Disclaimer—I don't own or make claim to the characters from The Walking Dead. I only own my original characters

What feels like hours later, I startle awake in Rick's arms where we had fallen asleep in bed. It takes me a few minutes to remember where we are and Rick starts stirring as well--I probably woke him up. Before I can move, he pulls me closer within his arms and gives me a small peck on the lips. "We fell asleep, huh?" he asks.

I nod. "Yeah, it's all good though. It's nice to not have to rush around to be anywhere. But, we'd better take advantage of all our time here. Go out and mingle with the people." I grin down at him as I start moving to get up. Rick pulls me back and I land on his chest. I look at him inquiringly. He stares intently back at me and his face is serious. Oh no. I don't think I can do serious right now. I try to joke. "What?" I laugh at him. "You so comfy you can't get up now?" I continue laughing as I continue trying to pull away to get up and away from the serious look in his eyes.

He grabs both of my arms and holds me in place above his chest, meeting my eyes with his serious look.

"Stop joking around," he says. "I know you're still getting comfortable with all of this. That was a huge step today, openly sharing a room and admitting you have feelings. I just want to make sure we're still on the same page and you aren't running off scared to get a separate room now."

I scoff. "No, I'm not running off to get a separate room." He stares deep into my eyes and I sigh. "OK, fine, it's a little too intense for me right now. I need a little bit of space. But not so I can run away, but just to give me a bit to get used to the change in dynamic." He looks understanding, so I dive in. "I'm not taking back anything I said or did. This isn't five steps back," I insist. "It's just a pause to let me catch up a bit, catch my breath. To let us go talk to people and do the jobs we came here to do."

He leans up and kisses me. When he lays his head back down on the pillow, he's more relaxed and his hands loosen their grip on my arms. "OK, I can understand that. As long as you'll be back here tonight with me, then I'm fine with that. Just talk to me, and we'll be fine. Let's go meet the people, do our jobs."

I give him a small smile and nod and get up so we can get dressed and mingle and learn more about The Kingdom and what their people do that we could learn from them; find out what they might want in the charter.

After we leave our room, we found it was early afternoon and we hadn't slept as long as we'd thought. We visited with people in the square and learned more about the community. Rather than separating and going our different ways to complete our separate tasks, Rick and I ended up not straying too far from each other. Surprisingly, I found this was enough space for me. I had initially intended to leave him to his studies of their methods and work with people in another area. I figured that'd give me the space I needed for a time, to be able to recenter myself. Our dynamic keeps changing so fast, it's hard to keep up--at least for me. I glance at him from the corner of my eye where he's having an in-depth discussion with their head of farming. He certainly doesn't seem to have any hesitation regarding where our relationship is heading. It's like he has known from the start exactly where we'd end up and is already on board for the ride. I huff out an exasperated sigh with myself. I've never been one to move fast when it came to love and relationships. I'm more of a left brain thinker, cautious and strategic. I like to go into things with a plan, know what is expected to happen. That just doesn't seem to work between Rick and I. Every time I think I understand what's happening with us, it shifts. The thing is, I'm a full participant in the shifting nature of our relationship, nothing has happened that I haven't agreed with at the time. I'm just not very good at sticking to my plans when it comes to Rick. Like telling him I was falling in love with him earlier, what the hell was that? I shake my head at myself. That was definitely not part of the plan until I had analyzed those feelings, examined and picked them apart and was totally confident in the fact that what I was feeling was, in fact, love. But as usual, unscripted things just fall out of my mouth every time I'm around him. Just like unscripted actions take place whenever he's around.

As has happened several times, Rick finishes up with the farmer at the same time I finish my discussion regarding the charter with the group I've been talking to. It wasn't scripted, it wasn't planned, but each group we've been with we have finished up and moved on to the next area together. We've been doing our own thing, covering our own agendas, but still seem to be in sync. Yet somehow, I'm still getting my space that I asked for, having him close by certainly wasn't preventing me from self-reflection.

Rick walks over to me, saying, "I wanted to speak to their stable master, do you want to talk to the people over there while I do?" I nod and join him in walking over into the stables. This continues all day until it's time to meet Carol and the King for dinner. We moved from area to area together like a piece of well-oiled machinery.

We walk into the dining room where King Ezekiel is reigning over dinner. I glance at Rick with a smile, he hasn't seen The King in action at dinner before. This should be entertaining. Rick sees me grinning at him, "What?" he asks. I just shake my head and walk toward the head of the table to give Carol a big hug. He'll find out soon enough.

