AN: Thanks for reading into the second chapter, this should hopefully give some development for Angelo, and introduce the first of our love interests, (and yes there are several, I'll touch on that later). Hopefully you guys are enjoying this so far, and if you would kindly leave a review and tell me what you think that'd be swell!

Chapter 2: Back in the Saddle

As I made my way toward the saloon, I made notice of the clothing the people were wearing around me. Most were wearing very dark clothes that covered their entire bodies, which I imagine wouldn't help very much in this heat. As hot as it is though, the heat is tolerable, if only due to how dry it is, of all the places that seemed to be untouched by the war, it seems odd that The Mojave would be the place House would save.

Pushing my thoughts aside I pushed my way into the saloon and was immediately pounced upon by a dog, and while not exactly a small thing, it wasn't very heavy, and was definitely more used to throwing its weight rather than standing its ground in combat, probably the perfect dog to deal with small threats, like the Geckos that I know inhabit these parts. A voice in front of me yells "Cheyenne, Stay!" and the dog leaps off of me, though it seems to be either wary of me, or really wanting to play, not too sure which.

"Sorry about that," The voice says, and I place it to a petite woman, who appears to barely come up to my shoulder, wearing a patchwork leather jacket and pants, which probably offers good protection from light scrapes, but is undoubtedly absolutely horrendous to wear in the sun. "She typically doesn't like newcomers, but stays when I tell her too."

"No harm done, not too sure if she wanted to eat me or play with me, I'm going to hope for the latter." I say, kneeling down to give the dog a few pats on the head, she takes them nicely, and wags her tail excitedly, as though she's found a new friend to play with. "I take it you're Sunny Smiles?"

"That I am, Doc send you my way?" She retorts, leaning against the doorframe perpendicular to the entrance.

"Yep, said I was to meet some people around town, mentioned you specifically, also said I should help out, so need any help?" I ask, suddenly feeling self-conscious of the Vault-Suit I'm wearing, while it is surprisingly comfortable to be made of leather, it doesn't exactly offer the most protection, or help in hiding in the desert.

"I could use some help clearing out some Geckos from the wells around Goodsprings, as you could probably guess from the name, town's primary trade is water, and without the wells, we don't have much of that." She says, resuming standing upright and adjusting the strap for the rifle on her back.

"I'm an alright shot, so I'd be more than willing to help, a little lacking in the gun department though."

"I've got a spare Varmint Rifle, not the best thing in the world, but it'll fire. Let's head out back and see just how good of a shot you are." She says before walking towards the back of the building and presumably towards a back door.

As I follow her out I notice a makeshift workshop set up outside the general store, and see her finishing setting some Sunset Sarsaparilla bottles on a small bit of fencing. She hands me a rifle and I follow her to a spot. "Give it your best shot." She says, crossing her arms and smirking as though she's expecting me to be unable to.

More than a little annoyed with her attitude I align the sights on the weapon and fire three shots in rapid succession, with accompanying sounds of broken glass and thuds as the bottles break and hit the pavement.

"Not bad, but I didn't bring you out here to hunt bottles, let's go Gecko hunting." She says, whistling for her dog and motioning for me to follow her. In a few minutes we arrive at a series of water pumps, surrounded by Geckos, with one woman there being attacked by them, I notice she's armed with a meat cleaver, and while that would be more than enough to deal with a single gecko, they just seem to be swarming her.

Without a moments pause I run in, taking a few shots with my varmint rifle at some of the outlying ones before reaching the woman. Beside her I notice a shovel and, while elbowing a Gecko to put some distance between it and the civilian, grab it to swing. The heavy metal blade of the shovel connects with a Gecko's neck and rips it from its body in a shower of viscera. Another swing crushes the skull of a second Gecko and knocks it to the ground. The remaining few Geckos are swiftly dealt with by Sunny and Cheyenne, and we all regroup.

"How many times have I told you people about coming out here by yourselves? You are adults and have been living here longer than I've been alive. Come in pairs! It's not that hard!" Sunny yells at the woman, on closer inspection her hair has greyed, and her skin wrinkled, she's obviously older and not in the prime of her life anymore, which is probably why she had such problems with the Geckos.

"You're right, you're right, I know better, I just didn't want old Pete to come out here with his back and all, that man'll work 'imself to an early grave." The woman says, using a cloth from her bag to wipe off her meat cleaver. "Who's this strapping young lad?"

"He's the one Doc Mitchell was patching up, that Victor found in the graveyard." Sunny says, seemingly calmed down.

"Well I'll be, wasn't sure he was going to make it, here take this, as thanks for saving me." The woman says as she hands me a bag, inside I find a few full bottles of water, a 9mm pistol with some ammo, and a meat cleaver, though this one has a rusted blade. "That's my old Chopper! Used to keep me safe and fed, though since it got so rusty I can't cook with it no more."

"Thank you ma'am, I really appreciate it." I say as I turn to Sunny, "Need any more help?"

