Alright, I am getting back into the swing of writing again so I will post as often as I can. Sorry for the wait.

y2j591: You know how much I love your reviews. They're awesome. It's what helps me write seriously.

Hope everyone won't be too mad at me for what I've got in store for Lily.

Glenn had been all tense on the ride to town and finally Lily asked from her seat between the two, "Hey, Glenn..."

"Yeah?" he asked nervously.

"What's eating you?"

"Maggie said she loves me. She doesn't mean it. I mean she can't. I mean-well... She's upset or confused. She's probably feeling, like-"

Lily couldn't keep the smile off her face.

"I think she's smart enough to know what she'd feeling."

"No. No."

Poor Glenn. He doesn't know how to deal with affection.

"No. You know what? She wants to be in love, so she's-she needs something to-to like hold onto."

"Glenn, it's pretty obvious to everyone Maggie loves you," Rick said. "And not just because you're one of the last men standing. So what's the problem?"

"Is it really that obvious?"

"Yeah," Lily laughed.

"I didn't say I love you back."

"Huh."

"I'be never had a woman say that to me before, except my mom, of course, and my sisters."

"But with Maggie, it's different. We barely know each other."

"It doesn't take much more than that if you know it's the right one."

"Oh that's so full of it, Lily. What does she really know about me? Nothing. We're practically strangers. But I-I didn't know what to do with it. I just stood there like a jerk."

"Hey, hey. This is a good thing, something we don't get enough of these days. Enjoy it. And when you get back, return the favor. It's not like she's going anywhere."

"Rick, I know about Lori. Her being pregnant. I got her those pills."

"I figured," Rick answered.

Lily kept to herself. Lori said nothing about being pregnant and she didn't say anything about trying to kill the baby. Then again, it's not like she was high on the must be informed list.

"Hey I'm sorry I kept it from you."

"Don't be. You did what you thought was right." Rick was surprisingly calm hearing that his wife had confided in a stranger rather than her own husband for something as important as this. "It just so happens it wasn't."

Lily slid out of the car and followed the two of them inside the bar with guns and knives raised.

None of them knew exactly what to expect. Hershel might have been dead and eaten by walkers. The bar could be full of walkers and he'd never been there at all. Or he could have still been at the farm with everyone but just tucked away. Regardless, Rick kicked open the door and Hershel was sitting at the bar with a drink in his hand.

"Hershel," Rick called from the other side of the bar.

"Who's with you?" Hershel asked.

"Glenn and Lily."

"Maggie and Daryl send them?"

"He volunteered. Actually they both did. They're both good like that." He walked over to the bar and leaned against it. "How many you had?"

"Not enough."

Rick looked over at the two of us standing in the middle of the room still waiting for a fight.

"Let's finish this up back at home. Beth collapsed, is in some sort of state. Must be in shock. I think you are too."

"That's the only explanation for what happened," Lily added. She only hoped that her insight would be enough to get Hershel to come home.

"Maggie's with her?" Hershel asked seeming to not have heard Lily at all.

"Yeah, but Beth needs you."

"What could I do? She needs her mother. Or rather to mourn, like she should have done weeks ago. I robbed her of that. I see that now."

"She needs you to be there beside her," Lily spoke. "Please, just come back with us. She needs you."

"You thought there was a cure. Can't blame yourself for holding out for hope."

"Hope? When I first saw you running across my field with your boy in your arms, I had little hope he would survive."

"But he did."

"He did. Even though we lost Otis. Your man Shane made it back and we saved your boy. That was the miracle that proved to me that miracles do exist. Only it was a sham, a bait and switch. I was a fool, Rick, and you people saw that." There was a tense silence before Hershel continued. "My daughters deserve better than that." He took a sip of liquor and poured himself some more.

...

Glenn and Lily migrated back to the front door and Rick joined them shortly.

"So what do we do? Wait for him to pass out?" Glenn asked.

"If we had some sleeping pills I could slip them into his drink," Lily offered.

"Just go!" Hershel boomed from the opposite side of the bar. "Just go!"

"I promised Maggie I'd bring you home safe."

The old man chuckled. "Like you promised that little girl?"

'Oh, he's gone too far. I don't care if he's dunk. I risked my life for that little girl and now he's all but thrown it in my face.' Glenn placed his hand on her shoulder to settle her nerves.

"So what's your plan?" Rick asked sounding testy. "Finish that bottle? Drink yourself to death and leave your girls alone?"

"Stop telling me how to care for my family, my farm," Hershel rose to his feet and faced Rick. "You people are like a plague! I do the christian thing, give you shelter, and you destroy it all!"

"The world was already in bad shape when we met."

"And you take no responsibility! You're supposed to be their leader!"

"Well, I'm here now, aren't I?!"

"Yes. Yes. Yes, you are."

"Now, come on. Your girls need you more than ever." Rick took Hershel's arm and he threw it off.

"I didn't want to believe you. You told me there was no cure. That these people were dead, not sick. I chose not to believe that. But when Shane shot Lou in the chest and she just kept coming, that's when I knew what an ass I'd been. That Annett had been dead long ago and I was feeding her rotten corpse! That's when I knew there was no hope. And when that little girl came out of the barn, the look on your face- I knew you knew it too. Right? There is no hope. And you know it now like I do. Don't you? There is no hope for any of us."

"How can you say that?" Lily asked shaking from the doorway. "If there's no hope then why haven't you thrown yourself at the walkers to let them eat you? Why are you still fighting?"

"That's doesn't matter anymore."

Lily could see there was no point in arguing anymore.

"Look, I'm done. I'm not doing this anymore," Rick snapped. "Cleaning up after you. You know what the truth is? Nothing has changed. Death is death. It's always been there. Whether it's from a heart attack, cancer, or a walker, what's the difference? You didn't think it was hopeless before, did you? Now there are people back at home trying to hang on. They need us, even if it's just to give them a reason to go on even if we don't believe it ourselves. You know what? This-this isn't about what we believe anymore. It's about them."

Hershel finished his drink and set the glass upside down saying he was ready to go home when the door opened. Two men walked inside the bar with guns in their hands.

"Son of a bitch. They're alive."

'Who the hell were these people?'