Author's Note: Shorter chapter today. I didn't want to leave you hanging too long after the last one. I've been looking forward to this part of the story since we left Jackson. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. More to come. Enjoy.

Abby is standing on the final slope of the butte. Jackson stretches out before them, through the trees. The sun is close to setting and there are floodlights all along the wall, like the last time Abby was here.

Ellie is standing between her and Lev. She's just standing there, swaying slightly. Her eyes are hooded again. She looks like she's drunk, or in a trance or something. It's freaking Abby out.

Come on, Ellie. We're right here.

It's been three weeks since Burley. The memory of that morning, when they buried Clint, it's still too fresh. Abby feels a wave of pain every time she thinks about it. For her, every day has been the same. Dawn. Get up, whether or not you slept. Make breakfast. Make sure Ellie eats. Start walking. Take breaks only when someone can't continue. Eat while you walk. Make camp when it starts getting dark.

The routine, it's what has helped her.

Lev didn't have the same kinds of ties to Clint, but he's a gentle soul and Abby can tell it hurt him to see Clint die. But he's kept that pain to himself. He'll go off on his own for a while to cry. When he gets back, Abby always hugs him.

Ellie…

Clint never wanted to talk about it directly, but Abby's pretty sure Ellie's had one foot in a bad place for a really, really long time. She leaned on Clint. Reluctantly, but still. After he died like that…

Ellie started acting really weird.

She rarely talks now. She hasn't cracked a joke since Burley. She tries to get away with not eating. She won't make it for herself, and she'll just go to bed without saying anything if you let her. She shot a rabbit last week, but when Abby made a stew, Ellie just sat there staring into the distance until Lev scooped a cup and handed it to her. She's been losing weight, and Abby hates the way it feels to watch that.

When Abby would steal glances at her while they were climbing through the hills, her eyes were always lost in the distance, lips parted, brow slightly pinched. One time she was standing a little ways out from camp, looking down at the valley. She must have thought no one could see her, but Abby was watching. She stared blankly, then at one point her face twisted all up in a painful expression that turned Abby's stomach.

Abby didn't know what to do. This is not her specialty, and Ellie… It's one thing to have her back in a fight, but this?

Lev has been so good with her. When she's bad at night, sitting off on her own, Lev will go over and put a hand on her back, and only then will she start crying. Periodically, most days, Lev will just start monologuing to Ellie, regaling her with stories and really cheesy jokes and stuff. She'll just stare back while he does this, so it seems to take her mind off things, at least. Sometimes she even smiles a little.

Now they're inches from Jackson and Ellie just stopped moving.

"Ellie," says Abby, "we're almost there. Let's go."

Ellie doesn't respond. Abby's getting anxious. Ellie is not in a good way, but without her, they do not set one foot in Jackson. They could be shot on sight.

"Ellie." It's Lev's voice. He takes her hand. She looks at him. "Ellie, please take us the rest of the way to Jackson."

His words, his face. So matter of fact. Her eyes are more open now, though they still have that weird, hopeless slack to them.

She doesn't nod or say anything, she just starts walking down the slope. Abby lets the air out of her lungs.

It's fairly steep and they half-stumble along. Sticks are breaking under their boots. Abby can see the clear line ahead of them, where all the trees are cut down. And the watchtower.

They've gone maybe twenty or twenty five feet when something just snaps in Ellie. She lets out this long, hideous groan that twists Abby's stomach, and just starts running down the incline.

"Shit! Lev!" They pick up the pace after her, but she's gaining distance.

"Di-na!" Ellie is wracked, voice distorted and awful. "Di-na!" She's at a full sprint.

Spotlights appear in the watchtower. A voice blares out from the tower. "Stop! Stop there! If you do not stop, we will shoot!" Jesus Christ, at this point they're going to confuse her for a runner.

"Ellie stop, god damn it!" Abby yells. Ellie is halfway across the clear line.

"I said stop! This is your last—"

"Jason, stop—put that fucking thing down! God damn it, that's Ellie!"

"What? Oh, fuck."

"Get Maria on the phone. Now!"

Ellie gets to the gates and starts pounding on them. Abby and Lev are closing in. There's a loud clang and the gate starts to move. Ellie and her wailing disappear inside.

This is the part that Abby has been dreading, and it is not going well so far. When they get close to the gate, Abby sees a female guard with a rifle. She looks them over, but doesn't see anything out of place. She gestures for them to come in with her head.

When Abby walks through, a group of four people are holding Ellie back.

"Damn it, Ellie!"

"Di-na!" She's just about gone.

"Ellie, you need to see Maria! Shit, Mavis, maybe we should just let her go."

"Let me go!"

"No, Fred, I'm not explaining that to Maria."

At that point the strength seems to go out of Ellie and she goes slack in their arms, crying. "No…"

They clearly don't know what to do. Someone catches Abby's eye.

