THE REASON

chapter twenty-one ; family talks
[ season five – episode thirteen & fourteen ]

   "SO," KLOE BEGAN, "how many beers have you had?" She hadn't even finished her second and called it at that. She wasn't in the mood to get drunk. She didn't know why, usually she was always in the mood to drink until she couldn't feel her feet anymore and forget about the torture the world held.

Her husband lifted up his half empty beer bottle, a small, innocent grin on his lips. "This is my first." Kloe's brows raised and a smile entered her lips. He leaned forward, setting the glass bottle down onto the table in front of them. "I guess I don't really wanna drink."

"Me too," Kloe agreed, nodding. Her eyes maneuvered over to the opposite wall to where her and Glenn stood. There stood her brother, having a drunk talk with Max, saying who knew what. Reina had made an appearance, doing multiple shots of beer as Brianna cheered her on. Kloe chuckled to herself everytime Brianna had sneakily chugged down some beer and immediately got lectured by a drunk Zayn.

If anything, they definitely stood out in the crowd. No one else was drinking, and some silently judged. But most of them understood why they were all drinking until they passed out. They deserved to have a night to forget everything they'd gone through.

The only ones that had gotten drunk were Zayn, Reina, and very few residents of Alexandria that wanted to join them. Everyone else stayed sensible, despite how much Kloe wanted to join, she just couldn't.

"If I could do anything right now, that would be sleeping on a bed and not on the wooden flooring," Kloe amused, a joyful expression planted across her face — that was until she spotted one of the O'Niell twins. The annoying one. She was approaching Glenn and Kloe, a forced smile on her lips. Kloe rolled her eyes unnoticeably, "great."

"Hi," Madolyn sent them a definite forced, tight-lipped smile, shifting her weight onto her other leg as she stopped in front of them. At the same time, Glenn and Kloe squint their eyes and narrowed them, clenching their jaws as to show they did not want to speak with her. Her forced smile faltered. "Can one not say hi to you without receiving looks that could kill?"

Kloe shook her head. "Nope." Madolyn's shoulders slumped as she quietly groaned. "What do you want, Madolyn?"

Madolyn held that smug smile that made Kloe want to strike her across the face, but she held back. "I don't want anything from either of you. Max forced me to try and speak with you two tonight," she honestly replied. "Is there anything I can do for you both to forgive me?"

"Well, are you sorry?"

"Obviously not."

"We'll be going," Glenn chimed in, intertwining his hand with Kloe's and leading her away. They both brushed past Madolyn, who simply cursed under her breath and strided back over to whoever she was with before. Kloe grinned as she peered over her shoulder, looking back at the woman.

"Are we finally leaving this stupid party?" Kloe asked as Glenn reached the door, pulling it open swiftly and allowing his wife to exit before him. She smiled gratefully as she stepped out into the cool air. The air was so fresh and not filled with the putrid smell of the dead. The spring breeze made it even better, hitting softly against Kloe's skin. It was dark, the full moon gifting them light so they could see where they were going without an actual source of light.

"Yeah, and now I feel like a hypocrite for making Noah stay," Glenn snickered, only to smile when he noticed Noah through the window, chatting and laughing with the others inside. "But he seems happy enough, right?"

Kloe nodded, "Definitely. I haven't seen that kid smile since he had those small nostalgic talks with Tyreese." Her voice trailed off at the mention of Tyreese, and Glenn noticed as he squeezed her hand supportively. She sighed, "c'mon. Let's go."

With that, Glenn and Kloe walked back to the two houses they were given in the dark nights of spring. For Kloe, it felt like she was back in a normal life — minus her dreams and literally everything else — it was just this moment. Walking through lowly lit streets with her husband's hand in hers. This was some part of the life she dreamed off.

No, this was vividly similar to the life she dreamt off. Seeing her brother and sister be happy was the first she'd seen them crack a smile in a few months. Brianna was always happy with her best friend, Isabelle. Everyone could see that. And Zayn, although he was drunk, she could tell that the man had been happier in Alexandria.

Kloe didn't care if the world never returned to normal — she just didn't want anyone else to die.

The married couple reached the steps to one of their houses. As they walked, a light in the other house had been switched on. Someone was inside that house, but no one was in the one they were entering.

