digging graves// rick grimes x OC//

Cherokee Rose Part 4

    On a faded yellow car on the highway, Carol wrote out, "SOPHIA STAY HERE WE WILL COME EVERY DAY," onto the windshield. They left out some food, a blanket, and a flashlight for the lost girl.
    Andrea walks over, "We'll come again tomorrow. You know there's always the chance—"
    Carol shakes her head, "Don't. I really don't need to hear it anymore, Andrea. Save the thoughts and prayers."
    Andrea awkwardly steps away, Shane speaking up, "You never know, Carol." However, the older woman just raises her hand to silence him.
——
    Walking back to the farm, Shane talks, "We can hang targets along that fence line there. That rise, it gives a natural backstop. It's a good idea."
    "Thanks," Andrea says. She then looks to the man, "So how long before I can carry? I mean Winona carries but she probably can't shoot for shit."
   Shane chuckles, "Let's not get ahead of ourselves," he walks ahead of her, "Also, I trained Winona, so best think twice before insulting your teacher. She's a damn good shot, she just doesn't use it when she thinks it's unnecessary."
   Carol lets out a small laugh at the flustered expression Andrea displays. Andrea quickly covers, "I'm not in a very patient frame of mind these days, Shane. You might have noticed that."
   "No shit. Look, I ain't worried about you offing yourself, even though you got old Dale pissing his pants lately," Andrea looks at him causing him to chuckle, "Yeah, I noticed that too."
    "He did come within a minute or so of being blown to hell because of me, to be fair."
    "Look, I see you have the desire for gun work and desire will take you a long way," Shane stops walking, "But something you need to know, so file this carefully."
    "I'm listening."
    "Paper targets is one thing. Easy to hit what ain't moving. But taking down an assailant, one that's trying to kill you, it's different," he begins walking again, "They say in that kind of situation things slow down. That's crap. They speed up. Adrenaline," he laughs, "It'll cripple you if you let it. You need to use your instinct. You got to rule it out. Because somebody is going to die and you'd better hope that you're the one who's making that decision."
   They lean against the fence, Carol forgotten in the conversation, "How?" Andrea asks, "I mean, how do you do that?"
   "Turn off a switch. The switch. The one that makes you scared or angry, sympathetic, whatever. You don't think. You just— you act. 'Cause odds are somebody else is counting on you. That's your partner. That's your friend. There ain't nothing easy about taking a man's life. No matter how little value it may have. But when you get it done, you have to forget it," he gives a bittersweet smile, "I guess I haven't quite got that last part down yet."
   "But you're getting there?"
    "I hope so," Shane replies. He straightens, "It's a good spot. It'll do."
——
   Once the well fiasco settled down, Maggie and Glenn left the farm and headed into town for their supply run. As they approach on horse back, Glenn breaks the silence, "You know, normally this is the kind of thing I'd do on my own. Solo," he chuckles awkwardly, "It's sort of my thing, you know? I'm a loner." Maggie stays silent. "You alright?" he asks, concerned.
    "I'm fine," she replies.
    "I saw the look on your face back at the well. Never seen one killed up close before?" After no reply, he continues, "Guess it's kind of a shock. You know, being out on the road, we've seen a lot. Guess we've gotten a little numb to it."
   Maggie slows her horse as they reach the pharmacy, "I guess so."
   Glenn stares as a sign in the window that reads, "TAKE WHAT YOU NEED AND GOD BLESS,"
   Maggie doesn't wait for him as she heads in first, "I'll go see what antibiotics are left. What else is on the list?"
   Glenn digs in his back pocket to pull out the folded piece of paper, "Uh... Why don't you get started?"
   "What about you?"
   He begins to stutter trying to fabricate a lie, "Uh... I'm— I'm gonna look around, see what's worth grabbing. Just some general stuff." Maggie looks at him with a hint of doubt but goes towards the back anyways.
   Once she disappeared, Glenn ventured towards the feminine hygiene area, looking for the item Lori requested. As he picks up the pregnancy test, Maggie comes over, "What do you got?"
   Quickly shoving the test into his bag, he fumbled gathering words and grabbing at a random box, "Uh... Um... Nothing. Just, like I said, general stuff."
   Maggie reads the box in his hands, "Condoms?" she scoffs, "So Winona is your girlfriend? Or do you got a different girlfriend I don't know about?"
