Chapter 3: Learning to Cope

Clementine and Louis rest in each other's arms for a bit longer. She is so happy and at peace to be in Louis's arms. Hearing his steady heartbeat was calming. Occasaly, Louis will kiss her forehead to make sure she is okay. Clementine loves it when he shows his affection of love toward her. If she weren't in pain, she would have had a wild liplock with him. Her feelings are going out of wack when she is with him, and she is a bit scared to act on these new feelings. The two lovers lay in each other arms until when their door opens up as AJ and Ruby come in, carrying medical supplies. They are still under the impression Clementine is still unconscious.

Louis and Clementine both look over at the doorway, and AJ looks up and shouts, "Clem! You're awake!" AJ came running up to the bedside and jumped up as Louis had barely had enough time to move his legs before AJ bruised them as he ran into Clementine's arms.

"Hey, there, kiddo. Ouch…careful, bud." Clementine said as AJ bumped her stump.

AJ looks down, then back up at her with an apologetic look, "Sorry, Clem." AJ pauses, then he hugs her as he muffles against her chest, "I was so worried. You were out of it for a while and thought you were never going to wake up."

Clementine hugs her little boy as she holds him, "I am fine, kiddo." Clementine then looks up at Louis and then at Ruby, who comes and stands beside the dresser.

Ruby smiles at the three of them on Clementine's bed. They really do complete each other as a family unit. Ruby then speaks up after Clementine and AJ have a reunite moment, "You did give all of us a scare when you were unconscious. Sorry for tieing you to the bed and all. I didn't want to."

Clementine smiles up at Ruby, "I understand. If I saw me, I would've done the same thing." Ruby nods for Clementine's understanding. "How is everyone else?"

"Fine. Omar still limps, so he is off from hunting duty for a bit for his leg to heal, Willy has been building things from the supplies, Vi and I have been working on fixing up the greenhouse, and your little boy has been helping fill in chores that need to be done. For the most part, everyone is recovering from the Raiders. We were all more concerned about you, though." Ruby admitted. "How are you feeling? Any pain?"

Clementine nods as she winces a little. "Yeah, my leg is throbbing but other than that, I feel a bit tired." Louis held her hand to give her some comfort with AJ still in her lap.

"I will give you some pain meds to help with the throbbing, then I will clean your leg.." Ruby looks at both AJ and Louis, "Boys, if you mind giving Clem her privacy, you can visit her later."

Louis watches AJ's face fall as he looks at Clementine, then he gives her a wink in the eyes, which gets Clementine to smile, "Hey bud, want to help me with a project of mine?"

"But I want to stay with Clem." AJ held onto Clementine tighter.

Clementine looks down on her adoptive son, "You can come stay with me once Ruby is done, okay."

AJ pouts a little and then sighs, "Okay." Then he climbs out of Clementine's embrace, careful not to bump her leg this time, and climbs off the bed to stand beside the ladder.

Louis looks at Clementine as they share a lover's gaze, then he kisses her cheek softly and whispers in her ear, "I will be back later if you want me to."

Clementine smiled and grabbed his hand to give it a squeeze of reassurance. Louis jumps out of bed and leaves her side for a moment. Then he ushers AJ out of the room so Ruby can be a doctor and attend to doing something medical.

Once AJ and Louis are in the hallway and walking to the doors of the dormitory to go outside, AJ looks up at Louis. The late afternoon sun lit up Louis's face making his freckles stand out, "So what project do you have in mind."

Louis looks down at Aj, "It is a surprise for Clem, but how about you help me with the building that tree house of hers, you know, the one we talked about in the woods before shit went down."

"The house with nine hundred and fourteen floors?" AJ asks as he looks up at Louis.

"Well, the odds of us building a house is kind of a far-fetched idea. I was thinking something more realistic that can be doable with the supplies we have," Louis suggested. He then pointed to the supplies they took from the Raiders. "Clem said she wanted a tree house, right? How would you like to help me construct the tree house for her."

AJ smiles brightly at the idea and jumps at it, but then his smile falls a bit, "But how is Clem going to enjoy her new tree house if she can't climb because of her, you know."

"Well, we can brainstorm ideas on how to incorporate Clem's new condition," Louis said as they arrived at a picnic table. "What do you say you want in?"

"Yeah!" AJ exclaimed excitedly. "Do you have any thoughts?" Louis nodded, as he grabbed a notepad and a pencil and started drawing up a few sketch ideas with notes.

Louis and AJ brainstormed ideas a little as Louis built up a blueprint on how to construct the tree house with AJ for Clementine. It was just about dusk out when Ruby exited the dormitory rooms, and Louis looked at AJ as he closed up the notebook of the ideas of the tree house. "Well, bud, think that covers it for today."

"So we are not going to build it?" AJ sounded disappointed.

