********RICK***********
"Emma!" Abe gasped, and Rick looked up in time to see her standing by the tree her bottle had been. A walker had come up behind her and circled her throat with one rotted, bony forearm, and it's teeth were buried in her cheek and ear. She was still screaming, but Rick couldn't hear it anymore. All he heard was his blood rushing in his ears and the sound of his own heart beating as he and Merle took off in her direction.
Merle's gun was already out, and he'd fired when they were several steps away. The walker's body jolted back, but it's maw was so buried in Emma's face that it stuck there. When Rick got to her, he grabbed the hair of the thing that trailed down its back and yanked it away, letting it fall free and back onto the ground behind her.
"Oh no..." The sound was back in Rick's ears. Abe wasn't yelling, his voice was more sad, and uncomfortably resigned. It actually brought Rick out of the moment and he looked down at the old man holding Emma's head in his hands on the ground.
"The shot'll bring more. We gotta clear out." Merle said, and Rick nodded sharply, kneeling next to Abe.
"I... I am so sorry, Emma. I'm sorry, honey." Abe was shaking his head, stroking Emma's bloody cheek gently. She was either dead or passed out, silent and still, stretched out there before them. Her frizzy hair was thick with blood and torn tissues, framing the large gaping hole in her face. Rick shuddered when he saw the stark whiteness of her teeth where cheek flesh used to be, stretching back to her ear. It looked like a macabre smile, a grisly grin.
"Abe, let's get her back, we have to go." Rick said, expecting the old man to react- perhaps violently, angrily, but that didn't happen.
"We should." Abe just nodded, reaching with one crimson stained hand to his belt, where he pulled out his sidearm. Rick extended a hand to his shoulder, stopping him as he cocked the weapon.
"You don't have to do that. Let me, Abe."
"No. She was my responsibility, my family. It's my job. Get the rope." Abe said calmly, and Rick wondered if he was in shock. His face wasn't giving away any sense of horror, agony at losing his niece. He looked sad, but it just didn't seem like enough.
"Rope? Why?"
"She can still be of use, Rick. She'd want to help us, even now."
"You mean..." Rick looked at him in horror, his voice fading. Glancing back at Merle, Rick's eyes were wide and confused, and Merle even looked a little perplexed. The old man couldn't mean what they thought he meant. "You don't mean leave her here?"
"Of course I do. She'd want to help. She can help us now." Abe nodded, and looked back down. In one swift motion, he had the gun to Emma's temple, and he pulled the trigger. Rick started violently at the sound,+ much like Emma's lifeless body taking the impact of the bullet in her head, his heart thumping wildly in his chest. The thought that Abe could do that... of course he was in shock.
"Come on, old timer. You don't wanna do that." Merle stepped forward and knelt down across from him on Emma's other side. "Now let's be getting' her and us on back, 'fore we're overrun out here."
Merle was right on target with that. They could hear the sounds of groaning and shuffling in the distance, growing louder as they came through the forest towards them. "They're coming." Rick breathed sharply and stood, kneeling down to begin picking up Emma's body from Abe's grasp.
"It's my choice, Rick. I want to honor her, and this is how I do it." Abe held her firmly, unmoving.
"By hanging her here with a bunch of rotting walkers? That's not honoring her, Abe. She was your only family! We bury the people we love." Rick protested. He might not have cared much for Emma when she was alive, but this was cold. Wrong...
"If you two don't get movin', she ain't the only one they're gonna be puttin' in the ground!" Merle raised his gun and aimed through the trees just as the first walker brought by the sounds of the gunfire came through. He fired, and it fell into the foliage below and out of sight.
Rick reached for Emma again, and though Abe looked displeased, he allowed Rick to do it. Rather than help, though, he stood and took a place near Merle, aiming with his gun at the now moving bushes nearby. Another walker broke through and growled when it saw them, and Abe dropped it with a shot through it's left cheek.
Rick threw Emma's body over his shoulder and began jogging through the trees toward the field surrounding the farm. Though she had been a fairly tall person, the lifestyle they all lived now had made her wiry and muscular, but light, because she didn't have an inch of fat on her. Rick carried her easily over his shoulder, his strides long, careful not to trip on the underbrush. As he ran, his stomach rolled in a queasy way when he realized he was growing warm over the side of his body. Emma's blood was running down his back, warm and sticky against his skin, making his tee shirt cling to his already sweaty skin. It wasn't far to the clearing, he could see the light on the other side of the thick trees in front of him. Abe and Merle were close behind, he could hear the sounds of their labored breathing, and the gunshots still being fired as they ran after him.
