Chapter Text
It was a peaceful and lovely day. They had been back in their farm for years now. They had built an extra room that worked as Ellie's atelier, since the former room was now occupied by JJ. They had also built another room for when visits from Jackson came over. They didn't come that often but often enough that they decided it was better to put them there than to put them in the sofa that was in front of the kitchen.
The first years had been hard since it seemed Dina had somehow been holding on her anger towards Ellie and then it was exploding constantly. After the second year things began to cool down and eventually they became closer and loving again. Ellie tried to take the hard years as best as she could and she was thankful she had received help for her traumas for a while, now she had the tools to survive difficult moments in the relationship too. Despite the difficulties, now that her and Dina seemed to be completely fine and their relationship was much better Ellie believed it had all been worth it. All the pain, all the horrible things they had been together in Seattle, all the time to recover their relationship after Elie had gone after Abby to try to kill her instead of staying at the farm with Dina, all the waiting and suffering during the trip with Abby and Lev towards Mexico, all the time locked up in that hospital and then coming back, all that had been worth it now that they were here together and Ellie had finally contributed in the pursuit of a treatment or vaccine against the cordyceps disease - even if now she didn’t know in what stage of the development that cure was, at least she had done something about it. They had been through so much and their bond was so strong, Ellie was sure they could make it come what may. She knew that, since the researchers at Mexico knew her and probably some people at the Fireflies did too, then she was probably better never leaving the farm. It was the safer place for her, and maybe in the past this idea would have suffocated her but now she didn't mind a single bit. She was happy with Dina and JJ. She still drew and wrote songs. She sang too, both JJ and Dina and sometimes to Dina alone. Dina still enjoyed hearing her sing and play the guitar. Ellie would sometimes sing to her while in bed right before or after sex.
Apart from that, life with Dina was always exciting, she still tried to help people at Jackson very often, helping them keep the defenses up. The hordes were not as common as they had been years ago, when there were so many infected stragglers couldn’t even arrive in Jackson. They had had two more assaults from bandits but they had managed to stop them so Jackson remained safe.
Dina had just finished making new bombs to place around Jackson, because it was expanding and gaining more territory. Then she began teaching JJ how to repair old lamps and Ellie was drawing them both.
"How is this scene inspiring for you?", asked Dina
"Babe, you are always inspiring", replied Ellie
"Terrible flirting, mom" said JJ
"Well, it’s nice seeing some bonding time, soon our Potato will be wanting to be on his own more often" said Ellie, ignoring Potato's comment
"Mom, I am 10, and I like this farm," said JJ
"For now, then you will grow up and be all rebellious and shit" said Ellie
"Seriously, you are the last person that should be telling someone off for being rebellious," said Dina
"I wasn’t telling our Potato to not be rebellious, just saying it’s a thing that happens" said Ellie, smiling
"I have been feeling rebellious about that name for a while" said JJ, "but you don’t seem to mind"
"Now you are breaking my heart" said Ellie jokingly "you are always going to be my potato"
"Seriously mom, why couldn’t you find a more cool sounding nickname?"
"Hey, I think it’s cool" said Dina "and JJ, you promised…"
"I was 6 and thought mama Ellie was dead!" protested JJ
"You still promised," teased Dina
"Fine" said JJ, giving up
"Thank you" said Ellie
Someone knocked at their door and all three of them became immediately tense. They looked at each other in alarm and gestured to Potato to hide. Luckily he had the good sense to not fight them on this and he went to hide. Still, he grabbed his knife, the one Ellie had given him when she came back. Ellie disliked the thought that he had learned how to use it to cause injury but it was worse to let him be defenseless. Dina and Ellie grabbed their guns and went to check. People at Jackson usually visited on the same days, it was better for them to have a routine. This was an unexpected visit.
Dina went to the window to spy who it was and Ellie went to the door, where someone was still knocking.
"Hey, it’s me" said a voice she wasn’t expecting to hear
Surprised, she lowered her gun and immediately opened the door and gave some steps to go outside, and she almost collided with her.
"Hey" Ellie said, a bit like a question.