Louis looks down at the child, "I didn't say we were going to construct it right now, but maybe in the next coming days, we can start. Besides, it was getting kind of late in the day to do any work. We needed a game plan going in if we wanted to make one for Clementine. And I still need some help on how to get this idea to work for her to explore the tree house with her set condition."

"Okay. Well, if we are not going to build tonight, can I go on watch with Willy?" AJ looks up at him.

"I don't see why not, little dude." Louis winks up at him.

AJ jumps with glee and then dashes to the lookout tower. He stops midway there and turns to look at Louis, who is packing away the pencils, "Clem is going to be okay right?"

"I think so, bud. You don't have to worry about her. Besides, I think she will still want you to carry out duties around the school even if she is coming out of her set injury." Louis reminded him. AJ nods and then continues to the lookout tower.

Louis stuffs his pockets with the pencils and the notebook containing his surprise gift and promise he made to an unconscious Clementine on building her a tree house. He soon makes his way to the black cauldron to take his meal and Clementine's to her room. Louis looks up at Omar as he is dishing out good old rabbit stew. Omar looks at him, "Hey, Louis."

"Hey back." Louis looks at him.

Louis looks up at Omar as he fills Louis's bowl, "How is your leg?"

Omar looks down at his leg for a moment, then gazes at Louis, "Better. I am still sore when I walk, but I can manage. I won't be doing any hunting rounds for a while." He pauses as Louis smiles for the first time in a few days. Then he dares to ask him about Clementine. "How is Clementine?"

Louis looked up at him, and he a smile breaks out on Louis's face, "She woke up a few hours ago."

"That is great." Omar smiles in return. "As much as I hate to admit it, but our school will be doomed without her around." Omar cast a look to the ground when he spoke to Louis next, "I'm sorry for voting her out. It seems we really did need her leadership."

Louis looks to his friend, "Clem is passed that, Omar. She forgave me when I, too, took part in voting her out."

"But still…." Omar couldn't finish his sentence and left it trailing. Omar shook his head and grabbed another bowl and filled it, then handed it to Louis, "For Clementine if she is hungry to eat."

"Thanks. I was just going to suggest that, but I guess you beat me to it." Louis smiled and joked with him a bit. "I would still like a change in the menu every now and then, though."

"Well, if you bring me something other than rabbits and fish, I will cook something different." Omar shot back as he stirred the pot that held tonight's meal.

Louis gave a sneer at Omar then he walked to the dormitory with his and Clementine's meal. In the hallway, he passes by Violet, who is making her way out to get her meal. "Oh, hey, Vi."

Violet stops for a moment and then gazes at Louis, who is holding two bowls of stew. "I am capable of getting my own meal myself, Louis. You don't need to baby me."

Louis looks down at his feet, then back up at Violet, "umm….this is not for you."

Violet looks at him with puzzlement, "Then who is for?"

"Clementine," Louis answers her. "She woke up this afternoon." Violet rolls her eyes at him and then heaves out hot air from her nose. Louis picks up on her sudden change of mood, "I thought you would be thrilled."

Violet looks at him, "I am. I am so thrilled. "

"You don't sound convincing when you say it like that," Louis said.

Violet looks at him with coolness in her eyes, "I just….forget it. I am late for dinner, and you got someplace you got to be and have no time for me."

"Is that what you think?" Louis asks.

"Yes." Violet eyes him with anger in her eyes as the coolness left and was replaced with hurt.

"That is not true." Louis looks to his once-good friend. "I always have time for you."

"That would be true if you don't have heart eyes for Clementine all the time," Violet shouted a little too loud for her liking.

Louis looks down at the floor and then back up at her, "Okay, so I have feelings for Clementine, but I still make time for you. You are one of my best friends Vi."

Violet looks at him and heaves a sigh, "I have to go." Violet leaves the dorms without another word spoken between her and Louis. She doesn't want to hurt him with the words she wants to say to him and further damage their friendship, but she doesn't know how to form the words of what she feels when she sees him and Clementine's happiness with each other.

Louis watches Violet leave. It hurts him to know she can't talk to him like before. Before things went to shit in their school that forced him and his best friends to grow up fast. Louis sighs as he shakes off his frustrations about his and Vi's severed friendship that will need some mending.

He walks to Clementine's room and tries to open the door by holding the two bowls of stew. He tries to do a balancing act and almost spills the containments on his jacket. He huffs out a sigh and puts the bowls down on the floor, and opens the door before picking up the bowls again as he walks into her room.

Clementine looks up from her bed, and she eyes her boyfriend as he is carrying two bowls of a hot meal. "You're going to make it?"

"Yeah, just got to work on my balancing act." Louis smiles as he places one hot bowl of stew on the dresser thing and hands the other to Clementine. "This is for you. Omar offered you this. I told him you are awake."

