Who: Rick Grimes rick & Daryl Dixon dixonda What: Chance meeting When: Backdated, Sunday, August 2nd Where: Farmer's Market Rating: General Audiences Warnings: Potentially mentions of a shady criminal past for Daryl? I'm not sure what else to warn for since Rick is only happy to see him again. Status: Closed/Completed GDoc
~*~
Saturdays were always busier than Sundays which was why, by the time Sunday rolled around, Rick was taking it easy in his stall. He'd stocked what he had which needed selling fastest up front with the prices prominently displayed. There was a steady stream of regulars for a while who cleared out a lot of his freshest produce. It helped he was getting to be well-known in the market. Some people were passing his cards around while others were spreading the invite to his booth by word of mouth.
All-in-all, Rick couldn't complain.
Judith was asleep in her bouncy chair while Carl hadn't come. He'd gone to visit a friend to play some baseball. The fact his kid liked being outside rather than indoors on a game console all day was a source of endless pride for Rick. He felt often the world was different from how it had been when he'd been young. It helped to have some similarities to look at which allowed him to relate to his boy. Rick needed Carl as much as Carl needed him seeing as they were both lost souls without Lori around.
Rick had been wiping his face with a handkerchief he'd had soaking in a cooler full of ice when he caught sight of a familiar set of shoulders. There was a way to the movement of the man which took him far, far away from a Farmer's Market stall in California all the way to a grim interrogation room at the Sheriff's Department back in Georgia. He was standing before he could stop himself, the handkerchief discarded on the table beside Judith without a second glance. It wasn't even a thought in his mind he could be wrong.
"Daryl?"
He'd barely said the name before he'd made his way to skirt around the people milling about, getting in front of exactly who he'd never expected to see again, and Rick didn't think except to wrap his arms around a man he considered the best friend he could have ever asked to have in his life. Holding onto him as if he expected him to disappear at any moment, Rick slapped Daryl on the back with his fist clenched in a light thump to hear it echo against his body. All skin, muscle and bone, Daryl Dixon had never carried enough weight on him to amount to much.
Rick couldn't think of a more solid man anywhere all the same.
~*~
The Farmer's Market reminded Daryl of home. There'd been nothing better than going to the flea market on the weekends to look through other people's junk, and to grab fresh produce on the way out. There'd been a Farmer's Market that he'd gone to as well when he'd been younger. Those had been alright times, but then again, Daryl didn't have too many fond memories of his childhood.
He'd been about to pick up a jar of honey when he heard someone say his name. His lips turned down into a scowl, his shoulders tensed in an automatic response until he saw who it was. Rick Grimes was a good man. He'd treated Daryl fairly during his time as a CI. Honestly, he'd given Daryl a new outlook on cops, even though he still didn't trust a lot of them as far as he could throw them.
His features softened, although he was completely caught off guard by the hug. Daryl stood there shocked for a handful of moments, not entirely sure what to do. The seconds ticked by while Daryl just stood there, arms hanging awkwardly at his sides before he finally returned the hug. "Rick." He greeted him finally, a light smile turning up one corner of his mouth, giving him a firm pat on the back.
Daryl hadn't expected to run into him there. Hell, when he'd moved out to California he hadn't expected to run into Rick Grimes again since it was a big state, and he wasn't sure exactly where he'd moved to.
Pulling back, Daryl took a couple of steps back. "How you been doin' man?"
~*~
"Gettin' by," Rick answered easily, smiling more relaxed than he'd been since he'd moved to the Golden State, "Judith is still young enough I don't feel too lost without a woman around to do right by her. Carl is---a tough boy. He's liking it here. I'm farming. Met a good man who taught me plenty. My stall is back here if you got a minute?"
What did Rick know about Daryl's day? The man had been standoffish at best when approached outside the safety of an arranged meeting place. They had worked hard to keep anyone -especially Daryl's older brother Merle- from finding out Daryl was working with the police. A CI put their life on the line in some cases to help out the squad. Rick had never been willing to risk Daryl's life for a bust. He'd fought hard to keep him clean as he could in all the cases they worked though some decisions went over his head.
Rick hadn't been Sheriff, only a Deputy Sheriff, and therein had been the problem.
He couldn't always call the shots.
