"Gooood morning, child-ren!" Leah yelled in her best Three Dog impression, kicking open the door to the saloon.

Its inhabitants all cringed away from the light and noise, grumbling unhappily. Dogmeat panted up at her with one of his best doggy smiles. The Lone Wanderer grinned at them all as Charon filtered in beside her. "Now, I bet you're all wondering why I gathered you here right now," she greeted them all.

"I'm wondering why the fuck you had to gather us here at eight in the morning," Joseph snapped, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"Seconded," Nova agreed wearily beside Gob.

"Because we're moving today and the earlier we head out, the earlier we arrive." She pulled a map from her back pocket and flapped it out onto the counter. She'd scribbled out the map in the wee hours of the morning, a scaled up replica of the one on her Pip-Boy so she could map out a course. "We're headed here." She jabbed a finger at a small sketch of Tenpenny Tower. "But first we have to stop here to pick up the rest of the little boogers." Her finger swung over to a picture of Fawkes and Bumble holding hands to represent Little Lamplight. "And right now, we are here." She pointed at a picture of Lucas Simms frowning beneath a ridiculously oversized cowboy hat. Gob chuckled at that.

Leah nodded and cocked her hands on her hips to address Gob, Nova, and a wary-looking Joseph. "So that's the plan. We move out today."

"How are we getting there without dying, genius?" Joseph quipped.

"Easy, you little pessimist," she shot back. "In this!" With a dramatic flick of her wrists, she flipped the paper onto the other side to show a perfect drawing of the MK25. "Call it a gift from our friends the Outcasts."

"Whoa," Nova gaped as Gob rubbed his eyes in disbelief.

"That would do it," Joseph amended in a grumble. His lips twitched downward and he rubbed a hand over his face. "You guys talk logistics. I need a second." In three long strides, he'd cleared the saloon and stepped out onto the catwalk. Leah and Charon exchanged a pointed glance before the ghoul got up from his barstool and followed his honorary son outside.

"Now, we need to get packing," Leah muttered, bringing another slip of paper out from her back pocket.

"You keep a library back there?" Gob joked, slinking an arm around Nova's shoulders and pressing a kiss to her temple.

"Yeah, yack it up and you'll be walkin' there," the Lone Wanderer threatened, sliding the paper out onto the counter. "I made a list of shit we need. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go arrange the taking over of your saloon." With no more than a toss of her head, Leah marched out.

Nova grabbed the paper where she'd left it and rotated it so that she and Gob could read it.

Very Important Shit To Bring So We Can Leave This Hellhole

1. Food and water… pretty obvious you dipshits

2. Clothing. Yes, Nova, even that skimpy little night dress you have. In fact, especially that little night dress. For Gob's sake.

3. Guns. Charon and I have plenty, but any weapons you have laying around the bar won't hurt to bring along as well.

4. For God's sake, don't forget to bring booze. It's gonna be a long fucking trip and you know that saying… how does it go… time flies when you're so drunk you can't pee straight?

We're employing a buddy system in case somebody falls off of the truck while it's in motion. Or hell, while it's not in motion. We all know how clumsy you are, Gob. Need I explain that you two are 'buddies?' Also, 'buddy system' does not mean 'we-can-fuck-in-the-truck' system. Some restraint, please. You'll give Charon an aneurysm.

Um, that's about it guys. Try to pack light. It's a truck, not a cargo ship. Gob, your saloon is in good hands. We raised him right.

- Leah

Joseph hoisted himself up onto the railing, watching Charon light a cigarette as he leaned against the saloon. Those blue eyes flickered up to his, dark and earnest. It was rare that Charon was ever really serious with him, so he waited.

The ghoul finally took a long pull of smoke and exhaled, tracking the wisps as they dissolved. "You're staying here." His gaze returned to the boy's, solid, pointed, as if hoping to portray an entire conversation with just that look.

Joseph raised an eyebrow and couldn't help smiling. He respected the hell out of the guy, but he wasn't the world's greatest conversationalist. "Is that an order, gramps?"

