"WHATEVER IT TAKES"
Just The Two Of Us

A Joel oneshot
(inspired by the game "The Last Of Us")

"We do whatever it takes..."
That's what I told Ellie just before we were captured by the Fireflies...before we were both almost killed by the Fireflies to put it accurately. When everything started between me and Ellie I thought she was a little brat with a mouth like a dumpster. Someone who didn't care for authority-figure she didn't know about. Hell I didn't even wanna take care of her in the first place. But I did it because Tess had asked me too. In fact at first, I mainly did it for Tess. But after she was taken from us it was just me and the little girl. For an entire year it was just me and Ellie.

It should've been a walk in the park, just deliver the girl to the Fireflies, get our goods and get outta there. Hmm! I wish it had been that easy. After learning of Ellie's "unique" condition our journey only became more treacherous. We knew about the infected and fighting them off was just apart of life. Depending on the city or zone we were in we'd find ourselves beatin' down dozens of them. It was the scavengers that we hadn't counted on, or more so Ellie. Having grown up in a quarantine zone she barely knew anything of the outside world. I mean the girl almost did backflips upon discovering an abandoned bookstore. That girl sure loves to read. And I'm glad she did because it helped to block out the atrocities of the world that I didn't want her young soul gettin' used too. I didn't enjoy the killin', whether from afar or up close it didn't make a difference. When you were face to face with another person who was out for your blood you had to make the selfish choice to stay alive. You couldn't help them or you'd end up dead. As for the infected, I never turned a blind eye to them. They were people as far as I were concerned, especially the ones who had mutated. Their humanity had clearly been stripped from them after they turned.
Ellie was quite the trooper. She picked up some fightin' skills pretty quickly. I was even surprised when she saved my ass a few times. Blew one guy's head clear off his shoulders after he had been chokin' me to death. I'll never forget those moments, not because I had been at he mercy of someone else's hand but because a little girl who desperately needed me had risked all she was just to save my life.

As the months we had cleared the majority of what used to be the United States and because we had travelled the majority of the way of foot and horseback Ellie and I had gotten to known each other pretty well. She was actually quite an intelligent young girl. I could see it in her eyes, she hungered to know more about the world, how it used to be and why it was the way it was now. I taught her all I could and left the rest up to her. I guess I figured she'd wanna discover it for herself. In the times when I'd watch over her while she slept I couldn't help to think about my dear Sarah who had been taken from me so long ago. She would've been in her twenties by now and Ellie would've loved her. The two of them would've gotten on so well. I can't help to let a tear fall for my baby girl. Ellie asked about her a few times but I shut down immediately. The pain was too great and I guess...I guess I didn't want to go through the grieving process, not when I needed to make sure that Ellie and I remained alive and well. I know I shouldn't have been so stern with her in those times, that I should've talked about Sarah a little more and I eventually admitted to Ellie that I was sorry for that. Thankfully the girl forgave and encouraged me to keep pressing on.

I don't know where did be without Ellie. If it weren't for her I'd still be in Boston with Tess, smuggling drugs and fighting people for money, weapons and other supplies. That had been my life for about twenty years until I met the girl with bright, blue eyes, fiery red hair and the will of a raging lion. I know it may sounds cliché but Ellie really change everything for me. She changed my outlook on life, my passions, my reason for living rather than just existing. She really changed me.
And it all dawned on me as I carried her out of that hospital. It was then after months of fighting, refusing to listen, blaming others and taking lives that I realized how much I was actually needed by someone else. That even though I had lost my Sarah I had gained someone just as strong, beautiful, powerful and loving and that was Ellie.

I now know that the realization had been nagging at me each time Ellie and I had been in a tight situation. Whether it was hiding from Clickers, taking down scavengers or the times when we had saved each other from nearly being gruesomely killed by mad men like David, the truth had been there all along. We didn't just need each other to survive and make it somewhere safe...we needed each other so we would know what it was to truly live. I know that now!

And now after everything we've been through we've finally found a home at Tommy's dam with his wife Maria and many others. But more importantly we've found ourselves a family! That's right, i finally made the decision to make Ellie my daughter. And even though there's absolutely nothing biologically relating us to each other, the one thing that we have in common is our strong love and appreciation for each other and the fact that we need each other.
That is what keeps us strong, it's what keeps us here, alive and well. And it's something that's worth fighting for. Just like I told my daughter many months before reaching the dam, "We do whatever it takes!"