Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A walker comically flops the ground after Clementine pulls a knife out of its deteriorating skull with old and dark blood pouring out of it. Clementine wipes the blood off the knife on her jeans, and takes note of her surroundings. Several walkers scattered around that will have to be dumped down the hill later. For now, she sheathes her knife and heads inside the hardware store nearby. All she had to do was a perimeter check for now. She’ll dispose of the corpses later. Upon entering Howe’s, she sees Jane playing a card game with AJ, or more accurately AJ lying on his back while Jane was playing the game when Jane suddenly became aware of Clementine’s presence.

“Hey. You finally done with patrol?” Jane asked picking up a card.

“Yeah. The perimeter’s all clear.” Clementine looked down at Jane lying on her stomach. She didn’t know if she should comment on that or not but decided not to.

“Where did you find playing cards?”

“In a drawer in Carver’s office,” Jane replied dryly, “who knew that sick fuck knew how to have fun?”

“What're you playing?” Clementine asked innocently.

“Trash.”

“Trash?” she repeated not sure if she heard correctly.

“Yeah. I used to love this game in middle school. Haven’t played it in years though. You ever played before?” Clementine shrugged nonchalantly, giving Jane the idea that she hasn’t.

“Here. Sit down, I’ll show you how to play. You can take over for AJ,” she said jokingly, gesturing to the baby still lying down staring off at nothing in particular. Clementine sat down across from Jane while she rearranged the cards. Jane dealt the cards and began explaining the rules while Clem took AJ in her lap.

“So first place all of your cards in two rows of five. Then pick up a card in one of the rows.”

“The top or bottom row?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Jane explained. Clementine placed her card and drew a ‘3’ from the bottom row in the tenth place.

“Now what?” Clementine asked showing Jane the card she had.

“I’m assuming you know how to count, right?” Jane asked seriously.

“Yes,” Clementine answered, slightly annoyed, although Jane felt it was warranted.

“Sorry. Just checking. I mean you had to have been pretty young when all this started. I don’t know where you were left off exactly in terms of booksmarts,” Jane replied sheepishly.

“I learned enough,” she said flatly.

“Alright, fair. But if you ask me, I think school was a waste of time. It’s not doing anyone any good now is it?” she said earning a slight grin from Clementine. Jane readjusted herself slightly into a more comfortable sitting position before continuing teaching Clem how to play.

“Place your card where the three should go and pick up the card that was in its place. Then you place that card where it goes based on the number on it.”

Clementine picked up the card sitting in the third spot revealing a ‘5’ and placed it where it went and so on until she stopped at ‘2’ making it Jane’s turn, after she explained to discard cards she didn’t need. They went back and forth before Clem soon came close to winning, much to Jane’s surprise. Jane was about to comment on her near victory when suddenly AJ became fussy and started to make crying noises getting both of their attention. Clem made soft, shushing noises and started bouncing him to trying to get him to calm down.

“I think he needs food,” Jane remarked.

“I’ll go get the formula,” Clementine said standing up. Jane stood up quickly after her.

“Here, I got the goofball,” she said, holding out her arms for him. Clementine handed him to her. Jane looked down at AJ, slightly bouncing him in hopes that he would calm down a bit. He calmed down slightly, but was still a bit fussy.

“I’ll take care of him. I’ll be in the office. Meanwhile, why don’t you… clean up the cards, and take a load off for a bit,” Jane said shakily, not sure if she should feed him in front of Clem. Maybe one day.

“Are you sure? I can get the formula…”

“I’m sure. We’ll be fine.” Clementine gave Jane a long hard look, eyeing her up and down from looking her in the eyes, to a faint mark under her neck, while also memories of a harsh snowstorm flooded her mind. She hated feeling like she couldn’t trust Jane by herself, or trust her alone with AJ for that matter. After a moment of hesitation, she gave in.

“Ok.”

“Thanks, Clem.” Jane looked down at AJ again, who was still crying a bit but seemed to have calmed down significantly. She turned around and headed to Carver’s old office, where the duo- trio, now resided. It was either that or back out in the pen. Funny how fate worked out that way. Jane took off her jacket and placed it on the office chair and readjusted half of her shirt to set it on her shoulder. She wondered if this was even going to work, she never had kids before or had to take care of one, and sure she was expecting but this was different. When it seemed like AJ wasn’t going to eat and Jane was about to settle for what little formula they had left over, he began feeding.

Jane had to admit, this was a weird feeling, but in a few months time she’d have to do this for her own kid. Might as well get used to it now. She said it herself;No time like the present.

After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence for Jane, she decided to make small talk with the baby or else she thought she was going to go crazy. But then again, she was talking to a baby.

“You know you’re pretty lucky to be alive kid. It was a miracle that you came out alright… Despite…” Jane stopped that thought there, not wanting to think back on the day of AJ’s birth. AJ made it but Rebecca... didn’t. Or Sarah. Shit. She tried to save her but there were too many walkers. Clem took it really hard considering they were friends.

Jane suddenly felt like an ass realizing she hadn’t really checked up on her to see how she was holding up. Hell she lost a lot of friends that day and that included Rebecca. It’s weird thinking back that Jane herself didn’t exactly leave on the best of terms. She wondered how they would get along now if she were here. She was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard the door to office opening.

“Hey, Jane can I talk-” Clementine stopped mid-sentence.

“Clem!” She had to admit, this was kind of awkward for her as well, but she decided not to show it thinking back to something Clementine herself said some time ago; “It'll only be weird if you make it weird…”

“Hey, you needed something?” she asked without blinking. Clem closed the door behind her and walked over feeling a lot more comfortable since Jane left the door open to have a casual conversation.

“Yeah. I wanted to talk to you about something.”

“What is it?” Clem hesitated to look her in the eye, and Jane could tell it probably wasn’t because she was standing there half shirtless with the baby in her arms. Something she wanted to ask her was probably something she wasn’t going to be too happy about.

“Clem. You can tell me anything. What’s on your mind?” Jane gently coaxed.

Clementine steadily looked her up in the eye. “I was thinking we should leave,” she spat out.

“What?!” Jane realized what she said as soon as it left her mouth.

“It’s just that there’s nothing here for us! There's nothing to do, and we’re almost out of food. I know you wanted to come down here for food for AJ and that we knew where it was, but now we’re almost out. And it’s not like we were going to be able to stay here forever. Right?”

She had a good point. Several. And she had just criticized the group she was just in for bossing Clem around and not letting her make her own decisions, and here she was making a decision of her own. Hell, her own selling point for getting Clem to stay was her wanting to live her own life. After everyone else wouldn’t listen to her.

“Look I hear what you’re saying, I do. But what else is out there Clem? Where are we going to go? Besides, this place is safe.” Jane mentally kicked herself at how she sounded. Not too long ago she was desperate to leave this hellhole and now she was starting to sound like Reggie. Now twice in a row she was arguing with someone to return here and stay. And this time it was with someone she actually cared about.

Jane’s stomach twisted as Clem’s face fell at her words.

“We can… talk about it more in the morning. Why don’t we sleep on it? Ok?” she said in hopes to alleviate Clementine’s disappointment. She perked up slightly at that.

“O-Ok…” she said unsteadily, a large yawn making its way forward, earning a chuckle from Jane.

“Get some rest tiger. We’ll talk in the morning.” Jane watched as Clem made her way over to her makeshift bed, right across from her own. It was then that she noticed that AJ had long fallen asleep. She carefully fixed her shirt so as to not wake him and made her way over to his crib and tucked him before putting her jacket back on. She turned off the lights to the store then climbed onto her own bed.

“Goodnight, Clem.”

Chapter Text

Clementine, Jane, and AJ had been out wandering through the forest for a little over a few hours now. Jane wondered how a pre-teen had managed to talk her out of leaving Howe’s making her wonder how did they get here. True to her word, Jane and Clem talked about leaving in the morning and let Clementine explain why she wanted to leave so bad and if leaving was the best choice. As much as Jane didn’t want to admit, Clem was right though. There wasn’t much left at Howe’s anymore and there was a dangerous amount of increased walker activity. It was time they move on. They spent the next two days packing any resources left to take on the road.

Supplies, baby formula, food, ammo, anything they needed really. Jane was surprised, yet enjoyed how thorough Clementine had been the whole time they spent packing. After they had picked Howe’s clean of any and all supplies they could find, they said their goodbyes to the hardware store that had been their home for a few weeks and set out to find a new place.

Which led them to now, wandering aimlessly through the forest, looking for any sign of civilization nearby. They both agreed that cities may have been dangerous, but there had to be abandoned stores that could still have loot, or some place for them to crash. Anything that was safe for AJ was fine by them.

“City shouldn’t be too far from here. About a few more miles before we reach the main road. Maybe even sooner,” Jane called out to Clem reading from the map they had scavenged.

“I hope so. I’m exhausted,” Clem scoffed.

“You and me both.” Jane tucked away the map into the duffel bag they packed and increased her pace to catch up to Clementine. “I can carry AJ for you if you want,” Jane offered, “Give you a break. You’re already carrying that backpack and you’ve been holding him for the past two hours.”

Clementine looked down at AJ for a bit, thinking it over before giving in.

“Ok. I guess my arms are kind of tired,” Clementine agreed, handing him over to Jane. As soon as Jane had a hold of him, Clementine stretched out to get rid of the kinks in her arms and back after carrying her backpack and AJ for so long. As she did, a loud audible pop was heard startling both of them.

“Woah, take it easy. You don’t have to carry him all the time. It’s too early for your bones to start cracking yet,” Jane teased. Clementine chuckled in response.

“Sorry. Guess I didn’t realize how long I was holding him. It just feels natural that I don’t even notice.”

“It’s nice you have that motherly nature. But don’t let it wear you out,” Jane warned. “You can’t look out for AJ if you’re dead because you couldn’t outrun a walker because you pulled a muscle.”

Clementine solemnly looked at the ground, feeling embarrassed about being so concerned for AJ. Jane felt a bit guilty. “But hey,” she softened her tone, “don’t forget that I'm always here too. You don’t have to do everything alone. We’re a team, remember? We’re in this together.”

“Always?” Clem asked anxiously.

“Always,” Jane promised fondly. She had a lot to make up for to Clem, wanting to try not to disappoint her again. She owed her that much.

After another half hour of walking, they came up on what appeared to be the outskirts of a city, if the display of even more buildings in the distance was anything to go by. So far all they saw were abandoned cars scattered throughout the road and broken windows on the few buildings they see along the way. Probably from looters who tried breaking in when everything first started.

“Wonder if any of them might have gas left?” Clementine queried, hoping they could find a ride instead of having to continue walking.

“Well, finding a car wasn’t on our list of priorities but… I guess we can test out a few cars. See if we can get lucky,” Jane answered. Surveying the road for a quick ride to grab, she set her eyes on an old, pale-ish green 2005 Honda.

“There. That one,” she pointed out to Clementine. They walked up to the car and peeked inside. Clem suddenly flinched and drew her knife, crouching down a small distance from the car and looked underneath. Satisfied with not finding anything, she sighed in relief and stood back up still keeping out her knife.

“Huh. Thanks, Clem. I didn’t think of that.” Jane pulled the car handle open yet the door didn’t budge, leaving her annoyed yet not surprised.

“Can I see your bag? Maybe I can try opening it,” Clem offered. Jane scoffed in irritation, not at Clementine specifically but more just hoping they could find an unlocked car with gas on the first go. But it’s never that easy.

“Sure. Go for it,” she removed her duffel bag handing it to Clem. She set it down and opened up the bag remembering the crowbar they had packed. Clem rummaged through the bag and felt metal at the bottom and pulled it out, much to Jane’s delight.

“Nice thinking. Go on and give it a go.” Clementine wedged the bar in between the door of the car and pried it open. Fortunately, the alarm didn’t go off. She sat in the driver’s seat and reached into her back pocket, pulling out a nail file, Jane visibly surprised.

“Versatility is not overrated,” Clem echoed back to her, Jane shaking her head with a playful smirk on her face that said ‘you little rascal.' Clementine took the nail and stuck it into the ignition and turning it, making the audible ‘click’ noise to turn the car on. No luck.

“Dammit!” Jane groaned. “Don’t worry. there’s plenty of cars around we can look for another one,” she sighed.

“How many can we check? We don’t spend too long, right?”

“Hopefully we won’t have to. But let’s give it five cars and then we’ll move on. We could try to see what’s wrong with this one and fix it, but neither of us know how to work a car, and even if we did, it wouldn’t be worth the time,” Jane clarified. She packed the crowbar back up and scanned the road for their next vehicle spotting an old, beat up Toyota.

“And the odds are…” she sang out, pulling the handle. Surprisingly the door was unlocked, to their delight. Even more surprisingly, when Jane opened the door, they noticed the car had no steering wheel.

“What would someone want with a wheel?” Clem tried to joke. It earned a small grin from Jane but not much. She shut the door and scoped out for the next one. An old, white, 1992 Subaru. She looked at Clementine and nodded her head in its direction. They walked over to the car and opened it, this one being locked. Clementine took out the crowbar once again and opened it up.

“They say third time’s the charm,” Clem tried to be optimistic.

“Yeah, let’s hope so.” Clem took out the nail file and turned it in the ignition, and Jane almost cried when the engine roared to life.

“It works,” Clementine gleed.

“Yeah, it does,” Jane cried in relief. She packed up the crowbar in the duffel bag and stored it in the backseat, first checking to make sure it was free of walkers. Once it was clear, she walked to the passenger seat of the car, securing AJ snuggly in her lap, and shutting the car door behind her.

“I’m pretty sure we went over this already but, I don’t know how to drive,” Clem panicked.

“It’s easy. I’ll teach you," Jane assured. “The pedal on the floor to your left. Step on it.” Clem did as she was told, but the car didn’t move. Jane moved the transmission stick into drive. “Take your foot off the pedal and put it on the other one. Slowly. And just keep the wheel steady and turn it in the direction you want to go. And… try not to hit anything.”

Clem took her foot off the brake and eased it onto the accelerator, the car started moving, as she maneuvered the car around the dozens of others scattered throughout the road. Soon they started passing them by easily.

“Hey, I’m driving!” Clem cheered.

“Heh, you are,” Jane applauded, “keep your eyes on the road.” Soon it was smooth sailing for the trio as they cruised along the abandoned street. Jane and Clem talking about everything and nothing, AJ sleeping in Jane’s lap, passing by the occasional walker or two. They soon came upon a deserted mall when Jane instructed Clem to park, suggesting they go check it out. They hopped out of the car grabbing, their bags and headed inside.

The mall was eerily quiet, which, depending on how you look at it, could be a good thing. It meant there weren’t any walkers close by. But that didn’t always mean they weren’t around. They always managed to get the jump on you when you least expect. After doing a quick sweep of the area to make sure they were alone, they relaxed a little, still remaining on guard.

“Alright. We should probably find somewhere to bunk down for the night. We’ll do a thorough check in the morning. See if we missed anything,” Jane directed.

“How about in there?” Clem pointed to what looked like was once a bakery. Or at least some food joint before it went to ruin.

“Yeah, that’ll work.” The duo settled down in the middle and set up a makeshift crib for AJ with what they could find and went out scouting around the mall to see if they could find any blankets, deciding to use their bags as pillows.

“The sun’ll be setting soon. You get some rest. I’ll take first watch,” Jane instructed.

“I can do it,” Clem insisted.

“No, I got it. Besides you deserve it. I’m not that tired anyway. Not tonight at least.”

Clementine looked solemnly at Jane, wanting to help out, but relented anyway as found herself letting out a huge yawn, not realizing how tired she actually was.

“O-ok. Goodnight Jane.” Jane smiled down fondly at Clementine, watching her doze off. That smile was short lived as it turned into a frown of remorse and sorrow, saying one last thing to Clem right as she drifted off to sleep, wanting to avoid having a full conversation tonight.

“I’m sorry.”

Chapter Text

Clementine blinked her eyes open, waking up to the sight of Jane with AJ in her arms, slightly bouncing him and smiling at him. Clem herself upright and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, catching Jane’s attention.

“Hey. You’re awake,” Jane greeted. Clem blinked her eyes a few times to adjust her vision better, still half asleep.

“Have… have you been up all night?” Clem inquired accusedly.

“Uh… maybe…” Jane replied sheepishly, scratching the back of her head. Clementine sighed, shaking her head in dismay.

“I thought we were going to take shifts,” she said slightly annoyed.

“Yeah, but… I didn’t want to wake you. You looked like you haven’t slept that well in a long time,” Jane explained. “Besides, I wasn’t tired.”

Clementine stood up and held out her arms for AJ, Jane handing him over. “Good news is, the goofball only threw up on me only twice last night,” Jane teased.

“Did he have anything to eat last night?”

“No, I think the kid just doesn’t like me,” Jane replied half sarcastically.

“I think that’s just his way of saying he does like you.”

“Charming.” The duo packed up their campsite and walked out of the bakery that was on the second floor, with AJ in Clem’s arms, to see if the mall had anything else to offer.

“Come on, we should scout out and-”

“-going to fucking be here!” They heard a voice shout cutting Jane off. They both crouched down behind a glass railing that was covered with an advertisement, luckily providing them cover. Clementine and Jane peaked over on opposite sides of the ad to get a better look.

“Dammit. Bandits,” Jane cursed. Surely enough, a group of about five bandits came walking in through the entrance of the mall. Luckily, Jane and Clem were at a vantage point, so at least they weren’t seen yet. Jane surveyed them for a bit, figuring out a plan.

“What do you want to do?” Clementine asked.

“Hmm. Cover me. I’ll keep them distracted, and once I give the signal, start firing.”

“But, Jane. You’re-”

“Just trust me, Clem. I’ll be fine,” Jane assured. Clementine stared at her hesitantly, unsure of her plan. “I promise.”

“Okay,” Clementine relented. Jane took off, sneaking down one of the broken escalators, drawing her knife. Clementine watched from a distance in panic, unsure if this was a good idea. As soon as Jane got close enough, one of the bandits spotted her, drawing his rifle on her and the rest of his groups attention.

“Hey! Hey! Don’t you fucking move!” he barked, his gun still pointed at her. Jane slowly approached them, keeping her knife drawn.

“Relax. I don’t want any trouble. I’m just passing through,” she said as calmly as she could. Meanwhile, Clementine was still watching from a distance, panicking on the inside the whole time. Three of the other bandits closing in on Jane from the side.

“Then why don’t you put the knife down?!” one of the bandits yelled.

“I heard you guys making noise, and I thought there were walkers,” Jane replied coyly. Right above her was a ceiling light, illuminated right at her. She used that to her advantage, adjusting her knife in her hand trying to catch a beam of light to reflect on it.

“Clearly, we ain’t fuckin’ walkers. Now quit playing with that thing and walk away,” another bandit shouted.

“How about I join you guys. I’m pretty sure you boys could use some female company,” Jane said in a sultry voice still adjusting the knife. Clementine overheard her and panicked for a moment thinking she was going to actually leave her. She was soon distracted by that thought as a beam of light hit her in the eye. It was Jane giving her the signal. She gently placed AJ down by her feet and aimed at the bandits.

“Nah, we’re good here. Now how about you find your own company and leave,” replied the first bandit.

“You didn’t let your friends here decide,” Jane said very obviously nodding her head to one of the bandits. Clementine saw what she was doing and re-aimed her gun.

“I think she’s screwing with u-” one of the bandits spoke up, but was soon cut off as a bullet went through his head, distracting the bandits, immediately diverting their attention to where the gunshot came from. Using the distraction, Jane stabbed him in the stomach, who was still distracted by the first bandit going down. Two of them diverted their attention back towards Jane, while the other one continued firing at Clementine.

As soon as they started firing at her, Jane ducked down behind cover, now pinned down with no way of defending herself, and with Clementine in trouble too. On top of that, the sound of gunshots going off must’ve upset AJ because the sound of a baby crying could be heard throughout the mall.

“Dan! Tyler! Fan out and find where the crying is coming from. Maybe we’ll find our shooter. Bennon, you’re with me,” the apparent ‘leader’ of the bandits ordered. The two split up and went upstairs from either side of the second floor, while Bennon and the bandit leader crept up on Jane. Upstairs, Clementine ran back inside the bake store, looking for a safe place to put AJ while trying to calm him down to get him to stop crying. She found a place in the back room that was probably an office. She opened the bottom drawer and gently placed AJ inside, carefully rocking him hoping he would finally calm down a bit. Thankfully he did, albeit slightly. Once he was tucked in, Clementine left to try and take care of the bandits and help Jane who had her own problems to deal with.

The two bandits were advancing their way towards Jane.

“Looks like we got her now, Jake!” Bennon said to the leader. Jane had to think fast or she was in trouble. Just as she got an idea to throw her knife at one of them, she heard yelling.

“Hey, Jake! Look what we found!” she heard one of them say. She glanced a peak from behind her cover and saw that one of the bandits had Clem’s arm pinned while pointing his gun at her, while the other bandit was carrying AJ. It looked like the one holding AJ had holstered his gun. Fortunately for her, Jane could use that.

“Would you look at that! We got your kids! You want to save them, you best come out now with your hands where we can see them!” Jake ordered. Jane had to move fast or things were going to go south fast. Making up her mind, she threw her knife at the bandit that had a hold on Clem and charged at Jake, wrestling him for his gun.

Dan got hit in the throat, releasing Clementine and dropping his rifle. Clementine picked it up and shot the third bandit who was aiming his rifle at Jane who was still wrestling with the leader. The knockback of the rifle, threw Clementine into Tyler, who was carrying AJ, who she temporarily forgot about. She stared up at the barrel of the gun pointed at her, Tyler staring down at her with a gleeful smirk.

Before he could pull the trigger, Clementine suddenly remembered she still had her pistol. She quickly reached for her back pocket and fired, careful not hit AJ, shooting him dead. He fell backwards, AJ falling on top of him, sending him into a crying fit. Clementine rushed over to pick him up to calm him down once again. She looked up to see that Jane was still fighting with the bandit leader over the gun, and it looked like she was so slowly losing.

“Fucking… bitch…” he grunted, trying to overpower Jane. Clem raised her glock at him, aiming for the head and fired. The gunshot scared AJ making him cry even louder, Clem doing her best to calm him down again. It wasn’t even noon yet and he had to be calmed three times already. With the bandits dead, Jane walked over to the one she threw her knife at put it back in its sheath. AJ finally settled down after all the noise had stopped.

“Are… are you alright?” Jane panted. “Is AJ alright?”

“We’re fine.” Clementine looked around at the bodies that had now surrounded them. “We just took down five bandits all by ourselves. I think we make a pretty good team,” she replied dryly.

“Let’s try not to make it a habit, ok?” Jane teased. The trio made their way back upstairs and packed up their stuff that they left behind during the attack. “You know, at first I kind of wanted to take a look around. See if there was anything here to take that we could use. But now…” she trailed off, wondering if Clem felt the same way. “We can still stay here if you want. It’s up to you.”

Clementine looked at her in confusion, eyes widening in surprise before she looked back down at AJ, slightly bouncing him. Poor kid had a rough morning.

“No. We can leave. Let’s just... see if we can find anything we can use and go.”

“Are you sure, Clem? If you-”

“I’m sure,” she replied a bit coldly. Jane felt a bit hurt but shrugged it off. They walked around the mall and gathered whatever they could find, which was quite a bit, put it into their bags, and went outside to the car and left.

Clementine had been driving for a few hours since the attack at the mall, Jane and AJ in the passenger seat. The sun was just starting to set. A heavy silence had fallen over the two… three, since. Neither of them have spoken more than five words to each other the whole time. The silence felt familiar to Clem. And not in a good way familiar. It felt similar to the silence that had plagued her numerous times when she was under Christa’s care. Right after Omid… and she knew why.

She stole a glance at Jane, who was staring out the window with AJ asleep in her lap. She hadn’t said anything, but she could tell what Jane was feeling right now. It didn’t help that she was being a bit harsh back at the mall, but she knew exactly what she was feeling right now. She could tell that Jane was feeling this way for awhile. Clementine kept her gaze on the road making sure it was clear of anything. Or anyone.

“...Jane?” she asked tentatively.

“Yeah?”

“Can we talk?”

“We’re already talking aren’t we?” Jane teased, “sure, what’s up?” Clementine glanced back and forth between the road and Jane. She took in a deep breath and exhaled. She should’ve done this two months ago.

“I forgive you.”

“What?”

“I never forgave you…” she began, “for what happened… with Kenny. And AJ.”

“Oh,” Jane replied grimly. Clem felt her chest suddenly feeling heavy. She thought about how she knew what Jane was feeling. The feeling she had back when Omid died. Christa never gave her an ‘I forgive you,’ leaving her wondering if Christa hated her or not. Maybe she didn’t hate her, but at least, resented her. Back then, she blamed herself for Omid’s death, and still did even to this day. Clementine felt guilty that she had put Jane through that same cycle of confusion and torment that she had experienced herself.

“I understand why you did what you did… even if I don’t agree with it.”

“Clem I-”

“It’s not fair that I put you through feeling that way these past months, and I'm sorry,” she conceded.

“No, Clem. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have lied to you. It was a stupid plan, and even back then I knew it. I don’t know why I did it. And because of me you had to…”

“I forgive you, Jane,” Clementine said sincerely.

“Thank you… thank you, Clem,” Jane almost cried in relief. Clementine couldn’t see Jane’s face, but she was almost on the verge of tears. Clearly holding this back for awhile.

“I guess I was just, sad I lost someone I used to know. Maybe I was missing Lee and I used to know Kenny... it reminded me of him.” Jane pensively looked at Clementine, letting her get it off her chest.

“I was more friends with his son, Duck.”

“Duck?”

“He was the only friend I had around my age. Then he got bit…”

“Oh. I’m sorry, Clem.” Clementine nodded her head in thanks. They eventually fell back into silence, except this was more of a comfortable silence. They continued driving by, passing road signs, lone walkers ambling about, and trees, with almost nothing else in sight. It wasn’t until one road sign caught Jane’s eye.

“Hey, Clem. Turn right onto the next exit. Maybe we can find something in Virginia.”

“Do you want me to wake you when we get there?”

“I think I can stay up a little longer. Here, let’s play some tunes. Maybe that’ll help keep us awake,” Jane replied turning on the radio. Luckily enough, it still worked as the radio turned on playing some rock song. The two drove into the night, listening to mostly Pink Floyd and Nirvana.

“Man, can you imagine if we got to meet Nirvana in the apocalypse?” Jane chuckled in amusement.

“Who’s Nirvana?” Clem asked. Jane audibly gasped in exaggerated hurt.

“Clem. I think I’m going to need you to step out of the car,” she teased.

“Hey! I’m only eleven. The only songs I listened to were kids songs and whatever pop song was on the radio.”

“Heh, fair enough,” Jane chuckled, “they were a band from before your time. What do you think of them so far?”

“I don’t know. Their music’s nice I guess.” Jane smiled at that.

“Good. We need to upgrade your music taste,” she teased. After about ten minutes, Jane shifted in her seat and tried to get some sleep, while Clementine continued driving them to Virginia, with the radio playing over them.

‘Come doused in mud, soaked in bleach
As I want you to be
As a trend, as a friend
As an old
Memoria, memoria
Memoria, memoria’

Chapter Text

Jane's POV

I watch from a distance on the porch of the cabin that we’d been staying at as a lone walker shambles about and collapses to the floor from the cold weather. It amuses me how comically stupid they can be, but also terrifying and dangerous at the same time. I decide to head inside, because usually when there was one, there was a herd not too far behind and I’d like to be in relative safety of inside. This cabin was a godsend to find, and it was nice that we could finally settle down for once, however temporary it might be, and just escape most of our demons.

Although it seemed like some of mine were coming back to haunt me, since I’ve been thinking about a past… trauma of mine a lot lately, which probably means around this time of when it happened is coming up.

As I headed inside I noticed Clem sitting on the couch drawing in some notebook and AJ crawling around. I could’ve sworn Clem’s heart actually melted at the sight of AJ slowly growing up and taking his first few steps. I have to admit I thought it was kind of touching too. It felt kind of, nice. But a small, selfish part of me thought that the quicker he grows up, the faster he’ll be able to fend for himself and be less of a risk to the rest of us. First he’s crawling, then he’ll start walking.

“You’re a real fuckin’ hypocrite. You’ll be goin’ through the same cycle all over again soon y'know?” I brush the voice out of my head and sit on the couch next to Clem, to which immediately gets AJ’s attention as he sits up and reaches his arms out to me for me to pick him up, which I do.

“Hey, Jane,” Clem greets nonchalantly, not even looking up from her drawing.

“Hey, you. What’cha drawing?” I ask.

“I don’t know. Just designs.” I look over her notebook and see that she drew a picture of wolves. One big wolf, one smaller wolf, and two baby wolves. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what that meant, and honestly I was kind of touched. The drawing itself wasn’t half bad either.

“That’s pretty good actually. Had the world not ended, I think you could’ve had a career as an artist,” I tease her. She nudges me playfully in the arm.

“You think so?”

“Definitely.” I look down at my now partially swollen stomach. It isn’t that big, but it’s definitely noticeable to anyone who has seen me beforehand. The only person who has is Clem.

“Hey, want to play a game?” I ask her, pulling out the deck of cards and waving it in front of her face. We did need to pack the essentials when we were leaving Howe’s, but there was no way we were just leaving whatever ounce of fun was left. Clem sets her notebook aside and turns to face me.

“Sure. What’re we playing?”

“Ever played Slap Jack?” I ask while shuffling the desk. She simply shakes her head no.

“It’s simple. You split the deck evenly between the amount of players, each person draws a card, whoever slaps a ‘Jack’ card the fastest wins,” I explain as I eyeball the deck and split it between the two of us.

“Is it just me or do we seem to be playing a lot of card games?” she mocks playfully.

“Think of this as an icebreaker game. The person who hits the Jack first gets to ask the loser a question. We’ve been traveling together for a while now, and we hardly know anything about each other,” I explain. Clem doesn’t seem to complain and gets ready to draw her card. We go back and forth until I hit the first ‘Jack.’

“Ask her how much of a whore she thinks you are.” I almost throw up at the voice. He’s gone. Forget him.

“What’s one thing you don’t miss about from before?” An odd question to think about when the world has ended. Sometimes you start to think about the things that you took for granted and only start to miss them more. Surprisingly, she looks pensive, as if she’s thinking of something she’s actually glad that’s gone.

“Homework,” she says simply.

“Huh?”

“Homework. I mean, I liked school but, I didn’t like homework. Especially math.”

“Ha! You’re preaching to the choir. I used to hate homework when I was a kid. And when I went to high school it was just miserable. Trust me, no one liked homework. I say good riddance,” I cheer. Clem gives me a small smile delighted in my affirmation of distaste in homework. The one thing I enjoyed about college. Almost none of it to very little. We continue the game going back and forth with her winning the next round.

“You asked me what I don’t miss. What’s something you do miss the most?” she asked me with a devilish look in her eye. Damn. The kid got me good. There’s a lot of things I missed. Hot showers, pizza delivery, shitty bars with even shittier music… I guess that says a lot about my priorities in life.

“Fast food,” I settle on, not really being able to think of anything ‘substantial’ or ‘sentimental.’ Clem’s expression doesn’t change much. It was still the same as when we started, which was happy, so I won’t complain.

“I miss burgers now,” she says disheartened.

“Me too.” We continue back to the game, this time I won again.

“Don’t ya think she’s better off without you?” Stop. Stop. Stop.

“When all this started, how long did you think you’d last?” I asked, hoping I didn’t ask too morbid of a question for her. Instead she just looks down at her lap looking confused.

“I didn’t think about how long I’d last. It just happened and I hid in my treehouse for a few days when all this started until my friend Lee found me,” she explained. Clem mentioned her dead mentor a few times now, but I didn’t realize how much he meant to her as he was there for her since the beginning. We kept playing the game continuing to ask questions well into the evening, not even realizing how long we had been playing.

Even long after we had won an equal amount of turns, Clem was a little pissed the first time I won since I ‘neglected’ to mention that to actually win Slapjack, you had to have the whole deck in hand. She had a field day when she won a game. I looked out the window to see the sun had gone down, making me realize it was time for bed.

“Alright, partner. Looks like it’s time to turn in for the night.” Clementine pouted at that.

“I take it back. The one thing I don’t miss from before was bedtimes,” she marks bitterly. If there was one thing I didn’t have to worry about, it was her losing her sense of humor. She got a chuckle out of me, I’ll admit that.

“Sorry, kiddo. But just because the world died, doesn’t mean work unfortunately did. We’ve got shit to do. Like getting more food for one. And drive into town and look for gas for the car. If things ever get hairy, we need to be able to split.”

Her demeanor doesn’t seem to change as she still has a disappointed look. However, she seems to give as she hops off the couch.

“Ok,” she relents, grabbing AJ off my lap, heading upstairs to our shared room.

“Goodnight, Clem. I’ll be up there in a bit.” As soon as she’s upstairs and out of sight, I look down at the drawing she had made earlier of the wolf family, a grin spreading across my face. Maybe when we head into town tomorrow, I should look for a thumbtack or a magnet to stick it to the fridge. I clean the deck of cards and head upstairs to bed.

Sleep didn’t come easy to me tonight and now I’m starting to think Clem had the right idea about staying up a bit. I spent the better part of the last few hours tossing and turning.

“You tell anyone, especially Bill about our ‘rrangement, you are fuckin’ dead.”

He’s dead. Stop thinking about him.

“You ain’t ever leaving you stupid cow.”

He’s gone. He’s not here.

“You could’ve done a lot better bitch. Get outta here before anyone asks questions.”

Creep, creep, creep, creep.

“I told you I wanted to get out. You said you'd help, then I'd help.”

“I thought you meant get outta the pen! Not whatever the fuck this shit is!”

His voice kept replaying in my head until I felt like I couldn’t breathe.

“Man, you smell really bad. You gotta get a bath before we--”

Suddenly I jolt upright out of bed hyperventilating, almost gasping for air. I guess the sound of my near scream woke Clem up as I hear her shuffling in her bed and sitting up.

“Jane?” Shit. I place my head in my hand trying to clear my head, hoping not to have this conversation with someone her age. But maybe she will need this conversation. God forbid…

“Are you okay?” I didn’t even notice that she was standing right next to my bed at this point.

“Yeah. I’m fine. Just… had a nightmare,” I try dismissing her. Guess that wasn’t the right response because she still seemed concerned.

“Do you… want to talk about it?” Damn. I forgot how persistent this kid was.

“It was about… Troy,” I admitted. I had to restrain a laugh because I could barely make out the look on Clem’s face in the dark. She looked like she was watching a mildly disturbing horror film, and honestly I didn’t blame her. Her silence gave me the impression that either she didn’t know how to respond to that, or that she wanted me to continue about my nightmare, to ‘get it off my chest,’ and knowing her, it was probably the latter. And maybe a bit of both.

