A/N: Alright, sorry another delay between chapters, but I'm getting kind of wrapped up in the novel. Pretty darn excited about that, but this fanfic offers me a really good change of pace and keeps my writing fresh.

There's significantly less action in this chapter, so sorry to you action fans. Anyways, I don't have much else to say. Enjoy the chapter!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own The Last of Us, it is Naughty Dog's property.

CHAPTER 15

LUXURIES

A healthy dose of bourbon had enabled Ellie to fade back into a restless sleep. A couple moments after she dozed off, Joel heard a deep whirring sound, and the lights in the room flickered to life. It looked like turbine two was fixed. He checked Ellie's breathing once more before quietly leaving the room to check in with Tommy.

He was in the next room, patting one of the engineers on the back in congratulations for a job well done. Joel crossed over to him.

"Your men do good work," he said.

Tommy nodded in agreement as he surveyed the dancing needles on the control board. "We'd be sunk without these guys. How's Ellie doin'?"

"Sleepin' it off right now. She'll pull through. She'll have a good limp for awhile, but you know her."

"She's a tough cookie."

"Mmm-hmm. Look, Tommy," Joel said, lowering his voice, "we got some stuff to figure out now that her… condition… is public information." One of the engineers glanced up discreetly before returning to his work.

"I hear you. Tell you what, we'll figure it out tonight when we get back to town. For now, I'll ask for everyone's discretion until we figure out the best course of action."

"Thanks."

"We'll be packin' up to head back in about a half hour. I'll let you know when we're headin' out. You can let Ellie sleep 'til then."

"Sounds good."

Joel returned to the back room and sat down at Ellie's side. The half hour flew by, and before he knew it, Tommy's soft knock on the door snapped him out of his daydreams. Tommy said they were packing up the horses and suggested rousing Ellie.

Joel nudged her a few times but she resisted the wake-up call. He took her by the shoulders and gave her a gentle shake.

"Ellie." Her eyes flitted open. "C'mon, we're headin' back."

She groggily sat up, wincing as she moved her leg. She gingerly swung them over the side of the couch. She made the motion to stand up, but then reached out to Joel for something to hold on to.

"You sure you wanna try walkin'?" he asked. She nodded. "Okay, let's take it slow."

He helped her to her feet, but the moment she put her weight on her left leg it gave way and she nearly collapsed from the pain. Joel caught her immediately.

"Fuck… mmmm… I don't think I'll be walking for awhile yet," she said, downtrodden.

"That's okay. I'll carry you, c'mon." He leaned down and scooped her up in his arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck for security, and they walked out of the room toward where the horses were waiting.

Tommy and Maria were waiting for them, as well as Lakyn, who had finally come down from her roost. She looked haggard and smelled of gunpowder and sweat. She had been firing the enormous rifle nearly constantly during the attack and, trained marksman or not, absorbing that much recoil would exhaust anyone.

Joel nodded to her. "Thanks for savin' my ass back there. I owe you my life."

She gave a half-smile and adjusted the rifle slung over her shoulder. "Don't mention it. All in a day's work."

Joel turned to the horse and slowly lowered Ellie to her feet, instructing her to put her weight on her right leg until he could pull her up onto the horse. He stepped into the stirrup and climbed into the saddle, then reached down and pulled her up so that she was sitting in front of him in order to keep a better eye on her as they rode. She was still a bit woozy from equal parts fatigue and bourbon.

Someone had backed the abandoned truck the rest of the way into the dam compound and improvised a new bar for the gate. They rode through and the gate clanked shut. A new team was riding up from Jackson to provide added security at the dam in the aftermath of the attack. Joel knew there would need to be a town meeting to discuss what had happened at the dam. Not just the ordeal with Ellie, but the fact that the bandits had tried using the Infected as weapons. Security would have to be tightened in and around the city for awhile.

The late afternoon sun slid behind the canopy of leaves as they rode, and after a while Joel felt Ellie's head slump back onto his chest. He smiled. She deserved the rest. She'd saved a life today. He was so focused on guiding the horse over the most level terrain on the path that he didn't realize Lakyn had rode her horse up beside him.

"How's your daughter?" she asked. For such an efficient killing machine, he was surprised at how soft-spoken she was.

"She's n-" he hesitated, "She'll be okay. Not the first time she's been bit."

