" The Calm Before the Storm "

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—TRAVIS HADN'T been one to cause problems in the camp since they arrived. Nobody had to lay a hand on him until Shane had to yank him backwards away from the asian kid. Although as soon as he had laid eyes on Rick Grimes, he knew that Glenn had been the wrong one for Travis to immediately lash out at. He was simply the messenger that had gotten to the camp first and was the one to tell him about Merle.

"We gotta talk, Travis." Shane spoke simply once the excitement of the groups return began to die down. Travis had removed himself from the group, if it hadn't been Rick Grimes, if it had been any other cop walking into the camp, if it hadn't been Carls' dad, Travis would have killed him right then and there.

"We don't gotta talk, we got to go back to Atlanta." Travis corrected as he took a drag off of a cigarette. "Before Daryl gets back."

"Daryl won't do anything."

Travis scoffed, "Daryl took on a bastard that had been on a bender for three days and could take me down with one good punch to the face." Travis replied, "Daryl will kill that walking dead man without thinking twice about it."

Shane sighed heavily, scratching the back of his neck as he thought.

"Listen, I know that Merle isn't exactly a high class member of the camp," Travis stated turning towards Shane. "But he's one of us, you said that yourself when Andrea said she didn't want him goin'." Travis stated, jabbing his finger into Shane's chest. "And that piece of shit thought it was alright to handcuff 'im to a roof. That cop isn't one of us, just rolls up and-"

"Watch yourself," Shane said sharply, "that's a good man that his kid thought was dead and brought back everyone else on that run. He's one of us."

Travis couldn't stop an amused chuckle from escaping his lips and a surprised look covering his face, "You're shitting me, right? That's a man that not only left Merle on a roof in Atlanta, but that's also the man who's gonna be standing between you and Lori from here on out."

Shane took a step towards him, his eyes wide as he glanced over his shoulder, "You don't say a word about-"

"Oh, piss off, Walsh. I'm not gonna say jack about it." Travis stated, "But if me and Daryl get to that department store and find out Merle's dead, I just might."

Shane opened his mouth to say something but instead he looked over his shoulder as Rick Grimes cleared his throat and stood behind Shane. "Rick, I don't think now's a good time."

"Good as any," Travis stated, "So Rick, was gettin' your family back worth leaving a man handcuffed to a roof to die?" Travis questioned, stepping past Shane. "Because you know how he's gonna go out if the walkers don't get 'em, don't you? Real slow, probably'll go crazy before."

Rick glanced away from Travis, "T-Dog, he says he chained the door shut. If Merle's up there still, the walkers won't get him."

"If he's up there? He's handcuffed to the damn roof! Where the hell is he gonna go?!"

"Travis,"

"Shane."

"Listen, I'm sorry about it all. But Merle was putting the whole group at risk." Rick stated, taking a step back from Travis. "But you goin' off half cocked is putting the group at risk too, my family-"

Travis's cigarette immediately fell from his fingertips and his hand swiftly grasped the front of Rick's shirt and Travis quickly turned and slammed his back against the RV. "I don't wanna hear a damn word about how I put this group at risk. I didn't have the asian kid drive up here with a dinner bell for the walkers, I didn't leave a man handcuffed to a roof and send the man with a vendetta against him to get 'im. You haven't been around to do a damn thing to keep anyone safe, hell your family's only here because Shane convinced Lori to get outta that hospital. And they only got up to this quarry camp because of me, Daryl, and the man you left behind."

It wasn't until Travis finished his rambling that he heard anything else. Until then, he had only heard his words and Rick's uncomfortable groans from his back getting slammed against the ladder of the RV.

"Travis!"

"Dixon, let go of him. Dixon-"

Travis quickly dropped his hands and felt Shane quickly move between the two of them. "If Carl wasn't here, man you would have been dead as soon as you got outta that truck." Travis added as Shane grabbed him by the arm and began to push him away. "I'm fine." Travis hissed quickly pulling his arm from Shane and turned around to walk away.

However as soon as he turned around, he came face to face with Lori Grimes standing there with wide eyes. For a brief moment Travis felt guilty, wondering just how long she had been standing there. What all she had heard. But he stood by every word he said. Sure, the three of them hadn't been planning to stick around. But he and Daryl didn't mind being a part of the larger group. Daryl never said it, but he liked feeling useful and being able to hunt for the group. Travis didn't mind knowing they could survive without wondering where they'd be sleeping. He knew the plan was ultimately going to be to take what they needed, and if he could convince Merle, it would be to take whoever wanted to join them. But until then, none of them were going to let anything happen. Hell, it had been Merle who suggested they join the group and bring them up to the camping spot that they were at now. Travis, Daryl, and Merle found them, they were by the road. Not a good place to set up camp. It was because of the three of them that they were able to set up a camp like this one.

"Hold up," Travis slowed his pace around the RV on his way to grab a new cigarette. "Hold on a minute."

"If you got something else to say you better think twice about whether or not you want to." Travis said as he reluctantly turned around to see Rick walking towards him. "Because I will knock your teeth out in front of your kid. I promise you that."

Rick huffed out a long sigh before glancing over his shoulder at Shane and Lori, Shane who stood ready to get between the two men again if he needed to. "I didn't want to leave him up there," he started, "there was a bunch of walkers, they were getting into the building. We had to get out of there, T-Dog didn't have time to get those cuffs off after dropping that key."

Travis crossed his arms over his chest and had to bite down on his tongue to physically stop himself from saying anything.

"It's getting late, going back into Atlanta right now," Rick shook his head, "but if you wait till morning, we will go back and get him. Me, you, Daryl, we will go and get him."

