Author's Note: So, this chapter was so damn long that I was forced to split it into two, and both halves encompass about 95% of the episode "Say Yes." So, enjoy this latest labor of love and, as always, please R&R!

xoxo —Holly

"Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one." — Dr. Seuss

Well before the sun had risen, Rick and Georgie had already taken to the road in search of any and all guns they could find. Knowing it would take a couple of days, going out further than they had before, they packed a couple changes of clothes, food and water, and other necessities they'd need. They would, after all, not have the luxuries they grown accustomed to having in Alexandria. It would be like before Alexandria, when they were wandering the open roads from Georgia to Virginia. Although they figured they would be gone two days, they prepared for three because there was no telling what the outside world might throw at them.

With no Carol to provide them with a thermos of hot coffee for their journey ahead, they relied on their own brewing skills; waking Michonne as they began to move more audibly around the kitchen. A light sleeper anyway, she assured them it was no big deal when they apologized for waking her as she came out of her room. The three adults spoke in muted tones so their voices didn't travel upstairs too much and disturb the sleeping children, who both Rick and Georgie had already looked in on before coming downstairs.

Where goodbyes were concerned, Rick had gotten his with Carl out of the way the night before. Judith, still so young, had the attention span of a gnat and no true concept of time yet, so neither Rick nor Georgie had to sit down with her to make her understand they'd be back as soon as possible. Rick did feel a little bad, though, leaving Carl behind, only because of how injured he'd gotten during the latest outing and how Carl had been justifiably concerned when they'd returned from the junkyard. Going off again, less than twelve hours since returning home, and not knowing if any other serious injuries would be accrued, and Carl being left in the dark about it, made Rick feel guilty. But, when he expressed as much to his son the night before, after he'd asked Georgie to come with him, Carl seemed fine. Carl knew Georgie would have his father's back and Carl's confidence on the matter was a weight off Rick's shoulders.

Throwing their bags into the community's off-white van, they climbed up into the vehicle. After a brief exchanging of words with Aaron and Tobin, who were already waiting at the main gate for them, Rick and Georgie rolled out.

Making good time and heading in a direction opposite of the Sanctuary and any potential interference on the road, Rick and Georgie eventually pulled off the road and into some woods just after sun up. Neither had eaten yet, so Rick built a fire and warmed up some a can of pork and beans for them to eat. With the side doors of the van open, Georgie sat there on the floor with her feet planted firmly upon the soil and leaves underfoot while Rick opted for sitting in front of the fire, finishing off his the last of the coffee. Once they'd both stepped away to take bathroom breaks, Rick stomped out the fire and they piled back into the van and returned back onto the road.

As the sun began rising higher in the sky, so did the temperature, causing Rick to discard his coat he'd been wearing up until then. Off on some country road, they pulled over and began looting houses they'd come upon; figuring houses in these kinds of backwoods areas would have guns stored away somewhere.

In the first house they approached, Rick kick the door open while Georgie waited behind him with a gun with attached silencer raised. Leaning against the door frame, Rick let her head inside first and then they both began to turn the place over; lucking out that there were no walkers lurking around inside, considering how dark it was. They found nothing of any value there but the next house proved a bit more fruitful. After going through cupboards, dresser drawers and chests, they were about to fill a plastic container they'd brought with them with two cans of green beans, a box of macaroni and cheese, a box of.45 Colt ammunition, and a Colt Single Action Army revolver with wood grips.

The rest of the day was nowhere near fruitful. All the other homes they came upon seemed to have been picked over more than once, but they did grab minor things, like candles, a bag of rubber bands and a pair of kid shoes that Georgie thought Judith might be able to fit into in the coming months. Other places were dead ends; overrun with too many walkers and any ways in just too dangerous to attempt for just the two of them.

While Rick loaded up the van with that one container with very little, his eyes panned the rest of the area make sure they were still safe when he noticed that Georgie hadn't followed. Instead, she had wandered toward the driveway of a rundown ranch style house with rotted corpse on the front lawn. He watched the way she sidestepped other debris while giving the corpse a careful look before continuing on toward the front door after deeming the corpse was no threat. She was already inside with her gun drawn before Rick had closed the back van doors. Following after her at a slightly quicker pace than she had approached the house, Rick pulled his Colt out from its holster and hovered just inside the opened doorway.

"Georgie," he called out in a loud whisper while looking back at the corpse on the lawn that was simply dead and not a walker that was incapable of attacking.

The interior was too dark to see much. The front windows had its blinds down and its curtains drawn but the open door helped considerably; possibly why Georgie had left it open. Or maybe she was able to correctly assume Rick would follow.

Just as he was about to call to her again, her head of bouncy ginger locks poked around the corner of some hallway and startled him a little, but he'd never admit to that.

"What are you doing? I thought we agreed this area wouldn't offer anything worthwhile," Rick muttered, lowering his gun when he saw she had already holstered hers. "That container I just put in the van is plenty proof enough of how worthwhile this area isn't."

Georgie shrugged. "There's always something to be found."

Rick rolled his eyes and holstered the Colt. Pursing his lips somewhat, he smirked. "Prove it."

"Shut the door." She gestured to the front door behind him and then turned back down the hall.

As Rick followed, he squinted his eyes to see now that there was no outside light source. At the end of the hall, Georgie slipped into a bedroom that was well lit due to its only window, which was a sight in itself. The glass to the window was broken and there was dried blood around some of the pieces still in place, and the curtains had been pulled down along with the rod. Either someone had tried getting in or tried getting out at some point.

