Login with:

Facebook

Twitter

Tumblr

Google

Yahoo

Aol.

Mibba

Your info will not be visible on the site. After logging in for the first time you'll be able to choose your display name.

We Can Change

Help

Author's Note: So...I kinda got away from myself and took this chapter in a direction I wasn't planning on just yet, but I honestly don't think any of you will mind. Leave your actual mind's in the gutter 'cause it's just gonna go there anyway by the chapter's end. Mwahahaha. As always, please R&R. Every little bit of feedback goes a long way! - Holly

"And now my life has changed in oh so many ways
My independence seems to vanish in the haze
But every now and then I feel so insecure
I know that I just need you like I've never done before."
— The Beatles


As the sun crested a little lower in the sky, Jo drove the Tucson down the road that led to the prison, but she slowed the speed down, feeling wary about their return approach.

Rick turned and glanced at her, sharing her same fear of the possibility of them not being alone on the road. Although, they did have a small arsenal in the back of the car if they needed it at a moment’s notice. Plus, they had to slow down so that someone inside the prison could move the RV back out of the way for them to head back up the gravel road through the yard.

Bringing the car to a stop outside the first outer fence, Rick hopped out and lifted a hand over his eyes, shielding it from the sun, so he could see if there was anyone around. Narrowing his gaze, he spotted Glenn running down the gravel road, waving at them with a small smile on his face.

The fact that he was smiling was a good sign.

Shane hopped out next, leaving Jo alone inside the vehicle with Morgan, who was sat behind her and leaning forward to take in the sight of the prison before them.

“I thought Rick said there were fences to keep the walkers out?” He lifted a hand and pointed at the two outer gates that had been demolished and the RV blocking their entrance.

“Did you see that bread truck inside the yard, by any chance?” she asked, glancing at him over her shoulder. “That was a gift from The Governor when he attacked us yesterday morning. That truck barreled through the gates with a driver wearing protective gear. Driver got away, along with The Governor and his lackeys after they shot up the place and our people, but not before leaving us with the parting gift of the bread truck full of walkers.” Jo turned more fully around to look Morgan in the face. “You made the choice to come with us. This is what lies ahead now.”

“The living are worse than the dead,” Morgan deduced, sitting back in his seat.

Jo nodded. “Walkers were people, but they don’t have control over what they do anymore. People still alive, on the other hand, have a choice. People like us, the good guys; we just want to live, while people like The Governor just want to destroy. Destroy homes, lives…”

“And he’s not done with his destruction, is he?”

Jo shrugged and shook her head at the same time. “Yesterday was just the appetizer. He’s cooking up his main course as we speak, no doubt.” Jo watched as Rick and Shane walked over to the fence to talk to Glenn through it before the younger man got into the RV. “We don’t necessarily want to fight. We all know there are good people living in Woodbury where The Governor is, but he’s a charmer and can woo the socks off ya, if you let him. He’ll rally his people behind him, probably make up some lie about how we attacked him first, and they’ll believe him. They won’t have any reason not to.”

“Is that what he did? Did he woo the socks off you?”

“He was handsome and kind enough, but there was something about him that didn’t sit right with me and made me a little uncomfortable.” Jo glimpsed Morgan’s eyes staring back at her in the rearview mirror. “He didn’t have to woo me to get what he wanted. He just drugged me.”

Rick walked back over to the Tucson and opened the passenger door. Leaning inside he looked between both Jo in the front seat and Morgan in the back. “As soon as Glenn moves the RV, head on through. Shane and I are gonna hang back and try and prop the gates back up a little. Maggie’s waiting at the main gate.”

Jo nodded. “Alright.”

Closing the door back up, Rick stepped back and waited along with them as Glenn disappeared for a moment and then the RV came to life. A few seconds later it lurched backward until it cleared the entrance to the yard. Jo waved at Glenn, who waved back, before turning the car back on accelerating forward up the gravel road.

When they came to the main gate, she placed her right foot on the break long enough for Maggie to slide the gate open for them. Driving through into the courtyard, Jo maneuvered the vehicle around so that the back hatch faced the entrance to C Block. That way, carrying all the weapons and ammo would be an easier trip to and from.

Hopping out of the car, Jo was greeted by Daryl and Andrea first, who came out of C Block. Merle was up in the main tower with T-Dog of all people and both waved down at her and she back at them when she noticed the looks of curiousness on all their faces when they saw Morgan climbing out of the backseat.

“Who’s this?” Daryl questioned, pointing at Morgan as if he was threatened by his presence.

“This is Morgan,” Jo replied. “He’s the guy that helped Rick in the beginning. We found him back in King County going a little crazy by himself.”

“And you brought his crazy ass back?”

“I’m not crazy,” Morgan insisted, eyeing both Daryl and Andrea almost thoughtfully. “I was alone too long. I lost…too much. But I am here to help where I can.”

“You’re the one Rick would talk to in the mornings when he first arrived to our camp?” Andrea wondered.

“Well, he tried, but I never heard.”

Jo gestured to the back hatch of the Tucson. “We got weapons-a-plenty now.”

“And ammo?” Daryl asked, following her to the back.

“And ammo,” she confirmed with a nod. “Morgan was stockpiling all of King County’s supply and then some. We brought what we could but there’s still more we left behind when we thought he wasn’t coming back with us.”

Daryl sidled up beside Jo and lifted the back hatch up and stared inside. “Yeah, this’ll do. I s’pose if we need to we can go back to King County and get the rest.”

“Yeah, we could. It was pretty much smooth sailing the entire drive there. Only one small blockage in the road, but we got around it easy enough.”

“Everything else go smoothly once you got there?”

Jo eyed Morgan and Daryl’s eyes followed. “Not quite, but we made it out alive, didn’t we?”