Twisting to look behind him, Rick made sure no one had entered the stall while he'd stepped away. Judith was still alone, asleep in her chair, her plump face puckered slightly as she dreamed. He wondered what she dreamed about. His dreams weren't the pleasant kind. He hoped Judith saw only fairies, rainbows, and maybe even a glimpse of her mommy up in Heaven. Rick wouldn't wish his dreams on the worst man in the world much less his own child. It struck him he could talk to Daryl about his dreams when he couldn't have trusted anyone else.
Daryl could be trusted. He'd proven that enough while they'd been working together.
"I'm not a cop here. Just a farmer who doesn't have a lot of grown-up conversations. In case it matters to you."
~*~
"Ain't got nothin' but time." Daryl replied with a small lift of one shoulder. He could understand getting by, he'd been there many times himself throughout his life. He peered around Rick to see Judith, a small smile gracing his features at the sight of her. He hadn't met Rick's kids, but he'd heard plenty about them and seen photos. Rick hadn't been shy in talking about his kids, and Daryl hadn't minded.
He'd never seen himself being a father, for many reasons, but he did like kids well enough.
Daryl's posture had clearly shifted, his arms were relaxed at his sides, his shoulders no longer tense. He had always felt a sense of calm while being around Rick, and had refused, more than once, to work with anyone else on the force. If he was forced to he didn't make their lives easy, that was for fucking sure, but in the end they got what they wanted.
They got better results when they let Rick deal with him, so that was what typically happened. Daryl hadn't been willing to work for them any longer after Rick left. He hadn't felt safe enough to do so, especially since Merle had been let out of prison. He hadn't wanted to think about what his brother might do to him had he found out he was working with the law.
He didn't care honestly if Rick was a cop or not. It wasn't as if he was getting into any trouble here. Since leaving Georgia he'd kept his nose clean, had worked honest jobs and kept to himself. That was a surefire way to keep out of trouble.
"Don't matter none to me. I ain't running with any bad crowds these days." A light smile ghosted over Daryl's lips. It was funny in a way to him, he hadn't thought the day would come when the crowds he ran with weren't bad in one way or another. Life had a funny way of working things out. Daryl made his way over to Rick's stall, eying what he had for sale. "You been setting up here all season?"
~*~
Time was something which they both knew to be precious for different reasons. Rick had seen how fast it was to lose a life while Daryl had been around people who knew exactly how much of their life their sins would cost them. Both of them measured time differently than average folk which Rick appreciated a lot. It was nice to have someone he could relate to around. He wished he knew what to say to Daryl to tell him how good it was to see him other than only those words which hardly amounted to much.
"Good to hear," Rick answered, smiling, "I been mostly keeping busy with this, yeah. I set up all season. I'm booked for the full year now. I have some contracts for medicinal cannabis to help patients with terminal illnesses. Got plenty who come to see me for my olive oil with herbs. I like those for cooking myself. They're a nice addition to anything. Easy, too, since I have contacts overseas."
He had met some good people in his life.
Daryl Dixon was a good man who'd never been around good people. Rick couldn't stop smiling at the thought he was doing better in California. The OC was a strange place, but if it was treating Daryl well? Rick would consider it a blessed place to be. He wondered what sort of things Daryl was getting up to since he obviously wasn't going hungry. He had to have some kind of work going for him.
"What sort of work you into now that you're only associating with good people? I don't suppose I could get you to volunteer up some of your time to help work with my plants? Everything I got is completely legal. I promise not to steer you wrong. Never have and never will. That's what I promised you and it's a promise I'll keep."
~*~
There had never been a time when Daryl thought Rick would steer him wrong. Still, it was quite shocking to hear that Rick was dealing in pot, but at least it was legal. It'd been a long time since Daryl had personally smoked any pot, of course, he smoked like a chimney when he had a chance. Here it didn't feel right, although he could feel the need for nicotine starting to rise.
Pushing that thought aside, he gave a sharp nod of his head. "Sure. Don't mind helping out when I can. I'm working all week doing construction and odd jobs on the weekends when I get them." He lifted a shoulder. It wasn't the best of work, but it was what he could get and what he knew.
Construction was easy, although his foreman could be a real dick when he wanted to be.
Daryl had done well in holding his tongue so far, but it was probably only a matter of time before the man said something to push him too far. Daryl was trying though. He needed that job, the money, so it was best if he kept his head down and kept his thoughts to himself.
