AUTHOR'S NOTES: Thanks to the readers following this fic and the comments on the previous chapter from DarylDixon'sLover, angelicedg, SoutheastChicagoMom, malzateb, WalkerHarley, brinxb, Ameliya86, BethFan, Guest and Guest - thank you!
This is a short little Shane chapter, an insight of what's going on with him as he's on his way to Atlanta to pick up Lori and the kids. He misses Rick.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Walking Dead or its characters
Apologies in advance for any spelling and grammatical errors.
The Journey
Chapter 26
Shane had barely taken an hours nap after his twelve hour long shift had ended. He stripped out of his uniform and changed into comfy combat pants, T-Shirt and Timberlands, jumped into his truck with a large flask full of pipping hot coffee, a box of doughnuts and hit the road. In a couple of hours, he was going to see his missing partner in crime.
Missing Partner! Shane thought.
Shane thinks about when he was eight, Rick had gone away to his grandfather's ranch and it had been four days and he was bored and guessed they'd be home by now. Rick would have been bored too no doubt, he wasn't there with him. Shane went knocking to ask Mrs Grimes for permission for Rick to go down to the quarry with him to shoot cans with their slingshots. Nobody answered when he knocked.
He ran down to the Sheriff's office to enquire if The Grimes' were coming home, it was passing four days once the sun set. Rick's dad's secretary said Rick's dad had come back but was called out to a crime scene and Rick and his mom hadn't come back with him. Shane sat there waiting but The Sheriff was still out and then he got concerned so he asked one of the deputies to put out a search for Rick and his mom. The deputy laughed and picked up his phone and shooed him away. Walking out of the Sherriff's office, Shane knew it was down to him to find Rick, The Sheriff was detained and the deputies were being lazy as the boss was away, so he snuck on to his dad's computer at home and made a few missing posters and put the posters up all over town.
Rick had come back home that evening and went knocking to show Shane that he found his Missing Posters which he thought was cool. Shane smiles at that memory, he felt like that eight year old again, he wanted to put up a Missing Poster so Rick would come back home like before.
The radio was on low, Shane was listening to really depressing and mushy songs and he couldn't even be bothered to switch stations.
"Might as well get depressed good and proper!" he says and he turns up the volume and begins to sing along with Lady Antebellum;
"May the angels protect you, trouble neglect you
And heaven accept you when it's time to go home
May you always have plenty, your glass never empty
And know in your belly, you're never alone
May your tears come from laughing, you find friends worth having
With every year passing, they mean more than gold
May you win but stay humble, smile more than grumble
And know when you stumble, you're never alone"
He secretly likes to listen to the band, Rick had laughed but then he started listening along and if anyone asked, they said Lori had left it on, Lori didn't like Lady Antebellum, who doesn't like Lady Antebellum? Shane asks looking around dumbfounded "Pffffff!" He blows out of his mouth.
The song reminds him of Beth. Beth had sung this song at The Lounge. They had become instant friends much to Rick's joy and Shane had found a new friend. She was a kind and gentle soul, she happened to appear from nowhere at the right time and he was glad she came when she did, Rick was depressed and she entered his life and brightened it and the old Rick came back. But she was like a shooting star, here one moment and gone the next.
Shane sighs, he wished Beth had stuck around, Rick would still be Rick and he'd be home.
Shane sniffs and whips his nose with his arm and shakes his head, he wasn't going to cry, he continues to sing, practically howling.
"Never alone, never alone
I'll be in every beat of your heart when you face the unknown
Wherever you fly this isn't goodbye
My love will follow you, stay with you, baby, you're never alone"
Shane was now driving past the "Welcome to Atlanta" sign. He's been here a many a times and loved it. The night life was the best, the restaurants, the bars, the night clubs, the girls, it was all so different compared to back home but driving past that sign - he now hated it! Atlanta had taken his best friend and partner away from him and he's days are now long, dreary and boring, nothing was the same since Rick had left.
Once Rick had gone, Shane felt like his life had stood still, it sounded pathetic to anyone else but if you've lived inside of each other's pockets since you were in diapers and hadn't spent so much as a couple of days apart, then and only then you'll understand how it felt. He actually spent more time with Rick than Lori did.
