Disclaimer: I do not own any character of (The Last of Us) TLOU is owned by Naughty Dog and its creators.

A/N: Hi, I want to thank the people that are reading this story, especially the ones that leave the first comment here. as a reminder, this story is AU and moves in a modern time. So is a romantic and dramatic story just using the character and a few names from TLOU. This story has nothing to do with the game or the tv show. Anyway, I hope that people still like the story and continue reading it. Again thank you for that. All comments are accepted and respected, but please do not put hater comments on the story or make them personal. This is just a fantasy story that has nothing to do with real life, so just enjoy the story and hope that you like it. Joel and Ellie's romance will be a little slow, so be prepared for that too. Now, lest continuing with the story.

Chapter 2: The Island

Ellie forgot that her mother asked her to call her as soon as she landed at her destination. Ellie didn't tell her where she was going yet. But now that she calls her, she is not sure whether to tell her or not. Not that it will matter if she gets mad at her, because she is already there and she is an adult. Ellie was really surprised that her mother even called her as they grew distant since her dad died. Or even how she finds out that she was on a trip vacation, but she has a suspicion that her roommate at school has something to do with that. She is always encouraging her to talk more or pass time with her mom.

"Hey… mom…" she said with a casual tone. "Sorry I-" she moved the phone from her ear as soon as her mom started yelling at her.

"Do you know how worried I was?... you told me that you will call me as soon as you land and it has been more than half a day since your last call." her mom said with a mad tone.

Ellie moved and sat on the bed knowing that this call would take a long time. "Yes… I told you that and I was going to call you, but I have some complications with-" the moment she said that word she knew it was a mistake.

"Complication! OMG… did something happens? Are you okay? Oh, GOD Ellie… I knew that something would happen on one of your crazy trips… Okay just tell me what happens and-"

"Mom!... nothing bad happened okay… I'm fine." She rolled her eyes at her mother's overprotecting issues… but who can blame her, she is her only daughter and all mothers always worry for their children even if they are grown up. "Mom… My flight to South America went too long and I arrived late… that is why I didn't call you before."

"Yeah… you said that now, but I was the one that was worried sick… wait… Did you say South America?"

Ellie can hear her mom fast breathing through the phone. She only hopes that she doesn't have a heart attack or something. "Yes… Mom, I traveled to Ecuador… but don't worry everything is fine… okay."

"Shit Ellie… why didn't you even tell me where you were going? Those countries are dangerous… They kidnapped girls like you and their families never knew what happened to them." she said with a panicked tone. "Jesus… Ellie, what are you thinking?

"Please can you stop worrying so much?..." Ellie takes a deep breath that her mom probably hears. "That is why I didn't tell you, because I know that you will be like this if I did," she said while laying on top of the bed.

"You're damn right I will be like this… I wouldn't even tell you to not go there if I knew…" Ellie wanted to say something but it was better not to as her mother continued. "You should not go there. Some of those countries do not even have a US embassy, and if something happens there who is going to help you? OMG do they have an American embassy In Ecuador? I better check on the internet or something-"

"Mom… can you stop, please? People come here on vacation from all over the world all the time… They have laws and police as every country does… it is not like I came to the middle of a jungle with a lot of savage animals." It was silent for a few minutes before her mother spoke again.

"I… I don't understand Ellie… why are you doing this? I mean putting yourself in danger and for what? To have some kind of freedom? Is this what it's all about?"

Ellie has to roll her eyes again. She can understand her mother's worries but what her mother doesn't understand is that she has to do this for herself… and for her father's memory. "Mom… I'm not endangering myself… okay. Traveling around the world and trying to do different things was my dad's dream. He wants us to enjoy life and since I can't do it with him now. I will do it by myself… I will do it for him…" Ellie lowers her phone as tears start to fall from her eyes. Her mother doesn't understand how much her father means to her and how much she loves him.

Her mother stayed quiet for a few minutes, not knowing what to say to her daughter. She knew how hard the divorce was for her and a few years later her father got sick and died of cancer.

"I'm so sorry Ellie… I know that your father's death was hard for you… it was sad for me too. Even if we're not together anymore, I always try to stay close." she posed for a moment. "I know that you need to live your own life… but you're not alone… even if your father is no longer with you you still have your mother. I am just saying that there are other things that you can do to honor your father… Like finishing school, he will love that."

After a few minutes, Ellie spoke again. "I know that you love me mother… and I love you too… but Dad wants me to live my life the way I wanted… and I want to do this. I want to do different things and see different places when I still have the time to do it… I know that you do not understand what I'm doing, but this is something I need to do… for me and for him."

