"Singularity" Chapter 25: "Black Hawk Down" [25/49]

[lumy12]

Title: "Singularity" Chapter 25: "Black Hawk Down" [25/49]
Fandom: The Last of Us (first game only)
Characters: Ellie, Joel, Tommy, Maria, OCs
Pairings: Joel/Ellie
Warnings: Underage
Word Count for this chapter: 11,013
Rating (for fic as a whole): R
Author's Notes: Chapter title from the 2001 movie, the 1999 book, or the actual 1993 battle of Mogadishu (the Black Hawk Down incident) -- take your pick.

~


Ellie did miss being with Paul and Karma... but at the same time, she was glad to get back to it just being Joel and her. Not even so they could kiss and stuff (although that was nice, too, of course)... it just felt a little weird to her, to have their attentions divided from each other. It hadn't even been that long since they'd left Monterey, and she'd gotten completely used to it being the two of them against the world again. They were so close to home now, though, that she was going to have to get un-used to it very soon.

Overall, it had been such an easy trip compared to the trip to California. Yes, Joel had gotten hurt, but he hadn't landed on death's doorstep this time. They'd had less food, and had to deal with snow and roadblocks and all that, but that stuff fell more in the pain-in-the-ass category. They'd never gotten separated. Never even had a tough fight, really -- the worst of it was Joel falling off that cliffish thing, but the horror of that was extremely short-lived. Joel's extended bad mood afterward, on the other hand...

Still not that bad of a thing to have to deal with. They'd barely had to deal with any other people at all. No hunters... no soldiers...

Until now, at least.

Joel must have stopped listening for helicopters -- or his gut had fallen mysteriously silent on the matter -- because this time, they both heard it at the same time.

He turned sharply off the road and into the nearest trees very quickly, with so little warning to Fox that Ellie thought the lead rope might snap. She hadn't seen the helicopter, even though she'd been searching the sky for it for those whole... oh, five to ten terrifying seconds before they reached decent cover.

"Our luck had to run out sooner or later"... Joel's voice echoing ominously in her head sent a shiver down her spine.

Fuck that! It would be later, Ellie decided -- the fucking thing hadn't spotted them!

Joel didn't seem so sure about that. He cursed the lack of denser vegetation near the highway, and berated himself for getting "so careless." Ellie kindly pointed out that it wasn't like an extra few seconds' notice would've helped much... plus, the jeep was noisy as fuck, making it hard to hear shit. The mud they'd caked on the hood paint the other day was still there, so they were being careful... and besides, who knew anyone would still be looking for them over a month later? In fact, maybe no one was actually looking for them -- maybe the helicopter had nothing to do with them at all!

She could see her comforting words were falling on deaf ears, though, so she shut the hell up before Joel had to actually tell her to. Yeah... I knew it was bullshit when Joel first said it to ME... and that was before they'd found out that some soldiers had tried to talk to Paul and Karma.

They waited for the helicopter to pass.

...And kept waiting.

"It's gettin' lower," Joel observed -- based on the source of the noise, since they didn't dare move now to look for it.

"Fuck -- what does that mean? They're landing?!"

"Or takin' a closer look. But... my money's on landing, yes. They prob'ly saw us come in here... and they don't see us movin' no more so they know we stopped under cover. Sounds like they're pretty close."

"Fuck fuck fuck -- okay, but they can't land right here. Right? All the evergreens?"

"Not right on top of us, no. But there's farmland on the other side of the highway. Room enough to land."

"Oh man... what do we do? Drive farther in?" Or... do we finally have to abandon our jeep?

"Gimme a minute."

Ellie was practically bouncing in her seat, anxious to do something other than sit there and wait to get caught. But she trusted Joel to need less than his requested minute to figure out what they should do, if she just let him think. In the meantime, she could make herself useful and think as well: WHAT THE FUCK ARE WE GONNA DO? It sucks that after all this time, and being careful with the mud and everything, they still-- okay, not helpful. THINK, Ellie... so... I THINK we're fucked. Ugh! Okay, no -- we can take them. Once they get out of that thing--

"We leave the jeep here," said Joel. "And the horse. Start suitin' up. Take the bow." He was already strapping his gear on.

Ellie hastily fastened her holster belt, and her backpack was right there at her feet. She retrieved the bow and quiver from the back of the jeep.

"We're gonna go towards 'em," Joel continued. "That way." He indicated the direction of the whirring noise. "Not past the tree line -- not even close to it. We have the advantage while we're in here an' they're out there."

But... wait! "Joel -- it's going away! Going higher, I mean! Did they change their minds?"

"Can't assume that. We know they got real low -- they might be sendin' in a scout. Let's move -- you ready?" She gave him a nod. "Good -- you got the binoculars -- see if you can see 'em. But keep movin' -- stay close."

It was hard to move quickly while looking through the binoculars, but when Joel took her hand, she didn't really have to watch where she was going, which helped. They didn't normally travel hand in hand when there was danger afoot, but this felt like a good time to do it. "Fuck! There they are!" She yanked Joel to a stop. "Not close -- they're in that field on the other side of the road. There's four. Four!" So much for sending in 'a' scout.

Joel grabbed the binoculars and looked for himself. "Good. That's good."

"It is?!" Sure, they'd handled more than that before, but--

"Wish we'd gotten a look at the chopper... can't risk that now. They're headin'... pretty much back where we came from, prob'ly 'cause they saw us go there. They'll find Fox an' the jeep an' think we're close by, over that way. Come on..."

Ellie followed him away from the soldiers and somewhat back towards the jeep -- not really towards it so much as... not farther away from it? Based on the volume and source of the noise, the helicopter didn't seem to be moving much now. Ellie still didn't really know what Joel's plan was. He picked FIGHT over FLIGHT, so... "Okay, dumb question: you do want to kill them, right?"

"Right. The helicopter might be armed -- best not to kill 'em until they're in here with us. Preferably all at once, so they can't radio for help."

"A nail bomb," Ellie surmised.

"Yes. Maybe two. They're prob'ly gonna split up soon, so best do it quick... an' that fourth guy is laggin' a lil' behind. Maybe on purpose. You'll prob'ly need to arrow him. I'll shoot anyone else who escapes the bomb. Sound good?"

"Got it."

"Might be tricky with all the trees... we can't get close enough to find the perfect spot an' just roll 'em out there. You got one in your bag too, yeah?"

"Yeah--"

"All right -- over here!" Joel led her to a good look-out spot: the trees were close enough together to hide both of them while providing several slivers of space just big enough for her to look through.

