Silver ||Joel Miller||

are you ready for our future?

LAURA

Laura sat on the edge of the bed, her head resting her hands as she finally had a safe space to let go of all the emotions she'd been holding in since she was last in that same room. All the anxiety, stress, panic and terror... it had all bubbled to the surface at once, and now she was stuck. It was too much to feel at once, but she couldn't let any of it out. The tears wouldn't come, no matter how much she wanted them to. Her eyes burned with the need to, her chest constricted in preparation for what should have come...

"Darlin', is everything alright?" Joel asked as he walked into the bedroom, and when she didn't so much as move a muscle to look at him he closed the door. "Laura?" He asked before he knelt in front of her and pulled her hands away from her face. "Darlin', talk to me."

"We did the right thing, didn't we?" She whispered. Although she could hear the water running in the pipes as Ellie showered, she was still terrified that the kid would walk in and find out the truth. The kid already suspected, it was the reason she'd listed all the people that had already died for her before they reached Jackson. Laura knew it.

"Yeah," he whispered back as her eyes slowly reached his. The only expression she could read on him was concern. "We saved our kid." His hands rested on her thighs as he looked up at her.

"But how many did we kill?" She didn't know the answer, and there was no way he knew either. "How many have we condemned? What if they managed a miracle and could have made a cure?"

"Are you going to look me in the eyes and tell me you think they had the capability to make one?" He asked her, and she immediately shook her head.

"But—"

"Do you remember the first day on our way out of Boston..." he cut her off, and she waited patiently to see where he was going to go with this. "When I asked why you were going with her if you didn't think a cure was possible?"

Laura shook her head. It made sense that her memory might be a little shaky that day, considering that was when part of a building fell on her. Honestly, she was still surprised that she'd survived.

"You said you were doing it for her, to make sure there was someone there who would protect her. You said you'd make sure that whatever happened would be in her best interests." He squeezed her thighs, to keep her present, so she hummed in recognition of the action. "Do you remember what you said after I asked what you'd do if the Fireflies didn't care?" She smiled briefly as the faint memory of her response came to mind.

"I said that I'd cross that bridge if I came to it," Laura replied. She put her hands on top of his, and he nodded slowly.

"And we've crossed that bridge," he responded. "If you think they weren't capable of making a cure, then they weren't. I trust your judgement on that, because you always said you were wary of their doctor. Killing a kid... it seems your worry was warranted."

She nodded slowly as she took a purposeful breath. He was right. And her decisions had been right. If she hadn't of done what she did then Ellie would be dead, and that wasn't what the kid deserved. Ellie deserved a long and happy life, or as happy as one's life could be in an apocalyptic situation.

"Now, is there anything else you need to get off your chest?" Joel asked, and as Laura continued to focus on her breathing, the pain in her chest eased. The need to cry faded. The previous emotions no longer mattered, because they were all safe. Her family was home, and they would be safe as long as they stayed there.

She shook her head as she replayed what they'd said to each other back on that hill.

"I love you two."