"I think I'll take my chances out here in the open thanks." Rick and Daryl paused in their trek toward the barn. Daryl flanked Gareth who hadn't budged after Rick's command.
Eating up the dusty distance between them Rick stepped to him toe to toe, rage burning his heels. Gareth threw his hands in the air, Rick was irresolute if it was an act of surrender or a warning.
"I'll have you know I didn't come here alone. You didn't think I'd be that stupid did ya?" The grimace on Gareth's face caused Rick's hand to fist, he was struggling with engaging in barbaric methods of shutting the man up.
Daryl began pacing the wide stretch in front the barn, there was nothing but miles of dirt and road surrounding the vast, rustic spread of Serenity so he was undecided if the man was bluffing or not.
"How'd you find 'er?"
"Your uh...wife left a lot of loose ends back home."
Rick wanted to enforce that Serenity was her home now.
"You say she got debt. What kind?" Daryl opted to fire out the questions sensing his friend was past the asking questions stage in the untimely intrusion. Rick's eyes had taken on a dark hue, Daryl could feel the anger burning through his skin. He didn't want Rick's known fury clouding his judgement.
Rick had grown quite attached to Michonne in the two weeks she'd been at Serenity even if he didn't want to admit it. Since her arrival she had caused more happiness on the Ranch with some upheaval thrown in for good measure; she certainly kept Rick on his toes. She had managed to discolor all of Rick's favorite shirts when she mixed her clothes in with his doing the wash one day, despite having someone on hand to do the cleaning and washing. Then there was that small but hard to put out fire in the kitchen last Tuesday, she had a failed attempt at cooking a big southern breakfast for everybody, there was still a caution sign marking off a small section of the big kitchen.
Michonne and Daryl had argued loudly after she freed the possum he had finally caught after setting a trap for it for two weeks. It was a heated debate about the cruel caging of some animals and she let him know how against it she was. He didn't agree with her but Daryl's respect for Rick's new wife had increased marginally because it seemed there wasn't much she was afraid of saying. Not to mention the ridiculous amount of tea she had them all drinking on a daily basis like they were a bunch of English ladies. Rick had been cursing like a sailor since her arrival but he never heard his friend laugh as often as he did when he was in the presence of Michonne. He knew Rick would do anything to protect her.
Still, trouble showing up on their doorstep was never a good thing and Daryl felt uneasy from the uncertainty of what it all meant.
"I asked you a question" he repeated, his tone letting Gareth know his response was critical.
"Gambling debts. The last time we spoke Michonne said she would pay off her brother's debts if we release him from our…...custody. We did but now she's a little behind on some payments."
If Gareth traced Michonne to Oakland to collect her deceased brother's debt, the amount couldn't have been small.
"Ain't he dead?" He gathered that much from the bit of information he'd obtained when he overheard Gareth speaking to Rick earlier.
"He is, but we didn't kill him and we kept our word. A debt transferred is a debt still owed."
"How much?" Rick gritted out his clenched teeth. He didn't want Michonne returning home and meeting Gareth at the ranch. There was only one way to get rid of the hound.
Gareth named a figure.
Daryl scratched his head.
"So you're tellin' me Michonne pays that debt and -"
"She'll never see me again." He held up another hand. "Scouts honor."
Rick wrestled with his intentions about taking care of the problem. It would be an easy win if Gareth was no longer riding her subconscious. He didn't work out all the semantics of the ploy but he knew his desire to protect her outweighed logic and reason.
"What's your price?" Everybody had one. Even Michonne, except her price was gonna cost him his heart if he didn't reign it in.
"My price?" Gareth feigned innocence.
"To end this. Permanently."
"Your willing to pay me off for her? She worth all that to you? Michonne could be more trouble than she's worth. Just like her brother."
Gareth knew he hit a nerve as soon as the butter words left his lips. Rick raised his fist in the air to punch him but he was swift on his skinny legs and boxed him in the nose before any wind could pass between them. When Rick realized Gareth had probably broken his nose as blood dripped from his nostrils Daryl had already jacked him up by his shirt collar. Rick signaled to Daryl and he released him.
