"We should go to bed," yawned Sarah as she looked at the dim moonlight shining in through the bedroom window. "We'll have to get up early to start packing tomorrow."

"It just got dark," argued Clementine. "Come on, it's still my birthday, let's stay up a little longer."

"And do what?"

Clem thought to herself for a moment."I got it. Come on." Clem dragged Sarah back into the living room, then headed for the kitchen. She removed a large brown bottle from the refrigerator and a couple of glasses from the cupboard. "We gotta both try some." Clem set the bottle and glasses down.

"Whiskey?" asked a concerned Sarah. "I mean—"

"Remember? It's okay if we have some on my birthday," said Clem. "Come on. Last time you tried it, you didn't drink enough. It makes you feel really good."

"I don't know, I really don't like the taste."

"I don't either, but trust me, if you drink enough you'll like it."

"It's just—"

"Sarah," said Clem. "Please? For my birthday? Have a drink with me." Sarah smiled and Clem didn't hesitate to start pouring whiskey into the glasses. The girls had only tried it once before, right after Omid was born. Clem remembered that, for a little while, it made all her worries melt away. Thinking back to that night, Clem poured a little more in each glass, reasoning she had a lot more to worry about now than she did then.

"We should do that thing," said Sarah.

"What thing?"

"Where they like, touch the glasses together."

"Oh yeah." Clem picked up her glass. "They usually say something too."

"Like what? What should we say?"

"Um, I don't know, how 'bout…" Clem thought to herself for a moment. "How about, to another year together?"

"We haven't been together that long," reminded Sarah.

"Then to just us being together at all." Sarah smiled and raised her glass. Clem touched her glass to Sarah's, creating a slight clink sound while jostling the sticky liquid inside.

"And to us having Omid." Clem brought the glass to her lips. Tasting the whiskey immediately reminded Clem of how much she actually hated trying it the first time, but she forced the rest of the foul liquid into her mouth and swallowed.

"Ugh." Clem slammed her empty glass onto the end table, right next to Sarah's. The girls looked at each other for a moment, then hurried to the fridge. They hastily chugged some water to get that horrid taste out of their mouths.

"You're sure this was a good idea?" asked Sarah as she wiped her lips.

"Yeah, just give a minute. It's going to be great." Clem put the whiskey away and turned to Sarah. "When your next birthday gets here, I'm going to throw a really great party for you," promised Clem.

"My birthday?" Sarah sighed. "That's almost nine months away."

"Then I've got plenty of time to plan it," reasoned Clem.

"Don't forget about Omid's birthday. He's next," said Sarah. "He was born on leap year."

"He was? I thought you said we left Shaffer's on the twenty-eighth?"

"Yeah, but it was really late when he was born," said Sarah. "If it was past midnight that means he was born on leap year. Although, I guess we can just do it on the twenty-eighth, since there's no leap year this time."

"We'll have to do something special for him when he turns one," reasoned Clem. "Maybe we could—" Clem stumbled as she took a step forward, nearly falling before Sarah caught her.

"Clem, are you okay?"

Clem giggled in response. "I'm fine Sarah," assured Clem with a smile. "I'm just great."

A minute was about all it took. Clem's head felt light, there was a strange but comforting warmth brewing in her stomach, and she had this overwhelming feeling of ease washing over her. It was like all her muscles decided to relax without telling Clem, and she liked it. Staggering forward, Sarah held onto Clem's hand to keep her from falling over.

"I feel funny…" mumbled Sarah as they headed for the couch. "But, kinda in a good way. Does that make sense?"

"Yeah, that… that's what I told you." Clem eyed the CD player and wobbled over to it. "Sarah, we should dance."

"What?"

"Let's dance." Clem pressed a button and more classical music started playing. "Come dance with me."

"I don't know how to dance," said Sarah as she sat down.

"I don't either," said Clementine as she headed over to Sarah. "But let's do it anyway." Clem grabbed Sarah's hands and tried to pull the older girl to her feet. "Come on, it'll be—" Clem lost her grip on one of Sarah's hands while hanging onto the other, causing her to awkwardly swing in place while balancing on just one foot.

