Chapter Text
~*~
JULY 2024 - Jackson, Wyoming
Whatever else happened that morning, Tommy's day really started when the wall crew let him know that an SUV, hauling a small trailer, was approaching Jackson's front gate. It took a couple of hours to drop off the trailer and contents at the clinic and armory, settle Joel and Ellie into their new house, and unofficially exercise "family dibs" over some of the haul, that Joel had held back in the Durango with their personal luggage.
The brothers decided that Tommy would drive back to the center of town, drop off the items that didn't make the family stash, reattach the trailer to the SUV, and drive both to their new home: the large barn that served as Jackson's motor pool. He'd also see to his family's registration at the council office and drop their medical records at the clinic.
On the one hand, it was important to get Ellie's drug interactions on record. On the other hand, it was best to avoid medical questions till the family had their story straight about vaccines and immunity. They could just drop off the drug info, but maybe providing the records (sanitized in Ellie's case) would help put off the pressure for personal appointments.
Getting those records to the clinic was a classic Tommy job. He was less likely to be asked anything than Joel (who'd be understandably resting at home after a long drive). And he could always extricate himself with the need to drop off stuff at the armory, if awkward questions did come up. This kinda thing had always been in his wheelhouse. He was the best in his family at stalling without seeming like he was stalling. Tess and Joel could if they had to, but it took concentration for them. Maria tended to lean on her authority. But it came downright naturally to Tommy.
His first attempt was interrupted by the sight of Maria outside the grocery co-op, with Jesse alongside her, pushing a rather packed shopping cart. Next thing he knew, he was driving them both back to Joel and Ellie's house with housewarming goodies (and "teaching Jesse to drive" added to his to-do list).
At the clinic, Jesse watched over the car while Tommy reached into the SUV’s glove compartment and grabbed a manilla envelope containing medical records for two St. Mungo’s patients with disappointingly uncreative aliases: Hispanic Caucasian Male, 56 and Caucasian Female, 15 -- Joel’s authentic file and Ellie’s altered one. From the lobby he spotted Whitney coming down the hall with a patient he’d just finished with, and waved the file. The nurse finished his parting instructions for his patient and motioned Tommy to the file room.
“Normally I’d just take this from you and leave it there, for your brother and niece’s privacy, but you were there at the gate,” Whitney noted. “Do you know if your niece’s red flag drug list is on one sheet?” Whitney asked.
“A few copies in there, and some more at home,” Tommy answered. Pleased with his unseen St. Mungo’s colleague’s administrative thoughtfulness, Whitney thumbed through Ellie’s file and took out one copy. This he inserted into a clear plastic page cover. “I’ll circulate this, just so it’s part of the team’s shared knowledge.”
Thank you,” said Tommy. “My brother said it got rough with some of these. Poor kid.”
Whitney flipped through the rest of the file, then Joel’s.
“It’s unusual for one person have issues with so many drugs, but nothing un-heard-of. And it looks like we do have some options, so that’s great,” Whitney continued. “And, I can’t discuss anything else without their permission, so I’ll just say, please have your brother and niece come around at their convenience, like we discussed at the gate.”
“HIPAA still a thing, then?” Tommy asked, smiling. He wasn’t gonna have to remember a god damned thing here today.
“For us, here, it sure is,” Whitney assured him. “Any time in the next few weeks, couple of months. Or if there’s any change to the statuses I see in these files. I’ll run the files by one of the docs to confirm that.”
~*~
That Evening
“108 doses? It’s 108 more than we had yesterday.” Tommy was determined to look on the bright side without being dismissive of Maria’s very real dilemma regarding Jackson’s 317 residents and fellow council members. Or, to be exact, its 315 non-immune residents.
“108 adult doses, or 144 teenage doses.” Joel corrected. “Each vial has three adult doses, or four teen doses, which is 12-18. We have 36 vials.”
