season two, episode four.
"cherokee rose"

013. he died as he lived, in grace.

LYDIA HAVEN is in shock. shock was an understatement, actually. shane had walked out of the farm house his morning, and despite everything going on—lydia couldn't help but laugh.

"what the fuck has happened to your hair? and why are you in overalls?" she exclaims between laughs. he had completely shaved his hair off.

"to hell with you, lydia." shane waves her off as lydia puts a hand over her mouth to muffle her giggles.

"old mac donald had a farm," she begins to sing, glenn echoing a e-i-e-i-o. shane turns to glare at them just as they hear the faint sound of a motercycle.

"eden." a smile breaks out onto lydia's face as she races over to the rv and daryl's motorcycle. within seconds, before dale could even park, eden is in lydia's arms, giggling, as the young mother showers her with affection.

the rest of the the greene family watch curiously as she comes back over to them, now smiling happily as glenn cheers and ruffles eden's hair which has started to grow.

"the best member of the group has returned!" t-dog beams, tickling eden's chin as lydia grins.

"her first word better be glenn." glenn says seriously as t-dog rolls his eyes. "nuh-uh. eden, say t dog—say t-dog!"

"if her first word ain't mama i'm going to riot." lydia says seriously as they all laugh.

rick and lori come out of the house soon after. lydia would be lying if she said she doesn't laugh inside when eden makes grabby hands to rick when he walks over to her. rick smiles gently, picking her up and lifting her in the air slightly, before bringing her back down and tickling her. "did i tell you? she's crawling now." lydia says proudly.

"no way." rick says between smiles. "that's amazing. she'll be walking tomorrow." he jokes.

lydia grins up at him, ignoring the look lori has on her face as eden babbles.

"we have food for the baby. if you need it." hershel tells her politely as lydia turns to him with a relieved smile.

"thank you so much, sir. that would be great." she replies as he nods with a small smile.

"did you see shane's hair...what happened to it?" lydia mutters to rick who lets out a laugh, covering his mouth.

"midlife crisis i'm guessing." he jokes as they share another laugh, just as they hear glenn chant 'e-i-e-i-o' when shane walks past him.

"how is he?" dale asks about call as he gets out of the rv, joining everyone.

"he'll pull through. thanks to hershel and his people. and shane." lori replies with a small smile.

dale smiles back and brought rick in for a hug, the others hugging lori in relief. "we were so worried." carol sighs.

"how'd it happen?" dale asks.

"hunting accident. that's all...just a stupid accident." rick tells them with a small sigh.

lydia feels a bit bad when she realises all the rocks they were supposed to be collecting was to make a grave for otis. they all stand around it together, noticing hershel had put on a suit and spoke for them.

"blessed be god. father of our lord jesus christ. praise be to him for the gift of our brother otis. for his span of years, for his abundance of character, otis, who gave his life to save a child's, now more than ever, our most precious asset. we thank you, god, for the peace he enjoys in your embrace. he died as he lived, in grace...shane, will you speak for otis?" hershel asks the man who looks slightly guilty, which makes lydia frown.

"i'm not good at it." he replies quietly. "i'm sorry." he whispers.

"you were the last one with him. you shared his final moments. please." patricia sobs, "i need to hear. i need to know his death had meaning."

"we were about done. almost out of ammo, we were down to pistols by then. i was limping, it was bad. ankle ball swollen up. 'we've gotta save the boy' . that's what he said. he gave me his backpack, he shoved me ahead. 'run' he said...he said 'i'll take the rear, i'll cover for you' and when i look back—he..." shane trails off, shaking his head. "if not for otis, i'd have never made it out alive. and that goes for carl, too."

lydia listens with a small frown, feeling awful for this poor man's family. he seemed like a great man, and although she shouldn't be thinking it, she couldn't help but wonder if shane had something to do with his death.

"it was otis. he saved us both." shane continues again, looking at patricia. "if any death ever had meaning, it was his."

patrica nods through quiet sobs as shane limps over to put a rock on top of the grave.

"HOW LONG has this girl been lost?" hershel asks them all as they gather around the police car later that day.

"this'll be day three." shane replies.

"county survey map." maggie walks over, spreading open the map as they glance at it. "shows terrain and elevations."

