Author's Note: Woohoo! The last chapter had awesome feedback and I'm so glad cause I kind of loved it, okay maybe I was a little obsessed with Rick and Taylor fluff. ;) Thank you guys so much for the reviews and the new favorites/follows! All of you seriously make my day, every time I get a notification for this story I get instantly happy! So really, thank you from the bottom of my heart. :D x3
Special thanks as always goes out to the reviewers:
Both of the guests, fabsch1, gypskyl79, padme4000, taylyons, the-originals-rock, bigtimerushlover101, and jasminedragonemployee.

I also wanted to address something that a lot of people have been commenting about. Shane isn't supposed to be the bad guy in general, he is perfectly fine with everybody else. The only one he has an issue with is Taylor (and now Rick because of the Lori/being close with Taylor thing) but he is not an asshole with anyone else. And there is a very big reason as to why he is this way with her which will be revealed in a future chapter. You'll just have to wait and find out what that crazy secret, mwhahaha! ;D

One more thing, this chapter is Taylor heavy and I just wanted to warn you of that.
I promise the next chapter will have more of Lori/Shane and the others. No need to worry.
I hope you like it because God knows that it took me over a week to write it.
There's something fun in here for all the Taylor/Rick fans.
Enjoy babes!(:

Disclaimer: The Walking Dead characters are not mine!

CHAPTER TEN.
CRASHED INTO YOU.

Taylor hopped out of the car with the eager Bailey following obediently behind her. Rick grabbed both the bags full of supplies and slung them over his shoulder as he slammed the truck door. His anger had suddenly risen when they pulled up and he saw Shane wrapping himself around Lori. He didn't even know why he cared, maybe it was because Carl was watching on with a small smile. Rick suddenly felt sick to his stomach.

"What's wrong?" Taylor took one of the bags from him and frowned at his hostile expression.

"Nothing," he grunted taking the bag back out of her hands and storming off to drop them by the Winnebago. She watched him walk away and crinkled her nose wondering what his random mood change was all about. She bent down and picked Bailey up before approaching everyone packing the cars up. It seemed like everyone was ready to go and starting to get antsy. Carl looked up and saw the dog first, tripping over his own two feet to get to it. An enormous grin was plastered to his face as he came within reach of Taylor and Bailey.

"Can I pet him?" He looked up with twinkling eyes, this was probably the best thing to happen to him in weeks. Taylor nodded and Carl laughed hysterically as the dog licked his hand. "What's his name?"

"Bailey," the corner of Taylor's lips turned up into a crooked smile at the sight of the ecstatic child.

"He's so cute," Carl's voice squeaked with excitement as Bailey continued to shower him with kisses. Taylor giggled along with him, and she figured the giddiness was rubbing off on her. She was never really a 'children' type of person but he was too adorable.

"I think he likes you." She smiled warmly at him as he began to pet the pup on the head delicately when it finally relented it's kisses. Shane detangled himself from Lori and began to race over with heavy footsteps and an enraged look in his eyes. She knew he already didn't like her and this was only going to make matters worse.

"What the hell is this?" He pointed at the dog with malice deep in his tone. "Carl go back with your mother," he directed the child without even so much as glimpsing at him but his voice was softer.

"Thanks Taylor," he whispered with a crestfallen look that made her frown as well.

"Anytime little dude." Carl did as he was told and scurried off back to where his mom was sitting.

"Well?" He tapped his foot impatiently while he waited for an explanation that he felt was due. His voice had hardened again since the boy was gone. Taylor noticed that he always acted different when he was around.

"It's a dog, obviously." She rolled her eyes and made sure she sounded as sarcastic as humanly possible. She knew that Shane could not say or do anything too bad with so many on lookers so she decided to push the envelope. "Didn't think it took a genius to figure that out."

"This is completely irresponsible. You're not keeping it. I'm going to shoot it," she gasped and held Bailey tighter to her body, turning herself slightly in a protective manner. He could tell she was already attached to it which only made him act more viciously. "Then we can all eat it for dinner. We haven't had good meat in awhile."

"We're keeping the dog Shane," Rick's appearance couldn't have been at a better time. Taylor stood straight forward again, feeling much more confident now that she had back up.

"How in the blue hell do you plan on keeping that thing from running it's damn yapper? It barks one time and it could attract who knows how many walkers."

"We deal with your yapper just fine and haven't had any issues… besides headaches." He rubbed his temples with two fingers on each side, he was clearly frustrated and not wanting to even look at Shane's face as the image from earlier sat freshly in his mind. "It's staying," Rick turned his back to them and headed for the truck to finish loading it up before their departure.

