The problem with an unplanned girls' night out?

It's getting a call from her brother, asking if she can watch Naomi on Sunday and Monday. Some health care issues came up with Lori's mother, and the woman lives across the state line in South Carolina. The hesitation in Daryl's voice tells her he doesn't expect her to accept, but she knows the alternative is Naomi going with them since Carol really can't be expected to watch her with Clara only five weeks old.

What makes her disregard the lingering headache from her hangover is the long pause followed by Daryl saying, "Mandy? You don't have to. Carl's out of school tomorrow, and I can call Rick to meet us halfway. Rick's kept her before."

Halfway, Amanda knows, is because Rick, Shane, and the boys are camping up in north Georgia. Something sour curdles deep in her stomach at the reminder that Lori's ex-husband is considered as viable an option to watch Amanda's niece as Amanda herself.

"It's fine. Do you want me to come get her?"

"That'd be nice. Gotta get a car seat put in your backseat anyway unless you just want to borrow Lori's SUV."

Daryl's suggestion is how Amanda ends up with the keys to both their house and the Volkswagen Tiguan. She hadn't thought about the fact that it would be much easier to babysit Naomi in her niece's own home instead of an apartment with nothing to entertain a toddler until Lori brought it up as soon as she made it through the door. It also means that Daryl's hunting hound doesn't have to stay outside in the backyard overnight, although dog sitting Bailey will be far easier than Naomi because the elderly dog is content to curl up near wherever Naomi is to nap.

Now Daryl and Lori are on their way to Charleston to help Lori's mother get settled into a care facility, while Amanda watches Naomi flop in a miniature recliner as the little girl watches Masha and the Bear.

Just when she thinks Naomi might be going to sleep watching the cartoon, she hears, "Auntie?"

"Yeah, sweetie?"

Naomi wriggles out of her chair to come to climb up beside Amanda on the couch instead. With Amanda stretched out on her back only half paying attention to the television, it means that Naomi perches on her stomach, leaning in to stare at her with vividly Dixon blue eyes. Bailey follows, staying off the furniture, but propping her graying chin on the couch near Naomi's tiny bare feet. "Can we go to the zoo?"

Neither Lori nor Daryl mentioned a zoo trip, so Amanda is a bit puzzled. "Today? Or another day?"

"Today!" Excited by the prospect, Naomi bounces. Amanda grunts as the toddler's weight forces air out of her lungs and reaches down to lift Naomi into her arms as she sits up. "They got bears!"

Apparently, cartoon bears are no longer enough for her obsession with the animal in question, Amanda thinks in amusement. "Alright. You need to go find your shoes, missy."

It's been a long time since she took any of the kids to the zoo, but now that Naomi's old enough to enjoy some of the exhibits, why not? Being the occasional aunt who shows up at family dinners and birthdays was fine when she was working all the time, but it's time she changes that.

Rick warily eyes the long triple row of kennels in the animal shelter. It reminds him too much of some of the way the survivors from the dogfighting ring had to be housed, and the bad part is just how many dogs are here. This many unwanted pets seems so very wrong.

"How do you ever make up your mind?" he asks Shane, who decided to tag along after pointing out that Rick might not want to transport a dog in his Mustang.

His best friend shrugs. "With Izzy? We asked about dogs that did well with kids and other dogs, then one of the workers brought a few out to play with Andre in the yard outside. He and Izzy fell in love about two seconds after they met. Honestly thought I ought to be seeing cartoon hearts floating around above them."

"I don't think it'll be that easy for me," Rick replies, laughing. "Any ideas?"

Rick's never had a dog in his entire life, whereas Shane owned a pit bull mix named Crash from shortly after they became deputies until impish canine clown died of old age shortly before Shane transferred to the K9 unit. Crash had been adopted from the King County Shelter, so Shane's actually done this sort of thing twice.

"Just walk around and see how they respond to you. If you had more time at home, I'd say personality doesn't matter as much, but you need a dog that's comfortable with strangers with having to take it to the doggie daycare in your building. They won't be able to work with it the way you could at home."

A slow stroll among the aisles makes Rick even sadder. The dogs react differently; some don't even bother to look, others bound to the gates of their kennels, and still others cower away. He pauses to read the little printouts attached to each gate. "Are there always this many pit bull mixes?"

"Yeah, unfortunately. Too many people are afraid of them, and too many dogs get classified as a mix even if they aren't, like boxer mixes." Shane crouches, petting a friendly white and black pit bull through the chain link. "Unless you want to pay for a genetic test, you might want to avoid those. Stick to something distinctly not one of the breeds your building doesn't like."

