Endure & Survive

"If you say so." He shrugged, taking a sip of his drink once more. He looked at the women and nodded. "Yeah I guess...I guess that's true." It still didn't change his mind, he still felt like he would fail them, he always seem to feel the people he cared about most.

"I know." Steve said with a gentle nod, so much more gentler lately than he'd been in what felt like so long. "It's okay, I think I'd rather you take it out on me than Ellie anyways." He reached back out now to gently pat Joel's shoulder. "Yeah well, it's our turn to make up for all those years of you taking care of us - I know it's not easy, trust me, I know ... think of it as your way of making up the last two years to us." Not that Joel needed to make it up, but anything to make him feel better about all of this. He frowned at the knee in question now, a pang going through his chest - head tilting slightly. "I can talk to him? Tommy? Try to convince him to let them up your dose? Promise I'd keep an eye on you?"

He let Joel hold onto his arm, his other arm going to drape across his back for extra support. Slowly they made their way up, and truthfully Steve could admit this wasn't easy on him either ... seeing Joel like this, remembering why they were there in the first place, but he wouldn't voice any of that out loud. This wasn't about him and his feelings anyways.

Joel winced softly, trying to hide that he was in pain. A habit, he couldn't seem to break. "Nah, I shouldn't be takin' it out on either of you." He sighed. Things had been different, people were different. He saw it in everyone, Ellie, Tommy, Dina and Steve. Everyone changed when he was hurt. "She won't talk. Tell me what happened, when I was out." He admitted. "With the girl. with Abby." He looked at Steve and frowned. "I'm worried she lost herself, like I did...after Sarah." He sighed.

He had reached all the way here, deliberately. That man came over to hunt, exactly as he had mentioned before and yet, Shauna wants to doubt him. But he seems honest and that irks her. But, why? This could be the key, the chance for them to get out of here...

Why does she feel a strange tingling feeling on the pit of her stomach? Was it fear... or a craving?

Shauna hesitates when the conversation is thrown back to her. He doesn't linger upon it, though, instead inviting her to do something with their time. Far away from the girls she is so angry at, into the proximity of a man she doesn't know about and still feels like she could cling to. Anyone is better than the girls playing fantasies with each other...

She tries to ignore it, that thorn in her heart making her remember about the father who abandoned her. And the mother that probably moved on with her life, by now.

Why would this man even try to know about someone so... unwanted? She takes a light bite of her lips, keeping the knife low, in tune with her gaze.

"I... I'm a Yellowjacket." She admits, hesitant to see if there is even a semblance of a reaction. Had they all forgotten about them? Were they even missed? "I guess I've had enough time to learn how to butcher dead things."

When he speaks of his kid, the thorn in her heart grows vines. A father, missing his child so much that he needs an escape from it. An empty nest... Instead of a nest abandoned. She scoffs to brush off the nausea building up. The contrast is staggering, it feels like she is being mocked somewhat.

Joel dig in his mind to try and remember when the girls plane had went down. He remembered Ellie talking about it when it had happened. He remembered the news reports on and the girls parents talking on the news. It had been over a year ago now. That was a really long time to be out in the middle of nowhere.

His choice was not to pry. Not to urge her to talk about what she’d been doing. She remembered when Tommy had gotten back from overseas. How Joel had tried to get him to talk but it only made things worse.

“Well nice to meet you. I’m a contractor, nothin’ special. Work construction. I like to build things.” He told her with a shrug. “But I do like to hunt. Used to go with my brother and our dad when we were young. Not so much now.”

“Yeah. I’m the lucky one.” He chuckled. “She found me when I was in a real bad place. Saved me in a way. That’s a long story though.” He set his pack and his gun down by a tree stump.

“Brown huh? That’s impressive. Ivy League.” He smiled. “Smart girl.” He nodded. “If you did, I’d just have to find myself another, but I appreciate you not. I’m pretty hungry.” He told her as he picked the deer up. “Wanna help me hang it?” He asked.

