Shane suspects if Judith hadn't gotten hungry, he might have held her all night. It isn't stealing time from Lori in the way holding Carl would have been back when he was a newborn, because Lori and Carl are curled together in a way that he thinks they may need a crowbar to get that kid away from his mama. For all the times Shane assured Carl and Rick both that Lori was alive out there somewhere, it's amazing to see he was right.

Watching as she settles Judith to nurse? Lori returning with a child, his child? That had never entered into any of his scenarios of how she would return to her family.

Sometime while he'd been holding Judith and trying to grasp the impact of being a father, Rick and Princess had slipped out of the room. Daryl still hovers, and Shane thinks there's a story there that he needs, but right now his mind is spinning around what Merle was trying to warn him about. Merle had known about Judith's paternity.

Part of him wants to stay, to never get more than a few feet away from Judith because he knows how easily it is for a family to be scattered to the winds or worse now. Part of him knows that Judith only really needs her mama right now, and if he's feeling completely gutted by this, what is Rick feeling?

What is Princess feeling?

"Carl, you're staying down here with your mama, right? I can ask them to bring in cots." Uncertain about his assumption that Lori's staying in the infirmary overnight, Shane shifts his weight uneasily. "Or is the doc gonna let you go tonight?"

He has an empty room at his house, and logically, Lori being in the same house as Carl makes sense. But with how Rick looked, is it fair?

Lori shakes her head. "They want me to stay one night, both the doctor that came with me and the one we met here. Cots would be nice."

Shane is a little ashamed that he's relieved to have a little while to figure out housing. There's always been the assumption that the open room at his house once the girls moved out was reserved for Lori, but this is far more complicated than anyone ever expected. That part of him that fell in love with Judith the second he held her says it still should be, to keep his daughter as close as possible, but he's not naive.

It will never be that simple. Not for a while, at least.

"I don't figure you need me hovering all night," he admits.

Lori looks relieved, and he can't blame her, not one bit. Being shot before they arrived at the Greene farm gave him a lot of time to think about his behavior prior to the farm, and he'd crossed the wrong line for Lori to be easily comfortable with him. Even keeping Carl alive doesn't negate that. She's acknowledging Judith as his daughter, and that's all that's important.

"If you need me for anything, Carl knows how to find me." He turns to Carl and smiles wistfully. "I'll send the girls up in the morning with a change of clothes for you."

Carl's soft good night is echoed by Lori, so Shane heads for the door only to be stopped by Lori calling his name. He turns, and she's smiling tearfully at Carl before looking back to him.

"Thank you. For keeping Carl safe. I'm sure it's going to be quite the story, yeah?"

Shane allows himself a small smile in return. "Yeah, it was a bit of an adventure. Ask Carl about the puppies."

With that, he lets himself out of the hospital room and delivers the request for cots on his way out the door. He needs to go find Rick and Princess and see just how to resettle their world thrown wobbly.

When Rick hears someone in the house from his spot out on the back deck, he is torn between heading down to the beach and away from people - and the realization that it's probably Princess. She had looked as lost as Rick, soldiering through the moment where Shane was completely clueless about Judith with a strength that he envied even as he copied it. But once he'd seen the sorrowful look on Lori's face as she watched Shane with Judith, he could no longer stay and watch, so he'd fled.

Princess usually heads for the water when she's got something she needs to work through in her mind, so he's surprised when no one comes outside. He's torn between his own solitude and going to see if she's okay. He hasn't known Princess that long, but she's highly observant and likely noticed his missing wedding band. Combined with Judith's existence, he can't help but think that she would be as adrift as he is.

The thing is, Rick's had more time to absorb it, even if his way of learning about Judith had been a veiled threat from Daryl that if Rick upset Lori one bit, he'd regret it. The fact that fists would be involved couldn't have been more obvious if Daryl had actually punched him. Then Rick came into that room, his gut still churning at the thought of this baby's existence, and all he could see was that Lori had been crying.

She brought Judith into this world still mourning a son that was not dead, and it just spilled right out of him so bluntly he's surprised someone didn't smack him for it. The grief he'd experienced for a much shorter time resurged in that moment in sympathy for Lori's suffering.

