I've always been more about character interaction than quest-retelling. We'll see how it goes.

SPOILERS FOR DEAD MONEY RIGHT HERE.

Benny waved over a waiter. "What's that drink called again, baby?"

"I don't remember." The Courier pinched the bridge of her nose. "It's pink and it has sugar around the rim. Nancy's the one who makes it."

Benny raised an eyebrow at the waiter, who disappeared quietly. The Courier liked drinking in the cocktail lounge, but everything she ordered turned up with a lot less alcohol than she would have poured for herself.

"Also," she said. "Don't order one of those for me in front of Cass ever. She will piss herself laughing and I will never hear the end of it."

Benny rolled his eyes. "Fine. But seriously, are you actually going through with this? There's probably nothing there. Really. Or it's going to be three hundred super mutants with miniguns. It's a terrible idea."

"Yes I am going through with it," she said. "You know, being the voice of reason doesn't really sit that well on you, Benny."

"Yeah, well, I don't like it either. Seriously, kid, you're not some kind of two-bit treasure hunter." He blew a stream of smoke away from her.

She shrugged. "No underhanded moves to get me out of the picture while I'm away, understand?" asked the Courier, only half joking.

Benny spread his hands. "I like to think I've always been very open with you about my underhandedness." A faint smile played across his lips. "Seriously though, if you were gone I'd have to deal with the Boomers myself, and if they're still doing that whole 'artillery barrage at strangers' thing I doubt I'd make it. So take care."

Being back in leather armour was amazing. She could finally walk properly, without the skirt restricting her legs and the heels keeping her constantly off-balance. At least she didn't fall out of them anymore. The plan was to spend the night in Novac before heading off the road to investigate the signal's origin. The sun was just setting when they arrived. The Courier waved at the figure in the dinosaur mouth, but Manny didn't wave back. She shrugged, and headed into the motel grounds.

"Daisy!" she caught sight of the woman standing on the balcony, and ran up the stairs. "I haven't seen you since-" the look on Daisy's face, jaw clenched and staring, made her stop. "Um," she continued. "Since I was last... in... Novac? Good to see you again, bye!"

Fuck. She backed down the stairs a little too quickly, and at the bottom almost collided with Manny.

"Sorry," she said. He pushed past her without replying.

"What's going on?"

"Nothing," he muttered.

"Is... everything okay?" she asked, tentatively.

"You know what? No," he said. He stopped and turned to face her. "You don't give a shit about this place. We lost a lot of people here when the Legion attacked. Maybe we wouldn't have lost so many if we'd had two snipers."

She could see Boone, behind Manny, start to walk over, and she shook her head. She hadn't been as subtle as she thought, though, because he turned to look behind him. He turned back with narrowed eyes.

"Who'd you lose?" she asked.

"Ranger Andy. Ada, we don't have a doctor anymore. Dusty. Some others you probably won't know."

She looked away. "I'm sorry. I'll have a doctor from New Vegas sent. And the securitron patrols stepped up."

"Everything's just so easy for you, isn't it?" He gave her a vicious smile that was more like a snarl.

"Yeah," she snapped. She took a step towards him. "After getting shot in the head, killing most of the fucking Legion's leadership was a piece of fucking cake. A walk in the motherfucking-"

"And let's stop there, shall we?" Veronica said brightly. She took the Courier's arm tightly and led her out of the motel's grounds. "What was that about?"

"Holy shit, I have no fucking idea," she said. "The last time I was here, he was-"

"Not just him," said Veronica. "You were a little crazy yourself just then. He's lost people he cares about. People get upset about that."

The Courier chewed on her bottom lip. "Yeah," she said, quietly. "I'm not really- I don't know." She shrugged. "Great way to start a fucking adventure, right? Sorry."

"It's okay. You're just... so tense, lately. I kind of thought Boone coming back might help with that." She grinned impishly.

"I can not believe you just said that," said the Courier, looking sidelong at her.

Veronica laughed. "Well," she said. "You took long enough to hook up. You were all –" She clasped her hands together in front of her chest and looked up at the stars – "Oh his tragic past makes him so mysterious."

"You fucking bitch," said the Courier, laughing. "I am going to punch you in the face and I don't even care how many of the bones in my hand I break."

"Yeah? When you gonna do that?"

The Courier grinned. "I guess that'd have to be when you're asleep?"

"But whatever will people say?" Veronica held a hand to her forehead in mock-dismay. "Sneaking into my room in the middle of the night? My reputation will be ruined. Yours might go up a little, though."

"I'm so fucking glad you're coming," said the Courier, suddenly serious.

