Adaptation

by Ink Ribbon

They were all trying to make it in the apocalypse, trying to see if there was still more than just surviving. But Rome wasn't built in a day - A what if story in which Daryl Dixon didn't see the car with the white cross at the end of S05E02; starts with Beth and Daryl, in later chapters; Rick and Amanda Shepherd from Grady Memorial becomes the main ship.

28. Chapter 28

A/N: Uploading another chapter, the third one. I wanted to finish this arc before we end the year. Happy reading, and new year.

XXVIII.

The woods felt like home again. Daryl had come hunting, even though there was no need, the pantry of the town was good, but he still needed a bit of clear air—a slow wind blew, and he felt it across his scalp—at his ears more biting and passed a hand over his hair—his cropped hair, a silent growl coming out of his lips.

Though, it wasn't so bad, in fact it looked—he looked much better now with shortened hair, he'd looked in the mirror and seen a bit of himself back in the days, before the world had turned mad, only a bit of white hair had started spreading over and there, and around his eyes there were more grim lines now, still it didn't look that different.

Beth liked too, as well, had told him she was so handsome, and Daryl couldn't help himself but felt a bit overhead with the comment. Chicks liked rough, dirty boys, Daryl had always known that, Beth didn't seem to be an exception. The idea amused him—and he felt a bit lighter, or he was really getting out of his comfort zone, he didn't damn know.

Much of the times now, he didn't know what the hell he was doing anymore, but Daryl felt like none of them were doing it anymore—he knew one thing clear though, that he loved Beth, whole, so that was enough shit for him.

The rest, he was getting along.

That Deanne woman hadn't still told him what was that he was planning with him—he might be the only one who hadn't still been given a job, and Daryl had snorted out the idea—the woman had said she was still trying to figure out him and Daryl also knew that would take a while.

He didn't mind it though, it wasn't like that he wanted to have a job; he'd never had a job before. With the group, he was always the hunter and tracker, the guy you depended on when things went shit, and he thought he was getting that too here, giving out hunting or supply running, or watches… but no, the woman was still waiting.

And that worried him.

Everyone was settling in, everyone except him. Abraham had joined the construction team. Rosita had gone to the infirmary with Beth like she'd said. Maggie had gone too, as well, after Deanne removed her from her position, Rick and Michonne being cops, Tara, Glenn, and Noah were at supply runs. Amanda's girls were with Carol as she did whatever the hell she was doing, and Amanda Shepherd, he was sure, had already started plotting something or another.

Daryl hailed Rick's bravery for getting involved with a girl like her. Daryl had known a few girls like Amanda in his own time, mostly with people in the gangs he and Merle used to hang around and each time, he'd seen the same thing; the girls had better defenses. But Rick…well, Rick was different than those bikers and Rick took no shit from anyone, but he was still going to have to tame her, just like Beth had…tamed him.

The notion would have bothered him once—being tamed in a relationship, but Daryl had found himself not giving a damn shit—if taming meant having all these stuff with Beth—holding hands, watching sunrise, watching her sleep, listening to her breath, and kissing her, having her—even fucking her, then Daryl sort of wished she'd done it sooner.

And he also wasn't missing the irony that she had exactly wanted to do it but he had refused. Daryl then thought if Rick was really right, being weak wasn't in them anymore, and they could change this place into a survivable place, because Daryl had watched the town later and what he'd seen didn't make him damn happy.

No, the town people were clowns, had no fucking idea what was truly going on, how much in danger they were, and worst of worst, they were thinking themselves were good. All in frankness, the only smart people here were looking like Deanne woman and Aaron, both understanding they had to do something to survive, the rest...they were just bloody idiots. They left the guards posts unattended, slept through the watches, having parties and shit. Rick was going to have a major time putting them into the shape, and Daryl wasn't looking forward to it.

It was a bloody miracle how they'd survived this long, but miracles did happen, he'd started believing them since Beth had told her she loved him whole.

He wished she'd been with him, they would hunt together, treading through the woods like they'd been doing before, and he could start teaching her again, the thought was so good he made an appreciate sound, thinking he would just have her under a tree, too, he couldn't get enough of her—each time, he wanted her more, each time closer—tighter—his eyes fixated on hers as he drove over her, it was the most fucking amazing sight he'd ever seen—Beth Greene as he did her whatever he damn wanted—she was his.