"Smart ass," Charon grumbled, shaking his head. "You know I don't give orders. I was making an assumption. Am I correct?"

He sighed. "I don't know, pops. You know I want to be by you and Leah, but . . . I've kind of carved out a life here."

"That's what Leah said. That same goddamn phrase, actually. 'Carved out a life.' Seems a little violent to me," Charon mused with a shrug, "but I'm no poet." He rubbed the back of his neck and looked away.

"And really fuckin' terrible at expressing your emotions," Joseph added with a smirk. "I'll miss you, too, gramps."

Charon snorted, but didn't make to disagree with him as he blew out a puff of smoke. "Leah set everything up for you. The bar is yours."

"Really?" Joseph craned his neck back to take in the old, rundown shack. It had never looked more beautiful in his life. "That's . . . wow." He had a place to live. He had a job.

He had something to supply Maggie and Penny with everything they needed.

Charon nodded in approval, as if reading his thoughts. "Gob needs someone to take care of the place after he leaves. You need somewhere to work and live."

"It's perfect," Joseph agreed quietly. "Thanks . . . Charon."

The ghoul jerked his head once in recognition. "Yeah, well, Leah did all the work." There was the creak of the door behind him and he grunted without even having to turn around. "Speak of the devil."

"And she shall appear," Leah finished with a smirk, coming up and lacing her hand through his. "Everything set up?"

"Yep," Joseph answered with a sincere smile. "It's a load of worry off my back, Leah. Thank you."

"It was no problem. I'd hate to leave you with nothing. I'll miss you. Nobody else has the guts to wrestle with Charon."

The ghoul and boy both snorted at the same time. Exchanged a glance. Looked away in embarrassment.

Leah smiled at them fondly as the door to the saloon was slammed open and Gob backed out of it with a large trunk in tow. He grunted as he dropped it onto the catwalk, heaving for breath. Nova danced out after him with an easy smile. "Hey, guys! We're ready!"

"Take it down to the truck," Leah instructed with a nod towards the gates below. "We'll be down in a second. Our shit's already packed up."

Gob glared blearily at her. "Let's see you . . . carry this thing . . . with all of her crap inside of it!" He pointed accusingly at Nova.

She shrugged and started walking down the catwalk. "See you there, baby!"

"It's fucking impossible!"

Charon put a hand on the smaller ghoul's shoulder, prompting him to look up – and up and up. Fuck, he was tall. "Women love strength, Gob. If you can get that trunk to the truck before Nova arrives, I guarantee you she will make her appreciation known."

"Yeah?" Gob raised the remains of an eyebrow at him. "Since when are you Casanova?"

He shrugged, exhaling smoke. "I have always been excellent with the ladies."

"Yeah, there was this one time that he strangled me," Leah added, affecting admiration and making puppy eyes up at her ghoul. "It was so romantic."

Charon growled as she winked at Gob, who burst into laughter. Despite their banter, he lugged the trunk up into his arms and marched determinedly down the catwalk after his smoothskin.

"Can you please not emasculate me in front of my friend and my son?" he grunted, shaking her arm out from around his with an annoyed twist to his lips.

Leah blew him a kiss. "Just had to knock you off that high horse, Charon."

Joseph chuckled. "How have you two survived as a couple?"

"We haven't."

"We hate each other."

"We are splitting up."

"I've found a new ghoul."

"And I a new smoothskin . . . with larger breasts."

The absolute conviction and anger in their eyes had Joseph coming up short. "Are you guys serious?"

They simultaneously burst into laughter, Leah's cheeks turning bright red as Charon supported himself with a hand on his knee to keep from falling over.

"He actually – thought we were serious!"

"I thought he was smarter than that!"

Joseph glared. "Fuck you guys."

"Give me a hug, loser," Leah managed around a laugh and pulled him into an embrace. "Love you."

"You, too, Leah."

