"We're so proud of you, honey."

A sad, sad tune plays in the background. I'm in a warm, warm white room. In front of me, stand my mother, my father. They're holding one another in their arms. They smile at me. My mother, I have her eyes.

"We knew you could do it."

My dad tells me. He smiles at me, proud.

"Momma, daddy…"

I say, seeing tears in their eyes.

"We never lost faith in you. We knew you could do it."

My mother, her voice is filled with pride. I wrap my arms around myself, I feel so warm.

"You can stay with us now, if you want, darling."

Daddy. I look at him. He's a spitting image of me. They're so proud, I can feel it. They're so happy with me, they love me.

"No, no daddy. I can't."

I tell them, relishing in the warmth around me. Their faces speak volumes, the knowing looks they pass to me.

"Why, honey?"

My mother has a knowing smile on her face. She knows, she just wants to hear me say it.

"I have to go back, momma. I have to see Charon. I'm not done yet, momma. I have to do this for myself, now."

"We understand, sweetheart. We love you, we're so proud of you. We knew you could do it."

"I love you too, daddy. Will you be here, when I come back?"

"Oh darling, we'll always be here. Keep us in your heart, don't forget us. We're always watching you."

"That's creepy, dad. But okay. I will. I love you."

"We love you too. Goodbye, honey."

I wave to them as they slowly vanish in front of me. It's okay. I don't want to stay this time. I want to go back, start again, start it for real. I know they're proud. I know they're happy. I know that neither of them died in vain, that I've done everything I needed to do for them. I feel the warmth slipping away from me, but it's okay. I want to go back, to return to the Capital Wasteland. I want to find a home. Make one with Charon. I want to…be with him again. I want to make it all right.

I open my eyes, and see Anne staring down at me.

"Good morning. We almost thought we lost you."

She smiles down at me. She looks like my mom. I remember what she looks like now. She's beautiful.

"W-where's…Charon?"

I stutter, my vision going in and out of focus. Finding my body, I move slowly. I'm on a bed, a warm bed, safe in the fort. There's a bandage wrapped tightly around my waist. I feel it when I sit up. I look down on it when it causes me a jolt of pain. I'm alive, though. That's all that matters.

"I am right here, Dez."

Charon. His voice rings in my ears. It makes my heart race and jump with excitement. I look to my left, then my right. He beside me. On my right. He's in nothing but boxers, plaid ones, red ones. Bandages are wrapped around his palms, strips of gauze are delicately placed on large areas of his body. He has a nose tube on his face, and an oxygen tank lies beside his bed. I smile at him, weakly, but it's a smile.

"You're okay…"

I say, and he nods. His neck is bandaged. Most of him is.

"I was worried about you, Dez."

"You…look like you're worse off than me."

"It does not matter."

Anne walks to the ends of our beds, her arms crossed.

"I think you're both incredibly lucky and incredibly foolish. Dez, you have three broken ribs and have lost a lot of blood. It's a damn good thing radiation heals you, or you would have died. And Charon, I told you not to go! You're lucky I found a solution to this problem. It'll still take a while before the two of you can return to normal. You're both insane."

Anne throws her medical clipboard to the ground and storms out. I laugh a bit, and then wince. My chest hurts. My ribs hurt. It doesn't matter, I'm alive. Charon's alive. That's all I care about.

"You look like a mummy, Charon."

"He received third and fourth-degree burns to most of his body. The leather armor melted to his skin. We're going to have to use graphing surgery to fix him. You're not out of the woods yet, Charon, so don't think you are."

Anne said as she walked back in the room. I looked down at Charon, frowning.

"Finding a donor on the other hand…that's the hard part. Ghouls have specific, modified DNA, human skin won't take. It'll cause gang green. And also, any living ghoul doesn't have enough skin to offer."

The tone in her voice held a hint of mockery. I tried to ignore it, as I looked down at Charon. He reached towards me, his bandaged palm feeling the edge of my bed. I saw pain in his eyes, and gave him my hand. He ran his rough fingers over my smooth ones, and took my hand in his. He brought it up to his lips, and I felt him kissing the back of my hand.

"What about me?"

I blurted out, not taking my eyes off Charon, with his eyes closed, my hand on his mouth, the oxygen being pumped into his system.

"Excuse me?"

Anne said, and I tore away from my gaze at Charon.

"What about me? I'm resistant to radiation. I can regenerate skin if you give me enough radiation I bet. Charon might take to my skin. I'm almost a ghoul, aren't I?"

She stared at me, thoughts racing over her face. I felt Charon put my hand on his chest, and cover it with his. I could hardly feel his heart. I guess our happy reunion is pretty short lived.

