Clementine stared at the dark sky, a concerned expression covering her face as she looked back at Kenny. She was near the fence, far from the fire or the beds as she stood, touching the cold of the metal on the fence, forcing her ears to focus on the lifeless silence of the night and willing them to ignore the stifled, quiet wails of Sarita. Her mouth deepened into a frown as her breath became shallow. It was only a few hours after the event and it was still engraved into each of their minds, seeing as Sarita couldn't stop crying whenever she thought about it. Clementine tried to force her mind to other things but she could feel her throat close up at the thought of Duck and how he was doing.

After the events, Duck had yelled at her. He was so angry and she knows she shouldn't take it personally. He had yelled at everyone, after all. She was even the last person he shouted at. But she still felt conflicted. She looked over at him. He was sitting, knees up to his chin and glaring down at the cold floor. He was breathing erratically, like he was trying to stifle angry breaths and trying to calm down. She doesn't blame him for how he acted afterwards. He obviously didn't know what else to do. And she knew her partner by now. And by the way he held his body and the way that she saw him jerk sometimes, shake his head or squeeze his eyes shut, she knew he was regretting everything he said. Everything he did. And he was overthinking the situation, finding holes in what happened and blaming himself for not doing better when he did the best he could.

She could feel anxiety well up inside of her as she thought about going over to him. She wasn't sure if he even wanted anyone to go over and talk to him. Not one person tried after the events and maybe that could be because he pissed off a few people from his anger. After a long moment, a long pause, she played with her fingernails, looking over at him again and took a breath. She willed her legs to move, feeling a shiver of anticipation threatening to shake her body but she kept herself firm. She finally made it to him and, after a moment of him not saying anything, she slid against the wall, sitting on the floor beside of him, her knees up to her chest just like him. And suddenly, she didn't feel anything bad anymore. A warmth spread over her, in fact and her face relaxed as she let out a much more relaxed sigh.

Duck finally chanced a look at her and let a tired, sad smile appear on his face. He felt warm too and let himself breath out his own frustrations. "Hey," He said, the tone of his voice reading as gentle instead of the disinterested anger she was expecting. It made her chuckle as she looked at him with an embarrassed smile. Of course he was gentle. He never liked being hard, angry or accusing with her. And she knew that he wanted to take back shouting at her too. She'd be more surprised if he did use another tone with her at this moment.

"Hey," She replied, her voice sounding much sweeter than his own, which was rough with the few past hours he had spent silently crying in his own arms. They were silent for a little bit longer, staring at the floor together in silence that now turned comfortable.

He was quite for a long moment. And then another. Finally, after what felt like an hour of being in one another's silent presence, he spoke. "Clementine..?" He said, letting the easiest syllables fall from his lips before anything else. It was much easier to say her name than to unscramble the tornado of thoughts being thrown hapardazly around in his mind. She lifted her head to look at him and just the sight of her eyes made him feel as if his heart had a puncture wound and regret overwhelm each and every one of his senses. Memories of the events from hours earlier swarmed in and he felt like apologizing, crying, begging for her to stay his friend but.. he didn't. He just sat there, staring at her like she had the answer of what he needed to do. When he knew that she did not hold all the answers. When he knew that he needed to start it himself. "Clementine...."

"Yes, Duck?" She said and he felt his heart squeeze. She sounded so calm. So kind. So forgiving and it made him feel sick. Like he was taking advantage of her in some way. She sounded like she would forgive every wrong he ever did. Like she's planning to be gentle with his apology. And he had to catch his breath as he felt each emotion he saw in her eyes. Her eyes... He looked in them all the time. There have only been a handful of times the emotion in them knocked the air out his lungs. This was one of those times.

He wanted to do and say so many things to her but it would only cause pity directed to him. That wasn't an apology. That was a distraction of his wrongs. He's had too many people do that. It doesn't make any party feel better.

"Clementine..." He couldn't say anything else. "Clementine, I..." She stared at him, a patient expression. She knew what she was waiting for. And that reminded him of something. This was Clementine. She wasn't going to ignore his flaws. She wasn't going to make excuses for him. She wasn't going to forgive him without an apology. What kind of voice convinced him otherwise? She wasn't a pushover. She wasn't submissive to his every whim. She was Clementine. And she wasn't going to let him do anything he wished.

