— HAVING A BUSTED ANKLE WASN'T A good thing to have in an apocalypse, where you had to be prepared to run at any moment in case of a walker, or a human, for that matter. So, when Lori had finally helped Zoe get her foot out from under the roof of the car, she was pissed. Not only that, but she had ripped her stitches open meant that she was even more vulnerable to the world. She hated it. When Shane had found the two of them limping down the road, she was somewhat relieved.. Zoe had suggested that they turn back and head back home, not being in any condition to go forwards, but her mom was dead set on getting to town to get her father back and Zoe knew that once a Grimes had their mind set on something, there was no changing their mind.
She tried to ignore the argument between her mom and Shane as she sat in the car and waited for him to convince her to come back. She was just exhausted, she couldn't do it anymore, she could barely stay awake, not with the pain in her ankle. As she was in and out of consciousness, she could hear Shane yelling about the daughter that Lori had in the car, like the son she had back at the farm, and that was the last thing she heard before she finally succumbed to sleep. Next time she awoke, she was in someone's hold, and as she looked up, she saw Shane carrying her into the house and propping her down onto the sofa in order to check on her ankle and stitches - he didn't exactly know what he was looking at, but he believed that he could at least help her ankle and clean her stitches to make sure they didn't get infected. Zoe didn't even bother to protest, being too tired after the fight she had with the walker, she just needed rest. Even after everything Shane had done, she just didn't care less at the moment, being in too much pain. Lori and Shane argued while Shane wrapped her ankle up and cleaned her stitches, but she could barely pay any attention, being in and out of consciousness.
The morning came quickly for Zoe Grimes, as she had been asleep for the whole night, only waking up when Lori would check her stomach or when Shane would check that her ankle wasn't swelling up too much. The two adults put aside their differences to take care of the girl they both cared for, and in no time, the sun had risen over the farm, indicating that the morning had come, and Rick and the others should be home at any moment now, they hoped. Zoe had managed to convince her mom to let her sit out on the porch and wait while getting some fresh air, after being stuck in a car, then in the house all evening. After all, it was her dad, her best friend, and Nate out there. Three people that she cared deeply for that put themselves in danger for Hershel. They better come back okay.
Relief spread through Zoe when she saw a familiar piece of hair in the back of the truck that cane driving back into the camp, with her father driving and Hershel in the passenger seat while Glenn sat with Nate in the back. With a hobble, she got up and used her good foot to limp over towards the car, accepting the help from Carol as she helped the girl walk along, watching as Carl ran into Rick's arms in happiness. The next person to leave the truck, was Nate, and as soon as he did so, his eyes searched the crowd for one person, and one person only, Zoe. Once his eyes reached hers, he sighed in relief that she was okay, but when he noticed the small limp she had when she attempted to walk towards him, he furrowed his brows in confusion, and slight anger at the fact that she had been hurt. It was the last thing he wanted to see after a hard night.
Zoe gave her father a quick hug, letting him know that she was happy that he was back, before Nate whipped her up into his arms, not expecting her to make her way towards him, not with how she looked when she walked with her ankle, it was clear she had sprained it in some way. Rick smiled at the sight in front of him, having spoken to Nate while they were in town about his feelings and intentions towards his daughter, and he ultimately found out that Nate was someone he was happy with, to be with his daughter. Over Zoe's shoulder, Nate gave Rick a small nod, which the man gave one back, before he nuzzled his face into Zoe's neck, taking in her smell that he had missed so much.
"What happened?" He asked her in worry, setting her back down on her feet gently, before taking a piece of hair away from her face, trailing his thumb down her cheek. The cut on her cheek didn't make him feel any better, and it made him wish that he hadn't have left her alone. He had asked his brother to keep her safe while he left, so he had a word to pick with Daryl.
