Disclaimer: I do not own any character of (The Last of Us) TLOU is owned by Naughty Dog and their creators.

A/N: First I want to thank a reader from AO3 that was the one to inspired me to write this story. Also for sending me, the gift draw of a picture of Ellie & Joel. that is the cover I'm using in this story. She wants me to put it there but I did not find the way to do it there yet, so I used it here. Secondly, I want to thanks the rest of the people that are reading this story. Thank you for the comments and for being supporter, I never write AU modern for these two characters and I never expected this go so well so far. know that my grammar is not good, but I hope you still like the story.

Now let continue with the story.

Chapter 3: A second chance to start over

After what happens with the girl in the morning. Joel decided to not think about that and continues working with the cabinet doors that he needs to change. As he was working, he glanced toward the forest a few times, expecting the girl to come again. But after he finished working at 6:00 pm, the girl never came back. He feels a little bad to treat her like that, it is not her fault that he just wants to be alone and not speak to anyone if it is possible. It was better that way, that girl will be a distraction and trouble.

After he woke up the next day, Joel went to the back door and see if the girl was there again. He opened the door slowly and took a peck at the back porch expecting the girl to be there, but by his luck, she wasn't. So after that, he decided to drive to the town, to buy some groceries and food he needed and more material to continue his work on the house.

( One hour later )

After he changed and drank his coffee. Joel drives to the town and goes to the hardware store first to buy what he needs. So soon he parked his pick-up in front of the place he got out of the truck and entered the store. Soon he was in, Joel approached the counter and called the atender that seemed to be in the back room. "Hey, I need a few things"

The man walked out of the room and greeted Joel. "Good morning sir, what are you going to need today?" The man already knows Joel, well they don't talk much, but Joel is already by him. No, that he has much choice since his hardware store is the only one in town. Joel took out a list of what he needed and gave it to the man. The man takes the paper and starts to check it out. After a few minutes, he looks back at Joel. "Some of these things are out of stock, do you want me to make an order for you? I normally do an order once a month, but if you need them faster I can make a new order tomorrow."

Joel started to think, he was hoping to get what he needs today, but what can he do? "How long is it going to take to arrive here?" Asked Joel.

"Okay, let me see what I can do," The man moves to his computer and starts to check his inventory. After he finishes, he looks back at Joel. "The order is going to take one to two weeks to arrive. But if you need them quickly, you can try to go to the next town and see if you can find them."

Joel thinks for a moment. "No it's okay, I can wait for them there is no rush. Just give me what you have for now."

"Okay, excellent. I will order them tomorrow and I let you know when they arrive here. I will need your phone number. I notice that you're not opening an account here, but you already buy a lot of stuff here. Do you want to open one?"

"No, that is okay. I just buy what I need, so I don't need to do that."

"Okay, but I still need your phone to call you when the order arrives."

"I don't have a phone… yet. So I will come next week to check it out."

"Okay, whatever you like. Now, you can get what is on the front racks and my assistance will give you the rest that is on the back," the man turned around and called his employee. "Hey, Bob I have a customer that needs a few things from the back." The young man showed up and the owner gave him the note and sent him to the back.

10 minutes later, Joel put a few things that he found on the counter. "You seem to know a lot about construction. Do you have any experience?" the man asked in curiosity.

"I only fixed my house for now, but yeah I did some work in construction and as a handyman for a few years," replay Joel.

"Oh, that is good to know, we don't have many people that do that kind of work here. People around here always hire companies from out of town, but they don't do a good job. I always think that local people can do it better, but the few we have before, just left town. So if you need a job I can put a word for you."

Joel looks at the man for a moment. He wants to have as little contact with people as possible, but the money that he gets from his grandfather's will is not going to last forever.

So eventually he is going to need a job to get some money to live on. "I really appreciated that man, but I want to finish with my house first," he replied to the man.

"Oh, don't worry about it," the man said while adding the price of Joel things into the register. Anyway, people around here like to have a good job, so you should think about it. You can get some extra money doing that kind of job around here."

"Thanks for the offer, I will think about... thanks." After Joel finishes there he goes to the grocery store and buys what he needs for the week. After that, he drove back home. Soon he gets there he put the groceries in the kitchen, then he goes back outside and unloaded his truck. When he finished, it was already dark, so he went back inside the house and took a shower.

