Moving slightly in her bed, Melanie winced a little at the pain in her side and opened her eyes slowly, smiling at the sight that greeted her. Joel was sitting up in her bed, watching T.V and his arm loosely around her shoulders. Feeling her move, he glanced down and smiled at her, "Hey, look who's finally up," Joel murmured, kissing the top of her head, "after all the packing is done."

"May I remind you I was recently in a car accident?" Melanie said, shuffling closer to him so she could rest her head on his chest, "I'm to get plenty of rest."

Joel let his hand trail down her back, before coming to rest on her hip, "You know I don't mind," he said softly, "just wish there was a way for you to keep your flat."

Looking around the flat she had lived in for six years now, Melanie sighed and shrugged, "I'm not gonna have any income for a while," she said sadly "no point trying to hold onto this place. Lucy's place won't be so bad. Just need to get used to the noise."

Sweet as it was that her sister had offered her to live with them until she was better, Melanie was dreading the noise of a house with young twins and also of Lucy's overprotectiveness. Since the accident, she had been treated as if she were a piece of glass, everyone was scared of her breaking and it was starting to bug her. Even Charlene and Daisy had been treating her like that – something she would never had expected.

"Well… you could always stay with me," Joel offered sincerely, Melanie looked up in surprise but didn't get anything from his facial expressions as he was busy watching TV, "Sarah wouldn't mind at all and neither would I."

"Are you being serious?"

Raising an eyebrow, Joel met her eyes and smiled "Wouldn't offer if I wasn't."

"You want me to move in with you?" Melanie repeated, widening her eyes a little "As in live with you?"

Joel's eyes softened "Yeah, I want that. Question is… do you?"

Melanie rolled her eyes, "Of course I want that…" she said sitting up a little more and looking at him seriously, "but… I won't be able to help pay bills or the mortgage and I'm not sure if I'm comfortable with that. I don't want to make your situation harder."

"The only way you're gonna make my situation harder is by saying no," Joel replied chuckling a little, "and as far as paying your way… you don't need to give me money," he said his voice going a little deeper as he leaned forward slightly, "there's… other ways for you to pay your way."

Giggling, Melanie gave his lips a quick kiss and shook her head "You sound like a seedy landlord from a porno," she said sarcastically as Joel laughed at her comment, "I can hear the bad jazz music now."

"I'm being serious though," Joel said softly, his other hand came up to trace her lips "I would be more than happy for you to move in with me, till you're doing better or… for good."

Melanie let her eyes flicker over his face and smiled tenderly at him "I think God was smiling down on me when he broke that tap," she said quietly "my life wouldn't be as good without you and Sarah in it."

"Or I just got lucky that the hot waitress said yes," Joel whispered and kissed her softly, holding her gently in his arms as they enjoyed their moment alone.

Smiling against his lips, Melanie met his eyes and nodded slowly, "If you'll have me… I'd love to move in," she said happily.

"You know I will," Joel said, his eyes crinkling with happiness as he grinned at her, "I'd love nothing more…"

At first, Melanie had thought they wouldn't find this damn town in all this snow and blizzard but in the distance, she could hear church bells ringing and frowned in confusement: what the hell was happening there?

Joel's grip on his handgun tightened as they approached the town, "Stay low…" he whispered, crouching down behind a wall as they heard the muffled sounds of people around them, "we find Ellie and get her outta here. Anyone tries to stop us…"

"Kill them…" Melanie finished his sentence hesitantly and gave herself a shake "anything to get her back. I know that."

His eyes softened slightly at her but then grew serious as he looked over the wall, "Come on… we're wasting time."

Following him throughout the town, Melanie kept one hand out to shield her eyes from the snow and the wind. It was picking up now and making it damn near impossible to see where she was going. Joel walked along a pavement, using the building as a guide and he cursed quietly to himself, "Can't see a fucking thing."

"Joel!"

Melanie froze as she pointed out a dark silhouette of a person just five yards from them, it was hard to see which way he was facing but Joel kept his eyes on him. She jumped slightly when Joel took her hand and pulled her forward, one finger on his lips to signal her to be quiet as he reached behind him and took out his bow and arrow.

Unable to believe he could see his target never mind hit it, Melanie felt impressed when the guard fell face first (she thought) into the snow and never got back up. "Nice work, Robin Hood," she whispered as they headed forward again, "you're deadly with that thing."

"Just point anymore out," Joel chuckled quietly, "make yourself useful."