He felt himself getting tightening inside his pants, and he needed to control this bursting of lust before they got out of the control much more than they'd already. Still, he wanted her. It was damn stupid how much he missed her, even though they practically passed all days together now, but he still missed her.

Amanda had asked her for a meeting in the morning, and Daryl had already known Beth was going to want to talk to her about the seemingly breaking up they had, so Daryl had come alone in the woods, not wanting to stay there—and good god, if she asked him to talk to Rick another time—god, no. He didn't need that shit again, so he'd tailed back

A crackling sound behind him got his attention. He listened to the woods, for the familiar lurching of the walkers but all he heard was light footsteps—so light, someone of a small stature—He turned around, bow raised on his shoulder, already aimed and roughed out, "Come out now! I know you there."

He waited for a second until he heard more crackling and breaking of twigs, then out of the trees came out—what the fuck!

"Whaddya do out here, boy?" Daryl rasped out at the boy of dirty blond hair he'd seen yesterday staring at him from their porch, "Have ya been following me?"

In silence the boy stared at him. "Are ya deaf or stupid?" he asked, walking at him, leaning down, "How did ya come out?" he asked.

The walls—the guards—the clowns—they couldn't even keep a little boy inside! He shook his head, crouching in front of him, and held his arm, "Come, I take you back home."

Fuck! Why all this shit happened to him? He started dragging the boy, but the boy pressed his feet on the ground, halting. "I wanna come with you."

He snapped at him, "What?"

"I wanna come with you," the boy repeated with a voice louder.

Fuck! "No. We're goin' back—" He leaned down at the boy in a gesture he hoped threatening enough, "You can't be here, boy," he said, "This ain't no game. The woods are dangerous."

"My name is Sam," the boy said back.

"I don't care." He urged him forward, "Move. We're goin'"

"Do you hunt?" the boy asked, looking at him again as they started going back, losing his shyness. Daryl didn't answer, kept walking, so did the boy kept asking, "Can you teach me?"

Daryl grunted. The boy looked at him again. "You cut your hair," he stated.

Well, thank you, little captain obvious. Daryl again grunted in response. "My mom tells me I shouldn't make sounds like that," the boy said, giving him a look again, "She says it's rude."

This time Daryl snorted. "I'm ten and half years old," he then remarked, and asked, "How old are you?"

Daryl gave the boy a dirty look. "I ain't your friend, boy."

The boy looked at him suddenly so sad Daryl felt bad. "I got no friends," he said then, bowing his head, "Ron doesn't let me play with them. Says I'm too small."

Daryl grunted again, and asked, "Who's Ron? Brother?"

He nodded. "Don't listen to him," Daryl then advised, feeling a bit odd, "Big brothers are assholes."

Sam gave him another look, "My mom says I shouldn't swear, too."

Daryl shrugged, "Sorry. Don't tell her."

They continued to walk towards the community and Daryl thought to ask what really going on, and he figured the boy got really curious with his crossbow and bored—boredom of a ten years old could be very…dangerous in places like these.

He cleared out his throat, trying to get himself built for the occasion, "The woods are dangerous, boy, there're walkers—you can't come here. Did ya see walkers?" he asked.

The boy, Sam, shook his head. "My dad talks about them, but mom gets mad. Says we needn't to know."

Jesus Christ! Had these people gone mad? Carl was a few years older than him, but he'd killed walkers twice as his age. He shook his head, and almost started telling the boy but his steps stopped when he heard crackling again from their left side. He stopped the boy, too, his hand on his chest, and moved his finger up to his lips, raising the crossbow again. Rick came out of the woods a second later.

He lowered the crossbow. Rick walked to him, his eyes glinting seeing the boy, "Daryl?" Rick asked, looking at the boy and him in question.

"He escaped," Daryl answered.

"What?"

"Yeah."

Rick swore under his breath. "Idiots!"

Daryl walked to him closer, "His mom told her they didn't need to talk about the walkers," Daryl told him pointedly, "He hasn't even seen one."

Rick shook his head, and repeated, "Idiots."

Daryl looked at him. "Where ya goin'?"

Rick moved closer to his ear, "I hid Aaron's gun in a cabin yesterday. I'm gonna take it back." Daryl nodded. "You take him back. I'm gonna talk about it with Deanne later." He shook his head again, "Idiots."

