Javier Garcia let out a sigh as he observed the streets of New Richmond around him. The past few days of repairing the damage were quite long, but they managed to get the muertos, or walkers as some called them, cleared out of the city with the help of Paul "Jesus" Monroe and his allies from his community. Now the survivors residing in New Richmond could walk down the streets without fear again.
Even though Kate and Gabe had survived this ordeal, his brother, David, did not. He caused his own death upon taking Gabe and leaving. Javi decided then he would keep looking out for Gabriel.
In the meantime, he had agreed with Kate that they should start a family, but not right at this moment. It was too soon after the whole New Frontier fiasco, after all.
Speaking of the New Frontier, after a talk from Jesus, Javier decided to step up and help lead the New Frontier, that way, they could make sure that it would be a safer place and that no more innocent settlements would be raided by them. Things were finally starting to look up.
"Hey, Javi?"
Javi was pulled out of his thoughts when he saw Gabe walking over to him. "Yeah, buddy?"
"Have you seen Clementine anywhere?"
That caught Javi by surprise. He had almost forgotten to tell Gabe...
"She's down by the apartment we stayed at before. She's... getting ready to leave."
Gabe's eyes widened in surprise, taken aback by this. "She's leaving?"
"Yeah. She's gonna go find AJ." Javier explained to him. "You know how much she's been wanting to find him."
Gabe looked down, a bit upset hearing this. Clem was leaving them...?
The former baseball player noticed his nephew's expression. "Hey... you can go talk to her, you know?"
"You sure?" Gabe questioned.
"Yeah. I think you and her have some things you need to talk about." Javier told him, then gave a smile. "Go on, go hang out with your girlfriend."
"Ha ha..." Gabe muttered, shaking his head at his uncle's teasing before running off to the apartment.
Clementine sighed as she finished packing the last of her supplies. "That should be enough..."
She brushed a bang aside as she zipped the bag up. She was determined to head out as soon as she could. She needed to know that AJ was okay... her little goofball was out there, somewhere, and she wasn't going to rest easily until she saw him again.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door, which caused her to jump in surprise as she snapped out of her thoughts, but calmed down. "It's open." she called.
The door creaked open and Gabe stepped in, which surprised her a bit. "Oh. Hey, Gabe..." she greeted, cracking a smile.
"Hey, Clem-" Gabe began, but cut himself off when he saw her new haircut. His brown eyes widened in surprise as he felt his face heat up. "Oh, wow... she looks so cute..."
Clem appeared to notice his expression. "Uh, Gabe?"
Gabe blinked, quickly snapping out of it, but the blush remained. "Y-Yeah?"
"You okay?"
"Uh, yeah. I'm good." Gabe nodded, then quickly complimented, "N-Nice haircut you have there."
She ran a hand through her bangs at that. "Um, thanks..."
Gabe's expression then fell. "I... I heard you're leaving..."
Clementine paused hearing that. After a moment, she sighed and looked at Gabe with an apologetic expression. "... yeah. I am."
The teen looked down at that. He felt... a bit hurt. He had grown pretty close to Clem during the situation with the raids and the New Frontier. And now that she was leaving... he didn't know what to think. "Oh..."
"I'm sorry, Gabe..." Clementine told him with a sigh. "But I have to find AJ. He's out there somewhere."
"When are you leaving...?"
The girl looked down for a moment before answering, "As soon as I get my stuff ready."
Gabe then walked up to her with a hopeful expression. "Let me come with you. I can help."
Clementine looked up in surprise hearing that. "Gabe, no-"
"You shouldn't have to do this by yourself." Gabe insisted.
Clem shook her head. "Your family is here. You should stay with them..."
Gabe's face fell before recovering. "Clem, I'm serious. I want to come with you. Help you find him."
Clementine didn't understand why Gabe was so persistent. His family was here, in Richmond. He should stay here with them, help them sort this out. But she noticed that Gabe had a determined look in his eyes, a look that told Clementine he wouldn't be easily convinced.
She let out a sigh once more, closing her eyes for a moment. Gabe's face softened before he gently took ahold of Clem's hand, which caused her to open her eyes in surprise and found her cheeks heating up at the contact. She stared up into Gabe's brown eyes, which were so sincere at the moment. "You've been out there by yourself for a long time... you don't have to be alone this time, though." he told her, placing his other hand atop her own.
Clem didn't know what to say upon hearing those words. Gabe was right... she HAD been out all alone for a long time... ever since...
She hesitated for a moment. "Gabe... I-"
Seeing that Gabe wasn't going to change his mind, she sighed, shaking her head before cracking a smile. "Guess that you won't take no for an answer, huh, dork?"
Gabe smiled back at her. "Probably not."
This earned a chuckle from Clem, which made Gabe smile at that. "I guess that settles it. We'll head out together."
"Wait, wait, you should probably let Javi and Kate know, first. Get their approval." Clem then pointed out. Gabe's eyes nearly doubled in size upon realizing that. He had almost forgotten!
