Disclaimer : I do not own any character of (The Last of Us) TLOU is owned by Naughty Dog
A/N: Because I can`t answer to a guest review, I going to answer, in here to the guest (jematu85) and to anyone that have the same question. I'm sorry if some of the people that is reading this story are a little disappointing, that you think that this is a love story and is not. But I never say it was a love story, I just put in the A/N that this is a story where Ellie and Joel have some kind of relationship, that is not like father and daughter. Yes I put that they are going to have some romance in there, but as I change the plot of the story a little to put more action on it. So the romance part is going to take more time to go inthere, but the story is not over get so just keep reading, so thanks for reading.
Chapter 14 : Love Advice from Family and Friend
*Next day afternoon with Joel*
What is wrong with that girl, shit, I don't know what she was thinking, but almost gave me a heart attack when she took off her clothes. Shit! I'm not going to deny that she looked so beautiful in that bikini, man, I had to stop myself from going and grabbing her and kissing her right there. What this girl is doing to me, I'm not suppose to feel… love for her? But sometimes I can't help myself, I just… sometimes feel that she's the only thing that is important to me. I know that I had some feelings for her before, but now this is something different, something more... Shit- have to stop thinking like that about her, all of this is not supposed to happen. She is just a teenager, and I'm supposed to take care of her and protect her. Thinking about Ellie like that just ain't right... fuck, not even drinking now makes me stop thinking about her, and she's been acting so strange lately. I know that she got a little scared when I had to go find Harold, but why she wants to be closer to me… I don't know what is going on in that girl's mind or mine- Joel gets interrupted from his thoughts.
"Hey! Miller, are you okay?" asks Paul.
"What?" Joel answers, now looking at the guy in front of him.
"I asked if you're okay? You've been here for a while, talking to yourself, and what are you doing here, anyway? Aren't you supposed to be working? l don't want any problems with Tommy if he finds you here today. And you've been here for an hour, without saying anything, just drinking, and that's going to scare the customers," says Paul.
"Well… what I'm doing here is none of your fucking business - who are you, my babysitter? So why don't you go to the counter and bring me another one of this shit that you call beer, this thing don't even get a person drunk. Why don't you just find someone that can make good liquor, maybe you'll get more customers with that," answers Joel, angered.
"Well, since this is my bar, I have the obligation to check on the customer, especially when they come this early in the day to get drunk and cause trouble. I have to maintain the order in here. I don't want any trouble with Tommy or Maria, and I think that you've already drank too much of this," says Paul, starting to take the empty bottles off the table.
"What the… fuck!... Drunk! I only drank six of this shit and I'm not even dizzy, and by the way, ain't this supposed to be a bar, where people come to drink?" says Joel, taking the last gulp of the beer in his hand.
"Like I told you before, I don't want any trouble with Tommy or Maria, okay? The last time someone came here at this hour and started to make trouble, Maria closed my bar for two weeks. I don't want that to happen again, so maybe it's time for you to go," says Paul, trying to take the empty bottle from Joel's hand.
"It's okay, Paul, bring two specials with you. I'll handle this, thanks," Tommy says as he pulls a chair out and sits at the table.
"Okay, Tommy, I'll be right back," says Paul, taking the last bottle from Joel and going behind the counter.
"Hey!... little Brother, what are you doing here - ain't you supposed to be taking care of the town? Or is your wife? Sometimes I can't tell who is the boss here," Joel says sarcastically.
"Ha, ha, very funny, Joel, you never were much of a comedian, and what the fuck are you doing here? Are you getting drunk?" Tommy asks with a serious tone.
"Drunk! with this shit?... and what makes you think that, and besides, this thing that Paul calls beer can't make anyone drunk just from drinking a few bottles," answers Joel, irritated.
"Did something happen between you and Ellie again?" asks Tommy with a low voice now.
"What!... no, why do you ask that?" Joel says, a little nervous.
"Well… because the last time you came here to get drunk was a month before Ellie`s birthday, and you were a little upset or something. It was like you and Ellie had an argument or some kind of fight. I thought that the swimming lessons were a way to make your relationship with Ellie better," says Tommy.
