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

A/N: Another chapter on this epic story... I just kidding. But I'm glad that a lot of people like it so much. I hope that all of you are safe out there and thank you for taking a little of your time to read my story. Again, I want to thank all of you for the comment you put on this story and it makes me happy that some people get emotional as soon they read a chapter. I not good with drama or romance, but it seems that I touch some people with this story and that makes me feel good. Again, thank you for the support of this story and I hope you enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 17: A Weekend to Remember

After Ellie goes, Joel goes to the drawer and takes the clothes he was going to use for his date. Then go to the bathroom and take a shower. One hour later he gets out of the room all dressed up he goes out of the room and down into the first floor. After he got there, he got out of the elevator and walked toward the beauty salon that was passing the lobby. When he got there a woman met him at the front door.

"Hi, welcome to Sonia salon, can I help you with something sir?" said the woman at the front desk with a smile on her face.

"Hello, my name is Joel… Joel Miller. I made a reservation for a girl named Ellie two hours ago. Is she ready?" he asked.

"Oh… yes, her uncle… l will check if they finish with her, wait here Mr. Miller," the women stood up and went to the back where they had some small private rooms. Joel waited for a few minutes until the woman came back. "She is coming out in a few minutes sir." Say the woman soon gets back to her desk.

A few minutes later Ellie walks out of one of the rooms and moves toward him. Joel was with his eyes wide open. He knows how beautiful Ellie was before, but with that dress and makeup, she looks even more beautiful than before. She doesn't even look like a 16 years old girl, she looks more like a woman now.

"How do I look?" Asked Ellie while doing a 360-degree move in front of him.

"Wow… you look… absolutely beautiful." Joel doesn't have any more words to describe her. Not without attracting too much attention considering that he is supposed to be her uncle. Taking her on a date was already risky enough.

"Thanks… Ummm, uncle… you're very kind," Ellie tries to keep their cover, but she has to hold her laugh every time she has to refer to Joel as her uncle.

Joel moves closer to her and offers her his arm. "Can you give me the honor to take you to dinner, young lady?" asked Joel by grabbing Ellie's hand, bending down a little, and kiss the top of it.

Ellie giggled at that, as she remembered seeing that in olds movies. "I love to…" Say Ellie grabs his arm and both of them start to walk out the place.

"Have a good night… miss." said one of the women that work on her.

"Yeah… and a happy birthday… too" add another one.

Ellie turns her head and waves to them with her free hand. "Thanks… thank you for everything," says Ellie before they get out of the place.

Joel and Ellie were walking towards the restaurant when Joel moved his head close to her and whispered. "Birthday?"

"Sorry… but they start to ask a lot of questions about you and why you want me to look like this tonight. So I have to tell them that you want to have a birthday dinner with me as a gift."

"Oh… I see. Well, I hope that we end soon with this… uncle thing before people start getting suspicious about it. But for now, let just enjoy our dinner." Soon they arrive at the restaurant, a man receives them and asks if they have any reservations. Joel looked inside and noticed that the place was full.

Hello, Welcome to The Winter Hill's. As you can see we're full tonight, so if you don't have a previous reservation the waiting time can be more than one hour." said the man kindly. "So do you have a reservation for tonight?"

Joel moves in front of Ellie and looks at the man. "Yes, we've. My name is Joel Miller, and I made a reservation this morning for two."

The man looks at his tablet and checks the list. A few moments later he answered him. "Oh yes, Mr. Miller and his niece. That will be table number 12, wait here." The man turned around and moved away. He called one of the waitresses and a young woman came carrying two menus with her. "Escort Mr. Miller and his niece to table 12." said the man to the young woman.

"Yes sir." then the woman turns to look at Joel and Ellie. "Follow me," Joel and Ellie follow the woman to their table. When they arrive Joel helps Ellie to sit down then he moves to the other side of the table and sits. "Welcome to The Winter Hill's. My name is Joan and I will be your waitress for tonight, so if you need anything just let me know." She gave one menu to Ellie and the other to Joel.

"Thanks," says Joel while grabbing the menu and checking it out.

