All four of them stood silently around the bed. Watching as Carl's chest rose and fell with every breath. They'd changed him out of the hideous attire he was wearing before and he now dressed in a baby blue, clean t-shirt.

Denise stood next to him with a small clipboard in her hands. She gave a small sigh and pushed the bridge of her glasses up before delivering the news.

"I'm glad to say that your son is fine and on the path to getting better within the next few days."

Rick let out a raspy breath and then went back to biting his lip.

"The bad news is, upon examination he shows signs of... Sexual... A-assault."

Bruises covered a large portion of his skin but none of them thought that someone would be so evil as to go that far.

Rick left the room after that, far too angry to be around people afterwards it didn't take long until Michonne followed. Ron sat with Enid on the side of Carl's bed. Her hand rested on his as they waited for him to stir.

The tension in the room was all too familiar. Ron wanted so bad to apologize for his actions but he didn't believe that Enid would see it in the same way he did, much less forgive him. But, it was worth a shot.

"Enid...?" He started, pausing when she didn't turn to him.

For longer than Ron expected, they sat in silence.

"I'm sorry for what happened between us."

"Don't pretend like we were something to begin with." Is how she responded, it crushed him to hear this.

Ron opened his mouth to say something but then quickly shut it when he noticed her hands clenching the bed sheets. Not to tightly but tight enough that he got the message to fuck off.

Ron thought a lot in the moments that followed. He was in that room for hours, reflecting on past decisions. Would Carl even wake up? And if so would it be like he came out of a coma? Would he even remember anything? It was nearly impossible for him to think of the good, the events of the day had worn Ron down to the bitter marrow in his bones. All he wanted was some warm tea and amnesia so he wouldn't have to remember all this tragedy.

Without saying anything to him, Enid walked out of the room. Clearly with tears streaming down her face, maybe she was in the same fugue he was, even then, he didn't bother chasing after her. Enid just reminded him so much of everything he hated about himself.

He couldn't even hold a simple friendship.

There was a point where Ron really prayed that Carl would stay by his side. Maybe for his own good but, he just needed something to separate him from the dead.

That night, Jesse was sympathetic enough to let her traumatized child stay in the doctor's house overnight, after all, it was probably the safest place in Alexandria.

Ron brought over a sleeping bag and pillows and slept on the floor beside his friend.

It would've made for a sick ass slumber party if it weren't for the memories left In this room.

Guilt. That was it, not matter what Ron told himself, he was always the one who was needy, rough, overstepping boundaries. It hurt to think that way but he couldn't stop.

Once he was settled in a dreamy haze began to consume his mind. As he had trouble keeping his eyes open out of nowhere something poked at his shoulder, which just about scared him out of his skin.

Ron turned, wide-eyed only to see Carl peering over the bed with his arm outstretched, poking at Ron's shoulder.

"You're awake! A-are you alright..?" He half whispered.

"C-can you sleep up here w-with me...?" Carl replied with his teeth nearly chattering.

"Of course..."

At the moment, Ron didn't care who found them he wanted to be there for him.

So, as requested, he climbed into the bed with the other teen. Carl snaked his arms around his friend's torso and pulled him close. The sheets were just about as thin as they can get and nights weren't exactly as warm as they used to be. Really, he just wanted to feel the warmth of something other than a dim fire, Ron could and would provide that. He stared back at his friend's dusty blond hair and gave a small smile.

Ron reached down under the sheets and grabbed Carl's hands, running his hands carefully across the bandaged skin and massaging his knuckles. Carl purred in response, such a simple action made him feel so docile. Not long after he sat up and turned to face the opposite wall, pulling his shirt over his head and tossing it on the pillow behind him then lifting his arms to stretch. Ron sat up alongside him and cocked his head to the side.

"do you mind, rubbing my back?" Carl asked, in the calmest tone he could, inside he was shaking.

Ron's response was a short nod. upon placing his hands on the rugged curvy back of his peer, Carl immediately began to relax, lowering his shoulders and exhaling. His eyes slowly shut as he watched the dancing spots in his vision, putting every bit of attention to the soft movements of Ron's thumbs in his back. Each little circle of the pad reminds him that he was around the people who cared, the one's that wouldn't hurt him.

"Is this ok? it doesn't hurt does it?"

"it's perfect, I can't thank you enough."

"it's no big deal, I think you deserve it."

Ron gave a small smile and slid his hands lower down Carl's back then cupping at his ass tentatively. His peer's body tensed in response, clenching the sheets he let out a small whimper and Ron immediately removed his hands.

"i-I'm so sorry…"

Carl hid his head between his shoulder and began to tear up while Ron debated on if he wanted to attempt to comfort his friend, or if that would make things worse…

Carl didn't want to bother thinking too much about it and flopped back down on the mattress and curled up into a ball, facing away from his peer.

"I-I…-" Ron began

"stay, please."

He obliged and laid down, pulling the covers over the two of them. slowly, resting an arm close to Carl's back. abruptly His limb was pulled by the other teen over his body. They fell to sleep together, Ron before carl, who couldn't close his eyes in fear of flashing back to his previous captor. so really, he didn't fall asleep for a while. Just held tight to the pulsing hand of the last person who could understand.

A/N; I'm probably gonna write a separate smut story because really, that what like 60% of the reviews are anyways, so stay tuned for a story on this account, probably just a series of one-shot or something dumb but *shrug*