He moved in strong and swung at Gareth twice, Rick was larger than him in height and mass so the jab sent Gareth stumbling. An unjust ripple of pleasure shot through him when Gareth keeled over bleeding from his lip and holding his jaw.
"I'm askin' you again. What's your price?" Rick didn't want to talk anymore, he wanted this man off his property and out of his life. Spending time in jail was just as awful as making Michonne a widow and he couldn't do that to her.
Gareth doubled the debt figure and Rick resolved internally he would part with his money but he had conditions. He briefed Gareth on what his terms were and the wiesel agreed to it, Daryl had a clause of his own to add.
He grabbed Gareth by his bloody white shirt again, his tiny frame dangling in Daryl's hold like a doll, "If I see you again, if Michonne gets a whiff of this or if she gets hurt in any way, we'll kill you."
"The cowboys are threatening me, as though the busted lip and black eye weren't enough."
Gareth tried to straighten his clothes but it was futile.
"It's not a threat. It's a promise." Rick said with certifiable fury in his tone.
"A message will be sent to her that she doesn't have to worry about payment anymore." He pulled out a pen and paper from deep in his pants pocket and scribbled a number and address and thrusted it to Rick's seething frame. "Send the money there. You have two days."
Gareth turn and left just as easily as he had arrived.
Daryl watched his langy frame walk off into the distance until his figure looked like a mirage.
"Think he'll be back?"
"For his sake I hope not." Rick had placed his bandana on his face to stop his bloody nose from the excessive bleeding
As much as he appreciated Daryl having his back he wanted to be alone with his thoughts. Michonne would be back soon and he needed to construct an amicable way to approach her without showing the scar her lack of trust had left him with. He'd been fooled by good sex and even sweeter pillow talk. Her intrinsic beauty tamed the beast in him, helping him to open up to her in ways he hadn't done with anyone else. It was a barter, a secret game she made him a part of; exchanging money for his name and he thought it best to remember that.
Ever since their first night together she was open with their lovemaking, eager to explore wherever their desires took them. Knowing he had been her first created a primal tug of possession when she was near him, sometimes it was hard to control. His distant emotions no longer jailed him, there was a security in the freedom he found in her arms and he thought she felt it too. There was a fleeting glimpse of something familiar, a look in her eyes he identified with; hurt and pain, dim but there when no one was looking. Even their separate insecurities united them.
He had a sobering thought of how far she pulled him from his stance of keeping her at a distance for the year they would be married because as much as she trusted him with her body she surely didn't trust him with anything else.
Until she came clean with him about her past he couldn't see a future with her past their contracted year.
"You know she's gonna take the piss outta ya when she sees your face right?"
Daryl was right, she would be pissed he got into a scowl, inherently he was happy about that fact because he was in the mood for a fight. He couldn't bring himself to tell her he had lost their winnings. After all the sharing they'd been doing they were coming up with ways to run the ranches more successfully.
She was smart and he was impressed with her business head. They already started to implement new strategies. She was working on a marketing plan to make the Triple S more appealing, the blueprint she developed seemed promising for the months ahead.
If the revamp of his business was successful as they hoped it would be they didn't need to complete in the baby race after all. It already seemed like a no win despite the stamina of their sex life, it was too early to even tell. Dwight and Sherry had eloped a week ago and Rick knew Shane and Andrea were probably going at it like two rabbits to secure a leading spot. If their plans failed and they still lost the baby race he wouldn't even have the marriage money to give to Michonne. What would she think of him then? Trepidation poured into his soul, if Michonne became pregnant and she found out about the non existent prize money would she think he tricked her into getting pregnant all along? It was even more ammunition for her not to trust him. He couldn't tell her, not yet. He felt like any move he made he would lose her. "Daryl, let's keep this between us."
Daryl nodded and they both walked off in different directions.
….
"Rick! I can't wait for you to see this!" Michonne all but galloped into the house in search of her husband, she was too excited to walk. She wanted to show him her creation knowing he would sing her praises just like he did when she learned to drive a tractor. She had prejudge living in the countryside, she adapted quickly to the slow pace life and wide open spaces that was Oakland. She never grew tired of stepping outside and witnessing the beauty that was the luscious mountains that rolled out like the picturesque fittings of an elaborate jigsaw puzzle. She had gotten a sudden Joie de vivre; she was developing a love for the land, rivaled by the love of her new family and friends, all in such a short space of time. She had reneged on the promise she made with herself to remain aloof and not form any attachments.