To top it all off, he was partnered with a new deputy, Rick's replacement brought in for the six months whilst Rick was on his transfer at Atlanta PD and Shane didn't like the guy. He didn't get his jokes, he didn't share his fries, he was way too serious and he just wasn't Rick!
"May your tears come from laughing, you find friends worth having
With every year passing, they mean more than gold
May you win but stay humble, smile more than grumble
And know when you stumble, you're never alone
Never alone, never alone
I'll be in every beat of your heart when you face the unknown
Wherever you fly this isn't goodbye
My love will follow you, stay with you, baby, you're never alone"
"I hate Atlanta!" Shane hisses when he drives past the Atlanta Gas Station with the model on the billboard flashing more than just her pearly whites. He once would have leered at the half dressed model but it was doing nothing for him.
Shane really wanted to top up on coffee and really needed to pee but he didn't want to spend a dime here, he didn't want Atlanta to gain his hard earned cash or leave any of his DNA here when it had stolen Rick from him and King County.
He looks up the address on the piece of paper he scribbled down on. Rick's new home was only another fifteen minutes away. Shane smiles, he would see Rick very soon and that finally begins to cheer him up.
Shane drives into the nearest boulevard of shops and decides he'll get some treats for Carl and Judith which unfortunately meant he was going to have to spend some money as he parks up and then swears when he sees how much the parking is, he grumpily drops his coins into the parking meter.
"Daylight robbery!" He groans just as an elderly woman was walking past and she grabs her purse into her bosom and hurries past trying to avoid eye contact.
"Even the people here are unfriendly and uptight!" Shane whispers watching the woman run now looking back at him giving him the dirtiest looks he's ever received from an old lady.
"Well good bye Ma'am, have a nice day!" He waves with his southern charms.
It didn't work as the woman sticks up her finger and runs down the next street.
"OK…charming…I didn't expect that!…Mrs Robinson would never do that and she spits!" Shane says dropping the last coin in and catches the ticket as it spits out at him hitting him in the face.
"Damn! even the money sucker machine!" He says shaking his head and kicking it for good measure before making his way back to his truck.
Shane walks down the boulevard with a face that looks like it's been slapped with a wet fish. He looks at his face in the window.
"God…even I look bad in Atlanta which is not possible…it's the air…it's the Atlantic air!" He says and then stops, the Atlantic was nowhere near Georgia, he looks round thankful nobody heard him and then looks into the window displays as he continues.
Shane stops and takes two, then three and then four steps back and takes a long hard look and nearly jumps out of his skin. He jumps to the side out of view of the window, shocked. The blood was running wildly through this veins, his heart was thumping hard and fast and felt as if Judith was stomping over his chest when she decides she wanted to use him as her footstool to climb up the sofa to grab his cat who slept snuggled on top of the throw. He now really needed to pee after seeing a ghost.
Shane peeps his nose in and then part of his face to see into the store and he recognises that blonde ponytail, he turns around and begins to run back towards his truck, he doesn't see the lamp post and smacks right into it making him fall and land on his back on the floor.
"Shit, who put that there?!" He cries grabbing his nose.
Shane sits up and looks around disorientated, he hit his face hard and he sees blood and feels light headed, he gets to his feet and stumbles over to his truck, climbs in and grabs his phone.
"You need to get to Atlanta ASAP!" Shane yells into the phone.
"Well drop it and get your ass here quick!" Shane sees searching for tissues in the glove compartment.
"I don't care if it's your niece's fourth birthday party or that you're the magician, get your Korean ass here, you're not gonna believe who I've found!" Shane shouts down the phone.
"I found Beth!" He interrupts the questioning "And she's in Atlanta!" Shane says looking into the wing mirror as he sees Beth walking out with a bag and she had something dangling off her hip, he thought he saw red sneakers.
"She's on the move…I gotta go!" Shane ends the conversation and grabs his baseball cap and scarf slamming his door shut, he puts on his disguise and jogs down the street keeping a good distance away.