She kissed him on the cheek and turned to go, but not before winding up and slapping Charon hard on the ass. Her eyes narrowed into furious slits as he recoiled in shock. "And don't think I'll forget that 'breasts' comment. If mine are too small, you can go fondle someone else's." With a dignified hmph, she stomped away.

Charon and Joseph watched her go with matching smiles. "You're fucked, gramps."

"She'll come around." The arrogance was plain in his voice. Plainer still was the immense love he felt for her. "If she didn't put up a fight every now and then, she wouldn't be Leah."

Joseph paused, frowning in deep thought. He finally glanced up at the ghoul. "You really think of me as a son?"

Charon gave a noncommittal grunt and tugged him into a rough, one-armed hug. "You know what I think of you, Joseph. Take care of yourself."

"You, too, pops. And Leah."

The words left his mouth as if it were the most obvious truth ever spoken. "Until the day I die." With a shrug of his broad shoulders, Charon patted Joseph one last time on the back and left after his smoothskin.

Charon held the wheel with one hand as he shook out another cigarette. As he lit it, his eyes wandered over to the passenger seat.

Leah was curled up with her head resting on his right thigh, Dogmeat stretched on the floor in front of the seat. Her slender arms were wound around the shaggy coat of his neck as she slumbered, legs kicked fitfully over the end of the seat.

With a slow smile, Charon gently brushed a hand over her growing black hair. She'd been sleeping for over an hour. He was amazed she'd been able to among Nova and Gob's drunken din behind them, but he supposed you didn't survive in the Wasteland without finding some way to sleep in less than ideal situations. He was just glad the two had shut the hell up. Glancing in the rearview mirror, he confirmed that Gob was passed out on one of the benches, Nova resting in the cradle of his arms.

It was quiet. Just him, the thrum of the engine, and the fucking Wasteland.

Oh, and Dogmeat. The hound peered up at him with those ever-faithful, mismatched eyes and ran a lick up his free hand where it rested over Leah's shoulder.

"We'll be there soon," Charon reassured the dog, rubbing the fur between his ears.

"Charon."

The mumbled sigh took him by surprise and he quickly glanced down to see that Leah was, indeed, still asleep. She released Dogmeat and curled her arms instead around his thigh, nuzzling her face into the material of his pants. "I do."

"You do what, my smoothskin?" Charon asked in quiet amusement, running his hands through her short hair. When he got no reply, he brushed his fingers over her sleeping lips before returning his hand to the wheel. "Whatever you do, Leah, I do, too."

"God damn it, my ass hurts," Gob complained as he hopped shakily down from the bed of the truck. He at least had the sense to turn and help Nova down behind him. "And my head."

"Maybe if you hadn't downed an entire bottle of vodka," Charon reminded him. "Wake, smoothskin," he added in a gentler voice, lifting Leah out of the truck and into his arms. She stirred against his shoulder and blinked the sleep from her eyes.

"Already? You drive fast," she yawned.

"I do many things fast."

"I'd make a premature ejaculation joke . . . but I would be totally fucking lying." She gave him her best shit-eating grin.

He snorted in satisfaction. "Quite right, smoothskin." Dogmeat jumped down from the cab and trotted happily around his legs as he headed for the old, wooden door. The beast stopped, sniffed at a burnt up tumbleweed, and lifted his leg to relieve himself.

"Good boy! Good doggy woggy, Dogmeat, you're such a good wittle boy!" Leah cooed at him. He finished his business and woofed joyfully back up at her.

Charon grimaced openly. "My God, smoothskin, I have never been more disgusted with you. I almost dropped you."

She scowled and wriggled herself free from his hands anyways. "He's a dog! You're lucky we don't have kids!"

"We do," he grumbled, yanking the door open when it gave resistance. "We have over ten of them."

Leah's laughter reverberated around the cavern as they walked in. Dogmeat walked between Gob and Nova, who looked around in curiosity as they followed.

An excited shriek made Charon jump for his gun, but Bumble came tearing around the corner and threw her arms around Leah's middle. The Lone Wanderer picked her up and swung her in circles. "Bumble! I missed you!" She squeezed the girl tightly.

