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

A/N: Here is the next chapter. Again sorry for the grammar error on this story, I just hope that all not stop you for enjoy this fic. As always I wanted to Thanks all the people that are reading this and are posting comments and reviews. Also to follow and favorite this story. I hope that all of you have a good day and be care full out there.

Chapter 6: Going Back Home

"Hello… Mr. Miller."

Joel can't believe his eyes or the person that was standing in front of him. How the hell did Ellie's aunt find him? And that is something he really wants to find out. "What the hell are you doing here? Or a better question: how did you find me?" Joel asks with a hard tone.

"It wasn't easy I can tell you that, but that doesn't matter for now. Can I come in? We have a lot to talk about and I can't stay here for long."

"A lot of talking about? Look, lady. I think that we talked enough last time, and you let it clear for me to go away. I did what you asked and left, so I don't have anything else to talk about, so why you not go back to your car and leave me alone," Joel was going to slam the door on her face, but the woman moved quickly and pushed him out of the way and got inside. "What the hell-"

After Marlene gets into his apartment, she turns around and looks at him. "Look, I'm so sorry about all this, but we really need to talk."

Joel was holding the door open. He can't believe the nerve of this woman. "We already talked… and I did that right thing and went away… so what the hell are you doing here?"

The woman just started to move nervously inside the room. "As I said we need to talk... and this is not about me… or you… is about Ellie."

Joel opens his eyes wider as soon as he hears her name. "Wait… is something bad happening to Ellie?" he asked with a worried tone.

"No… yes…' she answered nervously. "Please can you hear me out? I know that I did the right thing to make you go away from her. But after three months, I think that I made a mistake."

Joel saw some tears coming out of the woman. He can't believe that this was the same person that came to his house three months ago and asked him to leave. He never wanted to see her again, but if something is wrong with Ellie, he wants to know. So he closed the door and moved close to her. "What happened to Ellie? and why are you here looking for me? I thought that you wanted to send me to jail to just be Ellie's friend," The woman just stays quiet. "Is something bad happening to her? Just tell me!" he yelled at this time.

The woman lowered her head and looked at the floor. "She… she is not doing good… and I think it is all my fault…"

Joel moved closer and put his hand on her shoulder. "Please stop mumbling around and tell me what is wrong with her?" Joel demanded.

"I don't know what you did to her to make... her love you like that… and she is only 16," more tears come out of her. "I know what I did was the correct thing to do… you're too old for her and that was wrong. But I think that she really loves you. I try to help her; I take her to a doctor, but she is getting worse. She gets depressed all the time and barely eats anything. We had a fight a few weeks ago and now she is getting worse. She found out what I did and now she doesn't talk to me, her grades are getting worse at school and... and I don't know what else to do to help her."

Marlene just sat on the bed and put her hand on her face and started crying. Joel can't believe that this was the woman that yelled at him three months ago and asked him to leave. But now he is worried about Ellie, and why she is here if Ellie is in that condition. So he moved close to her and stood in front of her.

"I don't do anything but listen to her and give her some company, something that she needs from you. What I want to know is why are you doing here? If Ellie is depressed why did you let her alone?"

The woman went up to her head and looked at him. "She is not alone… I let her with a good friend of mine." Marlene passes her hand on her face and wipes out the tears. "I am not sorry for what I did, she is only 16 and be with an old man… like you, it was wrong."

Joel looked to the side. "And you don't think I don't know that? I don't mean for her to feel that way toward me. I just go to that house to forget my own problems." Joel moves away from her and walks to the window. "Ellie is a good girl that only needs some attention, and I guess that I give her too much of that."

Marlene looks at him. She tries to see what Joel intends are toward Ellie. But all she sees is a man that really cares for her niece. "Look, I don't know you… and I just thought that you only want to have sex with her. I love my niece and I will do anything to protect her. I care for her, even if sometimes it seems like I don't."

Joel turns around and looks at her. "Yeah, she told me a lot of things about you. How can you treat her like that? She lost her mother and didn't have any friends, she needed you… and you just… let her alone. I may not be a good person, but what 's worse is what you did to her… because you're her family and she needs that."

