Wrapped in silence and nothing else the two of you lay in the grass, staring up at the bright sunlight that broke through the glass tiles of the greenhouse.

Warmth sunlight kissed your (S/C) face, traveled over your wet hair, down your neck and between your breasts to sink into your stomach.

The warm air had helped you get dry within thirty minutes. Now you and Ellie just lay there, naked and limbs spread, while listening to the sound of leaves rustling.

Soft breaths escaped your lips while she had her eyes closed, dozing. Every now and again her nose twitched, soft breaths escaped her lips paired with mutters.

She had her arms crossed behind her head and rested it in her palms. Strands of her auburn hair tickled her cheeks, kissed her freckles.

For a long moment you let your eyes rest on her. She had a nice profile, with a cute little nose and round cheeks. There were still some childlike characteristics in her features.

It made her look soft, approachable. Likeable.

Yes, that was the word you felt like suited her best. She had this vibe to her that made you want to stick around, to spent time together.

All of a sudden you wondered how it would be like to travel the lands with her. Days and nights walking through places, pass cities and rest under the stars.

Confused by your own emotions you frowned and tore your gaze away from her. Perhaps you just needed a way out of the situation you were stuck in for way too long now.

And if you were completely honest with yourself you couldn't bear it any longer to keep fighting with your dad. There was a limit to everything and you could feel how you approached yours.

Slowly yet steadily.

With a heavy heart you too a deep breath and sighed in such a pressed way that Ellie popped one eye open to glance at you.

You could feel the weight of her eyes on your body. Not in an uncomfortable, staring kind of way but one that made you feel like your body was on fire.

She was curious.

"Wanna talk?", her voice was rough from the cold water.

Smacking your lips, you closed your eyes and shook your head.

"Nah.", you said with a grin. "Not with you."

A soft punch made your shoulder pulsate. Chuckling, you pushed her hand away.

Again, the two of you fell silent. But Ellie still looked at you, you could feel it. You wondered what it needed to get her to open up. She was curious to learn more about you. And you weren't uninterested in her story either.

You took a deep breath. One of your eyes opened to glance at her. You gifted Ellie a smile.

"Question for answer and answer for question?", you asked.

She frowned.

"You having a stroke?", she asked back.

You rolled your eyes.

"For sure.", wind made your skin pull together and your nipples harden. "I meant if you want to ask me a question you gotta answer one of mine in return."

Your gazes met. Fresh green collided with excited (E/C).

"Tell you all my secrets?", Ellie clenched her teeth in a playfully sarcastic manner. "I dunno man. What if you use it against me?"

You let out a snort.

"Like what? Snitch on you to the cops?"

"What cops?"

"Exactly.", you did a gesture to show her the entirety of the greenhouse, deserted with no life but nature. "There's no one here. Just the two of us. Some good old strangers who can just... burden each other and then part ways to never cross paths ever again. This your chance to get it all off your chest."

For a long, strangely long moment Ellie just stared at you. The smile had frozen on her face. Yet there was that shimmer hidden in the green of her eyes.

She was considering. But something held her back.

"Wound still fresh, huh?", the smile you gifted her was soft, apologetic.

Yet it empathised that you weren't a stranger to her kind of thoughts. To her suffering. She had lost someone, one didn't have to be a genius to figure that out.

Swallowing hard, Ellie tore her eyes away from you, turned back to face the glass ceiling and had to swallow hard again. A hint of tears shimmered in the corners of her eyes.

But she refused to cry in front of you. Or anyone. The wound seemed so fresh she didn't even want to cry in front of herself.

So she just swallowed the pain and poisoned her guts in the meantime. You related to that very well. Those times had been the darkest of your life.

"Maybe you already figured it out but it wasn't always just my dad and I.", your tongue spoke the words without your brain giving permission. "My mom used to be with us. She taught me how to shoot."

Ellie's lips curled. But she did not reply anything. You were about to talk on as she suddenly turned her head to the side again and locked eyes with you.

The expression on her face was blank yet the shimmer in her eyes gave away that she was glad she didn't have to go first.

"You said she was a hunter.", she recalled. "But I think that's bullshit. You'd shoot better if she were."

Amused, you snorted with such force that it made your nose crunch. A sour prickly sensation chased up your nostrils.

"She was a pretty bad teacher, actually.", you admitted while recalling the way she had yelled at you for wasting ammo on a tree. "I was fucking terrified of her. She was my archenemy until I grew big enough to fight back."

"She sounds like a handful...", Ellie's grin was crooked.

"She was... fuck she was worse than any drill sergeant. I'm sure she could have run the navy if she wanted to."

Ellie chuckled. But it faded quickly again.

"What happened to her?", the question hung heavy in the air.

Something inside your chest pulled together. Then guilt struck. Just how it always did.

"Infected.", you said.

It wasn't a lie. It wasn't the truth either.

Just something in between.

Ellie's eyes stared straight up into the sunlight. She swallowed hard.

"Had a friend once...", her voice was thin. "Her name was... Riley. She didn't make it either. Got bitten."

"Fuck that..."

"Yeah.", she huffed and almost winced at the same time. "Fuck that..."