So he had to apologize.

"I'm sorry," He said, finally gathering his nerve with those thoughts. He finally felt strong enough to say something other than the familiar syllables that formed her name. "I'm sorry for yelling at you. And for yelling at everyone. And for making you... look at me.. the way you did...." He said but Clementine's expression didn't really change.

"I know," She said. "I know all of that. I know you didn't like that. I was surprised when you yelled at me. You almost looked like you hated me,"

"No!" He said, louder than he wanted but his shock at her words overtook his need for quiet. "No, I never could," He said, growing quiet as he curled into himself tighter. "No.. No, you know I couldn't, right? Right?" He said. He was looking at her now, pleading with his eyes.

"Calm down, quack," She said, giving him a smile and using a rare name just so she could get some humor across in her tone. "You're okay. I know you couldn't hate me," hopefully. She thought and she quickly disregarded it. What could she possibly do to have that happen? It'd take a lot, that much she knows. It'd take a pretty nasty fight. Multiply anything you could imagine by 10 and that's what's it take.

At least she'd hope.

He visibly relaxed.

"But you know what they don't know?..." Clementine nodded to the fire pit and Duck looked at her again, avoiding her eyes this time and instead looking at any other part of her face. "Duck," She didn't like that. He knew what that tone meant. And so he forced his eyes to gaze up from her mouth to her eyes. She smiled at him. One of the warm smiles she used to comfort him. "Gather this courage you have with me and apologize to everyone else," She said and nodded to the fire. "Everyone's there. And Sarita's okay now. Meaning you have the spotlight. You can do it or not but.... it'd be really great if you did,"

Duck looked at the ground for a long moment. He felt selfish just thinking about it. Nobody wanted their attention on him, they were all thinking about his Dad. With good reason too! He couldn't just walk up and be like 'Hey! Time to pay attention to me because I'm sorry I lost it back there!'. No. He was not the type to do so.

And it seemed Clementine knew it because she sighed. "Duck, it's apologizing. You're not doing anything wrong by doing so. Actually, I think it'd relieve some tension. Besides.." She said, trailing off as she shifted. She put some space in between them and touched the cold floor, her palm flat on it. "..I think a chair by the fire would feel a lot better than sitting on the cold ground, don't you? We've done that too much. Our bodies deserve a break when they can," She said, a hopeful smile on her lips.

Duck sighed, anxiety welling up in his chest. He really didn't want to go to the fire. Everyone was.... so quiet. Hushed conversations but.... those conversations were quiet. He never liked interrupting conversations like those. It meant they were talking about something important or him. When he was younger, however, he always liked interrupting those conversations. Mostly because they were about him. Duck admits, he wasn't exactly the best kid. But he kinda wishes he could have younger Duck here. Just so he could interrupt without feeling guilty.

"Come on, Duck. Please. I know it's hard. I know it's not easy for you. But I need you,"

"Need me?" Duck interrupted. Need him? Need him for what?

"Yes, Duck. I need you. I need you to be with everyone else. I need you to feel better. I need your only worry to be about Kenny. Can you please? Do this for me or.... whoever else you care about more?" Who the hell does she think she is saying that to? She's the one he's cared about more than anything.

Nevertheless, he sighed, using the wall as leverage to stand and turned to her, offering his hand. "I refuse to go there alone, Clementine," He said. Clementine stared at his hand in almost shock for a short second and then took it, smiling up at him as he pulled her up.

He let go of her hand, looking at everyone in the fire pit and sighed again, trying to get the feeling in his chest out desperately. She took his hand again, making him jump at the sudden contact before walking, gently pulling him along and giving him comforting squeezes if he was a little harder to move some steps. "It's okay, Duck. They're not mad but it's always good to check,"

They made it to the group and he felt like a statue. Nobody was paying any mind, though. "Just speak," Clementine whispered. And he did.

"Hey..." Duck said, loud enough for everyone to hear. Heads turned to him and he was frozen again. "Um.....Er... W..Well....Okay, I'm sorry," He said. "I'm so sorry, this doesn't sound genuine because I stuttered and I'm talking like really fast right now but I'm not only sorry because of that. I'm sorry because I yelled and I lost it when Dad was beat and it wasn't any of your faults and I overreacted and I'm so so sorry. Please don't be mad at me and please don't have a grudge because I really like all of you," He said, breathing a little heavy from saying it all in one or two breaths.

