Okay! Had to get this one out before I go away for a few days.

I feel bad for updating less frequently lately! I get all caught up in making things make sense and rationalising behaviours and making sure everything's perfect, but I guess I'm just overthinking it.

If there's one thing that this game has taught me, it's that you can't make everyone happy.

The Courier circled around the outskirts of the city, trying to track down someone who had seen Boone leave. One of the Kings that she found outside the Freeside gate said he might have seen him, but wasn't really paying attention to where he went, and the other thought he might have been going east, but he wasn't sure if it was the same person she was talking about. Westside hadn't seen him, which made sense because there wasn't much out that way, except maybe Jacobstown, but why would he go there? Still, east was a good a start as any.

Neither the medical centre or the guards at Nellis had a clue who she was talking about, but she wasn't particularly surprised about that. She tried Bitter Springs, but she hadn't really expected him to go back there, either.

She made the trip out to the Hoover Dam without much hope he'd be there, although she did get a special invitation to sit in on security for President Kimball's visit in two days. At the Dam it was widely regarded as a terrible idea, but the General got what he wanted, so they had to put up with it.

Novac seemed like the obvious choice, but no one had seen him there either, which worried her a little as it was hard to avoid, but if Boone didn't want to be seen, he wouldn't be. No-bark said something about aliens to the north, which the Courier was tempted to ignore, but she knew that the one time she didn't listen to him he'd be right, so she spent the afternoon nosing around HELIOS and the dustbowl before giving up in disgust. She was tempted to stay in Novac for the night, but decided she'd wasted too much time already and kept going south.

She ended up walking back into Cottonwood Cove at maybe 4 in the morning, exhausted and starving. It was just as deserted as the last time she'd been there. She went inside the commander's office, looking for food. The Legion seemed to have a decent garden somewhere, as they were never short of fresh potatoes and carrots. She checked the oven. There was meat inside it, but given she'd killed the centurion almost a month ago now, thought it probably wasn't worth trying. It looked weird, too. She couldn't quite figure out what animal it was from.

The Courier walked back outside, and looked up at the mountains. The sniper's nest? Well, maybe. She'd rather sleep up there than in this creepy deserted camp, anyway.

She arrived at the top of the hill, panting slightly. Boone was sitting by the unlit campfire.

"Hey," he said.

"Hi," she said back, collapsing on the ground, trying to get her breath back.

"Look," he said. "Sorry about just leaving, I-"

"What?" She interrupted, grinning slightly manically. "No no no, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have... uh, put you in that position. It wasn't really... professional. Not that I'm particularly professional to start with." The apology was starting to go wrong, so she closed her mouth.

Boone didn't say anything to that, just kept looking out over the bay. The Courier leaned forward.

"I got you something." She handed him a long black rifle, the barrel gleaming in the morning light.

"An anti-materiel rifle? What's this for?"

She frowned. "Shooting things?"

"I mean, what's the occasion?"

"Am I not allowed to give you a gun?" Her voice was a little more defensive than she meant it to be. "You gave me a gun."

He shrugged, and then looked from the gun back to her. "Did you try and shoot anything with this?"

She grinned, embarrassed. "Uh, yeah, I did."

"How did that go?"

"Well," she began. "The radscorpion pretty much exploded, but I also couldn't feel my right arm for like two hours. I was kind of surprised I didn't break something, actually."

Almost a smile. Almost.

"What did you come here for?" she asked, softly.

He shook his head. "Need to think about things."

She shifted in her chair uncomfortably. "We don't really have much time," she said hesitantly.

"I know that."

"NCR command asked me to look after the President while he's here. Uh, security-wise I mean. That's the day after tomorrow, and I'd really like your help with it."

"Okay."

The Courier's eyes were starting to close on their own.

"Did you walk the whole night?" Boone asked, turning to look at her.

"Oh," she said, waking up a little. "Yeah. But I took like ten detours, so it's my fault really."

He rubbed a hand against his forehead. "You shouldn't have done that."

"I was worried," she yawned.

He glared, voice suddenly harsh. "I'm not going to jump off the nearest cliff, okay? You don't have to worry."

"Well I don't know what you are going to do because you never fucking talk to me about it," she snapped.

He turned back to watch the sky. Dawn was breaking in the distance, the mountains limned with far-off light.

She thought for a few moments, and climbed to her feet. "Come with me."

"I'm not ready to go back yet."

"No no, we're not going back. "

"Then where?"

She pointed. "Just south a bit. It's a nice place. Found it when I was poking around here with Arcade a while back. Might have to clear some lakelurks out though."

Boone eyed her cautiously. "Okay," he said, and stood to follow her.

Blue Paradise Vacation Rentals was probably a nice place before the war. Not for rich people, that was what House's resort at Golf was for, and the cabins were tiny and cramped and you wouldn't get to pick your holiday neighbours, but two hundred years later it was amazing. Soft, warm sand, clear water, and beach umbrellas. And, since they'd cleared out the Legion, completely deserted. The closest people were probably the soldiers outside Searchlight.

The Courier unlaced her boots and kicked them off. She sat down under the umbrella closest to the water.