She made her way upstairs, finding the large house quiet and empty for the time of the day. When she got to their room she heard the steady flow of the shower and then heard it shut off. Rick emerged from the bathroom dripping wet with a white towel wrapped around his waist.
Her mouth watered on sight, his damp curls hogged his neck, they too were greedy to touch his skin, the water droplets cascaded off his rippled body constructed by hard work, dripped on the towel then onto the floor where his neat, naked feat stood planted.
"Hey." His greeting was somber like his facial expression.
"What the hell happened to your face?" She rushed to him when she noticed the discoloration around his nose, she reached out to touch him but he stepped back out of reach as though her touch would burn his skin.
"It's nothin'" he shrugged but he saw the black and blue bruise on his nose and cheek in the mirror, he knew how bad it looked.
He didn't want to scare her with his ugliness, it was the last thing he wanted to do.
"What happened Rick? Were you fighting?"
"Went for a drink in town. Words were exchanged and so were fists. It's nothin'." He was ashamed how smoothly the lie rolled off his tongue.
"The hell it is! Sit down let me look at it." She was no nurse but she had to do something.
"Michonne!" His cadence was stronger than the usual tone he reserved for her and she was startled by it.
She assumed his anger was from his fight and whatever the nucleus for it was she hoped it was over. Rick had a temper, it wasn't secret. She had nicknamed him Bear because whenever something got him upset he would emit a growl like a wild beast and the habit amused her. His aggression didn't scare her though, in fact it propelled her to help strip away at his armor all the more fervently. She moved closer to him.
"Please Rick, let me take care of you like you take care of me." Her touch was gentle, he had no defense, he couldn't deny her anything. He sat on the made up bed and she moved in front of him.
"It looks painful. Does it hurt?" She asked, concern laced in her tone.
"It looks worse than it feels."
"Well did you put anything on it? Let me run downstairs for an ice pack. Or maybe we should go see Doctor Carson?"
He latched onto her wrist as she was about to bolt from the bed in search of some aid. The last thing he needed was for her to play nursemaid to him, not when all he was craving was her touch and her willingness to touch him in return.
"I'm okay. I promise. What was it you raced in here so excited about?"
"Oh!" She tracked back her scattered brain, remembering what hastened her footsteps minutes before. "Mama G, Maggie and Sherry and I made jam today! Strawberry! Fresh from your mama's garden!" She was eager to show him, eager for him to taste what she'd concocted. She was also eager for him to be proud of her.
His sour disposition was the least thing she was expecting.
"Can't wait to taste it then." He said watching her leave the room.
He needed to pull himself together, he felt the tug of war in his heart with her soft touch. He wanted to be recalcitrant to her affections but his barriers were weak. Michonne didn't trust him and he needed that knowledge to influence his judgement from here on out and not his heart.
She returned with even more pep in her step. She was beautiful in a simple boot cut jeans and V neck purple jersey with a plaid shirt over it. He had bought the perfect pair of boots for her too and she wore it every day.
She straddled him without ceremony placing a blue ice pack on his face, she was extremely comfortable with him and how intimate they were with each other.
He found himself hardening under the thin veil of the towel, the scent of strawberries mixing in with her shampoo ambushed his nostrils. Now wasn't a good time for his libido to demonstrate its dominance over his rationale.
He removed the ice pack from his face, touching her hand in the process. If he didn't get away from her he couldn't be held accountable for what they ended up doing together. "Can you just take my word for it? I'm fine."
She rocked back on his lap grinding her perfect behind on his erection. He knew she felt it.
"Of course. I trust you Rick." She let the pack fall from her hand and wound both arms around his neck, her fingers playing a dance of their own in his damp curls
"Do you?" He froze her with his question. His blue eyes looked like ice and no longer were the warm blue pools she loved to watch watch her.
"I do." She said, the feel of him growing hard under her hot body was making the cool room feel stuffy.
"You trust me with your body?" His hands, on an agenda of their own slipped under her shirt and loosened her bra. He was seconds away from ravishing her, his craving to connect with her, to communicate in a form they easily expressed was holding him hostage.
