SIX

She'd fallen asleep on the sofa in the living room of the farmhouse they took refuge in and Shane chuckled quietly to himself as he bent, scooping her off the couch and into his arms, carrying her up the stairs and putting her into the bed. He found a blanket and put it over her and was about to leave the room when he heard her mutter in the darkness, a whispered word. He froze as he heard her ask him to stay and he turned, hand raking over the back of his head. "It's not a good idea, hon."

"Wasn't any different at the Greene farm." she answered a few seconds later, raising to a sitting position as she admitted warily, "Look, everything's going through my mind tonight okay? I don't want to jump your bones, I just wanna lay here and talk."

Shane hesitated but he walked back to the bed, sitting on the edge, looking at his hands. "It about what I did to that Randal sumbitch?"

"Some of it, yes. It wasn't.. you weren't supposed to do that. It was my revenge to get." Jenny answered, eyes fixing on the patchwork coverlet he'd covered her up with before he attempted leaving the room a few minutes before. She trailed her fingers over the stitches, someone had handmade it.

It made her think of the bed spread on her bed back in Louisiana. It made her miss home and everything she had before the world went to shit around them all. She sighed.

"But you're not pissed I did it.. And that bothers ya too." Shane finished, guessing mostly, surprised when she gave a nod and looked up, her eyes meeting his a moment. He stared at her quietly, not sure what to say or do, knowing what he wanted to do at the moment, but knowing it wasn't the smartest thing to do.

Because if he kissed her..

Jenny met his gaze, teeth tugging at her lower lip as she admitted quietly, "Shockingly, it doesn't bother me as bad as I thought, I mean…. It bothered me so much worse earlier, when I tripped over Randal's body in the woods… Then I was wondering how the hell you could just do that; but then I just got this feeling of relief.. Like I knew I wouldn't have been able to or something, you know?" and fell silent, shaking her head at herself, fingers trailing over the cover on the bed as she finished, "The point is, you know how the world works now. Shane.. Rick, I mean I get he's your friend or somethin but… He doesn't and it's gonna get all of 'em killed."

"Don't make excuses for what I done last night. I know it was wrong but I also know it made me fuckin sick, I thought of what Randal's group and Randal did to ya. It gave me an excuse to do what I wanted to do already, from the second Rick bought that little sumbitch back to the farmhouse from town." Shane shook his head, sighing a little in frustration.

"Oh, believe me, I'm not.. I'm just saying, Shane, if the world weren't the way it was now.. You most likely would not have done it. The situation we're all in.. It makes people snap, it makes 'em do things they normally wouldn't.. Trust me, I know." Jenny admitted, looking up at him.

"But… There's a but in there somewhere.. Right?" Shane wondered aloud, pausing in his looking around the room for a moment to meet her eyes again, expecting to see disappointment, anger, disgust.. all the things he got used to seeing in Lori's eyes every time he even opened his mouth as of late.. Instead, he found the opposite.. She was shaking her head and she answered quietly, "Nope." as she patted the empty spot beside her in the large bed. "Just get in bed, okay?"

Reluctantly, he stood, shedding his jeans and the t shirt and slid down between the blanket, surprised further when she rolled over, facing him, a leg slipping between his legs. "I didn't want to sleep alone tonight."

"I didn't either, hon." Shane admitted, the weakness of the two sort of settling in the air between them as he started to stroke her hair until she began to nod off and she trailed her fingers over his smooth muscular frame.

The morning dawned on them both bright and clear and Jenny rolled over, stretching, peeking through one partially opened eye and watching him sleep quietly. Her hand raised, it trailed slowly over his cheek, lingering for a few seconds and Shane's arms tightened around her, his thumb trailed over the lower part of her bare back as his eyes started to slowly open too. He stared at her a few seconds, hurting like hell from the aftermath of his altercation with Rick the night before. She winced and said quietly, "Before we do or decide to do anything else, Shane.. You got a few scrapes and bruises that need to be tended to."

"They'll be fine."

"Shane, if an infection sets in anything now, you're as good as dead. So be still. I will go down and get the first aid kit we found last night when we got here. It's in the den, right?" Jenny asked as she untangled herself from him, slunk out of the room. Shane lie there, eyes fixed on her body like magnets as he tried to remind himself exactly why getting attached, especially now, was not a good idea..

But it wasn't working anymore and he didn't know how much longer he actually could fight it off, the way she made him feel or if he even really wanted to fight it off.

He just knew that for now, fighting it was for the best.

Jenny walked back into the room, straddling his hips as she began to work on cleaning out the wounds on his face and the gash on his chest where Rick had damn nearly stabbed him before her screaming stopped things from going any further, she sucked in a sharp breath at the depth of the cut, her fingertips trailing over it gingerly as she looked into his eyes. "That was a really close one." she muttered with a concerned look in her eyes and a frown on her lips.

Both things were what broke Shane Walsh's nearly 3 weeks of iron clad resolve where she was concerned. His hands went across her lower back, resting and he leaned in, capturing her lips in a frenzied and passionate kiss that left them both breathless at the breaking, Jenny, however, was wide eyed and staring; panting for breath as she looked into his eyes.

"It was." Shane answered.

"I almost lost you.. Look, you can't just.. You have to not get dead.. You're kind of the only person I feel I can safely trust." Jenny mumbled against his lips, her hands at his cheeks as she pulled his lips back against hers.

"We shouldn't be doin this.. Gonna mess everything up." Shane protested, though he made no actual move to stop himself either.

"Look around, Shane.. Everything is already one big fucking mess. Can we just have this one good moment?"

"It's not gonna work."

"Well, we'll worry about that when we get there, okay? For now, just shut the fuck up and kiss me."

Oh my god, I love you guys so much right now. 5 reviews. This chapter marks the beginning of Shane and Jenny's misadventures on their own. They'll see the group again sooner or later, I'm still figure out when to be honest.. I know the timing's waaay the fuck off, but meh, it's going to be an AU now, so it won't matter much. Sorry if the romance in this is slow and too slow for anyone's liking, I promise it is coming.. I just wanted to have them go slow. I love slow burns.

Now I just have to decide when the group and Shane + Jenny will reunite... Thinking maybe season 4 or 5. Not sure yet. I know it won't be too soon because I already have a few rad ideas..

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR READING THIS. AND THANKS SO MUCH FOR REVIEWING, F/F. YOU ROCK.