*Shelby's P.O.V*

Silence. That's all that could be heard. Ever since Maggie and Negan left the church, that's all there is. It's pure silence.

Alden and I didn't say a word.

I can see Alden in so much pain still as he clutches onto his stomach.

I hate seeing him in this state and not knowing what's going to happen to him. He looks so defeated. He kept fighting until he got here and then, he told Maggie that he'd choose to stay behind so that they could continue this mission.

And he wanted me to go with them to finish the mission.

But I couldn't. I couldn't just leave him behind. I couldn't let him be all alone. He needs me here with him.

We've been through so much together and I'm not gonna let him go through this alone.

We're in this together, forever. That's still a promise.

Every time that I glanced at Alden, he was staring at the floor. He wouldn't look up at me. He was weighing out the thoughts that were in his head. Whatever he was thinking was scaring me.

Especially since I didn't know what he was thinking.

What was he thinking?

And then finally after quite some time, Alden looked up and saw me looking at him.

"Shelby, we have to talk about this." He said.

"Talk about what?" I asked. "About how you're hurt and wounded and I can't do a damn thing about it?"

He sighed. It seemed like he knew what he was going to say next but it would be hard for him to say it.

"There's actually one thing you can do." He said, now not looking at me.

I raised an eyebrow. "And what would that be?"

I saw his face change. He was scared to tell me what he's going to say next. He was upset.

"You can go back to Alexandria and take care of Adam for me." He said finally looking back at me.

"What? No. I'm not leaving you."

"Shelby." He breathed out. "You know that I'm not making it out alive looking like this. I'm going to die."

"No, don't say that." I said, walking over to him and then sitting in front of him.

"Shelby, I'm hurting so bad and I don't know how long it'll take for this mission to be done. I'm wanting you to do this for me. I'm asking you to please go back to Alexandria and take care of our son."

"I can't- I can't leave you alone." I said, my eyes watering.

"Yes, you can." He said.

It seemed like I could hear his own heart breaking. This wasn't easy for him. It definitely wasn't easy for me.

"No." I shook my head and then went to sit down in one of the chairs.

It felt like my whole world was getting torn apart. Everything that I went through to get here seemed so empty right now.

This can't be happening.

There's no way that I'm losing Alden.

I know that he's asking me to go to Alexandria to take care of Adam for him but I can't just leave him alone.

There's no way that can happen.

"Shelby." I then heard a voice.

It was a voice that I haven't heard for so long. Since this whole zombie apocalypse had started.

I looked in the direction of where I heard it from. "Lance?"

My brother was there, in his yellow and white plaid shirt. The same shirt that he was wearing when he died.

Is this some type of dream now?"

Lance stepped in front of me with a hint of a smile on his face.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him.

"I came to see you." He said.

"But why?"

"I thought that I'll come by to give you some advice. Something that I know you can accept from a blood related family member." He said.

I shrugged. "What kind of advice?"

"Advice of being strong when you know your world is crashing down." He said. "I know this is hard for you right now. But you and I both know that you're the strongest person in this world. Aaron knows it too. You're strong and this is what Alden is asking you to do. He wants you to be strong while he's in this situation. That's why he's asking you to go back home and take care of Adam."

"But I can't leave him alone, Lance. He needs me. Adam needs him."

Lance nodded. "I know. Even he knows. Alden needs you guys too. He just doesn't want you to see him like that."

"I've seen him through his best and worst times. This won't stop me." I said.

"Then think about this..." Lance started to say. "Alden would do the same thing if that was you in that situation. If you told him to go back home to take care of Adam, he would. It'll take him a while to agree but he'll do it. For you. That man loves you, Shelby, he'll do anything for you and that includes dying."

"Don't say that he's dying." I told my brother.

Lance shook his head. "I never said he's dying. It was an expression. Just think about what he's asking again. He is looking out for you and Adam."

This whole thing wasn't easy at all. I don't want to leave him alone while he's dealing with this but he wants me to go back to our home and look after our son.

And my brother came back.

"He loves you and you love him. You two were made for each other even though it took years for it to happen." Lance then added.

"You knew my crush on him too?"

