Frances climbed into the sleeping bag with Clara. She needed to thank Andrea for tucking the girl into bed for her. Frances thought about Daryl some more. She was so happy that he was getting to sleep in a real bed. He deserved it. She also needed to thank him, the tent her and Clara were currently residing in belonged to Merle and had been given to and set up for her by Daryl before his accident.
That morning Carol had caught Daryl sneaking off with a saddle. They got into a fight and he had called her a bitch. After seeing how upset Carol looked she decided to approach him.
"Hey," Frances called to the grumpy man inside his tent. "Can we talk?"
When he didn't respond Frances entered his tent.
"You may be looking for Sophia, which is admirable, but you have to watch your temper around Carol. I can't believe you yelled at her. She has been crying all day."
Immediately Daryl sat up. The book he had been holding whipped against the opposite side of the tent.
"Do you know what she was saying? She was saying that she doesn't think Sophia is alive anymore. She thinks she's gone! The worst part is she doesn't want me out there risking my life for her. It's her baby girl and she's given up!"
Carol had failed to mention that. Frances sat down next to Daryl so that their legs were touching. "I think she has a point about wanting you to be safe. You shouldn't go off alone like you did. But she is dead wrong about giving up. You can't ever give up in this world. You won't make it."
"Get the hell out of my tent. Go look after your own girl! Christ, none of you women can keep track of your own kids."
Frances left the tent wordlessly. His anger was draining. She approached Andrea who was playing with Clara around the fire pit.
"Dixon's can be a real ass when he wants to be," she whispered. "I can't believe he made Carol cry earlier."
"Don't tell me that," Andrea whined. "I still feel like shit about the whole shooting him ordeal. I was going to head over soon and apologize again, just to make sure we are all set."
"Goodluck with that." Frances quipped as she picked up Clara and walked into the RV to see Dale. Instead of finding Dale, the two females walked in on an awkward situation. Shane and Lori were yelling at each other quietly. Shane was incredibly close to Lori who was jabbing him in the chest with her boney finger. Immediately Shane back down. He looked at the floor while Lori pushed by them and exited the vehicle. "Everything okay?" Frances asked.
"Yeah, Glenn and Maggie went on a bad supply run. She almost got bit. Glenn took it out though. I guess we were just arguing on how important those runs are." With that he left.
Frances carried Clara over to the Grimes' tent. She was hoping to comfort Lori, who had clearly been in some distress. The tent was empty, but something caught her eye. Packets of empty Plan-B pills littered a small table. She ran out of the tent to look for Lori. She couldn't find her anywhere. In fact, she couldn't find anyone. Shane and Andrea had just taken off in search of Sophia. The Greene's were tending to their cattle and produce all over the property. Dale had gone off to speak with Hershel. Carol and T-Dog were out harvesting food for dinner. Glenn seemed beyond stressed after returning from his supply run with Maggie. She hadn't seen much of Rick all day. Knowing that this wasn't a situation for Clara to be involved in, she placed the girl in the care of the only person she knew would be around, Daryl.
"Clara you're going to stay with Daryl for a bit while I go find Lori, okay? Please be good for Mr. Dixon!" She was nearing his secluded tent when she finally saw a lone figure in the distance. It looked thin like Lori and it was hunched over. "Oh God." Her pace quickened.
"Daryl! Daryl, I need you to watch Clara for a minute. Got something important to take care of!" She didn't wait for him to respond. She dropped the girl in front of his zipped tent and ran off in the direction of Lori.
"What are you talking about? I'm no babysitter!" Daryl drawled from inside.
"Lori! Lori! Are you okay? Lori I need to talk with you!" She hustled over and grabbed the woman by her thin arm. Lori was crying hysterically. "I threw them up. I threw them up," Lori repeated. "I almost got Maggie and Glenn killed. I need to tell Rick everything."
