Disclaimer: I don't own the walking dead
We last left off with Rick and Carl turning in for the day. Rick thought maybe they'd go back to normal by morning.
Chapter 5: "…acting like each other."
When Rick opened his eyes the next morning, he didn't move. The first thing he saw was the bottom of the cot above him, and he hoped once he rose he would see his own body, not his son's. Slowly and fearfully, he turned his head and raised his hand.
"Damn," he cursed in Carl's voice. Sleep hadn't switched them back.
"You shouldn't swear."
He turned to see Beth standing just outside his cell holding his daughter who was looking back at him. He wondered and hoped that Judith could see past the face of her brother and see him as her father. Rick dropped his head to hide his expression of disappointment.
"Yeah…uh, where's Ca, dad…is he up?"
"He's out in the field."
At this Rick raised a brow curiously.
"What's he doing out there?"
It was Beth's turn to give him a curious look.
"He's tending to the crops."
Rick gave a nod and turned away. It had become his recent job; to be farmer Grimes. He knew Carl hadn't exactly taken to such a chore, but he was pleased he wasn't doing any of his other more dangerous jobs like going on runs or trying to clear out walkers. He didn't feel comfortable with the idea of him having to do such things without him.
"Alright," Rick said as he got to his feet.
"You hungry?" Beth asked.
Rick shook his head as he walked up and ran a hand lovingly behind Judith's head. When he looked up and caught Beth's slightly questioning look, he turned and walked away, straightening his sheriff hat as he moved. He shut his eyes briefly as he tried to focus on who he needed to be. He had to act more like Carl and less like himself.
Despite not being hungry, he stepped into the lunch area where Glenn, Maggie, Daryl, Michonne, and a couple of the new recruits from Woodbury were seated having breakfast. He noticed Michonne frowning at him, and quickly enough she had gotten to her feet to approach him.
"Hey, you alright?" she asked.
"Yeah I'm, fine. Just, heading out to see d-dad." He still wasn't quite used to referring to Carl as dad.
"Have something to eat first."
To be honest, Rick was starting to feel hungry, but he was wary of eating. Mostly it was because he was anxious to talk with Carl and set some sort of plan about their new roles since the switch so far didn't appear to be temporary.
"Well…"
He allowed her to steer him over to where she was sitting with Glenn and Maggie, then she moved over to their makeshift stove to prepare him a bowl of oatmeal.
Rick found he didn't quite know what to do with himself as he sat with them.
"Thankfully you guys won't have to do any more runs for a while," said Maggie with a soft smile.
"Why not?" Rick asked just as Michonne set a bowl down before him. "Me and dad can go back out there."
"It won't be worth the risk if you get hurt."
"I'm not afraid to go out there," he said, suddenly feeling a bit heated at her mother hen like behavior.
"It's not about being afraid, just being careful," said Maggie.
"You'll make an awesome mother someday," Glenn said to Maggie who smiled.
"I'm not trying to be the over-protective mom here."
Carl looked away from them as they settled into a more private conversation. He wasn't sure he liked the idea of Maggie or anyone else trying to subtly baby him, though he knew they meant well. It made him wonder how often they did it to Carl and if he would have to put up with more instances of it, but it wasn't a bit deal. He understood Maggie's concern. He himself still worried about Carl's safety though he knew he was capable.
He picked up the spoon and slowly dipped it into the cereal. Slowly he took a bite. There was nothing different or unusual about it, except that he was using Carl's mouth to eat. After a while he put such a thought out of his head and just ate.
Somewhere towards the end, Patrick came up to him.
"Hey, are you going to story time later?"
Rick just looked at him. He had always known Carl to skip such a thing, claiming he was too old for it, so why would Patrick ask him about it?
"Uh, I don't think so."
"Why? Got something better to do?"
Rick raised a brow at him but turned his attention to his bowl.
"I'm helping my dad in the field."
"Oh. Well, maybe we can hang out later."
Rick looked at him now, and saw his disappointment. Ever since he'd come to the prison, he had caught glimpses of Patrick trying to merge himself better into their little community. He had definitely caught moments where he tried to befriend Carl, but was rejected. Carl unfortunately was in the period of his time where he wanted to be on his own. Rick thought it was a shame and did feel sorry for Patrick who had quickly become an outsider among the kids present. Deciding he could possibly tweak that, he gave an un-Carl like response.
"Sure, we can hang out later."
Patrick appeared taken aback by this, and tried to hide a grateful smile.
"Oh, okay, cool. I'll…I'll see you later, and we can do whatever you want."
Rick just gave a nod and Patrick, smiling, walked away.
"Well that's a first," said Michonne.
"What?" Rick asked.
"Since when do you hang out with Patrick?" asked Glenn. "I mean it's cool and all. But you never seemed to want anything to do with him before."