Focusing his attention off of the window, Rick began looking around the room and realized it had been a teenage girl's bedroom. The walls looked to be purple with posters of Justin Bieber, Green Day and the cast of Supernatural on the wall. On a dresser was a caddy of makeup and beside it an array of scented lotions and perfumes.

"It's the little things that count, right?" Georgie questioned from over at a desk where a laptop lay discarded and covered in stickers and dust. Beside the laptop was a small CD player that she picked up and turned over. Popping off a back panel, she grinned. "Ah-ha."

Rick raised an eyebrow and then watched as she turned the CD player around to reveal two D cell batteries. "There's probably no juice to them anymore."

"Only one way to find out." Setting the CD player back down, she crouched down and began to scan the narrow CD tower beside the desk. Dragging her thumb down the edge of each jewel case, Georgie stopped upon one toward the bottom. Sliding it out of its place in the tower, she turned the case back and forth and then opened it up to look at the actual CD within.

"What CD is it?"

"It's a mixed CD," she remarked, standing back up. "I didn't think teens still did that sort of thing. Or, well, were still doing that sort of thing just before the world went to hell in a handbag."

"What kind of mixed CD?" Rick asked, stepping up behind her. "Anything good on it?"

"Justin Bieber, Beyoncé, Black Eyed Peas, Green Day, Lady Gaga, to name a few," Georgie replied, reading what was handwritten on the inside of CD sleeve. "The CD is simply called, Songs from 2009. The big hits from the last year before the end." Popping the CD out, she loaded it into the player and closed the lid. Turning the power button on, there was a notable popping sound, followed by static. Moving a switch from radio to CD, a whirring sound caused by the CD coming to life as it began to spin brought a smirk to Georgie's lips. "Batteries definitely aren't dead."

"Play something good."

Tossing Rick a raised eyebrow over her shoulder, she simply nodded as she glanced at the inside sleeve again and then pressed play. As music began, she quickly skipped ahead to whatever song she'd picked. As the first notes started echoing from the speakers, Georgie turned the volume dial down so that the music was audible but wouldn't travel further than the bedroom.

Rick knitted his brow. "What song is this?" Ignoring the part where it was just odd to listen to music these days.

"All The Right Moves. OneRepublic," she replied, smiling at how Rick seemed to be slightly getting into it. Biting her bottom lip, Georgie held out a hand to him after setting the jewel case down on the desk. "Dance with me."

Rick just stared back at her for a moment, and then down to her hand. "We've never danced together. What if I'm no good?"

"I've know how you move when we're in bed," Georgie quipped. "I think I can safely deduce you're a good dancer."

With a smile, Rick stepped closer to her and encircled an arm around her waist. With his free hand, he took hers and pulled it up against his chest. Stepping in beat with the drum beats, Rick began to sway with her in a semi-slow circle. His hips moved against hers and they both began to grin with amusement at each other.

"Told you so," she muttered. "Now we can cross this off the bucket list?"

"Bucket list?"

"Of things to do together, you and me."

Rick nodded. "And dancing's on that list?"

"Why wouldn't it be?"

He couldn't argue that logic. "What else would be on that list?" he wondered.

"Sex in the van?"

"Our van, that others in Alexandria also drive?"

Georgie chuckled. "The one in the same."

"Well, shit," Rick mumbled, stepping away from her and turning the CD player off. "Let's grab those batteries and go cross that off the list."

Watching as Rick lifted the CD player up and popped the two D cell batteries out and then shove them into his pockets, Georgie continued to chuckle. Even more so when he grabbed her by the hand and led her out of the bedroom and just out of the house in general.

Going right to the van, Rick climbed into the driver's seat and Georgie into the passenger's seat. As soon as he'd put the key into the ignition and the engine sparked to life, Rick pulled the van away; doing a U-turn on the street as they headed back the way they'd come earlier, but only to get away from the slightly residential area. As it was close to the end of the day, they would need to find someplace to park the van for the night.

Occasionally Rick shot Georgie a knowing look which resulted in them smiling coyly at each other; the same thought on both their minds.

"I feel like a teenager again. Driving around, looking for somewhere secluded to park so I can get laid," Rick jested.

And he did find someplace secluded not too long later.

As soon as they'd pulled off into some woods like they'd done early that morning, Rick turned off the engine but left the keys in the ignition. Turning to look at Georgie, raising an eyebrow at her and smirking. With a nod of his head toward the back of the van, he gestured for her to climb back there first. Once he followed after her, they both began to unfold their sleeping bags so that the floor would be the only soft thing for them to be dealing with.

Fumbling with their clothing, Rick wrapped an arm around her back and guided her down onto the van floor; both of them giggling like teenagers as he claimed her lips.

Shortly after Georgie had fallen asleep that night, Rick had tucked her in with a blanket they brought with them and quietly maneuvered around to get redressed. Everything had been going well until his utility belt clanked across the van wall, causing Georgie's eyes to flutter open and for her to lift her head up. When she'd wondered if something was wrong, he assured it was; he was just going outside to take watch in the event of a small herd passed through the woods and surrounded them or any survivors happened by. When Rick said 'survivors', though, Georgie knew he had meant the Saviors. Neither of them was completely sure how far the Saviors' reach went and if they would somehow head in the same direction the two of them had gone for any reason. When she offered to split watch with him so that they could both get some sleep, Rick just smirked and said he'd wake her when he got tired.

Rick never woke her at any point during the night, however; stubborn bastard that he was.

