It Comes With The Name

Chapter 16: Not Your Circus, Not Your Monkeys

It was a solid minute before anyone spoke. Glenn's confession had thrown both Dale and Lauren for a loop, seemingly for different reasons.

Dale shook his head trying to process the information. "There's walkers in the barn?"

"Lori's pregnant?" Lauren said at the same time. Glenn looked back and forth between them, obviously a bit overwhelmed by their reactions. "You're sure? Like positive?"

He nodded. Lauren sucked in a breath, putting her hands up onto her temples and trying to do the math in her head. Rick had found their camp a little over a week ago. Eight days? Maybe nine? Most women don't find out they're pregnant until week four so...this baby wasn't Ricks.

"Holy shit." She whispered to no one in particular. Dale quickly tried to move on to the second half of Glenn's confession.

"Walkers in the barn..." Dale repeated. "And you know this how?"

"Last night I went to the barn-"

"What the hell were you going to the barn for?" Dale questioned.

Glenn's eyes flashed in panic as he quickly tried to stammer out a believable answer. "I uh-"

"He was grabbing me a shovel." Lauren lied. "I asked him to get me one last night. Tank was starting to dig underneath the fence, I filled it in this morning."

Dale looked at Glenn skeptically and Glenn just nodded. Lauren knew that whatever reason he had for being at the barn had something to do with Maggie and she had a pretty good guess as to what they were doing. She also knew how Dale would react if he found out Glenn had continued seeing her.

"So, how do we handle this?" She looked to Dale, hoping he would have some sort of plan.

"Well, I think the first step is pretty clear." He placed his hands on his hips. "We talk to Hershel."

"We?" Glenn gave Dale a look.

Lauren had to bite back a smirk at Glenn's attitude, but she understood where he was coming from. "Yeah, it's probably best if Glenn stays back for this one. I don't think Hershel's his biggest fan..."

Dale nodded and sighed, turning to her. "Alright, looks like it's us then."

---

Lauren could feel the anxiety building in her body the closer they got to the stable. Dale had apparently seen Hershel headed there earlier and figured that would be the best place to find him.

"Uh, how exactly are we playing this?" Lauren asked quietly as they approached the structure.

"Just follow my lead." Dale told her, walking into the stable.

"Yeah, I was gonna do that anyways." Lauren muttered to herself before following him in.

Lauren and Dale walked into the stable to find Hershel tending to one of his horses that he cross-tied in the walkway.

"Nervous Nelly?" Dale asked, walking towards them. "She find her way home?"

"Found her in her stall this morning." Herschel spared Dale a glance before returning his focus to the animal. Dale approached slowly, grabbing a handful of alfalfa and holding it up for Nelly to eat. Lauren followed behind him cautiously, anxious about how this conversation may play out.

"Lauren and I were just talking about how beautiful your fields are." Dale said, nonchalantly. Lauren nodded in agreement, still unsure as to the approach Dale was taking. "We took a long walk this morning. We ended up by the barn."