AN: Thanks for be patient with my delay dearest readers! You are now reading Mrs. Pretty Racing's work, no longer a Ms. or Miss. (But still not a ma'am. If you don't have a southern accent, do call me ma'am! Yes. I am weird.) Anywho, read away! I haven't read the latest chapter yet of IJWTS, but I hear that the Brick fandom is in need of some fluff!

Warnings: Utter fluff!

Chapter Twenty-One

Carl slept like the dead, Beth learned one night when at two in the morning all the apartment's smoke detectors' batteries died simultaneously. Rick woke instantly, the detector in the main area of the apartment let out a steady, shrill beep every thirty seconds, and Beth didn't stir until Rick stubbed his toe while pulling pants on in the dark.

Rick told her to stay in bed while he searched for a nine volt battery and just as Beth was nodding off the one in their bedroom started its shrill beep. Beth groaned before crawling out of bed and searching for Rick. Of course it was a weeknight and Beth had class starting in seven hours while Rick needed to be at work in four hours.

Beth found Rick using a dinning chair as a ladder as he changed out the battery. Thank god Rick had a supply of batteries, because as Beth dragged another chair into the bedroom (and accidently banged it twice against the wall of Carl's room) another beep joined the shrill harmony.

"Seriously?" Beth cried and searched for the third beep, which of course was coming from Carl's room.

Carl slept through it all, the beeping throughout the apartment, the banging of furniture being moved, Beth holding a flashlight while Rick cursed softly and changed the battery in Carl's room, and Beth's giggles at the absurd situation.

Beth began to take advantage of Carl's deep sleep.

The following Sunday Beth woke up before Rick, a rare occurrence, and woke Rick up by stroking his morning wood to full hardness and sinking down on him. Rick had pulled her down for sloppy, stale kisses before rolling them over and starting into Beth with powerful thrusts that had her mewling and moaning in Rick's shoulder until she came. Carl emerged from his room, none the wiser, only when the smell of sausage and eggs drew him from his coma-like sleep a full hour later.

Beth's favorite way to start the day was morning sex and anytime Rick didn't have to work early Beth was insistent. Rick was happy to oblige her, as long as Carl wasn't awake yet, and Beth still tried to stay quiet unless Carl was at Lori's house.

Everything on the Lori front was quiet. She and Rick were civil and kept all their interactions as short as possible and Carl was gradually improving mood wise after staying with Lori. March passed smoothly and drama free. Rick and Shane were making plans with Leon and Lambert to switch back to being partners. Shane sleeping with Lori would always be a black cloud that lurked just out of sight, and both Rick and Shane refused to talk about it. But much of their old camaraderie was restored and Beth and Rick had gone on a couple of double dates with Shane and Amy.

Rumors about Shane and Amy were staring to make their way into circuit, with Amy being mum on the subject. Diane went as far as to stop Beth in the grocery store one day and ask her point blank if Shane and Amy were together. Beth responded diplomatically, neither confirming or denying, and told Diane that Amy was a big reason Shane and Rick were friends again.

April brought about Easter, a very important holiday in the Greene Family, which just happened to coincide with Hershel's seventy-third birthday this year. "Man, your dad is old," Carl shook his head.

They were all in Rick's truck heading south for the jointer Easter/birthday celebration her mother was throwing. Most of her home town would be in attendance along with the family. Lacey was carpooling with one of her brothers that lived in Atlanta. Lacey had been sad that she missed the fireworks of Rick and Hershel's first meeting, but Beth was adamant that everyone would be civil today.

When Annette had called Beth and encouraged her to bring Rick along Beth had at first refused. "It won't work. That's one of Rick's weekends with Carl."

"So? The more the merrier! I'd love to meet Rick's son." Beth's mother didn't say it, but Beth could almost hear what she was thinking. She wanted to see how the three of them interacted, Rick, Beth and Carl. Annette didn't believe Beth when Beth said Carl liked her, probably remembering her own merging of families and how it had taken years for Shawn to warm up to Hershel, and Shawn's father hadn't been alive to compete against.