The main gate was slid open again by Maggie as Rick, Shane and Glenn walked through.

“Where are they?” Rick asked sternly. He seemed to be on a mission of some sorts.

Daryl nudged Glenn’s arm as he stepped by with Rick and Shane. “You tell ‘em about the newcomers, I take it?”

Glenn just nodded and then did a double take when he realized Morgan was standing there. “We’re gonna double our numbers at this rate,” he remarked with a smirk.

Jo seemed confused. “What newcomers?”

As Glenn followed Rick and Shane back into C Block, Daryl began to lift two of the bags up. Andrea came around to help as well. Before it could slip and fall, Jo had grabbed the picture frame and pressed it to her chest as she grabbed the bag with the items for Hope. Morgan took the remainder and closed the back hatch for them.

“Some people found their way into the back of the prison that’s been destroyed, the part we don’t go,” Andrea replied. “Five of them: all adults except for one kid in his late teens. Two are brother and sister; the other three are a married couple with their son. The wife was bit in the woods and died about an hour ago.”

“When did they show up?” Jo wondered, as they made their way toward C Block’s entrance.

“Not long after you left, maybe forty minutes.” Andrea nodded back at Daryl. “He found them holed up in the infirmary while doing a routine sweep.”

As they all entered into the Common Room, their eyes fells upon Rick and Shane standing defensively on one side of the room, facing a foursome that were seated at one of the tables while the rest of the prison group seemed considerably more relaxed by the new additions.

The man who seemed to be in charge of the new group stood up. He looked between those standing before him and those who just came in. Although he looked like he could take on a Mac truck, he seemed as tame as a lamb; like a gentle giant.

“I’m Tyreese,” he introduced, offering his hand to Rick who made no move to reciprocate the gesture. Taking the hint, he nodded and pointed over his shoulder at the three surviving members of his group. “That’s my sister Sasha, and that’s Allen and his son Ben.”

Rick nodded politely, though his fists were balled up tight and his stance remained on the defensive side of things. “How’d you get in?”

“Fire damage to the administrative part of the prison. Wall's down.”

“That side’s completely overrun with walkers. How’d you get this far?”

“We didn’t,” Tyreese replied, holding Rick’s gaze. “We lost our friend, Donna.”

“They were lost in the Tombs,” Daryl piped up, causing Rick to turn and look at him. “I brought ‘em in here, but kept ‘em away from the rest till you got back, just in case.”

Rick held eye contact with Daryl for a moment before letting his gaze pan over the faces of his own group. Not one seemed threatened by the foursome standing opposite of them. He focused on Shane, who seemed to be more on the distrustful side, but then he moved his focus to Jo who seemed more intrigued and receptive. Not necessarily wanting to play the hardass persona after the rollercoaster of emotions he’d experienced with Morgan earlier, Rick loosened his posture and softened his gaze when he turned back to look at Tyreese and the other three.

“I’m sorry about your friend,” Rick nodded sympathetically, resting his hand on the handle of his Colt. “We know what that’s like.”

Tyreese gestured at Glenn. “Glenn said you could use extra hands.”

Rick turned and caught sight of the Korean man out the corner of his eye. “He did, did he?” Rick wasn’t exactly upset, but he was a bit put off that the offer wasn’t run by him first.

“Yeah.” Tyreese looked to his sister on his right, then back to Rick. “We’re no stranger to hard work. We’ll go out and get our own food, stay outta your hair. You got a problem with another group; we’ll help with that, too. Anything to contribute.”

Rick just stared at Tyreese for a moment and then looked down at his feet. “I can’t ask strangers to fight an outside threat with us.”

“Please,” Sasha begged. “It’s like ‘10 Little Indians’ out there. It’s just us now.”

“You brought this guy back with us and he’s a stranger to us,” Maggie remarked, pointing at Morgan.

Turning around to look at Maggie, Rick pointed at Morgan as well. “He ain’t a stranger. His name’s Morgan and he’s the one who helped me when I got out of the hospital after this world went down the drain. Morgan’s the one who told me about what happened and how to survive. I owe Morgan.” He spun around and gestured at Tyreese and the other three. “I don’t know you,” he said, eyeing the burly man in front of him. “No offense, but I have no reason to trust you. The problem with got with another group…you could be part of that other group for all I know, sent here as a Trojan horse to take us down from the inside out.”

“We ain’t part of no other group,” Allen piped up, defiantly. “I just lost my goddamned wife. My son lost his mother. Put yourself in our shoes.”

Rick clenched his jaw and shot Allen a look before shaking his head. “I—I gotta think about this.” Turning around once more to face his people, he gestured for them to head toward the cells. “Inside. C’mon, go.”

“Rick,” Lori spoke up, placing her hands on her hips.

“Lori, babe, go wait in there. I’ll be right behind you,” Shane remarked, touching his hands down to her wrists.

With a begrudged nod, Lori shot a defiant look at Rick and then a softer one to Shane before exiting the Common Room with most of the others. Only Shane, Daryl, Glenn and Jo remained with Rick initially.

“I can’t be responsible for your deaths if something happens,” Rick said, looking once more upon Tyreese.

The larger man leaned forward and, with a soft but bold voice, said, “Turn us out, you are responsible.”

Rick held Tyreese’s gaze and brought a hand up to his face before scratching at his stubble. “You stay in here for now. I’ll make my decision soon enough.”

All Tyreese could do was nod, acceptingly, and stand there as Rick ushered everyone else out of the Common Room as they brought their new supply of guns and ammo into the cell block with them as a safety precaution. Taking the keys from Daryl, Rick locked the barred door behind them and stood there as everyone stared back at him.

