A ripple runs through the crowd, shocked by our reunion after a year and a half of assuming the other was dead.

The leader, Rick, raises a single eyebrow, while Maggie gasps and makes as if to run towards my brother. She doesn't, and I'm glad; I'm not sure how I would've reacted after the last time people sprung themselves at me.

"Your sister? She came here all the way from Michigan?" Maggie's voice is soothing like Rick's, and it's comforting that Glenn told her about me, thought about me the same way I thought about him.

Glenn looks down at me again, placing a kiss on my forehead. I'm afraid I'm going to wake up any second now and realize this is all a dream. "Yeah...Yeah, this is her."

Rick seems trusting of his word, but is still hesitant to accept me, a sign of a good leader. "Hey, man. You know I-I gotta ask her."

My brother tenses a little, holds me a little closer, but nods his head after a few awkward seconds. I'm still not quite sure what's going on, a little shell shocked, so I eye Rick wearily.

He clears his throat and speaks in a gruff tone, "How many walkers've you killed?"

It takes me a second to realize he's talking about the biters. "A few. I actually, um, I hide my scent and I usually walk with the hordes. They don't tend to bother me a whole lot."

The crowd, at least thirty strong by now, reacts visibly to my words, wincing with looks of disgust on their faces. Some of them don't react, the strong ones, the ones that realize what you have to do to survive in this new world. It surprises me that one of them is a boy, not much younger than I am. He stares at me with one piercing blue eye, expression blank and giving away nothing.

I'm torn away from looking at him by Rick speaking again. "How many people?"

I wince this time, and Rick tenses again, placing his hand on his gun. I'm quick to assuage any wrong impressions he got from my involuntary reaction. "One. Only one."

"Why?"

The boy's still staring at me, and I'm desperately glad that Glenn hasn't stepped away from me, rejected me in the face of the innocence I've lost.

"He was with a, uh, a group. They found me a little over three weeks ago and they…." Glenn's hold grows tighter, and for the first time I see a crack in the boy's veneer of composure.

"I escaped by pushing him into a biter, ran while the rest of 'em were distracted. He deserved it." I glare fiercely at the leader, daring him to argue with me.

Rick shakes his head and takes his hand off his weapon again. "You did what ya had ta do. If you hadn't taken him down, there's no telling what would've happened to you."

I duck my head into Glenn's shoulder, overwhelmed by everything that's going on around me. In the span of a day, I killed someone, escaped my captors, found a safe settlement, and found my brother. Everything keeps flying at me and I haven't had any time to process it. I'm reminded of the fact that I also haven't had any time to look after my injuries by a sudden stabbing pain in my side.

Glenn takes one look at the expression of pain on my face and gently picks me up, ignoring my weak protests. "I'm taking her to the infirmary, Rick." The man doesn't bother arguing in the face of my brother's protectiveness, merely nodding his consent. My brother looks at another woman in the crowd. "You mind, Denise?"

She startles, brief panic crossing her face before it settles into determination. Without bothering to respond to his question, she marches off, leading Glenn and me to my medical salvation.

The crowd parts for us, and I catch one last glimpse of the boy before he's swallowed once again.


"So it looks like you managed to escape a concussion, which is fantastic, but you do have a couple of bruised ribs. Just take some of the ibuprofen, rest periodically, and you should sleep upright. It'll take some of the pressure off of your lungs, make the recovery go a little faster, a little easier.. Are those all of the injuries you have?"

I almost nod my head, before I remember. Desperately, I glance at Glenn out of the corner of my eyes, and Denise seems to understand, asking him to leave the room. He looks at me as if to ask me if I'm sure, and I nod, not looking him in the eyes. With one last kiss to my forehead and a pat on my shoulder he leaves.

I avoid Denise's eyes too as I speak, "The group that I was with, they, um, they… touched me."

She doesn't visibly react to my words, but I can feel her body tense from a few feet away. She places a comforting hand on my shoulder. "Did they use contraceptives?"

"Yeah, yeah. They did. I just want to, ya know, make sure."

