Chapter Text
Ellie woke as warm sunlight streamed from the window into her face, she groaned as her head screamed in displeasure at the light. ’Damn how much did I drink last night?’ she thought miserably as she slowly opened her eyes glaring as the sun peeking through the curtains, she looked at the window looking outside her little garage apartment into the yard of Joel and cursed mentally at forgetting to close her curtains. She laid still for a while longer just getting garbled thoughts in order when she became aware of two things simultaneously, one: she wasn’t the only one lying in the bed and two: she was completely naked. Ellie quickly sat up and turned to look at the other occupant or occupants as she saw that it wasn’t one but two people, Dina, and Jesse. Both were as naked as her and snoring away, Ellie just stared in shock not remembering how they had got in this position. She wildly looked around the room seeing an empty bottle of alcohol sitting on her coffee table and clothes strew across the room. Suddenly the previous night’s events come back to her with a bang as she finally pieces it all together.
FLASHBACK:
Ellie, Dina, and Jesse were all drinking and laughing as they sat and chatted on Ellies couch. When there was a lull in the conversation Dina looked at the bottle that they had been passing around and pouted sadly as she held up the bottle.
“Damn it looks like we are all out” she said as she tipped it upside down
“Fuck” Ellie laughed as she looked over at Ellie
“So, what do you guys want to do now?” Jesse said jovially
“Hmmmm, how about a game of truth and dare?” Dina said with a bright smile
Ellie shrugged and looked at Jesse for conformation when he nodded and went along as well. After a few rounds of embarrassing dares and truths, Dina looked at Ellie who was still laughing at Jesse who was just forced to dump a cup of cold water over his head with an evil little smirk on her face.
“Truth or Dare Ellie” Dina Drawled out dramatically with an evil smirk
“Ummmmmm” Ellie thought about her options, if she chose dare, she knew Dina would make her do something awful or embarrassing, but if she chose truth she wasn’t sure what Dina would ask. And with her drunken mind she wasn’t sure what she would blurt out. Weighing the pros and cons she finally came up with an option
“Truth?” she said uncertainly mentally preparing herself at what she would ask her
Dina grinned at her before exaggeratingly putting her hand on her chin in a dramatic thinking pose
“hm, let’s see what to ask you?” she said exaggerating the thinking pose for a while more “Have you ever been with a boy” she said to Ellie with a sly smile on her face her eyes locked on hers. Ellie blushed furiously at the look Dina was giving her
“No, I never really saw the appeal, all the guys I knew were either stupid or old guys” Ellie replied “plus women are better in every way anyway” she added quickly with a sly smirk in Jesses direction.
“Hey!” Jesse said in mock offence
Ellie continues smirks at him jokingly and looks at Dina ready to hear her teasing remarks. Dina had a strange look on her face as she gazed at Ellie. Leaning back, she looked at Ellie and Jesse as a drunken idea came to her.
“Well why not try it out now?” Dina said as she leaned forward towards Ellie and Jesse
“WHAT?” Ellie said caught off guard as Jesse looked just as shocked
“Well, you said you never knew someone not stupid or old” she said getting closer “and Jesse is at least nice to look at so why not try it” she said
Ellies mind was racing as the alcohol blinded her judgment. While she had strong feelings for Dina she was trying to put aside for the sake of their friendship, she couldn’t fight the warm feeling that spread through her when Dina looked at her like that. She looked at Jesse to see his reaction to it all, He looked just as shocked, Dina gave them both a smile as she finally leaned fully forward grabbing Ellie and Kissing her passionately catching her off guard. Jesse sat there in frozen shock as he watched the two girls kiss passionately. Finally, Dina pulled away and then turned to Jesse kissing him with as much passion as she gave Ellie. Then it all kicked off from there and they all fell onto the bed in a tangle of limbs and flying clothes.
END OF FLASHBACK
Ellie blushed furiously as the memories came back and she cursed her drunk mind as she pulled the sheets up to her chest tighter. Ellie sat there awhile with her mind racing a mile a minute not sure what to do or how to react. Another groan was heard next to her as Jesse came to waking Dina in the process.