After spending the afternoon on the back porch of their new home, Ellie sat at their dining room table watching Joel, Tommy, and Maria finish the dinner Tommy had brought. Well, mostly Tommy and Maria. The casserole was delicious -- pretty baked eggs suspended in a spicy barley concoction with white cheese. Ellie hadn't tried barley before, but it was pleasantly chewy. But she still only had an appetite best suited to sampling and grazing. She looked forward to picking at this new food discovery tomorrow. And Joel seemed to enjoy it too, debating with Tommy whether barley would "scratch his arroz con pollo itch" since rice was hard to come by in this climate.
“What about younger kids?” Tommy asked.
“That’s not worked out yet,” Joel said. “Maria, it’s not recommended while you’re pregnant or nursin’ – not that they think it’d do anything, but testing…”
“Oh, I get it,” Maria finished for him. “There are lots of drugs like that. Where there’s no evidence it would be harmful, but clinical testing on actual patients is impossible.”
“Tell her about the milk, Joel,” Ellie interjected.
“They didn’t have anyone at St. Mungo’s who was nursin’,” Joel said. “They’d love any volunteers willin’ to keep their supply up for awhile after the baby is done. To test if the shot does anything to the milk."
“So get a shot when the baby is weaned, give some blood, and save some milk for test samples? I’d be happy to. Assuming I breastfeed successfully. I didn’t have any problems with Kevin.”
“So that’s one adult dose down,” Tommy opined. “Or maybe three, if everyone who’s got milk joins in?” The adults rolled their eyes at him.
“OK, what Before thing is this?” Ellie insisted, with an even more dramatic eyeroll.
“It was an ad campaign,” Maria explained. “For cow’s milk. There were these pictures of celebrities and public figures with milk mustaches, with the slogan “Got Milk?”
“So you didn’t, like, use napkins Before?” Ellie asked. “Wasn’t shit like that right in the store? I mean we just used our sleeves at FEDRA school if we had to. Which was mostly.”
Joel halfheartedly tried to suppress a sigh. Ellie responded with a look, which he countered with another look.
C’mon Joel, that’s pretty tame for a Deprived FEDRA Orphan story.
Sorry, Baby Girl. Force of habit.
“It was a look,” Tommy said. “On purpose. Somethin’ to stand out in pictures. And hey, we all remember it. Bet they got awards – they folks who came up with the idea.”
“Your world frightens and confuses me.” Ellie countered, enjoying the puzzled looks as the olds tried to place where she might have come across Unfrozen Cavemen Lawyer.
“Back to it,” Tommy shifted his tone. “One dose spoken for?”
“Two!” Joel and Ellie spoke simultaneously.
“The first shot goes to you,” Joel insisted.
“Not without the council, since there ain’t enough to go around,” Tommy pushed back. “Wouldn’t be right.”
“One of those shots is yours, Tomás.” Joel was quietly insistent. “Without you, Ellie would never have made it to that lab.”
“Besides, won’t they give it to patrollers first?” Ellie asked.
“On that note, let’s get back on track,” Maria reclaimed the floor. “The four of us need to decide to what to tell the council. So let’s go through the options. I’m going to include everything, just to be thorough.”
Ellie, Joel, and Tommy silently nodded.
“First option, we tell the council about the doses tomorrow. Let’s put a pin in that and circle back, since it’s the main thing,” Maria suggested, to another round of nods.
“Option two: we keep that box, unopened, till we have enough doses for everyone. Did you say six months to a year, Joel? I don’t think any of us likes this.”
“That’s a fucking nope,” declared Ellie. “If someone who could have been vaccinated got infected it would be our fault.”
“That’s debatable, Kiddo, but I know you’ll blame yourself anyway,” said Joel. “I don’t want somethin’ like that on Ellie.”
“Option three,” Maria continued. “We keep the doses secret in Jackson. We save them, trade them, send them to FEDRA, who knows? I’m speaking theoretically, Ellie.”
“I get that,” Ellie conceded. “Also, fucking nope.”
“It is a bullshit option,” Maria opined. “I feel Ellie’s safety, and Jackson’s are better served building this limited alliance with the Salt Lake City Fireflies. I do see risks: a change in leadership could de-prioritize Ellie’s safety, that they could try to take her back by force — maybe even to trade her to someone more difficult to defend against. Or try to silence our knowledge of the vaccine. But I like my chances against them better than FEDRA. I’m sorry to be so blunt, Ellie. But it’s a contingency we have to think about as long as anyone outside these walls knows about you.”