"Clem, are you sure you're okay?" Sarah pulled Clem closer, who threw her arms around Sarah and giggled.

"Dance with me," snickered Clem.

"I'll try." Sarah slowly stood up, Clem still clinging to her as she did. The older girl carefully wrapped her hands around the younger girl's waist and started shuffling in place to the slow tempo of the music.

"I thought you didn't know how to dance," teased Clem as she rested her head on Sarah's shoulder.

"I don't. I mean, is this really dancing?" asked Sarah as she tried to lead Clem as she moved in place.

"It's nice," whispered Clem in a quiet voice. "And you're nice. I can't thank you enough for doing this."

"It's nothing compared to everything you've done for me and Omid," insisted Sarah. "You were always the one going out and getting things for us."

"It's fine Sarah, like I said, I…" Clem stopped herself from saying she liked it as the memory of the woman she shot came flooding back. "I… I'm just glad knowing you and OJ are safe."

"Yeah, but I don't know if you're safe," said Sarah. "I always worry about what if something would happen to you. I wouldn't know what to do without you."

"Don't… don't say that." Sarah's words felt like they had just tied a knot in Clem's stomach.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't say things like that. You do enough without me making you worry," realized Sarah.

"You just worry about OJ, okay?" prodded Clem. "And what happens here. And I'll worry about what happens outside. Okay?"

"I will," assured Sarah. "It's just, what you do is so much harder and more important than what I do. I feel so useless."

"You're not useless Sarah, don't say things like that," insisted Clem. "You take care of OJ, like all the time. You started a garden that gave us extra food. And you always keep track of everything we have, so we know if we're running out of something."

"I guess, but—"

"You want to know why I don't mind going out to look for stuff?"

"Why?"

"Because when I'm out there, I know all I have to do is get home for things to okay. Because you're here, and everything will be fine. If I came back and you weren't here, I'd have to do all that stuff, and no one would be taking care of OJ, and I'd have no one to talk to, or to help me, or…"

Clementine trailed off as thoughts of loneliness started drifting through her mind, making her feel sick, or maybe it was the whiskey. She tightened her grip on Sarah, suddenly afraid of losing her closest friend if she let go.

"I'd be all alone if you weren't here," sobbed Clem.

"Oh, don't cry Clementine," urged Sarah as she rubbed Clem's back. "I'm sorry I said that stuff, I just feel like I should do more for you."

"You do a lot for me Sarah. You make me so happy," professed a tearful Clem. "This is like the best birthday ever."

"Oh, I almost forgot." Sarah released Clem, who had a little trouble remaining standing.

"Forgot what?" Sarah retrieved something tucked under the end table. "What's that?" Sarah offered Clem a small box wrapped in colorful paper. "You… you got me a present?"

"Yeah, sorta. I mean, I couldn't exactly buy you something, but—" Clem didn't wait for Sarah's explanation and snatched the box. "But I figure I could still make you something for your birthday." Clem tore the paper off in a hurry and opened the small box inside. "I hope you like it.'"

Clementine looked at her present. It was a strain of colorful plastic beads arranged in a pattern that looked like a rainbow repeating in a circle.

"What is it?" asked Clem.

"It's a bracelet." Pushing her fingers through the circle, Clem realized the material was elastic, and a slight tug slid the bracelet onto her wrist.

"You made this for me?" asked Clementine as she looked at her wrist in disbelief.

"Yeah. I was setting aside things you brought back so I could surprise you with it. I took some of that stuff you found in an arts and craft box, along with the heart from the necklace you gave me." Looking more closely, Clementine noticed there was a small jewelry heart hanging on the bracelet. "I know you gave me that necklace as a present, but I don't really like wearing necklaces. But I didn't know if—"

Clementine flung herself at Sarah, knocking the older girl onto the couch while grabbing hold of her with both arms.

"Thank you," professed a emotional Clementine. "Thank you so much."

"You really like it?" asked Sarah in disbelief.

"Yeah, I love it," said Clem. "And… I love you."