Denise smooths my matted hair out of my eyes, giving me a kind smile. "We'll test you for any transmitted diseases every six weeks or so along with pregnancy, starting now. Just…" She pauses, unsure of how to word what she wants to say. "Just know that if you need to talk to someone about anything you went through out there, everybody here has some experience. I don't want to make talking to someone mandatory, but that's some pretty heavy shit."

I nod my head, afraid if I look at her I'll burst into tears. Who would have thought that after everything I went through out there that I would end up in a safe community with my brother of all people?

Glenn walks in cautiously when the Doctor finishes with checking me, still giving me that look like he's just as overwhelmed and happy as I am. He doesn't ask me what Denise and I talked about, just takes my hand in his, rough callouses catching on each other. He throws a smile at the Doctor and leads me out.

"You don't mind staying with us, right? I'm sure if you wanted to Rick could find you someone else to stay with, but Maggie and I have an open room right across from ours."

He looks so hopeful, eyes creased at the corner and the edges of his lips tugged up in what passes for a smile nowadays. I squeeze his hand in mine, nodding my consent.


The houses are huge, evidence of the lives people used to live. Glenn points out the house the rest of his group is staying in, though he says they usually congregate in one to eat and hang out, and then leads me into the one we're staying in. I trail a few steps behind him as we walk up the wooden porch, running my fingers across the painted railings.

The door opens near silently -well-oiled hinges- and we step inside. I'm instantly assaulted by what is possibly the best smelling thing in the world. I take a deep breath in through my nose, drowning myself in the heady scent of warm, delicious food. My brother glances back at me, smiling at the dumb look of awe that must be clearly evident on my face.

"Carol's probably making something. We'll get you in the shower before we eat."

I nod without a word of protest, briefly wondering if my time alone has caused me to go insane. There's no way they have food, and running water, and electricity. It's just not possible.

Glenn doesn't seem to mind my inability to formulate words at the moment. He squeezes my hand in his again, grounding me, and leads me past the delicious smells and up the stairs into a bathroom. He leaves for a second with promises to be right back with clothes and some 'feminine products'. The look of hesitance on his face is almost enough to make me laugh. As it is, a smile worms its way onto my face, causing my brother to beam right back at me.

He's back quickly, reluctant to leave me to own devices, with a bundle of clean clothes and cleaning products. "The clothes are Rosita's, one of the people from my group. There are newer, probably better fitting clothes in the storage, but it's all the way across town…"

I smile again, the expression coming to me easier each time I use it, the stretch feeling less foreign. "It's fine, Glenn. I've been wearing these same clothes for about two months now, I honestly couldn't care less."

He leaves after extracting a promise from me to call either him or Maggie -who I figure is his girlfriend or something- if I need absolutely anything while I'm cleaning myself up. The eye roll I give in response and the sigh of exasperation from him reminds me of when I use to visit his apartment in Atlanta over spring and summer break.

The door closes behind me with a quiet snick, and I flinch at the feeling of behind trapped in the small room. I know realistically that I'm completely safe, that there's a group of the good survivors just outside the door to prevent anything bad from happening to me, but I also know that reality doesn't have a whole lot to do with this new world.

I take a calming breath, inhaling the cleanness that surrounds me, and inspect the bathroom.

There's a huge shower right in front of me, and I practically whimper at the sight. I set the pile of clothes and cleaners on the sink counter next to me and go to undress myself when I accidentally catch a glimpse of my reflection in the mirror.

I don't recognize myself. I've frozen at the sight before me, not quite sure how I'm supposed to react. The girl in the mirror is older, more harsher than I remember looking. Her cheekbones are sharper from lack of a constant food income, skin and clothes covered in biter gore and rot, hair a black cloud surrounding the soft planes of her face. She looks...wild.

Unease settles in my core, and I wrench my gaze from my reflection to take my clothes off and step inside the shower. The first sputter of hot water has me moaning indecently loud, and then hoping fervently that the water is loud enough to cover up the sounds I'm making.

I stand under the spray for what feels like hours, using up the entire bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and body wash, until the water runs cold. I dry off quickly, shivering in the cool air of the bathroom, and dress in Rosita's clothes. They fit me well enough, and I appreciate the meager protection they offer me.

