Imagines [Book Three]

TWD [Rick X Reader] pt. 2

Settling in at Alexandria was more work than you anticipated.

You had kept your word to Maggie, going on to have a conversation with Deanna and her husband about your strengths and what you could bring to the table. She wasn't too keen on the idea of you teaching anyone how to fight, but her husband was quick to have her sleep on it before totally turning the idea down. After all, if an unsavory bunch found Alexandria and decided to take it by force, it would be a great deal of help to have any able-bodied person help defend their home besides just Rick and Michonne who had been appointed Constables of the town.

You were eventually given the go ahead to teach whoever wanted to learn to defend themselves from the living and the dead, so long as Deanna or her husband could oversee for the first few weeks. You didn't mind, especially when it was her husband because all he did was write in a notebook of his while occasionally shouting out words of encouragement.

Everyone seemed to settle in fine, with the exception of Daryl who didn't like being confined. You understood his point of view perfectly well, but even he couldn't be a grump for too long. Not when he saw how happy it made Rick to have his children safe for once and when one of the locals had a motorcycle just sitting in their garage that they let Daryl work on so he had something to ride.

The Alexandrians slowly came to terms that the authority inside the town was being spread to more than just Deanna and her husband, and only a few had problems with that- namely Deanna's sons who got away with mostly everything. But then her eldest son died when out on a mission with Glenn and some others, and another local thought Rick was trying to make a move on his wife Jesse. However, the turning event was the unfortunate death of Deanna's husband at the hand of Jesse's own husband when in a scuffle with Rick, and Deanna had no problem letting Rick take charge. Deanna went on to take Maggie in as her second and gave Rick free reign of how he wanted to run things so long as he told her before any big changes.

Everything seemed to be going good for a while, conflicts being worked out when the tension was on the verge of exploding into a brawl and the locals finally putting their trust in the way the Constables and Deanna were running Alexandria. There were still a few conflicts that lingered, mostly between the teenagers, but everyone seemed to brush it off as teen angst that would eventually resolve itself.

It was easy to fall into a routine once you were comfortable, it being easier that you weren't totally trapped inside the walls and were allowed to keep the woods clear around the town. But it was inevitable that something would come up, making those in charge wonder if their little haven was actually safe, and that something came in the form of the walking dead with 'W's carved into their foreheads.

◈◈◈

A sound startles you awake and it takes you a moment to realize what it actually is when it happens again. Someone's knocking on your bedroom door. So rapidly kicking your legs to disentangle the sheet from them, you slide out of bed and stumble towards the door. Opening it, you're surprised to find a sleepy Carl standing there with a fussy Judith.

"Hey, Y/N," he yawns. "Sorry to wake you up, but Judith isn't going back down like she normally does. Do you mind taking her for a bit?"

"Not at all." Taking Judith from his arms, you yawn around a smile that's directed at Carl who tiredly rubs at his eyes before turning to go back to the room he shared with his baby sister. Then feeling the baby shift in your arms, you turn your attention to her before shutting your door once more and gently bouncing her in your arms as you walk to bed. "What's wrong, huh? You feel like playing instead of sleeping like a normal human being?" Judith coos and you can't help but melt no matter what time it is. And speaking of time, you glance at the clock on your bedside table and quietly groan when you notice it's only after three in the morning.