Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

[ Idea: watching the rain and wishing for better days.

AU: Sarah lives all the way to season 4, and helps Clem take care of AJ. Clem let Kenny kill Jane and Clem, Sarah, and AJ went into Wellington.

Relationship: Clem and Sarah have motherly feelings for AJ. Clem and Sarah are friends, could possibly been seen as Clem/Sarah if you wanted to. Clem is is 17, Sarah is 19, AJ is 6. Clem was 11 and Sarah was 13 when AJ was born.

Set: In season 4, a few days before the raid on the train station.)

Sarah was sitting in the passanger seat of their car, her feet up against her chest and leaning against her locked car door; peering out from behind her cracked purple glasses, her brown eyes watching the rain pour down the window.

Clementine, sitting in the driver's seat, peered into the mirror; her eyes finding AJ lied out along the backseats, a blanket stretched along him and Sarah's old sweater brunched under his head as a makeshift pillow. Her eyes drifted downwards, landing on her old gun - now AJ's - lying on the floorboard, her eyes immeditaly finding the safety, even though there were no bullets.

"You know he always keeps the safety on," Sarah's amused voice pulled Clem's attention away from AJ, her amber eyes meeting Sarah's brown eyes. "You taught him that, remember?"

Clementine smiled at the older girl. "I know. But you're the one who remembered to remind him."

The two girls share a small smile, remembering the first few days spent on the road where AJ never felt safe enough to put the safety on his gun on. The girls had noticed how AJ had been putting the safety on for the past few days.

Maybe it wasn't much to be proud of, but the girls certainly were. They've been on the road for years now, it meant a lot that AJ was starting to believe that they weren't going to be attacked at any second.

Espically with what happened at the Ranch...

Clem felt dread in her stomach as she watched the smile slowly slip off Sarah's face. Sarah hardly smiled anymore, not after Wellington and losing Edith. Clementine herself wasn't that close to Edith, having preferred to only stay close to AJ and Sarah.

Clementine still felt guilty, not being able to relate to Sarah's mourning of Edith. Sarah had said she understood why Clem didn't close to anyone else in Wellington, after everything they went through to get there, and that she appreciated that Clem cared about Sarah to at least be there with her through her grief.

Clementine's hand raised to her cheek, gently brushing against the scar she got from the bullet that grazed her cheek while escaping Wellington. Clementine still remembered how Sarah had cleaned up her cut, all the while tears streamed down her face.

"Your glasses," Clementine blurted out, desperate to get out of her own head. Sarah blinked at her, confused. "Why aren't you wearing the other ones? The ones Edith found for you?"

Immediately, Clementine felt like slapping herself as she watched Sarah's frown deepen. How could she be such an idiot?

"You don't have to-" Clementine rushed to say.

"My dad," Sarah rushed out.

"What?" Clementine blinked, dumbfounded. Her dad? Sarah hadn't talked much about Carlos in the years, preferring to focus on taking care of AJ and Clementine, on their future, on their survival.

"Last night, I dreamt about...before." Sarah gulped, reaching up to play with her hair. Realizing this as a nervous tick, Clem reached out and grab her hand; intertwining their fingers together and giving Sarah an assuring smile. Sarah gave Clementine a shaky smile, taking in a shuddering breathe. For some reason, Sarah always seemed to feel guilty about talking about ' before.' "I dreamt about when my dad and I first went to go get them. I was so scared...."

Sarah scoffed to herself, shaking her head. Her other hand went up and lightly touched the crack on her old glasses. She couldn't see out of the left len anymore.

"Maybe I shouldn't have kept them..." Sarah sighed. "I don't know, it was stupid. I mean, Jane was the one who..."

"Jane was the bitch who almost killed you. Almost killed Kenny, almost killed AJ." Clementine sneered, tightening her grip on Sarah's hand. "She fucking dersevered to die. What she did to us...to Kenny and AJ."

"I know," Sarah agreed, her voice hard. "Jane deserved to die."

It always use to shock Clem to hear how readily the soft, navie, and kind Sarah agreed on Clementine's opinion on Jane. Maybe it still should've shocked or unnerved her, but honestly; Clementine was glad to hear to venom in Sarah's voice whenever they talked about Jane.

It meant Sarah knew when she had been wronged by someone, and it meant Sarah would be willing to put down someone who is threat to her life.

