The front door opened, and a middle-aged, rough looking man appeared in it's frame.
"Hey," said a young teenage girl laying on the couch.
"Hey," said Joel gruffly.
"How was the night shift?" Ellie asked, not bothering to look up from the comic she was thumbing through. Joel knew she had read that one already, maybe even several times, but there wasn't much other reading material around for her.
"Eh. Long. Y'know," he replied, as short and gruff as ever. He set down his backpack on a worn coffee table near the door.
"Mhm," she replied mindlessly, as her eyes scanned the pictures on the pages.
"You sure love them comics of yours," Joel said as he sat down in an armchair near the couch. "Haven't you read that one before?"
Closing the book and setting it aside, Ellie sat up. "Well yeah, but what else am I supposed to do while you're gone working all the time?!" she said with her typical, playful tone.
Joel's face became stone as he flashed back twenty years earlier. Long hours, hard work, and not enough time with the daughter he loved. He had wished he hadn't worked so late that night. Or any night when she was alive, for that matter. Sarah's face flashed through his mind as his heart ached so suddenly at Ellie's comment that he thought it might explode. He missed Sarah so much. He knew he would dream about her tonight. But He vowed not to make the same mistake with Ellie. He wanted to be there with her, to keep her safe.
"Joel?" a voice cut deep into his thoughts. Ellie was peering over at him with curiosity.
"Hm? Oh yeah. You could try bein' productive, y'know," he said with a small smirk, trying to avoid her asking questions about his momentary lapse into the past. His fingers were still brushing across the broken watch that had remained on his wrist for twenty years.
"Uh huh. Yeah right. You guys don't let me do any of the dirty work around here!"
It was true. Ever since they had arrived at Tommy's settlement a few weeks ago, Joel had been extra protective of Ellie. He didn't want her doing any type of job that could put her at risk. He knew that being idle or doing the easy jobs didn't sit well with a busybody like Ellie, but after all he went through to ensure her survival, he couldn't bear to let anything happen to her. What he did to the fireflies... it couldn't be for nothing. He had to sustain her life. He just had to.
"And for your information, I already helped out Cathy with some of the little kids today while you were off doing the fun stuff with Tommy. I'm productive, alright?"
"Mhmm."
Ellie huffed. "Whatever, dude." She folded her arms across her chest.
"I thought we could go search for some mattresses today. What do ya think?" Joel asked, steering the conversation in a new direction.
"What? You just stayed up all night, Joel! Don't you need sleep? Do you ever sleep?" Ellie looked at him, her eyes wide with surprise.
"Nah, not really," he laughed. "I figured I'm sick of sleepin' on this chair, and I'm sure you're sick of sleepin' on that couch," Joel said. It was true. When they had arrived and taken up this tiny house a few weeks ago at Tommy's settlement, Joel and Ellie found the bedrooms to be completely empty. They had resorted to sleeping on the few pieces of furniture in the living room, and Joel's large body just couldn't handle sleeping on a chair anymore.
"I kinda am..." Ellie said, pondering it. "Alright I'm in. Where are we gonna look?"
"I thought of a few places we could search. There's some houses here, or some areas just outside the settlement."
Ellie's eyebrows lifted up slightly. "Go back out there? Already?"
"I've been out there with Tommy and the guys here on some jobs, and it ain't too bad nearby. But don't worry, we'll only go if we have to. We've gotten through quite a bit out there before, Ellie. I can handle it."
"Don't you mean we can handle it?" Ellie crossed her arms. She hated when Joel acted like she wasn't capable, even though she knew he was just being protective. She also knew he didn't need to be. She was tough.
"Sure, kiddo," Joel replied, obviously trying to appease her.
"When do we leave?" she asked.
"How's now for you? Or are you too busy with that comic?"
"Ha ha. Funny." she glared at Joel. "Yeah, I'm ready, let me go grab my pack. Just in case." she said as she got up from the couch and walked towards a small hallway that led to one of the bedrooms in the house where she kept her things. She grabbed her backpack and slipped it on before returning to the living room, where Joel was already waiting by the door.
"Alright. Let's get goin'" he said as he opened the door.
Ellie followed Joel across the settlement, and they walked in silence aside from Ellie still attempting to master her whistling technique. Joel decided to ignore her even though he found it somewhat endearing to watch her try so hard. The summer heat was beating down on them as they walked, but Ellie was still wearing long sleeves as usual. She periodically wiped the sweat forming at her brow as they walked.
