Due to some of you guys who read the first chapter suggesting this, I have decided to post a second chapter on what happens the morning after. Last chapter was in Joel's POV, so this chapter will be in Ellie's (not that that is a regular routine, it just makes her reaction more fun). Please enjoy and review!


The Morning After

Ellie took a deep breath as she opened her eyes, seeing sunlight streaming through the office window. She sat up, stretching as she realized how sore her muscles were.

She glanced around the office, noticing that Joel wasn't there as she stood up.

That chair was worse than sleeping on the ground, she thought yawning as she glanced over at the bookcases in the office; I must've fallen asleep…

Her thought made her freeze, and she instantly ran over to the desk, seeing that the letter was gone. Her eyes widened, and she instantly went around the office searching for it.

It's got to be here somewhere. What if it's gone? She slumped against the wall, feeling somewhat sad, now I need to start all over again.

She let a sigh slip, opening the drawer that contained the writing utensils and paper. She frowned at the objects, almost as if the letter disappearing was their fault.

"I shouldn't have fallen asleep," she mumbled, not sure what her excuse would be now.

The sky was a clear blue, so that ruled out the weather. Joel would want to move on; they didn't want to get caught by any hunters or Infected.

Maybe I could work on it on the go, the idea hit her just as Joel walked into the room, and she pretended not to notice him as she silently closed the drawer.

"Ready to get going?" he asked, knowing that she had seen him. She opened her mouth for an excuse, but couldn't find anything. She nodded, feeling somewhat saddened.

"Yeah, I'll be right out," she answered, and he seemed somewhat hesitant to leave her alone. His footsteps signaling that he had left the room made her hurry to shove the contents of the drawer into her backpack, along with all of the other stuff she had.

Thoughts kept darting around her head as she followed Joel at the front door, making her somewhat frantic.

I could always stay up longer than him and work on it when he falls asleep, but I usually fall asleep faster than him, and he usually is the one keeping guard, the thought made her shake her head and frown slightly as another one entered her mind, what if I just forget about the whole idea of giving him a letter? If he didn't know about the possibility of receiving a letter, than it wouldn't matter if I gave it to him.

Ellie knew the second idea wouldn't work; she had tried to get the conversation of holidays to the back of her mind ever since Joel had started to talk about them, but it just wouldn't leave. The idea of a letter wouldn't be leaving anytime soon either.

What if I made him a card for something else? She thought, tilting her head to the side slightly, Holidays in the winter are too far away though, and what else would a card be appropriate for? I could give him one for his birthday, but I don't know when that is.

"I couldn't ask him when that is either," she mumbled, getting a curious glance from Joel, but thankfully he didn't ask anything more on what she had said.

After a few more minutes of her musing about the subject, Joel decided that her silence had a cause.

"Something's bothering you," he stated, and she nodded hesitantly, not sure if she wanted him investigating why. At his questioning glance, she knew she wasn't going to get away without an explanation.

"I lost something back at the shack," she stated, getting around giving him the exact details, "It was kind of important."

"Do you want to go back and look for it?" he asked, and she realized that must have been his nice way of saying he would help.

"No, it's fine," she shoved her hands into her pockets, not meeting his gaze, "It's all just stuff, right?"

She saw Joel nod his head, and they were silent for a moment. She felt somewhat guilty about losing the letter; some part of her thought it would have been nice, since no one in the quarantine zones ever gave letters or remembered what could be considered "important dates".

I should have been able to stay up; her thought was interrupted by Joel's voice.

"What did you lose?" he asked, glancing at her, "Maybe we can find another one."

She knew that he most likely thought she had lost something from back at the quarantine zone, where they could easily find said object at another one, or even one of the comics she had started collecting.

"It was a letter," she stated, glancing at the ground, "It wasn't given to me by someone, but it was for someone else important."

She glanced up and saw that Joel had a thoughtful look on his face. She saw him glance up at the trees for a moment, and then his gaze traveled to hers.

"I came in last night and saw that you left the flashlight on," Joel explained, starting to open his backpack, "Is this what you were missing?"

Ellie felt her eyes widen when she saw Joel pull out the letter, slightly crumpled from being in his backpack and with its cheesy drawing on the front. She was speechless and looked up at him, seeing an amused expression on his face.

"Yes," she answered slowly, and then a question popped into her head, "Did you read it?"

The amused look on Joel's face combined with the twitch of a smile that was appearing made her playfully smack his arm.

"Aww, that ruined the surprise!" she pouted, not being able to stop the smile that appeared on her face.

Slight embarrassment ran through her; she had been planning on either letting him figure out about the letter or giving it to him when she felt it was necessary.

Joel gave a light chuckle at her smile, and he smiled back. He seemed like he wanted to say something, but didn't know quite how to say it.

"Uh, thanks," he motioned to the letter as he slipped it back into his backpack, "Haven't got something like this in a long time."

She smiled, seeing that he was trying the best he could to convey his feelings.

"I thought you would like it," she nodded, staring ahead of them as they walked through the trees, "You started explaining about holidays, and I thought about that one. I didn't know when it was though."

"You got the date right," Joel stated with a chuckle, and she felt happiness run through her at how happy he looked. It was a strange and comforting sight.

"So, when's your birthday?" she asked, feeling somewhat confident that she would get an answer. The answer he gave her, however, was not what she had expected.

"Why would I tell you something like that?"

Her laughter echoed off of the trees as a slight breeze picked up, lighting the way for the rest of their journey.


Sorry this is shorter than the last chapter, but I still thought it was a cute ending. Please tell me your thoughts on this! I think this is going to be the last chapter for this one, but who knows; maybe you guys can inspire something else? See you in my next Last of Us fanfiction!

-AnimeWolfGirl9