A/N: Thank you for reading and reviewing! The feedback is greatly appreciated
Disclaimer: I so don't own the Walking Dead
Alice couldn't sleep. Her eyelids were like sandbags, begging for her eyes close for the night, but she refused. She couldn't, not yet.
She wasn't sure how much time had passed before she saw Shane creeping out of Lori's tent, fixing his belt. She watched him unblinkingly from the RV as he grabbed his gun and headed out to do his night watch. Of course she knew what he had been doing and with who, but that didn't make it hurt any less.
She hadn't really spoken to Lori since she had begun sleeping with Shane, partly because she didn't want to have to really acknowledge that her close friend was screwing her husband. The other reason for no speaking to Lori was because she wouldn't know how to handle the situation had the topic ever come up. Never had Alice confronted one of Shane's lovers and that had been the main reason why. What could she possibly say to a woman that saw her husband more in a day than she did?
Lori also avoided Alice, always looking for a reason to get away from her whenever Alice was near. When the two women were close to each other, all Lori would do was shoot her looks of guilt, like silent apologies for what she was going to do in the next few hours. Alice was almost grateful that Lori didn't try to explain herself, she didn't like confrontation anyway.
Lori knew what she was doing was wrong. She had no right to sleep with Shane then claim to be a friend to Alice. She had known about all their problems because Alice was the one that confided in her. Now it looked as if she had been pretending to care about the couple's problems, waiting for the perfect time to snatch Shane. But that was far from what actually happened. Lori missed Rick. There wasn't a day that went by when she didn't think of him. Their marriage wasn't perfect, but that didn't mean she wanted him to die. She regretted not visiting him as much as she should have because of the silly anger she had for him. Shane had comforted her, telling her everything was all right, but at some point it became a physical. They found release in each other, and though it was wrong, neither could stop. It was just sex though, at least to Lori. Her feelings didn't go deeper than that. She cared for Shane, there was no doubt about that, but it was a friendly kind of love. She was sure he understood that was all that was going on between them. He was right, Rick would have wanted her to be happy and for the time being Shane made her happy.
"You're still up huh?" Alice jumped slightly at the sound of someone's voice. There was a light chuckle. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you."
"It's alright." She watched the Korean boy slide into the seat across from her. "I thought you were sleeping."
He gave her a friendly smile. "Kind of hard to stay asleep when you have to hear Dale snoring." He joked. She smiled at his joke. They sat in silence for a moment before Alice decided to ask him a question.
"Glenn? You think I'm stupid too, don't you?" Her voice was low and sounded a little timid.
"What are you talking about?" he asked, confused.
"Me and Shane. I keep following him like a lost puppy, mean while he's sleeping with Lori. Everyone knows it. It's not like they hide it well."
"I mean…" he searched for the right words for a moment. "I don't think you're stupid. I think you should stop pretending like everything is alright when you're around us. We see it too."
Alice gave an understanding nod. "He's always been this way. Back in high school, he was known for being a womanizer."
"Why'd you marry him then if you don't mind me asking." The Korean boy furrowed his brows, waiting for an answer.
She let out a small sigh before speaking. "He seemed like he changed. I ran into him a few years later at the supermarket of all places, and he seemed like he grew out of it, so I gave him a chance. He was so different when we first got married." She started playing with her wedding band that now was nothing more than a piece of jewelry. "He used to always say sweet things to me just because he wanted to see me smile. Now, it's a miracle if he even looks at me for more than a minute."
"What about Lori? Weren't you friends before all this happened?" Alice let out a bitter laugh.
"Funny, that's what I thought too." She shot a small smile at Glenn before speaking again. She had said too much, but it felt good to say what she really felt. "Thank you for talking to me Glenn. It was nice, but I'm gonna go to bed." Glenn had to admit, she was really pretty. She was on the thin side, lacking curves, but still was a site for sore eyes. Shane was a lucky dog and didn't even know it.
"Hey, tomorrow we're going to the department store to look for supplies. You should come, get a break from Shane and all."
"Oh, I wouldn't be useful. I've never shot a walker." she sheepishly admitted.
"Don't worry. I've gone plenty of times and nothing has ever happened. Besides, you already know how to shoot a gun." she nodded. "It'll be fun stealing and not having to worry about jail." He said playfully, trying to lift her mood. She let out a light laugh.
"I guess you're right. I'm tired of always being at camp. I'll go."
"Oh lookie here! Sweet tits is tagging along!" Alice frowned at the nickname given to her by the older Dixon. He was tall, about 200 pounds, and looked intimidating. He was the kind of man she was sure was very well acquainted with the law.
"Come on Merle, have some respect for the women around here." T-dog, a muscular African American, spoke.
"What the fuck for? Women are only good for one thing, and ain't nothing respectful about that." Merle said with a dark laugh. Andrea rolled her eyes as she walked to Alice's side.
"Just ignore him. Here," she handed her a loaded hand gun. "take this." Alice nodded as she slipped it in the waistband of her dirty blue jeans.
"Thanks."
"Hold on, why you got a gun Alice?" Shane asked, unsurprisingly emerging from Lori's tent. It was shock that Carl still didn't know the relationship between his mom and his dad's best friend. "You ain't going with them."
"But I want to go." She retorted in a low voice. Shane stood in front of her and held out a waiting hand.
"Give me the gun. You ain't going."
Looking crestfallen, Alice pulled the gun from her waistband and was just about to hand over the glinting piece of metal. She had been so excited to finally leave the camp, even if it meant being stuck with a Dixon for the day.
"Shane let her go. We got her back." T-dog smiled reassuringly at the girl as he spoke.
"She can handle herself; she is the wife of a deputy and all." Jacqui chimed in.
"I think I should go with them Shane. I'm running low on a few things anyway and it wouldn't be right to have them bringing stuff back for me and all."
He frowned. "You? What about me?"
"Oh… I… I meant we're running low on a few things." She stammered, looking down at her sneakers. Shane sighed, but gave in.
"She gets bit; I'm shooting you all in the head." He threatened before walking off towards Lori and Carl. Alice made eye contact with the dark haired woman. Lori shot her a weak smile, but it dropped quickly when Alice looked away, pretending not to see it.
Merle walked over and threw his large arm over Alice's bony shoulder. "Almost sounds like he cares, don't it sweet tits?" he asked, but laughed the whole time. It put Alice on edge. "If he wasn't fucking that one with the kid, I'd believe he cared about you. Lucky bastard, gets two nice pieces of ass."
"Merle stop it." she mumbled.
"You know what?" Ignoring Alice, he kept talking. "If you ever get lonely at night, which I know you do since he's always leaving you alone, come see good old Merle. I been known to fuck a bitch good." He leaned close to her face, his warm breath assaulting her cheeks. "He was your first I bet. I love me them inexperienced girls."
"Merle, shut up!" she snapped, shoving his arm off her. She gave him a look of disgust before stomping off towards Andrea and Glenn.
T-dog shook his head, frowning. "Why do you have to push her buttons man?"