"…That might work…yes…your resistance to radiation yet ability to heal as a normal person and re-grow tissue makes you a perfect candidate…yes, it might work."

I smiled.

"So, do I lay down and you put me under? How does this work?"

Anne paced around the room, getting random medical supplies ready. I looked down at Charon after I felt him squeezing my hand.

"You do not have to do this, Dez."

He wheezed, his eyes just hardly open slits. No. No I have to. I have to, because I remember. I remember more clearly now, my past, what I've done. I haven't done much good. I haven't saved as many people as I feel I could have. But if there's anyone worth saving, it's Charon, it's him. He's worth it, I have to do this. For him, because he's saved me so much. I want to save him, now. I want to be there, to do something right. I have to make everything right.

"Shut up and deal with it."

I tell him, smiling. Charon doesn't smile back. He just lays there, wheezing, his slit-like eyes darting around under his eyelids. It hurts me, to see him so sick. To…not be able to make it go away.

"Anne, what happened to him? Why did…why did he cough up blood?"

"I wouldn't worry about that. I've discovered a cure for that little mishap. Right now we need to focus on this surgery. We've waited long enough as it is."

"He'll be okay, right?"

"Dez, I never met a pair of miracles before, but that's what you two are. Him living through that explosion, let alone getting out is spectacular. Here, let go of his hand."

"No."

"What?"

She comes towards me with a Stimpack of radiation. Charon grips my hand in his, I don't want to let him go.

"No put him down first, him first."

Anne sighs, but she agrees. I look over at Charon, at all the gauze and bandages that cover his body. A piece of gauze missed a spot on his leg, I can see bone. His tissues, they're damaged. They're gone. It makes me sad. It makes me so, so sad. I watch Anne walk to the IV Charon has hooked into his arm. She puts a fluid in the tube, and he looks at me. I can't help but feel tears in my eyes.

"Hey you, this makes up for all the times you saved my ass, okay? Okay."

I tell him, as the liquid drips. Anne takes the oxygen tubes from his nose, and puts a mask over his face. I sniff, crying. He hold my hand tightly, looking at me.

"Charon, I need you to count backwards from ten for me."

The mask fogs up as Charon counts. Slowly, slowly, I feel his grip on my hand loosen. His eyes close, and he falls asleep. It hurts me, because it makes me think of him as dead. His body, destroyed, covered in bandages, hardly breathing. I look at Anne, tears in my eyes.

"He can have all my skin."

I tell her, hoping it will help. She gives me a sad smile. She's older than me. I'm just a kid.

"While I am graphing, I am going to be giving you a strong injection of radiation. It will increase your healing process, so that your skin will begin to scab over quickly, making the healing process easier."

I shrug, letting her stick an IV in my arm.

"I don't care what you do. Just…is he going to live? Will he be okay?"

She gives me a look. It's a realistic answer. I can tell.

"I'm not sure, Dez. He may, he may not. Charon is strong, but I think his strength is pretty much drained. If, by chance, he died while in the middle of this, I will stop."

"No, no you keep going. You save him."

She shakes her head.

"There isn't much I can do to save a burn victim of this degree."

I narrow my eyes at her as she messes with the bag above my head. In my other arm, there's a needle for blood.

"If I wake up and he isn't here, I will kill you. You can't let him die."

Anne gives me a soft look, and motions for me to lie back. I do, and I look at Charon. He's sleeping, his arms at his sides, his eyes closed. I reach a bare arm over to him, and touch the exposed muscle on his arm. It's okay, Charon, because it's me and you now. Because we're going to do it right this time, so then there's no reason for you to die. People who have as much hope as we have don't die. We live, because we fight. We're not good, so we won't die young.

"Count backwards from ten for me."

Anne places another mask on my face, and I start to count. Slowly, slowly, like Charon, my eyes close. I feel my body slipping away from me, and then it all turns black. I'm not awake anymore. I'm gone, left to the mercy of my mind. You stupid girl! You're going to be scarred forever for this! I don't care. I don't know who you are, or where you came from, but I don't like you. Oh silly, stupid, girl. I am you. You created me. When you were sad, pathetic, lonely. You have the chance to be powerful now, you're not meek. You can take over, take control. But…but I'm not sad anymore. I'm not lonely. I have Charon. Maybe I missed that memo in the past, but I won't miss it this time. I know I used to hate myself, I know I used to be bad. But not anymore. I can't be. I can still be a renegade, but I can do good, too. If I created you, I can un-create you. Good luck with that, girl. You can't get rid of me because I am you. I am everything you ever wanted to be. You don't need that ghoul, you don't need anybody. All you need is me.

