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Some of Ivy's fondest memories growing up were the nights that her father would sneak her out of the house late at night to bring her to get ice cream or even just to sit on the dock and spend quality time with her. These were the memories that had stuck with Ivy for most of her life. She vowed that if she ever had children, she would do the same. Now though, Ivy didn't want kids. She barely knew if she wanted a spouse. Now that the world had come to an end it wasn't exactly a thought that she had in her mind though, she wished that someone would look at her the way her father looked at her mother.

"Baby, the more you fidget the longer it takes." Lori preached to Carl as she combed her finger through her hair, cutting out tiny pieces of his brunette locks. Carl was never fond of the haircuts he had received from their mother. Ivy had only gotten her hair cut once in her life and it was at the age of seven years old. She had hair the length of her lower back but like most little girls, she wanted to cut it all off. She had asked for the length of her shoulder blade but they cut it to her collarbone instead, Ivy cried for days. That's when her mother decided to learn how to cut hair and ever since, she had been both Ivy and Carl's stylists.

"I'm trying." Carl whined.

"At least she's not shaving you bald. You're lucky it's not me with the scissors. I wouldn't shave you completely bald because I'm not cruel but I would give you a few good bald spots." Ivy smirked and Carl replied to her remark by sticking his tongue out of his mouth.

"If you think this is bad, wait till you start shaving. That stings." Ivy turned her attention towards the brunette man. She had decided to forgive him for the night that he yelled at her, she understood he was under a lot of stress trying to get Lori and two kids out of the house so she had chosen the route of forgiveness instead of pure hatred. "That day comes, you'll be wishing for one of your mama's haircuts."

"I'll believe it when I see it." Carl replied.

"One time I tried to shave my mustache and I cut myself. I put lotion on it after and it burned so bad." Ivy shared. Shane pointed towards her with a grin on his face.

"Tell you what, you just get through this with some manly dignity and tomorrow I'll teach you something special." Ivy poked her head up, curious about what this something special was. "I will teach you to catch frogs."

"I've caught a frog before." Carl stated.

"I said frogs... plural. And it is an art, my friend. It is not to be taken lightly. There are ways and means. Few people know about it. I'm willing to share my secrets." Ivy cringed as Shane spoke about frogs. Carl looked up to Lori, unsure of what to say.

"Oh, I'm a girl. You talk to him." Ivy laughed out as Carl turned his attention back towards Shane while Lori winked at her daughter.

"It's a one time offer, bud...not to be repeated." Shane sat in the chair while he waited for Carl's answer.

"Why do we need frogs, plural?" Carl asked with an undertone full of sass.

"You ever eat frog legs?" Shane asked.

Ivy's jaw dropped and Carl's words spoke her thoughts. "Ewww!"

"No, yum!" Shane exaggerated.

"No, he's right. Ew!" Lori sided with Carl.

"I've seen frog legs move before, after they were cooked. I don't need that in my digestive system." Ivy cringed.

"When you get down to that last can of beans, you're gonna be loving those frog legs, lady. I can see it now...Shane, do you think I could have a second helping please? Please? Just one." Shane smiled to which Lori returned the favor and Ivy laughed at the mocking voice Shane made.

"I doubt that." Ivy nodded her head along with Lori. Ivy wasn't the biggest fan of seafood, never had been.

"Don't listen to her, man. You and me, we'll be heroes. We'll feed these folks Cajun style Kermit legs."

"I would rather eat Miss Piggy." Lori looked down before grinning. Ivy slowly looked to her mother with an open jaw at the realization of how wrong that sounded. "Yes, that came out wrong."

"Heroes, son, spoken of in song and legend. You and me, Shane and Carl."

"Where's my invite?" Ivy waited. Shane looked between Ivy, Carl, and Lori with a worried look on his face.

"You're a girl? You don't catch frogs." Carl stated.

"Says who? Just because I'm a girl doesn't mean I don't want to catch frogs." Ivy argued.

