Who: Rick Grimes rick & Leon Orcot under_arrest What: Cookout with some softball on the side When: Thursday, August 13, afternoon Where: The Grimes Family Farm Rating: General Audiences Warnings: Possibly discussion of character death. Status: Closed/Completed Partner Thread
~*~
Unsurprisingly, the weather had been getting hotter and hotter. Rick liked it as he was used to the heat being born and raised in Southern Georgia. His kids preferred their air-conditioning though which made for an annoyed teenager with a fussy baby in tow out of doors. Rick had gotten the grill fired up an hour prior to when he'd expected their guests to arrive. He had never invested in a propane grill seeing as he preferred the smoked flavor one could only get from a charcoal grill.
"Don't throw toward the house or the plants! You break it, you bought it, Carl!"
Carl was glaring at him as he trudged out farther to toss his ball out, running, sliding, and acting a fool to go after it every time. He wasn't a kid who needed someone to play with him to have a good time. Rick could remember being a lot like that himself around the same age. They were both men who preferred their peace over the frustrations of others. It helped he'd put in a ball net for Carl to aim for which caught the free throws handily if he managed to hit it. Rick was still hoping Carl would get better at the whole hitting it thing.
Corn shucking was a simple enough task once a man got used to it. Rick had silked all the corn, scrubbed it down with a kitchen brush, and pulled the husk back up over it to protect it while it cooked on the grill. He salted the ears with pink Himalayan sea salt along with some Cajun dry rub seasoning which made for a nice sweet and spicy taste. He'd put the corn on the grill first since it took the longest.
Hot dogs cooked in a snap it seemed when he closed the lid on the grill.
Rick wished he knew how his guests look their burgers. He'd set up several the way he knew he and Carl cared for them. It would have been nice to have been able to have everything ready before people arrived. He hated having to make people wait to eat. The good thing about it was the grill was hot enough to get everything good and ready in a hurry. Carl wasn't interested in eating at the moment anyways. He was having too much fun pretending to take heads off with his ball throwing from what Rick could tell.
His head raised as he heard someone arriving and Rick raised a hand in greeting. They should be able to see him from where he was set up.
~*~
Leon really loved hot weather. It meant primo beach days so he could catch some waves and maybe chat up a couple of babes in bikinis. Or, it meant having a cookout with his little brother and Rick, who didn’t seem so bad. And what was better than sitting around a grill, eating burgers and corn on the cob and drinking a couple of cold beers on a hot afternoon? Leon wasn’t exactly a pro at making new friends - a lot of people tended to think that he was a little crude at times, and Leon tended to be rather argumentative - but when he met someone who didn’t immediately rub him the wrong way he usually gave it an honest effort. He had brought a case of beer with him. It was really the least he could do for a guy who was cooking him food, and while he wasn’t sure if Rick drank, it seemed appropriate. He’d also brought a baseball bat and a catcher's glove in case anyone wanted to play a bit after, since he remembered Rick telling him that Carl was trying out for softball, though he kept those in the car for now.
When he saw Rick, he returned the wave and headed toward them. “Nice place,” he said once he got close enough that he didn’t have to raise his voice, looking around the farm. He was really more of a city guy, not spending a whole lot of time at farms, and it was a little striking at just how much space they had. All he had was a crummy one-bedroom apartment, which really didn’t have a whole lot of space for, well, anything. He had had to buy a hide-a-bed couch when Chris had moved in with him. “Maybe I should think of hanging up my badge and taking up farming.”
~*~
"Pull up some shade. It's free."
Rick gestured to the outdoor furniture he had with its table complete with giant umbrella. Judith was only marginally comfortable in her rolling walker since she'd discovered how to run herself under the table out of the sun. Her face was flushed, but she wasn't sweating any longer. It meant she was liable to be happier at the very least. Normally, she wasn't a fussy baby by any means. Judith simply tended not to like to get too hot which was understandable given she was teething which was its own kind of Hell.
