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Taken place in Alexandria
Judith waddled around the living room in the Grimes's house. She babbled and made small noises as she played. I'd been babysitting for Rick for a few hours now while him and Carl were scavenging for Alexandria. Judith was relatively low maintenance; she only cried when she was hungry or tired. It's a rare quality for a toddler to have, but something Rick's group must be thankful for.
I began to prepare her dinner around six o'clock. I wanted to go the extra mile for the guys since they're probably beat, and they've had a hard time settling in. Deanna had spoken to me about babysitting for them as a way to break them in: to help them feel more comfortable at Alexandria.
I was able to put Judith down before they came home. I gently laid her down in her crib and thought of any children's beds we have since she'll need one soon. I then heard the front door open, indicating that Rick and Carl were home. I quickly tiptoed to them to let them know Judith was down.
"Thank you." Rick quietly says with a nod of his head. I smiled and then watched Carl pass by me, going upstairs with some baggage from the trip. Rick and I stood by the entryway.
"Do you guys need any help unloading from the trip?" I ask
"No, thank you. You've helped enough." Rick says graciously. He gives me a small smile, one of the first ones I've seen from him. I smile back, not knowing if I should leave or stay for more small talk.
"Do you drink?" He asked me curiously. His eyebrows raised,
"Uh, yeah." I reply. I was a little caught off guard by his invitation to stay. He curls his lips in a satisfied smile and walks by me to the kitchen. He motions for me to come and sit by the kitchen island as he fixed two glasses.
"Thank you." I smile as he set a glass in front of me and poured whiskey. He smiles and nodded again, then poured himself the same drink. He stayed standing across from me and motioned to cheers. I raised my glass with a smile about to cheers,
"To a good trip?" I questioned, trying to initiate some details from their day. He chuckled and we touched glasses then sipped. As he set his glass down I saw his hand had a bandage soaked in blood. I returned my attention to him as he told me about the day.
"I guess you could say it was a good trip." He replies with sarcasm. "We didn't run into any trouble, so it was pretty uneventful."
"What happened there, then?" I motioned to his hand. He looked at it and seemed to have forgotten about it,
"Oh. You know, a routine injury." He locks eyes with me and smiles. I disregard my drink for a moment and walk over to him. He kept his attention on his hand and then to me once I motioned to look at it.
"It's pretty nasty. I was going to take care of it after you left."
I took the bandage away and saw the cut. It needed to be cleaned at least, I wasn't sure if it needed stitches or anything else. I glanced up at him and he was watching me with kind eyes.
"Would you let me take care of this for you?" I asked.
"You don't have to—" he begins to say. I cut him off and tell him that I want to. I tell him to take a seat. He told me where their first aid kit was. I sat down in front of him and set his hand on the table between us.
"You're not going to tell me what happened?" He chuckled and I looked up at him from his hand. We locked eyes before I got intimidated and returned to his wound.
"I could." He says with a smirk. I smiled back at him, continuing to clean his hand. "You could also tell me some things."
I look up at him again. He kept his smirk and gaze, waiting for my response.
"What do you want to know?" I ask playfully. I had some butterflies and excitement from the way he was looking at me.
"Why are you being so nice to me?" He softly asks. His vulnerability made me smile and my heart flutter; I wanted to see where I could take this.
"I don't know half of what you and your group went through out there, Rick." I say bluntly in his eyes, "but I know that you are a different person than you were before all of this. A person that didn't just have to survive." I glance up at him again from his hand, he remained listening intently. "I think it's important to bring kindness and humility into this world again. We have to in order to move forward."
I began to wrap his hand in a new bandage. He remained silent while I did this. I finally looked at him and his reaction to the new bandage afterwords. He had his attention on me until I motioned to the bandage.
"I would get your hand checked out by Pete tomorrow. To make sure you don't need stitches." I suggest, breaking the momentary silence of him looking at it.
"Thank you." His voice was quiet and sincere. He glanced up at me as I smiled at him. That was when he reached for the side of my face to pull me in for a kiss. He broke the kiss to look into my eyes, looking for my reaction. I didn't realize how much a kiss would stop me in my tracks. I smile breathlessly, not knowing what to do. I wanted to kiss him again, but instead I quietly said, "you're welcome." Firmly and gently pulls me into another kiss. I placed my hand on his face, feeling his stubble against my skin.
