"Fuck!" V shouted as she slid across the hood of a worn-down rusty Thorton Galena G240, bullets from a Scav's assault rifle flying right past her, while she was holding a suitcase in one hand and a weapon in the other one. She had to defend herself somehow, as more and more enemies were coming out of the warehouse located in Santo Domingo, where she was sent by El Capitan to retrieve some of the goods stolen from one of his clients.

Putting the cargo aside, the reputable mercenary loaded another clip into her Militech Saratoga, a submachine gun that quickly became one of her favorites, as it saved her life more time that she could count. She carefully peaked out of her cover, but was stopped as a bullet dabbed the hood of the old car she was hidden behind. She sighed, taking out a frag grenade and pulling the pin off with her teeth before blindly throwing it above the hood and into the direction, from which the Scavs were approaching her. The explosion followed soon after. She heard a scream of pain and shock, which meant that it must've hit at least one of them. Good. That would buy her some time.

She peaked out again, this time no bullets came to her direction. Carefully aiming for her targets, V picked off a couple organ-harvesting gangsters with her trusted Saratoga. From what she remembered, there should be only 4 or 5 enemies left. As she was about to shoot another one, she heard a familiar click that she hated so much. The mag was already emptied, so the merc detached it from the gun and threw it somewhere on the ground, while desperately searching through all of her pockets to find another one. Well, fuck. She was all out of ammo for the Militech made gun.

"Legendary mercenary, about to be killed off by a couple stupid Scavs, because she didn't think to bring some fuckin ammo to a gig. Look at that!" Johnny suddenly appeared in her line of sight, mocking her with his usual shit-eating grin.

"Shut the fuck up" V hissed "I need to think of a way to delta the fuck out of here"

Without a word, Johnny nodded at the Quadra Type 66 Avenger which V used to get to the location. The car was parked at the side of the street, about 300 feet away. But with a little bit of luck, and perhaps distraction, she would make it no time.

"That's… actually not a bad idea" V said, nodding at Johnny, who smirked.

She took another grenade and threw it into the scavs. Not even waiting for the upcoming explosion, she took off, running to the car like her life depended on it. Well, it did depend on it, to be fair. A couple bullets flew by her, until a second later the gunfire faded away to make place for the explosion, which must've taken away the man who was firing at her. V got into the car, setting the suitcase on the passenger seat and quickly tossing the gun next to it. After she turned on the ignition, she quickly drove off, leaving smoke and traces on the asphalt behind her. A couple seconds later, V called up El Capitan, to inform him about the gig going in her favor.

"Secured your goods. Where do ya need 'em?" The merc said as soon as the man picked up the holo.

"Shit, you're real quick, aren't you!" El Capitan laughed, his hands crossed. "Get them to that drop box, I'm sendin' you the cords right now." he hung up.

A mark appeared on V's map, so the merc quickly made her way to it. She drove fast as always, but every move she made was calculated. She carefully swerved through the gaps between all of the other cars on the busy streets of Night City. When she was driving with Judy to the other girl's apartment a couple days ago, she drove way slower, obeying the traffic rules for once, as even though V always tried to be careful with her driving, there's always a possibility of crashing into something and she couldn't let herself endanger Judy because of her fast driving. That, plus Johnny always hated when she damaged his Porsche. He always made her fix the vintage car, even if it was merely a scratch on the silver paint job. Could she blame him, though? She really liked that car as well. A minute later, she found herself in front of the drop box, putting the suitcase into it. A couple seconds passed and a message from El Capitan appeared on her holo, followed by the addition of 2500 eddies to her bank account. As she was returning to her Quadra, another message appeared. This one made her instantly smile and feel butterflies in the stomach, as she noticed who sent it.

From Judy Alvarez

"heeey V i miss youu :" the message read. There was something about her output's writing style that made it really adorable in V's eyes.

