NICOLETTE

After the return of Rick and Shane everyone had been surprised to see Randall in the car. They had made a plan; leave the boy somewhere far away from the farm, but now he was there.

Why?

There was no way that Shane would have accepted to take Randall back.

"He knows Maggie," at Rick's revelation they all turned towards the girl, that frowned, maybe trying to remember where she had met Randall.

"He said you went in the same school" Rick added.

"What do we do now?" asked Andrea from next to Dale.

"His group tried to kill you" Lori reminded them with crossed arms. That was true, but what should they do now? Locked Randall up? Letting him in the group?

"He is not wandering around," Rick said trying to calm everyone then he turned to Hershel to ask him if he had a place where they could lock the boy up, so that they could be sure that he would not escape and maybe bringing there his group.

"Yeah, I know where," Hershel said nodding his head, before asking Patricia to take the keys of a wooden shed next to the house.

"We gotta know more about this group, man" said Shane scratching nervously his head and Nicki observed him silently. Her doubts about the man only intensified. Only the day before, when she was in the kitchen with Lori, Sarah and Andrea talking aboutBeth and after Nicki's sister left the room, Nicolette came to know that apparently Lori and Shane had an affair. Nicki wasn't sure that that meant that Lori was cheating on her husband now, but she connected the dots remembering the many times that Lori and Shane disappeared when they had their camp set at the quarry. And now Nicki could see why Shane seemed to hold a huge grudge against Rick as he had appeared, but it wasn't because he wanted to be the leader. It was because of Lori. And Nicki found herself wondering about that morning at t e CDC and at the scratches on his neck and the strange behaviour form Lori's part, so nervous and jumpy. So, know she knew what had happened between them, but she had still not answer about her doubts on Otis' death. Shane and Lori had cheated on Rick and that was a fact, but being a cheater and being a murderer was very different. "Yeah, we need answers," Rick said glaring towards Shane, thinking about what to do. "I'll do it," Daryl said from next to Sarah that looked up to him with wide eyes. "You sure?" asked Rick as Shane frowned, but Daryl nodded his head. "We need answers, I'll get'em," he answered. "I can do it too," said Shane, but Rick kept glaring at him. He had some doubts on Shane as well? It seemed so because he turned to Daryl, nodding in his direction before the archer fixed the crossbow on his back and with Rick, that had a pair of cuffs in his hands, went towards the car to take Randall and they pulled him towards the shed. "What do we do now?" asked Carol nervously, voicing what they all were thinking. "I... think we just wait," Glenn answered unsure, his hands in his pockets as Maggie was standing next to him. And that's what they did; as Patricia and Hershel went back to Beth, making sure that she was feeling alright, Nicki and her group set outside waiting for Daryl to return. Nicki was sitting on the ground with Carl and Lori. No words had been shared by any them; Carol, Glenn, Maggie and Dale stood still, but they didn't want to sit down, Sarah, T-Dog and Andrea at the contrary paced back and forth. Rick and Shane would keep their gaze on the wooden shed waiting for Daryl to come back and Nicki noticed only in that moment that both men had cuts and bruises all over their faces. And that made her frown. "You went far?" she asked at some point, making the two of them looking down, towards her. "We tried," Rick said forcing a little smile and Nicki nodded. "There were many walkers there?" she said and at that Shane frowned. "What do you mean?" "Does your forehead hurt?" she asked noticing how the two of them shared strange glances at each other, were they hiding something? Did they have a fight out there?

"You're so annoying" Carl muttered from next to her making her turn and he was observing her with his inquisitive blue eyes "Stop answering a question with a question." Nicki only shrugged her shoulder as they heard the sound of steps to see Daryl walking back towards them. Nicki's eyes fell on his hand. It was bloody, his knuckles were bleeding. Something that her sister had noticed too. "Boy there's got a gang, 30 men. Got heavy artillery and they ain't looking to make friends." Daryl started to say "They roll through here; our boys are dead. And our women. they're gonna..." his eyes moved to look at them, lingering a bit longer on Sarah, but then he turned away "They're gonna wish they were." Nicki knew what he was talking about, she was young, but she heard news on television before the apocalypse; she knew what evil man were able to do to women. She felt a shiver and she instantly searched her sister with her gaze that was already looking at her with pale cheeks. Walkers were something that scared them all, but they were monsters without brains, but when it came to real people, real bad people... that felt different to Nicki. "What did you do?" asked Carol, observing Daryl's hand that understanding what she meant he shrugged his shoulders. "Had a little chat" he answered simply and Nicki noticed Sarah's reaction, that kept looking from Daryl's hand to his face, before turning away with a heavy breath. "No one goes near this guy" Rick said and Nicki felt that nobody would argue with that. "Rick" said Lori walking towards her husband "What are you gonna do?" "We have no choice" he answered with strong voice "He's a threat." "So?" Sarah asked in a whisper, even if what Rick said next didn't surprised them. "We have to eliminate the threat," he said nodding his head. "You're just gonna kill him?" Dale asked with a shocked expression, but Rick stood stoic as he spoke again. "It's settled. I'll do it tonight," he said before walking away and as he turned his shoulders at them the old man started to follow him. Nicki got quiet and turning she shared a look with Carl, his father was going to kill a boy. But Nicki didn't know how to feel about that... why she didn't know how to feel about that? "You ok?" Carl asked and Nicki took a breath. "I don't know," she answered "You?" Carl bit his lips before speaking again "I don't know." There was a heavy feeling around everyone, no one would talk, they just glance at each other. Killing walkers was a thing, but killing a person was different... but thisperson had tried to kill some of them and apparently his group did awful things. No one knew what to do, or say, so they all decided to slowly go back to their usual routine.