It meant Sarah knew what it took to survive, and was willing to act on it when she had the chance.

Chapter Text

He is wary around them, the new kids.

They are two teenage girls and a little boy. Clementine, Sarah, and AJ.

Clementine unnerves him. Tenn had told him how she had Sophie's palette knife and used it to pick the lock on the twins' door. She could've easily stabbed Tenn. Tenn is lucky that Clementine didn't seem to like the idea of threatning little kids. Mitch isn't suprised when Louis takes an interest in the girl. Violet, though...Minnie didn't even like killing walkers.

AJ is amusing to him. Mitch hasn't interacted with him much and doesn't know much about the kid, other than the fact that AJ has a few problems; mainly being with swearing and people sneaking up on him. AJ hitting Marlon in the nuts and biting Ruby is more then enough of a warning for Mitch. Not to mention the fact that AJ's a great shot..

Sarah..is different than the other two. It's easy to see where AJ's aggressive nervousness comes from. At first glance, the thin, easily nervous girl doesn't look like much of a threat: at least, not compared to her shorter and younger companion, Clementine.

That is, until you're staring down the sharp edge of her blood stained machete: peering into furious, glaring brown eyes framed by cracked purple glasses. The glass in the left len looks like it would crack and fall into her eye at any second.

Mitch scowls, jumping backwards and hissing something out: he can't really hear what he said over the loud beating in his chest. He watches as Sarah's eyes widen, lowering her machete as a stream of hurried apologies fly pass her lips.

"It's fine," Mitch reluctantly assures the gulit-ridden girl. The two of them are out on the school's wall, it's night time and the stars are out. Mitch has only come to take over Sarah's lookout, the fact that Sarah has been on lookout for hours worrying Clementine, which means Violet has sent Mitch to deal with it. The boy notices Sarah's hand shaking around the handel of her machete and sits down, a few inches away from her.

Sarah blinks at him. "Did Clem send you to take over?"

"No," Mitch replies, flicking a leaf off his shoe. "Violet sent me, because Clementine is worried about you. Says you've been up here for the past few days on lookout."

Sarah frowns, turning away from Mitch and setting her machete across her dark blue cargo pants so the handle is pointed towards Mitch. His eyes observed it, noticing the dark orange and brown fabrics wrapped tightly around the handle. He assumes the cloth is there to prevent possible blisters on Sarah's hands, but Mitch has the feeling it's something sentimental to the girl. From what Mitch has noticed about her, Sarah is very open with her emotions.

"She shouldn't worry so much," Sarah mutters, pulling Mitch from his thoughts.

Mitch raised an eyebrow at her. "She cares about you. Her and AJ both. She thinks you're upset."

"I know," Sarah admits. "That they care about me, I mean. I..really care about them, too."

Sarah falls silent. Mitch, assuming the conversation is over, turns away and focuses on the forest: bringing the second pair of binoculars to his eyes.

"The stars are really pretty." Sarah suddenly says.

"What?" Mitch asks, not looking away from the forest and only half listening.

"The stars," she says, "I wanted to get high enough to see the stars. I've noticed Violet climbing up that tall tower sometimes, but I'm not as brave as her. This wall is as high as I'm willing to go."

"Why do you want to see the stars so much?" Mitch can't help but ask, wanting to know more. "The three of you have been on the road a long time, right? Don't you see the stars every night?"

"Yeah." Sarah sighs. "Living on the road was dangerous though. We always kept moving and I rarely ever had the time to truly see the stars. Stargazing with my dad was out favorite pastime. I haven't done it in a while, not since.."

She trailed off, her voice shaky. Mitch doesn't try to pry.

Sensing the mood dropping, Mitch thinks about asking about the fabric and the cracked glasses, but instead asks: "Do you want to hear about the time Minnie and Omar almost set the school on fire?"

Sarah smiles. "Sure."

Mitch smirks. "Okay, it started with Omar trying to teach Minnie to cook for her date with Violet..."

Chapter Text

Her heart was pounding, screams and gunshots ringing in her ears. She stumbled along after Helen, their caretaker at the Ranch, down the hallway she and AJ had been playing in just two days ago. She could hear heavy breathing, crying, and whimpering echoing off the walls from behind her, and she clutched AJ close to her chest. AJ had gone compeltely silent, a stark contrast to his joyful laughing just yesterday. 