"Hey, I was just doing a gig" V sent. Fuck, that came off drier than a peace of bread laying in a Kabuki back alley for 4 days straight. A thought came into V's head, she could really use Judy's company right now. It was already getting dark and the two haven't seen each other since V crashed at her place, feeling like a piece of shit due to the relic malfunctions she hated so much. "Wanna meet up tonight or sth?" she sent another text.

"sure! where do u wanna meet?"

V thought about her response for a moment "What about my place this time?" she texted. Even though her apartment was located in a dirty, loud megablock and to top it off, it was very damn small, she kinda did like it. Not like she spent a lot of time there, anyway. She envied Judy though, her residence was so spacious and just… nice to be in. Plus she had a kitchen, contrary to V who had to live off shitty burritos from a vending machine whenever she was in the mood for a snack and didn't want to go through the trouble of walking through the block and going down the elevator in order to pick up something from a local bar or food vendor.

"sounds nice : when?" Judy texted after a minute

"I'll pick you up from your place in like an hour, okay?"

"whoa… such a gentlewoman hehe. thats okay, mi calabacita i'll be waiting!"

V smiled at Judy's message and entered the muscle car, heading back home to get herself washed and dressed properly. It wouldn't really be the brightest of ideas to show up in dirty, bloody clothes all while smelling like death itself, huh?

/

V pulled up to Judy's apartment in the Porsche, as she knew how much Judy loved that car from the first time she'd seen it. She was wearing her favorite Samurai jacket, some black jeans and worn-out black sneakers which she loved so much. She opted for a casual, yet stylish look. This wasn't meant to be some sort of an elegant date in an exclusive restaurant, after all. Judy wasn't a fan of that stuff anyway and neither was V. She sent a quick, short message to her output, telling her that she's ready and waiting in front of her apartment. A minute later, Judy was already leaving the building, with a smile on her face.

"Heey-" V greeted the other girl as she entered the Porsche, but was cut off by Judy pressing a kiss onto her lips. V blushed, surprised at the sudden act of love.

"Whoa, you're quick, aren't you?" V's cheeks were still red

Judy laughed, but was quickly silenced, as this time it was the merc who unexpectedly kissed her on the lips. She whimpered softly, as her cheeks flushed red as the autumn leaves falling from a lonely tree.

"Not fuckin' around, are we?" Judy smirked as the other girl pulled out

"Nope" V smiled "Straight to the point."

"Let's go now, huh?" the techie suggested "I'm freaking starvin'"

"Haven't eaten anything?" V turned the ignition on and started driving away, a bit of surprise visible on her expression

"Nahh… I was waiting for you"

"I see" V smirked

Soon after, the two women were moving through the streets of Watson, at a higher pace than usual. It was already pretty dark outside, so traffic was also less dense than usually. The sky wasn't pitched black just yet, but every last bit of the sunlight left was slowly giving its place to the darkness as late evening was just about to turn into early night. At this pace, it took the merc around 5 minutes to get to the 10th Megabuilding, where her apartment was located. She was so thankful for the fact that Judy lived so close to her, especially considering how big of a city Night City really was.

The Porsche stopped in the parking complex just next to the Megabuilding and soon enough the two outputs left the car, making their way through the parking lot. They stepped outside through the usual entrance, even though V was used to just using the elevator to get straight to her apartment. This time was different, as the two decided on some noodles from the vendor just outside the building, who should be still open if V remembered correctly. Yes, it was already late, but it shouldn't surprise anyone that the nightlife is always alive in a city that literally has the word 'night' in its name. No wonder that almost every vendor was open even in the latest of hours, as it was such a great way to earn more money on all the different customers, who wouldn't have been there during daytime. The corps working inhuman amounts of aftertime, who just need something to eat after a long day of work. The hungover gonks returning from late-night parties that need a piece of falafel kebab or a synth-meat burger or…

"Do you wanna get pad thai?" V asked as the two approached her favorite noodle place, a small booth outside the Megabuilding "I'm feeling some pad thai."

"Uhh… what's that?" the pink haired girl asked, curious.

