AN: New chapter…I'm starting to like writing this one again. Anyway, here it is y'all:

"'Nessa?" Shane replied carefully as he turned to the girl that was still on the bed. No response. He reached out to touch her, and his hand pressed lightly against her cheek. She didn't so much as flinch.

"Shane," he heard the voice again, but there was nobody.

"Whoever is there better stop it!" he exclaimed angrily. He rose from his chair and did a full sweep of the room. There wasn't a sign of anyone anywhere. I must've imagined it, he thought, and sat back down with his head in his hands.

After a few minutes of silence, he knelt at the side of Vanessa's bed and slipped his hand around hers.

"Vanessa, baby, if you're there, I want you to come back to me right now…I can't go on like this…without you here…" tears rolled down Shane's cheeks and he silently cursed them for being there, but still just let them fall. He rested his face against her hands and let sobs shake his body. As he continued to sob, he felt fingers gently grip his. He looked up from her hand and met blue eyes that were lazily open. Another hand reached out and cupped his face and wiped away his salty tears.

"What's wrong?" Vanessa's hoarse voice asked. Shane was completely speechless. He did the only thing he could think of, he raised himself slightly and pressed his lips lightly against hers.

"You're alive…" he sighed.

"And that's a problem?" she asked weakly.

"No! Of course not! You're alive and I love you. I love you, Vanessa."

"And I love you, Shane," she said slightly confused. She wasn't sure what had happened. All she remembered was walking out into the woods to find Carl. "What happened to me?"

"I'm not sure the specifics…but you and Tiffany got into it somehow. She cut your wrists and you lost a lot of blood, Rick donated though, then you were asleep for a long time…"

"Why are you all sweaty?"

"Nightmares," he responded nervously as he grabbed at the back of his neck.

"What about?" she asked curiously.

"Loosing you."

"I'm here now," she wrapped both of her hands around one of his. She looked down at her left hand to admire the ring that was permanently on her ring finger, but she found nothing. Just her bare finger. "Shane…where's my ring?"

"Your ring?" he too looked down at her finger.

"Oh no, I couldn't have lost it…no…no…no…." she covered her face with her hands. "I'm so, so, so, sorry!" tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Hey," he said gently, as he pulled her hands from her face. "Don't worry about it. I have you. I don't need that thing."

"But it was your mother's!"

"It don' matter, Darlin'. I have you, ring or no ring."

"But-"

"No buts," he kissed her forehead.

By the next day, Vanessa was able to be walking around again, but she mostly stayed in the bedroom, Shane at her side. People excused him from the search for Sophia. They understood that he had something he loved, and he didn't want her being any further damaged, and the only way he could be sure of that was to be at her side.

"Shane?" she said softly as they sat in the bed together.

"Yes, baby?"
"So I was thinking'...maybe…just maybe we should leave."

"Leave? Why's that?" no matter how odd the idea sounded, he decided he'd hear her out.

"This happened to me here and nobody, including Rick has even given Tiffany a slap on the wrist. This group isn't safe…"

She made a good point. Even Lori stopped him from hurting Vanessa.

"All right," he agreed. "Where do you want to go?"

"Head back to King County, maybe?"

"When do you wanna leave?"

"Up to you I guess. Take a few guns, some ammo. Not much though."

"Are you gonna tell any of them bye?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. He knew how close Vanessa was with her family, plus he didn't think she was serious about leaving.

"No," she responded, but then gave a little thought to the situation. How Lori would feel. How Carl would feel… "I'll leave them a note, telling them how much I love them…and not to follow us."

"And you're serious about this?"

"Yeah. We have to do what's best for our baby."

AN: Will Vanessa and Shane in fact leave the group? Or will she chicken out? I also want to take time for all of the reviews I'm getting for this…the number is growing witch is very good. I'm thinking about changing the rating back to T. Is anybody opposed to that? I don't think this story's that bad…outside of the violence. Anyway, I'd love some more of your amazing reviews! Thanks for reading! Sorry it was kinda short too…but I wanted to end it there. Thanks again y'all!