"Will there be strippers?"

Melanie rolled her eyes at Lucy's question as she opened up the bar, "Seriously? That's your question?" she asked, glancing over her shoulder at her sister as she turned on the lights, "Not, how much am I getting paid? Or, when do I finish? But if there's going to be strippers?"

It was Charlene's sister's hen party in the bar tonight and as there was a lot of them going, Chuck had opened the bar just for the hen party and had been made to promise he wouldn't arrive at the bar as it was girls only. As Charlene would be attending, Lucy offered to work that night to cover as Daisy was going as well and Melanie had her suspicions of the real reason Lucy wanted to work that night.

"I am stuck in a house with men every day," Lucy whined as she put down the box of decorations, "I never get to do anything fun. Getting my new bra measurements was the most exciting thing I done last week. That's how sad my life is now. Just let me have this. Please?"

Snorting at her comment, Melanie shook her head, "Is this you having a dig at me for not organizing a stripper for your hen party?"

"No… but now that you've brought it up, when you think about it, technically, you owe me a stripper."

Melanie rolled her eyes but nodded, "If Charlene's sister is anything like her there will probably be a stripper for every table."

"Oh! That's what I want to hear!" Lucy said excitedly and then took off her coat, revealing a short top showing off her cleavage that made Melanie raise her eyebrows: her sister hadn't dressed like this since they were young.

"Nice top," Melanie commented, and couldn't help but look down at her black jumper that barely showed off her chest.

Lucy grinned, "I finally have a night to dress like a girl and not have yoghurt or sick down my front," she said giving a small twirl, "don't get me wrong, I love being a mother and a wife but you need the odd night of freedom for the sake of your sanity."

"You do know that you'll be serving drinks and then helping to clean up right?" Melanie asked, as she opened the till and sorted out the float, "You won't actually be participating in the party."

"I can still watch right?"

"Yes, you can still watch."

"Then it will be an amazing night!"

Melanie was about to say something when she suddenly could taste bile in her throat and felt sick. Covering her mouth, she ignored Lucy's concerned look and ran into the staff toilet behind the bar where she was horribly sick. She felt Lucy's cool hands on her neck as she held back her hair, it was several moments of retching and throwing up before Melanie felt like she could stand again.

"I do not know where that came from," Melanie whispered, weakly wiping her mouth with a tissue and making a disgusted face as she flushed the toilet, "Maybe that burrito I had at lunch wasn't good?"

When her sister didn't reply, Melanie looked up at her and seen the way she was looking at her.

"Lucy?"

"I had the same thing as you and I feel fine," Lucy actually sounded serious and she narrowed her eyes at her, "Are your boobs tender?"

Melanie frowned at the question but thought to this morning where she was sore when she was getting dressed, "Yeah but… I wore my bra for a long time the other day-"

"You were really tired this morning."

"I've been working a lot!"

"And you're smelling everything."

Shaking her head, Melanie grabbed a plastic cup and ran the cold water to fill it up, "I don't think there was anyone who couldn't smell that guy's cologne. It was putrid."

"And you're being sick," Lucy sounded sympathetic as she watched Melanie rinse out her mouth and spit out the water, "I think you know what I'm gonna say 'sis."

Even though she did know, Melanie felt her heartbeat increase rapidly at the thought. Saying it out loud would only make it true, "Sorry I'm not a mind reader Lucy and I really don't know what you're getting at."

"I think you should take a pregnancy test," Lucy said slowly, before Melanie could say anything else there was a thud as something was dropped onto the floor and made the two women jump as they heard a male voice swearing loudly and Lucy went to the door to see who it was.

Melanie felt worried that someone had overheard their conversation and looked desperately at Lucy, "Is someone there?"

Lucy sighed and nodded, "Oh fuck. Why did it have to be him?" she whispered and then looked at Melanie, "We better go out there..."

It had been two months… or was it three? Melanie had lost count of how long they had been in the basement of this house. Colorado seemed like a lifetime ago and the events afterwards had blurred together. Practically dragging an unconscious Joel through the abandoned city and killing any clickers or runners that came out at them. It was a miracle they had survived it and Melanie knew it was because of Ellie.

