The Last of Us: Coping Chapter 3 (Opening Scene)

Ellie yawned as she heard birds chirping outside her window. Rubbing her eyes, she turned over on her bed, frowning when she saw that James was no longer with her in bed anymore. She had grown used to his warm, comforting presence every time she woke up in the morning.

Tossing aside the covers, the twenty-one-year-old took stock of the rather unflattering state she found herself in. She was naked, of course; not an unusual occurrence when she went to sleep these days, especially given the activities she and James got up to before going to bed. But her brown hair was also unkempt and her legs lower body was caked in dried or drying semen. Her legs, her pelvis, her breasts, and of course, her pussy, were covered in James’ cum. This was one of the less than pleasant realities of having a guy for a lover now, but the pros definitely outweighed the cons, as far as she was concerned.

She stood up onto her feet and was made very aware of how sore her legs were, hearing the sound of them cracking a little bit as she stood up. The prior night, after she’d put baby Joel down for bed, she and James had fucked each other good. She’d ridden him in cowgirl position for the most part this time; she had simply been in that sort of mood to take the reins. Not that James had complained about it. It had been a lot of fun controlling the pace and the tempo, and it felt damn good for her being able to really rub his long, thick tool around inside her, hitting all the good spots as she saw fit. But she was certainly paying for it this morning with how cramped up her legs were.

Ellie put a hand between her legs, cupping her pussy as she still felt some of James’ baby batter leaking out of her cooch. It was still remarkable that a man creampieing her cunt had literally become a regular part of her daily routine. If every person in the world could somehow look into a telescope and observe her intimate daily activities with James, she doubted a single one of them would’ve ever pegged her as a lesbian or former lesbian. Whenever she had sex with him, she was not just chasing her own orgasm, she was chasing his. At this point, she probably enjoyed that sensation of twitching and warm, wet gushing inside her more than some strictly straight women did.

If not for the birth control, she’d almost certainly be on her way to baby number two by now, with how much she was getting filled. Still, she had other things she needed to attend to other than her nightly booty calls with her baby daddy. She dressed herself in a t-shirt and a pair of panties.

Ellie picked up the baby monitor and her blood ran cold. Baby Joel was not in his crib.

Immediately fearing the worst, Ellie started to panic. It was entirely unlike her baby to be absent from his crib when she woke up. It was the first time ever, in fact. Had something happened in the middle of the night? Had someone somehow snuck in during the night and abducted her son?

Ellie scrambled from room to room before she dashed downstairs. “James?!”

She stopped in her tracks, defusing immediately. James was sitting in one of the armchairs in her living room. Baby Joel was in the nook of his arm, the infant’s eyes closed while James fed the baby from a bottle. Ellie had recently begun feeding baby Joel from a bottle at times, transitioning from breastfeeding gradually.

Seeing James nurturing their child like this inspired something in Ellie. Since James had unexpectedly come to live with her, she’d learned in a very short amount of time that he was not just a good lay, but also a supportive partner. He pulled his own weight around the house and more importantly had proven himself attentive toward baby Joel. Ellie had given James every opportunity to distance himself from their baby if he wished to; she had chosen to get pregnant and have a child herself, and she expected nothing from James on that front. But she was also not opposed to him being a part of baby Joel’s life if he wished to either, and Ellie had a great deal of appreciation for the effort that he was putting in.

As she watched James bottle-feeding the baby, Ellie watched silently from the doorway. Her earlier fear that something had happened to the baby in the middle of the night was gone, and she felt a moment of peace at the sight. She still could barely wrap her head around this beautiful little human that she and this man had somehow created together. But now she was trying to come to terms with the possibility that baby Joel might actually grow up with a father as well, despite her originally expecting and counting on raising the child on her own.

“Hey you,” Ellie said to him from the doorway, trying not to startle him.

He looked up at her with surprise. Baby Joel was oblivious to Ellie’s arrival, continuing to noisily slurp away at the bottle. Relaxing, James gave the barest hint of a smile and nodded at her. “Hey.”

“I didn’t see him on the baby cam,” Ellie explained.

James looked guilty for a moment. “Sorry about that. He woke up hungry, and you were still sleeping.”

Realizing that he’d done this to let her get more sleep, she felt even more grateful toward him, and she now felt guilty for nearly overreacting to baby Joel being gone from the crib. James had made a kind gesture to her. “Thank you, James.”

James shifted baby Joel to the other arm while the baby continued drinking from the bottle. “You really needed the rest.” He grinned at her.

Ellie blushed a little bit from the thought of her furiously riding the hell out of him cowgirl for nearly an hour last night. “Did I now?” she laughed and he shrugged coyly. How could such an introverted dude be so cheeky at the same time? It would forever mystify her. James could be quite the smartass when he wanted to be.

She walked up to James in the armchair, admiring him and her son in his arms. “You know,” Ellie continued. “This is gonna sound crazy as hell, but seeing you like this is kinda making my ovaries explode a little. What’s that about?”

He laughed and shook his head, and Ellie grinned. After several moments baby Joel finally stopped drinking, and James set aside the bottle. “Can I take him?” Ellie asked.

James nodded, and handed the baby off to her. The infant immediately started dozing off on Ellie’s shoulder. She went about preparing something to eat for breakfast while holding the sleeping baby in one hand. James came into the kitchen after her to help out a little. The two said very little to each other before James unexpectedly chimed in.

“I’m going out today.”

Ellie looked at her tall companion, nodding. “That’s fine,” she said, shrugging. “You really should go out more.”

He shook his head. “I don’t just mean out of the house. I’m going beyond the walls on patrol.”

This gave Ellie pause. James had discussed with her the possibility of him making himself more useful to the Jackson community. The prospect of him volunteering for a patrol had come up, and she had not been happy about it. But she had also respected that James was a grown man, and she was not about to prevent him from doing what he saw fit. Still, the thought of a patrol still haunted her. Patrols were of course a necessity for the settlement, but the last time she had gone out on one had been the worst day of her life.

Ellie shook her head. She could not bear to once again think of what had happened to her son’s namesake.

“Okay,” Ellie said plainly.