Yay I FINALLY updated this story! I've been wanting to for the longest time, but I had to finish another story, I had to work... A LOT, and I had some stuff blow up in my face but WHATEVER! I write to keep me sane!

Anyways, I hope you like this first chapter. It's the beginning and not a lot is explained yet but it's all cute... at first...

Enjoy :)

If there was anything Ellie loved more than cracking jokes and music, it was sleep. Especially during this time of year; when the weather would start getting colder and the snow started to fall. She hated this time of year more than anything and would rather sleep it all away. It had been two years since Joel and Ellie returned to Tommy's and began to live a normal post-apocalyptic life. They had a small house big enough for the two of them to live comfortably. They went to movies nights, watched the stars on the roof when it was nice enough outside; Joel even started teaching her all the things he had promised her. Everything was perfect, even with the hanging doubt Ellie had over her head most days. Sometimes she would forget about what happened back then, but if anything about the Fireflies were to come up, Joel would just tense up. Every time Ellie would try and question it, Joel would either change the subject or just re-tell her what he always told her.

But that doubt always took a backseat when the cold front would start to come in. The first year was horrible for the both of them. Ellie would hardly ever get any sleep that first year. When she felt that cold air nip on the back of her neck, it would take her back to when Joel was hurt; and she was all alone. She would remember running through the snow, trying to catch that deer, when he showed up trying to play nice. That face that was burned into Ellie's memory; she had so many nightmares and sometimes would wake up screaming. There was even a night where Joel came in to wake her up and Ellie almost stabbed him with the switchblade she kept under her bed. That was the first night Ellie had cried about what had happened since when he had to take her out of the burning building. She was never the same after that. Sure, she still had the same attitude and still cracked the jokes, but she didn't smile that much anymore. From that night on, Joel would always wake up to find Ellie sleeping next to him. It wasn't anything weird; it was she just that she was so used to having him next to her when they were on their journey that it didn't seem right to have him so far away. So Joel just let it be; no matter what, every morning that winter season he found Ellie either curled up at the edge of his bed, or on the floor on the side slept. It broke his heart every time to see her like that. He tried talking to her about it but the conversation always ended up the same way.

"Ellie, I think we need to talk about—

"We don't need to talk about anything."

"Baby girl, this is startin' to get outta hand 'n I think if we talk about this—

"We. Don't. Need. To. Fucking. Talk. About. Anything." Ellie would say through gritted teeth before leaving whatever she would be doing to retreat to her room, where she wouldn't out for hours.

So Joel would just try and find things to help get her mind off what happened by doing all kinds of things with her; hiking, watching the stars, telling about old stories from back before the outbreak, hell he even starting singing and doing little concerts so he could some sort of smile on her face during winter. He entered her room on this morning to wake her up. She had slept in enough already he thought, plus he was afraid that she was having a bad dream again. When he quietly opened the door, he saw her fast asleep but with a frown on her face. She was stirring and moving her head as if trying to shake whatever dream was having. Joel walked over to the side of her bed and sat down at the edge. He gently shook her, not wanting to scare her; he learned his lesson the first time.

"Ellie? Come on, baby girl wake up." He said softly.

She stirred more but only to pull the blanket over her head. This made Joel sigh in relief; at least she wasn't having a nightmare this morning. He then shook her a bit harder, in order to force her awake. Underneath the blanket, Ellie's eyes half opened and looked at Joel silhouette from the thick white cotton and morning sunlight. She yawned and sat up with the blanket still covering her face. Joel pulled it down to reveal a sleepy Ellie with horrible bed head. Joel chuckled as Ellie looked over to him and smiled.

"Sleep good then?"

Ellie nodded while rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"I'm fucking starving." She commented after hearing her stomach growl like one of the Infected.

"Well, get up 'n get dressed; I'll see what I can make." Joel nodded as he got up and left her room.

She was doing really well this morning; Joel felt like it was going to be a good day. Just as long as he doesn't mention David or anything about the Fireflies… everything will be alright. He looked through the small pantry and mini-fridge to see what there was to make. Thank God that Tommy managed to get power up and running in this place; even if it falters most of the time. He found some eggs and shrugged; better than nothing. He cracked them on the pan and waited until they were ready to mix. It felt strange and almost silly to Joel after everything he's been through. It felt weird to be waiting for eggs to be finished cooking on an actual stove; he did love that there was coffee again though. When Ellie emerged from the hallway, she was still yawned while tying her auburn hair in that classic ponytail. As if on cue, when she sat down, the eggs were ready and Joel scooted them on a smaller white plate and put in it front of her, while putting some on a plate for himself. He sat down in the seat in front of her and they began eating in silence. It wasn't awkward however; it was a comfortable silence that they've grown accustomed to since they've been around each other for so long; three years in fact. He looked for Ellie, who was eating normally but kept her eyes firmly on the table. Asking what could be on her mind wasn't something Joel wanted to ask just yet. She looked up to him and opened her eyes wide in annoyance.

