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WHO: Tess and Joel, Tess and Ellie
WHERE: Georgia??, Joel's House
WHEN: idk i'm lost in time
WHAT: Stalking, babysitting
WARNINGS: Nah

[For Joel]

Tess pulls into the parking lot with relief. Not that she hates driving, but... well, actually, considering she's been driving for like five hours, she's feeling like she hates driving right this moment. God, how does Joel do it? If it weren't for the radio, she'd probably have driven herself off the fucking highway and into a tree just to put a little excitement in it.

Wherever Joel's going, she didn't fucking plan for this. She'd been planning to confront him at his house when she'd seen him leaving, and then she'd followed him, and now it's five fucking hours later and her initial intense curiosity about where he is goddamn going is being crushed by the weight of her boredom.

Five hours of boredom.

But now he's pulling into one of those shitty highway-side diners and parking, and Tess pulls in after him. She scrapes a parked car in the process, and then does an "adequate" job parking. Fuck it.

And then she gets out and follows him into the diner.

Fuck tailing him, she'd rather talk to him.

----------------------

[For Ellie]

She's only doing this for information.

That's what she tells herself, at least. She's still unsure about what her place is in Joel's life and vice versa, and since their last encounter things have been tense between them, but she know she at least needs to find out more about Joel and Ellie's history. She has to know, really, because getting Joel to talk about anything now after all they've been through is like ripping out your teeth with your bare fingers.

So here she is, "babysitting."

Tess shucks her backpack down on the couch next to Ellie.

"So Joel's out of town with Jesse. Good enough reason for a few girls-only days, right?"

She says it so straight-faced that even she doesn't know if she's joking or not.

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Thank Christ, thinks Joel as he pulls the rental car into a parking space and kills the engine. As much as he's glad these new routes and new drop destinations don't take him as far north as they used to, driving all these hours is murder on his already tense shoulders and back and neck. He climbs out of the car, rolls his neck and feels it pop in two places - and glances sharply over at a car scraping another car as the person parks it.

A brief crunching, scraping metallic sound echoes across parking lot. Jesus, what an idiot. Not his problem, though. And so, dismissing it from his mind, he pockets the car keys after locking the car up and heads into the diner.

He pays a quick visit to the bathroom first, washes his hands, heads back out into the diner and takes a seat one of the booths close to the exit. A bored-looking woman chewing gum comes over and puts a menu down in front of him while he orders a coffee, and she scribbles quickly on her notepad with a nod of her head and makes her way behind the counter to fetch the coffee pot.

Hypervigilant of his surroundings though Joel almost always is, he hasn't yet noticed who's also in the diner. Why? Because he's fished his burner phone from out of his jeans pocket and is about to send Ellie a text message to see how she's going, like he always does when he makes a stopover at a diner or a cafe.

Tess is at the front entrance for only a moment before she catches the hostess's eye.

"My partner just walked in..." she says, all pleasant and easy-going despite her mood, and when the hostess nods her head in Joel's direction, she smiles. It's not the nicest smile, but that's probably five hours of driving talking. "Thanks."

She takes a menu from the hostess and walks ten steps to Joel's booth and slides onto the bench across from him. She flips open her menu as she does, but she keeps her eyes on him –– she'd like to see his reaction, even if she'd love to be that nonchalant.

"So you do answer your phone sometimes?"

am in geor Joel begins texting when he sees someone out of the corner of his eye approaching the booth, and hears the faint groan of old creaky pleather as the person takes a seat opposite. Joel snaps his eyes up - and the blank, uneasy surprise that settles on his face is unmistakeable. His back straightens and his shoulders go rigid and tense. His hand suddenly clutches his burner phone tighter than necessary.

He throws a wild glance around the diner as if looking for some explanation as to why Tess is seated opposite him. When his attention cuts back to her, he regards her with standoffish wariness, like he doesn't trust her, or like he's still frankly fucking terrified of the fact that she's alive, that she's here.

But then, his lips press into a thin line, his jaw clenches and his eyes harden, and he leans forward to hiss quietly at her, "The hell're you doin' here?"

Satisfied that he's bugging out instead of pulling a gun on her, Tess dares look away to look down at her menu. Now she can be nonchalant.

"Checking in on you," she says, and then she adds: "What the hell are you doing here?"

Checking in on--? She says it like she's making a comment about the goddamn weather.

Completely ignoring her second question, Joel exclaims (quietly, only loud enough for Tess to hear), "You followed me here?!"

