I don't own anything to do with Rick or any character from the Walking Dead. I own the OC character, Ruby, however, and I adore her.
Summary: Shane's been killed by Rick and the group doesn't trust him anymore. So what does Rick do? Snap. He finds a girl in the woods and takes out his aggression.
Yes, I know if you've read my other stuff you know that I am a Shane girl, but Rick is awesome, too. So I decided to play with him a little.
Rate and comment if you like! Thanks, and please, no flames. They are... unhelpful.
**** A shorter chapter but I couldn't get to sleep till I got it out. Smoochies, everyone. Gotta love the sweetness... Hope you like it!
Daryl was coming in from the back door when Rick and T-Dog came down from the bedrooms.
"Got the bodies off the yard." Daryl drawled as he put his face under the tap and rinsed the sweat and dirt off of it.
"Good." Rick said appreciatively, grabbing one of the water bottles off the counter. Carol had put all the food in the cabinets and pantry, and the kitchen was actually pretty clean and organized now. Very different than it had been since they'd gotten there. Rick leaned back against the counter and looked out into the living room, where Ruby, Glen, Maggie and Beth sat in a small circle. Glen was practicing strumming on the guitar and the occasional burst of laughter or quick chatter met his ears. He didn't see Carl, Lori or Hershel and he stepped forward, looking to the dining room. The three of them sat there at the table, working over what Rick could only imagine was schoolwork. He stepped back in and saw Carol's door shut. For some reason, it was utterly important to know where everyone was at all times.
"T-Dog, why don't you take first watch? We need to make sure we have eyes out all the time, and Glen can take the next one." Rick said and T-Dog nodded, going out into the living room and taking a place in an armchair against the window.
"I know that girl knows better songs than that." Daryl said in a low voice and went to flop in a chair near the small group. Rick followed and sat on the end of the couch, leaning back and taking in a deep breath, listening to the light conversation.
"What else you know?" Daryl spoke up and Ruby thought about it for a minute. She took the guitar back from Glen and looked at him.
"You got something specific in mind?" She asked curiously and he shrugged.
"Doubt you'd know it." He said challengingly.
"Try me." She shot back and Rick stifled a grin.
Daryl raised an eyebrow and sat forward. "Fine." He started to hum a tune, and he was several chords into it when a smile broke out over Ruby's face. He narrowed his eyes warily at her and she started to strum the guitar slowly.
The sun shown down in it's glory,
Shown down on the deep blue sea.
Where the Titanic was sinkin'
Far out on the deep blue sea.
The captain was lying down sleepin'
When he dreamed a sad, sad dream.
He dreamed the Titanic was sinkin'
Far out on the deep blue sea.
He rose and he called to the rich man,
He told him to come to life.
And save his little baby,
also his darling wife.
The captain, he must have been drinkin'
For he knew that he had done wrong.
He was trying to win the record,
When he let the titanic go down.
The sun shown down in its glory,
Shone down on the deep blue sea.
While the Titanic was sinkin'
Far out on the deep blue sea...
Ruby trailed off and Daryl shook his head disbelievingly. "How the hell did you know that?"
"My real mother, she sang all those old songs to me." She said, resting her arm on the top of the guitar.
"Damn..." Daryl said, obviously impressed. And it took a lot to impress him, Rick knew.
"It was pretty." Beth said with a smile, looking back at Daryl before returning her gaze to Ruby.
"Do you know any old ones?" Ruby asked her and Beth nodded. She launched into a lullaby kind of song in her softer, higher pitched voice. It was childlike, but pretty, and Ruby grinned at her encouragingly as she sang.
"I know a Korean one, if you wanna hear it." Glen offered when Beth was done, and soon, they were going around the circle taking turns. Rick heard Maggie start just as he drifted into an exhausted sleep.
When he woke there was a low fire in the fireplace, built small so it not only didn't heat up the room too much but the smoke from the fireplace would be faint. Carol was moving back and forth from the kitchen quietly, but smiled when she saw him raise his head.