Daryl nodded, "'kay." Then halting for a second, he asked, because it was getting curious, and he damn wanted to know now before all the boys of Alexandria got lined behind him out of boredom, "Hey, do you know what the old woman wants of me?"

Rick shook his head. "No. She hasn't told me yet," he answered and snickered, "Go ask Amanda, I'm sure she knows."

Uh-oh. Nodding, Daryl decided to finish the conversation, and grabbing the boy at the shoulder he pushed him forward. "Move."

Fucking unbelievable.

# # #

Beth looked at Amanda sitting in front of her in her new office—the small library at Deanne's house and repeated, "You want us to keep looking for the Wolves?" she asked.

Amanda shrugged. "That was what you wanted, right?" she asked, "They're still out there, perhaps even closer and I'm not feeling well knowing that. They have to be dealt with," Amanda explained, "And I'd prefer the fight to be on their grounds, not on us. Less riskier."

Beth gave Amanda a look, "Does Rick know about this?" she asked, frowning. Somehow Beth felt like he wasn't.

Running her eyes, Amanda shrugged. "I—uh—haven't still talked with him, but he said okay once. He'd understand." She paused, "Besides, it's not his call now. It's Deanne's decision."

Beth frowned more. "You want Daryl and me going looking for them."

Amanda nodded, "Among a few others, yes," she said, "I thought Abraham too, but Deanne put him at the construction crew, which is absurd. We need a sort of militia, Abraham might do it," she continued, musing out, "Michonne can deal with the police stuff, controlling inside and residents, and Abraham and Daryl outside, threats and friends. Rick…uh, well, Rick can be a General over both of them, or something." She paused, "I haven't still thought of it thoroughly."

"Amanda, I think, you're missing my point," she said, trying to be as tactful as she could be. She couldn't do anything like this without consulting Rick first. She understood they were on a break, but if she played like this, Rick really wouldn't really like it.

Amanda sighed out. "Deanne still wants to recruit people and wants to find other communities, too. You see, she's really into rebuilding civilization," Amanda explained, "We could find new people, look for other communities for trade and commerce, and alliances, all the while looking for enmities."

Beth shook her head, "Amanda do you remember what I told you what happened when we found another community at the prison?" Beth asked, leaning down.

Her eyes getting heavy, she leaned over her desk, too. "Look, Aaron and Eric are still going out for scouting, and as good as they're for the first contact, they're still amateurs. We need someone like Daryl who could lead them so Rick wouldn't have another Governor situation at his hands." She gave Beth a bitter smile, "See, I'm still backing him."

Beth sighed in return. "You need to talk it with him."

"Well, Rick isn't my boss," Amanda said then, "But Deanne is. And she's doing it regardless of your decision, Beth."

"I think you're still missing my point, Amanda."

"So are you," Amanda bit off, "Didn't I just say Rick isn't my boss?"

Beth shook her head, "Why're you doing this?" she asked in return, "You just had a fight. You always fight with each other. Go talk to him."

Amanda shook her head stubbornly. "It wasn't a fight. He dumped me! He dumped me so quickly my fucking head turned!"

Beth let out another sigh. "You're exaggerating."

"I'm not," she hissed, and Beth could her stormy eyes shining with unshed tears, "He just said—fine!"

"Amanda," Beth then said, "You should never threaten a guy like him with break up—even I know it. Why're you keeping doing this?"

"Doing what?"

"Testing him?"

The other woman shot at her a glare. "I wasn't testing him."

"You were—" Beth insisted, she had listened the whole story in the morning, and yes, even though she was surprised the abruptness of Rick's reaction, Beth could see the testing— "You were testing him, and you weren't even aware of it. Amanda, don't you really trust him even a bit?"

"Excuse me!" Amanda exclaimed, "Do you remember the part I caught him flirting with another woman?"

"He was getting a haircut."

"It was flirting, Beth. I know damn well what flirting is," Amanda said fiercely, "And, really, what would you do if it was Daryl instead of Rick? How would you feel?"

Beth's face closed off. She wouldn't have liked it. Another woman—a woman who wasn't a professional in a saloon—touching Daryl's hair, flirting with him all the while doing it—no, Beth wouldn't have liked it, and her answer must have been open over her face, because Amanda shook her head, losing her fury. She looked weary now.

