Clementine knew he was right. He had to be. He was a smart leader, a good man and well he was their leader. He knew what was best. Unfortunately, all she could give him to defend himself was the decent at best knife. "Okay.. I'll go. Stay safe. We'll come back soon." She grabbed Hilda, standing up to face the doors of the RV. Pete smiled.

"I don't plan on going anywhere. You damn well better come back." He laid his head back, taking another cigar from the box and lighting the end of the fat stick. Clem nodded, her hand on the knob. "When you see my nephew, tell him something for me."

"What is it?" She stopped any further movement, her ears wide open.

"That I love him. And that I'm sorry. Basic, I know. But it'll help." She smiled, silently wishing her group was open enough to share stuff like that. Lee loved Clementine and he made that very clear, but everyone else was always such a hard read. Especially Christa.

"I will, Pete. I won't let you down." She envied the man as she opened the doors. He smiled at her as he coughed up the smoke.

"'Atta girl. Good luck." She hopped out of the RV quietly. Few walkers roamed, at least visibly. She carefully closed the doors and crept through the woods in the direction Pete pointed her in. It only took an hour for her to find the cabin, safely.

"How many was it?" Molly hiccuped, staring bewildered at Nick as she slugged down the rest of her syrup-y alcohol.

"One hundred thousand dollars. One hundred big fuckers for a brewing business that didn't even get off the ground." Nick slurred, copying her motions. The two sat next to each other now, legs stretched and backs arched against the cold wall behind them.

"Because your dumbass drank all the product?" She asked with a smart, jerkish smirk.

"You're goddamn right my dumbass drank all the product." The southern boy shook his head with a playful smile, nearly finishing his jar. "Luke had ideas. He was always thinkin' and shit. Made me try pot in high school, then made me get the same job as him, apply for the same college. You know. I actually flunked uni."

Molly busted a gut laughing. "Psht, of fucking course you did."

"Screw you. Anyways, one day we're hopping rooftops to the movies a-and he stops me and says, 'Nick, we're burning daylight. We shouldn't be going to the movies, watchin' girls get dry humped or dry humpin' girls. We should work.' I'll never forget those words, because I bet that smug motherfucker ten grand out of pocket if the business failed. We got wasted on everything within the first day and had to go outta business. Fucker still hasn't paid me back." He glanced down at the almost empty bottle in his hand, sighing as he let the cold glass touch his warm forehead. His hat slid off his head.

"Did this failed business have a name?" Molly was genuinely curious. She leaned in closer, the stench of beer all over her. He smelled awful too.

"Experimental cyder. Slogan was: quit burnin' daylight and start burning your throat. Stupid." He chuckled lowly to himself, shaking his head.

"That's a much better story than the first one you told."

"That's because I'm wasted. I'm not a sad drunk around women." He took another sip, nearly finishing off the bottle.

"Is it cause that limp dick needs somewhere to hide and cry?" Molly mocked in a baby voice, her hand pushing against his chest. He pushed her playfully away.

"God, you're such an annoying bitch. Don't act like you've done it in the past two years." He replied with an eye roll. She took a moment to recall Crawford and frowned, sighing.

"Unfortunately, yeah I have."

"Unfortunately? Women." Nick said with an eye roll. Molly got on the defensive, swigging her jar.

"It wasn't fun. Old fucker was paying me to suck him off and fuck him for my sisters meds. She was diabetic, and this community was not friendly to those who needed medicine." She pressed her face against her palms, rubbing her temples with her fingertips. "Glad we burned that place to the ground before we left."

Nick looked shocked to hear that. "Damn, that's heavy-"

"No wait, we never did that, I think that was a dream." She gave him a shit eating grin. He shook his head, throwing his bottle to the official Piss and Glass Shards Corner. At least, that's what they dubbed it.

"Still.. No enjoyable sex in the past two years, and you're gonna castrate me for being curtious?"