   "Nona? No. No. Not at all," he nervously spits out.
   "Then you're a pretty confident guy."
   Glenn's smile drops and he shakes his head, "No. No no no. I-I-I wasn't— I would never—"
   "Something wrong with me?" Maggie cuts him off, toying with him.
   "No. No, I—" he lets out a nervous chuckle, "I would never have sex— Uh, I'm— I'm lost."
    Maggie just calmly replies, "I'll have sex with you."
   Glenn looks with disbelief, "Really? Why?"
   "You're asking questions?"
   "Okay, I can't help wondering."
   "It's not like our options are vast these days," she responds taking off her cowboy hat and then Glenn's baseball cap. She goes in for a slow, sweet kiss, "And you're not the only one that's lonely."
   She begins to undress, Glenn still in shock, "Wow." He finally acts and begins to undress as well. Pulling her in for a somewhat desperate kiss.
——
    Rick and Hershel got back to the farm, they look over to the small camp the group started. Rick unconsciously smiling at Winona laughing with T-Dog. He remembers what Hershel had told him earlier and his smile drops, "You need to reconsider."
    "I beg your pardon?"
    "Asking us to leave," Rick clarifies, turning to face the man, "You need to reconsider. If you saw how it is out there you wouldn't ask. You're a man of belief. If you believe anything, believe that."
   "You're putting me on the spot."
   "Well, I mean to. Those people look to me for answers, some trust me entirely. I wish they didn't, but they do. But I'm not asking for them or myself. I'm asking for my boy. After the price your friend Otis paid, the least you can do is give it some thought."
   "You're a plainspoken man."
   "I'm a father. He's the one thing I don't want to fail," Rick says as he goes to sit on the stairs of the porch, "I feel like I do every day. I lied to him this morning. It wasn't a big lie, but it was enough."
   "My father didn't bother with comforting lies. He used his fist. He was a loveless, violent drunk and no good to anybody. He drove me from home when I was 15. Didn't lay eyes on this place again for many years. I was not at his deathbed, Rick. I would not grant him that and to this day I do not regret it. Some men do not earn the love of their sons," Hershel speaks going to sit next to Rick, "I don't see you having that problem."
   "Will you consider my request?"
   "There are aspects to this, things that I can't and won't discuss. But if you and your people respect my rules, no promises, but I will consider it. You have my word."
   Rick nods and stands up with Hershel, shaking his hand, "You have mine."
   Winona comes up beside Rick after Hershel leaves, "Hey, Cowboy, I was just about to check on Carl. I think Lori's with him now, you coming with?"
   "Lead the way," Rick offers a smile at the woman.
   She nods and heads inside, walking into the room to find Lori asleep with Carl. As soon as she walks in, Lori begins awake, "Sorry, Lor, didn't mean to wake you, just wanted to check on Carl real quick."
   Lori nods, "Yeah, you're fine. Do what you need."
   Rick walks in after, "Hey. I'll sit with him."
   Winona looks over Carl so she can get out of their hair. "He's doing well, I'll leave you three. I hear Glenn anyways," she whispers at the couple, giving a gentle smile towards Rick that flashes a hint of sadness across her features but vanishes as fast as it came.
   Rick opens his mouth to debate, but Winona doesn't give him a chance as she moves out the door. Lori starts to speak, "He was awake earlier when you were gone. Winona came and got me so I could spend time with him. He asked for you." She leans down and kisses Carl on his forehead and leaves the room.
——
   Winona watches as Glenn and Maggie arrive, the man with a smile stuck to his face. She grins happy to see them, unable to hear their conversation.
   "I—" Glenn starts.
   "Don't spoil it," Maggie interrupts.
   "So it was good," he gives a cheeky smirk.
   "It was a one-time thing," she responds, causing his face to fall.
   Maggie heads over to Hershel, the older man greets her, "Everything go okay?"
   She nods, "Fine. Nothing happened." She begins to head in the house, Lori coming out at the same time.
   Glenn finishes tying up his horse, Winona walks over leaning against the tree, she raises a brow, "So? Farmer's daughter?"
   Glenn's eyes widen, he begins speaking in a hushed tone, "What? How— How did find out?"
   Winona laughs, "I didn't. Your face just told me. You two are cute together."
   "Damn you," he sighs, "Yeah, she doesn't think so, said it was a 'one-time thing.'"