"The fuck?" V was left flabbergasted by Judy's question "You really haven't eaten pad thai? Oh, honey, you better prepare to get absolutely blown the hell away!"

There was something about V calling her 'honey' that made Judy blush.

"You're the boss, mi calabacita" Judy giggled at V's adorable expression of confusion whenever she called her that. The fact that V still didn't know what that meant was somewhat funny to her. "Gimme the one with the tofu then. I'm trying not to eat a lot of synth-meat lately" Judy said, after a couple seconds of studying the vendor's menu.

"Good choice!" V face filled up with excitement "Those are the best ones!"

"You're really passionate about your food, huh?" Judy laughed, observing V's expression change whenever she was talking about the pad thai.

"What can I say?" V shrugged "I just love to eat something that isn't a shitty burrito or a energy bar"

Judy nodded understandingly as she watched her output walk up to the asian man behind the noodles stand. Suddenly, the girl stopped for a moment and turned around to face her

"Fork or chopsticks?" she exclaimed

"Chopsticks!"

V nodded and sat on the stool in front of the counter. Judy watched as she ordered two tofu pad thais. As she was waiting, Judy turned around to admire the Megabuilding. Well, 'admire' is a strong word. These enormous structures weren't a miracle of architecture, but no one could deny that they were really impressive. Thousands, perhaps even tens of thousands of people living in one giant building. Something about fitting the population of a small town into such a dense space made Judy really respect the work all the architects and planners must've put into creating these. They were, quite literally, breathing, living ecosystems, as each megabuilding had its own vendors, security and facilities.

A couple minutes passed and the merc was walking towards Judy, holding two boxes of noodles.

"Here you go" she said, handing Judy her box, all while smiling adorably.

Judy kissed her on the cheek, making V blush again. "That's my way of saying thanks" the techie giggled.

Soon after that, the two made their way into the elevators, each of them holding their food, which was still hot and fresh. As the tasty aroma of the noodles made its way into V's nostrils, she let out an audible moan. Only hearing it made Judy feel something, as some dirty thoughts flooded her mind, making her cheeks flush red. A minute later the elevator door opened and the two women made their way through the floor, which was mostly empty at this late hour. While they were heading to V's apartment, Judy's imagination was going wild while trying to picture what her output's residence could have looked like. She was in different Megabuildings a couple times, but she's never been in one of the apartments before. The techie didn't have to imagine anymore, though, as they were already approaching the entrance.

V unlocked the door to her house and stepped aside, letting Judy enter first. As the techie entered, she looked around the room, as if she was analyzing every single detail. To her surprise, V's place was smaller than she initially imagined it to be, but she found it oddly cozy. The first thing Judy noticed was a locked door at the right side of the apartment, but she decided to not ask about it, at least for now.

"Mi casa es su casa" V exclaimed with a smile

"Oh, you know some Spanish after all?" Judy looked at her, surprised with a smirk on her face

"Come on, everybody knows that phrase!" V gave her a 'are you kidding me right now' type look.

The merc walked past her, the door closing automatically behind her. She hung her jacket in the small wardrobe and put the box of noodles on the table which was next to the long couch, Judy following her and doing the same shortly after.

As Judy was putting the box down, she felt herself getting embraced by her girlfriend from behind, her love's soft breaths on the back of her neck. She looked back with a quiet, happy hum and gave V a little kiss, smiling.

"Find something to watch" The merc said in a soft, quiet voice "I'll be right back" she smiled, and pulled away from the hug

While Judy nodded, V made her way to the bathroom. She looked in the mirror, silently staring at her reflection for a couple moments. All of the nice moments with Judy let her forget about her terrible condition, at least for a moment. Right. The condition. Something had to be done to prevent another Relic malfunction fucking up their night as it did before, at Judy's place.

"Sorry Johnny, won't let you ruin tonight" she said in her thoughts, taking the omega blocker pills from Misty.

After a while, she returned to Judy who was holding a box with a film of some sorts, reading the etiquette.

