Dead Man Walking | Rick Grimes

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Rick stared at me from a distance, his bright blue eyes dancing with the flames of the fire as he shamelessly watched me. The group lay by the fire under bundles of blankets as the leaves blew with the soft winter breeze. The sky was pitch black, and the moon was non-existent tonight, leaving us at the mercy of the darkness.

Lori shifted in her sleep, her hand unconsciously coming up to rub her huge six-month belly. Rick still had yet to make much effort to talk to her; they spoke often, but it was never more than a few words. I frowned as I watched her groan in her sleep, her hand stroking her stomach. The baby must be going crazy; Lori told me a few days ago that the baby is very active at night, so much so that she wakes up and can't go back to sleep. I slowly got on my knees and crawled over to where Rick sat, his oceanic eyes still glued to me.

"What are you staring at, Grimes?" As soon as I was close enough, I whispered to him, a smile turning upwards as I stared at him. He smirked at me and looked down, breaking his stare before reaching out and grabbing my hand.

"Just admiring." He murmured, meeting my eyes once more. He's getting more bold. He's going to get us both in trouble one day. I couldn't help but roll my eyes at him, finding it silly how he kept trying to woo me. It's nice to have this kind of attention again, but he needs to patch things up with his wife. Our flirting is fun, sure, but I know better, which makes me feel guilty. This is technically a form of emotional cheating, which isn't any better than what Lori and Shane were doing.

"If I didn't know any better, I would say you're falling in love with me." I joked, shoving him lightly as a chuckle erupted from his throat. Leave it to me to deal with my discomfort with a poor sense of humor. I raised a lone finger to my lips, instructing him to be quiet as I looked around the camp, a big smile across my lips.

"Maybe." Rick played, his eyes rolling at me. We sat silently, the two of us enjoying our time together. This is what I liked about Rick; we can have fun with one another without actually saying anything. The silences between us were never awkward. I looked down at my watch—a dull little thing I found a month ago—and yawned, ready for my shift to be over. "How much longer?"

"About another hour, then we can wake up Glenn and T-Dog." I nodded, happy that my night was finally coming to a close. "So, what do you have planned for the morning?"

"Scavenging what we could before we move on." Rick answered, his legs stretching out as he yawned, "I think that you and I should go to that pharmacy we found a few days back while Daryl and T-Dog go to that gun shop a few miles up the road."

Ever since that attack a few months ago, Rick hasn't been comfortable letting Daryl and I go out alone. Either he always needs to be with us or designates someone else to be there. 'Safety in numbers' is what he always says, and I agree.

"You think they're going to find anything?" I asked, obviously weary about the whole gun shop plan. That would've been one of the first places to get looted when all this started.

"No, but it's worth a shot," Rick answered, knowing it was a shot in the dark. I yawned once more and leaned against Rick, his warm arm wrapping around me as we watched the fire dance around.

"We should bring Carl with us." I suddenly said, the thought seeming wonderful. Rick turned to me and frowned, his eyebrows scrunching as he shook his head.

"No." He answered curtly, his eyes wandering off to his sleeping son. Carl has been hounding me for weeks to come with us on one of our runs. He's turned into quite the shot and knows how to defend himself with the machete.

"C'mon, Rick." I sighed, "He knows how to shoot. He knows how to use a knife or a machete. He wants to come, and I feel like tomorrow would be the perfect opportunity." Rick looked at me and frowned, not liking that I was vouching for his son. He and Lori must understand that there's only so much they can protect him from. Sooner or later, he's going to have to come out on these runs.