Joel's not even trying to look... he can probably HEAR exactly where they are now! Ellie so envied him that ability. She could do it to some extent, but not from this far away. (Joel said it was a matter of focus, but that was bullshit -- she could be focused as fuck yet still need to use her eyes sometimes.) "Wish this hole was just a liiiiiittle wider," she remarked quietly. "I can almost set up right here... ...this isn't so bad, though, over here... Joel, if I get a good shot -- a good angle -- before you bomb them... ?"

"Take it," he answered. "He's in the back -- they prob'ly won't even notice. I'm gonna see if I can... ...shit... goddamn trees..."

Ellie saw that he was indeed looking to 'just roll one out there.' "Here -- let me do it--"

"No, they're too--"

"I can do it -- I'm smaller. We don't have time to argue!" He KNOWS I'm better at not getting noticed--

"Don't go far." He handed it to her with no further protest.

She could see approximately where Joel would want to position the bomb. The soldiers were probably only ten seconds away from entering the little grove... fuck a duck -- okay -- go low... looowwwww... ...low but FAR...

She tossed it.

SHIT!

She had managed to avoid the trees, trajectory-wise, except the fucking thing had hit a root or something on the ground and skittered off at a right angle -- and not close enough that she could go retrieve it without risking being spotted. They were out of time!

"I fucked that up," Ellie informed Joel as she hurried back to his side. (...in case he couldn't see that for himself?!)

"Back to Plan A, then -- chuckin' one directly at 'em, if we can get 'em to move to a better spot--" Joel already had the decoy rock in his hand. He was able to launch it a fair distance to their right, slightly behind them, without a fucking tree knocking it down prematurely.

Not that it mattered; the helicopter hovering overhead was too loud! It was closer now than it had ever been.

And yet... the men filtering in through the trees motioned to each other, and they did start heading in that direction. Ellie looked at Joel, perplexed.

"I reckon one of 'em caught the movement," he answered the question her expression must have silently asked. "A flash between the trees."

"Hey! Whoever's back there -- it's all right -- we just wanna talk! That's it!"

The soldier's lying voice was loud enough -- close enough -- to be heard over the din. Maybe the assholes had only intended to talk when it was Paul and Karma they were approaching, but... now that they know it's us... or they ASSUME it's us... Motherfuckers -- Joel doesn't believe you, either. He's never been stupid enough to trust you! Unlike herself. Well, I learned my lesson--

"Change of plans," Joel said quietly. He was holding a nail bomb now. "They ain't close enough together. We're gonna fall back right after I throw this... see if we can get the survivors to come this way an' trigger yours." He waited for her to acknowledge this, then waited for someone to move into his invisible crosshairs... but he couldn't wait long. "Shit, they're startin' to disperse -- stay behind cover, all right?"

Ellie couldn't see the results of Joel's throw -- and neither could he, for that matter -- but she could tell he wasn't completely satisfied.

"Go!" he urged her.

They didn't go very far at all before he stopped her. Like, not even five trees back -- and the trees weren't close enough to each other for them to hide together.

"Here?" Ellie looked at him.

Joel nodded. "Don't move." He was only a few feet away from her... but it seemed farther, somehow. He fired a shot... in the soldiers' direction, but he hadn't stepped out enough to aim properly. In fact, Ellie couldn't be sure he'd even looked at his target. But he was obviously just trying to draw the men -- whoever was left -- to their former cover spot, from the other side... where they'll be greeted by a fucking BOOM!

Because the dipshits never fucking noticed the ones on the ground. Never.

"You're outnumbered! If you surrender now, we won't have to hurt--"

And there it was-- the boom! Blowing up his fucking lie!

"Is that all of them?" Ellie asked hopefully. She wanted to peer around her tree, but the look Joel shot her kept her in place as firmly as if he'd put a hand on her shoulder (which she was sure he would have done, had he been able to without risking his arm getting shot off).

"One left."

Joel hadn't looked either, and Ellie wasn't sure how his ears alone could determine that, but she believed him.

"Fuck! Listen, man... that's messed up, right there... all we want... -We're just TALKING here. Just talking."

Ellie gave Joel a "is this guy for real?!" look... which he didn't bother to acknowledge, other than his mouth twitching a smidge. Dude even SOUNDS scared... doesn't he know you have to fake it? Must be the fourth guy, the one in the rear. He's a total chickenshit!

"He took cover, didn't he," Ellie asked quietly.

Joel nodded. "Get ready. I think he saw me, but if he didn't see you... -I'll draw his attention over... there. That way. You arrow him -- but wait 'til he stops firin' first."

Because the soldier was hollering about surrendering and making a deal or some shit, Ellie mostly had to lip-read that instruction. When it registered that Joel intended to leave the safety of his tree to move to another, Ellie reached for him -- she couldn't help it! "Joel, no -- don't--"

The barrage of bullets that came flying their way was as loud as the fucking helicopter! Joel grabbed her and tugged her the rest of the way over -- probably since her momentum was already carrying her towards him -- but the tree wasn't fat enough to cover them both unless they lined up behind it. He sort of... pushed her behind him.

"Sorry!" she said before he could "Ellie" her. She would rather be in front of him, since he was facing away from her -- towards the soldier. The fact that Joel didn't want her there made her question the ability of the tree to protect them. ...At least the bullets stopped? Bullets that might have hit him if she hadn't stopped him from moving; the soldier obviously knew exactly where they were.

"Surrender before the boys from the chopper get here, or... or you're not gonna like your fate!"

Despite nearly getting her arm -- or worse -- blown off by machine gun fire moments earlier, Ellie now had to fight the inexplicable urge to laugh. She clapped a hand over her mouth to try to stifle the threat. The guy wasn't even funny, it was just... he was so...

And when Joel muttered something that sounded like "what the hell is wrong with you?", the urge only intensified!

The helicopter noise was getting louder again now... and lower. Like it was joining them on the ground, albeit beyond the tree line. She wondered if this guy or one of the dead ones had radioed it for help, or if the initial plan had been for them to follow after a certain interval... at any rate, she sobered quickly. How many more of them ARE there?!

Joel was probably wondering the same thing. He twisted around and instructed her to get down while he knelt and rummaged through his backpack, careful to stay behind the gnarly old tree that had possibly just taken a handful of bullets for them. When he stood up again, she could see what he'd retrieved... a smoke bomb? Ellie only used those if she was down to like... nothing. In fact, she wasn't sure she even remembered how to make one. But -- like shivs -- Joel seemed to be bizarrely fond of them. He leaned out enough to lob the bomb toward the soldier, immediately pulling back to avoid the new flock of shots whizzing by.

