"I take it; your boy did well?"
"Not, bad, actually."
"Be grateful you don't have a daughter. If only things were as simple as wanting to shoot."
"Carl's getting that chance, thanks to you. And I'm eternally grateful for what you did and your hospitality. We'll earn our keep."
"I didn't do much; Kagome did all the work. You should be thanking her."
"Yes, but if it weren't for your farm, we wouldn't have anywhere to go."
"I appreciate that, but with Carl getting better, I imagine you'll be moving on soon, Fort Benning, I hear."
Lori didn't say anything; she only stared at Hershel then walked back to camp. She found Rick talking to Carl and pulled him aside, "Hershel expects us to leave? Does anybody else know?"
"Not yet."
"Were you going to tell me?"
"Of course."
"When? How long have you known?"
"How can you expect me not to worry? We have shelter here and food and water and medical care."
"We've always had medical care; Kagome has taken good care of us when it comes to that. I've been talking with Hershel. It's not carved in stone."
Lori bristled at Rick's comment about Kagome.
"Hershel thinks it is. We have to fix this. People are settling in here. They'll be devastated."
"I know I'm working on it."
"Maybe I can talk to him too and plead our case."
"No, things are uneasy. The best thing right now Is to give Hershel some space. Don't look at me like that."
"Like what?"
"Like you're scared. Like you don't trust me. I can take it from everyone else, but not from you."
"I don't understand how you could keep something like this from me. Carl's barely on his feet. And T-Dog is hurt, and I-."
"And you what?"
Lori caught herself before she told Rick that she was pregnant, "And I can't don't want them getting worse. How can we leave?"
"It's not what I want either, but if we have to go, I'll do whatever it takes to make sure you and Carl are okay. We'll get by. We will."
"Okay."
Rick cupped Lori's face and walked away. He needed to talk to someone about what was going on. The burden of leadership was beginning to get to him. Rick thought at first of talking to Shane, but he instantly dismissed it. Shane had been questioning all of his decisions from the beginning, and it was starting to get on his nerves. No, the only person that would understand him was Kagome.
He found Kagome with Sophia, Amy, and Carol washing preparing the afternoon meal. Rick smiled at the girls and asked if he could speak to Kagome, "Sure, Rick," Kagome said and stood up.
"Is there something wrong with Carl," Kagome asked as they began to walk away from the group.
"No, I only needed someone to talk to."
"What about?"
Rick began to tell Kagome everything that was going on and how he was starting to feel overwhelmed with being the leader. Kagome silently listened to everything that Rick was telling her. Then Rick told her about Hershel and how he wanted them to leave as soon as Carl was well enough to travel. Kagome nodded; she had a feeling that eventually, Hershel would like them gone. Kagome didn't blame him. They were strangers on his land, and they were using his resources.
Once Rick had finished unloading all of his problems, he felt much lighter. He didn't mean to dump everything onto Kagome, but it felt good to talk to someone Rick knew wouldn't judge him or question his decisions. He looked at Kagome, who was staring at him. She walked towards him and took his hand in his, "I know this is hard, Rick, but you're doing the best you can in an impossible situation. And I have faith in you. I know that Hershel will eventually come around and let us stay. And for some reason, he doesn't. We'll take care of each other, and we'll make it."
Rick smiled at Kagome and hugged her. Meanwhile, at camp, Lori had seen Rick and Kagome walk off into the field to do what she didn't know. Lori took Shane's binoculars and started spying on them. She could see that they were talking and that Rick was getting agitated; Lori smiled, thinking that maybe Rick was kicking Kagome out of the group. Lori frowned when she saw Kagome take Rick's hand, and then Rick hugged Kagome.
A blind rage built up in Lori. If Rick was going to be acting that way with Kagome, then why shouldn't she be friendly with Shane again? She stalked off, looking for Shane. Lori saw him coming back from his lesson with Andrea, "I need to talk to you," Lori said to Shane.
"Okay."
Lori grabbed Shane by the arm and led him back the way he came as soon as they were out of sight. Lori kissed Shane passionately and started making out with him. Lori abruptly stopped, "What was that for?"
"Nothing," Lori turned around and walked back towards camp. She still needed to decide on whether or not she was going to keep the baby.
Shane watched Lori walk away. He had no idea what had brought that on, but he wished he had known before having sex with Andrea. Andrea meant nothing to Shane if he could get Lori back. But he wasn't going to push it. Shane walked back to camp and was met by Dale, "Shane, Shane, I was thinking, you've got that nice new ride of yours, plenty of fuel, more than enough for you to get far from here."
Shane looked at Dale in disbelief, "What, you telling me to leave?"
"I know you've been planning to, maybe now is a good time."
"Is this about Andrea?"
"I'm looking out for the group," Dale said to Shane.
"You think the group would be better off without me, Dale? Why don't you tell that to Rick or Lori? Their boy would be dead if I hadn't put my ass on the line."
"No, their boy would be dead without Kagome, who already had everything she needed to do the surgery. You've been vague about that night, about what happened. What happened to Otis, Shane?"
"Otis died a hero."
"So, you've said."
"I got the supplies needed because of what went down that night. They may not have been needed this time, but they might be some other time, I think you ought to show some gratitude."
