Ok, so now onto Elena and Nate and stuff…

Nate might be a little weird in this chapter but he's in good form in the next one…

Chapter 1

Several months ago

The sound of gunfire was deafening.

The chatter of a turret gun echoed in Nathan Drake's ears. The colour faded from his vision and he was all too aware of his heartbeat thudding in his ears. He was hurt badly.

Sully watched from a distance, contemplating the situation that Nate had brought upon himself.

'If you stay there any longer, you're gonna get hammered,' Sully commented. Nate wiped his forehead and reloaded the weapon.

'I'll be fine,' he muttered, more for his own sake than Sully's. Nate blinked hard and crouched in cover. Slowly, the colour returned and the sound of his heartbeat faded.

They were nearly there. He could hear them. It was a group of amateurs. He could tell by the way they twitched at every sound, circling wildly in case someone crept up on them. Not that anyone would. Nate had already seen his friends run in a different direction completely.

This would be his only chance, gripping the grenade tightly, he peered over the low wall, gauging distances.

Seeing an opening, he lobbed the grenade and watched as it arced gracefully towards the group of soldiers.

Then everything went downhill.

The soldiers on seeing their opponent immediately opened fire. It wasn't this that was the problem. Since the soldiers were fairly new at this, their aim was all over the place. No, it wasn't them that was problem at all.

Unbeknownst to Nate, a soldier had stealthily crept up on him and as soon as Nate had turned to return to cover he was confronted by a man wearing a balaclava. He moved so quickly Nate could hardly believe it when he collapsed to floor, blood pooling around him.

Nate could tell this man was a pro, maybe it was the way that the man had struck him in the throat with a knife without thinking, timing it so that he could dodge Nate's attack and then strike again before moving onto his next victim or maybe it was the way his name appeared first on the leader-board.

Nate swore and rapidly pressed the x button till his character respawned.

Sully frowned, 'I don't get this, you die…and then you come back again?'

Nate grunted unresponsively as he was once again taken down by the same person.

'Well goddamn, it happened again,' Sully remarked, chewing on the end of an unlit cigar. Nate threw down the controller. The online death match was over. Rubbing his temples with one hand, he leant back into the sofa.

'Could you just explain what happened here?' Sully asked. Nate gave him a flat look.

'It was pretty obvious, I just got murked by some guy called: [UZB]_demonoverlord_crazy99_satanspawn_1988SupREmeCOmmAnDEr_Luigi.'

The cigar dropped from Sully's open mouth, 'Ya what?'

Nate looked in amusement at Sully's face, 'If you keep your mouth open that wide for any longer a bird is going to come and make a nest in there.'

Sully closed his mouth, young people these days, he thought, were a different species.

'Two things,' Sully began slowly, 'firstly, what does murked mean? And secondly, who the hell is [UZB]_demonoverlord_crazy99_satanspawn_1988SupREmeCOmmAnDEr_Luigi?'

''Murked' means when you get defeated badly by something or someone,' Nate explained and seeing Sully's disbelieving face added, 'British kids say it.'

'How the hell do you know what British kids say?' Sully asked.

Nate laughed, 'Sully, I know classical Spanish and Latin, is it that hard to believe I might know a modern language? Oh, and as for [UZB]_demonlord_crazy99_satanspawn_1988SupREmeCPmmAnDEr_Luigi, he's an online player, and don't ask me. I have no idea why he couldn't have put something normal as his screen name.'

'I'd hardly call British kids' urban speak a modern language,' Elena commented from the dining table. She looked up from her notebook and frowned at television screen. 'Nate, you've been playing that game for five days straight, can't you give it a rest?'

'No, I'm not going to stop playing till I get a platinum,' Nate replied irritably. Sully frowned in confusion.

'Before you ask, by doing certain things in the game you gain trophies-when you get all the trophies you get the platinum trophy,' his friend explained.

'And why do you want a platinum trophy?' Sully dared ask. Nate was quiet for a moment.

'Umm, I don't really know…I just want it,' he answered.

'Right,' Sully said, scratching his head. 'Nate, I hate to say it, but you really need to get out more.'

But Nate wasn't listening, he had already started playing again, this time in story mode.

Sully sighed and sat next to Elena at the table, he had been avoiding her for some time. He could tell, just like that bar maid in La Paz. Sully wondered if she knew.

'Is everything ok between you two?' he asked.

Elena put her pen down and glanced over her shoulder where Nate was playing. When she was sure that Nate wasn't listening she beckoned Sully closer. ' I think he' suffering from withdrawal symptoms,' she whispered.

Sully frowned, 'From what?'

'From adventures.'

Sully scoffed, 'That's hardly a proper condition.'

'You'd be surprised, last week, when we were at the supermarket, I asked Nate to get some washing up gloves that were hanging from the top peg because I couldn't reach…and do you know what he did?'

Sully got the feeling it wasn't going to be simply reaching up to get the item.

'He went to the end of the isle, climbed a stack of toilet paper that was on offer which subsequently fell on some old dear in a mobility scooter, ran across the opposite shelving unit, hung off it and then he jumped to right isle unit and hung on that one!'