"Well, I didn't know you wanted to come along. Do you want to catch frogs with us, Ivy?"

"No." She said simply.

Shane looked at her with a curious look on his face. "I just wanted to be asked." The sound of a car alarm going off caused Ivy to jump before standing up quickly. She looked to Shane for an answer but he was already walking towards Dale, who was standing on top of the rv with a pair of binoculars. "It would have been nice to get an invite."

"Is it them? Are they back?" Amy asked with worry. Ivy ran next to the girl before crossing her arms.

"I'll be damned." Dale mumbled.

"What is it?" Ivy asked, covering her eyes with her hand in an attempt to keep the sun out of them.

"A stolen car is my guess." Dale answered. Ivy turned her body back towards the sound wanting to know what the car looked like.

Almost immediately, the car pulled in. It was a red, dodge challenger. The one that Ivy had wanted since she was little. She could see the face that sat on the other side of the windshield that she recognized as Glenn. She ran forward with a smile on her face as Glenn jumped out of the car.

"Holy crap, turn that damn thing off!" Dale demanded.

"I don't know how." Glenn responded as he ran towards Ivy.

"Where did you get this thing?" She asked.

"I stole it." Glenn had a cheeky smile on his face as he leaned against the red sports car.

"Pop the hood, please. Pop the damn hood, please." Shane asked politely. Glenn ran and jumped into the car before pressing the button. The hood lifted slightly before Shane tampered with something on the inside which caused the car alarm to cease any noise. Amy continued to badger Glenn with questions of her sister until he finally was able to answer.

"Everybody is fine. Merle, not so much." Glenn announced.

"Good." Ivy shrugged. When she looked up she saw multiple sets of eyes on her. "He's a racist jerk, don't act like you guys are gonna cry yourselves to sleep." Ivy defended herself. No one responded, only turned their attention back to Glenn who continued to speak. Chatter went on for a moment but Ivy zoned out.

"Got a cool car." Glenn shrugged.

"That's Ivy's dream car right there." Lori nodded towards it.

"Can I drive it?" She asked with excitement.

"No." Shane, Dale,  and Lori responded in unison. At the same time, Glenn responded, "Absolutely." Which only left Glenn and Ivy in a state of shock.

From behind the car, Ivy could see the arrival of a large, moving truck begin to creep around the corner. She walked back towards her mother.

Andrea was the first to jump out of the truck only to be reunited with Amy who greeted her with a large, enveloping hug that brought a smile to Ivy's face. Morales followed after, only to receive what seemed like the hug of a lifetime from his wife and two children. Dale hugged the group and Ivy smiled as everyone reunited. Her smile was quickly replaced with a feeling of sadness as her only wish was to be able to do this with the man who was supposedly dead. She turned to see her brother who shared the same look. Lor pulled them both to the side before kneeling down on the ground. "It's okay. We have each other and we have Shane, and we have this group. We'll all be okay." Lori promised the two children. Ivy didn't shed a tear because she had accepted it a long time ago, Carl on the other hand was sobbing.

"How'd y'all get out of there anyway?" Shane asked which Ivy could hear but she wasn't paying much attention.

"New guy...he got us out." Glenn announced.

"New guy?" Shane asked. Ivy listened intently to both her mother speaking and the sound of the others.

"Yeah, crazy Vato just got into town." Morales had a large grin on his face. "Hey, helicopter boy. Come say hello!"

The sound of the truck door slamming caused Ivy to jump. She turned her body to see who "helicopter boy" was only to reveal a ghost. She had to do a double take but the figure she was seeing was still there.

"Dad!" Carl shouted before taking off running. "Dad!" Ivy stood there in disbelief, surprised that Carl could see him too, meaning that he wasn't a figment of her imagination. Her mother tried to pull him back but she missed his arm. The blue eyes of her father flashed before her and all she could do was stand there. He ran forward before falling to the ground with his son in his arms and Ivy could do nothing.

