"…hit her with a rifle…maybe that's how…I dunno, I just heard…"

"That explains a lot. She…won't be an issue, just…down. I don't know how she'll…"

Pressure. Someone, something pressing down on her shoulders. She tried to open her eyes—bright, too bright, way too bright. A growl. Headache. Shit.

"Hey, short sta…"

Gene?

"Doc, I think she's—"

"Miss Jones? Miss…"

Too much light. Turn it off. It hurt. God it hurt. Another growl, a whimper. Headache followed her heartbeat.

"All right, keep her steady."

Trch.

Her ears rung. White, white pain behind her eyelids. A scream. She screamed? Another crunch. More pain.

Make…it…stop…

"Renee, you're okay, just breathe."

Gentle hands cupped her face. She looked up, straining past the pain, past the light. Dark blue eyes gazed back at her, framed by ebony hair. Gene.

"D-don't—" Air. Breathe. "Don't leave me…"

"I'm right heah."

Another pain. Smaller.

"There. That should help for a while."

The pain was going away. Finally.

"Don't fight it. Just go to sleep. You'll be fine." Gene again. But so far away.

So, so far away.

"Miss Jones?"

Renee forced her eyes open, blinking to bring things into focus. She turned her head to see Z0E. "What…"

The Assaultron beeped happily. "It's so good to see you awake, Miss Jones! Miss Gene has been beside herself since she brought you here." Z0E turned toward the stairs. "I've never seen her so worried before. It's not like her at all. If you don't mind me saying, you've really become someone special to her. Just last night she was telling me—"

"Z0E? Is short stack up?" Gene's voice carried from the shop below.

"Yes ma'am!"

Renee groaned as she tried to get up. Her whole body felt heavy and stiff and she collapsed back against the arm of the couch. Wait…couch? Z0E? She looked around and realized she laid in Gene's apartment.

"I was starting to wondah if I didn't need to take you back to Doc Sun!" Gene walked up the steps and over to her. "How do you feel?"

"Why am I here?"

Gene cocked an eyebrow. "You've been asleep for two days. I couldn't just leave ya at the Mega Surgery Centah."

"T-two days?!" Renee pushed herself up—or rather, tried to, but in her haste she forgot about the small detail that was her broken right arm. She cried out as soon as she accidentally put weight on it. "God damn it…!"

"Hey, hey, calm down." Gene sat on the edge of the couch. "You all right?"

"I can't be here, I have the caravan!" She tried to get up again.

To her surprise, the shopkeeper shot out a hand to pin her shoulder down. Gene shook her head. "No, you don't. I already explained what happened to Cricket. She can be pretty undahstanding if you give her a chance."

"But…"

"I got your stuff and the caps she owed you." Gene pointed to the wall by her workbench, where Renee's things were neatly stacked. "So you don't have anything to worry about."

Renee averted her gaze. "I still can't stay here. You've got the shop, you don't need to be bothered with me. I can just get a room at the Dugout or something."

"Short stack, stop it."

"What?" She looked up at Gene.

"I told Doc Sun that you were staying with me. And I was serious. You're not a bother, you're not distracting me, and you're not getting a room at the Dugout Inn. You're going to stay right heah and that's final." Gene crossed her arms. "Any questions?"

Renee shrank back. "J-just one," she squeaked.

"Yeah?"

"How long am I stuck with this?" She pointed to her arm. It was wrapped tightly with bandages and the ends of a metal splint peeked out between layers.

Gene sighed. "Two months, give or take."

"I can't just use a few Stims?"

"I asked Doc Sun the same thing. He said the amount of Stims you'd have to take would probably slow your heart down so much you'd die. Apparently Stimpaks are great for flesh wounds but not very effective on broken bones." She shrugged with a smile. "But hey, that just means you get to be my roommate for two months!"

Renee closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I'm so sorry about all this. I shouldn't have gotten you involved. Listen, if there's anything I can do to make it up to you—"

"You can start by not being so hahd on yourself." Gene playfully poked her nose. "You're the one who got hurt, not me."

"I just…feel bad."

"I'm going to assume that's the Chems talking. The doc shot you full of Med-X aftah he finished snapping your arm in place so you wouldn't wake up in pain."

"That explains why I slept so long…" Renee's stomach suddenly growled. "Oh."

Gene laughed and helped her up. "Let me whip something togethah real quick."

Once she was on her feet, Renee began to feel lightheaded and stumbled when she tried to take a step. She felt Gene grab her, pulling her close. "S-sorry, I'm just…dizzy…" She gazed up at the other woman.

