TELL IT TO THE FROGS I

warning beforehand: events are not exactly as they were on the actual episode. neither is dialogue. And the fight between Shane and Daryl sort of gets a little further out of hand before it's broken up. Sorry, I wanted to make everything fit together. ;p

Daryl looked up from skinning the deer he'd gotten earlier when a shadow blocked out his sunlight and he heard a throat clearing. Lana stood behind him, arms full of clothes. He raised a brow and asked, "Whatcha want, princess?"

"I was gonna go down and wash some clothes with Carol and Andrea… Thought I'd see if you or Merle had anything you needed clean. Do not give me that look, Dixon, you own more clothes than that shirt and those jeans." Lana answered when Daryl gave her a raised brow and chuckled a little. "So yer gonna just wash my clothes, huh?" he asked, immediately wanting to punch himself in the throat when it sounded just a little less casual and a little more flirtatious than he'd meant it to. He had meant it to be casual, hadn't he?

He wasn't entirely sure lately.

She was getting in his head and he didn't like it.

He was trying like hell to get her out again, it wasn't working. Nothing he tried seemed to work.

Shane wandered over and Lana grumbled.

"Can you fuck off?"

Shane eyed Lana with a raised brow and then shot Daryl a warning glare. "The hell are ya talkin to him for, hon?"

"I was asking him, Shane, if he needed clothes washed."

"Let me have 'em. I'll give 'em ta Carol and she can do it. You need to be resting."

"Actually, Shane, I was a med student before the world went to shit. Remember? Or did you ever even notice that about me?" Lana flared angrily, Daryl spoke up and said with a cocky smirk aimed at Shane, "I got some thangs in Merle's truck.." as he stood and waited on Lana to follow.

It was worth literally everything to see the angry look on Walsh's face when Lana did catch up to him. Daryl stated calmly, "If he's still doin Lori, Lana…. And we both know he is."

"Yeah, that much is obvious… But continue?"

"Means he ain't gon change, ever."

"I'm starting to see that now." Lana watched Shane as he walked over to Lori and the two disappeared. She gave an annoyed eye roll and shrugged it off. She'd had about two weeks to get used to the whole ending things permanently by now, so it wasn't quite as angst filled, seeing Shane with her sister.

It hurt yes, but it didn't rip her heart out every single damn time she saw them together like it had right after things happened a little over two weeks ago.

"The clothes, Dixon.."

"Reckon I oughta.."

"No, no. I can carry them, okay? I'm not made of glass." Lana insisted as he tried to take the pile from her arms. Mostly because she didn't want the awkwardness of him seeing her panties or anything else… They were friends, he was safe, he was comfortable, she did not want to do anything to diminish the comfort she felt around him.

"That's a lotta stuff though."

"Daryl, no. I have it."

He smirked and she realized what she'd done… As opposed to calling him Dixon, a tactic she used to keep herself from thinking of him as anything other than just another member of the group, she'd actually used his first name. His given name and not his last name.

'And now I'm never gonna get 'er outta my god damn skull. I'm fucked.' Daryl thought to himself as he grumbled, finally stopped insisting that he take the clothes down, but he did manage to assert that he was going to come down when they were done and carry his own back up.

Across the camp, Shane watched them and Lori cleared her throat as she mumbled in a voice hoarse from crying, "I just… Are you sure he was dead when you went back the other night? I can't believe he's gone."

"He didn't have a pulse, Lori. I checked twice, even waited." Shane sighed a little, slid his arm around Lori and pulled her against his side as he said quietly, " I think Lana and me are done. She just don't look at me the way she used ta."

"The cycle you two were on, Shane… It was vicious and nasty and it was messing both of you up. I can't sit here and lie and say that as her older sister I'm not happy she's finally trying to break the habit, but I know it's killing you." Lori admitted after a few seconds, looking up at him and then over at her sister where Lana stood, talking to Daryl.

"But Dixon? She's gon fall for Dixon?"

"She hasn't fallen for anyone, Shane. Andrea said that they're just friends."

"Friends my ass.. Men like that only want the one thing." Shane spat angrily, the words were bitter in his mouth and he didn't miss the sense of irony in them because when he'd had her, he'd wanted everyone but her. Now he didn't anymore and she was the one person he wanted more than anything… But lately, he and Lori were trying to get comfortable with each other, this recent development with Rick's passing, they needed each other most right now and Shane could not deny that if he'd been with Lana still, he wouldn't be dropping everything to rush to Lori… They'd just always had this connection.

But then he had the same sort of connection with Lana.

He'd just done a piss poor job of showing it, a fact that he truly regretted, especially right now. He regretted it most right now.

