This chapter is a tiny bit shorter, but I wanted to get it out for you guys. I would have had this out Friday, but my phone has just decided to stop charging, which is super cool. Which means I only really get to write when I have free time at work (hahahahaha).

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy.

I don't own the walking dead, or Rick, or Beth, all of which blows.

Even in the dark, the tall –taller than she remembered- boy stood out to her. His freckles splayed across his nose, standing out against his paling skin. He shook his floppy brown hair out of his eyes as his smile broke through his surprise and he began to advance toward her slowly.

Beth reached down, keeping her eyes on him, and shook Rick's shoulder gently with her hand. The man groaned, but instinctively grabbed her hand and snuggled it.

"Rick." She hissed, causing his eyes to open. Beth watched as his eyes struggled to focus, and his hand, still clinging to her own, tremored in realization.

"Carl?" his voice broke, and Beth felt his hand slip away as he fell out of the bed. She reached forward to steady him, and Carl rushed forward to him, grabbing his father, worried about the pain he obviously felt.

Carl tried to ask Rick what was wrong with him, but Rick's sobs as he clung to his son were overwhelming any other noise. Beth's hands withdrew to herself, a stranger to the intimate proceedings between father and son.

Beth turned away, as a whirlwind of mixed feelings swirled in her gut. Happiness, of course, was prevalent, thrilled at last to see Rick have his son back. But there was also jealousy, as she wondered just how long it would be before she got a similar reunion with her sister, if she ever got one. Additionally, there was another emotion swirling in her gut; one that she desperately acted to ignore- Fear. She worried that this was going to be the end of whatever familiarity that she and Rick had built. But she swallowed that down, as she prayed for Rick's tears to subside.

Beth hadn't heard Rick like this since Lori died. It was more of a wail than a cry and it was tearing her apart, just like it had then. She remembered seeing Maggie emerge, blood covered and baby in her arms, and it took her a moment to process what she was seeing. There was a baby, but no Lori. It had been Lori who had held her hand and tried to protect her when she was at her lowest; Lori, who had been the surrogate mother to the group even when Rick, the proverbial father, barked at them when they were on the road. Losing her felt like a punch in the gut, to the entire group.

But to no one more than Rick. And for a while, the group lost him, too.

It was almost a relief, then, that his wails were not of anguish this time, but reprieve and joy. The lump in Beth's throat grew large until she could ignore it no longer, and her tears joined the pair of boys in front of her.

"Jesus Christ, I let you go in first, and you get everyone crying."

Beth's head whipped around to see Michonne standing there, her hands on her hips, and her katana sheathed on her back.

Beth smirked, happy to see the woman alive and well. She vaguely heard Carl chuckle behind her as Michonne crossed past her with a wink, and put her hand on Rick's shoulder.

"You're really going to have to dry up man, you're embarrassing yourself." She teased Rick, and the man guffawed, wiping the tears from his eyes.

Rick stood with not a small amount of effort, groaning and wincing. Beth noticed the dark look of worry pass on Carl's face as he helped his father to his feet, but Rick only smiled at him.

"Sorry you're dad's an old man, son." He said, ruffling his old hat on his son's head. Carl rolled his eyes, but Rick's attention had already turned to Michonne.

"And you… you protected my son. Kept him safe. How can I ever thank you?" He intoned, throwing his arms around the woman's neck, causing her to start in surprise, before she softened, and returned his affection.

Their hug had blocked Beth's exit from the bed, where she was still on her knees, gun in hand. She sighed, and worked her way around them. "I'm going to go fix the barricade." She mumbled, backing slowly out of the emotion fraught room.

/

Beth kicked the makeshift barrier she had made, feeling beyond stupid that it had failed so miserably to keep anyone out. Even though it had turned out to be a positive, she had to admit it wounded her pride a bit. In her defense, Carl had to weigh like 90 pounds soaking wet. If she were being honest, when she pictured people trying to get through her barricade, she pictured Joe, who was probably two and a half times that.

Sure enough, Beth saw the plywood that Carl had taken down from the inside, allowing Michonne to get in. She wondered what possessed them to come in here. Sure, it just so happened it was them, but wasn't it just as likely a sizable –armed- group was parked in here as well? And Carl was on his own- what could they be thinking?

"Hey." Beth turned and saw Michonne, gently cleaning her sword, and Beth rolled her eyes.

"Do you have to sneak up on people?" she shuddered, hating that being surprised like that affected her so much.

Michonne sheathed her sword on her back. "Sorry. My spirit animal is a cat. One who really, really misses chocolate." She sighed, and Beth grinned, and cocked her head.

"I might be able to help with that."

Michonne's face lit up, and Beth tilted her head in a silent request for Michonne to follow her. The two women wandered down a turned over aisle.

"Hold this." Beth muttered, handing a surprised Michonne her gun. Beth began to carefully crawl under the shelf as she searched for her goal.

