That night at dinner, Rick sat in the living room. Without Carl or any of his other family there it didn't feel right eating at the kitchen table. Rick carefully balanced Judith on his lap, letting her lean back against the tops of his thighs as he spoon-fed apple sauce in her mouth. Rick's dinner, a can of chili, lay cold and half-finished on the coffee table by his sock-covered feet and next to his Colt Python. Normally Carl is the one to feed Judith since whenever Rick did it he ended up making faces at her that she'd try to mimic instead of eating. Since it was just Rick and Judith tonight, though, he had to take his time. It was relaxing if not a little lonely. He missed Carl, but he felt like there was something else that was lacking, too.

He had just wiped a bit of apple sauce off of Judith's chubby chin when he swore that he heard something. Falling still, Rick cocked his head, listening hard. His instincts reared their ugly heads, stomach twisting. Yes, he had definitely heard something like a creak on the wooden porch.

Gently, he placed Judith on the couch, tucking a throw blanket around her. She attempted to shove an entire chubby fist into her mouth, gnawing and slobbering happily on her knuckles as she watched her father pick up his Colt Python and move stealthily towards the window. Peering out through the blinds and curtains, he couldn't really see anything. Moving towards the door, he glanced through the peephole. Immediately, he sighed.

Tucking his gun in the back of his jeans, Rick opened the door. "Jadis," he greeted a little gruffly. Briefly, he wondered if she was here to complain about having Rosita and Eric keep an eye on them. "Why are you here?" He wanted to add about how it can't possibly be so important that it can't wait until tomorrow, but he held his tongue. Only just barely.

Without waiting for his invite, Jadis stepped into his home, placing a gloved hand on his sternum. Her eyes stared unblinkingly into his, and Rick found himself leaning back, uncomfortable. How did she even know where he lived anyway? Why didn't she knock? How long was she standing there before Rick found her?

"Rick," Jadis began in her low and sultry voice. "Lie with me now." With her other hand, she gestured further into his home, and Rick held his breath at the overpowering stench of garbage that clung to her clothes.

She was still wearing her odd denim ensemble, while he had taking off his button up, now only in his plain white shirt. He felt vulnerable without the extra layer of protection. Rick really wasn't sure how to tell her no, but he definitely knew that he didn't want to say yes. "Jadis, I can't do that with you here."

Frowning slightly, Jadis walked further into his home and Rick followed after her. If he threw her out now, most likely he'd have an issue with the Scavengers. Not something he wanted to risk with most of his best fighters gone. Jadis walked into the living room and stopped once she saw Judith sitting there and staring off into space. Turning to Rick, she jerked her head towards Judith. "Yours?" She didn't sound exactly pleased to find Judith.

Pushing past her, Rick picked up Judith, holding her protectively to his chest. "Yes, she's my daughter." He didn't miss the curl in Jadis's lip before she turned away.

"Send it away," Jadis told him, and Rick blinked at the order. If Jadis was anything like him, then she wasn't used to people not following her orders. "Lie here," she pointed to the couch where he had just been eating with his daughter, "or there." She pointed up the stairs now and Rick shook slightly with rage at the implication that he'd take her to bed. "Choose."

"Neither, Jadis," Rick began firmly, and Judith wiggled in his too-tight grip. Instantly, he loosened his arms around her, and stroked her hair in apology. "I'm not going to sleep with you."

Jadis actually looked confused at that. She tilted her head to one side, and Rick felt like she was making fun of him, mocking him. Narrowing her eyes, Jadis asked him, "You're with someone?"

"No," Rick unthinkingly answered.

"Lie with me," Jadis repeated, sounding relieved, happy, and smug.

"No!" Rick raised his voice at her, and Judith started crying in his arms, face crumpling and tears instantly dribbling down her chubby cheeks. Angry at himself and Jadis, Rick lightly bounced Judith in his arms to calm her, shushing and humming. Again, Carl was better at calming her down when she cried but she cries so infrequently anyway. Pressing a kiss to her forehead, Rick turned his back to Jadis, trying to calm his temper so that Judith would calm down, too. He couldn't do that though when he caught sight of the look of disgust on Jadis's face.

