Beauty in the broken (Rick Grimes x OC)

Morgan and Duane

She flew out onto the porch only to see a little boy standing over Rick's unconscious body with a shovel in his hand,

"Daddy! Daddy!" The boy was screaming but I couldn't see who he was talking to, "Daddy, I got the sumbitch! I'm gonna smack him dead!" the boy was yelling. It was at this point Al flew back into action,
"Whoa whoa whoa he's not dead stop!" She was quickly making her way down the stairs over to the boy but he was too amped up to notice her so she pulled the shovel out of his hand before he could swing again. It was then that she saw another man run up to them and hold the boy back, " hey I thought I heard him say something, you know they don't talk."
"That's because he's not dead" Al said quietly trying not to escalate the situation. He looked at her and then down at Rick, "What's the bandages for? Was he bit?" he asked her.
"No he was shot." She decided it best not to tell this man that she had only just met Rick but it was probably obvious by his hospital gown that he definitely hadn't been wondering around long.

-

A few hours later they Al was watching Rick sleep. It was the first time she had been able to take a good look at this man without being distracted by other things. He was quite handsome she thought, much older than her too maybe early to mid thirties and despite having been in a coma for who knows how long his muscles were still quite defined and solid, this she had noticed while changing his bandages earlier.
She was so in a world of her own she hadn't noticed that he'd woken up or that he was staring at her staring at him.
"Got that bandage changed now, it was pretty rank" Morgan said as he entered the room, snapping her out of her thoughts. It was only then that she noticed Duane standing on the other side of the room with a baseball bat.
"Hey kid, you can put that down he's not going to do anything. You already have him tied up like an animal." She said motioning to Rick's hands tied above his head. She had been against tying him up but Morgan had insisted just in case there were any bites or scratches that they couldn't see.
"—and don't think I won't" she caught the tail end of Morgan's conversation with Rick. He was currently threatening the poor man with a knife.
"Hey Morgan just cut the poor guy loose, he's not going to do anything and if he does I'll kill him myself." Al said, she didn't mean it but Rick was spooked enough he and didn't need to be threatened on top of it. After cutting him free Morgan left the room with Duane, " come on out when you guys are ready." he said looking at Al.
"Thanks" she whispered looking at Rick who had turned his back to her.
"Hey, when you're ready we'll explain everything but right now just rest." She said before standing up and leaving.

-
Alexis POV:

About an hour later Rick walked into the dining room where I was helping Duane and Morgan with supper. He was wrapped up in a blanket and looked very confused.
"This place...Fred and Cindy Drake's?" He asked.
"Never met em." Morgan answered.
"I've been here. This is their place." Rick answered in an accusatory tone as if we had broken in. I mean technically we did but it didn't matter anymore.
"Rick I told you. Every one is gone. I don't think Fred or Cindy are going to mind us taking shelter here." I said gently as I watched him walk around. He look over at me for a few seconds before going to the window.
"Don't do that, they'll see the light." Morgan warned him as he was about to lift the tarp to look out.
"They are very active tonight, you never should have shot that gun. You drew them straight to our door." I said glaring at Morgan.
"I know...it was stupid but it all happened so fast I didn't think." He said scratching the back of his neck.

"You shot that man today" Rick said from right behind me making me jump a little.
"Weren't no man" Duane stated matter of factly making Morgan look at him with a stern look, "What the hell was that out your mouth just now?"
"It wasn't a man" Duane corrected himself. I couldn't help but giggle a little, Morgan let his son say bitch but the wrong vocabulary got the poor a kid a stern talking to.
"You shot him in the street out front...a man" Rick insisted getting a little worked up.
"Rick calm down. It was a Walker not a man." I said turning to look up at him. I gently took his wrist urging him to sit down.
"Come, sit down and have something to eat and we'll explain everything" I said gently.
As he sat down Morgan put some backed beans on his plate but before Rick could dig in Duane interrupted, "Daddy....blessing." He took his father's hand and then mine, I held my other hand out for Rick to take. He looked at me a little annoyed but went with it anyway.
After Morgan finished praying I gave both Rick and Duane's hands a little squeeze before letting go earning myself questioning looks from both of them. "Habit" I said simply and shrugged my shoulders. It wasn't a lie, my councillor at school would always pray with me at the beginning and at the end of all our sessions and at the end of every prayer she would squeeze my hands and after a while I started doing it to.
It was quiet for a while after that, the only sounds were our forks clattering against our plates.
"Hey mister, do you even know what's going on?" Morgan asked eventually.
"I woke up in the hospital today. That's where I met Al, she said something but I don't think I fully took it in. She then took me home and that's all I know." Rick answered
"But you know about the dead people right?" Morgan continued his questioning.
"Yeah, I saw a lot of that...out in the loading docks, piled on trucks." Rick responded looking down at his plate.
"No, not the ones they put down. The ones they didn't...the Walkers. Morgan said shaking his head.
"The one Morgan shot today, he would've ripped into you, tried to eat you. Taken some flesh at least." I said watching Ricks reaction carefully. He quite clearly thought we were crazy. "Look I know how this must sound...I mean a month ago I was watching it all unfold on the news and still thought it was some sick prank. But this is the real deal Rick...it's not a joke." I said trying to get him to understand.
"They're out there now? In the street?" He asked looking between us bewildered.
"Yeah" Duane said still happily eating his beans.
"They get more active after dark. Maybe it's the cool air." Morgan said.
"Or maybe it was you firing that gun today" I spoke up again glaring at him.
"Are you going to let that go at some point?" Morgan asked a little amused by the fact that I was still mad about that.
"Nope" I said and continued eating my food as Morgan carried on filling Rick in on the ins and outs of the new world.