Frances cradled the broken woman in her arms. Together they sat down in the dirt and leaned against the fence. Lori's head was buried into Frances' shoulder, which helped because Daryl was clearly watching from his tent, Clara by his side. They made eye contact not so briefly before he ushered the small child into his tent. He cocked his head to the side before nodding once and entering the tent himself.
"I'm pregnant," Lori finally announced. "I put too much on Glenn's shoulders. I can tell he's so stressed."
Frances simply stroked the woman's hair and rubbed her back.
"This is awful. I can't do this. I can't do this to a baby. I need to tell Rick so much." Lori's babbling became more and more wild.
"You do what you need to do. I am here for you. We all are."
"You're all going to hate me!"
"We don't hate you, we never could. Rick's going to be so touched to know that in all this darkness you are carrying a little light," Her hand dropped to Lori's abdomen. "This is a miracle."
Suddenly the two heard footsteps. Their heads turn to see Rick. His pace slowed to a stop as he neared the two. "Lori," His voice sounded broken. "Can we talk?" Frances eyed an empty pill box in his hand.
"Frances felt Lori's nails dig into her arms. "Yes you two can talk. I'm leaving now anyways." She stood slowly, making sure Lori had her feet under her. She walked off hastily towards Daryl's tent.
"Sorry about that," She poked her head into Daryl's tent and extended her hand to Clara. "We're leaving now."
"Hey now, wait up," Daryl was sitting with his buck knife in one hand and a piece of wood in the other. He was making arrows and letting Clara play with the feathers. "What the heck was that about?"
"It's not something to talk about right now." Her head motioning to Clara.
"Well when would be a good time? Can you check your schedule?"
"Daryl, it's serious. And it's none of your business." She pointed her finger at Clara and told her to come out of the tent.
Together they walked back to the camp. Lunch would be soon. Slowly everyone congregated. Andrea and Shane acted a bit different after their encounter in the abandoned development. She could tell Dale was stressed before the pair returned and now he appeared perilously close to the edge. Maggie was clearly pissed at Lori, who was silent and withdrawn. Rick looked equally withdrawn, which would be expected. Carol was still depressed and Hershel didn't even show his face. Clearly there was something going on with everyone. Frances ate swiftly and served her watch duty with Carl and Clara. The three chatted much about Sophia. Carl clearly wanted her to come back.
Frances watched the two interact. Carl was great with Clara. He had patients and a positive attitude. He was like a big brother, but also a best friend. She couldn't stop herself from smiling. Even if today had been a bit of a down day, this group was amazing. "Carl, would you like to have a sleepover later tonight in our tent?" Frances leaned down toward the sitting kids.
"Yeah!" Both exclaimed excitedly.
After her watch ended she went to find Rick. She wanted to let him know about the sleepover. She also wanted to let him know that she was there for him and Lori. She figured they could use a night to themselves. As Frances walked the grounds looking for Rick she bumped into Shane. He looked disturbed. "Hey do you know where Rick is? Carl's sleeping in my tent tonight; I figured those two could use a night to themselves." Immediately Shane invaded Frances' personal space. "Yeah cause that's what they need right now. Good for you for helping them out. That's so nice of you." His nose was almost touching hers. "What is this? Bad cop routine or something, back off." Frances warned.
"No you back off and stop getting in the way. I don't even get why you're here!" Shane was beginning to scare her. Her hand gripped the knife attached to her belt. "Come on, what are you going to do?" Shane kept poking her in the chest. She swatted his hand away and doled out another warning.
"I mean it Shane; I've done nothing to make you this mad so cut it out!"
Shane backed off unexpectedly. "Whatever. You don't know nothing!" he gruffly muttered.
He was looking over her shoulder with a nasty scowl on his face. She turned to glance at what he was looking at. Daryl stood no less than ten feet away, crossbow resting at his hip. His presence made Frances feel a bit more in control over Shane. "What do you want, hick?" Shane asked.
Daryl ignored the comment. "Just looking for Rick too. Need to chat."
