The Walking Dead Preferences/Imagines

As Long As You're With Me (Rick Grimes)

Finding Alexandria was a blessing. Of course, Rick was hesitant after everything he and the group had been through. He’d been introduced to a lot of the new people in town but a young woman caught his attention more than anyone. He eventually learned how to function in normal (as normal as they could get anyway) society again but he never thought he’d fall in love again.

Her name was May. She was kind and smart and easy to talk to. She was a good listener and was the only one who wasn’t afraid of him when he first showed up. The best part of it all was that she was in love with him too and they wasted no time beginning a wonderful and picture perfect romance.

The worst part of it? May had been safe behind these walls since the start. She was naïve and inexperienced having no training with guns or blades. She told him she’d seen a few walkers but she never experienced the hordes the way Rick had.

Luckily for Rick, May was also ambitious and was ready to be taught everything there was to know about surviving in this world. She had a thirst for knowledge and that was one of many things Rick loved about her.

One morning, Rick was getting out of the shower and there was a knock at his door. He ruffled his wet curls with a towel as he answered the door. There was May standing on his porch with a duffel bag over her shoulder and a Tupperware container in her hands.

“Morning, sweetheart!” May said cheerfully, “Can I come in? I brought breakfast.”

“Of course,” Rick replied, wrapping his arm around her waist to greet her with a kiss. May smiled under his kiss the way she always did as if it was their first kiss. She took Rick by the hand and dragged him into the kitchen, dropping the bag on the floor and going into the cabinets for some plates. He frowned at the bag and then looked back up at May as he sat down, “What’s with the bag?”

“I had a thought,” May replied as she set a plate down in front of Rick. She kept her eyes down at the silverware drawer, pulling forks and knives out before bumping the drawer with her hip to shut it.

“And what was your thought?”

“You’ve been teaching me how to use guns and knives and things like that and I just thought some target practice might do me some good,” May explained, “What do you think?”

Rick watched May scoop some eggs and drop them onto his plate, dropping two strips of bacon done with them. Rick picked up the strip of bacon and bit down on it with a loud crunch, crumbs falling onto his lap. Brushing the crumbs off his pants, he nodded and responded, “You’re probably right, May. Is there somewhere around here we can practice away from everyone?”

“Actually,” May began, slowly sliding into her chair across from Rick’s, “I was thinking we could go outside the walls.”

“May, I don’t know,” Rick mumbled, “You haven’t been practicing for very long. There’s so many dangerous things out there you haven’t seen yet.”

“Rick, how am I supposed to learn if I don’t see it?” May argued. She stretched her arms out in front of her and grabbed Rick’s hands, “Come on. You’ll be with me so I know I’ll be safe.”

“I’m just not sure if you’re ready,” Rick murmured.

“Well I am,” May said firmly. She got out of her chair and picked the bag up, throwing the bag over her shoulder and placing her hands on her hips, “Let’s go!”

Rick refused to take May very far outside the walls as he still was uneasy about the situation. It was still pretty early in the morning and the sun was still hiding behind the clouds and the leaves on the ground were still slick with morning dew.