They had a decent sense of where the dude was, thanks to all the noise he was making, and that general area must have been enough of a target for Joel's bomb to work, because the soldier was now loosing curses instead of bullets. Joel motioned for her to follow him but to stay low -- just in case -- before heading into the smoke.

That was another thing Ellie didn't much care for about smoke bombs: they made smoke! How Joel could duck in there and choke people without choking on it himself was a mystery to her. Like, he never even so much as coughed. It was another skill of his that she coveted. She watched the smoke billowing out in impressive plumes... and wondered why people didn't just fire blindly through the smoke. That's what she would do, if she knew the general direction to aim and didn't have to worry about hitting an ally!

Joel was in and out of there so fast that he couldn't possibly have strangled the man. He probably just broke his neck... maybe shattered his skull with his boot... MORE shit I wish I could--

He grabbed her arm. "You all right?"

She blinked. "Me? Yeah..."

"We can't make it back to the jeep. This way --"

Away from the jeep... but also from the helicopter. Ellie suddenly realized it wasn't making noise anymore. Shit! They're coming! She stumbled after Joel--

"This is good, right here." He tugged her to a stop behind another cluster of trees, way sooner than she'd expected him to.

"We're still pretty close," Ellie pointed out. "Can't we go a little farther?"

"We don't wanna go farther. Looks like there's only two... for now. They're gonna head towards the smoke..."

"And then prob'ly split up to look for us," Ellie finished the thought. "They didn't see us? How did you even see them?"

"Just caught a glimpse. Ssshh, they're comin'..."

Ellie squatted behind a bush where she could kind of peek through the leaves and see. Like, not really see, but a bit more than if her face was pressed up to tree bark instead. Joel was crouching with her, mostly behind the tree but with his hand resting on her back. Or, her backpack, to be exact. This is much better than that last spot. Just like the good old days... one of her earliest memories of Joel -- really one of the first good ones -- was of the two of them being in a position like this. Where it felt like Joel had been assuming a protective stance. He had just been doing his job, of course, but... it had almost felt like he cared. And she remembered feeling slightly less scared at the time, when she was thinking that. She glanced at Joel now, wondering if he was remembering... nope -- he's listening. Hard. She'd have to ask him later.

I've learned sooooooo much since then! She was so much better at protecting herself now. The fear was still there... and actually, in some ways, it was worse -- because she fucking loved him so much. Plus, now she knew he wouldn't let anything happen to her, which meant that he was more likely to be the one to get hurt. And it's his TURN! Just like her, last time... first her burned hand, which had sucked, but wasn't a huge deal in the end -- rather like Joel's ankle. And then... Sacramento... Fuck! Nothing seriously bad has happened on this trip yet--

"Joel--"

But he shushed her... like he knew somehow that she wasn't going to say anything that needed saying right now, and she could tell he was annoyed.

Rightfully so; now wasn't the time to be making those comparisons. The soldiers had split up, and one was headed their way. If she were to draw the guy's attention with her stupid chatter... What's that called again... a self-fulfilling prophecy?

But the soldier veered to his left before he got close enough to force them into action. Ellie could no longer see him through the foliage. Joel inched away from her; she would bet he was preparing to sneak up behind the guy. He just had to wait until he was sure the man wouldn't catch sight of him in his peripheral vision. She nudged Joel to get his attention, tugged at the bow slung over her shoulder, and whispered (so low that she practically just mouthed it) "I'll get the other one." Joel answered that with a frown, but since he voiced no actual objection, she started to move in the opposite direction.

Now... where IS the other one?

The smoke had somewhat dissipated by then... at least enough that she could make out hazy shapes through it (and no, she did not want to feel the pang of nostalgia for California fog right now -- she quashed that). The dude would be searching somewhere on the other side of it, so she would need to move.

From tree to tree she darted, softly and swiftly, keeping an eye in Joel's direction only until Joel had moved close enough to his target that she knew the guy was as good as dead. She also looked out to where the helicopter must have landed -- she still couldn't see it, nor could she afford to take a good long searching look -- and didn't see any other men. But that doesn't mean there AREN'T any more... I'll wait for Joel's gut to have the final say on that.

She moved into the dregs of the smoke, which irritated her eyes and scratched at her throat, but she somehow managed not to cough. Seriously, how does Joel DO it?! Does he have to be so fucking good at everything? Visibility was much improved by this time, however, and she spotted her soldier, marching off in the general direction of the jeep. Now she could afford to ditch moving from cover to cover and pick up the pace, as long as she stayed mindful of her target's movements. Eyes on the prize... cuz the prize could decide to turn around at random... or because he HEARS me...

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Joel moving up in tandem with her... silently, carefully, using cover... but if the guy turned his head a little, he might catch the movement, whereas he'd have to turn completely around to notice Ellie. She waved her arms enough to draw Joel's attention. "I got this!" she mouthed, annoyed.

Much to her satisfaction, Joel started moving toward her instead of the soldier. Toward her, but also kind of behind her. I just need to get a tiny bit closer... she had to allow for at least a couple seconds to nock and aim the arrow.

"You wanna do this the hard way, huh?"

Ellie wondered if all soldiers were required to memorize a handbook of stupid things to say, because they all seemed to spew the same inane crap.

Click!

...That would be Joel cocking the rifle.

She turned and glared at him. "He's mine!" she hissed; they weren't right on the guy's ass -- or even anywhere near his ass -- and he apparently hadn't heard the rifle, so she figured they could afford a wee bit of conversation.

"Pretty sure he's the last one," Joel whispered back. "No need for--"

"He's still mine," she insisted.

"All right... look, he changed course a little. You go up that way an' I'll cover--"

"For the last time -- he's mine." With her annoyance mounting, she moved forward briskly. Enough dicking around, Ellie -- you're close enough to hit him -- just do it!

The soldier actually stopped dead in his tracks. -Well, ALMOST dead? Ha-- She was ready now, her arrow set and her arm drawn back. He started to turn in their direction, like maybe he'd heard something--

Her arrow zinged through the air -- and so did Joel's bullet. The soldier crumpled to the ground.

She whirled around accusingly. "What the fuck, Joel!"

"He started to turn--"

"I know! I saw that!"

"--around... looked like he was ready to start sprayin' bullets when--"

"I know! Argh!"

He was smiling now. "Aww, don't be mad. Come--"

"No -- I'm gonna go see which one of us killed him!" Since Joel felt like that soldier was the last of them, Ellie abandoned all attempts at stealth and just sprinted toward the body. Which was... actually not a corpse. Not yet. With an arrow in his upper back and a bullet wound in his side, he was shuddering, sputtering... blood spilling out of his mouth and pooling around his face... more blood oozing out of his side and soaking his clothes. Ellie's stomach churned. It's so easy to forget sometimes that they're actually PEOPLE...

