She could smell the stink of death rising up off her own body. There was blood drying on her arms and down the front of her shirt and soot from the fire on her boots. The man who's son was in the infirmary had been delt with. With the exclusion of the two women, the rest of his group was dead. He had not seemed like he intended to cause any trouble over the unfortunate demise of his former comrades, but Roberta assigned Michonne and Cassandra to take turns keeping an eye on him for now just in case. Now she was looking forward to a hot shower and a change of clothes.
She walked down the main strip of cabins, smiling at a few women that she saw between the cabins hanging laundry up to dry on a clothes line. Rick was on his front porch, sitting on the steps. When she saw him, she increased her pace and felt her smile broaden. But Rick did not smile back like he ususally did when he saw her. Instead he got up and went inside his house, slamming the door behind him. She rolled her eyes and continued on to her house. When she hit her front steps she stopped and pivoted on her heel.
She was going to be god damned if she was going to let a man give her attitude. Especially when she had done nothing to deserve it. His attitude had been rubbing people the wrong way since he got here. And something needed to be done about it before Katie's uncle decided he was going to be the one to do something about it. She stomped past the few cabins that separated her home from Rick's. Her hips swayed as she climbed the steps. Without bothering to knock she twisted the handle and shoved the door open. It flung open with a swoosh of air that startled Rick and made him leap up from the chair he was sitting in. Roberta stepped inside and slammed the door shut like he had a few moments before.
She scanned the interior of the cabin, noticing that he was home alone. His son was off with the other boys and his daughter was probably at the kitchen or the gardens, wherever Zara was. She didn't say anything to Rick at first, but her body language and facial expressions spoke for her. Her hand was cocked up on her hip, resting near the hilt of the large knife she always carried on her. Rick looked at her, his head tilted slightly to one side. She locked eyes with him, daring him to try her patience again with more of his bullshit attitude.
"I belonged at that meeting," he finally said. His voice was angry, but there was an undercurrent behind the anger. Under the facade, he was just a man that lost his wife, lost his importance to the people he had kept afe and alive all this time. He had lost his purpose. And Roberta knew he was the type of man that needed a purpose. He couldn't just exist.
"You interrupted that meeting," she said,. Then in a softer tone, she added, "that's why they kicked you out."
"That man should never have been allowed inside the gates," Rick insisted. Roberta guessed he didn't know the full account of the situation. And he had clearly made some assumptions. Wrong assumptions.
"I guess we should have just let that injured child die...," she said, watching his face for a reaction. Roberta had not liked letting that man inside the walls, but at the time there had been no better option.
"That's not what I meant."
"If you want to start getting respect around here, you have to be willing to give some. We made it this long, saved almost a hundred people so far. What have you done that we should suddenly give up our leadership and put you in charge?" Roberta didn't mean to sound harsh, but she felt it needed to be said. She sure in the hell wasn't going to sugar coat anything for a grown ass man that was acting like a little brat.
Rick looked at her, his mouth falling open for a moment before he snapped it shut. He had not thought about his situation in quite that way. He had mostly just been looking for anything around this camp that he felt was being done wrong and thinking about how he could do it better if he was in charge. But just because these girls did things different than he would, that didn't mean they did them wrong. He found himself racking his brain for an answer to her question. What had he done that was so amazing, so much better than what they had done?
"Nothing," he said, "I haven't done anything." He sat back down at the small wooden table. The realization of what he said hit him hard. He didn't hear her cross the room, but suddenly Roberta was behind him, touching his shoulders, moving her hands up to rub his back.
"We could use your help," she said. The pain in his blue eyes when he answered her question had hit her straight in the gut. "You have got to start working with us, not against us," she told him.
How?" He caught her hand in his, turning to look up at her.
"Right now Katie sees you as a threat, you just have to show her that you have her back," she said. Her voice sounded deep and throaty to her own ears, like it was coming out of some else's mouth. Looking down into Rick's eyes was making her forget the real reason she had come here. He really was a fine looking man. All strong jaw and cheekbones with those baby blue eyes. And the strong cords in his neck were streched taunt as he turned to look up at her. The tip of one of her fingers was brushing against one. Her thumb was tangled in the soft curls on the back of his neck.
"What about your back?," he asked.