"this is perfect. we can finally get this thing organised." rick raises his brows as he scans the map. "well grid the whole area, start searching in teams."

"not you. not today." hershel replies. "you gave three units of blood."

lydia's eyes widen in shock, "three units?" she echoes, "what's carl's blood type?" she asks curiously.

"a positive."

"man, why didn't you ask me? i'm a positive too. saves you from getting your blood drained." she scoffs as rick sent her a slightly annoyed look.

"you could've mentioned that earlier?"

"i didn't know you were transferring blood." she argues as hershel eyes the two of them.

"...guess it's just me then. i'm gonna head back to the creek, work my way from there." daryl speaks up, taking the map and looking over it.

"i can still be useful." shane speaks up, referring to his ankle which was probably broken, lydia doesn't know or care. "ill drive up to the interstate, see if sophia wandered back."

"alright. tomorrow then." rick begins, "we'll start doing this right."

"that means we can't have our people out there with just knives." shane tells him, "they need the gun training we've been promising them."

"i'd prefer you not carrying guns on my property." hershel tells them, looking at rick. "we have made it this far without turning into an armed camp."

"all due respect. you get a crowd those things wandering in here..." shane trails off.

"look, we're guests here. this is your property and we will respect that." rick says, giving shane a firm look, before putting his gun on the car boot.

shane rolls his eyes but did the same.

"first things first: set camp, find sophia." rick begins, as shane speaks up again.

"what happens if we find her and she's been bit?" he asks in slight annoyance as lydia fights the urge to roll her eyes. "i think we should all be clear on how we handle that."

rick looks down, before coming up with his answer. "you do what has to be done." he tells them all.

"and her mother? what d'you tell her?" maggie raises a brow in disbelief as andrea almost scoffs.

"the truth." she replies as lydia sends her a look, which andrea notices.

"don't give me that look, lydia. if it was eden what would you want us to say?" andrea says to the blonde woman who turns to her.

"i'd fucking murder you before you had the chance to speak." she says seriously, a sarcastic smile on her face before she turns back to the others.

"i'll gather and secure all the weapons. make sure no one's carrying til we're at a practice range off site. i do request one rifleman on lookout. dale's for experience." shane decides as andrea pulls a face.

hershel looks away with a sigh. "our people would feel safer, less inclined to carry a gun." rick tries to convince the man.

slowly, hershel nods. "thank you." rick speaks.

"hey, lydia. that stuff you brought, have you got more antibiotics, bandages, anything like that?" maggie asks once everyone starts to walk away.

"there's bandages in my backpack. i don't know about antibiotics though." lydia tells her as maggie nods, thanking her when lydia gives her the bandages.

"you running low?" lydia asks as maggie nods slowly. "why don't we take run into town, see what we can find?" she suggests.

maggie smiles, "cool."

LYDIA IS glad she has made a new friend. maggie insists that they go to the pharmacy on horses, and of course, lydia immediately agrees.

rick didn't let them go with eden as he believes it was too risky, so he offered to watch her with glenn until they came back.

"i'm glad there's another girl here that's not my little sister." maggie says as they found the pharmacy.

lydia smiles, "me too. edens incredible and all, but the girl don't talk so it's kinda boring." she jokes as maggie laughs along with her.

"what about the others?" maggie asks with a raised brow.

"andrea's...well...andrea, carols lovely but i don't think we're on the same page yet. and lori...she don't like me." she says with a small shrug.

"came imagine why," maggie says sarcastically.

lydia raises a brow, "what's that supposed to mean?"

"nothin'. you got a list from the others?" maggie changes the subject as lydia nods, her eyes scanning it.

"who do you bet wants the pregnancy test?" she holds up the list with a small smirk as maggie raises her brows.

"jeez louise." maggie exclaims as they enter the pharmacy. "in the apocalypse? i mean, no offence to you. but really?"

"eden was born before the apocalypse, so none taken. i agree though, no way would i be baby making in this world now." lydia scoffs, making maggie raise a brow at her, unconvinced.

"i saw you eyeing glenn earlier." lydia begins, looking over at maggie who immediately walks away, making lydia laugh.

sorry this took so long to update , cancel me