Abby’s hair was very long again, she had a long braid before but it seemed to be even longer now, far longer than the first time they had met. Her clear eyes looked at Ellie’s and for some reason she could not do anything else but stare back at her. Ellie thought briefly how pretty her eyebrows, her eyes and her whole face were, and how the long hair actually didn't look bad on her. No. It looked perfect. She stared at every detail in Abby’s face and seemed to be enthralled by the mere sight of her. It wasn't a dream, Abby was actually standing here at the door of her house. She was here! That old ache in her heart whenever she looked at Abby came in full force, to the point it left her speechless. She couldn’t believe she was in front of her after so long. She had actually longed for this moment for years and now that it was truly happening she was only able to stare at her.
"Hey, it’s been a while" said Abby, touching her hands awkwardly and licking her lips nervously.
Had they always been so plump? Why was Ellie looking at her lips?
"You are here" whispered Ellie
Ellie said that as if to confirm she was not dreaming, she still could not believe her eyes. She blinked and when she opened her eyes again she was still surprised Abby was there and had not disappeared again. She felt she could cry.
"Hello" said Lev brightly, going for a hug that Ellie received gladly
"Wow, you are getting bigger everyday, what do they feed you?" said Ellie
"Stop talking to me as if I were a child" complained Lev
"Sorry, hard not to" said Ellie, "hey, you remember Dina?"
"Hey", said Dina
"Oh, you have to meet Potato, come in" said Ellie, bringing Lev inside "Potato, it’s fine, come out"
Lev followed Ellie and Potato came out of hiding place.
"Potato, this is Lev, I talked to you about him" said Ellie
"Hi" said JJ
JJ looked at Lev with a lot of suspicion in his eyes, he seemed a bit jealous and at that moment his expression was so much like Dina’s that Ellie would have laughed but she knew it would make things worse.
"Hello! Ellie always talked about you" said Lev "pleased to meet you"
"Did she?" said JJ, looking at Lev
It was so funny the way JJ said it, he had the exact same tone Dina did when she was incredulous, he even made the same face.
"She did, quite often, she was constantly talking about you and Dina," said Lev
"Oh, good, I think that is nice" said JJ and he seemed slightly happier now
"She said you are very smart" said Lev
JJ actually smiled at that.
"And now you know I am handsome too" said JJ
Lev looked confused and turned to look at Ellie as if to ask for help about what to say to that. JJ had the same confidence as his mom and Ellie actually loved him more for that.
"What are you talking about? He already knew" said Ellie "I made drawings of you and showed them to him"
"Yes, she did" said Lev, happy to have something to say "she made several drawings of the both of you"
Lev looked around and noticed the paintings in the house.
"I see that she has actually made the paintings she had planned" said Lev
"Oh, so she showed you the process?" asked JJ very seriously
JJ seemed angry again and Lev was visibly uncomfortable.
"Yes" said Lev and seemed worried that he had said something he shouldn't have
JJ smiled again.
"Chill, I’ve seen it too, I was just messing with you" said JJ
"Oh" said Lev and exhaled "I see that you have your mother’s sense of humor"
"Excuse me, I have my own brand of humor" said JJ, pretending he was offended
Ellie chuckled.
"Cool bow" said JJ, pointing at Lev’s bow
"Oh, this bow? I made it not so long ago" said Lev, taking the bow from his back and showing it to JJ
"I wish I had one, this one has nice carvings too" said JJ
"Later JJ, you don’t need one now" said Ellie
"You always say later, and then that you don’t have time to make one for me" complained JJ
"I can teach you how to make one" said Lev, then he looked at Ellie "if you re ok with that"
"Sure" said Ellie and shrugged
JJ actually jumped and laughed at that. Then JJ and Lev continued to chat happily about bows and carving. Ellie just chuckled and turned to look back, she wanted to introduce Abby to JJ. She wondered why Abby wasn’t coming in and then she noticed that Dina was talking with Abby. She couldn’t understand what they were saying but it seemed private. She felt silly for having felt flustered about Abby, why was it so awkward after all they had been through? She made a mental note to try to make her feel welcomed once Dina and her had stopped talking. This was what she had hoped for for years and she didn’t know how long they would stay over so she had to make every second count. She feared that the next time she blinked Abby might be gone again and she would have wasted her chance. No, she had to get her shit together and properly talk to Abby, so she breathed in and out and tried to compose herself. Abby had to know she had been sorely missed.