Blood Doesn't Mean Family

Chapter Two: His girl

Maggie pulled the truck to a grinding halt in front of an old farmhouse. Rick couldn't take much of his surroundings in as he was to focus on the dying girl in his arms. Rick was sure the girl had stopped breathing a few moments ago, her lips were turning blue.

"Daddy, get your bag we need help!" Maggie yelled, jumping out of the truck, and rushing around the other side of the truck to open the door for Rick.

"Is Glenn hurt?" Rick heard a woman's voice call out from the farmhouse porch.

"No, we found a man and his daughter is injured. It looks like she stopped breathing!" Maggie yelled, as Rick got out of the truck and a group of people flooded from the house.

"Hurry, bring her inside." A man in his later years of life with white hair and overalls called from the doorway. Rick didn't have to be asked twice. He didn't take notice of the people who had exited the house, all that mattered to him in this moment was Raven.

"What happened to her?" The older man asked, as Rick followed him into a downstairs bedroom. "Put her down on the bed." Rick did as told, placing her gently onto the clean sheets. Her dirt covered skin rubbed on the white sheets leaving marks on the fabric. Ricks mind focused on that small detail.

"She- she was bit by a dog a few days age." Rick said, not taking his eyes off the dirty mark. "It's infected, we-we couldn't find antibiotics. Can you help her," Rick asked, as the older man looked over Raven.

"I'm going to try, but I need you to get out of the way. Patricia, I need you in here!" The older man began to do compressions on Raven's chest. The bite wasn't his worry at the moment, he needed the girl to start breathing first. A blond woman in her forties rushed into the room and began to talk with the older man about what he needed her to do. Rick was in shock, and he stumbled back a few steps as a few more women rushed into the room, offering help and asking what they could do. A hand touched Rick's shoulder making him finally take his eyes off the dirty mark.

"I think it's best if you step outside for a minute, Rick." Maggie said softly. "Your daughter is in good hands now."

"I need to see her breath." He whispered. Maggie didn't push him. The man had tears in his eyes and a look of desperation on his face. He had that look on his face since she first saw him. They didn't normally approach strangers, but she couldn't leave that girl to just die out there. She knew she would hear about it later, but she didn't care. So, they waited and watched. The older man continued doing CPR on the girl as the woman named Patricia and a woman with short grey hair unwrap the bloody bandage on Raven's arm. A young blond girl was also in the room, opening a box of medical supplies and taking out equipment.

"Oh, God..." the grey-haired woman gasped putting a hand over her mouth as the wound was exposed. Ravens forearm was shredded. They had cleaned the wound multiple times, but it still looked filthy. A large flap of skin was tugged open by removing the bandage, exposing muscle and if they looked closer bone could also be seen through the ripped flesh.

"She not infected, it was a dog bite." Rick said again, he had to make sure they understood that. She was not infected, at least no more than anyone else was.

"What blood type is she?" Patricia asked. To get through this Raven would need more blood and fast.

"I don't know," Rick murmured, "I don't know."

"Beth, go get Morales. His blood type is O." The older man said, and the young blonde raced out of the room. Several minutes had passed before the older man stepped back from the bed. Rick was about to fall to his knees, as it looked as though the old man had given up; but no, Raven was breathing again. Rick could see her chest rising and falling. It was faint but she was breathing.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you." Rick said.

"Don't thank me yet." The older man said, finally getting a good look at the girl's injury. "I will do my best, but you need to step out." Rick nodded, finally leaving the room, with Maggie following closely behind.

"He's going to do everything he can, Rick." she promised. Rick dropped down onto a lounge, letting his head fall into his hands. Maggie sat down beside him. Time passed and they could hear conversations in the other room. That was all Rick could focus on, he wanted to know everything that was happening to his girl. He couldn't lose her; he would have already lost her if it wasn't for these people. He owed them Raven's life... for now at least. Rick heard someone enter the room, then a woman's gasp.

"Lori are you okay?" Maggie asked standing up. Rick's eyes moved from the ground to look at the new woman and he could swear his heart fell from his chest. Before him stood not only a woman in her thirties with long brown hair, but the woman that used to be his wife.

"Rick?" the woman, Lori, asked with a shaky voice. Maggie stalled and looked between the two people in the room.

"You know each other?" Maggie asked.

"She-she... was... my wife, before." Rick said, as he looked over the woman who was his wife, a long time ago. It looked like she now belonged to someone else, her rounded pregnant stomach sticking out a little from under her red shirt. The blonde girl, Beth, came rushing back into the house dragging a Hispanic male behind her.

