AN: Pardon my French, but holy shit! Ten reviews after one chapter?! That's insane! I'm so glad you guys are enjoying this as much as I am – here comes the next chapter! Btw if you have any questions, or are confused about what I've written, just shoot me a message and I'll answer ya

"You're not gonna make me do homework, are you?" I complain as Lee hands me a book on (what else?) American history. The thing looks so thick that it'd probably kill a person if you dropped it high enough, which also means I won't remember half the stuff in here. I know that Lee loved teaching back in the day, but what's the point in learning this stuff anymore? It's not as if it's going to matter to a walker that you know about the American Civil War!

And why did he invite Sarah, too?

"It's not like that," Lee explains, sitting across from Sarah and I inside one of the tents. "But this stuff is important – it's a good thing to know about your country's past. History in general is meaningful, because it can cause you to appreciate what you have, and to learn from our mistakes."

I really want to make some crack about people back then not having to deal with walkers everywhere they went, but that probably wouldn't go over very well. Besides, Sarah's already started reading the first chapter of this stupid thing, and I don't want to take her hobby away from her. Sarah sure does love to read.

"Where's everyone else?" I ask, flipping through pages while trying to look for some pictures. "I thought Luke and Bonnie were going to be here."

"They… sigh… they're out hunting with Lilly somewhere. She told me to hold down the fort with you guys."

"So we got ditched?" I conclude with disbelief, folding my arms over my chest. "How is that fair? We can handle ourselves just fine! It's dangerous out there, we should be helping them!"

"Clem, you're still on the crutches. You need time to heal properly," Lee reminds me, opening up his book to the first chapter as well.

"Then why didn't they bring you along with them?"

Uh oh… I think I may have stepped too far with that one. Lee looks kind of hurt, and I'm guessing that he's pretty pissed too about them leaving him behind. It must be even worse for him – they probably just see him as a burden; a burden with one arm.

"Let's just get through this, alright? Please, Clementine? History's not so boring once you get into it," Lee advises, flipping through some of the pages. "So it's… Sarah, right? How's about you start us off?"

"Umm… okay," she agrees, as if suddenly realizing that it's not just her in the room anymore, "The American Civil war started in 1861…"

…..

"They had cannons at Parker's Run," I chime in as Sarah stops reading the paragraph, "It was actually pretty cool, but none of them worked anymore. I think you would've liked it, Lee."

"Actually," he admits, rubbing the back of his neck, "I've seen enough history museums to last a lifetime. Any more of them and I'd probably explode."

"Just like the cannon!"

"Ha ha, yeah, Clem. Just like – "

"Am I intruding here?"

Sarah and I both turn around to see Kenny poking his head in through the flap of the tent; his bad eye having been covered with a fresh bandage. I'm glad he managed to get it cleaned up a little bit at least – he seems a little less menacing now.

Lee, of course, isn't looking at him, and instead stares at the ground in annoyance. There's some real bad blood going on here, that's for sure.

Yesterday's conversation told me why that is.

"Just thought I'd take you up on that offer to go fishin' today, Clem," he continues, casting Lee a sideways glance. "If that's alright with the "professor" over here."

"Is that okay, Lee? I promised him I'd go today," I ask, hoping that he wouldn't think that I'm choosing Kenny over him. I don't want to lose him over something like this.

Lee doesn't move an inch, and I take that as the only form of acceptance that I'll ever hope to get.

"Alright, let's get going. There's a couple of canoes we can borrow from one of the other groups. One of the guys told me it's fine," he then turns back towards Sarah, "Oh, and, umm, Arvo was looking for ya earlier. He said he'd show you some medical stuff if you wanted to."

"Sack of shit…" Lee murmurs, shaking his head in annoyance.

"You know, maybe you should grow up sometime, Lee. With all the hospitality you've gotten, you're acting awfully like a spoiled brat."

Oh no.

"Guys…" I warn, not wanting them to start a fight. Especially not in front of my fifteen year old friend. "Please don't do this."

The atmosphere is chilly and hostile, an odd combination I know. But Lee honestly looks ready to murder Kenny, and he'd probably try to if it weren't for me standing here.

"Sarah, maybe you should go look for Arvo. I'll talk to you later, okay?" I say quietly, hearing no argument from her as she quickly jogs outside. She probably thinks that Lee's just as scary as Kenny appeared to be.

She might be right about that, too.

