Alright, so here is the next chapter as promised. Nothing too fancy, but I think it'll get us started off again. Also, it seems I miscalculated how man posts there will be this week, as I thought that I had a whole week to bring updates. Nope. So you people will be getting three chapters this week instead of four, but then after that things will go to the weekly season schedule.

Anywho, I'll let you all get reading already. I bet you've all been pretty impatient for the latest updates to see where this story is going. Later! :D

Lucas had spent the night in the office, unmoving as he struggled to regain his composure. He felt weak right now, probably because he was, but there was something he needed to do. Something that would not allow him to rest. Something that he had to-

"Stop it, you look constipated. You always get that look when you're in dire need of sustenance." Beth grumbled as she tossed him a pack of two cigarettes. Two. Two whole cigarettes. It used to be a pack.

"Hey!" He growled as he glared over in her direction, "Little girls shouldn't smoke, it's unbecoming."

Beth shrugged, "I didn't do it." The young blonde replied with a smirk.

"Beth…" He replied in the same growl.

"Fine! I was stressed out when you were busy trying to get yourself killed! I couldn't help it and it's your fault for leaving the pack with me and smoking in front of me for years and rubbing that experience off on me and teaching me that smoking is cool and-" The girl said as fast as she could, her face turning beet-red due to lack of oxygen. A large inhale followed before she continued, "...and you always said I was more mature than most girls my age and that you would allow me more privileg-"

"Alright !" Lucas declared as he grew tired of her killing herself, "I understand! Jesus Christ, you smoked most of a pack.. I got it!"

"..." Beth looked at him with a look of accomplishment. "...Good. Thank you."

The man shook his head as he pulled a cigarette from the pack, looked around, and then set it ablaze to enjoy the chemical concoction. "You make me smoke." He sighed at her. "Especially when you speak like a maniac."

Joel looked over at Lucas with a glare, and ordered the boy to put it out. His reasoning? Everyone was sleeping in this room, and Chaya was intently watching Lucas now. Even mimicking him when he wasn't looking. Yeah, Joel had enough reasons to be upset about that. A six year old girl was watching, learning. If it was normal, she would try it, even if Lucas told her it was bad. That's just how kids were.

"Fucking pussy…" He growled underneath his breath as he saw Joel's looks and heard the command.

The sixteen year old boy then struggled to get up, but with the help of Beth he succeeded. Without so much as another word or look, he walked out of the office to enjoy his smoke break in peace. He made damn sure that no one saw where he went either. He didn't want any angry woman or man storming in on him while he was trying to relax. After all, that was what cigarettes excelled at: relaxation. Stress relief.

Ellie was now walking throughout the newly acquired building, over the corpse of a dead Clicker. She was heading to the pharmacy, to see if she could find anything useful there. With her luck all the good stuff would be taken. And she was right. Pain relief, all gone. Only one bottle of antibodies, a few syringes, thankfully still in their sealed packages. She did find a body on the floor, and it was a police officer. He looked to have been mauled by an infected years ago, as it was just a tattered blue uniform, a once gold badge that was now green, and… Was that a gun?

In his holster was a revolver, though it was a rather stubby barrel. Seemed to have been a backup weapon. The larger one that cops usually carried was nowhere to be seen, but Ellie decided to take this anyway. Whether for personal use or trade, the group could use it.

"Empty," Ellie retorted quietly as she popped open the cylinder. "Why am I even surprised?" Well, it wasn't exactly empty. Just all the shells were spent.

The teen pocketed the weapon and looked around a little more. There was a machine with a hole in it, which was meant for taking blood pressure. Of course Ellie didn't know what it was, and just wrote it off as useless. It seemed to need power to work, after all. She ignored it and moved on, looking at the medication center. She soon found the lady's area, though half it was covered in vines and mold. The other half was missing goods, with just empty boxes and bottles.

"I swear people just swallow all the pills and leave the bottles," She grumbled to herself before seeing something that caught her eye. She picked up the faded little cardboard box, stained with some green. She opened it and read the still sealed bottle. "'Birth control…'" She mumbled to herself, and then picked up another small bottle. "'Morning after pills. Ensuring safety for you and your special person for twenty years. Seal of approval.' Huh."

