This is my second oneshot based on The Last Of Us, I adore that game! I thought it would be nice to do something random with Joel and Ellie, I love their relationship throughout the game.

Prologue

After Joel got injured at the University it was down to Ellie to nurse him back to health, she would do anything to make sure he got better... even cooking.

-The Last Of Us is owned by Naughty Dog/ Sony Computer Entertainment

-Some of the parts of this fanfiction are in the game, other parts aren't in the game.

Keep safe and enjoy!


Winter - 2033

Ellie stared out of the abandoned house's basement window, it was getting colder. It had been snowing for days now, it was hard to get food in these times. She had searched the surrounding houses and a resort not far away from where she was sheltering with Joel, but there was hardly anything out there.

Three cans of kidney beans, a jar of salt and chicken seasonings won't stop the hunger pains or keep their stomachs full. She had already been out hunting today and managed to shoot herself a Hare with the aid of her trusty bow, but she would have had a Deer if it wasn't for those two guys she had bumped into this morning beyond the woodland.

It had been the perfect shot too, she had stalked the Deer for miles through the forest by following it's blood trail. By rights the Deer belonged to her, but she had traded the Deer in for some antibiotics for Joel. She had no other choice, she would do anything to make sure Joel was recovering from his injury.

James and David were the names of the strangers she had met in the outskirts of the woods, she had threatened them at first with her bow even if they did tell her they had starving families back at their settlement. She didn't really trust them, but she needed Joel to get better. She would have been back earlier if it hadn't been for that Infected attack on the barn she had been sheltering in with David, but luckily for them they had fought off the Infected together. They soon made the trade and Ellie left with the antibiotics, she was glad to see the back of those two strangers.

The minute she arrived back at the abandoned house she had injected Joel with the antibiotics, she had no idea if they would work since they were probably out of date. Joel's wound was sore and red still, she had tried her best stitching up his wound. Ellie's Mother had been a nurse, she was hoping some of her Mother's nursing traits had rubbed off on her. She had cleaned the wound and changed Joel's bandages everyday, she needed to keep the wound clean to stop any infections setting in.

Ellie's attention was soon drawn to Joel when she heard him cough, she closed the curtain to the little basement's window before she jumped down from the wooden crate she had been standing on. She hurried over to Joel's side and rested the back of her hand against his forehead to check on his temperature, his fever seemed to be breaking now. He shivered in his sleep, she had been trying to keep him warm but it was hard without being able to make a campfire. There was a fireplace in the living room of the building, but she didn't want to chance it in case any unwanted visitors showed up.

" The antibiotics must be working." Ellie said while she pulled the blanket to Joel's neck. " Thank fucking God for that!"

Ellie covered Joel up with another old blanket and left him sleeping, she had things to do like finishing off the stew she had been preparing for the last two hours. She had already skinned the Hare and gutted it, cut the meat away from it's bones. She had found a metal ladle in one of the nearby houses and a cooking pot, she had the idea of boiling the Hare meat.

Ellie had melted some snow in the pot by using the camping stove, she added the Hare bones into the boiling water about an hour ago. She had found a cook book in one of the surrounding houses, she read that you could make broth from animal bones. She knelt in front of the camping stove and stirred the water around with the ladle, it was beginning to smell rather good now without any seasonings in it. She ran her finger tip across the cook book's page and read the part about removing the animal bones before you add the meat, it sounded easy enough.

" Okay, let's add the meat next." Ellie said.

Scooping out the bones first into a bowl Ellie then added the meat to the boiling broth, she stirred the pot now and again while she opened one of the kidney bean cans with her switchblade. She poured the can's contents into the pot and let it cook together, she had no idea how the stew would turn out though. Ellie wasn't the world's greatest cook, but she figured it wouldnt be that hard to make stew.

Ellie stood up and stretched her hands above her head, it would be awhile yet until dinner was ready. She looked around the basement and puffed her cheeks out before she blew a raspberry, it was so boring down here. She swung her arms at her sides while she walked over to a pile of boxes, she was going to see what she could find down here.

" Let's see what we've got..." Ellie said.

Grabbing one of the boxes she sat down on the floor and opened it up, there were photo albums inside of it. She took one of the albums from the box and looked through it, the photographs were in pretty good condition still. There were wedding photos and family holiday snapshots of the beach, the sunshine in the pictures looked so inviting. She pushed the box to one side with her foot while she took another box from the pile, she opened it up and found some blankets inside this box.

" Score!" Ellie said, she looked over at Joel and smiled at him. " Hey Joel, I've found some more blankets!"

Joel groaned in his sleep, she had forgotten for a moment that he was sleeping. She pulled one of the blankets from the box and draped it around her shoulders, it smelt funky but it would keep her warm. Ellie continued to go through the other boxes and she found many useful things, some of items they would be able to use.

There were cans of out of date Spam, dried coffee in a jar, a tub of dried milk and three pairs of woolly gloves. Ellie immanently put a pair of the gloves on and wiggled her fingers, they were dark pink with yellow sunshine faces on them. They reminded her of an old soft toy she use to own as a kid, but she had dropped it in a puddle years ago when she was being moved around by Marlene before she ended up at the military school in Boston.

Getting up from the floor Ellie used the blanket she had found to cover Joel up, she then returned to the boiling pot. She used the ladle to scoop out some of the meat, she cut a tiny piece of meat in half with her switchblade and tasted it. The meat was cooked through perfectly, the flavouring from the broth made it extra juicy and flavoursome.

