The Reunion

  SERENA LAID HER HEAD AGAINST THE COLD table in the RV. She hadn't been able to sleep a wink, hearing the sound of Andrea fumbling around pieces of a gun, Daryl snoring, and Carol sobbing to herself. The woman got up from where she was sitting, carefully standing over the Dixon man in order to comfort the woman who had just lost her child.

She knew exactly how that felt.

"I'd ask if you are okay but, I think we both know the answer." The Romano woman spoke, a comforting smile on her face. "What I do know is, a hug always cheers me up."

Serena set herself down next to Carol, awkwardly before wrapping her arms around the woman.

"I know what it's like, to have a child go missing..." the Romano woman trailed off with a sigh. "There's not much anyone can do to ease how you feel."

"How do you know?" Carol questioned quietly, her eyes still pointed to the wall.

"A few years back, my daughter went missing. She was uh... a few years older than Sofia at the time, and we-..we never found her." Serena heard her voice cracked as she continued to speak. "Felix wouldn't stop looking, he's always been about family. He had the resources to find her better than me, so I married him."

"Not even a trace of her?" The grey haired woman was searching for a glimmer of hope, one she would never get.

"After awhile, I just assumed I lost her. I didn't feel her anymore. I couldn't feel the loss because I never knew what happened, but, I knew she was gone." The Romano woman felt tears stream down her face. "I try not to think about her, but, all this is reminding me how important it is to keep the ones you have left close."

The room became silent, Carol obviously not gaining any inspiration from the other woman's speech. Serena knew she wasn't the best at helping people. Hell, she wasn't good at it at all but, she wanted to.

She desperately wanted to.

The woman sat up once she heard shuffling, and talking, and seen Daryl wide awake and heading out the door.

"They're gonna find Sofia, Carol." She whispered. "Nobody is going to give up looking."

Truthfully, nobody would until they found her.

  RORY, LUCA, FELIX, GLENN, AND T-DOG APPROACHED the farmhouse carefully. Aurora held up her bow, just in case this was all some sick prank that they were all walking straight into. Her breath hitched as they got closer, hoping her family would all be okay.

"Should we ring the bell?" Glenn questioned as all of them stopped at the steps. "I mean, it looks like people live here."

"Fuck no." Felix started to go up first, not a care in the world for what everyone used to call manners.

"We're past this kind of stuff, aren't we? Having to be considerate." T-Dog spoke, everyone sort of agreeing as they followed behind Felix.

"Nobody's at least considering knocking? These people are helping us." Luca always seemed to be the voice of reasoning, and that stressed him out all the time.

"Did you close the gate up the road when you drove in." A voice spoke up, everyone looking over to see the woman from earlier who had taken Lori and Estella.

"Uh, hi, yes, we closed it." Glenn answered, rubbing the back of his neck.

"All closed, no worries at all." Luca laughed awkwardly, his feet shifting back and forth in place. "Latch, lock, whole nine yards."

"As much as I love this small talk, i'd like to see my brother." Aurora interrupted, before the fawning the boys were doing became any more embarrassing.

"We came to help, is there anything we can do?" T-Dog questioned.

"We didn't come for anything. I'm taking my son and getting the hell out of here with my family." Felix corrected, his arms folded over one another.

"Your son is in no condition to be traveling, sir." Maggie, the woman from earlier looked down at T-dogs wound, her face dropping immediately.

"It's not a bite, I cut myself pretty bad though." He answered, before there was any sort of panic.

"We'll have it looked at. I'll tell them you're here." Maggie narrowed her eyes at Felix before she reached over to the front door and opened it. "Come on in, i'll get y'all something to eat."

Everyone made their way into the house, and it was evident all the Romano's wanted to do was get to their family.

"Milo is that way, Carl is in the room that way." Maggie directed everyone in opposite directions, and the trio of Romano's made their way into Milo's room.

"Thank god you're okay." Felix let out a sigh of relief upon seeing his son, sweating and pale, but, alive. "We've been worried."

"About little old me? I'm flattered." Milo tried to let out a laugh but started coughing as he did.

"Uncle Lucy, aunt Rory!" Avery ran over to the two of them, throwing her arms around them with a smile. "I missed you guys."

"We missed you too." Rory giggled before looking over to her younger brother. "Thanks for not dying on us, kid."

"Thanks for caring." Milo smiled lightly before letting on a sigh. "I just hope that Carl is going to be okay."

"I'm sure he will be." Sal spoke up from the rocking chair in the corner, his arms folded across his chest. "Stella is checking on him now."

The Romano's hoped things would be okay, but, they knew that it wouldn't.

  ESTELLA MADE HER WAY OUT ONTO THE FRONT porch where Rick sat, grasping tightly onto the railing that wrapped around the area. She couldn't even begin to try and comprehend how the man felt. If Avery was in Carls place, she would... well, she didn't know what she would do.

"Lori seemed upset when she came inside, didn't want to talk. I figured I would ask you what happened." The Romano woman spoke, standing comfortably next to the man.

"It's Carl, Hershel says he doesn't have much time left before he needs to do the surgery, and Shane isn't back with Otis and the supplies yet." Rick explained, his voice fragile and weak like he had been beaten down by the world.

... and he was being beaten down.

"Something tells me they'll make it back in time, I can tell that everyone cares about Carl." Estella raised her arm, placing her hand on Ricks shoulder.

"Lori think we should let him...-.. she thinks we should let him die." The Grimes man closed his eyes, the words coming out of his mouth almost killing him inside. "Says that he doesn't belong in this world."

As a mother, the Romano woman felt an enormous amount of anger bubbling up inside of her. Never in a million years would she let her daughter suffer so long, just to die because she gave up. Giving up wasn't an option, and she wouldn't let Rick do it either.

"I hope you aren't considering it." Stella was now the one gripping the railing as she continued. "Your son needs people to believe in him, and if you don't, nobody else will."

"You're right." The Grimes man cleared his throat, nodding his head as if he was convincing himself that he needed to fight against his wife's wishes. "I'm going to go in there, and let her know that we aren't going to give up."

"You do that." Estella smiled slightly as the man gave her a side hug before storming inside the house, leaving her alone.

Leaving her to watch the road, wondering where Shane and Otis were.

AUTHORS NOTE-
This chapter is way shorter than usual but I split each episode into two and this one had s lot to do with Shane more than anything. (Fuck Shane by the way, he sucks)

What future characters do you think the Romano's would get along with (aka Tyrese, Sasha, Abraham, Rosita, etc)

Hope you enjoyed!