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the-delta-42 · 8 months ago

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Between Reunions 3

[Reunions]

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Between Reunions 3

“Are you nervous?” Asked Clementine, as she and Eleanor helped Kate into her dress.

“Clem, I’ve been married before.” Responded Kate, getting a snort from Clementine.

“Yeah, to a dick.” Snorted Clementine, getting a disapproving look from Eleanor.

“Clementine.” Chastised Eleanor, getting an eye roll from Clementine.

“What?” Asked Clementine, “It’s not like you’re disagreeing with me.”

“It might be true, but it might be an idea to not speak ill of the dead.” Said Eleanor, getting another snort from Clementine.

“Do you think that’s why they suddenly got up and started walking?” Huffed Clementine, starting to laugh, “Someone’s grandson said they were a dick and they took it personally?”

Clementine continued to laugh, with Eleanor and Kate joining her.

“I’m still amazed you managed to get this thing running.” Said Gabe, as Gill adjusted the video camera.

“It just needed new batteries.”

“Huh.” Gabe looked over at Javi, who was fidgeting with the black jacket he’d found.

“Did your Dad fidget this much when he married Kate?” Asked Gill, glancing at Gabe.

“I can’t remember,” Answered Gabe, frowning, “I was a little kid at the time, and Mariana was asking where mom went.”

“That sucks.” Said Gill, getting a wince from Gabe.

“That’s my biggest fear,” Confessed Gabe, “having kids and then getting myself killed. I’m afraid of Clementine having to explain to them why I’m not coming back.”

Gill glanced at Gabe, “Your dad never addressed it, did he?”

“Not out loud.” Answered Gabe, “He took her pictures down, he put her things into storage. When I asked, he just said she wasn’t coming back.” Gabe swallowed, “I suppose, his reaction made it worse, he just, shut off. Part of me thinks he only remarried so Mariana and I had someone to call mom.”

“Guys,” Everyone looked towards the doors, Gabe felt his heart flutter at the sight of Clementine in a dress, “Kate’s almost here.”

Violet sighed as she trudged towards the fishing shed, Tenn trailed behind her. She looked around, trying to find a weird walker that Willy had spotted a few months ago. Normally she wouldn’t bother, but Willy had mention it was walking normally when he last saw it.

“Do you think Clementine and AJ lived?” Asked Tenn, getting Violet’s attention.

“I hope so, but they probably didn’t.” Answered Violet, as they heard someone coming up behind them.

“What’s going on?” Asked Louis, frowning at them.

“We’re talking.” Said Violet, “It’s what we do to pass the time.”

Louis huffed, before looking around, “Do you think Willy was making up the Walker story?”

“Could’ve been,” Shrugged Violet, “He probably got bored. What are you doing out here?”

“Walking.” Louis avoided answering.

“That’s stupid.” Retorted Violet, as Brody appeared.

“They’re not caught in any traps, maybe they wander into a herd.” Brody froze when she saw Tenn and Violet, “Oh, I didn’t see you there.”

“Who’s they?” Demanded Violet, as Tenn looked around.

Brody nervously glanced at Louis, before answering, “Clementine and AJ.”

Violet felt a burst of anger, “What?”

“We, we thought it’d be nice if they,” Brody swallowed, “if they were laid to rest.”

Violet took a step towards them, her face like thunder, before a gunshot sent her to the ground. A man stepped out of the bushes, pointing a gun at them. Louis grabbed Violet’s bow, freezing when the man aimed at him.

“Y-your supplies.” Rushed the man, his hand shaking, “Now.”

“We don’t hav-” Louis was sent backwards, as a bullet hit him in the shoulder.

“Don’t lie!” Shrieked the man, as Violet groaned and moved.

“Wha-” Violet rolled over, revealing her left eye completely destroyed.

“Your supplies,” his hand continued to shake as he aimed at Violet, “or she dies.”

The group of four didn’t move, as a Walker stumbled up behind the man, and buried its teeth into the back of his neck. Brody quickly grabbed chairles and bashed the Walker’s head in. Looking at Louis and Violet, she quickly pulled them up.