   "I'm sorry, Glenn. She's missing out, but I have a feeling she'll come around."
   Glenn sees Lori approaching, "Uh yeah I do too. Don't you need to check on Carl?"
   "Uh... no I was just in there?"
   Glenn starts to push her towards the house, "Uh... well go check again. Bye, Wi."
   "Uh huh, okay?" So she heads back towards the house walking past Lori.
   "Did you find it?" Lori whispers.
   Glenn takes off his bag, handing her the paper bag that she shoves into her shirt. Glenn says nothing and walks away.
——
    "Back so soon?" Rick chuckles, seeing Winona with a dazed expression on her face.
   "Uh... Yeah. I guess I am. Glenn told me to? I'm still confused over the interaction," she lets out an airy laugh that fills the room. "Nothing happened with Carl in the last five minutes right?"
   "He woke up and started flying around the room, but other than that nothing."
   "Ha. Ha. Very funny Grimes," Winona sarcastically replies. She lowers herself to sit on the foot of the bed, "I still have to give him his comics, I just hate taking time away from you guys when he's awake, I mean y'all are his parents."
   "You've taken care of him and he loves you, you deserve the same amount of time that I do," Rick states.
    "Well let's hope he wakes up now so we can share the time," Winona beams.
   "Yeah, I'd like that."
   Winona flushes red, but clears her throat, "So, uh, what have you been up to today, Sheriff?"
    "Hershel took me to point out landmarks of the land so we can start gridding the search. You would've loved it, Graves. The view was almost breathtaking, it was missing something though."
   "Missing something?"
   Rick realizes what he said, but doesn't back down, "Yeah missing something. I'll have to show you one of these days."
   "I'd like that," Winona smiles as she tosses his words back at him.
   Rick gives a warm smile, "Anyways, what did you do today, Deputy?"
   "Oh just the normal, yelled at Andrea, which almost made me live bait for a walker in the well."
   "Hold on... live bait? Walker in the well?"
   "Yeah, Cowboy, catch up," she laughs, "Long story short there this gross walker at the bottom of one of the wells and even though the water was probably already contaminated, Andrea thought it would be a great idea to nominate Glenn, to be live bait to tie the walker. So me being me got pissed at her for offering up Glenn like a piece of meat. So she told me I should do it if I want to play hero so bad, but I said it was her idea so she should. I think I ended up embarrassing Glenn in front of Maggie because he said he would do it anyways. It was a shit show and I almost lost him. Poor T almost reopened his wound, too. And in the end it was all for nothing, the walker tore in half and it's guts fell back into the well, contaminating the water anyways."
   "So you could've been walker food?"
   "If Glenn didn't want to prove himself in front of his crush so badly, then yeah."
   "His crush?" Rick asks, a strange feeling bubbling up as he assumes Glenn's crush was Winona.
   "Geez, Grimes where have you been? That boy is head over heels for Maggie, you basically played matchmaker making them go on that run together," Winona chuckles.
   Rick lets out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding, "Oh," he laughs.
   She shakes her head still laughing at his obliviousness. Winona then notices the young boy starting to shift, beginning to wake up.
   Carl opens his eyes, "Nona? Dad?"
   "Hey, bud," Winona gently says, "How're you feeling?"
   Carl groans, "Still sore but better."
   "That's good. Oh, before I forget—" she reaches for her backpack, which she keeps in the room since it mainly had things for Carl, "I got you some things." She digs through her bag pulling out a stack of comics, "I know I promised to take you to a comic book store but I hope these will make up for that."
   The young boy immediately lit up holding out his arms for a hug which she gives, "Really, Nona?! Thank you!"
   Rick smiles at the interaction of the two, "I'm feeling left out."
   "Did you get me comics?" Carl asks smugly.
   Rick's eyes widen, "I— no I did not."
   "Exactly," Carl says crossing his arms.
   Winona chuckles, "Now this isn't an excuse to not get rest, okay? This is for when you're better and you're bored. Your body still needs time and rest to heal. Promise me you won't keep yourself awake to read these," she tells the young boy as she holds out her pinky.
   Carl wraps his pinky around the woman's, "I promise, Nona."
   "Thank you, Carl. Now, I'm gonna let you spend some time with your old man," she gets up, ruffling his hair and heads out of the room. She smiles when she hears Carl begin to talk with Rick.
