City Life chapter 7: Later
"Mom!" Carl said, appearing behind Shane and Rick.
"Hey, sweetie." Lori responded sadly.
Without even thinking about it, Carl sprinted passed his uncle and father and embraced his mother. He didn't say anything, he just held his mom close. He hadn't realized it till now, but he had missed her so much. It wasn't that Carl was ignorant about his parent's divorce, he might not have known the small details why or what happened, but he knew that they weren't together anymore. He didn't hate his mom though, he couldn't. It just wasn't him.
Looking up at his mom, Carl watched as her face went through a string of different emotions; shock, confusion, and finally sadness hidden behind a smile. He knew when she was faking being happy. He saw a lot of it back in Kings County...
She bent down and kissed the top of his head, "I missed you so much, sweetie." She whispered to him.
For that moment there was nothing in the room, just a mother and her child having a moment. For that instant, Carl forgot about everything in the world. It almost felt that he could pretend that his family was still together, but he knew he was just kidding himself…
Carl's eyes snapped open when he started to hear his phone cellphone ring.
Groaning to himself, he sat up from lying on the cold concrete of his apartment complex, hair messy and eyes bloodshot. He had escaped their during the night while his parents, and Shane, did their adult talking. Christ, he really hated to be treated like some kid! Like he didn't know his parents marriage was in the trash.
He inhaled a deep breath, then exhaled it out, trying to calm himself down. He dug into his pockets for his cellphone, bringing it close to his eyes to see the id of who was calling him, his eyes slightly widened, and a goofy smile founds its way to his lips.
The caller ID read; Beth Greene
"Beth!" He said a little over exited. It had been three days since she left and there was not even a text or call from her.
"Sorry cowboy," A voice that defiantly wasn't Beth purred through the phone. "It's the other Greene girl."
"Um, uh, hi, Maggie." Carl stuttered out.
"Oh, you remembered my name! Beth was right, you are a little sweetheart" Maggie said. "Anyway I was just calling to check up on Beth's favorite kid."
Carl grumbled under his breath at being called a kid, but he could help when his face started heating up, which seemed was Maggie's ultimate goal in life was to always do that. "Um, thanks Maggie…Is Beth there? Can I talk to her, please?"
"Aw," Maggie pouted. "What's wrong sweetie, don't wanna talk to me." She replied in a seductive voice.
It was at that moment, Carl thought he should either hang up soon or get a hold of Beth imminently! "No it's not that! I mean, I, mean-"
Maggie started laughing on the other line "Don't worry, big boy. I was just yanking your chain." She replied laughing even harder.
Carl sighed in relief, "Alright, so can I talk to Beth than?" He asked hopefully.
There was a pause on the other line, then he heard Maggie cough. "Um, I'm sorry sweetheart, but Beth isn't here right now, she's... out.
He didn't like the tone in Maggie's voice. "Out?" he questioned.
"Yeah.." Maggie started slowly. "She's hanging out with her old friend Jimmy."
Carl didn't say anything after that, not because he didn't have anything to say though, mostly cause he started to go through a full range of emotions he wasn't really use to feeling. He blinked once, he blinked twice, and finally, he found his voice. "Thanks for calling Maggie… You think you could tell her I asked for her?" he asked monotonly.
"Sure, sweetheart. Promise." Maggie answered.
He then hung up the phone without saying anything else to Maggie. Sighing deeply, he let his body fall back on the concrete floor, he looked up at the grey sky, and after a couple of seconds of blankly staring up at the heavens, he let out a loud yell.
8:40 AM Atlanta City Middle School
"I hate my life, I hate my life, I hate my life." Carl repeated to himself as he banged his head off his locker. He actually thought he was getting a stronger head from doing this all the time, but that might of just been the brain damage slowing forming.
Everything had been going so well, then his MOM had to show up and throw them all a curve ball! I mean, it's not like he didn't want to see his mother, because that's no true. He missed her everyday! He had just been so busy with his new school, new friends, if he wanted to call them that, and Beth, but he was going through too much to even think about her that much.
"AHAHA!" He roared as he continued his assault on his locker with his head.
Suddenly just as he was about to his head again on the locker, it was stopped mid-air somehow.
He had to be losing his mind. "The fuc-"
"Swear!" The familiar voice of Clementine sang from behind him.
"Oh give me a freaking break." He muttered.
His head was then bashed against the locker then he felt his entire body thrown to the ground.
"She said don't swear, Grimes." Eliza said as she kicked Carl in the gut.
"Come on now, Ms. Morals, don't be hurting your fellow students." Mr. Everett said as he walked by.
Eliza rolled her eyes. "Wouldn't dream of it, Lee." She said to the history teacher, who didn't even seem to mind being called by his first name by a student.
Lee then called out from over his shoulder "You okay, Carl?"
Carl rubbed his forehead, sitting up and laying his back against his locker. "Fine, Mr. Everett, nothing I wouldn't of done to myself anyway!"
Lee laughed and continued on his way. He would have stopped to ask the young man what was wrong, but he was late at his normal job teaching at the university, and there was this one student named Ben Paul that was driving him up wall. "I swear, I should just stick to teaching kids." He grumbled to himself.
Looking up from his sitting position, Carl saw the faces of an angry Eliza, which wasn't new, a happy Clementine, a hyper Duck, and a smiling Sophia, who was smiling a lot more of lately.
"The heck is up with you, Grimes?" Eliza asked.
"Swea-wait! You don't swear!" Clementine beamed happily at Eliza and tackled the girl into a bear hug.
Eliza tried to push the smaller girl off her, "Hey, come on, no mushy stuff!" She yelled as she started to try to wrestle Clementine off of her, which wasn't even slightly working. The girl was a lot stronger than she looked.
"Never!" Clementine yelled. "Mushy stuff forever! Rainbows, unicorns, apples!" She
"Apples?" Duck question, scratching his head in confusion.
"She loves Apples, remember, Duck." Carl said sarcastically, making Sophia giggle at how deadpan he sounded.
Carl's bad mood was broken by hearing Sophia, that had to have been the first time he ever heard, he didn't even know she knew how to do it. "Holy crap, Sophiajust giggled!" He exclaimed.
"What!" Duck, Clementine and Eliza all shouted in unison loudly.
Sophia looked back and forth between the group, holding her doll self-consciously. "I thought what Carl said was funny."
The Grime's teen smiled at Sophia, happy to make the shy girl laugh, and Sophia blushed from the attention.
Eliza's mood started to turn sore, Clementine, instantly sensing it, tackled the girl again and began the wrestling match all over again.
"So, Carl, why were you banging you head on your locker?" Duck asked. "Did your Uncle get kicked out of Starbucks again for fighting hipsters?"
Carl shook his head, "No, well I mean he did, but that happens all the time." He said with a wave, he then sighed, letting his head rest against the cool locker. He thought about mentioning that he missed Beth, but decided against it. "My mom showed up at my apartment the other day."
"Wow, really?" Eliza said surprised as she threw Clementine off of her, making the girl scream as he landed on top of Duck, crushing the poor boy.
