[Rough Draft] Keres : The Walking Dead

Fighting

I wake up next to Rick on the bed, my head is on his chest and he's stroking my head.

"Don't you have to get ready?" I mumble.

"Yeah, I'll do it soon. I just didn't wanna wake you." He says with his soft smile.

"You think about what I said last night?" I ask as he nods his head.

"I still keep thinking that I'm gonna be shot by Deanna or something, anytime I walk out of the house." I joke and he chuckles.

"She'd probably miss." He laughs and I join him.

"How's Tara?" He asks changing the subject and I shrug.

"I haven't gone to check." I shake my head.

"Why not?" He asks.

"Don't care enough." I admit and he nods his head.

"You don't have a whole lot of people you care about." He states and I just sit there.

"Three, maybe four." I say and he chuckles.

"Let me guess, I'm on the list, Daryl, Carl and Judith." He jokes and I wink at him.

He gets ready for work and I sleep for a little longer.

Rick's POV:
I get out of the shower and see that Keres has fallen asleep again. I can't help but just stare at her. There's something about her that makes me feel at home. More than I had ever felt with Lori. And we're not even in a romantic relationship, except the few kisses we've exchanged and never talked about.

I've known her her whole life basically, but after the apocalypse, something changed about how I felt about her. I would never admit to it at the time, but even when I knew Lori was alive, I was more relieved that Keres was.

I head out of the house and see Deanna at the graves.

"I'm sorry for what happened." I apologize as I walk over.

"How are you holding up?" I ask.

"I'm not." She says and I nod.

"We have a problem with Pete." I clear my throat hurts changing the subject.

"I hoped it'd get better." She says and I furrow my brows

"You knew?" I hear Keres scoff from behind me.

"And you didn't do anything about it?" She asks.

"It hasn't gotten better. It won't." I say putting my hand up to stop Keres from saying something she'll regret.

"Pete's a surgeon. He's saved lives. He might be saving Tara's life."

"My dad was a cop. He saved lives too, at the same time beating me senseless among other things. You wanna know who I am? I'm a survivor of someone who was hurt like Jessie. The difference between us is that I did something about it. She can't. But you can." Keres states, walking past me and I gulp

I can tell she's doing her best to level with Deanna, even though it would be easier for her to just kill Pete herself.

"How?" She asks Keres, clearly having a hard time looking at her.

"Seperate them for starters. Keep the kids away from him, make sure they're safe as well. I can't promise that it'll work, especially since people like Pete feed off of the control they have over their victims." Keres starts explaining as she takes another step forward.

"Is that what they did with you?" She asks and Keres clenches her jaw.

"Doesn't matter." Keres says and Deanna seems to back off.