Another long pose. "As I said I always respect your decisions, honey… I can't understand why you have to do such dangerous things." another pause. "Just be careful out there… okay? The world is a dangerous place, especially for a girl your age… so be careful."

"I will… mom. Don't need to worry about me, I will be fine… promise."

"I hope you do… and promise me that you will call me every day… okay?"

"I can't promise that I will call you every day but I don't know how good the phone reception will be here and I will be doing a lot of things so… I don't know how frequently I will call. But I promise to call you as much as I can… okay?"

"Okay… baby… take care of yourself, okay… and call me as much as you can to let me know that you're okay. I hope you enjoy your vacation there… love you…"

"Love you too mom…" with that the call ended and Ellie put her phone on her side. She knows that her mother is always worried for her and she can understand that, but she is an adult now and she needs to live her life the way she wanted. After a few minutes of laying on the bed, her stomach started to make some sounds. Shit! I was so excited about all this that I forgot that I haven't eaten anything since I got on the plane. Ellie sits up and looks for the room phone. I just hope they have room service here.

Luckily for Ellie, the hotel has a small kitchen with a selected menu of different food. Most of them were local food that she never tastes, but she wanted to try as much as she could, but since it was late, she only ordered the more simple one. They told her that it will be sent to her room in one hour, so Ellie will take that time to take a bath. So after ordering the food, Ellie went to where her suitcase was and put it on top of her bed. She didn't bring many clothes, just what she will need, so she was hoping to find a cleaner place where she can wash some of her clothes after she uses them. She was expecting to be here for at least three weeks, so she needs to buy a few more clothes or at least wash the ones she brings.

After finding the ones she will use to sleep, Ellie grabs them and goes to the bathroom. The bathroom was small but decent and clean. Ellie has never been to South America so she needs to remember that things could be different than in the USA or any other country she goes to. After taking off the clothes that she had been wearing all day, Ellie opened the water and waited for it to be warm enough before going inside the bathtub. Ellie spent only half an hour taking her bath, which was less than she was costumed back home. After she dried off and put on her sleeping clothes which consisted of a large t-shirt and shorts, she moved out of the bathroom and sat on the bed. Soon she heard someone knock at the door and said that it was the room service with her food. Ellie gets up from the bed and walks toward the door.

After Ellie takes the food and gives the young man a tip, she walks toward the small table in the corner of the room and puts the food on it, and eats it. After finishing the meal, which was delicious, Ellie sat on the bed and took her tablet out from her backpack, and lay on the bed. The wifi there wasn't so good, so she only used it to check her emails and check a few things on the internet about the small island she was going to. She wanted to know where the good place to go was and if there were a surfer shop or any place that gave surfing lessons. She finds some information about a few surf stores, but nothing on any place that gives surf lessons. It was strange because if that Island was popular for that at least they should have one.

After looking for a few more minutes, she found one shop that said that they give surfing lessons, so she needed to check that one as soon as she arrived there. Ellie writes the name of the place and the phone number on a piece of paper. After that, Ellie opens an album file where she has some pictures of her father. She looked at them remembering where some of them were taken. Most of them were when she was a child with him and her mother, but she has some of him after he got divorced and she spends more time with him in his house. He takes her to visit a lot of places: museums, bishes, amusing parks, and a little camping time in the forest up north of Boston. Those were the good times she spent with her father before he got sick. But those were the times she wants to remember most.

After watching the picture of her father for some time, tears start falling out of her eyes as she passes her finger on the scream over the last picture she has of her father. It was in NY in the Statue of Liberty a year before her father got sick. He wanted to take her there, because the last time he was there with her, she was only 8. It was a fun day, and she was happy to spend all day with her dad visiting other places in NY and she missed all that. After crying for a few minutes Ellie decided to close the file with the pictures and try to get some sleep. So she turned off the tablet and put it on the nightstand beside the bed.

I miss you, dad… and I always will. Said Ellie in a lower and sad voice before turning off the light and trying to get some sleep.

xXx

Ellie wakes up early in the morning, knowing that Juan will be there at 8:00 am to pick her up. So she wakes early so she can take a proper bath and change. While she got ready to go, Ellie ordered breakfast, so that she did not have to travel with an empty stomach. So after she took her bath and got her things ready, her food arrived and she sat on the table and ate it. Soon after she finished, Ellie grabbed her things and went to the lobby to pay her bill. Soon she arrived there she saw Juan already sitting in a chair in the lobby waiting for her. As soon he saw her walking toward the counter, the man stood up and walked toward her.

"Buenos días señorita… is a pleasure to see you again."