The sunlight shown bright and hot, momentarily blinding Rick when they broke through the last of the trees and into open space of the field. They ran together, no longer firing back at the walkers who were still following. There was no way the rotting, shambling things were going to be able to catch up now. In fact, they had such a lead on them that Rick stopped jogging, just walked briskly, his eyes going from the farm house ahead back to Abe occasionally. Though he had done well from the inner forest to here, Abe was much older, less able to keep to the fast pace for very long. He walked with his gray head down, his expression as fixed and flat as his lips, which were pressed together so tightly they seemed white. Merle kept his eyes on the trees behind them as he followed, making sure they wouldn't be overtaken. Half moving backwards, he jogged and caught up to Rick.
"Only half a dozen, looks like. I'll take care of 'em." He announced, his words strained by his heavy breathing. Sweat streamed down he and Rick like water, mixing with the dirt and blood on them like an uncomfortable paste of gore.
"Thank you." Rick acknowledged the gesture with a nod. "I'll talk to the others, look after Abe."
The others had heard the gunshots in the forest apparently, because Rick could see Glenn and Maggie already at the fence, lowering the bridge for them. Ruby, Noell, and Carl came fast across the yard toward them from the main house. Across the yard, the barn door lay open and Daryl emerged, shielding his face from the sun as he looked toward the ruckus. When he saw everyone going for the fence, he did the same.
"What happened?" Maggie yelled as they got to the trench, and Glenn, having already scaled the fence, helped Rick get Emma's body back over it and into the yard.
"Explain later, cowgirl, how about you put that gun to use first, huh?" Merle ordered sharply, and Maggie pulled her gun from her belt, stepping down the line with him. Together, they raised their guns and aimed, waiting quietly for the walkers that had followed to grow close enough to not waste ammo on missed shots.
"Oh god, Rick! What happened?" Ruby gasped as she reached the fence. Quickly, Rick put a hand on Abe's back, helping the old man over the fence, where Ruby and Carl assisted him in dropping to the ground. Daryl got to them, and knelt down by Emma's body where Glenn had laid her, looking at her wounds with a frown. Noell got down on the opposite side of him, doing the same.
"We didn't see it, came out of nowhere." He breathed heavy as he hopped down from the fence, and she reached out to hug him but he stopped her with an arm. "No, baby. It's dangerous, I'm covered in this stuff."
"I see that. What were you doing?" She was truly frightened by the amount of gore on his skin and clothes, he could see it in her face, hear it in her frantic words. "Were you attacked? Is that why Emma was bit? Is there a herd coming towards us?"
Rick bit his lip tersely, trying hard to think quickly. He had told her that they were working on reinforcing the farm's defenses. He'd not mentioned just how they'd planned on doing that. He couldn't explain the walker fence like this, not now. "I'll explain later, ok? I promise. We need to help Abe first."
Ruby blinked at Rick for a moment before stepping over and hugging the old man sympathetically. "I'm so sorry, Abe." She shook her head sadly. Noell, still kneeling by Emma's body with Daryl, looked up at Abe apologetically.
"Yes, we all are. She was a good person, she didn't deserve this." She said. Of course, she couldn't say the truth. That Emma was a spoiled child and none of them really liked her at all. You don't say those kinds of things at a time like this though.
He again pressed his lips tightly over his teeth, nodding sadly. "We all know the risks. When we go out there, it could be any one of us that doesn't come back. This time, it happened to be her."
"That's true, but it doesn't mean this isn't wrong. Unnatural." Noell narrowed her eyes thoughtfully, and Rick could see the wheels practically turning in her head. She was thinking what he was thinking, what everyone was as they watched Abe. He was taking this awful well, but Rick had the added disconcerting knowledge that Abe had actually wanted to leave his niece out there in the fence. Honestly, Rick was more confused by the man than he could imagine.
Ruby frowned, her eyes meeting Rick's for a second before she pulled back away from Abe. Her hand on his shoulder, she looked him in the eye. "We'll bury her, make sure she has a proper service. I can't imagine how you feel right now."