"I already know you have my back." she said, swallowing down the saliva that her mouth seemed to be filling with. Were they talking about trust now? Or something else, she wondered. There seemed to be a unintentional double entendre to everything that was coming out of her mouth. And she just kept looking at him, losing herself in the watery blue of his eyes. She had never been with a man that had eyes that color. Whiskey golden brown, one pair so dark they were almost black, and her husband's had been a warm inviting chocolate brown, but never blue. They reminded her of the clear sparkling ocean water that she swam in on her honeymoon in jamaica.
She leaned down without planning to, pressing her lips against his in a soft kiss. Pulling back, she stood up feeling surprised at herself. The kiss had been a chaste one, but it sent little squiggles of electricity all the way down to her toes and then back up where they came to rest in a steady throb between her legs. It had been a long time since she had a first kiss. The last first kiss she had turned into a ten year marriage. And she didn't remember it feeling like that. Maybe it was the constant threat of death, making everything taste just a little sweeter, making the colors of life shine a little brighter. Or maybe it was Rick. Maybe kissing him would have felt that good no matter what kind of world they were living in.
He had been as surprised as she was at the sudden touch of her lips to his. But he recovered faster than Roberta. He got up from the chair, placing his hands gently on her waist. The last women he had been with was Lori, back when she had still been pretending she loved him and nothing was going on between her and Shane. She and Roberta could not have more opposite body types, and he found it comforting. In a pitch black room, he could touch this woman and know she was not the same one that had betrayed him.
Her skin was like the color of coffee with milk in it. When he touched the skin of her arm, he found it was even softer and smoother than it looked. Her eyes were big and dark, even darker now that her pupils were dilating with desire for him. There was nothing girlish about her. From her lips to her hips to the round curves of her ass and breasts, every part of her was full and womanly. He was used to being with a woman his height, but not to being with a woman that had so much more for him to fill his hands up with.
He moved his hands down to her hips and leaned in to feel the hot press of her lips on his again. This time he pushed the kiss further, running the tip of his tounge over her lips. Her hands came up, fingers tracing up the full length of his arms. She felt his shoulders, one of the parts of a man that she found the sexiest. Then her hands twined up into the soft curls on the back of his neck, touching and stroking his hair more bravely now than she had when she had rubbed his shoulders while he sat at the table.
His hands ran over her hips, wrapping around her waist to pull her close. Her breasts pressed into his chest as her lips parted to recieve his eager searching tounge. This was not a first kiss anymore. Now it was a lover's kiss, the kind that led to something more than a kiss. Rick turned, walking backwards towards his bedroom and pulling her along with him, when he heard the loud footsteps on the porch outside. Only one person in this house took the steps two at a time and landed crashing down on the porch with a bang before shoving the door open. His son.
"Hey dad!," Carl shouted as he flung the door open, "guess where I'm going!?"
Even if this wasn't what family dinners had been like at his home, Hershel was still looking forward to eating with what was now his new extended family. Before the turn he would have felt guilty, not only for moving on so fast after his wife's tragic demise, but also for sleeping with a women so soon and before they were married. But the end of the world had altered his perception. When you found yourself even a small bit of happiness now, you had to grab hold of it fast before it fluttered away like some small bird that was too fragile to be real.
Hershel wasn't sure how many people were turning up for this dinner, but so far it was looking like a large and rather rowdy crowd. He was sitting out on the porch with Tom, who he supposed was now his future son in law, now that he had asked Momma D, or Dolly as he called her, to marry him. Hershel was sipping a nice cold glass of iced tea, and the other man was knocking back a bottle of homemade beer. Tom's son was down on the well trampled lawn, playing a game of soccer with Katie's brothers, Carl and Lexi. Hershel smiled when he saw Carl show up, holding hands with Mandy's pretty daughter, who was about his age or maybe just a little bit older.
A golf cart pulled onto the grass near one of the side gardens. Katie got out, setting her small son down onto the ground so he could scamper over to try and play with the bigger kids. One of his uncles, Hershel didn't know the twins well enough to tell them apart yet, lifted the small boy up and swung him onto his back. Then he ran back into the game, the small boy on his back squealing with joy and excitement.
"Gannon!," Katie hollered, "you be careful with him!" Her words were stern, but her tone was playful. Maria's dark haired daughter climbed down from the back of the cart, looking towards the rough and loud group of teenagers with trepidation. She stayed near Katie's leg, clinging to the woman's hand. Lexi spotted her and ran to scoop the smaller girl up, drawing her into the game and warning the big boys to watch out for her. Hershel smiled again. He had been observing these people for some time, and he had noticed one thing was very consistent. They all treated each other with kindness and respect, and the children here were doted upon with a lot of special attention. Children here were looked at as a special blessing, not as a burden. He couldn't help but wonder the same thing he had been thinking over and over again since he arrived here; was this the way things would be everywhere if women were in control?
