A/N: this story uses the characters from my "Redemption" fic, but in an AU setting, so if you haven't read that fic, you can still read this one without missing anything. However, if you'd like to read it, it is complete! I only own Anna, the rest belongs to AMC and Robert Kirkman. No infringement intended.

Simple Twists of Fate

By Leah Pensotti

Atlanta, January 2014

The alarm shrieked it's warning, sounding more like an air-raid siren than the smart phone sitting next to the bed. Anna Marber awoke in darkness, her eyes straining to adjust from sleep. It was five thirty in the morning, she had to start her shift at Grady Memorial at seven. She crawled out of bed and to the bathroom where she showered and dressed in the blue-gray scrubs that they doled out to their nursing students.

She had just begun her clinical rotation in the ER just three weeks before. She enjoyed the drama of it all, but it was ultimately just a pit stop on her way to hopefully becoming a delivery nurse. Anna thought Phillip would be proud of her for dedicating herself to something other than the Junior League and Pilates.

Phillip, her husband, was killed in a car crash two years before. He had accepted a job at Grady as the Head of Orthopedics, moving himself and his debutante wife out of Old Savannah Society to the suburbs of Atlanta. Her mother, Sonja, was none too pleased, but was happy that her daughter would finally start a family of her own. A well-bred family to introduce to polite society.

One could only imagine Sonja's horror as her widowed, childless daughter decided to go back to school to become a nurse instead of moving back home to help with cotillions and fundraisers.

Phillip's death had changed Anna, she wanted to do more with her life than to just be her mother's pretty pet. In fact, if Sonja could only see Anna now...Bare faced, naked nails and her long blond hair in a ponytail. Sonja Callahan would shudder in disgust. When she could make it to family brunches on Sundays, Anna spent hours prepping her clothes, her hair and her makeup...just so Sonja would never be wise to her slacking. She would never hear the end of it.

She walked downstairs to the kitchen of her upscale town house and made herself a large travel mug of coffee to go. It was going to be a long day, a twelve hour shift with her clinical instructor, Mary Jane. She had also packed a lunch the night before, even though she had never been able to eat more than a few bites between patients in the ER.

When she arrived to Grady Memorial, she was welcomed with a hurried wave, as she was needed in triage after a factory accident. She threw her coat and her bag behind the admittance desk and her day started out with a bang.

It was just supposed to be a standard domestic disturbance call, but somehow it ended in a car chase, their cruiser flipping in pursuit. The whole situation escalated very quickly. For all intents and purposes, Rick Grimes made out nearly unscathed, bruised and sore with a gash above his left eyebrow. His partner, Dawn Lerner on the other hand, had been knocked out cold when the airbags deployed.

He was able to crawl out of their overturned vehicle and radio for support. Within minutes, a ambulance had arrived to transport them downtown to Grady Memorial. Rick hadn't gotten used to the pace of city life, and had only been with the Atlanta Police Department for a little over a year. Atlanta might as well have been New York City compared to the little podunk Sherriff's department in King County.

It had taken some time for him to make the move, after his divorce from his ex-wife Lori. He stayed with his brother a bit until the smoke cleared. The divorce had been nasty, as he found out Lori had been sleeping with his best friend, Shane, who also happened to be a Sherriff's Deputy. Shane and Lori were now married, and had a daughter. His son, Carl, was living with them...and that killed him. He got to see Carl on the weekends, as not to disrupt his schooling.

He thought Atlanta would be a good move, as small town gossip had worn him down during the divorce...but so far it's been long shifts, take out and beers in his apartment. His brother had tried to tempt him with online dating, thinking that the fish in the sea that was Atlanta was plentiful with single women. Rick attempted it for a while, meeting only drama queens and broken women with serious insecurity issues.

Once they reached the hospital, Dawn was hurried down the hall with a bustle of doctors and nurses. He was taken to triage to be looked over and patched back up. As he waited on the cot behind a curtain, he thought about all the paperwork and interviews that were to come regarding the accident and he sighed thickly. Suddenly, the curtain pulled back and a nurse with a clipboard appeared. She had long blond hair in a ponytail that framed a heart shaped face.

Her green eyes met his own and she looked back down at her chart, "Officer Grimes?"

"Yeah."

She put down the chart on a table and rolled it over to his bedside, "I'm here to stitch you up."