"Oh! Right..." he said, mentally kicking himself for failing to think of that.
Upon realizing that he was still holding Clementine's hand, he blushed a bit and let go. "I'll, um, go ask them now..." he said, scratching the back of his head as he started to leave the apartment.
"Hey, Gabe?"
The teenage boy paused and turned back to Clem, who walked towards him. "Yeah?"
She suddenly hugged him, which took him by surprise. "Thank you..." she whispered sincerely.
Gabe smiled and returned the hug. "You're welcome."
They embraced each other for several more moments. Gabe didn't want it to end, but he knew he had to go talk to Javi and Kate, so he broke the hug. "I'll, uh, catch up with you later." he told her. Clementine nodded before she suddenly gave him a kiss on the cheek. Gabe went rigid in surprise, blushing from it as he felt his heart nearly skip a beat.
After a moment, Clem pulled away, giving a shy smile. "You should probably go tell them, now..."
"Right. Right..." Gabe turned around and opened the door, unable to believe what had just happened, blushing, but inwardly smiling as he left, shutting the door behind him.
Kate set down a box of supplies on top of a desk, sighing upon doing so. "That's the last of them."
Javier walked over to her with a smile. "There we go, then."
The two were currently hanging out by the playground, having just finished sorting the supplies that the community managed to save during the walker attack, which was thankfully, quite a bit.
"Hey, Javi, have you seen Gabe?" Kate then asked as she turned to look at the former baseball player. "I haven't seen him anywhere today..."
"He... He went to talk to Clementine. She'll be leaving to find AJ soon." Javi explained to her.
"Oh... I see." Kate realized, looking at the ground. She began to speak, but she stopped herself when they heard footsteps. They turned around and saw Gabe approaching the two of them with a faint blush on his face.
"There you are." Kate smiled, then rose an eyebrow. "Are you blushing?"
"No." Gabe denied almost immediately as he crossed his arms.
Javier merely gave a knowing smirk. "Uh huh..."
Kate chuckled, shaking her head at the antics before she turned back to Gabe. "Do you need something?"
Gabe sighed. "Here it goes..." he thought before looking back at his stepmother and uncle. "I want to go with Clementine."
Kate, and even Javi's eyes widened with surprise upon hearing that statement. "What?"
"Gabe, no, you have to-"
"I know what you're gonna say, Kate." Gabe interrupted her, unfolding his arms. "But I... I just don't want Clem to have to be out there alone again. I want to help her find AJ."
"Gabe... honey... the muertos might still be out there." Kate told him, placing her hands on his shoulders as she bent down to his eye level. "I know you like Clem, but-"
"You're right. I do like her." Gabe admitted. "But this is something that I've gotta do."
"Kate..." Javi placed a hand on Kate's shoulder, giving her a gentle look. "It's what he wants."
The brown haired woman looked up at the man with hesitance in her eyes, unsure of what to think of all this. Kate looked back at her stepson, who's eyes shined with determination. Realizing that there was no convincing Gabriel otherwise, she pulled him into a hug, which he returned.
"You come back safe..."
Some time later, Kate and Javi had finished helping Gabe pack up for his trip, making sure that he had enough ammo and that he had a spare weapon on him, just in case. Kate double checked to see that he had water and food as well.
"Kate, I'm fine..." Gabe told his stepmother as they headed to meet with Clementine near the gates.
"I know... I know you are. I'm just making sure." Kate replied, still sad that Gabe was leaving.
"He'll be alright, Kate. Don't worry." Javi assured her as they walked around a corner, finding Clem herself with her gear ready waiting for them.
Gabe paused in surprise as he saw that she now wore a type of red jacket over her outfit. "Wow..." he found himself saying out loud without realizing it. Javier, however, noticed it and hid a smile at that.
The teenage girl smiled at the trio upon seeing them approach. "Hey. You ready?"
"Yeah..." Gabe nodded before they headed towards the gate, which wasn't very far now. The guards opened it for them as they stepped out of New Richmond.
Clementine and Gabe walked ahead of Javier and Kate before stopping, turning back to look at them. The two teens gave the adults a smile, which they returned. Gabe looked over at his family before he walked up to them, giving them both a hug.
"Be careful out there..." Kate told him gently.
"I will, Kate... I will." the brown haired teen promised her.
"We'll be here." Javier said to him before they eventually broke the hug. The man then looked over at Clementine, giving her a smile. "See you soon, Clem. Good luck, out there."
The teen nodded, smiling softly as Gabe walked back to Clementine. She smiled at him before gently taking his hand in her's. "You ready to head out?"
Gabe smiled back at her. "You bet."
Together, the two began to walk away from the gate hand in hand. As they did, they turned to wave goodbye to Javi and Kate, who had their arms wrapped around each other as they waved back, silently wishing them good luck along the way. The two looked at them one more time before turning around, heading back into New Richmond.
Clem and Gabe exchanged another smile as they headed down the road. Whatever lied ahead of them on their journey, they would be ready. They would find AJ together, no matter what.