Zoe sighed, looking at her mom in the corner of her eye, before looking back up at Nate with a guilty look in her eye, "Me and my mom went to come and get you guys, cause Beth had collapsed, but the car crashed, got my foot stuck." She informed Nate briefly, lifting her bad foot up in example. He didn't look happy at the fact she had left the farm, he would have thought that Lori should know better, especially since she was pregnant, and had two kids already of her own. "But, hey, I got out in one piece, even managed to take a walker down on my own." She then told him, with a confident look. Even if it was a horrible thing she had to do, and it terrified her, but she was proud of herself that she had managed to take one out all on her own, without the help from anyone, not her dad, not Shane, anyone.
Nate smiled down at her, not thinking that he could he anymore proud of his girl in this moment. She was coming out of her shell since the camp back outside Atlanta, and he was loving watching it happen. "That's amazing." He told her, pressing a light kiss to her forehead, showing just how proud of her he was.
"Who the hell is that?" T-Dog spoke, breaking Zoe and Nate out of their little bubble. Zoe turned around to see a young boy, around her age, in the back of the truck, and it surprised her that she hadn't noticed him before. Why had they brought back some random boy? It was dangerous.
At the sound of Glenn informing everyone that his name was Randall, Daryl gave Nate a look, silently asking what the hell was going on, and Nate shrugged, implying that he would explain everything later, as well as asking him about Zoe. There's not much Daryl could have done in that department, as Zoe had her mind dead set on going to find him and her dad, he had tried to convince her, but it didn't work. That wasn't his fault. Everything went silent when everyone saw the boy in the backseat, blinded by a blindfold, and Zoe and Daryl simultaneously looked at Nate for an explanation, causing the young Dixon to sigh in exhaustion, they all had a lot of explaining to do.
——
"He would have bled out if he lived that long." Rick informed the group, as some sat at the table, and some stood. Zoe sat in a chair at the end of the table, while Nate stood behind her, keeping his hands on her shoulders as he did so, not wanting to ever let the girl go. Nate tried to convince Daryl to come to the meeting, but the man wanted to be alone again, and he didn't want Zoe going on her own, due to her ankle, so he agreed to come with her, to listen in to what Rick has to say. If it was up to Nate, he would have left the boy there, as much guilt as he felt about it. It was better than bringing him back here, where his family, Daryl and Zoe, could get hurt. In this world now, you had to do what you had to do.
Before the meeting even start, Nate forced Zoe to get Hershel to look at her ankle and stitches, no matter how hard she protested. He practically had to carry her to Hershel's room in order for him to do so. He cleaned up her stitches and sorted them out, and all Zoe needed was an ice pack on her ankle, as it was just swollen. He told her that she was lucky that's all that happened, as her foot could have broken from the impact of the car. Hershel then told Nate to not let her walk around too much for a few days, as the old man could tell the only person she would listen to was him. Zoe didn't like being babied, especially not after she was shot by Otis when they first arrived at the farm, she told herself that that would be the last time she would be bedridden. She just wished she would have listened to Daryl and stayed at the farm, telling Shane about her mother's plan instead of going along with it. She just didn't want her mom to be disappointed in her.
"It's gotten bad in town." Glenn then spoke up, after the hell they had gone through down in the town, he never wanted to go back. Zoe could see that he was trying to avoid Maggie, and she didn't know why - she couldn't make sense of it..
"What do we do with him?" Andrea asked, asking the one question that was in everyone's minds, only, she was man enough to actually ask. We're they going to kill him? Surely they couldn't let him go; he could easily make his way back to the farm and kill them all in their sleep or something.
This was when Hershel made his way into the room, "I repaired his calf muscle as best I can, but he'll probably have nerve damage." He informed the group. "He won't be on his feet for at least a week." He added.
"When he is, we give him a canteen, take him out to the main road, send him on his way." Rick spoke, clearly not wanting to kill the boy. This was when Daryl had made himself known, causing Nate to nod at him from his place with Zoe - he was glad his brother was trying to become more involved with the group, it would make it a lot more easy for the two of them.
"Isn't that that the same as leaving him for the walkers?" Andrea then asked, getting in her piece of mind. Zoe didn't understand why they saved the boy in the first place, if he was shooting at them, and in with the people who weren't good, then surely they shouldn't have saved him? She knew that was evil, but if people were getting bad, with 'survival of the fittest', then they had to look out for themselves and the group. Especially with Lori becoming pregnant. They just couldn't afford it at the moment.
