++++++ I do not own the Walking Dead or any affiliated characters apart from my OC's ++++++

Twenty-Two

As Rick quickly and carefully cut through the outer fence of the prison the rest of us waited, alert and ready to fight off any attack. I felt somewhat naked without my bow but with the familiar feel of a sniper rifle in my hands it was easy to forget. Besides, Lori was keeping a hold of my bow for me. Once there was a big enough hole in the fence, one by one, we all piled in through leaving Glenn and Rick at the rear to seal it back shut from the walkers that were coming our way.

I looked over the prison yard with a grin on my face. "It's perfect."

"If we can shut that gate," Rick answered me, "prevent more from filling the yard, we can pick off these walkers. We'll take that field by tonight."

"So how do we shut the gate?" Herschel questioned.

"I'll do it," Glenn volunteered. "You guys cover me."

Maggie shook her head. "No. It's a suicide run."

"I am the fastest," Glenn argued.

"PJ?" Rick asked me. "What do you think? I can see that look on your face."

I surveyed what defences we had and threw a plan together. "Ok-Glenn, Magi, Beth-draw as many as you can get over there," I spoke to the group as a whole. "Get them through the fence. Lori, you stay with Jade and Sophia, keep the girls and the baby out of harm's way." Lori didn't like me giving her orders. "Daryl, you and me take Tower A. Carol, you've gotten to be a pretty good shot, you go with Herschel and Carl to Tower B."

Carl looked pretty stoked to be involved.

"I'll run for the gate," Rick finished.

Me and Daryl split off from the group as everyone went to their individual assignments. I glanced at Daryl when he opened the door for me. "What's that look for?" I asked him, seeing the bemused look on his face.

"You could at least look like you're not enjoying this," Daryl scolded me. "You've got the crazy look in your eyes like Merle used to get when he was enjoying something bad."

I laughed to myself as I jogged up to the top of the tower. Once we were outside, I set myself up on the balcony. However, out of years of habit and perhaps somewhat a little bit of ritual I started muttering the Hail Mary prayer-something I had picked up from my instructor. "Hail Mary, full of grace, the lord is with thee," I whispered. Every sniper has their own ritual that they do time and time again. I wasn't a religious woman-not by a long shot. It was just ritual after years of practice.

"What are you doing?" Daryl asked me.

I ignored him and stared down the scope. Nothing else mattered, not Daryl, not Rick, not anyone. I was like a horse with blinders on-only concentrating on what was in front of me. "Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus." I took a deep breath and fired my first shot, hitting a walker in the head right in front of Rick. "Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death." Taking my second shot I fired again, repeating the prayer over and over again.

Pretty soon I was out of ammo, sadly making the rifle completely useless. But by this time, Rick had completely cleared out the yard of walkers and closed the gate to the inner courtyard. "Nice shooting," I smirked at Daryl.

"You just gonna leave that there?" Daryl asked me, staring at the rifle.

"Until I find some ammo it's probably a good idea to leave it as a show of strength," I replied as we headed down to the others. "Plus, it's no good in close quarters."

We joined the others in the middle of the field where T-Dog was mimicking the winners of a Red-Sox game. Everyone was excited about the amount of space and not having to be on the run any more. It was a break, a much needed break for all of us, but the soldier in me wasn't happy with the situation.

I retrieved my bow from Lori and started off to do a perimeter check.

"Where you going?" Rick questioned as he came up behind me.

"Perimeter check," I told him. "I'm not too happy not knowing what's around me. Coming with me?" I asked him.

"Your mind kind of woman," Rick chuckled.

"Don't be flirting with me," I laughed, brushing off his comment.

"That was some fine shooting," he assured me as we walked along the fence line and down the hill, away from the group. There was an overturned bus that hid the group from the fence line-this was good in case anyone came along and wanted to claim this prison as their own. It was ours now. "I think I had begun to doubt you were even a sniper like you said until I saw you in action."

"You weren't so bad yourself," I laughed. "Listen-Rick, we haven't really spoken much since I went AWOL-"

Rick held his hand up to silence me. "PJ-your heart was in the right place-and you save Jade as well as going out on a limb to get some tablets for Lori to help her with her baby."

"Her baby?" I quoted. "Rick-God knows me and Lori don' get along but the baby will be your baby as well." I shook my head, "I know how you feel Rick-especially with the fact that she slept with your best friend and then said friend tried to kill you."

Rick raised an eyebrow. "You know, PJ, none of us actually know anything about you apart from the fact that you're a soldier and some stuff that Ebony told us."

I stopped at the fence as a walker approached us. "Nothing to tell Rick. I was a different person-who I was before is nothing compared to who I am now. What we have here, Rick Grimes, is some serious Mad Max shit." I stabbed the walker in the head with my hunting knife. "I am a true geek underneath this plucky warrior exterior."

"Mad Max?" Rick asked me.

"Mel Gibson? Mad Max the Road Warrior?" I laughed. "Seriously, that is a cult classic-Ebony got me hooked. God there was this one time that Jade was some sleep over birthday party when she was three-" I stopped. I hadn't spoken about Ebony in such depth since I'd let her hand go.

"I'm sorry PJ," Rick frowned. "I didn't mean to."

I cleared my throat and flicked away that one traitorous, rogue tear that escaped my eye. "That bus could be a good advantage point if ever we need it. One of us could man the tower and man the bus whilst another sentries the fence." I slung my bow over my shoulder, "shall we keep going?" I suggested.

"You don't like being alone with me," Rick pointed out. "Do you?"

"Come on Rick," I growled. "You know how I feel about you. Being alone with you is hard considering I like you. Now, if you'll excuse me I need to finish checking the fences."

Rick grabbed my arm and pulled me in to kiss him. I immediately dropped my bow and foolishly started kissing him back. What we have here is a married man…a married man with a wife who is carrying a baby belonging to another man.

What the hell am I doing?

I ignored the little voice in the back of my head and pulled us both down to the grass. After so long, the feeling of a man on top of you is the same whether the world is ending or you're just in a really shitty apartment after drinking too much. I opened my mouth to taste everything that Rick had to offer. If kisses could be divine I think this was it.

"HEY PJ!" we both heard Daryl shout off in the distance.

I wormed my way out from underneath Rick. "Second time Rick," I whispered. "There can't be a third." He grabbed a hold of my arm again and pulled me back in for another kiss. When we pulled away again I took the second tag off my dog tags and shoved it in Rick's hand. I jumped up and walked backwards.

"What's this for?" Rick frowned. The puzzled look on his face was really adorable in a sad kind of way.

"Keep it," I suggested. "You know how I feel Rick. And I think you feel the same." I headed around the side of the bus to find out what Daryl wanted and wondering if we hadn't been interrupted, how far would we have gone?