Lori was busy putting clothes on the line, lost in her own thoughts when she suddenly heard, "Jesus Christ DALE!"
Turning she saw Andrea and Dale standing a short distance away. Dear Lord, what could Dale have possibly done to piss off Andrea now? Say hi? Lori thought as she saw an angry Andrea storm away and a defeated Dale run his hands down his face and slump off in the opposite direction.
Ever since the CDC incident things have been so tense around the camp, especially with Andrea jumping down Dale's throat if he even so much as looked at her. Lori knew that Andrea had been going through a lot since Amy's death and she agreed with Andrea that what Dale did at the CDC wasn't exactly right, he had taken away her choice, but she was starting to get sick of the way that Andrea had been treating Dale recently. Lori admitted that she didn't really know Dale too well, but she liked him. He was very kind and caring and he didn't deserve to be treated like a pile of dirt. Knowing full well Dale would never stand up for himself against Andrea, Lori decided to talk to Andrea about her behaviour.
Lori found Andrea sitting on a large boulder that was shaded under a tree.
"Hey" Lori said sitting next to Andrea on the rock.
"Hey" Andrea replied in her rather unkindly tone that she had grown accustomed to using.
"So I've been meaning to talk to you. I just wanted to tell you again how truly sorry I am about what happened to Amy…" Andrea sighed and rolled her eyes before saying.
"Look I appreciate that but I don't want to talk about. I actually came out here to be left alone."
"I know but I just want to say my peace and I'll leave you alone. I don't really know what's going on between you and Dale but I think that you should lighten up on him. He made a mistake. He never intended to hurt you. He made a quick, spur of the moment decision, which happened to be…" Lori struggled to find the right words "…wrong… and he's apologized over and over again for that. Yet you keep shutting him down and lashing out at him any time he tries to talk to you. I think that it's about time that you try to forgive him…" before Lori could go any further Andrea cut her off.
"Who the hell do you think you are telling me that I should forgive Dale? I lost my sister! She was the only family I had left and I couldn't protect her! So sorry if I'm not prancing around camp as if everything is all sunshine and daisies. You have no idea what it's like to lose someone you love. Your husband pretty much came back from the dead! Your son was shot and lived! All I wanted was to make my own choice, to take back what little control I had in my life and Dale took that away from me! What goes on between me and Dale has absolutely nothing to do with you, so why don't you just mind your own damn business!"
"This has everything to do with me and the entire group. We all care about you and Dale and you've been so short lately that everyone is always on edge around you. Nobody ever knows if the next thing they say will make you fly off the handle. It's like walking on egg shells. You're wrong, everyone here knows what it's like to lose someone. But I am deeply, deeply sorry for everything you've had to go through. Andrea, all of us care about you very much, especially Dale, you may not like what he did but we're all glad he did it. You have no idea how happy I was to see you guys get out of that building…" Lori could see Andrea's anger subsiding so she reached out and took her hand. "Do you even see how much you're hurting Dale? I look at him now and he's just an empty shell of the man he used to be when I first met him, all because he thinks you hate him. You can see it in his eyes, all the hurt and pain, because he knows he hurt you. All he's trying to do is make things better between the two of you and every time you throw it back in his face he looks a little more defeated."
"I don't hate him" Andrea whispered, almost inaudibly, her eyes glistening with unshed tears.
Lori continued, "You can't keep punishing him like this. If you keep pushing him the way you are, eventually he's not going to take it anymore and you're going to lose him for good. He loves you so much Andrea, otherwise he would have given up trying to win you back a long time ago. All he wants is your forgiveness. Andrea, it is literally the end of world; you can't spend all of your time holding a grudge against him. Just think about how you would feel if he died tomorrow." and with that Lori left Andrea alone.
Andrea sat on the boulder letting everything Lori said sink in. Could she really have been treating Dale that badly? She knew she had been a little harsh with him lately but she never really intended to be cruel. Sighing she got up and made her way to the RV.
Walking into the RV, Andrea saw Dale sitting at the little table with his head buried in his hands.
"…Dale?" she said somewhat cautiously and he looked up at her.
"What?" he said in a tone dripping in contempt and anguish…a tone that was very uncharacteristic of Dale.
"I ah…umm…" she started but then she saw that look in his eyes, the one Lori had mentioned, and she knew then and there Lori had been right about everything.
"What? What do you want? Is there something else you forgot to yell at me?" and that was all it took. Andrea felt her heart shatter into a million pieces at the realization that she was the reason behind all the grief underlying Dale's bitterness. She had pushed and pushed at him and had managed to break him down.
She broke down and started crying. Dale rushed to her side and with his brows knit in concern he said, "Andrea? What is it? What happened?" Andrea started crying harder, even after the way she's treated him he still worried about her.
"Oh God Dale! I'm so sorry! I've been such a bitch to you. I was just so God damn angry! About Amy and about the CDC and just about everything this stupid world has taken from me! I felt like everything was just crushing me and I couldn't breathe and all I wanted to do was scream. So I did…at you. I took out all of my pain and anger on you. All you've ever done was try to help me and I've just been so harsh to you. You deserve to be treated better. I'm so sorry. You're all I have left and I just kept pushing you away and now all I've manage to do is make you hate me!"
Andrea leaned into Dale's chest and continued to cry. He wrapped his arms tightly around her and rubbed her back trying to soothe her. He pulled her back a little and bringing his hand up he stroked her cheek, like he had done at the CDC, only this time he wiped away her tears. Then taking her face in both his hands, he brought her head up so he could meet her eyes.
"Andrea, I could never hate you. I know you needed to grieve in your own way and I didn't mind having to be your punching bag" she cringed and tried to look away at his word choice but he wouldn't let her. "I was willing to do anything for your forgiveness and to help you get through this. I love you Andrea…so does this mean that you forgive me?"
"I forgive you…but the question is can you forgive me?" she said.
Dale brought her in for another hug and said, "Always"
And from outside the RV window, Lori could be seen smiling proudly to herself.