"Really, Ruby, I'm going to be alright. Thank you for your kindness." He assured her and pulled away. "All of you. Thank you." He repeated, now looking at Rick. Abe looked deeply uncomfortable with all the attention, and the hug from Ruby. He realized he'd never seen Abe hug anyone before, not even Emma. Handshakes. That was the extent of physical contact Abe had had with any of them. "Would you excuse me, please?"
"Of course. Get some rest." Ruby said softly, nodding, her hands falling to her sides where Abe had gently pushed them away. He walked away from them all, as the gunshots from Maggie and Merle pierced the air, startling them all. Rick, Ruby, Carl, and Noell turned and watched as Glenn joined them, and they quickly dispatched the seven walkers that had come from the forest after them. When the bodies lay still on the field and the sound of the last shot crack faded from the air, Noell looked at them with a raised eyebrow.
"Did that creep the hell out of any of you, or is it just me?"
*******RUBY***********
The group had watched Abe vanish into the men's house, and only Daryl and Merle didn't seem too perplexed by his reaction. They all looked at each other, standing in a circle around Emma's lifeless body.
Daryl squinted at Noell, a tiny wry something of a smile dancing around the corner of his mouth. "She was a good person, huh? I know for a fact you couldn't stand that girl. You called her a brat."
She gave him a flat stare. "I was trying to be compassionate. You should give it a go sometime."
"Hey, I'm plenty compassionate. I can out-passionate you any day." He said gruffly, and she made a little face in his direction. He grinned and chuckled and she just shook her head. He was always playing with her like that, Ruby knew, and the two of them fell quiet.
"No, Noell was right." Ruby chimed in. "Look, I'm not speaking ill of the dead, but the truth was I don't think Emma was anyone's best friend here. I know I didn't care for her very much, but she didn't deserve to go out like that. None of us do."
"If she was my last living family member, I don't think I'd be as calm as Abe was just now. Noell was right about that too. It was creepy." Maggie said, holding Glenn's hand tightly. "Well, I better get back inside. When we heard the shots, Beth and Lola took the kids to her bedroom to keep safe and so they wouldn't hear them. I'm gonna go tell 'em what happened, make sure the kids stay inside till we get her buried."
"Thanks Maggie." Rick nodded to her and she and Glenn left the circle for the main house.
"Is he in shock? Maggie has a good point. He was way to calm to have just lost the last person he had." Ruby asked, her voice laced with concern and confusion.
"He's gotta be. He actually wanted us to-" Rick stopped suddenly, his brow furrowing deeply. He'd almost given it away again, telling them Abe had wanted to use Emma for the fence. Thinking quickly, he adjusted his words. "He wanted to leave her out there."
"What? Why?" Noell blanched at him, horrified.
"I don't know. I think Ruby's right, I thought it before. He's in shock."
"I don't think so." Merle shook his head and Daryl seemed to nod in agreement with his brother.
"Why else would he not want to bring her back? That's just not normal, so he's got to be off his mind." She asked. "It doesn't make sense otherwise."
"Hell, I dunno. Maybe he just don't wanna bury her, it's not the point. I seen shock, he's not in it. He's got his head straight, and he made a decision."
"I don't know. I think he'd have regretted it. That's why I brought her back."
"Well, that and … I don't know, we knew her, you know? It's right that she be buried, even if we didn't think as highly of her. She was still more or less like one of us." Ruby shifted from one foot to the other, twisting her hands behind her back thoughtfully. She looked to Daryl, who was still just standing there quietly, listening. "Daryl? What do you think?"
"I didn't see what happened, I got no call on any of it. But he did right by her. He the one who shot her in the head?" He asked Rick, who nodded. Daryl returned the nod sharply. "Well, then. I can't say one way or the other but it don't matter now. She's here, and you're about to let the kid see her like this." Daryl gestured to the main house, where Jeb was standing in the screen door.
"Let's get it done, come on." Rick jumped into action then, stepping away and jogging toward the barn.
"We'll lay her with the others. Can someone help me move her over there?" Ruby asked.
"I got her, little sister." Merle offered, and Ruby nodded appreciatively. She helped the one handed man scoop Emma up off the ground, and he carried her away in the fashion Rick had done earlier bringing her body back.
"Where's Jimmy? I could use his help digging a hole." Rick asked when he reappeared with two shovels.
"Hunting with Disco. They left hours ago, while you were gone. He said they'd be back by nightfall." Ruby explained as she, Noell, and Daryl all walked to the little graveyard under the tree.