She had heard Joel walking up beside her... heard him tell her she didn't have to watch... yet she still jumped a little when she heard the shot.

"I was gonna do that," she said... not really complaining, though. It didn't matter who finished him off.

"I know."

Of course he did. That's why he'd done it himself. She didn't ask if he would've done it anyway, without her there; she suspected he wouldn't have bothered. The guy might've only been a few minutes away from death as it was, but Joel had told her that people can take their sweet time dying... bleeding out over the course of a few agonizing hours. She had seen him do mercy kills before.

"So... we both got him," Joel observed. "Yours counted more. I only grazed him."

Ellie snorted at the bald-faced lie. "Whatever, Joel." Maybe he thought she was upset with him for firing. Like he'd taken something from her by not just sitting back and letting her do it. She'd been annoyed for a second, but she understood why Joel felt like he couldn't wait. The guy had been turning around... he might have fired while she was aiming. We really do have the weirdest conversations -- and competitions -- sometimes. "Obviously, there aren't any more soldiers around -- should we go check out the helicopter?"

"In a minute." He was kneeling beside the body.

Oh -- right. Gotta loot. "I'll meet you over there?"

"No -- just hang on a second, will you? Or... go check the other guys." He was examining the guy's pistol, turning it over in his hands.

"Wait -- you're taking that? You said we have enough guns, that we can't keep--"

"We're almost home now," he cut her off to explain. Which... didn't really explain anything. "This is a real nice Ruger. Looks brand new. Guess the flyboys don't carry the big guns like the others."

"Flyboys?"

"The pilots would be the last to come lookin' for us," he said, tucking the gun in... well, somewhere, because he didn't have any empty holster spots. "You wanna check the one I did over that way and I'll make the rounds of the others... prob'ly not much there to salvage." That was one drawback of using explosives.

"Do you think any of them were Caleb?" Ellie wondered out loud.

"No. Unless he left Monterey, or... they moved operations elsewhere."

"The helicopter came from the west, though..."

"Northwest. We're too far away now for it to be--"

"Unless it fueled up somewhere along the way, right? That's what you said."

"Also said it ain't like there's helicopter fuel stations all over the place. Let's get a move on -- they might've called for backup before they came in here."

When she and Joel were done picking over the corpses, they headed across the highway and into the field toward the helicopter. "Does it... look like a military helicopter to you?" she asked dubiously, because the closer they got--

"Oh yeah. It's a Black Hawk."

Ellie squinted at it. "Are you sure? Cuz it's not black."

Joel chuckled. "It don't have to be. And yes, I'm sure -- I've seen enough of 'em in movies. You prob'ly have, too. The hot pink is... unusual, though, I'll give you that."

"Okay, yeah... like, there weren't even any girls on board. All dudes."

"And... what, dudes can't like pink? It's hot pink, not that... lighter kind."

Ellie gave him a look. "I don't know what you have against pastels. You don't even like light yellow."

"Says who?"

"Says you -- you gave me that shirt!"

"...What, that one you like to sleep in?"

"Yes!" Duh!

"It ain't the color -- it didn't fit right. Looks better on you."

Ellie smirked. "Doesn't everything?" Not that she believed it, but she knew Joel did.

"Yes ma'am."

And Joel liked it when she acted... confident, or something. More like CONCEITED! She almost tried to stop him so she could steal a kiss... but figured she was better off waiting until they were inside the helicopter, where she could no doubt score a better one. "No, actually that shirt fit you better than it fits me. I just like it more."

"Looks better on you," Joel insisted. "Anyhow, maybe they just never bothered to paint over the pink that's been there since... whenever."

True, the paint job didn't exactly look recent; it looked kind of like every car they'd ever seen. Even the jeep. Nothing was shiny and new anywhere, it seemed. It was only the lettering and a couple of big fat stripes that were pink. The rest of it was actually a very dark green, not black... but she supposed it was close enough. Green Hawk doesn't sound as bad-ass or whatever as Black, I guess?

She glanced at Joel. "Your people radar's not going off, is it?"

"Nope."

"Good." She started to jog the rest of the way.

"Still, be careful!" he called after her. "I could be wrong--"

"Whatever!" she tossed back at him -- because he was never wrong. Not about that. She just knew there was no one there... because her own sixth sense was getting sharper, or because she trusted Joel's so much?

She climbed into the belly of the thing, since the doors were open, with only a cursory glance around for occupants. "All clear!" she called to Joel, who was not right behind her, surprisingly. She turned and watched him walking... rather leisurely toward her. Compared to her speed, anyway. "See? You knew that already. Unless... is your ankle bugging you? Shit -- I'm sorry, I should've--"

"It's fine," he waved off her apology. "The old man just didn't feel like runnin', is all."

"You're not old," she replied (it was automatic by now). She crossed her arms over her chest and stared down at him. Is he lying about his foot? We really haven't been running lately, 'til now... maybe it's hurting cuz we were moving fast earlier... he's not limping, though... and I guess he was walking fast...ish?

"What, you don't believe me?" Joel seemed amused, at least, rather than annoyed.

"I dunno... maybe I should make you go back and run to prove it." But she extended her hand to help him up (and he actually took it!), then tugged him in close for a little kiss. "Before you say it -- 'we CAN'T, Ellie.' "

Joel chuckled. "Can't what? Do this?" He encircled her waist and kissed her deeply -- but only for about three seconds. "Nope, we sure can't."

The three seconds had been enough to make her head spin a little (or maybe the adrenaline helped with that?). She giggled. "Ever had sex in a helicopter before?"

"Can't say that I have. That ain't gonna change now, either," he warned her -- as if she didn't already know. "Have you even been in a helicopter before?"

...Ugh. "No," she lied. She had never told him the lengths she'd gone to in order to find medical supplies for him; he had some idea, naturally, but... well, he didn't need to know everything. She knew he felt guilty enough about getting hurt as it was. Like everything that happened afterward was his fault. But of course, Joel will be able to TELL I lied here, so maybe I should just--

"I'm sure we ain't missin' much. Nothin's more comfortable than a bed, when it comes to... that sort of thing." He kissed her forehead before letting go of her. "Anything good in here?"

Huh. I must be getting better at lying! Or maybe Joel just didn't care to question it. But... just because he was good at reading people didn't mean he was some all-knowing being who could read minds and shit. If that were true, they would never have any misunderstandings or miscommunications, and he would never have to ask her what was bothering her.

"Aha," he was saying now as he rifled through a duffel bag. "Found somethin' you'll like."

"Just me?"

