revenant|c.g.|

xxix

"What about this one?'

Clary followed Carl's gaze as his finger fell upon the exposed skin of her rib, the boy tracing it softly. It took the girl a moment before she nodded softly. "One of my first ever training sessions with the Guard. Dude was twice my size and he threw me down like I was nothing." She laughed. "First and last time I got thrown on my ass if I could help it."

Carl laughed at that, causing the girl to look to him. "What? You don't believe me?" Carl shrugged. "I mean, I guess—" Clary was quick as she moved to straddle his lap, looming over him with a coy smile. "Says the boy who's on his ass right now." Carl shrugged, looking up at her with a loving gaze. "Hey, I'm not complaining, the view is pretty nice—"

"Carl, are you up—" The door to Carl's room opened, Michonne standing in the doorway before her eyes widened at the sight before her. Quickly, Clary and Carl moved from where they were, grabbing at the clothes on the floor. "Michonne—" the woman only laughed as the two teenagers got dressed, looking away as she shook her head. "I wanted to let you know that I was back. Everything good while I was away?"

As Clary pulled on her flannel, she watched as Carl made his way to the door, Michonne meeting his gaze. "Happy you're back, everything was fine, can we get a moment?" Michonne only nodded with a chuckle before closing the door, causing Carl to sigh.

"Well, that's a way to get us out of bed." Carl only scoffed before he made his way back to Clary. "What do you have going on today?" Carl asked after a moment, watching as she laced up her boots. "I've got to make sure perimeter patrols are up and running and I need to send a messenger to Hilltop to give Maggie and Hilltop some updates." She let out a deep breath. "Other than that, we're just playing a waiting game."

Looking over to Carl, she looked at him questioningly as he just looked at her with a small smile. "What?" The question went unanswered as Carl placed a soft kiss on her lips, pulling away only to look at her again. "I'll take care of perimeter patrols. You get that message to Maggie and get whoever you send to take Montu so they can get there faster but quieter."

Clary looked at Carl with a soft smile, leading him to furrow his eyebrows in confusion. "Why are you looking at me like that?" Clary only shrugged. "I like you leading. It just works." Carl only shook his head. "It works because it's not just me. It's both of us, together." Clary nodded softly, liking the sound of the word, before they both got up.

Making their way out of the house, they descended the porch steps before looking at each other. "Meet back here in an hour?" Carl asked, his hand finding hers as they intertwined for a fleeting moment. With a nod, the girl look a step away, allowing her fingers to fall from his. "I'll see you then, Grimes."

It didn't take long for the two to do what they needed, Clary ticking off everything from her mental to-do list she had completed as she walked back to the Grimes household. Upon arriving at the home, she was surprised to see Carl and Judith bent over a corner of the porch. Going up the steps, she was quiet as looked at the two of them, brother and sister coated with blue paint on their hands. With a high five between the two of them, Clary laughed. "What are you guys doing?"

Immediately, both Carl and Judith turned towards the voice, Carl smiling while Judith got up with a laugh, making her way over to the girl. Clary didn't hesitate to scoop her into her arms, the young girl displaying her blue-painted hand which only caused Clary to laugh before she looked at Carl. "I realized we didn't really have any keepsakes together, so I wanted to do something for her." Clary smiled softly, her attention pulled away only as Judith waved her hand in her face again. "Come on, you should both get cleaned up."

Just as she turned away, she looked back to Carl only to hear a click just as a flash disturbed her vision. Blinking the flash out of her eyes, she saw the boy smiling as a photo printed out of the polaroid camera in his hands. He took it out, shaking it as he made his way over to her. "What was that for?" Clary's question was answered as he put it in front of her, the image displaying Clary looking at Judith with a smile. "No reason."