Author's Note: As usual, thank you for the wonderful reviews. xoxo

"I want to see you

As you are now

Every single day

That I am living

Painted in flames

All pealing thunder

Be the lightning in me

That strikes relentless"

― Snow Patrol

The sun was such a mercilessly deceiving son of a bitch, but only in that it gave the impression that the world was a bright and wonderful place. It didn't deceive with the heat, though. Not for one minute. No, the world was anything but cheery, despite the obvious apocalyptic reasons. Everyone's spirits had found a new low. With each person mourning the different losses to their group within the last month, and the fact that they were tired, hungry and thirsty, nothing seemed bright at all for their futures.

Not long after getting back on the road following Tyreese's funeral, they had come upon an abandoned vehicle with a box inside that contained two bottles of water and five pouches of freeze dried cherries. Considering they had nothing in the way of food and very little left of their water supply, any little bit helped. It wasn't to fill their stomachs, but it would have to do until they could find something more.

Each person was only given a small handful of the freeze dried cherries. When Rick went to hand Georgie her share, she waved him off and declined from where they were sitting beside each other on the side of the road, with everyone else.

"No, thanks."

He tilted his head and shoved his hand forward more insistently. "You haven't eaten since early yesterday, same as everyone else. You need to eat."

"I know I do, but I can't." Rick seemed confused, so she clarified. "I'm allergic to cherries. If I eat those, if I even hold them in my hand and whatever oil or juice is left in or on them gets in my mouth, my tongue will swell, my throat will close up and I'll more than likely kick the bucket." As Rick pulled the cherries away, he frowned as she added, "If cherries are the thing that kills me, what with how the world is, I think I'll be somewhat disappointed. What an anticlimax."

"Well, it's not fair we get to eat and you don't."

"And I can't watch everyone else go hungry because I have a food allergy." Georgie shrugged. "Give my share to Carl."

"I can't eat if you can't."

"Rick," she chastised.

"No," he asserted. Then he called to his son, "Carl, come get these."

Carl strode over to his father with confusion written on his face. "Didn't you have any yet?"

"No, those are for you or to share with the others."

"Aren't you hungry?" Carl asked, taking the cherries from his father.

"No," Rick lied.

"That's bullshit."

"Hey. Language."

Carl gestured to Georgie. "She isn't eating. I'll share with you, Georgie."

"Thank you, but I can't. I'm allergic to cherries."

"And I'm not eating as a sign of solidarity," Rick informed. "Now eat."

"Well, then I want give my share away, too. I'll do the same," Carl offered, sweetly.

"No, you're not," Georgie muttered. "You're a growing boy and you need it more than us anyway."

"Eat your damned cherries," Rick enforced more vocally, but saying it with love. "We don't know when or where our next meal is coming from."

"If you can call this a meal," they heard Eugene mumble to himself.

"I swear to Christ, Eugene, I meant what I said earlier," Georgie growled at him. "I will turn you into a Jack o' Lantern."

Looking at each other, Rick and Georgie smirked, but other than that the mood was still depressing. And so it remained for the next day and a half, when two of their three vehicles all ran out of gas, leaving them with only the white van. There was no more food and water, except for half a bottle of water they spared to give to Judith. Everyone seemed to agree that her dietary needs had to be met before theirs.

They were hungry, they were dehydrated, they were hot and they were tired.

They had split up into small groups to check for anything in the way of food or water and everyone came up empty. Returning to the van, they sat down on the road or in the van, just sitting and waiting; Daryl, Maggie and Sasha had yet to return.

Their stomachs ached, their mouths were dry and the heat left them feeling extra lethargic.

When the remaining three returned, also empty-handed, they all piled into the van and it was back on the road they went. They were sixty miles outside of Washington and they knew there wasn't enough gas to get them there. So when the van died from lack of fuel, they weren't surprised.

They simply gathered their gear and continued on by foot, in the blistering Virginia sun, weak and slow.

Rick and Daryl were at the immediate front of their group, with Carol and Georgie just behind them; the latter carrying Judith. Rick turned around eventually, looking well past everyone to a bunch of walkers on the road behind them.

"We're not at our strongest," Rick commented. "We'll get 'em when it's best. High ground, something like that. They're not going anywhere." After a few moments, he continued, "It's been three weeks since Atlanta. I know you lost something back there."

Judith felt heavier than usual in Georgie's arms and she knew it was because the child was tired and warm and needed to eat. As Judith began to fuss, Daryl looked over his shoulder at her.

"She's hungry," he said to Rick.