"It's easy for you to say, Beth," she said with a small voice, "You know you're the only woman in the world for Daryl. You could've thrown Daryl in the middle of Victoria's Secret models, and he wouldn't even blink."

"Amanda, I told you you're the only woman for Rick, too. I've never seen him being with anyone like he's with you before."

She still shook her head. "It's not the same. You know, it isn't."

No, it wasn't but Beth wanted her friend not to feel like this, yet she knew if their positions were reversed, Beth wouldn't have been happy with the situation, either.

"You told me how lucky it's to have a Rick and Daryl in this world, Beth remember?" Amanda said after a while, letting out a deep breath, "The other women know it, too, Beth." She paused, "I'm not sure if I can deal with this. It just never ends with him," She gave out a bitter laugh, "So here I'm …dealing with this instead of making cookies…" she muttered with a hiss.

Beth narrowed her eyes at the words, "Cookies?"

She shrugged. "Never mind," she said, leaned forward, "Look, I'm not going behind his back or anything. I don't want to him to get upset, either. He's still…I don't know…He's still whatever the hell he is. I'll talk to him, too. But Aaron is still going out, and like I said, it's Deanne's decision, not Rick's. I have to keep her happy."

Still, Beth didn't like it. "Why?" she asked. Amanda shrugged. "Amanda, I know you. You don't start anything like this without having a plan, hell a couple of plans in motion first. What's your angle?"

She shrugged again. "Nothing really devious," she said, "I need to prove to Deanne my while if we're going to stick around. I need to start building for myself. I can't stay forever with you now."

Her eyes widened, Beth looked at her. "Amanda, what the hell are you talking about?"

Amanda gave out a loaded sigh. "I don't know how many times I said it, but I can't be friends with Rick, Beth," she said, "So I need to get my own place and keep the fuck away from him." She shook her head again, muttering, "I'm fucking hating it."

# # #

It just fucking never ended with her.

The damn woman! She'd done it. She'd fucking done it. He was going to kick her ass. He was going to kick her ass so badly she wasn't going to sit on it for a week!

The gun was gone. It wasn't in the container. She just couldn't stop for a moment. He'd told her stay out of it, let her handle things and she'd gone and done the exact opposite, and now this! She'd come and taken the gun. She'd stolen from him.

Maybe he just going to strangle her again… as of the moment Rick couldn't really decide. She was driving him crazy. Just yesterday they were sitting under a tree—she was all settled down—as docile as she could be, telling him how much she trusted him, now this morning she was stealing from him…just because of a damn haircut! Being reasonable, his ass.

He was fucking hating it…then he stopped himself realizing what he'd just thought… Amanda's rich tones were twirling in his mind as she kept saying the phrase like a million time…and Rick knew then if she'd been here, he would've just had her right here until he taught her another lesson…stop being so damn difficult! God, what the hell he was going to do with her?

Just like his mood calling them, he heard a crackling sound to his left side, and he saw three walkers slowly limping towards him… His hand went to his machete, but then deciding that his mood just too frayed, too fucking frayed, he pulled out his pocket knife.

When he was finished with the trio, his newly washed green shirt was stained with blood once again, but Rick suddenly found himself it suited him more now than clean clothes. His face was bloodied as well with the sputtering blood, same as his hands.

He bowed his head and looked at his hands, stained with blood and dirt—and on his finger, glinting whitish still stood his ring—looking at it, steeling his mind, making up his decision, Rick took it off.

Then tucking the knife back at his belt, he went to find her.

# # #

As she walked around the wall that circled the town, Amanda realized with a perfect clarity that she really preferred to try making cookies instead of this, though for different reasons now. Alexandria had started her reminding Grady, how they'd kept wards unprotected and unaware of the things outside, and she wasn't liking it, guilt and what-ifs coming at her again. The towns people looked as unguarded and dumbfounded as her own wards, though there was one main difference, the wards hadn't been giving off those boastful, silly attitude like they knew a shit.

More importantly the wards did whatever the hell they had been told to without questions, not behaving like children given more power than they should have had. Looking at Abraham at the west side with the construction crew, she almost pitied the man as she knew he was having a field day with them over there.

