Around a week after he arrived at the Hilltop, Rick was well enough to leave the infirmary. Doctor Carson had advised against travel until he was confident the infection was fully gone, and to everyone's surprise Rick didn't protest too much.

"I went to get your clothes." Glenn threw the holdall at the end of the bed in Rick's guest bedroom at the giant Hilltop main house. "I'm sure there's stuff here you could wear, but I know how attached you are to those jeans."

"They're my good luck charm." Rick reasoned as he gingerly followed Glenn into the room, his injury causing him to walk even more bow-legged than usual.

"Are you sure bro? Cos I don't think you've been that lucky."

"That's a matter of perspective." Rick drawled. "Besides, these feel like they're strangling my legs." He gestured downward to the pair of Levi's that he'd borrowed.

"Whatever you say. I'll let you settle in. One of us will bring you supper in a couple hours."

"I could get used to this." Rick groaned as he dragged his legs onto the bed.

"Yeah well don't get too used to it. As soon as you're all better it's business as usual."

Rick chuckled.

"Alright."

"See you later."

Rick leaned into the bag to retrieve his jeans, wincing as he stood up and rid himself of his current less comfortable pair. It was a slow task as his range of motion was severely limited.

"Oh..." A voice made him spin around, but he knew who it was before he saw her. "I'm sorry." Smiled Michonne as she made her way into the room. Rick couldn't help but notice she didn't look particularly sorry.

"No, it's my fault. I should have closed the door." Rick was suddenly painfully aware that he was stood in his underwear. He also realised he was unable to bend to put his jeans on. "Do you want to help?" He held out the pants for Michonne, rolling his eyes at how much she was probably enjoying this.

"An offer I can't refuse." She sniggered as she crouched down in front of him. "One leg..." She said slowly as if she was dressing Andre. "Two legs...well done."

"Stop it." Rick breathed as his chuckle sent a searing pain down his side. "I can take it from here." He pulled his jeans up the remainder of the way once they had reached his knees.

"That's good." Michonne stood up. "We almost made it to second base."

Rick lay backwards on the bed and avoided her gaze in the hope that she hadn't noticed him blushing.

"I'm bored already." Rick sighed, changing the subject.

"I bet you are." Michonne sat down on the chair next to him, propping her legs up on the bed. "You should rest though, we were worried about you for a while there."

"You were worried about me, huh?" He cocked his head to the side.

"I meant the communal 'we'...I didn't really care."

"Well it hurt less than the time you hit me in the head..."

"I still maintain that you deserved that!"

"Maybe so." He said lazily.

"At least you didn't sulk this time."

"I do not... sulk." A yawn permeated his sentence.

The walk from the infirmary to his room in the giant house was short, but it was pretty much the first time he had been vertical in a week and he felt exhausted. Added to the cocktail of pain medication and concussion it proved lethal for his wake to sleep ratio. He sucummed to his heavy eyelids and fell into a deep sleep.

"Rick look out!" Shane called, but Rick could barely hear him over the gunshots.

Rick saw the shooter a beat too late, he tried to dive behind a car but he felt the bullet rip through his body.

It wasn't the pain that hit first, but the breathlessness as the wind was knocked from him. Shane was by his side in an instant, he ripped Ricks shirt and pushed both hands onto his wound to stem the bleeding. The pain was unlike anything he had felt before. It seemed to infiltrate his blood stream like lava.

"Stay with me Rick! Stay with me." He shouted it so loud the veins were popping out of his forehead.

"Shane...I'm sorry..."

"Why are you doing this to me brother?" Shane was yelling now. "I was trying to keep you safe! I was trying to keep Lori and Carl safe." As he spoke blood poured from his mouth.

Rick looked down to see his own hands clasped around the knife that was lodged in Shane's stomach.

"Brother?" He dropped the knife. The bullet wound still burning through his side. "Shane I'm sorry..."

"You weren't built for this world." Shane spat the words out. "Anything that happens to my family its on you."