"Never thought you would steer me wrong. I stopped being a snitch after you left. Course, Merle was out too, so it was harder to keep secrets from him." He'd never been good at keeping secrets from Merle, so there'd been no way in Hell he was going to keep snitching without Rick there to help protect him. Merle knew where he was, there wasn't a doubt in Daryl's mind that his older brother knew, but Daryl didn't concern himself with Merle heading out to California.
Merle wasn't the kind of guy that would leave the homestead. A lot of people said that Daryl wouldn't do it either, but he'd proved them wrong. He'd just wanted a better life for himself, that was all.
~*~
Snitch was the way Daryl had been raised to consider police informants. Criminal Informants were made to seem as if they were betraying their own kind when really? Their "kind" wouldn't throw a bucket of water on them if they were on fire. Rick had seen more disloyalty in the criminal element than he'd imagined could exist in the South. He had been raised to believe in how 'These colors don't run.' It took him a lot of time to imagine how he could deal with explaining to a man raised among criminals he wasn't doing wrong by trying to distance himself from being a criminal.
"You weren't ever a snitch," Rick countered, snorting, "You gave me information I needed to help make life easier for good people trying to live right to manage that. Not once did you turn in someone who I thought meant a thing to you. Not once did you turn your back on your own people. Your damn brother deserved the time he served and then some. You didn't do wrong by Merle Dixon. I'll fight any man who says otherwise."
Rick would do it, too.
Once he'd been a Hell of a fighter when it came to defending his people's honor.
In his Dreams, he was still that man: more prone to violence than voicing concerns.
"I'd be glad to just pass some time with you, come to that. You were a good friend to me, Daryl. I didn't have a clue what to do with myself after Lori passed. You were the one to tell me there was a life outside my house. You were the only one to tell me about anything better."
It was hard to take in Daryl Dixon could imagine a world where anything was better when he came from a world filled up with nothing but bad. Rick had wanted to do right by him. He'd done all he could. Daryl's name was kept out of reports. He was kept out of the loops the higher-ups jumped through on the regular. Rick had worked damn hard to ensure Daryl could get a clean slate on the up-and-up. There was no reason to think Daryl couldn't be out in the OC to get a better life for himself.
This could be his second chance as much as Rick was considering it his own.
~*~
Daryl pulled a face at the mention of his brother, and he shook his head. "I'd hoped he'd clean up while he was in the pen, you know? He didn't." His tone held a note of sadness with a hint of disgust. Merle had saved him a lot over the years, especially from their father, and Daryl honestly didn't wish any ill will against him, he'd only wanted him to clean up his act.
Asking Merle Dixon to clean up his act was like asking for an ice cream cone in hell.
"But you try telling him that I didn't do him wrong by turning him in." He gave Rick a look and then lifted his shoulders before shoving his hands down into the pockets of his worn jeans. Merle wouldn't have killed him, but he might've made him wish that he was dead.
Since Rick had always done right by him, Daryl thought it was only fair to extend that back to him. He wouldn't mind spending a couple of weekends at the Farmer's Market helping Rick out. Shit, he wouldn't mind helping out in the afternoons after he finished up with work sometimes.
He was about to say as much when Rick mentioned the death of his wife. Daryl had seen Rick a handful of times immediately after Lori's death, and that had only been because he'd made himself a nuisance. "Figured you could use some company during that time." He admitted with a small upwards twist of one corner of his mouth, "I'm glad you made it out here though, and got yourself a nice gig out here." He was truly happy for Rick, and his family. He hoped that them moving out west had helped them heal to some degree.
Daryl could tell just by looking at him that he was doing good. At least he looked good. Daryl tried not to think too hard on what he really thought about Rick's looks. What he could think about, however, was that he looked better than the last time that he'd seen him.
That was okay to think about.
For most of his life Daryl had kept his sexual preference hidden. No one back home would've understood, they'd have disowned him or worse, beat the shit out of him because of it. Daryl kept his shit to himself, and waved off questions about his personal life whenever anyone asked him about it. That had earned him some name calling, but he'd shown he wasn't the sort of guy that people could push around.
"Did you come straight here after leaving Georgia?"