"Yeah, Ruby is going to tell the others," Clementine said as she held the bowl of stew. The smell was making her hungry as she dived into the hot meal Louis gave her.

Louis smiled at her and sat down next to her on her bed. Clementine smiles back at him and continues eating her food. She just notices Aj isn't with him as she looks at Louis, "Where's AJ?"

Louis was about to take a bite of his stew and jokingly answered her question, "Oh right, was I supposed to watch him." He then felt a light sock in the arm from Clementine and giggled a bit to tease her about her adoptive son, "I am kidding. He is on watch duty with Willy, so just you and me for the evening. He should be coming back in the early hours of dawn."

"He volunteered?" Clementine asks.

Louis nods, "I guess he just wants to look out for danger to protect you."

Clementine nodded as she was a bit disappointed that her kid wanted to spend time looking out for danger instead of her, but was proud in a way AJ stepped up to help out with the school more. She finishes her bowl of hot stew and puts it on the dresser beside her bed. Louis looks at her, "You want any more?"

"No, I am good for the moment. Thank you for the food." Clementine smiles at him. "I would go and receive it, but I can't walk, at least not right now. Ruby ordered me to stay on bed rest for a bit until she finds some crutches or something for me to use."

Louis stops eating a bit and then looks at her stump in the evening light. "Are you okay with that?"

"Which part?" Clementine asks.

"The bed rest part," Louis comments back.

Clementine looks at the floor and then back to him. She closes her eyes for a brief moment and lets out a sigh before she replies to him. "Honestly. I hate it. I wish I could be the leader you all want me to be and be doing things to contribute to the group. I feel so useless being in bed, not doing anything, and being a burden on the group."

Louis sets down his half-eaten bowl of stew and embraces Clementine as he pulls her in his arms. "Hey, no one values or sees you useless or a burden. I certainly don't. We all still look to you as leadership. And if you need a few extra days to take to relearn how to walk and move around, then you take those extra days. And we are all very grateful you are awake and conscience. Ruby was afraid you lost too much blood, and you were going to turn."

Clementine looked up at him and felt comforted by his words and touch. Louis kisses her forehead as he continues to say encouraging things to help lift her up some, "If need to be, Clem, I can help you regain your mobility to walk again if you want. I want to be your rock when you feel weak, and things around you are crumbling."

Clementine moves out from his arms just a bit to look at him, "How can you help me walk again?"

Louis smiles down at her, "I can make something for you as physical training to help you gain your leg strength back. And find a book or something or get Willy to help or Aasim to make you a prosthetic foot. I am guessing Aasim because he has the most sense in making practical things." Louis half admitted to himself as he spoke out loud. Then he looks into Clementine's soft golden eyes, "Are you up for it, or does that sound good to you."

Clementine looks at her stump and then back at Louis, "Well, if you are willing to help me, I guess I am up for it. The question is, are you willing to coach me."

"I am willing to help you what I can to get you back on your feet, and you stop doubting yourself." Louis smiles as he caresses her cheek a bit. He can tell she is blushing a bit from his words, even in the dim-lit room. Louis then pulls out his deck of cards. "So, my darling, do you have time to play a game?"

Clementine eyes the cards in his hand, then back up at him, "Well, since I am on bed rest, I don't see why not. What game are you thinking?"

Louis thought for a moment, then looked at her, "how about some Bullshit?"

"Umm, that is not a game Lou." Clementine chuckles. "that is a saying."

"No, I promise it is a card game. It's better with more people, but wouldn't mind playing one on one with you and seeing if you are a good bullshiter." Louis winks, "So you in?"

"Sure, I am game, but you are going to have to teach me the rules on this one." She looks up at Louis as he shuffles the deck of cards, then she asks him, "do you have any high stakes you want to put in like loser does the other person's chores or something?"

"Well, that is not really fair, considering you are on bed rest for a bit." Louis looks up from his shuffling.

"Well, I am not going to be on bed rest indefinitely. I want some kind of reward when I win." Clementine comments back. Then she teasingly adds in, "Unless you are afraid to lose yourself, and I win on default."

"Now you are just being cocky." Louis teases back. "Okay, since you brought it up, what is your wager, err…bet or proposition."

Clementine thought for a moment, then she looked at him, "If I win, you have to go do my lookout duties for a week."

"And if I win." Louis smiles. "You have to help me with my piano."

Clementine gave him a teasing glare, "Are you serious, Lou? I already did. That is how we ended up together and me confessing my feelings I have for you, and we carved our initials with a heart on your piano."

Louis laughs out loud as he was messing with her, "I'm just yanking your chain. No, in all seriousness, when you get the okay from Ruby, you can help me get better practice in shooting arrows and target practice."

Clementine smiles at him, then realizes she doesn't have Marlon's bow anymore, "I think we lost the one and only good bow and arrow around here. Remember?"

"Right." Louis looks to her, "But there still are the generic ones you can use to teach me."