Glenn twisted the doorknob, the door creaking open and revealing the very empty house. It was exactly how they had left it before they left for Deanna's welcome party. No one had returned home, especially in that house. After the party, everyone was going back to the house they had been sleeping in together for the past few nights.

Kloe followed her husband inside, releasing his hand from her grasp as she shut the door behind her. She pushed her back against it, exhaling heavily as she let out a small laugh from her chest.

"You think we'll ever get on everyone's good side?" Glenn asked with a grin plastered on his lips as he slowly approached Kloe. "Forget I said that," his voice went low, his eyes locking on his wife's. An absentminded smile escaped into Kloe's mouth, forming the all too familiar dents in her cheeks. She pushed her back off the door, the moonlight traveling up her bare arms as she moved, coming from the drapes. Glenn had immediately felt as if he'd been pulled into some kind of trap. "You're so beautiful," he mindlessly stated aloud, making her chuckle.

"As are you," she replied in a smooth, relaxing tone. There was a familiar feeling that loomed in the air around them — a feeling they hadn't felt or experienced in a while. It was like reality had disappeared, like it never existed in the first place. Seeing the way Glenn looked at her, she couldn't help but wrap her arms around the back of his neck, letting them dangle behind.

His eyes never blinked to wet his eyes, he just couldn't take them off the woman he loved so dearly in front of him. Her eyes fluttered down to his lips that were moderately parted away from each other. Before he could say anymore, she slowly and gently pressed her lips against his.

Her eyelids fell shut as did his. He wrapped his arms around her middle, the material of her romper beneath his fingertips. She pulled away from the kiss, but kept her face close to his by mere inches to the point she could feel his breath.

She unhooked her hands from around his neck, linking them with his hands. Her flats on her feet clicked against the laminate flooring beneath them, along with Glenn's sneakers behind her, as she pulled him with her to the staircase. The stairs were only down the hallway of the house that no one used, and once they reached them, they didn't hesitate to go up.

She pushed open the door at the top of the stairs, the bedroom she and Rosita had gotten ready in less than three hours prior. As she stepped into the dark room, the moonlight displayed through the window onto the flooring, the walls, and the bed. She spun on her heel, a smile still on her lips as she watched Glenn release her hand and cup her face. He connected their lips passionately as she absentmindedly stepped back until her back hit the wall.

While so, Kloe kicked off her flats. The pair of shoes made a bang as they hit the laminate flooring, making the couple break away from their kiss and look down at them. A grin snaked into Kloe's lips. "No one's home. And when it is hometime, everyone will go to the other house." Glenn caught onto the tease in Kloe's tone and facial expression. Goosebumps sprung onto his neck as he felt his wife's hand slither up his back under his shirt, his stomach doing flips as she did so.

She noticed his body language and retracted her hand. Her eyes flickered down to the buttons that connected his shirt. Glenn followed her gaze and didn't hesitate to begin untying the buttons, starting from the top. Kloe giggled as she reached down to help out. Glenn had to stifle his own laughter as he repeatedly messed up unbuttoning his shirt, Kloe in the end just laughing with him and undoing it for him.

The moment all the buttons were undone, Glenn brought his lips back onto hers, catching her off guard. She didn't hesitate to return the pressure, however, and synced her lips movement with his. He pulled off his shirt, revealing his bare chest and abs. Kloe cupped her hands around his cheeks as they continued to kiss passionately, dragging her hands down his naked chest and down toward his belt.

She smirked flirtatiously as she pulled away. "I had Rosita help me out with the zip. I need more help getting it off," she stated quietly and slowly, turning around so her back was facing her husband. He grinned as he obliged to her wishes, and slowly pulled down the zipper, revealing her bare, smooth skin of her back.

He lightly pushed the material off her shoulders as he planted soft kisses on her skin. She spun back around, wrapping a singular arm around his neck and started to kiss him again. With her other hand, she clasped onto the pins connecting her hair together and pulled them out, letting her hair fall freely wherever it wanted to. She forgot momentarily she had short hair and briefly frowned at why she couldn't feel it on her back.

Nothing had been this intimate since the pair were at the prison, and if they were being honest, they missed it. Before everything went to shit, they both were by each other's sides all the time. With everything they did, they were there for one another. Nothing had changed, of course. They were still always there for each other, but with everything they had gone through, it was as if there was a small rip that needed fixing. Perhaps that was what Alexandria was there for.

