Author's Notes: Yes, yes, I know this took forever! I'm horrible with updating, but I'll be better or you can send me to walker hell...or heaven, they'll both probably just as bad if you ask me. Like always, The Walking dead has gone on their mid-season break, and on their way our they broke out spirit and punched us in the gut. I will say though, I do enjoy where the show is going and I think the episode 'Too Far Gone' was one of the best episodes of the season. One thing I don't like though is that any relationship or friend that Carl and Beth had formed from season 3 has been totally ignored this season, which I really can't understand. I'm lost on how they went from always trading looks and glances at each other in season 3, to not even speaking to each other onscreen anymore, even when they were quarantined together for like three episodes! Maybe it's cause their trying to focus on building the characters as a their own separate person before doing any pairings between anyone, which personally I respect. While I do know people like Glenn and Maggie, I think that they've become increasingly less interesting since their only development was their relationship, yes their was some subplots here and there, but nothing branching away from the other. My other theory was one that I heard awhile back, that the end of season 3 had a greater effect on their budding romance than we thought; Carl almost lost himself last season and Beth apparently started dealing with things by shutting herself emotionally away, they might have fallen in love at a bad time, sensing that the only right thing to do was to let go. Carl pretend to act like a kid again, and Beth pretended she couldn't feel anymore. I'm hoping that they'll somehow at least acknowledge their feelings for each other, even if their gone. Continuity people! You started this ship, now either take back the wheel or give it to SuperNeos2 so we can have a proper captain for this ship! Also, this is the last thing I'll bring up in my rant; Carl did not kill Karen and David, he wasn't the one feeding the walkers, and he didn't want to take the shot at The Governor for reasons of pride or ego. Carol killed Karen and David, we all have to accept that, the one feeding the walkers was most likely Lizzie and Mika, and if you've read the comics, you can guess that their story arc will probably end up like Ben & Billy's from the comics, and finally he wanted to kill The Governor, because the second Rick gave him back his gun, he started going back to his season 3 finale mind set, and that was to kill all and any threats to his friends and family. It's been pretty clear he values the lives of his friends and family over his own reputation, his humanity and his very own life. He's not like the Governor, I actually think he takes all of Rick, Shane, and Daryl's best traits and mirrors all of their flaws. That's why Carl Grimes is my favorite character on the show, because he'll do whatever he needs to for the people he loves. That is actually why I believed he gave up on so many things in season 3 and season 4, he realized that he could try to read comics, try to go to story time, and even try to make Beth like him, but in the end he'll always be the soldier ready for war, his place isn't in peaceful times, just battle. To me, Carl is the true version of a tragic hero in the making.

Anyway, my rant is over. You people didn't come here for that! You came for the update! I will say this before I go, I'm happy that everyone likes this story and loves my version of Shane, I thought people who be hating him, but they love the crazy bastard!

Now, time to reply to the reviewers!

Reviewer: Will Daryl and Carol ever cross paths? Just curious.

Answer: Yes, in fact I plan to make both of them have bigger roles as the story goes on. Same goes for Sophie.

Reviewer: Will Lizzie and Mika Samuels appear?

Answer: Yes, Next update will have both of them in it.

So, with nothing left to say, read, enjoy and review!

Chapter 6: Drunken Days & Warm Rooftops

Larry's Pub, 5:34pm

"Another!" Rick demanded slamming down his first beer. It had been three weeks since Carl had gotten a phone call from Lori on his birthday, and to say the least he wasn't taking it that well.

'Shoulda told him to just toss the phone on Kenny's grill or something like maybe…' He muttered mentally.

Lori had been trying to get in touch with Carl for the last week, and for some reason Carl refused to answer any calls. He would just put it of, and off...and off. WHY WAS HE PUTTING IT OFF?!

Rick's next beer came sliding towards him from the bartender, he put his hand out to catch it, but the suddenly appearing hand of his partner Shane, intercepted the drink.

"Sup, buddy?" He said as he took a long swig of the cheap beer.

"Another!" Rick shouted, he then turned to his friend and gave him an annoyed, questioning stares. "How'd you find me?"

"Carl said you were going out to go get drunk, so he was gonna spend the night at a friend's house." Shane offered simply. "And besides if you gonna get drunk, than I'm gonna get freaking wrecked!"

Rick's eyebrow raised, his eye almost twitched, but he held it back. "A friend's house?"

Shane nodded his head. "Yup, a friend's house." He took another swig of the beer. "And nah, before you even think it, he ain't staying at Beth's pad. Asked him myself a couple of times."

"Then where's he staying?" Rick really wasn't going to ask if his son was staying at the teenager girl's house, he was still young…but he was thinking it a little bit.

Shrugging, Shane finished his beer then made a gesture, signaling he wanted another. "Some kid's house. Think his name was Duck."

"Duck?" Rick repeated skeptically.

"Yup" Shane answered, not even turning away from his beer.