Walking to them, she wondered how long it'd take to get Deanne warmed up to her enough to give her one of the empty houses because she just couldn't wait to get the hell out of that house. One night, one night of regroup—fuck it, avoiding him was enough hell for her. She wasn't sure how long she could keep this going without losing her shit again.

But she hadn't been testing him, not threatening him with a break up or anything. And seriously it'd been him who mentioned stopping first, she'd just added…ought to. If she'd been testing him, she surely would have known it! And if it was a test, if she'd done some shit on an unconscious level—then sure as hell he'd fucked it up!

She grunted out, getting annoyed again and wondered when Rick would find out about the gun. She wished that thing would've stayed hidden a bit more. She needed to deal with him on this scouting business, and Daryl needed to escort Aaron and Eric before those two brought back to them to trouble. She had other plans for a militia, too, but first things first.

If she'd know that Deanne and Aaron would've thought Daryl being a good companion to Aaron, she wouldn't have done it. She'd taken the gun last night, but Deanna had told her about her plans regarding Daryl this morning! The timing had just gone wrong.

It was going to make Rick mad like hell, and she'd readied herself for that, but combined with this scouting, it would just rattle him further. But the gun belonged to her. She'd taken it first from Aaron, and then they'd hid it together, but she still considered it hers. She had a nagging doubt that Rick wouldn't agree with her on that, but she wouldn't care less. She wasn't going to wander around in this place without a gun, and Rick would go and steal another one for himself. She wasn't going to give him hers.

Still, she couldn't confront him on two fronts. She was really fucking hating it. It was Deanne's call, yes, but they were still Rick's people. As far as she could tell Deanne Monroe seemed like a good woman. Amanda didn't get from her anything that made her on pin and needles, and her plans weren't that far fetched as well. She had good reasons for every each of them, bringing more people in, finding more communities to trade and commerce but the world had so much weak points now, no one could be sure. Beth had been right at that, when they'd found another community the last time, they'd lost their own. Amanda wouldn't think Rick would like to take the risk again unnecessary, and Amanda would agree on that, as well.

God, she really wished she could have just made cookies. Maybe she just should go and try talk to Rick again, it wasn't like that they were sworn enemies, but it was always her who caved in first, and she was getting bored with playing nice, too, and she had been right! Perhaps the way…uh…she'd expressed herself was wrong, but what she said was true. It was never fucking ending with him, women looked like they just couldn't help themselves but throw themselves at him…herself including.

Anger started finding her again. She didn't need him. She could keep herself safe, she could protect herself. She didn't have Rick Grimes until now, and all things considered, she'd done okay, more than okay. And soon, she could find herself a new house, or another place to hole up so she wouldn't need to see other women battling their eyes at him—lapping around at his every word. No, she'd seen enough of that for a lifetime. She guessed she just was going to have to settle with making cookies for herself.

She straightened her shoulders back, started turning back—heard the shouts from her left side, and turned… and Abraham was beating the hell out of someone from the construction crew…

She sighed, and started running.

"Enough!" she said, getting between them, holding off his chest— and it wasn't an easy job.

"These monkeys—" Abraham seethed, trying for another hit over her, "these clowns almost got our asses bit!"

Amanda pushed him off with all of her strength, "Hey, I said enough."

She patted him at the chest. "You go. I'll handle it."

Giving the man in charge a seething look, Abraham turned and walked away, and Amanda listened to the other man with only half an ear, because she'd already understood that she needed to talk to Deanne to get the leadership of the construction crew to Abraham or another, or else these…clowns were going to get themselves killed…and then she saw it.

From the other side of the wall, where the main entrance was, his clothes once again bloodied, Rick Grimes was coming at her with decisive strides, his clean shaved face clouded with fury and it was scarier now seeing all the fury over his face and a lot of hell sexier—and he saw her staring at him too, his eyes turned even sterner—glinting with fury—Oh, well, shit.

He was even madder than she had thought.

For a moment or so, she really thought turn back and start…retreating—but there was something in her eyes saying that she would have been even deeper in shit if she did that.

Well, they just needed to get it over then. She retreated a few yards back from the walls but so the crew over there wouldn't have heard any…unfortunate details of the upcoming fight and tried to loosen her coiling stomach, telling herself she had harder things in her life than facing off with a fuming Rick Grimes.

