Disclaimer: Don't own The Avengers or The Walking Dead.


Chapter Four - Moaning Alone

"I'm down on my tail but I'm up and I can feel it again
Angels wings unfold and the devil sitting moaning alone
I've been down but I'm back in a magic zone"


Their little group found a way to work. Rick didn't think it was possible with so many personalities. Everyone had a job and they did it well.

Michonne and Natasha continued teaching Sophia how to handle a weapon. The girl could now handle a blade or gun as well as the rest of them. Rick tried not to think about what Carol would say if she knew.

The three women refused to do "women's work" as Merle had put it. They refused to be treated like housewives, so everyone took turns doing laundry and cooking meals. Merle went hunting and taught Sophia how to dress a deer.

The five adults took turns keeping watch, which meant they all got a decent amount of sleep. Normally, if Sophia had to do laundry, one of the adults went with her while two others kept watch.

Today, Merle and Michonne had gone hunting. Andrea was keeping Sophia company. Rick and Natasha were seated on the front porch of the house they'd been staying in.

"You don't talk much," Rick observed.

"I have nothing to say," she answered.

"You don't want to talk at all?"

She looked at him. "You're not usually so chatty, what's wrong with you?" she deflected.

He shrugged. "Just curious. You don't have to talk if you don't want to . But we've been traveling together a month and I hardly know anything about you. Except what Merle and Sophia have told me."

She glanced at him. "And what did they tell you?"

"Just how you found them. Sophia told me all the lessons you gave her. Merle told me how you found him in Atlanta and saved him."

"You're the one who handcuffed him, aren't you?" Natasha asked.

Rick looked down. "Yeah, that was me. I had a good reason, though."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "He told me what happened, with more colorful language than was probably needed."

"Got a mouth on him, don't he?"

"Oh, you have no idea." She chuckled.

They fell silent a few moments.

Natasha bit her lip in debate. Finally she spoke, "Do you remember the summer before all this happened? That alien attack in New York?"

Rick nodded. "Yeah, seems like so long ago."

Now she nodded. "I was one of the agents that helped end it. I'm Black Widow," she confessed.

"Wow," Rick breathed in astonishment. "All this time I've been traveling with a superhero."

She scoffed. "No, I'm no super hero. Master assassin, yes. Superhero, no."

Rick gazed at her. "Either way, that's pretty amazing."

Natasha didn't acknowledge that. "Your son, how old is he?"

"Almost thirteen, same as Sophia. Just a few months younger. Wait till I tell him I met an Avenger." He laughed. "Captain America was his hero."

Natasha smiled. "Actually, he's mine too. He's such a humble, noble guy. And he's been through something I can't even begin to understand and yet he still fights."

"Why's that?"

"Waking up in a new century, living in a time when you should have been long dead. Everyone he's ever known is dead. The love of his life is dead and he can still live on knowing that he'll never see her again."

"He fights in her memory," Rick mused. He looked at the redhead. "You've never been in love?"

She looked away. "Once. It didn't work and I've avoided it ever since. The last person I really loved was my partner, Clint. It was just a friendly love and guess what? He's dead too. Why would I keep going through all of that?"

"There's someone out there for everyone," Rick said.

Natasha scoffed. "That's a cliché only fools and children believe."

"Maybe you should start believing it," Rick said, looking at her with a thoughtful expression.

"Sorry, Rick, but people are becoming scarce in case you hadn't noticed," she said harshly. "It's hard to believe in something that doesn't exist anymore."

"It does," Rick argued. "Sophia loves you." He saw her expression and shook his head. "Don't you see how she started dressing? The boots, the hair, she's dressing like you."

"She's dressing in whatever we happen to find in her size."

"Okay. But she watches everything you do. When you compliment her, it makes her whole day. That day at target practice when you criticized her, it hurt her but it made her work even harder. She looks up to you. You say love doesn't exist in this world, Natasha, I say it's all we've got."

Natasha absorbed this but didn't comment on it. "I guess tomorrow we'll keep looking for a place to go. Seems like there's nothing out there for us," she said.

"There's something out there. Just waiting for us to take it," Rick said.

She looked at him but didn't say anything. Sophia came up then and handed them a plate of food. They thanked her and she left.

"My wife is pregnant," Rick blurted.

"I would offer congratulations if you didn't look so upset."

"Well, I don't think it's mine," he said quietly.

