What If

Chapter 1

"Joel! Joel, wake up!"

"What?" Joel groaned, sitting up and blinking his eyes groggily. His lanky and somewhat skinny frame was buried in sheets and his t-shirt was hanging off his body. His eyes landed on the other seventeen-year old across the room. "Tess? What's wrong?!"

"Do you, uh… still have that med kit?" The girl asked, searching hurriedly through his cupboards. He groaned and walked over to her, placing his hands on either side of her waist from behind and pulling her away. "What are you-?"

"Sit down." He said gruffly, pushing her gently into the nearest chair before grabbing one of his t-shirts and wetting it. Her face was a sight.

Her normally warm brown eyes were black on the outside, her chocolate locks were matted with blood and her pale cheeks were scraped with cuts and bruises.

"How the hell did this happen?" He asked, gently dabbing one of the deeper cuts. He felt her wince away and grabbed her chin in effort to keep her still. "It's not gonna heal if you don't let me clean it."

"I'm fine, Joel." She insisted, pushing his hand away and standing. She grabbed the nearby whiskey bottle and took a gulp.

"Okay." He said. No way could he be bothered to press it. If she wanted to deal with infected cuts, let her. "You wanna tell me how you got those?"

"A couple guys jumped me." She shrugged as if it were nothing. Immediately, he was on the defensive. "I gave as good as I got. Don't worry." She said, taking yet another gulp.

"They didn't do more than those cuts, did they?" He asked, grabbing the bottle from her, earning a hurt look. "And you're not meant to be drinking that." He spat.

"They didn't rape me, if that's what you're asking."

"You know you weren't meant to exert yourself. Especially after-"

"No, Joel! I'm fine." Tess cut him off and glared before sighing loudly. "I… I found Robert."

"You… The bastard?" He asked her, completely gobsmacked. She nodded mutely and he felt his heart drop. "What did he have to say? Anything about…?"

"No. Nothing." She said, hugging him to try and comfort him in some way. "What he did say was that he sold all of our guns."

"What?! Who to?" He exclaimed before rubbing her back soothingly. It was a small act of comfort between two teenagers, but went so much further than that.

"The fireflies." She whispered from his chest. His shoulders slumped and he moved away from her.

"Oh fuck."

"Yeah, oh fuck." Tess sighed, running her hand through her messy hair and tightening the bandanna that was there. She shrugged and let out a low whistle. "I guess it just means we'll have to get them back. We-we'll explain and hopefully they'll understand."

"Understand?!" Joel laughed somewhat hysterically, whipping his head around to face her so his hair flared out, flipping to one side. "Yeah, they'll understand; with a fucking bullet in our brains!"

"What else is there to do?" Tess asked tiredly, laying her hand on his chest and running it up to play with his stubble. "You really should shave, Joel. This isn't the three-day beard is cute, but this is getting a bit out of hand."

"Don't change the subject." He spat, jerking his head away from her and pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. He could almost feel the incoming headache. He clenched his jaw and focused solely on the woman in front of him. "Where in the name of hell are we gonna find a firefly?"

"Right here."

Joel felt his neck snap around so fast it was a miracle he didn't get whiplash. He saw Tess do the same. There, stood in their doorway was Marlene, AKA- The leader of the fireflies, looking extremely worse-for-wear. Her normally dark smooth skin was covered in bruises and cuts. A deep gash in her side startled him.

"There you go." Joel mumbled, smirking slightly at Tess and leaning against the table in the middle of the room. "Queen Firefly."

"Somehow I knew I'd find you here." Marlene said, wincing as she walked into the apartment and not bothering with the door.

"Yeah, well shouldn't you be getting yourself checked up?" Tess said calmly, gesturing to the woman's bleeding side. "You aren't looking so hot."

"Look, Marlene." Joel interrupted, cutting into their conversation. "I'm just gonna cut the bullshit. Robert sold you guns that weren't his. We want 'em back."

"He's in a good mood today, I see." Marlene quipped to the girl before turning to face the boy. "You know that's not how it works, Joel. I paid for those guns. If you want 'em back, you gotta earn 'em."

"No offence, Marlene, but we don't even know you've got them." He grumbled as he ran his hand through his hair. "How many ration cards-"

"I don't give a damn about ration cards." She scoffed, laughing slightly. "I need something smuggled out of the city. You do that – I'll give you your guns and then some."

"How do we know you got 'em?" Joel repeated, crossing his arms and looking at her sceptically. "The military's been crackin' down on you guys lately as far as we heard."

"You're right about the military." She acknowledged, looking at Tess through sad eyes. "I'll show you the weapons."

"Okay, just… don't make us wrong on this." The younger woman sighed as she grabbed her backpack. Marlene looked shocked.

"Don't get me wrong, honey. But shouldn't you be resting? You've had a pretty shitty time, what with losing Sarah."