It was quiet too long and after another beat he put his head down. It made him uncomfortable but he kept his head down and refused to look up to see their reactions. Did he read the room wrong? Did he make everyone uncomfortable? Was now a good time? Did he forcibly take the spotlight?

And then suddenly, he felt a hand pat his head, causing him to look up to see Sarita. She smiled as his brown eyes made contact with hers.

"Your dad said that you've developed a habit of overthinking since he last saw you..." She said, making Duck stare at her for a moment before looking around with his eyes. Nobody looked mad. "In fact, he said it seemed like you barley thought at all when you were little," She continued, a face of remembrance as she recalled whatever memories she had of Kenny talking about his son. "Don't worry, Duck. Nobody blames you for how you acted. It was emotion, not thought," She finished, a soft, loving smile playing on her lips that reminded Duck of Katjaa, who smiled at him just the same way. "Just take a seat,"

He did as was asked of him, taking a seat beside Sarah and having Clementine take the other empty one, which was beside of him. Sarita soon followed, sitting in the chair she had been beforehand.

"So, we were thinking about the plan for the night we escape," Luke started off, grabbing everyone's attention. "Bonnie says she'll help us on that night. But I'm thinking that we should get more allies. If any of you have friends you know that hate Carver as much as we do, please try and get them on board. We could use the manpower and maybe people to stay behind here," Luke said, which caused questions to rise.

"Why?" Rebecca asked first. "This place will be a lost cause,"

"In case where we're headed isn't as safe as we hoped it'd be. Hopefully, the people who decide to stay behind and rebuild would help us. Just so we have options," Luke explained. As they were all weighing the pros and cons of the plan, Duck already had someone in mind. In fact, three people. Maybe even four, if he could somehow get to the nurse.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Are you being serious right now? Because if you're joking, that's a pretty lame thing to take lightly," Catherine said as she opened the door to the storage room, pulling Duck in with her as he held the flashlight so she could see, even with the storage room door closed.

"Well, fortunately, it's not pretty lame because I'm being serious," He said and Catherine hummed in acknowledgement as she continued digging through a box on the ground. Obviously, there was a part of the plan that Catherine had complete disinterest in. He had to figure out what exactly she saw as enough of a flop to lose complete interest in. "I'm thinking you're worried about something,"

"You should be too. There are at least two things I see," She said, finding one of the things she needed and asking Duck to hold it for her as she went back to see if she could find whatever else she needed.

"Like what?"

"Well, for one, what about your Dad? Is he even ready to leave?" Catherine asked and Duck thought about that. Sometime during the night, he knew his Dad woke up because Duck woke up to him being gone and it was explained that he had been taken to work already. That also showed they didn't care how much you were hurt. As long as you could move, you would work. It wasn't the best thing to hear once he woke up but at least he didn't wake up to a walker Dad standing over him. In all honesty, that had been one of his fears as he went to sleep last night. "And, even if he is, are you? You don't seem like you'd be ready to put your dad's life out there again,"

"If I can survive my mom, I can do this," Duck shot back, feeling a pang in his heart as he did but tried to hide it from her. If she noticed, she didn't say anything. "And my Dad is fine. At least, I think he is. He's doing work right now," He finished answering her questions. She looked a bit unsure but bit back her remarks about the situation and sighed.

"You want us to be a part of this. So what's in it for us? I don't know if you've noticed, but if we're joining this fight, I need to know a few more things," She paused and Duck stared at her intently, not allowing for himself to lose focus. "I know that Bonnie's leaving with you. You've established so. I don't understand why since she's basically part of the threat but whatever," She said and Duck could hear the venom in her voice. She wanted to go just as much as Bonnie. "So what about us? We won't be going with you. We will be staying here to rebuild if we win. But If we don't? That leaves us here. That leaves us with the wrath of whatever authority figures survive both the wave and our team. That leaves us with harsh punishment and death. Nobody likes the trans girl. Nobody likes the gay boy. And nobody likes the friend that 'excuses their inappropriate actions'. That's me, Caden and Brax. We will die!" Her face held a blazing fire of rage in it but he could see the threat of tears starting if the glossiness of her eyes were any indicator. "How will you help us then?" Her voice cracked somewhere in the middle of her sentence, making Duck's eyes widen only slightly.