"Welcome my friends and allies," The King declares when he sees us. "I'm so happy you are here to sup with us this eve. You shall have the seats of honor," he proclaims while leading us to seats on the right side of him that are more ornate than others. Rick follows me looking bewildered. I laugh inside. He's worked with The King planning the war and executing it, but always in Alexandria or out in the fields. Now he'll really see how he operates.

Dinner is entertaining as I watch the increasingly flabbergasted expressions on his face that coincide with increasingly flamboyant actions from The King. Gradually, Rick seems to accept King Ezekiel's behavior and they finally start a conversation about the future of the communities and how they can work together for the good of all.

I meet Carol's smile with one of my own. I think we were both quite entertained tonight seeing how these two were going to move through the theatrics to a common agreement.

When dinner is over and the two men are still deep in conversation, I help Carol clear the table with some others. After we have delivered everything to the kitchen where others were cleaning dishes I ask, "Hey, I was wondering if you have any board games?"

"Board games?" She seems surprised. I laugh.

"Yes, any of the old time ones like Clue, Life, Battleship, Sorry?"

"I'm pretty sure I have monopoly."

I shudder. "Oh no, no more monopoly."

She laughs. "Carl got you too? He's a little obsessed with that one."

"Yeah, he and my kids have made us play it way too often."

"Well, let's look and see what we have here." We walk down the hallway to a large closet. She pulls out Sorry and Battleship. "This what you're looking for?"

"Yes! This is perfect."

"Is this another way to distract Rick?"

"No, more of an inside joke. But, speaking of distractions..."

She gives me an inquiring look, so I continue, "How are you enjoying life with The King?"

She smiles and says, "It's good. We're good. We've found a balance and we're raising Henry together."

I nudge her with my shoulder saying, "I'm glad. I'm glad you've found someone to make you happy. We all miss you a lot, but if you're happy then it's all worth it."

She nudges me back. "Same to you. I'm thrilled you're giving him a chance. You two are good together."

I blush and look down. "Yeah. Better than I thought. He's a good man."

"One of the best," Carol confirms.

I stop where I left my bag and slip the games in before we return to the men at the table. We rejoin the conversation and chat a little bit about The Charter and the conversations I'm having with the people. They agree to give me more input on what they'd like to see in The Charter tomorrow. Eventually everyone runs out of steam and Rick and I say our goodnights to head back to our room. I snag my bag on the way out.

Rick grabs my hand and we walk together back to the building our room is in. While I wait for him to open the door, I lay my head against his shoulder, breathing in his scent and feeling like all's right with the world. I'm much more settled than I was. Once we go into the room and shut the door, I kick off my shoes and take my bag over to where our stuff is stored. Rick walks up behind me, sliding his arms around me and hugging me while nuzzling my neck. I take a moment to savor his touch, I truly am addicted.

"Did you get the space you needed?" he asks. "I know I probably stuck closer than you would have liked. We weren't really apart all day except there at the end wherever you and Carol disappeared to."

I lean my head back and look at him. "Yes," I replied, "I got what I needed. It's strange, I did plan on leaving you to do your thing and going to another part of the community to start my discussions. But it just seemed to work even though we were in pretty close proximity. I was able to think even with you there. I guess I'm getting used to having you around, huh?" I smirk up at him.

He leans down and kisses me. "Progress then. I'm glad to know I don't have to completely leave the area for you to have some 'space' now."

I just laugh at him and give him another kiss. I pull back and grab the walkie from my bag and hold it up to him. He looks at his watch. "Yep, it's time to check in with the kids," he confirms.

We make quick work of checking in with the kids. We are all relieved that it works, the range is good enough and the kids are happy to hear we arrived safely. After a bit, we say goodbye and promise to check in the next night.

After I put the walkie back in the bag, Rick grabs my hand and starts leading me over to the bed. He says, "Well, now that I've got you to myself again, I have some great ideas about how to pass the time in our room."

I start chuckling mischievously as I pull back against him. He turns to look and see what I'm laughing at and why I'm not following him. I chortle once he looks at me.

"What?" he asks.

I laugh harder as he pulls me up against him. I look up at his eyes. "It's just about your ideas on how to pass the time. When Carol and I stepped out, I raided her supplies to make sure we were prepared."

He looks confused now. I motion with my index finger to indicate I need a minute. I turn around and walk back to my bag and pull the Sorry! game out of the bag. I hold it up so he can see it. He looks puzzled and then starts grinning.

"I remembered your plans for passing the time with board games while we were touring the communities. I made sure we had what we needed," I say.

He laughs out loud now. "You know I didn't really mean for us to play board games..."