"You should take it slow for a while. Maybe I should just bring some food to you instead, huh?" Gene's lips quirked into a small smile.

Renee said nothing. She couldn't decide if it was the haze of Med-X clouding her mind or getting clocked in the head, but suddenly her thoughts were blank. Her gaze flickered over Gene's face, down her neck and back up. For once the shopkeeper wasn't wearing her bomber jacket, leaving Renee able to feel the muscles in her arms as they held her steady.

"You have really pretty eyes…"

Gene turned bright red at the compliment. "O-oh, uh… Thanks, short stack, that's, um…"

"Oh god, I said that out loud!" Renee felt her face flush.

"I think you need to lie down some more." Gene lowered her to the couch. She grabbed the blanket and wrapped it around Renee's shoulders. "Get some rest. I'll be downstairs if you need me. Just yell or something."

Just as Gene hit the first step, Renee called out to her. "Hey, Gene?"

"Yeah?"

"I meant it. You do have nice eyes." She smiled. "Blue is one of my favorite colors."

Gene stared at her for a moment. Then, "Thanks. I…like yours too."

It took a few days for Renee to recover enough that she wasn't falling over every time she stood up. Soon enough, however, she was finally able to join Gene downstairs in the shop. With nothing much else to do, she mostly bided her time by helping take inventory or reading one of the comic books under the counter.

One afternoon, about a week after the Davey incident, Piper Wright and Blue graced the shop. "Gene! Nat told me you had a great story!" The reporter dashed up to the counter, notepad out and pen at the ready.

"I do?" Gene tilted her head. "I don't know wheah she got that idea, but…"

"Ma'am, she's most likely referring to our current house guest." Z0E plodded up to them.

"Short stack? Well, I guess that's a story…"

Renee came down the steps then, holding a bottle of water. "I heard the bell jingle, who's—oh." Her face fell as she saw Piper.

"You must be short stack." Piper scribbled something in her notebook.

"Actually, it's Renee Jones. Gene calls me short stack because I can only assume my real name is too hard to say in that ridiculous accent of hers." Renee plopped the bottle on the counter.

Gene scoffed. "I can say your name just fine! I just call you that because you're small."

"Pfft. Sure." She tried to open the bottle with one hand to no avail.

Blue stepped forward and opened it for her. "Here," he said softly, keeping his gaze to the ground.

"Thanks." She took a swig.

"Nat told me that you carried her into town on your back. Would that happen to have anything to do with that injury and the four dead bodies the guards found?" Piper glanced between the two women.

Renee adjusted the sling around her neck and nodded. "Yeah. Gene saved my life."

The shopkeeper blinked rapidly. "Now I wouldn't say that—"

"Wow, that's incredible! So what happened?"

Renee recounted the tale to the best of her ability while Piper scribbled it all down. "After I passed out, the next thing I knew I was waking up here. Gene's letting me stay until my arm's healed. Because she's nice like that."

"You're basically a local hero!" The reporter scanned her notes. "You wanna make a comment, Gene?"

"I didn't really do anything special, I was just helping out…" Gene rubbed the back of her neck, unused to the attention.

"If it weren't for you, I'd probably be dead. Or worse." Renee gazed up at her.

She looked away. "You would've done the same for me, right?"

"Of course I would."

Piper flipped her notepad shut and slipped her pen in a slot on the back of her glove. "Well, I think this is gonna be a great story. And now maybe people will get off my back about never publishing anything nice."

"It's great that you two care so much for each other. The Commonwealth needs more of that these days." Blue smiled at them, though his eyes seemed sad.

Renee and Gene shared a glance. Piper nodded and turned on her heel. "Thanks for the interview! I gotta start writing. Hope you get better soon, Renee!"

"Thanks for stopping by!" Renee waved as they left. Once the door closed, she grinned at Gene. "You're welcome."

"What?" Gene's black eyebrows rose and she huffed. "You didn't have to tell it to her like that. I oughta break your othah arm."

"If she paints you like a hero, then people will think you're a hero, and you'll get more customers. So you're welcome." The redhead plopped down in a chair and pulled another comic book in her lap.

"I'm not a hero, though…"

"You're my hero, Gene," she mumbled, reaching for the opened bottle.

Gene turned. "Hm?"

"Nothing. Just talking to myself. Stay outta my conversation." Renee flipped the page, ignoring the uncomfortable beat of her heart.

Reviews/comments are appreciated.