Though he knew he'd be kicking himself in the ass later for it, Rick was content to take watch all night long so that Georgie got a full night's rest. Plus, he just couldn't sleep. It had been over a week now since Glenn and Abraham's deaths and Rick still couldn't sleep through the night or it still took too long for his mind to settle down and let him fall asleep. And, with how Georgie had been having trouble sleeping, too, due to being plagued by nightmares of all that had happened, Rick was more than okay with putting her first and hoping at least one of them could somehow finally sleep through the night without a hiccup.

After he had stepped out of the back of the van, Rick walked around the immediate area; walking the perimeter to make sure it was safe. Confident there was nothing lurking within the trees and the darkness, Rick walked around to the front of the van and climbed up onto the hood, where he sat for a who knows how long; just staring around at the darkness ahead of him and on either side of him. Occasionally he climbed back down, slowly, as not to shake the van so much it woke Georgie, and walked the perimeter of the van again. At some point, while sitting on the hood again, he had leaned back against the windshield and closed his eyes, just to rest them.

When he opened them back up, after what had felt like only minutes, he found that the sky was light purple in color and he could see quite well into the woods now. It was a big change from when he'd closed his eyes and it had been pitch black around him.

Realizing he must've dozed off for an hour or two, Rick climbed back down from the hood again and walked the perimeter one more time. After taking a piss, he opened up the passenger door and quietly pulled a roadmap of Virginia out of the glove box. Tucking it into the back of his pants, Rick walked to the back of the van and smirked at the sight of Georgie lying on her left side and curled into a ball. The blanket he had tucked her in with had been discarded at some point during the night; possibly she got to hot and tossed it off or it just fell off from the usual moving around in one's sleep. Reaching for the backpack he'd brought with him of spare clothes, he unzipped it slowly while keeping a wary eye on Georgie to make sure she didn't stir. Looking inside his bag, he almost chuckled at the sight of blue denim shoved at the very bottom. When he lifted it up, though, he realized it was not the blue denim jeans had asked him to wear more of, but merely his blue denim button down shirt.

Pulling off the tan button down shirt he'd been wearing since the day before, he tossed it aside and pulled on the clean, denim shirt out and pulled it on. He used to go multiple days before changing his shirts, but since coupling with Georgie and having the convenience of washers and dryers in Alexandria, he made more of a hygienic effort that sometimes seemed lost on men. Shoving his discarded shirt into his bag, and zipping it slowly and quietly back up, Rick grabbed a bottle of water, a blue kettle, jar of instant coffee, a spoon and two coffee mugs they had also brought with them. Having drunk all of the coffee from the thermos by late morning the day before, it was a good thing they'd remembered to bring these other items.

Giving the area another look from where he stood, he moved to the side of the van and crouched down to build a small fire. Pouring the water into the kettle, he set it down over the flames, balancing over a couple stones and then began to study the map.

After a few minutes, he heard movement from inside the van, which began to sound more like shuffling around. Lifting his gaze, he stared at the side doors expectantly.

A moment or two later, both side doors popped open to reveal Georgie, fully dressed in a fresh pair of clothes that she had packed in her bag. Sinking down to sit on the edge of the floor with her feet planted on the ground like she had the morning before, she smirked at Rick while adjusting her black tank top. "I knew I hadn't dreamed you," she remarked.

"Oh?" he questioned, pouring hot water from the kettle into both cups on the ground.

"I saw you standing at the back of the van, changing your shirt. Closed my eyes back up for a few moments and when I opened them up again the doors were shut and you weren't there anymore," she explained. "I thought you might've been a dream."

"Well, I suppose these rugged good looks would constitute being very dreamy," Rick joked, twisting off the lid to the jar of instant coffee and spooning out the contents into each cup. Using the spoon, he swirled the brown granules around and passed one of the cups up to Georgie.

Accepting the cup given to her, she rolled her eyes a bit. "I know you're teasing, but you really are rather dreamy. Those soft curls, full lips, sparkling blue eyes and winning smile: ingredients for the making of a dreamboat." Taking a sip of the hot, bitter liquid, Georgie frowned. She was used to having powdered creamer and a little bit of sugar in her coffee. Rick could handle it black but she had to force herself to ignore how bad it was. It was warm and it was something to drink that would provide caffeine for energy. That's what mattered. Holding the cup with both hands upon her lap, she watched as Rick picked up the road map and began to study the road map again and then took a sip of his own coffee. "Thanks for keeping watch last night."

"Oh, it's nothing. I like it."

Georgie narrowed her eyes knowingly at him. "You were supposed to wake me to split the shift, if I remember correctly."

Rick looked up at her. "Yeah, well…" Off her more pointed look, he chuckled. "Okay, you can keep watch tonight."

With a look around the area where their van was parked, she sighed heavily. With a thoughtful gaze, she asked, "We gonna score big today?"

Another chuckle escaping his lips, Rick nodded. "Oh, yeah, we'll score today." Noticing the way she rolled her eyes at his innuendo, he focused on becoming more serious. It was just nice to be able to banter like this with her, given everything they'd been dealing with lately. "We're gonna need batteries for that walkie, too. Get it working again. Those D's you found might work but they won't fit."

After finishing their coffee, Rick snuffed out the fire and placed kettle and cups back into the van. Passing off the map to Georgie, Rick walked around to the driver's side and climbed inside while Georgie resumed her place in the passenger's seat.

"You good to drive?" she asked.

"Yeah," he insisted. "I'm good."

Once they got moving and were literally out of the woods and onto a road, they went in search of new places to scavenge; eventually finding a small, sporting goods store. They pulled the van around the back of the building and opened the rolling metal door to the loading dock. Inside was in disarray, and there were two walkers that had been trapped inside now alert due to the new, living presence and began to amble forward. Their state of decay and sluggishness made it easy for Rick and Georgie to take care of both walkers without breaking a sweat. As soon as the bodies dropped they turned their attention of scouring the nearly vacant metal shelving and the wall of lockers for any and all supplies that would be worthwhile; filling up the same container from yesterday.

