Rick's Ruby

Chapter 14

Dark settled over the farm and they'd talked deep into it. Lori, Carl, Maggie, Glenn, Hershel and Beth had retired to their rooms to sleep, and Rick had gone to get Paul settled in at the cot, removing the last of his belongings from it. Ruby went to the kitchen for water before going to her own room, and found Daryl sitting at the kitchen table in the dim light of a candle, tightening the strings on his bow carefully.

"Hey, you gonna get some rest?" She said idly as she filled a bottle left on the counter.

"Soon." He said flatly and she came to sit across from him at the table.

"You never showed me how to make those arrows." She said leaning back in the chair.

He kept his eyes on his task. "You gonna be around long enough for me to bother?"

She chuckled. "You are Rick, huh? Thinking I'm running off into the sunset because Paul's come back? Hate to disappoint you, but you're not getting rid of me that easily."

His eyes flicked up to her momentarily. "You get done with your little field trip tomorrow come and find me."

She grinned and got up, capping her water bottle. "Goodnight Daryl." He grunted as she left the room. Friendly, he may not seem so, but she liked him an awful lot.

Paul was sitting on the cot as she got into the dining room, untying his boots. He grinned as she came in. "I am so glad not to be sleeping in that truck, you have no idea."

"I do too. You remember that Corolla we picked up, all three of us slept in that thing for a week." She leaned against the table and smiled at him.

"And my back will never be the same. You promised to help out with that, you know." He chuckled and leaned back on the cot, turning over on his stomach and looking back at her expectantly. She laughed lightly and put her hands on his shoulders, digging in a little with her thumbs like Rose had taught her. He let out a low "ughhh" as she worked on him, relaxing under her touch. "I have missed this, gotta tell you."

"Rose did it better." She said and he shrugged.

"She was pretty amazing but you're not half bad."

"Thanks for that." She chuckled. "Considering it's all you got left I would hope so."

"I like Rick." He said after a moment and she raised her eyebrows, thoughtfully kneading his left shoulder. "I wasn't sure I would."

"I knew you would."

"Well, you said Daryl was a good guy too, but I still think you're delusional. Dude redefines anti-social, doesn't he?"

"Maybe at first. Maybe forever, with you. He's a type A personality, that's for sure."

He grunted again lightly as she hit a particularly tense spot and she focused on that for a while. When he spoke again, he was muffled by the pillow he'd buried his face in. "I guess I have to take your word for it, but the rest of them seem good enough. You got lucky."

"I know I did. How's that?" She asked, finishing up. "You think you can get some sleep now?"

"A hell of a lot better than I would have. Thanks." He said, letting out a breath and rolling over on his side to look at her.

"Well, enjoy it while it lasts. We'll be back on the road soon enough."

"We'll find someplace, maybe even better." His voice was positive, cheerful, and she chuckled.

"Always the optimist. Get some sleep, we have to be up early to go to the garden." She said, leaning down and kissing his cheek. He reached up and mussed her ponytail gently.