What finally gets him up and moving is a muffled sob from the balcony above, the one attached to the master suite. He heads upstairs, hesitating at the closed door to the room Princess shares with Shane. Long held manners have him reach out and knock. There's no answer, so he calls out that he's coming in.

It's cold outside even for Florida and the temperature drops even more with the sun setting. He's not surprised that Princess is wrapped snugly in the quilt from her bed while sitting on the lounge chair he knows she and Shane often share even with the colder winter evenings.

"Princess?"

Her only response is to burrow further into the quilt, hiding her face so that all he can see is purple hair. Sighing, Rick perches on the second lounge chair, sitting so he's facing the little bundle of misery. Part of him thinks she could probably use a hug. Hell, he could use a hug. But she's also very wary of people touching her, aside from the kids and Shane, so he doesn't want to upset her more.

"He's not going to leave you."

The reply is muffled, but at least she responds. "How can you know that? He loves her, and she has his baby. It's like a nightmare, a selfish one, because they've been found and they're alive, but I just can't be happy like I should."

Rick considers telling Princess what he'd watched today between Daryl and Lori, the signs that meant he knew trying to work around Judith's paternity would never work. The independence he saw in Lori is appealing, recalling the girl she was when he first fell in love with her, but that inner strength she's grown while she was missing? It's not meant for him or Shane, and maybe it never should have been either of theirs. But telling Princess that would make her think she's Shane's choice only because he can't have Lori.

"Shane may love Lori, and he'll always care for her as the mother of his child, but he's in love with you." He scoots his seat closer, not surprised when she peeks out to see what's making the racket of scraping wood against wood. "I've known him since we were practically in diapers. He's never looked at anyone the way he does you."

"He hasn't ever said." She lets the quilt slide more, so that he can actually see her face in the moonlight. Her eyes are puffy from crying, and his heart twists in sympathy for her. "Not once has he said he loves me."

"I don't think he knows how." It's a sad fact of Shane's life, Rick knows, that he thinks Shane's only said those words to two people since his grandmother died, and even then, it's always couched in 'you know I love you, brother' or a happy reply to Carl saying it first to him.

Princess sits up finally, tilting her head as she studies him, expression as serious as he's ever seen her. "You aren't wearing your ring anymore," she repeats her earlier observation.

"I never should have put it back on." He's had hours and miles of travel to mull that over. Taking it off while Lori was gone felt like a declaration that he thought she'd never be found. But he'd let the miracle of his waking from the coma override the reality of how bad his marriage had been before he was shot. "I don't think Lori would have agreed to try again if she hadn't felt so guilty that I was left behind."

In some ways, he's glad they did have those few days together, but he thinks all they did was prolong the inevitable.

"So you didn't decide because of the baby?"

He shakes his head, thinking of the tiny girl whose presence causes so much potential chaos - if they allow it. It would be weird as hell, he knows, but they could have figured it out. "I'm not in love with Lori anymore, and she's not in love with me. We were both finally in a place where we could admit that to each other. Shane would still be Judith's father if Lori and I were together, the same way I'll still be Carl's father now that we're not."

"What is she going to think of me?" The aching insecurity in Princess's voice makes Rick reach out at last, fumbling to get her hands in his and squeezing.

"Lori will love meeting you, if nothing else because Carl adores you, just like the girls do." Princess is the fun aunt who all three teenagers gravitate to in a way they don't to anyone else, and Rick admits he's fond of how sweetly affectionate she is toward all three, but especially Carl. "And honestly? You don't know how many times Lori despaired that Shane would spend his life alone. She'll be happy he has you. Trust me."

Her fingers twist and flex in his, but she nods. "Alright. I'll trust you." She's quiet for a few heartbeats. "I don't know anything about babies. Not one thing."

"You'll learn. All new parents do."

Downstairs, Rick hears Shane calling Princess' name and squeezes her hands one final time before rising. "See? He's already looking for you."

She gives him a tremulous smile before wrapping the quilt even tighter around her body. He crosses paths with Shane just inside the balcony doors, and he isn't surprised to be hauled into a bear hug so fierce he feels his ribs ache. All Shane can seem to say is a garbled version of Rick's name, so Rick reaches up and grips the back of Shane's neck as he rests his forehead against Shane's.

"We're good, brother. But if you don't make sure she knows you love her, I'll kick your ass."

