A/N: Hello, hello! Welcome to one of my most random stories ever!
This was, as weird as it may seem, was written for my mother, who is kick-ass enough to play AND love both Fallout 3 and New Vegas. Her character came with her own back-story, and to make a long story short... She- Raven, the OC- is from New Vegas, used to be in her own little gang of people(that will be featured in an upcoming fanfic) mentioned in the story, ran around with Boone for a bit, and then... Well, that's about all you really need to know without me going into a rant. If anything isn't clear, just tell me in a review and I'll try to clear it up. ^-^As always, please review. It's the only way I can really get better at this insane thing called 'writing'. Funny, eh?
On with the show!
~D/P

A Bad Idea

by: Dulce Periculum

It had never occurred to Raven that Nevada was a safe place. A very safe place. At least, compared to what she was seeing now. It had taken her more than three months, but she had managed to make her way to the Capital Wasteland. The only reason she was there was because of some girl- the Lone Wanderer- that had been causing quite a stir in D.C. With no real work to do in Vegas, Raven thought it was a good idea. How very wrong she had been.

The first real town she had found was no more than a poorly constructed dome in the middle of a crater. A crater that happened to have a nuclear war head sitting in a puddle of water with a man preaching about 'Atom' or something. She hadn't stayed there very long, figuring she could find a better place like the cities in New Vegas, but she had found out very quickly that the nuke-town was much safer than the wastes.

Super mutants- more than she had ever seen in her entire life- scattered the capital land, as well as raiders, head-hunters, and some kind of creatures she had never seen before. Some kind of mutated crab that was very hard to kill. Most of her time was spent at the local doctors office or at the saloon in town. There wasn't much else she could do, and since she had heard the Lone Wanderer owned a house in the town, she figured she would bump into the girl sometime.

When a month had passed and there was still no sign of the girl called Arizona, Raven stocked up on bullets and headed out once again. It was then she truly began to miss the sniper that she had left behind in Vegas. With no one to cover her back, it would be all too easy for something to pick her off before she even knew it was there.

As Raven walked, she began running memories through her mind of her battles back in Vegas with her old friends. Boone was top on the list of her partners, but there was also the enigmatic Alise- the courier. She and and her ghoul did creep her out a bit at times- the fact that Alise had a predilection for the zombie looking vaquero for company didn't exactly sit well with her- but they were good in a fight when she needed them the most.

There was also Ray, Ariella, Jack, Mich, and Romeo for company. All of them, including Alise and her ghoul, had worked together and lived in an old office building in Freeside for some time. Boone was the only one missing from that team. He was also the one she missed the most.

She had spoken to him before she had left. Raven had seen him back in Novac and told him her plans over a beer. Night had come, and the sniper had said goodbye. She had left for D.C after that, silently wishing he had offered to come along with her, but to no avail. It seemed as though the sniper was done following her around for good.

Back in Nevada, Raven had nearly convinced herself that she didn't need the sniper anymore. She was tough enough as it was, and now she didn't have to worry about loosing any life but her own. In the last month of her trip, though, she wished she had Boone covering her more than ever. A group of raiders had knocked her unconscious with a baseball bat and stolen everything but a broken 10 millimeter pistol and her clothes.

Once she reached D.C, she had to start over. Raven had done the best she could, but she still missed her sniper.

As Raven thought about the past, a gunshot yanked her back into the real world, which consisted of at least three raiders open-firing at her. She raised her assault rifle and began shooting, while at the same time taking cover behind a large bolder. The raiders howling laughter made her skin crawl. They were just as bad a fiends, and at times, much harder to kill. She had found that in the Capital Wasteland, the good guns were expensive and all the people that wanted to kill her had them.

Raven reloaded her rifle and fired at one of the raiders that had come around the rock to kill her. It only took three shots and he was dead on the ground. Without breaking her stride, Raven scooped up the combat shotgun the man had been using and walked out from behind the rock. Two more raiders awaited her, one with a sub-automatic machine gun and the other with a baseball bat.

The one with the bat was the first of the two to become a victim of her new shotgun- the man was stupid enough to run at her while she pumped lead into his chest. The last one fired a spray of bullets at her, and Raven moved to her left to avoid being shot. Most of the bullets hit the ground, but at least two hit their target.

Raven stumbled a bit, the pain stopping her for only a split second before she aimed to shoot the raider. Yet somehow, before she even had a chance to fire, the head of the raider was blown off and sent flying through the air. Panic set in, but not because of the possibility of another threat. Before she even knew it, Raven felt her eyelids grow heavy and her body fall to the hard ground with a sickening thud. Her shotgun fell from her hands and out of her reach. The only thing she could hear were voices- one a man, one a woman.

