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— PART TWO of THREE —
THERE IS NO HOPE ANYWHERE
— "AND YOU DID WHAT?" Emerson asked Glenn.
"I put my arm against the house and told her she should be thinking about it." Glenn mumbled. "Was that wrong?"
"So wrong. A very wrong approach. Do you want me to talk to her?"
"No! Do not talk to her." Glenn said, grabbing another shirt and folding it.
Emerson just shrugged before grabbing a pair of jeans to fold. "Alright, whatever you want. Maybe write her a note. Go old school."
Glenn gave a low chuckle. "A note? Saying what?"
Emerson looked at him, with obvious eyes, "Do you want me to write it for you too?"
Glenn looked at her for a moment. Then finally realized what she meant. "Oh!"
"Take your clothes to your tent, Glenn."
"Thanks, Emmy. You should've been a therapist, not a detective." Glenn smiled, grabbing his pile of clothes.
After Glenn took off, Rick and Shane walked up to the camp.
"Find anything today, boys?" Emerson called to them.
Shane just rolled his eyes and Rick replied with a simple no.
"You know, you two sure are grouchy when you come back together." Emerson told Rick as he passed her.
Rick stopped in his track.
"Shane wants to call off the search." Rick spoke gruffly.
Emerson kept folding. "What do you think we should do?"
"If it was Carl, I'd want to keep looking." Rick answered. "So would you."
"That's right. You and Lori would want to know one way or another, right?" asked Emerson to which Rick nodded. "Look, as cops, we do lots of arguing and fighting. We have to fight for what we believe in. We have to make the hard decisions. It's what we were trained to do."
Rick scoffed. "Shane says I can't make the hard decisions for the good of the group. Maybe I'm holding on to a way of thinking that doesn't make sense anymore. He says it's basic survival. How much food, how much ammo, how much water. . . There isn't much room in that equation for being soft."
Emerson rolled her eyes. "When things first went down, I hated Shane. He kept inviting more people to come with us and I hated it. I thought, the less people, the better chance we have at surviving. Shane was soft. I was wrong to think that. I changed my way of thinking and I got soft. I've gotten softer because of your boy. Does that mean I can't make the hard decisions?"
Rick shook his head and let her continue, "This new life is all about hard decisions. If we lost our moral compass, like Shane seems to have done lately, we'll be lost. We'll be at each other's throats. That's not a world I want to live in. We are still human, and we are still people."
Rick nodded slowly.
"So grow a pair and stand up for yourself. He fucked a married woman, and didn't feel bad about it. Seems like he's the one who's got a hard time making tough decisions." Emerson smiled. She was mostly joking, but she also tried to encourage him. Even if all they would ever be is friends, Emerson wanted to encourage him to do what he believed in and what he thought was right.
"You know the worst part about him sleeping with my wife?" He rhetorically asked. "I didn't even care."
She began to ask him why, but before any of that could happen, Beth walked up to the two of them.
"Emerson." She smiled, greeting the woman. "Mr. Grimes, my dad wants to talk to you."
"Good luck, Sheriff." Emerson told him and watched Rick walk away.
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"So what do you think about Glenn?" Maggie asked Emerson as she watched her peel and wash carrots.
Emerson snorted. "What about Glenn?"
"I mean," Maggie huffed. "Is he a good guy?"
"Maggie, let me real with you." Emerson began. "Glenn is a great guy. When we first picked him up, I was real skeptical. You can't trust delivery guys. You wouldn't believe how many I've arrested."
Maggie deadpanned at her. "Are you saying Glenn committed a felony?"
"She's never had a way with words." Carol interjected. "She's saying that Glenn is a really good man and you should give him a chance."
"Yes, exactly." Emerson grinned.
When the sun finally started to go down, dinner was ready. Silas, Nathan, and Daryl came back eventually.
Unfortunately, a day with the dozen or so of them never went dull. Earlier, Andrea shot Daryl thinking he was a Walker. Nathan and Silas were covered in Daryl's blood, and were trying to help the injured man. Luckily, his wounds weren't as bad as they thought they were.
So now, the group of survivors and the Greene family sat around the dinner table in an awkward silence.
"Does anybody know how to play guitar?" Glenn asked, trying to break the silence. "Dale found a cool one. Somebody's got to know how to play." He chuckled.
"Otis did." Patricia spoke with no emotion.
Emerson looked at Glenn, whose cheeks were burning red.
"Well, this dinner is just delicious. Chicken is really moist. . ." Emerson commented.
Silas rolled his eyes at his sister's lame attempt to break the ice between the two families.
It was quiet for the rest of dinner. No one spoke, and the only noise that could be heard was the clatter on the plates.
When dinner was over, Emerson offered to clean up. She grabbed everyone's plates and walked to the sink. Everyone dismissed the table and went to their respective tents and bedrooms.
Lori went to see Carl and Rick gathered the cups to bring to Emerson.
"Thanks." She told him, setting the cups in the hot, soapy water.
Rick folded his arms and leaned against the sink while Emerson began washing the plates.
"Mind drying them for me?" She asked.
Rick happily grabbed a dry towel, and began to dry the dishes from dinner.
"How's Carl?" Emerson asked.
Rick nodded, "He's doing really good. Lori wants to walk him around camp tomorrow."
Emerson's smile fell. "That's good. I'm sure she wants to make up for lost time."
"Are we okay?" Rick asked.
Emerson laughed loudly. "What ever do you mean?" She spoke, sarcasm dripping from her voice. "Rick, you basically said you were going back to your wife. Which is fine, if that's what's best for Carl. I respect you and all of your decisions. I'll always stand by you. But that doesn't mean I'm not hurt, okay?"
"I'm sorry, Emerson." Rick mumbled.
"No, it's okay. Carl is probably loving having his mom back and all I want for him and you is to be happy." Emerson sniffled.
"Please don't cry." Rick said, facing her.
Emerson shook her head and sniffled once more, "Just leave it, alright? I'll be fine. I'll always be just fine. Now go see your kid, Sheriff." She told him and began walking away.
"Emerson." Rick called, to which she turned around. "I care about you. I want you to be okay."
"I'm okay, Rick. Promise." She muttered in a low voice. "We're still friends. You can't get rid of me that easy."
With that, Emerson walked out of the house and went straight for her tent.
Silas was still awake, reading one of Dale's fishing books. "Hey, Emmy– What's wrong?"
"God, it's just so awful." She cried. "How pathetic am I on a scale of one to ten?"
Silas shrugged, "Depends. What are you crying about?"
"Just everything, Si." She exclaimed. "Carl getting shot, Jacqui basically blowing herself up, Sophia's lost, and Rick and Lori are getting back together."
Silas was quiet for a moment. "It's all gonna work out okay, alright?" He promised her, pulling her in for a hug.
"God, I don't know why I'm so emotional. Maybe I need to get laid." She laughed through her tears.
"I didn't need to know that." Silas laughed with her. "You're gonna be alright. Heartbreak is apart of life, unfortunately."
"But it's never hurt like this." She admitted. "I-I really like him, Si."
"I know. . . And if it's meant to be, it'll happen, okay?"
Emerson sighed loudly. "Okay."
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