Life of Illusion- Rick Grimes x reader

Tell it to the frogs

"Best not to dwell on it. Merle got left behind. Nobody's, gonna be sad he didn't come back... Except maybe Daryl," Morales says shrugging.

"Daryl?" Rick asks.

"His brother. Hunter. Brooding type. Probably trying to find the best way to marinate us, but other than that, nothing more," Emily says a smug smirk on her face. She missed being able to joke around with Rick.

Rick just smiles. Somehow Glenn had ended up behind them again, and he zoomed past again, cheering in his car.

"At least somebody's having a good day," Morales says.

They all smile.

They drove for a bit more, finally making it to the bottom of the quarry. Glenn's car rolling in front of them, speeding throughout the entire thing.

A minute or two later Rick pulls in the truck, everyone getting out except for him and Emily.

"Take a moment, Rick. Prepare yourself. It's what you need after thinking we were all dead," Emily says gripping his shoulder.

"I didn't think you were dead."

"You didn't think we were alive either," She says making her way out the back. He watches as Emily runs over to someone, but couldn't tell who since they were blocked from view.

"Yeah, crazy Vato just got into town. Hey, helicopter boy! Come say hello!" Morales covers up, trying to surprise the family.

Emily and Elyse hug.

"We heard T-Dog come through on the radio, scared the shit out of Eren and me. I told you to be careful!" Elyse says lightly slapping her arm. "Who's this guy Morales is going on about?" She asks looking over.

"You'll see."

They all hear the truck door slam. Rick walks over and Shane and they make

eye contact.

Elyse gasps like she's seen a ghost. She clutches onto Emily's arm while looking at Eren to see if he seeing the same thing. He's currently making the same expression.

Carl hears Elyse gasp and looks to see what made her do that. He looks over and sees Rick standing there, Lori finally seeing him too.

"Oh my god," Rick mumbles, obviously not preparing himself enough.

Carl and Lori run over to Rick as fast as they can, "Dad! Dad!"

Rick grabs Carl in his arms as he starts crying. He kisses Carl on the cheek and approaches Lori. He hugs them both.

They let go for a second and look over to Elyse when Lori gestures for her to run over.

In a matter of seconds, she was over there, nearly knocking the family down, engulfing Rick in a hug, and then adding Lori and Carl.

Shane just stares at Rick, a small smile on his face.

They all stay in a hug for a good few minutes before breaking apart.

"Rick," Eren says, making his way over. They engulf each other in a hug. "It's good to see you, man."

"You too."

Later that night, Rick is sitting down with the group around a fire camp.

"Disoriented. I guess that comes closest. Disoriented. Fear, confusion... all those things but... Disoriented comes closest," Rick says staring at the fire holding Lori and Carl.

"Words can be meager things. Sometimes they fall short," Dale suggests.

"I felt like I'd been ripped out of my life and put somewhere else. For a while, I thought I was trapped in some coma dream, something I might not wake up from ever,"