The Last of Us (Joel Miller x Female!Reader)

The Beginning of The End

"Tommy, I-- Tommy. Tommy listen to me, he is the contractor." I hear Joel's voice say, alittle louder as he enters the house. My eyes flicker open as Joel lowers his voice as he talks on the phone. "He's the contractor, okay? I can't lose this job. I understand...let's talk about this in the morning, okay? We'll talk about it in the morning." 

I yawn as I look down to see Sarah was laying next to me, her head on my lap, fast asleep. That is until Joel flicks the lamp, next to the couch, on. She jumps slightly and yawns as well as she starts to sit up.

Earlier today, she and I had a girl's night as we pigged out on pizza and watched movies since Joel had to work late. She insisted to stay up late so that she could give him her birthday present and I told her that was fine, but we ended up falling asleep.

"Alright, goodnight." Joel said and he hangs up and sets his cellphone on the little table in front of the couch.

"Hey." I greeted my husband as I scoot down for him to have room on the couch to sit down. "Fun day at work, huh?" Sarah asked as Joel sighs and leans back in his seat and places his left arm around my shoulder while running his right hand over his eyes.

"What are you still doing up? It's late." He asked Sarah. "It's my fault, Joel." I said as Sarah turns and looks up at the clock. "Crud. What time is it?" She asked as she looks up to see that it was ten minutes to midnight.

"It's way past your bedtime." Joel said, exhausted. "But it's still today!" She said then she looks over at me. "Can I give it to him?" She asked. "Go ahead, sweetheart." I replied and she smiles and gets down on the floor and crawls over to the end of the couch.

"Honey, please not right now. I do not have the energy for this." Joel said, exhausted still.

"Joel..." I said as she stands up and holds out a box to him. "Here." She said. "What's this?" Joel asked as he takes the box. "Your birthday." Sarah and I replied. He smirks at us as he removes his arm off of me and opens the box, revealing a brand new watch inside. 

"You kept complaining about your broken watch...so I figured, you know." Sarah said, shrugging, as Joel takes the watch out of the box and puts on his new watch. "You like it?" Sarah asked him as she looks up at him.

"Honey, this is...." Joel said then he lifts up his arm, raising his watch to his ear. "What?" You and Sarah asked him. "It's nice but I--I think it's stuck. It's not..." Joel started to say as he stares at the watch and Sarah freaks out as she grabs his arm to look at the watch.

"What? No, no, no, no." She said, frantically, but she and I see that the watch was working just fine. "Oh ha, ha." Sarah said, sarcastically, and Joel chuckles at his little joke.

"Joel, don't scare us like that." I said as I playfully slap his shoulder and Sarah goes and lays down on the other side of the couch. "Did she beg you for the money?" Joel asked me. "No, a friend of mine paid her. He said he had a little job for her to do." I joked. "Yeah, I sell drugs now, dad. Hardcore drugs." Sarah said, going along with the joke.

"Oh, good. You can start helping out with the mortgage then." He said as he leans forward, picks up the TV remote and turns the TV on. "Stsh--yeah, you wish." Sarah said while Joel sits back in the couch and I cuddle up to him as he places his left arm over my shoulder again. I kiss his cheek and watch TV with him.

About an hour and a half later, I look over and see Sarah had passed out once again and I smiled. "Looks like someone's out like a light." I whispered and Joel looks over at her.

The both of us stand up and I turn off the TV as he goes over to her, picks her up and carries her up to her bedroom, I follow close behind.

Once we enter her room, Joel sets Sarah down on her bed and I pick up her blanket and drape it over her.