"After you, my lady," Louis said, bowing in an exaggerated manner and making AJ laugh.
Rolling her eyes, Clementine walked into AJ's and her room and let the boys through. AJ made straight for the desk, where his coloring box was still lying, waiting for someone to use it. Louis, on the other hand, looked curiously around Clem's room, taking in the odd trinkets and decorations she'd put up for herself.
"Something wrong?" Clem asked, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow.
"Nope, just admiring your interior design," he replied, gesturing toward the deer skull at the top of the door. "What's your obsession with skulls?" he inquired, taking a glance at the cat skull that lay on the shelf to his left.
"I'm not obsessed, I just think they're cool looking," she corrected, grabbing a water bottle from the top drawer and gently sprinkling some of it onto the potted plants.
"Right, 'cool looking'," said Louis warily, though the smile never left his face. He walker forward slowly and stood behind Clem, almost towering over her small form. Silently, he wrapped his long arms around her waist and laid his chin on her head.
"Louis, what are you doing?" she asked, though she wasn't complaining.
"Enjoying the moment, as it were," he told her, planting a kiss on her neck and making her shudder.
Clem looked out the window at the sun setting itself behind the tree line, and sighed.
"I think summer may be starting soon, it's getting hotter every day," she commented, tilting her head slightly to the right as he kissed her neck once more.
"Actually, today's June 28th, so summer began a week ago," he corrected her, making her spin on her heels.
"How do you know that?" she exclaimed, raising an eyebrow in disbelief.
"I've marked the days ever since the outbreak started, as a sort of pastime to keep from going crazy," he admitted, shrugging.
"That's… impressive," she said, smiling at her boyfriend. "Though I think you went crazy anyway," she teased.
"Ouch, you wound me, Your Majesty," he placed a hand dramatically over his heart and pretended to drop dead on Clem's bed.
"Oh no mister, you're not dying on my bed," she said, one hand at her hip and a grin plastered on her face.
Louis opened one eye and whispered, "Too late."
Rolling her eyes, Clem sat beside him and laid her head on his shoulder. They stayed like that for a while, silently admiring the moment they'd been given. After what felt like hours, but was really twenty minutes, AJ stood in front of the couple holding a drawing he'd made.
"Do you like it, Clem?" he asked shyly, showing it to them for inspection.
Clem took it in her hands and examined it. It was a drawing of the three of them, AJ holding both their hands. They were all smiling, she realized, and at the bottom of the page was a small scribble that roughly read 'Family'. She smiled at the thought, and looked back at her small boy.
"It's amazing, goofball," she exclaimed, ruffling his hair affectionately. While AJ went back to his bed, Louis took the paper from her hand and ran his fingers along the drawings. He read the title once more, and his face lit up in a smile.
"Family?" he whispered to Clementine.
"Yeah, sorry about that. Hope it's not too weird for you," she apologized, eyeing the drawing version of Louis. It did have a striking resemblance, to the point where you could count the dreads on his head.
"Weird?" he said incredulously, "it's amazing, Clem." he kissed her softly and stood up, pinning the drawing next to Tenn's with a tack he found on the desk.
While he did that, Clem approached AJ's bed and instructed him to go to bed.
"But I'm not tired yet," he pleaded, the yawn that escaped his mouth giving him away.
"You'll want your strength tomorrow, we're going hunting with Louis and Aasim," she reminded him.
"Will we get some hot rabbit stew again?" AJ inquired, his eyes hopeful.
"Don't worry, little dude, we'll get as many rabbits as we possibly can tomorrow. It's gonna be a feast," Louis exclaimed, winking at AJ as he leaned on the desk chair.
AJ's face lit up, and he quickly took off his jacket and lay on the bed. Clem stroked his head for a few minutes until she noticed his even breathing, and sat on her own bed. Louis plopped himself on the bed and let out a yawn of his own.
"I think we could all use some rest," he said dramatically stretching his arms.
Clem looked down shyly and sighed, "Would you mind staying awake with me for a while?" she asked.
Louis stopped in the middle of taking off his coat and turned to see a blushing Clementine. "Of course, I'm not even tired," he announced, discarding his coat and pulling his shirt off with it.
"What're you doing?" Clem asked him, though her eyes betrayed her when they scanned the body underneath the shirt. He was well built, she realized. Not overly muscular, but years fighting walkers would keep you fit one way or the other. She also noticed a few scars lining his physique, from a small one of his abdomen to a bigger one on his left shoulder. She felt heat creeping up her face as she turned away from him.