Bumble tried to get out words, but it all came out jumbled gibberish between the tears.

"'Bout time you assholes showed up," RJ snarked, leaning against the rock wall with a smirk. The rest of the children milled after him in excitement.

Fawkes tromped forward with earth-quaking footsteps.

Nova screeched and Gob jumped protectively in front of her.

"Did we not warn them about the babysitter?" Leah asked her ghoul with a rumpled brow.

"I suppose not," Charon replied with a chuckle. "Gob, Nova, this is Fawkes. Fawkes – Gob and Nova."

"A pleasure to meet you surely!" Fawkes roared. "A friend of a friend is a friend in the making!"

"Charon . . . how are we going to fit Fawkes on the truck?" Leah whispered, leaning close to his shoulder.

"That's a good question." He knuckled the bottom of his chin in thought. When he turned to her, there was a twinkle in his eye. "I think we will be able to manage."

"It's too windy!"

"Fawkes smells bad!"

"To be quite fair, your aroma is not any more appealing, Miss Princess!"

Charon and Leah broke into raucous laughter at the shock and devastation on Princess's face.

"You tell 'er, Fawksy," RJ encouraged through his barking laughter. It was an uncomfortable fit, but somehow Charon and Leah had managed to squish Fawkes's hulking figure into the bed of the truck and pile all of the children in on top of him. The bigger ones used the benches, while the smaller children like Bumble sat perched on his long legs.

Gob squeezed Nova's hand beside his and grinned at Charon. "Thanks for stickin' us up in here. I don't think I could handle straddling a super mutant for hours on end, no matter how friendly you say he is."

"Try straddling Jericho for an hour," Nova remarked with a snort of indignation. "You'd hop on that super mutant before you could say, 'Two hundred caps an hour!'"

"God damn it," Gob grumbled as the rest of the adults had a good, hearty laugh at his expense. "He probably smells better, too."

"I can guarantee you that."

"I'll tell you one thing I prefer in Jericho," Leah offered and they all turned to her with raised brows of disbelief. "I'd have way more fun punching him in the mouth."

Their collective laughter followed the jam-packed truck all through the night.

Charon slung an arm around his smoothskin's shoulders as the children filed out of the bed of the truck. They whined and complained and stretched their aching legs as Fawkes wriggled his way free from the small space.

"Thanks, buddy," Leah sighed, patting his shoulder. "Really. You'll get your own goddamn suite for having to put up with that trip."

"I lived in a solitary room for far too long to mind a few hours in the back of a vehicle, friend Leah!" Fawkes declared. With no further ado, he scooped Bumble up onto his shoulders and gestured for them to lead the way.

Dropping her hand to lace through Charon's, Leah marched determinedly into the Tenpenny courtyard. Michael Masters gaped up in disbelief as she approached. "No stinkin' way! Is that Leah?" His eyes took in Charon beside her and he stiffened the smallest amount. "That's a big fuckin' ghoul."

"You bet he is," Leah agreed with a grin. "I also have a gaggle of children, two ghouls, a hot chick, and one super mutant that need a place to live. Roy promised me a place any time I want, for my entire family." She shrugged and waved at the large group that had gathered behind her. "Estamos aquí."

Michael grimaced. "I know what he said. He's not gonna like it, though." His eyes fell on Nova and he reconsidered. "He won't like about ninety percent of it."

Leah pushed past him and threw the doors open. "I got him this building in the first place."

The ghoul in question was perched on the desk in the middle of the lobby, Bessie Lynn twittering at his side. She spotted Leah first and cried out in surprise. "If it isn't that pretty smoothskin!"

"Hey, Bessie," Leah greeted her with a wave. "This is my . . . my . . ." God damn it, it had been over three years and she still didn't know what to call Charon. She glanced at him, mortified.

He surprised her with an easy smile. "We're together," he offered diplomatically.