After he got out of the bathroom, Joel walked to the kitchen and grabbed a new bottle of whiskey and went to the living room. He put some pieces of wood in the fireplace and started the fire. Then he grabbed a little metal box that he has on the top of the fireplace and sat in a chair he has in front of it. Soon he was sitting, he opened the bottle and served some in a glass and drank it. Then he opened the little box and took out a picture and looked at it.

The picture was of him with a baby in his arms. It was taken in the hospital a few days before his daughter died. It was the only time that the doctor let them carry the baby, just to say goodbye. The picture shows him with a smile on his face, but inside he was dying that day. He told Tommy to take a few more pictures with the family, he still has a few more pictures of the baby, but the ones with her mother he burns them out. Even if it wasn't her fault that the baby died or their marriage was a disaster after that. He doesn't want to have anything to remember her. He continues looking at the picture while drinking.

I am so sorry, little Sarah… I tried to start over so many times… but sometimes it is so hard. I miss you so much… my little girl… I am always going to miss you. Some tears started to fall down his cheek while he looked at the picture. The only memory he has of his baby daughter.

( Two days later )

Joel wakes up a little late in the morning. All that job in the house is making him tired, but there are still a lot of things he needs to fix and clean. Joel needs to wait for the other things he needs to continue, so he decides to get the day free and relax a little. So after he gets out of bed, go to the kitchen and have some breakfast. After that, he goes out of the house and walks into the forest behind his house.

After 15 minutes of walking around, Joel was checking the place to see if later he can grab his rifle and hunt a rabbit or something for dinner. He still doesn't know the area well, but a good walk in the area can help him to know the place around his house.

So after one hour of walking around, he arrived at the lake. While he continued walking beside the lakeshore, he found a little wood pier there. So he gets into the pier and walks to the edge and starts to look at the view. He can see the trees on the other side of the lake and the mountains behind it. It was a beautiful view, something he doesn't see back in Texas. He stayed there for a few minutes looking at the place.

"You're in my favorite space," says a person walking slowly behind him.

"Sorry… I didn't know that this was private property," said Joel before he turned around. When he turned, he saw that it was the girl from before standing behind him. "Oh… is you."

"Yeah, is me" she replied with a sad voice. "Don't think that I'm stalking you or something. I just came here sometimes to think or write something." Joel looked at her and saw that she had a notebook in her hand. Then he starts to remember all the things he said to her a few days ago and started to feel bad.

"Look, kiddo I'm really sorry for some of the things I said a few days ago. You were right I was a little rude, and it wasn't my intention to make you-"

Ellie walked at the edge of the pier and sat down. "Don't worry about it, I didn't cry if that is worrying you. ( she lies ) Look, I get that you want to be left alone, so don't worry I am not going to bother you anymore," she says with a sad tone.

Joel stays standing behind her while she looks at the lake without saying anything more. Joel can see that she feels hurt, and that was part of his fault. He should not talk to her like that, even if he was just trying to make her go and stay away from him. "Look, I'm not good with people or with words. But that is not an excuse to say all those things to you."

"Is okay dude, I already told you to don't worry about it. Now if you don't mind, I like to be alone… just like you." Ellie opens her notebook and looks for a blank page.

That makes him feel worse. It seems that this girl does not have many friends to talk to, even though she seems to talk a lot. He was going to leave, but he started to feel sorry for leaving the poor girl there alone. "Why do you like to be alone here? Is summer, do you not have school friends to pass the time with?"

Ellie turned her head and looked at him. "I don't… I don't think that is any of your business," then she turned back to continue watching the lake. "I don't think you even care, so why are you asking?"

"I do care... Besides, it is not good for a girl you age to be alone around here. Yes, I may be an asshole, but that does not mean that I will let something bad happen to you."

Ellie closes her notebook and stands up and turns around. "I have been living here for the last 5 years. I come here all the time and walk around the forest alone and nothing happens to me… ever." Ellie starts to walk away, but soon she passes beside Joel, he grabs her arm. "Let go of me you jerk!" Ellie yanked her arm away from Joel grab then she kicked him on the balls.

"FUCK!" Joel screamed in pain while grabbing his parts. He just fell down on the pier. "What... in the hell... did you do that for?" he said in a painful tone.

