Act 1 Part 4: Lies.

Vanessa sighed seeing how sad Kara was, leaning against the shelf.

"Them leaving is hitting her a lot harder than I thought it would..." Vanessa spoke quietly as she watched their daughter stare out the window, waiting for them to come back.

Kara hugged her stuffed bunny as she watched the window, hoping to see them come back soon.

She had found out through Troy by accident, and now she wouldn't stop looking out the window, thinking the others must be wrong, that they wouldn't leave without saying goodbye.

"I know it is," Bill spoke with a sigh as they continued to watch their daughter from afar.

"They almost get one man killed, they almost took all of our meds and food, then run off. Christ, don't they know I've been trying to keep them all alive?" Bill spoke, anger filling his voice.

"Hey," She began, gently touching his shoulder as she continued, "It'll be okay. We've always managed in the past, we'll manage again. Some people just...leave, but we'll survive, we always have...unless you're not just upset about the supplies...?"

"Just thinking hun," He replied with a sigh, tapping his foot against the floor.

She nodded, gently brushing his hair back with her fingers before kissing his cheek.

"If you ever need to talk, I'm here, okay? You don't have to figure anything out alone," She replied gently before looking back over at their daughter, sighing before deciding to walk over.

"Hey sweetie..." She began, bending down to her level as she continued, "What're you doing?"

"I'm waiting for them to come back," She replied as she continued to hug her stuffed bunny.

Vanessa hesitated for a moment, not wanting to break her daughter's heart, but she sighed, knowing her reply could break their daughter's heart.

"Honey...they're not coming back."

"But they wouldn't leave without saying goodbye! They wouldn't!" Kara quickly replied with a sniffle, tearing up.

"Honey...I'm sure they wanted to, but they're just—...confused...but you can't stare out the window all day waiting for them sweetie, it's not healthy."

Kara sniffled, continuing to stare out the window.

"Honey—" Vanessa began until Kara suddenly ran off toward her room sobbing.

"Kara!" She exclaimed before sighing heavily, placing her hand to her forehead.

"Well," Russell began, glancing over at Vanessa before continuing, "At least she didn't run outside."

"Not now Russell," She grumbled, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Let her go hun, it's been a rough couple of days, she'll come around. We'll have to search for them in a while anyway," Bill spoke as he gazed towards the window.

"Search for them?" She questioned as she gazed up at him, crossing her arms.

"Why would we search for them?"

"To get supplies," He lied as he looked to her, but she almost certainly knew this was a cover up for something else.

She cocked an eyebrow, looking at him suspiciously as she considered pushing the subject.

"...Okay," She replied, deciding to drop the subject for now before continuing, "when do you want to leave?"

"In a week. We get everything we need and we go searching."

She nodded, shrugging a bit as she replied, "Okay."

She walked away without another word, seeming to suddenly be distant and lost in thought.

In reality, she was planning on doing anything she can to figure out what Bill was hiding from her, starting off with talking to Troy, the blabber mouth who accidentally told Kara about the group leaving.

Tavia walked over to Bill, handing him a few notes about the inventory count.

"We're still doing good on supplies, thankfully they didn't take enough to cause any real damage, but still wouldn't hurt to go on a few supply runs."

"Yeah, in a few days we're going after those bastards," Bill replied, looking at her before looking back at the notes for inventory.

Meanwhile on the roof, Vanessa climbed up, causing Troy to look over and spot Vanessa, "What now?"

"I need to talk to you about something," Vanessa began, glancing over at Bonnie, "Alone."

Bonnie glanced between the two before placing her hands up in defense, nodding as she replied, "Got it, I'm sure there's some other spot needing guarding right now, call me back over when you're done."

Once Bonnie walked away, Vanessa looked back over at Troy, crossing her arms.

"Whatever we talk about doesn't leave this spot, got it? Don't tell anyone, not even my husband."

"Fine. Is this about Kara? Because I swear I thought she already knew," He quickly spoke, trying to defend himself as he kept his gaze on her.

