In the morning Winter woke up alone. She heard a radio playing downstairs, briefly drowned out by Dusk's excitable laugh. Her hangover was only a dull ache; she figured that with a good breakfast it would be gone by lunch. She got dressed in a pair of worn out jeans and a white shirt and toddled downstairs. Lyons was nowhere to be seen, but Dusk was busy chowing down on a plate of Brahmin meat and bird eggs.
"Morning, Dusk," Winter chuckled.
"Morning," she mumbled with a mouth full of food. Amata was perched on the counter with a coffee cup in her hands; she looked absolutely fine. Her eyes weren't bloodshot, her hair was tidy and tied back, and she had the softest smile. Winter was drawn to her like a magnet. She closed the distance between them, Amata reaching out and wrapping an arm around her back when she got close enough.
"Hey," she greeted.
"Hey you," Amata purred, "Sleep well?"
"Like a rock," she yawned and took a sip of the coffee, "How're you doing, you were pretty annihilated last night?"
"I figured, you got up once during the night and barely moved afterwards. I'm fine, woke up and had some food, I'm good."
"Good," she smiled, "What's to eat?"
"Lyons got some meat and eggs. Sit down; I'll make you something."
"Ah, I can do that, don't worry."
"I've got it, you're good," Amata leant forward and murmured in her ear, "I owe you for last night anyways."
"You don't, but thank you."
"I'm gonna go find Lyons," Dusk got up from her chair, "Thank you for cooking, Amata."
"No sweat," she shrugged. They stayed silent for a moment until they heard Dusk closing the door behind her. Winter barely had time to turn her head before Amata kissed her, wrapping both legs around the small of her back and gently pulling her close. Winter had always hated the taste of coffee breath; however, she endured it and put both hands on the counter on each side of Amata's hips. The girl on the counter pulled away from the kiss first, just when Winter was going to deepen it.
"I love it when you blush," Amata laughed and gently pinched one of her reddening cheeks, "When you get all flustered."
Winter leant in to kiss her again, but she cocked her head back.
"C'mon," Amata warmly ran her the heel of her foot a few inches up and down her back before abandoning the hold, "You need food. I think Lyons wants you for something today."
Winter took a seat at Dusk's chair while Amata took her plates from the table.
Amata kissed the top of Winter's head, then fiddled with her hair while Winter nudged one of the books closer to her to begin to read.
"Please don't lose the page I'm on," Amata hummed in a playfully annoyed tone that still had a layer of adoration and care to it.
"Study day?" Winter asked.
"Hopefully," she sighed, "We'll see how it goes with the Brotherhood today."
"Dog Company shouldn't get here until tomorrow morning," Winter shrugged.
"They get there, and you come running to me, okay? We stay together for this one."
"Okay," she nodded. They ate together mostly in silence, but it was a comfortable silence. Winter listened to the radio while Amata read through one of her books.
"Hey, Daniels?" Lyons began, opening the door and poking her head inside the living room.
"Yeah?"
"Can you come with me?"
"Yeah, sure," she slowly rose from her chair and finished a final sip of her coffee.
"We won't be leaving Megaton," Lyons promised, "I'll meet you outside."
"Yeah."
"Don't blow up the town," Amata joked, getting on her tiptoes and pecking her goodbye, "Be safe. I love-"
Winter could see fear, regret and panic flash into Amata's otherwise warm, rich brown eyes. The adorable look on her face, combined with the dizzying happiness of her confession, made Winter grin ear to ear and lean down to kiss her. It was only a peck, despite Amata's instinct to let it evolve into something more. She pulled away slowly and watched her girlfriend's eyes calm with the same look of relief and happiness that Winter was sure was mirrored with her own.
"I love you too," she murmured.
"Daniels, c'mon!" Dusk opened the door and peered inside, "We're busy!"
"We'll talk later," Winter grabbed her blue ball cap and headed for the door.
"What?" Amata stammered.
"I'll be right back!" she laughed, "Go study!"
Winter followed Dusk and Lyons down to the market area with a skip in her step. Following them down past the clinic, she spotted a man standing with Jacob. The guy looked like someone had dragged him through an engineering closet. Tools were dangling off of him, hammers, screwdrivers, measuring tape, pliers, a giant radio looking thing strapped to his waist, a thick pair of goggles, and a cigarette dangling out of his mouth. The guy looked around his mid 30's, with an unkempt beard and messy auburn hair that trailed down to his shoulders, and he held a huge black tool box in one hand.
"Hey Jacob," Winter greeted the acting sheriff, "How're you doing, man?"
"Good, I'm doing good," he seemed to be telling himself more so than her.
