AN: Hey, how's it going bros? Sorry if I haven't been updating in a while. I was so freaking busy. Marching Band, hanging with friends, moving, and all of this bullshit that happened in school yesterday. Yeah, some middle school kid think it was funny to write on the wall that there's a bomb in the school. So the middle and high school had to evacuate to the elementary. All hell broke loose but everything is okay now. Oh and I get the internet at my new house today, so that's a plus. So anyway...here's chapter 3 of my fabulous story.

Chapter 3: Their Ups and Downs

When they both got home, Ellie waited in the kitchen as Joel went to the bathroom to get a first aid kit. He came back down the steps and sees her sitting on the kitchen counter, clutching her jaw. She was staring off in space before Joel made his presence known.

He lays the first aid kit right beside her. He opens the kit and grabs out what he needs to treat her sore jaw.

"Alright, let me see", Joel simply said.

Ellie nods and unclutches her jaw. She pouts and avoid his eye contact; she knows that he's gonna talk about it, and she really doesn't want to.

Joel took a damp washcloth and wipes the remaining blood off on the side of her lips, making her flinch and grits her teeth.

"So", Ellie started out awkwardly, still avoiding his gaze as he treating her. "I guess you saw what happened out there, huh?"

She left out an awkward chuckle and gave him a meek grin; Joel wasn't amused at all. He was beyond that. He stops what he was doing to give her a dark, serious glare.

"I'll take that as a yes", Ellie said meekly.

He left out a sigh and set the washcloth beside her.

"Joel, it's not what it looks like" Ellie said calmly.

"Oh, I know what it looks like", Joel growls. "It looks like to me that some teenage boy punched you in your face."

Ellie grinds her jaw in a nervous way, tightening her grip on the counter. She shouldn't have done that; she felt more throbbing pain in jaw. She covers her jaw as she cusses in agonizing pain.

"Don't grind your jaw like that", Joel said. "It'll make it worse."

She looks at him, nodding in response.

He grabs a hold of her jaw, seeing if there were any cuts and bruises. There were a few cuts on her face but then he sees a bruise on her left side of her jaw that was turning black and blue already, with some minor swelling. Knowing what to do, Joel digs through the kit to get what he needed. He found some rags, and half a bottle of alcohol, plus a couple bandages that could be in use.

He opens the bottle of alcohol and soaks the rag. He sets the alcohol off to the side and begins to treat Ellie's cuts and bruises. He starts aiding the cut on the side of her cheek, it made her squirm and shut her eyes tightly because of the burning sensation of the alcohol.

"Ah, fuck!" Ellie grits out. "That fucking stuff stings!"

"I know it does but don't try to move so much", Joel states. "I don't wanna get it in your eyes; then it'll really sting like hell."

Ellie tries to not squirm as much as she did earlier. The alcohol still burns like hell. It made it even more painful when Joel applied it to her large cuts. But then it really hurt like hell when he got to her black and blue mark around her jaw. She bites down her tongue to hold back an agonizing groan; a few tears slipped out through her scrunched up eyes.

"Hold on, I'm almost done", Joel said soothingly.

He was carful with her now swollen jaw. He gently applied the rag to the mark. He sees Ellie in pain, tightening her grip on the counter. So to help her take her mind off the pain, he thought he could tease her a bit.

"Hey, I thought you were tough", Joel said.

Ellie's eyes shot open; her facial expression change to an evil, mocking glare.

"I am tough", Ellie murmurs.

"Mhm, seems like you're doing a good job at it."

"Bitch please, I'm the toughest girl you'd ever met!"

Joel shook his head, trying to hide a goofy smile forming behind his scruff beard.

"It's true!" Ellie exclaims. "Ask some people around here, they think I'm tough. Some think that I'm too tough by the way I kickass and all that shit!"

"Oh, I believe you. Just the way you act right now, you surly convince me otherwise."

"Are you-are you being sarcastic?" She raised her eyebrow up at him.

Joel smirks at her. "What do you think?"

She let out a gasp and punched his left shoulder pretty hard. Even though it hurt a little, he grasps his shoulder, pretending that she didn't punch him at all.

"Is that the best you can do, kid?" Joel tease. "I didn't feel a thing."

"Fuck you", she murmurs.

Her unamused expression has turned into a grin, making her laugh a bit. It was good enough for him.

"Alright", Joel states. He sets the blood-covered rag aside. "You're done."

"Finally", she sighs out loud.

Before he puts anything away, he gave her a bandage. It would help to cover up her now noticeable black and blue mark and protect it from getting infected.

She rips off the packaging and puts it on the side of her chin and jaw. It didn't do much, but it was better than nothing.

She slips off the counter, walking away quietly and to be unnoticed. She doesn't want to have the talk about Jake and the big ordeal from earlier.

"Hold on, missy, you're not going anywhere yet", Joel said as he putting the first aid kit away. "We still have business we need to attend."

She gave him a weird look as he turns around, to face her.

"Wha-"

"Who was that boy out there?"