"Don't expect anything from me, asshole." She playfully spat in his face, her saliva sticking to his lip. She had a dumb smile on that told him more than she was saying. He licked up the spit as he gazed into her eyes.

"Don't expect anything from me either then." He shrugged, grabbing another jar. Molly couldn't keep her eyes off of him. "Anyways.. Cheers to broken pasts and the shitty present." He held out a brand new glass, waiting for her to tap his with hers. Instead, she tossed her glass as hard as she could and grabbed his new one. "Hey- what are you-" CLANG. The glass scattered the corner as warm, vile liquid flooded the already disgusting corner. Nick glared at her in a 'not cool man' kind of way before his shirt was pulled forward.

No words were exchanged as Molly crashed her cut, dry lips into his own. He tasted awful, like beer and iron. She loved it. He kissed back, already forcing his hands up her shirt to caress her stomach and chest. That's when he learned there was no bra under that hoodie and undershirt. Molly let out a moan of acceptance, breaking apart his lips to grasp his tongue with hers and dance the two in a tongue tangle. Nick choked, giving the dominance role to Molly.

They were lucky she wasn't drunk enough to let him do her in the danger zone. Though, there was plenty of vomiting before they passed out for the night, pants around their ankles, shirts torn off and arms tangled around each other at the now sweaty, B.O. ridden corner they drank together in.

Clementine made it to the cabin in the early morning. She entered through the back door, where she was met with four faces. Carlos, Christa, Chuck and Rebecca. "Clementine! Thank goodness." Charles jumped from his seat around the dining room table. Rebecca was pacing before the girl came in to hug Chuck. Christa smiled at her appearance but quickly changed her face to one of concern.

"Where the hell is Molly?" Christa demanded.

"W-we got separated. I'm sorry, I'm sure she's fine." Clementine felt nervous around the ex co-leader. Ever since Omid's death, she was reasonably pissed, but for some reason she was even aggressive towards the young girl who had nothing to do with it.

"Then why do you have Hilda?" She asked again.

"She gave her to me so we could defend ourselves." She had to forcefully hold back an eyeroll. She was already exhausted, not like these people were helping. Two nights in a row without sleep was really starting to get to Clem.

"Who cares about that? Where were you, where were you exactly?!" Rebecca shouted, getting up in Clem's face. If she wasn't pregnant, the young preteen would have at least spat in her face.

"Calm down, Becca." Carlos placed a hand on the pregnant woman's shoulder to calm her.

"What? I am calm! I'm just worried for our leader's safety, aren't you?" She glared at Carlos, gently pushing him away.

"Of course, but she just got back. Let her catch her bearings before you bombard her with questions." The doctor replied in nearly the same tone.

"It's fine, I'm.. Okay." Clementine assured the group, breathing a sigh as she composed herself for questioning. That sigh quickly turned into a yawn.

"You're not bitten are you?" Rebecca bitterly questioned.

"No. I'm not. And I never will be." Clementine shot back with a poker face that could kill.

"Okay, that's great and all, but.. Can you tell us what happened out there, darling? The rest of the group is out looking for you, Pete, Molly and Nick." Chuck asked, getting down to her level.

"Even Sarah?"

"No, she's in her room. Er, what happened to the others?" Carlos questioned, scratching the back of his head awkwardly. He was happy for Sarah, but still skeptical of the legitimacy of their friendship.

"There were dead bodies by the river, and amongst them was a walker; Pete got bit." She explained the awful sound of Pete screaming in terror flooding her memory.

"What?!" Rebecca gasped.

"I saved his life, and we split up from Nick and Molly. We ended up at this RV where I had to.. I had to.." She hesitated, feeling the sticky sensation of vomit crawl up her throat. The memory of chopping off his leg proved too much for her.

Carlos prodded. "Had to what, Clementine?"

"Slow down, Carlos." The older 'homeless' man advised.

"I… Cut his foot off." She muttered, pacing around the kitchen. Her eyes fluttered and she felt tired. God, she was exhausted.

