Friday, March 5, 2010
Rick lasted three days.
Three days of not seeing Sandi or hearing her voice after he found her. His family were right, he *knew* they were right, that he should stay away and not push her too hard. That he didn't want to push her right away from him. That his memories of her were from the way they were with each other from after and it would be hard for him to act like a stranger now. That he should wait until the full moon and catch her then. That he should leave her be until he can help her remember too. That'd be the sure thing. That'd be the wise plan, the smart plan. It'd be too hard on both of them if he tried to court her as if he were a stranger again and he really should wait until she remembers. The fact that the spark was still there was enough. It should be enough. He tried. He did.
They'd accomplished a lot in three days. Possibly because he'd been pushing himself and therefore everyone else too hard in an effort to keep his mind occupied and not thinking of her. He was in constant motion. They'd already laid the foundation for five cabins with everyone's contributions before this week, but had added fifteen more when the loan had gone through. They'd gotten the ground leveled and cleared for the fifteen additional cabins, with concrete foundations poured around the plumbing and septic piping. Septic tanks were placed and buried.
They'd put the initial five cabins in a row about 300 feet northeast of the Greene home in a line northwest to southeast, matching the line of the farmhouse. The original home faced southwest, so this way there was a little bit of room between the back of the house and the cabins. Also, the cabins weren't immediately viewable as they stood on the front porch of the farmhouse.
When they decided to add the additional fifteen, they ended up making three more rows of five cabins each behind the first row. That made a nice little village of twenty cabins that weren't a long walk from the main house. They got a variety of sizes as well, meant for families. There were only a couple one bedroom loft cabins as they figured most would want more room, about five two-bedroom cabins, ten three-bedroom cabins that were quite roomy, two four-bedroom and one large-five bedroom cabin that was going on the last row furthest inside. They were set so this weekend the concrete would have cured enough so they would have a lot of work available to set up the outside prefab parts of all these cabins.
They hadn't only worked on the cabins. The cement dome guys had come in and poured the gym/training building along with three large warehouses. They'd decided to add two more storage facilities after the loan as well, so now they had the three.
The five spots they'd had ready for cabins last week now had the prefab outside assembled and they'd finished off the metal roofing last night. Rick had set up spotlights all around so they could work late into the night-much to the rest of the crew's dismay. However, looking around, Rick felt it was worth it. Five cabins were assembled and ready for indoor work and fifteen prepped so they could start the assembly as soon as the additional prefabs got here. Three storage facilities started along with the gym; just had to wait for the curing to finish enough to start the inside work.
They'd started a temporary road running southwest to northeast from the Greene family farmhouse up to the cabins. Then the road connected the gym, archery range and one storage dome above the cabins to the right and two more storage domes to the left. Below the storage domes opposite of the cabins they'd leveled and prepped a second apartment building to work on as they had time. Below that was the combined kitchen/dining hall/town hall they'd decided could all be in one building. That was priority so they'd prepped the ground first back when they started the cabins and it had the outside finished as well as another metal roof installed yesterday. They'd also added a secure area for the armory to one side. It was ready for inside work and that would start in earnest soon.
Below that was the combined Laundry/Salon. They'd decided it made sense to combine those so they would have multiple washers & dryers with an archway entrance to the haircutting side of things. They would start ground work on that soon.
Below that and across from the Greene family farmhouse was the first apartment building. It was at the same stage as the kitchen/dining with all the outside work finished. Next week they would start framing the apartments inside, they planned on getting ten two-bedroom apartments on both sides of the first floor-five on each side. Then twenty single rooms with bathrooms on the second floor-ten on each side. They'd model the 2nd apartment building after this one so they'd have plenty of room and could convert some singles to two bedrooms pretty easily as needs changed. The important part was that they had room, plenty of room for their family. For the family members they saved who hadn't made it before and for new people they brought into the family.
Rick had walked the perimeter that morning observing all the various stages of work. To the right of the cabins would be his own personal projects. There was an area for a largish orchard next to the 5-bedroom cabin and then four greenhouses spanning the area from the orchard south all the way down beside the kitchen gardens to the right of the farmhouse. Beyond that they had the barn, stables and various animal pens and chicken coops, protected between the future greenhouses and the forest. And of course, there was the farmland to the north, south and west of everything else.
Rick walked into the kitchen just as Annette was dishing up breakfast. He'd already put in a few hours of work along with his perimeter walk checking up on everything. He sat down at the table between Daryl and Shane.
"Rick. You've got to get some rest. I know you've been up for hours already," Shane said as Rick nodded a thank you to Annette for the plate she'd set in front of him.
Daryl scoffed. "Man don't never rest enough," he agreed. "Not now and not then. Good luck getting him to slow down."
