Harley bit her lip, glancing up at him as her cheeks went pink. “I… I really don’t want to sleep.” She said softly, lowering her gaze to look at the dirt between them. “I’m so scared that I’m going to get us killed…”

“You will eventually--you can’t keep this up forever.”He murmured softly, “Tomorrow’s gonna be a busy day we gotta keep movin’ we can’t stay here too long.”He warned her, “I won’t let that happen.” 

Harley swallowed hard, shaking her head slowly. “… I had nightmares every night. I woke myself up screaming- you know how dangerous that is to do these days… I haven’t slept since I found you guys again. I can’t… I can’t attract walkers to us.”

“Just breathe alright, you’re home now--that’s what matters, if you scream one of us will wake you.”He said, “I think you’ll feel safer once you’re inside the shack.”

Brock seeing the frustration and confusion on her face took a step back and said ”I know that was a lot and I’m sorry, I just really needed to get that out in the open. So take all the time you need I’m not going anywhere.”

Her face softened slightly at his response, a small smile tugging at the corner of her lips. “You’ve just surprised me is all--you and I are so different, the only reason I went to that stupid party was to pick up my friend..”She said her voice trailing off as she took a step closer to him. 

“I should be thankin’ you for not throwing me back out in to the wilderness really Rick.” she was new, really new.. like them all, she’ been out there, only she’d done it alone for a long time.

“I know you’re good people.”He said shaking his head, he could tell that from the start--even though she was still new she proved herself quickly. 

Harley swallowed hard, lifting a hand to grip at the fabric of his shirt. She was silent for a while, allowing his touch and scent to relax her, before pulling away and wiping at her tear filled eyes. “I’m sorry… I know I need to be strong..” Harley mumbled. 

“We cant all be strong all the time Harley.”He told her simply as he watched as she moved to pull away, “You were out on your own--that couldn’t have been easy.”

“Steppin’ up? Eh, you don’t gotta thank me for lookin’ after Judith.. you had a lot on your plate, Carl’s gotta have time to still be a kid from time to time and.. and I used to look after my brother, so I’m used to kids anyway..“

“I know but I still appreciate it, you didn’t have to do it but I’m glad you did.”He said leaning against the cell door as he looked over to her, “Thank you.”

Harley took a deep breath, trying not to let tears blur her vision as she leaned into Rick’s touch. She took his hand, moving it to her other shoulder so his arm wrapped around her, and she buried her face in his chest.

He let her move his arm, moving to wrap it around her shoulder as he held her close his fingertips gently caressing her shoulder. “You’re gonna be alright.”He murmured softly. 

|Open|

“Because apparently I’m blind?”Beth said throwing her hands up in the air sounding a bit frustrated as she tried to piece all of this together. “Will you at least give me like one minute to process all this?”She asked running her fingers through her hair for a moment, her cheeks slightly flushed. 

Harley cringed a little at his words, closing her eyes tightly and dropping her forehead onto her knees, taking a deep breath and running her hands through her hair, gripping at the dark locks. “I’m not ready to talk about it…” Harley said quietly. 

He nodded slowly, “Right--sorry I didn’t mean to push you or anything.”He said quietly turning to face her once more, his hand resting gently on her shoulder. 

Harley ignored his first question- as much as she trusted Rick, she wasn’t ready to tell him or anyone else what had happened while she was alone. “You still really miss her don’t you?” Harley asked instead, her voice gentle as she studied his face.

He nodded slowly, he missed who she used to be--before all of this, before what happened wish Shane. “Why are you avoiding my question?”He blurted out, not wanting to talk about Lori. 

Harley shook her head. “We might…” She murmured, not sounding as optimistic as she normally would have. She couldn’t help but chuckle a little, looking him up and down before looking up into his eyes. “Not completely. Keep stressing out and all that brown’ll be gone.”

“What’s going on with you?”He asked something he had wanted to ask her earlier but decided not to push, his eyes lingering over her for a moment. “Can’t help it, ain’t got no one to impress anymore anyway.”He said quietly. 

Harley bit her lip. “We’ll find a place….” She said quietly. “One always comes along. We’ll clean it up and make it home… once we find it at least.” Harley tugged her knees to her chest and glanced over at him. “You shouldn’t stress yourself out too much- you’ll go grey.”

“I just don’t think we’ll ever find somewhere as good as the prison--”He said his voice trailing off. He couldn’t help but smile slightly at the comment, “If you haven’t noticed I’m already starting to go grey.”

“It’s okay… I shouldn’t be so jumpy.” Harley said with a small smile as she watched him. She looked away at his words- he didn’t know what she meant as far as she knew, but she didn’t voice it. “What’s keeping you up…?” She asked instead.

He moved to take the seat beside her looking out into the woods for a moment. “Dunno, guess I’m just worried about everything--where we’re gonna go.”He said with a slight nod, he had a lot on his plate and sometimes being in charge wasn’t all it cracked up to be. 

Harley sat outside in silence, staring out at the woods and trying not to let her mind wander to those dark moments she had spent alone over the past few weeks. She jumped at the sound of Rick’s voice, biting her lip and shaking her head. “I’m okay… I’m not tired.” Harley said softly. 

“Sorry--didn’t mean to scare you.”He said with a lowered voice so he wouldn’t wake the others as he moved to quietly shut the front door. “I know what you mean, I’m not either.”

Harley sighed in relief as the shack appeared, just in time as the sun had almost completely gone down. They checked it real quick before they stepped inside, Harley passing Judith over to Carl. “i’ll take the first watch..” Harley said softly, taking her knives from her belt and stepping outside. There was no way Harley would be able to sleep- she hadn’t been able to properly sleep in a while. All she had was nightmares.

Rick nodded moving to step inside, he made sure Judith and Carl were nice and warm, taking off his coat and laying it over the two before he laid beside them. He stared at the ceiling for a while as he couldn’t sleep, too much going on in his head so he pushed himself off the ground moving to go outside, “Why don’t you get inside and get some rest?”He told her.