A/N: Sorry this took so long to update! I was distracted by other things lol.

Let's just go ahead and get into it!


The Decision

Over the next few weeks, Joel thinks about what he would do in the past. He's a bit skeptical about the device actually being a time machine, but Tommy and the Camp are so excited at the prospect of time travel that he doesn't want to bring them down. In this world, especially as long as he and his brother have been in it, they need to take any sort of good news they can find, even if it comes in the form of secret government tech that may or may not be a "time machine."

The man sighs. He's been trying to sleep for the past hour, but slumber isn't coming to him. He shifts his position, rolling onto his side, pausing when he sees the picture of him and Sarah resting on the nightstand. He smiles sadly, thinking back to a simpler time to when that photo was taken . . .

"Come on Sarah, you can do it!" Joel shouts, even though the roar of the crowd is drowning him out.

"Think she'll be able to make it?" Tommy asks from his position next to his brother on the bleachers. He clutches in the large soda in his hand tighter as Sarah continues making her way down the field.

"I know she will," he responds in complete confidence. He claps his hands. "Come on!"

The brothers are at Sarah's first elementary school soccer game. His daughter first showed interest in the sport after watching the World Cup on television with wonder in her eyes. She came to him that night begging him to pay for soccer lessons. While Joel never thought of himself as a "soccer dad," he gladly supported his little girl in her decision.

Sarah is running down the field at top speed, kicking the ball the entire way after blocking an attempt on her team's goal. The crowd gets louder and louder as Sarah runs closer to the other goal, and erupting into a tremendous roar when she scores the winning goal right as the buzzer wails.

Joel and Tommy's proud exclamations and joyous cries are unheard in the crowd. Sarah jumps into the air before running over and hugging her teammates, who are gathered in a circle on the other side of the field.

It takes about five minutes, but the coaches and referee manage to get the girls to calm down long enough to present each of them with a trophy that has a little soccer ball perched on top.

The brothers make their way through the swarm of players and parents before running over to Sarah and wrapping the girl in their combined embrace. The girl can barely contain her excitement, quickly breaking the hug and bouncing around.

"Did you see me Dad and Uncle Tommy? I was on fire!"

Joel laughs before saying, "We did, and we're so proud of you."

Sarah pauses in her bouncing long enough to direct a blinding smile to him.

"I think this calls for a photo," Tommy says pulling his camera out of his pocket.

"You need one for the scrapbook?" Joel says in a teasing tone.

"Hey, don't diss the scrapbook. You'll thank me for them one day," Tommy says with a smile. "Alright, you two, bring it in."

Joel bends at the waist and finds himself being drawn into a hug by his daughter. He laughs and wraps his arm around her, holding her close.

"Say cheese."

"Cheese!"

He's pulled out of his thoughts when he feels wetness on his face. Joel wipes at his face and presses his palms against his eyes. Losing his girl was like losing a limb, and he's surprised he was able to keep going for as long as he has. Then again, he did have Tommy (before their falling out) and later Tess to unconsciously lean on.

He gulps before rolling over so he's facing the wall again. He exhales and closes his eyes, so he can try to catch some rest.


Five days later, Joel finds himself strolling through the Compound and waving to his neighbors and their kids, who unfortunately have to spend their childhood living in these conditions. He originally wasn't going to go out, but when Tommy told him how nice it really was outside, he just had to take advantage of it, especially since it's been raining for the last two days. His feet lead him to a small field, which they've dubbed their park, and pauses to admire the flowers that are finally beginning to bloom (a few of the families had gotten to together and done it—said they wanted to spruce the place up a bit).

Joel looks away from the flowers and sees Maria on the other end of the park, standing in front of a group of five soldiers. She's pacing slowly in front of them with her hands on her hips. He can only hear bits and pieces of the conversation, but it appears as though Maria is lecturing these soldiers for being irresponsible. Joel hums to himself. Now, doesn't that seem familiar . . .

"Are you out of your goddamn minds?" Tess screams. The military have been conducting more raids recently, due to the increase of their knowledge of the illegal activities in the Boston Safe Area (no thanks to Robert, the bastard), which have put Joel and Tess on edge. The warehouse, in which they store all their merchandise, is in the same district where most of the raids are happening. The three men standing in front of her were supposed to be carefully guarding the warehouse, but were instead playing a card game and shamelessly flirting with some women passing by, who could have very well been military spies.

"Aw, Tess, there was no one around," One of the men (named Toby) protests.

"But, what if there was? They could have gotten in, discovered our activities, and then we all would have been clicker food," Tess counters. While her tone has lowered, the bite behind her words hasn't changed.

