Trying to Make It Right

Examinations and Confrontations

          Once inside the RV Rick found himself with two men looking at him expectantly, waiting for him to undress so they could examine his gunshot wound. He rolled his eyes at their behavior, before unbuttoning his shirt and shrugging it off, knowing that the longer he delayed their poking and prodding the more antsy they would become and there had been enough tension between the two men tonight in his opinion. Both men hissed as the shirt came off, followed by his undershirt, showing his chest to their curious gazes. Rick jumped as Shane's finger brushed over his ribs gently, wondering what the hell they were reacting to, it wasn't like he was bleeding everywhere or anything.

        "Fuck! We need ta get some meat on ya Grimes! This kinda shit ain't going ta fly with me. Yer skin and bones!" Daryl muttered, anger clear in his voice as his eyes fixed on the clearly visible ribs that had been revealed when Rick had taken his shirt off. Shane nodded in agreement with the other man's words, his eyes blazing, and a guilty look shadowing them for some reason. Rick flinched slightly as his lover and friend took his condition in. He hadn't gotten this reaction in the other time line- not even from Lori in the privacy of their tent when they had sex that first night. It was... disconcerting to get it now when he was pretty sure that he was in better shape now than before, in the other timeline and when he woke up in this one. So he was a little skinny, it wasn't going to kill him.

        Morgan had been pretty clear in limiting activity on their trip here and the other man constantly had him snacking on things even though Rick thought it was a bit wasteful to have him eating so much when their supplies wouldn't last forever. Well to tell the truth his mother hen friend hadn't bothered him about eating so much today since they had gotten to camp and started settling in for the moment, but the thought process was still there. He'd given Rick an earful about it when he'd gone into his tent for the supplies in fact because he had been watching Rick and wasn't too happy about what he had seen. And Morgan was in no way pleased about his decision to let Shane and Daryl 'play' doctor with him tonight considering that the Doctor had a suspicion that both of them were attracted to him. His friend thought he was inviting trouble by indulging their request and he might just be right.

         Rick knew he had felt as weak as a damn kitten at times in the past week, which is why he had listened to Morgan's overly protective advice for the most part. Still his worry didn't change the fact that no one had given his condition a second glance before and he hadn't realized that he was as bad off as he was seeing in their eyes. Maybe he should have taken Morgan's rants about taking their time getting here a little more seriously when they were on their way to Atlanta, but he couldn't change that now. He'd have to apologize to his friend for being such a stubborn asshole at some point, but that was a bit of a given. Stubborn asshole seemed to be his default attitude this time around.

           If Rick was completely honest with himself, when the doctor had tossed around jabs at exhaustion and starvation Rick had thought he was kidding since he had been just fine the first journey- and he had traveled faster than he had with Morgan and Duane in tow. Rick had only slowed their pace down more when he wasn't feeling so hot, and most of that was due to the fact that he was pretty sure that Morgan would have knocked him out if he didn't. The fact that his condition was being received like this repeatedly reinforced Rick's earlier thoughts of his luck in having lived as long as he had the first time.

         "I don't know how the hell you made it out that damned hospital and to Atlanta like this Rick. Look at yer ribs! You're starving man. I shouldn't have hugged you so hard and there is no way in hell you should have picked Carl up earlier. Promise me ya won't do that again until we get you better." Shane whispered- the horror he was feeling clear in his voice. The other man shook his head, before drawing himself away from looking at Rick's ribs and focusing in on the bandage with a wary look in his eyes as he did.