Charon woke up in the middle of the night. Déjà vu consumed him and he shot up into a sitting position, heart pumping wildly in his chest. His eyes darted frantically all over the room as he patted the other side of the bed.

"Mmmmmn," a female voice groaned, rolling over to face him as he sighed in utter relief. "What is it?"

"Nothing," he reassured her quietly, running his hands over his face. "Nothing at all." Once his heart returned to its normal pace, he sank back down. He snaked his arm around her waist and tugged her close, burying his face in her hair.

Leah's lips twisted downward in guilt. "I'm not leaving you again," she promised, winding her arms around his neck. She kissed his bare chest and nuzzled into his skin. "I don't think I can."

Charon held her close until her scent washed away the last of the fear, the uncertainty, the doubt, the guilt. The sound of her light breathing lulled him back to sleep, beside the smoothskin that he loved.

Leah slowly eased into consciousness. After the battering her body had taken, the warmth and good night's sleep were a blessing. She yawned and tried to stretch, but it felt like two iron beams were trapping her to a steel surface.

Frowning, she peeled her eyes open to see the most amazing set of pectorals in the world.

Charon.

She smiled and basked for a moment in his strong embrace. His face was slack, lips slightly parted in his sleep. She pecked his chin and gently disentangled herself from his arms. He must have been exhausted, because he didn't wake up when she finally managed to shimmy herself free. She fixed her side of the bed and then stuffed herself into a T-shirt and shorts.

The yellow material wouldn't stay on. She pulled one of the sides and it stretched at least two inches away from her waist. She cursed and opted instead for a pair of old sweats she'd found in a house in Minefield. Then she fished her mirror from her bag and propped it up on a nearby shelf.

Leah sighed. She looked awful, even after the regenerating night's sleep. To say that she regretted cutting all of her hair off would have been a gross understatement. The remaining locks were almost spiky they were so short. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and headed for the door. Taking one last tentative glance at her ghoul, she smiled and left.

The hallway was relatively empty, which was good. Her day was gearing to be a good one and the last thing she needed was Scribe Rothchild getting all up in her face about something else the Brotherhood needed from her. She strutted into the dining hall, swiping up an apple from the counter and taking a bite to keep it in her mouth.

Paladin Glade was lounging in a chair on the far side of the room, nursing a glass of milk. Leah grinned around the apple at him as she opted for a serving tray instead of a plate.

"Feeling hungry, wanderer?" Glade quipped with a raised eyebrow, watching her pile bowl after bowl of food onto the tray.

She took her bite of apple and placed it onto the tray. "Grabbing food for two now, wise ass," she said with a roll of her blue eyes.

"You're pregnant?" Glade gasped, shooting up in his seat as if floored.

"Hardy-har. You should be a comedian, you know that?" Satisfied with her harvest, Leah slid the tray into her hands and winked at the paladin as she left. "Oh, and I know Gallows' first name."

"Wha –!"

The door closed behind her and she sniggered, trailing back toward her room. It felt good to smile again. Where it would have worried her before how dependent she was on Charon, she decided she didn't give a crap anymore. He made her happy. He made her complete. She wouldn't make the same mistake again.

Leah balanced the tray with one arm and opened the door to their room.

Charon was sitting up on the bed, arms crossed, a full-on pout adorning his lips. He glared as she entered the room.

"I was just getting us breakfast," she said with a tentative smile. She placed the tray on his lap and promptly leapt onto the bed beside him, draping her arms around him and kissing his cheek.

With a weary sigh, Charon tugged her forward and kissed her full on the mouth, one hand gently brushing her cheek. She wobbled a little when he released her, looking unbalanced.

He chuckled and looked down at the tray she'd given him. "This looks good, smoothskin. Thank you." He grabbed one plate for himself and slid the other two onto her side of the tray. "You eat this."

"That's –," she began to protest, but he cut her off.

"You're malnourished, Leah. You need to eat."

Her words died in her mouth and she looked away, looking mortified. He was right and she knew it. With another sigh, he set the tray aside and pulled her into his lap. She curled up against his chest, hiding her face in the curve of his neck.

"What happened?" he asked gently, rubbing her arm comfortingly.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Smoothskin," he growled, and then he paused, took a deep breath, tried again. "Please, smoothskin. If this . . . relationship is to work, we are going to need to be honest with one another. I understand if it is difficult to talk about, but eventually it is something you will need to discuss. I trust you, so please trust me."

