Chapter Text
When Joel told Ellie they going on a treasure hunt, she asked him if he’d had a stroke. He looked at her like he was surprised but then explained they could spend the day together at the community donation center and look around to see if there was anything to take home.
Ellie had never really had a lot things that were truly hers before, and those things had been left at the hospital in Salt Lake.
She noticed that Joel got squirmy when she brought it up, wanting to know what happened. He would be curt with his words, shutting down.
She knew he was lying, and it broke her heart every time he did.
She hoped he’d fess up one day. It gnawed at the back of her mind when she wasn’t busy. Kept her up sometimes when her brain wouldn’t let her sleep.
Someday she’d get the truth out of him.
But today wasn’t about interrogating Joel about what happened all those months ago. He was in a good mood and she didn’t want to spoil it. She was in a good mood and didn’t want to spoil it.
The trek to the community center isn’t very far, and because it’s early afternoon, it’s mostly empty.
It’s more a warehouse with little semblance of organization, but she can pick up on what they were trying to do.
Clothes and shoes in one spot, old appliances in another. Further back she can see more odds and ends piled up and it doesn’t take long for her curiosity to get the best of her, wondering what was hiding in here.
Joel had zeroed in on the tools, because of course he would. While Ellie enjoyed the (admittedly rare) times he let her operate power tools, her attention span could only be held for so long when it came to the apparent great debate about DeWalt/Craftsman vs Mikita vs Milwaukee and how they stack up against each other.
“I’m going to look over there,” she said, gesturing vaguely to an area further back.
“Hm?” Joel looked up from the power drill he’d been inspecting, “Okay, gimme just a minute and I’ll come with ya.”
“It’s okay,” she says with a small shake of her head, “You stay here and have fun with your contractor stuff.”
“You sure?” He asked after a brief pause, sounding as unsure as she felt.
“Yea,” she shrugged.
“Alright,” he said with a nod, “Holler if you need me.”
“Aye aye Captain,” she said with a salute before going on her way.
Maria had talked with her the other day about codependency, and how she and Joel were far too much of that.
It wasn’t the exact way she phrased it, but it still ruffled her feathers.
“It’s nothing against him,” Maria had tried to soothe her. Maria knew that trauma bonds could run deep, but she also knew that Ellie was growing into a young woman who needed to regain some independence. Make friends her own age. Be separate from her chosen adult for more than a few hours at a time before chewing her fingers into bloody little nubs.
With school starting, and Ellie coming to age when she would be expected to work some, she needed to be learn that she didn’t have to be attached at Joel’s hip every second of every day to know that they were both alive and safe.
Ellie had ruminated on her words, only takes bits and pieces to consider.
She will admit, she didn’t have many friends in the QZ. Except for Riley, she really didn’t have anyone else. A few acquaintances here and there, but nothing substantial.
In Jackson, the kids her age seemed softer, less dependable. They had more free time, and spent that time doing activities that seemed more of a waste. Playing games, going to community events, eating together and sitting around and shooting the shit.
She’d never had that before…but… a distant part of her wanted to. Maybe?
If Riley was here, it might have been easier to socialize.
She’d been at the kitchen table, carefully watching as Joel poured over some blue prints.
“Don’t you wanna hang out with some friends your own age instead of an old man like me?” He asked, his tone warm and joking, but she wondered to herself: did she?
Yes and no.
She always wanted to be around Joel. He was her…person. Not her dad. He made that clear.
But she saw him as more than the smuggler than took her out of Boston, and she knew he saw her as more than cargo.
They were each other’s person, and as such, she often felt compelled to stay close.
But sometimes when she watched the other teens of Jackson getting rowdy in an impromptu game of tag football, or sitting together and talking and laughing…she’d be lying if she said she didn’t feel like an outsider.
She was lost in thoughts, her mind mulling over potential ways to join the social ranks of Jackson’s teens when she heard a soft grunt.
She looked up from her feet, realizing she’d been so zoned out that she didn’t noticed she’d made it took the book section.
A few rickety shelves held piles of books of all varying sizes and genre. Her eyes scanned, trying to find the source of the noise. Turning a corner, she found it in the form of a person on the other side.
Isla was two shelves up, balancing with one knee braced on a shelf and the other trying to hold her leg up.
“What are you doing?” Ellie asked.
“Jesus Christ!” Isla gasped, turning and looking down at Ellie, “Wear a bell, holy shit!”
Ellie grinned mischievously and Isla just rolled her eyes before turning back to the shelves.
“As to what I’m doing,” she continued, fingers brushing against the binding of a book just out of her reach, “I need to-fuck!”
