See, I don't want you people getting too used to these quick updates. They're not common. But truth be told, our OPS at work has been down, so I've been able to spit these out pretty well. I hope you guys enjoy!

I'm getting tired of saying it, but it is unfortunately still true that I have no legal ownership of the walking dead.

Beth had gathered a handful of small rocks and was tossing them gingerly at the side of the tent. There was no way she was going to try and wake up Rick again. After the fourth of fifth rock, she heard a mumble coming from the tent and she stifled a giggle. She tossed another rock and was rewarded with Rick tumbling out of the tent.

"'M up, 'M up…" he grumbled, before leaning back into a full stretch and yawn. The movement revealed his stomach and a thin trail of hair leading somewhere that Beth tried extremely carefully not to think about. She swallowed roughly, and turned to retrieve the two back packs she had packed during her watch.

"Red or blue?" she asked, with a smirk on her face. Rick walked towards her and picked both of them up in his hands.

"Jesus Beth, could you make them any heavier?" he grinned, and she rolled her eyes.

"If you want to die out there on the road, I can't stop you." She finished, crossing her arms and sticking her tongue out at him.

Rick laughed back at her, before making a show of weighing the two bags in each of his hands. "Hmm. Seems like the red is a little lighter, so I'm gonna take that one." He said, tossing the red one onto his back. Beth smiled, knowing that if anything, the red one was heavier. But she said nothing, and lifted the blue bag onto her own shoulders. It didn't feel that bad now, but she knew after hours of walking it would be a nightmare.

"You ready?" she asked, stretching her own arms to prepare for the days walk.

Rick nodded, as he stuffed his knife in its holster. But his eyes brightened for a moment in thought. "Just a sec." Rick ducked into the tent again and emerged just a moment later with a pillow.

"Do we really need another pillow? Beth asked in surprised. Rick shrugged back at her, and then moved behind her, stuffing the pillow into the top loop of her pack.

"I just like this one." He said, before giving her a playful push. "Lay on, MacDuff." He grinned, and she rolled her eyes again.

The sun was just barely rising, and Beth struggled to pick up their trail from the day before, but before long the two were walking south in companionable silence. Rick would occasionally make a noise behind her as if he wanted to say something. After the third time, she finally turned on her heels to face him.

"Yes Rick?" she asked sweetly. Rick laughed awkwardly, and rubbed the back of his neck, knowing he was busted. "Just out with it." Beth put on a stern face, but knew that no matter how formidable she tried to appear, her amusement at his befuddlement would shine through.

"It's nothing." He tried, but conceded, "I've just been wonderin' how you're feelin.' "

Beth nodded, and continued walking, but fell in beside him instead of leading. "Honestly? Mostly just… weak. Just tired all over you know?" she paused, but Rick said nothing. "Mostly I'm worried about the others, to be honest."

Rick laughed softly under his breath. "That's such a Beth thing to do."

Beth stopped walking, confused. "What do you mean?"

"You've had a terribly rough go of it over the past ten days, you've lost your dad and your best friend, and you've been… assaulted, and now you're starving and exhausted stuck with a cranky old man. But no, what you worry about is everybody else. You're just inherently kind. That's just so… Beth!" He finished, throwing his hands into the air.

Beth narrowed her eyes on him, and wrinkled her nose. "Okay, one, you're not a cranky old man, let's just get that out of the way," she sighed, feeling a blush rise up her neck. "Two, as much as I've 'been through' we don't know what the others have had to deal with, if they're even alive."

Rick sighed, and absent mindedly clutched Beth's ponytail between his fingers. "Wouldn't kill you to have a little faith, Beth." He said softly.

She exhaled sharply, and crossed her arms lightly. "I don't mean Carl." She corrected herself, regretting that she hurt him by not specifying that to begin with. "We know he and Michonne got out, and all evidence makes it seem like they're okay. But I don't have any idea where Maggie is." Beth forced her voice to be like steel. "And Glenn was already so sick when the prison was attacked. And I didn't even see Carol that day."

Rick winced. It did not go unnoticed by Beth.

"Do you know what happened to Carol, Rick?" she asked carefully. It would not have been unlike Rick to hide Carol's death from her, thinking that he was sparing her from that pain. But he quickly shook his head.

"I don't know where Carol is Beth." He drawled, letting Beth know that wasn't the entire story. "But she wasn't at the prison when it was attacked."