“Ugh I feel awful” he groaned into the pillow not yet realizing what had happened “what happened last night?” he said turning over moving his hands to cover his face.
“To much whiskey that’s what happened” Dina mumbled back as she dove under the blankets
Jesse yawned before he opened his eyes and looked at Ellie. Seeing her lack of dress and looking down realizing he and Dina were just the same, he gasped and shook Dina to get her out from under the blankets.
“What?!” she said growled out sitting up getting ready to yell at him but stops dead when she sees Jesse and Ellie both sitting there. Looking around she saw all their clothes strown across the room, turning her head she saw Ellie pulling the sheet tighter across her body.
“Oh shit” she said as the gravity of the situation hit her like a ton of bricks
Hurriedly they all scrambled to get dressed trying to avoid looking each other in the eyes. When they were all finally dressed, they all stood in awkward silence no one knowing what to say or do. Finally, after a few minutes passed and no one made any move to talk, Dina took the initiative looked at all of them.
Taking a breath, she addressed all of them “Okay so obviously we were all really drunk last night and made bad choices. Let’s all just try to let it go and move on, ok?” she said with authority in her voice.
Ellie and Jesse nodded as Diana gave them both an encouraging smile. After Jesse and Dina left Ellie began to clean up the mess they had made. After all the trash was taken care of Ellie looked over to her bed and made a quick decision to pull all her sheets, blankets, and pillowcases of to wash them thoroughly. Eventually as the days turned to weeks the three of them began to move past the awkwardness of the situation and could now joke about it. 8 weeks had passed since that fateful and embarrassing night, Ellie had begun to feel sick on and off whenever she was around certain smells or food. Not giving it much thought she tried to keep going on business as usual. Finlay, she got worried when she noticed that she had missed her period all together. Not knowing what to do she decided to go the clinic in town to see what was wrong with to her. The clinic was another house in the middle of Jackson that was in decent condition and had about 3 bedrooms that had been converted to act as exam room and the like. The doctor who ran the clinic was a kind older lady in her late forties by the name of Emily Mitchel, she had worked as a small-town doctor before the cordyceps took over. She always wore a bright smile on her face whenever talking to anyone. Her face was framed with light blonde curls always held back in a bun on top of her head. Ellie was taken to one of the rooms and given a complete physical. As the Emily asked questions Ellie sat on the exam table, she couldn’t shake the feeling of dread that was building in her gut.
“Are you sexually active?” Emily asked her as she was doting down notes onto her pad of paper
This question caught Ellie off guard as she blushed but answered “Um, not really that often but the last time was about two months ago” Ellie said with her face burning with embarrassment.
“Did you use protection?” Emily asked looking up at Ellie waiting for her answer
Ellie froze paling as the realization dawned onto her, her heart began to race, and her hands began to sweat.
“I don’t think so” she said looking at the Emily in fear
Emily looked at her quizzingly “When was your last period?” she asked getting up from her chair and walking over to a cabinet in the corner.
Ellie mind raced as she tried to do the math in her head at record speed “umm I think it was about 7 to 8 weeks back” she said with a slight shake to her voice.
Emily pulled out a key from her back pocket and unlocked the cabinet, when she pulled it open, she rummaged for a moment before finally finding what she was looking for. When she turned around, she had a small box in her hand.
“So, what I need you to do is take this into the bathroom and follow the instructions on the box, once you are done come back in here” she said kindly as she handed Ellie the box and sent her to the bathroom just outside the exam room.
