camp

{ okay so i forgot to tell ya human have a second gender they just can't turn into wolves}

Back with Rick and the others, the whole truck is quiet except for the few times Morales told Rick a direction to go to get to camp. After an hour of Rick silently beating himself up, the other Alpha speaks up.

"Best not to dwell on it; Merle getting left behind. The Beta wasn't well liked around the others; the Alphas get angry cause he wouldn't submit to them, always bucked them on everything. The Betas thought he played Alpha to much and were pissed off when he would try to make them do stuff for him. The Omegas... most of them fear him, a few can tolerate him better but only just. Nobody's gonna be sad he didn't come back..." Morales pause, then sighs, "Except maybe Daryl."

"Daryl?" Rick asks.

"His brother, 'an alpha... Those two fight a lot, but family is family. And they only had each other." The Alpha answers.

....

Glenn pulls into the main camp area first and as the man steps out of the car an older man gets his attention.

"Holy crap. Turn that damn thing off!" the Alpha yells down from his place on the RV.

Glenn raises his hands "I don't know how!"

"Pop the damn hood!" Shane growls using his Alpha voice while bangs on the new cars hood.

Glenn was surrounded by people from the camp asking question and yelling. With a shudder and a whine, he throws his hands up and gets back into the car. He pops the hood and Jim can disconnect the battery to turn the alarm off.

"Everybody's fine." Glenn says taking the time to catch his breath, "Well, Merle not so much."

"Are you trying to draw every Walker for miles?" Shane rounds on the smaller Alpha, snarls and growls ready. Glenn ducks his head and goes to bare his throat, ready to submit to the Prime Alpha of the group and be scented in front of everyone. He was willing to bare the humiliation of an Alpha submitting to another he barely knows, when Dale steps in to save him.

Dale joins the group on the ground, watching the trees. "I think we're okay."

Shane turns to the other man, upset an Elder was taking the Alpha runt's side instead of the Prime Alpha's, and that he had gotten in the way of Shane's display of dominance. "You call being stupid okay?"

"Well, the alarm was echoing all over these hills. Hard to pinpoint the source." Shane gives the Elder a look of pure anger and the older Alpha backtracks to make peace with the leader. "I'm not arguing. I'm just saying, Alpha."

"Sorry. Got a cool car though." Glenn says for the old man's benefit, happy and horrified at what had almost happened. The group looks up and sees the truck arrive and Glenn smiles. Everyone gathers around, wanting to see for themselves that everyone was safe.

In the truck Morales pats Rick on the shoulder. "Come meet everybody."

Rick nods and rubs his eyes, turning of the truck. He needs to find his family, but he also wants to stay with the group. There was safety in numbers now and it was better to stay with them if he wanted to live.

While Andrea and the others had tearful reunions, Lori pulls Carl away from the group as her son tears up, wanting his father and for a moment wishing that he had been with them. It was unusual to bring new people back on a run, but it had happened before. Shane watches them go, wanting to comfort the pup, but still upset that he wasn't enough. Lori kneels, pulling her son into a hug with a quick glance at Shane, like she wishes that her lover was there too.

Shane turns back to the group "How'd y'all get out of there anyway?"

Glenn answers the Prime Alpha, "New guy... he got us out."

Shane looks confused. "New guy?"

"Yeah, crazy Vato just got into town." Morales calls over to the van, "Hey, Eastwood. Come say hello."

Rick gets out of the truck and walks over to the group, taking in the tents and cars. Morales continues "The guy's an Alpha cop... like you."

Shane is the first to scent him. His eyes go wide, and he takes a step back like he had been hit. Rick's eyes go wide too at seeing his partner. Knowing the man wouldn't have left his family, he looks around for them. Seeing them a little farther away talking, Rick also takes a step back.

Rick's voice is heavy with tears as he points at Shane. "Oh my god. You..."

Carl and Lori then turn around at the voice and sees Rick. Lori's eyes go wide in fear and disbelief while Carl's eyes fill with tears; a sob leaves him as he walks forward slowly as if he couldn't believe his wish had come true. When Rick starts to move towards him, Carl broke into a run.

