Last night was weird.
Rick had only known this woman barely over a month, and yesterday he found himself in the infirmary almost all night waiting for her to recover. That was understandable, he told himself, he would have done it for anyone else who got hurt on a supply trip.
But staying with her in her home? In her bed? Now that was...something else. He shouldn't care what others would think, but there was a small part of him that was worried about his group judging him. It's only been shy of 9 months after losing Lori and you're already sharing a bed with this woman, his subconscious snapped at him.
He sat up quietly to make sure he wouldn't disturb Rose. Surely she wouldn't have seen him staying overnight as more than friends being concerned for each other, right?
They've had intimate conversations before where he felt like she was opening up for the first time in years. Hell, it was the same the other way around, albeit Rick never mentioned Lori. That wasn't something he even talked about with the group. It wasn't anything too out of the ordinary considering Rose never mentioned anything more about her family, save the one night after Deanna's welcome dinner.
There was also passing touch here and there, or hugs lasting maybe longer than usual after one of them had returned from a trip outside the walls - but never anything more than that. Rick had been too busy lately, now that he was stepping more into Deanna's role. With both their busy schedules, they were spending less time together than when Rick and his group first got to Alexandria. That bothered him more than he wanted to admit, but the needs of the whole community came first.
When would his matter?
This is wrong, part of him told himself, you don't really know her, you don't know anyone here in Alexandria. You're not even over Lori's death.
The last part stung.
No, he wasn't over Lori's death. That's not something you ever get over.
But did that mean he wouldn't be able to care about someone like that again?
He passed a quick glance to Rose's sleeping form and quietly made his way off her bed. Closing the door behind him, he pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head, feeling overwhelmed.
She felt herself jump awake. What the fuck? She thought to herself, it almost felt like the past 24 hours were a dream. Looking over to her left, the bed was empty. Rose sat up in bed, trying to put together the pieces of what just happened. She could remember parts of the supply trip and waking up in the infirmary, but the gaps in between frustrated her. It just reminded her how she felt after her accident.
As soon as she shifted to get out of bed, she heard some noises from her kitchen. Trying to be light in her step, she immediately failed by stumbling out of bed, her head still hurting. She heard footsteps coming closer and closely after Rick was in her doorway.
"You good? I heard you-" He began, worry written over his face.
"Yeah, I am." She cut him off curtly and leaned against her bed. She still didn't have everything pieced together, but even then, she was so used to being independent so the worry was strange to her. "Just a little dizzy, thank you though." She added softly, her being in this state wasn't Rick's fault so it didn't make any sense to take it out on him.
"How are you feeling today?" He asked, still remaining in the doorway.
"I'm good...my head still hurts." A brief pause, "I still don't even know what happened yesterday." Rose brought her hand up to her temple, some naive part of her thinking that that would help the events come back to her. All she could remember was searching for supplies, probably making a smartass remark to Glenn, and then darkness. She nearly cursed herself for pretty much lying to Denise about her condition. But she didn't want to take up a much needed bed for longer than she had to.
Rick came closer as she tried to push herself off of her bed, fearing that she would fall over easily. He snaked an arm around her waist to help her up, "Easy there, don't rush. Don't want you falling again."
She grunted in response and wanted to shake him off but didn't have the energy to do so, "Thanks." Once she was up, she was able to gently move out of his grasp and make her way to the living room. "Any plans you have for today?" She asked leaning against her door frame, hoping to change the subject. Hopefully there was something to keep others - Rick included - occupied while she could recuperate at home - alone.
"Yeah." Rick paused for a moment, "I should probably get back to my group, we need to plan out another supply run since yesterday…" He trailed off, unsure of how to continue. He started to shift on his feet, not sure whether to feel awkward or not. He did, after all, spend the previous night not only in her home, but in her bed.
Rose nodded quietly, "Cool, well...let me know if I'm needed. I'll be here." She waited for him to look away before wobbling quietly to her couch.
Rick turned his head before replying, "I think it's best for you to stay behind. Take a breather for the next couple of days." Before she could argue, he added, "You know I'm right too." Else Denise or I force you to come back and take bedrest, he wanted to add.
Rose sighed quietly, knowing that whatever she would say wouldn't make a difference. She was going to be stuck on house arrest whether she liked it or not. "I guess." She felt her shoulders drop a little. If there was anything she hated more than feeling useless, it was staying inside these dreaded walls. It was what separated her from the other Alexandrians before Rick's group arrived, she preferred to be out there than cooped up in here. "You should probably go meet up with them." She added flatly, not intending to come off as short but she just wanted to have the alone time to recuperate.
He jumped up, realizing what Rose was hinting at, "Yeah, I should. The supply run shouldn't take too long, I'll be back later tonight." As soon as he said the last part, he couldn't help but feel slightly awkward and almost wished he didn't add that. She didn't appear to register it but did he need to keep her updated on where he was? Probably not but it just came out.
Rose was half listening anyways, too deep in her thoughts. Last night was weird, she thought. This felt different from when Rick crashed on her couch a couple of weeks back. Last night felt largely…intimate. With someone she hasn't known longer than a month or so.
"Sounds good." She replied after realizing she hadn't replied to whatever he was saying. Rick nodded before leaving. What the hell am I going to do? She thought to herself before falling back asleep.