"I hope I didn't wake you." She said softly and he shook his head. He sat up and felt the pillow from his cot had been brought to him on the sofa. He wondered if Ruby had done that, but the room was almost empty of the others.
"Where is everybody?" He groaned lightly as he moved, the weird position had tensed his muscles, making them sore.
"They finished dinner a while ago and I was cleaning up. Glen is watching from upstairs, and T-Dog moved his cot up to an empty room. I think the others are asleep now. Saved you some food in the kitchen." She said, gathering the last of the cookware from the fire and taking it to the kitchen.
"I'll get it in a little bit, thanks." He said and she nodded. He went to the fire and brushed the old ashes over the low flames with the end of a broken shovel somebody had brought in, and when he was satisfied the fire would extinguish soon he got up and headed to the darkened dining room. Even as he slept, he thought of what T-Dog had said to him earlier, and it invaded his fitful dreams with vivid flashes of faces. Lori's, Carl's, Shane's more than once, and Ruby following them all. He saw the pale candlelight from under her door in the darkness and knocked softly.
She didn't answer, so he opened the door and peered around carefully, not wanting to catch her indisposed. But she was laying back on the bed, her knees up and bobbing along to the music she was listening to through her headphones. She didn't see him at first, only noticing him when he took a few steps into the room, pushing the door closed behind him.
"Hey." She said with a smile, pulling her headphones out of her ears. "You were sacked out, I thought you might be the rest of the night."
He shook his head and leaned against the foot of her bed, resting his elbows on the foot board. She'd changed back into those shorts and tank top she seemed to like to sleep in, and he had to force himself not to stare at the length of her legs, so graceful and golden in the dim, flickering light.
"I never could sleep long, being in camp kind of solidified that." He countered.
She flicked her Ipod off and sat up. "I know what you mean. I used to be able to sleep through a tornado, and now, a door shuts and I'm up for hours. Did you get your dinner?"
"I will." He said. "I'm gonna clean up first. Maybe shave." He ran his hand over the deep stubble there.
"I've got water in the basin if you want it. I left that shaving cream there too." She said, and he felt a tingle of excitement that she would assume he would shave there when he could easily do it in the bathroom upstairs. He moved to the vanity and saw she had left the razor she had given him next to the basin awaiting him, and he fought the urge to look back at her and find out what that really meant.
He wet his face and put a little shaving cream in his hands, smoothing it over his face, when he felt her come up behind him.
"Here you go." She said, draping a small hand towel over his shoulder. He met her eyes in the mirror and he smiled back at her.
"Thanks." He said, picking the razor up and running it over his chin. She leaned back against the wall and watched him through the mirror, her face peaceful and curious.
"What're you thinkin' about?" He asked, and she took a deep breath in.
"It's stupid."
"Let me be the judge of that." He said, running the razor over his face again and shaking it out in the basin.
"I guess... I came across some groups out there that were just waiting to kill each other or anyone else that came along. I was just wondering how I got lucky enough to end up here. This old house feels safer than anything I've come across in ages, even with Paul and Sarah."
He chuckled softly. "I'm actually glad you seem to have forgotten how. Not my shining moment."
"It turned out ok, and you can't argue results. Even Lori wasn't as evil to me today as she has been."
"Well, you're hard not to like." He said and her eyes flicked up to him in the mirror. She smiled after a moment and looked back down at the floor, her brain obviously working around that comment.
His breath caught in his throat when he hit a snag in the stubble and nicked himself. A tiny trail of red blood began to show through the white cream on his face and he brushed his thumb over it, inviting more blood to come bubbling up to the surface quickly.
"You know better than that." She said and took the towel she had put on his shoulder. Taking the tip of it, she moved around to his front and pressed it to the tiny cut firmly, holding it there. He felt her closeness, her body heat so close to his and his breath faltered in his chest. "You only have a little left, give me the razor."