"Momma, Rick isn't going to bring Carl into an environment where Daddy will insult him in front of his son."

"Hershel will behave. I promise."

"And no giving him a hard time about not going to church, we will not come down early so we can go to Easter Vigil mass on Saturday."

Her mother agreed a bit more reluctantly on the last point. No doubt Hershel would have a hard time holding his tongue on Beth missing mass, but Rick wouldn't be able to attend church with his work schedule, plus Carl would no doubt riot when he realized how long an Easter vigil mass was.

So now Rick, Beth and Carl were on their way to the Greene family farm and Beth prayed that her mother would keep her father in line.

"Seriously, Grams and Grandaddy are only sixty-something." Carl brought up Lori's parents. Even Rick's parents, if still alive, wouldn't be in their seventies yet.

"My daddy got a late start in starting a family," Beth delicately left out how her father had been an alcoholic and it wasn't until he met Maggie's mom that he began to sober up and want a family.

"And your farm has horses?" Carl asked eagerly.

Beth nodded, "Horses, cows, chickens, and one mean, old goat."

"Dad, did you see all the animals at Christmas?"

Rick shot Beth an amused smile, and Beth immediately blushed bright red and tried to hide it from Carl. "Sorta, it was very cold but we did take a quick look at the horses in the stables," Rick replied diplomatically.

"I'll introduce you to them all." Beth promised.

"Sweet," Carl grinned, and didn't seem to notice the strange interaction between Rick and Beth at the mention of the stables.

It was a long drive from King County to the Greene farm, Beth made them leave very early, and Carl spent half the time yawning and half doing his math homework. Beth was pretty tired herself and spent half the drive dozing against Rick's side grateful for the bench seat that made in possible.

They pulled into the farm around ten. It was a sunny day, the temperature was expected to climb to the high sixties. Perfect weather for Carl to explore the farm. Rick parked next to Maggie's car. The party wouldn't start until noon but Annette wanted family there early to help out.

Beth was loading prepared dishes into Rick and Carl's arms when the screen door swung open and Glenn bounded down the stairs, eager to help and no doubt get away. Beth didn't see her uncle or any of her cousins' cars there so Glenn was probably keen to have more people there to spread out Hershel's attention.

"Hey Glenn, this is my son, Carl."

"Hi, nice to meet you," Glenn greeted and took a casserole dish full of spinach artichoke dip out of Carl's hands and Carl nodded gratefully.

Soon they were all traipsing into the house with Beth's goodies and Annette greeted them from the kitchen as they set down dishes. Annette hugged Carl like he was already her grandson, "You must be Carl, call me Annie, sweetie, and here, have a cookie." Annette ushered Carl to a tray of assorted cookies.

Carl shot an eager look at Rick, and Rick nodded is assent to his son eating cookies before noon. "Not too many," Rick cautioned as Carl shoved an entire chocolate chip cookie in his mouth.

"These are good! They taste like Beth's!" Carl complimented, speaking with his mouth full but at least covering his mouth.

"Where do you think Beth learned to cook?" Annette asked Carl with an amused grin.

"Tell me about it, I've gained fifteen pounds since Beth and I started dating."

"You have not." Beth admonished and let Rick pull her into his side.

"Beth's a way better cook than my mom or dad. Thank god." Carl told Annette with a grin. "Don't tell my mom, though."

"What about your dad?"

"Oh, he already knows. Beth sometimes refuses his help when cookin'."

Annette laughed and gave Carl another hug. "Well, then, my lips are sealed," Annette winked.

"No cookies for you!" Beth didn't notice Maggie enter the kitchen until she slapped Glenn's hand while he was reaching for one. Glenn sighed and nodded morosely.

"Maggie and Glenn are on a pre-wedding diet," Beth whispered to Rick.

