Chapter 50: Happy ever after

Hershel

I softly knocked on one of the bars, and the blonde red haired girl looked up.

"Oh, I'm sorry, sir. Didn't see you there!"

Lacy stood up, still a little unstable on her crutches. "Come on in!"

She helped me move away the gate, and made my way over to the bed, where I sat down next to her. "I see you're learning already."

She nodded. "Yes. Darren's been helping me out in the past days. He's very helpful. He's kind."

I smiled. "Yes… he sure is. Now, let me take a look at that foot of yours."

"Oh, of course." Lacy lifted her injured foot on top of the bed, flattening her skirt as she did. "It still hurts, but I'm getting better every day."

I softly pushed at some weak spots, examining the injury again. Lacy sometimes cried softly of pain, but stayed still. After a while, she sighed.

"There's just one thing about this Darren."

I looked up, lifting an eyebrow. "And what's that?"

She shrugged. "I'm not really sure. He just seems so…sad. He has this glance over him, as if he's been hurt really bad."

I focused on her foot again, slowly starting to remove the bandage around it. "That is true. He's been through a lot before he came to us. He was in another group, a little smaller than ours. He was with them in the first days of the outbreak."

"What happened to them?" Lacy asked, and it sounded like she was almost afraid to say it.

"From what I've heard…they got overrun in a city. Savannah, or somewhere in that region." I put away the old bandage, and searched through my medical kit for another fresh one. "He's been on his own ever since."

"Oh." Lacy bowed her head, and was silent for a while. I rolled the bandage around her ankle, giving it more support while healing. I was starting to put my tools back in the box, when Lacy cleared her throat. "Is he really all alone? I mean, does he have any family left?"

I closed the kit. "Well…he did have a godmother. But…she got bit, not long ago." Lacy nodded understandable, and I stood up. "He might need some support, and he seems to be really fond of you. Perhaps you could cheer him up."

Lacy's cheeks turned red. "Oh, well…we'll see how that goes."

I grinned, leaning on my own crutches. On my way outside, I almost bumped into Ryan, who almost jumped in the air.

"Oh, Hershel! I am so sorry!"

I chuckled. "Don't worry, son. I've been walking on these things for about four months now." I moved my crutches a little. "I know how to stay on my own feet now."

Ryan smiled, still with a nervous glance over him. "That's great. Really…great. Uhm…can we talk? Somewhere private?"

I lifted an eyebrow curiously, and nodded slowly. "Well, yes. Most of the people are working on the cafeteria on the courtyard right now."

"OK, great." Ryan walked with me to one of the metal tables, moving his fingers in his palms nervously. The entrance hall wasn't very crowded, and this was as private as we could get nowadays.

"What is it you want to tell me?" I questioned after we sat down. Ryan scratched himself on the back of his neck, and took a deep breath.

"OK…uhm…Look, I know that since I've been back, I haven't been the best of myself. And I've hurt Beth a lot…and I want to apologize to you, as her father. I want to tell you that I am so, so sorry, for hurting your daughter." He rubbed some of his hair to the back of his head, away from his forehead. "I've been doing better and better. I have been more myself the past week. I'm on a way of recovery. Not only me, but Beth too. Our relationship, the thing that we had…it won't be the same, but it's getting close."

Ryan stopped, taking another breath. I listened patiently, letting him talk and telling me what he wants me to know. Under my beard, I grinned a little. I could see that Ryan was getting better. His cheeks weren't so hollow, and his body not so bony. The wide shoulders he once had were slowly coming back, and the sarcastic and jokingly glance in his eyes too.

"For now" Ryan continued, "we're taking it slow, step by step. The reason I'm telling you this, is that I want to ask you for a blessing."

I lifted an eyebrow, surprised. "A blessing? Not for marriage, I hope?"

Ryan smiled, blushing a little, and shook his head. "No, not that. I want to ask your blessing for our relationship. I will always protect Beth, and she will always help me when I need her to. All I'm asking, is-"

"Yes" I interrupted him. Ryan blinked surprised. I grinned. "Yes, I'm giving you my blessing. I want you to protect my little girl, and I want you to love her the best you can."

Ryan shut his mouth after a second of realization, and nodded certainly. "I will always do that, sir."

