"Another productive day." Renee placed one hand on her hip and turned. "Oh come on, hurry it up! I'm hungry."

"You haven't been standing all day…" Gene sighed. "All right, I'll go find something for dinner if you and Z0E head over to Myrna's."

"You got it." The redhead gave her a thumbs-up and fell into stride next to the Assaultron.

In the few days since Piper published her article about Gene's daring rescue of Renee, the clothing store had indeed seen more foot traffic; unfortunately, it didn't really lead to an increase in sales. Although Gene sold more sunglasses than usual, so that was something.

"If we're not careful, I'm gonna have to get a job in town just so we can keep eating…" Renee mused, glancing over at Z0E. "Good thing you don't eat much."

"I don't eat anything, ma'am." A beat passed. "Ah. I understand now."

"Knew you'd get it eventually."

When they arrived at Diamond City Surplus, Myrna was just finishing her evening stock count. "Hold it." She eyed Renee. "Who are you?"

"Oh come on, you've seen me around before. I'm usually with Cricket." Renee rolled her eyes.

Percy bobbed his eyestalks in agreement. "She's right, madam. I recognize her."

"Well… Fine. But no funny business." Myrna turned to Z0E. "Do you have a list?"

"Yes, ma'am." The Assaultron handed off a scrap of paper filled with Gene's handwriting.

As Myrna and Percy began gathering all the materials Gene requested, Renee took the opportunity to look around. A familiar voice caught her attention and she turned to see none other than Becky Fallon. "What are you up to…" She murmured, sneaking closer.

"Are you Gene Dandridge? From the paper?" A young woman managed to nab Gene as she was walking around the corner of the Mega Surgery Center.

"That's me!" Gene grinned, adjusting the box she held. "Can I help you?"

"Well, I'm actually looking for a wedding dress, and when I read that article about you in the paper I figured I'd come look around your shop!"

"That's great! The store's actually closed right now, but come by in the morning and I can show you what I've got."

The woman nodded and returned the smile. "Thank you so much! I really appr—"

"Oh my dear girl, if it's a wedding dress you're looking for, then you'll want to visit my shop." Becky Fallon sauntered up to them, cutting between Gene and the young woman. "Much like that horrible paper Miss Wright insists on forcing on the city, you'll find nothing but lies and disappointment at her store."

Gene narrowed her eyes. "Now hold on just a minute, I really do have wedding dresses. Not a lot, but I have them!" She tried to elbow Becky out of the way, but the box of food she held made that nearly impossible.

"Don't be ridiculous. You and I both know you can hardly be bothered to stock the basest of styles, much less something as extravagant as a wedding dress." Becky looped arms with the woman. "Now come along, I've plenty of dresses to show you. And my store is still open."

"R-really? That's awfully nice of you! Thanks!" She smiled and went along with Becky.

Renee watched the exchange, feeling more nervous with each passing moment. She gazed at the ground, nibbling her bottom lip. Becky really wasn't messing around anymore. Publicly insulting Gene like that? What? And if Gene didn't start getting more customers soon…

"Miss Jones, I have the required items." Z0E came up behind her, carrying two boxes of items.

"Oh. Right. Let's go." Renee gestured for the Assaultron to go ahead.

Z0E went straight to Gene, who was still standing in the middle of the street. "Ma'am, I was able to purchase everything except that cloth you requested—"

Gene whirled on her heel, anger blazing in her eyes. "Listen up. From now on we're gonna work our asses off, you hear me? If I gotta stay open late and work hahdah I will! I'm not gonna let Becky fucking Fallon win this, understand me? Now come on, we got work to do!" She began marching toward Wicked Aesthetics.

Z0E and Renee hung back for a moment. The caravan guard looked up at the Assaultron and sighed. "This isn't going to go well at all."


For the next few days, Renee stayed clear of Gene. Since the run-in with Becky, Gene worked herself ragged trying to bring people into the store. She fell asleep long after Renee, and was up before the sun. While it was true Wicked Aesthetics had never been cleaner, more organized, or more stocked, it was also true that Gene had—arguably—never been in a worse mood in her life.

And yet, when two young men waltzed into the store one morning, she still managed to greet them with a hearty, "Good morning! Welcome to Wicked Aesthetics! Can I help you?"

They ignored her. Instead, they went up to the counter to Renee, who sat reading as always. "Hey shrimp, whatcha readin' there?"

"Dale!" She yelped as he whisked the comic book right out of her hand. A smile curled her lips. "And you brought Jace, how nice. Miss me that much already?"

The quieter gentleman crossed his arms. "Cricket wanted us to check on you." He quirked an eyebrow. "You're not dead, so that's a good sign."

"Of course I'm not dead. It'll take a lot more than that to kill me." She smirked. "But, uh, let's take this outside."

