fun sized. chapter seven.
❝ you're severed from the people
who've watched you grow up ❝
——
STEVEY HAD mentally cursed herself for stuttering as she stood in front of rick, her hands clasped together, she tilted her head upwards to meet his gaze.
"yeah, he's upstairs with carl," rick replied as he stepped aside and opened the door wider for stevey to enter. the girl looked into the house, before she stepped inside. her eyes scanned the area, it looked the same as it did a few hours ago, same baby toys scattered across the living room floor, same picture up on the wall that stevey was once caught staring at.
the girl did not want to hangout with carl and franco, she loved franco and always hung out with him, he wasn't the problem, the other teen was. he didn't seem like someone stevey wanted to be friends with, and she was sure that franco wanted to be alone with him, anyways. so, stevey sat down on the couch without thinking, while rick closed the front door. he stared at her from his position behind the couch.
"why did your dad trust you here? what if we hurt you? how can he trust us?" rick questioned, confusion clear in his voice. stevey shrugged, she figured he was right, considering at that exact momen, rick and her were alone. he could've hurt her if he wanted to, if he was that type of person. if he wanted to cause negan the pain that he had caused him when he threatened to hurt his child, rick very well could hurt stevey. but he wouldn't. he wasn't the same kind of person negan was, and that's why stevey was allowed to stay, negan knew that, he knew rick was a good person.
"i don't know, i guess he thinks if you guys were to try and hurt me, there would be an extreme aftermath. you would be risking one of your own if you were to harm me," stevey replied, her eyes flicked upwards to watch rick walk around the couch, the man remained he sat down beside her. there was a moment of silence between the two, before rick spoke up.
"why don't you go hangout with the boys?" he questioned as he leaned back into the couch, crossing his arms over his chest, turning his head to the side to look at stevey. it sounded like a suggestion and a question combined, not like he was trying to get rid of the girl.
"franco has a crush on your son," stevey shrugged, her eyes not leaving it's gaze on the tv stand. she heard rick chuckle, and her lips stretched into a small smile.
"so i figured they would want to be alone — well, franco does," the brunette added. the two fell into comfortable silence, whilst they both thought about everything and anything.
"shit, i gotta go feed judith," rick quickly stood up, once he glanced the time. stevey couldn't help but smile. "just forgot those things need feeding?" the teen joked, watching rick make his way around the couch and over to the staircase that led to the upstairs bedrooms. the man smiled and shook his head playfully before he walked up the upstairs and disappeared from stevey's sight.
the girl sighed heavily, leaning back into the couch, closing her eyes for a moment as she sat in the silence. quiet was something that the sanctuary never had, which was understandable, considering over two hundred people did live there. stevey could be alone in her room with the door shut and locked but it would still be noisy, with saviors passing through the halls every moment, quiet was something that stevey was never encountered with. and now that she had it, she realized how much she did not like it.
the silence reminded her of her mother's hospital room, with lucille not having the energy to speak, and stevey not knowing what to talk about, considering all she could think about was her father's actions at the time, and she knew her mother didn't want to hear about that, so the two would sit in silence.
having enough with her thoughts, stevey pushed herself up off the couch and made her way towards the staircase. the teen quietly stepped up them, not wanting to disturb any of the fellow people inside the house. the first door on the left side of the hallway was opened, revealing rick, who was cradling a small child to his chest as he held a bottle to her mouth. stevey leaned against the doorframe and watched the side of him, rick was facing the crib, and his attention was too focused onto judith to notice stevey.
he's pretty. stevey thought, as she leaned her head against the frame and folded her arms over her chest. the teen felt like she could've stood there and watched him for hours. she knew that her thoughts about rick to think were wrong, but that's all they were, just thoughts.
"you know, it's rude to stare," stevey snapped out of her thoughts at the sound of rick's voice. his back was still turnt to her, as he continued to cradle his daughter close to his chest. stevey felt her cheeks heat up in the slightest, and she licked her lips as she pushed herself off of the doorframe.
"sorry, i didn't want to disturb your dad duties," stevey joked, and rick smiled softly as he kept his gaze locked onto his daughter.
"it's getting late, you can sleep in my bed, i'll take the couch," rick said, after he finished feeding the baby in his arms, and he lowered judith back down into her crib, smoothing his hand down her hair when she laid down.
"no, you don't have to do that. i can sleep on the couch, it's no biggie," stevey shrugged, watching rick as he turned around and faced her, an amused expression on his face.