Rose found herself awake several hours later. She quickly checked the clock on her stove and saw that it was 3:24 pm. Somehow, she'd been asleep the past 6 hours. Guess she was a lot more exhausted than she originally thought. God damn it, she thought to herself as she knew people were going to have a lot of questions about the supply run and how she was feeling. If there was anything Rose hated more than walkers, it was talking about herself and talking to the other Alexandrians. She'd been so used to being alone after her last group.
There was a slight throbbing in the back of her head, but it wasn't worth going back to Denise. The last thing she needed was being forced to stay overnight over a small headache. Rubbing the back of her neck, she sat up on her couch and waited for the dizziness to subside. Her head dropped as she accepted that the dizziness wasn't going to go away anytime soon, no matter how much she'd hoped. That didn't mean she had to be stuck in here, waiting for others to help her.
Fuck it, she thought as she pushed herself off of the couch and decided to figure out what she was to do for the rest of the day. Rick's group had been out on a supply trip, there were good chances that Spencer or Aiden were also going to be with them too so she didn't need to worry about running into them. It'd been about a month since she'd interacted with him, when he pretty much broke into her home. She'd been lucky that she was able to avoid him a lot and wanted to keep it that way.
There was a faint knock at the door and Rose tried her best to get there quickly, but that quickly proved to be a mistake as she had to grip the back of a dining chair to gain her balance. "Hello?" She called out, hoping it would be as simple as someone just dropping off lunch or something.
"It's me.". A familiar voice on the other side. Jessie was a friendly woman, although Rose often found herself zoning out during a lot of their conversations. After seeing what she'd seen outside the walls, it was hard to care about who was screwing who or what recipes were stolen from others. It just was so asinine to her but given how sheltered a lot of people inside the walls were, it made sense that gossiping was the best way to pass the time. Didn't mean she wanted to listen to it all of the time.
Rose quietly sighed to herself before speaking up, "Come in."
The door opened and Jessie appeared in the doorway, "How are you feeling? We heard about your incident..." She trailed off as she took in Rose's appearance. While Rose normally appeared a little more put together than the others, her current appearance was the opposite of that. Bags under her eyes and disheveled hair gave away Rose's condition more than she wanted to.
"I'm good," Rose croaked, "Just trying to catch up on rest." She said before offering a small smile.
Jessie stepped in and waited quietly before deciding to take a seat. She placed a small tray onto the table, "I made this for you since I figured you didn't eat last night." She quietly pushed the tray towards Rose.
"Thank you." Rose gave a bigger smile this time around, even though her head continued to throb, "You didn't need to do this, really." She looked down at the tray, it was a modest dinner but it still meant something. Although the woman annoyed her at times, she preferred her company over most of Alexandrians.
Most.
"So…" Jessie started, hinting to Rose exactly what she didn't want to talk about, "Has Rick checked with you since you left the infirmary?"
Rose tried hard to not roll her eyes, but quickly failed. She gave out a small laugh before answering, "Just ask what you want to ask, Jess."
She got a big smile in return as Jess leaned in quietly, as if they weren't the only ones in the room, "Are you two…?"
Rose's eyes widened at the question. Was she warmer to Rick than most other people she's encountered during this? Yeah, probably. But there was so much more to it than that, and she didn't want to ruin anything but turning their relationship into something more serious. But if he was open to the idea she wouldn't mind it. She certainly didn't want to bring it up first, that would be the last thing she'd want.
A hand waved in front of her face, "Earth to Rose." Jess leaned back and smile, "It's not a serious question, don't worry."
"Ah, no, no, sorry. Just zoned out a bit, been happening since the little incident we had yesterday." She tapped her temple for emphasis on I have a mild concussion, "No, we're not. Just good friends."
Jessie's eyes narrowed, not really buying that answer. She decided to press on, "Have you two talked about something more? Everyone sees how close you are."
Rose scoffed, she didn't want to talk about this anymore but she knew that avoiding the subject would only make Jessie even more curious. And that would just lead to more gossip and speculation with the rest of the community. Why did it even matter? When she was sleeping with Spencer, no one brought it up, at least to her directly. Why was this any different?
And why all of a sudden her interactions with Rick so important to everyone? Were others seeing something she wasn't?
She shook her head before answering, "No nothing like that. We're just friends, really. I don't know why people keep asking me about it."
Jess shrugged, "Just something for people to talk about." She sighed before continuing, "Rick's a good looking guy, I wouldn't be surprised if some are asking so that they know if he's you know…" She looked at Rose before trailing off.
Rose felt a pang of jealousy at what Jess just said, other women were interested? No, no, it doesn't matter. There was nothing going on between them. It was frankly none of her business and it felt wrong to feel jealous. They hadn't even talked about anything like that!
Jess wasn't sure if she said something that was out of line, but it was so hard to tell since Rose hardly showed emotion on her face. Although some of the silence was deafening. She probably shouldn't have brought up any of this in the first place.
"Yeah, I mean…whatever." She let out a small laugh, hoping to come off as if the previous info didn't bother her. Because it didn't and shouldn't. "I'm not tied to him so it doesn't matter to me." Who was she trying to convince at this point?
Jess gave a small "uh huh" before standing up, "Well, I better check up on Ron and Sam." She smiled and added, "I'm glad you're feeling better though."
"Thanks, me too." Rose mumbled, relieved that the conversation was now over.
What a weird day.