Chapter 18

Most of us ate dinner in the house that evening and as it has been in the past; it was quiet, but this time it was quiet because of the solemn air from the day's events.

Shortly after dinner Lori asked me to watch Carl and then she disappeared out the back door. So, I set the kids up in the living room with some board games while I helped Carol and Patricia with dishes.

"I'm going to take some food up to Maggie and Glenn" Patricia tells me and Carol loading two plates onto a tray

"Okay, let us know if they need anything" Carol replies for both of us as we continue washing dishes – well as she washes, and I dry.

Patricia isn't upstairs long, and she rejoins us just as Anneliese starts to fuss in the carrier.

"Oh, what's wrong sweetheart? Are you hungry?" I coo at her moving to prepare a bottle

"That's such a welcome sound" Carol says as Patricia takes my place drying the dishes

"Yeah?" I ask

"It is she's so innocent and unknowing it's refreshing with the world the way it is"

"Hm I guess" I say not wanting to bring up the fact that her being so unknowing and crying if we're out in the open could kill us all

Shaking the thoughts from my head I pull Anneliese from the carrier and move into the living room to feed her.

She eats hungrily for the first half of her bottle and protests loudly when I stop her in order to burp her.

"Have you seen Lori?" Shane asks slamming through the front door

"No" I answer shortly shifting Anneliese so she can finish her bottle.

"Well she left Carl with ya didn't she?"

"Yeah and she didn't tell me where she was going, just asked me to watch him"

"Well did you see which way she went?"

"No, I was busy with the kids"

"Dammit!" Anneliese and Penny both flinch at his loud voice and I shift the baby to make room for Penny to climb on my lap

"What's wrong?" Carol asks emerging from the kitchen with Patricia behind her

"I can't find Lori" Shane practically yells

"Okay?" Carol asks confused

"She left Carl with Genevieve and then disappeared" Shane bites out, saying my name like its an insult

"I'll go ask Daryl if he's seen her" Carol says moving past us and out the door with Shane following her

I turn and look at Patricia and when we make eye contact, I shrug, and Patricia lets out a small laugh moving to grab a book from the bookshelf and settling into one of the other armchairs.

"You can go back to playing Penny, it's okay" I urge and after a few minutes she slides off my lap and goes back to playing with the boys

The sun has completely set when Carl grabs my attention from where I'm lightly wrapping the baby in a blanket

"Gen? Do you think Shane will find my mom" he asks, and I can tell he's scared

"I'm sure he will. Your mom will be okay" I try to reassure him, and he nods and sits quietly for a minute

"I'm gonna go check to see if he found her"

"What? Carl? Come back" I say as he stands and moves out the door before I can even get to my feet

"Shit! Patricia can you take her for a second" I ask hastily handing her Anneliese

"Of course. Go check on him, I'll keep an eye on them all"

Thanking her a million times I rush out the front door after Carl

I find him standing with Andrea and Dale with Shane and T-Dog approaching opposite of me

"She's not at the barn" Shane repots

"I checked the yards" T-Dog says

"Well, where is she?" Carl asks and no matter how grown he acts I can hear the tremble in his voice

"She asked Daryl to go into town" Carol says jogging up to our little pow wow

"She must've gone herself" she concludes causing Carl to gasp and walk away from the group

He goes to walk by me, but I grab his shoulder and pull him into my side wrapping my arms around him

"Did you know about this?" Shane asks approaching Dale

"No" Dale says immediately

"Did she take a gun?" Shane asks

"I don't know" Dale answers "I wouldn't have let her go out there alone" but at that point Shane is already walking away towards a nearby SUV

Without a word to any of us he climbs into the driver seat, starts the car and whips a U-turn speeding down the driveway

"C'mon let's go back up to the house" I whisper to Carl, leading him back up to the house where he quietly rejoins Jack and Penny.

"Thanks" I mumble to Patricia taking a now sleeping Anneliese from her

"It's no problem, you've got yourself a wonderful set of kids there" and I blush at the compliment

"Thank you, I'll probably herd them all to the RV for sleep soon enough" I laugh

And I do, almost half an hour later I'm shuffling all the kids into the RV, with a brief pit stop by Carl's tent for him to grab a change of night clothes. And soon enough Penny is in bed asleep and Jackson and Carl are sitting at the table reading quietly.