"She's okay," Rick insisted, looking back at his daughter as well, but his voice sounded more wishful than certain. "She's going to be okay."

"We need to find water, food," Georgie rasped, her throat dry.

"We'll hit something in the road," Rick replied, looking up what little amount of clouds there were in the sky. "It's gonna rain sooner or later."

Daryl looked over toward the woods on their right. "I'm gonna head out; see what I can find."

"Hey, don't be too long."

Carol moved closer to follow Daryl. "I'll go with you," she offered.

"I got it," the archer dismissed.

Carol simply smirked and continued after him anyway. "You gonna stop me?" she asked him as he turned back and smirked back at her.

No, he wasn't going to stop her.

Soon, the group drew closer together; the heat and their troubles not seeming to let up. Judith was full on crying now and the walkers had gained ground simply because the group's pace had slowed. When they looked over their shoulders, it seemed like somewhat of an incentive to try and pick up their pace and put some more distance between "us and them" until they had the better advantage for taking them out.

Coming upon an overpass with a steep ravine on both sides, Rick dispatched his children further up the road with Georgie, Tara, Rosita, Gabriel and Eugene. That left Rick, Michonne, Glenn, Maggie, Abraham and Sasha to deal with the oncoming walkers. When Georgie offered to help, Rick had pushed her gently back, insisting he preferred her safe, back with his son and daughter. She couldn't deny she wasn't a bit disappointed to get her aggressions out on the walkers, but she was thankful because she was just so tired. She didn't think she had that energy in her to take on the walkers, but she didn't want to admit it. And, also, she was considerably flattered he ranked his desire to keep her safe with that of his children.

The group of six, closest to the walkers, stood in smaller groups of three on either side of the road, luring the walkers toward them, and then pushing said walkers into the ravine. It was all going well, too, with none of the six needing to exert too much energy. One shove and the walkers easily stumbled down the steep embankment. However, Sasha seemed to be marching to the beat of her own drum as she took the walkers on with her knife, forcing the other five to dispatch them as well. During the struggle, Sasha became so single-minded that she nearly stabbed Michonne, and accidentally cut Abraham on the upper arm.

Passing Judith to Carl, and leaving him her Beretta, just in case, Georgie decided she couldn't bring herself to stay back any longer. The group was struggling and she ran toward them when she noticed Rick about to be bitten on the arm by a walker. As Georgie got closer, Daryl and Carol returned. Daryl was quick to grab the walker's hair and ripping off its scalp in the process of pulling it off Rick. Georgie arrived soon enough to stab one walker in the head with her hunting knife and then helped Glenn shove the body away, watching it tumble down the ravine with the others.

After the walkers were dead, Georgie turned to see Michonne reprimanding Sasha, who stared back with an angry defiance. When Georgie felt a hand on her arm she jumped, thinking it was another walker to be killed until she realized it was just Rick, looking at her as he caught his breath.

"I thought I told you to stay back there with the others."

"What're you gonna do, Rick?" she smirked. "You gonna send me to bed without supper?"

Rick narrowed his gaze at her and shook his head. He wasn't mad at her or anything of the sort. Her response actually made him smile briefly, before her turned his attention back to the others who were also catching their breaths.

Turning away from the corpses on the road, the now nine adults, walked off across to the other side of the overpass to join the others.

"Thanks for helping," Rick muttered for Georgie's ears only.

"It's what I do," she replied, tiredly.

Once on the other side, she took Judith back from Carl and the group continued on.

A while later, the group came upon some abandoned cars on the road.

"Dad, look," Carl announced.

Daryl stopped. "I'm gonna head into the woods, circle back."

"May I come with?" Carol asked of him.

"Nah," he dismissed. "No, just me."

Once Daryl was off again, this time alone, the rest began to approach the cars to inspect them for food and water, first and foremost. Unfortunately, when the search came up empty, they all resigned themselves to sitting up off the road to wait for Daryl to come back, which was close to an hour after he first left.

Georgie was sitting up on the slight incline near the base of the woods, between Carol and Michonne, occasionally glancing over at Rick who sat with his back up against Carl, who had taken over holding Judith. A few times she could tell by the way Rick attempted to look over his shoulder, he was trying to glimpse her, but his angle was all wrong. Nevertheless, it made her heart flutter, and that was a feeling she had grown to cherish again for the first time in a long time.

To be wanted, to be desired by a man again, especially in this world.

It wasn't anything she took lightly.

She found herself conflicted though. On one hand she didn't want to jump the gun and get too invested with him in case she lost him. But, on the other hand, they didn't know how long they had these days so why not make the most of the time they did have, right?