“We like honesty.” Genuine was few and far between, it was hard to trust what was real and what was fake and oh how the secrets piled up like mountains. If there was no trust, they weren’t a team. They needed a team.

Chitty watched him curiously, her tongue in her cheek and her pen twirling between her fingers. She had to ask. The company treated the boys as if they were products rather than people. That’s why Sera has assembled the team she had so far; ensure the boys were treated like the real humans they were instead of the brand they pushed. “Yes, each one is very different than the next.” All came with challenges, all came with beautiful positives as well.

He leaned back. “Look I don’t know much about this industry. My daughter is a fan. I went to a concert once when a couple of years ago and honestly it was hell. I, a grown man, was scared.” He chuckled. “Last concert I’d went to was with Sarah’s mom before she was a born, very different time. Very different crowned. No one was had phones nothing like that.” He shrugged. “But I do know how to protect. It’s something’ I’ve been doing for the last eighteen years. So I got that going’.”

He shook his head. “I don’t give a shit about the company. If I get this job, which I hope I will. My priority will be these guys. To protect them, which is what I will do he nodded. “You have my word.”

Steve didn't know what had come over him, to step between Joel and the drunk man. He knew it was stupid, he knew Joel was right and that he could handle it himself - he'd seen it plenty of times - but he'd just seen the guy about to attack the closest thing he'd ever had to a father and threw himself in front of Joel before he could think about it. Everything kind of felt like a daze at first, loud ringing in his ears, hardly registering the guy being thrown out.

Joel reached into his pocket for a handkerchief, and pressed it to Steve’s face gently. “Alright, tip your head back, kiddo.” He told him.” He looked to the bar tender. “You got any ice?” He asked softly. His gaze turned back to Steve.

Losing Joel for the past two years had been one of the hardest things to go through, Steve had tried his best to get by every day. To be there for Ellie, to help out with Dina and JJ, to do what he could - where he could ... But God, none of it felt right. Nothing felt the same anymore, the very obvious missing piece looming over all of them. A day didn't go by where he didn't just hope and pray to the God he didn't even believe in that Joel would wake up ...

And then there was the anger, the anger he'd held onto for so long - the anger that had moved him through doing everything in his power to avenge Joel, the anger that had gotten people killed, the anger that fit so easily like a glove once he'd started to wear it. There was still that heart though, of course, and Abby should count herself lucky every single day that there was.

Joel sighed. "I don't mean to be snippy." He told Steve. "I'm just not used to bein' the one that needs takin' care of. That was always my job." He admitted. His hand move to his knee. "You know the headaches and the ringing in my ears, I can deal with. This damn knee. It's fucked." He let out a breath. "Pain meds the doc gave me ain't even working, course, Tommy is making him give me the lowest does. Thinks I'll end up like our dad." He rolled his eyes. "I only had my damn knee blown to bits." He muttered gripping the rail.

"Alright, lets go, I gotta lay down. I'm too old and too weak to just be standing around anymore." He said softly grabbing onto Steve's arm. He had a lot of questions about the two years. About everything that happened. He hadn't asked yet. He was scared. Scared he'd ruined his kids. Scared they'd turned into him.

Normally this would be Sera's responsibility, or Minho's - certainly not Chitra's. But the two were wrapped in other meetings, and they trusted her to sniff out rotten ones that wouldn't take care of the boys. They were all very protective of them.

He looked out of place to say the least. She sat back, arms crossed and head tilted as he went on. Her brows raised slightly and a small smirk tugged at glossed lips. "You are honest." She remarked, amused by the admission that he wasn't qualified.

"I try to be. When it counts." He admits. Joel took in a breath, leaning in over the table. He could smell her shampoo, it was sweet. He cleared his throat and looked at her.

He thought for a moment. "Well it depends. I'm sure each of the boys is different right? So depending on which was it is I'd approach it different each time. I think first thing I'd do was call the studio and tell them that we'll be late, cause chances are it's gonna take a bit to deescalate the situation."