Forfeit ~Shane Walsh/OC~

Chapter Eight

*flashback*

            “I know that look,” I told Lori as she waited for Carl to get out of school. It was a regular thing that I took my kindergarten class outside for recess at the end of the day and stayed until their parents picked all of them up. Lori always came a little early so her and I could chat while she waited for her son. She and I used to be really close. It was like any other day, except today was going to be a different day. “You gonna tell me?” I asked her what was on her mind.

            “We had a fight this morning. It got ugly,” she told me.

            “I’m sorry, hon. Men can be jerks, especially our men,” I explained to her.

“Thing is, he wasn’t the asshole. He was trying so hard to be reasonable, it just pushed my buttons all the more.”

“Oh, I see,” I rested my hands in my lap as I listened to her story. Her and Rick have been fighting an awful lot lately and I have to wonder Rick’s side of the story, but Shane refuses to let me in on it. I told him we could help them if we knew exactly what’s going on, but everything is so one-sided with Lori ranting to me and Rick only to Shane.

“I just wish he’s just have it out with me and blow up. Tell me I’m being a bitch if that’s what I’m being. Instead he’s just so…” she sighed heavily trying to come up with words to explain how she felt.

“Hey, don’t beat yourself up, Lor,” I tried to comfort her.

“No? You can’t tell me being pissed at your husband because he doesn’t yell at you is even close to being rational,” she laughed at how she was acting. I couldn’t help but smile.

“That’s one problem I don’t have with Shane,” I told her.

“But you still love him,” Lori said and I stopped smiling.

“Of course I do. Might as well. We are lifers,” I told her seriously. “You still love Rick?”

“I’ve been asking myself that a lot. And I think the answer is yes it’s just I’m trying to remember how that works,” I studied her facial expression as she spoke. “Maybe our only problem is we got married so young-” but she was cut off by police sirens. Both of us stood straight up knowing it was either my husband or hers, but hoping for neither. Recognizing the 162 on the side of the car, we knew it was one of ours that was hurt. I looked to a fellow teacher who nodded for me to go ahead and Lori and I held hands as we cautiously walked over to the car. My heart lept for joy when I saw Shane was fine but sank once I realized what that meant.

“Is he alive?” Lori asked Shane.

“He’s in surgery,” Shane told her as he looked from her to me and back to her. He was so tense and scared. It was written all over his face. I felt the same way, of course. The three of us had been friends since we were kids. We grew up together.

“How?” she asked him quietly.

“There was a radio call that said there was two suspects in a car. But there was a third man. Somebody screwed up. I screwed up. I did not see him in time. It’s my fault,” he held his hands together in front of him and I reached out for them. He let me wrap his arms around me and mine around his without hesitation. I just held on to him as Lori comforted him with words.

“I don’t believe that.” The three of us all looked as the bell rang and Carl walked outside the school. He smiled and waved seeing all of us standing together and we all waved back. “What do I say?” Lori asked us. “How do I tell my son his father’s been shot?”

“You don’t have to do it alone,” I squeezed her hand one last time before she squeezed back and walked over to Carl. Shane and I just watched quietly as Carl started crying and hugged his mom.