Once they had found shelter, Ellie had taken on most of the responsibilities, especially the hunting. As she could easily use Joel's bow better than Melanie while her arm healed, the bullet had gone straight through but it had taken a while before she could start using her right arm again for the simplest of tasks. Melanie was so proud of Ellie, for keeping it together and despite feeling uneasy about her being out there alone, didn't coddle her at all and Ellie seemed to be thankful for that.

Their situation was shitty enough without Melanie making her doubt herself.

Melanie's main role was to look after Joel and clean his wound, the gaping hole in his stomach had been stitched up and was slowly healing but he had a nasty fever that wasn't going away without a fight. Every day, she would melt snow or icicles for water, boil it and make sure he took a little before checking his wound for infection.

She would find herself talking to him when Ellie wasn't present about everything she could think of, trying to get him to answer back or to even be conscious again. One day, she even began to talk about Sarah and their life together before the world went to shit but it was all for nothing. He remained the same and she would be alone talking to an unconscious man while waiting for a young girl on a horse to bring back the food.

Leaving Joel under many blankets, Melanie slowly walked up the stairs and into the house. It was a nice enough house and reminded her of Lucy's house… though the thought of her sister and nephews was enough to make her throat close up. She could only hope that they had found somewhere safe and somewhere out there, they were all together. Thinking of them dead or worse just broke her heart and she had cried enough over the years without starting that again.

Sitting at the table, Melanie held the coffee she had made in her hands and wondered how Maria and Tommy were getting on back at the camp. If they had managed to get electricity to the camp and were now watching movies at night and had hot water. She smiled a little at the thought of them having luxurious baths and thought of the conversation she and Maria had had all that time ago.

"Tommy seems to think so," Maria said thoughtfully, "it'd be good to have electricity again. Get those showers working? That would be heaven. A nice hot shower."

Nodding, Melanie pouted "I used to love a luxurious bath…candles…bath bombs…the whole works, y'know?"

"Well, you keep an eye out when you're out on a supply run tomorrow," Maria joked "it could happen."

Melanie sighed as she thought of Maria, she missed her terribly as well as Tommy. They had been her family for the last twenty years and to be without them was strange. Sipping her coffee, she thought of Joel downstairs and wished for what seemed to be the thousandth time that he would wake up and they could be on their way.

Not that she was looking forward to saying goodbye to Ellie, she was dreading it in fact. Despite trying not to get attached to the younger girl, she had failed miserably and now thought of her as family. Especially when Ellie would hug her tightly at night when Joel wouldn't answer her and she would comfort her before they went to sleep.

But she had agreed to do this. She would just need to soldier on and do what had to be done.

Hearing the garage door shut, Melanie quickly got up and left her cup on the table as she went back downstairs and smiled widely when she seen Ellie and Callus back. "Oh thank god," she said, sighing with relief as she went over and hugged her close, "I was getting worried."

"Didn't get anything major," Ellie said indicating to the rabbit hanging from the saddle, "not much about right now."

Melanie gave her shoulder a small squeeze as they headed into the other room where Joel was "It's better than nothing," she frowned a little when she seen a frightened expression on Ellie's face, "is everything okay?" she asked slowly, stopping suddenly, "you look a little scared."

"No… no, just some infected got close on the way back," Ellie was lying, Melanie knew it when she seen a rifle that wasn't Joel's on her back but she didn't push her for the truth, "so how's Joel been?"

Melanie glanced back to Joel's still figure under the blankets, "Doing just the same really," she said sadly, hugging herself "he took a little water and his wound is still clean but without medicine I can't really do much else for him."

"Yeah well, bunny aside… I also found some medicine," Ellie said triumphantly, holding up the small syringe and the antibiotics, "this should help, right?"

Feeling her eyebrows raise in surprise, Melanie nodded "It will really fuckin' help," she said quickly, walking over to Joel's side and kneeling down, "here, you inject it into him and I'll hold his arm back."

