A little over a week after their romantic evening, Nick received his very first piece of mail since the Infection. It was pushed under their door and taped in between two pieces of cardboard—and it was, honestly, the stupidest looking thing they had seen in quite a long time. They spent a good ten minutes simply laughing at it. The only thing that made them not toss it was the fact that it had Nicks name and room address written in big black sharpie across the top (or bottom, who knows). Otherwise, it looked like a piece of trash that someone had angrily shoved under their door for no particular reason. It appeared the military was forced to become more creative with their envelopes.

"Well, ya gonna open it?" Ellis asked, still chuckling quietly at the pathetic piece of mail.

"I suppose. I hope they didn't do a background check on me or something." The conman flipped the cardboard letter around in his hands a few times, trying to figure out how to open it. He settled with peeling off one of the corners. "Oh well, look at this. Real paper. How sweet of them." When he slipped the letter free, he took a moment to smooth out the crease and began to read. It was about three seconds in that his little grin disappeared and instead took on a look of utter panic.

"Nick?" Ellis voiced, concerned. "Wha' is it?" He leaned around the other and began to read:

Dear Nicholas J. Gates

We are pleased to inform you that your family member(s) See List Below are in the process of being relocated from Lincoln Mid-Western Evacuation Center/North Atlantic Vessel #3 to New Orleans South Evacuation Center/ South Atlantic Vessel #14. Estimated time of arrival is between January 25 and January 28. Please keep yourself updated with arrival of new passengers and help keep the process smooth by locating your family member(s) on your own accord. If you find yourself in need of assistance locating family members please contact your closest Admissions officer.

Sincerely,

Rita Gartner

Department of Defense

Family Members:

Emily S. Welsh

Michael A. Welsh

Stacy R. Welsh

Erin A. Welsh

"Hol-ee shit." For lack of better words, that was really the only thing Ellis could think to say. Nick looked at him—he looked stunned. There was a long moment in which they simply stared at each other.

And then Nick seemed to snap out of his stupor. He threw the letter aside and bounded forward. "Ellis? Ellis, what's your last name?" He grabbed the other insistently and shook him. Ellis stared, wide-eyed and tried to speak but Nick was shaking him so hard his teeth chattered together when he tried. "Give me your last name and I'm going to go down to the office and change my last name to your last name."

"Huh? Wha'? Why?" Ellis grabbed Nicks hands firmly and Nick finally stopped shaking him. Ellis' face scrunched with confusion. "Tha' don' make no sense."

"Makes perfect sense, Ellis. Then they can't find me." Nick released the other finally and began to pace. One hand reached up to nervously worry his lips as his eyes searched the ground frantically. "This is no good. No good at all. It's just a mistake. They'll buy that. Just think that some name got scrambled up together. Right? I can fix this." He stopped pacing and turned to look pleadingly at the staring southerner. "Right?" he repeated, more instantly.

Ellis frowned. "Nick, yer actin' crazy…"

"No, nononono. Ellis. I'm acting perfectly reasonable!" He straightened, but in reality he only managed to look more insane. "Perfectly."

"No," Ellis said slowly. He stepped forward, patting the air delicately. "Ya need ta calm down, Nick. Le's jus' take a moment ta think here 'bout wha's goin' on."

"Ellis. Without my permission you gave that thick-headed moron my god damn sisters name and location. And I can only, only imagine that the reasons why she's moving from there to here is because of a certain notification that alerted her to my location." Nick didn't exactly sound angry, but more panic-stricken. He was talking so fast Ellis almost couldn't even follow his train of thought.

"Um… Wait… Okay, hold on. Ya don' wanna see her?" Ellis itched his cheek, confused. He frowned. "Why not? I though' tha' ya said yew'd think 'bout it."

Nick made a face before throttling the air. "God, Ellis. We've gone through this. I can't just walk back into her life after fifteen years of abandonment!"

"But she's walkin' back inta yers," Ellis pointed out. Nicks mouth dropped open slightly, eyes searching the air in between them. He looked like he was really trying to find an argument in that fact. But he was failing miserably. His horrified gaze returned to Ellis. "Look," Ellis said gently, "her showin' up here is jus' showin' tha' she still cares an' stuff. I mean… Look." He picked up the fallen letter. "She's even got her husband an' kids with her an' stuff. Tha's cool. Yer an uncle, Nick. Hey, Nick? Where ya goin'?" The conman had retreated into the bathroom and closed the door. Ellis sighed quietly before moving to the door and knocking gently. "Nick?" He knocked again. "Nick? I'm comin' in."

When he moved inside Nick was curled up in the corner, wedge between the bathtub and sink. He looked pale, rather faint and really, really ill. Nick gave the other a long look before pressing his face into his upraised knees. "I have to fix this, Ellis. I can't do this."

Ellis frowned worriedly and sat nearby the older man. He prodded him gently in the legs and Nick simply shook his head in response. "Nick?" He prodded him again. "Nick?" Again. "Maybe this ain't a bad thing. Maybe it's a good thing. A chance fer ya ta get yer family back." Nick mumbled something into his knees. "Wha'?"

