Consequence

A/N: Happy New Year folks!! Hope you all have a happy and healthy 2024; we're now entering our four year of me writing this story, and my goal for 2024? Finish it haha Anyway, this chapter took me a while to write and was kicking my ass with writers block but we got there in the end. It's a wild ride! Hope you enjoy!!

Ada didn't get the chance to finish her thought as a hand clamped around her mouth, another wrapped around her waist and dragged her back into an alleyway; pinning her against the wall. Her heart raced as she flailed against the arms that tried to hold her still. Grunting and kicking out in a poor attempt to defend herself. "Let go of-" She tried to scream but again, the hand covered her mouth. "Ada, calm down, easy... It's me." That voice, that deep rumbled whisper, so familiar. She gasped against the palm that was gently cupped around her lips as it softly trailed away and rested against her cheek. Her brown eyes wide and watering as she looked at the man standing in front of her.

"Joel..." She breathed out in a broken sob, he smiled weakly as he rested his hands upon her trembling shoulders. His fingers brushing at the hair on the base of her neck in that comforting way he always did.

"Hi..." he shuffled awkwardly as he said it; as if he wasn't sure of his own voice. His hands falling from her shoulders and hanging at his sides; uncertain if he was right to want to hold her. If he was allowed. There was a tension holding them apart. Like two islands divided by an ocean in a storm. Joel felt a fool; that after everything they'd been through the last few months; the only thing he could muster to say to her was a fragile 'Hi'. He rubbed nervously at his neck in that bashful way he did and noticed the spark it ignited in her eyes as she stared at him in awe. "I don't really know what else to say...." He cleared his throat; shaking away this ridiculous notion of feeling nervous in front of the love of his life. He'd been through hell and back and lived to tell the tale. He couldn't shy away now.

"Actually that ain't true, I gotta a lot I wanna say to you but we don't have time right now. I got somewhere safe where we can go. We can talk there." He took her hand as he spoke, pulling her away but she gently tugged back before he could move.

"Joel wait... did you...do you...are you..." she was struggling to say the words aloud; her eyes still glistening with unshed tears and her voice uttered against the exhales of trembling breaths. He knew what she was trying to ask. Did you get your memories back? Do you know who I am? Are you my Joel again? He could see it in her eyes as they tried to search his for any sign of recognition. He swallowed hard against the lump building in his throat; his heart leaping in his chest at the love, that softened her gaze up at him. God he'd missed her so much and yet hadn't even remembered that he'd missed her. It'd been a strange feeling knowing something in his life was missing and not being able to figure out what it was. Now he knew and he did the only thing he could think of, to prove that, he kissed her.

His lips captured hers; his arms wrapping around her hips as he pulled her against him. She returned it in earnest, a sense of relief flooding through her, her slender hands sliding up into his hair. Fingers tangling into his thick locks as they held each other tightly. Ada pushed up onto her tiptoes to reach him and he responded by pulling her even closer, lifting her slightly against his frame. Hearts ached at the feeling of being connected again after so long. They parted slowly as noses brushed and chests heaved with hard exhales that echoed in the quiet shared between them. He smiled at her breathlessness, gently nudging his nose against hers as he set her down on her feet once again.

"Does that answer your question?" he whispered huskily, his breath caressing her face. Leaving her feeling weak at the knees. Words failed her as she nodded. Joel actually smirked at his kiss rendering her speechless. Smug bastard.  She thought sarcastically. A small smirk tugging at her own lips as she let him continue pulling her away, this time into the nook of his shoulder, his arm wrapped around her shoulder as they moved.