"Dad! Dad!" Carl calls as Rick takes Carl in his arms, his eyes full of tears. The man sinks to his knees as he holds his son, beside himself with happiness. A whine leaves him as he takes in his son's puppy smell. Carl whines too as he noses his dad's glands. He licks it slightly and Rick squeezes him tighter.

"I knew you were alive." Carl whimpers into Rick's ear.

They miss the looks they get from the Atlanta group, all shocked that they had found the Alpha's family so soon. They remember seeing Lori with Shane, thinking that they had been married and Mated and that Carl was their son, or at least Shane's stepson. They remember Carl correcting anyone who brought it up; talking about how his dad had died before all this in a coma at the hospital.

"Carl. Oh!" He kisses Carl on the head and gets up, approaching Lori. The Beta had frozen in fear when Rick had gathered Carl in his arms. He hugs them both to his body, ignoring the way Lori stiffens in his arms and pulls away when he goes to scent her. The Alpha in him knows that something was wrong with the way she was acting but Rick pushes everything to the back of his mind, just happy they were there, in his arms.

Stiles came from the wood when he say his father he ran to him hugging his dad he had miss the other male so much that he cried too.

Shane watches the family reunite and while he's happy to see Rick, (the man was pack, his brother in all but blood) he isn't as happy as he should be. Lori face changes when she sees him watching, going from shock and disbelief to anger. He feigns a smile as Lori looks at him, and when they turn so Rick is smiling at him, Shane smiles back a true happy smile. His brother was safe.

Rick lets go of his Mate and extends an arm to Shane, still holding tight to Carl.

"God, it's good to see you brother." Shane says, dropping his gun and hugging the man. The group watches the family in shock. They knew how much Shane loved that gun, he didn't go anywhere without it. Rick sets Carl down after Shane lets the man go. Rick reaches for Lori and kisses her, her fingers tangle in his hair when he pulls away to hug her again. Carl hugs his dad's leg, wiping away his tears with a huge smile.

"Dad can I introduce you to everyone? Mom can I, please?" Carl begs with a sniffle.

"Of course, you can." Rick says before Lori can open her mouth, "Come on bud."

Rick takes his son's hand and allows himself to be dragged around, meeting everyone. Even the ones who had saved him in Atlanta, though they just smile and laugh at the excitement of the little boy. It's the happiest Rick has seen his pup in a long time... even from before the world went to shit.

Lori bites her lip, careful not to say anything. Her husband was alive; she had just seen him again after months of thinking he was dead. What did she expect when he came back; he ignores her and goes straight to his son. Just like always, their kid's happiness came before her anything. She watches as the two of them laugh with each new person Rick is introduced to. She didn't even have a say in this; she had wanted to take Rick back to their tent and renew their Mating Mark. Carl would've stay with one of the Omega, Jacqui or Carol, while the two of them were occupied. After all, it was in an Omega's nature to care for children, even if they weren't their own.

Lori glances around at the group, all watching as Carl introduces Glenn to his dad. The Asian Alpha smiles and squeezes Rick's shoulder. Rick leans closer, whispering something into Glenn's ear which causes him to smile. The Alphas pull back, scenting each other as their heads pass. They do it that way, so no one could tell that Glenn was acknowledging Rick as his Prime Alpha instead of Shane, or that Rick was accepting another Alpha into his own pack.

Lori watches the exchange with ignorant eyes, not seeing or understanding the significances of what had happened. When her eyes land on Shane who was talking to Jim and Dale by the RV though, her spine stiffened. Grinding her teeth together and with a glare in his direction, Lori leaves with a huff. Her and Shane had had sex that morning, which is why she had refused to allow Rick to do his stupid scenting her neck thing. She knows enough that her husband would be able to smell Shane on her Mating Mark. Going to her tent, she gathers her clothes and bathing supplies before going to the quarry, trying to get rid of any evidence that she had been unfaithful.

......................

Later that night, Rick sits down with the group around a fire camp, telling them his story. From remembering Shane talking about flowers, to meeting a man who told him what was going on, to finding the house; finding a gas station where he encountered one of his first Walkers (a little girl that he had tried to help and ended up shooting), the trip into Atlanta on horseback (which gets a laugh from Carl), to Glenn helping him ("You're still a dumbass" "shut up" laughter), and finally meeting the rest of the group and getting them out of the department store.

