A/N:

Would anyone be interested in me doing chapters from Joel's POV? I was thinking about doing it, but a lot of TLOU stories are mainly from Joel's POV so I thought making it solely from the main OC's would be different. However, if you guys want Joel POV's, I'll write them and make it happen

Rose began waking up slowly, groggy from the too short nap, but still feeling rested. She took in her surroundings and remembered she was in Joel and Tess's apartment after a few seconds of disorientation. Part of her wished she'd told Joel to climb into the bed next to her, but she wasn't sure if she was ready for that. It would take their light banter, flirty behavior, and relationship to another level. She noticed rustling coming from the living room and heard Joel groan as he sat up from the couch. She mimicked the motion and sat up on the bed, the partial wall hiding her from Joel and Ellie's view. As she heard the young girl start a hesitant conversation, she couldn't help but hear it. "You mumble in your sleep." Ellie stated softly. "I hate bad dreams." Rose was very surprised when Joel answered her. "Yeah me too." Rose ran a hand down her face, trying to wake herself up when she heard Joel stand and walk over towards the window. She was fixing her ponytail when Ellie spoke up again.

"You know, I've never been this close…to the outside." She kept talking since Joel didn't respond this time. "Look how dark it is. It can't be any worse out there. Can it?" Rose was being nosey. She didn't want to interrupt their quiet talk. She was hoping to get more information about what they were doing. She heard Joel huff as he spoke, seemingly frustrated by the situation. "What on earth do the fireflies want with you?" She couldn't answer him because Tess chose that moment to open the door. "Hey, sorry it took so long." She panted as if out of breath. "Soldiers fucking everywhere." Rose got up from the bed and came around the corner as Ellie took a step towards Tess, her eyes wide. "How's Marlene?" Tess glanced at the girl softly before making eye contact with Rose. "She'll make it."

Tess looked back at Joel with a smirk on her face. "I saw the merchandise and it's a lot." She glanced between the three of them and rested her gaze back on Joel's face. "Wanna do this?" Joel locked eyes with Rose before answering. "Yeah, let's go." Without any further discussion, Tess and Joel moved towards the entrance leaving Ellie and Rose to follow them. Rose stood rooted to her spot in the middle of the tiny apartment, an uneasy feeling settling in the pit of her stomach. She knew she needed to travel with them because they needed her knowledge of the supernatural that was running rampant outside the walls. Demons were the most common, but the occasional vampire, haunting, or even wendigo was out there. There is no way they would know how to stop them in the first place. She regretted not telling them how to protect themselves, but she could do one thing for them. She leaned down and grabbed her pack, opened it up, and pulled out a sharpie she kept on hand. As she closed her pack back up, she heard Joel's voice from the doorway. "You comin, darlin?" She ignored the way her stomach filled with butterflies at the pet name and slung her backpack onto her shoulders.

As she walked towards him, she crossed the threshold and allowed him to close the door behind them. Tess and Ellie were watching her, and she knew they would think she was crazy, but she needed to do it. She took a deep breath and spoke to them all. "Listen, before we head outside, I need to do something for the three of you. Don't ask questions, it's imperative that I get this on your person. It's a permanent marker, but if it smudges or starts to come off, you have to tell me so I can reapply it, okay?" Tess raised an eyebrow and Ellie tilted her head, but Joel just nodded and stood in front of her and spoke softly as he took her free hand. "Whatever you need to feel safe, Rosie." She looked up into his eyes and immediately felt safer for it. She motioned for him to give her his arm, which he did without hesitation. She pulled him closer so she could hold onto his arm steadily as she drew the anti-possession symbol. It took her a few minutes to draw it because she wanted to avoid messing up with the marker. When she was done, she looked up at Joel and nodded. "Make sure you leave your sleeves down once it dries, okay?" She needed it to stay on him. She wanted to protect them all, but she didn't know what she would do if a demon got a hold of Joel. "Please tell me if it rubs off." His lips quirked at her words, and he reached a hand out and cupped her cheek as he replied. "One of these days you'll have to explain this stuff to me." He ran the pad of his thumb across her cheekbone, causing her face to warm up as she blushed profusely at the attention he gave her. "In the meantime, we'll do whatever you say to keep safe from whatever it is you're afraid of, okay?" Rose sighed in relief and put her hand on top of his for a brief second before he let her go.

