sunshine // joel miller

TWENTY FIVE

The small nod of his head was enough for Fran to know, her heart breaking for the man who had moved to sit on a little ledge.

"It was me." Joel admitted to Ellie now, Fran moving to sit next to him. She didn't know if he wanted comfort, laying her hand lightly on his lap. He was quick to grab it, holding it tightly in his, "I was the guy who shot and missed."

Ellie seemed to understand now, her face falling at the new information. It was clear she felt awful for him, moving to sit next to Fran as she waited for more.

"There's no story." Joel told the two, staring at the hand he held tightly in his own on his lap, "Sarah died..."

Fran's grasp on his hand grew tighter as his voice wavered, "and I couldn't see the point anymore. Simple as that."

Ellie found herself leaning into Fran for comfort at the knowledge of Joel trying to kill himself. It was before she was even born, but it still hurt, she hurt for him.

"I wasn't scared either." Joel continued after a moment, "I was ready. I couldn't have been more ready. When I- When I... went to pull the trigger, I flinched."

Fran's eyes closed at that, looking down at the floor.

"Still don't know why. Anyway, the reason I'm telling you all this..." Joel seemed to trail off at this, Ellie taking over as she knew it was hard for him to explain. Fran had been doing the same thing to her, but for some reason hearing something like that from Joel meant so much more. He wasn't one to open up, wasn't one to wear his heart on his sleeve - to talk about something like that was a massive feat on its own.

"I know why you're tellin' me all this." Ellie said to him, side now completely leaned against Fran's and she looked up at him.

"Yeah, I reckon you do." Joel nodded his head.

"So time heals all wounds, I guess." Ellie sighed out as she said it, not knowing what else to say.

"It wasn't time that did it." Joel admitted then, looking between the girls, his girls. There was a sad look in his eyes, a painful look that could only come with loss. He hadn't loved since everything, the only thing that kept him going was his family, and here he was with a whole new one.

"My dad... um," Fran felt a bit awkward talking after such a big admittance, "he believed that people didn't meet by chance, that they were sent to each other for a reason."

"Like... you were sent to me?" Ellie asked her, a little confused.

"Yeah," Fran mumbled, "He always thought that there was a reason certain people came into your life, wether it was to heal from something or to be a better person. Almost like someone who was watching over knew that you needed them."

Joel had a small smile on his face at the idea that Sarah had been out there and seen them, had sent him these new people. He felt himself begin to tear up at the idea that Sarah had sent them to let him know it's okay to let me go.

"I'm glad you missed," Fran said to Joel quietly, Ellie humming to agree.

"Me, too." Joel responded, voice wobbly as he quickly wiped his eyes.

"We should probably get going," Ellie tried to move the conversation along as Joel quickly sorted himself out.

"Yeah." Joel was quick to join her, standing to his feet and offering Fran his hand to help her up. She took it gratefully, standing next to them and dusting herself off.

"You know what I'm in the mood for?" Joel asked as they continued walking out of the medical area.

"What?" Fran asked him.

"Shitty puns." He answered with a knowing smile. Ellie let out an excited laugh as she went to grab her book, Fran sending Joel a look as she did.

"Do you know what you've just started?" She asked him with raised eyebrows.

"I do," he smiled down at her.

"Ready?" Ellie stopped them both with her book open and a smile, "People are making apocalypse jokes like there's no tomorrow... Too soon?"

"No, it's topical," Joel answered as Fran elbowed his side and Ellie laughed.

"Oh, I love this one." Ellie gasped as she read it, excitement growing, "Moon rocks taste better than Earth rocks. Why?"

She looked at the two expectantly, then sharing the look back down at her.

"Cause they're meteor."

"Oh, that's terrible." Joel commented.

"Fuck you. That was actually good!" Ellie argued with him.

"I gotta go with Joel, here. That's a zero outta 10." Fran agreed with him then, "I like the poop ones."

"Of course you do, you're secretly a ten year old boy," Joel jabbed, making the woman gasp.

"You laughed the hardest at the diarrhoea one! Don't shame me!" Fran argued, slapping his arm as she told him off. The sight just made Ellie laugh harder, shoving herself in between the two to break it up.

"All right, all right. Children," Ellie stopped them, reading another, "What did the green grape say to the purple grape? Breathe, you idiot."

"That was a three outta 10." Joel scored it this time.

"Seven, minimum." Fran didn't agree with her ranking, but just wanted to oppose Joel at this point, "see? I like other jokes!"

"I'll give it a five, then," Joel said, shaking his head, "Five outta 10."

"Five?" Ellie asked him in disbelief.

Something crashed behind them, making them stop and turn only to see a small bomb on the floor.

Joel seemed to realise what it was the same time that Fran did, moving to shield the two and push them to run when it went off. The sound was deafening, the three falling to the floor at the impact.

Fran's ears were ringing as she tried to blink through the haze she was seeing. An arm was over hers, her head turning to see Ellie's eyes blinking slowly.

Before she could think of reacting, Ellie was pulled up by an unknown man.

"Ellie!" She could hear Joel's yells as she tried to grab the girl. She managed to just grab her foot when the end of a gun smacked against her temple, making her fall straight back to the floor, eyes shut.

Unaware the same had happened to Joel not even a metre away.

A/N
Very short but didn't want to bleed into the next chapter! Hope you enjoyed!