——
   Stepping into the RV, Daryl scans the small space looking for the older woman. He notices all the dishes are clean and organized by the sink. Walking back towards the bed, he finds Carol sewing. She gives a small smile, "I cleaned up. Wanted it to be nice for her."
   The redneck nods in approval while chewing on a piece of grass, "For a second I thought I was in the wrong place." Carol released a light chuckle and looked back at her work.
   Daryl sets a bottle with a white flower onto the small table, "A flower?" Carol asks.
   He nods taking out the grass, "It's a Cherokee Rose," he steps closer, "The story is that when American soldiers were moving Indians off their land on the trail of tears the Cherokee mothers were grieving and crying so much 'cause they were losing their little ones along the way from exposure and disease and starvation," he shakes his head, "A lot of them just disappeared. So the elders, they said a prayer; asked for a sign to uplift the mothers' spirits, give them strength and hope. The next day this rose started to grow right where the mothers' tears fell. I'm not fool enough to think there's any flowers blooming for my brother," Carol wipes a tear as she listens, "But I believe this one bloomed for your little girl." Carol smiles with a nod and Daryl turns to leave. Before he exits, he stops, looking back, "She's gonna really like it in here."
    Daryl steps outside, seeing Winona putting her backpack in Glenn's tent, "Hey, Wi," he calls.
    She looks up and runs over to give him a hug, "Glad to see you're still in one piece, how was the search?"
    He gave her a one-armed hug back, "Found some clues as to where she could've holed up, better than nothing I guess."
    "That's great!" Winona smiles.
    "Anyways, I was wondering if you wanted to learn how to ride the bike? I could start teachin' ya now, if you're ready?"
    Her face lit up, "Hell yeah, I'm ready."
    "Alright, let's go." The two start to walk the bike to the road away from the farm, "Better not to start it yet, don't wanna lure anything to the farm," Daryl strategizes.
    He then begins to go over the controls and what each lever does. Winona quickly retains the information, getting more and more excited. "When can I ride?" Winona asks.
    "You still got a lot to learn but we'll ride it to the highway and maybe I'll let you drive back," Daryl responds, hopping onto the bike.
    "Aye aye captain," Winona mock salutes and gets on behind him. Once she is ready, Daryl starts the bike and heads towards the highway.
——
   After an hour or two since Winona had left for motorcycle lesson, Rick was still with Carl. The boy turned towards Rick, "Hey, Dad."
   "Hey," he sits up and clears his throat, "Carl, I told you something earlier today about Sophia—"
   The boy cuts him off, "I know. Mom told me."
   Rick gives a hesitant smirk, "Here I was getting ready to confess. I didn't mean to lie. I just didn't want to worry you. It's a stupid excuse but it's all I got."
   "It's okay. Do you you think we'll find her?"
   "I know we will. Well..." he sighs, "I don't know. But I truly believe it."
   "You look tired."
   Rick chuckles softly, "I am tired."
   "Hey, I'm like you now," Carl says looking towards his father, "We've both been shot. And we've both had Nona take care of us. Isn't that weird?"
   Rick laughs, "Yeah, I think your mother would rather hear we got the same eyes. So let's keep that between us. Since you're in the club now, you get to wear the hat. Didn't you know?" He lays the worn cowboy hat onto the head of his son, it's falls over Carl's eyes causing a laugh from the small boy, "We'll pad the rim tomorrow so it sits better."
   "Won't you miss it?"
   "Maybe you'll let me borrow it from time to time."
   "We can share it."
   Rick nods, "Okay. Sleep now."
   "Okay. I love you, Dad."
   "I love you."
    Carl leans back the hat falling back over his eyes. Rick looks at the badge that was on the hat and he sets it on the vanity. He then removes the badge Winona had given him, smiling at the cheap quality. He begins to undress, folding his old uniform and placing it, along with the badge from his hat, into a drawer. The man decides he would still wear the cheap badge as it was a gift from Winona. He looks into the mirror to find Lori watching him. She helps him undress, eyes wandering over the scar from his own gunshot wound. She speaks, "Are you putting them away?" Without giving a verbal answer, Rick closes the drawer. Lori takes that as the response, "Stay with him a while longer. I'll wait up."
