Always ~ Violentine

19 ~ Gone When I Need You the Most

"You can set the clean ones there, I'll put 'em away," Kate fondly stated. Her and Clem were busy doing their part in The Den and were cleaning the dishes. "Man, I never realized how grateful I was for a dishwasher; cleaning manually is brutally painful." Kate joked around.

"Agreed." Javi's words were floating around in the back of Clem's head as she did her job. She wanted to be back home with Violet. Holding her, kissing her, hearing her soft, sweet laugh, looking into her light, green eyes. She missed her dearly. Clementine just didn't know what to say to her right now after how she treated her. Violet shared her story of people in her life abandoning her, and now she, too, was on that list.

Silence filled the spacious room, the two both ignoring the elephant in the room. That is until someone had to address it. "So, how are you holding up? Javi explained to me what happened."

"I'm.. alright. I just wish I would have handled things differently."

"You know she'll forgive you, Clem. Heh, wanna know something? When I first saw you two together, I thought to myself, now that's true love right there."

A smile tugged at the ends of Clementine's lips, the nice gesture warming her heart. "Thanks, Kate. That's sweet."

Kate nodded and continued to wash the pearl white plate. "I'll be honest with you, I never really liked Minerva. When she first showed up I could just tell she would cause trouble. She has that, attitude, you know?" Kate mentioned.

The girl in the baseball cap didn't respond. She caught herself zoning out, not even hearing a word of Kate's statement. "Kate, can I tell you something?" Clem questioned, dropping the dishes and turning to Kate, her arms crossed.

Kate caught on to Clem's glum demeanor and softly responded. "Always."

They both sat down in a dimly lit room that was right next to the kitchen, where no one could hear them. Clementine could feel her breathing becoming more choppy, her hands starting to shake a little.

Kate placed her hand on Clem's thigh in an attempt to calm her. "It's okay, Clem. You can talk to me."

She swallowed her nerves and began to speak. "The day AJ died, something inside me broke. I sheltered myself from everyone except Violet. I didn't want to live in a world where my goofball wasn't there with me. I looked after him for so long.. it just wasn't enough. One night, I thought about leaving this world, too. But-"

"But you couldn't bring yourself to do it because of Violet," Kate finished. Clementine forced a small smile and nodded, tears beginning to flow. Kate threw herself into a warm embrace with the desolate girl. "Listen to me, Clem, go to her. Be with her again. She's the reason you're still fighting this world today."

"I wouldn't even know what to say to-" her voice was interrupted by the walkie-talkie.

"We got walkers flooding the gate. We could use assistance," a voice spoke through the device. Kate turned to Clem, who stood up and reeled out her knife. "On it."

~~~

The last remaining walker fell to the ground in defeat. "I think that's all of them," Jesus stated, "Thank you all for the backup." Clementine flashed a smile and holstered her knife.

"Hey Clem, can I talk to you for a sec?" Javi questioned.

"Sure." She was led back to Javier's cottage.

"I spoke to Minerva. I told her if she wanted to continue living inside The Den's walls, she would need to cooperate with the others. I know how she deceived you, but I can't kick her out for that reason. After all, she is a good worker and fighter, and those are getting scarce nowadays."