Author's Note: Though I didn't necessary agree with everything Shane said/did, I still liked his character and felt bad for him, and did think he was right about some things. So I decided to give him his own family even if it's only a kid. If I think of more, I'll expand on this. Please let me know if Shane's in character. I get worried whenever I write something about someone and it doesn't sound like them as I try to keep most of their character in tact as they are in their show.

Shane Walsh came home, late, one night after an exhausting day on the job. To make matters worse, he had to come home to find every light turned on even though no one was in the same room. After a heated debate that went nowhere, he headed upstairs to check on the only person in that place that didn't fustrate the hell out of him, and even if she did, it wasn't like with her mother.

He knocked first before hearing, "Come in." Shane opened the door, catching his ten-year-old still up and on her computer.

"What you still doing up, Short Stuff?" He had always called the kid by that nickname ever since they realized how short she was.

Riley was sitting crossed-legged in her computer chair. "Since it's Friday, I wanted to stay up to wait for you."

Shane made his way across the room, over to his kid, kissing the side of her head. "Better not be searching for inappropriate pictures," flashing a grin to show he was messing with her, knowing full well Riley wouldn't, especially when he had reminded her to watch what she does online or he'd be taking the computer out to the dumpster on the side of the house.

Riley tilted her head, back, flashing the same grin, right back at him. She reached up and kissed the end of his nose.

"Oh, and by the way," Shane put all his weight on one hand that he held on the desk and pointed over at the lower, right corner of the screen, "it's Thursday. Not Friday. You got school, tomorrow, Sweetpea," he told her, using another one of the nicknames whenever Shane had to point out a goof the kid occasionally had. It wasn't like she meant to forget or play dumb on purpose. Riley was always trying to do her best to focus. Learning and focusing came as a challenge, and sometimes made her seem slow. Shane never treated his daughter as if she were. He just told her, it just meant she had to work harder than anybody else.

Her mother treated the kid as if she was retarded, even though she wasn't. Riley was bright in her own way, but her mother never saw it that way. Or refused to.

"Come on. Shut the thing down," Shane told her, standing up, straight.

"Yes, sir." Riley turned back to the computer, closing the internet game she was playing, eventually shutting the whole computer down. Riley then slid off her chair and made her way over to her bed, getting under the covers. "Hey, Dad."

He had followed behind to make sure Riley got tucked in.

"Are you sure I'm not dumb?" By the look she gave her father, he always knew how serious the kid was whenever Riley felt he had to recomfirm it, and Shane always knew why the kid felt she had to ask.

Shane sat on her bed. "Your mom get to you again, didn't she?"

Riley's gaze fell on her Super Mario Bros comforter. "Yes." Actually, she didn't even need to respond. Her dad already figured it out.

He fumed, shaking his head, elsewhere. Turning back to his daughter, Shane leaned in, closer. "Listen. You are not dumb. So what if those teachers say you got some kind of learning disability, or whatever they call it. Look at me, Riley Jean." She lifted her gaze to look into her father's eyes. "Trust me, kiddo. You got more sense than your mom, that's for sure. At least I don't gotta tell you several times to turn off every light in the house when you're done."

"I heard that," she admitted.

"Sorry you had to." He reached up to kiss her forehead. Shane ruffled her hair right before standing to his feet. Riley leaned back to grab Yoshi and lied down on her pillow.

Shane leaned over her to add one last thing. "Hey. What do ya say you and I go camping this weekend? Just the two of us?"

Riley nodded, trying to mask her excitement, smiling behind the green dinosaur's big head. "But don't you work on the weekend?"

"Not this weekend," he shook his head. "You know I save my vacation days for special occasions like our camping trips."

"Can Rick and Carl come?"

"We'll see, kiddo." Standing up, Shane headed for the door, placing a hand on the light switch. "Good night, Sweetpea."

"Good night, Dad."

The next morning, Shane was up the earliest and made sure his girls were fed before leaving for work, already in his uniform. Riley came downstairs, first, leaping onto one of the kitchen stools at the counter just as he was pouring the scambled eggs onto her plate.

"You get yer homework done." Should have asked that the night before.

"I went to Resourse yesterday so I didn't get any." Resourse was a smaller class Riley had to go to during math and language arts, twice a week. The teacher there took things slow with each student until they were able to grasp the material.

"What? So there wasn't any homework for history or science, or any other subjects?"

"I had to read a chapter for history, but I read it on the bus ride, home," she said. "Mrs. Collins says we're gonna go over it as a class, today."

"Best make sure you pay attention. Alright?" he nodded at her.

"I will." Shane pulled his hat off to reach over and place it on her head, telling Riley to eat and that he would take her to school so she wouldn't have to take the bus that morning since he had a little time.