"Gracias Juan… how long have you been here waiting?"

"Not much… Did you sleep well?"

"Yes… I did thanks."

"Okay… eso es Bueno." He moves closer to her and grabs the suitcase. "I will take this to the car… while you finish… okay?"

"Thanks, Juan, I will pay my bill and will be out in a few minutes." she smiles at him before continuing to walk toward the counter.

"Take your time… no hay prisa…" said the man while turning around and walking toward the entrance of the hotel. He goes to his car and opens the trunk to put Ellie's suitcase there, after he does that he moves beside the car and waits for Ellie to get out. He waited for ten minutes before he saw Ellie walking out of the hotel and walking toward him. "Espero que todo haya ido bien… miss Willians," he said while opening the back door for her.

Ellie didn't understand everything he said in Spanish, but she still got some of the things he said. "Everything was good… thank you." She takes off her backpack and goes inside the car. Juan closes the door and moves toward the driver's seat and gets in. "Don't worry, we will be at the airport in no time," he said before he started the car and drove away.

Juan and Ellie talk a little while he takes her back to the airport, and even though Ellie doesn't talk or understand Spanish much she gets Juan very well. Ellie can see that the people here were really nice, at least the ones she met so far. It took 40 minutes to get to the airport since the traffic was a little busy today, but Juan was making sure to take Ellie there in time.

Soon they enter the airport, and Ellie notices that Juan doesn't take the exit that takes them to the main terminal. She moves forward to talk to him. "Hey Juan… you missed the exit…" she asked as he continued driving in another direction.

He turned his head and looked at her. "Don't worry, miss... tu avión está en otra parte del aeropuerto," he answered her.

Ellie does not have any problem trusting him, but she needs to be alert and ready for anything. "Okay…" was her answer before moving back to the seat. While the man continues driving, Ellie opens her backpack, takes her baseball cap out, and puts it on after doing a ponytail on her hair.

After a few minutes of driving, Juan stopped at a gate guarded by two men. One of them walks out of the gate's little cabin and moves close to the car. "Buenos días, puedo ayudarles en algo?" asked the man while looking at Juan.

"Si, traigo un pasajero para el vuelo de las 9:30," said Juan, while looking at the guard.

"Necesito ver sus papeles…" he said to Juan before looking at the back of his taxi.

"Seguro," Juan goes for his wallet, takes out his papers, and passes them to the man. Then he turns his head and looks at Ellie. "Necesitan ver tus papeles… I mean your passport?"

Ellie looks at him, before getting what he asked her passport for. Ellie grabs her backpack and takes out her passport and passes it to Juan. The man passed it to the guard that was beside the car window. The guard looked at it for a few minutes, then passed it back to Juan. "American!" he said while looking toward Ellie. "Are you going to the island on business or pleasure?" he asked her.

"The second one, I'm on vacation," said Ellie as soon as she grabbed her passport from Juan.

"Well, enjoy your stay there… and be careful… you're very young to be traveling alone," said the guard before walking back to the gate cabin and opening the gate. "Pueden pasar… y que tengan un buen dia," he said looking toward Juan now.

"Gracias…" said Juan to the man before driving away from the gate. He drove a few more minutes toward a group of smaller hangars at the end of the road. Soon Juan stops beside one of them and Ellie sees the small landing track on the other side. "Ya llegamos…" said Juan before opening the door and leaving the car. Soon he is out, he opens Ellie's door and helps her out. "Sacaré tu equipaje y veré si el piloto y el avión ya están listos." he said while moving to the back of his car and opening the trunk. He takes out Ellie's suitcase and passes it to her. "I will check if everything is good to go… okay?"

"Okay," Ellie watches him walk toward the little office building on the side of the hangar. As she waits for Juan, Ellie starts to move around looking for the plane, but she doesn't see any closer there. She did notice that the place is on the other side of the main airport as she watched some big plane taking off, so she thought that this must be a private plane track.

After a few minutes, Ellie starts walking toward the little office but stops when Juan walks out of it. "The pilot is getting the plane ready in one of the hangars, c'mon," he said while walking toward the hangar entrance.

Ellie follows him and stops beside him as soon as they get in front of the hangar's open doors. "That is the plane… I need to take it?" she said with a surprised expression as soon as she saw it.

Juan turns his head and looks at her. "Si… son senorita, solo son como 15 minutes… de vuelo to the island," he looked at her pale face. "Have you ever flown in a small plane like this before?"

"No…" she answered quickly. "But it is always the first time for anything…" she said with a smile.