Grinning, he picked up his tongs to ask, "See you brought the beer, does that mean you intend on sharing? I got burgers, dogs, and corn to go around. Carl made a salad which is in the fridge. How do you take your burgers? Shoe leather, medium, or rare? My daddy never could stand anything unless it was almost burned. I'm pretty comfortable cooking it how you take it."
There was enough interest in them to have Carl come over to investigate, waving cautiously at Chris. He seemed a quiet kid. Rick hoped he could warm up enough to make a friend in his son. Carl wasn't a bad kid. It was hard to get his boy to be friendly with kids his own age. Chris was a touch younger, but hopefully close enough in age to where Carl would try with him. Rick wouldn't mind seeing him playing for a change instead of working or worrying.
~*~
“Naw, I thought I’d drink it all myself while eating your food,” Leon said, a cheeky grin on his face, and he headed over to the table. “Want one now, or do you wanna wait until the grub’s ready?” he asked, opening the case because he was definitely going to have one right now. “I’ll take my burger rare, Chris’ll take it medium.” He was still kind of disappointed that his brother didn’t seem to like rare meat, but maybe it was something he’d grow into later. At least he didn’t like his stuff well-done, Leon would probably have to disown him as a brother if that was the case.
Chris waved back at Carl, but didn’t make any motion to go join him until Leon placed a hand on his shoulder. “You should see if he wants to play catch with you or something until the food’s ready,” he said quietly to his brother. Chris seemed to be okay at being friendly with girls his own age, but Leon’d never really seen him play with another boy his own age. He wondered a little if it was because Chris was much gentler than a lot of the boys his own age. Leon didn’t know much about Carl, but he probably wasn’t a bad kid, and at a gentle push Chris headed over to Carl, gave him a cheerful smile, and held out his hand. “Hi, I’m Chris!”
~*~
Rick chuckled himself, "I think I can use one now. Burgers will wait, but my need for a good beer? That's a whole other story. Like I said: adult company is rare here."
He started putting the burgers on the grill as he was given his own drink. It was better than how he remembered it being. How long had it been since he'd had a beer? Rick had to think on it. There was a very good chance Shane had been the last one to buy him a beer which would put the answer at: a long damn time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Lori would have laughed at him over it; Rick hurt all over thinking about her.
Some days were worse than others where his wife was concerned.
It made him proud to see Carl offer his hand immediately to Chris with a simple smile and, "Carl."
Rick had tried to keep him with some manners to his name even if his mother was gone. They weren't going to turn into heathens on him. His kids would have---they'd have him if they never had anyone else. Another woman was something Rick hadn't put more than a passing thought into seeing as he'd never really loved another woman other than Lori. She'd been his once in a lifetime. He figured he should count himself lucky for having had her as long as he's been given. Many men couldn't say they'd even gotten a taste of how it felt to be with someone who was right for them.
"I take it your brother doesn't spend a lot of time with other kids his own age either?"
~*~
Leon couldn’t help but laugh and went to cheers Rick once he handed him the beer. Leon would definitely not be able to go that long without a beer - he usually stopped for a pint or two (or more, if Revy was around or if he didn’t have to worry about picking Chris up) after work, and he couldn’t sleep without the whiskey he kept next to his bed. Maybe some people might have called him an alcoholic, but it never interfered with his life and his responsibilities so he still considered it a more of a passtime.
He watched the boys walk off to play some ball, and once he was sure that they were far enough away that Chris wouldn’t sneak up and overhear him, he turned to Rick. “Not really no. Used to be more sociable. He just moved in with me a couple of months ago really, and making friends hasn’t been easy because of the whole not-talking thing.” Which was improving by leaps and bounds, really. Leon’s aunt and uncle had told him that Chris hadn’t said a single word or smiled in months before he had come to California.
He ran his hand through his hair and took a large gulp of his beer. “When our mom died, my aunt and uncle adopted him. Raised him as their own, didn’t want him to ever find out that he wasn’t, but around Chrismastime he got into a fight with his sister. She said some pretty awful things to him, like telling him how he was adopted and that he murdered our mom because he’s evil, and he hasn’t really been the same since. Which is actually why he’s here now.”
