Silver ||Joel Miller||

her entire world stood still

LAURA

Either Tommy was conservative in his estimate of a week ride to Colorado or he and his people weren't efficient riders. Laura, Joel and Ellie had made the trip in five days, without so much as a hitch. There'd even been time for Joel to teah Ellie how to use the rifle, which the kid had been far too excited about.

In between the shooting, the riding and the sleeping, Joel and Laura had snuck off every night to find something to fuck against. Maybe the compulsion to have him touch her should have faded by now. Maybe the novelty should have worn off...

But every night, it seemed to only get worse.

Every time his hands held her, the addiction grew worse. Through as little as his dark eyes watching her could her body need only one thing. It was going to get them in trouble, she could tell that much, but until that time came she could live in blissful ignorance. For the first time in twenty years she was genuinely happy, and god help anyone who would try to take it from her.

"So I've been thinking..." Joel's voice was quiet, but not so quiet that she didn't hear him as they rode through Eastern Colorado University.

"Mm-hmm?" Ellie responded, currently riding with Joel. Her kid had been taking turns riding with her and Joel, all the while still continuing her questions and interrogations that Laura had foolishly assumed would stop. Now the focus was on what their future was going to look like, what the plan was for sticking together, what their life would be like once they were safe again. So far they hadn't come up with anything concrete, but Laura had been thinking about it.

"I don't want a sheep ranch, actually," Joel said as his eyes reached Laura.

"Woah, no shit." Ellie's voice was blunt, and it was hard to miss Joel shaking his head at the response.

"The deal is I can do anything, right? Have my wildest dreams come true?" He asked.

"That's the deal," Ellie replied.

"Well... when I was a kid, I wanted to be a singer." He looked over to Laura as he spoke, and she felt something in her shift at the admission. Childhood dreams? Hell, she wasn't sure if she ever had one. "Shut up." Joel's voice rang through the air again, just louder than Ellie's light laughter. "Why is that funny?"

"You've got to sing something now," Ellie said which made Laura smile.

"No." That response was exactly what Laura had expected.

"Come on, man. I'm not gonna laugh." Jesus, this kid was terrible at lying.

"You're already laughing," Joel pointed out. He wasn't wrong.

"Yeah, okay, true," Ellie replied.

"Well I've already sung in front of you, it only seems fair you sing in front of me," Laura said, to which he shook his head.

"Don't encourage her."

"You're the one who brought this up completely unprompted," she argued. This all felt so right to her, so completely right that there was no possible way this wasn't meant to happen. There was no way that fate hadn't drawn them together.

"Maybe you should sing together for me later. I'm going to save the fucking world, so it's the least you could do for me." Ellie chimed back in. Yes, this was so absolutely right. She had always wanted a family, and now she was looking at it.

"I'm usually a solo act, but I might be willing to share the spotlight," she said with a sly smile on her face.

"Alright, we might be able to make that work." Was he serious? She couldn't tell.