It worked a little bit and she felt herself getting calmer, forced her lips into a smile—but closing in on her suddenly, Rick grabbed her arm and pulled her closer to him, "Amanda, if you fucking smile at me, I swear I'm going to—"

She cut him off, she really didn't want to hear the rest of the words because she knew the words would turn her on no matter what—and it was wrong yet again as she was coiled with anxiety, she was also still getting turned on by him… "I assume you found about the gun?"

Rick shot at her a glare, but started dragging her toward the house. Amanda sighed. "Before we start this, may I remind you that it was me who disarmed Aaron first?" she asked, "By rights, the gun belongs to me now."

Rick halted on his steps. "Amanda," he asked, turning to her, "Is this a joke or what?"

Amanda grimaced as he started dragging her again. "I took it, we hid it together, and I took it back," she remarked placidly, "The end of the story."

"Are you fucking serious?"

She swept her eyes at him, and hissed, "It's mine. Go steal yourself another one."

"You're unbelievable."

"Am I believable?"

They came to the house just at that moment and thankfully it was empty. They'd all gone to their chores so any embarrassing moment that might occur between them wouldn't bear any witnesses. "Shut up," Rick snapped at her, "Just shut the hell up!" He gave her a hard, long look, "Where's the gun, Amanda?"

Standing, she looked at him in silence. With a growl out of his nose, he walked on her and started patting her looking for the gun. His hands reached her backside, circling her waist, and she shook her head, huffing, "Do you really think I'd carry it on me today, Rick?" she asked as he crouched down and started patting her legs, "When I know you'll be coming at me as the moment you realized it was gone?" She rolled her eyes, "Do you take me as a fool?"

"I take you as damn stupid!" Rick shot back, lifting his head up from where he knelt between her feet, "Last night you became her aide, now this! Just because you're mad at me!"

"M-mad at you?" she sputtered out, "Excuse me!" she exclaimed again, tilting her down to throw at him a glare, "Y-you walked out on me."

He stood up. "Then maybe, honey, you ought to be more careful what you say to me." He gave her a heated look, "You can't test me always, Amanda."

"I wasn't testing you!" she cried over. Why everyone was thinking that? She shook her head, "Rick, I wasn't," she said then, surprised how throaty words had come out of her, shaking, and she realized her lips started twitching—oh, god, she was going to cry…

She took a step back from him and turned around. "It's in the dustbin at the west side of the town," she said, not fucking caring anymore. If he wanted to take the damn gun so badly, leaving her all unprotected, fine, it was just fine! "First you left me, now you're taking me my gun, too."

She started walking toward the bathroom so she could be truly alone and would just cry without worrying someone catching her but Rick stopped her before she started climbing staircase. "Amanda," he said, "I didn't leave you."

"Really?" she asked back, turning back, "Because I remember you saying just fine."

But his eyes steeling, Rick shook his head, "No—no…Amanda, you can't guilt-trip me here. I didn't leave you. You pushed it. And even then, I didn't leave you. You went to Deanne, you put yourself out there. You didn't want to be partnered with me."

She stared at him as if mad. "Are you a joke?" she shot back at him his word, "Of course, I didn't. We can't be partner, we can't be friends." She looked at him, her eyes seething, and pursed her lips, "And don't worry," she said, "you still got Michonne for that."

Rick threw his hands in the air, "For god's sake!"

She evened out a breath. God, she was losing it again. She shook her head, "I can't do this, Rick," she said then, "I really can't. You think that haircut was naïve, but it wasn't. She'll ask something from you. You'll see. When she does," She gave him a long look, "Remember my words, I told you."

To her utter shock, Rick nodded, "Amanda, do you take me as a fool?" he asked back, "I know. I know something's going. She knew who I was even before she came, and she was here for a reason, that's why I played along. I thought I could perhaps learn about it then you came and wrecked havoc."

She shook her head. "Not my fault."

He nailed her with a hard look. "No. You just saw something, assumed the worst, and threw all that stuff on me, accused me founding a harem, then threatened me stopping us."

"I wasn't threatening you," she objected, getting really exasperated with it.

"There's something going on," Rick said in return, ignoring her remark, "Right now we could've talked about it, but instead we're talking about this. I was taking a stroll last night before I went to bed. I saw her husband. He was sitting all in darkness, drinking. We…had a moment. He called me drunkenly then told me his wife gave me a haircut."

