Trying to Make It Right

Of Old Friends and Changes

             This time when he saw Duane, Rick stopped walking and held his hands up in a peaceful gesture as soon as the kid noticed him. He was completely clear minded so there wasn't any mistaking the child for his son, or whatever the hell he had done that first time that he had seen him. Duane froze, looking at him in a wide eyed panic that made Rick feel bad about just coming up to him without some sort of warning. He'd been a little too out of it the first time to really notice what his arrival had caused Duane to feel, and having lived with the uncertainty of what a new survivor could mean? Well he was already wishing that he would have approached this in a slightly different way now that he was seeing just how he was affecting the kid. Not that there was any good way to go about this when he intended on putting this kid's mother down as soon as he saw her.

        "Whoa there Little Man, I'm not meaning any harm here. There is no need to take a swing at me." He tried to sooth the child in front of him, drawing himself out of his thoughts and making sure that the little guy knew his intentions were not to harm him. When he spoke the little boy he knew would die for his father's vendetta looked behind Rick with wide eyes. Then the cop heard Morgan clear his throat and had to stop himself from smiling in relief. He had gotten attached to Morgan the first time around and seeing the other man after his son was killed? Well that had about killed him since his own son was alive and well.

       "Who the hell are you? And just what the hell are you doing near my son?" The other man demanded sharply, his voice hard and suspicious as he aimed his gun at Rick's head. Rick grimaced inwardly at that, there was the initial paranoia he had missed from the other man when he had ended up getting knocked out by Duane. Morgan wouldn't have the same trust in him now because he was skipping that painful and time consuming experience but he needed to get him and Duane out of here before the future became reality.

         "I'm just another person making it in this mess. Look I'm not 100 percent at the moment, so forgive me. I got shot before this all happened- I'm Officer Rick Grimes, pleasure to meet you Mister...." He replied, his voice raspy as he spoke. Damn it had been a while since he had talked this much. Morgan glared at him.

         "How the hell do I know you aint bit and just trying to pass it off as a gunshot?" He spat, his voice full of suspicion and doubt. Rick did grimaced then, maybe it would have been easier to let the young boy hit him with the shovel. At least then Morgan would have discovered the bandages on his own and he wouldn't be this confrontational.

         "I'll let you search me as closely as you want to so you can see for yourself. The only wound on me is the gunshot. I promise, but we should get inside before anymore of these things come out to play." He responded, keeping his voice light and not letting any of the what he was feeling leech into it. Morgan looked at him for a moment, before motioning him inside the house with a hard nod, not bothering to lower his gun as he did. Rick instantly understood the unsaid statement that Morgan didn't trust him yet.

        Rick followed his directions and entered the house that he remembered all too well without another word. He'd respect Morgan's wishes, because he needed to gain his trust somehow. And he needed to do it before he shot the walker that his wife had turned into to get them to leave with him. Otherwise he might just get shot himself and what good would his second chance be then? It would be wasted, that much was for sure and he sure as hell wasn't going to not see his lover and children again, so he wasn't dying here.

        When Morgan dismissed his son and looked at him pointedly Rick stripped all the way down- far to used to the the future where one bite equaled death to be embarrassed or shy about getting naked. The other man's eyes searched his body intently, looking for a bite, and at the gunshot. Morgan did raise an eyebrow at his behavior though, his lips twitching ever so slightly as he didn't find a bite. When Morgan was satisfied that the only wound he had was a lightly red scabbed over bullet hole the cop dressed again. The older man gave him with a sorrow filled look when he was finished though, his mood shifting in a second as he proved that he wasn't bit, that he was safe that way at least.