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.
*** Get ready folks, a BIG point of contention is going to be discussed. Hope you like how I resolved it. Much love!
"Loosen your arm up." Daryl stood beside Ruby in the backyard, and bumped her arm firmly with his palm. "You hold so hard it's gonna jerk and you'll miss."
It was the third time he'd told her that, and she frowned, trying hard to follow his directions. She shook her arm a little, gripping the crossbow in her hand, finger on the trigger. It was heavier than she anticipated, and she missed the first two times, arrows digging into the ground beyond harmlessly.
She fired again, grazing the bottom of the target and making the arrow tumble to the ground. "Better." He said, surprising her a little. He was actually a very patient teacher. "Try again."
The sun above was glaring down on her, making it hard to really aim for the stuffed shirt he'd set up to hang from a tree several yards away. When she hesitated and didn't fire he looked down at her. "Here, try this." He said, leaning down and grabbing a handful of dirt from the ground. He smushed it between his palms, and came around in front of her as she lowered the bow. She almost chuckled when he smeared his thumb underneath both her eyes, on the top of her cheeks, and she wondered for a moment if she was supposed to tackle the target now instead of shoot it.
She did laugh a little at the thought, and he shrugged. "It works. Now go again. Aim for the middle."
Rick and Carol sat side by side on the steps of the back porch, watching the two of them work.
"I still can't believe it." Rick shook his head in wonder and Carol smiled.
"He's temperamental, but he's a good man."
"I know he is." Rick said quickly. He'd long ago learned to trust the man with his own, and Carl's, lives. T-Dog came to the door quietly.
"He snap yet?" He asked, only half joking. Maggie and Glen were behind them, even Carl had been released from his mother's grasp into Maggie's capable hands for a while. They all stared out as Daryl moved around Ruby, occasionally putting his hand on her shoulder to guide her, or jogging out to retrieve the arrows she'd fired.
"He hasn't even raised his voice." Carol responded, a small but secretly, proud smile on her face.
Ruby fired again and this time she landed the arrow in the middle of the target and she grinned widely. With the dark streaks of dirt across her cheeks and the rosy glow of satisfaction she wore, she looked absolutely adorable. Daryl looked pleased, but he was well aware of their audience and didn't show it too much as he went and retrieved the arrows again. Still, when he got back to her side and said 'Again', he bumped her with his elbow proudly.
She kept the streak going. Sometimes her arrow would go a little left, sometimes a little right, but she got a feel for the weapon and her aim was true, hitting the target several times in a row. With her snug jeans, black tank, and pulled back hair, she looked like a natural, deadly even.
"I think you got it, girl." Daryl stood back finally and put his hands on his hips. Ruby walked out to help him gather the last of the arrows and take down the target, and when she turned around toward the house, she caught a glimpse of Lori in the window above. The woman left the glass quickly and Ruby brushed it off as simple curiosity, the same as the gaggle of people who had gathered at the back door to watch.
"She's not bad. But I'd like to see her with that Glock she carries." Daryl said to Rick as they got back to the house.
"What about that arrow I broke?" Ruby reminded him as she returned Rick's smile of approval.
Daryl nodded. "In a bit. Get some water." He walked off toward the trees, a little uncomfortable being at least part of the center of attention.
T-Dog shook his head at her, chuckling a little. "You got some kinda way, Ruby." Maggie flashed a bright smile at her and she, Glen and T-Dog passed them, going out into the yard.
Ruby washed the dirt from her face in the sink, and filled a nearby empty bottle with water. She sat down across from Rick at the kitchen table and grabbed an apple, taking a couple big bites quickly. She glanced over at Carol's back at the sink and turned her eyes back to Rick. She held up a finger to the ceiling and then two at her own eyes. He understood immediately, and was not surprised. Lori had been watching.
"Hey Dad, you think Daryl will teach me to do that?" Carl asked, leaving the doorway to come to the table, drawing both their attention.
"I don't think so, not yet. It's pretty heavy." Rick said, putting a fatherly hand on the boy's shoulder. He frowned but nodded, looking over at Ruby. "You were pretty good."