"Que gusto me da escuchar eso… I like your way of thinking… "Don't be afraid to try new things, that is a good way to enjoy life," he said while looking at her. "Now I have to go… Necesito recoger otros pasajeros… so just give these papers to the pilot and all will be set to go… okay?" Juan said before starting to walk away, but Ellie stopped him.

"Hey, take this… y gracias… por todo…" said Ellie while putting some money in his hand.

"Gracias… miss Ellie… and I hope you enjoy your stay on the island," he said with a smile on his face before he walked back to his taxi. Ellie watches him drive away, then looks back to the interior of the hangar. After a few minutes, Ellie saw the pilot get down from the small plane and walk toward her. He was cleaning his hand with a dirty cloth before he got close to her.

"El avión estará listo para salir en media hora…" says the pilot while throwing the dirty cloth toward a small desk in the closer corner of the hangar.

Ellie looked at him not knowing what he just said. "Sorry… no hablo… mucho… Espanol…" she said quickly.

"Oh… an American tourist… are you traveling alone?" he said while looking behind her.

"Oh, you speak English great…. Yes traveling alone… and as I can see…you were working on the plane… Is there something wrong with it?" Ellie asked curiously.

"No… the plane is fine, I am just waiting for three more passengers," he said while walking away from her and walking toward a vending machine that was outside of the hangar.

Ellie looks at him, before looking back to the plane. "I just hope you know what you're doing."

xXx

Ellie gets onto the plane as soon as the other three passengers arrive. She had never been on a plane like this before. It was a four-passenger plane, but she has confidence that the pilot knows what he is doing and that it will take them to the island safely. As soon as all of the passengers were inside the pilot went in and started the plane engine.

"Okay… todos están bien aya tras?" he said while looking at the passenger. Two of them were locals so they understood the pilot. Ellie and an older man were Americans, so the pilot started to speak English. "Okay ladies and gentlemen, put on your seatbelt and enjoy the short flight."

Ellie watches the pilot grab the radio and start talking with the tower to ask permission to take off. He started to move the plane toward the track. "The flight is going to take only 20 minutes so it will be a short flight." the pilot said while getting ready to take off.

The old man that was sitting beside Ellie looked at her. "Hi, my name is Roger, is this your first time in Ecuador?" he asked her.

Ellie turns her head and looks at him. "Yes… this is my first time in South America."

"Oh… that is good, I think you will enjoy the island then… this is my hmmm… I think I lost count already.'' The man laughed a little. "I'm a businessman, and even though I like to come here on vacation… most of the time is just business. But I can tell you that the island of Santa Cruz is a good place to go on vacation and have a good time," he said, trying to make some conversation with Ellie. Both of them look at the front when the pilot receives the go call and he starts to move the plane forward to get speed. "Here we go… agarrese bien y espero no estrellarme."

"What did he say?" he asked the old man.

"Just hang on tight…" he answered with a smile.

Ellie grabs the seat hard as the plane goes speed and starts to get up. Ellie is not afraid of heights or flying, but this small plane is not the same as a big one. After the plane goes up, it starts to move sideways, making Ellie sick a little. "Oh… fuck!... I just hope to not throw up," she said while closing her eyes while the plane continued moving up and away from the airport.

The old man put his hand on top of Ellie for support. "Don't worry girl… you will get used to it after this," he said while looking at her. "It always gets a little bumpy when it gets up, but soon after that all will be okay." The two local couples start talking with themselves and even though Ellie doesn't understand them, they seem to be happy about the fly. The old man notices Ellie nervously, so he decides to give her some conversation to distract her. "So… what brings you here? I mean I know it is not my business, but it is strange to see a young girl like you come alone to the island," he said trying to get Ellie to talk and get her mind away from the fly.

After a minute, Ellie opens her eyes and turns her head, and looks at him. "I came here… for a… vacation trip," she answered him quickly.

"Alone?" he asked, surprised. "As I said, it is not my business, but young people always come here in groups of friends or with someone special… unless you're looking for something?" He said the last part with some curiosity.

Ellie looked at him, then to the front. He was right, it is not his business, and he doesn't know the reason she was here. But coming here alone didn't mean that she came looking for someone. Yeah, her mother will be happy if she finds a boyfriend that keeps her out of her wanted list. But that is not going to happen… at least not if she can help it. Even if she considers that option in the future, she wants to continue with her travels and learn new things, just like her father would have wanted.

After a few minutes, Ellie spoke again. "I just want to do new things and I prefer them to do it alone…" she finally tells him.

