After she had finished cleaning up her mess, Veronica tip toed down the steps to hover in the doorway of the kitchen where Rotson was sitting.

"Come on in. I won't bite." He said. He was sitting with his back to her and had a fresh cup of coffee poured for her.

Sitting opposite, Veronica tried her best to make her misery known, "Look, doc I – I just want to say that I'm sorry. I don't have an excuse." She knew she looked pathetic. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying and she felt disgusting. What if he kicks me out? I can't survive the radiation.

"I suppose I could kick you out seeing as how you've done quite well to take advantage of my hospitality. But you wouldn't last two minutes out there. So…" Rotson inhaled deeply, "We're gonna have to work this out, lady." He tapped absently on the table while he spoke and reclined. "So you're sorry. You've been a dick and you're sorry. I get it. You woke up and didn't think about what you were saying or doing; you panicked and didn't think about what you were doing."

Veronica started to respond but he held up his hand. His eyes said that this wasn't the time to interrupt. Rotson meant business. You didn't think. We all do that from time to time. So how about this: I'm pretty well upset that I've been violated by you. But you didn't really intend to violate me. I patched you up and I meant it when I said that was gratis. I don't want you to feel like you owe me anything because you don't. But you can do me a kindness…. Harper. He's my… he's my friend in a way. I care about him. But he isn't good with people. He'll be here later today and I want you to go with him. I've got an errand I need him to run but it's an errand that requires a certain amount of… persuasion. The amount that Harper has no chance of accomplishing on his own."

"I'll do whatever I can to make it up to you, Doc. I mean it." Veronica was giddy with the opportunity to climb herself out of the hole she'd dug with the ghoul.

"I'm glad to hear it. But you should know… this won't be easy. It won't be quick. It won't be safe. But, if you accomplish this, I'll be in your debt. And I hope you'll take it easy on an old man like me from here on out." He smiled as he referred to himself. He smiled but his eyes were serious. Rotson wasn't giving her a choice in this. Like it or not, she realized, she was here – with him – alone. No one knew where she was. No one knew what had happened to her. Here she was, alone in a shack with a ghoul surrounded by radiation and radscorpions. And a man the ghoul felt compelled to stress was a strange cat was on his way to receive a dangerous errand. Veronica suddenly felt like shivering. She felt trapped.

"If you're going to do this though… you need to know some things about Harper. I don't know where he's from. I do know that he's been traumatized by his past. He's not too bright. But he is clever. He'll know when you're insulting him all the same, clear?" It was. "Also… he's a cannibal."

"A what?"

"A cannibal. As in, he eats people." Veronica smiled and started to laugh but Rotsons face – Rotsons eyes – never changed. He wasn't pulling her leg. "You're pulling my leg."

"I'm dead fucking serious. Harper eats people. More than that… I'm relatively certain that he's a sociopath. I mean… more sociopathic than the average run of the mill wastelander. Indiscriminate killing? I'm sure of it. Cannibalism? I'm sure of it. Sympathy for the Legion? Absolutely."

"Wait… the fucking legion? This guy likes the legion?" Shit shit shit! Veronica suddenly realized what Rotson was doing. He was putting her in the company of a lunatic nutbag and was giving her no alternatives! "You can't expect me to…"

Rotson leaned forward in his chair and glowered at Veronica, "I'm not expecting anything. I'm asking you to trust me. Harper is a sociopath. But he has a role to play. I need you to be his liaison with those he'll come into contact with. If you don't, he'll likely die. NCR will find out about him eventually. They'll hunt him down. Legion too, for that matter. I'm not sure how Caesar responds to cannibalism but I'm certain he won't take to well to my friend." Veronica felt herself wavering on the precipice of an adrenaline rush. Her hair began to stand on end. He breathing came in rapid short rasps. She felt her heart begin to pound so hard that her head began to pound.

"Doc… I… can't do this. You're asking me to go on a trip with a murderer who eats people and wants to see others enslaved. You're asking me to do this while my family starves. You're asking me to put myself in danger, not just from the actual mission but also from the very man you want me to join?"

"Yes."

wait… did he just say… "Yes. I am asking you to do all of that. Your family can take care of themselves, Veronica. Don't think I don't know who you are – what you are. You're Brotherhood. And chances are that you aren't the only 'shopper' they've got in the Mojave. In fact, I know you aren't. Brotherhood showed up in the area not one day after Harper brought you too me. They've been watching this place. I imagine it's because you're here."

Veronica's mouth dropped. I'm not trapped after all! They've found me! They've known all along! "Wha – how many paladins?" Rotson held up 2 fingers, "then why haven't they come to get me?"

"Because I asked them not to. With their armor on they won't fit through my front door and even if they could, the place would be so overcrowded that I'd fear for your safety. The reason your supplies aren't in the shack is because I've already given them to the paladins. I told them your condition and what had happened. I'm not the villain you think I am, Veronica. I haven't trapped you. I'm helping you and I'm hoping that you'll do me the kindness of taking care of my friend for a while. He needs purpose. You can give that to him." If what the doctor had said was true then Veronica had completely misjudged him – had judged him. "I have a radiation suit for you – they brought it. They know what I'm asking you to do and your superiors have approved. Almost too quickly if you ask me but, hey, it ain't my place to get involved."

That part didn't surprise Veronica. She'd been on thin ice with the Brotherhood for the past few years. Ever since Father Elijah had left. She had been questioning the mission of the Mojave Chapter ever since the Battle of Helios One. The Brotherhood was dying. She knew it. They knew it. But they wouldn't change. Her opinions had made her a veritable persona non grata and she'd been placed on "indefinite procurement status" which meant that she was all but forbidden to return. In addition, shortly after her exile, the Elder had placed the bunker on lockdown.

"But the Bunker is on lockdown! Why would they be here?"

Rotson shrugged, "they said that you missed your check in. So they dispatched a scout to find and track you. Said that you were the kind of person that needed watching. Not my business; so I didn't ask any more questions. But, never you mind all of that. I need you to help Harper, Veronica. The Brotherhood is fine. They have the supplies you got for them. The men I met don't strike me as the kind to lose too much sleep if they never heard from you again. So forget that. Whatever you were doing for the Brotherhood before today is over. Now you work for me. Now your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to help my friend."

It was all too much. Relief. Grief. Concern. Anguish. All of it. Too damned much. "I need to punch something." Rotson laughed. "Alright. So the way I see it; you've been so good to me and I shit all over that. So my welcome here is pretty much exhausted." The doctor nodded, "great. And my welcome at home was exhausted long ago. I can't even disappear because the Brotherhood has been keeping ties on me for who knows how long so…. my only option is to go on this 'errand' of yours alongside a sociopathic cannibal."

"That's about the size of it."

"Great. So what are we doing?"

"You're going to Repconn."