The other beer Rick ordered came sliding his way, he eyed his partner cautiously, but the man didn't even glance at the oncoming beer. Licking his dry lips, Rick stretched out his hand to catch it again, but only to have his beer stolen again, but this time it wasn't from Shane, but from another wandering hand.

"Don't mind if I does." Daryl slurred as he downed Rick's beer in one giant swig, he then slammed it down on the counter and stalked off.

Rick and Shane shared looks of confusion; they followed Daryl with their eyes until they found him collapsed in afar of both in the dark part of the bar. He stripped himself of his leather jacket, hollered for some whiskey then began to blankly look at the table. He didn't move after that, he just sat there waiting for his drink, and when it came, he just drank it quietly, not moving or looking up from the table.

"The hell was that about?" Shane asked his best friend.

Shaking his head, Rick looked gestured for another beer from the bartender, who at this point was started to get pissed off at Rick for his constant order of beers. "Lilly, get this man a damn beer! Sissy boy keeps losing it!

A woman appeared from the kitchen of the bar, grumbling curses every which way, she took beer out from under the counter then slid its Rick's way. "Try to keep the damn thing , alright?" She grumbled out.

"Thanks" Rick muttered, he brought the beer to his lips and let the cheap tasting drink wash down his throat.

"You!" Lilly pointed to Shane. "Those beer nuts you stole… Pay up or put them back.

Shane looked around suspiciously. He glanced at Rick for help, but the man just shrugged his shoulders and continued to chug his beer. "Come on, lady, you ain't got any proof…"

Sighing, Lilly jumped over the counter and in a split second had lunged at Shane, and since he was so caught off guard by the woman's actions, he didn't even have time to think of a counter. She pinned him to the counter and started to go through his pockets.

"Help!" Shane hollered. "I need an adult! I need an adult!" He looked to his brother for help, but Rick didn't even glance his way. "Really, brother? Really? You're doing this now?"

After spending a minute digging in Shane's pockets, Lilly pulled out a handful of beer nuts. "Knew it." She whispered to herself. She tossed them back in the old, wooden bowl on the counter then hopped back over. "Going on break dad!" She hollered to her father.

"That's my girl." The bartender, Larry , said to himself.

Finishing his beer, Rick turned to Shane, a small, drunken smile playing on his lips. "You alright there, brother?"

Shane fixed himself from the counter, looked back and forth from where Lilly had disappeared and back to his brother, a giant grin plastered on his face. "I think I'm in love!" He howled.

3 hours later.

"It ain't like it was before!" Shane yelled at Rick.

"Brother, calm down!" Rick pleaded with him.

Shaking his head, Shane glared at Rick. "If you wanna survive , if you wanna live! You have to fight! Right here! Right now!"

Rick knew that look in his best friend's eyes and knew that a compromise was out of the question. "Please, don't do this Shane!" he said weakly."

"Never!" Shane then bolted away from Rick and to his destiny.

The light slowly faded from his eyes as he watched Shane, he knew what was coming and he couldn't help but feel a pain of guilt. He knew what was coming, but there was nothing he could do when Shane got like this. All he could do was sit and watch.

Reaching his destination, Shane looked out at the people around him, took a deep breath, and grabbed the microphone, he then brought it to his lips and started to drunkenly sing. "Just a small town girl, living in a lonely world!"

Since he was sure he was too drunk to operate his mind the right way, Rick's eye didn't even bother twitching, he was too buzzed.

"Sounds like your friend's had enough." A certain internal affairs officer says sitting down next to Rick.

Slowly turning towards the voice, Rick smirked as he took sight of Michonne. Her dreadlocks were out of its ponytail and hung lousy around her face, she had abounded the more formal pantsuit she had donned at work and was now wearing attire that is more casual.

"Third time." Rick said, chuckling as he ordered another beer and looked away from Shane's singing.

Michonne motioned for her own beer from the bartender and smiled coly at Rick. "What's the third time, detective?" She asked.

"Third time we've ran into each other in this giant, large, highly populated city." Rick

Michonne smile grew. "Maybe I'm trying to frame you and your partner for something." She joked.

Rick started to loudly laugh, smacking the table hard and holding shaking his head back and forth. "You think framing that guy!" He pointed to Shane, who was busy at the moment with an air gutter solo. "And this moron," he pointed to himself "Would ever work?"

"No, I guess it wouldn't" Michonne says, laughing along with Rick. "But I only ran into you this time is because this is a favorite hangout spot for cops, lawyers and other people in the criminal justice field.

Looking around, Rick did notice that many of the people in the bar were cops he recognized from work, and the ones he didn't 100% looked like cops. "Guess you got a point there." He says. "So you're just here to hang out?"

Michonne shook her head and sighed. "ActuallyI got dragged here by my best friend."

Rick wasn't a stranger to that happening, he couldn't even count how many times Shane had dragged him somewhere he didn't really want to be at. "Why she drag you here?"

