Rick's Ruby

Chapter 28

They'd gotten back to the main house, the reality that the farm was not a protected little bubble was sinking in for Rick. They no longer had watches, so he took stock and asked Paul and Glenn to go to the front gate. Stay out of sight, he'd told them, and he would come relieve them in a few hours. When they disappeared over the hill, he turned and went into the main house.

"Rick," Beth said, coming to him in the front hall. "We need to try and find our stuff, if that's ok. I don't know what they did with it."

"Yeah, I'll go with you. Just give me a minute." He nodded, and she went back to the living room. He followed, and found Maggie with Carl, waiting for him.

"Daddy went back to check on Jimmy. What do you want to do with the kids? Carol got the little ones to talk, but Rebeccah is pretty out of it." Maggie said, stuffing her hands in her back pockets.

"I'll go see her. Maybe taking her to Jimmy will help, a familiar face and all." He bit the inside of his cheek as he thought out loud.

"Yeah, I think so too. I'll go check on him, why don't you bring her by?" Ruby said, and headed for the staircase. Rick watched her go, and wondered if he was going to tell Rebeccah what really happened to her mother. In the end, he figured he'd wing it, feel the girl out and see what the best thing to do was when the time comes. He told Beth he'd be back to take her to the other house, and headed on up to see Carol and the kids, Carl by his side.

"Hey. How you feeling?" Ruby asked when she peered around the partially open door, and saw Hershel checking Jimmy's bandage.

"Better. Where did you get all that medicine?" He grinned at her, looking over Hershel's shoulder.

"Found a pharmacy right before we got here that wasn't completely empty. It was lucky, huh?" She came in and took a seat on the other side, out of Hershel's way. Leaning back, she watched the older man work for a moment.

"Yeah. We never had anything like that. Bob said it would just lead to wantin' it, instead of needin' it."

"All depends on the person, young man." Hershel said softly, injecting a needle into his arm, and patting the site with a cotton ball. Jimmy winced, but settled back into the pillow after a moment, and looked back at Ruby.

"You went into town, or Rick and the guys did?"

"Me, Rick, and Paul, why?"

He chuckled, shaking his head. "Just not used to it, you know. The girls here never left the farm. Didn't carry guns, didn't kill anything but the chickens for dinner."

"Times are different now, I suppose. Ruby here is mighty good at protecting us, Maggie is great in retrieving things we need. And if I didn't have all of them I wouldn't be able to patch anybody up, I think we're lucky to have them all." Hershel said, and Ruby winked at him. He smiled, and stood back, looking down at Jimmy. "Take it easy, young man. Sleep when you can and you'll be up in a couple days. If you don't stress it."

"Yes, sir." Jimmy nodded, and Hershel went for the door.

"Thanks, Hershel." Ruby called out, and he waved as he vanished through the door, leaving it open a crack in case she needed anything.

"So, will you tell me about you guys now? Haven't had much chance so far." Jimmy sighed, obviously feeling the medicine, and settled further back in the pillows.

"What do you want to know?" Ruby asked.

"How'd you meet?"

She launched into the story, about how Paul had been with her since the beginning, but she'd lost him for a short time and Rick had found her, brought her back. How Paul had found them, the farmhouse they had stayed in, the road, the cave. She left out Lori and T-Dog, figuring it didn't much matter if Jimmy knew that stuff. Might confuse him.