"Ow!" Duck groaned out.
"Sorry, Duck." Clementine apologized.
"I'm alright." Said Duck.
Carl sighed and looked away. Everyone in their little group knew that his parents weren't together, it was clear as day. He never talked about his mom, they never saw his mom, and whenever someone would mention it, he'd go quiet and avoid the topic.
Sophia sat next to Carl, making sure to give him some space, but trying to as best she could to sit close to him at the same time. "I'm sorry." She says to him.
"Why?" Carl asked the girl, not really understanding why she was apologizing to him.
She hugged her doll close, bringing her knees close to her chest as she spoke, "I know it's not easy having a parent show up out the blue,"
The others started to gather around and sit next to Carl too, all except on Eliza, who was sitting close to Sophia and put a hand on her shoulder, she knew what Sohpia meant, but she wasn't going to say anything if her friend didn't.
"They can hurt you sometimes," Sophia continued. "With what they say, with what they …" She hugged herself close. "It's even harder when they can hurt you when their not around."
'Why do I get the feeling this isn't about me anymore.' Carl thought sadly to himself looking at Sophia . Maybe his life could be worse.
H scouted closer to Sophia and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Parents suck, they all do sometimes, but that's why we have friends to make them suck less." He says softly to her.
Sophia was surprised, that was the first time Carl had refered to any of them as 'friends' since they had all pretty much forced their company on him.
She smiled brightly at Carl. "You called us your friends."
Thinking about what he said for a moment, Carl noticed that he did, and you know what? He actually didn't mind the sound of calling these nut cases his friends. "Yeah, guess I did." He acknowledged.
Sophia then suddenly tackled Carl into a bone crushing hug, crying silently to herself. Normally Carl would try to push one of them away in a situation like this, but he thought that just for one time, it wouldn't kill him.
"Group hug!" Duck bellowed and dived on top of the two, dragging a laughing Clementine and reluctant Eliza with him.
On the bottom of the dog pile, Carl groaned in pain. 'Okay, maybe being nice will kill."
10:03 AM Atlanta Homicide Police Station
"You know you really should stop doing stop doing that." Shane says as he watched his brother hit his head lightly against his desk.
Rick muttered "I hate my life, I hate my life." Over and over again, he hoped that maybe he could knock himself out and not have to worry about ex wives showing up at his apartment anymore.
"Do I even wanna know what's wrong with him?" Andrea asked appearing behind Shane and Rick.
"His ex-wife showed up yesterday." Shane answered without missing a beat.
Rick picked his head up and grumbled. "You gotta tell everyone about that, Shane?"
Shane looked offended by Rick's statement. "Hey, I ain't telling everyone!"
"You told Glenn, the Pizza boy!" Rick roared.
"Hey," Shane warned, "The boy had a right to know!"
Rick couldn't believe Shane was trying to defend himself. "You told Captain Horvath!" He shouted.
"He asked why you were grumpy today." Shane replied.
"Did you tell Amy yet?" Andrea asked randomly.
Rick looked at Andrea like she was crazy. "Why would I tell your sister?"
"I did!" Shane spoke up happily, like he had done the right thing.
Rick's eye twitched in sync with his head banging against his desk. "Why?!" He screamed in anguish.
"Why what?" Daryl asked approaching them.
Rick pleaded at Shane not to say anything, and his brother answered his pleas, but Andrea however…
"Why did Shane tell everyone that his ex-wife showed up at his apartment the other day." Andrea answered.
Rick's face fell. There was no hope. He had the worst co workers ever. Rick's head then shot up, in confusion, what was Daryl even doing there?
"Dixon, I thought you were special victims unit. What the hell are you doing here?" Rick asked in confusion.
Shane and Andrea then looked at Daryl, looks of confusion as their faces as well.
"Yeah, man, Rick's right. What you doing slumming with us in homicide?" Shane questioned.
Andrea nodded her head, "And you didn't tell me you were coming by here either."
Daryl glared at all the questioning faces "What? Ya'll my keeper,?!" He barked. "Man can't go where he pleases anymore? Why their gotta be reason-"
"Cause there always is, baby brother." A voice said from behind him.
Daryl froze in his tracks. Shit, he thought he could avoid a this unwanted reunion if he hid out in the Homicide department for a day.
"Boy!" The voice hollered, "I know yer hear me, now turn around and give your ol' pal Merle a hug!"
Grumbling, Daryl turned around and glared at his older brother. "Hey, Merle. Thought ya were stayin on base for the holidays."
"Shit no!" Merle hollered loudly, "Ain't staying in that sausage fest for the holidays when I can visit my baby brother!"
"How'd you even find me?" Daryl asked.
"The old man told me you were hiding out here." He answered smiling evilly.
"Damn you old man!" Daryl yelled in misery.
Merle then turned to Andrea. "Sup, sugar tits, ya and my baby bro hook up yet? Or are ya still blue balling him?"
'Oh, God you're disgusting." Andrea spat. She then walked away to go find her sister.
Shane then chose that time to make his way into the conversation. "So, Merle, ever been to Rhee's pizza parlor?"
Merle shook his head. "Nah, never been. Any good?"
An evil smile found its way to Shane's face. "Oh it's the best in Atlanta."
Noticing Shane's evil smile, Merle put on one of his own. "Don't know what yer got up ya sleeve, but I'm in!"
Shane howled and clapped Merle on the back. "I think this is the begging of a beautiful friendship."
Rick and Daryl watched from the background, not even wanting to know the horrors Shane Walsh and Merle Dixon would cause together.
Feeling his phone vibrate in his pocket, Rick pulled it out and brought it to his ear. "Detective Grimes here."
"Happy Thanksgiving, Detective." Michonne's voiced said over the phone.
'Shit'! Rick cursed in his head. He had forgotten about Michonne entirely. Okay, he could fix this, he could fix this! All he had to do was not mention that his ex-wife was in the city.
"Heard your ex-wife is around." She said.
'God damn it!' He echoed in his head. "Let me guess, Shane?"
"No", Michonne replied. "Lilly told me."
"That still counts as Shane." Rick countered.
"True, true. Your brother was the phone who seems to be spilling all the beans." She says indifferently. Which was driving him pretty freaking crazy.
"Look Michonne," He started, but the woman cut him off.
"Don't worry, Rick." She said trying to calm him down. "I'm not mad, I can't blame you for your wife showing up."
Exhaling air he didn't even know he was holding in, Rick felt a little better. "Alright then, so why are you calling?"
Michonne laughed. "I can't call you?"
"No, no!" Rick said suddenly "I mean, I just, um I mean, you didn't have to, cause, u-"
"Relax, Rick. I'm just teasing you." She reassured him. "I'm actually calling because the Captain invited you to Thanksgiving dinner."
Rick's heart stopped beating for a moment, his breathing became shallow. "Michonne...what day is it?" He asked slowly.
"It's Thanksgiving, Rick. Didn't you wonder why there was a Turkey on your desk." She said.
Rick's head whipped to his desk and there it was, a freaking turkey! Looking around frantically he noticed that there were Turkeys on everyone's desk. His body started to shake uncontrollably, fear seeping into bones.
