Heyyyyyyy

So, this chapter might be a little boring but I wanted to do some character building because it's a habit of mine. Enjoy!

Oh, yes, I don't own Fallout New Vegas or any of it's characters.

It was late in November when the Courier stumbled across Novac after her long trek from Goodsprings, through Prim and Nipton. She visited the Mojave Outpost and met again with the NCR Rangers, her memory slightly foggy from the recently received headshot wound Benny so graciously gave to her. The Courier had zero memory of the Legion, so meeting them with the company of crucified Powder Gangers was a very unpleasant surprise. What she remembered about the NCR was that they were everywhere out west, which was where she started her deliveries when she was barely old enough to handle a fully loaded carbine.

It surprised Boone though. She had been shooting for so long from such a young age, and yet she was a terrible shot. She was weak, could barely handle the recoil of the gun, let alone keep it aimed accurately and deliver effective shots. Along with this flaw, she could handle just a little more lead pumped into her than an ordinary wastelander could. She was fragile and delicate like a flower. It was a wonder how she survived two bullets to the brain.

Above all of this though, the Courier was a genius. An excellent doctor, hacker, locksmith, she was also a very light-footed thief with a razor tongue. She was also very... sinister when Boone first met her. She was angry about what Benny had done to her, so she stole, murdered people in their sleep and said nasty things. There was also some talk of the young girl being a cannibal, but nobody ever saw her in the act to confirm it.

Boone was standing in the set of giant jaws of Dinky the Dinosaur deep in the night when he saw a shadow creeping along the rocks past the chain link fence that separated Novac from the desert wasteland. He thought it was a nightstalker at first, but the shadow was too slow, too short to be anything like that. But its movements were too controlled and calculated to be a some junkie Viper Sharpshooter and it was too far south for fiends to be creeping around. Boone only had one last solution for what the shadow could be. Some unlucky son of a bitch from the Legion was about to get their brains blown out all over the dusty rocks. Boone steadied his rifle and aimed carefully for the next set of boulders the shadow was headed, the boulders illuminated brightly by the moon just so the ex-NCR sniper could see the look on the sneak's face as it was blown to bits through his scope. His fingers squeezed around the trigger as the figure appeared.

Out of the darkness and out of the cover of the rocks, the Courier slid across the opening into the cool moonlight. Her dark red hair like a dying flame tussled and brushed against her pale face. She was no legionary. Boone jerked his arm just enough to change the projectile of his bullet when he saw what the shadow really was, and time slowed down as the bullet zipped through the dry air.

The bullet grazed her cheek, ripping the soft flesh right off of her face in a clean line. Blood drizzled down her face right down to her jaw, and she sighed as she wiped it away. 'I don't need another bullet to the brain' The Courier thought as she scanned the horizon for the source of the bullet. The glint of a scope was in the mouth of a funny looking dinosaur, and attached to the scope was a gun. Holding the gun was a man, who she glared at with vicious intent.

That was the first time he looked her in the eyes, that was the first time he saw her ill motives. Boone knew that was the look of somebody who planned to kill another. He scoffed, and pulled the rifle away from her to scan the wasteland once again.

A few minutes later, a harsh voice called out right behind him. All of his alarms rang through his body. He didn't even hear her come up the stairs or open and close the door. She didn't make a sound. "Don't sneak up on me like that." Said Boone, that was the only thing he could muster as he scanned her face in the dark. The bullet hit her face, which was probably why she was displeased. Boone braced himself- he didn't know what to expect from this woman.

"Who are you?" She said with a hint of mirth in her more than slightly hostile tone.

So Boone told her, and when she asked questions he thought he would never hear from somebody he nearly killed, he answered. He even gave her the rundown on Carla, and set up a deal with her. She said she could help him with finding who sold his wife, and after their conversation he gave her his beret.

"Thanks for the nice hat, Boone Burger." She said in a snarky voice as she left.

"It's a beret..." but she was gone before he could say so.

The Courier pranced down the stairs and laughed to herself as she plopped the beret on her puff of red hair. 'I'm not helping that baldo out. I'm going to rob this town blind and leave with his stupid hat and kill that stupid Benny when I get to Vegas.'

The first lock she picked was the one in the gift shop, but she was disappointed when all there was inside the door was toys upon toys. Some Nuka, some Sass, but this Courier didn't drink that shit. So she left, scouring all the suites and Bungalows sneakily for anything of value she could sell to some trader way too overpriced, but she came across nothing special. Some magazines, a few stimpacks but nothing worth a killing. So she went into the lobby of the motel and was delighted when she found herself a big, fat safe to pick right behind the counter. Some caps, some junk. But there was a note. Maybe she could blackmail somebody with this, she thought with a sneer.