"Can I help you?"

Joel cleared his throat and quickly looked back down at his now lukewarm eggs. Ellie rolled her eyes as she started picking at the last bits on her plate. She hated the way Joel got around this time. Last year, he acted like he was walking on broken glass around her until the snow melted away into spring flowers. She kept telling him every day that she was fine and nothing was wrong with her even though the screaming nightmares and the constant nagging that Joel was lying to her on brain said otherwise. But she didn't want him to worry. And she shouldn't worry about it either. He was gone. He was dead; Ellie made damn sure of that. Still, whenever she stayed outside in the snow or the image of his face came to mind… she shook her head quickly and got up from the table. Joel noticed the change in her face and quickly called out to her.

"Make sure you dress warm; I've got somethin' planned for today."

Her only response was a thumbs up as she closed the door to her room. Joel sighed as he cleaned up the small mess and got dressed himself. He honestly didn't have anything planned for today; he just didn't want to see that look on her face. He pulled back the thin curtain that hung on the window. The sun was shining bright but it didn't melt any of the fresh snow that covered the roofs and paths in the community. Some of the people who lived there were already outside enjoying the snow with their loved ones or the very few little ones that were running around. It felt almost like a dream. He never though he was ever going to have a life close to his old one ever again. He also never thought that Ellie would ever be able to live a somewhat normal life. She had spent so much of her life surviving, that she never got the chance to be just a kid. As he continued to get dressed and pulled over his brown jacket, he heard a soft knock on the door. He opened to find Ellie with her hands on her hips.

"What's taking you so long? Your age affecting those joints of yours?" she smirked.

Joel rolled his eyes as he closed the door to his room and started walking out of their house. Stepping out from the warm house into the freezing cold was like smacking into a rock. The sudden change in temperature made Ellie stop at the porch, right before the snow. Joel didn't notice and went on ahead, leaving his shoe print on the virgin snow. She tried to calm herself by breathing slowly and thinking about something other than that creep who locked her in a cage.

"Just stay calm Ellie… He's gone now. And Joel is here with you… so you have nothing to worry about. So just stay calm—

She suddenly felt something ice cold hit the side of her face, making her almost jump out of her skin. She looked around to find Joel was almost laughing at her. She glared as she walked over towards him.

"What the fuck was that for?!" she yelled.

"I needed to make sure you didn' fall back asleep standin' up." Joel chuckled as he squatted down into the snow and scoop it up into his hand, forming a ball. He handed it to Ellie, who looked very confused as to why he was handing her a ball of snow.

"Hit me."

"The hell?"

"I hit you with one; now hit me back."

So that's what had hit her. She put a hand to her face and felt small remains of snow sticking to her cheek and strands of her loose bangs. She took a few steps before pulling her arm back and throwing it straight for Joel. He seemed calm as he saw hurling towards his face and once it was close enough he moved his head to the side, making the snowball miss entirely. Ellie's mouth hung wide as she glared.

"What the fuck! That's not fair!"

"Well then, you try and make one." Joel chuckled.

Ellie sighed loudly, her breath coming out like smoke. She then squatted into and gathered up snow until it was in a ball similar to Joel's and immediately flung it at him, hitting him square in the square in the face. Ellie burst out laughing as she pointed at him. Joel rubbed the snow off his face and immediately bent down and started creating another. Ellie followed in suite and soon began an all out war. They didn't know when the other people and kids decided to join but there they all were in the middle of the path, having a snowball. Joel honestly didn't mind any of that as long as there was a smile on Ellie's face. This had been the happiest he had ever seen her during the winter. She ran up to him as she readied another snowball. I guess we're on the same team now; Joel thought to himself as he looked around the corner of one of the house's to see a group of kids with evil smiles on their faces. Ellie looked up to him and smiled the same smile.

"Let's get these bastards."

