Author's Note: This technically follows my other story, "Toy Soldier," but this piece stands on its own.
The rotting plaster above her head shook, and Elle dove for cover beneath a rusted desk. Dust and chunks of ceiling settled around her, and she held back a cough.
There was no other motion, no other sound beyond the dull thuds of the super mutant's retreating footfalls on the level above.
Elle swallowed back her panic and reminded herself why she was alone in the Boston Public Library in the first place.
MacCready.
It was all because of the way a genuine smile lit up his eyes, more sincere than his typical smirk. And how she loved to make him smile.
They'd spent months together, fighting to survive out in the Commonwealth, so they could save his son's life, so they could rescue her own. And now...now Elle couldn't imagine life without that damned merc.
She still got pangs in her heart when she thought of Nate, of course. Probably always would. But now, with Robert at her side, life didn't seem so miserable. Seemed like, maybe, there was something worth living for besides just fighting for old memories.
Elle leaned cautiously out of the shelter of the desk. There was no visible sign of any super mutants nearby, and she could no longer hear the one above her.
"Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum," she snorted to herself. Of all the things she imagined the world after the War might hold, hulking green men with the bloodlust and dim wits of fairy tale giants weren't on her list of expectations. And yet, here she was, cowering in the dark corners of the library, hiding from those brutes.
Goddamn it. MacCready better appreciate this.
It really all started - well, this quest to the library, that is - when Robert mentioned he loved comic books. And then he made that stupid "Thoreauly" pun at Walden Pond. And then he told her about the version of Pyramus and Thisbe the kids at Little Lamplight put on.
(Chalk up children adapting ancient Greek theatre as another one of those things she didn't anticipate about life after the apocalypse.)
And then Elle noticed how often MacCready would rifle through the old magazines and newspapers she found - even the boring shit like landscaping magazines. Sometimes she'd find him, hovering over their campfire or propped on a couch in Sanctuary, just reading crap like that.
That settled it for Eleanor. That man deserved better reading material, and if there was one place left in Boston that would have it, it was the library.
Elle scrambled inelegantly out of her hiding spot, holding back a sneeze. The "sneaky ninja" approach wasn't her usual style, but like a damned fool, she thought she could do a quick run to the library on her own. Without backup, the threat of being disemboweled and eaten alive by super mutants was much too real for her comfort - and much too close for it either, if Big-and-Nasty's footsteps were any indication.
She essentially had two choices now: slip out quietly and come back later with some help, or continue on her foolhardy mission to liberate some books just to give to Robert.
Elle mentally slapped herself for how little time she spent debating that decision, especially since she went with the stupid choice.
Shit, she loved that boy too much.
"Motherf-!"
She was running at a breakneck pace away from the Boston Public Library, bullets whizzing past and slamming into the bruised asphalt of the street.
Elle had almost gotten out of the library with her mailman's bag full of books, but as she crept for the entrance, she turned the corner directly into an ugly green giant.
Stupid stupid stupid.
She tugged off the pin to a smoke grenade and tossed it haphazardly behind her. Maybe the explosion and resulting fog would be enough of a distraction for her to escape...
"HEY THAT'S NOT FAIR, TINY HUMAN."
Elle muttered some choice words under her breath and slammed on the button of the StealthBoy clipped at her belt. The old cloaking technology was hard to come by, and she used it sparingly. Right about now seemed like a pretty good time.
The "invisibility cloak" of the StealthBoy would only last for a few seconds, so Elle spent them ducking and weaving down side streets, making as much ground as possible between her and the angry monstrosities that wanted to eat her.
Out of breath, she doubled over, hands propped on her knees, outside Diamond City and gasped for air. The security guards on duty gave her a cursory glance, but they'd seen enough weird shit to not be very impressed with one winded woman.
Once she'd tidied up her disheveled appearance as much as she could, Elle made her way through the city gates, back to the shack that served as a home while in town.
"Special delivery!" Elle crowed as she flung open the door to her tiny house in Diamond City. MacCready raised a brow as he glanced up from the rifle he was cleaning.
"You look like crap."
"Thanks a lot, jerk." Elle tried in vain to smooth down her errant hair. "Got you something." She shrugged off the USPS bag and plopped it onto what counted as the kitchen table.
Robert was staring her down, probably eyeing the grime covering her skin and the fresh cut above her eye. "Hey, are you okay?" He quirked a brow with concern. "You said you were just going to run some errands..."
"Yeah, I'm fine," Elle waved off his concern. She didn't sound very convincing, even to her own ears, so she swiftly changed topics.
"Look, I got you a present." She nudged the bag toward him.
"If it's a shipment of Cram, I'll pass," the joke didn't meet his eyes, but then his expression shifted in an instant as he peered into the bag.
"They don't even smell all that moldy!" Elle tried to encourage him. "Come on, give 'em a look."
Robert pulled out books one by one, laying them gently on the table like they were sacred relics. A mixture of awe and...sadness, maybe?...wrote itself on his face.
The Complete Shakespeare. Goethe. Robert Frost. Arthurian legends. Greek mythology. Spy novels. Textbooks on world history. A children's picture book. Even a bodice-ripper romance.
She had brought them all back here, where they now stacked neatly on the table and spilled over onto chairs. Some thirty or so in all.
"Eleanor..." His voice was soft.
"Uhoh. My full name. Does that mean I'm in trouble?"
Robert pulled her into a fierce hug before she had time to react, smothered her dusty cheeks with butterfly kisses. "My God, Elle, I can't believe you got all these..."
"You seem like you enjoy reading, so, ya know, I thought I'd..."
He muffled her response with a hard kiss to her lips. "Thank you, thank you so much."
Robert pulled back to look her over again, hands at her waist. "You promise you're okay?" She nodded, and he held her in a tight hug once more.
"Thank you so much. Just don't...don't ever pull that crap again. Whatever it is you did." His mustache tickled at her ear. "I don't wanna lose you."
Tears pricked at both their eyes, but Elle stubbornly ignored hers. "I won't. I..." She swallowed, forced a more playful smile to her face. "Hey, which one do you think you'll read first?"
"Heck, I don't even know where to start. This is the most amazing gift anyone's ever gotten me."
"How about that one?" Elle pointed to the book whose covered featured a busty maid, clinging dramatically to a shirtless hero.
Robert just laughed and pulled her close for another kiss.