"Don't!" Tess shouted, rounding on the injured woman, her eyes ablaze. "I lost my daughter, yeah. I miss Sarah like I would a limb. But Joel lost her too. And I don't see you harassing him. Now, let's go."

She marched from the room securing her backpack as Joel and Marlene shared a knowing look with one another.

Thirty Minutes Later

Marlene collapsed through the door and clutched her side in pain. God she was getting weak. It had taken them longer than they had originally thought to get where they needed to go, having been ambushed by soldiers. Needless to say, they had taken them out and continued as if nothing had happened.

Joel, who had seen her fall, quickly grabbed her in an attempt to get her up. "Come on now, get on up."

"Get the fuck away from her!" He heard from behind him. Thankfully, Tess had quick reflexes and grabbed the young girl who was rushing at him with a butterfly knife. Her red hair was thrashing from within the confines of a ponytail and her eyes were a dark green filled with anger.

"Hey, hey, hey-" The older teen shouted, moving the girl's arm so it was no threat to either of them. Obviously she was putting up a fight, but Tess was strong and nothing much fazed her.

"Let her go." Marlene ordered from her position on the floor. She started to get herself up and groaned, clutching her side.

"You're recruiting kind of young, aren't you?" Joel asked with obvious amusement in his voice. He ran his hand once again through his long hair and shook his head.

"Not one of mine." She replied simply, groaning. Immediately, the young girl made her way over, cursing as she did, and helped the woman steady herself. .

"What happened?"

"Don't worry. This is fixable." She assured as she leant against the desk behind her. She nodded to Joel and Tess. "I got us help." She paused slightly before continuing. "But I can't come with you."

"Well then I'm staying." The girl said firmly, pocketing her knife and staring directly at her guardian.

"Ellie, we won't get another shot at this."

"Wait, just…" Joel interrupted just as 'Ellie' was about to talk. This earned him a glare. "We're smuggling her?"

"There' a crew of Fireflies that'll meet you at the Capitol building." Marlene pressed, completely bypassing the question, but leaving no doubts. He inwardly cursed.

"That's not exactly close, Marlene." Tess piped up from the other side of the room. Evidently she had been searching the drawers: an old habit that she couldn't drop. Joel frequently caused it her 'OCD'.

"You're capable." She replied firmly, once again leaving no doubt in their minds. "You hand Ellie off, come back, the weapons are yours. Double what Robert sold me."

"Speaking of the guns: Where are they?" Tess interrupted, cocking her head to one side.

"Back in our camp."

"We're not smuggling shit until I see them." Tess said finally after turning to Joel who was laughing in disbelief. She still had a smile on her face, but it was purely to put Ellie at ease. No way did she want that kid to get on her case.

"You'll follow me." Marlene said softly, seemingly getting paler. "You can verify the weapons and I can get patched up." She pointed at Ellie and shook her head. "But she's not going to that part of town. " She looked at the boy in front of her and nodded. "I want you to look after her, Joel."

Joel and Ellie started to protest at the same time, resulting in senseless noise.

"Whoa, whoa." I don't think that's the best idea."

"Bullshit! I'm not going with him!"

"Ellie…" Marlene warned. Her voice was tired and frustrated.

"How do you know them?" She asked, obviously trying to make sure she would be safe. No way did she want to be palmed off to some creep.

"I was close with his brother, Tommy." She said softly as she nodded her head. She understood her nervousness. God knows she had seen her fair-share of predatory men. "He said if I was ever in a jam I could rely on him."

"Was that before or after he left your little militia group?" Joel spat, still in disbelief.

"He left you too." Marlene countered, sadness suddenly filling her features. "At the worst possible time."

Joel stiffened. How dare she mention that?

His brother, Tommy was a year younger than him. At sixteen, he was a lot wiser and stronger than his brother. When Joel and Tess had learned about their impending parenthood, he had (very vocally) voiced his anger and disbelief. Yes, they had sent him a picture of the baby girl after she was born. He didn't know they had lost her two hours after they had sent it. Just three hours into her life.

"I know he wasn't the best brother, Joel. But he was a good man."

Tess walked over to him and he noted how dark her eyes had become. Even though the experience was three months before, it still hurt her.

"Look, just take her to the north tunnel and wait for me there." She muttered, putting her hand on his chest firmly. He was about to protest when she continued. "She's just cargo."

"You'll be fine." They heard from behind them and they turned to face the source of the noise. Marlene had pulled Ellie into a one-armed hug and was looking at her in a motherly fashion. "Now go with him."

"Don't take long." Joel muttered to Tess as she moved over to the injured woman. The young girl walked beside him and they moved out of sight, starting on their journey.

A/N- Okay! What do you guys think? Good? Bad? Complete shit? Put it in a review!

I'm not gonna lie, this MAY have a slight elliexjoel romance. But it MAY not. So, yeah, I hope you enjoyed.