Leah couldn't contain a half-smile. "When did you become so . . . so . . . understanding?"

"When I fell in love," he answered easily.

She squeezed him tightly as a response.

"Too much?"

"Never," she reassured him. She bit her lip and looked up at him, meeting his steady, hesitant gaze. "I was angry. I felt betrayed. I know," she insisted quickly as he opened his mouth to interrupt, "that you did the right thing. I realized that . . . it just took me a while. I was taken away as I watched my father dying. It . . . hurt me," she finished lamely, looking away. "I did some pretty awful things . . . killed . . . a lot of people. I don't like to think about it."

Charon cleared his throat and took a moment to assemble his thoughts, absentmindedly stroking her arm. "Leah . . ." he began slowly, smoothing her hair back from her forehead with a sigh. "In my life, I have done many things I am not proud of. I may have been forced to do them, but they were committed by my hand nonetheless. I took many lives—almost all of them innocent. It is something I can neither take back nor forget. That is my burden and I must live with it." He rested his forehead against hers, rubbing her cheek with his thumb. "You, too, have done bad things and you must live with them as well."

Leah didn't know exactly when during his speech she started shaking, but before long she was trembling and tears were running down her cheeks.

"Sorry," he said gruffly, shaking his head. "I shouldn't have said –,"

"No, I needed that," she cut in, squeezing his hand reassuringly. "You are totally right." She took a deep breath. "I'm sorry. For everything."

"Don't be. We are together again. That's all that matters, Leah."

She was looking at him with a strange expression on her face, as if she couldn't understand him. It looked strange on her normally overconfident face.

"I am two hundred years old," he reminded her with a crooked smile. "I may not have much relationship experience, but I do know my way around the self-hatred aspect of life." As she laughed, he reached over and picked up the rest of the apple she'd started to eat. He opened her hand and placed the fruit inside with a pointed glance toward it.

She took an obedient bite and he nodded in satisfaction. He put his hands on her waist to try and move her, but she hissed and winced. He immediately let go, snapping his hands away to keep from hurting her.

His eyes narrowed suspiciously. "What injuries are you hiding from me, smoothskin?"

She shook her head quickly, taking another bite of apple to keep from having to talk. With a threatening growl, Charon gently slipped her shirt upward, gasping when he saw the bruising on her chest and stomach. She sighed and shoved the material back down. "It's nothing. Some of 'em fought back, that's all," she muttered, rolling her eyes and rolling off of his lap. She bit her lip to hide the resulting grimace from the motion.

"Please, smoothskin," he pleaded softly, gently grabbing her arm and pulling her back toward him. She turned and met his concerned gaze, saturated with concern. He inhaled deeply, then said in his best authoritative voice, "We are not leaving the Citadel until you are back at full health."

"Charon –!"

"I won't budge on this, Leah," he cut her off, lips set in a tight line. "I will pin you down if I must. But you are staying here until you are healthy, and I am not going anywhere without you, so until you agree to get medical attention, this G.E.C.K. will not be getting any closer to the Jefferson Memorial."

Leah sighed and gave up with a nod. "God, you're stubborn."

"I am?" He actually guffawed, clutching his chest as the laughter became unbearable. "Oh, smoothskin. I wish you could only see yourself sometimes. Now let me get up, you crazy girl. I need to dress."

"Are you sure you need to?" she asked, eyes flashing as she fluttered a hand down his bare chest.

Jesus Christ. Maybe just one quickie, enough to tide us over – no, she's injured, you idiot! He grabbed her hand and shook his head. "Not until you are healthy enough, Leah. I'm not hurting you."

"You're good," she admitted, crawling off of the bed. She tossed his pants at him and swiped some mutfruit from the tray. "I guess I'll go see the doctor right away."

"Was it because I refused sex?" he asked with obvious interest, shoving his left foot into his pants. She turned to answer him, but her jaw dropped as she took in his naked form, complete with his arousal at its full length. Her mouth went at once very dry.

"Um. . . . I . . ."

"I'll take that as a yes, smoothskin," he said slyly, pulling his pants up to his waist and buckling them. He pulled both belts on and then crossed the room to grab the rest of his armor. "Eat," he reminded her sternly and she took an automatic bite of mutfruit, wincing at its sour taste.

