NINE. a small consolation

The crystal blue water soaked the fabric of Adeline's jeans, the substance meeting just below her knees. Carl stood with a net a few feet in front of her, her and Shane attempting to teach the young boy how to catch frogs. Apparently, before she had arrived, her husband and nephew had planned the event - but since his aunt had returned, and for Shane his wife, they wanted her to tag along with them. So there she was, knee-deep in icy waters with a metal bucket gripped tightly in her hand. Due to the pain pill she'd taken after Rick left, the pain in her ankle had numbed slightly to which she was grateful. Carl lifted his net back out of the water and examined the emptiness of it, "I'm not getting anything." he pouts.

Shane huffed his shoulders, looking out to the water from the flat-topped rock he sat atop. "Yeah. Being all wily, staying submerged. Little suckers, they know something's up. That's what's going on." He spoke with a raised brow, raising from the rock and trudging through the cold waters to where his wife stood with a confused look.

"Just gonna have to do this the old fashioned way." He informed, his voice holding a playful tone behind it. Nearing Adeline, he stood behind her and connected his eyes with Carls - "Alright little man, look. You are the.. you are the key in this, okay? All Aunt Addy and I are gonna do is, we're gonna go after one of them and scare the rest of 'em off." He instructed, causing his wife's eyebrow to perk up.

"We are?" Adeline questioned, looking over her shoulder and to the man who nodded in confirmation - "We are." He assured before turning back to Carl, "Then, they're all gonna scatter and we're gonna drive 'em your way. What you need to do is, you need to round up every bad boy you see, alright? Are you with us?" The playful words slipped out of his mouth as he trained his eyes on the boy.

Carl let a smile curve his lips, a determined look crossing over his face while he nodded. "Yeah!" He shouted, lacing his small fingers around the wooden pole of the net. "Hells yeah! Come on, show me your mean face." Shane instructed while Adeline watched with a grin as her husband scrunched his nose up and let out a playful growl from behind her. Carl copied his actions, giggles hidden behind his own growl before the two of them looked to Adeline expectingly. With reluctance, she gave in and curled her nose up, a growl emitting from her throat as the boys cheered her on loudly - their laughs echoing around the deep quarry.

"That's my girl! Come on, you ready?" Shane spoke, curling his hands around his wife's shoulders and massaging his fingers into the tense skin. After a strict moment of silence and concentration, he guided Adeline's arm before ripping the silence in half by moving his hands to her waist and pulling both of them into the ice-cold water beneath them. A surprised gasp left her chapped lips, water spluttering out of her mouth as she was quick to rise to the surface just as Shane did. Laughter emitted from her throat alongside coughs, watching as her husband splashed the water onto Carl to act as if he was "pushing the frogs" towards the boy. In truth, the two adults had one goal in mind - to distract him from the worry that came along with his fathers' absence in the camp. "Catch them frogs, catch them frogs!" Shane sang cheerfully, a wide smile against his lips.

Clapping her hands, Adeline excitedly cheering her nephew on as giggles spluttered out of his mouth and cold water drenched his clothes. "Come on, little man, get 'em! Get 'em! Get that net in there and get 'em! You can do it! Atta boy!" Shane playfully yelled, ceasing his splashing and wrapping his arms around his wife's shoulders - "What have you got, bad boy? What do ya got?" A southern drawl sprinkled onto his words as he jumped up and down awaiting Carls' answer, keeping his arms around Adeline.

Rasing the net, Carl held a hopeful face full of smiles and happiness as he looked at the empty result. "Aw, man!" He shouted, a pout surfacing to his face as his aunt huffed before wrapping her hands around her husband's forearm across her chest - "Guess that means we've got to start all over. Isn't that right, Officer Walsh?" Adelines' voice came out soft, a teasing look on her face as Shane's face nodded rapidly in the crook of her neck. "Sure does, come on, let us find this bucket." He instructed, pressing a kiss to the side of his wife's cheek before releasing her to look for the metal within the waters.

Adeline ran a hand through her dripping hair, rubbing away the droplets that danced across her eyelashes and blurred her vision. The dirt that had once resided against her skin had faded from the water, leaving her freckles to showcase her beauty. Shane's eyes seemed to be glued to his wife - taking notice of the perfection that carved against her skin. To him, there were no flaws. Everything about her was beautiful, the jawline that shaped her face and the cheekbones that stood proudly beneath her skin. He noticed the rosy tint to her cheeks, the paleness of her skin, the bow shape curve of her bottom lip and the dip in her top. But before the thought of telling her how beautiful she looked could even cross his mind, the woman that could ruin his life in an instant stepped into light.

"Carl? What did I tell you about not leaving Dale's sight?" Lori Grimes questioned, rounding the corner of rocks to look at her son.

"But, Shane said we could catch frogs, remember? And we brought Aunt Ad-"

Lori's sharp voice cut him off - "It doesn't matter what Shane says or who's with you. It matters what I say." She reminded, motioning her head to the hill. "Go back to camp, I'll be right behind you." With her command, Carl reluctantly stood from the waterline and began to trek back to camp.

