick?" Abby warned.
"It's alright, maybe next time. Gotta be in Haral early in the mornin', probably should be hittin' the hay." Daryl answered coolly.
"What's in Haral?" Rick inquired still, putting on the air of friendliness.
"My job an' hopefully a place to live." Daryl asked pretending to be oblivious to Rick's interrogation.
"Oh? Haral ain't that big. Where you workin'?" Rick asked.
"The garage, just startin' on Monday though." Daryl said honestly.
"Okay, enough with the interrogation, Rick. Go inside." She said turning him and shoving him towards the house. He smirked over his shoulder at her then walked into the house.
"Sorry 'bout him." She said wincing.
"Was expecting worse." Daryl said shrugging as they walked down the driveway towards his truck.
"If he got you inside, it might've been." Abby said sighing.
"I can handle a little hostility, he's just tryin' to protect you. I respect that." Daryl said as they walked to his trucks door.
"I can take care of myself." Abby grumbled making Daryl smirk.
"So you can, but he's still yer brother." Daryl opened the door and rested his arm on the frame.
"Let me know if you get the place, 'kay?" Abby requested.
"Sure. I hope your night is better than yer last." Daryl said softly, looking at her slightly worried.
"I'm sure it will. Good night Daryl." She walked around the front of his truck as he climbed inside. When he pulled away, she waved, then once he was out of sight, she went inside.
Once inside, Abby found Rick leaning against the wall by the living room, smiling. "Just a friend, huh?"
"We are!" She exclaimed crossing her arms over her chest.
"You let him drive you on your bike." He said quirking an eyebrow.
"I agree with Shane, he looks like trouble." Lori said coming out of the living room.
Abby's face hardened, Rick seemed to be handling Daryl's presence alright but she didn't much appreciate Lori's comment. "Have you ever heard the phrase, 'don't judge a book by its cover'?" She asked.
"She's right Lori, he didn't seem that bad. Only had a thirty-second conversation with him but he seemed alright. From what Jerry said, he handled Shane harassing him like a champ." Rick said surprising Abby.
"You never like men who've take interest in Abby before?!" Lori exclaimed in shock. "Why are you being so cool with this one?"
"She wasn't grown up then an' they most certainly weren't men." Rick replied to Lori, then looked at Abby. "What were you doin' anyways?"
Lori suddenly looked smug, probably thinking that Rick was about to change his mind about Daryl. "He thought I should start plannin', so we went to the house and looked around. You're not gonna be happy when you see it."
Rick winced. "That bad?"
"Probably the only thing that's gonna be saveable is the floors on the main floor and the kitchen sink." She answered, annoyed.
Rick shook his head. "It was in great shape when I sold it, can't believe it could deteriorate so much in eleven years!"
"The paddock needs a new roof and maybe a little repair but it seems alright but the barn looks like it's about to fall over." She added sadly.
"Shit. You officially signin' the papers tomorrow an' get the keys, right?" He asked.
"Yup." She answered.
"Maybe we can go to Atlanta and do a little shopping afterwards. I wanna see it first, before we leave if we go, so I know what you need." Rick said nodding to himself.
Abby laughed. "Sure. I shouldn't be short on help."
Lori frowned shaking her head. "Rick, you can't go to the city! You're not healthy enough to be running around Atlanta!?"
Rick rolled his eyes. "I'm fine, Lori. It's not like I'll be carryin' anything heavy, that stuff'll probably be delivered."
"Yeah, mostly it'll be lumber, insulation and drywall. I might pick up a bunch of paint chips and catalogues for various things like cabinets or counter tops. Probably mostly window shopping. I'll keep an eye on him, make sure he don't push himself too much." Abby said.
Lori threw up her hands and walked off to their bedroom. Rick straightened up and walked over to Abby and kissed her on the cheek. "Don't lose your head, baby girl. I'm trusting you know the difference between good man and a shitty one now, even if you're just 'friends' with him."
