"Joel! Dad! Dad!" Joel's bedroom door flew open and bare feet slapped against the floor. "Wake up, it's Christmas!" Ellie exclaimed as she jumped onto his bed

"Agh." Joel groaned as his bed turned into a trampoline. He blearily checked his watch. "It's 6 AM."

"On Christmas!" Ellie grinned. Her shirt had a picture of Rudolph with a red nose that glowed in the dark. "Come on! There's presents to open!"

Joel sighed as he stood from the bed and lumbered to the bathroom. "Hey!" Ellie complained. "You better not take forever in there."

Joel narrowed his eyes at her. "I'm going to brush my teeth and you are too." She groaned as he smiled. "Merry Christmas, kiddo." With that, he closed the door, and heard her sprint to her own bathroom to start getting ready. He had to blink back tears as he started brushing his teeth. He'd never thought he'd have a kid wake him up at 6 AM on Christmas again.

The last few days had been a flurry of Christmas activities. Ellie and Joel had watched Christmas movies, gone to the Christmas market downtown, and had a Christmas Eve feast at Tommy's house. But they'd also talked about what they'd discovered in the hospital. Joel still felt horrible. He'd think about all the years he'd missed with his daughter while she was stuck with that disgusting woman, and he couldn't breathe. But he was also relieved that no one could ever take Ellie away from him.

For Ellie, it seemed like a weight had been taken off her shoulders. She made herself at home in Joel's house more than she ever had before. She sat upsidown on the couch and, most surprisingly to Joel, she started rearranging her room. Joel was startled when he walked in on her trying to push the bookshelf into the corner.

"Hey, Ellie, that's heavy. Don't do that on your own." He stopped her. "Where do you want it?"

"Hi Joel- Dad." Ellie corrected herself. He'd told her that he understood if she didn't want to call him Dad after he'd missed the first fourteen years of her life. She'd assured him that she wanted to. "I was just thinking… I could move the bookshelf over and make some room to put glow-in-the-dark stars up?"

"Hmm." Joel studied the wall. "Might look a little odd during the day with the purple and pink walls."

"Yeah, my other thought was to paint the room blue, maybe?" Ellie asked, her eyes flicking to Joel's and away again. "And add some planets to the ceiling? I saw some cool ones in Target."

Joel frowned. "If you wanted to change the room, why didn't you mention it before?"

Ellie shrugged. "It was your daughter's room. I figured I didn't have the right to change it. But now I'm your daughter too."

Joel felt like his heart was breaking. "Ellie, you were my daughter before the paternity test came back." He promised. "I'm sorry I never offered to change the room for you. How about this, let's make a plan and then after Christmas, I'll start working on it."

Ellie smiled. "Yeah, that sounds good."

And now it was Christmas. Joel walked out of the bathroom to see Ellie staring at the tree. "Where did all those come from?" She pointed at a pile of presents near the armchair. "Those weren't there yesterday."

Joel smiled. "Looks like Santa is making up for the last fourteen years."

"Santa?" Ellie rolled her eyes. "Yeah, ok." But her eyes were excited as she took in all the presents.

"Alright." Joel sat down in his armchair. "Which one do you want to open first?"

Ellie paused. "Actually," She walked to the tree and pulled out a thin parcel from between two presents. "How about we start with yours?"

Joel stared at the package in his hands. "You got me something?" He asked, his throat tight. Ellie nodded. "I hope you didn't spend a bunch of your allowance on this, kiddo."

"No, I… uh, I made it." Ellie stumbled over her words. "So maybe it's not good. But I tried to make it good."

Intrigued, Joel ripped open the paper. He found the back of a canvas, one Dina had given Ellie for her birthday, along with some paint. He flipped it over and gasped.

It was him and Ellie, both gazing off to the right of the canvas. Ellie was smiling, her green eyes glinting like she'd just made a joke. Joel was trying not to laugh, but Ellie had captured the humor in his eyes. All around them was the forest near Tommy's house, a golden light flowing through the trees.

"It's beautiful, Ellie." Joel said, his throat tight. "I'll frame it in my room."

Ellie beamed. "Cool."

Joel propped the painting up carefully on the couch. Then he knelt by the tree and grabbed the little box Ellie had noticed a few days ago. "I think you should open this one first."

Ellie ripped the paper eagerly and opened the little box. Her eyes widened. "Oh shit, is it actually a ring?"

"Not quite." Joel took the box from her and pulled the piece of jewelry out. Ellie examined the necklace as it dangled from his hand. It was silver, with a single tree charm dangling at the end.

