Chapter Text
“What’s the difference between men and women,” Rickie asked out of the blue, reaching over to filch some of the hot sauce dripping from her partner’s burger with a fry.
“That a joke?”
“No, serious question, besides the obvious, what is the difference between men and women?”
Shane gave her a sideway look, but smirked, waggling his eyebrows, “Well, ‘sides the obvious, never did meet a woman who knew how to turn out a light. That goes double for you darlin’.”
“Yeah, yeah, alright, so sue me for liking long baths and reading in bed. I’ll pay your damn power bill this month you ass. Now answer my question.”
“’Preciate it,” said Shane, tipping an invisible hat to her and letting her steal more of his hot sauce, “Difference between men and women…well, from what I’ve seen, you lovely ladies spend most of your time thinking with your upstairs brain. Whereas us menfolk, well, we’re a little simpler. Food, fun, sex. Everything else is just not an after thought ‘xactly, just, additional. Bonus material, as it were.”
“Mmm, alright, I’ll buy that for a dollar,” hummed Rickie, munching through her fries ravenously. “But if men are so easy to please, why in the hellfire is my sister-in-law camped out on my couch?”
“That one’s easy,” Shane said, “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Jeffie may be your precious baby brother but the guy doesn’t know how good he has it. Woman like Lori, smart, beautiful, good mother and Jeffie still thinks he can do better if he takes the time to look. Thinks he settled for less when they got hitched right out of high school.”
“Does that mean Lori should try being “better” whatever that means?”
“Nah, look darlin’, love is a feeling, passion is a feeling, it’s an intense emotion and therefore by definition it cannot last,” Shane said, gesturing broadly while Rickie started to pick at his box of fries.
“What a typical guy response,” snorted Rickie around a fry, “Isn’t that just an excuse men use to justify their commitment issues.”
“Maybe sometimes, but that don’t mean it’s not true,” Shane said, “Look at us. You love me, right?”
Rickie quirked a small smile and said, “Yeah, sure.”
“Such romance, my heart’s all aflutter,” scoffed Shane, dropping a quick peck on her cheek, and nudging her ear with his nose, “I love you, you love me, but it ain’t all sunshine and roses for us.”
“I don’t think you’ve ever bought me flowers,” hummed Rickie in teasing agreement.
“Alright, it’s not all sweaty monkey sex and bullets for the Python then,” said Shane, rolling his eyes, “Don’t nitpick at me woman, I got a good point here.”
“By all means, let’s hear it.”
“Bein’ with another person, whatever your relationship is, girlfriend, lover, partner, wife. Don’t matter what you call it, it’s a choice you’ve gotta make every day. Get up in the morning look in the mirror and say to yourself, yes, this is the person I choose to be with. Even if she scares the shit outta me breaking up fights with drunks twice her size, even when she hikes the power bill to truly astronomical heights and makes it impossible to look at lesbian porn the same way ever again. I wake up and I look in the mirror and I say, yup, Shane, you’re a lucky sonofabitch, it took you a damn long time but finally landed Rickie Grimes, now do your best to keep her.”
“I think that might be the second most romantic thing I’ve ever heard you say to me,” Rickie said, grinning at the familiar warm melty loved feeling that spread out from her center sometimes when she was around Shane.
The one she associated with love.
“Really? What was the most romantic thing?”
Rickie grinned even wider, and deepened her voice and thickened her drawl in a poor imitation of her partner, “Alright darlin’ you can have the last slice of pie.”
“Damned if I’m not a regular Casanova,” Shane said, munching on the few fries that had escaped Rickie’s strategic assault. “Seriously though, Rick, how’s Lori doin’?”
Rickie sighed, slumping down into the seat of their patrol car.
“She didn’t have a great night, so when Jeff called this mornin’…” she trailed off.
“Was bad?”
“You know the thing is, I don’t even know,” she shrugged tugging on her lower lip thoughtfully, “Lori didn’t seem to think much of it, she was pissed, irritated but not furious and cryin’ like she’s been but just fed up. The things she said, Shane—some of it was downright cruel. And in front of Caroline too, all I can think is now she’s gotta go to school with that…that venom stuck in her head.”
Shane reached over to squeeze her knee and Rickie laced their fingers together, “You know Lori’s mom says it’s just a phase, that all couples go through it.”
“Might be she’s right,” suggested Shane, “Could be things’ll settle in a bit.”
“Yeah, okay, that’s the bright side,” Rickie agreed, “For them. But if that’s shit that all couples go through, doesn’t that mean one day you n’ me are gonna end up like this? Snipin’ and snappin’ at each other like a couple of kicked dogs?”
Rickie felt herself choke up at the very thought of standing across from Shane and spitting those words in his face: ‘Sometimes I wonder if you even care about me at all—’ Even now she can see the look that would come over his face before it went gun-range blank and he just shut right down. And it made her sick to her stomach to think they could ever devolve into…that.
“Nah, won’t happen. Not that way. Not to us.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Well, here we go back to the choices thing again,” said Shane, “You and me, we agree right here right now. This, what we have, is worth fighting for. So it doesn’t matter what comes up, how far away we get from what we feel here, we agree to keep fighting for it. Cause this feeling, this moment, it happened. It’ll happen again and when it does it’ll be worth it.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah,” echoed Shane roughly, “It’s worth it, darlin’. So worth it.”
“Alright then,” said Rickie, something resolute coming over her face as she held out her free hand, her littlest finger extended, “Swear.”
“I swear,” he said, hooking his pinkie with hers just like back when they were kids.
Then he drew her in for a long slow kiss, interrupted only by the call from the CB.
“All available units, high-speed pursuit in progress. Linden county units request local assistance.”
They bundled up the remains of their lunch, fumbling over foil wrappings and mustard stained napkins as the dispatcher continued.
“Highway eighteen eastbound. GTA, ADW. 2-17, 2-4-3. Advise extreme caution.”