Chapter Fifteen

When you love someone, you don't give up

You keep on fighting

What are you fighting for?

"Isn't it beautiful out here?" I asked Nick as I sat on his lap, his arms wrapped around me. We were sitting on a lawn chair while Carlos and Alvin were on watch, and Sarah was drawing while laying on the grass.

Nick shrugged. "I guess."

I leaned down, giving him a soft peck on the lips. "It's so warm though... I miss Canada."

"What was it like there?" He asked as I laid my head against his chest.

"It was beautiful; everything was so green. The winters were freezing, but I didn't mind it." I frowned. "But it's okay here, I guess".

"Luke wants me to go check traps with him." Nick said after a while. I pulled away from him enough so I could look at his face. "And?"

"Well, I can't exactly say no." Nick shrugged as he set me on the ground. "Besides, me and him gotta talk about what happened."

"I don't like the idea of you two going out on your own..." I began to braid Sarah's hair while she continued to draw. "Can I come with you guys?"

"I don't see why not." Nick started to smile. "I'll go let Luke know."

I nodded in reply, focusing on Sarah's hair; it was short, but I was able to braid a few strands together. She loved it when I braided her hair, and it calmed me down. I was stressed out immensely. I didn't like the idea of Luke and Nick being alone together... I knew Luke was still upset about me choosing Nick, so I didn't want anything to happen that either of them would regret. What made things worse was I had been feeling a pain in my lower stomach, but it would come and go. I hoped it wasn't anything serious.

I rolled my eyes at Nick as I checked one of the snares. "Empty. You got anything, babe?"

Nick sighed in response. I squinted forward and saw Luke pick up some sort of animal from the snare. "Jackpot!" He said as he jogged over to us. I gagged, turning away as I saw the poor creature. "That isn't gonna be enough."

Luke shrugged, putting it in a bag. "It's somethin'."

I wiped the sweat from my forehead. "C'mon, boys! We got one more to check. I'm exhausted." It was true; for the past few days I had felt extremely tired and nauseated, but I didn't know why. On and off I had felt a sharp pain on the side of my stomach, but I figured it would pass.

Nick checked the next trap, and again there was nothing. I frowned. "This'll be enough for now. Pete and you'll have to check the snares by the river later."

As we walked back to camp, I felt the searing pain in my stomach appear once again. I tried to ignore it, but every step I took made me want to vomit. I let out a scream as I fell to my hands and knees, the pain becoming far worse than I could ever imagine. "Tasha!" Nick yelled as he held me. "What's wrong?! Tasha?!"

I whimpered. "My stomach..."

Luke knelt down beside me as well, brushing my hair from my face. "We gotta get her back to Carlos."

Nick nodded, lifting me up in his arms. "You're gonna be okay, Tasha..."

I shook my head. "Nick, it hurts..." I sobbed as tears fell down my face. What was happening to me?

"Tasha, just stay with me! You're gonna be okay!"

I could feel myself slipping away as everything went black.

"You can't just cut it out of her!"

"She'll die if I don't remove it."

"There's gotta be somethin', some sort of medicine to ease the pain?"

"We ran out of morphine."

My eyes fluttered open slowly as I heard the voices around me. Had the figured out why was wrong with me? Nick was leaning over me, his eyes wide and afraid. The pain hadn't stopped, but I managed to smile at him.

"What's wrong with me?" I asked Carlos as he stared at me with a perplexed expression.

"You're appendix is infected. I can feel how swollen it is through your stomach."

I nodded slowly. "Okay... What are my options here?"

"I remove it-"

"-Which is insane." Nick interrupted. I put my finger to his lips to shush him.

"It's minimally invasive... I should be able to do it with minimal damage." Carlos said thoughtfully as he looked at me with an almost worried expression.

"If I don't remove it, however, your appendix will burst. The infection will spread to your other organs and you will die."

I blinked several times before nodding. I laid back, staring up at the ceiling. "Okay. Let's get this over with."

"What?!" Nick's voice came from beside me. "You can't possibly be thinking that-"

"It's this or die. I choose to live." I told Nick as softly as I could.

"You won't have any antibiotics." Luke said as Carlos began to get what he needed.

"I don't need any." I replied simply. I knew that as soon as he cut into me, I'd black out. It was taking all the strength I had not to from the pain; but a knife cutting into my stomach? Yeah, I don't thin I could handle that.

"You're sure?" Nick looked down at me with a soft expression while stroking my hair. I nodded before giving him a soft kiss. "I love you."

There wasn't anything after that. Only darkness.

