I was thinking about doing random chapters of Ellie and Joel living in the Community in Jackson, I'm not sure how many chapters I will do but there will be random stories. There will be different events and holidays they may celebrate has a community, but be warned people who are sensitive... there maybe horror in some chapters.

I thought I'd begin where Ellie and Joel arrive at the Jackson Community, then we can venture through the years until the present day game. I finished the game now, it was a different. If anyone would like to discuss the game my dms are open.

-The Last Of Us is owned by Naughty Dog/ Sony Computer Entertainment

-Some of the parts of this fanfiction are in the game, other parts aren't in the game.

-Spoilers may happen.

- Sorry for the late update, I've been busy.

Snowflake Warning

-Ellie grew up in a world of monsters, TLOU isn't about butterflies and rainbows... it's horror.

-If you're playing the game I know, I know the story has thrown heartbreak at us. I'll give us some happy times.

-Sensitive material, Ellie likes girls... get over it!

Thank you for all the Faves, Alerts and Reviews.

Keep safe and enjoy!

Chapter 9!

December 2034 - Winter

The snow had been falling heavily overnight, it was freezing this morning when Ellie had awoken in her garage apartment. She had put some extra logs on her little stove fire and made sure that the windows in her room was closed before she had gone to bed, she had used all of her blankets last night to keep herself warm in bed. She had managed to get some sleep though, she had a long day ahead of her this morning. The chores she normally did in the fields were over for the winter, but as always the greenhouses needed to be tended to in the winter months and there was always something else to do in the community.

Ellie groaned as her alarm clock beeped, she hit it a few times before she sat up in her bed. She glanced at her clock and yawned loudly, it was 7am. She had to dragged herself out of bed, she wasn't a morning person. Hurrying across the room she quickly entered the bathroom and switched the shower on, she needed to warm up fast in case she caught a chill. She brushed her teeth while she held her hand underneath the shower, it was warming up now. It wasn't long until she was showered and dressed, she tied her hair up while she went to get her coat.

Ellie put her best winter jacket on, it was green and quite long with a padded inside. She put her woolly hat on and her good walking boots, it wouldn't take her long to walk to the greenhouses. The fire in the fireplace had burnt it's self out, she made sure everything was switched off before she left her home. The freezing air hit her face like a smacked backside, it was bitterly cold this morning. The sky was full of snow still, she yawned loudly and stretched her hands above her head. She was hoping for the morning to go by quickly, she wanted to finish a portrait she had been working on for Joel's Christmas present.

" Morning kiddo." Joel said.

" Holy shit, Joel!" Ellie said with a smile. " You scared the shit out of me!"

Joel's voice had startled Ellie, she hadn't noticed him collecting fire wood from the stack they kept in the backyard. She put her gloves on as she joined him on the other side of the yard, he must have returned from his patrol with Tommy early this morning.

The winter patrols were always the hardest so she had been told by Joel, it was sometimes hard to spot the Infected since they were either frozen in the snow or they would jump out at you from the snow while you were walking. Ellie hadn't ventured outside of the community yet in the winter months, but she knew at some point when she began taking up patrols she would be exploring lands beyond the safety of her garage apartment.

" Hey, do you need any help?" Ellie asked.

" I'm good." Joel replied.

" Are you sure?" Ellie asked.

" I've got this, I'm not over the hill just yet." Joel replied.

" Cool, I'll see you around." Ellie said.

Ellie gave him a smile before she turned around to leave but she stopped when Joel said her name, she looked at him over her shoulder and he asked her if she wanted to help decorate the Christmas Tree tonight. Ellie had never decorated a Christmas Tree before or celebrated Christmas in a normal and safe environment, this was going to her first proper Christmas where she had a home. She nodded her head at him and told him that it was a date, he told her to drop around about 6pm since that's when Tommy was dropping the tree off at his house.

" I'll see you later, kiddio." Joel said.

" Likewise old man." Ellie smiled.

Ellie left the backyard through the fence's gateway, she was lucky that she didn't live that far from the greenhouses. She was greeted by a few people as she walked passed them, it seemed like everyone was in a joyful mood even though the snow was still falling heavy. She stopped outside of the greenhouse she would be working in for the day, she quickly opened the door and stepped inside the greenhouse. She took her coat off and hung it on a coat peg, it was much warmer inside the greenhouse than outside in the snow. Cat was already planting some new lettuce seeds, Ellie enjoyed gardening with Cat.

