Blood Doesn't Mean Family
Chapter Four: Choices
When they entered the house, a woman met them by the kitchen door with two plates of food. She introduced herself as Carol and the two men thanked her for the food. It had been a while since either of them had eaten anything that wasn't from a can. The vegetables looked real and the meat wasn't processed. Morgan walked into the room first and Rick followed after him paying a bit more attention to his food then he was his surroundings. Tables of all shapes and sizes had been pulled together in order to make enough room for everyone to sit down. It was only when someone ran into Rick that he looked away from his plate and down to the boy who had wrapped his arms around him. The room went quite, Rick didn't know if there was anyone talking beforehand but there definitely wasn't anyone talking now. All eyes were on Rick and the boy.
"Carl," Rick said quietly under his breath.
"Dad," the boy sobbed into Ricks side. Rick drew in a shaky breath as he placed his plate down on the table and dropped down to his son's level. He saw the boy's face for a brief moment and smiled. "Look how big you've gotten," Rick said, hugging his son back, as tightly as humanly possible. After several long minutes passed Carl pulled away from his father. Morgan gave the pair an odd look and Rick mouthed 'Later'. Morgan nodded his head, understanding there was a story to here.
...
Raven POV
"It's really gone," she whispered looking at her arm, or more so at the spot her arm should have been. Duane's head shot up at the sound of her voice. He had been resting his eyes, leaning his head on the soft bed.
"I'm sorry," Duane said and Raven chuckled dryly.
"Why are you saying sorry?" She asked.
"I don't know," he said after a moment smiling at her.
"Where are we?" Raven looked around the room. She had bits and pieces of the day spinning around in her mind, but she wasn't sure how much of it was real.
"A farm. When you collapsed some people found us, they brought you here. Their doctor saved you," Duane explained.
"Where's Rick?" She asked.
"He's out with dad," Duane said looking at the doorway they had left through.
"Help me up, I want to see him." Raven sat up. She was bitting her lip in pain, but Duane didn't try and stop her. She hocked her remaining arm over Duane's shoulder, and he wrapped an arm around her waist. They moved slowly across the hall and into the living room. The house was very quiet as the pair pursed in the middle of the room. It looked like there was a lot of people in the next room, but they looked frozen. Both kids shared a confused look. Raven moved closer and Duane moved with her until he could see what everyone was staring at. Raven was lost for words. Rick was kneeling on the floor, a crying boy wrapped in his arms. A few moments passed and then people started to move around once more. Hershel saw the two children standing still frozen in the doorway.
"You shouldn't be out of bed young lady," Hershel said, moving towards them. A few other heads turned to look at them. Morgan pushed through the crowd of slow-moving people.
"Come on you two," Morgan said putting a hand on his son's shoulder and turning the two back towards the bedroom.
"Carol, can you please fix two more plates, please," Morgan heard Hershel ask as they walked away.
"How are you feeling?" Morgan asked Raven as she sat back on the bed.
"Who was he? The boy, who was he?" Raven asked her eyes were full with confusion and a little bit of jealousy.
"I'm not sure," Morgan said, sitting down on the chair.
"He was hugging him, why would he huge him?" Raven asked. Morgan opened his mouth to repeat his answer again, but Rick's arrival cut him off.
"He's my son," Rick answered.
"Your son," Raven whispered.
"Yeah, my wife's here to, they apparently didn't go to Atlanta. They found a camp then eventually found this place," Rick continued.
"So, you're staying here?" Raven asked. Morgan stood quickly, grabbing Duane by the shoulder and pulling him from room.
"No, not endless you want too," Rick said, kneeling in front of Raven.
"Rick, you can't ask me to do that. I can't take you away from them, and I... Rick, I don't want to stay here. Duane said it's a farm, farms don't have walls. They could just walk in and..." Raven looked away from him.
"Then we'll leave," Rick said.
"Your family, you can't leave them, not for me."
"They're not my family anymore Raven, just people I use to know. You Raven, you are my family." Rick said grabbing the girl's hand.
"Blood means something Rick, I'm not your blood," Raven whispered in a rough voice. Emotion clogging her throat.
"Blood doesn't mean family Raven, not in this new world," Rick said, running a finger over Raven's cheek to brush away some of the tears.
"Rick-" Raven pushed away his hand but Rick cut her off.
"I'm not gonna hear it. You and me, we're family. As soon as you're better we leave," Rick said sternly.
"Dad," came a soft whisper from the doorway. Rick and Raven's eyes both snapped to the doorway to see Carl, his eyes wide and mouth hanging open in shock. Behind him stood Lori wearing a similar expression to her son.
"Sorry we... Carl uh... come on," Lori stumbled with her words before grabbing her son's arm and dragging him away from the door.
"Go away," Raven hissed at Rick.
"No, I'll find them latter," Rick said turning back to Raven.
"No, go away, now," Ravens voice was rough as she swallowed back her emotions.
"Raven-"
"Leave," she all but yelled. Rick signed as he stood, there was no use fighting with her right now, she needed time. He left the room. Raven pulled the covers up around herself with her remaining hand and curled up into a ball, clinging to her injured arm she fell asleep with tears in her eyes. She was not upset about losing her arm, she was upset about losing the closest thing she ever had to a father. She knew in the end he would choose blood over her.