There's an athletic looking, middle aged man watching her closely with fascination. He looks at her shoulder, then her face. Shit. This is the moment she was afraid of. And Ellie's fucking incoherent. He looks at Ellie, then at her, confounded.

Around a building about fifty yards up the way, a woman with pale hair and a white coat appears, running. "Ellie?" she shouts.

"No…" Ellie moans.

The woman's eyes are locked on Ellie. When she nears, she starts pushing Ellie's handlers apart. "Oh, would you get the hell off of her! Ellie, Ellie look at me." Ellie is in her own world though. There are tears and snot on her face. Her lips are pulled back in a grimace. Abby fucking hates looking at it but she can't look away.

It doesn't make sense. If anything, Abby expected Ellie to finally find some relief, being back here. Then it hits her.

She's not acting like this because she's back in Jackson. She's been carrying it the entire time.

At that point Abby does look away. She feels Lev's warm hand and meets his eyes. He's got one of his solemn looks. Often they're beyond her, but this time she thinks she gets it.

This had to happen.

"Maria…" It's the man from before, who was staring at Abby. He's got some decorations on his coat that make him look like a captain of some sort.

Maria is still trying to gather Ellie. She looks up impatiently. She follows his eyes to Abby, then her entire body goes still. She stares in amazement. Her mouth droops open. She cocks her head back, as if what she was seeing was impossible.

Maria looks at the female guard standing by and orders her to mind Ellie with the ease of high command. The guard bends down and lays a gentle hand on Ellie's back, whispering to her. Maria stands up and slowly walks toward Abby. She looks at one of the other guardsmen. "Call Dina, now."

"Dina…" Ellie moans.

Abby's heart is pounding. Her hackles are up. She knows she looks stiff but she's trying as hard as she can not to look defensive. Sharp breaths push through her nose.

When Maria is close, she puts her hands on her hips, regarding Abby.

The man on the phone is speaking urgently. "Who? Is this Dale? Get Dina, now. Why? Ellie just came through West Gate, that's fucking why…"

"You came all the way back here with her?" Maria asks.

Abby nods.

Maria looks her face up and down. "Where's Clint?"

It's a shock Abby didn't expect and she breaks eye contact, searching the dirt for a second. She meets Maria's eyes. It doesn't come out that steady. "Ambush."

Maria nods.

The man is still talking frantically on the phone. "What? How is she? How is she? She's fucking anguished, that's how she is…"

Maria looks down at Lev and Abby's gut feels tight. "And what's your name?"

"Levijah. But I prefer Lev." He talks as if addressing a friendly stranger.

There's a ghost of a smile on Maria's lips. It disappears. Conspicuously, Maria leans over and looks at the tattoo on Abby's left tricep. The Firefly symbol. Slowly, she rises back up and meets Abby's eyes.

"Did she do it?"

Ellie is still crying, collapsed down on top of her knees in the wet dirt. The woman is trying to comfort her but not helping much. Abby thinks of the scar on the side of her head.

"Yeah," she replies.

"Did you help her?"

Abby frowns. What? She guesses Maria doesn't know, how it played out. She helped Ellie afterwards, but she doesn't think that's what Maria's asking. She's taking too long to respond.

"I mean, I showed her where the good food in the caf is."

There are laughs around them and Abby is taken aback. When she looks again, Maria does have a little smile. She holds out her hand. "Maria."

Abby takes it, not too firmly. "Abby."

"Welcome to Jackson, Abby." And with that, she turns and walks back towards Ellie. She points back at them, looking at the captain. "Jones, these two are under my personal protection."

Jones is wearing a soldierly look, eyeing Abby. He nods curtly. "Yes, ma'am."

Maria approaches Ellie. "Now, Ellie, girl… It's breaking my heart, seeing you like this…"

"No…" Ellie stammers.

Another woman comes running around the building, carrying a baby. She clutches his head against her shoulder protectively as her feet pound the ground, dirt flying behind her. Abby's stomach drops when she recognizes her.

Maria and Ellie look at the same time. Ellie gets to her feet, pushing past Maria and the guard and runs to Dina at a dead sprint. They slam together and embrace, almost falling down from the impact. And just like that, they're both crying, and the baby is making all these sounds too. They're all saying things to each other that probably no one else can understand. First they're all hugging, then the baby reaches for Ellie and she scoops him up, bawling into his shoulder as he bawls into hers. Her three fingered hand strokes his hair, over and over. Lovingly, desperately.

Abby looks down to the wet earth. For a second, she almost wants to throw up.

"I want to go home…" she can hear Ellie sob. "I want to go home…"

"Yeah, that's right," says Dina. "That's right, we're going home. Dinner's almost ready. Come on. Use your feet."

It's way too personal. None of them had any right to witness that. On the other hand, Abby's pretty sure those three are pretty much unaware of the rest of them.

She can hear Maria snort softly. She has her hands on her hips again. She turns and looks at Abby with a smile Abby doesn't fully understand. It makes her uncomfortable.

