"The Boomers are ready to back us. They just need details when they're available," Layla said, hoping she wouldn't have to elaborate further on the agreement. The Boomers had actually promised to support her, whichever side she took, and she'd hadn't quite made a decision on that yet.

"With the Boomers on our side, we'll be able to move on soon." House said. The motionless image of his face on the huge screen in the penthouse flickered as he spoke.

Layla knew there were good reasons to support House. She was an NCR citizen and supported her government… but that didn't make them infallible in her eyes. Every point House had made that the NCR was just waiting for the right moment to take New Vegas from him was true. The government could be plenty greedy when it wanted to be, despite the greater good it did tend to spread. If New Vegas, Freeside, and Westside wanted independence, Layla wasn't going to be the one to deny them.

The Courier agreed with House's goals for the most part, but she still didn't trust him. Layla had a bad feeling something was going to sour the deal, but so far there hadn't been any indication of it. So for now, she would work with him until something changed.

"How soon?" she asked.

"Soon," House repeated. "There are some… issue that are going to need some time before we can move on. Incidentally, I was recently made aware of the bounty you and your associate have managed to have put on your heads."

"Oh." Layla wondered how he'd heard about that. "Well… it hasn't been that much of a problem." Layla bit her lip, slightly embarrassed. "I can still do my job."

"You are my liaison with the Boomers and will be so to others as well. It wouldn't do for you to end up publicly executed by the Legion for the NCR's sake."

"I'm trying to avoid that."

"Good. I will let you know when the next phase can start. There are some… delicate preparations that need to be completed. I suggest you lay low until then."

*.*.*

Raul looked at the cards in his hand for a few moments, then raised the bet. Boone's face didn't change as he called him, then showed his cards.

"So, any two deuces but one has to be a spade, and it's a 'hand grenade,' right?" Raul asked, glancing back at his cards.

"Yeah," Boone said from across the kitchen table, sounding cautious.

"And a 'hand grenade' beats anything with a face card, right?" the ghoul continued.

"…Yeah."

"Then I guess I beat your three-of-a-kind," Raul said, laying the cards on the table.

"Yeah, you win… again," the sniper sighed.

"I told you not to teach Kaboom to Raul," Veronica said from further down the table, going over the holo-vid player Victor had dug up at Layla's request. Arcade sat next to her with a yellowed and tattered manual in hand as they tried to get the thing to work. "He's a card shark."

"It just seems that way to the people who lose to me," said the mechanic.

"Har har." The girl turned back to Arcade. "All right, are we ready?"

"Try the power," the doctor said, giving the machine a dubious look.

Squinting one eye closed, Veronica flicked the 'on' switch, and the TV screen flashed once, then went dark again.

"Well I give up," the scribe said moodily. Usually she had no problem getting mechanical equipment to work, but the meaning behind the vid-player's many cords had been eluding her. Arcade sighed.

"Don't they have these things at Hidden Valley?" said the doctor.

"Yeah… but I've never got a chance to look at one." The scribe chewed her lip. She didn't really want to go back right away, not after the blow up from bringing them the Pulse Gun. But she really wanted to see the horde of movies Layla had found.

"Yeah, maybe I'll head out tomorrow and see what Lorenzo can tell me."

Layla came walking in shortly after. She waved halfheartedly to the group and went to the fridge.

"Well?" Veronica asked.

"Huh?" Layla's head popped above the door. "Oh, I'm thinking gecko kebabs for dinner… Sound good?" She glanced around for objections.

"Not that, but yes kebabs are good. What did House say?"

"Oh, I guess the Legion's been quiet lately. Everyone figures they're starting to rework their plans for the Dam." She started gathering items from the fridge and setting them on the counter. "My money's on Caesar didn't let anyone in on the whole plan, so now no one knows the plan. Which means they need a new plan."

"Probably not a bad thing," Arcade said thoughtfully. "I get the feeling Lanius isn't as crafty as Caesar…"

"Don't be so sure," Layla said as she started cutting up the banana yuccas she'd pulled from the fridge, "Lucius, the one in charge of the Praetorians, told me he was pretty clever. Even Inculta sounded like he was afraid of him." She started skewering the fruit. "Said he could sense weakness in his enemies."

