The early morning touched down over Megaton. Her eyes opened. She sat upright and stretched. A faint yawn escaped her lips. Holly sat there until her feet were able to plant themselves onto the floor. It was obvious that the grogginess had yet to evaporate from her body. Shuffling steps led her to the washroom and she got ready for her first day of work.

As soon as she stepped out, she was greeted by Gob.

"G'Mornin', Holly," he straightened up.

"Good Morning, Gob,"

"Did you, eh…sleep well?"

"Sure did. Just wish it didn't end so soon."

Select areas of her face were as red as a tomato. It was endearing—the aspect that blood was able to rush to her face. Nevertheless, it was cute. He remembered at one point, when he had a normal face, and a full head of hair, he was quite the looker. Shy, but quite the looker nonetheless. But, that was so long ago, he had forgotten how it felt to have pearly white skin.

"How'd you sleep, Gob?"

"O-oh…good,"

"That's great to hear,"

"Listen…about last night…I'm—"

"It's alright, Gob. It wasn't your fault! I should have locked the door. I was so careless,"

"The fuck are ya' chatting fer? Set up the fucking shop!" Moriarty interrupted.

"A-ah, yes, Mr. Moriarty,"

Holly averted her attention to the miserable older man. She had to be careful around this one. He had a nasty attitude, especially toward Gob. And about what Nova warned her about? She was waiting for the time to come where she would become just another worker and receive the same treatment as Nova or even Gob.

"I'll help help him," she responded and turned to set up the chairs.

"I'd prefer if ya would sit back and watch how things are done around here, he's a lazy fuck. Let him do it,"

"No. I'm a hands-on kind of learner. I've got this," she spoke defiantly.

His thick eyebrow rose. It was apparent that he was holding back some words that he would save for when he becomes accustomed to her employment at his bar. "Gob. At the register. We've got customers. Hurry it up!"

"Yes, Mr. Moriarty,"

He stopped what he was doing and proceeded to rush behind the counter. Moriarty was being quite the asshole so early in the morning. He began taking the order of the first customer. It was the usual people.

"I want the Brahmin steak. Well done—not rubbery like last time, you got that, shuffler?" demanded the male customer.

"Uh-huh," Gob responded. There was a hint of irritation in his voice.

Holly continued to set up the chairs and the wipe the counters.

"Well, well well…" the male glanced over at Holly with predatory intent. "Who the fuck is that nice piece of ass?" he gestured toward her with his thumb.

"That's Holly, the new barmaid, quite the jewel, eh?"

"Man, check out her rack. How much is it to get a room with that?"

Hearing him and Moriarty talk about Holly like she was a piece of meat irritated him to no end. He could feel the irritation…and even jealousy coursed through his veins. His right hand formed a fist at his side.

"She ain't fer sale…yet," Moriarty smirked.

"That's too bad; let me know when the market opens. Guess I'll fuck the other slut until then, hehe."

No…not Holly. He thought to himself. He wouldn't be able to bear the idea of anyone else taking her. Sure, these were unrealistic expectations and part of him felt guilty for not warning her to leave as quickly as she could. Colin Moriarty was a money-hungry weasel, and would do any sort of lucrative methods (to HIM) to make more income and pay his employees less than the required amount of profit.

"Welcome to Moriarty's, how can I help you, today?" Holly greeted the customer with a disarming smile.

"You sure can, sweet cheeks," said a man flirtatiously, shifting to take a seat.

She pulled out a tiny notepad and a pencil and began taking his order. While at work, she could feel various people eyeballing her. It made her feel a tad uncomfortable; however, she took it in stride. Each time an order was given, she'd go to Gob to relay the message and he procured the required items. This joint effort made both of their workloads easier. Even Moriarty saw somewhat an improvement that day. She was definitely a quick learner and competent. A (feigned) bubbly personality livened up the place.

The radio started working again at the very least, and Gob was able to listen to DJ Three Dog again. He enjoyed the fact that she kept coming back to him each time to tell him what the customers wanted. That solid, although professional interaction between them was more than enough to sate his desire to be around her. He watched her—beautiful as ever, gracefully going down the aisles and baring her perfectly white teeth past her full lips. Her curled hair lively bounced on top of her shoulders.

Damn, she's perfect…

The day wore on and so did the customers. A majority of them flirted mindlessly with Holly, to which she politely responded back so as not to seem rude. Little did she know the jealousy that seeped from poor ol' Gob.

Moriarty watched the rounds of drinks increased and more bottle caps filled the cash register. Being miserable as he was, nothing ever completely satisfied him. He was irate. Irate that things were too lax on Gob's behalf. "Gob, stop being so fucking lazy and take some orders as well. I didn't hire a new person so that you can relax!"

"But, I—"

Moriarty turned as red as a beet. "Are you sassing me, you rotten scumbag?" he snarled.

"No, Mr. Moriarty…"

"I'm going to fuck you up!"

This had to stop, Holly thought to herself. The way he singled out Gob like that was a little excessive now. She had never heard him tell him that he did a great job or thank him for the help he has done around the place—it was always something off. He could be doing what he was supposed to be doing and Colin Moriarty would find something off about it just to have a reason to complain. It didn't look like the townspeople liked him much, either. But they still kept coming there and giving him money, so it mattered very little to him, their opinion.

"Moriarty, I'd like to talk to you about something." A female's voice emanated. It was Nova.

"What do you want? Don't tell me it's about that thing again…" followed a swift Nova to the back.

"Looks like the place is emptying out. Have a drink-it's on me, pal," Holly said, to Gob.

"Oh, no, Moriarty'd have a fit if he saw me drinking his products on my shift,"

"What doesn't he catch a bitch fit about around here? Clearly, he's an ungrateful piece of trash,"

"Shh, don't let him hear you say that," Gob said, sharply. The last thing he needed was trouble. Regardless, he agreed with her.

"I'm sorry. I just…I can't stand how he keeps singling you out like that. It isn't cool!"

"Heh…You've got a lot of spunk, girlie."

He was grateful for her passion. It made him feel…wanted.

"And you're a pretty cool guy, Gob. You know that?" she leaned forward against the counter.

He managed to catch a whiff of that same beautiful scent—from last night. This time it was stronger, more…fragrant. A soft, quiet sigh escaped his lips. He froze up with how close she was. If his skin was smooth, she would have been able to see him blushing. And what was this..? Was she complimenting him? He had never received a compliment from anyone…other than Carol. His chest was pounding.

"You think so?"

"Yeah, I know so,"

He smiled his crooked smile.

A/N: Get ready for things to pick up next chapter! I promise.