"Okay, game on, Louis," Clementine says as she waits for Louis to deal out the cards.

Louis dealt out the cards evenly as he handed the cards to Clementine, and he picked up his hand. Then Louis explains how to play, "Okay, this first round will be a demo hand, so you get the feel of how to play. The object of this is to get rid of all the cards in your hand before me. Simple, right." He watches as Clementine nods. "Now, how to play is I will discard three aces." Louis puts three cards face down in the center between them as he looks at Clementine. "Now you have the option to call me out and say 'bullshit,' or you continue with the next set of cards in order, and it will be twos, and you count up until you reach the king. You always start with Aces first. And you can lay down one or more of that suit."

"Okay…." Clementine looks at her hand, "What if you are lying about what you say you have, and I call you out on it?"

"Then I have to take back the cards that are in the discard pile and add them in my hand. But if I am right and you are wrong, the same rules apply to you too, where you have to pick up the cards that are in the middle and add them to your hand." Louis smiles. "Got a handle on it?"

"I think so." Clementine squints her eyes as she smiles at him. Clementine then examines her hand and sees Louis is telling the truth as she only has one ace in her hand. She looks at two pairs of twos and pulls them out of her hand, and adds them to Louis's discarded cards, "A pair of twos."

Louis nods, "well can't fight you on that. Okay, four threes."

Clementine knows he is lying, "Bullshit!"

"Now you get the hang of it." Louis took the cards and puts them in his hand. "You want to try a real round?" Clementine nods as she hands Louis her cards to get reshuffled so they can play for real.

Louis then hands Clementine a new set of cards as they play a new round. He then kindly gestures, "Since I delt you get to start the first round, darling."

Clementine gave him a sneer and then looked at her hand. She scans and sees she has two Aces. She pulls two Aces from her hand and places it in the center of her and Louis face down as she calls out, "Two Aces."

Louis nods, "Playing it safe, huh, Clem."

"Maybe." Clementine flirts a bit with him.

Louis then pulls out three cards , two of the cards are twos, and one is a four, and lays them in the center, "Three Twos."

"Bullshit!" Clementine calls out.

"No. But I told the truth." Louis proclaims.

"Bullshit Lou." Clementine chuckles.

Louis squints his face as he retrieves the cards that are laid in the center and puts them into his hand. Clementine laughs at him as she continues with the game, "two threes."

Louis then eyes her as he lays out, "One four."

Clementine then looks at her hand and decides to take a chance as she has three fives in her hand. "Three fives."

"Bullshit!" Louis calls out.

"I am going to have to hurt you." Clementine smiles as she overturns her cards.

"Damn." Louis skews his face again.

"Are you trying to lose?" Clementine casts her gaze to look up at him in a flirting manner.

"Not on purpose, as I am still trying to figure you out and read you." Louis leans in, flirting with her a bit. He then pulls out four cards in his hand with his gaze fixed on Clementine as he says, "Four sixes."

Clementine looks at her hand as she knows he is telling the truth. She then lies as she pulls out two cards one is a Jack. As she is laying the cards down, she looks Louis in the eyes with her flirting stare to catch him off guard as she speaks, "Two sevens."

Louis looks at her and completely misses Clementine's lie as he is caught off guard by her look, "One eight."

"Three nines," Clementine calls out.

Louis then looked down at his hand, and then it dawned on him he didn't call bullshit previous. He looks at Clementine and then pulls out two cards. One is the ten of diamonds, and the other is the seven of clubs, "Two tens."

Clementine eyes him, and then she glances at her hand, "Now, are you trying to play it safe."

"I don't know, maybe," Louis responds.

Clementine wants to call bullshit on him but doesn't want the growing pile in her hand. She takes the risk and calls out Louis's bluff anyway, "Bullshit?"

Louis looks at her, "are you calling me out?"

"Yes." Clementine looks at him.

"Damn. You are good at this game." Louis picks up the whole entire discard pile.

They played for several more rounds until it was clear who was the winner and who certainly was the loser. Louis hangs his head in defeat, "Okay, you win. I can't out-bullshit a bullshitter."

With a victory look, Clementine looks at him and smiles as she replies, "No I guess you can't. It was fun to mess with you at times, and you got to work on your poker face a bit."

"I guess that is something I need improvement on, huh? But a bet is a bet, and I lost, so I guess I have to take your lookout duties for a whole week." Louis said as he looked into Clementine's soft eyes.

Clementine smiled and wanted to go for a kiss but felt tired. She then looked at him and gently pointed out, "You know you don't have to do my lookout duties if you don't want to. I just thought it would be fun to have a little competitiveness in the game with having high stakes to keep it more interesting and some kind of reward for if either one of us wins."