Before he could ask Jadis to leave, he heard some sort of commotion outside. Clutching Judith tighter to his chest, Rick wished he had put her to bed earlier. But he couldn't leave her alone now, and he especially couldn't leave her with Jadis. The decision made for him, Rick exchanged a tense look with Jadis and hurried out the door. Standing on his porch, Rick could hear the clanging as the gate was opened and closed. Jadis followed him out, but didn't ask any questions or proposition him any further – thank God.

Straining his ears for the sound of gunfire or anything else, Rick heard nothing except Rosita's angry shouting. Trusting her and Eric to handle it, Rick gingerly sat on one of the rocking chairs. If they needed him, they would come to him. As he anxiously waited, he rocked Judith back and forth hoping to lull her to sleep. Her crying had died down to whimpers now, and Rick crooned nonsense to her, steadily avoiding looking at Jadis, who for some reason hadn't left yet.

Sure enough, just as Rick suspected, here came Rosita with Spencer and that Alexandrian from the chapel – Nick? – in tow. "Rick," Rosita began, but then she paused once she caught sight of Judith and Jadis.

Not able to stand with Judith fussing in his arms, Rick tiredly asked, "What happened?" Then he remembered that it was Spencer who was in charge of the trip to the Hilltop. His blood ran cold in his veins. "Where's my son, Spencer?"

"That's…what we came here to tell you." Spencer looked exhausted, a sweaty mess, blood sprayed on his clothes. The sight of him made Rick wonder just whose blood was it.

"Where is Carl?" Rick croaked, trying not to upset Judith again, though he desperately wanted to stand up and shout and shake Spencer around.

"We were on our way to the Hilltop," Spencer began to explain, "and there was a herd."

"How big?" Rick gulped nervously. No, no, he didn't want to hear this, to believe it. Carl…Carl.

"Massive, too many to get a good head count. We couldn't drive through it, or wait for it to pass. We couldn't risk having it follow us back here or to the Hilltop either. There's no way our walls or theirs could withstand a herd that size."

"You escaped somehow," Rick belligerently argued and accused him, "Did they follow you?"

"No," Spencer seemed ashamed now. "Carl suggested that he take the car and lead them away. We let him. We got out and ran for Alexandria. A bit of the herd broke off and followed us. We took the few that followed us down, but Matt didn't make it."

Dimly, Rick was aware that one of the Alexandrians had died, but the only thing he could focus on was that Carl might be alive. "You let my son," Rick began in a low voice, "lead away an entire herd? Why was Carl driving?"

"He wasn't, I was," Spencer said.

Rick grinded his teeth together hard before he forced himself to unclench his jaw. "So, you stopped the car and let my son drive away? Whose idea was it?"

"Carl's."

Honestly, Rick wasn't surprised. It seemed like exactly the kind of hair-brained, selfless scheme that someone from his family would suggest, like Glenn or Tara. Looking down at Judith in his arms, Rick drew strength from the fact that she was sleeping peacefully. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, eyes closed, and then looked back up at Spencer again.

"Better get some rest, now, Spencer. Because in the morning, you, me, and Nick are going back out there, and we're looking for Carl." Ever so carefully, he stood up, careful not to jostle Judith too much that she'd wake up. "We're going to find him."

Without another word, Rick went inside and closed the door behind him. He went upstairs and crawled into his bed, keeping Judith with him. But sleep never came because all he could think about was his son.

"Carl…Carl."

Needless to say, Rick kept his word. He woke up before Judith did, having not slept more than an hour or two at the most, and rolled over to grab the walkie-talkie. Leaving Judith to sleep a little longer, Rick attempted to get in contact with Aaron, Michonne, and Daryl again. After a moment, the radio static gave way to Aaron's voice. "Morning, Rick. We're all fine here. We've found at least five boxes of MREs."

Even though there was no one there to see it, Rick nodded. He forced himself to swallow down the anxiety bubbling up in his throat like bile, but his voice was still hoarse when he finally spoke. "Good haul." He cleared his throat, and then spoke again, "Carl's out there somewhere. And there's a herd. I'm going to find him. Can you keep an eye out for Carl or the herd?"

