Chapter Seventeen

I frowned as I wrapped my arms around Nick tightly, not wanting him to leave. He rested his arms against my shoulder, pushing me back slightly with a smirk. "I'll be back before you know it, babe."

"No amount of time will be soon enough, Nick." I muttered, feeling exposed with Luke, Pete and Clementine in the room.

Nick chuckled. "I promised, didn't I? I'll be back." I leaned up, giving Nick a deep kiss. Nick kissed me back slowly, giving me a tight squeeze before pulling away.

"Just... Be careful, all of you." I looked at Clementine with a smile before looking over at Pete. "Keep them both safe, okay Uncle Pete?"

Pete smiled at me. "I'll bring them back safe and sound, Tash. Try to get some rest."

I nodded, rubbing my stomach slightly. "I'll see you in a few hours." I told Nick, watching sadly as he left the cabin with Pete. Clementine walked up to me, giving me a tight squeeze before following close behind them.

"They'll be back soon, Tasha." Luke said from behind me, touching my shoulder.

I smiled sadly. "I know, I just hate it when he leaves."

Luke grabbed my hand, pulling me into the living room. "C'mon, let's play cards."

"Why? I always beat you." I grinned, poking his side. Luke chuckled, shuffling the card deck. "We'll see."

********FOUR HOURS LATER*********

I was tapping my fingers against the desk worriedly. Nick and the others should've been back by now. Luke knew this because he kept insisting we continued to play card games, even though that was all we had done for the past four hours.

I set my cards on the table. "They should've been back by now, Luke."

"Tasha, I'm sure they're fine." He reassured me, moving to sit beside me. "You just need to relax."

"Relax? For all I know they could be dead, or worse!"

Luke touched my leg in an attempt to calm me down. "Tasha, please... I told Nick I'd take care of you while he was gone, and you're making that difficult."

I rolled my eyes impatiently. "Luke, I know something's wrong! I can feel it... Please, can we go look for them?"

Luke shook his head. "It's too risky. If something did happen, I'm sure they got away and are hiding out until it's safe." Luke stood his ground, looking at me with his puppy dog eyes.

"If you won't go with me, I'll go by myself." I replied angrily as I stood up, trying to walk away from Luke. He grabbed my waist, pulling me down hard onto the couch.

"I will not let you risk your life over a feeling, Tasha! Just sit down, and relax!" Luke yelled, making me frown. His eyes searched mine for a few moments before he let go of me.

"Fine... If it turns out he'd dead, you're who I'll kill." I said simply, picking up the cards once more. "Do you have a 8?"

Luke looked at me with a concerned expression.

"Go fish."

Nick's POV

"I cant even keep my own wife happy." I said as I took a gulp of whiskey. "Luke managed to keep Tasha happy even when she was with me…"

"I'm just…not equipped for this world…" I continued. "But everyone else is…I wish I was like Luke. I wish I could just keep movin' all the time. I'm just not built like that..."

"Tasha's only "equipped" because she has the group. Especially you, Nick." Clementine said with a soft expression. "You're the only one she wants to protect most in the world."

"Luke can take over that role. He's a better match for her anyways." I replied, trying my best not to think of Tasha.

"I knew someone like you..." Clem said thoughtfully as she sat on a crate. "He didn't think he deserved her either, but he didn't realize that he kept her grounded and emotionally stable."

I looked up at her. "His name was Ben and the way she looked at him is the exact same way she looks at you."

"If you stay here and let yourself die, you're letting her die."

Tasha's POV

Night had fallen and Nick, Pete, and Clementine hadn't returned. Luke had stayed with me the entire day, but even that couldn't calm me down anymore. "Luke..."

"I know, Tasha." He frowned. "Try to get some sleep."

"You look me in the eyes and promise me as soon as the sun rises we'll go look for them, I'll sleep." I looked into Luke's brown eyes as he leaned over me, blowing out a candle behind me. "I promise." He said, his face only centimeters from mine.

"Will you at least stay with me?" I asked as he pulled away. Luke nodded. "Yeah."

I laid my head against his chest, hearing his heart beat faster. Luke tentatively wrapped his arms around my waist, placing his hand on my side. I closed my eyes, scared that when I fell asleep I would have nightmares. But I didn't, as soon as sleep had consumed me, I was already being woken by Luke.

"Tasha?" Luke asked as I lifted my head from his chest. I looked around wearily, realizing it was now morning. I stood, stretching as Luke left me to tell Alvin to get ready. I didn't know if Nick was dead or alive and it was eating away at me. What made it all worse was the pain in my stomach had increased. I hoped- prayed that we'd find him, Pete and Clem alive.

"I don't think they're by the river, but we should look close to there." I said as Alvin and Luke walked along the forest with me. Alvin was a few steps behind me, while Luke was walking VERY close to me.

We walked for at least a mile, but found no sign of any of them. Alvin insisted that we head back and wait and see if they come back, but I refused. "No. I need to know... If they're dead-"

"Maybe Alvin's right, Tasha." Luke said quietly from beside me. "If they got separated, or something happened they'd head back to the cabin."

I shook my head. "No... We keep looking."

