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 another chapter, yeah things are a little slow now, but this is how I can make Joel and Ellie's relationship continue growing. Sorry for the grammar mistake and thank you to the people that continue reading this and posted a comment on it, I really appreciated that so thank you. I also wanted to add that I'm working on another story, but this one is more as father and daughter relationship, so is more closely as the game. is an action/adventure story with some drama too. So I like to hear your opinion on that. again thank you for reading the story and for like it so far.

Chapter 15: A weekend Vacation

( A few days later )

"Are we there yet? Asked Ellie for the ten times trying to piss up Joel.

They were on the road toward the winter resort. Joel goes to Ellie's house the day before and offers himself to take Marlene to the airport. She gives him the reservation papers and gives them a speech on how they need to behave up there. Just like a mother will do to her daughter and boyfriend. Joel finds that a little amusing to be lecturing like he was a teenage boy, but he knows that they are taking a risk there, so he needs to keep an eye on Ellie.

After they left Marlene at the airport, they went back to Ellie's home and he left Ellie packing her things while he got back home and got some rest. He told her that he will come back in the morning to pick her up. Of course, Ellie wants to go with him to his house, but Joel remembers her that they have the entire weekend together and that she needs the rest.

"Do you know that you sound like a little kid?" said Joel looking at the road.

Ellie pushes him a little on the shoulder. "I just fuking with you… man, you need to relax everything is going to be fine."

Joel looked at her with a serious look. "What do I tell you about the language?"

"Sorry… it just slipped out." she put an apology face.

"Well, try not to let them slip again, especially in front of people there. It looks bad talking like that Ellie."

"Okay… sorry," Ellie looked at the front and only saw more trees and snow on the side of the road. "Okay, but seriously, when we're going to get there? This is starting to get boring already."

Joel laughs at that. "Are you kidding me? We're just on the road for like one hour, how can it be bored already?"

"Well, it gets boring if your boyfriend doesn't talk during the whole trip," said Ellie looking at him now.

Joel looked at her. "You better not call me that up there…. Okay?" he said with a serious tone.

"I know, I just… I like how it sounds." Ellie turns her head to the side window and looks at the trees. You know, that I never had a boyfriend before… right? I tried to get closer to boys at school when we arrived here, but they always thought of me as a weird girl. So, in the end, I just stopped trying..."

Joel looks at her, then back to the road. "Ellie, I know this means a lot to you. But we need to wait okay…? If we don't do this right we're going to lose everything."

Ellie turns her head and looks at him. "I know, Joel… and I don't want to lose you again. So I will be a good girl and behave." Ellie moves to the side and grabs his arm. She put her head on his shoulder and smiled. "Let's put some music, okay?"

( One hour later )

They arrive at the winter resort center and after Joel parks, his car in the parking lot Ellie and he get out of the pick-up truck and walk toward the entrance of the place. They saw a lot of cars there and people walking around with luggage and bags. As they going into the building they saw a lot of people there too. "Wow… I think this place is full… look at all those people?" said Ellie while looking around the lobby.

"Yeah. I think your aunt mentioned that they will be full all winter." Joel answered her while looking at the people too. "Okay, let's go to the counter and get our rooms." Joel and Ellie walk toward the counter, where a few people were waiting for their turn. After 20 minutes the person in front of them moves away.

"Next...?" said the man behind the counter. Joel and Ellie move closer and greet the man. Soon they were in front of the desk, the man spoke again. "Welcome to the 'Giants Ridge Recreation Area' how can I help you?"

Joel looked at the man. "Good afternoon, My name is Joel Miller, I have a reservation for the weekend for two."

"Okay… let's check it out." the man moves his sight to his computer and starts taping on it. After a few minutes, he spoke again. "Okay, it says here that the reservation was made by Marlene Willians. But it was changed to Joel Miller and niece in two separate rooms."

"That is correct," answered Joel. he looked at Ellie and saw that she was trying to contain her laugh as the mention of Joel being her uncle.

"Well, sir… I am afraid that we don't have a spare room to make that change. As you can see the place is full for the weekend. But we can give you the original reservation for one room with two beds if you want to," said the man in a gentle way.

Joel looked at the man. "I don't understand, she made the change a few days ago. So why are you telling me that is not room for the change?"

"Sorry, sir… but it looks like they made a mistake on that. You still have your original room reservation, but I'm afraid that we don't have any extra room for the change. Do you want to proceed or want to cancel the reservation? The cancelation will be free of charge since was a mistake from or part sir,"

Joel makes a frustrated expression. "Just gimme a moment okay?" Joel pulls Ellie apart and away from the counter. "Okay, this is not what your aunt agreed to. So we have to call her and tell her." Joel took his phone out and was going to dial her number, but Ellie stopped him.

"Don't call her yet... please." She sounds sad.