"Let me make this perfectly clear," Lee states, standing and getting about two feet away from Kenny's face. "You don't talk to me – ever. You don't come within ten feet of me. In case your thick fucking brain can't register that, it's a fucking restraining order on your ass. I don't give a shit what you think of me, and if I get kicked out of here because of it, then so be it. But if you even think about fucking with me in any shape or form, I swear to Christ a gun to your forehead will be the last thing you ever see, got it? You're a fucking disgrace, and the only reason I didn't shoot you on sight was because of this girl right here."

"You still think I'm a piece of shit, don't ya? Do you have any idea what I've been through?! Duck is dead… Katjaa and Sarita are dead… so don't you dare think you're the only one who's lost something here!"

"You think I give a damn about what happens to you?!"

"LEE!" I gasp, horrified that he'd go so far as to say something like that about Duck. To tell you the truth, I don't think he actually means it, but he sounds so convincing.

"See?! I knew it! I fucking knew it all along!" Kenny jabs accusingly, "You never gave a rat's ass about me or my family ever! You were just some low-life, murdering criminal who got lucky and convinced a little girl to follow you around! That was your excuse! You were supposed to be in fucking prison!"

There's a huge, pulsing vein pumping on the side of Lee's neck, and I've never seen him this angry before. Is shit going to fall apart already? It can't! Not yet! We just got here, for crying out loud!

"Yeah, I've fucked up before! Everyone has!" Lee pointing a finger into Kenny's chest, "But you ain't exactly an angel yourself, either!"

"I saved your life!"

"YOU LEFT ME FOR DEAD!" Lee booms, frightening me a little bit. Even Kenny seems a little taken aback at this. "The second that things got hairy you bolted – no remorse or anything! So don't give me some "woe is me" bullshit, because I've got absolutely no sympathy left for you, Kenny. We're finished."

I don't know what to do now. Their hatred of each other is so intense that I don't think trying to intervene will do anything. In fact, it'll probably just make things ten times worse. Normally, if it was just a fight or something, then time would probably heal their wounds. But this… this has left scars. Deep, permanent scars that won't ever go away. Their relationship won't be patched up – I'm not as naïve as the nine year old girl that I used to be.

"Let's go, Clementine," Kenny says quietly, turning outside and not waiting for me to follow him.

I shake my head in disappointment at Lee, but he doesn't flinch. In fact, I don't see any regret at all – probably because he doesn't feel any right now.

Starting my way out, I'm interrupted as Lee clears his throat.

"Clem wait," he says, holding out his pistol to me, "Be safe, alright?"

I don't know if he means from walkers or from Kenny.

…

As I step out into the winter air, the snowflakes lightly hit my face; melting against my skin as they land. If it weren't so cold outside, it probably would've felt kind of refreshing, but now they're just an annoyance. Kenny's waiting for me a little ways ahead, leaning against a wooden pole.

"You ready?" he asks a little shakily, to which I nod. "Alright then, let's see what we can catch out there."

Making our way down to the bank of the lake, Kenny drags one of the canoes into the water while I stand and "guard" some of the fishing poles. It's not as if Kenny would let me help him move the boat, not with me still on crutches at least.

"How are you holding up, anyway?" Kenny asks, grunting as he pulls the last weight of the boat into the freezing cold water. "Does it still hurt at all?"

"I can handle it, don't worry."

"Figured as much," Kenny smirks, "You're tough as hell, Clementine. It can't be easy, but you're doing great. I don't know if I could've handled it if I was in your shoes."

Noticing my downward expression as he finishes, Kenny helps me into the canoe without falling in.

"I guess my crutches wouldn't work as a paddle, would they?" I quip jokingly, splashing out a little bit.

"Well, they might," Kenny chuckles, handing me a real paddle, "but we'd be out here well into the next morning. Let's just start with a J-stroke…"

After several minutes of showing me what to do, I can safely say that I'm an expert canoe paddler – okay, maybe I'm not quite at an expert level yet, but at least we're moving now.

Sitting out in a canoe in the middle of the lake… it's sort of breathtaking. I'd never seen Lake Michigan before, or any of the Great lakes for that matter, but I'm glad some good came out of this apocalypse. The water's not perfectly clear, but occasionally you can see some life going on underneath the depths.

Oh!

"I think I saw one!" I call out, pointing a little ways to the left. "Should we try catching it?"

"Hold your horses, cowgirl," Kenny slows me down, carefully turning around in the canoe to talk to me. "We don't want to scare it off by moving around too quickly. Fishing's a game of patience – it takes time."

"Well, how much time?"

