A shot rang out directly above Ricks head. Looking up Rick noticed for the first time a tree house that was expertly built. Giving Michonne a quick look the two spun quickly behind a large tree hoping to conceal their presence.

"I'll go get it." The younger man said with a huge grin. It'd been a long time since they'd seen a buck and the thought of Deer meat put any fear of walker attacks on the back burner. He had been a good hunter before the world ended but never thought it'd have saved his ass as much as it had. Most people didn't even have guns when the world went to shit. It gave him and his Dad a huge leg up on the competition. That's what his dad always called other living people. They hadn't even seen a woman since the day his mom had been torn apart right at their front door. Till last night anyway.

"Hurry up before the dead get him" The larger man replied and moved to the door. "Gonna eat good tonight!" He yelled through the door loud enough now with the floor open for Rick and Michonne to hear.

Beth let out a sigh of relief before realizing that she really was all alone. "Suck it up" she whispered to herself remembering her big brother Shawn. She couldn't see much but there was some light sneaking in so she began searching the tiny area for anything she could make use of. After some struggle she managed to pull a long nail from one of the boards. It would have to do she thought to herself..

"Get down!" Rick instructed Michonne doing his best to fit behind the trunk.

"Follow him and I will go up the ladder." Rick said looking over his shoulder towards his partner.

Michonne nodded and started to move off before Rick stopped her with a slight touch on her thigh.

"Make sure he doesn't come back." Rick said looking at the ground.

"Duh" Michonne said with a shrug and a slight smile. She admired Rick for his ability to remain a good man despite this new world but she didn't have as many problems with the things they needed to do.

Rick moved quietly but quickly to the base of the rope ladder with his python aimed at the opening in the floor. When he felt confident he wasn't seen he began slowly climbing,keeping his gun pointed towards the opening.

The man moved to a built in bench against the far wall. It had been a crazy day but a productive one. He had finally delivered on a promise to his son. He was old and missed his wife way to much to look at another women but his son had never even had a real girlfriend. At twenty he was their hope for the future and he knew it was his responsibility to teach him. The girl would just have to understand. She would get used to this as her new home and they could start to rebuild.

Michonne followed at a safe distance, crouching behind trees without making a sound. She couldn't risk a gun fight and exposing Ricks position. She would have to bide her time and strike quickly.

Rick looked through the opening in the floor and saw a large man in a ghille suit sitting at the other end of the tree house. He was looking up at the ceiling but if he lowered his view Rick would be directly in his line of sight. Rick pointed the gun at the man before thinking better of it. There could be others to their group and a gun shot would give away Michonne and his positions. He would have to do this up close and personal. Find out just what he was dealing with. He hoped they hadn't harmed Beth. His heart fell at the thought of being to late but he had a feeling a girl like Beth would be kept around. He just hoped she was unharmed but knew hoping was useless in a world where the dead ate the living.

Rick crept into the tree fort. He approached the day dreaming kidnapper with his revolver aimed directly at the mans heart. A board under Ricks left boot let out a creak loud enough to alert Walkers and the mans eyes connected with Ricks almost instantly. Before the man let out a sound he was silenced by a slight tilt of Ricks head and a finger to his lips signaling the man to stay quiet. The gun forced the man to comply. As Rick moved forward he whispered to the man "Who else? Who else is here?" He was close enough now to touch the still seated man.

"Nobody" The man lied.

"I said Who else?" Rick put the gun to the mans forehead.

"Just, just my son." he replied hurriedly and with that the man was hit with a sudden realization. This man was here for the girl. He could see the look of concern playing crossed the bearded mans face. He looked almost as worn as he was. " And a girl.." He said looking at the floor.

"Where is she?!" He said still whispering. He couldn't be sure this man was telling the truth.

"The closet" The man pointed directing Ricks eyes only for a moment at the door he had walked past. It was just enough of a distraction for the man to slap the gun away from his head but wasn't aware of the knife Rick had already placed his off hand on bringing it deep into the mans neck before he could continue his attack.

Rick finished the killing blow and sat the man down on the bench gently. After a brief pause to shove down the feelings of what he had just done he got up and checked out all the open space of the tree house. He admired the thought the men had obviously put in despite being kidnappers. After clearing the rest of the fort he moved towards the closet door, terrified to see what was waiting for him inside. He slowly reached and began turning the handle.