Abby rolled her eyes as he smiled and patted her cheek, then turned and followed after Lori. Abby then walked into her own room and closed the door, only to nearly have a heart attack as she heard knocking on her window. When she pushed the curtain aside, she saw Jeremy standing in the window, smiling at her sheepishly. Abby gave him an 'are you crazy' look as she opened the window.
"What are you doing?" She asked once she got it open. "There's this thing called a front door."
"Yeaaah." Jeremy said rubbing the back of his head. "This is a conversation I'd rather your brother not hear or know about. Can we go for a walk?"
Abby sighed. "Fine but you coulda called instead of giving me a heart attacking."
She turned and grabbed her cowboy boots from where she'd dropped them on the ground, then squeezed through the window and dropped to the ground with Jeremy's assistance. Abby slid on her boots, then followed Jeremy down the side of the house, then down the street. After a block, he looked over at her as they continued to walked.
"So…are you okay? We haven't talked since before your…episode." Jeremy continued to looked over at her worriedly.
"Were you there?" Abby asked, she genuinely couldn't remember anything from the point that Shane had picked her up until Rick came and settled her down.
"Yeah. It wasn't just Rick that you worried." Jeremy said, gently grabbing her arm and pulling her to a stop.
"Did I hurt you?" She asked, not able to meet his eye. "I know I hit Shane but I don't really remember anything after that."
"You may have crushed my nuts but I didn't need those." Jeremy said trying to sound light-hearted.
Abby winced. "Sorry."
Jeremy put a hand on her shoulder. "So long as yer okay, then I don't care."
"Yeah, I'm good now. It was jus' the stress of everything that's been going on, getting to me. I'm okay now though." Abby said, feeling once again, pathetic.
"Glad to hear it." Jeremy said, tilting her chin up. "But that's not why I'm here. At least, not entirely. I wanna talk 'bout what happened between us."
"What about it?" Abby asked softly.
"I have something I need to say." Jeremy said, then when Abby nodded her head, he continued. "I know you and I have known each other forever and we've hooked up more than once over the years and I know I should've said this sooner but I think I'm in love with you. When you and Martin first started dating…I shoulda stepped in then but you were nineteen and I was twenty-three and then Rick…I didn't want to have to chose between you or him."
"Except you did." Abby said softly. "Why are you saying this now?"
"Because I've left it unsaid for too long. I know it's too late, you got that Daryl guy chasing you now and I want you to know that I support you, no matter whom you date, I'll be there for you. Rick's my best friend, my brother and I can't let go of that."
"You dragged me out here to say that?" Abby asked in disbelief. "I'm in love with you but we'll never be a thing?"
Jeremy chuckled awkwardly. "In my head, it sounded a lot better."
Abby finally looked up and smirked slightly. "Its fine, you've always been as eloquent as a mute."
"Oh, ouch." Jeremy said rubbing his head.
"Besides, we were piss assed drunk the last two times we hooked up and I was seventeen the times before that, its not like we really had a real relationship."
"Does Martin know? That you and I hooked up before you caught him in the act?" Jeremy asked.
"No and that was different. I was faithful to him for years, I practically threw myself at him to get his attention but he never reciprocated! Don't take this personally but the only reason we hooked up when Rick was in hospital was because I was desperate for attention, to be comforted, to feel loved and I know you'd make me feel good, even drunk."
"I'll take it as a compliment." Jeremy said then stepped forward and hugged her. "I really should've stopped you and Martin from getting married, maybe you'd have never left and joined the military."
Abby hugged him back. "I don't actually regret my choice to join, just may be shoulda retired sooner."
Jeremy stepped back and pushed some of her hair out of her face. "C'mon, I'll walk you back home."
111
The next morning, Rick got up bright and early to go with her to the lawyer's office to watch as she signed the last documents and finally receive the keys to their family home. They then went straight to the farm together in Rick's vehicle, removed the heavy chain that blocked the path and drove up to the house. Rick sighed sadly as he stepped out and stared at the depressing view of the house.