"We should take care of your hand," Sarah almost whispered looking towards Daryl, that shrugged his shoulders.

"It's nothin,'" he said, but Sarah shook her head, even if Nicki noticed how her sister was bothered by something.

"I think it's something," she said taking some hydrogen peroxide and a cloth.

"I'm fine," he insisted, but Sarah was more stubborn than she looked.

"Come on," she said as she took his hand making him sit down to start and look at the cuts. Nicki notices that Daryl's posture was stiff, as Sarah looked closer at his knuckles. "Why ar ya so damn stubborn?" he asked.

"Everyone likes to be right, I'm not different," Sarah said before looking up at him "However you are more stubborn than me."

Nicki observed as the two of them getting quiet as Sarah carefully took care of Daryl's hand. She delicately cleaned the wounds on his hand and Nicki could not help but nice the expression on Daryl's face. At first he had seemed reluctant in letting Sarah touch his hand, but she moved with such delicacy that he slowly started to relax. But as much as Sarah's hands were gentle, her face was hard and pale and by looking at her, Nicolette knew that there was something bothering her mind. "There was no other way?" Sarah asked finally in a whisper. Nicki's eyes moved to Daryl that looked away from her sister. "Ain't saw other way," he said whispering back and Sarah took an heavy breath, that the archer didn't miss. And observing her closely he spoke again.

"What?" he asked and Sarah bit her lips.

"I don't believe that you're the kind of man who goes around beating people up." Sarah answered.

"What'd ya have me do?" he asked in defensiveness "Have a little chat, maybe with some tea?"

Sarah didn't even flinched at his reaction, and that surprised Nicki; her sister had never liked discussions, she always said that she didn't know how to handle them, but for what Nicolette was seeing, she was reacting pretty well.

"That's not what I meant," she said simply and he took away his hand from her touch.

"He and his group would do much worse," he kept saying.

"I'm sure," she answered not taking away her gaze form his "But I believe that you are not a bad person and I don't like you to pretend to be one, even if it's for the sake of the group."

That seemed to leave Daryl out of words as Nicki found herself hiding a little smile, noticing how proud her sister was to have made the man shut his mouth in surprise.

But before they could say anything else, Nicki noticed Shane and Carl walking one next to each other towards the wooden shed, where Randall had been locked up and where Andrea was now keeping guard.

The two were talking, but they were too far away for Nicki to be able to listen. She wondered what they were saying, since not so many days before Shane had almost pushed a gun in Carl's hand before the shooting at the barn.

But their conversation didn't last long, because at some point Shane nagged Carl's shoulder and started heading towards Andrea. What caught Nicolette's eyes though was where the little shit was going as the man wasn't looking.

"Little shit..." she muttered before standing up.

"Where are you going?" asked Sarah noticing her movements.

"Just talking to Carl, don't worry," she answered before taking her bow and starting to walk towards the direction the boy had walked.

"How predictable of you," she said as she spotted him trying to climb up the shed to reach the little window on the top.

"Go away," Carl said making her chuckle.

"I'm not stopping you, Spiderman" she said crossing her arms "I just didn't want to miss the sight of your face when you are going to fall on your butt."

"I'm not going to fall," he protested stubbornly.

"Why are you so eager to enter in there?" She asked with a frown.

He took a frustrated breath "I want to talk with Randall."

"Why?"

"For someone who never answer a question, you're asking way too much." Even his voice was frustrated, but that just made her chuckle.

"Because I do not make stupid question like you do, Shorty."

"I doubt that," he fired back. He seemed really interested to talk with Randall, but Nicki could not figure out why. If she had to be really honest, she preferred to stay far away form people like Randall and what they could do. Walkers were one thing, evil people where another.

"He cannot be trusted," she said after a moment of silence.

"I don't trust him, but..." Carl answered, making Nicki observed him closer "My father will kill him."

"You feel sorry for him?"

"I don't know," he answered "That's why I want to see..."

Nicolette kept silent as he climed up. It was strange what she was feeling; the thought of her group in danger didn't leave much space to worry about anyone else. Was she making it too simple? Was she being cold hearted?

Why didn't she felt anything but relief when she thought of Rick killing Randall?

"I don't feel like it'll make a difference... to me," she admitted. He had stopped, she knew, as she knew he was listening to her.

"Why does it feel so easy?" She said.

"Are you scared?" Carl asked and at that she looked up to him.

"I am," she answered, before walking away.