Nadia was starting to worry. She thought the dog would be back by now. She knew he was perfectly capable of taking care of himself, had probably been doing it for quite some time, but she was worried nonetheless. She knew she couldn't handle losing anyone else, especially since he was all the family she had. She couldn't just sit there and wait; she had to go look for him. She had slept in the shirt Hancock had given her so all she needed to do was pull on her jeans, shove everything back in her pack and head out.

Goodneighbor wasn't a large town, but it seemed a lot larger than normal. She began to systematically search the alleys. She was feeling like an ass for not having named her best friend yet. She couldn't even call for him. She continued to berate herself as she searched with growing desperation. She was checking the last alley when she heard an urgent whisper.

"Pssst!" Nadia looked around, trying to locate the source of the sound.

"Hey you. Looking for work?" There were a pair of black eyes peering through a small hatch in the door at the end of the alley and they were looking right at her. She straightened up and walked toward the door cautiously.

"Yeah. When can I start?"

"Well, aren't you an eager beaver?" The throaty voice replied. "If you don't mind a little manual labor and don't ask too many questions, you're in. I'll give you fifty caps to start. Interested?"

"I'm gonna need more to go on here."

"There's a project I'm working on, a big one. One that could get me in lots of trouble if the wrong person finds out. So a little discretion is called for. I got a delicate house of cards goin' here. Ya know?" Nadia wasn't sure what to do. On one hand, she could always use the caps. Sure, she had a decent stash from the job she had done for Hancock, but they wouldn't last her forever. They probably wouldn't even last her the week. On the other hand, she still hadn't found the dog. She had checked everywhere she could imagine he would go and no dice. She also hadn't found signs of any foul play against the pooch, either. There wasn't much else to do at this point unless she wanted to go to the mayor and the dog just hadn't been gone long enough for all that. She decided she would check out the job and if the dog still hadn't shown up after, she would track down Hancock and ask him if he had seen anything. He seemed to know everything that went on in his town; if anyone knew something, it would be him.

"I'm in."

"Let's go inside. I'll give you the lowdown." The door swung open with the loud squeal of rusty hinges, almost smacking right into her. She followed the mysterious woman, who happened to be a ghoul, down into the basement of the building.

"Ready to get to work?"

"No, I followed you down here for the exercise." Nadia replied, looking around. There wasn't much in the room but a couple of chairs, a dirty mattress and some other odds and ends.

"Funny. Well, you'll get plenty of exercise here." The woman's throaty drawl made her words sound naughtier than Nadia hoped they really were. She needed caps, but she didn't need them that badly.

"You are gonna be doing some digging," the woman continued.

"What are we digging for? Buried treasure?"

"You could call it that," came the cryptic response. "Seriously, lay off the questions. The other two are down there digging already. Go give them a hand, will ya?"

Nadia was starting to regret her decision to help the ghoul. The whole operation seemed shady and she was feeling vulnerable without the dog at her side. She had agreed though, so she shrugged off her concerns and headed toward the rusty metal door the woman had indicated. The far wall of the next room had been blown out, leading to a dirt tunnel. Nadia had to take a few deep breaths. She could handle heights all day, but being underground? An involuntary shiver ran down her spine. It made her feel weak, being this nervous, which pissed her off. Frustrated with herself, she straightened her shoulders and marched through the tunnel.

The dirt tunnel opened into a brick lined room. She heard the sound of an explosion, the ground shaking under her feet and for a split second she thought she was going to be buried alive. The shaking stopped though, and she was still standing. She could hear the two other workers talking.

"Hey, I think we can finally get through." The first one said.

"Want to see what's on the other side?" The other asked.

"You think Bobbi will pay us this week?" That didn't sound reassuring. She looked around and saw mining helmets sitting next to a couple of blue coolers. Shrugging, she picked up a helmet and put it on. She knew it was silly, but it made her feel a little better.

"It's starting to feel like we're doing charity… did you just hear somethin'?"

"It's crawling with mirelurks!"

"Bail!" She didn't know what a mirelurk was, but she had a feeling it wasn't good.

"Bobbi can take this job and shove it!" The two workers ran passed her, tripping over each other.

"Good luck down there, new girl!" One of them called over their shoulder. Nadia unholstered her pistol and went to check out the cavernous room ahead.

