A/N:

Hi all.

So sorry it took me long to update. For me, it takes like forever to write something that's 3k+ in words.

I am so fucked after playing episode 5 of Season 2. Emotional breakdowns each second someone died. And *SPOILER* Clem's flashback of Lee on the RV. *END OF SPOILER* The feels…. The damn feels.

If you guys didn't read chapter 8, I won't be available at the time from Friday-Sunday to update.

Also, I start school on September 4th, so updates may be sporadic, depending on the load of homework I get on that day.

Just wanted to let all of you reading know.

Thank you all for your support on the story.


As Glenn left to get gas, I sat on a box, by the register counter. I just fiddled with my walkie for a few minutes, waiting for a response from Glenn. That was pretty much all I could do, at the time. I had a phone with me, still, but there was really no use for it. It was uncharged, and I had no charger for it.

I was still very concerned on how to reload a gun. Still, I was distraught over the situation with Shawn, and how I could have saved him from getting eaten. It happened in the morning, and it still seemed like it happened all in slow motion. During the ride to Macon, I still remember Duck babbling to his mother about the incident at the farm, asking whether Shawn was okay, and why Hershel kicked us all off the farm. He was so naïve, but I don't think that he can help it, being so young.

Exiting out of my own thoughts, I see Lee walking over to me after just finishing his conversation with Lilly. He kneels down to my height, grinning.

"How you doing, Clementine?" He asks, his smile gradually fading.

"I'm alright Lee. I'm just a little hungry," I answered, placing my hand over my growling belly.

"Oh, so would this be fine?" He inquired, taking an energy bar out of his pocket, "I've been looking for some stuff to eat around here."

My eyes quickly examined the energy bar that he held in his hand. To be honest, I don't think I've ever ate one before, considering that they all look alike to granola bars and stuff. But, I was getting hungry. So, how bad could it be?

"Sure," I smiled, taking the energy bar from his hand. "Thank you."

"Of course, Clem," He replied cheerfully, standing up from his kneeling position.

I tore the packaging of the energy bar open while Lee walked over to the office door of the drugstore. I took a nibble of the energy bar, devouring it after realizing that it wasn't that bad. I tossed the little wrapper besides me, after finding out that there were no garbage's nearby. Glancing back up to the office door, I now noticed that Lee was now not in sight, after the door had made such a loud closing noise.

This crazy idea popped into my mind. Why not follow him inside? I mentally questioned myself. It would be better doing something than nothing. I mean, who wants to sit down on a box all day, just to wait for some guy to contact me on a walkie?

Everyone seemed to be busy doing their own thing. Lilly was monitoring her dad, Kenny and Katjaa were conversing with each other, Doug was on watch, and Carley was fumbling with a radio. They wouldn't have seem to notice me walk into the office, or just to even notice I was gone.

I casually walked over to the office door with the walkie clipped onto my belt, acting as if no one were to be watching me. I opened the door to the office, quickly slipping myself inside, closing the door behind me.

The first thing a saw was Lee, just standing there, frozen as a statue, unaware I had just entered the wrecked office. I raised his hand up to cover his forehead, his head shaking slightly.

"I can't…" He began, hearing him sob in between the words," I can't think about them in here!" He whimpered, his eyes glued on the bloodied mattress on the floor.

"Think about who?" I asked him softly.

He gasped, jolting his body around to face me. He loosened up, sighing in relief as he looked at me.

"Clem…. What are you doing here?" He asks, his voice quivering at each word.

"I thought I'd come in here and join you," I admit. "I didn't want to sit there in the drugstore doing nothing."

His eyes ogled over to the pharmacy door of the office, blocked off by certain objects. "Well, I could use some help getting that door over there clear," He divulged, scratching the back of his head.

"Well, then let's get to it!" I persisted, heading over to the blocked pharmacy door, Lee following me.