"You don't have to worry about that; Ellie and I are fine and the swimming lessons are going great. That girl is learning so fast that after a couple more lessons, she's not going to have any more problems swimming," says Joel proudly.
"Okay, I'm glad to hear that. So if everything's okay, why did you come here to drink at this time?" asks Tommy curiously.
"What!... a man can't get a little drink in this town? I just have a lot on my mind and I need to clear my head, but this shit ain't working... man, what I wouldn't do right now to have some bottles of whiskey," says Joel, smiling a little.
"Okay, here you go, two specials," says Paul, putting two mugs on the table and leaving the two brothers alone.
"What the hell is this?" asks Joel.
"Coffee - it's a special recipe that's going to take some of the alcohol out of your system," says Tommy.
"I already told you that I'm not drunk, brother, even if I wanted to be," says Joel.
"Well, just drink it, Joel, because Carl called this morning, saying that he and his group are coming back before sunset. So I need you to be in your right mind for the meeting report," says Tommy, putting one hand on Joel's shoulder.
"Yeah, speaking of that, you shouldn't have sent Dylan on that mission. He's a good young man, but I don't think that he's ready to be out there. You should send me instead," says Joel.
"Well… I'm glad that you want to help your new friend; I can see now that you're making more than one friend. But if I sent you there, I'm pretty sure that Ellie would have killed me. And trying to piss off Ellie more now... I don't think that's going to be good for you either," says Tommy, smiling.
"Yeah, Ellie's a great girl, but I don't understand what happens in that head of hers. Sometimes she acts like a little girl and others like a grown woman. And that scares me sometimes, but I'm glad that she hasn't had any nightmares for the last two weeks," says Joel, drinking the coffee.
"Joel, I know that taking care of a teen girl ain't easy. I know how hard that was for you before with Sar- sorry, I don't mean... anyway, I know that you're doing the best you can with Ellie, but sometimes it's better if you have some help… hey, are you even listening to what I'm trying to say?"
"Shit! You call this coffee? Tastes worse than the beer, and what do you mean I need help? I know that I can count on you and Maria if I need any help. And besides, I think that I'm doing a good job so far. She's still alive, ain't she? Look, I know that sometimes we have our differences, but I think we're okay so far, so I don't think that I need any help, okay?" says Joel, a little irritated.
"You know what you need, brother? A woman! Yeah, just go find someone and have a good fuck!" says Tommy, winking.
Phhfffffff...
"...What?" says Joel after he spits out the coffee he had in his mouth.
"Yeah, bro, you know... find someone, have a little sex, and maybe you can connect with that person, and who knows, maybe you'll fall in love and you can have someone to help you with Ellie, like a mother figure for her. You know, there's some single women in this town that you can check out," Tommy says, now taking a sip of the coffee.
"Oh… C`mon, you're going to start with that again? Fuck! I don't need any woman to take care of Ellie. You tried that last year and that didn't go well, remember?" says Joel, irritated.
"Yeah, that's because you told the poor woman that Ellie was going to kill her if she found out that the two of you were dating. But maybe it'll work out this time, if you try to be more… how do I say this... less like you! By the way, when was the last time you had sex, huh?" asks Tommy.
"Shit, what is wrong with you? I can't believe that you're really asking me that, little brother?"
"Yeah!... Look, maybe I can help you with that. There are a few single women close to your age in here... what about Claudia? I think she's close to your age, and she's a friend of Ellie's so you won't have any problems with her and Ellie... or what about Rose? Well, she's thirty-eight, I think... she's a little younger than you, but these days, who cares about that, and I saw how she was looking at you when you were in the clinic - I think she likes you," Tommy tries to convince Joel.
"Seriously, brother, I don't think that I need you to hook me up with someone, or any romantic advice from you," says Joel, standing up from the table.
"Oh, c`mon, Joel, I'm not talking about marriage right away- just… you know, have a little fun, and I think you need some sex too, but who knows, maybe you'll get lucky and find someone you like. And maybe in the process, you can get some kind of a mother for Ellie," Tommy insists, following Joel to the front door of the bar.
"Jesus, Tommy, I don't need to find a mother for Ellie… because I'm not her father, okay? So why don't you just drop the subject, because it's starting to piss me off, okay?" says Joel, stopping now in front of Tommy, looking mad.
