"Mr. Greene, could I have a word with you?" Reichert said as he fell into step with Hershel.
"I suppose so, Mr. Reichert." Hershel eyed the other man. "I assume Reichert is your family's name."
"It is." he smiled. "You're a doctor."
"A DVM to be exact." Hershel nodded.
"But you seem to do good work with biped patients." Reichert smiled once more. "Medical expertise. That's something of a rarity these days, Mr. Greene."
"I guess it is." Hershel had to agree with him on that point. "What was it you needed?" he was eager for Reichert to just get to the point.
"I was hoping you'd agree to take charge of our little infirmary." he stated plainly, not bothering to beat around the bush anymore. "I could make sure you've got a house very near it. Juniper is a lovely street, it's where I live. Where most of my most trusted people live."
"So, if I agree to man the clinic, I get my own house?" Hershel asked, making sure he understood correctly.
"With medical skills, you'd be one of our most important residents."
"That would put me in a position of some power." it was Hershel's turn to smile and unnerve the other man.
"I'm offering you a home of your own, plenty of space for you and those girls of yours to have some privacy." Reichert reminded him. "What else could you want?"
"Well, I don't think it'd be right for me and my girls to get a place to ourselves, but the others remain livin' in each others pockets, do you?" his eyes were twinkling as he spoke.
"You want me to promise housing to your whole group." Reichert crossed his rather stubby arms over his rotund chest.
"I know Christie's been on to you about it for a good while now." Hershel stopped.
"And if I agree to this, you'd agree to man the clinic?" Reichert desperately wanted to have a functioning health clinic. He felt it was one thing missing that would really make the place a success.
"That, and I wouldn't want to leave Whittaker." Hershel informed him. "It's a good street, nice people and I'd like to stick around there since that's where my people are."
"A house for you and your girls on Whittaker isn't enough?" Reichert asked.
"I'd want Maggie and Glenn to have a place to themselves." Hershel shook his head. "Beth would be with me, but those two need their privacy."
"Your group really sticks together and looks out for one another, don't they?" he had to respect that, even if it meant he lost ground when it came time to bargain.
"We're a family." Hershel informed him, beginning to walk again. "Glenn is practically a son-in-law, Rick, T and Daryl are like sons..."
"I understand." Reichert didn't feel the need or the desire to listen to Hershel describe what each member of his group was to him. "Family."
"Exactly." they rounded the corner on Whittaker and were heading towards the group's home. "Well, Mr. Reichert? Do we have a deal?"
"If I want a functioning clinic, I have no choice, do I?"
"No, you do not." Hershel smiled.
"Gather your family, I'll tell Christie you can each have their choice of houses." Reichert had been aiming to have Hershel closer to him in case he or his people should need any medical attention, but decided to have Hershel agree to be the colony's doctor, even he was on the other side of the colony was better than to alienate him.
"I'm glad we were able to work this out." Hershel nodded to him before heading home. If he'd known his medical knowledge would be this helpful, he would have played the card earlier.
Rick walked into the house as the others were about to go meet Christie to work out their housing assignments. He and Lori had said they needed to talk, and he thought this would be a good time to do so. He stood in the corner of the living room, waiting for the others to leave, seeing Carl leaving hand in hand with Carol. He didn't want to talk to Lori with their son around and so was thankful he was leaving the house before Lori.
"Ready to talk?" he asked as he moved around the archway of the living room, startling her as she headed for the front door.
"Now?" she asked. "I thought we were going to go look at the houses?"
"I assumed you and Carl would be stayin' here." he said.
"We will be." she nodded slowly. "Just wanted to get a peek inside." she tossed the jacket she'd been carrying aside and closed the front door. "Carl and I would be staying here?" she asked. "Not you, Carl and I?"
"We do need to talk." Rick's voice shook a bit as he spoke.
"Oh, jesus." Lori made her way to the sofa. "Don't tell me..."
"You said we needed to talk." he reminded her.
"Yeah, about when you were moving back in here!" she watched as he began to move around restlessly. "We've been getting along."
