A/N Happy New Year! I hope this year brings you a wealth of health and happiness (and many warm Sunday nights with ass-kicking Rick and the gang!). Many thanks to my lovely reviewers (Bluecrush you're the best!).

Now let's start this year off right. Here is the sweet yummy stuff that gives this Echo its mature rating. It's a double feature so I'm posting both chapters now. Enjoy…

Chapter Nineteen

When the heavy footfalls stop just a few feet from her rock, Erin senses a shift in the wind that carries a glimmer of hope on its current. She lifts her head but dares not turn around.

"I hope you're not wasting those tears on me."

Rick? Erin turns at the sound of his voice, the voice she'd thought she would only hear in her dreams now and she wonders if she actually is dreaming. She stares at the vision of him standing only a few feet away, afraid to move for fear of waking up and losing him forever.

He tilts his head, compassion and regret filling his eyes as he gives her a crooked half smile. "It's okay, honey," the vision says softly. "I'm here."

"Rick?" she whispers tremulously. Can it be? Maybe she's getting delirious again for wanting to see him so damn much. Her leg has felt pretty good today and her mind has been clear for days, but maybe she is having some kind of relapse. Could it really be him standing only three feet away from her?

"Come here, sweetheart," he says tenderly, holding his right hand out to her after swatting at a mosquito flitting around his ear.

For some reason, that simple mundane action solidifies him in her reality and she leaps into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist with a fierce grip on his shoulders. "Rick!" She sobs with joyful tears as a tsunami of relief washes over her. "Oh, sweet baby Jesus, thank you." She cries into his neck as she feels his arms tighten around her back, squeezing her even harder than she is clinging to him, which seems impossible given the force with which she is clutching his body from his hips to his neck.

After the bitter cold that had seeped into her bones when she'd believed him to be dead, the warmth of his hands on her body and the solid shoulders beneath her arms quickly melts the icecaps casing her joints and she feels her limbs loosen for the first time since he'd left camp yesterday morning. The heat of his breath against her neck dissolves the crippling ache in her heart as he murmurs her name like an answered prayer. "I thought I lost you," she sobs against his shoulder.

With the breadth of his chest pressed tightly to hers, she can feel his heart beating soundly, directly against her own and bringing new life to her lungs after hours of feeling like she couldn't get enough oxygen to take a sufficient breath. She can feel her heart quicken, racing to catch up to his so they may beat in unison; one strong pulse drumming in a singular tempo for two souls who understand that this is exactly where they are meant to be.

"Didn't you dream of the lake last night?" he asks, pulling back to meet her gaze. "I told you I'd be back, didn't I?"

She sees the moisture in his eyes from unshed tears and knows that he is feeling the same overwhelming emotion at their reunion. She rubs a knuckle across her eye to clear her vision, bringing his beautiful face into focus. "Yes, you said you'd be here in the morning but you weren't. I tried to sleep again so I could find you but every time I closed my eyes I just laid there thinking the worst. I thought I lost you," she says through quivering lips as she skims her thumb across his cheekbone. "I waited and waited and you didn't come back to me." Fresh tears fill her eyes and she leans forward to hug him tighter again, the stubble covering his jaw scratching lightly at the wetness on her cheek.

"Honey, I'm so, so sorry. I got back as soon as I could," he says, rubbing soothing circles over her shuddering back.

"Don't leave me, Rick," she implores, hiccuping through a sniffle as a collection of gray clouds drifts over the quarry from the south. "I couldn't bear it here without you."

"I'm not going anywhere. Not without you," he promises and she believes it, knowing she won't be letting him out of her sight for a good long while.

She leans back to look at his dear face again and sees a painful wince as he drops his left shoulder beneath her smothering arms. "Rick, what's wrong? Are you hurt?" She squirms against him and he sets her gently on her feet, careful with her injured leg.

"It's not too bad, really. How are you feeling?" he asks, looking deeply concerned as he drops his left hand to rest on her hip while his right hand caresses her cheek tenderly.

"I'm fine now that you're here." She tilts her cheek into the warmth of his palm. "But what happened to your shoulder?" Noticing a large, dark stain adorning his grimy shirt, she opens two buttons and pulls the material to the side to inspect his chest beneath the dried blood on his shirt. Finding a strip of duct tape wrapped across his chest and around his back, she gently traces her fingertips across the shiny makeshift bandage.

"Ran into a few un-neighborly fellows. It's really okay, just a little sore now. I'll be doing handstands again in another day or two," he jokes, trying to ease her already distraught mind.

Seeing the reddened, slightly swollen patch of skin at the edge of the tape - and not far from his heart - she realizes again just how close she had come to losing him. New tears sting at the back of her eyes and she buries her face against his chest, clutching his shirt in her trembling fists.

"Hey, hey, it's okay, sweetheart. I'm right here."