There were two objects blocking the pharmacy door, a panel and a desk. I grabbed onto the panel, struggling to pull it off of the desk it was leaning on. It was heavier than it looked. It seemed to be lighter by seconds, until I realized Lee's hands taking a hold of the panel, leaning it against of the wall by the door, causing something trapped in between the panel and the desk to drop onto the floor, grabbing both me and Lee's attention. It looked like a very long stick, but I didn't know the exact name of it.

He bent over to grab the object, gazing down at the object in happiness.

"What's that you're holding there?" I ask, slightly confused as to why he kept smiling down at it.

"This was my dad's cane," He expressed lively, standing up to look at me, his hand still gripping onto the cane.

To be honest, I have never seen a cane that looked like that. I'm more familiar to the ones that look like candy canes.

"So… did he have a problem walking?"

"Nah, he was fine. He actually used that cane to whoop shoplifters. This cane has protected this place better than any guard dog could," He reminisced, tossing the cane aside, the wall supporting it to stand.

"What, um, happened to him," I stammered, immediately regretting asking him.

His smile vanished, his face saddening. He eyes ogled towards the blood-stained mattress leaning against the wall, and then his eyes shot up staring back at mine.

"The same thing that happens to everyone, Clem," He sighed. "I was talking to Lilly; asked her if there was anyone at the drugstore before her and her father arrived." He placed the palm of his hand onto his cheek, wiping off the stream of tears. "They pulled some dead bodies out from the office. An elderly couple. So -"

"Lee," I interrupted, not wanting to put him under anymore emotional pain, "You don't have to talk any further if you don't want to. I understand. A lot of us have already lost people."

He deeply sighed, letting out a forced smile towards me, just to let it quickly fade a few seconds later. I glanced back over to the blocked pharmacy door, then back to him.

"We should get that door over there clear, huh?" I suggested, quickly changing the subject.

"Yeah, we should," He nods, both of us walking over towards the large, wooden desk. We both gripped onto the bottom of the desk tightly. "Make sure you don't get your fingers stuck in between the drawers," He advised.

We both grunted at the start, struggling to get the desk moving. Lee seemed to manage just fine. However, my skinny arms, almost resembling bones, jiggled at the process of moving the desk. We pulled it away from the pharmacy door by a couple of feet. We both paused for a second, giving me time to wipe the tiny droplets of sweat off my forehead with my sweater sleeve, panting. I felt like Lee's eyes were on top of me the whole time.

"You're tired already?" He chuckled, placing his hands on his hips.

I glared at him, feeling my rage grow inside of me. But the truth of the matter was that I really was weak with my arms, and I hated to admit it. My rage descended, and now my emotional pain built up.

"Not really," I lied through my pants.

"That's alright. We only have to move this desk against the wall. So really, there's not much work left," He assured, placing his hand onto my shoulder.

"Then lets get this over with," I persisted, grabbing onto the bottom of the desk, alongside Lee. We turned the desk around to face the wall, leaving huge scratches onto the office floor. Rather than using my arms, I now used my weight to push the desk against the wall, trying my best to ignore the screeching noises the desk had made against the floor.

The deed was finally done. There was finally a clear path to the pharmacy door. Through the quietness of the office, the only thing that could be heard was my loud panting. I felt like I had overworked myself, my cheeks feeling flushed and hot. I climbed on top of the desk, to sit and rest there for a small moment. I turned my head over to look at Lee, whose face was filled with concern.

"Clem, are you okay?" He asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Lee, believe me, I'm fine," I lied, trying to keep a 'tough' image.

"Are you sure? I mean, I also found a Gatorade -" He said, taking the bottle out of his pocket. I snatched it out of his hands, to his amazement.

I chugged the bottle, leaving maybe two ounces of liquid left. I remove the bottle off of my lips, finding Lee staring at me in astonishment mixed with perplexity.

"Oh.. sorry for snatching the bottle out of your hands," I expressed my regret, "But thank you, Lee," I finished, the corners of my mouth curling up, my arm stretching out to hand the bottle back to him.

"Nah, you can keep it. Looks like you need it more than I do," he said, taking a seat next to me onto the desk.