Rick frowned at her. "They went hunting and they knew we were already out there?"
"Yeah." She nodded. "But they went the opposite direction so they didn't run into you."
"Gimme one a those." Daryl held out a hand, but Rick hesitated.
"You up for it?"
"Yes. Gimme the damn shovel, unless you wanna do it yourself." Daryl insisted. Rick handed him one without further question.
"I'll be right back. I don't want Jeb to stay there watching, and I need to get this shirt off." He whispered to Ruby and she nodded.
"Yeah. Burn it. I think it's ruined." She gave a slight grin and he chuckled, kissing the tip of her nose gently before turning and leaving.
"I am so tired of watching them dig graves." Ruby murmured quietly as she and Noell stood in the shade of the tree and watched Daryl and Merle dig the graves. Noell nodded silently.
"Yeah." She said after a moment. "I think Merle was right when he said he could do anything anybody else could do. Even without a hand he's keeping pace with Daryl." Noell was right. Merle was using his forearm and his knee to brace the handle of the shovel as he dug into the ground. It was impressive to watch him work around his handicap.
"I told you I could, sweetheart." Merle had heard her say that, and looked up at her with a wicked grin, his arm coming up to brush away the sweat streaming into his eyes. "And that ain't all I can do. I can give ya a little preshow if ya like, tonight after dinner. Just come to my room."
Noell grimaced at him lightly. "My god, do you have bat-hearing or some shit like that?Ok, first- gross. And second... Ok, there is no second. Gross just about covers that nicely."
"Yeah, yeah. Blah, blah..." Merle muttered and went back to digging. Daryl had a little grin on his face but he didn't say anything. Merle caught it and glared at him. "You find somethin' funny, little brother?"
"Nah, man. Just diggin' a hole." Daryl shook his head and said casually. Merle muttered something else under his breath, and Ruby chuckled. She grabbed Noell's arm and they walked away toward the main house several paces, to be out of earshot of the brothers. This didn't feel like a conversation she wanted to have in front of Merle, who would just tease her for being soft.
When they stopped, Noell leaned a little toward Ruby to speak softly. "Would you think I was horrible if I admitted that I was grateful it wasn't one of your people?"
"Abe and Emma were our people. Not here long, maybe, but they were still ours."
"I don't know. Hell, maybe I'm not really one of your people yet. I haven't been here much longer than they have."
Ruby looked at her, seemingly slightly alarmed. "Please tell me you're kidding. You don't think you're one of us yet? What does that even mean? You know we can't do this without you, Noell. You're essential."
"I know you need me, I get that. I just mean..." Noell pressed her lips together as she thought of the words to convey what she was really meaning. "It's different needing someone to be around than wanting them to be around. You know what I mean? You don't know what it's like to come into this place. You and Rick, and all the others, you guys are tight. A real family. You don't let anything happen to each other. The thing is, you're so close, that it's hard to try and worm your way into a group dynamic and be a real part of that. Abe's trying really hard to do it, I think, but Emma didn't seem to care, kind of the way Eddie and Lola don't really try either. It's like, what they had is enough for them. It's not for me though. I don't want you guys to just need me. I want you to want me to be here."
"Noell, I don't want you to ever doubt that you're as much a part of this group as I am. Or anyone else here. Any one, you hear me?" Ruby had tears in her eyes and her voice caught a little in her throat when he spoke. Looking at the young doctor in front of her, she wondered why Noell would even wonder if she was wanted, or needed. "I would be devastated if you weren't here."
Noell smiled at her and Ruby leaned in, giving her a tight hug. "Thanks, Ruby." She whispered. "It means a lot. I never had much family, it's kind of crazy to think that it took pretty much the world ending to find one."
Ruby chuckled, letting her go and leaning back. She brushed the wetness from her eyes and cleared her throat. "I'll give you that. But I think it's good to be needed too, you know. When I first got with the group, I was afraid I wouldn't be any use at all. I didn't have any skills to speak of, besides Paul teaching me how to shoot. Then Daryl taught me how to fight a little, hold my own, and shoot his bow. But you, man... A real doctor. That's like apocalypse gold. The way you helped Daryl, he's moving so much better. He'd have died if you hadn't been there."
"Maybe, but you had the meds and the things he needed. You would have figured out something, I know you. But this last time I didn't need to do anything. He only had a small strain when he got pulled against the fence. He's healing quickly and well. Said he's going hunting tomorrow."