"So I found this one…" Judy said, showing the box to V "It's called 'Bottom Gear', what's it about?"

Excitement appeared on V's face, as she recognized the show Judy was holding.

"Ohh, this one is great, it's hilarious!" she exclaimed "Basically, we have these three guys and they take these shitty cars and turn them into beasts. They made a MaiMai go faster than a damn Quadra Turbo, for fuck's sake! Would you believe that?!"

Judy felt her eyes widen when she heard V explain the gist of the show. Even though she wasn't that much of a car person, that seemed really interesting. That, plus the fact that she loved when V was talking about something she was excited, or passionate about. And even though she never told her, Judy figured that the woman she loved was really keen on cars.

"Sounds good!" Judy smiled "Let's watch it, then!"

V smiled as well and the two girls sat on the couch next to each other. They took their pad thais and finally opened their food. Judy giggled at how V was watering at her mouth when looking at the pad thai. She had to admit though, the smell was absolutely amazing. As the food entered their mouths, the two women both moaned in pleasure at how otherworldly good the taste was. Even V, who was used to the dish loved it with the same passion each time she ate it. Judy, on the other hand felt as if something straight out of heaven just invaded her taste buds. She wondered how the hell she'd never eaten this, especially living in Kabuki, a district with a heavy Asian influence on its culture.

Having finished eating merely 10 minutes later, V put her hand around Judy, pulling her closer. A smile appeared on Judy's face as the two bodies merged. She rested her head on V's chest, listening to her steady heartbeat, while the merc softly stroked her hair. Both of them wanted this temporary moment of bliss to last forever, as all of their worries disappeared and all they thought about was each other. The show Judy picked was playing in the background, but neither of the two really focused on it. The techie couldn't help but let dark thoughts distract her from her girlfriend's warm embrace. No matter how hard she tried, she could never forget about the cancer that was slowly eating away at her lover. Even though the picture of V failing to find a cure in time and succumbing to the disease made her suffer immensely, Judy knew that she had to be prepared for the worst of all possible outcomes, as much as she hated it. Every moment they spent together had to be cherished, and both of them knew that.

"What's up?" V asked, her tone one of concern

"That obvious, huh?" Judy mumbled, a bittersweet smirk appearing on her face

"You're dense, Jude" V said in that same tone as before "Seriously, what's going on."

Judy frowned and pulled away, to look V straight into the eyes.

"I'm thinking about… you and you know… I'm scared" she said, her tone quiet and weak suddenly

"I know…" V let out a sigh "I'm here" she said after a moment, desperately trying to find the right words to lighten up the mood, but she failed.

"I'm scared that one day… I'll find you and-, you'll end up like Ev" Judy tried her best not to let tears appear in her eyes

"Judy…" V put her hand on Judy's shoulder and looked at her eyes. A hidden sadness could be seen in them.

Without another word, V pulled Judy into a tight hug, slowly drawing circles on the girl's back with her hand to comfort her. She felt tears soak her t-shirt, as sobs came from the techie's mouth.

"Promise me…" she mumbled "Promise me that you won't end up like her"

"I promise" V whispered into Judy's ear.

The embrace lasted for a couple minutes, as neither wanted to pull away. Judy breathed in V's smell and was drowning in the touch of her neck, a place where she finally felt at peace. The longer the embrace lasted, the less dark thoughts appeared. And after a couple moments they were completely gone, letting her calm down again and focus on all the love she was feeling. It was moments like this one, where the simple action of two bodies, embraced in silence, said more than any words ever could. Judy pulled away, changing positions and letting her head rest on V's lap. As the girl's thighs made a perfect cushion and her hair veiled over her face, she suddenly started to feel sleepy.