"Clem, it's one hundred degrees outside," he said, "I'm not sleeping in a pool of my own sweat, thank you very much."
Despite her initial reaction, she had to agree. As of late, nights had been humid and not at all pleasant to sleep in with a jacket on. Reluctantly, she wiggled out of her denim jacket and placed it on the desk by her bed. Underneath, she had a sleeveless grey tank top, exposing her bare arms.
They both lay back on the bed beside each other, staring into one another's eyes. Louis's hand travelled along her arms gently, giving her goose bumps. He stopped, however, when he got to a big ugly scar on her left forearm. It had a crescent shape, and looked uneven.
"What's this?" he inquired, tracing the length of the scar with his forefinger gently, inspecting her soft skin in the process.
"Old scar, long story," was all she said, looking down at the curious face Louis had.
"Come on, we have some time. How'd it happen?" he asked, a sympathetic look selling it for Clementine, who sighed.
"It was about five years ago," she started, squinting in an attempt to bring back the memory. "I'd just gotten separated from a friend, and was starving. I found an abandoned camp with a lonely dog in it, and I figured I could scrounge up something."
"I searched for a while, even got to play catch with a Frisbee I found, until I found a can of beans. I tried feeding some to the dog, Sam was his name, but he was starving. He tried to take it all, and when I didn't let him, he bit into my arm. I had to stitch myself back up later."
"You stitched yourself up at the age of eleven?" he asked incredulously, admiring her handiwork on her arm.
"Yeah. Christa, that friend I mentioned, had taught me when she cut her leg on a stray branch." She explained, shuddering at the memory of seeing Christa in so much pain.
"I knew you were a badass, but this goes above and beyond," he exclaimed, raising both eyebrows and kissing her nose.
"I know," she conceded, smiling back at him. She caught sight of the scar on his left shoulder and traced it with her right hand. It had an odd shape, curved at the bottom and flat as it got over his shoulder. "So what about you? Where did these battle scars come from?" she teased.
"This one," he said, placing his hand on top of hers over his scar, "I got on a hunting trip with Brody. She asked me to reset the traps, and I did. But when I got to the last one, which was a scythe connected to a rope that would snap if you stepped on it, I may have accidentally tripped over it." he scratched the back of his head and chuckled slightly.
"You did this to yourself?" she teased, forming the perfect jokes in her mind for later use.
"Actually Aasim made those traps, so technically it was him that impaled me," he defended himself, rubbing the place where the scythe had made contact, "Luckily, I was fast enough to duck so the deadly blade wouldn't hit my beautiful face," he commented.
"Just not fast enough to avoid it altogether," she added, warranting a playful slap on her shoulder.
"Fair enough. I was a bit of an idiot," he admitted. When Clem looked at him with a deadpan expression, he rolled his eyes. "Okay, I still am, but I was an even bigger idiot back then."
"I can vouch for the idiocy of present-day Louis," she teased, kissing his nose back in response.
He smiled through his embarrassment and looked down again. He noticed the big circular scorch mark that adorned her upper left arm, and frowned.
"And how'd that happen?" he asked, this time more out of concern than curiosity.
"Oh, that," she sighed. She barely looked at it now; a sign of her past self, before she found AJ again. "It's a brand."
"Come again?" he said, his eyes darting from the mark to Clem's golden, sad eyes.
"It was after I was left alone with AJ. We were on the road, scavenging what we could find, and barely making it through the day. One day someone found me. A woman named Ava, who introduced me to her community: called themselves the New Frontier. This was like an initiation-type thing."
"Did they hurt you?" he asked, his voice dropping an octave in a protective growl.
Clem laughed, and gave him a soft kiss. "Not more than I hurt them; believe me," she promised, which calmed him down a bit.
She traced his body with her hands, admiring his good shape. She stopped when she got to the scar that lined his abdomen. It was small, about the size of a peanut in the shape of an X. "What about this one?"
"Oh that? I was lightly stabbed," he said nonchalantly.
"I'm sorry, you were stabbed?" she exclaimed, raising her eyebrows at the calmness with which he said it.
"Lightly stabbed," he corrected, as if that made a difference. "It was four years after the outbreak. At that time, Mrs. Martin was still around and the safe zone was a lot wider. Violet and I made a supply run into a nearby town, but we ran into this dude."
"Sounds familiar," she said, thinking about Abel and shuddering.