We both sat there, silence filling the office's atmosphere once more. I swung my legs in and away from the desk, while Lee just pondered. That certain though popped back into my head. How to reload a gun. I was thinking that I could ask Lee to teach me. But to be honest, he didn't look like the kind of guy that would be shooting guns and stuff. But maybe it might be worth asking him.

"Lee?" I asked in an attempt to grab his attention. He snapped out of his thoughts, his head turning down to look at me. "Do you know how to reload one of these?" I asked, pulling my gun out from the back of my jeans, handing my gun out to him.

"Hm," He mumbled, examining the pistol. "Do you still have that box of ammo?"

"I think so," I replied, digging my hand into my immense sweater pocket, my hand coming across something hard and rectangular. "I think this is it," I tell him, taking out the box and handing it over to him.

He opens it, revealing small sections of ammo that seemed to be attached together. He scooted away from me on the desk, leaving a small space in between us. He places the gun onto his lap, putting the box in the extra space between us. He took a section of the attached ammo out from the box, also placing it onto his lap.

He raises the gun up with his right hand, and points to the top of the gun. "You see this part of the gun? This is called the slide of the gun," he explained, pulling onto the slide of the gun, causing a little piece from the bottom of the gun to fall out, hitting the floor of the office. "And that," He started, bending over to pick up the little piece, "Is called the magazine of the gun. That's where all the ammo goes," He stated, placing the attached ammo into the magazine. "Also, this is called the clip," He adds, pointing to the attached ammo now inside the magazine. "Then, you just shove this up back inside the gun," He directs, placing the loaded magazine inside the gun. "And now, you're good to go." He smiled, handing me back the gun. "It's good to keep extra magazines with you, loaded of course."

"Thanks Lee," I chimed, placing my handgun onto my lap. "Also, it looks like you have a ton of experience with these things. Maybe you could also teach me how to aim better?"

He slid off the desk, standing up now. He hesitated a moment. "I could teach you the correct posture of shooting a gun, but I can't necessarily let you shoot something in here, for practice. Think about the noise, we don't need any more walkers trying to break through the fortifications, just to get inside."

"Yeah... you're right..." I admit. "But you could still teach me the correct posture and stuff, right?"

"Of course, as long as you don't pull the trigger."

I bounced off of the desk, getting into a standing position. I stood in front of Lee, gently lifting up my relaxed arms beside me, putting them out to extend in front of me, holding onto the gun with my dominant right hand.

"Now, Clem. You want to have your arms extended out right in front of you, relaxed," He explained, moving his hands down to my elbow, loosening them up. "And, when it comes to taking out one of those things out there, you always aim for the head."

"Why the head?" I questioned.

"That seems like one of their weak spots. Remember when you were taking out walkers at Hershel's farm?"

"Yeah..."

"Well, the one walker that you shot in the head just easily died after you shot it in its head."

"Oh yeah! That kind of makes sense," I remembered.

"Well then, I'm glad that you see the point."

"What if it comes to me having to shoot a person?"

Lee sighed, taking his hands off of my arms. "Then shoot anywhere else. But I don't want you to be thinking about it a lot, Clem."

"Oh, okay. Is there anything else I should know?" I asked, dropping both of my arms to my sides.

The look on his face was blank, as if he were pondering or something. "Never be afraid to pull the trigger, Clementine."

Ha, now I can finally shoot Larry's face off, the correct way.

I nodded, putting my gun in the back of my pants, brushing off my jeans. "How much longer do we have to be in here?"

"Well, Clem. I need to check if the pharmacy door is open but most likely it's not," He mentioned, heading over to the pharmacy door, turning the knob. "Just as I figured: Locked. I'm just gonna have a look around the office, just to see if I can find the keys or anything that's useful."

"Okay, Lee. Do what you have to do," I chimed, taking a seat on top of the desk.

