Charlotte got up early the next morning—mostly because she couldn't sleep in a chair. Maggie told her that she could take a shower and right as she was about to do so, Shane walked into the house, looking rather sleepy still. He had slept outside in a tent along with Grace.
"Hey," Charlotte said timidly.
"Hey. I wanted to sit with Aidan for a while…'Fore I head out to look for Sophia. Figured ya'd want a break anyway," he replied. His hand rubbed the back of his neck nervously.
"I was actually going to take a shower, so that works out well…Is Grace okay?"
"Yeah, she's fine. I think she was a lil' bit pissed that she couldn't sleep next to Josh."
"Well, she doesn't need to," the dark haired woman replied, hugging herself nervously. "They're way too young for any of that and I don't want those to end up like us…"
"I know. That's why I wouldn't let it happen. I ain't that bad of a dad, y'know that, don't ya?"
"You're not a bad dad, Shane."
"I got my own son shot."
"We've been over this. That wasn't your fault…I'm gonna go shower now," she sighed and went off to do so.
After her wonderful shower, Charlotte took a walk outside to where the rest of her group was—only after looking in on Aidan. He was still asleep.
"Rick an' I'll head up this way," Shane said looking at a map on a car hood. "Andrea an' T-Dog—"
"I want to help too," Jimmy, one of the people from Hershel's group said.
"He can come with us," Andrea said.
"He's yours to baby sit then," Shane replied.
"I'm gonna take this way up the creek bed," Daryl said, stepping in.
"Is there anything that I can do?" Charlotte asked as she pulled her hair back into a ponytail.
"I'd rather you stayed—" Shane started but was quickly stopped.
"Guess ya can come with me," Daryl offered with a shrug. Charlotte's face lit up as she looked at him.
"Really?" she asked.
"Don' make it into a big deal. If yer comin' c'mon," he started walking towards the barn. Charlotte followed, of course. She was dumbfounded by the fact that he was actually going to let her join him. He always worked alone and she figured that he would want that still. "Ever ridden a horse 'fore?" he asked, getting a horse out of the stall to begin tacking it.
"No actually…I know that's sad, living in Georgia and all but…I just never got around to it, I guess." He let out a sigh, Charlotte knew that she was probably making this all a little bit more difficult. "Maybe I should just stay here after all…Aidan should have somebody here for him…" She turned to leave, but his arm reached out to touch her shoulder, effectively stopping her. "What?" she asked. He looked at her intently with his blue eyes for a moment. Daryl wanted to bad to kiss her like she had kissed him yesterday. But…He couldn't bring himself to do it. Catching what he was trying to do, Charlotte closed the gap between them and gave him a long, deep kiss. "Better?" she asked, biting her lip. He nodded, unsure of how to feel about this unorthodox relationship. He hated that he was too big of a wimp to kiss her first. "Be careful out there, Daryl. I mean it…" He nodded and finished tacking up the horse.
As she started to leave a second time, he walked over to her. Upon hearing his footsteps, she turned around and he grabbed her face in his hands and pulled her in for a rough kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck as their long kiss continued. Charlotte was the one to end the kiss because she knew that he had to go out there and look for the little girl. Sophia needed found, they could kiss and such after he found her.
"These people, are they good?" Nora asked Charlotte. The latter had gone out to sit on the porch in the middle of the afternoon and the former had seen her sitting there and since she didn't know anybody else, decided to join her.
"For the most part," Charlotte replied. "You just have to get used to them…I guess. I've been with them since the beginning…So changing the subject—What's your daughter's name?"
"Suri. You have kids don't you?" Nora asked. She was pretty sure Shane had mentioned a son for sure and if Charlotte was his ex-wife then that was likely her kid too.
"A son and a daughter. My daughter is Grace—she's fourteen. And, my son is Aidan—he's ten. How old are your two?"
"Suri is nine and Joey is four."
"Aunt Charlotte, Aidan wants you," Carl said, walking out the front door and onto the porch.
"Okay," she replied. "I'll be back," she told Nora and went to her son. "What's the matter, sweetie?" she asked, taking a seat in the chair next to his bed.
"I want you to see this picture I drew," he smiled.
"Oh yeah? I'd love to see it." He showed her the piece of paper he had with crayon marks all over it. She observed it carefully for a moment and then frowned slightly.
"You don't like it?" Aidan frowned.
"Baby, it's not that. I love it, really. You did a great job…" He had drawn a field of pumpkins with four people standing in it. It wouldn't have been so sad if Charlotte, Grace, Aidan, and Shane didn't all always go pick a pumpkin in this one patch ever single year since Grace was a baby. It was just a tradition that they had and now it would be broken…
"I just miss getting to pick pumpkins…I miss a lot about the old world…"
"I do too," Charlotte admitted. "Do you think you're feeling well enough to maybe take a walk? That could be good for you…and…" she trailed off, she just wanted to get him out of this bed a while. It would drive him mad if all he could do was lay there and sleep all day and night.
"I guess so…" Aidan sighed. "Look what daddy gave me," he picked up the baseball cap that Shane had given him early that morning. It said 'King County Police' on it. He put it on his head over his dark hair.
"Well…would you look at that…" she replied and helped him out of the bed.
"Do you ever think 'bout whether we screwed our lives up by gettin' married so young?" Rick asked his best friend as they walked though the woods.
"The hell's that supposed to mean?" Shane asked. He didn't think his life was screwed up...Sure he got divorced before he was even thirty, but he had two amazing children and his ex-wife could be so much worse!
"Lori, Charlotte. They weren't right for us an' maybe we wasted our lives..."
"Look man, I didn't waste my life."
"Well you married Charlotte...it's different."
"How? We ain't married now."
"She's...different."
"Man, don't you dare tell me that ya've got a thing for Charlotte?" Shane would be extremely annoyed if he did. He didn't know why, but that really would bother him...
"So what if I do? Need I remind you that you slept with my wife..."
"That's-"
"How's it different, Shane. You two aren't even married any more. But, it's not like the feelins are mutual...She an' Dixon have some screwed up thing goin' on."
"Rick, what happened to you? You weren't ever like this 'fore! Charlotte is her own damn person an' if she wants to be with Daryl, then that's her bed to lie in. So long as it don't affect my kids, I don' care. You shoul' probably focus on your own boy."
"See, that's not so bad, is it?" Charlotte asked as she walked Aidan around the property.
"I guess not..." Aidan sighed. He was huffing and puffing for air a little bit. It was more tiring than he expected it to be.
"Do you want to go back in?"
"No. This is important."
"That's my boy," she tousled his hair as the came up towards the RV. Andrea was on watch with a rifle in her lap. Charlotte rolled her eyes and kept helping her son walk. Rick and Shane walked back into camp and Shane jogged over to his son with a proud grin on his face.
"Look at ya little man! You'll be runnin' an everything 'gain real soon at this rate," he said.
"Walker!" the aforementioned blonde stood up and exclaimed loudly. Shane's demeanor changed at a moment's notice and he sprang into action.
"Get 'im back into the house, Charlotte. Right now, Keep 'im safe, I don' know there'll be more."
All she could do was nod and take Aidan into the house rather quickly.
AN: Sorry, it was reeeeeeaaaaaaaalllllllllllllllllyyyyyyy short. I'm not feeling well and I just wanted to update so I kind of rushed it...I hope to get up another chapter by like...monday? Maybe...It depends on how I feel...Please review!