"We'll be okay," Helen assured kids behind her, holding her gun close with shaky hands. Sarah stared at Helen's back through half lidded eyes, one hand gently running through AJ's slight fluff of hair.

Everyday, he gets closer and closer to Alvin's appearance, Sarah mused: a bit spitefully. Take that, Carver.

Sarah looked outside the windows as they passed, hardly able to see anything through the smoke from the fire. She was just barely able to notice the humanoid shadows running by; a few being chased by other shadows with guns in their hands. She stared with wide, enchanted eyes; a familiar sense of numbness taking over her entire body. 

"It's like a play of shadow people," Sarah muttered to herself, a blurry memory of the time Clem made shadow plays with her hands to try to cheer a sick Sarah and AJ up entering her mind. Sarah frowned, a deep sense of loss causing tears to build up in her eyes. 

"Sarah!" Helen's distant voice shouted, causing Sarah's whole body to jerk and her head to snap in Helen's direction, rapidly blinking away her tears. With suprise, Sarah realized she had stopped walking and Helen had beaten her to the nursery.

Sarah lurched forward, her slow walk turning into a light jog; trying to be quick, but silent. Her machete in its' holster bounced against her shoulder, her backpack that was covering the holster not being able to muffle the jingling sound. Her heart jumped as she practically ran the rest of the way into the nursery, pausing to close the door behind her; shifting AJ into her other arm and then reaching out to lock it.

Sarah turned around, pressing her back against the door, and took in the nursery: since she and AJ had still been very sick when they arrived at the Ranch, they were immediately taken to the makeshift hospital and they never saw much of the nursery. 

Unlike the white walls of the hospital, the walls of the nursery were four different colors. The wall on the left side was pink and purple, obviously meant for baby girls. The right was red and blue, being for the boys. The white cribs were divided straight down the middle, creating a walkway, with the names of the babies sleeping in the cribs painted on the ends. 

The nursery seemed to be the only room in the Ranch completely covered with carpet: the ground being littered with toys, books, and art supplies. In one corner, there was a row of what looked like kindergarten cubbies: brightly colored backpacks hanging off the hooks.

Other than a bathroom and closet door, there was an open door that led to a storage room. Sarah could hear Helen rummaging through a locker, setting supplies meant for toddlers on the counter to her right. 

Before going to Helen, Sarah looked around at the cribs; her heart sinking as she realized they were all empty. She blinked at one crib that belonged to a girl named Hannah, Sarah barely able to make out the words underneath the blood coating the letters. 

Turing away, Sarah made her way over to the franatic woman; gently tugging away AJ's little finger off the len of her blue glasses that Edith had given her. Sarah jumped slightly as, in her panic, Helen knocked a package of diapers off the counter.

Stepping over it, Sarah reached out to place a hand on Helen's shoulder; only to gasp and stumble away from Helen when she turned around.

Sarah stared into the hazy, yellow eyes of her caretaker, noticing the bullet hole in Helen's blood covered cheek, and screamed.

Sarah jerks up, a scream catching in her throat and coming out as a sort of whimper. Her wide eyes look around, shaky and sweaty fingers grasping the sheets underneath her.

She squints - trying to see in the dark - her eyes landing at the foot of her bed. 

"AJ.." Sarah whispers, rreaching out her hand towards him.

AJ reaches out, too, grasping her hand and intertwining their fingers. Sarah scoots closer, her blankets falling at her waist, and rests their hands on her knee.

"You were dreaming.." AJ mutters softly. "Was...Was it about the blood?" 

Sarah felt a tear run down her cheek, AJ's sad eyes following it down until it hit her blankets. She doesn't say anything and AJ squeezes her hand. 

"Will we ever find a home?" AJ asks in a monotone voice, not meeting Sarah's eyes. "One we won't have to leave later, I mean. Does a place like that even exist?"

The silence passes between them. 

"How about, instead of thinking of home as a place, we think of home as the people we love the most?" Sarah gave AJ a small, slightly sad, smile. She looks down over the railings of her bed, in the general direction of where she knows Clementine's bed is: giving a small shrug. "Home is where the heart is, after all."

AJ follows Sarah's eyes, a thoughtful look in his eyes before looking back at Sarah.

"Yeah," AJ nods firmly. "Home is where the heart is."