Roy Philips sized Charon up with understandable unease. "I told you that you have a place here, smoothskin, and I am a man of my word. Used to be a cop for fuck's sake. Some of the smoothskins remained behind, but only a spare, brave few." His smirk was devilish. "The ones who were too pissed-pants fucking scared to go out on their own."

"Please tell me that Susan Lancaster –," Leah began in a desperate voice.

"Is right here, princess."

Everyone in the room turned to see an older woman in a faded red dress, leaning against a nearby pillar with a cigarette and a sickly satisfied smile.

"God damn it," Leah muttered, fingers clenching around Charon's. "Thought you'd have cleared out of here with someone's dick tucked between your legs, you no-good, dirty tramp."

Charon's eyes widened, a response not many things could get out of him. He'd simply never heard his smoothskin use such foul language before – and with such bitter resentment.

"I didn't run off like that idiot Millicent. She got her fat ass killed the second she stepped out of the gates. Pity." Taking a drag of smoke, Susan turned on her heel and disappeared into the nearest door, her low laughter echoing after her.

"Ah, I love a good catfight. Can't you just smell it wafting through the air?" Roy gave a dramatically loud sniff and grinned. "Let me know when you decide to rip her hair out strand-by-strand, Messiah. I'd love to see that." He hitched a thumb over his shoulder at the stairs. "There are plenty of rooms open on the second floor. I assume you want your old suite."

"Yes, and the remaining two as well," Leah hissed, unable to shake the ice of the terse reunion from her tone. "For Gob and Nova and my super mutant friend."

Roy nearly swallowed the cigarette in his lips. "Super mutant? The fuck kind of place you think I'm runnin' here, hero?" he demanded.

"He's friendly."

Right on time, Fawkes ducked into the room with Bumble clinging to his back and Knock Knock holding one of his hands.

"See? With children. Completely innocent."

Roy rubbed his chin, sharing a glance with Bessie Lynn, before shrugging. "Fine. As long as he doesn't hurt me or mine, I'm good. I don't give half a yao guai's shit if he tears any of the smoothskins apart with his bare hands."

"If it's Susan Lancaster, I'd give him every last cap I own," Leah agreed with obvious relish.

"You did well, smoothskin," Charon murmured much later, his breath fanning warmth into the curve of her throat as he stroked her shoulder with tender, comforting caresses.

"I'm exhausted," she sighed, cuddling further into his side. She began to tick things off on her fingers. "The kids are paired off in their rooms, Gob and Nova are set up, everyone's been introduced to everyone else. . . ."

Charon gently tucked another of her fingers down. "And you have impressed me yet again with your efficiency."

"Thanks," she mumbled. Her fingertips traced designs over his bare chest.

"Will you tell me about that awful Lancaster woman?"

Leah groaned, pushing herself up into a sitting position. Charon was leaning back against the headboard and rubbing her back, patiently, listening. Leah shoved her hair back from her face with a frustrated jerk – it was long enough now to get in the way, but short enough to be unrestrainable by ties or bands. "I hate her because she's a fucking whore."

Charon raised a brow at her. "Nova used to be a whore."

"She's in a class all her own, Susan Lancaster. She doesn't do it for money. She does it for power. To hold the pussy above innocent, lonely men like Herbert Dashwood because she has nothing better to do with her life than to ruin others'."

The ghoul dithered. He'd never seen her so filled with hatred for someone – except maybe Colonel Autumn and the Enclave, but the reason for those was clear. This was murky. "I'm in uncertain territory here, smoothskin."

"I know. Sorry." She exhaled and rubbed the exposed skin of her bicep. "It's also more personal than that. Did I ever tell you about Mr. Burke?"

"The creepy man who wanted you to blow up Megaton."

"Right. I never told you how I got him to leave." Leah's expression turned wary, blue eyes dull in displeasure. "I flirted. Shamelessly, but effectively. He hightailed it out of there and headed back to Tenpenny Tower to tell Alistair himself that he wasn't going to blow the town up. Gross, but worth it. At least, so I thought."