"I am going to find someone with medical experience. You stay here and finish this food. All right?"

Eyes narrowing at his orders, Leah silently nodded.

He shook his head at her tenacity. "It is because I love you, Leah. I only like to boss you around in bed," he teased, gently taking her face in his hands and giving her a deep kiss.

"Well when you put it that way," she said sarcastically, but she returned his kiss sincerely. "Hurry back."

"Always."

She watched him leave and close the door quietly behind his retreating form, then dropped onto the bed and pulled the food tray into her lap. She knew Charon was right—why was Charon always right?—and set about eating her breakfast. The sooner she was healthy, the sooner they could find Vault 87 . . . and the G.E.C.K.

The sooner she could honor her dead father's dream.

Charon grumbled as he waited in the hallway, leaning impatiently against the wall. He was no stranger to standing around aimlessly for hours on end, but it irked him that Star Paladin Cross had shooed him out of the room so she could inspect Leah. He knew every inch of that woman—his woman—and he didn't much appreciate being kicked out. But Leah had appealed to his logic.

It would be prudent for us to get on the Brotherhood's good side, even if their regulations can be stupid.

She was right. Of course. He sighed.

The door was finally pushed open and he kicked himself upright to see Cross step out of the room, clutching a doctor's bag to her side. She looked up at Charon, her lips twitching downward mistrustfully.

The feeling is mutual, human.

"She needs a steady diet and to keep applying stimpaks—at least twice a day to her ribs. They were severely cracked. She is lucky they were not broken. Once she reaches the ideal weight of one-hundred and twenty pounds, she can come see me to get the OK to leave."

With no further ado, the Star Paladin turned on her heel and walked off. Charon could have sworn the air grew a little warmer without her presence. He slid back into the bedroom. "Smoothskin?"

"Yeah, we're good," she called, sounding tired. He found her pulling her shirt back on over her head, her bruises covered quickly by the thin material.

"Are you all right?"

"I'll be fine. I was thinking about having a shower."

He ran his hands down her thin arms and smiled at her. "May I join you?"

Her grin returned at once. "You bet your sweet ghoul ass you can."

He grimaced in disgust as the phrase once again left her lips, opting to put his arm around her shoulders and lead her to the bathroom instead of commenting on it and saying something that would get him a nice slap to the face.

The communal bathroom was thankfully empty when they arrived. Leah started the shower while Charon locked the door. Once he had ensured no one would burst in on them, he turned to find Leah already naked and stepping under the spray of water.

"Come," she murmured with a smile.

Charon threw his clothes off and crossed the room to her, taking her tenderly in his arms and kissing her softly.

"Ooh, hello there," she sang with a giggle as she felt his lower half respond to her attention.

"Mmn, I can't help it around you," he breathed into her ear and she laughed. She grabbed a bar of soap from a shelf on the wall and lathered it up. She handed the soap to him and then ran her bubbly hands all over his body, circling around him and spending extra attention massaging his shoulders.

He murmured in pleasure and sighed, relaxing instantly under her deft ministrations.

Leah finished and moved back around to his front, rinsing her hands and winking up at him. "Your turn, stud."

"My pleasure," he growled. He ran his soapy hands all over her front, taking a moment to teasingly circle her pert nipples, brushing over her taut stomach, rolling over her hips, hunting inward to cup her sex. She moaned and bit her lip, but he kept moving down to circle each leg and even massage both slender feet. He made a spinning motion with his finger and she obediently spun around. He cleaned his way back up each leg, spent half a second longer at her hips to appreciate her firm backside, then eased the tension out of her back.

Charon gently spun her back around by a soft touch on her shoulder. He took her hands and guided her under the water so that she could rinse the soap from her body.

"Thank you," she purred through a kiss.

"I love you," he replied simply and it sent a thrill up her spine.

"Love you, too."

Charon jumped a little. She'd snuck a hand between their bodies to grip his hard length. He groaned and ducked his face into her shoulder. "We can't, Leah. You're not strong enough yet."

"For sex, no," she responded in her sexy voice.

Nothing turned him on more than her sexy voice. It was sultry and sinful and everything good in the world. She brushed the flat of her free hand down his chest as she lowered to her knees. Flashing a teasing grin up at him, she took him into her mouth.

