A/N: Okay, this story is now the 7th most reviewed on the site! (An odd little fact I looked at) still I can't thank you all enough for the continued support!

AquaDestinysEmbrace- Glad you're enjoying the story still and as for Anne... I felt bad for her in your story. She was constantly getting beaten down. I guess she'll make Carver and Troy pay for it later though.

Emily Carver- Thanks! I loved how you picked up on certain things through quotes in the story. I loved how you ended your review with same closing line I used for the chapter... when I read it out it, it sounds so epic... (insert Morgan Freeman voice here)

Obsessed naruhina fangirl- A lot of love for Nick and Sarah! and I like your theory on how the infection started and as for the new discussion point... I've noticed you've shared my love for Molly and we share a similar view to Jane. So I'd wonder if you'd agree with this point.. does Molly's character symbolise series 1 as a whole. While Jane's character symbolise season 2 as a whole?

Confusing, but I'll try to explain. Molly was a badass (similar to Lee) she was emotionally tough (again, Like Lee) and she would do anything to protect the one's she cared about selling her body to the doctor to get her sister meds, this could compare too how Lee was willing to go to great lengths to protect Clementine (walking through a herd to get to her). Whereas Jane symbolises the survival of the lone wolf (Clementine in episodes 1 and maybe 5) the attitudes that liabilities only slow the group down and will get the group and themselves killed (Nick and Sarah's deaths). I came up with this theory... so what do you think?

Rebloxic- Thank you for the continued support and I'm glad you're giving your answers to these questions on these authors notes (makes them really fun to write)

Lockdown- Thanks (I'll have to use the term shyamalaned in future) I surprised myself many people found it surprising! I hope I can continue to surprise you however, as I love a story where I never know what's coming next.

Maximo- Trust me you weren't the only one surprised, judging by the rest of the reviews here.

Eggomypeggo- Well I am bit socially awkward but I don't have autism (I don't know anyone with autism either) so to hear that compliment means a lot! I hope I continue to give Sarah's character the justice she didn't get in the game.

and finally Some guy, thanks you for reading! thank you also to NN009, rokon 900 and apathy for your kind reviews!

"Nick..."

Sarah's voice sounded strangely disoriented, as his eyes fluttered open, something didn't seem right in the room. It was completely black as he (for some reason and unable to control himself) turned to face where Sarah was lying closely next to him. Both of them were under the covers.

"Hey Nick..." Sarah's voice was almost teasing him now, as she leant her body closer to his, as he felt himself go stiff.

"Sarah..." Nick whimpered...

"Kiss me" she snarled aggressively.

Nick couldn't control it, one minute he was laying there, the next minute Sarah trailed her arms all over his body. Her lips forcefully on his own as he kissed back... trying hard to pull away, but he couldn't. Despite thinking about wrong this all was, for some reason he was getting hot under the collar.

"FUCK ME!" Sarah suddenly screamed in a tone of a demonic harpy, as Nick felt his ears prickle.

"Sarah... no!" He tried to shout, but nothing came out of his mouth, his whole body was frozen as Sarah smiled and planted kisses all up his neck and smothered him in the kisses he had long craved... but he didn't crave them from a 15 year old girl! Fuck! Why was he getting so aroused by this!? Why was he sweating!? He had to stop, but he couldn't his body was pushing him as Sarah grinned and continued to kiss him all over, before she bit at his Nick as felt himself groan in pleasure...

However this sensation faded in an instant, as he felt warm blood run down, his neck. He tried gasping for oxygen that wasn't there as he looked up. Sarah was no longer on top of him, instead Pete's dead face hung in the darkness above him.

"You gotta grow up son" he taunted Nick, holding the chunk of Nick's neck in between his teeth as he smiled...

Figures emerged from the darkness, many of them Nick recognised from his school days as they began to taunt him, "You're not getting any! You're not getting any!" they cheered on like a demonic choir, as Pete shook his head sadly. The phrase "You gotta grow up son..." playing over and over in the backdrop of the taunting...

And then he saw the worst sight of it all. Luke. Luke was there, shooting Nick a glare and muttering "I never wanted you too come back" which was twisted version of the last words Nick heard Luke say to him. Nick could feel himself choking and retching as Luke walked away from him. A tear welling in his eye.