“I… I have some bad memories about him. He did some bad things to me,” I continued. Clem’s expression changed into that of unamused as if to say ‘be more specific. He did bad things to a lot of people.’ I forgot that this was a guy who wasn’t above hitting the crap out of a kid and Clem had taken the brunt of it a few times.

“Let’s just say he made some… unwanted advances towards me. I kind of went along with it for a… personal gain,” I clarified.

“Oh. What does that mean?” I was dreading that I would have to have this conversation.

“Clem. Sometimes people can make you feel a certain way that you don’t like and it can be really uncomfortable,” I tried my best to explain to her in a way she’d understand. And so as not to traumatize her any further than she might already be.

“Sometimes you can do things that feel nice, but if you don’t want to do it, it can be painful. And traumatic,” I explained hoping she wouldn’t know what I was getting at but still understanding the reason for my panic. I wanted to save that conversation for MUCH later.

“Do you understand?”

“Uh huh. I think so. But, do you feel any better?

Maybe it was a good thing she asked. I did feel slightly better talking about it. But I dreaded going back to bed, doubting I’d actually find sleep anytime soon.

“A little bit.” Clem got that look on her face she always gets when she’s deep in thought.

“When I had a nightmare, my parents used to let me sleep in their bed.”

“Uh huh…”

“So...?”

“Is this a roundabout way of you asking if you can sleep in my bed?” I ask her teasingly. She doesn’t answer which only confirms my theory.

“Hop in.” Clem doesn’t even hesitate to walk over to the other side of the bed and settles in. I lie back down hoping that maybe Clem’s offer of comfort will work.

“Does this mean that you had a nightmare too?” I tease.

“Maybe.” This was nice. It kind of reminded me of when Jaime and I were younger and she’d do the same thing when she had a nightmare. Soon enough, I close my eyes and sleep comes surprisingly easier for the night.

Chapter Text

6 Months Later

Clementine slowly crept through the woods, bow in hand with an arrow loaded, approaching an unknowing deer. She draws the bow back slowly, steadying her and aim, taking a deep breath. Upon exhaling, she fired, the arrow hitting the deer in the neck, spooking it as it ran off. Clem cursed under breath about it getting away, but knew it wouldn’t get far. She followed the trail of blood splatters the deer left behind.

Each blood drop was rapidly getting bigger and bigger, leaving a trail. She soon found the deer in a clearing, lying down gasping for breath in agony. Clementine crouched down slowly, so as not to agitate the deer any further. She took out her knife and plunged it into its neck, ending its suffering. Well didn’t that bring back memories.

Clementine uncoiled her rope around herself and tied one end around both its feet and dragged it back to the cabin before it got dark. She silently cursed Jane, wishing she’d let her take the car, but Jane insisted that, ‘it’s not hunting, you’re just driving around and scaring off all the animals and alerting any walker nearby.’ She had to admit, she had a point, but it’d be nice not to have to lug giant deer around on the way. How much do deer even weigh?

She picked up the pace as she saw the cabin come into view, no longer having to drag literal dead weight anymore. As she stepped inside, she noticed Jane lounging on the couch, drawing in the sketchbook and AJ toddling around. Ever since he took his first steps, it’s all he’s ever been doing. It was still adorable to watch.

“Jane. You’re a real bitch, you know that,” Clementine huffed closing the door behind her, after dragging the deer inside.

“So I’ve been told. But how so?” she teased.

“You didn’t tell me how much deer weigh. This thing weighs a fucking ton,” she exaggerates. “You’re skinning it tonight.”

“I thought that was a given,” Jane laughed, slowly getting up from the couch. She walked over to the deer carcass and dragged it over to what made for a dining room, while Clementine picked up the sketchbook she had just been drawing in. She and Jane had to share, as there wasn’t much for entertainment anymore. It was either some card game with the deck they took from Howe’s, playing with the chess set they found in one of the bedrooms, or running a mandatory errand for survival, just to keep themselves busy. Sometimes you really started missing the internet and TV. Clementine looked over the sketches Jane had been doodling. Birds, trees, and sketches of the same woman in differing poses.

“Hey, Jane. What’s this?” Clementine asks, picking up a pencil. Jane pulled her knife out of the deer, preparing to skin it, so they could store it in the freezer. No one wanted to deal with the smell of rotting deer meat. They had walkers, they were good.

“Just some random art projects I thought I’d redo that I did in college. Some comic we had to do. Also thought I’d try and practice sketching poses because fuck me, is drawing dynamic poses a pain in the ass,” Jane complained. Clementine flipped to a page that had doodles of her own, starting to work on a new sketch.

“Is it?”

“Oh, yeah. I went to an art college for a few years before all this shit started. And let me tell you, as an artist, you hate art,” Jane stated factly.

“Why?”

“Because it’s suffering.” Clem was just left confused and wondered if Luke would’ve been able to explain it better, if he felt the same way, considering he majored in art history. Poor Luke. She hadn’t thought about him in a long while. On the subject of art and Luke.

“What did you study while you were in college?” Jane pulled back a piece of skin on the deer, deep in thought trying to think back what exactly she used to study.

“Uh, fine arts. It’s been awhile since I’ve thought about it." Jane stood up and carefully picked up the deer pelt to hang it outside. Not the best time to get Lyme’s disease. Of all the ways to go in the apocalypse. She came back inside and dragged the carcass outback to store in the freezer. Once back inside for the last time, she saw Clem poking her head in the fridge.

“What’s on the menu?”

“Uh, rabbit chops?” she pointed out to the leftover rabbit they had stored and their dwindling food supply.

“Ugh, again?”

“It’s that or a fruit salad,” Clem challenged, taking her own plate over to the couch. It wasn’t even an actual fruit salad. It was just a regular salad with blueberries and apples sprinkled in. There were only so many fruits and vegetables you could find in a Virginian forest. Weighing her options, Jane gave in and fixed a plate, following Clem to the couch, picking up AJ and setting him between them while he played with wooden blocks they had found. AJ was growing up fast. He was probably almost a year old now. Not like they had a calendar around to tell. The two sat in silence while they ate their measly dinner of rabbit.

Jane placed a hand on her stomach, feeling how swollen it had gotten. She was due any day now, and that frightened her. She had seen what happened to Rebecca, and that didn’t end well. She wondered why she was going through with this, when she looked up at the kid sitting next to her. Right. Clementine saved her life when she tried to end it. Maybe she should be thankful for that. Maybe she should be pissed. Either way, she was here now and she was just going to have to deal with it. Suddenly she was feeling nauseous, and it wasn’t morning sickness.

“Hey, Clem, I’m going to... head to bed. I’m a little tired,” she spoke suddenly, setting her plate down on the coffee table. Clem looked at her worriedly, this all seeming too familiar.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. If you’re thinking what I think it is, don’t worry. I’m just going to bed. I promise.” The tension between them was thick enough that you could cut a knife through it.

“Okay… goodnight, Jane. Feel better.”

“Thanks. Feel free to join me when you’re ready,” she got up and went upstairs. Ever since the whole ‘Troy-nightmare fiasco,’ Jane’s been letting Clementine share the bed with her whenever she wanted, which they both enjoyed. Although Jane would never admit it to Clem. Now that she was left all alone with AJ downstairs, she cleaned up before blowing out the candles. She picked AJ up and carried him upstairs to their room, thankful to see that Jane was in bed. She put him in his crib, tucking him in for bed, before climbing into bed herself.

“Jane? Are you awake?”

“Unfortunately,” she answered dryly. She shifted under the covers so that she was now facing Clementine. “Clem. Why did you save me? Back at Howe’s.” The question threw her off guard, not sure how to answer that nor expecting it. She didn’t even have an answer to that.

“I… I don’t know. I just reacted. What was I supposed to do? Let you die?” she said with a bit more malice than she intended. Both her and Jane inwardly cringed at her harsh remark.

“No, but… I don’t know. I just didn’t want…” she hesitated, not sure if she should say it out loud. Maybe Clementine already figured it out. “Maybe you can see it as me being selfish, but this was something I was actually doing for you this time. We saw what happened to Rebecca. Let’s assume that the baby lives. What then? I die a few days later and you’re stuck watching over two babies while you’re still a kid yourself, in a world where you’re constantly fighting to survive,” she vented. She didn’t realize how much she had been holding back til now.

“So, you made that decision for me?”

“What? No, I-”

“Did you not think about how I would feel?” Clementine asked, hurt in her voice.

“Of course I did! Which only killed me inside more, knowing that I was leaving you like that. I never meant to hurt you, Clem.” Clementine remained silent for a minute thinking about what she said before closing her eyes and going to sleep.

Jane's POV

I wake up the next morning and find the bed empty. I sit up and find that AJ’s crib was empty. A small part of me started to panic thinking the worst, but the rational part of me knew that they were probably just downstairs. Not exactly, planning on spending all day in bed anyway, although it did have an appeal, I headed downstairs to see what the little rascal had gotten up to. When I got downstairs, I saw Clem in the kitchen over by the stove. As I walked up to her, she handed me a mug of, coffee?

“Thanks, Clem.” I took a sip, letting that sweet caffeine run through my system. Nothing like a nice cup of dirty bean water to start the day. “What’s the occasion?” I ask wondering if this was maybe some sort of “peace offering” and had to deal with last night’s, not necessarily “fight,” maybe argument.

“I’m just… I’m glad to have you around. Everyone I have cared for has either died or left. I’m glad that you’re here with me,” she says nervously. Of course she actually likes me. We’ve been traveling together for almost a year now and not once has she complained, when she could’ve taken off by now. I mean kind of half-expected her to a few times. For a while I still thought she hated me, for several reasons, and I honestly wouldn’t blame her. And the fact that she was being genuine about this made me feel worse.

“Clem… I need to talk to you.” I lead her over to the couch and set down my mug. “You said you forgave me for what happened with Kenny, but I never really apologized. For everything. I’m sorry I lied to you. I’m sorry I left, back at the observation deck. And I’m sorry for what I did at Howe’s. I’ve been a shitty person, and I’ve done shitty things, I just don’t want you don’t hate me for it. I owe you for so much, more than you’ll ever know.”

In that instance I feel my throat tightening up and wanting to cry. I’ve wanted to give her the freedom of making her own choices, and yet I kind of forced her into one. She could’ve picked Kenny over me, and yet she chose me. I never said sorry for everything I ever put her through.

“I forgive you. For all of it,” she says firmly. “I never held any of it against you, I kind of already put it behind me. Some of the things you did hurt, but we’ll all done shitty things before, especially now,” the last part she says solemnly. It must’ve been hard having to have grown up in this, making a lot of tough decisions and sometimes hating yourself for it afterwards. I give her a weak smile to let her know she’s not alone in that department.

“How about we be shitty people together?” Clem says holding up her pinky finger. At that point I couldn’t stop myself from full on smiling, letting out a small laugh. She was what, almost twelve now, and still using pinky promises.

“Shitty people together,” I reciprocate. Suddenly as the good feeling came, it was gone as I felt a sharp pain in my back. At first I thought I just pulled a muscle, but this felt different. I thought the pain would’ve subsided after a few seconds, but it just seemed to get worse. I feel myself starting to breathe very heavily and my water break.

“Fuck.”

“Jane? What’s wrong?”

“I- I don’t know. I think, the baby…” I trail off. It felt like if I said it out loud then it would make it all real, and I wasn’t ready to accept that yet. Even though it was already happening.

“What do you need me to do?” Clem panics. It was cute how she wanted to help.

“Grab AJ and help me upstairs.” I slowly got off the couch to the best of my abilities as Clem ran off into I guessed the kitchen. I know Clem meant well, but who was I kidding? I was about to have a baby and the only around to help was a twelve year old. We already went over that childbirth was difficult on its own and now?

Clementine comes back from upstairs and moves up next to me helping me walk up to our room. As we walked in, I saw AJ on the floor playing with his toys as Clem helps me lie down on the bed. The pain in my stomach was increasing tenfold as each second passed by. It felt like having the worst cramps imaginable, as I kept gasping for breath, suddenly getting cold sweats. I felt light-headed. I see Clem standing next to the bed looking at me apprehensively.

“Do… you need water?” I can’t help but laugh at her question. I guess there was one good thing about our previous disaster.

“Uh… yeah… That’d be, great. And towels. And blankets.” With that, she dashes out of the room. As soon as she’s gone, I take off my pants and readjust the covers, thankful that I already go commando half the time. This was never the reason I thought I’d need to.

She comes dashing back in with a stack of towels and blankets and sets down a couple of water canteens on the dresser. She hands me one of the towels and I unfold it, sitting on top of it. I’m still in so much pain, the most I’ve ever been in, in my life. My lower half feels like it’s being ripped apart and I want to scream. I’m suddenly brought to my senses as I feel Clem’s hand rest on top of mine.

“Jane. In whatever way you need me, I’m here for you,” she says reassuringly. That was enough to send me over the edge. Taking in a deep breath, I let out a push with as much force and energy I can muster. I immediately regretted it, because if I thought the pain was horrible before, it was so much worse. We were here now already, so I thought I might as well get it over with. I give another push, everything around me just becoming white noise. I can just barely make out Clem saying something to me.

“--u've -o- 'is, Jane. C' on!”

“Jane.”

“- --liev' in ---.”

“Jane!”

Suddenly there’s an empty feeling between my legs and I can start to hear again. I feel Clementine shaking me on the shoulder and I hear a loud crying right next to me. I turn to Clem and see she’s carrying a baby covered in blood, swathed in a towel and blanket.

“It’s a girl!” Clem says excitedly. She hands me the baby as I cradle her in my arms. As I looked down at her, I feel something I didn’t even know how to describe. Not exactly happiness, but close to it. I never wanted to have kids to begin with, and I didn’t expect to feel this way at all.

“What- what should I name her?” I ask Clem wearily. To be honest, I didn’t expect this day to come or see that it would happen, and I was beyond exhausted so my mind was blanking out on picking out names at the moment. Clem loved this kind of stuff though, and she seemed to have a fondness for kids. Look at how well she was handling AJ. As soon the thought of him enters my mind, I look over towards him, still sitting on the floor playing with his toys, blissfully unaware of the pain I was in. Lucky him.

“I was thinking Jaime was pretty cool. For a boy or a girl,” I hear Clem echoing back to me, looking back to her and seeing the most shit-eating grin on her face I’ve ever seen.

“Clem, I- Thank you. I like that one too.” For years, I kind of felt like I let my sister down in a way. Maybe this was some way of giving me a second chance and that I won’t fail her this time. I just hope that this didn’t seem like me being still stuck in the past but instead looking forward and seeing if maybe I could change things this time around. I hate to admit, mainly because I never thought it would happen, but I’ve kind of moved on from Jaime.

I haven’t thought about her in awhile. Not that I’ve forgotten about her, god knows her ghost would come to haunt me if I ever did, but it hurts less now. Every now and then I would think back to how I abandoned her, but it’s not as often as it used to be. And I’m slowly learning to accept that. I look down at the- my baby cradled in my arms, feeling the faint tug of a smile.

“Hi, Jaime.”

Chapter Text

Clementine’s POV

Recovery for Jane has been slow going these past couple of weeks, but she’s getting there. Even though neither of us technically know anything about raising a kid, Jane told me that this was something called ‘postpartum recovery.’ Apparently all women go through it after giving birth. I don’t think either of us are enjoying it.

For me, Jane has become… unpredictable. Emotionally. Lashing out every now and then. She apologizes for it immediately afterwards, and I tell her it’s fine and that I know she’s still healing, but she doesn’t want me feeling like it’s personal. I can only imagine how she’s feeling though. She’s been tired a lot lately, I’ve noticed her break down crying a few times, and there have been a few times where she says she’s been up all night.

The first few days after delivery were terrifying for me. There were times I thought there would be a repeat of Howe’s. There have been a few instances where I’d see her staring at her knife way longer than necessary that had me on edge, for example. But overall, I’m glad this is where we are. It’s been a few weeks since Jaime was born, and as much as I hate to admit it, it’s longer than Rebecca lasted after she had AJ, so I’m hoping it’s safe to say that she’s going to be fine.

I honestly didn’t think Jane would take motherhood well. She didn’t leave it a secret about how she felt about kids. But every now and then I would see her with Jaime, cradling her, or sometimes completely freaking out any time Jaime would bump her head or sneeze. Even before Jaime entered the picture, she would do that with AJ too. After some time. Speaking of AJ, he’s been able to stand up now. He’s not able to walk yet, but it’s a start. Nor can he talk yet, but I know he’ll get there eventually.

Jane and I are out walking through the forest, carrying AJ and Jaime with us because we can’t exactly leave them back at the cabin. Jane said she wanted to show me something, despite the fact I begged her to show me later so she could rest. She said she was fine and that she was feeling better, so I gave in. Not like I was an expert on recovery from childbirth.

If Jane said she was fine, I’ll have to take her word for it. Jane stops me at what looks like an obstacle course. She takes Jaime off of her from the sling she used to carry her and sets her in a crib I just now notice. I wonder when she had time to make that and when she brought it out here.

“You’ve been busy.” Jane unsheathes her knife and twirls it in her hand, posing as if she was going to throw it at the tree.

“You ever learned how to throw knives before?” she asks me. I can’t tell if she’s being serious or just messing with me. With her, it could very well be both.

“You just throw it, right?”

“Ha! You’d think, but no. Knife throwing is an actual thing. It’s more specific and accurate than just chucking daggers. You take a knife, aim where you want to throw, and,” she explains, demonstrating to me as well, “Blam!” She throws her knife at a tree with a target painted on it, hitting it right in the center.

“Holy shit.”

“Pretty cool, huh?” Jane walks over to the tree and retrieves the knife to hand it to me. I walk over to where Jane set Jaime down and place AJ next to the crib and take the knife from Jane. I go to throw it before she stops me.

“Woah! Woah, easy there tiger. I just said it’s not just chucking daggers. Here let me show you.” She gets behind be and coaches me on how to do it.

“Grip the blade with your fingers and pinch it so you don’t cut yourself. Bring your wrist to your forearm.” Jane bends my arm back to how I’m supposed to, my arm raised above my head, and slightly kicks my left leg forward. I raise my other arm up in front of me, trying to eyeball the target.

“Shift your weight from your back leg to the front, bring down your arm, and throw!” I do as she says, releasing the blade as it goes flying towards the tree hitting the center of the trunk.

“Dammit.”

“Heh. Don’t worry, you’ll get the hang of it. That wasn’t half bad for your first try,” Jane encourages. I trudge my way over to the tree and pull the knife out, wiping the blade off. I go back to where Jane is standing and try again. I readjust my grip on the blade, take a step back, and then throw. Miss. I audibly groan out in frustration.

“Try putting more power into throwing with your wrist.”

“What?”

“When you go to throw it, try flicking your wrist. See if that’ll help,” she coaches. I go and retrieve the knife and try again. Once more, I get into position, lining up my throw. I bring my arm back, and right before I release I flick my wrist as Jane suggested. The knife still misses, but it was closer to hitting the actual target.

“There you go. What’d I tell ya?” Jane cheers me from behind.

“How’d you learn to do this?”

“Believe it or not, I learned to do this from before. My parents didn’t entirely agree with certain… aspects of my life. They didn’t like the crowd I hung out with and thought the ‘bad boys’ I used to date weren’t a good influence. So I learned how to do this just to spite them.”

“More and more, it sounds like you didn’t have a good relationship with your parents,” I mention to her sadly. I’d love to see my parents again. I was so desperate to look for them, I trusted a stranger and Lee got bit because of me. I shake the thought out of my head.

“Unfortunately, no. It wasn’t the best. After I moved out, the only one to still visit every now and then was Jai-... Jaime.” We both look over to where AJ and Jaime were. AJ is trying to use the crib to stand up and Jaime is still lying down. I decide not to press further and go back to trying to hit the target. Arm back, left leg forward, aim and…

Thwap.

I actually hit the target this time, feeling a slight sense of pride.

“Bingo. You want to keep practicing or do you want to try something else? Jane asks me. Truthfully, I want to master all of Jane’s little tricks. So far, they all seem kind of fun. From her knee trick she taught me almost a year ago, which I use pretty much all the time when killing walkers, mainly because it’s convenient for me, to knife throwing, which is a lot more fun than I thought it would be.

“Well, I want to get as good at this as you, but I can always practice later, right?” Jane smiles and pulls down the brim of my hat, covering my face.

“Come on, let’s go get the rugrats,” she says walking over to AJ and Jaime, “and no one can get as good as me,” she teases.

“We’ll see about that,” I challenge. After picking up AJ and Jaime, we walk a few feet away to a fence. Not a whole fence, just, one part of it. Like the gate part. Before I can ask, Jane starts explaining what we’re doing.

“Do you know what vaulting is?”

“No.” Jane walks over to me and places the sling Jaime is carried in over me, Jaime now resting on my back. She walks a short distance away from the fence.

“If you ever run into a jam and you’ve got an obstacle in your way, there’s no time to waste. You just keep moving.” She takes a running start towards the fence, and right when she gets close enough to it, she grabs the fence and leaps over it. As she lands on the other side of it, she grips her stomach gasping for breath.

“Jane? Are you okay?”

“Man, I’m out of shape. I probably should’ve still exercised while I was, ‘out of commission,’” she jokes. She leads me over to where she was just standing, for me to try out. “Now just get a running start, and once you’re close enough, grab the fence and use your arm to carry yourself over it.” I set AJ and Jaime down in the wooden crib and get into a sprinting position and take off running. As I get closer, I reach out to grab the fence and try to leap over. I almost cleared it, but my foot clips the railing, sending me falling on my face. I hear Jane grimace in sympathy pain. I stand back up and rub my head.

“Clem! Are you alright?”

“Everything but my pride,” I deadpan. Jane sighs out in relief, glad to know I’m not hurt.

“Well, don’t worry about it. You’ll get the hang of it.” I walk back over to the starting position and try again. This time, I don’t even get over the fence and end up falling backwards. Jane calls out to me again in concern. I don’t even answer and get back up to try again. As I leap over the fence, I forget to land and fall on my stomach.

“You don’t have to get it right, right away. You can take a break if you want,” I hear Jane say, worry clear in her voice. I stand up dusting myself off and readjust my cap.

“I’m good. I think I’m getting the hang of it,” I gasp out of breath.

“Are you sure? Beca-”

“Yeah. Why don’t you take AJ and Jaime back to the cabin. I’ll be out here practicing some more,” I suggest. Jane looks at me like I asked her to shoot me.

“What?! Clem, I’m not leaving you out here by yourself,” she protests.

“I’ll be fine. I’ve got my knife, and I know how to take care of myself.” She gives me a sad look and sighs in grief.

“I know. It’s just that if something happened to you and I couldn’t stop it, I don’t think I could ever forgive myself,” she confesses. “I nearly couldn’t forgive myself after my sister died. When we first met, I didn’t think I’d ever care about you. Our first interaction was me angrily glaring at you and from there it just… Here we are now almost a year later, travelling together and taking care of two children.” I walk up to Jane and hug her, slightly surprised when she hugs back. Maybe she’s been wanting one for a long time, but didn’t know how to bring it up. After a moment, I pull apart.

“Jane. I’ll be fine, I promise.”

“Ok. Fine,” she relents, “you can stay out here a little while longer. But you better come home, Clementine.” I give her nod, as she walks over to AJ and Jaime, picking them up, carrying Jaime on her back and holding AJ. I watch as she leaves before getting back to practicing. I try vaulting over the fence again, as I still end up falling on my face or tripping over it. I try again, and again until finally after about… ten times, I manage to successfully jump over the fence and land feet first.

I attempt it a couple of more times, just to really get the hang of it. And make sure it wasn’t just a one chance stroke of luck. After about six successful tries, with thirteen attempts overall, I go back to practicing knife throwing. I’m left exhausted after so many attempts of trying to vault over the fence, I’m glad to finally be doing something a bit more tame.

I walk a good distance away from the tree that we used as a target and take out my knife. I go through the motions as Jane showed me, lining up the target, and throw. The knife goes hurtling at the tree and hits close to the center. I go retrieve the knife to try again. Lining up the target, aim, and as I throw it, I flick my wrist and then...

Thwap.

Bulls-eye. I feel pride and slightly surprised. I didn’t expect to get a bullseye on the second try. Just like with vaulting, I try again and keep going. This time I made twelve attempts, getting eight bulls-eyes. As I walk over to retrieve the knife, I notice the sun starting to set, meaning I should probably head back to the cabin before it gets dark. Half an hour later, the cabin comes into view as I sprint the last few feet to head inside. Once inside, I see Jane sitting on the couch, breastfeeding Jaime.

“Hey, you. I was just about to come looking for you. How’d it go?”

“It was alright. I think I’m getting better at it. I hit twelve bulls-eyes.”

“I see you were serious about becoming better than me,” she teases. I jump on top of the couch, picking up our shared notebook and flip through the pages.

“Where’s AJ?”

“He’s upstairs taking a nap. He was being a little fussy earlier, so I figured he was probably tired.”

“He’s going to wake up again, tonight,” I point out.

“Eh, if he does, it’ll be my problem. Hey, while you were out, I did a little rooting around in the closets. I found you a new outfit you might like. It’s on the counter in the kitchen.” I look down at my old puffer jacket, faintly covered in walker guts that have long washed out. The sleeves long torn off, turning it into a vest, as it reveals the puffy sleeves of the shirt I’m wearing underneath.

Maybe it’s time I ditch this old thing and ‘upgrade my wardrobe.’ It was nice a year ago, but it’s falling apart now. Plus, the person who gave me this thing betrayed me and ran off with someone who shot me in the shoulder, and I never saw her again. Sometimes I wonder where she is now if she’s even still alive.

I hop off the couch and head into the kitchen. On the counter, I see a white, long sleeved shirt, a new pair of jeans, and a bright, red jacket. I take off my old jacket and shirt and jeans, and put the new ones that Jane gave me on. I walk back into the living room to show off to Jane, who’s now lounging on the couch, Jaime no longer visible. I assume she put her to bed.

“Hey, Jane. What do you think?” She looks up at me wide-eyed in wonder.

“Wow. You look pretty badass. And I’m digging the leather. Now a walker will have a tough time biting through that,” she praises.

“Was this just a cheap trick into getting me to wear leather?” I joke.

“Maybe.” I shake my head at her in a playfully disapproving manner. She gets up off the couch and walks towards me and lightly tugs my ponytail. “Your hair’s getting long. I think it’s time for a cut.” I lightly tug at my hair, seeing that it was getting a bit long.

“Before we do that, can I do something first?”

“Sure.”

We stand outside of the cabin standing over a fire, as I hold my old jacket all folded up. Jane stands behind me, placing a hand on my shoulder.

“You sure?” Without answering, I toss the jacket into the fire. We both watch as it slightly expands, the flames rising higher up into the air. I let out a sigh of exhaustion, Jane giving me a pat on the back.

“It was time to move on.”

“I know.”

“Come on. Let’s cut that hair.” We put out the fire and headed back inside the cabin. We head upstairs to the bathroom and Jane takes out her knife. “So we don’t exactly have scissors, but this’ll have to do.”

“As long as my hair is safe.” Jane takes off my cap and starts cutting my hair, making idle chatter with me as she does.

“I’m not going to promise you it’ll look pretty after.”

“If you told me that about four years ago, I probably would’ve had a heart attack. At first, I was scared I’d look like a boy, but now I actually like my haircut now. Before, it was just kind of all over the place.”

“Heh. You know, losing my hair wasn’t that big of a deal to me. Once I realized long hair was going to be a problem I thought, ‘oh, well. Time for a haircut’”

“You had long hair before? I can’t even imagine what you’d look like.”

“Let’s keep it that way. Trust me, I look much better with short hair.”

Jane finishes up cutting off the last piece of hair before letting me look into the mirror.

“Well, what do ya think?” I look in the mirror for a bit before looking at her with a smug grin.

“I love it. Thanks!” I say as I give her a hug. She ruffles my hair up a bit before plopping my hat back on my head. Jane smiles at me, leading me out of the bathroom into our room.

“Come on. Let’s get to bed.”

Chapter Text

“Would you rather have a gun for a hand or a knife for a foot?”

“What?” Clementine laughs.

“Gun for a hand, or knife for a foot?” Clementine and Jane were in an abandoned store looting what remained into their duffel bags to take back to the cabin. Jane was wearing a makeshift baby harness to carry Jaime, who was peacefully sleeping. AJ was old enough now to stand on his own and walk, as he plodded around the aisle within Clementine and Janes’ sight.

“What kind of gun?”

“.9 mm and a hunting knife foot,” Jane responds. Clementine grabs a box of raisins, crumbling it and tossing it over her shoulder in frustration seeing it empty.

“Gun for a hand. I think it’d be hard to walk with a knife foot.”

“Well, it’d be the same as a peg leg right? You’d be like a pirate, but with a deadly foot,” Jane playfully retorts. Clementine scoffs in jest.

“Whatever. Gun for a hand.”

“To each their own then.” Clementine continues sifting through the remaining loot before grabbing an empty bottle of pills. Seeing it empty, she chucks it over the shelf, screaming out in frustration.

“Fuck!” The commotion gets Jane’s attention as she stops sorting through her pile of ‘nothing.’

“Whoa. You okay?” Clementine huffs in annoyance, crossing her arms.

“Yeah, I’m fine. This is just starting to get uncomfortably familiar. How many trips can we make before we cut our losses?” Jane looks at her with sadness, feeling the same way and tired of scrounging for supplies.

“I know kiddo. But we’ll find something,” she tries comforting, “And hey, it’s not like deer is the worst thing in the world, right?” Jane awkwardly makes a lame attempt at humor. Getting no response from Clementine, she looks past her and notices AJ standing on his tiptoes trying to reach something on a shelf that was out of his reach.

“What’s the goofball doing?” Clementine turns around to see what Jane was talking about and walls to where AJ is. She picks him up and grabs what he was trying to get. A stuffed doll. AJ does the grabby thing and Clementine hands it to him. Jane walks up behind Clementine and pats her on the shoulder.

“Ah, to be innocent. Satisfied by a simple toy, never knowing the joy of technology,” Jane teases.

“I miss TV.”

“Me too. I remember chilling in my apartment and lounging on the couch watching S-“ Jane gets cut off as she hears a noise. “Get down!”

Jane and Clementine crouch down and listen for the noise. Upon closer listening, it’s a walker. Fortunately, there was one of those circular hanging mirrors above them. They looked up and in the reflection, there’s definitely a walker in the next aisle.

“Shit!”

“There’s only one we can take him. You’ve got your knife?”

“Yeah, but you and I both know that if there’s one, there’s usually more not too far behind.”

“You’ve got a point there. But come on, we kill him, and then we’ll leave. We’ll be gone before anymore show up,” Jane tried to reason. Clementine gives her a look of apprehension, looking down at Jaime strapped to her chest, then back at AJ in her arms. She sets him down on the floor.

“Okay. But I’m killing it. Watch AJ.”

“Got it.” Clementine unsheathes her knife and sneaks back around the other end of the aisle. Slowly approaching the walker until she’s in range, she kicks it in the back of the leg, sending it falling backwards, stabbing it in the head. Jane runs around the corner of the aisle in front of her with AJ riding her piggy back.

“Nice work. Come on. Let’s get out of here.” As Jane turns around, Clementine grabs AJ off of her and carries him. They grab their bags and leave the abandoned store, deciding to call it a day and head back to the cabin. They stop in their tracks as they hear low growling. Several feet away in the distance, they see a herd heading their way. Both of them are filled with panic for the same reason.

“Isn’t that-“

“The way back to the cabin? Yeah.” Not hesitating, they turn around and break into a sprint heading into the forest in the opposite direction. Walkers may be slow, but when there’s enough of them, somehow they’re on top of you before you know it. After about half an hour of running, that’s exactly what happens. Before they knew it, the herd was hot on their heels, Jaime having long since woken up by now, crying uncontrollably, along with AJ. Jane and Clementine do their best to soothe them, trying to multitask in calming them down and keep running straight. A few feet away, Clementine sees an abandoned bus in the distance.

“Look! We can hide in there!” The two make a beeline for it, shutting the door behind them. Inside there’s a metal shelf, a cot, several boxes, and a dresser. Clementine takes the shelf and moves it to barricade the door. Jane takes Jaime out of her harness and sets her down on the cot, Clementine setting AJ down next to her. They both set their bags on the floor. Jane crouches down and starts humming to them, getting them to calm down a bit, AJ covering his mouth.

“I’ve got the kids. Clem-” Before Jane can finish, they hear a female voice of someone trying to open the door on the other end of the bus.

“Son of a bitch! Hey! I can hear you in there! Let me in! Please!” Jane draws her knife and Clementine runs toward the door to block it. The door slams on her, knocking her back slightly, quickly recovering and drawing her gun on the person barging inside as they attempt to keep the door closed to keep the walkers out.

“Oh, shit. Hey there,” she greets.

“Hello,” Clementine replies coldly. Jane looks back and forth between her and the stranger, keeping her knife drawn and standing in front of the kids.

“You two can keep those pointed at me if it makes you feel better… But if you kill me, you’ll have to deal with all of them,” the woman points out.

“Stop talking, do what we say, and you might survive this,” Clementine commands.

“Yes, ma’am.” Walkers pound on the door as she struggles to keep the door closed. Clementine runs over to assist her. With someone else to keep the door closed, the woman gets off and takes a wooden plank and uses it as a barricade, giving time to rest. The stranger sits down across from them.

“Well, I’d say we make a pretty good team. The three of us… Five of us, I mean,” she tries including AJ and Jaime. Clementine and Jane say nothing, AJ points at the woman and looks up at Jane.

“I couldn’t have survived without you… and I’m not too big to admit it.” Jane sheathes her knife and crosses her arms, still skeptical of her.

“Cute kids. You guys live in here? You seem kind of young to be a mom. What are you, 13?” she asks towards Clementine, “are all of you related or…?”

“We knew his parents,” Clementine starts, referring to AJ, “and I’m old enough.”

“You ask a lot of questions you know,” Jane retorts.

“Whoa, take it easy. I’m not looking to make enemies here.” Jane looks down at Jaime, still teary-eyed and looking at AJ.

“We were out there scouting... nothing out of the ordinary, and then--chaos in--shit,” the stranger starts explaining, “those bastards are slow, but goddamn it, when there’s enough of them… I got separated from the others. God, I hope they all made it.”

“Given enough time, soon everyone’s luck runs out,” Clementine deadpans, echoing Jane's own words that she said when she left her back at the observation deck. Jane glances down at her, keeping a blank expression but feeling surprised on the inside.