When the radio crackled again, it was Michonne's voice on the other side, "Rick, do you want us to go find him?"

"No," Rick croaked and squeezed the walkie-talkie tighter with frustration before he finally sighed, "Spencer has an idea of where he is. I'm going out there with him and Nick. You stick to the plan. Just be careful with that herd out there."

"We will," Michonne assured him, and then Aaron spoke again, "We'll be back in two days with plenty of food."

"Good," Rick said, "We need it." Then the radio went dead. For a while Rick stood in the hallway, leaning against the wall, staring down at the hardwood floors. Judith's morning cry is what finally pulled him back to Earth, and he went to his daughter, softly murmuring, "Morning, Sunshine."

After feeding and changing her, Rick took Judith to the chapel again. He made a visit to Aaron and Eric's house on the way to give Eric the walkie-talkie. At the chapel, Rick didn't waste time with pleasantries. He just passed his daughter over and kissed the crown of her hair goodbye. "I heard what happened. Rosita told me," Gabriel said quietly. Rick paused, staring at Judith in Father Gabriel's arms. He could remember when Carl was this little, too. "Carl is strong, but I'll send a prayer his way. You should, too," Gabriel added meaningfully. Rick looked up at Gabriel and nodded mutely. Then he left for Eric's house.

Rick's last stop was to speak with Rosita at the gate. Spencer and Nick were waiting by the car, while he and Rosita had a chat. He placed her in charge until he came back and said no other groups would be allowed to leave. Additionally, while he was gone, no Scavengers could stay. "What about Eugene, Abraham, and Sasha?" Rosita crossed her arms over her chest, mouth twisting around Abraham's and Sasha's names. "They should know about the herd."

Glancing over at where the Scavengers were gathered by their dump truck, Rick shifted from foot to foot, impatient to leave. "After we leave, either you or Eric can head into the town to get them. Only one of you. We're short enough on people here as it is."

"Don't take Nick, then," Rosita countered, grabbing the handle on the gate, ready to open it for them. "Just take Spencer." She glanced over Spencer himself and gave him a sarcastic smile. Rick had heard her chew him out for his cowardice after he had gone inside. He also assumed that they were broken up now because of that, too.

Mulling over Rosita's suggestion quickly, Rick didn't change his mind. "No. Nick might remember something that Spencer didn't mention." Rosita didn't look happy, so she let it go.

Rick walked to the car, motioning for Nick and Spencer to get in. He nodded to Jadis, but she approached him. Of course, she wouldn't let him leave yet. Once she was in earshot, he called to her, "You should go home Jadis, fortify the scrapyard. If there's a herd out there, you need to be ready for it." Jadis gave him an impassive look, and belated Rick thought about the Scavengers' unofficial saying: We take, don't bother. Thinking about last night, something didn't sit well with Rick. He thought about how Rosita said they should warn the others, and he thought about how Alexandria didn't have the manpower currently to do that. But maybe, if he could use Jadis, then her infatuation could be useful. "Jadis, can you send a scout to Oceanside and the Kingdom? They deserve to know about the herd, too."

Again, she stared at him for a tad too long before she agreed to do it with a silent nod. Rick didn't like that look on her face. Even though she was a leader, she was too calm about this. He still had that uneasy feeling with her.

Still, he could do nothing about it now until he regrouped with his own people – and he was eager to leave to find his son. He climbed in his car and waited for the Scavengers to climb in their dump truck before he signaled to Rosita to open the gate. Rick drove out first, and for a long time, they drove one behind the other. Eventually, the dump truck broke away, heading for where the Scavengers' scrapyard was. And now it was just Rick, Spencer, and Nick.

They drove in tense silence for a long time. Because the herd was still out there, they couldn't risk going too fast. Spencer tried speaking only once to apologize, but Rick had silenced him with a look. Nick hadn't spoken a word. Once they reached the spot where Spencer said Carl drove away, Rick parked the car and finally spoke to Spencer again, "You were here. You left, Carl got in and started driving."

