Luke is startled, when a certain little girl, displays a shocking reaction to a spider. ONE-SHOT.
This story came to mind after I replayed Season 1 of TWDG... I started thinking about Clem's reaction to Kenny saying, "You're lucky you don't have spiders in your hair!" And this was the result.
It takes place during Season 2, in the cabin. (Lets just pretend they were there a little longer.)
Enjoy.
Sarah shifted from her spot in the bed, "Clementine, are you awake?"
"Yeah." Clementine answered, tiredness in her voice.
"Are you sleepy?" Sarah asked.
"Mm-hm." Clementine gave a small nod.
"Wanna read a book?" Sarah hoped she would say yes.
"...Sure." Clementine answered quietly.
"Okay!" Sarah exclaimed, happily, jumping out of bed and flipping on the light switch. She suddenly froze, eyes focused on the wall.
"Clem," She called, gaining the girl's attention.
Clementine sat up and looked over to her friend. "What?" She questioned.
"Come look at this." Sarah beckoned her friend over. "It's so big!"
Clementine hopped down from the bed and walked over to her friend. "What is it?" She turned her gaze to the spot on the wall the Sarah was pointing to before her eyes widened and she let out a yell. "Oh my God!" She yelped, taking a few steps away.
Sarah asked in concern, "Clementine, are you okay?"
"Kill it! Kill it, Sarah!" Clementine shrieked.
"I...I can't." Sarah stuttered. She didn't want to touch that thing.
"Please!" Clementine begged.
Seeing she couldn't convince the girl to do so, Clementine turned away, heading for the door.
"Where are you going?" Sarah called after her.
"I can't sleep in here! Lets just go downstairs." Clementine replied.
"Wait. Its okay, Clem. I don't think its poisonous or anything." Sarah attempted to mollify the girl.
"It doesn't matter if it's poisonous or not. I don't want to get bit!" Clementine argued back.
Noticing the tears welling up in the younger girl's eyes, Sarah pulled her friend into a hug.
"It won't bite you."
"How do you know?" Clementine asked, completely doubtful that the girl knew what she was talking about.
"It won't bite you, unless you mess with it." Sarah said, voice full of confidence. "My dad told me spiders don't bite people."
Clementine narrowed her eyes, trying to pull out of the hug. "...He might be lying."
"Okay..." Sarah released the girl from her grip. "Maybe we can get dad to put it outside." Sarah suggested as she made her way back to the wall. Eyes scanning the wall, she realized the spider was nowhere to be seen. "Oh my gosh..."
"What now?" Clementine asked.
"Its gone." Sarah answered.
"What?!" Clementine demanded, eyes going wide.
"Its gone." Sarah repeated.
"Where'd it go!" Clementine looked around.
"I don't know." Sarah shrugged.
"That's it. I can't stay in here. Come on, Sarah."
"Clem-" Sarah begins, but never got to finish before Clementine was already gone.
Without waiting for a response, the girl had left the room. She sped out into the hallway, bumping into Luke, who was coming out from the bathroom.
"Clem?" He asked.
"L-Luke!" She tossed herself into his arms, surprising him.
"What's wrong?" He knelt to her level, looking into her fearful eyes.
"Clementine?" He called, as the girl begin to tug on his shirt.
"There's...There's a...Luke...Luke-" She couldn't even get the words out.
She was freaking out, Luke could tell.
"Clementine, calm down. Just take a deep breath." He gripped her shoulders. "Tell me what happened."
The little girl was speaking so fast, that it was hard to understand her. Luke had only managed to grasp a few words from her broken speech as the child spoke up again. "...A spider...huge...wall..."
"What are you trying to tell me?!" He asked. He was getting worried now.
"Sp-Sp-Sp-iiiiiiiid-DER!" Clementine squeaked.
"A spider?" He questioned.
"Kill it!" She cried.
"Luke!" Another voice called.
Luke quickly looked over to Sarah, who came running out her bedroom to join the two in the hall.
"Sarah, what's going on?" He asked.
"There's a spider on the wall." Sarah answered.
"A giant s-s-spi-spider!" Clementine added, frantically.
"Don't worry, Clem. Luke will get rid of it." Sarah hugged the girl, looking at Luke, who stood back up. "Right Luke?"
"Uh...Yeah. Sure." Opening the door, he walked into the room. "Where is it?
"It was on the wall, near the light, but it left." Sarah voiced.
"So...You guys don't even know where it is?" He pointed out.
"Nope. Last we saw it, it was over there." She pointed to the wall.
"Well, it seems like it's gone now." Luke said, scratching his head.
"Find it!" Clementine pleaded.
"Okay." Luke agreed, seeing how rattled up Clementine was. "Where was it going?"
"I don't know. It wasn't moving...We turned around for a minute and then it was gone." Sarah replied.
"Luuuuuuke!" Clementine whined.
"Just leave, Clem. I'll get rid of it." Luke said, shooing the child away.
"I can't. It might jump out and bite me!" Clementine whimpered.