"I said," came the muffled reply. Ellis strained hard to make out the words. "I don't want to."

"Sure ya do. Ya jus' don' know it righ' now. Yer in shock is all."

"No."

"Nick." The young man lifted the letter, shaking it next to Nicks ear. "This lil' piece of paper here is God's way of sayin' tha' ya need ta own up ta yer past an' give new meain' ta tamorrow."

Nick lifted his face and he glared. "Let's not pull the God bullshit card. Especially after all this shit. I ain't buyin' that."

"Well, maybe it's fates way of bringin' ya back tagether."

"No. The fault lies with you and Coach. Seeing as you two have knack for shoving your faces into other people's business."

"Don' blame us, Nick." Although Ellis said it seriously, he could feel himself smiling. He hoped Nick wouldn't get angry.

"I'm blaming you." It was odd. Nick was still glaring, but there wasn't any hatred behind that glare. It was like a pouty glare that a stubborn kid gave their mom when they didn't want to eat their vegetables or clean their room. It wasn't intimating at all and maybe that was why Ellis wasn't feeling guilty.

"Le's jus' think 'bout this 'fore ya go an' do somethin' rash."

"No." Nick buried his face back into his knees stubbornly.

Ellis had never had to play the parent role in any situation, ever. It was kind of strange that he found himself having to with Nick—of all people. It was like he retracted into a child-like rendition of himself. Which, oddly, made sense to Ellis. It was like he reverted back to that age of when he had left—that stubborn twenty-year old that was positive that the decision he made wasn't hurting anyone and was only benefiting everyone.

"Nick," Ellis shuffled closer, tugging at the mans legs. He pulled Nicks legs into his lap and Nick was forced to sit back, unable to hide his face in his arms anymore. The conman sighed heavily, dropping his head back against the wall. He refused to look the other in the eye. "Nick… This ain't a bad thing."

"Nngh," came the annoyed noise of retort.

"Wha' are ya so afraid of?" That hit a nerve. The older man flinched visibly. "She still loves ya, Nick. I'm sure she fergive's ya an' everythin'. She jus' wan's ta be with ya again. It's proof tha' she's comin' here. I say give her a chance. Le' her see her lil' brother in the flesh again…" Ellis reached over to tug at the others sleeve. "Come on, Nick. Give her the chance ta have her lil' brother back."

"I'm not a kid anymore, Ellis. And neither is she. This isn't going to be like a little family reunion between a brother and sister that hasn't seen each other over a few Christmas. This is… This is…" He shook his head. "This is fucking ridiculous, is what it is. This whole fucking thing is ridiculous."

"Jus' a lil' bump in the road s'all it is, Nick."

"Nothing phases you, does it?"

"Hate me fer it?"

Nick chuckled. "No… Of course not. But… shit, have a little sympathy for me, won't you? I really didn't want to do this. It's being forced onto me without my consent." He sighed, shuffling his legs and Ellis let him go. The conman freed himself from the corner he had wedged himself into and readjusted himself to sit beside the southerner. He let out a long sigh, hands wringing together nervously. "Jesus… I'm like… an uncle. I guess I never really thought about it… What are their names again?" Nick leaned close and Ellis retrieved the paper, holding it up for both of them to look at. "Stacy and Erin, yeah? Huh…" He sighed again, resting his head against the Ellis' shoulder in gentle surrender. "I don't even know what the date is today."

"We can probably jus' open the door an' yell at someone when they walk by."

"Why would you yell?" Nick asked, chuckling quietly.

"I nno," Ellis shrugged. "Keeps life interestin', I guess."

"Yeah? I think they'd probably think you went nutty demanding the date so angrily from them."

Ellis shrugged, grinning slightly. "So… Are ya okay with this? We don' gatta run down ta the office an' get yer name changed?"

"…I'm not committing to anything yet, but as of right now I'll just sit on the idea."

"Dang, it'd been like we was married or somethin'."

Nick smirked. "Ellis, we both know you're the girl in the relationship. You'd be changing your last name."

"Well, I suppose if I ever gat ta marry ya, I suppose I ain't gonna complain. I don' think we can get married in North Carolina though."

"Let's talk about the "m" word later. For now, that word is banned from conversation."

Ellis laughed. "All right, all right. So… whatcha wanna do now?"

"I suppose we should… figure out what today is. It has to be around the twenty-third. Shit, their mail system really sucks. I get like two days to figure out what the fuck I want to do."

"Well." Ellis climbed to his feet and then offered his hands to the other. "We better get our asses movin' then."

Nick felt the corner of his mouth twitching into a smile and he took the mans hands. It seemed he could count on Ellis to smooth over just about anything.

Yeah… maybe this whole sudden reunion shit was actually a good thing.

A/N: Sorry for missing an update, guys. I was super sick yesterday and I didn't have the attention span nor the ability to sit in place long enough to write a coherent sentence.

When writing this, for some reason it was very animated and sitcom like in my head. –snort-

Note: This story will end when Nick and Ellis get home (yes, home XD). I figured that's probably the most reasonable (although consequently relatively long way to go) place to end.