Okay, this is roughly the pace I'm aiming for, a chapter every couple weeks. We'll see how it holds up.

As always, I don't own the walking dead, which bums me way out.

When Rick awoke to the sun piercing his eyes, his initial reaction was to be upset that Beth had allowed him to sleep through the night. But as his awareness came back to him, he realized not only was his head buried in Beth's lap, but her fingers were slowly twirling through his hair while she hummed to him. He found it difficult to be too upset about that.

Rick sat up slowly, thanking the god he didn't believe in that he hadn't left a puddle of drool on Beth's jeans. "You let me sleep?" he asked slowly, unsure of how to ask how he ended up outside with her.

Beth nodded happily. "You seemed like you needed it, and I never really got all that tired." She explained easily.

Rick stretched out his back. While there were numerous benefits to falling asleep next to Beth, the number it did on his back was not one of them. Beth noticed his discomfort and raised an eyebrow at him.

"Yes, haha, I'm old and my bones are brittle. So funny." Rick deadpanned.

Beth laughed and rolled her eyes. "All I was thinkin' was that it serves you right for draggin' out here in the middle of the night like you did."

Rick winced.

"You don't remember, huh? Let me refresh your memory. 'Oh Beeeth, I'm so coooold, snuggle meeee.'" Beth giggled as she did an impression of him, wrapping her arms around herself. When Rick felt a flush spread across his cheeks, he was sure she laughed even harder.

"Don't act like you didn't like it." He spat out at her, and reveled in the fact that his tease produced a mirroring shade of scarlet to splay across her features. Rick snickered softly, and pulled Beth towards him, kissing her gently on the head. "Best sleep I've had in ages." He added, as she tugged at his coat.

Rick wrapped around Beth, and they intertwined, saying nothing for several minutes. Rick could hear Beth's ragged breathing, and he was sure it matched his own. He was overly aware of his body at this moment as it pressed against Beth. The crisp fall smell was permeating his nostrils, the wind whipping around them, but he didn't feel cold at all. If anything, he felt overheated, and he was sure he knew why.

Beth looked up at Rick, and he swallowed roughly as her blue eyes pierced him. His hand instinctively moved to her cheek, where his thumb swiped lovingly across her cheekbone. Beth inhaled sharply, and pulled lightly away from him.

"Sorry." He mumbled, and Beth only smiled, as if he had said nothing.

"Guess we better hit the road!" she said brightly, but then frowned. "Is your back going to be okay with the backpack?"

Rick groaned, and reached behind him, rubbing his shoulder. "I'm sure it'll be fine." He paused and tried to catch Beth's eye. "Are you sure this is what you want to do? Follow this trail?" Beth smiled sadly at Rick, an expression that worried him greatly.

"I'm sure." She nodded, and quickly averted his gaze. "I want to find your son."

Rick sighed, ashamed of his relief at her answer. He wanted Beth to be comfortable, and willing to take this risk, but it would have broken him to give up on a chance to find his son.

The two of them packed and chatted playfully as they rolled up the sleeping bags. Beth recalled to him how he had more or less sleep walked the prior evening, though given her strained tone, he suspected that she was leaving out some of the more embarrassing details to spare him, which did nothing to soothe his worry that he'd humiliated himself thoroughly.

As they started out down the hill towards the path they had left last night, Rick couldn't help but notice that Beth let him take the lead. She was the tracker, and had flourished in the role, so to see her willingly taking a back seat to him worried him greatly. Rick slowed his pace so that they were walking next to each other, which was an arrangement that made him feel much better anyway.

Rick heard Beth purposefully slow her breathing as they passed over the path and the trap they had found and started following the tracks of whomever had been there. He instinctively reached for her hand, and she grasped it gratefully.

Rick felt completely at ease walking next to Beth, and they held hands as they followed the tracks down what was turning out to be a fairly steep hill. His smile faltered when a drop of rain filtered through the canopy of oaks. Rick removed his coat quickly and pulled Beth to him as they attempted to shelter themselves under the surprisingly quick onslaught of rain.

