Nayeliq1
"I'm sorry I lied to you", he says, and he actually means it, too. "But I know I can't protect you. No one can protect anyone, not here. Twenty years I survived in this place, and I was never scared of dying. I am now."
He looks at her, into those wide eyes, it's impossible now to remember how he'd seen her as nothing but cargo once. It was all to protect himself, really. It hadn't worked for shit.
"I'm scared all the fucking time now", Joel says, rubs his hands over his face, his tired eyes. "I wasn't scared like this since-"
Since her, he doesn't say. Doesn't need to.
It's so much better- so much worse, when you find something to live for. When you got something to lose.
~oOo~
Or, the one where Ellie confronts Joel about the Lie, and he ends up revealing more than he meant to, but maybe that's just what they both needed.