   Lori leaves out the door and heads towards the camp, not noticing Winona arrived back. Winona was currently excitedly talking to Daryl about how well she drove back, the man just nodding here and there. She waves goodbye and breaks away from the man. Her eyes laying upon Lori as she was pulling out a small blade and beginning to head towards the open field. Not wanting Lori to get hurt, she decides to leave and follow a safe distance to see what she's up to. Lori glances back but Winona is quickly able to hide. She watches as the other woman pulls out a white bag from her shirt. Winona sees a rectangular shaped object as Lori begins to unbutton her pants. Winona's eyes widen, realization sinking in for her. "𝐀 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭?!" she thinks to herself. She watches as Lori looks at the results, hearing a small sob come from the woman. "𝐎𝐡 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐭. 𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐞," Winona covers her mouth with her hand.
   Winona begins to step back, cursing herself when she accidentally breaks a stick causing Lori's head to shoot up, "Who's there?"
   Winona cringes and decides to step forward, revealing herself, "So, uh, crazy story, you'll never believe it, but I was, uh, just taking a late night stroll around the field and happened to come across you."
   Lori rubs her forehead, "You saw it didn't you?"
   "Saw what? I saw nothing at all," Winona nervously chuckles.
   "Winona, we might not be close anymore but I still know when you're lying."
   She drops the oblivious act, "Yeah, you're right. You caught me. I saw you acting shady with a knife so I wanted to follow you to make sure you were okay. Ended up poking my nose in your business instead. Sorry," Winona walks over to the woman who still had tears in her eyes, "So you're pregnant?"
    "God, I don't know what to do, Nona," Lori replies going to hold on to Winona for comfort, "Please keep this a secret. I cannot have this baby. Shane could even be the father—" her faces falls as she realizes what she said, "Oh shit, Winona. I'm so sorry. I didn't—"
    Winona stands up, interrupting her, "No. It's fine. Like you said a secret," Winona's heart shattered, as this was the final confirmation that Shane and Lori had definitely done it, her eyes fill with tears, "Lips. Are. Sealed."
   Winona turns around and starts quickly heading to the camp, "Winona, Wait!"
   She whips around, voice entering a harsh whisper, "Wait for what, Lori?! An excuse as to why you had sex with my fiancé at the time? If you're worried I'm gonna tell Rick, I'm not. I'm not gonna talk about your secrets— I never have. It's not my dirty laundry to air," she ends the conversation and heads towards the tent she shares with Glenn.
   Before she's able to enter the tent, Daryl catches her by her arm, "What's got your panties in a twist? You were fine ten minutes ago."
   Glenn unzips the tent as he hears the small commotion outside, he rubs his eyes signaling he just woke up, "What's wrong?"
   Tears are threatening to fall as she wipes at her face, "Nothing, it wasn't my business anyways."
    "Well whatever it was, it's obviously somewhat your business if it got ya acting like this," Daryl shoots back.
    Winona exhales, "Not my story to tell, the only part that deals with me is that I've gotten confirmation," she looks around lowering her voice, "Shane and Lori did it while Rick and I were still out there. I guess all this time I had been holding out hope they never got that far. Just hurts, you know?"
    "I don't, but I can imagine," Daryl says, crossing his arms.
    Glenn rubs Winona's back, "I guess we both had shitty days today."
    "Y'all look like you went through hell, I let ya sleep," Daryl huffs a laugh.
    "That's an understatement," Glenn rubs his head.
    Winona looks at Glenn, "That's for sure," she turns her attention back to the redneck, "Goodnight Daryl, and thanks for the lessons."
    "Night, Wi. You're welcome," he nods to the both of them and heads towards his own tent.
    Glenn heads back inside and Winona follows behind. They slip into their assigned sleeping bags, "I'm gonna need to go on a run with you to see if I can find my own tent, I don't know how much longer I can take smelling your stinky ass," Winona snorts.
    "Have you smelled your feet? Talk about deadly," Glenn laughs.
   "Oh shut it," she throws one of the books she had laying around at him.
    "Hey, I was gonna say you could tag along for the next run, but now that you threw a book at me, I'm not so sure," Glenn jokes.
    "Oh, please forgive me for my vicious crimes," Winona dramatically says back.
   "Just this once. But sure, you can come along for the next run, as long as you don't throw anymore books at me," he replies.
   She smiles, "Thanks Glenny, Goodnight."
   "Night, Nona."
——
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