~*~
Loaded questions. Rick had a hard time talking about what life had been like after he'd lost Lori. Carl had been traumatized seeing her die. They both had no idea how to raise a baby without Lori around yet neither of them had been willing to let anyone else touch Judith. She was too precious. She was all they had left. There had been talks about paternity tests with Shane only for him to die in the line of duty. All his world had been built on had crumbled like sand castles at high tide.
Rick forced a smile as he tried to think of a way to answer Daryl.
"As far as Merle is concerned? He wasn't much family to you in the first place. He barely kept you alive when he should have been making sure you had a better life than he'd had growing up. Don't say he couldn't do it either. We both know that's a lie. The man's no idiot. He's a bigot and a bully, but he ain't braindead."
It was easy to talk about things like the situation with the Dixons which had led them to court. Rick truly believed Daryl had done the right thing reporting on the crimes being perpetrated in their county. He hadn't named names until they had offered them first and then all he'd done was nod. That had been enough for the testimony from a closed source. It hadn't been any doing of Rick Grimes or his department which had led to more being forced from Daryl Dixon if it had been. They had wrapped their case with the evidence they'd found at the scene when they raided it.
No one had forced Merle to be there during that raid.
He was a grown-ass man. He'd made his choices. It had been his place to serve the time for his crimes.
Swallowing, Rick stated, "As for getting here straight off? That's harder to say. We were hurt. My people and me. You helped and then I couldn't---you couldn't be asked to do more than you did. We headed this direction because I liked the way your face looked when you talked about California. Peaceful. Reminded me of the look would cross my mother's face when she talked on Heaven. It took a while to drift here. We bought the farm from a man who taught me how to work the land. Hershel. Good man. Everything else? We've been taking it as it comes."
~*~
"He did what he knew." Daryl admitted with a shrug of his shoulders. "I'd say he knew better, but when you've only known violence, it makes it hard to see the world any different." At least, that was the way Daryl saw things. He had moments of violence himself, but his fuse had gotten a bit longer as the years passed. At least, he thought he had his temper reigned in fairly well, especially concerning his boss.
Daryl shifted his weight from one foot to another, and gave a nod. "Don't blame you for making your way out here." Daryl loved it here, he'd loved it from the first moment he saw it and the South was engrained deep in his soul. Even with that, Daryl wasn't sure he'd ever go back home after everything that had happened.
"But I'm glad you took your time in getting out here. The scenery, at least, is worth it all." He'd been glad to help Rick get his shit together, although had Rick asked him to move out there with him, Daryl would've had to decline no matter how much he wanted to go. Things had been a bit too sensitive, not just with Rick but himself. Merle, despite all of his flaws was family, and he'd wanted to be there when he'd been released.
Now, however, he had no desire to be near his brother.
"Well, man, my number ain't changed from what it was." Somehow Daryl doubted Rick's number had changed either, "Just hit me up whenever you need any help with your farm, or what time you end up getting here and I'll come help. Ain't like I got much of a social life." He chuckled softly, although it was the honest to God truth. At this point he didn't have too many friends in the area.
"Unless you want some help today. I ain't got nothing else to do."
~*~
"I need help at my table," Rick nodded with a chuckle, "Got too much food on it and not enough mouths to feed. Clearly means you gotta come on over to take up a seat."
Rick had to pack up the table at the booth, but that wouldn't take too long. He knew he could get it done within a reasonable period of time. All he wanted was to take Daryl out of the place to feed him a decent meal, catch up on things. He hadn't felt right calling him on his cell. They had been friends---men had limits for friendship though which meant Daryl was off-limits once Rick had moved out of the area where they could use a work relationship as an excuse to talk for hours.
He wondered why he'd never been able to talk to his wife the way he could talk to Daryl only to shrug the thought away.
Lori had been her own woman. She'd had little patience for nonsense and plenty of intolerance for his daydreams as she'd called them. Rick had to put aside thoughts of something different when he'd realized she wasn't interested in different. Lori had been happy with things the same. He had learned to be happy like her. If things hadn't changed---Rick imagined he'd have kept up the same life.
He'd never know anything about Orange County, California, how peaceful it was to be on a farm of his own, or how fulfilling it was to put food on the table he'd grown with his own efforts.
"Here, come help me break down my stall and we'll head home."
Rick didn't put any thought into what he said as he turned back to the stall, trusting Daryl to come help. Things felt right with Daryl around. Real right. And good. Things were going to be better. He was sure of it.