'That doesn't sound so bad,' Sully mused, chewing on yet another cigar. Elena shook her head, she wasn't finished.

'Luckily no one was around, they were too busy with the old woman, because then Nate dropped some rope and said, 'Here, you can climb up now.'

Sully raised an eyebrow as Elena added, 'It gets worse.'

'How can it get any worse than that?' Sully asked, incredulous.

'Trust me, it can,' Elena explained, 'instead of reaching over to get the gloves…..he took out a gun and shot them down.'

Sully's mouth dropped wide open and the cigar fell to the floor, 'You have got to be kidding me. Why would he do that? That doesn't sound like Nate.'

Elena suddenly got up and wordlessly and left the room. A few minutes later she returned holding something in her hand.

'Well, goddamn,' Sully said in amazement as Elena held up a pair of rubber gloves with three neat bullet holes in them. 'Didn't anyone hear the gunshots?' he asked.

'Luckily, the old woman lost control of her mobility scooter and drove straight into a display rack, it toppled over and hit another one and that knocked over another one-the sound covered the racket that Nate made.'

'Luckily?' Sully said, unsure about Elena's choice of words. 'Was anyone hurt?'

Elena shook her head. Sully was quiet for a moment, mulling over what he had just been told. It sounded like Nate was bored out of his mind or just slightly crazy. Sully was leaning towards the latter. He turned and looked at his friend. Nate stared unblinkingly at the television screen. If there was one thing that Sully could do it was to get Nate away from that infernal video game.

'Since then, I haven't let him leave the house. Do you think maybe you could talk to him? Drive some sense into him or, better yet, tell me you have some crazy artefact with a code that needs deciphering,' Elena said hopefully.

Sully sighed, ' I haven't come across any of those lately, but I can try talking to him.'

He stood and planted himself between Nate and the television. Nate craned his neck to try and get a better view to no avail.

'Hey Sully, move out the way, you're gonna kill Jake,' he said.

Sully grimaced, 'Who's Jake?'

Nate looked at him as if he were a plank of wood, 'Jake's the main character of the game, he and a photographer, Yelena, are hunting down the Holy Grail and are trying to get there before the evil French man with the Greek henchmen, who wants to use it for his nefarious deeds. And if that wasn't crazy enough the creatures guarding the Grail are bloodsucking rabbit skeletons. I mean, how crazy is that?'

Sully scratched his chin, he thought that German zombies were pretty out there but decided not to say anything. Trying to move the conversation away from bloodsucking rabbit skeletons, Sully tried another tactic. 'Uh, so Nate, what's this game called?'

'Unfathomed: Jake's fortune,' his friend replied.

Sully realised at this moment that if he wanted to save his friend he would have to think of something quickly.

'Elena's pregnant.'

Nate froze.

Elena, who happened to be in the bathroom, missed the whole thing.

--

On returning to the living room, Elena was slightly surprised to see Nate talking to Sully in hushed tones. It had taken her a lot longer than the five minutes Sully had to move Nate from that blasted T.V. She had used coercion, sent him on guilt trips, lured him with the promise of things that weren't entirely PG-13 but it had rarely worked. Elena had been stumped. Whatever they were talking about must have been important.

Elena frowned inwardly. God knew she loved Nate but his behaviour right now was more than a little strange. She needed to find something for him to do with his spare time. Elena was in for the long haul and Nate, well, he didn't seem to be the type or suited for it.

What the hell are you thinking? Of course he's not long term relationship sort of man, Elena thought to herself, he shot down a pair of rubber gloves!

But he went to all that trouble, that was sweet of him, one part of Elena's mind argued.

It wasn't that much trouble in the first place, all he had to do was go on tip toes at the most, the more sensible part of her mind commented. Elena ran a hand through her hair. She was at a loss as to what to do.

It was at this moment Nate turned to her.

She still felt that sudden rush inside her when he looked at her. Like a breath of fresh air, she mused. A missed heart beat here or a slight blush there. Whatever she was confused about, it always seemed so insignificant when he was with her. That was a good thing, at least, Elena thought.

Then she realised how pale he was.

'Is something wrong?' Elena said, secretly hoping that Sully had promised him an excursion that would include some sort of action.

No such luck.

'Elena…are you…are you pregnant?' Nate asked hoarsely.

Elena dropped the banana peel she was holding. She wasn't entirely sure where the peel had come from but if there was ever a time to drop it, it was now. Whatever she was expecting from Nate it certainly wasn't this.

'Elena?'

It struck Elena that she had been motionless for a few minutes and she decided to find out where Nate had gotten such a ridiculous notion. She eyed Sully, who shuffled his feet and stared at the floor like the naughty kid at school. This was his strategy? Elena thought angrily. What was the man thinking? But then again it had worked, to a certain extent.

'No. I am not pregnant, what makes you think that?' Elena assured him and this was the truth. As far as she knew anyway.

'Really?' Nate said, 'but Sully said you were, without a doubt, too.'

'How would Sully know if I was pregnant?' Elena replied. 'It's not like he's a walking pregnancy test.'

