Firefly

Thirty-Eight

A/N: so this chapter is much short than I normally write. But that is okay because it's just a filler.

Four Hours Later 

After we got across the bridge and disappeared into the dark, we ended up walking in the pouring rain for miles before we found a safe enough place to stay in and wait til morning. We were in an apartment building on the top floor. The place wasn't too bad for being abandoned for twenty years. Joel was able to find clothes, blankets, and towels that weren't too moth eaten or musty from some of the other apartments. 

I had made Ellie go to a room and strip out of her wet clothes and dry off before putting dry ones on. Then we talked for a little while before she fell asleep. I gathered the wet clothes and walked out of the bedroom. I was still in my wet clothes, too worried about making sure Ellie was dry and warm so she wouldn't get sick. 

I took the clothes to the bathroom and hung them up over the line in the shower thar Joel was so kind to put up for me. We still haven't said much to each other since we got out of the city. Things were going well until they weren't. Maybe I was kind of reckless, but he was slowly going back to trying to keep me locked away. I know he does it because he cares. He's already lost so much.

"She sleeping?" My head snapped up to see Joel standing by one of the windows, looking through the blinds out into the darkness. "Umm...yeah, she fell asleep pretty quickly," I said. He turned his head to look at me, brown eyes looking me up and down. "You're still in your wet clothes." He pushed away from the window. I nodded my head and looked at him, gesturing with my hand, "So are you." He looked down at himself and slowly looked back up at me. "Don't leave." 

He slowly walked towards me until he could reach out and place his hand on either side of my face. "I can't have you going off on your own. I might get overprotective of you, but you have to admit you can be pretty reckless." He moved one hand down to my waist and pulled me closer to him. His thumb gently brushed over my cheekbone where that one asshole had hit me. "I can't lose you again." 

"Are you guys going to kiss?" I turned my head to look behind me. Ellie stood in the hall looking at us. "What're you doing up?" I asked. "I'm hungry," she said. She walked further into the living room and went to one of the windows to look outside. "Yeah, so am I, but someone needed to fucking interrupt," Joel mumbled low enough only he and I could hear. My eyes widened and I hit his chest. "So, is there any food? I'm starving." 

"Um...we have jerky, I think. You can check the kitchen, maybe there's something edible." After looking in the cabinets and not finding anything we ventured to the other apartments on the floor. We were able to find a few cans that would be fine to eat. After we ate Ellie went right back to sleep. Joel and I stayed up and sat in the living room. 

I stood by one of the windows, looking out into the darkness, rain pounded against the glass, thunder rumbled, and lightning lit up the night sky. Joel was sitting on the worn couch, head resting on the back of it, eyes closed. "Come sit down or go get some sleep." I looked over at him, his eyes were still closed with his arms crossed over his chest. "I'm fine just where I am." His eyes slowly opened, head tilting towards me. "You need to get some sleep." 

"So do you. You're the one that always stays up. Get some sleep, I'll wake you up in a few hours and we'll switch." I heard a heavy sigh before he walked over to me. His arms wrapped around me from the back, pulling me onto him so my back was tight against his chest. "I'm sorry for yelling at you. I know you don't do that shit on purpose, but you can be reckless sometimes, darlin' and that scares the shit outta me." He turned me around to face him, pushing a piece of hair out of my face. 

"I love you so damn much. I can't lose you and I know I've said that a million times over. But it is true, baby. I'd have no purpose if you died. I see someone trying to hurt you and all I see is red. It's my natural instinct to protect you. I know you can take care of yourself or more than capable of that, but I would prefer if you would just please not make any more rash decisions. It's not just me that needs you..." he pointed behind him towards the hall. "She needs you too. She looks up to you and trusts you'll protect her and won't leave her." 

He was right. Ellie trusted I would get her to the lab safely. I was being reckless and putting myself in harm's way for no reason. I guess I've just been trying to prove to him that I could handle myself. But the only thing I'm doing is proving to him that I'm just reckless. "I'm sorry. Fuck. I know you care. I know you've always cared and just wanted to protect me. But, Joel, sometimes you get a little too protective. 

"I know I've been reckless. But there were times you were way too protective. I understand why, though. I understand why you're so protective. I'm sorry I said that me and Ellie would just go off on our own while you go find Tommy. I wasn't actually going to do it," I said. He pulled me closer to him and kissed my forehead, "I know, darlin'. I would have never let you go anyway. I'm pretty good at keeping you locked up." 

Pulling away I hit his chest and rolled my eyes. "Shut up. So what's the plan from here?" I asked. "We just keep going. Maybe try and find another vehicle that runs, but I don't think we'll get that lucky. It's going to be a long trip. A lot of walking and we're going to need to start preparing for colder weather."