Carl, Lori, and Rick reunited in each other's arms and Ivy looked to see Shane who had a look of something in his eyes that Ivy couldn't quite recognize.

Rick stood up, pulling away from Lori and Carl before locking yes with her father.

"Ivy." Rick ran forward.

"Daddy?" She asked, and as Rick wrapped his arms around her, Ivy repeated this action. Almost as if she had to touch him for it to all be real. Tears poured down her face as she squeezed her father with all of her might. She cried into the tan cloth around his body and buried her face into his chest. She felt two more sets of arms wrap around her and the warm feeling of home crept down her spine. The man who she was told by Shane was dead, wasn't really dead. Her dad was alive and seemingly well. For a second, Ivy was worried that the apocalypse had started getting to her, that she was beginning to go crazy but it was all real. He never wanted this moment to end. She wanted to stay in Lori, Carl, and Rick arms for the rest of her days.

She had only one question about the whole situation as she lifted her head to see Shane watching the events play out.

Why would Shane lie?

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Night had fallen and the group sat around a fire that Glenn and Shane had made as everyone listened to each other speak. Ivy sat next to her father who had a blanket wrapped around his body, Lori sat on the other side of him and Carl was on the ground against his legs.

"Disoriented." Rick spoke. "I guess that comes closest. Disoriented. Fear, confusion...all those things...Disoriented comes closest." Shane kept his line of sight on Rick and Ivy couldn't take her eyes off of him. She began questioning everything about the man. The question of why he would lie had been stuck in her mind ever since the homecoming of her father.

"Words can mean meager things." Dale examined the glass watch on his wrist with extreme content as he spoke. "Sometimes they can fall short."

"I felt like I'd been ripped out of my life and put somewhere else. For a while I thought I was trapped in some coma dream, something I might not wake up from ever." Chills traveled down Ivy's vertebrae as her father spoke with a raspy voice.

"Mom said you died." Carl poked his head up. Ivy exchanged a look between Carl and her father.

"She had every reason to believe that. Don't you ever doubt it." Rick assured the young boy. Ivy leaned her head down onto Rick's shoulder, the warmth from his body and the blanket warming her.

"When things started to get really bad, they told me at the hospital that they were gonna medevac you and the other patients to Atlanta, and it never happened." Lori announced.

"We just got into the car and S-" Ivy cut herself off. Her father turned his attention towards the brunette and Ivy looked between the two. She watched in content as the bright, orange flames roared and twisted in the wind. The faces from behind the fire seemed to be looking in every other direction except for the face of Shane, who continued to stare Rick down. A knot of anxiety and fear built up in the core of Ivy's stomach, threatening her ability to hold air in her lungs. Something was wrong and Ivy could say nothing.

"Well, I'm not surprised after Atlanta fell." Rick claimed. Ivy agreed, bombing the cities was something she could only think of when the dead began to rise. Bombing the city would destroy them all but the one thing no one knew when this all began was that you had to hit their brain.

They would always come back if you did not hit their brain.

"And from the look of that hospital, it got overrun." Rick finished the sentence that he started and Ivy listened contently.

"Yeah, looks don't deceive. I barely got them out, you know?" Shane spoke and out of nowhere, anger rolled in Ivy's chest, she could feel her face growing red hot and her head felt light. Why would he tell them he was dead when in reality, he wasn't?

"I can't tell you how grateful I am to you, Shane. I can't begin to express it." Rick praised Shane and Ivy grew increasingly angry.

"There go those words falling short again. Paltry things." Dale shook his head.

"What about the word 'lie'? How paltry is that?" Ivy asked. Her gaze softened as she looked from Shane to Dale and Dale returned her look with one of confusion.

"The word lie isn't very meager, lying isn't something that you'd aim for." Dale assured Ivy. Ivy nodded her head gently and she never returned her look to Shane but Ivy could feel his eyes burning into her flesh. She felt as if she had to keep an eye out at all times because if she didn't, something would get her.