"Yes Rick." The confidence in her tone manipulated him into thinking she trusted him with her secrets too.
"Show me. Take off your panties." The rumble in his throat as he spoke made her do as he asked without question.
He watched her shimmy out of her tight jeans and slip her underwear off, her nonchalance at his request making her even sexier.
With all the fussing and fidgeting she had done with his bruise, the way she sat so content on his lap, how their eyes held, his lips and his body betrayed his resolution at remaining distant.
"I won't ever let anything hurt you. You know that right?"
"I know."
"I mean it. I'll protect you." He held her by the waist and pulled her close to him, his need for her was intense and feverish. He kissed her deeply, he didn't intend for it to be rough and he hoped he didn't bruise her lips.
Her passion matched his, she untied the knot from the towel at his waist and his hardened dick sprung up. She climbed on top of him, not wasting any time and sank down on his dick slowly. They both gasped when he was at her hilt and she began to move.
"Michonne." He breathed out, her moist walls clutching him tightly.
"You feel perfect Rick. Like a perfect fit." She was about to say they were a perfect fit but she held back. She couldn't pinpoint the catalyst for the distance that had been dropped between them but it was there and she couldn't ignore it. She couldn't ignore the way he set her body on fire either. She never felt this tortured and this healed with anyone else like she did with Rick.
He was holding back and she shouldn't feel dejected from it because she was holding back too. He held onto her ass and thrusted into her, their coupling taking on a rapid pace. He knew how she wanted him and he knew she would let him devour her delicious body without fear or doubt. It was the partial trust he discovered earlier. She trusted him completely with her body but she didn't want to expose more of herself to him.
Michonne felt Rick's fingers digging into her bottom as he pushed up inside her, she struggled to maintain her equilibrium at his onslaught. Her body was trembling, knowing what was lying in wait at the end of their tryst and the sweet sensations she was experiencing in her body heightened in expectation.
She could let go, she knew Rick would catch her but outside of their room she remained guarded.
She was afraid to let him see the burdens of her past and how it had changed her. Here in their bedroom their bodies spoke what their lips could never uttered and she knew someday soon it wouldn't be enough, perhaps that day had arrived.
He took her lips again, this time with a gentle touch that tipped her scales, tugging her orgasm violently out of her and she collapsed in his arms. He followed soon after, his seed spitting into her womb hot and fast just like their greedy love making.
"Michonne." Rick tightened his hold on her, their foreheads were pressed together, their hot breaths mingling, waiting for some form of sanity to arrive. "I lo-...I need to tell you something." He didn't know where he was going with those I'll timed words.
"Rick, I need to tell you something too. I have a confession to make."
He gave her his undivided attention, hope in his eyes that she finally got the courage to confess about Gareth and Bob his debt and how afraid she was they would find her.
Her held her soft cheek, silently pushing her through her skepticism.
"I've been keeping something from you. I've been talking to my friend Sasha from the city, sometimes when you're not around it does get a bit lonely out here. I told her she can come out for a few days but I never told you I invited her out here. Now I'm not even sure of the directions to give her."
His face fell and he let out a dry laugh, her confession wasn't what he expected at all. She still didn't trust him and he was a fool to thing one hot sex session would create that between them even if he felt their union in the deepest pocket of his soul.
She was lonely, she wanted to bring a friend out for a visit. It was the least he could do knowing he had no money to give her. He would take care of it.
"Give Daryl her number. He'll arrange everything."
"Really!? Thank you Rick! You sure it's not too much trouble!?" She asked hugging him tightly.
"It's no trouble. Whatever you want, this is your home too. I want you to know that."
"It's really starting to feel that way Rick." She eased herself off of him and rushed her clothes on telling him she was going to smother some strawberry jam on the fresh bread his mother made for him to taste.
He would give her anything she asked for as long as it was in his power to give but there was one thing he had to protect, giving it to her might just kill him and that was his heart. They had a marriage of convenience, that's all it was and their inconvenient attraction would hopefully fizzle out by the time winter blew in.
When the twelve months were over she would take whatever money he could scrape up and leave with it, and he had to do his best not to let her take his heart with her.