He was heading over to the dark, wooden desk that stood next to the one I was sitting on. However, he had suddenly stopped, kneeling down to take a look at something, I couldn't really see what it was. He picked it up, as he smiled upon it for a few seconds, until that smile had vanished into a dejected frown. He tore the paper (I think) He was holding in two, and shoved the other half into his pocket.

I heard the door to the drugstore silently close, and to my surprise, I saw Carley walk in, with the most petrified expression on her face. It instantly grew serious, as she quietly approached Lee.

"Find anything?" She asked, startling him. He turned around to face her, dropping the other half of the piece of paper.

"No, nothing," He shrugged, lying to her.

She squinted her eyes at him. "I know who you are," She began, causing his eyes to expand. "You're Lee Everett. You're a professor at Athens who murdered a state senator for sleeping with your wife. This is your parents' store; folks around town knew that the owner's son got himself a life sentence, but I'm a reporter for WABE," She paused, "I paid attention to that trial. Maybe you're a murderer, but I don't really care. Frankly, that's a skill that may come in handy."

I instantly thought back at the moment when the two of us first met, Lee and I. Before that, I remember him leaning against the police car back in the forest, so maybe he may have been going to jail. He never told me that he was a murderer. If he really was, I couldn't believe he was taking care of me right now! He could kill me at anytime, him being a murderer! And what the hell was she talking about, 'murdering is a skill that may come in handy?' The fuck?!

"Hmph," He mumbled, crossing his arms and shaking his head at her.

"Did you tell anyone that you're tied to this place?" She interrogated, raising an eyebrow.

"No, I've been sticking to first names for a reason," He replied, uncrossing his arms.

She scrunched her face up, examining him all over with her eyes. "You seem like an okay guy," She admitted, "And the last thing we need is drama here. You got this little girl to take care of and look, don't make me wrong on this," She said, taking a step closer to him.

"I don't plan to," He replied in a serious tone, taking a step closer to her.

"Good, because if this lasts a couple more days, ad you're a detriment to the group, then we'd have a problem," She told him abruptly.

"I hear you."

"I'll just keep it to myself."

They both just stared at each other for, maybe minutes. He hesitantly looked away from Carley, then he looked back at her face. "Thanks," He concluded, breaking the silence between them.

Just before she was about to head back out, her head turned back to gaze into his eyes, "Don't worry about it," She grinned, finally leaving the office back into he drugstore.

As soon as she left, I got myself off of the desk, approaching Lee. I was more curious to know why he had murdered, because honestly, he didn't look like one of those criminals who killed for a living, he looked like one of those guys you would see everyday.

"Lee?" I asked, testing his mood, keeping my distance from him.

"What is it, Clem?" He asked softly, kneeling to my height.

"That woman mentioned that you killed someone, why did you do it? Should I be afraid of you now?" I stammered, my voice shaking, taking a few steps away from him.

He deeply sighed. "Clem, this is gonna be difficult to explain," He began, scratching the back of his neck. "I did kill, not because I did it for a living, but because... Okay look. I had a wife, before all of this madness had started. I came home to find her with another man -"

"So.. she was a prostitute?" I interrupted, not really knowing the exact meaning of the word.

"No! What I'm trying to say is that when I caught the two together, I was so angry and before I knew it, him and I got into a fight. And accidentally, I had killed him during the fight," He looked down, afraid to see the reaction on my face.

"Oh, so you killed him because he was a dick?"

"Yeah, sort of like that," He admits.

"Ah, okay. But honestly, I don't really think that matters now - killing a guy, I mean, now we all do it to stay alive, whether it be people or walkers," I pointed out.

"We'll see about that, Clem," He sighed, standing up from his sitting position, his body turning over to the drugstore door. "So um, do you wanna head back into the drugstore with me?" He asks.

"Um, I think I'll stay in here a little while longer, looking around for anything useful," I murmured.

"Okay, Clem. I'll be in the drugstore if you need me," Lee assured, stepping out of the office door and closing it on his way out.

But really, I wanted to know what was on the other half of the paper he had dropped earlier.