River - Ellie Williams

27

Ellie turned to River who had her hand hovering over the logbook. Her hands were covered in blood from the infected they had to clear on the way. River wiped her hands clean as she wrote in the logbook and turned to the auburn-haired girl, "It's a busy shift," River mumbled as she sent the girl a small smile.

"Yeah," Ellie sighed, "you holding up okay?" When River raised her eyebrow at the girl, Ellie chuckled in response, "Stupid question."

"Mhm," River nodded as she closed the book and the two walked down their path. They once again took the creek trail, covering it for Jesse who took a different route with Charlie. The two hopped onto their horses and rode down the creek.

"You want to take a different route?" Ellie asked, "We covered what we needed to, so I got another place to take us."

"Lead away," River nodded as she followed Ellie out. Her eyes stayed on the girls back as Ellie kept her eyes forward, "thank you," River muttered out, catching Ellie's attention, "I hadn't thanked you yet, for the other night."

"You don't have to-"

"I do," River told the girl sincerely, "I'm learning that you should show appreciation when it's deserved. I really appreciated what you did and I'm thankful you were there."

Ellie was quiet before she scoffed with a smile, "Such a sap."

"Only for you, Williams."

River smirked when Ellie's cheeks went red and she tried to turn away from the girl. She smiled before turning her head forward where Ellie lead them in silence. River frowned at the area around her.

"You don't have to worry about swimming," Ellie told the girl when she cautiously looked at the water, "I'm just gonna swim into the house and bring you back something."

"The basically falling apart, house?" River raised an eyebrow, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were trying to kill me."

"Well, the way I could is by surprise," Ellie chuckled.

"If I remember correctly, you tried to kill me by surprise and you failed," River smirked.

"That hurt, you know," Ellie told the girl, "you hit me with a fucking shotgun!"

"You cut me!"

"I thought you were gonna kill Joel and Tommy!"

"And I thought you were gonna kill me," River chuckled. She smirked when Ellie pouted as she tied up Shimmer, so River leaned against the tree and looked down at the girl, "what? Did you want me to kiss it better?"

Ellie paused as her cheeks reddened, "Don't do that," Ellie muttered, making River frown.

"Do what?"

"Say shit like that," Ellie shook her head, "don't play with my feelings like that."

"I'm no-" River started, but cut herself off as she frowned down at Ellie and straightened up, "I'm not. At least, I'm not trying to. I-" River stopped talking as she frowned in confusion, not sure how to explain to Ellie what goes on in her head.

"Right," Ellie muttered, clearing her throat, "I actually really disliked you."

"Wow, okay," River snickered, "how much?"

"Not that much," Ellie muttered, "not really. I think you hated me more."

"I never hated you, Ellie," River smiled, "you were just a little nuisance."

"Jeez, thanks," Ellie shook her head. River sent the girl a small smile, only dropping it when Ellie shook her head and walked forward and away from the girl.