Author's Note: Well, it's been a while! Sorry for not posting, life got in the way and I kind of lost motivation halfway through. This one's a little short, but the story's not over yet.

"As a matter of fact, I do." Ellie said tersely.

"Well?"

Ellie sighed and pushed open the door. "I'll show you… wait I need to lock it."

"On it." Jay pushed her key in the lock and shook off the last of her grogginess. "Which way again?" As they walked through the streets, Jay couldn't help but be reminded of the place she had grown up. Some of her best memories were made at those Firefly training grounds. She stared down into the gravel that made up the road. Some of the worst memories had also happened just outside their walls, and she didn't want to dwell on those.

Ellie didn't talk much as they made the quick trip to the mess hall. As she pushed open the door with a creak, the last floating fragments of her nightmare slipped away.

"Here it is." The creaking of the door as it swung open announced their presence. Ellie's sullen face was replaced with one of wonder as she took in the wonderful smells of breakfast. Joel's cooking never smelled this good. She smiled faintly. I'll have to tell him. As they were pondering what to do, Tommy, came out of one of the side doors.

"Good to see you again, Ellie!" He ushered her into one of the chairs, and Jay sat down next to her, feeling very unwelcome. "What can I get for you two?"

Jay piped up, not wanting to be left out. "Anything's fine. I'm starving!"

"Yeah, same." Ellie agreed. A couple minutes later, a child brought out a stack of pancakes that were almost as big as she was.

"Mommy says I have to give these to you. She says you guys have to share!"

"Okay, we will!" Ellie chirped, and kind of awkwardly dragged one onto her plate. Jay ignored the child, and dug into the pancakes like a wolf.

"Mm… tastes like heaven… or whatever the equivalent is on earth." Ellie said through a full mouth.

Joel hurried into the watchtower, keeping his eyes on the horizon. He would never admit it to her, but he hated being away from Ellie, even if it was only for half a day. The last time he had left her… He suppressed a shudder. From time to time he would hear her mumbling about "tiny pieces," in her sleep and he didn't want to think about what that meant. Whatever had happened was bad enough that the nightmares were still eating away at her months later.

"How's it lookin'?" Tommy's voice made him jump, and he glanced over his shoulder at his brother.

"No sign of anyone around here."

"That's good." Tommy seemed to hesitate before talking again. "Maria told me Ellie's a lot quieter. I figured she would be happy, being the cure for humanity and all. What about you, notice anything?"
The events of the night before flashed into Joel's mind.

"Yeah… I'll talk to her." He sighed, trying to shove the memories from his mind like he had done with everything else. Tommy seemed to sense the note of melancholy in his tone.

"You doing okay? If there's anything you're not telling me…" His gaze darted briefly into Joel's, and Joel looked away.

"Is anyone going to be comin' up here soon?" he said gruffly. Tommy looked back toward the center of the town.

"...Maybe in a little bit. Why?"

Joel sighed, trying to voice his thoughts.

"I need to talk to you… Privately." is what he eventually came up with.

"Alright." Tommy pulled a small walkie-talkie out of his pockets and pressed the button.

"Send someone up to the east tower." After a second, someone replied, "Coming."

Tommy walked away, leaving Joel behind.

"Come on."

Joel hesitantly followed, not sure what he was going to say. Tommy led him into one of the spare rooms, and pulled out two chairs.

"So?" Tommy prompted.

"We found the Fireflies," Joel started. He hesitated, a battle raging in his head. Should I lie? He's my brother, I can't do that. But I lied to Ellie. What if she tells him?

Joel was never one to outwardly display his emotions, but here he was, clenching the metal frame of his chair so hard his knuckles turned white.

"To extract the cure, they had to kill her. Something about it growing on the brain."

He paused, and ran a hand over his mouth. Tommy could kick me out because of this, if he's angry enough.

"And they wouldn't let me take her… so I killed them." Tommy, who had been silent the whole time Joel was talking, slammed his hands on the table.

"What the fuck do you mean, killed them? She was the cure! You said so yourself at the-" he broke off abruptly as Joel's voice cut into his own.

"Do you even know what I had to go through to save her?"

Ellie finished off the last of her pancakes and got up, almost knocking over her chair. Acting instinctively, Jay reached out and caught it. The chair fell back onto four feel, and Jay stood up as well. She wiped her mouth with a sleeve.

"You want to go exploring?"

"Okay," Ellie replied slightly hesitantly. They headed outside, the bright sunlight almost blinding them as the door swung open.

Tommy jerked back slightly.

"Look, all I know is you could have stopped this. And you didn't." His expression changed. "This doesn't have anything to do with…" Time seemed to stop as Joel tried to push back the cacophony of thoughts that barreled into his mind.

"No," he spat. "It doesn't." They both knew he was lying.