𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐋𝐀𝐖𝐒, rick grimes

𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐥𝐚𝐰𝐬, 𝟎𝟎𝟗

"DONT JUDGE HER,"

ATLEAST NOT UNTIL PIGS CAN FLY AND YOURE ABLE TO READ HER MIND,"

𝟎𝟎𝟗
𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘪

     I NEVER UNDERSTOOD IT.

Any of it.

Why is it so hard for me to not control my feelings? Or, I mean, at this point it's not even 'feelings' anymore.

It's disorders.

And it's disorders I can't fucking control.

I was watching him. He was with his wife and kid. They were clinging to him. And there was nothing wrong with that. Nothing. Rick was just telling us all about his experience after he woke up in the hospital and met me and Morgan. He was telling about how scared he was for the safety of his family, and while he did that, I turned to look at Shane, wondering if he had gotten a little emotional, but when I looked. . .

He was already staring at me.

Gulping as she met his eyes, Amari quickly turned her head even further to the left, making it look like she was looking for someone else while only briefly meeting eyes with Shane. She caught Carol's eyes and immediately smiled at her, hoping Shane would look away.

And he did.

Thankfully.

But for the rest of the night, he did continue to take glances at her, stare at her,— even glare at her, but why, Amari only had one guess why that is.

The last time they saw each other.

—

It was the day after Shane won his case against those punks, thanks to Amari. The man had payed her a good amount of money for her work, and even though she accepted it with much gratitude, Shane kept pestering her about going to a restaurant and eat together. He wanted to thank her with dinner, but if it was only because he needed to make sure she kept her mouth shut, or if he actually liked her, Shane didn't really know.

"So," he started off, sitting across Amari, who had a glass with wine sitting just above her lips, "I-I. . . I'm sorry. There is just not enough words to describe how grateful I am for you winning my case," he had said, watching she she took a sip of her drink, "really, I am truly a relieved man,"

Now, for a normal person who would have listened to Shane words, would think that he really just was relieved to be free of the charges, that he supposedly didn't do. But when Amari had looked into the case, she still couldn't piece Shane's story together with what actually happened. It just didn't make sense to her how those people would have found out that Shane was on duty that day. And even if they did know who was there, why would they only go against Shane? Why not the many other officers who were on duty that day? Why did it have to be him?

The more she looked into his dark eyes that resembled hers, the more she listened to the words coming out of his mouth, just made Amari uncomfortable. And then she realized something in her fucked up head.

He could have staged the attack.

He could have been the one who found those guys.

'Oh, my. . .'

Shane could have been the one who went out and beat those youngsters out of rage. He has to be the one, otherwise, it just doesn't make any sense.

"Amari?"

And then suddenly, she was pulled out of her thoughts, looking up to a man with raised brows and calm eyes.

"Ya' hear what I said?"

Amari panicked, internally.

"Yeah, of course," she replied quickly, dismissing her fear as fast as she was used to, "but uh. . ." She decided to ask something, hoping she wouldn't get beaten up by it like the boys from the city gang, "I have to ask you, as your lawyer," she started, placing the glass of wine back onto the table, which she had been holding since she started of thinking about Shane's story.

"You were the one who found those guys first, weren't you. . ?"

And then suddenly, the man in front of her froze, his eyes going from soft to dark in the matter of a second.

"The hell are you on about, girl?"

—

To say that she felt herself getting scared by the next memories of that day, was an understatement. A extreme one. A really, really, really big one. But she couldn't do anything about now. She couldn't say anything about it now. Not when the little boy known as Carl had attached himself to Shane. Not when Rick was smiling and grinning at his best buddy like old times. And definitely not when Lori's relationship with the man had changed to the right one.

And also not when Shane seemed to be a better person after that day.

Though, as she processed her thoughts, Amari couldn't help but think of another stupid thought.

Did he, though? Did he really change?

Amari sunk her salvia down her throat.

Or is he just pretending to be?

—