"nope, you're my guest, you get the bed," rick paused to take a step towards the teen. "no more arguing." the man finished as he dipped his head down to lock eyes with stevey's. the girl had nodded, holding his eye contact for a moment longer than usual. rick smiled, before he brushed his shoulder with stevey's as he past her.
stevey had stood there for a moment, feeling to be frozen in place. she knew she was being dramatic, but she also couldn't help it. she vividly had a crush on the older man, ever since the first time she came to alexandria. it wasn't a big deal, stevey told herself. so what? sure he was her father's enemy, though rick was just trying to keep his family safe. stevey shouldn't have felt guilty. besides, no one would find out.
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franco, carl and stevey were all seated in the living room of the grimes household. rick had gone over to visit michonne, and judith was asleep in her crib upstairs, so that left just the three teens in the house. they had found an old deck of cards in the garage and were currently playing war. each of them were positioned on their stomachs, and despite their elbows beginning to hurt, they were having a good time hanging out.
"my boobs are starting to hurt," stevey complained, as she threw her card into the middle, rolling her eyes when carl won, again. "you can't hurt what you don't have," franco joked as he swung his legs out from underneath him and sat up. stevey shot him a glare, before jumping up and tackling him to the floor. carl watched as stevey punched franco in his shoulders repeatedly.
"asshole," stevey joked, slapping him across the cheek just hard enough to sting a little. franco gasped, still smiling. he punched her shoulder and laughed when she groaned and grabbed at it in pain. kneeing his ribcage, franco winced, before letting out a breathy chuckle.
"ow, get the hell off me!" franco laughed, pushing stevey to the side. the brunette rolled over back into her previous position, as did franco after a moment. "okay but seriously, this is getting boring," franco announced to the two after a few silent minutes. carl glanced at him when his card beat theirs again and he won.
"you're just mad cause you're losing," carl shrugged a shoulder. franco raised his brows, giving carl a questioning look. "oh really? is that it, grimes?" franco challenged as he pushed himself up to his knees. carl grinned as he nodded. franco grabbed carl by his collar and yanked him forward, laughing when he fell to his stomach. the boy jumped up and tackled franco like stevey had moments prier.
the two boys wrestled around as stevey yawned and sprawled out on her back, stretching her limbs out with a much louder yawn than before, though neither boys payed attention to her. stevey relaxed her arms and legs against the soft carpet of the living room, letting herself go limp. she fought to keep awake, but found herself not being able to, she felt way too exhausted to care about her father's rules to stay alert at all times.
she had already played card games with the alexandrian's and held the leader's baby, she highly doubted anything was about to happen.
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"stevey? stevey, sweetheart come on, wake up," the girl squeezed her eyes tight, a not too familiar voice bringing her to her wake. stevey forced her eyes opened and saw rick crouched down beside her in the living room, she saw no signs of carl nor franco, it was now dark outside so she figured they had gone to sleep.
"mm, what time is it?" stevey questioned, rubbing her eyes with one hand while she pushed herself up into a siting position with the other. rick stood to his feet, titling his head downwards to look at the younger girl. "a little after midnight, how'd you fall asleep on the floor?" rick asked, tilting his head to the side. stevey yawned, shrugging a shoulder as she closed her eyes, she still felt very exhausted and neck was slightly stiff from sleeping on the floor.
"just tired, i guess," stevey shrugged, running one hand against her shoulder in attempt to soothe the achy feeling. rick didn't say anything in response, only held his hand out in offering, and stevey clasped her fingers around his and the older man helped her stand to his feet.
"go on up to my room-"
"damnit rick, you're not sleeping on the couch of your own home, we're both going to sleep in your bed," stevey cut him off, sounding slightly irritated, as she rolled her eyes, though he didn't see it due to her back facing him. rick's brows raised and he stopped dead in his tracks.
"no, stevey.. your father would kill me — or someone else if he found out," rick disagreed with the girl, and stevey threw her head back and laughed, though rick didn't see what was so funny. "no he won't, hows he gonna find out?" stevey replied, shrugging her shoulders..
"come on. it's not a big deal as long as we keep our hands to ourselves."
well this was a mistake.
how did Rick let a sixteen year old talk him into this? stevey moved in her sleep, she moved a lot in her sleep. so much that they started out on complete separate sides of the bed, rick almost falling off because he did not want to be touching the girl in any way, and stevey had managed to roll over and ended up on the same pillow as rick, so close that he could feel her breath hitting the back of his neck with every exhale she took. rick felt too awkward and tense to fall asleep, stevey must've woken up and noticed.
"chill out, rick. relax, i'm not gonna set my father on you," stevey joked, though rick didn't find it funny and if anything it made him more tense at the mention of that man. stevey rolled her eyes and placed one of her hands on his biceps, squeezing the muscle, silently telling him to relax, to just go to sleep, and rick managed to do just that.
they act like they forgot about it by morning.