“You don’t know my friends. My people are probably at the rendezvous point by now.” She stands up and walks over to Clementine and Jane. “By the way, I’m Ava. And my group… we call ourselves the New Frontier,” she says rolling up her sleeve revealing a branding. Jane internally cringes upon seeing the branding, not fond of the idea of being willingly having your flesh burnt. At that moment, Jaime and AJ both simultaneously start crying again.

“They’re hungry…” Jane worries.

“Hey... why don't you come with me, meet my people? We have food... blankets... bottled water... C'mon, dinner's on me. I owe you one,” Ava offers.

“Groups aren’t really our thing,” Clementine politely declines. Jane was about to decline, but slightly grateful Clementine beat her to it.

“‘No woman is an island….’ Have it your way. But you did me a solid here. I won’t forget it next time we cross paths.”

“There is no next time,” Jane cuts in bitterly.

“We’ll see. The world does work in mysterious ways,” Ava says casually as she saunters back over and sits down. Clementine sits on the edge of the cot between Jaime and AJ, Jane sitting on the floor leaning against it. The three, five, of them sit and wait for the walkers to get bored and leave.

By nightfall, most of the walkers had cleared out, but just enough stayed prohibiting them from leaving. Clementine was fast asleep with AJ sleeping next to her, and Jaime asleep in Jane’s lap. Jane herself was exhausted, staring intensely at Ava, not quite able to make out if she was sleeping in the dim lighting.

“I’m awake. You could’ve just asked,” Ava chuckles.

“Oh! Right, sorry, I, uh...”

“No worries… So what’s your story?”

“Huh?”

“You and the kids. You’ve got history or…” Ava asks. Jane looks at Jaime in her lap and Clementine and AJ behind her, letting out a deep sigh.

“Jaime is my kid. I met Clementine in a group we were in. Now they’re all gone. AJ’s parents were a part of the group we were in… the mom didn’t make it,” Jane confesses, leaving out that she wasn’t actually there for Rebecca’s death and only the fallout.

“Oh. I’m sorry to hear that.” Jane acknowledges her sincerity but doesn’t reply, shrugging her shoulders instead.

“So you and Clementine aren’t related?” That gets a laugh out of Jane.

“Would you have believed me if I said we were?”

“I mean who am I to deny it? I couldn’t prove it if it were true.”

“Fair point. I did have a sister once, though… at the start.” A moment of silence passes between the two, Ava letting her talk before interrupting.

“These past couple of years I’ve started seeing Clem like she was my own sister… I’ve never told her.”

“Maybe you should,” Ava suggests.

“No. I’m not doing that.”

“Why not?” Ava asks, somewhat miffed. Jane buries her face in her hand for a second, rubbing her temples.

“I’m afraid. Ever since I lost my sister, I’ve always tried to keep people at a distance. Hell, it’s one of the reasons I left our old group. I didn’t want to get attached to Clem, but I did. So I left.”

“But you came back?” Jane looks behind her again at Clementine and AJ. She’s never said it out loud before, afraid to admit it, but she had to get it out at some point.

“I… I love these kids, Clem, AJ, and J-Jaime. So I tried to make it work. I didn’t want to leave Clem, but our group was falling apart. So many people were dying, I didn’t want to see it happen to her. That’s why I left. And why I came back I guess. To make sure it didn’t.” Ava slightly smiles at Jane, looking behind her at Clementine.

“Well, she seems like a pretty capable kid. She had to have been really young when this started and she’s made it this far.”

“Yeah.” Jane stands up and places Jaime on the cot on the other side of Clementine, sitting back down on the floor to stretch out.

“I’ll wake you guys up in the morning. I can meet up with my people and you guys can be on your way.”

“Mmm.” Unknown to Jane, Clementine opens one eye, smiling to herself before going back to bed.

Chapter Text

Jane sat lounging on a cot with AJ and Jaime in her lap while Clementine anxiously paced around in the moderately-sized tent they were in. Jane, having watched Clementine pace around for the past ten minutes eventually spoke up.

“Clem. Will you calm down for like five seconds? I’m sure whatever David wants isn’t that bad.”

“Do you really believe that?” Clementine bites back, stopping her pacing.

“Not really. But-” Before she could finish, David himself walks in their tent getting both of their attention. They haven’t known each other long, but Jane already always felt uneasy around him. Something about him brought back traumatizing memories for her.

“Clementine. Jane. I need you two and the kids outside.”

“What for?” Clementine asked irritably.

“Just get your asses outside,” he ordered. With that, he left their tent leaving Clementine and Jane casting a knowing look to each other.

“What do you think he wants?”

“I don’t know. But I doubt it’s anything good if the kids are involved. I mean they’re literal babies. What could he possibly need us to bring them for?” Jane replies. Clementine picks up AJ and carries him on her back.

“Well, looks like we’ll have to find out.” Clementine leaves their tent without giving Jane a chance to respond. Jane sighs in defeat, picking up Jaime and follows Clementine outside. Both of them headed over where David was, standing by Joan, Clint, and Dr. Lingard.

“Morning, ladies. I hope you slept well,” David greeted.

“Cut the bullshit and tell us why you needed us,” Clementine spat. David frowned and gave a cross look towards Jane.

“I was trying to be nice and this is how I’m greeted? You’re the adult here. Is this really the attitude you allow? Just let her disrespect adults?”

“Where do you think she gets it from?” Jane deadpans. The other woman in the group steps forward.

“Alright everybody, no need to be so hostile towards each other.”

“Joan…”

“Come, David. Our friends here are eager to get down to business. Clearly, they value getting to the point and don’t like to be jerked around.”

“You could say that…” Jane looked down at a small fire and a chair that they were circling and Dr. Lingard holding a long, iron rod. The end of the rod looked like some kind of symbol. Looking back at David, Joan, and Clint, she noticed they all had the same symbol on their neck.

“Uh, what’s with the fire? In the middle of the day?” Jane asked, putting the two and two together.

“The reason you’re out here. If you want to be a part of this group, you need to prove your loyalty. By accepting our mark, it shows that you’re one of us,” David explains. Jane notices Clementine visibly tense at that. She quickly places a hand on her shoulder out of comfort.

“Hell no. Having to brand yourself to join a group seems more like a cult to me. We’re not doing that,” Jane outbursts.

“I know it seems a bit extreme, but this group is a community. The branding is a symbol of our commitment to our community. And to recognize our people,” Joan tries to reason.

“You’re only proving my point. Come on, Clem. We don’t need this.”

“Maybe you’d like to reconsider…”

“We’re leaving.”

“Fine! Go back out there,” David outbursts, “let’s see how long you last on your own without a group to have your back. With no food or shelter. We’ll see how that works out.” Clementine and Jane stop in their tracks, Jane turning on her heel and marching up to David.

“We had a home. The only reason we’re here is because you convinced us into thinking your group is better than what we had. We didn’t even want to join.”

“Jane, right?” Joan spoke up, “do you honestly think you’ll continue to last out there? You’re the adult of three children. Don’t you want someplace for them to be safe and settle down? Think about it. You’ll have protection here, a place to stay, food, shelter. A community,” she tried to reason.

Jane looked over at Clementine and AJ, and at Jaime in her arms, mulling it over. They were probably a long way from their cabin by now. And once again they were running low on food anyway. On the one hand, it did seem nice to have a place to stay and there were other people to help get food. On the other, this seemed a bit too cult-like, and they had been a part of a “group” like this before and it didn’t end well.

“Alright. Fine. We’ll get your stupid branding.”

“Excellent-”

“Jane!” Clementine pleaded, walking up next to her, “you’re not serious? We’re not actually doing this are we?”

“I don’t like it either, Clem. But think of AJ and Jaime. Don’t you want a secure place for them? If this is it, then…”

“Okay…” Clementine complained.

“I can hold your kids for you. While you get the branding.” Clint offered. Jane looked down at Jaime in her arms and hugged her tighter.

“I think I’m good.” Jane trudged over to the chair by the fire, where Dr. Lingard was standing and sat down, placing Jaime on her lap.

“You don’t have to worry. It’ll be over before you know it. And I’m a doctor, so I know what I’m doing.”

“Yeah, because doctors are used to poke and prodding people with long objects, huh?” Jane snapped.

“Where do you want your mark?” he asked. Jane wordlessly unzipped her jacket and removed it, lifting up her shirt showing her midriff.

“Just put it here,” she deadpanned, pointing near her hip. Dr. Lingard hovered the branding iron over the fire until it started glowing. Once the iron was orange, Dr. Lingard removed it from the fire and pressed it against Jane’s hip. Jane screamed out in agony from the burning sensation.

“Motherfucker!” It took everything in Jane to not swat the rod away and punch Lingard in the face. He held the iron rod on her for about ten seconds before he moved it away, revealing a symbol of a six crossed with a seven encircled. Jane jolted out of the chair and walked over to Clementine, while Dr. Lingard cleaned off the rod to prepare to mark Clementine.

“Jane! Are you okay?” They both looked at the burn mark. It was raw, red and was already scarring around the edges. It stung but Jane couldn’t touch it, as would’ve only just aggravated it.

“I’ll live,” she said as her voice cracked just a bit. Jane gently rolled her shirt down, covering up the mark, and tried to put her jacket back on with one arm.

“Okay, Clementine. Your turn.” Clementine swallowed a hiccup, paralyzed with fear. When she was little, she used to hate getting shots, like most kids. Now, what she wouldn’t give for that. Better than having your flesh burned. She sat down in the chair and rolled up the sleeve on her left arm.

“Just get it over with.” Dr. Lingard heated up the rod and pressed it against Clementine’s arm for ten seconds, Clementine audibly wincing in pain, still taking it better than Jane. “Shit!”

Dr. Lingard removed the rod and Clementine got out of the chair and gripped the top of her arm, just above the branding.

“Was that so hard?” David mocked.

“Don’t test me asshole,” Jane replied. David glared at her before diverting his attention to Clint as he tries to take Jaime from Jane. “Hey, what are you doing?” she asks, taking a step back.

“She needs to get one too. I’ll give her back once-” Clint didn’t finish as he was cut off by Jane drawing a knife on him.

“Jane!”

“Let’s not do anything rash here.”

“You are not branding my daughter. Back off and no one gets hurt.”

“Jane, let’s be reasonable here. Everyone in our community has to get a marking,” Joan explains.

“Even fucking babies?! Don’t you think they’re too young for that? They can’t even make that decision for themselves!” Jane outbursts. Joan looks at Jaime and AJ, then at Jane holding the knife on Clint.

“Very well. They don’t have to get a marking now. But when they’re older, provided you’re here long enough, they will.” Clint handed Jaime to Clementine and Jane sheathes her knife and picks up her jacket.

“What?!” David complained, “you’re letting them go just like that?! After what-“

“David! Clementine and Jane have made their point. The toddlers are too young to get a branding, so they’re not getting one for now. Didn’t you used to have kids? Imagine if it were them.” David stares off into space at the mention of his kids, not liking that Joan was right. He’s pulled out of his stupor as he hears footsteps.

“Hey! Where are you going?!”

“Back to our tent,” Jane answers .

“You have work to do!”

“Not today!” Clementine replies, giving the finger. Joan places a hand on David’s shoulder.

“Let them go, David. Let them lick their wounds. They’ll start work tomorrow.”

“Son of a bitch!” Clementine pokes at the burn mark on her arm, Jane watching in amusement while breastfeeding Jaime, AJ sitting in Clementine’s lap.

“You really want the kids to repeat that and have it be their first words?” Jane laughs. Clementine exhales a deep breath.

“No. But It still hurts.”

“Come here. Let me see.” Clementine rolls up her sleeve and shows her arm to Jane. The branding is still raw and starting to scar over. “It shouldn’t hurt for much longer. We’ll both be fine if doesn’t get infected. The rest of these nutcases did it. I doubt we’ll have to worry. Just stop messing with it,” Jane assures.

“Jane?”

“Hm?”

“When are babies supposed to talk?” she asks, referring to Jane’s earlier comment. Jane rolls down Clementine’s sleeve and rubs Jaime’s back, trying to avoid eye contact.

“I don’t know. Why do you ask?”

“I just thought, AJ should’ve been talking by now,” Clementine answers. Jane sees the worried look in her eye, seeing this was really bugging her.

“Clem. You and I both know that I don’t know that much about kids. But, I'm pretty sure AJ will start talking when he’s ready,” Jane tries reassuring her. Clementine crosses her arms and sighs in annoyance.

“Okay. If you say so.” Jane gently smiles at her, casting a glance at her forearm.

“First time seeing that. What happened there?” she asks, gesturing to the stitched up scar. Clementine lifts her arm, looking at the scar in question.

“Oh. Dog bite. It happened right before I ran into… Luke and the others…”

“Right… Looks pretty painful.”

“I had to stitch it myself.”

“Ow. All that and you were throwing a little tantrum over getting burned?” Jane teased.

“That was five minutes ago. This happened two years ago,” Clementine huffed. “Plus it doesn’t hurt anymore.”

“I know. I’m just messing with you. Pain is pain.” Clementine stands up and walks over to her cot to lie down and starts humming to AJ. As she lays her head down on her pillow, she hears a crinkling noise. She reaches under it and finds a folded up piece of paper.

“What’cha got there?” Clementine unfolds the paper and examines the drawing of the wolves. Suddenly she realizes what it is.

“Hey, I remember this!”

“Let me see.” Clementine reaches over to hand the paper to Jane as they were both restricted from moving with AJ and Jaime on their laps. Jane looks down at the paper and remembers the drawing Clementine made back at the cabin.

“You kept it.”

“Well, yeah. What was I supposed to do? Not keep it? I meant to hang it up on the fridge at the cabin, but I never found anything to hang it up so I just kept it inside my jacket.”

Clementine gently smiles at her before going back to humming to AJ, lulling him and herself to sleep almost immediately. After Jaime stopped feeding, Jane started rocking Jaime to sleep. As soon as Jaime was asleep, she carefully placed her next to Clementine and left the tent. Jane puts her shirt and jacket back on and heads down to the river. heard She was surprised to see Ava by the water’s edge. Ava turned towards Jane as she heard her approach.

“Hey Jane. David told me you got your mark. Welcome to the New Frontier.”

“Yeah, well, it’s not like we had much of a choice,” Jane replied dryly.

“Well, either way, we’re glad to have you. What brings you out here anyway?”

“The kids are asleep and there’s nothing to do in our tent, so I figured I’d come down here and clear my head. There’s been… a lot on my mind lately.”

“It’s the middle of the afternoon. The kids are asleep?” Ava asks incredulously. Jane takes a seat a few feet away from the water.

“Well, I know babies tend to sleep a lot. And Clem has probably been kind of stressed out these past few days. She might be tired,” Jane explains. Ava takes a seat next to her and joins her by the water.

“I see. What about you?”

“What about me?”

“You said some things were on your mind?”

“Oh! Yeah. Right. That. Just… the weather. Thinking about how it’s getting colder…” Jane deflects, although it wasn’t completely a lie. Ava notices how she was trying to avoid the question.

“I won’t press further if you don’t want me to, but I know that’s not the only thing you’re thinking about.”

Jane debates on whether or not she should unload everything all on her or keep it to herself. After all, it wasn’t like it was her business. Sighing in defeat, she confesses.

“Promise not to tell anyone? Especially Clementine.”

“I promise.”

“About two years ago, one of her oldest friends tried to kill me. And he came close.”

The two women sit in silence, Ava unsure of how to respond to that or if it would be appropriate.

“What… happened to him?”

“For some reason I still don’t understand, Clem decided to save my life and shot him. I lied about AJ being dead because I was trying to prove a point and it pissed him off. My dumb plan got Clementine’s friend killed.”

“I’m sure you had your reasons. And Clementine doesn’t hate you for it, right?” Ava tries comforting.

“Yeah, a dumb reason. And Clem said she did forgive me, but I have a hard time of letting things go and moving on.”

“Well maybe you should talk to Clementine about it,” Ava suggests, “maybe the problem is you feel like you don’t have closure.” Ava stands up from her spot and turns to leave.

“I need to see if David or Joan need anything, but feel free to come by my tent if you ever want to talk.” Ava leaves the river and Jane by herself.

“Yeah. Thanks.” Jane turns her gaze towards the river and stares at her reflection, the first time she’s actually seen herself in a while since the walkers. She reflects about her conversation with Ava and thinks maybe she should talk to Clementine. Have a real talk and finally get some closure on everything. Maybe even finally put behind her what happened with her sister.

Chapter Text

Clementine, Jane, and David were out in the forest hunting for food. David had a rifle drawn, while Clementine and Jane had their knives sheathed. Clementine also had .9 mm in her back pocket, only opting to use it unless absolutely necessary. They left AJ and Jaime behind with Ava, who volunteered to look after them while they were away. David suggested Dr. Lingard could do it, but neither Clementine or Jane trusted him to even tie his own shoelace. The past hour and a half or so went by relatively uneventful, and the trio were starting to get a little antsy.

“Hmm. Thought there would’ve been some kind of game around here,” David speaks up. Jane rolls her eyes in annoyance.

“Ugh, we’ve been out here for hours and we’ve found nothing!”

David shoots her a glare. “Will you calm down? And we haven’t been out here that long, so try to stay positive. We can find something.”

“Stay positive? Clearly you don’t know me then,” Jane mutters under her breath. Sensing the tension, Clementine decides to input her thoughts.

“She does have a point though, David. We have been out here for awhile and I haven’t even seen a walker yet.”

“Then keep your eyes peeled and you might get your wish,” David snaps. “If you two are so bored, why don’t you strike up a conversation.”

Clementine and Jane give each other a look and shrug.

“Well how about you go first and tell us about yourself. We want to know about the drill hole that’s apparently the ‘leader’ of the community we’re stuck in,” Jane retorts.

“Why you little-“ David fumed, briefly glancing back to them, “fine. I was in the army before all this happened. Was married with two kids. Got divorced and then remarried, lived a normal life with my family and then shit happened. What about you?”

“I uh, well, I…” Jane replies awkwardly. “Just, average life. Moved out of my parents’ place as soon as I was able and moved into my own apartment. Tried to make it by. And that was about it before the walkers happened.”

“That’s it? What about the kids?”

“I don’t-"

“Jane and I met at a hardware store,” Clementine cut in, “I was with another group that was on the run from some asshole, he came back for them and brought us back and Jane helped us escape. We lost a few people trying, and along the way. Now it’s just us four: me, her, AJ, and Jaime.”

“So what happened to AJ’s parents?” David asks.

“They were in the group I was with. His dad was killed by the asshole that came looking for them and his mom… she didn’t make it,” Clementine answered solemnly. Jane placed a hand on her shoulder.

“What about you Jane?”

“Huh?”

“What happened to Jaime’s father?”

Clementine’s breath audibly hitches and it doesn’t go unnoticed by Jane. She gives her shoulder a squeeze in an attempt to say, ‘it’s not your fault.’ Jane gives David a glare, which he didn’t as he was in front of them.

“He uh… he drowned,” Jane says cautiously, “we were trying to cross a lake and he fell through the ice. It didn’t help that he had a bullet in his leg. He was doomed from the start.” Jane cringes at herself. She didn’t want Clementine to feel worse than she already probably did. It was a futile effort to try to save him, but she still attempted to nonetheless. David remains silent for a moment taking in what she said.

“I’m sorry for your loss. I’m sure he was a good man.”

“Ah- uh, yeah. He was a... good guy…” Jane trailed off, not wanting to get into detail about how her and Luke weren’t exactly a ‘thing.’ And that he fell through ice before even Jane herself knew she was pregnant. The three of them settle back into silence after the conversation dies down. The silence is broken as they hear the groan of a walker that appears a few feet in front of them. David raises the rifle to take aim, being immediately stopped by Jane as she pushes the barrel down.

“What are you doing?!”

“It’s one walker. Do you really want to bring every walker within a five-mile radius to us?” Jane answers. “Put the gun down. Clem, show him what you got.”

Clementine wordlessly draws her knife and slowly approaches the walker from behind, David in visible distress.

“Are you just going to let her go herself-”

“Shhh.”

Clementine kicks in the back of the knee of the walker and stabs it in the head as it falls. Once it was dead, she sheathed her knife and turned to face David, crossing her arms and with a smug grin.

“She’s got it,” Jane replies coyly as she walks off. David shakes his head as if to wake himself up and follows after them.

“Nice trick you got there, but it was dangerous of you to let a kid do that by herself,” David reprimands.

“She’s not just some kid,” Jane replies flatly.

“Even so, I think that was irresponsible of you letting her do that alone.”

“If I didn’t think she could handle it, I would’ve said something. And I was right there to step in if things were to go south. Also, why are we talking about her like she’s not here? Hey, Clem?”

“I’m good,” Clementine pipes up. “I can handle one walker, David. I’ve made it this far.”

“Besides,” Jane cuts in, “you’re not her dad. So don’t try to pretend that you are.”

“Well- you’re not her mother!”

“Jane never said she was. We’re friends, and we look out for each other. Jane’s the only one in a long time who acknowledged that I’m still just a kid, but she’s never treated me like one,” Clementine points out. Jane wasn’t sure what it was about her comment, maybe validation, but she felt her heart swell.

“Ah, uh yeah. Also David, didn’t you mention you had kids?”

David reels not expecting Jane’s rebuttal, but refuses to lose the argument, despite being the only one interested in continuing it. “I- this isn’t about me! I can only imagine how long those kids will last if this is how you plan on parenting them.”

Clementine and Jane stop in their tracks, Jane turning on her heel to face David, glaring at him with anger in her eyes.

“You don’t have the right,” Jane retorts bitterly, a thought suddenly occurring to her. “This is about your kids, isn’t it?”

“What?” David asked fuming.

“You never mentioned what happened to them. Did they die? Is that why you’re so hellbent on trying to keep some kid, who isn’t yours safe? And criticizing me while dragging my kids into this?”

Before David could argue back, Clementine cuts him off, not wanting to escalate this any further.

“Jane. Don’t,” she snaps. Jane looks at her and sees anger, hurt, and pain in her eyes. “Please, just don’t.” Jane exhales and lets it go, not wanting to continue arguing further anyway.

“Fine. I’m about ready to head back anyway.” Jane storms off, heading back to camp and not giving David or Clementine a chance to respond. The two of them wordlessly follow her back to the New Frontier.

The trio returned to base by nightfall, Clementine and Jane immediately looking for Ava. They stop by her tent and find Ava on the floor with AJ and Jaime, playing peek-a-boo.

“Oh hey. You guys are back,” Ava greets.

“Yeah. Uh, thanks for watching the kids for us. Hope they weren’t too much trouble,” Jane says picking them up, handing AJ off to Clementine.

“No problem, I love kids. And I do owe you guys. You did save my life after all.”

“Uh, we-” Jane gets cut off as Clementine elbows her in the side, advising her not to correct her and look a gift horse in the mouth. “Uh, yeah, right.”

“Anyway, we’re having a bonfire tonight. You guys should come,” Ava offers.

“What’s a bonfire?” Clementine asks.

“It’s just a large fire that’s out in the open. Usually people would just burn stuff. Before all this, sometimes teenagers would have bonfire parties and get trashed,” Jane explains. “Man, I haven’t been to one in a long time,” she chuckles to herself.

“Then you guys should come! Don’t you think Clem deserves a chance to at least experience one?”

Jane looks down and sees the solemn look on Clementine’s face, probably realizing she’ll never get to experience normal teenager things. “We’ll think about it.”

“Suit yourself. If you guys decide to swing by, I’ll see ya later.”

Jane and Clementine leave the tent, Ava giving a two finger salute and a wink to Jane on their way out. The gesture catches Jane off-guard and leaves her feeling flustered. Back in their own tent, they sit down on their cots and try to get Jaime and AJ to bed, AJ incoherently babbling and Jaime flailing her arms.

“So, Clem… you want to go to this bonfire?”

“I don’t know… isn’t a fire out in the open kind of dangerous?” she answers skeptically.

“Sometimes. But they’re usually kind of fun,” Jane teases. Clementine’s frown tells her that wasn’t what she meant. “Look, Clem, we don’t have to go if you don't have to. I’m fine either way, I've experienced enough bonfire parties for one lifetime.”

“What? No, don’t let me stop you from having fun. If you want to go, you can go ahead. It’s just… what about Jaime and AJ?” she asks, still rocking AJ in her arms, who seems to be slowly nodding off.

“I’m sure they’ll be fine. And we won’t have to stay long. We can just stop by, see if it’s lame, and it probably will be, and bail.”

Clementine exhales through her nose and glances down at AJ, finally seeming to have fallen asleep.

“Alright. I guess it wouldn’t hurt to stop by,” she relents. Jane gives her a soft smile as Clementine stands up and gently places AJ on the bed. Jane does the same with Jaime and the two of them leave their tent, heading down to the river. To their surprise there were quite a bit of people there. David and Joan, surprisingly, Ava, and several other people who they didn’t get the names of. They were all sitting around a large fire, chatting amongst themselves. There also appeared to be a few coolers out. Ava was the first to greet both of them.

“Hey! You guys made it.”

“Yeah… I’ve never been to a bonfire before, thought I should get to experience one,” Clementine replies awkwardly.

“Well don’t worry this’ll be fun. Just hang out, relax, throw something in the fire if you want.” Ava reaches inside the nearest cooler next to her and tosses a can to Jane. “Hey, Jane, heads up!”

Jane catches the can and turns it around to read the labeling. Beer.

“Heh. I’m more of a… rum kind of gal,” she jokes, nudging Clementine in the arm. Clem swats her elbow away and slightly shakes her head at Jane with a smug grin.

“You know beer is not like wine. It doesn’t get better with age.”

“Yeah, well it doesn’t get worse,” David pipes up.

“I… I doubt that. Huh.” Jane opens up the can and sniffs it, trying to hold back a gag. “Well, bottoms up.” She chugs a gulp of beer and cringes at the slight burning feeling. And the fact that beer in general tastes like piss.

“Can I try?” Clementine asks. David shoots both of them a disapproving glare.

“Whew. Here, you can have it. I gotta warn ya, it’s no rum though.” Jane goes to hand Clementine the can but is interrupted by David.

“Uh, what are you doing?”

“Come on, lighten up David. We’re all having a good time here,” Ava downplays.

“Do you think a teenager should be having alcohol?”

“I was about her age when I had my first drink.”

“I thought we talked about you trying to be her parent,” Jane reprimands.

“This is where I draw the line,” David outbursts. “Clementine, do not drink that.”

Clementine looks David in the eye, and with a deadpan stare, chugs down the beer. Ava, Jane, and David stare at her in shock, all feeling different emotions. Amusement, anger, and pride respectively. Finishing a gulp, Clementine sticks her tongue out and scrunches her face in disgust.

“It tastes bitter,” she says dryly.

“It’s supposed to taste like that.”

David stares on in horror, mouth agape and opening and closing like a fish. Jane could sense the anger radiating off of him, despite not outwardly showing it. Before Jane can say anything, Ava beats her to it.

“So Clem, how’re you feeling?”

“Uh, I don’t know…”

“Well, if you start feeling woozy, just let me know and we can leave,” Jane offers. She places a hand on Clementine’s shoulder as she continues to chug down the can. Seeing that David wasn’t going to say anything, the two of them grab a seat by the fire. They settle into easy conversation with the rest of the group, finding out the names of two other members, Max, Lonnie, and Badger. Everyone talks about everything and nothing. Things they miss from before the walkers, people they miss, and what they’d love to do again. Half an hour passes and Clementine’s had two and a half beers by now, much to David’s chagrin, but he doesn’t comment on it. Jane notices her starting to nod off a bit.

“You good there?”

“I, uh, what…” Clementine could barely keep her eyes open while simultaneously feeling her whole body vibrate. Jane gets out of her seat and helps Clem to her feet.

“Welp, this has been fun, but I should probably get this one to bed before she chokes on her spit or something.”

“Ishhat a thing?” Clementine fumbles her words.

“It was nice having you guys. You’re always welcome to join these,” Ava comments. Jane nods her thanks and helps lead Clementine back to their tent.

Jane helps Clementine onto her cot without disturbing AJ. Once in bed, she starts rambling incoherently, Jane finding it amusing.

“How do you feel Clem?”

“Hmm, I feel warm… everything looks blurry.”

“Oh?”

“An I also feel… sad. Like a funny. A funny king of sad,” she slurs out. If it weren’t for how Clementine was feeling, Jane would’ve laughed at how she said it.

“It’s like I’m thinking too much. Feels kind of… sitterbeet.”

“What’re you thinking about?”

“How a lot of people... underestimate me because I’m a damn kid. At the time same, they expect me to do everything. And then they still get pissed off when I mess up.”

Jane had a sinking feeling she knew what she was talking about. Or at least who she was referring to. It was probably just the alcohol talking. Maybe there was some truth to what Mike said. “A drunk man’s talk is a sober man’s thoughts.”

“Clementine? Are you okay?” Jane asks cautiously.

“Fend the tire... Stay away-- from my daughter. Turn off windmill. Turn-- windmill. Get. Get the radio. Go get the radio. Ice don't... go. Why don’t you check on Kenny? Maybe you should talk. Talk to him,” Clementine rambles, waving her arms in the air. Everything else was rather vague but you could get a good idea of what she was talking about. The last two were oddly specific. The fact that she name dropped Kenny. Jane was starting to worry.

“Hey, Clem do you want to-”

“I don’t think he wants to talk to me. ‘Oh, but we’re scared he’ll yell at us.’ I guess it’s okay to make the eleven year old do it then? ‘That’s nice since this is your fault.’ ‘Think no one’ll care because you’re a little girl?’ ‘Sorry for myself? The hell do you know?’ ‘I expected more outta you.’ Shut. Shut. The fuck. Up...”

“Clementine.” Her rambling stops as Jane gets her attention. Clementine looks over to her from her bed.

“I- I think you should try to get some sleep.” It wasn’t that Jane didn’t care about her ranting, it was just that it hurt to see Clementine torturing herself for stuff that wasn’t her fault. She couldn’t blame herself for things that were out of her control. Maybe it was better to just sleep it off and let the alcohol wear off. She’ll likely forget what she even said in the morning.

Clementine exhales a breath and turns on her side to go to sleep. Jane pinches the bridge of her nose and carefully picks up Jaime sleeping on the cot so she could get comfortable herself. Once she was settled, she hugged Jaime closer to her chest, trying to get some sleep, but to no avail. Everything that Clementine was holding back for awhile that she just confessed kept her up all night.

Chapter Text

Clementine groggily woke up with a splitting headache. She looked over to Jane who was already awake, bleary-eyed and dazed. Clementine blinked her eyes a few times to refocus her vision.

“Ugh, Jane?”

“Hey, you. How’re you feeling?”

“Like I got hit by a truck and someone is crushing my skull,” Clementine groaned.

“That’s unfortunately normal,” Jane chuckled.

“I also feel nauseous- I… Uf-” Clementine was cut off mid-sentence as she cupped her hand over her mouth and darted to the tent flap sticking her head out and emptied the contents of her stomach on the floor. Jane stood up from her cot and walked over to Clementine and patted her on the back.

“You okay?”

Clementine wiped her mouth on her sleeve and tried rubbing the stinging feeling out of her eyes. “Bleh, not really.”

“Aw, baby’s first hangover,” Jane teased.

“Shut up.”

Jane handed Jaime to her as she began to make cooing noises and outstretched her arms to Clementine. She booped Jaime on the nose which sent her into a giggling fit.

“Is there anything that gets rid of this?” Clementine asked, referring to the hangover.

“Eh. Usually coffee or a cold shower.”

“You wouldn’t happen to have a cup would you?” she asked hopefully.

“Nope. It’s no cold shower, but if you want you can jump in the river,” Jane teased.

“Hard pass.” A second of silence passes between them before Clementine speaks up again. “Uh, anyway, what happened last night. Most of it is kind of hazy.”

Jane diverts her attention from Clementine’s gaze and finds AJ playing with his toys very interesting all of a sudden. She crouches down on the floor to his height and boops his nose, getting him to giggle.

“Jane?”

“Hm?”

“What happened?” Clementine probed.

“Nothing. You started nodding off so I brought you back to the tent,” Jane deflected.

“Jane. I know when you’re lying. You’re not very good at it.”

Jane cursed under her breath. She never was really good at lying. Or at least, not very good at lying to Clementine she noticed, in their two years of traveling together. She debated on whether or not she should swallow her guilt and tell the truth. Would it matter either way?

“Uhm, you did kind of say a bunch of stuff.”

“About what?”

“I don’t know. Some of it was kind of lost on me and a bunch of gibberish. And… you said some stuff… about Kenny.”

“Oh.” There’s an awkward silence between them and the only noises heard are the babbling of AJ and Jaime. “What did I say?...”

“Honestly? I think you were just saying stuff that he said to you.”

Clementine rubbed at her forehead, groaning in frustration. “Oh. Now I think I remember. I was probably just voicing a lot of… frustration.”

“At Kenny?” Jane asked cautiously.

“Maybe,” Clementine shrugged. “I was frustrated with him at times, but he was my friend. He also kind of started to scare me and some things he said really hurt but…”

“Clementine. I think it’s time I finally told you something.” Jane figured this was something she probably should’ve told her a while ago. It’s not like she wasn’t old enough to know about it, like when she had to tell her the censored version of being sexually assaulted by Troy. She did eventually tell her the whole truth about it, sparing the graphic details. “Do you know what abuse is?”

Clementine shrugged her shoulders noncommittally as Jane picks up AJ off the floor and sets him on her lap. Clementine does the same with Jaime and sits across from Jane.

“Abuse is… well, it can be best described as mistreatment of something… or someone. And there’s many different forms of it. The most common known one is physical, which, gets the most attention-”

“Kenny never hit me,” Clementine interrupts. Jane wants to point out the few times he got a bit rough with her, but decides against it.

“Maybe. But like I said, there are different forms of it. Verbal, psychological, emotional… I wouldn’t say I’m without my faults. Maybe there were times where I’ve been a bit… manipulative,” Jane continued.

“But I forgave you.”

“Still, it doesn’t excuse-”

“And you’ve more than made up for it.”

Jane lets out a deep breath that she didn’t realize she was holding. “Clem. I’m only telling you this and bringing it up because of what you said last night. You were drunk, but I thought maybe you still felt some kind of way about it, so I thought I should let you know… I’m not trying to manipulate you anymore into hating Kenny, but I am telling you this so make your own decision. How do you feel?”

Clementine mulled it over for a bit, thinking back on where her and Kenny stood. He did care for her and did what he genuinely thought was best for her and eventually AJ too. But there were also times when he was bit… hostile. “I don’t know. It’s not like he did it on purpose. He did care about me.”

