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Rick, Daryl, T-Dog, Glenn and Buffy hadn't been gone too long on their mission to rescue Merle and the guns when it happens. She's sitting there on a stump, helping Morales clean the fish Andrea and Amy had caught earlier that morning for dinner that night when she first hears the words she hasn't heard in a long time. Shane, who's also helping with the fish, watches as her head snaps up, "What?"
"I thought I heard…", she tips her head to the side, narrowing her eyes a little, before she shakes her head and turns attention her back to the fish she had been scraping with her knife, "I thought I had heard something, that's all."
Not taking his eyes off her, he nods his head as he filets another fish, watching her as she works, until he hears it at the same times she does, "I wish…"
"Don't!", Dawn almost drops the fish she had been working on when she jumps up and turns around to face both Carl and Sophia, who are sitting nearby doing whatever schoolwork it was that Lori and Carol had set down in front of them, "Don't even think of finishing that sentence, Carl Grimes."
"Why?", he asks, a little surprised at the way she's looking at him, like he had done something wrong. He can see both his mom and Shane looking at her in the same way she was looking at him, "We were just playing."
Dawn laughs, "That's not the kind of playing you want to do.", she hands the fish over to Morales, as she moves closer the two of them, "Okay, I guess it's time for everyone to learn second rule in the Buffy and Dawn rulebook. Never say I wish. Don't you ever do it, whether you're playing or not. You do not say it."
"Why?", this time it's Sophia, who asks, "It's just a wish, they never come true."
"Oh, but they do come true, except not in the way you would want it to.", Dawn answers half-heartedly. She totally didn't want to explain to the two ten year olds who are sitting in front of her how the wish would come true, and that it could be worse than their worst nightmare. "Take horses for instance. You could wish for a horse, thinking you'd get Black Beauty. Instead, what you do get is one of those horses on a stick like they sold at toy stores."
"Really?", the look of disappointment that comes over Sophia's face makes Dawn's heart fall down into her stomach, and she suddenly feels slightly nauseous as she realizes that she might had been a little late with the rule-making.
Swallowing down the need to call upon the nearest vengeance demon to come and fix it, she closed her eyes tightly before opening them again, focusing on her young friend, "Sophia?"
She looked at Dawn, "Yeah?"
"What did you wish for?", Dawn asked, knowing she was getting looks for Shane, Morales, Lori, Carl and Carol, who was looking at her daughter with concern.
When she doesn't say anything, Dawn squatted down in front of her, taking one of her hands in hers, "It's okay, you can tell me. I promise I won't get mad or yell at you, I promise on a can of anchovies."
Sophia smiled, it was well known in camp that the youngest Summers sister loved her some anchovies, preferring them to some of the other meals they've had since they made camp. Biting her lip, she motioned for Dawn to come closer as she leaned forward, and whispered into Dawn's ear so that she was the only one to hear it. From where he stood, Shane watched as Dawn's face paled, her blue eyes softening as she hugged Sophia close, resting the side of her head against Sophia's as she closed her eyes. It was hard to miss the shudder that passed through Dawn as she hugged Sophia once more before letting her go, patting her knee as she stood up, "Okay."
"Okay.", she murmured, more to herself, as she walked away from Carl and Sophia, leaving them to their mothers.
With a nod to Morales, Shane followed Dawn as she walked away from camp. It wasn't long until she stopped, resting her hands on her hips as she looked up at the sky, "She would wish for that, wouldn't she? Of course she would, because none of us know how bad it actually is. It's not like they say anything to anyone about it. Okay, so think, Dawn, think.", she rubbed her forehead, "What would Giles do?"
The sound of a branch snapping under his boot surprises her, as she whirls around to find him standing there, "Hey."
"Hey.", she cleared her throat, "What's up?"
"What was all that back there?", he asks.
She frowned, unsure how to answer because she had no idea how much he had heard., "What do you mean?"
"Telling them they can't wish, and all that.", he replies, resting his hands on his hips as he looks at her, "Why did you do that?"
"It's like I said, wishes are like horses. You wish for one thing, and you might get something else entirely.", she answers, almost believing herself as the lie comes too easily, "I didn't want them to get their hopes up, that's all."
"I don't think that's it.", he shook his head, "I don't think that it's at all, but I can let it slide…at least for now."
She nods her head, a faint smile appearing then disappearing, "Thanks."
"Mm.", scratching the side of his face, he took a step closer to her, "What did Sophia wish for?"
Her head jerked up to look at him, and she swallows, "I can't tell you that. We have a friend to friend confidentiality agreement."
He snorts, "Well, let me put it like this. Did she tell you anything that I, as a sworn officer of the law might need to know?", he looks at her, "If Ed's done something to her, or to Carol…"
"Other then what he's already done?", Dawn starts, before stopping, shaking her head, "No, at least I don't think so, and all you could do is keep him restricted to their tent, Shane, and then what good will that do them?"
"I know that.", he sighs, running a hand through his hair, "I just wish there was…", he mumbles against the palm of her hand, raising his eyebrows at her in question.
"I'm going to stop you there." , she says, before dropping her hand, "Didn't want you to say something you'd might regret later on."
Shane licked his lips, as he looked at her, "You're weird, you know that. You're seriously weird."
"You know, I've heard that. Maybe it's from the lack of anchovies around these parts.", she grins when he laughs, "Seriously though, I mean it. Be careful what you wish for, you might not like what you get."
He nods his head, "Okay."
"Okay.", she says, as they start walking back toward camp, before she stops, grabbing his arm, "Shane, wait."
At the look he gives her, she sighed, "She wanted someone to stop her dad from hurting her mom, and today, you did that. So, because of you…", she put her hand on his chest, surprising them both, "…Sophia got her wish."
"You're a good guy, Shane Walsh. You'd do well to remember that.", she patted the spot on his chest where her hand had laid as she turned to walk back to camp.
Watching her go, he's unable to stop the smile that appears as he rubbed a hand over his chest where she had touched him, almost feeling like she had branded him somehow. Shaking his head at the thought, like she really could do that, he gets into step beside her, "Sure hope the fish tastes as good as it smells."
Dawn nodded her head, smiling as they got closer to camp, "Even if it don't taste good, it'll sure beat the hell out of eating Rocky the Squirrel again. I'm kind of surprised I haven't started hoarding nuts yet.", she puffs her cheeks out, laughing when she sees the look on his face.
The sound of their laughter catches Morales attention as he looked up from the batch of fish he was frying, "Everything okay?"
"Peachy with a side of keen.", Dawn answers, sniffing the air as they join him, "How's the fish?"
He nods his head, "It's looking good, we'll eat well tonight and hopefully we'll sleep well too."
"Your lips to God's ears.", Dawn sighed, as she sat down next to Shane, "We can only hope."
Little did they know that after what would happen that night, things were going to change for all of them, and that they would discover that hope would be something that was in short supply.