By the time she got to Jackson, Joel and Ellie had already settled in nicely, and Tess had felt at loss of how to interact with the new 'duo' after having missed their entire relationship. Her bond with Ellie had picked up from where they had left it, on a decent note, because she liked the kid on top of having hoped that she might save humanity, and Tess had gotten from her the first explanation regarding why there was no cure being made. Her reunion with Joel had been marked with relief - for all they knew, she had been killed, and for all Tess knew they had been killed on their way to the Fireflies - and so she hadn't insisted, but she had seen the look on his face as Ellie explained that there were others like her and that the cure was a no-go. She had seen it, recognized something was off, and had waited until they were out hunting to pry.

Walking up the hill, she looked back to glance at their settlement. "Place looks good enough, it makes me feel like taking another vacation. And that's saying something, I spent so much time recovering from the broken leg I was itching to shoot something. Could've used some of those raiders from Salt Lake. Or was it Fedra that shot down the hospital?" She didn't try to hide her suspicion one bit, not now that they were alone, away from bullshit.

"You should train." Joel was going to be pissed but she didn't give a s.hit: he had chosen to keep this girl in this world, he had chosen to keep the girl in his damn house, he owed Ellie all the chances he could give her to survive on her own. "At least some more shooting and self-defense, but not taught by men. They don't have the first idea of how a woman should use her body to inflict maximum pain. Is that something you'd be interesting in?"

She had been forced to wait, restless and useless, for many months before finally being able to follow Joel's tracks; traveling alone was harder, not something to be attempted when even walking could be an issue, so she hadn't had much of a choice, and she worried about Joel for once, who had likely given her for dead, not something she expected him to deal well with, and had a kid to look after. The most important kid in human history, too. Hadn't expected Tommy to be a part of the Jackson welcome wagon, and to find out that the Millers brothers and Ellie were supposedly enjoying this idyllic place. What happened to the cure? But the relief temporarily took over her questions when she spotted Joel's familiar figure not too far. Damn nice looking house too. "Hey, Texas," she called loudly, breaking into an actual smile as she ditched Tommy and sped up so she could finally reunite with him. Had never been apart from him for so long. "Am I looking at a porch?"