"Oh, I love you too Clem." Sarah embraced Clem as the pair settled into a comfortable position on the couch. "Is whiskey supposed to make you feel tired?"

"I don't know," said Clem.

"Because I feel really tired, and kinda dizzy."

"Yeah, me too," realized Clem. "Maybe I put too much in the glass."

"Maybe we should go to bed then," suggested Sarah.

"Can we wait a minute? At least until my head stops spinning?"

"Sure." Sarah propped her feet up on the couch and Clementine cuddled up close beside the older girl, resting her head against Sarah's chest as the pair embraced each other. Woozy from the whiskey, Clem found herself content to just remain on the couch in Sarah's warm grasp. The gentle pops from the fire and the sensation of Sarah gently running her fingers through Clem's hair put the younger girl at ease, but then Sarah sighed.

"What's wrong?" asked Clem in a quiet voice.

"It's nothing," insisted a sleepy Sarah.

"You can tell me."

"I don't want to worry you."

"Just tell me, I'm already worried now."

"I'm… I'm scared," admitted Sarah.

"Of what?" asked Clem.

"Of leaving."

"Oh." Clem took a breath. "Yeah, it's scary. But, you know, we've done it before."

"We have?"

"Yeah, when we left the cabin, or when you left Shaffer's before that. You were scared then, right?"

"I was scared, yeah. But, this feels different."

"How?"

"I didn't like living at Shaffer's, but I like living here."

Clem sighed. "Yeah, I like living here too."

"Then, let's not go," said Sarah. "We could just find food with the RV, and bring it back. We could just stay here."

"Sarah…"

"I mean, why not? It's safe here."

Clementine flinched upon hearing the word safe. She briefly thought to tell Sarah what happened, but then she had another thought. "We'd use up a lot of diesel coming back each time," noted Clem. "And we don't have much of that."

"Well, no, but maybe we could find more diesel too."

"Then we'll need more diesel to go further to find more food, and each time we'll use more coming back, until we won't have enough left to get to the next place. Then we'll have to walk to find food."

Sarah sighed again.

"It'll be okay," assured Clem. "The RV is big enough for us to live in, and we'll just take it to somewhere that has more food and things we need. It won't be so bad."

"I know, it's just…"

"Just what?"

"What if bad people find us?"

Clementine swallowed hard as she digested Sarah's fear. "We'll just go to out of the way places. No big cities, or even little cities. Just tiny little towns nobody is living in. Places where nobody would bother to go."

"Like here," said Sarah. "It's been half a year and no one has ever come here." Clem found herself tensing up upon hearing those words. "I really wish we could stay here."

"I... I do too," confessed Clem. "But if there's no food left, there's no point in staying, because someone could show up anywhere, so we might as well go somewhere with food."

Sarah took a deep breath. "Yeah, that makes sense. It's just, it'll be hard."

"I know, but we'll do it together." Clem closed her eyes for a moment, trying to rest her swimming head on Sarah's shoulder. The whiskey she drank wasn't as fun as she remembered and she felt strange, maybe even a little sick. Turning her head, Clem found herself inches from Sarah's face. The dim light of the dying fire cast a warm glow on Sarah, which Clem found oddly captivating.

Something about the way Sarah's lips seemed to be puckered drew Clem closer. Nearly touching noses now, Clem carefully pursed her own lips, leaned forward, and planted them on Sarah's. The sensation of touching their lips together felt oddly satisfying and they made a distinct smacking sound as Clem backed away.

Looking at Sarah's face, Clem felt a sudden tinge of panic. She didn't understand why she did what she had just done. Her head was misty and still spinning from the whiskey, making it hard to think. Clem tried racking her mind but she still couldn't think of an explanation for what just happened. She wouldn't know what to tell Sarah, and then she wondered if Sarah was still awake. Did she know what Clem had just done?

"Sarah?" whispered a nervous Clem. "Sarah?" No answer. The older girl seemed to be fast asleep, giving Clem a sense of relief, but only slightly. As the young girl settled in next to Sarah for a long night of rest, a sense of guilt nagged at her for what she had done, as well as an overwhelming sense of confusion swirling about in the young girl's dizzy head.