I would like to firstly apologise for this but it had to be done. I’ve been planning this chapter for quite a while. This means a few big things for the group so stay tuned. If everyone who read this left a comment or vote, it would be very much appreciated. Without feedback or appreciation, nothing gets done, guys! Also, I'm not officially off hiatus, just dropped by to drop this on you guys. Enjoy!
Love,
Amy.
Rick felt the hand on his shoulder, shaking him awake. Shielding his eyes to the sun, he opened them, instead finding the dull slack of concrete surrounding him.
“Rise an’ shine, asshole,” Aislynn grinned, her face younger and accent thicker. Carl stood in the doorway, smiling at them.
“Morning, dad,” he smirked and Aislynn turned to give him an award-winning smile.
‘It was a dream’ Rick told himself, shaking his head. ‘All of it, you’re safe now, you’re okay. They’re all okay. Chloe’s alive, Aislynn is with Carl, Judy’s alive. Everything is how it should be, you’re okay. It was just a dream.’
“How long was I asleep?” he groaned, voice groggy with sleep.
“Sweetie,” Daryl’s cousin said, turning to stare at her boyfriend. She wasn’t addressing Rick, that was for sure. “’Bout two days, right?”
He swallowed the lump in his throat that meant he was already missing her. He’d go back to kissing Chloe, to feeling her hands touch his rough skin, to feeling her tongue at the roof of his mouth and to feeling her warm breath on his neck as they slept side-by-side.
“Two days?” he voiced, letting his eyes flicker shut. He was still tired, that was for sure.
“Yup,” the girl replied. “And not only tha’ but your daughter hasn’t shut up for quite a while and if she keeps bloody screaming, I might have ta shoot her.”
“Aislynn,” Carl frowned, his voice almost a warning.
She threw her hands up, face unapologetic. “Look, ya can’t blame me for thinkin’ it. Not like I’d actually do it, right?”
He couldn’t unhear the orgasmic moans she’d shared with him. It was a dream, that’s what he’d tried to tell himself, but it still felt so real. The curve of her breasts and the bitter of her lips as she shared the love that was on them. Everything about it seemed so cruel and unfair.
She wasn’t dead, that was something. She wasn’t a rotting corpse with a bullet through the brain, right? She was alive, breathing. Not his but alive. He would rather be here lying with a woman that he’s grown to unlove than be sitting by Aislynn’s grave with Carl’s broken voice in his ears.
“It’s nice to see you,” he choked out.
The girl turned, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. “Shut up, I look like crap,” she replied but her voice was only teasing.
“No,” he corrected. “Y-You look nice.”
‘Is she blushing? She’s blushing.’
“Not too bad yourself, Mr. Grimes.”
“Do I look good?” Carl asked and Rick almost jumped.
‘Right’, he reminded himself. ‘Your son’s here.’
“Well, almost as good as your dad but yes, you look nice.”
It was Rick’s turn to blush.
“But, like, what if I do this?” the boy continued, flashing a pose.
Aislynn laughed into her hand, eyes focusing on Rick from the corner of her eye. “Okay, you look better than your father and girlfriend combined, ya happy now?”
“Combined?”
She raised an eye at Rick, teeth unknowingly chewing at her bottom lip. “I’m not following.”
“Well, I’d say you look better than Carl and I combined.”
“Are you flirting with me, father-in-law?” she asked, lowering her voice. Carl couldn’t hear them, not with how quiet they were.
“Maybe.”
“Red’s a good colour on you,” she smirked.
Oh, dear Lord. This girl would almost most definitely be the death of him.
She was beautiful. Maybe not to the casual viewer but to him, to him she put the stars in the sky and the fish in the sea. She was just that special.
Sure, he shouldn’t be flirting with his son’s girlfriend but maybe life was giving the two a second chance. One where they could live safely; where she wasn’t dead.
‘Wait...’
“Can you bring Judith here please?” he asked Carl. His daughter, she was alive too. He wanted to see her, feel her smooth baby skin on the pad of his fingers, kiss her smooth forehead. She was alive, they both were.
Life was peaceful, happy and confusing, but he loved it. There was nothing he’d give more than to stay there forever, in his prison bed surrounded by concrete.