Random Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of it's by-products but I do own my one OC Rosie (take her if you want her :-P)

Chapter 16:

Night the 1st

"Fuck me…"

"Fred, watch your language." Lori scolded knowing all too well the kids were nearby, she could completely understand why he swore though, before them lay enough weapons to arm a small army. There were rifles, shotguns, pistols, revolvers and she even spotted a box of grenades on the top shelf.

"That's a lot of guns…" Hannah mused from behind Shane, he turned and grinned cockily as he walked in and examined one of the finer rifles.

"We still got the ammo?" he asked to older cop who answered happily.

"Yeah, we never opened the cache to the general public even after the attacks began." Lam said, the man seemed just calm as Lori remembered from when she last met him, the Lori had met Rick's co-workers several times when she visited him at work.

"Good, this should keep us for a long time." Hannah said, the 4 of them stood in relative awe as Lam smiled, Lori turned to him, she needed questions answered.

"What's the deal with the watch then?" she asked calmly.

"Before when it was the three of us we would do an hour each to stop ourselves from going crazy, however most of the time when we had nothing to do we just all took watch at the same time." Lam said.

"Well we better draw up a schedule, we have over a dozen out our disposal now for chores, might as well utilise them." Shane pitched.

"I don't know how I feel about my kid seeing the kinds of things out there." Lori said but was was met with an irritable Hannah.

"What's your plan then Lori? Lock your kid in a black box and shield him from the world?" she asked, Lori was slightly offended but understood her concern.

"That's a little extreme, I just don't want him traumatised."

"Well he is gonna be exposed soon, would you rather it be from a safe distance or when he meets one up close?" Hannah asked, Lori thought about the scenario, Carl caught off-guard and not knowing what to do, she refused to complete the scenario in her mind.

"Fine, but I want to accompany him on his shifts." Lori said firmly, Hannah smiled as Shane locked the cache door and handed Lam the key.

"We'll distribute weapons tomorrow… think Paula and Carol have finished dinner yet?" Shane asked moving back through to what used to be the Staff Common Room but was now more of a common area. Leon and Rosie were on watch, the kids and Cindy were playing Gin Rummy (a personal favourite card game of Lori's) and Morgan and Cindy were busy prepping their respective sleeping areas.

It had been simple, there had been three rooms of five beds available. Lori, Carol, Paula, Hannah and Rosie had taken room one, Shane, Leon, Lam and Morgan had taken room two and the kids had taken the final room, there had been debate about whether that was a smart idea but they came to the realisation that the kids would get sick of each other very quickly, Fred and Cindy would be sleeping on the sofa which was incidentally a futon.

"Hey Carol, how's dinner looking?" Lori asked walking over, they had crammed some diced tomatoes and rigatoni into their bags from the Drake's and tonight Carol was cooking her special Pasta a la Carol (admittedly then name name lacked creativity).

"Nearly done, give it 15 minutes I'd say." She said smiling, Lori had to admire this woman, her husband's death had unhinged her slightly but she was coping much better lately.

"Great, haven't had pasta in ages." Lori said trying to ignore her stomachs pleas.

Just wait… she told it.

To her left she saw Hannah's daughter Jamie excuse herself and walk further into the station, she wasn't sure how Jamie was coping but Hannah had assured her she was doing just fine, Lori was sceptical however and decided to keep an eye on her.

"Hey Lori can you give me a hand with something?" Shane asked from the hallway.

"Sure." She said following him, she took down the hallway near where the cache was but took a left turn so they were in the generator room.

"What do you need a hand with?" she asked Shane when he stopped moving, he turned and walked over to the door shutting it.

"I need to talk with you." He said in a dark tone.

Lori's body stiffened, she had been avoiding Shane since she had first felt those feelings towards him. Those feelings of dependency, reliance… maybe something more.

We don't have anything to talk about." Lori said firmly try to walk past him but he caught her arm.

"We sure as hell do, you can't deny something is happening between us Lor…"

"Shane, there ain't anything happening between us." Lori said avoiding eye contact at all possible costs.

"Shoot, you know that's a lie…"

"Even if it is Shane that doesn't change anything. I am my husband's wife."

"Lori he's gone, when are you gonna accept that?"

"I've accepted it Shane, it took me a while but I have accepted it and I am not going to just forget about him like that." Lori clicked her fingers on the final word, she began to tear up and the last few words had become slightly choked.

"Lori, you can't just close yourself off."

"Shane stop…"

"You keep pulling away I can't help you…"

Stop… Please…"

"You gotta face the truth Lori!"

"Stop!" she all but shouted, she broke down and collapsed into his arms, he hugged her tightly as she began to break down. The waves hit her, those strong and powerful waves of sadness and fear she had been repressing the last few weeks, that tidal wave of crippling despair that encased her in that moment.

It may have been 5 or 10 minutes whilst she was held in his arms before she could speak again.

"Thanks Shane… I needed to hear that…" she muttered wiping her eyes, they still were locked in an embrace she found hard to break.