"Jesus.." Carlos put his hand over his mouth, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Is he alive?" Christa asked.

"Yes. He should still be. He told me to leave him in the RV past the river. It only took me an hour to get here, so that's how long it should take to find him."

"Perfect. We'll go looking for him now. We have to go urgently." Carlos grabbed a heavy pistol off of the counter and stuffed it in his pocket.

"Do we really?" Christa questioned, a condescending tone in her voice.

"No, YOU two can stay behind. Carlos and I have to go alert the group that you're back." Rebecca answered just as bitterly. Carlos rolled his eyes and approached Clem while Rebecca walked off for her own weapon.

"Clem, one more question: Do you know where Nick and Molly went to?" He asked, kneeling down to talk to her.

"I don't know. Probably in a shelter near the river if they aren't here."

"The fishing shed. They could be there. We meant to check it out, but we ended up getting too busy." He mumbled to himself, scratching his chin before standing up again.

"Luke and Alvin are still out there. Let's go." Rebecca said, determined. She wielded a smaller pistol.

"Sure. You guys can watch the house, right? And you'll watch Sarah too?" The Spaniard questioned the adults, but instead got a response from Clem.

"You can count on us. I'll watch Sarah." The eleven year old chimed in. Despite the bags under her eyes and her bad body language, Carlos gave her a genuine look of happiness.

"Yeah, we'll watch the house." Chuck added with a smile.

"Thank you." Carlos and Rebecca began for the door, but he was suddenly stopped when Christa latched her hand around his wrist. "What?"

"Wait a minute, can't we have a gun? What if he comes over asking questions?" Christa's plan to get their weapons back was working so far. Side with them, build a small trust between groups, get the weapons. The last step was a mystery to Clementine, but Christa made it blatantly obvious that she was strategizing.

"Here. Don't make me regret this. We have to go." Carlos walked upstairs, gathering the group's pistols, rifle and machine gun that they never actually ended up using. With Christa and the group happy, Carlos and Rebecca exited the house.

Chuck locked the front door soon after they left, settling down on the kitchen table chairs. His guitar now rested in his lap after he removed it from it's usual holster. He began to play, watching as Clementine walked away. Christa made no attempt to strike up conversation. "Hey, so.. You okay, kid? That's heavy, cutting someone's leg off."

Clem stopped at the door. "I'm.. Tired. That's all."

"You just seem sensitive about it is all. Uncle Charles is always here to cheer your spirits." He strummed a tune that sounded calm. She wasn't feeling music right now.

"I know. I'll talk to you guys later."

"That you will." What did that mean? Clem questioned to herself as she walked away, closing the door behind her. She heard the two whisper, but couldn't decipher their words. So, she instead wandered up the stairs to find Sarah. Or a bed. Either worked. She opened up the final door on her right of the stairs and was greeted with:

"Say cheese!" CLICK! A camera flash startled Clem, causing her to gasp as she walked back into the door.

"Ah!" She covered her temporarily stunned eyes and rubbed them better, now more annoyed than anything. Sarah smiled, opening the door for her.

"What's up? It's been a really long time since I saw you, but I figured you didn't want to have even more people ask you." Sarah giddily started, taking the picture out of the old, bulky camera. It looked dustier than Clem's old house should look right now.

"I really didn't, so thanks for that." She made a small smile with the edges of her lips. Sarah gave a big, toothy one.

"That's what friends are for!" She handed her bestie the photo, which showcased a startled, tired, nearly pale Clementine. She fixed the hat on her head before taking the photo and placing it in her bookbag. "Wanna take one of me?"

"Sure." Clem put her bag down in the corner of the room along with Hilda, the weapon that Sarah followed with her eyes as it was gently put down. Clem took the camera, adjusting it to aim at Sarah's nerdy head. The teen smiled wide.

"Okay, I'm ready. Cheese!" Flash. A perfect picture. Sarah took it and her smile seemed to grow as she placed it on a table next to her bed. "Thanks a ton. Where's Nick and that other girl? Did Pete come too?"