He handed the razor to her, his eyes not leaving her face, and he watched as she dipped it in the basin and brought it back up to his face. She did the last two strips smoothly, putting the razor down and using the other side of the towel to wipe away the left over shaving cream from his face. He swallowed at the intimacy of the moment, and her innocence in it, and couldn't help but allow his hand to drift to her hip, pressing his fingers in the small space where her tank top met her shorts.
She pulled the towel away from his face slowly, and he saw her swallow hard. "It's stopped bleeding." She said softly, and he could tell his hand was very much affecting her, as it was him.
"Thank you." He said in a low voice, so low he was surprised she could hear it. He didn't know if it was the talk he'd had with T-Dog, or just her being so damn beautiful and close to him, but he dipped his head down and brushed her lips with his. A shock, like an electric charge, went through his head and down into his body and he froze, against her warm, soft lips. It took a moment, but she moved her lips a little tighter against his, her hand moving up to his now smooth cheek.
It was the first kiss he'd had with anyone else since he'd begun dating Lori so many years ago, but he found he wasn't thinking about that. He was thinking of how much he'd wanted to do this since the moment he'd laid eyes on Ruby. Of how her soft skin felt against the roughness of his callused hands as he rubbed them across her back and up under the top she wore. Of how her breath was a little sweet, and her tongue danced with his in her mouth. She matched him in passion and vigor, running her arms up around his neck and tangling her fingers in his short, brown hair.
They gained a little speed then, he held her a little tighter and she pulled his head down to hers a bit more firmly. Before he knew it, he'd picked her up and carried her to the bed, letting her fall back gently before he moved to get over her. Moving his hands, he ran them up the front of her taut stomach and between her full breasts, up past her face and into her long, wavy hair, letting his fingers get lost.
He lifted a little and pulled his shirt off in one swift motion, but when he reached for hers, he felt her hesitate. Pulling back a little, he ran a hand over her soft cheek and searched her eyes.
"What is it?" He whispered, bringing his lips to her neck and caressing the tender, sensitive skin below her earlobe.
"I just think you have a lot going on right now, with everything." She said slowly, pressing her lips together. "I don't want to complicate that anymore than it already is, and if I don't say something now, I don't think I'll be able to."
He knew what she was saying, and a few days ago, it would have made him angry, but now, he felt a deep respect for her grow in the pit of his stomach along with a raging desire that was not so easily quelled. It screamed at him, the world ended! There are no divorce lawyers! It was over for Lori and him a long time ago!
He pushed those thoughts aside and let the rational ones in. They were in a house with a ton of people, and no matter what T-Dog said, this needed to be handled carefully. He smiled against her neck and nodded, pausing there before he rolled onto his side next to her, facing her and running his fingertips along her jawline.
"I'm not stopping because I think it's wrong." He whispered and her brows knitted together, trying to understand what he was saying. "I need you, and I can't file that away. But I want you to feel like this is right, like I do. If that takes a little time, it's ok."
His words seemed to clear her mind a little, a smile graced her face as she looked up at him. He wrapped his arm over her and pulled her close, so her cheek rested against his bare chest, her fingertips tracing little circles over his skin and her warm breath making him tingle with goosebumps.
She fell asleep in his arms, and it took every ounce of willpower he had to not stay there with her all night. But when he was sure she was sleeping deeply, he brushed her hair out of her face and kissed her forehead. She stirred, but did not awaken, even when he removed his arm and stood up from the bed. He took a sheet from the rumpled bed and pulled it over her, then put his own shirt back on and slipped out of the room silently. He took the stillness in the house to take the cold shower he very much needed at that time, quickly ate the dinner Carol had left for him, suddenly realizing how hungry he was. He felt good, though, like something had been achieved, and when he slipped into the cot in the dining room, he couldn't help but hold her face in his mind when he closed his eyes.