~*~
Sunshine and beer with ball being played in the side yard seemed a little slice of Heaven for Rick. He wished all his days were as peaceful. Oddly, he wished he had more friends to share it with, too. It felt more and more often as if he were missing someone, several someones even. A therapist might have told him he was missing Lori and his friend Shane or even his buddies on the force in Georgia. They wouldn't have been wrong. They wouldn't have been entirely right either seeing as Rick had made his peace with those losses in little ways day after day.
"No child should ever feel evil for being born. Sounds like that sister of his was a snake."
Rick shook his head as he took another long draw on his beer.
Flipping the burgers, Rick sliced a nick in one to see how it was cooking. Seemed to be nearly ready to be pulled off for a rare preference. He liked his medium as did Carl. They had learned to like them that way on account Lori could never leave them on the grill long enough for them to get well-done and she only let him grill when his daddy was over with his momma to keep her busy. There was a lot to be said for having family. Rick could honestly say he missed knowing the quirks of his own. It was strange to think families could be so cruel to one another though convoluted family lives were something Rick was used to in his own way.
"Judith might not be mine," Rick shrugged, finished his beer and sat the empty on the side of the grill as he started to plate a rare burger for Leon, "Got shot while working. Spent some time in a coma. Docs said I wouldn't likely pull through. My partner, my best friend, tried to take care of my wife for me. They---were together. I woke up. She was pregnant. Could be his or mine, but she was my wife. That means that baby? That's my daughter. That's my baby. I'd kill for her and I know her mother was proud to be able to die for her. She's worth it. Children are always worth it. Now, you fix this up how you like it and tell me if I done right by your burger while I steal another one of your beers."
~*~
“Kids can be cruel little fuckers sometimes,” Leon muttered. Really, Sam was lucky she lived on the other side of the country. And that she was twelve-years-old. It wouldn’t stop Leon from yelling at her if she ever made Chris cry again, as easy as making Chris cry was. Maybe Chris was Sam and Josie’s little brother too, and maybe they had been his brother longer, but the four months that Leon had had Chris so far had really made him realize how much he had missed having family, and had reminded him how important family really was, and he absolutely would protect him from them if he had to, adopted family or not.
“Well, I can see why you’d quit the force,” Leon said. He had been shot in his Dreams before, though while he had been unconscious for a couple of days (in the Dreams, at least), he hadn’t had anything as serious as a coma strike him. Something like that while Rick was a single father of two, yeah, Leon could understand the whole quitting thing. “Former best friend, I hope. The guy sounds like a scumbag.” He probably would have felt the same way about the wife too if he didn’t know she had died. “It’s good of you to step up to the plate though. Not a lot of guys would.” Leon wasn’t sure if he would, though the thought of having children of his own right now kind of terrified him.
The burger looked great though, and Leon was eager to dig in. A bit of ketchup, some mustard, a generous heaping of relish. He glanced over at Chris and threw on a lettuce leaf, a slice of tomato, and some pickles just to be a good influence on his brother.
~*~
"Died in the line of duty. Died my friend to the end. He wasn't a bad man. He was a good man put in a bad position in a bad world surrounded by nothing but bad. It's amazing what we'll do to survive."
Rick knew enough about that to speak on it. He smiled as he plated a burger for Chris and then started getting some ready for himself and Carl. They took their burger exactly the same. Wasn't so much a family trait as it was a product of their environment. They were simple men on account they came from a simple place. He was glad to see Leon looked as if he enjoyed tucking into the food. Rick wasn't much of a cook still. Grilling was nearly the only thing he was accomplished at from a culinary standpoint.
He needed to learn more for his kids. They couldn't live off fresh vegetables uncooked with a hamburger or a chicken breast every night. Kids needed to know how it felt to have mashed potatoes on their plate or a meatloaf fresh from the oven. Every family dinner should have some element of love in the making of it whereas Rick felt his mostly felt as if they were born of desperation. He was a lost man trying to guide his family through a wilderness none of them had come prepared to travel.