Travis stared at Rick, for a man who had been good as dead just a few hours ago, he seemed to know his way around the end of the world. Travis couldn't help but chuckle as he glanced past Rick and at Shane. Who stood just a few feet behind him, his eyes watched Travis carefully for any move he thought of making. From Shane, Travis moved his eyes towards the rest of the camp. Morales sat with his family, he sat beside the fire pit facing his kids as his daughter read a book aloud to him and her brother. Carl sat with Sophia, both of them had their attention turned from the game they had before them, and their eyes were towards the RV.

"What do you say?" Rick questioned, pulling his attention back from the group that was trying to avoid gawking at the visibly tense discussion by the RV.

"I say you're makin' a lot of calls for someone that was dead this morning'." Travis replied watching as Ricks lips pressed into a fine line, he gave him a moment to respond but instead Rick looked back at him as if waiting for a proper response. Travis sighed heavily as he glanced back at Shane before turning and going on his way back into the RV.

He wasn't able to get much sleep, if any at all before he switched places with Dale on top of the RV for the first part of the night. Everyone was gathered around the two fire pits, and the fires were barely big enough to produce any real flames. It was one of Shane's rules that Travis hadn't agreed with at first. But it also wasn't a battle he was willing to get into. The camp was far enough away from the city, and they hadn't had any walkers in the area. So having a few fires probably wouldn't be that big of a deal.

That evening as the night sky covered them, Travis kept his back turned to the group. He had kept his distance from all of them since his and Rick's...conversation. Until Daryl got back, that was his best play. Travis knew he didn't exactly need to wait for Daryl, but Daryl would have been equally as pissed at Travis if he did anything to the cop before he had a chance to. And if Rick was serious about going back to Atlanta, having him along would be an extra body. An extra set of hands. Merle was tough, Travis knew that. He knew Merle could handle himself, but even he couldn't last on a roof in the middle of Atlanta without any food or water. If they needed to help him walk, they couldn't deal with walkers at the same time. Having a third person there could end up being exactly what they needed.

"Travis?"

He turned and looked over his shoulder towards the back end of the RV as Andrea pulled herself onto it. "I'm not runnin' off if that's what you're worried about." he stated, "Not even to tell Daryl, better to come from him."

"We wouldn't have gotten out of Atlanta if it weren't for him." she reminded him, "I definitely wouldn't have."

Travis let out a heavy sigh as he turned and looked back towards their line of cars. "You and Morales shouldn't have let him tell Glenn to drive that piece of shit up here." he stated, using the rifle to point towards the red car. "Or-"

"Handcuff Merle to the roof..." Andrea finished, "Yeah, I know."

"I'm sure nobody else there had much against it." he replied, "You guys should have just said he was dead. Would save everyone the trouble."

"T-Dog chained the door shut, he's still there, Travis."

"He better be," he replied, looking up at Andrea who stood beside him with her arms crossed over her chest. "For the kids sake, he better be."

The next morning Travis took down the milk jugs to fill with water just as everyone was beginning to get up for the day. Travis didn't need the rest of the group thinking he wasn't going to keep doing what he had been doing, he didn't need Rick getting any ideas about him and thinking he knew what was best for everyone. He needed the group to still at least trust him, so if anything went down with Rick once Daryl got back, he could hopefully smooth things over enough to get a group together to still go and get Merle.

Once down at the Quarry he filled the two jugs, before splashing his face with the cool water and making his way back up through the tree's to the camp. Leaving one milk jug with the Peletiers, one on top of the hood of the Morales' station wagon before grabbing the two beside the main firepit.

"Hey," Travis stopped in his tracks as he began to walk away again to make a second trip to the lake. "Travis, can I go with you?"

Carl sat beside his mother who was reading to him.

Travis chuckled, "I donno, ask your mom."

Lori kept her eyes on Travis for a moment before looking back at Carl. "You holler if anything happens, okay?"

"Okay." Carl agreed as he quickly stood up and hurried to catch up with Travis who help out the empty jugs.

"You carry 'em down, I'll carry them up." he stated as Carl took the jugs from him and they continued on their way towards the lake in silence.

Once they were down at the lakes shore, Travis took the jugs from the boy and held them down in the water. Silence still surrounded the two of them, and Carl stood there watching Travis carefully while they waited for the jugs to fill with water.

"Did you think I couldn't handle these on my own?" Travis questioned, looking up at him. "It's a pretty hard task, gettin' water every mornin'." he added sarcastically.

Carl folded his arms over his chest, taking a deep breath and puffing out his chest as if trying to look bigger.

Travis chuckled a bit and quickly looked back down at the water to hide his smirk from him. "Well, you got somethin' to say, so say it."

"I won't let you kill my dad."

Travis' smirk quickly fell from his lips, and his fingers tightened around the handles of the jugs. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that everyone knew how Travis felt about Rick and his arrival the day before. But he had hoped by some miracle that Carl at least hadn't seen the whole conversation between them, or heard it for that matter.

"Shane won't either."

Travis sighed heavily, "Carl, I'm not gonna kill your dad." he told him, looking up at him as he took the jugs out and sat them on the stoney ground so he could put the lids on. "I wasn't in Atlanta. I don't know what my cousin did to deserve it. But I don't doubt he did something." he confessed, "If he's right and the door to the roof was chained shut, Merle's still there. Had some time to cool down."

Every word he said to Carl was just to ease his mind. If Rick was serious about going back with them, Travis wouldn't have any problem leaving him behind like he had done to Merle. He was sure Daryl would have a problem with it either.