Cat was a fun girl to be around, she was talented when it came to art and she was really good at video games. She had dark short hair and brown eyes, she wasn't as tall as Ellie though. She was slim and they shared the same dress style, she had quickly become Ellie's clothes shopping buddy at the local Clothes Store. Cat made eye contact with Ellie, she gave her smile while she opened a packet of seeds.

" Hey Ellie." Cat said.

" Hey." Ellie said while she picked the watering can up from the ground." No Dina or Jesse yet?"

" Nope, they're going to be late as always." Cat replied.

" I'll pretend I'm surprised then." Ellie said.

"You goof, come and help me with these plants." Cat smiled.

Ellie did a silly surprise face which earned a giggle from Cat, she always seemed to be on her wavelength when it came to being silly. She walked down the pathway between the plant beds, she filled the watering can up and started watering some of the tomato plants.

Cat asked Ellie if she had anymore ideas yet about their tattoos designs, she told Cat that she hadn't had time to think about it. Ellie had been trying to avoid the tattoo subject, she always wore long sleeved tops or her hoody so no one would see her bite mark on her arm. She was going to try and get rid of the bite mark at some point, she had stolen some watered down acid from the chemical hunt in the community.

Cat had been discussing tattoos lately with Ellie, she had been designing a tattoo for herself and Ellie. She had brought it up with Joel, he told her he was fine about it as long as she was careful. Ellie continued to water the plants until she got closer to Cat, she placed the watering can down next to the pile of plant pots and sat down next to her friend. She began filling one of the plant pots for Cat, she wanted to finish early too because she was going to be making soup with her Mother for some of the elderly residence of the community.

" So, what are you doing tonight?" Cat asked.

" Not much, I'm going to help Joel decorate a Christmas Tree later." Ellie replied.

" That sounds neat." Cat said.

" Yeah, it's my first time decorating one." Ellie said.

" Oh, so you're one of those then?" Cat asked.

" One of what?" Ellie asked.

" A Christmas Tree virgin..." Cat replied.

" Fuck you!" Ellie laughed.

" Only if you ask nicely." Cat joked.

Ellie playfully punched Cat's arm and threw some soil at her with the little gardening trowel she was using, Cat loved winding Ellie up sometimes. They continued working together until Dina turned up with Jesse, they we're over an hour late as usual. They hung their coats up and joined Ellie, Cat had gone to collect some more compost from the back on the greenhouse. Dina filled up another watering can while Jesse sat down next to Ellie, he began potting up some plant pots with her.

" Hey Ellie, as Maria dropped by yet?" Jesse asked.

" Nope, not yet." Ellie replied.

" You guys always play it dangerously, you'll get caught at some point." Cat said, she returned with a bag of compost. " Luckily we always cover for you guys, you owe us one."

" When you both start dating boys we've got your backs." Dina said.

" Who says I want a boy?" Cat asked.

" Or girls, I'm down with that..." Jesse replied.

" Maybe she wants a man and not a boy." Dina said.

" That's going to be hard since you've got the only real man in The Jackson Community." Jesse joked.

" You're so full of yourself, dork!" Cat smiled.

" I'm glad I'm not the only one who's noticed that around here." Dina laughed.

" I'm being ganged up on, that's great..." Jesse said.

Ellie smiled at her friends, she loved how they teased each other while they worked together. Ellie began to fill another plant pot up, but without any warning she felt someone throw some soil at her. She swore and shook the soil from her hair, she heard Cat laughing at her. She immediately threw some soil back at her, the soil hit Cat in the face and she ended up dropping the bag of soil on the ground. Dina couldn't hold her laughter in anymore, she went to get the broom while Jesse continued to pot the lettuce seeds.

" Dude!" Ellie sighed.

" Lighten up, that was for earlier." Cat said.

" Lighten up?" Ellie asked, she got up from the ground and pointed her trowel at the mess. " Maria is going to kill us if she see's this mess!"

" Relax Ellie, we've got this covered." Dina replied.

Dina gave Cat the broom, she told her to clean up the mess before Ellie's head explodes. Luckily for them Maria didn't call on them until the end of their shift in the greenhouse, they had time to sweep all the soil up and pot all of the lettuce seeds. Ellie put her coat on and prepared herself for her walk home, Dina and Jesse had already gone. Cat volunteered to put the gardening equipment away, she told Ellie that she would see her tomorrow.