"They're my family, asshole! They're my fucking family."

"You know that ain't true." Shane taunted. "She looks like me doesn't she?" And with that, he fell backwards onto the ground.

"I'm sorry." Rick sobbed, his hands covered in Shane's blood. "I'm so sorry."

"Rick?" Michonne almost dropped the tray when she saw him writhing on the bed. She rushed to his side.

Rick woke with a jolt. The sheet below him was soaked with sweat. It took a while for him to register where he was. The room was dark. The only light was from the open door that Michonne had come through, she turned on the bedside lamp.

"Is it the pain?" She held the back of her hand to his head, worried that the infection had taken hold in his blood again.

"No...I...I thought I was somewhere else." He said weakly, hastily brushing the tears from his cheeks. "Bad dream I guess." He tried to shrug it off.

"Ok..." Michonne sounded far from convinced. "I think I had better get Doctor Carson to take a look at you."

"No, honestly Michonne I'm fine." He tried to force his face into a smile. "What's that?" He gestured towards the tray, mainly just to change the subject.

"Chicken broth and bread." Michonne placed the tray on the bed next to Rick. "And some of Hilltops famous homemade lemonade."

"Wow you guys really are spoiling me here."

"We're trying to fatten you up. You've got too skinny."

"Have you eaten?"

"Yeah me and Dre ate together before I put him to bed. He wants to come and see you tomorrow, I told him you were here."

"I'd like that." Rick smiled.

"What was your dream about?" Michonne asked carefully.

Rick paused for a moment, the spoon hovering in front of his mouth.

"I never told you about Shane did I?"

"No..."

"He was my partner. He got Lori and Carl to safety when it...when everything happened. I was in the hospital, I couldn't."

"What happened to him?" Michonne couldn't have known the answer just then, but as she asked it and saw the shadow that crossed Rick's face, she knew what he was about to say.

"I killed him." He said simply. He didn't want to go into the details. Even though he had replayed that night in his head a thousand times he had never divulged exactly what happened. He trusted that Michonne knew him well enough to understand that he had no choice.

"I'm sorry." She made sure to look directly at him when she said it. She reached for his hand. "So your dream was about him?"

Rick nodded.

"I gotta say." He tried to break the weird tension that filled the room. "I didn't enjoy it as much as the dream when I was on the beach with you."

Michonne laughed.

"Eat your soup." She nodded her head towards the bowl that was still full. "I meant it about you getting too skinny!" She patted his hand and withdrew back into the chair.

"How do you like it here?" Rick waved his hand in the general direction of the wider Hilltop community. He dutifully spooned the soup into his mouth.

"It's nice here. But I miss Alexandria, I miss the people there. But the change of scenery has been nice."

"Alexandria misses you too." Rick said. "I miss you."

"Is that why you broken your ribs, punctured your lung and contracted a deadly blood infection? Cos you know you could have just come over here."

"Damn...wish I'd known that."

"I miss you too, Rick." She said quietly. "So this beach, huh? What was I wearing?"

"Uh..." He tried to recall the details of his dream. "A bikini, I think."

"Oh cute. Did I look hot?"

"I can't answer that without getting into trouble." Rick said, surveying her over this lemonade with one eyebrow raised.

"I bet you wear Speedos on the beach?"

"I can't even remember the last time I went to the beach." He admitted.

"You're so uptight." She laughed. "Had you ever even left King County before we came up here?"

"I left there plenty. I'm just not really that into the beach."

"I'll take you, you'll like the beach with me."

"I get the feeling I would like pretty much anywhere with you." His piercing blue eyes caught her off guard as he looked directly at her when he spoke.

It was Michonne's turn to blush as she busied herself clearing away his plate and glass.

"Nice soup?" She asked to change the subject.

"Delicious." He nodded. "Did you make it?"

"I did indeed."

"Is there anything you can't do?" He asked her as she stood up to leave the room.

"I've yet to discover it." She winked at him before walking out the door.