Tess looks up at him again and makes an exasperated gesture, which is something like a subtle way of throwing her hands up in the air in frustration.

"Yeah, I did, because you were leaving when I pulled onto your street, and I didn't feel like turning around," she replies.

If it wasn't for the fact that looking right at Tess sitting opposite him makes his insides twist and knot up uneasily, he'd snap at her how goddamn stupid that was of her to follow him. Instead, he lets out a terse sigh and sits back with a slump, looking towards the window with a shake of his head.

Screw it. He's gonna tell her how goddamn stupid that was of her. 'Cause if she pulls that kind of stunt again, especially with all the heat that's on Jesse...

He leans forward again. "That was real goddamn stupid."

Tess doesn't really care that he's called her stupid, nor does she mind his tone –– that's just Joel, take it or leave it, and she's never known him to be particularly delicate when he's cornered. She knows what she's done, and she's fine with it. Guilt is, after all, the most useless sentiment in the book.

Instead, she's annoyed that he holds back for a second before laying into her. She lifts her chin a touch and fixes him with a hard look.

"Yeah? Tell me all about it, because I'd love to know what the hell either of us is here for. What we're doing here."

"There is no 'we'. You followed me."

Harsh? Perhaps. As far as Joel is concerned, though, there'd been no 'we' between Tess and himself for over a year now. Just because she's now alive doesn't mean he's in any way gone back to thinking of Tess and himself as partners. Definitely not yet, anyway. Former partners, sure. Current partners? Hell, he can barely wrap his mind around her being alive.

"And we're both fucking here," she retorts, just as fast, but what he's said stings anyway. Weeks ago she'd told him that he didn't know anything about her after so many damn years of partnership, but now suddenly he's the one saying they're not a unit and she's hurt. "If you talked to me, I wouldn't need to follow you, would I?"

"The hell is there to talk about?" he shoots back.

Truthfully, there's a hell of a lot to talk about, but Joel doesn't want to talk about any of it. Things happen and you move on - that's the way he's coped for the last twenty years and goddamn if he's going to change that now. Especially with Tess. Christ, just looking at her hurts if he lets himself think too deeply about it. Hurts, and also causes a kind of inexplicable simmering resentment.

Just then, the waitress returns to the table with the coffee pot. Joel sits back again and tries to pretend everything is fine and normal (how tense he is probably belies him) while the waitress eyes Tess before pouring Joel a cup. "Cup of coffee?" the waitress offers to Tess.

Just like magic, Tess immediately relaxes into her "PR" self: utterly at home leaning against the table, a smile blooming on her face and looking up to the waitress attentively. She's friendly but cool, like she's just this surly guy's wife or girlfriend or something. Utterly harmless.

Inside, she's boiling with frustration.

"Absolutely," she says. "And waffles with Nutella and banana, please."

Her eyes drift to Joel, and she smiles just enough to show teeth, like she's daring him to break cover.

"Do you want anything to eat, sweetheart?"

He used to wonder how the hell Tess could do that - be hard as nails one second, switch gears and be sweet as pie the next. It was part of what made her a great deal more scarier than him back in the zone: Tess knew how to threaten to slit a guy's throat while sounding sweet as pie, even kittenish about it. In fact, she even scared Joel a little when he very first met her all those years ago. As he grew to know her, though, he came to appreciate that kinda terrifying trait of hers, even at times found it a little amusing.

He's not finding it amusing right now. Far from it. If anything, it makes him unsettled.

He shifts in the booth, the old cracked pleather creaking underneath his weight. Not wanting to cause a scene of any kind, nor draw any attention to himself, he only fixes Tess with a sharp look before he's glancing up at the waitress. "Uh. Chili fries with cheese."

The waitress scribbles their orders down on her notepad and then fills up a cup of coffee for Tess. Joel waits until she's well out of earshot before turning his attention back on Tess and leaning forward once again, keeping his voice low.

"What d'you think you're doin'?"

"Keeping you from causing a goddamn scene," she replies, voice dropping again, and she looks down at her coffee to recompose herself. Frustration, bitterness, even a little regret, though she'd never admit it. She could be nicer about it, but that just wouldn't be her.

She can lie to all the strangers in the world, but as a rule she tries not to pull that bullshit on Joel.

"Look," she says. "I could have waited for you to return a phone call or pluck up the courage to get in touch, but you know that's not how I do things. It's not how you do things, either."