Natasha eyed him. "Wanna talk about it?"

He shrugged and began his story; getting shot, his coma, the quarry, the farm.

"I asked her, outright. Honestly. I told her, just tell me honestly, who did she think the father was?"

"What did she say?"

"That's just it, she didn't say anything. To me, that said more than she ever could." He hung his head.

"So your wife is out there, pregnant with your best friend's baby? And she thinks you're dead now?"

"Pretty much."

Natasha didn't know what to say, so she didn't say anything.

Rick sniffed. "So, how about you? Any family?"

"No," she replied curtly.

He held up his hands. "Okay, sorry I asked."

"My parents died when I was young. I don't even remember them," she explained. "The only other family I had was Clint."

"You know, you're always so cold and distant to everyone and you say you don't care, but you do."

Natasha glared at him. "You think so? I don't have any ties to any of you."

"And yet, you stay with us. You saved Merle in Atlanta and you didn't know him."

"It was Clint's dying wish," she snapped.

Rick paused. "Now we're getting somewhere."

She was seething, angry that he had pushed her into revealing something.

"What happened?" Rick asked softly. His face was so sympathetic, she didn't know if she wanted to spill her guts or punch him. She stood up without answering and went inside, ignoring his calls to come back.

She managed to avoid him until just before bedtime when he called them all into the living room.

"This house has been okay for the past few days," he started. "But we're too close to a major city. Merle and Michonne have come across two herds now and we've only been here three days. I'd say it's time to move on and find something else."

"Where do you suggest we go?" Andrea asked, crossing her arms.

"I don't know. There's gonna be something out there. I was thinking me and Natasha could go on a scouting trip, see what we can find."

"You can't go alone," Sophia said. "What if you don't come back?"

"I say we all go. That way we all have a say in where we stay," Andrea said. "No point in sending the two of you out to look then have to come all the way back here to get us. We should go as a group."

"She's right," Michonne agreed.

"I was only thinking about Sophia," Rick said defensively. "The sky has been looking dark for days, I'm afraid it might snow."

"She'll be fine, long as we watch her," Merle spoke up.

After some discussion, the group agreed to head out together the next morning. Merle took the night watch while the others lay down to sleep.


Sophia was following Natasha and Michonne through the town toward the car, they had quite a bit of things in their bag.

Rick, Merle and Andrea were standing by the cars, having already loaded their findings.

"Good trip?" Natasha asked.

Rick nodded once. "We got what we could find."

"Now what?" Andrea asked.

"There's a crowd of walkers moving in," Michonne said. "Couldn't tell how many and we didn't stop to count. We shouldn't stay here much longer."

Rick spread out the map. "There's a few small towns around, we can head that way. Look for a house to stay in for tonight, keep looking tomorrow."

They agreed. Rick, Natasha, Sophia and Michonne got into the car while Andrea climbed in the truck with Merle and they left the town behind.

It had only been a few minutes on the road when someone ran out in front of them. Rick hit the brakes and two more people ran into the road, waving their arms.

Rick looked at Natasha, raising an eyebrow. "What do you think?"

"Drive," she responded instantly.

"No," Sophia countered. "They need our help, we have to help them."

With a sigh, Rick put the car in park and opened his door.

Natasha jumped out a second later. "Rick," she warned.

"Let's just find out what's up," he said calmly. Natasha wanted to hit him.

Michonne got out of the car, followed by Sophia. Merle and Andrea were already making their way over.

"What's going on?" Rick called, remaining a safe distance away from the new people.

"One of our group is sick," one of the boys said. "We need help."

"If he's bit you gotta put him down," Merle called.

The trio started to babble about what happened. Their fear seemed genuine, so Rick volunteered to follow them. Natasha had a bad feeling in her stomach. When Rick started forward, her hand shot out to grip his arm.

"Something isn't right," she whispered.

He looked at her then over at the boys. "They're just kids."

"That doesn't matter."

He gently pulled away from her grasp and started forward, Natasha followed a few steps behind. Only a few feet into the woods, six men with guns jumped out, aiming at them.

"They left a car up on the road," one of the boys said from behind. Andrea, Michonne, Merle and Sophia joined them moments later.

"Pete, search them for weapons," the big guy with the shotgun said.

One of the men stepped forward and began patting the group down, tossing knives and handguns into a pile on the ground.

"Y'all were armed and ready weren't ya?" the man taunted.