"That's what I heard. Remarkable."

"Mmm-hmm. She saved my life today."

"Her too, huh? You must be proud."

He chuckled. "You have no idea."

Lakyn looked at the two of them silently for awhile. "So what's her story? How'd you find out she was immune?"

Joel looked down at Ellie, still dozing away. "She, uh… we were in the Boston QZ and she had run off with one of her friends to a restricted area. Restricted for good reason, too, because it turned out there were runners in the area. Anyhow, they both got bit. Her friend turned, Ellie never did."

"My God… that's awful. Poor girl."

"Yeah."

"Did you ever, I don't know, get her medical attention? See if perhaps they can get a cure from her or something?"

Suddenly Joel was miles away. Lakyn saw his eyes glaze over and his brow furrow. After a moment, he returned, blinking rapidly and shaking his head. "Ain't no cure. The doctor said the cordyceps is inside her, it's just… mutated, or something. It don't affect her none. But we don't have the, uh… the equipment or the means to come up with a cure anymore. It's too late. That quest is what brought us all the way out here."

"I'm sorry," Lakyn said quietly.

Joel looked up at her. Her face was earnest, but he detected the slightest hint of suspicion hidden just beneath the surface. "It's okay. We, uh… we grew pretty close over the journey, so… I guess it wasn't all for nothin'."

She nodded pensively. A look of concern crossed her face, and she looked back over to Joel. "So… the infection is still there inside her. Jesus…"

"What?"

"She'll never… she can't ever… be close to anyone. As in romantically."

That thought had never really crossed Joel's mind. Now that it did, he felt a strong sense of paternal protectiveness flare up, but then he realized that Lakyn was probably right. Ellie's condition, once it was made public throughout the town, would leave her isolated. Alienated. Alone. What boy would risk stealing a kiss if it meant possibly becoming an Infected? Joel himself had had to make a conscious effort to remind himself not to give Ellie mouth-to-mouth when she had nearly drowned. He had taken a huge risk getting covered with her blood after she had been bitten just hours ago. If there had been an open cut on his arm, he'd be finished. What kid would hang out with someone who presented that kind of risk?

Lakyn noticed the pained expression on his face and felt guilty for pointing it out. "I'm… I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said-"

"No," Joel cut her off, "no, it's fine. You're right. That's something to think about."

She shifted in her saddle, visibly relieved. "So… what about you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean… can you be close to anyone? As in... romantically?"

He could barely hear her voice over the sound of hooves. He turned to look at her, a tinge of incredulity in his glance. She returned his glance with a coy smirk.

"I… I'm not sure. It ain't exactly weighin' heavy on my mind. I've got more pressin' matters at hand, keepin' Ellie safe, and bringin' her up right and all that."

"I can understand that," she replied, a bit dejected.

Joel noticed her expression and rushed to correct himself. "Don't get me wrong, it ain't like I don't think about it. It's just… I don't know. I've always felt like it's one of those... luxuries I can't afford anymore. But, hell, maybe I'm wrong."

She gave a slight smile. "Maybe."

Joel gently placed Ellie on the mattress, putting a pillow under her legs to keep them elevated. He checked her forehead, but her temperature only felt a touch higher than normal. Although CBI wasn't a concern with her, regular run-of-the-mill infections were still very possible.

He pulled the blanket over her, tiptoed out of the room and carefully shut the door. Tommy and Maria were waiting for him in the living room. Lakyn had excused herself and returned to the gunsmith shop to clean the rifles they had used that day.

"So…" Joel began, taking a seat on the couch, "the cat is out of the bag. What do we tell everyone?"

Tommy sighed and looked at Maria. "The truth. What choice do we have? Word is gonna get out one way or another."

Joel nodded. "Sure, but... how much of the truth?"

"Just enough," Maria said, surprising Joel, who expected her to want the full truth told.

"Okay. So… we tell them she's immune. We tell them we've already gone lookin' for a way to get a cure, so people can just let that go from the start," he replied, running a hand over his beard. "There's something else."

"What's that?" Tommy asked.

"Well… the nature of her immunity. Technically, she's still infected. I have no idea if she can infect other people. It's not exactly something we've been eager to find out. Reason I bring this up is that... I can't imagine many parents would want their kids hangin' around with an infected girl."