V sat there, focusing on Judy's soft, steady breaths as she was gently stroking her hair. The merc was lost in her thoughts, thinking about how quickly things change. It was only a couple days ago when the two made their confessions to each other, declarations of love and of starting something new. To think that not even a month ago, Judy was no one else than a stranger to her, when the two first met in the techie's BD studio at Lizzie's Bar. Back then everything felt simpler, she was just trying to make it big in Night City with Jackie by her side. Jackie… damn, she really did miss that bastard. Even though the merc wasn't much of a religious person, she could easily picture Jackie, sitting there somewhere in Heaven, smiling at the two lovebirds. Or, perhaps, laughing at her for not making moves on Judy earlier. Yep, that was more like him. As she was stuck in her mind, she suddenly realised something. A quiet snore was coming out of Judy's mouth. V found the noise really adorable and decided to put Judy into a more comfortable position.

She slowly got up, letting Judy's head slowly slide down onto the couch. Standing up, V froze dead in her tracks when her girlfriend made a light groan. She looked at the girl, but she was still sleeping, thankfully. For a moment, V felt stuck, looking at Judy's face. The techie looked so beautiful and peaceful when she was asleep, with her bright-colored hair slightly covering her face. V felt as if she could get lost in the image of her girlfriend laying on that couch, in peace. After snapping back to reality, she slowly picked her up, careful not to wake Judy up. Every move the woman's head made really scared V, as she was expecting her to wake up any second, which would probably lead to a pretty awkward situation. Maybe it was V's brain, over analysing every possible outcome, but she was sure Judy would tease her, had she woke up being carried by the merc, which would probably make V die of embarrassment. A couple steps left and… there we go. The merc put her output's sleeping body on the bed and covered her with a blanket to make her even more comfortable. She felt herself smiling and blushing at the adorable sight of her girl, curled up with a blanket, sleeping peacefully.

It wasn't long until sleep decided to invade V's mind as well, as she felt her eyelids getting heavy a couple minutes later. After changing into her pajamas, she laid next to Judy and cuddled up with her. She gave the techie a soft goodnight kiss on the forehead, causing her to smile in her sleep. And merely seconds later, V's vision blacked out as she fell asleep peacefully, with the one she loved by her side.

/

Judy yawned, as she was slowly waking up. It was still pitch black outside. She looked around the room she woke up in, as if she was trying to remember where she was. The memories of last night came back when her eyes locked with V's face, who was sleeping right beside her. Judy smiled at the sight and felt butterflies in her stomach as she realised that the merc must've carried her to the bed after she fell asleep on her lap. V, the big, bad, reputable mercenary… who would've guessed she was this sweet to people she loved…

The techie reached for her phone, which was still in her pocket. Before pulling it out from the blanket, she turned the brightness all the way down, as she didn't want to wake her girlfriend up. Looking at the screen, she realised that it was 3 AM. Hiding the device back, she heard a familiar notification sound. However, it didn't come from her phone, but from V's instead, which was laying just behind the sleeping woman. Judy frowned, thinking that the noise would make V wake up, but was quickly surprised at the fact that the girl didn't even flinch. Taking into consideration how rarely the mercenary got more than an hour of sleep, this wasn't that much of a shock. Shortly after, Judy reached for V's phone, as she decided it was a good idea to mute it, so it doesn't wake up any of the two.

Before muting the device, curiosity got the best of her and she decided to check out the culprit of the irritating sound. It was a message from… Kerry Eurodyne?! An influx of questions appeared in Judy's mind. Why was the famous rockstar, Kerry fucking Eurodyne, of all people, texting V at 3 AM?

"Yoo V, look at this sick axe I just got :) 50k eddies for that thing. Sick right?! Wanna try it out sometimes?" the text read. It came with an image attached, it showed a 'V' shaped electric guitar. It was red and shiny, with gold and white finishes on the sight. Definitely looked like something expensive. After reading the message, Judy muted the phone and put it away.

Wait, V knew how to play guitar? And she played guitar with Kerry himself? Judy was even more dumbfounded. This was a side of V she never knew, but one that she'd love to know more about. She glanced at her girlfriend, still sleeping peacefully. When the morning comes, she will surely ask her about all of these things. Now, however, Judy felt herself dozing again, so she rested her head on the pillow and drifted away into the realm of her dreams.

