A/N: Thank ya'll so much for the reviews! It's great to see I'm not the only KennyClem fan. I thought I was a lone wolf on this front. Torue0711 - Yes, lots of questions! One of them, I know will be answered here. The others I'm keeping stored away. hehe. Redread - Thank you so much! It is unique! But I wish more people were into the pairing. I would love to read other fanfics about it beside the Cluke blah. Harlequince - That was my favorite scene too! I reread it so much. It's so simple, but powerful. Very similar to Clem. And thank you! I'm happy I've converted someone to the pairing! Guest - Thank you! The plot will only get more intense! I hope I keep you on the edge of your seat. DatFanFicReader - *wink* Yes, that will come, without a doubt, but it's so much fun to tease until it comes. :) Thank you again!

The back of a gun butted into her spin, pushing her forward into one of the lodge's rooms. She stumbled partially forward before regaining her balance and shooting the random guard a glare. The guard slammed the door shut completely ignoring her. She heard it lock. If this was what Kenny meant by "get you set up", he could have just been honest, and said "put you in your cell".

It was a boldface reminder that she was in Eagleton with no weapons and now a locked door. She had to stop thinking of her old friend. He had greyed a bit more in the years from age or stress, she couldn't tell. His beard was the same as she remembered, and with the new black patch he wore over his bad eye, he almost looked like a pirate. She smiled to himself at the thought of pirate Kenny. It wasn't that Kenny was a beautiful man like Tommy, who had women swooning over him. Kenny had a rough appearance, but he looked like a man's man, someone strong enough to protect you from any danger. He had looked good, and the thought caused red to cross her cheeks. She rubbed her hands over them, as she turned around to look over the prison they had put her in.

Tate was sat on the bed, his large hand cupping his chin, and he looked to be in thought. There were two double beds in the room, a desk, and a counter that had a television set. Everything looked like it was covered in dust, not being used in years. She suspected this room had not seen many travelers since the outbreak. It would be comfortable for a night, but neither her or Tate had any plans to stay any longer.

"How do you know him?" Tate's smooth low voice asked, finally pulling from his thoughts. Her body went stiff at the question. She knew she had let her emotions get the best of her. She wished she hadn't. If she were to become the next Sheriff of town, she couldn't act like a little girl anymore, and based on Tate's expression, he was uncertain in her ability to handle the current circumstances.

"We met at the very beginning," she answered softly. "We were together for a year and half, and then we were separated. Two year later our paths crossed again," her body felt heavy as she remembered the time at the ski lodge. She had felt so happy. She walked over to the window.

Tate watched her carefully, his hands folding together over his legs, "What happened?"

She sighed and looked up at the high peak of the mountain. "What always happens…mistakes. He ended up leaving the group, and I never saw him again…until now," she answered.

Tate grunted in understanding. They all had their own stories of the first couple years. They were the worse, more people died during that time, everything was chaos, and you only hoped to survive that day. Things were still bad, but they had adopted.

"Clementine, he is not your friend anymore. He's the Leader of Eagleton and the Winter Soldiers," he spoke behind her.

She closed her eyes, fiddling with the sleeve of her purple sweatshirt. She remembered the shaking man from New Carlton. His story had been horrific. Had it really been Kenny who had threatened him and walked through a town, watching it burn? Kenny had no problem taking violent actions. The sound of the crowbar cracking into Carver's skull was still as vivid as if he had happened yesterday. But Carver had been a terrible man. Kenny had done the right thing. He would only had ended up chasing them down if he hadn't. Why then would Kenny kill an entire town? She just never imagined the monster leader of Eagleton to be him…

"I will handle it. Don't worry," she stated.

She could feel Tate's worried eyes on her. "I have no doubt you will make the right choice," he answered.

