I DO NOT OWN THE WALKING DEAD. SHOUTOUT TO RED-CASE CRAZE FOR THEIR BETA WORK ON THIS STORY.

(Charlie's POV)

After Leon Basset had been put down, Rick and Charlie got into a squad car and pulled away from the King County Sherriff Station. As they pulled onto the road, Rick turned to the passenger sitting next to him who had gotten considerably quieter since arriving.

"Are you feeling okay...despite everything?" Rick asked and Charlie shrugged.

"I'm doing as OK as can be expected." Charlie answered as he looked out the window, trying to find something more interesting than his own thoughts to focus on.

"Is there something on your mind? Because I can't help but feel like you're pissed at me for something and I ain't too sure what I did." Rick persisted. Charlie groaned and shook his head, trying to formulate his words into a coherent sentence.

"It's...it's complicated, all right Rick?" Charlie stammered; he didn't exactly want to confess to a police officer that he was an escapee from a juvenile detention centre, now did he?

"I can be a good listener when I put my mind to the task." Rick said coercively, in an attempt to convince the young man into confessing his secrets. Charlie was debating with himself for a few moments, making his choice with careful steps.

"I'm not going to go into a whole lot of detail." He warned, swallowing hard. "But what I will tell you is that ever since I was a toddler, my parents instilled in me that cops were your friends; that you could always count on them if you were in danger. Then, a couple years ago…my family and I really needed the cops to help us and they didn't." He licked his lips as Rick nodded, glancing over but otherwise looking straight ahead. "They hurt us badly…I've been hurt by law enforcement and I don't know that I'll ever 100% trust another cop." Charlie finished and Rick stayed silent, taking in what the boy had told him.

"You know, I think I remember that case...was before I became an officer, but that's not an excuse." Grimes reasoned, trying to find some middle ground with the kid and almost trying to say that Charlie could trust him…he didn't… not yet and not all the way.

"After all the shit that I have been through and after all of the shit that my family has been through...It'll be a while before I take that chance." Charlie said firmly without looking at the uniform driving the car.

Rick said nothing as he kept driving. Whatever Charlie had suffered at the hands of cops had damaged the boy's psyche something terrible and it would take some time before Rick could break down the walls that Charlie had built up.

(Alan's POV)

Alan watched as the vehicles took off, disappearing over the hill and into the Georgia sun. After some deliberation, it had been decided that a bigger group of survivors would go into Atlanta to see if there were any supplies that could be recovered from the refugee camp. Glenn had already done a few solo runs himself since the city had been napalmed, so he agreed to act as a guide to the group that would be going. This included Merle "KKK" Dixon, the man Morales, T-Dog, Jacqui and Andrea.

Amy was not pleased about her sister and only remaining family going into a ghost town crawling in flesh eating freaks. She and her sister bickered about the matter considerably until Amy gave in; Andrea had promised her a gift for her birthday which would come before the week was out.

Daryl Dixon had wanted to join them, but Glenn refused, reasoning that he was taking too many people as it was. In addition, Shane pointed out that their food supplies were dwindling; Daryl had the only long range weapon that could be used without calling any nearby walkers to supper: a cross bow. As a result, Daryl reconciled himself to go hunting and bring home the bacon, as it was, muttering as he left the camp. It was, however, common knowledge that no one had felt comfortable with both Dixon's going off with the group; it was a chance Shane didn't want anyone taking, the pair being together.

Alan was put on lookout duty with Dale for the morning; they took places on top of the RV, serving as the group's first line of defence. For a while, Alan and Dale didn't talk a whole lot and were content with keeping a sharp eye out for walkers. Eventually, the old man decided to break the ice.

"So how are you and Amy getting along?" Dale asked as Alan turned to face him, feeling his cheeks warming up.

"What do you mean?" Alan replied warily as the old man chuckled, raising an eyebrow as he shrugged.

"I was born at night kid, but it wasn't last night; you've got a crush on her, haven't you?" Dale sounded like he was just teasing, but there was a steel in his eyes as Alan fully blushed, turning away again.

"We're just friends Dale." The escapee insisted.

"Sure...give it a little bit." The RV owner suggested and Alan took a deep breath.

"Speaking of which, I need your help."

"With what, I'm sure I can give a line or two of advice." Maybe he'd gotten the wrong idea, but Alan did not need dating advice from this old timer.

"Can you help me...make a mermaid's tail?" Alan requested as Dale shot him an amused look.

"You want to make a mermaid's tail?" He repeated, exhaling slowly and chuckling.

"Yeah well...Amy's birthday is coming up and she's crazy about mermaids and shit like that..."Alan explained, trailing off and feeling like a complete idiot to be saying his idea out loud. It had sounded perfectly reasonable in his head last night.

"And you wanna score some secret, extra points with Amy." Dale finished as Alan shyly nodded.

"Basically, so uh, can you help or do I have to ask Lori and Carol?" The boy asked as Dale leaned back.

"Why not...I remember the sweet joys of young love, so enjoy it while you can, young man." Dale warned, wagging his finger as he repositioned his rifle.

"Enjoy it…even now?" Alan asked cheekily.

"Especially now," Dale replied with perfect sincerity.

NEXT TIME, CONTACT IS MADE...SORT OF. REVIEWS REALLY NEEDED AND VERY MUCH APPRECIATED.