This was what she had been looking for. Whether it was good or not she didn't know. But it was worth taking just in case. She took off her backpack and put the bottles inside, as well as a few others for just in case. Little did she know that someone was carefully watching her, aside from Kip who was at her side.

"That's just flat out messed up." She heard the calm and smooth voice of Ish say as he crossed his arms, examining the girl. "If you're going to be doing something you should take responsibility for your actions, rather than just killing off what may or may not be growing inside of you. But that's just my opinion."

The man was never a strong supporter of those types of pills. He thought they were wrong. If you were going to lay with someone, he believed the greatest insult would be to do something like that. If you allowed them inside, then you should accept it. Anything else was just a sinful action. Heh. Sinful. He wasn't even religious, but he still called such things a sin. The Bible of Ish. He should write that sometime. It was actually quite catchy.

"Lucas finds out he may get a bit upset as well. I mean, surely you two came to the decision together." He added with a shrug. "Don't like your decision?"

"I-I… It's not that," Ellie replied with a blush, shamefully closing her bag as soon as possible. "It's, uh… It's just in case. Maybe Lucas wouldn't want to risk it, o-or maybe Joel thinks I'm too young. I hardly knew what I was doing the first couple times. It was just pleasure, and I thought that once I… once I let him in I'd be… y-you know…"

"Not necessarily." Ish replied as he leaned against the metal shelf. "...And I'd watch what you say. The only person's opinion that should matter is yours and Lucas'. If you don't want the kid, Lucas may still want it, and you should respect his wishes and give it to him. Granted, such a scenario would mean he raises it on his own but… Anyway, Joel's opinion on the matter shouldn't be cared about by you. The only opinions you need to worry about is your own and Lucas'."

The girl shook her head, shouldering her pack before looking through more of the bottles and empty shelves. "Joel is my caretaker. What he says goes," She informed him. "He's the only one I trust completely with my life. I love Lucas, but I…. I don't know if he'll really stick with me. I have to be prepared."

The masked man let out a soft sigh, "My naive child… That isn't love." He replied as he pushed away from the shelf. "In truth I do not know what that is, but it is not love. If it were love you wouldn't doubt his loyalty. Perhaps you should speak to Lucas, and then Joel. Find where you belong before you drag out this thing you've got going with one of my closest friends. I'd hate to see the aftermath of it turning sour. Do what you will, Joel wants us out of here soon. I'm organizing a scouting party. Feel free to sign up if you want." And with that being said, he vanished around the corner of the shelf so he could get back to work scavenging.

The girl pursed her lips, looking down at the last box she had in her hands. It was special vitamins, for herself and a potential child that would grow inside of her. Sealed or not she was pretty sure they were bad by now, but she still kept it just in case she found something like it that might have been good. After a few more minutes of searching she found nothing else, and began to slowly walk towards the office area. She was tired. Scouting party? For what? Shouldn't they rest first? Well, it really wasn't her call. She just wanted some sleep.

And later that evening, as the sun was coming down to set, Ellie slowly walked to the office room. The others had gone on the hunting party, which was comprised of Ish, Kip, and Joel. The others stayed in the building, helping the wounded heal and other things, like loading magazines or making medkits. The teenage redhead felt very nervous, and shook a bit as she slowly opened the door. She peeked around, and saw Lucas sitting on the floor with his back against the wall. Ellie gulped, and then walked over to him.

"H-Hey, uh…" She said quietly trying to get his attention, rubbing the back of her neck. "I need to talk to you. I-In private."

The young man's head slowly raised, as he had allowed it to fall down towards his chest as he rested. "Hm? Is something wrong?" He asked her with a bit of worry in his own voice.

"Huh? O-Oh! Nothing like that," She replied shyly, her cheeks feeling a bit warm. "I just need to talk to you about something really important. B-Because it's kinda, uh… life-changing, I guess?"

Lucas nodded as he slowly got up. It hurt to move, but he would follow her lead. If she wanted to talk in private then he would follow her to somewhere private. He just hoped this life-changing thing wasn't so bad. If it was then he'd probably develop early onset paranoia. Something most people developed when the Cordyceps hit in the first place.

"Lead the way, beautiful." He told her, remembering that the smell of smoke was probably still on him. Whoops.

