Summer was just making its presence known by the time that Ellie and Joel made their way back to the hydroelectric plant Tommy's wife Maria and her father had turned into a safe haven. It was mid-afternoon when they finally reached Jackson County. They'd gotten an early start and Joel was more than a little surprised they'd made such good time. Standing on the edge of cliff that overlooked the makeshift homes, Joel was happy to see that the place was still going strong and hadn't fallen. From the looks of it, electricity was still very much up and running and, if his memory served him well, they'd seemed to expanded since the last time they'd been there. More homes, albeit small, had popped up. The man couldn't help but wonder just how many families were living there now.

Next to him, Ellie shuffled her feet around on in the grass. The last couple of weeks had been hard on her. He could see the way her light blue eyes were constantly clouded over with thoughts. Killing the cannibalistic bastard David so violently had taken quite the toll on the young woman. Added with the 'news' that the Fireflies had given up hope of finding a cure, well, her moral had taken a hit. She was slacking off, getting distracted and never seemed happy anymore. Needless to say, the behavior had Joel concerned for more reasons than one. Hopefully, with the promise of a new, much more permanent home, she'd get out of the slump she'd been in. Start living again.

"Hey," he said gruffly, nudging her. "You good?" He asked, eyes carefully taking her in as she turned to look up at him.

A careless shrug fell off her shoulders and she gave him a half-assed smile, "Oh, yeah. I'm fine."

Joel didn't believe it, but he didn't push the subject. Instead he gave her shoulder a firm pat. "C'mon, let's get inside and see what's going on. Bet they've got food for us to eat." Breakfast had been skipped, seeing as their supplies were running rather low. They didn't want to risk running out before they got back to Tommy's.

Repositioning her backpack, Ellie nodded and headed down the hill in silence. They stayed that way for a while until they finally came up on the compound and got the attention of one of the guards. It didn't take long for Tommy's head to pop over the side of the wall and he grinned down at the duo. "Yeah, these two are clear. So long as the little one don't run off with one of our horses again," he teased. It brought a genuine smile to Ellie's face, for which Joel was thankful.

When the doors swung open, they two entered and were greeted by Tommy and a pregnant Maria, both of which were smiling. "I see you wasted no time," Joel commented, his words directed at growing bump that was Maria's belly. "How far along?" He asked.

The couple grinned, "We actually found out about a week after you left." Their fingers laced together as Maria spoke again, "Only about five months."

Stepping forward, Ellie's eyes were alight with excitement. "Holy shit," she muttered. "I've never seen a pregnant woman before. Can I touch your stomach? Does it kick yet?"

"Ellie..." Joel warned, but his words were brushed away by the older woman.

She nodded, "No, go ahead! He kicks every so often, but sometimes he gives me a break." As Ellie reached out to touch the bump, both woman jumped at laughed as the baby within give a good hard kick, startling them both. "There you go! He likes you already."

"So you're thinking it's a boy?" Ellie asked, smiling as she removed her hand.

Maria nodded. "I think so, yeah. But I'm not a hundred percent sure just yet, but I've just got this feeling." Looking at the two men, she smiled at Ellie. "How about we get something to eat? I'm eating for two now and let me tell you, this little guy eats more than his father." Chuckling softly, the two left the brothers alone.

Tommy's gaze was immediately on Joel. "So what happened?" He asked, shoving hands into pockets. It was more than apparent he'd been waiting for this day, wanting to see what was to come of their run-in with the Fireflies.

Part of Joel wanted to tell Tommy, to relieve himself of the burden at least a little. But the more he'd thought about it, the less he liked the idea. There were so many different ways Tommy could react and the last thing he wanted was to add another rift between the two of them. Or risk Tommy telling Ellie the truth. So, he sighed, lifting broad shoulders in a shrug. "They weren't at the University when we got there. It looked like they'd moved out quite some time ago. Left a lot of shit though. Solar panels, lights, shit like that. Must've left in a hurry, but we found a tape recorder and it said they'd got to Salt Lake City so we met up with them there." Hands across his chest, Joel sighed and shook his head. "They stopped looking for a cure. Turns out, there were more than just Ellie. Dozens, even. None of them were working out. They gave up on trying anything else." They fell silent and Joel was sure his little brother had caught his lie, but instead, Tommy grasped his shoulder and gave a firm shake.

"I'm sorry to hear that. I am. She must've been devastated." His reply was a stiff nod. "But you two have a home here, you know that. So let's get you guys set up in a place, sound good? We've got electricity running through every home now, you'd be shocked at how far we've come in such a short time. I think I told you we were over twenty families strong last time, but you'll never believe how many we've got now." Joel lifted a brow curiously. "Over fifty now," Tommy answered with a proud nod. "Maria and her father have built a miracle, that's for sure."

That definitely had Joel's interested peeked. "What about children? How many of them have you got?"

Tommy shrugged. "There's not a whole lot, maybe fifteen in total. But there's about three or four around Ellie's age," he explained, knowing exactly where Joel's thoughts had traveled. "She's gonna find a place for herself here. So are you."

Joel didn't have the words to express how thankfully he was for everything Tommy was offering. He knew that the fight they'd had years ago was a bad one, but he'd never expected it to last as many years as it had. And then when he'd run off to join the Fireflies, the riff had only grown large, their ideas and opinions clashing more often than was good. It had eventually destroyed their brotherhood, that along with memories of their years surviving hadn't done anything good for their relationship. Joel could still remember the anger they'd felt, how things had gotten out of hand so quickly. They'd exchanged heated words, both had gotten in a good handful of punches in before they went their separate ways. Honestly, Joel had never expected to see his baby brother alive again. If it wasn't obvious, he'd been glad to be proven wrong.

"Listen, Tommy I'm so-"

Before Joel could continue, the younger sibling held up a hand to stop him from going any further. There was nothing to be sorry for anymore. "Brother, we both said and did a lot of things that neither of us are proud of. I know you had the best of intentions when it came to us surviving and I know the decisions you made weren't easy. I forgave you a long time ago." A moment of silence passed between the two, any of the tension that had been left over seemed to completely melt away. The two hugged then, arms wrapped around one another tightly. It felt like a new beginning for not only them as brothers, but for their lives. Pulling back, Tommy beamed at Joel, "Welcome home, big brother."

AN: The length of each chapter is likely to be different, so please do not leave comments such as 'chapters should be longer'. The length is exactly where I want it to be and will not change. Regardless, I do hope you enjoy and I would to hear other feedback on the writing itself and what you think of the direction in which I'm going, even though this is only the first chapter. Thanks!