"At least she's not pushin me out completely. At least she's gonna let me be there for the baby."

"That's better than nothing, Shane."

Lori went back to observing her sister with the younger Dixon brother covertly. She wasn't sure what to think about it personally, but she was noticing the little things.. The lingering glances, the way they always seemed to migrate really close together whenever they were speaking to each other, even if they were arguing which they seemed to do a lot…. Maybe if Lana were to be with Daryl…

Lori just wanted someone to take care of her little sister since Lana had completely shut her and Shane out.

Merle cleared his throat and held out three shirts and two pairs of jeans and then held out his other hand. Lana raised a brow and Merle said calmly, "Ya told me ya needed some thangs yesterday."

Lana dug around in her pocket and pulled out the list. "If you're not sure what they are, ask Jacqui. She'll probably know. If she doesn't, Andrea had a pretty good idea of what I was talking about."

Merle gave a nod and then said to Daryl, "You gon get somebody ta make sure that sumbitch Walsh stays away from yer girl, right?"

Daryl's entire face clenched and more than anything, he wanted to punch Merle in the dick. And probably as hard as humanly possible. It really irked him, Merle taunting him about Lana the way he did.

'Only irks ya because maybe it's true.' his thoughts, the pesky damned things, nagged at him.

"I can handle myself just fine." Lana spoke up quickly. She'd seen the angry flash in those almost high definition green eyes of his and she wasn't going to make him feel like he had to keep her safe. She didn't want him to feel obligated towards her at all, that was the last thing on Earth she wanted, she wasn't going to play the victim card and make some guy feel like he had to 'do right by her', hence the reason she'd walked away from Shane and was not just caving in and letting him back in.

"You heard 'er." Daryl muttered as he eyed Lana for a few seconds, holding her gaze intently. Merle took off to leave with the group going on the supply run and Daryl left for the woods, this left Lana to pretty much her own devices.

She made her way down to the creek to wash the clothes and Carol asked quietly, "Everything alright today?"

"As good as it can be. I wish he'd take someone into the damn woods with him when he went." Lana muttered the last thing in a voice slightly lower than the voice she'd started out speaking in. Carol nodded to Daryl's disappearing back and asked, " He talks to you a lot, I've noticed."

"I know. I'm still trying to figure out why, to be honest."

"I think I have a pretty good idea."

Ed started to yell out for Carol and Lana asked quietly, " Do you want me to tell him to fuck off?"

Carol grimaced at the language but shook her head and said quietly, "No, I'd better get up there before he comes down here. Last time, Shane almost beat the heck out of him."

"I remember that."

After Carol left, Lana sat on the banks for a few hours , just sort of thinking things out. When she made her way back up the banks, it was because it was starting to get later. She came back up the hill just in time to see everything as it played out….

The van swerved into a spot just inches from the RV and everyone who'd went out on a supply run that morning except for Merle got out. And then the driver of the van got out.

Lana gaped.

Rick stood there, looking absolutely shell shocked and grateful to be alive.

Lana's eyes cut to Shane and she wondered for just a few moments if maybe he hadn't lied when he told Lori that Rick was dead a few nights ago…

Lori ran to Rick and Lana's eyes met Shane's. She noticed that he looked hurt and angry, and she found herself shocked when instead of running straight to him to fix things completely, she instead rolled her eyes at him staring at her and turned her attention expectantly to the treeline ahead.

"Shit… Shit…. If he comes back and finds out what they've done to Merle..." Lana bit her lower lip nervously. She knew that the brothers were very close even if they acted more to the contrary. She'd seen Daryl angry before, she wasn't sure if Daryl angry with Shane madder than hell right now was…

And then it hit her… She wasn't worried about Shane's being hurt or upset at all right now… She was worried about the rather volatile situation that lie ahead when Daryl finally got back from hunting. She was worried about Daryl in all this because she'd grown up with Shane's temper and she'd seen enough of Daryl's since he'd wound up in the group to know that both of them with fuses lit was… It wasn't a good thing.

She didn't want Daryl getting hurt somehow. She wanted to find him. She wanted to make sure he was okay, that he didn't get it in his head to try and fight Shane.

Because Lana knew too well that if Daryl confronted Shane then Rick somehow was going to get in. Two on one… Because Lana didn't see any of the others going to help Daryl… Not that he needed it, he certainly didn't.

She saw Daryl walking out of the woods and she took a few deep breaths and distanced enough that she could still see and hear what was about to happen, but she'd be out of harms way. The tire tool lie on the picnic table, she'd wrapped her hand around it before the thought to intervene came to mind.