"Keeping me from--?"

This woman. Jesus Christ. She tailed him all the way to Georgia and she says she's keeping him from causing a scene. And no, no that's definitely not how she does things - Tess has never been the patient type - but Tess has no idea how much shit she could have caused by following him here.

He ignores the part where she says it's not how he does things. He's not even going to get into any of that - whether he was planning on getting in contact with her or not. Maybe he was, maybe he wasn't; either way, he wanted it on his terms, damn it.

But that's not how Tess does things.

"You do realise that you tailin' me could've ended up landing me in prison? Hell, even the death penalty?"

She smiles tightly.

"That's a real big risk after living in Boston for all those years, right? Prison, wow... and here I thought execution on the spot was rough."

Joel's jaw tightens. As much as Tess has a point, she's completely missing the point. If he got caught peddling fifty pounds of meth, there'd be no freedom for him anymore. After all those years of living in Boston - and hell, that whole year he spent getting Ellie to the Fireflies - he's had enough with doing hard time. Not to mention he'd go out of his mind not being able to be close to Ellie.

"Yeah, well, you wouldn't be talkin' to me at all if you got my ass landed in prison."

He goes to pick up his coffee for a sip, realises his hand is a little unsteady, thumps his hand on the table instead. "Jesus, Tess, what is wrong with you?"

She knows what she wants to say: As if prison happens instantaneously? As if this place called the cops, they'd instantly know what to even arrest you for? Please. But she doesn't, maybe out of shame, maybe because the thump of his hand startles her a little.

She knows she's being a real asshole, even downright nasty, but sometimes lashing out is all that works. He's being fucking relentless with her, anyway. Fuck him for thinking there's anything wrong with her.

"There is nothing wrong with me, " she responds, more pointedly. "Fuck me for wanting to know what the hell my partner is doing, right?"

You ain't been my partner for over a year, Joel thinks to snap back. He holds it back, though, not wanting to rise to Tess' bait, not wanting to cause a scene and definitely not wanting to discuss the fact that Tess has been long dead to him until very recently.

He looks out the window again, at the cars parked. He lifts a hand to gesture towards the parking lot. "Was that you parking like an idiot and scrapin' that person's car?"

Edited (PARKING NOT PRAKING) 2014-12-14 07:12 (UTC)

"They shouldn't have a giant car that sticks out past the lines," Tess replies, pointedly. "That's not an answer to what I asked, Joel."

Fuck, he feels cornered. His eyes slide across to the exit and he considers for just a second splitting this place. Slapping down some money for the meal he hasn't eaten yet plus a tip, heading out to the car and driving off.

But Tess would just follow him, wouldn't she? Fucking probably.

He leans forward again, voice low and sharp, only loud enough for Tess to hear. "Look, I am not discussin' this with you here, alright?"

She knows that look on his face –– she'd know the look of a flight risk on anyone's face.

"You sit here, you eat with me, and then we both leave in your car, and we can talk about it on the road," she replies, smooth as ever.

For probably the first time since he very first set eyes on Tess in this place, Joel looks right at her without almost instantly averting his gaze. He stares at her hard, like he's got a pretty indignant and angry retort to her command. She really has got him cornered now, though. He knows if he ignores her or if he defies her, she'll just make things worse for him.

The hard look on his face eases into something irritated, uncomfortable, relenting. The way he sits back, broad shoulders slumping slightly, says everything: she's won this round. Fine. He'll sit here, eat with her and leave with her in his car.

Fuck.

A hand comes to rest on the table and he's the first to break eye contact, fingers drumming with subtle agitation. Under the table, his left leg is jiggling in much the same manner.

"You're a real piece of work," he says in a low voice, eyes sharply cutting back to her.

Tess holds his gaze, if only because she knows she needs to put her money where her mouth is. If she backs down, he'll weasel out... and while she can imagine why, it still aggravates her that she's even needed to go this far at all. God, why the fuck is he being so cagey?

"Give me a break. You're still a piece of work, too. Twenty years don't vanish just because you've been here for a month or two."

Don't he fucking know it. Not that he lets himself think about the last twenty years, not if he can help it. Besides, he knows Tess is just saying that to be an asshole. Trying to rile a reaction out of him. One thing's for sure: she sure hasn't damn well changed.

"Six months," he corrects her. "Goin' on seven."

Six months without Tess. Hell, almost a whole year and six months without Tess.