Glenn stepped forward first to speak in a quieter tone so his voice wouldn’t carry into the Common Room. “Rick,” he began. “Ever since I got you out of that tank, you've done so much for this group. You’ve gone above and beyond, even after you lost Carl. You didn’t give up on us. You didn’t give up on keeping us as safe as can be, and I appreciate that. We all do. We owe you our lives. We—we’ve done everything you asked without question. And I'm telling you right now, you can’t turn those people away. There’s no way they’re with The Governor and there’s no way they’ll survive much longer outside these walls without people like us. You need to give them a chance, the same way you gave Oscar and Axel a chance.” Then, for added effect, “The way you gave Jo a chance.”

Rick lifted his gaze off the floor to look Glenn in the eye. He didn’t reply, but he did let his gaze subconsciously wander over to Jo who had since passed the picture frame to Shane and claimed her daughter from Carol’s arms.

“If Hershel were here, you know he would want to us to accept Tyreese, Sasha and the other two. He’d want you to take a chance,” Glenn pressed. “Don’t you think we owe it to Hershel by believing there’s good in people and opening our doors to those in need?”

Despite himself, Rick smirked. “That’s a low blow, using Hershel as part of your defense.”

“It’s not defense, it’s truth.”

Rick hesitated in answering for a few moments. Bringing a hand up to his jaw, his rubbed his chin and then placed his hands on his hips and looked out at the others, taking turns looked at each of their faces. He settled back on Glenn’s afterward and spoke quietly, “If they try anything, if they give me one reason to doubt their intentions, they’re out on their asses faster than you can guilt me with Hershel.”

He stared knowingly at Glenn, but his stare wasn’t exactly stern. There was a glimmer of amusement in his blue eyes that brought a small smile to the younger man’s lips.

“Should we tell them?”

Rick placed a hand on Glenn’s shoulder. “Let’s let ‘em sweat it out for a while,” he replied. “I just got back and would like to sit down for a few minutes.” Moving away from Glenn, he quietly addressed the others. “They can stay, but for now they remain in there. We’ll put ‘em up in D Block and then go from there.”

Everyone seemed happy with this decision and began to disperse.

“Someone should tell Merle and T-Dog, so they ain’t too surprised,” Daryl remarked.

Rick nodded at the archer. “Go ahead.”

With a nod of his own, Daryl snatched the keys back from Rick and unlocked the barred door to let himself out into the Common Room. Watching as the Daryl stalked through without even one look at the expectant foursome, Rick turned and gestured for the other set of keys to be brought forward to locked them back into their cell block again. Andrea stepped forward with the key ring and tossed them to Rick, who had not only caught the keys, but also the looks of Tyreese and Sasha.

When he turned around, Sophia walked up to him and reached up to touch his shirt where it was stained with blood. “You got hurt?”

“I did, but I’m okay.”

“What happened?”

“I happened,” Morgan commented.

“So you’re Morgan,” Lori remarked, folding her arms across her chest. “Rick told me a lot about you after he found us.”

“I heard a lot about you, too.” Morgan didn’t allude to any details. He simply nodded respectfully at the brunette. “Sorry to hear about your boy. I lost mine as well. I understand that loss.”

“Thank you,” Lori nodded.

“Shane,” Jo spoke, gesturing to the picture frame he still held in his hands.

“What—oh, yeah.” With a smile, Shane handed the picture frame over and watched Lori’s face as she took it. “I went and found this for you. It was hanging above the bar at the King County Café, same place it’s always been.”

“Oh my god,” Lori gasped, placing one hand to her mouth as tears brimmed her eyes. “Oh my god, I never thought I’d see his face again.” She brought her lips down and kissed the dusty glass, and not caring about it. “My baby.” Looking up from the picture, she turned and threw her arms around Shane’s neck and hugged him so tight it looked as if she might decapitate him. After a deep, yet chaste kiss, she pulled apart from him and looked over at Rick, holding the picture up to show him. “Did you see this? It’s our boy.”

Rick smiled and nodded. “I did,” he confirmed. “It is nice to see his face again. I was starting to worry I would forget what he looked like.”

“Me, too,” she agreed and then shook her head with disbelief. She then walked over to Jo with bright, teary eyes and beamed so happily. “Did you see the picture?” Lori tapped the glass and looked down at it. “This is Carl. You would’ve loved him if you’d known him. He was the sweetest boy that ever lived. Had his daddy’s eyes and his daddy’s stubbornness.”

“I can imagine,” Jo replied with a smile, placing a hand on Lori’s shoulder. “I’m happy Shane found this for you.”

Lori began to cry a little more. “Thank you,” she said through her tears, but then laughed at herself.

Rick stepped over to Lori and pulled her in for a hug, the first time they had hugged in months. The last time had been after Hershel had yelled at them for all their bickering at the storage facility. Appreciating the gesture, Lori leaned into his embrace and patted his back, between his shoulder blades.

“Thank you for going home so Shane could get this,” she muttered in his ear.

“Hey, I’m glad he found it, too.”

As they pulled apart, Rick placed a kiss to her forehead and then let her trot off over to Shane as he turned his attention to Jo. He took a few steps to close the distance between them and set his left hand on the back of Hope’s head and then kissed her little forehead as well.

“We’re you a good girl while your mama was away?”

The infant girl just stared at him in response.

Leaning in toward Jo’s face, he whispered, “Why don’t you tend to her and I’ll come see you in a few minutes. I wanna get Morgan situated and then go through our restocked arsenal.”

Jo nodded. “Okay.”

Placing a hand on her upper arm, Rick let it linger, and although he didn’t outright kiss her with everyone hanging around, the look in his eyes was just as welcomed as a kiss would’ve been. He mostly didn’t make that move because he wasn’t sure they were ready to be public with where their relationship was going yet, if they could even call it a relationship yet.

As Jo slipped past him she nodded over to Carol while Rick stepped away with Morgan to lead him upstairs to one of the vacant cells.