Marlene lowered her head. "I know… I know she needs a mom. And I try to be one. I know that I abandoned her for too long and I will be sorry that the rest of the time I have left. But I want to change that and-"

Joel walks close to her again. "What do you mean by the time you have left?"

The woman looked to the side. "I came here, even if I believe that this is still wrong because I don't have too much time to fix things with Ellie," she turned her head and looked at Joel's face. "I just want Ellie to be happy and well and for that I will need your help," Joel watched the woman stand up and move around the room, he continued watching her until she stopped and looked at him again. "Don't get me wrong, I still think that the situation between you and Ellie is wrong. But helping Ellie to get better is my first priority, and I will do what I have to, to make sure that she will be okay in the future."

"Ma'am, I don't know what you are trying to tell me. What is going on?"

The woman looked at him with worried eyes. "I will need you to take care of Ellie, and to do that I need to trust you… as much that you need to trust me. I will explain things to you, but first I have to be sure of something and I want the thru," the woman crossed her arm and looked at him with firm eyes. "Did you have sex with Ellie?"

"What?" Joel opened his eyes wide. "I think we already discussed all that ma'am, and the answer is still no."

"Did you have plans to do it? Or take any advantage of her?" The woman starts to interrogate Joel. "Did you touch her or have any sensual approach to her?"

Joel rolled his eyes at the interrogatory the woman started on him. It's not like he blamed her, because that was supposed to be her job from the beginning, but it started to get annoying. So Joel moves close to her and looks her in the eyes. "Look, ma'am, I think you have the right to ask me all that. What I don't get is the real reason for all this. And what the hell do you mean about me taking care of Ellie?"

"Please do get mad, I just need to be sure that you don't have any bad intentions with Ellie. I don't know you and if I am going to leave Ellie in your care I need to be sure that she will be in good hands. So please just answer my questions and I need the truth. I need you to be honest with me… please. After that, I will tell you all you need to know and why I've been leaving Ellie alone for the last few years. I know that all that is not going to be an excuse, but I want you to understand."

"I still don't get any of this..." says Joel, moving away from her.

"You will… at least I hope so. One more question before we start." Marlene looks at his eyes to make sure of the answer he is going to give her. "Do you love her? I mean, like really love her… and not just playing with her feelings."

Joel looks at her, he doesn't know what to say to her. Did he really love her? That was a question that he has been asking himself since that kiss. He was starting to have some feeling about her, but all that was love?

He wanted to kiss her back that day, but he knew that it was wrong… loving her is still wrong. "I don't know what you wanted me to say about that? Ellie is a good girl and I care for her." Joel shook his head. I am not sure what exactly my feelings are for her, but I can tell you that I never will do anything to hurt her… intentionally, because I can see that leave has been hurting her."

Marlene looked at his face and knew that even if he did not answer the question directly, there is love there and that he really would do anything for her and that was enough for her. "Okay, I can work with that for now." She sat on the chair there and asked Joel to sit on the edge of the bed.

It takes a few hours for Marlene to explain things to Joel. After that, she asked him more about his life, like what he did before where he lived and all kinds of questions like that... She wasn't expecting to tell her all about him, she wanted to know more about him. He told her almost the same thing that he told Ellie because he didn't want to tell anyone about the daughter he lost. Especially not to her. They may want to help Ellie, but that does not mean that they are friends at least not for now.

Joel was sitting in the bed looking at her. "So, how long have you known about your condition?" Joel asked with a sad tone.

"Well, I found out for sure a year ago. But I've been visiting doctors for two years. They don't really know what exactly my conduction is. They said that it was some kind of rare cancer, so I have to get several opinions."

"Do they find a cure for it?"

"No that I know about it. They told me that it is rare cancer and that it probably does not have any cure, but I am still checking on that with other doctors."

"I see... So how much time do you have left?"