"It did make it more interesting, and I have to admit," Louis added in. He looks outside as the crickets of the mid-September night echo through the night. He then turns his gaze to Clementine, "Besides, it is getting late, and you need rest, and I got hunting duty tomorrow."

"I am beginning to hate the word 'rest.'" Clementine looks up at him. Then she casts her to look at AJ's empty bed. Louis packs up the cards and puts them in his coat pocket. Before he got up, Clementine put her hand on his forearm. "Can you stay the night, Louis? I don't want to be alone my first night…."

Louis looked at her as if she was afraid to be alone. Louis then nods and holds up a finger to her, "I just got to do one thing first." Louis picks up his bowl and places it next to Clementine's on the dresser. "So I don't accidentally step in it when I get up, or you, in the middle of the night."

Clementine giggles and lays down her tired body on the bed. Louis comes to her side and lays down next to her. He let Clementine have the edge of the bed as he chose the side that was close to the wall. "You know this is the first time we are sleeping in each other embrace."

Clementine smiles at the idea of snuggling in his warm embrace, "I know. I feel a bit safer with you around. As you said yourself, you want to be my rock. Well, tonight, I need you as a rock."

Louis wrapped his arms around her small body and brought her close to him. He felt her nuzzling her nose under his chin as she tries to soak up his comfort and strength to ease her through her pain. Louis didn't mind as he had been by her side the past few days making sure she is alright and safe in his arms.

…..

Over the next few days, Ruby found some spare crutches in the back hallway of the admin building and had Clementine try them out. She wobbled here and there but eventually got the hang of using the crutches. Clementine sent AJ out fishing, and Louis on the lookout, Ruby out hunting with Aasim and Violet, and Willy resetting the traps. Willy also helped Clementine by setting up a surprise for AJ. By early evening Clementine made her way out of the dormitory rooms for the first time that felt like forever. Clementine made her way to inspect Willy's work on the tire swing. She smiled at the idea of AJ swinging in it the way she did when she was younger. She wanted to give him something special, and for him to be a kid again in the hell, they all are enduring.

Clementine makes her way out from their little graveyard and to the edge of the admin building as she sees her little goofball caring the pale of what he caught out fishing, as he brings it to Omar. She wanted to surprise him that she is up and about and walking. She quietly makes her way over to AJ as she speaks to him, "What you doin' there, goofball?"

She watches as AJ turns around from the direction he is heading. When he turns around and faces Clem, his face lit up as the biggest smile radiant off his little round face. Clementine moves forward on her crutches as AJ runs up to meet her and embraces her into a hug, almost knocking her down with the force of impact. "Whoa…easy there," Clementine said as she hugged AJ with the ability she can.

AJ hugs her for a moment more, then pulls back to look up at her. Then with an excited voice, he exclaimed, "You're out of bed. You're walking!" He took a moment to examine Clementine's new look for her ability to get around without her left foot. "And you have wood arm legs."

Clementine lets out of chuckle to AJ's remark, "Crutches."

"Crutches," AJ repeated her words back. Then his brown eyes meet Clementine's, and then he thought of another thing to add. "I've found your hat," AJ said as he pulled out her iconic hat from behind him to show it to her. "It was in the creek down by the shack. I thought I wouldn't get it, but then Rosie jumped right in and got it out of the water. It's all wet now." AJ looks down at her hat and then back up at Clementine.

Clementine looks over her father's hat for a moment, and her gaze falls back onto AJ. She smiles at the thought of having him carrying on her father's hat. "It's definitely seen better days." She looked down at AJ and decides to let go of her father's hat and give it to AJ, "You know what? You keep it if you want it."

AJ held onto the material in his hands as his finger traced over the D on the front. Then AJ's eyes meet Clementine's, "I'll put it in our room."

Clementine smiles at AJ the new owner of her hat. She then spoke to him, "I have a surprise for you too. Come with me I want to show you something." Clementine turns and hops over, using her crutches to where she once was moments before.

AJ gives her a puzzling look, and as Clementine turns and heads to the surprise she wants to give AJ, AJ soon follows after her. AJ walks a few paces behind her as they go past the graveyard just a little bit. AJ soon looks at the object Clementine had waiting for him as he stands stunned with amazement. Clementine moves a bit from the tire swing as she nods to the swing.

"So, what do you think?" Clementine looks at AJ, who is still wide with shock at his new toy.

AJ slowly walks up to the tire swing, with a curious look on his face instead of confusion. He took a moment before he turned to look at Clementine. "It's…it's for me?"

"Yup, Willy helped me put it together," Clementine said as she used one of her crutches to push the tire swing. She smiles back at AJ as he returns her a smile back. "C'mon, let me push you."