He stood up and showed her what was in his hands.

"Protein bars!" she cried. "Hey, you like them, too."

"Not really. But they're better than starvin'." He tossed her one.

She read the label. "Peanut butter! Yum!"

"I know you've been missin' that fake crap. These prob'ly have a little of the real deal in it, at least."

"Hey, that so-called fake crap came from Jackson!" she just remembered. She'd never had it there, though; Sophie had introduced her to it on the road. "We can get some!"

"You can get some. I'll pass."

Now I'm hungry! Ellie ripped open the wrapper and took a big bite of the bar. "Mmmmm!"

Joel was unwrapping one, too, she was pleased to note. "Only 'cause I'm hungry and it's convenient," he told her (--she must have looked too happy or something).

"You know... it's okay to like stuff, Joel," she said between bites. "You don't have to hate everything."

"I don't hate everything," he grumbled. "I like you, don't I?"

Ha! "Eh... most of the time, maybe."

"Keep lookin' while you eat that. I'm gonna check up front."

They found some first aid kits, water, more food, ammo... quite a decent haul. Lugging the water back to the jeep wouldn't be fun (the soldiers had brought a gallon per man, and Joel wanted to take all of it), but the rest of it should fit in their backpacks -- and Joel just went ahead and took that duffel bag. They made a neat little pile of stuff on the ground.

"You ready to go, kiddo?" Joel called to her from below as she lingered in the cockpit.

"Yeah... can't we just fly this thing for a while? Fox would totally fit if we--"

"No," Joel shot that down immediately. Because of course he did.

"Why not? We don't have to take it all the way to Jackson. Just like the jeep, we could leave it somewhere outside of town and come in like normal!"

Joel hopped back up there and came up behind her. "Who's gonna fly this thing? You?"

Ellie laughed heartily at that. "Fuck no! You, of course!"

"Uh-huh. And what makes you think I know how to fly it?" He gestured to all the various controls. "You see all this? You think that's easy?"

There were a lot of switches... buttons... screens... knobs... "Um... there's probably a user manual in here somewhere?"

Now it was Joel's turn to laugh. "Sure. I'll just flip through the manual real quick an' we'll be good to go."

"I'm serious! Maybe you've never done it before, sure, but you're a smart guy and you're good at driving cars and stuff. You'd figure it out." She looked at him hopefully. "Please, Joel? Wouldn't it be fun?"

"Don't you dare turn those eyes on me," he growl-chuckled (a sound unique to Joel, Ellie was pretty sure).

"I'm just asking," she said, all innocence. She 'innocently' put her arms around his neck and kissed him, too, while she was at it. "You don't want to lug this shit all the way back to the jeep, do you? You know you're gonna end up carrying twice as much as me. More than twice as much."

He calmly removed her arms and took a step back. "It ain't that much. But if you're really all that aggravated, we can leave it all here an' drive back for it. The jeep can handle this field, easy."

"Okay so it's not that much stuff, you're right -- but think about it! When are we ever gonna get the chance to fly a fucking helicopter ever again?!"

"Maybe never. That still don't mean I'll magically be able to fly it. You know how many hundreds of hours of training it takes to get a pilot's license?"

"How many?"

"...I don' know, but it's a lot."

"Well, you don't have to get a license. No one cares -- it's not like you're gonna get in trouble."

"Psh. You know why it takes so many hours?"

"Um... cuz it's hard?"

"Because it's dangerous as hell. And it's hard, yes. The only way I'd even attempt it is if our lives were in danger an' we had no other choice. Are our lives in danger at the moment?"

"Okay, I get it." When he did that question-after-question thing, she knew he was in full-on lecture mode and it was a lost cause.

"All right then. Now kindly go mind our pile out there while I figure out how to disable this thing."

Oh... right... that made sense. We don't want MORE assholes following us! "Should we just... blow it up?"

"Maybe we could if they left us some powerful explosives, but they didn't. Pretty sure I disabled the transponder... the radio... but that just buys us time. We need to damage the hydraulic system or somethin' along those lines."

He had been messing around in the cockpit earlier. "So we... shoot a hole in the fuel line? Fuck up the motors on the propellers?"

"Thing is, these army helicopters are gonna be resistant to shit like that. Shootin' up the controls is prob'ly the easiest way to put this thing out of commission for a while. ...You ain't gonna get all sentimental on me now, are you? Like you did with the jeep?"

Ellie snorted. "No, no... I know you're right. It's like... our enemy. It's the Wicked Witch of the West! No redeeming qualities."

"That's right. We took all we could from it. ...If I really wanted to go for it, I suppose I could try to fly it just high enough to parachute down an' let it crash," Joel mused. "Then I could arrange the bodies to make it look like the crash killed 'em."

That sounded like a decent plan to Ellie. "But... you don't wanna do that." She could tell by the way he said it.

"Nah. I didn't see a black box in there, but maybe I don' know where to look... if there is one, they'd know it was staged. Either way, they might already have audio of them spottin' us an' all. Let's just get the hell outta here before more of 'em show up."

MORE of them? "How many fucking helicopters do you think they have?" If Monterey only had one...

"Hopefully just this one. But they're gonna send more men out here one way or another when they don't hear from these bastards."

She knew he was right. "We could be home by then, right? If they don't send another helicopter?"

"I hope so. We can hide in plain sight there. Now go on." He gave her a little push and swatted her butt. "I'll be down in a minute."

"Okay," Ellie agreed reluctantly. "Be careful. Don't like... let any bullets ricochet on you. Stay really far back."

Joel chuckled. "I'm glad the ricochet thing is stickin' with you, at least."

She hopped down and busied herself with moving the salvaged items farther away from the helicopter, in case Joel did find a way to blow it up (although if he did, she'd be more worried about him than all that shit!). I hear more banging and smashing than gunfiring...

Indeed, Joel only fired a couple times (for good measure?) at the end, and from outside the cockpit -- he exited from there instead of where they'd entered on the side. "They might be able to repair it, but it won't be easy," he told her as he started loading up.

Ellie could see no evidence of this from the outside, but she trusted that he knew what he was doing. "Good. I hope they fix it eventually," she decided.

He arched his eyebrows at her. "Yeah?"

"I mean... if it's putting out forest fires and stuff, or at least calling them in..."

"So much for no redeeming qualities."

"Yeah, I forgot about that one. But all our enemies prob'ly have some redeeming qualities, right? Even if they're just teensy tiny ones?"

"I wouldn't say all of 'em..."

