The mission, albeit a difficult one, has gone smoothly, just the way he liked them. The radioactive desert, the radscorpions, the pack of feral ghouls in the military complex, nothing could alter the pace at which they proceeded to their main target, the retrieval of the nuclear bomb Liberty Prime sized in the underground storage area. He isn't overly surprised though, most assignments had gone that way lately, at least as long as she stood by his side. It scares him sometimes. Not her efficiency, of course, nor did he ever doubt her allegiance; but each day spent with her on the field makes him more and more unable, nay unwilling to be sent on mission without her, and that thought keeps troubling him than he wants to admit. He observes as Tamara convinces a visionary man from the atom cult to let them through the gates leading to the bombs. No violence. No bloodshed. He sometimes thinks such prevention futile, yet this other part of her character never ceased to amaze him. How long has it been since he had been so relaxed and confident for the last time, heart lightening on entering the main storage area followed by his fellow knight? For he believes... No, he KNOWS that as long as he sticks with her, nothing can stand in his way.

"There", Tamara exhales as she gets the transmitter to work. She then turns and smiles at him, beaming.

Excellent, he thinks. Thanks to these warheads, Liberty Prime will soon be ready, and the Institute no more than what Commonwealth folks believed it was: a boogieman, an urban legend that never really existed. All is left to do is securing the area until a vertibird comes and begins the conveyance of the nukes to the Boston Airport. The task was easy enough for him to fulfill on his own.

"Outstanding as ever, he stated, you should head back to the Prydwen and report to Elder Maxson immediately."
Tamara quickly shifts to face him completely, looking surprised.
"And you?"
"I'll keep Watch."
The surprise on her face deepens.
"But, why? I highly doubt anyone or anything would come here in the short interval before a vertibird arrives."

Stange. He frowns at her. It isn't in her habits to discuss his orders:
"Elder Maxson has been very specific about it. Someone's got to stay here to ensure the nuclear warheads are safe. Go back to the Prydwen and report to him as expected of you, soldier. Dismissed."

His tone sounded harsher than he wanted them to. The knight standing before him doesn't seem to mind, though. Tamara got used to his occasional outbursts by now. she just keeps her eyes locked on him, staring from below her eyelashes, lips slightly parted, hands crossed flat on her heart, expression hard to read, somewhat like worry... Sadness?
The Paladin used this final moment of hesitation on her part to consider her features one last time. For this mission, she opted for an hermetic suit to travel through the Glowing Sea radiation free. He only deplored she wouldn't put on her power armour , for the crossing was risky, to say the least. Once they entered the building, she removed the helmet, for better vision, she said. She maintained her stance several moments, then, finally looking away from him, she whispers in a barely audible voice:

"Okay then, I'm leaving now. Please be careful."

He stares as she turns her back on him and slowly proceeds toward the exit, a confused expression on his face. Thinking hard about their last exchange, he wonders whether she had any intellingence or foreboding something could eventually go wrong, so much that he doesn't notice the sound of hasty steps almost running toward him at once. When he does though, bruskly lifting his head up, he is shocked to find his mouth gently assaulted in a soft kiss by his companion thin, sweet lips, arms thrown around his neck, on her toe, body as close to his as she can afford while he is still wearing his power armour on. His own body tenses immediately in response, yet to his greatest surprise, his first reaction isn't to push her away given this totally inappropriate and careless behaviour in hostile environment. No. He merely slowly closes his eyes instead, remaining perfectly still, enjoying every bit of the moment to its fullest. Tamara wouldn't push her advantage further, though. Now isn't the time. So, quietly tilting her head back from his face, she places her forehead on his, eyes still closed, hands sweetly sliding on his neck and in his hair, keeping in head in place, not that he intended to resist anyway. Her breath is heavy, he can feel the all heat in her twitchy voice as she hardly manages to murmur, their eyes meeting:

"I'll see you back on the Prydwen. Don't make me wait, Lancelot."

Lancelot. It had been such a long time since she last called him that name. That takes him way back, when he first met her. And while she once again walks out of his sight, definitively this time, he allows himself to drown in the memory of their past deeds together with a blank stare and a blissfull smile. How brave she is, how strong they have been on their so many battles against all kind of enemies, how she always listens to what he has to say with undivided attention. Her kindness also, generous to a fault sometimes, but clearly resolute. He then let his thoughts stroll toward the present: him, as a proud Paladin of the Brotherhood of Steel; he, along with Liberty Prime and his fellow brothers and sisters in arms, taling on the Institute and annihilating the biggest threat they had to face this far; and, on a more personal level, he finally found himself devoid of loneliness, a new warmth slowly spreading through all his being. Yes, and, for what he beleives to be the first time in his life, it seems to Paladin Danse that future is the brightest of things.