Look at the stars - Look at how they shine for you (Rick and Evangeline)

Rick was happy that Evangeline and her friends had decided that they wanted to stay the night and he was just coming back from a meeting of the important group members to talk about whether or not they would be offered the chance to stay permanently as part of the main group. To be honest though the responses seemed to be mostly favourable, leading him to believe that they might just be offered the chance to stay.

He was actually taking some of their better quality bedding, some double-bed sized covers, for them to use. Even he had never used these covers to be honest, they were very comfortable, clean and warm and they had been rather jealously horded by a man who had since died in a shopping trip into Atlanta.

Seeing Evangeline sitting outside her grinned a little bit and waved to her as he approached,

"Hey Evangeline." he greeted her brightly, "I thought you'd be resting with the others. I brought you guys some double-bed covers. Great for wrapping you up when it gets cold like it does at night here."

Ducking his head into the tent, he put covers over Luna, Chloe and Aurelia. With one set of covers left, he sat down beside Evangeline on the wooden bench that was outside her tent. He wrapped it lightly around her as he sat down next to her,

"Thought you might be cold..." he told her before glancing up at the stars, seeing all of them for once, "One thing I will say for the lack of people... no light pollution means we can once again see every single star... so beautiful..."

Evangeline had been waiting outside of the tent, she was slightly cold but nothing that she couldn't handle. It was part of her duty to watch over the others as they slept, it helped keep Luna calm during the night that she would be here to spot anything that went wrong, so that she wouldn't be trapped by anything and unable to warn them because of her inability to speak.

Not only that but it made her feel safe herself to stay up and look after the others, she often ran on less than a few hours sleep and some night she did not sleep at all, leaving her to be completely cranky the next day when she would have to carry all the heavy packs again, Aurelia never having taken one since they left the fair.

When Rick came over to their little collection of tents, Evangeline blinked softly at the gifts he brought before smiling gently, they would certainly enjoy those covers, they looked very luxurious she had to admit. They looked like the kind of things you would have trouble getting out of in the morning so you weren't late for school.

"Thank you, I am sure that they will appreciate them very much." she stated with a friendly nod, sighing softly as she looked up at the stars, when a duvet was wrapped around her own shoulders, she smiled and hugged it around her more, letting it warm her up "I was indeed cold...it is a chill night tonight."

Humming up at the sky, she couldn't help but sigh and shake her head a little bit;

"The world owes us one beautiful sight." she stated, looking at the ashes of the fire that had been burning before hand, her head resting on her hands as she leant forwards, shifting her position so that she could try and keep herself awake for longer "Why are you still awake? It is late."

Rick had to admit that the level of dedication she had to keeping her friends safe was something he admired and something he aspired to be like. He knew that he gave a lot to the group, people sometimes said he gave too much, but he liked that he wasn't the only one. He liked that she gave as much of herself to her group as he gave to his. It made him feel slightly less alone in the role to be honest.

He smiled at her when she thanked him for the covers,

"Well they used to belong to someone and he'd been hording them for a special occasion... visitors and new friends seemed like a good special occasion to me." he told her with a smile before chuckling, "Be sure to appreciate them yeah? They're the last things we've got that were machine washed."

When she said that the world owed them one beautiful sight he couldn't help but agree but he hoped that there was more than one beautiful sight left in the world for them to enjoy,

"I think it should give us more than one. And sometimes I see things that let me know that there are many beautiful things left in the world that will not, can not, be taken away from us by a few walking corpses." he told her with a grin before turning to her with a small smile, "Same reason you might be awake actually. I want to watch over my people, my son and my best friend. And..."

He paused before shrugging slightly, looking away,

"I'm afraid of what I see when I close my eyes."

Evangeline nodded her head and she snuggled her head against the duvet happily, it had that lovely smell of something that hadn't been tainted by days of sweat or splashed of gore, she wanted to be able to keep hold of these and make sure that they never lost that smell but that was a little bit of a long shot. They were bound to lose the freshness so she would just have to enjoy it while it lasted, it reminded her of laundry day at home.

"I will ensure that we treat them correctly." she stated with an abrupt nod, she didn't think that it would be wise to go about and destroy the property of the group that most of them had decided that they wanted to join up with.

There was one person that she wasn't really sure about, and that person was Shane, she didn't get a great vibe from him but she was hoping that was just because she didn't know him that well. Aurelia seemed to get on with him well enough and contested he was of good character, it would do for her, for now.