"I know you will" I nodded, leaning back. "I know that you will protect her and love her, even after I am gone. Because I won't be here forever. There will come a time where I will get sick, or bit, or I get too old. I won't be there to look after her like you do. You're doing me a favour, and I'm doing you a favour."

Ryan nodded, understanding every word I said.

Lacy

I turned another page, letting out a sigh. It was the sixth time I read 'The Lord of the Flies', but it was the only thing I could find in here. It were the moments like this that I missed Woodbury. Well, the library. Not the rest. OK, maybe the rest too, a little. The feeling of a real town, going to the supermarket, kids playing on the streets, things like that.

The prison was a lot safer, and it was let by people who were really trustworthy, and not liars. But still; Woodbury had its moments.

I let out another sigh, already knowing what was about to happen in the book next.

It was then when I heard footsteps behind me. Next, a shadow came over the page of the book. I looked up, protecting my eyes with my hand against the bright sunlight of late autumn.

"Boring book?" Darren asked, sitting down next to me. I made some more room for him, so that he wouldn't accidently touch my foot. Instead, it looked like I didn't want to sit next to him, like I was disgusted. That was not what I meant.

"Well, it's the only thing I could find" I said, with a little shrug. "It's the sixth, or seventh time for me."

Darren nodded, pretending to be impressed. "OK, you must be really bored."

I closed the book, and let it rest on my lap. "Correct." With a swing, I lay the book on Darren's leg. "Why don't you try it?"

Darren quickly read the title, and frowned disapprovingly. "I'm not gonna read it. Saw the movie as a kid, left some good nightmares and childhood trauma"

I snorted, and he pretended to look hurt. "Really?"

Darren nodded, with a slight grin in the corner of his mouth. "Mhhm. About the fat kid, fires, sticks and snakes…"

"The books are always better than the movies" I stated, giving the book a little shove further. "Believe me."

"What about The Lord of the Rings? And Harry Potter?"

I crossed my arms. "Don't tell me you read Tolkien…?"

Darren lifted his chin in the air. "Maybe I did, maybe I didn't."

"The Lord of the Rings is about 1600 pages, for your information."

Darren snorted. "Where did you learn that? Wikipedia?"

"What? No, of course not! I read the book!"

Darren chuckled, and gave me a soft punch on the shoulder. "I'm just messing with yah. Don't get so fed up."

"I know you were joking, I just played along" I said with a blank face, but a small laughter crawled up my throat. Darren smiled, and after we both stopped laughing, it started to get silent.

It was in the middle of the day, and most of the people working on the cafeteria for the courtyard we're taking a break. I suspected Darren was one of those people.

Today, the kids stayed inside. They didn't have the right clothes yet to play outside. It was getting colder, and there was already a group out to look for winter coats for the children.

Darren pointed at the bandage at my foot. "How's he doing?"

"He is doing fine" I said, and looked up to his face. Darren had a slight grin around his mouth, but again, the sadness in his eyes was there. "But I am worried."

Darren looked up from my foot, and for a second into my eyes. He seemed to be a little uncomfortable with me gazing at him like that, because he turned his head away. "How come?"

I kept looking at his face. "I'm worried about someone. There's this guy I know, who pretends to be OK. He tries to help other people, because he wants to be good. But I think it's something else."

Darren turned his body forward, away from me. "And what might that be?"

"He wants to keep himself occupied, so that he doesn't have the time to think about the past. He wants to be busy all the time. He wants to think about the future, and dig away the old memories."

Darren bowed his head for a sec, and kept avoiding to look at me.

I lifted my arm, hesitating a little. After half a minute hanging in the air, I lay my hand on his shoulder, and came a little closer to him. "He's not doing it right, you know. I think he needs help, because if he keeps doing this, he'll drown. He'll never get over it."

Darren looked at his hands for a minute, folded in one another. Again, I hesitated, before carefully placing my other hand on folded ones of his. He looked up, and the smile from before was completely gone now.

"You think you can help him?"

I smiled encouraging. "Perhaps I can. He just needs to ask for it."

Darren looked at my hand on his. "OK, then. Will you help me?"

"Of course" I said, without hesitation.

Beth

I lay my hands on his hands, and giggled nervously. "Seriously, where are we going?"

"Just a little further" Ryan mumbled excitingly. "Don't peek, OK?"