She grinned. "Thanks, Carl."
Carol called to the boy from the sink. "Hey Carl, you want to help me get get lunch together?"
"Sure." He said, joining her at the sink and Rick and Ruby joined the others back outside.
They spent the afternoon largely apart. Rick with T-Dog working on things around the house, and when they called Glen for a hand, Maggie and Ruby sat under the large tree in the middle of the backyard, talking and laughing with each other. Bath joined them shortly, and Rick watched the three girls for a moment from an upstairs window, smiling a little to himself at the girls just being girls for a while. It was good to see. But he did check to see that Daryl was nearby, watching over them before he left.
He was in Ruby's room with T-Dog when he heard Hershel call out harshly, and he dropped the board he'd been holding and raced out of the room.
"Coming through the trees, Rick. A lot of them." The old man said, checking the rifle he had in his hands.
Rick pointed to Glen as he moved to the window. "Get them inside, now! Where's Carl?"
"He's here." Carol said from the door to the kitchen, Carl in front of her and a worried look on her face.
"Upstairs, T, use the windows. Hershel, you stay here, make sure they stay together." He sent out orders but had to stop himself from running straight to Ruby's side. He hadn't seen her yet, and was about to do just that when she darted into the living room, followed by Beth and Maggie. Lori was scurrying down the stairs, but he looked past her unconsciously to Ruby. She grabbed the gun from her waist and met his eyes for a moment before running up the stairs after him. T-Dog and Glen went to the left, he and Ruby to the right, to the small bedroom Hershel had claimed. Rick threw the window open and pushed the screen out, making a place for them to fire. She got down on one knee next to him and they looked out over the half dozen or so walkers that had passed the tree line into the yard.
"Watch out for Daryl." He said and her eyes moved to the man in stalking position, coming around the side of the house. When the milky white eyes of the walkers saw him the groans became louder and they moved faster. But just then, gunshots began to ring out, and Rick and Ruby joined them. The two of them were closer to Daryl, and they dropped the walkers closer to him that he hadn't gotten yet. After the first few were down, Rick noticed that if Ruby was good with the crossbow, she was even better with the gun. She was only off the mark once, hitting a walker in the neck and sending it flailing back before correcting herself and hitting it in the temple. His adrenaline was flowing, but he took a moment to appreciate it as he fired on his own targets.
Several more had filtered through the trees, but they dropped them quickly, and the sound of gunshots faded in the late afternoon air. Daryl started to remove his arrows from the walkers below as Rick leaned back and shouted out to T-Dog in the other room. "Stay in there for a while, T, Glen. In case more come."
"You got it." Came T-Dog deep voice and Rick let out a deep breath, looking over at Ruby. He was so glad to come out of the experience and have her sitting safely by his side he actually laughed softly, out loud.
She looked at him with wide eyes. "Did I miss something?"
He put his gun in his other hand and put his palm against her cheek, running his thumb over her skin. "You're a good shot."
She took a deep breath. "I'd be nice if I didn't have to demonstrate that twice in one day."
He laughed a little louder and saw Daryl glance up at them from the yard. He squeezed Ruby's neck gently and stood. "Come on, let's go check on the others."
Lori was on the couch with Carl tightly under her arm, Maggie and Beth close to their father, and Carol stood between them all with her fingers tightly intertwined in front of her.
"Just some walkers, making their way through the trees. It's going to happen, we knew that." He said as reassuringly as he was capable. "But look, we proved we did pretty good here. We got them before they even got close to the house, everybody's fine."
Carol unknotted her hands and gave him and tentative smile. "He's right. They got closer to us on the farm than they did here."
He nodded and held out a hand toward her. "Exactly. Now, you guys stay inside the rest of the day, the noise might have drawn attention. Maggie, why don't you go up to Glen, send T down to help clear the yard."
She nodded and went to the stairs, jogging up them quickly. Ruby leaned against the doorway to the living room and watched as Rick went to Carl. "You ok?" He asked.
He boy nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine." Rick nodded and met Lori's narrowed gaze as it went from Ruby back to him. He ignored it, walking to the back door, and when Ruby followed him he didn't stop her.