He slowly held the cellphone close to his ear whispered. "I'll call you back…"
Putting his cellphone into his pocket, Rick started to wonder how screwed he was. Thanksgiving was today, he had bought nothing; no turkey, stuffing, yams, or cranberry sauce. Christ, he forgot the cranberry sauce!
Without a second thought, he threw on his jacket and sprinted towards The Captain's office. He had to troubleshoot. NOW!
"So, are you going to the Captain's party tonight?" Andrea asked her kid sister.
Amy shrugged, filing away some paper work. "That depends, am I gonna have to sit at the kids table again?"
Andrea snickered. "That depends," She echoed "Are you going to talk about mermaids and dragons all night?"
Sighing, Amy hung her head in shame. "Just at least give me a big girl plate, please." She groaned.
Andrea patted her sister on the back. "I'll try, kid. I'll try."
Amy was about to reply when they heard the faint sound of yelling.
"Did you hear something?" Amy asked as holding her ear out.
The two sisters held their ears out, hearing the screaming get louder, and louder until they saw Rick sprinting their way, looking panicked.
"AMY!" He loudly hollered getting closer to them. He practically dented the young woman's table when he smashed his hands into her desk. "Captain, where? Need speak HIM! WHERE?!"
Amy pointed to her door. "He's in the-"
Rick didn't even let her finish. He literally ran right past her and kicked the door open. "Captain! I accept! I accept! I accept!" He yelled at the top of his lungs.
Captain Horvath looked up from his newspaper, smiling. "Ah, so I see you got Michonne's message." He says closing the paper. "But I didn't think you'd be this excited to go."
"I might have, maybe forgotten…" Rick wheezed out still catching his breath. "No food in the fridge….Well no food that can handle Shane appetite"
The Captain laughed deeply. "Come over around six, bring your boy and anyone else you want to . There's always extra room!
Rick then chose that moment to collapse into one of the Captain's chair to catch his breath. "Thank you, sir." He says as he continued to catch his breath.
He had ninety-nine problems, and The Captain just solved one.
3:50 PM Grimes Apartment
Sighing when he got close to the apartment, he sighed, he almost expected Beth to be there waiting for him, but he knew she wouldn't be. He opened the door and walked in sluggishly. He collapsed on the coach, burying his face in the cushion.
"I don't care what happens next, I'm going to freaking sleep the day away!" He loudly muttered to himself.
Just as he finally got ready to fall asleep, the door was kicked open and his dad come rushing in, panting heavily, looking around frantically, he looked around like a feral mad man and when he finally caught sight of Carl, he practically tackled the boy.
"Carl! Thanksgiving! It's Thanksgiving!" He panted out.
"What?!" Carl shouted in confusion. "When did this happen?!"
"Today!" Rick yelled back.
They both then started yelling at the same time, at least until Rick remembered that he had already solved the problem.
"Don't worry!" Rick hoarsely said. "We're going over my Captain's house for Thanksgiving."
Carl stopped yelling, and looked at his dad in confusion. "Your Captain's house? Doesn't that mean it's gonna be filled with a lot of people, dad?"
Rick scratched the back of his head, shrugging slightly. "It probably won't. I mean, how big could this party be?"
7:45 PM Captain Horvath's House
"Dad," Carl says to Rick.
"Yes, son." He answers.
"You were wrong." Carl whispered out.
Rick sighs deeply. "I know, son. I know."
The Grimes boys watched as dozens upon dozens of people flooded into Captain Horvath's large, imposing house. Hell, the man had people parking the cars outside of the house just because there was so many people coming.
Looking at each other, Rick and Carl had a mental conversation as to what they should do next.
"Maybe we can just go back home, dad. Kenny's diner might be open!" Carl pleaded.
Rick shook his head. "Even if we could turn back, I called Kenny's diner, the only thing I get ahold of an answering machine that screams the most horrible swear words you could ever imagine."
A beat passed.
"Like what?" Carl asked in curiosity.
"That's not the point!" Rick snapped. "The Diner's gone. At least for tonight. And there's no food in the apartment, you really wanna deal with your Uncle on an empty stomach."
"Wait!" Carl screamed, breaking the mental conversation. "Where the hell is uncle Shane!"
It was then that Rick noticed he hadn't seen Shane since he disappeared with Merle all those hours ago. A cold chill went through his spine when he thought about the look of evil the pair had on their face when they disappeared out of the police station, darkness in their hearts and Glenn's sanity in their eyes.
"Ay, what up, man?" Shane said appearing out of nowhere behind Rick and Carl.
The pair let out a high-pitched scream, Carl jumped almost out of his sneakers and Rick was holding his chest, hoping a heart attack wouldn't reach him at his age.
"The hell, brother? Where you been?" Rick questioned trying to regain his breathing and get answers to Shane's disappearance.
Shane shrugged, cleaning one of his ears with his fingers. "Ya know, doing things, messing stuff up."
"Did he just say stuff and things?!" Carl asked, more to himself than anybody.
"Yes, son." Rick answered. "Yes he did."
Shane clapped Grimes boys on the back, dragging them towards the heavily crowded house. "Well, what are we waiting for? Lets get this shindig started!"
"But I don't know anyone here!" Carl chirped. "These are all your friends from work."
"Well invite some of your friends and their family!" Shane retorted, barley paying attention.
"Um, is that a good idea, dad?" Carl asked, knowing that his friends were…well insane.
""Yeah, sure, do what you need to do, Carl." Rick answered, he also was barely paying attention since he was trying to get out of Shane's vice grip hold of his neck.
Sighing, Carl quickly slipped out of his uncle's hold, ignoring the man's loud protest, and began to dial his friend's numbers. Oh, well, he tried to warn them…
When Rick had finally gotten away from Shane's hold, he decided to go find the captain, which wasn't that hard to find anyway. The man was the center of attention and he was in the middle of talking with many of his guest.
"Captain, thank you for inviting me and my boy, really saved the day." Rick said approaching the older man
Dale smiled at Rick, laughing gently. "Think nothing of it, son. Enjoy the party."
Just then another man walked up to Dale, patting him on the back. "Well Captain, I gotta head out."
"But you just got here, T, what's the rush?" Dale said with friendly disappointment.
The man sighed. "Sasha got here in-laws in town, and I gotta go make nice."
"Oh, you better make nice T, or you'll be in the doghouse." A woman said suddenly joined in the conversation.
The man rolled his eyes and muttered. "Thought I was already in there."
The captain laughed at the couple's antics. He then noticed that he hadn't introduced Rick to the two, so he grabbed the man and dragged him closer to the pair. "Where are my manners, this is Theodore Douglass and his beautiful wife, Sasha." He then pointed towards this. "And this is the new addition to the homicide squad, Detective Rick Grimes.
Theodore shook Rick's hand firmly. "Glad to see the old Captain got some more detectives. Worried the place wouldn't be the safe after me and Dixon left.
"You were in homicide?" Rick asked, surprised to find another officer like Dixon who had been in homicide and transferred out.