Ellie is a bit hesitant, taking aback by Joel unexpected question. But she knew they have to talk about it but she is so not in the mood for this.

"Do we seriously have to do this now?"

Joel crosses his arms and leans back against the counter.

"No, but you can't leave until you tell me," He said in a stern voice.

She huffs in annoyance; she really doesn't want to talk about it. But she doesn't want to get on Joel's bad side either. He's already angry as it is. She doesn't want to get him more irritated by not answering a stupid question. Maybe it's for the best.

"Jake", Ellie said meekly.

"Jake?" Joel raises his eyebrow.

"Uh…"

Ellie stands in a different standing position. He told her his dad name earlier in the month but she can't remember but then she remembers his last name.

"Jake Cherry, you probably know his dad…"

"Walter", Joel said, cocking his head up at her. "So that's Walter's kid you were dealing with earlier."

"Yeah…just like the cocky son of a bitch he is, he wants me to go out with him. First of all, I have interest in him what-so-ever and second, Kylee told me about him and what he'd done with those other girls. I want nothing to do with him. All month, he kept following me around until I said something to him. So I told him to fuck off and leave me alone but he didn't take it too kindly. Then he starts going ape-shit about the whole goddamn ordeal! He kept saying about all this bullshit and said 'I'll make you date me or else'. So I kicked him and tried to run off but he then grabs me, saying that I owe him. I told him that I don't own him anything. That's when he…you know…"

She gestures to her jaw at him, showing off her bandage covered bruises.

"And that's when you show up…"

She looks over at Joel, who was staring at the ground, soaking in the new information he just heard. His grip tightens on the edge of the counter, controlling his breathing. Who knows what he's thinking about and it isn't good.

"Joel?"

"How long has this boy been following you?"

His dark brown eyes shot up at her green ones. She looks away as she bites down on her bottom lip. Should she really tell or should she brush it off? Either way, he wouldn't like her answer.

"Um, uh…"Ellie mumbles. "Maybe like…a month."

"Jesus Ellie-"

"What?" She states. "I was managing just fine, avoiding and….keeping my distance."

She left out a huff, now leaning against the counter, crossing her arms. She felt him staring at her, never bother to make eye contact with him.

"You don't need to worry about me", she admits. "I'd dealt with this shit before back in Boston. But yeah, I end up getting flesh wounds and battle scars but that isn't the point. I can handle myself, one way or another. So just…don't worry, okay?"

She bites the corner of her cheek, looking out the window like it's the most interesting thing she'd seen all day. She doesn't care about the situation anymore. Hell, she doesn't even care if Joel was still in the room or not. She just really doesn't care about anything.

As her eyes continued to wonder throughout the window, she felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her and bringing her close.

Moments like this really never happened, especially in Joel's case. They weren't a really big fan of hugs and letting out emotions building up inside of them. It just wasn't their thing.

It put Ellie in an awkward position, her arms close to her, not sure if she should hug back or what. But it didn't really matter to her; she just kept wondering out the window.

Joel continued to hold her. One hand rubbed her back for comfort while the other was cradling the back of her head, his fingers scrunching her reddish-brown hair into her scalp, which is soothing.

"I worry", he said softly. He rests his chin on top of her head, smelling her hair that faintly yet strong smell of flowers from a garden. "Just because you dealt with this kind of situation before doesn't mean you can't go ask anyone for help."

He pulls away from her, to look in her face. Like he expected, she was still staring out the window. His calloused hand met her soft cheek, still being cautious of her cuts and bruises, turning her to look at him. Brown eyes met her large, green ones.

"Ellie, if some boy is bothering you and won't leave you alone, go straight to me. I'll take care of it."

"Don't tell me you're gonna beat the living shit outta him like you did earlier, are you?" Ellie said sarcastically.

Joel was taken aback by it. "What? No, I'll only do it when it gets outta hand, if that's okay with you."

"Oh I'm cool with it", Ellie admits. "Just bring me along when you kick the shit outta him. I want in on that."

He chuckles at that. Oh boy, that was his Ellie. Even in situations like this, she always finds a way to brighten the mood. He sees her goofy grin starting to form on her face; it just made him smile.

He looks out the window, everything was starting to get dark, and their empty stomachs start to rumble.

"Alright, kiddo", Joel sighs, patting her shoulder. "We should make some dinner, yeah?"

"Ugh, yeah, I'm starving."

She walks away from him to go to the fridge. She opens the fridge and pulls out a bag full of fried chicken from their dinner three nights ago. She took some out of the bag and nukes it in the microwave.

"Just to let you know, the biggest part of the chicken is mine", Ellie said grinning.

He rolls his eyes at her.

"Yes, m'am", he said chuckling.

AN: So whatcha think bros? Like? IDFK. It took me forever to finish with this chapter. I was gonna put the aftermath in but I'm to lasy :P So I'll put it in chapter 4, which is the last chapter. BTW, I'm watching theRadBrad's Assassins Creed Unity Gameplay, it's fucking amazing. You should check him out, he plays some badass games. Well, imma gonna go, 4th period is almost over. Bye ;) *brofist*