#sassy clem strikes again

[ericsonclan]

Unexpected Company

Summary: Louis and Clementine are having a chill date at Clem's house when Clementine realizes that Lee has company too.

Word Count: 2582

Read on AO3:

Clementine and Louis lay curled up together on her bed, completely absorbed by the events occurring on the laptop in front of them. They’d been rewatching The Last Airbender series together for the past few weeks after they both realized it had been years since they’d seen it. A.J. had joined in for some of their watch parties, but he was at a sleepover at Tenn’s house tonight, so they were on their own. They’d reached the point where Zuko and Iroh were on the run. They both chuckled as Iroh debated the risks of making a tea out of a plant that might just be deadly poisonous.

“Man, Iroh’s the best,” Louis commented, his words sending a tickling warmth through Clem’s hair. “Wish I had a cool uncle giving me sage life advice and making me tea,”

“Don’t we all,” Clementine murmured. Her hand shifted around Louis’ waist, pulling him closer. “Y’know, in some ways Lee reminds me of Iroh,”

“Really?” Louis chuckled. “I mean, the resemblance is striking, but…”

“Not like that!” Clementine smacked her boyfriend’s chest playfully. “It’s more like… they’re both mentors. Always encouraging, but willing to call you on your crap. Cheering for you, but hands off enough to let you make your own mistakes and learn from them. Stuff like that,”

“Makes sense,” Louis nodded thoughtfully, his chin brushing through Clem’s curls. “Well, I’m glad you have someone like that in your life, even if you found each other later than you would have liked,” One of his thumbs brushed across the scar on Clementine’s left arm. She’d told him what it was from. To think that a foster family could be negligent enough to let Clementine, only 11 at the time, be bitten by their dog then blame it on her… he couldn’t believe the things she’d been through sometimes. She really was amazing.

“Things are good now,” Clementine responded, fiddling with a button on Louis’ shirt. “That’s all that matters. Now I’ve got Lee, and A.J… and you,” She smiled up at her boyfriend who was grinning like a fool. A fool in love. Their lips met for a quick kiss, followed by another. Clementine pulled way reluctantly. “We’re going to have to go back like five minutes in this episode because I have no idea what’s been happening,”

“We can finish it later,” Louis’ foot tapped the laptop closed. He leaned forward to capture Clementine’s lips in another kiss, to which she eagerly complied.

Suddenly a loud clanging from the kitchen had both of them jumping in surprise.

“Are Kenny and Lee having a late night bakeathon?” Louis quirked an eyebrow. Lee had mentioned that Kenny was going to come over that night when Louis had dropped by in the late afternoon. The pair had simply nodded at the news, heading to Clementine’s room with a stash of snacks to keep them going through the Avatar marathon. They hadn’t exited the room since.

“Kenny’s not really the baking type,” Clementine mused over other explanations. “Maybe they decided to do breakfast for dinner. Lee’s always down for breakfast food,”

“Who isn’t?” Louis’ stomach rumbled loudly. “Speaking of which…” Reaching off the side of the bed, he rooted through the snack bags, looking for Skittles. He lifted them up with a triumphant cheer.

“How exactly are Skittles a breakfast food?” Clementine asked, her arms crossed.

“Skittles transcend categories,” Louis retorted, popping a few into his mouth and offering her the bag. “Any time is Skittles time,”

Clementine was going to come up with a sassy reply of her own, when she was surprised to hear a female voice coming from the kitchen. Her eyes widened and she shushed Louis quickly. “Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“It sounded like a woman. There it is again!” The pair listened intently. Sure enough, dulcet tones came from the kitchen, accompanied by deeper voices.

“Yeah, that’s definitely not Kenny,” Louis stated decidedly. “Not that I’ve met the man, but I’d be seriously floored if I turned out to be wrong,”

“It’s not Kenny,” Clementine jumped off her bed, leaning an ear against her bedroom door. She could make out the conversation a little bit clearer from here.

“Lee, seriously, it’s fine!” the female voice insisted. “You don’t need to cook for me at this hour,”

“Now don’t be silly. I’m not going to let a lady starve under my own roof,”

“Oh my god, my stomach grumbled one time. It’s not that big a deal!”

“Might as well listen to him, Carley,” Kenny’s voice travelled from the kitchen. “Lee doesn’t change his mind once it’s been made up. Besides, the man cooks a mean breakfast burrito,”

Clementine’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. Who exactly was this Carley woman and why had Lee not mentioned that she was coming as well as Kenny? The way they were talking made it seem like she wasn’t a casual acquaintance either.