"It won't...Just run." He ordered, but the little girl wasn't moving. "Hurry up."
He looked to Clementine, who was trembling.
"Sarah, take her downstairs." He directed.
Sarah nodded. "Okay. Come on, Clem." She took her hand and led the girl out of the room.
Left alone, Luke begins to scan the room for the spider.
"What's going on?" Came an irritated voice.
"Spider." Was all he cared to say.
"What the hell are you talkin' about?"
"The girls are scared of a spider. Luke explained, turning to Nick. "I'm getting rid of it."
"Oh...Where is it?" Nick asked.
Luke groaned. "I don't know. Looking for it now."
"Okay. Where are the girls?" Nick wondered.
"Downstairs." Luke answered, not bothering to turn to the other man.
Luke continued his search, completely unaware of the mischievous smirk that his friend wore on his face as Nick made his way downstairs.
"Nick!" Sarah called when she saw him enter the living room.
"Hey." Nick greeted.
"Nick, there's a huge spider in our room!" Sarah exclaimed.
"Yeah I know." Nick replied.
"Did you see it?" Sarah asked.
Nick decided he should mess with them a bit. "Yeah." He smirked.
"You guys found it?" Clementine asked.
"Yep." Nick nodded, still smirking.
"Where is it?" Sarah gave him a weird look. "You didn't kill it, did you?"
Nick sat in between the two, reaching his hand in his pocket, "...Its in my pocket."
"AHHHH!" Clementine screamed, jumping away from him.
"You're lying." Sarah crossed her arms.
"No, seriously..." He cupped his hands together, nearly laughing at the look of fear and disgust on Clementine's face.
"No, it's not." Sarah said, unhappy that he was terrorizing her friend.
"I hate you, Nick!" Clementine huffed in annoyance.
"Damn!" Came a voice from upstairs. A few minutes later, Luke came down the step, with a piece of paper in hand.
"You got it?" Sarah asked, hoping up and going over to Luke. "Lemme see!"
"Yeah." Luke nodded, showing her the paper. Clementine, interested to make her way over, but after seeing the spider again, she let out a gasp, clinging to Sarah's sleeve. "And, ya'll stop the screaming, you're gonna wake everyone up." Luke scolded.
"Is it dead?" Clementine asked, noticing it wasn't moving.
"Uh, No..." Luke responded awkwardly. "Probably just scared."
Nick walked over to look that the "huge spider" the girls were complaining about. "Holy shit, that's a big fucking spider!" Nick exclaimed.
"We told you." Clementine snapped.
"It doesn't look so scary." Luke said.
"Yes it does!" Sarah argued.
"Are you kidding me?" Nick asked.
"Its tiny." Luke cut in.
"How's it tiny? It's huge!" Clementine said, shaking her head.
"I've seen bigger." Luke shrugged.
"Can you just kill it already?!" Clementine replied, angrily.
Nick chuckled. "You guys are seriously scared of a spider.
"Yes." Clementine answered. "Now, kill it..."
"Let me hold that, Luke." He said, taking the paper, turning to Clem, he smirked. "Wanna hold it, Clem?"
"NO!" The girl stepped away from him.
"C'mon!" Nick pressed. He was having fun teasing her.
"No! Get that thing away from me!"
"I'ma put it on you when you're sleeping." Nick laughed.
"Stop it!" She squeaked, hiding behind Luke.
"Nick, knock it off man. She's scared, alright."
"Yeah, I can see that." Nick said, continuing to laugh. "What are you, the personal 'spider guard'?"
Luke ignored him, turning back to Clementine. "It's okay, Clem. We're gonna put it outside."
"No. Not outside." Clementine shook her head, looking panicked.
"Why not?" Luke asked in confusion.
"It might crawl back in." Clementine said. "You have to kill it."
"What if he has a family?"
"So what."
"Don't you think they'd be sad?" Luke probed.
"He's a freaking spider Luke!" Clementine said, sounding exasperated.
"Yeah?"
"Okay...Would you still be scared if a murder had you cornered with a butter knife?" She asked, arms crossed, a defensive look on her face.
Nick laughed. "A butter knife?"
"I...I don't know, I guess..." Luke answered with a confused look on his face.
"Exactly." Clementine responded. "So, can you please, please kill it?"
"Okay. Okay, I'll kill it." Luke said, taking the paper back from Nick. "You and Sarah should get back to bed.
Clementine shook her head. "I'm not going back up there."
"Why?" Nick asked, amused at the girl's behavior.
"Because...There might be more. It may have laid eggs."
"Its a...boy spider. He can't have babies." Luke said, hoping she would buy it.
"How do you know that?" She asked. She was too smart for her own good.
"I just do." Luke answered, hoping she would drop it.
"I don't want to go back in there." Clementine laid on the couch.
"Fine." Luke sighed. "Just stay here with Sarah. Alright?"
"Okay."