"When exactly did you have a meet and greet with Legion hotshots?" Arcade asked, shaking his head incredulously.

"When I got done not blowing up the securitron vault I had a couple minutes to shoot the breeze before Caesar was ready for me at his tent." She gave the doctor a wry grin. "It was funny, right up until they started trying to kill me, they were very hospitable. Didn't even try to rape me once."

"How sweet of them," the doctor said sarcastically.

"I have that effect on people," Layla mused. "Speaking of the Legion, House knows about the bounties."

"I bet he wasn't happy with that…" Raul said from behind his cards.

"He just doesn't want me to get murdered before I'm done helping him." She'd moved on to cutting the gecko meat. "He was very concerned about Boone though, asked that I made sure he was safe and went on and on about how he couldn't bear the idea of him getting hurt while in Legion hands. It was very unprofessional."

"I have that effect on people," Boone said, eyes still on his hand. He grinned, then laid his cards on the table. "Full house." Raul smirked at that. He showed his cards, and the grin left the sniper's face.

"Tactical Nuke."

"Toooold you," Veronica teased as she finished winding the cables from the vid-player into neat loops.

"So now what are we doing?" Arcade asked.

"Laying low. House has something cooking. He'll let us know when its ready."

Cass walked into the room, grinning. "Nothing to do then? Good, you can go out with me tonight."

"Go out where?" The Courier gave her a mildly suspicious look.

"Drinking, gambling, get in a fight, maybe get our dicks wet."

"I'll keep my dick quite dry, thank you… but I'm always in the mood for a fight," the girl said, then looked at Veronica. "You in?"

"Nah, the night scene's starting to lose it's charm…" the scribe answered.

Layla frowned for a moment, then looked at Arcade. "Do I have a clean bill of health, doc?"

The doctor gave her a exasperated look. "You've recovered enough to go out, but I don't advise overdoing it."

"Wouldn't think of it," Cass said, grinning. Then she noticed the wary looks she was getting from the other side of the table. Boone and Raul probably weren't happy with the idea of the Courier getting plastered so soon after her near-fatal radiation poisoning. "Oh don't give me that look. Go back to your card game."

Both men were still frowning in their direction, and Layla laughed. "We'll be fine. Why don't you show Arcade and Veronica how to play Kaboom while we're gone?"

Between the game and dinner, the others gave no further arguments, and the girls left for the Strip soon after.

*.*.*

"You ever hear of the Happy Trails Trading Company?" Layla asked Cass as they sat in Brimstone. The Courier had protested; even under new management, she wasn't a big fan of the Gomorrah. Cass had talked her into it eventually, complaining that the Tops had been getting old.

"Sure. Small outfit, decent bunch… Why?"

"Got a message on my Pip-Boy from them. They're looking for people for a caravan to Utah." The girl grinned. "Do you know Jed?"

"Jed Masterson? That old bastard is still running around?" Cass grinned into her whiskey. "Good man. Got a voice that could talk the skirt off a nun."

Layla smiled, "I'd noticed that."

"You're not planning on going to Mormon country, are you?'

"No, I don't think I've worn out my welcome in Vegas yet." The girl noticed her friend had been glancing behind her a few times. "What?"

"That one keeps looking our way," Cass answered, "which would be good, except he's looking at you."

Layla glanced casually and saw a man with dark, messy hair looking her way from the other side of the bar. He winked at her, and she nearly blushed, turning back to Cass.

"Oh he saw me," The Courier said quickly, causing the other woman to laugh.

"Well, you looked right at him. Think you can deflect him my way?"

"What makes you think I don't want a shot at him?" Layla said mildly. Cass laughed again.

"You can't call dibs on every man in the Mojave."

"What? I don't do that."

"Fine," Cass said. "I'll trade you him for Boone."

