I don't own the Walking Dead or characters, seriously. Instead, I do this stuff, because this is fanfiction, and this is the stuff that is so much better than cannon some days :D

Blackbird Singing

Chapter 9

Beth had always been a morning person, the naturally cheerful kind that normally didn't need coffee to make her functional. So, when the sun started to shine through the curtains, Beth awoke quickly. She turned to see Rick still asleep, his features peaceful, almost making him look boyish in the new light.

She couldn't stop smiling.

Rick had really taken a step forward in their relationship last night, and she felt comforted by the fact that such an amazing man wanted her. In high school and the first two years of college, she had always been the good, church choir girl, religious and had to do everything right. That changed when she dated Zach, a bit of a stoner with his own set of insecurities and selfishness. She had learned a lot about herself when with him, mostly what to not look for in a guy, and it made her realize that she had a bit of an old soul. With that came the want of being wooed, to have a man properly court her.

Even though Rick had yet to take her out on an official date, he had been nothing but a gentleman to her from the beginning. Helping her when she broke her leg only sealed the deal, showing her what an incredibly thoughtful man he was.

Rick shifted in his sleep, and he suddenly came to, jolting out of bed and startling Beth.

"What time is it?" he asked somewhat frantically.

She rolled over to her phone to check the time. "About six fifteen," she answered.

He groaned, rubbing at his eyes. "I shouldn't stay late. Carl has a softball game at nine today that he forgot to tell me about." He looked at her, taking in her appearance and Beth felt self conscious for a moment until he gave the most wonderful smile, making her feel more amazing than she thought possible. "Good morning, beautiful."

"Morning." She leaned over and kissed him. "Can I at least make you some breakfast before you go?"

"Only if you want to, and if it's not too much trouble." He indicated to her cast. "You still got a bit yet in that thing, you sure I can't maybe make something?"

"Rick Grimes, I am a fully independent and capable woman." She playfully slapped at his chest, and he grabbed her hand quickly to pull her up to him. He kissed her long and slow, deep and explorative, and she couldn't help but moan in pleasure. "Let me do something nice for you. I want to."

She got up, grabbing a t-shirt from her dresser drawer before making her way to the kitchen, sliding it over her. She looked back and caught Rick staring at her intently.

"What?"

"Oh nothing." He stretched. "Just know if you're not gonna wear panties, I may not be able to stop myself."

Beth felt her jaw go slack. "I, uhm…." she started leaving the room. "...maybe I don't want you to stop yourself."

She hurried to the kitchen, blushing all the while at the fact she had acted so boldly. Rick was a little slow to follow, and she had meant it when she said she wanted to make him breakfast, pulling out eggs and bacon.

He looked good in her kitchen, having put his pants on, though not zipping them up yet, and they fell low on his hips. For a man his age, he was in better shape than most guys that were Beth's age. She enjoyed the hair on his chest, and the treasure trail that started below his belly button to climb down. He had a slight six pack, and the size of his arms indicated lean strength over gym workouts, something she could definitely appreciate.

"You get me a pan from over there, please?" She indicated to a cabinet while he complied. He handed the pan to her. "Thank you." Then, his arms slid around her waist, his lips at the juncture of her neck and shoulder. Her skin felt on fire. "Well if you don't let me get breakfast started, there won't be time to have any."

"What if I just have you for breakfast instead?" he asked, voice low and rough.

She felt a hum of pleasure course through her as he gently began to kiss her skin,nipping lightly every few kisses. Her good leg trembled and she struggled to stand upright, leaning slightly against the kitchen counter for support. His hands squeezed her ass and then drifted down and towards the front, fingers skimming tantalizingly along her thighs.

It was then that Rick's phone of course rang again, but at least this time it didn't involve a certain ringtone.

"That would be Carl," he sighed.

Though it was slightly disappointing to be left hanging, she nodded understandingly. "Better go get it, then."

He ran to the bedroom to quickly answer. Beth could hear the smile in his voice as he talked to his son. She tried not to listen in on his conversation, valuing the worth of privacy, and quickly set to making breakfast. She had the bacon finished and was starting on the eggs when he came out, this time with his shirt on, buttoning it up as we walked closer to her.

"I gotta get going soon. I'm sorry," he apologized.

"Oh it's fine. Don't worry," she chided. She grabbed some bread and popped it into the toaster. "Wait five minutes though, and I can at least have you out the door with a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich, k?"

He kissed her on the cheek, smiling. "You sure I deserve you? Cause I don't know how it happened."

She turned around after putting the eggs and bacon on his sandwich and cutting it in half, staring up at him intently. "You don't realize how special you really are, do you?"