"Fine!... fine… damn, Joel, I'm just trying to help," says Tommy with his hands up. "I reckon that your relationship with Ellie is a little out of the ordinary, and that you're just trying to protect her and take care of her. But you must think a little of what she needs right now, you know."
Yeah, I`m thinking of that all the time, says Joel to himself as soon as he steps out of the bar.
"Shit, it's getting cloudy… hope that Carl`s group comes back before it starts to rain. C`mon, let's get back to my house. I need to talk to you about the meeting with the town people for next week, before they come back," says Tommy, gesturing for Joel to follow him.
"Yeah, sure, but if you start talking about my sex life or the need of a woman again, I will punch you in the face - did you get that, little brother?" says Joel, following him.
"Yeah, whatever you say, big brother. I still just think that you need to get laid - maybe that way you'll stop being such an ass," Tommy says, laughing a little, and continues walking to Tommy`s house.
*A little earlier in the morning with Ellie*
It's Monday, so Ellie is working in the greenhouse today. The harvest has been good this year, but hunting is getting a little difficult, due to the lack of animals in the forest. So the hunting group has to travel farther away from town to find more animals to eat. They still have some animals that they can eat at the farm, but Maria said that it's better if they conserve those for the winter. So the vegetables and fruit are more plentiful in the diet lately; luckily for the town, Claudia and her group are doing a good job on providing enough food for the townspeople.
Ellie is watering the plants now and making sure that they have enough light to grow well. Brad is out sick today, so Claudia is waiting for Billy and Jennifer to go to the field and start to collect the apples and oranges from the trees. They are brother and sister, and come from time to time to help Claudia. Billy is seventeen and his sister is fourteen. They usually come the days Ellie doesn't work there, so Ellie barely sees them. She and Jenna are going to work all day inside the greenhouse. It's getting cloudy outside, so soon it's going to rain. Ellie thinks that will be good for the town, because they haven't had any good rain in the last two months.
"Okay, girl, we have the place to ourselves now - Billy and his sister arrived, and Mom and them just went to the field," says Jenna when she enters the room.
"How long do you think they're going to be there?... Because I think it's going to rain today," says Ellie, standing up from her position.
"Well… I think like three or four hours, if it doesn't rain before that," answers Jenna, getting close to Ellie and grabbing her arm. "Now let's go and sit over there so you can start to tell me how it went for you and him yesterday, okay?"
"You want to talk about that here?" says Ellie, whispering.
"Sure, there's nobody here, my mom isn't going to come back until later in the day, and no one comes here at this hour. So please, I'm dying here to know how it went out there," says Jenna, helping Ellie to sit down close to her.
"Well… I can tell you that not much happened there, even when he saw me in the bathing suit
you gave me… that didn't work very well. He just stared at me but didn't say much. Well, at the end, when we came back, I asked him if he liked the suit and he said yes, so it's not a total bust."
"So he didn't kiss you or say anything to you, after all that?" asks Jenna curiously.
"He did touch me several times when we were in the water, but I don't know if it was intentional or not... he didn't say anything after," Ellie explains.
"So he touched you, where? I mean, he touched you sexually?"
"No!... Well, he touched my boobs and my ass a little, but not in a bad way - not like a perv or something. Joel's not like that. He was nice and gentle when he was teaching me how to swim. I had a good time with him. And even though it wasn't a sexual thing, when he touched me, it still felt good. I know that he doesn't think of me as an adult, that he tries not to look at me in any sexual way... well, at least he doesn't want to show it. But sometimes I want him to, you know, touch me in that way, and see me as a woman. I think sometimes he does, and that is the point of all this, right?"
"Well, at least if he's starting to see you as an adult now, that is something, because if he sees you like that, that means that he doesn't see you like a daughter. Okay, if the bikini didn't work very well, you need to do something else. And if he has some feelings for you, and he doesn't act on that, that means that it's not just physical attraction," explains Jenna.
"Yeah, that's good, but what do I do to make him confess? Because if this continues, I will be twenty or more by the time he says something," Ellie says, nervous now.
"Well, maybe you should do that?" says Jenna
"Do what?"