After everyone had settled into their tents, with Shane claiming first watch, Rick follows his Mate and pup into their tent. They get ready for bed and tuck in Carl and watch stiles walk to the tent he shared with Liam and peter. Rick kisses Carl goodnight and scents him. Carl scents his father deeply with a tired hum and turns over while Rick joins Lori on the other side of the tent. The Alpha kneels, and kisses Lori then sits next to her.

"I found you three." Rick sighs. "I knew you were alive."

"How?"

Rick thinks for a moment. "The photos were gone, all our family albums."

Lori chuckles and grabs one of them, turning it up right. They look at some photos from Carl's last birthday before Rick hands his Mate the photo from his squad car.

"It belongs in here." He says.

Lori bites her lip and turns to look at him. She thinks about everything she said to him; everything she had done with Shane since, "I'm sorry. For everything. I feel like... When you were in the hospital, I wanted to take it all back... But the mistakes..."

Lori pulls out her necklace, toying with it and Rick notices his wedding ring, "I wondered where that went."

Lori hesitates for a moment, her hand hiding it from Ricks eyes, before asking defensively, "Do you want it back?"

Rick stares at her for a moment, as if asking her if she was serious. Why would his Mate act like it was an insane idea that he wanted his ring back? "Of course, I do."

.....

It had been Lori's idea to get married and wear rings. Their marriage was legal in the eyes of the law with just the Mating Mark on Lori's neck. However, the Beta had thrown a big fit that if Rick's gender traditions were going to be acknowledged then so was hers. At the wedding, only the Betas on Lori's side of the family and her Beta friends were happy and excited. Even Rick's Beta family members and friends thought it was stupid to have a wedding so soon after their Bonding ceremony. But after Lori found out she was pregnant with Carl, she made all the preparations without consulting Rick. She refused to have a child out of wedlock, regardless of what everyone told her about her Bonding was more of a marriage that a piece of paper ever would be. But as far as Lori was concerned, the Bonding was stupid, it didn't count. She went through with it because it was the only way Rick would agree to marry her.

Lori would get mad if Rick talked about the Bonding ceremony instead of the wedding, to the point that she would smack Rick if he talked about. Rick eventually didn't acknowledge the Bonding, even with his own family and friends. Only Shane heard about it, though rarely. She would force Rick to use Dampeners and Suppressants to make him seem more like a Beta, yelling at him anytime she smelled the Alpha on him.

Lori took to covering her Mating Mark every day, either with makeup or clothing. She never allows Rick to bite her again during sex, which is when it was supposed to be renewed. She also never allowed her husband to knot her, the last time he had was at the Bonding ceremony, when it was required. When they had sex, it had to be facing each other and if Rick went passed a certain speed, force, time span, she thought his knot was to close or if he got off before her, Lori would huff and throw him off, sending him to the coach. After a couple of years of trying to please her and do it the way she wanted, Rick gave up. The two hadn't had sex in years.

.....

Lori smiles like he had said the right answer before she takes his ring off the chain and puts it back on Rick's ring finger. Rick and Lori kiss again and Lori turns out the lantern. Rick looks over at Carl sleeping, not willing to do this when his pup was right there.

Lori turns to see what he's looking at. "He won't wake up."

Rick is still skeptical. It takes a while longer before Lori's begging and promises of being quiet can convince him to continue. Even then they go slow, Rick focused more on not waking his pup, and being quiet than trying to have sex with his Mate after months of thinking the other was dead. After ten minutes of fingering his Mate, and still being soft himself, Rick is tired. Wanting to finish quickly the Alpha goes to scent his Mate, hoping her smell will help. Lori pushes her husband's head away but it's too late. Rick stares at the Mark, the second pair of teeth fit almost perfectly with only a tooth or two off by a little bit. But the smell... Lori had taken another Mate... and it was Shane. Feeling betrayed and hurt by his Mate and pack brother, Rick gets up and grabs a small bottle of hand sanitizer before he goes sit next to Carl, watching him. Lori opens her mouth to speak, to call Rick over to finish but with a glare from her husband, she turns away from the two with a huff and an eye roll.

'Rick will be fine in the morning; I'll have him finish tomorrow.' The Beta thinks as she goes to sleep