A/N Again, thank you all so much! I appreciate the faves, the follows and the reviews xo. Let's check in with Rick and Beth.
He thought it best to tell her with her family close. He had to leave, get to the hospital, and if he couldn't be there for her, he wanted her to have the love and support of her family.
They walked in the front door and thankfully Hershel was there in the living room, Rick gave him a look and the man picked up on the fact that something was amiss.
Rick put his arms around Beth and said, "I'm so sorry Sweetheart, I have some very hard news to tell you."
He could feel her start to tremble, "Oh no Rick, what happened?"
"It's Aaron, he and Eric were attacked early this morning while they were out running. Eric is expected to make a full recovery, but unfortunately Aaron is in very serious condition and we don't have a prognosis yet. I have to go to the hospital now and check on them, and assist in the investigation. Eric is expected to wake up soon and I'm hoping to be able to talk to him about what happened."
And her reaction wasn't even close to what he'd expected. "Oh yes Rick, please go, get to the bottom of this. Anyone who would hurt someone as pure and kind as Aaron or Eric needs to be stopped before they hurt others. Please let me know when they can have a visitor." Tears were falling, but she was resolute.
"I'll do everything I can Beth, I promise. And I'll let you know how they're doing as soon as I can." And he gave her another quick hug and kissed her on the cheek.
The woman never ceased to surprise him. She'd shown him a different side of herself; she was stronger than anyone, including himself, had given her credit for.
He shook Hershel's hand and the older man said, "We'll be praying for you and for them Rick. Please keep us informed, we'll be fine, don't you worry about us."
Rick hated hospitals. They seemed so cold, so impersonal, and with the exception of the day Carl was born, they always seemed to be places of sorrow.
He went to the nurse's station in the ICU. His deputy, Vazquez, was waiting there for him. "Anything new to report Dan?" Rick asked him.
"It looks like Mr. Moran is starting to come around Sheriff, I just heard from the Doctor."
"Alright, good news, let's go talk to him Dan."
When Rick and Deputy Vazquez entered the room, the doctor and nurse were standing by the bed discussing something. "Sheriff," the doctor greeted him.
"Dr. Edwards, good to see you again. How's Mr. Moran doing?" Rick had never cared much for this man, he didn't think he was necessarily a bad guy, but he seemed somehow weak-willed.
"He's just waking up. Give him a few minutes to fully come around, and please, keep the questioning to a minimum, we don't want to overtax him. He's definitely suffered a pretty severe head trauma and undoubtedly, an emotional trauma."
"No problem Doc, I just have three questions," Rick assured the man.
As soon as Eric was fully awake Rick greeted him, expressed his sympathy for what had happened, and asked his questions.
"Do you know who attacked you and Aaron, Eric?" Rick had a hand over Eric's hand to reassure him, he could see the man was emotional.
"No Sheriff, I have no idea who would want to hurt us this way," Eric's face showed the strain of his concern.
"Did you see or hear anything before you lost consciousness?" Rick asked.
"I didn't see anyone; I heard two distinct voices, both male. I heard one man with a very southern accent and a gruff tone to his voice yell, 'There's that fucking snitch', and the other man said 'Let's get the little bastard.' I don't think it was a hate crime Sheriff, it seemed they had some vengeance in mind." Rick could already see the man tiring, and he was getting the picture of what this may all be about.
"Just one more question Eric. Were you or Aaron involved in anything that would cause someone to think either of you was 'snitching' on them?" Rick suspected he knew the answer to this one.
"Aaron and I don't talk a lot of shop at home, but he'd been upset about one of his clients, Horvath's. He suspected the bookkeeper was stealing, something like that. He was upset and said he was going to talk to you about his suspicions Sheriff."
"Okay, thanks Eric, you've been a big help. I can see you're exhausted. Get your rest and we'll see if we can't track down who did this to you and Aaron." Rick again patted the man's hand reassuringly.
"Thank you Sheriff, Aaron doesn't deserve this, please get whoever did it." And the poor man had tears in his eyes.
"I plan on it Eric, thanks for your help," Rick said as he turned and headed out the door.