Michonne pointed to the corner, and Rick followed her finger. She had pointed to where Dixon had been sulking in the corner, but now Andrea was sitting in the booth with him. However, he wasn't sure if she was trying to console him…or strangle him.

"Before you even say it, no, I don't know if she's trying to help him or hurt him." Michonne answered, somehow guessing what Rick was thinking. "So I thought while she dealt with Dixon, I'd get to know the new sheriff in town."

Normally Rick would just shy away from talking about himself, but for some reason he didn't feel like doing that tonight. Maybe it was the liquor in his body or the fact that he was actually interested to get to know this mysterious woman.

Taking a quick swig of his drink, Rick looked at Michonne and said "What do you want to know?"

"Everything." Michonne replied as she scooted her stool closer to Rick's.

2 hours later

"So you really gave your own mayor a ticket?" Michonne questioned laughing,. She had to admit, Rick Grimes had guts.

Rick shrugged sheepishly. "Hey, it was my third time pulling him over that week. Had to do something.

Michonne smiled at Rick, she was actually have a fun time talking to a cop. He was pretty fascinating, there was a southern charm to him. She then saw something over his shoulder and her smiled became strikingly bigger.

"What?" Rick questioned, noticing Michonne's tricky smirk on her face.

"You might want to look behind you." She answers

Rick looked over his shoulder to see Shane talking with the Bartender's daughter, Lilly, who was actually talking back to him.

"Why do you keep coming back over here?" Lilly sighed as she cleaned a dirty glass.

"Cause I think we have a connection, damn it!" Shane said gesturing between the two.

Lilly rolled her eyes. "What connection? I pinned you to a counter and took back the bar's bear nuts."

"And that's what I love in a woman!" He replied "Forcefulness. Get physical with me!"

"Oh, God, please don't ever tell me to get physical with you." Lilly says as she pushed Shane a couple of feet away from her.

That didn't stop Shane though, this Lilly woman was in his sights and that meant she was locked in there till he thought otherwise or there was a restraining order. "Listen, I'm asking for one night out. Don't even call it a date," He had a plan; he just needed her to say yes. "Just call it you getting me off your back."

Lilly looked at Shane wryly, trying to see the sincerity in his words. "No tricks, right?" She questioned.

He smiled and out stretched his hand to her "No tricks."

Sighing, Lilly grudgingly shook his hand. "One night. That's it."

Shane shook her hand back and gave a pleasing smile her way, and even Lilly had to admit he was charming, in an annoyingly endearing type of way.

"Looks like your brother just made a date with Ms. Lilly Caul." Michonne voiced from her spot next to Rick.

The city cop smiled at the sight in front of him. Something told him that the date between the two would be definitely something to talk about. "Looks like it. It'd be his first date since we left Kings County."

"What about you?" Michonne asked him suddenly.

Rick looked back at her. "What about me?"

Michonne shrugged, swirling her drink around. "Have you been out at all since coming here?" She asked looking away from Rick.

"Not really." Rick answered truthfully, not even bothering to hide the fact that he rarely went out. "If I'm not at work, I'm with Carl."

"Your son, right?" Michonne asked. "The one who was asking about third base and all that."

Chuckling at the memory, Rick smiled at the thought. His face took on a gentleness and love as he talked about his son. "Yeah that's my little man. Every day /I get out of work, we go to Kenny's dinner and eat, talk about our day, and everything else in-between."

Michonne smiled fondly at Rick "Sounds like you two are close."

"We are." Rick says. "He's my boy, greatest thing I ever did."

"It's good for a parent to be close to their child." Michonne softly uttered as she looked off into the distance, pass Rick, Pass Shane & Lilly in the background, and pass the very bar itself. It was almost as if she was trying to see something that had long since been gone from her sight, her eyes were almost dim as she spoke. "They'll look to you for answers, for a good life, for protection…" She slowly trailed off, losing her convictions to continue talking.

Rick took notice of the change of mood between them, he hesitantly unreached his arm to put it on her shoulder but stopped halfway, almost not sure, if he should attempt the gesture. When she didn't seem to snap back to normal, he just deiced to just do it and the hell with what happens after. He placed his hand on her shoulder and rubbed it up and down gently. She didn't push him away, instead she let this almost stranger try to comforts her.

"Hey, you alright?" He questioned after a moment of tense silence.

She nodded her head, still looking away from him. "It's nothing, detective… Just a passing thought."

They stayed like that for a bit, then after the moment had passed, she turned back to Rick, smiling and having her natural perplexing boy look back on her face. He was taken aback by how quickly she could change her mood, but did his best to hide it.

"So, detective, I'm waiting." Michonne said.

Rick raised an eyebrow, feeling like an eye twitch was about to happen to him again. "Waiting for what?" He asked, he started taking a sip of his beer, hoping it would calm his building nerves.

Michonne looked at him like he was the most obliviousness man in the world. "For you to ask me out of course."