Sarah and AJ share a smile and sit silently as the night passes: at peace with the knowledge that no matter what happens in the morning, the three of them will always have a home in eachother.

Chapter Text

Dear Dad,

I'm 10 now, my birthday was two days ago. I don't think you remembered, but that's okay. You were very sleepy and you had work the next day.

Your birthday is in two weeks. Don't worry about trying to remember, I've always remembered these days for you. If six dollars goes missing from your wallet, just know I have good intentions.
---
Dear Dad,

When I got in from school today, I was in tears. Lisa was being very mean today: she said you were a neglectful father.

I told her to stop projecting her life onto to us, and she punched me. The principle called but you didn't answer. That's okay: Lisa was right to hit me, what I said was very rude.

You were asleep on the couch. This journal was unopen on the counter, just like six days ago.

That's okay, though. You've been working for hours now. I figured you were hungry so I made you a sandwich and put it in the microwave. Don't worry, there's no lettuce this time!

My eye is hurting. I'm going to get an ice pack.
---
Dear Dad,

My eye wasn't swollen, it was just bruised. I didn't try to cover it up, but I guess you thought the purple circle around my eye was makeup.

I can't believe you actually thought it was makeup. If I decide to ever try on makeup, I'll make sure it's better then Miss Can't-Throw-A-Punch-Right.
---
Dear Dad,

It took you another day to realize it wasn't makeup. I guess you felt guilty for not realizing sooner, because I saw my homeschool enrollment papers on your desk.
---
Dear Dad,

Rico and Richie died today when you was at work. They were really old cats. Because I'm homeschooled now I dug their graves in our backyard and carried their dead bodies to the graves.

I marked them. Please don't step on them.
---
Dear Diary,

Dad kicked the cross on Rico's grave today. I could hear him yelling at one of his co-workers over the phone in the backyard. When he left for work I took my book and went outside: school work, of course. Dad won't accept anything that isn't an A+.

The cross I made was crooked and broken at the top. He tried to fix it but I could tell it was broken.
----
Dear Diary,

There's no point in trying to talk to him. He's always busy, and if he isn't he's tired. This whole journal thing was his idea for the both of us. I guess it's just me now.
---
Dear Whoever Finds This,

My name is Sarah Wells and I'm 10. I am 10 when this outbreak started, Dad said the virus is causing the dead to walk. He wasn't talking to me, though. I overheard him talking to Aunt Barb.

Dad told me to pack a bag of clothes and nothing more. This is my last entry, you probably found this in my trashcan because that's where I'm throwing it.

Dad said only the important things. Things that aren't important should be left behind or thrown away and forgotten; especially things that bring back bad memories.

Goodbye.

Chapter Text

"I'm soooo bored," Mitch hisses out, throwing his head back against the wall. "Ow, FUCK!"

Mitch rubs at the back of his head, scowling. Sarah snickers, earning a glare from the boy. The intended effect of his glare was ruined by the pout on his lips, causing Sarah's slight snickers to burst out into full blown giggles: accompanied by snorts.

"Ha, ha," Mitch mocks, watching as Sarah clasps a hand over mouth to try and muffle her laughs. Rolling his eyes, Mitch huffs and crosses his arms over his chest.

"Aw, c'mon," Sarah cooes at him. "You can't be mad at me. See, you're smiling, too!"

Sarah watches with a tiny smirk as a blush over takes Mitch's face, the boy quickly looking away from her: his shoulders tense. Sensing that she had actually upset him this time, she crawls out from her corner of the school's watchtower: settling down beside him, her legs stretching out in front of her.

She eyes Mitch's hands, which were lying on his thighs- his hands tightly clenching the fabric of his jeans- and quickly dismisses the idea of trying to hold his hand. She recognised this gesture as a way for Mitch to keep himself grounded in whatever emotions he was feeling right now, having witnissed AJ do the same thing whenever he couldn't find any other outlet. Sarah knew better than to try and take away Mitch's feeling of control over his own body, no matter how small that control may be.

She scoots closer to Mitch, close enough to where their shoulders are touching, but leaving enough space between their legs so Mitch wouldn't possibly feel cornered or trapped. Mitch was now silently staring at his hands, allowing Sarah to study his face: his narrowed eyes, the deep frown on his lips, the blush still a deep red on his cheeks. 

