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

A/N: Hi, welcome to another chapter of this story. I'm very happy to see how many people are reading this story and like it. Again sorry for the grammar error that the story has and again thanks for reading. I want to thanks all the people that leave a review, and the ones that are from guesses I want to give you my thanks, since I can't do it on a PM. Anyway, I hope all of you are enjoying this story so far and I wish you all good health and be careful out there with the COVID-19. And now lest continue with the story.

Chapter 11: Getting closer Again

It's been a week since Ellie and Joel sleep on the bed after they put the Christmas tree together. Ellie is getting better, less scared of Joel leaving her again, and more get more control of her emotions. Her nightmares have been less and less since she was spending more time with Joel. She still doesn't talk to her aunt much, but that is having his progress too. They do not have any fight since Joel is back, so Marlene is giving her more space to recover.

It is still strange to Ellie that her aunt has been okay with her and Joel spending more and more time together. But she is afraid to ask her why, because she doesn't want her aunt to change her mind. Ellie still needs to take her pills, but now that she starts to feel better, she thinks that she won't need them anymore.

Joel, on the other hand, has to take a few jobs, so that way he can win some extra money to pay the bills. He still has some from his job in the car shop, but he needs to work to keep that flowing. He is only taking small jobs for now as he wants to expend more time helping Ellie to get better. And he let her help him when she came to his house. He can't do much anyway since it has been snowing from time to time and he can't work in that weather. His nightmares are getting less too, so it seems that being with Ellie is helping him too.

Joel was working inside the shed cutting a few wood planks when he heard a familiar voice on the other side of the door. As it was cold outside, he kept the door closed, so the place stayed a little warmer.

"Hey, Joel… are you working there?" said Ellie while knocking at the door.

Joel stops what he was doing and looks at the door. "Yes… I'm in here… it's open."

Ellie opens the door and enters the place. Then she closed the door behind her and walked toward Joel. "I didn't know that you're going to work today too?" she asked.

"Yeah… I wasn't, but I have to finish this pole, for Mr. Rivers's fence… he asks me to repair it before next weekend." Joel put his tool on the table and looked at her. "You come here early. I thought you're going shopping with your aunt today."

"We're, but she received a call from work and had to go to the office. So I ask her if she can bring me here before she goes there."

Joel takes his work globs off and walks close to her. He was glad that she was wearing her winter clothes: Coat, globs, boots, and her hat. It was good to see her like that because even if today it wasn't snowing, it was still cold outside. "Remember to call me if your aunt can't bring you here okay? I don't want you walking here through the forest on foot as you did before. It is too cold for that now."

"Yes sir… you have been telling me that since you came back… you're been starting to sound like my aunt... jeez,"

Joel rolled his eyes. "I just want you to be safe, okay? And speaking about your aunt… are you two talking again?"

Ellie lowered her head. "A little… I still will not forgive her for… you know."

Joel moved closer and put his hand on her shoulder. "Look I know it is hard for you… but even if you don't believe it, she loves you and wants the best for you. Yeah, she makes a lot of mistakes in the past, but she wants to fix all that. So please try to understand her… and be patient with her is going to be good for both of you."

Ellie looks at him and starts to feel warm at his closeness, even if they have so many clothes on them."I don't know why you are still defending her so much…"

Because hating her is not going to change anything… and if you want this to work, it is better if your aunt feels that you're safe with me. And for that, you need to talk to her and make her understand. Besides she is your only family and is good for the two of you to get a good relationship."

Ellie looks to the side, knowing that Joel is right. She doesn't want to be bad with her aunt for the rest of her life. She loves her aunt and she has been caring for her since her mother died. Ellie is only mad at her for what happened with Joel and for being ignored for a long time. "Okay… I will do my best, but I'm still mad at her."

"I know you're, but things will get better… you just need to work on it," he leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead.

Ellie looked at his face surprised. It was the first time he kissed her there since he came back. She didn't like that much when he did it before a few times, because she thought that he was thinking about her as a child or like his daughter. But now it feels different, and even though she prefers him to kiss her on the mouth, it was a start. Ellie smiles at him and thinks how much she misses his face. She wanted to touch it so much now, feel his skin in her hand, his bear, his hair, and of course his lips. She barely remembers the kiss she gave him or her dreams about him. All that was substituted with pain and nightmares. Her smile is gone, as she starts to feel sad about all that. Yeah, he told her that he loves her when she asks him, but yet he does not give her any proof of that, so she won't know if it is true or he is only here for pity.

