I don't own anything to do with Rick or any character from the Walking Dead. I own the OC characters, Ruby and Paul, however, and I adore them.
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 was 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.
+++It's really flowing right now, guys, but note that the chapters are a little shorter and fast moving. The continued reviews are the reason there have been so many updates in so few days- you guys are so inspirational you have no idea. Keep them coming and the updates will keep flowing
"I have never been so happy to see you." She breathed into Rick's neck as he held her tight. Allowing herself a moment of pure relief before pushing back and looking up at Paul as he grabbed her almost as tightly, she gestured back at Daryl. "We had to jump into the river, he hit his head pretty bad.
Paul let her go and went over to Daryl's side. "I'm fine, come on, man." Daryl pushed Paul's probing fingers away from the cut on his head and got to his feet grumpily.
"Can we please get out of here, now?" Ruby sighed, anxious to leave the darkening trees behind.
"Definitely." Paul nodded, looking back at Daryl. "You walk ok?"
Daryl gave him a flat look and stepped past them a little slower than he normally would. He was headed slightly off direction, and Paul took the lead, steering them back toward the lake and cave. Ruby and Rick followed, but he hadn't yet let go of her. From the look on his face and the strength in his hands, she doubted he ever would again and the thought sent a delightful shiver up her spine. She'd missed this, just wished it didn't take something like almost dying to bring it back out.
They turned out to be much closer than she had realized. Five minutes and two straggling walkers knifed later, and they were emerging into the field between the forest and the road they had driven in on. Rick hadn't taken his eyes off her yet, and when they made their way down the hill and around to the cave, he led her away from it and right down into the water. She could hear the exclamations of relief from the group as Paul and Daryl got to them, and she looked back to see Carol sweep down on Daryl quickly. In stereotypical fashion, he swatted the attention away, and she smiled a little as she and Rick rounded a large boulder and got to the water's edge.
"After the river, this isn't looking as fun." She said dryly, confused as to what he was doing. He was so silent it was making her a little unnerved. He kicked off his shoes and held her hand tighter as he led her into the lake. When she was chest deep, he stopped and turned completely toward her. The look in his eyes was so intense it took her breath away, and she froze when he began to brush the dirt and blood from her face and neck with his hands.
Finally, he spoke, but it was low, and she had to watch his lips. "I am never... ever letting you go again."
"I'm fine." She said, hoping to console him.
He set his jaw and gave a slight shake of his head. "I didn't even see you leave. I am so sorry. You did it because I wasn't really here."
She frowned. "Rick, I didn't go out there because you weren't spending enough time with me. I left middle school a long time ago."
He frowned himself, but just looped his arms around her and untied the bathing suit top she wore. They were hidden from sight, and she deeply doubted anyone would come to them after seeing the way Rick led her away so pointedly, so she relaxed against him as he washed more grime from her skin. Reveling in the feeling of being in the arms of someone who loved her deeply and wanted her, of being so very safe in such an unsafe world, they stayed there far into the darkness of the evening.
Rick watched the group sleep from his position at the cave entrance. He should have been exhausted with the level of stress running through his body earlier, but he was wired. He'd almost lost Ruby, and it terrified him more than he'd even imagined it. He'd known he'd long ago fallen for the girl, but until he realized he'd never see her again (or worse, find her as one of those things), it hadn't really registered to him. When he'd taken her into the lake with him, it was more than to apologize. It was to feel her under his fingers and tell his shaken brain she was still there. Still breathing and real, that he hadn't screwed up so badly that he'd want to die. To love her the way she should have been doing, the way he hadn't loved other things in his life the way she should have and lost them.
Carl came from the back room of the cave near sunup, and came to silently sit by his father, the cool dawn breeze picking up and blowing over both of them.
"I'm glad Daryl and Ruby are back." The boy said quietly, and Rick looked over at him. He suddenly looked so grown up. He wondered when that had happened.
"So am I."
Carl considered him thoughtfully. "You love her, don't you?"
They had never talked about it, and after losing Lori so recently, Rick felt a pang of anxiety at the question. How was he going to get his song to understand?
"Well, she means a lot to me, Carl." He began, and caught the twitch of Carl's lips from the corner of his mouth.
"It's ok. I don't think it means you didn't love mom." Carl said and Rick's head almost whipped around backwards.
"Of course I loved your mom. I still do." Rick said and Carl nodded.
"I know. Carol talked about it with me. Well, I talked. She mostly listened."
