Y/N and Clementine parted from the kiss as they ran out of air, both smiling sheepishly with reddening cheeks. Clementine though was right on top of Y/N again, her arms round his neck as she held him tight. We just kissed, we just kissed is all Y/N could think while Clementine whispered into his ear:

"I thought I'd lost you. I thought I'd lost you."

The two stood in the embrace, both allowing their mutual teenage feelings of love to overwhelm them after having repressed them for so long. They stood together, looked into each other's eyes and kissed again.

When breathlessness overwhelmed them they separated, a spaghetti string of saliva joining them as they touched foreheads, Y/N whispering as he regained his breath:

"I'll always come back to you. Always."

Time had seemed to stand still for the young couple before they were both surprised at the loud yell of Mal, who bellowed:

"You magnificent son of a bitch!"

as he stormed over. The two teens released their hug at the last moment as Y/N was suddenly pulled in a much tighter one from his CO.

Mal had a sudden realisation as to his outburst and quickly released Y/N, clearing his throat in embarrassment and quickly saluted his soldier.

A bewildered Y/N saluted back as Clementine giggled and Edith rolled her eyes where she stood next to Shepherd.

"G-good work soldier. Jayne filled me in, you discovered the-"

"I think that can wait love" Edith said from behind as her partner turned with a puzzled look on his face.

"Y/N and Jayne are both exhausted, and we've just interrupted a very special moment..."

Edith paused, looking over at Clementine who wore a grin like the cat who got the cream.

"... let's let our boys get some much needed sleep and you and the Oligarchs can talk to them in the morning, hey?" Edith suggested as she walked over and gave Y/N a tight hug.

"You did amazing, Y/N. You really did" she said before looking at the young couple as Clementine joined their hands, interlocking her fingers with Y/N's.

"AJ is out like a light, we've just left Jayne to watch him quickly but he is fine. You two go home, get some sleep and we'll all talk in the morning, hey?"

Clementine nodded, Y/N's head still spinning too much to do little more than acknowledge a 'uh-huh' as Mal and Edith headed home, Shepherd returning to lookout but stopping to add a quick:

"Congratulations both of you. I'm surprised it took this long."

—~—

Y/N was sat on the bed the now couple shared after having a much needed shower and a much more needed feed. Clementine sat next to him, still wearing the same large grin as Y/N stretched his sore back.

"So about before Y/N... about when we... kissed" Clementine said happily as she tried, and failed, to hide her excitement.

"Yeah?" Y/N asked straight faced.

"Well... what does it mean? Does it mean you want to be my boyfriend?" she asked hopefully.

Y/N continued to look straight faced before he couldn't hold it any longer, a large grin breaking out on his face, much to Clementine's relief and delight.

"Yeah, Yeah I would Clemmy. I would love you to be my girlfriend."

Clementine squealed happily, leaning in for another kiss.

—~—

The next morning Y/N was stood in the central planning office of the Wellington oligarchs along with Mal and Jayne. Y/N had drawn a large mud map on the round table in front of them, showing the outline of what they had found.

"So north of this clearing, about quarter mile into the woods, that's where we found em" Y/N explained as he pointed.

"Yeah, looked like Stone Age mounds or something. Piles of bones everywhere. The noises... must of been hundreds of 'em" Jayne added, cold shivering up his spine at the memory.

"We found em, excellent work men" a bald headed man named William Rawlins smiled. Rawlins, an arrogant pig of a man, was one of the Wellington Oligarchs and the head of the military. He had instantly given Y/N Larry vibes.

The man continued:

"We radio the other communities today. Tell them one week, that's our window. One week from today we hit them where they live with a combined force and we end this, once and for all."

He smiled proudly, pointing to the open space Y/N and Jayne had outlined:

"We make a wagon fort, a corral in here. They charge us with spears and we cut them down with gunfire. End them."

Hugh, the lead Oligarch was stood silently in his perennial leather jacket, considering William's suggestion when he looked at Y/N's face.

"Do you have something to say, Dixon?" He asked, calmly.

Y/N looked between the two and replied:

"I think that's a bad call."

"And what do you base that sound factual analysis on, soldier?" William sneered arrogantly. Y/N narrowed his eyes.

"We don't know their numbers. We don't know the terrain. We don't know further in than the quarter mile me and Jayne walked in" he replied. William tutted but Y/N continued:

"Grey Wolf and I can get close silently, scope out their camp get some more-"

"No! Absolutely not" William snapped.

"We've been getting attacked and picked off by these monsters for the last year. Harrogate was attacked and destroyed only two weeks ago-"

Jayne and Mal looked at each other shocked, no one in Wellington had been told about it.

"- and we finally get info where they are, now, and you want to wait longer?"

"What I want is to know our enemy before we rush into a situation where a lot of people are gonna die" Y/N snapped back.

Hugh held his hands up as if to placate the two men and turned to Mal:

"Mal?" He asked.

"I trust Y/N's instincts, sir" Mal answered.

"And I trust the opinion of a twenty year military officer, my own, over those of a teenager so-"

"Hey listen asshole-" Y/N snapped but was instantly cut off.

"You signed up and joined the military. That means you follow orders, soldier! I point and you shoot. That's it! Dismissed!" William snapped again.

Before Y/N could reply Mal had replied loudly:

"Sir, yes sir!"

And he and Jayne had grabbed Y/N and pulled him quickly from the room. As they walked away Y/N shook himself free of their grip and began ranting:

"That fucking asshole! What does-"

"Yeah we know" Jayne answered as they tried to rush a pissed off Y/N out of HQ and back to the barracks as quick as possible. Mal explained:

"He's an asshole, but he's our boss. And he's a vindictive cunt. Type of asshole to throw you in the brig to rot and then turf out Clem and AJ for kicks. But he's two faced and popular with the people so we have to put up with him."