After getting rid of a few more guards, Melanie kept an eye out for any sign of Ellie. She had no idea how big the town was and she could be anywhere…

Cutting down a small alley, they passed a burning barrel and she felt quite reluctant to leave it's warmth but pushed on, hugging herself tightly in a desperate attempt to keep the cold out. "Hey, there's a door up there," Joel pointed out, "we can get some cover and see what's going on."

"Anything to get outta this fuckin' blizzard."

Inside, Melanie stepped in and shook off the snowflakes from her jacket as Joel shut the door tight behind him. Allowing herself a minute to get her bearings, Melanie switched on her flashlight and looked around. Frowning, she seen shelves and shelves of shoes, clothes and backpacks.

"What the hell?" Joel muttered, narrowing his eyes at the scene in front of him, "Why do they have so many shoes and shit in here?"

Melanie felt an eerie chill as they stood looking around the room: something didn't feel right about this place. "I wonder what happened to the owners of those shoes."

"Or the bags," Joel's tone was deadly serious as he stepped forward and picked up a backpack from the lower shelves, Melanie was about to ask him what was wrong but her throat closed up as she got a closer look at the bag.

It was Ellie's.

"What is this?" Joel muttered, although Melanie could hear the worried undertone in his words "Why-why is Ellie's stuff in here?"

"I have no idea…" Melanie said slowly, glancing around, she caught sight of another doorway and pointed it out to Joel, "Let's keep going, we need to find her."

Pushing aside the strips of plastic over the doorway, Melanie gasped out loud and averted her eyes as a naked corpse swung in front of her. Feeling sickened, she took several deep breaths before looking up again. So that's what had happened to the owners of those shoes.

"Oh Christ…" Joel sounded weak as he stepped into the room too, "we gotta find her. We gotta find her and get her away from this fuckin' place."

Melanie nodded and tried not to look at the dead people, hung up like pieces of meat in a butchers "I think we all need to get away from this place," she whispered, following Joel out of the room.

Luckily, there were no more sinister surprises awaiting them in the front of the shop and the blizzard seemed to have calmed down a little enabling them to see the layout of the town through the window. Joel went out first and as Melanie looked around to make sure there were no more guards, she felt him grip her arm tightly.

"Joel… what…" her voice died away when she seen what he had.

A building at the end of the street was engulfed in flames and she felt worry run through her body and fear strike at her heart.

"Holy shit… Ellie…" Joel muttered before running towards the building, not caring if there was anyone around.

"HEY! IT'S HIM! RUNNING UP-" the guard fell down dead, a bullet hole in his forehead as Melanie fired her gun and Joel stopped in the street to look at her, his eyes wide.

Melanie could hear the sounds of more guards coming and she looked over her shoulder to see two more approaching, "You go get Ellie," she said to Joel, quickly checking how much ammo she had, "I'll cover you!"

"No, we go together-"

"She needs you!" Melanie interrupted him with a glare but her eyes softened when she seen the conflict in his eyes, "I'll be okay… I promise, just go find our girl."

Joel looked towards the building one more time before he nodded at her, "Keep safe. Don't go playing the hero."

"Isn't that my line for you?" Melanie smiled weakly, then she grew serious again, "Go on! I'll make sure they don't get any closer."

Turning away from him, Melanie stood tall and took aim carefully at one guard and fired again. He fell to the ground but the other one heard the shot and began firing blindly in her direction. Taking cover behind a wreck of a car, she seen Joel looking frantically for a way in and prayed he would get in before the building collapsed on itself. Hearing no more bullets coming her way, Melanie crawled to the other side of the car and seen that the guard had gotten much closer and was quickly reloading, his eyes on Joel as he did so.

"Surprise asshole!"

He looked up quickly but too late to dodge the bullet heading his way and couldn't have stopped it hitting his neck if he tried. Eyes bulging, he fell backwards with his hands around his neck in a desperate attempt to stop the blood. Melanie felt only a slight revulsion in her actions and scanned the area carefully to see if anymore would come out of the woodwork. Hearing no more shouting, she just hoped that the town was empty and there would be no more trouble.

Reloading her gun, she ran up to the building and wondered where Joel had gone and hoped he had found a way in. "Ellie, please don't be in there," Melanie whispered, walking quickly around towards one of the broken windows, "just do me this favour once, and be safe elsewhere?"

Her blood froze when she seen a man on top of Ellie and his hands around her neck with a manic look in his eyes but before she could do anything, Ellie suddenly had a knife in her hands and hacked at his arm making him loosen his grip.

Melanie felt as if time stood still as Ellie didn't stop stabbing him, the sounds of the knife hitting bone echoing throughout the building. She knew Ellie had killed men before as well as infected but to see her killing someone so brutally, chilled Melanie to the bone. Obviously this man had done something to Ellie… and she didn't know if she wanted to find out or not.

