Tomorrow Will Be Kinder {IHOFIL Sequel}

Chapter 9: "A While"

“I haven’t done this in a while.”

He felt her warm breathe in his neck as she moved above him, crying out and moving her own sweaty body against his. Before he could think of what he was doing, he pressed himself further inside her, feeling the way her fingernails pressed sharply into his back.

Her weight lifted slightly as she moved, groaning loud enough to wake the dead but the sound was nothing compared to the sound that was escaping his own throat. His fingers ran up her cold body, wanting to explore every inch and crevice, wanting to know what it felt like to be with her.

"Oh, Rick," she breathed out softly, almost as if she hadn't said it. "I'm gonna..."

Her whole body shuddered as she reached her high, letting out a sharp cry and pressing her body to his own. He was inside her, a place he hadn't even thought about a week before but the closeness stole something from him and he barely had time to gather his mind before her lips met his in a hungry kiss, something about the way she kissed him that did something and soon enough, he met his own high.

When there was nothing left inside him, she fell down at his side, slowly moving to tug on her forgotten clothing as she began to catch her breath.

"Rick..." she started but there was nothing else that could be said.

She laid back down beside him, looking at him but his own eyes were on the sky. She wanted to ask him something, wanted to ask what this meant but he wasn't paying attention to her- probably regretting becoming so close.

She was young, probably just eighteen and he was likely atleast thirty-six by now which, by comparison, echoed the ages Beth and Daryl had been when they pursued their relationship but the feeling that it was so wrong still hung in the back of his mind.

"What happens after this?" she asked, noticing the way he still didn't take his eyes off the sky. "I mean, if we never find the group then I guess we find a house and spend the rest of our lives doing this, pretending that everything is okay."

"It is," he argued.

Aislynn snorted, leaning up to look down at him. "It's anything but okay, Rick," she laughed. "Your son is my boyfriend and what we just did... What does that make us?"

"I-I don't know."

"Of course you don't because believe it or not, we fucked up. We shouldn't have kissed and I shouldn't have told you I liked you. This is my fault, my fault for admitting I liked you first and initiating the kiss and for putting my hand down your pants because I'm a fucked up child and I've gone and-"

"When we find them, no one finds out," he replied, leaning up to meet her eyes. "They don't need to know. You go back to Carl and I go back to flirting with Michonne."

"I can't do that, you know I can't," she hissed, shaking her head. "I can't go back to being with my boyfriend and pretending this didn't happen. We kissed, we did more than that and I can't even begin to wrap my head around that. When we get back to the group then we tell them because I can't pretend to still love Carl with every fibre of my being when I know I love you too."

"It's what we do," he said harshly. "We don't ever mention this, tomorrow this is over."

Aislynn stared at him before wiping away at a tear. "I just messed up my relationship for you and this is how you treat me. You're Carl's dad, that makes me disgusting. That's like Carl being with Beth then.... Then Hershel."

"That isn't remotely the same," he defended.

"Then tell me what this is," she pleaded, resting her hand on his. "Because if this isn't worth fighting for- you and I- then I'm going to the North-West tree to wait for Tara then I'm getting Nevaeh and finding my cousin. And if I don't find him, then I guess I'm going to end up alone raising a child that isn't mine because hell, I’m never going to get to have my own one."