growing pains

“Ellie’s gonna be out there one day.” He says, cutting her off. Beneath his exhaustion, he feels the first creeping tendrils of dread that he’s been resisting since it happened, imagining his little girl grown up and on a patrol of her own, imagines her bright, proud grin.Imagines her eyes going glassy from someone else’s goddamn mistake getting her killed.“Jesus Christ,” he says, already winding himself up. “All it takes is one fucking mistake, and she’s gone, Tess.”(even four years after starting this life with tess and ellie, joel still has a few scars from the past that act up)