"He'll have a fighting chance." Rick answered, believing that this was the best option.
"You just gonna let him go?" Shane then asked, and by his face, Zoe knew that he wasn't happy about the situation at hand, "He knows where we are."
"He was blindfolded the whole way here." Rick defended, knowing that there was no way that Randall knew where they were.. "He's not a threat." He said.
"How many of them were there?" Shane challenged, as the rest of them watched in silence as the scene went down, "You killed three of their men. You took one of them hostage, but they just ain't going to come looking for him." He said. As much as Zoe didn't want to admit it, because Shane seemed to be out of his head lately, he was right, and she could tell that Nate felt the same way, as when she looked up at him, he was looking at Shane like he agreed with him. This whole situation just scared Zoe, as she didn't want anything happening to her family - this whole thing just seemed messy, and if Hershel hadn't have left the farm alone in the first place, then maybe none of this would have happened.
"They left him for dead." Rick replied, now in a harsher tone than before, not liking Shane's attitude. "No one is looking." He said.
"We should still post a guard." T-Dog spoke up.
"He's out cold right now." Hershel then spoke, "Will be for hours."
Shane scoffed, "You know, I'm going to go get him some flowers and candy." He joked coldly, before he walked away. "Look at this, folks. We back in fantasy land." He said, annoyed that no one was listening to him about how dangerous this whole situation was. Zoe leaned back into Nate's chest in exhaustion, watching the scene go down in front of her.. It was tiring for her, watching everyone argue.
"You know, we haven't even dealt with what you did at my barn yet." Hershel spoke up before Shane could leave. "Let me make this perfectly clear once and for all. This is my farm, now I wanted you gone, Rick talked me out of it, but that doesn't mean I have to like it." He told Shane. "So do us both a favour, keep your mouth shut." He said.
The fact that Shane honestly didn't care at what Hershel was telling him, worried Zoe greatly. Shane wasn't the man she had grown up with.. He wasn't the man he once was. Now.. She didn't know what happened to him, and what made him like this; it started happening when her father came back, but she didn't know why that would change him, as him and Rick are like brothers.. None of this made sense to her..
Shane didn't even say anything as he practically stormed out of the house, and Zoe groaned at the sight. When Rick told everyone they could relax, and the fact that they weren't doing anything about it today, Nate bend down to pick up Zoe, but she held up a hand to stop him. "What do you think you're doing?" She asked him, laughing slightly at the fact Nate tried to carry her out of the house, "I can walk, you know.. Maybe not as good as before, but.. You know." She said.
Nate rolled his eyes at her, "Hershel said you shouldn't walk for at least a few days." He informed her.
"I don't want you to carry me around like some princess." She joked, pushing the chair out to stand up, however, when she took a step forwards, she nearly lost her footing, wincing in pain as she did so, causing Nate to shake his head at her. Reaching out to keep her steady, she grabbed onto his arm to keep herself upright, "Okay, maybe I need a little help.." She mumbled, annoyed that she had to admit so.
Nate crouched down in front of her, indicating for her to get onto his back, "Come on." He ushered, not taking no for an answer this time.
Zoe chuckled, "You're serious?" She asked, looking down at his crouched figure.
"Deadly." Nate answered, getting impatient, "Come on, I don't get down on my knees for anyone." He told her, as he was practically on his knees for her, waiting.
Zoe scoffed, laughing, before climbing onto Nate's back, wrapping her arms gently around us neck as he stood up effortlessly with her on his back. "You're so stupid." She told him, laughing still as he exited the house. As they walked out onto the porch, he pretended to drop her, causing a screech to come out of her mouth, before he held her tight again. "You ass!" She laughed, slapping his chest, clinging onto him in fear that he would do it again.
Nate simply laughed at her, before taking her to her tent, planning to spend the rest of the day with the girl.
He never wanted to be away from her again.