Raising her eyebrow when Rick explained why he was still awake, Evangeline couldn't say he was wrong, it was the same reason why she was still awake. She was protecting the people that were precious to her, but also, whenever she slept she was terrified of the nightmares that might come her way...losing those people she had come to love, failing at what she wanted most to do. Walkers were everywhere in her dreams she couldn't escape them.

"They are indeed the reasons why I do not sleep." she stated with a small hum "One of us needs to be strong, Aurelia pretends to be strong, but she is not." Swallowing softly she took a small pause, before continuing speaking "It is...hard."

It was so hard to keep going on some days, she wanted to just relax and have a chance not to be a pack mule, to not wear her armour and maybe do something fucking enjoyable instead of traipsing around the undergrowth because Aurelia decided it would be a good idea.

Rick smiled softly when he saw her snuggling into the duvet, no doubt enjoying how it seemed to want to lull her to sleep and to gentle dreams. He admitted to himself that he had been considering using said duvets for him and Carl and giving the women the same worn and dirties blankets that everyone else had. But in the end he had decided to be a better host than that,

"Well all you have to do for that is to sleep in them and enjoy how soft they are." he teased her with a little wink before nodding, "But yeah, if it needs washing again, you know if you decide to stay longer, just ask Carol and she'll go and clean it."

He coughed a little bit when she looked at him, eyebrow raised, when he gave his reasons for being awake still. Was it so hard to believe he wanted to protect his little son and his best friend? Probably not considering she seemed to accept his reasons easily enough. Both the desire to protect his precious ones and the fear of his nightmares. He hated those nightmares but could they even be called nightmares? Was it a nightmare when it happened every single day without fail? Probably but still,

"I thought as much. We seem to be a lot alike in that regard." he admitted before nodding in agreement, "It gets harder with each day that you do it... but you know that there's seldom chance for you to take a day off from it. If you do then the group falls apart... unless you're in a safe location I suppose."

Leaning backwards on his hands, he looked up at the stars again and spoke quietly,

"Do you ever wonder what you would be doing now if none of this had happened?"

Evangeline merely nodded in response to Rick's instructions, she wondered why he had not kept the duvets for his son, and then she began to feel a little bit guilty, she couldn't take such a wonderful thing from a child. She could make do with the blankets that they had already from their travels they were warm enough and she could have them all now the others had the duvets. Perhaps they could take turns in using the blankets and duvets.

Slipping it off her shoulders she placed it on Rick's instead;

"I don't need it. You should give it to Carl." she stated, her voice a low hum as it always was, she was warmed happily now by the duvet and she was sure that the warmth would last a little bit longer, long enough for her to see out the end of her watch.

The reaction to her raised eyebrow was not what she really wanted, she wasn't questioning what he said, rather she was thinking about whether he was correct or not in knowing what she was thinking about. Turns out that he was pretty goddamn correct. When he stated that it wasn't going to get any easier Evangeline sighed frustratedly, well fucking thank you Rick, way to make a girl feel better. This was her life from now on? Awesome.

"Thank you for that reassuring statement Rick." she stated with a frown on her features "There are no safe locations, not any more."

A light smile appeared on her lips and she shook her head; "No, I would be at work, the fair would be over. I would be carrying on as normal. As would you."

Rick smiled a little bit when she gave him the duvet cover back and he immediately wanted to give it back to her, to keep her warm instead of being warm himself. But when he listened to the reason why she wanted him to take the duvet he smiled a little bit wider. But rather than just stay as he was, he wrapped half of the covers around her with a grin,

"Well it's a double cover so until he uses it we can use it together like this." he reasoned with a happy little smile, "Thank you for thinking about Carl. I had set aside some other duvets for him but right now it's getting harder and harder for him to fall asleep in covers that smell of blood."

He could see that she didn't like his honest approach and answer to her question but in all honesty he didn't much care even if she hated it. Rick had told her the truth as he saw it and as he saw it there was only one way to relax and that was to have a place that was completely defended. Either by other people you trusted or simply by having large walls and securely locked entrances at all sides that required you and you alone to open,

"Well there are safe locations Evangeline." he reasoned with her, "Prisons, the CDC, panic rooms... places that you can put on lockdown. And other places like Army camps."