They were delayed an additional ten minutes as she applied the symbol on both Tess and Ellie. Ellie asked a ton of questions about it, but Rose just told her to make sure to come to her if it rubbed off or smudged. She needed to get her hands on a piece of leather so she could carve it that way and make necklaces, but until then, the marker would have to do. Once they were finished, they walked down the hall and into another apartment that was mostly empty. Tess went over to the window to gaze at the guards to try and find a pattern for their patrol. Joel walked over to her and sighed. "Don't you think it's a bit strange that they're having us do their smuggling?" Tess spoke without looking at him, her eyes staying on the patrols outside.

"Marlene wanted to do it herself." She explained calmly. "We weren't their first choice. Or their second choice for that matter. She's lost a lot of men and beggars can't be choosers." She finally turned away from the window and told them to start moving. They followed her through a hole in the wall where a generator sat off to the side and a platform was in the middle of the room. Rose knew it was a makeshift elevator that had been installed years before as a way to get in and out without FEDRA finding out. Tess motioned for her and Ellie to get on the platform with her. Joel walked over to the generator and began to crank it. It took him a couple of tries before it roared to life. Joel walked onto the platform next to her and grabbed the control hanging from the ceiling. He didn't hesitate to push the button and Rose jumped slightly as the platform jumped and slowly descended.

After the floor they were on disappeared, Joel laced his fingers with Rose's and glanced at Tess. Rose squeezed his hand causing his lips to quirk again before he addressed the older woman. "Who's waiting on us at the drop off?" Tess shrugged her shoulders as she answered. "She said there's some fireflies that have traveled all the way from another city." She paused as she looked over at Ellie and shrugged again. "Girl must be important." Rose watched as the teenager stiffened at Tess' scrutiny of her. She pressed ahead with her questions, ignoring how uncomfortable Ellie was. "What is the deal with you? You some big-wig's daughter or something?" Ellie locked her eyes with Rose before glancing over at Tess and mumbling "Something like that." When they were on the bottom ground, Joel squeezed her hand again before letting go and taking the lead in moving through the darkened area. Ellie paused beside Rose and asked her softly. "How long is this all going to take?" Rose turned to face her and spoke softly, trying to reassure her. "If everything goes as planned, we should get you to them in a few hours." The girl nodded and started to walk forward, but Rose stopped her, cautioning her. "Ellie, once we get out there, I need you to follow our lead and stay close." The young girl tried to appear tough and unafraid, but her eyes were wide, and her tense posture betrayed her. She breathed deeply as she nodded, "Yeah of course."

Satisfied that Ellie was taking their situation seriously, she motioned for her to follow Joel and Tess as she took up the rear. They walked through a tunnel and into a larger room with a ladder attached to the wall. She had just walked up to the small group when she heard Tess speak to Joel. "Climb up and check if the coast is clear." Joel didn't respond, just climbed the ladder. She was shifting the bag on her back when she heard Joel call softly. "Hold up, there's a patrol up ahead." After a few more minutes, he told them to climb up, and once again Rose took the rear. Once she reached the top, Joel offered her his hand, which she took gratefully, and he told her to watch her step. They paused as Joel covered up the hole they'd come out of with wooden boards. Rose groaned as they stepped out from the cover and saw it was still raining. "Ugh this rain isn't going to do us any good." She whined. Joel shot her an amused smile before gesturing for her to move ahead of him. She'd taken only a few steps down the destroyed street when she heard Ellie let out an excited whisper. "Holy shit…I'm actually outside!" No one replied to her comment and just kept moving forward.

They approached a semi-truck's trailer that was detached from the truck itself. They began to climb the incline to the other end that would lead to the landing away from the QZ. Rose was walking behind Ellie and Tess was behind her so none of them saw the FEDRA soldier before it was too late as he used the butt of his rifle to hit Joel across the face. Before anyone could react, another soldier stepped forward and pointed it right in Ellie's face. A female voice motioned for them to move forward. All of them had their hands up. She sighed heavily as she addressed them. "Don't do anything stupid." She stepped back as they climbed out of the trailer and stood beside Joel who was kneeling on his hands and knees, one hand pressed to his face where they'd hit him. The woman jerked her gun towards Joel and grunted at them. "Move. Turn around, on your knees." They didn't hesitate to move next to Joel and kneel down on their knees with the soldiers behind them. The female soldier spoke again. "You scan them, and I'll call it in." The other soldier nodded and said "Alight." As he moved forward, his gun pointed at Rose. "Put your hands on your head."