Ruby raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Yeah? I bet that's cheered him up."
Noell scoffed. "Oh yeah. He's a veritable bag of puppies and rainbows."
Ruby laughed sharply, taking Noell by the elbow. Rick had come back out, and was almost to them. It was time for the funeral. "Come on, I think they're almost done."
They buried Emma without Abe. Ruby had protested at first, but Rick had gestured with his head to look back at the men's house, and she saw the old man standing in the window upstairs looking down at them. Rick was right, she thought, he was just trying to cope. If he couldn't handle her funeral, that was his right.
It was done quickly, and soon they were dispersed again, back to the business of living. Ruby took the last of the late afternoon sun to go with Noell around the farm to gather candles and kerosene for the lamps. It was a routine they'd done since losing power.
"God, I hope Paul comes back with a whole tank truck full of gas." She said wistfully as she put the candles and lamps on the kitchen table to be used that night.
"It would be nice. It would mean hot showers again." Noell agreed. They walked back through the house to the front door and Ruby saw Jimmy and Disco by the fire in the front yard.
"Hey. When did you get back?" She asked softly but happily when she reached them. Disco tipped her head to Ruby and darted toward the house, most likely to clean up before they ate. Beth was looking something over the fire that smelled delicious, and Ruby's stomach growled loudly.
"Few minutes ago. Got a good sized deer, a couple rabbits." He said with a smile. "Seems a little off here, something happen?"
"You didn't hear?" She frowned at him. Boy, they must have just gotten back. He shook his head at her, his brow furrowed with concern now.
Ruby looked around at the gathering group around the fire pit, and spotted Abe sitting on a log nearby, staring into the flames and talking softly to Carl next to him. The others were moving to and fro, some helping Beth dish out dinner in the last of the dim light, Glenn sat smacking mosquitoes off his face and neck, and Jeb was running around with Lilly under Lola's watchful eye. Jerking her head at Jimmy, they stepped away and out of earshot of everyone else.
"You know how Rick went out with Abe, Emma and Merle?"
"Yeah, doubling up the fencing or something, right?"
"Right. Emma was killed while they were out. A walker they didn't catch in time."
"Oh god." Jimmy's eyes widened, his hands going to his hips and his expression sympathetic and concerned. "Poor Abe. How's he takin it?"
"Really well. That's kind of the weird part." Ruby glanced back at the man before returning her focus to Jimmy. "It's actually kind of weird how ok he is with it. Rick thinks it's shock, Merle says it's just him."
"And what do you think?"
She shrugged. "I guess I don't know him well enough to make a decision."
"Well, I guess the question would be then, would you rather he be a sobbing mess of a man on the ground, not able to function?"
"Lord, no." Ruby said quickly. "But she was all he had left. I mean, it took Beth and Maggie four days to take a freakin' bite of food after Hershel died.. I'm glad he's ok, I really am, I just hope it's healthy that's all."
"Please tell me you're getting the hugest sense of deja vu here." Jimmy chuckled.
"What?" She frowned at him in confusion.
"This is what you do, Ruby. When Carol died you stayed on Daryl till he finally broke and showed some emotion that wasn't super dick. Now you're fixin' to do the same thing to Abe. Thing is, you don't know him, Ruby. You don't know him well enough to decide what's healthy for him and what's not. You get what I'm sayin'?" He finished and looked at her tentatively. It was harsh, he knew it, but it was true.
Ruby's shoulder shrank down and she let out a long breath. "Oh my god, you're right..." She looked up at him with wide eyes. "You are so right! God, I am so fucking annoying! Who do I think I am that I do that? Tell people the way they should be grieving. It's wrong, and it's pushy and it's... Oh hell."
She threw her hands up in the air and huffed lightly. Jimmy grinned and put a calming hand on her shoulder. "Stop it. It's not bad that you do that, it means you care. All I'm sayin' is that Abe needs to figure this out on his own. If you knew him better you could help, but for now, wait and watch him. It's all you can do."
Disco reappeared at his side. Her face had been scrubbed clean and she'd changed into a clean shirt, pulling her hair up into a ponytail. He grabbed her hand, smiled at Ruby, and the two of them went to the fire to eat. Ruby wrapped her arms tightly around herself, wishing for the comfort of Rick's arms in their place just then. Wait and watch, she repeated it to herself. She couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed about her behavior thus far. Yes, Daryl was better now, but it hadn't been her place to get him to emote. And it sure as hell isn't her place with Abe.