The woman looks at Ellie and smiles. "I like your dress… miss."

Ellie looks at her and smiles. "Thank you."

"Is this your first time here?" asked the woman.

"No, we came here yesterday for lunch. Of course, it was more empty then," answer Ellie.

The woman giggled a little. "No, I mean here in the resort."

Ellie felt a little embarrassed about that. "Yes… It is our first time here. Can you bring us two coke while we check the menu?" Joel said, trying to end the conversation before the woman continued asking more questions.

"Sure sir… right away." The woman turns around and walks away.

Ellie turns her head and looks at Joel. "That was not very polite," said Ellie with a lower voice.

"Sorry, but she was starting to ask a lot of questions, and that is the last thing we need here."

Ellie looks around and watches all the people in there. "Yeah, you're right…" then she looked at Joel again. "Anyway… I never told you that you look nice too. Where do you get that suit?" asked Ellie while putting her hand together on top of the table and looking at him.

"What, this?" Joel laughed a little. "It is just an old thing that I had in one of my boxes. I never use it, so it is practically new."

"Well, you look handsome on it," she said with a smile on her face.

A few minutes later the waitress came back with the drinks and took the odor from them and went back to the kitchen. Live music starts with a small group playing some songs for the people there. Joel and Ellie talk a little before the food comes in. She told him about what the woman did to her in the salon and how good it was. She thanks him again for all that as she never had that experience before. Joel was happy for her. Seeing her smile and laugh like this was good.

The food arrives one hour later, but they don't mind. They use that time to talk and have a good time there.

"So… what are we going to do tomorrow?" asked Ellie while taking a bit of her food.

"I'm not sure, we did a lot already… so I don't know what else is here to do, besides ski again."

"Well, that was fun… but I don't know if it is going to be good to do that again."

"We can check the guide again and see what else we can do."

Ellie stays silent for a few minutes. There are a lot of things on her mind, a lot of things that she wants to share with Joel. She never felt this happy before, and all that was thanks to him. She looks at him and wants to say a lot of things. This man came to her life and changed it, and she was happy about that. She wanted to kiss him right there. She wants to show him how much he meant to her, how much she loved him, but all that has to wait.

"Joel," says Ellie looking at him. "I want to thank you… you know, for everything. This weekend is going to be something that I will remember forever."

Joel put his hand on top of her on the table. "You don't need to thank me for all this. You deserve to be happy. And if I can be part of that, it will be my pleasure." Joel picks up her hand and kisses it. It was the only thing they could do right there.

Ellie's eyes start to water. But she tried to hold her tears back and smile at him. "Thank you… you make me very happy… Joel," She picks up a napkin and cleans her eyes. After they finish the food, the band starts to sing a slow 80's song. Ellie watches Joel while he looks at the direction of the band and smiles. "I think they are singing our song."

Joel looks back at Ellie and smiles too. "Do we have a song?" He asked, a little confused.

"Well, this one could be. 'Take My Breath Away' is one of my favorite songs." said Ellie looking at him.

Joel smiles at her and stands up. "Do you give me the honor to dance with me?" he said, moving close to her and extending his arm at her.

"It will be my pleasure…" Ellie takes his hand and stands up. They walk to the center of the place where other people were already dancing. Ellie put her hand on Joel's shoulders and Joel put him on her waist. Then they start dancing at the rhythm of the song.

After the song ends they start a new one. It was a slower one called 'I Want To Know What Love Is' so Ellie moved closer to Joel and Joel moved his hand behind her. They dance like they were all alone there. At that moment they didn't care if people were looking at them. After the song ends Joel notices that some people are looking at them, so he takes Ellie's hand and goes back to their table. He orders a dessert and after they finish, they stand up and walk toward the exit. Joel asked for the bill to one of the waitresses and after he paid it, they walked out of there.

Joel takes Ellie to a terrace on the second floor with a view of the mountain. Ellie put her hand on the rail and looked at the view. "I wish we could dance all night. Wow… that feels so good… thanks, Joel," said Ellie now looking at Joel that was now beside her.