Walking away, Luke went to the back door. Opening it, he placed the paper on the ground. "Go on. Get out of here, little fella'." As he waited for it to crawl away, he let his mind wander to Clementine. Her reaction had been quite the sight to see, and not in a good way. He couldn't help but feel sorry for her when Nick tried to add onto the girl's fear, he'd have to have a talk with him about that.
"'Kay, Clem. Its dead." He called as he re-entered the living room. "Clem- She's sleeping?" He asked in disbelief, noticing her small figure laid out on the couch.
"Yeah." Nick responded.
"She was already tired." Sarah begins with a yarn. "The spider just scared her."
"Sarah, you go on to bed." Luke order, gently. "I need to talk to Nick."
"What about, Clem?" Sarah looked over to the young girl, still a bit concerned for her friend.
"I'll, uh, carry her up to ya." Luke said.
"Okay. Night, Luke. Night, Nick!"
Luke waited until she was gone before turning to Nick. He took a seat, next to Clementine sleeping form and let out a sigh. "Don't you think that was a little harsh?"
"What?"
"Scaring her."
"Naw. I think it was actually rather funny." Nick said flatly.
"Yeah, well, it wasn't." Luke glared at him.
Nick chuckled, ignoring his friend's glare. "You have to admit you wanted to laugh."
"No... I think you're the only one who found it funny, Nick." Luke hissed back. Why could he not understand that scaring little kids wasn't very funny. Especially, when that kid was Clementine. That little girl was tough as nails, wasn't scared of anything. So seeing her so terror-stricken, Luke had to admit, frightened him a bit.
"Whatever." Nick huffed. Luke needed to loosen up.
"...She acts so tough..." Luke muttered. "I wouldn't expect her to be afraid of anything, let alone a spider."
"Everyone's scared of something." Nick shrugged.
"Yeah, but you didn't see her, Nick." He spoke solemnly. "The kid was petrified. I never thought I'd see her like that...I know she gets scared, but I never thought she'd show it... at least not like that."
Nick turned to the girl, starting to feel bad for teasing her.
"Just think about it, man." Luke continued. "This is Clementine, we're talkin' about. The same little girl who sewed up her own arm."
He noticed Nick's face adopted a look of guilt.
Nick sighed. "Yeah, yeah. Jesus, thanks for the guilt trip."
"I'm just saying."
"Yeah, yeah. I should say sorry." Nick ran a hand the his hair, before quickly turning away from the girl. The guilt was going to eat him up if he stayed there any longer.
"Where are you going?" Luke called.
"Back to bed." Nick replied. "I'll apologize to her in the morning." With that, he quickly made his way upstairs and into his room.
"Okay." Luke let out a sigh, turning to Clementine. "Lets get you to bed, Clem." He stood up, scooping the girl up into his arms. She stirred a bit, but didn't wake.
He carried her upstairs and into the bedroom. Gently placing her on the bed next to Sarah, who was sound asleep. He pulled the blanket over-top of the girl's small body.
"Luke?" Came a small, sleepy voice, just as he was about to leave, along with a gentle tug on his shirt.
"Yeah, Clem?" He knelt at her bedside as she cracked her eyes open.
"Did you kill the spider?" She asked, worriedly.
"Yeah...Yeah, I did." He lied.
Clementine was silent for a moment before she spoke again. "You let it go, didn't you?"
Damn, the girl was too smart for her own good. "...Yeah...Clem," He confessed, and silently wished that she wouldn't be too mad at him.
"Its okay. I'm glad you let it go." Clementine whispered.
"You are?" Luke asked, shocked.
"Yeah. It probably had a family."
"Yeah. It probably did." He agreed with a small smile. "Get some rest, Clem." He whispered, taking her hat off her head and placing it on the table, beside the bed.
"I'll see you in the morning." He stroked a hand over her hair.
"Okay."
"Sleep good, okay?" He moved his hand over her cheek, before pulling away.
"Yeah..." Clem gave a weak little nod. "Luke?"
"Yes?"
"If there is another spider will you get rid of it too?" She asked.
"Of course. That's what the "spider guard" is for."
Clementine let out a small giggle. "Can you guard me from Nick too."
"He didn't mean it."
"I know...but just... in case, I don't want him to really put a spider on me..."
"...'Course. I'll make sure no spiders get within five feet of you."
"Good." Clementine nodded her approval.
"And don't worry about Nick, we'll get him back." He said, giving her a roguish smile.
Clementine smirked, liking the sound of that. "Thank you." She whispered, eyes fluttering shut.
"Anytime, Clem." He stood and made his way to the door.
Clementine smiled, feeling content. "'Night, Luke."
"Goodnight, kiddo." He called back as he shut the door, a small smile playing on his own lips, as he headed off to his own room...hoping to catch some sleep.
A/N: Okay, guys. So, I have another story that I wrote a while ago, which is kinda crazy, because I post 3 other fics before it. Anyway, that should be up soon. Also, I have the next chapter to "A Promise" written, I just need to make a few revisions. Then, I'll post that.
Thank you everyone for reading. You guys are awesome!