Later That Evening

Ellie returned to her garage apartment and got changed into some clean clothes after her shower, she had felt dirty after that soil fight with Cat. She left her home wearing her winter coat and she walked across the backyard to Joel's house, she could see the light shining from the kitchen's window. The snow was getting pretty thick, she kicked some snow across the backyard before she hurried up the back porches steps. The back door was unlocked as always, Joel always left it unlocked in case Ellie needed anything throughout the night like more blankets or food.

Closing the door behind her Ellie knocked the snow from her boots on the doormat, she took them off before she hurried through the hallway. She could smell freshly brewed coffee wafting from the kitchen, she hated the smell of it. Joel had an addiction to coffee which Ellie was trying to ween him off since it kept him awake at night, she wanted him to get more sleep and rest between his patrols. She glanced at him in the living room while she put her boots on the shoe rack, he was sitting in his favourite arm chair with a book and a mug of hot coffee. She hung her coat up and entered the living room, the Christmas Tree had already arrived.

" Hey kiddio." Joel said.

" Hey, how was your day?" Ellie asked.

" Restful." Joel replied before he took a sip of his coffee. " How about you?"

" The same as always." Ellie replied with a smile. " Me and Cat had a soil fight, she started it though. I actually found soil in my underwear, but it was a fun day."

" I see." Joel smiled.

" So, this is the tree huh?" Ellie asked.

" Yep." Joel replied.

Ellie approached the tree and touched one of it's branches, the scent of pine filled the room. It had to be about six feet tall, it's branches were thick and full of pine needles. She had never seen a real Christmas Tree before, she remembered having a little plastic tree with gold and red baubles hanging from it's branches. She use to make a paper toilet roll fairy to sit on the top of it, she always liked making them when she was young.

" I thought it was going to be taller, but it looks good." Ellie replied.

" It's better than the plastic tree me and Tommy had when we were kids." Joel said.

" We had a plastic Christmas Tree at Military School in Boston, but this is way better." Ellie said.

Joel got up from his chair and picked a box up from the coffee table, he walked over to Ellie while he opened the lid on the box. He told her that he had a few baubles for the tree, she peered into the box and took a silver bauble from it. It was round and shinny, she could see a few cracks on it. She hung the bauble on the tree and rested her hands on her hips, she was admiring the bauble on the branch.

" What do you think?" Ellie asked.

" It looks good, but it may need a friend." Joel replied.

Joel took another bauble from the box, it was a gold coloured bauble. He hung it on a branch near the bottom of the tree and told Ellie to pick another one from the box, she chose a green bauble from the box this time. Each bauble was a different colour, they were in good condition and she could see faded pictures of stars on some of them. There wasn't any tinsel which was a little a bit disappointing for Ellie, she hadn't seen any since she was kid. When they had finished Joel told her he had a star for the top of the tree, he went to get it from upstairs while Ellie relaxed on the couch with some star shaped Christmas cookies Maria had made for them.

It wasn't long until Joel returned with the star, Ellie sat up on the couch and suffered the rest of her cookie into her mouth. The star was gold with sliver tips, it looked like something you would see in a story book. Joel sat down on the arm of the couch, he looked over at Ellie and told her that this star was actually from his old home back in Texas.

Tommy had returned back to where they use to live years ago after the infection had taken hold of the country, he had taken some of their personally belonging and pictures from their old home. He went onto tell her that Sarah had chosen it from a Christmas Stall at a festival, she had begged him to buy it for her.

" Sarah always managed to get her own way in the end." Joel said with a smile " She got it from Tommy."

" Oh I don't know about that, you know since Maria is the boss of Tommy." Ellie smiled.

" You could be right, he's been hen pecked since then." Joel chuckled.

" I called it!" Ellie laughed.

Joel smiled at Ellie and crossed his arms, he told her that Tommy was the same when he was a kid. Sarah use to spend a lot of time with Tommy when Joel was working, but after his Brother got a job at his workplace Sarah use to spend a lot of time at home when she wasn't at school. He went onto tell Ellie that Sarah had idolized her Uncle Tommy when she was growing up, she use to play football with him and helped him with the cooking. Ellie liked listening to Joel talking about his Daughter, she loved hearing about Sarah and the normal times before everything got crazy.

