Don't Go|Ellie x Reader

3|Breathless

I paced and I paced, and I paced inside the makeshift hospital we had here in the camp. We didn't have many medical supplies or any of the fancy machines, but we had the basics. Joel was sitting on a chair with his hands on his head and his head bowed down, staring down at the floor. He was a little shaky and obviously afraid for Ellie's life. Last time this happened to her the Fireflies found them and brought her back, but they had an entire hospital almost full of stuff they could use. Tommy was leaning against the wall across from Joel with his arms crossed, glancing at his brother and me every once in a while and then over at the door. We all had the same question plaguing our minds... Was she going to be okay?

About 20 minutes later, Jamison came out of the back room with a worried look on his face. The door slowly closed behind him and I caught a glimpse of Ellie laid on the makeshift hospital bed.

"I've got some good news, and some bad news," He sighed.

"What's the good news?" Joel asked literally a second after Jamison had finished.

"She's alive for the most part," He scratched the back of his head.

"And the bad?" Tommy questioned.

"Took some trauma to the head, I assume a rock she hit in the river, caused some short-term amnesia. Could take a couple days to wear off. I don't know yet how far back the amnesia is so she could remember some things but nothing from the past couple of days I would assume," He looked down, "I'm sorry. There's nothing we can do except wait for her memory to come back normally." Jamison left the room after finishing and went into a different one to attend to a sick man who'd caught the flu a week ago, Callum I think was his name. I looked over at Tommy and then at Joel.

"At least she's alive..." I barely said above a whisper, to which Tommy looked sympathetically at me.

"Yeah, guess so," Joel said with a hint of bitterness lacing his words.

"I didn't mean for it to happen. It was a gust of wind that threw her off her balance," I let out a shaky breath, "Just an accidental hazard I should've considered. I should've come back to get the axe myself."

"F/N, there's nothing you could've done. Anyways, you got her out of the water," Tommy smiled slightly. Joel shook his head a little and walked out the front door.

"Sensitive?" I shrugged.

"Nah, just cares about that girl a lot. She's grown to be a daughter-like person to him, like Sarah," He chuckled, "I think they would've gotten along. And you too of course," He patted my back and walked outside to go talk to Joel. A small smile crept onto my face and I walked over to the door to the room where Ellie was. Slowly, I pushed it open with little to no effort and there she was, laid there with a peaceful face breathing steadily. Pulling up a chair, I sat beside her bed and smiled. 'At least she's alive...'

Ellie had finally woken up an hour ago or so and she was inquisitive as ever. "She doesn't remember me. She doesn't remember Tommy. But she asked where you were," I informed Joel. Who I was, where she was, where Joel was, whether she was at the Fireflies, stuff like that? Obviously, her memory had gone back to before they even got to Tommy's, which meant it was quite a way back according to Joel.

"She doesn't remember the Fireflies or that guy who tried to kill her then?" Joel asked.

"Nope. None of it," I sighed, "Hopefully she'll come back around in a few days." I sat down on the sofa with Joel sat across on the armchair. We were back at the house, the one I now shared with him and Ellie. Ellie was in our shared room asleep, so I took the time to talk to Joel about the issue after trying to explain to Ellie what had happened.

"I didn't expect the amnesia to be this bad," He looked across at me.

"I'm sorry Joel. I know this must kind of suck for you more than any of us," I let out a deep breath and looked towards the window, "On the bright side, it gives us an incentive to teach her how to swim after this is cleared up." I smiled at him, trying to reassure him and look at some of the positives.

"Suppose you're right," He leaned back and closed his eyes, also crossing his arms. He seemed to relax into the chair more and I assumed he'd fallen asleep when his breathing was steady, and he didn't stir when I left the room. I retreated upstairs and slowly crept into the bedroom, trying my best not to wake the sleeping beauty to my right. Sadly, this was not the case as the floor decided to work against me and creek underneath my feet, causing Ellie to stir. She looked up at me slowly with sleepy eyes and slightly messy hair. She looked pretty cute. 'F/N, stop..! Not the time!' I mentally face palmed and went over to my mattress. She was now sat up looking over at me seeming a little more awake than before.

"You okay Ellie?" I asked.

"Yeah. Where's Joel?" She questioned.

"Downstairs sleeping," I sighed, "Remember anything yet?"

"No... Sorry," She looked down, seemingly sad she couldn't remember anything.

"Just, keep trying your best. Your memory will come back to you eventually," I smiled reassuringly. It remained silent after that. She just looked at me, with an almost blank face. Her legs were crossed and her arms keeping her body propped up right. When I quickly glanced at her our eyes met and my face became a little warm. She was pretty and I liked her, even now with her memory gone. She seemed like she was somebody I'd love to be around all the time no matter what, even though I have no clue why. I shook my head and broke the eye contact, hiding my slightly pink face by turning around to face the window. After a few seconds, I moved to sit up on the windowsill and look outside across the camp. People were carrying supplies around and some children were playing tag in the street. I saw Maria talking to a family who looked pretty run down. 'Must be new.' When I turned back round to look into the bedroom, I jumped from shock when I noticed Ellie now also sat on the windowsill. She was looking at me with confusion and something else I couldn't quite place my finger on. We sat there in silence just looking at each other, my face becoming more and more red with every second it continued. Suddenly, I was caught off guard by Ellie leaning forwards and placing her lips on mine. My eyes grew wide and felt like they were about to pop out my head while my heart was beating faster and faster. I tried not to kiss back but failed miserably and ended up doing so, only for a few seconds before she broke away and leaned back, looking me dead in the eyes before leaving the windowsill and heading downstairs. I continued to sit there in shock, awe, and joy. Even though she'd literally been here like 2 days and this 3rd day she had amnesia I still couldn't help but feel something towards her. I didn't really understand what it was or why I felt it towards Ellie, I just did... She left me feeling... Breathless...