Shrugging a shoulder, he managed a wry grin, "It's amazing how much a man can forgive when the other person's dead. I think of him. Some. Shane. I never had too many friends. He was quite the character. It's easy to miss him even though---I can't tell you how it felt to find out he was with my wife when I was laying still as a stone in a hospital bed. I can tell you I've become grateful for it. They weren't alone. I couldn't be there for them. Least they had each other. Can you call the boys on in? I'm afraid to startle your brother if I holler out at him."
Chris did seem more reticent than Carl and, given what Rick knew of his life so far, it seemed as though he had reason to be.
~*~
“Oh shit, I’m sorry about that,” Leon said. He had a really bad habit of sticking his foot in his mouth sometimes, and it was really hard for Leon to have hard feelings about someone who died in the line of duty. Not just because that’s how his own father had passed, though that played a part, but because people who died in the line of duty died heroes, and Leon believed that with all his heart. Even if someone was a shitty person in general, their last moments were spent trying to protect people and that meant something.
Leon made sure to make Chris’ burger how the kid liked it (except for the lettuce, which Leon made sure to put on. He could eat a little greens even if he didn’t like it). Leon wasn’t the most sensitive guy. He cared about people completely, but he was rough around the edges. While he had been popular in high school, he’d kind of been a jerk about it. He had been the the epitome of a stereotypical jock. Once his parents had been taken from him, he had been the angry stereotypical jock in a police academy. A lot of his friends from high school hadn’t stuck around after, and he hadn’t made very many new ones since high school - he had his cop buddies who he’d play poker and drink with, the only people he ever really became close with were his partners, while he had been partners with them, Sharon being one of the only ones he was still exceptionally close with and even he had lost contact with her for a while once she had left the police force.
In short, Leon wasn’t the greatest at sympathy. He cared about people, he really did, but his attempts to be sensitive didn’t always come across that way. But even he knew that Rick’s situation seemed, well, delicate to put it lightly. And fresh. Leon couldn’t accurately gauge the ages of babies, but Judith still seemed young. “I’m sorry about all of that. I mean, there can’t be any way that coulda been easy to deal with. It looks like you’ve been handling everything really well though. Better than I ever could, that’s for sure."
“You don’t have to worry about startling Chris though. He’s tougher than he acts.” And he was used to yelling. Not that Leon had ever yelled at him in anger, but Leon had a loud voice in general and he tended to yell a lot. He cupped his hands to his mouth and yelled “Boys! Come eat!” and smiled a little to himself when he saw that Chris had a big grin on his face. At least it looked like he had had fun.
He cracked another beer while he waited for Chris to head over, and once Chris made it to him he ruffled the boy’s hair. “You have fun with Carl?” and when Chris answered in the affirmative, Leon brought Chris to his burger. Leon was already halfway through his. “You know, and this is from a guy who’s favourite food is literally hamburgers, these are pretty damn good, Rick.”
~*~
Some people had a way about them which was easy for Rick to understand. He could break them down to their basic nature: good or evil. People came that way, too. Folk didn't like to talk about the evil Man did, but it was Man who did the most evil in all the world. As the old saying went, guns didn't kill people: people killed people.
Rick had seen plenty of Leon Orcot to know he was a good man. He was rough in a way Rick could appreciate. They didn't need to brush over one another's feelings or talk on sensitive topics. There was nothing artificial in how he did speak when he was put in a place to where he had to talk on them all the same; Rick appreciated that. Too often people tended to say what they thought they should say instead of what they actually thought. It was hard for him to trust as a result of that.
Politeness could go straight to Hell with itself as far as Rick was concerned.
"I'll keep that in mind. I hope you all will keep coming over. We could all of us stand the company as I see it and if you appreciate my grillmaster skills? All the better."
Rick toasted Leon with his beer, "Hello, new friends. Goodbye, old friends. Glad to be here to celebrate now with you. Much appreciation for the present."
They would have a nice evening. Rick hoped. He would do all he could to make sure the boys ate well, Leon enjoyed a little life away from his job, and Judith didn't get hot enough to fuss. Life was as good as it could be in the OC.