𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐭 𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬

𝟏𝟑 | 𝐁𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐨𝐮𝐬.

My hands were surprisingly not shaking as badly as I thought they would be. "Then we were dug from the ruble and you know the rest of the story."

Hershel's motives wasted little time worried about how much time they'd have before Beth came back.
"The way you and Rick are with each other, it's not hard to understand why he'd be the one you see."

"I guess so." I agreed sitting back in the stool to lean my back against the wall. "I remember bits and pieces of what happened. Probably for the best I don't. I remember seeing Maggie crying over me right before Rick took my leg. I made my peace with leaving her knowing that she had Glenn and the rest of you to care for her. The next thing I seen as I looked up was you. You were busting your ass to get me here and it made me think about your relationship with Beth."

I kept my lips pressed together not making a sound.

"Rick told me what happened tonight. Not many details but just the bullet points. I still stand by what I said, you're a good man and I trust your decisions."

He paused as I waited for the hammer to drop.
"And I trust that you'll respect and care for Beth the same way you served— with honor." A small grin greeted me as I looked.

"Yes Sir. You have my word."

Her back was facing me as she laid on her side. I hadn't realized how long Hershel and I's conversation was.
After stripping off my clothes I threw on the folded gray sweatpants that Beth left for me on the sink.

I didn't deserve her.

Sinking down into the spot next to her, I laid on my side facing her to gently place my arm over her waist.
I had found a comfortable position as my head melted into the pillow.

"How'd it go?" She had been awake this whole time.

"I thought you'd be asleep by now." She tried to shift under the weight of my arm but I firmly held her hip. "We can talk about it tomorrow. You haven't slept much in weeks."

"I can't sleep till you tell me how it went. Which means you won't sleep either." She's right. Dammit.

My grip lightened letting her roll over to face me. "But you can still hold me while you talk right?" She fascinated me with how quickly she could change from fierce to fawn.

"It was good." I promised. My hand finding a way to her hip.

"What'd he say?" Here we go. My little investigator. 

"Beth, some conversations are confidential. Ya' know, on a need to know basis. I don't make the rules." I shrugged one armed.

"You said I'm not to be compared to anyone else which puts me on a different level as everyone. The need to know level." She smiled wickedly as if she just broke down the walls to my logic.

"What makes you think I'd break that non verbal confidentiality clause." I genuinely thought that I had won but leave it to Beth to keep me on my toes.