"Rick sure is popular. You know I'm just as good as he is, why not chat with me?"
Shane's thick arm pushed Frances throwing off her balance. The ten feet between Frances and Daryl closed instantly as Daryl met Shane with a hard glare. "Watch yourself Walsh. That's not very upholding of the law now is it? You sure got a sick way of handling women."
"I handle my women better than you, you made Carol cry today. And chasing after that little girl! She's gone! You're chasing a ghost!"
Daryl's fist connected with Shane's nose producing a loud crack. The two grappled on the grass before Rick appeared to break it up. Shane stormed off into the woods hurling insults over his shoulder.
"You are all gonna wind up as walkers!" was Shane's last comment.
"Are you okay," Frances worried. "How are your stitches?" She tried to lift his shirt.
"I'm fine." He struggled. He was clearly in a lot of pain.
"We need to sit down. I want to know what that was all about." Rick demanded.
After Frances explained her side of the story Daryl began. He had sought out Rick to talk more about the search for Sophia and the group Frances had escaped from.
Neither Rick nor Frances mentioned Lori's condition. Rick stalked off to find Lori and Daryl and Frances went back to Daryl's tent to check his side. A small spot of blood had formed on his flannel shirt during their conversation with Rick.
"What's Shane's issue?" She asked as she handed Daryl an alcohol wipe.
"Listen, we both got secrets. How about we share and both get our questions answered." Daryl offered.
"I don't know. What I know is serious. And seriously not any of your business, or mine for that matter."
Daryl gave her a look. She analyzed it carefully. He was hurt. He was making an effort to really join the group. Both Glenn and Dale had told her that in recent conversation. After noting how he rarely talked, Frances figured it wouldn't be awful for him to know about Lori's situation. "Okay," She gave in. "Lori is pregnant. I think Maggie is mad because she had to go with Glenn to get her Plan-B and they were attacked. She took the pills but threw them up. That's why I was so frantic earlier. I thought she was trying to abort it."
Daryl expression showed a mix of confusion and concern, quickly followed by realization as his eyebrows climbed his forehead.
"What? You know something! What is it?" She pushed.
"Okay, okay," Daryl stumbled. "Back at our first camp sight I may have seen Shane and Lori…together. I mean, everyone thought they were married! Then Rick showed up and no one said anything."
"Are you for real? Is the baby Shane's?"
"Probably, I mean it was only a few weeks ago. That's enough time right?"
"Yes. A few weeks combined with the stress of survival. Hell, she probably didn't think she was pregnant even if she wasn't getting her period."
Daryl made a face at the mention of periods.
"Grow up Dixon," She teased. "This is serious!"
"I know!"
After dabbing his side with the alcohol Daryl spoke again.
"Stay away from him."
"I don't think I'll have trouble doing that."
"Yeah, he's pissing everyone off. Me, Dale, Lori and Rick. The way he's been with Andrea. The whole Otis thing…Shane's a loose cannon."
"What's the Otis thing?"
Daryl explained what had happened the night before he had arrived at the farm.
"Do you think Shane killed the guy?"
"To escape from walkers, maybe. To save Carl and make Lori happy, definitely."
This was all too much for Frances to handle. "I need to get back to Clara. I left her and Carl with Glenn."
"You want me to walk you there?"
"No, I'll be fine, plus you need to take it easy. Thanks though."
Frances climbed the RV ladder and smiled at the kids. They were playing cards while Glenn sat on watch. He seemed stress too. "Are you okay?" She asked placing a hand on his shoulder.
Glenn's hands fidgeted a bit in his lap. "I'm fine."
Frances decided to skip dinner later that night. Instead she stole a bit of food for Clara and played cards with her in their tent. After a few games of crazy eights the two read a book and lay down in their sleeping bags. This was the first night she didn't feel safe with the group. She hoped tomorrow would be a better day. Frances sighed deeply. Sleep in this new world was light and often disrupted. It is hard to sleep with your eyes closed but your ears open.