“How was she?” she asked Carol. “Did she eat at all?”

“Lori had her most of the morning,” Carol admitted. “I only got took over about fifteen minutes before you all got back. Andrea and Daryl took turns with her, too. But from what I saw, she took to the formula pretty well.”

Jo nodded. “That’s good.” Then, “Daryl was taking care of her?” she questioned with a grin plastering her face.

Carol chuckled. “Yeah, and he was really good with her, too. A real natural. He kept calling her Lil’ Ass Kicker instead of Hope, though.”

“Yeah, he mentioned something like that after she was born,” Jo nodded. Looking down at her baby girl, she kissed her little nose. “How’s mama’s Lil’ Ass Kicker?”

Hope merely scrunched up her nose and let out the tiniest sneeze in response.



Not too long after, Rick had sauntered into the Common Room and made his case to Tyreese’s group, letting them know the decision was made that they could stay and have D Block all to themselves and also that they didn’t need to worry about going out to find their own food just yet because, now that they would be living in the prison, if they ventured out, and the “outside threat” was watching, they could be in danger. Rick welcomed them to share in what they had for the time being.

Tyreese was over the moon with how grateful he was as he and his group were shown to D Block so they could settle in.

It was a little while after that when Rick and Shane returned from D Block, informing the others that they had brought the newcomers up to speed on the situation with The Governor and gave them the choice of fighting with them when the time came or leaving. Apparently Allen wasn’t too keen on putting his son in the position to be killed for people they barely knew, so Rick offered a solution where Ben could hide with Sophia, Hope and the others who wouldn’t be taking up arms; again, when the time came. That had seemed to soothe Allen’s mind a little. Tyreese and Sasha, however, were very willing to earn their keep, even if it meant taking up arms and fighting side by side with Rick and his people.

After everything Rick and Shane had explained about The Governor, what he’d done to Jo (though not going into full detail for Jo’s sake), and the attack he’d made on the prison the day before and their losses because of it, Tyreese was even more convinced that standing with Rick was the right thing to do.

“This world has become an ugly place. We’re all just barely surviving, and I’ll be damned if I stand idly by and let good, honest people, willing to take us in, fight alone against a man trying to make this world even uglier,” Tyreese had professed.

Rick was grateful, too.

He was glad he listened to Glenn’s plea of giving people chances. He was now quite certain Tyreese, Sasha, Allen and Ben were good, honest people, too. When Allen asked about being able to bury his wife, Rick said they had a place in the yard where a few of their people had been buried and Allen was welcome to find a spot for his wife, but to do so before nightfall, while they still had sunlight.

Once back in C Block, Rick had asked Glenn if he would show Allen and Ben to the shovels, but then told him to have Daryl help keep an eye on them.

Tyreese and Sasha, Rick now trusted well enough. But there was something about Allen that Rick didn’t like and couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was.

As everyone was getting settled in for the evening, and dinner was being prepared by Carol and Lori in the Common Room, Rick finally made his way to Jo’s cell and found her lying on her back. She had one leg stretched out and the other bent at the knee as she stared up at the underside of the top bunk with her hands folded over her stomach. Hope was quietly napping in her pack-n-play crib, and snoring ever so gently.

“Hey,” he greeted.

Jo turned her head and stared up at him with a smile. “Hey.”

“The newbies settled in?”

Rick nodded. “They are. Glenn’s gonna show Allen where the shovels are so he and his son can bury his wife. I’m having Daryl keep an eye on things, though.” He placed a hand onto the railing of the top bunk and moved closer toward her. “I trust Tyreese and his sister well enough, but—”

“—Allen seemed a bit shifty,” Jo cut in.

“Yeah,” Rick agreed.

“He came off as if he’d rather not have to share the prison with us.”

“Yeah, that’s the feeling I got, too.” Rick shrugged. “Well, there’s more of us than them if they do try anything.”

“But it would be nice if the only threat was outside these walls and not inside.”

“Yeah.”

His gaze softening more as he focused his attention off the subject of the newcomers and just the sight of her in general, Rick smiled and sank down to sit beside her legs on the bottom bunk. He twisted his torso slightly and leaned forward, placing his right hand against her left him while his left hand braced himself on the mattress while he held her gaze.

“You’re incredibly beautiful,” he blurted.

A bright smile spread across her lips and a touch of pink rose to the surface of her cheeks as she stared back at him. “You’re not so bad on the eyes either.” Lifting her right hand up, she pressed her fingertips gently to the bloodstain on his shirt, where he was bandaged underneath. “You should take some meds for the pain and to ward off an infection. I could only do so much with that whiskey.”

“You did more than enough and I’m thankful you did.” He let his eyes lower to her mouth, visually tracing every curve of her lips. “You owe me a kiss, if I’m not mistaken.”

“I can’t exactly ripped you shirt open right now and kiss your boo-boo,” she teased, dropping her hand back down to her stomach. “Anybody could walk right by and see us and we’re not exactly at that point, are we?”

Rick mentally chuckled. She really was on the same wavelength as him.

“Well, I think there’s a way around that,” he commented, causing her to raise an eyebrow.

As he stood back up, he turned to face the bunks and pulled the bedsheet off the top and brought it over to the cell door. He draped part of it over the top and then slowly and carefully pulled the door shut so that there was no way to see inside unless you got down on your stomach and stared through due to the bottom of the sheet that didn’t reach the floor completely. Turning around, Rick smiled back at Jo and sat back down beside her. The cell was considerably darker now, but that was alright. They could’ve lit her candle, but they didn’t want to waste the matches or the candle itself.