"Even the little girl had a gun and knife on her," Pete said.

They'd taken all of Natasha's weapons. Everything of Rick's. Michonne, Andrea and Merle were defenseless as well. Pete had taken Sophia's gun and the knife on her belt but he had missed the one stashed in her boot. Sophia had to wait until the time was right to use it, she knew, she would only get one chance.

"My name is Danny," the big man said.

"Well, Danny, I'm Rick. What do you want from us?" Rick spoke up.

Danny laughed. "Nothing from you." He looked at Merle. "Or you." He smirked. "We have plenty of men around camp but currently have a shortage of women. They don't seem to last too long around our boys." The men around him chuckled.

Michonne shivered.

"I'm sure we can find a use for you ladies." He winked at Natasha. He stepped back and surveyed the group. Pointed at Rick. "You the leader of this outfit?"

Rick nodded. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Good," Danny said slowly, nodding. He waved two fingers, motioning the other man forward. "Come here a second."

Rick hesitated, then took a step forward.

Without warning, Danny nodded to two of his men, who grabbed Rick's arms and forced him on his knees. He made a fist and slammed it into Rick's jaw. Sophia squealed, but quickly silenced herself. When Danny stopped swinging, the men let go and Rick went on his hands and knees. Danny kicked him in the side, blood from Rick's face dripped into the dirt. One more swift kick put Rick on his stomach, gasping for air.

Danny nodded at Merle. Two men came forward to grab him but Merle fought against them. Sophia started to cry then. The girl turned to hug Natasha, hiding her face from the scuffle. She kicked Natasha's boot, causing the woman to look down. As discreetly as she could, Sophia leaned down and slid the knife from her boot.

Natasha glanced behind her, then at the men in front of her who were now forcing Merle to get on his knees. Rick was still lying motionless in the dirt. Natasha caught Michonne's eye and winked. The other woman nodded.

In one swift motion, Natasha kicked the man behind her. Michonne went to the right. Surprised, Andrea hesitated only a moment before jumping into action, grabbing one of the men holding Merle. He slapped her back but Merle was freed. Sophia ran to Rick's side, helping him to his feet. Someone grabbed her, spinning her around. She swung the knife, cutting into a man's stomach. Danny yelped and started to swing at her. Sophia aimed higher, cutting into his throat this time. His eyes went wide and his hands fell away from her. Sophia turned back to Rick , focusing on getting him to his feet.

Natasha had broken the neck of the first man, then the second one that tried to grab her. In little time at all she'd dropped half of the group. Michonne had gone for her sword. Within minutes the group of men were dead. These goons were no match for a highly trained assassin. She looked around and went to help Rick.

"Sophia, gather our weapons."

The girl nodded and ran off. Natasha put an arm around Rick's waist and lifted him up. He grunted in pain.

"Can you walk?" she asked him. A wheeze was the only answer she got. Sophia came back then. "Put my gun in my holster, give Rick his. Put my knife in my boot. We gotta move. These guys are probably part of a bigger group."

Michonne came up then and put an arm around Rick.

Merle's face was bloody but he was otherwise okay. Sophia walked close to him. When they reached the cars, Natasha and Michonne put Rick in the backseat of the car. Natasha got in with him, kneeling on the floor. Michonne got into the driver's seat, Sophia was turned around in the passenger seat to watch Natasha.

Natasha reached in her bag for alcohol and gauze. Rick had a nasty cut across his cheek.

"How do I look?" he whispered.

"Like a couple of rednecks curb stomped the shit out of you."

"Funny, I feel about the same."

Natasha's lips quirked and she started to unbutton his shirt. His chest already covered in bruises.

"At least one rib broken," she observed. He had a gash on his side that would need stitching when they were somewhere more stable. For the time being, she placed some gauze over it and taped it up, then tied Rick's shirt around his waist to keep pressure.

"There's a town up ahead," Michonne reported.

"We'll stop there, then. See what we can find for tonight," Natasha said. She fed Rick some pain medicine and told him to sleep. She would worry about wrapping his ribs later.

Michonne stopped the car, she and Sophia climbed out. Natasha followed a moment later. Creeping through the streets, Natasha felt a little bad for leaving Rick alone in the car. Just as she started to go back, a voice stopped her.

"Natasha! Merle!"

They looked around, seeing a man in the doorway of a church.


A/N: Who do you think it is? Should be obvious, but we'll find out next time. Review?

~JLL