Rick held his family like he was afraid they'd disappear if he let go. Lori's face was buried in his shoulder, her tears soaking through his shirt. Carl had his arms wrapped around both of them, his body shaking with sobs.
Around them, the camp had gone quiet. People were watching, giving them space but unable to look away from the reunion.
Morales stood a few yards away with his own family, his wife Miranda and their kids clustered around him. He felt genuine happiness for Rick, the man had been through hell and somehow made it back.
But something was nagging at him.
He thought back to the department store, to Glenn's description of the kid who'd led the horde away. Blond hair, Glenn had said.
Morales looked at Rick and Lori, both with brown hair. Then at Carl, also brown-haired.
It could have been dyed, he supposed. Or maybe the kid took after a grandparent.
But then there was the other thing. The thing everyone in camp had noticed but no one talked about directly. In the weeks since the world ended, Shane and Lori had grown close. They exchanged looks when they thought no one was paying attention, and now that Rick was back, they were careful to keep their distance.
He shook his head. None of his business. Whatever complicated dynamics existed in that triangle, he wanted no part of it.
He caught Shane's eye across the fire. The deputy was standing apart from the reunion.
"Rick!" Shane moved forward. "You're alive! I thought... we all thought..."
He clapped Rick on the back, pulled him into a brief, fierce hug that was over almost as soon as it started. When they separated, Shane smiled, but it faded almost immediately.
Rick seemed too overwhelmed to notice. "Shane. Thank you for everything you did for me. If it weren't for you, Lori and Carl…"
"Yeah, well. That's what partners do, right?"
"Dad!" Carl was tugging on Rick's sleeve, his face flushed with excitement and leftover tears. "You're really here? You're really okay?"
"I'm here." Rick ruffled his son's hair. "And I'm okay."
Glenn had been hanging back, but now he stepped forward. "This is incredible. Seriously, this is... this is the kind of thing you need to see sometimes, you know? It's just too bad your other son isn't here. It would've been perfect, seeing all of you together."
The words landed like a grenade.
Lori, who'd been wiping tears from her face, stopped mid-motion. Her head turned toward Glenn.
"What? What did you just say?"
Glenn, bless him, had no idea what landmine he'd just stepped on. "Your blond kid."
"Glenn," a middle-aged man standing nearby said quietly. "Maybe not right now."
But it was too late.
Lori had pulled away from Rick. "What other kid? Rick, what's he talking about?"
Carl looked between his parents. Shane had gone still, his eyes locked on Rick's face.
"It's not what you're thinking." Rick took a breath.
"I don't know what I'm thinking," Lori said quietly, "because I don't know what's going on."
Nearby, Morales had noticed the shift in atmosphere. He'd stopped hugging his own family and was watching with the keen attention of someone who recognized drama brewing. His eyes flicked from Rick to Shane to Lori.
"Lori—" Rick started.
"Is there something you need to tell me?" She'd crossed her arms now. "Is there something I should know about? Someone you... Did you have an affair?"
"What? No! God, no, Lori, it's nothing like that."
"Then what is it like?"
"There's a lot I need to tell you about."
"Then tell me."
The camp had gone silent. Everyone was pretending not to listen while hanging on every word.
Rick looked around at the audience, then back at his wife. "Not here. Can we..." He gestured toward the trees at the edge of camp. "Just us?"
Lori stared at him for a long moment, then nodded.
Shane stepped forward. "Rick, I should—"
"You should come too," Rick said. "This involves you."
Something flickered across Shane's face. "Yeah... okay."
---
The trees at the camp's edge provided some privacy, though not much. Rick could still see the fire through the branches and hear the low murmur of voices as people talked about what they had just witnessed.
Lori stood with her arms crossed, her earlier joy completely gone. "Explain."
Rick ran a hand through his hair. "When I woke up in the hospital—"
"You woke up alone in the hospital," Lori cut in. "I can figure that much."
"I did. But I wasn't alone for long." Rick looked at Shane. "You remember the kid? The one you helped?"
Shane's expression shifted slightly. "You mean..."
"Lucien," Rick said. "A blond kid, about Carl's age. You saved his life when the walkers came. After you mentioned I was in the hospital, he went looking for me. He just wanted to help. He wanted to know if I was still alive."