Ellie did as she said and to Melanie's relief, Joel mumbled something incoherently as Ellie injected the medicine into him and winced slightly. "Sorry…" Ellie mumbled softly, giving her guardian a tender look, "but it's gonna help. I promise."

Melanie watched sadly as Ellie felt Joel's forehead and smiled at him, "You're gonna make it," she said confidently "I know you will. You'll be back to your old grumpy self in no time."

Shivering slightly, Joel turned his head towards Ellie before breathing a little better as he slept. "You must be exhausted," Melanie said softly and got up to drag over the sleeping bag they had found, "get some rest, I'll keep watch."

"You sure?" Ellie asked but yawned straight after and rubbed her eyes tiredly.

Nodding, Melanie handed her a small bottle filled with water "You've been out hunting practically every day. You've earned it kiddo," she said and pushed Ellie's hair back as she smiled at her, "I'm so proud of you… you know that right?"

"Yeah… I know," Ellie said softly and suddenly looked guilty, "thanks… for being here. I feel better knowing I have you here too, 'Mel," she glanced at Joel and bit her lip, "I don't think I could have done this on my own."

"I don't think you're giving yourself enough credit," Melanie said firmly, "you're braver than most adults I know. Don't forget that," she stopped and glanced down at Joel, "saying that – you've had a good teacher for the last few months."

Ellie looked between the two of them and reached out to take Melanie's hand, "I've had two good teachers," she said sincerely "I don't think you're giving yourself enough credit."

Squeezing her hand back, Melanie nodded "Okay… we're both kick-ass and we know it," she joked and watched as Ellie lay down in the sleeping bag, "I'll come wake you up if I see anything, okay?"

Ellie settled down but still looked uneasy, "I… I heard some voices when I was out hunting," she murmured, "just be extra careful looking out for some bad guys okay?"

"I will… don't worry," Melanie promised and seen Ellie reach out and gently lay her hand on Joel's chest, "get some sleep. I'll speak to you soon."

Leaving the two of them, Melanie ran a hand through her hair and wondered what the hell had happened in the woods to make Ellie so on edge. Knowing that she would tell her sooner rather than later, Melanie pushed it to the back of her mind and went to the kitchen window first to keep an eye out.

The medicine that Ellie found would hopefully work some wonders on Joel and maybe even have him conscious. She just hoped that they would be able to find some more medicine out there and that this area hadn't been searched already and picked clean.

Melanie kept watch for most of the night, taking only a short break as she dozed on the couch, she never slept more than a few hours as she would jump awake, convinced that she could hear infected and switched windows when she woke up. Once, she checked in on Ellie and Joel and smiled as they slept soundly next to each other. Callus had reluctantly laid down on the large duvets that Ellie had put down for his comfort and had went to sleep too.

For the first time since they got here, Melanie started to feel some of her hope return as the sun rose high in the winter sky and wondered if they would soon be leaving this place.

But that hope quickly evaporated when she suddenly heard male voices on the wind.

Putting one hand on her gun, she bent down and made her way to the window and felt her eyes widen as she seen four men begin to search the houses at the end of the street. "Shit…" she muttered and made her way to the basement and seen that Ellie was awake and on top of the washing machine looking out the window.

"Oh fuck…" she cursed quietly, "they tracked me."

Melanie frowned at her, "They? Who's they?"

"Some guys that found me in the woods… long story short, we killed their friends at the university and they ain't fucking happy about it," Ellie explained, giving Melanie a sad look, "I should have told you… but I didn't wanna worry you. I'm sorry."

Closing her eyes, Melanie covered her face and tried to think of a plan, "We can't move Joel… he's too weak," she said quietly opening her eyes again, "and they're already searching houses…"

"I'll draw them away from here," Ellie said suddenly, "they don't know about you or Joel… I'll ride Callus past them and make them chase me, I'll lose them in the woods and then make sure they can't track me."