/

V woke up from her slumber, rubbing her eyes. She let out a yawn, as she glanced around the apartment. It was already daytime, as the sunlight effortlessly made its way into the room through the window glass, illuminating the whole place. She was surprised that her lover was not laying in the bed beside her.

"Judy?" she called out, her voice still raspy

"In here!" the other girl called back, waving at her.

Judy was sitting on the couch, giggling softly at the fact V didn't notice her.

"Sorry, still sleepy as fuck" V mumbled, slowly getting up from her bed and brushing a string of her dark blue hair out of her face. She made her way to the bathroom and washed her face to sober up a bit. After she was finished, the merc returned to her girlfriend, an expression of pleasant surprise appeared on her face as she noticed the paper bags sitting on the tables.

"Thanks, Judy, you didn't have to…" she said, taking a wrapped sandwich out of the bag. She sat next to Judy and gave her a kiss.

"Didn't wanna wake you up" Judy smirked "Plus I got a bit hungry myself"

"Wait, what hour is it?"

"10 AM"

V's eyes widen in surprise, making Judy giggle.

"I don't remember the last time I woke up this late" V chuckled, taking a bite of her sandwich. "Damn, this is really good!" she smiled, but shot Judy a glare of confusion a second later "You ain't eating"

Judy shook her head with a smile "Nah, I've already eaten. You're a heavy sleeper, y'know?"

V chuckled and took another bite of her sandwich. She grabbed her phone for a second, to check if there were any messages that she missed throughout the night. Surely enough, there was a message from Kerry. V mumbled something about the rockerboy texting her at 3 am, as a slightly annoyed look appeared on her face. She shot him a quick text back and put the phone back on the table.

"You didn't tell me you know celebrities." Judy smirked

"Huh?" a confused V stared at Judy for a moment "Ah, Kerry" the realisation hit her "He's a pretty great guy. Helped him with some stuff, played guitar with him once or twice. Cool shit." she said, not really thinking much of it. Judy was both confused and amazed at how casually V spoke about knowing one of the most famous rockstars in the whole of the NUSA.

"You also never told me you play guitar…" the techie said

V's eyes instantly lit up and she held up her finger, gesturing to Judy to wait for a second, as she couldn't speak due to swallowing a bite of the sandwich her girlfriend brought her. She left the half-eaten food on the table, stood up and made her way to the desk. She looked under it and a second later, she pulled out an acoustic guitar. The merc sat at the couch next to Judy again, laying the instrument across her lap.

"I'm still a newbie, but Johnny's been showing me some stuff. He's not as useless as you might think" she smirked

"Play for me, please" Judy said, making puppy eyes, which she knew her output just couldn't resist. A part of the techie was amused at how V's relation with Johnny looked like.

V nodded with a smile and took one of the picks that were laying on the table. She got the guitar ready and started softly plucking at the strings. She was trying her best to play the melody of Never Fade Away by Samurai, which became one of her favorite songs lately. Normally, Johnny would be there to criticize her technique, but the pills must have been still working, as he was nowhere to be seen. As she played the song all the way up to the chorus, she started singing in a soft, quiet voice

"A thing of beauty, I know
Will never fade away
What you did to me, I know
Will never fade away"

One she progressed past that part, she put the guitar down and stared at Judy, waiting for some sort of a response. The techie's expression was one of amazement.

"That… that was really beautiful." Judy said, giving V a smooch

A couple more moments passed, as the two were talking about different things. V gave Judy a lecture on the music of Samurai and the band's history, including the recent reunion and the gig she let Johnny play. Was it Silverhand's influence or not, she's grown to really like the band and was listening to their discography pretty much constantly. Judy talked a bit about some of the more interesting braindances she's been working on recently and before they knew it, an hour passed. Suddenly, a message appeared on V's phone, one from Panam Palmer. This made an idea pop into her head.

"Hey, would you like me to introduce you to someone?"

/