Sixteen

It was close to dark when the guys came traipsing back from the creek. Daryl was covered in mud up past his knees, and there were blood spatters on his shirt. Carol, Lori and Maggie were halfway across the field the greet the guys in a matter of moments.

Glenn looked no worse for wear aside from a rip in his shirt, and his favorite baseball cap was missing. He and Maggie hurried off together. Rick had a big blood stain on his shirt along with mud and muck all over his boots and jeans.

"What happened out there?" Lori asked Rick. He shook his head, and Lori fussed over a deep scratch on his neck. He flinched and ducked away from her touch, but he didn't seem angry like he had earlier that day. "Jesus, baby, what happened?" He pushed her hand away gently and shook his head.

"It's nothing. I'm fine. Just took a spill is all." Lori let out a heavy breath, and she threw her arms around her husband from the side, and they stopped walking until she let go of him. He pulled his arm around her, and she kissed the side of his head.

"I'm glad you're home. I'm sorry about earlier."

"Me too," he murmured. "We'll get through it."

"I'm so sorry," she choked out. "I'm so sorry."

"Hey. C'mon. Let's get back." She nodded, and they walked off together.

Carol was already examining the scratches on Daryl's arm, her eyes wide and worried.

"They're not too deep. I can patch them up. Was it…it wasn't one of them, was it?"

"Nah, we got into some bushes. Thorns and branches scraped us up. Rick got the worst of it. Fell face first into the damn thing. Nobody got bit. Nobody got scratched. Least not by the dead." Carol gently traced her fingertips along the reddened skin on his arm. She was mindful of the scratches, and she winced when he did.

"Come on into the RV. I'll get you fixed up." Daryl just nodded and followed her back toward the RV. Once inside, he followed her over to the little table and sat down. She lit a lantern for extra light and sat it down on the table. She placed the first aid kit on the table and knelt in front of him. He watched as she gently began dabbing at each cut with an alcohol wipe. He sucked in a sharp breath and flinched, and Carol quickly blew over it to ease the sting. She followed up the alcohol swap with some antibacterial ointment. "Well, they're not bleeding now, so it might be better for them to get some air. If you want, I'll wrap them for you."

"Nah, it's fine. Thank you." Carol nodded then and stood up. She leaned down then and surprised him with a tender kiss. He blinked up at her when she straightened. "What was that for?"

"I don't like to see you hurt."

"Don't much like to get hurt," he pointed out.

"Was it bad out there?" she asked. Daryl nodded.

"More of them things than I thought would be there." Carol sighed heavily, and she reached out to stroke his uninjured arm.

"Is it still safe here?"

"Think so. Gonna go out at first light and check the perimeter again. Thing is, these fences ain't gonna hold forever. We're gonna have to find a way to fortify 'em if this place is gonna last."

"If Hershel lets us stay."

"Even if he don't, this place won't last if they don't do something about them fences." Carol nodded then, and she reached up to stroke the back of his neck. She pulled him and pressed another soft kiss to his lips. When she pulled back, she rested her forehead against his, and he reached out to put his hands on her hips.

"I know you like having your space, but would you please move closer to the house? I worry about you out in that field." Daryl nodded, and he swallowed hard.

"I'll sleep up on the porch tonight. Got a funny feeling."

"Why's that?"

"Storm's comin' in. Saw the clouds rolling in. Don't wanna stray too far tonight. I just don't want to—"

"Shane, stop!" Carol jumped at the loud outburst from outside the RV. Daryl held his hand up and slipped out from between Carol and the table. He moved to the window and looked out to see a couple figures tussling out in the yard. It was almost pitch dark outside, but given Lori's screams, the only thing he could assume was that Shane and Rick were finally having it out with each other. Whether it was about Lori or the fact that Shane was constantly ragging on Rick for his decisions, it didn't really matter. What did matter was that this ruckus was going to stir up a hell of a lot more trouble for them if they didn't quiet the fuck down.

"Hey!" Daryl barked, storming out of Dale's RV. Shane lunged at Rick, headbutting him in the gut and knocking him down into the dirt.

"Stop it!" Lori scolded as everyone came running from the barn and the house and the various tents.