She suspected that they would be in town for at least a night. She looked down. They were two stories up. It was a drop. They would need something strong to drop one of them down. They could use the night to determine exactly what Eagleton was planning. "Do you think the sheets of the bed would hold, if we climbed down them?" she asked quietly, to make certain the guard outside the door wouldn't hear.

"They would hold you," the larger man smirk, catching onto her idea.

"Good," she smiled. They would have to wait until the sun went down. She looked up to it. It was still high in the sky. Based on its position, they had about three more hours of sunlight. The first hour had passed fairly uneventful. Clementine had eventually moved to the bed and laid her head down. She didn't sleep. She rarely ever slept when she was outside of town. She stared mindlessly at the ceiling. Tate was fiddling with the television. He had a good hand for mechanical things.

The door unlocked and they both turned to look at the possible intruder. It was the same boy who had interrupted Kenny and her conversation. His brown hair disheveled and his hands shaking on a gun that he held close to his chest. "M-miss, Gandalf wants speak with you. Can you come with me?" he asked.

Clementine rolled her legs off the bed and stood. She gave Tate a nod before she went to the boy. "Lead the way," she said, following the nervous kid. She followed him down the stairs. There were quite a few guards with guns in the building. She wondered if the was always the case or if they were only here because of her. She felt like someone was watching her as she came down the stairs. She quickly found the source. It was the man they called Robert, standing in his straight suit in the doorway to living area. When their eyes met, he smirked. She felt a chill by the look, but she didn't break away until they passed by him. He trusted Kenny. The men Kenny decided to put around himself on the other hand.

The boy lead her outside and along the porch. The uncomfortable feeling the other man had given her disappeared in seconds when she saw Kenny's relaxed form on a bench. He had a pocket knife in his hand and was wedeling a small piece of wood. He looked up when he saw movement and gave her a smile that made her forget that she was in Eagleton. She smiled back at him.

"Take a seat, kid," he nodded next to him.

She did as he asked and sat down on the bench. It felt so weird to be seating next to him again after all this time. She felt like she might be dreaming, and she would wake up. Here he was. A big puffy jacket, a calm green sweater, dirty jeans, and his usual brown white necklace. She almost wanted to reach out to touch him to double check that he was actually there, but she kept her hands folded in her lap. She didn't realize she was staring until Kenny gave her a smirk, "What not as pretty as I used to be?"

She flushed, her eyes jumping to her hands. She felt embarrassed, and she hated he could so easily make her feel this way, so young. "It's weird," she whispered.

Kenny laughed, "You're tellin' me, darling." She felt his hand pat her on the shoulder, and she turned to look at him again. He looked so happy. "It's a good thing, a real good thing. Got appreciate it cause good things like this don't happen often," he grinned, his hand slipping from her shoulder and moving back to his wooden craft. "How'd you get up in the North?" he asked her, his voice had lost a bit of his joy, but he sounded honestly curious.

She watched as he carved into the wooden object. It looked like he was making a small carving of a bear. "After Wellington, it was just Christa, Taylor, and I….we came across a large group, and that's when we met Tommy who had a dream of a safe haven…." She paused, not knowing how much to say. After all, Kenny was technically her enemy. "He's a good guy, Kenny," she said softly, and she noticed how Kenny stopped in his wedeling.

He pocketed the knife and the craft. His hand took hers, and her eyes widened as he pulled her off the bench with him. "Come on kid, I want to show you a true safe haven," Kenny kept his hand wrapped around hers as they moved off the patio. It caused that strange sensation to crawl on her skin. She missed his hands, but as she went to give it a squeeze, his hand slipped from hers. She tried to ignore her disappointment.

They walked down the path from the lodge to the town's center. It was not like when she had first walked through. There were people outside mingling on the street. She saw activities happening on the shop, and she even saw a kid running to his father who must have just gotten back. It felt extremely similar to her own town, except there quite a few more armed guards all over the place. "You see Clem, we got everything here," he started talking, pointing at different stores as they passed, "We have a seamstress, a blacksmith, a market, even got a bar." He smirked, and gave her a glance.

