A/N: Okay, okay, okay... so I know a romance might be a little cliche, but I don't care. I've tried my hand at writing drama, action, hurt, comfort, danger, fear, adventure, fluff, and well... now it's time to try my hand at writing a bit of romance. So sue me. I just figure that since Joel's emotionally damaged state has been under repair since he met Ellie, it's feasible that he'd be open to the possibility of a romantic involvement. And with the whole Tess relationship being so ambiguous, I wanted to go for one that wasn't quite so ambiguous. I don't know why I'm explaining/defending myself, so I'm just gonna cut it right out.

Thanks for all the reviews. A few of them actually made me crack up a couple times, so thanks for that. Anyways, enjoy til next time!

DISCLAIMER/LEGAL MUMBO-JUMBO: I do not own The Last of Us, it is Naughty Dog's property.

CHAPTER 16

CONTACT

The faint light from the naked bulb hanging in the living room gave an amber glint to the bourbon and ice cubes in the lowball glasses. Joel had found them tucked away in the kitchen cupboard and had smiled as he picked them up, thinking back to that night in Laramie so long ago. He crossed over to the couch and handed Lakyn one of the glasses. She thanked him for it and he turned to sit in the easy chair, but then thought better of it and took a seat at the other end of the couch. Lakyn pulled a knee up onto the couch to face him. She lifted the glass to her lips and sampled the spirits.

"Mmmm. Tastes exactly how I remember it," she said softly.

Joel took a sip and nodded in agreement. "Mmm-hmm. Well, I figured I owed you this. If you hadn't put down that bandit I might be pushin' daisies right about now."

"I don't know. You seem like a pretty capable guy. You've made it this far."

"Yeah, well, so had he. Ain't nothin' guaranteed no more."

"I suppose not." She brought her glass to her lap and glanced around the room, unsure of what to say. It had been so long, after all.

"So," to her delight, Joel had broken the silence, "what's your story? I heard you were in the military?"

She nodded. "I was. Graduated from accelerated sniper school at Fort Benning. After the Outbreak, all training was rushed. Had to combat the Infected, and fast. After graduating I enlisted. But, I never signed up to gun down American civilians, particularly ones that weren't Infected, so… I left. MIA. If they're still keeping the paperwork, I'm sure I've been dishonorably discharged by now, but to hell with that.

"I was stationed at the New Mexico QZ. Left just before it fell. Lucky timing, I guess." She paused to take another sip, put an elbow on the back of the couch and prop her head up. "Went from place to place for… God, for years. Just looking for my next meal. Somewhere safe. Few years back I was in… where was it… Griggs or… Driggs, Idaho or something? Anyways, Tommy and some of his men were pinned down by some bandits. I watched the gunfight from afar for quite some time, trying to decide whether I should help either side out and, if so, which side. I saw Tommy leading his men, and well, I just got this vibe from him. He was… one of the good guys, you know?

"So I opened fire on the bandits. Once they realized a sniper had come into play, they bailed pretty quickly. I approached Tommy and his men. Asked to join up with them. They couldn't really refuse after I had saved their asses. They brought me here, let me run the gunsmith, and that's that."

"How old were you? When the Outbreak happened, I mean," Joel asked before taking another sip of bourbon.

Her eyes went glassy for a moment. "Eighteen. Got in the car and went straight to Fort Benning the next day."

"What about your family?"

She stared through Joel into something beyond the living room, beyond Jackson. Then, in an instant, her eyes returned and she shook her head and offered nothing more than a weak smile. There were glistening pools at the bottoms of her eyelids.

"Sorry," he said.

She drew in a deep breath. "My parents worked in the city. They got infected. I was an only child and, at eighteen, hadn't married."

He moved a bit closer and placed a hand on her shoulder in a gesture of comfort. He felt a slight tremble course through her at his touch and, to his surprise, she shied away.

She noticed the embarrassed look on his face and felt a bit embarrassed herself. "Sorry. I'm just... the road was a... a nightmare. The things that I've done... the things I've seen... the things people… things men have done over the years, to others... to me…" Her voice faltered. "I guess I still have a few open wounds."

Joel could certainly understand that. His eyes left the perspiring glass in his hands and landed on her face. But it wasn't her face. At that moment, sitting across the couch from him, was Tess. A shudder coursed through him so violently that he dropped the glass of bourbon, spilling its contents over his jeans, the couch, and the floor.

"Jesus..." he said, jumping to his feet. He blinked several times and Lakyn's face returned to its rightful place.

"What is it?" she asked, visibly concerned. "You look like you've seen a ghost just now."

He pressed his fingers into his eyes. "For a second, I thought I had. Sorry." He could feel his heart trying to pound through his sternum. "I'll get a towel."