He started to choke on his drink after hearing that. Coughing and beating his chest hard, Rick's eye went to full-blown twitch mode. "What?! I mean, not that I wouldn't want to, I mean, your very attractive, I um, stuff, things….um.." Rick started to babble randomly. He was at a loss for words, he wasn't use to getting asked out, and he REALLY wasn't use to someone telling him to ask them out.

It was a known fact that Grime's men didn't handle stress well and when they didn't, they went into the ozone layer of their minds. The stuff and things part of their mind. Where they really didn't know what to say, but they didn't know what to do either.

Luckily, Michonne sensing the trouble he was having forming a complete sentence, took the weight of his shoulders and helped the poor man out.

"Listen, Rick, I was joking." She says trying to calm him down.

Just like that, he felt relived, then almost imminently after he felt disappointed. "Oh, well um… Yeah." He tried to play laugh but it came out as just as a weak attempt at laughing.

Again, Michonne sensed Rick's feelings, enjoying how awkward he could be. "Rick, what I meant was that I'd still like for us to go out some time. Get to know each other better. It only has to be a date if you want it to be… Do you want it to be?" She asked him honestly.

And there it was, disappointment, gone! Pleasure back! He mentally wondered if he was a masochist or something, because he just loved to put himself in these types of situations.

Rick looked around the bar hoping to find help or guidance in his next choice of words; to the left of the bar was Shane and Lilly, it actually looked like he was doing ok, she was trying to murder him and was actually paying attention to whatever Shane was telling her, she even laughed.

Behind Shane was Lilly's father who was glaring at him from the Shadows. Rick made a mental note to warn his brother about the over protective father bartender who was most likely going to be the reason for a mysteries murder taking place.

To the right of the bar, Daryl was finishing his thirteenth beer and third whiskey, mumbling about something called a Chewbacca. Andrea, who had given trying to get Daryl out of the bar, had started to drink with the man, she was on her second scout.

With no one left to look to, he turned back to face Michonne, who was waiting for him to answer her question.

Ok, option one; he says no. Most likely he'll get his ass kicked by her, he had seen how toned her arms were when she had taken off her jacket and shown off her toned arms. Plus Shane would most likely never let him hear the end of it.

Option two; he says yes… He really didn't know what would happen. It couldn't be that bad…could it?

He did a mental battle in his mind and eventually just made up his mind to say yes. One date wouldn't kill him. He hoped.

"Sure, what's good for you?" Rick asked.

Michonne didn't even have to think of her reply, she already knew. "How about tomorrow, after work?"

"Sounds good." Rick replied.

And just like that, he had a date with an Internal Affairs Officer. Yeah. This would surely end well. And then maybe Shane would finally get all those restraining orders dropped and they'd finally be allowed to pick up their mail from the Kings County post office.

Duck's Apartment, 10:50pm

If there was one thing Carl would regret doing in his life, it would be agreeing to hang out at Duck's house. Part of the regret stemmed from the fact that Duck never stopped talking. NEVER! The other part came from that, Duck didn't tell him that he'd have EVERYONE Carl tried avoiding while he was at school over at his house.

First was Eliza Morales; the girl who had sucker punched him his first day of school. The girl looked like she ate kindness and spit out hatred. While she didn't try to beat him up anymore, she did always look like she wanted to kill him. He was too young to die! He still hadn't had his first fight with a mail carrier like Shane always wanted him to.

Second was Clementine; now he really didn't mind her that much, she was a lot nicer than Eliza, but she never let him curse! I mean he didn't have that bad of mouth like his Uncle or father, but damn it, he liked saying the word "damn it" when he was frustrated, which was almost all the time. Still she wasn't that bad.

Finally, there was Sophie; now he didn't actually have any problem with her at all, she was to shy and quiet to ever have a problem with. The problem was that whenever she was around, he felt like he did something mean to her. She'd always be apologizing for anything, even if it wasn't her fault, she'd always carry around her doll with her, even if it looked kind of silly with her being a preteen, and if by accidentally he made her cry, Eliza would threaten to rip his throat out with her teeth!

"Hey, Carl!" Duck shouted from next to him. "What you thinking about? You've been pretty quiet over there!"

Groaning, Carl rubbed at his temples. "I'm thinking about getting bashing my skull off a wall, Duck." Carl answered deadpan.

"That sounds awesome!" Duck cheered.

"I'll do it for you." Eliza said from her spot next to Sophie, she was braiding the younger girl's hair and for once Sophie actually didn't look upset, not that she ever did when she was around Eliza.

Clementine sighed, throwing a pillow at Eliza. "No one's bashing head off anything. Kenny will kill us if we broke anything."

"I still can't believe your dad owns the dinner me and my dad go to every night. Why don't I ever see you there?" Carl asked to Duck.

"I don't know." Duck shrugged. " I mean, this one time I did get a little bored and use a fire extinguisher as a jetpack, and I kinda set the bathroom on fire, then there was this time that me and Clem let this homeless guy named Chuck sleep in one the booths, and this one time-"

"I get it." Carl said cutting Duck off and sighing.

