FOUR

She couldn't sleep. Not knowing that he was out in the RV tonight and it was colder. Rick had basically told him that the 'danger' was over for her, and that left her in the big bed upstairs all alone… And it unsettled her. She lie there in the dark, taking long and slow deep breaths, but all she kept coming back to was Shane out there, nothing to keep him warm.

Shane out there, close to temptation, close to getting his hands on Randal and being forced to leave the group.

It shouldn't have bothered her, but it did.

She sat up in bed after about ten solid minutes of tossing and turning, and she slid out of bed, slipping on pajamas and a t shirt. Grabbing the flashlight on the nightstand by the bed, she slid her blanket off the bed and crept to the door, opening it quietly, making her way down the stairs. She thought she was caught for a minute, but then T Dog went right back to snoring on the couch and she relaxed, eased the front door open after grabbing a gun and the letter opener laying on the table beside the front doors. She shivered as the night air hit her skin, rubbing her arms, wrapping the blanket she had with her around herself and she started to walk across the yard, out towards the RV parked at the edge.

A faint light was on in the RV.

She heard groaning and shuffling and her heart kicked into high gear and she started to run hard and fast, practically slamming herself against the door of the RV in her rush to get inside, tripping through the small threshold of the doorway only to be caught and steadied by a shirtless Shane Walsh. She tentatively gripped at his muscular forearms and looked up at him, panting, hair a mess, face flushed from running so hard and so fast.

"Thought you might be cold." was the first thing that came out of her mouth as she looked up at him; her tone defensive, edgy almost. From the way they stood, almost body to body, she could feel the warmth of his skin, smell the cologne he wore and the soap he used to bathe in. She could see the way his eyes fixed on her; bored but all the same, curious.

He cleared his throat as he willed his heart to jump down from it and for a few seconds, he couldn't really think of anything to say. Finally, the words came and he said quietly, "The hell are you doin out here, woman? It's dangerous, them damn things can get in here and you're gonna risk your own ass to come out here and what? Keep me warm? Ain't worth it."

"Yeah well to me it is. You save my life. Don't be an asshole, Shane, just take this for what it is. I didn't come out here to keep you warm with my body, have you know.. IF that's what you were implying."

" Wasn't implyin shit other than it wasn't smart, comin out here. But since you automatically jumped to that conclusion, Jenny.." Shane's eyes darted over her body but he quickly reminded himself that he wasn't going down that road again with anyone ever. Jenny swallowed hard because when she'd snapped what she did at him, her mind automatically filled with images of her doing that very thing with him. She stepped away from him, rubbing the chill out of her arms and Shane eyed her, brows raised.

"Cold? Why in hell, woman, didn't ya put on a jacket?"

"I'm f-fine." Jenny muttered, a grumpy edge to her voice.

Shane shut the door to the RV behind him and locked it, nodded to the blanket she sat down on the table when she'd come in earlier. He picked it up, wrapped it around her. "You're freezin, woman."

"I'm fine. You needed this more than me, Shane. I had a nice warm bed for a few hours." Jenny answered, unwrapping the blanket from her body, holding it out. "Here, take it, okay? I bought it all the way out here to you."

He eyed her warily but took the blanket and then asked, "Why ain't you sleepin anyway?"

"Nightmares."

Shane's shoulders tensed and he gripped the counter, looking down after first giving the barn currently being bathed in an early morning sunrise a long glare. If Rick didn't do something about that kid out in the damn barn soon, Shane was going to have to…

Because he couldn't get it off his mind, how he found her that night, laying on the side of the road, barely alive. It still made him sick at his stomach, thinking about it. Especially thinking about what had probably been done to her before they dumped her out like garbage and hauled ass away.

"Shane, don't do that, okay? None of it's your fault.. It's no one's fault. They're fucked up in the head. The situation the world is in right now doesn't help any." Jenny muttered as she shook her head and turned, intent on walking back out, going back into the farmhouse.

"You can stay."

She stopped, looking at him. "We can't even be in the same room for five minutes without getting angry at one another or something."

"Just stay."

Hesitantly, she sat down at the table in the RV, looking at her hands. "Why?"

"Don't feel like being alone right now." Shane answered as he looked up and over at her.

She eyed him warily, but she nodded and admitted, "Neither do I… So… What'd you do before all this started?"

"I was a cop. What'd you do?"

"I was a nurse. I worked the night shift." Jenny explained as she held his gaze and then mused aloud, "I had a feelin you were a cop or military."

"Why's that?" Shane asked, laughing a little, feeling a small smirking smile begin to form.

"You carry yourself like one of 'em. It's good.. Makes people feel safe around you.. Well, me at least." Jenny blurted out before she could stop herself.

"I ain't a good guy."

"And I didn't ask you to change. Just said that for whatever reason, I trust you more than anybody else here.. Maybe it's because you saved my life."

Shane gave a nod and sliding onto the seat beside her, he said quietly, "Nobody's gonna hurt you. Look, I know we don't know each other, but.. I saved your life once. Didn't do it so you'd get hurt or bit or killed later. So you are safe. That's about all I can promise ya."

"I don't want you to promise me anything. You don't owe me anything. You saved me from death. That's enough for me. I didn't die and I have you to thank."

Thank you for 3 reviews and the input. I believe I'm going to go with your thoughts on this, Guest 2 because I just feel like there's more of a story there, more things I can do with them as a pair if I go the route of taking them away from the group.

A little fluff here.. Not much but a little.

Thank you for the faves and the follows and i love you all.