“It’s OK,” Ellie said, soberly. “It’s nothing Joel hasn’t said before. We trust Marlene basically but something could always happen to her.”
“OK,” Maria said. “So we bring the council in. And presumably the next step is bringing in the medical team. Agreed?”
Three heads nodded.
“OK, so time to get our story straight. And there’s one thing we have to decide before we go any further.”
“I think we all know what that is,” Tommy put in.
After a nonverbal exchange with Joel, Ellie spoke up.
“What do we tell them about me?”
The room was silent for a minute. Nobody was seriously considering outing Ellie, and they all knew it. But they were gaming this shit out so it had to be discussed.
“Last winter the rule was nobody outside the family knows,” Tommy said. Apart from certain Firelies, everyone outside this room who knew about Ellie was dead. Tess, Bill, Frank, and Sam. That FEDRA guy Joel beat up that first night.
“Unless somebody saw your arm, which isn't a problem anymore,” he continued.
Ellie rolled up her right sleeve. Tommy and Maria couldn't help but look at the chemical burn the St. Mungo's team had carefully covered her bite marks with. They both winced, imagining Ellie's experience having that done.
"I'm sorry you had to have that done, on top of everything else," Maria told Ellie. "But it was a smart call."
Both glanced at Joel, Tommy, especially, imagining how he must have agonized over allowing his kid to be intentionally burned.
"It's OK, guys," Ellie rescued the adults from their pity party. "By the time we did it, they knew what painkillers I could take, and they had all the stuff to keep it from getting infected."
"That's right, darlin'." Tommy picked up the tension-diffusing conversational baton. “Short sleeves are back in your wardrobe.”
"So now I'm just fucked if I get bit again in front of the wrong person," Ellie rescued the adults from their pity party. Or tried to.
Of fucking course I just made it worse. Sorry, Joel.
“And I’m no longer the only one who won’t turn into a fucking monster if that happens,” Ellie pushed on. “I’m not even the only one in the room right now. People can learn to wait and see when someone gets bit.”
“Only if they believe in immunity,” Joel cautioned. “We can show it under a microscope but till someone here gets bit and makes it…”
“Regardless, that process starts tomorrow, when the council meets Jackson’s first two immune residents,” Maria said. “Let them assume you’re both vaccinated.” She looked around the room. “Is there any reason to say more? In what way are you still different Ellie?"
"I have CBI in my brain, but it doesn't do anything, and I can't infect anyone."
"Then that's your private medical information," Maria pronounced.
“I can't infect anyone,” Ellie said. “But people here might not believe the Fireflies’ proof.” I’m not crazy about submitting all those bodily fluids to prove it again. Once was more than enough.
“And you’re still the only confirmed source of marrow, Kiddo,” Joel interjected. He looked up at Maria and Tommy. “They’re workin’ on that problem, Maria. But it’s still technically a risk if things go south with the Fireflies. Someone could come after her.”
Maria and Tommy exchanged a bit of non-verbal communication.
"Tomorrow, let's just say your visit to brought you two to St. Mungo’s when they were on the verge of a breakthrough. And here you are, both immune, with vaccines to get Jackson started.” Maria checked with everyone. “Honestly, they’ll be too absorbed by the mere concept of a vaccine to question anything else.”
Ellie admired, once again, Maria’s ability to technically tell the truth without conveying certain information.
"And, not to dismiss Joel's concern about Ellie's... unique donor status," Maria continued. "But it is hypothetical, as things stand with the Fireflies. I think we can keep it confidential at least till the vaccines are distributed.
“Goes without saying, Sweetheart, but we got your back,” Tommy said. “Any time we tell ‘em a certain thing, we go in armed,” Tommy assured Ellie.
“You fucking bet we will,” Ellie answered, subtly checking Maria’s reaction. She didn’t need to check Joel’s. But her new lawyer (aunt?) nodded approvingly.