Eagleton was more condense, but Kenny was right. They had the same things that they had implemented. "It's really nice, Kenny. How did you do it?" she asked. If she would have lived in this town, she never would have known how evil and maniacal the Winter Soldiers were. She would have been happy, which is why none of it made sense.

"One day at a time. It took a lot of fighting, but finally convinced folks our best option for survival was at higher altitude. Get a mountain to do half your work and then build a wall to do the other half. Hell, walkers are hardly our worries these days," he laughed, "Never thought I'd be able to say that." She understood exactly what he meant. In the beginning, walkers were a constant worry. Now, the town was fully protected from them and even if a heard were to come through, they had the defenses in place to take them. There concerns these days were food, medicine, and…cities like Eagleton.

She took in the town and the people. They all appeared happy. "Come on darling, I want to show you my pet project," Kenny gave her a playful smile, and it was hard not to smile in return. She always loved his carefree attitude at times. He had the talent of becoming serious at a moments notice, but knew how to enjoy the small joys that this life offered.

"Alright," she said following him through the buildings until they reached the edge of town. There in the grass sat a red car with a white convertible top. It looked old. The paint scratching off in some places, and there was an obvious dent in one of the doors.

Kenny held his hands out like he was presenting a prize buck. "1948 Ford Deluxe Convertible," he announced, "Can't find babies like these everywhere."

She laughed softly at how proud he was of the car. She had learned as she got older that boys really liked cars. She never quite understood why. Some of them made a lot of noise that only drew walkers, and she never could really tell the difference between them. "It looks like a junk car," she remarked.

Kenny's hand went to his heart like he had just been shot by an arrow. "Kid, you're killin' me," he said, walking towards her and grabbing her hand again, pulling her around to the passenger seat. He opened the door and brought her hand to the leather. "Do you feel that?" he asked behind her, his hand on top of hers as he lead it up and down the seat.

Her heart had picked up in her chest without her permission, as she became acutely aware of his body pressed behind hers and his breath on her lobe. She certainly felt something. She nodded, "Leather?"

She didn't need to be looking at him to know he was rolling his eye. "It smooth. It's been worn, but it hasn't been replaced since this car was built. You know how rare that is?" he said, finally letting go of her. "Take a seat," he suggested. She definitely wasn't understanding the value, but everyone had hobbies. She sat in the passenger side of the car, and he shut the door for her. She looked at the glove compartment and then the stick shift. It looked like a normal car to her. She then looked up and watched Kenny walk around the car to the driver's side. He opened the door and got in.

His hand went to the driver's wheel and he turned part of his body to face her. "It's not up and running yet. I'm working on it, but when it is, this baby will purr," he smirked, patting the wheel.

She gave him a deadpan look. "The only usefulness I see in a car is how fast it can go," she stated. It seemed like an okay car, but it looked slow.

He shook his head. "Me being from Florida and all, people like to make cracks that I'm close minded and shit like that, but Clem, that statement…that beats all my narrow minded nonsense," he said, he ran his hand along the dash like he was petting it. "A lot of things make up a car, and this one's a beaut."

"If it can't get you from point A to point B, what's the point? That's all I'm saying," she said with a shrug, but the smile kept appearing on her face. Kenny was being ridiculous. It was just a car.

He shook his finger at her, and then tapped her nose. "No, it's the experience," he answered and reached over to her opening up the glove box. He pulled out the keys. He put the key in the ignitions, not fully starting it, but the lights came on. "Look at this, it even had an old tape from back in the fifties," he reached to the tape consul and pressed play. Elvis Presley's Hound Dog started to play out of the stereos, and Clementine tensed as the car started to rock with music.

She had heard people sing and play guitar, but she couldn't remember the last time she actually heard music from a source that wasn't a human or instrument. She slowly relaxed as she realized this wasn't a trick. She had never heard of the song, but it was upbeat. She looked at Kenny who was rocking his body with the beat. He gave her a wink when their eyes met, and she flushed. "You gotta losen up Clem," he remarked, "You're way too young to be this much of a stiff."

