#being the choosen one to save society isn't easy

[chellesdump]

Fallen Angel - Joel and Ellie

"Of course, Joel knows that Ellie isn’t exactly the most angelic kid ever, she is a force of nature getting in trouble at any given chance and never listening when she is given instruction. But if she wants to dress like an angel for the little Halloween party they throwing at the canteen, hell he’s getting her dressed like an angel even if Tommy says she would fit more into a demon costume"

word count ─ 1.6k

tags ─ little! kid! ellie, papa! joel, uncle! tommy & aunt! maria, poor ellie needs a chance on a normal childhood or as close as normal as you can get on a apocalyptic world, canon divergence

notes ─ This is for the Angel/Demon prompt. Canon events from the game up until the WLF comes to Jackson, Abby related events didn’t happened, Ellie is still mad at Joel for lying but like we know she gives their relationship a chance once again. Please enjoy this piece

Trying to rebuild their relationship had proven to be a hard matter, that day 3 years back had really put a strain on how much the relationship had progressed and it felt like they were back to the start of the Summer of '33.

But nonetheless Joel was glad that Ellie had given him another chance to be in her life, and he was going to make the most of it to get it back at were it was, he wasn’t to lose another daughter forever. He was going to be the best dad that Ellie could get, and no he wasn’t getting sappy, it was just that she deserved so many great things just like he had given to Sarah, both his daughters deserved to have the world at their feet.

For Ellie the world was getting brighter, she could finally truly relax snuggled against Joel in his… their living room watching some movie they had found on patrol, reading some of her comics or a book, even just sitting there hearing him do anything around the house was ideal. When they had settled into a comfortable relationship back when they were traveling the country, Ellie had started regressing, not that either she or Joel knew that back then, but they had always noticed that sometimes she would act more childish than any other teen they knew.

Once they came to live in Jackson they truly explored that aspect once a doctor in the community told them about the whole regression thing, none of them wanted to admit it, but the doctor explained that it was completely normal given the circumstances of the world, and they finally embraced it when she told them that lots of the teens/young adults that had come into the community did it as well.

So when she distanced herself from Joel it had put a huge strain on her mental health, she had leaned into her regression as her principal source to relieve stress but without Joel it just wasn’t the same, and she could not regress properly by herself or having anyone else taking care of her.

But all that was behind them, right at this moment Ellie was sitting on the floor of Joel’s woodwork studio drawing on her sketchbook while he carved a figurine, the mood was calm, each one in their own world until Ellie remembered something.

“Papa! I finally knows what I wants to be fo’ the party!” yelled Ellie turning to face Joel, almost cutting his finger at the sudden outburst he put everything down on the table, preparing to tell Ellie off for yelling but upon seeing the excitement on her face he decided against it.

“Really? What are you going to be?” asked Joel putting his whole attention on her, “Am gonna be Angel!!” exclaimed Ellie shaking from the emotion, then she started rambling about how all the other kids were going to be so jealous at the magnificence of her costume, Joel could only chuckle while listening.

He promised to make her the best Angel costume ever, the next day he went to the library trying to get all the books he could find with images of angels to try and sketch an idea of the costume, but he remembered that he was so bad at drawing things so he went to Maria looking for help. The next days he spent all his free time planning the costumes when he wasn’t on patrol, and when he was out would search for anything that could be used on Ellie’s costume.

—

Joel and Tommy were in a nearby town while patrolling to get rid of all the infected when he stumbled into a hardware store, Jackpot he thought going into the store hoping to find some things he needed from there. While Joel rummaged through the different aisles Tommy came inside as well and questioned his older brother's actions, “What are you exactly doing Joel? We should be looking for more infected to get rid of or go back home. You don’t need any more tools back home, I’m sure you already have enough of them to open your own hardware store back there”.

“I’m not looking for tools, I need some steel wire for the wings of Ellie’s costume,” said Joel going back to keep looking for the item, “You sure your girl should dress as an angel? I think a demon would be more fitting,” said Tommy holding back laughter, “She wants to, so I’m making sure she will. Now stop being such a pain and help me look for it so we can get going as soon as possible” grumbled Joel.

