november rain | d. dixon²

[48] close bonds, acts of love

She stormed into her kitchen startling the person inside. "Sorry," she told her brother.

"Where were you?"

"I was talking to Pete." He told us you knew, he'd said when asked about Daryl leaving. "Is Judith upstairs?"

"She's with Theo."

Carl watched his sister go to the fridge and take out a bottle of water. She was taking a couple of sips when she saw his expression and she sighed removing the plastic from her lips.

Liz put the bottle on the counter before pressing her hands on it as well. "What did you do?"

Carl moved his head back slightly in surprise. "Why do you think I did something?"

She stared at him as if he was dumb. "Your face can be very expressive." She lifted her chin quickly. "What is it?"

He'd already been debating whether or not to tell her, leaning toward a positive answer. Might as well do it now. "You remember that man? The one I found with dad."

"Yeah, the one he shot at..." Her eyes widened when she realised what her brother's sheepish face meant.

"I brought him here," he confirmed.

She opened her mouth inaudibly before sighing as she touched her brow with her thumb. "Carl..." She closed her eyes briefly. "We're practically in the middle of a war, is it really safe for him to be here? Or for us to take him?"

"Here's still safer than out there," he told her putting weight on one leg.

Liz sighed. "Did you leave him at the empty house on this street or the other one?"

He took a little while to answer. "Neither...he's in the sewer."

"In the—" She breathed in deeply before deciding it wasn't the worst option. "It's probably for the best. If someone finds him in a house..." Everyone, even if they didn't show it, was on edge from the fight, finding a stranger could trigger something worse because of fear. "Did you give him a blanket or something? Food?"

"I took one of the stretchers we had. We're not using most of them anyway. I was going to take him some food."

"By yourself?" she raised her brows.

"I've done it so far."

"No."

"What?"

"I'm going with you."

"Izzie, it's fine."

She opened the cabinets seeing what could last several days. "Carl, I'm not letting you be alone with a stranger, okay?"

"He's had plenty of chances to do something, Izzie."

"Well, I'm not giving him another one," she said taking out food. "You're not gonna be alone with anyone until I know we can trust them, okay?" She stared at Carl intently giving him no choice to argue.

"Fine."

When he was within arm's length, she hit his hat which fell down to his nose. "Good." She stared at him as he lifted it up again. "Is that all?" she asked sensing there was something else she wasn't telling her.

"Yeah."

She narrowed her eyes briefly but decided to let it go.

For the meantime.

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Liz gagged silently when she wasn't able to push away the smell. She stepped on the floor gently, hiding her disgust, letting go of the stairs. "The things I do for this kid," she muttered as she followed Carl through the cylindrical space.