Fight, Love, Live.

XXXVII

A/N: Just so y'all get an idea of her emotional state at the moment, please enjoy this really old GoT gif. :) 

Rick, Lori, Daryl and I were all sitting out in the Greene's kitchen, Daryl and Rick had both been handed grilled cheese sandwiches and a glass of orange juice from Maggie, Hershel's oldest, and told to eat, but Daryl was the only one eating, Rick was just staring off into space. 

"Rick, just... you've got to keep your strength up." Lori said gently, trying to get him to look at her but he wouldn't. I was rubbing the back of Daryl's neck with my hand, trying to ease the muscles there. Apparently, big bad Mr. Dixon hated needles, and sat there the whole time he was giving blood, with his eyes screwed shut, and his left hand (the arm that wasn't giving blood) clutching my hand in his. 

Needless to say, he was still pretty tense. 

"Lori, did you... I mean, it was legendary. Did you every hear about the time Shane stole Kingsley's car?" Rick was talking to Lori, but I knew he was really talking to himself. He did this a lot in college, when he was stressed, tired, no sleep for days, he would call me just to tell me stories, not requiring any responses, and would fall asleep halfway through. 

"Yeah." Lori said, but Rick basically talked over her. 

"The Principal's car, right out of the teacher's lot in the middle of a school day. Shane steps out of lunch and makes a beeline to Kingsley's Hyundai..." He stopped, chuckled, glanced at me and continued talking. 

"Wires the ignition, peels out, drives down Dylan drive to that chicken farm out there. You've heard this before right? So he pulls it into one of the big holding pens. Kingsley, he waxed that thing every month; had the auto shop vacuum it out every week. Shane, he parks it in this hug pen with a couple of hundred Rhode Island reds. He busts open bags of seen in the back seat, rolls down all the windows, and then starts sprinting back to school. It's three miles away, easy. He's back in time to finish his sandwich before the bell. And then the bell rings. Shane gets up and when he runs into Kingsley in the hallway he looks out the window and says, 'Principal Kingsley, your coupe's gone.'" He let out another chuckle, glanced over at Daryl and I, both of us smiling before continuing again. 

"Coupe, like chicken coop." Rick said, glancing at Lori who wasn't smiling. 

"I get it." She said, blank-faced. Jesus woman, could you try and support your husband? He's hurting too. 

"Of course you do. You've heard this story a thousand times. What you said before, you're right. Shane's gonna make it back with what the doctor needs. He'll make it back." Lori didn't say anything, so I reached across the table with my left hand and grabbed Rick's, unsurprised when he immediately latched onto my hand. 

"Rick, Hershel said you and Daryl need to eat. Now Daryl's doing his share, but you haven't had a bite yet. Don't make me kick your ass brother." Rick gave me a little smirk, and glanced at Daryl, then down at his food. 

"I would like to see ya try Ri." But he did it anyway, lifted up his food and took a bite of it, almost spit it back out, but continued chewing, and I continued rubbing Daryl's neck, and Lori continued doing jack shit. 

><><><><

It wasn't long before T-Dog, Glenn, and Merle showed up. I could hear them out on the porch talking to Maggie, who was sitting out there, keeping watch I guess. 

"Did you close the gate up the road when you drove in?" I heard her ask, and chuckled when I heard Glenn's squeal, guess they didn't see her. 

"Uh, hi. Yes, we closed it. Did the latch and everything. Hello. Nice to see you again. We met before, briefly. Look, we came to help. There anything we can do?" Glenn was rambling, and I instantly knew he had a thing for Maggie, even though I couldn't see his face, I knew. 

"It's not a bite. I cut myself pretty bad though." T-Dog said, guess she saw the bandage. 

"We'll have it look at. I'll tell them you're here. We have some painkillers and antibiotics." Maggie said, and I heard Merle speak next, and instantly began to get up and go get him, knowing he'd want to see me and Dare. 

"I already gave him some. If Carl needs any. Where's my girl and my brother?" I had reached the door by then, and when I yanked it open, all four turned to look at me. 

"Hey guys, Merle, not your girl, but it's fine, Carl's not doing too great right now, but y'all can come see him if ya want. I'm sure Hershel will appreciate the medicines." 

They all nodded and began walking in, and Maggie followed, detouring around us when the hallway split, her heading to the kitchen, and us to Carl's room. When I opened the door, I gestured for them to go in, but didn't follow, I couldn't see him like that again... so close to death.

"Hey. Um, we're here, okay?"

"Thank you." I heard Rick grumble out, again, Lori doing nothing. 

"Whatever you need." Glenn said, and they began to leave but I heard Hershel start whispering so I grabbed the door before Merle could close it behind them. 

"They don't get back soon, we're gonna have a decision to make."

"And that is?" 

"Whether to operate on your boy without the respirator."

"You said that wouldn't work."

"I know. It's extremely unlikely. But we can't wait much longer."

Shane... you better hurry the fuck up. If he dies... you won't be too far after. 

A/N: Hey guys... so we got a little bit of psycho Riley now, and for those of you that are like, "Why would she want to kill Shane? He's trying to save him!" well... when you are really close to losing someone, especially someone you love, especially a child, you lash out at anything and everything, and right now she's placing the blame on Shane since he is the one who is taking too long to get what Carl needs, so 'obviously' it's his fault that Carl is getting worse. 

Anyway, if anyone needs anything else cleared up, please don't hesitate to ask!