"If Jackson's ever in danger because of me, we're gone," Ellie said. Joel nodded. This wasn't a new topic between them.
“In spite of our rules, people have found out. Otherwise we wouldn't be here." Tommy asked, "How's it gone? Besides Marlene. We know why she kept you safe."
“Mixed?” Ellie admitted. “Joel had to stop his best FEDRA customer from shooting me on the way out of Boston.”
Truth be told, Lee wasn’t Joel’s best FEDRA business associate, but Ellie was picking up steam for her story. And the man hadn't lived long enough to be informed of Ellie's immunity, to be picky about it.
“OK, in all fairness, he was gonna shoot all three of us for being outside the wall,” Ellie continued. “And then he got real mad just because I stabbed him. Which I only did to keep him from shooting me for scanning positive.”
"She doesn't anymore," Joel quickly interjected. The full explanation could wait till the council briefing.
“And that’s when Joel starting really wanting to shoot me. But we had to run and Tess wouldn’t let him.”
“Absolutely not," Joel interjected. "I was busy overlookin' how you charged me with your switchblade earlier that day. If I did shoot, it'd be on your own merits, not the damned fungus."
Tommy and Maria chuckled, remembering the story from when Joel and Ellie first blew through town back in January.
“It was pretty cool of you guys to just go with the fact that my bite was three weeks old.”
Joel thought, for the first time, what kind of trust it must have taken for Ellie to let herself fall asleep with him and Tess holding guns over her. That, or a pure exhaustion and stress. He felt bad.
“Tess was in trust-but-verify mode. I trusted Tess,” Joel said. She’d speculated about some Firefly scam after Ellie had fallen asleep. "And we had the pills to do right by you if it came to that. Meantime, you deserved a day outside.”
“Then the next morning I blabbed about the lab and the cure, they believed me enough, and here we are.”
~*~
OCTOBER 2024 - Jackson, Wyoming
“I have to admit, I rest a lot easier about Patrol and supply runs since he got that shot."
The unmistakable voice of Janice The Herbalist sliced through the white noise of lunch rush in the dining hall. Clocking the source as the exact table Maria was leading her to, Ellie stifled a sigh. A somewhat half-heartedly stifling effort.
"If your friends show up, feel free to bug out," Maria whispered. Noticing that Jade, the one of the dog handlers, was also at the table, Ellie contributed a polite "Hey" to both women and sat down next her. As usual, Maria got intercepted with some kind of council shit and dallied in the aisle talking to someone. Which didn't stop Janice from singing out “the Miller Ladies!" before getting back to the topic of her son (Kenny, if Ellie remembered right) and his vaccinated status.
"Maybe I'm kidding myself. A million other things can happen Outside," Janice said. "And who knows if the shot even works? But at least if he gets bit, it’s quarantine instead of… the point is now people with the shot have a chance."
Instead of a quick goodbye — if possible — and then a quick, but messy end, Ellie thought. If it didn’t work.
“It’s worked for everyone so far,” Ellie contributed. “At least in blood tests. And the one dude at the lab who got bit, he made it!”
“Thanks, Ellie. I just wish we knew when everyone could get it," Jade added. Which Ellie totally got. She’d heard about this one time, when the dog handlers got called in when someone got bit on a supply run and kept it a secret.
“Do you know, Sweetie?” Janice asked Ellie. “Any idea when more shots are coming?”
“Um, no. Sorry,” Ellie shook her head apologetically. “I just know they were talking about the new year. It all has to be worked out with the lab and the people here. Probably Tommy and Joel — my dad — will make the arrangements or whatever since the lab people know them.”
Ellie paused, watching the women trying to put the pieces together — probably wondering where Tommy fit in. Everyone knew Joel and Ellie’s part in bringing vaccines to Jackson. A highly curated version with no mention of Ellie’s immunity, to be fair. But the whole Tommy - Fireflies - vaccine connection wasn’t common knowledge. It wasn’t top secret or anything. Everyone involved in Jackson’s defense or trading probably knew, but they didn’t advertise it. Ellie wasn’t sure how much either lady knew. Remembering Maria’s advice that “as close to the truth, and as little info as possible” could be better than “the whole truth,” Ellie opted for the least specific explanation.