They moved on to another location after that and acquired more items; clothing, a lantern, canned goods, empty bags that could be put to use, and even a shotgun. Finding that shotgun, alone, was enough to celebrate. It gave them a huge feeling of hope that they could find more and it gave them an adrenaline rush to boot.

After rearranging the supplies in the van, the pair decided to take a break inside. They sat there with all the doors closed up, taking sips from their water bottles to quench their thirst and casually side-eyeing each other. Slowly, similar thoughts began to creep into their minds which led to Rick scooting closer to her. Capping his water bottle and setting it between his legs, Rick brushed some of her hair off her shoulder and then leaned down to kiss said shoulder. Georgie giggled under her breath at the soft touch of his lips and subtle scratch from the silvering whiskers of his beard. Slowly, she turned her head toward his and their noses brushed against one another.

Looking him in the eye, Georgie got up onto her knees and reached down for the bottom of his shirt; untucking it from his pants and pulling up. Catching on without missing a beat, Rick fumbled to undo the buttons of his shirt and Georgie continued to help him by tugging it off his shoulders until he had completely slipped out of it. Once he balled the material up in his hands, he tossed it behind her and then sought her lips. After a few moments of letting his tongue graze around inside her mouth, their libidos were starting to get the better of them and they could only give in.

While she moved to remove her own shirt next, Rick placed his hands upon either side of her waist and began to kiss up her abdomen; loving how soft her skin was and how amazing she smelled despite both having not showered in over a day and having been sweating. Georgie was struggling to pull her tank top off due to all her hair getting in the way, and their subsequent movements caused them to topple over; her falling upon him. Roaming his hands around her waist, one moved up her back to hold her there while the other migrated downward to slip inside her jeans and squeeze her ass. Georgie giggling again because of that gesture was like music to his ears as well as unspoken consent to not stop there. Holding her firmly within his arms, he rolled them both over so that he was pinning her down to the floor, which helped provide him with a better angle for grinding against her.

Wasting no time at all, they both fumbled and struggled against to free themselves of their bottoms, just like overexcited teenagers going at it for the first time. Once they were both naked, sans Georgie's bra that neither had bothered to fully remove, limbs began to tangle as soon as their bodies connected. It was already warm inside the van, but the fervor with which they were making love was creating more heat which emanated off them and caused sweat to bead around their faces and form a sheen upon their skin.

Rick's grunts as he thrusted deeply were perfectly paired with Georgie's more feminine whimpers and mewls as she arched her back upward to meet his thrusts. Their hearts beating out of time and their panting for breath was a clear sign they were both close. Neither needing long to peak, found respite afterward as Rick collapsed contentedly down upon Georgie and encircled his arms around her to hold her closely to him.

Georgie loved when he did that.

He could easily give off an unapproachable persona to those who didn't know him well, and sometimes even with his closest friends. But he loved to hug. He loved cuddling with Judith at the end of a long and trying day, he loved to embrace Carl tightly and revel in how amazing his son was, and he loved to snuggle up with Georgie in bed, and the latter didn't always happen after sex. Sometimes he just wanted to hold her for the sake of holding her. In a way, it almost felt like he was afraid that if he let go, he'd lose her forever.

When she'd been happily married to Jake, he had never been one for cuddling. Their sex life had been decent and sometimes nonexistent, but that came with all relationships at some point. In the beginning of her marriage, they'd make love and Jake had been very attentive, but after Tristan was born, and especially after Avery had been born, sex with Jake was just sex. Though it was decent, it had lacked passion. It even got to the point that as soon as he came, he'd roll off her and fall asleep; leaving her to finish herself off or just grumble silently under her breath and go to sleep as well.

Rick wasn't like that. Not in the least. And that's why she knew, although Jake might've been her first love, Rick was the real deal. He was what straight women and even gay men looked for in a long-term relationship. He gave all of himself; putting others first and himself second or even third.

Not taking Jake's tenure as a violent sociopath during the apocalypse into account, by comparison he was a boorish bog monster to Rick's knight in shining armor. Or, rather, slightly rusted shining armor. Rick, after all, had his hang-ups and flaws just like everyone else.

At the sound of Rick's breath steadying, Georgie lifted her hands from his shoulders and cupped either side of his face and forced him to lift his head up and look at her. When he did, he looked at her with such love and her heart felt like it might explode because of how much she loved him back, and because of how he made living in this hellish world worthwhile.

With nothing but a smile, she kissed his lips and then let him collapse back down upon her.

Taking no more than ten minutes of further cuddling and then getting redressed, Rick and Georgie decided to waste no more time and to simply get a move on. They climbed into the front of the van without and pulled away from where they'd been parked and drove off down the road.

After driving around for a little while, as Georgie played navigator by studying their road map, they decided on pulling the van off into a new patch of woods and just going by foot to see what they might come upon for the time being. Taking their backpacks and their weapons with them, they headed off through the trees, walking in step with each other. Not long into their walk, Rick sought out Georgie's hand and she began to smile a smile that just didn't seem like it was going to go away anytime soon.

Catching her smile, it brought one to Rick's face as well. "What is it? What's that smile?" he wondered. "A couple days out, all we got to show are two guns, dented cans of beans, and some football jerseys, pretty much."

"Pretty much." Georgie turned and looked up him. "We're fighting the fight." She shrugged. "It's better than the alternative."

With a nod, he agreed.

