Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead. All rights reserved to their respective owners.
Clementine's eyes and mouth were wide open in surprise and shock. "…And that's everything you need to know in a nutshell." Christa said to the shocked and surprised girl.
Clementine shook her head and closed her mouth. "I see… well… I guess it makes sense." Clementine said.
"Don't worry, hon. It's a lot to take in, but it is better to know this stuff now than for you to find out later... or soon in your case. You're not too far off from that age when your body goes through changes." Christa said.
"I… okay…" Clementine said. She sighed and she said, "Why couldn't I just stay little then I wouldn't have to worry about all of this."
"I know how you feel hon." Christa said with a chuckle. "Don't worry. Things will get normal after a while."
"So what about Gil? Do boys change too?" Clementine asked.
"Well yes but in a different way. I'll have Omid talk to him since I'm sure he'll be uncomfortable if a woman tells him about how his body will change." Christa said. "As for now, I'd imagine Matthew will be coming back any minute from being down at the bridge." Christa headed for the stairs with Clementine following close behind.
Clementine smiled upon hearing laughter and giggling from Genevieve. She and Omid were downstairs. "She seems a lot happier than what I remember from yesterday." Clementine said.
"Yeah… she's a smart one." Christa said and she headed down the stairs. "She picks up on my and Omid's emotions rather easily. That's partly why she got upset yesterday. She thought we were upset, and she's always been like that."
They reached the bottom of the stairs and saw Omid turn his gaze to them. "Hey, you look a lot better, Clem." Omid said.
"Thanks." Clementine said. "I feel a lot better."
"That's good because we need to have a serious sit down and talk about your height. Why are you trying to make me feel short?" Omid said with a serious frown on his face, but it was evident that he was joking.
Clementine giggled and she said, "I don't know. I still feel kind of short."
"She's a growing girl, Omid." Christa said with a laugh.
"Great… I'm going to be shortest person here… Clem, why couldn't you have stayed short? I felt like I was a bit taller when you were eight." Omid said.
"Well, you still beat out Gen…" Christa said. "She probably will be closer to your height than mine."
"Yeah… great. I can take comfort in knowing that I'm only taller than my own daughter. Wonderful." Omid said with a sarcastic tone in his voice. "Still, I wish we would have named her Christa."
"Here, we go…" Christa said with a smirk.
"Think about it Christa, she would have been known as Christa Junior or Christa the Second. Doesn't that sound awesome?" Omid said with a smirk.
Clementine couldn't help but giggle while the baby looked back and forth between the mother and father. "I think Genevieve is the perfect name for our little angel." Christa said as she looked to Genevieve.
"Dada willy." The baby sputtered out.
"Whoa… I didn't think she was able to talk already." Clementine said with a shocked and impressed stare aimed at the toddler.
Christa smiled and she looked to Genevieve. "That's right, baby. Dada is being silly." The baby giggled before she went back to playing with her toys. Christa turned to Clementine and she said, "She's about that age. She'll be eighteen months soon so it makes since that she's starting to talk now."
"That's amazing." Clementine said with a smile.
"Yeah, it really is." Omid said. "I just wish she was nearing the stage for potty training."
Clementine giggled a bit while Christa rolled her eyes. "Omid." Christa said with a chuckle.
"I'm not kidding you. I had to change her a half hour ago and what I found… was frightening. I thought it was going to eat me." Omid said which made Clementine laugh harder. She couldn't help it. Omid always managed to make even the most gruesome, and in this case, disgusting things hilarious.
"You're something else… you know that?" Christa said with a smirk. Christa turned to Clementine and said, "You should have seen him when Genevieve was only a few months old. He kept dry heaving every time I changed her or when she threw up."
"I can see that happening." Clementine said with a smirk. The three turned their heads upon hearing the door open. Clementine looked over to see Walter and Gil. However, Gil was wearing a new green hooded sweatshirt along with the clothes that he had been wearing for the past few days that he has been with Clementine.
"Well, I better get dinner ready. It certainly was a superb conversation with you, Gil. I hope I can teach you more of Steinbeck." Walter said.
