Work Text:
The air inside the small, dusty room was thick with tension. Ellis was cleaning his hunting rifle a little too thoroughly, swearing when his fingers got caught under the rag. He knew the others were avoiding him-- although, Rochelle had been banged up pretty bad, so that probably wasn’t on purpose. He could hear footsteps coming up the stairs just a little too harshly, and he could see her scowl already. Ellis set the part of the rifle he was holding down, and then twisted to pull the pack off of his bag.
Zoey, despite her loud footsteps, opened the door slowly and quietly, leaning against it as it swung shut. “So?” Her voice was strained.
“So what, Zoey?” Ellis was tense, waiting for the inevitable moment when she continued the earful she was fixing to give him, only cut off earlier by Nick’s bark that Rochelle was hurt. He could hear Coach coughing downstairs, and briefly wondered if they had any soup before his eyes flicked up to Zoey. “You okay? You wanna sit down or somethin’?”
The switch flipped and she shifted into a defensive position. “There it is! You always treat me like I’m a fucking doll! Like I’m going to break at the smallest things! God damn, I’m not a little girl, Ellis!”
“Well, you sure are acting like one,” he muttered, only spurring her on her further. He dug around in the bag, past the dirty shirt he refused to give up, and under the small pack of crackers.
Zoey was practically buzzing with her anger. She snatched the bag out of his hand, and he glared at her. “I’m a survivor, Ellis. I can kill zombies, you know I can. But still, you insist on keeping me--”
Ellis stood, icily cutting her off, “Y’know, when someone pushes you out of the way of spitter goo, y’usually say thanks.”
“I had her in my sights. I could have killed her if you hadn’t distracted me,” She was glaring at him. He stooped to pick up his bag, and found her blocking the door.
“I’m sorry I distracted you,” he spat. He didn’t want to fight, especially not with her. Zoey wasn’t making it easy.
“Just tell me why! You think I’m weak? You think I can’t do what needs--"
He cut her off again, his voice low, “You’re pregnant.”
She paused for a moment, taken aback, but she quickly recovered. Zoey was still blocking the exit. “So? I can still fight! I’m still a person! You can’t keep treating me like I can’t do anything! Is it because--”
Suddenly he burst forward, pushing her back towards the door, his eyes angry and his usually cheery face turned down, “It’s because you’re my life, Zoey! That baby-- tha’s my life. If I lose you, then tha’s it! I’m done! Okay?” He pushed past her, clutching the bag tightly. His feet pounded down the stairs, and he ignored the looks he got from Nick and Coach, bursting through the door. Someone called after him, “Ellis!”
It was drizzling, and he found the cool drops refreshing as he breathed heavily. There were no infected nearby, not after the slaughter that had taken place just to get back here, and Ellis didn’t really care anyway. He knew he was probably being stupid; that he could get hurt out here, or lead the others into danger, but he couldn’t help it. That’s what his mother had taught him to do; take a step back when things get too hot, or else you’ll just end up burning yourself.
There was a fire escape by the safe-room, and he climbed it eagerly, shouldering his bag. He found a spot on the roof where there was a little bit of cover, but his legs were still getting wet as he stretched them out. Ellis continued his search, digging through his bag until he found a little plastic bag. It was filled with small pieces of paper.
When Ellis had left his home in Savannah, he’d taken with him a small selection of things. A hunting rifle, his hat, some food and water, and a bag full of pictures. He hadn’t showed them to anyone, and sometimes he even forgot about them, but there were other, darker times when he pulled them out in the dead of night.
The first that he picked out was one of the oldest; a faded picture of a little Ellis, his mother, Keith, and Keith’s mother. The darker haired little boy was sporting gaps where his teeth had either fallen out, or been knocked out. Little Ellis was laughing, his tiny arm around his best buddy.
Ellis could feel the tears coming, and he did nothing to stop them. He was alone up here, and he doubted anyone would come for him. He was careful to shield the picture from his tears and the rain.
The next photo was more recent; it was Ellis, Keith, and Dave at the shop, proudly displaying their first payment from their first ever job. Dave’s girlfriend, Lisa, had taken the picture, and you could see her thumbs up to them in the bottom corner.
The next one was Ellis, all dressed up for prom, posed with his mother. The beam on her face was radiant, and Ellis looked goofy without his hat. He laughed at the memory, it coming out as a choking sound.
Graduation day was almost identical, although Ellis had his little black cap on in this one at least. A baby picture featuring his thick curls and big blue eyes.
The last picture he had had been taken by his girlfriend at the time. His little sister, Mae, was standing next to him up high on a rock edge, the water flowing beneath them. The sun was on it’s way to setting, and it had shadowed both of their faces. The wind was blowing his sister’s hair back, and both of their faces were scattered with freckles.
There definitely was no way he was gonna stop blubbering any time soon. Ellis was too distracted to notice that the rain had let up, and someone was climbing up the rusting ladder. “Ellis?”
“Huh?” He leaned around the generator that had been sheltering him, and saw Zoey’s eyes roving the roof for any sign of him, “I’m over here, Zo.”
“Ellis!” Her face melted into relief, and she hurried over to him, looking around anxiously, “Are you okay?” She was holding a pistol in her right hand, and her left was twitching towards the other one in her holster.
“M’fine,” he mumbled, looking up at her. The sun was beginning to set on them, just like it had way back when on Ellis and his sister.
She plopped down next to him, her hand instinctively reaching out to brush the wetness off of his face, but held herself back. “I’m sorry, Ellis,” she admitted, looking down at the ground. Zoey had always been stubborn, but after a heated talk with Nick, she’d come to see that this wasn’t the time for such stubbornness.