And one of them sounded all to familiar.

"Charon, go look around the place. There might be more of those damned raiders lurking around here."

"If that is what you wish."

"Will she be alright?"

"Look, pal, you came all this way just to find your girlfriend. She'll live. If not, I'll go down to hell and drag her back myself."

"Three bullets in the gut, though... You can't blame me for being doubtful, Arizona."

"Yeah, well, you and your pessimism isn't going to help her out, so either shut the fuck up and help me or... you know what? Just shut the fuck up and I'll d the rest. Charon! Find anything?"

"Nothing but more drugs, guns, and ammo."

"Well, grab the drugs and get back here! We're gonna need them!"

"And the guns...?"

"Take what you like, Charon, no one's gonna miss anything."

"You sure that ghoul won't kill us? He's a machine, Arizona."

"Long story, involves scotch, a shit-load of caps, and a contract. Tell ya later, pal."

"Do you need any held, Arizona, ma'am?"

"Just the drugs, Charon. Thank you. Keep watch and call me if there's any trouble."

"Of course."

"...So who exactly is the girl to you?"

"A friend."

"So you came all this way, across the country, for 'a friend'?"

"Wouldn't you?"

"...I would for Charon, yes. But he's more than my friend."

"You two..."

"No, of course not. I am his employer, and he... he's the best thing that could have ever happened to me besides leaving my vault. He's my protector, and that's all there is to it."

"Sure. Like I believe that."

"Think what you like, but he and I will never be together. His contract would have to be destroyed, and even then I don't think he would act upon free will. ...Alright, the bullets are all out. She's your 'friend', so you should know how many much med-x and such I should pump into her system."

"Two stimpacks, one med-x when she wakes up. And she'll be asking for more if she wakes up."

"When. When she wakes up."

"Yeah, well, I'm not betting all my caps on it, if that's what you're asking."

Raven's eyes snapped open to bright sunlight and blobs that should have been faces of people looking down at her. She groaned, feeling the area of her gut where bullet wounds should have been.

"...the hell?" she muttered, feeling nothing but scabs and dried blood. Her vision was still a bit blurry, but she could now make out the face of a girl no older than twenty-two by the looks of her, with red hair that was cut in a way that made her look more like a raider than anything. She was looking at someone else and grinning. Raven followed her gaze, but her vision was blurred by the movement. All she could make out was red.

"Well, my work here is done. Charon!"

Raven's attention turned back to the girl. A tall ghoul in leather armor joined her, holding some kind of shotgun with one hand.

"Wait a minute. She'll want to thank you."

The girl looked at the ghoul for a moment, who only shrugged and muttered something she couldn't make out.

"Alright. You really awake yet, girly?"

"And who the fuck are you again?" Raven asked, a bit annoyed by the nickname.

"Oh, yeah, that's the best 'thank you' I've ever heard. Name's Arizona, kid, or as the ass-hole on the radio calls me, the 'Lone Wanderer'. And the only reason I'm telling you that is because your friend here is looking at me like he's about to blow my head off, so I figured I'd better answer that question before he does."

Raven's vision became clearer, and she struggled to her feet to face Arizona.

"Who?" she asked. "I was alone when..." Her voice trailed off when her eyes came to rest on the man standing next to her. "Holy shit," she whispered. "Boone... What the hell are you doing here!"

"Saving your ass, that's what," he answered her, grinning for once.

Raven found the strength to tackle the sniper with a hug, ignoring the smirking red-head next to her.

"Just friends, eh?" she heard Arizona whisper to the ghoul.

"They act more like lovers to me," the ghoul whispered back.

Raven ignored the two and let go of Boone, who had lost his grin.

"I though you wanted to stay in Novac," she confessed. "You never really did seem eager to join up with me again. Why the change of heart?"

"A certain courier chewed me out for letting you go alone, and I left before she could threaten me with that fat man of hers."

Raven grinned, but before she could speak, Arizona spoke first.

"Well, since you two lovers are back together, I guess my jobs done. Keep your caps, sniper. All I want is to see a happy ending," she said, smiling.

"I thought you just wanted to kill someone and sell their gear," the ghoul behind her muttered. Arizona blinked, her face a bit more pale.

"Yeah, well... I'll see ya later, girly. Keep the combat shotgun. It'll save your ass more times than most bodyguards."

With that said, Arizona and the ghoul began walking north, leaving Raven and Boone alone.

"Hey Boone?" Raven asked, looking back at the sniper.

"What is it?"

"Wanna join up with me?"

"Sure. Let's get going."