He watched as she donned a pair of latex gloves and sat on a stool facing him, "You look like you have had a rough day."

Rick nodded and felt the sting as she cleaned up the cut above his eyebrow, "You can say that again, Nurse...?"

She smiled, exposing a row of perfectly straight, white teeth, "Anna."

Her voice had a refined, southern lilt, much like Scarlett O'Hara. Anna touched his chin gently, "I just need you to turn your head a little. And stay still. Have you ever had stitches before?"

She had a gentle touch, which he appreciated, "Yeah, a few times...I was wondering if there was any news on my partner, Officer Lerner? She was taken back to the OR..."

Rick felt her complete a stitch slowly and she met his eyes with her own, "I can check with the desk, find out who the doctor is. I'm kind of low man on the totem pole here, but I'll see what I can do."

Thirteen stitches later, Anna stood up and pulled off the gloves, "All done. Let me get you some ointment and dressings. Keep it clean, keep it dry. Come back next week and we'll take them out. I'll check on the status of Officer Lerner, too."

He nodded, "Thank you..."

She disappeared behind the curtain, and he was once again alone with his thoughts.

Anna hurried down the hall to check with the the nurses station, trying to find out about Officer Grimes's partner. Gwen looked through the computer and shook her head, "She's going to be back there awhile. Tear in adominal viscera, skull fracture, broken ribs..."

"Can someone make sure the doctor talks to him? Poor guy's beat up and pretty concerned."

Gwen sighed, "Alright."

Anna went to the supply closet and grabbed some samples of Aquaphor and extra dressings and headed back to triage. Officer Grimes sat on the small hospital bed in his blue uniform. His chart said that he had been in an accident in a chase while in pursuit of a perpetrator. His partner was driving the car, and had been injured badly. He had been very lucky.

When she walked up to him, his bright blue eyes looked up at her...and suddenly she forgot everything she was going to say, "So...I checked in with the desk, they are going to send the doctor your way...but as for you, here's some after care instructions and supplies. If you need anything between now and when you come back in, there's the number at the bottom. Do we need to call anybody for you...? Wife?"

He shook his head, a faint smile on his face, "No, thank you. When I find out how my partner is doing, I will call someone at the department."

Anna nodded, "I'm sorry about your partner, she's in really good hands. But make sure you get some rest, okay?"

He looked up at her again, those blue eyes burning a hole through her, "Thanks...Anna."

The rest of the day flew by and went exactly as she thought it would. She managed to eat four bites of lunch while standing at the nurses station. Mary Jane took her back to assist with a pelvic exam and to pump a stomach thanks to a drug overdose. By the time she had finished up, it was seven thirty. She put on her gray toboggan and coat and grabbed her stuff and decided to stop at the hospital coffee stand before the ride home.

While she waited in line she checked her phone. Her mother had called her four times. She listened to the first and last messages, "Anna, your father and I would like you to come to Savannah on your weekend off...Anna, I just got done speaking to Marjorie and her son Oliver is recently divorced..."

Anna uttered in disgust, "Ugh."

She ordered a large coffee with four splendas, and couldn't find her wallet. She sifted through the her bag and came up with only fifty-seven cents, "I'm sorry I can't find..."

A voice came from behind her, "Here, I've got it."

Rick had watched as she struggled to find her wallet, and finally stepped up to help. Anna had turned around, her big green eyes surprised to see him, "Oh hey...thank you...what are you still doing here?"

He ordered his own coffee and paid for both of them, "Waiting on my ride. My buddy is coming to get me."

After he got his change and left a tip, he and Anna walked to the side near the gift shop. She took a sip and looked concerned, "Did you talk to the doctor?"

Rick nodded, noticing how short she was, "Yeah, Dawn's gonna be here for awhile. She got banged up pretty badly."

Her eyes softened, "I'm sorry to hear that."

"So, um, headed home?"

Anna smiled, "This should give me just enough energy to get home and watch Netflix."

"No family...kids?"

She shook her head, "Uh no...just me. I do have a cat, though."

He was kind of surprised, he thought for sure a woman like her would've been hitched, she had a pretty face and a warm smile. She raised her cup to him, "I've got to get going. I'm back on at seven. Thanks for the coffee, Officer Grimes."

Rick shook his head, "Rick. Just call me Rick."