Shakily Ellie waked into the bathroom and read the box ‘PREGANCEY TEST’. Ellie fought back an urge to vomit as she read the instructions on the back of the box, setting the box on the counter she quickly pulled down her pants and sat on the toilet. Puling the cap off the stick she did the deed, putting the cap back on the little stick and set it on the counter and cleaned herself up. Pulling her pant back up she walked over to the sink she looked herself into the mirror, her face was pale making her green eyes and freckles stand out on her face. looking down at the facet she tuned the knob to the cold water on full blast. Cupping her hands under the water she leaned her head down and splashed her face with water. Grabbing a towel next to the sink she dried her faceoff before looking at her reflection once more before picking up the test and walking back to the exam room where Emily was waiting patiently. As she walked back into the room, she handed the test back Emily and sat back on the exam bed and stared at the clock in the corner of the room. They both waited in agony as the minuets seemed to drag by at a snail’s pace, waiting for the test to show its result. Eventually, it was time to look at the test. Ellie held her breath as Emily moved over to her with the tiny stick in her hands. She handed it to Ellie, face void of any emotion not givening anything away. Ellie took a deep breath preparing herself for anything and turned it over and froze as the air left her lungs, a small pink plus sign stood out against the white background of the test. The world seemed to be moving in slow motion as Ellie was stuck in place, her mind raced at lightning speed, ‘oh my god’ playing over and over on a loop.
“-lie” said a muffled voice slowly pulling her out of her state
“Ellie” Emily repeated once more finally getting her attention once more
Ellie looked up to her with teary eyes giving her full attention. Emily gave her a small smile before continuing to talk.
“I take it this wasn’t planned?” she asked gently
Ellie shook her head in conformation “no” she said fighting the knot in her throat as her eyes threatened to let loose the tears just barely being held back.
Emily gave her a look of pity as she gave her a tissue to wipe her eyes, giving her a moment to collet herself the older women began to write down notes on her chart.
“Now Ellie you do have a choice in the matter” she said as Ellie looked up at her “if you don’t want this baby you don’t have to have it” she finished as she waited for Ellie to reply.
Ellie sat quietly for a moment not knowing what to say. Her mind was overloaded, and it was all too much.
“Can I have some time to think about it?” Ellie asked quietly looking at Emily with a face blank as her mind shut itself off.
“of course, you can” Emily said kindly placing her hand on Ellies shoulder giving it an encouraging squeeze “take as much time you need”.
After Ellie had left the clinic, she walked around Jackson numbly on auto pilot. Her mind was blank not knowing what to think or how to feel. After walking around for hours, avoiding people as much as she could the sky darkened, and the streetlights turned on. Ellie walked down the street leading to Joel white two story house. Walking through the gate leading to her studio she failed to notice Joel sitting on his porch with his guitar. Joel noticed that there was something wrong with Ellie when she didn’t even react to him there. Even after she had found out about the truth that had happened in Salt-Lake, they at least still acknowledge each other.
“Ellie” he called trying to catch her attention
Ellie being in her own world didn’t seem to hear him as she continued to walk towards her door. Joel got up off the porch and walked towards Ellie in concern. Once he made it within reach of her, he placed his hand on her shoulder making her flinch.
“Hey kiddo?” he said gently turning her around to face him “what’s wrong” he said as he saw the look on her face.
Ellie looked up at him as all the emotions that she had been trying to repress finally began to rush to the surface. Looking up at Joel, Ellie breathing began to pick up and she began to shake.
“Ellie” Joel said in worry as he held both her shoulders
Ellie broke down in tears as she threw herself into Joel wrapping her arms around him as she sobbed. Joel stood still in shock for a moment before he wrapped his arms around Ellie as well, rubbing her back and whispering soothing words in her ear. Ellie continued to sob, clutching Joel like a lifeline the entire time. Finally, after what seemed like hours her sobs turned in to sniffles and her breathing evened out into shaky breaths as Joel continues to stroke her hair and whisper gently to her.
“Baby girl, what wrong?” he said gently continuing to hold her close “What happened?”
Ellie sniffled as she just buried her head deeper into his chest, debating on telling him or not. As they stood there in the soft glow from the overhead light above Ellies garage apartment, Ellie sniffled once more before whispering something that made Joel’s heart stop.
“I’m pregnant”