"Did you? What did you talk about?" Rick was both curious and reserved. He didn't want Carl to misunderstand, and wasn't sure if Carol grasped the situation enough to be able to give advice.
"About what you and mom were like, mostly. It was bad before, wasn't it? Did she love Shane?"
"Well, I guess she did. Then again, I loved him too, like a brother. And I know you did." Rick sighed. "And he loved you two very much."
"So why did he do it?"
"Do what?" Rick frowned.
"Try to kill you. Was it because he wanted Mom to be with him?"
Rick let out a shaky breath. "Carl, there was a lot there to figure out. I don't think I know it all yet, maybe never will. But you shouldn't be thinking about these things now, not with everything that's happened."
"But it's helping." Carl protested and Rick tilted his head at the boy.
"How?"
"Because I feel like if I understand why things happened, maybe I won't be as mad about it. Mom thought you were dead, right? That's why we left in the first place, and when you found us again, well, she and Shane were already..."
"Ok," Rick didn't want him to finish that sentence any more than Carl wanted to.
"All I mean is, things weren't the same. Maybe it was their fault. But it couldn't be changed, could it?" Carl looked up at Rick, his face questioning and tense. His dark hair was shaggy around his face and his shoulders looked like they carried far too much weight than a boy his age should even be aware of. It made Rick so sad to see it, but he knew this needed to be gotten out.
"I don't think it was really anybody's fault. The way the world used to be, there were ways that things could be worked out, you know? But now, when you have to worry about running all time, the order is messed up. Do you know what I mean?" Rick spoke earnestly, he knew Carl was growing up. Hell, he'd already given him a gun. The boy had to understand if he was going to make it.
"Yeah." Carl looked out over the lake, watching the water lap and roll. The silence settled over them for a while, before he opened his mouth again. "I don't know if we can be happy anymore."
Rick's heart broke a little. "I think we can."
Carl smiled a little at that. "Does Ruby make you happy?"
"Yeah. And you do. And seeing the rest of the group alive, it all makes me happy."
"Well," Carl sighed, his hands on his knees. "If you're happy, I am too."
"Doesn't mean you will forget about your mom, or how much she loved you. How happy we were together." Rick said and Carl shook his head.
"No, it doesn't. I miss her."
"You always will." Rick put a hand on Carl's shoulder and pulled him close. Kissing his hair, he spoke softly. "Nothing wrong with that. Nothing at all."
Over breakfast, later, Rick found Carol off to the side and took the opportunity to speak with her.
"We're going to need more food soon. We're down to canned peas and peaches from the house. There's a bit more, but I don't know how far I can make it stretch." She said, finding him hovering behind her.
"We can make a run soon. We need ammo and some other things too." He said, taking some plates from her hands and boxing them up for her. "Is there any deer meat left?"
"Problem is, it doesn't keep." She frowned, sitting down next to the entrance to the cave and looking up at him. "So when we get it, I try to make everyone eat as much as they can."
"Maybe some hunting, too, then." He said and she bit her lip.
"Daryl can't go back out there for a while. He's almost out of arrows and he's still dizzy, even if he denies it." She looked past him to where Daryl and Ruby were gathering sticks down toward the road. The two of them were mostly silent, from what he could see, but occasionally Ruby would say something and he would see Daryl nod, or give a short response. Turning back to Carol, he put his hands on his hips.
"We'll take care of it. Don't worry." He said, and she nodded, still watching Daryl. "Hey, I guess Carl chewed your ear about what's been going on, huh?"
She looked surprised. "Uh... well, he had some questions. I hope I didn't speak out of turn."
He shook his head and looked over the water thoughtfully. "No. Not sure what you said, but, uh... he seems ok. Thanks for whatever you did."
"He's a strong kid." She smiled, suddenly thinking of how Sophia might be as strong, if she were still there.
"Yeah, he's growing up, isn't he? Guess I didn't realize how much."
"He is. I think he knows a lot more than we give him credit for. And he's so anxious for responsibility. He's just like you."
He chuckled a little at that. "Well, sometimes all this responsibility isn't a good thing."
She stood up, and went to gather water to boil. Before she walked away, she looked back at him. "You know, there's something to be said about someone who would take it on, even if it threatens everything they love. We're grateful for that."
"Thanks." He whispered but she was already gone. Rubbing his face hard, he took a deep breath, and went to talk to Paul and Daryl.
"Yeah, I was thinking that too." Paul said, when Rick gathered with them, bringing up the subject of making a run.
"After what happened?" Ruby said, anxiously scratching her palms together. "You want to separate again so soon?"
