To Be Your Mother... (TLOU N/A)

Dreams, Date Nights and Dinner

An hour after Anna and Joel had dozed off together on the couch, Ellie made her way out to the living room, her favorite dinosaur blanket wrapped around her shoulders.

Tears gushed out of her eye sockets, but she absolutely refused to let her mom see her in such a hysterical state.

Seeing Joel laying on the couch with her mother wasn't too weird, but sadly a quiet whimper left Ellie's frame before she could explain why she was awake. It was only 9 PM and the weekend, although Ellie was reasonably exhausted after practice...

She made her way over to the couch, lightly tapping Anna's shoulder, "Mama, mama..." She repeated softly, lips quivering while she spoke.

Anna and Joel's eyes immediately jolted open, as Anna reached forward to wipe away Ellie's tears, "What's wrong, monkey?"

As much as Ellie couldn't stand talking about her awful nightmares, she had gotten used to their nightly appearances every night, "I... I had a nightmare that my bullies beat up Riley in front of me..."

While Anna wasn't sure quite yet what Ellie and Riley actually were relationship wise, she did love Riley like another daughter. As long as Riley never purposely hurt Ellie, she was aces in Anna's book.

Anna's arms made their way around Ellie's back, pulling her in for a motherly hug, "Oh, darling... It was just a dream. Riley's safe. You're safe... Also, you mean your girlfriend, right?" Anna asked, taking any chance she could get to poke fun at the adorable teenage couple.

Ellie was completely oblivious to her mom being skeptical of their relationship, but she was raised right to tell the difference between the truth and lying.

So, instead of trying to lie her way out of this, Ellie nodded, wiping her eyes, "Yeah..."

Anna smiled, attempting to pull Ellie onto her lap but instantly becoming nauseated from too much movement.

Joel smiled at the young woman's motherly instincts, assisting Anna by placing her daughter on her lap, "There you go, kiddo. Safe and sound in your mama's arms."

Ellie's knee jerk reaction was to bury her face into her mothers neck, starting to whimper once more.

She began to lightly rock back and forth, her hand cradling the back of Ellie's head, "Shhh... Mama's right here. My poor little Rose."

Joel remained quiet not wanting to intrude on their little moment, but continued on with massaging Anna's stomach.

Anna spoke in a whisper quieter than a pin could drop, "Baby, how about you invite Riley and Sarah over? Maybe you guys can bake some cookies."

She glanced at Joel as if to ask him if Sarah could come over, receiving a nod in response, "Yeah, I'll call her. You carry Ellie up to her room. I've gotta ask you something afterwards."

Despite having a rocky history involving the phrase, "We need to talk," Anna knew she had a good guy this time around, so it was probably nothing bad... Maybe something good, perhaps?

During the five minutes it took to get Ellie laid down in her bedroom and to receive an answer from Sarah, Anna made her way back to the couch, sitting beside Joel, "What did you want to ask me?"

Unsurprisingly, Joel was known by his ex girlfriend Tess for being "the romantic type," so asking Anna out was a task Joel was no stranger to doing, "I just wanted to see what you thought about going out for dinner tonight? I know I brought you guys food earlier, but you weren't feeling good so I figured now would be better. I'm thinking just the mall food court and a movie?"

Hearing this triggered Anna's heart to burst out of anticipation. Finally, a man who wanted to see her happy, regardless of how tired she was or how she was dressed, "That sounds great! I never get to go out much. Is this like... A date?"