"We need to protect the packs!" Beth yelled at him over the sound of rain plunking the trees and rocks around them. Rick groaned when he realized she was right. Sleeping in a damp sleeping bag in the cold weather was a great way to end up with hypothermia, which was literally the last thing they needed. Glancing at Beth's back, he knew they were too late. The rain had come too quickly, and they and their stuff were already soaked.

This made their next goal shelter. Tents wouldn't cut it tonight, since they were wet too. They needed to be indoors, out of the elements. Rick sighed, and he signaled to Beth to keep moving. They trudged through the trees, the rain unrelenting.

"Rick!" Rick startled as he heard Beth call to him, and she gestured a few meters in front of them, where two walkers shambled towards them. He dug for his knife, letting go of Beth's hand, and took off towards them at a run.

It occurred to Rick too late that running downhill through the mud was a large mistake. His boot slid in the mud that the rain had created, and he fell hard onto his back, a crack audible even over the rain. He heard Beth yell as a walker fell onto him, and Rick struggled to quickly grip his knife in the pouring rain. It slipped in his hand, and he held it at an angle just as the jaws reached his face. The knife sliced through the walker's mouth, removing the top part of its head from the rest of its body.

Rick pushed the walker off of him, and looked up to see a knife flying through the air, embedding itself in the second walker's skull.

He heard Beth running gingerly towards him, but he didn't dare move. Rick felt her hands ghost over his entire body, and chuckled while she frantically asked if he was alright.

Chuckling hurt.

"Where'd you learn to throw a knife like that?" Rick asked, a loud throbbing in his ears. He couldn't be sure if it was his adrenaline or the rain, but it was deafening. He vaguely heard Beth laugh as she pushed his wet hair off of his forehead.

"Didn't know I could. Had to try." She shrugged, and he couldn't help but roll his eyes. That was such a Beth thing to do. It takes everyone else months or training to be proficient with their weapons, but Beth out of nowhere decides she needs to throw her knife and she hits her target. "Don't you roll your eyes at me Rick Grimes, saved your life, didn't it? Now can you get up?"

Rick attempted to move, leaning up on his forearms. That he could do that at all told him that he doubted anything was broken, but the searing pain told him it wasn't great. He fell back slowly and groaned. The rain had abated somewhat, but the packs and their clothes were thoroughly soaked.

"The mud might make it easier to drag you this time." Beth winked at Rick, and he grunted in pain at the thought of being dragged. Beth gently touched his face, wiping a spot of mud off of him. "I was kidding. Think you can walk at all?"

Rick didn't relish the idea of walking in this much pain, but the alternative was literally laying here in the mud. He wouldn't be able to get very far, and he definitely wouldn't be able to carry the pack. He told Beth as much. She had nodded solemnly, and began eliminating everything non-essential. That meant one tent, one sleeping bag, and they lost a good chunk of the food, electing to keep all the weapons that they could instead. She folded up the second backpack and shoved it into her own.

They made a plan to continue down the hill, and into the first town they could find. If they were lucky, they would be able to find a house to hunker down in. If they were really lucky, maybe they would find a store where they could restock.

Rick struggled not to whimper as Beth helped him to his feet. He would never admit it, but he was horrified that he was appearing so weak to Beth. Not weak necessarily, but… old. Rick remembered his father having back issues before he died. Was he that old already? Beth didn't seem to mind, however. She easily pulled what Rick was sure was a much heavier backpack on to her, before bending down to help him up. Beth had wrapped Rick's arms around her neck and helped him get to his feet. They began walking and Rick tried not to let his pride get in the way as he leaned heavily on Beth's shoulder.

Beth didn't seem to struggle under his weight; the bigger concern was going downhill through mud. Their steps were unsteady and Rick was constantly reaching out towards a tree to steady them. It took the pair of them much longer than Rick would have liked to not only reach the foot of the hill, but to find any kind of former civilization.