Rose was terrified because she knew the consequences of leaving the QZ unauthorized. It's why she never wanted to be stuck in a QZ because it wasn't voluntary, and they never let you leave. She heard the female soldier speak into her radio. "This is Ramirez at sector Twelve." She paused before continuing. "I'm requesting pickup for four stragglers." While finishing her radio conversation, Rose saw Tess from her peripheral glance at the other soldier. "Look the other way." Tess said softly, "We can make this worth your while." It was common knowledge that the soldiers were easily bribed, but it seemed they'd been nabbed by the only honest two of the group. The male officer scoffed at Tess's offer. "Shut up," He spat as he put the scanner on Tess's neck and pressed the button. When he moved over to Joel, he said, "I'm tired of this shit." He moved over to Rose who kept as still as possible as he spoke to his partner. "What's the ETA?" She answered him quickly and said it would just be a couple of minutes.

Rose heard Ellie become frantic and nervous as the soldier moved over to her. She whispered to herself "Oh man, oh man." Several things happened so fast that Rose could not react. Ellie jerked her switchblade out of her pocket and stabbed the soldier in his leg as she yelled sorry. The soldier screamed with a mixture of pain and annoyance as he hit Ellie across her face with his gun. When Rose tried to react, he did the same to her causing her to grunt and fall to the ground on her side. As Ellie was already up and moving, it seemed he had hit her harder than he had the teenager. She heard muffled gunshots, but her head was ringing and her vision blurry. She worried for a moment that the dickhead had given her a concussion. Her vision was clearing when she heard Ellie start muttering.

"Oh, oh fuck!" Rose could hear her voice shake as she kept speaking. "I thought we were just gonna hold them up or something." Rose was sitting on her knees when strong, calloused hands cupped her face. Joel used his thumbs to wipe the tears she didn't know she'd shed off her cheeks and brought her eyes up to meet his worried ones. "Shit, darlin, are you okay?" Rose took a few deep breaths, her eyes never leaving his as she nodded. He sighed in relief and rested his forehead on hers as he spoke so softly only she could hear him. "You scared me there for a minute, Rosie. I can't lose you, I don't know what I'd do." She couldn't help the sweet smile those words caused. She placed her hands on top of his, like earlier as she replied to him. "You won't lose me, Joel. Thank you for saving us. I know you hate hurting people." He pressed his lips to hers so softly that she thought she'd missed it because it only lasted for a second. He stared into her eyes for a few more seconds before answering her. "Rosie, I'll do anything to keep you safe."

The two of them were abruptly interrupted when they heard Tess' angry voice. "Oh shit!" Joel reluctantly let her go and glanced over at Tess who held the scanner in her hand. She scowled as she tossed it at him. "Look at this." He caught the device easily and Rose saw his whole demeanor change as he held out the device to her. "Jesus Christ!" Rose grabbed the scanner and saw the device blinking red with the word "Positive" on the screen. Rose jerked her gaze to Ellie with her eyes wide as she scrambled away from the young girl, not missing the hurt look that immediately appeared on her face. Joel helped Rose to her feet and glanced between the two women. "Marlene set us up?" he asked incredulously. He glanced back at Ellie, his face full of anger. "Why the hell are we smuggling an infected girl?"

Rose watched as fear swept across the teen's features and she shook her head as she spoke. "I'm not infected!" Joel scoffed, not believing her. "No?" He asked. "So, this is lying then?" She glanced at the scanner and back up at the three adults. "I can explain." She said softly. Tess wasn't moved by her fear as she stepped beside Joel, her hand on her gun. "You better explain fast." She retorted and glanced at Rose. Ellie rolled her sleeve up and displayed a scabbed-over bite mark. "Look at this!" Joel scoffed and reached for Rose's hand. He pulled her towards him as if to protect her from the young girl still sitting on the ground. "I don't care how you got infected." He said, growing more agitated by the second. Ellie shook her arm at them, tears filling her eyes. "It's three weeks old!" Tess shook her head and motioned to her as she replied. "No, everyone turns within two days, so you stop bullshitting!" Ellie frantically shook her head at them. "It's three weeks. I swear! Why would she set you up?"

Rose watched as Joel looked from the teen to Tess and back again, his hand never leaving Rose's. He shook his head and scoffed again. "I ain't buying it." When he turned around, his hand clenched gently around Rose's causing her to follow his line of sight. She felt her breath hitch as she saw the trucks heading towards them. "Oh shit." She whispered frantically. Joel let go of Rose and yelled for her and Tess to run. Tess helped Ellie up and began frantically telling the girl to run so they could be out of the area before the soldiers showed up. They jumped off the ledge and moved to where a hole was in the side of the wall. There was no other option for them to escape. As they ducked under the wall, they clearly heard one of the soldiers yelling into his radio. "Holy shit! I got two dead uniforms. I repeat, I got two casualties in Sector Twelve. Requesting immediate backup." They moved behind an overturned truck while Tess took the lead, urging them to follow her. Rose was terrified when she realized that the soldiers had spotlights on the wall on and were sweeping the ground, trying to find them. Tess looked over at Ellie and spoke softly. "Okay Ellie, when I give you the signal, we run." Once she gave the signal, the young girl didn't hesitate to follow Tess.

