The Spaces Between Seconds

Part One

Before the world went to shit, Rick Grimes was a man who knew what life was all about. It wasn't about the job, the money, duty, or honor. It wasn't the size of his house or the Jamaican vacation that he could never quite manage to afford. It was family. It was those little moments, so rare and fleeting, that muted the background noise, faded everything around you to gray and made your eyes sting and your heart clench. It was the sight of Lori, young and beautiful, standing in white at the end of the aisle. Cradling baby Carl in his arms for the first time. Holding his father's hand as the cancer took him from this world. Rick knew that even before the end of the world, those moments were few and far between, that you couldn't blink or you'd miss them. Now they were even rarer. Precious treasures never to be taken for granted.

Rick had bore witness to a few of these moments over the last two years. He'd even had a couple of them himself. But this, this completely bewildering, unexpected scene unfolding before him now was hands down the best. He stood to the side, giving them their privacy, fading to gray with the background like he was supposed to.

He felt a bit foolish that he hadn't seen it before. Daryl had never said a word but in hindsight, the signs were all there. Rick remembered overhearing Carol proposition him one night at the prison, but Daryl had shrugged her off without thinking twice. Thinking back, Rick couldn't remember Daryl ever showing interest in any of the women in their group. Rick had dismissed it, attributing it to Daryl's gruff personality and obvious aversion to intimacy. He assumed Daryl had his reasons, and it wasn't a topic Rick had wasted much thought on. But now, Rick realized he had been seeing the pieces of a puzzle and now those pieces were coming together.

The last twenty-four hours had been a whirlwind. He and his people had been launched from one extreme to another, hopeless, thirsty and starving one moment and the next cradled in the relative safety of Alexandria. Though they were all on edge, slow to trust, it was undeniable that their circumstances had vastly improved. Deanna and her people had welcomed them, given them shelter and they began to acclimate to their surroundings. The tiny woman had appeared on their doorstep this morning, offering a guided tour of the facilities. She was eager for them to assimilate and Rick and Daryl had taken her up on the opportunity to get the lay of the land.

Daryl had followed a few steps behind Rick, taking it all in with his usual silence, no doubt drawing a map of the place in his head. Rick nodded to Deanna as she explained the uses of the various buildings and the systems devised to keep the community running.

"The garden is just up here on the left," she was saying, "Most everyone has at least a small garden in their own yard, but this one feeds the whole community. Anna's in charge and she's been a godsend."

Daryl's steps faltered and Rick spared a glance back at his friend. Daryl's scowl had deepened but he gave Rick a nod to say it was nothing to worry about. They rounded a row of houses and suddenly the gardens sprawled before them, rows and rows of meticulously tended vegetables and herbs with a few fruit tree saplings growing in the back. A little greenhouse sat in one corner of the plot and they could see the vague shadow of someone working inside.

"Anna, you in there?" Deanna called out as they drew closer.

"Yeah, I'm here," the shadow answered. The voice was soft, feminine, and sweetly southern like the accents Rick used to hear at home.

The door to the greenhouse swung open a moment later and a pretty woman stepped out, shedding a pair of dirty gardening gloves. She was thin and lanky, the overalls she wore gaping around her hips, one strap broken and hanging loose against her dirt-smudged tank top. Her hair was honey colored but streaked with a brighter sun-kissed blonde on top and her skin held an olive tan, no doubt from her long hours in the garden.

Rick was distracted by a strangled gasp behind him and his head whipped around to find Daryl looking about ready to pass out right there in the street. All the color had drained from his face and there was a dangerous lean to his posture. His crossbow clattered to the ground and his eyes... Rick thought the only way to describe it was that he had seen a ghost.

"Daryl?" Rick extended a hand, ready to catch him before he hit the ground, but Daryl didn't seem to register his presence anymore. His eyes were glued to the woman in front of them.

Rick looked back to her and was stunned to find a similar look of shock on her face. But while Daryl seemed to be stuck in his stupor, Anna's face broke out in a wide, toothy grin. "Baby!" she all but screamed and launched herself at Daryl.

For his part, Daryl seemed to snap out of it just in time and caught the woman in his arms, wrapping his hands around her thighs as she circled her legs around his waist like they'd done it a million times before. They were both crying, sobbing actually, and Rick looked away to give them some privacy. Deanna caught his eyes with a questioning look but he could only shrug with his own bewilderment.

"Is this real? You really here?" Daryl's voice was rough, like he'd just smoked a whole pack of Marlboro's back to back.

"Yeah, baby, I'm really here," was the answer.

Rick and Deanna politely moved a few paces further away as the two kissed, Rick chuckling and giving Deanna a sheepish smile. This was it. This was why they pushed on, why through all the horrors and pain, they persevered. For moments like this.

"Rick," Daryl said a few minutes later, when he and Anna broke apart and seemed to remember the rest of the world.

His arm was thrown around her shoulders and the woman clung to him, fitting into his side like she belonged there. They were both grinning like idiots and their happiness was contagious. Rick couldn't remember ever seeing Daryl smile, really smile, and the sight made the permanent weight on Rick's shoulders feel just a bit lighter for the moment.

"I want to introduce you to my wife," Daryl said, beaming proudly, "Anna Dixon."