"Wait 'til you get inside." Abby told him.
Rick only got more depressed as they walked through the house, he couldn't believe the condition it was in. He had brought a ladder, which they used to climb up onto the roof and inspected the damage up close.
"You should probably get this done professionally. The roof needed to be replaced already before I sold it, it obviously not got done. Dad had planned to get the material and do it that weekend that they died." Rick said shaking his head sadly.
"So probably roof first, then the plumbing and electrical." Abby stated.
"Yeah, that'd probably be wise. We can tear it all out first in the meantime." Rick confirmed.
After about an hour of closely inspecting the house, the two of the finally headed off for the city. On the way, Abby got a text from Daryl saying that he got the place he'd been wanting to look at. She was a little surprised with how long the text had been considering how ancient his phone was but then she suddenly got the suspicion that he might've traded up for a smart phone like she'd suggested. She then called a couple of companies, while they drove, to make appointments for roofing, electrical and plumbing.
Once they reached the city, Rick started getting annoyed as he drove through the city traffic. He wasn't really accustomed to big city driving like she was, so the constant traffic jams got under his skin. When they finally got to a big hardware store, Rick finally mellowed out again as he was more in his element. He loaded up the cart for her with tools he figured she needed, then worked out with one of the workers, how much lumber and drywall she'd need.
They then went to look at cabinets and countertops; Abby didn't commit to anything but took pictures with her phone of things she liked and bought several magazines to give her ideas on the finishes for the house. By the time they left the city again it was nearly three. As they drove down the highway back home, Abby's phone rang. At first, she'd been excited, thinking it was Daryl but when she looked at the screen, she was very disappointed.
"Hello, Martin." She growled when she put it to her ear. She saw Rick glare over at her then reached over and snatched the phone for her.
"You sack of shit! How dare you cheat on my sister!" He managed ground out at him before Abby snatched the phone back.
She glared at him then put the phone back to her ear. "That was Rick in case you didn't get that."
"Kind of hard not to." He said dryly.
"What do you want?" She asked testily.
"As a part of the divorce we get to split our assets. You're supposed to come to the house and tell me what you want to take, then you and I negotiate. My lawyer will here to make sure everything goes smoothly." Martin replied.
"I don't want most of that shit, you bought almost all of it." She growled again.
"Well, you should still come. You still have some stuff here." Martin insisted.
"Fine I'll book a flight for tomorrow morning. I'll text you the time." She said.
"That works, I'll see you tomorrow than. Bye." Martin hung up before she could even reply but she didn't really care. She was done talking to him too.
"I'm comin' with you." Rick said through gritted teeth.
"No! You'll only turn it into a fight!" She said, terrified at the thought.
Rick let out a slow breath. "I promise, I'll behave. You need someone there, someone who'll be on your side. I might not be a lawyer but I'm a cop, I know the law."
"You promise to behave?" She asked firmly. It would be nice to have someone there on her side and Rick knew her better than almost anyone and would hold no judgement against her.
"I promise." Rick said holding up his hand as if he was making an oath.
"Fine." She breathed.
As they continued to drive back to King County, Abby made the flight plans for them, both their departure and their return flights. This time, she managed to get a ridiculously early flight in the morning and a mid-afternoon return flight so that they'd be home in time for supper. They stopped at the farm along the way to drop off the tools before finally leaving and heading home. When they finally arrived at Rick's house, there was two vehicles parked out front, Shane's jeep and Jeremy's Buick. Abby looked over at Rick worriedly.
"I'm not sure if I'm ready to face them…" She said as her anxiety started to rise in her chest, really she was fine with Jeremy but she couldn't deal with Shane.
Rick touched her hand. "If you can't, that's fine but you'll have to face them eventually."
"Not today!" She said forcefully.
