Chapter 26

"That was so good!" Rachel beamed, almost skipping up the rusted stairs. "It's been ages since I've had eggs."

"I'm pleased you're having a good morning." Charon almost smiled while he followed her through the narrow corridors of the ship. They'd been aimlessly wandering around the ship for an hour but he didn't mind.

"I'm glad you're having a good morning too." she spun on her heel and walked backwards down the hall, grinning up at him. "I saw that look on or face when you bit into the brahmin steak."

Charon allowed himself a small smirk, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Rachel got a few rogue butterflies in the pit of her stomach as she looked up at him and turned back around so he wouldn't see the blush that was threatening to spread over her cheeks. A man's half smile should not make her blush and she scolded herself for acting like a fifteen year old.

"So," she drawled instead of thinking about her growing attraction to the ghoul. "What should we do next?"

"You don't want to spend more time on the ship?" He asked, surprised. She'd been amazed when she'd first seen it.

Rachel shrugged, "It's cool but I'm over it." She glanced around to see if anyone was close and lowered her voice. "Honestly all the narrow halls and synthetic lights remind me of the vaults. It's starting to get to me."

Rachel subconsciously let her hand drift to her scared shoulder and Charon nodded his understanding. He agreed that the ship felt a little claustrophobic and he was ready to be back out in the open wastes if she was.

Rachel turned a corner and bumped into someone. A young woman stumbled back and fumbled for the pistol tucked into her waistband. Charon yanked Rachel's back against his chest with a protective arm wrapped around her and aimed his shotgun over his smoothskin's head with a snarl.

The Asian woman looked down the barrel of his gun and her frightened eyes started to well with tears. "Ar- are you working for Alistair Tenpenny?" She asked Rachel in a watery voice.

Rachel frowned at her, confused and hyper aware of Charon's heated body pressed against her. "No, should I be?"

The woman whimpered before she turned and fled, disappearing in the ships network of halls.

Rachel blinked a couple times and tipped her head up to look at Charon, "Well…that was weird. What do you think it was about?"

The big ghoul shrugged, releasing his grip on the girl and putting his gun away. He didn't want to lie to her but he didn't want to tell her that the girl was probably an escaped slave from Tenpenny Tower. He's heard a couple murmurs in the Ninth Circle about the place being overrun a few years ago but drunks weren't exactly a reliable news source.

He'd heard a lot more about the old man who ran the place and none of them were good. If the old man still ran the place Rachel would want to go poke around and since the tower was No Ghouls Allowed he wouldn't be able to protect her.

If Alistair was dead Rachel would still want to go poke around and it was hard telling who was living in the tower now. That was an even bigger headache he didn't want. "Whatever it is it's not our problem."

"I guess you're right. Come on, let's go find the flight deck!"

Charon followed dutifully. After a few wrong turns and at least a dozen flights of stairs Rachel opened a door and they were met with the sight of blue sky and the smell of water. There were a couple of kids playing off to the right but other than a single guard on patrol there were no other people on the large deck.

Rachel jogged towards the edge but halted several feet back from the end of the deck since there weren't and guard rails. She clasped her hands behind her back and gazed out over the ruined city, enjoying the breeze blowing through her hair.

"Why don't you get closer? I thought I was going to have to hold the back of your shirt to keep to from falling." Charon teased and Rachel smiled softly, shaking her head.

"You know I can't swim, I'm kinda…terrified of drowning." She told him without moving her gaze from the city.

"I didn't know you couldn't swim."

"Really? But you pulled me out of the river in the first few days we were together."

"I thought you'd been effected by the explosion." He explained, looking at her. The fact that he hadn't known she couldn't swim was concerning.

"Oh, no that was before I even knew I'd been hurt, anyway it's not a big deal. Just, if you see me face down in any body of water please come get me because I'm not there on purpose."

Charon nodded, "Of course." his tone was calm but inwardly he was tense. Now he had to add all water sources more than two feet deep to the list of things that were a direct threat to her life.

"Are there any other inabilities I should know about?" he asked lightly, although it was a serious question he needed her to answer. "Anything I should watch out for?"