"Um.. Sorry, they're still out there. Pete should be safe, and Molly will protect Nick. She's really tough." Sarah's expression changed to one of worry.

"But you have her weapon, right?" She gestured towards the hook she had previously witnessed Molly fight tooth and nail over.

"Yes, but.. Look, I took it from her so I could save Pete. He got bit." She revealed, almost accidentally. Maybe it was on purpose. She was too tired to be able to tell at this point.

"I-is he okay?"

"I saved him. He'll be fine." Clem quickly replied. Sarah nodded, her fingers visibly shaking.

"That must have been so scary.."

"Uh, I guess so. It sure as hell scared me." She laughed, teasing herself.

"Hey, swear." Clem opened her mouth to protest, but then a realization hit her. Something is wrong with Sarah. Carlos told Clementine, an eleven year old girl, to look after his fifteen year old daughter. She acted like the eight year old version of her did when this all started, except this time she actually had parents, or at least a dad. Had Sarah ever even killed a walker before..? "Where's my dad?"

"He's.. Looking for them. He's going to tell Luke and Lee about me and they'll group up." Sarah seemed visibly terrified. Her eyes went wide and her shaking became more noticeable.

"It's dangerous out there.." She mumbled, stepping away from the girl.

"Sarah, they're smart people. They'll be fine." She assured. Sarah sat down, shaky breaths rattling her throat.

"I… I guess so… I just need a second.." She wrapped her arms around her legs, burying her face in her knees. Clem sat with her, holding her leg to comfort her. She nearly passed out lying her cheek on Sarah's shoulder. That is, until her hat fell off. She hastily picked it up and noticed that Sarah was now much calmer, her shaking coming to a complete stop. "I have something to show you- other than the camera."

"What is it?" Clem asked, smiling to show she was still friendly with the girl. Sarah got down on the floor, digging underneath her bed for something. When she came out, she revealed a pistol much like Carley's glock, offering it to Clem.

"I know we're not supposed to give you guys weapons, but we're friends. Just don't tell my dad." Sarah warned. Clem was worried for this girl. Why in the world is she being so trusting to someone she JUST met a day or two ago?

"I won't, but you should know that I'm already armed. Your dad kinda trusts us now." Clem revealed her own gun but swiftly put it back in her butt pocket.

Sarah seemed bummed. "Oh. Good!" But then she smiled, an idea occurring to her. "Can you teach me to use it? It doesn't have any bullets. I just want to know since everyone keeps on treating me like I'm a little kid. I'm scared, but.. I want to be able to protect my dad, or my bestie, like you guys protect me." Now this was an interesting dilemma. Although the idea of helping Sarah get over her fears of the undead and guns would be great, firstly what would Carlos say? Then again, it's his fault she's like this, has to be, right? Secondly, if she's such a scared kid, maybe it's a better idea to leave things be. But, if you never give her a chance, she never can be brave.

Choices:

A: Teach her.

B: Don't teach her.

Relationships:

Lee: 10/10

Carley: 10/10

Chuck: 10/10

Christa: 9/10 (Saving Pete might just come in handy in Christa's plan. She seems to think so.)

Molly: 8/10

Luke: 7/10

Pete: 9/10 (He's very grateful that you listened to him. He believes in you.)

Nick: 7/10

Carlos: 710 (For saving Pete and becoming friends with Sarah, which led to you looking after her.)

Sarah: 8/10

Alvin: 6/10

Rebecca: 4/10 (For saving Pete and looking after the house)

((QOTC: Now that I've asked for specific ships, I'd like to tell you all that they have nothing to do with the fic, I just wanted to see what you thought of some crack ships. Sorry for the confusion. Well, actually, I did use the Nick x Molly votes for the first scene, but that's obvious. Anyways, what ship do you want to see most in this fic? Can be as crazy as you want, doesn't matter to me. I'm open to ideas.))