"The doctors are not sure yet, they said a year, maybe less. That is why I had to do those long trips out of town. I know that that is not an excuse for how I work things with Ellie before that, but I never have the material to be a mom."

"Yeah, but your sister thrust in you. I can see that she doesn't have any other family to let her with. So it was your job to take care of her. Also moving a lot makes it difficult to find a friend."

"I know, but I can't change the past now and Ellie will need someone to be with when the time comes. I know that this a lot to ask, especially after how I treat you. But you must understand that all I did was because I love her, and I was protecting her."

"Yeah, I get that part. I will do the same if it were me. But what I don't get is what you're proposing. Being her legal guardian is not going to help in her situation. That if she ever wanted to talk to me again after I left her like that."

"She loves you… she will understand. Besides she knows that you go because of me, so it is me the one she blames. The legal thing is only until she turns 18 and that it will be in 15 months. So that way I will make sure that the two of you don't do anything stupid that fuck this up."

Joel stands up and starts to walk around. "I'm not sure about all this. Don't take me wrong, I want to help Ellie… I will give up all I have for her, but my life is all just fuck up and I don't want to fuck hers too. She is a good girl and I think that she deserves someone better than me."

Marlene stands up and walks close to him. "I don't know what happened to you in the past that makes you think that way. But Ellie needs you and she will need you more when I'm gone. I think that I was wrong about you, just like I was wrong about Ellie and about other things, but not about this." She looked at her watch and saw the time. "Okay, I have to go. I will leave you the legal paper, so you can read them. Call me if you need me to explain something okay.'

"I'm still not sure about all this. I don't want to make things more complicated for Ellie."

Marlene grabs her bag and put the paper on the chair. "Just think about, and call me with your decision. Ellie needs you… Joel, so I hope that you do the right thing again and come back." with that the woman walked to the door and opened. She gives him one last look, then gets out of the room and closes the door behind her.

Joel looks through the window and watches her go. Then he went back to the bed and sat down. "I'm so sorry Ellie, I didn't want to hurt you that bad, but I did what I know it was right." He looked at the chair and saw the papers. I think your aunt is a little crazy, but I don't think she is a bad person.

( Two days later )

Joel doesn't know what to do with the situation. He does not have any doubt about helping Ellie if she needs it, but he doesn't know if coming back is going to help her or make things worse. He read the paper that Marlene let him and even that he will do anything for Ellie he doesn't not if this was the best option. The paper says that he will be his legal guardian if anything happens to Marlene before Ellie turns 18. Marlene told him that they can be together, but that he can't have sex with her until she was legally an adult. That's okay with him because he didn't have any plans to do that anyway. She also told him that he can't tell Ellie about this until the times come or tell her about her sickness. Marlene wants Ellie to enjoy the time before her sickness starts to get worse and she needs to deal with all that.

She also told him that he needed to help Ellie with her high school grades and to get into college. Marlene told him that she was doing this because she saw how much Ellie cared about him and that she didn't want Ellie to be alone when her time came. Joel asks her why she didn't want to tell Ellie the truth. And she told him that she was going to tell her, after the fight they had, but Ellie ran away. And when she found her in his house, she was crying in his bed begging for him to come back. Ellie was depressed, so she had to take her to the doctor. So telling her about her sickness is just going to make her feel worse.

After the conversation, Joel feels so sad for Marlene and Ellie. He knows that somehow he will break her heart if he just goes, but he never thought that Ellie will end like that. Marlene told him that after that she understood that Ellie will need him, so she started looking for him. Joel asks her how she found him? But she only said that she has friends. Now Joel needs to decide what to do with all that. For the last two days, he has been thinking about what to do. He even called Carol and told her that he had something to do and that he was not going back to work for a few days.

The next day he was still in bed in the afternoon looking at the ceiling. The thought of Ellie being suffering, because of him was eating his soul. Then he remembered the voice. The voice that he heard the day he gets drunk. The one that told him that someone needed his help. He thought that he was starting to get crazy, but what if all that was a sign? Ellie is being shown up in his nightmare and she always ends up helping him. So maybe now it was his time to help her, maybe it was time to go back. Joel stands up from the bed and starts to pack his things. He always said that he would do anything for her, so now it was the time to prove it.

