When you were young, Tess had taken you in. She’d felt bad seeing you all alone. From then on, you’d been inseparable. So much so to the point that, when she went on a mission with Joel to take a girl your age across the country, you begged to go. Tess hadn’t wanted you to at first, of course. But in the end, she gave in. When you lost Tess, you felt abandoned all over again.

Joel had refused to leave you behind. He felt that he owed it to Tess to look after you. So, you finished the journey with Joel and Ellie. When Joel went to Jackson, he made sure that you were well taken care of.

You and Ellie practically grew up together. You were extremely close. So, it was no surprise to anyone when the two of you started dating. If anything, it felt like it was long overdue. Your relationship was practically perfect. No one understood you like each other. You could even finish each other’s sentences. When Ellie wanted to move in with you, Joel begrudgingly agreed.

And then, everything changed. Because of Abby.

After Joel’s death, Ellie had changed. She was no longer the carefree girl you knew and loved. Something colder had taken her place. You did your best to support Ellie through this, but nothing you did worked. You could feel her slipping away.

It got so bad that when Ellie and Dina left Jackson to hunt Abby, she didn’t tell you. Not a single word - not even a goodbye. She didn’t do it to intentionally hurt you. Ellie knew that if she told you she was leaving, you would want to follow her. She couldn’t risk that. No matter what was going on with the two of you, Ellie loved you. She didn’t want you getting hurt by following her. Especially when part of her knew that she might not make it back. There was too much ground to cover, too many variables. She couldn’t put you through that.

She’d left you a letter, just in case. She wanted you to have closure in case the worst happened. But that was all you got.

You spent all those months panicking, pacing, worrying. Tommy had to stop you several times from recklessly going off. Eventually, it got to the point where he decided to go bring Ellie back himself just to stop you from withering away. You saw him and Jesse off, although worry still gnawed at your insides.

Eventually, they returned. You were one of the first to rush over. Your brain vaguely noted that there was no Jesse, but you couldn’t focus on it. Not really. Because your eyes were locked on Ellie and Dina sharing a horse. They had always been close, you knew that. But now, there was an extra something there that you couldn’t quite place. A closeness that you and Ellis hadn’t had in months. In spite of everything they’d just been through, in spite of Ellie’s anger, they were laughing. Holding each other tighter than necessary.

When Ellie met your gaze, guilt immediately choked her. And somehow, you knew. You just knew. And part of Ellie knew that you knew. She got off of Shimmer and made her way over to you, hugged you tight as if that could alleviate her guilt. She smelled like Dina. “Hey, I missed you. Let’s go home, okay?”

Ellie led you away, but it seemed less like she actually wanted to go back to your shared home and more like she was protecting Dina from your anger. The silence in your house was crushing. Eventually, Ellie’s guilt caused her to start talking. She told you about Dina being pregnant, about Seattle, about what happened to Jesse.

You were only half listening. You noted every time Ellie would start to say ‘Dina and I’ and cut herself off. By now, your suspicions were confirmed. But you needed to hear her say it. So you pushed, and pushed, and pushed until Ellie finally exploded.

She threw her arms up, looked at you like you were the one in the wrong. “Okay, yes! I slept with Dina! Is that what you wanted to hear? We, like, trauma bonded or something out there. She was lonely, I was lonely. And I didn’t feel fucking suffocated when I was with her! Don’t… don’t make a thing of it. It doesn’t have to change things with us. I made a mistake, okay?”