Adele

"There she is. I see her." Ben pulled on Adele's elbow and pointed. Adele saw Georgie walking through the trees, wrapped one of the thin blankets they'd 'liberated' from a small farm house two days ago. She looked calm and serene, smiling slightly as she made her way through the long grass towards them. Adele frowned. Something had not been quite right with Georgie since the prison. She seemed to spend her days looking for things to do, frantically busy, either hunting, planning, keeping an eye on the kids, discussing plans with T-Dog and Dale. She never stopped moving, never stopped doing anything. Even at night, she would fidget and talk, It was as if she was determined not to rest. Once, Adele had been woken by her in the middle of the night, seemingly having some a nightmare. When she had jerked awake, Adele had waited for her to tell her what was wrong. Instead, Georgie had turned over and gone back to sleep. It wasn't like her not to talk about things. Frustrated, Adele had asked Ben what he thought.

"It might be Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome." Adele had wrinkled her nose.

"Really?" She couldn't imagine Georgie being stressed about anything.

"Of course. She went through something really awful. She saw Carlos and all your friends dead, Judith smothered by the Governor. I'm surprised all four of them don't have it." Ben went on. "She might have survivors guilt; she may feel responsible for their death; she may just not know how to deal with it all." He paused, furrowing his forehead, trying to remember what his textbooks had said. "She does seem to have the symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress...bad dreams... trouble sleeping...less expressive...headaches hyperawareness..."

"Hyper what?"

"Hyperawareness. Means she's almost on the lookout for anything else that might go wrong all the time. It's pretty common." When Adele had asked what he could do, Bens answer had been frustratingly vague. "Not a lot I'm afraid. Usually, I'd prescribe Prozac, but..." He shrugged. "Best thing we can do is get her to talk about it." Adele frowned.

"I've tried that. She just says the same things-what happened, but not how she feels about it. That or she just goes off to do something else that doesn't need doing. Can't you try?" Ben had shaken his head.

"If she won't talk to you, what chance do I have?" On seeing Adele's face, he'd hugged her hard. "Look, there are no drugs or alcohol for her to abuse and everyone is looking out for everyone else. She'll talk when she's ready." Adele had had to take his opinion on the situation, but it didn't make her feel much better.

Looking at Georgie now, Adele couldn't see improvement or decline. Georgie was smiling wanly, dark circles under her eyes. She looked pale and although she was still walking in her confident stride, it was slower. She did look alert and watchful, and Adele noticed her eyes flick around the group until they found Carl and Sophie. Adele drew in her breath and let it out slowly. Was anyone else apart from her noticing this? She looked around. Most people were just chatting casually, waiting for Billy to leave. Rick was sat in the driver's seat of the bus, Carol on the step, watching Sophie and Carl. T-Dog was talking to Billy, Miao not far away. Glenn and Maggie were sat on the ground, watching Katie drape herself over Daryl, who seemed inclined neither to stop nor encourage her. Upon seeing Georgie, T-Dog waved her over.

"You almost missed him. Where've you been?" Georgie wondered over, shaking her head.

"He wouldn't have left without saying goodbye." She held her hand out to Billy, somewhat formally. Without missing a beat, the biker enveloped her in a huge hug. Georgie tensed for a moment (Adele's eyes narrowed-again, someone had to have seen that surely?) and then her arms crept around Billy's waist. Billy grinned and murmured something in her ear-Adele couldn't make out what-and then released her. Georgie stepped back and grinned feebly.

As Billy stepped onto the dirt bike that T-Dog and Andrea had ridden into the camp on a week or so earlier, Adele felt a sudden lump enter her throat. She fingered the photo Billy had given her-or the half he had given her. She knew that he had been thinking about his daughter since they had escaped the complex, that he wanted to look for her, make sure she was ok. Still, now that the time had come, she was still sad to see him go. She knew he had looked out for her in the complex, probably more than she knew. She didn't begrudge him any chance to find his daughter; it was just well she was really going to miss him. She felt Ben's hand close around hers and felt a little better.

With one last look behind him, one last wave and smile, Billy revved the engine of the bike, and sped off into the distance. Adele watched him leave until he was little more than a blimp on the horizon. When she could no longer see him, she turned to find Georgie. She was close by, playing some sort of clapping game with Sophie, watched by Carol. She made her way over to her, and crouched down next to her.

"He'll be ok you know. It's Billy." Georgie didn't look up at her, but remained engrossed in keeping a steady beat going.

"I know. I'll just miss him." Adele sat on the ground. They sat in silence for a moment, Adele thinking, Georgie and Sophie clapping. It was Adele who broke the silence.

"What did Billy say to you? Just then?" Georgie started, and broke the beat of the clapping. Sophie laughed out loud in glee.

"I won! I won! Now you have to teach me to shoot a bow and arrow!" Georgie grinned guiltily at Carol.

"Sorry, Carol, I guess I do." Carol smiled.

"It's ok. I know you'll be responsible." She got up from the bus steps. "Come on Sophie, let's go wash up before breakfast. I bet there's still some rabbit left over."

"It won't be enough." Sophie moaned as she got up. "I'll still be hungry." Mother and daughter walked to the clearing across from the camp, where a small lake was. Georgie stood quickly-too quickly Adele noted-and grabbed her bow and arrow which was lying under the bus.

"I'd better go too. Cover them. I don't like all those trees around the lake-it's too easy for walkers to creep up on you." Before Adele could protest, she was following Carol and Sophie to the lake. Adele grimaced in frustration. Standing up, she patted herself down.

"She's not coping." She started and turned to the bus, to see Rick.

"What?" She turned, to look at him. He hadn't spoken to her since Lori had died, instead keeping to himself and looking after Carl. The sound of his voice shocked her.

"She may look like she is, but sooner or later, she'll snap. She's not allowing herself time to grieve." Rick was looking after Georgie with worried expression on his face. "She needs to stop worrying about everyone else and just..."

"Just what?"

"I don't know. Cry. Scream. Hit something. Anything but stay in denial. " Rick sighed and stood up. Walking down the steps of the bus, he stopped in front of Adele. "I know I haven't been much use recently, but I have seen things. Lori said once, that we all needed time to be human. Georgie isn't letting herself do that. She's trying to be superwoman or something, like she can stop anyone else dying." He looked straight in Adele's face.

"Every night, I've wondered if I could have done something different, stopped Lori dying. And I can't think of anything. What happened, happened. I can't change that. If it's someone's time to go, they'll go. Georgie should know that." He sighed deeply and walked to T-Dog. Adele suddenly realised why this seemingly over emotional man had been leader. He understood how people worked. She felt an overwhelming sense of respect for him. But he was wrong. Georgie was too strong, she wouldn't break. Adele knew she could make her listen and talk.