Shortly after Carl flies to his feet and out the door of the RV when we hear a car pull up and I follow him quickly

"Are you okay?" Andrea asks Lori

"Yeah it was just an accident I'm fine. I'm fine!" Lori rushes out brushing Shane's hands of her

"Where's Rick?" Lori asks and I tilt my head, he's not back yet she should know that, and judging by Lori's shocked face when no one answers her, and Shane's pissed off one I think its safe to assume a few fibs were told

"They're not back?" Lori asks when no one says anything

"Where are they?" she asks turning her attention towards Shane now

"I had to get you back here" Shane answers

"You asshole" Lori grits out walking up to Shane and pushing him

"Lori- "Shane tries to say

"Where's my husband? Where is my husband?!" she practically yells at him and Shane matches her tone when he yells back that he'll go after him

"Ill find him! Hey!" Shane says overpowering Lori and pushing her away from him

"Look first things first, I gotta look after you. I gotta make sure the baby's alright" Shane says lowering his voice

And before I can stop him Carl is stepping out from around Dale

"You're having a baby?" Carl asks and Loris gaze moves from him to Andrea to me and I can tell she's panicking

"Why didn't you tell me?" Carl continues and Lori still doesn't say anything, but I can see Shane shake his head and lean against the car behind him

It's utterly silent until Dale speaks up "C'mon let's make sure you're alright" he says and Lori nods and allows Andrea to guide her up to the house

"Go on up to the house and talk to your mom okay? If you need me, I'll be in the RV" I tell Carl giving him a gentle nudge

Without sparing a glance to the rest of the group I watch as Carl moves inside the house before going inside the RV and sending Jackson to bed.

Almost two hours late I'm sitting at the table when the RV door opens and Carl walks in followed by Dale

"Lori sent me to ask you if it's alright if Carl stayed with you and the kids tonight" Dale says resting a hand on Carl's shoulder

"Of course, it's okay! It'll be a little tight but that's no issue" I tell them with a small smile, but I can tell Carl is upset

"Thank you for walking him Dale, Carl why don't you come sit down and we'll talk some before we go to bed" I say gesturing to the seat across me and Dale nods heading back outside while Carl sits down

"Now what's on your mind bud" I prompt

"I dunno, it's weird my mom's gonna have a baby and she didn't even tell me"

"Well we have been pretty busy 'round here with the barn and all- "

"No! I don't think she would've told me, at least not for a while"

Not knowing what to say I shift Anneliese so I'm feeding and holding her with one arm and open my other for Carl. And with little hesitation he slides around the table to curl into my side

"It'll be okay, and ya know what?"

"huh?"

"I think you'll be an awesome big brother"

"Really?"

"Yeah you're an awesome helper with Penny and Anneliese"

"Thanks Gen"

"Anytime bud. Now why don't you go get changed and climb into bed on the other side of Penny, Ill be back as soon as I get this little one to sleep?"

"Okay goodnight Gen" Carl says giving me a hug

"Goodnight Carl"

I'm up before the sun feeding Anneliese sitting on our overly filled bed, Carl on the side opposite me with Penny and then Jackson laying between us.

"What do you say about getting you in a new outfit and making breakfast for everyone" I whisper to the wide-awake baby

I pick out a bright pink onesie and a pair of grey leggings to change her into, and decide to change my own clothes quickly before settling Anneliese into the carrier on my chest

With a quick glance at the 3 slumbering kids I head out of the RV to begin making breakfast in the slowly rising sun.

Shane startles me when he clambers out of his tent soon after

"Morning Shane" I greet and get a grunt in response

"There's coffee in that pot there" I tell him gesturing to the pot adjacent to my pot of oatmeal

"Mm thanks" he grunts, and I nod

Its not long before Dale, Carol, Andrea, Lori and T-Dog join us and then I go in to wake the kids to eat.

I'm about to serve myself some oatmeal when I see Daryl approaching out of the corner of my eye

"Oatmeal" I tell him handing him a bowl over my shoulder before making myself a bowl

Its quiet for a few minutes before Shane speaks up

"I'll head into town look for Rick, Glenn and Herschel"

"Ill come with you" T-Dog speaks up

"Me too" Daryl adds and Shane nods

"I'm going to go see how Beth is" Andrea says standing and heading for the house like someone lit a fire under her ass – hm guess seeing Shane care about Lori hurt a little more than it should've

"I guess ill try to get some laundry done" I say and Shane nods as if giving me permission and barely hold back my comment

When everyone is finished eating, I move about cleaning everything up as Shane, T-Dog and Daryl start putting some supplies in one of the SUVs.

Andrea breezes past me dropping her empty bowl into the dish tub just as I finished washing all of the other dishes.

"Thanks" I snark at her but she ignores me as she joins the guy at the SUV

"Look!" I hear her voice call and I look up to see her pointing at a red car pulling up the driveway

I stand and grab Penny's hand as everyone rushes to meet the car, Lori pulling Carl along with her as it pulls to a stop just in front of the farmhouse.

"Dad!" Carl cries wrapping his arms around Rick's middle and Lori joins them a second later

I almost laugh when Maggie rushes down the steps and past her father right into Glenn's arms

"Patricia prepare the shed for surgery" Herschel orders walking up to his home

I can't hear what they're saying but it seems Rick has noticed Lori's scrapes

"Who the hell is that?" T-Dog asks pointing the remaining person in the car

"That's Randall" Glenn answers