Rated M for gratuitous profanity, violence, and ghoul sex.

The Fallout universe rights are currently owned by Bethesda Studios. I do not own the rights to Fallout intellectual property and receive no money for this. It is merely a creative outlet, dream space, respite from the real world, and something to tide me over until Fallout 4 is released.

Chapter Ten: Ghastly Scavenger

Charon had been trained to be a light sleeper. One of the few things that he was proud of was his acute sense of hearing. No one had ever successfully snuck up on him. He could turn sleep on and off like a light switch. When Kate moved in her sleep, his eyes would fly open, his hands clenching the shotgun. He would turn around, see that she was still okay, and then turn and go back to sleep.

But it wasn't noise that finally made him wake up for good the next morning.

It was her hand hitting him in the back of the head.

Charon jumped up and turned on his heel, shotgun at the ready. He looked down to see Kate launch upwards in the bed. Her eyes were wide, and she held her hands to her mouth.

"Oh my god! I am so sorry!" she gushed.

Charon listened until he was satisfied that no one was trying to break into the room. Then he finally lowered the shotgun to his side.

Kate pushed herself up onto her knees and held out a hand. "I'm really, really sorry. I didn't mean to. Here. Let me see if I hurt you."

Charon snorted, rolling his eyes. "You didn't hurt me."

"Oh good. I'm glad," Kate said, smiling and dropping her hand to her side.

Her hand brushed bare flesh.

In that moment, they both realized that she was kneeling on the bed in a tank top, underwear, and nothing else.

She yanked the blanket in front of her as Charon spun around and took several giant steps away.

"I'm sorry," he stammered. "I didn't see anything. I mean, I didn't look." Very long.

"No. It's okay," Kate said, face burning. "I forgot that this was all that they could find for me to wear last night. Um, that Med-X is pretty strong, you know."

She saw his shoulders twitch, and she cursed herself. "But I remember everything that I said last night, and I meant every word of it, so don't think that I'm trying to take that back now. I'm still not mad at you or anything."

Charon rolled his eyes. She would be if she saw him. He had been too caught up worrying about her last night to go back to Tulip's and get his armor. He was still in the stupid shirt and pants of the suit. And unlike the leather pants that he usually wore, it seemed as if the pants that he was currently wearing were tailored specifically to draw attention to erections.

It wasn't entirely a lie. He hadn't looked on purpose. He had only noticed after he had figured out that they weren't in any immediate danger, and then his eyes went off on their own. What was true was that he hadn't stared, but he had seen enough. The swell of her breasts against the dingy shirt. Her toned legs. The way that her underwear was hitched up on her left hip. The black, lacy underwear. Her hand reaching out to him. Seeking to touch him.

He barely stopped a groan from escaping. Blood coursed through his body, and he felt dizzy.

Kate wrapped the blanket around her waist like a skirt. "It's okay. You can look now."

He scrunched up his face, attempting to will his erection away. His instinct was to think of the foulest thing that he could—so he thought of Ahzrukhal. The only problem was that the Ahzrukhal made his blood boil, and his body wasn't convinced that a different source of excitement warranted retracting the blood from his cock.

"No," he muttered, clearing his throat. "You need your privacy."

Kate gave a confused laugh. "Well. Okay. Um, do you know where my suit is?"

He gritted his teeth, and inspiration finally dawned on him. He pictured the most hideous place on her body: the finger-length purple bruises on her arms. The blood began to subside. He felt like shit, but he was grateful that it was working.

"Carol has it. She said she was going to wash it."

Kate chuckled, shaking her head. "Gob was right. She's just as sweet as he said she was."

He took the shotgun into both hands and held it awkwardly, trying to hide the evidence of his erection. He turned around slowly. The position of his arms was all wrong. If he held his arms that way too long, he would strain the muscles and tendons. His aim would be off. But for his pride and for her comfort, he kept them where they were.

"I'll go get her. She said that she and Greta would make you a hot breakfast this morning," he said.