“We need to get home,” Said Brody, as Tenn supported Louis, “now.”

Clementine pushed a bucket towards Kate, not looking up from her book.

“Thanks.” Said Kate, her head still in the bucket.

“As long as you’re not throwing up on me, don’t mention it.” Responded Clementine, stretching her remaining leg out.

“How’re things holding up?”

“Well,” Clementine looked up from her book, “Conrad’s still a bit pissed about that fire we had a couple weeks back, Eleanor and Lingard are arguing over the filing system and Gabe’s being really vague about something.”

Kate was silent, making Clementine worry the woman had died. Kate suddenly retching told her that the woman was, in fact, still alive.

“Sounds like a hectic week.” Joked Kate, as Eleanor appeared at the door.

“Clem, you’ve been freed to go.” Said the medic, with Clementine getting up and leaving the room at an almost comical speed.

Kate blearily looked up from her bucket and stared at the door, “What had her in a hurry?”

“Clem, I need you to go with Bonnie.” Said Javi, as Clementine drew close to the group.

Clementine froze, before looking at Javi, “Why?”

“Gill’s seen a walker herd close to the settlement,” Said Javi, “he thinks a whisperer’s leading them.”

“And you need me to tell you if it’s James or not.” Finished Clementine, before looking around, “Right, can you tell Gabe I’ll be a bit late?”

Javi nodded, as Clementine jerked her head towards the gates and set off, with Bonnie trailing after her.

“Right,” Said Bonnie, after they were a few yards from New Richmond, “So, how’re you?”

“Fine.”

“Er, how’s AJ?”

“Fine.”

“Look, Clem,” Bonnie stopped, “I know we didn’t part of the best terms-”

“You left me to die after allowing Arvo to shoot me.” Snapped Clementine, glaring at Bonnie, “You claimed to thinking about AJ, but you left him behind with Kenny. That’s not even starting-”

A crunched made Clementine stop yelling, she cursed herself, before turning and looking at the Walker. The two stared at each other, before they stumbled forwards. Frowning, Clementine swung her prosthetic leg up and kicked the Walker between the legs. Letting out a sputtering groan, James fell to his knees.

“Really?” He whined, trying not to curl into a ball.

“A normal person would’ve said ‘hello’.” Said Clementine, as James struggled to his feet.

Pulling the mask off, James glared at Clementine, “Y’know, you could be a bit more grateful for me leading those herds away.”

Clementine sighed through her nose, “Right, sorry. How many are there?”

“None, currently.” Answered James, as Clementine looked behind him, “There’s a couple that are part of a tree, but it’s otherwise clear.”

Clementine nodded, before jerking her head towards New Richmond, “C’mon, I’ll see if I can convince Javí to give you some food.”

James hummed, as Clementine turned away from him.

“Delta’s moved on from that school, by the way.” Said James, “I heard it was something to do with Negan’s group.”

Clementine stopped, frowning, “The Saviors haven’t been a threat for several months now.”

“Maybe there’s something no one knows about.” Suggested James, side stepping Bonnie, “How’s the kid?”

“AJ?” Clementine glanced back at him, “He’s doing great.”

AJ brought the baseball bat down on the Walker’s head, the knife he’s taped to it becoming stuck in the walking corpse.

“Dude!” Yelled someone, AJ thought it was Jesus, “I think you got him!”

AJ rolled his eyes and gave the Walker one last blow, before walking away from it. The boy looked at the Walkers, and at the living. He saw Gabe stride past him and pull the knife out of the Walker’s head.

Nervously looking around, AJ approached Gabe, “Gabe?”

“Yeah?” Grunted Gabe, shoving the remains of a Walker off a spike.

“Can I go to a friend’s house tonight?”

Gabe froze, before looking at AJ, “You do realise that Clem has the final say in this, right?”

AJ nodded, “But if you’re okay with it, she might let me.”

Gabe sighed, “Okay, I’ll talk to Clem.” AJ smiled, “But, you’re gonna have to help me clear this shit.”

AJ hastily nodded, quickly grabbing a Walker’s severed arm.

“What d’ya think your mom’s doing?” Asked Bobby, a boy around AJ’s age.