"What the hell?!" Daryl snapped, rushing over to try to pry the two apart. Somebody's elbow came up and knocked Daryl in the face. He stumbled backward, and Carol took a step forward. She felt a hand on her arm and looked to the side to see T-Dog standing beside her.

"No use in getting in the middle of that. As tense as things have been around here, I figured it'd come to a head sooner or later." Carol looked back at Daryl, Rick and Shane and took a step toward her. T-Dog gently pulled her back. "Daryl can hold his own. Just stay back before you get hurt."

Daryl pushed toward Rick and Shane again, grabbing Rick by the back of the shirt and pushing against Shane's shoulder.

"Knock it off!" he growled, as everybody formed a circle around them like some high school fight in the cafeteria. "The hell's the matter with you?"

Shane let out a loud yell and broke past Daryl to lunge at Rick again, and Rick grit his teeth and used his strength to get up under Shane and flip him over in the dirt.

"Stay the fuck down!" Rick yelled, grabbing Shane by the throat.

"You trying to more of the dead our way?" Daryl snapped. "The fuck is wrong with you? You saw what's out there. You tryin' to get us all killed, asshole?" Daryl grabbed Rick and pulled him off of Shane. Rick stumbled back in the dirt, but he stayed back this time. Daryl could barely make out Rick's face in the darkness, but he watched the way he wiped his mouth and spit into the dirt and knew Shane had gotten at least one good punch in.

"Rick. Please, just come back inside," Lori begged. "Please." She reached for his arm, and he tugged it away. She held her hands up in the air as Carl came running over.

"What's going on?"

"Carl—" Shane started.

"Don't talk to him," Rick spat. "Leave my family alone, you son of a bitch."

"Stop! Just stop," Lori huffed. She grabbed Rick by the arm and started to pull him away. "Carl, get in the house."

"But—"

"Go on, Carl. Best listen to your mom," Shane huffed, spitting into the dirt as T-Dog stepped over to help him up.

"I don't know what's going on, and I don't care," Hershel spoke up, stepping into the middle of the group with a rifle in his hands. "One more outburst like that, and you're all gone. I won't stand for this kind of foolishness when the real problem is just beyond our fences."

"Daddy, does that mean you're letting them stay?" Maggie asked, curling her arm around Glenn's.

"Against my better judgment," the older man murmured with a shake of his head. He looked to Rick and then to Shane. "Don't make me change my mind." He turned then and started back toward the house. Glenn and Maggie followed after him quickly, while Shane pushed away from T-Dog and went off on his own.

"What happened?" Carl asked, looking from his mother to his father. Lori just shook her head and ran her fingers through her long, dark hair.

"Nothing, baby. Go inside." Carl mumbled something under his breath and kicked at the dirt with his shoe, and Rick just put his hand on the boy's shoulder and guided him away. Everyone sort of scattered, and Carol moved to touch Daryl's shoulder.

"You ok?" she asked.

"Yeah. Gonna have a hell of a shiner tomorrow," he grumbled, wincing when Carol gently touched the skin above his cheekbone.

"Daryl, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for any of this to happen," Lori insisted.

"It ain't my business," he muttered. "Guess I shoulda known better than to try to stick my nose in it." He turned and walked off toward the house, and Carol shook her head.

"This is a mess," Lori whispered. "God, this is a mess."

"You ok?" Carol asked, reaching out a comforting hand toward Lori despite her focus being on Daryl as he walked toward the farm house.

"I don't know. I don't." Carol cleared her throat and turned her attention to Lori.

"You want to talk about it?"

"Talking won't help."

"Maybe not, but you might feel a little better. Come on. Come inside." She nodded toward the RV, turned and started toward it. Lori hesitated for a moment, casting another glance back toward the house before following Carol inside.

Carol handed Lori a bottle of water from one of the cabinets, and they sat down across from each other at the table. The younger woman ran her hands over her face and let out a little groan.

"Everything's so messed up. I don't even know where to start."

"Well, start at the beginning."