"Beth!" Michonne hissed as Beth disappeared underneath the shelf. "That thing could fall on you!"

Beth rolled her eyes, even as she dug around beneath the angled shelf. "It's a shelf, not a mountain." She mumbled, even as she found exactly what she had been looking for. She shuffled backwards as she emerged from the shelf, with a full box of big cat chocolate bars in hand.

"I thought I had spotted that earlier when I was clearing the place, but I had other stuff to take care of." Beth shrugged, as she opened the box, and offered one of them to Michonne.

Michonne's eyes were wide as she reverently grasped the silver wrapped bar from Beth's grasp. "What in the world could possibly be more important than chocolate?" she whispered, slowly peeling the bar open.

Beth laughed, even as she recalled how worried she had been leaving Rick behind as she cleared the store. Having to separate from him, even just to clear the store, had made a knot in her gut appear, and caused her move quickly, desperate to return to his side. She wondered now just how different things would be.

Beth was distracted easily, however, by Michonne's noisy eating. Every bite, chew, and lick was punctuated with a moan, or a gasp, or what sounded like a whispered prayer to god. It made her laugh, and it relaxed her, even as she picked into a bar herself.

Beth let the chocolate melt in her mouth, the caramel inside swirling into an irresistible cocktail of decadence that Beth endeavored to savor. But like most things lately, she felt removed from it; like it wasn't herself experiencing it. She frowned as she wrapped the wrapper back around it, barely touched.

Michonne stared at her like she'd grown an extra limb. Beth just smiled sadly, avoiding direct eye contact. "Gotta save some for the boys." She shrugged. Michonne nodded, but Beth could easily tell she was unconvinced, her skepticism written all over her face.

"So… it was you Rick went back to get?" Michonne asked slowly, and Beth wrinkled her brow.

"What do you mean?" she asked tersely, wrinkling the wrapper between her fingers, in an unsuccessful attempt at nonchalance.

Michonne attempted to catch her eye. "At the prison… Carl, Rick, and I were together and were going to leave when he heard someone. He couldn't be convinced to not go back for whomever it was… I guess it was you."

Beth's nose wrinkled as she tried to ward off the emotions at the revelation. "He just told me you guys got separated." She murmured slowly.

Michonne snorted unceremoniously. "He would say that. The man has a serious hero complex."

Beth laughed at that, even as her brain supplied all of the evidence that her assertion was undeniably correct. Her laughter settled as Michonne's chewing subsided, and a fraught silence fell between them.

"What happened to you guys?" Beth asked quietly, her curiosity getting the better of her.

Michonne shrugged, as she sucked the melted chocolate off of her thumb. "We went to the store, where Rick told us to meet. There were some guys following us, so we didn't stay long."

Beth swallowed, wondering if it had been Joe. Beth knew that Michonne noticed the change in her demeanor by the way her head cocked, but she mercifully only continued with her story. "We've pretty much just been walking in circles. We didn't want to get too far from Rick. From you guys." She gestured towards Beth. "Been hungry, had a couple of close calls with some walkers, but we made it."

Beth watched as Michonne's eyes narrowed on her, and her mind raced as she searched for any possibly answer to the question she knew was coming; the one she had no answer for.

"What about you guys?"

Beth smiled wanly at Michonne, as her eyes looked anywhere but the other woman's. The longer she paused to speak, the more she knew Michonne would worry, assume, and judge. But Beth wasn't ready to tell what really happened. She wasn't ready to s hare this with anyone but Rick.

"Beth?"

Both women's attention turned to the sound of Rick calling her name.

"Beth?" he called again, and Rick appeared, shuffling down the hallway as quickly as his obvious pain would allow, with Carl hot on his heels.

"I told you she was fine, dad." Carl huffed, crossing his arms.

"Jesus, Beth I didn't know where you went. You scared the hell out of me." He sighed, reaching for her.

Beth took his hand and stood up, and winked at Carl. "He's right, I'm fine. Just wanted to check the barricade some snot nosed brat broke through."

"Was no one worried about me?!" Michonne teased, as she crossed her arms, and pouted lightly. Beth pretended not to notice the suspicious glance she tossed between her and Rick, even as Beth tried to stealthily remove her hand from Rick's.

Carl rolled his eyes. "Michonne, jesus, you've got chocolate all over your face, the least you could do is share." He started towards her, and Michonne jerked the box back towards her body, standing up and taking off with her bounty.

"NO! It's mine!" she screeched, as Carl chased after her. Rick chuckled beside her as he subtly pulled her to him. Beth sighed and rested her head on his shoulder.

I don't love this chapter, there was so much I wanted to convey, I think I got lost in my own mythos a little. I'll work on it. Any criticism, constructive or otherwise, is always welcome. Thank you to all the people who take the time to review, it really does keep me writing.

So obviously things are going to have a little bit of a different dynamic from now on, and I'll spend some time with Rick next chapter so you'll be able to see what both parties are thinking. Look forward to sharing with you guys!