"Okay, okay. Do you want me to send them away?" He asked watching her worriedly.
"N-no. I'll just go get supper or something. Maybe go back to the farm and started ripping stuff out." She said than nodded her head. "Yeah that's what I'll do, I can take my anger at Martin out on the walls."
"Alright. Just don't be out too late, okay? Text me every couple hours, so I know you're alright." Rick said.
"Sure." She agreed, then stepped out of Rick's vehicle and rushed over to her bike.
She quickly buckled on her helmet as Shane appeared on the front step and started walking towards her. Rick quickly got out his vehicle and intercepted him. "Don't." Rick said as she fired up her motorcycle and quickly peeled out of the driveway.
Once she'd made it out of the neighbourhood, she made a quick stop at the local fast food joint to buy herself supper than, like she told Rick, drove back to the farm and sat on the floor while she ate her supper. Once she was done, she slowly toured the house and tried to decide where she wanted to start. She decided to start with the upstairs. If she got her bedroom liveable, she could live in the house while she fixed up the rest of the house.
She quickly cut the few boards they'd brought home with them, and made a stable set of steps and floorboards from the front door to the steps. She then dug through the stuff that they'd just bought and grabbed the crowbar, hammer and sledgehammer. She pulled on a pair of gloves, went up the stairs and quickly went to work removing the carpet from every room and threw it outside. Just having the carpet out of the house felt like an accomplishment but the sun was still up so she decided to continue.
She grabbed the sledgehammer and went to work breaking up the plaster on the walls. She was three quarters done the master bedroom when her phone rang once more. She cursed as she put the sledgehammer down, hoping that it wasn't Martin again. Thankfully, it was Daryl.
"Hey." She answered breathlessly.
"Hey. You workin' on your house? You sound outta breath." He asked.
"Yeah, jus' breaking the plaster off my wall. Already removed all the carpet!" She said happily.
"Already an improvement, I'm sure." Daryl replied.
"Definitely. So, you got the place, huh?" She asked.
"Yeah, its real small but I practically pay nothin' for it. In return, the lady wants me to fix it up a little for her. She just wants me to replace the cabinets, some of the plumbing and paint. I basically just pay for my utilities, that's it." Daryl told her.
"Doesn't' sound like a bad deal. Is it furnished?"
"Yeah but it's pretty beat up but I've lived in worse though, so that's fine."
"So how small is small?" Abby asked.
"Five hundred square feet." Daryl answered nonchalant.
"That sounds like an apartment!"
"You'd think but it's a house. It's gotta huge garage and big yard." He said. "I'm almost there, I'm comin' over. I got some beer."
"Sure, but you don't have to help with anything, you can just visit."
"I ain't gonna just stand around and talk with you while you work. Either neither of us work or we both work. Brought a wheelbarrow that was in the back of my new place. Figured you might need it."
Abby laughed as she looked at the destruction around her. "You know, I probably do. Rick and I went on a little shopping trip in Atlanta, that was not something either one of us thought of! So much for bein' country folk!"
Daryl grunted. "I'll be right there." Then hung up.
Abby ran into the bathroom to look at her reflection. She was sweaty and covered in dust but she made sure her hair wasn't too terribly messed up before going back into the room and resuming her activities. She had just finished knocking the plaster off of the walls when a knock on the door startled her.
Abby turned to see Daryl smiling at her. "Hey." He said as she put a hand to her rapidly beating heart. "I did knock before I came in, but you were makin' such a ruckus, probably didn't hear."
Abby laughed a little breathless. "No, I didn't!"
Daryl held up a case of beer. "Why don't you take a break, then we can haul this shit out of here."
Abby nodded and the two of them walked back downstairs, into the kitchen and the two of them hopped up onto the countertops and popped open a beer each.
"So, you official own this place now, huh?" Daryl asked as he took a sip from his beer.
