Upon entering the house they settled for shelter, it was in a suburban area, just a few miles off of a lakeside resort. TJ and Joel were where they left them, appearing as frozen as the shore, but still breathing.

"Here." Ellie gave the second syringe and bottle of penicillin to Maeve as she made her way for a deathly-looking Joel.

Both were ashen. It worried her. With the medicine in hand, she hurried for TJ, lowering herself next to the pallet he laid on. She'd covered him throw blankets and had a bundled sheet under his head. Unlike Joel, TJ stirred hearing the garage open and close. Small puffs left his mouth as he tried to adjust against the makeshift bed.

"TJ," she was soft-spoken as she prepared the syringe and medicine. "If you can hear me, I have medicine for you. Never mind where it came from, but it'll help you. You'll feel tons better later."

Maeve held the syringe in front of her face with the vile of medicine. The clear liquid filled the barrel. She bit her lip and set aside the vile to use her right hand to uncover TJ some. She peered over her shoulder just in time to see Ellie about to poke Joel near his stitches. She wanted to tell her to get his arm, but she was a bit late in expressing that. She turned back to TJ.

"TJ," she leaned closer to his face. "I'm going to give you this medicine now. Just a poke, it won't hurt much."

She set the syringe beside her, gently taking the collar of his coat and shirt, exposing his healing wound, the skin red from the stitches. She then reached for the syringe again, ready to poke it into the soft part of his shoulder when she found herself startled by strikingly blue eyes.

"Shit!" She jumped and then laughed lightly. "You scared the fuck outta me," she looked at him, "how are you doing?"

He squinted through his pain and focused on the syringe in her hand. "What is that?"

"Penicillin."

His pale face screwed up, confused. "Where'd you get it?"

"Never mind where I got it," she dismissed him. "It's going to help you. Just hold still, this will be quick."

He tensed up the second she poked him, but she was quick to inject the medicine and discard the syringe. A ragged breath left him and he relaxed again.

"There," she smiled softly, covering him up again. "Wasn't so bad, was it?"

He grimaced. "Never did like shots."

"Can't say I disagree with you." After a moment, Maeve was ready to lay next to him when she noticed he was still looking at her. "What's wrong?"

He shook his head and coughed a bit, wincing after. "You were gone for a while."

"Yeah." Her lips thinned, recalling the recent events. A sense of fear entered her bloodstream. And then anger. Fear of those guys, and then anger at the intimidation they tried to pull on them. From the beginning, she knew they were bad news. Even when they had kind smiles and helped them with the infected. David gave her the heebie-jeebies, but Adam...she didn't know what rubbed her the wrong way. Something about him that scared her deeply.

"From that expression," TJ began. "Something happened." He wasn't asking.

"You're very observant for a guy with a bullet wound."

"I know how to read people."

She sighed. "So you've said."

Wincing, TJ tried to get up. "Don't get up!" Maeve pressed her hand to his non-injured shoulder, forcing him back down. Perhaps he wasn't trying to get up, she thought, maybe he wanted to roll onto his better side. Either way, she hovered over his face, staring into his blue eyes.

Before, she wasn't able to stare into them carefreely, just quick looks. Then again, they were strangers a few months ago, back when she and Ellie were nothing more than just cargo.

In the past few months, they'd all grown together in their way. She tried keeping her heart guarded, she wanted to honor Jordan and his wishes so badly. He protected her in his last moments. She wondered what he would've done if he were still alive, what he would do in her situation now. What would he say? Maybe TJ wouldn't have been shot, and maybe Joel wouldn't have been attacked and thrown off that balcony at the university, and maybe they wouldn't be in this situation at all and already be with the Fireflies.

"Why are you crying?"

"I'm what...?" She sat back and reached for her face. Salty droplets raced down her cheeks. When did she start crying? It wasn't because she was thinking of Jordan, was it? She kept it together so far, she needed to hold on longer.

"We'll make it," TJ said in a reassuring tone and distracted her. "Joel and me. We're survivors."