Rick just shrugged as he finished the last of his cereal.
"Thought it might be a nice change."
After that, he stood up and made his way outside to find the real Carl.
He crossed out into the field he and Hershel had established for crops and found Hershel there himself, talking with Carl who was digging. He paused and sighed at the scene. He could only imagine how tough it would be for him to take the lead. He never imagined he would ever have to do it, but it was happening now.
He made his way over to them while trying to come up with a way to get Hershel to leave so he could chat privately with his son.
"Good morning," Hershel greeted.
Rick gave a nod.
"Morning," he answered as Carl turned to face him. Rick could tell he had been working hard out here.
"Just telling your dad it's probably time for a break, but he's determined," said Hershel with humor in his tone.
"Yeah he can be stubborn," Rick added. In response, Carl quirked his brow.
"Wonder where I get it from," he said slyly.
Hershel gave a light chuckle while Rick reached for a shovel to help. He positioned himself in front of Carl and kept trying to catch his eye so that he could get the hint that he needed to talk, but Carl seemed determined to keep his head down and not look at him.
"Dad," Rick said after a moment. He got the hint and looked around at Hershel.
"You mind giving us a minute alone?"
"Sure thing," said Hershel as he patted his shoulder and hobbled away. Once he was out of earshot, Carl stopped digging and turned to his dad.
"Didn't realize you were into farming."
"Keeps my mind off of what's happening," Carl replied bitterly.
"Yeah well, I guess this switch is gonna last a little longer than we hoped," Rick stated.
"Really," Carl said sarcastically. "And here I thought my voice had changed and I grew several inches."
Rich shook his head.
"This is serious. Now, I'm guessing you decided not to hand over the group to Hershel."
"I can take charge." Rick admired the confidence in his voice, but he still wasn't terribly fond of the idea of Carl making decisions. "You can't treat me like a kid forever you know."
"Well I definitely can't now, but I'm still your father, and that means if you have a serious matter to deal with, I want you to run it past me. We'll talk."
"Don't you think it'll be a little weird for Rick Grimes to go to his own son for advice?" Carl countered. "I can do this. We don't want to raise suspicion."
Carl turned away and started digging again.
"We'll do it carefully," Rick explained. "Make excuses. You can easily get in over your head when things get tough. It's not as easy as it seems, so promise me."
Carl paused and sighed.
"I promise."
"Good." Rick started digging again, but then he stopped as he thought of Judith. "As for your sister, well, she's expecting a father. I'll do it when I can, but in front of the others…"
"Dad, I get it," Carl said gently, and Rick knew he had been thinking of his new role to Judith as well. "It's not like I haven't taken care of her before."
"Okay."
They returned to digging up the weeds, falling into a moment of silence for a bit.
"You don't have any runs," Rick suddenly said. "So you should be alright for now."
"I'm farmer Grimes for the day. What about you, what are you doing?"
Rick shrugged.
"Patrick asked if I was going to story time."
At this Carl stopped and frowned at him.
"I hope you told him you're not going. I don't go to those things, they're for kids."
"Carl, you are a kid." Rick shifted his feet and dropped his eyes. "I told him, I wasn't thinking about going."
"Good."
"I did tell him I'd hang out with him later." Carl dropped the shovel in annoyance at this reveal. "What?"
"Come on dad, I don't do that either."
"Well maybe you should have, to keep him from feeling like an outsider."
"I thought we were supposed to be acting like each other."
"We are," Rick confirmed. "I don't intend to stand up on a soap box and preach to the group like I usually do, but I don't see anything wrong with something like hanging out with the kid. Personally I think you could use the friendship with another kid, instead of obsessing over adult matters."
"Well adult matters are what I have to handle now," Carl said quietly.
"Just remember what I said about not getting in over your head, or taking advantage of the fact that you're in my body. Okay? Okay Carl?"
"Fine, I won't."
Rick gave a nod and focused on helping him in the field. After a minute Carl smirked, catching his dad's attention.
"Have fun hanging out with Patrick."
Rick could tell Carl didn't mean it to come across as positive. Now he wondered if he made the right decision in agreeing to hang with him.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Rick asked, but Carl kept the joke to himself.
Unbeknownst to both Rick and Carl, Michonne was standing a good distance away behind the gate watching them curiously. She hadn't been close enough to hear the conversation, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something odd was going on between the two, despite the fact that they both claimed to be fine after the run.
Sorry the update took a while. I guess I started to feel the interest in this story was dropping so I briefly left it alone as I do have other works in progress that need attention. Knowing you guys are reading helps.
So, Rick's kind of accepted they aren't going back to normal anytime soon and plans to play as Carl, by hanging with Patrick. It's been a while since I saw the past season of 'TWD' where Patrick was among them, but I've kind of pictured him as the nerd character. Meanwhile Michonne is worried.
I'll update soon.