She peered down the stairs and saw some kind of giant crab thing headed her way. She turned and ran back to the archway she had entered from. She reached for the fragmentation grenades she had bought from Daisy. She wasn't sure if it was a good idea, but it was the only one she had so she went with it. She pulled the pins out of several and threw them one after another down into the pit and then ran back the way she came, almost smacking straight into Bobbi.

"What is going on in my tunnel?"

"That room was filled with mirelurks!"

"At least you put up a better fight than those good for nothings." Nadia wasn't sure about all that. She hadn't even been sure she had gotten the damn things with those grenades. Nothing had come chasing her up the tunnel though, so she assumed the nasty critters had been disposed of. "Well, you stuck around at least, so I guess you're promoted. You get to be my new gun. I think we just need one more guy. An old friend. He'll want a fair cut, but we saw where being cheap got me."

"Who is this guy?" Nadia didn't see how the new guy could be any worse than the ones that left her down here with those giant crab things. She was amused by the idea of being a hired gun, though.

"He's just the guy we need to speed things along. Likes gadgets, money, and not much else. First, I think it's best if you actually see what we're after. I have some things to check on in Diamond City. Head over to the Noodle Shop there and I'll meet ya when I finish up my business." Not one to waste time, apparently, Bobbi turned around and walked right out of the tunnel, not even waiting for her response. What had she gotten herself into, and where the hell was Diamond City?

Nadia left the tunnel and headed toward the Old State House. As she climbed the stairs up to the second floor she could hear Hancock talking to someone, but couldn't make out what was being said. As reached the top of the stairs, what she saw made her heart leap for joy. Hancock was sitting in his customary spot on the sofa with her dog right next to him. The Mayor had one hand resting companionably on the dog and seemed to be saying something to him.

"Well there you are! I've been looking everywhere for you!" Nadia hurried into the room, beaming at the two of them.

"I've been here the whole time, doll. You must not have been looking very hard." He said with mock admonishment.

"Very funny," she drawled, "but seriously, do you know where he's been? I couldn't find him anywhere!" She joined the two of them on the sofa, enthusiastically hugging her dog and burying her face in his shoulder. The dog turned and gave her arm a hearty lick that she took to mean he was happy about their reunion as well.

"Huh. I got the same impression from him." Hancock said with a slight frown. "In fact, if you hadn't shown up, we were about to go looking for you together. Your pooch had me worried something had happened to you."

"I'm sorry we worried you," she replied sincerely.

"It's all good. It's just that after last night I now know what a crazy broad you can be… There's no telling what you could have gotten yourself into!" She knew he was joking, but she was struck by the truth in it.

"Actually, I have kind of gotten myself into something." She replied.

"Oh? Anything I can help with?" He pulled a pack of cigarettes out of a pocket and pulled two out, lighting them as he waited for her response.

"Not really." She took the pre-lit cigarette with a nod of thanks, remembering Bobbi's comments about keeping her mouth shut. She didn't think it would hurt to tell him where she was headed though, and it made her feel a little better that at least someone would know her whereabouts, silly as that probably was. "Actually, would you mind marking Diamond City on my map for me?" Was it just her, or did Hancock go a little stiff when she mentioned Diamond City?

"Why you headin' to that particular slice of hell?" he asked, motioning for her to show him her Pip-Boy. The dog chose that moment to get up and she scooted closer to him on the sofa so that they were side by side. "I mean they've got good noodles, bunch of assholes, though."

As Nadia's shoulder pressed into his, he could feel his heartbeat quicken. He took her hand like he had the last time, marveling at how soft it was. She really must be from a vault… No one that grew up in the Wasteland has skin that soft… Or that pale… He marked the city for her, reluctantly releasing her hand.

"I got offered a job. You mind clarifying?"

"Diamond City doesn't allow Ghouls in. They're a bunch of bigots." He had to admit he was happy with the look on her face when he told her that. She looked outraged. He was having a hard time getting as upset about Diamond City as he should, though. She had taken her left hand back, transferring the cigarette to it, but she had turned to face him on the sofa, draping her right arm casually on his left shoulder and her right leg was firmly pressed against him. It was hard to be upset when she was close enough that he could smell the faint scent of soap on her.

"What?! Why the fuck not?!" Nadia couldn't believe that after all this time, after all the death and destruction, people were still as petty and closeminded as ever. Didn't they all have bigger problems? She took another hit of the cigarette, hoping it would calm her down.