Ellie looked at him, with a mad expression. "I already told you that I can take care of myself… and if you tried to touch me again without my permission," she quickly moved one hand behind her back and took out a pocket knife out and pointed it at him. "I will cut them off," then she turned around and ran away.

Joel watched her go as he was still in pain on the pier floor. "Shit… this girl is really... something… Ouch." Joel stayed down for a few minutes until the pain was gone. Then he stood up and started to walk, but before he went far he saw the notebook that the girl had early on the pier floor. He picked it up and looked at it. She almost dropped before she ran away. Joel gives it another look around, trying to see if she is still there somewhere. "HEY GIRL… YOU DROP YOU NOTEBOOK," he yelled and waited for an answer for a few minutes. When he didn't get any, he looked at the notebook again. What should I do with this now?... Do I leave it here so she can pick up later or I take it with me? But if I do that and she comes looking for it and does not find it… she is probably going to think that I steal it. After thinking for a few minutes he decided to take the notebook with him. Yeah, maybe that is better. If I left it here another person can come and take it. Besides, she probably thinks that I have it, and comes to my house looking for it. And if she does that, maybe I can apologize.

( A few hours later )

Joel was preparing his lunch when he heard someone yelling outside. "Hey, Lone Ranger! I think you have something that belongs to me and I wanted back," she said with a firm voice.

Joel stopped what he was doing and walked to the front door. Soon he opened it, he saw Ellie with a mad expression. "Hi, did you come to give me an apology?" he said in a mocking way.

Ellie rolled her eyes. She can't believe that this guy is such a jerk. The first time she saw him, she thought that he was cute, but now she is not so sure. "An apology... For what?" She said while crossing her arm on her chest.

Joel got out of the house and moved into the porch. "For kicking me… that really hurt you know!"

Ellie moved a little back. She is not scared of him, but if he tries something she will be ready. "Well, you deserve it… Did nobody tell you to not touch a girl without her permission? Now can you give me my notebook back?"

Joel smiled and shook his head. He can't believe that this girl can be so brave. So without saying anything, he turned around and went back inside. After a few minutes, he came back with the notebook in hand. Joel walks toward the girl and shows it to her. "Here! You can have it back."

He saw the girl moving back a little as soon as he got close to her. "Is okay girl… you can take it. I am not going to hurt you." said Joel moving toward her slowly. "I'm sorry that I took it, but I do not want to leave it there.

Ellie looked at him, then moved forward and grabbed the notebook. She looked at the book and put it closer to her chest. "Thank you, this means a lot to me, but I am not going to apologize for kicking you… you deserve that."

Joel smiled at that. "Yeah, I think I did. Besides, I owe you an apology. I don't mean to make you feel bad, or touch you when we're there..." Joel put one hand behind his neck and looked at the ground. I'm not good with apologies… or talking with people… so-"

"Is okay, I forgive you." Ellie gave him one last look, then turned around and started to walk away.

Joel up his head and looked at her. "Are you hungry?"

Ellie stopped and turned her head to look at him "What?"

"I ask if you're hungry. I was making lunch and I… I was wondering if you have not eaten anything yet, maybe you.. want some?" he said, a little timid at the end.

Ellie looked at him. She can't believe that after all that happens he is inviting her to lunch. "Are you inviting me to lunch?"

Joel started to feel weird, he didn't mean it like that, he just wanted to apologize to the girl for what he did early. Yes, he does not have the right to touch her, and he doesn't want her to think that he is some kind of pervert or something like that. "I just wanted to apologize for before, you're where right I should not touch you like that. I just wanted to tell you something before you leave and… anyway, that was something I should not do, so I am so sorry about that."

Ellie looked at him for a moment and tried to see if he was sincere. But after a few moments, she believed that he was. "What about if we start over?" She moved closer to him and stood her hand at him. "My name is Ellie, Ellie Williams."

Joel smiled at her, and after a moment he took her hand and checked it. "Nice to meet you Ellie Willians… My name is Joel, Joel Miller."

"Nice to meet you, Joel!" Both of them let go of their hand and smiled at each other. "See, this wasn't too hard right?"

Joel gave her a smile. "I guess not."

"Cool, now about that lunch… I will be happy to accept your invitation... I'm starving," Ellie said with a smile. But then she remembers something. "Oh, also I will need back the vase I brought you with the pie the other day. And if you didn't eat it I will after lunch."

Joel gives her a shy smile. "Hmm... about that."