Ellie kind of took note of the smell, but not really. She was too worried about how this young man would react to what she wanted to talk about. She had read in magazine article that men didn't like talking about this sort of thing. Made them mad or something, and that most girls should just get abortions if they were afraid to approach their man about such a thing. Especially if they had just met.

But there was no such clinic to perform such an act, and she was still afraid to try those old pills. Plus what Ish said stuck in her mind, and she couldn't get them to stop. So she would talk it out with Lucas, or at least try.

And soon the two youngsters were in a separate office space, and she was biting her lips before finally being able to look up at him.

"Soooo, I, uh…" She mumbled quietly, and then started to speak very incoherently.

"What?" Lucas replied as he heard her voice trail off.

She sighed and hung her head. After a few moments she took off her backpack and opened it, pulling out a bottle. It was the birth control pills, and she slowly, hesitantly handed it to him. She was turning pink again, and her hands found that picking at her opposite finger nails was the best choice to sport how nervous she really was.

"I… I-I wanted to talk to you about what we did together…" She said, looking at him for a few moments, but caved as she found it impossible to hold the gaze as he tried to read the bottle. "Y-You know? The, um… the sex?" She said, turning bright red now. "An-And kids?"

Lucas nodded slowly. So that is what she was wanting to talk to him about. Was she nervous about having his kids? Did she not know the consequences of what they had done together? He was certain that she did. After all, if he knew the consequence, then she had to have known all along. Lucas knew he wasn't the smartest man out there.

"Do you…" He began to say as he looked into her eyes. "D-Do you regret what we did? I-I mean I… I understand if you do. We rushed into this headfirst and we didn't think about it, a-and we talked about marriage and all of that, b-but I don't regret it personally. Any of it." The man admitted to her, finding it impossible to look her in the eyes now. He knew rejection was coming.

Ellie looked up at him, shaking her head quickly. "N-No! It's not that at all!" She reassured him, and scratched the back of her neck. "I-I… I'm just scared, is all. I don't know how you feel about the situation. Like if you want to… uh…. Have kids? O-Or maybe we should wait until we're settled down?" She asked him nervously. "I-I still love you, I swear! I just… I'm not sure what to do if I do end up…" She then turned extremely red, and mumbled quietly. "P-Pregnant."

The young man walked towards her slowly, opening his arms wide. Before she could place herself into his arms he pulled her into them, and wrapped her up in his arms. He hoped that she was okay with being pregnant. The young man wanted a child, knowing the reality of the world they lived in. Unfortunately, not many women wanted children in this world. Lucas knew that he'd have to understand if she didn't want any.

"I want a child." He replied just as quickly as she had asked. "I don't care if I have to raise it alone… but I want one. I'll take the full responsibility of it."

The redhead nodded slowly, and looked down again. She felt so confused and conflicted, but his words helped put her at ease. She just prayed that he meant them. If not… then she was fucked. Without a father for the child, and a man to protect her during a pregnancy, she was pretty much guaranteed death. Or at least a very hard time of survival.

Finally she replied, saying, "Okay… I trust you."

"You don't sound very confident in that statement…" Lucas replied with a soft sigh as he looked at her.

He wondered if she wanted a child. Regardless of what she said, he couldn't shake the feeling that they had rushed into their relationship a bit too fast. Winry and Joel were also in the same position, though they seemed to keep a level head about it all. Though Lucas wondered how long Joel could handle Winry. She wasn't the most calm person, and what he had seen from her thus far was more or less a state of shock. She hadn't been her complete self since they had recovered her. Lucas knew that much.

Ellie shrugged. "I'm just… I'm worried," She mumbled softly, and finally looked up at Lucas again. "We don't know each other that well, and it's the truth. I guess the best thing to do would be for me to tell you a little about myself. But I guess that can wait, since we're waiting here in this shitty store to get moving."

Lucas nodded slowly before replying, "I am not someone you want to know the history of, Ellie… It involves a lot of blood and bad decisions." He informed her as he kept her in his arms, "...I've a feeling my future involves more bad decisions and blood, but I do swear to keep you and our children safe. And maybe Joel too, if he's nice to me. And grows into an older relic."

