"Here, how about this one…"

The breeze was cooler today. It wound its way through the trees, rustling the leaves and the blades of grass that were few and far between. Apart from the birds, the day was silent; they chirped around for a while, before disappearing beyond the desolate buildings in the distance. It was still muggy, even in the shade, under the tree, and Joel wiped the sweat from his brow as the girl with her back to him fumbled through the pages of her book.

"What do you call cheese that is not yours?" Ellie asked, the grin already forming across her face.

Joel didn't answer at first. Instead, he listened to the trees and the birds, and he looked at the clouds in the sky, and for a minute he thought that maybe this was the closest he'd ever get to the way things had been twenty years earlier. He closed his eyes.

He snapped them open again, minutes later, when he heard Ellie's voice much sharper than it had been, "Joel!"

"Yeah?"

Ellie turned her head around. Her ponytail flung around with the movement, and she stared at him with bright, questioning eyes, "You all right?"

"Yeah. Fine," Joel morphed his lips into something of a smile. It didn't suit him much, "Just thinkin'. What're you sayin'?"

Ellie held up the joke book and grinned, "Jokes. Wanna hear a good one?"

With the lightest of chuckles, and a smile that did indeed suit him, Joel leaned his head up against the tree trunk and closed his eyes again, "Those jokes are terrible," he reminded her.

"So are you," She shot back. She had intended to stick her tongue out at him, but he wouldn't see it anyway, "Come on. This one's real good. I swear."

"Alright," Joel's voice held the slightest hint of doubt, "Let's hear it."

Ellie cleared her throat meaningfully, "Now don't go off daydreaming again," She reminded, "What do you call cheese that isn't yours?"

Eyes still closed and head still back against the tree, Joel seriously pondered her question, though he knew that the answer would be silly. From beyond the abandoned buildings of the city, the birds had stopped chirping. Not a good sign.

"What?"

The young girl tried to stifle her laughter, "Nacho cheese."

The lame joke brought a genuine smile to even Joel's face. He laughed, the sound gruff; much like his voice. Ellie watched in delight. It was rare that Joel was this open – this emotional with her. Getting the very basics of sarcasm out of him had been a small victory. This time, she felt like she'd just won the lottery.

"See?" She grinned, "I knew you'd like that one. Funny, right?"

"Funny," Joel agreed, opening up his eyes again. He stared at her, all pale, dirty skin and bright eyes and ponytail, and he wondered what exactly he had done right to deserve this. To be alive, to have the clouds over his head, and to have this little girl sticking with him like glue.

And maybe he felt a little bit better about humanity.

"Kiddo?"

"Yeah, Joel?" Ellie said. She'd returned to the book, and Joel was watching her as she read the lines.

The eerie quiet that had been spawned by the silence of the birds was growing, and the knot in Joel's stomach, the one that was always there, had made itself known again. He reached down to the grass to push himself up. The breeze blew his hair.

"You think it's a little too quiet?"

Ellie stopped reading, "Yeah. Too quiet. Are we going into the town?"

"I think so. Let's head on out."

She stood up, following Joel as he started the trek into the city, shotgun swinging from the holster on his backpack. She jogged to catch up. The joke book was clutched to her chest. Joel looked over at it, and his lips quirked upwards, just a tad.

"You need to get rid of that book."

Ellie narrowed her eyes playfully, swinging the backpack off her shoulders to stuff the book inside. When it was once again on her back, she spoke, "No fucking way! Not unless…unless you sing to me."

Joel chuckled, "In your dreams, baby girl."

[an] I just finished this game today and I'm still crying over it and this was in the back of my mind. So please don't shoot me if it's horrible. I've been a horrific flailing mess all day.
Remember, lovelies! Review! [an]