Joel couldn't help but laugh at her. She was finally acting like a sixteen year old girl; an odd one with the mindset of a child sometimes to some but still a teenager. They came out from the hiding place as the kids, who had acquired some of their parents to join the fight, charged in a well. They threw all the snowballs at once as Joel dodged some and protected Ellie from others. It was the best time she had ever had in snow. But it all came to an end when Joel saw Tommy, Maria, and a few other men who followed behind him. He had a very concerned look on his face, as well as the others. Everyone stopped throwing the fluffs of snow as the women held their children back to let the men pass through. Some rejoined their families but Tommy was looking straight at Joel. Ellie was still off playing with some of the younger kids, so she didn't really notice the look on Tommy's face.

"Hey baby brother. Somethin' wrong?" Joel greeted his brother.

"I need to talk to you. Now." Tommy replied in a serious tone.

Joel didn't like the sound of that. He nodded to him as they started walking back to Tommy's house. Ellie immediately noticed Joel's drifting away from her and started running after him.

"Joel? Is everything ok?"

"Everythin's find baby girl. I'll be back 'k?" Joel replied as he motioned for her to stop.

Ellie made a face but soon felt a light tug on her sleeve from the little she was playing with earlier. Ellie picked her up and nodded to Joel.

"Ok fine, but don't take long." She said nervously; she hated being alone more than anything during this time.

"Promise."

"Ellie, make snowman!" the little girl cried as she raised her hands in the air.

Ellie giggled to the girl and started walking back to where they had started building one, along with the mother who watched over her child. Joel followed Tommy all the way to his house. The silence was starting to eat at him because Tommy didn't want to mention anything until they were inside the house. Maria didn't stick around for long, for she had her own business to tend to with making sure the power didn't blow out during the winter. Once they were inside the warm house, Tommy didn't say anything until he closed the door and motioned for Joel to sit down. Something was very wrong, Joel thought as he sat down slowly.

"Tommy what the hell is going on? Are there bandits in the area or somethin'?" he asked, starting to feel frustrated.

Tommy didn't respond but put something on the table and slid it over to them. Joel picked it up and felt like his heart stopped beating and flew into his throat. It was a Firefly pendent with fresh blood splattered across it. Joel looked it over carefully as he tried to swallow his heart back into place.

"Where the hell did you find this?"

"Not far from here; I don't think they're trying to attack us, but if the Fireflies are around, they might be looking for Ellie… Joel… have you told her yet?"

"No. And she's not going to know." Joel replied quickly.

The first night that they spent at Tommy's after the events at the hospital, Joel had told him everything; the killing of the Queen Firefly, damn the whole human population because he didn't want to lose her, everything. While Tommy was almost furious with him for it, and almost told him to take her back or he would. But after seeing the way he acted around her and they way he looked like he had something to live for… who was he to take that away from his brother? So, he promised Joel that he would keep his secret from everyone, even Maria, as long as he told her eventually. But after two years and still no word or indication that Joel had told her anything, he was starting to think that he was going to take this to his grave. But if the Fireflies really were looking around for Ellie…

"Joel—

"No. I'm gonna put that on her. And I ain't gonna put that on her right now." Joel said as he looked at the frosted window. There was no way in hell he was going to tell her now; Ellie needed him now more than ever.

"Joel, if these really are Fireflies going 'round lookin' for her. What are supposed to tell her?" Tommy wasn't going to let this go.

"Tommy I'm not gonna tell her that I lied for my stupid reason! Just wait until the damn spring!" Joel shouted as he stood from the table.

Because of Joel's shouting, they didn't hear the door open. But they didn't hear something fall to the ground. Ellie stood there with a splattered snowball on the concrete ground. Her emerald eyes looked into Joel's lighter brown ones. He held his breath as Ellie took two steps to him. She didn't hear them right? She didn't hear him admit the truth did she?

"Joel?"

She did.

Did I just do the cliffhanger?! Yes I did! NO SHAME! D: (No honestly, I couldn't think of anything else to write after that... but it worked out its own right? Dx)

But, I hoped you liked this first one and there is more to come :)

Sadly, this one will be slower on updates, simply because unlike my other stories, that don't really have a plot but a cute short separate drabbles, this one DOES have a plot, which makes me need to think a lot harder and make sure I don't leave any weird loose ends yadda yadda. But rest assured this will be updated as soon as possible :)

Please tell me what y'all think :)

P.S. I know the prologue and summary may not make a lot of sense to some, but I promise all will be explained when the time comes yes? :D