" So kiddio, do you want the honours?" Joel asked.

" The honours?" Ellie asked.

" Do you want to put the star on the top of the tree?" Joel asked.

" Fuck yeah!" Ellie replied.

Ellie jumped up from the couch and headed over to the tree, Joel wasn't that far behind her. He gave her the star and chuckled when she tried to jumped to reach the top of the tree, she was struggling. She was about to get a stool before Joel offered to give her a lift up, she couldn't refuse his kind offer. He rested his hands on her hips, Ellie bounced a few times and made rocket ship sounds while she raised her hand into the air with the star held tightly in it.

" Be careful, I don't want you to break anything." Ellie said.

" I can manage." Joel said.

" We have lift off!" Ellie smiled.

Joel lifted Ellie up by her waist, she reached towards the top of the Christmas Tree. She carefully placed the star on the top of the tree, it looked a little wonky though. Joel placed her back down on her feet, he then admired the tree they had decorated together. There was no lights on it yet, they could easily get some from the supply store in the community before Christmas Eve.

They stood in silence for a few moment before Joel asked Ellie if she would like to stay for dinner, but she told him she was too tired to eat anything right now. What she really wanted to do was get back home and finish her portrait of Joel off before Christmas Eve, there about a week left until then.

" May be tomorrow, okay?" Ellie asked.

" Sure thing." Joel replied.

" I could kill for a mug of hot milk though, you know to go with those Christmas cookies." Ellie said.

" You got it." Joel smiled.

Joel went to get Ellie a hot milk, she sat back down on the couch and helped herself to another cookie. She felt bad blowing Joel off again for dinner, but she had things to do and sleep to catch up on. They had gone patrolling together with Tommy a few weeks ago, they had fun and Joel taught her how to lite a campfire properly with flint. They still had their guitar lessons once a week, she still had a lot to learn from Joel yet. They sat together for an hour and spoke about their daily chores, Joel had been helping out with building repairs again.

It soon turned 10pm and Ellie told Joel she should be going now, she had to be up by 7am for her greenhouse duties again. Joel told her he knew how she felt, he had patrolling in the morning with Tommy. She didn't envy him, the snow had been coming down heavy and it was always freezing first thing in the morning. She went to get her coat and put her boots on, she told Joel that she would come to visit him tomorrow for dinner. Joel went to wash the mugs out while Ellie headed to the back door of his home, a cold breeze blew into the house when she opened the back door.

" See you tomorrow Joel!" Ellie yelled.

" Night kiddio!" Joel said.

" Night!" Ellie said.

Ellie closed the back door behind her, she hurried down the porches steps and made her way across the backyard to her garage apartment. The snow had eased now, the sky was clear for once and the stars were out. When she reached the garage's side door she noticed someone from the corner of her eye, she opened the garage's side door wide and squinted her eyes. She could finally see who was coming towards her, it was Cat. She had no idea why she was out so late, she crossed her arms and walked to met her halfway across the backyard.

" Hey, what are you doing here?" Ellie asked.

" I'm just dropping off a flask of leftover soup for you, it's an apology." Cat replied.

" For what exactly?" Ellie asked.

Cat told Ellie it was for the soil incident in the greenhouse this morning, she had hated that Ellie had gotten shitty about it. She told Ellie that there had been some leftover tomato soup and she thought that a flask of the delicious soup would be a great apology since it was going to be cold tonight. Cat had also brought some DVDs and a board game, she told Ellie that she thought a surprise sleepover would cheer her up.

" What do you say, Ellie?" Cat asked.

" Fine, you can sleep on the couch." Ellie replied.

" My favourite place in all the world, I wouldn't have it any other way!" Cat smiled.

" You're a dork, you know that right?" Ellie asked.

" Oh I know, that's why you love me!" Cat replied.

" Come on asshole, let's get out of the cold." Ellie said.

Cat draped her arm around Ellie's shoulders and gave her a side hug while they walked together towards the garage apartment, Ellie playfully pushed her away from her with a laughed. Cat told Ellie that she had seen Dina and Jesse this evening, they were sneaking out of the community again. Nothing surprised Ellie anymore when it came to Dina and Jesse, they would end up getting caught at some by Tommy if they weren't careful. Ellie switched the light on in her home and took her coat off, she told Cat to make herself at home while she put a few logs on her little fireplace.