"Nah, I reckon that was it, word is you're gonna need a place to hole up for a while, til' Doc gives the okay at least. Best person to ask is Delilah, she lives right next to the general store, she's been helping Doc recently, she had her Pa and Uncle die in the past two years so she's a little on the lonely side, maybe you can cheer her up a bit." Sunny says throwing her rifle back over her shoulder. "Keep the rifle, I've got a few spares, and consider it payment for the job you did."

"Thanks then, guess I'll go see Delilah." I say as I escort the older woman back to the town.

Heading to the building mentioned I knock on the door a few times and am greeted with a strange sight. In front of me stands a woman, a few inches shorter than I am, with leg guards, a shirt that shows her abdomen, a few tribal tattoos on her arms and black hair that is pulled into a small pigtail on each side.

"Can I help you?" She asks, her voice is quiet and sweet, but at the same time she seems weary of me, which I suppose with times how they are is understandable.

"I'm the guy Doc Mitchell was patching up, that the robot found in the grave. Sunny Smiles said I should ask you for a place to sleep, since Doc wants to keep an eye on me and you apparently have been working with him." I retort keeping eye contact but putting on a small smile, trying to be as friendly as possible, I'd like to be nice to these people after all, they saved my life.

"I suppose, come on in, I'm about to have dinner, you're more than welcome to join me, company would be nice." She says, motioning me inside and toward a dinner table, only one place is set, undoubtedly hers, but she rushes and grabs a plate and utensils before cutting off some of a large hunk of meat from the counter. "You came at a good time, it's always easier to cook a good portion of a BigHorner at once, usually lasts me a while, but it makes it easy to feed visitors."

I thank her for the food and sit down with my meal in front of me, waiting for her to start eating before I do, she is the host after all, I hate intruding enough as it is.

"So what got you shot in the head in the first place if you don't mind me asking?" She asks. Straight to the point, I can admire that in a woman.

"I'm a courier, and was contracted by the Mojave Express to deliver a package, from what I can gather, this man wanted that package, and was willing to kill me for it." I respond, might as well be honest.

"Dangerous job, hope you get worker's comp. for medical leave." She says, half-jokingly, half seriously.

"Unfortunately, company policy is that any death, dismemberment, or other bodily harm that comes to the courier while delivering a package is the sole problem of the courier. Most people typically don't mess with couriers, we don't typically enough cargo to make us appealing targets, usually all we carry is letters and small worthless packages, most people trust caravans for more valuable things, easier to guard." I explain.

"Wow, that's fascinating." She says, and the look in her eyes implies that she's not sarcastic about it, she's leaned forward as though she's holding on to my every word, and, if she had a pencil and paper, I'm pretty sure she'd be taking notes.

"Enough about my job, what do you do?" I ask, hoping to get away from my cranial conundrum as quickly as possible.

"I've been helping Doc with patients, my Uncle Sulik taught me tribal medicine and my dad collected books of all kinds, many of them medical, between them and Doc Mitchell I've just been trying to learn enough about medicine to help people who need it, Doc says he won't be around forever, so someone's got to help these people." She says, with a determination I've only seen from a few people, one of them…. Actually I can't remember who, although I feel I should. Probably an issue with my head being shot, a few memories might go missing.

"I heard about your family do you want to talk about it? I've gone through that too, I know how it feels, while I never knew my father, I did know my mother and my sister, and I lost them." I say, while bringing up the memories is painful, I've come to peace with them, and know that I want to give this girl the help I went without.

"If you don't mind me asking, what happened? I'm not sure if I'm comfortable enough to talk about mine right now, but I do thank you for the offer." She says.

As much as it pains me to say it, I couldn't say no to the look on her face, this woman is adorable while also being incredibly attractive, if my situation weren't as it is currently, I'd be all over her.

"My family grew up not too far from here, a little more south maybe. That area is sort of unclaimed, we have NCR around, but they're less stationed there and more exploring further territory options. A while back, a group of raiders came, a tribe from across the Colorado, and attacked the town. They took over for a small time, and in that time they brought the woman in the town to the center. I was forced to watch as they each took their turns with the women I'd grown up with, everyone from my best friend's mom, to my own sister, and had to watch as once they were finished with them, they just blew their brains out. This tribe would eventually join the legion, and spark my hatred for them. The NCR eventually mounted a counterattack and drove them off, but it was too late for my family, I was probably only 14 at this time, but they found a nice home for me, it was a ranch family, with the "parents" being up in years, they'd had a few kids grow up, but when they heard about my village they offered to take in a kid, I was the lucky one to get put with them. I do miss them, and I try to write them whenever I get a chance, but it doesn't quite fill that void."

"I can't even imagine what that must be like, that's terrible to even think about." She says, downtrodden.

"Losing family is always hard, you just have to push through it, honor their memory, and be willing to live for them. Besides, that event gave me purpose, one I thought I'd never get." I say, my voice filling with determination.

"And what's that?" She asks, intrigued.

"That son of a bitch Caesar dies by my hand." I say with vigor.