He turned to his deputy, "Dan I'm going to head into the office, I want to check my notes and Aaron's statement. Also, I want to re-interview Andrea Holden and I'd like you in on that."
The first thing he did when he got in the office was excuse himself from Dan and shut his office door to make a quick call. When she answered he told her the good news first. "I wanted to let you know Eric woke up. He's very tired, and pretty emotional, but he's awake and completely lucid."
"Oh that's such good news Rick. What about Aaron, has there been any change?" She was hopeful.
"I'm sorry Sweetheart, no change, but he is stable, and I think that's a good sign. He's hanging on Beth." He wished he had better news.
"I'll be saying my prayers, we're all praying," She sounded strong, and he was so relieved, and for some reason he didn't really understand, he felt proud of her.
"I do have one question Beth, but this has to be off the record to keep you out of the formal investigation. This Andrea Holden, do you think she had a boyfriend, or a husband, someone who may have been telling her what to do?" He was hoping they may have had some "girl talk" at the office.
"She never said she did, and I didn't ask her. But I did hear her talking on her cell phone a few times. Once I heard her say, 'Please Joe, I know I can get it done, please don't be mad at me.' And another time I heard her say, 'No Joe, I promise, no one saw the bruise, I know I deserved it.' Other than that it was mostly promising to be home right after work, and promising she loved him. I remember feeling scared for her. Even though I knew she was stealing, I could tell she was having a very hard time with some man." Beth was shaking her head to herself. Meanness, she would never understand it.
"What are you going to do today Beth?" He thought a change of subject was due, and he'd hated that he'd had to leave her on a day they usually spent together.
"Do you think it would be okay if I stopped by the hospital to say hello to Eric? Then I thought maybe I'd go over to my little place and watch a ballgame, that should relax me," She sounded a bit more upbeat.
He smiled to himself, that's my girl. "That sounds good Beth, if I can I'll try to get by later. I know it sounds silly, but I miss you, I miss our Sunday time together. I'll give you a call," He knew then. It didn't matter that it had only been a few weeks. It was like an epiphany, he was in love with her.
"Oh that would be so nice, I hope you can. I miss you too. I didn't get nearly enough Rick hugs today," She said in that sweet voice he couldn't hear enough of.
"Bye Sweetheart, drive careful and I'll talk to you soon," He smiled to himself.
He asked Dan to get Andrea in the interrogation room, he had a couple of questions for her.
If she'd been intimidated and manipulated by some guy, which is exactly what it sounded like, he thought maybe the comforting friendly approach would work best.
And he began, "Can I get you a coffee or a soda Ms Holden, and maybe some chips or cookies?"
She'd been in that cell for weeks, and she was susceptible. "A coke and chips sounds so good right now, please."
"Sure, no problem. Deputy, would you get Miss Holden a snack please?" The deputy nodded and headed out to the vending machines.
"Are you doing okay here? I know it's got to be hard to be away from your family and your friends. It must be very lonely," He gave her a sad smile, and sure enough, it worked, she started to tear up. He had her.
xxxx
Beth arrived at the hospital with a small bouquet of wildflowers in a mason jar and a piece of her Mama's peach cobbler. She knew Eric, he would appreciate the simplicity of the offering.
She didn't stay long, just enough time to hear his story, offer her love and support and let him know she was praying for him and Aaron. She kissed him gently and told him to rest, that rest was what he needed to heal.
She stopped by Aaron's room and held his hand. Whispered to him how much she loved him and that she was praying hard for him. She told him Eric was doing well, and that they were all just waiting for him to come back to them. She kissed his cheek and his hand and quietly left the room.
She had a very uneasy feeling as she made her way to the parking lot and where she'd left her small car, like someone was watching her or maybe even following her. She found she'd quickened her pace, almost running to the car.
She was relieved to find her keys in her purse, thank God she thought, for once she had them. She got in the car, locked the door and took in a deep breath while she hurriedly got the key in the ignition and drove off.
She told herself maybe she was being silly, but no, she felt it, felt it deep within her, something wasn't right.
xxxx
"So now that you have your refreshments Ms. Holden, I did have a question for you, "Isn't there someone you'd like to tell me about? Someone named Joe?" Rick tilted his head to the side while he looked at her intently, there was no smile.