"I won't" I assured him. I couldn't see a thing through his big hands over my eyes. "How far is it, anyway?"

"We're almost there, I promise." Ryan kept leading me forward. All I could feel, was high grass against my leg, and some afternoon sunlight on my skin. Ryan was taking me somewhere, and I had no idea where to.

It seemed to be a random idea. He came to my cell, almost running, and told me to come with him. He dragged me out of the prison, to a back exit, and told me to close my eyes. That it was a surprise.

"Ryan, it feels like we're going really far. Maybe we shouldn't go so far away from the prison…"

"You just need to trust me a little longer. I promise you, it's worth all the secrecy."

Ryan sounded like a little boy, about to show his mother something he found. A dead animal or something.

Oh god, don't let this be a dead animal…

Ryan suddenly stopped walking. "Don't open your eyes yet."

He moved his hands away, and I heard him walk a little further. "Don't you dare to peek."

I giggled again. "Ryan, c'mon, this's been long enough."

"Wait for it, wait for it" he mumbled, and I heard some noises I couldn't place. "OK, you can open your eyes now."

I had to blink a few times to get used to the sunlight again, before a smile came onto my face. There was a huge blanket spread out on the ground, on top of a hill. There was a huge oak tree near, where a stall of weapons hung at. There was a rope spun around the area, with some empty cans at it, as a warning system for any walkers. Even in this peaceful place, there was danger.

On the blanket lay all kinds of food. I saw a bread, which seemed to be freshly backed, some meat, rabbit I think, bottles of clear water, fresh fruit and even some vegetables. It wasn't much, but for the standards nowadays, it was a real meal.

"Surprise!" Ryan grinned, walking around the blanket in a circle. I put a hand over my mouth, and let out a surprised sigh.

"How…when…why…this is amazing!"

Ryan walked towards me, and took me by the hand. "Woodbury had a kitchen, I went back there today to bake a bread. There were still some ingredients left, thank God. I traded the rabbit with Daryl for some medicine against ear pain…he'll be pretty amused to find out it's just water with a little sugar…I took the water from a mountain stream, and boiled it just to be sure. The summer has been good this year, so all this food is fresh from the land. Second; all this happened today. Third; I love you, that's why."

He lead me towards the blanket, and we sat down. I widened my eyes at all the food, and bent over to give him a kiss on the cheek. "This is amazing."

Ryan smiled. "I'm happy you like it." He quickly sat on his knees and grabbed the bread. "OK, let's eat this first. I haven't eaten bread in a while, and I'm pretty curious what it tastes like."

He ripped of a piece, and tasted it first himself. He made an approvable sound, and gave me a piece. "It's not that bad."

I tasted the bread, and laughed. "Not that bad? This is delicious!"

Ryan shrugged. "Got that from my mom."

I looked at Ryan, with a smile. When he noticed that I was staring at him, he lifted an eyebrow. "What?"

"Why all this?" I asked, and he shrugged.

"I just…thought we could go on a real date for once. I mean, if you don't count the night walk where you hurt your leg…"

I chuckled at the memory, rubbing over the spot on my lower leg. There was still a scar left of that night.

"And" Ryan continued, "I just want to tell you that you don't have to worry about anything anymore. Everything will be fine from now on. We can get through anything. Whatever's gonna happen in the future, we can do it."

I laughed a little at his wise words, and rested my head in his shoulder. "Don't worry about what will happen next. Just… focus on right now."

He rested his chin on my hair, and I listened to his heartbeat. When he talked, I could hear his voice through his whole body. "I love you."

I smiled at the words. He put his arms around me, and pulled me closer to him. I felt so save at that moment. Like everything would be OK. He was right. We could get through anything. We would be alright.

"And I love you."

THE END

I'd like to thank some people who supported this story, which include all the readers, reviewers and especially Mexican-Canadian, who all kept supporting this story through my writer's blocks, crappy uploads and kept giving me new ideas and inspiration.

The story wasn't much anymore in the last few chapters, but I think I ended it well this chapter. This was my second fanfiction ever, my first fanfic that was actually liked by people. I will still continue with my other fics, which are also Walking Dead-fics; Survivor's Diary and Together Alone. Feel free to check them out if you're all depressed that this story ended ;) (which I don't think is the case by most of you)

Again; Thank you all! ;)

-LaurenRoover