Sophie glances at Carl from the corner of her eyes, she didn't talk to him much, but she did enjoy the boy's company. "Hey Carl," She spoke up quietly. "Don't you usually hang out with your papa after school?"

Actually, he hanged out with Beth after school, but that was a another story…

"He's out getting drunk with my uncle." Carl says casually.

Eliza snorted "Jeez, pendejo, is your family full of drunks or something."

"Only on the bad days, bitch." Carl replied rudely to Eliza.

"Swears." Clementine sang from her spot next on the floor, she already knew what would happen if she didn't intervene. "Can't you guys just talk to each other nicely?"

Carl and Eliza glared at each other, then looked back to Clementine, "No!" They said at the same time.

Clementine sighed deeply. "Well tough, we're all friends here weather you two like it or not." She said rather maturely.

"Since when?" Carl asked. He really didn't remember becoming from friends with any of them. Well Maybe Duck unfortunately. He loved Duck's dad's dinner too much, and he wasn't that bad.

Eliza nodded her head in agreement. "Yeah, since when was me and Grime's friends?"

"Well Duck's friends with him. Right, Duck?" Clementine turned to the boy in question.

"Yeah! We're best friends!" Duck said smacking Carl hard on the back, making the boy fall over.

Groaning from the floor, Carl muttered. "I hate you all."

Clementine then turned to Sophie. "And your friends with him too, Sophie, right?"

Sophie blushed and held her doll closer, nodding her head. "Yeah, um, I like hanging out with you, Carl."

Carl looked up from the floor, smiling at Sophie, happy that she actually didn't look sad for once. "I like hanging out with you too, Sophie."

Sophie blushed Carl's way, but only Eliza cached on to it. She rolled her eyes, threw a pillow at him, knocking him over.

"Hey!" Carl yelled at Eliza, getting back on his feet. "What the hell was that about?!"

"Swear." Clementine sang."

Carl groaned in frustration. "I'll swear if I want to damn it!" He was then smacked in the face with a pillow.

"She said watch your mouth, Grimes." Eliza barked at him.

The young boy groaned loudly and stood up from the floor, "I'm going for a walk." He muttered, then he walked out of the room leaving the other kids behind.

Carl walked out of Duck's room, passing Duck's Dad, Kenny and his wife katjaa, on his way out, he waved at them and they nodded his way and continued doing what they were doing. When he finally got out of the apartment, he felt an instant relief, finally being able to get away from it all and some fresh air.

He looked around the at the glistening lights of the night city, basking in the way the lights illuminated the city. Fall was slowly coming to an end and soon the holidays would be coming, he just needed to get over Thanksgiving.

Looking over his shoulder, he glanced at Duck's apartment, debating weather to go back into it. Finally, after a couple of minutes of debating he just decided to screw it, he'd see them at school anyway.

Pulling up the collar of his jacket, Carl stuffed his hands into his pocket and walked away from the apartment. As he walked down the autumn streets of Atlanta, he enjoyed the cool chill of the wind blowing against his face, the soothing sounds the city made as he walked through the streets.

It was only after a half an hour of walking that he noticed he hadn't turned back on his phone, it had been off since the other night in the dinner with his dad…

"Mom…" He thought aloud himself quietly. Since his mom had tried getting in touch with him that night, him and his dad had tried their best to ignore her; dodging her calls, avoiding letters, hell, she had even tried getting to them by contacting his uncle. It wasn't that they didn't want to talk to her…it was that they just weren't ready yet.

Exhaling deeply, Carl took his phone out and turned it on for the first time in three weeks. When it finally blew up, his phone exploded with multiple voicemails and missed text messages.

He wasn't too surprised to find out most of them were from his mom, but what did surprise him was that the most recent one was from Beth. He brought the phone to his ear and instantly his felt a strange feeling course through his body when he heard her message.

"Hey, Carl, um, hi, it's me… I haven't seen, I mean I've seen, but we haven't talked a lot, I mean, um, yeah, um..shoot!" He heard Beth mutter loudly in the message. "I just miss hanging out with you. I've got something to tell you, can you meet me tonight on top of the rooftop of our apartment? I mean not our apartment, the apartment complex we live in! I mean, you know what I was talking about. Just meet me there, jerk."

Chuckling to himself, Carl smiled sheepishly and closed his cellphone, then without a second thought, he took of sprinting the way to his apartment. He had someone to meet and he wasn't going to leave her waiting anymore.

Highland Ave Apartment Complexes, 12:12am

Beth sat cross-legged on the cool pavement of the concrete rooftop of the apartment complex, softly singing one of her most favorite songs to herself. "Well your old hometown is so far away but, inside your head there's a record that's playing, a song called,"

She softly sang to herself, staring at the night sky, there was nothing to look at since the city lights blocked out any stars she could see. One thing she really missed about home was the beautiful way the stars shinned, it was a large, humbling sight to see, and she missed it greatly.