"Daniels, I'd like you to meet Bomb Specialist Michael O'Hare," Lyons gestured to him.
"Just Michael is fine," he nodded and shook Winter's hand.
"How's it going, Michael? You like your work?"
Michael gave a less than genuine laugh before turning his attention to the bomb, "I would have approached the bomb by now to survey it, but I'm worried about the zealots surrounding it."
"They're batshit insane," Winter said bluntly.
"How much time will you need?" Jacob scratched at his beard impatiently, casting his weary eye at the congregation formed around the bomb.
"I don't rush with nuclear bombs, for obvious reasons," he answered, "It will depend on a lot of things, but… a while. Maybe until nightfall."
"And you know what you're doing?"
"If I fail, the first to die is me. So… yeah, I'm confident in every move I make."
"Alright," Jacob grunted, wiping his brow and nodding toward the bomb, "We're going to station half of the force to help guard the market perimeter. Let me know when you're ready to start."
"Now," he picked up the toolbox at his side, "This isn't a job you should delay."
"What do we do?" Winter asked Dusk as they started to walk down to the bomb.
"Don't do anything; you don't know how to deal with people like this."
"Do you?"
"No, but I have a shiny uniform that looks scary. You look like you just got dragged out of bed."
"Fair enough."
The sermon became more clear as they got closer. It was a mess of delirious rambling at varying volume, exactly how Winter imagined somebody would sound after spending day after day after day in the hot sun. It would probably cook your brains. The preacher was standing in the murky water with five of his followers surrounding it. When he looked up to see the sheriff approaching, his face lit up.
"Good morning, Jacob!" the preacher smiled. He clasped his leathery hands together and bowed forward slightly to greet him. He looked at the group, his smile fading and his eyes widening when he saw Michael, "Who are these people?"
"Warren, I need you to stand aside for me, friend." Jacob spoke firm but friendly.
"Why?" he fearfully took a step back toward the bomb, extending his arms as if to protect it.
"Easy, you haven't done anything wrong," Jacob held out his hand to assure him, "We've come to dismantle the bomb."
"No!" he squealed. His followers descended toward the bomb to defend it. They barely managed to wade into the water before Dusk and Lyons shoved them back.
"Move back!" Lyons ordered, "Back!"
"Get the fuck back!" Dusk barked, shoving the biggest one back with more strength than was probably warranted. They all looked weak and feeble. That didn't surprise Winter much. If she spent all day wallowing around in radioactive waters, she probably wouldn't be an Adonis of peak physical form either.
"What's going on?!" a follower ordered.
"Warren, stand aside!" Jacob ordered, "The bomb is a danger to us, to your children!"
"We have our religious freedoms, Sheriff!" Warren argued, "This bomb has created our city from the impact of its downfall. It's a gift from Atom, to defuse it, to eliminate the source of its glow, it would be blasphemous!"
"Warren, you're a smart man," he began, "You and I both want this town to be happy, for its people to be happy…"
"Atom's glow is the source of the world's happiness."
"For some, but not all. This world is Atom's creation, can you not worship the ground that he made? Why must you hold onto tokens, when his greatest creation is all around us?"
"To destroy his gifts is an insult to Atom!" he begged, "Please! I won't have myself cast aside as a defiler of Atom's gifts! Let us bathe! Let us give ourselves to Atom!"
Warren spun around and began to bang his fists against the bomb. Jacob immediately walked into the hazardous water and yanked him backward, sending him splashing down and temporarily disappearing into the murky depths, only up to Winter's shins. Jacob quickly yanked him up and helped him to his feet. Warren looked a little stunned and didn't protest when Jacob pushed him away from the bomb.
"Alright here's how it's going to go!" Jacob shouted to the gathering crowd of civilians who were watching the commotion, "Child of Atom or not, the market is closed until further notice! If you need to conduct business, please conduct it just in front of the city gates!"
"Goddamn Brotherhood!" a passer-by screamed, spitting at Dusk while another tossed a drink at Lyons.
"Everyone stay calm!" Jacob yelled.
"The bomb is safe!" a woman added, "It's been safe for two hundred years! Leave these people alone!"
"Better get to work, Michael," Winter suggested.
"Yeah, no shit."
"Everybody needs to take about five steps back!" Lyons commanded.
"Listen to them!" Jacob advised, "We're doing this in everybody's best interests."
"I won't let you defile Atom's creation!" Warren screeched, raising one frail hand and descending it downward as if to bludgeon Jacob. Jacob caught the arm and transferred the momentum to shove Warren to the ground and begin to bind his hands behind his back with rope. His followers all wailed in disapproval, however none of them made any move to protect him. A deputy trotted in and marched him towards the jails while Winter watched Michael inspecting the bomb.