Even that motherfucker David wasn't ALL bad -- he helped me with the Infected! True, that was mostly to save his own ass... and she helped him as well... the fact that he'd been 'nice' by wanting to let her live when the other guys didn't -- that didn't really count, because he changed his tune soon enough when it sunk in that she wasn't going to just... ditch Joel and join their group, or whatever the fuck he expected.

To Ellie's surprise, her brain wasn't screaming at her right now to stop thinking about the dead asshole. Am I finally OVER it? Like, for real?

...What about Shelby... he wasn't all bad, either. I was a dick to him FIRST, and he reacted. Caleb was probably right -- I didn't have to kill him--

NO.

Nope. She still didn't want to think about Shelby. That's enough of that!

Joel was moving quickly enough this time that she fell a few steps behind him; maybe his ankle was okay after all. As predicted, he was carrying more than twice the amount she was. Even though she was perfectly capable of handling more, and had tried to take more. He's so... so... UGH...

"Joel, wait -- I lied before," she blurted... for some fucking reason (what the fuck, Ellie?!). "About the helicopter."

"You did?" He didn't seem particularly concerned, but he paused so she could catch up to him. "So you do know how to fly it."

She rolled her eyes. "Of course not. But... I have been in one before. I don't know why I said no, when you asked."

He made some little noise, like a grunt of affirmation or something... and just kept walking. All... nonchalant-like.

"That's it? You're not mad?"

He chuckled. "Why would I be mad?"

"Cuz... I lied?"

He shot her a you're-so-cute look. "That was hardly a... hard-core betrayal."

"Well, don't you wanna know why?"

"...You jus' said you didn't know why."

"Yeah, but--"

"If you figure it out later an' wanna share, that's fine. We really need to get outta here before someone realizes there's somethin' wrong." He picked up the pace, as if just saying the words would make that happen.

"Won't it be a while before someone misses them? Or before anyone can get here, if they do..."

"We don' know that. They could have two helicopters buzzin' around, for all we know. Maybe they're supposed to check in on the radio every so often. Maybe there's a certain time they're supposed to be somewhere. They could've radio'd back to... whoever, about spottin' us... goin' after us."

"Fuck... you think they did that?"

"Don' know, but it's definitely possible," he replied grimly. "Keep your eyes an' ears peeled."

They had nearly reached the end of their 'yellow brick road'... and it was time to ditch the jeep anyway. Ellie hated to agree with Joel on this one, but even without the helicopter scare factored in, there was still the fact that if they drove it all the way to Jackson, there would be too many questions. And even if they asked people to keep their mouths shut when talking to the military at the outpost, an innocent slip could happen. Or a not-so-innocent one, if someone in town still had a grudge against them. It's really not practical to keep killing soldiers -- especially not if we expect to stay in one place!

Joel did seem to like the idea of not letting the jeep fall to ruin like every other dead car they'd encountered, though. He said they could make it a weekly habit, to go for a 'Sunday drive.' Not far enough to be extravagant or wasteful -- just enough to... how did he put it... it sounded dirty... something like "keep things lubed up"? And they now had three gas containers... gas might eventually be a problem, if they managed to deplete their whole supply. Joel wasn't sure how quickly it would evaporate out of the cans. Although it would look a little suspicious if they went around siphoning gas from cars Inside, they might have to eventually. We'd have to do it in the dead of night! But Joel made sure the jeep's tank plus all three canisters were pretty full and said they'd be set for a while on that if they were only taking little 'joyrides'. Assuming no one stole them, of course. Or stole the jeep-- but without the keys, the thief would have to hotwire it, and Joel seemed to think that was unlikely.

They had debated gifting it to Paul, but Joel didn't think the other man would have taken it. Not only would Paul not want to deprive Joel and Ellie of its use, but he clearly didn't want to draw any military attention to himself... and even though they hadn't disclosed the whole story, they had confirmed Paul's suspicions that their acquisition of the jeep had been... unsavory, to say the least. Ellie liked to tease Joel about his man crush (even their fucking names sounded similar -- how cute was that?!), but it was truly heartwarming to see him make a real friend. Like... the two of them had sat around the fire each night bonding and stuff, after the girls went to bed.

Ellie had spied on them the third night, after Karma fell asleep, but had quickly lost interest. They weren't speaking loudly enough that she could hear them over the crackling of the fire and the night sounds (and she didn't dare move any closer, lest she risk Joel detecting her presence). Not only that, but she could tell they weren't speaking at all, for ages -- like, maybe a couple minutes at a time. That was boring enough to practically make her fall asleep standing up!

Anyway, she and Joel agreed that leaving the jeep out near the road somewhere wasn't a good idea, given its unique appearance. The white lettering on the hood would be highly visible from above once the rains washed away its current coat of dried mud, and if it was spotted so close to Jackson, maybe the army would come into town and ask questions (Joel was concerned about that regardless, thanks to the fucking helicopter encounter). It did need to be close enough to Jackson that they could get to it on foot in a timely manner, feasible for taking it out on Sundays. Joel predicted that eventually they would either forget about that or get tired of it, but Ellie promised she wouldn't let either of those things happen. After all, they might want to go back to Golden Sands before the winter! And having a reliable vehicle -- one that could off road, even -- had made the return trip soooo much easier. However, it would eventually need maintenance to keep running smoothly, so Joel had also warned her not to get her hopes up about using it for a return trip to the beach (too late!).

Shortly after they'd gotten back on the road again, Joel had declared it was time to go 'house shopping.' The jeep's new home needed to be on a residential street well off the highway, and have an empty garage with a functional door.

"Are we really that close to Jackson already?" Ellie marveled.

"Look at the map, Miss Navigator."

"Pfff. The map doesn't tell me exactly where we are right now. And it's not like I've been... doing any actual navigating. Unless you count holding the fucking thing." Which she wasn't even doing now, because they'd stopped needing it after turning onto the final highway.

"I don' know why you never liked it. You know how to read it--"

"I don't have the patience for that!"

Joel chuckled. "Patience ain't your strong suit, granted, but I don't see how this is related. Ain't like you were around back in the day, when people started lettin' technology tell 'em where to go, instead of maps -- that was a big adjustment for some folks, havin' to use their own brains instead of a computer's. But to answer your question, we're within a few miles now, yes. We need to get off the road. Let's check out this street here..."

If they really were only a few miles away from Jackson, the scavengers would've picked these houses clean by now. Joel said it seemed unlikely anyone from town would find the jeep and wonder how it came to be in a garage so far away from any military operation -- and, again, possibly tattle to one of the town's military contacts (or to someone else who would), perhaps triggering an investigation that included a search of the town. Ellie thought that seemed a bit far-fetched... even paranoid... but the man had survived for the past twenty-plus years listening to his gut, hadn't he? As for passers-through... well, if they did happen to find it, he said they could just wonder.