Beth stops outside the bakery in thought and then walks in. Shane rushes and stands by the News Stand waiting for Beth to exit. Once Beth walks out the bakery, Shane follows her to the deli two doors away and he walks in looking around, he grabs a small tray of eggs as he watches Beth talking to the man behind the counter ordering different slices of cold meat, spreads and then she grabs a pot of luscious peanut butter and once she's stopped talking, Beth pays at the till laughing with the woman and then waving. She is out of the shop, she looked like a woman on a mission making her way to her next stop. He watches Beth, it's been nearly two years and she hasn't changed much, she looks the same, maybe not as skinny as she once was.
Shane hangs back and then rushes out the door and when he steps out onto the street, he doesn't see Beth. Shane panics looking both way and runs down the street they were walking up, he lost Beth! He stamps his feet in frustration. As he makes it down a few shops, a large baguette is thrust in his face.
"Why are ya following us?" Comes the southern voice of authority not to be messed with.
Shane looks from the baguette all the way down to the narrowed blue eyes which begin to look back in recognition, they open up slowly into the big blue bright eyes that he knew so well, they became soft and then Beth lowers the baguette down and her face breaks into a huge smile.
"Shane!" Beth asks in disbelief and before Shane knows it, Beth moves up and buries her face into his chest and Shane wraps his arms around her and lifts her off her feet and they both laugh, he puts her down as she was loaded with bags and a baguette close to snapping.
"I really didn't want to come to Atlanta but I'm so glad I did!" Shane says looking down at Beth "It's so good to see you, you have no idea!" Shane sighs smiling.
"It's really good to see you too!" Beth smiles getting emotional seeing Shane, she wipes her eyes.
"Don't cry!" Shane pulls her into his armpit.
"I'm sorry, it's been an emotional couple of weeks!" Beth sniffs.
Shane feels something pushing him and then he removes his arm and steps back and then he sees the little lump hanging off Beth's hip, it turns around and looks up at Shane laughing with floppy bunny ears. Shane stares at Olly and Olly stares at Shane. Shane's eyes enlarge, he recognised the little blue eyes, the nose and the dimples! Shane drops the tray of eggs on the floor and they smash and Olly looks down pointing and then pointing to Shane blabbering shaking his head.
Olly remembers he dropped an egg on the floor whilst helping baking and grabbed another and dropped it laughing. He was told off by his mommy and he knows it's naughty, he was telling off Shane.
Shane is lost for words watching Olly trying to wag his little finger at him. Olly pulls off his bunny ear hat to take a better look at Shane and that's when Shane's mouth opens in shock when he sees the dark head of curls, he sees a miniature Rick Grimes reaching over and pulling at his scarf. Rick was forever telling him off for goofing around and being messy. Shane lifts off his cap and stuff it into his pocket, he reaches over and takes Olly into his arm.
"Oh my giddy aunt!" Shane says avoiding cursing in front of the baby "Like father, like son! Is this Rick Jnr or Oliver?" Shane asks having had this conversation with Rick once when they were happy drunk.
"This is Oliver, aka Olly!" Beth smiles taking Olly's bunny ears and she looks at Shane, her smile disappearing.
"Hey Olly, it's real good to meet you?" Shane says pulling him up and kissing his head.
Olly looks up at Shane and just stares at him.
Beth walks over and strokes Olly's chubby cheek.
"This is your Uncle Shane, this is daddy's best friend!" Beth tells Olly.
Olly pulls Shane's scarf up and starts to chew at it.
"I see we're the best of friends now!" Shane laughs.
"Sorry, he's teething so he grabs at everything and stuffs it into his mouth!" Beth says apologetically trying to take Shane's nice scarf out of Olly's hand.
"No, it's ok." Shane says gesturing to leave Olly whilst he tries to digest all of this, it was mental.
"Rick?" Shane finally says looking to Beth "Doe's Rick know?" He asks imagining what Rick's reaction might be when he finds out that he and Beth have a son "Rick's in Atlanta!" Shane warns her putting a hand on her shoulder.
Beth just nods and Shane sees her face and realises they've seen each other.
"Rick has just found out and," Beth lowers her eyes wondering what Shane must think of her for not telling Rick.