"Well, we wait too long, we're gonna run out completely, and then what do we do? We go safe, fast, find whatever we can and we'll be back before you know it." Rick reasoned, and when she looked from him to Paul and Daryl, and they seemed to agree with him, she nodded slowly.
"Any idea where we're goin?" Daryl asked gruffly. "Don't know this area at all."
"There were signs for a town on the road, remember? Maybe it's not all looted." Paul said.
"That's it then. We don't find anything, we're going to have to talk about whether we stay here or not. Winter coming, anyway, it's not the best place."
"When do we leave?" Ruby asked, and they looked at her strangely.
"We'll go, leave you and Daryl to help Glenn protect the camp." Rick said.
Daryl actually didn't argue with that. Perhaps the knowledge that he needed to mend for a few days to really be any good was really registering with him, but Ruby was not going to be taken down so easily.
"You know I don't fight your plans, Rick. None of yours. I trust you guys to do what it takes to keep us safe, but if there's one thing you can't tell me it's too watch you two walk away. I'm going." She said firmly, and Paul chuckled a little. Again, he didn't want her any further away from him that she wanted to be.
"We'll keep her safe." Paul said, and they looked to Rick.
He let out a breath. "Fine. You got this, Daryl?"
"Yeah." He answered, scratching his head absently. When Paul and Rick went to gather supplies and say goodbye to the others, he took Ruby aside.
"Rub, you gonna do anything stupid out there?" He asked, pulling her over to the boulder by the water.
"No. Don't worry." She smiled fondly at him.
He reached around behind him and pulled out a semiautomatic handgun, holding it out to her. "You lost yours, figured you needed another one."
"Hey, thanks." She said, taking it and checking the magazine. "Full clip, huh? Saving it for a rainy day?"
"Something like that. Listen, you did good out there with me, better than I thought. But you let Rick and the Hulk take the dangerous stuff, you got me? Kick your ass, if you don't." He put her own words back to her, and she grinned, pulling him into a hug. While he still wasn't comfortable with shows of affection, he looped his arm around her shoulders, and squeezed her tightly. When they broke, he saw Rick give him an amused look and he quickly excused himself to finish making the arrows he and Ruby had gathered.
They loaded up in the large black truck, Ruby between the men, and carefully headed down the gravel road to the highway. Turning left, Rick began the trek to the unknown town, and toward uncertainty.
Ruby watched the fields and abandoned cars they passed absently. She was happy. Sitting there, safe in the truck between the two people who literally meant the world to her, she felt whole for a blessed moment in this damned world. She looked over to Paul, who reflected her grin back at her, then over to Rick, who just took her hand and held it tightly.
"There's another sign." She said, pointing ahead. A worn, green roadsign was on the side, and spelled out "Buckley: 10 miles" in large block letters. "Buckley, huh? Wonder how big it is."
"Pretty rural area, probably not huge, but you never know." Rick answered gently. He was mentally preparing himself for walking into this place, for keeping Ruby safe. Paul, he knew, was doing the same, and they all fell into silence as they watched for walkers or survivors.
They passed more cars on the road, but others seemed to have been here before because they were mostly pushed off to the side, leaving a passable trail. Around the bend ahead, they saw buildings in the distance, and a welcome sign lay broken on the grass to the right.
"Doesn't look big at all." She whispered as they crept their way toward the first main road turnoff. A sign still stood there, "Main St.", a staple of every small town in America. They passed an ice cream store, shoe store, tiny boutique with a picture of the Eiffel Tower on the front. When they reached a place where the grocery store was on one side and a pharmacy on the other, Rick pulled the truck over. The street was littered with glass and overgrown weeds, but it was, thankfully, abandoned. No signs of life or walkers at all. Getting out of the truck, they still got their weapons ready to be used in a hurry.
Rick made a motion toward the pharmacy and they fell into form, crossing the street quickly, so as not to be out in the open any longer than necessary. He reached the door first, and was not surprised when it opened easily under his hand. The bell that would normally ring to announce the arrival of a customer lay broken on the ground, and he silently gave thanks for that.
"Find anything you can, but stay together." He murmured, and they immediately began searching the store. Ruby found a few bottles of shampoo and personal care things among the disheveled shelves and cases, and threw them into a green plastic bin by the door. Paul stayed with her while Rick made his way into the back, where the medicines were kept. Walking under a old fashioned sign that advertised cough syrup, he quickly scanned the shelves in the dimness, finding little more than bottles of aspirin. He turned, about to go back to the front when something caught his eye. Behind the main counter there were several shelves that didn't look as ransacked. Kneeling down, he went through them, and the drawers there, finding things like cold and flu medication, all of which he gathered into a basket like Ruby's. Coming across a locked drawer, he used the butt of his gun to smash the lock, and pulled it back slowly. Never knew what you were going to find these days, he thought.