The sound of a log slamming against the ground, followed by the roar of a fire and a shower of sparke to follow. Nearby, Ed Peletier placed another log on the already growing fire which was something most of the group had highly suggested against. Ed sat away from the group which was highly disturbing to Ivy.

"Hey, Ed, you want to rethink that log?" Shane asked with hopes that a problem wouldn't arise. Of course, one did.

"It's cold, man." Ed fought. Carol sat with her legs at her chest and Ivy could see the obvious discomfort drawn over her face.

"The cold don't change the rules, does it?" Shane asked with a cautious tone. In that moment, Ivy caught herself wishing that nothing happened due to the fear in her chest so she couldn't even imagine how Carol and Sophia felt on the daily. "Keep or fires low, just embers so we can't be seen from a distance, right?"

"I said it's cold...you should mind your own business for once." Ed spoke.

"Okay, let's not act like four year olds." Ivy spoke as she turned her head quickly towards Ed. The two made eye contact and Ivy could see the emotions stirring in his eyes and she felt fear, she wasn't going to show it though.

"Excuse me?" Ed asked.

"Are you deaf?" Ivy looked to her father who was shaking his head.

"Ivy." Rick's voice went low but Ivy wasn't afraid. Not Rick at least. Ivy stood up and took a step forward. "No, he doesn't get to act like he owns the place and walk around like a god because we all know he isn't." Ivy turned her attention to Ed himself. "All you are is pathetic." Shane stood up and gently pushed Ivy back, she could feel Rick's hands on her arms which pulled her down quickly.

"Sit down. No." Rick demanded which only caused Ivy to grimace. Shane moved quickly and confidently towards Ed and whispered something to him that Ivy couldn't quite hear but all she wanted to do was watch someone pummel Ed's cocky face into a concrete wall.

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Most people had walked away from the fire and settled into their tents with their families. Ivy and Carl usually shared one but for the past couple of night's, Carl had slept in the tent with their mother and she was almost sure he would tonight, considering their father was home. That only left more room for Ivy. As she layed in the tent and gazetted up on the rough, orange material, hundreds of thoughts ran through her mind, but the two most obvious ones were Lori and Rick, and the fact that Shane lied. Ivy watched Lori pull Carl back when she saw Rick and for a while she couldn't pinpoint why. She had watched Shane all night act completely different than he had been.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of shuffling outside of her tent. She jumped at the leaves breaking and she watched the metal zipper slide down the metal grooves to reveal the face of Rick Grimes. A smile stretched slowly across her face as she sat up and her father crawled in.

"Nice get up you got in here. I guess that's what happens when your little brother's afraid of the dark." Rick smiled.

"I don't think he's scared, I think he just has attachment issues." Ivy smiled back which caused a chuckle from Rick.

"I knew you guys weren't dead. I searched for you and I searched and...I...well, I found you." Rick placed his hand gently on Ivy's cheek which brought a tear to her eye.

How?" She asked the man sitting in front of her.

"All the pictures were gone, the family photo albums, the framed pictures on the wall...all gone." Ivy giggled and Rick let out a sigh. "Tonight, when you spoke to Ed the way you did, I pulled you back. Not because I was scared that he was going to hit you, but the opposite. I was terrified out of my mind that you were going to hit him." RIck laughed. "I've always known that you were smart, you've always been brave but never like that. I knew it in that moment when you spoke, I don't know what it was but you are going to be the change in this world. I think that you will excel. One day, I won't be here, Mom won't be here, none of us will. One day, everyone around you might die."

"Dad, stop." Ivy pleaded, confused as to why Rick was saying these things.

"No, I saw it out there...it's terrible. I'm saying that when we're gone, you and Carl won't be...you will excel." Rick placed a kiss on the top of his daughter's forehead before crawling out of the tent and zipping it shut. Ivy was left alone with her thoughts but she couldn't help but be happy for the homecoming of her father.

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