A\N Hey all! So Spring Break is officially over for me, so I will have homework, school, and extra-curricular activities to tend to :)

Yay! More reviews! :D

To Serethiel96, Haha, thanks. I kind of wanted Glenn to protect my eyes when she beat his head in too! O.O I love Daryl and Carol, they are too cute! Actually, I just saw a picture of them for 'Beside the Dying Fire' with her arms wrapped around him as they were both on his motorcycle! AHHH ^.^

And to jaded79, I think that my mom is my hero, too. She means the world to me and she does all things that I could see Carol doing :) Daryl is my favorite too, and I totally see where you're coming from if you don't want them together, I just prefer that they are :)

Finally to Morgan-Eats-Cannibals, Yeah, I felt so bad for him. I don't really like Maggie as a person, but she and Glenn are cute together ^.^

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of it's characters :P

Question: What did you think of 'Better Angels'?

Okay, here you go! ^.^

Lori

In all the years that Lori had been on this Earth, she felt like she had nothing to be grateful for. She had a great life growing up, amazing friends, a husband, a beautiful baby boy, and a wonderful home. She was proud of these things, she was happy, but somehow, she couldn't bring herself to be grateful. Her life seemed to scream out 'Perfect', but she knew something others didn't.

They didn't know how broken and messed up Lori actually was.

Lori's chest was breathing erratically as she circled into the showers and kneeled down. She reverberated what had happened with Shane in the play room of the seemingly perfect CDC, she felt tears roll down her cheeks in pure agony. She was more than terrified, but she knew she couldn't tell Rick, so she tried to compose herself once again, but failed miserably. This action repeated a few more times until it was interrupted by a small grunt. Lori's head quickly arose and found Sophia looking quizzically upon her.

"Lori?" She questioned, looking genuinely frightened. It was the kind of frightened that you wouldn't see in a horror movie, but in a drama film. The one that filled Sophia's face with such discontent. "Are you okay?" Those words had been uttered to Lori so many times, but this time was the first she had ever answered them truthfully.

"No," She managed to choke out, "No, I'm not. I tried my hardest to be perfect for Rick, a-and for Carl, but I messed up. I really really messed up," Tears flooded her eyes and ran down her cheeks. Sophia stared at her, not uttering a single word. Finally she inhaled deeply and furrowed her brows.

"Why do you have to be perfect? Wouldn't Rick love you no matter how imperfect you are?" Lori had to laugh at such a simple, naïve question. This was so much more than just Rick...

This was her.

"I made up my whole personality," She confessed, hanging her head in shame, having her hair fall in perfect harmony with it, cascading until it reached her knees. She couldn't look into Sophia's precious eyes as she said this. "I was so ashamed of myself. I hated how I laughed, how I cried, how I controlled my anger, even my look. I changed myself, because I hated the real Lori. I hated me. I became this perfect woman, so that I didn't have to face how awful I am. I'm rarely angry, my laugh is a simple giggle, when I cry I hide it, and my look—I had very short, blonde hair, but I dyed it,"

"Why? You're so pretty," Sophia commented, knowing this wasn't the end of this Lori.

"Because!" She cried out loud, "When I was in elementary, I had glasses and I was chubby...and I had the biggest crush on Rick. He didn't even notice me and my name—my name wasn't Lori, it was Rowan. I overheard these popular girls saying that Rick liked brunettes with long hair. They had to be tall and skinny. So I dyed my hair, grew it out, joined dance, lost weight, and started going by Lori. He didn't recognize me once we hit high school, and we instantly fell in love...but if he knew that I was a fraud, me a person, a fraud. He'd hate me and reject me and I would lose him," Sophia frowned at this, looking Lori square in the face.

"If Rick really, really loves you, then he'll stay with you," Lori shook head and smiled although it faltered just as quickly as she formed it. It was watery and fake and she hated herself at that moment.

"Carl needs a perfect mom—a role model and if I was Rowan, he wouldn't have that," Sophia's eyes narrowed.

"Or he would! You think that just because you're pretty and skinny now that you're perfect? That you're a role model? A role model is someone who loves themselves no matter how they look! You're not a role model! You're far from it!" Sophia ran a hand through her hair while feeling tears of her own in her eyes. Lori was shocked by the outburst of the usually quiet and soft-spoken Sophia.

"Sophia..." She started, reaching out to her. Sophia smacked her hand away.

"Don't," She growled, "I look at Mommy everyday and you know what I see? I see a woman in her thirties who doesn't look like you or Andrea. She looks fifty, because Daddy wore her out. He made her sad, and he made her stress. You stretch your problems, Lori! My Mommy never changed who she was, because she was perfectly happy on where she is! Being perfect is necessary! And if that's what you're worried about, then you're just as fake as a barbie," Lori felt sobs rack through her body as she realized this little girl, this twelve year old knew more than Lori did. She knew...she knew...

"I slept with Shane because I was lonely...at that moment I knew I was never going to be perfect. I was a terrible person. I still hate myself. And everyday when I see Rick and Carl look at me with their faces full of love and affection, guilt just courses through me," Sophia didn't have anything to say to that as she watched Lori calm herself down. She depended on the floors to soak in her tears, to wipe away any trace that she was there.

"No one can be perfect, Lori," Sophia whispered almost inaudibly, "You just have to make tiny steps into being better. You're not a bad person. You've just made many mistakes...you have to push through and keep trying," Lori grabbed Sophia and cried into her for the longest time, just needing her comfort and wisdom for a few more minutes. Then she'd let her go, and pretend that it never had happened.

But she just couldn't do that.

~ . ~

Lori sat at the base of Sophia's tiny grave, faintly smelling a decaying scent. Tears met her eyes, but refused to do what Lori needed to do the most—fall. "Sophia, little girl. No one here is perfect. But a lot of us are at fault here. Rick didn't mean for you to die. He cared about finding you so much. He looked for you so much, but he couldn't find you," She turned her head for a second and shook it, before returning back to the grave. "But," She said, her voice wavering, "We all cared for you so much and we want to see your smiling face...Carl is so broken without you, but we're going to make it through and believe me...we're going to make those steps into being better, perfect.

But to Lori, as the days grew into weeks without Sophia, she knew the only perfect there was Sophia herself.

And she was gone.

A\N I really didn't know what to think about this one, so tell me what you think, and who you want next time! ^.^