"This is where it's gonna take place?" Daryl asked as he observed all hands on deck working in the hot sun, cultivating the land where Rick had earmarked to start developing grains instead of bulk buying on the market at ridiculously high prices. He was taking Michonne's advice, more like her instructions; she had earmarked a few ways to reduce expenditure and increase profits and growing grains was the first avenue he was tackling to reduce costs in the long term.
It had been six weeks since they became husband and wife, six weeks of Michonne embedding herself further into his home, six weeks of forgetting how he lived life before she arrived in a dusty cab and an ugly brown suit, six weeks of making love to her in the still of the night like her perfect body was created to fit in his arms and her big, caring heart was crafted to beat in tandem with his.
Only he never spoke of his potent thoughts with her. He used her willingness to help him as a distraction of sorts and he poured himself into teaching her everything he knew about their business and the land he grew up on. In turn her business head went to work doing a deep analysis on processes that were working for them but still could be improved and things that weren't working at all. Growing their own grains was a good start, along with renting out their numerous land machines for a fair price. She was even outsourcing potential restaurant owner clients who were looking for a steady provider of high quality grade cuts for their business. If things went according to plan he wouldn't need his father's money to continue running his business. If things went south he'd have to do something that he'd regret for the rest of his life; sell a piece of their property because now he didn't even have capital to invest in anything of sizable promise.
He had taught her how to ride and she had been an eager student, she milked her first cow under his tutelage and he deemed it a success despite him ending up with milk on his face. Her recent addiction had been making jam with his mother and Maggie and it had been a sure fire hit among the locals. They had begun to sell their produce at the farmers market. Michonne had designed a label and clever, catchy jam names to garner attention much to his mother's delight. She was making this place a home and if it wasn't for their agreement hanging between them and his secret that he paid off her debt he would've thought they had a real marriage and not one that was going to end in less than eleven months.
She and Maggie had gone over to his mother's for a visit otherwise she would've been out in the field at his side calling orders and giving her opinions on any and everything. She usually kept busy, he was glad she had taken a day to relax as she'd been subtly complaining of feeling tired and he thought she could use some rest.
By the time she got home there would be a surprise waiting for her and he hoped she would be happy with his gift.
He watched his new hand shovel some dirt onto a pile and hoped he worked out on their team. Eduardo had been transferred to Sweethearts, Rick hadn't been very impressed by the way Eduardo gawked at his wife and rather than commit murder from his burning jealousy he swapped employees. Michonne had called him petty but he reminded her he was the boss and he could do as he pleased.
He and Daryl were mid conversation when they saw Maggie speeding up the road in her UTV like she was flying out of hell with the devil at her heels. She left a tornado of dust in her wake and slammed down on the brakes just as she reached the beginning of Serenity's driveway.
"Rick! Daryl!" She catapulted out of the vehicle.
Hearing the urgency in her voice the two men jogged to her concerned at what could be the issue.
"What is it?" Rick said meeting up to her first.
"Don't you two have cell phones? You have them for a reason! This isn't the zombie apocalypse where phones ain't got a purpose!"
"What is it Maggie!?"
"It's Michonne! She's fainted!"
"Fainted?" Rick's heart rate hiked up a notch. It was the heat, she couldn't stand the heat and there were only a few rooms at sweetheart with air. As much as she tried to be a country girl now, the city girl in her couldn't take the sun baked days and the warm nights. He didn't even have to deliberate on getting Aaron to cool his mother's house too.
"She's up at the house. We already called Dr. Carson. He's on his way. I've been tryin' to call y'all! Nobody answered." They were being scolded.
"Daryl will you manage the rest of it?" Rick asked climbing in the driver's seat as Maggie scooted over in the ATV.
"Yeah. You got it." Daryl said as Rick turned the cart around and sped off in the same direction Maggie had come from.
….
"I'm fine. I told Maggie don't bother to call. I know you were working." Michonne's skin looked pale against the yellow sheets of the queen size bed situated in one of the guest rooms at his parents' place. He placed a hand on her forehead not feeling for anything particular but needing to feel her skin against his.
"Maggie did the right thing. I'm your husband." He said it feeling the rightful claim.