“The thing about abuse Clem, is that it can come from people close to you. Friends, family, significant others. And that’s what makes it so much worse. Sometimes they believe that what they’re doing is for the one they’re hurting and don't see it as abuse. I’ve had abusive people in my life. Friends, my parents, exes.”

“Oh,” Clementine replied numbly. “How do you feel, Jane?”

Jane was taken aback by her question not fully expecting it. She suddenly remembered her conversation with Ava a few weeks ago. Maybe now she could finally get closure and put that whole rest stop fiasco to bed. “Truthfully? Well, you know it’s no secret how I felt about him. But honestly I’ve been kind of guilty, and terrified. I came this close to dying. And I’ve always wondered why you decided to save me over someone you knew much longer.”

“The truth is,” Clementine started, “I just wanted both of you to stop fighting before you killed each other. But neither of you were listening. Then Kenny had you pinned down and had your knife…” she trailed off, noticing the look on Jane’s face when she brought up her almost getting killed.

“You know… Neither of you were going to stop."

"I know. I should've said something to Kenny. That AJ was okay or something and maybe things would've turned out different," Jane lamented.

"I guess I didn't want another friend die, and I had the power to do something. So I did… If you’ve been feeling guilty about it, you don’t have to anymore. I’ve made my peace with my choice. If I had any regrets about it I think I would’ve let you know,” Clementine tries to joke. Jane feels a weight lift off her chest and suddenly finds herself breathing easier.

“Heh. Well, I’ll keep that in mind.”

The two smile at each other, Jaime and AJ in their laps, glad that they could finally clear the air between each other. The moment is short-lived as Clint pokes his head through their tent.

“What’re two still doing here? You should’ve checked your assignments today half an hour ago. Come on!”

Clementine and Jane both chuckle as he leaves, both feeling the same thing on how they were both interrupted.

“Do you think David and Clint swapped bodies?” Jane joked, getting a laugh out of Clementine. “Come on. We’ve got chores to do,” she mocks, getting up from her bed, Clementine following suit.

“Yay.”

Clementine and Jane stare at the assignment board post and take note of who has what job. Clementine was on patrol and Jane’s name was nowhere on the board.

“Huh. Looks like I have the day off. Lucky me.”

“Ugh. I’m on patrol again? I was on patrol last week.”

Jane adjusts her hold on AJ to give Clem a pat on the shoulder. “They must love you,” she teases. “Good luck. And stay safe, kiddo.”

Clementine hands Jaime over to Jane to head off to patrol. “Thanks. See you later.”

Jane turns to head back to her tent, ready to just relax for the day and spend time with the kids when Ava takes notice and waves her over. She reluctantly made her way over, figuring it couldn’t hurt to say hi.

“Hey! Jane. Looks like you have the day off too.”

“Yeah. Yay for me,” she deadpans.

“What were you planning on doing?”

“Not much. Play with AJ and Jaime. Sleep.”

“That… sounds kind of boring,” Ava remarks. “Come on. Why don’t you come swing by my tent? I promise, it’ll be fun.” Knowing she didn’t have anything better to do and just revealing to Ava that she didn’t, she gives in and follows her back to her place.

Even though everyone in the New Frontier technically had “tents” to stay in, Jane was impressed by the size.

“Damn. How come your tent is bigger than ours? We’ve got four people.”

“Oh. Sorry. Maybe it’s just because I’ve been here longer, thing,” Ava suggests. “Maybe if you’re here long enough, you might get an upgrade.”

“Aw. Gee, that’s nice,” Jane replied sarcastically. Ava chuckles at her deadpan humor. Jane sets Jaime and AJ on the floor to let them crawl or toddle around. “Anyway, what’s this ‘fun’ that you had planned?” she air quotes around the word fun.

“Well, what passes as fun these days?” Ava asks, more out of a rhetorical question than her not knowing herself.

“Uhh…”

“We can play poker, Truth or Dare, arm wrestle-”

“Wait, wait, wait. Truth or Dare?” Jane scoffs in jest, “What are we? Twelve?”

“Isn’t Clementine like thirteen?" Ava points out. "I don’t see how it makes much of a difference.”

“I- Okay. Fair point.”

“So, you wanna play?”

Jane bites her lip and glances between Jaime and AJ, and Ava. “Fuck it. Sure, why not?” she throws her hands up, taking a seat on the floor, her back resting against a dresser. Ava joins her resting up against a cooler. She grabs a can from inside and makes offers one to Jane.

“You want anything?”

“Vodka?” Jane jokes.

“Uh, nope. Sorry.”

“Bummer. Anyway, you want to go first?”

“Alright. Truth or dare?”

“Dare,” Jane answers boldly. Ava eyes her up and down, trying to come up with a dare she thinks she’ll chicken out of.

“Hmm. Describe what the sky looks like without using the word ‘blue.’”

“Oh what? Bullshit,” Jane pouted.

“It’s a valid dare.”

“Fine. Okay, uh, it’s vast and open. An endless world way above us that we can’t touch. Practically limitless. It can come in a variety of colorsat any time of the day. It can be cloudy or completely clear. Sunny or rainy. Looking up at it makes you feel… like you can do anything. Like there’s so much in the world. And that any dream you have, you can achieve it,” Jane describes. She felt awkward afterwards noticing the forlorn look on Ava’s face. “Uh, what is it?”

“Nothing. That was just… that was touching.”

“It was nothing. Uhm, truth or dare?”

“Truth.”

“Coward,” Jane teased. “Alright. If you got to go back to the day before walkers, knowing all this was going to happen and you had, let’s say a million dollars, what would you spend it on?”

“Oh god. That’s a tough one. If I knew I’d live in a world of walkers, I feel like it’d be pointless to buy anything,” Ava pouted.

“Come on. I did yours.”

“Hmm. I’d buy, a huge amount of bullets, a hunting knife… Maybe a bar of soap.”

“Man, what I wouldn’t give for a nice long shower,” Jane commented.

“Maybe order pizza one last time,” Ava continues. “God, a million dollars. How am I supposed to spend it all? Especially just knowing that walkers are going to be a thing the next day.”

“I never said you had to spend all of it.”

“Why you- you ass.” Ava feigned offence, lightly punching Jane in the arm, both of them getting a good laugh out of it. The two of them go back and forth doing odd dares and answering sometimes weird questions like, what was an embarrassing memory from high school or, worst injury they ever got. During the apocalypse or from childhood. Jane flexing on her story of eating glass. Every now and then they would take a break to check up on Jaime and AJ and let them eat or they would sit them in their lap. They continued this for the next few hours or so until Jane noticed it was late. Not completely dark nor has the sun started to set, but noticeably late afternoon.

“It’s late. Clementine has probably been relieved from her shift by now, so I should probably be getting back.”

“I can help carry Jaime for you. Since, you also have to carry AJ, you know,” Ava offered, seeing as she was already sitting in her lap.

“Uh, sure. Thanks.”

The two of them stand up and leave the tent, making their way to the center of the community. Jane is the first to speak up between the two.

“Uh, you were right by the way. I did have fun so, thanks for that.”

“No problem. If you ever want to hang out again just ask. Whenever you’re not too busy with the kids.”

Speak of the devil, they see one of the kids in question as they approached the center of, if you could even call it a “town.” They see Clementine and David presumably arguing about something. Again. Clementine looked like she was about to stab David. And that might be a possibility considering she had her knife out. Before things could get out of hand, Jane cut in to de-escalate things.

“Clementine! You’re back. Come on, let’s head back to our tent.”

Clementine cast one last glare at David before sheathing her knife. “I’m coming.” She follows Jane and Ava back to their tent, Jaime being handed back to her and heading inside immediately. “Hey little goober. Did you miss me?” she coos, getting Jaime to giggle nonsensically.

Jane with AJ in her arms, hung outside the tent a bit longer to tell Ava goodbye. “I had fun today,” she said awkwardly.

“Heh. You already said that.”

“Right. Yeah, I know- you know what I meant.”

“Of course. Anyways, see you tomorrow.”

“See ya.” Jane ducked back inside her tent and found Clementine already lounging on her cot with Jaime beside her. “How was your day today?” she teased.

“Ugh, fine until I got back and David got a bug up his ass about something, and got on my case about it. How’s yours?”

“It was alright. The kids and I hung out with Ava,” Jane replied nonchalantly. “We played Truth or Dare.”

“Aw. How come we never played?”

Jane walked over to Clementine’s cot and brushed the brim of her hat down over her eyes, much to Clementine's annoyance, before laying down on her own cot. “How about I make it up to you and we play later this week? Deal?”

“Deal.”

“Goodnight Clem.”

“Night Jane.” The two of them lay in silence for a few minutes trying to get some sleep before Clementine speaks up again. “It’s nice that you have someone to hang out with.” Jane doesn’t interrupt and just lets Clementine finish what she’s saying. “I haven’t had a friend my age in awhile. I kind of miss that,” she laments. Jane sighs in pity. It’s got to be hard growing up in this. No one craves social interaction more than teenagers.

“I’m sure you’ll meet some friends again someday. Get some sleep, kiddo.”

“Okay. Night.”

Chapter Text

Jane woke to the sound of slight coughing. She looked down and noticed it was coming from AJ. Sitting up out of bed, she readjusts her hold on him and starts patting him on the back to hopefully help subside his coughs. Once she was fully awake, she finally noticed that Clementine was also already awake.

“How long have you been up?”

“Awhile.” Jane scoffs at her sarcasm, but her failed attempt at trying to hide the smirk on her face betrayed her true emotions. “Jaime had a fever. And her breathing was uneven.”

“What? Why didn’t you wake me up?!” Jane shrieks, standing up off her bed.

“I didn’t want to wake you,” Clementine retorts. Jane settles back down on her bed and pinches the bridge of her nose.

“Clem. I appreciate that you care, but this isn’t something you had to let me sleep for. Besides, you and I are a team. You don’t have to do this alone. And Jaime is my responsibility to begin with. So next time if something comes up with the kids, can you let me know?”

“Okay,” Clementine sighs. The two settle into a quiet and look down to see that both Jaime and AJ have gone back to sleep.

“Go back to bed. I’ll stay up and watch Jaime and AJ,” Jane suggests.

“I want to help though. And you just said that we’re a team,” Clementine protests. Jane inwardly cringes, suddenly immediately regretting that.

“I know. But I’ve got it handled. Just get some rest, okay.”

Clementine wants to protest further, but realizes it was going to be a losing argument. “Alright.” She places Jaime next to Jane on her cot and goes back to bed.

“Goodnight, kiddo.” Jane stayed up the rest of night checking on AJ and Jaime to make sure they were okay and didn’t have another fit. Truthfully she was worried why they seemed to have a sudden episode to begin with and hoped that they weren’t sick or something. And the real reason she made Clementine go back to bed was because she knew how she’d get and didn’t want her to worry. Jane looked down at the two sleeping toddlers. One sitting on her lap, the other sleeping next to her with their head on her leg.

She glanced over to Clementine sleeping across from her, hoping this was just a minor hiccup. They coughed and sneezed before, mainly due to an itchy or sore throat, or something tickled their nose or the air being dusty. But Jaime had a full on fever and AJ had a coughing fit, in the middle of the night. Now that she thought about it, it was a miracle neither of them had ever gotten sick before. But both of them at the same time? Jane hoped that they would feel better in the morning.

Jane and Ava were deep in the forest surrounding the Shenandoah River out hunting. Clementine once was again selected for a shift, and Jane decided to give her a break and traded places with her. Although, she probably wouldn’t mind another shift of patrol or hunting over having to spend time with David, after he volunteered to help with Jaime and AJ for some reason.

Right now, Ava was deep in conversation with Jane, who was semi-paying attention, still worried about the kids. It’s been a few days since their scare, and they were still sick. They haven’t gotten worse thankfully, but it was still concerning.

“So what do you think?”

“Huh?”

Ava briefly glanced back at her with a smirk on her face and rolled her eyes. “I said do you think using a shotgun on a walker is overkill?”

“I don’t know. I tend to avoid them like… the plague, ironically, and when I do run into them, I have my own ways of dealing with them. I never put much thought into killing them.”

“Right. Your little knee trick. Cute,” Ava teased. Jane felt a bit flustered at the comment for some reason.

“Uh. Right.”

The two continued treading through the forest in search of something to hunt until Jane spoke up again. “Truthfully, I think it’s effective. I mean, if it gets the job done, then go nuts.”

“Right?!”

They were interrupted by rustling leaves and a twig snapping. They turned their heads to see a 10-point buck standing about seventy feet away. They crouched down behind some nearby bushes and surveyed the surrounding area.

“See any walkers around?”

“No,” Jane answered.

“Good. Keep an eye out.” Ava drew her gun and aimed it at the buck, while Jane turned away. Even though it was necessary for survival, she was still never fond of killing animals. She always had a soft spot for animals. Some of her favorite memories that she had with Jaime aside from the amusement park every summer was also going to the zoo. Both of them had always wanted a dog but their parents wouldn’t let them.

Ava took aim at the deer to end it quickly so it wouldn’t suffer and fired. The deer went down. The two women stood up from behind the bush and did another scan of the area to check if that shot didn’t bring any walkers.

“We should get the deer and head back. Don’t want to stick around and get caught in a herd,” Jane commented.

“You got it.”

They walked over to where the deer fell and surveyed their prize. A gunshot was visible on the deer’s neck. Neither of them said a word to each other except for a simple request from Ava. “Can you hand me the rope?”

Jane wordlessly complied and handed her the rope.They both tied up the deer around its feet so they could easily carry it back to camp.

“I say we’ve got a good haul for today, and even between the two of us, I don’t think we’ll be able to carry this, and anything else we could catch. What do you say we head back?”

“Well, actually I was thinking, what if we just hang out for a bit? I mean, it’s not like we have to go back now, right?” Jane stumbled over her words. Ava chuckled at her being flustered.

“Alright. But I hope you don’t mind if this guy tags along,” she jokingly gestures towards the deer.

“Oh. Right.” Jane picks up the rope and ties it around her torso. “Come on. I know a place we can hang out.”

Ava quirks an eyebrow. “Really? Where?”

“It’s a surprise.”

“Alright then. Lead on to this mystery place.” Ava grabs the other rope to help carry the deer along. After about an hour of walking, the two of them are much further along the river and into the forest away from the New Frontier base camp.

“So how much further is this place anyway?”

“We’re here,” Jane coyly replies. Ahead of them is a waterfall flowing over a cliffside that looks like the one people used to have in their pools in their backyard. Cliffs and trees surrounded them along with the waterfall pouring into a pool right at the bottom and continuing to flow downriver.

“Wow. How did you find this place?”

“I may or may not have snuck off and gotten lost during one of my patrol shifts.”

“I promise I won’t tell anyone.”

They set the deer down and walk towards the bottom of the waterfall. Jane begins taking off her boots along with her jacket and shirt.

“Are you coming in?”

Ava just shook her head and followed suit, both of them running around in the water and trying to splash each other. Jane was the first to get splashed, Ava gloating in victory.

“Ah, fuck! That’s cold,” Jane laughed. Ava splashed her in response.

“Come on and try and get me!” she taunted. The two continue splashing around and each other. Jane manges to get her back and splash her in the face, Ava barely able to get out of the way of her splash attack. They go back and forth splashing each other until Jane slips on a rock and falls in the water, grumbling in defeat and being soaking wet. Ava stands over her and extends her hand to help.

“So, you want to call it a draw?”

“Yeah. Sure.” Jane accepts her hand and pulls herself up. The two of them sat on the surrounding rocks resting around the water and took off their pants to let them dry before they headed back. As Ava sat behind Jane underneath the waterfall, she noticed a marking on her back near her hip. It looked like a fancy ‘m’ with a ribbon overlapping it.

“Hey what’s that?”

“Huh?”

“That mark on your back.”

Jane pressed her hand against her back to where the marking was. “Oh. Shit. I forgot about that.”

“So what is it?” Ava pressed further.

“A tattoo obviously,” Jane mocked, Ava rolling her eyes in annoyance.

“Well I know that genius. I mean what is it of?”

“It’s my birth sign. I’m a Virgo.”

“Oh, really? I would’ve thought you were a Gemini.”

“Yeah? Why’s that?”

“Because you’re so two-faced,” Ava states bluntly.

“Oh fuck you,” Jane swats at her arm, getting her to laugh.

“I’m just teasing you. I don’t know shit about the star signs. I took astrology class once in high school and that was about it.” Ava moves off of her rock and sits next to Jane. Jane scoffs in response and gazes at the river flowing next to them.

“I’ve been meaning to show Clementine this place. I thought she would’ve enjoyed it. I just never found the time. Either it’d be me or her on patrol or something else, and by the end of the day we’d both be too tired to come all the way out here,” Jane laments.

“I’m sure you’ll get to eventually. She would love this.”

“Yeah. After everything, she deserves a break. I honestly can’t exactly remember the last time I saw her get to act like a kid.”

Ava places a hand on Jane’s shoulder, Jane accepting the gesture.

“She’s not exactly a kid anymore.”

“I know.”

The two of them sit back in silence and enjoy the waterfall rushing down above them and the river flowing by. Suddenly Ava is the first to break the silence.

“So why did you want to bring me out here?”

“What do you mean?”

“What was the reason you wanted to show me this place?” she asked again. Jane suddenly felt uncomfortably warm, despite just having splashed around in a river and wearing almost next to nothing.

“I told you. We already had a decent catch for today and we got done early. What were we supposed to do when we got back? Play cards again?” she attempted to deflect.

“I mean hey, cards are fun aren’t they? Also, you still have Jaime and AJ to take care of. Unless you just wanted to dump them on Clementine,” she teases. Little did she know how much that actually cut deep for her, based off of her past of running away.

“What?! No! No, I just-”

“I’m kidding.” She playfully punches Jane in the arm.

“You suck.”

“It’s fine. I appreciate it you brought me out here. This is nice.”

Jane is suddenly hyper aware of how close their faces are together and the warm feeling is back as her brain starts to short circuit. The two are face to face and Ava is the first to make a move and close the distance between them and kisses her. Jane is taken aback and reels in shock.

“Oh. Sorry. I didn’t-”

“No. I’m sorry. I just… I didn’t know… that you actually liked me back,” Jane confessed, to Ava’s shock.

“Wait, what?”

“I liked being friends, but I didn’t want to fuck things up between us so I just kept quiet about it.”

“Is that the real reason you brought me out here?”

“Yes and no,” Jane admits sheepishly.

“Does it help to know that I like you too?”

Jane glances back up at her, suddenly feeling hopeful with a glint in her eye. This time she’s the first to initiate the kiss, cupping a hand to Ava’s face, Ava’s turn to be shocked but quickly reciprocating and placing her hands on Jane’s hips. Suddenly she pushes Jane on the floor and straddles her, catching Jane off guard.

“What are we supposed to do when we get back? Play cards?”

It was almost just before sun down when Ava and Jane put their clothes back on and that their clothes had finally dried. Once they were dressed, they retied the deer so that they could both haul it back to camp.

“This was fun. We should do it again sometime,” Jane joked.

“We’ll see about that,” Ava teased back. The two made their way back to the New Frontier. The walk back was fortunately uneventful. As the campsite came into view, they saw Clementine and David standing by waiting for them. Clementine looked amused while David seemed completely pissed off, although Jane thought he was always pissed off so who could tell.

“Where the hell were you too?” he demanded while holding a crying Jaime, while AJ was sleeping peacefully in Clementine’s arms.

“Uh…” Jane immediately began to panic.

“We caught a deer,” Ava spoke up, pulling the deer in front of them, “after the first shot it took us a while to track it down. I was surprised it was still alive after how much blood it lost,” she lied. Jane was silently grateful for Ava’s cover story to explain why they were out so long. David held them both under his gaze not seeming to buy into her story.

“I don’t know about you,” he motioned to Jane, “but you were in the Armed Forces, and you couldn’t take down a deer?”

“Guess you can’t win ‘em all.”

David continued to hold them under a scrutinizing glare. After what felt like an eternity, at least to Jane, he gave up and sighed in disappointment.

“Uh, can I have my baby back?” Jaime was still crying in David’s arms. David all too eagerly handed Jaime back to Jane, much to Jane’s irritation. Once she was handed back to her, she stopped.

“Here. Take her. She’s been crying nonstop all day. Mind you I’ve had two kids before but they’ve never cried so much before.”

“David,” Clementine cut in.

“Both Jaime and AJ hate me.”

“What? That’s ridiculous-”

“Everytime, I suggest maybe I hold Jaime and she holds AJ, she starts crying. I ask to hold AJ, he cries too.”

“I don’t buy it either, but I still think it’s pretty funny,” Clementine chuckles. Ava tried to stifle a laugh as well, much to David’s annoyance. Jane saw an opportunity to continue messing with him.

“I don’t know. I’ve heard babies tend to take after their parents. Er, caretakers.”

David didn’t find amusement and growled in annoyance. Thankfully Ava stepped in before things could escalate any further.

“Come on David. Why don’t we show Joan and Clint that we have a deer to skin.” The two of them turn and walk towards the opposite direction to find two of the other council members of the New Frontier. Ava casts one last glance towards Jane and gives her wink, causing her to blush and try to avoid eye contact. Clementine doesn’t catch the interaction but still raises an eyebrow at her.

“You really have a habit of stirring people up don’t you?”

Jane is pulled out of her thoughts and faces Clementine. “Right. Sorry. Uh, I guess it’s just a habit I picked up as a teenager. When I realized my parents were going to be assholes regardless, I went for the tactic to fight back.”

“You had really shitty parents didn’t you?” Clementine asked sadly.

“Yeah. Unfortunately. At least they learned that if they were going to start shit with me, they weren’t coming out of it at least without a bloody nose,” Jane gloated.

“I’ll keep that mind.” It was then that Jaime decided to make herself known and started wiggling her arms and legs looking for attention. Jane looked down at her and tickled her stomach, prompting her to giggle.

“Anyway, how was this little goober today?”

“She was okay. David pretty much summed up the whole day though. Threw a fit anytime he got near her.”

“Aw. That’s my girl. What about the goofball?” She gestures to AJ who was still asleep and unaware of their current conversation.

“Same thing. And both of them are still a little under the weather,” Clementine added sadly. Jane felt her stomach churn and her face contort into fear. She used her free hand and placed the back of it on AJ’s forehead. Thankfully he wasn’t burning up.

“Well at least he doesn’t have a fever,” Jane tried being optimistic. Clementine was able to see right through her façade, but opted not to comment on it.

“You want to go back to our tent? I’m kind of tired.”

“Yeah. Me too.”

It’s been at least two weeks and Jaime and AJ haven’t gotten any better. In fact they seem to have gotten worse. Clementine and Jane begged Joan and the others to let them take some time off so they could stay and watch over them. They eventually budged but the fact that they had to convince them at all was met with reasonable outrage. After they both got fed up with either of them getting any better, they took them to see Dr. Lingard.

They would’ve taken the kids to see someone they thought was more… qualified, but he was the only actual doctor around that they had so they didn’t have any other options. Which led to them currently in his tent, examining AJ’s breathing.

“So what’s the problem? Is AJ okay?” Jane demanded.

“You’ll have to be patient. Diagnosing a patient takes time. And without the usual equipment a doctor would normally have, even more. I thought you’d be aware of that. Surely you’ve been to a doctor’s office before.”

“I haven’t actually. My parents were…” she paused, glancing down at Clementine, “skeptic of doctors… my sister and I were lucky to get out of there when we could. God forbid when either of us got a broken bone or something worse,” Jane admitted curtly, omitting the fact they were also anti-vaxxers.

“Hmm. Interesting.” Lingard removed his stethoscope from AJ’s chest and placed it on Jaime. Jane grew more and more impatient as the minutes went by, wishing the process would speed up a bit. At the same time, Lingard grew impatient with Jane’s helicoptering over his shoulder.

“Maybe you two should leave the kids with me. It’ll give me more time to examine them.”

“What? No way. Either both or one of us are with them.”

“Come on, Jane. You can trust me to stay with them, right?”

“Define ‘trust,’” she growled. Clementine spoke up and offered a suggestion.

“What if I left, and Jane can stay to watch?”

“I appreciate the offer Clementine, but I’d prefer if you both left. I need the space to examine them and I can’t do that with both of you crowding me,” Dr. Lingard explained.

“That’s the best you’re going to get. Take it or leave it.”

Dr. Lingard sighed in defeat, realizing he wasn’t going to win an argument with Jane. “Alright. You can stay Jane.”

Clementine stood up from her seat and said goodbye to Jane and the kids before leaving Dr. Lingard’s tent. AJ grabbed her finger before she left.

“I’ll be back later goofball. Bye Jaime. Later Jane.”

“See ya Clem.”

Clementine went back to her shared tent with Jane and flopped onto her bed. Since she was given time off, she pulled out a magazine she swiped from David to kill time and have something to do. It wasn’t until about ten minutes later she heard someone outside her tent.

“Hey Jane? You in there?”

“Ava?”

The woman in question peeked her inside their shared tent looking a bit flustered. “Oh. Hey, Clem. Have you seen Jane?”

“She’s with Dr. Lingard. Why?”

“Are the kids still sick?” she attempted to deflect the question.

“Yeah.”

“I’m really sorry to hear that. I do hope they get better.”

“Thanks. Uh, what do you need to see Jane for?”

“No reason!” Ava answered a bit too quickly. *Ahem* "I mean, I just thought maybe she’d want to hang out later. Or something.”

“Well, she’s with Dr. Lingard. But I don’t think he wants to see anyone else right now. I can let her know you came by-”

“No, it’s fine. I’ll just… tell her another time. You want to head down to the river with me for some fishing?”

“Sure,” Clementine replies enthusiastically, tossing the magazine aside. The two of them leave the tent and head down towards the river.

“Was that David’s magazine?”

“What magazine?”

Chapter Text

“Can you say, ‘Clem-en-tine?’ Clementine. Clem?”

“Baaah!” AJ squeals gleefully as he raises his arms in the air, accidentally throwing his toy at Clementine’s head in the process.

“Give it a rest, Clem. He’ll talk when he’s ready,” Jane cuts in while breastfeeding Jaime. Clementine sighs half-heartedly and picks up AJ’s toy and hands it back to him.

“I know.”

“Anah!” AJ babbles.

“Oh tell me about it,” Jane teases.

“Beeeeh.”

“You and me both.”

AJ and Jane’s “pointless” conversation gets a small chuckle out of Clementine and even to smile a little bit, slightly taking her mind off of AJ’s delayed speech. Slightly.

“Do you think AJ isn’t talking yet because we don’t talk to him often? Or that we just never have time to? I feel like if we talked to both of them more one of them would’ve at least said their first word by now.”

Jane’s expression suddenly looked tired, sighing through her nose. She thought Clementine might’ve had a good point. “Maybe Clem. We both did everything we could. In a better world, we could’ve taught them the literary works of Shakespeare,” she dramatically mocks. “but we live in this world, where we barely have time to teach them basic elementary. I’m sorry. I wish things were different.”

“Me too.”

It was then that Jane noticed that Jaime had stopped suckling. “Hey, Clem can you hold Jaime for a sec so I can put my shirt back on?”

Clementine wordlessly nodded and stood up from where she was sitting, taking Jaime from her arms as Jane handed her over. She stirred slightly and patted Clementine on her neck, letting out a small, “weh!” Jane stood up to readjust her bra and threw on her shirt.

“Don’t you think it might be time for a wardrobe change?” Clementine gestured to the old shirt.

Jane glances down at the shirt filled with the odd stain here and there, a more prominent one near her sternum along with a tear in the same spot, and not to mention the smell. “I’m not exactly competing in a fashion contest. I just need something to wear.”

“You made me change back at the cabin.”

“Because your jacket was practically falling apart.”

“So is your shirt! There’s more holes in it than swiss cheese,” Clementine retorts. Jane has to admit she had a point. Her shirt, for as long she had it, was pretty much done for. It had seen a better day. “How long have you even been wearing that thing?”

Jane avoided eye contact and hesitated to give her an answer. “sincetheoutbreak,” she muttered under her breath.

“What was that?”

Jane winced, embarrassed to admit the truth. “Since the outbreak, okay!”

Clementine looked at her with a mix of surprise and disgust. “You’ve been wearing that shirt for the past four years? Have you ever washed it?”

“Of course I wash it! Occasionally. ...If I ever find a new one I’ll wear it okay?”

“...alright.” At that point, Jaime decided to make herself known and pulled on Clementine’s bang's, squealing in delight. “Hey there, ya goober.” Clementine blew a raspberry on Jaime’s cheek, getting her to squeal even louder and causing her to giggle. Jane put her jacket back on and picked AJ and his toy up off the floor.

“You want to head down to the river?”

Clementine wordlessly nodded and followed Jane out of their shared tent. As the water’s edge came into view, Jaime erupted into a coughing fit, startling both Jane and Clem.

“Aw shit. Is she okay?” Jane nearly panicked. Clementine gave her a quick few pats on the back, and her coughing subsided.

“She’s fine.”

“Maybe we should head back. If the kids are still too sick, and it might be too cold, and-“

“Jane. She’s fine.”

“Okay…” Jane sighed. She set AJ down and he tentatively took a few steps before taking off and toddling down towards the river. She hate to admit it, but she never thought he’d make it long enough to reach his first steps. And now that he was here, Jane couldn’t help but feel something of pride. Although it probably paled in comparison to what Clementine felt. She actually cried when he took his first steps. Jaime was about a year younger than AJ so she wasn’t walking yet, but Jane hoped she could see the day she finally did. And for once, not see it as a necessity for survival.

Clementine sat down with Jaime in her lap, while Jane stood and watched over AJ as he played near the water. As AJ came to the water, he stopped and hesitantly dipped his foot in the water, as if testing to see if it was dangerous. When his foot underwater, he quickly retracted it at the cold temperature and toddled as quickly as he could over to Jane, squealing at how cold the water was to him at such a young age.

“Weeeeeh!” He grabbed at her leg, as if asking to be picked up and wanting her to “defeat the cold water demon.” Jane chuckled in amusement and picked him up and walked back over to water, taking a seat by the edge and pointing out the aquatic life below the surface of the river.

“Look, AJ. Can you say fish? Fe-ish? Fish.”

“Feeeh!” he chuckled.

“Oh well. Worth a shot.”

Clementine laughs at Jane’s interaction with AJ, standing up and takes a seat next to Jane. She gestures for Jaime to look at Jane and points at her. “Hey, Jaime! Can you say ‘Mom?’ Say ‘Mama?’” Jaime didn’t say anything and simply bapped Clementine on the nose. Jane instinctively flinched at Clementine calling her “mom.”

“I can’t believe Jaime is almost a year old, and it’s still hard to believe I’m a mom.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Even before the walkers were a thing, I never really saw myself as a mother. It just wasn’t something I really had plans of.”

Clementine arched an eyebrow at her, wondering if she’d elaborate on that sentiment.

“Don’t get me wrong, I love Jaime and I enjoy being a mother…”

“But…?”

“I don’t know. I guess if she never came along, my plans probably wouldn’t have changed…” Jane confesses. “I mean, to me having you and AJ would’ve been enough. Right, goofball?” Jane asked the toddler sitting in her lap. As if to make her regret her words, AJ sneezed right in her face, getting both him and Clementine to laugh, leaving Jane unamused.

“Oh ha ha.” After Clem’s laughter subsided, Jane brought up their current issue. “They're probably still sick. We should go back inside-”

“Jane, it was just a sneeze. It’s probably just dust.”

Jane was worried about Clementine being dismissive. Normally she would be completely panicking over both AJ and Jaime. Did she really believe that they were fine, or was she just in denial about the situation and trying to avoid it? She tried to read the expression on Clementine’s face for an answer, but she remained neutral.

“...If you say so.” The two are pulled out of their conversation as they hear footsteps approaching and turn to face Joan.

“Hello, ladies. Pleasure to see you out here on this fine day.”

“Joan,” Jane replies curtly.

“Please, Jane. Must we be so hostile? Can’t we have a cordial chat with each other?”

“I don’t know. Can you help our kids get better?” she retorts back, instinctively pulling AJ closer to her chest.

“I’m sorry. Truly I am. But we’ve done everything we could. Dr. Lingard tried his best.”

Jane and Clementine shared a look with each other, both looking at Jaime and AJ and how both of them looked a little worse for wear. Top it off with the coughing, the fevers, and sometimes vomiting. And it wasn’t just typical baby upchuck.

“What’s this talk you wanted that you mentioned?” Clementine responds curtly.

“Tonight we’re having another bonfire party. I was here to extend an invitation to you both, if you were interested. And if you were to accept, to let you know I would not be attending. I and a few others will be… on an excursion.”

“An excursion?” Clementine quirked an eyebrow.

“Yes. Anyways, I’ll be on my way. Just thought I’d extend the invitation. Farewell,” Joan segued her departure far too abruptly. Jane didn’t trust how quick she was to show up and leave just as fast. She cast a look towards Clementine who was still watching Joan leave.

“What do you say, Clem? Want to kick back and get wasted?” she half joked, getting Clementine’s attention.

“Honestly? Yes and no. Do I want to go to one of their ‘parties’ where I’m just hanging around a bunch of adults talking about nothing? No way. Do I want to get wasted?”

“Ha. Amen to that,” Jane rejoiced. Her celebration was cut short as her attention was brought to Jaime as she started continuously sneezing. “We should head back,” she sighed, standing up from her spot. Clementine followed her behind as they headed back to their tent.

It was late evening and Clementine and Jane were back at their tent, Jane anxiously pacing back and forth, and AJ and Jaime’s condition, whatever it was, seemed to be in full force. Despite their current condition, they both seemed to be occupying themselves by drawing as Clementine watched over. Jane stopped her pacing and looked down at the three of them.

“Hey Clementine, what was that medicine Dr. Lingard mentioned?”

Clementine reached into the pocket of her jacket and pulled out a piece of paper. “Van-CO-My-sin?” She showed the paper to Jane.

“Vancomycin.”

“What are you thinking?” Clementine asked at the pensive look on her face.

“We’re taking it.”

“What?!”

“Clem. They’re not going to give us the medicine, and Jaime and AJ need it. And you’re not above taking medicine because I know you’ve done it before. Remember? With Arvo,” Jane provoked. “You want to help these kids, right? Why is now any different?”

“Jane, you don’t have to guilt trip me. I was already on board but, we’ll be stealing from a much bigger group, and if we get caught…”

“I hear what you’re saying, but trust me. We’re not going to get caught. I have a plan for one of us to distract them while the other gets the medicine to Jaime and AJ,” she explains.

“Hmm. Alright. But who distracts them?”

“Well, what do you want to do?”