Theodore nodded his head. "Yeah, I was there for a bit, then I left cause the wife thought it was too dangerous."
Sash rolled her eyes, elbowing Theodore in the ribs. "Yeah, and the knuckle head rewarded my concern by joined up with SWAT." She then turned to her husband full on. "Gee, honey, that's much safer."
"Safer than your mother's house." Theodore grumbled under his breath.
Sasha then stepped on Theodore's foot while smiling sweetly at Rick and The Captain. "We'll see you at the office Christmas party, Dale." She then kissed the older man on the cheek and started to drag Theodore away.
"Have a good thanksgiving, guys." Theodore groaned out in pain, he then let himself be dragged away by Sasha. "You see Merle' tell him I said have a good holiday too!" He said from over his shoulder
Dale chuckled deeply watching the sight play out in front of him, but Rick now had some questions on his mind he wanted to get clear.
"He was in homicide, Captain?" Rick asked bluntly.
Dale let his chuckles fade away, he nodded his head and looking off at something Rick couldn't see. "Yeah, him and Dixon left my unit around the same time."
Now that was surprising, he didn't think Douglass and Dixon would have served at the same time, "Why did they leave?"
"I told you , son, homicide isn't built for everyone." Dale said cryptically.
Rick shook his head, "But there's more to the story than that, isn't there?" He knew he was probably over stepping his place by asking but he just wanted to know.
Sighing, Dale looked at Rick, giving the younger man a sadden look, "We all have that one case that tests our limits." Without elaborating on what he just said, The Captain walked away from Rick, leaving the man filled with more questions than he started with.
Then, without warning, Rick was bum rushed by Shane and toppled to the ground.
"Oh, God, why?!" Rick groaned in pain from the floor.
"We got a problem!" Shane hollered at him.
Rick kicked Shane off of him, and rolled back onto his feet. "Yeah, you just went Kings County football on my ass."
"No!" Shane said shaking his head frantically. "That's our problem!" He then pointed at Lori, who was just walking through the front door.
It was at that moment Rick's eyes began to twitch in rapid movement, in fact it was twitching so fast, he couldn't even see through it. It was almost if someone was turning the lights on and off in a rapid speed that he couldn't follow it.
"Christ, man." Shane muttered to himself. "Ay, look on the bright side,"
"Don't say it, Shane!" Rick warned, holding the side of his face that had the twitching eye.
But Shane didn't listen. "At least it can't get any worse."
Just as Shane said that, Michonne had walked right through the front door with Lilly, Andrea, and Amy.
"Well, if you need me, I'll be at the open bar!" Shane said running away.
Rick didn't hesitate to join him in his escape.
As the life long friends ran for their lives, only one thought crossed their minds; How and why was Lori here?
"Ok, I'm lost. Why did you invite your mom here?" Duck asked in confusion.
"I'm an idiot that's why! " Carl shouted back. "I mean, I called her by accident when I was trying to call you guys, and then she just started asking me questions, and, and," Carl was frantically messing up his hair and pacing around like a mad man. "I can't lie to save my ass! What was I supposed to do!"
"Maybe not swear." Clementine said from her spot on the floor. She was busy drawing a couple of turkeys on the walls. Why, Carl wasn't really sure.
"Not helping!" Carl groaned.
Eliza stood up from the floor, shaking her head. "What did you expect, Grimes? Where not here for moral support."
Carl stared at her like she was crazy. "Then why are you here?!"
"For free food!" Duck cheered.
Eliza, Clementine, and even Sophia nodded their heads.
"Why else do you think our parents choose to give up Thanksgiving at their places and come here. I mean, have you seen all that food out there?!" Eliza said talking about the wide choice of dinners, deserts, and all around tasty things around the food tables outside the room. "There's food here I've only imagined!"
Duck titled his head in confusion at Eliza "I thought Sophia came cause her dad threw away-"
He was interrupted by a hard elbow to the stomach my Eliza. "Can it, Duck.
'At least it wasn't me this time.' Carl thought relived.
"Thank you for inviting us, Carl." Sophia said trying to steer the conversation away from why her family's was really there.
Carl shrugged his shoulders, "It's no big deal, my dad told me too."
"But why did we all get stuck in the kid's room?" Clementine complained with a sigh.
"Cause they all think we're a bunch of brats, that's why." Another kid said joining the conversation with Carl's group. He had spent most of his time in the 'kid's room' ignoring the others, but bordem got the best of him.
The kid noticed the whole group staring at him, and he stared back with confusion. "What? You guys thought you were the only kids here."
Carl shrugged "Well, yeah, pretty much."
The kid palmed his forehead, he then pointed to himself "I'm Duane, and I'm guessing you're a cop's kid.
"How'd you know?" Carl asked surprised.
Duane laughed, shaking his head. "Man, all the kids up in here are either cop kids or Politician kids, and you ain't dressed like some white-collar kid, so I'm guessing you from a cop family."
Carl whistled, impressed with Duane's guess. "Yeah, I am. My dad and uncle are cops. Detectives actually.
Nodded his head, Duane patted himself on the back. "Thought so. My dad's a cop too. Only he be dealing with drugs and drug dealers instead of all that other stuff." He said causally. "What's your dad do?"
"My dad deals with killers, I think. We really don't talk much about work." Carl says as he scratches his head.
"No big, man. My dad really don't be telling me much either. I'm just good at listening when he don't know I'm around." Duane couldn't but the snicker sneaking out from his voice as he said the last part.
"Hey, jackasses!" Eliza shouted to the Carl and Duane. "I'm happy Grimes as found another dumbass like him, but we're not all cop kids."
"Then who are you?" Duane asked in confusion.
"We're friends of Carl, he invited us and our families here today. "Sophia said softly.
"Oh, well then, since you only said friends…" Duane stepped forward and gave Eliza a flirty look. "How about me and you share a turkey leg during dinner, baby."
The room then went dead silent, Duck hid behind Clementine, already knowing what was going to happen, Carl did the same by hiding behind Sophie, he already knew the safest was behind her or Clementine, but the earlier was already being taken by Duck as a human shield.
"And here I thought tonight was going to be boring." Eliza muttered to herself evilly.
Duane looked at her in confusion. "What you say bab-"
His words were cut off by a stone hard punch to the gut delivered by Eliza.
Carl and Duck winced, while Sophie giggled and Clementine just shook her head. Duane meanwhile collapsed to the ground, out cold from the hit.
Eliza cracked her knuckles and sat Indian style on the ground far way from Duane's sprawled out body. "That'll teach him." She mumbled to herself. God she hated boys…well all but Duck and Carl, she'd put up with those two idiots.
Just then the door opened and a pair of girls walked in, accompanied by a young woman Carl recognized as Amy Harrison, the security at the Atlanta city police station. If he could have guessed, the two girls were probably sisters since they looked alike and the way the two stood close next to each other
"Hey, Carl!" She hollered from across the room. "Carl! Carl! Hey, Carl! Yo, Carl! What's up, Carl! Carl, Carl!" She young woman yelled over and over.
"Well, at least we know why she's in the kids room." One of the girls Amy was with muttered.