Joel stands a few feet away, leaning against the opposite wall watching the scene unfold. He always finds it best to let Tess handle these situations. While some of the people working for the two of them are afraid of Joel (probably due to his broad build and awesome beard), they don't know what true fear is until they've crossed Tess.

Another of the men (Adam) rolls his eyes. "Jeez someone's on her period. Am I right?"

Tess whirls around and punches Adam in the nose so fast that Joel isn't sure it happened until he hears the man collide with the floor, groaning and clutching his face. She shakes out her fist and places both hands on her hips. He can't see her face, but he imagines it's twisted with rage.

"Joel, can you help a fella out?" one of the men (Keith) asks as he helps his friend stand.

He shakes his head. "No, you brought this on yourselves. Y'all should know better than to talk to a woman like that."

"Anybody else got something to say?" Tess questions, voice low and dangerous as she rakes over the men in front of her.

"N-No, ma'am," Keith and Toby answer together.

"Good. If I hear about any of you shirking in your duties again, you will be speaking to the barrel of my gun, am I clear?"

"Crystal!"

She jerks her head to the door. "Get this fucker out of my sight."

The pair quickly grabs their friend underneath the arms and hauls him out of the room, presumably heading to medical.

Tess turns around with a deep frown on her face. She briefly glances at Joel before crossing the room and sliding heavily onto the couch places against the wall. "I swear, men get dumber and dumber every day."

"That is a testament I can agree with."

Joel is brought from his thoughts when he hears Maria dismissing the soldiers. She shakes her head in disappointment before spotting him lingering in the distance. She grabs her black bag, which is lying on the ground near her feet, and crosses the field to join him.

"Hey," she greets gently hitting him in the shoulder. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, I'm just thinking about an old friend."

Maria tilts her head curiously, but doesn't inquire any further information, something which Joel is grateful for.


A week later, Joel goes to his room after having a wonderful lunch of noodles and peas with his brother and Maria. He opens the door and frowns at the mess. Joel is usually an organized person, but between duties to the Camp and being lost in his head, he's really fallen behind. He sighs and closes the door behind him; he better get started, the room isn't going to clean itself.

Joel crosses the room, opening the top draw of his dresser and furrowing his brow. He pulls out a worn comic book, holding the object in his hand. The comic entitled The Galaxy Wars: Vengeance of Rath was the fourth edition in Ellie's favorite series. She used to go on for hours about Nadia Ramon (the central character) who was genetically engineered by the last of the human race to stop the Doombots (lead by Rath) from taking over the galaxy.

Ellie once said, with a nostalgic look, that Nadia reminded her of an old friend. Joel remembers when she told him the story, and finds himself unable to stop the memories before they appear in the forefront of his mind . . .

He and Ellie had just left Bill's place in Lincoln, thankful that he was able to get a car from his friend. The two have been driving for roughly two hours, by Joel's estimate. Ellie was animated and chatty for the first forty-five minutes, asking Joel about the towns and cities passing by and waving around one of Bill's pornographic magazines before tossing it out the window with a laugh. Now, the girl sits silently and has been for a while. Joel thought she had fallen asleep, until she starts speaking.

"I wasn't alone," Ellie says, breaking the silence in the car. She raises her arm slightly for emphasis. "When I was bit, I wasn't alone."

Joel raises a questioning eyebrow, but doesn't take his eyes off the road.

She takes his silence as a motion to continue. "Her name was Riley; she was the first to die. We went to the mall in Boston, I'm sure you know the one. I rarely was able to leave the school because everyone was so worried about how dangerous it is. I didn't see what the big fuss was about until we were overrun by infected. We were almost out of the mall—fuck, we were so close. I fell, she protects me, and then we were both bitten."

Ellie pauses. "She was my friend, maybe even more than that, but we never had the chance to talk about it. Riley turned and attacked me, and I had no choice. I had to stop her, so I put a bullet into my best friend."

Joel remains silent, not knowing how to respond.

He comes out of his flashback by the sound of wood snapping underneath his fingers. He looks down at the ruined dresser draw (wondering when he set down the comic and grabbed the edge of the draw in the first place) before dropping the broken pieces on the ground. He glances up into the mirror above his dresser, with his decision clear in mind.

If, by some miracle, this device is actually a time machine, he's going to go back and find Ellie.


A/N: I think this chapter is kind of eh, but I do skip around a bit. In my defense, though, if i included every little thing they did in between the important bits, we would be here for eight years. lol.

I hope you guys enjoyed! One more chapter after this! :)