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“Joel, who’s Sarah?”
Ellie’s voice was far away as Joel registered what he had said. Had he just called her Sarah? He hadn’t meant to, he was just panicked as Ellie had almost fallen into a hole left by time and decay in the building they were using as a shortcut.
“Joel?” She asked again, insistent, but he was already gone. Gone back to that day twenty years ago when his daughter gave him the watch he still wore, broken now, but a constant. He had gone back to the day they ran through streets of people, fire, and infected and ended up okay. Until that soldier took the shot---
He shook himself out of the memory and buried the pain like he always did. The goal was to get Ellie to Tommy; he would focus on that.
But damn was Ellie persistent. Asking a few more times in different ways before Joel snapped at her not to ask. Don’t ask!
So she stopped. Joel in a bad mood wasn’t ever fun and she figured he wouldn’t talk to her until whatever had come over him decided to pass. Sarah would have to wait.
Ellie found out who Sarah was though. Maria had told her, showed her a picture. She understood now why Joel didn’t want to talk about her. Confronting him about it was different though. His reaction was expected, but Ellie still pressed.
“I don’t mind, okay?” She was saying now, after minutes of silence.
“Mind what?” He was still angry, still hurt.
“If you call me Sarah. It’s actually kind of like a compliment.” It was true. Her family was gone and anyone she grew close to eventually left, through death or some other way. Joel calling her his daughter’s name meant he saw her as family. Or close enough to be one. Ellie liked that feeling of having someone who cared for her stick around long enough to call her family.
The awkward and painful bonding moment could have been avoided though.
Joel finally looked at her - he refused to since the incident - and saw Ellie try a smile, small as it was. He wanted run and hide then. He had to tell her his job was done. That she would be escorted by his brother to the Fireflies. There wouldn’t be anymore of their little duo traversing streets and dodging infected. No more bad puns that made you laugh anyway. This was the end to their “family”.
But he didn’t have to do that now. Joel swallowed the bitterness.
“Don’t get used to it, kid.” He gave her what passed for a smile and playfully punched her arm.