I was watering my crops. We were going through a little bit of a dry spell with the weather so I took it upon myself to make sure my crops got the water they needed. In the corner of my eye, I noticed someone coming down the track from the road. I reached for my gun which was on my belt, before my radio went off. "No need for the gun, Ellie." None other than Rick Grimes.

I laughed to myself. "Ricky Dicky Doo Da Grimes."

"Will the nicknames every stop?" Rick questioned.

"Not even when you're past your sell by date." I grinned as he approached.

I walked over to my porch and put down the watering can as Rick jumped off his horse. "Hi, kid." He smiled, coming over to me.

Rick wrapped me in a big hug as soon as he reached me. "You're acting like you didn't sleepover last week." I laughed as he pulled back.

"Am I not allowed to miss you?" Rick raised his eyebrows.

I scoffed. "Just know it's one sided. I enjoy the peace."

"Ah, you want to pretend you don't miss me. I see." Rick grinned.

I rolled my eyes, not being able to fight the smile off my lips. "What you doing here, Mama Rick?"

He took in a breath. "You fancy going for a walk?"

"A walk?" I laughed.

"You got plenty of land to walk across." Rick took a couple steps back and spread his arms out.

I nodded, looking around at my fields filled with different coloured flowers. "Sure, Mother Goose."

We'd been walking for two minutes, so we'd been in silence for two minutes. It wasn't awkward though. It was comfortable, enjoyable. "You like it here?" Rick asked.

"Very much so." I replied, watching as birds flew in the air.

"I see why." Rick acknowledged. "When I'm old, maybe I'll come live with you. You can take care of me." Rick nudged me gently.

I laughed with him. "Sure, you can retire here, captain."

Rick smiled to himself. "I like that idea. You running around and taking care of me for a change."

"For a change?" I scoffed playfully. "How many times have I saved your ass?"

Rick hummed, a warm smile on his face. "I think it was vice versa more often than not."

"If you're talking about the sex shop incident-" I started.

"I'm talking about the sex shop incident." Rick interrupted with a laugh.

"Okay, well for multiple reasons it's not my fault. One, I didn't know what sex was or anything that went with it. Two... How the hell was I supposed to know that it would make a noise that loud?" I questioned.

"That was only two points. And it making a noise that loud attracted the entire street's worth of walkers." Rick pointed out.

I laughed at the memory. "I'd never seen T-dog laugh so much. Especially while running for his life."

"The best part was you pestering Daryl to tell you what it was. I've never seen him so flustered." Rick reminded me. "What did he tell you it was again?"

"He said it was used in medical school to show the students that if their patient sounds like that, they're doing something wrong." I responded.

Rick chuckled. "That's right."

We got to the lake and sat on its edge, just watching as the sun reflected on its shiny surface. "I like how things are. With the communities, and overall quality of life, but... I kinda miss those days. Back on Hershel's farm, the prison, even the guys in Atlanta. We were a family, we could do anything. Is that wrong?"

Rick shook his head. "Of course not. I feel it too, sometimes. I love Michonne, I love Alexandria, I love how we have so many people working together. I love it all. I hope that this continues on even after my sell by date as you put it. I hope we've built something that'll last decades, centuries... But, yea... I miss Lori, T-dog, Hershel, Beth... I miss everyone we've lost. I even miss Shane, before the fall. He was a good man. We've lost a lot of people, but we're here now. We're here for them. We survived for them."

"Thanks, Mama Rick." I whispered.

He turned to me, but I kept my eyes on the lake. "I know that you can't stand Negan. I understand that. I understand the hatred, and that you disagree with my decision. But, I hope you can find it in your heart to one day realise that you deserve to be in Alexandria. Surrounded by family. Even if you don't know all their names."

I laughed at his comment. "There's no way I'll ever know all their names."

Rick put his arm around my shoulder and I leaned into him. "That's alright. Just... Come back home, please? It doesn't have to be right now. Or this week, or even this month. Just come back home?"

I let out a breath. "Me being here? It's helping me sort through a lot of crap in my mind that I didn't even realise was there. It's helping me cope... Eight months."

"Eight months?" Rick pushed.

"I'll come back to Alexandria in eight months. It'll give me enough time to get the most out of all the planted crops, store seeds to split between the communities. I can start healing all that Negan crap now. I'll come home in eight months." I explained.

Rick moved his other arm to completley hug me. "Thank you."

I laughed, hugging him back. "Alright, this is too much happy family crap." I commented, laughing and pulling back.

Rick chuckled, pulling back, but leaving an arm around my shoulder. "So, what do you do here?"

"Well, I gotta water the crops since the rain is leaving more than my dad, I feed my chickens, swim in this lake... I read a lot too." I responded.

"You learn stuff or is it just fictional?" Rick pushed.

"Fiction, mostly. Although, I did learn one interesting fact." I stated.

"Oh, yea? And what was that?" Rick questioned.

"Did you know that there are actual sexual positions which create ugly babies?" I asked, trying not to laugh.

"Really?" Rick asked.

"Yea, it's been proven." I nodded.

"By who?" Rick pushed.

"Your mum." I answered, laughing as soon as the words left my mouth.

Rick couldn't help but laugh as he jokingly pushed me away and onto my side. I was laughing while laying on the floor as Rick chuckled and shook his head. "You're a comedian, Ellie."

"The amount of times I've been told that is crazy." I smiled, sitting up and facing him. "You fancy some lunch, Mother Goose?"

"Sure." Rick agreed, I stood up and gave him a hand up before we started walking back to my house. "What are we having?"

I shrugged. "Whatever you make."

Rick laughed. "Oh, I see how it is."

"I got power here, and DVD's. I'll find us a movie, you make the food. It's a great deal." I responded.

I was sifting through DVD's when Rick came into the living room. "No way! You have the Breakfast Club!" Rick smiled like a child on Christmas morning when he picked it up.

"Yea. I've neve watched it though. Sounds boring." I responded.

"How dare you. This movie is something else. We're watching it. Get it up, food's almost ready." Rick told me.

"Okay." I laughed, putting the rest of my DVD's back.

We ate our beans on toast as we watched the Breakfast Club. By the end of the movie, I was sat on the sofa with Rick Grimes, crying my eyes out. "Told you." Rick said through tears.

"But you're old, I didn't expect your taste in movie to actually be good." I complained.

"I'll try not to be offended by that." Rick joked, throwing a bit of popcorn at me.

I laughed at him, wiping away my tears. "I think I just found a new favourite movie."

"Good. If you've learnt nothing from the three years you've known me, at least I've educated you on movies." Rick said, standing up.

"There's always that." I agreed, a smile playing on my lips as I also stood. "Thanks for today, really. I actually had a lot of fun."

Rick smiled. "Me too, and you know... Days like this happen all the time in Alexandria." Rick told me as we slowly walked towards the front door and stood on the porch.

"Eight months, Ricky Dicky Doo Da Grimes." I smirked.

Rick pulled me in for one last hug. I didn't hesitate to hug him back. "I'll be counting down the days... I don't remember the last time I said it, but... I love you, kid."

I laughed. "I love you, Mama Rick." We stayed like that for a while before I realised he was waiting for me to choose to pull back, so eventually I did. I smiled up at him. "Tell the others I say hi." I told him as he walked towards his horse.

"I'll send Sophia and Carl round at the end of the week with supplies." Rick told me, jumping onto his horse.

"Thank you!" I grinned, leaning against a beam.

"See you around, Ellie!" Rick told me, starting to turn his horse around to leave.

"See ya, Mother Goose!"