"Anything for you Lor…" he whispered back, they made eye contact and Lori felt him drawing in, she tried to pull away but her mind paralysed her as his lips connected with hers.

For a few seconds there was no movement between them, Lori kissed back as the hugged tighter, in those moments she felt whole again, she felt stable, able to think, able to feel more than a barely stable clump of emotions.

However the moment was broken when she realised what she was doing, her mind exploded into actions as mental images of Rick and Carl forced their way inside of her head. She drew back sharply and twisted out of Shane's arms, there were a few moments as Lori stared at him horrified at what she had done, without another word she pushed past him and opened the door before running into another room. It was an office of some kind where she locked the door and broke down again.

What had she done?

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Jamie muffled her cries using her sleeve, it barely did the job but it did it nonetheless. She had been crying for 5 minutes now, at first it had been a small sniffle, then a rogue tear… then before she knew it she was choking back wails she couldn't contain anymore. She didn't even know what she was crying about anymore, just that she needed to before she exploded, she felt the bubble begin when she was playing Gin Rummy with the other kids, she had left just in case and now she couldn't stop.

She was nearly blind with tears, her face was wet and her loose hair that hung over her head had become wet as well, she was a mess and as soon as she left the room people would see… more importantly her Mom would see and she would fawn over her, she didn't want her Mom to worry, she already had Billy to deal with… She certainly didn't need some weak and needy little blubbering girl.

She was curled up in the bathroom connected to her room; she shared it with Duane, Carl, Sophia and Billy. They were kinda looking forward to a sleepover kind of thing but Jamie knew she wouldn't like sleeping with boys. The bathroom was okay but it was more made for several people to use at once which she would not do, however it was closed off from everywhere else and at the moment that is all she wanted.

She heard the door to the bedroom open and close and quickly tried to compose herself, she couldn't stop herself crying immediately but she rolled up the soaked sleeve and brushed the matted hair out of her face and wiped her eyes as the door opened.

The other girl Sophia walked in, she jumped slightly at the sight of Jamie, obviously not expecting to see her there.

"Oh, hi." She said cheerfully as she walked past Jamie and into one of the stalls, she didn't get a good look at Jamie which was good because she was still a mess, as Sophia was using the toilet she tried to dry her eyes and hair and make herself look composed but it didn't work, she still looked profusely upset.

Sophia flushed and left the stall, she washed her hands and looked at Jamie for the first time, Jamie kept the sobs in but found them surfacing as she caught Sophia staring.

"Are you okay?" she asked in a light voice, she seemed genuinely concerned.

"I'm… fine." Jamie pushed out, honestly if she was aiming for subtle she was really blowing it.

"Are you crying?" she asked as another few tears came from Jamie's eyes, she wiped at them quickly but they were soon replaced, she tried to speak but she could only feebly nod as she resumed the crouched position on the floor. Her body was racked with sobs as she felt the girl sit down beside her, she was a year younger than Jamie from what she remembered but was twice as sweet.

"Don't cry, everything will be fine." She comforted as Jamie continued to sob.

"I… know… it's just… just… I don't know…" was all she could manage, Sophia just held onto her, the weight of the fragile girl comforting as she continued to cry, she was so ashamed, here she was breaking down in front of this girl she hadn't even known for a day, she must look like such a baby.

"Don't worry… I cry all the time." She admitted, Jamie looked up slightly surprised.

"Why?" she asked in a very stuffy voice as she wiped her face again.

"Sometimes I don't know. Like how sometimes I think about my old friends… Sometimes it just happens and I can't help but cry." She said sadly wiping a few strands of Jamie's hair which was now plastered to her wet face.

"What do you do?" Jamie asked recovering slightly using the other sleeve to wipe away the excess fluids.

"Usually I just let it out, lately Carl has always helped me…" she said blushing slightly, Jamie now realised that she liked Carl.

"Do you like him?" she asked very bluntly, Sophia giggled and turned a brighter shade of red.

"No!"

"Oh my God you so do!"

"I do not!"

"You do, you're blushing so brightly." Jamie taunted as Sophia hid her face in her hands, the moment of absolute childishness returning her to her former state of happiness.

"Okay… maybe I do but don't tell him!" she pleaded, Jamie just giggled and sang in a sing-song voice.

"Carl and Sophia sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N…" she began but broke down laughing at Sophia face.

"Jamie!" she pleaded further and Jamie stopped the laughing as she looked at her new friend in the face.

"Don't worry, I won't."

"Pinkie swear?" Sophia said extending said pinkie.

"Swear." She said linking her pinkie with hers, the shook as they both stood up, Jamie caught site of herself in the mirror, she looked much better than she did a minute or so before.

"Thanks." She said smiling at Sophia.

"No problem." Sophia returned the smile as she walked out the door, Jamie smiled as she followed her new friend to what was now the smell of an amazing pasta sauce.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Something was definitely up with the atmosphere at the table, Paula couldn't put her finger on it but something was wrong for sure. Everybody minus Shane (who volunteered for watch duty) was sitting in the cafeteria around on the merged tables, the kids sat on the neighbouring table chatting much like kids did.