"Ohh, burn." Taylor commented childishly to the dumbfounded man before her. She spun on her heels and followed after Rick still cheering excitedly in her head that he put him in his place. She never thought he would tell him off, but it was awesome to witness the disbelief on his face. If Shane didn't despise her existence as much as he did than she probably would have felt pretty bad about it. She knew that he couldn't contain his hatred towards her since she knew his darkest secret and had once threatened to use it against him. She would never make that mistake again.

Taylor was just yards away from returning to the truck when something caught her eye and stopped her to a stalk still point. She tilted her head to the side a little with her mouth agape. The brunette ceased her giggly flirting with Daryl when she spotted someone staring at her.

"Hey," Cassidy's lips twisted up into a mischievous grin. "I don't believe we've met yet." She stepped away from him and casually walked over to greet the stranger. She looked her counterpart up and down and her grin widened. "You must be Taylor."

"How did you…" She eyed the new girl suspiciously. When the hell did this happen? Taylor felt like her brain couldn't connect words together in a sentence, let alone speak them. Her chest tightened when Daryl's smirk faded into a frown at the two meeting. Her eyes clouded with jealousy, was he flirting back before she intruded?

"Daryl's told me all about you," her tone seemed a bit off and Taylor couldn't quite put her finger on the reason why. She looked over Cassidy's shoulder to see Daryl eyeing the ground like it was suddenly the most interesting thing he'd ever seen. He probably knew better than to look up and receive her death glare. "I'm Cassidy, but you can call me Cass," she stuck her hand out for a hand shake but recoiled when Taylor held the pup up with mock sympathy.

"Sorry," she forced an apology out of her mouth, though she was glad that Bailey was able to block the interaction from happening. She didn't know who this Cassidy was or what she was about but she couldn't help but not like the way she was behaving with Daryl before she came to break up the love fest.

Cassidy heard her name being called from Lori at one of the cars and she nodded a goodbye to the visibly aggravated blonde. "Nice to meet ya," she winked and trotted over to where Daryl was standing. She brushed her hand against his bicep and whispered something inaudible before retreating. Taylor scoffed in disbelief and held Bailey closer to her body. She straightened her shoulders and made a mental attempt to cut through Daryl with her eyes before leaving to attend to her original mission of helping Rick.

"Taylor…" he approached her and grabbed her by the shoulder, spinning her around without much effort. She yanked herself away from him and rose an eyebrow awaiting what she assumed he just had to tell her.

"She's allowed to touch you?" She refused to look him in the eyes since she knew hers were glossing over. She would not cry in front of him knowing that it never ended well, and before this whole fiasco happened she was in a very good mood. She wanted to at least try to carry that mood on for more than fifteen minutes. Though at this rate it seemed unlikely.

"Don't," he stopped her before she could continue knowing exactly where this was headed. A heated argument that he was just not up for.

"Whatever."

"Stop. What the hell is this?" He glowered down at Bailey unhappy with the new arrival. He was not a dog person. He wasn't a pet person in general. He couldn't wrap his mind around the idea that she was going to keep it as anything other than food. They were all hungry for some good meat and pets were not off limits to him. He never had any animals and he figured they all cooked the same. Though deep down he knew he would never take the dog off of Taylor and crush her.

"It's a DOG. Geez, what's with all you men being so dense? I swear you're all one chromosome away from being a potato," he knew her temper was starting to truly show, she never mouthed off to him.

"You're angry and jealous." He noted aloud rather calmly compared to her. "I won't talk to ya til ya calm down."

"I was walking away, you stopped me, so I have every right to be pissed," she was practically gnashing her teeth together to stop from saying something she would sincerely regret. Her potato comment wasn't that bad and she had bundles of insults from years with older siblings that would sting much worse.

"You didn't even give her a chance." Daryl hadn't been standing with her for more than two minutes and was already feeling exasperated. "I don't even know who the hell she is! I leave camp for a few hours and come back and she's just here. Flirting with you, and you're flirting back. If I was acting like that you would have stormed off in a second." She was already skating on thin ice with her rage and he was just pushing it with bringing her into the conversation.

"I don't know what you expected from me, but you know I ain't like that," he ran a hand through his messy mop of hair getting more frustrated with her accusations.

"Like what?" She huffed dramatically. If her arms were not full of dog she would definitely be folding them across her chest, that was her signature sign of irritation. "All smiles and touchy feely?"

"Yeah, you know that ain't me."

"Ha," she smirked and shook her head, still not being able to force the image of them together out. "Yeah that isn't you... with just me apparently. You looked like you were about to jump her. I'm not good enough, but she is?" Taylor couldn't help the way her mind was forcing all the jealous thoughts out of her mouth. She wanted to keep them bottled up nice and safe where she wouldn't look like an envious fool, but her brain was having none of that.