Before the door could be opened more than a quarter of the way Beth exploded through with a yell and landed on top of her would be attacker. The nail she was using like one would use brass knuckles and brought a hard punch down onto Ricks cheek just missing his eye. Rick turned at the last moment deflecting the blow and used the momentum to sweep his attacker onto her back before grabbing her flailing wrists, bringing his forehead to hers successfully pinning her to the floor beneath him while ending up between her legs.

"Whoa, Easy now Beth.." Rick tried to calm his friend. "It's ok now.." He assured her

"Rick?" Beth questioned "Oh Rick!" She exclaimed reaching up and hugging her savior around his neck. "Thank you." she whispered. Their lips the closest they had ever been. "Im sorry, I punched you" She noticed the blood trickling from beneath his eye. His breath warm on hers.

Rick smiled. He smiled harder than he had since that first day at the quarry. "Come on Beth" His grin never leaving. "Not out of the woods yet." He said standing up while pulling her up with him.

He grabbed the rifle the larger man had and looked around for extra ammo. After gathering all he could find they made their way down the rope ladder meeting Michonne at the bottom who had just made it back. She had a full grown Buck with her and was cleaning the blood off of her sword with the sleeve of a camouflaged shirt.

"Couldn't just leave this." She said breathing a little heavy "Darryl would be pissed when he heard." She laughed hoping their friend was ok.

"Darryl!" Beth exclaimed. "Is he ok?" She asked with worry. A little ashamed she had just thought of her friend. It definitely didn't have to do with the hand that was resting on her lower back.

"I think." Rick said. "He was shot in his leg and lost a lot of blood but when I found him he was able to talk. The others took him back while we looked for you." Rick said pressing her into him a little. "He'll be ok." he smiled warmly knowing how tough Darryl was. He wouldn't count his chickens yet but things had actually worked out ok for once.

Beth looked at Michonne and before the women knew what hit her she was in a warm embrace. "Thank you!" She said squeezing tighter to battle Michonne's instinct to pull away.

Michonne let out a small laugh and pried the blonde off of her.

"Anytime." She said before working to pick the Deer up with Ricks help.

"Let's go home." Rick smiled.

"Hey" Carol said to Darryl. He had just woken up and hadn't heard any of the news yet.

"Hey" He replied simply while inspecting himself slowly. "Beth?" he asked as if all of the events were flooding back to him.

"She's fine.. Rick and Michonne brought her back." She smiled and touched his head. "Oh and you haven't heard the best part!" She said laughing before handing him a plate of meat. "They brought back a deer!"

"Hey there" Rick said peeking into the cell.

"Hey Rick" Beth replied warmly.

Rick took a few steps into the cell remaining a few feet from the cot the blonde girl was laying on.

"So you're Patrick's new hero.." Rick joked "Last I heard there was action figure talk." He laughed

"Stop it.." Beth blushed. At first it had made her mad that everyone had assumed Darryl had saved her but she understood why. It still didn't feel real.

"I'm just saying, Not that your fathers ever gonna let you out of his sight again but you really proved yourself out there." Rick moved a little closer,kneeling down. "I'm" he stumbled a little. "We're all proud of you." he smiled reaching out to touch her hand. He hadn't meant to it just seemed natural. He began to pull it away when Beth sat up capturing the retreating hand between hers.

"Thank you." Beth looked into Ricks eyes. "You're always there when I"She stumbled "When we need you." She finished. Rick was speechless. He had felt like he had let everyone down for so long. "And before you can deflect I'm gonna go see our little bundle of joy!" She laughed releasing Ricks hand and ran out of the cell not realizing what she had just implied leaving a very happy but very stunned Rick in her cell.

Rick walked slowly to his cell. As he got closer the sounds of Beth singing a lullaby to Judith filled the hall. When he got within sight of the two ladies in his life he felt a warming in his chest that he could hardly remember ever feeling before this moment.

"Beautiful isn't she?" Beth said between verses smiling up at Rick who had moved to the bars.

"She is." Rick said never taking his eyes off the singing blonde.