"Come back..." he sobbed to Luke.

"Without me, you're nothing" Was all Luke said as he escorted the two nude women Nick had pictures off into the darkness, as the crowd of people approached him, their chanting had become a screaming, as they were now the people in the body bags of walkers as they easily tore off bits of Nick's flesh...

"YOU AREN'T GETTING ANY!"

"YOU GOTTA GROW UP SON!"

"YOU'RE NOTHING!"

It was too much... the pain... he couldn't breathe, his head was about to explode, as he was instantly reduced to nothing...

"AH!" Nick yelled spring-boarding up on the bed, one second he was in pitch blackness and the next the strong sunlight was streaming in from the cabin windows, he blinked rapidly, his stomach felt queasy, his was drenched in cold sweat as he felt a loose tear fall from his eye.

That nightmare was one of the worst he had ever had. It played on all his underlying fears... being nothing compared to Luke. He had kissed a girl... but remained a closeted Virgin. When he compared himself to Luke... he felt like Luke was what "Grown up" was. He was the immature waste of space on the sidelines, he was never going to "grow up" or in other words "man up" and lose his virginity or do the brave things had Luke had done...

Still shaking he stood up from the bed and rushed for the nearby bathroom (Sarah wasn't on the bed, as Nick could hear her messing around downstairs), reaching his destination he was relived to find that the sink still had running water, pouring cold water into his palms. He splashed the freezing liquid onto his clammy face and damp black hairs of his fringe. (Only then realising that his cap wasn't on his head, yet right now he didn't care...) he continued to try and calm himself down and thoroughly wipe his face...

Calming down, he looked up to his (still haughty) reflection. His big blue eyes had seemingly grown even larger, as his black pupils were dilated to a gigantic size. He waited a little while longer, before his heart beat returned to normal and he wiped himself down (using a nearby towel).

"You're fine, it was just a stupid dream" He told himself as he swung open the bathroom door, yet the venom that the nightmare had injected into his system wasn't going anywhere soon...

"Hey Sarah... you okay down here?" he asked as he reached the landing, to find Sarah on one of the large sofa's, gazing happily down at...

Oh no.

"Hey Nick... you've got naughty photos" she teased waving one of the photos of the nude woman at him. She couldn't resist it any longer, she knew those photos were there and after Nick's cap slid off again last night. She awoke in the morning to pick it up and take the photos in the cap downstairs. Pretending to look at them for the first time and she was even more curious to see Nick's reaction.

If Nick hand't had the nightmare Sarah's teasing wouldn't have made him pause in his tracks. Yet he regained himself as he rushed over to Sarah.

"Jeez Sarah... don't look at those..." he began going to snatch them up. Sarah leapt off the sofa with a mischievous grin on her face.

"Well come get them then" she challenged, raising an eyebrow at him as he sighed.

"I'm not the mood for this" He groaned.

"Slow-poke!" Sarah exclaimed happily darting off into the kitchen, "Come get your photos Nick!" she yelled back to him, as he remained standing as still as a statue by the sofa.

"Dammit, why didn't I put those photos somewhere else?" Nick asked himself as he jogged into the kitchen after Sarah, he looked around before Sarah shot out from behind a nearby counter, Nick turned and caught her easily.

"Hey! No fair!" She yelled playfully, holding on tighter to the photos in her hands, as Nick muttered "Don't make me do this Sarah"

"You can never make me let go of these! No matter what you do!" Sarah yelled in a playful manner towards him. Nick closed his eyes, well this was it. He had to do this. Sarah had asked for it.

His hands found their way under Sarah's arms and he began to tickle the life out of her, the happily chuckling girl, fell to a merry heap on the floor, as Nick snatched back his photos from her loose fingers.

"Ha!" Nick yelled triumphantly, waving the photos in the air as he pocketed them. As stupid as that whole scenario was, it was the just the sort of thing he needed to clear the venom of the nightmare from out of his system. Sarah was still a child in many ways, but her optimism and playful nature was something he discovered that he needed, so he wouldn't dwell or brood on events that had gone by and even if it was just for a minute. He could forget this whole shitty world and his shitty self... and just enjoy the present.