She feels the pressure of his lips at the top of her head as his hand caresses the back of her neck. With her body keenly tuned to his, she detects a sudden shift within him, softer than a sigh and lighter than a smile. He probably isn't even aware of it himself yet, but she recognizes the exact moment when he finally surrenders his heart.

Her body is aware of his on a visceral level; the outline of his form, the contour of muscles beneath his tanned skin, the aroma of his musky scent that she can practically taste upon her tongue.

"I'm right here," he repeats, kissing her forehead through her bangs as he rubs reassuring arcs across her back and pulling her body into his. "I'm right here," he says softly, tenderly kissing her cheek as she lifts her head slightly toward the sweet mouth that she knows so well, despite the limited amount of intimacy they'd shared. "I'm right here," he whispers lovingly against the corner of her mouth as she barely registers the cool drizzle beginning to wash over them.

"Rick," she sighs faintly before his lips brush over hers, lightly, delicately, as if she were a rare flower that he had no business touching.

"I'm right here," he repeats softly against her lips, pressing another feather-light kiss to her mouth.

The feel of his lips, so soft and tentative against her mouth turns her insides into a river of lava. Erin leans into his kiss, assuring him that he has every right to touch her and encouraging him to go further. She parts her lips and he swallows once before slanting his mouth over hers, finally admitting what she's known all along; that every decision they'd ever made - good, bad or seemingly inconsequential - has led them to this place, this moment in time where they were meant to discover each other in a way that transcended words, thoughts and efforts.

When his tongue finds hers, a sharp needle of desire pierces low in her belly, causing her little flutter to stand at attention after lying in a puddle of tears all morning. His touch incites an ache in her loins with an intensity she'd never known possible; a physical need that can only be satisfied by the shape of the hands currently caressing the slope of her ass.

She moans into his mouth and he deepens the kiss, stealing her breath as he swallows her ardent desire. He kisses her fervidly, thoroughly, until her entire world consists of nothing beyond the melding of their tongues inside the heat of her mouth.

When he squeezes the flesh of her backside as he presses his arousal against her, she can't help but release a hefty groan that he echoes from the depths of his own chest. She presses even tighter against him, desperately needing him to relieve the luscious ache at the juncture of her thighs.

Their hands explore and caress soft curves and hard planes, filling themselves with the flesh of the other as their hearts beat wildly and their tongues continue to dance around muffled moans.

The light drizzle turns into a soft rain.

"God, I'd give anything to be inside you right now, Erin," he breathes against her mouth as her fingers get tangled in his dampening hair.

"Ever been skinny-dipping, officer?" she asks breathlessly as he nuzzles her neck. She lifts her chin as he kisses up the column of her throat.

"Can't say that I have," he replies, hovering just above her mouth as his palm covers her breast. "Have you?"

"No. But there's a first time for everything, so they say," she responds, kissing him again to hide the hint of nervousness that is trying to surface above the incredible longing she feels for him, especially when his thumb sweeps across her nipple through the thin material of her green tee shirt.

His tongue fills her mouth once more as the sun shower begins to flatten their hair to their scalps. A trickle of rainwater glides down her neck and she breaks the kiss to glance up at the sky.

"What the hell," he says when she meets his eyes again. "We're already getting soaked, might as well go for a swim." He smiles and then leans in to give her a quick kiss.

She watches him look up at the ridge of the quarry where their camp is situated and then glance around at their surroundings. A moment later, he takes her hand and leads her toward the shadow of the granite wall just below their campsite.

Standing next to the wall at the water's edge, Erin looks up to the cliff stretched out over four-hundred feet above them, wondering for a moment what the other survivors are doing, and how well sound will travel up the quarry wall.

"Don't worry," Rick says, noticing her hesitation. "They can't see us down here," he assures her as he removes his shirt and then wipes the rain off of his forehead.

"I know," she says, looking back up to the cliff, still making no move of undressing.

"Are you having second thoughts?"

She looks back at the slightly anxious sound of distress in his voice and sees his hand paused on the buckle of his jeans. "Oh, no. You're not getting away that easily," she tells him, pulling her tee shirt over her head and tossing it into his grinning face. She removes the rest of her clothes with swift, graceful agility and begins wading into the cold water, limping slightly on her right leg.

Swallowing thickly with her shirt dangling from his fingertips as he stares at Erin's incredibly lovely, exquisitely bare curves, Rick blinks a few times to regain his composure and reaches for his belt buckle. "Wait up, Red!" He undresses quickly as he watches her beautiful body disappear beneath the water line. A few moments later, he hurries into the lake just as her head dips below the surface. She pops up again, her shoulders just above the water and he rushes the last few feet to reach her. Snaking his arms around her middle, he pulls her against him, her smooth back to his hard front. "Promise me, Erin… promise me that you won't let me fuck this up," he says softly yet earnestly against her dripping ear.

