Broken Pieces || Ron Anderson - Carl Grimes TWD

[4.]

||Frankie's POV||

It's been a week and a half since I've been at Alexandria, and I actually really like it here. Ron, Mikey and I have all grown really close, and Aaron and Eric and I are close too, they're like the uncles I never had. Funny how things go from bad to good in just a few days. 

"Alright, Frankie. You're all set. Just be sure to be careful if you decide to go run or something. Okay?" Pete asks. I nod. I just now got my crutches off, finally. 

Careful not to land on my ankle the wrong way, I jump down. Ron had accompanied me today so he held his hands up to catch me if I fall, luckily I don't. 

"Remember, be careful." Pete yells after us once we start making our way up to the exit of the infirmary. I nod and open the door. I place my foot onto the porch and grin. Ron notices and smiles too. "Please don't end up falling off the porch." He says jokingly. I roll my eyes and manage to get to the ground and stick my tongue out at him. 

"So, what do you wanna do now that you can walk and move around without knocking something down?" He asks jokingly, and I lightly punch his arm. He flinches a little. "Did that really hurt?" I ask a little surprised. I didn't think I was that strong. Heck, I know I'm not strong enough to actually hurt someone by barely punching them. 

"Uh, no." He lies.

"Ron, I know that you're lying. Come on let me see." I go to grab his arm but he pulls away from me. "I'm okay, really Frankie." He says and I stop walking. "No, I know I didn't punch you that hard." 

He turns around to face me. Tears are in his eyes. "Ron, I'm sorry, I didn't mean -" Before I can finish my sentence he shakes his head. "No, It's okay. You didn't hurt me." He takes a few steps forward so that he's closer to me, but not too close. 

"Then what's wrong?" I ask, he avoids my eyes. "Fine, if you won't tell me." I mumble and push past him. 

"Frankie wait!" He yells, but I'm already a few feet away from him. 

A few seconds later a hand grabs my arm. "Frankie, listen. Please?" Ron asks. I stop and turn to face him while folding my arms over my chest. "I want to tell you, I really do. But I can't. I'm sorry." My face softens. I let out a sigh but nod. "Fine, you can tell me when you're ready." He smiles a little. "Thank you." 

We continue walking. We reach the gates of Alexandria and sit on a curb near them. "Do you miss it?" Ron asks out of nowhere after sitting in silence for a few minutes. "Miss what?" 

"Michigan." 

I pick up a small rock off the ground and attempt to skip it on the road. "Of course I do. Everyday." I whisper. 

Ron and I sit in silence for a little while longer until the gate opens. Heath, Annie, and Scott pull in. Ron and I stand up to greet them. Heath smiles at the two of us. 

"Aye Shortstop, Ron." He nods at the two of us. The past week and a half that Heath has known me, he's decided to call me Shortstop. 

"Find anything good?" I ask, leaning against the car. "Oh yeah. It's a giant superstore, hasn't been fully cleaned out, but we couldn't get a lot with just the three of us and this small car. We'll have to make a bunch of trips to get it all. That's a huge risk." Heath tells me, then an idea pops into my head.

"Can I help?" 

Heath stares at me then laughs. "With what?"

"I wanna go out on runs. To be honest, I kind of miss being out there." Before anyone can say anything Ron speaks up. "No way are you going out there." 

"It's not your decision Ron." 

Ron goes to say something but Annie speaks up. "You just got off your crutches, you sure you can handle it?" I nod. "I'm fine, trust me. I helped with runs back at my old camp. It kind of runs in my family." 

The three of them all exchange a look. "I don't know, Shortstop. You're what, 14?" I nod. "You need people, right? I'm pretty quick on my feet, yano when I'm not tripping over traintracks. Please?" I try to convince them. 

"We'll talk to Deanna, okay?" He asks and I nod. I raise up off the car and he drives to the supply room. 

"Why do you want to go back out there Frankie?" Ron asks clearly upset. "Do you honestly think Aaron and Eric would let you go? Or that I would let you go? You could get hurt." 

"That's  a possibility. But you and I both know, no one is willing to go outside of these walls. These people are terrified of their own shadows. They wouldn't survive out there." Ron lets out a groan. 

"I doubt Deanna will let you." He says. "We'll see." 

I start walking back to my house with Ron trailing behind me. "If you die out there, I won't be able to live with myself." Ron says once he's caught up to me. 

"Ron, I'll be fine. You don't have to worry, alright?" Ron sighs but nods. "Yeah, whatever." he mumbles. 

Once we're at my house I plop down on one of the chairs on the porch, Ron sits next to me. Eric walks out of the house with a smile on his face. "Hey you two. How does your leg feel?" Eric asks me. "It feels like it's okay, kind of hurts a little, like a bruise yano." 

Eric nods and starts to head back inside, but before he can put one foot in the door Ron speaks up. "Frankie wants to ask you something." I mentally facepalm. 

"What is it Frankie?" He asks and I let out an awkward laugh. "I uh, wanted to um... start going out on runs with Heath, Annie, and Scott." Eric sends me a disapproving look, but I continue. "They need the people, and Aiden and everyone have their own runs, please Eric, if Deanna says yes? I want to help out around here, and you guys are gonna be out trying to find more people, so I just thought.." I trail off. By now Aaron has joined us and was listening to the conversation. 

Eric and Aaron exchange a glance, but before they can say anything Heath's voice interrupts us. He runs up the steps to the porch and leans against one of the rails holding it up. "Deanna said it's okay, as long as it's okay with Eric and Aaron. She said that Frankie's a tough girl and everything, she know's what she's doing." 

"If it's okay with Deanna, then sure." Aaron says. Heath nods. "Alright, so Frankie, you meet us at the gate at 6 a.m tommorow, I hate that we're not going to take you on a trial run first, but I'm sure you'll do good." Heath tells me and I nod. 

"You better be careful tomorrow." Eric says, pointing his finger at me. I smile. "Always am." 

Eric and Aaron go back inside to do whatever they were doing, and Heath goes back home, leaving Ron and I on the porch. 

"Ron, are you okay?" I ask, he doesn't turn to look at me. "Ron?" I try again. Still no reply. 

"Damnit Ron. If you're mad at me just tell me." I'm starting to get frustrated and he knows it. "I'm not mad at you Frankie. I just don't want you to get hurt." He says, finally looking at me. There's sadness in his eyes. 

"I'll be okay, and then when I get back, we can go play video games or play tag, or do whatever teenagers used to do." I try to cheer him up. It takes him a minute to reply, but he does. "Fine." 

--

[A/N: Woo. So like I kind of have an idea for this story, but I don't know.

So like, anything I've made that's RARL (Ron and Carl) has gotten like more interaction. So that's pretty cool.

BUT ILY ALL AND HAVE A NICE TWD DAY.]