Rachel bit her lower lip and thought about it before shaking her head. "I don't think so. After my pet deathclaw, deep water, talon Company and my let's go explore long abandoned structures attitude I think you're covered." She grinned up at him. "Geez, I must be a giant pain. You must be exhausted."

Charon snorted. "If any new pain in my ass habit of yours comes up try to let me know before you're bleeding out."

"I'll try." Rachel grinned, elbowing him playfully. "But come on, we've had a pretty good day. We had steak and eggs for breakfast and nobodies made an attempt on either of our lives."

This time Charon smirked outright. "Give it time smoothskin, it's not even noon yet."

It was early evening and the two of them were in the Market looking over what Flak &Shrapnel had to offer. She was admiring an assault rifle when Rachel felt someone watching her. She looked around and found Butch eyeing her from across the long room.

He gave her a smile but his eyes stayed hard as he slowly descended the stairs and moved towards her. Rachel elbowed her ghoul softly and he glanced up from the shotgun shells he had been inspecting.

"Yes?"

"Just a heads up, Butch is here and he looks like he wants to have a chat." she told him in a soft undertone.

Charon sent a discreet glance over the room and nodded. "Let me know if you want me to handle him."

Rachel nodded, thinking that it might be fun to watch Charon throw the kid off the edge of the ship. She was still annoyed that he'd been so insulting to ghouls last night but she didn't feel any hatred for him trying to get her to go home with him. It wouldn't have been the first time she'd woken up in a strangers bed. Honestly that kind of male attention always made her feel pretty even though she'd never admit it to anyone other than herself.

Butch had wandered over to A Quick Fix so for whatever he was planning on doing it seemed like he was trying to work up the nerve. She caught him looking her way out of the corner of her a few times but he kept his distance.

Rachel smiled up at Shrapnel, the gruff man had watched Charon mistrustfully for the first few minutes but relaxed when the ghoul had asked what he had in stock for shotgun shells.

It was a much better reaction then they'd gotten from the two shops on the other side of the Market. The woman at the chem booth had refused to acknowledge Charon and had talked to Rachel in a snipped tone that bordered on fucking rude.

The man at Potomac Attire however sniffed like he smelled something bad and then refused to offer his wears to them, saying. "I won't let you get ghoul stink all over my clothes and ruin their selling value."

Rachel had braced herself and had seriously considered hitting the man but Charon had put a hand on her shoulder and he'd shaken his head. She hadn't been happy about it but she'd settled down.

The ammo dealers were gruff but no more so than they were to anyone else. Rachel made the firm decision that she was only ever going to do business with them.

The older man smirked back, "Something special you're looking for?"

"Yeah, you wouldn't happen to have a hunting shotgun would you?" She'd picked one off a dead raider years ago and had loved it. Unfortunately it had broken and without the caps to get it fixed and an already over stuffed pack she had to drop it instead of carrying around the extra weight.

"Sorry, Shotguns we got are combat and sawed off, never heard of a huntin' one."

Rachel waved him off. "It's fine, I was pretty sure they were a New Vegas thing."

"New Vegas?" Shrapnel asked in surprise.

Rachel grinned, "I've walked a very long way."

"Heya' Baby doll," greeted a regrettably familiar voice from behind her. Rachel turned and offered the boy a less then thrill grin.

"Hey Butch, did ya find your room okay last night?"

"Would have been easier if ugly over there would have let you come with me." the greaser sneered at Charon who crossed his arms and stepped protectively behind his mistress.

Rachel put her hands on her hips and scowled, more than a little irritated with this man's attitude. "I think that's enough."

"What? Can't take a joke? Oh, maybe those rumors about you spreading those long legs for corpses ain't so far from the truth?" Butch spat.

Charon glared, he was irritated with the boy but he was used to remarks of that nature.

Rachel on the other hand did not handle being insulted by the boy well. She stepped in close, glaring at the boy with her jaw clenched. "That's it! I've had enough of your gods all damned mouth. What I do and who I choose to let into my bed is none of your damn business. I told you to take a hike but apparently your little boy ego couldn't handle that so you chose to change my mind by insulting me and my friend?" She kept her volume moderate but her tone grew colder with each word.