Clementine looks down at the floor, resting her chin on her thumb, deep in thought. She tried to think of who they would be least likely to question and why the other wasn’t present. And who could come up with a better excuse. “I’ll do it. I doubt they’ll really question why a teenager is showing up to a ‘party’ involving alcohol. Plus, with you as the adult, it’ll be more believable that you stayed behind to look after AJ and Jaime.”

“Alright. So you distract these asshats while I sneak around and get the medicine for the kids. Sounds like a plan.”

Clementine nodded in agreement and picked up AJ off the floor. Jane picked up the sling next to her bed and wrapped it around her, placing Jaime inside of it and taking AJ from Clementine, carrying him piggyback as best she could.

“Do you think they’ll find it suspicious that I only just now decide to show up? Everyone was there hours ago.”

“Nah, most of them will probably be too wasted to notice or won’t care. They know that we like to keep to ourselves anyway,” Jane assures. She holds out her hand for Clementine to shake. “Good luck.”

“You too.”

They shake hands and leave the tent going their separate ways, Clementine to the bonfire, and Jane to the medicine.

Clementine walked up to where a few members of the New Frontier sitting around a campfire were set up, including Ava, David, Max, and a couple of other people Clementine didn’t know. Maybe everyone this wasn’t as big of a shindig as Joan made it out to be.

“Clementine,” Max called out, “about time you showed up. I thought you and Jane weren’t going to be joining us.”

“Where is Jane, anyway?” Ava asked a bit too eagerly.

“It’s just me tonight. Jane is staying with the kids.”

“Oh.”

David wanted to question why Ava was so interested in Jane showing up and why she sounded so disappointed upon hearing she wasn’t coming, but before he could get a word in, a New Frontier member tossed a can of beer towards Clementine that she caught and promptly opened it upon catching it.

“Uh, hey, should you really-”

“Let her be David.”

Clementine used the can to hide the smirk on her lips, knowing he couldn’t do anything. Honestly, she was actually glad the attention was on her. The longer they were distracted, the better. As long as they didn’t ask her any questions about Jane, it was fine by her. Meanwhile, Jane snuck over to the med bay area carrying AJ and Jaime, watching everyone around the campfire talking animatedly about some story or another, making sure no one turned around to notice her. She spotted Clementine awkwardly standing with a drink in her hand, mindlessly listening to the conversation. As she finally made it to medical supplies, she set AJ and Jaime atop a plastic storage bin. As soon she set them down, she took note of the body lying on a cot which happened to be Dr. Lingard. At first Jane thought he was dead. Upon looking closer he seemed to be asleep. He was probably high. Again.

Jane’s attention was brought back to the kids as they both simultaneously coughed, which was probably painful for them considering they both started immediately crying. Jane hummed a tune to them to get them to calm down, which thankfully, seemed to do the trick. Jane carefully peeked over the containers shielding her from view to make sure the brief crying hadn’t gotten anyone’s attention. Luckily for her they hadn’t, and that they were still talking amongst themselves, more prominently David seeming to be lecturing Clementine about something.

“...just saying. It’s a lot more effective that way.”

“You have your ways, I have mine.”

Jane ignored them and went back to the task at hand and tried to find the medicine for the kids. What was it Dr. Lingard called it? Vancomycin? She carefully examined each of the bottles, reading one that had the label “Vancomycin.” Upon finally finding the right one, a feeling dread dropped into her stomach. In order to administer it, it had to be taken via a shot.

“Of course. Of fucking course it’s a shot. Never that easy, is it?” she whisper-shouted. Jane grabbed the bottle and the syringe, heavily examining the needle, knowing this wasn’t going to be easy. “Goddammit.” Jane injected the syringe into the bottle and pulled the plunger to extract the medicine. She gave the plunger a slight squeeze to see if it was effective, as a small amount of liquid squirted out of it. It was at that moment that Dr. Lingard decided to wake up.

“Jane…” He sounded the way he looked.

“Dr. Lingard? Are you alright?”

“I’m… I’m fine…” he slurred, rubbing at his temple, as if he had a headache. “Jane, don’t. The vancomycin - that’s the last of it. It’ll be wasted on them,” he pleaded.

“Huh! Are you really willing to babies die?!” Jane snapped.

“Because they won’t do a thing for them. I’m sorry, Jane. To you and Clem. I tried everything . I- I really did.”

“Not everything.”

“Nothing can help them now. Jane just put the drugs back before anyone finds out you took them. You know what they do to thieves here…” Dr. Lingard begged. Jane looked down at the needle and back at Jaime and AJ. She wasted so much time arguing with Dr. Lingard, someone was bound to be back here at any second, she’d only have enough time to give the medicine to one of them anyway. Does she make the selfish decision and give it to Jaime first and have Clementine hate her along with some other unfortunate implications, or abandon her responsibility as a mother to Jaime and give it to AJ first? Thinking it over, she wonders if Dr. Lingard was right and that it really was pointless. If it was, then why did he recommend the drugs in the first place? Not able to decide, Jane sighs in exhaustion.

“I’m… I’m sorry, kiddos.”

Suddenly, Ava rounds the corner of the supplies, catching her red-handed.

“Jane? What are you doing here?”

“I was putting them back.”

Their conversation caught the attention of the other New Frontier members, as they got up to see what the commotion was. Clementine quickly chugged the last of the beer in the can and tossed it overhead and followed everyone else.

“Jane… What did you do?”

“Looks like we got ourselves a thief,” one of the members cried out. He moves to grab her arm, but Jane shrugs him away, dropping the vial in the process away. David shows up to see what’s going and notices the spilled medicine.

“What’s going on here?”

Clementine appears and runs to grab AJ and stands next to Jane’s side as Jane picks up Jaime.

“We caught her trying to take those drugs,” the first guard states.

“What the hell, Jane?! We already did everything we could for those kids! How could you betray us like this? After everything we’ve done!” David notices the fearful look in Clementine’s eyes, as she somehow looks more guilty than Jane, despite the fact she wasn’t the one caught. “Were you in on this too?”

Clementine nervously glances at Jane. She could throw her under the bus and feign innocence. She shakes the thought away, angry she even considered that. Not after everything they’ve been through.

“Yes…”

“Unbelievable. You were told those drugs wouldn’t help! That waste? That’ll cost someone’s life down the road. Someone in this camp! Someone who contributes to our survival!” David fumes. “We opened our arms to you, made you one of us. And this is how you repay us? By stealing? By putting yourselves before the group? You’re done here. You broke our rules. There’s no place for you in the New Frontier.”

“You know what? Fuck you. And fuck the New Frontier!” Clementine snaps.

“You already did! That’s why you have to go.”

“Maybe we should give them another chance…”

“Don’t fight me on this Paul. You know what Joan would say if she were here.”

Jane places a hand on Clementine’s shoulder in hopes of getting her to calm down. “Come on, Clem. Let’s just go.” The two try to leave with AJ and Jaime in their arms, but are blocked by two New Frontier soldiers.

“Uh-uh. They stay. Can’t take them with you.”

“Get out of our fucking way! Right now!”

“Clem, they’re in no condition to travel,” Dr. Lingard tries to reason. David grabs both of them while two Frontier guards grab AJ and Jaime from them.

“NO! You monsters!” Clementine cries out. “What about this?” she asks, rolling up her sleeve revealing the branding. "What was it all for? Don’t forget, we’re one of you!”

“Not anymore.”

“Let them say goodbye. We owe them that much, at least,” Ava speaks up. She had been uncharacteristically quiet that Jane almost forgot she was there.

“Fine. You heard her. Say what you need to say, then go.”

Clementine walks up to Jaime and AJ, holding back tears. “I love you,” she chokes out, giving both of them a kiss on the cheek. “I love you.” Clementine turns away and let’s Jane say her goodbyes. For once, she’s at a loss for words and looks like she’s on the verge of a full on meltdown.

“I’m… I’m so sorry… I wish I could’ve done more,” she nearly sobs.

“Come on, you two.” As David leads the two away into the forest, they hear two tiny voices that nearly shatter both of their hearts.

“Clem…”

“Mama…”

Clementine and Jane trudged through the forest, neither of them saying a word. The only sounds being made were the sobs coming from Clementine. Jane wanted to say something to comfort her, but she didn’t know what to say, considering she was trying to keep it together herself. For Clementine’s sake. Neither of them knew where they were going nor had a set destination in mind, but somehow they made it back to the abandoned bus that Ava first found them in. The moment both of them are inside, Clementine sits down on the bus and begins to cry.

“Clem…”

The sound of a rustling noise startles them both. They go outside to check it out. Not taking any chances she draws her knife ready to attack whatever was out there.

“Whoa there, Clem!” Ava emerges from behind a boulder. Seeing it was just her, Clementine sheathes her knife. “It’s just me.”

“Were you following us?” Jane asks.

“Just to make sure you guys were safe. I’m so sorry about what happened with Jaime and AJ. Really I am. I know it can’t have been easy for you.”

Clementine doesn’t say anything, Jane placing a hand on her shoulder.

“Look, it's not much but... Here.” Ava drops a duffel bag she was carrying on the ground. Clementine crouches down and opens it up. Inside the bag were a few energy bars, some cans of chilli, which seemed to be some kind of cruel irony, a giant water bottle, and two sheets of paper. Clementine grabbed them both and noticed the drawings on it and nearly lost it, a sob escaping her lips.

“Now you’re just screwing with me!”

“No! Clem! We just-”

“Am I supposed to just thank you for this?”

“We just thought you’d want something to remember them by,” Ava explains.

Clementine stands up and hands the drawing presumably made by Jaime to Jane, pocketing it away to look at later, not sure if she’s able to be reminded of her so soon.

“Listen, it's dangerous out here and right now, you're...hurting. Whatever you do, you can't let what happened get to you. You need to keep a level head. Plan for after that.”

Clementine doesn’t respond, Jane answering instead. “We’ll make it our own… thanks for the advice.”

“Just don’t overestimate what you’re capable of. From the first time we met, right here, surrounded by absolute hell… you two and AJ and Jaime were a light in the darkness, a hope for a better world! That’s who you are. Promise me you’ll never lose that light. Please… It’s what makes you special.”

“After everything I’ve been through? I don’t have it in me anymore,” Clementine admits drearily, surprising both Ava and Jane.

“I understand. Just… try to keep your head above water.”

“We promise,” Jane cuts in. “We’ll keep going.”

“I should get back, before anyone notices I'm gone. Remember to keep the focus on you now. And when you need a little extra support... There's an old airfield, about ten or so miles south of here--Prescott,” Ava suggests. “There are good people there. I’m sure they’ll help you out. I’ll miss having you around.”

Ava offers a hand in hopes of parting on good terms with both of them. Clementine turns around and heads back inside the bus, leaving Ava and Jane alone. Ava puts her hand away at Clementine’s reaction.

“I’m really sorry for what happened… To have to lose your daughter like that. How are you holding up?”

“I’m… I’m trying to keep it together,” Jane confesses. “I hope you’re not mad at Clem. She’s-”

“No worries. I don’t take it personally.”

The two of them stand in silence for what feels like an eternity, neither of them wanting to bring up the elephant in the room. Jane was the first one to break the ice.

“I guess our relationship ended before it even started, huh?”

“It doesn’t have to be over though, right?”

“It might as well be! You guys kicked us out. Unless you plan on taking us back.”

“I’m afraid not,” Ava sighs.

“Didn’t think so.”

“We don’t necessarily have to break up. Couples… take a break all the time. So why don’t we call it that? We’re just taking a break,” she suggests.

“Really? What are the chances we ever see each other again though?”

Ava looks down at her scarf and audibly exhales, taking it off and handing it to Jane. “Here. Take it. As a sign of, ‘I promise our paths will cross again one day.’ And if not, something to remember me by.”

Jane stares down at the scarf before hesitantly taking it and wrapping it around her neck. “Thanks.”

“No problem.”

“Anyway, you said you need to get back, and I need to check on Clem. Make sure she’s…”

“I get it. I’ll see you around.”

With that, Ava turns to leave and Jane heads back inside the run-down and abandoned bus, finding Clementine sitting on the bed with her face buried in her knees crying. Jane carefully sat on the bed next to her.

“Th-they’re gone. Jaime and AJ… just, gone,” she sobbed.

“I know kiddo.” Before she knew it, Clementine was leaning into Jane, sobbing into her jacket. Jane didn’t protest and wrapped her arm around her, pulling her into a hug. She figured nothing she could say would help at this point so Jane decided to let her get out of her system. After all, she didn’t know when but soon she started crying too. Eventually they both cried themselves to sleep.

Chapter Text

Jane woke up to the sound of a metal clicking noise and a gun being cocked. She quickly jolted up and looked out the boarded up window of the bus and noticed it was still dark out. She scanned the bus to look for any bandit that had snuck up on them, but it was still just her and Clementine. Events of the last few hours or so caught up to her as she had a chance to relax knowing there wasn’t an immediate threat. Not exactly relax per se, she lost AJ and her daughter just a few hours ago. And the sound of the gun being reloaded when it was just her and Clementine… She looked at the teenager in question and noticed that she was standing up with her back turned to her facing the boarded up side of the worn-down bus. It wasn’t until she noticed her 9mm in her hand at her side alarm bells went off in her head.

“Hey, you. What uh, what are you doing up?” she asks. No response. “Couldn’t sleep?” A beat of silence passes over them before Jane hears a strained sob. “Do you want to talk?” Jane tries again. Jane enters panic mode when Clementine doesn’t respond and slowly raises the gun to her head and turns around to face her, tears brimming at the corners of her eyes. Jane is immediately on her feet and standing in front of her, trying not to make any sudden moves.

“Woah! Woah. Clem? Let’s talk about this okay…”

“What’s there to talk about?!”

“Clem…”

“AJ and Jaime are gone!”

“I know. But-”

“It’s like you always say… give it enough time, and everyone’s luck runs out. Carley. Duck. Lee. Omid. Christa. Rebecca. Kenny. Luke. AJ. Jaime. How much longer until you’re next?!”

Jane felt her chest tighten and a lump in her throat. She felt bad that Clementine had been holding all of this in. She was also scared because if she said one wrong thing, then it would be no turning back. Would it have been a good thing then that she had been on the other side of this? Does it make it any easier? Better or worse?

“Clementine… I know how you’re feeling right now, but you don’t have to do this.”

“Why not? You almost did!”

Jane winced at that, realizing that her attempt at Howe’s was bound to come and bite her in the ass down the line. “I know. And I shouldn’t have. I was scared. Scared of what was to come next. I was afraid of… afraid of being pregnant, of having the baby live, but not me, and then having to leave you alone and taking care of two babies while you were still a kid yourself, of the baby dying… Afraid of being a mother.” Clementine made no movement and showed no reaction. Jane hoped some of what she said had gotten through to her. No reaction was a good reaction, right?

“I tried taking my life too. You’re right. But you saved me and at first... I was angry about that but now, I’m thankful. If you hadn’t, then I wouldn’t have gotten to meet Jaime. Or watch you and AJ grow up!”

“What’s the point of any of that now? They’re both gone.”

“Believe me when I say this but,” Jane should’ve probably told her this sooner, and right now didn’t seem like the best time, but hopefully it would help. “I’ve been where you are right now. And I’m not talking about back at Howe’s.” For a moment Clementine seemed taken aback. If her shocked expression was anything for Jane to go by. The gun still hadn't moved from its postition however.

“Sometimes you just want to give up. You think there’s no point in going on anymore. I’ve thought about it too. Why am I still doing this when there’s nothing left I care about? It’s because no matter what, you keep finding something to fight for... And then I met you.” Clementine gasped, not expecting that answer. Sure they travelled together for a couple of years by now, but she didn’t expect that she was Jane’s motivation to keep going.

“For a long time, I stuggled with going on. But then I met you. And I know we didn’t get off on the right foot, but when it became just you and me, after a while… you were something I wanted to fight for. Clementine, I know things seem pointless now, but there are still things worth living for… You still have me.”

“But AJ… and Jaime…”

“I know you felt responsible for AJ, and you felt like a mom to him. But what happened wasn’t your fault. And your life is still yours. You still have a life to live. And there are still things we can find together to live for. And they’d want you to go on. Fight for them.”

Clementine hesitated, her hand starting to shake as she slowly lowered the gun. Jane slowly stepped closer, carefully and quickly grabbing the gun in one quick motion. Jane opened the magazine and emptied the clip onto the floor, letting it fall to the ground. She closed the magazine back into the gun and holstered it away. Jane wrapped her arms around Clementine as she fell to the ground on her knees, crying for the second time that evening.

“I’m… so sorry.”

“I got you.”

It was still dark out as Clementine and Jane sat against the legs of the bed. Clementine had her knees pressed to her chest crossing her arms with half of her face buried into them, staring out at nothing, as Jane kept an arm around her shoulder.

“You weren’t serious when you said Howe’s wasn’t your only attempt were you?”

It was a statement more than a question.

“Actually, I was.” Jane confesses. Clementine stares up at her wide-eyed and surprised. “It was before I met you. And before the walkers.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I struggled a lot with… mental health issues. I had told you that leaving my own sister to walkers had killed me for awhile. And sometimes I tried to make it final. When doctors and therapists become kind of a rarity in the end of the world, it’s kind of hard keeping it together.”

“Oh…”

“But… I’ve managed. I’ll admit it’s been difficult, but nothing I couldn’t handle. And Clem, you’ve got me. You don’t have to deal with this alone. If you ever need to talk, or feel like everything is just too much… You can always come to me.”

Clementine sniffled and wiped the tears in her eyes with the sleeve of her jacket. “Jane, I’m sorry. AJ and I weren’t actually related, and you lost your daughter. I-”

“You don’t need to apologize for that. You may not have been related by blood, but there was still a bond there. It's okay to feel upset about losing him. And if I recall,” Jane added coyly, “you were the one to mention that we were a family once.” Jane reflected back on a day at Howe’s where they were cleaning out the place and disposing of the corpses inside.

“You’re family. We’re all family. Rebecca would feel the same way.”

“Thanks, Clem.”

Jane somehow pulled Clementine closer to her, inhaling a deep breath and exhaling.

“There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you, Clementine.”

“Hm?”

“I- I didn’t know how you would’ve felt about it but, no one could ever replace my sister and you’re not her. And I can’t compare you to her and it wouldn't be fair to but… These past two years I kind of came to see you as a sister of my own.”

Clementine slightly chuckled and leaned into Jane. “If I’m being honest, I already knew.”

“What?”

“I heard your conversation with Ava.”

“Why you little- why didn’t you say anything?” Jane playfully shoved Clementine in the arm.

“Because I felt the same way and… I didn’t want to overstep any boundaries. I thought it’d be crossing a line to ask if we could be sisters, feeling like I’d try to take Jaime’s place.”

“Well, God knows her ghost would never stop haunting me if I ever tried to replace her.” They both laughed at her slightly morbid joke.

“You’re like the sister I never had.”

“Thanks, Clem.” Clementine yawned loudly in response. Jane looked out the window to see that it was still dark out, but she could faintly see the glow of the sun, meaning it would probably be morning in a few hours. “Get some sleep. We’ll get up in a few hours and then we’ll check out that ‘Prescott’ place Ava mentioned.

Clementine didn’t answer and Jane realized that she was already fast asleep.

“I love you, kiddo.”

The sun was just over the horizon as Clementine and Jane trekked through the forest, Jane carrying the duffel bag of supplies that Ava had left them, Clementine slowly keeping up by her side. She hadn’t wanted to take her eyes off her because of last night. Jane wondered if this is how Clementine felt after she tried to hang herself back at Howe’s. She didn’t think Clem would try anything soon, but she just wanted to be on the safe side. Her slow and sluggish movements were concerning, but she didn’t think it was because she was about to off herself again. She took the gun.

“You alright there, Clem?”

“I’m tired and we’ve been walking for over an hour. How far away did Ava say this place was?”

Jane reached inside her pocket for the map that was left inside the duffel bag, opening it up to read it. She examined where the New Frontier campsite was to the abandoned bus, to Prescott. After gauging it for a few seconds, she put it away.

“Said it was about 10 miles from where we left. We should be there soon.”

“How will we even know when we get there?”

“Ava said it was an old airfield. We’ll probably know it when we see it.”

“I’ve never been on an airplane before,” Clementine confessed, much to Jane’s surprise.

“Really?”

“Yep. Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. Never really went anywhere else.”

“Your parents never took you anywhere else?” Jane questioned.

“We never really had to move. My mom was a doctor and my dad was an engineer.”

Jane couldn’t help but get a jab in. “Huh. They sounded like nerds,” she teased.

“Well, maybe that just made them right for each other.” Jane couldn’t help but agree on that sentiment, but before she could get another word in, Clementine gasps in surprise and takes off ahead of her. “Is that-”

Ahead of them was a large gate with road highway signs above it. Not expecting to find anything else out here, or anything to be guarded by a large gate, they figured they probably found Prescott. Once they got closer to the gate, they approached slower, not wanting to come across as a threat. Once at the entrance of it they hear a man from atop one of the towers by it shout down to them.

“Woah woah! What’s your business here? I can’t just let anybody through.”

The two of them spared a glance between each other before Jane threw the duffel bag down in front of her, backing up a few steps and raising her hands in the air.

“We’re not a threat. Just passing through. We were told of this place and that the people here could help,” she called out. The man at the tower goes quiet before disappearing from view. A second later they hear a loud buzzing sound and the gate being opened, the man reappearing from view. Next to him is a man wearing a Hawaiian shirt with a cargo vest over it, and a grey stubble beard, aiming a gun at the both of them. The man from the tower bends down and opens up the duffel bag and starts rooting around through it. Not finding anything that could be considered a threat, he zips up the bag and hands it back to Jane.

“Alright, Conrad. They’re clean. Lower the gun.”

“Wait. Are we just letting-”

“Conrad. Let’s help the folks out. Come on, man.”

Conrad lowers his gun and steps aside. All four of them walk through the gates of Prescott, walking down the runway. Clementine and Jane take in the sight of the community in slight awe. It seemed to be doing well, but they weren’t staying long.

“Not a lot of folks are smart enough to show themselves trustworthy these days. Figured you were bein’ honest when your first decision was showing you weren’t a threat,” the man explained. He had thick, light blond hair pulled back into a ponytail, and a beard to match.

“Name’s Tripp. This here is Conrad. Welcome to Prescott,” he gestured to the airfield around them. “If you need anything, I’m the one in charge here. Come on, let me give you a tour.”

Tripp leads the two around introducing them to some of the people and which building is what. Near the end of the tour, Tripp shows them to the bar of the town. Upon entering, Conrad takes off to behind the counter.

“Have a seat. Get comfortable and take a load off.”

Clementine and Jane take a glance around and examine the decor. It seemed cozy enough, and to Jane, it reminded her of the old days. They both walked to the bar and took a seat, watching Conrad cleaning the inside of a glass.

“I’m Conrad. Sorry about earlier and the whole, almost shooting you. Can never be too careful these days about who you can trust. But if Tripp vouches for you, then you’re okay in my book.”

“Yeah, uh, two glasses of… scotch, please?”

“Two glasses, huh? That kind of day? It’s not even noon.”

“Something like that.”

“Coming right up.” Conrad ducked behind the counter to get two new glasses to fill up while Clementine planted face down on the bar counter, crossing her arms over her head. Conrad filled the glasses up halfway and slides the glasses over to Jane. She took one for herself and waited for Conrad to not pay attention, nudging Clementine in the arm and sliding the other glass to her. She glanced down into alcoholic liquid before glumly taking a gulp, right at the moment Conrad turned back around.

“Hey! I’m not serving drinks to anyone under 21, and sorry kid, but you look a little young to be drinking to me.”

“Relax. She’s with me,” Jane dismissed. “I’m okay with letting her have some.”

“I’m not. How old is she anyway? Eleven? Twelve?”

“Thirteen, by the way,” Clementine cut in.

“My point exactly.”

“Hey. Who’s responsible for her anyway? Are you her dad? And at the end of the world, does it really? Besides, she can make her own decisions anyway.”

“Fine. But I’m not giving her a refill. My bar, my rules,” Conrad grumbled, heading into the back of the bar.

“Asshole,” Clementine muttered.

“You okay?”

“Yeah. Just tired of people looking down on me because I’m ‘just a kid.’ Newsflash, I had to stop being a kid a long time ago.”

That painful truth was kind of hard to hear and felt painful for Jane. She realized Clem meant the truth when she said she was glad Jane saw her as a kid yet still treated her like an equal. Any kids that were potentially still alive when the walkers took over had to grow up pretty fast if they made it this long. Jane was shaken out of her thoughts as she heard Tripp walk up next to her.

“So. What brings you ladies to our little community?”

“A friend told us about it. Said you could help us out,” Clementine explained.

“Well, what do you help with?”

“Some supplies to help get us by. And then we’ll be on our way.”

“You’re not staying? There’s plenty of room here for y’all if you’d like.”

“We’re good,” Jane cut in. “We just lost… well we’ve lost.”

Tripp just nodded sagely, deciding not to pry. “I get it. Need some time for yourselves. Just know you’re always welcome here if ya ever decide to settle somewhere.”

“We’re not staying long, but if you have a place for us to crash for a couple of days that'd be great,” Clementine added in before downing a gulp from her drink. Tripp decided not to comment on it and replied to her current statement.

“Sure. Come find me when you’re ready to turn in for the night. I’ll get ya acquainted with the rest of the folks here, load y’all up with some supplies, and you can leave when y’all are ready.”

“Thanks, Tripp.”

“Anytime.” With that, he got up from his seat and left the bar, leaving Clementine and Jane and a few other patrons. The two sit in relative silence nursing their drinks before Jane breaks the silence.

“So you really don’t want to stay?”

“What? No, not really. Do you?”

“Hell no. But, after meeting you, I’ve been trying to kick the whole ‘loner, look out for myself’ schtick. You always liked staying in groups so I tried putting aside my pride for your sake.”

“Huh. That’s funny,” Clementine scoffed, “because I’ve actually grown less fond of groups. I mean, I still care about other people and I think it's nice having other people but, I’d prefer just having one other person to have your back. So far all the groups I’ve been in fall apart or…” she trailed off. She didn’t have to finish for Jane to know what she was going to say. “With you, I never felt alone, but it did feel like it was just us on our own with... And I think having a partner is fine by me.”

Jane took another swig of her drink. “Alright then. So we settle down for a bit here, get the shit we need, and then head out. Heh. I’ll drink to that. Cheers partner.”

Jane holds out her drink for Clementine to toast it with her own.

“Cheers.”

Clementine and Jane, Clementine carrying a shotgun, stood next to a lone tree, waiting by the highway for a vehicle to pass along the road. They’d been waiting there for a while hoping there would still be some working vehicle that some lucky bastard had managed to acquire. They originally thought of using the old Honda they used by the cabin they found, but they’d rather not head back in the same direction where it was. Plus, someone else had probably already stolen it, or it got overrun by walkers. Either way, it was probably easier to just get a new ride. As a truck came by fast approaching, with all her might, Jane rammed into the tree as hard as she could, knocking it down. The tree fell, startling whoever the driver was, as the truck swerved into a nearby ditch and crashed. Clementine sighs out in annoyance. “Well, let’s see what we can take from whatever dolt was inside.”

“You go on ahead.”

Clementine nods and sneaks up on the passenger of the truck, just in time to see him shoot the driver in the chest as he turns to run away. Clementine draws her own gun on him.

“Fuck… Yeah, alright…” the man mutters. Knowing he was at a loss, he drops the pistol.

“That’s good. Just keep looking forward.” Clementine orders.

“Look, I’m no threat to you, okay?”

“Tell that to the dead guy,” Clementine deadpans, picking up the discarded pistol.

“Okay. Now don’t do anything stupid. ‘Cause I’ll shoot a lot quicker than you did.”

She walks off to inspect the damage of the truck, the man following her and reeling in shock to see that she was just a kid.

“You’re a kid… Whoa, wait. Did you do that? With the tree?”

“We were trying to stop the truck.” Clementine climbs in the front seat of the truck to see if there was anything worth using, only to find an apple that she takes. The supposed hostage glances at the wreckage of the crashed truck before bringing his attention back to Clementine.

“Yeah, you stopped it, alright.”

“Tree fell slower than I thought it did,” she snarks back, taking a bite out of the apple. “Put your hands up and close your eyes.”

He does as she says, but not without complaint. “Look, I’m the victim here.”

“We’re all victims,” Clementine retorts, going through his backpack.

“Oh, so it’s okay for you to rob me?”

“This is payment. For saving you.” Clementine finds a chocolate bar in his backpack which he takes note of.

“Hey, that’s for my niece. She loves chocolate, more than anything. I promised it to her. Please,” the man begs. Clementine returns the candy bar to him at his plea, opting to leave
as she didn’t find anything else of use.

“Keep your eyes closed and count to a hundred before you go.”

“Wait, just- my family.” Clementine was starting to get annoyed at his persistence. “We were attacked and I don’t… Look, I just need to know where I am. We were driving down the 522… and that’s when we found the junkyard. They’re still there. I need to get back to them,” he pleads. Before Clementine could comment on whether or not she was going to tell him to get lost or she’ll help him out, she heard her partner calling out to her.

“Hey! What’s the hold up?” Jane comes up to them and takes note of the guy with zipties binding his hands. “Uh, who’s this?”

“This guy says he’s trying to get back to his family.”

“Please! We were at this junkyard and then we were ambushed. I need to get back to them.”

“He said they were heading down 522,” Clementine tells Jane. “You said you were driving?”

“In our van, yeah.”

“We’ll take you to the junkyard. If you let us have your van. We get you there in one piece, then we drive away.”

“What?!” Jane and the hostage exclaim simultaneously.

“Can I have a word with my- sister for a moment? Jane scoots Clementine aside away from their “hostage” and whispers to her so he couldn’t hear. “Clem. This guy isn’t our
problem. We don’t need to help him.”

“No. We don’t. But he has what we’re looking for. A ride. We agree to take him to his family in exchange for his van. And then we’ll be our way.”

The two of them briefly glance back at him, surprised he hasn’t attempted to take off. Giving in, Jane sighs and pulls apart from Clementine.

“Alright. What do you say? We get you to your family, you give us the van.” The stranger doesn’t say yes or no to the deal, Clementine opting to respond for him instead. “Look, you know it’s worth it. Let’s go.”

The three of them walk down the road, Clementine keeping her shotgun pointed at their “guest,” having given the pistol she stole from him to Jane, as per their… agreement.

“This really necessary?”

“We don’t know you, I don’t trust you, and I’m not taking any chances. So it’s safer for all of us if you’re tied up,” Clementine reasons.

“Look, I get it you’re being cautious.”

“Glad we understand each other.”

“The name’s Javier, by the way. People... call me Javi,” Javier finally introduces himself.

“Clementine.”

“Jane.”

Chapter Text

Javi, Clementine, and Jane continue down the road, when a lone walker approaches them. Clementine draws her knife and kicks it in the knee, finishing it off when it was down.

“You’re good at that,” Javi praises. Clementine doesn’t say anything, sheathing her knife.

“I actually taught her that. That knee trick has become like second nature for her,” Jane pipes up.

“That’s pretty cool. Maybe you could show me how to do that,” Javi flirts.

“Not a chance.”

Clementine audibly scoffs at their conversation, gaining Javi’s attention.

“Is she going to keep ignoring me?” he whispers to Jane.

“Give her a break. We both… just lost important people to us. She took it hard. Besides, you know how teenagers are.”

“I get it. My nephew is the exact same way.” Javier’s face falls, contorting into worry. ”God, I hope he’s okay.”

Clementine, Javier, and Jane see a herd of walkers nearby. Luckily enough, they were a good distance away from being seen by them.

“Muertos… the herd caught up with us.” The three of them sneak past the herd and avoid being spotted. The treeline of a forest is within sight of them.

“Muertos?”

“Well, what do you call ‘em?” Javi asks.

“Walkers.” Clementine and Jane answer simultaneously. Javi was a little unnerved at how in sync they were.

“What do you call the ones that run?”

“They’re all fucking walkers, okay?” Clementine snaps. Javi immediately clams up, deciding not to press further. Jane sympathetically places a hand on his shoulder. With the conversation having died down, the trio continue into the forest. After a few minutes of silence, Clementine speaks up again. “Who’s at this junkyard, anyway?”

“My brother’s kids… and his wife.”

Jane noticed the pause during his sentence but opted not to comment on it. Past experience taught her she had pressed enough buttons to last one lifetime.

“It’s impressive… surviving this long. Not sure how you did it. Just… keeping everyone together like that,” Clementine continues.

“Gabe and Mari are tough kids. They learned how to survive on their own. I'm sure you know all about that.” Neither Clementine or Jane respond to that, leaving Javi confused, but still opting to continue to have a conversation, wanting to get to know the ones that are technically holding him captive. “How ‘bout you? You must have been pretty young when this shit started,” he asks Clementine.

“I was. But I had people look out for me, too.”

“Like Jane here, right? Your… sister, was it?” Javi asked, recalling Jane mentioning wanting to talk to her ‘sister,’ but the way she hesitated in saying it, he wanted to be sure, not wanting to assume anything.

“Yep! Big sister Jane looking out for Clem for a while now,” Jane abruptly cut in, wrapping an arm around Clementine’s shoulder, giving her a noogie.

“Jane!”

Javi chuckled at their interaction, feeling a sense of envy. “Huh. It’s nice seeing siblings get along. I kind of wish I had that with my brother.”

Jane let Clementine go and turned to face Javi. “Sorry to hear that. I’m sure your brother is-”

“Quiet.” Jane is interrupted by Clementine cutting her off and the moans of the dead. They see the same herd of walkers that they passed by before again.

“Shit…” Javier grumbles.

“We can’t stay here. We know a place nearby we can stay to wait out the herd. You want to be walker chow?”

Javi awkwardly stares at them, not giving an answer. Seeing no other way to get his cooperation, Jane steps forward with her knife and cuts the bindings on his wrists.

“Here…” Jane hands him back the pistol she took from him. “Don’t make us regret this. Now come on!”

Javi follows Clementine and Jane as they lead the way through the forest to the nearby shelter. They run as fast as they can through the dense woods, soon approaching the front gates of the town that Jane mentioned. As they get closer, walkers begin to swarm the area, closing in all around them. Clementine points out to Javi to let him know to follow them there, running up to the gates as Clementine and Jane start firing at the walkers.

“Just keep going! They’ll open up!”

Contrary to Clementine’s words, the gates close right as the three reach them. Javier looks up to see a man in all denim and a full silver beard standing on top of one of the towers firing at the walkers with a machine gun from above.

“I can’t open the gate 'til you clear them out! Can't risk it!”

Clementine, Javi, and Jane continue to fire, taking down the walkers one by one, but more of them seem to just keep coming. After emptying a few rounds, Jane reloads the magazine in her gun and fires, only to find the pistol to malfunction.

“Fuck!”