"I won't, Rick. I promise." She lays her head back against his shoulder and covers his hands with her own.

He kisses the side of her neck and she tilts her head to meet his mouth. He slips his tongue between her parted lips and slides his hands upward, cupping and kneading the soft tissue of her breasts beneath the water. They fill his palms nicely with enough spilling over to please his fingers. Perfect.

With his eyes closed to everything but the feel of her in his arms, he learns the surface of her body like a blind man finding knowledge in reading braille. Every beauty mark adorning her smooth skin, every crease giving way to a luscious curve and every short curl that covers her mound are like the contours of a wondrous map that leads him home.

He slips a finger into the soft folds between her legs and she moans into his mouth, a sound that makes him incredibly happy and impossibly hard. It's the most wonderful thing he's ever heard and he vows to hear it often.

He kisses her fervidly, letting go of everything that had ever held him back as he inserts another finger into her center. She moans loader as he slowly moves his hand, sleekly in and out.

It's his turn to groan when she curves her spine and presses her ass against his erection. He fills her mouth with all the passion in his soul, finally free to enjoy her glorious body and cherish the beauty of her remarkable spirit.

He takes her hand and guides it behind her to grasp his cock, keeping his hand over hers for a few long strokes. Reaching back around to her front, he fingers the slick bundle of nerves at her clit. She breaks the kiss on an impassioned gasp as they stroke each other, pleasuring each other as the light patter of rain dimples the water around them and trickles down their faces.

"Christ, I'm not gonna last long." He turns her in his arms and lifts her up to straddle his waist. "I love you, Erin." He guides his length into her opening, groaning deeply at the tightness of her body and how her slick walls clench around him. He'd never been a fan of condoms and he is extremely grateful that he doesn't need to rely on one now, knowing that she is unable to have children. The feel of her with nothing between them is wonderfully intoxicating. He gets high just seeing her breath hitch as she acclimates to his size.

"Oh God," she breathes, clutching his shoulders and taking all of him into her depths. Their warm breath mingles in the misty air between them as they hold each other's gaze. "I love you, too."

He pumps his hips and she matches his rhythm as the rain sprinkles over their shoulders. In and out, faster and faster until her eyes flutter and close. The erotic moan that escapes her throat has him capturing her mouth in a searing kiss and squeezing her buttocks roughly as she clamps her thighs against his hips.

"Oh, baby," he groans, completely entranced by her. Smooth steady strokes become hard and fast as his belly tightens and his balls constrict. "Ah, fuck."

It isn't long before he erupts explosively inside her. Squashing her ass in his palms, he grinds himself against her, reaching her farthest depths as he rides out his orgasm with his face buried in the crook of her neck.

Though the list of women he'd ever shared a bed with was a fairly short one, he was far from innocent. But he'd never experienced anything like this before in his life. He'd never connected with a woman so intensely, losing control that quickly and losing himself in her so completely. He trembles in Erin's arms as she cradles his head.

He feels her thighs clench his hips in an effort to draw out their union and knows that her own release is ebbing slowly away like a smooth wave at low tide, drawing just out of reach.

"Fuck," he groans softly as his heart pounds madly inside his chest. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. You feel so fucking good, I couldn't hold back," he apologizes, breathing heavily against her collarbone. "I promise I'll make it up to you later."

"It's okay, honey, it was fine." She kisses his temple and lays her cheek against his shoulder, running her fingers through his wet, curling hair as he begins to soften inside of her.

"Yeah, but you deserve more than fine. You deserve an earthquake of ecstasy and… and… a tidal wave of euphoria," he adds as the rain slows to a very light mist.

"Mmm," she chuckles softly. "And you know someone who can give that to me?" she asks, lifting her head and smiling into his eyes.

"Just wait 'til tonight, woman," he says provocatively. "I am gonna rock… your… world," he promises with a dancing gleam in his eye as he leans in to meet her lips.

"Your son's too, most likely if he's sleeping next to us. How's that going to work, sheriff?" she asks between kisses.

"Not a problem. Daryl and I brought a van back with us that has a sleeping area built into the top." He skims his open mouth across her shoulder, licking the raindrops from her smooth skin. "Carl and Kelly can use that while I have my way with you in our tent," he whispers in her ear. "Tonight - you get skyrockets."

"I'm happy with my rainbow." She grins, pointing her chin over his shoulder.

He adjusts his footing in the sand and turns them a few degrees to the left, the water rippling cold but gentle against their shoulders. Looking above the treetops surrounding the quarry, he sees a floating image of a colorful arch stretching across the western sky. Smiling at the sweetness of her spirit that holds his heart and warms his soul, he leans back to meet her eyes. "I love you, Red."

"I love you back. Always."