A/N: Thanks to those who read and review! I appreciate it so much! World Without Words is almost done and then it's sequel time! Yay!

Disclaimer: I don't own The Walking Dead nor did I create it.

Alice ran her fingers through her slightly knotted hair, a small moan of satisfaction sliding past her moist lips. She had forgotten how good hot water felt. Dr. Jenner had showed everyone their rooms and they all had showers. Showers with hot water. Dr. Jenner had been kind enough to give everyone their own room to sleep in. He had offered Alice one with Shane when he found out they were married. Alice had declined as politely as she could. The look of confusion on Shane's face was not missed by her, so she quickly explained she how she didn't feel like Andrea was ready to be alone. It had been partially the truth, but it was mostly an excuse to get away from Shane. She wasn't ready to sit him down and tell him she knew about he and Lori. That would have to be a conversation for another day. Alice looked up at the shower head, closing her eyes and letting the drops of water kiss her face. She had been lucky that the CDC had an abundance of unused quarters, each with personal showers.

She watched the dried blood, dirt, and soapsuds run down the drain. She had been covered in so much filth that the white soap bar turned light grey after her first lather with it. As she messaged the shampoo into her hair, working it into a sudsy afro, she couldn't help but laugh. There was no reason behind her laughter. It just felt good to take a real shower and not the birdbaths she had grown accustom to. She blew the suds into the air and watched them fall onto the shower floor. She felt a pang of guilt for being so happy when Andrea in the room across the hall, still mourning the loss of her sister, but she couldn't control how joyful she felt from a simple shower.

"Knock knock."

Alice frowned, stepping from under the water and poking her wet head out of the shower. "Oh, Shane." She unconsciously covered her chest with the curtain. "Something wrong?"

"Nah, just wanted to check up on you." He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Got room in there for one more?"

"I uh.." She debated letting him in. She hated to admit it, but it was so much easier to say she was done with Shane than to really do it. Rick was back now and Lori clearly didn't want anything with Shane anymore, maybe they could work out this time. She wanted to smack herself for her own thoughts. She promised herself she'd be strong, she promised Jim. Allowing Shane back for any reason would just be a step backwards. She had given him plenty of chances in the past and he never took them seriously. Why would this time be different? "Well I'm almost done in here so it wouldn't make no sense."

"I see." He shifted his feet awkwardly. "I guess I'll just go to my room then." He looked disappointed as he walked out of the small bathroom. She frowned as she shut off the shower. She wasn't excited all of a sudden about the hot water.

She felt horrible for rejecting him even though he had deserved it. As much as he had manged to hurt her, she had to admit that a part of her would always love Shane. He had been her first love and those who knew them now couldn't see why she stayed with him, they also didn't understand that he hadn't always been like that. It was so easy for Andrea to say she was stupid for caring about him, but she wasn't there when Shane only saw Alice and no one else. Back then, it didn't matter what other female was present, Shane would focus on her. Maybe it was because she was different from all the other girls he had been with. She honestly didn't care what his reasoning had been because he made her feel special. His heart may not have always been in the relationship fully, but she could never deny that he loved her in his own way.

Alice had spent many nights alone crying into his pillow and those memories could never be erased from her mind. When he would come back home, she would swallow her pain and throw on her mask of a happy wife. A part of her wondered why she couldn't take Shane back one last time, she had done it easily in the past. Shane sleeping with Lori didn't hurt her more than his usual cheating misadventures. What truly hurt was that he had fallen in love with Lori. He wanted Lori in a way he never wanted Alice. Jealousy was something the blonde rarely felt, but whenever she would lay in her cot alone in the RV, her heart would pound in pain with envy. Lori got the love Alice always wanted, and she didn't even want it. Shane had just been a distraction for Lori and now that her husband was back, things needed to end. She could never let herself forgive Lori for being with Shane. Had Rick never shown up, what would have happened?

Shane was her comfort zone. Now she had to break away from her addiction to being a victim to his cheating. She was scared. Who was she without Shane? He had defined her very being since they had started dating 7 years ago. Before Shane, her Bible wielding parents defined her. Now she was forced to learn who she was and it frightened her to know she couldn't use Shane as a shield anymore.