"Oh," he gasped as it felt like the wind was being knocked out of him. She gently massaged his balls as she closed her eyes and led him in as far as she could, pulling back off, going back down again. Her mouth was so hot and wet and it felt just so good. It didn't take long for him to lose control.

"Leah," he groaned warningly, his hand running through her short hair. "I'm going to –,"

She raked a hand down his stomach and the sharp sting was all it took for him to let loose. With a strangled moan, he hit his climax and she dutifully swallowed every last drop. She released him and he helped her back up to her feet.

"What was that for?" he asked dreamily, stroking her back in appreciation.

"You deserved it," Leah said with a kiss to his chin. "Maybe when I'm better . . . you can return the favor."

His eyes refocused in an instant and the fire in them sent shivers all over her skin. "The very second you get the OK. . . . The Brotherhood had better pray it is not in the middle of the night, because you will be screaming."

A rush of heat pooled between her thighs and it took all of her strength to keep from collapsing. She spent the rest of their shower memorizing every position she wanted him in, every angle she wanted to feel him driving into her at.

"Charon! Look!"

"Hmmm?" He looked up from the book in his hands. Leah was standing on a scale Star Paladin Cross had insisted she keep in the room. She grinned and did her signature victory dance: alternating index-fingers pointing at the ground while she squatted and jumped repeatedly.

Charon ran a hand over his face, but he couldn't hold back his smile. "What's the celebration for this time, smoothskin?"

"I reached one-twenty! One-twenty-four, even!" She leapt from the scale and scrambled up the bed to straddle his lap, respectfully grabbing his book and dog-earing the page he was on before setting it aside. Then she took his face in her hands and kissed him hard. "You know what that means?"

"Ah . . ." It was hard to think with her hips pressed flush against his. "We can leave to find the G.E.C.K.?"

Leah's crooked smile spoke volumes. "I wasn't talking about leaving, Charon." She rolled her hips against his and he couldn't hold back a groan. "I was talking about coming."

She ripped her shirt over her head and he followed suit without a word, undoing his armor in record time. Leah slid out of her shorts as he tugged his pants from his legs. They scrambled into the right positions, Charon rolling them both over so that he was propping himself up above her, and then he shoved into her and they gave a collective sigh of ecstasy. He brushed his rough hand over a nipple, groaning when she squealed in pleasure. He led her legs over his shoulders to get a deeper angle and plunged deep within her.

"Oh, fuck!" she screamed, her thighs clenching on his shoulders. She wasn't going to last very long. She realized it even as he dipped into her for the seventh and eighth times, hands gripping her hips and stabilizing her with the force of each thrust. They would have time for slow and sweet later, because at just that moment he hit home deep and she cried out, biting down on her hand to keep from screaming any louder. Rapture exploded from her navel to the rest of her body in tingling droves, from her toes to the ends of her hair.

"God," Charon ground out, watching her unravel as he felt the beginning stirring of a climax in his own body. Leah scraped her fingernails down his chest, slid a hand down to her clit and started a desperate pace to match each of his thrusts. When her speed became more frantic and her body suddenly arched up and she was coming again, he gave in completely to his orgasm. He pushed into her twice more and then burst within her tight core, each pulsation pulling everything from him.

Charon barely had the strength to catch himself from crushing her. They panted, frozen for a moment as their bodies remembered how to move. Finally Leah was able to slide her legs from his shoulder and drop them unceremoniously onto the bed while he flopped down beside her.

"Christ," she gasped, pecking his bare shoulder.

He sighed, looking tired. "That was fast."

"That was phenomenal."

"I seek only to please," he snarked and she playfully slapped his shoulder.

"Smart ass. You're so smug."

"I had you screaming, though, didn't I?"

And the famous Lone Wanderer, Savior of the Wastes, could find absolutely no response to that.

A big thank you to Jackie and katersss for the reviews! I was a little shaky about the reunion chapter, so I'm really glad you guys all liked it! This chapter had basically no substance, but the whole G.E.C.K. mission will begin in the next one and that will get the ball rolling!

Thank you as always for reading!

Pattyn, you will always be the best reviewer ever, and for that I thank you.

P.S. Rothchild can suck a dick.