A/N: Trigger warning for mentions of sexual assault/rape.

Maggie and Beth were chopping vegetables in the kitchen with Patricia. Maggie was standing across on the left hand side of the kitchen island, chopping carrots. Beth sat across, slowly slicing potatoes.

"Are you sure you're ok to do that Bethie? Not hurting your arm?" Maggie asked.

"No I'm ok" Beth smiled to her sister. "I'm only holding with my... um... hurt arm. I'm fine to go slowly."

Maggie gave a worried smile as Patricia offered a more genuine one.

"Your father wants you to take it slow, but for you to keep on with what you're doing, keeping up, keeping active. You're doing real good Beth."

"Thanks Patricia" Beth smiled.

The women fell into a happy silence before Patricia asked:

"So how's the new boy upstairs? Seem nice? You were talking to him for a while before weren't you Beth?"

Beth's face lit up in a blush as she answered:

"He seems really nice, but sad. I think he's had a really bad time out there."

"Yeah, we should be careful while we get to know him, but he did seem nice" Maggie replied.

"Well your father likes him from what he said, you know how he can tell with people, he either likes them off the bat or he don't."

The sisters nodded and continued to chop away before they heard a crash upstairs and a yell of "Bloody Hell!"

Maggie looked at the others and rushed towards the staircase, yelling out:

"You ok, Y/N?"

"Yeah... sort of... nearly went arse over tit."

Maggie raised an eyebrow and asked: "You did what?"

"Fell over. I nearly fell over. I needed to drain the snake but I didn't realise how much it would bloody hurt puttin' weight on my hip. I crashed into the closet door and now I'm stuck. Standing here starkers without even a pot to piss in."

"Alright hang on, I'll come in and help you" Maggie chuckled, before stopping just before the door when Y/N shot back:

"No! Wait, I said I was starkers, uh... got nothing on. I'll get back I just need something to lean on."

"Y/N, I helped fix you up while you were out, I've already seen everything you've got, now can I come in and help you get into bed before you fall over and hurt yourself worse?"

She rolled her eyes and chuckled, hearing Y/N sigh and say in defeat:

"Yeah, alright. Sorry about this."

Maggie walked in with a smile, trying not to look down, or be spotted glancing, as she took Y/N's tattooed arm over her shoulder and helped him hop one footed to the bed. He sat down with a grimace and quickly pulled the cover over himself. Maggie asked with a smile:

"Now did I interpret your first sentence right, did you need the toilet?"

She chuckled at the adorable blush that grew on his face as he nodded quickly.

"I'll get you a bucket."

Maggie retrieved one and afterwards walked downstairs and back into the kitchen, Patricia asking:

"Everything ok?"

Maggie laughed to herself.

"Yeah, we had some translation issues to work through but got there in the end. He tried to make it to the toilet but couldn't stand on his injured hip. I helped him back into bed and he's OK now."

"But Maggie, he was naked" Beth whispered with a bright hue on her cheeks.

"Mmhhm" Maggie nodded. Patricia gave her a look with a raised eyebrow.

"Mmhhm" Maggie reiterated with a smile, the three ladies breaking out into giggles. There was a knock at the door, Maggie calling out "come in" and Rick did with a smile.

"Everything ok?" Maggie asked. Rick nodded motioning to those with him.

"Kids just wanted to meet our newcomer quickly. Said I'd introduce them if he was awake. Give me a chance to get to know him better too."

Maggie nodded and smiled:

"He's awake but I just had to take him a bucket, so just knock before you go in."

Rick nodded but continued: "What do you guys think so far?"

"He's really nice" Beth said with a smile. Rick nodded but his eyes shot to Maggie, expecting a more... nuanced reply from her.

"No alarm bells ringing yet, he seems like an OK guy."

Rick nodded and finally acquiesced to his nagging son, turning and heading upstairs. He held his hand out to stop and called out:

"Y/N, it's Rick. You decent?"

"Yeah mate, just reading. Come on in."

Rick entered and Y/N smiled and nodded before his eyes widened at the two kids who followed him in.

"Bloody nora, who're the rugrats?" Y/N chuckled.

"Y/N, this is my son, Carl, and this is our family friend, Sophia. They both really wanted to meet you. Never met an Aussie before."

Y/N chuckled and smiled, holding out his hand. Carl shook it confidently, Sophia reacted more shyly but she did reach out and shake it, smiling.

