From Sea to Shining Sea Ch.1 - An Adventure Begins
A/N This story is a sequel to my story, The Two of Us so if you haven't read that, you should, otherwise it will be hard to follow. Without further adieu, here is the story, enjoy!
~~~~Spring~~~~
~~~Me~~~
I woke up feeling the absence of Ellie's warm body next to me. I threw the sheets off, stood and pulled on a pair of pants while rubbing the sleep from eyes. I fumbled with my belt buckle as I stepped out our bedroom door, I couldn't find my shirt from last night, so I didn't bother putting one on.
"Ellie?" I called from the top of the stairs.
"I'm down here!" She yelled back. Even though we were safe here in Jackson, I still had flashbacks to last winter whenever I didn't know where she was. I walked down the stairs and saw Ellie sitting at our small dining table, wearing my shirt.
"Oh, giving me my present early are you?" Ellie joked. I rolled my eyes at her remark.
"Happy birthday." I said as I walked past her and grabbed a ripe apple from the kitchen. I bit into the crunchy fruit, the tartness still surprising me even after eating them so often.
"What did you want to do today?" I asked, sitting down across from her.
"Oh I dunno, a little of this, a little of that." Ellie replied, taking a bite of her eggs she had obviously made earlier. Ellie's feet touched mine under the table, the coldness of them causing my own feet to jump backwards under my chair.
"Careful, you might end up with more than you can handle." I said.
"Yeah right." Ellie guffawed, finding what I said funny.
"Well if you don't want..." I started.
"No! I'm sorry, it was a joke." Ellie interrupted. I smiled at her reaction, leaning back in my chair as we finished our breakfasts.
"You didn't answer my question. What do you want to do?" I asked her.
"Well I've always wanted to go see this one thing, but it isn't exactly close." Ellie replied.
"Just tell me."
"I-I want to see the ocean." Ellie told me. I set down my apple core and put my arms on the table.
"You're right, it isn't close. You've never seen the ocean?" I asked. Ellie shook her head.
"All those years in Boston and you never saw the ocean?"
"We weren't close enough to the water to see it." Ellie responded. I took a deep breath.
"I'll talk to Tommy about it, he will have to give us permission to go." I told her. Ellie looked at me, a huge smile on her face.
"You mean you'd actually take me to see the ocean?" Ellie asked.
"I'd do anything for you." I responded, causing her to blush. "We should probably go get dressed if we are going to talk to Tommy." I said. Ellie looked at the shirt she was wearing.
"Might be a good idea since this is all I have on." Ellie said giggling.
"Is that so?" I asked, standing up from the table. Ellie giggled as she ran to the kitchen and put her plate in the sink. My shirt barely covered her, and she wasn't lying, she didn't even have any underwear on. I threw my apple core away and followed Ellie up the stairs.
"I don't know guys, Maria would kill me if anything happened to you." Tommy said, itching his short beard.
"C'mon Uncle Tommy, we never ask for anything." Ellie pleaded.
"You mean besides a house?"
"Tommy. Please?" Ellie begged him.
"Fine, but you'll have to talk to Maria in the stable before you leave." Tommy said reluctantly. Ellie squealed like little girl and jumped up and down.
"Go start packing, I need to talk to Tommy." I told her. I kissed Ellie and sent her out of Tommy's house.
"Thank you Tommy." I said.
"You need to keep yourselves safe, I'm serious. No doing anything reckless or stupid because I can't lose you guys too." Tommy said seriously.
"Tommy, I've got this. I worked with Joel, remember?" I reassured him. Tommy sighed.
"Look where that got him." Tommy said sadly.
"I promise we will come back." I promised Tommy.
"I know, now go, you need to get ready." Tommy shooed me out of his house.
When I got home, Ellie had her backpack packed up.
"Yours is in the closet." Ellie informed me. I walked up the stairs and down the main hallway. I opened the closet door, staring at my bag lying on the floor. I picked it up, the last time I had it on was the last time I saw Joel. I went back downstairs and opened the weapons chest in the entryway, pulling out my 9mm and Joel's old six shooter. I checked both clips to make sure they had ammo, before checking that the safety was on. I grabbed Ellie's bow and her pistol, along with slinging my rifle over my shoulder. I handed Ellie her weapons, while I headed to where Ellie had laid out my essentials and I carefully put them in my bag.
"You ready?" I asked, pulling on my backpack, sticking my handgun in the waistband of my pants and Joel's revolver in my handmade holster.
"Ready as I'll ever be." She responded. I opened our front door for her, and quietly followed her out the door.
"Um, before we leave, can we go see Joel?" Ellie asked.
"I was planning on seeing him anyway." I told her. We walked around our house heading towards Joel's grave behind our house. We approached the memorial and I noticed that Joel's bag still hung from the tree above his resting place.
"I wish he could go with us." Ellie said sadly as we reached the headstone. I stared at the smooth stone that had been engraved with the words, Here lies Joel, a beloved brother, friend, and father. May he rest in peace.
"I do too, but we can't change the past." I said turning towards her. Ellie had tears in her eyes and was studying the grave.
"I know, it's just, I feel he didn't know how much he meant to us." Ellie confessed.
"Ellie, we meant the world to him, and he was everything to us, and he knew that, even if he never said it." I reassured her.
"You're right." Ellie agreed, turning away from the grave. "Let's go. We've got our own journey now."
"All right you two, if I were you, I'd go up northwest to Washington, there'll be the least amount of bandits there." Tommy recommended.
"Sounds good." I replied, getting up onto the horse.
"Promise me you'll come back." Maria said.
"I promise." I said, placing my hand over my heart and then helping Ellie up onto our horse.
"You be safe now." Tommy said as the horse trotted out of the stable.
"Adios Tommy, we'll be back by this time next year at the latest." I told him, he gave a slight nod and guided us out through the main gate. I turned to look back at Jackson and saw Tommy and Maria standing in the road waving.
"It's been a while since we've been out by ourselves." Ellie pointed out.
"It sure has, it's been too long. I like it better when it's just the two of us." I confessed.
"Me too." Ellie responded, resting her chin on my shoulder as Jackson faded from our sight.
A/N I am so very excited for this story. I've got a lot of what I think are amazing ideas. I hope that everyone who read my first story is here reading this. Anyway, thanks for reading, tell me what you think, or what you'd hope to see in a review, and as always, I'll see you in chapter 2!