"Yes, I do. Brought Rick over, this morning after I'd signed the papers, it really pissed him off to see the state of this place. He said that my folks had planned on replacing the roof the weekend that they had passed, so it is over a decade overdue. Rick an' I even went up there, was pretty soft in a couple area, he figures I probably should get it done professionally."
Daryl nodded in approval. "Probably a good idea, might be some structural issues if yer rafters are rotting." They sat there in comfortable silence for a while, just sipping at their beers before Daryl looked over at her again. "So, Gunnery Sergeant, huh?"
"Master Gunnery Sergeant." She corrected with a smile.
"That's pretty up there, huh. You miss it?" He asked.
Abby shrugged. "Some of it, yeah. I like the unit I was with, a good bunch of guys. It was like having nine brothers." Abby laughed. "They looked out for me. When my PTSD symptoms first started showin', they tried to help me with it. Didn't really want me sent home, nor did I want to go home. Probably a poor decision both by me and them but Heine sight, you know."
"You mind me askin' what happened?" Daryl asked carefully.
Abby tilted her head. "Do you mean how I got PTSD or how the brass took notice?"
"Whichever, but I get it if you don't wanna talk about it." Daryl said wincing and looking like he regretted asking.
"Probably half of King county knows about 'the incident'. Rick probably told Lori and well, she can't keep things to herself. He probably also told Shane and Jeremy, the basics anyways. As far as the PTSD starting, basically made one to many calls on people's lives. Too much classified stuff for me to go into detail but I've killed a lot of people, it gets to you after a while."
"What's the incident?"
"Like I said, my unit was tryin' to help me but one night, we were camping out in the desert. I had one of my nightmares and thankfully I didn't have my knife or pistol on me. It was kinda like sleep walkin'. In my head I was somewhere else, tryin' to find my enemy but in actually when I attacked them, I attacked one of the men from my unit. Tried to beat the crap outta him but he kinda got what was happening, he defended himself by blocking my attacks but no one wanted to hurt me. One of the other guys managed to subdue me an' the medic gave me a sedative.
"Next thing I remember, I was wakin' up in a hospital in Germany. The guys told the base doctors all the stuff I'd been suffering through and they thought it was wise to just send me to Germany. Spent two months there before going back to the states, some of the guys called to check on me."
"So, the last time you saw yer unit, you were tryin' to beat on them?" Daryl asked.
"Well, sort of. I don't actually remember the incident, so for me it was before I fell asleep." Abby replied with a shrug.
"Sorry if my questions are upsettin' you." Daryl said sheepishly.
Abby smiled, "It's fine. At least you have the decency to ask me out right, most people jus' get the stories second hand an' gossip 'bout it."
"I ain't gonna gossip about other people's shit. It ain't their business." Daryl put his empty down, slid off of the counter and then offered her his hand. "Come on, let's get workin'."
She continued to smile as she took his hand and slid off the counter also and put the beer can on the counter. He slowly let go of her hand, then turned and walked to the stairs. She followed him, watching the swagger in his hips as he climbed the stairs and together they went into room.
Together they began to gather up all the plaster into the wheelbarrow and got it outside to a huge metal bin that was brought to the property sometime after Rick and Abby had left. They then pulled off the slats off the wall, then moved on to the next bedroom. By the time darkness had rolled around, they were sitting on the floor of the living room and Daryl was helping her plan out what she wanted to do with the upstairs.
"You're full of ideas!" She exclaimed happily. "You're even more helpful than Rick. He basically wants to keep it all the same, just updated."
Suddenly her phone rang. When she looked at it, she saw that it was her brother. "Speak of the devil." She mumbled, then put the phone to her ear. "Hello?"
"Hey, just checkin' on you. How's it going?" Rick asked.
"Fine. Tore the plaster and slats out of two rooms. Now I'm just sitting on the floor in the living room trying to plan a little." Abby replied as Daryl handed her another beer. "You might want to come and get me though, I've had like six beers."