Rick hated walking through towns now. The quiet unnerved him. Before the prison fell, he had grown accustomed to the ever prevalent moans of walkers as they pushed against the fence. That, coupled with being packed in with dozens of people - many of whom he didn't know or particularly like, although they all seemed to expect something from him- meant that silence was an extremely different sensation. They had literally walked into somebody's back yard through the woods, which meant trekking through an eerily quiet subdivision.

Beth had offered to break into one of the homes, clear it, and let him rest, but that wasn't what he wanted. It was only a couple of hours until sundown, and he desperately wanted to get Beth into some dry clothes before that happened. Yes, they could raid someone's closet, but Rick remembered the small incident that had happened last time they were in a house, and Beth was still walking around in someone else's clothes that didn't fit her. Rick would happily withstand a little more pain to get her something that made her feel good.

Rick was sure Beth was a cheerleader in high school based on the little pep talks she gave them as they walked. He didn't want to admit how adorable he found it that she was able to keep a constant stream of encouraging words going just so he could make it into town.

Rick sighed in relief when he realized how lucky they were; they had only walked a mile or two before they emerged from the subdivision and onto what had once been a main street in a reasonably sized town. The problem now was that reasonably sized towns also translated into moderate number of walkers. Rick shuddered at the thought of having to exert the energy to stop a walker with his knife, and guns were out of the question. He couldn't stand the idea of having Beth do all of the clearing, but he wasn't sure what choice he had.

To their immediate right was a gas station, but Rick didn't want to test that. It was high risk, low reward. Rick was confident people had rushed the gas stations when everything went down, which meant low supplies, smashed windows, and high concentration of walkers. Not something he was going to submit Beth to.

Down the road was a small strip mall, but none of the stores were particularly useful to them, though Beth joked about going to get her nails done. Across the street was a small general store, called Murray's. Rick was doubtful about how much actual food there would be; but he suspected it had clothes, and maybe even a small selection of bedding which meant a comfortable night if they could clear it.

Beth had agreed with his assessment, and with her help, Rick hobbled across the abandoned street towards the store. They both peered through the double doors, and upon seeing nothing, Beth carefully broke through the glass and unlocked the door.

"I really effing hate grocery stores." Beth sighed once they were inside the building, and Rick's stomach dropped. This store was wildly different from the other one, but he wished he had considered that it might have been difficult for Beth to return to a place as similar to the one as where she lost her best friend. Though, logically Rick knew that even if he had considered it, they would have needed to come here anyway.

The store had 20 long aisles, and Rick wearily offered to clear half, which only served to make Beth laugh. "Yeah right." Rick knew he looked abashed, and as he slid down the wall, finally getting off of his feet, Beth bent down to be eye to eye with him. "Rick, you've done so much. You've already saved my life what feels like a billion times, why don't you let me handle this one?"

Rick sighed, and reached up to tuck a loose yellow curl behind Beth's ear. "I'm pretty you've saved me a billion and one times, Beth. You don't owe me anything."

Rick's pulse raced as Beth leaned into his hand, and kissed his palm softly. "It ain't a competition, Rick." She whispered kindly. "Just let me take care of you while I can."

Rick nodded his acquiescence, but made a mental note to make it up to Beth somehow. Beth, ever the methodical one, started on aisle one, and Rick winced as he could hear her disposing of a walker. Rick couldn't help but think it was the worst feeling in the world to hear someone you loved fighting while you remained powerless.

He reassessed that declaration about twenty minutes later, when he heard Beth screaming his name.

Hooray! As always, this took a little longer than I wanted because I got distracted writing something else. This is why I like to stick to one-shots, folks. But maybe by the time the next chapter is up, I'll have a behemoth of a new story for you guys to read.

I really really want to thank the people who take the time to review. I've started trying to respond to each of the reviews individually, so hit me with any questions you might have. If I missed responding to your review last time, I'm sorry I'm a terrible person, and you are well within your rights to publically flog me.

Thank you all again for reading! Stick around, 25 is a mile marker chapter.