A/N: Fiiiinnaaalllyyyyyyyyyyyy. Chapter 12 will take even longer asdfajhgajnhfgsfds. So sorry, testweek is consuming all my time. Enjoy the next chapter, see you guys in a couple of days. :)


Tuesday September 7th, 2281 – 16:44, Cottonwood Cove HQ

Boone had been watching her as she rambled on in panic, turning over and emptying every single drawer in the desk.
"T-this can't be! He never gave up on anythin'!" whispered Martin, not even bothering with holding back the tremble in her broken voice. "H-he promised t-to fight for us…"

He sighed softly and watched her try and find the cause for her husband's death, tears running down her cheeks from behind her sunglasses.
"Crucifixion, decapitation, burned, anythin' but suicide or endless torture…"
Rex had his ears flat against his head, whining softly, lying by her feet. Boone took the file in hand that said her husband had been deceased, reading it for himself. He frowned at first when he saw that at the bottom it said he hadn't even made the journey to the Fort, then realized that the only reason she probably hadn't seen it was because she was blinded by her own panic.

"Why do you want to know it so badly?" he asked, lowering the paper for a moment to look at her.
She turned her head sharply, something immediately changing in her expression. "Wouldn't you wanna know what happened to Carla?" she yelled through tears, hands shaking with the lack of self control.
Boone grit his teeth, trying not to snap back at her firsthand. He would've reacted the same way if he hadn't… if he hadn't known damn well what had happened to Carla in the first place. "It says here that he didn't even make it to the Fort. He was too weak to travel by day five, and they shot him on day six because he was worthless to them at that point." His voice was cold, and his expression let nothing go of emotion or even a pinch of sympathy. He tossed the paper in front of her and she reread it, before sinking back in her chair, taking slow, deep breaths.

"At… at least he wasn't in that much pain…"

"He knew it was the only way."

"He always knew what was best for us… I guess even when his life was on the line he thought of me…" she stuffed the paper in her pocket and remained silent for a minute, staring at the desk that was littered with documents, charts and other insignificant objects of paper.
"It just doesn't do right by him that it had to be this way… torn away from his wife and unborn child with no good reason to it whatsoever…"

She looked up at Boone and stared at him for a while, the fact that she had a question on her tongue being blatantly obvious. "What do you think, Boone…?" she asked softly. "D'you think I could've saved him?"
Boone stared at the floor, arms crossed over his chest. He had heard her question as though it came from far away and shook his head. "No… you couldn't have."


Boone's answer didn't really take her by surprise, expecting that he'd felt the same way about Carla. She took a deep breath and got up, taking a frag grenade from one of the shelves. "C'mon Rexie…" Her voice sounded empty, the usual happy tone in it extinguished to nothing more than a lonesome spark. She stood outside of the headquarters, tossing the grenade from one hand to another. "This baby's gonna blow…" she said, more to the wind than to either of her companions.
Taking another couple of steps back to hide behind a crate, she pulled the pin from the grenade and threw it right into the CC-HQ. She covered her ears and kneeled down, Boone and Rex following her example. Two or three seconds later it exploded, the entire base going down to the ground as there'd been more explosives stacked in there. The air around them grew hot, dusty and difficult to see through. Gravel, shrapnel, glass, wood splinters, sand and mud flew over their heads and fell down by their feet and all around the camp. They waited another couple of minutes before they got up again and examined the damage.
With the bottom having collapsed, the second story had come down as well, adding to the destruction of the HQ. It wasn't until they heard coughs and soft cries from behind the collapses headquarters that they moved, coming out from behind the crates. Martin covered her mouth as to not inhale the dust, trying to find her way in the noise's direction. Her left hand reached out and touched a cold, metallic fencing.
She hooked her fingers into it and tried to see clearly, eyes widening a fraction when she caught eye of what was probably an enslaved family. Her hand tracing the fence, she moved around to the back where she found the gate, locked and no key to be found. "Shit…" she muttered as she wiped the dust off of her sunglasses. "We must've shot the jailor… and all those fuckers look the same… Rex!"

Rex scurried over to her side, looking up at her as he wagged his tail, probably not getting how bad things were or could've been. Martin's hand rubbed against fence long enough until it was covered in lead and dust, but more importantly, its smell. She kneeled down and let Rex sniff her hand, then sent him away to look for the gate's key. The dust was beginning to clear, and for the first time that day she saw what actual destruction they had caused. There was blood everywhere, the sand and dirt stained red with Legion blood and possibly some of their own. The wicked stench of death was in the air everywhere, next to the smell of explosion, flames, burnt alcohol and bloody sand. She remained still by the fence, waiting for Rex' return as her eyes scanned the battlefield for Boone. He was right behind her just a minute ago, where'd he-

"Got the keys right here."
A spasm rocked her body, her back against the fence. She looked up at him and pulled a face, brows furrowed. "That 'don't sneak up on me' thing goes both ways, y'know!" she grumbled angrily, snatching those damn keys from him. "Gimme those…"
Rex had rejoined by her side now as she unlocked the gate, pushing it open and walking into the 'cage', for all intents and purposes. Walking over to the nearest inhabitant of said cage, the slave looked up at Martin with a look of such incredible hope and despair it made her wonder how long these people had been stuck there – and what they'd seen.