Sarah could tell Mitch was the type of guy who got embarrassed easily, especially when it came to his own emotions. Realizing he wouldn't like her bring light to his embarrassment any more than she already had, she dismissed the idea of apologising about it and decided to bring their conversation back on topic.

"If you're so bored, you could go back inside." Sarah suggests. "This is my turn for lookout duty, yours isn't until a few hours from now. You could get some sleep, maybe go fix up your bomb or something: I'm sure Willy would gladly help."

"No," Mitch shook his head, shaking out his hands and lying them flat on his thighs now. "Willy needs his sleep, and there's no way in Hell I'd EVER let him anywhere NEAR a bomb."

"He's going to, eventually. You do know that, right?" Sarah asks, raising an eyebrow at him. "He worships the ground you walk on, Mitch. If you make bombs, then it's only a matter of time before he starts to show an interest."

Mitch scowls, glaring at the wall: almost like the heat of his stare would be enough to convince the universe that Willy would never go near bombs.

"I don't care if he admires me," Mitch sneers. "He should know better. Do as I say, not as I do."

Sarah stared at the side of his head, recalling the multiple times she and Clementine would have to explain to AJ why he couldn't just do the things the two of them could.

"Why can't I use a knife like Clem?"

"Because you're too small, Goofball. Those monsters are taller and stronger than you."

"I could've handled that guy! Why did you let him walk away?!"

"He just wanted some help to find his daughter, AJ. Not everyone's a threat."

"Then why'd you kill that one lady yesterday?"

"Because she was going to take our car and shoot Clem."

"But she had a daughter, too! What makes him any different?!"

"What makes the difference was that he wasn't trying to rob and kill us."

"Not now, maybe. He'll be back with his daughter and then you'll wish I had killed them."

Sarah could remember the cold dread she had felt after AJ said those words to her. Clementine and Sarah both knew that AJ killing another human unavoidable, it was bound to happen. Yet, back when it was just the three of them on the road, before the school and before Marlon, the two of them tried so hard to avoid people: to try and avoid fate by constantly being on the move. Unfortunately, the three of them ran into people from time to time: the bad ones - the ones that were a threat to them- had to be dealt with, no matter if AJ saw it or not. 

Even though killing people and making bombs weren't anywhere near close to eachother, they both still held the threat of injuring people and taking lives: and Sarah knew it was better for Mitch to realize this now, rather than later. At least this way, his disappointment could be more manageable.

"It's not that simple," Sarah stresses. "It doesn't matter what you want from him: you can't make Willy's decisions for him. At least, not forever: whether you like it or not, you can't control his life." Sarah pauses, realising that Mitch had closed his eyes and that his shoulders were tense again. Biting her lip, she swallows the lump in her throat and hesitantly continues: "You do know that...right?"

Her heart beating loudly in her chest, she jumps when Mitch reaches out: his hand over hers, over her knee. She stares at their hands for a moment, before twisting her hand over so she could interwine their fingers together. Knowing they both needed this type of comfort, Sarah ignores how uncomfortable her hand is feeling -twisted so the back of her palm was against her knee- and squeezes Mitch's hand: feeling him responding with a gentle squeeze, too.

Mitch heaves out a heavy sigh, the force of it seeming to just drop his shoulders all the way down in a way that made it look like he was caving in on himself. Mitch lets himself fall sideways, his head resting on Sarah's shoulder. Sarah didn't think much of that action, seeing as both she and Clementine had done this exact same thing to eachother multiple times before, and just stares blankly down at their hands.

Her mind was running a mile a minute, not really focusing on just one thing as the silence passed between them. Suddenly, Sarah could feel Mitch shifting against her: nuzzling against her neck for a moment before burying his face there, his lips light against her skin. She could feel a blush on her face, her lips slightly parted and her eyes wide: her heart was beating faster than before in her ears, her body rooted in the spot.

"You're right," Mitch whispers, his breath leaving goosebumps on her neck. "I know I can't make his choices for him, I know that."

"You don't sound happy about that?" Sarah whispers back, her voice coming out choked.

"'Cause I'm not....happy about it, I mean." Mitch confesses, his voice shaking. "Is that okay? That..I'm not happy about it. That the thought of it makes me want to punch something."