"Shoot, you two skinny kids? You both look great already," Rick said and Maggie smile at the compliment.

"Yeah, that's a way more appropriate response than Glenn's," Maggie shot a glare at Glenn who looked sheepish.

"I'll tell you later," Beth whispered again to Rick and then Hershel was entering the kitchen.

"Happy Birthday Sir," Rick's arm left Beth's shoulders as Rick reached to shake his hand.

"Thank you," Hershel replied civilly as they shook.

"This is my son, Carl."

Carl wiped his hand of crumbs on his jeans before also reaching to shake Hershel's hand, emulating his father perfectly. "Happy Birthday. It's nice to meet you," Carl said solemnly.

"Thank you, son," Hershel shook Carl's hand and looked vaguely amused. Beth was impressed by her father's restraint.

The rest of the morning he was completely civil, granted he stayed inside the house as Annette wouldn't let him help out, while Rick, Shawn, Glenn and Carl helped set up tables outside. The Greene farmhouse was sizable, but Annette had invited far more than could fit in the house, and since the weather was supposed to be decent they set up tables both inside and out.

They finished setting up a half hour before guests were due to arrive, Beth's uncle and cousins (including Lacey) had shown up in the meantime so Annette had more helping hands then she knew what to do with so Beth took Carl and Rick on a proper tour of the farm. When they were in the stables Rick gave her a suggestive grin over the top of Carl's head and Beth found herself blushing again. Unfortunately there would be no repeat performances today, the farm was crawling with people and the weather was too nice to keep people indoors this time.

When guests did start to arrive, Beth did her best to stay close to Rick. Many of Annette's friends seemed to hone in on Rick the moment after they greeted Hershel and Annette. And they were a strange mix of judgmental and smitten as they introduced themselves to Rick. It was quite amusing.

Carl quickly disappeared with a group of young teens and Annette assured Rick that all the kids were good Christians so Carl would be fine. Rick responded politely but whispered to Beth, "Shane and I used to be supposed good Christians boys too."

"I bet that Sunday school teacher went to an early grave," Beth teased back in a whisper of her own. "If he's missing for too long we'll track them down."

"Agreed," Rick winked.

"Oh my god!" Lacey whispered fiercely to Beth and grabbed her arm tightly. "Do you see who just walked in?" It was nearly an hour later, Beth had been separated from Rick for a while now while she had chatted with some old high school friends. Now she was just with Lacey, who had been ogling one of the boys Beth had gone to school with.

"Lace," Beth huffed as she tried to shake free of her cousin's grasp while looking for whoever caused her iron grip.

"Jimmy!" Lacey nodded in the right direction and Beth finally saw her first ex-boyfriend greeting her dad with a handshake. Hershel was smiling and even patted him on the back. Beth had to admit that he looked good, better than he had in high school. He had filled out his frame, gone was the gangly teenager that Beth had dated. He looked well-built and tanned, Beth vaguely remembered her mother telling him that Jimmy worked on both their and the Miller's farms.

And then Beth saw that Jimmy brought a girl with him. And Beth realized why Lacey was probably freaking out. "Does she look like me?" Beth asked in a whisper.

"Totally," Lacey nodded. The girl was short, pale and blonde. Beth couldn't tell her eye color from the distance, but they were wide like Beth's. "And they're heading this way," Lacey whispered and they both tried to look like they hadn't been staring at them.

Beth looked around for Rick, and wasn't surprised to see him chatting with the only other cop in attendance. Sheriff Coltrane probably had two decades on Rick, and a typical cop mustache that was almost full grey. Beth then wondered if her daddy had asked him to size up Rick as they had been friends for longer than Beth had been alive.

"Hey Beth." Beth tore her eyes away from Rick as Jimmy stood in front of her with her look-a-like. Now that she was closer Beth could see her eyes were green, she had light freckles, and her nose was just a big wider, but otherwise the comparison was obvious.