The sounds of panting and familiar footsteps started to reach her ears, but Beth didn't stop singing, she was almost done anyway. "Hold on, hold on, you really got to hold on," She stood up from the floor and saw Carl staring at her, she smiled and finished her song. "Take my hand, I'm standing right here and just hold on."

Carl panted heavily, out of breath from running so many city blocks to get to Beth, who had just floored him with her singing. "That was…that was great." He wheezed out.

Snickering at Carl, Beth crossed closed the distance between the two and brought the younger boy into a tight hug. "Hey, cowboy, had me worried." She says softly into his ear, making him turn into a stuttering moron. "I missed you."

"Um, yeah, um, I did too." He stammered out.

Beth rolled her eyes, "Great come back, Carl." She said pushing him away.

Carl blew some lose bangs out of his eyes and plopped down on the ground. "Yeah, yeah, beanie girl," he started trying to play it cool. "How have ya been?"

She smirked to herself, knowing that he was trying to act casual, but she wasn't going to say anything. "Nothing much, well something much…" Beth says sitting down next to Carl.

"What's the news?" Carl asked.

She bit her lip as she looked at Carl, trying to figure out how to word what she needed to say, finally after a second of battling it out in her head she just let it slip out "I'm leaving Atlanta and going home."

"What?!" Carl shot up from the ground, and looked firmly at Beth. A whole mixture of emotions came rushing at him; sadness, anger, regret, pain, disappointment, and he couldn't explain why.

Beth jumped up from her spot on the ground and crushed Carl into a tight embrace. "No, no, not forever." She says frantically. "Just for Thanksgiving!"

Calming down, Carl dropped any attempt at playing it cool and resting his head on Beth's shoulder. " Ok, I'm an idiot." He breathed out.

Laughing to herself, she petted the back of Carl's head, tangling her fingers through his messy hair. "Not an idiot, just a kid."

"I'm not a kid, I'm thirteen, you old lady." He muttered to her.

She punched him lightly on his shoulder. "Shut up, jerk."

Carl didn't reply, he just held her tighter, not really knowing what to do or say. He almost that he wasn't going to see her again and that…that scared him for some reason. He liked being around her, she was his friend, he needed someone like her around.

Beth lowered and kissed the top of his head, "Sorry, cowboy, didn't mean to scare you." She really liked being around Carl, he was a constant in the city that she loved being around.

1 hour later

"So what's your dad like?" Carl asked Beth, they were now lying close together on the ground, hands practically on top of each other. They weren't holding hands! They weren't…but Carl wasn't in any rush to move any time soon.

Beth snuggled up closer to the teen, she didn't notice blushing though. "He's the greatest!" She exclaimed. " My daddy probably one of the smartest men I ever known. He's kind, wise, and he's great with a shotgun as well!"

Carl edged a little away from Beth.

She pulled him back.

Beth then started laughing uncontrollably "I remember this one time when he caught Maggie with this boy-"

Carl silently prayed that his uncle could help him out with overprotective fathers.

Larry's Pub, 2:34am

"Guess this is goodnight." Michonne stated as Rick walked her out of Larry's pub. It was closing time and Larry had kicked everyone out.

"Looks like it." Rick offered. He watched as Lilly and Shane said their goodbyes out of the corner of his eye, smirking knowingly when he saw her peck his brother on the cheek. He could say a lot about Shane, but he had to give the man credit for his skills with woman.

Michonne stepped closer to Rick, holding onto his jacket, "Hope you don't stand me up, detective. Might have to hunt you down."

Rick laughed deeply. "What like with a sword or something?"

What Rick didn't notice was the small spark that lit up in Michonne's eyes when he mentioned a sword, but she'd tell him that little detail about herself another time.

"Just make sure you show up." She said smirking at him. She then walked away from Rick.

He watched as she strolled away from him and over to a nearby taxi that was parked, he saw as she led a drunken Andrea and Daryl into a taxi with her and then drove away. Shane then chose that time to jump Rick and put him into a strong headlock. "

"Ay brother, looks like you had some fun tonight." He slurred as he nudged Rick in the ribs.

Rick nodded, still smiling. "Think I did too." He then quickly freed himself from the headlock and put Shane in one. "Looks like you had some fun of yourself!" He taunted.

"Yes I did, man, think she might be a keeper." Shane says as he works out of Rick's grip. "So where to now?" he asked clapping his hands.

Rick chuckled and pointed to the taxi that was approaching the pair. "We're going home, brother. I'm drunk, tired, and I wanna sleep." He then started to sluggishly making his way to the cab.

"What are you getting old?!" Shane hollered at him.

Rick barked back "Ya damn right!"

Shane looked like he was about to argue, then threw his hands down and followed Rick. "Me too." He whined out as he dragged himself into the cab.