"The beginning," Lori scoffed. "Yeah, I guess I could start there." She chewed her lower lip for a moment and nodded. "I sat at his hospital bed, and I honestly wondered if he'd be happy to see me when he woke up. The last conversation we had before he got shot was an argument. Things were bad. I was thinking of leaving him. And I was so close to packing up my things and leaving. And then Shane showed up at Carl's school and told me Rick was hurt, and everything just stopped. I knew I still loved him. I wanted him to live. I sat by his bed for days until they started sending visitors home. Jesus, he never woke up, Carol. And when Shane came running in the house telling me Rick was dead and they were shooting people at the hospital, I believed him. I did."

"He was Rick's best friend. Why wouldn't you believe him?" Carol said quietly.

"I was scared. Shane seemed to have all of his shit together, you know? He kept me safe. He kept Carl safe. And things just…they just happened. It didn't mean I didn't love Rick. I love my husband. I do. Almost losing him made me realize that all of the stupid stuff we were fighting about just didn't matter anymore. And then he was dead." Lori looked to Carol. "Before? Before, God, I would've been called all the names in the book by the other moms in play group. They would've smiled to my face and talked about me the second my back was turned."

"There's no time table on grief. There's also no time table on taking comfort and moving on." Carol reached out and put her hand on Lori's arm. "You thought he was dead. You were scared. Everything was crazy."

"And then…then he wasn't. Carol, seeing Rick come out of that truck was the happiest moment in my life since Carl was born. I was terrified, I was angry, I was hurt, but I was so happy he was ok. I love him. I love my husband."

"But?"

"But Shane loves me. And Shane thinks I love him."

"Do you?" Carol's voice was soft and kind, and Lori blinked back tears.

"I don't know," she sniffled. "I want to hate him for lying to me. But it's not that simple."

"Nothing ever is."

"I love Rick. I want to be with Rick. What Shane and I had was over the second Rick stepped out of that truck." She let out a trembling breath and shook her head. "And I thought it was the end of it."

"It's not?"

"I'm pregnant. And there's…there's no way it's Rick's baby. I know it's not. I can't lie to him. And I told him the truth. I told him about Shane. I told him about the baby. And I feel like I need him to hate me. He was hurt. He looked at me like I'd shot him all over again. And he was mad, and we fought." She sniffled and shook her head. "But he told me he's going to take care of our family. He's going to be this baby's father, and he's going to protect us." She huffed out a choked laugh. "He said he's going to make sure Shane knows he's not getting between us. That's about the time Shane walked by and everything went to hell." Lori let out a heavy breath, and her shoulders dropped a little as if the tension lifted. She looked to Carol and shook her head. "Shane's not going to stop. He loves me. When he finds out I'm having his baby, he's not going to stop until…"

"You think he'd hurt Rick?"

"I want to say no. But I can't." She shook her head. "Like I said. It's a mess. I made a mess."

"Sounds to me like Shane got the mess started in the first place. He had no right to lie to you like that."

"He was trying to protect me. I know that. If I knew Rick was alive, I'd have walked through gunfire to get back to him. I would have died to get back to Rick, and where would that have left Carl?" She shrugged a shoulder. "I should get back inside and check on Rick. Thank you for listening. I'm sorry for unloading on you."

"I offered, remember?" Carol smiled. They stood up, and Carol looked at Lori. "For what it's worth, I'm not judging you. I don't blame you for how you coped with your grief."

"Thank you, sweetie. It means a lot." Lori reached out and pulled Carol into a hug. She let out a soft little laugh and pulled back. "For the record, I'm happy for you."

"What do you mean?" Carol stuttered, taking a little step back.

"Ed was an asshole, and the world's a better place without him. Daryl's a good man."

"What…what does Daryl have to do with…"

"I've seen you looking at him. I've seen him looking at you. And, I saw you guys kissing in the kitchen last night when he walked you back up to the house." Carol's eyes went wide. "I heard a noise and came down the stairs." She held her hands up. "Don't worry. It's not my business to tell. I just wanted you to know that I'm happy for you. You deserve something good." She gave Carol a pat on the arm and turned to leave the RV. Carol stood there with her mouth agape, staring in shock at the empty space where Lori had just been standing.

Author's Note: For those of you who are still reading, I thank you so much. Please let me know what you think. Feedback is very much appreciated.