They both got sick and almost died, scarring the other at a time. Then they were forced out of their home, separated for just over a week, the status of one's life unknown. That scare was one of the biggest scares they had ever gotten. And now they were healing from it, reminding each other that they were still there.

They loved each other more and more every single day, with every hour that passed, to minutes, to seconds, to milliseconds.

...

A week went by.

Everyone was still getting used to the fact that they were someplace safe, and there were of course the ones that still didn't trust. Them being Rick, Daryl, and Carol. The Peletier woman had been pretending to be this vulnerable, middle aged woman that couldn't care for herself and needed to rely on the others. But that wasn't the case.

She had taken the job as a Cook, if that wasn't obvious already. Everyone realized how great of a Cook Carol truly was after having her sandwiches and vegetable soups.

Kloe slumped her body down onto one of the seats belonging to a picnic bench. The two people in front of her stopped chewing onto their food as they watched her lay down and blew out air from her mouth, her cheeks puffing up. Zayn and Brianna simultaneously pushed a plate they kept of food in between their own plates, the lettuce, tomato, and salad cream filled sandwich in the center surrounded by moderately salted fries.

"We always have food ready for you when we decide to eat food outside," Brianna spoke up, her mouth filled with her own sandwich Carol had prepared for her. "I found a notepad and a pen this morning. I might just give her one of the best reviews."

"For a sandwich?" Zayn wondered, cocking a brow with a lump in his cheek from where his food was in his mouth. Brianna slowly and scarcely eyed him, making him raise his hands in surrender. "Alright, you do you, sis. I still feel like I have that stupid hangover from that party last week."

Kloe shot up from where she had lied down and peered across at her elder sibling. "Exactly what time was it that you left? Midnight? 1am?" she asked, brushing strands and strands of her short brunette hair behind her ear. The time her and Glenn had left was approximately around 9–10pm. It didn't take long the next day for them to hear that Zayn had ended up running out onto the streets with three bottles of beer screaming the lyrics to Don't Stop Believin' along with Reina.

If anything, Zayn woke up to hear the news of his actions and didn't leave the house for a full twenty-four hours from pure embarrassment. Zayn didn't remember anything. "I don't know," he shrugged. "Anyway, you and Glenn missed out on all the fun stuff."

"Oh yeah, definitely."

"No seriously, the last thing I remember was Reina sneakily replacing the classical vinyl with an 80s rock vinyl. Deanna seemed pissed. It was fun as shit."

"We totally missed out on the fun, huh?"

"Yeah, you did."

Kloe had to gulp mildly suspiciously, stifle her laughter, and cover her mouth with her hand. She picked up a fry and ate it before she could make any sound of laughter. "Damn. Good fries, hm?" She savored the taste before swallowing the mashed up fry. She looked ahead at Zayn. "Could you imagine what Norah would say to us if she found out we were eating sandwiches and fries for breakfast?"

Zayn snorted. "Her eat-healthy-or-you'll-die ass would've murdered us. She almost murdered me when I ate some leftover pizza from your twentieth at six in the morning because I missed out on dinner from work."

"And you worked at a pizza place?" Brianna questioned and blinked as she watched her half-brother. He hummed and nodded. She shrugged, "Ironic."

"I was still kinda hungover when I got to work that same day and I put grapes on the pizza instead of olives." Kloe and Brianna both raised their brows in unison. "I almost got fired."

"And I backed up your ass," a familiar male voice stated as he patted Zayn's shoulders, making him yelp and throw his sandwich at the person behind him instinctively. Glenn began to laugh uncontrollably as he dramatically held his hand over his arm where the slices of bread had hit him.

Kloe almost choked on her food along with Brianna. The Schmidt teen clapped her hands together as her face scrunched up humorously. Kloe whacked her hand down on the wooden table, the other over her hand as she tried her best to prevent herself from snorting.

"You—" Glenn cut himself off with another laugh as he made his way over to his wife's side and sat himself down beside her, "you could've thrown anything, and you throw bread?"

"It was instinct, man," Zayn defended, chuckling at how stupid he must've looked. "When something scares me, I grab the first thing I see or think of and throw it. You," Zayn leaned forward and pointed at Glenn's face, "need to stop sneaking up on people."