Sitting up on her elbows, Jo smiled at him in return as he snaked an arm around her waist and pulled her up more to press her chest against his. At first, he simply nuzzled his nose against hers and then he leaned his face down to the crook of her neck where he inhaled her scent before pressing his lips to the salty skin of her neck.

A contented sigh brushed past her lips as she brought her hands up to unbutton his shirt, starting from the bottom and working her way up. When his shirt was completely opened to her, she ran her fingers along his toned stomach and then leaned in to place a kiss along his right clavicle. As they parted back from each other slightly, Jo placed the fingertips from her right hand to her lips and then pressed them gently against his bandage covering his stitched up wound.

“When it’s healed a little more and you don’t need the bandage anymore, I’ll kiss it for real,” she remarked in a quiet tone. “I’m not gonna lie; it’s probably still a little bloody and gross right now and that does not excite me.”

Rick chuckled. “I don’t blame you.”

“But you excite me,” she amended, which garnered a raised eyebrow from him. “I need you to know that I’m not going to be ready to take it to the next level for a while, both physically and mentally, but trust me when I say you will definitely know when I am.”

Smiling, Rick nodded at her. “Don’t worry. There’s no rush,” he assured her. “Just knowing you feel the way I do is enough to keep me going and give me more of a reason to keep fighting for all of this.”

“And I definitely do,” she insisted.

Inching her face closer to his, Jo placed her hands on either side of his face and kissed him softly at first, but the slight rumble of a moan from within his throat provoked her to deepen the kiss. Their mouths opened and his tongue found hers. It felt like they were practically inhaling each other. Their breathing quickened, along with the pounding in their chests from their hearts and the blood coursing through their veins like hot lava.

The moment of feeling like teenagers in the backseat of a car at a drive-in kicked in and suddenly their hands were everywhere, roaming the sides of each other’s body and then up to entangle in each other’s hair.

In one fell swoop, Rick pulled Jo up to sit in his lap, facing him, and gripped her hips with his fingers. Her knees hit the mattress as she scooted a little more closely against him.

“Well, shit,” she muttered against his lips.

“What?” he muttered back.

“I guess I’m not as unready as I thought.”

Rick leaned back and looked her in the eye; not blind to how puffy her lips had become from such fierce kissing. “Are you—?”

“No, still not that ready, but, I’m not adverse to other things,” Jo whispered, tilting her head to claim his mouth once more.

He wasted no time in reciprocating the gesture, either. As she began to tug his shirt off his shoulders, he let her and buried his face in her neck, where he suckled on her skin, eliciting a quiet moan from her. A slight roll of her hips against his the stiffening bulge in his jeans had him biting his tongue to keep from moaning too loud. Not only were neither of them at the point in their budding relationship where they wanted anyone to know their business, they also didn’t want to wake Hope up.

Snaking his hands around her waist, he grabbed the hem of her shirt and lifted it up off her head and set it beside them with his shirt. Smiling at how amazing, as well as flustered, she looked, Rick lowered his lips to the valley between her bra-clad breasts and kissed her skin. To keep a hold on her, he reached his hands around to her lower back and dropped them down inside her own jeans and cupping her ass a little which lit somewhat of a fire in her; enough to make her gyrate in slow, insistent circles in his lap.

His breathing became unsteady as he brought his lips back to hers, claiming them his own. She worked her fingers into the brown curls on the back of his head, and gripped tight.

Rick was literally seconds from moving his hands off her ass to undo the front clasp of her bra so he could finally see her breasts, when someone stepped up outside the cell and cleared their throat to get their attention.

“Um, Jo?”

Oh, God, it was Andrea.

Jo pulled her mouth from Rick’s like a bat out of hell and looked toward the bedsheet. From the light out in the cell block, Andrea’s shadow was cast upon the sheet, and Jo and Rick went stock still, practically holding their breaths.

“Y-yeah?”

“If you’re hungry, Carol and Lori said dinner’s ready.”

“Oh?” Jo inquired, trying to catch her breath and turning her gazes to Rick who was looking at the sheet still. “What’d they make?”

“They boiled a bunch of noodles, drained them and then made an Alfredo sauce with a bunch of these packets. It smells amazing, to be honest.”

“Alright, well, I’m just finishing up feeding Hope,” Jo lied, which caused Rick to look at her with a lusty smirk. When he slid his hands out of the backs of her jeans, and then gripped his waist with his fingers, she had to fight not to laugh at how the gesture almost tickled. “I’ll be out in a few minutes. Make sure to save me some.”

“Will do.”

Jo and Rick sat there, still as the grave, waiting for Andrea to walk away. They were looking at each other the entire time, the tips of their noses touching and their lips just barely.

“Did you need anything else?” Jo called out against Rick’s mouth.

Out the corner of their eyes, they could tell Andrea had stepped closer to Jo’s closed, sheet-clad cell door.

“Actually, yeah,” Andrea replied in just above a whisper. “Do you want me to save you a plate, too, Rick?”

The pair stared a little more wide-eyed at each other and for what felt like an eternity, neither could find their voice to respond.

“I’m not an idiot, you know.” There was amusement in the other blonde’s voice. “I won’t say anything. You’re adults and what you do together is between the two of you.”

Letting out a sigh, Rick tipped his head against Jo’s shoulder and chuckled under his breath. “Yeah, save me a bowl,” he finally spoke up.

The amusement in Andrea’s voice developed into a quiet, but noticeable giggle. “Alright. I’ll leave you two to finish up whatever it is I rudely interrupted. Feeding Hope, was it?”

As Andrea finally walked away, Jo and Rick just sat there, letting rationality beat down their libidos. Before they separated, he leaned in and kissed her softly this time and then just held her close in his arms.

“So, that makes two,” he mumbled.

“Two what?”

“Two people who know about this between us. Or, well, maybe three.”

“Who beside Andrea?”