When they finally reached their destination, the pair looked out upon a few houses that appeared deserted. Before she could ask, Joel said, "these here are a few houses that ain't being used yet. Everyone tends to live close to each other here, if you didn't notice. I suppose these'll get filled out eventually when we get more people comin' in. If we ever do."
Ellie nodded, acknowledging that she had heard him as they went through the front door. She almost reverted to her typical stealth approach when she realized there was no way that anyone or anything could be in here. Tommy and the others would have driven off or killed any infected or hunters long ago.
As they explored, Ellie noticed the house looked similar to theirs. Relatively empty, beat up, and mattress-less. They had become relatively fast at searching for supplies throughout their journey so they had the entire place looked over in no time. Ellie sighed. "Find anything?" she called to Joel from one of the bedrooms.
"Nope. Nothin' too important," Joel said as he entered the room. "On to the next one."
The pair entered the house next door, and immediately there was a visible difference. There was a bit more furniture and plenty of nicknacks laying around that hadn't been ransacked yet. "Let's search the place" Joel said as he took off towards the bedrooms. "You take the kitchen" he called over his shoulder.
Ellie got to work sifting through old, spoiled food mixed with pots and pans in the kitchen cupboards. There was nothing here that they needed or didn't already have. She opened a drawer, and in it there was a family photo. She assumed they had lived in this house long ago. She stared for a few moments before slipping it into her backpack. It was a habit she had picked up on her and Joel's travels. She had never told him or showed him her collection. She liked having something to keep to herself, and she knew Joel wouldn't understand her reason for keeping the photos. It made her feel sad to look at them, but she enjoyed making up stories in her head about the families, imagining they got away, and had settled somewhere just like where she was living now. She imagined happiness and hope. Her favorite photo in the collection had been the one of Joel and his daughter Sarah before she decided to give it back to him. Ellie had so many questions about her, but knew there was a slim chance she would ever get any answers. Joel was private about his past, and she was scared to open any old wounds of his.
"Ellie, I found one!" Joel yelled from across the house. Ellie followed his voice to a room where, behold, there was a mattress. She smiled at Joel, who was lifting it off a broken bed frame.
"It's a little old, and it don't exactly smell great, but we could try to air it out," he said as began carrying it across the room. "Gimme a hand, will ya?"
Ellie grabbed the other side of the mattress, obviously struggling under it's weight much more than Joel was. They managed to maneuver it out of the house together. Once outside, Ellie asked, "just one in there?"
"There was another. But we're gonna need some help gettin' these back to our place," he said turning to go in the house. "Let's bring it out here, and then I'll get Tommy to come help us out if he ain't busy."
Ellie followed him back inside. She had to admit, she was pretty excited to sleep on an actual bed, no matter how smelly.
After they carried the second mattress outside, Joel turned to Ellie. "You wait here, while I get Tommy. Keep your eyes open. Just 'cause we're here in this place don't mean we're safe. You never can tell about folk you don't really know. Got it?"
"Sure thing," Ellie said as she rolled her eyes at Joel's overprotective speech, but sat down on the porch steps with vigilant eyes as he walked away.
Ellie picked at her fingernails, and observed her surroundings as she waited. Now that she was alone, her thoughts drifted back to when she and Joel had first arrived. She kept pushing it to the back of her mind. The lie. She knew Joel was lying to her. Those two words, "I swear" rang through her ears like daggers. She sighed loudly, trying to clear her head. What exactly had happened? She wanted to know so badly, but couldn't bring herself to ask Joel. Or maybe she couldn't bring herself to find out the truth.
She knew two things, however. She knew that she trusted him. She trusted him with her life. And she knew that Joel cared for her, deeply. She could see it in his eyes when she caught him in the right moment, admiring her like a father does for his daughter. She could feel it when he protected her by any means possible. She shuddered to think what means he had used to get them away from the Fireflies.
After Joel fetched Tommy, the two walked side by side back to the house where Ellie was waiting.
"Joel, I need to ask you somethin'" Tommy said.
"Alright, shoot," Joel replied.
"Listen, I know I already asked when you guys first got here, and I've been ignorin' it since then, but you have got to tell me what went on with the Fireflies and Ellie. It couldn't have just been nothin', Joel."
