Sorry for the delay between chapters, I'm back home and will be posting more often again! Stick around, I have more ideas and this might stretch in length!

Chapter 10

An hour passed, and Joel had put on a nice fire with the wood they had gathered with Ellie. There was a perfectly good couch in front of the fireplace and they were both sitting on it while warming themselves. Ellie gazed out once in a while to see Andy, as it was already getting dark. Even Joel had to admit that he was a bit worried. He was not looking out the window like Ellie, but his thoughts wandered as he stared at the flames.
"Do you think he's okay?" Ellie asked after a long silence. She was getting warmer but the atmosphere was still quite anxious, due missing Andy. Joel shrugged, but then regretted it. Ellie lifted her eyebrows, as she was astonished by his lack of escort.
"Joel...!" she was in the middle of getting her rage back, but he stopped her.
"I'm sure he's fine" he comforted with a silent voice. He nodded a few times to make her calm down, and she slowly moved her eyes back to the fire, still glancing towards the window once in a while.

After another short while, they heard a loud thud from the porch. Joel immediately got up, picking up his gun and pointing it towards the door. As Ellie got up, Joel forced her behind him with his left hand. She put her hand on top of her own pistol which she held in her jeans, but she didn't grab it that instinctively.
"Who's there?" Joel asked with a loud voice, turning the safety off while aiming. They didn't have to guess for too long, before Andy opened the door, immediately lifting his hands up. He was exhausted and out of breath, and the reason must've been the deer that laid in front of him. That must have caused the loud noise, too.
"Aw, fuck Andy!" Ellie sighed out, as if she had just had a heart attack. She was both relieved and celebrating his catch. Joel's reaction was milder, but he lowered the gun rather quickly. As Andy put his hands down to get the deer, Joel was already there to help him carry it. Ellie backed down to the couch, sitting onto it's armrest while taking a look at the dead animal. She couldn't help but stare at it. Andy kicked the door shut after they got in, and they dropped the deer in the middle of the living room. Joel smiled weakly, not to show too much enthusiasm. Andy took a quick peek at him to see his reaction, and he couldn't help but to be proud of himself.
"After I saw this beauty, I couldn't come back before I caught it" he explained, grabbing the rifle off his back. He started piling up his stuff on the kitchen table, next to Ellie and Joel's backpacks.
"Good job" Joel nodded, and they both stood for a while just looking at the catch. After a while of sitting, Ellie turned her head to alternately look at the two guys. She was starving, and so were the men.
"Hey, I know it's beautiful and all, but what if we just fucking cooked it instead of eating with our eyes?" she burst out, jumping off the couch. Her stomach made a loud, dinosaur type noise as she landed. Andy laughed once, kneeling down next to the deer.
"I don't think I've ever heard a fourteen-year-old speak like that" he shook his head, grabbing a knife from his pocket. Joel sneered, nodding a few times.
"You're gonna hear a ton of bad words from her. First I tried forbidding that, but it seemed to encourage her even more" he laughed. Ellie lifted her eyebrows while walking towards them, and she crossed her arms.
"Hmph, as if you could deny me from doing what I want" she bragged, stopping in front of the deer to see it better. Joel sneered again, helping Andy with the cutting. They both lifted their eyes to glance at each other.
"Like I said, she ain't easy" Joel said briefly, putting his eyes back on the deer. Andy stopped the cutting for a while to look at both of them, and he only started talking again as he figured out what to say.
"So I guess the 'dad of the year' prize won't land on you, huh?" Andy joked, but he had landed another swear word. Joel's eyes turned to him, and Ellie's glance stopped at Joel, as she hoped he would stay quiet. Andy didn't notice the tense atmosphere at first, but the long silence after a joke never meant anything good. As Joel's piercing look didn't ease down, Ellie had to open her mouth.
"Joel..." she said calmly, and Joel knew he shouldn't say anything. Andy's words had brought back the memory of dying Sarah and her lifeless eyes, and the anger came back with the memory. Even though Joel usually shouted out his anger as it arrived, he tried to calm himself down. Meanwhile Andy quickly had a look at the two of them, and tried to come up with something smart. Since Andy wasn't the best with the jokes, he tried to ease the atmosphere with another one.
"You're an odd girl. I've never heard anyone else call their dad with their first name" he sneered, finally getting some good pieces of the deer. He got up and walked into the kitchen. As Joel was left alone with Ellie, he didn't want to look at her. She knew what it was all about, and she was a bit ashamed herself, too. The only thing that they had in common that moment was the will to keep their real relationship as a secret. Coming out as a father and his daughter was probably the smartest thing for now.
Joel stared at the deer, and Ellie felt his sorrow inside her. She felt bad for him having to go through that moment once again, but her talking would not make that go away. She decided to stay silent.