Rick sighed. "Drinking and construction doesn't generally go together, I'll be right there."
She hung up and Daryl smirked at her. "Better get goin' huh?" He asked.
Abby shrugged. "You can wait if you want." Suddenly a thought popped into her head. "Oh! I forgot to tell you, I'm goin' to Seattle tomorrow for the day."
Daryl frowned. "Why?"
"Part of the divorce, splitting of assets. Gotta go there, say what I want and try to come to an agreement." She said shaking her head in annoyance. "Shouldn't be much of a problem, most of that shit was his. I hardly lived in that house."
"Sounds like he's gonna get most of it." Daryl said shaking his head.
"Not necessarily. He'll just have to shovel out more money." Abby said as she opened up the beer he'd given her.
"So long as you get yer share." Daryl grumbled as he got to his feet.
Abby followed suit and followed him as he walked to the door. He opened the door, then stopped and looked back at her. "Goodnight. Talk to you later."
He bent forward and gave her a quick peck on her dusty cheek, he blushed then turned and left. Abby smiled as she held her hand to her cheek and watched as his tail lights faded off into the distance. She closed the door and returned to the paper pad on the ground and resumed sketching out the floor plan. About ten minutes later, the front door opened and in stepped both Lori and Rick.
Abby looked up from her note pad. "Hey."
"Wow." Lori said looking around. "I can't believe it's the same house, what did those people do to this place?"
"You should see what I did to the upstairs!" Abby said smirking as she stood up and dusted off her pants.
Without a word, the two went up the stairs as Abby took another sip from her beer and waited for them to come down. When they did come down, Rick look surprised.
"You got a lot done." Rick exclaimed. "Looks so much better without those hideous rugs in there. Too bad the hardwood isn't saveable."
Abby sighed. "Yeah."
"Come on, let's go home. We got an early morning." Rick said indicating for her to come to him.
She walked over to him and he wrapped his arm around her and the two of them walked outside together.
111
The next morning Rick and Abby got up bright and early. Abby had been so hungover, that Rick had to come into her room a couple times to shake her awake and even poured a cup of water on her head when she still didn't get up. Abby was a huge suck when hungover and it'd probably been close to year since she'd drank enough to truly call herself drunk. When she'd met Daryl, she'd only been a little tipsy having drank just enough to question her ability to drive but not enough to make her sick in the morning.
When Rick had finally dragged her out of bed, she managed to quickly get dressed and the two of them grabbed a quick breakfast from the fast food joint. Once at the airport, they had to rush to make their flight, which made Rick very cranky with her.
"Couldn't you have waited to get wasted until after we got back?" He grumbled as they took their seats.
"Oh, I probably still will!" She replied, smirking at him.
Once in the air, he mellowed out again as the two of them settled in for a nap. Once again, when they landed, Rick had to shake her awake but this time she woke up on his first attempt. The weather seemed to project her mood, as they disembarked the plane, as it was cloudy and raining. They caught a cab, when they left the airport, and the two siblings rode to their destination. As the cab rolled to a stopped, Abby stared at the house and sighed, she was really dreading what was coming next. Rick rubbed her back and looked at her sympathetically.
"It'll be fine, we'll be in and out and back home before you know it." He encouraged her.
Abby sighed. "I hope so."
Rick paid the driver and the two of them climbed out of the cab and then up the steps that led to the house. Abby paused at the door, hand poised above the door knob, about to step in.
"Should I knock?" She asked him.
"It's still your house for another couple of weeks." Rick answered, shrugging.
Abby nodded and decided to just walk in. When they entered, they found a woman, Martin and the man she'd caught him cheating on her with, sitting together in the living room. When Martin saw her, he looked a little bashful but when he saw Rick, an expression of sheer terror crossed his face
"W-what's he doing here?" Martin squeaked.
Abby had to admit, she was taking great pleasure in his reaction to her brother and so was he. "Rick's here to support me." Abby replied.