"Ellie, we can't stay in the same room. Your aunt let us come here with some conditions and being in separate rooms was one of them." Joel up his phone again and starts dialing.

But Ellie stops him again. "If you call her, she will tell you to cancel the reservation and go back home… and I really want to spend the weekend here with you. The room has two beds, right? So we will sleep in separate beds anyway. I will behave I promise… please!"

"I have to call her Ellie, she trusts me and I have to keep my promise."

"Yeah… like you promise me that you are never going to leave me alone?" tears start to form in her eyes.

"That is not fair Ellie…" says Joel with a sad tone.

Ellie lowered her head as she felt bad about what she just said. "I'm so sorry… I don't mean to say that. I know that you have a good reason to leave… I just." Ellie turns around so Joel doesn't see her cry.

Joel looked at her for a moment. He knows that she has some hope on this trip, to spend more time with him. So take her back home now it will make her feel really sad. "Okay, let stay. I will deal with your aunt later."

Ellie turns around and wipes the few tears from her eyes. "Really!"

"Yeah… I still need to call her and let her know. But I think-" Joel did not even finish when he saw Ellie move at him and hug him tight."

"Thank you…" says Ellie while burying her face on his chest.

"Okay… let's get our room."

After they finish with the reservation. Joel and Ellie were escorted to their room. The man that takes them there, opens the door and guides them in. "Okay, the room has two beds, tv with cable, a little fridge, and the bathroom has a shower and a little jacuzzi too." the man started to explain while Ellie ran to one of the beds and jumped in.

"Really?" asked Ellie from the bed.

The man looked at her and continued. "Yes.. all our suites have one. Also, you have a balcony with a view of the mountain."

Ellie jumped from the bed and ran to the bathroom. "Wow… Joel, you need to see this," she yells from inside the bathroom.

The man looked at Joel and continued. "You have a flyer on that table, with the activities here including the ski schedule and rides. If you need anything please call the desk, help will be able 24/7."

"Thank you." Joel takes his wallet out and gives the man a tip. The man thanked him and left the room. Joel grabs his bag and put it on the bed and starts to take his clothes out.

Ellie walked out of the bathroom and jumped in her bed again. "Wow… this place is great… you need to see the jacuzzi in there."

"I can see that this place is very expensive for a small resort. You should thank you, aunt, for this when she came back." Joel takes the few clothes he brings and puts them in the drawer. "I suggest you start unpacking too."

Ellie smiles at him and moves out of the bed. She grabbed her suitcase, put it on the bed, and opened it. "What should we do first? I don't know how to ski so what more else is in here to do?"

"Let see," Joel walked to the small table in the corner where a little flayer book is with the resort activities. Joel opens the book and starts to check it out. "Okay, we have ski attractions… a few of them. I can see where they have different hillsides for all categories. Like experts, Rockies, and first-timers."

Ellie moves to the drawer and starts putting her clothes there. "Well, you need to teach me if we are going to one of those because I have never skied before."

"Yeah, we can use the small one since you need to learn. They have classes too, so maybe you-"

.

"Nahhh… I prefer it if you do it. I want to spend most of my time here with you and if we do it alone the better."

"Okay… let's see what else they have," they have some recreation areas, a restaurant, snowmobiles for rent, horse tours, but those depend on the weather conditions. Oh, they have ski chair lifts too."

"Really!… that sounds like fun," Ellie moved close to him and took the book guide. Let see... I like snowmobiles too. So what should we do first?" asked Ellie while looking at it.

"Well I'm hungry, so let go to the restaurant first to pick up some lunch, the go-to see what to do next,"

"That sounds good to me," Ellie put the guide on the table and grabbed Joel's arm. "C'mon uncle Joel let's have some food," she said with some giggle in her voice.

( One hour later )

Joel and Ellie were in the middle of their lunch. The place was full of people, some carrying their skis and walking around with their partners, where others were ordering food or eating.

"Wow, this place is great," said Ellie while biting a piece of her sandwich.

"Yeah… It is also too crowded… It looks like half of a town is here."

"Hi… Sorry for interrupting you… but you're Joel?... Joel Miller?" asked a woman standing beside the table.

Joel and Ellie look at the woman with curious eyes, especially Joel. "Excuse me… do I know you?" asked Joel back.

"Yeah… My name is Mis Topson. I used to live close to your house, back in Texas. Well, you probably don't remember me. You always were working and most of the time I just spoke to your wife. I moved out a year after you two moved in, so I didn't know what happened to you two," the woman lowered her head. But Ellie looked at her curious about what the old woman was saying.

"Sorry… but I don't remember you and I don't want to sound rude, but we're in the middle of our lunch here."

"Oh… yeah sorry for that. I just moved back to the neighborhood a year ago and hear about what happened to you and your wife after I left. And when I saw you here, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry about your loss."