"I'm not a stiff," she frowned at him, "I just do more useful things with my time." She huffed and crossed her arms over her chest.

Kenny's brow rose, "Oh? Like what?" he smirked, taunting her.

She wasn't going to let Kenny win this one. She did fun things too. What did she do for fun? She had to do something for fun. She looked around the car and outside, trying to pull anything to mind. Her eye caught sight of a tree. "I…I uh climb trees?" she ventured, and almost facepalmed herself for how stupid that sounded. "And I…dance on occasion," she tried to save herself.

She could see Kenny laughing at her, and she shot him a glare. He held his hands up like a don't get mad at me expression. "Those sound…like very useful task," he smirked and got out of the car.

The song had switched over to Jailhouse Rock. She leaned over to his side when he got out. "Where you going, Kenny?" she asked and watched as he walked back around the car to her door. He opened it up, grabbing her hand and pulling her out and against him. She gave him a confused look. The car was still on playing the music. "What are you doing?"

He swung her body out and then twirled her before pulling her back in. "We're dancin', since you're such a little pro," he smirked, and she wanted to knock that smirk off his face.

"I am a pro," she said softly, but she frowned and became focus in doing a good job, as his hands and feet led her in a fast pace dance in the grass. To be truthful, she rarely ever danced, and it was taking her full effort not to step on her feet, as he forced her into a twirl again. When she came back, her foot caught with her other one, and she tripped over herself, falling into his chest. He paused in the movement for a brief second, before his other hand slowly moved to the small of her back. The song switched over again to Are you Lonesome Tonight. The song was much slower and his movements were slower.

She adjusted himself in her hold and he swayed her hips back and forth, leading her around the grass. Her hand was still on his chest, as her eyes turned up to look at him. Her breath felt caught in her throat, as she finally noticed how close she was to him.

Are you lonesome tonight? Do you miss me tonight? Are you sorry we drifted apart?

She heard the smooth voice sing from the car. Her fingers curled into his sweater when their eyes met. It was almost too overwhelming to be this close to him. She couldn't understand why. Did he feel like this too? He just made her feel so many emotions that she always tried to keep locked and buried away. She hadn't notice, but they had stopped moving. They stood there in the field, staring at each other. Her breathing had become heavy. If she lifted on her toes, she could…kiss him.

"Ken?" a voice called out, shattering the glass world that had surrounded them. Kenny broke out of a trance, and let go of her instantly. She felt so unstable, she almost fell, but caught a hold of herself. She turned to the voice and caught site of a woman walking towards them. Her auburn hair was pulled up into a bun. She had a tan complexion that was hidden under a long dark blue dress. The woman had extra weight, but she wore the weight well, but what really caught her attention was her large belly that was underneath her dress. She was pregnant.

"Rose, what are you doing up?" Kenny went to her side, grabbing the woman's arm and supporting her up.

Rose? This was Rose?

"I wanted to meet your friend," she answered, "You've talked so much about her." The woman gave Clementine a smile, but she could see in her eyes that she was suspicious.

"You shouldn't be up. The sickness and the baby," Kenny said sternly.

"Oh hush, I'm fine right now," she said, the woman's eyes never leaving Clementine, "Now introduce me to your friend."

Kenny sighed in frustration before turning to Clementine, "Clem, this is Rose. My gal."

My gal….

Clementine had felt painful experiences. She had been shot and stabbed, and even broken a bone at one point. This moment…it was ten times worse than all of it put together. It felt like someone had come to her chest and decided to carve out her heart, throw it to the ground, stomp on it, and watch it bleed pathetically. It was so brutal, she had force herself to stay emotionless.

With a deep breath, she forced a smile and responded, "Hi, I'm Clementine."