comfortably alone ○ ellie williams

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winter sharply inhaled as she woke, lifting herself off her stomach and looking to her left for ellie. she pulls her eyebrows together at the empty space by her, the blanket pushed back. she leans over to look at the spot by the bed where ellie kicked off her shoes last night, they were gone. 

winter sighs as she crawls out of bed, her stomach turning as she rubs her hands over her face. she walks to the door, gently opening it and looking around the living room, the air considerably more cold than in the bedroom. a wave of relief washing over her at the sight of ellie's backpack slumped by the closet door, the string of cans still across the front door. she steps out into the living room and grabs a blanket from the rack, wrapping it around her shoulders and back.

winter walks over to one of the windows in the kitchen, leaning over the counter to look out, but couldn't see or hear the other. she hesitates before shuffling over to the back door, she tried to quietly walk on the porch but the wood stills creaks under her feet.

she still sees no sign of the other. the leaves rattle from the wind around her, her nose beginning to get cold. she sighs again, turning back inside and quickly putting on shoes and a coat. she shoves her hands in the pockets as she briskly walks over to the field gate. 

the wind was whistling through the tree branches, the chickens were quiet this morning. as winter gets to the coop she opens the side door, counting the chickens that were sitting in the nesting boxes, then the few huddled together. she drops some feed, then takes their water bowl to the water pump that sits in between the barn and coop. 

after closing up the coop she visits the barn, leaving the door slid open. she tries ignoring any passing thoughts of what ellie might be doing. she knows ellie can handle herself, but she can't help but want to know the others every move. she opens the stables, letting two walk out but stopping the eldest to put her old winter blanket on before letting her fully out. 

winter keeps her arms crossed in front of her as she starts back towards the cabin, locking the gate then crossing them again. as she walks up the back steps she hears a light rustling in the tree line to her left. ellie appears as winter looks, a fond smile showing when ellie shakes her head and brushes her hair away from her face then rubs some leaves off of her thighs. 

ellie holds sticks in her arms, stumbling as she shoots winter a wide smile. 

"did you sleep okay?" ellie asks, walking pass winter and dropping the wood by the firewood rack. winter follows the pile as it's thrown down, her eyebrows furrowing. winter nods in response, trailing her eyes back to ellie.

"how long were you gone?" winter asks, shifting her weight. 

"oh, not long. your wood was running low." ellie motions a hand toward the rack and winter's gaze follows. 

"oh.." winter subtly nods, noticing the new branches that already rest on the rack. "you didn't have to do that." winter mumbles, feeling a bit guilty for shacking ellie with a new responsibility. 

"well, i was just going to light the fireplace since it was getting cold, but i noticed the wood was low. i thought i'd be back before you'd get up." ellie nervously chuckles, reaching up to rub her nape. "they have to dry out a little more anyways, i didn't help much." winter looks over to her, her eyebrows still pulled together.

"you helped a lot, thank you. don't feel like you have to do that though." winter gives a small smile. ellie shrugs, looking down to avoid looking at winter.

"i wanted to." 

winter steps forward, giving ellie a loose hug, her head tilted up toward the others. ellie's arms come around winter as well.

"i appreciate it, really." ellie can't hide the smile making its way on her face. 

"c'mon, it's cold." ellie rubs winter's back, nodding her head toward the door, winter humming back. 

ellie lets winter go in first, pushing the sticks closer to the rack and picking a few old half logs from the bottom of the rack.

winter shuts the door behind ellie, watching her light the fire. ellie sits on the floor in front of the fireplace with a huff, looking over her shoulder at winter. she grabs the blanket she left earlier, sitting beside ellie and draping the blanket over both of their shoulders.

"i have to go back tomorrow morning." ellie sighs, staring forward at the fire. winter silently nods, knowing there's not much she could say. she lets out a low 'okay', looking up at where the ceiling and fireplace meets.

ellie looks down, her right hand slowly ghosting over winters left then carefully holding it. winter also looks down at her lap, biting her lip to hold back a frown. ellie gently pulls their hands into her lap, intertwining their fingers and rubbing winter's hand with her thumb. 

they sit for a moment, only the sounds of the fire waving fire and the wind pushing on the walls outside were heard. winter gave ellie's hand a light squeeze, not knowing what was right to say, not even sure what she would want to say.

ellie squeezed her hand back, her other hand wrapping around the back of winter's hand she was already holding.

"i'm not sure when i'll be back.. shifts change a lot." ellie nods, tilting her head toward winter, who still sat staring at her lap. she knudges winter with her right shoulder, giving the other a tight lipped smile when she looked over.

"but-" she draws out the word, quickly letting go of winter's hand and leaning to dig through her bag. winter plants her hands by her hips and leans forward to try and see what ellie was pulling out. "i got you this." ellie widely smiles while placing a black walkie talkie in winter's hands.

it looked well used, an accumulation of dirt in some of the crevices. winter raises her eyebrows, turning the black box in her hands.

"how'd you get this?" she glances at ellie, unable to fight her growing smile. she feels her heart beat faster and her cheeks get warm.

"don't worry about it." ellie bumps her knee gently into winter's. "i will have to keep mine off while i'm outside, but when im home i'll have mine on. then we can talk about all the boring shit and all the patrol stories that i'll totally have." ellie exaggerates, taking in the others amused smile. she stares longer than normal, sitting up to snap herself back.

"i set it to the frequency to mine already, so leave this dial alone." ellie points to the top, then trails her finger down. "this is the volume, and this oval is what you press down when saying something." ellie points the right side, then the top again. "and the power button."

"wow, ellie." winter stared down at it, still in awe from receiving such a present. she was searching for the right words, attempting to ignore how expensive or risky it must've been for ellie to get ahold of them.

winter's eyes shot up to ellie's, she was met with an expression of expectancy and excitement.

so she leaned in first this time, her eyes closing as their lips connect. and although it was short and soft, ellie's chest burned in the center as she relaxed into it. when winter pulled away she avoided eye contact, her blush creeping down her neck, but she had a big smile.

" do you want some hard boiled eggs for tomorrow?" winter shyly asks, attempting to give something of value back to ellie. she's already getting up when ellie chuckles a 'sure'.