28: Love is Not Enough
"What the hell is that thing doing in my casino?"
John automatically pulled his knife. Since Courier had taken over the Lucky 38, he had stopped carting his sniper everywhere with him when he was inside. That didn't mean he went without a weapon though. He assessed the scene. Faith was sitting on one of the cots Mark was behind her, the ghoul bodyguard –he forgot its name- was nearby, and crouched at the end of the bed was a purple Nightkin in a huge sunhat and even larger shawl. "Courier…"
She had done some assessing of her own and finally just nodded. "Who is this?" Her tone was cool and flat.
"This is Lily." Faith said after a moment, sounding very quiet.
Mark and Kane were staring at her.
"I'm her Grammie. I saved her from the bad man." Lily growled, eyeing the pair through her sunglasses. "Are you bad? Leo says I can hurt bad people."
"They're not bad, Grammie." Faith soothed, reaching out to place a hand on the Nightkin's shoulder. "This is… Courier, and John Cena. They're soldiers."
Lily nodded, settling back down in her crouched position.
Courier noted that Faith was looking anywhere but at her husband and felt sympathy for the girl. Nothing like having a constant reminder of the man who had brutalized you in every way nearby. Of course, it was probably hard on Mark as well, she could admit that.
She had issues whenever she looked at him, just because of the near identical thing, but the issues were always fleeting. She had always known what kind of man the Undertaker was, and while she wouldn't trivialize what he had done to her, she had somehow always expected it to happen one day or another.
"Everything patched up?" She asked, aiming for what she was hoping to be a kind tone of voice, knowing she had been… a bitch, the first time around with Faith.
"Better then new actually." Faith smiled slightly. "I was a hot mess when they brought me in… you can't even tell I was…"
"Dyin'." Mark grunted, hesitantly reaching out to place his hand on her shoulder.
Faith tensed.
He noticed, but didn't pull away.
After a few moments, she relaxed, somewhat, her smile becoming strained.
Given everything that had happened, and the fact that she needed some downtime to heal and rethink some things on her agenda, Courier gave everyone 'time off', stipulating they all needed to return to the Lucky 38 at the end of three weeks. She figured by then, she'd have some idea of where to start looking for the Brotherhood.
It occurred to her, that Faith may have that information, but… it just seemed wrong, asking the kid to help out in a fight that wasn't hers. That and Faith seemed to be having mental issues. Physically, she was fine. Shawn had told her about how they had found Faith, the condition she had been in, and Courier felt Faith was damn lucky for that Auto-Doc. It was the mental issues Courier was concerned about.
Wherever Faith went, which was only in the casino, that Nightkin followed her. Mark seemed lost and had taken to prowling Freeside and outside the walls with Kane, probably searching for signs of his twin. Faith seemed to take to Jeff, which was odder then hell, but he seemed to be taken with her as well.
Though… it also made sense. Jeff wasn't offering sympathy, which Shawn did. Courier was too busy to spend much time with the other woman. Melina didn't seem to know what to say and steered clear of the girl.
Speaking of… "Hey kid."
Faith was curled up in a chair of the common room in the presidential suite, reading one of the few pre-war books that Courier had collected. "Hey." She slowly tore her eyes from the pages and looked up, offering a half smile.
Courier looked around. "Where's Lily?"
"She stepped outside, she needed some air. She's not used to being inside all the time."
"I see you have a new Pipboy." She crouched down so she was a little lower then Faith, studying the computer on her arm. She knew Faith's Pipboy had been destroyed by the Undertaker.
"Shawn got it for me." Faith put down the book to examine her new Pipboy. "From the Vault here in Vegas. He uh, had Yes Man, retrieve what he could from what was left of mine…"
Courier gathered that might have been some important stuff. "Mind me asking, like what?"
Faith hit a button.
"…was safe, and that's all I could have hoped for."
Courier listened as a soothing; intelligent male voice filled the room.
"Now, my daughter is a grown woman. Beautiful, intelligent, confident. Just like her mother. And as hard as it was to admit it, she doesn't need her daddy anymore."
"Your father?" Courier blinked in surprise once the audio log was done, staring into Faith's eyes curiously. She felt awkward when she realized there were tears in those mud brown eyes.
"Yes. The audio files… Yes Man had a hard time retrieving them, but I'm grateful for what he got. This is… really all I have left of my dad."
"What happened to him?"
"He… died, radiation. It's a long story."
"Maybe… you'll tell it to me?"
"Not today, but eventually." Faith's smile grew a little more warm, more genuine. "If you'll tell me yours."
"We'll need a couple days then, that's a long story too."
"I'm going to go with Jeff."
Mark had been expecting some sort of announcement from his wife. She had been virtually quiet for days. She had taken to sleeping in the common room on a couch, Lily always nearby, and while it hurt him, he knew why. He knew why she was avoiding him, or at least avoiding being alone with him, and rationally, he understood. Irrationally, he wanted to shake her until she came to her senses. He was not Luke, he wouldn't hurt her damn it.
However… he had refrained. The announcement he had been expecting was something along the lines of leaving him, or a divorce. Not going off with Jeff. "Why?"
"He's got some work at the Mormon Fort and I'm going to help him." Faith knew how trying this time was for her husband. She loved him, Heavens knew she did, but sometimes love was not enough and she needed to find a way to deal with what had happened to her. To come to terms with it and move on. She couldn't do that here, and she wasn't about to open up to Dr. Michaels, not when he was hopping in bed with Courier.
Faith actually… liked Courier, as odd as that sounded. She admired the older woman now that she had sort of gotten to know her a bit better. She expected there were things about Courier she probably wouldn't have agreed with but… whatever.
She liked Jeff better. He got her. He understood the need to work out issues. He understood that she wasn't looking to spill her guts or talk about what had happened to her. Jeff also seemed to have his own baggage. She could relate.
"You don't think you can work this out with me?" He asked quietly.
"No, Mark, I don't think I can. I just need to be away from you for a bit, get back to helping others and see if I can't help myself in the process."
"You know I'm not him, Faith."
"I know, but that doesn't stop me from feeling the way I do." Faith was surprised at how calm she sounded, though she could feel her hands shaking. "I love you Mark, I just need some time."
He sighed, wanting to reach out and touch her but knowing she wouldn't allow it. "If this is what you think you have to do…"
She nodded.