Melanie shook her head, "No. It's too dangerous, they know you've been here and they'll just come back again-"

"What other choice do we have?" Ellie interrupted and glared at the older woman, "We haven't got enough ammo to kill them all… we're gonna have to be smart about taking them out. You stay here and defend Joel… I'll get as many as I can in the woods."

"I don't like this."

"Neither do I but it's the only way," Ellie stopped and sighed "they're getting closer – I better go get Callus up."

Melanie felt her heart stop as she heard the voices get nearer and watched silently as Ellie quickly went to Joel's side and squeezed his hand tightly, "I'll come back…" she promised "I'll come back Joel, don't worry about me."

Biting her lip in an effort to stop herself from crying, Melanie followed Ellie into the next room and held open the garage door as she and Callus went through, the horse seeming to be reluctant to go back out into the cold and neighed nervously.

"Be careful out there… and get back here as soon as you can," Melanie said, her voice hitching slightly as Ellie turned to look at her, "Promise me, you'll be careful."

"I will… I promise," Ellie said and then climbed up on Callus and took the reins in her hands, "take care of Joel… don't let them get to him, okay?"

Melanie nodded and watched as the horse and Ellie began to walk away, "Don't let them get to you…" she whispered, closing the door even though everything in her was screaming at her to go with Ellie and protect her, "I can't lose you too…"

"When I heard you talking about sickness and tiredness and… sore boobs… I just thought it was girl talk but then I hear the words 'pregnancy test'…"

Melanie sighed as Tommy slightly freaked out in front of her, "Tommy, look… it's just a hunch of Lucy's… I'm probably not pregnant-"

"The signs are there… I just pointed them out," Lucy muttered, cutting up some limes for tonight while Melanie scowled at her, "the test will prove I'm right."

"I'm sorry but do you want me to be pregnant?"

Tommy made an exasperated noise and ran a hand through his hair, "Oh fuck… I've gotta tell Joel."

"No!" Melanie turned quickly and looked at Tommy, "Nobody tells Joel nothing until… until there's something to tell him," she muttered awkwardly.

Lucy stopped and put the knife down and sighed sadly, "Melanie… I know you must be scared if you are-"

"Why? Why would I be scared?" Melanie asked sarcastically, "Would it be because I split up with Joel for not wanting children with me and a couple of weeks after we do, I might be pregnant with someone who wouldn't want this… this baby?" she pressed her lips together, "And I would have to raise it on my own? Yeah, I suppose that is a good reason to be scared."

Frowning, Lucy came around the bar and put her hands on Melanie's shoulders, making her look at her straight in the eyes "Hey, you won't be alone if you are pregnant," she said firmly, "I'm actually offended that you would even think that. Family sticks together and you will have me and Garrett beside you every step of the way. You hear me?"

"Trust me 'Mel," Tommy said quietly as Melanie wiped her eyes "Joel would be by your side 110%... he wouldn't run away from this. Even though it was unexpected. He's a good guy."

Lucy nodded, "So you see, if you are… you know… expecting. Then you won't be alone," she smiled and cupped her sister's cheek, "Now, how about we forget about you being sick and tired and having sore boobs and focus on having a fun night, huh?"

"That sounds good," Melanie said weakly, "we can figure this out tomorrow, right?"

"Right… and Tommy won't breathe a word about this to Joel until we know for definite," Lucy said narrowing her eyes at him, "isn't that right?"

Tommy sighed but nodded slowly, "I won't get involved… just… just no drinking tonight, okay?" he added, giving Melanie a glance, "you could be carrying my nephew or niece and I don't want them coming out all small and deformed because you had a drink."

"Don't worry, I won't…" Melanie snorted and smiled at Tommy, "just the smell of tequila is making me ill."

Lucy nodded "Tomorrow, you can take a test and then we'll just take it all one step at a time after that."

"I think that's for the best," Melanie said quietly and then ran both her hands through her hair, "come on, we should get these decorations out. Make sure every table has some of these necklace shot glasses and penis straws, okay? Oh and some of the fake $1 bills for the strippers."

Tommy closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, "I'm gonna pretend that I didn't hear that…" he muttered as he turned to leave.