"G'day, mate. G'day, sweetheart. Nice to meet you both. Howareya?" Y/N asked happily.

The kids quickly felt comfortable with Y/N, Rick observing and noting Y/N's natural affinity for interacting wholesomely with kids, and when Carl explained that he had been shot with a shotgun, and Sophia had survived for a week by herself in an abandoned hut she had found before a man named Daryl found and saved her, Y/N exclaimed wide eyed:

"Bloody Hell! You two have got me and your old man there beaten for toughness, that's for sure."

The kids looked back to Rick with proud smiles, Rick smiling and nodding in agreement. They had a ten minute conversation before Rick smiled when a lull came up and he said happily:

"Alright kids, head back to your mothers. I need to talk to Y/N alone for a bit."

Carl grizzled, Sophia nodded. The girl suddenly turned back and rushed in, hugging Y/N's neck. He was taken aback, looking over to Rick who smiled and nodded. Y/N placed a hand on the girl's back gently and said reassuringly:

"It's OK, Soph. I had a good time talking to you as well. Be happy to talk to you more before I leave."

The kids looked at Y/N horrified before turning back to Rick, Carl exclaiming to his father:

"Y/N can stay with us, can't he?"

Rick saw a surprised look on Y/N's face before replying to his son:

"I'm gonna chat with Y/N about it."

Before they left Y/N called out to Carl and asked:

"Did your dad tell you what happened, when I came across him?"

Carl nodded, Y/N turned serious and said with complete sincerity:

"I'm sorry I shot at your dad. I genuinely thought he was someone else."

Carl nodded and replied:

"That's OK. Thanks for not hitting him."

Y/N laughed loudly at the comment. Rick closed the door after the kids left and smiled, sadly though.

"That girl is sweet, and tough. Her father was killed not long ago, he was an abusive piece of shit. She's absolutely craving male attention."

"That's dangerous in this world" Y/N replied with a concerned expression. Rick nodded.

--~--

Carl and Sophia ran downstairs, the three women hearing as they passed them:

"He's so nice. I hope your dad can convince him to stay, Carl."

"Me too" Carl replied as they walked out the door.

"Why wouldn't he stay?" Beth asked Maggie with an audible panic in her voice. Maggie's eyebrow raised.

"Could be a lot of reasons, could be none. Could be he's not sure we want him to. You've really taken a shine to him haven't you?"

Maggie smirked at her sister's stammered reply of an eventual no.

"Uh huh. Let's just let him and Rick talk and go from there. I wouldn't worry too much yet" Maggie chuckled.

--~--

Rick nodded at Y/N's statement, unsure though the best way to proceed.

"So..."

Y/N chuckled.

"Rick sit down, you're making the place look untidy."

Rick nodded and chuckled back, sitting on one of the seats left in the room.

"So how are you feeling?"

"Better than I was heading into that yard" Y/N chuckled. His face turned serious, as did his tone:  "I mean it, I am sorry, Rick. I'm bloody devo I was poppin' off at you and old mate. Well, not so much old mate. He seems like a deadset wanker."

Rick chuckled, looking down. He shook his head and replied:

"Yeah... that's one word for him. I'm sorry for what he did. I've asked him to have a word with you about it."

"Don't worry about it mate" Y/N replied. "What happened, happened, can't do much about it now."

"So what were your plans going forward?" Rick asked with sincerity.

"Honestly, like I said to old mate Hershel, my only plans going forward involved killing all those arseholes, then I was gonna..."

He hesitated momentarily.

"I was gonna eat a bullet sandwich."

The neutrality, the complete lack of emotion that the nineteen year old had said that with broke Rick's heart. He had become a police officer, at the base of it, to help people. He could see how broken Y/N was, in his words and in his eyes. He then asked with some hesitation:

"Can you... tell me what happened. To explain to my people why I think you should stay with us, to begin to justify-"

"I don't have to justify what I did to you or anyone!" Y/N snapped suddenly and Rick moved to clarify.

"Sorry, justify is the wrong word. Explain to them, why you're not a threat and if anything an asset. I want you to join us, Y/N. Like I said I was a Sheriff's Deputy. I looked at murderers all the time. You may be a killer, hell I'm a killer, but you aren't a murderer. I can tell that soon as look at you."

Y/N looked Rick in the eye for an uncomfortable amount of time before he began to talk. Rick noticed an instant shift in his body language and tone as he spoke.

