[AN] If everything goes to plan, the next chapter will be out tomorow. Don't for get to R &R, and I hope you enjoy.

Joel felt the early morning sun on his face as he woke up. I should get some more rest, but I won't be able to fall back to sleep. Old habits die hard, I guess. He had gotten used to waking up early ever since he and Ellie had been out on the road. They were safe in this radio station, but his body didn't care.

" 'Morning old timer." Henry said to him as he sat up and pulled his blanket off.

" 'Morning." Joel rubbed the sleep from his eyes. No nightmares. I'll take it. His dreams weren't plagued with his daughter's death, which wasn't a common occurrence. All he could remember from his dream was him and Ellie laughing by a campfire in the middle of the forest over something or another. Joel looked over to Ellie and smiled. She's a good kid. Maybe having her around will do me some good.

Joel pulled himself out of his own thoughts and looked over to Henry. "Where's Sam?"

"He's sleeping in that other room over there." He pointed over to the closed door that lead to another room.

Joel got up and walked next to the window, watching the nearby forest start to brighten up with the rising sun. The warmth from the sunlight on his face was so relaxing.

"Ya' know Henry, I haven't given a you a proper apology for nearly shooting you yesterday. So, I just wanted to say, I'm sorry about that. I truly am." He looked over to Henry who was cooking something over a gas burner.

"Water under the bridge, old man. To be honest, I would have done the same thing you did had our roles been reversed."

"Thanks." Joel looked back out the window. Is it just me, or is their a pattern of me befriending people I almost shoot? Joel chuckled.

"Mind if I ask you for some advice?" Henry asked.

"Sure go ahead." Joel turned around and leaned against the concrete wall next to the window.

"It's with Sam. How do I explain to him that all the people in our group aren't coming back?" Henry looked down at the floor.

Joel thought for the moment. "You've lost members of you're group before, right?"

"Obviously. Nothing like this though."

"Has Sam ever lost a close friend before?" Joel asked.

"No, there weren't many kids his age with us."

"Anybody he'd miss in particular?"

Henry paused for a moment before replying, "No, not really, but he got along well with everyone pretty well."

"Okay then. Henry, you don't need to explain to Sam that those people are gone now. He'll understand that. You need to be their to help him cope with the sense of loss. Luckily for you, it shouldn't be to difficult."

"How do you do it?" Henry asked after a minute of silence.

"Do what?"

"Deal with it. The loss."

"How do you know I've experienced it?" Joel asked.

"First of all, if you haven't experienced it, you're either a hermit or a lier. Secondly, man have you ever looked in a mirror?"

Joel turned to face Henry, "What?"

I can tell just by looking at you're face that you've been through a lot. And not just because of your gray hair." Joel chuckled at that, Henry continued, "I can see you've suffered a lot over these years. It's in your eyes."

Joel slowly turned towards the window. He didn't respond.

"I'm sorry Joel. I won't ask how or when, but I'm sorry."

Joel grabbed his watch. Joel spoke exactly what he was feeling right now, "It never goes away. The pain, I mean. You've heard the saying, 'time heals all wounds'?" He turned back to Henry.

"Yeah."

"Total bullshit. If you're lucky, the pain will decrease, but it never goes away. The regret, the loss, the guilt, all of it. It will be with you when you wake up in the morning, when you go to sleep at night, and every hour, minute, and second in between." Joel paused for a moment. "Trust me, I speak from experience."

Joel collected himself, and continued "The best thing you can tell Sam is that you have to move on. The people you cared about would want you to keep on living. Even if just waking up in the morning hurts like a bitch. And believe me, I've been through days like that. Things happen, and we move on. That's what's has to happen. It's best not to dwell on it."

He looked out the window, trying to calm himself down.

"So, what are you thinking our game plan should, be?" Henry asked Joel after a couple minutes of silence.

"Last I heard, my brother was in Jackson City, Wyoming. He was a firefly, he'll know where we can find them."

"Well, that's better than the plan I had. It just might work."

"By the way, me and Ellie have a running game of Texas hold'em going. You and Sam are welcome to join us, if you want."

"Sure, why not. You'll need to teach me how to play though."

"You don't know how to play Texas hold 'em? My, what a depraved life you've lived." They both laughed at that.

A few minuets later Joel heard Ellie yawn.

"Damn. That smells good."

" 'Morning." Joel said as he looked over to Ellie.

"Where's Sam?"

"I let him sleep in for once."

"Oh."

"Well, if you want him to join us, you can go wake his ass up."

"Okay." Joel saw Ellie walk over to Henry's room. It's nice that she has someone her around her own age.

Joel looked out through the window. Cloudless day. Beautiful. He thought to himself.

"Sam!" Ellie called out. Joel turned around to See Ellie fall through the door with Sam on top of her.

"Shit, he's turning!" Joel ran over to his backpack and pulled out his pistol. A bullet flew past him, and he fell back in shock and dropped the pistol

He looked over to Henry, who was holding a pistol. "That's my fucking brother!"

Joel looked back over to Ellie, who was trying to push Sam off herself. "Screw it!" She wasn't going to last much longer. As he was reaching for his pistol another shot came from Henry's gun. He looked over to Ellie, who was pushing Sam's dying body of of herself.

"Oh, shit." She crawled backwards away from Sam, who was now gagging on his own blood.

"Ellie? Ellie, are you alright?" Joel moved over to Ellie and place an hand on her shoulder.

"Uh-huh." She was breathing heavily as she briefly looked up at Joel. "Oh my God." She got out in one breath.

"Sam?"

"Oh no."

"Sam..." Joel looked at Henry, who was still holding on to the gun that he had used to kill his own brother. He was shaking.

"Henry." Joel stood up halfway and took a step towards Henry. "Ellie, stay there. Henry." He took his hand off Ellie's shoulder and took another step towards Henry.

"Henry, what have you done?"

"I'm gonna get that gun from you, okay?" Joel said, trying to calm Henry down.

"Sa... Sa... Sam." Henry said through tears. He pointed the gun at Joel.

"Whoa, okay, easy." Joel took a step back. He had no idea if Henry would actually shoot him, but he didn't want to find out.

"This is you're fault."

"This is nobody's fault, Henry."

"It's all you're fault!" Henry said. Joel wasn't sure if he was talking to himself or him, either way this was going badly."

"Henry." Joel saw Henry breathing heavily.

"Henry no!" Joel said right before Henry put the gun to his head and shot.

"Oh my God!" Ellie said as Henry's lifeless body crumpled to the floor.