Shadow (TWD Carl)

~Chapter 25~

The morning sun rose and woke me from my deep sleep. I groan at the brightness of the light and open my eyes to see I was in the car. I look to my left which observed a sleeping Carl being cared for by Michonne. She looks over to me and weakly smiles. "Mornin' Shadow. You doing alright?"

"Morning. I...don't know. I feel like shit."

"Do you mind taking care of Carl for a while? He seems to stay calm with you and I need to go talk to Rick." She slowly and carefully removes herself and waits for me to move into her position with Carl. I however refused to move, I was too paralysed in my seat. "Shadow, please?"

"I don't know how to." I make up the excuse.

"Now I know that's bullshit. I've seen you take care of Kira, it ain't much different."

"Kira's a girl and younger than me. Carl is a boy and is older than me."

"Shadow, do you care about him?"

"Yes." I drawled slightly.

"Then take care of him. It's not a big deal." I sigh in defeat and slide underneath Carl carefully, placing his head on my lap. "Thanks Shadow." I nod in return and became tense when Carl started to move a bit in his sleep.

As a habit I gently started to run my blood stained hand through his hair, just like what I used to do with Kira when she was upset, except without the blood. I smiled slightly when he calmed down and wanted to do nothing but hug him to pieces right now. "Why don't you kiss him while you're at it." I jumped at Daryl's voice and he smirked up to us from below. I lift my other hand up and flipped him off for the unnecessary comment. The adults laughed and then continued to converse.

It was tempting but I restrained myself because it wasn't in my place. I didn't even know how I felt about him anyways. I moved away from the whole 'feelings' thing when I had to take care of my family. He started to toss and turn again so I removed my hand, allowing him to finally wake up.

He rubbed his eyes and sat up next to me. He looked at his surroundings drearily and I couldn't help but think how cute he looked while doing so. The messy hair, the half-closed eyes and a tiny frown on his face; he looked adorable. When he finally noticed that I was next to him his blue eyes brightened and he grabbed me in a protective hug. I return the hug and put my head on his shoulder when he did the same. I could feel my heartbeat quicken a bit and feel my stomach get lighter but didn't understand why. "You okay?" He asked concerned.

"Yeah."

"I thought you were going to be killed last night, right in front of me." He buried his head into my neck and I grew a bit tense at first but let it go.

"Never. I'm still here, you haven't lost your best friend yet." For some reason, those words backfired and I felt a little bit disappointed? Or Empty? He leaves the hug and plainly stares at me with a soft look. "What is it?"

"Shadow. I don't know if you'll be mutual with this but you're not just a friend to me." I furrow my eyebrows in slight confusion but let him continue. "Everyone else has seemed to take the hint but you and I want you to know that I really care about you. Losing you would be torture within itself to me because I--"

"Carl! Shadow! Get out here, we're leaving for Terminus!" Rick interrupts. I get out of the car to leave and didn't fail to see the disappointment that made its way to Carl when he sighed. He follows after me and wanted him to continue with what he was saying but he doesn't.

We continued walking down the road silently. Michonne told me what happened last night while I was in trouble. Rick had bit Joe's throat out and everyone saw it except me because I was on the other side of the car. After that, Carl was pretty shaken up and the others were fairly shocked. We stumbled across another Terminus sign, kicking the dirt off from on top of it.