He could almost feel the emotions bottling up inside Catherine. The emotions of hurt, betrayal, abandonment, feeling used....

He knew she felt at least two of those emotions as she looked at him. He knew that she looked at him before this conversation as if he held hope for a better future for herself and now she looked at him as if he were the one who decided to leave her behind. He knew she thought he thought she was only a second choice if the first didn't work.

In reality, he wanted to help them rebuild. He wanted to stay behind. He wanted to work on a civilization with her and Caden and Brax.

But he also wanted Clementine and his father. He could see himself talking his partner into staying with him. But his father most definitely wanted to leave. And he just found him again. Duck doesn't want to separate again.

Something in the small part of his brain wondered if it were worth it to keep a family if he wasn't happy with the decision but he quickly dismissed it. Of course he'd be happy with his father. And he's always happy when he's with Clementine, no matter what. That's how it's always been.

But what if you're happier with her because you can reach an agreement with her easier than Dad..?

Yet another thought that he waved away. "We can talk all we want about putting someone who won't kill us over minor mistakes in charge but... I don't think we can," Catherine continued, pulling him back from his thoughts.

He couldn't possibly say anything worthwhile. She was right afterall.

Nevertheless, Duck forced the gears in his brain to work. He had to convince her it was worth it. "You're right," He heard himself say. "You're absolutely right," She seemed to slow what she was doing, obviously expecting an argument. Once she continued doing what she was previously at a normal pace again, Duck continued. "Catherine, I have to ask you a question,"

"Go on," She said.

"You know, it's not normal," Duck began, making Catherine's expression change to intrigue. "It's abusive. The way he threatens lives over minor things. It doesn't even increase productivity, like he wants. It just makes the people he threatens too scared to make another mistake. So sometimes, they don't even do anything," He remembered that's how Sarah reacted. And he remembered Clementine telling him that she had to really prompt Sarah to actually do something despite her fear.

His friend seems to be much better now but she's still unstable. And if he knew anything, he needed to get her out of here fast. He knew there was nothing to her fate but death if she stayed and he couldn't have that. He couldn't allow Sarah to die, at least not by Carver's hands and not when she didn't want to. She and her father deserved better.

"You can't keep going on like this. You'll die a death that doesn't make sense. You'll survive all of this for what? To be pushed off a building for an example? For Carver to make himself look tough and for newcomers or old acquaintances to fear him?" Duck questioned, not looking for an actual answer. He paused for a moment as he realized something. "I don't want to make you scared. And I don't want you to feel like you don't have a choice. I just... I want you to help. And in the end, I don't want to have to fight you. Because I know they'll throw you my way. Because they're good with manipulating any and all emotions I've gained for you, Caden, or Brax. They're going to give you orders to stop me," She was looking at him fully now. "And......... and only one of us would survive....." There was a deafening silence in the room as he said it. Hard, sad stares boring into each other, making one another uncomfortable.

"I wouldn't..." He heard her whisper.

"You'd have no choice. You'd have to kill me to stop me, Catherine. Because I would never surrender just to die at a later date,"

"And why would you fight for the same thing?" She asked, standing quickly with a bit of anger in her eyes.

"Because then I'd have some control of my own fate! Because then, I'd know exactly why I died! Even if I get devoured by walkers, I know how I got there. I wouldn't be murdered to teach a sniffling little girl how she'll end up just like me," Duck said and her face fell, seeming like she lost all the fight she gained in her argument.

"If... that's what you want..." She said and then looked at him, the expression on her face unreadable to him. "Duck, are you sure?"

"Even if I'm not, my family and my friends are going with or without me," It was deafening silent for a long moment. A moment where hard stares were shared and a morbid air suffocated them as they each knew their fates.

"...I'll think about it..." Was all she could whisper before the air grew thicker and the conversation died along with whatever hope Duck had with gaining Catherine's alliance.

A/N: FINALLY FINISHED SEASON FOUR AND CRIED MY FUCKIN EYES OUT!!!!!!!! And besides that, finally got out another chapter after... what? I am so sorry for not getting it out sooner. Thank you for reading!!!!!!!!!!