Taking Turns
“Thanks!” Ellie called out as she exited the mess hall carrying two plates of food.
Making her way back to Joel’s, Ellie mused over the events of the day. Never would she have imagined that she would run into an Omega during her morning patrol, but life has a funny way of keeping things ‘exciting’.
The Omega seemed nice enough and somehow she was completely different from what Ellie would’ve expected.
All the rumours Ellie had ever heard of Omegas, orbited around the general idea that they were weak and only good at playing house… But, then again, Joel had revealed to Ellie a new side of Omegas.
Joel’s daughter, Sarah, was an Omega. When Ellie had first heard of that, she had thought that Joel had lost her to the infected… but apparently not.
According to Joel, Omegas could be as strong as an Alpha and as level minded as a Beta, it’s just harder to accomplish and takes a lot of control.
Although Joel was hesitant when talking about Sarah, he had told Ellie about the injustice Omegas faced throughout society and the law. Ellie never fully understood it, it was a different world back then, but she understood well enough that being an Omega was fucking hard.
Ellie sighed as her thoughts drifted towards the fact that you and Joel were compatible. She wasn’t too sure what being ‘compatible’ entailed but Tommy had mentioned something about mates when she had further questioned him, it sounded a whole lot like that soulmate shit that was in some of those disgustingly sappy romance novels Dina liked to read.
Opening the door to Joel’s garage, Ellie peered in to see you curled up in a ball amongst your nest of Joel’s clothes and some spare sheets Maria gave you.
Joel wouldn’t budge when it came to you staying inside the house, claiming that the smell would be a nuisance. Fucking dumbass thought he was being subtle, but Ellie could tell it was because your scent effected Joel more than he’d let on.
“Hey, it’s me!” Ellie announced herself as she made her way towards you before setting one of the plates with food in front of you.
You slowly sat up before grabbing the plate with a quiet ‘thank you’ and began to eat. Annoyingly Joel was right; Ellie felt much better after providing food for the Omega and watching her eat, finally calming her Alpha down. She hadn’t been particularly happy about the unasked for advice, but she could begrudgingly accept that it’d worked.
Ellie settled down next to you, her eyes scanning the garage room that had too many traces of Ellie’s previous inhabitancy for her liking… It had been almost two years since she’d last been here, having packed up and moved the moment she had gotten back from her venture to Saint Mary’s Hospital. The drawings on the walls, the framed photos in the hallways… It was all a disquieting reminder of what had been lost in a web of lies and betrayal.
Sighing, Ellie started on her own food, eyes focusing back on you and your nest in an attempt to ignore the churning of anxiety in her gut. Ellie’s eyes caught on a worn book partially hidden under the sheets near the outskirts of your nest. Reaching out to grab it, Ellie’s wrist was suddenly snatched by a growling Omega.
“Uh, sorry…” Ellie trailed off, looking away, mentally berating herself for being nosy.
You blinked suddenly, shaking your head as if you hadn’t meant to bare your teeth, before reaching back to grab the book and handed it to Ellie.
“Are you sur-”
“I wouldn’t have given it to you if I wasn’t,” You replied curtly.
“Well, you did stop me before…”
“You should know not to take shit from an Omega’s nest without permission – you’ll either get yourself killed or injured.”
“Thanks for the warning… I guess.”
Ellie looked down at the book in her hands, her eyes flicking back up to meet yours before opening it. It was a sketchbook of sorts, the first page revealing a pencil sketch of a girl who appeared to be in her early 20’s. She was depicted to have dark skin and baby-doll eyes. Her right ear was covered in piercings and she wore a pair of round glasses.
Dragging her hand down the page Ellie saw a note in the bottom corner that read, ‘Riyana’.
“Was she…?”
“A friend,” You muttered, resolutely not looking at the drawing and instead continuing to shovel food in your mouth. Ellie nodded before continuing through the book. She found a coloured picture of two Asian girls who were laughing as they reloaded guns - it looked like it was coloured with water.
The Alpha found many more drawings of people – a dark skinned man and a white male stood in one frame, smiling goofily; and a lanky man was painted petting a scruffy-looking cat in another.
“Who are they?”
You sighed, looking away from Ellie.
“They… were my pack,” You whispered, barely audible.
‘Were’? Ellie thought as she watched you. As much as she wanted to push, she decided to leave it be and instead continued through the notebook until she reached the last page where a rough sketch of Ellie’s tattoo stood. Ellie raised her brow before you looked away, your flushed cheeks darkening.
“I – uh, like the design,” you murmured. Ellie chuckled before holding out her right arm. You tilted your head, confused, before catching on and snatching up your notebook and began to continue your sketch.
“Thanks,” You mumbled.
“No problem,” Ellie watched you before lightly clearing her throat, causing you to flick your eyes up to hers. “Umm… That painting with the two girls… what did you use for the colouring?” The Alpha asked shyly.
