Good morning! Hope you guys like this chapter! Don't you guys just love Lori? Yeah, me neither ;) Much love for the reviews and follows and favorites!

Chapter Fifty Three

Carol could feel the tension in the room. It was like a board meeting or something. There were a lot of things that they all needed to discuss and once again they were all gathered around the table. Everyone except Shane, who no one had seen since the incident with Merle and Sophia. She glanced across the table where Merle was sitting with Maggie. He was staring off into space again. Something was wrong with him and that made her nervous. Nothing ever bothered Merle.

She stretched out her leg and kicked his shin lightly. He seemed to snap out of his daze long enough to give her a quick smirk but then he went right back to staring off at nothing. Maggie kept glancing at him too and every time she did she would get this strange smile on her face.

Rick's voice once again demanded her attention. "Now, I know what I think needs to be done about Shane. But I ain't gonna act like this is just up to me. I need to know how you all feel about it. We vote."

Lori spoke up then. "Don't you think we need the details? Like, what exactly did Merle do to set him off like that. You know Shane. You know he isn't a dangerous person."

Rick gave her that disgusted look again that he had been giving her a lot lately. But he did eventually give her a nod. His eyes found Merle, who once again was looking at the center of the table, obviously not paying any attention.

"Merle?" Rick said after he realized Merle wasn't paying him any mind at all. Maggie elbowed him in the ribs and then he finally glanced around and noticed that everyone was staring at him.

"What the fuck ya'll lookin' at?" He grumbled as he scooted down in his seat.

Hershel groaned at his choice of words but other than that he kept quiet.

"I asked if you could tell us exactly why Shane did what he did." Rick asked again.

Merle shrugged. "He was runnin' his mouth. I ran mine back. I guess he didn't much care for what I had to say."

"And he just drew on you? Didn't try to fight you?" Rick asked.

Merle sent him a cold look. "Fightin' me ain't all that easy if I see it see comin', Officer Friendly. Shane knows that."

Rick just nodded and then Lori shot him an incredulous look. "You aren't even going to ask him what he said?" She asked angrily.

"Does it matter? Hell, I caught the man having sex with my wife and I didn't draw a gun on him. I don't really care what Merle said to him. What I care about is keeping everyone safe. A man that threatens to shoot someone over an argument isn't very stable. It ain't safe, him bein' here."

"I saw what Daryl did. Someone that's capable of something like that isn't safe to have around either." She spat.

Carol felt the angry flush of heat rise up her cheeks but she didn't say anything. There was no talking any logic into that woman.

Andrea rolled her eyes. "Maybe we should have invited those men in, Lori. Offered them some food and polite conversation and then send them on their way."

Lori glared. "That isn't what I'm saying." She spat.

Rick smacked his hands on the table. "The man was talking about raping girls, Lori." He hissed. "You tellin' me you don't see why Daryl may have lost his head a little over somethin' like that? Do you even realize how close Sophia and Carl came to that camp? I want you to picture that little girl in your head right now and things that could have happened to her if she hadn't had the good sense to get the hell away before they spotted her."

Lori's face grew very pale and then she looked down at the table.

Rick sighed. "We're getting off track here. This isn't about the other group. Not yet. This is about our own and what we need to do to keep ourselves safe." The room grew quiet once more after that statement. No one really said anything. Merle slipped back into that trance he had been in all evening and Daryl groaned warily next to Carol. She knew exactly how he felt.

"He leaves or I kill him." Daryl said after the silence went on for too long.

Ricks head snapped up. "Daryl that ain't how we do things."

"He put a gun to my brother's head. Would have shot him too if Sophia hadn't showed up." He growled. "He leaves or he dies. Ya'll got a problem with that and we can get our shit packed and be gone by mornin'. But he'll be dead before I leave, you can bet on that."

Rick stared at him for a long time and Carol started getting nervous. She didn't want to leave. She would if it came to that but she didn't want to take Sophia away from these people. She looked up and caught Andrea's eye from across the table. The other woman gave her a nod and then glanced towards Rick.

"If they leaves then me and Amy are leaving with them. Merle runs his mouth a lot but Shane had no right to do what he did and Daryl did every one of us a favor." She said in a stern voice.

"If Amy leaves then I leave." Glen said suddenly.

"If the girls leave then I have no choice but to go with them." Dale said quietly.

Carol was shocked. She had not been expecting that at all. Rick had no choice now. It was either Shane leaves or the entire group leaves. She felt a lump forming in her throat as she looked at Andrea from across the table.

Milton pushed his glasses up and glanced nervously around. "I don't want to leave. But I will if the rest of my group leaves."

Everyone gaped at him. Carol felt touched to her core. The fact that he called them his group made the biggest difference in the world than if he had used another word. She reached for Daryl's hand under the table. He jerked and then eyed her when she touched his thigh instead. She almost had to laugh but felt that it was certainly not the time for that. She found his hand and he gave hers a squeeze.

When she looked back up at Merle he was finally out of his daze and was scowling. He was not happy. She didn't figure he would be.

"I don't think I feel very safe with Shane here. I have my family to think about. My girls." Hershel said with a shake of his head. "This is my farm and I want him off of it."