He turned around and looked solemnly at Shane, pulling him into a tight hug.
"Thank you. If you hadn't kept thinking about me, Lucien wouldn't have gone to the hospital."
Shane smiled and said, "You would've done the same thing in my place."
There was a brief lull after that.
"So he's okay." Shane said, more to himself than anyone else, his gaze dropping to the ground. Then he looked up. "Where is Lucien now?"
That question made the atmosphere, which had just begun to ease, turn heavy once more.
Lori was staring at Rick.
"Everything was fine at first, then we ran into trouble in Atlanta. When things went bad, he drew the horde away to give me a chance to escape. He's just a kid and I let him... Because of that, I'm standing here right now instead of being dead."
Lori's anger slowly drained away. She pressed her hands to her face. "God. That's..."
Carl had been quiet this whole time.
"Is he okay?"
The question hit Rick. "I don't know. He led the horde away on horseback. I don't know where he went after that, or if he..." He couldn't finish the sentence.
"You're going back," Lori said. It wasn't a question.
"Tomorrow," Rick confirmed. "I have to. He saved my life. I can't just leave him there."
"The hell you can't!" Lori's voice rose. "You just got back! You just... I thought you were dead, Rick! I grieved you! And now you want to run straight back into that nightmare?"
"It's not about what I want—"
"It's exactly about what you want!" Tears were streaming down her face again. "You want to be the hero. You want to save everyone. But what about us? What about Carl? What about..." She stopped herself, glancing at Shane, then away.
"I have to."
"Why?" The word came out sharp. "Why do you have to? You don't even know this kid!"
"Because he's just a kid, and he saved my life!" Rick's voice rose to match hers. "He's alone in a city full of the dead, and if I don't try to find him, who will?"
"Rick—"
"If that was Carl out there," Rick cut her off, "if our son was lost in Atlanta and some stranger who'd met him once decided he wasn't worth the risk, how would you feel?"
That stopped her cold.
The silence stretched.
Finally, Lori let out a long breath. "I'd want someone to try. Of course I would."
"Then you understand."
She looked at him for a long moment. Then she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him again.
"I understand," she murmured against his chest. "I hate it, but I understand."
Rick held her. Over her shoulder, he caught Shane's eye.
Shane cleared his throat. "Rick, maybe I should go instead."
Rick shook his head. "It's my responsibility."
"No." Shane stepped forward. "I'm the one who helped the kid in the first place. I'm the reason he went looking for you. This is on me."
"Shane—"
"And Lori's right," Shane continued, not meeting anyone's eyes. "Your family needs you here. They just got you back. You stay, protect them. I'll go find the kid."
"No," Rick said. "Shane, you need to stay here. Protect the camp, and protect my family."
For a moment, Shane looked like he wanted to argue. Then Carl tugged on Rick's sleeve.
"I don't want you to leave again."
Rick crouched down, bringing himself to eye level with his son. "Lucien is the reason I'm here. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have made it back. You understand?"
Carl nodded slowly. "He saved you."
"He did. And I can't just abandon him in the city. I have to try to bring him back." Rick put his hands on Carl's shoulders. "But I promise you, I'll come back safe. Okay?"
Carl's bottom lip trembled. He looked at his dad, then at the ground, then back at his dad. "Okay. But..."
"But what, buddy?"
"Can he come here? When you find him?" Carl's voice was earnest. "Can he stay with us? Since he doesn't have anywhere else to go?"
Rick glanced at Lori, who was watching them both with a complicated expression. She looked exhausted and wrung out. But after a moment, she nodded.
"Of course he can," Lori said quietly. "If he needs a place to stay, he can stay with us. It's the least we can do."
Rick pulled her son into a hug, holding him tight. Over Carl's shoulder, he caught Shane's eye. His partner was watching with an expression he couldn't quite read.
Lori still looked worried, but the anger had faded. She took his hand and squeezed it once.
"You come back," she said quietly. "With or without the kid, you come back alive."
"Both of us will," Rick said.
Carl looked up at him. "You'll find him, right?"
"I'll do everything I can," Rick said.
"And when you do..." Carl hesitated. "Tell him thanks for saving my dad."
Rick's throat tightened. He pulled Carl into another hug, holding him longer this time.
"I will," he said softly. "I promise."