Well, I had not intended to write about these two for a while, until I got my thoughts together, but they've consumed me and the ideas would not stop flowing. As stated in the summary, this is not JoelxEllie, and it purely takes place during the game. This is the father/daughter bond that we call came to know and love (even though I don't believe he ever saw her as a replacement daughter...that's wrong, and very non-Joel.)

Yes, I ship them, and I shipped them on my last story, and yes I fully believe it to be a reality later on down the line, but not here.

Thanks for reading! These will be pretty short, like roughly seven chapters or so, depending on how my ideas change.

Please feel free to read and review honestly.

It was their first night spent in the presence of one another.

It was also the first night that Joel had slept without Tess beside him in bed for years. As a man of sorrow, and a man who desperately hated change, this night was difficult, to say the very least.

Grief was not new to him, but he knew that it was impossible to properly grieve for someone in the world that they lived in, especially when you actually cared about them.

Survival simply would not allow it.

Therefore, when he and Ellie left Tess to die earlier today, although the pain in his gut and the lump in his throat served as a reminder of what had occurred, he knew he would never speak or think about it again.

Yet, now, as he was awakened by a small hand on his shoulder, and the cold sweat that lined across his brow, Tess was the first person to come to mind. However, when he sprang up and looked over on the makeshift bed of raggedy blankets, he found none other than a fourteen year-old girl who he had literally just met.

The disappointment of the realization killed him inside.

What also bothered him, was that he had placed his backpack between them, so as to create a barrier between them as they slept, but when he looked across the floor, he found it to be tossed across the room. What the hell?

"Hey...you were talking in your sleep...again," she accused lightly, with a scowl of uncertainty on her face. It was obvious to him that she feared him a bit, but he did not blame her in the slightest. In fact, he hoped that she would stay this way, so that he could keep her at arm's length and not become too attached.

The way in which she expressed her sort of uneasy, awkward fear, however, was to try her best to get him to open up. After all, amiable behavior and an open ear could get her to open up...and yet, the man who sat before her, with a disappointed, angry look on his face, seemed offended that she had gone so far as to wake him up from his private terror. It was much too intimate for two strangers.

"What?" he spat after a long sigh, and did not attempt to hide his anger. The little girl before him jumped slightly at his obvious anger, and the wide eyed gaze she held as she looked into her hands was enough to prove that she was hurt. But, he did not care. Truth be told, he fully blamed Ellie for the death of his partner. If he wanted to lash out, then so be it. A fuckin' kid and a job I didn't even wanna take. We'll prolly be dead before we even get to Bill's town.

"You were having a nightmare...so, I just-" she stammered in defense, confused as to why he was so cold.

"Leave it alone, " he warned with an wince, and could not even find the ability to look at her.

What angered him most was that his nightmare was not about Tess being infected, or the recollection that he had heard her agonized scream as the soldiers shot her down in a hail of bullets, or even that he had not had the chance to say a proper goodbye.

Oddly enough, rather, his nightmare had been about Ellie being ripped apart by a clicker as he watched, unable to move or prevent it. The fact that he was terrorized by her safety angered him beyond his understanding. Why should he care? He barely knew the kid, let alone enough to worry about her, and yet the fear of her being ruined was enough to make him sick to his stomach.

"Was it...about Te-" she began, in an desperate attempt to provide some sort of comfort for him.

"-God dammit, Ellie!" he interrupted with a yell, and she jumped, a look of embarrassment on her face. Is this kid fuckin' stupid? Suddenly, his angry outburst began to guilt him, and he sighed. "What the fuck did we agree to earlier?" he demanded, as soon as his rage faded away.

"Not to talk about her," she mumbled after she let out an exasperated sigh. I wish he'd just ease the fuck up and let me in. If only she had known him better, she likely would have fought him on it to force him to talk, and to stand up for herself, but unfortunately, she did not know him at all. All this uncustomary passive behavior from her was sure to continue until she felt comfortable and empowered enough to give the "big-bad-Joel" a piece of her mind.

"Then why the hell do you keep on bringin' it up?" he asked aggressively, almost dumbfounded. Ellie searched him for a moment, before an almost pitiful look painted her features.

"I always wanted someone to take the pain away from me when I'm having a nightmare. I figured maybe I could do it for you," she replied with a shrug, clearly upset and deeply embarrassed. I feel like some stupid little kid.

Joel's eyes went wide at this affectionate, sensitive statement, but before he could allow himself to be moved by her honest words of selflessness, he scoffed in an effort to conceal his emotion, and swallowed it hard, like a pill to be forgotten. I don't even know you.

"We need to get some sleep," he said coldly, to ignore her statement, and turned from her as he lay down on his side.

Ellie still sat up unable to move, deep in thought, as well as in complete shock, that this man had the ability to control his emotions like that. Briefly, she wondered how much he had seen in his life to make him like this, but knew that she would never be allowed to ask, and decided to stop thinking about it all together. The sense of hurt in the pit of her stomach, however, still fluttered around in her bowels, but she pushed that thought aside as well. If he wants to act like this, then fuck him.

As Joel felt himself drift back to sleep, he could have almost sworn that he heard Ellie lightly mumble the words "Fuckin' asshole" under her breath, but in his dozed state, he decided to let it slide. After all, if they were expected to make good time on their way to Bill's town, he needed to be fully capable of getting them both there in one peace, and sleep deprivation was never beneficial.

If I can even get us there... this fuckin' kid's gonna be the death of me.

The idea for this fiction began with the way the game characterizes Ellie. Even with her AI away from the cinematics, in the beginning with Joel, it becomes so evident that she is uncomfortable with him, as to be expected.

The fact that they go so far as to make her fidgety is always remarkable to me...(if you don't know what I'm talking about, here's an example: when Joel is almost killed by the hunter in Pittsburgh, and Ellie shoots him, only to piss Joel off in the process, look at the change of her body language when you're walking. She still doesn't know him well, and she's got all the physical signs that she's with stranger. Her arms are close to her body, and she's looking at the ground, etc.)