"We'd been in Nashville. We took a gap year together after high school, before we went to University, Cassie and me-"

Y/N's voice broke as he mentioned Cassie's name. Rick could see all the trademarks of ptsd begin to show themselves. A cold sweat broke out on Y/N's brow as his hands trembled and the blood appeared to leave his face as he became noticeably paler.

"We'd fled Nashville when all hell broke lose. It had started with stories on the news, within a matter of days people were shooting each other and being cannibalised in the streets. We'd fled on foot, found what we needed from towns on the way. We were surviving on bottled water and tinned food, sleeping in a tent. Then one night we were surrounded. They held us at gunpoint, jumped me eighteenth on one when I fought back and tied me up. They forced me to watch as they... they..."

Tears were flooding down Y/N's cheeks as he lost the ability to continue. Rick rushed forward and wrapped an arm around the boy paternally. A young boy, with this weight, this trauma.

"I'm so sorry" He whispered into Y/N's ear.

Y/N wept on Rick's shoulder, breaking down properly for the first time since it happened. He had pushed himself onwards with hatred and cold rage. This was the first time he had dealt with the emotional trauma of that night. He eventually stopped and leant back, wiping his eyes with embarrassment and he said quietly:

"I'd appreciate if you didn't tell anyone I was crying like a shiela."

Rick nodded and replied softly:

"Of course, but it's not weakness, Y/N. God after going through that... I can't imagine."

Y/N looked down, not answering directly and instead saying:

"They forced me to watch, they laughed and they..."

The grief was gone now, replaced with hatred as Y/N's jaw clenched, his nostrils flared and his pupils dialated.

"... when they were done they shot her in the head as she laid there crying. They left me tied up. I don't know how long I was there staring at her... when I came to and got myself free all I wanted was revenge. I followed them, they were loud and arrogant and weren't going anywhere quickly. Each night I would take one when I found them. Slit their throat, stab them in the head and hide the body, but the last night... just before I stumbled on you two. They were having some sorta wake, two of their buddies they lost, assholes named Dave and Tony..."

It clicked for Rick. It was those assholes.

"... so they were loud around the fire, all of them drinking, so I watched and I waited. They were down to about twenty at that point, and when they'd all passed out I snuck into their camp. I slit ten of their throats and lit a fire under one of their cars. They'd parked them all next to each other. By the time the first one exploded and woke the others they all went off one after the other, along with their weaponry. The walkers had came too at that point and it was chaos, arseholes were screaming, I was picking off those that tried to escape, but I was tired, and weak, been runnin' after them for weeks with barely any food, bout as much sleep. Honestly felt about as useful as a condom in a nunnery by that point. One of the dog cunts got the jump on me, shot his two last bullets into me then came at me with his knife. Got two slashes in..."

Y/N signified to his face and his abdomen.

"... before I overpowered the weak cunt. Stabbed him in his raping cock and then sliced him in two up to his ribcage. By this stage the screaming stopped and I saw the last one getting away. Coulda been two but no more. I went around the walkers and blocked out the pain, heading in the direction they went all night until I ran into you."

"Explains why you slept for two days" Rick replied.

"That's it. I'd appreciate if you didn't tell anyone else specifics. Just that I failed my... that I got my payback."

"Cassie, she was your girlfriend wasn't she?" Rick asked mournfully. Y/N nodded.

--~--

Rick had left not long after, apologising for bringing everything up, but as far as he was concerned Y/N was welcome in the group, if he wanted to stay. Y/N had thanked him when he'd brought him a wet cloth to wipe his face. The last thing Y/N wanted was these people to think he was a pansy.

He'd sat alone for about half an hour, stuck in the memory discussing things had brought up, feeling the guilt and the shame again, and his mind going straight back to what he was previously planning. He couldn't shake it, it was like his mind was torturing him, telling him to end the pain. End the torture. It would be all over. There was a knock at the door and Y/N looked up and forced himself to smile.

Beth approached Y/N's room with a nervous look on her face. She inhaled and calmed herself, unsure why she felt so on edge, like a hundred butterflies were dancing around in her stomach. She had only just met this boy, but she felt completely overwhelmed in his presence.

She hadn't felt this way with Jimmy, even on the couple of times they had kissed. He was a nice boy, and he had liked her a lot. She had said yes to Jimmy when he asked her out because he was a nice boy, and she had known him since she was a girl, but her feelings for him had never really gone on from friendship. She was sad when he got bit, like she would be for any friend, but not how she should have for a boyfriend.

