A Fever I Can't Sweat Out (Carl Grimes fanfic)

Home Sweet Home

I wake up to the soft snoring of Carl.  I turn and look up to see his head leaned back, and his eyes closed softly.  I have no idea what time it is or where we are, so I just stay put, with my body on Carl’s lap.  There is no talk coming from the front, so I assume that Rick is asleep. 

I stay like that for awhile, trying to fall back asleep, but I’m wide awake.  I turn on to my back, and play with my silky blonde hair.  I always used to braid my hair to keep myself calm, it was just a way I dealt with all the stress from my shattered family. 

As I intertwine the strands of thin hair, I think of what has happened to me in the last few days.  Everything has happened so fast.  Losing my sister, finding a group, being questioned, losing the prison, kissing Carl, I’m just so overwhelmed.

I hear Judith start to fuss, so I sit up.  She’s looking at a bottle of formula in the cup holder. 

That wasn’t there before? We must have stopped and someone must have gotten that bottle ready for when Judith woke up. 

I quickly unbuckle her from her car seat, and put her on my lap, while grabbing the bottle.

She gratefully drinks from the bottle, while I rock her gently.

“Thank you.”  Rick says from the front seat.  His voice is groggy and he has dark bags under his eyes. 

“No problem sir.” I smile.

“You don’t have to call me ‘sir’.   Just call me Rick.” He laughs. 

“Ok sorry sir- I, I mean Rick.” I stutter.  I feel my face getting warm and look back to Judith. 

After I’m finished feeding Judith, Rick and I talk about how I survived when the apocalypse first started.

“Yeah, my mom had cancer when it started, and since there were no more doctors.. she got worse and worse, until she couldn’t do it anymore.” I continue.

“I’m so sorry.” Rick says sympathetically.

“Don’t be, she was never much of a mother anyway.” I say looking out the window.

“Don’t talk about your mom like that.” He sighs.

I feel my hands clench into fists, but I don’t want to get myself kicked out, so I just ignore him and look out the window.  A few walkers scatter the side of the road, along with corpses of once lively people. 

 Carl shifts around, hitting his head on the window, instantly waking him up.  I stifle a laugh and ask if he’s ok.

“Just Peachy.” He grumbles, rubbing his head.

“Do you need me to kiss your booboo to make it better?” I tease.

He looks at me, and gives me a sly smile. “Yes, it’s right here.” He says pointing to his lips.

I immediately feel my face turn red.  “That’s not where you hit your head.” I roll my eyes.

“It wasn’t?” he asks, playing dumb.

“Nope.” I laugh.

Just then we come across a dirt road and Daryl speaks up.

“I think we arrived.” He smiles. 

As we turn on to the soft turf, I gaze into the vast forest on either sides of the driveway.  It looks like the trees go on for miles!

Our little caravan of cars slowly makes its way up to the house, with no walkers in sight.  Score! But I know from experience that those monsters are sneaky sons of bitches, and like to lurk in the shadows.