Rick had the grace to blush slightly, and looked away from her penetrating stare, feeling exposed. It took him a moment, but he finally took her in, noting the sincerity shining brightly in her statement and its meaning floored him.

Lori had never been one to make Rick feel special. She had always been a woman that was quick to argue and point out faults, rather than lifting him up, even when they had first been dating. He had been the quiet one, supportive and head bowed, never thinking that a woman could or even should make him feel like Beth was right now. There hadn't been a real reason in his life to stand up for anyone or anything. Even during the divorce with Lori, he had only made sure to hang onto a few key items (such as the house), and letting her take everything else with her, just to appease her. But Beth...Beth made him feel different, and he was finding he liked this feeling.

He felt important.

He felt...wanted.

He felt needed.

It was nice, being wanted. Being important to someone again was a bit thrilling (Lori had snubbed him for years, and Carl was a pre-teen, totally couldn't rely on Dad now, could we?), and all he could do to such an honest question was to lean down and capture Beth's lips with his own.

The kiss was slow, with a promise of more in the future. He took control by gently tugging at her hair, teeth scraping across her bottom lip. She was putty in his arms, conforming and willing in giving herself to him. She was an addictive drug to him this way, pliant and full of desire, it was almost overwhelming in its intoxication.

He felt the telltale stirring in his pants and pulled away from her, noting her now swollen lips and the fact that her pupils were large, black bleeding into blue. She looked hungry and dazed at the same time, cheeks flushed with desire and bedroom hair framing her delicate face in a pleasingly wild tangle.

"I really, really like you," she suddenly blurted. Once her body seemed to catch up with what she just blurted, Beth threw her hands over her mouth with a meek 'eep' and a blush of embarrassment. "I mean, oh gosh….that sounds terrible. I meant-"

"I like you like you," he gently teased. He gently took hold of her hands, placing a kiss on each palm. "Beth, you're fine. I'm fine. This is all fine. I promise."

She nodded, mouth dry.

Sighing, he let go, straightening out his rumpled clothes as best as he could, retrieving his keys from his pocket. "I gotta get going though, but I want to see you again, soon." He gave her a look that went straight to her core. "I mean it."

"Okay." Her voice was soft, a little breathless. She turned away for a moment and when she turned back, she handed him his breakfast sandwich, all wrapped up and ready to go. "I hope you have a good day." She smiled before standing on her tiptoes on the one foot to give him a quick kiss.

"You do too, okay?" He couldn't help himself and had to kiss her once more, just to let her know that he really did want to spend more time with her, that he wasn't just running out. The way she leaned into him felt like she probably understood. "I'll call you later." He gently stroked her face once.

"Sounds good."

And then he was gone, her front door clicking into silence as he closed it behind him, and she suddenly felt more empty than ever.


Rick: Mondays are rly boring now - 9:15 AM

Beth: Well I got just the thing for you ;) - 9:17 AM

Rick: ? - 9:18 AM

Beth: It's a surprise :P - 9:19 AM

Beth: But you'll find out around lunch! - 9:19 AM

Sunday afternoon turned out to be more productive than planned. Beth ended up making a quick trip to the grocery store not long after Rick had left, and had gotten the ingredients she needed to make her top secret pecan pie that her mother had taught her. It was a Greene family traditional dessert, one that she felt right by letting Rick partake of.

In order to get the pie to her car before work, she made sure to have a system in place by finding an old purse that was big enough to hold said pie, lining the interior with old flour sack rags for protection. That way, she could have the bag hang comfortably on her when she walked. She realized that with her crutches, she looked completely ridiculous. Unfortunately, she realized said ridiculousness as she was making her way into the station during her lunch break, hair a little frazzled and still in her vet tech scrubs. Too late to back out of her plan now, she took a deep breath as she made her way to the front desk that was in view of the door.

A thin woman with smooth, dark skin, sat at the front desk, familiar looking but not quite placed in Beth's mind at the moment. Her black hair had a bit of its own life with natural curls and frizz that wanted to bounce everywhere, kept as tame as possible with a sensible ponytail pulling everything back and held into place. She was on the phone, but her warm, brown eyes caught sight of Beth as the blonde struggled to get through the door between her crutches and haphazard pie carrying system.

The darker woman quickly got off the phone and ran over to help Beth, concern evident on her features.

"You okay, hon?" she asked Beth as they made their way over to the chairs in the lobby.

"Oh yeah," Beth sighed. "These crutches just make things really hard to do normal things." She sat the pie bag down on a chair, relieved to be rid of the bulk. "Thanks, it's a little tough to walk around with that."

"What is that?" the woman indicated to the bag, eyebrows raised in curiosity.