She hadn't known that much, but she rules it from her face. She's still watching him, mouth drawn into a firm line and eyes hard.

"Well, you're certainly not guilty about what you did back home, 'cause here you are, doing something illegal," she replies. "So you're pissed I'm here and I made you go and now you don't want me back. Is that it?"

She's feeling mean, but she's also feeling a lump growing at the back of her throat. She wasn't going to reconnect with him, she reminds herself. She was going to go it alone, and now she's gunning for the opposite. Christ, is she ever fucked up.

That - illegal - has Joel casting the briefest of inconspicuous glances around the diner, and then she hits him with that remark about not wanting her back. His gaze snaps back to her.

Something about that makes him bristle and feel defensive, makes him want to just get up and walk off, like he's got to somehow shut her down before she starts talking more crap that makes him uncomfortable as hell.

He shifts forward again. "What did I just say? I said I ain't discussin' this with you here." The 'illegal' part, that is. He doesn't know how to address the rest of what she's said, lest of all in a diner with people around, and so he decides to ignore it. Sitting back, he picks up his coffee mug. "And keep your goddamn voice down."

Tess doesn't reply, she just breathes out her nose and focuses on her own coffee for a minute. She never got much of a taste for coffee even before the outbreak and scarcity, but for some reason it's alright now.

Keep her voice down. Like anyone in this room would do that. She's so used to people full of fear, people determined to mind their own business unless they get swept up into trouble too. The notion that anyone might act against her unless they actually had any personal authority to is laughable.

Joel thinking otherwise is almost jarring to her.

And then, after a moment, she says: "How long on the other end? Out of Boston, I mean."

Joel sips his coffee, not truly tasting it and not truly sure he wants to answer her question. He sets the mug down and watches his thumb trace up and down the curve of the ceramic handle.

He could avoid it like he wants to, but he knows she'll probably keep on at him about it until he gives in.

"Almost a year," he reluctantly supplies.

She isn't sure what she expected.

She couldn't see a year on Joel's face, nor on Ellie's, but then again, she hadn't been looking nor had she thought to look. Almost a year, and then seven or so months in Heropa? Tess feels a little taken off-guard by it. A year and a half, almost two years total. That's a long time. It's been a month on her end –– total.

For once, she's at a loss for words.

"Joel, why the hell didn't you just tell me that?" is all she can manage.

Jesse is the only person she likes babysitting her when Joel is gone, but seeing as he's gone with Jesse, this is miserable. She doesn't need a babysitter and she certainly doesn't need it to be the woman who died because of her, but here they are. Ellie's knees are drawn up to her chest, and she finds herself wishing Joel was here so that she at least didn't have to be the focus of Tess' attention.

"Um, yeah, guess so. What... do you feel like doing?" It's awkward and unsure. She has no idea how to talk to Tess. Do they pretend nothing happened? Do they pretend to be buddies? Do they just talk?

Hell if Ellie knows.

Being honest, Tess doesn't know, either. She stands over the couch with a somewhat passive look on her face, unmoved by Ellie's response. She's never known Ellie to be anything but awkward, though she'd generally think of Ellie as more belligerent than unsure. Then again, what the fuck does Tess know? She'd had a collective twelve hours with the kid prior to the showdown in the house a week earlier. What the hell could she possibly expect, given the elephant in the room?

It makes her a touch uncomfortable to think of Joel putting someone else before her. Joel never would have asked her to stay behind before Ellie, after all. She'd agreed, but mostly to find out more. Ellie is chattier.

Or was.

"Joel showed you how to have fun yet?" Tess asks. Then, as an afterthought, she adds: "Or Jesse, I guess?"

There's a strange urge to defend Joel--what, he's fun--but she decides to keep that to herself. Tess knows Joel. Knew Joel. No need to start a debate about it. So, she just sighs and fiddles with her fingers.

"They're both good teachers," she answers. "They've both shown me lots of stuff. Practical, fun..."

Joel was obviously the practical one.

She knows what Joel likes to do with fun, but somehow it's too much of a stretch to imagine Joel drinking with Ellie, or any of the things Tess and Joel do together. As a result, she doesn't really buy it; she's never known Joel to be fatherly or brotherly or any sort of friendly with children, and it's difficult to imagine a side of him that she doesn't know.

Then again, she's discovered that is the case, and that makes her uncomfortable.

"I met Jesse when I got here," she says, a little flippant. "Tacos and donuts and riding around in that ridiculous car, huh?"

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