"Wait! Until you are twenty or more. Look, the problem is that he thinks that you're just a kid and he's an old man. He isn't going to do anything if he's thinking like that. So maybe it's a good thing if you just wait," says Jenna.
"I can't do that - what if something happens to him or me? We're never going to be together or express our feelings? Or what if he finds someone else? I don't want that. I love him… maybe you think I'm too young to understand what love is. But I'm very clear on that now, and I know that he has some feelings for me. I can tell. I think that he's just afraid of what people are going to say or do about that," Elle says sadly.
"Ellie, you can't force him to do something he doesn't want to do. I just don't want to see you suffer if this doesn't work out," says Jenna, putting a hand on Ellie's shoulder.
"I'm not forcing anything, I just want him to admit that he has some feelings for me - I know he does. You said you were going to help me. So if you don't want to do that now, maybe it's better that you forget all this, and I'll try to do this by myself," says Ellie, standing up, some tears almost spilling from her eyes.
"Ellie, wait!... I didn't say that I'm not going to help you. I see now that this means a lot to you… so if you want to continue with this, I'll help you, okay?" says Jenna, standing up and getting close to Ellie.
"Thanks, sorry if I seem ungrateful, it's just… I don't know what to do to demonstrate to him how much I love him. And I told him that the age thing doesn't mean anything to me," says Ellie.
"Okay, since you don't want to go the direct route, let's try something else," says Jenna, putting one hand on her chin, thinking.
"Like what?" Ellie asks.
"Well… you can try to be nicer to him... do things for him, things that he normally does. Talk to him more, asking how was his day, something like that," Jenna starts giving Ellie some suggestions.
"Hey, I'm nice!... and I talk to him sometimes - I even read some jokes from the book you gave me," answers Ellie.
"Yeah, but you were acting like a little girl. If you want him to treat you like an adult, you need to do more things that the adults do."
"Well… I can do his laundry, or cook. He showed me how to clean the guns; I can do that for him."
"Cook? Really, last time you did that, you poisoned him, remember," says Jenna, laughing a little.
"Yeah… I was lucky that that was only just a stomachache... but I can ask Maria to teach me how to do better cooking. But I can still do some small things," says Ellie.
Jenna and Ellie continue their talking and working for a while, until Jenna's mother comes back. After Ellie finishes her job in the greenhouse, she says goodbye to Jenna and Claudia and starts on her way home. Before she gets to the house, it starts to rain, so she has to run home. When she enters the house, Joel isn't there yet. She decides to make something for dinner so Joel doesn't have to cook, just a little something that doesn't involve poisoning anybody.
*Next Day in Jackson*
After Tommy and Joel go to Tommy's house, they go to the little office he has there. Maria is still out attending to some town business, so Tommy offers Joel some coffee - a good one this time. After an hour, it starts to rain, and Tommy decides to call Maria through the radio. But before he makes the call, the radio buzzes: he receives a call from the front gate, informing him that Carl`s group has arrived. Since it's late and raining, Tommy decides to postpone the meeting until the next day. He tells the guard to tell Carl that he can tell his men to go rest, and come to his house in the morning for the report. After that, Tommy sends Joel home, too.
Joel wakes up with a headache. I really shouldn't drink that shit... I didn't get drunk, but it had the side effects. Shit, and like that wasn't enough, Ellie tried to sleep in my room again. She used the excuse that it was raining and thundering and that she was a little scared of that, and didn't want to sleep alone. Scared of that, my ass - that girl don't get scared that easy. I had to take her to her room and stay there for a while until she fell asleep. I don't know why this girl likes to torture me like that... I try not to be too close to her, or think of her in that way, but if she continues doing things like that, it's not going to end well, says Joel to himself while he finishes dressing, then goes downstairs to the kitchen.
"Ellie!... what are you still doing here? I thought that your job in the clinic was at 9:00am and it's almost 10:00," says Joel as soon as he enters the kitchen.
"It's okay, I can go later… there's not much to do there today, and it's still raining. I decided to make you some breakfast, so you better eat before you go," says Ellie, putting a plate with food on the table.
"Okay, who are you and what did you do to Ellie?" Joel says, sitting and starting to eat a sandwich.