Rick smirked, his brow raising as he gestured toward the door as if the people in question were standing right there. “Shane knows something’s up, and I think when you told Morgan I was more or less Hope’s father, he might’ve assumed enough.”

Placing her hands on his chest, Jo hunched forward and pressed her lips down to the bandage over his wound, kissing it and then working her way back up to his neck. When she reached his earlobe, she whispered, “You are Hope’s father.” Leaning back, she just stared at him; her face completely serious. “I don’t want her to know anyone but you to be her father. When she says ‘dada’ for the first time, I want her to be referring to you. There’s even the fact that you have blue eyes, the same as she does.” Placing her hands on either side of his stubbly face, Jo smiled lovingly. “You delivered her, you were the first face she saw and you were the first person to hold her. The way you look at her and the way she reacts so calmly when she sees or hears your voice; she’s bonded to you and she loves you already as a father. If you’ll accept the position, I would love for you to consider her yours as much as she is mine.”

Biting his lips together, tears began to sting Rick’s eyes as he slowly nodded his head. “I want to be her father more than anything in this world.”

Jo grinned. “Then, there you go.” She dropped her hands from his face to his bare shoulders. “Belated congratulations on the birth of your daughter.”

“My daughter,” he repeated, looking toward the pack-n-play crib where Hope still slept soundly.

“I suppose she shouldn’t be Hope Dale Moore anymore, either. She should have her daddy’s last name.”

Rick beamed with pride. “Hope Dale Grimes? I like it.”

“I’m glad. I like it, too.” Pressing her lips briefly to his, Jo smirked and leaned over to grab her shirt back up. “Well, Daddy Grimes,” she spoke, garnering an impish rise of his eyebrow from him, “we don’t want to be too fashionably late to dinner, otherwise everyone will know we’re in ‘cahoots’ together.”

Giving her a soft slap to her ass, Rick nodded and kissed her back once more with a smiling curling his lips upward. “Yes, mama.”



By the time Rick and Jo had made their ways — separately, and a few minutes apart — out of her cell, they were quite literally the last ones from their group to sit down for dinner. Even the newcomers were already present and expressing their thanks for the meal. As for Hope, she still slept, so she was able to stay put in the cell while everyone else ate.

Since Jo wasn’t the one with the noticeable bulge in her pants, once she had her shirt back on she had been able to leave the cell first; leaving Rick to take his time and think of anything other than her to put the beast to rest. Imagining shoving his fist through the decayed, rancid skull of a walker did the trick soon enough. He stood up with his shirt and winced as he pulled it back on and buttoned it up. Running a hand through his hair, he looked down at Hope briefly with a smile and then ducked out of the cell and into Hershel’s empty cell next door where the group’s limited stock of medication was.

Not wanting to waste any of it, Rick figured he could live with the pain but keeping an infection at bay was more of a priority. He found a bottle of some type of penicillin and took two tablets and swallowed them dry, making a face as he did so. After stopping once more in his own cell he removed his shirt, balled it up and tossed it onto the floor before grabbing a clean shirt that had someone had washed and folded for him, and then placed at the foot of his bed.

Rick was sweaty, dirty and hadn’t showered in a couple of days, which made him wonder how Jo didn’t gag from the faint smell permeating from him. He lifted his right arm and made another face, fighting his own gag reflex. Not wanting to dirty up a clean shirt by putting it on before showering, Rick simply grabbed his deodorant stick, one of the many that had been found in that supply closet near the infirmary, and applied a decent layer to his underarms. Walking out of his cell, shirtless, he finally joined the others in the Common Room.

Everyone looked up as he entered; either nodding to him silently or looking at him with concern over the bandage strapped around his chest. Carol jumped up and scooped him out a bowl of noodles and Alfredo sauce and then handed him a bottle of water.

“Thanks,” he said to her, taking both at he found an available seat beside Maggie.

“We’re low on utensils,” Maggie said, setting her fork down into her empty bowl. “You can use mine. Just gotta rinse it off.”

Rick frowned and smiled at the same time, taking the fork she offered. “I’m not worried about sharing your germs,” he teased, giving her a slight nudge into her amputated left arm. “We’re all infected with something much worse, remember?”

Maggie attempted a smirk, but it fell flat. She was still in too much grief over losing her father only a day and a half before. Fortunately, she still had Glenn there for her.

“So, all things considered today, it was a good day, huh?” T-Dog questioned, sitting on the floor with his back against one of the cages. His legs were bent up at the knees and he held his own bowl in front of him. “Got a shitload of guns and ammo, Hope even got some more diapers and whatnot, and we got five new faces to help us. And we didn’t lose anyone today.”

“I lost my wife,” Allen muttered, bitterly, sounding as he if was personally offended by T-Dog’s very existence.

“Well, he was talking about our group, wasn’t he?” Merle piped up, which caught Rick’s attention.

First Merle and T-Dog agreeing with each other the night before, then guard duty together earlier, and now Merle more or less coming to T-Dog’s defense? Had they finally let bygones be bygones?

Rick lifted his head and looked at the widower. “I said earlier I was sorry for your loss, and when I said that I meant it not just from myself but on behalf of my people, as well,” he spoke, twirling some noodles around in the cream-colored sauce, which really was very good. “But we lost three people just yesterday, one of them being Maggie’s father Hershel, and two weeks before another person.” He then lifted his fork and began to point at different people in his group. “Maggie and Andrea both lost their sisters, Lori and I lost our son, Carol lost her husband—”

“Honestly, I’m not choked up about that one,” Carol admitted, with a guilty shrug as she eyed her daughter. Sophia, however, didn’t seem upset by the comment. If anything the young teen seemed to agree with her mother.