Shane senses this and decides to throw Olly into the air making him squeal giggling.
"I've had a long car journey and I wouldn't mind grabbing a coffee and some breakfast, you guys up for some fried food?" Shane asks seeing a coffee shop over the road.
"You can come back to mine and Olly's place, we're making muffins if you want some and I could rustle you up a fry up?" Beth suggests and Shane's face lights up remembering Beth's famous muffins and a fry up from just like home, just like momma made it.
Shane gestures for Beth to lead the way as he carries Olly who is still chewing Shane's scarf and looking at Shane and every so often smiles when Shane pulls a face.
Once they get back to Beth's apartment, Shane plays with Olly whilst Beth gets on with baking and making breakfast. Once the fried breakfast has been wolfed down, Beth can only laugh remembering Shane's large appetite, belly full, Shane takes a sip of his coffee and asks Beth what happened and why didn't she contact him or Glenn, even if she and Rick had split up, they were still friends from his recollection.
Beth doesn't want to go back over old history which hurt but Shane looked hurt too and she begins from the start keeping it simple and once she finishes Shane just leans over and rests his hand atop of hers.
"You know Rick still loves you and he never stopped, if he could go back in time, he'd do it all differently and he knows he messed up!" Shane informs Beth.
"After you left, when Rick found out, he tried looking for you and then when he found out you didn't want to be found, he completely lost it, he shut down and shut off from everyone, he kept himself to himself, he became a former shadow of himself and that's when Chief had enough and sent him here to refocus and to heal and who knows!" Shane says rubbing his eyes.
Beth sits there listening, she felt worse knowing all this but she couldn't give Rick what he wanted, if it was what Shane was saying Rick wanted. Rick had got back with Lori, he had chosen Lori and Carl and Judith, that was it, end of story and case closed. No matter how much she loves Rick, she had to let him go. She wasn't going to give her heart back to him, he gave it back to her and it was broken in half and she wasn't strong enough to go through all that again and she wouldn't break up a family for her own happiness.
"Give Rick one chance to prove himself!" Shane pleads.
"Shane!" Beth calls out "Rick and me, we're over, we have been for a long while!" Beth snaps "Yes we have a son but that's all we have in common now, Olly!" Beth hated herself for getting riled up.
Shane hasn't been through what she has, so she doesn't expect him to fully understand but she wants him to respect her decision.
"Why don't you take a nap, have you got time?" Beth finally suggests to Shane after the long silence as he looked exhausted.
Shane doesn't argue, he felt exhausted, it had been a long twenty four hours and he wouldn't be able to make the long drive back on no sleep. He gets up and drops on the sofa and he's lights out as soon as his head hits the pillow.
"C'mon Olly, let's finish baking muffins!" Beth suggests as she lifts Olly up away from Shane as he was trying to climb up the sofa to wake Shane to play with him.
Once Beth and Olly are in the kitchen, the oven pings, Shane cracks an eye open. He could smell blueberry muffins and the other one was banana with peanut butter, both being Rick's favourite. Shane could tell Beth was trying to make out she was fine and over her and Rick but Shane knew Beth was kidding herself, she was still clearly in love with Rick as much as Rick was in love with her and with Rick in her face, Beth will one day crack and give in to her feelings and Shane hoped it was sooner rather than later especially if Lori knows about Beth and Olly.
Amy unlocks the door and makes her way in, she smelt muffins as soon as she walked through the door and got excited. She walks over to the couch and drops down her shopping bags and before she moves a way, the bags shoot off the couch once arms stretch out, Amy jumps seeing a man laying of Beth's couch, a man she didn't know or recognise.
"Who are you?" Amy screams grabbing one of her fallen bags and hits Shane continually over the head with it.
Featured Song - Lady Antebellum - Never Alone
SoutheastChicagoMom - (kiss) stick with me, it'll take a bit of time, it may be hit and miss moments but it will happen sooner or later. I'm real slow at getting to that point, I know! :( I hope you don't get frustrated and continue to read. I wish I could get the chapters up faster!
Next Chapter will be back to Rick and Olly and Beth