Sheriff's Lover ||| Rick Grimes x Reader (TWD x Reader)

Chapter 13) Safety

After a moment, the stunned group rush inside the open doors. A gun cocks and a man appears at the top of a high staircase. "Anybody infected?"

Rick shakes his head. "One of our group was. He didn't make it."

The man eyes them. "Why are you here? What do you want?"

Nobody says anything and Y/N speaks up. "A chance."

He sighs. "That's asking for an awful lot these days."

Rick nods. "We know."

The man thinks for a minute and lowers his gun. "You all submit to a blood test. That's the price of admission."

Rick looks at the others. "We can do that."

The man points at the door. "You got stuff to bring in, you do it now. Once this door closes, it stays closed."

A few members of the group go outside and collect their belongings from the cars.

Once everyone is back inside, the man speaks to the air. "Vi, seal the main entrance. Kill the power up here."

They all follow the man into an elevator. Rick holds out his hand. "Rick Grimes."

The man takes his hand. "Dr. Edwin Jenner."

He presses a button and they start descending. Daryl glances at his shotgun. "Doctors always go around packing heat like that?"

Jenner shrugs. "There were plenty left lying around. I familiarized myself. But you look harmless enough." He looks at the group and pauses when he gets to Carl. "Except you. I'll have to keep my eye on you."

Carl smiles and Y/N gives his hand a squeeze.

Once the elevator comes to a stop, Jenner leads them down a hallway and into a large room with screens and desks. "Vi, bring up the lights in the big room."

The room comes to life as it brightens. Jenner smiles at them. "Welcome to zone 5."

Y/N glances around. "Where is everyone? The other doctors? The staff?"

He waves his arms. "I'm it. It's just me here."

Andrea inhales. "What about the person you were speaking with? Vi?"

He speaks outward. "Vi, say hello to our guests. Tell them... welcome."

A computerized voice speaks loudly. "Hello, guests. Welcome."

He turns back to them. "I'm all that's left. I'm sorry."
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After Jenner takes their blood, he cooks up a spaghetti dinner. Everyone sits around a table, smiling and laughing. Carl is sitting in between Y/N and Rick. Lori sits next to him.

Dale sips from a glass with a laugh. "You know, in Italy, children have a little bit of wine with dinner."

Y/N nods. "And in France."

Lori rolls her eyes playfully. "Well, when Carl is in Italy or France, he can have some then."

Rick laughs. "What's it gonna hurt? Cmon."

The group was talking about whether or not Carl should drink some of the wine that Jenner supplied them.

Lori nods and Y/N pours a couple sips into a glass and hands it to Carl. "Here ya go, bud."

He grins and takes a sip before making a sour face. "Yuck."

Everyone bursts into laughter and Y/N smiles taking the glass away. "More for me then."

Lori reaches behind Rick and pats Carl on his shoulder. "That's my boy."

Shane smiles. "Just stick to soda pop."

Daryl pours himself some more before turning to Glenn. "Not you."

Glenn raises an eyebrow. "What?"

Daryl coughs out a laugh. "Keep drinking, little man. I want to see how red your face can get."

Y/N smiles at him and shakes her head. She turns to Glenn. "You're gonna be so hungover."

Glenn shrugs and chugs more wine causing more laughter.

Rick stands up and clinks a metal fork against his own glass, silencing the group. "It seems to me we haven't thanked our host properly."

Everyone smiles and nods, holding up their own glasses, shouting various thank you's. Rick sits back down and Carl takes a big bite of spaghetti causing Y/N to almost spit out her wine.

Shane eventually glances over at their host with a less-than-happy expression. "So when are you gonna tell us what the hell happened here, doc? All the... the other doctors that were supposed to be figuring out what happened, where are they?"

Y/N rolls her eyes. "We're celebrating, Shane."

Rick agrees. "No need to do this now."

Shane holds up his hands defensively. "Whoa, wait a second. This is why we're here, right? This was your move... Supposed to find all the answers. Instead we..." He coughs out a laugh. "We found him. Found one man. Why?"

Jenner sighs and sets down his utensil. "Well, when things got bad, a lot of people just left. Went off to be with their families. And when things got worse, when the military cordon got overrun, the rest bolted. Many couldn't face walking out the door. They... opted out. There was a rash of suicides. That was a bad time."

Y/N can understand that. When her coworker, Mandy, left her alone, she felt lost. She didn't know what to do. Stay in the office? Flee? What could she do?

When she found the gun in Brent's desk, she contemplated if she should use it on herself. She had a lot of dark thoughts. Thirty-two years of living and yet she felt as if she never had. She worked in a f*cking office for christs sake.

Everything felt hopeless. When she found Rick, she found that glimmer that she needed. Then she met the rest of the group. Now she has little Carl, who follows her around everywhere. Those thoughts still float around her mind sometimes.

T-Dog glances at Jenner. "You didn't leave. Why?"

The doctor shrugs. "I just kept working. Hoping to do some good."

Glenn sighs and leans his head back, looking at Shane. "Dude, you are such a buzzkill, man."

Y/N huffs out a laugh and chugs the last of her wine.
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Jenner leads the group down a hallway with various doors. "Most of the facility is powered down including housing, so you'll have to make do here. The couches are comfortable, but there are cots in storage if you like. There's a rec room down the hall that you kids might enjoy. Just don't plug in the video games, okay? Or anything that draws power. The same applies... If you shower, go easy on the hot water."

Carl looks up at Y/N with a wide grin. "Hot water?"

She smirks. "That's what the good man said."

People start splitting up to take different rooms.

Y/N leans down to Carl. "Bud, why don't you go hang out with your mama for a little bit? I'm gonna take a shower."

He nods and she heads towards a bathroom.

The water feels amazing. She stands still, letting the water fall on her body. It's warm. It's something that she took for granted before the world fell apart.

She gets out of the shower and wraps a towel around her body. She opens the bathroom door and is met by Rick.

"Oh my god." She quickly makes sure her towel is completely covering her.

He averts his gaze. "Shit. Sorry. I thought Carl was in here."

She looks at the floor. "Yeah.. yeah."

He glances at her. "I'll... i'm gonna-" He points at the door to the room and she nods. He exits the room and she sits on the edge of the couch.

What in the actual fuck just happened?
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