He still hadn't gone back in his room.

Wasn't going to as long as she was still in there. He was proud of himself. It had been about six more hours, and the sun was high. He'd already taken a walk around the hotel, checked in on No-Bark, and taken a piss on Jeannie May's old front door.

Now he was camped out on the stoop in front of his room. The sun was starting to go down, and there was shade here, and he had a good cigarette lit. Not too stale.

And he still wasn't going to go back in.

Somebody walks out on you like that, somebody that you thought you had a partnership with, somebody who was supposed to have your back; it means something.

Somebody comes back to you like she did too, that means something else, and even the last cigarette in his pack hadn't helped him figure out what.

He was on edge, even considering the fact that he'd been doing better the last month than he had in over a year.

So on edge, in fact, that he was proud that when the door opened behind him, he didn't jump, didn't go on the offensive like he would have… before he met her.

And there she was, just like a week before. Just like before she left him flat, and then came back like it wouldn't matter. Sure, her eyes were swollen, and the cut on her face was still looking rough, but she was solid and present and here.

He felt betrayed by how comfortable that made him feel.

"Hey." She said.

He didn't answer. He didn't have anything to say.

"So. I wanted to say a couple of things to you." She wrapped her arms around her torso and leaned herself against the walkway post opposite him. "And you can take them as you will, because I know I can't change your mind but so much."

That made him glance over at her, and he was glad that he had his shades on, because he had a feeling he knew where this was going.

"I need to thank you for doctoring me up, because I know you didn't have to do that, and you didn't have to take me back in."

She looked over at him, dropped her arms.

"And I need to apologize to you. You trusted me, and I let you down. I need to say that it was stupid, I was stupid, but the only reason I didn't bring you with me…" She shook her head. "I knew you wouldn't approve of what Cass needed me to do. What she asked me to do. Her price. And looking back and having done it? You would have been right. Hypothetically. In my head, at least."

"After we killed them all, all I could think about was how fucked up it was, and what a hypocrite I've been. Telling you all of this bullshit about how you have to face your actions, but don't let them rule you, and yet I go and get myself into a stupid situation where I do something… that fucked up, all because someone else can't let go of a grudge." She looked up at him, her eyes wide.

"We killed them all, Boone. Even men I had spent time with, one I would have called my friend, and I killed him. For something that had nothing to do with him."

He found himself watching her, upset about how intently he was listening.

He didn't owe her that attention. What did she want? Absolution? From him?

Who the hell was she anyways? She didn't even have a name.

He turned away, remembered his cigarette, so close to ash. Took a drag, but still couldn't stop listening to the sound of her sigh, her clothing softly rustling.

"I found myself thinking of you, the whole time, and afterwards."

He froze with the cigarette halfway to his mouth.

"How I owed you better. How I'd done you wrong, I have done you wrong, and how I need to do anything I can to make it up to you."

"I don't want you owing me anything."

"Then let me pay it back."

"What makes you think I have any control over what you do?"

"I'd like you to." His head shot back over to her.

"What the hell does that mean?"

"I'd like us to be a team. Really. Don't let me do stupid shit like that again."

"Don't you know better?"

"Guess I forgot more than who I am." She smiled slowly at him. He caught himself before he let himself smile back. Damn.

He finally got the cigarette to his mouth. The last of the drag that was left was as stale and shitty as all of the others, but it still calmed the rage and upset that he felt in his gut.

"So what do you want from me?"

"I want you back." She looked back at her feet. "I'm sorry I left you behind. It was wrong. I don't know why but you keep me on track. You're the only thing that's made sense to me since I woke up, and you still are."

"Okay."

"I want to go back to Colonel Moore. I want to finish the work that she has, because I think the NCR has it… mostly right. More right than anyone else out here. I want to bring order to Vegas, because this place is… fucked up."

He threw his filter on the concrete and ground it under his boot.

"I think you need to figure out who the hell you are before you start trying to change the world."

"Okay." She responded quietly.

"I'll go with you to see Moore. NCR needs us." He turned to face her. "But you need to understand one thing; facing your past or not, this is a fucked up world, and you're going to have to do things you don't want to do, and sometimes there's no good choice."

He put his hand on his doorknob. It felt safe and cool now that she was no longer inside.

"And that's the truth."