"I support her, unlike you." Rick growled out.
"Rick!" Abby warned. "You promised!"
Rick threw his hands up in surrender. "Sorry."
The woman stood up and offered her hand to Abby. "Sandra Bennett, Mister King's attorney."
Abby took her hand and shook it. "I'm sure you know who I am, this here is my brother, Rick Grimes. He's the town Sheriff back home, thought he'd come in handy."
"Sheriff Grimes, pleased to meet you. Now let's get down to business, shall we?" Bennett said Indicating a love seat.
"Who's he?" Rick asked indicating the other man.
"Probably Martin's boyfriend, since they were in bed together when I came here last?" Abby answered dryly as she sat down, not wanting to call the place 'home'.
"You haven't said anything to my folks, have you?" Martin asked worriedly.
"Haven't seen 'em, haven't talked to 'em. They are your problem!" Abby answered while putting a hand on her brother's shoulder as he glared at the interloper.
"Let's move on, shall we?" Bennett asked. "Are there any big-ticket items that you'd like Mrs. King?"
"Either Abby or Ms. Grimes, please." Abby said annoyed, then thought for a moment. "Not really, just so long as I get my portion of the money for the house, I'm happy. I have my motorcycle, that's the biggest ticket item that I want…and the treadmill."
"I'm okay with that, I don't have no desire to drive that death machine and I won't use the treadmill." Martin agreed.
"So, you don't want any of the couches, TV's, kitchen appliances, beds any of those type of things?" Bennett asked.
Rick whispered something to her and Abby's eyes went big. "Oh, I forgot about that! My grandmother's dresser, my great grandfather built it for her when she got married."
Martin winced. "A-alright, it was your grandmother's. It's so beautiful, I hate to lose it but you aren't asking for much so I can't say no."
"Actually, Mister King, if you don't want to let it go; we can fight for it." Bennett said instantly gaining both Grimes' animosity.
"No, it's a family heirloom. Back in Georgia, family heritage is very important, I can't take it away from her. It should stay in the Grimes family." Martin said confidently.
"Thank you." Abby said quietly.
"I'm not trying to hurt you, Ab's. I didn't want to hurt you to begin with. We probably shouldn't have ever gotten married, but we could have stayed good friends. I handled things poorly, I know this is my fault." Martin sighed. "I should have ended this years ago, but I thought if we got divorced then I'd have to admit to everyone that I was gay and that scared me. I'm sorry, this has been unfair to you."
"You did handle this poorly! If you had just told me, I wouldn't have gotten mad! We could have stayed friends!" Abby said sadly. "I would have been like 'okay, I guess we should get a divorce'. I wouldn't have held it against you! But you cheated on me, you lied to me! That's what makes me angry!"
"I know, and I'm sorry, I really am." Martin said sincerely. "I know you like to cook, take whatever you want from the kitchen. I know you're not really gonna want much more beside your military paraphernalia. I already packed up the rest of your clothes and your books, I sent them yesterday. You can check the bookcase and make sure I got them all."
"Thank you." Abby said softly.
"Mister King, I don't think…" Bennett started but Martin interrupted.
"Its fine, go ahead Abby. I left some boxes in there." Martin said with an equal amount of softness.
Abby nodded, then her and Rick got up and walked over into the kitchen. She went straight for the big soup pot that had once been her Grandmother's also, then rummaged through the cupboards as Martin's attorney and boyfriend came into the kitchen and watched her like a hawk.
"You can't take that pot!" Allan complained.
"It our grandmother's and Martin just said she could take whatever she wants." Rick growled.
Martin sighed as he came into the room. "He's right on both counts, just go back to the living room, Allan." Martin instructed Allan.
Allan glared at them once more before turning and walking out. Abby continued to rummage and after about ten minutes, she'd filled a box and was done. "I'm gonna go in the garage. There were some spare parts for my bike in there and some tools I'd like."
Martin chuckled. "Because I'm totally going to use them." He said sarcastically.