"Please, help us…" said the woman. "Please let us out of here!"
Martin kneeled down by the woman, examining the collar the woman was wearing. It was bloodied, dirty, and infested with explosions. Great. Just great. "Right… I'm not risking taking it off… find someone who knows his way around explosives… you're free to go, all of you." Said Martin, helping the woman get up as she stood herself. She lead them out of the camp and up the route that lead to the Ranger Station up the road, making sure they had a fair chance of getting far away from there. Boone had stayed in the camp, looking out over the river, thinking, contemplating.
Martin joined him at his side. "We'll set up camp here." She said softly. "Near the bridge… we'll have a good lookout, plus, we get some rest before tomorrow's assault… we'll both need that." She looked at him for a moment and patted his shoulder. "C'mon… let's see if we can get one of these tents to the bridge."


After a lot of pulling, cursing, tugging, more cursing and tossing down the mattresses they finally had their tent where they wanted it to be. Boone had been sitting by the fire for a little while now, watching Martin stand by the end of the bridge, looking out over the river. Rex had gone about his usual behaviour – growl at Boone and stare at him until it bored him, then go back to snuffling around the camp. Boone had made their food for the evening, a dead simple can of pork 'n beans Martin had had in her pack somewhere. She must've smelt it, for she came back a mere minute after it was done, sitting down by the other side of the fire. He hand her a bowl of pork 'n beans, which she took in her hand, taking a fork with her other.
They sat in silence as they ate, and he couldn't help but be bothered by it. Martin poked at her food with her fork, trying to figure out what the fuck 'pork' was to begin with, let alone how it had survived for 200 years. She'd rather not know.

"You're unusually silent." He said finally, holding his bowl with both hands, warming them.

"You're unusually talkative."

"I've only said one-… very funny."
Martin snorted, a smile creeping over her face as she sighed and shrugged. "I don't know, Boone… I've been searching for an answer for six and a half years, and now I have it after all this time and I just… I have no idea what to do with myself." She huffed. "I mean; Yes, I could go back and settle down somewhere with Robyn but… really? After travelling this piece of fucking shit wasteland for so long, killing nearly every day, getting shot, helping people out, finding kidnapped kids, slapping said kidnapped kids in the mouth for being annoying, slaughtering every legion in sight, getting shot in the head… There ain't no way in hell I'll ever be able to settle down, live an easy life, take care of my kid in peace… It's been too long…"

Boone stared at the beans in his bowl, and what seemed like outdated soup floating around it as he thought about that. "You've seen too much." He added.
Martin nodded. "I would love to bring Robyn with me, y'know? Teach her how to shoot, how to defend herself and all, but I could never put her through such dangers… She should live in peace at least until she's six- or seventeen. I mean, that's when I left home, ransacked a small farm and made it my home… then I found Cadell – or rather, I shot him." She giggled softly at the memory.

Boone stared at her, bemused. "How'd that happen?"
"I met him when I was out huntin' in the nearby 'woods', for lack of the better term. I'd just shot another bighorn when I heard a twig break in the bushes, so I figured it was a nightstalker. I fired my shot and got the shit scared out of me when I heard 'em scream in pain… I'd only hit his right shoulder, luckily.. So I took him back to my farm, scolded him for sneakin' up on me like that and treated his arm. He was left handed…" she stared into the fire, stirring her pork and beans with her fork. "Guess you could call it love at first sight… 's surprisingly easy t'do it with a bullet wound in yer shoulder, turns out."
Boone coughed. "Save me the details."
"Will do. Anyway, yeah, that's sort of how we met… we went into town once, and they thought he was my older brother or somethin'…" she laughed through her sentence. "Ah yeah, he was a good eleven years older than I was, but that never bothered me. He looked 23 even though he was 28 at the time, and he was a fine man. Hadn't had the easiest growin' up either… sister murdered by raiders, dad shot in the head, leavin' 'em with permanent brain damage.. Couldn't remember his own son, and when he did ya'd wish he never had." She sighed softly and averted her gaze to the water for a moment. "He was… very, clingy. Always scared that somethin' would happen t'me, that I'd walk away, that'd he'd lose me… he was so afraid… Held me every night, whisperin' the sweetest things, always kissin' and coddlin' me. He wasn't perfect, far from in fact, but still… he was my husband."

Boone looked up when she burst into a laughing fit, the back of her hand covering her mouth. "Ya should've seen his face when he proposed t'me! He was kneelin' in front of me - … and, he was… naked, but that's not the point – and I told him I was only 17 and couldn't marry yet." She laughed even louder at the memory of her husband's priceless expression. "He was so pissed!"

Boone was remembered of his own proposal to Carla, on the exact spot where they'd met on the Strip. He almost smiled before he was reminded of where he was, and why he was even there in the first place. He shook it off and continued listening, taking another bite from his meal.

"There wasn't even anythin' of a real law, but it's tradition, y'know?" she giggled a bit after, staring at her food again, quieting down. "But t'be fair… I don't miss 'im anymore… Just feels real good t'talk about him, since I never got to say goodbye.. And maybe, juuust maybe, killing Caesar will put my memory of him to rest."

Boone nodded at her. "We've come a long way." He said, putting the empty bowl beside him. "The son of a bitch will know what he did."

"Won't know what's comin' for him."

"That's what the scope's for." He said, looking up at her for a moment. She was eating her meal in silence again, and he diverted his attention to Rex, who was still growling at him.
"Why does he always do that?" he asked, frowning.

"He's got somethin' against hats and the people wearin' 'em, I don't know." She laughed. "Oh and, Boone?"

"Yeah?"

"Why'd you really leave the army? 'cause I ain't buyin' the bullshit reason 'it was time to go'."