"Well, look at this." He mused, and Ruby and Paul looked over at him interestedly. He held up a revolver and a box of bullets with a grin, and they flicked their eyebrows up appreciatively. Rick shifted, getting up, when he felt the floor give a little under his foot. Frowned, he stood up and tested the floor. This step was firm, yet a foot to the right, it dipped. There was nothing underneath, he realized. Pushing back the worn carpet that lay over it, he saw a two by two cutout in the floor, with a metal ring pressed into the wood.
"Paul." He stood back up and they were behind him in an instant.
"What is that?" Ruby asked, looking down at the hatch in confusion.
"Could be a basement, could be a hiding place. Only one way to find out." Rick said through a clenched jaw, and he and Paul got into place, guns ready. Leaning down, he pulled the ring and the hatch opened.
"Ugh!" Ruby hissed, holding her arm over her nose. The smell of decomposition was overwhelming coming from the dark hole below, and even Rick and Paul leaned back a little. Rick furrowed his eyebrows and looked around quickly, finding a box of matches in one of the alcoves of the desk. Lighting one, he held it down to the blackness and peered around. Apparently finding nothing, he lit two more at once and tried again, leaning down a little more.
"I don't think anything's down here." He popped back up and adjusted himself so he could go down the narrow metal ladder that led below. He was almost to the bottom when he let out a clipped grunt and Ruby's heart fell to her feet at the same time a gunshot fired below. It was so loud, her ears immediately began to ring, but Paul seemed not to notice. He was halfway in the hatch before she blinked.
"Rick?" He hissed urgently.
"I'm fine. Guy locked himself down here." Rick's voice came back up. Suddenly, a burst of light flared up, and when Paul cleared the hatch and Ruby made her way down, she saw Rick had lit a couple candles on a workbench near the wall. Paul took her by the waist and lifted her gently to the floor, and she looked around the room.
"It's a panic room, I guess." Rick said.
"Maybe, from 1902." Paul scoffed, still grimacing from the smell. The man who had shut himself in lay in a pile on the ground behind the ladder in a clump, but she could see that he had been old. Like, really old. His pale green, lined face spoke of a man about 90, his thin, frail body clad in a plaid long sleeved shirt and canvas pants, all stained with darkened body fluids. He looked positively skeletal now, though, and she didn't think he got that way when he was alive.
"Did he... starve down here? You know, after he died?" She questioned out loud and Paul shrugged.
"Could have been down here a long time."
"Can they even starve? I mean, why did it take him so long to attack?" She asked.
"He didn't really attack." Rick corrected her. "He grabbed my boot, that's all."
"Maybe they can starve, then. Didn't have the energy. We can use that, makes me feel a little better at least." Paul said, shying away from the odor and inspected the rest of the wooden room. A cot lay against one wall, shelves loaded with canned goods and boxes of crackers, pasta, anything you could think of. Hardly a dent had been made, the man must have died pretty early on. Loaves of decimated bread and fruit were in piles on a makeshift wooden counter near a small cooking stove, and burnt out bulbs hung from the ceiling on worn cords.
"He was scared, look at this." Rick said, lifting stacks of neatly bound money from another table in the corner. "There's at least 75,000 here."
"Probably his whole life savings." Paul said, looking over the money and jewelry on the table. He lifted a brilliant diamond ring and held it out to Ruby, who took it and turned it over in her hand. The candlelight was bright enough to show an inscription on the inside of the band.
"To Freida, from your John-Boy." She read aloud. "Why did he have all this?"
"Didn't know the world was over enough to not need it. Probably took everything he could and came down here to wait for the calvary." Rick said, looking at a long chained pocketwatch. He stuck it in his pocket. It still worked, and Carl would like it.
"Hey guys?" Ruby called out. She'd handed the ring back, too sad to hold it any longer, and wandered over to some dressers against the far wall. She reached in one of the drawers and moved something around. "I think John Boy here was the pharmacist."
"Why?" Rick frowned, and she held up a bottle with a grin.
"Because he's got the whole store stocked down here. Antibiotics, painkillers, you name it. Every drawer is full."
