I know some of you guys also really wanted Jame to tell Shane and Lori off, but Shane isn't gonna last that long, I'm afraid. Don't worry, thiugh, I have a grea chalter coming tmorrow or the day after nvlvng that wit Lori- she's pregnant and hormonal and Jame is...well... Jamie. Please review and lots of love! :-)
Three days. Three days since Jamie had come back. Shane found himself enraged at nothing, now. He'd had a plan, he'd had a good plan, too, something to do with Randall... But he'd forgotten it. He kicked the tree stump, angry. He looked over to see her coming out of the house, now, Daryl carrying her.
Carl was watching, as was Lori.
"You don't go barefoot now, Young Lady. Keep that bandage clean." Hershel said. She nodded, and Daryl set her down. She'd been weakened by the infection, but she wasn't knocked down.
"Hey." Carl said, and she smiled. "Tag." she said, laughing as she took off running.
Carl shook his head, running after her, out of sight. But as soon as they were behind the barn, Jamie turned and he ran into her. She planted her lips on his, and instantly the game was forgotten, replaced by curiosity and love.
They came up for air, and Jamie grinned, laughing at the disappointed expression on Carl's face that the kiss had ended, before turning and running, her hair, which had grown longer, flying slightly in the breeze. She'd have to cut it again soon, but right now, she was playing hard to get.
That night at the campfire, Rick noticed she was barefoot.
"Jamie! Get some shoes on! You know what Hershel said!" Rick scolded.
"Nah. Hershel said to keep it clean. It is clean. I been hopping on one foot." Jamie said, And Rick realized the bandage still was sterile white. Jamie noticed someone had left Daryl's bandana hanging on the line and hopped over on one foot to get it, hopping back before taking her place on the log, bandaged foot crossed over her other leg to keep it from touching the ground.
"You've been hopping around camp like that all day?" Rick asked, and she nodded.
"Wouldn't it be easier to just wear shoes?" Glenn asked.
She looked repulsed by the idea. "Nope. Why would you WANT to wear shoes? Then you can't feel the grass between your toes..." she said. She turned, looking behind her. She'd heard twigs breaking, and she was the only one who wasn't startled when Daryl emerged from the blackness that was night and sat beside her, and she smiled.
"What were you doing?" she asked.
"What you don' know won't hurt you, kid." Daryl said, sighing and sitting in front of the fire.
"Hey Daryl- you know she's been hopping around camp on one foot all day cause she doesn't wanna wear shoes?" Rick asked.
Daryl looked over her her, smiling slightly at her creativity. "Fine by me if you wanna lot like a friggin rabbit. If you fall on your face, though, I'm gonna laugh."
Jamie smiled slightly.
A cold wind blew- it was almost fall, now, September was coming, soon, and the fire seemed to do for a moment. Daryl instinctively moved closer to Jame, though she showed no outward signs of being cold, she HAD to be bothered by it.
Carl was outright shivering. "H-how are you n-not c-cold." he said, staring at Jamie, who was clad in short sleeves and her ripped up jeans.
Jamie laughed. "I'm from New York." she said, smiling.
"You said you were from South Carolina." Rick said, looking at her.
"I was. I moved there when I was five- I was born in New York."
"New York City?" Glenn asked, sounding interested.
Jamie wrinkled her nose. "Hell no. Upstate, where all the milk comes from. I remember the snow, and ice skating, and my Dad dragging a fresh killed deer home through the snow... Hell, this is nothing compared to a New York winter. I remember a huge blizzard- snow was up to my chest. Course, I was littler back then..."
"Heard you have big deer up there." Daryl said. "Weigh more, at least."
Jamie nodded. "Yeah. I remember this huge twelve point my dad killed, two hundred pounds. I remember sitting on it in the snow, pretending it was a horse, holding onto the antlers like it was a Harley. Ryder had to pull me off for I got deer ticks on me." she laughed at the memory. "Mom got a picture, I think, but it probably burned with the rest of them."
"Burned?" Rick asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah. Furnace malfunction, the farmhouse burned to the ground. Barely made it out. But the insurance paid out, and Dad heard from my grandparents about a little farm in South Carolina, and we moved. Spent the last seven and a half years trying to get used to this heat down here... Winter's still my favorite season. Too damn hot in the summer."
"And to think I thought you were a southern girl." Lori joked.
She shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. But I can't help wondering- are there still walkers in New York? I mean, they're slow to begin with, but a foot or two of snow? They'd be almost defenseless..."
"So New York might be safe?" Rick asked.
Jamie shrugged. "Nowhere's safe, but safer, maybe. But I don't know for sure, and we'd never make the trip up there. Too many walkers, too much danger. Besides, if the walkers don't kill you, hypothermia will. Especially for you southern boys. No offense, but you'd have idea how to survive a blizzard. Blood's thicker up North."
"How so?" T-Dog asked.
"Well, think about it. Born is cold temperatures, you get used to it. But then you come down south and it's hot as hell- way I figure, blood is thicker up North to hold the heat."
Rick nodded, pondering it all.
"Least us southern boys don't get stuck by porcupines and shit." Shane said, scowling.
"I never meant anything against southern boys. I jest meant..."
"That southern boys are weaker." Shane said, staring hatefully at her.
"She didn't mean any of that, Shane. She was just saying..."
"I know what she was saying, Andrea. Shut the hell up." Shane stood, glowering down at her and cracking his neck.
"Shane..." Lori said, eying Shane, looking slightly shocked at how he was acting.
"Shane- Jamie was just talking about how the cold reminds her of home, is all..." Rick said, trying to defuse the situation. Shane seemed not to hear him, stepping towards Jamie, fists clenched.
"One more step, asshole, and I beat you worse than before." Daryl said, looking up at Shane with a scowl on his features.
Jamie watched it all, face void of emotion- she'd been taught by her father not to show a man fear if he tried to hurt her- they'd think twice if she was calm. And Daryl would protect her.
"You're seriously going to defend that piece of shit?" Shane snarled.
"Look who's talking." Glenn muttered.
"You say something, chink?" Shane said gruffly.
"Nothing." Glenn said quickly, looking at the ground.
"That's what I thought." Shane muttered, before stalking off into the night.
There was silence then, except for the crackling of the fire.
"Anybody have any idea why he hates me?" Jamie asked finally.
Rick looked over at her. "Probably because you bit him pretty bad when we were trying to chase you down in the woods when we first met you. Wounded his pride. Though Shane's never been one to hold a grudge..." he looked into the darkness after his friend, slightly concerned...
"Doesn't matter why he hates you. He'll never get within ten feet of you, and if he does, don't be afraid to cut him up with your knife." Daryl said, staring after him as well and moving so he was slightly closer to Jamie.
Lori's hand flew to her mouth, and Carol gasped.
"What? If he tries to hurt her, she's got every right to." Daryl said.
"Yes. Let's just try to keep that from happening, alright, Jamie?" Rick asked, looking at her.
She nodded, but still, the rest of the night the group was on pins and needles, wondering if Shane would come back and do something rash.