Survival Love: A Gabentine Story

Chapter 19 "Forgiveness":

Clem's POV:
Gabe and I continue to walk to the woods still holding each other's hand. I know it's only been a few minutes but it's kind of nice having a boyfriend. Especially one as adorkably cute and kind as Gabe is. To be honest, it felt better than I ever thought it would to get my feelings off my chest. To not have to hide them anymore and to know that he feels the same way about me. Well now we're together and I couldn't be happier about it. I looked over at him to see him looking back at me with a happy grin in his face. "What?" I said while slightly giggling. "Nothing it's just... God you are beautiful." He said as I blushed a little. I didn't bother trying to hide it since we were already together. "Well you're pretty damn good looking yourself, dork." I replied as we both then laughed a little. I then see Gabe stop for a second and start to lean in for a quick kiss as I lean as well and return it. We been separated our lips and continued walking back to the boarding school.
"So, I heard what happened to AJ after... Well you know." Gabe said as that caught me by surprise a little. But I wasn't going to show that it did. "Yeah well he needs to be punished." I said back as Gabe looked back at me. Not with a smile this time, but with a concerned frown. "For what? Trying to protect both of us?" He asked me as I started feeling a bit agitated. "You know it's more complicated than that, Gabe. He killed someone. I had a plan about what to do with Marlon and AJ disobeyed that plan and just killed him anyway." I answered him. "Clem you need to understand. He didn't kill Marlon because he had a personal vendetta but because he was just scared and wanted to protect us. I can tell you right now he had no idea what to do in that situation and panicked. I remember doing the same back when New Richmond fell. You can't blame him for that." He said as I wanted to argue but began to get his point. "I know but... It still wasn't right." I tried arguing as Gabe replied, "Come on Clementine. Haven't you ever felt powerless and not know what to do in a tough situation?" I let out a huge sigh of sadness and said, "Yeah more times than once. Like one time I had to choose between two of my friends who tried to kill each other in the snow. In the end I let one of them get stabbed right to the chest." "Well I bet AJ was in the same situation. I mean the look on his face said it all. That wasn't the face of a murderer. It was the face of a scared little boy. Please Clem... Don't punish him for doing the wrong thing for the right reason." Gabe told me as I thought about it for a second until I decided that he was right.
"Yeah I guess you're right Gabe. Maybe I have been a little hard on him. I mean he is just a kid and an extremely young one at that. So I think I should unground him now." I said. "Thanks Clem. He's a good kid. You are raising him well." Gabe said as that made me feel really good and happy. But him saying that about me raising AJ got me thinking. If this relationship was ever gonna work between the two of us, not only would he have to be a boyfriend to me, but a sort of father figure for AJ as I'm a sort of mother figure for him. "Uh Gabe? Can I ask you something?" I asked him. "Sure baby, what is it?" He asked as my face was now red from both blushing and embarrassment. "Oh shit! I'm sorry. I didn't mean to call you that it just sort of slipped out. I don't know if you're ready for nicknames in a relationship yet since we've only been dating for like 10 minutes." He said slightly panicking as I just found it humorous. I then giggled and replied, "It's OK Gabe. It's just that we are just now a thing and I don't think I'm ready for nicknames yet. Just give it some time before we call each other baby or something." "I completely understand. Can I at least call you, "Mi amor" when we are alone together? It means "My love" in Spanish." He asked me as I thought for a minute before I eventually nodded and he smiled.
"So what were you gonna ask me?" He asked me as I remembered my question. "Oh right. Since we're together now and I have AJ, I was wondering if you could be a father figure to him?" I asked him as his smile only grew even larger. "Of course Clementine. I would love to be his father figure. He's a really damn good kid and it would be an honor to be his sort of parent with you." He answered as his answer made me extremely happy. "Oh thank you Gabe. You have no idea how happy that makes me." I tell him as we stop for a moment, he strokes my cheek, and says, "Of course... mi amor." I then leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek as we then continued walking back to the boarding school. Once we got back, I asked Gabe to wait outside while I went to talk to AJ. I went into my dorm house and walked up the steps until I got onto my floor. I walked up to the door as I heard a noise come from inside. I put my ear to the door as it sounded like... sobbing.
I then opened the door to see AJ crying on his bed. "AJ? What's wrong, goofball?" I asked him desperately as I ran to where he was sitting. He looked up at me with sorrowful eyes as I felt a little bad for him. He then rushed me into a hug as I held my arms slightly up as the hug took me by surprise. "I'm so sorry, Clem. I'm... I'm sorry." He apologized as I then hugged him back tightly. "I'm sorry for killing Ma... Marlon and for yelling at you." He said as I begin to cry a little. "It's OK buddy. It's OK. I forgive you." I said as he looked up to me confused. "You... you do?" He asked me. "Yes AJ. I know that you were scared and didn't know what to do. It might not of been the right thing but you did with the right intentions. I should be sorry for being so hard on you." I said back as he replied. "Thank you, Clem. I promise that I will never do that again." He said as we let go of each other and I met him at his eye level and put a hand on his shoulder. "I believe you, kiddo. I trust you." I then went to turn off the lantern so we could get some sleep until I heard AJ ask, "Hey Clem?" "Yes, AJ?" I asked back. "Can we... I don't know, snuggle or something? At least until I fall asleep?" He asked me as I was a little surprised by his question. But to be fair a lot of things have surprised me today. "Yeah sure kiddo." I said as I lay down next to him and we just snuggled up together. "I love you Clem." He said faintly. "I love you too, AJ." I said faintly as well as we both yawned loudly and fell asleep accidentally.
Gabe's POV:
I walked up to Clementine's dorm as I saw the door was slightly open. I opened it completely and walked into see Clementine and AJ fast asleep snuggling up together.They look so adorable like this. Almost like a mother and her son. I then looked over at the lamp on the desk next to the bed as it was still lit. I chuckled to myself as I walked over to it and turned off the light. I looked back at Clementine who moved around a little so she wasn't crowded over AJ. She let out these cute little snores that were so adorable. Just as adorable and cute as she is. I walked over to the bed and gave her a little kiss right on the four head as I saw her sleeping with a little smile. "Buenos noches, mi amor." I whispered to her as I took one good look at my new family before leaving the room and quietly closing the door.