She looked down and snorted. "I think you can put the gun away now, Charon. Nothing happened overnight. I think we're safe."

He snorted. "Are you sure? You were snoring so loudly that you couldn't have possibly heard anything." It was a lie, but he delighted in how the red that surged through her cheeks. It undid all of the progress that he had made trying to relax his cock. But it was entertaining, and the blush was beautiful on her.

"I do not snore!" she protested, one hand on her hip and the other securing the blanket around her.

"Are you sure? I must have taken out maybe forty or fifty guys last night. You haven't seen what's behind all of these screens. Big pile of bodies," Charon said with a smirk.

"You hush, and go get Carol," she said.

Charon, still smirking, gave a small bow. He walked over to the door.

"I do not snore," Kate said indignantly.

"Whatever you say," Charon said, grinning.

He pushed through the door. He held the shotgun by his side. He alternated tensing and relaxing his arms and then shaking out his wrists. He didn't give a fuck who saw his erection now, so long as it wasn't her. No. That wasn't entirely true.

Tulip had been overly pleased when he had stripped his armor off in the middle of her store to put on the suit. He was lucky that she was so intimidated by him. He was unlucky in that she was intimidated by all other males too. So much so that she paid Ahzrukhal for Charon's company occasionally. With Ahzrukhal gone, he was almost certain that she would keep her mouth shut. With the rules changed, he should be even more intimidating.

He stalked down the stairs and searched for Carol. To his chagrin, she and Greta were busy talking to Tulip. With a grunt, he rolled his eyes and went into the store.

Tulip's face lit up, and she waved at him. "Oh, Charon! Uh—um—good morning."

He forced himself not to roll his eyes. He still needed his armor back.

Carol turned to him with a huge grin. "How is our girl this morning?"

Charon snorted. "In need of clothes."

Tulip tilted her head in confusion.

"And I suppose breakfast," Charon continued.

Carol clapped her hands together, and then looped her arm through Greta's. "Well then, let's go fix her something nice and warm. We'll go get her suit, and be right up."

Charon nodded at them. "Sure."

Carol pulled Greta past him. And then it was just Tulip and him standing in the store. Tulip's eyes glittered. It was obvious that she was trying to pose seductively, but it just came across as forced and awkward.

"So, Charon. Is there—uh—anything that I can do to help you?" Tulip said, stepping out from behind the counter.

Charon looked at her, trying to figure out whether or not to be nice. Honey catches flies, but he figured that vinegar would probably catch a submissive woman like her. "Can I have my armor, please? I would have taken it with me last night, but Ahzrukhal was insistent that I return quickly."

She walked towards him as seductively as she could. "Sorry, Charon. You left it here, so I figured that you meant to, and I added it to my inventory." When she was next to him, she drew a finger from his chest down to his stomach. "But I know of a way that you can get back your armor."

When Kate had dragged her finger down his front, he had felt wonderful sparks of—something. When Tulip did it, it just made him feel ill.

So much for honey.

Charon caught her hand and twisted her wrist. Tulip cried out. If she hadn't paid for his 'services' in the past, he might have felt bad. "Yeah. I know of a way too."

Tulip looked at him, wounded. She pouted and withdrew her wrist. "It's over in the corner," she said with a sigh.

She watched him walk over to the armor and gather it up and hold it against his chest. She frowned when she realized that he wouldn't be changing in her store as he did last night. She licked her lips.

"What about my suit? You're not even wearing half of it," Tulip said, trying to sound angry.

"It's a bit of a mess. I don't think that you want it back."

Tulip crossed her arms. "Well, you never paid me for it. That's not very fair."

"Yeah, well, take it up with Ahzrukhal."

"Well, from what I hear, that seems to be a bit of an impossibility now. Besides , I couldn't just have people walking in here and tripping all over your armor, could I?"

Was she honestly wasting her time by trying to make him feel guilty? "I don't know. Some of the assholes around here needed a wakeup call to learn their place." He walked towards the store entrance.

Tulip harrumphed. "But not you."

Charon snorted. "I have always known my place."