Solace (Walking Dead/Rick Grimes)

Savages

"Ana, Ana."

"Huh." I slumped over, feeling the warmth of another body under mine.

"Ana. You have to wake up, we have to get a move on." A whisper close to my ear. I opened both eyes, blinking against the afternoon sunlight. Rick was looking around, sitting close to me.

Nevermind, I was sitting on top of him. His body was the one I was using as a makeshift bed. I scrambled to move up, but relaxed when I felt his arms around me. We were alone. "Where is everyone?"

"Went down to the river for some water." He shifted underneath me, his hands fire through the thin fabric of my shirt. I started to move, feeling heat rush to my face.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?" He asked, confused.

"Lying on top of you like this." I planted my hands on the grass, trying to scoot away.

"You're fine." He said quietly. He dropped his arms from around my waist, his hand moving casually down my thigh. I looked at him. No matter what dangerous situation we were in right now, I couldn't put my feelings for him on the back burner. His eyes moved to my mouth. I didn't wait anymore. Time was too precious to waste right now.

His mouth moved against mine, fingers gripping me and pressing me against him. I reached up and grabbed onto the back of his head, feeling my sense of awareness fade to the background.

Someone cleared their throat behind us. Daryl had his arms crossed, pointedly looking at the ground.

"What's goin on?" Rick stammered out, moving a hand through his hair.

"We need to be leavin now if you wanna cover a good chunk by night. Everyone's ready to go." Daryl turned away, sunlight careening off the silver tips of the arrows sticking out of his knapsack. We watched him retreat. Once I felt my face cool and my heart stop beating so erratically, I looked at Rick. We moved to stand up, stopping when we heard a branch break.

"Nothing." Rick murmured, stretching up to his full height.

"Dad." I whirled around to find Carl looking at Rick and me. He was bouncing Judith on one hip, scratching the back of his head with one hand. He pulled the sheriff's hat he always wore down to his eyebrows. "Are you ready to go or not?"

"We're goin'. Everyone ready to go?"

"Yes. Daryl came and told you that already." Carl turned away, disappearing behind a clearing of trees.

Rick watched him go, then looked at me. "Lead the way."

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So we walked on, a small mob. Maggie, Glenn, Michonne, Carol and Daryl walked up front, followed closely by Jesse and Carl, who still insisted on carrying Judith. Ford, Espinosa, Tara, Eugene, and Father Gabriel, who had told us he'd prefer to just go by Gabriel, followed them. And Rick and I walked behind. I wiped my brow as the sun beat down on us, straining to see that Jesse stayed close to Carl.

Rick walked with one hand on his gun, looking all around our surroundings. I was always nervous when I saw his hand close around his gun, poised to kill anything that decided to surprise us.

The goal was this: get to Washington D.C. It sounded outlandish to me.

"And then?" I'd asked Rick quietly the night before, while everyone was sitting around a makeshift fire Glenn and Daryl had started.

"And then...Ford says Eugene knows a way to stop this. He was a scientist who got transferred to Atlanta to research the disease. That means he knows the origin, and most importantly, he'll know how to get rid of it. He's everyone's biggest hope right now. And of course on the way Maggie wants to look for Beth."