"Yeah," Spencer answered, eager to redeem himself, "the gas tank was almost empty, so he couldn't have gone far. But he went that way, and there's no way he would risk leading the herd to Hilltop. Not with his girlfriend there."

Rick shot Spencer another look of warning. The more Spencer explained the situation, the less and less Rick liked how this went down. How irresponsible was it to not carry extra gas? Why didn't they have more long-distance radios? Surely by now the people waiting for them at the Hilltop were getting suspicious, too. "How well do you know this area, Spencer?"

"Not well," Spencer honestly admitted.

Rick hummed, not surprised but deeply irritated. "I say we go to the Hilltop, check and see if Carl made it back there." Unspoken in the car was the hidden threat that they better hope he had made it for their sake.

So, they drove on, the tense silence returning. Rick feverishly hoped that Carl was okay, and it only comforted him to know that at least Carl wasn't as hopeless as Spencer in any case. Part of him was proud of Carl's selflessness, but Rick was overwhelmed and consumed with fear that something had happened to him. They hadn't even made it to the Hilltop when they ran into a familiar face on the road: Jesus.

Jesus was in his own car, and they pulled alongside each other to talk. "When you didn't show up last night, Maggie sent me to check and see if you guys were okay," Jesus shouted from his car.

"They ran into a herd last night, were forced to lead it away," Rick explained. "Did Carl make it to the Hilltop?"

"He wasn't there when I left."

Rick quickly looked down on at his lap, his hands gripping the steering wheel so tight that his knuckles blanched white. "Do you know the area well, Jesus?" He asked when he looked back up.

"Is that even a question?" Jesus smugly responded, slightly smirking, his light eyes playful.

Jesus's confidence comforted Rick, but he couldn't match his playful mood. Turning to Spencer and Nick, Rick ordered, "You take this car to the Hilltop, tell them what happened. If that herd is still out there, they need to be ready for it. Then you go straight back to Alexandria." Without a backwards glance at them, Rick climbed out of the car with his borrowed bag from Eric, and climbed in the car with Jesus instead. "There any side roads that lead away from Alexandria and the Hilltop on this road?" He asked without preamble.

It only took Jesus a minute to think, tapping his gloved fingers on the steering wheel, before he answered, "As luck would have it, only one that would lead away from both directions at the same time."

"Let's go," Rick tapped the dash twice, and Jesus whipped the car around and sped away. In the rearview mirror, Rick saw Spencer and Nick drive for the Hilltop. Jesus's voice pulled him away from his thoughts.

"I think I have an idea of where Carl might be."

Rick immediately turned to Jesus. "Where? Somewhere safe?"

Jesus hesitated. "Maybe." At Rick's insistent look, Jesus continued to explain with his eyes on the road, "I know there's a community this way. Not exactly friendly. Whenever we go out on runs, we avoid this direction."

"Why haven't you mentioned them before?" Rick asked, only a little exasperated.

"Last time the Hilltop reached out to them, at least two people died. When the Kingdom reached out to them, a boy died. We've only let them be because they want to be left alone, and there's too many of them," Jesus explained.

Rick's anxiety for Carl resurfaced again. If these people could kill a boy, how would Carl be okay? "And you never told us about any of this?"

"There's a hard winter. They don't grow their own food, we thought they moved on, or at least dissolved. At least two large groups left from them and we chased them out of the area." Jesus glanced over at Rick quickly before he looked back at the road. "Don't worry. There were some friendly ones in the bunch. I talked to them before." Out of the corner of his eye, he could tell that Rick still had that same skeptical and worried look creasing his brow. "Carl's smart and a good kid. I'm sure he managed to avoid capture, but they could point us in the right direction at least."

Only slightly appeased, Rick grunted and turned away. It was gladdening to know that some many people had faith in Carl - and Rick, too, knew that his son was strong and skilled. But that was just it. Carl was his son, only a boy. It was Rick's job to keep him safe. Staring out the window, Rick kept his eyes sharp for any sign of his son while he ran an internal mantra praying that Carl was alive and safe. He clenched his hands on his lap, chest tight, and just kept praying. Gabriel would be proud.