Angela walked into the kitchen, grabbing a kiss from Shane just as he handed her, her plate. She set it on the counter, to pour herself a cup of coffee, taking both to sit beside their daughter. "Morning, dummy," Angela harmlessly teased the kid before kissing the side of her head.

Even though it was a tease, Shane still hated Angela would call Riley, dummy. "Quit calling her that," he told her, trying to mask some anger.

"Relax. I was just teasing her." She then started on her breakfast.

"Don't care. I don't want you putting those thoughts into our daughter's head, making her think she is when she ain't."

The woman wouldn't ease off. "Not according to those teachers," she said. Another argument began which Shane had to keep things to a mimimal for Riley's sake. It ended with him telling her, they were leaving and for Riley to go grab her backpack. On the call ride to the school, he made sure to remind Riley not to mind a word her mother said.

When he pulled up to the school, stopping in the student drop-off/pick-up area, Riley returned his hat to him, reaching up to put it on his head for him, before they exchanged kisses.

The camping trip ended up getting cancelled when Rick was shot on the job and sent to the hospital. While he let Lori break the news to her son, Shane took Riley to the side and told her, kneeled at her level, pulling her in when she teared up. The kids grew up practically like cousins and Riley always saw Rick and Lori like an uncle and aunt, though she liked Rick more. Even though Riley was a couple years older than Carl, they were both about the same height. Despite the age difference, they were still good friends and hung out together in school since Riley had no friends from her own grade. It helped she was practically a tomboy and liked doing things boys usually did.

Instead of camping, Shane and Riley spent the weekend, making sure Lori and Carl were alright. Shortly after Rick's accident, things started to go to hell with a virus breaking out and people getting sick and coming back from the dead once it took, and tried eating loved ones.

Riley had been at the Grimes' house when everyone was told to evacuate. He and Riley had visited Rick in the hospital, numerous times, hoping he would wake up. When the outbreak happened, Shane tried one last time, but had no other choice but to leave him.

On the way to the Grimes' household, Shane stopped by his to pack a few belongings and weapons from his own personal arsenal. Angela was nowhere to be seen and most of her own belongings were gone. He half hoped she had gone to the Grimes' to meet him there. When Shane pulled up and hurried up to the door where Lori was also packing, he saw only Riley was there, terrified.

All four piled into his jeep and headed into the city, to the refugee center.

"Dad," Riley spoke up from behind his seat. "Where's Mom?"

"I honestly don't know, Sweetpea. I thought she was with you." Truthfully, Shane really could give a rat's ass where the woman was right about now. Things had been rocky for a while that it seemed like it was heading towards a divorce. But talking to their ten-year-old, Shane wasn't about to admit that to the kid and held up a front for Riley's sake.

The heavy traffic was a stand-still with no cars moving. Many had gotten out of their vehicles to see what to do.

Riley clung onto Yoshi in her arms as her dad affirmed everything would be alright, that he would make sure she, Carl, and Lori were safe. When they eventually found a good group of people to stick with, they made a camp and watched out for each other, especially the women and children.

Unlike the other parents, Shane wanted to make sure his kid was fully protected to the point he gave her a knife of her own.

"I want you to take this and only use it if you have to," he told her, holding the handle pointed towards her. "I better not see you messing around with this. It ain't a toy, got that?"

Riley nodded, knowing well if she did something she knew wasn't suppose to, the kid would be sitting uncomfortably for a while. It was rare when he had to and usually the threat alone was good enough to remind Riley to follow orders. Plus, Shane knew when to be lenient whenever she had one of her goofs, and when Riley needed a firm reminder.

Once Carl saw the knife hanging from her belt, even though they were friends, he wasn't happy about it. "Why does she have a weapon for? She's a girl," he pointed out.

"Carl, knock it off," Shane told him, firmly. "You know if it were up to me, you'd have one, too, but it ain't. Your mom said no." He then gave a stern lecture that just cause Riley was a girl, didn't mean she couldn't know how to protect herself in case no one else was around and Riley couldn't get away to find someone. Shane had already started teaching Riley about guns, how to load and unload them, and about being smart around them.

"Maybe I shouldn't be around them, Dad. I ain't smart," she pointed out.

"Now, you cut that out," he told her, firm but gently. "If I didn't think you were smart enough to learn your way around a gun, I wouldn't. You can do this, Rye. And I don't want to hear you say any different. You understand me?"

Riley nodded up at him. If they could spare the ammo, he would take her out for shooting practice, though Shane did show Riley how to aim and hold one, reminding her to focus.

"I love ya, kiddo," he told her, placing a loving hand on the back of her head. Nudging it towards him, Shane gave her head a kiss on top. "That's why I push you. Just cause something takes you a bit longer than others, don't mean you can't do it, too. You are smart. Don't ever forget that."

Riley was leaning against him. She looked up at her dad, turning her frown upside down.