Anna nodded and flashed him a shy smile, "Rick. Thank you, again."

He watched her walk away, disappearing out into the night, just as his friend walked through the door. Sgt. Bob Lamson was the closest thing he had to a friend in this town, even though he was Rick's superior. He walked up to Rick, his hands in his jacket pockets, "Hey Rick. I'm glad you called me, everyone's been worried. You ready to go?"

He nodded and followed Bob out the door and when they reached the car, Bob asked, "You hungry?"

Rick nodded, "Haven't eaten all day."

They stopped by this little greasy spoon diner on the way to Rick's apartment. They sat in a booth and ordered burgers and fries. Bob looked at Rick, a concerned eyebrow raised, "You doing all right, Man? I mean...personally?"

Rick shrugged, he didn't know where to start, "Still getting used to things, I guess. I miss my kid. I'll probably won't be cleared for work for awhile. This whole 'fresh start' stuff isn't what it's cracked up to be."

Bob sighed, "You are a good officer, Rick. You do good work. Maybe it's time to extend life outside of work? You know...relax. Maybe find a nice girl. You're a handsome son of a bitch, it's not like you would have any problems. Met any cute girls recently?"

He shrugged, not that anything was that easy. Relax. Find a nice girl. It's more like finding someone who isn't completely broken and who's baggage lines up with yours, "The nurse who stitched me up...she was pretty cute. Blond hair...big green eyes."

"Sounds promising. Talk to her any?"

"Ran in to her at the coffee stand while I was waiting for you...she couldn't find her wallet. I paid for her coffee."

Bob laughed and shook his head, "See? You're chivalrous, too. Already a leg up from half the idiots she probably runs in to on a daily basis. Rick, I've seen your apartment, you live like a goddamn monk. Didn't your ex remarry?"

Rick looked down and his food, suddenly not feeling so hungry, "I don't think the ink was dry on the divorce papers before she was down at the courthouse."

"Then that's your clearance. She's moved on. Maybe go visit Dawn. Chat up that nurse. Ask her to have a drink with you. What's the worst that could happen?"

Anna was greeted at home with a dramatic yowl and a stretch by her ginger cat, Truvy. She had named her after Dolly Parton's character in "Steel Magnolias." Lord knows, she was sassy enough. Anna leaned down and scratched her by her ear, "I know you didn't miss me, you probably slept all day."

As Anna made her way to the kitchen, she heard Truvy padding behind her. Her wallet was sitting on the counter and she shoved it into her bag. She ate what was left of her lunch, standing up in the kitchen. She spent most nights like this, as she didn't really see a reason to sit down. When she got off of work, she usually ended the night with half a pint of ice cream or half a bottle of wine while either watching Netflix or reading, unless she had an exam...then she would study.

She had gotten used to her solitary life. Anna wasn't necessarily lonely. Sometimes she'd meet up with Junior League friends from Savannah, sometimes she would go out with some of the folks in her nursing classes. Gwen, despite her standoffish attitude, had invited Anna out a few times for drinks and they had gotten along just fine.

Truvy jumped up on the counter and butted her head against Anna's shoulder. She should probably scold her for being there, but she didn't care, "I know. Time for bed, right? What should we watch tonight?"

She picked up Truvy and walked upstairs to the bedroom she used to share with her husband. Phillip was a good man, quiet and forthright. Her mother had deemed him "a good match" as he was handsome and well bred. He came from old money in Savannah. They were married after they graduated from college.

Anna worked at a law firm as a legal secretary as Phillip climbed the ladder in medicine. It wasn't until the big move to Atlanta that she had planned on being a house wife, maybe a mom. They had come close once, but she had miscarried at thirteen weeks.

As she climbed into bed with Truvy, Anna tried to push those thoughts away, and instead focus on her new path. She worked again in the morning and then had a day off, and then classes on Thursday...

Truvy curled up next to her hip and her mind retreated to the police officer she met earlier that day, how kind of him to have bought her coffee. And those eyes, good Lord...enough to make a girl go weak kneed...

a/n: hi loves! I'm trying my hand at AU, I hope you like it. As I came to concluding my long running "Redemption" fic, I had the idea to re-write it in a present day, non-zombie setting. So here it is! Let me know what you think by leaving a review.

Love!

LeahP! xoxo