Their chosen house -- the first one they scouted that actually met all of Joel's requirements -- wasn't one of the first few on the block (in fact, they didn't even bother checking the first few on the block). It was on a street that wound around "un-invitingly," as Joel put it. The detached garage even had a way to lock it from the outside -- if only they knew the combination to the useless combo lock they'd found in the jeep! But, they didn't, so... Joel said maybe they could bring one from home some time. And he actually jotted down the address, including the street to turn onto from the highway, "just in case." Never mind that they were both excellent at remembering locations. At least my mileage tracker notebook is making itself useful again! Even though no one else would ever lay eyes on the thing, let alone look at all the numbers inside and try to figure out what was what, she offered to indulge his paranoia by coming up with a mnemonic device to write down instead of the actual address. Joel must have either thought she was joking or that the idea was ridiculous, because he just scoffed at it.

For some reason, he insisted on backing the jeep into the garage (maybe he wanted to show off his maneuvering skills one last time?). With its essential contents emptied and (mostly) loaded onto the horse, Ellie said goodbye to the jeep while he yanked the garage door closed. They'd left some stuff behind; they kind of had to, because lugging home all of the blankets Ellie had accumulated would have been too tedious! Some of their new items wouldn't be needed because Jackson already had enough of them -- like the shovel. They didn't have one at their house, but Joel knew where to get one if needed. Shit like that. And some of it just plain old wasn't needed anyway (like tear gas? ...maybe it would come in handy versus a shitload of Runners, but not in Jackson). They also left two of the gallon jugs of water and a couple of protein bars, for use by their future selves. But all in all, they were taking enough shit that they would need to walk these last few miles, because there literally wasn't room for them on the packed horse.

It wasn't until they were well down the road nearly back to the highway when a thought occurred to Ellie that she wished she'd had much earlier. What the fuck is wrong with me? How could I forget?! "Joel! We forgot something!" She stopped in her tracks to emphasize the importance of this.

"What's that?" He paused... and looked at her with a complete lack of concern anyway.

"We never had sex in the back seat!" she lamented. "It's all nice and empty now, too... it's not too late..."

Joel chuckled. "Yes it is -- it's way back there. Maybe we can do that next week, yeah?"

"It's not way back there. We just barely left it."

"No goin' backwards," he recited.

She laughed. "That applies to us, not like... life in general. What about all those times we had to backtrack in California?"

"Still. We had all these days -- and nights -- to do it, and it didn't happen."

"...So?"

"So... maybe it just wasn't meant to be," he said lightly. "C'mon, kiddo."

I'm lucky we had sex at all while we were Outside, really, she tried to console herself as they started off again.

She must have looked crestfallen or something, because Joel said, "I don't see what the big deal is, but if you really want to, we can find some random car in Ghost Town to do it in. It'd be safer, anyhow."

"Yeah right," she grumbled. That would be the place to do it, since it was the uninhabited part of town, but she was sure Joel would still deem it "too risky" -- it was just a different kind of danger than Outside. She sighed dramatically. "It's gonna be hard to pretend I don't wanna jump you all the time."

Joel snorted. "Even though you don't actually want to?"

That remark surprised her enough to make her stop walking again and just stare at him. "What do you mean? Of course I do! Do you still think... after all this time... I thought you knew that--"

"Relax," he cut in, and he stopped, too. Turned to look at her. "I didn't mean it like that."

"Then what did you mean?"

He shrugged. "Just... it ain't like that's all we do. All we are. Some days we don't even do it at all."

He started walking again, and Ellie hurried to fall in step beside him. "Not because of me, though. I don't mind doing it Outside -- that's your thing." She was convinced Joel would still manage to detect threats and kill people as needed, even when he was inside her!

"Even before we left. Some days we just weren't in the mood, is all. That's how it is."

"But that was mostly you. Not me. Cuz you're-- ...cuz of your age."

"Sure."

...Is that a sarcastic 'sure,' or legit agreement? "I love you, Joel," she assured him. "I always wanna be with you."

He glanced at her. "You're cute," he chuckled.

"What? Why?"

"You just are."

Ugh! But she decided it was one of the good 'you're cute's (as most of them tended to be). "I just want you to know. In case you forgot. I think that's why I... got all weird, before. About the little lie that didn't mean anything. I want you to trust me again." She bit her lip.

"I do trust you."

He sounded sincere. It's just... I dunno... "Not the same as before, you don't."

Joel sighed. "Ellie, this ain't a conversation we should be--"

"You don't! I knew it. Fuck... what do I have to do to--"

"I mean it -- we ain't talkin' about this now," he growled. And the no-nonsense glare he shot her underscored the sentiment. "I trust you, all right? C'mon -- let's cut through here. We should stay off the highway, now that we can. And stay alert."

Ellie knew it was no use trying to continue the conversation. Maybe she should just leave it alone... Joel's black-and-white, yes/no stance on the subject of trust was good enough, wasn't it? The more he thinks about it, the more the 'yes' will become a 'no,' right?

Sometimes I really wish I had a male brain, she sighed inwardly. One more good thing about finally reaching their destination: Joel wouldn't be able to use the need for Outside vigilance as an excuse to avoid difficult conversations.

* * * * * *

Returning to Jackson had felt like an abstract idea... like it wasn't real. Wasn't actually happening. It didn't really sink in that they'd made it until Ellie caught sight of the electric fence, which they just had to follow around until they met up with a gate. "Look, Toto! The Emerald City!" she exclaimed.

"Tch. I actually forgot we made me the dog."

"There's no place like home," she gushed excitedly.

"Now, Dorothy, I know we said it like that before, but the Emerald City ain't s'posed to be home," Joel teased. " 'Course, the place that started the whole thing wasn't home, either..."

"Yeah, fuck that -- we already changed the story! Besides, I don't have ruby shoes to tap together." She looked down at her shoes. "Unless the blood counts? It's... sort of ruby-colored?"

"We'll wash that out better now that we're home. Maybe just get you a new pair, if we can."

"That's right -- we can go shopping again!"

"One-stop shoppin'." Yes, he liked to call it that.

"Two stops, if we go to Sophie's closet."

Joel quirked an eyebrow at her. "I don't think she'll have anythin'... sensible, in there."

"Yeah, I guess not, huh. Plus, her feet are bigger than mine. Plus plus -- I bet the vultures picked through everything already. ...You think they did that with our house, too?"

"We didn't leave 'em much to pick over. Remember, we weren't even livin' there when we left. Our extra clothes an' shit are with Tommy an' Maria. Unless they gave 'em away."