He chuckled a little bit as she talk about how she would be at work, carrying on as normal,

"Yep... I'd be patrolling the same highways everyday, all day." he told her before snorting, "And stuck in a dead-end marriage with a passive aggressive bitch who only seemed to want me around to help sire Carl... I hope your days were better."

Evangeline sighed softly and although she was going to be giving up something she had really wanted to keep she was happy that it would be going to help a child, she knew it would be selfish to keep it when someone who needed it much more was suffering without it. She could make do with the comfortable blankets out of the lot she normally gave to the others to use. It might be nice to be able to use them.

"Don't mention it. I would feel crap if I took something like this from a kid. It's not fair." she stated with a small smile on her lips, glad that Rick was just appreciating the sacrifice that she was giving up for his son to be happy, but enjoying the way she was wrapped in the warmth of the duvet for a little while longer yet.

Her frown grew deeper when he said that there were safe locations, Rick was lying, he was lying or he was just naïve to believe something like that. If the army bases were safe, where was the army? Why were they not helping them? If the CDC was safe, where was the cure or prevention for this disease? Panic rooms were hardly big enough for all of them and she had no desire to live in a goddamn prison.

Merely responding with a 'hm' Evangeline could feel herself shutting down slightly, she couldn't be bothered listening to bullshit.

"Maybe you should not have married her then." she stated without really thinking about it "They were comfortable enough, thank you." Evangeline responded, there was nothing really to say about her life before all of this, she ran a small tattoo parlour which did good business because she made great tattoo art.

Rick smiled a little bit at her. Anyone willing to give up something they wanted to help a child who they hadn't met before was someone he was more than willing to spend time getting to know. She was someone he could see himself becoming the very best of friends with. Of course he tried to ignore the little voice in the back of his mind that was suggesting "lovers" over friends instead. She was incredibly attractive that was for damn sure but he wasn't sure what she thought about him,

"Well I'll be sure to tell him that he has to appreciate it all the more because it was given by someone who could have just as easily taken it and enjoyed it for themselves." he told her with a grin, "So that he will respect what you've given up for his comfort. And... you've got first dibs on any other bedding we bring in from any raids into Atlanta."

It was clear that they were not going to agree on this and their opinions were polar opposites. He wasn't about to offend her or anything so he just stopped talking.

He snorted a little bit when she suggested that he should not have married her,

"Yeah I suppose that would have been the best option... but she was pregnant with Carl at the time and I wanted to provide a stable family life for my son." he admitted honestly before looking out over at Atlanta for a moment before smiling a little bit, "How about we go out to this place I know tomorrow? Give ourselves some much needed relaxation since we know the others will look after each other while we're gone eh? What do you say?"

Evangeline thought that Rick was a nice guy, obviously not one for the ladies seeing as he had no idea what to say to her to make her more happy, but perhaps that was just for the best, no false promises, no things that could have happened but never actually ended up getting done. No disappointments. Although she would have enjoyed it if perhaps she could have just had one day to relax herself, maybe take a lovely swim in the quarry.

"Maybe I will get to meet him tomorrow. Unless he scares easily." she stated with a small smirk, of course her look was not the best for interacting with children, she tended to intimidate them rather a lot. Evangeline wasn't sure if it was the hair, or the piercings, or the tattoos, or her height and lack of speech...maybe all of those things together?

It was a noble cause Evangeline admitted when she thought about it.

Giving up his own happiness in order for his son to have a good family life, to have stability, but she thought it would have been best to get the divorce out of the way before the baby was born, the arguments would not have been nice as a child growing up.

"Arguments do not make a stable family life. If you had done it before he was born, how would he have known any different?" she asked, looking across at Rick with her normal rather passive expression on her features "I suppose...I would enjoy a rest."

Already she was beginning to wonder where they were going to go, he was keeping it secret on purpose perhaps so that she purposefully would be surprised tomorrow when she got taken to wherever this place was. Maybe she would even wear something that wasn't her armour for a change, it would be nice to move freely in the day.

"Thank you." she hummed lightly.

Rick chuckled a little bit when she said she might meet with Carl tomorrow but only if he didn't scare easily. To be honest though, how was he supposed to scare easily when he saw walking corpses more often than not walking around before having parts of their bodies and heads being reduced to bloody scrap flesh and muscle. He chuckled a little bit,

"Oh I think that he can meet you without getting scared... although the hair might freak him out a little bit." he joked a little bit before smirking, "But seriously, he was already asking about you and the group so I think he'd love to see you tomorrow."