She walked to the fire and sat down next to Rick with a smile, his hand finding hers and holding it tightly. Beth handed her a plate and she took a big bite of the deer meat, and pushed her rapid thoughts away if only for a little while. Soon she had lost herself in the conversations going on around her.
"What's wrong, baby?" Rick came up behind her at the sink, their faces spookily lit by candlelight in the small space, and reflected back at them in the mirror. "You were so quiet at dinner."
It only took a moment for her to relate her conversations with Noell and Jimmy to him, and he bit his lip thoughtfully as he listened. "So... what do you think?"
He shrugged, kissing the top of her head. Turning her around in his arms, he pressed her back against the sink with his body, careful not to hurt her growing bulge between them. "I think Noell isn't really worried about being a part of the group. She knows she is. And Abe... you know baby, I really don't know about him. But..."
"But what?" She frowned up at him.
"I didn't tell you the whole truth." He said, his expression nervous and hesitant.
She looked at him from the corner of her eye for a moment, before disengaging herself from his grasp and stepping around him. She grabbed the candle from the sink and walked it back out into the bedroom. Sitting down on the edge of the bed, she leveled him with her gaze. "What did you lie about?"
He shook his head quickly. "No, I didn't lie. I just omitted something. We were out there to reinforce the fences."
"I know, you told me that."
"I didn't tell you how. You remember how Abe was talking about putting bodies up to camouflage our scent?"
"Yeah. It was pretty gross."
"But it works!" He breathed out excitedly, and sat down next to her on the bed and grabbed one of her hands in his. She looked at him in confusion as he continued. "He showed us first, and then Merle and I went out with him and Emma to finish it. We made a walker fence in the woods past the clearing. A row of them, hung side by side, all along the west side of the farm, in the trees. And you should see it. When walkers come by, they don't go through the hung ones, they walk right past them. It's great."
"Why didn't you tell me? If you had told us, you would have had more people out there helping you, and maybe someone would have seen the walker that got Emma." She hated being angry at him, but it seemed so stupid to her that he would have kept this from her.
His face drawn, he took a deep breath. "I know. I should have told you, but you seemed so disgusted by the idea that I thought you wouldn't want to know."
"If the man I love is out there collecting walkers, I want to know about it! What would you say if I had gone out like that without telling you what I was doing? Are you catching them alive or killing them?"
"Killing them, then hanging them. It's really revolting, but it works, baby. If we manage to surround the whole farm like that, we'll be practically invisible to walkers. They won't ever come near."
"And that sounds amazing! I would love that! But I don't see why you couldn't have told me before. If you thought it was a good idea, I would have gone along with it, sick or not. Were you ever going to tell me?"
"Of course. I just wanted to get part of it done first so I could show you it worked. In case you had doubts, you see?"
She sighed, and frowned at him, quiet for a moment. "I think... if it keeps us safe, I'll bear the smell. And since you put it in the trees, Beth, the kids and I don't have to see it, so that's not going to bother us. But if you go back out, you have to take more people to keep watch. This is only a good idea if it keeps us safe, and so far, it's just gotten one person killed."
He hugged her close, and she moved the candle so he wouldn't burn himself. Resting his chin on her head, he rubbed her back comfortingly. "It will keep us safe, just like the regular fences keep us safe. And I will be watching over all of it, making damn sure we're safe. I swear that to you."
She smiled against his chest, rubbing her cheek against the scruffy, sparce hair there. "And no more secrets?"
"Mmm.." He pressed his lips together tightly. "Well, I guess since we're getting everything out in the open... My name isn't really Rick and I work for the CIA. Oh, and I was born a woman."
She laughed sharply, surprised at his sudden frivolity. "Oh my god, I take it back. Keep your secrets."
He joined her in laughter, taking the candle from her hand and blowing it out before pushing her gently back on the bed.
******NOTES***********
Sorry for the long wait between chapters guys, it's been so nuts here. I really appreciate your sticking with me. 3 Much love to you all. Thanks for the continued reviews as well! I LOVE LOVE LOVE them and they really motivate me, so keep 'em comin!
I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Heads up, we're gonna be rolling in the action here soon, so if you are getting bored, it's not going to take much longer. Pinky promise. Now, I'm gonna hit the sack. I'm exhausted. Lol, love you guys!
LL