A clacking noise and rustling of grass stopped them in their tracks. Shelving their jovial moods for a little bit, their expressions grew serious as they drew their weapons and prepared for whatever and whoever they might find.

Slowly and quietly they maneuvered through the trees and came to a stop just before the edge of the woods. Crouching down so that they could see but remain unseen, they looked out upon two men with a truck, playing golf in a clearing.

"And if I hear one more goddamn word about Fat Joey, I'm gonna smash somebody's teeth in," one of the men, clearly a Savior, was saying. "Good riddance to the dead weight. No more mascot crap."

Rick looked over at the back of the truck, noticing a blue plastic tote labeled as 'JGL GEAR' and 'BATTERIES/TOOLS, and he smirked. Looking to Georgie, he pointed out what he saw and then readied himself. "Cover me."

"What?"

Before he could give her a proper answer, Rick took advantage of both men having their backs turned to him and Georgie and darted out of from the trees while Georgie remained crouched down in the same spot and tensing over all of the things that could go wrong. Rick, however, kept his eyes on the prize. Approaching the back of the truck, he holstered his Colt and grabbed for the tote. Knowing the popping sound of removing the lid would surely echo across the clearing, the only way to get away with the batteries inside the tote was to just take off with the entire thing. Holding it firmly into his hands, that exactly what Rick chose to do, crouching as he turned around and ran back to join Georgie in the woods.

"Go, go, go," he urged quickly.

Georgie didn't need to be told twice; jumping right up and darting around the trees with the stealth of a cat and Rick on her heels. Once they were a safe enough distance away, they slowed their pace down to a walk; albeit a faster walk. Getting this loot back to the van was a priority over taking their good ol' time. Georgie opened up the back of the van and Rick set the plastic tote down; where he finally opened the lid and peered inside to find batteries and tools, just as the label said, but also a bag of unopened pretzels.

Taking a pack of batteries out, as well as the pretzels Rick grinned at Georgie, who playfully slapped his ass. Slipping her hand around his hip opposite from her, she shoved her hand into his front pocket and removed the van's keys.

"I'm driving," she announced.

Rick snickered and closed the back doors. "And here I thought you were going for the ol' reach-around," he quipped.

"Can't get enough of me, can you?" Georgie bantered, clasping the keys in her hand and coming up along the left side of the van to the driver's side door.

As they both got in, Georgie shoved the keys into the ignition and backed the van up slightly, and then had to perform about an eight-point turn just so she could turn the damn vehicle around and take them back out the way they came. All the while, Rick kept picking on her.

"Maybe you should just let the man drive," he teased, as he began opening the package of batteries.

Georgie shot him a withering look and countered with, "Why don't you get in the back of that van and make me a sandwich."

Rick chuckled heartily and leaned back in the passenger seat. "You want your sandwich on white, whole wheat or rye?"

"Whole wheat. Hold the pickles."

"I thought you liked holding my pickle."

They both started cackling; their good moods soaring as Georgie successfully pulled the van out of the woods and back onto the road. With broad smiles upon their faces, Rick focused less on sexual innuendos and more on loading their walkie with working batteries while Georgie focused on the road and diving into that bag of pretzels.

With a one particular mouthful, she glanced down at the bag. "They got good taste in pretzels," she remarked; referring to those two Saviors.

"And batteries," he added, as he lifted the walkie up, pressed the button on the side to turn it on and listened to the static that came across. With smile he turned it back off.

"We've been gone two days," she commented, changing the subject. "We're gonna need to get back." When he made no move to agree or say anything for that matter, Georgie began to turn her head slightly to glance at him out the corner of her eye. "Rick…"

"Day and a half more," he bargained, looking back at her. "Today and tomorrow."

Georgie knitted her brow and gave the road her attention. "We can come out again," she insisted, feeling his eyes on her. "We should get back."

When she looked briefly at him again, he gave her puppy dog eyes and implored, "Just a little more."

"We're okay. We don't have to fight 'em right now."

"Yeah, I know. Just a little more, okay?" Rick popped a pretzel into his mouth and tried to dodge the look Georgie was giving him, which only made him feel the need to give her puppy dog eyes again and a coy smile only a mother could love on payday.

"Okay," she nodded.

"Okay."

They both smirked and chuckled as they turned their gazes from each other and instead to the road before them. Conversation dropped off and silence took up residence, but it was a nice silence. As Georgie sped off down the leaf- and twig-littered roads, what with not having any other traffic or laws about speeding to contend with anymore, she fell into the rhythm of it all; rather enjoying to peace of the quiet and the scenery slipping by.

Rick fell into the rhythm of the road, too. At some point he had drifted to sleep; exhaustion catching up with him and consuming him. Up until then he'd mostly been running on caffeine, adrenaline and joy. But none of that mattered when the body pulled the plug and shut down. No amount of caffeine, adrenaline and joy could withstand sleep for too long. Sooner or later you were forced to succumb and Rick was no exception.

Looking over at Rick, Georgie noticed he had nodded off and it brought a smile to her face; happy he was finally getting some semblance of rest. Not wanting to go any further without him conscious, she made the decision to pull off to the side of the road and slip into some tree coverage. All the while, Rick never stirred. Climbing quietly from the van, Georgie walked around the front, eyeing Rick to make sure he still slept as she went to open up the side doors and pulled out their kettle, a water bottle, coffee cups, jar of instant coffee and spoon. Carrying it all over to the side of the van, she set it all down and went about building a small fire upon the ground with some twigs and a pack of matches. Framing the fire with some rocks and topping it with a metal grate to rest the kettle upon, Georgie poured the water out of the bottle and into the kettle, just as Rick had that morning, and then sat and waited for the water to boil. When the water was ready, she filled her cup and scooped two spoonfuls of instant coffee into the cup, swirling it around and around until it dissolved.

