Pregnant!?! (The Last Of Us Fanfic)

Endure and Survive, as long as you can

Ellie POV

"How is she doing?" I ask, cutting away at the deer I just shot.

Joel tries to catch his breath after chasing me through the woods. I didn't know he was trying to follow me or I would've waited for him.

"You know, you're faster than me now," He says, laughing but coughing shortly after. I worriedly look at him but slightly smiles to let me know he's fine as he continues to cough.

The birds chirp around us as the sun rises over the mountains. There's been frost in the morning lately which means fall is on it's way and summer is leaving. I absolutely love fall but the warmth summer brings just makes me so happy. Fall is beautiful and the season changes but getting near the end of fall brings back terrible memories. I'm officially over winter.

Joel comes up to me and the deer, smiling.

"Good shot," He says to me, still not answering my previous question.

"Lots of practice," I respond. "Are you alright?"

As I continue to clean the deer, Joel sits down on a log and takes a couple of deep breaths, still trying to catch his breath. He coughs a couple of times before he clears his throat.

"I'm fine, just out of shape," He replies, clearing his throat again. He hasn't been on a patrol in forever, they've moved him to do work inside but he stays at home most of the time or helps anyone who needs it around the town.

"Joel," I push. "How is she?"

Joel takes a deep breath before responding. My heart feels like it's going to pop out of my chest.

"She's fine, maybe a bit traumatized but she's okay," He responds.

"Thank god," I sigh out relieved.

Joel chuckles, standing up from the log.

"She handled it pretty well actually and you would've seen it if you didn't run off," He says.

"I didn't run off, she didn't want me to know, I could tell from the look on her face so I just came out to hunt," I say to him, finishing up.

"She kept asking for you so I left and found you out here. I tried to catch up but didn't want to ruin your shot so once you were done, I came running," He says, laughing.

"What's funny?" I ask.

"You scared the hell out of Maria and the look on her face, priceless," he says, laughing again. I laugh with him.

"Ah damn, I can't believe I missed that!" I exclaim, laughing again.

We laugh for a bit before it calms down. The birds in the trees are chirping even louder, waking up with the world. The breeze goes straight through my jacket and hits me in the bone.

I shiver as I finish with the deer, preparing it to be dragged back to the butcher. Joel bends down and helps me wrap it up, groaning a little but doesn't complain. The bag I usually use to drag it home has a small hole in it so I hope I can fix it or even someone around town. They've all been so nice and helpful ever since Joel and I came back, which was such a long time ago but I still get nightmares from then.

I get nightmares from everything.

I haven't slept peacefully in years, maybe once but I was rudely awaken early because it was my birthday but I quickly got over it.

"So she didn't turn?" I ask.

"She's completely fine. The bite didn't even get infected or swollen at all. She did clean it immediately after it happened," He says. "Tommy made sure no one saw it while they were out,"