꧁★ act one — chapter one ★꧂

Looking down on the family photo was enough to make Georgia cry, she cried for the mother that she lost and the father she never had, he was there but he wasn't exactly what you would consider a father, a father shouldn't do that to his wife and kid.

Georgia had been taken out of her trance of memories by the yelling that was going on downstairs, Georgia furrowed her brows but slowly made her way down the stairs.

What Georgia had expected to be met with was either someone had been bit or on of those things had somehow made it into the house, but that wasn't what happened instead she froze in the doorway.

"Carl?..." She whispered to herself as she watched the boy she once babysat, the boy that had been so hard to leave behind when shit hit the fan, after the world went to shit, she'd already been on the run for three years, even then she never thought she would ever see that little boy again and even more after the world when to shit, yet there he was, laying, bleeding out, it wasn't a bite mark that much she figured out from the yelling.

Georgia stood there, still frozen and watched as they worked on the boy, Rick Grimes was there, he'd carried Carl in, he was panicking, everything Georgia wanted to do was go back to the way things was, being a part of the Grimes family but she knew that couldn't happen, not after what went down.

Georgia hurried back upstairs, hiding away from Rick, if Carl was there and Rick was there, Shane Walsh would surely show up in a matter of minutes, Georgia of course couldn't be sure but that didn't matter, she closed the door to her room and sat on her bead, taking deep breaths.

Carl was shot, he was dying, Rick was in the same house as her, Shane could possibly be there soon, this was not good.

"Hey." Maggie said as she had knocked on Georgia's door before opening it.

"hi." Georgia spoke as she looked up at the girl who walked into her room. "What happened? You came down then you basically ran back upstairs." Maggie asked as she sat down on the bed beside Georgia.

"I told you what happened. What I did." Georgia began and Maggie nodded. "That boy... that's Carl. The boy I babysat, and that's Rick.." Georgia said as tears sprung to her eyes, she looked at Maggie who had a look of realization on her face.

"The cop who was after you, the one who made that poster." Maggie spoke, Georgia was the one who nodded this time. "I can't go down there he'll kill me." Georgia said, Maggie immidiately shook her head. "No, he won't besides we've taken a lot of his blood, he won't even be able to stand by himself let alone kill you." Maggie joked as she slightly hit Georgia with her elbow making her chuckle. "Come on."

When Georgia came downstairs, she went toward the dinning table where the commotion was, there he was. Rick Grimes sitting at the table and Lori standing beside him.

"Lori? Rick?" Georgia hesitated, she almost flinched when the two snapped their heads toward the familiar voice. "What.. Georgia?" Lori asked, Rick tried to get up but Lori shoved him down. "Rick stop it."

"You. I've been looking for you for three years!" Rick yelled, Georgia nodded her head. "I know- I know. I actually am happy that you're here. I mean before, you never gave me a chance to explain anything you just started hunting me down." Georgia said as tears sprung to her eyes again from the memories.

"So when you get better, I would like to explain to you what really happened. Would that be okay?" Georgia asked as she looked from Rick, to Lori then back to Rick who hesitantly nodded his head. "If you'd like, I could... just stay, upstairs, in my room, until you're better and Carl is better?" It came out more of a question. "I think that would be best." Hershel spoke, Georgia nodded her head and returned to her room with a sigh.

Rick had gotten better and finally decided that he wanted Georgia to explain, so she was standing in the doorway to the room where Carl was laying, still unconscious, Lori and Rick both looked up at the girl who was standing there, not knowing what to say.

"So, I talked to Rick." Lori started as she looked at Georgia. "He's gonna let you explained what really happened."

"Yeah. Really I shouldn't I mean you killed a cop." Rick said as he glared at her. "So talk."

"Right. Okay.." Georgia started as she nodded, looking at the floor, she looked up and looked straight at Rick. "My full name is Georgia Bradford. Matthew Bradford was my father." Georgia spoke, she went through all of those memories to figure out what to say next making a tear roll down her face, she saw that Lori was now looking and listening too.

"He wasn't a good person." Georgia spoke, her voice cracking slightly as her lip began trembling, she took a deep breath before continuing. "When I was five, he decided I should start gymnastics.. so on the first day he asked my teacher to teach me how to do a handstand, but I could,'t, I fell and even though we tried multiple times, I couldn't do it. So when we got home he got so mad." Georgia was crying hard now.

"He broke my arm. I was five and it was my first day, yet be broke my arm because I couldn't do it." Georgia let out a little sob but quickly put her hand over her mouth. "He continued to do stuff like that, hitting me, kicking me, I soon learned that he was hurting my mother too."

"When I was ten.. he came into my room at night." Georgia struggled with getting the next words out. "He got in- in my bed.. and he put his hands all over me. He- he raped me." Georgia was a full on mess now, she was sobbing and shaking.