“Why are we spying?” Louis whispered by Clementine’s ear, causing her to jump in surprise.

“We’re spying because there has to be a reason Lee has never mentioned this woman to me before. He never brings over people A.J. and I don’t know,”

Now it was Louis’ turn to raise an eyebrow. “Do I detect a hint of jealousy in your voice?”

“What? No! What would I even have to be jealous of?” Clementine huffed.

“Well, chances are if Lee’s bringing over a lady friend that there’s something more going on between them… maybe something romantic. Would that be a bad thing?”

“It’s not anything,” Clementine declared, pulling away from the door. ��For all we know, they added a third teammate to their trivia night group,”

“Yeah, that’s totally the most logical option,”

Clementine narrowed her eyes at her boyfriend. She hated when he was smug. It usually meant he was right. “Y’know what? It’s getting late. We should probably call it a night,”

“Seriously? But Avatar!”

“Avatar can wait!”

Louis was loath to leave, but he could see that this turn of events had thrown Clem for a loop. Maybe it was best to give her some space and time to cool off.

“Well, alright then,” Louis reached for the doorknob, only to have Clementine tear his hand away.

“Are you crazy?” she hissed. “You can’t go out that way! The kitchen is right by the front door!” Her eyes turned to the window. “C’mon, we’ll sneak you out like I snuck you in the first time,”

“Would meeting Lee’s lady friend really be that bad?” Louis questioned.

Clementine shot him a cold glare.

“Alright, alright, you’re the boss,” Louis helped Clementine clear the knickknacks off her dresser before hopping on top and edging his way backwards out the open window. His hands gripped Clementine’s arms for balance. Even though they were on the first floor her window was still a good distance off the ground. He’d need a hand down.

-----

“Well, I hate to cut the party short, but I’d better head home before Kat starts to worry,” Kenny said as he stood beside the front door.

“You sure?” Lee asked, spatula still in hand. “The eggs are just about done,”

“Yeah, I’m sure. You two have fun without me,” Kenny raised a hand in farewell to Carley who was still sitting at the kitchen table. She returned the gesture with a smile. Kenny turned back to Lee. “See you next week for trivia night?”

“Wouldn’t miss it,” Lee chuckled.

With that, Kenny stepped out the front door. The night air was chilly, and he quickly wrapped his coat more tightly around him. Luckily his car wasn’t far off, just a little way down the street. Walking toward it, Kenny glanced at the house fondly.

That’s when he noticed something. Half of a body dangling and kicking outside one of the first-floor windows. Clementine’s room.

“What the hell?” Kenny growled, quickly striding forward. What’s an ass doing outside Clem’s window?" Reaching his target, Kenny grabbed onto the pants of the culprit.

He was met with a frightened squeal. “Clem, something out there! Pull me back, now, now now!” Before Kenny could get a better hold on the jeans, the legs disappeared back inside the house and he heard a body thud to the floor.

Clementine quickly popped up by the window, giving Kenny an awkward wave. “Hey, Kenny. You heading out?”

“Clem, what the hell is going on?” Kenny growled. “It looked to me like some kind of hooligan was trying to break into your room!”

A young black man with dreadlocks popped up behind Clementine, looking at him with a mixture of fear and embarrassment.

“Well, umm…” Clementine awkwardly cleared her throat. “This is my boyfriend, Louis. Kenny, Louis. Louis, Kenny,”

Louis gave him an awkward wave. “It’s very nice to meet you, sir. Love the mustache,”

“You don’t get to like the mustache!” Kenny snapped, causing Louis to flinch. “Clementine, what are you doing sneaking this boy out of your room at this hour. Don’t you know you have a front door that would work perfectly-”

Before he could finish, Clementine’s bedroom door opened.

“Everything all right in here, Clem?” Lee asked, a concerned expression on his face. “I thought I heard you scream,”

“Actually, that was me,” Louis admitted, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. “Mr. Kenny surprised me is all,”

“Kenny?” Lee walked forward, seeing his friend standing outside the window. “What are you still doing here?”

“I thought I was stopping a break-in. This fool had his ass sticking out Clem’s window, looking for the whole world like some sort of burglar. I was just in the process of asking them why they hadn’t used the front door instead when you came in,”

“Well now, that is a good question,” Lee said, crossing his arms and turning to his daughter. “Mind telling us, Clementine?”