Distracted by the malfunctioning pistol, a walker attacks Jane. She struggles to push it off of her, having to literally fight off dead weight and keep it from getting a hold and biting her. Clementine takes aim to shoot but hesitates, not wanting a bullet fragment to spray and hit Jane, seeing as she was using a shotgun and more likely to hit her directly. Since Javi had a smaller and more accurate firearm, he took aim and fired, blowing half of the walker’s head off. As it was weakened, Jane threw it off of her onto the ground, stomping on the rest of its head. After it was dead, they noticed Tripp opening up the gate.

“Get your ass inside! Come on, now!”

Clementine, Jane, and Javi run into the gates while Tripp covers them, firing at more walkers trying to get in. Right as Tripp closes the gate, a woman on a horse comes riding through.

“God effin' dammit, Francine,” Tripp scolds. “One of these days those doors are gonna close and your ass'll be on the other side!”

“Yeah. And when that day comes, Tripp, I promise… I’ll eat you first.” The woman, Francine, gives Tripp a wink and rides away. Tripp shakes his head and turns to the other three.

“Clementine and Jane, right? You staying a while this time?”

“No. We’re taking this guy to a junkyard once the walkers pass.”

“My family might be trapped there, hiding from some bad dudes,” Javi explains.

“Shit. I am truly sorry to hear that,” Tripp gives his condolences. “This herd rolled in pretty quick. We're hoping it's gone just as fast. So… just keep your heads down, and steer clear of trouble, you got me? There's too much going on outside the walls tonight.”

“We’ll be cool. Just need a place to ride out the herd is all.”

“Alright... I'm gonna hold you to that. And I wouldn't recommend changing your mind. If you wanna hang on to all your teeth, that is. Now head on in, I got shit to do.” Tripp walks away and leaves the trio to their own devices to take care of business around Prescott.

“Well… welcome to Prescott,” introduces Clementine. Her and Jane lead Javi through the town. “It's a pretty cool place, actually. Built from an old airstrip, I guess. The people, on the other hand... they're not my favorite. Usually, we’re in and out as quick as we can manage. Not exactly an option this time, though…”

“No, no. This place is actually kind of charming. It's got...walls all the way around, and... Well, that...thing…” Javi gestures to a water tower near some windmills.

“It has its perks,” Jane adds in. Javi stops and turns around to watch someone closing the inner gates of Prescott, feeling a sense of worry and noticeably distraught, catching Jane and Clementine’s attention.

“Hey, Javi. What’s- what’s up?”

“My family… They’re still out there…”

“I’m sure they’ll be fine. They have a procedure for things like this, right?” Jane assumes.

“Hopefully.”

Jane eyes the bar of the town and leads Javi over. “This way. We need to see a guy about some bullets.”

As they enter the bar, Javier stares at it in awe, overcome with nostalgia. “Jeez. I haven't been in a place like this since... well, you know. It's just like the old days.”

Clementine notices a man in another room, less of a room and more of the top half of a plane, in the side of the bar and nudges Jane in the arm to get her attention. She looks over to where Clementine was looking and gives her a nod. “Listen, we need to take care of something. Hang tight,” Clementine dismisses, walking off with Jane in tow.

“Wait, wait. What should I do?”

“Make some friends?” Jane suggests. Her and Clementine leave Javito himself and enter the room and confront the man sitting in a chair sipping on a whiskey. He looks up from his drink upon seeing the two approach.

“Jane and Clementine,” he greets with laughter in his voice.

“Eli.”

“Heh heh. What can I do for you gals this time?”

“I think you know what we want.”

“You traded Jane and I defective bullets. It almost got her killed!” Clementine snapped.

“Really? That don’t sound like the goods I usually trade. Depending on what y’all gave me in return.”

“We traded you a whole crate of working batteries!”

“Just give us what we’re owed, asshole.”

Jane places a hand on Clementine’s shoulder to hold her back as she growls at him. In truth, she wanted to tear him a new one just as much as Clementine did, but they couldn’t lose it on him just yet.

“Unless you have something else to trade I’m going to have to say no. A deal is a deal.”

“How about you give us back the batteries then?” Jane demanded.

Eli merely shrugs and picks up his glass again to take another sip of his alcohol. Clementine and Jane are miffed at his dismissiveness and keep demanding actual working bullets, or at least trade back the batteries they gave him. After his final refusal, Clementine gets fed up with his stubborn bullshit.

“Are you going to give us something to work with or what, asshole?”

“Why should I? I already told you, a deal is a deal. And it’s done,” Eli responded stubbornly. Their argument reached the ears of Javi as he stepped into the room and joined in on the “conversation.”

“What’s going on?”

“This guy ripped us off. We traded him a crate of working batteries and he gave us a box of shitty bullets, that won’t fire! Clem and I could’ve been killed!”

“Oh yeah? And who the fuck are you?”

Jane draws her pistol on him, Clementine staring him down with her arms crossed as Javi begins to slightly panic. “He knows the bullets don’t work. Listen to him. He’s not even nervous.” To prove a point, she pulls the trigger as the gun doesn’t fire only shooting a blank. “I could’ve died because of his bullets.”

“Un-fucking-believable,” Eli grumbles, drawing his knife. He goes to attack Clememtine, but Javi blocks him as the knife cuts his face. Javier grabs Eli's arm and knees him in the stomach, throwing him into the chair.

“Hey, listen… Let's all cool down, huh? You were acting crazy... I was, too. We just...got a little outta hand, that's all,” Eli begins to panic.

“Just give us what we’re owed!” Clementine and Jane yell simultaneously.

“Jesus... You gotta get her under control, man!” he says towards Javi. “This ain't no way to do business.”

Javi glares at him and crosses his arms, not wanting to get in the way and speak over Clementine and Jane.

“You better start giving us the answers we like. We had a deal!” Jane raises the gun and points it at Eli to threaten him.

“Alright-- hey-- okay-- alright, so, hey, we'll trade back. I'll find some batteries.”

“I don't need batteries. What I need are bullets that won't get me kill--” The gun fires and actually goes off this time and kills Eli as the bullet went through his head. Jane, Javi, and Clementine look on in horror.

“Oh, no… oh no!”

“Drop the gun! Right now!” They hear Conrad’s voice entering the room.

“Say he attacked you that he was going for his gun,” Clementine whispers.

“Eli attacked Clem. I only shot-”

“Shut it! You've done enough talking. Drop it,” Conrad orders again. Jane drops the gun and Tripp enters the room.

“There’s a herd out there, and you're firing off a fucking-” he’s cut off as he sees Eli sitting dead in the chair with a bullet through his skull. “What the fuck happened here?”

“He attacked first, okay? It was self-defense.”

“Enough from you. Did she really have to shoot?” Tripp asks, turning towards Javier. Javi looks at Clementine and Jane’s pleading faces filled with panic.

“Look at my eye man. Of course she’s telling the truth. The guy ripped them off, reached for his gun, and would’ve shot me if she hadn’t stopped him.”

“See? You happy now?”

“Goddamn it…” Tripp groans. “I’m putting all of you under lock and key until I figure out what to do with you.”

“Whoa…”

“Hey, what? Are you for real?”

“As real as it gets. Now move.” Tripp leads Javi, Clementine, and Jane out of the bar and to a cage out somewhere within the town, locking them in, still seething mad.

“I oughta punch your fucking lights out. All of ya. But… Eli was a grade-A certified dipshit. I'll even have someone come take a look at that cut.” Tripp leaves the cage and goes off to find the medic.

“Hey, thanks for having my back, back there.”

“No problem.”

“I mean it.” Clementine and Jane resign themselves to the floor and lie down, Clementine resting over Jane’s lap. The two of them barely pay attention to Javi as he busies himself chatting with Prescott’s medic, Eleanor. Soon enough, Clementine is fast asleep and Jane gets up and walks over to talk to Javi after Eleanor leaves.

“Never thought she had it in her.”

“Yeah, she’s… she’s something.”

“All things considered, I still trust Tripp more than I trust her.”

“You’re right. Tripp's got more muscle, just in case. We'll wait and get a ride with him,” Javi reasoned. He looked past Jane’s shoulder to see Clementine on the floor out like a light. “Guess we should take a page out of her book and get some sleep, huh?”

“Yeah, it’s, it’s been a long day.”

Javier gets the lamp inside their cage and turns it off, preparing to turn in for the night and wait til Tripp is ready to give them a ride to the junkyard.

“Jane?” he whispers.

“Huh?”

“So, you and Clementine. Where are your parents?”

“Ha. Where are anyone’s parents?” Jane scoffs.

“Right, right. Sorry. Uh, I have to admit, for sisters you two have quite the age gap between each other. Like, how old are you two?”

“Didn’t your mother ever tell you not ask a woman her age?” Jane teases him.

“Oh! Sorry, I didn't mean-”

“I’m just fucking with you,” she laughs, Javi still trying to recover from a mini-heart attack. “Not like anyone can keep track of birthdays anymore, but she’s around thirteen and I’m… I don’t know, maybe 24,” she answers firmly, trying not to give away they aren’t actually related, however obvious it might be to him. They might not be related by blood, but they are family if the last two years they spent together is anything to go by.

“Huh. Almost ten year age gap between siblings. That’s new,” Javi mentions plainly, not knowing what else to say about that.

“Right. Goodnight, Javier.”

“Uh, goodnight.”

Clementine had just finished checking the perimeter of Howe’s, and returned inside the building of the actual hardware store with AJ in her arms. Jane had told her earlier that she wasn’t feeling well and left to take a nap. Clementine went to her room to check up on her, stopping just outside of her door.

“If… you’re not feeling well I can bring you something…” The sound of a rope swinging and a strangled choking noise is heard on the other side of the door. Slowly, she opens the door. “Oh, my god!”

A noose around Jane’s neck as she hangs from the ceiling, not dead yet, but still gasping for air. Clementine gets a sudden burst of adrenaline from fear and rushes to set AJ carefully down somewhere. Once he was set down, she frantically searches around the room for something to stand on, vaguely aware of Jane trying to say something.

“D...don…”

Clementine ignores what she tried to say, focusing on trying to get her down and spots a chair that she can use. She rushes over to the chair and pushes it over next to Jane, setting it against her leg. Clementine climbs atop the chair and up Jane’s back, drawing her knife and works at cutting the rope.

“Clem- don’t…”

“I got it!” The rope snaps, Jane collapses to the floor with Clementine falling on top of her as she put her full body weight onto her to cut the rope. Jane is left heaving and coughing her lungs out as oxygen tries to return to them. After a few moments, her breathing returns to normal, but still looks down at the floor, refusing to face Clementine, knowing she’s only going to be met with a hurt look in her eye.

“Why… why did you do this?”

Jane stays quiet and nods her head towards a small, white, stick-shaped piece of plastic. Clementine looks between Jane and the piece of plastic before picking it up. At the end of the stick is a pink plus sign, Clementine gasping in shock and looking back to Jane for confirmation.

“Clem… I’m pregnant.”

Clementine and Jane sat in their room in the dark with AJ asleep in Clem’s arms, neither having said a word to each other for the past three hours. The tension between them was starting to become suffocating.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

Things had been so quiet and tense between the two that Jane almost didn’t catch what she said.

“Huh?”

“Why- why didn’t you tell me you were pregnant?” Clementine repeated.

“I don’t know,” Jane sighed, “I thought I wouldn’t have needed to because…”

“Because you were going to kill yourself.” There was no malice to her tone or any hint of accusation. It was just a statement of fact.

“Yeah.”

“But why? I don’t understand. I-”

“God, Clem,” Jane’s voice sounded strained as if she were holding back a sob. “Do you really think it’s possible to raise a kid in this world? And we saw what happened to Rebecca. I give birth to a kid and then what? I die and you’re left on your own to raise two babies? I know you’re more than capable of handling yourself, more so than any kid your age should be able, but you’re still a kid! Add having to take care of two babies on top of that? Things might be fine now , but give it a few months and I’ll just slow you down. I didn’t want to do that to you. And if I were to go out, I always wanted to do it on my own terms.”

“I had a friend once who lived after having a baby,” Clementine retorted.

“Where is she now?”

“I don’t know. I got separated from her.”

“What about the kid?”

Clementine’s silence and lack of an answer gives all Jane needs to know. She sighs exhaustedly, burying her face into her hands choking back a sob, feeling as if her fate is sealed to an impending doom. A second later, Jane breaks down into tears, Clementine sitting in silence and letting her grieve, despite wanting to believe that Jane could have a baby in this world and both of them live through it.

Back in Tripp’s van, Clementine glances down at the tattoo marked “AJ” on her hand, lost in thought until she feels Jane nudge her in the shoulder.

“Hey, kiddo. What’cha thinking about?”

“That day,” she gestures towards the tattoo on her hand.

“Oh…”

“Actually, can I get another? One of Jaime.”

Jane pulls the brim of her cap down over her eyes, to Clementine’s annoyance.

“When we have time.”

“Clem. Jane. We almost there? Guys?” Javi pulls the two out of their conversation, Clementine looking out the window of the van they drove.

“Yeah. We’re close.”

“Gotta say,” Tripp speaks up, “I hope your people are safe and sound. Eleanor asked me before we left to make sure of it.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yes, sir. So that's what I'm gonna do. Though why she went to bat for you, I've got no idea. I mean, she hardly even knows you. And you don't know her, for that matter. Makes a guy wonder, you know?”

“Hey, I didn't ask her to. She did that all on her own,” Javi defends.

“Yeah, well, I guess she's got her reasons for things, but I never can quite figure out what they are.”

The group reach the junkyard and step out of the van, surveying the area and seeing it littered with walker corpses.

“Jesus, must’ve been hundreds of them,” Clementine points out.

“Kate’s good in a crisis-- she’d no how to get to shelter.”

“What’s that?” Jane points towards a device on the ground a few inches away from a downed walker. Javi picks up a hammer nearby and smashes it on the walker to make sure it was actually dead before picking up the discarded device. Upon closer inspection, he realizes it’s his niece’s cassette.

“Mariana’s tape player… Mariana! Mariana, are you here?”

A car door opens and Mariana gets out of it and runs towards Javi.

“Javi!”

“Oh my god!” The two of them embrace in a hug, Javi relieved to see his niece okay. “You’re safe… I can’t believe it!”

“You told me where to hide; I just listened to what you said. "Lock yourself in and don't come out, not even once it's quiet." It kept running through my head, like on a loop. I don't even know how long I was in there…”

“I’m so sorry I left you behind. I’ve been trying to get back here this whole time,” Javi cries, pulling apart from the hug.

“You don’t have to be sorry… You said you’d come back, and you did.”

“Kate and your brother- where are they?” Javi asks frantically.

“We got pulled apart when that huge bunch of muertos showed up. Kate yelled that they were gonna try to make it back to the van.”

“Then that’s where we’re headed.”

“Let’s go find your brother, sweetheart,” Tripp says. The group wanders around the junkyard for a bit until they eventually find Javi’s van in bad shape with the hood popped and smoke coming out from under it and the rest of it totalled.

“Oh, no… No…” Javi panics. He runs over to the van to see if Kate or Gabe were still inside. “No sign of ‘em. They must’ve seen it like this, then gone someplace else to hide,” he tries to reason, more to himself than the others. They hear the sound of a motor revving, realizing that they might still be alive.

“Kate…”

Javi runs to the other end of the junkyard followed by the rest of the group to where the sound of the motor is coming from and finds Kate and Gabe trying to start a truck while being trapped by a few walkers surrounding them. The group starts taking out the remaining walkers one-by-one, making their way towards the truck to rescue Kate. With all four of them together, they make short work of the walkers, as Kate is able to close the door on the head of the last of them.

Jane and Clementine stand back and watch as Javi reunites with the rest of his family. Maybe it was just that he was glad that she was alive or the years that they spent together on the road, or maybe both, but in the moment, Javier embraces Kate in a kiss. Jane and Clementine side-eye each other, remembering that Javi mentioned that she was his brother’s wife, or maybe he was out of the picture. They decide not to dwell on it, not forgetting that he owed them a ride.

“Clem. This guy still owes us, remember?” Jane whispers to Clementine.

“I know. We’ll remind him about that but, we’re not out of the woods yet. Let’s get out of here first.”

“Hate to break up the happy reunion here, but-” Jane announces to the group.

“We should be getting back. Don’t wanna push our luck.

“Who are they?” Kate asks.

“Clementine and Jane. They’re… friends,” Javi introduces.

“Hi there.”

“Glad we could help.”

“Well, we’re very grateful to you. Really,” Kate thanks.

With everyone alive, the group leave the junkyard and start making their way back to Tripp’s van to head back to Prescott. Clementine and Jane hang behind as Javi and Mariana have their own conversation. Clementine catches up to Javi for a second to remind him of their deal.

“When we get back to Prescott, you still owe us a ride. We haven’t forgotten about our deal. We know it’s not the easiest thing to find but-”

“Cool.” Mariana finds her earphones to her tape player on the ground. Javier takes her tape player out of his pocket and hands it over to her, with the brightest grin on her face.

“Thanks.” Within the blink of an eye, Mariana is suddenly shot in the head, collapsing to the ground.

“Mari!”

A barrage of bullets is fired from the treeline, resulting in the others to take cover. They hear the shouts of one of the shooters, yelling something about being “thieves.” Amidst the panic, Kate runs out to try and get Mariana but gets shot in the abdomen, prompting Gabe to run to her. Javi returns fire, killing one of the shooters. Gabe picks up Mariana and helps Kate get back to cover behind Tripp’s van with everyone else.

“She just…”

“I know, Javi, and there’ll be time for that, but not right now," Tripp scolds. "Kate needs a doctor, which means we gotta go. We got a window here, man. We gotta get a move on before they start shooting again!”

“Go with Tripp. Me and Jane will finish this.”

“Are you fucking nuts?” Tripp balks, “we all gotta get the fuck outta here, right now!”

“They already killed one of you-- if we don't stop them, they're gonna come after your family again,” Clementine retorts.

“We’ll be fine. Me and Clem have each other’s backs. Javi, you need to leave now!”

“Goddamn it… Javi! Come on!”

“I hope you two know what you’re doing.”

“We’ll hold them off. Go.” Everyone but Clementine and Jane get into Tripp’s van and leave, the former staying behind cover as the bullets keep coming down. Clementine returns fire, when one of the shooters throws a flashbang grenade. Jane runs over and tackles Clementine out of the way of the grenade just before it goes off, leaving a ringing in their ears and everything suddenly going to black.

Chapter Text

Jane climbed up the stairs of the cabin carrying AJ, resting him atop her partially swollen stomach. Normally, Clementine would be watching him, not that Jane minded, but she’s been in bed all day. As she got to their room she knocked on the door.

“Hey, kiddo. You okay? You haven’t gotten out of bed at all today.”

No response except for the sound of faint groaning. Not a groan associated with the dead, but it more sounded like the groans of an angsty teenager that wanted their parents to go away so they could sleep in.

“I’m coming in.” She turns to AJ resting on her hip. “Teenagers, am I right?”

“Beeg.”

Jane smiles at him and turns the knob, opening the door and finds Clementine lying in bed curled into the fetal position. She sets AJ on the floor and lets him toddle around the room, sitting down on the bed next to Clementine.

“Hey, you. Are you okay?”

Clementine glumly nods her head no, still not meeting Jane’s gaze.

“Woke up with a bad headache. And this sharp pain in my stomach.”

“Any bites?” she couldn’t help but ask. She wanted to rule out the worst possible scenario first just to be sure.

“No bites. This… has happened before. But usually it’s not this bad,” Clementine explains.

“Well 'this' is my first time seeing this. How long has this been happening? And what’s this?” she air quotes. Clementine suddenly feels flustered and shakes her head.

“For awhile now. I’ll be fine in about a few days.”

“A few days?” Jane raises an eyebrow.

Shit.

“Uh, nevermind. Forget what I said.”

“Clem. I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s going on?”

“I doubt you could help me anyways,” Clementine stubbornly replies. At that moment, AJ toddles over and bumps into Jane’s leg. She picks him up from underneath his arms and places him in front of Clementine’s face, lightly shaking him in a wiggly motion and making a squeaky voice.

“Come on Clem. Jane just wants to help you. And she can’t do that if you don’t let her. I need my big sister back on her feet. Please. Do it for goofball.”

Not believing it would actually work, it actually gets Clementine to smile a bit, taking AJ from Jane and sitting up on the bed. Clementine takes in a deep breath and exhales.

“I’ve been... bleeding…”

“Bleeding?”

“I’ve traveled with other women before, and they all had it but, what is it? Why does it-”

Jane tried connecting the dots herself to figure out what Clementine was talking about not taking long for it to click. Her face cycling through a mixture of emotions from confusion, realization, to pity.

“Ohhh. Aw, I’m sorry Clem. Don’t worry about it. It’s totally normal. It just means you’re growing up,” Jane assures. “I know it’s not fun, but you’ll be fine.”

“How? I’m bleeding,” she emphasizes on the bleeding part.

“It’s supposed to happen. It’s called a period. Or, if you want to be a technical nerd about it, menstrual cycle.”

“A- a what?”

“It happens to people with a uterus once they hit puberty. Once a month you’ll start bleeding… for a few days or a week every month.”

“This is supposed to happen every month?!” Clementine asks exasperated.

“Pretty much.”

“For how long?”

“Til you're old and wrinkly I guess,” Jane admits nonchalantly. “Or at least around that age.”

“But why does it happen?”

Jane starts scratching the back of her neck suddenly feeling uncomfortable. Not sure if she was mentally or physically capable of having this conversation. She remembered having her first period, but it wasn’t like she could tell her mother about it. Then Jaime got hers and she had to explain it to her, but it's been ages since then. She did have the conversation of being sexually assaulted by Troy, but this felt different for some reason. Maybe it’s because sex ed isn’t something talked about often and for some reason it’s always made awkward. It’s not like she herself had a reliable sex ed in school. The most they would talk about was wearing condoms and abstinence and that was about it.

“You know, if I had a biology or health textbook, maybe we could go over it together and I’d tell you more. Just know that you’ll be fine. Maybe we can find something to take care of it.”

Clementine let out a deep breath, her headache still present but faded to a dull, suddenly feeling better. “Thanks, Jane.”

“Anytime kiddo.”

Jane wakes up feeling slightly disoriented, a dull ringing in her ears. Shaking her head to clear her vision, she sees a walker crawling towards her. Before it could get to her, Clementine shoots it in the head. Jane looks up to see Clementine standing over her with her hand extended. Jane takes it and pulls herself up.

“Thanks.”

After dusting themselves off, they turn to look at Mariana's corpse. They may not have known the kid, but they still felt bad for her. She was so young and gone too soon.

“We should bury her,” Clementine speaks up.

“What? Uh-”

“Come on, Jane. It’s the least we can do,” she says somberly. She crosses her arms and stares off at nothing in particular. “...Back when Lee was taking care of me, we ended up at this old house in Savannah while trying to find my parents… He found this boy in the attic, starved to death. He put him down and buried him in the backyard. Lee didn’t even know him but he still gave the boy a burial. He didn’t have to.

Jane sighed pensively and looked down at Mariana.

“Alright. We’ll bury her. It’s the least we can do for her family,” Jane gives in.

Clementine unfolds her arms. “I already dug a grave for her. This way.”

Jane bends down and picks up Mariana off the ground, following Clementine up the hill a few feet in front of the junkyard. Jane looks down at the massive person-sized hole in the ground, wondering how long she had been out for Clementine to dig a hole that big. Gently, she sets Mariana down in the grave and crosses her arms over her chest. She steps out of the hole and begins to fill it with dirt from the pile set aside to dig it out. It doesn’t take her long, but after a while, Mariana is completely buried.

“Should we say something?” Jane asks.

Clementine looks down at the mound of dirt in the ground, feeling a twinge in her chest.

“No. I think we’ve done enough,” Clementine answers dourly.

The two of them jump at the sound of a walker groaning and draw their pistols. They turn around to see nothing around, but notice the noise coming from behind a nearby tire. They walk over to the noise and find the walker, sitting propped up against the tire, not even attempting to get up, or possibly unable to. Jane draws her pistol and shoots it in the head, killing it permanently. With its head unmoving and lolling to the side, it exposes its neck, showing off a marking which the two take notice of.

“Oh no.”

“You see it too, huh?”

“Jane, didn’t those other guys have it too?”

“Yeah.”

Clementine turns her head and finds that they left behind one of their cars. At least they got what they were looking for to begin with. And, they had a way to catch up with The New Frontier and warn Prescott.

“Listen, Jane. While you were out, they got away. I’m pretty sure they’re heading back to Prescott to get even with Javi and his family.”

“You want to go back and warn them,” Jane stated matter-of-factly. It wasn’t accusatory nor was it a question.

“Is that a problem?”

“Selfishly, we don’t have to warn them. Also selfishly, Prescott burns then where else are we supposed to make pit stops when we need supplies.” She gives Clementine a smile and lightly punches her in the arm. “Come on, let’s go.”

They get in the car the New Frontier left behind, Clementine taking the driver’s seat, and leave the junkyard like a bat out of hell, speeding down the road back towards Prescott.

”Clem?” Javier is standing with Gabe in front of the gates of Prescott when he sees Clementine driving up to them along with several vehicles following approaching Prescott.

“Shit…” he grumbles.

“Get inside! Now!” Tripp’s voice booms from the watchtower. Javi and Gabe run back inside with Clementine and Jane following them. Javi dismisses Gabe to be by Kate in case they need to leave while Clementine and Jane follow Javi on top of the wall with Tripp and Conrad.

“I thought you kicked their asses out,” Conrad complains.

“Hey, we didn’t have to come back to warn you guys,” Clementine retorts.

“Some warning…”

The vehicles reach Prescott, some of their trucks filled with walkers. A bald guy with a skunk-like beard steps out of one of the trucks. “Knock, knock! Anyone home?”

“Badger…” Jane whispers to Clementine.

“Shh.”

Tripp looks down at Badger, remembering him from the junkyard, seeing the giant mark on his neck. “These are those freaks that brand themselves.”

Another guy wearing a brown bomber jacket and a beanie walks up next to Badger. “I wish we hadn't had to come all the way out here, but unfortunately… Badger here says you attacked his men. He says you fired on them. Took out a lot of our people,” he says in a hick accent.

“Bullshit! They shot first! They killed my niece! Shot a woman in cold blood!” Javi responds furiously.

“How many of my friends died because of you, huh!” Badger counters.

“Sounds like a bunch of he-said, she-said shit to me.”

“What the fuck do you want? An apology?” Tripp asks sarcastically.

“What I really want is for my dead buddies to be alive again. But I don’t think that’s too likely is it?” Badger shouts furiously.

“He needs to come with us. Answer to justice, accept his punishment. Men gotta have laws-- otherwise, we’re no better than the animals,” the beanie answers, trying to be diplomatic.

“Go fuck yourselves. You’re not getting shit from us,” Javier spat.

“That gate ain’t bulletproof,” Badger retorted. “Don’t make me prove it.”

“Fact of the matter is,” the beanied-man cuts in, still trying to keep things from escalating, “you stole from us… you killed some of us. Give it up now, and get down here.”

“I think they need a little… incentive,” Badger goads, nodding his head towards another New Frontier member who brings out a hostage.

“Francine!” Conrad calls out. A different New Frontier soldier holds up a pair of shears to one of Francine’s fingers.

“You hurt her, I’ll kill you!”

“Whoa… you didn’t tell me you had a hostage,” beanie says to Badger now sounding uneasy.

“There’s no reason this has to get ugly. But we ain’t leaving without what we came for…”

“She’s innocent in this-- you don’t have to drag her into our fight,” Javier tries to reason.

“I don’t have to-- but I kinda want to.” Badger nods to the New Frontier soldier, and they cut off one of Francine’s fingers, causing her to cry out in agony.

“Francine!" Conrad wails. "Oh, my god! Oh my god, please!”

“Now get your ass down here, or I cut off the rest of ‘em!”

Conrad starts begging Javier to go down so that they could save Francine, despite Tripp’s protest and how everyone else felt.

“Nobody’s giving in to them!”

“We should start shooting,” Clementine mentions. Jane draws her pistol just in case gunfire does breakout.

“No fuckin’ way! He’ll kill Francine!”

“He might kill her anyway, Conrad. We gotta risk it,” Tripp counters.

“Nuh-uh, no way- we do not open fire while she’s down there!” Conrad continues to protest.

“Hello?” Badger calls out, to remind them that he was still waiting.

“Look-- I’m sure we can work this out without anyone else getting hurt,” Javier calls down.

“Not interested in you trying to fuckin’ stall. I’m gonna count from five. You know what happens at zero. Five. Four. Three. Two. One.”

“I’m coming down!”

“Thank you,” Conrad breathes out in relief.

“I don’t know, man,” Tripp doubts. Javi walks down the top of the wall to New Frontier. The rest of them watch as Javier attempts to negotiate with them. With everyone else’s attention occupied, Clementine takes the opportunity to sneak away, Jane being the only one to notice.

“Clem. Clem?! Where are you going?” she whisper-shouts. Clementine is already at the bottom of the wall before Jane can say anything further. She peeks her head out from behind the gate of Prescott watching Javi’s confrontation with the New Frontier unfurl, as a New Frontier soldier points a gun at Javi’s head.

Clementine watches as Javi tries to fight back and fails. She aims her gun at the soldier holding the one to Javi and shoots her in the chest.

“The fuck?!” Badger shouts. Using the temporary distraction, Javi grabs the pair of shears dropped on the ground and stabs another New Frontier soldier in the throat, pushing him into Badger.

“Francine! Run!”

Javier and Francine both use the chaos to make a run for it, but Francine is too late as she gets shot in the back by Badger.

“Francine!” Conrad shouts, opening fire on the rest of the New Frontier members. The rest of the group of Prescott join in and shoot at New Frontier, causing them to retreat their trucks. They stop firing as they notice one of the trucks heading towards the gate at full speed.

“Jesus Christ!” Tripp exclaims.

The truck rams the gate and falls on its side, releasing all the walkers into Prescott, and knocks everyone off. Clementine opens her eyes to see a can of tear gas being thrown over into the town and finds herself separated from Jane after being knocked off the gate.

“Jane?” She coughs, inhaling the fumes of the tear gas. She wanders around Prescott, looking for her pseudo-sister, avoiding walkers along the way. Clementine felt a bit of panic building up inside her, an all too familiar memory is brought to her mind. The smoke biting at her throat, reminiscent of the pelting ice cold snow biting at her skin, looking for her people while having her vision completely obscured, by the gas here in Prescott, and the blizzard at the gas station, with walkers all around her. She kicks a walker in the knee with its back turned to her and stabs in the head after it falls, choking on smoke and coughing into her forearm. She hears the sound of tires screeching and looks up to see headlights of a van swerving to the side. The door of it opens to reveal Jane with Conrad behind her, Tripp in the driver’s seat with the windows rolled down.

“Get in!” he yells.

Clementine wastes no time and sprints into the van, closing the door as Tripp speeds off.

“Miss me, kiddo?”

“You asshole.” Clementine slugs Jane in the arm. Jane lightly chuckles feeling it was well-deserved. The two sit in the back of Tripp’s truck as he runs over a walker, stopping briefly next to another truck that Javi, his family, and Eleanor were driving.

“Head east, we'll catch up!”

Javi and his family drive off, leaving Prescott behind. Clementine, Jane, Conrad, and Tripp drive away shortly afterward and follow after them. Clementine looks out the back windshield of the van to see the carnage of Prescott's citizens being massacred by walkers and New Frontier soldiers alike, as they leave it all behind.

Tripp and Eleanor continued driving down the road long after they had left Prescott behind, wanting to put as much distance between them and New Frontier as possible .

“Are they following us?” Eleanor asks. Javier looks in the rearview mirror only to see Tripp’s van.

“Just the other car. Looks like we're okay.”

Eleanor and Tripp pull over, everyone but Kate due to her injury file out of the vehicles.

“Eleanor. Thank god.” Eleanor and Tripp hug, glad to see the other as one of the remaining Prescott members still alive.

“I can't believe it. All of our friends. All those people…” Eleanor looks over to her friend who had not only lost his home, but the love of his life, staring back the way they came from. “Oh, Conrad.”

Jane and Clementine only watch as Javier and Conrad soon get into a pissing match on how it’s Javi’s fault about the fall of Prescott, as Eleanor and Tripp try to put out the flames

“All I know is, if it wasn't for him-” Conrad pokes Javi in the chest, stopping as he hears the sound of a gun being cocked. He turns his head toward Gabe who has a pistol pointed at Conrad.

“Back the fuck off. Now. Just back away,” Gabe threatens.

“Take it easy, son.”

“Gabriel! Put it away! Now!” Javi commands.

“He’s gonna hurt you. No way.”

“Just do it already! I don't even care anymore,” Conrad grumbles.

“Just put it down, Gabe,” Clementine coaxes.

“Gabe... Don’t make me repeat myself.”

Gabe looks between his uncle and Conrad before finally lowering the gun. “Don't touch my uncle again.” Gabe storms off in frustration muttering “Fuck me...” as he runs away.

“Gabe!”

“Let him go. He just needs to cool off,” Clementine suggests to Javi. After Gabe leaves, the rest of the group watch as Conrad breaks down sitting against the truck and crying. They listen to his pleas to go back and bury Francine, Tripp doing his best to comfort his long time friend, until Eleanor mentions they’re no safer in the middle of the road than they were at Prescott.

“What about Richmond? I've heard there's a community there. If it's true, they'll have food... walls... Maybe even a hospital,” Clementine mentions.

As Conrad pulls himself together after some encouragement from Javi and Tripp, Clementine breaks away to go talk to Gabe. Jane watches her, a smile on her face, glad to see that Clementine has someone her own age that she can talk to. She hasn’t had that in awhile. Not since Sarah… Jane chuckles as she only catches the tail end of their conversation.

“I didn't know anyone could point a gun at someone and still look like a huge dork.”

“Oh, come on,” Gabe chuckles.

Jane is pulled away from their conversation as Javi and Eleanor walk up next to her.

“Huh. Maybe they'll hit it off,” Eleanor speaks up.

“Hope so. Might be good for them both. They need someone their own age they can talk to,” Javi seconds the notion. “What do you think, Jane?”

Jane watches the two a little longer before she pulls herself out of her thoughts. “Yeah... I’m just glad there’s another kid around she can talk to again.”

Javier walks over to the two teens and cuts their conversation short to motion them to get in the car. “Come on, guys. We've got a long drive ahead of us.”

Conrad and Tripp get back in Tripp’s van, while Javi and his family, Jane, and Clementine get into the car with Eleanor, Jane, Clementine, and Gabe getting in the trunk. Jane almost fell asleep immediately, while Javi was attempting to comfort Kate in the back seat, and Gabe and Clementine struck up a conversation of their own.