"You gotta be kidding me." Rick grinned and they went eagerly to see what she was talking about. Sure enough, every drawer was stocked neatly and full with every medication they would need for years. "Well, damn. Load it up. Hershel's gonna be happy, that's for sure."
"Take some of these and everybody's gonna be happy." Paul quipped as he loaded up his basket with industrial strength painkillers. They worked quickly, but it took three more baskets from upstairs to gather it all.
"The food too." Ruby said, and Rick grabbed some wooden crates from under a table and dumped them out to load up the food. Four trips later, all of it was in the back of the truck, and Rick shut the hatch behind them, pulling the rug back over it neatly. Ruby looked at him strangely and he shrugged as they walked back out into the daylight.
"I guess it's the best grave he's gonna get. Makes me feel better if I know nobody else is gonna disturb him."
Ruby felt her heart move painfully in her chest. He was so sweet. She took his hand and they met Paul by the truck.
"We hitting the grocery store too?" Ruby asked, looking over the street carefully.
"Might as well, but somebody needs to stay by the truck. We can't lose this stuff." Rick said. "Paul?"
"You got it. Just hurry. We haven't found any ammunition yet."
The grocery was a hell of a lot worse off than the pharmacy, as Ruby and Rick saw when they slid the door open and stepped inside quietly. The smell of rotten food was intense, and Ruby was starting to get a little nauseous after the crawl space smell.
"Let's do this fast, huh?" She grimaced and they headed quickly for the dry goods shelves. There really wasn't much left, but they came back out to Paul with a few bags of canned goods and crackers, powdered juices and milk. Throwing it in the back of the truck, they loaded up and headed up the road to see if they were missing anything.
"Any of these places look like they might have ammo?" Ruby asked, inspecting the storefronts that advertised insurance and floral arrangements.
"After finding a loaded gun at the old man's place, all these could be a possibility. Can't do them all, though." Rick said, pointing ahead. "There's a fisherman's store. Let's try that."
They dismounted again and went to the door. The store was in a bad state of disarray, but some product remained. Mostly loose bullets that Paul gathered quickly, they would go through later. Ruby wandered around him, toward the stacks of fishing poles against the wall.
"We can use these, can't we?" She asked, and Rick looked over.
"Yeah." He said, raising his eyebrows. "Take the good ones at the end, and get extra line and bobs."
"Ok." she said, gathering everything and putting the smaller things in large canvas packing bags she found on the floor.
"Most of the guns are gone, but there were a few." Rick said, coming back out from the back, his hands full of shotguns, a rifle, and two handguns.
"Yeah, but were there any bullets, because otherwise they're gonna be big sticks." Paul said, and Rick held up several boxes of bullets in his other hand. "Sweet." Paul grinned and went back to gathering the bullets on the floor.
Ruby sat her finds by the door, and looked at the truck to be sure there was no threat there. "I'm going back out in a sec." Paul said to her and she nodded. When he'd taken the first load out, she walked back toward where Rick was, but a sign advertising archery caught her eye. She picked steps over fallen shelves, and pulled one away from the back corner. Underneath it were eight large bundles of carbon tipped arrows. With a wide grin, she lifted one and looked over to Rick.
"You think Daryl will like this?" She asked and he chuckled.
"I think he'll love them. But I have to say I'm getting a little jealous. You two are pretty tight now."
She put the arrows on the counter and walked over to him, her hands on her hips and a smirk on her face.
"Jealous, huh? Well, when we actually get to a place where we can be alone, I bet I can do something about that."
He raised his eyebrows and finished loading the rifle. Locking it back into place he looked down at her, his eyes stormy. "You promise something like that, I'll make sure we're alone."
She grinned and leaned up, kissing him firmly on the mouth. He let out a low growl from deep within his chest, and his arm wrapped around her tightly, gun pressed into her back.
The front door clanged open and Paul groaned. "Come on, you two."
Rick smiled against her lips and reluctantly let her go, but when she pulled back it seemed like his bright blue eyes had gone three shades darker. Lust rolled off him in waves, and when he held his finds in front of him to walk out the door and to the truck, she laughed a little to herself.
"This is great." Ruby said, getting back in between them in the truck. "They're gonna be so happy."
"Yeah, wasn't half bad." Rick nodded, steering them back down Main St. and toward the highway. "Let's just get back fast, then I can relax."
"Relax." Paul chuckled, his arm draping over the back of the seat, allowing Ruby to lean comfortably against it. "What's that again?"
"I can't remember." Rick said honestly, and they laughed together gently. With the windows rolled down and the easy peace between them of a job well done, they rode back with smiles almost on their faces.