Merle got out of the cart and followed Katie around to the back of it and pulling out a few covered dishes. They headed up the porch steps and Katie set two foil wrapped plates down on the table in front of Hershel and her uncle. Then she moved quickly to open the sliding door for Merle, who looked like he was carrying something hot wrapped in a towel. She walked back over and leaned down to kiss her uncle on the cheek. Her hair fell forward, revealing a line of soft purple and red hickeys extending down the side of her neck and under the line of her blouse. Hershel could only guess how many of them she had under her clothes. And when she bent down to kiss Tom, she was close enough that Hershel noticed how good she smelled. Like soap and oranges with a hint of whatever she had been cooking for dinner. She looked so much like her grandmother, Hershel couldn't help but find the much younger woman attractive and he considered Daryl's brother to be a very lucky man. She leaned over the table, pulling the foil back from the two plates.
"Keep an eye on these," she told her uncle, "they are for the adults only." Hershel got a strong whiff of dark chocolate that made his mouth start to water. Under the foil was a large pile of brownies that were already cut into tiny squares. "I made cookies for the kids," she added. Tom did not hesitate, he grabbed for a brownie and shoved the whole thing in his mouth, then reached for another one.
"And don't eat them all," Katie warned him with a laugh and ruffle of his fiery orange hair. One of her brothers came running over to the porch, a big smile on his face.
"Did you make brownies?," he asked, his excitement evident. She pointed her finger at him.
"I did, and only one a piece for y'all until after dinner." Tom grabbed another brownie for himself and shoved one at Hershel before all the teenagers tromped up onto the porch to snatch one up and take off back down the stairs with them. Hershel looked at the small treat, smelling it suspiciously. Katie said they were only for the adults, so he wasn't sure if that meant there was something inside them that he didn't want to consume. If they had been flavored with alcohol, the actual liquor would have cooked off while they were baking, leaving only the flavor. Katie had already taken off back inside the house, so she was not there for Hershel to ask. He looked at the man next to him. Tom had consumed three brownies already and he was still alive, so Hershel shrugged and took a bite.
"Katie!," Tom leaned back and hollered towards the open kitchen window, "bring me a glass of milk!"
"Your legs ain't broke, get it yourself," Katie yelled from inside.
"Can't get up, I'm watching the brownies," he yelled back. Some feminine laughter drifted out of the kitchen window, and a few moments later Merle appeared with two glasses in his hand, one was full of iced tea and the other was full of milk. He handed the latter to the big man before he sat down. Tom thanked him emphatically and slurped at the glass of cold milk. Hershel stuffed the rest of the brownie into his mouth, licking at the chocolate crumbs that clung to the tips of his fingers. Once he stopped drinking, he had developed a real taste for sweets, and they were the one thing he really found himself craving once the world went to hell and normal everyday items became luxuries.
What the heck, he thought, you only live once. He reached over and snagged another one of the small chocolate squares, popping it in his mouth before he could change his mind. He noticed Merle was watching him with a curious look on his face.
"Ya know what's in those, dontcha?," Merle asked him.
"Double chocolate?," Hershel replied, taking an offered sip out of Tom's large glass of milk. Merle started to laugh, and then Tom caught on to what was going on and really started laughing. His laugh was loud and deep, what many people would refer to as a belly laugh.
"Ya smoke weed ?," Tom asked Hershel once his fit of laughter was under control. Hershel felt puzzled. What did smoking weed have to do with him eating brownies before dinner? Hershel shook his head.
"Not since college," he informed the man. That brought another round of laughter from the two men next to him. "Would one of you care to tell me what is going on?" Merle pointed to the brownies.
"Those are full of pot butter," Merle finally informed him, "you gone be high off yer ass in a few minutes." Now it was Hershel's turn to laugh. He should have known. All day long the people around this camp were smoking pot, it made since that they might be ingesting the drug in other ways. Well, Hershel thought, whats done is done, a few pot brownies weren't likely to kill him. He shrugged.
"You only live once."
One drink turned into two drinks. And the two drinks had turned into three. And after the third, taking the bottle upstairs and drinking it in Katie's giant bathtub had sounded like a perfectly reasonable idea. Now Daryl was up to his neck in hot water, leaning back against the side of the tub with his head resting on a towel and Addy leaning back on his bare chest with the crazy braids and twists in her hair bound up on top of her head so they wouldn't get wet.