I blinked a few times, trying to get used to the bright lights in the room. I glanced up and saw Nick staring at me expectantly. He smiled softly, though he looked worn out. I could see tear stains on his cheeks. "How're you feeling?"

"Tired... What happened, babe?"

Nick looked confused. "We were in the forest and you said your stomach hurt... You fell down and started screaming and... you don't remember?" Nick asked worriedly.

" i remember you carrying me." I said, scrunching my eyebrows. I sat up, looking down at the bandage on my stomach. My eyes widened. "How bad was it?" Nick wouldn't look at me. "Pretty bad... I-I thought you were going to die." Nick said softly. I reached over, cupping his cheek and rubbing my thumb over his stubble. "I'm sorry that I scared you." I told him before dropping my hand, scooting over enough for him to sit with me. I hissed as I leaned back against the pillow, my stomach burning in pain. Nick slowly sat beside my, looking down at me while feeling my forehead. "You need anything? Water or something?" I smiled slightly, finding it hard to swallow. "Hmm, some water would be nice." I replied breathlessly, feeling groggy all of the sudden. Nick placed a kiss to my forehead before leaving the room. I yawned, closing my eyes. He'd be back before I'd fall asleep anyways.

When I woke, it was from a loud bang. I looked wearily around my room before forcing myself to sit up. I groaned in agony, slowly laying back down when I realized the pain would only get worse if I didn't rest. I was scared- what if something bad happened? Was it a gun shot? I wasn't sure what it was... I was still so tired. I sighed in relief when Nick and Luke came into my room. There was a look of concern on both of their faces, but I tried to brush it off.

"How're ya feeling?" Luke asked while Nick helped me take a sip of water. I yawned. "Tired, mostly. How long have I been out?" I looked up at them, and from the silence I could tell it wasn't good. "How long...?" Nick frowned. "Almost five days..."

"Five days?!" I sat up quickly, causing me to wince. Nick held my shoulders, gently pushing me against the pillow. Luke walked over to us, sitting next to my legs. "I don't even remember it though..." I trailed off as I lifted my shirt up enough to stare at the bandage. "Well, that's probably a good thing." Luke muttered, looking up at Nick. "What do you mean?"

Nick frowned. "Carlos didn't have anything to numb the pain... When he cut you open..." He trailed off, looking away from me. I looked from Nick to Luke, realizing I would've felt everything. "So... I was awake the entire time... And I felt everything?" I asked him, shaking slightly. Luke nodded, a frown on his face. "Carlos wasn't sure you were going to make it... After he cut you open you passed out..." Luke stood up, looking at Nick before staring down at me. "I'll leave you two to talk..."

I looked up at Nick who was staring out the window. I sighed, reaching for his hand. Nick pulled away, staring down at me. "You should've just kept it..." I rolled my eyes impatiently. "If I kept it, eventually it would've ruptured and it would've leaked bacteria into my other organs and I would've died. I'm not dead, so I made the right decision." Nick sat down beside me, holding my hand tightly. I took a deep breath, rubbing his hand with my thumb. "What was all that noise?"

Nick stiffened. "What?" "There was a loud bang, it's what woke me up." I yawned, leaning back against the pillows. "It was nothing. Luke and Pete found some kid in the woods, said she was bit by a dog. Luke, of course being the righteous prick he is, believes her." I placed my hand on his shoulder, smiling up at him. "What do you think?"

"If you get bit, you get shot." Nick mumbled, causing me to let out a sigh. "Where is she? Luke obviously wouldn't have forced her to go." Nick laid beside me, holding my hand tightly. "She's in the shed, if she doesn't turn then Carlos will help her."

"Hmm..." I said simply, leaning my head against his shoulder. "Hmm?" He asked. "That's it?" I laughed. "Did you expect me to say 'Nick, she's just a kid. She's going to be scared, and she might not be bitten by a walker.'?"

"Well-"

"Not today..." I sighed deeply. "I'm too tired to bother."

"Can you stay with me?" I asked Nick as he was about to leave the room. Carlos wanted to have a house meeting about the girl they had found, but I didn't want to be alone. Nick nodded, walking over to me. He sat beside me on the bed, allowing me to rest my head on his chest. "Mmm." I sighed contently. "I missed this."

Nick interlocked his fingers with mine. "You're my wife."

I grinned, kissing his chest gently. "I'll never get tired of hearing you say that." I was silent for a moment as I stared at the ring. "It was your moms, wasn't it? The ring?"

"Yeah. When she died, she told me to give it to you when you were ready." Nick held me tighter, kissing me head lightly. "It's beautiful." I told him quietly.

"We should tell the others." Nick sighed.

I nodded in agreement. "When?"

Nick shrugged. "Two days? It'll give them time to cool off from the kid thing."