And he thought the woman would come unglued, "How do you know about Joe?! Please, please, don't get him involved, he'll think I said something, please, just take me back to my cell, please!" And the woman burst into hysterical crying.
xxxx
Beth quickly parked the car and dashed up to her apartment. The odd woman in the little house noticed how the strange young woman hurried, how she seemed almost scared, she called her friend and told him.
Beth got in the apartment and she immediately shut and locked the door, she leaned against it took a deep breath, and then she went to get the gun Merle had given her.
She hated thinking she might have to use it. She loved target practice and she'd become an expert marksman. She loved the precision of shooting, she did not relish the idea of pointing a weapon at another human being, but ever since that day, when she had almost ended it all and the Dixon brothers saved her from herself, she realized she wanted to live and she wasn't going to let anyone maliciously take that away from her. She didn't understand why anyone would want to, but she supposed that didn't really matter. She knew, she could feel the vibration, someone wanted to hurt her.
xxxx
The woman saw the big gray haired man slip into the driveway, look around quickly, and head up to the young woman's apartment, and again she called her friend, "I'm on my way, you just keep on keepin' an eye on things for me Doll," He told her.
xxxx
Rick's phone buzzed. He tried to glance at it without being obvious. It was a text from Merle Dixon. Merle had never texted him, never called him. The message said, "Beth may be in trouble, her tiny place, on my way."
Rick motioned to Dan, and they exited the interrogation room. "I have to go Dan, an emergency. I need you to wrap it up, see if she'll spill anything to you about this Joe character, then get her back to her cell. I think I have at least a partial answer to my question."
Rather than wait for the elevator, he raced down the stairs to his car and headed to the little apartment.
xxxx
Beth went in the small bathroom and got the pistol she had taped to the back of the toilet tank. A trick she'd learned from watching old movies. She checked the gun, and took the safety off. She was feeling more and more threatened.
Just about that time she saw the knob on the door wiggle. She stood waiting, staring at the door, holding the gun behind her back.
xxxx
The woman who lived in the little house had quietly slipped outside. She saw the man attempting to enter the apartment, she was a nervous wreck waiting for her friend to show up. She knew if anyone could put a stop to this it would be Merle.
Then she saw the man gain entrance to the apartment. She rushed back in the little house and got her gun and a knife, went back out and as quickly and quietly as she could, and began to climb the stairs to the apartment. Just as three vehicles pulled in the driveway, Merle, the Sheriff and Merle's brother.
All three men came running toward the place, Carol quickly explained to them what had happened.
xxxx
The man had a nasty and threatening half smile / half sneer as he growled at her, "You little bitch, ruining my operation, taking my livelihood and getting my woman locked up, ain't no way I'm lettin' you or anyone else get away with that shit. I'ma hurt you just like you hurt me."
As he spoke he kept working his way closer to her, she pulled the pistol from behind her back and pointed it at him.
"Ah, I see, ya wanna play it like that, I can do that too," and he reached to the back of his waistband and pulled out a pistol of his own.
It was then that Rick came through the door with his own weapon drawn, he commanded, "Drop your weapon and turn around, drop it now!"
But the big gray haired man turned quickly around and fired, hitting Rick in the chest. Beth screamed but remained steady as she fired her own weapon hitting the big man right in the center of his back, killing him instantly.
Merle and Daryl were now in the apartment, Merle making sure Beth was okay, and Daryl holding his shirt over Rick's wound, trying to stem the bleeding. Carol had rushed back down to the little house and called 9-1-1.
Beth was crying now, all the emotion, all the being strong, all the meanness she had been bombarded with, and she'd killed another human, it had finally caught up to her. And worst of all, this man she knew she loved so much, he was lying on the floor of her tiny apartment bleeding to death.
Merle took her to him, she knelt down next to him and rubbed her hand over his forehead and the top of his head, she thought he was out, but his eyes fluttered open for just a few seconds, and he looked at her and said, "I love you Beth."
And then his eyes closed again.
A/N Oh my, things have taken a serious turn. I promise not to keep you waiting too long. Thank you for reading, please review xo