Carl was used to waking up to the soft sound of Denise's conversations. But this time it was a shock to open his eye and find he wasn't in the infirmary. At first the room looked completely unfamiliar, black and grey lined the walls and it smelled faintly of rubber. After blinking a few times the objects on the wall came into focus. Guns.

Carl closed his eye again. He was in the armory.

"—the rest of it's in the infirmary still." Denise's voice continued.

"Do you need me to get anything?" There was another voice. It sounded hoarse but it was definitely Glenn.

"No." Her voice was level, commanding. "Not right now, not yet."

"I'm sorry." Aaron's voice came from the far corner of the room.

"It'll be alright, Aaron. But if he has another seizure do not hold him down."

"I'm sorry I'm sorry. I just panicked." Aaron took a slow but shaky breath. "At first I thought he was a Walker that'd crawled in here. I damn near shot the kid."

Carl laughed, but it came out more as a cough. "Someone beat you to it." He blinked his eye open to stare at the grey ceiling. "Twice."

"Twice?" There was the sound of a smack and Aaron yelped. "Ow!"

There was motion by his head and this time Carl looked to find the three of them staring down at him. Their eyes fell on him like a physical weight, like the pity there was a boot on his chest, pressing down harder with each breath.

"Don't look at me like that." He snapped, then let out a breath through his nose. He didn't have the energy to be angry anymore. He barely had the energy to sit up.

"Carl?" Denise had her pen light at the ready. Carl flinched, but let her peel back his eyelid to check the way his pupil dilated in the light. Denise sighed in what Carl hoped was relief, though she was guarded enough that he couldn't tell. "You scared the holy hell out of us. How you feeling?"

"Why do you keep asking me that?"

"Do you know what day of the week it is?" Denise sat back on her heels and folder her arms.

Carl cracked a smile, so she seemed to relax.

"Who's the president of the United States?" That one got a chuckle.

"Do you remember what happened?" Denise asked, turning serious.

Carl stared back at her, silent, unblinking.

Denise pushed her hair back, her whole body slumping. "That's okay, that's fine." She put a hand on Carl's shoulder and squeezed. His eye tracked slowly down to her hand, then back to her face.

"Listen, you fell. Had some kind of fit or a seizure or something, I don't know, and hit your head." She glanced at Aaron so fast Carl almost missed it. "But it's fine now. Just a scare, that's all. Has this happened before?"

Carl dipped his chin. "Twice."

"Carl!"

"Okay, okay. Three times, but never for very long. So I didn't tell anybody, it's no big deal. Tara said her fainting spells just went away, though."

Denise narrowed her eyes at him.

"She found me passed out in the kitchen, once." Carl studied the guns on the wall instead of meeting anyone's gaze. "She lied, took the fall about the cup I broke. Tell her I'm sorry, okay?"

Denise put her head in her hands. "Don't worry, I'm gunna give her a big hug. And also punch her. I'm not sure in what order."

Aaron put a hand over his heart. "Get used to that, as a feeling. It only gets worse with time."

A smile played on Glenn's face, though his stance remained serious.

"Listen, Carl." Denise pushed her glasses up her nose. "I know you really don't want to..."

"Don't say what I think you're going to say." His face hardened.

"But you really should work things out with Rick."

"No!" Carl snapped. "I won't. I..." his eye darted around the room. "I can't."

"He's your father. Family isn't something you can take for granted these days."

"You don't think I know that?" Carl lurched back from her, trying to use a crate of ammo to pull himself to his feet. He didn't get very far, so when his knees gave out he didn't have long to fall before he reached the floor again. "He probably doesn't want to talk to me." Carl put his head in his hands.

The three adults in the room stood silently, watching each other hold blank expressions instead of watching Carl wipe the beginning of tears off of his face. Glenn was the first to approach him, kneeling so that they would be at the same level.

"Rick will come around. He always does. But you can't just go running off, you might have a concussion"

"I can and I will." Carl said, though there was no strength to his words. He held Glenn's gaze for a moment, but then his eye flicked to Denise. "I have a concussion?"

"Might" she mumbled.

"Oh." Carl's face fell. "Oh, I get it. Because you usually compare...with the other one..." Carl pointed a finger to the damaged part of his face. "Great."

"Um, Carl." Aaron broke the silence, but had no idea where to look. "How did you even get in here? The door's always locked up tight before and after inventory."

"Oh. I picked the lock." Carl felt around on the floor for his hat. "Shane taught me."

"Shane?" Aaron asked, both him and Denise looking to Glenn.

Glenn shot them a look. "Don't worry about it."

"Glenn..." Carl pulled his hat down, so low that the brim almost blocked his face entirely.

"Yeah?"

Carl was silent for a long moment. It was hard to read his face, but it was clear he wasn't actually seeing the concrete floor his eye was fixated on. Carl took a carefully controlled breath in, then out. "You knew her."

"Who?" Glenn looked around to Aaron and Denise but found no help.

Carl was pale. "Do you think she'd be disappointed in me? I mean, if she got a good look at me now." Carl laughed, but no one else was in on the joke. "Probably take me out behind the shed with a shotgun. Return the favor, right?" This time the laughter turned into a hacking cough.

"Should I get Rick?" Aaron whispered to Denise.

Carl suddenly stopped laughing.

"No!" He barked, "You can't get Rick. He was right, that's the problem."

"Carl," Glenn sat back on his heels. "Carl you're not making any sense."

"Of course I'm not." Carl snapped, then he sighed with his whole body. "I gotta get outta here."

"Carl, you have to come back to the infirmary," Denise's voice was firm.

"No I don't!" Carl shot back. "Look, you're trying to help, I see…..I understand that. But I just can't do this right now, alright? I have to go."

"Carl," Denise didn't try to shout over him. "Your father's been worried sick. He's looking everywhere for you. It'll make him feel better to know you're safe."

Carl made another attempt at standing, and although he wobbled, this time he made it. "The thing is, I'm not. But you be sure to tell him that" He spun on his heels and almost ran headfirst into Carol.

"Carl?" she said, at the same time he asked "Carol?"

Carol's eyes swept the room, taking in everything in before she broke into a smile. "Carl, just who I was looking for."

"What?" Carl stared back up at her.

She put a hand on his shoulder. "The place I'm staying in has this set of really fancy china, and I haven't gotten a chance to break it in yet. What do you say you come over to my place for dinner?"

"Um." Carl straightened his hat.

"It's an old family recipe." Carl was still smiling. "I used to make it whenever someone was sick, but I haven't had all the ingredients until now."

"I'm sorry," Denise crossed her arms. "But Carl can't, he—"

"Come on." Carol grabbed Carl's sleeve and pulled him down the hall.