Rick grumbles about giving the management at his building hell about the breed issues, making Shane laugh. He almost misses the small lapdog that nuzzles at his pants leg. It whines, wagging its tail so hard that its entire body shifts with each movement. A glance at the identification states the dog is a nine-year-old female Maltese, although, to Rick, she looks more like the small poodles some of the local elderly women favored when he was a kid. He isn't sure exactly why he opens the gate and kneels to pet the little dog, but something about her just appeals.

"Hello, Lola," he greets, and the dog nearly vibrates with happiness, doing her best to climb onto him.

Shane laughs, striding over to look over the printout. "I'd say I didn't picture you with a dog that small, except I have one even smaller at my house. Hmm."

"What's wrong?" Rick asks, glancing up at Shane. His hands are being licked thoroughly by his new canine friend. "I know she's older, but that's a good thing, right?"

"She's got a friend here, according to the extra notes at the bottom. They aren't requiring you to adopt both, but it's listed as preferred." Shane walks to the kennel opposite the one Rick has open. "Well, aren't you a big fella!"

Rick turns and looks, and Shane is certainly correct. Lola is a scrap of fluff, less than ten pounds at most, but the big dog staring at him with sad eyes probably weighs at least a hundred pounds. "That's her friend?"

"Yeah. Name's Milo. Rhodesian Ridgeback. Notes say he was the owner's son's dog. Owner died, and the dogs ended up here."

"What happened to the son?" Rick wonders as Shane opens the kennel and lets the big dog out. Lola abandons him immediately to greet Milo, obviously delighted to see her friend up close.

"Doesn't say. We can always ask one of the staff."

Shane reaches for two leashes from the collection hung on the wall at the end of the aisle. He loops one around Milo's brawny shoulders and neck, and Rick watches the process since it's different from leashing a collared dog, turning the leash into a harness of sorts. Luckily for him, Lola is patient as he repeats the process.

Both dogs are patient and well trained even by Shane's exacting standards, so when they head back inside after half an hour in the visitor yard, Rick's mind is made up. Granted, he came here today only intending to get one dog, and neither of them is the average-sized general mutt breed he figured on getting, but the dogs' joy at being allowed to play together is hard to miss. Someone else might separate the odd pair since few people would want to adopt a lapdog and a working breed the size of Milo at the same time.

Stopping at the main desk earns them both bright smiles from the worker on duty there, who introduces herself as Mia. "Please tell me that you're taking both of them?"

"I would like to," Rick tells her, "but I'm concerned about Milo's other owner. The flyer said that he actually belonged to the person's son?"

Mia's smile fades a little as she sighs. "He died in a car accident three years ago. His mother took Milo in, even though she really wasn't up for having a big dog around. She passed away from cancer a month ago. We've been sort of hedging to not let them get adopted out separately, because they don't need to grieve for each other, too."

Poor dogs, especially Milo. Two owners in his short lifespan is a lot for a dog to have to mourn. "I live in an apartment, but there's a service where the dogs can go while I'm working. Is that going to work out for Milo's breed?"

"Considering he's been living with an elderly woman with a postage stamp-sized yard for the last few years without any reports of misbehavior, I think he'll be just fine. I would recommend plenty of exercise on a set schedule if your place is small."

Shane muffles a laugh. "Yeah, that's not an issue for him. And you can always bring him out to run around my place on the weekends if you don't want to go to the dog parks in the city."

"Do you want to take them today? They've had all their veterinary work done, plus spay, neuter, microchip." Mia is obviously enthusiastic about the adoption because she's got a hand perched on a manila folder of paperwork that Rick can see is labeled 'Adoption Application'.

Just over an hour later, Rick is exiting the shelter with the dogs on leashes and a stack of paperwork that he thinks might be bigger than what the hospital sent home with Carl, following Shane to the other man's personal SUV. Loading Milo into Athena's crate in the back, Rick pets Lola's fluffy little head to reassure her when she whines at the separation.

"You're gonna get your own spot to ride, Lola," he tells her, walking around to the passenger side of the vehicle and opening the smaller crate that normally serves as Izzy's transport when the Affenpinscher rides along with Shane. When he puts her in the crate, she shifts to the back, obviously hearing and smelling Milo in the cargo area behind her.

"Meet you at the apartment, or do you want to go by the pet store on the way home?"

Rick thinks of all the supplies he needs, considering he doesn't even have collars or leashes for the dogs, much less food beyond a small bag that was available for purchase when he paid the fees for the adoption. "Home, actually. Carl's there, so he can keep them entertained when I run to the store."

