THE UNEXPECTED

35

ONE YEAR LATER

An entire year had passed since we had settled into Jackson and thus far, everything had been perfect. Too perfect. Despite feeling the happiest I'd ever been during this damn apocalypse, there was always this gnawing sense of guilt that often kept me up at night - it was Ellie. There was numerous times where I wanted tell her the truth, the times where I consoled her and when she'd tell me her troubles with coming to terms with everything that had happened. The first time she'd told me about her inner turmoil, I nearly broke down myself; Ellie let herself be vulnerable with me and I felt as though I was taking advantage of her. Joel always dismissed me, telling me that it was more his fault than mine but even still, I felt the guilt. It loomed over me like a shadow and never left. And I knew that Joel felt somewhat the same, and that he also wanted to tell her but it was just too risky - we both feared that it would ruin everything so we kept our mouths shut.

"Mom!"

Ellie's booming voice followed by the rapid thumping of her feet running up the staircase had me snapping from my thoughts, I ran a hand down my face and shook my head with an audible sigh.

"Happy birthday!" The bedroom door swung open and hit the wall with a loud bang, the pair of us winced momentarily but it was short lived. I couldn't help but smile at the teenager before me, the now fifteen year old had a beaming smile stretching across her lips as she pressed a poorly wrapped gift and card against her chest as she clutched them tightly.

"Hey El, whatcha got there?" I pondered, cocking my head to side to get a better look at the present. The rectangular shape was messily wrapped in what looked like Christmas wrapping paper as I could just about make out little green trees lining the edges of it.

At my question, Ellie quickly glanced at the gift with a bashful smile, "Don't mind the Christmas trees, it was all that I could find." And with that she thrusted it into my hands. "And uh, read the card later it's kinda...embarrassing." She shifted on the balls of her heels as pinky hues decorated her cheeks.

My heart was bursting with fullness as I grinned at the girl, nodding, I place the card to the side and place my full attention on the rectangular gift on my lap. It had some weight to it and was definitely solid.

"Well go on! Open it!" Ellie urged.

With a laugh, I begin to tear the wrapping paper and my smile immediately widens at sight of a picture frame and the contents of it. Removing the paper completely, I got a better look of it - I hadn't even realised that this photo was taken but my guess would've been Tommy, he liked to carry around a camera sometimes as much as Joel didn't like it.

The photo itself had been snapped not too long ago in the Tipsy Bison with Ellie, Joel and I blissfully unaware since we all looked so carefree. Joel had his arms wrapped around me with a wide smile adorning his lips, a smile of which I was definitely matching. We were in a mid spin as I remember he'd jokingly twirled me in a drunken haze. You could see Ellie beside us tipping her head back in laughter and mid clapping at us both. The picture was perfect, we all look so happy.

"You like?" Ellie then says, trying to get a gage of my reaction, "sorry I couldn't get you anything better..." she trails off.

"Don't be silly! Ellie, I love it." Placing it next to the unopened card, I look back up and notice Ellie's smile has widened if that were even possible. "C'mere." I say, opening my arms and welcoming her into a comforting embrace. Ellie quickly reciprocates this and wraps her smaller frame around my torso tightly. "Thank you." I whisper into her hair and kiss the crown of her head.

Withdrawing from our hug, I pick the photo frame back up and place it gently onto my bedside table. I angle it to face the bed a little more, that way I can look it whenever I'm feeling down. It sounds silly but these two people mean the world to me now, they're my family.

"Girls! Breakfast!" Hearing Joel's booming voice from the kitchen makes my neck crane at the direction of the door. I furrow my eyebrows, sharing a look with Ellie as we both know that he rarely cooks and when he does it's usually awful.

"Don't look at me, I tried talking him out of it." Ellie cheekily retorts and places her hands on her hips.

"Well then, God help us both." Ellie and I share a laugh as we descend down the stairs and immediately a smell infiltrates my senses and it kind of smells nice? I'm pleasantly surprised thus far.

"Here's my favourite ladies." Joel says with a smirk as soon as he notices the both of us enter the kitchen. This feels all so domestic but it's something I've grown to love over the last year. Joel is stood by the cooker where multiple pans are sizzling away and on the counter top beside it lay three plates.

"Joel, we're your only ladies." I remind him jokingly to which he rolls his eyes,

"That you know of." He fires back quickly which earns a snort from Ellie. I look at her bemused,

"Joel is such a hard ass to be around, I'm surprised we've lasted this long let alone anyone else." The teen tries to suppress a laugh as Joel and I look taken aback for a moment, but when his straight face falls she lets out a fit of laughter.

"First of all, ouch, second of all - eat up before my hard work goes cold." It's then that I notice the food he's cooked. There's a pan of eggs on one side, one with bacon and the final one with pancakes.

"I thought you hated pancakes." I say skeptically, propping a hand to my hip. Joel looks in a daze momentarily but snaps out of it.

"Ellie does, so I guess I'll just have to endure it." He says, and then passes me a plate.

"How brave of you." I tease and nudge his side playfully. He grins, tucking me under his arm and presses a short kiss to my temple.

"Happy birthday, sweetheart." He says and Ellie scrunches up her nose at our PDA.

"I'm trying to eat over here." The teen says from the kitchen table. In retaliation, I stick my tongue out at her before turning back to the food and begin piling my plate.

"Thank you, Joel, this is perfect." He hands me a cup of coffee and shrugs his shoulders as if to say it wasn't a big deal but I know it was, this man will never, ever cook.

As I turn and grab the ketchup, Ellie throws Joel a look I can't quite decipher but she looks excited to say the least, and Joel sends her curt nod back. They both don't realise that I've noticed their quick exchange but I don't press on it, I'm sure that I'll find out sooner or later.