The man looked at her. "I don't mean in a bad way… and I understand if you wanted to travel by yourself…" he said while moving his hand away from hers. If you're looking for an adventure. You came to the right place. The island is a beautiful place, even if half of the place is wild territory, it still has a lot of places to pass the time. Most of the island's beaches are used by surfers… but I bet you can find some to swim. The island is known for the good beaches and most of the people that come here are young men that come to enjoy the waves."

Ellie tries to hide her smile. "Well, that looks like a good adventure for me…"

The man laughed a little at that. "Yeah… I bet you can say that. Anyway, are you staying in one of the resort hotels or in a guest house?"

Ellie doesn't know if it was a good idea to answer that. Like he said she is alone here and even though he looks like a nice man he is still a stranger. So she decided not to answer that.

The man noticed, and laughed again a little. "Don't need to worry girl… I am not going to stalk you if that is what you worry about." The man moves his hand to his shirt pocket and takes out a card. "Here!... This is my business card. It has my name and phone number on it," he said while passing the card to Ellie.

Ellie took it and looked at it. She looked at the name on the business card. "Roger Wayne Supplier' "I thought you were here on vacation…" asked Ellie while looking at him.

"Both… I mean I'm on business, but I have a friend here that has a bar and I always take some time off and visit him… but most of the time I come here on business. I supply a few people here and on the mainland too."

"Supply?" she asked curiously. Ellie didn't want to think that the man was doing something bad, but some people that call themself supplying in a country like this… only transport illegal things.

The man looked at her face and laughed again. "Is not what you think girl…" he laughed again. "I only transport legal stuff to local stores… like liquor, food… all kinds of store stuff… so nothing illegal… okay," he said while turning his head and looking out of the window. "Some people here don't have enough money to hire big suppliers, so they hire small businessmen like me to help them with all that."

Ellie's face was red with embarrassment. "Sorry I don't mean to imply anything bad about you or your business… but why give me your card, I am not in any business here," she said while trying to give him back the card.

"Keep it… I was not offering you my service. I just want you to have my number in case you need any help around here since this is your first time. Yes, they're a lot of tourists here, but not all the locals talk or speak English, so I know that it can be difficult to get around. So if you need any help you can call me or visit my friend's place and tell him that I send you there. The place is in the town close to the piers so you will not miss it. The restaurant is called 'El Paraiso Tropical' and is a good place to drink and eat.

"El Paraiso tropical?" she asked while putting away his card and putting it in her pocket.

"Yes… it means The tropical Paradise… it is not the most famous here, but it is a good place," he answered her, then continued. "Most tourists go there and local too, so if you want a good place to go I recommend it," he said, smiling at her.

Ellie was going to say something but had to grab the seat hard as the pilot suddenly turned the plane to the side.

"Ya llegamos amigos…" he said, looking at Ellie and Roger. "I hope that all of you enjoy the flight and If you look to the right side now, you can see the island below," he said to them.

Ellie turned her head, looked through the right window, and saw the island was short. "It looks smaller than I thought," she said while continuing to look.

"This is an independent part of the island… is where the plane track is. So to get to the main island you need to take a small ferry," he explained to her.

Ellie turns her head and looks at him. "I didn't see any of this on the internet…" she said to him.

"The plane track only became functional a few years ago. Not many people use planes since it is a short trip. Most of the tourists take the ferry from the mainland to get here. The Internet here is a luxury for the hotel and a few places are not for all people. The cellular signal is bad too unless you have a good coverage plan. So I hope that you don't need to make too many international phone calls."

At that moment the pilot announced that he would start the landing. Ellie looks to the side again and sees the island grow bigger and bigger. A few minutes later she felt the plane touch the ground and she silently thanked God that they landed safely. The plane continues until it arrives closer to the hangar and the office there. It was almost similar to the one at the airport in Ecuador, but a little bigger.

Soon the plane stops, and the pilot turns off the engine and looks at his passenger. "Well, folks… Bienvenidos a Santa Cruz… I hope that you enjoy your flight and enjoy our island," he said looking at Ellie and Roger since the other two passengers were local people.

"Gracias… por el paseo hermano," said the man behind Ellie while her wife opened the door of the plane.

A man from the hangar came closer to the plane with a little ladder to help them out. He helped the couple first as they were at the door already. After they get out, the old man insists that Ellie go out first then he follows her. Soon they were all out, the pilot got out and started to talk to the man and ask him to help him to get the suitcase and bags out of the plane. As soon as the couple grabs the luggage and walks away, Ellie grabs hers and her backpack. She puts it on and starts to look around.

The old man moved closer to her. "C'mon… I will help you up with the ferry since this is your first time here." said the man while starting to walk toward the office.

"Thank you…" answered Ellie while grabbing her suitcase and starting to follow him.