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

Thirty-Five

I gotta say that there is nothing in this fucked up world that makes me feel more comfortable, more alive, than waking up in the safety of Rick Grimes arms. I suppose you could call it day two of our post-apocalyptic relationship and yet the only people to catch on are Matthew, Herschel, Carl and Spirit. Carl sort of gave me a half-hearted smile when he saw me kissing his father then announced he would take Spirit outside to play with Fluffy and Ollie. Rick told me to give him some time and then gave me Judith to feed.
After Judith's feed that morning, I changed her before taking her to Beth and then sussing out what I was going to have for breakfast. Left over rabbit I think. I wanted to make a supply run, head towards Atlanta and go through the city properly with a small team. Hopefully Rick would be more than happy for me, Ebony, Daryl and Matthew to go even though we would be gone for the better part of a week-maybe more.

In the common room Ebony and Carol were already sorting the kids out with their breakfast and Matthew was talking away to Daryl about something to do with sorting out a rigging station for water from the small creek near the prison. I sat down beside Jade with a yawn. "Dang I miss coffee!" I groaned. "And Red Bull, V, Mother…"

"Heart attack waiting to happen," Ebony cut in with a sing-song voice. She sat a plate down in front of Jade and Sophia. "Those things are really bad for you."

"Says you, miss I make a cake mixture just to eat the batter. Made your ass bigger than my ego," I retorted back, face planted on the table top. "How can you all be so damn chipper? Makes me wanna gank myself. Just walk out into a mine field and boom goes the dynamite."

Ebony rolled her eyes. "You're being overly dramatic. You think you'd be happier now that you're getting laid."

Carol glanced up at me. "PJ-"

"Can we talk about here sex life when I'm not in the room?" Matthew suggested. "She's my baby sister."

"How about we change the subject altogether?" I piped up just as Rick came in and sat down beside me. "Talk about something completely unrelated to me like the people we lost whilst Ebony was away. We haven't talked about Lori or T-Dog because everything's a big rush with Judith than the Governor." I sat back up and rolled my sleeve up to expose a series of simple lines on my arm.

"What's that?" Ebony frowned.

"People we've lost," I answered. "Patricia, Jimmy, my mum and dad, Theo, Kevin, Jacob, T-Dog, Lori…you."

"Where did you get the time to tattoo yourself?" Ebony burst out laughing. "You did not bring your tattoo gun with you did you?" she asked me.

"No power, moron," I reminded her. "I brought the inks with me and applied the ancient Chinese art of tattooing."

"So you stabbed yourself until the ink stayed in?" she retorted.

"Bingo," I grinned.

"As tattoos go that pretty bland baby sis," Matthew pointed out. He got up and pulled his shirt off to reveal a large black Cerberus covering the whole of his back, its jaws were dripping with a mixture of saliva and blood. "This is kick ass."

Daryl shrugged. "PJ's got some cool tats," he argued in my defence. "The Velox is pretty cool, the tiger claw scratches on your calf, the ones on your arm and the cross you've got on your ankle as well as that blue sea horse on your ass."

"WHAT?" Ebony and Rick shouted at the same time.

I grinned. It was kind of enjoyable knowing that they were squirming in their seats. "Daryl only saw the sea horse when we were having sex," I grinned.

"We did not!" Daryl argued at me.

I frowned and battered my eyelashes. "Am I really that forgettable Daryl?" I asked him. "Even after that fantastic toe turning sex we had? You wound me, Daryl."

Daryl stared at Ebony. "We did not have sex, I swear."

Ebony glared at me. "I know. PJ takes some sick pleasure in seeing people squirm."

I burst out laughing. "I get my entertainment where I can find it."

"That wasn't funny," Rick informed me.

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah it kinda was." I grabbed a chunk of rabbit off the girl's plate and stood up, chewing away. "I want to take a small team for a supply run," I informed Rick, "into Atlanta."

Rick shook his head. "Absolutely not," he argued.

I folded my arms. "We're down a fence, Rick. We could get hardware supplies, food, clothes. Atlanta fell pretty quickly which means there is food, supplies, clothing just sitting there. There's a Costco right on the edge of the city, two teams of two can go in undetected."

"She's got a point Rick," Daryl shrugged.

Rick stared at me, I could see it mulling over in his mind. "Fine! Just you and one other-we can't afford to lose any more of us."

"Eb's?" I asked her. "You up for a run into Atlanta?"

"Bring it on," she grinned.

"Mama?" Jade whispered. "Are you leaving again?"

"Only for a couple of days," Ebony whispered, kissing her head. She looked up at me, "I'll get geared up. We can leave as soon as you're ready."

"Awesome," I grinned. "We can play some good old fashion AC/DC on the way."

"You' should have been a mullet rocker in the past life," Ebony laughed. She leant over and kissed Daryl, mimicking one of those scenes out of a romance movie-the only thing that was missing was the whole foot thing.

"I'm gonna vomit," I declared, leaving the common room to find Judith and say goodbye to her. The little poop machine had really grown on me. Footsteps behind me alerted me to someone following me. When I turned around, Rick was close behind me.

"PJ, promise me you'll be careful," he whispered. He gently kissed me, "I'd hate to lose you, now. After everything that's happened I can't lose you."

"You won't," I replied confidently.

"PJ-" he started.

I kissed him again to shut him up. "Rick-you won't lose me. I promise. I'll bring back as much as we can afford to carry. I already have a plan."

"Which is?" Rick asked.

"Loud music away from where we need to go," I assured him. "I'll be back and ready to fight for our home. Trust me."

"You'll be the death of me," Rick smiled.

"Well, certainly not from worry," I smirked. "I'll be back old man."

"When you come back," he started, "will you moves your stuff into my cell?" Rick asked me.

A strangled noise came from the hallway and we both turned to see Ebony watching us. Thank god for small favours. "Now I'm gonna vomit."

I rolled my eyes and flung my arm around her to give her a noogy. "Come on, babes, let's go see Judith than we'll leave."

Rick appeared genially hurt by how I had deflected his question but I didn't want to give him something to look forward to just in case I did break his promise.

"Did I interrupt something?" Ebony frowned quietly. She'd seen his face to.

"Rick asked me to move into the cell with him," I replied.

"I'm moving my stuff into Daryl's," she shrugged. "What's the problem?"

"I could die!" I argued. "If we get caught in Atlanta, our main focus is getting you out cause you've got more to live for."

"And you don't?" Ebony argued.

"You've got Jade!" I scowled, stopping near Beth. "That's one up from what I got. So I'm not gonna say yes to something that could potentially break the man if I don't return! End of discussion." Turning to Judith I took her from Beth's arms and gave her a quick kiss and a cuddle. "Be a good girl," I whispered in her ear.

"More to live for huh?" Ebony asked me, her face imitating Sam's bitchface pretty well. "Yeah-totally."

I ignored her and went to pack a light bag and grab my bow and quiver from Rick's cell. Eventually I met Ebony at one of the cars marked West Georgia Correction Facility, she sat with her feet up on the dashboard, nursing an assault rifle in her lap. "Naw, look at the mummy and her little baby."

"Burn in hell," Ebony muttered.

"Already am," I replied, getting into the car.

Ebony handed me a pair of aviator sunglasses and put her own pair on. "Found them in the glove box."

I laughed. ""Let's rock and roll."