Amy flicked the girl in the back of the head. "You're in the kids room too Lizzie, so play nice." She then ruffled the other girl's hair, "Why can't you be nice like Mika, she never talks back." She says sweetly.
Mike beams at Amy and says "That's cause I know you'll never grow up" She then flashes a toothy grin at Amy.
The young woman holds her head down in shame, knowing that she was just called childish by a ten-year old. It was times like these she really wished she would have just stayed at home with her pets. "I'm gonna…go over there." She says pointing towards where Carl and his group were.
Walking over to Carl, Amy takes in the sight of his friends doing their own things around the room, most of them were just minding their own business, well all but the one boy who was holding his stomach in pain and moaning, but he didn't look like he was in too much pain, she thought she might as well ask Carl what happened.
"What's up, Chicken butt," Amy says approaching Carl, "What's going on in here?"
Carl rolls his eyes at Amy." Well, that's Duane," He points to the kid holding his stomach on the floor," He got punched by my friend Eliza for hitting on her," He then points to the angry girl sitting in the corner, Eliza doesn't do anything else but flip Carl and Amy off when they look her way. "And the two kids are Duck and Clementine." He then points to the last remaining kids who wave back them.
"Um, Duck?" Amy questioned, confused as hell about the kid being named after an animal.
"Yeah, Duck. Don't ask why, it's a long story. Also don't curse, Clementine hates cursing." Carl said to the older woman.
Amy's raised an eyebrow." Come on, I can't even say, hel-"
"Swear!" Clementine sings, throwing a crayon at Amy.
Amy whips her head at Clementine and glares at the girl. "Hey, don't throw things at me! I'm your elder!"
"I'm gonna need that back." Clementine says, not even bothering to pretend to see Amy as an adult. I mean, who calls anyone chicken butt anymore?
Amy tossed the crayon back at Clementine and the girl happily goes back to drawing some turkeys. Cool turkeys with baseball caps on.
"Told you." Carl says from beside her. "So, who's the kids your with?" He asks, motioning his head towards the two new girls in the room who were keeping to themselves near the door.
Amy points to the younger looking of the two girls, "That one is Mika, a little cutie with a smart mouth, and the other one," Amy's voice get low like a growl. "Lizzie, kinda a brat…ok really a brat, but she's a sweet kid once you get passed her being a little bitc-"
Clementine cuts her off, "Swear!" She sing-talks.
Glaring at clementine, Amy sticks her tongue out at the girl.
Carl shakes his head at her, "Aren't you technically a cop? Doesn't that mean you're supposed to be mature, or something like that?" He questioned the childlike woman.
"Hey, I'm mature!" She defensively replies. "And, you know, I am a cop…just a desk cop."
"So that means you're just a pencil pusher."Lizzie shouts from across the room.
Amy growls at her. "I will end you Lizzie! You hear me? I. Will. End. You."
Edging away from Amy, Carl decided it was time to escape the kid's room of this party. He already had an angry Eliza to put up with on a daily basis, adding Amy and these two new girls would only make him even more miserable.
Now, Rick didn't think of himself as an anti-social person, really he didn't! But after having to talk with almost every single cop in the city at this party, he was begging to wish he could just grab Carl and Shane and disappear from the freaking party.
He let the Captain drag him to anyone and everyone the older man wanted him to meet, shake their hands, chat with them a bit, then he'd let the Captain steal him away and repeat the process again and again.
"Now, Rick, you've got to meet this man." The captain says leading him into another forced meeting.
Rick sighed, trying his best to stay polite. "Why, is he another cop, sir?" He says yawning.
Dale waved his hand and shook his head, "God, no, I'm done with that. I know you're probably had enough of that too."
'You have no idea.' Rick thought in his head.
"No, this man's the mayor. Comes to all these types of parties. Good man."
"Now, now, Captain, are you boasting about me again." A man said from behind Dale.
Spinning around, the older man came face to face with the mayor of Atlanta, a giant smile founds its way to Dale's face and he shook the other man's hand and patted him on the shoulder. "It's good to see you again, son."
"You too, old friend." The mayor says with a sincere smile on his face. "And who's this your with?" He says looking at Rick. "Another one of your star detectives your showing off the party.
Dale laughs deeply, "Guilty of course." He then gestures towards Rick. "This is Detective Grimes, one of newbies at the force."
The mayor stepped closer to Rick and shook his hands firmly. "Evening, I'm Mayor Phillip Blake."
"Detective Rick Grimes. Pleasure to meet you, sir." Rick says the mayor.
Phillip chuckled a little. "Come now, Rick. No need for formalities here. I'm just a mayor."
"But I've always said you could be a Governor is you wanted." The Captain chimes in.
Phillip just shrugs, chucking at the thought. "Really, me? A governor? It just doesn't sound right."
"I don't know, you look like a Governor type." Rick said eyeing the man. There was a leader aspect about him, a sense of responsibility for others people's lives.
Phillip continued to chuckle, shaking his head the entire time. "Between you and the captain, I might just have to if I ever wanna get some rest!"
The next couple of minutes, Rick spent chatting up the Mayor, and he had to say, the man was pretty good company, he found at that he had three daughters, one was his own and the other two he adopted after their parents passed away. He really respected someone who could raise someone elses children, it showed how strong they could be caring for something that originally wasn't even theirs.
Deep into the conversation, Rick felt a tug at his shoulder, turning around he saw Andrea looking stressed, panicked, and if he was right, plain pissed off.
"You, me, now, upstairs." She then started dragging him away from Phillip, who had found the whole situation incredibly amusing.
"You have fun now!" Phillip hollered after them, he then disappeared in the crowd, he wanted to see if he could find his brother and daughters in this sea of people.
Rick reluctantly let Andrea drag him upstairs, he didn't know what she was dragging him upstairs, but whatever it was he had a bad feeling about it. "Um, Andrea, I know this is a party, but, um, listen, I think you're a great woman, but I'm not-"
"Shut the hell up, Rick." Andrea snapped, dragging him even harder, "I'm not bringing you up there to jump your bones, I need your help and we gotta talk too."
And as she ordered, Rick shut the hell up and let the woman led him up the stairs. They climbed the long stairs to the last room in the entire house, farthest from the party, Andrea threw open the door and tossed him into the room, following shortly behind and slamming the door behind her self.
Rick cached himself from falling on the ground, and looked at Andrea questioningly,, "What is this about anyway-"
His words were cut off by Andrea delivering a hard rick hook to his face, then another to his stomach. "Well, jackass, who did you forgot to call back?" She asked angrily.
"I already called my parents back!" He replied, holding his stinging face.
Andrea rolled her eyes. "No, dumbass, Michonne, Internal Affairs Officer? Ring any bells in that empty head of yours?"
The wheels in Rick's head finally started to turn, or maybe that was just the hamster powering his brain by running on said wheel, regardless, he knew what Andrea was asking and he instantly felt like an asshole. "Oh, damn it, I'm an ass."
Andrea nodded her head, "Yes, yes you are. Now I need your help, and I'll help you fix your mess."