Alice had to grow up and find herself without Shane.

Alice walked into the rec room, nursing a glass of wine, and grabbed a random book off the bookshelf. Reading the back of it, Alice slowly made her way to the plush green couch and flopped down. There was nothing special about the room. The walls were eggshell white, some of the paint was starting to chip off noticeably. It was a decent sized room with an old school Mr. PacMan arcade system. Alice couldn't help but smile fondly at the game, remembering how Shane taught her how to play. She still sucked by the end of the date, but he tried and they both had so much fun that they lost track of the time.

Just about everyone had turned in for the night, excited to sleep on a real bed. Those who hadn't were still drinking in the cafeteria, continuing celebration of finding safety. It had been so long since any of them got to enjoy such simple pleasures they once took for granted.

"You seem to be enjoying the wine." Alice looked up from her book. She patted the cushion next to her, smiling.

"Come, sit with me Rick." She eyed the bottle of white wine he was drinking straight from.

He sat down. He grabbed the book she held and skimmed through it. "I never figured you to be into science fiction." He handed it back to her.

"I'm not, but it's the first thing I grabbed." She reached out and brushed his hair to the side. Things felt normal for once. "I'm just excited to finally have some real lights, not a camp fire. I don't care what I read."

"Hey, Alice," he had a thoughtful look. "I wanna ask you something. Why you ain't sleeping with Shane tonight?"

"To look after Andrea." She quickly replied.

"I know you Alice. That ain't the only reason."

She let out a sigh. "I don't wanna sleep with him is all." She didn't want to say more than that. Rick didn't need to know how her stomach churned when Shane touched her or how every time he was near her, all she could think about was him and Lori together.

"What do you think of this place?" Rick asked when he realized she wouldn't say more on the topic.

"I like it here. Anything is better than what's going on outside, right?"

"I guess."

She frowned. "What's wrong?"

"I just… I don't know Alice. How long can we really stay here?"

"As long as Dr. Jenner lets us I suppose."

"And when we have to leave? Then what do we do? It's hard to find supplies and at some point we're gonna run out of ammo. What do we do then?" he let his head fall back against the couch, looking at the ceiling. He knew he shouldn't have been telling her he had no hope, but the buzz the wine was giving him was making it hard not to. "Everyone is looking to me for answers Alice. I don't know what to do. I don't wanna let anyone down, I don't wanna be the reason anyone dies. But I have no idea where to go from here. I don't think we can survive this Alice."

She frowned. "Don't talk like that Rick. You gotta believe there's a way, an answer to all this."

"And where are we gonna find this answer? I thought it would be here, but all we found was Jenner and he ain't a big help. I keep losing hope. I thought there was a chance at first. But now…" his words drifted. He had yet to really think about the situation they were in. There hadn't been a calm moment since he awoken in that hospital bed. Now that he had peace for the first time in a while, his mind was racing more than ever. Was there really a way to survive or was he conning himself into believing there was? He felt a cool hand rest on top his.

"We'll figure things out. You don't have to put all the weight on yourself. We'll all help Rick." Alice assured. Rick looked at her then down at her hands. They were tanner than usual from spending her days in the sun. Her words were just words but they oddly calmed him down a little.

"You always know what to say." He muttered before taking her hand and placing a lingering kiss on it. Her body tensed noticeably before she pulled her hands away and cleared her throat. He snapped back to his senses. "Look, I'm sorry Alice. I ain't mean anything by that." He assured, realizing how inappropriate he must have come off to her.

This was wrong. He loved Lori and she was married to Shane. Why did his body feel warm and his lips tingle all of a sudden?

"I know… It's fine." She spoke before taking a sip of her wine nervously. Her hand felt hot where his lips had touched. Hot in a good way, and it scared her.

"I'll go if I made you feel uncomfortable or anything."

"It's fine Rick. Why are you up anyway?" she changed the topic, trying to ease the discomfort. "I thought you turned in for the night."

"I did. I just ended up laying there. Too much was on my mind." He replied.