She frowned. "What the hell does that mean?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. Right now I don't give a damn, either. What I care is, Amanda, how the woman I…want to be with thinks so little of me," he told her curtly, his eyes capturing hers, and she suddenly felt like a royal bitch… "I'm going to ask you this only once, Amanda," he said, "Do you really think of me someone like that?"

She breathed out deeply, and shook her head, "You know I don't."

"Then why do you keep accusing me with cheating on you?" he asked, "I've never cheated anyone all my life." He gave out a bitter, little laugh, "In fact, I got cheated on. My wife…when he thought of me dead, she slept with my partner. It was at the beginning of the turn. They thought me of dead, got close or anything—I don't know. I—forgave her. I'm not Judith's biological father, Amanda." Her eyes widened as she stared at him, "But she's my daughter," he said, "She's my little baby girl."

"Rick—" she whispered out… All things considered, she would've thought she couldn't possibly love him more than she already did, but once again Rick Grimes had proved her wrong. How a woman would cheat someone like him, Amanda could never possibly understand, even when he was dead. She just wanted to drop her knees and tell him she was sorry, beg him to take her in his arms again, promise him she was going to be the best...lover in the world, but he cut her off again. "Do you really want to be with me, Amanda? Really?" he asked her, and it sounded like a warning, "I don't do this stuff half, do you understand me?"

And she would never want anything more than going the whole way down with him, doing this. "You know I want to," she mumbled, nodding, but told him, because it still hurt, because she loved him so freaking much, "You just said fine…" she said, her voice breaking, "you walked out on me just with a fine."

His eyes were unflinching. "You're neither Michonne nor Beth, and I'm neither Daryl nor Glenn," he said back, "This threatening—accusing—we're done with them. You will cool down, do your hear me? You'll never ever threaten me again with breaking up. Are we clear?"

She thought for a second telling him again she wasn't threating him, but then looking at his face, she decided to nod wordlessly. "Talk to me," not satisfied with the gesture, though, he pressed on, "I want to hear your voice."

"Yes," she obliged quickly.

This time he nodded. "What you said was true," he went on, "We don't have time for this. When you get mad, you're like a staggering tornado. You don't know where to hit… You just run havoc. First you got yourself tied up with Deanne then you stole the gun from me."

"It was mine," she shot back with reflex, and he nailed at her such a look she quickly ran her eyes away then turned them back to him a second later, and gave him a small smile bouncing her shoulders off a little, "Sorry."

He let out a deep sigh. "Amanda, what I'm going do with you?" he asked, almost exasperated.

Love me back, she answered just at the moment in her mind, but outside she shrugged off again. "I was going to make cookies for you," she then told him, and asked, "Do you like cookies, Rick?"

He gave her a long look. "Everyone likes cookies," he said and took a step closer to her. His face loosened up a bit. "Do you know how?"

"No…" she confessed, "Thought wouldn't be too hard. Or I could've asked Beth and Carol…"

"You still could," he said in return.

"Do you want me to?" she asked back.

"I really want to eat your…cookies, Amanda Shepherd," he murmured over her lips, his left hand cupping her cheek as he leaned down for a kiss.

"You're very brave," she murmured back, leaning on his touch, lifting her head to touch his lips, then she noticed it. The feel of skin over skin over her cheek…no touch of cold metal…she skipped her eyes to his hand and checked his fingers… Bare… all of them… They were all bare.

The world for a second turned dark, the ground swayed under her feet, and she blinked—her heart madly beating in its cage—"Rick—" she said, covering his hand on her cheek with hers, as if to feel it, and looked at him… "You…?" she forced out through her tight throat, "T-took it off?" she asked.

He nodded.

"When?"

"This morning," he rasped out, "I told you I'm not doing this half way."

She couldn't help it. She threw her arms around his neck, and hugged him. She was going to make him all the cookies in the world.

# # #

She was kissing him, flitting little kisses along his jawline, laughing with little breathless laughs, still hugging him. She sounded truly happy, because he made her happy, and Rick realized this was how he wanted her to sound like—happy—chirping—these smiles, these laughs suited her better than those derisive and bitter ones.

There was no more disturbance in him, too, he'd taken his ring—after almost two years, he'd taken it off, and it felt…relieved, as if he'd finally let go a part of him, a part of his guilt, a part of his…resentment, and had come free.

