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When Clementine sees him, her chest blossoms with happiness. It barely registers at first- it can’t be real, that can’t be him- but it is him and she reaches for him immediately. She wraps her arms around his abdomen and he meets her just as emotionally.
She didn’t see Kenny ‘die’. She hadn’t learned it had even happened until Lee clutched her arm tightly and told her if anything happened she needed to find Christa and Omid, because there was no one else. She didn’t see him die, but it still hurt her.
Clementine’s memories of everything from back then are mixed up, hard to understand, sometimes completely absent, but she remembers the man caring for her- comparing her to his son, giving her food, telling her stories, protecting her from walkers. He wasn’t what Lee was to her, but he was still important.
It takes everything out of her to pull away. She’s scared if she does then he’ll stop being real, faded out of existence and slipped through her fingers again. But then there’s the woman with the soft eyes, a hand on both of their shoulders, and Clementine has to move to hear her speak. Clementine’s careful around strangers, she has to be, but the way Kenny looks at her as she speaks slowly eases her nerves.
Kenny pulls her inside. They all leave their weapons by the door- everyone but Luke.
“There’s a couple more from our group,” Luke says. “I’ll tell them everything’s safe up here and head back.”
The leader of the group, Walter, smiles amiably. “Be safe,” he says. “And if you happen to see Matthew while you’re out, tell him we’ve got guests and to head back as soon as he can.”
Luke nods, gives the man a thumbs up, and leaves. Sarita throws a concerned glance at Clementine but addresses the closest adult when she speaks.
“Is there a reason they’ve stayed back?” She asks. Everyone’s eyes find Nick, and he rubs his arm sheepishly.
“There was an… incident,” Carlos answers carefully. “Misuse of a weapon. One of our people stepped between and got injured, but she should be fine. I looked her over and she’s resting at the shack down by the bridge.”
“Well, we’ve got enough food for everybody,” Walter says easily. “And it’s always nice to meet new people. What’s say we all get to know each other? Oh, and Clementine and Kenny can catch up, if they’d like.”
Kenny catches her eye instantly, and smiles. He leads her up the stairs of the ski lodge and they sit by a lit fireplace. Both of them are hesitant to speak, for a moment, but Kenny manages to break the silence.
“You look happy, darlin’,” he says, rough voice strangely soft. “Hard to come by these days. You don’t seem like you’ve changed, much.”
Clementine has to disagree. “I’m twelve ,” she informs him. “Things get hard but… I am happy.”
Kenny smiles.
“And seeing you again helps,” she says.
Kenny beams.
“You’ll like it here,” he tells her, leaning in closer. “Walter and Matthew are a nice pair. A little too nice if you ask me, but I wouldn’t be here now without the generosity they’ve shown me. And then there’s my Sarita, of course. Bright as the sun, she is.”
Clementine wants to ask about that. They’re obviously romantic, but she’d thought Kenny had loved Katjaa, and didn’t really understand how you could love two people. She wasn’t stupid, though, she knows that asking that would probably just make him upset. This is a time to be happy.
Seemingly summoned, Sarita appears up the stairs. She doesn’t come towards them immediately, though. She’s got Sarah at her side, and she’s giving the excited girl a tour of the lodge.
“You know…” he says. “When I saw you, I’d expected Lee to walk up right behind you, even though...”
His voice is quiet, words sad. He’s smiling weirdly, eyes downcast, seemingly remembering, and Clementine doesn’t understand his statement or his expression for a moment until it hits her.
She looks at Kenny with wide eyes.
“Oh, damn,” he curses. “Sorry, darlin’. I probably shouldn’t say stuff like that, I know it probably still hurts for you, too.”
She stares.
“...Clem?”
“Kenny…” she says, barely a whisper. “What do you think happened to Lee?”
Kenny’s expression turns confused. His eyebrows furrow and he frowns, not understanding the question. He opens his mouth to speak, and then his own eyes go wide.
“Clementine,” he says.
They stare at each other for another long moment, Kenny looking like a deer caught in headlights. He opens his mouth to speak again but nothing comes out, nothing besides one heavy, shaky breath.
“Luke went to get him, Kenny,” his face continues to twist as she speaks. “He’s been with me this whole time, he’ll be here any minute.”
