Always & Forever (A 'The Last Of Us' Fanfic)

Chapter 25

He'd hurt her again. This is exactly what he was afraid of. It seemed like he couldn't win no matter what he did. He looked up at the sky and recalled the night they had spent together before she left for New York. Everything was perfect that night. He wished he could relive that night over and over again. But that was not possible. There was no point in dwelling on the past. One would never be able to move forward if that's all one did. There would never be anyone but Beth that was more important to him. He was not ready to let her go. He was gonna fight for her and he was never gonna give up. Love like theirs was too strong not to. He thumped his head at the realization that he let the greatest person in his life just walk away. He went over to the edge of his roof and started to climb down his vines.

Beth laid in bed and processed everything that she had been told. Roxanne was pregnant and it was supposedly Joel's. She wasn't ready to believe that until she saw a paternity test. For all she knew, Roxanne could be making this whole thing up. She needed to get to the bottom of all of this. With only two weeks before school started, she wanted to make sure that the truth was heard. As she thought more and more about it, she realized that she was being selfish. Yes this would definitely affect her if it turned out that Joel did in fact get another girl pregnant. But he must be going through his own fair share of shit. Instead of leaving the way she had, she should have stayed and talked to him. Roxanne had almost ruined them the night of the party. She'd be damned if she was going to let that happen again. She shouldn't have left. She had to go back to him. She stood up and was about to head out her window when she heard some rustling just outside of it. There was no way of making out who or what had made their way to the side of her house since it was pitch black. It wasn't until she recognized Joel's silhouette that she let go of her breathe that she had being holding since hearing the noise. She slowly opened her window.

"Joel? What are you doing out there?" she asked.

"Can I come in?" he whispered.

She nodded and moved out of the way to make room for him. He succeeded in sneaking into her room without a lot of commotion. She was about to ask him again but instead, Joel wrapped her in his arms and kissed her deeply. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer. He lifted her up and carried her to her bed. They parted and Joel pressed his forehead against hers.

"What is it?" she asked.

"I love you. The thought of me hurting you again was just too much for me to bear. I'm so...so sorry, Beth. You deserve better," he said softly.

She reached over to the lamp that was on her bedside table and turned it on.

"Are you kidding me?" she asked looking him in the eye.

"It's true. All I do is hurt you and it's...it's not fair," he said.

"Do I get a say in this?" she said.

Joel fell silent.

"Look...to be honest, I wasn't thrilled when you told me all this," she began.

"And you hope that the two of us can still be friends," Joel assumed.

"Joel," Beth said.

He looked over at her.

"Shut up and let me finish," she said with a smirk.

He kept his mouth shut.

"I wasn't thrilled but when I came back here, I realized that I was being selfish with all this," she said.

"Selfish? Why?" he asked.

"Because I didn't consider your feelings in all this. All I was thinking about was how I felt. And that isn't fair to you, Joel. I wish you'd told me about that bitch drugging you when it happened but I appreciate you telling me nonetheless. And the whole her being pregnant..." she said.

"I am so sorry," he said.

"I won't believe any of that until a paternity test is done. Or are you so quick to assume the baby is yours?" she said.

"Well, she came to me all freaked out and well...I don't know what to assume. A paternity test would be the smart thing to do," he said.

"Yeah it would. Now...we have to talk about the possibility of the baby being yours," she said taking his hand in hers.

"Let me get something right first...so are we still together?" he asked.

Beth rolled her eyes and instead of answering him, she pulled him toward her and gave him a long passionate kiss.

"It's gonna take a lot more than telling me the truth to ever break this up," she breathed after they parted.

She pressed her forehead against his.

"If the baby is yours...we'll find some way of dealing with it," she whispered.

"I can't ask you to do that, Beth. If we find out that it's mine, you have every right to leave me," he said sadly.

"Hey. I thought that I told you that I'd never leave you. I'm not my mom," she said.

Tears threaten to fall right after she'd said it.

"But this is something that we couldn't have seen coming. I'm not going to expect you to be by my side to carry this," he said.

"She said that she's giving it up for adoption...do you want that?" she asked.

"I don't know. That's not the answer that you want to hear, I know but it's the truth," he replied a little too quickly.

She sighed.

"Look about what I said when you told me a few minutes ago..." she started.

"No. You had every right to tell me all of that. I needed to hear it. I don't ever want to keep things from you. Ever," he said.

She placed her hand on his cheek.

"I know you...and I know secrets have never been something you're good at keeping. You're a good guy, Joel and your heart is always in the right place. Which is why I know that you would never stand to have your child or anyone else's child to be given up for adoption. You are not your father. You're always there...no matter what. If this baby does turn out to be yours, I'm sticking by you," she said.

"Again, I can't ask you to do that," he said.

"Well, it's a good thing that you didn't, right?" she retorted giving him a smile.

He smiled back.

"You're the best thing that's ever happened to me," he said.

"I love you, Joel. More than words could ever know. We'll stop by at Roxanne's place tomorrow and talk to her. We have to get to the bottom of this, okay?" she said.

He simply nodded and kissed her forehead.

"I should go," he said.

He stood up but she reached for his hand.

"Stay with me," she said.

"But what if your dad comes in," he said.

She pulled him back onto the bed.

"I don't care. I want you here with me. Did I mentioned that I really missed you these past three months?" she asked.

He chuckled and leaned back with his arm around her.

"Turn the light off please," she said.

Joel reached over and turned off the lamp. Beth curled up close to him and placed her arm over his torso. He placed his hand on her waist and held her securely.

"Goodnight, Joel," she said looking up at him with her chin on his chest.

"Goodnight, beautiful," he said.

She reached up and kissed him. They settled into each other's bodies and fell silent. The sound of the two of them breathing is what lulled them both to sleep.