VITRIOL | Shane Walsh

XVIII

I burst through the door to our home to find Shane angrily charging around the living room. He'd haphazardly thrown on his clothes and was just about to grab a rucksack off the table when he snapped his attention towards me.

"Where the hell have you been? I was just coming to find you!" He shouted and I opened my mouth to explain when he interrupted. "In fact, no, I don't care where you've been, just give me a heads up the next time you want to try and get yourself killed"

"Shane I'm-"

"I know you're fine now." He was starting to calm down but he was still visibly annoyed "Just don't do it again." Now that he had finally shut up about me I could get to the real point of me rushing in. I unfolded the map on our rustic dining table and immediately noticed the obvious circle and arrow pointing towards it. Shane stood next to me inspecting it.

"So, turns out our mystery girl you wanted to kill, is called Tara and lives here in Alexandria" I explained and Shane leant forward to look closer.

"It doesn't look that far of a drive from here...Or sanctuary for that fact"

"Yeah, they were the group who cleared out the outpost. She's on her way back now and I said we'd visit" Shane shot back up at my last comment, leant one arm on the table and tilted his head to the side.

"No, No way."

"I don't think you understand, we are going Shane"

"Let's say we go and we run into Negan, cause he will be lurking around there, he won't just punish them for 'harbouring' us, he'll paint the walls of sanctuary red with my blood and you'll be more isolated than ever. It's a no brainer that it's too much of a risk just to go visit this community"

"It's worth the risk"

"I don't think it is, baby."

"What if I told you Caleb was there"

"Then I'd tell you that you're insane"

"I'm serious Shane...Maggie and Glenn are there too. I know you probably don't care for them but Caleb is worth the risk" he pushed himself up from his spot and walked over to the patio doors looking out on the sea. His head dipped and leant against the glass and I shuffled over quietly. I embraced him in a hug from behind and rested my face on his shoulder blade understanding that he was going through the same set of emotions I was not long ago. He couldn't always be the tough guy.

"You sure she's not lying?" his voice was strained and weak in comparison to usual.

"I'm sure baby" I wiggled my way around his body and squeezed in the tiny gap between him and the glass causing him to let out a restrained laugh.

"I guess we have to go then. We'll leave tomorrow morning even though we only just got here."

That evening we packed the same bag we brought here with water, food, a change of clothes and a few clips for Shane's pistol. We didn't really speak much that night as we were simply happy at the fact our son was alive and I was comfortable just cuddling in bed.

"I can't wait to have our little boy back"

"If he's anything like I was, he won't be very little anymore" He snickered. I remember being shown photos of him in his late teens by his Grandma Jean on the hospital ward and he was already the size of a full-grown man. I guess that's why he made a good number 22.

"What if he doesn't even want us back though? What if he thinks we abandoned him?"

"That boy should remember all the love we gave, and in the short time I had back with him I'm sure we taught him enough about loving family no matter what."