Butch tried to step back but she advanced, staying firmly in his personal space. "I chose not to fuck you because I don't like the look of you. You're a snotty little weak willed pansy that wouldn't last three days out in the wastes. I only sleep with men. Men who can handle me, you didn't make the cut so now take your bigot, self-absorbed, conceited ass out of my sight because if I have to get physical I will hurt you. So now that I've had your attention for a few seconds I hope you understand me when I say. Fuck. Off."

Butch was red with anger but he didn't have the backbone the challenge her now with everyone in the room looking their way. He turned, muttering something that sounded like bitch and he left. Behind her Shrapnel laughed loudly, a few other people chuckled as things went back to business as usual.

"Good for you girl. That vault kids a pain in the ass. 'bout time someone took 'im down a peg." The man looked between the ghoul and the still agitated girl and cleared his throat. "Now I don't know if any of them rumors are true but I tell ya me and Flak don't really give a god damn."

He looked over the weapons and ammo Rachel had brought to him to trade for things she actually used and he grinned widely, sensing two wastelanders worth there salt. "I tell ya, you kids keep bringing us in prime shit like this and I'll even give ya a discount."

Charon didn't like being referred to as kid but Rachel's remaining anger evaporated when the old man offered the discount and for that he was grateful.

They cleaned out Shratnel's shotgun shells and .308s and walked away 400 caps richer after they traded everything they could. After that they left. It was just a couple hours until sunset but neither Rachel nor Charon had any misgivings about traveling at night. It was easier to move in the darkness anyway and they were only going to Underworld.

Claws was beyond happy when Rachel whistled for him. He danced around them in his enthusiasm and even tried to lick Charon's hands. Charon pushed the deathclaw away with an annoyed grumble and Rachel laughed as she scratched Claw's head and chin.

They did spot a team of Talon Company mercs near the river but in the darkness the men were easy to avoid.

Rachel had spent a good amount of her life being a courier or maybe a messenger, depending on how a person looked at the different jobs she'd done. Now, wandering around the capitol wasteland because she felt like it seemed a little weird. Rachel wasn't used to moving without at least a general idea of where she wanted to end up.

It was a stroke of luck that she'd met Charon, he'd saved her life more times in the last couple of months then she'd ever needed saving before. It was hard to accept that the Capital Wasteland was more dangerous than the Mojave but she certainly seemed to get into more trouble here than she had back west.

Maybe it was because the capitol had less widely settled areas. The towns here all had fortified walls around them and had long roads separating them. The wildlife had less variety but that wasn't a bad thing. Hell, she'd live here forever if it meant she'd never see another Cazador. Those big bugs were unnecessarily aggressive and hard to kill.

"Rachel?" Charon asked softly and she stopped, giving him her attention. "Where are we going?"

"Underworld?" her answered sounded more like a question.

"I thought you might have changed your mind, we have been going in the wrong direction."

Rachel looked around the metro tunnel they were in and then down at her pip-boy. She swore and blushed, she'd been so deep in thought she'd stopped looking at her map.

"Sorry, should we double back and find the turn I missed?"

"That would be wise, would you like me to lead?"

"If you think I'll just get us more lost." she laughed when Charon promptly moved ahead of her. Rachel's laughter echoed through the dark tunnels and she clapped her hands over her mouth, taking deep breaths to calm herself.

Charon smirked and somewhere deeper into the tunnel Rachel had been leading them down the hiss of a feral ghoul echoed back. It was too far away for them to worry about but Rachel made a point to stay alert.

Charon lead the way back and twenty minutes later turned to a utility door that Rachel had missed completely. The girl blushed furiously when they entered the large metro station in just under twenty five more minutes. She'd doubled the time of their trip with her mistake and kicked herself for it.

Charon gave her a smirk and she flipped him off, muttering. "Oh, fuck off."

He chuckled and the three of them headed for the stairs. Charon had just put his boot on the first step of the long dead escalator when a chorus of feral hisses echoed around them.