"Very funny, Joel. Look, I have to go now, I just wanted to prepare something for you to eat and say goodbye before I go. So have fun with your brother today, I know that you like that and I'll see you later," says Ellie, smiling. Then she approaches Joel, gives him a kiss on the cheek, and leaves the house with a smile.
After that, Joel finishes his food and goes to Tommy's house. It's stopped raining by the time he gets there, although it's still cloudy. When he knocks on the door, Maria opens it and lets him in. She informs him that Tommy is in the office with Dylan and that they are waiting for Carl and Bob. After half an hour, Carl and Bob arrive at the house, and Maria guides them to the office where the others are.
"Well, Maria and me are glad that all of you came back and didn't have any incident out there. So now I think we need to know what you found there and if Jackson's in any danger," says Tommy to the entire group in the room.
"Okay, let's start with the Saturday morning when we arrived at the little houses close to the river," says Carl, then starts to tell them what happened there.
"Okay - Bob, me, and the rest of the group arrived at the site close to the river, where the few little houses were. Bob explained to me what happened after he arrived there looking for Harold. How he killed the three Clickers and found Pete's dead body. I sent Scott and another of the men to check the perimeter and check for some clues. We went to the house where Pete's body was. So after we checked the whole place, we took the infected bodies and piled them up, including Pete's body, so we could burn them. Because Pete didn't have any family, it was better burning him, too... as he was infected, there was no point in bringing the body back to Jackson.
"After a few hours, we arrived at the little factory complex. Like Bob said, there were three buildings. In the parking lot, in front of the building, there were a lot of infected bodies. Like Bob told us before, these were the ones Dylan and him killed during the rescue, so we decided to burn them later. We dismounted the horses and went to check the buildings first.
"Bob had told us that Joel found Harold in the big building on the right. He said that there wasn't much there and that he killed a few infected in there. The other building on the left is where the other infected came out to attack them. So it was possible that there could be more traps inside there... the last one in the back they didn't get close to, so we decided to split into two groups and meet up at that one when we were done checking the first two buildings. I told everyone to take their time and be sure to check everything thoroughly.
"Scott and Dylan went to the building where they found Harold to check for infected or any clues that could be useful to us. Malcolm stayed with the horses. Bob, John, and me checked every room in the other building. The buildings were some kind of old factory; we don't know how nobody found this place before. The hunters and the scavengers checked most of the surroundings of Jackson, and in all this time, nobody came to this part of the forest? Unless this place was checked when Maria`s father was in charge of the town.
"We finished checking the building in an hour. We didn't find any infected or spores in there, or anything we can use. Just old rusted machines and furniture. So we left, and waited for the others to get to the last building. We checked it out and there was nothing in there, either. After that, it was getting dark, so we decided to make camp and get some sleep inside one of the buildings, and in the morning, start to gather the infected bodies and burn them.
"The next day, Bob, John, and me went to check the surroundings for clues or see if we could find more infected. Scott and the others started the cleaning processes... took us most of the day to check out that entire place and burn the bodies. After we finished, Bob told me that he was going to do some checking by himself, and that he would meet us in the houses on the river. I took the rest of the men to check south of the complex to see if there were more infected close by. After that, we camped where the houses were close to the river, and waited for Bob. In the morning, Bob returned, and he told me that he didn't find anything. It was getting cloudy, so we started to pack our things and make our way back to Jackson."
"Okay, all that is very interesting... so the place is clean now?" asks Tommy.
"Yes, and we checked all the surroundings, too, and no sign of more infected in the area," answers Scott.
"Also, I want to add that like I said, we didn't find anything useful for us there. But there's a lot of metal and zinc in that place that we can use to reinforce the fence wall in the future," Carl says, looking at Tommy.
"Well, that's good news then, but what concerns me is the fact that this place is there and we don't know anything about it. Maria, did your father mention this place to you? I know that he didn't to me before he died," Tommy makes the comment looking at Maria, as she is thinking of how to answer.
"Not that I remember, but he stopped sending people that way, because the wild animals in that area were gone and there was no point in going that way," Maria finally answers.
"Bob, did you find something when you went alone?" Joel asks as the others look at him, surprised that he wants to take part in the conversation since he stayed quiet the entire conversation, like his mind was in another place.