"God damn it," Michael muttered.
"What's happening?" Jacob asked.
"This thing is corroded to fuck."
"Can you still disarm it?"
"I can, but it will be difficult."
"Listen asshole," Winter muttered, "Don't say your issues out loud unless you want me to keel over with a panic attack and make it one less person that's saving you from being mauled right now."
Michael continued to work silently while the tension in the crowd began to change from annoyance to anger, fear, and panic.
"You're going to blow the thing up!" a woman screamed, "You'll kill us all!"
Winter looked over her shoulder at Michael. He had a giant pair of headphones on his head that was plugged into a device strapped to his hip. Taking a few steps closer to him, even despite all of the noise, Winter could hear music blasting into his ears. She decided then and there that Michael was just fine where he was, and the only thing she could do was trust him while he worked… and also not worry so much about sudden, instant death.
What was more pressing was the thought of getting ripped apart by an angry mob. Dusk was looking pissed and had mud covering her once shiny uniform. Raising her rifle firmly in the air, she fired a warning shot when a man made a lunge for her. The crowd, including her would-be attacker, all cringed in one fluid motion. Lyons used the moment of hesitation to start barking orders, alongside Jacob and a few deputies that had just arrived, to drive the people back.
"Back!" Winter ordered a woman who was still gawking.
"It'll kill us all," she hissed, stumbling over her own feet as she went.
After a few more minutes of struggling, the market was empty. While Lyons and Jacob had a quiet conversation in the opposite side of the market, Winter took a seat in the shade of a food stall with Dusk.
"Dusk," Winter groaned, watching her help herself to some cooked food, "Pay for that."
"They won't miss it," the soldier shrugged, "You need to eat if you wanna be more than a skinny rake."
Winter reluctantly took a few pieces of meat from the plate and leant back against the stall door, "Betcha that mud is starting to itch, huh?"
"Shut the fuck up," Dusk laughed.
"Shower's all yours once this is done. Assuming we don't die."
"Normally we wouldn't be anywhere near here, we'd evacuate the area for miles, but your boy Lucas insisted against it. He didn't want to instil more panic than it was worth, and he didn't want Tenpenny's guys causing more shit when we're just sitting around in a camp all day."
"Lucas doesn't know up from down at the moment."
"True. Most people would be riding for the hills by now anyways."
"Everybody but us."
"Right. People like us aren't afraid of a little death if it means the job gets done."
"You weren't scared two seconds ago?"
"I'm used to pain, Danny, it ain't that hard."
"Why do you keep calling me Danny?"
"That's your nickname."
"I don't get a say in the matter?"
"No."
"Did someone just name you Dusk? What's your real name?"
"I'm not gonna say."
"Can't be as stupid a name as Winter."
"Yeah well- "
"Fuck!" Michael shouted, pushing himself off the bomb. Every single image she was shown throughout her life of a mushroom cloud immediately snapped through her head, an in a moment she seemed to be thinking of a million things at once, and all she could do was blurt the only thing that came to the forefront of her mind.
"I'm sorry!" Winter blurted.
"Ali!" Dusk yelled alongside her.
But… they weren't dead. Winter blinked and hesitated for just a second. It looked like the entire world was still, even Michael didn't move. Maybe her brain was fried, and this was the final image she would see before she drifted off into nothingness.
"Did we just fucking die? Am I dead?" Dusk mumbled. One breath passed, then two, then three, then finally Winter accepted that she wasn't dead, and Michael was complaining about something.
"What the fuck happened?" Winter yelled.
"I dropped my fucking radio in the water!" Michael gestured to the device that was bobbing up and down in the water.
"Hold this," Dusk shoved the plate into Winter's lap and marched toward Michael.
"Hold your fucking line!" Michael growled at her as she closed in.
"You shut your fucking mouth!" Dusk continued anyway, grabbing a handful of his shirt and yanking him close. Michael had a few inches on Dusk, and he didn't look too phased when Dusk shared a few words with him. She shoved him away, and he went back to working on his bomb.
"He doesn't give much of a fuck about anything, does he?" Winter chuckled as Dusk returned, "Can I ask you something?"
"What?"
"Why do you shave your head?"
"You ever wear a helmet all day?"
"Nah."
"Your hair just sweats and gets gross. It's fine for one day, but if you're on the field for a few days, and it's just hot and miserable, your hair just… you can feel it. I shave it, let it grow out a little bit, then when I'm tired of it, I shave it off again. My hair's all fuzz, and your hair's got a little silk to it, it doesn't curl nearly as tight as mine. You're gonna have a super hard time with it. You keep it short or tied back, and I guess you'll be fine."
