A Second Chance

Chapter 22

"Ah, fuck!" Kenny shouted, taking off his cap and running a hand through his unkempt hair. He looked around to the others who were sat on some logs in the clearing next to the tracks. "We're outta juice!" He spat at the ground angrily and sat beside his wife and son. Carley sat with Clem (who was still slightly peeved about leaving Lee behind), watching as the young girl fed Logan from his bottle. Ben sat strumming away at Chuck's guitar, receiving tips from the older man. Omid and Christa were waiting in the boxcar, the latter being exhausted from the extra weight she was carrying. Lilly was stood at the edge of the clearing, keeping watch for unexpected visitors.

"Come on. It could be worse!" Carley said optimistically, trying to install some cheer to the group. Sadly, it didn't work.

"The hell it could!" Kenny almost shouted. "We're stuck in the middle of nowhere, we've got next to no supplies, Lee's who the fuck knows and to top it all off, we've got to look out for your damn baby! How could it get much worse?!"

Carley's eyes narrowed dangerously at the mention of her son. Like any mother, she was extremely protective of her child… of any child.

"How dare you." She growled, her eyes flashing to a reptile, steely green. "Don't ever mention my son as if he's some sort of problem."

"I'll talk however I want to!" Kenny shouted back, stuffing his cap on his head. He stood and began pacing in frustration. He sighed angrily. "I mean, he was crying when the house was overrun! We could have taken cover until they became manageable or drifted away. But no. He decided to get antsy!"

Carley felt anger build up inside her. Kenny was too far gone to take in anything she said. She did the only thing she could: nothing.

She simply let him continue, not taking anything in until his last sentences.

"And you were stupid enough to get knocked up in an apocalypse! Hadn't you ever thought of using a damned condom? You'd think you'd have had some sense!"

She brought herself to her full height (which wasn't much), squared her shoulders and walked up to the older man. By this time, everyone was watching the exchange.

"You listen to me." She began dangerously, her eyes showing huge amounts of anger. Kenny looked terrified (although he wouldn't admit it), gulping down his nerves. "First off, we hadn't thought about using a condom until afterwards. We were talking and Lee mentioned it. I told him that I was infertile, which I thought was true at the time.

Second, we weren't exactly planning it, so we couldn't have even gotten and protection. Third, Lee was my first, so we didn't really have time for thinking. And last, don't you ever, ever blame him for what happened. He's a fucking baby and there were monsters filtering through the house! Of course he was going to cry!" She growled. Kenny looked back in shock. He had never expected her to react like that! Hell, he didn't think anyone was. Noticing his silence, she continued. "What part of that surprised you?"

It took a while for Kenny to recover. He sighed and gulped loudly.

"Um… everything." He said, not quite grasping himself. He shook his head and continued. "You were told… You were told that you were sterile?"

Carley's eyes filled with sadness as she was took back to that day. She was seventeen and had been diagnosed large ovarian cyst. Her mother and father were distraught, being told that they had to dispose of one of her ovaries, leaving her chances of conceiving barely above one percent. Nearly impossible.

"Yeah, I was. My parents were mortified, me being an only child and all. They'd never have a grandchild. God, how do you tell someone that they'll never have a kid?" She said, sighing heavily. "That's why I couldn't get rid of Logan. I couldn't bring myself to do it."

"Um… Carley…" Clementine called, effectively catching the woman's attention. Logan was squirming uncomfortably in the small girl's arms, full from his bottle.

"Alright sweetie, hand him over." She said softly, smiling as the girl unfolded her arms, allowing the woman room to take the small boy. Once holding him securely, Carley brought him up to her shoulder and patted his back. "Come on, baby boy... Do it for mommy…" She muttered pacing backwards and forwards. Eventually, she earned a small squeak from him and sighed in relief. She turned back to Clementine. "I think I'm gonna keep hold of him for a while, okay?"

"Yeah." The small girl smiled, hopping off the log and running over to Duck, clasping his hand and dragging him away to play in the leaves.

"Not too far away!" Carley and Katjaa called after them. "Stay within sight!"

"Okay mom…"

"Okay Carley…"

They waited until the children were out of earshot before continuing.

"Look, Kenny…" Carley started, kissing her son's head and staring at the man in question. "I'm just gonna put your little outburst down to lack of sleep. I won't mention it again, unless you talk about Logan or Clem like that. Got it?"

"You got it. I'm sorry, I didn't realize…" He started, only to be cut off by Carley.

"Like I said; Don't worry about it." She laughed, sitting herself down on the log once again. She felt his eyes on her and looked up to see him running a hand over his face. "Seriously, let it go. We're all tired. We're all missing Lee. It's only to be expected."

"Okay. If you insist." He chuckled, raising his hands in a surrender. Carley allowed herself a while to relax (as much as she could in the circumstances) and watch Clementine and Duck throw leaves at each other, all the while laughing happily.

"It's good to see, isn't it?" Lilly chirped up, a rare smile adorning her face. Everyone smiled along with her.

"Yeah." Carley agreed, allowing Logan to take one of her slender fingers in his tiny hand.

"Hey, check it out." Kenny whispered, trying to contain his laughter. Everyone looked over to see Clementine plant a kiss on Duck's cheek, only to have him screw his face up and wipe it off in disgust. "He's a real charmer, my son."

"I'll need to have 'the talk' with Clem soon. Ugh, I wish Lee was here to do this!" Carley groaned, running a hand through her short hair. Hell, she just wished he was there. "God, she's growing up."

"You'll get used to the feeling." Katjaa smiled, touching the younger woman's shoulder. "You'll have to."

"Like hell that's going to happen." She joked, laughing heartily at the other woman. "I might be a mom now, but I'm still thirty-five!"

"You just keep thinking that." Lilly laughed, rolling her eyes.

"Shut it." Carley warned jokingly, letting Logan take hold of her finger again. They all laughed, turning their attention back towards the playing children.

A/N- Okay, I know… only a filler chapter but the fun starts real soon! I promise! Thanks to everyone for reviewing and reading this! It's getting more views than I would ever imagine! Please R&R and stay tuned for fun times in the apocalypse! HPT OUT!