"Why not?" she probed gently, as she gathered from Rick's inability to look her in the eye that this was a touchy subject.

Rick sighed, and rubbed his forehead. Beth gently touched his forearm, encouraging him on. She would have liked to say that they didn't need to talk about it, but she needed to know. "Karen and David." He finally spat out.

"What about them?" Beth asked carefully, a sinking feeling gnawing at the pit of her stomach.

Rick turned away from Beth's touch harshly, his back now facing her. "It was Carol. Carol killed them. She killed them, and dragged their bodies out and burned them." He finished hastily.

Beth blanched. "But… that can't be right. Karen and David… they were one of us. They were part of our family. Carol wouldn't…"

"But she did. She told me." Rick interrupted. "And I took her out of the prison. And I gave her every chance that day, I did. But she wasn't sorry. She kept saying she was sorry she HAD to do it. And that isn't the same. And I- I told her. I told her I couldn't have that around my kids."

Beth pressed her palm to Rick's back gently. Comforting him, but urging him on. "I gave her keys to a car filled with supplies. And I told her to leave." Rick finished, his voice catching roughly.

Beth slipped her arms around Rick's waist, and pulled him to her as he cried. Her body language was intended for comfort, but internally her mind was racing. The idea that Carol murdered two innocent people was a lot for her to digest. She didn't have to ask, she knew what Carol had been thinking. Karen and David were sick, and by getting rid of them, she would be in theory getting rid of the sickness. Not that it worked. But even if it had… at what cost?

Rick interrupted her thoughts. "It wasn't only that. She was teaching the kids how to fight. And Carl found out and she asked him not to tell me. She asked my SON to lie to me."

Beth didn't understand. None of this sounded like Carol. But Rick said that she had confessed. Beth had no problem with her instructing the kids; thank god that Daryl had taken the same interest in her well-being. But asking Carl to lie?

"I think…" she whispered gingerly into Rick's back, "that you did the right thing." She finished roughly, as Rick began to cry. "It's not so much what she did, though it was horrible. It's that… there's clearly no trust there anymore. And in this world, you have to have trust." She finished lightly, squeezing Rick a little tighter.

Rick sighed heavily, and Beth allowed a moment of sharing this closeness with Rick. It reminded her of the days in the cabin, when it was just them. HE was so warm. She had no idea how he generated so much heat. And he smelled like wood and grass and something else… something sweet, and just undeniably Rick.

He turned and wrapped her in a hug. "You don't have to say that. I waffle on that decision every day. It just wasn't something I wanted to burden you with."

At that moment, they heard the tell-tale sounds of walker moaning pushing through the trees. "Goddamit!" Rick exclaimed, before drawing his knife. He shrugged off his backpack, and gently pushed Beth back away from the small pack that was moving out of the trees towards them.

Beth watched in a state of shock as Rick brutalized the walkers, one after the other. He never drew his gun. He grabbed them each by the neck of their shirts, and repeatedly stabbed their skulls, while kicking off the next one.

Beth had seen Rick fight before, but never while he was this angry. He often let out yells as he wounded each of them. Beth had her gun drawn the entire time, and was ready to fire it if need be, but she wanted to allow him to work off this anger.

Rick dispatched of eight walkers on his own, relatively quickly. He paced back from the mound of rotting flesh and stepped on the final walker's skull, ensuring its demise. Rick looked back at her, out of breath, and sweating. Beth wasn't sure if he was about to cry or scream. But Rick did neither. He simply picked up his pack and grabbed her hand.

"Let's go."

I didn't intend for this chapter to look like this, but I did want Rick to get this thing with Carol off of his chest. I think that's a big thing that would have effected him at this point on the show, and therefore he needed to share that with Beth. In the interest of full disclosure, its never been a secret that I'm no big fan of Carol's... but I did try and be somewhat neutral in my writing, and I hope that came across. This scene was definitely not even supposed to be this long, but it kind of morphed into a monster.

I also want to say a special thanks for the reviews from last chapter. WOW! I've never had such great feedback on a chapter. All of it was thoughtful, and it made me giddy. Thank you, thank you! I guess that means I need to be funnier from time to time, huh?

Also, I did post a little tiny baby Brick one-shot, called "It changes you." The link is on my profile. I think. I'll double check. Should be by the time you guys get there anyway. It's not a FUN one shot, like the last one, certainly, but I hope that you guys will read and review it, even though its, um... different.

Thanks again!