Quick note before we start:

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters/places/anything mentioned from the Last of Us or anything else and everything belongs to its respective owners.

Afraid to Be Hurt

Tommy silently checked out each room of the ranch house, waiting for Joel to be done speaking with Ellie. He had said they would give them some space, so he figured that he could lookout for any more bandits.

Might take him a while though, he thought of his brother who had suddenly appeared in front of him after so many years.

Joel was changed after the outbreak, after what happened with…

He took a deep breath, looking out the windows with gun in hand and not seeing anyone. The pain still hurt, after all he had lost his niece, but it must have been ten times worse for Joel.

It was like when Sarah died, his brother had too. He became more violent, finding ways to keep them alive but not necessarily ones that kept with a moral code.

Tommy knew that all means of a moral code couldn't be kept after the outbreak; he wouldn't have probably been able to shoot a man before the world went to hell. Now though, he would be able to do it in defense, protecting those he cared about.

Joel had a hard time expressing what he needed to say now. Tommy knew his brother was reminded of Sarah through Ellie, which was by no means the other girl's fault, and that it bothered Joel.

He had refused to take Ellie to the Fireflies because he felt some of the old Joel start to come back when he was with Ellie, something that Joel was probably trying to stop from happening. After all, how could you go back to being the person you were before after twenty years? For Joel, he had thought there was no going back, but that obviously changed when he met Ellie.

Tommy knew that something would come out of this; Joel was desperate not to let someone else he cared for die, so he was trying to make sure he didn't know how the "story" ended. His brother was only hurting, but Ellie was trying to cure the pain in a naïve sort of way.

She most likely didn't know what happened to Joel, but she wanted to help. Both of them had forged a bond, and now she didn't want him to leave.

Twigs snapped outside the house, stopping his thoughts as he became more alert. Forms were starting to come towards the house, and Tommy knew that the horses were a dead giveaway.

"Joel!" he shouted, but either his brother didn't hear him or the bandits might have already gotten to him.

Tommy ran up the steps as fast as he could, hearing voices from inside one of the rooms. He was about to burst through the door or say something, but stopped when he heard what was being said.

"Come on, get up; we're leaving," Joel's voice came from the far room, prompting him to come closer to the door.

"And if I say no?" Ellie's tone had a hint of defiance in it and he heard her move inside the room.

"Do you even know what your life means?" Joel was clearly angered now, and Tommy was half-tempted to stop the argument before it even started, "Running off like that. Putting yourself at risk? That's pretty stupid."

"Well, I guess we're both disappointed with each other then," Ellie's response made Tommy pause outside the door again, slightly not knowing what to do.

Joel don't mess this up, he silently pleaded, secretly knowing that this was what his brother needed.

"What do you want from me?" Joel demanded, and he heard the floorboards squeak as his brother moved across the floor.

"Admit that you want to get rid of me the whole time!" Ellie's slight plea made the room silent for a moment before Joel continued.

"Tommy knows this area better than I do-" he heard Ellie mutter something that stopped Joel for a moment, but then his brother continued, "Well I'm sorry but I trust him better than I trust myself!"

"Stop with the excuses. What are you so afraid of? That I'll end up like Sam? I can't get infected! I can take care of myself!" Tommy didn't know who Sam was, but he knew that something had happened before they arrived at the dam. The argument was going to explode into warfare soon.

"How many close calls have we had?" Both occupants' voices were now raised, making Tommy wonder if he would have been able to hear them from downstairs.

This is getting out of hand, his thought made him reach for the doorknob a bit, but once again, something stopped him.

"We've been doing pretty well so far-!"

"And you will be doing even better with Tommy!" Joel's shout seemed to end the conversation as things fell silent for a moment. Tommy wondered if now would be the time to enter the room.

"I'm not her, you know," he had a hard time hearing Ellie now since her voice was soft, and he heard Joel's bewilderment in his brother's response.

"What?"

"Maria told me about Sarah, and I-" Joel interrupted the girl before she could finish her sentence.

So she does know… his thought was cut off by his brother's warning.

"You are treading on some mighty thin ice here," the hurt in Joel's voice was evident, and it was all clear to Tommy now.

He's afraid to be hurt again, his gaze traveled to the floor; He doesn't want it to end like last time.

"I'm sorry about your daughter Joel, but I have lost people too-" Ellie sounded similar to how he guessed Joel had felt; broken and sad as she tried to explain.

"You have no idea what loss is," Joel's response made his eyes widen a bit in anger. His brother most likely didn't know what Ellie had been through either, but he knew that Joel was only acting out of sadness.

"Everyone I have cared for has either died or left me. Everyone except for you! So don't tell me I would be safer with somebody else because the truth is that I would just be more scared," Ellie sounded like she was on the verge of tears now, and he frowned as another silence came, this one shorter though.

"You're right," Joel's answer gave him some hope, that was until his brother continued, "You're not my daughter, and I am not your father, and we are going are separate ways."

The words were harsh, even from where he was standing he felt the impact of them.

Voices from downstairs as well as rubble made Tommy come back to reality.

This has gone on long enough, he decided, shoving open the door.

"Get it together! We're not alone!" Tommy leaned against the doorframe, checking to make sure the bandits hadn't discovered where they were yet.

"I've got two more coming in," Joel said as he looked out the window and then came to stand by him.

"There's already more inside," he answered, seeing Joel pull out his rifle.

He found his gaze get a glimpse of Ellie, seeing how broken and upset she was now. The fight had left no one with any victory or win; it only had done more damage.

Those two will have to sort it out later. Right now we have another problem, the hunter's footsteps were getting closer, and it was in that split second that Tommy came to a conclusion: I've made up my mind about Joel's offer.

This fanfiction was kind of going out on a limb for me. I wanted to do something in Tommy's POV, but wasn't sure how to do it. Then I thought; what if Tommy would have heard Joel and Ellie's conversation in the ranch house? What would his reaction have been? I know that this is a hard one to argue, since it did not seem that he was blind to what had happened in that scene, but there were a lot of guesses he could have had in his mind otherwise. I also know that the door was slightly open, so it might have been possible to see Tommy if he was listening, but I like to focus on the "what ifs". I hope I did Tommy justice (I really did try) and I hope that you enjoyed this! I might make another chapter on the aftermath (next scene), but I'll see how this one was. Please tell me what you thought in a review!

-AnimeWolfGirl9