He walked to the kitchen. Before grabbing the towel, he turned on the sink and splashed cold water onto his face. The icy shock on his skin seemed to help. He pulled the towel off its hook and returned to the living room to clean up the spilt liquor.

Lakyn watched him intently as he cleaned up the mess. After a moment of consideration, she asked, "What happened to her mother?"

Joel was on his knees mopping the liquid off of the floor. "She died not long after Ellie was born." He paused and stared into the fabric of the couch. "Listen, I haven't been completely... truthful with you. I'm... Ellie isn't my daughter." Lakyn stared at him expectantly. "Well, at least, not by birth."

He told her the story, from meeting Ellie all the way to Salt Lake City, making sure to leave out the part where he slaughtered the Fireflies to save Ellie. In his version, St. Mary's was abandoned and they had just given up and returned to Jackson.

"Well… thank you," she said at the conclusion of his story, "for being honest, and for telling me the whole story. I can tell some of it was… difficult to revisit."

"Yeah," Joel said pensively. "But, well… I guess I'm glad for it all, even the hell and high water. She… she means a lot to me."

Lakyn smiled. "That's sweet. So, how about before all this? What'd you do? Did you have a family?"

Suddenly Joel grew distant and melancholy. "Yeah."

She realized she had touched on one of Joel's open wounds, but rather than dodge the issue, she decided she'd try to provide a salve. "Is it something you can talk about?"

He looked up at her, shaking off the memory. "Yeah, I think so. Havin' Ellie around has helped a lot, and she's gotten me to talk about it more than I ever have before. I married young, but she left me after…" he cleared his throat, "after Sarah was born."

Lakyn put the pieces together and suddenly everything began to make a lot more sense. She gazed at Joel and saw a man who must have lost the most precious thing in the world, someone who had shut himself down, who had been so emotionally damaged that he counteracted his grief with a saturation of bitterness and contempt. In comes this little girl whose presence forces him to face his demons, and the little girl begins reversing some of the damage. What Lakyn saw within Joel was the ongoing healing of wounds. There would always be scars, but their pain would fade under Ellie's influence.

She felt compelled to scoot a bit closer to Joel upon seeing this in him. They were both broken people in a broken world. She mustered the composure to reach out and place a hand on his shoulder. He turned his head and met her piercing blue eyes, azure pools dotting a field of white skin framed in the black wreath of her hair. Perhaps it was partly the bourbon, but even here, in the dim light, under layers of dirt, sweat, and grime, she was beautiful. Joel's heart lurched a bit at the thought of what she must have been through in her hard life. There was subtle yet profound pain behind her eyes. Her soft-spokenness was a forsaken relic of her gentle nature, one which had been twisted by necessity into something cold and ruthless. He imagined that the Lakyn before the Outbreak wouldn't have hurt a fly. She was too soft, too kind. But there was clearly so much more to her than that. She was fully capable and never hesitated to act when others would freeze up. She was matter-of-fact. Duty-first. She was truly a survivor. The only thing that had seemed to shake her poise had been… him. He hastily poured a bit more bourbon into his glass.

"Tell me about her," Lakyn said delicately. "Tell me about Sarah."

Joel ran a hand over his face and took a few even breaths while staring at the bare floorboards. "She… she was twelve when I lost her. But since I couldn't always be around, she more-or-less raised herself. She was very mature, beyond her years." He chuckled to himself, reliving fond memories. "She always… had some witty jab to make. Kept me on my toes. She was the sweetest thing and…" he faltered. Lakyn was next to him by this point, and moved her hand to his arm, offering support. "God, I miss her so much."

Lakyn gave him a sad smile. "She sounds lovely."

"She was."

"I can understand why Ellie means so much to you."

"Yeah, well… it ain't just 'cause I lost Sarah. Ellie and I literally went through hell together and came out the other side. That kind of bond, one forged in the fires of the worst trials you can imagine… well, it ain't likely to be broken anytime soon."

She smiled warmly and took another sip of bourbon. Joel politely offered her more liquor and she accepted.

"So," he began, "what's the story behind your name? 'Lakyn' ain't too common."

"Well, believe it or not, I have good amount of Irish heritage in me. I know, hard to believe right?" she said, gesturing to her black hair. "But, hey, I know how to hold my liquor, so there's that." They shared a laugh. "But, um… well, 'Lakyn' is a derivative of the Irish name 'Lachlan' which means 'of the lake' or 'of the water.' My mother would never admit it, but I'm convinced that I was probably conceived on the shores of a lake or something ridiculous like that. But I love water and love to swim, so I guess the name is apropos."