Joel sighed. He couldn't think of a good answer for his brother that didn't make him sound like he was in the wrong. He wasn't sure Tommy would understand. They were going to kill her without even asking how she felt. Joel couldn't bear to lose the light she brought to his life.
"Tommy, not now." Joel tried to be stern, hoping Tommy would drop the issue.
"No, Joel. You are livin' under my rules here, and as your brother, I deserve the truth. Just tell me somethin', anything."
"I just – I don't think you'd understand. For now, can you just trust me on this?"
Tommy nodded. He knew whatever had happened that Ellie was the most important thing in his life, and that Joel would do anything for her. He had seen his brother act the same way with Sarah years ago. If he knew his brother, then he knew he did what was necessary for those he loved at all costs. That was exactly what scared him the most.
They approached the house and saw Ellie sitting on the porch steps, staring at her hands and looking deep in thought.
"Hey Ellie," Tommy said, giving a friendly wave.
"Hi Tommy," Ellie replied, trying to give a genuine smile as she got to her feet. She was still distracted thinking of the Fireflies. How could they have stopped looking for a cure? How had she never known there were more immunes? She wished desperately that she had never gone unconscious under the water before they reached the hospital. She wished it wasn't all just one big black hole in her timeline. She passed out right before reaching the hospital and woke up in a car with Joel in the driver's seat. Nothing added up. She sighed, her mind still whirling with questions.
"Somethin' wrong?" Joel asked quietly, looking at her with concern. His heart gave a small jump as fear creeped in. His relationship with Ellie had been as normal as ever, with a few exceptions like this moment. These moments made him scared that she knew the truth. He couldn't think about it. Not right now. Not ever. It was over, and Ellie was safe. Joel planned on keeping it that way.
"Nope. Everything's peachy," came Ellie's sarcastic voice. Joel's gaze lingered on her suspiciously before they were interrupted.
"Alright, Joel, let's do this. I've got to meet back up with Maria and some of the guys. Important business stuff, you know," Tommy joked.
Ellie helped Tommy carry one of the mattresses as Joel carried one alone. Ellie never ceased to be amazed at Joel's strength for his age. They finally reached their house and set down the mattresses near the front door.
"That'll do, Tommy. Now go on and find that wife of yours."
Tommy waved goodbye, leaving Ellie and Joel standing on the rundown front porch.
"Alright, let's get these inside, Ellie," Joel said, turning to her.
After some finagling the mattress through the front door, they finally got it to the first bedroom and laid it on the floor. When they returned to the porch, Joel began lifting up the second mattress and said, "let's get this one to the other bedroom."
"Um, Joel?" Ellie's attitude had changed suddenly. Joel looked at her and noticed she was wringing her hands, trying to bring herself to say something. His body filled with fear again. She looked nervous, almost upset, and he didn't want to stick around to hear what she was about to say to him. Please don't ask about the Fireflies... he begged.
"Can we uh... not put this in the other bedroom?" she blurted out.
"Huh?" Joel scratched his head, genuinely confused about why she was acting so nervous about such a simple question. I suppose that's teenage girls for you, he thought.
"I just... I don't wanna sleep alone. This whole time we've been sleeping in the same room. And it's just... I get sort of... scared? You know, with my nightmares sometimes. And yours too. I thought it would be better to put these in the same room. I mean, what if something happened to me in the night and you were in the other –"
Joel cut off her rambling. "Ellie. It's fine. That's fine." He chuckled and relief washed over him. He savored the small moments when Ellie let her guard down, and instead of acting tough, she acted like she should – a teenage girl, a child, who was living in a terrifying world.
Ellie breathed out in relief. "Sorry. I didn't want to make things weird or anything. I just really don't want to be alone." It almost pained her to admit that to Joel, but it was the truth. Even if he wasn't going to be honest with her, she still wanted to be honest with him.
"Let's just get this in there, then," he gestured to the mattress.
Once both mattresses were in place, they stepped back to survey the room. It still looked pathetic and barren, but at least they had somewhere more comfortable to sleep. The two mattresses sat on opposite corners of the room, with their backpacks next to the mattress. Various guns, comics, and other supplies were strewn about the space. Ellie hoped that someday they would be able to find more to make the place feel more like home.
"You hungry? How about we go get some dinner. It's Maria's turn to do the cookin' tonight," Joel said as they walked out of the bedroom.
"I'm starved," Ellie said, looking up at Joel. She felt a small sense of peace come over her, and for a moment, she almost forgot about the Fireflies. Almost.