"ELLIE!"

Joel came out of nowhere and grabbed Ellie around the middle, pulling her off of the man. At the sound of his voice, Melanie snapped out of it and swallowed the lump in her throat as she climbed in through the window and walked across the bench to jump onto the floor.

"STOP! Stop!" Joel shouted, trying to get her to calm down but the young girl writhed in his arms and fought back, her eyes closed tight.

"NO! DON'T FUCKING TOUCH ME!"

The look on Joel's face was heart-breaking as he pulled Ellie close, "Shh, Shh. It's me, Ellie! It's Joel!" he took her face in his hands tenderly to force her to look at him "Look, look. It's me."

Melanie watched sadly as Ellie looked at Joel with tears on her eyes and blood on her face, "He tried to-" her voice broke as she shook her head, "he tried… to- to…"

"Oh… baby girl," Joel whispered and he slowly pressed her head against his shoulder as she sobbed her heart out, "its okay… it's okay."

"Joel."

Feeling her heart break at how scared Ellie sounded, Melanie felt the tears in her eyes as she looked at the sight in front of her and felt the guilt and shame creep up on her.

'It's your fault this happened' the voice in her head whispered 'it's because of you she's like this'

Hugging herself tightly, she stayed where she was as Joel tightened his hold on Ellie as if he was scared someone would try to take her away. "It's okay now," he whispered, leaning back to push the hair away from her face, "you're safe with us. I promise."

"We should get going," Melanie's voice cracked a little and she wiped her eyes quickly and hoped that Joel hadn't seen but one look at his concerned expression and she knew that he had, "it isn't safe here."

Joel stood up slowly and nodded "Come on Ellie, we're gonna get you away from this place," he said softly and Ellie just nodded numbly, as if she couldn't hear him properly, "you take Ellie," Joel added, looking at Melanie "and I'll keep watch."

"No… she needs you," Melanie said quickly, taking out her gun, "I'll lead the way and you take her."

She couldn't bring herself to look at Ellie as they headed towards the door, fearing that she might see the intense hate that she felt inside on the young girls face. The thought of Ellie hating her was like a knife to the back and right now she couldn't take it.

Leading them out of the town, Melanie stopped to let them go ahead as she looked back at the town over her shoulder and saw the smoke rising from the building. No doubt there would be people looking for them but right now she couldn't think about that.

They had Ellie back, broken, but still alive.

Melanie stared out of the window and took in the snowy scene in front of her and let out a shaky sigh. Once upon a time, the snow around her and a roaring fire would have been a delight to see but now it just made her feel shame. It had been dark when they returned to the little village where they had first made camp when leaving the University. Obviously choosing a different house to take shelter in, one a little further from the rest and she made sure that nobody would have been able to track them to it. They needed rest tonight. Especially Ellie.

Hearing footsteps, she turned slightly to see Joel enter the room and seen the tired look on his face "How is she?" she asked softly.

"Finally sleeping," he replied, putting his gun down on the table stretching slightly "I think we should stay here for the winter. No point heading out and getting lost in a blizzard. Plus, she needs time after what happened."

Closing her eyes, Melanie tried to stop the tears from coming and turned away from Joel "I think you're right," she said, hoping her voice didn't give her away, "least we'll be warm here."

"Melanie…"

Pressing her lips together, Melanie shook slightly as the tears fell down her cheeks and shook her head. "Don't. Just don't Joel," she managed to say, her voice breaking "this is all my fault, she wouldn't have been in that situation if it wasn't for me."

There was silence and Melanie couldn't bring herself to look at Joel: he probably hated her as well for putting Ellie in danger while she had stayed safe in the house. But she was surprised when she heard him approach her slowly and put his arms around her, his chin resting on her shoulder.

"This isn't your fault…" Joel whispered softly, turning his head slightly so he was next to her ear, "and I don't ever want to hear you saying that again."

Melanie felt herself relax against him as he held her close, it had been so long since she had been comforted like this and she let out a sigh, "If only you were right" she said quietly.

"Hey, listen to me," Joel said slowly and leaned back while turning her around to face him, "if it was your fault… we'd be having a shouting match right now and I'd be telling it to you straight but it isn't. You and Ellie were trying to survive against all the odds. If you'd been able to, it would have been you those sons of bitches found… and… and things might have turned out different. I might've not seen you again."

