Disclaimer: I do not own anything associated with The Walking Dead that includes its characters, titles, yada yada. You get the drift?

Author's Note: UPDATE 11/16/13 – This chapter has been edited. Feel free to reread!

Description: Piper Bell's leaned on one, equine, companion since the outbreak, a Quarter Horse named Leroy - depending on him to keep her safe and doing the same in return. However, in a turn of events, she's reunited with someone she believed to be dead - her best friend, Shane Walsh. And now, with him, Rick Grimes, and the rest of the group, she's just trying to survive.

Answers?

Arriving back at the camp, Piper nodded a goodbye to Andrea, who, seemed a bit deflated, having only hit her target once. Piper felt bad for cutting their session short, but she couldn't focus. And it wasn't fair to Andrea to continue a lesson she didn't have her heart into. So a rain check it was.

"Ready to go?" Piper heard Shane's voice behind her.

The woman, who had been on her way to visit Leroy, whipped around and smiled at her friend, "Yeah, what took you so long?" she teased, nudging her shoulder against Shane's.

The man snorted lightly, then gestured over toward the Hyundai, "Let's go, the lead's on a housin' development just a few miles from here."

It was a couple mile's trip from Hershel's farm to the housing development. And a development it was; about half of the houses were completed, but most were either in their final stages or not even started at all. The pair did a quick check from inside the car - there were no walkers from what they could see. Shane nodded an "ok" and both he and Piper opened their doors. Unholstering her Beretta, Piper looked at Shane, then spoke in a hushed voice as if not to attract anything, "Which one first?"

Shane scanned the row of houses, ignoring the incomplete ones. And, after a few moments, he jerked his head toward one of the finished properties toward the end of the street. Piper nodded and followed Shane toward the home, both of them keeping an eye out for walkers. When they reached the front door, the two stood for a moment, Shane on the left of the door, Piper opposite to him. Mentally, Piper counted to three before grabbing the door knob and pushing open the oak door. Gun raised, Shane led the way into the house and, mimicking Shane, Piper quickly followed.

The newly raised home, that looked perfectly normal from the outside, had been left in complete shambles inside. Piper's eyes scanned around the foyer as Shane was beginning to make his way into the kitchen. What caught Piper's attention however, was a wall that sealed off most of the house. Tilting her head, she backhanded Shane in the arm, and then pulled up ahead of him; inspecting the wall.

"They walled off this hallway?" the brunette ran her hand along the out-of-place wall and looked at Shane.

Shane licked his bottom lip and jerked his head toward a hole that had been made in the wall, "Alright, cover my backside," the man crouched down and stepped through the hole, to the other side of the wall. He was out of sight for a second or two before poking his head back through the hole, "C'mon," he motioned for Piper to come through.

Stepping backwards into the hole, so not to get caught from behind by anything that was lurking in the house, Piper felt Shane's hands on her, guiding her through. Once on the other side, Piper took a moment to survey her surroundings; family photos hung crooked on the walls, the carpet lay crumpled up in the corner of the hallway. The woman frowned at the sight as they ventured down the hallway. Slowly, the pair searched the bedrooms - they looked like they had been ransacked, but there was no sign of anyone actually living in there. At least not for a good long while. Both Shane and Piper were discouraged by the pile of nothing they had found until Piper realized they hadn't checked the basement.

Piper insisted on taking the lead, and slowly, she descended down the stairs, gun pointed in front of her. Getting closer to the landing, the brunette pressed her lips together anticipating whatever was at the bottom of the staircase. She held her hand up, not wanting to get clogged in case they had to get out fast, and Shane stopped half-way down. Peeking into the basement-garage area, Piper's eyes widened at the sight. She didn't have time to really look at the burned bodies lying on the cement floor. Instead, she focused on the three, four, five, six and counting walkers that were coming in through the garage door that had been left open. Each walker let out an individual snarl and Piper realized that she'd been seen. Turning fast, and beginning back up the stairs, Piper motioned for Shane to get himself moving.

"Gogogogo," Piper spoke urgently and glanced behind her. The first of the walkers was beginning to make its way upstairs. Shane noticed, and reached his hand out to Piper, who grabbed it. The man skipped about five steps, practically dragging Piper up with him. When the duo reached the top, Piper slammed the door shut and locked it. Her eyes searched frantically around the hallway to find something to put in front of the door that was sure to bust open with only the flimsy lock. Nothing.

"Piper, forget it. She's not here, and we gotta' go!" Shane barked, grabbing Piper by the forearm, leading her back out of the dead lead of a house.

The ride back from the housing development was silent as Piper debated bringing up the conversations she'd had with Dale and Andrea. It wasn't like they had told her Shane had an extra granola bar when he wasn't supposed to. Dale's accusation was serious, and what Andrea told her was a bit of a concern as well. Piper needed to get to the bottom of it. She hated not knowing things for sure and the urge for her to question the man about the accusations was getting stronger.

Piper licked her bottom lip before inhaling, "I've heard some funny things today," the brunette pressed her head against the window but kept her eyes on Shane.

"Yeah? What's that?" Shane raised an eyebrow and looked from the road to Piper.

Piper pursed her lips, "Dale said something to me. He, uh, well he thinks you're gonna kill us all."

Piper watched as Shane tightened his grip on the wheel, "Can't do shit without the old man pissin' himself," Shane shook his head slowly, "Always gotta be in everyone else's business."

Piper reached a hand up to the back of her neck, "I'm sure he's got the best of intentions. Annoying as it may seem," the woman bit her lip hesitantly, "But anyways, he told me something weird. Like, really weird."

"Go on."

"He said," Piper laughed awkwardly, "He said you pointed a gun at Rick." It sounded crazy coming from her mouth.