Shane's gaze goes so easily to Princess' huddled form outside that Rick can't help but smile in the knowledge that he was right about Shane being in love. "I will."

He lets Rick go, and Rick watches from the darkened bedroom just long enough to see Shane coax Princess out of her cocoon and into his arms. The sight of them crying is only half the reason Rick's own eyes prick with tears, but that's a matter to resolve later. Tonight he's just grateful to have his room to himself, with Carl with his mama and sister, because what he needs is to get as drunk as he's ever attempted and just shut out the world for a while. Lost dreams aren't part of tonight's plants.

Tomorrow's soon enough to sort out the rest.

Carl's finally asleep, tucked in a cot next to Lori's bed so close that she can reach down and run her fingers through his mop of hair. It's long now, in desperate need of a trim, but she figures that's something they can sort out along with everything else that's gotten equally simple and complicated in their lives now.

"You're gonna wake him up if you keep doing that," Daryl says quietly. He's got Judith, walking the room and soothing the baby to sleep with a skill that makes Lori wonder where it comes from.

"No, he can sleep through just about anything." It's a worrisome trait these days, she thinks, but this place seems safer than most, between water for walls and actual military guarding the area. Carl certainly looks healthy and happy.

"Suppose that's a good thing when his mama missed him so much she can't turn loose of him."

Daryl's smiling his little half-smile, though, as he eases Judith into the small plastic hospital bassinet someone brought into the room for them. Sliding the bassinet up enough to let him sit on the bed next to her, she isn't surprised when he tucks himself against her back. The hospital room is warm enough, but it's not just warmth that settles her with having him so close.

"He doesn't seem to care about all this change." The fact that Carl seemed to know about her and Shane makes it easier, but she hasn't told him about Daryl yet. Will that be the point too far?

"Kids are adaptable as hell as long as everyone they love is happy. Long as you and Rick aren't fighting or upset, he's gonna roll with it."

She hopes Daryl's right. Maybe they aren't fighting now, but she also knows Rick's the sort of man who wouldn't even begin to fight with a woman who just gave birth. Will he be as accepting of ending things once and for all when he's had time to think it over and she's had time to heal? There was a time where she could have predicted Rick's every reaction, but both of them have changed plenty since the world turned upside down, and they did most of that change separately.

"I wish Shane's girlfriend had stayed." Carl babbled plenty about life on the island, but even without the hand holding Lori saw when Shane arrived, she'd know Princess was important just from how often she features in Carl's tales. It's a relief that he has someone, to know that he's let go of the too-intense attachment to her that escalated in all the wrong ways after the quarry.

Daryl scoffs, sounding amused. "You just can't wait to figure out how those two work. Curiosity killed the cat, yanno."

"Is that your polite way of telling me I want all the gossip that doesn't come from a thirteen-year-old boy?" She can't help grinning when she feels him smile where he's got his face tucked against the crook of her neck.

"Pretty sure you can get all the details out of the other ladies in the morning. But you'd best sleep for now, while Judy's sleeping. Your boy ain't going anywhere, either."

She wriggles enough to turn over. The dim light from the open bathroom door gives her enough light to see that he's looking happy and content. "If I'm the curious cat, you're the one that got the cream and the canary both, aren't you."

"Judy's here and healthy. You got your boy back and I got my brother." He kisses her slowly and tenderly, taking soft breaths to prolong the kiss that she mimics until finally he pulls away. "I didn't lose you."

There's a depth of emotion in that that makes her breath catch. It had been easy to be caught up in her own fears, that she'd somehow fail to birth Judith safely. Daryl had faced the dual fear of losing them both and never let on at all. She can't imagine Rick's reappearance helped, not after her prior determination to save her marriage.

"You won't. Me and you and Judy and Carl, we'll be a family. Just with some extras." A lot of extras, she suspects. As fascinated as people at the river camp had been about Judith and the hope she represents, Lori can only imagine how intent those who knew them longer will be about pampering the baby.

Sleep comes easily, tucked against his chest in the hospital bed, because all the fears of the recent months are swept away in this foreign room. On one side of her, she can hear Carl's familiar snuffles as he sleeps. On the other, she can hear the nearly-inaudible sounds of newborn breathing. She started the day with uncertainty and grief, but she's ending it with miracles and joy.

That's enough to chase all the old nightmares away.