There were no more protests after that. We walked around the forest for at least two hours, but found nothing. My stomach hurt so bad at that point, I knew we had to turn back.

"Here." Luke said as he handed me a bottle of water. "You look exhausted."

"I am." I admitted, taking a large gulp of water. "We should probably-"

"Luke! Tasha!" Carlos yelled as him and Rebecca ran up to us. Rebecca hugged Alvin while Carlos looked at me with a concerned expression.

"What? Are they back?!" I asked quickly, scared for the answer.

Carlos shook his head. "Clementine... She came back... Pete's dead."

"What?" Luke and I asked in unison. I covered my mouth as I felt tears come to my eyes. "What about Nick?" Luke asked as I grabbed onto his arm.

"Clementine said that he was okay when she left... C'mon we gotta go back." Carlos said as everyone began to run back to the cabin. Luke grabbed onto my face, forcing me to look at him. "Tasha, hey." I looked at him slowly, tears falling down my face. "I'm sure Nick's fine, alright? Now we gotta get back so we can find him." Luke's eyes held a pain that mirrored mine. "I'm worried about him too, alright but we gotta go so we can find him."

I nodded slowly, sniffling as Luke held my hand, pulling me along after the others. I was terrified. Was Nick alive? Why didn't he leave with Clementine? Pete was... No...

When we reached the cabin, Clementine hugged me tight. I managed to hug her back, but I was still out of it. As the others asked her questions, Sarah said that a man was here.

"What? Who?" Carlos asked Sarah. "He talked about you, Dad." As my brain put two and two together, I began to break down.

"Fuck, oh fuck." I leaned my head in my hands as I took deep breaths. Carver had found us? If that was true, and he did get to us... I was dead. Luke was dead. Luke wrapped his arm around my shoulder encouragingly. "C'mon, let's get your things."

As we walked up the stairs, I couldn't help but hold onto him. "Nick could be dead, Luke! And... And Carver, if he finds us he'll-"

"He won't find us." Luke said firmly as he began to throw my things into a bag. "And I'm sure Nick's alright."

"You don't sound sure."

Luke frowned at me after a moment. "We'll find him, Tasha."

Clementine had told us where she had last seen Nick, and we followed her lead. I hung to the back, trying desperately to cling onto any sanity I had left. Rebecca began walking beside me holding her stomach. "You know, when we first met you, Nick couldn't stop gushing about you."

I glanced over at her slowly. "Really?"

"Mhmm! He would try to tough guy it, but he seemed to really love you since you guys met." She continued, smiling. "I don't think he ever realized it at the time, but he would get angry when he heard you fighting with Luke."

"Oh?" I asked quietly, thankful she was trying to distract me from my gruesome thoughts. "He never really said anything about it."

"I don't think he wanted to get involved, but once you two were split I could tell he wanted to be with you..." Rebecca touched my arm gently. "I'm sure he's fine, Tasha."

I just shook my head. I lagged behind them even more after that, preferring to be alone with my thoughts. I looked at the ring on my finger, feeling my stomach turn over. I didn't know if it was from guilt, fear or just plain nausea but whatever it was, it hurt like hell.

"Over here!" I heard Clementine say in the distance. I rushed past Rebecca, Alvin, Carlos and Sarah, only to be caught by Luke. There was a walker in front of the shed, and my heart sunk.

"Tasha- Tasha." Luke shook me slightly. "You need to stay here, okay? Clem and I will-"

"No! I need to see-"

"Just stay here, okay?" Luke had a pained expression on his face. "Stay with Becca." I gave him a curt nod before trudging over to Rebecca, who wrapped her arm around my waist for support.

I crossed my arms, watching intently as Luke and Clementine walked over to the shed. They killed the walker and pushed open the doors. They were hesitant, and I fell to my knees as tears streamed down my face. The not knowing- that was the worse part. Not knowing if he was alive, dead... One of them, or just plain bitten. It was all the same really, unless he was fine...

Luke and Clementine went into the shed as I sat on the ground, digging my fingers into the dirt. I was trying to ready myself- for whatever were to happen.

I felt a rush of relief when I saw Nick standing beside Luke. He didn't look bitten- was he really okay?

"Nick?" I said quietly as I ran up to him, hugging him tightly. Nick staggered back slightly, but held me tighter. "Don't you ever scare me like that again!" I cried silently, holding him close. I never wanted to let him go. "I thought... I- I thought I lost you."

Nick leaned down, kissing me deeply. He had tears in his eyes, and he looked beaten. "I'm alright, babe..."

Nick walked with me in his arms, neither of us wanting to let go. We walked behind Clementine for a moment. "Thanks, Clem... For not giving up on me back there."

Clementine nodded sadly. "I'm sorry about Pete."

"Thanks." Nick said quietly, falling back a few paces. I frowned, holding his hand tightly.

"I say we got about a five days walk. We should be able to lose Carver if he's tracking us." Luke said as he looked at a map.

"Five days?" Rebecca asked, sounding overly exhausted already.

"It's gonna be alright, Bec."

"We have no choice, we have to keep moving."

A/N: Thanks for reading! Remember to leave a review :3 Sorry if this chapter isn't that great!