"I can vouch for that," Kloe agreed as Glenn picked up a few fries off of the plate that Kloe had slightly budged over to him so they could share. "You even scared me last night without trying. I tried to do braids with this stupid hair, but because it was 10:25pm I was exhausted so I shut my eyes for two seconds, okay, two! And this idiot—" she lightly punched Glenn on the arm, "came in and started massaging my shoulders. Thanks, by the way, but screw you too."

"That's the second time you punched me on my arm in less than a day," he teasingly groaned, drastically rubbing his arm where she hit him. "And that wasn't me scaring you, that was you being unaware of your surroundings," he returned, grinning triumphantly at the woman he loved.

"Yeah, yeah," she rolled her eyes. She took a bite of her sandwich, instantaneously slumping her shoulders as she took in the flavor. "Carol deserves a ten-out-of-ten for this. Try it," she offered it to Glenn, who bit into it while it was still in her hand. She smiled widely as she waited for him to react to the savoring feeling. He raised his brows, hummed, and nodded. "Good, right?"

"Amazing," Glenn replied, his voice muffled as he covered his mouth with his hand.

Brianna wiped away some substance of salad cream on her chin, snapping her fingers a few times as she thought of something. "So," she began, the attention setting on her, "what time is the supply run you guys are going on?" she inquired, rubbing her eyes from... fatigue? "I would've joined you guys, but Eugene insisted he did so I could rest."

Kloe's smile faltered ever so slightly as she then noticed how tired Brianna looked. There were dark circles under her eyes, and she held some weakness in her body from lack of strength. Beside her plate was a cup of coffee, obviously there to supply her with the energy she needed. "He's right," she nodded. "You should try to get some sleep, Bri. You look seriously tired."

"Yeah, shit," Zayn mumbled as he twisted his body to the side, examining her appearance. Zayn, Glenn, and Kloe all felt their hearts sink into their stomachs, knowing the exact reason she hadn't been sleeping. She lost her mother, and it was as if everyone had forgotten that. She was only seventeen years old. She needed her mother, and she wasn't there. Kloe shrunk back unnoticeably.

Kloe felt that remaining guilt of the death of Vickie Parson swam around in her body, and she tried her best to fight it off and ignore it. She shoved a few more fries into her mouth before standing to her feet. "New plan. Zayn, you take Brianna back to the house and do whatever. Bri, you sleep, okay? You need it. Glenn, you and I are going, now."

...

Tara tossed over one of the many backpacks over to Kloe, who then turned and threw it over to Nicholas. He set it in the back of the van they were using for their first big run. It was a nice day that day, and everybody was in good spirits. The sun seeped through the clouds as everyone stored numerous supplies into the back of the vehicle.

"Hey, Klo." The Rhee woman snapped her head over to the direction where the voice came from, and the woman approaching her was none other than Isabelle Marshel. Kloe greeted back with a 'hey' as Isabelle stopped in front of her, sighing heavily. "I just wanted to give you something before you left, since, y'know... You never know what could go wrong out there."

"Hey, we'll be okay," Kloe returned with a small grin as she patted Isabelle's shoulder. She quickly grabbed onto the next backpack Tara threw over to her, to which she merely gave it to Nicholas. "We're trying to work things out with Aiden, Madolyn, and Nicholas, and so are they. Everything's fine."

"No, I know that," Isabelle nodded. "But that's not— that's not what I was gonna talk about. I was gonna give you this back..." she reached down to her sheath and pulled out a knife. "Outside of Gabriel's church, the day you and the others were going to Washington, I found this in the bushes." In her hand presented the very knife Kloe found on the highway two months into the apocalypse. The weapon held nice memories, like when her and Glenn exchanged a few moments when they were head over heels for each other, but then came the bad part. It was the knife she used to slit Gareth's throat.

Kloe stared at it before breaking her gaze away and blinked religiously. "No. I don't want it." She didn't want to be reminded of the horrors she and the others had gone through while on the road. She didn't want to see herself as a heartless, cold-blooded monster that he just so happened to call her.

Everytime she remembered the part where she shoved Gareth into the secret room in Terminus, she constantly got reminded how she acted when she beat Gareth into telling her where her family were. She had gotten so desperate that she ended up taking her anger out on the very man that held them captive. But then it hit her. The way she acted was the same way a man that tortured her had acted.

Merle Dixon.