There was the distinctive fast patter of feet and Rachel brought up her rifle, blasting one of the two feral ghouls that appeared from the other side of the gloomy room. Charon blasted one of the several ferals trying to descend the stairs as Rachel sent another bullet into the one closest to her.

It fell to the ground only to have its corpse trampled by the feral ghoul behind it. That one swiped at her viscously, sending her rifle skittering into the deep subway tracks. The ragged ghoul raised its hand to swipe again but Claw was suddenly between Rachel and the feral ghoul.

He took the ghoul's attack for his mistress and swiped his own five inch talon's ferociously, effectively disemboweling the feral ghoul. It was dead before it hit the ground.

A final shotgun blast and a third body tumbled down the stairs to Charon's feet. He turned and yanked Rachel close to him, scanning the darkness for more danger but it was silent around them.

"Are you alright?" he demanded, seeing that she was weaponless. "Where the hell is your gun?"

"One of them got too close and knocked it down into the tracks, Claw fought it off while I was unarmed though." She turned to her pet and frowned. He was shaking his head and making soft whiny growling noises. She'd never heard him make a sound like that before and it worried her.

"Claws?" She asked, side stepping. She leaned over so she could see his face and clapped a hand over her mouth.

"What is it?" Charon asked, watching her eyes fill with horror.

Rachel shed her pack and took a knee while she quickly dug through it. "He took an attack meant for me and that mother fucker caught him right in the side of his face." the girl hissed.

Charon moved around her so he could see what she was talking about and his own eyes widened. Three long gashed run down the right side of the deathclaws face, they ran right over his eye and extended along his muzzle. There was a lot of blood making it hard to see the extent of the damage but the ghoul didn't have high hopes for the creature's sight.

Claw's whined and bent his head, intent on rubbing it on the ground but Charon grabbed him.

"No," he told the animal sternly, holding Claws' head in his rough hands.

Rachel appeared at his side with a bottle of water, a stimpak and a rag in her hands. She put them on the ground and took a dose of Med-X from between her teeth. Charon wanted to argue about using their scarce medical supplies on the beast but he kept his mouth shut, he didn't just lose an eye after all.

Rachel prepped the syringe and looked up at her ghoul. "You got him? I don't want him to jerk and break the needle off under his skin."

Charon moved and he ended having to straddle Claws' back so that he would have a decent grip and Rachel would have room to work.

"Be careful." Charon growled as Rachel bent infront of her pet. "Watch his hands."

Rachel nodded and told Claws to hold still. Charon wasn't sure if he understood her words or if the animal just found comfort in the girls voice but he did settle don't. Charon didn't like her so close to the wounded deathclaw, it would be so easy for the creature to lash out in a moment of pain and gut her right in front of him. At the same Charon knew he wasn't skilled enough to treat Claws in her place and he also knew it would be pointless to argue.

Claws only tried to jerk in Charon's hands twice while Rachel worked. Once when she applied the med-x and once when she gave him a stimpak. When she was finished Charon let him go and he shook his newly bandaged head.

Rachel sighed and looked up towards the entrance way that would spit them out right in front of the Museum of History.

"I don't want to leave him alone tonight." She confessed.

Charon blew out a sigh of his own. "I didn't think you would. Come, there was a maintenance room we can lock ourselves into for the night."

Rachel kept a hand on the end on Claws' nose as she followed Charon. Once they were locked inside the small room Claws found a nice corner and lay down. Rachel watched him for a second with a small frown on her lips.

Charon saw the look on her face and put a hand on her shoulder to get her attention. When she looked up at him he gave her what he hoped was a comforting look. "It was not your fault you know."

Rachel pursued her lips and held her breath against the sudden tears that welled up in the corners of her eyes. She held them back, willing them not to fall as she shook her head. "He got in front of me, if I'd had better grip on my gun this wouldn't have happened."

"No," Charon disagreed. "He was protecting you, it would have happened regardless." He tried to comfort her, hyper aware of the glittering moisture in her tear ducts.