He had lived his life for his son to be happy and although he hated his wife he hadn't actually fought with her that often. And when they did they made sure it was when Carl was either at school or kept it down for when he was asleep. He chuckled a little bit and nodded,

"Believe me, I would have done that if I had had any idea what it would be like." he admitted with a little sigh before chuckling again, "But in the end he had a happy home-life and that was all that mattered to me back then."

He hoped that he would be able to come up with something good within the next six hours because right now he was just kind of spitballing, having no idea what plan he was going to go with. He smiled a little bit before grinning wider,

"Don't thank me yet... thank me when you get to keep your armour off during our little relaxation time my friend."

Evangeline couldn't help but laugh softly, her first laugh since being here actually when Rick admitted that her hair might freak the boy out a little bit she was half tempted to keep it up for when she met him but, perhaps she would leave it down from the style for the day so that she wouldn't have to get up at god knows what o clock in the morning to fix it up.

It would be aiding her day of relaxation. Perhaps she could catch up on some sleep too, actually use one of the other girls duvets when they were up milling around the camp.

"I shall enjoy meeting him." she stated, with a light smile, she really would enjoy meeting the small child, she hadn't seen many children since this whole epidemic had started all those weeks ago "I suppose, a knight comes into the group, a young boy must be fascinated."

Rick had obviously made some mistakes in his life, and she knew what that felt like but Evangeline would never had stayed in such a loveless marriage, even for a child. It would be more destructive she thought to find out your family setting had all been a lie, and they had really not been happy in the slightest.

"You are a good man, sacrificing your happiness for your son." she stated with a nod and a wider smile.

The idea that she wouldn't have to wear her armour tomorrow made Evangeline want to reach up and pump the air in sheer joy but instead a small yawn escaped her lips and she tried to stifle it with the back of her hand. It must be nearing one or two in the morning and she was getting to that time where she needed to sleep.

"I will thank you twice, thrice when that occurs Rick." Evangeline retorted with a little smirk pulling on her lips "Should I bring anything with me?"

Her laugh was something that Rick felt was something he could truly listen to all day. Rick had to admit that it was going to be nice to see Carl being curious about someone without immediately beginning to classify them as either a threat or an asset. He should still be able to look at people and find their differences to be something he can easily ignore like most kids his age would do. Kids his age shouldn't be judging people by what they look like and very rarely even judge people by what clothes and what styles they had,

"Yes he was rather confused about the whole knight situation... he decided that he wanted to be a knight too so that he could go and rescue Sophia from Walkers." he told her with a smirk before grinning a little bit, "Well you can meet him around 12ish right? Until then you have a good lie in yeah Evangeline?"

When she said that he was a good man for sacrificing his happiness for his son he smiled a little bit and nodded his thanks to her but otherwise didn't say a word. It still kind of stung to know that he had given up most of his life to give Carl happiness and yet the world had changed to ruin that.

He chuckled a little bit when she seemed to react in a happy way when she said that she would thank him for it. Seemed that she wanted to be out of her armour something fierce it had to be said. He smirked before shaking his head,

"I'd say yes but I don't think you have what I'd suggest." he told her before nodding, "So just bring a towel or something to dry yourself with yeah?"

Evangeline nodded her head with a soft smile on her lips, she was going to have a goddamn amazing lie in tomorrow morning, she was going to force herself to catch up on all the sleep that she had been missing these days, hopefully she would be able to get up in time to meet Carl at 12ish, she wouldn't want to be late after all. She was sure that Chloe would wake her up though, if she wasn't still sucking face with that Dixon.

"Thank you, I will have a good lie in. Catch up on my sleep." she stated with a nod of her head, slipping out of the duvet and leaving Rick sitting there on the log that was next to the fire pit they had used before hand, Evangeline rooted through their packs and took out a lovely soft blanket that was actually Luna's but she wouldn't mind her using.

It was definitely time for her to go to sleep, her vision was beginning to blur ever so slightly and her eyes were closing for longer and longer every time she blinked. Hopefully the nightmares would not come on so strong tonight she did not wish to disturb everyone else in their sleep like she had done last time.

"I shall do. I am going to turn in for bed now Rick, I shall meet with you tomorrow by the RV at 12." she hummed, with a gentle smile on her lips "Sleep well."

Entering the tent she shut the flap and zipped it up tight, before kicking off her shoes and trying to fall into a sleep.