"It was good, you know. The way we stopped them. But why did they come in the first place?" She asked him as they walked around the house.
"No reason, most likely." He said, looking down at her with a confident look. "They walk. They're walkers."
"You're so funny, I think I might die." She said flatly, raising her eyebrow, and they came around the corner just as Daryl raised his bow and hit a straggler in the forehead.
"Still comin?" Rick asked as they got close, his eyes going to the trees and unconsciously stepping closer to Ruby.
"One or two, probably be a couple more 'for it's over. Must have been movin' through in a bigger group than usual." Daryl said, wiping the retrieved arrow on his jeans.
T-Dog jogged up to them then and Daryl looked out toward the road. "I'm gonna check the road again."
Ruby looked up quickly. "You going to the sign?"
Daryl looked back at her, then up at the sky. The sun still had a good couple hours before setting. "I'll bring 'em back if they're there."
She gave him a grateful smile and watched him walk away. Rick and T-Dog tossed a body in the woods and walked back toward her. She stood watch while they worked, wishing Daryl would reappear immediately, her friends in tow. But Rick and T finished before he did, and Rick led her back to the house, noticing her head turning back frequently as they walked away.
The house was quieter than usual, but activity was much the same. Carl had brought some of his toys down again and played in the living room while Lori and Beth moved around the kitchen with Carol. Rick saw Ruby move past the women swiftly and take a place in the living room window to watch for Daryl's return. Lori gestured for him to follow her, and he sighed as he walked to the stairs after her.
"Why don't you just go ahead and say it?" She turned on him as soon as the door to her and Carl's room closed. He raised his eyebrows at her, his hands going to his hips as he waited for her to clarify. She let out an aggravated breath and pointed to the floor. "That girl, Rick. You know what I'm talking about."
"You really want to do this now?"
"Well, I guess I could go on pretending like I don't know. Would you like that better? Make you happy if I did that?"
He felt a strange calm come over him suddenly. He'd always thought things happened for a reason, maybe that applied here. He walked over to the cot beth used and took a seat, his elbows resting on his knees. "Get it out, Lori."
She faltered, her face falling a little. She'd expected him to fight back, he knew that, not this calmness he was showing. The slight surprise was covered quickly by a renewed anger. "It is so disrespectful, so damn cocky of you to parade her around like that in front of me. What do you think Carl is learning from this? What the others must think, you sleeping right outside her door, watching her hang on you and Daryl."
He looked a little amused at that and she practically turned tomato red. "Hangs on us?"
"What is so funny? You saw her out there today. You must have, you never leave her alone."
"Lori, sit down." He said gently and that surprised look returned again. He gestured to the bed when she didn't move. "You don't need to be getting this worked up, ok? Sit down."
She did as he requested, and he sighed. "I want you to listen to me. I know you want to blame Ruby, but you know as well as I do that this started a long time before she came along. Maybe even before all of this started. You remember that fight we had the night before I got shot?"
She nodded, not knowing what to do with this man, so much like the old Rick. "I didn't think about anything else the whole time you were in a coma." Her voice was soft.
"It wasn't the first one. How many nights did I sleep on that couch downstairs? You'd shut that door and I'd never knew how long I'd be down there. One day? Three?"
She opened her mouth to interrupt and he held up a hand. "It wasn't all your fault, Lori. I'm not saying that. I messed up, I know that. But I was never unfaithful to you, or Carl. We both did our best and we still ended up like that- me on the couch, you cryin' upstairs in bed. It wasn't right, you know?"
She nodded, and stayed uncharacteristically silent as he continued. He wasn't raising his voice, he was reasonable, working through his words carefully, and for her to fight back would just prove what he was saying to be true, he knew she knew that.
"I can't thank Shane enough for getting' you and Carl out, and keeping you safe. And what you two did, I told you before that I understood. You thought I was dead and he was there for you when I couldn't be. And that's what I want you to remember, you didn't do anything wrong."