Clementine smiled as she waited for AJ to climb up in the tire swing so she could push him. Once AJ is in a comfortable spot, Clementine balances on one of her crutches to steady herself, then in one big motion, pushes the tire swing that AJ is sitting on to let him sore in the air. When she heard AJ giggling and laughing for once as a little boy, she couldn't help but let out a chuckle and laughter herself. Seeing AJ happy made her happy as she finally found a place she could call home. She continues to push him to make him go higher and higher into the setting sun sky.

AJ giggles the whole time as he feels butterflies in his stomach each time Clementine swings the tire swing higher. AJ then let out a chuckling laugh as he spoke, "Remember when I thought this was a monster trap?"

"Yeah," Clementine chuckles at his comment.

"Pretty dumb, huh?" AJ asks as he comments back to her.

"No, not really. I never let you play like a normal kid." Clementine answers him. She continues to push him a bit longer until she and AJ hear Ruby calling for dinner.

"Foods ready, everyone. Come and Get it!" Ruby calls somewhere near the picnic tables.

That is a cue to stop pushing AJ on the tire swing and let him off so they can go eat. AJ waited for the swing to come to a stop so he could jump off safely without injuring himself. Once AJ is off the tire swing, he looks at his new toy and then up at Clementine, who is standing in front of him now. "You're the best, Clem," AJ said in a proud voice.

AJ embraces Clementine as he hugs her with his thanks. Clementine was shocked for a brief moment, then her face eased as she smiled and embraces AJ back. Then Omar hollers out to them, "It's going to get cold."

AJ pulls back and looks up at Clementine, who is holding a proud smile on her face. AJ then says, "Come on, let's go eat." AJ turns and heads in the direction where the food is at. He hollers back at Omar, "We're coming!" as he waits for Clementine to come up beside him as they walk together to the picnic tables for dinner.

Clementine placed her crutches down near the steps of the admin building as Louis was there waiting for her. She smiles at him as he helps her down onto the picnic table seat before he sits beside her very closely. Omar is next to him, followed by Tenn, Willy, and AJ. Ruby and Aasim are sitting near each other, with Violet on end. There is some tension between Violet and Clementine as she still holds some form of resentment towards her, but she is glad Clementine made it through.

Everyone around the table is enjoying their meal. Ruby is sharing her food with Aasim in a cute loving way, as Clementine and Louis share love gazes at each other too. Clementine lets out a little chuckle seeing love form between Ruby and Aasim as she is not the only teen here in a romantic relationship with someone. Then Willy flung a piece of meat at Omar that broke Clementine's gaze from Ruby and Aasim to look at Omar. She was afraid he might let out a scolding voice to Willy, but to her surprise, Omar just chuckles at the situation.

Once Omar started to chuckle and laugh, everyone else joined in on the laughter being shared at the table. Including Clementine. Louis elbows Omar and gives him a wink. Once the laughter dies down, Ruby takes a bit of her stew, and a burp follows after she swallows.

AJ looks at her with a shocked look, then burps himself, which makes Ruby burst out in laughter. And soon, Willy, Aasim, and even Louis join in on the laughter of AJ's burping to mimic Ruby's actions.

Clementine looks at AJ with a scolding look to remind him of his manners, "AJ…." She shakes her head in disapproval, then looks at Louis and does the same look to him.

Louis stops his laughing and clears his throat as he speaks to AJ, giving him the best fatherly authoritative voice he can muster, "Clem is right little dude, no burping at the table." Then without Clementine seeing, he winks at AJ for the action.

AJ smiles back at Louis as he gives him a thumbs up with acknowledgment. Clementine saw, and her gaze immediately went to Louis. Louis drops his smile as he dishes out a spoonful of stew, so she doesn't have to ask. AJ then comments, "What, it's good."

Willy, who is sitting beside AJ, slurps down his first bowl fast, then he looks at Omar as he sets his bowl on the wooden surface, "Seconds, please!"

Omar sighs as he answers Willy, "Already? Do you even taste that?"

Clementine shook her head at Willy and Omar's conversation. She then looked over at Violet, who was keeping to herself most of the time. She has a feeling Violet doesn't want to talk, but she wants to try. "Hey, Violet."

Violet froze in eating her stew as she looks up at Clementine.

Louis looks over at Ruby as they locked eyes as both of them held their breaths at what Violet was planning to do here. Louis knows Violet has some harboring anger feelings towards Clementine and him, and he is afraid she will latch out.

Violet looks at Clementine and then at Louis, "I'm fine if anyone is wondering." Her voice had a bit of coldness to it.

Clementine looks to Louis for an answer, and Louis shrugs. She turns back to Violet, "I wasn't going to ask that. I was just wondering how things were since I was out."

"Fine, things are great now that the asshole raiders are gone for good," Violet said in a bitter tone.

"You don't sound fine," Clementine spoke.

"Well, I am. And glad you are up and about now. Would everyone just please leave me alone for a bit and quit asking if I am fine or not." Violet then gets up from her seat and places her bowl on the rack to get washed, and makes her way to the far side of the courtyard, away from everyone, to reflect on her what she had lost again the second time.