"They wouldn't have done that -- we told them we were coming back!" Ellie cried.

"True. They'd prob'ly wait at least a year or so before givin' us up for dead," Joel said... jokingly? (she couldn't tell for sure!)

Ellie slugged his arm playfully. "Please. Like some little trip is gonna kill us."

Joel gave her a Look. "Need I remind you--"

"Nooooo," she groaned, "you need not. I know. But we made it! And it wasn't so bad, right?"

He just grunted.

It took them another few minutes of walking along the fence before it started tapering in toward the wall... and Ellie caught sight of the familiar guard towers. "Eeeeeeee this is it!" She grabbed Joel's arm. "Who do you think is on duty now?"

"How the hell should I know?"

"Who cares -- come on!" She started to run to the gate, ignoring Joel's warnings to be careful. What the fuck EVER -- we're home! These are our people -- they're not gonna shoot us!

But she did slow down a bit at the final approach -- mostly because it was hard to wave her arms madly and still run at full speed. "Helloooooo! Hey! We're home!" she hollered to the towers -- where she could see some movement now, so she knew they were occupied, but she couldn't identify the guards. "It's Ellie -- and Joel! We're back! We're baaaaaack!"

"Hey, Ellie!"

She heard the clunking noise that always preceded the gates slowly swinging open -- so much more smoothly and easily than that bitch of a gate at Golden Sands! The sun was high overhead and the towers were shaded, so Ellie used her hand to shield her eyes and look at the guards. "Oh -- hi Gavin! Hi Val! How are you guys? What's new? Anything exciting happen over the winter? What did we miss? Are there any new people? Is everyone still--" --No, on second thought, she didn't really want to know yet if they'd lost anyone-- "So... what's going on? How's Shannon?" That was Gavin's wife. Val didn't have any family in town to ask about. Oh but she has-- "How's your ammi...groomy thing going?" (Fuck, that's not the right name, but it's close!) "Are you still making animals like-- oh! What about the sister farm? Does it have an actual name yet, or-- what about the farms here? How are they, I mean? Annie and Will and Esther? -The other farm people too, but especially them." She paused to catch her breath -- and perhaps to let them actually answer a question.

"Uh... everyone's good? I guess?" It was Val who answered, because Gavin was climbing down.

Joel had caught up to her now. "One thing at a time, kiddo," he chuckled. He nodded in greeting to Val (a gesture that never did strike Ellie as a very friendly hello, but it worked for Joel). "Tommy in town?"

"Oh yeah. He hasn't left since--" Val paused.

...Oh shit oh FUCK please don't say something happened to Maria or the--

But she was smiling now. "Hey, that's right, you don't even know -- congratulations: you're an uncle!"

"Awesome!" Ellie squealed in relief -- and she could certainly exude enough enthusiasm to make up for Joel's utter lack of it. She was practically bouncing with excitement. "I can't wait to meet him -- or her! Wait -- don't tell us if it's a boy or a girl, okay?"

Gavin strode toward them and shook Joel's hand. "Good to see you, man. You too, Ellie. We'll call--"

"No, no." Joel waved that off. "No need. We'll surprise 'em." But when he started to walk past Gavin, the other man stopped him.

"Hang on a sec. We're supposed to scan you."

...WHAT?! Ellie hoped that didn't mean--

"Scan us?" Joel asked dumbly -- and Ellie knew he was worried, too. It was something they hadn't had to deal with since Boston! His hand casually-but-not rested on his hip, just above the Shorty. The wheels were obviously already spinning in his brain.

Ellie tried to spin hers, too, but all she came up with was fuck shit FUCK--

"Yeah, that's new since you two left," Gavin said... calm as fuck. Like he had no idea his life might be in danger right now (which... it didn't necessarily have to be, but Ellie wasn't sure she'd have time to talk Joel down).

"It won't be necessary," Joel replied, just as calmly. "The scan, I mean. We ain't seen any infected for weeks."

"New protocol. I'm sure Tommy will tell you all about... that." He said it weird... like maybe he wasn't just referring to the scanning.

"C'mon, you know we can't leave the gate open like this," Joel reasoned.

Gavin didn't step aside, though. "Well... it's true, we don't always do it -- the scanning. Someone's gone for an hour or two, nearby... we let it slide. But you two... yeah. Instead of quarantine, we scan. It's a pain in the ass, to be honest. There's only the one scanner..."

"And it never seems to be at the gate where it's needed," Val finished for him, chuckling. "Like right now. I think it's at East Gate."

Joel heaved a long-suffering sigh. "We've just come a very long way. All we wanna do is go see my brother an' relax. Trust me, we are not infected. I wouldn't go meet my niece or nephew if that was even... the remotest possibility, I assure you."

"Plus -- Tommy didn't make us quarantine the first time we got here," Ellie put in. She was pretty sure Val didn't give a shit if they got scanned or not, and Gavin was at least wavering...

"Look," Joel continued. "Call my brother if you want. Or Maria. If you're worried about gettin' in trouble or somethin'. Ask 'em if it's all right that we go through. I guarantee you they'll say it's fine."

"That'll ruin the surprise," Ellie complained.

"That's all right," Joel told her, a bit sharply. "Whatever will put his mind at ease."

And then Joel like... winced, and shifted around a little... like his shit was just so heavy that he needed to go dump it right this minute? HA! Ellie almost laughed out loud. What a good actor he is!

Gavin glanced up at Val, then finally stepped aside. "Go on. Don't wanna ruin the surprise."

"Thank you!" Ellie bounced over and hugged him. "You're the best! Thank you so much!"

Joel cleared his throat. "Ellie--"

"What? I'm excited, okay?" she huffed. "I wanna meet my-- your-- niece or nephew already! Fuck, I've been waiting since last summer!"

Gavin offered to help carry stuff to the house, but Joel shooed him away. Ellie waited until they were well out of earshot before "whew!"ing to Joel. "That was scary! What are we gonna do? Does that mean we can't do our Sunday drives?"

"Don't worry about it," he replied quietly. "I'll take care of it."

"How?!"

"I said don't worry about it."

"...Okay. Sure, Joel. Not worried."

"Trust me. It'll be fine." He flashed her a little smile. "Only thing you should be worried about right now is what you're gonna have to do on account of losin' our baby bet."

"Ha! You should be worried! I plan on winning!" she smirked.

Ellie was so excited that it took quite a bit of restraint not to break into a run the rest of the way to Tommy and Maria's. And she would go ahead and let Joel worry about the stupid fucking scanner -- she resolved to put it out of her mind, at least for tonight, and focus on all the good things that awaited them now that they were finally home.


~Continue to Chapter 26~