"Because we haven't seen each other." he pointed out. "We've been doin' watch, or patrol...Never really in the same place at the same time!"
"So what, you want to just throw everything away because of some fights?" she asked, not ready to end things.
"It's not just some fights, it's everything that's led to those fights, Lori." he took a seat in one of the chairs and looked her in the eye. "And we both know it started a long time ago.."
"When I slept with Shane..." she wiped at her nose with the back of her hand.
"No, before everything. Before I was shot. We were having problems." he was trying his best to make her understand that this was not an easy decision for him.
"And it has nothing to do with..."
"Don't say it, Lori." Rick said through clenched teeth. "Don't bring her into this, because you know damn well this has nothin' to do with her!"
"Sure..." Lori got to her feet and headed into the kitchen.
"Why her?" he asked,following. "I'm dyin' to know, why her? We've been traveling with Beth, Maggie, Carol...hell, even Andrea! You've never had a problem until now."
"Because before we were so busy fighting to stay alive, you didn't have time to screw around!" she screamed.
"So, what now that I've got the time, that we're not always lookin' over our shoulders, I'm suddenly gonna start sleeping with other women?"
"Why won't you?" she asked, hands shaking as she got a drink.
"Why won't I?" he stared at her, shocked and dismayed. "You want me to have an affair with Christie..to..to what, ease your guilt over yours with Shane?" he took a few steps back and walked out of the room.
"Not an affair." she said, drying her face with a kitchen towel.
"So, just a quickie." he corrected himself. "Hey Christie, wanna go for a quick roll in the hay, it'll make Lori feel so much better about gettin' knocked up by best friend!" he'd turned back around and back into the kitchen.
He just stared at her. This was not the woman he'd married so many years before. That Lori had not been jealous, petty, hypocritical...This wasn't her. He knew they'd had problems, but even then...Had they really stayed together because neither of them knew anything different? They'd gotten together and married so young, they felt like they were obligated to stick around for life even though things were going to hell? Had he been so eager for the life he'd had before the outbreak, he'd really missed how much Lori had changed? Or perhaps, he'd been the one to change.
"I'm not gonna break my vows to lessen your guilt." he said, lowering his voice.
"Why not?" she cried.
"Because that would make me feel like shit!" he hissed. "Why should I do that just to make you feel better, after all of this?"
"So that's it then?" she took a few shaky breaths. "So, you're just gonna go on livin' with her?"
"No, I'm gonna find a small house for me. Make sure it's got room for Carl so he can stay with me..." The sudden realization that they would have to tell Carl suddenly hit him. He'd been dreading this talk with Lori, and he knew the talk with their son would be a thousand times worse. "We've been doin' good apart, and the stress of us fightin' ain't good for the baby."
"If you really cared about this baby, you wouldn't be abandoning me!" she snapped. "If you cared about Carl..."
"Don't you ever say I don't care about my son, because I love him more than anything." he moved towards her, his face a mere inch or two from her own. "And I will love that baby as my own, but they do not need to be punished for our screwing everything up. They will not be punished."
He moved back, taking deep breaths, trying to get his temper in check. "We need to figure out how to tell him." he said after he regained his composure a bit.
"You want out of this, you be the one to tell him you're leaving us." she moved past him to leave the kitchen.
He grabbed her arm and pulled her back in. "No, you don't get out of this." he said, loosening his grip a bit, not actually wanting to hurt her. "We're both to blame for what's happening now, and we will both be there telling him. He's gonna need both of us."
"When?" she asked, taking her arm back, understanding there was no arguing with him at this point.
"Keep him distracted while I pick a place out, then we can meet there and tell him." he held back his tears. "Okay?"
"Fine." Lori dried her face once more, and left the room, grabbing her jacket, she left to go join the others.
Rick leaned back against the counter and stared at the wall in front of him, letting everything that had just taken place sink in. It was over. His marriage was over. A nearly overwhelming urge to be sick suddenly struck him.