"Yeah?" asked Veronica, wrinkling her nose. "I feel a little third-wheel-y."

"You totally shouldn't. It's an adventure. Not meant to be like... a couples retreat or anything. Where is he, by the way?"

"Oh, I told him that I'd take care of things and he should go inside." She shrugged. "Didn't want to make things worse than they already were."

The Courier nodded. "Okay," she said. "I'm going to go talk to... uh, Dusty's wife. Alice, I think. See how she is." She counted out a hundred caps. "You take this and go get a room from the guy in the dinosaur."

Veronica smiled gently. "Don't stay out too late."

The streets were deserted as she walked south. No more mercenaries following the doctor around. It was just like the Legion to go for the medics, too. The moon had risen, and it lit up the tiny town almost as bright as day.

She knocked on the door. There was a long silence, and then just when the Courier was about to leave, the door opened. Alice stood there, looking blankly at her.

"H-hello," said the Courier. "I, um, once helped you out with a problem with your Brahmin getting attacked."

The woman nodded but didn't reply.

"I heard about your husband," she said, slowly. "And I came to see if you were alright. If you needed anything."

"That's nice of you." Alice's voice was hoarse and creaky. It sounded like it hadn't been used in months. "But no."

"Okay. If you ever... do need anything, just ask, okay? You can write to me. Or leave a message with one of the securitrons, I think they can do that. I kind of have a lot of caps and don't really need them."

Alice nodded.

"Right. Well, goodnight."

She watched the door close slowly, and finally turned to walk back to the motel. She'd been kind of insulated from all this, what happened after the battle. What could she do about that? It didn't seem like something you could fix by throwing caps at it, unlike most things in Vegas.

Boone was waiting in her room, sitting on the sofa, when she came back. He stood up when she came in.

"Hey," he said. "Sorry about earlier. Manny likes to pick fights sometimes. Don't know why."

She sat down on the bed, facing him. "Not a big deal, I guess. Just kind of weird." She shrugged. "Does everyone secretly resent me?"

Boone didn't answer.

"...Not-so-secretly resent me?" She grinned humourlessly. "I asked you a while back if you'd get a hard time about working with me. What about... now? Things being what they are."

His gaze was clear and steady. "Not really."

"I guess being in First Recon might keep you out of that a bit, seeing as they know me. How about the other soldiers, anyone tried to start shit with you?"

"Don't do this," he said.

"Why not?"

"Because it doesn't matter. You can't let it get to you. I don't."

Her shoulders slumped. "Yeah." She looked away. "Yeah, okay. You're right."

"So. Early start tomorrow," Boone said. He didn't stand up.

"Yeah?" she said, still feeling belligerent. "So what are you going to do about that?"

He shrugged and stood to leave. He was almost at the door when the Courier spoke.

"Fuck you," she said half-heartedly. "Come back."

He did.

The Mojave was already sweltering by the time they left Novac, just before dawn. The air was just gathering a red haze as they picked their way across the country, through Nelson. The beeping of the Courier's pip-boy led them to a metal grate, which Boone lifted off with some difficulty.

Veronica was first down the ladder.

"Guys – this is... Odd. I think this is- this used to be a Brotherhood safehouse."

The Courier followed her. "Who wrote all this? Shit, is that guy dead?" There was a headless corpse sprawled by the stairs down, which she hadn't seen while her eyes were still adjusting to the darkness.

"I would assume so," said Veronica. "Though he doesn't look like he's been dead long. Less than a week, I think."

Boone's boots were loud as they hit the metal floor. He swung the rifle off his back. "I don't like this."

"Me neither," said Veronica. "I'm not sure what this has been used for. Who's... who's been using it."

"Okay," the Courier said. "Quick look around and then we leave, right? The signal's coming from just up ahead." She could hear the woman's voice, not just through her pip-boy but coming from further inside the bunker. "I don't think there's anyone in here," she added, walking down the steps.

She could see the radio, set up on a table with a stage light overhead.

"Watch your feet," said Boone. "Could be traps."

"Yeah," she said absently. "Hey Ronnie, can you do some sort of signal tracking thing to see where this is being broadcast from?"

"I don't think it's a signal," said Veronica, slowly, as they walked towards the table. "I think it's a recording. And it's coming from here. Not being broadcast to here. Coming from here."

"It's- what?" The Courier crouched in front of the radio, vaguely aware of a faint hissing. "That can't be right."

She heard a thud behind her. What had been behind her again? The room looked misty. She tried to stand up, but couldn't, and lost her balance. As she lay on the floor, she craned her neck to see Boone and Veronica lying on the floor. Oh. That wasn't good. That wasn't good at all.