"Mmm..." Andy sighed as he got out of the kitchen. He had prepared the meat for the fire, and walked straight to the fireplace to get the meat cooking. After a short while of just squatting, Joel finally got up and walked out of the tense situation. He sat on the couch, watching Andy as he laid the deer meat near the flames. He was measuring him again.
"There" Andy smiled, backing down a bit. He stretched his hands towards the fire to warm them up, and knelt down. Joel took another long look at him before turning his head to see Ellie. She had also sat on the couch, and was now staring into the flames with an empty glance. She tried to stay out of his way while he thought about Sarah, and that had cornered her into her own thoughts. That truly showed on her face.

While looking at her, Joel felt bad. He thought back at some of the past days, to think about their connection. He had been quite strict, but only the sake of her safety. They had laughed a couple of times, but the winter had been terrible, overall. Even though Ellie had dodged the terrible fate of being raped, she must have suffered like hell. Her eye was still purple, and he could only guess how bruised she was around her whole body. After most of the conversations, Joel wanted to go back and correct some of his sayings, but his nature didn't let him apologize for anything. He had always put his own suffering first, even though Ellie was having such a hard time. Nowadays he had been protecting her with his life, but it wasn't enough. He could not let her get hurt again.

While thinking about all this, Joel turned his head back to the flames not to stare for too long. He sighed out, listening to the calming silence with only the silent cracking of the wood and flames. He laid back even more relaxed, and closed his eyes for a bit. During those few days he had slept so poorly that he could sleep 24 hours straight with no problem at all. Even though they had to reach Salt Lake City some day, he didn't think that postponing it with a couple of days would matter. This kind of cottages were a luxury, and they should really rest while they still could.

After the luxurious dinner and some tense chatting, they were all ready to turn in. Ellie had been dozing for a good while now, and she seemed to be asleep as the two men were putting the last pieces of wood into the fire. Andy had been sitting on the floor, and he got up to stretch his arms.
"What a nice evening... " Andy yawned while stretching, and turned his head to see Ellie.
"Yeah. I only hope that she'd been around to see it" Joel laughed, and the atmosphere felt quite nice already. Ellie was breathing calmly, and he had to stop and look at her for a while. While she was asleep, she probably had the freedom to live normally. As she seemed calm, she couldn't possibly be having a nightmare.
"I was only joking about the father of the year thing" Andy said after a while of looking at her sleep. He scratched his neck while talking, looking at Joel's back. Joel realized his words after a short while, and nodded, still looking at Ellie. Even though the possibility of telling the truth ran through his mind, he decided to leave if for another day. It should be the decision of the both of them.
"I know" he answered as briefly as always and got up from the couch himself. He turned his head to see Andy, who returned the glance with a weak smile. Joel stood quiet for a while before finally opening his mouth.
"You're alright" he admitted, measuring Andy with his eyes for the one last time before turning away. Andy lifted his eyebrows, and watched as Joel grabbed Ellie to his lap. He turned towards the stairway and looked at Andy again.
"Could you grab the bags?" he asked, already approaching the first step while carrying Ellie. Andy awoke to his words, and gathered Ellie and Joel's stuff to take them upstairs with him. Joel's words took him by surprise, but he smiled while walking behind him. He had finally succeeded.

After a bunch of dusty steps, they arrived upstairs. Joel hadn't been there earlier, but he easily guided himself to the nearest bedroom. He pushed the door gently open not to wake Ellie up, and entered the room quietly. There was a large double bed in the middle of the room, and he laid the girl on the nearer side of it. Andy didn't dare to enter, and he stopped behind the door.
"G'night" he whispered loudly from the hallway, and Joel turned his head.
"G'night" he answered with the same volume, but he turned his head back as he heard Ellie move. She yawned and slowly opened her eyes. Joel was still knelt down next to her, but he moved his hands further away.
"I'm sorry, I tried to keep it down" Joel apologized, getting up and walking around the bed. Ellie frowned her face, turning her head a couple of times.
"Wait..." she whispered, trying to remember the whole evening. Joel had reached the other side of the bed before he saw their backpacks at the door, where Andy had dropped them. As Joel walked to the door to get their things, Ellie stared at the roof.
"When did I zone out?" she asked, rubbing her eyes when Joel dropped her bag to the other end of the bed. He squinted his eyes a bit while thinking, and grabbed his pistol to lay it on the nightstand.
"In the middle of our great conversation about music, I guess" he shrugged, dropping his stuff next to the bed. He lifted the bedspread and sneaked underneath it, while Ellie was still lying on top of it. She frowned her face, getting up so she could get under the blanket too.
"Hmph. Did I miss anything good?" she inquired while crawling underneath the bedspread. Joel had already fluffed his pillow and was now staring at the roof.
"I don't think so" he answered, even though she had missed a good part of him giving up his doubts.