"Then it's settled. He has to leave." Rick said sternly. He flashed Lori a look but she was still staring at the tabletop. "Now, about this other group. They're a threat. Duane confirmed that he had seen Dave leading the group that attacked him and Morgan. Now we need to decide if we wait for them to come or take the fight to the woods."

"I thought you wanted to go find your friend." Daryl asked.

Rick just looked at him. "And I was wrong. Whatever we do, we all need to do it together. No splitting up our group. And after what we found out about those men we can pretty much bet that Morgan didn't make it. I still have to talk to Randal so Daryl, you need to stay out of that shed."

Daryl looked away but nodded. From the looks of it he really had been looking forward to go back out to that shed.

"So we would all be going out there?" Lori asked as she finally looked at Rick. Her eyes were moist and her voice broke.

"If we decide to go after them then I don't see any other way." He said quietly. "No one gets left behind."

"Then I vote no. We should stay here. If you think Morgan is gone then there isn't any reason to go after them. Is there?" Lori looked from face to face and Carol hated to admit it but she had to agree with her. She didn't want anyone in those woods and if Rick wanted them all to go then that meant the kids too and that was out of the question.

"No." She said suddenly. "I vote no."

And so it went. They would stay at the farm. No one wanted to go out there and no one would agree to Ricks initial idea of splitting up the men and leading a smaller party out there to possibly be slaughtered. Daryl's refusal to go with him really did hinder Ricks chances of finding anything to begin with. He was not a tracker.

"So we find Shane and let him know what's been decided." Rick said as he got up and then shook Hershel's hand. "Daryl?" He looked at him expectantly.

Daryl nodded and wordlessly rose from the chair. Carol had a sick feeling in her gut as they walked out of the room.

~H~

Sophia tried to pay attention to what Beth was saying but she couldn't focus. She was angry that they had made all of the kids hide out in Beth's room while they all discussed what was going to be happening with Shane. Sure she was only twelve but she had been the one to find him there with that gun pressed up against Merle's head. It made her stomach do sick little twists when she remembered the crazy look in Shane's eye.

She should be down there. They needed to hear her two cents and it wasn't fair that they were treating her like a child. Twelve years old or not, she wasn't a kid anymore. None of them were. She felt most betrayed by the Dixon brothers. She had expected them to back her in her arguments but Merle was about as responsive as a Walker himself and Daryl was no help what so ever.

"Sophia?" Beth asked, apparently not for the first time.

Sophia offered her a small smile. "Sorry. What were you saying?"

Beth just smiled and shook her head. "I asked if you were happy about staying on here?"

Sophia nodded. "I like it here. I think we need to secure it better but other than that it's really great."

Carl and Duane were both sitting cross legged on the floor with their backs pressed up against the wall. She liked Duane a lot. He was really nice but he didn't talk much. She guessed if something bad happened to Daryl like what happened to his dad she would feel the same way. She knew what Carl's problem was and she felt really bad for him. He knew what was going to happen to Shane and it hurt him pretty bad. She had to keep reminding herself that Shane was someone that Carl loved like family. He felt the same way about Shane as she did Merle.

She needed to count her blessings. Duane had lost his dad. Carl was about to lose Shane. And there she was, finally, with everything she had ever wanted. She wanted to talk to Carl alone. Wanted to offer him some sort of comfort but Beth and Jimmy were under strict orders to not let any of them out of their sights. Daryl and Merle both thought that if Shane stumbled on her alone that he would hurt her. She wasn't afraid of Shane. She had a gun thanks to Daryl. She knew how to use it thanks to Merle and she loathed the man enough to shoot him thanks to her mother.

She slid off of Beth's bed where she had been sitting for what seemed like hours and made her way over to the morose looking boys. She squeezed into the small space between them. "You two okay?" She asked quietly.

Duane nodded but didn't look like he was okay at all. Sophia's put a hand on his and he glanced at her.

"At least you aren't alone anymore." She said with a small smile. "That has to count for something."

The corner of his mouth pulled up a bit and he nodded at her. "It does. It was scary out there."

"I couldn't imagine being out there alone. I had Carl and that made the biggest difference in the world." She said sincerely. She didn't even want to think of what it would have been like without her friend. She wished that she could make things better for them but she just didn't know how. This was big stuff and even though she didn't feel like a kid she still wasn't sure what in the world she could say to these boys to make them feel better. Or if there was even anything that could be said at all. Nothing she said would bring Duane's dad back and nothing she said would take away what Shane had done today.

She was afraid that Carl might be mad at her and if the situation was reversed she knew she would be furious with him. She glanced at his face but he just sat there looking straight ahead with that look on his face that bothered her so much. She felt tears spring to her eyes. Daryl said no hugging. So she wouldn't hug him. God knew as soon as she did he would barge in and freak out. So she simply laid her head on his shoulder and joined him in his silence, so he'd know he wasn't alone. He'd know she was still there for him.

She felt his hand wrap around hers then and she smiled slightly and gave his fingers a squeeze. He knew she was there. And he knew she wasn't going anywhere any time soon. And he didn't hate her for what had happened.