It was obvious by the sudden change in his demeanor that what Piper had said annoyed Shane - she'd been afraid of that. It was always a dicey situation - backing a hothead into a corner. Their defense wasn't the nicest. Their offense was even worse. The man's brow furrowed ever so slightly and he cleared his throat keeping his eyes glued to the road ahead, "Must be seein' things then."

"So you didn't point your weapon at Rick?" Piper spoke slowly.

Shane slammed his foot on the brake causing the woman to lurch forward; he looked at Piper and ran his tongue over his lips before speaking in a harsh voice, "You tellin' me you believe this bullshit?" he chuffed angrily.

"Fight with Shane" was not on Piper's to-do list and of course, with her hot-head of a friend, things had already gotten heated. She wasn't even finished asking questions – there was still the matter of Shane wanting to leave. Piper inhaled and exhaled slowly and grabbed the door handle, "You know what? I think I need some space," Piper pushed open the door and exited the Hyundai. There were certain situations with the two friends, where Shane would start to get pretty aggravated and , in each one, Piper's best bet was to walk away to let Shane cool off. She had no interest in conflict with her friend, walking away was the best choice.

Piper had been walking for a good ten minutes before she heard the engine behind her. The brunette stole a quick glance over her shoulder; sure enough, there was Shane behind the wheel of the Hyundai. Piper didn't stop walking. Though she had been the one to bring it up, she realized that, maybe, she wasn't ready to have the conversation with Shane. Did she really want the affirmation? Did she really want to hear, from Shane himself, that he raised his gun at a man who had saved his ass more times than he could count? Did she even want to ask about the Lori thing? Did she want to hear about two of her friends betraying another? And what about his plan to leave? Was that still his plan? She didn't want to wake up one day and find her best friend missing. She wasn't sure if she could handle the truth from Shane himself. Stuffing her hands in her jean pockets, the woman continued on down the empty road until she heard a door slam and a gruff voice behind her calling out her name.

"Pipe - come on. Would ya' just stop," it was more of a command than a request.

Piper sighed deeply. Maybe if Shane explained himself it would make things alright. It was worth a shot. She stopped and turned on her heel. Shane had caught up to her and was only a few feet away, "Yeah. Yeah, I can," she mumbled, looking at the man.

Shane ran a hand over the top of his head, "I've only been tryin' ta do what's best here. Right from the start."

Piper crossed her arms, frowning slightly – she didn't want to know anything, but she had to know, "Shane, as long as I've known you you've been straight with me. I don't know if you're mad at me or something, but c'mon, we don't hide things. Why start now?"

Shane held his head low, looking at the ground for a moment, then back at Piper. He wasn't mad at her. He just didn't want her to be disappointed in him, "Don't think I'm not happy about Rick wakin' up," his voice shook a little, "But not a day after he was back from Atlanta, he left. He left our camp – him, Glenn, T-Dog, and Daryl - and people died," Shane's eyes narrowed, "It was his call to chase some douchebag chained to a roof. That blood's on him," Shane pointed off nowhere in particular, "That blood's on him."

Piper swallowed hard, "So you were pissed," she tilted her head, eyeing Shane, "You've got enough testosterone for an entire football team's locker room – I'd imagine, before Rick came back, you called the shots," Piper paused, and when Shane gave a short nod, she continued, "Rick was made leader and he screwed up not even twenty-four hours on the job," Piper took a step toward Shane and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, "The Otis thing – both of you weren't gonna make it and you had to get back to Carl. I don't know if I would have done the same thing, but I'm not narrow minded enough that I can't see why you did what you did," the brunette shook her head, "But Rick? You pointed your gun at him and I don't really understand it. When I saw you and Rick, the day you came to the farm, everything looked like it had always been. Hearing it from Dale, it was hard to believe. And now, hearing it from you, I don't even know if I believe it."

"That man is my brother – I'd die for him same as I would for you. But he's not cut out for this. Those people depended on me to keep them safe and I did. Rick can't do it, Piper."

Piper shook her head, "So what, you thought you'd put him out for real?"

"Piper, I don't know. I don't know what I was thinkin', alright? I don't know."

"Shane, you have to accept the fact that the decisions aren't yours to make anymore. Hell, you should be relieved!" Piper smiled softly, "Please Shane, for me, just please let Rick do his job. At least on like, a thirty-day trial period," she joked, trying to get rid of the tension.

Shane couldn't help but chuckle, then he said seriously, "You know I feel like shit for raising my gun at Rick. You gotta know that –"

Piper held her hand up, "What's important is that you didn't shoot." It was all she could offer.

She didn't condone Shane raising his weapon to Rick. And, although it had saved a loved one's life, Piper didn't condone the shooting of Otis. Shane had always been quick to draw. He was a "do now, think later" guy. Before, Shane had lived his life with little regret. He made calls and stood by them. But that night at the high school was an exception. It was clear that Shane had been struggling. It was clear that Shane felt remorse for what had happened. That remorse separated Shane from a stone-cold killer, Piper knew that. Piper also knew that, in the world they lived in, they would be faced with difficult decisions on a regular basis. Sometimes lines that were clear in the old world were blurred. Sometimes they had to be crossed. Piper was sure that Shane had enough sense not to cross them unless they absolutely needed to be crossed. She was sure that he never wanted to raise his gun to anyone.

Piper contemplated mentioning what Andrea had told her, but things had just cooled out between her and Shane. She wasn't particularly interested in hearing about Shane and Lori, but she was curious about what else the blonde had said. After all, the woman didn't really want her best friend to up and leave. But she didn't want to bombard Shane with a million and one questions. And Shane wasn't a fan of the third degree. She decided that she'd ask him about it later, when the time was right. Or, maybe, she hoped, that he'd figure out that she knew and he'd tell her. She hoped that her friend would come clean - she didn't want to be pulling teeth.