"Oh sweetheart." Lori spoke, she patted the bed and Georgia hesitantly sat down as Lori pulled her into a hug, Georgia turned to Rick to continue.

"He kept doing that for six years, almost every single night. Then when I was sixteen one day I just snapped, I was done, so when he got into my bed, I swung my head back, so that I hit his and I ran to my parent room, and my mom was on the floor with a knife in her chest.. He'd stabbed her. So when he caught up and made me fall to the floor I crawled my way to where I knew he had a gun.."

"I remember turning around and he was standing above me with the same knife he'd used to kill my mother, I grabbed his gun and without thinking, I pulled the trigger." Georgia shook her head as the tears kept coming. "So that's what happened. I don't really sleep anymore, I haven't in three years." Lori, pulled Georgia down so her head was in Lori's lap, her feet dangling over the bed.

"You are so strong, Georgia. No one deserves to go through that, you made it through it and I am so proud of you." Lori spoke as she played with Georgia's hair, Georgia nodded her head and she closed her eyes. "Go to sleep my love, you're okay."

Georgia felt relaxed as Lori's fingers went through her hair, playing with it and touching her scalp as she did so, as Georgia felt herself fall asleep, someone took her legs from their somewhat uncomfortable position, she opened her eyes to see that Rick had laid her legs over his own as his thumb ran circles on her ankle, Rick smiled at her with a nod and all worries left Georgia's body and she fell asleep.

"Hey." Georgia looked up at the voice and saw four guys standing beside Maggie. "Hey." Rick responded weakly as Hershal was checking on Carl.

"Um, we're here, okay?" The guy spoke again, Lori gave them a small smile with a nod and thanked them. "Whatever you need." one of the other guys spoke before walking out an leaving them be.

"I'm gonna go. I'll come back." Georgia spoke as she stood up and walked out to Maggie and the guys. "Hey." Georgia spoke and the all turned to her and gave her small smiles. "I'm Georgia." She spoke as she held her hand out to the first guy.

"T-Dog." He said with a smile as he shook her hand. "Glenn."The next guy to shake her hand.

"Matteo." The third guy said as he shook her hand then he kissed her knuckles which made all of them laugh. "Sorry, just wanted to light up the situation a little." Georgia nodded with a smile and chuckled again at his actions.

"Asher." The last guy spoke with a tight smile. "Sorry I'm not gonna shake your hand." He spoke.

"Germaphobe?" Georgia asked with a raised brow. "No. Just not a fan of physical touch, especially with strangers." He bluntly said. "Fair enough." Georgia said with a smile which he returned, they then all fell into conversation, Georgia talking to Matteo and Asher, Maggie, Glenn and T-Dog talking together.

"What the hell was that?" T-Dog asked Glenn in a whisper. "I don't know man, Asher never smiles at anybody. Geez." Glenn joked with a smile on his face, T-Dog shook his head. "You know what I mean, his closest with Matteo and they rarely talk, yet he practically had a whole conversation with her. It's nice to see him finally come out of his shell.

Carl had a seizure, Georgia was really worried, she spent so much time with Carl before, he'd become like her little brother, it worried her that he was in pain and she couldn't do anything about it.

"You got here right in time." Patricia spoke as she was helping T-Dog with his wound. "This couldn't go untreated much longer." T-Dog said gasping in pain constantly, Georgia being the people pleaser that she'd grown up being was sitting on the chair across from Patricia and letting T-Dog squeeze her hand.

"Merle Dixon. Is that your friend with the antibiotics?" Patricia asked as she read the label on the medicine bottle. "No, ma'am. Merle's no longer with us. Daryl gave us those... his brother." Glenn spoke from behind Georgia.

"Not sure I'd call him a friend." T-Dog spoke through the pain as he took in a sharp breath. "Yeah, I'm not gonna say it nicely but he was an asshole." Matteo spoke backing T-Dog up.

"Well, he is today. This doxycycline might have just saved your life. You know what Merle was taking it for?" Patricia asked, T-Dog squeezed Georgia's hand a little too hard so she hit his shoulder making Matteo laugh and Asher crack a smile.

"The clap." Glenn spoke. "Um, venereal disease. That's what Daryl said." Glenn spoke again looking off to the side. "I'd say Merle Dixon's clap was the best thing to ever happen to you." Patricia said and Matteo couldn't help but chuckle again.

"I'm really trying not to think about that." T-Dog spoke the pain heard in his voice.

"So..." Matteo spoke as he sat down in front of Georgia. "So..? What?" Georgia asked. "I don't know, tell me something about you." He said as he offered her a smile, Georgia thought for a second before straightening up. "First up, you just gonna stand there and look creepy as hell, or are you gonna sit down and talk?" Georgia asked as she turned her head to Asher who then walked over and sat down beside Matteo.