Clementine looks where Violet stormed off to as pain stung her eyes, as her once close friend is now being distant and hostile towards her. She looked to Louis, and in a low whisper, she spoke to him only he could hear, "What is up with Violet?"

Louis leaned down to her left ear and spoke, "I have no idea. She has been in this mood since we got back from the boat rescue. My guess I think she is angry and hurting."

"Angry? At me, why?" Clementine asks.

"Me, you, everyone basically except for Tenn. But I think she is mostly angry with herself." Louis confesses. "I tried several days ago to try and get her to talk to me about what she is angry about and didn't get anywhere."

Clementine looks at her one good friend and heaves a sigh as this feels like another Kenny situation all over again that she doesn't want to deal with, at least not right now. She looks back at Louis, "We will deal with that another day. You have something you want to tell me that you and Aasim found this morning when hunting?"

"Yeah, and show you, but need your map thing to show you so we can make a plan out," Louis said.

Clementine eyes the far picnic table by the target practice, "Show me over there." Clementine points in the direction where she and Louis set up a plan.

Louis nods as he reaches for her crutches and hands them to her as she stands up. He helps her steady herself and moves at a slow pace so Clementine can keep in line with him as they walk to the picnic table where she was pointing earlier.

Clementine unfolds the map that Marlon handed her many weeks ago when she and AJ first came to the school and lays it out across the picnic table so Louis can show her what he and Aasim found when out hunting earlier that morning.

"So Aasim and I spotted what looks like a caravan with other survivors when we were scouting for food. That's where Aasim saw them. He was ranging out far past the traps just here." Louis explains as he points at the map of the location of an unknown group of survivors.

Clementine examines the situation before she turns to look up at him. With trust in her eyes, she looks at him, and in a level voice with confidence, she eyes him. "I want you to go."

Louis lets out a sigh, "You're the boss."

"We need to know who they are. Maybe even see if they're willing to trade." Clementine gazes at the map briefly, then back up into his deep brown eyes. She tries not to let his brown eyes make her weak in the knees and soft like puddy when she is around him. Clementine tries to take command as the leader they all need her to be. She then advises him a little bit in her next comment to him, "Just keep your distance until you can make the call."

AJ walks up behind her as he eavesdrops on their conversation a little. He then spoke up, which made both Clementine and Louis break eye contact with each other, and their gaze fell on AJ, "Who, WHO are?"

Clementine shifts her gaze back to Louis before she glances back at AJ to answer his question, "A group of survivors beyond the old safe zone. Some kind of caravan."

AJ thought for a moment, then glanced back up at Clementine, "Are they, bad people?"

Clementine thought of an answer to reply back, but Louis beat her to it as he read her expression of hesitation to answer the young child. "You want to come with me in the morning and find out? I can definitely use the backup."

Clementine was proud of Louis for taking the lead on this one, as she chimed in, "No arguments there."

Louis turns his gaze as his eyes squint at her, "hey!"

The two teens shared a playful teasing look with each other before AJ spoke up to break the playful flirting they were giving each other. "Louis, huh? Hmm, sounds kind of dangerous for…." AJ looks up at Louis, then chuckles, "Well.."

"That sounds like another vote for you coming along with me and watching my back." Louis eyes AJ with an accepting and respectful smile and nod.

Clementine smiled at the two of them, then she spoke up as she spoke directly to AJ, "Made me feel a lot better if you went." She is giving her full trust to her adopted son right then.

AJ beams up at his mother figure as he knows what she means. Then he eyes Louis and sighs, "Someone has to watch him."

Louis's face kind of skews at that moment as he eyes Clementine's adopted child, "I am literally right here, dude."

AJ casts a wink back at Louis in a playful manner. Louis shakes his head and sighs to himself. I got to teach him how to read code expressions. Then Clementine spoke, which made him shake his thoughts from his head as he eyed her.

"This is the part where you tell me you will be really, really careful," Clementine said in a serious voice as she eyed Louis with her golden eyes.

Louis smiles at her, then, in a romantic gesture where words do not need saying, he leans over and plants a soft kiss on her cheek. It lasted for a second, then Louis pulled back, and the two of them locked eyes for a moment as they shared a lover's gaze. The moment lasted maybe a few seconds as Louis pulled away to help with the other kids around the school.

Clementine still has her eyes fixed on him as he leaves her side, with a soft glow of love in her golden eyes and a smile beaming on her face. She holds that face until the pain from her stump breaks her of her love gaze as she winces at the pain.

AJ soon picks up on that as he comes to her side a bit, "You okay?"

