𝚛𝚎𝚏𝚕𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 | 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚕𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚍𝚎𝚊𝚍

laundry and frogs

—

Despite convincing his brother to stay, Carl's mood wasn't any better once his father left. He had came back once, but there wasn't a guarantee that he'd come back again, that was the youngest Grimes' biggest concern. He knew his dad was strong, he wouldn't have made it back to them if he wasn't, but that didn't mean Rick was made of steel.

He was brought out of his thoughts by his mother entering the tent,

"Hey. You know, I bet they'll be just fine."

"I'm not worried." He slightly lied to her, "Are you?"

"Yeah, a little."

"Don't be."

Lori furrowed her brows, "Why?"

"Think about it, mom. Everything that's happened to him so far... Nothing's killed him yet." Unknown to Lori, Carl was repeating the words his brother told him the day after they found out that his father had gotten shot.

Lori chuckled at her youngest, looking down at him as he hesitantly continued,

"And James isn't scared."

Carl knew how both his mother and brother never really had the best relationship. It only got worse when the world began to come to an end. Unbeknownst to him, the reasoning had almost everything to do with the man he had gotten close with when he thought his father passed.

"No?"

He shook his head, "He said dad would come back the first time...and he did. Dad'll be fine."

•••

Down at the quarry, James watched from afar as Shane tried teaching Rudy and Carl how to catch frogs, like he promised.

"I'm not getting anything." Carl complained, watching Rudeth smile happily at the small frog she caught.

"Yeah. Being all wily, staying submerged. Little suckers, they know something's up." Shane muttered, also a little jealous that the young girl had gotten a frog without doing much work, but proud nonetheless.

The Pickett girl paid them no mind, simply enjoying her time with her new pet.

"That's what's going on. Just going to have to do this the old-fashioned way. All right, little man, look. You are the... you are the key in all this, okay? All I'm gonna do is I'm gonna go after one of them, all right, scare the rest of them off. They're all gonna scatter. I'm gonna drive 'em your way, okay?"

Carl nodded, "All right."

Their voices faded as Rudy ran over to her sister in excitement,

"Look, Rem!"

"Ew." The older girl scrunched up her face, putting a hand in front of her to avoid having to look at the slimy creature.

"Not ew, he's cute." Rudeth smiles brightly, glancing at James who stood a little bit away from the sister duo, "Right?"

While he was also a bit unnerved with the sight of the frog, the last thing he wanted to do was possibly ruin smile on Rudy's face, "Adorable."

"How convincing was that?" Remi raised her brows in his direction as her sister ran off to bother someone else.

"Hopefully enough. I didn't want to hurt her feelings." James admitted, genuinely hoping that his deadpanned words hadn't affected the girls mood.

"The kid hardly knows how to be offended." Remi scoffed, her mind going back to the treatment from her parents had little to no effect on the younger girls life.

"I can't tell if that's a good or bad thing." He spoke softly, sitting down next to her, subconsciously reaching forward to help her fold the clothes that had her attention from the beginning of their conversation.

"Bit of both." She glanced at him, "You don't have to go that."

"I gotta look like i'm doing somethin'." He chuckled, "It's either help you fold your sisters clothes or spend time with the women who are probably discussing the things they miss before the world went to shit. Or, i can go help my mom who i haven't properly spoken to in a few weeks. Or, i could spend my time with Carl, which wouldn't be a problem if he wasn't frog catching with Shane- who i've mentioned plenty of times that i'm not a fan of."

"So, i'm a fourth option." Remi pretended to be offended, her acting paying off as Jameson instantly deflated,

"No, no, no. Not at all, it's just—" He cuts himself off as he noticed a small smirk form on her face, "You're messin' with me."

"I am." She nodded with a smile. He noticed how her eyes squinted during the action, despite the sun not being in her face, her lashes fluttering against her cheeks before she looked down to finish folding a shirt.

He kept his eyes on her for a second, getting knocked out of his trance at the sound of laughter. The young adults glance over at the women who were a mere two feet away from them washing clothes, going to absentmindedly chuckle at their happiness, only to stop shortly at the sound of an angered voice,

"What's so funny?"

Remi's face fell as she watched Carol's husband approach them,

"Just swapping war stories, Ed." Andrea politely told him.

"Yeah."

"Problem, Ed?"

"Nothin' that concerns you." He spat at Andrea, "And you ought to focus on your work. This ain't no comedy club."

"Funny." Remi chuckled sarcastically, "Are you sure this isn't a comedy club?"

"What's so funny about it?" James straightened up at Ed's aggressive tone.

"The fact that you think they should be cleaning your dirty ass clothes. They aren't your maids, and unless your hands are fucked up from all the jacking off you do- i'm sure you're more than capable of getting down here and doing it yourself."

With that, she gathered her and Rudy's clothes, stepping over Jacqui's legs and making her ways towards the RV.

•••

Unfortunately and fortunately for her, Remi leaving with Rudy resulted in her missing Shane beat Ed to a bloody pulp.

While she was upset that she missed the fight, she was a bit glad that she didn't have to see the reasoning behind it.

As soon as Jameson managed to tug Shane off of Ed and making sure all the women were okay, he immediately dashed towards Remington's tent to inform her of the news, explaining to the girl how Ed not only chucked a shirt at Andrea, but also freely put his hands on his wife.

It wasn't old news, sadly enough. The camp had an idea that Ed hurt his wife and daughter, the man just never had enough balls to do it in front of anyone. And after the beating he got from Shane, James was convinced that he wouldn't dare touch anyone ever again.

He wasn't a fan of Shane, couldn't stand him really, but seeing the Walsh man give Ed what he deserved gave him a refreshing feeling.

If only he had known the reason behind Shane's anger in the first place.