“Oh…I- it’s called watercolour,” You smiled hesitantly before you and Ellie were immersed into a conversation about art and all the different mediums there were.
Maybe this won’t be so bad, you thought to yourself as you watched Ellie hang onto your every word as you explained to her how to make oil paints.
Ellie closed the garage door behind her, finally away from your scent which had started to spike again after you had eaten, causing Ellie to leave you to your business.
“Hey,” Ellie looked towards Dina who was leaning against the wall to her right. “How’s she doing?”
“She just spiked… Joel said that this wave should only last 4-5 hours, so she should be in the clear soon.”
“That’s good,” Dina pushed herself off the wall and beckoned Ellie to follow her to the lounge.
Ellie flopped onto the couch with a sigh as she sunk into the soft cushioning.
“What’s wrong?” Dina poked Ellie’s cheek, causing her to blush at their proximity.
“I just-” Ellie frowned. “(Y/n) told me a bit about her past… She was part of a pack Dina. A rather large one at that.”
The Beta’s brows furrowed, “Did she get separated from them?”
“I don’t think so…”
“Did they…?”
“Likely,” Ellie agreed with Dina’s suspicion that the pack had died.
“I couldn’t smell anyone else on her apart from that Alpha that tried to jump her when we found her…”
“Yeah…”
“That probably means they’ve been gone for quite a while then,” Ellie shot up at the sound of Tommy’s voice with a surprised grunt.
“God! Don’t eavesdrop like that!” Ellie exclaimed, her racing heart fluttering slowly back to a normal pace.
Tommy just shrugged. “Wasn’t like y’all were try’na be quiet.”
Fair point, Ellie thought.
“How do you know they’ve been gone for a while?” Dina asked, nonplussed.
“Well, they probably would use their scent to help cover hers; and within a pack they tend to be close-knit so she should reek of the others. The fact that she doesn’t even faintly smell of them, suggests that she’s been separated from them for at least a month.” Tommy answered Dina.
“I understand the whole Omega part, but isn’t Jackson a pack as well?” Ellie knew for sure she didn’t exactly smell of every bloody citizen inside the walls.
“Not necessarily. We’re more of a community. A pack is more like family, kind of like how you and Joel…” Tommy trailed off as Ellie glared daggers at the man, earning a sheepish look in return.
“Come on Dina, we should scout out some jobs (Y/n) can take on.” Ellie announce, abruptly standing up. She couldn’t stand being in this house anymore.
“Oh! Um… Okay then,” Dina frowned as Ellie dragged her away from Tommy, shooting the man a sheepish smile. God! Ellie thought, why can’t they just let me forget!
Tommy sighed as the front door slammed shut after Dina gave him a quick wave goodbye. Underneath the scent of Omega, Tommy could pick out a very familiar scent of worry.
Making his way up the stairs, the sound of music made its appearance, along with the scraping of a knife against wood.
Tommy peered into the doorway of Joel’s studio, where he sat violently hacking away at one of his newer wooden sculptures. The leathery scent of worry filled the room and, for once, Tommy was sure it wasn’t associated with Ellie.
“You know you can go check on her right?”
Tommy sighed when he only received a grunt of acknowledgment from the Alpha. Making his way to Joel, Tommy rested his hand on the Alpha’s shoulder, causing him to stop his carving.
“What’s wrong?” Joel asked gruffly, refusing to look at Tommy.
“That’s my line!” Tommy gasped, feigning offence, finally grabbing Joel’s unamused gaze. Chuckling, Tommy continued, “What are you so worried about?”
“Nothing,” Joel grumped as he spun around in his chair to face Tommy.
“Don’t you ‘nothing’ me, old man!”
Groaning, Joel rolled his eyes, “You sound like Mum… and I’m not old”
“But you are old and Mum would definitely agree with me!” Tommy laughed before he looked down at Joel with a serious expression. “Now, what’s wrong?”
Joel sighed, leaning back and bracing his forearms on the table. “I just… don’t know what to do.”
“What? About you guys being compatible?” Joel hesitated before nodding, “Well, have you asked her about it?” Joel just glared at Tommy, pulling a laugh from the Beta. “Yes I know, you don’t like feelings but you’re gonna have to suck it up.”
Joel sighed, “You’re no help.”
“Hey now!” Tommy grabbed Joel’s shoulder and started to tug him out of his chair and to the doorway, “I am great help by the way; and you should follow my advice and just talk to her!”
Joel’s hand flung out and grabbed the doorway frame in a childish effort to prevent Tommy from pulling him out of the room.
“No,” Joel scowled, looking very much like he wanted to strangle his brother. A rather tempting idea on Joel’s part.