When I open the door and take a step outside, I'm once again assaulted by the smell of food from downstairs, even stronger now that it's ready. My borrowed boots -a size too large- pad quietly against the carpeted floor as I make my way down.

There's a lot of them, crammed into the large dining area and spilling out into the living room in a loud cacophony of noise and smells. They notice me walk in almost instantly, senses still sharp from time spent outside the walls, and they quiet down some. Glenn stands up from where he was sitting and makes his way towards me around the maze of people.

My brother doesn't mention how different I look even without the layer of filth. He ignores the bruises on my face and the purple bags under my eyes and only comments on how nice my hair looks when it's as long as it is.

I can feel their eyes on me as I get food from the kitchen, taking a smaller portion than I really want because I know I won't be able to eat more. Denise nods approvingly to me from where she's entangled around another woman.

I sit in between Glenn and Maggie, and take in the eclectic group of people. They're all very close with each other, not aware of personal boundaries and what's socially acceptable. With a start, I recognize the boy from the crowd, the one with the vivid blue eye, the other covered by a bandage. He's talking to another, older teen, laughing over what looks like a comic book. A girl close to my age is sitting quietly next to them, offering a sarcastic comment every once in awhile, making the two boys roar with laughter.

I look away from him before he can notice my stare and relish in the feel of Glenn absently running his hand through my hair while he talks to Maggie. She isn't sitting close enough to me that I feel trapped between them, but I can feel her warm presence.

Everyone else is done with their food but continues to sit together while I savor my food. I take another bite of casserole, and Glenn suddenly clears his throat. Everybody quiets down and looks at him. I know they're not looking at me, just in my general direction, but I shrink into myself regardless.

"Right, so. I'm just going to jump right into it." He pauses and everybody waits for him to continue. I take another bite of my food.

Maggie grows impatient at his loss of words and take over for him. She beams at everyone and says, "I'm pregnant!"

There's instant congratulation and cheer, but I'm not paying attention because I'm choking on my food. Glenn makes a startled noise and pounds his hand on my back until I've stopped hacking for long enough to speak. "What the hell!?"

The room goes silent again at my outburst, but I'm turning around so I can stare at both Glenn and Maggie at the same time.

Maggie hesitantly looks at Glenn and he quickly responds. "I know you just got here, Riley, and this probably isn't the best time for us to tell you. We just wanted to tell you at the same time we told everyone else."

I shake my head incredulously at the thickness of my brother's skull. "I don't care that you're telling me now! I didn't even know you guys were together."

Understanding finally dawns on their faces, but my attention is drawn away from them by someone laughing across the room. My head snaps in that direction to see the boy from earlier chuckling loudly.

Rick looks at him sternly. "Carl…"

I get to my feet, easily angered by this asswipe who's laughing at me. Others in the room get up too, and Carl stops laughing at the suddenly tense room.

"Sorry, it was just kinda funny. I didn't mean to offend you or anything." He sounds surprisingly sincere, and I feel myself blush when his eyes connect with mine so he can look at me earnestly.

I'm instantly placated, and slowly sit back down. "Oh, no. That's fine. Sorry for overreacting."

There's another few seconds of awkward silence and I pray my blush isn't as obvious as his is. Glenn shifts next to me and I remember our audience just as someone chuckles under their breath.

It's the guy who was carrying me when I woke up, and him laughing at us is the catalyst to everyone else laughing at us.

I quietly join in on the congratulations to Glenn and Maggie, finishing my food as quick as I can. Other than the laughing and a couple of mutters about 'damn teenagers', mine and Carl's almost fight has gone unmentioned. I'm once again enjoying the warmth and comfort surrounding me.

I absolutely do not spend the rest of the night until they leave watching him out of the corner of my eye.


Definitely a bit of a filler before the action of the later episodes. This chapter has some character interaction between Riley and Carl, and I don't know if anyone caught it, but the other teenager Carl was talking to was Noah because I'm still very bitter that they killed him off. So. He's still alive.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed, favorited, and followed!