"Oh uhmm, this is a pie, for uhm….for Rick. Rick Grimes," Beth stuttered, cheeks flushing with embarrassment. She was out of her element, having never been to her boyfriend's work before. Wait, was Rick her boyfriend? They hadn't even gone on a date yet! Why was she making such assumptions? It didn't seem right. It seemed a little clingy. Was she being too clingy. "Is he here?" Her voice came out as a squeak, nervous from the sudden thoughts that had invaded her.

"You must be Beth." The woman smiled, clean and dazzling teeth bright against her darker features. She laughed at Beth's confused look. "I'm Sasha. Tyreese is my brother."

"Oh my gosh, Sasha. I'm so sorry I didn't recognize you. I've seen you in a few times, but I guess I just didn't place it. How are you?"

"I'm fine, and no need to apologize. You got hit by a car what, like two weeks ago? You've had a lot going on." Sasha helped get Beth into one of the chairs to be comfortable. "Sit down and rest a moment. Rick's just in the back with Shane filing some paperwork. I'll go get him for you." She went to walk off before turning around quick and giving a wink. "I suppose you're the reason he's been so crabby all day, he's been waiting for you to get here."

Sasha walked off, leaving Beth alone with her tumultuous thoughts. Things Saturday had progressed much faster than she thought they would, but that wasn't what worried her. What worried her was that she was thinking too much about what had happened, put too much stake on it. Yes, Rick seemed to be the monogamous type, but it still wasn't right making any assumptions.

The click of boots on tile broke her out of her thinking and she looked up to see Rick making his way to her, a slight smile on his face, eyes bright and happy. Beth rose as fast as she could to meet him, and he gently held her up so that she was forced to lean on him.

She couldn't help but smile.

"Okay, I know you said surprise, but I must admit this is much better than anything I could guess." His thumbs stroked comforting circles along the bare skin of her arms, corners of his eyes crinkled as he smiled. "What brings you here on your break, Miss Beth?"

She hugged him then, sudden and crushing in the best of ways. He gathered her up in his arms, taking in her scent and uncaring of who might be watching. This woman was wonderful, and he would not do anything that would be negative in response to her affection.

When they broke away, she gave him a bit of a mischievous look. "I made you a pie."

"Is that Pecan?!" Shane shouted from around the corner. Rick and Beth turned to see that both Shane and Sasha had been staring from afar. "Rick, I hope you're in a sharing mood!"

Rick laughed. "I'll bring it back to y'all." He waved them off. "Now shoo, I wanna have a moment!" Somewhat alone again, Rick looked at Beth affectionately. "Thank you. You didn't have to do that."

"I wanted to," she replied. "And it wasn't any trouble."

"You're spoiling me, Beth." He had her face in his hands ever so gently. "I'm going to kiss you now."

She happily nodded before he did and it felt right: simple and sweet. All too soon he was pulling away, clearly a little uncomfortable with too much PDA in his place of work, though Beth understood it perfectly. She was happy for the kiss, feeling warm and butterflies storming her stomach, making her feel almost high with giddiness.

"Just four more days til Friday, huh?" she joked, a little breathless.

"I can't wait," he said. He grabbed the pie for her so she wouldn't have to carry it. "Now, let's go eat this. I'm sure Shane is just dying for a slice."

Author Note: I'm sorry if the chapter ended awkwardly/sort of weird. I was wanting to skip to date night for the next chapter :D Oh yea, date night is coming up. Here is the first sentence for the next chapter: The big day was here: Friday. More fluffy feels! By the way, thanks to all for the wonderful reviews so far. I really appreciate them and I'm sorry I haven't replied, but know I read them all and take them all to heart! Family vacation was okay, my husband and I haven't had a moment alone together and 2200 miles turns out to be a real bitch to travel, especially with overbearing father-in-laws, hectic schedules, and just plain chaos. We are looking forward to our Florida trip the 22nd so much more. It's just a chance to go on an adventure alone together, something we always enjoy doing. We're explorers and foodies, so much of our relationship has been getting lost together and trying out tasty eats in lost places! I'm hoping to crank out chapter 10 by next week and get 11 mostly done. I have a general idea of where the story is headed, but I'm letting it take its own pace for the most part. I've found when stories take on their own life, that's when things really happen. I also haven't really written a cutesy story like this before, so it's definitely not my style territory. I'm usually more action/angst/violence and crap.

Also: I created a Bethyl story! Check it out on my profile: When You Care - this will be violent and angsty and all kinds of good things. It's the one I'm really going to sink my teeth into. Blackbird Singing is fun and nice, though challenging in its own right. However, I'm hoping to make them very different stories. When You Care will be definitely focusing on Beth and her Season 2 personality clashing with Daryl's personality that will be a mix of Season 1 and 3 and blossoming from there. Just...go give it a read. I hope you like it. Love you all!