“I’m sorry about your sister,” Clementine begins. “If it’s any consolation, we buried her after you left.”

“Thanks. I appreciate that. Really,” Gabe chokes out. “You know, despite being the older brother, sometimes it felt like she was the more mature one.” Gabe can’t help but slightly chuckle, coming out more as a dry, tired laugh.

“Well, sometimes being siblings is like that. There are times when the older one can be kind of childish. Jane and I are like that sometimes.” Clementine can’t help but think of when Jane and Kenny were the only adults left in her life and both of them were both bickering like children and she had to intervene, despite neither of them listening to her anyway.

“I, uh, I don’t mean to sound like an asshole, but you’re lucky you still have your sister still with you. Seriously,” Gabe says genuinely. “I’m going to miss her. I feel like I should’ve been a better brother, and now…” Gabe is almost on the verge of crying.

“I’m sure she would’ve been proud to call you her brother. And she’s still with you, you know.”

“Yeah.” Their talk ends there, deciding to try to get some sleep as Eleanor and Tripp continue to drive down the road to Richmond, mainly in hopes of getting medical help for Kate, and find a new place to stay.

Eleanor’s car drives through an abandoned gas station, Tripp standing under an overpass and signaling for Eleanor to stop. Eleanor pulls to a stop as Tripp walks to the driver’s side of the car window.

“Great. What now?” Eleanor complains.

“I've got some bad news,” Tripp answers.

Gabe, Clementine, and Javi get out of the car, Jane electing to hang in the car with Kate, moving from the trunk to the back seat. Tripp explains to the group of too many cars in the way to drive through. Once the boys leave to take care of the problem, Kate sits up in her seat and tries to talk to Jane, despite being in pain from getting shot in the spleen.
“So, Jane was it?” Kate asks.

“Uh, yeah…”

“You and Clementine. What exactly is your relationship to each other, again? I don’t think I caught that. Is she your niece or something? Sorry if I’m prying, you don’t have to answer.”

“Are you actually curious or you just making small talk?” Jane can’t help but laugh at Kate’s question.

“Uh…”

“Don’t worry about it. Your friend Javi, right? He already asked the same question. She’s my sister.”

“Really?” Eleanor interrupts. “I’ve never met anyone who had a sibling at least twice their age.”

“Well, now you have,” Jane replied dryly.

“Must’ve been hard trying to take care of you and your little sister in this world and trying to survive,” Kate redirects the conversation. Jane suddenly can’t help but think of the sister she was born with, how it was hard trying to get by. How she let her down and left her for dead. When she ran into Clementine almost two years ago, she felt like it was a chance to redeem herself as a sister. She decided to not mention Jaime’s untimely demise and went along with Kate’s musing.

“...we made it work.”

Javi cuts them short as he walks up next to the car to give Eleanor a head’s up.

“We good?” Eleanor asks.

“Be ready to move once the wreck is clear, we should be right behind you.”

“Will do.”

As the car is moved out of the way, walkers approach them being drawn by the noise of the tireless wheels scraping against the ground.

“Get the walkers!” Tripp yells.

“Javi!” Kate cries out.

Gabe, Clementine, and Conrad join in and kill the approaching walkers. A walker tries to get into the car where Kate was sitting. Javi runs over to the other side of the car window and kills it, shooting at the ones trying to get into the car over the hood. Javi soon realized there were too many walkers for all of them to deal with.

“Eleanor, now! Go, go, go! Just drive! Get her to Richmond! We're right behind you!” Javier ordered.

Eleanor drives off through the herd with Kate and Jane in the backseat protesting.

“Javi!”

“Clem!”

Eleanor speeds off towards Richmond, leaving the men, Gabe, and Clementine behind with the walkers.

“Shit…” Jane grumbles.

Eleanor looks at Jane through the rearview mirror giving Jane a look of sympathy even though she couldn’t see it. “Don’t worry. They’ll catch up with us. We’ll see the others again soon.”

“I know…”

Kate leans back and groans trying to sit up against the side of the car door, holding her side in pain. “Hey, Clementine seems like a pretty tough kid. I’m sure she can handle herself,” Kate tries to comfort.

“That’s not what I’m worried about,” Jane mutters.

The three of them continue to drive in relative silence towards Richmond with Eleanor occasionally asking Jane how Kate is doing every now and then. Jane stares out the window as Eleanor drives by, thinking about Clementine and hoping she was okay. Eventually the scenery passing by quickly lulls Jane to sleep as she dozes off.

Tripp, Conrad, Javier, Gabe, and Clementine walk through a train tunnel with a new addition to their group. A man that called himself Jesus. Clementine had never been religious growing up, but seeing how the long haired man with a beard to rival Tripp’s had gone by the name, she couldn’t help but wonder. She pushed her beliefs aside and focused on the troubling information Jesus gave moments after the group had met him after escaping the herd.

The New Frontier had taken over Richmond. And Jane was heading that way.

With that information, she hoped they were able to catch up with Eleanor before they made it to Richmond so she could tell Jane the news and that they’d be able to bounce.

She had to tell someone that she had to leave and couldn’t be in Richmond with the New Frontier having taken over. There was no way she could tell Tripp or Prescott. She had just met Jesus, and Gabe… it’d feel like she broke his trust after he told her about Mariana. That meant the only person she could take a gamble on trusting was Javi. He did have their back back at Prescott when Jane shot Eli. But how far did that extend?

Clementine decided to bite the bullet and hope for the best.

“Javi, I need to talk to you.”

“About?”

The two slowed down and hung back behind the group to talk in relative privacy.

“Look, I should have told you this earlier, but there hasn't been a right time. It's about the New Frontier. I've… I've met them before,” she explained.

“What do you mean, ‘met them?’”

Clementine and Javi pause and look ahead, the light from Javi’s flashlight illuminating Conrad’s face showing him slightly looking over his shoulder, as if he was listening in on their conversation. Clementine held her breath hoping he hadn’t.

“I was one of them.” Clementine rolls up her sleeve to reveal the brand on her arm. “I should have told you sooner. I...I really should have.”

“Oh, my god! You let them brand you?!”

“Just… listen. I'm not asking you to forgive me... But you have to understand…” Clementine trailed off. She decided not to mention Jane being in the New Frontier with her. She wasn’t just going to just throw her under the bus. But Javi was under the impression they were sisters, so maybe he already figured she was as well. Hopefully he wouldn’t ask. “I had… nobody. I was all alone, and...I thought I didn't need them... But they were very… persuasive.”

Clementine and Javi stop walking, so he could hear the full story from her, not letting everyone else hear just yet. Or if they should.

“It was a mistake. And so was not telling you about it.”

“Tell me you're not still one of them,”

Clementine noticed he didn’t mention Jane and hoped it just slipped his mind to ask.

“No way. Believe me. I just had to explain, because if they're really in control in Richmond, I can't let them see me. I just… can't. So when we reach the other side of this tunnel, I'm leaving.” It sounded like she was just going to up and leave Jane, truthfully she hoped to go on her own and hoped to find her by herself before the others so they wouldn’t find out.

“Y'all planning on joining us?” Conrad calls back to them.

“Shh!” Tripp silences. Clementine and Javi catch up with the rest of the group, walking into a larger area of the tunnel, no longer being in the cramped narrow section of it. The space around them brings their attention to a gargling whispery noise.

“You all hear that?” Tripp asks.

“Coming from over there,” Javi points out. He shines his flashlight over the tunnel to see what was making the noise.

“Can you see anything?” Jesus asks him. Right as he asks, Javier shines his flashlight on a group of walkers, startling everyone into shitting bricks.

“They're everywhere!” Gabe panics.

“Fuck, they are! Keep sharp!” Tripp commands.

With a warning from Jesus, Javier turns around to face a walker that appeared behind him and bashes its head with his flashlight.

“Javi! Help!” Javi brings his attention towards his nephew to see him being surrounded by walkers. He runs over to the one closest to him and kills it. Another walker nearby manages to grab Gabe. Jesus sprints over and wall runs, drop-kicking an approaching walker in the head, then grabs and front flips the one on Gabe off of him and stomps on its chest.

“Holy shit…” Gabe awes.

“Take him out!”

Javier finishes off the walker and stabs it in the head.

“Thanks, I--” Javier is cut off as Conrad starts firing off rounds from his shotgun at all the approaching herd inside the tunnel, bringing more to them from the noise.

“These fuckers are everywhere!”

“Christ almighty, Conrad, now every walker in the fucking county is gonna be heading this way!” Tripp chastises.

“C'mon, follow me!” Javier and the group run through the tunnel, firing at walkers along the way. They come to a halt as they discover that a train is blocking their path.

“What the fuck?!” Tripp grumbles.

“No one ever mentioned a train in the way…” Jesus quips

“We better find a way around it or we're fucking dinner.”

“Maybe we can just go through?” Javi wonders.

“Well?! Does it open?” Tripp’s question is immediately answered as Javier shoves open the train door, finally getting it to budge.

“I got it! C'mon!” The rest of the group follows Javi into the train, running away from the herd.

“Daylight's ahead! Thank fucking god! Let's go,” Tripp cheers.

Clementine comes in from the rear and closes the door behind her. “We can't have those walkers following us. Javi and I will block the door, you guys go ahead and make sure it's clear.”

“Make it fast. We'll be right ahead of you,” Jesus calls out to them. He leaves the train car with Tripp and Conrad behind them.

“I'm staying here!” Gabe insists.

“Hold the door shut until I can find something to barricade it with,” Javi orders them. Gabe and Clementine do as they’re told and hold the door closed, struggling against the weight of the walkers. Javi paces ahead of them to look for something to block the door, under the pressure of his nephew and Clementine rushing him.

“Hurry, Javi!”

Luckily, Javi manages to find a pole nearby and tries to pick it up. “Shit! I'm gonna have to break this thing off!”

“Hurry, they're almost here!” Clementine urges. Javier breaks off the pole, more walkers having tried to get inside the train. “Javi! I can't--there's too many! Help!” Javi rushes to Clementine’s aid and kills one of the walkers trying to get through the window.

“Wedge that through! Now!”

Javi sticks the pole through the door handles barricading off the incoming walkers, letting Gabe and Clementine finally ease off it. Clementine all too eager to not rest yet until they’re completely out of danger.

“Okay, let's go. We gotta--” Clementine is cut off as she turns around to leave and finds Conrad standing in front of the exit door and pointing his pistol at her. She instinctively reaches for her own weapon, Conrad shutting her down.

“I wouldn't touch that gun, girl. You either, cowboy,” he threatens.
“What the hell are you doing?”

“I heard you two. You think I'm stupid? Finish your little story. Now,” Conrand commands.

“We… we need to keep moving,” Clementine panics. He heard her say she was originally New Frontier? She was hoping to avoid this.

“No, you need to talk.” Conrad grabs Clementine's arm, but doesn’t keep a firm grip on her as she easily pulls away.

“What? Why?” Gabe questions.

There was no use hiding it now. Clementine rolls up her sleeve to reveal the brand. New Frontier.

“I fucking knew it,” Conrad jeers.

“You're one of them?” The look on Gabe’s face is apparent with shock and confusion. He can’t believe it. Even after what they did to Mariana.

“You're goddamn right she is. What other bullshit did you shove down our throats, huh? Un-fucking-believable.”

“Just let me go.”

“Let you go? You're too valuable for that. Don't you see? We bring her to Richmond, they'll give us whatever we want. Medical help for Kate. She's our bargaining chip,” Conrad points out.

“They won't bargain with you. You don't know them,” Clementine defies.
“Won't know until we try.”

“She's not a bargaining chip! She's a friend!” Gabe tries to defend.

“Oh, I'm sure after less than a day, you two are just soulmates,” Conrad mocks.

“Go to hell, Conrad. I'm not doing this. If you wanna shoot me, shoot me,” Clementine spat, staring down the barrel of the gun and right into Conrad’s eyes. Betting he’ll do it.

Trying to call her bluff, Conrad grabs Gabe instead, pointing the gun to his head, Javi quickly drawing his gun in turn.

“How about I shoot your little boyfriend here instead?

“What the fuck, Conrad?” Javi fumes.

“Then don't let her walk through that door!”

“Javi, this guy's crazy! Shoot him!” Gabe pleads.

“Nobody has to shoot anybody! Just tell Clem this is how it's gotta be. And then we all step into the sunshine. C'mon, man, be reasonable. This helps both of us,” Conrad bargains, as if proving Gabe’s point.

“I'm… just gonna go…”

“Don't take another step,” Conrad threatens.

“Javi, please!”

“You know this will work!”

Javi looks at his nephew and relents and lowers his gun, sighing internally.

“But you said-”

“It's not worth Gabe's life,” Javi reasons. Clementine walks over to Conrad and gives her gun to him.

“C'mon, Clem. Start walking.” Conrad and Clementine leave the train car, Clementine sending a silent glare towards Javi for selling her out like that. And here she thought she could trust him. She just hoped that they don’t find out about Jane. And grateful that at least he didn’t bring her up during their standoff.

Eleanor’s car slowed down and eventually pulled to a stop, much to the driver’s dismay. “Aw, shit.”

“What’s wrong?” Jane asks.

“I think the engine just died.”

“Well fuck. How much farther are we from Richmond?”

“We shouldn’t be too much farther now.” Eleanor turns and looks at the backseat and sees Kate seeming in and out of consciousness. “It’s not that far from here, but I don’t think Kate can make it on her own. Do you think you can stay here while I go on ahead to look for help?”

“Wait, what?! Whoa, whoa, whoa. You can’t-”

“Please, Jane. I’d have asked you to come with, but I don’t feel good about leaving Kate by herself like this,” she gestures towards Kate who’s currently looking a little paler than usual and burning up.

“Agh, fine,” Jane groans. “But hurry back.”

“Will do.” Eleanor steps out the car and keeps heading down the road towards Richmond. Jane is starting to regret agreeing to this and for not asking how far is “not too far.” She’s pulled out of her stupor when she feels a sudden shift in movement on her lap and a pained moaning sound followed by a cough.

“You know… I could’ve made the trip with you guys the rest of the way,” Kate manages to croak.

“Oh, now you say so.”

“Sorry,” Kate chuckles. “Is staying with me that bad?”

“No,” Jane sighs, “just not a people-person.”

“That’s understandable these days. You never know who you can trust.”

Knowing they were probably going to be awhile, Jane decides to humor her and strikes up a conversation. “So… if it’s of any comfort, me and Clem buried your kid for you. Back at the junkyard,” she starts off awkwardly.

“Thank you. That means a lot to me. All I ever hoped was that I was a good stepmom to her. I tried to be that for her and Gabe, and I wish I could’ve given them more of a childhood, y’know?”

“Yeah, I know. Believe it or not but, I know what it’s like to lose a kid,” Jane confesses.

“Really?”

“Mm hm. I never really wanted kids, and I always thought I’d be a terrible mother, but…” Jane trails off.

“I hear you on that. I used to talk shit about all those mothers going on about parenting being hard. Then I met Gabe and I thought they had a point.” Kate chuckles, but then as a wave of pain flares up it became a groans as a wave of pain flares up, possible cosmic karma for bad-mouthing her stepson.

“You good?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I know teenagers can be difficult sometimes. I can’t lie and say that Clem is easy either. You just got give them their own space. I remember being that age, and my parents seemed like they didn’t even try to understand me,” Jane explains.

“I guess you have a point about giving them space. I just worry about Gabe sometimes.”

Jane nods solemnly as Kate takes her advice on dealing with teenagers, still grappling with one thing she said. “Stepmom?”

“Hmm?”

“You said you were a stepmom,” Jane clarifies.

“Right. I was married to Gabe’s father. Well, was being the keyword there,” Kate replies bitterly.

“Uh, is he…”

“I don’t know. We got separated at the start of all of this and and haven’t seen him since so, probably gone. It’s just been me, Javi, and the kids. And if I’m being honest, I’m not sad. Am I a horrible person for saying that?”

“Uhh, I guess it depends why you’re not upset,” Jane answers nervously.

“Me and him...” Kate takes in a deep breath and sighs. “Gabe’s father and I didn’t have the best relationship and our marriage was going down the toilet for a while now. We had good times sure, but the bad times were really, really fucking bad. When you’re that miserable, no amount of good times cancel it out,” Kate vents.

Jane just wanted to talk and didn’t realize things would get that deep that fast. She normally wasn’t the best at comforting people aside from Clementine, but she decided to try for Kate, and because she suddenly felt awkward. “Shit. Sorry to hear that.”

“Thanks. But,” Kate continues, “as the years went by, I started having feelings for Javi. And... I kind of we wish we were something more. I know I shouldn’t, he’s my husband’s brother! But...”

“Uh… No. I don’t think you’re a bad person for missing your shitty husband-” Jane stops when Kate raises an eyebrow at her. “I mean, I get it. Relationships are complicated. I’ve had a number of complicated relationships... Like most recently,” she mutters the last part, not meaning for it to slip out. “I meant-”

“Recently?”

Could Jane trust Kate about Ava? If there’s one thing she was grateful for in the apocalypse, it’s that some of the shitty people die out and leave their ideologies behind. Although Kate did just trust her with her toxic marriage so soon. Something about Kate set off a ping for Jane but she decided to play it safe. Just in case.

“Uhm, my ex gave me this scarf,” she gestures towards the scarf Ava gave her around her neck. “Well, not ex, per se. We… got separated… and gave this to me and said, ‘Take it. As a sign of promising our paths will cross again one day. And if not, something to remember them by.’”

“Oh. Is your ex still alive?”

“Yeah. But… we had differing opinions about… a group we were in, so me and Clem left.”

“Did Clementine want to leave?”

“Uh…”

“Kate! Kate!” They hear Javi’s voice calling out, opening up the door to the backseat. He crawls over Jane’s lap, to her annoyance but she doesn’t say anything.

“Javi…”

“Yes?”

“Could really use something to take the edge off, right about now,” she teases.

“I think you smoked it all,” Javi jokes back, can’t helping but chuckle. Javi embraces Kate into a hug, relieved to see her alright.

“Kate! Are you...are you okay?” Gabe worries.

“Come here.”

Gabe is the first one to hug, normally would have pulled away, finding it “embarrassing,” but after losing his little sister and almost losing his stepmom, he realized how he had taken her for granted.

Amidst all their hugging, Jane tries to worm her way out of the backseat of the car, suddenly feeling cramped.

“Where's Eleanor?” Tripp asks.

“She went ahead to get help. She hasn't come back yet,” Jane replies.

“Damn it--they must've got her!”

“Jesus. How far is it to their compound?” Javi asks.

“Not too much farther now--a couple blocks, at most.”

“Gabe, help me lift her up.” Javier and Gabe each take a side next to Kate and help lift her into Javi’s arms, carrying her bridal style. “I'm thinking we walk up to their front door and pray for the best.”

“That mean we're doing this my way?” Conrad asks.

Jane suddenly looks over to him and notices the gun he has pulled on Clementine, having to do a double take. “Whoa. Wait, what the hell is your way? And why are you pointing a gun at Clem?”

“You want to tell her? Or should I?” Clementine snarks at Javi.

“Clem, please. We don’t have time for this. Kate could die.”

“Hey, assholes. I want an answer.”

“Because she’s goddamn New Frontier,” Conrad answers bluntly. “Figured you would’ve known about that. Aren’t you ‘sisters?’ Because I’m wondering if you’re New Frontier too. Did y’all join together?”

Shit. They found out. This is what Jane was afraid of. She looks around the group and notices the expectant looks on everyone as if they were waiting for an answer. About two years ago, Jane would’ve just lied and said no. But she was not just about to throw Clementine under the bus like that.

“Yeah. We both joined. But we didn’t have much of a choice. We left them a long time ago. We’ve wanted nothing to do with them, and are the whole reason we’ve been trying to get out of here,” Jane answers curtly.

“I fucking knew it. Looks like we’ve got two New Frontier members they’ll be happy to have back, that we can exchange for something.”

“Ex-fucking-scuse me?!”

“Guys, please! We don’t have time for this,” Javi pleads. “We might be doing it your way, Conrad. But so we're clear--you follow my lead until our people are safe. Understood?”

“Fine.”

“Here we go,” Javi muses.

The group finally sees the gates to the compound up ahead.

“There it is: New Richmond,” Jesus points out.

“This is a mistake…”

“Just shut up and keep walking.”

Jane was getting increasingly ticked off by this guy, but played it cool for now. Doing anything rash wasn’t going to do her or Clem any favors.

“Hey, Clem. You alright?”

“I’ve been better.”

“Don’t worry. Once we reach New Frontier, I promise we won’t be stuck with them long.” For good measure to reassure, Jane pulls down the brim of Clementine’s cap over her eyes, to her annoyance, even though she was giggling, Jane joining in with her. Their laugh break is short-lived as the group reaches the gates.

“Jesus, there's a solid possibility this isn't gonna go our way. If you wanna stay behind, I wouldn't blame you,” Tripp cautions.

“Hey, this is where I was going in the first place.”

“Hey!” Javier calls out. The guy from the Prescott shootout with the beanie and another soldier appear on top of the wall.

“You again?” he immediately raises his machine gun at the group. :You must have some kind of death wish…”

“She needs medical help,” Javi begs.

“And you have one of our people!” Tripp snaps.

“Uh-huh... What's your point?”

“Sorry about this, Clem…”

Conrad shoves Clementine and Jane forward, both of them walking out in front of the others towards the gate.

“Clementine! Jane! How long's it been?” The beanied man awes.

“Not long enough.” Clementine gives him the middle finger. Jane stifles a snicker at the gesture.

“Cute. She's got you mixed up in all this? Who is she to you? Doesn't look like she's here by choice, so...by force?”

“They're our friends- which means what we're doing right now doesn't sit real well with me. But if we can't get inside those gates, Kate'll die.”

Clementine and Jane both glance at Javi, confused at him calling them friends when he sold them out not too long ago.

“Alright, you have my attention. But I'd be lying if I said I was convinced.”

“What do you wanna do?” the Frontier Soldier next to him asks.

“Go get the boss. He's gonna wanna see this.”

The man in the bomber jacket and beanie returns his attention back to the group below him. “Now all of you- lower your weapons.”

“Not a chance,” Conrad protests.

“Might be a good idea to play along here-- at least for now…” Jesus suggests.

“You put 'em down--I'll see that as an expression of good faith. Nice and easy. Or else this is gonna end bad.”

“I don’t think so. We lower our weapons, we’re dead,” Javi refuses.

“Guess we're doing this the hard way, then…”

The gates to New Frontier slowly open and several New Frontier soldiers walk out with their boss.

“What the hell is going on out here?” the boss’ voice booms.

“They wouldn't drop their weapons! I didn't have a choice, or they would've--”

The boss stops, both him and the group looking at each other in shock, the boss seeing some of the people he thought he’d never see again. “Oh, my god.”

“Dad?” Gabe and Javi are just as shocked if not more so to see him. New Frontier’s boss aged a bit since the last they saw him, the side of his hair starting to gray, as the boss of New Frontier… is David.

Chapter Text

Jane limped through the snow-covered forest, while Clementine carried on ahead while holding AJ. She was able to walk fine half an hour ago, but now the stab in her leg was making itself known. Maybe it’s because the adrenaline had worn off and now there wasn’t anything else to focus on but her stab wound. Wounds. Jane had been stabbed in the leg and chest, and both were stinging like a bitch. The cold wind chill air wasn't helping either. Her jacket not doing much to help. She was thankful that it was practical against walker bites, but not so much for the cold. Now it was just hard for her to breathe. Normally she would’ve considered a trek through the forest no big deal. But after being stabbed in the chest, it was starting to feel like a chore. If Clementine noticed the limp and slight gasping for breath, she didn’t say anything.

“Hey. Hey, Clem. Can we- can we rest for a minute?”

The girl in question turns around to the older woman and finds her with her hands over her knees, nearly heaving her lungs out.

“S-sure. Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine. Just need to catch my breath.”

Jane slowly sat down against a tree, wincing in pain despite her best efforts to not put too much pressure on her leg. Clementine carefully sits down and joins her. She glances down at the gash covered in blood on Jane’s leg, looking up at her with a concerned expression.

“Are you going to be okay?”

“Huh? Yeah. Once we get to Howes’s, I’m sure I can find something to bandage it with. Or we’ll find something along the way,” Jane reponds a bit too nonchalantly. Clementine wondered if she was just pretending for her sake. “What about you? Are you okay?”

“What?”

“I know… It probably wasn’t easy… doing that. And I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for it to go that far-”

“Can we not talk about it?” Clementine cuts her off, realizing she was talking about having to kill Kenny.

“Okay. Alright,” Jane sighs mournfully. “Listen, you don’t have to forgive me. I know I fucked up. I wouldn’t forgive me. But I just want you to know that I’m really sorry about Kenny.”

“Okay.” Clementine’s tone was hollow. Her voice completely devoid of emotion. Jane felt like it was just something she was saying on autopilot. Like she didn’t really believe she was sorry. She didn’t even acknowledge her, instead keeping her focus on AJ.

“You have every right to be pissed at me… I just hope you don’t hate me.”

That gets Clementine’s attention, her eyes widen in surprise and confusion. “I don’t- I don’t hate you. I just wished you hadn’t lied.”

“Me neither.” Jane sighs, glancing down at the snow all around her. The cut was only going to get worse, and she had to keep it from getting infected. Seeing no other option, she scooped up a handful of snow and placed it on her leg, placing it firmly against the cut. It stung, but at least it would stop the bleeding. Temporarily until they could find bandages. Noticing the curious look on Clementine’s face, she decides to humor her.

“Well, it’s not like we have an ice pack lying around. So might as well use the next best thing. Snow is technically ice, right?”

“Oh. Right.” It was then that AJ started shaking around in his little bundle and started to cry. Clementine immediately started rocking him to soothe him, gently cooing him to calm him down.

“Ah, shit. He’s probably cold. Give me a minute and we can get moving again.” Jane rests her head against the tree and silently counts to herself. After a few seconds, she brushes the snow off her leg and carefully tries to stand back up, reaching her hand out to help Clementine up. “Come on.”

Clementine takes her hand and pulls herself up, and the two of them continue their trek back to Howe’s. It was a silent walk back, but both of them were fine with that. Clementine was still mad, but she wasn’t going to hold it against Jane. They were all they had left, and there was no going back.

There was a tense stand-off at the gates of Richmond between a small group of people and a few guards of New Frontier. The guard with the beanie standing on top of the gate that was at Prescott looks down watching it all unfold.

“Dad?” Gabe asks in disbelief, shocked to see his father alive standing right in front of him.

“Javi? Is that really you? I always hoped I'd find you. Never really thought it'd happen; not after all this time,” David tells his brother in relief.

“I... I thought you were dead, man. I thought you'd been dead- for a long time,” Javier confesses.

“No such luck,” David morbidly jokes with a chuckle. Gabe runs up to David and hugs his father, happy to see him after all these years.

“I knew you were still alive. I knew it!” Gabe cries, only to be met with New Frontier soldiers raising their guns at him, ready to shoot, Gabe none the wiser.

“Hey, weapons down! This is my family!” David orders. The New Frontier soldiers do as they’re told and lower their weapons.

“You gotta let us in,” Javi pleads. “Kate doesn't have much longer.”

“Jesus-- Kate!” David runs to her side with a look of horror on his face, seeing her pale form and barely conscious.

“David?” Kate calls out weakly.

David holds Kate's hand that hangs limply to the side. “I'm here, honey; I'm right here. What the hell happened?” he barks at Javi.

“She's been shot; and we got the bullet out, but she's still bleeding. We need your doctor. Now, David!”

“Thanks, Javi.” David takes Kate from Javier’s arms. “For getting her here.” Carrying Kate, David turns around up to the soldier with the beanie on top of the wall. “She's coming inside!”

“But she hasn't been checked!” he protests.

“This is my wife, Max. You want her to die?” David counters.

Max’s eyes widen in surprise and fear. His wife? “No. I didn't say that!”

“Our doctor's gonna help you, honey,” David says to Kate. “I'm gonna make sure of it.”

“Wait. I'm going with you!” Gabe insists, following after his father. Gabe and David walk away. The rest of the group try to follow, but the New Frontier raises their weapons to stop them, as a female soldier of New Frontier approaches them.

“Sorry--but the rest of you have to go straight to quarantine,” she says.

“What for?” Tripp asks.

“All newcomers get checked for bites… and they all have to answer a couple of questions. Our doctor will clear the two of them. But the rest of you have to come with me to the quarantine holding area. It's how we keep it safe for everyone,” the female soldier explains.

“Yeah, right,” Clementine snarks.

“Come on, Fern. Let us in,” Jane speaks up. Jane remembered Fern back when her and Clementine were still in New Frontier. They never talked much, but the times they did, Jane always thought she was a bit of a tight-ass.

“If Kate's going to the hospital, then so am I,” Javi insists, like it wasn't a question.

“Not yet. First you go through quarantine--then we'll see,” the woman, Fern says.

“Ah, this is bullshit,” Tripp grumbles.

“Come on! The sooner you come along, the sooner we can get you cleared,” Fern orders. The group begrudgingly follow Fern to the quarantine area, which was really just a locker room, where they find Eleanor sitting on a bench. She stands up noticing the door opening letting them in, immediately overcome with relief.

“Tripp!”

“Oh, god, Eleanor!” Tripp and Eleanor pull each other in for a brief hug. “When we found the car without you in it- I didn't know what to think.”

“The engine up and died! I came here looking for help and this… happened,” Eleanor gestures to them currently being in quarantine. Clementine and Jane walk to the other side of the room and lean up against the lockers. “I've been so worried about Kate. I told them she needed a doctor. They promised me someone would look into it. Please, tell me they found her.”

“Yeah. I was still in the car with her after when they got here after you left, but no one else ever showed up,” Jane tells her.

“But that's crazy-- I told them she was dying!” Eleanor protests bewilderedly.

“Clearly, it wasn't a priority.” Javier sneers, not at Eleanor but at the unpresent New Frontier.

“Well, at least those assholes realized she needed a hospital once they saw her,” Tripp snides.

“I'm sorry, Javi, really, but--I didn't have any reason not to believe them,” Eleanor apologizes. She then notices the glare that Tripp gives to Javi and his slight discomfort at it. “What?”

“The people here in Richmond; they're New Frontier.”

“Oh, my god.”

“Oh-ho-ho, you ain't even heard the worst part yet!”

Jane tenses up, worried he was going to reveal her and Clementine’s secret of being ex-New Frontier. “One of 'em is his brother,” Tripp finishes. He looks accusedly at Javier. “I didn't even know you had a brother, Javi!”

“Hey, nobody's more surprised than me. I thought the guy was dead! We haven't seen David in years--it's just been me, Kate, and the kids this whole time.”

“I don't even wanna think about what the odds are, but… he did seem pretty damn surprised to see you,” Jesus points out.

“Whoever this guy is, he can't be all bad, right? I mean, he helped Kate instead of hauling her down here,” Eleanor bargains, more than actually believing.

“'Course he brought her inside. She's his damn wife!” Tripp accuses.

“You're kidding. Kate… is married to your brother?” Eleanor asks in disbelief. “The way you two acted around each other- I just didn't think she had a husband out there, is all.”

“The only reason I know Kate is because she married David. I was the best man at their wedding,” Javi confirms.

“Wow. Okay.”

“Family drama aside… hope you know I'm not about to make nice with New Frontier. I know you didn't have much stake in Prescott, Javi, but they burned that place to the ground for no fuckin' reason,” Tripp fumes.

“After everything you folks told me, I'm guessing I'm not going to find my people alive,” Jesus laments.

“Hell, Javi, they killed your niece! Shot Kate!” Tripp reminds him. “For all we know, your brother could've been behind it. And even if it wasn't his idea in the first place- if he knew about it and didn't stop it-- that shit can't stand.”

“Jane. Clementine, you were a part of the New Frontier. Did you know David?” Jesus asks.

“We knew him. If I'm being honest?”

“Save your breath for holding out any ‘good faith' for him,” Jane deapans.

“Is that right?”

“If you told me he was the one behind Prescott, I wouldn't be surprised,” Clementine says flatly.

“He does have a temper. I've taken the brunt of it a few times.” Javi recalled times from his childhood where he’d catch the tail-end of David’s anger issues. He’d up with a black eye on more than one occasion.

“I can imagine.”

“What happened at the gates - the fact that he's your brother - that doesn't change anything. I'm gonna find the man who killed Francine. These people better not get in my way. I'm gonna be asking questions about what went down at Prescott. And I won't stop until I get answers.” Conrad declares.

“We need to look like we're playing along with their rules. Go along with what they say--for now. Then, when the time is right--that's when we demand justice,” Javi tries to placate the group. Charging in and making any rash decisions on their own turf when they had the advantage wasn’t going to any of them any favors. Their discussion stops short when they notice David opening the door.

“Hey,” he greets them. His brother specifically.

“Hey…”

“I would've been here sooner, but I had to take care of… something,” David hesitates. “Come on, already! Kate's asking for you. Maybe you think it's okay to keep a lady waiting. Thought I taught you better than that.”

“That an order, David?”

“Fucking with me already, huh? Some things never change.”

“Looks like the rules don't apply to everyone, huh?” Tripp squabbles.

“That's right. Some people get out of here early. Others stay a long fucking time.”

“Tripp... Just drop it, okay?” Eleanor cautions.

“Smart cookie, this one.”

Eleanor didn’t know how to take that, but it didn’t feel like a genuine compliment “Javi, just go.”

“I'll be back as soon as I can, you know that,” Javi assures the group.

“Thanks.”

David and the two former New Frontier members make eye contact for a brief moment before David leaves. If looks can kill, David wouldn’t know which of the two killed him first. Once the two Garcia brothers left, all eyes were immediately turned to the only people of the group that had been in New Frontier.

“What?” Clementine asks accusedly.

“What? What the fuck do you mean what?” Tripp snaps. “Y’all were a part of New Frontier. Why the hell didn’t ya tell us?”

“I don’t know, asshole. You tell me why we didn’t say anything. We planned to leave before we even got here. And considering how you’re reacting, it only proves our point,” Jane retaliates.

“I had a fucking gun pointed at my head!” Clementine seethes.

“And yeah, about that,” Jane turns to face Conrad, “Who the hell is ready to gundown a kid?”

“Now wait a goddamn minute-” Conrad readies to defend himself. “Y’all were apart of New Frontier and they burned Prescott-”

“So fucking what? We were both there. We saw that! We had no part of it. And we got kicked out of New Frontier a long time ago!”

“Either way, who gave you the fucking right to decide to shoot me?!”