Joel looks at Ellie so that it doesn't take her eyes from the woman, maybe waiting to hear more about him and his past. A past that he has to tell her soon, but not how. "Well, thanks for your concern… Mis Tonson… right?" said Joel, trying to make this woman go before she talks too much.

"Yes.. that is right."

"As I said, thank you for coming to our table and saying hi, but we need to be elsewhere soon…so."

"Oh… yeah. Sorry again, I hope you enjoy your time here, it was a pleasure to meet you again Mr. Miller," she looked at Ellie with curious eyes but didn't say anything. "Miss… I hope both of you have a nice day." the woman turned around and walked away.

Ellie looks back at Joel and notices that he is still looking at the direction the woman has gone out of the restaurant. But she noticed that something wasn't right with him. "What was that… an old friend of yours?" asked Ellie.

Joel looked back at her. "I don't know her… well, she said that she lives close to where I used to live back in Texas, but I don't remember her. I work all day, so I don't have time to talk with people around our house," said Joel picks up his drink and takes a sip.

"Well, I can see that she knows you, wife, at least… well, your ex." Ellie still looks at his eyes, trying to see why he gets so intense. Sure he told her about his ex-wife and how things went bad, but she knows that is something more.

"Yeah, they probably talk at look since I wasn't around much… I don't know. Anyway, that was a long time ago and my ex and me… just forget it okay? I don't even want to remember any of that, so let's finish here and go to the snowmobile tours."

Ellie does not want to press him on this, she is still curious about all that. "What does she mean by saying that she is sorry for what happened to you and your ex?"

Joel looked at her. "I don't know Ellie… maybe she hears that we get divorce… or something. It doesn't matter, all that is in the past." Joel went back to finish his lunch and didn't look at Ellie.

"Okay…" Ellie knows that it was more than that, but if Joel doesn't want to talk about it, she is not going to push him anymore. Ellie starts to remember Joel's nightmare back in the house when he seems to talk to someone in his sleep. She remembered the name he spoke… Sarah… who was this Sarah? She knows that is something more behind his past that he hasn't told her yet.

They finish their lunch in silence; they don't speak again about what just happened with that woman. And Ellie doesn't want to ruin their vacation there, so she lets things go, for now. They walk to the snowmobile rental place and buy a riding tour.

The man in charge of the tours starts to speak to the group. "Okay, people, there is going to be a two-person snowmobile for each team here. So everyone that has your ticket, can go and choose your transport." The people there start to move around and choose their vehicles.

"I want the white and redone," said Ellie walking toward the transport. Joel walked behind her and stood on her side. Soon after all the people there chose their snowmobile the guide man continued.

"Okay… now that you have your transport, let's continue. The tour is one hour and a half. It takes 30 minutes to get to our destination and you have 30 more minutes to enjoy the view and surrender after that is 30 more minutes to get back here. All of you already received instruction of how the snowmobile works, so get on them and prepare to follow me.'' Soon the guide finishes, people start to get on their snowmobile.

Joel mounted on the one Ellie chose and started the vehicle. Ellie Mounted behind him and grabbed her hand around his waist. "Are you ready for this?" asked Joel, a little excited.

Ellie moved close to his back and put her head on his shoulder and hugged him tightly. "Let's do this..."

Soon all the snowmobiles were on, the guide spoke again. "Okay people follow me and remember to keep your distance from each other. We don't want anyone to bump into each other or have an accident." the man moves forward and one by one the rest of the people start to follow him. The tour guide has 4 pairs of snowmobiles behind him. As he instructed, the line consisted of two snowmobiles to side each other to save distance.

15 minutes later from their departure, Joel and Ellie were having the ride of her life. Joel drove a motorcycle before, so this was easy for the trip got close to the line of trees in front of them, Joel moved the vehicle between them while following the others. As the tour has his predeterminate route up the mountain, the path was easy to follow.

"Wooohooo!" Ellie was screaming behind Joel while she enjoyed the ride.

10 minutes later they arrive at the top of the mountain where they have a small shaft with some souvenirs and snacks. As people start to arrive at the place, they dismount their vehicles and move around. Some go to the shack and other moves to where a wooden platform is on the edge of a cliff.

Joel parks the snowmobile close to the shack and turns it off. "Did you like the ride?" asked Joel while looking back at her.

Ellie was so excited that she just wanted to kiss him right there. "Wow… that was so cool. I'm so glad that we could come together," said Ellie while dismounting the snowmobile.

Joel gets out after her. "Glad you like it." He looked at the shack. "Do you want a snack? or want to get a souvenir or something?" asked Joel while looking at the place.

"I want to see the view first…" she goes for his arm, but Joel stops her. "Sorry I forget…" she said in a lower voice. Then just grab his hand and pull him toward the cliff. Soon they go there, they move closer to the railing and look at the view. "Wow… this is so beautiful."