Melanie stayed silent as he spoke and looked down at the ground as another tear fell, "I don't think I could take it if… if she hated me-"

"She does not hate you," Joel interrupted her firmly and cupped her chin gently as he raised it so they were looking at each other "and neither do I. So stop beating yourself up about this, okay?" he let her chin go and wiped away her tears.

Nodding shakingly, Melanie swallowed hard and smiled weakly at him "I'll try," she whispered.

"Good…" Joel let his fingers linger against her cheek and slowly cupped it, "I don't think I could ever hate you…" he added quietly.

Leaning into his touch, Melanie closed her eyes and allowed herself this one moment "I hope that's true," she said slowly, opening her eyes and looking at him "I don't think I could go another twenty years without you…"

"Neither could I."

They stood looking at each other but Melanie stepped back and turned away when Ellie cried out for Joel in the room above them, "You should stay with her tonight," she said crossing her arms, "make her feel safe."

"Why don't you come up too?"

Melanie looked nervously at the stairs and then nodded "We'll both go," she said "she'd… she'd like that."

With every step, Melanie felt her worry grow and she almost stopped walking if it wasn't for Joel taking her hand in his and leading her up the stair. As she entered the room, she felt her face almost crumple at the sight of Ellie terrified and shaking in the bed as she and Joel stepped closer to the bed.

"I thought… I thought I was back there and-and…" Ellie stopped talking and looked guiltily up at Melanie, "I'm sorry."

Hearing those words, Melanie shook her head and walked over to sit next to her on the bed. "You have nothing to be sorry about, honey," she whispered and hugged her close, feeling relieved when Ellie hugged into her tightly, "don't you feel sorry at all."

"I'm so glad you two found me," Ellie murmured sleepily, "I knew you would."

Melanie leaned back and gently stroked her hair, "What would we do without you?" she smiled and then kissed her forehead tenderly, "Try and get some sleep… we'll both be right here."

"You promise?" Ellie asked fearfully, her wide eyes turning to Joel.

He walked to the other side of the bed and sat down, "As long as you need us, we'll be here baby girl," he said softly.

Looking relieved at his answer, Ellie laid down once more and Melanie sat up beside her, smiling weakly when Ellie cuddled into her side and closed her eyes. Running her hands through her hair, Melanie watched as she slowly fell asleep and glanced up at Joel.

"We'll be okay… right?" Melanie asked him, her voice barely a whisper.

Joel's eyes flickered over her face and he nodded "I know we will," he replied "I just know it."

Melanie stood at the door of her now empty flat, it had taken a few days to organize the move but thanks to Joel, Tommy, Garrett and Chuck, it had been a success. Everything had been packed up and moved out to Joel's house but she felt a strange sadness as she looked around the bare room. This had been her home for the last six years, there had been good as well as bad memories in this place:

Luke had taken his first steps in the kitchen… Garrett and Lucy had announced their engagement during a Halloween party Melanie had thrown… and just here in the doorway… was the place that her dad had told her how much he loved her… for the last time.

Sniffing, Melanie laughed a little at herself as she wiped her eyes. After everything she had been through, getting emotional about moving seemed almost silly. She was too deep in thought, that she didn't hear Joel come up behind her and pull her close against him.

"Everything okay?" he asked concerned, pressing a kiss to her head.

Putting her hands over his, Melanie nodded and let out a sigh, "Just… just gonna miss the old place," she said softly, looking around one last time, "so many memories here, y'know?"

"I understand," Joel said sweetly, resting his chin on her shoulder "but at least… you'll be making new memories, with me and Sarah. I know it's not the same…"

Turning, Melanie put a finger against his lips, "You're right, it's not the same… its better," she said smiling at him, "I can't live in the past forever. This is a new chapter in my life and I can't wait to start it with you."

"And glad I am to hear it," Joel whispered, his eyes full of happiness as he looked at her lovingly "we've had a hell of a ride but I have a feeling it's gonna be easy sailing from now on."

Melanie nodded "I think you're right," she said and took a deep breath, "come on, shouldn't keep the others waiting."

She went to pick up her bag but Joel put up a hand and did it instead, "I can't tell you how happy this makes me," he whispered, looking at her with a smile on his face "to know I get to wake up with you every day."

"Unless you piss me off," Melanie teased as she slipped an arm around his waist, "then you'll be waking up on the couch."

Joel laughed loudly as they headed outside to his truck, "Well, I'll just have to try and not piss you off then," he said opening the door and holding it open for her, "can't have my girl unhappy."

"I'll remember that," Melanie said kissing his lips lightly before jumping into the van, "now how about you get us home?"

Closing the door, Joel's smile grew as he gazed at her, "I like the sound of that," he said quietly, "let's go home."