"Yeah… but people were already looking at us, so…"

Ellie lowered her head. "Yeah… I understand. I just wish that we don't have to hide our feelings." Joel didn't say anything. He just put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer. They stay there for like an hour, then go back to their room. Soon they were inside, Ellie thanked Joel again and kissed on the check. She wanted to do more than that, but the feeling of not being able to do anything in public was eating her. So after they take their shower and change clothes, they go to their bed and fall asleep.

( Next Day )

Joel woke up when he felt the room a little cold. He looked at Ellie's bed and noticed that she wasn't there. He takes his blanket off and gets off the bed. "Ellie?" Joe walks to the heater and puts it on height, then he opens the curtain on the glass window and looks outside. It was snowing, so they probably can't do anything outside today. "Ellie? Are you in here?" he asked again.

"In here!" Ellie's answer him.

Joel turns around and looks at the direction of the voice. It was coming from the bathroom. Joel walked there and stood in front of the door that was close. "Ellie, is everything okay in there?"

"Yes… you can come in… is okay."

Joel waits for a minute, then opens the door. Soon he got into the bathroom, he saw Ellie that was inside the jacuzzi. "What are you doing? Is freezing in here and is snowing outside."

"Yeah, I know. That is why I came here. The water is so warm," Ellie moves closer to the edge of the jacuzzi and looks at Joel. "You want to come in?"

"Are you crazy…?" said Joel shooking his head.

"Well, it's better than going outside. Besides I told you that I want to try this… so you want to come in or what?" says Ellie standing up so Joel can see that she was wearing her bikini, the one she uses back in the lake in the summer.

"No… I don't think so. I will wait for you outside." Joel was going to turn around, but Ellie grabbed his arm and pulled him into the jacuzzi. Ellie starts to laugh and soon Joel lands on the water and gets all wet. "Ellie!... what the hell?"

Ellie starts laughing. "Sorry… I can't resist myself." Ellie sat down back on the jacuzzi and looked at Joel that was now all wet on the other side.

"C'mon Ellie that wasn't cool. This is the only nightclothes I bring here." Joel stands up and gets out of the jacuzzi and grabs a towel.

Ellie moves to the side. "C'mon Joel… we can't go outside with that weather… so why not share this with me?"

Joel starts to dry his hair with the towel. "That is not going to be good for us. Besides I don't bring any to wear for that."

"Oh… that is okay. You can get in with nothing… I will try not to look at you... much." said Ellie with some giggle in her voice.

"Yeah… very funny." Joel moves to the sink and takes his sleeping t-shirt off and squeezes it there. He needs to take off his pants too, but with Ellie in there, he can't. "Shit.. is freezing. I need to take this off."

Ellie moves to the other side of the jacuzzi and looks at him. "By all means… I will enjoy the show."

Joel turns his head and gives her a hard look. "That is not funny either… now turn around and look at the wall."

"What!" Ellie says surprise.

"I need to take the pants off and I can't do it out of the bathroom without wetting the carpet. So turn around and look at the wall. I know this is not right, but you don't let me have any other choice." Joel put the towel around his waist to cover himself.

Ellie looks at his naked chest. And start imaging him without clothes. After that, she starts to feel her body getting hot. When Joel turns to look at the mirror Ellie stands up from the jacuzzi and gets out from it. She moves slowly toward him and gets closer from behind. Ellie slowly moves her arms around him and touch his hairy chest.

Soon Joel feels her touch he turn his head to the side. "Ellie, what you doing?"

"Ohhh... Joel, I want this so much," Ellie presses her body to his back and put her head on it, then she closes her eyes. "I love you so much... I just... wanted to feel you."

Joel feels her hand moving on his chest and it feels good. he is not with a woman in a long time so is hard for him to resist the temptation. he closes his eyes for a moment as he feels Ellie's body pressing on his back. "Ellie!... we can do this... we make a promise... and..." Joel tries to continue, but her touch feels so good.

