It wasn't an unreasonable conclusion to draw. Falcon wasn't the first to assume and he probably wouldn't be the last. And really, if Joel was a normal, well adjusted person with even only half the hang ups he was hung up on, he might have just outright adopted her. Not that an official system for that stuff existed anymore, but that wouldn't make it any less valid. Heck, she was an orphan. He'd spent the better part of a year making sure she was alive and fed and clothed and... alive, again.

But that was too easy.

"Nah. She's someone I kinda fell into lookin' after. Good kid. Handy with a..."

He'd been about to say gun. Ellie was handy with a gun. That wasn't what normal people said when talking about fourteen year old girls, Joel.

"...joke. Good sense of humor. Can't whistle for shit, though."