"What? No!" Layla squealed, then started blushing furiously. "I uh, you know… It's not like that."

"Uh huh." Cass grinned. "So are you gonna set me up or what?"

"With Boone?" The younger woman sounded worried for a moment. "Oh, right. Him. I'll try."

Having managed to get her blushing under control, she looked back to the man and found him coming their way. "Uh oh, here he comes."

"Gonna go with the usual?" Cass asked.

"Yeah," Layla answered. That meant indicating she was off the market by informing him that she was happily married to her beloved Arcade Gannon. She, Cass, and Veronica had all used that excuse during their time on the Strip to ward off unwanted advances. The doctor had not yet been informed of his many wives.

"Can I buy you a drink, angel?" the man asked as he ambled up to Layla. She smiled sweetly at him.

"Flattered, but spoken for," she said, and the man continued before she could speak further.

"Ah, so you are taken."

Layla glance Cass' way. If people recognized them by their fake marriages to Arcade, the doctor was going to be pissed.

"Can't blame you," the man continued. "Most girls go nuts for those red berets."

"Wha-?" Layla sputtered.

"They sure do," Cass said, slapping the rapidly blushing Courier on the back. "Layla's got a thing for snipers, don't you?"

"I uh…"

"Let me buy both of you a drink," their new friend said as he sat next to Cass at the bar. "Name's Dick."

"Dick, huh?" Cass said, giving the man a lewd look. "That a nickname?"

Dick laughed. "Sometimes," he said as he flagged the bartender over. "Drinks are on me tonight, ladies."

"Now you're talking," Cass said, grinning.

*.*.*

Oh Dick, you dick. The man thought to himself as he escorted the two girls through the courtyard of the Gomorrah. What are you going to do with all that money?

Both women were stumbling drunk. Just a little further into a more deserted area, and part two of the plan could begin. It would be just as tricky as this part, maybe worse, but he was pretty confident now.

"Hee hee! Oh Cass… I think I'm drunk…" The Courier said, dissolving into giggles. Dick might have felt bad about this; the girl was actually pretty sweet, but he'd be on easy street once he turned her in. This was probably his best chance to get her. Sure, he'd miss the other half of the bounty without the First Recon sniper, but word was that guy was the reason everyone else failed to get both of them anyway. So Dick did the sensible thing and seized the opportunity to grab the girl while she was unguarded.

"Yer a lightweight," the other woman slurred, taking an unsteady step.

Well, now or never. Dick moved up to Layla and grabbed her by the waist.

"Hey, no. Gotta buy me dinner first… and turn into a sniper. My sniper."

Ignoring her, Dick tossed her over his shoulder and started for the back gate. All he had to do was hand her off to his partner, Winthrop, who would be waiting for him. Then they'd meet up in Freeside and head down to the river. Easy as pie. The girl on his shoulder laughed.

"Wha- Hey, what?"

"Hey! No man-handling!" Cass said with a giggle. "Only Boone gets to do that!" Dick grimaced. He'd hoped he wouldn't have to kill either of them, but if she was going to make a fuss…

He turned, drawing his silenced .22, and found, to his surprise, the woman had a revolver trained on him. Cass was leaning against the wall, nearly falling over, but the gun in her hand was steady and unwaveringly pointed at his crotch.

"I said put her down, or Imma shoot you in the dick, Dick." She started laughing.

Dick moved to shoot the woman as she spoke, but Cass fired first. The first shot sent him doubling over in pain. The second caught him in the chest, sending him and the girl tumbling to the ground.

"Whoop! Cass, I fell down."

"No you didn't…. Dick dropped you. What a dick… HAW!"

As the life drained from him, Dick saw Cass stumble over to them and drag Layla to her feet. Both women were still laughing over what the older woman had said.

"You bitch, I was gonna fuck him…" Cass hiccuped. "Now he's all dead. Too dead to fuck."

"I'm sorry," Layla said. "Wanna go home and make out?"

"Yeah, sure," Cass answered as Dick's world went black.