Ellie continues moving her hand until it starts to get lower. "I know... but... maybe we can-" Soon Joel feel her hand getting close to his lower part, he opens his eyes and grabs Ellie's hands making Ellie open her eyes and move her head away from him.

Joel moves her hand away from his body and turns around. "I know this is hard for you... believe me, is it for me too, but we need to control all this before it got too-" Joel no even finishes when Ellie move closer to him grab his face and pull him down toward her. Soon he was close enough she opens her mouth and grabs his with hers and kiss him. After a minute both of them just let go of their restriction and continue the kiss. Joel moves his hand on her back and pulls her closer. As she was wearing only her bikini, Joel can feel her almost naked body press on him. Ellie moves her hand on the back of his neck to deepen the kiss.

They don't know how long they stay like that, but both of them wanted to be forever. Joel knows that they can't continue or they will end doing something more. Is not like he doesn't want to, but he knows they can't. So after a few minutes, he slowly breaks the kiss. "I know you want to do more than this, but we can't," he said while looking at her face.

"I... just want us to make love... and know how it feels." Ellie put her head on his chest and close her eyes. I not that you can't do it because of my age, but I just wanted to feel your, love."

Joel hugs her. "I love you Ellie, and we don't need to have sex to feel that." He kisses the top of her head and smiles. "We don't need to rush this, will we have time for this when the time is right," Joel move her away from him and look at her face. "Now I need to change... so can you... turn around and don't look?"

Ellie gives him a small smile. She wanted to make love to him, but not wanted to force it either. Okay, I will go back to the jacuzzi and don't look at you while you change your pants." Ellie moves closer and gives him a small kiss and then she turns around.

Joel waits for a minute, making sure that Ellie does not turn her head and look at him. After he made sure that she wasn't looking, he started taking off his pants under the towel and put them on the sink. "I will go out and put some pants on. Also going to order something for breakfast… do you want something inarticulate?"

Ellie turned around and saw Joel walking toward the door. "Yeah order me some pancakes… but I will stay here for a while." watching Joel with only the tower remember her that time in the old cabin again. Even if she wishes for Joel to stay there with her, she was lucky that he was going out of there before she starts to lose herself again. Ellie never experienced anything like this before, so it was hard to control her hormones.

"Okay, do you want something extra with-" Joel started to said when his phone started to make some sound. "Okay, I will check who it is first." Joel gets out of the room and closes the door.

Ellie lay back on the water and closed her eyes. Damn it… Why did I have to be 16… why I didn't meet Joel when I was older? That way I could be with him already without this waiting and hiding what we feel. She said to herself, then went under the water to calm herself.

Soon Joel gets out of the bathroom, he walks to his bed and grabs the phone that was on the table beside the bed. The phone already stopped ringing, but as soon he saw the name of the person that called, he put one hand on the top of his head. Shit! He sat on the bed and looked at the bathroom door. As he didn't see Ellie coming out from there he stood up and looked for clean pants and a shirt. After he put some dry clothes on, he sat on the bed again and called back Marlene. He hears the phone ringing a few times, then he hears the phone be answered.

"Hello, is Joel. Sorry, I didn't answer before, but I was busy with something. So, how are things in Chicago?"

"Hey, Where is Ellie? Because I called her three times and she didn't answer the phone. That is why I called you. Do you know why she didn't answer her phone?" asked Marlene with a serious tone.

Joel rolled his eyes. "Sorry, but Ellie is in the bathroom and I-" he stops before continuing.

"What do you mean that Ellie is in the bathroom? Is Ellie in there? Because you two were supposed to have different rooms."

"Yeah, about that. I have been calling you since Friday and I have sent you a few text messages." Joel tries to keep his voice down, so that way Ellie doesn't hear the conversation. "I was calling you to let you know that they made a mistake on the reservation and we have to take the original room.

"What!... are you telling me that Ellie and you are sleeping in the same room?" she said a little furious.

"Hey, that is not my fault okay... It was that or cancel…" Joel lowers the phone and tries to calm himself. "Look, I was going to cancel the reservation and head back home, but Ellie was getting sad about going back, so I decided to stay. I called you to explain the situation, but you didn't answer my calls."