“Jo lost her husband,” Rick continued. “We’ve lost our brothers, our sisters, our parents, our children, our friends and neighbors. We’ve all lost a lot of people and it fuckin’ sucks. It’s never gonna get any easier and we’re still going to lose people. People in this room are gonna die. Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not a week or month from now. Maybe not even a year from now. We’re all gonna die, but right now we are alive. We are here. You are here. You gotta be able to live with that, with how the world is now, or else there’s no point to anything anymore.”

“Here, here,” Shane remarked, raising his water bottle.

Standing up, Andrea held her own water bottle out as well and looked around at everyone. “Rick’s right, as usual,” she grinned knowingly. “But even though we have to focus on the here and now, on those still alive, we shouldn’t forget those who didn’t make it.” Andrea raised her bottle higher. “To my mom and dad, my sister Amy, to Jim, to Jackie, to Carl, to Otis, to Beth, to Jimmy, to Patricia, to Dale, to Hershel, to Oscar, to Axel…”

“To Jenny and Duane,” Morgan added, looking solemnly down at his bowl.

“To my parents, my sisters,” Glenn said.

“To The Governor’s right eye,” Jo remarked, gaining her a few curious looks and chuckles. She raised her water bottle and smirked. “May the left one join it sooner rather than later.”

“Now that I will definitely toast to,” Maggie announced, raising her bottle and giving a nod to Jo. The Governor was responsible for her father’s death and had very personal reasons now to see that man dead as well.



After dinner and some deciding to wait until morning to discuss the next plan of attack, literally and figuratively, for Woodbury, everyone began to scatter. Someone hung back in the Common Room to clean up or sit around playing cards or clean their weapons. Others returned to their respective cells. Shane took watch with Glenn in the main tower and Tyreese’s group went back to D Block to call it a night, but not before thanking Rick and the others again for their kindness.

Rick had sauntered off to the Shower Room with his clean shirt and some clean underwear as well, but planned to change back into the same pair of jeans. On his way, he considered how he should try looking for packages of new socks the next time they were able take a run, after the business with The Governor was put to bed. The pair he wore now was soiled and had holes in them, and was just generally worn down from the inside of his equally worn out boots. They also did not smell good at all. He was better off just throwing them out and going barefoot in his boots at this point.

Once he was at the shower, he stripped down to his boxer briefs and turned on the water. Slowly, he removed the bandage strapped across his chest, knowing it was just going to get soggy and useless once the water rained down on it. He stood behind the opaque privacy curtain and reached for the bar of soap after stepping out of his underwear and kicking them over to his pants that laid in a pile a few feet away. Lathering up his hands, he set the bar back down and began to scrub his arms and then his hair; not caring that the water was cold. It had been such a hot day, that the cold water was a small blessing.

As the water rolled down his face, some of the suds seeped into his stitched up stab wound and his swore under his breath from how much it stung.

“Fuckin’ fuck, fuck…”

“Potty mouth,” came a voice several feet behind him.

Wet, dripping curls matted against his face as he turned to look around the shower curtain and found Jo standing there with her hands on her hips. She was smirking at him and all he could do was duck back behind the curtain and shake his head as a smile took up residence on his face.

“You paying me back for walking in on you about to take your shower last night?” he asked as he continued to wash up.

“No, I brought clean bandages to put on you when you’re done,” she replied.

“Well, I almost am,” Rick announced, finding a little weird that he was lathering up his unmentionables with her standing so close. The movements he made and knowing she was right there made both the situation and himself hard, and he cursed under his breath again. “Shit.”

“Did you drop the soap?” Jo teased.

“It’s got nothing to do with the soap. Trust me.”

Jo looked down at the ground and rocked on the heels of her boots. “Do you want me to just wait in your cell?”

“No,” he replied, a little too quickly. “You can stay. Like I said, I’m almost done.” Practically glaring at his junk, he willed it to stand down. When nothing seemed to work, he just sighed with frustration.

“You seem to be having issues over there.”

“You’re telling me.”

“Is it your stitches? Did they come apart?”

“No, definitely not the stitches.”

“Then, what’s wrong?” she wondered. “Listen, if it’s about earlier, about me saying I want you to be Hope’s father. I don’t want you to feel pressured to take on that position if it’s something you’re not really up for. I mean, I didn’t—”

“It’s not about, Hope,” Rick cut her off. He ran a hand along his length to finish rinsing himself off and that simple gesture made him shudder.

For Christ’s sake, this was awkward for him. If he were alone, he would’ve just jerked himself off and been done with it. But Jo was there and he didn’t want her to go, and he couldn’t just jerk himself off with there, so he was literally stuck between a rock and a hard place.

“Okay,” Jo muttered. “Anything I can help with? Do you leave something in your cell that you need?”

“I need something alright, but it ain’t in my cell.” God, he was aching.

Jo’s mind wandered for a moment, and then she started to put the pieces together. She had been married. She was beginning to remember situations like this from when her husband was alive and well.

Inhaling a steady breath and smirking to herself, Jo hunched forward and began to remove her boots. After setting them down beside her, she lifted her shirt off, dropped it on top of her boots and then slipped out of her jeans. Once they pooled around her ankles, she stepped out of them and walked forward, pushing the opaque privacy out of the way, startling the hell out of Rick.

“What are you doing?” he asked, a little intrigued by her sudden appearance.

“Helping.”

Rick looked down at her, at how the cold shower water fell all over her, soaking her hair, as well as her bra and underwear. “You’re getting wet.”

“That ship has sailed.”

Raising an eyebrow at her, he watched as she looked him over and then focused below, which didn’t help his situation in the slightest. If anything it made it more…strained.

“You don’t have—”

“I said I wasn’t completely ready,” she interrupted. “But I’m ready enough for some things.”