*.*.*

Arcade yawned, stepping out of the bedroom and heading toward the kitchen. He'd been up way too late playing Kaboom with Raul, Boone and Veronica, but he woke up early as usual. Coffee, sweet lady coffee was what he needed. Chicory actually, the scientist in him mused. It was chicory; real coffee only grew around the equator , and no one was lining up to bring sacks of coffee beans up to the Mojave. He'd heard there were coffee farms in Mexico, but if that was the case, they never made it this far north. Everyone called it coffee though. Sweet lady coffee, the only woman he'd ever love.

As he passed Layla's room, he heard noises coming from the open door. Looking in, his eyebrows raised at the sight before him. Layla sat on Cass' lap on the bed. Both women were naked from the waist up and kissing passionately. The doctor blinked at the mildly erotic sight.

"Huh. And I'm the only one who wouldn't care…" He shrugged and went back to his mission for his dark, liquid mistress.

*.*.*

Layla's eyes opened to the sight of the chandelier on her bedroom ceiling and a pounding headache.

"Oohh God, why?" She rolled over and fell out of bed with a thud. Sitting up, she noticed she was only wearing pants.

"What the hell?" came a voice from above her on the bed. Looking over the mattress with a certain level of horror, Layla confirmed it was indeed Cass in her bed, just as topless as she was.

"AHHHH! What did you do to me?"

"What did I do? You're the one who wanted to tongue wrestle!" the caravaneer said testily, pulling the sheet over herself.

Layla buried her face in her mattress with a groan, trying to remember the night before. One portion of the night came back quickly.

"Did you shoot someone at the Gomorrah last night?" she cried, looking back up.

"Yeah, he was trying to kidnap you."

"What?"

"He got us drunk and planned on carrying you off."

"How is it you remember this?" Layla said as she peered at the other woman.

"Fuck, if I didn't remember what I did when I was drunk I wouldn't remember half my life."

The Courier groaned again as her head continued to throb. She rubbed her eyes.

"He must have put something in my drink… I can barely remember a thing."

"No, you're just a puss."

Layla gave her a glare, which then melted to a frown. "This… didn't mean anything, right? We were drunk and apparently in the mood the make sober life as awkward as possible. Nothing else… right?"

"Right. Oh fuck, did anyone see us?" The caravaneer noticed the door was open. Layla paled, then quickly groped around for her shirt, pulling it on. She gave the older woman a confused look when she found her grinning.

"I didn't realize you were so hard up you'd take advantage of me while I was drunk."

"Ugh, get out of my room, and this never happened."

"Agreed."

*.*.*

Arcade had just finished reading an interesting article on spleens when Layla finally surfaced. Judging by her stiff walk and the way she was squinting at the dim light, she was more than likely hungover.

"Good night?" the doctor asked, grinning, while deciding at the same time to be mercifully discreet about the girls' drunken dabblings. Layla grumbled as she sat down.

"Just wonderful. I got swept off my feet," she said moodily.

He gave her a questioning look, and the girl shrugged.

"Not a good night."

"Ah." Looking her over, he noted the frown on her face seemed a little much even for a hangover.

"What's wrong?" he asked. The Courier let out a deep sigh, and Arcade recognized her 'I'm about to admit something' face.

"When Cass and I went out the other night there was this guy. He kept buying us drinks, seemed real nice..."

"Did he try to pull something funny?" Arcade asked, starting to worry.

"Yeah," The Courier replied.

"What?" Arcade and Layla looked up to find Boone in the doorway. The doctor marveled at the man's timing.

"No, not like that," Layla said quickly. "He was just getting us drunk so he could kidnap me."

That didn't seem to calm him any. Now a different kind of anger radiated off of the sniper.

"What? What happened?" Arcade cried.

"We were at the Gomorrah. Cass popped him before he could carry me off. I barely remember any of it, to be honest. But I definitely remember her shooting the guy."