A small smile upturned her lips. "I mean, of course, you two are. Who else can go up against a horde of infected or an army of delusional fanatics without dying?"

"Big words."

"Shut up." She rolled her eyes and glanced toward Ellie. She lay beside Joel, curled up, and resting.

"So...who was he?"

"Huh?" Maeve peered down at TJ after she wiped her face dry.

"Your friend," he stared up at her. "The one you're always talking about - the one who taught you to make dangerous toys."

She stifled a laugh. She supposed that was one way of putting it. Jordan taught her to improve the molotovs and bombs she'd made, she already knew how to make them from some engineering courses, but he put her mind into a new perspective. There could've been more for him to teach but then he left to join the Fireflies...and then he died in that fucking mall.

Her eyes grew moist again. No. She wasn't ready to talk, but maybe talking would ease the pain in her chest.

"You can say that" she finally answered. "He wanted me to know what he knew, so he taught me."

He blinked in surprise. "Oh. I didn't think you'd tell me about the guy. Kinda figured you'd shut me down."

"It's painful," she sniffled. "But he wouldn't want me to cling to his memory so obsessively."

TJ frowned at her words. "I'm not good at consoling, but it's okay to remember. Whoever he was, you cared about him."

Cared about, more like loved, she wanted to say but bit her tongue. She laughed softly, but it sounded more like a sob. When did this fool become so fine at comforting? She remembered they were always at each other's throats, but now they're...bonding? Could she even call it bonding? Bonding over the pain of the losses experienced, only it was one-sided.

"Another time," she decided. "Get some rest. The medicine should be kicking in soon."

"I feel fine now."

"Then it's already kicked in."

"What'd you give me anyway?"

"Penicillin," she answered despite having already told him a minute ago.

"Oh," he fell silent for a moment. "Where the hell did you find that?"

"From a very...generous group of people," she wiped her chin, not wanting to lie to TJ; after all, these people posed a threat to all of them. "Right before we got attacked by infected, you won't believe this, and a bloater."

His eyes went wide. "Shit."

"But that was way after we hunted some rabbits. Oh, I guess we did find a buck, but we had to trade it for the medicine."

"A buck?"

She nodded. "You know, a male deer with antlers?"

"I know what a buck is, thank you."

"When I tell you, I swear, this thing was huge. Like a horse."

"Maybe it was."

She scoffed. "It had antlers."

"Well, maybe you saw a unicorn."

She smiled, a giggle leaving her. She had to give TJ credit; he was a mastermind of jumping topics. And she dismissed that he wasn't any "good" at consolation. He was certainly doing a tip-top job of it now.

TJ smiled too but soon winced, probably from the jostling. "So... these people," he began. "Friend or foe?"

"I don't know," she admitted grimly. "But they gave me the heebie-jeebies."

"The heebie-jeebies?"

Maeve hummed. "A bad feeling."

"Bad feelings..." he nodded absentmindedly.

"Yeah." For now, she'd leave the serious talk for later. What they needed to do now was to rest and wait for Joel to wake up. The stress of danger wouldn't help them at all.

"You've got pretty eyes."

"Huh?" What did he say to her? His words were so outlandish, they gave her slight whiplash.

He looked like he was going to pass out. "I don't know why I didn't see it before...but you got forests in your eyes."

She turned red. I beg your finest pardon.

"....aaaaannnnnddd, like, the ocean."

That was enough of that. "Go to sleep, crackhead." She moved away from his sluggish state. He closed his eyes and was out almost immediately, possibly not aware of what he said to her. Good grief... this boy had no idea what he'd said, surely. It was all the penicillin in his system. The medicine made him all loopy.

She held her face. Her fingers were like ice against the heat of her embarrassment. Fucking...stupid hormones! She shook her head and prepped the floor next to TJ's left side, so she laid to sleep. She laid her bag under her head, fluffing it like a pillow, and tried to relax on the frozen floor while cuddling into Jordan's hoodie.

One thing she couldn't shake besides the cold was that uneasy feeling in broiling in the pit of her stomach.