“The lady in charge of the lab knew all three of us back in Boston.” Ellie blandly explained. “My mom was her friend, she’s known me all my life.”
No reason to volunteer that Tommy never knew I existed when he was back there, and Joel spent like 4 whole hours with me behind the QZ walls.
“So that’s why Joel and I visited her after we first came west," Ellie continued. "Didn’t expect to bring back vaccines.”
That’s because I only thought simple thoughts: Find the Fireflies. Do the cure. Go Home With Joel.
“Well I’m grateful? Like I was just saying?” Janice continued. “I know exactly how your father felt. When it dawned on him you couldn’t get infected?”
I bet you don’t know? At awl? And how do you get two syllables out of “dawned?”
But Ellie just nodded. She wasn’t completely sure when exactly Joel stopped waiting for her to turn and started to believe in her immunity. Sometime between the museum and Bill and Frank’s. But it was a really shitty time for Joel and he’d barely had time to start giving a fuck about her.
Ellie knew exactly what Janice was talking about though, just in reverse. One of the first things Jerry and Mel had done, to gain her trust or whatever, was show Ellie how her immunity worked under a microscope. How her totally badass immune cells basically wiped out this “one little piece” of the cordyceps that made all the difference between “detectable in the blood but sitting quietly in her brain minding its own business” and “turning her into a fucking monster.” Weeks later, squinting into another microscope and watching Joel’s vaccinated blood make that fucking fungus its bitch had been one of happiest moments of Ellie’s life. She’d insisted in sticking him and making one of the slides herself, just to be sure.
“So it’s Tommy’s thing, being the one guy both the lab people and the Jackson council trust. Since they, like, don’t really know my dad yet.”
Translation: Joel’s actually in charge of anything that’s about me giving more donations and Tommy will make it work with Jackson. But these people here know Tommy so let them think he’s running the whole thing. The less attention on me, the better.
“No worries if Tommy’s on it,” Jade concluded. Or attempted to.
“I think they know enough about your father, though,” Janice shrilled. “The man brought you safely from Bawston, then you both made donations for the doctors’ tests, then (we heard) insisted on bringing those shots back here. Right?”
“He wouldn’t want people making a big thing of it,” Ellie answered. “They needed our blood types.”
Joel had liked that part of the cover story, with himself and Ellie happening to carry the two rarest blood types. He and Tommy had been sought-after blood donors all their lives. Especially in the QZ, where they’d each commanded a premium price in ration cards. Joel’s B negative blood was always in short supply, and Tommy’s O negative made him a universal donor. Which, nowadays, made Joel feel a little safer about Ellie’s even rarer AB negative type.
“Well, I know about bone marrow donation. I know it’s not fun,” Janice went on, more quietly.
Ellie briefly wondered how Janice had come by that knowledge Before, when bone marrow could cure cancer and shit. She’d probably had said so if she’d donated (or gotten sick). Maybe she’d known someone sick, or worked in a hospital. She did stuff at the clinic, but didn’t seem to be an actual medical person. She was mainly dealing with her herb potions.
“Yeah, giving marrow fucking blows,” Ellie confirmed. “Um, excuse my language.”
“Not. At. Awl,” Janice said. “After awl that, you swear as much as you fucking want, honey.”
“Thanks,” Ellie said. Like she'd said. This lady rocked. In small doses.
“And you shouldn’t have to do it again,” Jade put in. “Lots of us want to help if they need more donations.”
“That’s really nice of you,” Ellie said.
OK, you guys are half right. Jerry can always use normal samples. But I’m definitely gonna have to donate again. Till they figure out a bunch of things.
That bunch of things included stable mass production — and whether vaccine-acquired immunity could, itself, yield a reliable vaccine. And when the hell Ellie could be freed from being the sole donor.
“They can sign me up right now,” Janice chirped. “I don’t know any parent who wouldn’t.”