Therein laid her problem.

With the crackle of branches among the trees across the road, everyone suddenly perked up and got on the defensive, reaching for their weapons. But it was only Daryl returning. The archer looked at Rick, who shook his head, and then came out of the trees and onto the road.

Abraham pulled a bottle of what looked to be whiskey out of his bag, which was technically the only thing any of them had in the way of liquid.

"So all we found was booze?" Tara questioned.

"Yeah," Rosita replied.

"It's not gonna help," Tara added, noting Abraham taking a sip.

"He knows that."

"It's gonna make it worse."

"Yes, it is."

"He's a grown man," Eugene commented. "And I truly do not know if things can get worse."

"They can," Georgie spoke up. "I could still follow through with my threat from a couple days ago."

From within the trees across the way where Daryl had come from, there was rustling once again, which was followed by growling. Everyone became very alert when they noticed a small pack of mangy, dirty dogs coming out of the woods and begin to bark at the group. Each person, except for Carl who was holding onto Judith, seemed to grab for their weapons, but mainly their blades, to save on bullets.

Before the dogs could even make a move to attack, five silenced gunshots rang out and the dogs dropped dead. The group looked up to see Sasha standing with her rifle.

Rick stood up, looking somewhat irritated, and turned around; stepping toward the trees on their side of the road. He picked up a long stick and broke it into shorter pieces across his knee. Daryl, king of skinning wild animals, took on the main task of grabbing the dogs and doing the same thing to them he would to squirrels and rabbits.

Georgie couldn't bring herself to watch. It just made her think of the dog she used to have and it made her sad. However, her hunger won out and she wasn't about to turn down the dog meat they were quite obviously going to cook and eat. They were all desperate at that point and would eat any animal that crossed their path.

After the dogs were skinned and cut up, the sticks were used to grill the meat up over a small fire they built. Pushing aside the fact that it was dog they were devouring, eating in general just felt glorious and their stomachs all relished the fact. Except for Noah who was refusing, staring off at one of the dog collars when Sasha approached him with pieces of wood she dropped to the ground

Georgie didn't hear the interaction between the pair, but whatever was said got Noah to eat.

That was all that mattered.

As the day progressed into either later afternoon or early evening, judging by the arch of the sun in the sky, the group was once more off walking down the road. Glenn was trying to offer what little bit of water he had at some point found to the group, and then Daryl took off again, apparently to look for more water.

The air was practically sizzling and the cicadas were singing strong, and the group just really needed some sort of reprieve from the heat. What they wouldn't give for that pool back in Greensboro again.

They had all eventually stopped up the road a ways when they found jugs and bottles of water in the middle of the road with a piece of paper stuck to it all that stated it was "from a friend." Rick told them not to touch the water just as Daryl returned. Rick walked up to him and showed him the note, and they looked around for a hint of anyone nearby.

"What else are we gonna do?" Tara wondered, meekly.

"Not this," Rick replied. "We don't know who left it."

"If that's a trap, we already happen to be in it," Eugene remarked, staring at the water like it was a steak dinner with all the fixings, served on a plate of gold. "But I, for one, would like to think it is indeed from a friend."

"What if it isn't? What if they put something in it?" Georgie questioned Mullet Man.

Not waiting, Eugene reached down and grabbed a bunch of water, causing Rosita to call out his name, disapprovingly.

"What are you doing, dude?" Tara asked him.

His response was, "Quality assurance," as he twisted the cap off.

However, Abraham stepped forward and smacked the bottle out of his hand before he could take a sip. Some of the water splashed onto Eugene's face and he just stared in surprise at the ginger haired man.

"We can't," Rick insisted, staring at Eugene with a firm gaze.

Everyone looked up at the sky suddenly at the sound of thunder rumbling. They hadn't even noticed the sun had gone behind a bunch of clouds. It was still so hot that it hadn't made a difference if the sky was still blue. And as the rain came down over them, followed by a thunderclap, the group began to laugh; a sound that had become rarer than the thunderclap itself.

They held their mouths open, wiped the rainwater over their faces and arms to help cool and clean themselves off. Rick looked at his children with a smile, and then over to Georgie with a different kind of smile as the water matted both their hair down and made their respective curls limper and stringier than it was from their grime. Tara and Rosita, still smiling and laughing like the others, got down and lay upon the road as everyone's clothes became pleasantly and welcomingly soaked.

Only three people seemed immune to the joy the others were feeling; Maggie, Sasha and Daryl, who were still so torn up about their recent losses.