I interrupt while placing my hand on my heart in surprise. "You didn't mean for us to play board games?" I ask with manufactured shock in my voice. "I very clearly remember you stating that you thought we could spend extra time together and you had very specific plans for that time by playing board games."

He gapes at me, unsure whether to take me seriously or not when I bust out laughing hysterically. Tears stream from my eyes as I gasp for breath. "Oh...my...gosh. You...should see...your face." I manage to get out the words as I collapse in a chair by the table while I laugh harder.

Rick walks over and swipes the game out of my hands saying, "OK, Miss Smarypants, you got your joke across." He heads back to my bag and I call after him, "Wait, where are you going with my game?!"

He turns around, saying, "I'm putting it away so we can get to the real entertainment."

I straighten up at that. "No, wait, bring that back! I want to play it, do you know how long it's been since I played Sorry?"

He turns around to see if I'm serious. I am, saying, "No really. We can play at least one game, right? You did suggest we play."

He snorts. "You knew I wasn't serious about that."

I shrug. "Maybe, but I still want to play now."

He walks back over with the game and sits down across from me while placing the game on the table. "OK," he says, "but we need to spice it up a little. How about strip Sorry?"

I stare at him, surprised and then start to laugh. "Strip Sorry? How would that even work?"

He smirks and proposes, "For every piece you get home, your opponent has to remove an item of clothing."

I shrug and agree. "Fine, not that it'll get you much as far as results. Four pieces, that's two shoes and two socks. The only thing you'll succeed in doing is getting me barefoot! And that's IF you manage to get all four of your pieces home before I do." I grin at him, pleased with my summary.

"Oh no. Each shoe and sock doesn't count as an item. Both may be an item together. Besides, may I point out you already took your shoes off?"

I quickly get up and reach for my shoes when he grabs me before I can reach them and throws the shoes across the room. "Oh no, that's cheating. You start with the items you are currently wearing."

I laugh and return to the table. "You're on, bring it on you dirty old man." I nod to his boots, "I'm going to insist you lose the boots though so we start out with similar handicaps."

He agrees and kicks his boots off while I set up the board.

Fairly quickly, I have two pieces in my home spot and Rick is minus socks and shirt. I eye his chest as I move my 3rd piece closer to home. Strip Sorry is turning out to be a pretty fun game after all.

Over the next half hour, I have surprising bad luck while Rick's luck turns for the better--that or I'm just too distracted by his bare chest. Soon I'm sitting in my bra and pants, having lost my socks and shirt as well. Rick moves his 3rd piece into home and motions to me to deliver the next item of clothing. I stand up and shimmy out of my pants while Rick watches. "Ya know," he says, "I think you're onto something. We need to play more board games."

I roll my eyes at him. "Whatever. I'm telling you right now that I'm not playing strip Battleship."

"You have Battleship?" he asks.

I nod toward the bag. "Yeah, in the bag."

He smirks. "I'll sink your battleship good. Tomorrow night."

"Uh huh. Sure." I move my 3rd piece into home. "OK, I want those pants," I declare.

He stands up and removes them, leaving only his boxers. He rolls the dice and has the luck to roll exactly what he needs to move his 4th piece home.

"Yeah, that's what I'm talkin' about! I win and it's time for you to lose the bra!"

"Well, if you won, then the games over so..."

He walks around to me, crowding me up against the wall. "You trying to get out of paying your penalty? Gonna welsh on the wager?" His hands go around me, flipping my bra strap from behind.

"No, geez. Stop that, I'll pay up."

"I got it," he says, as unfastens the bra and slides it off. His fingers follow its path, sliding over my breasts and then lingering.

"Good game," he murmurs as he leans down to kiss me.

"Mmmm," I hum in response. It doesn't take long before the kissing evolves to more and Rick picks me up and carries me to bed.

A/N I'm so sorry it's taken me 7 weeks to update! I got sick and ended up missing a week of work. Not the good kind of sick where you can do fun stuff at home either, the kind where you're laid out flat and can't even handle reading or watching tv and stuff. After I was well enough to return to work, it took about a month for the cough to go away. I was just lethargic and in recovery mode. Then the writers block hit. I had no idea where to go next after they'd arrived at The Kingdom. I had a plan in mind, I promise, but I think my brain took a hit during that sickness. I'm back now though and have a direction. This chapter is more Rick and Sandi centric. I did get some feedback that I'm spending too much time on just them and need to interact with the rest of the group more, so I'll work on that happening more over the next chapters. I guess I let them get a bit caught up in what's happening between them to the exclusion of everyone else--whoops!

Thanks for reading, I really appreciate you all coming back for more, especially after that unplanned hiatus. If you liked this chapter please consider giving me some feedback, I really do listen to it!