"I called Aaron. He's gonna come do the house like he did ours. I know how much you hate the heat."
"I'm not sure what happened. I was just feeling light headed. And then all of a sudden I'm on the ground and your mama is praying to Jesus. You think it was the heat?"
"Dr. Carson is here." Georgia stepped in the room in her usual jeans and red plaid shirt, her greying hair in a perfectly defined top knot. Her face held concern for her daughter in law who she had grown extremely fond of over the past few weeks.
Dr. Carson stepped in beside her, a stethoscope around his neck and his brown doctor's bag in his hand.
"Rick. Mrs. Grimes. I heard somebody fainted." Rick was sitting at Michonne's side, their hands interlocked.
"I think it could be the heat. She's not so 'customed to it yet." Rick said, certain the explanation was fitting.
"Let's check things out." Dr. Carson looked at Rick, he was about to ask him to give Michonne some space but Rick planted himself firmly at his wife's side letting him know he had no intentions of being away from her.
The doctor proceeded to acquire Michonne's heart rate, pulse and blood pressure then he let loose a general round of questioning that was putting Rick on the edge because of their personal nature.
Michonne shushed him, giving his arm a pat as he was about to counter the doctor's question with an appropriate response of his own.
His mother had left to make tea for everyone.
"I think it was….umm… It may have been a few weeks ago. I haven't...I've lost track…" The answer was staring her in the face and she had been too absorbed with ranch life to realize. She was pregnant.
"Any chance you two could be pregnant?" What she saw on Rick's face startled her, it wasn't happiness, it wasn't even shock, it was guilt. It alarmed her because a baby would put them in the lady for the baby bonus. That's what they both wanted.
"Well let's not speculate. We'll go ahead and order a test." Carson announced.
Michonne's mouth became drier than the scorched earth outside. If Rick was having second thoughts about the whole baby thing he never once conveyed that thought to her. Now it might be a wasted anxiety because they could already have a baby on the way. It was worse for her, she had been contemplating ways she could walk away from him when the year was over and she crumbled inside every time she thought about leaving him. It would be worse with a baby in tow but would she be able to leave after her heart had finally found a place to rest?
She needed answers for her question soon. She wasn't sure if what she was feeling was love but it was clouding her judgement and her mind. Being with Rick and his family, living at Serenity made her forget the main reason she was at the ranch; to pay off her brothers debt and plan a fresh start for herself.
Flirting with the idea of having a husband and family had put her past in a tunnel, forgetting there were people on her back and money to paid out. She didn't know how to brace the topic of money with Rick, they had evolved into so much more than pretend husband and wife, they were partners. There was just one thing that could divide them and that was whatever Rick was holding onto, the thing he couldn't come to her with. It hurt a bit knowing he could find easy comfort in her arms but what she desired most of all was to be his confidant for whatever rested on his mind like a weight. She wasn't sure if bringing a baby into their complicated relationship had been the best decision but hindsight was usually twenty twenty vision. If she was already pregnant with Rick's baby the stakes had just gotten higher for them and for her heart too.
….
"Rick, you don't have to lift me and take me everywhere!" Michonne's complaint was faint. She was half objecting, half surrendering as Rick lifted her from where she sat at the dining table to take her to the beige bridgewater sofa that rested elegantly in the TV room, another welcome change under Michonne's hand had been her redecoration of a few rooms in the house. Serenity had been rebranded with a welcoming touch that made Rick eager to be home for lunch and dinner and whatever reason he could conjure up to sneak away from his pressing duties to spend time with his wife. He couldn't imagine what this place would feel like if she ever left. Losing her would cut like a knife.
"You heard what Dr. Carson said Michonne."
"Yes I heard him and I also heard you tell him I don't even know how to spell the word rest."
"You don't. You're always running off doing something or the other. Well that ends today!" Michonne was having his baby and he was so happy he could bust. He was also scared enough to confess what he knew and what he did right there and then.
"Yes daddy."
"Don't call me daddy smart mouth."
"Well you're laying down the law…" She had a predilection of throwing pillows at him.
"Well we have the baby to think about now. So as long as you're living under my roof you'll have to obey my rules." He sat on the end of the sofa, pulled her dainty feet in his lap and kissed her ankle.