He wanted to carry her upstairs and make love to her over one of the beds, slowly, gentle and caring, not like hot, messy tumbling they'd done in the woods and at the barn—he was going to show her how they could do it, too, and he was going to show her, but not now… not…now.

Now, he needed to deal with the fucking guns.

"Amanda—Stop," he told her, unwrapping her arms off his neck, pulling back her kissing assault, and pushed her a bit, too, "Stop. I have to go."

She stumbled on her feet a bit, regained her balance, and looked at him with disappointment and confusion. "What? Why? Where?" she asked at once, and he let out a faint laugh at her dazzled expression.

"You're keeping the gun, given that how ready you were getting to a fight with me for it," he told her. Truthfully, he couldn't take it back from her now. Moreover, he was getting the idea that they would need more than one gun. "I'm gonna follow your advice. Gonna steal more from the armory."

"Ah…" she muttered, then she frowned, "Do you have a plan?"

"Yeah, we do tonight," he said, "At the party."

"Hmm…" she hummed, "You're gonna slip off from it?"

Rick shook his head. "No. I'd get attention. They're watching me—us closely," he said, and stopped—"Carol," Rick then said a few seconds later, "She can go around the pantry freely. She will do it."

Amanda nodded. "Okay," she said, "You go ahead. I need to look over stuff, too." She paused, "There's…uh…something else we should discuss, too."

Rick frowned, understanding not liking what he would hear. Hesitance if it wasn't about them usually meant trouble with her. "What?"

"Deanne wants Daryl and Beth start scouting with Aaron. Actually Aaron has wanted it first. They need someone like Daryl out there leading them," she quickly went on as his frown grew tighter, "I'd feel much better if I know someone who know what he's doing lead them before they bring back trouble to us. We need to look for those wolves, too. They still worry me. We need to take care of them, too." She paused, "Actually, I was thinking of a team…I think we need to form up a sort of Militia. The police can't be mixed up with military stuff, it always means trouble. Michonne—" her voice still grew tighter, "Michonne can deal with inside…like Homeland Security, and Abraham and Daryl would deal outside. You—uh, you can watch over both."

"Amanda," Rick grunted out, "It's not even noon yet. Have you thought all of this since the morning?"

She shrugged, giving him a sheepish look, "Well, when I get depressed, my mind works fast."

Rick rubbed between his eyebrows with his fingers. "That's too much for one go," he said, "And there's still stuff we need to do. The security is a mess, today a ten years old boy escaped."

"What?" Amanda cried out.

"Yeah. He got after Daryl. He found the boy in the woods."

She smiled, "Daryl has a groupie, too?" she huffed, "Beth is lucky. She's got small children, I got hot blondes."

"Amanda…"

"Okay, okay…" she told him, rising her hands up.

"All right," he said back, "We wait until we take the guns tonight and talk the rest tomorrow. Does Daryl know about this?" He asked, and halted for a second, "I don't believe he'd like to hear your plans regarding Beth," he said.

Amanda snorted faintly. "He gotta learn to cool down as well," she said, and giving him a look, she smiled at him, "Hmm… maybe you could give him an ultimatum, too. You're rather good at that."

He threw at her another look. Smiling further, she rested herself on him and wrapped her arms around his neck again. "Rick, can you not spare me a few moments? Please?" she almost begged at him, then said, "I'm so turned on right now it really wouldn't take more than…a few minutes."

Pulling back his head an inch, he looked at her, his arms tightened around her waist, "A few minutes…?" he asked.

"Less than a few minutes," she reassured him, resting herself further on him.

"No."

"Rick."

"No.

"I said please."

He pulled again and gave her another look, and smirked, "Amanda, sweetheart, trust me, you're gonna make much more begging than that tonight."

In answer, she only trembled. Still smirking at her, he leaned down for a quick kiss, and left her to go find Carol and Daryl.

---

A/N: Can I let out here a big breath that I finally made Amanda and Rick into a semi-settled relationship, Rick taking off his ring. Took me a while, but I'm happy they're almost settled in, too, like Beth and Daryl.

And, Daryl interacting with a little boy was something I wanted to do for a long time, so, another mission accomplished! Their conversation was so much fun for me to write.