Shane shook his head. "Ain't never seen ya like this," he shoots a glance over Rick's head to Daryl. "You sayin' this is normal?"
Daryl nodded as he scooped some more eggs up with his toast. "If there's things needin' done to keep us safe, he doesn't stop till it's done."
"I'm sitting right here ya know," Rick comments softly. He's not sure they hear as they just keep on.
"Brother," Shane says. "You're gonna kill yourself at this pace. Hell, you might kill the rest of us at this pace."
T-Dog snorts his agreement from down the table a ways.
"Lucky you can take a break this morning since I won't be here to make sure you stay on task," Rick stated. "Better see some work done when I get back though, don't go completely slacking off."
Shane looks surprised at this. "Where you goin'? I thought you 'wanted this done and there's nothing more important than that'," he quoted, using his fingers for the air quote emphasis. "That's what you were sayin' the other day when I wanted to take a look at some stuff at Lowe's over in Newnan. Wouldn't have taken long and you shot me down. What's so important today to take time away?"
Rick swallowed, and tried to play it cool. "Just got an errand, that's all."
"An errand? Want ta tell me what errand or we keepin' it generic today?" Shane badgered.
Merle finally came up for air from his own plate and brayed like a donkey as he laughed. At least that's what Rick thought a human donkey would sound like. Just like Merle right now.
"Ole Officer Friendly has been running us ragged trying to keep his thoughts off one lil' lady in King County. Now he's decided not to listen to us anymore and is gonna hunt said lil' lady down, ain't that right?" Merle declared. And dammit, he wasn't wrong. Since when did Merle Dixon know him so well?
"Rick? That true?" Shane asked, surprise in his voice.
"Just some errands, that's all," Rick said again. If he stuck to his story, maybe they'd drop it eventually.
"So not gonna stop by Harrison Memorial then, all casual like?" Daryl asked.
Rick gave Daryl a wounded glare. He'd thought Daryl understood and would be on his side. He looked around the table and saw Carol hiding a grin. Everyone's attention was on him.
"Fine. I might swing by," he conceded.
"Ah dammit Rick, you couldn't last two more days?" Shane groused as he pulled a twenty out of his pocket and handed it over his head to Daryl who pocketed it with a smirk.
Rick looks around to see more money exchanging hands. T-Dog to Carol, Frank to Merle. Then the biggest surprise of all, Lori hands money off to Carl with a smile on her face and a shake of her head.
"You're betting on me and how much I miss my wife?" he asked, hurt evident in his voice.
"Rick, it's not like that," Lori said. "It's more that all of them are proving just how well they know you and love you." She gestured to Shane. "We thought we knew you pretty well and are well aware of the tight control you keep on your emotions. We didn't think five days would be too hard for you but they all insisted you'd never make it that long even if it was the smart move. Obviously they were right."
Rick looked again at those who won. Daryl. Carol. Merle. Carl. Okay, he understood that Daryl, Carol and Carl knew Sandi and maybe understood him better on that subject but again-Merle never even met Sandi, how'd he get in on this?
"Doesn't feel much like love, betting against me," he muttered into his eggs.
"Well maybe this will make you feel better then," Annette said as she put a piece of paper down in front of him.
"What's this?" he asked as he picked up the paper. It just said: Cafeteria, noon. Back southwest corner booth. Be there. ~M
"It's from Maggie. You've generated a lot of concern from your friends and family the last few days. While they counseled you on the most prudent course to take, I don't think after the first day of frenzied work that anyone thought you'd make it to the full moon. So Maggie made a plan as she tends to do." Annette said.
"Plan? What plan?"
"Did you know Maggie worked as a lab tech at the hospital as she was going to college? She knew they were looking and they hired her right on the spot. Didn't you wonder where she's been the past few days?"
He just shook his head in a blur. He'd been too busy keeping busy.
"Well, she took a job in the lab at Harrison Memorial. She said you weren't going to last and somebody had to keep an eye on Sandi. I guess they were friends before, but she elected herself. She's eaten lunch with Sandi the last two days. That's your invitation to join them today. Don't screw it up." With this statement, Annette picked up his plate and walked back into the main kitchen area. Rick looked around.
"You all knew about this."
"We did," Lori confirmed. "We just hoped you'd be able to work through it." Daryl scoffs at that and Merle outright laughs. Lori rolls her eyes. "Well, some of us did, but other know-it-alls seemed sure we'd need this backup plan. Where you could see her and talk to her with someone there to help out and keep things from going sideways."
"Y'all think I need a babysitter?"
"Yes!" came from just about everyone in the room.
"I don't know what y'all think I'm gonna do. I managed to catch her last time didn't I?" Rick asked grumpily. "Ya act like I'm trying to chase her away."