He had tossed and turned for a good hour before he gave up trying to sleep. Lori seemed a little shook when he first came to bed. Something must have been on her mind as well, but she quickly drifted to sleep. He wasn't as lucky. He kept thinking about keeping everyone alive, where to go from here, why Lori was acting so strange, and why Shane was being distant.

"You think way too much Mr. Grimes." Alice joked before refilling her glass with Ricks bottle.

"Hey, you can't just take a man's wine like that."

"Oh? Well I just did." She took a sip. "Mmm it tastes even better when it's been stolen from someone."

Rick laughed before snatching her glass and downing it in two gulps. "You're right, stolen wine does taste better."

She frowned. "Jerk."

She smiled at him sweetly as he took her glass and refilled it. He wasn't sure why, but when she smiled at him that way, he felt his heart speed up. He could hear it and was almost sure she could too.

He couldn't cross that line with her, there would be no going back if he did. This was his best friend's wife. He wanted to kick himself for having thoughts about her. Maybe it was the growing distance between he and Lori or maybe it was the fact that she had always been the one that understood most when words failed him.

Rick handed her the half-filled glass, their hands brushing. He got a chill. Her skin was so soft.

"Alice… I…" he wasn't sure what he was trying to say or if he even had anything to say in the first place. He knew what he was about to do would change everything. It was wrong, but he couldn't help himself.

"What is it Rick?" The way she said his name, he realized no one said it like her. All of his self-control left at that moment. Before either of them could say another word, his lips were pressed against hers. At first she tried to pull away, push him away, but he just pulled her closer, kissed her harder. Had he been completely sober, at any sign of her struggling he would have stopped.

Maybe if he got it out of his system, he would stop thinking about her so much. He would see her as just a friend who always had his back. He would apologize later and make it up to her somehow, but for now he needed this.

He needed to prove to himself what he felt was just due to his stress, nothing more. He would kiss her and feel nothing. No spark. It would feel like kissing his sister.

Rick knew his logic behind his action made little sense in all honesty, but he had to find a reason for his insanity. He was going about this the wrong way, but he had already kissed her and he couldn't take it back now. Not ever.

Alice gave in and melted into his arms, surprising him. She kissed him back with equal force, mimicking the movement of his soft lips. Her thin arms wrapped around his neck and with uncertainty, pulling him even closer to her warm body. Rick tilted his head more, deepening their connection. Alice's lips worked against his perfectly but with an innocence he couldn't describe.

Rick could taste the wine on her lips; smell the sweetness of it in her breath. Her kiss was bringing on a different kind of intoxication, one no alcohol could match. His heart was pounding against his rib cage from the excitement and pure bliss he was feeling.

They both pulled away slowly, looking each other in the eyes as if it were some corny romance movie. Rick let out a breath he wasn't aware he had been holding.

That's when it happened.

Alice covered her mouth, letting out a muffled 'oh God'. Rick closed his eyes and took in a deep breath as he came crashing back to reality. What had he done?

She shot up from her seat, her book falling from her lap and onto the floor. Rick stood up as well and reached for her arm.

"No." she jerked away. "No, I have to go… I need bed… Sleep… Oh God."

"Alice, I didn't mean to-"

"Oh God… You're married and I'm married. That was wrong. This is wrong."

"Let me explain."

"What's there to explain Rick?" she hissed in a hushed tone, her eyebrows furrowed. "We kissed. How would you explain that? You tripped and my lips broke your fall?"

"Well… No, but Alice-"

She held her hands up and backed away from Rick. "I can't think right now. I don't wanna think about this. This didn't happen Rick." She quickly ran out of the rec room leaving Rick alone.

He flopped down on the couch and cradled his head in his hands. Letting out a deep sigh he looked to where Alice had been sitting. This wasn't supposed to happen. He had kissed his best friend's wife. He had been so sure that kissing her would prove that he really felt nothing towards her, they were just good friends. He would kiss her, feel nothing and all would be alright.

The only problem with his theory was he had been wrong. He took a long swig from his wine bottle. He couldn't think a complete thought anymore. He only knew one thing for sure at that moment, and he had a feeling he always knew it.

He had feelings for Alice and they were far from friendly.