It had been four weeks. Four interminably long weeks since it was done. Since Matt. Anna had hardly been given time to process it before it was all over, and they were moving on. The weather was growing steadily warmer, and there was a good deal of work to do. Seeds to be planted, game to be hunted... Grass grew green again.

Ellie avoided Anna for some time. And Anna was content for it to be that way. They both needed some space to recover. Ellie's heart ached, and some nights when she tossed and turned, trying in vain to get comfortable, her eyes twitching behind her eyelids, she wasn't sure if it was because Matt was gone and because she had felt something for him as a friend, or because of Anna. Because Anna was distant, and she never got to hear what Anna thought. How Anna felt after she told her. Ellie draped an arm across her face, trying to force her nerves to be still, to not think about it, but the urges became too strong, borne on the tide of the grief which had been suppressed to a mind-numbing solitude.

The night was warm, sticky. The cicadas buzzed in the trees as she did her best to creep down the stairs, swearing internally as stairs that she used to pass without incident creaked under her step. The night air was still as she pushed open the door; those on watch turned to regard her silently, turning back to their duties when they saw it was only the girl with the falling-down ponytail, the hacked-off jean shorts, and the ragged tank top pushed outwards by the swell of her belly.

She picked her way through the settlement without incident, and almost collided with a figure emerging from between two houses.

"Holy crap," Ellie exclaimed in a fierce whisper.

"Ellie -"

"Anna."

The two stood, staring wordlessly at each other in the shadows until they fell into a hug, each clinging to the other as if for dear life.

"I'm sorry..." Ellie mumbled. "I'm just really sorry..."

"For what?" Anna asked, pulling back, and holding the other girl's face between her hands. Ellie's eyes drifted shut, her words jumbled.

"For – all the.. stuff – Matt... avoiding you..."

"It's okay." Anna released her and pulled her into a hug again. "How are you holding up?"

"Holding up," Ellie returned, clasping her hands together behind Anna's back and adding, "You?"

"Okay," Anna said, burying her face in Ellie's shoulder for a brief moment, before releasing you. "I thought... man – I couldn't imagine..."

"It's past." Ellie jutted her chin out. "And we're okay."

Anna nodded her head, taking a deep breath. "I just... some days I can't believe it." Her eyes were wistful. "I miss him."

Ellie pressed her lips together. "Yeah. Me too."

They ended up sitting in the hard-packed dirt against the outside of Anna's house, talking in low voices, catching up, interrupting each other, suppressing giggles, and trying to talk about anything except Matt.

"You know what I wish?" Ellie said at last, and Anna held her breath, thinking it was going to be something unanswerable: deep, introspective, and full of emotion. She should have known better, considering it was Ellie.

"I wish dragons were real," Ellie blurted out. "I mean, c'mon, think about it. Wouldn't that be the most awesome thing ever? If they were real, I would totally want one."

Anna choked back laughter.

"Really..."

"Heck, yeah! And seriously, if you think about it – people never thought any of this crap would be real. You know, clickers and stuff, so maybe they were wrong about dragons too." She got to her feet and stretched her arms. "I'm gonna keep on hoping."

"You do that," Anna said, poking a finger at Ellie's stomach as she stretched, causing her to recoil and glare.

"Stop!"

"It's so weird..."

"That does loads for my self-confidence, Anna," Ellie growled.

"Alright." Anna got to her feet as well and wrapped her friend in a brief hug, causing Ellie's adrenaline to surge yet again. "You take care."

"I will," Ellie returned, ducking her head, and retreating a few steps. "You too."

"Night, Ellie."

Ellie's happiness was such that she was hardly interested in the sudden calls she heard as she made her way back toward the house, and the hurried footfalls along the parapet. Only halfway curious, Ellie idled along behind Steve as he clambered down from his post and made his way with some of the others to the east gate, voices growing louder.

"Please – I promise I'm peaceful -" an unfamiliar voice was saying, a man's. "I'll hand over my gun, anything you say, just please..." His words were ragged with desperation. "There is a pack of clickers that overran the town we'd holed up in -"

"Did they follow you?" Houser's gruff tones.

"I haven't seen them for three days. Haven't had any food... or water..."