"Just…just getting tired. Hey, walk with me for a sec." Clementine said as she played off the throbbing pain where her left foot used to be. She doesn't want AJ to worry about the pain she has. She and AJ walk back to where the admin building is as she eases down on the steps to give her legs a rest. She places her crutches next to her on the right side of her body and turns to gaze at AJ, who sits beside her. She notices AJ staring at her stump and, in a teasing manner, catches him staring. "Caught ya."

AJ snaps up from his stare at the stump and turns his eyes to be on Clementine instead of her stump for her leg. "Ah..sorry." AJ then shifts his gaze to look away from her in shame to stare at her missing leg.

Clementine notices his little mood shift, so she reassures him a bit with a little chuckle, "It's okay. I stare at it too. If it was just you and me out there, and I was like this? I don't know if I'd make it two weeks." Clementine closes her eyes for a split second and then reopens them up as she sighs, "I'm going to need these to go anywhere." She gestured at her crutches, then she looked at her stump leg as she continued to speak, "And if we ever have to run…It wouldn't be pretty."

Clementine trails off her sentence as AJ ponders what she is saying to him. He thinks for a moment, then looked up at her as he gives her some encouragement, "At least you didn't lose a hand. You can still shoot a gun." AJ smiles up at her.

Clementine returns the smile back as she replies to AJ's encouragement, "I can. And maybe I'll get good again someday. After a lot of practice." Soon Rosie walks up from behind Clementine and AJ, and she settles down in between them on the stop platform to the admin building. Clementine smiles at Rosie and extends her hand to gently stroke the dog's ears as Rosie closes her eyes to Clementine's soft touch on her head.

Clementine then gazes out in the distance of the courtyard of the school to admire her new home. She sees Aasim chasing Willy for whatever reason, as she hears Willy laughing in the near distance. Violet is near Tenn, watching him draw his pictures. Then her gaze pans over to where Louis is sitting with Ruby as they share conversations, and giddy smile forms on her face when she views Louis's handsome face as he shuffles his deck of cards as a fidget tool. Clementine let out a happy sigh as she spoke to AJ, "All of this. It's worth it."

Clementine's face went into a concerned look as she spoke to AJ for the first time about what she had done to protect him all of those years of running, hiding from monsters, and trying to find a forever home where she could watch AJ grow tall. "All those times you asked me if we'd find a home….All I can ever tell you was 'we'll see', and your face would fall every single time."

AJ looks at her and reflects on what she is saying to him, and hangs on every word. He then looked up at his mother figure and cast a downward glance a bit when he spoke, "It's better than saying yes and lying to me."

Clementine casts her gaze on AJ, then out in the distance of the courtyard, "That's what I told myself." She then met AJ's eyes as she spoke to him again, "But you want to know something I didn't tell you? " She closed her eyes for a moment, and her gaze shifted from AJ to the horizon when she speaks the truth, "I never had a plan. I never knew where we were going. I never knew anything. I just fought and fought and fought, and hoped you didn't notice. Hoped we'd find something before you did." Her gaze falls back onto AJ for a moment, then her face turns away slightly as her face knits together of concern if she did a good job at hiding her uncertainty. In a breaking tone, she asks one question AJ if she did well with him. "Did I do a good job?" Clementine turns her head and looks at AJ for his response to her question.

AJ returns her gaze for a moment, then looks in the distance to ponder on her question. There was a brief pause in his response, but he turned and looked up at Clementine with a shocked expression upon his face and eyes, "of course you did. What..what are you crazy?"

Clementine breathes a sigh of relief as she replies back with a little chuckle, "Maybe a little."

AJ then did a sarcastic look then gave an accurate response to the truth of her answer, "a lot more than a little!"

Clementine shakes her head and smiles at AJ's comment with a little eye-roll she does sometimes to Louis's goofy nonsensical lines to her. Then her face got all serious as she casts her look back onto AJ. She spoke in a kind of stern but gentle voice to him, "When we were in the barn, you didn't listen to me. And if you had…." She looks away and closes her eyes for a moment, realizing the truth of the reality of what could have happened. She then opens her eyes as her gaze falls onto AJ again, "I'd be dead. I was right to trust you, back in the cave. To make the hard calls, even when I couldn't." Clementine's gaze shifts downward to look at her left foot where it used to be. "You'll have to be strong for the both of us."

AJ follows Clementine's gaze as he stares at her stump once more. AJ refocuses his gaze back up to her when he replies to her comment earlier, "You made it so I can. So…thank you. For everything."

Clementine warmly smiles at him as she playfully nudges AJ with her shoulder, "You're welcome. For everything." AJ let out a playful giggle when Clementine did that action to him. She then scans out into the courtyard and watches as Willy climbs the ladder for lookout duty. Omar tends to clean up tonight's dinner. Ruby and Aasim tend to Ruby's new pet, a horse. Louis makes his way to Violet and Tenn to join them in a drawing. Clementine looks at her new home and the new role as Erison's leader, and she lets out a happy sigh to live her life out among people she trusts and loves.