Georgie would've been one of them, but she had to mentally force herself not to be. She had always known there was the chance her son was dead, no matter how much hope she had been clinging to, and finding his body back in Greensboro had been the nail in that coffin, no pun intended. She had to finally put her son's memory to rest with her daughter. She would always love them and miss them with the fierceness of a thousand raging bulls, but she had chosen to invest the love she still had in the lives of Carl and Judith. With the two of them, she could still have a purpose in the world and transferring her love to them made her grief easier to bear.

"I'm sorry, my Lord," Gabriel was crying and Georgie felt her heart break for him a little.

She knew the preacher, who had burned his clerical collar earlier, was torn up and conflicted about the things he had done, or not done where his congregation had been concerned. As a show of solidarity, Georgie placed a gentle hand upon his arm so he knew he wasn't alone.

"Everybody, get the bags," Rick called out; crouching down to pull out a few empty bottles with Abraham's help. "Anything you can find."

The others began to grab their empty bottles and set them upright on the road so the rain water filled them up. Judith began to cry, so Carl covered her head with her blanket and their father's sheriff hat, as the rain came down harder.

Louder thunderclaps and darker storm clouds in the distance got everyone's attention. Rick got back up to his feet and stared off at it all.

Suddenly the rain didn't seem like too much of a blessing anymore.

Too much of a good thing and all that…

"Let's keep moving," Rick announced.

"There's a barn," Daryl leaned in an informed.

"Where?"

The group had gathered up whatever what they had been able to bottle and the rest of their gear before following Daryl into the woods. Down somewhat of an incline was a clear path among the trees and up ahead was an old, brown barn. More thunder boomed overhead as Rick, Daryl, Michonne, Abraham and Maggie warily stepped inside the structure; their weapons and a few flashlights drawn to make sure it was safe while the others remained outside in the pouring rain. Carol slipped in as well before the others were given the all clear to come in.

As night had fallen and the storm outside raged on, inside a lantern had been found and lit, and a small fire was burning for light and heat; which was ironic, considering the rain is what they had all needed and wanted earlier to cool themselves down.

Off to the side of the fire, Carl was asleep with Judith pulled up against him and also sleeping. Georgie sat across from Rick, between Glenn and Daryl, and watched how the man she was growing to care deeply for looked upon both of his children with love and also some concern.

"He's gonna be okay," Carol assured. "He bounces back more than any of us do."

"I used to feel sorry for kids that have to grow up now; in this. But I think I got it wrong." He glanced over at Georgie briefly before looking down at the ground. "Growing up's getting used to the world. This is easier for them."

"This isn't the world. This isn't it," Michonne insisted.

"It might be," Georgie muttered, drawing circles in the dirty floor with her hunting knife. "It might."

"That's giving up."

Georgie looked at Michonne. "It's reality."

"Until we see otherwise, this is what we have to live with," Rick added. Everyone fell silent for a few moments until he spoke back up again. "When I was a kid, I asked my grandpa once if he ever killed any Germans in the war. He wouldn't answer. He said that was grown-up stuff, so…so I asked if the Germans ever tried to kill him. But he got real quiet. He said he was dead the minute he stepped into enemy territory. Every day he woke up and told himself, 'Rest in peace. Now get up and go to war.' And then after a few years of pretending he was dead he made it out alive. And that's the trick of it, I think. We do what we need to do and then we get to live. But no matter what we find in DC," Rick looked at each and every one around the fire, settling on Georgie last, "I know we'll be okay, because this is how we survive. We tell ourselves…that we are the walking dead."

Daryl shook his head. "We ain't them."

Rick looked at the archer as he got up to his knees and snapped some of the twigs to throw on the fire. "We're not them," Rick agreed, assuring his friend. "Hey. We're not."

"We ain't them," Daryl repeated himself, standing up and walking off with his crossbow toward the entrance of the barn which had been chained shut earlier.

Thunder continued to boom and crash, and the doors rattled from the high winds. Georgie got up too then, but not to follow after Daryl, but to duck around one of the alcoves where some kind of animal was probably kept in the past. She wasn't upset about anything in particular. She simply felt the need to take some leave of the group and drown out the sounds of the storm in peace and maybe get some sleep in the process.

The way she abruptly got up and walked away, though, could've been misconstrued as being upset, which gave Rick the need to get up and walk after her in thinking he had to assure her as well; that they would all be fine.

He found her crouched down behind the alcove, snapping her head up in pleasant surprise to see him there. When he realized she was smiling up at him, he crouched down; resting his arms on his thighs and letting his hands dangle between his knees.

