Walking Dead Game Collection

"It's For Her"

Title: It's For Her
Characters: Sarah, Luke, Nick, Carlos, Pete
Summary: After the death of her mother, Sarah is being cared for by Luke and Nick while Pete tries to keep Carlos sane.
Author's Note: I adore Carlos and Sarah so this makes me happy god bless
Requested By: Anonymous and thewalkingwhatever
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She was quiet. She had been for a while now. The tears were long gone; they had stopped a week prior. Now all that was left was numbness and a blank stare gazing back at the friends surrounding her.
Everyone could tell that Sarah was in pain. They had only known her mother for a few hours before she vanished into the woods and never returned. She had claimed she needed to go find some food and firewood and insisted that Carlos stay back so Sarah could have one parent with her at all times. Days passed. Weeks. Finally Carlos gave up hope of her ever returning home. While he was breaking the news to the rest of their new group Sarah had unknowingly stumbled into the most painful conversation she would ever witness; listening her father detail that her mother wasn't coming home. She was gone.
Sarah had spent days sitting by the window in her chair with a book, glancing up every few paragraphs to check and see if she was on the horizon, but with every glance another shred of her heart ripped away and fluttered to the floor. Tears stained her pillow every night as her mind replayed the moment she let her mom walk out the door and all the different things she could have said or done in order to prevent it. What would have been the last thing she would have said to? Why hadn't she hugged her tighter? Why had she been so bratty when her parents were only trying to keep her safe? Why had she done and said everything that she had? She didn't cherish her mother enough, and now, she was gone. She didn't have a chance to fix her mistakes.
But there she sat, after all this time the window was still Sarah's favourite spot in the cabin. Other than her room of course, where she spent her long, sleepless, lonely nights. The child had accepted that her mother wouldn't appear on the horizon anymore. She knew that the grassy fields surrounding their home would remain empty. Yet she continued to stare and dream about what could be.
"You need to go do something."
Carlos frowned and yet didn't say a word. Pete was right. He needed to do something for his little girl, something to cheer her up, or at the very least get her away from that window.
"You know that glass is doing her more harm than good?"
"Yes, I know." The male mumbled back, the sass dripping against every word. "But there is nothing I can say."
"That's a damn lie. There are a million things you could say."
"Yes, but none if them will make this change. None of them will make her feel any better." He mumbled, turning away from the door frame and wandering deeper into the kitchen so he could talk in a normal tone and not in a hushed whisper so his daughter wouldn't hear them. "So, there is nothing I can say." His defeated arms rested against the windowsill of the single frame of glass they had in the kitchen glancing into the outside world. His eyes were heavy, his shoulders sagged, if he was walking down the street you could tell clear as day that this man hadn't slept for ages. The bags under his eyes told a story, and carried more of a burden than giving off a dark shade. They told the story of a tragic past as well.
His eyes glossed over as he stared out longingly, Luke, Nick and Pete all tensed fearing for what would come. Carlos never cries. At least never where anyone could see him. Did he get angry? Yes. Did he get solemn? Yes. But cry? Never. Not even a slight dampness.
Pete immediately swished around glanced at the other two males desperately, eyes wide with space for ideas and suggestions. In sync the best friends stared at each other and swished their vision back to Pete. Luke gave a weak shrug and gestured his eyes towards the door, suggesting that they leave and give the two older adults some time. Pete nodded and brushed his hands towards the duo, ushering them away without a single word exchange. After spending a certain amount of time in close quarters the group was able to communicate almost solely with their eyes. And it worked. Frequently.
The duo left without question and emerged into the quiet living room. It was still and rather dusty since the kitchen seemed to be the committee centre in the little home. But off to the side, more times than not sat only frequent occupant of the room. Sarah sat gazing out the window in mid, hopeless daydream. Nick frowned turning back to his companion to see him doing the same. They couldn't stand to see the child continuously act like that. The only child in their group and she was constantly glum. The one person who was supposed to be the source of sunshine was a rain cloud glopping around in sad silence.
Luke started towards the child, resting a strong yet gentle hand against her weak shoulder. "Hey there kiddo." He mumbled softly, kneeling beside her and giving a gentle, sorrow-filed smile.
Sarah weakly gave one in return acknowledging his attempt to cheer her up. "Hi." Turning her gaze backwards she noticed Nick slowly wandering closer and gave a nod towards him; a quiet recognition of his involvement in their sweet move to speak with her.
They sat in silence for a while the three, while just one wall over two other males were doing the same. Pete began leaning against the wall, eyes staring forwards blankly as he awaiting a moment to say something - anything that could help ease the situation while Carlos allowed few silent tears to leave trails against his cheeks.
"I admire you, Carlos." Pete stated, voice gruff and harsh. Each word snagged Carlos off guard. Part of him was expecting that Pete would have left the room at this point. The other half was confused by his simple yet powerful statement. Pete gave a weak chuckle as he rubbed his scruffy stubble; something he often did when formulating how to put something into words. "I can't do what you can. Putting on a smile for your girl when in reality you're like this."
Carlos's lips remained straight and solemn, his eyes lowering to the wooden base of the glass pane in front of him. "I don't have a choice. I can't let my little girl see me like this." He groaned, turning around and resting the back of his head against the coolness of the glass. "I'm the last person she has. She can't see me weakened too. What hope will that give her?"
"None." Pete answered, sighing and rubbing his temple, not so much in frustration than in defeat and realization. There was just no break in a world this intense. "So how do you do it? How do you put on this tough-guy act all the time? Without breaking?"
And breaking is exactly what happened.
A loud thump from the room next door snagged the attention of the two adults. Carlos, without hesitation, rapidly dried his cheeks and dashed forwards, bursting out the swinging kitchen doors in eagerness and terror. The sight that was laid before them was interesting.
Nick was pinned against the floor by Sarah, Luke looming above them waving a new Polaroid photo awaiting for it to process. A few other photographs were scattered along the floor all of them smiling or making silly faces. Sarah always did love her camera.
The child laughed loudly until glancing up to see the two adults at the door. Pete began to slowly raise an eyebrow when Luke cut him off.
"We wanted an action shot."
Sarah jumped and snatched the photo from his hand, holding it up high as it finally began to process showing her in mid-jump in front of Nick's wide-eyed unsuspecting and terrorized face.
Carlos smirked watching her daughter smiling and laughing once more. "That smile." He said softly. After Pete gave a confused glance his way he continued. "You asked how I do it? That smile. That's how I do it."
Sarah laughed happily, Luke dangling the embarrassing photo in front of his guy-friend's face as Nick swatted the photo away with bright red cheeks and an irritated grunt.
"I do it for her."
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Original Link: http://thatglitterygeek.tumblr.com/post/130115506242/walking-dead-game-fanfiction-its-for-her