Grimes/Walsh Apartment, 6:56am

It was around six in the morning when Rick was woken up by the ringing of the apartment, he held his head in pain and groaned loudly. "Who the hell was bothering him this early.

Walking out of his room, he almost tripped over the passed out form of Shane, grumbling he kicked his brother.

"Yeah, bitch, I like it rough." He sleepily moaned out from the floor.

Cringing, Rick made a mental note not to do that again and continued his long, painful journey to the front door.

The bell continued to Ring, and Rick's head continued to pound, after the fourth ring, Carl came stumbling out, drowsily shuffling behind Rick.

"Dad," he grumbled. "I thought Uncle Shane had a key, why is he ringing the bell?"

"Your uncle's already here. He's humping the floor near the sofa." Rick answered.

"Gross." Carl muttered.

Finally, they go to the door and swung it open, the culprit, well actually culprits was Beth and her older sister Maggie.

"Morning, Carl, Morning, Mr. Grimes!" Beth beamed as she waved at them.

"Morning, Rick," Maggie offered, "And good morning especially to you too, Carl." She says winking at the younger Grimes.

"Morning you guys." Carl said blushing lightly, trying his best to ignore Maggie's teasing glances.

Rick shook his head, chuckling at the antics of hormonally charged youths in front of him. He wondered if Carl and Beth even realized yet why they liked hanging out with each other so much…Probably not. He was his son after all and he was as dumb as it could get when it came to girls at that age, hell he still thought he didn't understand woman.

"We're meeting our dad soon, and Bethany here wanted to say goodbye to her special friend before leaving." Maggie replied.

Sticking her tongue out at Maggie, Beth gave her sister a playfully annoyed glare. "Well that does sum up why I came here today."

"Where you going?" Rick questioned, looking back and for the between his son and Beth.

"She's heading home for the holidays." Carl informed his dad while he and Beth still stared at each other. "But she promised she'd be back."

Beth nodded her head. "I couldn't leave this adorable kid behind!"

Carl sighed, he hated being called a kid, but he'd let it slide this one time.

Just then, Shane chose to enter the room, holding his head and yawning. "How ya ladies getting there?" He asked standing next to Carl and ruffling the teen's hair.

Maggie shrugged. "Taxi, only way we ever get around in this city anyway."

"Well hell, ain't no reason two pretty ladies she be paying for rides. We'll take ya." Shane offered.

We will?" Rick and Carl repeated at the same time.

Shane placed one hand on Carl's head and the other on Rick's shoulder, "Hell yeah we will! Come on little man, help ya girlfriend out!" Shane hollered at the boy.

Beth and Carl blushed deeply and then shouted at Shane;

"He's not my boyfriend!" She hollered.

"She's not my girlfriend!" Carl yelled.

"Well that kiss did look pretty real." Maggie chimed in nudging Beth.

Rick chuckled. "She got a point there, son." He says to his son.

Blushing even deeper, both teens did their best not to look at each other, but the older people in the room all cached them glancing at the other from the corner of their eyes.

Noticing the awkward silence, Shane saved his nephew from the torture and broke it by slamming his hands together. "Aright, let's go then ladies!" He hollers dragging everyone out of the apartment.

After a long car ride, a string of flirting thrown Carl's way by Maggie and an increasingly growing annoyed Beth, the group finally made it to where the girls were supposed to meet their father.

When they pulled up, they saw a pair of men waiting by an old station wagon. One was a bald, overweight man who waved happily at the girl's when he saw them get out of Shane's cramped car, the other was an older man with balding grey hair and a kind, wise smile on his face. Rick instantly knew the older man was the girl's father, just by looking at how lovingly he looked at them.

"Daddy!" Beth screamed happily, as she ran to her father and embraced him in a loving hug. "I missed you so much!" She says she buried her head in his chest.

"Missed you too, Bethy." The man said hugging her back just as tight.

Maggie, walked up to her dad and kissed him on the cheek. "Hey, dad, missed you too."

"Same here, pumpkin." He replied bringing her into a hug.

Beth then let go of her father and ran to the other man. "Otis, you came too!" She said hugging the large man.

Otis smiled at the smaller girl "Sure did, wouldn't miss seeing you girls for the world"

"Who are your friends there?" Beth's father asked, staring at Rick, Shane, and Carl, hoping that Maggie had made three new boyfriends. If so, he hoped Otis had brought his gun.

Rick walked forward to the father of the girls and held his hand out. "Rick Grimes, your daughter, Beth, watches over my son sometimes."

The man's face softened, and smiled at Rick. "I'm Hershel, Hershel Greene." He then looked at Carl. "So you're the little squirt my daughter's always talking about."

"She does?" Carl questioned, blushing deeply.

"Daddy!" Beth said letting go of Otis and glaring at her father.

"I'm just having some fun, Bethy." Hershel laughed and kissed his daughter on the head.

Meanwhile, Shane and Otis were staring each other down. After a tense moment of silence, Shane spoke up first.