The note though, it was quite an upsetting note. It was about a woman named Carla who was sold with an unborn child to the Legion- for a mere one thousand caps. The note put the girl out of the stealing mood, and all she wanted to do was sleep it off now. The guy she just spoke to... the way he talked about how he was going to kill who was responsible and how he asked her was haunting. It gave her chills now that the reality of the situation kicked in. The Courier frowned as she left the lobby out into the night, thoughts of pity bringing her down for that woman's sake and Boone's sake. Something inside of her sparked, something human. Something inside of her woke up and wanted her to be good again. Just this once, at least.

The Courier found a mat and pulled out her medical supplies. She applied disinfectant to the wound and patted some gauze over the cut. It was about a finger's depth into her cheek, and she could only assume that the sniper was aimed to kill her, but he hesitated on the last moment. This cut was going to leave a scar, and she was not sure if she could forgive him.

In the morning, she asked around town and got to know everybody's names. It wasn't long till she found the old hag who sold Boone's wife. Now it was all up to her deciding what to do, and she was getting used to wearing the silly red cap. According to Manny, Boone was being a jerk for a long time because of his wife's disappearance. The Courier couldn't blame him though, she would be pissed too if her wife was sold for only one thousand caps, but that was if she had a wife, and she wasn't into chicks.

Before she decided to help Boone, she went and helped his buddy Manny out with the ghouls at Repconn. Finding and slaughtering Benny was her top priority, and she needed some time to think about helping Boone or not. These days it wasn't very normal for her to think about others. She left Primm in shambles and ignored their pleas to kill the convicts, she only checked on Nipton because it was on the way to Novac and she was yet to return to the Mojave Outpost to tell the Rangers of the town's fate. She walked down the road towards the ghoul problem. The Courier kept out of sight the best she could, but couldn't keep the sniper out of her head.

"Carla... Carla... Carla... Why Carla? How strange..." She said as she unholstered her revolver.

It was five days later when she returned to town, and Boone was waiting impatiently for her to get back. Word spread fast about what she did at Repconn, everyone around town seemed to have taken a liking to her already. He was anxious, he was slightly worried that she wouldn't bring the culprit to justice, he was bothered that she didn't find the culprit right away and bring his beret back.

Boone cracked open an old bottle of wine Carla left behind. It was the last bottle he had, and it was her favourite. He had a feeling... a special feeling. Boone knew that she would be back tonight, he knew that he would shoot the bastard and relish in the release of the bullet and impact against their skull. It was a special occasion. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he poured himself a glass and another glass for the empty seat in front of him, where Carla would sit so long ago.

"Cheers."

He clinked his glass against the other glass and frowned a little, then proceeded to shamelessly down the wine. Boone checked the time and left his suite, leaving the untouched glass of wine on the dinner table. His hopes were higher than they've been in a long time.

A few hours later and she arrived as he expected. Jeannie May was with her, confused and almost lost looking as she stood with the young girl in the dark. The woman turned to her and asked too politely for a filthy slaver "Can I go home now, there is nothing out he-"

He killed her before she could finish. Boone beckoned for the Courier to come up to see him, and within a few minutes she was standing with him in Dinky's mouth, staring at him with hungry dark brown eyes that were so abysmal they appeared to be black. Since it was early in the evening, Boone could see her youthful complexion in the remnants of sunlight. This girl was much younger than he expected her to be, and that cut he inflicted on her seemed to heal up well, though the development of scar tissue was inevitable.

"How did you know it was them?"

"I found a receipt of sale in her safe." She said

"Seems like the type to keep paperwork. I don't know what I'm going to do now, I'll probably be leaving this place soon."

Her eyes brightened and she quickly said "Come with me then." She smiled a strange smile, which made Boone more than slightly uncomfortable. He leerily continued, questioning her demand.

"Why would I do that?"

"What else are you going to do?"

"This isn't going to end well." He stalely said, his demeanour becoming almost harsh. The Courier chuckled and put her hands on her hips to counter his attitude.

"Well we'll just have to deal with it."

Boone nodded, he watched her body language change and rolled his eyes behind his sunglasses. He couldn't remember the last time he spoke with somebody so naïve, he also couldn't remember the last time he spoke to a woman, either.

"All right, I've got your back." He finally answered, and she started to turn away from him. "What's your name?" He realized she didn't even introduce herself the night they first met.

With the door half open, it seemed like she was about to flee the scene. She hesitated and did not turn to tell him. "C-C-Ca..." She paused to calm down and to stop stammering, and laughed quietly between breaths. Finally, she continued and turned to face him.

"Ahem, call me... Courier. My name is Courier for all you will ever know."

Boone raised his eyebrow and asked, a little annoyed that she didn't tell him her real name. "So you're a courier?"

"Something like that, yeah." She winked, turned away and ran ahead of him to avoid any more questions. The two left Novac and headed north to the New Vegas Strip.

That late November day was the start of something beautiful, and the two had no idea.