After a few more minutes of waiting for the spotlights to pass, Joel pulled Rose with him. They headed to where Tess and Ellie waited behind a bulldozer. They slid down into the creek bed on the left, keeping to the side to avoid the lights. It took them about twenty minutes, but they were able to get past the guards' checkpoints. They snuck past two guards in what used to be an apartment building, but it had been bombed to hell. Another wave of soldiers came at them, but they evaded them and ended up in a sewer tunnel. Rose wasn't a fan of sewers, but it got them away from FEDRA. When they got to the end of the tunnel, they ended up in what appeared to be a basement with lockers lining the wall. Tess said it looked right, but Rose had never taken this route with them so she just hung back with Ellie to make sure she was okay. The girl looked at her with wide eyes, her adrenaline running high. Rose sighed and shook her backpack off her shoulders. When she dug around and found what she wanted, she handed Ellie two small pieces of deer jerky. When Ellie hesitated, Rose grabbed her hand and placed the meat in her palm. "Look Ellie, your adrenaline is running high and in just a while you'll crash. We don't have a lot of food with us, but protein will definitely keep you from passing out. Do you have any water in your pack?" Ellie nodded and dug into her backpack for a full bottle. Rose nodded and smiled at the girl. "Good, use it sparingly, but make sure you use it, okay?" Ellie agreed as she took a couple of sips from the bottle before putting it back. Joel got their attention and told them he had found a way out of the room. This happened to be another hole in the wall.

Rose was tired of hiding from Fedra. However, when they got to a break in the wall that would lead them outside, Joel stopped them from coming out. "We've got more soldiers up here." He stated quietly. "I don't think they see us." They heard the soldiers being ordered to withdraw from the vicinity and back to Sector Eleven which meant they were moving away from them. They ended up sprinting through another set of sewer tunnels to keep away from the spotlights and were finally in the clear. Just as Rose predicted, Ellie sat down on a rock and breathed heavily. Her anxiety and fear catching up with her. Rose kneeled down beside her and spoke softly. "Look, what was the plan?" Tess took over the conversation, kneeling beside Rose as she asked the next question. "Let's say that we deliver you to the fireflies." Tess asked quickly. "What then?" Ellie took a shaky breath as she looked back and forth between the women before answering.

"Marlene, she said that they have their own little quarantine zone with doctors that are still trying to find a cure." Rose heard Joel scoff as he paced back and forth. "Yeah, we've heard that before, huh, Tess?" They all ignored him as Ellie kept talking. "And that…whatever happened to me is the key to finding a vaccine." Joel scoffed again, laughing bitterly at the girl's words. Ellie, agitated, breathed impatiently. "It's what she said!" she spat in Joel's direction. He turned to face her then, a look of annoyance on his face. "Oh, I'm sure she did." He said sarcastically. Ellie had apparently had enough of Joel's attitude as she jumped up from her perch. "Hey, fuck you man! I didn't ask for this!" Joel shook his head and glanced at the two women. "Me neither. Tess, what the hell are we doing here?" Tess stood up and glanced at the girl before gesturing to her. "What if it's true?" Joel stared at Tess, not believing what he was hearing. "I can't believe…" Tess cut him off and threw her hands up. "What if, Joel? I mean, we've come this far, let's just finish it." Rose stayed beside Ellie as the two argued with each other. He grabbed Tess's arm, his face angry as he replied. "Do I need to remind you what is out there?" Tess glanced back at Ellie, but her eyes locked with Rose's and her gaze softened as she turned back to Joel. "I get it." Ellie shot Joel a piercing look as she walked past him, following where Tess had left. Rose stood up and walked over to Joel. She slipped her small hand into his and squeezed it, catching his attention. He gazed down at her, his expression immediately softening when his eyes landed on her sweet face. She gave him a small smile as she stood up on her tippy toes to place a soft kiss on the corner of his mouth.

"We'll be okay, Joel. Let's get the girl to the capital building and then we can go and find our brothers." He glanced over at Tess and Ellie who were conversing quietly with their backs to them. He brought his free hand to cup Rose's cheek and smashed his lips into hers.