Stars and Scars [D.Dixon fic] TWD

3

As Cassie and Glenn drove the red sports car up the gravel path headed towards camp Dales rv came into view from its place overlooking the lake.Cassie was really excited to see her nephew having being scared she would never see him again less than 2 hours ago. The car alarm blared through the quarry and if the group didn't know they were on their way back before they would now.

As they pulled in they could see mouths moving but they couldn't hear what was being said over the car sirens however it was clear from the looks on their faces they were not happy about the fact the pair had driven the car with alarms blaring so close to camp.

"Turn that Dam thing off" Dale yelled at the pair trying to be heard over the alarm.

"Don't know how" Glenn replied shrugging his shoulders.

Both Shane and Amy started yelling at Glenn at the same time Shane yelling at him to the pop the hood and Amy yelling for news about Andrea. Glenn popped the hood before turning to Amy as Cassie ran over to Carl and Lori who were both happy to see her having thought the group were stuck in Atlanta.

"Aunty Cas!"  Carl yelled running away from him mum to his aunt pulling her into a tight hug. "I thought I was never gonna see you again" he told her a few tears falling from the young boys face.

"Hey you little monkey it's okay it's fine I'm back now it's all okay." She reassured him wiping the few tears that fell down his face. She gave him a kiss on the forehead before standing up and giving her sister in law a hug.

It was then the van with the other pulled up everyone else walking over to greet the survivors as the Grimes family stayed back.Cassie could see the hurt in Carls eyes when he saw the Morales children reunite with their father wishing he could see his. "Oh I just remembered I have a surprise for you"

"Comic books!"

"Better" Cassie replied saying his eyes goes wider and smile growing bigger. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Rick had just gotten out the van. She turned around to see him fully his eyes big as he saw his wife and son in front of him. "There it is" she said causing Carl to turn around to see his dad standing there.

"DAD, DAD" Carl yelled as he ran full force to his dad tackling him with a hug. It made Cassie's heart warm to see two of the people she cared about most in life happy and together again. Shane was Ricks best friend so you would think he would be really happy to see Rick but instead he just stood there like he had seen a ghost. As Cassie turned to look at Lori she had the exact same look on her face. She put a hand on her arm giving her a warm smile to try and comfort her.

Cassie knew their had been something going on between the two and even though it hurt her to see Lori get over Rick so quickly she guessed it was Loris way of trying to move on. She just wished it didn't have to be with Ricks old best friend.

Rick started to walk over to Lori and Cassie ,Carl in his arms.He wrapped his arms around Lori holding his wife and son close to him. He looked over his shoulder to smile at Shane before pulling Cassie into the hug holding all his family close to him.Cassie let out a sigh happy to be in the arms of the people she loved.

But then she realised that there was someone missing. It was quite - too quite. "Where's Merle?"

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Later that night the group sat around a small fire thunder rumbling in the background of the conversations the group had.Cassie sat with her head rested on Ricks shoulder staying close to her brother not wanting to be alone again. Carl had his head in his fathers lap and his body stretched out across Cassie's legs.

"Disoriented. I guess that comes closest. Disoriented. Fear,confusion all those things but disoriented comes closest." Rick explained as he told the story of how he had woke up in the hospital.