"I saw your other photos" Sarah eventually said (after she stopped laughing) "I can't believe Pete had hair" out of all the things she could have said she had to go for that one. Nick couldn't help but laugh in agreement.

"Me too, do you know he used to wear a wig sometimes to cover it up?" Nick informed Sarah.

"Seriously?" she asked back in a giddy manner.

"Yep, he looked like such an idiot..."

The two laughed on like two giddy teenage girls, over this "gossip" yet Nick was reminded of times when his Uncle used to wear that stupid wig, back to happier times... he thoughts remained on a high as he scooped up the rest of his photos from the sofa and pocketed them in his trouser pocket (rather than his cap this time), as he did Sarah asked the obvious question.

"Hey Nick... why did you keep those photos? Were they your girlfriends?" she asked her eyes lighting up as Nick smiled and chuckled slightly "No, I... well... they help me to relieve stress" he tried to word it carefully around Sarah, hoping she would get the gist of what he was saying, to his disappointment she merely looked puzzled.

"What does that mean?" she inquired.

"Well... did your dad ever tell you how babies are made?" He decided to try this approach as Sarah's face lit up.

"Yeah! Dad told me when a man loves a woman very much, a man will plant his seed into a woman and this seed grows into a baby!" she shouted, thinking she knew it all, as Nick couldn't help but laugh at her statement, she was still so innocent.

"Jesus Carlos, what have you left me with?" he chuckled to the celling.

"Why are you laughing? That's how babies are made right? Right?" she repeatedly asked of him, begging for an answer, as Nick continued to laugh himself dry, yet he also found out that Carlos' sheltering of Sarah was simply too much. It was one thing to shield her from what walkers were, or the state of the world. But failing to make her aware of "the birds and the bees" as well as which state they were in currently, he may have loved his daughter but a 15 year old girl should have been aware of these things.

"It's nothing Sarah, don't worry about it. I'll tell you soon, I promise alright?" he reassured her, as the anxiety was wiped from her face, as she nodded "Oh... okay then" she muttered as Nick smiled.

They spent the rest of the morning clearing out the cabin and looking for supplies, Nick was packing every last scarp of canned food he could find. As he was filling their canteen's with tap water he heard Sarah approach him from behind.

"Hey Nick... have a look at me and tell me if it looks good" she stated nervously, Nick wiped around to see a new pair of square shaped black rimmed glasses were planted on her nose. and her short haired had been styled into a single ponytail with a hair bobble she had found.

"Where do you find the glasses, they look good" Nick told her as she smiled nervously, as she explained "Well... dad used to keep a spare set of glasses for me, in case my old one's broke. But we left them behind last time, because we were in a rush to leave. But I found them again!" she stated happily pushing her glasses up her nose.

"Can you see any better?"

"It's like I have my old glasses back! It's great!"

"That's good and nice hairstyle too, It's cool" Nick complimented as Sarah's smile only grew wider.

"Thanks" she admitted shyly as she brushed her ponytail.

Sarah wondered off to find more stuff, as Nick continued to gather as much food and water as he could and cram it into his backpack. Lifting a heavier bag he turned around to discover that Sarah had once again snuck up behind him.

"Say cheese!" She yelled, before Nick could even register what had happened his vision was blinded by a bright blue flash. Blinking rapidly he wiped his eyes to see Sarah waving a photo of himself (looking rather surprised) in his face.

"I found this in one of the other bedrooms, me and Clementine were taking pictures before we had to leave" she told him, showing him a large grey camera.

"Are you actually planning on taking that thing with you?" he asked.

"Yeah! Along with the books!"

"Books?"

It soon transpired that Sarah had dumped volumes of books, along with the old camera into the same bag as the meds, Upon seeing this Nick placed his hands on his hips and muttered "Sarah... it's heavy enough as it is..."

"I'll carry it! I promise!" she begged of him.

"We've got enough to carry..." he told her sternly.

"Please!" She begged with her best puppy dog eyes, it made it hard for Nick to disagree with her, yet that bag would be a nuisance...

"Get rid of a few books at least and I'll let you keep the rest" this seemed to satisfy the teenager into a silence, for the next couple of minutes.