"Wait up bub, I'll walk you," Adeline spoke up, causing her nephew to stop in his steps. Trudging her body out of the cold water, she looked between Lori and Shane with squinted eyes - "You guys need to pull your shit together, I don't know what kind of argument you got into while you thought Rick and I were dead, but that needs to be over with. We all have to work together and keep that boy safe. That is all that matters now." She spoke lowly, keeping her voice quiet enough so that it wouldn't reach Carls' ears.

Water dripped from her legs as she brushed past her sister-in-law and to her nephew, wrapping her arm around his shoulders. The two of them walked together, Carl craning his chin up to look at his aunt - "Are you worried?" His voice was small and quiet as it escaped his throat. Adeline glanced down to him, her lips turning down at the question - "Worried? Why would I be worried?" She inquired back to his wondering eyes.

"My dad. Aren't you scared that he's not gonna make it back?"

The woman immediately stopped in her step, crouching down to the ground despite the ache in her ankle. Adeline moved her hands to her nephews' shoulders and looked into his eyes. "Listen to me, Carl. Your dad, my brother, is the strongest man I have ever met." She covered her own worries with facts she knew, "Even stronger than Uncle Shane?" the boy was quick to retort with raised eyebrows. A laugh left her lips as she nodded, "Yeah, even stronger than Uncle Shane." Adeline assured with a smile lacing her lips.

Before their conversation could move on, Lori rounded the corner with an angry face and grabbed Carls' hand - "Let's go." she instructed, softly tugging the boy away from his aunt and leading him up the hill. Adeline stood, her arms crossing over her chest as she sighed deeply, "Why thank you for offering to walk my son, Adeline." She mocked Lori's voice once the woman was far enough away, casting her eyes to where a commotion had begun. At least a yard ahead of her stood the women that were washing clothes and Ed Peletier - the man standing awfully close and gripping his hand tightly around his wifes' wrist.

The sight made Adeline's body involuntarily walk closer, the words that sounded like gibberish now becoming clear to her. "You know what? This ain't none of y'all's business. You don't want to keep prodding the bull here, okay?" Ed snarked off, flicking a half-smoked cigarette to the ground angrily. The woman behind the scene remained quiet, biting her tongue that wanted to throw a sarcastic remark his way due to comfortability with the group not meeting her expectations. But, she kept her eyes trained on the situation, ready to attempt to diffuse the man if he became too handsy with the women before him. "Now, I am done talking. Come on." He instructed, pulling his wife harshly.

Andrea stepped forward and grabbed Carols' arm, holding her back from going - knowing the woman would receive a beating just for laughing along with them a few minutes prior. "No, Carol, you don't have to-"

"You don't tell me what! I tell you what!" Ed roared, pulling his hand back before sending it barreling down onto the skin of Carol's cheek. Chaos was insured, the women breaking out into a fit of commotion as they attempted to push the strong yet weak man away from his wife. They clamored, yells echoing around the deep walls of the quarry which grabbed the attention of ever able body.

Adeline's caramel eyes widened in shock, picking her feet up off the ground and rushing over to the scene. Pain sprung in her ankle as she reached the taller man, wrapping her hands around his bare forearm and pulled it away from the women. Her nails digging into his tanned and sweat laced skin, causing a trickle of blood to exit the scratch marks. Ed yelped out in pain, turning on his feet ripping her grip off of him, sending his hands into her chest and roughly shoving her to the ground. But he had only noticed her husband watching the scene when it was too late, Shane's fingers curling around the back of Ed's shirt and repeating the same action he had applied to Adeline - harshly sending the man to the ground. It took only five seconds for fists to be pounding into Ed's face, blood pouring from his nose and the newly formed cuts on his cheeks.

Adeline hurriedly sat up from the ground, scooting further away from the one-sided fight. She watched as out of breath pants left her lips, Shane repeatedly bashing his curled fists into the man's face. The women started to yell, begging him to stop with fearful screams. Andrea held Carol back, her eyes snapping over to Adeline who just watched. "Make him stop! He'll listen to you!" Her voice cracked, but the noise only going in one ear and out the other for the woman.

Shane grabbed a handful of Ed's now bloodstained shirt, pulling the broken man closer to his face to make sure he was heard - "You ever lay a hand on my wife, yours, your little girl or anybody else in this camp one more time, I will not stop next time. Do you hear me?" His tongue dripped with venom as he spoke, "Do you hear me?!" Shane bellowed, but the only response Ed could muster up was a slurred yes. "I'll beat you to death, Ed," He slammed his fist into the side of the mans' face, "I'll beat you to death!" Standing to his feet, he sent his steel-toed boots into Ed's side before backing away from him.

The anger he held against himself had finally built up to the brim, overflowing a flood of guilt and blame over his features as he ignored the disgraceful look Andrea sent his way - his body rushing over to his wife. Blood, cuts, and bruises stained his fists, curling his palm around Adelines' face and leaving traces of Eds' blood against her pale skin while tucking her damp hair behind her ear. "I'm sorry, I had to -"

Instead of doing what he believed he deserved, (which was for her to flinch away from his hands and scream for him to leave) Adeline wrapped her arms behind his neck and pulled her body into his. "I'm not mad, it's okay." Her voice was soft as she assured her husband, her face tucked into the crook of his neck. Ghost of a whisper brushing against his tanned skin, his arms tightening around her waist as he slowly helped her to the ground. The three words she next spoke were the ones that pulled him out of the darkness - a small consolation to his mind.

"HE DESERVED IT."