"No! I didn't find anything," says Bob.
"Okay, if no one has anything more to add to this, then-" Tommy stops talking when he sees Bob put up one hand.
"I`m not finished yet," says Bob, inclining himself forward in the chair to speak. "Like I said before, I didn't find anything there or close by, but I think what's strange is that place had a lot of infected, and they didn't look like they were there for a long time, at least not years. And there was no trace of how they got there or why they stayed there for so long. Also, we didn't find any spores in any of the buildings - in places like that there's always spores in there, so why didn't we find any like there's supposed to be, especially with no one cleaning them up for a long time."
"Okay, Bob, what you're trying to say is that we checked that whole place for three days and because we didn't find anything, we didn't do a good job? You said that there's not supposed to be too many infected there, but if I remember right, the majority of the infected that you and Dylan killed there came from the river. That they were the ones that chased Harold... I think that you said that in your report, remember," says Scott, starting to get irritated.
"Yeah, that's true, and I didn't say that anyone did a bad job, I just said that something isn't right in the big picture. That place was too clean, and if I can add to that, I didn't even find the two missing horses or any trace of where they went," says Bob.
"Look, Bob, we appreciate your help and your experience, but we have some other things to attend to. As that place doesn't have any more infected, I don't see a reason to waste human resources on this," says Carl.
"Well, I think that that's the decision Maria and Tommy have to make, not you," says Joel, trying to defend Bob's point.
"ALRIGHT!... everybody, calm down - we need to be focused here, okay? Bob, you have any other evidence that we could have a problem, with infected or otherwise?" asks Maria.
"No, I don't, but that means there's no one... all of this is really strange and we shouldn't discard any posi-" Bob is interrupted.
"Well, that can change, because we have another problem," says Albert, standing in front of the office door.
"Albert, aren't you supposed to be at the dam this morning?" asks Tommy.
"Yeah, I was… just came back half an hour ago, and I think that we have a problem over there, and the engineer wants to talk to you and Maria," answers Albert.
"Okay, I think this is my cue, time to go and cover my work shift on the wall for today," says Joel, standing up from the chair and passing Albert on the way to the door. Dylan walks after him too, as he doesn't have any important position in the town.
"Okay, Carl, you and Albert stay, we have more to discuss. The rest can go. I'll call you if I need anything else, okay?" says Tommy.
After that, everyone leaves Tommy's house to get back to doing their jobs. It has started to rain a little again when Bob catches up with Joel and Dylan.
"Hey, Miller!... Can we talk for a second?" Bob asks.
"Sure... you still have some concerns about this, do you?" asks Joel.
"Yes, all the things about that place are not right, and I think that we shouldn't let our guard down on this," says Bob.
"Well... you and the others didn't find any more infected, or any proof of something going on out there," says Joel.
"Yes, but you know that something's not right... those infected and Clicker in the houses close to the river. It was too strange that they didn't have any marks, and that place was too clean. Not even a clue to anything, and no spores for a place like that?" says Bob.
"So what you're saying is that someone was there before?" Dylan asks.
"Well, maybe not now, but I can bet that there were some people there before, and that we need to convince your brother and Maria to do something before a bad thing happens," says Bob to Joel.
"Look, maybe that might be true, but we don't know if that occurred, now or years ago, so it's going to be difficult to go and check that out any time soon," says Joel to Bob, but a little concerned.
"Okay, I know this isn't your job, but Tommy is your brother - just talk to him and see if he'll do something about this. Because believe me, a storm is coming, and it's coming soon." With that, he goes away and leaves Dylan and Joel standing in the light rain.
"What the hell did he mean by that? Even if he does have some skill, sometimes he acts like a crazy man," says Dylan.
"Well, maybe, but we need to keep an eye on things, just in case. Because we don't need any surprises."
"Okay, whatever you say, Joel, let's just go to our post before this weather starts to get to me," says Dylan and starts to run to the watchtower they are assigned to.
"Shit, I hope I don't get sick, with all this rain. But maybe it's good to be away from Ellie for a while. I don't know what's with her lately. But whatever it is can't be good for me… or is it?" Joel says to himself and walks to the watchtower.