He hates that she's blaming herself for this- he should have known it would come to this. Sometimes, Louis forgets he's not the only one carrying a pretty darn powerful self-loathing card. Clem's been through a lot- more than he would ever understand and truly know. He understands that's left its own scars, made her more cautious.

"It wasn't your fault, Clem. I would have stuck by you regardless, in case you haven't noticed, I can be pretty damn stubborn," it's an attempt to lighten the mood but it falls horribly flat, his shoulders sag. "Look. I get that you want to keep me safe, I appreciate that you do, but you've gotta let me make my own choices on that one."

He moves his own free hand to carefully brush away the one covering her face, sliding it to rest on her cheek. He offers her a tiny, tired smile.

"Please trust me to make my own calls on what's worth risking my life over. Because if anything happened to you because I chose to run... I honestly don't think I could live with that," he already has Marlon and Tenn weighing on him, losing Clementine would break him in a way he's not convinced he could recover from - for all his big talk of inevitability, he knows that only too well. "I love you too much for any of that."

It feels good to say it, despite everything- despite all the awful bullshit going on. He'd wanted to tell her in a far more romantic way- probably something with the piano and candlelight- with a suaveness he doesn't actually possess but likes to pretend he does. Instead, she gets it after he's pulled back from death, both of them gross and bloody from a few days of fighting through sheer hell. But better she know now- if he hadn't of come back, then she'd never know- and that's a thought he doesn't want to entertain.

"So I'm sorry, but you're pretty much stuck with me."