Kenny stands up so abruptly he knocks the small table by the love-seat over. The proceeding crash echoes throughout the entire lodge, making everyone stop. Sarita and Sarah look over to them- Sarah confused and Sarita moving urgently. Kenny puts a hand over his mouth.
“Oh my fucking god,” he states, loud even muffled by his hand.
“Kenny?” Sarita comes behind him. “Is something wrong?”
She reaches a hand out to rest on his shoulder, but he’s already moving. He rushes to the stairway urgently, hands shaking, and Clementine jumps up to follow. He almost trips at least twice as he bounds down the stairs, and then the cabin door flies open, Luke at the front. Kenny stops moving.
Christa sees him first, and she stops in the middle of slipping her weapon off her shoulder to stare, unbelieving. No one says anything, not even Sarita, and Clementine can almost hear Kenny’s racing heartbeat.
Matthew, the man they’d met before that Nick had almost shot, startles behind her when she stops, peers over her shoulder to see what’s going on. And then...
Lee makes sure the door shuts behind him, pulling it closed with his only hand. He sees all Luke, Christa, and Matthew stopped in front of him and his expression turns stony. He takes a quick step to the left of them, eyeing the room for some perceived threat. Why else would everyone be standing, staring, tense?
“... I probably shoulda told you-” Luke says, but Lee sees him before he can finish the thought.
“... Kenny?” he whispers.
Clementine sees the man in question visibly swallow.
“KENNY!?”
Everything- everyone- else forgotten, Lee rushes forwards to Kenny. He gets a good look at him, like Clementine did, mouth hanging open in shock. Kenny looks like he wants to move forwards, like he had with Clementine, but he shifts on his feet.
“... hey, buddy,” he says awkwardly.
Lee isn’t going to stand for that, though. Where Kenny hesitates Lee jumps in, pulling the man into a crushing hug.
“I thought you’d…” Kenny tries, just loud enough for the room to hear.
“You cut my damn arm off,” Lee pulls away with a laugh. “If I had died, I would have come back to haunt you for it. Or to eat you, in this case.”
Kenny laughs, too. The both of them laugh, until it turns slightly hysterical. Christa’s coming forward now, weapon discarded. She’s smiling in a way Clementine hasn’t seen her smile in a long time. She doesn’t go to hug Kenny, but she puts a hand on his shoulder and squeezes, nods in greeting. She seems to be doing well for someone who was shot by Nick in the forearm just a while earlier, but the wound is wrapped up tight.
“Good to see you alive,” she says.
“Same to you,” Kenny grins.
Omid’s lack of presence does not go unnoticed, and Clementine fears that Kenny will ask where he is any second, but he doesn’t. Lee looks up at her and he’s smiling so big, eyes glossy, she can’t help but smile back.
“Oh, come here you two,” he laughs. “Damn it.”
Lee pulls Kenny into another hug and Clementine joins in as well, tightly hugging the side of Lee that he can’t hug back with, and wrapping her other arm around Kenny’s back. She hears him sniff, once, and then suddenly he’s crying.
Lee pulls back, concerned, but Clementine keeps hugging him. He knows how he feels- knows how much Lee means to her, at least. She remembers how she felt when she first saw him again after being stuck at the Marsh House, and bargains that Kenny probably feels the same.
Kenny continues to cry into the sleeve of his jacket. The rest of the cabin slowly resumes whatever it had been doing beforehand, giving them all their moment. Matthew goes to meet Walter, Luke joins Carlos and Nick’s discussion, and Alvin and Rebecca talk in quiet voices.
Once he’s got a little more control over himself, he speaks again.
“Damn it, Lee,” he says snottily. “I really thought you… I should have known.”
He smiles at his old friend, his first friend during this whole mess, and pulls Clementine tight against him. “If any of us were going to be the last left standing, I’d always thought it would be you. Should never have doubted myself.”
“I wasn’t, though,” Lee shakes his head, still smiling, though. “There’s Christa, and Clementine, and you now, and none of us are ever going to be separated ever again.”
Clementine and Christa say nothing to that, but it’s not disagreement. Eventually, Sarita comes around from behind Kenny and introduces herself. She’s more hesitant, more nervous than she had been when she’d introduced herself to Clementine, and Clementine isn’t quite sure why.