Sully decided it was time to butt in, 'Actually…I am.'

Nate and Elena turned to him, similar expressions of incredulity on their faces. Sully wished that he had brought his camera.

'Uh, what did you just say?' Elena said quietly, trying and succeeding to wipe the surprise from her face. Nate on the other hand continued to gape.

'I can tell when women are pregnant, I can't explain it, it just happens,' Sully admitted. Elena raised an eyebrow.

'And how does that work?' she asked sceptically. Nate wasn't an expert on these sorts of things but he had seen an ad on T.V and things were starting to make sense.

'Oh, I know, they pee on you and then some pink lines show up, I saw it on T.V.' he said. Sully stared, Elena couldn't tell if he was joking or not.

'No! Goddamn, Nate, that's disgusting. I just get a stomach cramp and my big toe twitches,' Sully explained.

'That's slightly less interesting,' Nate muttered and then he remembered that his girlfriend might be pregnant.

'Oh my God, I completely forgot, are you, uh, y'know, pregnant?' he asked Elena again. She shook her head and he smiled with relief. 'That's good to know, uh, I don't mind children…from a distance but I don't think I could handle one of my own, that would be way too much and anyways, uh, children always come in numbers. '

Sully winced, he had succeeding in breaking Nate out of his vegetative state but now he had gone and opened a whole other fat can of worms. He wondered how Elena had taken this because she was pregnant and she was going to have to face up to the fact that Nate looked to be an unwilling father.

Elena kept her composure. She was good at this, having had lots of practise throughout their many adventures. If she hadn't been good at this she would have said goodbye to clean pants when the German zombies attacked plus, she wouldn't have been able to stop screaming unless Nate duck-taped her mouth and tape was hard to come by in a German bunker…they only used masking tape…which everyone knew was rubbish at sticking things together.

If there was anything Elena had learnt from this strange conversation was that Nate definitely didn't want children. Her heart sank at this. She had always thought about her career first and then, later, maintaining a lasting relationship with Nate but in the end she guessed she always wanted a family. Didn't every girl? Oh sure, she could give him time, she would always be willing to wait for him but it seemed that he wasn't looking to change his mind or even think about it any time soon.

'This is too weird,' Elena said, massaging her forehead with a hand. She took Sully's arm and dragged him to the kitchen.

'Look, I'm grateful for your help, it looks like he's back to normal but did you really have to go that far? I mean, a stomach cramp and twitching big toes…don't you think that was a bit much?' Elena muttered, keeping her voice low.

Sully could tell that Elena was trying to avoid discussing what Nate had said but there were more important things. 'I'm not joking, Elena, it may sound weird to you but my 'gift' has never let me down. You are pregnant and you need to make sure that Nate understands that.'

Sully saw that Elena wasn't buying it, he tried another tactic, 'Wait, remember that girl we met in India, what's her name…that reporter friend of yours?'

'Terri?' Elena replied, confused.

'Yeah, that's the one, you know I said I would try and put the moves on her?'

'You did what?' Elena said angrily, 'I don't remember you ever saying that. Sully, that's gross, she' was in my class at college. What were you thinking?'

Sully rubbed his chin thoughtfully and remembered, 'Ohhhhh, I must have told Nate, not you, sorry.'

Elena scowled at him and then at the door. Nate hadn't mentioned anything about this.

'Look, it doesn't matter, that's beside the point. What I'm trying to tell you is that I left her alone after I realised she was pregnant. I sensed it.'

Elena looked puzzled, 'Hold on, are you sure? She didn't mention anything to me.'

'She probably didn't even know herself. How long ago was that? Must be several months by now.'

'About nine months ago,' Elena said. Come to think of it, she hadn't spoken to Terri for that long either. From the front of the house, they heard the letterbox open and close. A few seconds more passed and they heard footsteps approaching.

Nate came in holding a pile of mail. They watched him as he sorted through it. Suddenly he stopped.

'Hey Elena, you got a postcard from your friend, Terri...wow, get this, she just had a baby girl,' Nate said.

Sully gave Elena a knowing wink and joined Nate at the counter.

It took a moment for Elena to process this information. She hoped that this was all a big coincidence.

Somehow, she didn't think so.

Ok, yeah…next chapter is…Elena properly tells Nate about her being pregnant and stuff...the main adventure story is revealed here too...

Some things to mention: I really don't know why I get trophies…my brother told me to so I do…it is so much more fun to play the game through without stopping every five minutes to pick up a damned treasure……but I'll live
Also…people's online names…I'm not saying I've seen any that long…but sometimes they are…odd…I guess all the normal ones like Bob and Phil are gone…
Nate should so have a game called Jake's Fortune…I'd play it…there will be proper action in this story…it isn't all made up…
If Nate shot down some rubber gloves for me, I would be honoured……I'd frame them and put them on a wall

Now for another poem:

There was once a man called Drake,
Who wanted a chocolate cake,
but only found snake,
which made his bowels quake,
and so had to 'go' in a lake,
poor Drake.

I think that one was better than the other one…more visual…