Five years ago, Joel had taken you to Salt Lake to deliver you to the fireflies that were trying to make a cure for the outbreak of cordyceps. You were immune to the infection, so Marlene sent Joel and Tess with you to get to Salt Lake. Tess ended up dying early on in the mission and Joel was the one taking you to Salt Lake. Over the course of travelling, he ended up becoming a father figure in your life. You were 14 when you two first met. When you were going to be used for the cure at the hospital, Marlene told Joel that making the cure would ultimately kill you since they would need your brain. And when Joel realized that meant you dying, he killed every firefly in the hospital to get you out and safe. And when you woke up from the anesthesia, you asked what happened, and he ended up lying to you about everything and even swore that it was all true. Now five years later, you're 19 and your relationship with Joel was strained because you finally knew the truth of his lie in Salt Lake and you were angry about it. Tonight was the night of the New Year’s Eve dance and while you weren’t talking to him, he still cared about what happened to you. So when Seth started making a scene out of seeing you and Dina kissing, and calling the two of you a name, Joel was quick to his side and knocking him down to the ground. Though, you were quick to shut down him attempt of help in front of everyone, to which he ended up leaving. Now he was sitting on the porch with his guitar on his lap, mindlessly strumming a few of the strings when you appeared across the yard. The two of you looked at each other before you made your way to the garage, where you currently lived in beside the house. It wasn’t until a few minutes passed when he hears your footsteps in the snow and the creak of the porch that he sees you returning and standing against the porch railing. He sets his guitar aside and walks over to the railing, standing beside you. You made small talk about him drinking the cup of coffee until you got down to the discussion about the Fireflies and what happened at the hospital. You questioned him about the lies he said to you the day in the car, that raiders came, killed all the Fireflies, there were other immune people, etc. But the more he told the truth to you, the two of you were tearing up and he could just manage a shake of his head to your questions. Then when he told you he was the one that killed all eighteen Fireflies and Marlene, you looked away and he let’s out a shaky breath as he looks to the snow on the ground, “Making a cure... would've killed you.”