She nodded again after that. Did he not trust her with his past? Was he afraid that she would leave him just because of it? She really couldn't blame him, because she felt that way about herself. Still, she wasn't sure what else could be done. Besides, she hadn't said that he needed to tell her his past. Just that she would tell him her own. One day soon, she hoped. But for now they just had to survive. Get to the Fireflies. As much as she was becoming distant from the idea of risking her life for them since she had Lucas and Chaya she wanted to live for now.

"So what's the plan boss lady?" Lucas asked her softly as he looked into her eyes with a loving gaze. "I don't know of anything we have to do at the moment, aside from breathe."

Ellie simply shrugged. "I mean, we could screw around," She said, and then blushed brightly as she went over that again in her head. Well, he probably wouldn't turn that down! "I-I mean like walk around and shit! N-Not sex. N-Not that's there anything wrong with that e-either!"

Fuck. She really had stepped in it now. Her face was bright red, and she tried to hold back the blush creeping on her face. Well, more like blaring on her face by now. It almost felt like it was burning! Okay, not that bad. But still it was pretty embarrassing.

"Anything you want to do is okay with me, beautiful. If you want some alone time with me like that, then we can." He replied with a smile as he kissed her forehead. "Uh oh… you're glowing again. Was it something I said?" He asked with a devilish glint in his eyes.

"You're a fucking asshole," She grumbled, trying to pull away from him. So far, all his grip on her did was allow her enough space to push off a bit, and then 'bounce' back to him. She wasn't sure if she liked that or not. "Lemme go." She mumbled, her face's color slowly going back to normal.

"Nnnnnnnyo." He replied quickly, and looked down at her with a grin on his face.

Lucas wasn't all business. He had a playful side. Though what his playful side involved depended highly upon what mood he was in. Right now he was just being a pain in her ass. Why? Because he loved her and liked seeing her get worked up. That was just how simple it was. Though if she started to get too worked up he would stop.

"Now!" She said, trying to sound pissed off. But he could hear that he was in no trouble with her. If anything, she was secretly liking this and hating herself for it. "I need to go do stuff!"

Lucas slowly allowed his hands to find a resting place on her perfect rear and chuckled, "What happened to 'goofing off, err, I didn't mean that but that is okay t-too?'" The man asked with his curiosity evident in his voice.

"Ohmygod! For fuck's-!" She growled, hiding her face in the only place she could; His chest.

Her face was the closest thing burning now, and she didn't want to give him the benefit of seeing such a thing. She knew this was what he wanted, and he would have to tear her head and force her to look up at him now! She was not giving him the pleasure of seeing her flustered to the max!

It was then Lucas placed his hands above the spot they were just at, and he kissed her on the top of the head. "Let's go see how Chaya, Ish, and the crew are doing, beautiful."

She only peeked up at him, grumbling into his chest. "You sure that's what you want to do, or are you tricking me into back away so you can see my face right now?" She asked him suspiciously.

"It's a little bit of both. Chaya is probably wondering what's up anyway. No one has really told her much of anything, I don't think, and Ish has been busy watching over everyone whilst Joel is playing overwatch on the roof." Lucas replied with a smile, "I just want to relax before we're on the move again."

"Oh…" She replied, and bit her lip as she looked down at her hand on his chest. "Unwind a bit?" She asked, and if he wasn't mistaken he could have sworn he heard a hint of something there… What was it? Seemed a bit questionable.

"Yeah, that'd be nice." He said as he ignored the suspicious tone in her voice. "It's been rather crazy. Especially when that Australian fuck pulled that bullshit… Already forgot his name."

"Umm… S-So did you really want to do 'that too?'" She asked him, trying to avoid a very specific word. She didn't want to ask him outright. She wanted him to ask her. That'd be better. She wasn't sure why.

"Do what?" Lucas asked as he looked her in the eyes, playing dumb. He had a feeling he knew what she meant…

"Alright, let's go see what they're up to then," She replied with a shrug before she broke free, and started walking out the door. He was pretty much going to miss his shot at that cute little ass of hers now too…

"If that is what my lady wants…" Lucas said as he followed her lead.

He wasn't that much of a horndog. Sure, he would have liked a little time with Ellie and himself, but it wasn't necessary. They didn't want to burn themselves out on each other after all… He was fine with resting up and maybe cuddling with someone. He didn't really know if Ellie was that big into cuddles or not yet, but if she was… she'd probably have to pry him from herself a few times.