Charon processed that information with a creased brow, before gesturing for her to continue.

"After disarming the bomb for good measure, I came here anyways to meet this Tenpenny. I was actually planning on killing him," she admitted with an unrepentant shrug. "He and Burke were both evil bastards. They deserved to die. So I came here on my vigilante mission. Unfortunately, Susan fucking Lancaster had heard of my using my womanly charms to get Burke to change his mind and she didn't like that. Not one bit. The bitch hopped into bed with him and convinced him that not only was I a ruthless whore who was fucking the entire town of Megaton, I also deserved to die for insulting someone from the prestigious Burke family." Her eyes lifted to his, heavy and sad.

"Smoothskin . . ." Charon's teeth were gritted in anger. "What happened next?"

"He did it, the fucking coward. He sent six mercs after both me and the town of Megaton. I got lucky that I intercepted them on the way. Had to drag myself up the Tenpenny steps with six bullet wounds, but I saved the day. Luckily Doc Banfield actually had a conscience and fixed me up. I'm glad he's still here." She splayed her hand against his chest, eyes tracing the break between pale tan and the red of exposed muscle. "Alistair Tenpenny and Mr. Burke mysteriously died that night." When her gaze returned to his, it was burningly triumphant. "Burke told me after some coercion that Susan was the one to set me up. Unfortunately, she never slept alone. I never got the chance to get her, too, for what she'd done.

When I met the ghouls and promised to help them, I made the specific deal that they were not to kill any of the humans. They were unhappy, but they agreed. Most of them left. All the ones that were bigots and assholes anyways," she added with another shrug. "The ones that stayed – Herbert, Margaret Primrose – they're good people deep down. Except for Susan Lancaster. I just never got the chance to get her."

Leah's voice faded into the silence of the large, empty room.

Charon opened his mouth to say something – anything – but Leah put a finger over his lips.

"I'm okay with it now, Charon. I mean, I still hate the fuck out of her and if she died some horrible, gruesome death, was brought back to life, and murdered again, you wouldn't see me shed a tear. But I'm not going to take any lives over it. I have a family. It's not worth it." Before he could protest, she leaned forward and captured his mouth in a soft kiss. "I love you."

"Love you, too," he sighed, pulling her into his arms. "Are you tired?"

"Extremely."

"Sleep, then, smoothskin," he murmured, tucking her under the lush covers of their new bed. He rolled onto his side next to her and rubbed her cheek with a thumb. "Dream peaceful dreams. Everything will be better in the morning."

Smiling, Leah nestled into his shoulder. He was lying. But God, if it didn't feel good to believe him. Just for tonight.

He moved silently through the dark lobby, his combat blade clenched in a fist behind his back. His footsteps made no noise as he ghosted into the room on the left. Once his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he could clearly make out the outline of a body on the bed in the corner.

Sleeping alone tonight? Your last mistake, I'm afraid.

He faltered as he lifted the blade. What if it was the wrong person?

Luck was in his hand tonight. She turned over in her sleep, exposing her hateful face to him and ensuring that it was, indeed, his intended target.

Good.

With one quick flash of movement, he ended her life.

He was gone before the first drop of blood hit the floor.

Awww. Killing one of her enemies in the middle of the night? Charon really knows how to make a girl smile...

Anastasia, ManInAMask, & DaLover: The truck is my most favorite plot developer in the entire world haha. As for Joseph knocking Harden out: good riddance. That little brat sucks in the game, too. Glad you guys agree haha.

Callx0fxPuberty: Thanks for the review! Hope you got my review reply, but I'll put it here just in case: I've always pronouned it "Lee-uhh." I knew a girl named Leah once and I never talked to her because I didn't know how to pronounce her name. Also, she was ridiculously beautiful and that never helps hahaha.

A special thank you as always to Pattyn. If you haven't read her latest chapter of Empire, then go do it. That shit had me giggling for hours. And here I was thinking it wasn't possible to be any more in love with Desmond Lockheart... hahaha. I'm not exaggerating - go see for yourself!