Rick

The pain in what had been his wrist and was now just a stump was what finally woke Rick. He had been half asleep, tossing and turning, fitfully dreaming. He had been half aware of Ben coming in, changing his dressings and doing things to his stump that hurt almost as much as the dull blade that had cut it off had. He had heard Carl, Andrea and T-Dog's voices speaking to him, urging him to wake up, to get better. Most disturbingly, Lori had been sat by his bed, feeding him broth, her cool hands on his forehead. Rick had tried to get her to talk to him, so he could hear her voice one last time, but she had remained infuriatingly silent. She hadn't left him though. Not once.

When he woke, she was still there, sitting cross legged at the end of his bed, watching him intently. He reached out his one hand to her. She smiled, but her smile was all wrong. And so was her skin-it was ever so slightly too dark. In fact the more he looked at her, the less she looked like Lori.

"He's awake." Georgie smiled brightly. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and shuffled down towards him, reaching out and lighting another candle. Rick blinked at her.

"What the hell are you wearing?" Georgie scowled.

"You couldn't say something nice?" She pulled the sleeves of the checked shirt down and gripped onto the sleeve cuffs, hunching her shoulders-just like Lori use to. "It's Daryl's shirt."

"Why the hell are you wearing Daryl's shirt?" Rick tried to shift himself up in bed, but it wasn't possible one handed, and his stump was still too sore to use effectively. Georgie shrugged. She reached forward and placed her hand on his forehead-the hand he had thought was his wife's.

"Your fever has gone down. We were worried about infection." She picked up his stump and gently examined it. "The bandages are still dry, so you're not bleeding or infected. That's good." She smiled at him. "I think you're going to be ok." She placed his hand back on the bed gently. Rick turned his head to the left. Under the window, a bin was set, full of small glass bottles and bandages.

"I should empty that really, it'll start to smell bad," Georgie murmured to herself. Rick squinted at her.

"Have you been here with me, all the time?" Georgie nodded, plucking at the sleeve of Daryl's shirt. She looked at Rick shyly out of the corner of her eye.

"Do you mind? I was worried about you. And I was lonely."

"So you thought you'd sit and look after a barely conscious one handed man. That's rational." Rick gave up his struggle to sit up and slumped back on to the bed.

"Here, let me." Georgie heaved herself off the bed and rearranged the pillows behind Rick. Taking him by his elbow, she pulled him up so that he was finally sat upright. "Once your arm has healed, it won't hurt to use the stump so much." She sat on the edge of the bed again. She couldn't stop playing with the shirt.

"How's Carl. Is he ok? And T-Dog-did they hurt him?" A vague memory of his son being dragged into the clearing where he had been tied up and mutilated flashed through his mind.

"Carl's fine, they're both fine. Carl's holding up with Andrea and Dale. Miao is looking after T-Dog. And by look after, I mean force to occasionally sleep rather than just come in here and watch you sleep. They've been really worried. We all have."

"What about Sophie? Is she ok? How's she coping?" Georgie didn't quite meet his eye.

"She's fine. She's staying with Glenn and Maggie."

"She'll be glad I'm up now then. She must have missed you." When Georgie didn't respond, he leant forward. "You could go get her now if you like?" Georgie slowly shook her head.

"She's with them permanently. Not with me. Dale thought, after what happened, what I did, that it would be best."

"What do you mean?" Rick looked closely at Georgie. "What are you talking about? Sophie's not with you anymore? What's happened? How long have I been in this room?"

"A week or so. You ran a fever. Like I said before, we were worried your arm was infected. You were delirious at one point. Ben was really worried. Daryl, Glenn and T-Dog went out to the nearest town to find medical supplies." She paused briefly, touching Ricks ruined arm softly. "For someone who only specialises in mental health care, Ben did a really good job in fixing you up. He injected you with antibiotics, he cleaned the gunk from your arm, he sewed it up, changed your bandages. He saved your life. He's another one who's being made to sleep."

Rick looked down at his arm, taking it in properly for the first time. For some reason, even though his eyes could see that his hand was gone, he could still feel it at the end of his arm. If he closed his eyes, he would have sworn that the episode in the forest was just a bad dream. He looked back at Georgie.

"What happened after T-Dog and I were taken? How did you find us? Why has Dale taken Sophie away from you?" He leaned in, pulling Georgie's face towards him with his good hand gently. "Tell me everything Georgie."

He listened, being as careful as possible not to let any expression show on his face, as Georgie explain how she and Adele had gotten the location out of the one man that they had captured; how they had found them in the woods and killed the remaining men; how she and Daryl had taken one man apart and beaten him until he had died; how they had come back and fought with the others. From the way she paused and hesitated, Rick had the strong feeling that Georgie was holding back details, but he didn't press her for them.

"What did you fight about, when you came back?" Georgie paused, seemingly choosing her words carefully.

"Dale...didn't like the way we got information. He thought what we did was cruel and unnecessary, that we could have gotten the information another way. When Daryl and I came back after the others, he guessed what we had done. He was so angry. He said...he said I had spent too long at the complex...that I was still acting as if I was under the Governors command." She looked down again. "He said Sophie should stay with Glenn and Maggie. That Matthew and Harry should stay with T-Dog. The boys refused and stayed with Daryl."

"What about Sophie?"

"Sophie hasn't spoken to anyone since Carol died." Georgie's voice broke slightly on Carol's name. Rick reached forward and placed his hand on Georgie's hand, which was still twisting the hem of Daryl's shirt. "No one knows what she wants." Rick moved his hand from hers, to her face.

"Sophie would want to be with you. Everyone here knows that." He swung his legs out from around him, and made to stand up. "I'll talk to Dale."

"Rick!" The room swayed and Rick's vision blurred. He was aware of Georgie's hands steadying him. "You need to regain your strength before you do anything! Don't worry about anything. Now that I know you're ok, I'll stay in Adele's room. I won't be alone. I'll bring Carl to you in the morning." She set him down on the bed, and busied herself rearranging his sheets. "I'll bring new bed sheets from one of the maid's cupboards too. You've been sweating in these ones. They're gross. In fact, you're gross. When you can stand, you need to wash. You smell almost as bad as Daryl does." Rick chuckled weakly and then coughed. Georgie passed him a glass of water. He gulped it down gratefully. "I'll fill this up before I leave. Go back to sleep Rick."

Georgie disappeared into the bathroom as Rick shifted himself down in his bed. He could feel sleep coming upon him again, real sleep, not the restless in-between he had been subjected to since he had come back from the woods. The last thing he remembered before he slipped into sleep, was wondering why Georgie had gone into the bathroom, but Lori had come out of the bathroom with his water.