Lance chuckled. "Just because I'm dead doesn't mean I don't see anything. You were practically falling for him from a distance."

I playfully pushed him and he just laughed.

"I'm proud of you, Shelby. You found someone who loves you for you. That's something you always wanted."

I looked back at Alden who was staring at the floor.

"Are you going to tell mom and dad that I have a boyfriend?" I then asked him.

He shook his head. "I don't need to tell them shit."

I laughed a little before bringing him in for a hug. Besides Aaron, I was also pretty close with my brother, Lance.

Then we pulled away from the embrace.

"Just remember that Alden wants what's best for you and Adam."

I nodded slightly. "I know. I love you, Lance."

"I love you too, Shelby. Take care of Aaron for me, will you?" He asked.

"Of course, brother." I smiled.

My second older brother gave me one last smile before he wasn't standing in front of me anymore.

I looked around the church to see if I was just dreaming and obviously, I just was. It was still just Alden and me in here and he was still staring at the floor.

I can't leave him. But I know that he wants me to take care of our son as well.

I've lost so many people in my life and I can't lose Alden. He's the one person that I couldn't afford to lose.

How am I supposed to deal with this?

There was only one answer to that question. I couldn't deal with this. There was no way that I could.

Just thinking about this brings more tears to my eyes. I can't say goodbye to Alden.

He's not dead but he could be. But his wound wasn't that severe. We just have to wait a few more days and then we can head back to Alexandria and we can make sure that he's okay.

But is that what he wants?

I looked back at Alden. He knew that I was looking at him so he looked back at me.

"Come here, Shelby." He said, "There's something that I want to tell you."

What does he have to tell me? I slowly stood up and walked over to him and sat down in front of him. He grabbed my hand and held it tight. He was also rubbing it with his thumb.

"What do you need to tell me?" I asked.

"After the pike massacre, I was crushed after I found out that Enid died. My world was torn apart. I didn't feel the same anymore after that. Nothing felt right. I thought I wouldn't find love again. But then I did." He said as he looked straight at me when he said the last part.

I was already looking at him. "Until you saw me?"

He nodded, slowly. "Until we started talking some more and hanging out. When we were getting to know each other better. When you told me what had happened to your brother and how you've been there for me since then. Hell, you let me open up to you."

I nodded a little while smiling. He was right about that.

"And then..." He started. "We got together and that was everything to me. That day at the beach will always be special to me. You make me the happiest person in the world. I, at first, was feeling guilt because I blamed myself for what had happened to Enid. Then after we started talking, I no longer felt guilt. I felt something else. I was feeling this warm feeling inside of me. I was feeling love. I was falling for you."

He's really speaking from his heart right now and it was really sweet. My heart is melting at the words that he's saying. He's expressing himself about how he feels about me.

"And I was falling for you." I told him and he nodded.

He sighed. "Falling in love with you is the best decision I ever made."

"See, I was telling the truth when I said that none of this would've happened if it wasn't for the zombie apocalypse. Even though the world is shitty, I'm glad it happened so that we could've met and been together."

"And raising a son together." He had a small smile on his face.

We have a wonderful son together. I'm glad that Adam is in my life as well.

"And which by the way..." he started to say. "Please go back to Alexandria and take care of Adam, for me. Do this all for me. I'll still keep fighting. But please do this for me."

I have to remember what my brother told me not that long ago. That I have to think about this again and know that he's doing this for me and for Adam.

"Do you really want that?" I asked him.

"I want a lot of things." He said. "But now I know that I won't be getting everything with the condition that I'm in. Please go to Alexandria and take care of Adam for me."

This was a hard decision to make. I don't want to leave him but he knows what he's doing.

This whole thing was breaking both of our hearts.

I then slowly nodded. I'll head back to Alexandria so that I can look after our son and just hope that he'll come back once Maggie and Negan come back for him.

"Shelby, please know that I won't change anything about our relationship. I love everything about it." Alden said.

"I know." I said, and then my voice cracked a bit.

"Come here." He said and he pulled me closer to him.

I made sure to not lay on his chest because if I do that then I'll be also touching his stomach and that's where his stab wound is at and I don't want him in any more pain. I just want him to be okay.