"I haven't said 'yes' yet, Dusky."
"Not verbally, but I see that hunger in your eyes when someone starts threatening you, I see you wanting to throw your weight around, however much there is."
"I don't wanna die young, Dusk."
"And here you are, staring at an atom bomb and this mother fucker is cutting wires inside it. You said you were sorry when you thought you were gonna die, why?"
"I don't know. I'm sorry for a lot of stuff I've done."
"Everybody's a bastard in their own way. C'mon, there has to be one thing."
"Amata told me she loved me this morning, I said it back, but I left… before the whole thing settled."
"Ah yeah, I thought she looked a little stunned when you were leaving."
"Am I dead?"
"Yeah, I think so. At least for a little while. That'll take a while for her to calm down."
"You shouted for Ali when you thought you were gonna go, so much for her not being your girl."
"Ha! I'm not going to call for my mother!"
"How often do you do that?"
"What?"
"For a second, when you think you're gonna and you just freeze up."
"A few times, when you see a guy with his gun on you and you're standing there with your metaphorical dick in your hands, but I would always go for my gun. Doubt it would have made much of a difference here."
"Doubt it," Winter agreed. She reached around to the ice cooler and retrieved two beers.
"Pay for it, Danny," her friend teased, taking one and clinking glasses with her.
Halfway through the beer, Michael approached Lyons and Jacob.
"It's done."
"You're sure?" Winter asked.
"Hundred percent."
"Alright," Jacob exhaled, "We'll get your guys to come in and get rid of it tomorrow morning. You think you can do it?"
"Easy."
"Okay," Lyons nodded, "Dusk, come with me, we need to start planning for the Springvale base."
"Springvale base?" Winter interjected.
"Can I have a shower first?"
"Later, Dusk. We need to get plans down for when Dog arrives."
"Are they gonna set up a base?" Winter asked again.
"The price of getting the bomb disarmed," Jacob answered bitterly as the Brotherhood soldiers walked away.
"At least the bomb's going," Winter shrugged.
"Yeah… I'm gonna go check on Lucas, okay?"
"Yeah man, let me know if you need anything."
Jacob didn't answer and kept walking to the clinic. Winter headed home in search for more food and found Amata set up on the couch surrounded by books. She could tell immediately that she was in trouble, the way Amata snapped the book shut and rose quickly to face her.
"Hey, how was study?"
"You're an asshole," Amata yelled, "You tell me you love me, and you just wander away?!"
"Whoa!"
"What kind of a damn joke was that?!"
"I thought you knew I loved you."
"Of course I know! Every time you look at me you look like your brain shuts off."
"It does. You're amazing."
"And you're an asshole! … sometimes."
"Ah fuck…" Winter muttered scratching behind her head. She couldn't lose Amata now, not when they were just getting started, "I am. I try not to be, but I am. I know that you look at me a little different because we're so close… but I'm more of an idiot than you think I am. I was thinking about it today and… I'm sorry. I shouldn't have just wandered off and left you hanging like a prick."
"Wow, that's the most romantic thing you've ever said. I know you were just fucking around, and I know that you're shitty sometimes, but you aren't an asshole."
"How little you know."
"I know everything about you," Amata answered, "I know you better than you know you... and I still happily love you. And I do think that you can get better, but I love you for who you are right now… so long as you're sorry about earlier."
"I am sorry," she promised.
Amata only beamed at her, "We're a mess, huh?"
"Absolutely."
"Despite it all, though, I'm happy we're doing this."
Winter nodded and pulled her in for a kiss. When they broke apart for air, she decided now was as good a time as any to talk about their next move.
"Alright listen," Winter ran her fingers slowly up and down her girl's arms as she spoke, "BoS is leaving soon to go and handle Tenpenny, and I wanna go. But we stay together, right? That's what's important."
"It's all I want."
"So, if you're busy with studying, or you just don't want the fight, I'll stay here with you."
"No guilt?"
"No guilt," she promised, hand to the sky, "I swear."
"You're cute," Amata smiled, cupping her cheek, "I wanna go."
"What about Church?"
"I'm an information sponge, you know me. I'll cram study at night and read during the ride."
"Yeah, you always say that," Winter drawled, "You end up freaking out the night before and start blaming me for distracting you."
"You have blood on your fingers," Amata pointed out.
"Do I? Shit," Winter muttered.
"Jesus Christ, Doofy," Amata gasped, rolling up Winter's sleeve and finding a small piece of metal protruding between the webbing of her fingers, "How did this happen?"