"They're assholes, doll. What can I say?" Hancock shrugged nonchalantly. "Look, Diamond City didn't used to be a bad place to live, a little more uptight than I generally like, but ever since Mayor McDonough took over…" He looked straight into her bright green eyes, "Just don't let any of that anti-Ghoul bullshit rub off on ya, alright sunshine?" He watched as she blew out a puff of smoke. He was getting a perverse enjoyment out of watching her put her lips on the cigarette where his had just been.

Nadia laughed and he found himself enjoying the sweet, clear sound of it. "Never." Hancock could tell that she meant it. "If you don't mind my asking, how does a Ghoul know so much about a place where Ghouls aren't supposed to be?" She raised one arched eyebrow in his direction.

"Well, if you recall, I wasn't always this handsome," he wiggled his ruined eyebrows in her, making her giggle. "I had a smooth set of skin back then."

"Gotcha." Nadia's brow furrowed then, like she was considering saying something.

"Anything else on your mind?"

"Honestly, I'm just a little nervous about leaving Goodneighbor." She said in a lowered voice. "I'm still new to all this post-apocalypse stuff. Leaving the walls of your fair town sounds, well, intimidating." He could tell the admission had been hard for her, but he was satisfied to have confirmation on her Vault status. There was no other way to explain her unfamiliarity to the Wasteland.

"A little different from Vault life, I take it?" His voice was quiet when he asked, as if afraid to spook her.

"I guess you could say that," was the only response she gave. He could see the sadness creeping back into her face as leaned over to snuff out the cigarette with a little more force than he thought strictly necessary.

"Well, if you are nervous about making the trek to Diamond City on your own," he said quickly, "I know a guy that could watch your back. He's the best shot I know. In fact, he is usually down at The Third Rail about this time. Why don't you head down there? He's a young guy, goes by the name MacCready. Just have White Chapel Charlie point 'im out to ya. Tell him I sent you and he should come with ya no problem." He knew he would have to pay MacCready well for the favor, but it was worth it to see the light come back into her eyes.

"Thanks, Hancock." Much to his surprise, she leaned over and placed a single kiss on his shrunken cheek. Nadia was once again struck by his warmth as her lips pressed against his ruined skin. "I'll see you when I get back," she said as she got up and headed for the stairs.

Hancock watched her retreating back, hand to his cheek. He knew the kiss didn't mean anything, really he did. That didn't stop his heart from quickening though.

As Nadia turned to go down the spiral stairs, her eyes met Hancock's. She was surprised to see him watching her, hand held to the spot where her lips had just been. Their eyes locked, neither of them looking away until the she had descended.

Once inside The Third Rail, Nadia headed straight for the bar. She was greeted happily by all the regulars and she responded in kind, smiling. She bellied up to the bar, getting White Chapel Charlie's attention. She had never encountered a British sounding Mr. Handy before, and found both his accent and dower demeanor delightful, which only seemed to make him grouchier.

"Hey, Charlie!" One of his eye stalks turned in her direction, but the rest of him acted as though he hadn't even heard her. He was cleaning glassware with a whirring of his appendages, somehow managing to look put out. "Can you point me in the direction of a guy named MacCready?" Charlie didn't even get a chance to respond.

"What can I do for ya, Vaultie?" The voice came from further down the bar. She stood up and, trying to hide her annoyance at the vault reference, walked over to him. She could hear Charlie grumbling to himself as she walked away.

"Hancock sent me," she started. She could see his attitude immediately change and was glad she had lead with that little bit of information.

"Oh, yeah? And what's my favorite Ghoul in the Commonwealth need help with now?" He looked appraisingly at the glass in his hand, knocked back the rest of its contents and slammed it down on the counter, standing up.

"Well, I'm the one that needs some help and he sent me to you."

"Alright, where we headed?"

"Just like that?" She was surprised that he had agreed so readily.

"I'm a hired gun. I don't ask too many questions. If Hancock wants me to help you, that's good enough for me. He pays better than anyone in town." He dug into his pocket, pulled out a handful of caps and tossed them onto the bar with a nod the mechanical bartender. Just let me get my stuff together and I'll meet you in front of Daisy's." Then he walked off and up the stairs. It hadn't occurred to her that Hancock would be footing the bill. She wasn't exactly the type to be accepting handouts, but decided she wouldn't make a deal of it until they were back from Diamond city. She was worried that he might not be so willing to take the job if he knew the caps were contingent on her.

"Let's get this show on the road, boy." She scratched the top of the dogs head and started out.