"In here, come on, hurry up." She demanded pulling him into the room Raven was being treated in. A tall man with curly black hair and an old man in a bucket hat entered the house a few seconds later.

"They know what happens, we can't trust- Rick?" The man with the back curly hair asked, as he stopped his rant to the older man. He waved in his steps, his eyes staring at his old friend in disbelief.

"Shane?" Rick was sure he had lost his mind.

"You... you're alive?" Shane asked, his head swaying a bit.

"Could ask you the same thing." Rick said.

"How? How is this possible?" Lori asked, "You said he was dead." She said looking at Shane with wide eyes, her mouth hanging open.

"He was... you were..." Shane was lost for words. Everyone was lost for words. The young blonde girl re-entered the room looking at Rick, not realising that everyone else in the room was frozen in shock.

"Your daughter is awake and asking for you." Beth said to Rick.

"Daughter?" Lori asked, looking at Rick even more confused, her mouth still hanging open.

"Yeah, I think we all have some questions." Rick said, standing up and going to the bedroom.

"You look terrible." Raven said, as her eyes landed on Rick. He mustered a smile.

"Speak for yourself." He replied. "What are you doing to her?" Rick asked, as the old man wrapped a cord tightly around Raven's mid arm. Patricia was searching for a vein on Ravens none injured arm. The Hispanic man Beth had dragged into the room a few moments ago already had a needle in his arm and his blood was slowly filling a long plastic tube.

"The arm is rotting; blood poisoning is spreading through her. It's already lost all circulation; the limb is dead. We cut it off and she could live." The old man explained as he pulled a small blade from his med kit.

"Don't worry, I can still kick your ass one handed." Raven smiled before her eyes fell shut. She didn't want to see what was going to happen next, and neither did Rick; but no way was he leaving her alone for this.

...

Raven was asleep. Rick didn't leave her side during the operation, cutting away the flesh had sadly been the easy part, Raven couldn't feel the bald slicing. Cutting through the flesh and dead muscle had been the easy part. Breaking the bone from the socket had been a different story. Her screams still rang in Rick's ears. Maggie's father, Hershel, Rick learnt his name was, didn't expect Raven to pull through; but she was strong. Even though she was now missing half her left arm and passed out from the pain, Rick knew she would keep fighting. He owed Morales a lot too, as he had donated his blood to save Raven. Without him, Raven wouldn't have been able to make enough blood to keep her body going. It had been hours since her arm was removed and Hershel had only just given Morales the all clear to leave, saying Raven looked to be making enough blood on her own now. Her arm had barely bled when it was removed. Rick was shocked, but knew it was the right thing to do.

"Who is she?" Rick looked over to the doorway to see Lori, watching him with a confused expression. Her hands rested on her rounded stomach.

"Her name's Raven. I found her a few days after I woke up in the hospital. She was alone, I saved her." Rick explained looking back at the girl.

"Oh... I really did think you were dead, Rick. If I had though for just a second you were alive, I would have-"

"I thought you were dead too, after I saw Atlanta, I was sure no one would have made it out of that alive." Rick sighed. Lori walked over to stand by his chair.

"We never made it into Atlanta, traffic was too bad. For a while we camped beside the city near a quarry, but then some people we were with stole our supplies and the dead started leaving the city. It was horrible." Lori frowned at the sleeping girl. "I told Carl you were alive, here, he wants to see you but... I said I didn't want him in here near her. I think it would be too much for him to see another child like that."

"I um... I don't think I'm ready to see him yet." Rick said, running a hand over his face.

"What? Haven't you missed him?" Lori asked.

"Of course, I missed him, but I thought he was dead. I'm just trying to get my head around the fact that he's alive, that your alive. It's a lot to take in." Rick hissed.

"I'm sorry, I know this is hard. I can't believe you're here either. I'll um... I'll tell Carl you'll see him at dinner later." Lori said stepping back towards the door.

"Can you just tell me one thing before you leave?" Rick asked, after hesitating for a moment.

"Sure." Lori said, stopping on her way to the door.

"Is the baby Shane's?" He asked, the question had been rolling around his mind for hours now.

"Rick, we thought you were dead." She waited a few minutes for Rick to respond, but he said nothing and eventually she left without saying anything else.

AN:

Ok so Rick sees Raven as an adopted daughter she was like a replacement for the family he thought he had lost. Rick will be paired up with someone down the track as will as Raven but for now this story is about Rick seeing what really matters about the end of the world. Rick may seem a bit OC but please remember there has been a time skip and this Rick would be acting a lot like the Rick between season 2-3 while on the road before finding the prison.

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