Daryl huffs and Rick looks over to see him staring at him disbelievingly. "You mighta caught her, but that was after she ran so hard you practically lost her. She'd barely moved into Alexandria and there you were telling her your 'intentions' and how you were attracted to her. I'm still amazed you managed to end up together after all of that."
"Daryl, you know why I did that. I wasn't about to waste time any more. I was willing to wait until she was ready, I just wanted her to know."
"I just hoped you'd learned and would have some patience this time around. All she has to do is remember, man. It can be nice and calm-like."
Rick nodded. "I know. Just have to wait till the full moon and bam! she'll remember. My head gets it. I've tried to wait, I really have." He glanced around the room at everyone. "I just can't. I need to at least be in contact, let her get to know me."
"Did you really do that? Tell her that soon?" Lori asked. "That doesn't sound like you at all."
He nodded. "I did."
Lori looked contemplative. "I look forward to meeting the woman that can disrupt Rick Grime's iron control over his emotions."
"Can't be soon enough," Merle agrees. "I'm glad Maggie came up with a plan because I'd like to survive the month and go back to Walsh running things. Let the man talk to her if it'll calm him down and let us get some rest."
Murmurs of agreement went around the room while Carol just grinned at him. "I know you tried Rick. I think we all just forgot how intense things got with you two for a while there. Go have lunch, get to know the person Sandi is now. Get her to talk about her kids, you know that's part of the way to her heart. Just keep it light, Maggie will help. Hopefully that'll give you enough to make it the rest of the month. Soon enough she'll be back."
So after three days of frenzy, that was how Rick found himself at a table having lunch with Maggie and Sandi making small talk. It was both good and bad at the same time. So good to be here with her, but bad to realize just how much of a stranger he was to her. He had to watch himself carefully to make sure he didn't casually talk about things he shouldn't know about her life. No one was more floored than he was when toward the end of the lunch Maggie opened her mouth.
"Ever been to a barn raising Sandi?"
Sandi looked intrigued. "No, I can't say I ever have. Why?"
Maggie looked mischievous. "We're having one next Saturday the 13th. Of a sort, not exactly a barn. We told you about the bow hunting retreat we're building?"
Sandi nodded. They'd spent a bit of time talking about that, Maggie explaining that Rick and her father and others were invested in the venture together.
"Well we have cabins to raise and one of our neighbors, Mr. Fischer, suggested we do an old fashioned barn raising except with the cabins. There'll be food, a lot of family and neighbors and a lot of work but a lot of fun as well. You should come and bring your kids. I'd love for you to meet my family."
Rick was stunned. When had this been planned?
"That sounds like something my kids would love. You're sure we wouldn't be in the way?"
"Absolutely not!" Maggie declared. "I dare say you'll feel just like a part of the family once it's over. There's nothing like a good barn raisin' to get to know people really quickly."
Like a whirlwind Rick watched as Maggie gave Sandi the details of how to get to the farm, when to arrive and all the information she needed. Soon Sandi was grinning and patting him on the shoulder goodbye and she was gone. He looked at Maggie.
"A barn raising?"
Maggie winked at him. "A good place to both stay busy and get to know someone while all eyes are on you so you can't screw it up. As amusing as it was to watch the first time, we don't have time for that. We won't let you make her run this time. Plus we all want to see the kids, especially Carl."
He can imagine. Carl was close to his step-siblings. He knows he should feel offended that everyone thinks he'll screw this up. But...he gets to spend the day with his family soon. All of his family. That's enough that he can forgive the meddling. For now.
A/N Okay, so here is another chapter. I'm still not entirely sure I'm pleased with it, but I wanted to show the progress they are making, helped along by Rick's frenzy to keep his mind off things. More interactions between team family and Merle just keeps having insights into Rick and that's really confusing Rick, lol.
Several of you have asked about the layout of the farm. I finally sat down and tried to sketch out the layout when it's done. Or at least most of the buildings they have planned, I'm sure they'll think of more.
I've never tried to add a link before, but here is a link to my instagram with a very, VERY, rough layout of the farm as described in this chapter:
/p/CQNMCRXj1ei/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link (Links are very hard on here. Add instagram to the begining of this. Followed by dot and then a com of course. Or just search for sandimariekarr on there). Only if you want to see the layout, not biggie otherwise.
Also, don't look for much from my instagram. :) This was just a way to get a picture of the farm layout up. I mainly created it to participate in Nanowrimo in years past. Someday I will get an original story written, for now I am 'practicing' with fanfiction.
Also, I decided to start adding dates to the story, so I'll likely be going back and editing past chapters to add the dates. I think it'll be cleaner and easier to let everyone know what date it is.
Thanks again for reading!