“Clementine’s not my mom.” Frowned AJ, “I think she’s spending time with Gabe.”

“What do they do?” A couple feet away, Sophie and Becca shared uncomfortable looks, having a very good idea what the couple were doing.

“Don’t.” Whispered Sophie, as Becca bit her lip.

“I’m not going to.” Retorted Becca, as Gill dropped at bucket in the room.

“I’m gonna try and get Javi or Mike to soundproof Clementine’s house.” Groaned Gill, dropping into a seat across from the girls, “Or talk to Clementine about how loud she is when her and Gabe have sex.”

“What’s sex?”

The three late-teens/early adults all froze, before slowly twisting to look at the children.

“It’s, er,” Gill looked at Sophie and Becca, “um, well, it’s…Becca’ll tell you what it is.” Gill rushed out of the room, with Sophie quickly following after him.

Meanwhile, Clementine looked up as her head lied on Gabe’s chest.

“What’s on your mind?” Asked Gabe, making Clementine shift to look at him.

“A lot of things.” Clementine rested her chin on his collarbone, “Our current situation, Richmond’s alliances, the people we’ve lost. What things would’ve been like if none of this happened.”

“Going for the deep stuff, huh?” Smiled Gabe, hooking his arms around Clementine and trailing kisses down her neck. Clementine let out a giggle, before pulling Gabe up into a kiss.

Minerva did her best not to flinch as Negan slammed his bat into Sullene’s head. She caught sight of a guy with a crossbow glaring at Negan.

“Now that,” Negan laughed, “was ex-zil-la-rating!”

“What do you want?” Snarled Lilly, glaring up at them.

“You took three of our people.” Said a black woman, glaring down at them, “We want them back.”

“What makes you think they’re not dead?”

Negan hit Sullene again, sending her face first into the ground.

“If they dead,” A man crouched down in front of Lilly, “then we’re gonna turn around and pretend we can’t hear Negan bashing your skulls in.”

“Richmond.” Burst someone to Minerva’s left, “We sent them to fight the New Frontier.”

“Well,” Said the man in front of Lilly, “let’s hope they’re alive.”

Clementine led Paul to their prison area, “They did seem weird, given how they just walked up to us.” Clementine pushed a door open and held it open for Paul, “What are their names again?”

“Carl, Enid, Judith,” Jesus pulled a list from his pocket, “Henry, Joel, Adam, Paul, Cotton, Ida, Joe and Rob.”

Clementine gave Jesus a confused look, “Someone named their kid ‘Cotton-Eyed Joe’?”

“No, those are three different people.” Clarified Jesus, as they entered the cells.

Clementine stopped in front of a cell, looking at the young man sitting on the bed, “This one of them?”

Carl looked up, glaring at the woman, before he spotted Jesus.

“Yeah,” Nodded Paul, “Thanks, Clem.”

“Where’s my sister?” Demanded Carl, as Clementine opened his cell door.

“With the other kids.” Answered Clementine, “We’re not keeping toddlers down here.” She looked at Jesus, “How many were on that list?”

“Eleven.”

Clementine stopped and looked at them, “We only captured seven people.”

“This,” Rick looked at Jesus, “Is Richmond?”

“Yep.” Jesus walked up to the gate and knocked on it. As if practiced, a prosthetic leg fell and hit Jesus on the head.

The gate opened and a young woman in jeans and flannel hopped up to Jesus and picked up her leg, “You here to pick your kids up?”

Rick stared at her, noting she was younger than Carl was, but acted like someone his age, “Yeah…do I know you?”

The woman shrugged, holding her hand out, “Clementine.”

Rick shook her hand, “Rick, these are Daryl and Michonne.” He pointed to each of them.

Clementine nodded, as she led them in, “We’ve put Judith and Joel in a couple of classes. It’s actually refreshing, seeing another kid who knows how to deal with Walkers.”

Rick and Michonne shared a look, before looking ahead, he spotted Carl frowning at a pond.

“You okay, Patch?” Asked Clementine, getting Carl’s attention.

“Where’d you get the fish?”

Clementine looked down at the pond, “I…don’t know.”