Sighing, Rick rubbed his cheek and stood up. Wait…when did he get on the ground? Holy hell, Andrea had floored him with that hit. "Alright, what do you need me to do?"
Andrea walked over to a closet in the room, she put her hand on the doorknob, but she didn't open it, she took in a deep breath, then turned back towards Rick. "You can't back out of this, okay?"
"I'm a man of my word." He says, silently wondering what the hell was behind that door.
"Andrea bit her lip, having one last internal struggle, she knew this wasn't the smartest ideas, but she needed help, and if there was anyone who could help, it'd be Rick. "I…need you to help me…sober up The Captain's sons.
Rick gave a confused look at Andrea, he didn't even know The Captain had sons, he knew he was married, but there was never any talk of children. "Sobering up his sons?" he repeated it confusion.
"Yeah, well, right now just one son, the other one went MIA a bit ago, god help us all." She said the last bit quietly to herself. "Anyway, just help me sober one of them up and I'll run damage control on Michonne."
"Deal!" Rick said, not even bothering to think twice. He really wanted to get to find a way to move forward with whatever the hell he had going on with Michonne, and if Andrea could help him, than that'd be enough for him.
Nodding her head, Andrea slowly opened the closet door, cringing slightly as she waited for Rick to react to what who was behind the door.
Rick watched closely as the closet door was open, and as soon as he got a good luck at who was sprawled out in the corner of the small room, leather jacket drapped around himself like a blanket, his eyes practically fell out of his head.
There, cuddled up in a drunken ball, was none other than Daryl Dixon. The apparent son of The Captain.
Turning to Andrea with wide eyes, Rick was only able to barely whisper out "Explain. Now."
"So, does anyone want to explain what happened here?" Lilly asked with her hands on her hips.
Lined up in a row was Carl, Sophie, Clementine, Duck, Eliza, Lizzie, Mika, and Duane, Amy, and for some reason, Shane, all handcuffed and sitting on the ground with their heads down.
"Well, first off, the fire was an accident" Shane started, but he was cut off by Lilly smacking him upside the head.
"I will deal with you later!" She snarls menacingly.
Shane growls back at her. "God, I love it when your angry!"
Lilly's reply was a kick to Shane's stomach.
All the kids, and Amy, wince as they watch the man go toppling down.
She ran a hand threw her long brown hair, trying her best not to curse in front of the children. "Christ, why do I always get the crap jobs."
"What are you even doing here, Lilly?" Shane groans out from his spot on the floor.
She sends a glare his way, but answers his anyway. "I'm here, because my dad and your Captain you to serve together in the military, their old friends, we always go to these functions. What I didn't know was that by coming, I'd walk in on a couple of demon swans and an idiot trying to put out to burn down the Captain's house.
"I'm a demon spawn?" Sophia questioned, water already starting to leak from her eyes.
"No, no, not your sweetie," Lilly said to Sophie, she doesn't know the child, but she can see low self-esteem from a mile away. "I meant the other kids."
"Then I'm a demon spawn?" Clementine questioned, sadness finding it's way to her voice.
Sighing again, Lilly shakes her head. "No, you're not a demon spawn."
"What about us?" Eliza questioned, gesturing to the other kids, and Amy.
Lilly stared at the other kids, they were all giving her puppy dog looks, and it took everything in her power not to just give up and walk out. She sighed again, deeply and loudly. "None of you are demon spawns!" She screams.
"Even me?" Shane asked, hopefully.
His reply was another kick in the stomach.
"Just go find your families." Lilly mutters as she unlocks all the other handcuffs, well everyone's but Shane's.
Shane looked up at Lilly, smirking devilishly, "Well, I already got the handcuffs. Ya wanna ya know…"
Lilly flipped Shane off the walked out of the room. Silently wondering why the hell she was even bothering trying to get to know the bofoon.
"Hey!" Shane yelled as he realized Lilly was going to leave him handcuffed alone. "What about me? I'm still locked up here!"
Lilly yelled over her shoulder, "I'll send my dad down to get you."
"Alright, I'm boned." Shane whined to himself.
They say misery loves company.
Unfortunately, for Carl, his company was the cause of his misery.
Luckily, he had escaped Duck's endless rambling, Clementine drying to draw him like one of her French girls, he didn't understand that part, Eliza's blood rage, Sophie's puppy dog eyes, and Duane's trying to get Eliza's number off him.
Now he was hiding out on the second floor of his dad's boss' giant house, staring at his phone blankly. He hadn't had any time to think about what had happened earlier when he had tried to get in touch with Beth.
"God, damn it…" He quietly muttered to himself.
He didn't want to admit it to himself, to admit that his mind was slowly changing the way it normally thought, to admit that he didn't see Beth the same way he had originally had . She had gone from being just a babysitter, to his best friend, to…to something else. Whatever that was, he wasn't sure yet, but he liked when he was around her, felt better, but ever since this morning when Maggie had told him she was busy hanging out with her old friend Jimmy, he felt…angry maybe? He wasn't sure. He never really was when it came to her.
Sighing the famous Grimes' sigh, Carl laid his head against the old wooden door he had been using t support his body. Without warning thought he door flew open and Carl came tumbling to the floor, his ice blue eyes slammed shut and he groaned loudly in pain.
"Damn gravity." He moaned out.
"It ain't gravity's fault, son." A voice Carl recognized as his father's.
His eyes snapped open to stare back at his dad who was looking down at him, and surprisingly the lawyer that also worked with his dad, Amy's older sister, Andrea.
He blinked once.
Rick blinked twice.
Andrea smacked both of them upside the head.
"Ow, God, damn it!" Carl cursed.
It might of just been his imagination, but he could of sworn he heard Clementine's voice warning him not to swear. Of course it could of just been his slowly deteriorating sanity. Atlanta was slowly driving him crazy.
Rick would of chuckled, but he was pretty sure this wasn't the moment for laughs, he extended his hand and lifted his son back on his smaller feet.
The father and son duo looked at each other briefly, nodded at each other, then turned back to the blonde in question.
"So, dad, why are you in one of your boss' bedrooms alone with the blonde lawyer you work with? I mean I don't think I'm looking for a step-mom just yet." Carl sarcastically said rubbing his head.
"Great, so he's a smartass like his uncle." Andrea says shaking her head at Carl.
Rick lets a smile tug at his lips. "I see him more of a wise ass personally."
Andrea face palmed, silently screaming to herself. "I hate men, I really do." She muttered. " I should just become a lesbian, a big freaking lesbian! Move out west and lez it up with Michonne!"
"Who's Michonne?" Carl questioned.
"Um, don't worry about." Rick said not really ready to tell his son about his…his…what the hell were she again to him? Love interest? No, that sounded like a cheesy love story. Crush? No, to teenage. Lover? Yeah…maybe he should just stop thinking to himself.
Andrea coughed loudly, trying to get the boys attention. "Rick, can we get back to the topic at hand?!"
"What problem?" Carl asked stepping closer to Andrea.