She had one hand out of the water to keep it dry and that's the one she was using it to hold the joint they were passing back and forth between them. Once it was about halfway gone, Addy snubbed it out in the large seashell that was sitting on the egde of the tub for that purpose. There was a bit of sand in the shell and Daryl felt himself staring at it like it was the most interesting thing he had ever seen, one small curl of smoke drifting up from the end of the joint that had been lit. Addy broke his concentration when she picked up the little half pint jelly jar she was using as a drinking glass and sipped at the liquid inside it. Daryl grabbed the bottle to fill it back up for her, but she waved it away.
"Any more and I will drown in this tub," she said. She felt Daryl's chest move under her back as he laughed at her joke. She arched her back, leaning back and turning her head to plant a gentle kiss on the side of his smiling mouth. When she did this, the tops of her breasts lifted up out of the water revealing her soft pink nipples just for a moment before they sunk back below the line of the water.
She leaned her head back and closed her eyes, both her hands sinking down into the water and resting on the outsides of his thighs. She had soft round cheeks, one of them was touching the coarse hairs that he had on his chin. He wondered if his hair was tickling her. Her lips were only inches from his and they were slightly parted. He stared at them the way he had stared at the ashtray, tracing the soft pink lines of them with his eyes and looking at how full her bottom lip was in comparison to the top lip. It crossed his mind then that he could kiss her lips if he wanted to. She had been more than willing to get naked in the tub with him, so he was sure she wouldn't mind being kissed. He could ever touch her if he wanted to, maybe stroke her soft pink nipples and feel them go hard under his touch.
Moving slowly, Daryl raised his hand up out of the water, running his thumb lightly across her lips and feeling the soft texture of the skin there. Her eyes ficked open for a moment, cornflower blue and rimmed in short dark lashes. When he tilted his head to kiss her, she shut them again. Her lips were soft and warm, and when he pushed between them with his tounge she parted them without hesitation. He deepened the kiss and moved his hands down to cup her breasts, which were floating round and buoyant in the warm water.
Addy could feel the hard length of him now, pressing into the small of her back. She would have liked nothing more than to turn in the tub, one leg on either side of him, and use her hand to guide him inside her. But she was nervous. She feared she had come on too strong the last time and scared him off. This time she was determined to follow Daryl's lead and let him go at the pace he was comfortable. Or at least she was going to try. It felt like absolute agony, but she was going to try. Her original plan had been to get him worked up and then leave, maybe make him spend a few days thinking about her. But she knew now that plan had been flawed from the start. As soon as she sunk into the tub with him she knew she was going to let him have her any way he wanted.
Daryl ran his hand over her nipples, the texture of the skin changing as he touched her. She moaned into his mouth, her tounge tangling with his, and she was gripping his forearms with her hands like she was trying to restrain herself. Her body felt like a tightly coiled spring, her feet braced against the side of the tub with her toes peeking out from under the water, showing the chipped gold polish she had painted them with the week before.
Her toes wiggled and and her feet flexed as she rubbed her thighs together under the water. The more he touched her, the more intense the throbbing between her legs got. She could feel the hard muscles of his chest against her back and the calloused skin on his palms touching the much softer skin of her breasts. He moved down with one of his hands, stoking over the flat plane of her stomach until his fingers met the soft patch of hair above her opening. Her legs fell open, hips thrusting up towards his hand.
She broke away from his kiss, leaning her head back and gasping for air. When she felt his hand slide lower, slipping one thick finger inside her slick folds she arched up, feeling her orgasm wash over her in delicious spasms. Every muscle in her body released it's tension. He drew his hand away.
"You alright?" She giggled a little, feeling the embarassment that was usually reserved for men.
"Sorry," she said, "I didn't mean to." He was just so hot. Even now, with his eyebrows bunched together, looking at her like she was crazy, he was still dead sexy.
"Didn't mean ta what?"
"Didn't mean to come so fast," she explained.
"Oooh...," he said, the relief flooding over his face, "thought I mighta hurt ya." She giggled again and shook her head. Then she turned so she was facing him. She patted at the edge of the tub.
"Sit up here for a minute," she told him, not caring anymore if he didn't like her being so direct about what she wanted.
"Why?" He used his arms to lift himself up out of the water as he asked her the question. She leaned forward, taking his hard in her hand and smiling up at him before moving closer to the throbbing tip of him with her mouth.
"Because it's your turn now."