"I could have downed that asshole before Claws' got hurt." she tried to insist and Charon felt a stab of panic when her voice cracked.

"And you may have shot Claws in the process. He put himself between you and your attacker because he loves you." Charon explained gently, the air suddenly got heavy between them and Charon took an uncomfortable step back. Rachel swept the hair from her face and he cleared his throat saying, "I should- I'll get a little fire going."

Rachel nodded, turning toward her pack quickly. "Yeah, I'll find us some dinner."

As she dug through her pack Rachel kept seeing the look Charon had just given her. It was soft and sweet and the kind for thing that got her a little spooked. She'd seen Boone look at Carla like that but nobody had ever sent that look her way. She'd never given them time too. She was more of a, disappear-in-the-middle-of-the-night rather than a stay-for-breakfast kind of girl.

She found a couple packages of noodles and pulled them from her pack along with a dented pot. She turned and saw that Charon already had a small blaze going in a metal bucket.

Rachel poured a bottle of clean water into her pot and balanced it on top of the bucket. Charon had made some holes a long to top and bottom rim so his fire could breathe while she cooked. Their silence was a lot less awkward than it could have been and after a few minutes Rachel switched on GNR. She heard the last note of whatever song the DJ had been playing and then the man's voice floated out of her speakers.

Hello children, this is Three Dog! Tellin' the Truth, no matter how bad it hurts. Got some more new about our Guardian Angel. Seem she and her ever faithful mountain of a ghoul was spotted guiding a young vault dweller to Canterbury Commons. Is there another Lone Wonder in our mist? I can't say for sure children. Well whatever the vaultie was doing out here seems he shuffled back to the vault as soon as he could but Angel, is vault 101 finally open for good?

Rachel chuckled and looked up at her scowling friend.

"Angel and her faithful mountain of a ghoul huh?" she lifted an eyebrow and shook her head, "That's to long for an effective team name."

Charon shook his head. "Looks like you're his new Wastelander of Interest."

Rachel shrugged. "It's a good thing I'm interesting."

Charon snorted. He watched her while they ate and cleaned up for bed. She was pretending to be fine but he could tell she was still upset about her pet's injuries. Rachel kept glancing over at the sleeping deathclaw, her face a little sadder every time her eyes landed on the red stained bandage.

"Rachel," Charon final called, he couldn't let her torture herself anymore. "Why does this upset you so much?"

The girl looked at the floor and shrugged.

Charon snapped the last piece of his shotgun in place and stood carefully. "Please tell me. I can't help you if I don't know exactly what's wrong."

"I am only entitled to your services in combat." Rachel muttered, not looking at him.

"Rachel," Charon coaxed. "Please."

Rachel didn't look up but she did cross her arms over her chest. "I don't know," the said softly. "It shouldn't bother me this much, he's fine. He probably won't be able to see out of that eye anymore but deathclaws don't have great eyesight to begin with. They hunt but scent."

Rachel looked up finally, the tears back in her eyes. "It's just; he got hurt because of me. Just like you get hurt because I'm being carless, or I'm not as skilled as I should be or I let some asshole get the drop on me." she bit her lip hard to keep it from trembling.

Charon felt himself soften towards her even more than he already was and he put his big hands on her shoulders. "Rachel, you are a very skilled wastelander. You're a damn good fighter too but you're just one person. Everyone gets pinned down occasionally, that's why you have me and him. You've saved both of our lives before and we are both happy to return the favor."

Rachel took a ragged breath and sniffed softly. "Why?"

Charon swallowed the sudden lump of emotion in his throat before he whispered, "Because you're important to the both of us."

Rachel's lips pursed and a single trader of a tear rolled down her dusty cheek. "I'm going to get you killed."

Without thinking about what he was doing Charon lifted one rough hand to cup her face and he wiped the tear away with his thumb. Rachel shifted her sad iridescent golden eyes up into those cloudy blue ones and saw that look again.

The air between got heavy once again but this time the ghoul didn't notice and flee before he did something he'd regret.

Instead Charon bent down slowly, holding her upturned face in his big hands and caught her lips with his.