"Ellie doesn't seem overly excited to hang out with most of the kids, anyway," Maria remarked.

"That's true," Joel agreed. "I don't know, I just don't want her to feel alienated."

"Given her condition, I think that feelin' is kind of unavoidable," said Tommy.

"I guess so…"

"Look, we'll have a town meetin'," Tommy suggested. "I'll fill everyone in about what happened at the dam. We're gonna need to have a memorial service for the ones we lost. I'll mention Ellie's condition in the meetin' and downplay it as much as possible. I don't know what else we can do."

"Alright."

"I gotta get goin'. I've got to deliver the worst news imaginable to a couple families. C'mon, Maria."

They stood to leave and Joel showed them out. He watched them walk down the street, hand in hand, and felt a brief moment of heartache. He heard a weak voice from upstairs call his name, and he was at Ellie's side in an instant.

"Can I have a drink?"

"Water or bourbon?" he asked playfully.

She smirked at him. "Water."

He stood and fetched a glass of water from the bathroom faucet. She gulped down the entire glass eagerly.

"How're you feelin'?" Joel asked.

"Mmm. All things considered? Not terrible. Leg burns like a motherfucker, though."

"Here, lemme see it."

She swung her legs off the mattress and Joel carefully unwound the bandage. The gauze pad was saturated, but the bleeding appeared to have more or less stopped. He carried her to the bathroom and sat her on the edge of the tub.

"Man… these were my best jeans," she said, looking down at the ragged hole that had been torn through the fabric around the thigh. Joel chuckled as he ran the water. Here she was with a gaping hole in her leg and she was complaining about the condition of her favorite pair of jeans.

He proceeded to clean the wound with soapy water and redressed it with a fresh pad of gauze Maria had given him. After re-wrapping the outer bandage, he carried her back to the mattress.

"There you go. Anything else you need?" She thought for a moment. "How about something to eat?" he suggested. Her eyes lit up eagerly. "You lost a lot of blood; you need some sustenance. I'll be right back."

He returned a few minutes later with a steaming bowl of stew. The stew wasn't canned, so it was especially delicious and fragrant. One of the ladies in town had delivered it a few days before, perhaps feeling like the single father and his daughter needed a good home-cooked meal. Most of the town was apparently still under the impression that they were biologically related.

Ellie sat up with her back propped up against the wall and Joel handed her the bowl of steaming stew before sitting down next to her. He watched as she shoveled heaping spoonfuls into her mouth.

"How's that? Better?"

She nodded and, as usual, spoke before swallowing her bite. "Sho delicioush."

He chuckled and mussed her hair. She began scraping the bowl with her spoon to collect every last drop of stew. "Listen, Ellie… there's something we gotta talk about."

She slid a spoonful of broth into her mouth. "Everyone's gonna know I'm immune now, huh?"

He raised his eyebrows. She was sharp, alright. "Yeah. I just wanted to prepare you for that because… well, some folks will probably start avoidin' you. Out of fear."

Ellie shrugged, but maintained good spirits about it. "I can't say I blame them. I'm fucking scary, man. Long as you don't start avoiding me, I'll survive."

Joel smiled and wrapped an arm around her. "Endure and survive."

Ellie's laugh morphed into a yawn. Joel hadn't realized how late it was, but the sun had set a couple hours ago. He told her to get some rest, tucked her in, and said he'd be right back after he did some dishes. He carried the empty bowl downstairs to the kitchen and set it in the sink and began drawing some water. A knock at the door interrupted him and he turned off the sink to answer it.

He peered through the window beside the front door and, realizing who it was, paused for a moment. He searched the floor in confliction and eventually turned the handle. She had been staring out into the darkness as she waited, but turned to face him upon hearing the door open.

"What brings you here this time of night?" he asked.

Suddenly, Lakyn looked flustered, which was jarring considering how fully composed she had always been up to this moment. "Uh… I… I don't really know. I just felt… um… ah, this was a bad idea, I'm sorry." She turned to leave.

Joel reached out and grabbed her arm. "Wait." She turned back with a glimmer of hope in her eyes. "C'mon in. I'm pretty sure I owe you a drink for bein' one of the people who saved my life today."

She smiled sheepishly. "Alright."

Joel shut the door behind her and went to fetch the bottle of bourbon.

AFTERMATH: PART II CONTINUES

WITH CHAPTER 16