"So… what are we going to do today?" she says, trying not to think about all that.

Joel let go of her and look at the table. "Well, I need to finish this and then go to Mr. Rivers's house and repair the fence. Maybe we can do something after that."

"Can I help?"

"Humm… I just need to cut this… but I guess I can teach you how to do it."

"Cool," Ellie smiled at him again. She always feels better when she was closer to him and does something together.

"Okay then. Let me find some working gloves and glasses. But remember to do all that I told you, I don't want any accidents here… okay?"

"You got it… boss," Ellie starts to take her winter globes and her coat.

Joel laughs a little at that. Man, he really misses her. I don't know if it is good calling me that, but okay."

After Joel finds the things she needs, Ellie takes her hat off too and puts on the globe and glasses. Joel had a portal heater there, so the inside was a little warmer. As she finished, Joel noticed that her hair was loose, no ponytail or any kind of tie on her hair.

"Okay, I already showed you how to work with this before, so I'm just going to refresh your memory… okay? Now come here," Ellie walks closer to the table and gets in front of the wood Joel was cutting before. Joel moves behind her and grabs her arms with his. "Now grab the saw and put it there." he starts to tell her.

"Like this?" she asked almost like a whisper.

"Yes, that is good. Now use one hand to hold the wood, and move the other like this." Joel uses his hand to move hers, showing her how to do it. His head was over her shoulder and Ellie could feel his bear rosing her cheek. His body was touching her from behind, and after a few minutes, the feeling of his closeness was getting worse.

Ellie starts to remember those lessons that he gave her before and how his hand feels good on her skin. Of course, it was summer, so they used fewer clothes back then. But even that feeling is still the same. Joel's touch was always so exciting to her, no matter how small or short they were. Ellie wishes to be summertime and thinks that nothing will happen. She will love to go to the lake with him and put on her bikini and go swimming again. But those daydreams were gone, and she can't think about that right now. It is not like she doesn't want to be close to him, but sometimes she thinks if they are going to be the same as before.

After a few minutes, Joel let go of her and let her do the work by herself. "I think you're doing fine… I will work with something else while you finish that."

Joel moves away from her and walks to the other side of the table and starts doing other things. He has to move away from her when he notices his lower part starting to react by just touching her. He forgets how her body affects him when he touches her too much before, so he needs to avoid that. He promises Marlen that they will do nothing, so he needs to keep his word.

Yeah, he told her that he loves her, and it was true, but he does not want to ruin things with her aunt. He doesn't have sex with anyone in a long time and even that he goes out with Carol a few times, they don't anything.

They spend an hour in the shed finishing cutting the wood and preparing the things he needs. After that, he put his coat on and went outside to move the truck closer to the shed. Soon he did that, he started to pick up the wood for the fence and put it in the back of the truck.

"So you're going to Mr. River's house to finish his fence now?" asked Ellie while helping him.

"Yeah… it's going to take just a few hours… So if you want to stay here and watch tv is okay with me… I'm so sorry, I have to leave you alone for a few hours, but I thought that you were coming in the afternoon."

"Can I go with you? Please… I don't want to stay here alone… and maybe I can help you with something…"

Joel put the last piece of wood on the truck and closed the back door. "I don't know… Mr. River is going to be there and-"

"And you don't want people to see you with me… I see. Well, you can say that I'm your new assistance… so that way you don't have to be ashamed of me." she said the last part with a sad tone.

Joel notices that and walks close to her and put his hand on her shoulder. "Ellie, I am never going to be ashamed of you… but you know what is going to happen if people start talking."

"Yeah, I know… but on top of all, we're friends. It is not like I am going to tell anyone that we're a couple or anything."

"Wow...wow… take it, easy girl… we need to wait a lot for that. Remember we can be together as friends for now. But you need to be 18 before we can be like that." said Joel letting go of her and start to walk back to his truck.

"But.. you said that you love me and I love you… so that does not mean that we're together now?"

Joel turned around and looked at her. "Yeah… I said that I love you and I mean it. But we need to work on this slowly… You're still a minor and we can't do anything until you're an adult."

"So that means that you're going to wait for me?" she said with an expression of hope on her face.

"I told you that I'm not going to leave you again. But all this is a complicated thing, so we have a lot to talk about… remember we need to do this step by step."

