"So…what are you doing here in Megaton?" Jacen asked as he kept running his right hand through her dark, slightly damp hair.
"I wanted to see the world for myself," she answered lazily, keeping her hand on his chest. "I spent my entire life in that Vault, I wanted to take a look outside the first chance I could get."
"Did your eyes hurt the first time you saw the sun?" Jacen blinked, remembering the first time he saw natural daylight and how it took a few minutes for his untested eyes to focus.
"Yeah…it was blinding the first time," she remembered. "Then when our eyes adjusted we remembered you telling us about Megaton and came into town last night."
"We?" Jacen asked.
"Freddie Gomez and I. I don't quite trust security enough yet, so I took Freddie with me. He's good in a fight and I trust him."
Jacen nodded. "Makes sense. Plus the route from the Vault to here is pretty tame as far as the Wasteland goes."
"We got to Megaton about an hour before you came back," she continued in a low voice. "We met Sherriff Simms; he was kind enough to offer us space for the night at his place once we told him we knew you. Freddie turned in right away and I was eating dinner with Simms next to that giant bomb when you showed up."
"I ruin everything," Jacen grinned. "Sorry I interrupted your hot date."
"My night turned out ok, at least once you stopped babbling," she replied, snuggling closer.
"My morning turned out better than my evening," he replied, kissing her forehead softly.
"Mine too."
"How's the Vault?" he asked after another minute of two of silence.
"Things have settled down, we're getting back to normal," she answered, still tracing patterns into his chest and stomach. "Most people accepted my ascension as Overseer."
"Two hundred years of brainwashing will do that," he offered.
"Probably," she honestly replied. "I'll take every advantage I can get at this point."
After another silent minute Jacen felt his stomach rumble. He realized he hadn't eaten since before his patrol from the Citadel the afternoon before. Hope Dusk, Kodiak and Gallows are all ok, he thought with a start. He'd completely forgotten about the Brotherhood Knights he was patrolling with the day before. They could take care of themselves, probably better than I could at this point.
"What are you thinking of Jacen?" Amata asked with a hint of concern in her voice.
"Friends from the Citadel. We got separated right after I was shot."
"These are the Brotherhood of Iron guys you were telling me about?"
"Steel, not Iron," he gently corrected. "They're good people, they care about the Wasteland, and they like me, so I've got that going for me."
"I have so much to learn about the Wasteland," Amata said absentmindedly.
"Come on, I'll make you breakfast and show you the rest of the house," he said, and they got up and put some clothing on – him a pair of shorts, her the same shorts and shirt from last night. Making their way downstairs, she gasped at the long table in the main room that was covered in all sorts of weaponry.
"See anything you like?" he said as he put a pot of purified water on the small stove in the kitchenette under the stairs to boil and grabbed some salted pork, a bit of dehydrated onions and some oil from the cupboard. Taking a knife he cut up the pork and onions, wincing in pain from his still-recuperating shoulder, and set them to the side as he turned another burner on the stove and put the oil in a pan.
The water began boiling and he opened a box of flat noodles. Breaking the noodles in his hands, he threw them in the water and lowered the burner so it wouldn't boil over. The oil in the pan was starting to pop with heat and he put the pork, onions and a pinch of salt and pepper, taking care not to let the oil spatter over on his exposed chest. Made that mistake before, he thought with a grin as he recalled the first time he sautéed with no shirt on.
Amata came into the kitchen area as the smell of cooked pork and onions wafted through the first floor. "What's for breakfast?" she asked as she wrapped both arms around him as he stirred the sautéing pork and onions with a wooden spoon.
"Strain that if you don't mind," he said, pointing to the pot of noodles. Amata looked around, saw a colander hanging nearby and strained the noodles, putting them back in the pot on top of the stove after turning their burner off.
Jacen lowered the heat on the sauté pan and poured the noodles on top of the pork and onions. He quickly stirred the noodles with the rest of the food and used the side of the spoon to break up the food into smaller chunks.
Amata looked around and grabbed two bowls from a nearby shelf. "There should be a bottle of wine under the sink in a box" Jacen said as he turned the heat off and removed the pan from the stovetop. Amata fished it out and found a pair of glasses and opened the wine. Jacen remembered reading about wine with cork tops, but Wasteland wine was screwed shut, like all Wasteland-brewed liquors.
There was a small open space at the end of the long table where Amata set the bowls and wine. Jacen brought the pan over and poured the noodles into the two bowls as Amata poured out the wine. Finally, Jacen sat down and raised his glass.
"To us," he toasted.
She clinked the glass. "And the people who count on us."
"Not bad Jacen," she said as she ate. "Pretty good actually," she said with a smile between forkfuls of noodles and pork, sipping on the wine.
Amata grabbed a small pistol off the table and waved it around in her hand, looking it over. "You like it?" Jacen asked between bites.
"Yeah, I do," she answered after looking at it for a minute. "I need to get one while I'm here in town. I think it would suit me just fine."
"Keep it," he offered. "I'll get another one for the collection. They're pretty common among the Raiders to be honest."
"I can't keep it, it's yours," she put the gun back down on the table
"I would sleep better knowing you were armed, Amata. This place is dangerous. Take it…for me," he insisted.
He stood up and went to a small bookshelf at the foot of the stairs. Squatting down, he looked at one of the shelves until he pulled out a small green box. Returning to his seat, he opened it and showed Amata. ".32 caliber ammo, about thirty rounds worth. You gotta load 'em manually, one bullet in each chamber. This one has auto-fire, so you don't need to worry about cocking the hammer back like in the old Westerns we grew up watching in the Vault."
Amata softly smiled again and leaned over the table and kissed him on the cheek. "You've been looking out for me since we were kids, Jacen. Don't think I never appreciated it all those years," she whispered.
"You deserved it and more," he answered warmly. "Let's clean up and I'll show you the rest of the house."
"I'll wash up, you cooked," she offered. She quickly cleaned up and joined Jacen back in the main room.