"I thought you were upset," he spoke quietly.

"No," she shook her head. "I mean, yeah, we have plenty to be upset about, but I'm okay. I just wanted some privacy."

"Oh." Rick nodded and moved slightly, as if he was about to leave her alone, but then he stopped and eyed her. "There room for two in this 'privacy'?"

A knowing smile began to pull at the corners of her lips and she bobbed her head in silent confirmation. Sidling down beside her, Rick reached an arm around her shoulders and pulled her into him before placing a kiss to her temple.

"What will the others think if they find us like this?" she asked him in a whisper.

"I don't care," he replied. "What this is," he gestured between them, "is between us and nothing for them to be concerned about. If no one's bothered that Maggie and Glenn are a married couple or that Abraham and Rosita like to fuck like rabbits when there's only a thin wall separating them from the rest of us in the middle of the night, I think we're pretty tame and boring by comparison, and nothing that warrants shock and awe."

Georgie chuckled a little, turning to look up at his profile. "Are you suggesting we give 'em some shock and awe?"

He met her gaze and what little light there was around in the alcove was enough for her to see the lust building in his eyes. But it wasn't only lust anymore and it caused the butterflies in Georgie's stomach to reprise their fluttering. As Rick lifted his hand from around her shoulder and moved it into her damp hair, he turned her head more so that he could lean in and kiss her properly. When she sighed approvingly against his lips, he leaned them back onto the ground and began to move on top of her again as they had been in the woods after Tyreese's funeral.

Georgie brought her own hands up into Rick's hair and gripped it firm enough to incite a groan from him as he opened his mouth more to give her tongue access to his. All he wanted to do in that moment was be with her in the best way possible; to feel her bare skin against his bare skin. The more aroused she got him with every shift and move of her body underneath him the more clouded his head felt and the more flush he began to feel all over; just like a teenager about to score in the backseat of car. Except, for Rick and Georgie, this situation was more like a theoretical car at the theoretical drive-in movies, where anyone could happen by.

They weren't exactly in the privacy of a bedroom like Abraham and Rosita had been. The idea of Carl potentially seeing his bare ass if they went any further knocked him down a few pegs. If his son woke up and saw them in the heat of the moment, he didn't want to scar the kid or maybe even upset him. After all, the boy's mother hadn't even been dead a year. But, also, Rick really liked Georgie and the way she made him feel.

Just as she had her hands on his belt buckle and was beginning to undo it for him, the sounds of the barn's entrance doors banging louder, and the sounds of walkers snarling and gasping, brought what they were doing to an abrupt end.

Rick clamored to his knees and then stood up. Georgie rolled over and got to her feet as well, and then both of them ran out from behind the alcove where they spotted Daryl, Maggie and Sasha struggling to keep the doors shut. The others had been alerted to the situation as well. They all began to join the trio at the doors, keeping them shut by pushing on them with their hands outstretched or by leaning against them with their backs. There seemed to be more walkers, though, and their weight against the outside of the doors caused the group inside to lose their footing in the wet dirt at the entrance.

As they held their ground, he winds outside howled so deafeningly that it sounded like the end of the world.

Again.

Rick looked to his right, at Daryl, and then to his left, at Georgie.

There was a mix of fear and determination in her eyes, as were his, but Rick was able to look at her in a way that felt like they would be alright.

Eventually, the storm passed and the group no longer needed to hold the doors shut. They didn't know what happened to the walkers and why they stopped trying to get in. The storm definitely had some part to play in that, but they knew not to what extent.

After gathering their wits about them, they decided to call it a night.

As they settled into separate areas to sleep, Rick, who was holding Judith, grabbed Georige's hand and made the bold move of kissing her with others nearby. Whether or not anyone saw, the pair was oblivious. As Rick lay down upon the ground with Judith backed up against his chest, Georgie laid down beside him, but with a respectable gap between their bodies while Carl moved to lay perpendicular to them, at their heads.

Rick and Georgie looked at Carl, who didn't seem to notice the closeness of the two adults, or possibly care. They then looked at each other as Georgie reached a finger out for Judith to hold and almost immediately the toddler grabbed onto it, like a child to its security blanket.

In response, Rick reached out his arm, which was draped over his daughter and cover both Judith and Georgie's hands.

With a loving smile, Rick closed his eyes, but Georgie kept looking at him and Judith.

She felt content, as if this was where she was meant to be. Not necessarily or literally in the barn, but there with Rick and his children; the possibility of a new family together.

Smirking at the notion, Georgie let sleep soon consume her.