Reaching one hand up, she snaked her fingers through the clingy curls on the back of his head and their faces leaned in toward one another for a kiss. His hands were on her waist almost instantly pulling her close, while her other hand dipped down between their bodies and took hold of him in such a way that he was sure he would start seeing stars.

It had been way too long since anyone other than him had done that and it felt amazing. The palm of her hand was so soft and warm, and now so slick from the water. Closing his eyes, he focused on how her hand felt, stroking and fondling him. He breathing hitched a few times and then his eyes flew open when he felt her kisses leave his lips and work their way down his chest.

With one hand, Rick braced himself on the wall in front of him and the other made its way through the blonde tendrils of hair on the top of her head as she dropped to her knees. He was completely mesmerized at the sight of her tongue swirling around his tip, eliciting the first of many moans from his throat, and when his length began to slowly disappear into the cavern of her mouth, his eyes glazed over with such a heady mixture of lust and gratitude.

It had been an even longer time since he’d gotten this particular kind of help.

As her head bobbed, he moved along with her movements until his body began to tense up with that all too familiar tickling at the base of his spine.

“Jo, I’m gonna—”

She just hummed in response, which did the trick. As he came, it felt like the longest, hottest release of his life and he literally gasped as his hips bucked involuntarily.

Removing his hand from her hair, he reached for the knobs to the shower and turned the water off. Taking a moment to catch his breath, he finally looked back down at her and shook his head with a smile. “I don’t even know where to begin,” he muttered.

“You don’t have to say anything,” she insisted, wiping the corners of her mouth, which was just as sexy as what she’d done for him.

“Then I won’t say anything,” Rick remarked with a devilish grin. Sinking down to his knees, he placed his hands on either side of her face and kissed her as if he was trying to devour her very soul. He tasted himself on her lips and moaned simply from the incredibly recent memory. Then, without warning, he swiveled her body around and laid her down on the wet floor so she was staring up at him. Shimmying down the length of her body, he reached for her underwear and pulled them down her legs and tossed them carelessly over his shoulder. “I know you’re not ready for everything,” he said, kissing her puffy stomach, which garnered a loving smile from her, “but I can help you with something for you, too.”

Parting her legs, he tossed them over his shoulders as he leaned down and placed his mouth against her mound, using his fingers to and tongue to return the favor. Her hands roamed through the damp curls on his head which as he worked the junction between her thighs like it was his job. Not even her husband, who had been a remarkable lover during their marriage, could give it as good as Rick was in this very moment.

“Oh, sweet Christ, fuck…” Jo began to cry out. “For the love of—oh my god!”

Rick smiled against her as he body began to shake and shudder, while he drove it home for her. And, when her body was spent, and after he had licked her clean, Rick crawled up her body like a lion stalking its prey in the wild. If Jo had no restraint, she would’ve allowed him to take her completely right then and there, but she wasn’t ready for everything.

What had just happened had been unplanned and amazing, but she was still only two weeks post postpartum and sometimes, when she even daydreamed about sex with Rick, foggy images of The Governor on top of her popped into her head.

She knew she would eventually get to that point mentally and physically, but it was still too soon and she was thankful Rick understood and didn’t pressure her in the slightest.

Even though they didn’t do anything further, Rick laid his weight down upon her, resting his head upon her chest while their breathing returned to normal. His arms wrapped around her back and she did the same. She could feel his softening length against her inner thigh, and as exciting a feeling it was to have him there, it was also just a simple and sweet feeling as well.

“Thank you,” he whispered.

“You’re welcome,” she replied. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, too.” Lifting his head, Rick moved up her body slightly to kiss her lips. “We should get you dried off so no one talks.”

Jo nodded and sat up with his help, then got to her feet and reached for her underwear while Rick just watched her, having sat up as well, but just remained there with his legs bent up at the knees. As she slipped back into her underwear, she reached for the towel he had brought with him along with his clean shirt and underwear, and then patted her hair and body dried before tossing it to him. He caught it with one hand and smirked.

“You’re beautiful,” he reiterated his earlier statement to her.

Jo had her back to him as she shimmied into her jeans, and threw him a look over her shoulder. She didn’t say anything, though. She merely smiled back at him.

When he finally got up to his feet, he began to dry off his body and followed suit in getting redressed. Before he put on his clean shirt, though, he waited for Jo who was preparing the new bandage for him. She stepped right up to him and placed a fresh absorbent compress dressing over the stitches, having him hold it in place for her, and then began to wrap the roller bandage around him like the previous one. After all was said in done, Rick pulled on his shirt, wincing again.

Jo caught sight of it and wagged a finger at him. “I told you to take a pain pill or something.”

“I took two penicillin types.”

“You need something for the pain.”

“Someone else might need what we have more.”

“Well, when that time comes, we’ll worry about it then. Right now you’re the one who needs it.”

Rick nodded obediently. “Yes, ma’am.”

Lifting his boots up and choosing to walk barefoot back to C Block with her, Rick placed a kiss to her lips and then they left the Shower Room, feeling just fine.

Notes

Comments

I absolutely love this story. I love how you re wrote the whole story but still kept the basics and changed who dies and when. I absolutely love that you kept Sophia alive because I really wished they had left her alive in the tv show. I love what you did with Negan. Absolutely perfect.

AliKook AliKook
4/23/19

@Grimesgirl63 @Loul461

Thank you :)

The ending is perfect

Loul461 Loul461
7/7/17

Thank you so much for this wonderful story. I'm very excited to hear that you are planning a sequel, and will be working on "The World We Live In".

Grimesgirl63 Grimesgirl63
7/7/17

I know we are getting to the end but I just do not want this story to be over. This chapter was great as usual and I can't wait for the next update. Glad that your ankle is better and you are settling in with your grandmother. Now, if you could just get that "e" key to work again!

Grimesgirl63 Grimesgirl63
6/30/17