Ellie gets close to him and hugs him. "I don't care how long it takes if at the end we are together."

Joel hugged her back. But he doesn't know if telling her that is a good idea, at least for now. Yeah, he wants to be with her even if that sounds a little sick. But he can't deny his feelings toward her. So he just needs to do this the right way. "Okay… Ellie, we can talk about all this later okay? But now I need to go and do some work."

After a minute Ellie let go of him but stayed close. "So I can go with you… please. It will be good... I promise."

Joel looked at her for a moment. He knew that it wasn't a good idea, but he did not want to let her alone here either. "Okay fine… but you will do what I tell you okay?"

"Yeyyy..." She moves at him again and hugs him. Thank you… thank you… I will be good... promises." Soon she moved away from him, she walked to the other side of the truck and got inside. Joel shook his head and did the same.

"Just… try to not talk too much, okay," he put the key in the ignition and started the truck. After they put the seatbelt on, Joel starts driving away from his house.

Joel drove to the man's house that was on the other side of the lake. It takes him half an hour to get there, so soon he arrives at the house, he parks his truck in front of it.

Joel gets out of the truck and Ellie does the same. "Open the back door, and start to get out my tools. I will speak to Mr. River." Joel told Ellie while he walked toward the front door of the house.

Soon Joel goes close, the door opens and an old man walks out into the porch. "Good morning Mr. Miller… I can see that you came early… that is good." said the old man while getting close to Joel.

Joel stand his hand and shook it with the man. "Yeah, I want to finish the job today, so I'm bringing a little help," he said while looking back to the truck.

The man looked at the truck and saw Ellie moving a few things out of the back of the truck. "Oh, I see…. Is that your daughter?" the man asked surprised.

Joel put his hand on the back of his neck and looked at Ellie. He can't do the daughter card, because that will be weird. So he decided to tell the truth, well in part. "No, she is... my neighbor's niece. She has to do a few things at work, so she asks me if I can keep an eye on her. So, since I have to do this work and she does not want to stay alone in her house… she insists on coming with me and helping me," Joel says a little nervously.

"Well, it is rare that a girl so young likes to do this kind of work. How old is she?" asked the man.

Joel looked at her. "She is 16. Yeah is kind of a surprise for me too," answered Joel.

Well, if that helps to finish this today, it is fine with me. Just make sure that she doesn't have an accident," the man gives another look at Ellie then, back at Joel. "Okay, if you need anything else just let me know okay. I will be inside doing a few things." said the man while turning around and get back inside.

"I will, thank you," After that Joel walks back to the truck and starts to help Ellie with their things.

After a few minutes, Ellie gets close to Joel and whispers. "What he said? Because he was looking at me very rarely."

Joel put some plank on the floor and looked at Ellie. "He asked me if you're my daughter? Do you know him? Because he doesn't seem to know you."

"Well, I don't know all the people that live here. Just a few ones that live close to my house." Ellie looks at the house. "But I think that I see him a few times in town, but I never cross to this part of the lake. So I don't really know him."

"Okay… don't worry about it. Let's finish this and go back to the house," Joel grabs a few wooden planks and starts walking toward the back of the house. "Ellie!... grab the toolbox and follow me. The fence is on the back." Said Joel while opening the little door that leads to the back yard.

Joel and Ellie work on the fence for a few hours. Joel changes the old wooden planks While Ellie helps him put the new ones. After they finished, Joel told Ellie to put his tools back in the truck and wait for him. But soon she starts to pick up the tools and put them in the box, the old man walks out of the house and walks toward them.

"Hey, I can see that you did a good job," he said while looking at the fence. "Are you two are hungry or want some hot chocolate?" the man said while walking close to them.

Joel grabbed a few of the old wood pieces and put them on the ground. "No need to do that… , we're fine thank you."

The man moves closer to Ellie and looks at her. "It's good to see a girl like you do this kind of work. What is your name?."

Ellie put the toolbox on the floor and looked at the old man. "My name is Ellie… Ellie Williams... Nice to meet you, Mr. Rivers. My aunt's name Is Marlene, maybe you know her."

"No, I don't think so. Anyway, you can call me Martin… and the pleasure is all mine. Sorry that I look at you with some interest, but I never saw a girl do this kind of work before."

"Oh… is okay. I like to do any work… if it is not too hard for me of course." Said Ellie while smiling at the man.