You're wrong. I'm wrong. I need Charon. I need him in my life, to keep my grounded. To tell me of the things I can't remember I love him. That, has been your downfall. Then let it be. He hasn't done anything to hurt me. He cares about me. But you don't know if he loves you. I think anyone who does what he does for someone loves them. I don't have to hear it, I know it. I don't need you, or anybody, telling me otherwise. Even if it is my own voice, I don't have to listen. You're giving up a great thing, Dezbe. You can be something great, take control of the East Coast. People fear you, they adore you, you can control them. I don't want control, I don't want power. I want Charon to live through this. I want to go back, I want to see Gob and his baby. I want to fix it all, make it all right. I've done so many bad things…so many…I can't keep it up. It's killing me. You're a fool, Dezbe, a fool.

I don't care. As long as Charon is with me, as long as I have a gun and some food to keep me going, I'm alright. I don't need anything, anymore. I did what I was put here to do. My father, my mother, they knew. They knew before anyone else did, about the Brotherhood. I took control of my own life. I did something that no one else could. Clean, fresh water flows for everyone. These people are free, and their issues can work themselves out now. I want to make a home, I want to play piano, I want to be with Charon. I don't want anything but that. And what if he dies, Dezbe? What if he never wakes up? He will. He has to. But if he doesn't? Then…then I don't know. I'll burn that bridge when I get to it. I'll…I'll handle it later. Not now. Right now, he's alive, beside me, next to me. He's with me, just like he always has been. Now, I can pay him back. For all the times he's saved my life since I left the Citadel, for all the times I can't remember, I can pay him back.

"Dez…Dez can you hear me? Wake up, come on honey…"

Already? It's only been a few minutes. It hasn't been long. Charon…Charon is he okay?

"Ugh…"

I moan, opening my eyes. I feel sick, probably from the anesthesia. The room comes into focus, and I feel numbing pain all around my body. Moving my hands, I feel thick gauze wrapped around my torso, around my thighs.

"Here, this will help you."

I feel a prick, as Anne sticks me with something. A few seconds later, the warm, comforting feeling of radiation seeps into my bloodstream. It's different than normal radiation. It's stronger. It's better. I feel the pain subsiding, feel my body being able to move. I feel the places under the bandages tingle and tickle, like I have pins and needles in them.

"How…Charon…"

"The surgery took the better half of five hours."

Five hours? Has it been that long? No, no its only been a minute.

"Charon…"

I mutter, my body not quite meeting up with my mind.

"Charon is waking up as well. The surgery was a success."

"Good…good…"

I mutter, tossing my arms in the air. There's gauze on them, too. How much skin did it take? Whatever. It doesn't matter. As long as Charon is okay.

"He sustained severe muscle tissue damage as well. I had to make an incision on your right thigh to retrieve some. You may not be able to hold yourself up for a few days. I suggest you both stay here until fit. And this time, listen to me."

I smile up at the ceiling at Anne's words. Okay. This time, Charon, we'll listen to the good doctor's orders. I turn my heavy head, looking at him. His chest moves up and down with ease, Anne injects him with the same stuff she must have put in me.

"This will help speed up the healing, but it will still make you bedridden for a few days."

She tells us, walking away from Charon. I blink, watching him wake up, watching him move. I see him twitch his legs, moving his limbs and breathing easy.

"Charon?"

I say, still weak and drained from the medicine. Slowly, he turns his head towards me. I see his milky eyes, blue behind that, trying to focus on my face.

"You okay?"

I ask. He slowly nods, blinking. I smile again, sighing. Anne replaces our IVs with a glowing, green substance.

"Radiation from a Glowing One, enhanced. I must say in all my career, I've never had to do this."

I watch the goo seep down the tube, and disappear into my veins. It warms me, flowing all around, from the inside out. I see the same sense of pleasure wash over Charon's face as the goo seeps into him, too. Everything is going to be okay now, we're safe in the fort, and Charon lived through it. I bet it hurt, a lot, to have your armor melted to your body.

"Hey…what…where's his armor?"

I ask Anne, moving my head on the pillow.

"We had to throw it out. It was beyond saving. Most of it was melted to his skin."

"Can…can you get him a new one? Please?"

"I'm sure we can find a similar suit, yes. I'll tell Henry to have his troops keep a lookout. As for now, I'm going to take a well-needed nap. I suggest you two stay in bed. Don't move, unless you have to. Just lay there."

"We will."

I tell her, and she leaves. I hear the door slam, and once I know she's gone, I force myself up. Charon watches me, but doesn't say anything. I swing my legs over the side of my bed, I'm in just my panties, bandages substitute for a bra. Balancing on my left leg, I stand up, holding on to the IV stand for extra support. Using my lower back, I push the bed. I push it, until I feel it bump against Charon's. I smile to myself, and sit back down, out of breath. The radiation helps, but it doesn't work very fast. It works better, though. I can feel my skin tickling, tingling, working.