Standing up with the cup in one hand and the spoon in another, Georgie was about to take her first sip of the hot, bitter liquid when a branch snapped nearby.

Her first thought was that of a walker, but when she looked over the hood of the van she saw it was simply a deer.

Stepping slowly and quietly toward the side doors, she set her coffee down and grabbed for her gun which was adorned with a silencer. Pulling it from her holster, Rick stirred awake and began to panic a little at the sight of her with gun and shushing him.

Patting him comfortingly upon the shoulder, she stepped away and began to walk carefully back toward the front of the van. When she didn't see the deer where it had been any more, Georgie continued to stalk forward while Rick climbed out of the van and followed after her.

"Damn it," she muttered.

"What was it?"

"It was a deer."

"We owe Michonne one," Rick commented. Off Georgie's somewhat blank expression, he elaborated. "Because of the one she hunted and brought back to Alexandria that the Saviors took."

"Oh, yeah. We do."

Both of them continued forward then; not just to hunt an elusive deer but for the simple need of wanting to gift it to their friend.

Walking only a few feet further, Georgie stopped and gestured at something up ahead. "Do you see that?"

Craning his neck, Rick nodded. "Yeah."

Heading toward the edge of the woods, not too far from where they stood, they approached a tall, chain-link fence with a tattered and soiled white sheet draped across the inside of it. The length of it acted as a perimeter wall to what Rick and Georgie saw was an abandoned high school. Walking straight up to the fence with little hesitation, Rick lifted his hatchet out from his utility belt and banged it upon one of the fence's metal poles four times, and then they waited.

In a matter of seconds, the silhouette of a walker came ambling along; casting its shadow upon the sheet. When it appeared from behind the sheet, the walker growled and clawed at the chain-link; giving Rick and Georgie time to inspect it. They noted how it was wearing full camo with an American flag patch upon its left shoulder, a bulletproof vest and guns strapped to its back; denoting the walker had very likely been a soldier.

"It's guns like that," Rick remarked, shoving the hatchet back into his utility belt. "That's why we're out here."

Removing her hunting knife from her utility belt, Georgie slipped the blade through one of the links in the fence that was level with the walker's eye and shoved it deep into the walker's skull. As she pulled the blade out, its body dropped to the ground. Looking back at Rick, she found him squinting at her and then bent at the knees; clasping his hands together in front of him. Catching on to what he was trying to do, Georgie sheathed her knife and walked up to him; lifting a leg and planting her foot into his hands as he hoisted her up at the same time she grabbed onto the top of the fence. Pulling her own self up a bit more, she threw a leg over and straddled the top for a moment to get a proper look of the other side of the fence, before dropping down. Rick followed a moment later, hooking his boots as best as he could onto the chain-link and scaling the fence with less grace than Georgie had. Nevertheless, he made his way over.

While Georgie crouched down to remove the rifle from the walker, Rick had gone to inspect some shell casings on the ground. He brought one to his nose and sniffed it, then stood up as Georgie joined him at his side. As they walked forward cautiously, more shell casings clinked as their boots knocked into them with each step they took. And there were a lot of casings everywhere in this overgrown parking lot they found themselves walking through.

"Something serious happened here," Georgie deduced. "A long time ago."

"Yeah," he agreed, holding up the shell casing he still had in his hands. "These are serious rounds. Might be serious guns here, too."

Walking on along what appeared to be the front of the school, the sound of walkers growling in the distance became more audible. As they approached the side of the building, Rick gestured ahead with his Colt at an abandoned school bus sat.

"Let's get a better look," he suggested.

"Yeah."

Jumping onto one of the front fenders of the bus, Rick pulled himself up onto the hood more easily than Georgie was able to manage.

"What were you in your past life? A monkey?"

"The specific term would be an orangutan," he joked; offering a hand to help her up onto the hood with him.

"I feel like baboon seems more likely," Georgie teased with a chuckle as she watched him pull himself up onto the roof of the bus next.

"You wanna stay down there? 'Cause I will leave you down there."

Georgie pretended to glare at him, even as he still offered his hand again to help her up. "Let's not forget who has the keys to the van and who can leave whom here to walk home," she retorted as she fumbled to get up to her knees and then stand up beside him.

"Fair enough."

Perhaps by sheer force of will, Rick and Georgie managed to make it across the gap between the roof of the bus and the roof of the school without slipping or dropping anything; namely themselves. Getting back down afterward would be interesting, that was for sure.

Standing up, they noticed the roof was covered with dead leaves, one lost baseball and notably waterlogged.

"Watch your step," Rick advised, pointing out the obviousness that was all the water.

"Maybe we shouldn't be up here too long."

"Well, let's see what we're gonna see."

Their boots splashing slightly in the water as they walked across the roof toward the direction of the back of the building, the cresting sun shined down upon their backs. Before them, on the other side of the chain-link fence that continued around the back of the school, was a small, abandoned carnival with many walkers walking aimlessly around; forever without direction.

Soldiers, civilians, all those rounds—there was a fight," Rick commented.

"Maybe it was the walkers. Maybe just other people."

Rick continued to look on with curiosity. "They're still wearing their guns." Turning to look at Georgie, he smiled. "I think this is it."

Georgie smiled, too. "I think it is, too."

"Think we can?"

Hesitating, Georgie's eyes scanned the carnival and then set her sights on one of the game booths. Removing her gun with its silencer she raised it and aimed for the stacked bottle game. Narrowing her gaze, she fire a single shot and missed quite badly.