"Oh, a necklace!" Ellie took it from him and examined it. "That tree looks like the ones around the backyard."

"It's supposed to look like that." Joel said. "It's a fairly expensive necklace, so take care of it. It's lasted over twenty years already." Ellie's eyes widened at his words. Joel took a deep breath. "I gave it to Sarah when she turned thirteen. She loved the forest as much as you do. I figured she'd want her sister to have it." Joel smiled. "Something you two have in common."

Ellie stared at the necklace. She blinked hard. "Thanks, Joel. I mean, Dad." She whispered. "And Sarah." She put the necklace on, and her smile slowly returned. "Any suggestions for what to open next?"

She tore through the rest of the presents like a child on Christmas – which, despite everything, she still was. Among other things, Joel had gotten her a sketchbook with colored pencils, a camera, a dark green beanbag, a big stuffed tiger he'd seen her eyeing when they'd gone to the mall a couple weeks ago, and a chemistry kit for teens. He'd also gotten her several smaller things that he'd gotten for Sarah when she was younger: books, stuffed animals, make-it-yourself slime. Ellie had been forced to act far beyond her years during her childhood, and while she didn't want her friends to see her as anything less than a mature adult, he could tell that part of her just wanted to be a kid.

A knock on the door. Joel grinned as he lumbered over and opened it to see Tommy, Maria, Bria, and Dina, all holding armfuls of presents. They'd agreed to have a quiet family morning opening presents, and then come together for presents among each other and a Christmas brunch.

"Merry Christmas!" Tommy grinned jovially as he entered the house, a Santa hat perched on his head.

"Merry Christmas!" Ellie ran over and hugged each of them in turn. Dina took Ellie's hand.

"My present for you is the best." Dina promised, a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"No way." Ellie grinned. "Mine is way better."

Joel sighed. Ellie and Dina's version of dating was constantly one-upping each other. Weirdly enough, it seemed to work for them.

They ate a Christmas brunch of French toast that Joel had made, then opened presents. Joel was happy to get presents from Tommy, Maria, and Bria, but was surprised when Dina handed him a small box. He'd gotten her a present, of course, but he hadn't expected anything from her. "Oh Dina, you didn't have to do anything for me." He told her as he examined the box.

The normally confident girl couldn't meet his eyes. "I know, I just wanted to thank you. I mean, you're so good to Ellie and she tells me stories about stuff you guys do all the time. But, like, I don't have the best parents, and it's been really nice to, uh, hang out at your house, and sometimes you feel more like my dad than my dad does…" Her face flushed. "Anyways, I hope you like the present."

She hurried away as Joel sat in a stunned silence. Had Dina just said that she thought of him as her dad? He thought about how she'd sometimes join him in the kitchen and talk to him when Ellie went to the bathroom, and how she'd asked him more questions at dinner than he expected from a fourteen-year-old. With that thought, he opened the box. He almost laughed in disbelief when he saw several bottles of different hot sauces. What? He picked up a crumpled piece of paper from the bottom of the box and read.

Hi Joel, Ellie mentioned you like hot sauce on your food, so I hope you like these. Dina :)

Suddenly, Joel could picture it perfectly. A girl with no allowance sneaking into the kitchen, rifling through the cabinets as she tried to find a gift that wouldn't get her in trouble. She'd given Ellie jewelry her uncle had helped her make – that wouldn't work with Joel. His heart felt heavy as he resolved to spend more time with Dina.

He returned to the kitchen to see Dina whispering something to Ellie and Bria. For a moment, Joel wondered if it was about him. Then Ellie's eyes widened, and she rushed past Joel into the living room. She grabbed the remote from Tommy's hand and changed the channel.

"Ellie!" Joel admonished. Then his mouth fell open.

On the TV, Adrian was getting arrested.

Tommy twisted to gape at Joel. "Is that-"

"Yep." Joel replied grimly. Maria's eyes widened as they watched police officers enter the gas station where he worked, handcuff him, and force him into the car. It seemed Adrian had finally found himself in a hole his police buddy couldn't dig him out of.

"Wow, they finally caught him." Tommy said. "I wonder what for?"

Maria was already on her phone. "This article says that a video was anonymously submitted of Adrian having improper relations with a-" A choked gasp cut off her sentence.

Joel felt like his heart had frozen as he turned to look at the three girls. Bria's eyes were wide, while Dina and Ellie's were resolute. Not one of the three of them looked remotely surprised.