She realised she had been standing awkwardly at Y/N'S door for a while now and knocked with her foot, fortunately he didn't seem to notice as he looked up from staring into space. Beth smiled and felt her cheeks warm as she entered the room with a plate of food in each hand.

"What's all this?" Y/N asked. Beth smiled deeper as she handed him a plate of chicken, with fried potatoes, honey carrots and greens.

"Dinner time, usually daddy insists we eat at the table, but tonight he said I could eat in here with you. I thought you could use some company."

Y/N smiled. Beth had a sweetness and innocence about her that was rare in the old world, let alone this one. He half had a thought about protecting her at all costs before the guilt rose up again. He managed to bury it down as Beth sat, rested the plate on her legs, and held her hand out to Y/N. He was confused but reached out as she giggled and took his hand in hers, Y/N shocked at the softness and warmth of her small hand.

--~--

Beth held her hand out to Y/N and giggled at the confused look on his face. He reached out nonetheless and she noticed immediately how much larger his hands were than hers before she felt a bolt of electricity as his tough, calloused hand held hers gently. She felt her cheeks warm and hoped he wouldn't notice.

"Would you like to say the blessing?" she asked, and giggled again at the confused look he gave her.

"You didn't say grace in your household?" Beth asked in a non judgemental tone.

"Oh, right. Not usually. It was a compromise between mum and dad. Almost all of Samoa is Christian. My mum is a, was a very religious person. Presbyterian Congregation of Samoa. Dad was a staunch athiest, so no religion in the house, but he would never belittle or mock religion either."

Y/N smiled at his the memory of his father.

"So which parent did you take after?"

"I had to go to church with mum until I was eight, then I was free to choose. I uh chose the water with dad instead."

"Surfing?"

Y/N nodded and smiled.

"Surfing, or scuba diving, or spear fishing. Always something, always together."

A solemn look grew on his face suddenly and he looked into Beth's eyes.

"You're not... Johos are you?"

"Johos?" Beth giggled.

"Jehovahs Witnesses"

Beth shook her head.

"No we're Southern Baptist"

Y/N nodded and chuckled.

"We had a fairly large Joho community in Esperance. They would go door to door every weekend. My dad told them over and over we weren't interested but they wouldn't listen... until he turned the hose on them one day. They didn't come back after that."

Beth tried hard no laugh and replied "I'll say the blessing then."

Y/N nodded and watched as Beth closed her eyes and began to speak:

"Dear Lord, thank you for this and the rest of the blessings you have bestowed upon us. Thank you for looking over our family and friends, and for bringing Y/N to our door. Please continue to watch over us, and to keep us together and safe. Amen."

Y/N sat respectfully and listened but didn't respond to the concluding praise. He didn't believe in God, and if he was out there, Y/N hated him. The two ate in a comforting silence, exchanging happy smiles, other than Y/N's involuntary moans of delight.

"Sorry" Y/N chuckled at Beth's giggles. "Haven't eaten this well since before the world ended."

"It's ok" Beth smiled. "I'm glad you enjoyed it" she said as he finished. He looked embarrassed at her plate as she still had a bit to eat and apologised again, this time in embarrassment.

"You were really hungry, no need to be sorry" she smiled.

Ten or so minutes later Maggie came up to grab the empty plates and smiled as the teens spoke happily. They were currently discussing Beth's love of music and Y/N's inability to sing.

"Of course you can sing in some way, everyone can" Beth giggled.

"I mean I can, but you don't want to hear it" Y/N chuckled.

Maggie walked downstairs and passed her father and Rick who were talking in the kitchen. She caught the end of the conversation between the pair:

"So his girlfriend, she was raped and murdered?"

"Yeah, he couldn't go into details, could barely talk about it at all the poor kid, but you met those assholes I killed at the bar. I'm not judging him for his actions."

"Neither will I, I'll tell him he's welcome to stay, if he wants."

Maggie was heartbroken at Rick's words, but her heart raised again at her father's. She placed the dirty plates in the sink full of water and washed, saying over her shoulder:

"I'd maybe wait, Daddy. Beth's still up there and those two are getting on like a house on fire."

Hershel smiled. It was good to hear that Beth was so happy and engaging with someone after what had happened only days earlier.

The pair chatted upstairs for well over an hour before Y/N's eyes began getting droopy, and Beth smiled, wishing him good night as she got the light for him and walked to her room with a smile on her face and a spring in her step.