"Any more of you?"

"There were more. But not now."

"You're gonna have to wait. I'll fetch Tommy, he's the one you'll need to talk to. He makes the decisions here."

"I'll go get him," Ellie spoke up, and she received an affirming pat on the shoulder before turning, and hurrying back toward the house, swinging open the screen door.

"Joel?" she called in a loud whisper. "There's someone at the gate. I'm gonna wake Tommy."

"Hm..." Joel sat up, rubbing his face. "You stay put." His voice sounded more awake than he looked.

"I'll stay with Maria," Ellie volunteered. It was a rather clever on her part, because she knew Maria would accompany Tommy to the gate, and then she could at least be in on the happenings without crossing Joel. Because Joel when first awakened had the social graces of a hibernating grizzly, she knew that for a fact.

"Tommy – Maria -" Ellie's rapped with her knuckles lightly on the doorframe and the door swung open to reveal Tommy already stomping his feet into his boots and Maria pulling on a loose shirt.

"What's going on?"

"Guy at the gate. Steve's handling it, but they said to get you."

"Just one?" Tommy asked, standing to his feet and crossing the room, regarding the girl in the dim light.

"I think so. Only heard one." Ellie trailed after Tommy who banged out the front door with Joel on his heels, until Maria caught her shoulder.

"What were you doing out there anyway?"

Ellie winced. "Just... talkin' with Anna. That's all."

"In the dead of night? You two are crazy," Maria returned, but there was a smile behind her words. She didn't have the heart to scold the girl who was just now coming out of the throes of misery into a friendship again. "Let's go with the boys."

Ellie bobbed her head, pushing her bangs behind her ears as they returned into the still night. It seemed the entire camp had been awakened and gathered at the east gate, and Joel was doing his best to quell the chattering while the gate was opened. Pushing through with Maria, they reached Tommy, and the stranger he had engaged in an interrogation. Ellie's heart leapt into her throat at the sight of the man. His was a face she recognized. He was one of David's men. One of them. He caught her gaze for a brief moment, and his eyes dragged down her form, and back up again.

"Sure have grown, haven't you," he said, his sudden recognition unnerving.

Ellie cursed under her breath, and grabbed Maria's arm in a death grip. "Don't let him in."

"Tommy..." Maria began, but Ellie vociferated. "Do not let this son of a -"

"Ellie!" Maria looked her in the face, eyes wide. "Do you know him? What are you talking about?"

"I met them before... with Joel. He'd remember him." Ellie's raised voice quietened the crowd around them somewhat. "He was with them. He's a – a- " She couldn't bring herself to say the word.

"You... you were David's little prize," the man said, lifting a hand and taking a step closer.

"Don't touch me," Ellie snarled, starting forward, and fumbling in the pocket of her shorts. She yanked out her switchblade, muscles tensed; murmurs and warnings spread through the gathered crowd.

"I understand your aversion, but you have to know – we're not all like that. We weren't all -"

"Are you the only one?" Ellie demanded.

"We -"

"Are you the only one?" she shouted, her eyes enormous in the dark.

The man lifted both his hands as Joel came shoving his way through the crowd, and joined Maria and Tommy in flanking the girl.

"Ellie, what in the name of..."

"Are you – the only – one!" Ellie repeated, her knuckles growing white as she clenched the blade in her grasp.

"No," the man returned after a long beat. "No, there's Reuben too. He's collapsed. Just here." He indicated with a jerk of his hand, and at once two of the men pushed past him out the gate and there was the sound of a struggle, and muffled curses. They dragged a smaller figure in through the gate and tossed him on the ground near Joel and Ellie – a figure with matted hair and a shirt with the sleeves torn off, his legs folded grotesquely under him.

"Reuben," the man explained, pointing a finger. "We two are the only ones left."

"And you are-?"

"Dwight." The man regarded the group from the hollows of his eyes. "We've all done horrible things to survive. We just want a chance. Like any of you. A chance to move on."

"No." Ellie's voice was hard. "Not here."

Tommy opened his mouth to say something when the twisted figure on the ground moved, and looked up, regarding the onlookers with a dirt-and-blood covered face. "This girl is your leader?" And then he collapsed in a heap once more.