He had beaten her and Glenn up, begging for answers on where his brother was. The couple kept it private, not wanting to give away their location. She had done the same thing. She wanted to know where her family was, so she tortured a man into telling her.

She became the very thing she hated.

"I really, really don't want it, Isabelle," Kloe muttered, looking anywhere but at the pocket knife. "I don't want to remind myself of what I was last month. I want to forget about it."

"Kloe," Isabelle stated sharply. "Take the damn knife. You're not a bad person. I know you threw it away, but I took it back and I cleaned it. This knife, you told me, holds good memories, okay? You told me it was the very thing that made you and Glenn get even closer. Forget about everything that happened, and just think about the good things."

"You don't understand—"

"No, I do," she interrupted, raising her hand to stop Kloe. "I understand it completely, Kloe. Remember— remember when I stabbed you because I thought you were a walker. Yeah? Well, I had to live with that. The fact that I could've killed an amazing person like you. The knife that I used," she lifted up her long shirt, revealing the handle of the knife, "I still have it. It was the knife my dad always had, and I wasn't going to throw away something so emotionally valued just because of something I regret."

Kloe only blinked as she felt the pity course through her veins. Isabelle was right. Of course she was. "Nothing's stopping you from having it, Isa. If I know you have it and are taking care of it, then the bad parts won't be on my mind," she softly told her in a tone that made her voice as smooth as honey. "This is what I want, alright? You keep it."

"That's a cool knife," the voice belonging to Madolyn O'Niell said, still attempting to get on Kloe's good side. Truth was, she wanted nothing more than to be okay with the new group. She was very sociable growing up, but she always had a backbone and always stood up for herself when needed. In this case, she stood up for herself and the people she cared about, plus the system Alexandria withheld.

Madolyn didn't trust Rick's group at first, but she was gradually getting there. As much as she wanted to help herself, she couldn't hold back the fact that she grew irritated partially every time she laid her eyes on them. It was as if she thought they were gonna cause something bad— like the calm before the storm. In her mind, they were just a group that were there like a ticking time bomb, waiting for the worst.

Isabelle forced a small, innocent smile at the O'Niell woman. The fake smile was severely noticeable, considering the smile didn't affect the woman's eyes when it usually did.

Kloe, on the other hand, merely just stared at her from the corner of her eyes, her head still facing Isabelle. There was no sign of amusement in her facial expression whatsoever. She was stubborn, especially when it came to a girl that tried to hurt her for no reason but failed miserably.

Madolyn swallowed, her eyes darting back and forth between Isabelle and Kloe. She battled the groan within her to stay put in her head, desperately trying to keep the polite look on her face stable and to not contort into aggravation.

Kloe tilted her head to the side, narrowed her eyes, and forced a grin along with Isabelle. "Is there, I don't know, something you need?" she questioned with harshness in her tone. Just like Madolyn being irritated by the presence of Kloe, the Rhee woman was just as irritated. "You don't need to pretend around me, Madolyn. If anything, I'd feel better if you showed your true side to me."

Madolyn's politeness snapped within a second like someone had just cracked a knuckle. Her lips tugged down to a frown, and her eyes held a certain look that made it very clear she held a grudge toward the woman before her. "Could you not just appreciate some kindness?" she eyed Kloe out the corner of her eye as she brushed past her, bashing her shoulder while doing so. Isabelle pursed her lips as she slid the knife that Kloe persisted she kept into her sheath and folded her arms across her chest.

"She'll come around one day," Noah chimed in, a pistol with a silencer in his grasp. "She's been the same around me." He wore his regular cargo pants, the same sandy color that he had taken a liking to. For a shirt, he had a white tee with some writing in the center, the red and blue color fading.

"I don't think I could ever be as close as friends with her if she keeps talking with that horrible tone she does," Kloe scoffed, a mocking grin on her lips. She wore a light gray, solid crop shirt, along with black, skin tight jeans. They were the same jeans she always wore, just like how Noah always wore his sand colored cargos. Her attire came with some black fingerless gloves and her signature chocolate brown leather boots.

"Good luck to you," Isabelle patted both Kloe and Noah on the shoulders, "you're gonna be dealing with her for the next hour or so in the car. Be careful, stay safe, and come back in one piece."

"You got it, Isabelle," Noah saluted her with a grin on his lips.

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words: 4548
29th august 2023
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the last scene has me sobbing. iykyk. :((