Tommy’s shoulders sagged in defeat, “Fine! But you’re going to check on her. You haven’t seen her since you dumped her in the garage and we all agreed to help take care of her,” Tommy sassed.
“Fucking—" Joel’s right eye twitched in irritation, before he just glowered at Tommy. “Fine,” the Alpha grunted before storming off to go check on you.
“Wait!” Tommy called out.
“For fuck’s sake! What now!?” Joel whipped around to face Tommy once again who was smiling. The sort of smile Joel had come to associate with trouble.
“May not wanna check on her now, Ellie had to leave her not too long ago to do… Well, you know,” Joel flashed beet red at the implication and the rather lewd gesture Tommy made. His Alpha mind running to supply rather graphic images of you sprawled out across your nest made up of Joel’s clothes, moaning his name as he slid into –
Tommy burst out laughing before quickly running past Joel who looked very tempted to put a bullet through the Beta.
“Asshole!” Joel shouted, hearing another bark of laughter before the front door slammed shut.
Joel stood in front of the garage door. After noticing your scent wasn’t so strongly leaking through the door, he presumed you’d finished… your business.
Clearing his throat, Joel knocked on the wood of the door.
“Come in!”
Opening the door, Joel was hit with the powerful scent of your heat. Joel swallowed heavily, trying desperately to calm his Alpha down before he stepped through the door.
Awkwardly standing in the doorway, Joel averted his eyes before muttering a small ‘hello’. You, on the other hand, were trying very hard not to laugh over the Alpha’s obvious discomfort.
“Imma go ahead and guess that Tommy put you up to this,” You said, amusement coating your voice.
“How’d ya know?”
“Lucky guess,” You shrugged. It really wasn’t though, Dina didn’t seem particularly close with Joel, Ellie avoided the topic of Joel like the plague and Maria didn’t seem to think Joel was a priority right now. So the logical choice was to go with Tommy.
Joel hummed before leaning on the doorframe. “You need anything?”
“Something to drink would be nice.”
“You like coffee?” Your head shot up at the question. Holy shit! You haven’t had coffee in ages and if Joel had coffee you were absolutely stealing it because coffee was definitely worth dying for.
Joel chuckled at the way your face had completely lit up. “I’ll take that as a yes then,” He said before turning around and going back into the house.
You could hear Joel shuffling around in the kitchenette, as he had left the garage door open. It wasn’t long after he left that he returned with two mugs of coffee.
“How thoughtful of you to bring me two servings!” You called out cheerfully, earning a rather disgruntled look from Joel who merely pushed one of the mugs towards you, before protectively holding his own mug to his chest, causing you to snicker at the display.
You bought the cup up to your nose, deeply inhaling the scent of it. It went wonderfully with Joel’s leather and copper musk… you shook your head violently, trying to rid the unwanted thoughts.
“What’s wrong?” You froze at the sound of Joel’s voice, momentarily forgetting his presence.
“Uh nothing!” You laughed awkwardly, earning a raised brow from Joel, before you took a sip of your coffee. “God I missed coffee,” You moaned at the taste of it before a coughing noise caught your attention.
Joel’s cheeks were dusted pink as he held his hand over his mouth. Your obscene noise from before had brought back the intrusive thoughts and images Tommy had placed in his mind beforehand. Noticing your questioning gaze, Joel quickly flung an excuse your way. “Sorry, t’was too hot,”
You shrugged before returning to your drink and Joel followed suit, bathing in the peaceful silence for a moment.
“You play?” Your query caused Joel to shoot you a questioning look before you gestured with your chin to a guitar sitting in the corner of the room near the door. “Do you play guitar?”
“Uh… Yeah, I do” Joel watched as you stared intently at the instrument, “Do you wanna play it?”
“Huh?” Your eyes jerked back to Joel’s before the question registered and you chuckled, “Nah, I don’t know how to play, but would you mind showing something to me?”
“Sure,” Joel said before setting his coffee down on the ground and making his way over to the guitar. It was Ellie’s, she hadn’t taken it with her when she’d moved out and Joel felt melancholy itch at his finger when he picked it up of the ground, idly blowing off some of the dust it had started to gather on the fretboard.
Settling back down beside you, Joel spent a few minutes adjusting the strings so they were in tune before he started to play.
That was how you spent the next half hour. Joel strumming away at his guitar – occasionally humming softly – whilst you sipped at your coffee and enjoyed the music filtering through your ears.
You studied Joel thoughtfully, watching the way he gently handled the guitar, wondering what to think of him… Well, your Omega certainly knew what they thought of the gruff man, but he was still a stranger despite the pull you felt towards him.
It’s just the compatibility, you chided yourself. There was nothing between the two of you, and there likely never will be. This little act of kindness was just fuelled by hormones nothing else.
You decidedly ignored the small blossom of hope that did wish for more, instead focusing on the sound of music that echoed across the garage walls.