"Ellie, I need to talk to you." Joel said harshly as he stalked past her into the backyard. After a pause, the door opened again, and Ellie was standing in front of him. "Did you take that video?" He asked.

Ellie scratched her arm. "Do we maybe want to talk about this on a non-Christmas Day?"

That was all it took to set Joel off. "Are you kidding me?" He snapped, trying his best to keep his voice low. "Do you have any idea what Adrian would have done to you if he'd caught you there?"

"I-" Ellie started.

"I don't care that you submitted it anonymously, you're going to need to show up in court and Adrian will know who you are." Joel continued hotly. "And when he gets out of prison, he'll come for you, Ellie. You never should have put yourself in danger like that!"

"I didn't!" Ellie protested. She ran forward and grabbed Joel's arm to stop his pacing. "I didn't take that video. Emily did."

Joel stared at her. "What?"

Ellie stepped back with a sigh. "Listen, I spent a long time thinking about how to help Emily without getting near Adrian. In the end, Dina and I bought a camera at the mall and put it inside one of Dina's old teddy bears. I gave it to Emily, and I told her to put it across from her bed so that next time Adrian did something to her, it would be on camera."

Joel blinked. "That… was a great idea."

Ellie shoved her hands in her pockets. "I'm glad it worked."

Now Joel felt guilty. "I'm sorry I yelled at you." He said. "I should have trusted you to be smart about it."

Ellie shrugged. "I mean, with something as serious as this, I can't blame you. It's not worth being impulsive when that could cost you everything." She was playing with her hands, like she did when she was nervous. "I guess I'm saying that I forgive you for not taking me in before my stepfather attacked me." She said in a rush. "I had this fantasy of you taking me to your house and never letting them get near me again, but after the whole debacle over an uncle I've never met, I see why you were careful. So, yeah."

Joel felt the guilt he hadn't realized he was still holding ease slightly. "It's always more complicated than you think." He admitted. Then he smiled. "It'll be interesting to meet this mystery uncle." After the man had contacted Joel begging to meet his niece, Joel and Ellie had agreed to spend spring break in Maine. At a hotel, of course, not in his house. But perhaps if the visit went well, they would stay with him next time.

Ellie nodded. They went back inside and had a chaotic Christmas dinner. Tommy and Bria argued about her new boyfriend, Scout. Maria took a bite of stuffing that was too hot and almost spat it across the room. And after dinner, when everyone was watching 'It's a Wonderful Life,' Bria loudly pointed out Dina and Ellie kissing under the mistletoe in the kitchen. In other words, it was a perfect family Christmas.

Once everyone had left, Joel and Ellie collapsed on the couch. "That's the fullest day I've ever had." Ellie proclaimed.

"I'm the fullest I've ever been." Joel patted his stomach. Ellie snorted.

After a few minutes of resting in a companionable silence, Joel heaved himself to his feet. "Alright. Bedtime."

"No way!" Ellie protested. "There's still-" She checked her new watch. "ten minutes left of Christmas. We have to make the most of it."

Joel sighed. "By doing what?"

"Race me!" Ellie bounded outside. A tired Joel followed her.

"Did you not hear me say I'm full?" Joel asked.

"C'mon, it'll be fun!" Ellie cajoled.

Joel groaned. "This is not my job."

Ellie raised her eyebrows. "You're my dad. Entertaining me is your job."

Joel's stomach jolted at those words. Her dad. He was really Ellie's dad. He found himself smiling. "Ok, one race." He walked over to stand next to her.

"Loser cleans the house for a week!" Ellie announced gleefully.

"Hey now, I never agreed-" Joel protested.

"Race starting in three…"

"Ellie, you're not getting out of your chores if I lose."

"Two…"

"Acknowledge what I'm saying, Ellie!"

"One, GO!"

They both took off like bullets from a gun. Joel kept pace with Ellie. For a moment, the years melted away and he was a much younger man, racing against a giggling Sarah. Then he blinked and he saw Ellie's smiling face. "I'm gonna beat you, old man!"

Joel grinned back at her. "You're on!"

\\\\\\\\\\\

Wow, I can't believe it's over. I hope you all have had as much fun reading this as I've had a lot of fun writing this over the last few months. Thank you for all your comments, I have read and appreciated each one – especially Carl Solo and Bvadams, I really appreciated your consistent feedback! I may occasionally come back to this and post a chapter from Ellie's pov, so stay tuned! (and no, there will be no continuation of this story from Joel's pov following the events of the second game, don't worry). I love this pair and I think they deserve all the happy endings. I did my best to give them one :)

Signing off,

oreowrites 3