First of all Lori wasn't talking to anyone, even when she did it was 'yes' or 'no' or 'I don't know', Shane had taken his food and left as soon as he had returned from out back with Lori. Paula didn't need sharp detective skills to know that something had happened between those two.

Secondly something was definitely going on between Leon and Hannah, they kept throwing each other flirty remarks and even though it had only been a day they were getting along very well.

Also something was up with Jamie, she had been in the bathroom for 10 minutes and when she came out with Sophia, although she was laughing, she had the unmistakable appearance of someone who had just been laughing.

The pasta however was amazing, although she only had rudimentary ingredients Carol knew how to make pasta, Paula had offered to help but this woman was in a league of her own. Super Housewife.

"Wow… This is amazing…" Cindy all but moaned from the other end of the table, her compliment was met with a chorus of agreeable noises.

"Absolutely." Morgan said.

"Couldn't have made it better myself." Rosie said with a half full mouth.

"A toast to Carol for an amazing dish and our new hosts, we thank you for your hospitality!" Morgan said raising the cup of blackcurrant cordial in the air.

"Cheers!" everybody said as one, even the kids. This was the first night since the beginning where everybody felt safe, they laughed, they joked, the kids played before going to bed and everybody talked amongst themselves. Lori went to bed fairly quickly and was followed by Cindy. Rosie called it quits next along with and Carol. By the end of the evening Morgan and Lam agreed to tag out with Shane who went to bed immediately leaving Paula, Hannah, Leon and Fred.

They sat on the sofa drinking a bottle of wine Leon had stolen from the Sheriff's liquor cabinet ("He won't be needing this anymore!"), they had moved onto the topic of what to do next.

"Well our food, water and ammo are good for what could be another two weeks with this amount of people. But I know we've wanted to go scouting for a while now." Leon said as they were all on their final glass.

"Why didn't you?" asked Fred.

"Well we would need to send two and we didn't fancy leaving the station lightly guarded. It would only be a matter of time before someone was smart enough to realise the station was a good place to hang out."

"And realise it she did." Paula commented tipping her glass to Hannah who smiled and gave a curt nod.

"Anyways with this many people scouting shouldn't be an issue, obviously we would like a fair few people behind who are trained in weapons."

"Seems fair, when were you thinking of going." Hannah asked.

"Why not tomorrow? We may be good for things like food and water but clothing seems to be an issue not to mention things to do." Leon said grimly, Paula nodded.

"5 kids and no video games, that's gonna be a handful." She commented causing the others to laugh.

"Well, I'm gonna hit the sack, pray to God I don't wake up Cindy or she'll punch me through a wall." He remarked as he sleuthed back towards where he and Cindy were sleeping.

"So how do you two know each other?" Paula asked Leon and Hannah, they both looked at each other and laughed slightly.

"We dated not long ago." Hannah answered.

"Really?" Paula asked slightly shell-shocked.

"Yeah." Leon said with a chuckle, Hannah seemed pretty amused too.

"What happened?"

"Well…" Leon began looking at Hannah before continuing, "We met at the restaurant down on Main Street… What was it?"

"Angelo's" Hannah inserted.

"Angelo's, anyway we had met there at a dinner function the month previously so we thought it would be something nice to do." Leon said, neither was laughing anymore but small smiles remained.

"I was invited by my friend Marylyn to go, anyway not important, what was important was Leon's ex-girlfriend." Hannah reminisced as Leon groaned.

"Oh my God… Elise…"

"Yep, she came storming into the restaurant telling Leon that she had his baby. She was turning over table she was so angry, naturally I was angry at both of them and I left." Hannah said looking to Leon who continued the story.

"Well turns out she didn't have my baby, she was from 2 months ago and when she was still skinny going into month three I figured she had nothing, just a jealous ol' sack of crazy. Got a restraining order filed against her straight away." He said with a chuckle, Paula chuckled herself as Hannah took over.

"Anyway he called again and we went to dinner the following week."

"Not Angelo's." Leon inserted.

"Not Angelo's, some place up-town, Italian. We got along great and it was fun and everything but I found between work and my kids I couldn't keep up with a relationship."

Leon nodded.

"And my work was demanding to, between the both of us being unavailable we just decided to wait a bit first. Never got round to calling you back." He commented turning to Hannah.

"Neither." She said, there were several moments of silence as Paula felt her role as a third wheel increasing by the second.

"Such a shame, anyway I am gonna hit the sack to. I am looking forward to a long lie in." she smirked as she began walking back to her room, she waved goodnight as the two lovebirds returned to wave, she staggered slightly as she walked, her brain protesting at the focus it took, she found her room with the other women and opened the door carefully, she crept in and found her bed on the far side of the room.

The tolls of the day had caught up with her as she flung herself on the bed, the soft covers wrapped her up as she began to fall asleep, she didn't even have time to remove her clothes before she was sound asleep.