She sighed, placing her hand to her forehead as she replied, "Don't worry, you're not in trouble, I'm not mad. She was gonna find out eventually."

She hesitantly sat down beside him, looking out at the view of the walkers he had at his post.

"...The group that left today, Bill won't tell me why he's so adamant on finding them. He says it's about the supplies, but he's lying, and I know that if I push he'll just get mad and shrug it off. I know I'm asking a lot for you to be honest with me, but Troy, I need to know...why does he want to find the group so badly? What does he really want?"

"Look, all I know is that Bill was talking to Rebecca for a while. He said something about a baby and they left using the same spot that Kara got out and left," Troy replied, continuing to keep his gaze on her as he spoke.

She stayed silent for a moment, her fingers digging into her pants from how tightly she was clinging to them.

"I-I see," She replied quietly, trying to keep her composure as she stood to her feet.

"Thank you for telling me, and like I said, please keep everything that was said here between us."

"Of course" Troy replied, watching her leave as he knew he made a mistake by telling, but what was he going to do? Say no?

While all of this was happening, Bill remained in his office, making plans to capture the group.

After a while of checking around to see if Troy's story was right, she began to breathe heavier, her heart feeling like it was racing in her chest as she approached Bill's office to bring him his supper.

She could barely think, she wasn't even sure how to go about this, the only person she would've even felt remotely confident turning to would've been Pete, but since he left with the group, she felt more alone than ever.

Eventually, after standing outside the door for a minute just hesitating, she gently knocked on it.

Bill sat at his desk, looking to the door with a bottle of scotch sitting beside him.

"Come in."

She walked in silently, handing him his portions as she quietly spoke, "Don't forget to eat."

She then made her way back towards the door quickly and quietly, deciding instead of facing her problems, she'd bury herself in work instead.

Bonnie was about to walk in and saw Vanessa practically zoom past her, causing her to blink in surprise before turning to Bill.

"Is she alright? I haven't seen her move that fast since the time Kara started choking on one of her snacks halfway across the base."

"I need to talk to her, she needs to hear something from me" He replied, looking up at Bonnie as he grabbed his radio.

"Vanessa, please come back up to the office, I need to speak with you."

Vanessa screamed into a pillow, punching a wall repeatedly before taking a deep breath, grabbing her walkie as she replied briefly, "Coming."

As she made her way towards Bill's office she began to realize her knuckle was bleeding, so she put on her fingerless gloves before heading into his office.

Bonnie gently shut the door for them to speak in private as she left, deciding to give them as much space as she could.

"Hun, I need to confess something. You're gonna hate me, but I had sex with Rebecca. I got drunk, and she said she took some birth control," He spoke while gazing down at his desk, not having the power to look up at her.

She took a deep breath, hesitating for a moment before replying, "I know. I found out after you lied to me earlier."

She sat down in front of his desk, remaining silent for a few more moments before looking back up at him.

"...So, if it was something you did while drunk, why're you so determined to hunt them down?"

"If that kid is mine, I want them to be safe, and if not the both of them, then at least the kid should be somewhere safe so they can live happy lives," He replied, looking up at her as he continued to try and be truthful with her.

She took a moment, scanning his gaze before sighing, looking down as she took a deep breath before gazing back up at him.

"Do you swear that that's where your relationship with her ends? That there's really nothing else there?

"Of course not, I love you with all.my heart. I have to make some room for my baby girl, but you know I love you," Bill replied, speaking nothing but the truth to her in this moment.

She took a moment to think about it some more before taking a deep breath, nodding as she replied, "Okay, we'll get them back, but only because of the kid she's carrying. I don't even know how we'll be able to explain that one to Kara down the line, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

She hesitated for a moment before slightly smiling at him.

"Thank you for telling me."

"Of course, I'd rather have me tell you instead of someone else, like Troy did with Kara."

She began to laugh a bit, looking off to the side as she rubbed the back of her neck.

"Y-Yeah, that'd be awful, truly awful," She laughed, trying to not think about how she had found out through Troy.

"Hun, you know you can talk to me," He replied, gazing at her with a look of intrigue and concern.