"I wasn't there."
"No, man, you weren't."
"But I was the time that you raised your gun on Rick."
"Come on. Jesus."
"You had him in your sights, and you held him there. I know what kind of man you are," Dale accused.
"You think I'd shoot Rick? That is my best friend. That's the man that I love. I love him like he's my brother. You think that's the kind of man I am?"
"That's right."
"Well, maybe we ought to just think that through. Say I'm the kind of man who'd gun down his own best friend. What do you think I'd do to some guy that I don't even like when he starts throwing accusations my way? What do you think?" Shane said, then walked away. Dale's suspicions were confirmed. Somehow, Shane got Otis killed and given a chance; he'll do the same to Rick.
A little while later, Dale talked to Lori about her pregnancy, he encouraged her to have her baby, but after talking to Dale about what would happen to her baby, Lori decided that she couldn't have the baby. She needed to ask Glenn to make a run into town to get several packets of the Morning After pills so that Lori could abort the baby.
Glenn and Maggie showed up at camp, and Maggie came storming up to Lori, "Hey! We got your stuff."
Lori looked around, "Come on in here."
"Why? Nothing to hide. We got your special delivery right here. We got your lotion, got your conditioner, your soap opera digest. Next time you want something, get it your damn self. We're not your errand boys, And here are your abortion pills," Maggie said and threw the pills at Lori's feet. Glenn apologized for Maggie and told Lori that maybe this wasn't a decision she should be making on her own, and he gave her a bag of prenatal vitamins just in case.
While this was going on, Kagome decided to wander the land. She felt slightly off for a while, and she couldn't figure out what it was. The farm itself was peaceful, but underneath there was a darkness lurking. It wasn't much, but it was enough for Kagome to notice. Kagome already knew about the Walkers in the barn, Dale had told her. If they had been barely turned, Kagome could have cured them, but now it was too late for them.
But the darkness wasn't coming from the Walkers, it was something else, something more sinister, and it was slowly building. A shiver ran down Kagome's spine. The only thing that Kagome could hope for is that either the darkness stopped or she could stop the evil that was creeping in any further. Kagome was thinking that this evil somehow felt familiar when Dale touched her shoulder, making the priestess jump.
"Oh, Dale, you scared me."
"I'm sorry, Kagome, do you have a minute?"
Kagome smiled at Dale, "For you, Dale, always."
"Have you noticed a difference in Shane lately?"
"You mean since the night he returned without Otis?" Kagome asked.
"So, it isn't just me that thought that story sounded a bit off?"
"No, Daryl, and I thought that too."
"If you don't mind me asking, what's going on with you and Daryl. I noticed that you set up your tent out by his, along with Amy."
"Nothing is going on between Daryl and me. We're friends, Daryl and I bonded over the loss of our brothers. I can't say the same for Amy. I think she likes him. Why do you ask?"
"I was only wondering because I thought you and Rick had feelings for each other."
Kagome blushed, "Am I that obvious?"
"No, you're not obvious at all, but he is. The way he looks at you and bristles every time you're with Daryl. Rick tries to hide it, but I'm an observant old man, it comes from playing too much chess."
Kagome chuckled, "It doesn't matter, Rick's married with a son. I would never do anything to disrupt that. But we weren't talking about Rick; we were talking about Shane."
"I think he's dangerous," Dale said bluntly.
"I agree."
"You know, after you went off looking for Sophia, a group of us went out looking for you two. I saw Shane put Rick in his sights and hold him there as if he wanted to shoot him," Dale explained.
"I'm not surprised, Shane wants Lori, and now that she's pregnant, things are going to get a lot more complicated."
"You know what was going on between them?"
"You mean what's still going on between them? Yes."
"You mean they're still at it? How can she do that to her husband with his best friend?"
"Lori wants her cake and eat it too. And by the way, they act, this has been going on a lot longer than this whole End of the World thing."
"We need to tell Rick."
"They'll eventually slip up, and he'll find out. I'm not going to be responsible for breaking up a marriage," Kagome said, "And as far as Shane is concerned. He's becoming more and more unstable and obsessed with Lori. But don't worry, Dale, I'll keep an eye on him."
Dale nodded, "What are you doing out here, anyway?"
"Nothing, only taking a walk, trying to clear my head," Kagome said with a smile, "Why don't we head back now?"
"Okay," Dale answered.
As Kagome and Dale walk back towards their camp, they can see Rick and Lori arguing in the distance. They look at each other, and Kagome shrugged, "I guess Rick just found out about the baby."
"I guess so."
Lori had confessed to Rick that she had tried to end her pregnancy but that she couldn't go through with it. They argued about how they could have a baby in that world when every day its life would be in danger. And Lori told Rick that she had decided to end the pregnancy without him knowing so that it would only be on her conscience.
"Maybe that's true, but I can't live like this anymore, Lori. We can't live like this. Is there anything else I should know about?"
"Shane and I…"
" I know. Of course I know. You thought I was dead. The world went to shit and you thought I was dead. Right?"
Lori hesitated for a moment, "Yeah."
Rick looked at his wife and his heart clenched. An uneasy feeling started forming in the pit of his stomach.