"I don't want to let you go." I then said.

"Then don't." He said. "Let's just lay here until you have to go back."

His arm stayed around me as we were next to each other.

"You'll always be my missing love." He whispered in my ear.

I heard what he said and then turned to look at him. A few tears had left my eyes and he reached up and wiped them away with his fingers.

And then I slowly planted a kiss on his lips. He kissed me back softly and while we were kissing, I can just feel the love that he has for me in this kiss. He was letting me know how he feels about me while our lips were together.

Every thirty seconds, he would only bring me closer to him and our kiss was deepening.

This was probably the best kiss that we've had while we were together and it sucks that it has to happen under this circumstance.

His lips moved with mine as we were kissing each other so gently.

I can feel the warmth that he has and I absolutely loved it. There's something special about this kiss and I know that I won't forget it.

The kiss lasted for another minute before we slowly pulled away from our special moment.

"Best kiss ever." He breathed out.

I nodded, agreeing. "I won't ever forget that one."

"I won't forget you."

"Why are you saying it like that, like we'll never see each other again?" I questioned him.

"No matter what happens to me, just know that I won't forget you." He said.

And I only nodded.

There's no way in hell I'm saying goodbye to him. I'm not going to lose him. It's not happening.

There's a part of me that wishes that Alden and I didn't go on this mission because then we would be in our shared house with Adam and we would've found some way to have our one on one needed time.

But it looked like it was happening right now.

"Before I head back to Alexandria, can you tell me one more pick up line?" I asked him.

He smiled and nodded. "Of course, anything for you."

He started to think of one and then said, "I could die happy right now. I've already seen an angel from heaven."

I smiled and that made him smile some more.

I stood up, very slowly, because my ankle was still hurting. Then I carefully helped him up from where he was sitting.

I pulled back the bench that we used to keep the door closed and then unlocked the door before opening it. I walked out of the church and then turned back around to see him staring at me.

"Maggie and Negan will be back soon to get you and bring you home, okay?" I said.

He nodded. "I'll be here."

With a sad look on my face, I gave him one last kiss in which he kissed me back. It was also another sweet kiss that we shared.

Then we pulled away.

"I love you so, so much." I said.

He smiled. "I love you more than anything."

"I'll see you soon, babe." I told him."

"See you soon."

After those words were exchanged, I turned back around and started to walk away from the church.

This was the hardest thing that I've ever done. The hardest thing that I had to go through ever since my brother, Lance, died.

I turned around and then stared back at the church that now had the door closed.

I sighed. Will I be seeing Alden again after today?

————————————————————————————————————

Hey guys, here's chapter 39 for you all.

So we get a chapter of just Shelby and Alden after what had happened in the previous chapter.

Starting in the beginning, Alden asks Shelby if she can go to Alexandria to take care of Adam for him to which Shelby doesn't agree because she wants to stay with him.

Shelby is feeling a whole bunch of feelings and then she gets a surprised visit from Lance.

Yes, the same Lance who is Shelby and Aaron's brother.

Lance has been mentioned quite a few times in this story and I thought it was time to bring him into a scene.

It's kind of like those scenes in the show where a character who's already on the show gets a visit from someone and it's usually filled with advice and wholesome moments.

It's happened with Rick was seeing Shane, Hershel, and Sasha in his last episode.

It even happened when carol sees alpha in season 10.

Then after her talk with Lance, she's with Alden again and he expresses how he feels about her.

It's a lovely moment between the two and he asks her one more time to go back to Alexandria and take care of Adam.

Even though she doesn't want to, she agrees because she knows that Alden is doing what's best for her and their son.

And by the end of the chapter, there's only one question left to ask.

Will Shelby see Alden again in this book?

And as I've said earlier in the week, I think we all saw what had happened in 11x09.

I'm not gonna spoil anything but I'll just say that the question will be answered in a couple of chapters.

So will we see Alden again?

Happy Friday everyone!!!

I hope you all liked this chapter.!!

New chapter every Tuesday and Friday.!!

Vote, read, and tell your friends, and stay tuned for the next chapter.!!!