Walking Dead: Unexpected Return
Chapter 9 of my Walking Dead story, enjoy.
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Now onto the story.
Disclaimer: I don't own Walking Dead or its characters.
Chapter 9
Staring out the window of the car as it drove alone, Carl remained lost in thought. It was the weekend now and as per the custody arrangements, he was being dropped off at his mother's house along with Judith who was in her car seat next to him.
'I just...Things are easier now, mom and dad both seem happier. But this still feels so, wrong to me.' He reflected sadly. 'But for once, it's not bothering me quite so much. I guess everything with Sophia is putting things in perspective.'
He straightened up and pulled his gaze away from the window, focusing instead of his dad and Michonne in the front.
"Alright, nearly there." Rick was saying. "Good, we've made good time."
"Good time?" Carl asked.
Rick glanced in the rear view mirror, smiling. "Lori asked me to get you guys there as close to dinner time as possible, they plan on taking you guys out to a new restaurant for a meal."
"Oh." Carl nodded.
He mentally winced at how bland his reply was. It wasn't uncommon for something like this to happen. At first Carl had hated it, thinking that his mom and Shane were trying to use these sort of trips as incentives or such, to try and buy back the lost affection. It wasn't until the twins came and said trips continued that Carl realized it was just his mom wanting to still be able to have a good time with her kids.
They soon reached the pick up point and Rick stopped the car, Carl unbuckled his seat belt and got out while Rick also got out and went to get Judith out of her car seat. Meanwhile Carl looked over to the other car, where his mom stood along with Shane. Lori Grimes was two years younger than Rick with long, greying at the temples, brown hair, brown eyes, fair skin, managed to remain slim despite three pregnancies. Shane stood next to her, each hand holding one of the hands of David and Michael, the one year old twins. Shane was taller than Lori with a similar build to Rick, brown eyes, fair skin, he had black hair but had recently shaved it to an almost military cut.
"C'mon Carl, let's go." Judith then said, grabbing his hand and tugging.
Carl smiled lightly. "Okay, okay, just don't yank my arm off."
With that they said goodbye to Rick and Michonne and made their way over to Lori and Shane. Once they approached Judith went to greet Lori first. Before Shane could even say anything, the twins worked their hands free of his and toddled to Carl, hugging his legs, cheering. Carl laughed softly and ruffled their hair.
"Hey there you two." He said before bending down and lifting them up. "Man, you're getting big."
Shane smiled too. "I swear, get them to stay still long enough you can actually see them growing."
Carl nodded at that, he had greatly respected Shane when he was younger, the whole issue with his family had damaged that, but enough remained that they were at least cordial.
Finally Lori approached and hugged Carl, smiling.
"Carl, how are you honey."
Carl replied softly. "I'm good mom, thanks."
She stepped back, now carrying David while Carl held on to Michael.
"Well, shall we go eat?" She said.
They all nodded and began making their way to the nearby restaurant, Shane taking Judith's hand as they walked. Carl once more found his thoughts drifting towards Sophia.
'If she saw this...would be a strange sight for her. She doesn't know about what happened to my family yet. But still, even if she did, it'd be strange for her I know. Hell, it's still strange for me too come to think of it.'
Shaking the thoughts off he followed Lori and Shane into the restaurant and they were soon shown to a table, everybody getting seated and settled and were soon ordering. As they waited for their food to arrive, Lori pondered for a moment before asking.
"So, how's everything been going, anything happen?"
Carl bit his lip, before deciding to tell them the story.
"Well, funnily enough, yeah." He said, getting their attention. "You um...you remember Sophia."
At once his words had an effect, both Shane and Lori shared a sad look and Lori sighed.
"Yes, Carol's daughter. That poor girl." She said sadly. "Your father's still investigating her disappearance, isn't he?"
Carl smiled. "Not anymore, she's back."
"Wait what, back?" Shane gasped.
They both stared in shock and disbelief. Carl knew that they had both written off Sophia as lost forever, so to deliver that news and see their reactions was in fact pretty amusing to him.
There was a moment of silence as they both tried to process this. Finally Shane recovered and broke it.
"They're sure it's her, I mean-?"
"Dad said they did tests and that, came back and a match to her." Carl replied. "Dad also brought Carol to see her in the hospital and she identified her right away."
Shane raised an eyebrow at that. "Even after four years-?"
"Shane." Lori interrupted, shaking her head. "It's a mother thing. If Carl went missing for four years and then suddenly showed up, I know I'd recognize him right away."
Carl nodded slowly. "Well, anyway, she's in the hospital right now, recovering. She was in a bad way."
"So, one investigation has led to another huh?" Shane mused.
Carl shrugged. "Looks that way."
"God...still, she's back." Lori said. "That's wonderful."
Carl smiled at that, for once, he couldn't agree more.
End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.