Chapter Text
April 2024 - Salt Lake City, Utah
On Joel and Ellie's second day in Jackson, Tommy started looking for the Fireflies on the radio. They all were hoping to confirm the lab's location in advance. But it took him a about three weeks to track Marlene down after the pair rode south. Learning that they'd come up empty in Boulder, Tommy settled in to wait and worry. If his brother had decided to bring Ellie right back (home), they should be here by now, he told Marlene. So they probably figured out the new Salt Lake City location from what the Fireflies left behind at ECU. (He could practically hear Marlene rolling her eyes at the sloppy work that'd make that possible.) They agreed to alert each other when (if) they saw or heard from Joel.
So Marlene was ready to roll out the red carpet when a certain teenage girl and middle-aged man were spotted in the neighborhood of St. Mary's Hospital. For Joel as well as Ellie, offering him a nice rest, medical attention, his payment, and a fond farewell. She was prepared for that. But Tommy had kept his impressions of Joel and Ellie's bond to himself. Naturally. So she was a bit put out, and puzzled, when Joel insisted on staying.
"We owe you big, Joel, and I hate that," Marlene said, wryly. "It took a lot longer than Tommy hoped it would. But you delivered your cargo. I can take it from here."
"She's not my cargo. She's my kid," Joel said. His tone was normal conversational (for his asshole voice). But the way he held Marlene's gaze and kept his hand on Ellie's shoulder left no room for argument. "And I don't give a rat's ass about the payment. Ellie's here because she wants to help. I'm here to make sure nothin' happens to make her regret it."
'Course it takes a real shit parent to risk a road trip just so his kid be a lab rat. But that's not what Ellie thinks, so not gonna mention that.
"So that's how it is," Marlene said softly. "Ellie. Do you agree with all that?"
"Not everything," Ellie answered. "Dude. The fuck are you thinking with this 'don't give a rat's ass about no payment' bullshit?" Ellie both butchered and exaggerated Joel's speech pattern. Then she stuck her chin out at Marlene. "No way are you not paying us, Bitch. No offense."
"None taken." Oh, Anna, there you are.
"Paying YOU, Kiddo," Joel said, and exchanged a nod with Marlene.
"I have to say, this wasn't on my 2024 Bingo card" Marlene said softly. "Joel Miller, of all people. Oh. Ellie, Bingo's --"
"We actually had it at FEDRA school, so I got that one," Ellie said.
"But I can see it. You two. I can work with this." Marlene conceded. To Ellie, she said, "FEDRA may have been the best I could do for you back then, but this is much closer to what I promised your mother. We can talk about her later, if you want."
Both Ellie and Joel had some specific thoughts about Marlene's choice of the FEDRA orphanage for her friend's orphaned newborn. But they restrained themselves to exchanging a single silent look.
"That'd be cool," said Ellie.
"Marlene." Joel had one more thing to say. "As long as you have Ellie's back, I've got yours. Whatever I can do to help, but stickin' close to her."
~*~
One of Marlene's strengths was pivoting, and that's what her brain did, on its own, before the conversation was over. She gladly offloaded "Ellie's best interests" to the kid's cartoonishly protective patient advocate and nursing assistant. To her father.
And she soon pieced together how Joel's commitment served her long game. There would come a point where leaving with Joel would best protect not only Ellie herself but the resource her immunity represented. Based on blood samples taken from Ellie in Boston, the researchers had a vaccine hypothesis involving Ellie's bone marrow. But if their idea worked, it was likely to take quite awhile to develop the ability to mass-produce doses without new, live marrow from time to time. A person can only donate every so often, even if their safety didn't matter.
After the initial research push just ahead, Marlene wasn't convinced that St. Mary's was Ellie's safest option between new donations. First, obviously, because of the tactical risk. And because she had to plan for the contingency where Ellie's health and safety might become negotiable to Marlene's superiors or outside medical colleagues. The lab was going to have to do, when the mission was planned. Suddenly, with Joel in the picture for good, a better vision emerged. Just him, and a safe location, would be something. But with Joel came Tommy and a well-guarded, largely secret, community (though the Fireflies knew approximately where it was). If she knew Tommy, he'd be only too willing to work together for Ellie and the vaccine. It wouldn't take much more than the coded radio check-ins he'd initiated.
Marlene started to mentally build her case for stashing Ellie safely with the Millers. Not that she planned to ask permission, necessarily. First she would invoke Tommy's status as an "honorably discharged" Firefly who had helped the "smuggler" and "immune girl" find the lab, and alerted her that that they were alive and headed to the lab's last known location. The evidence in Boulder had been enough to point Joel in the right direction, but Tommy had remained willing to coordinate communications if Joel was able to radio again. Also helpful would be Joel's achievement in delivering Ellie, and his willingness to assist the Fireflies at St. Mary's -- which Marlene planned to exaggerate. There was no need to oversell his skillset had violence broken out, but Joel's contribution was limited to what he could do within the vicinity of Ellie's room, when she didn't need him. While she slept or felt good enough to enjoy private pursuits like reading or sketching, he looked over building plans and tactical maps. While he hung out with Ellie, he worked with his hands. Tasks like cleaning and tinkering with guns.
The room next door to Ellie's soon evolved into Joel's Office. A handful of super-trusted Fireflies, allowed to know about and be nearish to Ellie, would bring him shit to work on or write notes about. And actually some of the nurses seemed to come up with excuses to stop by, once he'd cleaned up nice. It was weird that Joel could be liked. At least by someone besides her and Tommy. And Tess. (Sigh.) It could have gotten majorly awkward, but thank fuck he never seemed to clue in.
For another kind awkward first, Ellie started being asked questions like, could her dad maybe take a look at this wiring diagram? Along with the nurses saying things like her dad will be right back, he just had to step out for a sec. (Read: Joel had to piss so of fucking course that’s when she had to wake up from sedation with a raging migraine.)
Neither she nor Joel ever corrected anyone.