Joel was finishing packing when he heard a knock on the door. He closed the last box and walked to the door and opened it. "Hey… I was calling you, but it only sent me to the voicemail," said Carol while walking into the room.

Joel closes the door and turns around. "Oh, sorry about that. I guess that I turned it off-"

Carol looked around and saw the boxes. "Are you packing you things?" she asked as soon she saw Joel bags on the top of the bed. She turned around and looked at him. Her expression was sad now. "Are you leaving?"

He rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. "I was going to call you… something came up and I need to go. Sorry about this, but it is something I need to deal with. I was going to pass to the car shop and tell you and BIll." Joel walks toward the bed and starts to close his bags. "What are you doing here anyway, you're not supposed to be at work?"

"Bill sent me out to pick up some parts since you were not there. So I decided to come here to see if you were okay... Joel, what happened? Why are you leaving? I know that we will only be friends for a little more that month, but living like this? Is all this because I kissed you?"

Joel stops and moves close to her. "This has nothing to do with that, but someone needs my help and I promise that I will be there for-" he stops before he tells too much. "I just need to go, sorry."

"But, what about Bill… he needs you too, even if he's never going to admit. And what about...us?"

"I'm so sorry… I know that this is… a little complicated for you. I wanted to tell you so many things about me, but didn't know how…"

"Carol grabbed his head and looked at him in the eyes. "Joel, I always told you that you can tell me anything. I like you a lot… I am not sure if what I feel is love… but it is something I sure about is that I'm your friend and I will always be here for you. So if something is bothering you or if something is happening you can talk to me."

Joel grabs her hand and moves them away from his face. "I like you… I really do and I think that you're a great person..."

"But you don't love me." she finished for him.

Jole lowered his head. He hates himself to be the one that always fucks up people's life. "I'm sorry …. I'm so sorry that things can't work out between us. I told you from the beginning that my life was all fucked up… and in the proses, I fuck up other people's life. But now I have the chance to fix at least one of my many mistakes and that is why I need to go."

Carol looks at him sadly. "Is okay Joel, I knew this was going to be a long shot… Bill warming about it… I just thought that we could make it work."

"I other circumstances I will like that too… but life is never that easy for me. You're a good person, so don't think that any of this is your fault. I'm the one that always fucks things up."

Carol, moves closer to him and kisses him on the lips, then she moves away. "Don't worry about me I will be fine. And if things don't work out with the person you need to help, you know where to find me." She walked away from him and went to the door and opened. Then she takes a deep breath and looks back at him. "Don't forget that you have friends here, so call me if you need to talk or if you need anything. Don't worry about Bill, I will tell him that you have an emergency and need to go out of town. He will kill you if you show up there and tell him that you quit and I don't want that."

Joel moves close to her and looks her in the eyes. "Thank you… for understanding and… for everything. I'm sorry that things didn't work, and that I messed your life up."

"Is okay, Joel. I'm not sorry to meet you. I have a good time and didn't think that you fuck my life up. It was fun to spend time with you, too bad it didn't work out, but I'm good with that. I hope that you find your happiness someday, I really want that."

Joel lowers his head. "I don't know if I will ever be able to do that… but I will try." he up his head and look at her. Thanks for being a good friend… and say goodbye to Bill for me."

"I will. Goodbye Joel Miller, I hope we see each other again someday." With that, she walks away and goes into her car and drives away.

Joel feels bad about all this… but he knew from the start that nothing was going to work between them. Now he has to go back to Minnesota and help Ellie if she lets him after what he did to her. Even if things change after three months, he will do everything he can to fix it.

Joel finishes putting his things on his pick-up and gets in. He starts the truck and drives away from the parking lot into the main street. He doesn't know what is going to happen next, but he will do his best to make Ellie forgive him and try to change things in her life. She deserves to be happy and if he can give her that, he will do his best to accomplish that.