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Summary: When the world ended the only thing Birdie Grimes wanted to do was to get home to her family. When she finds her sister-in-law and best friend on the outskirts of Atlanta, will she finally get the chance to tell him how she really feels? Will love blossom? *No evil Shane*

Warning: This fan-fiction is rated Mature for Language, Gore and Adult Situations. Readers under the age of 18 are strongly discouraged from reading.

Pairing: Shane Walsh x Birdie Grimes

Chapter Twenty One

Ricky stood, lightly tapping his butter knife on the rim of his stemware to gather our attention as Jenner took the only open seat at the head of the table.

"It seems to me that we haven't properly thanked our host," he said as he lifted his wine glass in a toast to Jenner and our fabulous meal. Hell, I was sure Shane could kick the bucket tomorrow and he'd die a happy man full of pasta.

Everyone began cheering and even Daryl jumped in and yelled, "Booya!" whatever that meant.

"So, when are you going to tell us what happened here, doc?" Shane asked, sobering the room instantly. "All the other…doctors, that were supposed to be figuring out a cure, what happened to them?"

"Shane," Rick sighed. "We don't need to do this right now."

I kind of agreed with both of them. Though I loathed having our merriment bogged down with answers probably none of us were going to like…isn't that why we came here? I said as much.

"Now, don't go jumping his ass, Ricky," I said, leaning forward and scowling at my brother. I felt bad for undermining him in front of the group, but like Shane, I wanted to know how Jenner was the only one left. Something was seriously wrong with this place, and no one seemed to want to say anything about it. "This is why we're here, right? This is why you wanted to come here…to find answers. Instead, we…it's just Jenner here."

Ricky glared at me but said nothing, conceding he turned his attention to Jenner.

The blonde looked thoughtful for a moment before he started to speak. "Well, when things got bad, people just…left," he began, looking to Shane and myself. "They went off to be with their families. Then, when things got worse…the rest bolted."

"Every last one?" Shane asked, his eyebrows shooting up high on his forehead.

"No," Jenner answered, his eyes darting from Shane's to mine and lingering there. "Many couldn't face walking out the door. They…opted out."

"Opted out?" I asked, the icy spider-legs of dread slinking down my spine, making me shiver.

Jenner nodded, "There was a rash of suicides. That was a bad time." His eyes looked away from mine and back down at the tabletop, shamed.

"But you stayed," Andrea commented. "Why?"

He shrugged. "I just kept working. Hoping I could do some good."

The room had gone silent again, except for Glenn who leaned forward and laid his head on the table next to my arm, looking up at me with pitiful eyes.

"Man, you guys are such a buzz kill." He groaned, receiving a few chuckles.

As more and more wine began to circulate around the table, the conversations started to edge towards the racy. Ed had skulked off to bed not long after he had finished eating—not that any of us minded in the slightest, but the rest of the group he once again become playful…almost too playful. Translation: my brother and sister-in-law were obviously trying for another Rick Jr. Not to mention the foul language that was seeping out of all of our mouths…even mine.

I stood up and leaned down to Shane's ear to whisper. "Baby, I'm gonna go see if the kids wanna play a game or something? Ya' know, let the adults have a little fun."

Shane turned to me, his eyes glassy from the wine and darkened by desire. Oh boy, why did I have to open my fat self-sacrificing mouth?

"Why not Carol?" He purred, his lips finding the side of my neck, just below my earlobe. "I had plans for us tonight."

Biting the inside of my cheek hard so I wouldn't make an ass out of myself and moan audibly, I turned my head, my intent to only kiss him sweetly and be on my way. That plan was blundered however, when Shane's hand shot up, cupping the back of my neck and forcing his tongue between my lips. Oh dear Jesus.

All thoughts of the children were gone and replace by naughty thoughts of me caressing the hard planes of Shane's chest—or was I actually doing that?

The kiss continued to deepen, his talented tongue caressing mine until I heard Carl and Sophia cry "Ew!" in unison.

We broke apart with a chuckle, both of us panting for breath as we tried to tune out the loud cat-calls my idiot brother was making. I guess it could have been worse though, Rick could be like some of those big brothers out there that didn't think any man is good enough for their sisters.

"Don't worry big guy, well get there." I murmured, pulling back and opening my eyes to look at his face.

Dear Lord was that man ever beautiful. It was strange because Shane wasn't the conventional kind of handsome. His ears were a little big, his forehead was a little too short and his nose was oddly shaped from years of getting his nose broken on the job and all the fights the moron got into in high school. None of it mattered to me though, every time I looked at him, I fell a little harder.

He had a silly, drunken smirk on his face now and his eyes were still closed, making him look even goofier. His eyelids parted and his dark brown eyes stared dreamily back at me.

His hand tugged gently at my neck, trying to force my face back down to his for a repeat but I tisked at him and pulled away. "No more wine for you, Sherriff."

"Awe, come on now, Birdie," He whined, poking out his bottom lips.

"Get a room," Daryl grumbled from behind me, though when I turned around to glare at him, he winked and gave me a rakish grin.

What the hell was wrong with these men? Did Jenner put aphrodisiacs in the wine? Was this all some elaborate scheme to insight an orgy?

Looking around the room, I noticed that T-dog, Glenn and Dale seemed to be fine.

Maybe Jenner just wanted to see some Grimes action?

With that highly disturbing thought, I smacked my own cheek—much to Daryl's amusement—and took a step back from my personal hormone stimulator who was still trying to get a grip on some part of my body.

"Alright, come on kids; let's go see what trouble we can get into."

They both jumped up from their chairs—clearly ready to be away from all the testosterone and pheromones flying around the table and each took a hand.

Lori and Carol both looked up and whispered "Thank you," while my brother drunkenly whooped and cried out a slurred "Thanks Lil' Bird!"

Yep, my brother was completely tanked. Have fun with that later, Lori. Ricky might be a wonderful father, a great husband and a fabulous peace officer…but he was the biggest damned baby on the planet when he had a hangover.

Shanking my head at my at them, I leaned down to kiss Shane one more time—on the top of the head this time—and grabbed a kid in each hand and squeezed Carl and Sophia to me.

"Let's get out of here before we get infected any more than we already have by their love bugs, yeah?" I said making sure my voice carried enough for the entire room to hear me.

Most of them scoffed but Jenner laughed loudly, it was the first time I had really seen him smile.

"But Aunt Birdie," Carl asked as we were walking away. "Aren't you and Uncle Shane already infected?"

The entire room at our back erupted into laughter.

~ Author's Note ~

Things are starting to get steamy! :)

Questions? Comments?