"You should cancel Joel… what people are going to think about if you spend all weekend there with Ellie… I trusted you."

"Look, we're not doing anything okay… they already think that I'm her uncle, so things are good," except kissing but I am not going to tell you that. "Ellie is having a good time, and if you want to get mad at me we can talk when you get back home. But this is our last day here and I wanted to be a good one for Ellie."

Marlen stays silent for a moment. Maybe she was trying to calm herself. "Okay… we can talk about all this later, but if I find out that you and Ellie do something there… I swear…"

"Nothing has happened I promise. I'm a man of my word so you don't need to worry about it. Now how do things go there?" asked Joel to change the subject.

"No so good… they're some… complications… I will talk to you when I get back on Wednesday."

"Oh… I see. Wait… Wednesday? I thought you said you were coming back tomorrow night?"

"Yeah I was, but there is a snowstorm here and they close the airport. And the next flight is on Wednesday."

"Okay… don't worry I will take care of Ellie."

"Yeah… I want to talk to her, so put her on the phone." She said with a more calmed tone.

"Okay… give me a minute." Joel stands up from the bed and goes to the bathroom door. "Ellie is your aunt… she wants to talk to you."

"Shit!" Ellie quickly covered herself as if her aunt was in the room with Joel. "Okay, just give me a second." Ellie gets out of the jacuzzi and wraps herself with a towel and opens the door a little bit and looks at Joel with worried eyes. How did she know I'm here? She whispers at him.

Joel made the gesture then he covered the phone with his hand and told her that she needed to be careful with what she was going to say. Ellie grabs the phone and closes the door. "Good morning… aunt Marlene, I Hope that Joel already explained what happened, right?"

"Yeah… he told me and we really need to talk about that when I get back."

"Please don't get mad at him… it wasn't his fault. I just wanted to stay, so I convinced him to."

Marlen stays silent for a moment. "Ellie… you're going to be 17 soon, and you need to be more responsible. I put my trust in you and Joel to do the correct thing so don't make me regret all this… Anyway, as I said we will talk about this at home. But the reason that I am calling because the airport is closed for two days, so I will be there by Wednesday now."

"Okay… but it is snowing here too… So can I stay with him at his house? I don't want to stay alone at home."

Marlene thinks for a moment. She is not sure that it would be a good idea, but maybe it is for now. "Okay… I will let you stay in his house, but you need to promise me that you two are not going to do anything there."

"I promise… we just stay here and watch a movie."

"Okay… but we need to have a serious talk about this okay… Now are you having a good time there?" she asked me to try to change the subject.

Ellie smiles at the question. "Oh… I am having the best time here. Joel takes me to ride in a snowmobile, and teach me how to ski. We do a lot of things here. Thank you for letting me come with him. I'm having a great time."

"Okay… I'm happy to hear that. Ellie, I know that this is important to you, and I am trying to be supported even if this is… a complicated thing. But I want you to let you know, that I always wanted the best for you and that I love you very much."

Ellie's eyes were starting to water. "I know that you meant well and I'm sorry that sometimes I'm just a pain in the ass. But I'm really glad that you're okay with Joel and me, that means a lot to me too."

Okay… we can talk later, and you can tell me how things go there. Now I have to go, so put Joel back on the phone."

"Okay, I love you," Ellie started to walk toward the door.

Marlene doesn't know what to think, Ellie hasn't said that to her in a long time. So that makes her feel good about it. "Love you too… baby."

Ellie opens the door and calls Joel who was sitting on the bed. Soon he came to the door, Ellie passed him the phone. "Here, my aunt wants to talk to you again." Soon he grabs the phone, Ellie closes the door.

Joel walked back to the bed and sat there. "Yes?"

"I still trust you, Joel… so don't let me down. Ellie is a good girl and I don't want her to get hurt."

"Don't worry about that. I don't want that either. I know how special she is and I promise you that she will be fine." After that, Marlene hung the call and Joel lay down in his bed to waited for Ellie to get out of the bathroom.