"Clementine…"

And so it goes on for a while, as Kenny hooks on a piece of rabbit meat to the end of the fishing rod instead of a worm, since we don't exactly have a large supply of things to choose from.

"What are we catching? Sharks?" I laugh, but at the same time thinking of how cool that would actually be. What was that movie where the big shark ate everybody it got close to…

"You definitely won't find one of those around these parts," Kenny smiles, tossing the line out and handing the rod over to me. "I don't even know if this'll work, but if you feel a tug on the line, just pull that reel backwards on the end there. See?"

Testing it out a little bit, I can't help but think about how cool this seems. I've never gotten to fish before, much less ridden in a canoe. It's moments like these that I can tell that Kenny's been a dad before. I bet he and Duck used to do father-son trips like this all the time.

Sigh… It's times like these where I wish my old friend was still here with us.

"So…" Kenny trails off, leaning his head back slightly and shutting his eyes, "I guess you kind of figured out what happened when…"

"Lee told me, yeah…"

"…did he tell you everything? Even what happened… after?"

"Yeah…"

"Oh boy," Kenny sighs, rubbing his temples together as I continue to watch for any fish to come. I hope it's soon – I don't like where this conversation's going. "Look, that guy who just left like that… I was a different person then, and so was he. We were bitter, resentful and… well, the point is that not a day went by where I didn't kick myself for leaving him like that. There's no way I can take back what I did, but I hope you can at least try to forgive me."

"You saved both of our lives, Kenny," I remind him, "Yeah, it was kind of cruel of you to walk out like that, but we'd both be dead if you hadn't stepped up."

Kenny seems a bit down, but he nods anyway in appreciation. He might come off as an asshole a lot of the time, but being a neutral party gives me a perspective on both sides. That's what makes it so much harder when people always expect you to agree with them.

"Hey, I think I've got something!" I frantically call out, trying hard to reel it back into the boat. "Am I doing it right, Kenny?"

"Keep it up, you're doing fine," he encourages, smirking as I pull the last of the fishing line up. Sprawling about on the hook is my first ever fish! This is awesome! I try to bring it aboard the canoe without tipping the both of us overboard, and I succeed as the fish flops around. It's not very big by any means, but I'm just happy that I caught something at all. I figured that we'd be out here for a lot longer without catching anything.

"That there's a lake trout," Kenny informs as he unhooks its mouth, "They're pretty common around here, but it's pretty impressive for your first time out."

Gee, thanks for the compliment, Kenny.

"What do we do with it?" I ask, slightly grossed out as it gasps for air. "I think I should name it! Hmm, let's see… How about Floppy? Nah, that's dumb. Umm… Nemo! Yeah, I think I saw a movie about that when I was younger! What do you think – "

Splat!

Without any warning, Kenny chops its head off and tosses the head back into the lake.

"NEMO!" I complain, pouting my lower lip as his eyes gaze back at me lifelessly. "You killed my pet!"

"Clementine, we're eating the fish…"

"Oh, yeah…"

Shaking his head in amusement, Kenny then squints his eyes at one of the little patches of land nearby. "What the fuck are they doing over there?!"

Looking to where he was ranting about, I see none other than Luke and Bonnie sitting… on top of each other? Why are they kissing? I though only married people and couples were allowed to do that? Does that mean that they're together? And… why is Luke taking his shirt off?

"Hey!" I complain fruitlessly as Kenny covers my eyes with his hand. I'd smack him, but I can't see where one of my crutches are. "What are they doing over there? I can't see, Kenny!"

"Fucking unbelievable…" Kenny mumbles, "Ask me again in a couple of years… Actually, ask Lee in a couple of years. That'll give him something to think about.'

With one hand still placed over my eyes and the other probably clutching his paddle, Kenny tries his best to steer the canoe with limited results. "Let's go find another spot – One that's G-rated," he sighs, frustration evident in his tone. I wonder if Luke did something wrong?

But suddenly, Kenny whips his head around as we both hear it – screaming, coming from Bonnie. I look around to see what's going on, and that's when I notice that a whole pack of walkers is ganging up on the two of them; defenseless and… in their underwear? Eww! What the hell are they doing?

"Typical stupid kids," Kenny snarls, not meaning me, "Come on, Clem. We've gotta hurry!"

AN: Sorry if this was a little slow, but not everything can be action-packed. I don't want to turn this into a Michael Bay movie or something like that :P And if you're wondering why I didn't go into more detail about the history thing, it's because I'm Canadian and don't know a damn thing about American history! I'm sorry, but I'd just end up boring you otherwise lol