"I don't need this shit, not from you!" His tone had gone from calm to malicious in mere seconds. His face twisted in anger when his enraged side finally emerged to it's full extent. "Like you're so damn innocent. I can see you fawning over Rick like a fucking school girl, I ain't blind."

The comment made her second guess if she was truly the only jealous one; though she didn't have the courage to bring that up with his latest outburst. He had never once blown up her like this, he had never been this angry with her before. Taylor stepped back and swallowed the lump that had grown in her throat as her heart constricted against her chest. She knew she had to keep a brave face on because the last thing she wanted to do was give him more reason to be angry. The shedding of tears always made it worse.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she replied nonchalantly while keeping a shrewd stare locked on him. She was hoping her poker face was holding up and it was a good enough bluff. Damn, are Rick and I that obvious? She thought back to his snide comment while trying to mentally retrace her steps for any times where they were noticeably flirting in front of him.

"Whatever," he knew when to pick his battles with her and he was growing tired of running in circles. "Do ya really think Shane's gonna let ya keep that mutt?" His disgruntled glance left her and shot down to Bailey. She scoffed at his sudden change of tone; and he had the audacity to call her out on having mood swings.

"I don't need his approval." That's right, keep throwing up a tough girl act, she pushed herself on. She knew that the matter had already been settled but she couldn't back down from him. Something was prodding her in the back of the mind to keep going even though her sensible side told her to stop a long time ago. She often ignored that side.

He rolled his eyes at her comment, she was used to it being the other way around. Taylor was pretty sure he had just given up with her.

"I don't know what ya want from me Tay," he changed tack knowing what the whole issue was truly about. "I ain't never gonna be what ya want. I don't hafta defend myself about Cass, and I ain't gonna." The wounded look in her eyes at that point made it obvious that he was right, this whole petty dispute was all because she felt like a neglected puppy put up for adoption; unwanted and not good enough. He wouldn't take their relationship any further than platonic and it was a blow to her ego. Daryl wanted to admit that it was to protect her from getting hurt, but he wouldn't be Mr. Sensitivity just because they were fighting.

"Fine, I don't even care," she inhaled deeply and prepped herself to leave it to that. If he was going to choose Cassidy over her than so be it. But he stopped her, like he always did.

"God, what is this? A damn competition?" He didn't mean to sound as cynical as he was but her abrupt 'don't give a shit' attitude made his blood boil again. Cassidy began to come back over, waving like a beauty queen when both of their heads turned towards her.

"Yeah," she glanced once again at the brunette as she eyed Daryl like a hungry lioness, "I got a puppy and you got a whore. I guess you win Daryl," she shrugged her shoulders and gave him a sarcastic smirk. Taylor turned quickly to steer clear of the oncoming Cassidy and went back on her pursuit to find Rick. At the very least he wouldn't make her feel lousy or second best to some hussy they just met. Her whole body was turning it's dials rapidly as the infuriating thoughts rolled around.

"Hey," she put Bailey down on the gravely road beneath her and tapped the unsuspecting man on the shoulder, catching him off guard. His body jumped slightly at her touch and she knew that he was still distressed over the same thing as before. "Why are you so tense?"

"I'm not," he replied curtly, shuffling to pile the last of the equipment into the bed of the truck. He didn't turn around to face her, he barely acknowledged her. She felt a turmoil begin to brew in her mind remembering this feeling all too well. Anytime Daryl was mad at her he wouldn't even bother to look in her direction. Worry began to fill her stomach and sit uncomfortably like she was going to vomit. Did she do something to make him this way?

"It's not you," he sighed with the disapproval of the thoughts he knew she was having. Once the silence had gone on for more than a few minutes, Rick knew she was festering inside thinking that it was her own fault. Women always thought it was their fault and quietness often proved that. He felt her arms slide up to his shoulders again, holding them there for a few seconds.

"Do you need a massage?" Her teasing tone made him finally turn to face her, forcing her to drop her hands back at her side.

"No, I told you I'm okay." The thought pressed in the back of his mind of the spark that shot through him once her hands were on him. He did want one from her, just not with an audience, and not with Shane and Lori mooning over each other in his peripheral. He rolled his neck and closed his eyes in an attempt to get the dirty thoughts out of his minds eye that had reluctantly appeared at her touch.

"Fine," she folded her arms under her chest and pouted. She just couldn't win with men today.

"Later," he whispered more huskily than he had originally intended. She uncrossed her arms and placed them on her hips, looking up at him with a wicked smile.

"What does later mean?" Taylor's mind raced with a million ideas of what his suggestive tone had meant. She had to admit, fantasies about him had been springing up in her mind more frequently and she was having a harder time pushing them away than she used to. The look on his face made her suspect the same was happening to him.

"It means you should ride with me to the CDC," he kept his eyes locked on hers to gauge her reaction.