Once she ushered them out the door, Renee exhaled in a rush. "Sorry. Gene's been a bit, uh…edgy. It really is nice to see you two, though."

Dale ruffled her hair. "Glad you get to spend time with your girlfriend."

"She's not my—!" She batted him away. "She's not my girlfriend, damn it, she's just a friend."

Jace pulled a cigar from his jacket and lit it, blowing smoke into the air. "If you say so."

"Hmph." She glanced back at the store. Gene had her attention on a stockbook. "Hey, listen, do you think you two could do me a favor?"

"What kind of favor?" Dale crossed his arms. "Last time you had us do you a favor we nearly got blasted to bits by Super Mutants."

"This one is easy. See, I have an idea on how to help Gene but I need some help."

"And you said she wasn't your girlfriend." Jace gave one of his rare smiles at her sour expression.

"Will you do it or not?" She glanced between them.

The two men looked at each other and shrugged. "Why not. We've got some time." Dale nodded. "So, what do you need?"

"Well, I need you to buy some clothes for me…"


"Is this all right?"

"Yeah, that's the perfect spot!" Renee passed off the clothes to Z0E. "Put these on that mannequin."

The Assaultron began dressing the male mannequin in the clothing Dale and Jace bought. "When you asked for help, I wasn't aware that meant you required me to do everything for you." Already they'd lugged a different mannequin to the same spot.

"Hey! In my defense, I only have one arm!" Renee huffed. "Besides, you do the heavy lifting and I do all the talking. It's fine. It'll work. It has to."

Z0E stepped back and looked the mannequin over. "These clothes are hideous." A horrifically clashing amalgamation of colors and cloths covered it.

"I know. They came from Fallon's." She adjusted the jacket on the other mannequin and straightened the male mannequin's sleeve. "There. The ugly one is from Fallon's, and the good one is from Gene."

"And what exactly is the point of this?" Z0E watched the redhead jump on top of an overturned crate.

"Since Gene can't come out here and advertise the store herself, I'm gonna do it for her." Renee flicked down her sunglasses. "No better way to draw people in than to show them what they're missing."

The Assaultron turned toward her. "You're going to a lot of trouble for Miss Gene."

"Yeah, well… If it makes her happy, it's worth it. I care about her and I want to help her out." She chuckled sadly. "Can I tell you something?"

"Of course." Z0E beeped.

"I really, really like Gene. And doing stuff like this… Even if she never ends up caring about me the way I care about her, if I can just see her smile, it's all worthwhile. Do you understand that?" Renee tilted her head, wondering if maybe she'd overestimated the Assaultron's personality subroutines.

"I…believe so." Z0E nodded with another beep.

The redhead grinned. "Great. And that's also not something you should tell her."

"Of course not, Miss Jones."

"All right, time to get started! You can head on back to the shop if you want. I've got things handled from here." She winked. "Thanks a lot!"

For the next few hours, Renee kept grabbing random people from the marketplace and asking them a simple question: Which mannequin is dressed better? All the answers pointed to the female mannequin, dressed by Gene. Renee then gleefully pointed them in the direction to Wicked Aesthetics and made sure to let them know that Fallon's Basement dressed the other one. As she'd set up her little attraction almost right next to Becky's shop, she had the pleasure of relishing all the strange glances people gave it as they passed.

"And just what is the meaning of this?!"

Renee turned to see Becky herself come up from her basement. "Why hello there! You seem like a knowledgeable person! Would you mind answering a question for me?" She leaned on the female mannequin with a grin.

"No, I don't want to answer any questions!" Becky pointed to the ground. "Get down here this instant!"

She obliged, jumping down from the crate. "Yes?" She purred.

"I don't know what you're up to, but take all this down at once! You're ruining my sales!" Becky gestured wildly at the mannequins.

"Oh, this?" Renee jerked a thumb toward them. "That's just a bit of advertising. No harm done."

"No harm—no harm done? There's plenty of harm done! I've hardly sold anything today thanks to you and this horrendous stunt of yours!" The shopkeeper jabbed Renee in the chest, glaring at her. "I should have you arrested!"

"For what?" Renee narrowed her eyes and gripped Becky's wrist, hard. "Now you listen to me. Gene may not be able to say anything to you, but I can. If you ever publicly humiliate her again so help me I will break you." She tightened her grip, eliciting a pained squeak from the older woman. "You have a choice. You go apologize to Gene and I take down the mannequins, or I'll be out here every goddamn day until I personally put you out of business. Do I make myself clear?"

"I don't deal with threats," Becky spat.

"I don't threaten. I promise." Renee dropped the woman's hand. "If you don't show up at Wicked Aesthetics by sundown, I'll assume you want me to continue."

Becky pressed her lips into a thin line. "Don't think you can get away with this!"

"Oh Becky." The redhead jumped back on her crate and smirked. "I already have."


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