Ellie added a sprinkling of the chicken seasoning and a pinch of salt to the stew, she wanted to season the broth just a little bit more before she served it. She stirred the stew one more time with the ladle before she tasted the broth, it was kind of salty but it tasted good.

" It should be ready now." Ellie said.

Ellie switched the camping stove off and ladled some of the stew into a bowl before she took one of the spoons from her empty bowl, she was hoping this meal would warm Joel up. She carried the bowl of pipping hot food over to Joel and sat down next to him, she then gently shook his shoulder. She told him she had some food for him, he stirred in his sleep before he began to wake up. He slowly opened his eyes and focused on Ellie's face, he mumbled something under his breath.

" Hey there sleepy head, it's time to wake up!" Ellie smiled.

" Sarah, is that you?" Joel asked.

" It's me, Ellie..." Ellie replied while she stirred the spoon around in the bowl. " I've made you some... erm, I don't know what the fuck it is. But I'm hoping it's editable."

" It's smells good." Joel said.

" Smells can be deceiving, just like silent but deadly farts!" Ellie said with a chuckle. " Let's hope it tastes good, cooking isn't one of my strong points."

" Yeah, I've noticed." Joel said.

" Fuck you, just eat it okay!" Ellie smiled.

" I'm sure it's tastes fine, what did you put in it?" Joel asked.

" Kidney beans, a pinch of salt and some chicken seasoning. I made broth from the Hare's bones, impressive huh?" Ellie asked, she place the bowl down on the floor and put her backpack behind Joel's head. " I boiled the meat in the broth, I may call it Ellie's Hare Bean Stew... my speciality!"

" Hopefully I'll live to tell the tale." Joel replied.

" Shut up dude!" Ellie said, she laughed slightly at his remark. " Come on, eat up before it gets cold. You need to keep your strength up, it's not safe in these parts."

" Alright." Joel said.

" Here comes the airplane!" Ellie said, she picked the spoon from the bowl and made an airplane noise." Open wide!"

" Ellie, please..." Joel said.

" I'm just fucking with you!" Ellie said with a smile. " I'm trying to lighten the mood, now let's get this food down your throat."

Joel turned his head to one side while Ellie picked the pipping hot bowl up from the floor, she then spooned some of the stew into his mouth. She wiped some broth away from Joel's chin with her jacket's sleeve, Joel told Ellie that her stew was pretty good. He did mention that it could do with some more salt in it, but the stew was salty enough already.

Ellie felt proud of herself, she had actually made something decent for them to eat tonight. She told him that she had found some coffee and dried milk in one of the boxes down in basement, she said she'd make them some coffee after she had ate her food. Joel seen seemed to perk up a bit when she mentioned coffee, he had mentioned more than once that he loved coffee.

After Joel had finished his food he went back to sleep, Ellie made sure he was comfortable before she went to get her own bowl of stew. She carried her bowl of stew and a metal camping kettle up the staircase of the basement, she wanted to get a bit of fresh air while she ate her dinner. She quietly closed the door to the basement behind her and checked on Callus in the house's garage, she stroked the brown horse's long glossy dark mane before she gave him some nutty energy bar to eat from her jacket's pocket.

" You're such a good horse." Ellie said.

Callus grunted and nudged Ellie's arm with his nose, she couldn't help but giggle slightly. She patted his neck before she left to have a wander around the abandoned house, she had already searched it once for supplies. She looked at the old picture frames hanging on the walls, she opened cabinet draws and kicked an empty beer bottle along the floor.

Ellie stopped when she got to the open front door of the house, she swore she had closed that door when they first took shelter in this house. She placed the camping kettle down on the doorstep and sat down in the doorway, she watched the snow blowing around on the porch.

The snow was easing off a little now, she was happy that Callus's hoof prints had been covered by a fresh layer of snow. She peered outside and watched the snow falling while she spooned some of her food into her mouth, the heat from the stew could be seen floating on the breeze. She leaned her shoulder against the door frame and sniffled, the Moon was bright in the night sky.

The view from the house's front door was pretty, she imagined this area being full of happy families once. They probably had barbecues in the summertime and pool parties, things Ellie would never get to experience. She had been born after the infection had took hold of the world, but it didn't stop her from having fun on the odd occasion.

Ellie thought about Riley for a moment, she remembered that carousel ride in the Mall so clearly in her mind still. She missed her best friend, it was heartbreaking seeing her friend turn into one of the Infected and even more worse that she had to let Riley run free. Ellie thoughts were interrupted by some snow dropping onto her head from the door frame, she glanced up at the door frame above her and sighed deeply to herself.

" God, I hate snow!" Ellie grumbled.

After Ellie had finished her stew she scooped some snow into the camping kettle and closed the front door of the house, she then headed back downstairs to the basement. Joel was still sleeping, she switched the camping stove back on and lit it before she placed the kettle on it's hob. Taking two metal camping mugs from Joel's backpack she placed them down near the camping stove and spooned some coffee into both of them, she wasn't a big fan of coffee but she was so cold right now.

" I hate the cold..." Ellie muttered.

Ellie wrapped her arms around herself and shivered, her breath lingering in the air. She looked over at Joel and watched him sleeping, he looked so peaceful. She hoped that he would start getting better soon, they still had far to go yet. The Fireflies were out there, they just had to find them and help them to find this cure to save humanity from the infection that had the world on it's knees.