LUKES POV

I looked over at Clementine. The young girl has seemed rather stressed out lately. It's been days since Pete and I found her with the bite on her arm. She lost her only friend, we locked her in a shed, she had to leave Pete to die, and she had to deal with carver by herself. Of course she's stressed out! We decided to take a break and she separated the herself and sat down on a log. It rained the night before so the ground is all wet.

Rebecca and Alvin are looking through our food for something to eat. Nick is still getting over Pete's death and Carlos and Sarah are talking. Clementine looked at the floor and rubbed her cheek. I walked over to the small girl and when she noticed me nearby she smiled. Nick, Sarah, and myself are really the only people who seemed to welcome her. She even told me that Nick and I are the only ones she trusts.

"Hey Luke," She greeted me.

"Hey Clementine. How are you doing?" I tried to make conversation with her.

"Carlos is trying to keep Sarah away from me. I'm bored."

"Must get lonely being a kid these days."

She glared at me, "I am not a kid!"

"You're eleven," I smiled down at her.

"And you're," She squinted at me, "Twenty three?"

"Do I look that young?" I smiled a little bigger, "Must be my dashing good looks!"

"Must be," She put on a small smile herself, "But I'm still not a kid... and I'm still bored." I thought about how to fix her boredom. My eyes suddenly wondered to her hat. I remember when I was a kid and I would steal Nicks from his head and hide them from him. It would irritate him to no end and he would always get back at me for it by having his mom make some kind of baked good and not letting me have any.

"You're bored?" I asked and she nodded. As soon as her head stopped moving I grabbed the edge of the hat and ran off with it. She touched the top of her head, surprised by the sudden cool hair touching her scalp, and she ran after me. I stopped when I thought we were a reasonable distance away from the camp I stopped in my tracks and turned around. She stopped running and her eyes looked at her hat.

"Be carful with that!" Her voice was slightly amused, but I actually saw general fear in her eyes. The look in those big golden eyes sent a chill down my spine. Clementine never got scared. She was tougher than anyone else in the group. Me included. She's been put through tough shit. She seemed calm, and actually quite intimidating when I met her, but with that hat off her head and in my hands she looked desperate even though the rest of her body said enlightened. Deciding the I didn't like this look she was giving me I took a step towards her but I stepped in a very wet spot and slipped backward.

"Fuck!" I hissed when I stood my upper body up and rubbed the back of my head. I looked over at Clementine and she had her hands over her mouth. I thought for a slit second that she was laughing at me and I saw that she was also frozen in place. "I'm fine," I reassured her. She still didn't say anything or move. I raised my eyebrow

"Are you okay Clem?" No response. I looked around me to make sure I wasn't bleeding or anything. That's when I saw her hat, face down covered in mud. My eyes widened when I realized the mistake I just made. I slowly picked up the treasured item and looked at it. The front was so caked in dirt that you could hardly she the, 'D" labeled on it. I wiped some of it of. Clementine slowly kneeled next to me and took it out of my hands.

"Will it come off?" Her voice crack and I could tell that she wanted to cry.

"Yeah," I tried to give her hope, "Yeah, I think so."

"Are you sure?" She hesitantly asked. I bit my lower lip. I don't want to lie to her. It is very muddy, and it is a white hat.

Silence

"I'm so sorry Clementine," I looked at her sympathetically

"It's ok," She sighed and helped me up, but I could still see some unshed tears in her eyes, " Lets get back to the others."

Later that night when we made camp I looked over at Clementine, who was asleep and had a protective arm around her hat. Guilt washed over me when I looked at the filthy old thing. Knowing that I had to fix it I walked over to our supplies and scooped up a handful of the detergent and soap that Rebecca uses to wash our clothes. I placed the powder into a small bag and I tided a knot in the middle of it. The river wasn't far, but it's not a good idea to go alone. I moved over to Nicks sleeping spot and patted him awake.

"Nick," I whispered, "Wake up asshole!"

"What do you want?" He sat up and rubbed his eyes.

"I need you to come down to the river with me."

"Why?"

"Just do it!" I demanded and my friend let out a breath. He got up and grabbed his rifle while I carefully unhooked Clementine's arm from her beloved item. I grabbed it and both Nick and I began to walk the trail down to the icy water.

"Does clementine know you have her hat?" Nick asked. Nick has become quite protective of Clementine and her things. He's just looking out for her.

" No, but I just have it to clean it," I informed him.

"What happened to it."

"I was playing keep away with her hat, I slipped and the hat got all dirty."

"Well that was a hell of a thing to do!" He looked at me.

"I know!" I ran a hand through my hair and kneeled down when we arrived at our destination. I set the hat down and opened the small bag of detergent. I soaked the hat with water, getting rid of all the dirt that would just come off by itself. When I could see the letter on the front I smiled and rubbed some of the cleaning soap on it. Rinsing and cleaning many times I finally scrubbed the detergent on it and rubbed it in to try and get the extra gross stuff out. Nick looked at it and gave a small smile.

"It looks much better!" He commented.

"I got a lot of it out!" I grinned. The white part was tinted darker now and the blood was still there, "Where do you think those blood splatters came from?"

"No idea," He shrugged. I shrugged and tired to wash the red off it. My attempt failed so I tired again. Irritated I could get it to look like new I gave up.

"Well it's not coming off," I wringed the water out of the hat

"Hey Clementine," When the sun came up I was the third one up (Alvin and Carlos were up before me) I really wanted to give Clem her hat back so I shook her awake. Her eyes opened slightly, but when she saw that the item was gone from her sight she shot straight up. Before she could ask any questions I made it apparent that I had it, "I did my best to clean it, I actually got a lot of the muck off!"

"Is the blood still there?" She asked and sounded worried.

"Yes," My eyebrow twitched upward, "But the mud isn't... much" Before I knew it the girls small arms were around my neck and she was practically sitting in my lap. She smiled a big smile and grabbed her hat from me. Examining it her smile widened and she put it on her head proudly.

"I don't know how to thank you!" She exclaimed.

"Well, I'm the one who ruined it in the first place," I laughed

"Thank you!"

"It's ok sweet pea," After I said that I noticed her arms slumped and she got up. She took her hat off her head again and looked at it. I thought she seemed uncomfortable so I apologized, "Sorry I didn't me-"

"No!" She beamed at me, "It just that," Her fingers traced the blood smears on her hat, "Someone else use to call me that," She smiled, "It's nice someone else is now too."

I smiled and gave her a small hug, "Come on, lets get back on the road."