Decision made, he heads for his car, set on following Shane into Atlanta and home. He hadn't brought Carl with him, even though he should have, because he hadn't wanted to get Carl's hopes up if none of the dogs seemed compatible. The idea of the double surprise for his son makes him grin all the way home.

Amanda truly isn't surprised to see Daryl and Lori make it back to Atlanta swiftly. Anything dealing with Lori's mother is enough to send her sister-in-law into a foul mood. It's a reminder to Amanda that there truly are worse family dynamics than having a birth mother who disappeared completely.

It gives her time to stop by the grocery store on the way to her apartment to meet Michonne and Andre. The other woman's text on Sunday was another reminder that her network of friendships has grown larger since she crossed paths with Rick. Even better, none of the ladies involved seem to be retreating now that they are no longer together.

They're waiting for her when she pulls in, Andre nearly vibrating with excitement as he politely offers to carry one of the bags up. It leaves a pair for Amanda, and Michonne grins as they follow Andre up the stairs.

"He's been looking forward to this since I told him yesterday. You didn't have to do it so soon, you know. I honestly expected it to be a week or two."

Amanda shrugs as she digs out her keys. "No sense in waiting for a weekend we could coordinate when he had the day off school today."

To give Andre credit for good manners, he walks all the way to her kitchen table to put down the bag of groceries before he doubles back to stare at the vivarium in awe. Amanda and Michonne both laugh, and Amanda takes time to put away the refrigerated items before joining Andre.

"Have you ever seen snakes outside of the zoo before?" she asks him.

"Yeah. My friend Tommy has a milk snake. It eats mice, but they're frozen ones that Tommy's mom keeps in the freezer for him."

Nodding, Amanda opens the door and reaches in to gently capture Tanith and bring the reclusive little snake out to where Andre can see her. "Most pet snakes eat rodents, and some eat worms, insects, and fish, like garter snakes."

Andre runs a hesitant finger over the back of Tanith's head. "What type of snake is this one?"

"Tanith is an African egg-eating snake. She eats nothing but eggs, which is unusual for snakes to be so specialized. Would you like to feed her?"

"Can I?" He just about vibrates with excitement at the prospect.

"Go look on the counter next to the fridge. There's a small basket with a few quail eggs. Pick one out for her to eat."

When Andre disappears, Amanda uses the moment to twine Tanith around a branch, knowing the laid-back snake will simply bask until her dinner arrives. Glancing at Michonne, she's at least glad to see the other woman doesn't seem wary of the snake like many people are, even if she hadn't approached to touch Tanith. Andre carefully places the quail egg in the enclosure, backing off to watch in fascination as Tanith slithers down to investigate.

"Oh, Mama, look how big her mouth gets! It's just like Tommy's snake!"

Michonne leans in, fascinated despite herself, Amanda thinks. "How does she actually eat that?"

Explaining the concept of how Tanith punctures the shell enthralls Andre and seems to interest Michonne, who leads from that question to the cost and maintenance of the vivarium and procuring a snake. Amanda goes into detail, including that many species native to Georgia are illegal to keep as pets, and jots down the website where unique exotics can be purchased.

Looking at the notes, Michonne snorts inelegantly. "I can just picture the mailroom at the office if I had a snake shipped there."

"Probably less chaos than shipping it to Shane at work." Amanda sends Andre to wash his hands in the bathroom and heads for the kitchen to clean her own. Somehow she isn't surprised when Michonne follows her.

"I wanted to know if you wanted to join us for my bachelorette party? It's a Friday night, but none of us plan on showing up to the wedding hungover."

Amanda freezes with one damp hand on the tap. "I didn't figure my wedding invitation was still on," she admits.

"Why wouldn't it be?" Michonne frowns but seems to realize the reasoning and waves her hand in dismissal. "Don't worry about you and Rick. He's not going to sub in another plus one, and I've already got you on the guest list."

"I'm not so sure that is a great idea, showing up as the best man's ex-girlfriend. It'd be too weird."

The arched brow tells her all she needs to know about Michonne's opinion. "Honey, the best man is attending the wedding of his ex-wife's divorce attorney. I think we left weird so far in the rearview mirror, it's across the country. Besides, Lori and Daryl will both be there."

Even though earlier she was thinking about how nice it was that Michonne still seems to be trying to form a friendship, it's hard to tamp down on the nerves that say showing up at the wedding will be a challenge. She reminds herself that she's got a family event to attend that will have even fewer people to act as a buffer between her and Rick, so finally she nods and reaches for the towel to dry her hands.