"Huh… well, it's a very pretty name. Ellie thinks so, too."

Her warm smile graced his eyes again. "Thank you. I used to wish my mother had given me a regular name, but as time has worn on I'm glad it's unique. Gives me more reason to be unique."

"Well… you are a very particular woman," he said, putting a hand on hers.

"Oh stop, you're going to make me blush," she said demurely, though not pulling her hand away.

She looked aside to hide her shy smile, but Joel brought a knuckle up to her chin and turned her head to face him once again. Their eyes met, hers darting rapidly back and forth between each of his. They both knew what was coming, and slowly began moving towards each other. Time slowed to a crawl. They each felt as if they could feel each individual fiber and strand of existence in that moment. Their eyes slid closed as their faces moved closer. Joel could feel her breath on his lips, laced with the sweet aroma of bourbon. Their lips were a hair's width from touching.

"Joel?" a weak voice came from upstairs.

They both froze, sensing the palpable energy in the air that was arcing between them. Lakyn let out an effortless little laugh, like a violin bow dancing lightly on a string. Joel gave a shy, mildly embarrassed laugh in response.

"I, uh… I oughta check on her. She can't walk and might need something," he said bashfully.

"Of course. I should probably get going anyway."

Joel frowned. "You sure?" and then, before thinking it through, "You… you could… stay."

She smiled. "No, it's alright. She needs you. Besides, I wouldn't want to make anything uncomfortable for her."

He considered pleading with her, but realized that Lakyn was right. Ellie was lying on the mattress in his room after all, and he would need to attend to her regularly. She was his priority. Plus, he wasn't going anywhere. He'd have time to really connect with Lakyn in the future.

"You gonna make it home alright?" he asked.

She rose from the couch and smoothed her clothes. She lifted one leg and bent it, pressing the sole of her foot into her knee in a ballerina pose. She then spread her arms straight out to her sides and, bending at the elbow, brought her index finger to her nose, one hand at a time. She retained remarkable balance during this, especially considering all the alcohol she had imbibed. "Yeah, I'll be fine."

"I'd say." He was impressed. He walked her to the door. "I… I really enjoyed this. I haven't had a night this kind of good in a long, long time."

"Yeah, I'm glad we had a chance to get to know each other a bit better. Thanks for the drink."

"And thanks again for savin' my ass. Don't, uh… don't hesitate to come by again sometime."

She opened the door, turned around and smiled once more. "You bet."

"G'night."

She stood there for a moment, gazing at him. After a moment of consideration, she closed the gap between them, rose up on her toes, and kissed him. It only took a second for him to overcome his surprise. He tenderly took her face in his hands and returned the kiss. Time stopped. Years passed. That moment seemed to stretch into the bounds of time itself, coalescing past, present, and future into one moment. After centuries had come and gone, their lips separated.

"Good night," she whispered through a smile, turned, and left.

Joel stood there, dumbfounded, for what must have been minutes. His comprehension of time had become momentarily unhinged. His mind raced nearly as fast as his heart, with his eyes darting around between the doorway and the space before him where her aura still remained, barely invisible.

"Ow, fuck! Joel? Where are you?" Ellie's voice recalibrated his mind and he turned and quickly headed upstairs.

He opened the door to his room to find Ellie awake, propped up on her elbows. He was at her side in a flash. "What is it? What do you need?"

She blushed. "I have to use the bathroom."

He smiled. "Alright, kiddo." He scooped her up and carried her down the hall to the bathroom, then waited outside the door. When she had finished taking care of business, he carried her back to the room and placed her gently onto the mattress.

"What time is it?" she asked.

"Late."

"You must have had a ton of dishes to do," she said, giving him a knowing grin.

"Something like that."

"And did I hear another voice down there? Are the dishes talking to you now, Joel?"

He chuckled. "Nah. Someone came by."

She studied him for a second, the smirk on her face as pronounced as ever. "It was Lakyn, wasn't it?"

He put on a demeanor of exaggerated defensiveness. "Huh? What gives you that idea?"

"It's written all over your face, old man."

"Oh," he said, realizing she was probably right. "Yeah, it was her."

"Thought so," she chirped. "So… did you guys… you know…" she made a gesture that Joel found horrifying and hilarious at the same time.

"None of your damn business! And, no."

"Uh-huh, sure. Well… I say go for it. We like her."

"Oh we do, do we?" he asked.

"Well… I do, and it's pretty obvious that you do, too."

He stretched out next to her on the mattress and gave her a sideways glance. "Well, you caught me. Anyway, I'm glad you like her. Now, let's get some rest. You gotta lot of healin' to do."

"Agreed."

AFTERMATH: PART II CONTINUES

WITH CHAPTER 17