The little grip her finger tips had on it fell away and she huffed, jumping off the shelf and landing on the floor.
“Forward, but I like it,” Ellie shrugged. Isla looked at her with her brows furrowed, “I mean, Joel’s still single, and he’d probably appreciate the direct approach.”
Islas eyes widened before they narrowed, “Shut up, you little flat footed shithead. That’s not what I meant.”
Ellie just grinned, “I’m just saying.”
“And I’m just saying,” Isla shot back before looking back at the task at hand before seemingly coming to a realization, “Hey, since you’re such a charming little asshole, you wanna help me out?”
Ellie looked up at the shelves, “I’m shorter than you!”
“Not if I give you a boost,” Isla insisted.
“Ugh, fine,” Ellie rolled her eyes, “If you drop me, I swear to God!”
“If I drop you, you’ll land on me and we’ll both be roommates at the clinic, and that in itself could be another adventure. Now, come on. Up, up!”
Isla squatted down and braced herself, offering her cupped hands for Ellie to step on.
For a moment, Ellie felt a twinge of anticipation. She didn’t stand like Joel, wasn’t big like Joel. What if she dropped her?
“Come on,” Isla said, motioning with her hands, “I gotcha.”
Ellie nodded, reaching back and pulling at the base of her ponytail to tighten it and stepped forward.
She was surprised that Isla was able to lift her, holding her with minimal shake.
“Which one is it?” Ellie asked, gripping the edge of the ledge and scanning the spines of the books. Some of them looked like journals, spiral bound notebooks, notepads, binders with loose leaf paper.
“Just grab a few,” Isla grunted, adjusting her grip, “Like the notebooks.”
Ellie grabbed a handful of the notebooks, “Got ‘em.”
She braced herself with one hand as they descended downward, Isla letting out a little groan.
“Thanks,” she said, giving a little groan as she stood up. Ellie tried to hide her smirk. It was an old person noise, and Ellie wasn’t 100% sure she could give her shit about it; not like how she did when Joel made his old man noises.
“What are these for?” Ellie asked, handing over a few before looking through the others. They were filled with words, doodles. Nothing important, at least to her. But they were important to someone at one point.
Isla hummed a bit as she flipped through the one at the top of the stack, ripping out pages that were written on, “A few new people are coming with me for a foraging trip.”
Ellie looked up, interested, “Like…in the greenhouse?”
“No. Outside the wall,” Isla replied absentmindedly, making the pages she’d been ripping out into a densely packed ball.
“You go outside?” Ellie asked, not seeing Isla as one of those things who venture out. Yea, sure, she had some fire to her (as Joel would say), but her hands were soft and she worked here healing people and she always had a smile on her face.
“Sure do,” Isla laughed, “I take the younger ones out to forage for things we don’t grow here for the clinic and apothecary. I prefer they’d all have a notebook with them to write down what they find, what it’s for. It’s a good thing to learn.”
“Huh,” Ellie looked down at the notebook in her hand.
Isla looked at her studying the notebook, an idea, “Wanna come?”
“Really?” Ellie felt a spark of something akin to excitement form in her belly and grinned when Isla nodded, “Hell yea!”
“Cool,” Isla smiled, “Keep that one. You’ll need it.”
“Where are we going and what do we need?” A voice suddenly interrupted.
Joel had found them, brow raised and arms crossed.
Before Isla could explain, Ellie was jumping at the opportunity.
“Isla takes kids outside the wall to look for plants and shit and she asked if I wanted to go and I said yes!” She beamed.
Joel gave a bewildered look between the two, “Ellie I don’t-“
“Joel!” She whined, “Look! I already have my notebook!”
Isla picked that moment to intervene, “It’s a council approved outing. Every few months or so, I take the kids outside the walls to forage. It’s a good thing for them know. I have them document what they find and where, any use of them they know,” she explained, an idea coming to her, “It’s usually four kids and two adults. If Ellie joins, we’d need another adult to keep look out. So, I mean, if you’re okay with her coming, would you be okay being a chaperone? It’s usually an all day thing. Weapons are approved, naturally. And the area is scouted a day before hand so it’s pretty safe.”
Joel looked between Isla and Ellie. The invitation made the idea a little more appealing, but it was the giant eyed hopeful look Ellie was giving him, that damn notebook clutched close to her, that ultimately broke him.
“Fine,” he sighed.
“Fuck yea,” Ellie cheered.
“Ellie,” Joel groaned.
“Cool,” Isla grinned, “It’s this Sunday. Dress right and bring lunch.”