Clementine looked away, her own arms crossed. “We didn’t want to disturb you. You or your company,”

Lee’s expression changed to one of understanding. “You know what? I think it’s time we all called it a night. Louis?”

“Yes, sir,” Louis answered. He placed a quick kiss to his girfriend’s cheek before heading over to grab the leftover snacks. “Night, Clem,”

Lee turned to the open window. “I’ve got things handled here, Kenny. Thanks for keeping an eye out,”

Kenny nodded. “Anytime. Night,” With that he was off. Lee closed the window then turned to Clementine. “I’m going to say goodnight to Carley and see her out. After that, do you want to meet up in the kitchen for some midnight breakfast burritos?”

Clementine silently nodded.

“Alright then,” Lee exited the room, preparing an excuse in his head for Carley on why they had to cut the night short.

-----

About ten minutes later, Lee returned to the kitchen. Clementine was already sitting there, an untouched plate of eggs and bacon before her. Lee pulled out the chair across from her, sitting down as well. They remained in silence for a minute or two before Lee decided to start things off. “I’m sorry I didn’t mention to you that Carley was coming over. That was inconsiderate on my part,”

“It’s not like you owe me an explanation,” Clementine mumbled. “I’m not a teenager anymore. Soon enough I’ll have found my own place and I won’t be underfoot anymore,”

“Now sweet pea, you know you’re not in the way. I know we agreed you’d stay at home through college to save money, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t enjoyed having you around for longer. Hell, if you wanted to keep living here you could invite Louis to move into the house instead,” Lee waggled his eyebrows teasingly.

That got a snort out of Clementine. “Yeah right,” Her eyes grew thoughtful before she spoke again. “It must have been hard being a single dad to me and A.J. all those years. I don’t know if you met anybody you wanted to bring home during that time, but I’d like to think I’d have been open to meeting somebody if you wanted to introduce us,”

Lee shook his head. “There wasn’t anybody during those years. You know that around the time I met you I was at the tail end of my divorce. It took a long time to heal from the pain. You and A.J. were key to that healing. During those years with the two of you growing up, I didn’t need anything more than the three of us,”

“And now?”

Lee sighed. “I didn’t go out looking for romance if that’s what you mean. Meeting Carley was happenstance, fate maybe. She was doing an article on the university and asked to interview me as a representative of the college. From there we hit things off and, well… there have been a few dates. I didn’t want to bring up anything to you and A.J. till I knew things were serious. Now I see that tonight should have been the night I introduced the two of you rather then sneaking Carley in under your nose,” Lee took hold of Clementine’s hand, clasping it gently. “Things may be changing with Carley being a part of our lives, but that’s a good thing. And it won’t change the love I have for you and A.J. a single bit,”

“I know,” Clem’s voice was soft. She squeezed Lee’s hand tighter. “I know it’s petty to be upset about something like this. I guess it’s just that things are finally… perfect. A.J.’s doing well, it’s my last year of college, work at the diner has been great and things with Louis…” Clementine trailed off, a smile playing at her lips before it grew serious once more. “I guess I’m just afraid of change. Growing up, every time change came my way it meant I was losing everything all over again. Maybe I should know better, but it’s still hard to picture change meaning anything else,”

“That makes complete sense, Clem,” Lee rubbed a thumb along his daughter’s hand soothingly. “Change is always scary, especially for someone who’s seen more than her fair share. I promise you, I’m going to take things slow with Carley. You and A.J. will always be my first priority,”

“You deserve to be happy too though,” Clementine lay her other hand on top of her father’s. “I’ll try my best to be calm about this whole thing and not let myself freak out. I want to be able to celebrate this change with you. Just… give me some time?”

“All the time you need, sweet pea,” Lee’s eyes were warm as he smiled at Clementine. She had come so far since he’d met her all those years ago. Sometimes he forgot the pain and fear that she still carried deep within her. But hope and joy were stronger now.

A rumbling stomach drew their attention away from the moment.

“Was that you or me?” Lee chuckled.

“You, but I’m starving too,” Clementine let go of Lee’s hand to pick up her fork. “Let’s dig in,”

“I couldn’t agree more,”

They chatted for some time after that into the wee hours of the morning. Sometimes the best moments were those that come upon you unexpectedly. That was true for the father-daughter pair as they joked and laughed, eating breakfast burritos until they couldn’t hold anymore. Whatever life threw their way, they knew they could face it head on because they had each other.

[snappingwavelength]

Sassy Clem strikes again! 😈