"Hey Jimmy, good to see you! You remember my cousin Lacey?"

"Of course, Hey Lacey."

"Hey Jimmy. You look good," Lacey complimented.

Jimmy blushed before introducing the girl at his side, "Beth, do you remember Kathy Miller? She was two years below us."

"Sure, hey Kathy." Beth smiled at the girl she vaguely remembered now that she had a name. "Weren't you in the church choir with me too?"

"Yes," Kathy nodded enthusiastically. "I still am, actually. I was sorry to hear you didn't quite get your singing career." She said it with a perfectly innocent tone but Beth could see her smile slightly uptick to a slight smirk.

So it was going to be like that? Kathy was trying to prove that even though she looked like Beth she was the better version? Beth thought briefly back on her recent encounters with the Governor. There was no way this girl was getting a rise out of Beth, this twenty year old was an amateur compared to people she had dealt with in Atlanta. Plus, she wasn't the slightest bit interested in Jimmy anymore.

"Thank God it didn't," Beth smiled in reply. The group fell into an awkward pause at Beth's unconventional response. Kathy was thrown off her game by Beth's lack of shame or embarrassment at her supposed failure.

"So… your mom says you're living up north with Lacey?" Jimmy broke the silence.

"She was," Lacey confirmed.

"Did you move again?" Kathy asked curiously.

"I moved in with my boyfriend about two months ago."

"Oh!" Kathy's look of surprise and smugness amused Beth. She wasn't sure if Kathy was smug because Beth had a boyfriend or if she thought Beth was 'living in sin.'

"Annette mentioned you were dating a cop." Jimmy said again and glanced around.

"Yes, he's a deputy sheriff. He's chatting with Sheriff Coltrane." Beth nodded in Rick's direction. Both Jimmy and Kathy turned, a bit too eagerly to scope out Rick. Beth knew Rick cut an impressive figure, his stubble was at the perfect length, and the salt and pepper of his stubble added to his rugged handsomeness, his curls were smoothed back, and he was wearing a blue stripped button down shirt that enhanced his eyes. Maggie had already complimented Rick's look to Beth saying that Beth would likely have to beat off curious women in droves. And as Jimmy and Kathy watched Rick laughed at something the Sheriff Coltrane said, revealing his stunning, teeth-showing grin that never failed to make Beth's heart flutter.

Rick glanced over at them and saw Beth and the group watching him and then excused himself from Sheriff Coltrane to head over in their direction. "Hey," Beth greeted and eagerly wrapped an arm around Rick's waist as he came to stand at her side and pressed a kiss on her hairline. "Rick, this is Jimmy and Kathy, guys, this is Rick Grimes."

Kathy looked enthralled and blushed at Rick's polite 'ma'am' while Jimmy looked rather put out as he shook Rick's hand.

"You talking shop with Sheriff Coltrane?" Lacey asked curiously.

Rick nodded, "He was on a joint DUI task force a few years back with our sheriff. He's a nice guy. Has some great jokes."

"Jokes?" Jimmy looked over his shoulder, as if to make sure Rick was talking the same sheriff he knew. Beth was also skeptical, Sheriff Coltrane had been friends with her daddy for years because they had a similar disposition. It was hard to imagine the intimidating sheriff cracking jokes.

"What do you call a clairvoyant midget who escaped from prison?" Jimmy and Kathy looked at Rick clueless. "A small medium at large."

Lacey snorted and Beth giggled but Jimmy and Kathy continued their blank stare. Rick shrugged, "Well, that was the least offensive one."

"Clairvoyants, or psychics, are also called mediums." Lacey helpfully advised.

"Oh," Kathy still didn't laugh.

"Anyways… ya'll mind if I steal Beth? I haven't seen Carl in a while, no doubt that means he's up to no good."