Sarah snakes her other arm around his shoulder, lightly petting his hair. His hair wasn't clean, leaving a greasy feeling on Sarah's fingers that she was sure she'd scub at for hours later, but right now she couldn't bring herself to care. Not now, when what he needed from her was comfort: not judgement. 

She leans her cheek against the top of his head, lightly scratching at his scalp. 

"Yeah, Mitch. It's okay that you aren't happy about it, you don't have to be." Sarah assures him, nuzzling her cheek against his head. "You don't have to find an excuse for your feelings, and you don't have to explain yourself. Not to Willy, not to me. Not to anyone."

And that was that.

Chapter Text

"They're going to get rid of us!" She hisses, tears in her eyes: a foggy haze covering her eyes. "They're gong to get rid of us and they hate us and they're going KILL US!"

Her hands fly up, curling in her hair and tugging harshly. Clementine's eyes widen and she lunges forward, her hands wrapping around the other girl's wrists: trying to unclench the other girl's fingers from her own hair.

This only seems to upset Sarah further, causing her to start kicking her legs. Clementine grunts as Sarah's leg kicks her in the stomach, tears building up in her own eyes.

Gritting her teeth, Clementine throws her whole body against Sarah's: knocking the two of them to the ground. Clementine crawls on top of the older girl, sitting hard on Sarah's waist.

Sarah let out a frustrated scream, bucking her hips and throwing her head around: trying to throw the younger girl off. Clementine gasps as she feels Sarah's hands wrap around her wrists: a trail of blood dripping down Clem's wrist, coating Sarah's nails. Narrowing her eyes, Clementine throws her head back and quickly throws it back down: harshly headbutting Sarah.

Sarah let out a whimper, her pupils wide as her struggling slows down: clearly dazed. Sensing an opportunity, Clementine positions Sarah's now limp arms above her head, crisscrossing them over eachother: using her own hands to keep them tightly clasped above Sarah's head.

The two girls stare at eachother, wide eyed: Clementine, wary. Sarah, guilty. The silence passes between them, their chests heaving up and down - desperate for air.

Clementine's eyes suddenly widen, a whimper escaping her as her body curls forward: her stomach throbbing. She lets go of Sarah's wrists, rolling off of the other girl and onto the floor.

Clementine lies on her side, facing Sarah. Her arm with the bloody wrist holds her stomach as Clementine curls into a ball, her other arm stretching out in front of her.

The younger girl stares outside the window over Sarah's shoulder as Sarah moves her body to copy her position. Even as she felt Sarah staring at her, even when Sarah reaches out and holds her hand, and even when Clementine squeezes back-- she doesn't look away, staring up at the bright moon.

As the blood on her wrist coats the front of her shirt, Clementine is aware of Sarah's fingernails--coated in her blood--dripping between their fingers.

"We need to," Sarah starts, her raspy voice cutting off into some coughs that shook her body. She licks her chapped and dry lips, continuing in her scratchy voice, "go to the medic."

Clementine blinks slowly. The most injuries they had this time was just some bruises and one cut that will be fine by the morning--it wasn't even bleeding that much and it wasn't deep. There was no need to go see the medic, not really.

But, Clementine knew that it doesn't matter how severe injuries were. She knew all to well that injuries only buildt up, taking a toll on anyone's body and mind. Out there, suppiles was sacred and minor injuries will lead to death.

They both know better then to neglect supplies when it is offered to them, freely without any strings besides the obvious: earn your part.

"Yeah," Clementine sighs, a look of exhaustion on her face: still staring blankly at the moon. "In the morning."

Sarah says nothing, closing her eyes.

Too tired to move, they stay where they are--curled on their sides, holding hands, the blood drying between them-until the Sun comes up.

Chapter Text

When Clementine woke up, she could already tell today was going to be a bad day.

Every part of her body was twitching; throughout the day of going hunting with Louis and helping Ruby sort her medical cabinet, her body was tense and her fingers wouldn't stay still. No part of her would stay still.

During dinner, when Sarah hands Clementine her cup of water, the whole cup starts shaking in her hands; her fingers tapping on the metal and a bit of water sloshing over the rim.

Out of the corner of her eye, Clementine notices Mitch smirk to himself and open his mouth-- likely to say some snarky comment that only Willy would find funny -- until Clem's head snaps towards him; glaring him down.