"Well, that's… good?" the doctor said, then noticed the Courier sigh deeply again, a depressed look coming over her. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." She looked glum. "This bounty thing sucks. Stupid skirt-wearing, town-burning, slaving jerks. They ruin everything…"

"I know, what's the state of the world if you can't accept drinks from a random stranger at the Gomorrah?" Arcade said sarcastically. "Have you ever thought about leaving the Mojave for a while? Just until things dies down?"

"Nah, that'd just…" She trailed off, thinking.

"'That'd just'?" Arcade prompted.

"I'm going to Utah."

There was a confused silence at the table.

"Just for a couple weeks. Some little caravan company's looking for Couriers and people with Pip-Boys. I've got both." She sat up, depressed look evaporating. She looked up to find two concerned faces looking in her direction.

"What?"

"It's probably a trap," Arcade said. "They asked for Couriers with Pip-Boys? How many of those are there around?"

"They were asking for guards too, and they didn't specifically say 'Couriers with Pip-Boys.' They said 'Couriers' and 'people with Pip-Boys.'"

Arcade's frown hadn't left him, and he noted Boone's hadn't either. The girl continued. "I'm gonna at least go and see what they have to say. Besides, Cass said she's heard of them, pretty legit."

"Where's the goddamned coffee?" Cass grumbled, meandering in. "I… Uh oh," she said as she noticed the faces Boone and Arcade were making. "Layla… what did you tell them?"

"About Dick at the Gomorrah," the Courier said quickly.

"Ah, that… dick." The caravaneer smiled slightly. "We should just put up a bulletin board for when someone tries to kidnap you. We keep calling meetings about it, we'll never get anything done."

Layla frowned. "I've decided to go to Utah."

"What?" Cass looked surprised. "With Jed?"

"Yeah. Maybe some time out of the Mojave wouldn't be the worst idea."

"Well shit, I'll go too," the other woman said. "The walls have been closing in on me around here anyway."

Layla smiled. "Okay, how about you two?" She turned her 'pretty please' smile at them. Unfortunately for the Courier, Arcade was well protected against such tactics.

"No thanks. I'm enjoying the pseudo-civilization around here too much to go trotting all over creation." He nearly cracked under the pouty face she made, but stood firm. "Besides, the Followers might need me around here."

She relented at that, and looked at Boone.

"I'll go," he said. Arcade thought for a moment that the poor schlub had no defenses against Layla's batting eyelashes. But going by his rigid posture, 'mother bear mode,' as Veronica called it, had kicked in. Undoubtedly caused by the kidnapping attempt.

Layla smiled at him. "Great. We'll head to the meeting spot tomorrow morning."

*.*.*

Very early the next morning, Layla closed her pack. She was only taking what Cass had suggested, her medical equipment, ammo, only a few of her weapons, a simple repair kit, and food. She was going to have to leave all her extra outfits, Brutus, and all the books she usually kept on her. Cass had mentioned they'd be going through rocky, tightly packed areas, so they had to travel light. Layla wasn't looking forward to a couple weeks in only her sneaking armor, but she'd complied. Well, for the most part. Arcade had snuck her a few smaller books after Cass' inspection.

Facing the group, who'd assembled to see them off, she smiled. Even Veronica had gotten up, and she looked like she was going to fall asleep on her feet.

"All right, Raul, you're in charge while I'm gone. The emergency caps are in a chest next to my desk, don't spend my gold bar, and no parties. I just filled the fridge, so that should last you for a while. Don't forget to feed ED-E and change his litter box, and don't mess up the suite while we're gone."

"Are you going to tell House you're leaving?" Arcade asked, ignoring most of what she'd just said.

"I went up earlier, but he wasn't online… so I taped a note to his screen. That reminds me, we should probably get going."

"All right, let's get a move on," said Cass. She glanced Boone's way. "You all set?" He merely nodded.

After Layla hugged everyone goodbye, including ED-E, they left for the meeting spot.

I heard the PSN store is up, so enjoy Honest Hearts, folks!

I'd like to take a moment to thank my editor. Fellow writers, if you find a person who can look at the blob of letters you hand them and they somehow manage to figure out what you going for, marry them. I know I did :3

See you on Wednesday!