Realizing what she'd been trying to do, Rick smirked and nudged her arm. "Try it with the rifle. Use the scope."

Lowering and holstering her gun, she lifted the rifle she'd taken off the soldier and looked through the scope. Aiming carefully, she fired another shot; this time the sound echoing loudly. Not satisfied with having missed again, Georgie cocked the gun and a shell clattered to the roof. Breathing in more steadily and trying not to rush it, Georgie focused better. Biting her bottom lip and realizing a slow breath, she pulled the trigger. A second after the sound of the gunshot echoed, so too did the sound of bottles shattering. Pulling her eye away from the scope, Georgie let out a laugh and smiled brightly at her success with Rick chuckling proudly beside her.

"Yeah, we can," she spoke, finally answering his question.

As they looked at each other and grinned from ear to ear, the roof beneath their feet groaned and began to crack. As looks of confusion quickly spread to Rick and Georgie's faces, they looked down and didn't even have time to panic as the roof gave out from underneath them.

In a mere fraction of a second, a hole had opened up and they crashed unceremoniously through it.

The fall in itself was momentarily frightening for them; not knowing where they were going to land and whether or not they might be injured or even killed in the process. For all they knew they could be falling into a horde of the undead and be too bogged down from roof debris to get themselves up and fight their way through it all in time.

Instead of those horrible scenarios, fortune shined favorably upon them.

After dropping through the hole in the roof and falling only about fifteen feet, Rick and Georgie landed upon a stack of a few, black gymnasium crashing mats as pieces of the roof, plaster from the ceiling, water and other debris fell and covered them. It only took a second to realize how ridiculous it all was that they had lucked out in such a way. Almost immediately they began laughing, staring up at the hole in the roof and the water still splashing down on them, as well as the pieces of drop ceiling tiles that were barely hanging on and dark with water stains and the beginnings of mold.

Continuing to laugh and catch their breaths, the pair slowly began to sit up and look at each other with big smiles plastered onto their faces.

Turning to Rick, Georgie grabbed onto his chest. "Are you okay?" she asked with a breathless chuckle.

"Y-yeah. Are you?" As he replied his voice cracked slightly; wiping his face of water and other debris-like particles from his face.

"I am." Sitting up and lurching around to test the buoyancy of the mats they'd landed on, Georgie continued laughing at how funny their situation was; completely oblivious to how matted own her hair had become from the water and how littered with who knows what it was. "This is—this is a sign, right?" Off Rick's deeper chuckle, she added, "This is it. It has to be."

As he finally pulled himself up into a sitting position, Rick looked ahead of them and patted the inside of her thigh. "Oh-ho. It is," he confirmed as he pointed.

Following his gaze, Georgie saw several pallets stacked with boxes upon boxes of military-grade, ready-to-eat meals; all of which was wrapped in heavy duty stretch plastic wrap.

"Well, they're ready," she wittily indicated. "Let's eat."

The two of them looked at each other; their smiles going nowhere anytime soon.

As the hours passed, and they were able to clean themselves off of the roof debris that had covered them, Rick and Georgie began going through the different boxes of food to see all of what there really is. Taking out a few things that looked quite appetizing to eat, they set those aside and went about making the area work for them for spending the night there. As their continued good luck would have it, there were already cots with pillows and blankets in the exceptionally large room which had once been the high school's cafeteria. It really wasn't all that surprising that this was where food of any kind would be found. What was surprising was the bountiful amount of it.

Gathering up some candles and matches, they set them up around them inside old food cans to properly light up the space so they could see once the sun had gone down. With a small table between them on the floor, and two forks to eat with, Rick and Georgie dove into their first pouch of ready-to-eat meals and found them to be rather satisfying after only the first bite.

"How is it?" Georgie asked, gesturing to his food.

With a nod, he replied with a mouthful. "It's good." Chuckling, he set his pouch down and looked across the little table at her.

Absentmindedly stabbing the contents of her pouch, Georgie began to think ahead. "So, tomorrow…"

"Mmhmm."

"…we go out there and we get the weapons, right?" As Rick nodded, taking a swig of some unlabeled beer they'd also found, she continued. "We get Jadis and her people to fight with us. We kill Negan and anyone else we have to in order to win. And what happens after that?" she asked, taking a drink from her own beer.

"After that, we keep going," Rick shrugged, taking another swig.

"Yeah, but…Negan ordered the world his way. It's up to us to reorder it once he's gone, isn't it?"

He sighed heavily. "All the different communities, they can figure it out together, how to keep going together."

"Yeah, but somebody's gonna have to make that happen. Somebody will have to be in charge of that, right?" Off Rick's nod and tilt of his head, she added softly, "It should be you."

Rick snickered. "Or, it could be you." Lifting his head, he narrowed gaze upon her. "I'm not the only person here who has led a large group of people if memory serves…"

Georgie rolled her eyes. "That feels like forever and a day ago, and I was a different person then. I led out of necessity because no one else in either of my previous groups was capable of making big decisions for the good of the whole or willing to."

"I think you're still that person."

"You didn't know me then."

"I know you now," Rick remarked. "I've known you a while now. I know what you can do and what you're capable of. You're smart and crafty. You can be a ruthless hard-ass if need be. You soldier on even when you're injured and experiencing the worst losses of your life."

Georgie shrugged. "And the same can be said about you. Literally all those things you just said about me, apply to you."

Rick shook his head a little and looked down with a subtle grunt; not fully agreeing with that. "Mmm."

"I'm serious. It should be you."

