'LOU, I do not have the energy for this!' Ralph called after her as two sets of footsteps echoed up another flight of stairs, still recovering from the last two he had just climbed up.

'It'll be soooo worth it, Dad!' Her voice bounced off the walls, conveying the smile in her tone perfectly. 'Just hurry your lazy asses up already!'

'Jesus Christ, where did you get her?' Joel sighed, stomping up the stairs the girls had disappeared up and turning his head to glance back over his shoulder.

Ralph swatted him once on the shoulder. 'Watch your tone, dickshit. That's my kid.'

Joel didn't say much, only rolled his eyes and walked on with Ralph right behind him, ushering him forward whenever he paused for a little too long. After the neverending staircase and continuous motivation from the girls, wherever they might've been within the building, they came across an open doorway with a gap in the wall.

It led into another room, most of which had been entirely overrun by greenery and freely looked out onto the city ahead of them. Ellie had standing close to the edge of the gap, and Ralph was about to scold her and tell her to step back when he noticed what they had brought them all the way up here for.

'Holy motherfucking shitballs.' He stared at the giraffe in front of him like he couldn't believe his eyes, jaw dropped in a grin, one of the biggest ones Lou had ever seen him crack in her whole life.

'Told you you'd like it.' His daughter replied smugly, watching him walk right past her without any acknowledgment and to the edge right next to Ellie, watching the animal chomp on a mouthful of leaves like it was the holy grail. Joel followed not a second afterwards, looking amazed by the mammal as well.

After setting his rifle down on the ground, he walked over to the main patch of plants and began to pull handfuls of leaves from it. It made a small bit of sound.

'Don't scare him.' Ellie said in a hushed voice.

'It's a her.' Ralph corrected excitedly, still smiling. 'You see her little horns? They're thin, the boys have thicker ones.'

'I won't.' Joel assured her, grinning at his knowledge before handing him and Ellie stems of leaves. He looked over his shoulder at Lou, who shook her head adamantly from where she was hiding in the corner, not wanting anything to do with this.

The animal trudged towards the two of them as they held the food in their hands, a big, tan-colored mouth pressing against their palms to try and steal it from them. Ralph gave his up easily in exchange for the opportunity to pet it, scratching his fingers along the fuzzy muzzle in front of him, murmuring to the animal, and listening to it grunt in appreciation.

Next to him, Ellie was holding her handfuls of leaves very awkwardly, watching the giraffe move to its next victim with a swivel and another snort of demand. The animal leered forwards to snatch it from her, but she was standing too far back for it to reach.

Ralph placed a hand on Ellie's shoulder and guided her forward, putting his joy on hold to let his parenting skills take the stage.

Speaking of parenting, he looked back at Lou as she hid in the shadows, arms crossed in seriosity. He didn't bother to convince her, knowing she was stubborn in her dislike for anything that wasn't human, but he offered her a subtle nod to let her know the offer was still on the table.

'Hey there.' Ellie cooed as the creature sniffed her hand, scooping up the leaves with one swoop of a dark purple tongue. Ellie giggled a little bit, not expecting the rough texture to tickle when it came into contact with her. She held up her other hand, offering more to the animal, and began to full-on squeal in laughter when the tickling happened again, along with her general amazement of what was happening. 'Lou, you gotta check this out!'

'I think I'm fine.' Lou said dully, shaking her head once again as the three of them turned to face her.

'I don't think you are.' Ralph shook his head right back at her, taking his hand from Ellie's shoulder to turn on his heel and begin to walk towards her. Her expression shifted like she knew exactly where this was going.

'Don't you even- Dad!' She shrieked when he wrapped an arm around her stomach and swung her over his shoulder like it was nothing, hanging her upside down. Joel found that hilarious, laughing as she tried to fight back against him and making Ellie snort a little bit as well.

'Oh, great, you scared her off!' He said sarcastically as the giraffe went off in search to find better things to do with her time rather than staring at this dysfunctional family.

'Put me down!' Lou was still shrieking, swinging her legs in fruitless attempts to kick him, not getting any form of help or support from Joel and Ellie as they laughed at her. 'You guys are evil, you know that? Ellie, help me!'

'Nah, I think I'm fine.' She said happily, walking past Lou and poking her in the stomach as she did so.

...

'SO, is it everything you hoped for?' Joel asked, leaning forward on the wall next to Ralph as he and Ellie watched their new giraffe friend from a distance. There were a few more outside, along with a baby one, and that one seemed to interest Ralph the most. The sky above them was grey, only getting darker as night crept up on them. They'd have to find someplace to sleep, soon enough.

'It's got its ups and downs,' Ellie said, smiling at him. 'But you can't deny that view.'

The door behind them fell closed, Lou emerging from it. She had announced that she was going to run away and find her own sanctuary after Ralph had "so publicly humiliated his only child," but gave that up instantly. She clambered down the metal steps and took the empty spot next to her dad, sitting with her back to the animals because she didn't have a lot of interest in the first place.

Joel looked at her, watching her with squinted eyes, before looking back at Ellie. 'Look, I don't know exactly where this hospital is...'

'Don't be like that,' Ralph chided his negativity, staring at the animals in the distance with his chin resting on his knuckles. 'We'll find it.'

'Sure,' Joel nodded in a rush, getting to his point. 'It's just... Maybe there's nothing bad out there, but so far there's always been something bad out there.'

'We're still here, though.' Ellie reminded him.

'I know. I'm only saying there's a risk.' Joel paused, looking back at Ralph and Lou and then turning to face Ellie again. He pushed himself up on his elbows and looked down at her sullenly. 'You don't have to do this. I just want you to know that.'

'...What do you mean? What else am I supposed to do?' Ellie was confused at his change of heart, as were the duo behind him.

'Nothing. We can just go back to Tommy's, we can forget about the whole damn thing, all of us.' He said with a shrug, turning around at the waist to present those behind him with the same offer, raising his eyebrows. Ralph seemed enticed, but he wasn't making any decisions, he was looking at Ellie to see what she thought.

'After all we've been through, everything I've done... It can't be for nothing.' She said quietly, fidgeting with her fingers. 'I know you mean well, all of you do. You guys wanna protect me, and you have. And when we're done, I promise, we can go wherever you want. Tommy's, sheep ranch, Canada, the moon... I'll follow you guys anywhere you go.'

She took a pause and a deep breath. 'But, there's no halfway with this. We finish what we started.'

After a moment of silence, Joel nodded. Ellie nodded back at him, looking at Ralph for his approval too. He was already walking towards her.

'You're a dork, Ellie.' He sighed affectionately, wrapping his arms around her shoulders in an unsuspected hug. She laughed against his shirt, hugging him back, when Lou added herself into the mixture and tackled them from the side.

Joel watched the group hug with amusement, happy to exclude himself from it until Ralph noted his absence. 'Jo. Joel. You know you want to, Joel.'

'Come on, don't ruin the moment.' Lou smirked at him.

'It's my final wish before the Firefly hospital!' Ellie called out, wiggling her eyebrows at him.

With a sigh and a drop of his shoulders, Joel slowly shuffled forward and joined the group hug, not letting on for a second that he was actually enjoying the way his face was buried against the side of Ralph's neck and the feeling of being able to give Ellie a much-deserved hug.

He pulled away shortly afterwards, ignoring the booing he received to get his idea across. 'It's getting dark, we should probably find a place to sleep.'

...

NOTES!
next chapter is filler but its also super duper gay so i feel like it cancels out u know????