"Be sure to check the stables," Lacey said with an innocent tone but winked at the end. Of course Beth blushed again, she knew she never should have told her cousin that story. Beth half wanted to stay, just to see Jimmy and Kathy's reactions when they undoubtedly would ask Lacey who Carl was, but she also quite happy to be with Rick again and maybe sneak in a make out session after Carl was located.

It didn't take long to track down Carl, the dad of one of the kids Carl was last seen with said the group of kids had headed off towards the stream that bordered the Greene property. After a short walk they found a group of four boys and two girls, all between the ages of fourteen and eleven, on the stream bank. They had found a turtle and were curiously prodding at it, trying to get the animal to poke his head out of his shell.

Carl returned with Rick and Beth to the main farm, Beth had mentioned that her mother had pulled a fresh batch of cookies out of the oven and the promise of warm cookies enticed Carl and a few of the other kids. Carl walked in front of them with the fourteen year old girl, and if Beth wasn't mistaken it was Kathy Miller's youngest sister. The girl thought she was far enough ahead of Beth and Rick that she wouldn't be overheard when she asked Carl, "Isn't it weird?"

"What?"

"You're closer in age to your dad's girlfriend than he is."

Carl shrugged, "At first. But it's cool now."

The young teens shot looks over their shoulders and both Beth and Rick pretend to not have heard anything. Beth nearly missed the girl's next question as the girl asked quieter, "What if they get married? And have kids? That would be so weird."

Carl shrugged again and Beth could see the tension in his shoulders. "It wouldn't be awful… Bein' a big brother would be awesome, I think, having brats to boss around." Carl was using his 'I'm cool' voice that Beth had to restrain herself from giggling at.

"Ugh, better than being the youngest of five like me. And now my sister Kathy is dating one of the farm hands, and even he tries to boss me around. It sucks." She emphasized her point by kicking large rock.

"I bet it beats being an only child. It gets lonely, sometimes."

Beth watched as the girl practically coo-ed over Carl. Rick reached out a hand to stop Beth and he let the kids walk further ahead. Beth looked up at Rick questioningly, hearing some of Carl's candid thoughts of their relationship would only help her at this point. "I am not ready for that kid to start dating," Rick shook his head as the two teens step out of hearing range.

"He was totally pulling off the lone wolf vibe that girls dig. Must be the guitar lessons." Beth joked and leaned into Rick's side as they start walking again.

"He sure didn't get that from me."

"Oh please, you totally had the lone wolf, lost soul, just need love vibe when we first met." Beth teased.

"What?" Rick laughed. "I think it was more: my life just fell apart and I don't even know how to make a grilled cheese, please help vibe."

"Well, it drew me in."

"Thank god for that," Rick squeezed her a bit tighter into his side and pressed a quick, light kiss into her temple.

Beth smiled up at Rick, wishing that the future could already be here. Wishing that she already had two 'brats' for Carl to boss around, that she and Rick were visiting the family farm with all the kids in tow, and her children would be following Carl around the farm, idolizing their big brother. Her mother would be spoiling all three with fresh, baked goods and her father would soften and smile whenever his grandchildren were present. Beth shook her head to clear the powerful day dream. Her wants were already more in reach than they were six months ago. She needed to be patient, her dreams would come true soon enough.

AN: This chapter is utter floppy, fluffy, shmoop. Full of feel goods and adorableness. And I hate to tell you all this (please don't riot) but this marks the beginning of the end. There will be two more chapters of this story, and an epilogue. I tried to think up another arch, I really did. I played around with Lori dating again and even picked a canon character to do this with but I just couldn't write it (I don't hate Lori, I just think she and Rick were terrible together and definitely not Meant To Be). I think I'll occasionally revisit this universe with vignettes, aka spin-off, what if tales, or holiday specials, or something. Because this story kind of ate my life. But I have so many other Brick stories I want to tell, and I'm kind of refusing to publish more than one at a time that way nothing gets neglected.

Review please!