Looking back up, with a few strands of his curling hair falling into his eye, Rick looked rather amused as he shook his head again. "Not me."

"Why not?" she pried. She knitted her brow in all seriousness. "You could do it. You'd be good at it. I mean, if it's something that you wanted."

"Well, I don't think I do. Or I would." Dragging his gaze downward, he pursed his lips in thought and a slight sparkle seemed to appear in his eyes that didn't come from the candlelight. Looking back up at her, he almost seemed to smile despite having very little expressed upon his face. "The two of us, though—you and me—reordering things together." Rick sighed. "I want that. If it's something you wanted."

Georgie's face softened and she smiled at him like a school girl who just got asked on her very first date. Biting her bottom lip, she nodded. "Yeah."

"I want everything I can have in this world with you," he added, holding her gaze. Reaching around the small table, he took her left hand in his right and lifted it up. After brushing his lips across her fingers, he let go of her hand in order to lean forward and cup the side of her face to pull her into a kiss.

When Georgie's giggle interrupted their kiss, she leaned back. "Sorry."

"What?" he wondered; raising an eyebrow at her.

"Nothing," she insisted with a shake of her head.

"No, no. Tell me."

With a sigh, she smiled and gestured all around them. "Me with the red hair, surrounded by candles, and kissing the cute guy? You're not getting the Sixteen Candles vibe?" She pulled at a lock of her hair and held it up as to make a point. "I'm totally Molly Ringwald right now."

Rick chuckled, looking her hair over and enjoying how the candlelight made her fiery hair look more like actual fire. "So, what does that make me."

"Well, you're Jake Ryan, of course."

Rick smirked. "Who's Jake Ryan."

"The sweet, hunky senior Molly Ringwald's character was seriously crushing on throughout the movie." Georgie tilted her head this time and looked at Rick inquisitively. "Have you never seen it?"

"Is Sixteen Candles the one where she cuts up that perfectly good dress and turns it into something hideous in the end?"

Georgie chuckled. "No, that was Pretty In Pink."

"Oh. Well, all those movies were pretty much the same anyway."

With a thoughtful nod, she shrugged. "Yeah, I guess so."

The two of them smiled at each other again and casually began to resume eating. They fell silent and into thought; mulling over each other's comments about Sixteen Candles and their own real life dramas they had faced and had to still face. Rick looked up and watched how Georgie had her eyes cast down into her pouch of food and was chewing on the most recent bite she had taken.

He became thoughtful; enjoying this time alone with her. It had given them both a chance to rediscover how well they worked together, one on one, as a team; how they complimented each other.

"You know," Rick spoke, after a few moments, "we don't have to get it done tomorrow. We can take our time. If we go another day, another one after that, it's fine. I mean, the place is clear. It's locked up tight." Rick sighed, lifting up his beer bottled. "We found the only way in, so…"

Georgie had set her fork and pouch down upon her lap and just stared at Rick as he spoke. While everything he had said was so tempting, for them to have some sort of lost weekend, their responsibilities to their community and to this fight ahead of them took more precedence. "We should get back," she insisted.

Rick tried to convince her a bit. "If we're getting the guns, it doesn't matter if it takes a little longer." Looking her in the eye, he held up a finger and seem to change gears. "Wait. I've been, um…I've been waiting to show you this one."

Georgie knitted her brow, questioningly, as she watched Rick turn and lift up another food pouch that had been sitting behind him. "It's, um, chili…and mac and cheese." Turning the pouch around, he reveal the front label to her as if revealing an uncut diamond. "Together." Rick handed it over to her insistently. "Come on."

With a dry smile, she accepted. "This doesn't mean I'm agreeing to stay out here longer, just so you know."

Rick shrugged, rather sure of himself. "Well, if that doesn't convince you, I have other ways of doing it."

Georgie let out a chuckle and simply opened up the pouch.

Sometime during the middle of the night, Rick woke up.

Just when he had finally thought he'd get a decent night's sleep, he had taken a page out of Georgie's book and awoken from a nightmare. Given how well the last few days had gone, he could've safely assumed anything he dreamed would've been pleasant. Instead, he was plagued with visions of Glenn and Abraham's deaths. The worst part of the nightmare was Negan showing up to Alexandria while Georgie and he were still away, looking for guns, and how Negan killed everyone because they were gone too long. In the nightmare, he returned with Georgie only to find everyone they loved bludgeoned and butchered in the streets or turned into walkers. What had lurched him awake was the sight of Carl and Judith's mutilated bodies at his feet and then turning around to look at Georgie, only for her to no longer be herself, but instead a walker.

Sitting up, wearing only his boxers, Rick turned and let his legs plant firmly upon the ground. Hunching forward, he sighed deeply; trying to shake the nightmare from his mind. He turned his head and noticed Georgie stirring slightly, so he turned back to face forward. At the sound of her cot creaking with movement, Rick placed his face in his hands.

Georgie never said a word as she woke and sat up; seeing Rick just sitting there like that. It wasn't the first time in the last week she'd found him in that position whenever she'd woken from one of her own dreams. Usually it was because he was overtired but his mind just wasn't letting him sleep. Tonight, it seemed to be something different that was bothering him.

Moving around upon her knees, she clambered from her cot to his, and then sank down behind him; her chest against his back and her legs outstretched on either side of his. Placing a couple kisses between his shoulder blades, Georgie wrapped her arms around his waist and clasped her fingers together against his abdomen.

Appreciating and finding some comfort in the gesture, Rick sat up a bit straighter and attempted to look over his shoulder back at her.

"We should go home after tomorrow," he decided; not going into his reasoning for changing his mind.

"Okay," was her response.