"I have no idea," she thought she felt something prick her fingers when she sat down beside Dusk, but she didn't think anything of it.
Amata abandoned their conversation and left for the kitchen.
"Am I the practise dummy now?" Winter joked when she returned with a bottle of disinfectant and bandages.
"Practise Doofy," Amata happily corrected, "And you're actually injured so…"
"Is Doofy my new nickname?"
"Do you hate it?"
"Do I have a say in it?"
"Of course, you don't really have a nickname for me, though."
"I call you 'baby' and you melt like butter."
"That's true," Amata admitted at the wound as she began to bandage it, "Does it still feel weird?"
"Not as much as it used to, we both just kind of… fell into place. Really… really well…"
"I was talking about the wound."
"No you weren't."
Amata bit her lip to hide her smirk as she tightened the bandage, "Maybe this is a bad idea. We can't hide anything from each other."
"We've been fine so far..." Winter trailed off.
"What've you been hiding?" Amata groaned.
"Nothing, just... The bomb got disarmed."
"No shit!" she gasped.
"You didn't hear the gunfire?"
"No! I had the radio on full blast while I was studying. Three Dog drowned out everything. What happened?"
"Dusk fired a shot into the air; nobody got hurt."
"Can I see it?"
"No, we should probably just stay home, people are a little on edge."
"… What did you do?"
"Nothing!" she raised her hands defensively, "Goddamn I'm not that prone to causing shit."
"Since when?!"
"You're a bastard," Winter chuckled. She lunged forward, managing to grab hold of Amata's waist.
"No!" Amata squealed, laughing and turning her body to get out of Winter's grip. Amata barely had time to put up a good fight to gain leverage before they heard the front door open.
"Hey Dusky," Winter coughed, immediately releasing Amata and looking down at the floor to hide her grin.
"Hell don't ease off on my account," Dusk laughed, "I'm just here to shower."
"What happened to Springvale planning?"
"I got out of it. Lyons wanted to talk to Jacob one on one."
"'One on one' huh?" Winter smirked.
"Ha! Lyons isn't into that whole scene. She's just wanting to make sure that the relationship between Megaton and the Brotherhood is strong."
"That still sounds like sex, Dusk," Amata laughed.
"Trust me, it isn't."
Dusk wandered upstairs to shower, the moment she was out of sight Amata kissed Winter's cheek and went back to studying.
"I cannot wait for this place to be just you and me," she breathed, "I have plans."
"Plans?" Winter asked, a little alarmed.
"Not all of them are sex-related. Some, but not all. Domestic stuff, we need more furniture and- oh! We need to train Dogmeat. Do you remember how to train a dog?"
"Kind of," she shrugged, "What did they do in movies?"
"You tell a dog to do something, and you feed it when it does it."
"There's more to it than that!" Dusk shouted from upstairs.
"You know how to train a dog?" Winter called back.
"Do I know- I grew up on a ranch, motherfucker!" Dusk laughed, "I'll show you!"
"Joy…" Winter muttered, "Thanks, Dusk!"
She didn't answer and instead just turned on the shower.
"You wanna take a shower together later?" Amata asked suddenly.
Winter almost snapped her neck whipping it around to look at her, "You seriously don't need to ask me that question."
"Yeah I do, your fucking eyes nearly bulge out of your head, it's funny," she giggled.
"Easy…"
"I know, you're just so fucking cute. Okay, I have an idea."
"Okay?" Winter frowned at her.
"We're gonna work on something, together. I'm going to cut down on me teasing you, because you don't deserve it, and you're going to work on your temper."
"I wouldn't say I have a temper."
"Honey…"
"I-" she stopped to smile at the affectionate name, "Alright. I'll work on not freaking out when somebody talks shit at me… who isn't you."
Amata beckoned her forward and kissed her, wrapping her arms around the small of her back
"While Dusk is in the shower, I'm gonna go pack for when we leave for Tenpenny," Winter murmured in between kisses.
"Okay," Amata yawned, tightening her grip around her back anyway and gently squeezing, "After we have lunch, we'll have a shower and a nap. Sound good?"
"Sounds awesome."
She heard Dusk shutting off the shower.
"C'mon, we can't be all sappy in front of other people," Winter kissed the top of her head and pushed off the couch and began to head upstairs to their bedroom, "Go and study, become a doctor."
"I'll try."
"You'll ace it; my finger's already practically fixed."
"I love you, Winter," Amata quietly called after her as she ascended the stairs.
She turned back to look at her, her adorable button nose and cheeks turning red as she blushed, her rich brown eyes alight with her beautiful smile, it was impossible to say anything else.
"I love you too."