Life could be rather funny sometimes.
That was the thought that came to mind when I awoke in my bed. Said bed was in my room in Novac. It was also being shared by a sleeping Cass. As I looked at her, I couldn't help but smirk. Slowly, I reached over her with my left hand and moved a bit of hair from the front of her face. I then settled that same hand on her cheek.
In all honesty, I wasn't exactly looking for romance when I came to the Mojave. As a matter of fact, I wasn't even looking for anything. All I wanted to do was make a delivery and get paid. However, two gunshots to the head changed that. I went from a courier, to a man on a vengeance trip, to being a wanted player for four different sides, to finally becoming what NCR needed to drive off The Legion for good. Add a lot of the side stuff that went on like, say, a casino resort filled with deadly gas and creatures in failed hazmat suits or a crater filled with a research facility ran by brains in floating jars with screen for eyes… Needless to say, my life became a lot more chaotic.
My companions were one of the few things that were constant in my new life in the Mojave – especially Cass.
I didn't expect the woman known as Sharon of Rose Cassidy to be as close to me as she became, nor did I expect to have the affections for her that I do.
She is… a lot of things. She is crass – I could have spent a whole day in Gomorrah and still hear less sex and genital talk than I'd hear from her. She is a drunkard, albeit the most high-functioning drunkard I ever met. I remember one time having to hold her hair while she was emptying her guts into a toilet. But as drunk as she was then, I had no issue handing her the shotgun she keeps when some Legionnaires figured we were easy pickings when we stepped out of Goodsprings. And she's rather promiscuous.
Honestly, that last part didn't bother me – at least, not at first. While I didn't consider myself the most sexually active person, I had my fair share of one night stands. I even paid Sweetie a visit quite a few times. But over time, I started to feel a certain way whenever she talked about the wild nights she would have. Those feelings became more pronounced as we grew closer. And I knew why. Slowly, but surely, I was falling for her. I didn't get a chance to tell her until after the battle at Hoover Dam. And that was when she walked in on me threatening the NCR soldier she "celebrated" the victory with.
The day after was funny in hindsight. She berated me for not telling her how I felt all this time. She then admitted that she felt the same way about me, only keeping it to herself since she was, in her words, "not someone to bring home to your folks".
I then joked that it wouldn't be a problem since my folks are dead. She called me horrible as she tried her damnedest to hold back her laughter.
She failed.
The rest of the day was a blur. I finally took her up on her offer to make some moonshine. It harder stuff than what I used to be drinking. I didn't remember much. I remembered a whole lot of kissing, a whole lot of dirty talk, and a whole lot of drinking. By the time we woke up, I was hung over as The King explained to the both of us that we were married. Honestly, I was more baffled that The King was an ordained minister than I was about us being married. He offered to annul it, given that we were both wasted out our minds.
We declined.
In all honesty, I love Cass. She was always open with me. She trusted me as much as I trusted her. She always said what was on her mind, and always looked out for me. I couldn't picture anyone else to spend the rest of my life with.
So, I took her to my room in Novac so we could celebrate properly. There was no alcohol – I wanted the two of us to remember everything. And I made sure it was a night worth remembering.
That was the night before. Remembering it, I smiled as I continued to look at her.
"…I love you so much, Cass," I whispered.
"I still wish you told me that sooner, Henry," she whispered back. She opened her eyes slowly and smiled. She slowly brought her hand over slowly and gently grabbed a handful of my dreads. "Especially after the way you loved me last night." I smiled before I brought my face forward and placed a soft kiss on her lips.
"Well, you'll have a lifetime of that," I said. She smiled.
"That's something I can drink to," she replied.
I couldn't help but chuckle. What can I say? How could I not love my Whiskey Rose?