"Well," she says. "I guess we'll be needing to put you up, then."

A mild-mannered guy named Travis takes them down to a place called Arnold's. It's an old restaurant they've restored. Lots of dark varnished wood, and an elk head mounted above the fireplace.

"Maria's treat tonight," says the man behind the counter, waving a spatula at her, "but next time you pay." He walks back into the kitchen, voice carrying. "And I know there's gonna be a next time after you taste this elk steak."

Travis and Cody eat with them. Maria comes in halfway through and sits with them. She wants their story, and Abby gives it to her. There's a weight on Maria's brow when she gets to the part… to Burley. Maria speaks up.

"Well, really, Abby, it's a miracle the rest of you made it all that way. And I'm glad for it." Maria reaches out and squeezes Abby's hands. "And I'm sorry about Clint."

Abby hadn't said anything about… their time together. But it seems like Maria gets it anyway.

Maria says it's late and she has more to attend to, but Travis will show them to their quarters for now. And they can come to Maria's office in the morning to see about finding some work.

Lev is chipper, and chats happily with Travis and Cody, asking about Jackson and life lately. They're disarmed, of course, and seem to take a liking to him pretty quickly.

"Not to ruin the fun," says Abby eventually, smiling, "but it's been a pretty long day."

Travis's brows shoot up. "Long year, sounds like. Let's get you settled."

He leads them down a street lined with houses, which is remarkable. Now, it's something Abby has seen a thousand times out in the unclaimed land, but these houses have actual lawns that aren't overgrown. There are gardens. The windows are all intact, and some even have fresh looking paint. It's…

Nice.

Travis leads them to a narrow house with yellow paint. Someone planted marigolds out front.

"Who's house is this?" Abby asks.

"Yours, now."

"That's it? You just give people houses?"

"If Maria lets you, yeah. You'll need a job, of course."

"That won't be a problem."

"Then you're set."

It's hard to believe, but there's no one left to stop them. Travis bids them goodnight, and it's just Abby and Lev in their new house.

She flips the light switch and it works. Not a lot in the way of decoration, but other than that, it's a dream. There are some old couches, a couple lamps. A painting of a snowman. The walls are painted a cream color.

Lev makes a sound suggesting wonder, walking out into the living room and looking around. "All this space for us?"

Abby walks into the kitchen. There's a window over the sink with white, lacy curtains. She moves the faucet handle and water comes out readily. She holds her hand under the water for a minute, but it doesn't get warm. She's gonna need to light the pilot on the heater.

"Ooh, a chess board!" says Lev. "There are other games in here, too…"

Abby's… nervous. This doesn't seem right. It's too much. It's too good.

It's more or less how Ellie described it, but…

If this is really how it's going to be, Abby's going to need some time to get used to it. She walks into the living room and takes her pack off her shoulder. She runs a hand over her stomach. She's still feeling…

"Are you okay?" Lev asks.

Abby drops her pack. She's taken aback. She looks at him. "Am I okay?"

Lev's mood is different now. He looks solemn. He runs a finger along the back of the couch as he slowly walks. "I could tell it was hard for you," he says. He's doing the thing where he's being careful with her. He's not afraid. He's being gentle. "To see Ellie like that."

Abby's brow furrows. She rolls her shoulder. She doesn't really want to talk about it.

How is Lev always able to make her feel small?

"And I know you recognized the other woman as well." He's standing there with his easy grace, hand resting on the arm of the recliner. His brown eyes are so deep. "Dina. And her baby."

Out of nowhere Abby's leg starts trembling. Lev's brows pinch in concern. She's seeing Dina running full speed toward Ellie, clutching her baby.

Ellie! Ellie!

Her lips had been pulled back, brow all wrinkled. When they'd embraced, there had been so much love.

Abby makes a sound deep in her throat and covers her mouth. Her hand is quivering.

She's in that dark theatre, that hole. That hell. She's apoplectic. Ellie is writhing on the floor, beaten half to death. She can feel Dina's ponytail in her fist, knife at her throat. Abby is going to cut her throat open and watch her blood spill across the floor in front of Ellie. She's going to relish it.

Ellie is in too much pain to open her eyes.

Don't… she moans. She's pregnant…

It had actually made Abby happy.

Good.

Abby tries to say 'no,' she doesn't even know what was going to come after it, but instead she just moans and falls to one knee. She stops fighting it and just starts sobbing. Lev is on top of her and pulls her head into his chest. The tears run freely into his shirt.

"You only ever wanted to do the right thing," he says. "You only ever wanted to do the right thing."

She balls up his shirt in her fist. Her vision is all blurry.

"You slipped for a second because you were in so much pain. But I was there, to catch you."

Her sob turns into a kind of wail.

"You only ever tried to do the right thing."

Not with Joel.

Abby's sobs echo off the cream colored walls while Lev comforts her, but the neighborhood outside is quiet.

This is their first night home.