She laughed a bit more before sighing, looking away awkwardly as she replied, "Okay, after you lied to me I kind of, sort of, talked to Troy...so I did actually find out through him."

"He needs to stop eavesdropping or he'll be put in the garden with Reggie and Mike," He replied with a grumble.

Suddenly he heard his radio go off, talking about some girl walking around covered in walker guts right in the middle of a herd.

She couldn't help but laugh at his words until she heard the radio go off, sighing.

"I really hope Kara doesn't freak out if she sees—" She was about to continue talking until she saw out the office window that Kara was already staring at the girl in awe.

"...Never mind, she thinks it's cool instead of creepy."

"Come on," He spoke, opening the door for her before they went out to go get the woman who had guts all over her.

"Troy, I need you to the roof. Shel, Russell, I need you with me," He commanded into the radio.

Vanessa followed along quickly while Russell came running over soon after, gripping his gun.

Vanessa looked at the woman curiously, wondering why on earth she'd want to cover herself in walker guts.

"Eww! You reek!" Russell spoke as he covered his nose at the woman's stench.

The girl was silent as Shel looked to the girl and thought for a moment, "That's actually not a bad idea."

Vanessa sighed as she realized the group was just staring at the woman.

"Alright, enough staring at her like she's an exhibit in a museum," Vanessa spoke before turning to look back at the woman.

"Do you mind telling us your name?" She questioned curiously.

"Her names probably something creepy like Mary," Russell whispered.

"Russell, be quiet," Vanessa warned, causing Russell to stop talking immediately.

The girl looked to them, replying without emotion, "It's Jane, and it's not nice to assume."

"I still say it's pretty creepy," Shel replied, looking to them as Bill looked to her.

"Alright, get her to the pen, she'll work for her time here."

She nodded, beginning to escort Jane, holding her hand out to her to shake.

"I'm Vanessa, it's nice to meet you. I'm sorry for the others, they can be...kind of quick to jump to conclusions, but I hope you'll be comfortable here. Bills a very lovely boss," She spoke with a smile, wanting to help Jane feel at home.

"Sure, and that's why I'm being held here against my will," She replied, looking to her as some of the other guards brought her to the pen.

"Only until we make sure you're not a raider, once we make sure of that I'm sure Bill would be more than happy to send you on your way," She replied gently.

Kara was watching from afar, peeking with her stuffed bunny as she stared at Jane.

Jane looked at her for a moment before looking back to the path ahead.

"Sure, whatever you say."

After leading her into the pen, she set some blankets down and smiled at her.

"If you ever need anything, just ask for me, I'm almost always here," After waving goodbye she left the pen, the pen shutting behind her.

Kara looked confused before going up to her father, gently tugging on his pant leg.

"Daddy? Why's the new lady behind a gate?"

"Because she was outside the walls, sneaking around. It's bad for everyone to let her do that," He replied, looking down at his daughter.

"Oh," She replied, nodding at her fathers words before tilting her head curiously.

"Would I end up in there if I was outside the walls again daddy?"

"No, we know you're not a raider, and you're family, we wouldn't put you in the pen," He reassured as he kept his gaze on his daughter.

"Oh. Yay!" She giggled happily, finally understanding what her father meant.

Vanessa couldn't help but smile at their daughter's laughter, a wave of joy always washing over her whenever their daughter seemed happy.

She wasn't sure if it was because she was trying to pretend to be happy or because she was genuinely happy, but either way, it comforted her to know her daughter could still laugh even when she's sad.

Kara looked up at her father again, tilting her head slightly once more as she questioned curiously, "Can I help you with anything daddy?"

"Sure, maybe you can help me get some supplies ready."

"Yay!" Their daughter exclaimed happily, bouncing up and down with her stuffed bunny before following her father to help with the supplies.

After Bill walked away with Kara, Bonnie walked up to Vanessa curiously and questioned, "So, you wanna talk about what happened in Bill's office?"

Vanessa shook her head side to side, smiling as she watched her husband and her daughter walking away.

"It's been sorted out."