Mitch's eyes widen, his mouth snapping shut as Clementine stares at him. The young man is almost certain he can hear slight growling coming from the young girl.

Clementine jumps as Sarah reaches out, firmly placing her hand on her friend's shoulder. Without thinking, the younger girl lashes out and grips Sarah's hand tightly; nails digging into her wrist.

Sarah let out a slight hiss, wincing, but she doesn't let up; digging her thumb deeper into Clementine's shoulder. Clementine grunts, jerking away from the older girl; letting go of Sarah's wrist to place her hand over her own shoulder, rubbing gently at the muscle.

Still rubbing her shoulder, Clementine glances over; meeting Sarah's eyes. Her heart drops, seeing the concern in her brown eyes. She quickly looks away, turning her eyes onto her bowl off food -- fish and a side of apple slices -- and digs her teeth into her bottom lip. To caught up in not meeting Sarah's eyes, she misses it when Sarah and Louis -- who is sitting on Clementine's right side -- share a look over her head.

"Hey," Louis nudges his shoulder against Clementine's, realizing he has her attention and he gives her a small smile: holding up a stack of familiar cards. "Care to join us in a game?"

Louis jerks his thumb over his shoulder, Clementine following his gesture even though she already knew who he was pointing towards: Marlon and Violet. Noticing her staring, Marlon tips his imaginary hat at her and Violet meets her eyes, giving her a small smile.
Quickly looking away, a small blush on her cheeks, she turns her eyes back to Louis: not noticing the smirk Louis gave to Aasim nor Aasim rolling his eyes.

"Well?" Louis prompts, raising an eyebrow at her.

Four of Cementine's fingers on her right hand twitch violently, Clem immediately using her left hand to hold them still: the fingers still twitching under her palm.

"Sure," she tries to say, but her voice comes out in a whisper: causing Louis to lean in closer, trying to hear her. Clementine tenses further, her fingers twitching towards the knife in her boot, and she rushes to loudly repeat herself. "--Sure! Let's go."

Cementine is up on her feet and heading towards the other table before she's even finished her sentence, Louis hitting his knees on the underside of the table in his rush to catch up with her.

Sarah watches Clementine join them, narrowing her eyes. She can feel a hand reaching to touch her shoulder before its' made contact, so she turns her head sharply. AJ, far used to Sarah's early reactions, still puts his tiny hand on her shoulder.

"AJ?" Sarah's question draws AJ's attention away from where he was staring over her shoulder, his worried gaze shifting to meet hers.

"Something's wrong with Clem." He states, firmly: like he's trying to convince Sarah.

"I know," Sarah confesses, blowing a strand of her brown hair out of her eyes.

"How are we going to help her?" AJ demands. Noticing Sarah's frown, AJ narrows his eyes at her. "We are going to help her..right?"

"Of course we are! I just don't know how we're--" Sarah's explanation halts as she notices Mitch and Brody over AJ's shoulder: going to put their respective drink and plate away for Omar to clean. Sarah purses her lips as she stares at them, a calculating look in her eyes: the gears turning in her head. Almost like a light bulb went off, Sarah's eyes light up-- the sunlight reflecting off her glasses making it look like her eyes are glowing -- and she grins down at AJ.

"AJ, I have a plan."

Chapter Text

Mitch doesn't react when Sarah flops down beside him on his couch, blowing lightly on his handmade knife: tiny pieces that he shaved off landing on the floor.

"What do you want?" Mitch asks, eyeing the knife before nodding to himself: setting it down gently in a pile of other knives by his feet. Brushing the shavings off his jeans, Mitch finally turns to face her: a curious look in his eyes. "You don't talk to me until I'm done with my chores."

"Responsibilities," Sarah corrects him. Mitch scoffs, shaking his head at her, but doesn't give any other response: so Sarah takes it upon herself to get to the point. "I'm calling in that favour you owe me."

Mitch blinks, looking surprised. "Wait..you were serious about that?! I thought you were joking!"

"Nope," Sarah smirks a bit, looking amused. "I can still tell Omar that it wasn't actually Louis who put crickets in his--."

Mitch slaps a hand over her mouth, muffling the rest of her words, as he looks around frantically. Once he realizes that no one heard what Sarah was going to say, let alone paying any attention to them, he slowly took his hand off her mouth: sending her a warning look as he did.

