western nights ( shane walsh )

2.11 ; nineteen...twenty-two

                                                         Natalie's attempt at a nap proved short-lived, a rarity for someone typically resistant to midday slumbers. The accumulated exhaustion of recent events seemed to have finally caught up with her. Shane, Andrea, and Carol embarked on another search for Sophia, retracing their steps to the abandoned traffic jam. Natalie, feeling a peculiar mix of fatigue and restlessness, found herself wrestling with an unexpected twinge of jealousy at the thought of Shane spending so much time with Andrea.

Seated on the bed, Natalie's gaze drifted into the emptiness of her thoughts. The prospect of a potential pregnancy lingered in her mind, Glenn en route to procure the necessary tests. 

The creaking of the door drew her attention, and her eyes lifted to meet Rick's entrance. It had been a while since father and daughter found a moment alone, especially after the tumultuous incident involving Carl's injury. The air in the room held a tension, a mixture of unspoken concerns and the need for a candid conversation.

Rick was the last person she wanted to see right now, not sure if it would slip out that she was pregnant accidentally telling the wrong person at the moment. "Hershel doesn't think it's safe with us here." Rick had broken the news for her walking more into the room closing the door behind him to keep the conversation between the two of them. 

"I wouldn't either" Crossing her legs moving them closer to her chest. The two of them sat in silence, Rick ducking his head down and making his way towards Natalie sitting down on the bed next to her. "More strangers show up to my farm, armed..." Comfort had filled the air holding on for a second. 

"I understood him, think I got us a couple more days to figure stuff out" Rick took off his hat playing with it in his hands. "We just have to spend a couple of days respecting his rules. Thank you for speaking up out there." 

Natalie nodded silently, her gaze fixed on Rick, her mind teeming with unspoken words. The impending pregnancy test, sought by Glenn, loomed in the background, a symbol of uncertainty that she grappled with. The fear of potentially bringing a child into a world marred by constant strife and internal conflicts weighed heavily on her. The desire to avoid replicating the cycle of pain, loss, and perpetual struggle drove her hesitation.

In the hushed stillness of the room, Natalie wrestled with the fatigue of running, of losing loved ones along the way. The unsteady rhythm of her heartbeat mirrored the internal struggle as she grappled with the overwhelming decision looming on the horizon.

The fear that had flowed through her when she had gotten the news about Carl and Shane being something she never wanted to feel again. "It's safer here for Carl without them" Natalie pointed out using the same excuse she had told Shane. "Mom would've said the same thing if she wasn't with him right now." 

"You should be with him," Rick mentioned the same thing Lori had been doing. Natalie knew that was the reason he had come up here to talk to her. "He misses his sister...." Chuckling a bit through his words ducking his head. "Thinks you're mad at him for not protecting us..." 

Now the feeling of guilt had hit her stomach biting down on her lip a little bit. Eyes trailing to the corner where Shane's clothes were hoping that Rick didn't pay any mind to it not feeling like explaining herself anymore. 

"The way he stared at me." Confessing to the one person to whom she for some reason felt she could tell everything too. "It was the same look I saw in Cassie when I-...I saw her body." Haunting her in the corner of the room. 

Rick had nodded his head understanding and pitying his daughter who had lost her best friend. "The first time you see it...It can haunt you," Rick tried to bring comfort into her. "But he's alive, Carl's downstairs...okay...If you focus on that, he'll slip away from you...Iris"