"Uh… sure… can I ask for the rest of the day off? That made my brain hurt." Gil said.
Walter chuckled and he said, "Certainly. We'll continue some time tomorrow." Walter turned and he headed over to a cooktop burner.
Gil looked over to Clementine and he smiled before he walked over. "You look a lot better. How do you feel?"
"Really good." Clementine said with a smile on her lips. However, she could feel herself getting warmer. She must have been blushing. All she could think about was what Christa told her about boys and girls and their many differences.
"You okay?" Gil asked with a questioning stare.
"It's nothing." Clementine said as she shook her head. She looked to the boy and she said, "So, I'm guessing you've talked to Omid and Christa."
"I have…" Gil said. "They're good people. Anyway… there's something I need to tell you."
"Umm… okay." Clementine said. She noticed that Christa and Omid were keeping an eye on her and Gil but they were focusing mostly on Genevieve.
"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for what happened. It's my fault that you became exhausted the other day." Gil said with a frown on his face. "I need to become stronger so that doesn't happen to you again."
Clementine frowned as well and she said, "Gil, that wasn't your fault. That was a very intense situation… we barely made it out of there."
"Still, I feel kind of responsible for what happened to you." Gil said.
"We're alive. That's all that matters." Clementine said to the boy.
Gil smiled to the girl and he said, "Thanks Clem."
Both tweens turned when they heard Genevieve laughing. It was such a delight to hear the infant giggle. The laugh had a bit of innocence in it. Something that the tweens had lost. They weren't babies anymore. They weren't even kids. They were survivors.
"It's nice to hear laughing again." Clementine said.
"Yeah…" Christa said with a frown forming on her lips. "I'm so glad that I had a baby… it's so easy to get depressed in this world."
"It is…" Omid said with a frown. He sighed before he continued, "All of that Civil War history is gathering dust and I can't anything to save it."
"Omid…" Christa said.
"What? It's true. It's not like I can drive around in a car and bring it all here." Omid said.
"Because you care too much about Christa and your baby to put them through that, right?" Clementine said with a smirk.
"…Um, yeah, we'll go with that. You're absolutely right, Clementine." Omid said with a teasing smirk. The two tweens laughed while Christa shook her head.
"Nice save." Christa said with a sarcastic tone in her voice.
"Nice enough to stay inside for the night?" Omid asked.
"Nope, but I will let you take a blanket out there." Christa said.
Omid shrugged and he said, "That's a win."
The two adults and children turned their heads when they heard the door open. "Brr… that's a cold wind out there." Sarita's voice was heard.
"Yeah, my face feels like it's been pelted by glass for a couple of hours." Matthew's voice chimed in. They could hear footsteps heading up the stairs and it was followed by Matthew and Sarita coming into view. "Hey guys." Matthew said as he and Sarita approached the five group members.
"Hey, meet anyone today?" Christa asked.
Matthew shook his head and he said, "No, pretty boring day." He turned and sent a smile toward Clementine. "Hey, the walker slaying queen is awake this time."
Clementine giggled and she said, "Yeah, sorry that I left so abruptly the other day. When I heard that Christa and Omid were alive, I just had to get up here as soon as possible."
"The walker slaying queen?" Sarita asked.
"Yeah, you should have seen her and Gil in action. They took out eight walkers together." Matthew said. "I tried to run over and help them, but by the time I got to them, the walkers were all dead."
"Damn… you two are badass." Omid said.
"Be careful what you say around Gen… she'll pick up words like that pretty easily." Christa said.
"Sorry…" Omid said with a shrug.
"Heck… Clem was able to save my life that day. She took down six of them. I was barely able to take down two." Gil said.
"It kind of helped that I found that tomahawk." Clementine said.
"Yeah, you got a point." Gil said.
"Matthew… glad you're back." Walter said as he approached the man and hugged him.
"Hey Walter. I missed you." Matthew said.
"I missed you too." Walter said. He turned to his fellow group members and he said, "Good news. Dinner is served."
