Who: Rick Grimes rick What: Thinking When: June 30, afternoon Where: The Grimes House Rating: General Audiences Warnings: None unless mild discussion of TWD disturbs people and then, yeah, don't read this. It's Rick being Rick. Status: Complete Upon Posting
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Sometimes life got to be too good to be true. Rick was starting to notice a pattern in his Dreams. Any time he started to think they were going to be alright? They were all going to make it? Something happened to bring back reality to remind him the life he'd once had was gone. No one would ever get to go back to the way things were because even if they killed all the Walkers tomorrow: they'd never bring back all those lost to the fight.
No one was happy with his reign as the guy who put himself in charge. He was losing himself to the fight. Rick could feel his humanity sink away from him bit by bit every time he fell asleep. They were happy to have him fight for them. They were happy to see him kill and bleed and win. They just weren't happy when he made them realize there was only one way he could keep on doing what they wanted him to do and that was to do things his way.
Rick Grimes couldn't be anyone else's man in that world.
He had to stand on his own with his own rules righting the wrongs of the world around him before it fell straight down into Hell.
Rick could be someone else's man in this world though, couldn't he?
He didn't have to stand alone or fight alone or face even the simplest of every day living alone because he had Daryl Dixon there ready to do whatever it took to help him keep on keeping on.
Things were getting complicated for them. They were starting to get to the stage where Rick wasn't comfortable not saying anything to other people. He wasn't the kind of man who hid. Rick didn't have to hide in this world. He wasn't going to be ashamed regardless of how he knew things would've been if they'd tried what they were after back home. Georgia was a long, long way from the sunny beaches of California; Rick wanted to make sure he and Daryl took advantage of the distance both in physical space as well as metaphorical mindset.
Rick wanted to belong somewhere. He felt as if he did belong somewhere. Orange County was becoming more where he belonged than where he'd wound up with every passing night. His Dreams didn't scare him away from the place. They made him want to throw his arms open wide to the whole damn county as if to say 'I accept you as you are, OC.' There was a feeling in him which made him want to tell people except who was he allowed to tell? Wasn't there a protocol involved in relationships and announcing them to others?
He had a feeling he would do better to keep himself to himself until he talked it over with Daryl.
That didn't mean Rick was happy about it.
What he was also not happy about?
The feeling things were going too good to be true...since it usually meant things were about to go to Hell in a handbasket. Rick only wanted to know if he was going to get a warning before being flushed along with the rest of his world.