Thank you all again for such wonderful reviews... I'm not worthy!
As always, I don't own the Walking Dead.
Rick recognized that Beth wasn't actually talking, so her improvement was a matter of opinion. But there was something there, regardless. There was a life, an energy, behind her eyes again. Between that and the fact that she was tracking his son, Rick was practically bouncing off the trees with excitement. He couldn't help it, though he thought his efforts to contain himself were pretty valiant, if he did say so himself.
They had been tracking all day, and Beth had kept the trail. That was nothing short of a miracle, he knew, and a testament to her abilities. Though every time they found something significant and he tried to praise her efforts, she shrugged him off. At one point they had even found a candy wrapper, that Rick was convinced belonged to Michonne and Carl.
What encouraged him the most, however, was that even when the sun had started to set, and they had certainly trekked miles, Beth hadn't found any human blood. Walker, yes, squirrel, yes, but no human. This meant that Michonne and Carl were uninjured. The thought released a tension in his shoulders that he didn't know he was carrying. Things were finally starting to go their way. Beth had a purpose which he was sure was helping her heal, and they were well on their way to finding his son.
"Ow." Beth groaned, as Rick ran straight into her back.
Rick winced. "Sorry. Why'd we stop?" he asked looking around. Had she found something?
"Shhh. Look." She pointed through the trees, where Rick spotted what she was pointing towards. A small camp, or what used to be one. There were several tents set up around a makeshift fire pit. There was what appeared to be some basic barbed wire surrounding the camp, in what Rick suspected was an attempt to keep out walkers.
It was unsuccessful.
About a dozen walkers roamed around the campsite. Some lazed against tents, while a few continued to gnaw on the remnants of… something. Beth started through the trees, before Rick instinctively reached out to grab her arm.
"What are you doing?" he hissed at her. She couldn't possibly be considering messing around with that many walkers.
Beth glared first at his grip on her arm and then her eyes traveled up to meet his own. There was a cold fierceness to her eyes, they were like ice. Her lips formed a slow, almost imperceptible snarl, and Rick slowly released her arm, as he searched her eyes for traces of the Beth he knew.
When Rick let go of her, Beth's features slowly softened. "There aren't that many. We need the supplies, Rick."
That was all she had to say. Rick knew she was right. They had almost nothing. The little they had managed to scrape together after the prison fell was taken when they ran into Joe's group. They had weapons, which were nice, but who knows what they could scavenge from the ruins of that group. And weapons wouldn't keep them warm at night.
Rick nodded his acquiescence, and Beth sadly smiled back at him, before starting off through the trees. Rick watched her for a moment. After watching Daryl in that vest firing the same crossbow, it was hard for him to imagine the same action as graceful, but Beth… the way she aimed, the way she balanced herself, it looked like a dance to him. Every movement was fluid, yet precise. It almost made him sad. The woman had the lines of a ballet dancer, but instead she was killing.
Rick watched her as she slung her crossbow behind her back and unsheathed her knife and plunged it into a walker's skull. She didn't struggle, but Rick still lunged quickly through the woods towards her. He pulled his own knife out and set to work on the walkers around her. They quickly and easily dispatched them all, in a matter of minutes. Rick turned immediately to check on Beth, who was breathing heavily, covered in walker goop. She was bent over a walker, inspecting him.
"What is it?" he asked warily.
Beth shook her head and shrugged. "I think they've all got bites."
Rick smiled. "That's sadly good news for us. Means they weren't attacked by humans."
"Which probably means this area is fairly safe." She agreed, nodding slowly. "Can you dig around? I noticed rabbit tracks down that way. Gonna see if I can get us some dinner before dark."
Rick winced as she pulled an arrow out of a walker's skull. He really didn't want Beth on her own right now. But he wasn't sure that stopping her was going to be good for her, much less effective. But before he could open his mouth to attempt any kind of protest, she was gone. It hadn't been a request; she had simply been informing him.
Rick sighed, and began scouring the ruins of the camp. They had been extremely lucky; there were some basic foodstuffs, and of course the tents, but also flashlights, batteries, lighters… things that were purely luxuries in this world. Rick's favorite discovery, however, had been a small yellow notebook with an attached matching pen. It clearly belonged to a young girl, though there was precious little written in it. Rick tore out the first 8 pages, which had the girl's musings in it, and pocketed them. The rest he would give to Beth.
It was an hour later when she returned with a grin, brandishing 2 small rabbits over her shoulder. Rick shook his head at how much she favored Daryl in that moment.
"I'll clean them." He offered softly, and she nodded, tossing them in his direction. She set to work digging a small fire pit for them to roast the meat on. Once that was accomplished, she took out a knife, and carved a stick to work as a skewer.
Again, Rick was ashamed at how surprised he was at Beth's strength. How had he never seen the power lurking beneath her soft features? Why had he relegated her to the role of glorified babysitter? He had been a fool.
Beth had gently removed the meat from his hands, and skewered it above to snapping fire. She turned the rabbits slowly, and he watched her unabashedly.
She coughed gently, and Rick pretended that wasn't her way of asking him to stop, although he knew better. Regardless, he straightened, and attempted to end the silence.
"So there's no sign of Michonne or Carl here?" he probed, and she shook her head in response.
"From what I can tell, this camp has only been here a couple of days. I think Michonne and Carl passed through before they got here." Beth answered, not taking her eyes off of the fire.
"Is that good?" he asked, all but begging her with his tone to talk to him. Her eyes flitted up to meet his and she smiled sadly.
"'s'not good or bad, really. Just means we're several days behind them still."