"I ain't putting on no freaking uniform, Merle! The hell with uncle Sam and his cheap booze!" Daryl shouted, running into the room shirtless, holding a bottle of whiskey in one hand and a crossbow in the other.
Rick and Carl stared at the detective Dixon in a mixture of fear and confusion, but Andrea didn't even blink an eye at him, instead she stomped forward, cocked her fist back and slammed her fist right into Daryl's stomach.
The man gasped for breath and collapsed on the floor.
There was silence for a couple of moments, then Carl felt the need to voice something that was nagging at him.
"What the fuc-"
"SWEAR!" Clementine's voice rang through the house ominously.
Rick's eyes searched around for the body the voice belonged to but found nothing, he then turned to his son. "What the hell was that?" He asked his Carl.
Groaning loudly, Carl put his head in his hands. "Don't ask, dad. Just don't ask."
"Now that we're past the magic voice, can you help me already. Rick?!" Andrea shouted.
All there turned towards Daryl.
This wasn't going to be easy.
2 hours later.
Daryl kicked opened the door the room, stumbling out looking a little less disheveled that he had been looking earlier. Andrea soon followed him out, and he second he saw her, he latched onto her, using her smaller body as support.
"Ya look pretty tonight, Goldie locks." He muttered/slurred.
Andrea patted his messy short hair "Thanks, Robin hood, now get the hell down stairs before I break your legs."
"Yes, mam!" Daryl barked back.
Rick and Carl limped out the room as Daryl made his exit, the younger sporting a bruised cheek and the older showing a black eye, thus slowing the twitching down.
"Dad," Carl started.
Rick sighed, rubbing his blackening eye, "Yes, son?"
"What the hell just happened?" Carl asked in clear confusion.
"Life, son. Life." Rick answered. "Come on, let's clean up, and find your Uncle, then we get this show on the road.
One hour later
With no luck finding Shane, the grimes men just opted for having dinner and escaping the nightmare of Thanksgiving. They were beaten, tired, and had accepted the fact that the holiday had beaten them.
When they had descended the stairs with the full intention of leaving the party, they had been met with a sight that made both of their hearts stop.
There in the middle of the room, talking with the Captain of homicide, the mayor of Atlanta, and a two little blonde girls that Carl instantly recognized as Lizzie and Mika, was the one and only Lori Grimes.
"I forgot your mother was here." Rick quietly said in terror. "How did she even get an invite here?!"
Carl looked away, trying to hide his shame. "I, I have no clue, dad…"
Rick's head snapped Carl's way, instantly knowing when his son was lying. "Carl, why?!" He cried.
"It was an accident!" Carl say to his father pathetically. "You know I can't lie with hell!"
"Swear!" Clementine says appearing behind Carl, Eliza, Sophia, Duck, and Duane all right beside her as well.
Rick eyeballed Clementine for a second, she flashed him a toothy grin, he then looked at duck who too gave him a smile, then Sophia, who was too busing blushing at his son to notice anything in the world, he then looked at Duane who just nodded his way, and finally he looked at Eliza who stared right back at him.
"Hey, Mr. Grimes, what's happening?" Eliza asks in a bored tone.
"The end of the world, Eliza." Rick replies.
Eliza nods her head. "Cool." She then drags the group of children away, minus Carl, and goes off to find the kids table. Diner was starting soon and they were all hungry.
Carl turns to his dad, despair and hopeless in his eyes, "What are we going to do, dad?" He asks, pleading for an answer.
Putting on a determined face, Rick says. "We're survivors, son. We'll make it."
Looking at his dad with fear in his eyes, Carl says, "But we don't have the guts to survive this!"
"We're gonna need more guts then!" Rick says harshly.
Gripping his sons shoulders, Rick went down to eye level with Carl, gritting his teeth and demonstrating an almost feral like look, the current night's events clearly starting to tear away at his sanity. He then spoke three words, each punctuated like sentences of their own.
"GRIT. THOSE. TEETH."
Carl stared at his father, fear and hope strangely started to run through his veins. Maybe it was his own fading sanity, maybe it was the fact that Beth was with JIMMY! Or maybe it was the fact that he just didn't give a damn anymore. Whatever it was, it was time to end the night on their terms!
He gritted his teeth in a feral like look, mimicking his dad's, and then the two turned to the crowd of people all conversating like normal people. They would survive this night, or die trying!
"Let's do this." Shane says, appearing from the shadows to stand next to Rick and Carl, neither of which had the mental strength to even question where he had come from or why.
The two and a half men made their way down the stairs and to their destiny! Heads held high! Hearts beating as one! Knowing that everything would turn out for the better!
Twenty minutes later.
"Well….this didn't go as planned." Rick said, despair lacing his voice from his spot at The Captain's large dinner table.
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 was at the moment looking pleadingly at Merle.
"Shit," Merle cursed adjusting his military jacket, "The hell you get yourself into, baby brother."
"I didn't get myself into anything, Merle!" Daryl shouted back.
Merle rolled his eyes, "Then why the hell sugar tits over there staring at ya like she wanna give yer the Bob Barker treatment?!"
"Cause I'm still drunk!" Daryl barks, opening his leather jacket and taking out a flask, he then proceed to chug it down.
"Ay!" Merle jumps to his feet. "Yer ass gonna share that with ol' Merle! I've been sober for the last one week! That ain't no way to celebrate a holiday vacation!" He then tackled his brother.
Andrea put her head in her hands, sighing and cursing under her breath about hating the Dixon bloodline.
"So, Rick, how have you been?" Lori says, still staring at Michonne. She didn't know but, she could of sworn there was something going on between her and Rick. She didn't know the woman that well, or even see her with Rick, but she had caught him steeling glances at her when they had all sat down for dinner, and something in her just said there had to be some kind of spark there.
Rick pulled at his collar, trying his best not to make eye contact with anyone, but Shane, knowing that was his safest bet at the moment. "You know, been doing stuff…things-"
"Oh, god, no, no, not tonight!" Lori said cutting him off. "Really what have you been doing?"
"I know what he hasn't been doing!" Daryl drunkingly slurs from the floor, still wrestling his brother for his flask. "Right Michonne?"
Now Lori's eyes were on Michonne, raising an eyebrow to the woman.
Michonne's eyes bugged out, not really sure what was going on, she had heard of Lori through the grape vein of office talk at the station, but never really met her. It wasn't like her and Rick had even gone on a proper date yet, but she really didn't want to have a conversation with his ex-wife either.
"Now, Lori," Rick started, but he was interrupted by Shane.
"So, Lilly, when you gonna let me leap on your lilypad?" Shane asks trying to help Rick out with a distraction.
Fire appeared in Lilly's eyes, she was about to scream at Shane, but her father had his own taste of vengeance in mind.
"Why you little, bastard!" Larry shouted raising up from the dinner table.
"Oh, yeah, I forgot you were here…." Shane said, backing away from the table.
It was then someone coughed, it was none other than Phillip Blake, the mayor. "I think you forgot about a lot of people at this table." He said, feeling awkward like many of the other guests at the table. Clearly the other guests didn't know about the almost soup opera like events that were going on with the small group of people the Captain seemed to invite.
