Rarl one-shots.

9|Ring.

Carl sighs with relief at finally finding Ron. He had searched for him throughout the house, wondering if his company would be welcome or not. It had been two weeks since Jessie and Sam died, he didn't really know how Ron was doing, he hardly spoke to him and worse to the others, he didn't even look at them.

Carl hesitates, but steels himself and walks over, closing the door behind him and standing in front of Ron.

"Can i sit?"

Ron looks away from the rain and looks at him wearily, nodding. Carl sits next to him, keeping some distance between his bodies, he was quite uncomfortable here as well.

He's never been good with words, as he used to be quite blunt and crude, so he wasn't sure if he should be here or not, but he wanted to be honest with Ron now and make him feel better.

"How are you?" Carl looks at Ron with concern, he's back to looking at the rain again.

"How should I feel...I guess." Ron shrugs and Carl is happy to hear more than grunts or low whispers of yes or no.

"I'm sorry about everything that happened. Not with your father, I'll be honest with that, but you know that. Jessie and Sam didn't deserve anything that happened." Carl whispers, not daring to look at Ron, he didn't want to make the situation worse or get thrown out by him.

"Maybe if Sam had agreed to go with Gabriel, things would have turned out differently...or maybe things would have turned out the same and we would have just condemned Judith too." Ron purses his lips. "I don't want to blame him or anyone, but...I don't know. I've been thinking about how things would have turned out differently and I'm eating my head. No one was to blame and it was something that could happen."

Carl looks at Ron and his chest sinks as he sees tears in his eyes. How many times had Ron cried without anyone noticing?

"You know, I do too. When we were at Hershel's farm...I killed Shane. He tried to kill my father, I followed them and when he wanted to shoot my father, I pulled the trigger first. Sometimes he asked me If only things would have been different if Shane hadn't become obsessed with Mom. Maybe he'd still be here with us, making things easier...or harder than they already are."

Ron was looking at him now and he looked upset, maybe because of his family, maybe because of what Carl was telling him. Maybe for everything...

"Shane was...he knew how things worked in this new world, he knew what he had to do to survive, but he became obsessed with my mom and it led to his own death. I don't regret what I did, because if It wasn't Shane, the one who would be dead would be my father and probably everyone here now, my family, would also be dead because Shane would have abandoned them. Maybe he would have abandoned me after my mother died." Carl sighs and throws his head back, closing his one eye. "What I want to say. The future is uncertain and to think about what would happen if something, no matter how small, was different, things would also be different. There is no way of knowing what would have happened and I think thanking you for being there I live is enough. I'm not telling you to forget or stop crying, I'm saying move on..."

Ron doesn't answer, but Carl knows he's listening and smiles slightly.

It was now or never.

"Ron..." Carl whispers, his voice just too sweet. Nothing like himself...

Ron looks at him curiously and confused. Carl thinks he looks pretty by frowning. Carl takes Ron's hand and slips a silver ring onto Ron's right index finger.

"It was your mother's. When...when she let go of my hand, her ring slipped off and stayed with me. When I woke up in the infirmary, Denise told me that me had been clenching my hand too tightly and there was no way i could I opened it. It seems I had been subconsciously protecting this. It's not much, but it's the only thing I have..."

Ron looks at the ring on her hand and doesn't push it away even as Carl continues to gently hold he hand, he just entwines his fingers with Carl's and smiles slightly. Carl feels his stomach churn with joy and flutter with butterflies. Ron was smiling...and, dear God, he was holding his hand.

"It's perfect. Thanks, Carl." Ron looks at him, a little shy, and gives him another smile, very small, but too sincere that makes Carl melt.

Carl knows he won't be going anywhere for a while, so he just settles back and rests his head on Ron's shoulder, enjoying the night rain.