Sweet and Salty ~ Carl Grimes

Mission 101 - 009

It had been several hours since Cam and Brooks' talk, Jim's run in with heat stroke, Shane beating on Ed like a punching bag and Carl discovering he's rubbish at catching frogs. Everyone were around fires again, eating their food. There was a group which consisted of Dale, the Morales family, Carol and her two children, the Harrison sisters, Shane, Lori, Carl and Jacqui. Ed was sulking in his tent since his face got even uglier (if possible) after Shane beat him up. Brooks and Cam were around a small fire just the two of them since Cam thought after Brooks' emotional morning, a break from everyone's bullshit would be good for her.

It was a warmer night than the previous, Brooks being able to sit closer to the fire than she had before. However, Cam still wrapped her up in his blanket. The stars shone brightly due to all the artificial light being gone. The little dots millions of light years away illumimated the night beautifully. The night was silent other than the cracking of the fire, and Dale's distant story about a watch. The logs were uncomfortable to sit on, but the other group had taken all of the lawn chairs, so Cam and Brooks made do.

Brooks chucked down the empty plate once she finished off her fish and beans. "Nice?" Cam asked.

"Ain't McDonalds but, yea. I'm used to eatin' fish and random crap from cans anyways. My dad liked to hunt for our meat instead of buyin' it from a store like a normal person." Brooks shrugged.

Cam let out a small laugh. "Cheaper, I guess."

Brooks hummed. "Am I allowed to ask..." She trailed off.

Cam wiped the sauce from his mouth. "If it's about where babies are from, then no."

Brooks grinned. "No, I know that already, it's uhm... Your arm. Were you born without it, or did you lose it? If that's okay to ask."

"It's alright." Cam responded, putting down his own plate. "I lost it... I wasn't always as good of a person as I am now. I had a bit of an alcohol problem, and one night, the night my niece was born... I got behind the wheel. I wanted to drive to the hospital to go support my brother and his wife. But, I uh... I... I crashed."

"I'm sorry." Brooks whispered.

"I got out better than the family I hit did." Cam admitted. "They had their five year old son in the back. His name was Jack Peters, he was on his way home from a sleepover. He'd had a nightmare, got scared, and his parents came to get him... Jack's parents made it, but he didn't."

Brooks' lips parted. "That poor family."

Cam sniffed away the tears. "I should've gone to jail, but there was a mishandling of evidence. I was a jackass who pleaded not guilty, so... It wasn't until about six months after his death, when I was sober for the first time in probably a year that it hit me what I'd done. So, I went back to school, became a child psychologist."

"You help children, because..."

"Because I'm the reason one didn't get to grow up." Cam looked down. "I get it, if you don't wanna hang around with me anymore."

Brooks shook her head. "What happened... Is awful. But, you're a different person now. You've spent every day since tryin' to make it better. I get why you wouldn't be able to forgive yourself, but I forgive you. I'm sure Jack Peters would too if he knew the man you are today."

Cam smiled softly. "You're a good kid."

"Gettin' there, thanks to you."

"You know, most people were freaked out by my arm. Chris started a rumour that I lost it in a bar fight gone wrong. Ever since then people are looking at me as if I'm as violent as-" Cam cut himself off.

"It's alrigh', you can say it. My father." Brooks smiled, softly.

Cam nodded. "Neither of us are anything like him."