Meanwhile, at the kids table, Clementine was drawing a turkey, Duck was stuffing his face, Eliza was desperately trying to get Sophia's attention, Sophia 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.
Finally, Sophia spoke up. "Um, Carl, are you okay?"
"Huh?" Carl snaps out of his murderous trance. "Yeah, why?"
"You've spelled your food out to say 'Kill Jimmy.'" Sophia then points to Carl's food.
The boy looks down and indeed, he did spell a death threat using his food.
"Man, you got problems." Duane says from beside him.
Lizzie then speaks up from across Eliza. "Why, seems normal to me."
"That's cause your crazy, sis." Mika says polity.
Shrugging her shoulders, Lizzie replied. "You call it crazy, I call it relieving stress."
Eliza laughed and said. "I like the way you think."
"Great, the princesses of darkness has found her pope." Carl mutters to himself
Eliza then chucks a giant glob of mashed potatoes at him.
"Why am I even here?!" Amy screams from her side of the kid's table. "I'm a grown woman! I have boobs!"
"Oh, yes you do." Duane says staring at Amy's chest.
"God, gross." Amy puts her arm in front of her chest, blocking Duane's view.
Back the adult's table.
"Why did you even here Lori?" Rick asked, trying to finally get answers to his ex-wife's appearance.
"I was invited by our son." Lori replied harshly.
"No! Not that, damn it!" Rick snaps, finally losing his patience. "In Atlanta! We ain't heard from you in months, then you just stroll back in here like you ain't been a ghost in our lives since God knows when!"
Lori glares at Rick and stands up, "The only reason I haven't been in contact, was because my letters aren't ever getting replies, and every time I try to call your number I get a freaking pizza place with some kid who cries about being attacked by some nutcase."
"That would be Glenn!" Shane screams out from the floor. He was currently trying to get Larry off of him, but with little to no affect.
Phillip clapped his hands from his seat, entertained by the antics of the group. "Well, that answers the question."
"What did you want, Lori?" Rick tiredly asks, he was tired, and he wanted to go home.
Taking a deep breath, Lori was about to open her mouth, but then Merle interrupted her.
"I got the booze!" He cheered.
"Congratulations, jackass." Andrea sarcastically says.
Merle laughs as he takes a long swig. "Love you too, Sugar tits." He then notices Michonne and smiles. "Ay, there Michonne, didn't see ya over there, been quiet the whole night."
"It's been a long day, Merle, but its always fun being over your dad's house." She says honestly.
"Your what?!" Shane asks throwing Larry off of him and on top of the table, crushing some people's food.
Lilly glanced down at her plate that was now crushed under her father. "I was eating that, ass!"
"Later, Lil, men are talking." Shane replied.
Fire returned to Lilly's eyes and she gripped a fork in her hand. Someone was gonna get stabbed tonight. And that someone wore a twenty two shaped necklace .
Shane pointed to Merle, then with his other hand pointed to a passed out Daryl, he then looked at his Captain, "Their your sons?!"
The Captain nodded his head, "Yeah, of course they are."
Sighing, Andrea a spoke up. "Their adopted, jackass."
"The old man took us in when we we're young…didn't have much before that."
Everything went quiet for a bit, no one really knew what to say, well almost no one.
"Damn, how screwed up were you two assholes?" A sloppy looking man shouted from down the table.
His much smaller wife, looked away in shame, biting her bruised lip. "Ed, that was rude." She timidly whispered.
The man know as Ed, glared at his wife, and gripped her hand hard under the table, "Ain't no one asked ya to speak up." He sneered.
"I was just saying-" But Ed cut her off.
"Keep ya damn mouth shut, woman!" He snapped, gripping her hand harder.
The entire house heard that one, but it was only Sophia who knew how bad things were about to get, she began shaking and went to disappear under the kids table to hide.
Eliza, already knowing how to handle these types of episodes Sophia would have, went to comfort her under the table.
"Hey, asshole, why don't you leave her alone." Andrea said, getting up from her seat, glaring at Ed.
Ed narrowed his eyes at Andrea, and stood up. "Bitch, I suggest you mind yer own damn business."
Snorted, Andrea faked a laugh, "Or what? Your beer belly's gonna get bigger?"
"I'll smash your face into a wall, that's what I'll do." He threatened.
Andrea saw red, but just before she could reply, Daryl had finally woken up and had jumped to his feet.
He cracked his neck, then looked at Ed with piercing blue eyes. "Ya don't her and you'll wish you were dead."
The woman, pleading grabbed her husband's arm, "I'm begging you, Ed, lets just grab Sophia and go-"
Her words were cut off by Ed striking her across the face with all his might.
Everyone jumped up from their seat, Shane already getting prepared to run to the man and beat him to death, but Merle beat him to the punch.
"Yer son of a bitch!" Merle hollered as he gripped Ed's face and slammed it into the Captain's table, he then repeated this action a couple of times.
As Merle continued to beat Ed, Carol starting sobbing and begging him to stop, while Sophia was crying under the kid's table, rocking back and forth in Eliza's arms. The little girl knew this would happen, her daddy had already snapped once tonight and thrown out their dinner, he had smacked her mommy once tonight, but she was hoping he had calmed down.
Finally Shane, Rick, and Daryl had pulled Merle off of Ed, and Daryl lead the swearing Merle away, and Ed collapsed onto the floor.
The captain walked over to the scene and sighed deeply, "Detective Walsh, if you would be so kind to take this gentleman to lockup, and get him a doctor while your there."
"Yes, sir." Shane said as he reluctantly picked up Ed and dragged him out to his car. Out of the corner of his eye he coud see Lilly looking at him worrirldy, but he justs nodded his head at her and lead the abusive man away.
Sophia had ran out from under the table and crashed into her mother's arms, crying up a storm, most of the others didn't say a word, but Andrea and Amy were trying to comfort the two.
Lori stared at Rick, tears almost threatening to leave her eyes, the whole situation had become too much for her, she was already having hormonal problems since she found out the news.
"Rick," She began trying to get his attention.
He turned to her, giving her a lost look.
She looked away, tears finally falling. "I'm pregnant."
It was then Carl had chosen to join his father, and he was just in time to hear his mother announce her news.
Carl looked from both his dad, then to his mom, then put his head down and muttered. "Fuck."
Clementine wanted to say something, but after everything that just happened, she thought she'd let this one go…
Next Time on City Life….
Inching closer to Beth's face, Carl felt her heart beating faster and faster, he didn't know who invited mistletoe, but he owed the man millions.
"Merry Christmas, cowboy…" Beth whispered as her lips were only centimeters away from his.
Author's Notes: I wanted to leave the Author's notes for the last part of this and just get along with the story. The reason for taking this long to updates was a mixture of holiday craziness and discovering the game series Mass Effect. Anyway, so I wrote this as the longest, with the most characters I could think of, the next one will focus more on the Grimes men and their plot lines. I'm planning this story to go by arcs, and we're coming to the end of this ac which is called Arc 1: The Begging. Two more chapters left of this arc. I'll be seeing you guys next time and thank you all for waiting.