"Do you want a drink? I've got-" she rummaged through her bag, "some beers, wine... absinthe for some reason? Gross." She set it aside. "If I put these in the lake they might cool down a bit." She scrambled to the water's edge.

"What are we doing here?" Boone asked.

She took a deep breath and looked up at him. "It's the beach! A holiday. Time off. Whatever."

"Are you serious?"

"Mostly." She climbed up to the shelter of the umbrella. "Things are going to get pretty intense for the next... week or so. Might as well take advantage of the time we have."

Boone sat down next to her.

"I'm sorry I took you to Red Rock Canyon that one time," she said, after a pause.

"It's okay."

"I didn't mean to! I was just following the trail through the mountains to see what was there."

"I know."

"Fuck I wanted to punch that guy in the face though. The one who said the thing about you being a murderer. I just didn't because there were like three hundred of them. And we kind of needed them as allies. Or at least not-enemies."

"I've been called worse."

"Doesn't it make you angry?"

"Not angry, exactly."

The Courier looked sideways at him. He wasn't giving anything away. No thoughts, no feelings, face expressionless.

"Have I kind of messed everything up?" she asked, looking down at her bare toes.

He shook his head, but didn't reply.

"I just don't want things to end like this," she said in a small voice.

"They're not ending like anything." He took a breath and let it out again, tight and controlled. "I just need to think. I can't do that when you're talking."

She looked at him, eyes wide. "Okay," she said, finally. She wriggled back into the shade under the umbrella, sand warm from the sun, and finally let her eyes close.

When she woke up, Boone was drinking one of the beers she'd put into the lake.

"Sleep well?" he asked.

She stretched, and raised a hand to scratch her head. "Mm-hmm. Sand in hair. Gritty." She tried to comb it with her fingers.

"Want a beer?" Boone stood.

"Sure."

He walked down to the water, picked up a bottle, and twisted the cap off. She was oddly touched. She had a hell of a time with those caps sometimes. Boone handed it to her, cold and dripping. She smiled up at him.

"How are you doing?" she asked.

"Uh, okay, I guess. Confused. When I first left Novac with you, this wasn't really what I expected."

She laughed. "Shit. That whole fucking mess seems so long ago now."

"Yeah."

"Did killing Jeannie May make you feel better?" she asked.

Boone took a while to reply. "It made me feel something. Which was more than I was really expecting, I guess."

There was a pause as they looked at the sun sparkling on the water.

"Why did you take me with you?" he asked. "I remember, after I shot Jeannie May you took a really long time walking up through the dinosaur, and when you came out you looked like you were going to throw up. The last thing I was expecting was an invitation."

"Well," the Courier gestured with her bottle. "I'm a sucker for a tragic tale and a pretty face."

She hadn't been sure he was actually going to laugh at that, and when he did she realised she'd been holding her breath.

"Seriously though, um, I don't really know. A lot of reasons, I guess. You just seemed really... alone. And you seemed like you just wanted to keep killing things, and I figured that could be useful." She shrugged. "And I was... I was worried about what you'd do if you just stayed in Novac. Just doing the same thing every day until... I don't know. Something happens. You can't do it anymore." She frowned, remembering. "But yeah, I actually did throw up a bit later. When I was in the bath and picking bits of her brain out of my fucking hair. That was probably the worst bath ever."

"So... you asked me to go with you because you thought I was dangerous?"

"I guess? I mean, you put a lot of trust in a stranger, to pick the right person. What if- what if it hadn't been me that showed up first? Or what if I hadn't been able to find any evidence, and just chose Manny or something?"

He didn't reply.

"And as for asking a heavily armed man with a questionable mental state that I'd just met to follow me through isolated parts of the wasteland, uh, yeah, you may have a point. But when have I ever made great decisions about my personal life?" She grinned and got up, walking down to the water.

The beer she'd brought was finished. She picked up the wine dubiously. Drinking straight from the bottle didn't seem right.

"There's probably glasses in one of the cabins," she said, and stripped down to her underwear as nonchalantly as she possibly could. She couldn't get her armour wet, it was leather. And the metal bits might rust or something.

She leapt into the water, and was barely under for a moment before she reemerged, shrieking in delight and shock.

"It's so cold!"

"You're the one who got out of your armour."

She couldn't think of a response to that, so she swam around the other side of the cabin and dived to open the door.

The cabin set her Geiger counter off. Was her pip-boy malfunctioning? Or were the stoves nuclear-powered or something? She didn't stick around to find out, but scooped up two chipped tumblers and returned outside to the surface. She climbed onto the roof of the cabin, and sat on the warm wood with her knees pulled up to her chest.

"Not coming back?" Boone asked.

"It's cold."

Boone sighed and began to take off his armour. She grinned as he waded into the water in his boxer shorts and pulled himself up on the roof.

"You left the wine on the bank," she said.

"I know," he replied. He reached a hand behind her head, pulling her gently towards him.

She bit her lip, suddenly shy. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah," he said. "I think so." He hesitated. "I – I still love her."

She smiled gently, sadly. "I'm not asking you to stop."

He kissed her.