"Yeah, well, luckily this one didn't get away," he said, smiling, "he was trying to make for the supplies we'd gathered, and I attacked him. I was dumb, of course, and got myself stabbed in the belly. When Vi heard the ruckus, she burst into the room and killed him. It was her first and last human kill," he said solemnly, closing his eyes. "I owe her my life."
"Must have been hard for her," she whispered. She remembered her first human kill every day of her life, and every day it haunted her. "I'm glad she saved you, though," she told him, nuzzling her head into the crook of his neck.
They stayed silent for a while after that, basking in each other's company. The moonlight was shining on them by now, though the heat had not subsided. After a few minutes, the sheer heat of cuddling was unbearable, but neither dared move a muscle lest they ruin this perfect moment.
Looking into each other's eyes, Louis tipped her chin upwards and planted a tender kiss on her lips. He studied her beautiful features. The way her cheeks flushed when she smiled; her golden eyes that seemed to house the contents of the universe; and the scar over her right eyebrow.
He carefully brushed away a strand of curly hair away from her forehead and studied the scar. It was as tiny as the one on his abdomen, and had a ragged shape to it. It was almost lost when she creased her brow and her eyebrows went up.
"What're you doing?" she asked, looking into his chocolate brown eyes. He had a way to swoon her without uttering a single word. When she was with him, her fears seemed to vanish. Her isolation made less and less sense every passing second of their relationship, and she felt loved. Something she hadn't felt in a long time, apart from AJ.
"What's the story behind this scar?" he asked in a whisper, as if he was afraid of the answer.
Clem looked up instinctively and ran her fingers through the outline of the scar. She closed her eyes, and frowned when the memory of how she got it swam into her mind's eye. Unbidden, tears trickled down her face, while she furiously wiped them away.
"Oh shit, I'm sorry," Louis said quickly, pressing her body to his tightly, "you don't have to say anything if you don't want to."
Clementine thought back on their relationship. She'd spent a long time not trusting anyone, and when she finally found someone she could trust as much as she did AJ, she was going to throw it away? No, she had to be honest with him.
"It's okay," she told him, nodding as she pulled away slightly, "it was from when I was learning to drive. My friend Kenny was teaching me. At one point, I lost control of the wheel and we crashed into a boulder on the side of the road. Fortunately, AJ and I were mostly fine, though I got this scar from bumping into the wheel. Kenny, however…" she trailed off, looking up into the window and staring at the crescent moon.
"What – what happened to him, if you don't mind me asking?" he said softly, caressing her hair and planting a soft kiss on her forehead.
"He was launched through the windshield, and was paralyzed. He couldn't feel his legs, and I tried to get him up. But before I knew it, a group of walkers surrounded us from the forest, and were banging on the car to get to AJ. Kenny begged me to go get AJ and leave him there. I didn't want to. I wanted to save him. He pleaded, for my sake and for AJ's that I leave. And I did. I grabbed AJ and left one of my best friends to die." She sighed, "He died because of me," she breathed, fresh tears replacing the old, now unstopped by a distraught Clementine.
"Bullshit," said Louis, squeezing her tightly, "he died to protect you and AJ. I never met him, but if that's the type of man he was, he would never hold it against you. And you shouldn't either. What happened, it sucks, but you shouldn't beat yourself up over it."
"But it's true," she whispered, not daring to meet her eye and see a look of disgust in them.
"Baby," Louis said, tipping her chin up and making her look at him. But what she found in his eyes was not disgust, but sympathy. She found understanding, and a silent forgiveness of her sins, even if he didn't think she had any to atone for in the first place. With a simple look, he was conveying that everything would be fine, and that she was lucky to be alive. "You are not responsible for Kenny's death, end of story. He sacrificed himself bravely for you, and you should be thankful for it. And judging by the little dude over there, I'd say you've honored his sacrifice greatly."
Clementine nodded slowly with a side glance at AJ, fast asleep on his own bed. As Clem held Louis for dear life, the boy started humming. It wasn't any song in particular; not any that Clem knew anyway. But it was full of emotion. It was a soft sound, ranging from low notes to high ones that Louis couldn't really hit, but tried to nonetheless. It made Clem feel safe.
After a few minutes of some very improvised humming, Louis felt Clem's breathing even itself out as she dozed off into a light sleep. He looked down at her slender form and sighed. She was perfect, he thought. Even through her past trauma, she still held a light in her heart that shone bright enough for others to be guided. And in the past months, he'd been guided by it more than once. He nuzzled into her and sighed once more before whispering,
"I love you, Clementine."