"Ya like pizza?" Shane asked out of the blue.

Otis smirked at Shane. "Does a bear shit in the woods?"

Shane laughed and clapped the larger man on the back. "I like you Otis!" He hollered. "Shane Walsh, nice to meet ya."

Otis shook his hand. "Nice to meet you too, Shane. We should have a slice and drink next time I'm out here."

"Hell yeah., man. Sounds like a plan!" Shane agreed.

While all the adults were getting to know each other, Carl used the time to pull Beth away from everyone.

"Listen, Beth," Carl started nervously. "I just wanted to say goodbye. You know, the right way."

Giggling, Beth ruffled his hair. "I'll be back in a two weeks, I'm not leaving."

"I know, but dad always says if you're gonna do something than try to make it count." Carl said to her.

Smiling at Carl's flustered words, she hugged him close. "When I'm with you it always counts cowboy. Just remember that."

After that they helped the Greene's girls load their stuff from Shane's car into Hershel's station wagon, Hershel walked up to Rick and shook his hand firmly.

"It was nice meeting you, Rick, Shane and you too, Carl. My girls seem to trust you all." Hershel said to them all.

Rick nodded his head. "Their good people too, don't be a stranger, Hershel. Come out and visit us some time."

Hershel chuckled and shook his head. "I'm good, Rick. I'm happy just spending my days on my farm with my family."

Shane's ears perked up. "A farm?"

"Don't even think about it, Uncle Shane." Carl warned elbowing the man. "We're not getting banned from anymore farms.

"I was just asking." Shane says, laughing.

Ignoring Shane's antics, everyone said their goodbyes and eventually it was just Carl and Beth.

"You'll make sure to stay in touch, right, jerk?" Beth teased.

Carl replied, "Of course, I got to respect my elders don't I."

That earned him a light punch from Beth.

He rubbed his shoulder where she punched, smirking at her. "I'll see you next time."

Beth bent down and pecked him on the forehead, blushing deeply and ignoring the cheers coming from Shane and Maggie, and the stern glare her daddy had to be sending Carl's way. "Next time." She whispered to him.

Carl stood still, watching Beth walk away, she looked over her shoulder, blushing when she saw that he was still watching her. She got in Hershel's wagon and waved at him as they drove away. But even while she was gone, Carl still stood in his spot, watching the Car disappear from his sight.

A couple more minutes passed, Carl finally started to make his way back to the car where his uncle and father were waiting for him. "Come back soon." He uttered quietly to himself.

Grimes/Walsh Apartment, 10:23am

When the three got back to the apartment, they noticed a strange car parked in one of their normal parking spaces, they also noticed that the lights were on in their apartment.

"The hell?" Rick questioned, looking back and forth between Shane and Carl, who looked equally as confused as him.

They exchanged glances and nodded at each other, Rick and Shane unholstered their guns from under their jackets, they told Carl to stay in the car and the two men made their way to the apartment.

When they finally got close to their front door, they faintly heard the sound of people talking. They positioned themselves at each side of the door, ready to strike. Rick then gave the signal and then both men busted into the apartment.

"APD!" They both shouted. "Put your hands in the air…."

The conviction in their voices faded when they noticed who had been in their apartment.

"Hello, Shane, Rick," A brunette woman said, "It's been awhile."

The two men were speechless, they didn't know what to say, but someone else did.

"Mom!" Carl said, appearing behind Shane and Rick.

"Hey, sweetie." Lori responded sadly.

Author's Notes: Well, another chapter came and gone, and I know, I'm already starting the next chapter, and I'll try to give it you before Christmas haha. Another thing, the Lilly in my story is Lilly Caul from the Telltale Video game, not Lilly Chambers from the TV Show. Even though I give credit to TV Lilly for killing The Governor, I am a much bigger fan of Video Game Lilly than TV Show, so don't go expecting her to appear in this anytime soon, her sister though you will! I talked to one reviewer about where I was taking this story, and while I won't say much, I can tell you that I know what I want to do and how I'm going to end it. You can expect a Cerberus Retcon to happen soon in this story, it's coming, so be ready. If you don't know what that is then I suggest goggling it haha. Anyway, here is a preview of the next update.

Next Time on City Life

Lori stared at Michonne, Michonne stared at Rick, Rick stared at Shane, Shane stared at Lilly, who in turn stared at Andrea, who was busy staring at Daryl, who at the moment was looking pleadingly at Merle.

"Shit," Merle cursed adjusting his military jacket,"The hell you get yourself into, baby brother."

Meanwhile, at the kids table, Clementine was drawing a turkey, Duck was stuffing his face, Eliza was desperately trying to get Sophie's attention, Sophie was blushing at Carl, and Carl, well Carl was trying to understand who the hell this Jimmy guy was and if his dad would let him borrow his gun for a day...

That's all I can give ya for now, see you soon! Really, don't give up on me! Review this chapter and tell me your feelings on it please! Good or bad I love them both!