Joel moves closer to Ellie, then looks back at the man. "Well, the job is done, so if you don't need anything else, I will come back tomorrow and collect the old plank if you want me to."

"Oh, that is okay I will keep them and use them on the fireplace. But you can take some if you want." After that, the man moves one of his hands to the back of his pants and takes an envelope out of his pocket. "Here, this is the rest of the payment for the job and this is a number of a friend of mine that lives on the other side of town. He has a farm and some of his stables have some damage on the roofs. He was looking for someone to do the job. So if you're interested, just give him a call."

Joel grabs the envelope and the piece of paper and shakes the old man's hand. "Thanks, I will think about it."

"The man gave Ellie one last look. "Have a good day young lady," then he walked back to his house."

Joel helps Ellie grab the rest of his things, then go back to the truck. Soon they finish, they go into the truck and Joel starts to drive away. "Why don't you accept the food… I'm hungry," said Ellie while looking at him.

"I don't like the way he looks at you. Besides, it was better to get out of there before he starts to ask questions that we can't answer."

Ellie mirk at him and turns her head toward the car window. "Oh…I see. Do you think that he likes me? Because I think that he was very nice…" said Ellie trying to tease him.

Joel continued driving without looking at her. "Yeah… I think he was too nice."

"Jeez... Joel doesn't tell me that you are jealous… because of him."

"What!" Joel turned his head and looked at Ellie and saw that she was giggling a little. "I'm not jealous… Why am I jealous?"

Ellie laughed a little more. "I don't know… I think he was a good looking man, even if he looked older than you."

"Are you fucking kidding me right?"

"Yeh… Don't worry about it, I was just kidding… but I really need some food."

"Shit girl… don't say things like that, is not funny. Besides, don't worry about the food. I was going to take you to a diner for lunch…" said Joel while continuing to drive.

"Really? Cool… it's going to be like our first date…" she said with a big smile on her face.

"Ellie?" He looked at her with a serious face.

"Okay.. okay… I am not going to say anything there. jeez..."

Half an hour later, Joel and Ellie arrive at the town diner that was close to the plaza. Soon they get in they get a small table closer to the glass window. Ellie grabs the menu that was on the table and starts checking the food.

A few minutes later a young woman came to the table to take the orders. "Hi, welcome to Abby's Lunch & Breakfast... What can I get you today?"

Joel looks at Ellie, so she can order first. "What do you want?"

Ellie looked at the menu again. "I want a big chicken burger with everything, some fried potatoes, and a chocolate milkshake," she said then put the menu down.

"Okay… and you mister?" asked the woman looking at Joel now.

"The same… but with a coke please…"

The woman started writing on her notepad. "Okay then… I will be back in a few minutes." After that, the woman grabs the menu and walks away.

Ellie looks the woman walk away then turns her head back to Joel. "So… are you going to take that other job?"

"What Job?"

"The one the old man told you. You know, the farm one? I think I know that place and they have horses, so if you do, I want to go with you… I like horses."

"I don't know, it sounds like a lot of work… anyway, do you know these people?"

"Well, as I said I know the place, but I never go that way with my aunt. The place is on the other side of town. I think that they have to be the Morrison, they are the only one that has a ranch around here. The place is really big… well, that is what I hear."

"They sound like rich people… I don't like to work with rich people. They always think that they are better than regular people."

"Why don't you like to work for rich people? If they have a lot of money, they can pay you well. Anyway, it is strange that they're looking for someone to fix their ranch? With all that money they can hire a company or something."

"I don't know… but maybe you are right. If they have money, why try to hire a simple handyman like me?"

"Well, the only way to find out is to go there and see what the job is going to be."

"We?… I don't remember you being added to my job description."

"Ahhh… c'mon I just help you with that fence… I don't need to help you if you don't want to. I just want to go there and see the horses… please!"

Joel rolled his eyes. "I will think about it… okay?"

"Yayyyy… Thank you, Joel." She gave him a big smile.

10 minutes later the woman arrives with the food and drinks. So after she goes away, they start to eat their food. They eat and talk there for two hours before they come back to Joel's house and wait for Ellie's aunt to come back and pick her up. They had a good day together, and even though that lunch wasn't a real date, Ellie felt happy that they had some quality time outside their houses. After they get back, Joel decides to get the rest of the days off and watch some movies on the tv with Ellie. They were getting closer again, and that was making Ellie really happy.