"Oh really?" She tapped her chin and pretended to think momentarily. "I'll think about it."

"You'll think about it?" He took a step back with his mouth slightly agape in shock. He couldn't tell if she was joking or being serious, but he was praying that it was the former. He was not afraid to deny that he wanted her company on the long drive there. Their last road trip had proven to be quite pleasant.

"Yupp," both her answer and the nod she gave were short and sweet. She wanted to see him sweat over it. There was an acute possibility that it had something to do with her being tossed to the side by Daryl. She kind of wanted to see how much different, and hopefully better, Rick would treat her.

"Well… who else would you ride with?"

"I don't know." She shrugged her shoulders casually and turned her face away from him. "Maybe I don't want to be cramped up in a truck with you."

"I highly doubt that," he softly directed her face back towards his with his right hand. He let a sinful smile grace his lips when a blush spread across her cheeks at the contact.

"Ohhh, Mr. Arrogant is back for round two." She plucked Bailey up off the floor again and placed him in the middle seat. She shut the door and turned around to lean on it so she could face him again without saying a single word.

"I take it you're coming with me then?" His tone with soaked with arrogance and the smile transformed into a smug smirk. He knew he broke her down, either that or she had always planned to actually go with him- he couldn't be sure.

"I guess so," she flipped her hair over her shoulder and acted coolly not wanting to give his ego a bigger boost.

"My persuasive skills won you over." He took advantage of the way she was standing and held his arms out against the window, trapping her in between himself and the truck. She sucked in a deep breath and pressed herself back against it until there was no more room. The truck was tall enough that it camouflaged them into their own little bubble of privacy.

"You didn't even do anything!" She said defensively, still attempting to back up and melt into the metal.

"It was the look. I gave you the look and you caved," he couldn't help that his voice came out in a husky manner or that he was instinctively licking his lips. Taylor couldn't help the way her knees went weak with the exact look that he was referring to, which happened to be the exact one he was currently sending her.

"Oh my god," she held her hand up in defeat and giggled at the absurd conclusion he had come to since she didn't know what else to do. "You're a freak."

"The good kind of freak."

"I- I um," he laughed as she suddenly became indecisive on what to say. She always had a comeback and he was quite shocked that he had said something that left her speechless. Her mouth opened and closed two times like she was going to say something but backed out at the very last second.

"Is it okay if I kiss you now?" The way she was tripping over her own words and smiling shyly at him caused the incredible urge to kiss her increase tenfold. He had been patiently waiting for a long time but something had always gotten in the way. There was nothing stopping them now, not a marriage, not an intruding Glenn, and definitely not a redneck that she couldn't make her mind up over.

"You're… you're asking my permission?" She brought her hand up to her mouth to bite nervously at her fingernail. Their two almost kisses resurfaced and she felt the air drain from her lungs and her head spin slightly. Is he serious?

"Sometimes you seem apprehensive, so I just wanted to make sure it's okay," Rick's bright blue eyes were gleaming with hope. Hope that she would just say yes and he could finally stop imaging what her constantly pouting lips tasted like.

"Who said chivalry is dead?" She asked with a small smile before wrapping her arms around his neck and leaning up on her tip toes. As their brushed together she whispered softly, "yes."

Rick moved his hands down around her waist and pulled her flush against him letting their lips fully meet for the first time. Her tongue grazed his bottom lip making him rebuttal with a gentle bite of hers. He pulled away and peppered kisses down her jaw line to her neck, eliciting a subtle moan from deep within her. He smirked and continued his assault in that spot and let a hand drift up under her shirt, letting his fingers skim across the sensitive skin. He sucked and bit at the spot as she ran a hand through his hair and raked the nape of his neck with her nails. Taylor pulled back when she felt that they were getting too carried away. Her eyes immediately fell to the floor and her brain quickly reminded her to breathe again- his lips had made her forget everything.

"Sorry," she mumbled as she slowly brought her hands back to herself and wrung her wrists anxiously. Her timid voice made him furrow his eyebrows together and look at her with a questioning look.

"You don't need to apologize Taylor," Rick stroked her cheek tenderly with his thumb and beamed another one of his heart warming smiles at her. She sighed contently at his perfectness, he always knew what to do or say to soothe her.

"I just feel bad cause I stopped you. All we did was kiss," he leaned forward and kissed her forehead delicately then snickered at her adorable apology. The only not cute thing happening were his depressing thoughts, what has been done to her in the past to make her feel so guilty all the time?

He scooted the smitten blonde to the side carefully and opened the door for her. His grin broadened when a meek smile finally appeared on her slightly swollen lips. He resisted the urge to lean down and capture them for one last quick kiss before everyone would surely surround them and demand to leave.

"With you I'll take whatever I can get."