"You mean give Luke time to cool down." I said as I rolled my eyes.

"You know he ain't gonna like it." Nick stroked my hair gently. I shrugged in response, tugging on his shirt slightly. "I love you, Nick. He'll just have to deal with it."

Nick came back into our bedroom with a regretful look on his face. I glanced up at him from my sketchpad before going back to it. "Was that her screaming?"

"Yeah... A walker got into the shed." Nick replied, sounding perplexed.

I sighed, frowning as I stared at a picture of Clem I had drawn over two years ago. "Is she okay?"

Nick nodded. "Carlos is gonna take a look at her... He's pretty positive she wasn't bit."

"What's her name?" I asked as I stared at the drawing of Clem, looking at the details of her face.

"Clementine."

My heart stopped as the book fell from my grasp. As soon as it had I was darting out of the room, running down the stairs as fast as I could. "Tasha! Wait up!" Could it be? Could it really be her? No, no how could it...

But I had to know.

I pushed open the kitchen door and saw everyone walking into the house. Everyone stared at me as if I was crazy. That was when I saw her. Her hair was in two pony's, and she was wearing her dirty old hat her dad had given her. My whole body was trembling. She stared at me, her eyes widening as she realized what I had.

"Clementine?" My voice came out as a quiet sob. Clementine took a step towards me, almost as if she was unsure. It took only a moment before she was running towards me, her arms wrapped around my waist tightly. "Tasha!" She said, a happiness to her voice I had missed for so very long.

"What the fuck is this?" I heard Nick say from behind us but I didn't care. All I cared about what the fact that Clementine was still alive!

"You two know each other?" Luke asked. As we pulled away from each other, I gave him a small nod.

"We were together, back when it started." I said as I pulled away from her. I frowned as I stared at her arm. "You're gonna take a look at it?" I asked Carlos. He nodded.

Clementine walked over to Carlos, who started to check her stitches. "Is she going to be okay?" I asked worriedly as I stared at the dog bite. Carlos nodded. "Her suturing skills need work, but she should be fine."

Nick wrapped his arm around my neck, pulling me close. I smiled slightly, leaning back against him.

"Tash, you're bleeding..." I looked up at Luke before looking down at my stomach. Carlos sighed. "You might've ripped open your stitches. Let me take a look."

Nick helped me over to Carlos as I lifted up my shirt enough to see the blood dripping down from the large incision. "Your stitches are fine, you're just moving too much. You need to rest." Carlos put a new layer of cloth over my wound before taping it to my stomach. Carlos, Rebecca, Alivin and Pete left while Nick, Luke, and Clem stayed with me.

"What happened?" Clem asked as she looked at me with a scared expression.

I smiled at her, tipping her hat playfully. "I just had to have surgery, Clem. That's all."

Nick grabbed my hand, causing me to look at him. "You heard Carlos, you need to rest."

I leaned my arms against his chest, giving him a soft smile before leaning up, giving him a kiss. I pulled away from Nick slowly as I looked over at Clem with a grin. She looked confused. "I'll see you tomorrow, Clem."

Nick lifted me up into his arms, causing me to laugh. He carried me up the stairs into our bedroom, setting me down on the bed gently. "Thanks baby." I said as I gave him a deep kiss. Nick pulled back slowly, looking at me with a frown. "Carlos said you need to rest."

"Nick, I'm so happy right now... Can't I just get everything I want?" I whined, looking up at him with puppy dog eyes. Nick rolled his, giving me a quick kiss. "I gotta go apologize."

"For?"

"I almost shot her."

I blinked. "Oh, yeah... I'm sure she doesn't blame you, babe... Clementine's really forgiving!" I assured him, smiling wearily.

Nick nodded slowly. "Okay, just... Rest okay?"

I sighed, nodding in agreement as he left the room. I laid my head against the pillow, yawning as I waited for Nick to come back. I curled into the blankets, closing my eyes sleepily. I couldn't believe Clementine was alive! It made me happy knowing I got to spend time with her again. Before I knew it, I was falling in and out of consciousness as sleep took over me.

A/N: Thanks for all the lovely reviews you guys :3 I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

GoldenLombaxGirl: ;) I hope you enjoyed this chapter. As you can probably tell, Clementine finally showed up! :D

SpawnOfSatan: I'm glad you enjoyed this chapter fun :3 I hope you liked this one :O

RKaarisNK: I'm glad that you think it's realistic :3 I try to update as often as I can :3

rinxlenfan4ever: omg thank you :3 I never know if I'm doing justice to Nick's character, but I try :3 I'm rally glad you like it 3 thanks for all the reviews!