"MERLE! GOT US A MESS OF SQUIRREL!"

"About Merle, Daryl…" Shane started. Lana started to inch forward before she even realized it, if not for Andrea, she probably would have gotten closer.

Andrea shook her head and mouthed, "Stay out of this." to her friend.

"What the fuck you mean he ain't here? Everybody else is back." Daryl looked around.

"There was..."

"He was trying to start things. Handcuffed him to a pipe. And the key got lost." Rick spoke up quietly and that was enough for Daryl to rush Rick, furious. When he did that, Shane grabbed him in a choke hold and when Shane did that, Lana didn't even realize she'd done it until she had, "Fuckin let him go."

Andrea fixed her eyes on her friend in curiousity. Lana's hand tightened around the tire tool and Andrea shook her head no and said in a whisper, "No you don't, fireball… Stay out of this, trust me."

"I swear to God." Lana grumbled, shuffling her feet, suddenly anxious and not really even sure why. It was because he was her friend, that was what she was going to stick to, damn it. Because she was not in the position to offer anything more than friendship and even if she were, he'd probably laugh his ass off at her.

Their kind didn't interact in normal society. All this was, she lectured herself mentally, was being thrown into a situation that looked dire coupled with hormones and in addition to that, it was because he'd been decent to her.

'Liar' ,her mind argued back, 'it's more than friendship and you know it, Lana. And that scares the living hell out of you.'

Daryl shoved through the gathered crowd and walked past her, punching the hood of his brothers truck. Lana counted to at least twenty and when he stopped swearing and punching the truck, she walked over and said quietly, " He didn't hurt you, did he? He swung at you pretty damn hard, Daryl." as she looked at him in concern before adding, "Rick said he'd go back and find Merle tomorrow. I know Rick.. He won't screw you over."

"Reckon he's damn sure gonna… Because I'm goin too." Daryl muttered. The fact that her saying his first name, his given one and not his last one for the second time in a day was enough that he'd snapped his head up almost as soon as it left her lips. He eyed her, the anger was still boiling hot but he took a deep breath for whatever reason.

"Daryl..."

"I'm goin, god damn it. That's my brother out there."

Lana couldn't argue because despite everything going on with herself and her older sister right now, she'd be doing the same thing as Daryl right now.

"I know. And I don't blame you, I just… Be careful, okay? Because if you get bit I don't have anybody else to argue with all the time you grumpy asshole." Lana managed as she gave a small and concerned smile.

"Wouldn't miss me if somethin went down, would ya?"

Lana stayed silent, that was an extremely loaded question.

She focused on the bloody nose he'd gotten instead, swearing at Shane's general direction the entire time while Daryl stubbornly insisted it was fine and Shane hit like a little bitch.

Shane watched her fussing over Daryl and he walked away quietly. He'd officially started to lose everything. Everything was spinning out of control. Now that he realized he really loved Lana, because he'd felt nothing when Rick came back and Lori went straight to his arms, nothing but regret for what he gave up and risked for just one chance to finally be with Lori, now that things could be fixed… Now she was tired of fighting for them and what they had before he messed it up so many times.

He swung at the side of the RV when he was out of sight of everyone.

"Everything okay with you and Lana, Shane?" Rick asked, a confused look on his face as he looked from where Lana stood, talking to the brother of the man he'd had to leave behind, to Shane again.

"I fucked up, Rick… Fucked up real bad. Reckon she hates me now and I can't say I blame her. Didn't know what I had until I went and acted stupid and lost it." Shane admitted, not saying anything further.

His thing with Lori recently had been a huge mistake. Rick didn't need to know about it. He didn't even want to really think about it.

CAVEAT LECTOR:

And again, I am totally amazed right now. It's hard, writing Shane as the bad guy, because I loved the character, but.. I'm managing it. I hope that Daryl is still mostly in character, I'm trying my best to keep him as IC as possible so that the reading experience isn't totally fucked for anyone. I was touched because a reviewer actually said I'm doing a good job with it, I can only hope that I still am. wow... Seven reviews and 6 faves / 10 follows. I'm really very amazed that so many people actually read this. I thank you all for reviewing and encouraging me, from the depths of my soul I really do. It's because of the reviews and everyone favoriting and following that I'm inspired to keep working on this idea as a whole.

I actually have made a decision as to which guy I'm choosing, though it may be obvious to some by this point. :). I tried to 'show and not tell' but I'm pretty damn certain that I'm shitty at doing that, so pretty sure anybody can guess who she'll wind up with.

LOVE YOU GUYS FOR REVIEWING!