They can see the other mountain in the distance, all covered in snow. They also could see the valley down below and part of the resort down there. The views were fantastic and beautiful and Ellie was happy to see all that with Joel on her side. She wishes to be alone there with him, so that way she can kiss him. But she knows that she needs to wait until they are back in their room for that. They promise Marlene not to do anything when they were there, but she doesn't see the harm in a few kisses.

They stayed there looking at the view for a while. After 15 minutes there, the guide man started talking a little about the history of the place and how it was constructed. After that, they buy a few snacks and souvenirs and then they start the way down from the mountain. After they turn end Joel and Ellie walk back to their resort rooms. Joel was happy that Ellie enjoyed the ride, even if it was a little cold up there.

"So what next?" Asked Ellie, soon they entered their room.

Joel went to the bed and lay there. "I don't think that I have any strength to go out again. Beside it is going to be dark soon, so maybe it's good if we just stay here for the rest of the day and order room service or something for dinner," said Joel while closing his eyes.

Ellie takes out all her heavy clothes and puts ten on top of her bed. Then she walked toward Joe's bed and lay beside him. "Maybe we can use the jacuzzi… I bring my bikini just in case," she said while snuggling to him.

Joel opened his eyes and turned his head to look at her. "Why do you bring your bikini? Is it winter time. So what makes you think that you're going to use it here?"

"Well, I thought that maybe they have a pool with warm water or something, but when I saw the jacuzzi, that was even better." She says with a smile on her face.

Joel looks at the ceiling. "I don't think that is a good idea… Ellie. We are not even supposed to be sleeping in the same room."

Ellie moved closer and put her head on his chest. "Well, it feels good to me. I feel like we just got married and this is our honeymoon." Ellie closes her eyes and starts passing her hand on his chest.

Joel passes his hand on her back. "I'm happy that you're enjoying this so far. But you know that you need to control yourself, especially outside. I suppose to be your uncle, remember?"

"Yeah… I know. I wish that we were up there alone, so that way I could kiss you… do you know that in one of the nights that I sleep in your house I have a dream?"

Joel continues passing his hand softly on her back. He knows that he isn't supposed to be doing anything of that, but he can't help himself. "What kind of dream?" he was hoping that it wasn't something bad or something he doesn't want to hear right now.

Ellie's face turned red soon and she started to remember the dream. She wants to share that with Joel, except for the sex part of course, even if that was the best part of the dream. So she will keep that to herself. "I just remember part of it. But we were together in a cabin or something… I think that I was older than now and we're married."

"Really! You have a dream of us being married?" asked Joel in surprise.

"Yeah… it was a good dream… I think that it made me realize that I was in love with you. It was a good dream… yeah, especially the sex part. Ellie tight her eyes trying to keep those taught out of her mind. "Do you think that we are going to get married in the future? I mean, I know that I want to, but I don't know about you… I know that you previously married didn't work well, but-" She stopped when she noticed that Joe went silent.

Joel closes his eyes again. He doesn't know what to answer to that. Yes, he loves Ellie but right now their future is unclear. Ellie is still young and the problem with her aunt could change their life. Besides, he doesn't know if he can be a good husband. He already destroyed his previous marriage and the last thing he wants is to hurt Ellie again.

"I don't know… it's still too early to think about that. Besides, you still need to be an adult before thinking about that and a lot can happen before that…"

Ellie raised her head and looked at his face. "Is not that long. I will be 17 in three months… besides, I am never going to stop loving you, no matter what," she said with a firm voice.

Joel opens his eyes and looks at her. He can see the fire and love in her eyes, but that can change with time. "Ellie… I-"

Ellie moved one hand and put a finger on his lips to stop him. "I don't want you to say anything… I know what I feel inside of me, and nothing is going to change that. I love you… and that is not going to change, even if you think that it does."

Joel looked at the ceiling again. "I know you don't want to hear this, but look at me Ellie, I'm just an old broken man… that never does anything good in his life. I know that you're in love now… but what is going to happen in a few years? When I get older and you see the real me… and know the things I did in my broken past."

Ellie just lay down in his chest. Yeah, he was right she didn't want to hear any of that. "I will still be in love with you. You may feel that you're broken inside… but I can help you with that… you once say to me that I need to open myself to the world if I want to be happy. So maybe it is time for you to do the same. Just let go of your past pain and look forward… I will be there for you all the way."

Joel looked at her surprised. How this girl can be so mature and say things that go into his heart and make the pain away. He remembers her always in his bad dreams, always keeping him safe from the pain. He remembers the voice too. The voice that tells him to let go of the pain and take his second chance. The voice that wants him to be happy. He didn't recognize that voice, but maybe it was time to let his pain go and move forward. Maybe it was time to open his heart completely to her.