Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, ect., are the property of their respective owners.  The original character and plot are the property of the author.  The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise.  No copyright infringement is intended.

Summary: When the world ended the only thing Birdie Grimes wanted to do was to get home to her family.  When she finds her sister-in-law and best friend on the outskirts of Atlanta, will she finally get the chance to tell him how she really feels?  Will love blossom?  *No evil Shane* 

Warning:  This fan-fiction is rated Mature for Language, Gore and Adult Situations.  Readers under the age of 18 are strongly discouraged from reading.

Pairing: Shane Walsh x Birdie Grimes

Chapter Fifteen

 

It had been a long day.  Between my fight with Rick and Daryl this morning, my confrontation with Ed, and Jim freaking out on everyone this afternoon, I was dog tired. 

The upside to this day was that Andrea and Amy really did hit the mother-load down at the quarry and I’ll even admit to being pleasantly surprised when they brought up their haul of about 30 Bluegill.

As soon as I had heard Andrea asking Dale for his fishing equipment—and realized she actually knew what she was talking about—I had Morales drive down to the main road where I had left the Semi so I could collect my stash of beer and immediately put them in the water of the quarry to chill. 

Later that evening, when it was determined that we would be having a fish fry, I had him take me back down to the quarry to retrieve my little surprise and I can tell you that we were met with a welcomed response when the adults saw what I had for them. 

“Birdie,” Dale said, smiling as I passed him a longneck.  “You are an Angel of mercy.” 

I laughed at him.  “Now Dale, don’t be tryin’ to butter me up.” 

Dale chuckled as he clinked his bottle against mine.  “Do you know where Shane got off to; it’s almost time to eat?  I certainly wouldn’t want him to miss this feast.” 

Smiling brightly, I held up my hand, “Say no more, good Sir.” I told him as I whistled lowly for Trusty.  Within seconds, Trusty bounded out from the open door to the R.V. and was at my side. 

“Tru,” I said his name sternly and he immediately sat on his butt, waiting for my command.  I held out one of the rags that Shane had forced into my hands earlier, and thrust it under Trusty’s nose.  “Find, boy.  Go find Papa Walsh.” 

With a little howl he tore off into the trees. 

Dale looked to me with wide, surprised eyes.  “Wow.  That’s a smart dog you have there.” 

“Well, he should be.  He was trained for the K-9 unit.”  I told him shrugging. 

He sat down next to me, completely absorbed in the conversation.  “And how did you come by him?” 

Lori snorted from her place across from me.  She already knew this story all too well. 

“Rick,” I said.  “Trusty tore a tendon in his back leg and was pulled from training a few weeks before he was supposed to graduate.  My brother has a friend who worked as a field trainer and he knew how good I was with animals, so he called up Rick and my goofy brother decided it would be my birthday present that year.”

Dale nodded, a wide grin spreading across his lips.  “And what’s this Papa Walsh business.” 

Lori couldn’t contain her laugh this time and I couldn’t blame her, it was funny as Hell.  I laughed every time I thought about it. 

“Well,” I told him after taking a long pull from the cool bottle.  “It was still a couple of weeks until my “surprise” birthday party when Rick had to pick him up.  He couldn’t keep Trusty at his house because there was no way he could hide a year old bloodhound from me, I just spent too much time there.  So Shane offered to let Trusty stay at the apartment with him….

I laughed, “One night, a couple days before the birthday party, Rick decides he needed to make sure that the special collar he had a leather worker make for him would fit and went over to Shane’s to try it on him. 

Rick swears up and down that he knocked and knocked but that was never proven, but he knew Shane was home because both the squad car and his Explorer were in the parking lot.  He says because it was a Friday that he figured Shane was probably getting ready to go out for the night.  So he decides to go on in anyway…

“How did he get in?”  Amy piped in, taking a seat with a plate of fish in her hand. 

“Since Rick and I moved out of our Mama’s house, Shane’s always had keys to every apartment or house we’ve ever lived in and vise verse.  You wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve gotten up in the mornin’ to find Shane sprawled out on the couch in my living room after he’d gotten too drunk the night before…

“But anyway, Rick goes on in and hears singing coming from the bathroom…” I snorted, covering my face with my hand as I tried to tell my story without breaking down into hysterics. 

“So Rick gets out his phone, ‘cause he’s sure he’s about to catch Shane doing something blackmail worthy…”  Lori’s in tears by this point and I’m just as bad. 

“He…he pushes the door open and—

“One more word out of you and I’ll tell everyone ‘bout that little table dance you did on your 21^st.”  Shane said coming out of the trees with a bright smile on his face. 

“Awe, come on, Officer Walsh, she was just getting to the good stuff.”  Amy whined and Andrea snickered, “Table dance” next to her. 

Ignoring Shane completely, I went to open my mouth again, but found a warm hand clamped around it.  Lori who was still laughing must have decided that he couldn’t keep both of us quiet and finishes the story. 

“So Rick walks in and Shane’s in the bathtub with the dog, both of them had shower-caps on their heads and…what was it you were singing?”  Lori asked with a snort.

Ripping Shane’s hand away from my face, I blurt out, “B-B-B-B Bad to the Bone.” 

Lori squeals, “That’s right!  He had little chew toys floating around in the bubbles and everything!”

“That’s it!” Shane cried as he gripped my waist and started to tickle me without mercy.  The rest of the camp were laughing at our antics as Lori went on to tell them that we called him Big Bad Papa Walsh ever since. 

“You’re gonna pay for that later, Birdie.”  Shane said as he took a seat on the log next to me, playfully pinching my ass. 

I smiled coyly at him, looking up from under my lashes.  “Promise, Sheriff?”

He smirked at me but said nothing. 

It wasn’t long after I had told them the Papa Walsh story that someone asked Dale what his deal with his watch was. 

It was a good night.  Everyone was happily consuming the cool beer and enjoying Andrea’s and Amy’s catch.  Shane was very snuggly but I had a bad feeling that I would probably be staying with Carl and Lori tonight since Rick hadn’t made it back yet.   

“Where are you going?”  Andrea asked Amy as she got up from around the fire and headed towards the R.V.

“I have to pee,” Amy replied incensed.  “Jeez, can’t I have a little privacy around here?” 

We all laughed, especially Carl.  In fact, he looked about ready to fall out of his chair…but I noticed that the laugh was forced.  Hmmm?  I seem to remember laughing at all of Shane’s jokes when we were teenagers, wanting to impress him. 

As covertly as I could, I cut my eyes over to him and I noticed he had the reddest cheeks I had ever seen…even redder than mine, and that was saying something. 

Oh my poor, sweet, nephew had first crush; so darn cute. 

A minute later, Amy stepped out of the motor home and complained that they were out of toilet paper… then the screaming began.