I DON'T OWN THE WALKING DEAD!

"Bill, I just think the schedules aren't exactly-"

"The schedules are fine." My father interrupted Luke, his eyes downcast toward the clipboard in his hands. Dad was having Luke and I help assign the next few week's work in his office. The younger man just wasn't having it; I guess Luke thought things were going slower, which they were, because of the assignments. So he merely suggested they change up the schedules for the people who were up for stronger assignments.

"Bill-" He tried to say again, but Dad just slammed the clipboard down on the wooden desk in front of him and casted a heated glare at Luke, slowly standing up from the leather chair across from Luke.

"Boy, Don't make me tell ya twice..." He muttered, the deep scratched sound in his throat casting a somewhat tense, dark atmosphere in the room. I awkwardly bit my nail as I sat in a wheelchair near the main window, watching as the two men stared at each other. It was so...so tense.

Luke scoffed and crossed his arms. "Just makin' a suggestion." He mumbled, looking downward and away from my father's dark gaze. The older man smirked, as if he'd won some sort of contest, and sat back down in his leather chair.

Whew...

I cleared my throat, lifting the clipboard to examine the assignments. I'd noticed Rebecca's name was on the top of the list. Flipping through the pages, I was rather surprised to see her name on the top of all of them. "Uh...Dad? Rebecca's...on the top of every list." I hesitantly stated. My response was a small neutral glance from the boss.

"Yeah," My father simply confirmed, "So? Leave her name there. You got a problem with that?"

Luke gave me a questioning side-glance, as if silently but cautiously inquiring my actions. I lightly sighed and shook my head. "No, Dad. It's just that, we change the top person to somewhere else every few days. And-"

"Just go with it." Dad interrupted, snatching the clipboard from my hands. I yelped in surprise. I should've seen that coming, since he's been so stressed. Oh well. I'll live. I rubbed the bridge of my nose, feeling a light headache coming up.

Dad suddenly checked his watch about an hour later, humming in satisfactory as he stood up. This caused mine and Luke's heads to perk up from our paperwork to see him staring out the large window as he pressed the speaker button. He was making an announcement.

"Nick Randall, please report to my office. Nick Randall." His voice buzzed over the community. Huh.

Luke caught my confused look and lightly nudged me. "Somethin' wrong?" He inquired quietly as my father continued to make a few acknowledgements. I shrugged, crossing my arms and legs as I kept my eyes on my father. "Dad just...usually radios someone to report to the office, not the intercom." I pointed out in a whisper. Luke hummed, blinking at me.

"I wouldn't worry about it." He said.

With a light scoff, I added, "You ain't me; you don't know Dad like I do."

Luke cast me a frown, but I watched as Dad sauntered back to us, a smile on his face. "Well, I'm done with you two for the moment. Tess, you'll need to stay behind for our dear Nicholas. He seems to be lacking skill of arranging the guns in the armory." He told me. "Got it?"

I nodded. "Yeah, Pops." I responded as Dad turned to the younger man beside me. "Luke. You, my boy, have the terrific duty of scouting the perimeter. Note that there's been little to no lurker activity for quite a while, but be careful when near dark corners."

Luke scoffed almost childishly, but bowed his head anyway. "Yes, sir."

Dad flashed another smirk. "Good." He praised.

Just then the door squeaked open, revealing a curious Nick as he entered. "...You wanted to see me, Bill?" He questioned, closing the door behind him. "Oh. Hey, uh, Tess."

I gave him a small wave, half-smiling. "Hi."

Nick noticed Luke was in the room and smiled. "Hey." His response was a small smirk from the man and a short wave. The moment was cut short when my father trudged in front of Nick. "Ah. There he is. Nick, my workers have been noting on your performance today, and..."

The capped man rubbed the back of his neck rather nervously. "And what, Carver?" He quietly inquired as Dad led him to my side. Luke watched with his arms crossed. My father cleared his throat, placing a hand on my shoulder as he spoke to Nick..

"So far, you haven't made any mistakes the last few weeks you've been living here, so I'm allowing a pass. Everyone has a pickled situation, and that's fine. But don't expect me to be so nice when a time comes where you're in need of correction again...Tess, you and he can go now."

I flashed Nick an enthusiastic smile as we exited the office. "Hi there." I acknowledged him softly as we walked down the long row of steps leading to the ground floor of Howe's. The older man sheepishly smiled in response.

"Hey." He responded.

YEAH, THIS IS A SHORT CHAPTER! And a pretty sucky one -.-

Don't even bother reviewing. This isn't a worthy one.