Abby smirked slightly as she walked to the back door and walked out, taking a box with her. She went to the garage and packed up her parts and most of the tools, leaving the more basic ones like screw drivers, behind. After a couple of minutes, Martin appeared in the doorway.
"Maybe we should talk for a moment, without any spectators." Martin said from where he stood in the doorway.
Abby sighed tiredly. "What is there to talk about?"
"I wanted to apologize, again." Martin said as he stepped further inside. "I did care for you, you know, just not how you wanted me to. I…I should've at least tried to treat you better. Be honest with me, did you ever cheat? I was horrible to you, you had to have gotten lonely."
"I was lonely, that was half of the reason I joined the military, for some fulfilment." Abby sighed, then winced. "I was faithful, for a long time. But when Rick got shot and you left? I needed someone to comfort me and Lori wasn't what I was looking for."
"Let me guess, Jeremy?" Martin said then smirked when she looked at him in shock. "There was rumors when we were in high school that you two were a thing. You always were extra nice to him and he was always extra nice to you, so I always wondered if the rumor mill had actually been right. He'll be good for you, you should see him."
Abby shook her head. "He still likes me but Rick's friendship is more important than the chance of us getting together. Besides, I met a guy the night I found you out. We've kinda been seeing each other as friends but it's becoming more then that."
"I'm happy for you, I just want you to be happy. I want someone to give you the love and kids and all the other things I couldn't give you."
Abby sighed. "I feel like such an ass. I freaked out on you when I found out 'bout you cheating but you find out and you're all cool about it!"
Martin chuckled. "Finding another man naked in bed with your husband is a little more shocking than hearing the words."
Abby looked down as she fiddled with the corner of the box she'd put her parts into. "Were there others? Besides Allan?"
Martin winced. "Yes, a couple but they broke it off pretty quickly when I didn't want to break it off with you."
"You can't blame them." Abby said. She couldn't help but feel a little hurt but he was right, the seeing was worse than just hearing about it.
"So, do you think we could be friends?" Martin asked hopefully.
Abby sighed then shook her head. "Not right now. All of this, it's too fresh but maybe one day."
"Alright, I get that. Just let me know when you're ready." Martin said then took a cautious step forward, placed his hands on her shoulders when she didn't step back and kissed her on the forehead. "I'll see you inside."
Martin left then without another word as Abby stared sadly at her box. She stood there for several minutes before taking a deep breath, then continued looking through the garage. When she came back inside, she plunked the box heavily on to the counter. The attorney came over and poked around in it then insisted that Martin look inside to make sure she didn't take anything she shouldn't have. When Martin reluctantly came over looked inside and said it was fine, Rick taped the two boxes shut as she went wandering through the house, followed closely by the attorney. She took almost nothing but like Martin had predicted, she wanted her mementos from her tours overseas.
"Well I think that's all." Abby said finally.
"Are you sure?" Martin asked.
"Yeah. I barely lived here, most of this stuff has value to you, not me." Abby replied.
"Alright, call a courier for your stuff. I'll clean out the dresser and Rick can help me carry it downstairs." Martin said.
"Okay." Abby replied then walked to the kitchen, pulled out a phone book and called the courier while Rick followed Martin upstairs.
Once that was done, she carried the boxes to the front door and watched as Rick and Martin carefully came down the stairs with the dresser between them. Bennett indicated for Abby to follow her into the living room, then indicated a set of papers sitting on the coffee table. Abby sat down, and looked over the papers.
"What are these for? I already signed the divorce papers." Abby asked as she read the documents.
"They are documents that basically say that you agree to release the house and remaining items to Mister King." Bennett explained.
"Yeah, well, I think I'll be gettin' my lawyer to look at this first." Abby said as she stacked the papers together.
Yay, Abby's finally getting divorced! Now her and Daryl can be together! Thanks for reading, 'til next time!
-Shockra