Rick nodded, and the dull silence settled over the two of them again. Beth pulled the meat from the fire, and stood, walking towards Rick before offering him one. She sat next to him, which made Rick's heart stop. They attacked their dinner with little abandon, as it was the first warm dinner they'd enjoyed in some time. They both knew they needed to pace themselves, but it was only a few minutes before the meat was gone, and they were left staring at the warm embers.
After a few moments, Rick felt Beth gently put her head on his shoulder.
"You know I'm not mad at you right?" she whispered, and Rick's heart broke. That the thought had even crossed her mind shattered him. He reached his arm around her, and pulled her close.
"I know." He mumbled into her hair. The quiet settled once again, but instead of it being fraught with tension, it was peaceful and calm, and for the first time since they had run into Joe, Rick wasn't filled with worry.
"Oh." He interjected into the quiet, "I forgot." He reached into his jacket pocket and presented the small notebook he had found. "I thought you might like this." He handed it to her, and continued talking into her hair. "I know it's a little young, but I remember seeing you writing in one at the prison. And I thought it might help you to write as you go."
He saw Beth's hands move slowly over the cover, which Rick realized now, wasn't yellow at all. In the light of the fire, the cover instead reflected a brilliant gold, with the outline of a blazing sun. As Rick stared at the cover, he saw a tear fall from Beth, and splash against it.
"No, no." he whispered frantically, turning and bending on his knees in front of her. He immediately began wiping away the rogue tears with his thumb. "You don't have to use it Beth, I'm so sorry. I just thought it might help you work through some of what's going on. God I'm so stupid! I'm so sorry Beth, I…"
Rick was cut off by the feeling of a warm, wet kiss on his cheek.
"I love it... Thank you Rick. I'm going to write in it right now. Will you take the first watch?"
She stood, and was gone, leaving a speechless Rick in her wake.
/
"I finally got the little rascal to sleep." Lori sighed, falling onto the couch next to him.
He grinned and shut off the TV, throwing the remote over his shoulder. Rick immediately leaned into her and began peppering kisses on her neck.
"Rick, no… you've got to be kidding. For god's sake, I've got spit up on my shirt." She protested through a smile.
"Easily remedied." He purred, lifting her shirt over her head and tossing it to the side. He moved his attentions downwards and began kissing and licking around the outline of her bra. Lori gasped as Rick grabbed at her hips. "Yes?" he asked in between nips, and she nodded her assent furiously.
Rick leaned forward and pulled Lori over his shoulder and she laughed as he headed up the stairs towards their bedroom. Something pinged in the back of Rick's mind. The laugh was different. Regardless, they entered their dark and quiet bedroom. He gently placed her on the bed, and began removing her pants with determination.
She was now naked from the waist down, and Rick began kissing her calves, moving up her body. He stood and removed his shirt, pressing skin to skin as he pulled down the cup of her bra, revealing the tiny pink nipple.
Rick immediately sucked it into his mouth, eliciting a groan from the woman beneath him. She buried her hands in his hair, urging him on, as he rolled it between his teeth. His hand snaked downwards, between the blonde curls, and he gently caressed her folds.
"God you're so wet for me…" he hissed, enjoying how slippery she felt. He carefully slid his hand down, and entered her with his middle finger, making her gasp.
Rick groaned, and pressed his hard length into her leg. She was so tight. How could she be that tight so soon after having Carl? It was amazing. He pressed the heel of his hand against her clit, and as he moved his finger in and out, he roughly brushed her clit over and over.
She was pulling his hair now, but he didn't stop. He released her nipple with a soft pop, before turning to the other one, and repeating the process.
"Rick, please… I'm so close." He heard her beg somewhere in the back of his mind. He rubbed the heel of his hand harder and faster against her, and carefully slid an additional finger into her tightness as he pumped into her. He felt her tighten beneath him. Her pull on his hair hurt now, but he was beyond caring.
She screamed his name as she convulsed against him. Rick continued pumping, allowing her to ride her high. As she came down, Rick removed his fingers slowly as she hissed. He brought the sticky substance up to his mouth and sucked on his fingers roughly. The taste of a woman was the sweetest thing in the world. But Rick couldn't help but think she tasted sweeter than she ever had before.
In the darkness, she reached up, and pulled him down into the shadows to kiss him. She tugged at his lower lip, and he opened his mouth to let her tongue in. The taste of her cum mingled between their mouths in an intense kiss, and Rick realized he was painfully hard. He pulled away from the kiss, and looked down at the woman beneath him.
"Beth."
Rick's eyes shot open and he sat up quickly. He was covered in sweat and more distractingly, was hard as diamonds. He sighed, and opened the flap to the tent to check on Beth. She appeared to be resting gently, and her eyes were thankfully shut. Her arms were curled around the small journal. Rick stood up and walked away from the tent.
Rick groaned as the cool air accosted his overheated body. After a short mental battle with himself, Rick unzipped his pants, and began an unrelenting pace as he stroked himself. He leaned with his arm against a nearby tree, and tried to not let his mind remember too clearly what he had just dreamed. He focused on the feeling of his need, and the other generic sensations from his dream to reach his completion. But Beth's face, flushed, her pink lip sucked red by his mouth, her satiated smile entered his head, and despite his best intentions, he came with her image in his head.
"Beth."
Let me know your thoughts on this one, guys. I know it feels like I'm dragging out them getting together, but I just can't let anything happen until Beth is ready. I'd beat the hell out of Rick if he made a move right now, so soon after her trauma. But they are exploring it. Some things just take time. :)
Next chapter is number 20! I'll try and get it out next week sometime, and maybe we can do something for my upcoming 150th review when we get there.
Thanks again for reading!