A crashing sound produced a groan from Clementine, before she turned and walked away from them.

“Carl,” Said Rick, quietly, “what do you know about these people?”

“They seem good,” Answered Carl, matching Rick’s tone, “they could’ve killed us, but they didn’t and their cells are pretty spacious.”

“What about Judith?” Asked Michonne, glancing at Clementine’s retreating back.

“She’s gotten into a couple of fights, namely with some kid called AJ.” Responded Carl, “He said her hair should be short.”

Rick frowned, before looking around, “I’m going to call the others, try and figure what we’ll do next.”

“Is that a pig?” Asked Daryl, nodding towards a strange creature crawling around.

A man with a metal baseball bat, who’d been walking up to them, heard Daryl and followed his gaze. He grabbed the pick and frowned at it, pulling a radio from his belt, “We’ve got a partly devoured pig.”

“Shit.” Came a woman’s voice over the radio, “We’ll look for it.”

“I’m going to need someone to help me with the pig.” Continued the man, “I don’t think bashing its brains out in front of guests would give the best impression.”

“Patch, I mean Carl,” Came Clementine’s voice, “has a spare revolver. I’m sure he’d happily shoot the pig.”

Clementine poked her head around a corner. She let out a two-tone whistle, before hurrying away. A crossbow bolt pierced the walker’s eye, as Clementine drove her knife through the temple of another. Clementine looked over at the people she was with, they’d come from a settlement called Alexandria, Daryl and Abraham were retrieving arrows and wiping walker guts and gunk off the weapons they brought with them.

“This area was supposed to walker free weeks ago.” Grumbled Clementine, kicking a Walkers corpse.

“Then why wasn’t it?” Asked Daryl, getting a sideways look from Clementine.

“The Delta’s been kicking up lately,” Said Sophie, returning with Gabe and Michonne, “they tried to ram a truck into Richmond’s gates. We were lucky they couldn’t get up the hill.”

Daryl frowned, before looking at Michonne.

“What’s all this going to be?” Asked Michonne, gesturing around them.

“Once we get the walls up, it’s going to be a residential area,” Responded Gabe, looking around for any stray walkers, “we’ve got new arrivals sleeping rough, and the sooner we get this cleared, the better.”

The group looked around, as Clementine pulled a sheet from her pocket, “Right,” She grabbed a walkie from her belt, “Javi, we’re,” she looked around, “by a salvage yard, about a mile from the latest clear sight. Mike and the others are gonna have to come down and set the walls up, we’re going to tackle the rest of the walkers once that’s done.”

“Right,” Said Javi, “Becca and her group have reported the same thing, we’re gonna send Bonnie, since her group’s free.”

Clementine held back her groan, “Fine, as long as she doesn’t do anything stupid.”

“She won’t.”

“I’m going to hold you to that.”

A low whistle drew their attention, making Clementine scowl at Negan. The man spun a bat in his hands, before gesturing to a walker, “Tell me he doesn’t look familiar.”

Clementine looked at the Walker, her stomach dropping, “Is, is that Bob Ross?”

“How the hell do you know who that is?” Asked Daryl, giving Clementine a sideways look.

“He was on TV when I was a kid.” Answered Clementine, a small smile forming, “He’s the reason my parent’s bedroom wall turned into a mural of pink paint.”

The Bob Ross Walker growled up at them.

“So,” Clementine looked around, “who wants to make a painting with his brains?”

“…That’s dark, Clem.” Said Gabe, after a moment.

Clementine stretched, AJ had spent the night with his friends again, so she and Gabe had the entire night to themselves. She smiled when she felt Gabe’s arms wrap around her.

“Part of me want AJ to stay out a bit longer.” Murmured Gabe, getting a happy sigh from Clementine.

“Yeah,” She murmured, “but, he needs to wash and change.”

“Thank god for the solar panel, huh.” Smirked Gabe, pulling Clementine’s back to his chest.

“Yeah.” Clementine sighed, “Come on, we need to get dressed.”

Gabe was silent, before making a split-second decision, “Hey, Clem?”

“Yeah?”

“Will you marry me?”

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