"Can you spell Fred Flintstone?" She stuck her tongue out at him and his eyes narrowed.
"What are we watching tonight? Please no more Disney movies. In up to my eyeball in them." They had seen Pocahontas three times, she knew all the words.
She giggled at his plea and rubbed her belly, "I don't know Rick I see a lot of Disney movies in our future. You're happy about the baby right Rick?" She asked because he had been so silence since they left Sweethearts, she wanted to make sure they were still on the same page.
"Of course." He ghosted a touch to her flat belly. "It just seems surreal is all."
He wanted to discuss their future desperately with her but first he needed to muster up the courage to tell her he had lost their money. Now that she was pregnant he didn't know when was the best time to break that kind of depressing news to her. The doctor said her blood pressure was low and because she was only about six weeks into her pregnancy he wanted a stress free environment for her and the baby.
She smiled at him and held his sun tanned hand in hers.
Her watched her bite her lip trying to decide on a channel to settle on and his heart expanded knowing they created a life together. They were his to protect and he would do whatever was necessary to keep his wife and child safe.
….
Daryl sat in the barn on an upside down bucket watching Old Milly play with her foal, being with the four legged creatures made him feel more humane in a way he never felt around people. He was a loner by choice but animals didn't require much from him like people did. He never had to worry about disappointing them or them disappointing him so most nights he ended up in the barn feeding them and taking any semblance of peace they offered. It had been a long day and he was exhausted.
He was about to call it a night when he heard a car door slam in the distance and drive off. It was too late for visitors. Ever since Gareth had shown up he had been on high alert. He didn't trust the weisel, he always assumed he'd be back and when he did he planned to be ready for him.
He tiptoed to the red wall on the southern side of the barn and walked alongside it trying to make out the cloaked figurine off in the distance. The sky was a beautiful black carpet of stars and faint clouds but the moon wasn't full tonight so there wasn't much light to assist with his hazy vision. He was glad he was wise to grab his crossbow. He placed the bolt he was holding in his mouth, placed it in its holder and aimed.
The person was leaning over something that was too dark for him to make out. His gut rolled, he was feeling exposed to this intruder and protective of the place and people he called home. Gareth had come back, he was certain of it. Probably for more money because men like him were never satisfied.
He'd have to get through to Daryl before he got to Rick and Michonne. He held his crossbow steady and aimed directly at the dark mass at least thirty yards ahead of him and fired.
A blood crawling scream pierced the blackness, the person's frame collapsed to the cold ground. He let out a slew of expletives, the scream belonged to a woman. He ran to the slumped form after ditching his bow on the ground.
Rick and Michonne heard the noise and rushed outside to investigate the source of the scream.
"Shit! I thought you were someone else!" Daryl gave a half hearted, indirect apology to the beautiful woman on the ground.
"Get away from me!" The woman said trying to catch her breath as the piercing pain rendered her immovable.
"What's going on!?" Michonne stumbled upon them. "Sasha! Oh my God!" she exclaimed in shock and then confusion at the arrow sticking out of her friend. She threw Daryl a hard slap on his arm, "You shot an arrow at my friend!?"
"I'll get Dr. Carson." Rick jogged back towards the house needing to take swift action to keep things from getting too dramatic, he felt he was already too late. He already wasn't sure Sasha and Michonne coming together had been a good idea based on the stories he'd been subjected to. She had just arrived and the excitement had already begun to stir. This would be one for the books. As he dialed the doctors number he contemplated keeping the good doctor on retainer.
Sasha was writhing in pain, holding in a string of curse words as Daryl tried to wrestle her into his arms and failed.
"Leave me alone! You asshole!" She pounded his chests with her fists, pain strangling her whole lower body.
"Sasha I'm sorry! I thought you were a threat!"
"What did I look like out there? A wild bear? Michonne you better keep this wet, crossbow carrying, man cat away from me!" She was heaving from the pain and Daryl had finally forced her over his shoulder, she fought him all the way to the main house. Michonne ran a frustrated hand through her locks, she was elated to see one of her closest friends had finally made it out for a visit but Sasha already was off to a bad start. Her first time on the ranch and Daryl had shot her in the ass with an arrow.