Kenny brings the four of them back up the stairs, where Sarah is waiting. Christa greets her first, squats down and extends a hand to her. She excitedly begins to point at the giant Christmas tree and all of the other decorations, tells them all about how much she loves the holiday.
“I’ve never really celebrated it,” Sarita confesses, much to Sarah’s dismay.
“Haven’t in a while, either,” Christa pipes up in solidarity. “Didn’t care for it much, and then Omid’s family didn’t celebrate it, so I…”
She trails off, blinks at her own words in surprise. Christa doesn’t talk much about Omid, no matter how long it’s been. She takes an uncomfortable step back from the group.
“Y’know,” Kenny says. “Katjaa always had weird traditions she was insistent on us going through with. Felt like a totally different holiday than what I grew up with, but I got used to it.”
It’s a peace offering. A warm hand that says ‘I understand what you’re going through’ offered to Christa, and it pulls her back into the group. Clementine eyes Sarita, but she doesn’t look put off at all, smiling at them all easily.
“Really?” Sarah asks excitedly, balancing on the back of her heels. “C-can you tell me about them? Where was she from?”
They continue for a while after that. Rebecca and Alvin join them upstairs, help Sarah and Clementine decorate the tree. Eventually, Walter calls everyone down for dinner, and Matthew sets down the plates.
Kenny joins both of the men and Sarita at their table, the other occupied by the other group. The distinction is clear, everyone’s backs to each other, two unrelated conversations passing at each table. Luke looks up at them, waiting. Kenny looks surprised when he sees they haven’t sat down by his side, yet.
Both Lee and Christa seem to hesitate, but Clementine makes her choice.
“Here you are, Clementine,” Walter passes her a bowl as she sits. Lee and Christa have followed her lead, and Kenny smiles at them all.
“We were just talkin’ about y'alls friends over there,” Kenny says, just loud enough to not draw attention from the other group. “That kid… what’s his name, Luke? He the leader?”
Lee nods, stirs his peaches and beans with his spoon. “Seems like he’s been in charge a while. There was another before him, an older man he seemed to share the responsibilities with, but…”
“What happened?” Sarita presses.
“The same thing that happens to everyone,” Clementine answers.
They’re silent after that, but Kenny nods, looking down at his bowl of food.
“They said they were… running from someone,” Sarita says after a moment, wringing her hands. “Do you know anything about that?”
“They broke off from a bigger group,” Lee answers. “Don’t know the whole story, but it seemed like they were pretty bad guys.”
“‘A dictatorship’,” Christa says, apparently quoting someone. Clementine doesn’t know much about the people they’re hiding from except what she was told after Carver broke into the old cabin.
“Well, you don’t have to worry about that no more,” Kenny says through a mouthful of food. Sarita flicks him playfully and mutters “manners”, and Clementine hides a laugh behind her hand. Kenny rolls his eyes with a smile, then continues. “They can leave in the morning, and the three of y'all can stick around here.”
All three of them go silent at that, surprised. Walter and Matthew’s eyes pass over them, but Kenny just grins, like it’s already decided. Clementine isn’t quite sure what she wants- the group is… fine. They aren’t bad people, and it is true that it’s been stressful, but…
“I think…” Christa responds first, eyes on the table. “I think I’d like that.”
Sarita beams, and Kenny slaps his hand down on the table.
“Sounds like a done deal!”
“What about you, Lee, Clementine?” Walter asks, and Kenny looks offended that the man would think that there was even a chance either of them would decline.
Lee looks… uncomfortable, but then after a moment a small smile appears on his lips. He turns to Kenny and says, “I’ll have to ask the girl.”
Kenny laughs brightly at that, points his spoonful of beans at his old friend. “‘Have to consult the missus, I get it’.”
The two of them chuckle and Clementine smiles, too, just barely able to remember that interaction. Christa doesn’t get it, but she just shrugs and continues to eat.
“I… want to go wherever Kenny goes,” Clementine says. She doesn’t exactly want to leave the other group, but if it’s between the two, she’ll stay with Kenny.
“Sounds like a good idea,” Lee agrees.
“I’m not losing you guys again,” Kenny says firmly, looks over all three of them. “Any of you.”
The apocalypse carries on outside, and it will catch up with them all eventually in the following days. There’s no need to worry about any of that right now, though. Right now, things are good again. Right now, they have each other.