Pedro Pascal Characters one shots & short stories

Never Forgotten (Joel Miller)

Warning: mention of loss/death, depression, angst, fluff

Summary: This story is very dear to me, written in honor of my late mother for the one-year anniversary of her passing (March 30th). Recognizing the same signs of hopelessness in her that he had been through, Joel reaches out a helping hand to get her through it. Inspired by Jessica Andrews' - Never Be Forgotten.

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"Jesus, that woman's been here every night for the past week" Joel utters out after noticing her in a far corn of the Tipsy Bison.

"She's havin' a tough month, let her be" Tommy bumps him with his shoulder to head for the bar.

"Drinkin' every night's a tough month?" Joel drawls, staring at her over his shoulder as she throws back shot after shot from the bottle on the table in front of her.

"Leave it alone, Joel..." Tommy warns him, eyes filled with sympathy as he chances a glance over his shoulder.

"She's been neglectin' her duties 'cause she's drunk off her ass everyday" Joel snarls out in disgust.

"No, she ain't" Tommy replies, "Maria gave her some time off."

"To drink?"

"Joel" Tommy scowls at him, "let it be. Let her be."

Joel's brow shoots a high arched brow at him, shrugging then, "fine. Ain't my business anyway."

The subject had been dropped, yet Joel couldn't help but think about her. He didn't really know her that well, they had never really crossed paths, but he remembered seeing her in Maria's group the day they made it to Jackson. She and another woman, almost identical to her had their guns pointed at him but what made him take notice of them; was that neither of them had it pointed on Ellie while the dog cleared them. What further piqued his interest was the soft banter between the two as they rode; the older one tilting her head in his direction and her telling the woman to "fuckoff" as they both softly chuckled. Joel didn't see either of them after that, as he and Ellie had left the next day. Even after that, he had only seen her from a distance, neither of them being on the same patrol group ever.

*****

It was an hour after the conversation that Tommy softly nudges Joel in the side, "fuck! The hell was that for?"

Silently tilting his head toward the door, Tommy directions him to follow and that's when Joel notices her exiting through it. "How the fuck she is still standing up straight after all that?"

"Where the fuck are we going?" Joel grumbles as they step out the bar.

"Wanna make sure she gets home safe" is Tommy's only response.

"Looks fine to me" Joel mutters out scowling in her direction as they follow at a distance.

"She hides it well. But she ain't" Tommy responds, a heavy sigh leaves his lips when she heads into the direction of the graveyard.

"Oh" Joel remarks when the realization hits, "she's in mourning..."

"Yeah" Tommy answers as they watch her standing in front of the entrance, "her mother."

"The woman that was with her the first time we got here?" Joel enquires, remembering the similarities in features between them.

Tommy nods in response, "they were inseparable. Best mother-daughter duo Jackson's ever had, had to be with how they managed to survive on their own till they got here."

"Thought they were sister's" Joel comments, a bit surprised at the news, "the mother still looked young, and they acted more like friends."

"She's 32 and her mother was 50" Tommy remarks, nudging him a bit harder to follow as she leaves the graveyard. "