“Listen here, missy-”

The rest of the “conversation,” or argument is drowned out as Jane, Clementine, and Conrad start yelling over top of each other blaming each other for who was responsible for what. Eleanor, Tripp, and Jesus were already tired the moment all three of them started to open their mouths. Tripp is the first one to try to break things up.

“Fucking Christ everyone. Can we all take a minute to calm down?” Tripp’s voice booms, trying to placate everyone.

“Calm down?! Don’t fucking tell me to calm down, after you fucking started it! And after this jackass tried to shoot Clem-”

“The fuck?”

“-I’m not just going to let that shit slide!”

“How the fuck did I start it?!” Tripp retorts back.

“Oh, I don’t know? Maybe asking why we didn’t say we were New Frontier!”

And just like that, everyone’s back to arguing, with only Jesus and Eleanor staying out of it, deciding to let them hash it out on their own, and that they’d get tired eventually.

“This happen often?” Jesus silently quips to Eleanor. Eleanor looks at the group verbally lashing out at each other and at her ex-boyfriend. His tendency to be too blunt and keep it straight with people, often led to situations like this. Probably why they broke up she wondered.

“It depends,” Eleanor says hestinantly. Jesus hums to himself at her response. The argument does eventually come to an end, everyone grumbling and stomping off in a different direction, needing space from the other for a brief moment. Clementine stands in a corner of quarantine and rolls up her sleeve to see the branding on her arm, having since healed. A feeling of guilt, regret, and betrayal swelled in her chest. The New Frontier offered her, AJ, Jane, and Jaime a place to stay. Food to eat. Shelter. Protection. Then AJ and Jaime got sick, and when her and Jane tried to take matters into their own hands, they got kicked out. Right now, Clementine could only hope that her children hadn’t suffered in their final moments.

Clementine is pulled out of her thoughts when she hears footsteps walking up behind her and sees Jesus and standing over her.

“You know, I think that tattoo of yours was a much better idea than a branding if you ask me,” Jesus teases, noticing the ‘AJ’ marking on her hand. “Who’s AJ? If you don’t mind me asking.”

Clementine debates on whether or not she should tell Jesus who AJ is. Was. It’s not like she didn’t trust, Jesus, it was just still too painful to talk about what became his fate. And Jaime.

“Alright. I get it. You don’t have to tell me. But just know, I am a good listener.”

Clementine can’t help but laugh a bit at Jesus’ attempt to comfort her. She decides to open up a bit and talk to him about her and Jane. “Jane and I have been watching each other’s backs for awhile. I kind of wish I was able to warn her about New Frontier being here before we got found out.”

“Well, despite what the others feel, if you say you’re not still with New Frontier, I believe you,” Jesus attempts to assure Clementine.

“Thanks.”

Jane watches Clementine and Jesus’ conversation from the other side of the locker room, sitting down against the wall. She’s soon joined by Eleanor who takes a seat next to her.

“Hey.”

“Uh, hey.”

“Sorry about leaving you in the car like that. If I had known this would happen, I wouldn’t have asked.”

“If I had known Richmond was New Frontier, I wouldn’t have come along in the first place,” Jane half-jokes.

“Oh. I’m sorry about that. So were you really apart of New Frontier?”

”Was. That ship sailed a long time ago when we got kicked out.”

“What happened that got you guys kicked out?”

Jane doesn’t know why, but the question made her hand instinctively go to her stomach. Why? Jaime had been carried to term. Maybe it’s because she had lost her so soon it might as well have been a miscarriage. She didn’t even get to see Jaime take her first steps or hear her first words. Now she thought about it, she decided to cherish all the “firsts” she got to experience with AJ. If only Rebecca could have been there.

““That depends on who you ask.”

“...Okay.” Eleanor decides not to press further.

“Have you ever been shopping and hoped you didn’t run into someone you know?” Jane suddenly speaks up.

“Uh, no?”

“Yeah. Me, neither,” Jane laughs.

“Okay. Now I’m confused. Wait, is there someone here in Richmond you don’t want to see?”

Jane shrugs her shoulders. “I don’t know. I don’t not want to see them.”

“Wait! Now I got to know. Who is it?” Eleanor delights, now fully curious. Jane groans and buries her face in her hands.

“Unnnn… my ex,” she says weakly.

“Oh-ho-ho,” Tripp bellows. “Sleeping with the enemy! It just gets better and better.”

“Tripp.”

“Eat a dick,” Jane retaliates, giving him the bird. “I don’t know if you’re just thick, but how many times have we told you? We got kicked out! The time we were apart of it, we never raided anybody. If that had been going on, Clem and I would’ve left right right from the word go.” The walkers had brought out the worst in people. For others, it felt like it gave them an excuse to be who they really were. If there was one low Jane tried to avoid, it was raiding people. Sure, they had stolen from Arvo, and he wasn’t lying about a sister, but his group seemed well enough to start a shootout. Besides, she didn’t need to bring that up. It wasn’t going to look well for her and Clem.

“That, or they just kept it hidden from us,” Clementine deadpans. “Like I said, I wouldn’t be surprised if David was behind Prescott. But yeah, while we were in New Frontier, raids have never been a thing.” Clementine uncrosses her arms and turns towards Jane, her eyes widening in confusion and surprise. “And hey, wait. You never told me you were dating someone.”

“Uhhh…”

“Wow,” Tripp scoffs. “You didn’t even tell your own sister? I can’t wait to hear more.”

As if the universe was laughing at her, the door to the quarantine holding area opens to reveal both the last person Jane wanted to see, and also the first.

“Hey, guys,” Ava greets the group.

Oh shit.

Oh shit.

“Hi there. Uh, who are you?” Eleanor is the first to speak up.

“I’m Ava. David told me we had some people down here. Dr. Lingard told me to get someone down here who was a doctor.”

“That would be me. I’m Eleanor.”

“Well, lucky for you Eleanor. You get to get out of here early. Follow me.”

“Whoa! Wait, what about the rest of us?” Tripp grumbles.

“Sorry. But you haven’t been given the all clear yet. I’ve just been sent to bring Eleanor up. We could use another doctor around here.”

“What about your ‘Dr. Lingard?’”

“You really think a place functions with only one doctor?” Ava retaliates. “I’ll be back for the rest of you when you’re given the all clear.”

Eleanor places a hand on Tripp’s shoulder. “Don’t worry Tripp. I’ll be fine.” She gives him a brief hug before leaving.

Ava casts one last look back towards the group, her gaze lingering on Jane. “It’s good to see you again, Jane. You too, Clementine.” She shuts the door and leaves the quarantine holding area with Eleanor in tow. Jane is left with her mouth agape, looking like a fish. Tripp notices her expression and sees how she looks like she just saw a ghost. After glancing at the door where Ava just left and back at Jane a few times, it finally clicks.

“So the one that got away, huh?” There’s a mixture of sarcasm and teasing in Tripp's voice as he asks her the question. Jane shakes her head to regain her composure.

“What? No. That’s not- I mean, I-” Jane flounders.

“Wait, what’s going on?” Clementine asks.

“I’ll tell you about it later Clem.”

“Oh, you better. Or I definitely will.” Jane couldn’t tell if Tripp was making a threat or not. The way he said it sounded more like he had ammo to use to embarrass her. She wasn’t sure which was worse.

“Hate to break up gossip time,” Conrad interrupts, having stayed quiet this whole time, “but we’re still stuck down here. What the hell is taking so long?”

“Yeah. I’m starting to think that Javi forgot about us and is deciding to get all buddy-buddy with his brother,” Tripp spat. “I mean goddamn it, they took Eleanor but not the rest of us?”

“Give him time. Handling things with New Frontier is… complicated,” Clementine defends.

“Yeah, I’ll bet you know about that,” Conrad mutters under his breath.

“Hey!”

“Guys, can we not fight?” Jesus jumps in before it escalates any further. “Look we’re all on the same side here. Clementine and Jane say they’re not part of New Frontier anymore, end of story. We just have to wait for Javi to convince them to let us out and then-”

The door to quarantine opens again this time revealing a very pissed-looking Fern. “All of you. Come with me.”

“About fucking time,” Tripp cheers sarcastically. The group follow Fern outside and notice that night had fallen. It had been daytime when they arrived in Richmond. After walking a bit, another group of soldiers join them, with Javi in the lead being shoved by them.

“Javi?” The rest of the group soon realize that they’re being taken towards the gates, as more New Frontier soldiers coming up behind them carrying guns.

“Wait a minute! Where are we going?!” Tripp fumes. The New Frontier takes Javi and the others outside the gates, some of the soldiers being more forceful.

“Oh, what the fuck? We didn't do anything!” Conrad protests as a New Frontier soldier shoves him.

“I might do something here in a minute…”

As soon as they’re kicked out of the gates, Ava comes running out and throws a duffel bag on the ground. “David packed this.”

“He did?” Javi wonders. “They said-”

“Start walking,” she orders them before turning away back to the gates.

“What about Eleanor?” Tripp demands.

Ava turns around and shoves Tripp back a few feet. “Walk.”

“Eat shit, answer my fucking question.” Tripp attempts to go at her, but is held back by Javier getting in front of him. “Goddamn it, Javi. Let go of me!”

“This isn't her fault, Tripp! You're mad at the wrong person!”

Tripp shoves Javi aside and walks up to Ava, only for her to deck him in the face, causing Tripp to land flat on his back, Jane suddenly feeling a little hot under the collar. Ava leaves towards the inner gates of New Richmond for the last time. “Do not fuck this up. There's a settlement a few miles west of here.” Ava casts one last look at Jane, seeing the disappointed look in her and slight head shake. The New Frontier goes back inside and the gate closes. Once the gates closed, Javi offers his hand to Tripp, but is refused as Tripp smacks it away and gets up on his own.

“Did you piss in someone's oatmeal back there? Thought you were gonna ‘play along.’" Tripp complains, reminding him how he promised them how he’d get them out. Now he got them all kicked out. "We trusted you. What the hell, man?”

“Look, we're not dead. That's something, okay?” Javi defends himself. As if to eat his own words, the sound of walkers growl in the distance.

“Not yet, anyway.”

“Let's just see what they gave us.”

“Knowing them, it's probably a butter knife and a stick of gum,” Tripp snarks.

“They could've just shot us,” Jesus points out.

“More than once,” Javi agrees.

“Oh, how fucking neighborly.” Javi opens the duffel bag they were given and takes out a bat with a map wrapped around it. “What's that?”

“Looks like a map,” Javi points out the obvious. “I doubt they give one to everyone. Ava did say David packed the bag…”
“Why the hell is it tied to a baseball bat?”

“David's sense of humor was always poorly-timed,” Javi muses. Even after all these years, he never forgot about his brother’s love of the game. The group watches as Tripp and Jesus go over the map to point out where they’re headed until he eventually tells them they have to head north, following the North Star.
“That's it. We need to go this way,” Javi points up at the star. “What else is in there?” Tripp takes the supplies out of the duffle bag. On the floor lies an axe, a knife, an additional knife, three pistols and a flashlight.

“Not a whole lot. A flashlight, not enough weapons... No food,” Tripp reports. Jesus bends down over the weapons and takes the axe. Clementine takes a knife and a pistol.

“Deal with it,” Clementine snides at Conrad. Even though Jane was pissed at Conrad too, she had to admit it was kind of a dick move taking two weapons. With two weapons left, Jane and Javier pick up the last two guns, only for Javi to hesitate as he looks at Conrad without a weapon.

“Take it. Please. Take it. Call it an apology. That man back there in the tunnel… that wasn't me. Take the gun.”

“Conrad, don't let the past get in the way of common sense,” Tripp has to reason. “Give him the gun, Javi.”

“I can find something along the way. Always have.”

Javier hands over the gun to Conrad without skipping a beat, much to everyone’s surprise. “The gun is yours, Conrad. I can handle myself.” Javi gives Conrad the gun, staring at it as if he felt like he shouldn’t have been so quick to forgive him.

“Nobody fires a single shot unless you are deep-fucking-fried, you hear me?” Tripp barks. “We don't wanna attract… whatever the hell's out there.” He takes a knife off the ground from the remaining weapons, and the group head out into the forest towards the location on the map.

The forest is eerily quiet save for the occasional growls of walkers hiding within the trees, only adding to the group's unease. Jesus, Conrad, and Clementine take the lead, while Javi, Tripp, and Jane hang back a bit.

“I gotta tell you, man... I thought you and Kate were...you know… I mean... I saw you kiss her in the junkyard. And, uh… I ain't judging, mind you, I'm just… curious,” Tripp flounders awkwardly. “What's the story? Ain't my business, I know, but… what have we got to lose out here?”

“I…”

“Hey, man, it's alright. Go for it.”

“I do have feelings for her. Maybe I shouldn't, but… that doesn't just make them go away,” Javi confesses. Him and Kate were alone with kids on the road for years. Something was bound to happen.

“No harm in saying it. Hell, the only real harm's in not saying it when you should…” Tripp assures his friend. He casts a glance towards Jane who had been walking next to him. “Now as for you…”

“...what?”

“Seems like you had feelings for a certain New Frontier member back there. I saw the way you and Ava looked at each other. Care to say anything on that? Hell, you never even told Clementine.”

Jane looked ahead and saw Clementine wasn’t paying attention, still marching forward. She was going to tell her eventually, but there hasn’t been a right time. “Okay yes we may have been together… once. But it didn’t last long, not after we got kicked out.”

“Whoa-oa! You and Ava?” Javi awes.

“Yeah…”

“Does David know?”

“We kept that hidden from him,” Jane clarifies. “Why?”

“Well, growing up I haven’t known him to be the most… tolerant person. I know what that’s like.”

“What does that mean?” Tripp asks.

“Well, you know how David gave us a baseball bat?”

“Yeah?”

“Other than the fact I used to play ball back before, let’s just say I can also swing it both ways.”

Tripp skeptically raises an eyebrow at him while Jane tries stifling a snicker. After a few seconds, Tripp finally connects the dots. “You mean both of y’all-” Tripp looks back and forth between Javier and Jane, the former nodding in confirmation, the latter looking anywhere else. “Well, to each their own. I’ve got bigger issues to worry about anyway. Besides, it's always a mess, ain't it?"

“What's that?” Javier asks.

“Who you love, who loves you. If they're one and the same or otherwise. You know what I mean? Just when you think you got everything figured out. Boom! Heart goes ass-over-teakettle.”

“I don't know. I think it's as complicated as you let it be.”

“Difference between you and me, brother. And, uh, Jane, I know the feeling of having been with someone. Once. Eleanor and I, we were… something... at some point. But nothing now. I respect her wishes. I really do. I just wish my heart respected mine…”

Tripp, Javi, and Jane come to a halt and stop walking as Jesus signals for the group to stop. “Jesus got his eye on something… What you got for us, man?” Jesus climbs onto a mound of rocks and looks out past the forest, listening to the sounds of distant growling.

“Listen…” Jesus cautions. The rest of the group hear the walkers’ growls nearby.

“Tell me that isn't what I think it is…” discomfort setting in for Javi.

“About a quarter mile out, headin' the same way we are…” Jesus reports to the others.

“We could hit walkers any second. We better scoot,” Tripp cautions to the rest of the group. They all draw their weapons and keep moving, hoping to avoid running into the herd. Unfortunately, that doesn’t last long as they soon run into a group of them standing in the middle of their path. Thankfully, they make quick, short work of the walkers and keep it moving to their destination. After their quick skirmish with the walkers, Clementine is the first to speak up.

“This is a bad idea. We're following David's map right into a herd. For all we know, he's trying to get rid of us,” Clementine voices her skepticism with the group.

“C'mon, Clem. He's my brother…” Despite the differences that Javi had with him, David was still his family. And that had to count for something,

“You can't trust him, Javi. We learned that the hard way.”

The rest of the group come to a halt to listen to what Clementine had to say and why they shouldn’t trust David. “We thought we never needed people again,” she says, rolling up her sleeve briefly to show the branding. “But we had nowhere else to go.”

“The New Frontier gave us that mark and made us one of them,” Jane adds on. “They promised they'd help them. But they were gonna let them die,” she laments. Remembering the trust her and Clementine placed in the New Frontier. Then AJ and Jaime got sick, and David didn’t care.

“What exactly did David do to you guys? And who’s them?” Javi asks them. So far they’ve been vague about David’s misdeeds and saying that they couldn’t trust him, but they haven’t exactly stated why. Clementine and Jane share a look. With a sigh, Jane crosses her arms, turning her back to the others, looking out in the distance of the forest. “David… hurt us. When we joined the New Frontier, it was me, Clem… and AJ and Jaime.”

“Who’re AJ and Jaime?”

“AJ was this boy. I knew his parents and was the one to take care of him after they died,” Clementine answers. “Jaime was…” she stops and looks at Jane who seemed to be in a state of shock. “She was-”

“She was my daughter.” The group turn their attention to Jane at her sudden confession. “AJ and Jaime were our kids. AJ’s mom died shortly after he was born, and Clem was the one looking after him since, and Jaime was my daughter. Sometime after we joined New Frontier they got sick. They told us they were going to help them. But they didn’t. When we tried to take matters into our own hands…”

“They kicked us out,” Clementine finishes for her. “That’s why we don't trust David.”

“Clem and I lost a lot of people since the walkers. But with AJ and Jaime…”

“We thought they would be the ones... finally.”

“The ones what?” Javier asks curiously.

“The ones who didn't die,” Clementine chokes out, nearly on the verge of tears, Jane almost right there with her. Javier walks up behind them and places a hand on both of their shoulders. He turns them around and pulls them both in for a brief hug. After pulling apart the group keeps moving, finally reaching the warehouse marked on the map, finding it swarmed with walkers.

“This is what David circled on the map,” Javi says.

“Our smelly friends are back…” Tripp points out the surrounding walkers. Everyone draws their weapons and charge through the herd, killing off walkers. Once they reach the warehouse, Javi closes the chain link fence surrounding it before the walkers reach them. The walkers push against the fence, attempting to knock it down. The rest of the group try to keep the gate open while Javi attempts to find a way inside the warehouse.

“Pick up the pace, Javi!” Tripp yells at him. Javi finally tries opening the garage door, only to struggle to lift it.

“I can-- ah, fuck-- I can raise it a little, but-- something's wrong with it. Jammed or some shit.”

“Maybe we can force it open,” Clementine suggests.

“We're gonna have to.” A few tense moments later, Javi gets the garage to stay open partially using a carjack, signalling to the others they can let go of the gate and get inside. “That's it, it won't go any higher! Everyone get in!”

One by one, the others let go of the gate and slide or roll under the door after killing a few more walkers. Conrad shoots at the walkers while running for the garage door and slides under it, Tripp being the last one in. Once everyone gets inside, Javi hurries to move the carjack out from underneath so the walkers couldn’t get in. He kicks the carjack away and the door closes.

“Damn, man. That was too close,” Tripp heaves in relief.

“You can say that again,” Conrad agrees. Before any of them can take a moment to catch their breath, they hear gunshots outside.

“Hey! I'm here!”

“David!” Javi cries out. He was surprised his brother had followed them out here, even after just having been kicked out of Richmond. He runs over to the other door to let him in before being stopped by the sound of a gun being cocked.

“Don't you dare let that fucking baby-killer in!” He turns around to see Clementine pointing a gun at him, followed by her firing a warning shot near him at the door. “Don't make me do this.”

“Clem…” Tripp warns.

“Don't do it, Javi.”

“Come on, Javi. After what he did? Don’t open it,” Jane advises sternly.

“He'll die,” Jesus gives his sympathy.

“He deserves worse!” Clementine spat.

“C'mon! Hurry up!” They hear David plead from outside. Feeling like Clementine or Jane might actually blow his head off, Javi backs away from the door, Clementine lowering her gun. Jesus runs over to the door to open it up for David, running inside once he was let in.

“I thought you were a good man,” Jesus scolds Javi. "We need to barricade the door.”

Clementine tackles David and puts her gun to his head. “Did you let them turn?!” she fumes. “Tell me! Now!””

“Uh, Jane? Can you get her off me?” David asks.

“Answer me!”

“You owe us both an answer, David,” Jane deadpans with a mix of anger.

“We didn't have to worry about that,” David confesses.

“What the hell does that mean?!”

“They lived, Clem! They lived.”
Clementine slowly gets off of David, feeling a flurry of emotions. Most prominently, shock and disbelief.

“But how? They were dying. Clem and Jane said so,” Javi wonders. AJ and Jaime were only infants when they were dying, so they didn’t exactly have the strongest immune systems, so for them to have lived does seem highly unlikely.

“AJ and Jaime bounced back. They were stronger than we thought. It was... a miracle.”

“You're lying,” Clementine snaps.

“If you’re lying about this, I’ll make walkers the least of your problems,” Jane threatens, murder in her eyes.

“I know it sounds like I'm trying to save my own skin. Clementine, Jane, please-- I'm telling the truth.”

“Where? Where are they now?” Clementine pleads.

“I don't know for sure.”

“But they're in Richmond?” Clementine bargains, more than actually believing.

“Dr. Lingard took care of them. He'll know where they are,” David informs them.

“Then I'm going back,” Clementine declares.

“None of us are going anywhere until the walkers clear.”

Clementine gives a scrutinizing glare to David before walking away, needing a moment to herself. Jane follows after her in concern.

“Clem. You alright?”

“Jane, you heard him. We have to go back and find out where AJ and Jaime are.”

“Yeah, we do. But he’s right about being stuck here until the walkers clear.”

“But,” Clementine counters. “I don’t know if I trust him. If he’s even telling the truth.” She’s still skeptical if David was being honest. But if he were lying, he wouldn’t have said to talk to Lingard.

Trying to ease Clementine’s worries, Jane gets down on one knee to be eye level with her and places her hands on her shoulders. “I don’t trust David as far as I can throw him but… Listen, we get back to Richmond. Talk to Dr. Lingard and find out where AJ and Jaime are and-”

“I might be going crazy, but… I think these came from Prescott,” They hear Tripp saying. They rejoin the others and look at all the other crates in the warehouse. “That's Phantom Punch!”

“I don't understand how all this got here,” David says sincerely.

“Like you don't know.”

“Hey, none of this stuff was here before. I don't have a damn thing to do with it! We've only ever kept a few basic supplies here, for scouts. For emergencies.”

“Your people must’ve looted this stuff from Prescott, David,” Javi accuses

“Come on, we can't know that,” David tries defending himself.

“Who else knew about this place?” Jesus asks.

“Your outfit is the only one that gutted my town.”

“This is bigger than just Prescott. There's spoils from other towns here, too. Towns I heard got raided a while back... Th--there's stuff here from the Kingdom,” Jesus point to other crates stacked with the ones from Prescott.

“Look how many there are already. Goddamn herd's nearly on us. Hurry the fuck up!”

The group hears a voice followed by two others on the other side of the warehouse. Everyone hides behind a crate to eavesdrop on the unsuspected guests.

“Fuck 'em. I'd do that little bitch again, just to see her head pop.” They recognize the first voice as Badger and see that Max and another New Frontier guard are with him.

“You sure as hell are stupid, ain't you?” Max deadpans.

“You only just realizin' that now?” The other guard snarks.

“I told you. Joan is on the warpath. Last thing we need is people getting wind of all this stuff.”

“Look at all this shit. We're frickin' rollin' in it,” Badger glees.

The group sneaks up on Max, Badger, and the other guard, Javi holding his bat ready to start swinging. “And now we get to see your head pop, you piece of shit!” Javi declares boldly, trying to sound as threatening as possible, echoing Badger’s own words back to him. David punches Badger, knocking him to the floor, dropping his gun, as David kicks it away falling into a sewer grate.

“David?!”

“I thought better of you, Max. I really did.”

“David. Come on, man! We're a unit.” Max calmly takes a step forward, his hands in the air in surrender. “There's no need for--” Max draws his gun and starts firing at the group, all of them diving for cover to avoid being shot. David fires at Max and the other one as they run away. Tripp and Conrad take cover.

“Stop him!”

“He's getting away!” Jesus calls out, giving chase to the other member of David’s old unit, along with Clementine, and Jane, before he could get away. They follow him farther along outside of the warehouse, avoiding the walkers that still hung around, past the fence surrounding it. The sun was just barely peeking out from beneath the horizon, but it was noticeably lighter outside. Clementine draws her gun and starts firing rounds, unable to land a hit as her target keeps moving. Jesus takes his hatchet and throws it at him, missing as it lands wedged in the ground as he disappears behind the brush, making his way back to New Frontier.

“Dammit! He got away.” Jesus walks over to where his hatchet landed and pulls it out of the ground, sheathing it away, as Clementine does the same holstering away her gun.

“Well, with any luck he won’t get far. Maybe the walkers will get to him first,” Jane tries being optimistic. Albeit, in a morbid fashion.

“And if he does, then he’s going to warn Joan,” Jesus scolds. “We need to head back and let the others know he got away.” Jesus walks past Jane and Clementine taking the lead back to the warehouse.

Jane hangs back a bit to talk to Clementine, noticing the pissed off look on her face. “What’s up, kiddo?”

“I almost had him. How did I miss?”

Jane pulls down the brim of Clementine’s hat, a habit she had grown annoyed of. “Don’t worry about it. It’s hard to hit a moving target. Come on. Let’s just get back to the others.”

The three of them return back to the warehouse finding it still swarmed by walkers, just at sunrise. They reunite with the rest of the group just outside the fence.

“Where's Lonnie?” David questions them.

“He gave us the slip. High-tailed it back towards Richmond,” Jesus reports, pointing off in the direction he fled

“Son of a bitch. If he warns Joan…”

“Wasn't there one more?” Clementine notices that Badger was absent. Then she sees the blood on Javi’s baseball bat, getting all the answer she needs. “Oh…”

“What? It's good riddance… that son of a bitch killed Mariana,” David jeers.

“Did that make you feel better?” Jesus chastises Javi.

“I wouldn't shed any tears if I were you.”

“Maybe I'm shedding them for your brother.”

“You're damn right it did!” Javi rejoices. “Bastard deserved everything he got.”

“Be careful, Javi... Act like a beast, you risk what makes you human. Don't become the thing you hate.”

“Javi's earned my trust. And if any of you had any brains, you'd say the same,” Clementine comes to his defense. “I'm sure you did the right thing. Sometimes there's just no other way to make things right… Someone I once knew a crowbar to someone once.”

A shudder goes through Jane’s spine, as she had completely forgot about Kenny beating Carver’s face in, and the memory of the aftermath that flashed in her mind. She still wonders how Clementine was able to watch it happen.

“My people need to know about what we found here,” Jesus tells the group.

“What about your missing friends?” Javi asks.

“I'm surprised you care. Human life isn't exactly high on your list of priorities,” Jesus chastises him after killing Badger. “Don't have time to keep looking. They'd want me to get home and warn them. So that's what I'm gonna do. Sooner the better.”

“You sure you won't stay? We need your help.”

“So do others. I won't forget about you. You have my word.”

“It's a shitstorm out there, man,” Tripp cautions him. “I don't see how you're gonna make it.”

“One step at a time,” Jesus offhandedly remarks, casually turning on his heels and walking away to return to his people. And with that, the one they might consider actual Jesus is gone.

“We need to get back to Richmond fast,” David urges them. “I have loved ones in there…”

“We both do,” Javi reminds him.

“We all do,” Clementine adds to their statements.

“I gotta break Eleanor out of there. Once she's safe, I… I'm gonna tell her how I feel.” Tripp looks over to Javi and Jane, recalling their talk from last night. “Hey, if the mess never washes out, might as well get neck deep.”

“We're gonna need allies in Richmond. Lingard and Clint--they're out best bet. If I can get to them before Joan does, maybe we have a chance,” David informs them. “I know I was ready to say goodbye before, but I can't do this without you. Can I count on you? I won't be able to pull this off myself,” he pleads to his brother.

“Fine-- but I'm doing this for Kate, not you. And I expect first-class treatment when we're done. No more quarantine for me or my friends. Just the red fucking carpet,” Javi bargains to his brother in turn for his cooperation.

“Fine, whatever you need. As long as we get it done.” David accepts Javi’s terms. “If Lonnie raises the alarm, they'll be waiting for us at the gates. There's a way in round back that'll get us around any sentries. We can take Badger's truck.”

“I doubt he'll mind,” Javi quips.

“C'mon, we gotta get on the move.” David orders them, getting in the front seat and starting the truck. “The herd is closing in.”

Everyone else from the group gets in the back of the truck and David drives away back to Richmond.

The group climbs out of a sewer in Richmond. They sneak down an alleyway a few feet, hiding behind one of the numerous shipping containers stacked on the road. David takes a peek around the corner to check if the coast is clear.

“I'm thinking this'll go a lot better if we split up. A group this big can't exactly sneak around. Particularly if they're expecting us…”

“Eleanor's in there somewhere. I'm going after her,” Tripp voices his plan.

“Then I'm coming with you,” Conrad joins him.

“Lingard brought her to the clinic. That's your best bet,” David informs them of her location. “Javi-- that's where you'll go to get Kate and Gabe. Then bring them to my house. It's the one with the raven on the hitching post. We'll all meet up there - after I pay a little visit to Joan... Stay out of sight. They'll be keeping an eye out for us.”

“Just-- don't wait up for me, okay?”

“Javi?”

“I'm gonna do whatever I have to to keep Kate and Gabe safe. After that, I'm not promising anything.

“Javi, just follow the plan. I'm counting on you to hold up your end.” David nods to Max, and they both leave for the church to confront Joan.

“I'll scout ahead.” Tripp and Conrad get up and walk a few feet further down the alley to see if anyone’s on patrol, leaving Javier with just Clementine and Jane.

“What about you, two?”

“I'm pretty sure we've still got some friends in the New Frontier. If they know where Jaime and AJ are being held, they'll tell us.”

“And I know who to start with,” Jane adds in.

“As soon as we find them, we’re taking that truck and getting the hell out of here,” Clementine says sternly as she shakes the keys to Badger’s truck in front of him.

“Well, you are owed a vehicle,” Javi laments. He was sad that after all they’ve been through, they still wanted to leave. But he did understand why.

“Keep an eye on David. He may be playing nice, but I'd still watch your back,” Clementine cautions him.

“Give me a little credit, Clem. I can handle David.”

“I really hope you're right. But you're no dummy. Your instincts have been right most of the time. I know you'll make the right call.” Clementine peeks around the corner then looks back to Javi, grinning from ear to ear. “See you when I see you.”

“We’ll be seeing you around Javier,” Jane parts goodbye to him, and both her and Clementine head out to get answers out of anyone who they could still consider friends in New frontier after their less than gracious exile, hoping they’d tell them where the kids are. After walking down half a block, Clementine brings up their plan of who to talk to find out where AJ and Jaime are.

“Hey, Jane. I think we should split up.”

“Huh. I was actually going to suggest the same thing.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. That way we’ll cover more ground, and be able to talk to more people and find out where our kids are,” Jane informs her. “Unless, that’s what you were thinking too?” she teases, looking at Clementine with a smirk. She doesn’t answer that and playfully punches her in the arm.

“Alright. So where do we meet up?” Clementine asks.

“We meet back at the clinic and try talking to Dr. Lingard. David did say to talk to him.”

“That is if we can trust him.”

“Right.” They both give each other a nod and turn to split up and go their separate ways. “Be careful, kiddo,” Jane cautions.

“You too.” Clementine goes one way, and Jane heads the other, already knowing the first person in mind to talk to. As she rounds the bend of a different street, she pauses and quickly ducks back behind the building, seeing David approach the house, surprised but not unsatisfied to see Ava standing in front of the porch. She looks on top of the house and sees a raven on the hitching post. Did Ava live with David in Richmond or did he already talk to her earlier? Shoving the thought aside, Jane waited til David left to talk to her. She was looking for Ava anyway. After David left, Jane came out from around the corner and walked up to the house to talk to the one she was looking for.

“Hey there, stranger,” Jane calls out. She notices the look of surprise and shock on Ava’s face.

“Jane. What are you doing here?”

“I came to see you,” Jane not-so-subtly flirts.

“Really?”

“Yeah. I wanted to know if you knew where AJ and Jaime are.”

“Oh.” Ava crosses her arms, feeling slightly disappointed. “So this isn’t a social call.”

“Why? Did you miss me?”

“No. I mean- Maybe…” Ava then notices her- Jane’s - scarf around her neck. “You kept it.” She nods towards the scarf.

“Huh? Oh yeah. Well, you said to take as a promise we’d see each other again someday. And well, here we are.”

“Here we are indeed.” Ava uncrosses her arms, her scowl slowly receding into a smile. She gestures for Jane to come stand next to her. She does so, sitting on the steps of the front porch.

“David told me that the kids are alive. You and him are close so I figured he must’ve told you something.” Jane cuts right to the chase, Ava feeling slightly disappointed.

“Sorry. He didn’t tell me anything. You’ll have to talk to Dr. Lingard.”

“Figures,” Jane deadpans. “Well, at least I got to talk to you.”

“Hu- wh- *ahem* David said Javi should be here with the rest of his family soon. I could use some company if you don’t mind waiting with me. They’re supposed to wait here, while me and Javi see David to confront Joan.”

“Then bring them to my house... We'll all meet up there.”

“Just-- don't wait up for me, okay?”

“Javi, just follow the plan. I'm counting on you to hold up your end.”

Jane wonders on whether or not she should tell her the truth. But what was the truth? She didn’t know herself. It’s not like she knew if Javi was going to stick to the plan or not. What he did was his decision. She just came to get info on AJ and Jaime’s location and then leave Richmond. “Sure. I can wait. But, I did plan on meeting up with Clem later.”

“Oh. Where is Clementine?”

“I don’t know. She’s around asking people the same thing I came to ask you.”

“Did David not tell you Lingard knew where they were?”

“He did.”

“Then why aren’t you asking him?”

“Because…”

“Because what?”

Because we don’t trust him. Because he’s the reason we lost the kids in the first place. Because he’s the reason we got kicked out of New Frontier. Because-

“Nevermind.”

“Okay… suit yourself,” Ava shrugs. The two continue to talk and catch up since they last saw each other. How Jane and Clementine have been in exile, Ava still in New Frontier, and other nonsensical chatter. Soon enough, the sun is just over the horizon, and Javi still hadn’t shown up yet. Ava was starting to get frustrated.

“Where the hell is he? David said he’d be here.”

“Maybe he decided to bail,” Jane suggests casually, scratching the back of her ear.

“God dammit. Come on. We’re heading to the clinic. See if some of his friends have seen him.”

Jane stands up from the porch and follows Ava through Richmond to the clinic. She feels slightly guilty. Should she have said something? But she didn’t know what Javi’s plan was and that he wasn’t going to show up. She just wanted to find out where her kids were, and get the hell out of Richmond. The sooner the better. Somehow, Jane had a bad feeling that things were about to get worse with New Frontier.