As she continued to pack supplies into the bag of meds, Nick explored the kitchen. Opening a wooden brown drawer, he discovered a large and sharp kitchen knife awaiting him inside, he placed his hand around the hilt of the knife and placed it next to his glass shard in his bag. A little comfortable in the knowledge they had another weapon. It was a shame however, that there were no bullets around or any guns either.

Nick continued to navigate his way through the cabin, trying to nitpick anything he could have missed and trying hard to keep that nightmare from crippling him. He got along with Sarah, he got along with her very well, but in no way did he feel anything romantic for her at all. The dream had broken a taboo and then twisted his subconscious fears into a grim reality. He always found himself comparing himself to Luke... how he was always worse than Luke at everything (other than fucking up) and his low self esteem only worsened the problem.

Yet right now, he wasn't with Luke and he was able to crack more smiles with Sarah than he had done for the past several months, in this grim apocalypse with Luke as his main source of company. They still joked around as friends did, but there was no doubt the apocalypse was changing people...

With these depressing thoughts in mind, he opened a cabinet to discover a pile of white slips, curious he flipped them over to discover that they were all photos. Photos taken by the same camera that Sarah had...

It hit him like a truck. How had he not recognised that the camera Sarah had, was the one they found when they first made it too the cabin? It was Luke's idea to start clicking away at the cabin group as they smiled in an exhausted manner. Still wary of the threat of Carver on their trail . No one thought much about the photos, as Luke lost the camera the very next day. and the small photos taken were obviously left forgotten here.

Nick picked some up, his eyes watered.

"Hey Sarah, I just remembered that the camera you found, was the one we lost on the first day here" Nick told her as he walked into the small bedroom as she looked up from where she deciding between two books to take with her.

"I thought that, so I was glad to find it again. I just wish we had the old photographs" she muttered sadly as Nick smiled and produced the pile of them, from behind his back as Sarah eyes widened.

"Here" he said handing her a single photo that showed her smiling merrily at the camera (they were taken inside the cabin) while Carlos stood over his daughter looking sheepish, "Daddy..." Sarah murmured stroking the dusty photo.

"With that, you'll always have something to remember him by" Nick told her, before he felt the wind get knocked out of him as Sarah crashed into him.

"Thank you" she sobbed in happiness into his shirt, as Nick pocketed his own photos of himself with Pete and Luke with a warm smile. He also promised to take some of Alvin back to Rebecca, as Sarah pocketed her (now treasured) photo Nick spoke up once again.

"You know it must be about midday, I reckon we could stay here for another night and then, if we really push hard we can get back to Hardware store in just less than a day's walk" he informed her happily, Sarah looked as though Christmas had come early as she uttered "So... you know the way back?"

"From the cabin? Yeah, it should take us a day if were quick. Remember that last time we kept stopping for breaks and it's safer to move in the day than it is at night, it's warmer too" Nick argument had Sarah agreeing to it with a vigorous nod of her head, as she gazed up at Nick with her eyes shining.

"You're the best"

Nick felt a warm feeling spread across his gut.

Nightmare? What nightmare? Nick didn't seem to recall one in those moments.

"GET UP! Y'ALL GONNA BE WORKIN' ALL DAY TODAY, YOU HERE ME!? ALL DAY! NO MORE BREAKS FOR YOUR LOUSY ASSES...!"

Troy was the equal to an alarm clock that Clementine wanted to smash with her fist, she woke up not feeling as groggy as she previously felt on such mornings. No doubt her body had adapted to the hard work and routine alarm clock that was Troy. She actually started to find herself awake, just before Troy started to shout, showing her sleep patterns had changed somewhat.

Troy clanked open the shutter, No one spoke much that morning, as they were led off too another day of miserable slave labour, by building the trenches outside the compound. Rebecca's "betrayal" was also still raw in many people's minds, as morale remained at an all time low.

Clementine may have looked downtrodden, but as she was led towards the trenches that morning, she knew something was going to happen very soon. She had concluded that Rebecca had her own "plan" in place, the uprising's final stage had begun slowly.

But would soon kick off into chaos.

A/N: Okay, not a lot happened in this chapter, but the final saga of this story is beginning so expect a lot more to happen very soon.

Thanks for reading!