Silver ||Joel Miller||

a string of pretty words

LAURA

Laura closed her eyes, but all she could see was the storage house. All she could see were the human bodies hanging from the ceiling, curing. She'd thrown up in the corner of the room, and she could still taste the bile on her tongue.

But all she could hear was Ellie when they finally found her, covered in blood, shaking as she'd fled from a burning building. Her kid...

"No! Get off of me! Get off!" Ellie had shouted, or rather screamed.

The look in Ellie's eyes, she hadn't been all there. She'd been in an absolute panic, and that was still an understatement.

"It's us." Joel had attempted to calm her as he touched her shoulders.

"Get..." Ellie had trailed off, too weak to fight against Joel anymore.

Laura didn't even know what to do as she stared at Ellie, as she let Joel take over from her because she was seething.

"It's us. Hey, look. It's us. It's us. It's okay." Joel's words finally brought Ellie back to us from wherever she'd mentally retreated to for safety.

"He..." Ellie's voice had broken off, and every part of Laura wished to piece her shattered daughter back together.

Laura shook as Ellie latched onto Joel, and as he looked over his shoulder to Laura her heart ached with a pain so severe she wasn't sure how she survived it. 

"It's okay. It's okay, baby girl. I got you. I got you."

If Laura hadn't been so focused on getting the three of them out of that damned town, she would have stormed through and made sure each and every piece of shit was dead. But with Ellie near-catatonic and Joel barely alive, it was best to leave so she could take care of her family.

And now they were safe, and Ellie and Joel were asleep while she walked the perimeter with her bow in a death grip in her hands. She found it hard to breathe, and she knew there was no point in trying to sleep. And she knew she'd have to hold herself together, as much as she could, until they made it to safety. Once they made it back to Jackson then she could let out all of her panic and anger and anxiety. Only then could she cry and scream and shake and question why any of them deserved this horror.

She'd come so close to losing both of them...

Footsteps crunched in the snow behind her, and without wasting a second she turned with an arrow pointed at her target. She immediately lowered it when she saw it was Joel, his hands up in the air to show he wasn't a bad guy.

"It's swapover time, darlin'." Joel's calm voice reached her ears.

"No, you need to rest. I'll be alright," she responded as she tucked the arrow back into the quiver over her shoulder.

"Laura, you need to sleep. I know you haven't these last few days, so..."

Laura shook her head again. Did he not understand? There was no possible way she'd be able to sleep. The images of the bodies and of Ellie covered in blood...hearing Ellie screaming at them to stop touching her because her kid hadn't known it was them...

"I can't," she whispered as she looked back at where the camp was located about a hundred meters away through the trees. "I let her go, I let her walk into that death trap and..." her heart hammered against her ribcage. "She got herself out, and I'm proud of her for that but what has it cost? She's been quiet, and I know it'll take time for her to come back around but..."

"She was right, they didn't kill her straight away. If they got hold of us instead then...if they'd got a hold of you..." it would have been worse. She would actually be dead, and maybe violated a few times for good measure.

"I know, it's just..." she ran a hand over her face. "She's our kid, and I led her like a lamb to slaughter."

"You didn't. What they did is on them, all we can do is hope that we can help her through it," Joel replied. "And uh, our kid?" It wasn't enough to make her smile.

"You said it first, to that Timothy kid." Laura rubbed her forearm. "And then you called her babygirl after we found her again, so yeah...our kid."

"I assume you heard the other bit, then," Joel said and Laura nodded.

"Your...your wife?" She asked, and he furrowed his brow for a moment.

"We're more than just partners, we're...I didn't believe it beforehand, but then you and Ellie stayed with me and..." he rubbed his forehead. "Before, there was still the chance that you would leave me. Now I know you won't, no matter how shit it all gets. No one can ask for anymore than that from a life partner."

"Is this you proposing to me?" She asked with a raised eyebrow and half-smirk on her face. "Because if it is, I'm expecting a little more from you."

"Alright," he walked over to her and held her hands. "If I get down on one knee, I might not get back up due to the, uh..."

"I'm not expecting that of you," she replied as she looked to where the wound on his stomach was located. Had he popped any of their makeshift stitches today? Maybe she should have checked before he and Ellie went to bed.

"What are you expecting then?" He asked, and she tilted her head to the side.

"A string of pretty words, I guess," she answered.

"Well then, Laura Richards, would you do me the honour of letting me be your husband?" He asked. Her face broke out in a smile. While it wasn't a string of pretty words, it didn't matter to her. All she wanted was to hear him ask her, for it to be put in the open.

All she wanted was for this to be as permanent as it could be. She wanted him to be hers until the day she died, and she wanted to be his. 

"Of course, Joel Miller." She whispered, and she couldn't stop the tear that ran down her cheek from the joy of having just one piece of her life fall into place.

He let go of her hands to hold her cheeks and wipe away that tear.

"Anything else?"

"Well, yes but in your current condition I doubt it's a good idea." It would be a horrible idea, actually, but that didn't stop her from thinking it. And maybe she shouldn't have been thinking it in the first place, considering what could have transpired earlier that same day. But she couldn't help it, he was her safe space and she'd be damned if anyone tried to take that away from her.

"I could still use my hands," he offered. "If you want me to, that is."

"Well, I would if you were sure that wouldn't hurt you." She responded, and he nodded slowly. "But I think it would, so...maybe we should wait for that part."

"These next few weeks are going to be torture then."

She couldn't agree more.