"That is very good news. I think my stomach is going to eat itself." Omid said and he walked to the table.
Christa chuckled before she picked up Genevieve. The baby babbled a bit and looked around; however, her eyes were glued to Clementine and Gil for the most part. Clementine smiled at the baby while Gil looked to the girl. "You look really happy." Gil said as the two children trailed behind the adults.
Christa was trying to get Genevieve in the highchair, but the detachable trey to the chair was tricky to work with. "It's been a while since I've been with good people. I don't think I want to go to Wellington anymore." Clementine said.
"I understand. They're all good people." Gil said.
The two children reached the table and Walter gave them a bowl of the soup that Clementine had earlier. Sarita told her that the soup consisted of peaches and beans "Thanks." Clementine said.
"Yeah, thank you, Walter." Gil said.
"You're welcome, and you don't have to thank me. We all have our roles in the group." Walter said.
"So what would our roles be?" Clementine asked.
"Well, for now… rest and relax. You two have been out there in the thick of it for a while." Sarita said.
Clementine frowned and she said, "I don't know if I can relax."
Christa and Omid looked to each other with a pair of frowns before they turned to the girl. "Hey Clementine, how about you look after Genevieve tomorrow so you can get to know each other. I'll be around if you need any help." Christa said.
Clementine smiled and she looked to the infant. "I would really like that."
"I'm glad to hear that, hon." Christa said with a smile.
"So Clementine, what grade were you in when all of this started?" Matthew asked.
"What kind of question is that, Matty?" Sarita asked with a chuckle.
"A modest one." Walter said. He turned to Clementine and said, "I'll need to know where your education stopped so I can continue teaching you all of the fundamentals."
"Actually… I was just making conversation." Matthew said with a chuckle. "I mean it's not like she worked or anything before the walkers started limping around."
"I was in third grade. It was pretty easy, but my mom and dad said I was really smart for my age." Clementine said.
"Cool, so with you being one of the smart kids, did you read any comic books in class?" Matthew asked.
Clementine giggled and she said, "I'm a girl. Of course I didn't read comic books in class."
"I was tempted to do that a couple of times. The teacher was talking about math and I just wanted to tune her out." Gil said with a smirk.
"I wish I could have done the same. I don't like math." Clementine said.
"Nobody likes math." Matthew said.
Clementine smiled before she took a spoonful of the peaches and beans and ate it. The conversation among the group members continued, but she was more focused on the smiling faces and laughter of the people around the table along with Genevieve's babbling. She never thought that she would ever see happiness similar to what she saw at the table that evening; she always thought that happiness and baby babbling would be something in the past. The atmosphere at the table was so warm and inviting that the girl thought for a moment that the world hadn't ended. It rivalled the warm atmosphere of her parent's home when her parents were alive.
Clementine continued to eat the soup while the adults continued their conversation. It seemed so foreign to her to see people laughing and having a fun time at the dinner table. It had been at least two long years since she seen anything like it. Unfortunately, time went on and soon everyone was finished with their meals. Plus, Genevieve was getting restless. She wanted to go back to playing with her toys. Christa obliged and picked up the girl. She went back to the living room with Genevieve while Walter and Matthew gathered up the dirty dishes.
"I'll take watch." Omid said. "How was it out there?"
"I just had to deal with a couple of stragglers." Sarita said. "It wasn't too bad today."
"Well, that'll make for a relaxing evening." Omid said before he went to the door.
Sarita approached Gil and Clementine and she said, "I'd like a hand in decorating the Christmas tree. You think you two could help me? Genevieve helped me a bit here and there, but I think you two should have a chance to finish decorating it with me."
"I would like that. I haven't decorated a Christmas tree for a long time." Gil said.
"Me too." Clementine said with a smile on her lips.
"Good. We'll make an evening out of it." Sarita said. She went over to the Christmas tree and placed another ornament on it. Gil and Clementine took ornaments from the box and they placed the ornaments on the tree. It reminded Clementine of the good times that she had with her family. She was smiling so much and enjoying her time with the new group, she felt like they were her new family.
…To be continued.