"Where is the bachelorette party?"

Michonne grins and names one of the more expensive hotels in town. "Full spa package for all the ladies attending the party, starting at five. Andrea was disappointed we couldn't bar crawl, since I can't drink, but she's come around to the idea of a spa visit followed by dinner and drinks in the hotel's bar."

The cost of such an evening is probably one of those things Amanda doesn't want to think about, but at least it's not an immediate flinch away from it like it would have been a few months ago. "I do have to work Saturday," she ventures.

"That's fine. I've got suites reserved for the bridal party, so you can either slip out and go home or bring your uniform to head to work from there. That way you can drink if you like or just enjoy the music."

"It sounds like it'll be fun." Honestly, it does, especially since it's the day after Halloween, which is never a fun shift, day or evening, to work as a cop. An expensive massage would probably feel like heaven if it compares to the manicure and pedicure Beth talked her into.

Andre's back studying the vivarium, and Michonne smiles as she watches her son from her spot near the kitchen table. "I don't know what happened between you and Rick, Amanda, but honestly, I find myself wishing you two could work it out. He needs someone who can ground him more than any man I ever have known. He's been remarkably close-mouthed even to Shane. If he screwed things up…"

Amanda's expression must show her discomfort with the conversation because Michonne trails off and sighs. "I know it's not my business, as we are just getting to know each other. But Lori's one of my closest friends, and you know she worries about you both."

It's easier to imagine that of Lori, who is indirectly related to them both. Divorcing Rick doesn't cut the tie that Carl gives them, after all. But she can't imagine having this conversation with Lori, so perhaps Michonne is a good go-between to relay the information so that Lori won't ask her.

"Breaking up with someone is not the way you convince them they're in love with you," she mutters.

The kind thoughtfulness that settles over Michonne's face soothes Amanda's uneasy feelings. "I suppose it depends on whether or not the other person thinks you return the feelings or not."

"It's too soon to know. Telling someone you've only known for three months that you're in love with them is bullshit."

"I don't know. I was pretty set on how I felt about Shane by the time we were three months along."

Startled, Amanda searches Michonne's expression for any sign of levity, but she appears perfectly serious. "How would you know for sure?"

"No one ever knows for sure, Amanda. Hell, I've assisted in enough divorces by now that I can tell you that people who are actively in love still get divorced because they can't overcome other obstacles. I've also seen people without an ounce of what I'd see as romantic love carry out perfectly happy marriages. If you're aiming for Hollywood's hype, nothing will ever fall into place."

Amanda starts to protest before thinking it over. Granted, she's always thought chick flicks were boring and unrealistic, but maybe she isn't beyond absorbing some of that girlish wishfulness that such movies play upon. Everyone wants their happily ever after, right?

Her voice is almost too quiet when she speaks again, confiding the thing she hasn't been able to tell anyone for a week. "We had a pregnancy scare. Rick was so damn relieved to hear it wasn't happening. Why would he be relieved if he's in love with me?"

It's not the full story but the longer she's apart from Rick, it's the part that disturbs her more than the rest of the fight. She can acknowledge that he's right about her hiding it from him, but why in the hell did he look like her not being pregnant was the best news he'd heard all day?

Michonne sighs, a soft exhale that reminds Amanda of her mother when Mama McGinley's praying for patience to keep up with her children's antics. "You do realize that Lori found out she was pregnant with Carl when she and Rick had only been dating for about two months, right? They met at a Christmas party and were married by the end of March."

It makes sense when Amanda remembers Lori explaining away her first marriage as two kids who got married too young and then grew up into people far too different to stay married. Lori had been barely nineteen and Rick only twenty-two, both practically babies in terms of life experience. Many young men wouldn't have lived up to the responsibility.

Christ. The pieces fall into place for her now; Rick's relief that she wasn't pregnant, combined with his anger that she didn't tell him until after the fact. He'd even stated it openly when he talked about meeting Amanda's mother so the elderly woman could assess whether he was the kind of man who would run out on Amanda and a baby or not.

"Oh."

"Yeah, oh." Michonne laughs and pats her on the shoulder. "You two aren't beyond all hope, you know, but if you do try things again? Do both of you a favor and see a counselor. They do just as much good for dating couples as married ones, I promise. I'll even recommend a good one that Shane and I have used."

Startled at the admission that the content couple she's witnessed together twice now saw a counselor before they were ever even married, Amanda just nods in acceptance, unwilling to argue. She still can't quite believe that Rick could be in love with her, and she knows that's an ultimatum that will stand firm. Until she can figure out how to trust him, they have no future at all.