"Fine," Mitch hisses, a frown on his lips. "What the fuck do you want?"

"Oh, don't be so mad," Sarah waves dismissively. "It isn't anything dangerous. I just need you to distract Brody so I can go into her room and change the work schedule for tomorrow."

Mitch's eyes were wide, his face pale. "I thought you said it wasn't going to be anything dangerous?!"

"Oh." Sarah blinks, before shrugging. "It isn't going to be anything life threatening."

"Why do you need the schedule, anyway?" Mitch asks, a slight huff in his voice as he narrows his eyes at her. "Why can't you just ask for it, if you need it that badly?"

Sarah rose an eyebrow at him. "Brody doesn't make copies, finding extra paper is too hard. She won't give it out to anyone who isn't Marlon, because she doesn't want anyone destroying it and Marlon blaming her."

The way Sarah put force on Marlon's name had Mitch's nose scrunching up, gritting his teeth together. Sarah has to admit: green really isn't Mitch's color.

Abruptly, Mitch reaches down and clenches a decently sized rock in his fist; in almost a split second, a knife was in his hands. Sarah scoots back at bit as Mitch begins dragging the blade of the knife harshly across the stone, a scowl on his face.

Sarah curls her hand over her thigh, digging her bitten down nails deep into her jeans, trying to steady her shaky hand and trying to relax her tense shoulders. She considers it a win that she doesn't reach immediately for her knife.

What she doesn't consider a win, however, is the way the confidence and ease she had just seconds ago immediately vanishes like it never existed. It's moments like these, when Mitch gets aggressive or Ruby raises her voice or Louis laughs a little too loud, that makes Sarah doubt if she'd ever be able to completely, 100% trust the Ericson kids.

She could hug Brody in her arms and still worry that the red head would stab her in the back. She could eat Omar's breakfast without a pause, but when dinner rolls around she's checking for poison. She could causally banter with Violet during their fishing trips, all while thinking that Violet could stab her with a spear or push AJ into the river.

"Sarah," Mitch's voice draws her back to the present. The wary look on his face makes Sarah realize that, while she was stuck in her thoughts, she had been staring at Mitch's hand with narrowed eyes; following the movements of his knife. Sarah watches as Mitch slowly puts the stone by his feet and the knife in his boot, giving the older girl enough time to see where he put the potential weapons. "I have an idea."

Sarah lifts her eyes to face Mitch, letting him know she was listening this time.

"I know where she keeps the schedule," Mitch admits. Sarah opens her mouth, but closes it as Mitch raises his hand. "And no, I'm not going to tell you. Just don't go to bed too early: I'll send Willy to take it to you and I'll keep Brody distracted."

Sarah frowns. "I don't know...there's too many unknowns, so many things could go wrong! What if Brody is already asleep? What if she tells Marlon and he kicks us out for stealing? What if Willy doesn't want to do it--?"

Mitch waves his hand, cutting her off. "Oh, trust me. Willy is always up for fucking someone over and doing things he isn't supposed to. Even more so when it ruins Marlon's day."

"But-" Mitch's annoyed sigh cuts off Sarah's protest.

"Seriously, Sarah, this isn't some shitty spy movie," he huffs. "Not everything has to be so fucking complicated."

"Fine," Sarah pouts a bit, an embarrassed blush on her cheeks. Her expression turns serious, pointing a finger at Mitch. "But if we get caught--."

"If we get caught, then it's just another stupid prank I dragged Willy into," Mitch says, trying to reassure her somewhat.

Sarah opens her mouth, intending to say that she didn't want Mitch or Willy taking the blame for her actions, but she was once again interrupted. Only, this time it is by Willy.

"Mitch!" The young boy hollers across the courtyard, all the way from his place on the watchtower: his bow in one hand and waving at Sarah and Mitch with the other. "We're switching!"

"This is your chance to fill him in," Sarah says. By the look on Mitch's face, it was clear that he already had the same idea.

Mitch let out a slight huff as he pushes himself off the couch, brushing his hands against his jeans for a moment.

"Well, back to our chores," Mitch mumbles under his breathe as he walks away; towards the watchtower.

"Responsibilities!" Sarah shouts at his back. "You know I hate it when you call it that!"

Mitch threw a hand over his shoulder in a dismissive fashion, a slight laugh in his voice as he retorts: "That's why I say it!"