"Sorry about him, he doesn't talk much in general-"

"I can speak for myself, thank you, Matt." Asher spoke then he turned to Georgia. "Yeah I'm not the most social person, and the little girl that's missing, you know about her?" He asked and Georgia nodded. "She's my little sister. So I'm just a little.." He trailed off.

"Worried? Scared?" Georgia asked and Asher nodded. Georgia looked up at the sound of a truck pulling up outside and the other walking out, Georgia and the two guys got up and went outside too.

Georgia saw Shane Walsh. But, no Otis.

"Carl?" Shane asked as he walked toward everybody. Georgia got scared, she'd always been more scared of Shane than she was of Rick so she turned around and walked back inside.

Georgia had been hiding in the house away from Shane who was waiting outside with Lori and Rick, Hershal had done what he needed to do and Carl was okay for now, which lifted a whole lot of weight off of her shoulders.

Georgia smiled as Lori walked into the house, they both looked toward the kitchen and a second later they heard the sound of Patricia crying, Lori walk away to get to Carl and Georgia stayed put looking toward them in the kitchen.

She heard the door open and someone walk buy, she could tell that it was Shane, so she kept looking forward into the kitchen, afraid to turn around and she then hurried into her upstairs and into her and Maggie's shared room, she went into their bathroom and looked herself in the mirror, knowing that Shane wasn't gonna be as nice as Rick and Lori had been, she turned the faucet on and wet her face, she stood there and stared at herself as memories of everything that happened came back to her, before she finally decided to go to bed.

But since Georgia didn't really sleep besides the wonderful 30 minutes in Lori's lap she just laid still looking at the ceiling, at night Georgia would normally panic as she laid alone, afraid that her father was somehow gonna walk through that door, so sleeping alone definitely wasn't an answer, she was grateful to have Maggie sleeping by her side at night, Georgia couldn't handle laying in the bed anymore since Maggie hadn't gone to bed yet like she usually would so Georgia made her way downstairs and outside on the porch for some air, to rid her mind of the horrifying nightmares she knew waited if she fell asleep.

She only sat there alone for a couple minutes before the door opened and Matteo walked out, he  let out a breath before looking toward Georgia, she gave him a sad smile which he responded to with a happy one before he sat down beside her.

"You wanted to know more about me, right?" Georgia asked and Matteo gave her a nod. "Okay.." She spoke as she thought for a moment.

"I knew, Rick, Lori, Carl and Shane before the world went to shit." She said as she kept her gaze looking out in the now dark field. "Wait, really?" Matteo asked and Georgia nodded her head. "That's nice, you know being reunited with people you thought you'd lost."

"I never really minded never seeing them again to be honest. I know that sounds mean but, some things happened that I'm not proud of and things ended very bad." Georgia said her gaze still starring into the darkness.

"I used to babysit Carl. I started when I was 12, I worked there almost everyday, came after school to help look after him, Rick's a cop so it was just Lori at home so I was there to help looking after Carl so Lori could do the things she needed to get done." Georgia started as Matteo listened carefully.

"I worked there for four years, then stuff happened and I ran, haven't seen them since." Georgia spoke, this time she finally looked toward Matteo who looked at her a little confused. "Look, maybe one day I'll tell you what happened, but not yet." Georgia spoke as a tear slipped out of her eye.

"It's okay. You don't ever had to tell me anything if you don't want to." Matteo spoke as he wiped away the tear, Georgia gave him a smile which he returned.

"You and I will be great friends. I can feel it." Matteo said and the two laughed, and they just sat there for almost an hour, talking, they talked a little about Georgia's life when babysitting Carl, and Matteo would her basically everything about himself until they went inside to sleep for the night, or rather Matteo sleeping for the night.

Georgia made her way up the stairs, thankfully still successfully going unnoticed by Shane, she'd been lucky that he was always in a different room than she was, she made her way to her and Maggie's room and saw that Maggie was already in the bed sleeping.

Georgia laid down and continued starring at the same spot in the ceiling for the whole night, becoming less panicked at the sound of Maggie's soft breathing beside her, for once instead of remembering the awful memories, she remembered the good times, at the Grime's, talking with Lori and Rick, playing with Carl.

She remembered all off Carl's birthdays that she'd been invited to, the Christmas', New Years, everything good.

Georgia found herself falling asleep without worries for the first time, to the happy memories of the family she prayed she'd been apart off.

AUTHOR'S NOTE!

Heyyyy!

Fun fact: This books plot is actually a plot my best friend came up with, back in school I told her she could give me ideas if she had any and this was one of them!

I hope the whole thing isn't too rushed, BUT I feel like Rick would obviously be the kind of guy who'd be MAD MAD if someone killed one of his cop friends, but I do fell like, him knowing her for years and then getting told the full story, he'd forgive kind of easy escpecially season one Rick.

HOWEVER.... she's not 100% forgiving yet, and Shane isn't as forgiving so that's still coming up.

Opinions so far?