Climbing back in bed, I pull a thin sheet over me. I turn my head to Charon, he's looking at me.

"You…did not have to do that…"

He rasps. He's still weak. I'd be surprised if he wasn't.

"I wanted to."

"You…saved my life."

"Just like you saved mine."

"You…will have…scars from this…"

"Scars tell a story, remember? This one is going to be the coolest, too."

I smile at him, and he closes his eyes. Anne had put on that oxygen hose, hooked it around his head, since he has no ears, and put it right up his nose-hole.

"Charon?"

He opens his eyes again.

"Don't…die on me okay?"

"I…have been ordered not to…"

He remembers. He remembers.

"I order you to stay alive. I don't know if that still means anything, but it makes me feel better."

"Coming…from you…it means something…"

I smile at him, and grab his hand gently. We're all gauzed up, all sore and wounded. We're stuck in this stupid clinic for a while, but somehow, I'm alright with that.

"I was scared, you know. When the building blew up…thought you died…"

I muttered, closing my eyes.

"No…I made it out…"

"I know, I was there."

"Yes."

"I didn't think you would…I was scared."

"You…do not have…to be scared of…me leaving you…I will…not let you…live alone out here."

He squeezed my hand lightly. I could see dust particles floating in the sunbeams that shone through, the last light of day.

"When we get better…I want to see Gob."

"Yes."

"I want…to make a home…"

"We can do that."

"I want to…do what I want to do. What you want to do."

Opening my eyes, I caught him looking at me. His eyes met mine, and made a feeling warmer than radiation in my chest.

"I wish…to also make a home…"

"We can go to Megaton. I'll make them let me live there."

"Perhaps…"

"I want to…keep them safe. They'll like me then."

"Hush."

He whispers, and squeezes my hand. It's quiet. I can't hear the troops training, or the sound of people walking. All I hear is Charon's breathing, the sound of air going in and out of his lungs.

"Charon?"

He looks at me again, blinking slowly.

"You have my skin. You're literally stuck with me."

"Yes. I am."

I close my eyes, smiling. The radiation from the IV makes me sleepy, but sleepy in a good way. I feel Charon's fingers over mine, feel his rough, damaged skin. It's okay, because my body is messed up, too. When we get better, we'll leave here. We'll go off into the desert, and see Gob. We'll see him, and I'll meet the baby I helped bring into the world. It'll all be okay. I hope. I know there's still Brotherhood out there, enemies of mine I haven't yet found, but that's okay. I know now, I'm brave. I know I can fight, I can save myself. More importantly, I know I'm not a bad person.

"We can go to Tenpenny Tower."

Charon says, and I remember. We have a home there, a room. I don't need to look. I can go home after this. A real home. My home.

"Yeah, we can."

Even though what I had to do to get that home was wrong, I'm happy it's there. I forgot all about it, forgot that I have my own, warm bed. That it has a beautiful view of the desert, and that it's the safest place in the world. It's way up high, away from everyone, everything. No one gets in, Roy makes sure of that. I look at Charon, his eyes are soft and he wheezes.

"I want to go home, Charon."

"We can."

Home. At first, I think home was the vault. Then…I think it was Megaton. After that a place called Rockopolis. Now, it's Tenpenny Tower. I wonder if I'm going to move anywhere else, if anything is going to happen. I don't know, and right now, it doesn't matter. All that matters is Charon, him being alive, him being back, him holding onto my hand.

"It must have been hard for you…to pretend that you didn't know me, that you weren't who you are."

I whisper, thinking someone can hear me when no one is in earshot. Charon takes a deep breath in, his eyes focused on me, only me.

"Yes. It was."

"Didn't you miss me?"

"Very…very much."

I smile at him, and rub my fingers on the back of his palm.

"We took down the Brotherhood."

"…Yes…some of it."

"Are you okay?"

"I…am tired…Dez."

"Sleep, I'll sleep with you."

He nods, and I watch as his eyes close slowly. There's no worries now, nothing to be scared of. I have him, he's holding my hand, he's here to stay. I'm here to stay now, too. It's me, Dezbe. Not all the way, not partially, but some of me. Some of who I used to be shines through, I can feel it, when I fight. I can feel it when I train, when I'm with Charon. It's okay if I don't remember all the way, so long as I never have to be alone out here. I can manage, not knowing, not remembering, so long as Charon is here. He'll always be here, too. He always has been, always will be. I'm not alone anymore, I'm not so scared.