—

Once he had gotten all the necessary supplies Joel began the true making of the costume, measuring Ellie up to know what size the wings should be since he didn’t want her to stumble and hurt herself if they ended to big.

“Papa can we eats grilled cheese and ‘mato soup? Dina says Talia mades it fo’ her and was so tasty, so I wan’ some too p’ease” begged Ellie using her best puppy eyes, even if she knew that her Papa was wrapped around her little finger and would do anything she asked for, or at least that was what uncle Tommy said.

“Sure thing baby girl, once we are finished here we’ll go ask Tommy and Maria for some butter since a certain little girl ate all we had this morning at breakfast” said Joel teasing Ellie, making her let out tiny giggles and swear she didn’t know what her Papa was talking about.

As promised Joel and Ellie went towards Tommy and Maria’s house, upon arrival Ellie wanted to barge in but was stopped by Joel, “Baby girl, remember we can’t just barge inside, we need to knock so they let us in” reprimanded Joel, knocking on the door waiting for someone to open it.

Soon after Tommy opened the door to greet them, “What brings you here at this hour? Please come in, it’s getting a little chilly outside” said Tommy and when the last word came out of his mouth Ellie ran inside, “Unca’ Tommy, where’s Auntie ‘Ria? I wanna see her” exclaimed the little girl looking all around the first floor for her aunt, but not having luck with her mission.

“Is that my favorite little girl that I’m hearing? Have she come to visit me and give me lots of love?” asked Maria, faking surprise when she spotted Ellie and opening her arms for the running girl that was coming to her. With a tud Ellie crashed into her aunt’s arms and hugged her, getting kisses all over her face as a response, when the kiss attack finished she began to tell Maria all about her day.

“Guess what Auntie ‘Ria? Papa’s making grilled cheese and ‘mato soup fo’ dinner!!” mentioned Ellie when she remembered why they were there, “Oh really? You must be so excited about eating such a yummy dinner” said Maria chuckling at what could make a little kid so excited.

“Yes!! Dina says it’s so yummy, so I asked Papa for it and he said yes” said Ellie, overflowing with happiness, then she started to tell Maria what Dina had taught her that day when she went to visit her house.

“If you are making that for dinner then why are you here? It’s getting late and you should start on dinner if you plan on getting your little rascal in bed at a reasonable hour” asked Tommy clarifying how they are always welcomed, “We came to ask for some butter please, Ellie ate all of ours this morning and it’s so late to go and get some for the house” explained Joel, looking towards Ellie and smiling at how easygoing the girl is.

“She sure has you wrapped around her little finger, you basically bend at her will. First, you're making some wings from scratch for her angel costume and now you are making an elaborate dinner just cause she asked” chuckled Tommy patting his big brother’s back but then going to his fridge to fetch the requested item.

“What wings Unca’ Tommy? Angel Knives don’t have wings, she has big claws like Wolverine!” demonstrated Ellie throwing her arms around as if she were attacking with her fake claws. "Baby girl, didn’t you say you wanted to dress like an angel for the party?” asked Joel looking directly at the girl, “Yeah Papa, wanna dress like Angel Knives. I already told you, so silly Papa” giggled Ellie continuing to throw punches and kicks at the air.

With a sigh Joel took the butter from Tommy and grabbed Ellie’s hand going toward the door, “You going already brother?” asked Tommy chuckling, “Yes, I need to make dinner and get this little one in bed as soon as possible. Tomorrow is going to be a long day of me making fake claws for Ellie” answered Joel waving a final goodbye to Maria and Tommy before walking back to his house with Ellie on tow.

Of course, Angel Knives made more sense than an actual angel, but this one was on Joel for not asking Ellie more questions, it was a big lesson to learn. Tommy was right, Ellie has him wrapped around her little finger just like Sarah did, maybe he was just meant to be a dotting ‘girl dad’ and give into their shenanigans.

Especially when he had a tiny voice come to him at night and tell him Wuv you Papa, before snuggling next to him, his baby girl was more of a demon than an angel but he wouldn’t have it any other way, just enjoying these little moments when it was just them and no infected or bad people existed in the world of the Miller family.