For now, Y/N thought to himself.

—~—

The next five days Y/N and Clementine didn't have much of a time to enjoy their new official relationship. Not as much as they would have liked anyway.

Y/N and the rest of the armed forces were training twelve hours a day, readying for the assault. Y/N had been on the shooting range with the rest of his squad when numerous people had began arriving.

"The other community forces" Jayne said next to Y/N who nodded and returned to firing paint balls at the targets.

Hundreds of men and women had arrived, they were being housed in the barracks for the next two nights before the attack. While many of Wellington's squads had lost their focus, watching their new allies roll in, Y/N and the rest of the Gamma patrol simply continued with their target practice.

Half an hour later word had come that Y/N and Jayne were required at operational HQ. The two left, nodding at various soldiers from Jackson and Fiddler's Green on the way out.

The duo walked towards HQ, pushing through throngs of Wellington locals who were excited at all the arrivals. It wasn't something that happened everyday.

"What do you think this is about?" Jayne asked Y/N as they walked passed the gym.

Y/N was glaring at the fighter, Mad Dog, who was stood out the front of the gym with his trainer, Colt. Mad Dog was glaring back- he and Y/N had taken an instant dislike to each other.

"C'mon man" Jayne chuckled, pulling Y/N away from the staring contest.

"No idea" Y/N replied. "As long as we don't have to see that asshole Rawlins."

The two entered HQ and were quickly shown to Hugh's office and much to their relief Rawlins was nowhere to be seen. Hugh was there with two other men and a teenage girl about Y/N's age.

"Ah thank you men" Hugh smiled as he extended a hand to welcome the pair.

"These are the men we have to thank for finding the Reavers base" Hugh smiled as he shook Y/N and Jayne's hands. He extended an open hand towards his guests:

"Y/N Dixon, Jayne Cobb, this it Riley Denbo, the leader of Fiddler's Green..."

They were greeted by a man who seemed to have a face far too friendly for the apocalypse. Y/N was instantly reminded of Luke...

"And this is Joel Miller and his daughter, Ellie. Joel is the leader of Jackson."

Joel definitely fit the part of grizzled survivor.

"Jesus. You said he was young Hugh, but damn... you must be the same age as Ellie here" Riley said in somewhat disbelief.

"Y/N's one of our best. My ass wouldn't haven't gotten back without him" Jayne shot back without missing a beat.

Riley had been at the town known at Fiddler's Green from the beginning out of the outbreak. He had risen up to become its leader as he was charming, friendly and protective, making him a natural choice for its people.

Joel meanwhile had been out there on the road when he found Ellie, right at the start. She may not be his blood but she was his family. They had been on the move for quite a while before they happened upon Jackson. Joel recognised a fellow survivor from the look in Y/N's eyes.

"Hugh told us you only just arrived. You ain't been here long. Said you got a family?" Joel asked.

Y/N stood there silently, disinterested in sharing his 'story' with these strangers when he got a hard nudge from Jayne and sighed.

"I arrived a short while back with my girlfriend, Clementine, and our son, AJ. I joined the military so she could stay home with him."

"Son?" Riley asked in shock.

"Adopted" Y/N clarified. "He might not be our blood but he is our responsibility. Can we return to training now? We're going to war in two days time."

—~— 

It was the middle of the night, the night before the united offensive against the Reavers. Y/N was stood looking out of the 'kitchen' window. All the soldiers had been dismissed early the night before, to spend time with their families.

Y/N had enjoyed feeding AJ his bottle, playing peekaboo and making the infant appear to giggle and putting him to bed. He enjoyed having dinner with Clementine, as well as fulfilling Clem's wish to snuggle.

As he stood he felt arms wrap around his waist, Clem's lips against his back before she rested her head against him.

"You ok?" She asked gently.

"Yeah, couldn't sleep" Y/N replied before turning, wrapping Clementine in a hug and giving her a gentle kiss.

—~—

Y/N was sat in the Ocelot with the rest of Gamma squad, as they drove towards their approaching battlefield.

Simon was in the truck as well, having volunteered to attend the battle as a medic, to undoubtedly try and protect his younger sister. River was on one side of him, Kaylee was on the other side. Y/N smirked- Kaylee's love for Simon was obvious to everyone but him.

The Ocelot was in the lead, it would be the first vehicle to arrive at the battle. Gamma had to lay down cover fire as the rest of the convoy got into position. They were being fed into the fire first.

"Ok, here we go" Mal said as the vehicle arrived at the clearing.

"We get two thirds deep and begin laying down cover fire as-"

About a third of the way into the open area the Ocelot came to a sudden violent stop. Wash tried to drive on, pushing down hard on the accelerator pedal as the wheels spun and did nothing else.

"Fuck, this is one huge bog. We've gotta-"

Mal was cut off where he half stood, looking out the front window as the Ocelot was slammed into hard from behind, the second driver having cannoned into the back of the group's vehicle.

Everyone was thrown forward, Mal smashing into the windscreen with his back before rolling down to the floor, and cursing loudly.

"Shit they're coming, we've got to-"

Wash was cut off as he groaned in pain, Zoe screaming in horror. A spear had flown through the fractured windscreen and lodged itself into his chest.

Zoe screamed again, rushing forward and whimpering "baby? Baby no!" as the others looked up in wide eyed horror, hundreds of rabid Reavers beginning to race towards them as more crashes could be heard behind the group.