Tears welled up in her eyes, and he felt his heart jerk a little. He'd always hated to see her cry. He moved to the bed next to her and put his arm around her shoulders comfortingly.
"When you got out of that truck and I saw you..." She sniffed, wiping her nose with the palm of her hand. "I never felt so happy in my life."
"I know, me too. But it didn't change that the space between us was already there, and everything after was just driving that wedge deeper. Can you admit to me, and I'll understand it, that you didn't have feelings for Shane after? You didn't act on them, I know that. I know you told me everything, and you told him it was over, but in your heart can you really say it was over?"
"I don't know." She sounded defeated, and shook her head. "It all happened so fast, we were always running, scared. It changes you."
"Yeah, it does." He said. "It stopped you for really seeing what he was turning into. He didn't show you that face, the one that I saw when we almost killed each other outside that school, or when he took me out into that field to kill me. And you know what? It stopped me, too, I didn't want to believe that this man that had stood by my side every time I needed it, my brother, was going so wrong. Even now, I still stop and wonder what I could have done different, how I let him and you down."
"You didn't." She looked up at him, her lips pressed tightly together. "I should have told you that, but I was so mad. At him, at you."
"So was I. It shouldn't have happened, but none of this should be happening. I shouldn't have to board up windows and keep a gun on my side just to make sure the people I care about live to wake up the next morning. But that's where we are."
"I loved him." She said and he paused, not at the confession itself but at the fact she was finally brave enough to admit it.
He kissed her hair comfortingly. "I know. So did I. Still do. But we can't keep doing this to each other. It's not fair to us, and it sure as hell isn't fair to Carl. We got to look at the situation and start doing what we need to do, not what we think we should be expected to do."
She nodded and wiped her face free of tears that had already stopped falling. She took a deep breath and sat back, running her palms over her jeans as she looked back at him with a resigned face.
"So what do we do now?"
"Mostly what we've been doing. Stay alive. Keep Carl safe, try and make him happy, and find a place where we can start over. Maybe it's here, maybe not, I don't know. But it's going to go a lot further if we start working together again. I'm not goin' anywhere, Lori. I'm right by your side through this pregnancy, don't you worry about that. This is Shane's baby, you know that well as I do, and that just means I gotta take extra special care of him. His dad was a good man."
She let out a ragged breath, they'd always talked like it wasn't Shane's, never wanted to admit the dates made sense. Fresh tears spilled out over her cheeks and he smiled, wiping them away.
"I'm sorry." She said, her voice a little clearer, stronger. "This never was about Ruby, was it?"
He shrugged and winced a little. "I was mad at first, probably wanted to make you make you a little mad."
"It worked." She let out a laugh, thick through her tears.
"I'm sorry about that. But that's not what it's about now. Hasn't been for a while, as weird as that sounds. Feel like a lot longer than a week since we've been here, doesn't it?"
She nodded and he smiled briefly. "Anyway, I'm not trying to be disrespectful to you, but I can't hide it either. I don't know how she feels, and I haven't really asked. Hell, that sign might work and her friends will show up and all we'll see is tail lights, but this talk was goin' to happen anyway."
"I think you're right." She said, straightening up a little. "You know, there's something I never told you."
"What?" He asked, tilting his head a little to the side.
"Right before you got shot, that morning, I actually called a divorce lawyer and set a meeting up. I don't know if I was serious or just pissed, but when I got the call about you, I felt so damn guilty. I sat there by your bed and couldn't stop thinking about what I bitch I was."
"Don't think about that anymore. I don't blame you. You were braver than me." He said simply and she smiled sadly. She looked down at her hand, and the gold band on her finger glittered in the dim light. She sighed and slipped it off, holding it out between them. He worked his own band off, thinking about how she had worn it around her neck when she thought he was dead. Bittersweet didn't begin to cover the moment. He put it on her palm as well and she reached over to the nightstand, letting out a deep breath as she put them carefully inside and shut the drawer. He pulled her into a tight hug and held her there for a while, letting the intensity of the moment sink in for both of them. There would always be love there, a shared understanding and a series of shared moments and memories that would just be theirs, but a page was turning, and they had finally accepted it.