He nodded, taking a deep breath and wiping the straggling tears from his face. “I...I’m sorry too-- for snapping at you. Not...not for what I said.”
“I was so worried about you,” she whispered to him, leaning into his body, “I thought...I thought that you’d left...for good.”
His chest ached at the crack in her voice, and he leaned over as well and kissed the top of her head, “I ain’t gonna leave you, Zoey. I told y’that.”
“I would leave me,” she murmured, swallowing her tears, “I’ve been awful.”
“Nah, you’re just...frustrated, like everyone else.” He didn’t blame her, but he recognized that he could not help his need to protect her, and the baby, by association. “We...we just got different ways of showin’ it. Doesn’t mean we don’t love each other.” He hoped so, at least.
Zoey sighed and looked down at his hands, “What’re you holding?”
Ellis made no move to hide them from her. “Pictures,” he answered, “from before.”
Her voice was hesitant, “Can...can I see?”
“Sure…” He delicately placed the photos in her hands, their fingers brushing. Ellis still felt his stomach flutter when they touched, even though they’d been together for months at this point-- or so they assumed. Time was a concept that had been lost along with most of the people in the world. There were days and nights-- no months, years, or or calendars. He explained the pictures as she shuffled through them. “That’s my ma...Keith...his ma and that little youngin’ is me. His dad is takin’ the picture-- we were havin’ a big summer blowout at their house.”
Her thumb brushed over Ellis’ young face, “Cute.”
His face was red, but he continued on without stumbling, “That’s Mae, my sister, and me obviously…”
“Did Keith take this picture?” She asked curiously, observing the photo. She'd never seen Ellis' sister before, and she was stunned by the beauty of the two McKinney kids. Zoey didn't notice that Ellis was blushing.
"Uh...tha'was my...my lady friend at the time," Ellis braced for another fight-- this one about how he was keeping a memento from a past girlfriend. She looked up at him, a smile playing on her lips.
"Lady friend?" She could barely contain her laugh, and she whacked his stomach lightly with her right hand. "Is that what I am to you, a...lady friend?" Zoey stressed the last two words carefully, a little giggle slipping out.
"Uh, I dunno," he thought about it carefully, trying to choose a fitting word, "You're...you're the only woman I've ever loved so much. Soulmate, maybe?"
"Ellis!" A scarlet blush was creeping up her necks and cheeks, and she looked back down at the pictures.
"What?" He laughed, "It's true."
She only shook her head, flipping to the next photo. It was the baby picture of him, smiling up at the camera like it was a brand new toy. "Is this you?"
"Yeah," he put his arm around her, looking at the setting sun. He could see some infected in the distance, but he pretended they were happy people taking a stroll on a sunny evening.
"So..." She was quiet, and he looked back down at her. Zoey had her thumb over the face, rubbing small circles into. "Is...is that what our...baby will look like?"
Ellis tensed for a moment and then relaxed. "I sure hope not," he forced out a laugh, "Poor kid'll be ugly as sin, and it'll be all my fault."
Zoey's pregnancy had been the elephant in the room for three weeks now. Zoey had choked it out between sobs when it was just the two of them, and he'd paced around in circles muttering "shit" over and over again. It wasn't that he didn't want kids or that he didn't mean to be with Zoey for the rest of his life-- it was just that so many things could go wrong. It was so easy to be taken out by a hunter or a jockey or god forbid-- a tank or charger. The baby had slim chances of surviving, and Ellis cared too much already. So he'd taken it upon himself to be doubly cautious, making sure that it would be hard to get to Zoey without taking him out first. This had spawned only more tension, and he could tell their friends were getting suspicious.
They hadn't told anyone, and they only knew because of the small swell Zoey's stomach was becoming and she'd told him she'd been late for some time now. Ellis had a small suspicion that Francis might bash his head in-- or maybe it would be Nick, for spawning something that could draw zombies in seconds.
Ellis didn't know how to feel. Deep down, he knew that he didn't think the baby would make it-- they didn't even have a doctor for fuck's sake. But he loved it, he knew that already. If it was a different world, where he wasn’t constantly fighting for his life, he’d probably be building a crib with Keith or listening to his ma fawn over Zoey.
"Don't say that," she murmured, "You know you're cute."
Ellis let out a giggle of his own, worries forgotten for a moment. “I’m cute?”
“As a button,” she rolled her eyes, looking at his Graduation picture.
He leaned in so his face was only a few inches from hers, “Does that mean you l-i-i-i-ke me?”
“No,” Zoey answered firmly, her eyes still on the picture. Ellis’ face fell, hurt. “It means I love you.”
Ellis wore a shit-eating grin, but she cut it off with a kiss. He practically melted into her, his hands coming up to cradle her face. She shifted so that she was straddling his lap, crossing her wrists behind his head. After a while, he muttered against his lips, "She'd've loved you, y'know."
"Who?" She pressed a kiss to his neck, "Your old lady friend?"
"No," he scoffed, closing his eyes and tilting his head back, "My ma. She'd be real happy that I met you, and y'know..."
Zoey paused, and made him look at her, and he felt his heart thump loudly at the appreciation on her face. He was never going to be able to live without her again. Her lips found his again, and his eyes fluttered to a close. When Ellis opened his eyes, the sky was dark. He nudged Zoey and murmured softly, “We should get back.”
Zoey sighed into his mouth, but pulled away and stood. Ellis carefully tucked his pictures back into his backpack and smiled-- really smiled at her.
Her hands rested on her hips as she peered over the edge of the roof, “Ellis....what are we gonna tell them?”
Ellis’ eyes flicked to her abdomen before he looked back at her. His voice was firm when he replied, “The truth.”