Authors note: I just wanted to take the time to say thank you to those who've followed the story as well as left a review. I also wanted to wish everyone here a Merry Christmas and happy New Year.


Life on the road was something I never believed I would return to, and yet here I am, life had come full circle. Looking back towards Panam and taking note that she was still passed out in bed, I exited our shared tent and went towards the food truck to grab some coffee for both me and Panam; knowing her, she probably would be up in the next ten minutes. One thing that I really enjoyed about waking up early was the fact that most of the Aldecaldos would still be asleep apart from the sentries and some of the old guard like Mitch. Making my way inside the cantina; I found that Mitch was already hard at work planning the next moves that we would need to take. This in of itself was part of the changes that Panam had put into place shortly before we left; basically, allowing the vets of the clan to plan out missions and when ready, to present them to her. As I grabbed my cup of coffee as well as another for Panam; I sat next to Mitch.

"Morning gents." I said as I sat next to Mitch

"Morning V; you sleep alright?" Mitch asked knowing that the past few months had been hell on my psyche due to the biochip.

"Much better than I have in the past five months; feels like a giant brick has been removed from my shoulders." I said as I took a sip of the coffee.

"That's good to hear my boy, and how's Panam taking to being a chef?" Mitch

"She's stressed the fuck out, but she'll get used to it; plus, she has us to turn too if things get hairy." I said as Mitch nodded in agreement.

"And let's also not forget your contribution to keeping her sane V, and vice versa; really funny to be honest, like you two were made for each other." Mitch mentioned as he walked over to the counter to get some breakfest

"It's funny that you mention that, because without her, I don't think I ever would have made it." I mentioned as I chuckled a little bit at the irony; that even in the depths of darkness I found her to be the light at the end of my tunnel, and I know she feels the same way.

"Wow V, didn't even invite me out for some coffee." The sarcastic tone that belongs to the one and only Panam; wow, figured she'd sleep in a little while longer.

"Got you some coffee; made to your exact specifications." I winked at her and handed her the coffee cup.

"Thank you, V, and by the way; after breakfast we need to set up our tent. I feel like this area may very well be our camp for a while, and I'd like to make it a bit homier." Panam said as she pulled one of the cantina chairs to the table to sit next to me.

"Umm, what exactly do you want to do with the tent?" I asked her while she took a sip of her coffee contemplating what exactly we could do.

"Well; firstly, we need to make a spot for your pet cat. Then we need to get some trunks so that we have something to store our cloths and personal weapons in. After that, I would like for us to tune up both the Thorton and your car as well to better suite us." She said with excitement growing in her voice; just further proof that all the shit that was handed to us for months was nothing more than a memory.

"And afterwards we can go riding in the desert; just the two of us." I added as I saw her grin grow into a smile; something that she seemed to want to do.

"I'd love that V, and I know just the place that we can go to; it's an old national park that I think you'd love." She said as she grabbed my hand.


After breakfast, Panam and I made our way down to the garage where both our vehicles were being worked on. Panam's vehicle had much less that needed to be done to it, most of the work going into the engine to give it a tune up while my Nomad vehicle required much more extensive repair. Mitch was telling me earlier that it would probably be a good idea to rebuild the engine to get more horsepower as well as increase the reliability; furthermore, I asked them to repaint it in Aldecaldo colors. The paint job itself came out good, and with my new motto brazened on both the driver and passenger side door, a customary thing from what Panam was saying; the motto being "Never stop fighting".

"Hey Panam; you ready to see what this car is capable of?" I asked her as I gave her a slight slap on the ass and getting a slight moan in return.

"Sure, let's see if she can hold a candle to my Thorton." She sarcastically said as she regained her composure.

"Excellent, though I should warn you that my car is quite fast, so you may would want to buckle in." I said as I buckled up my restraint as Panam followed suite

"Hey V; what type of car is this?" Panam asked as she rolled the window down to let fresh air into the cabin.

"It's a Mizutani Shion "Coyote"; quite a quick little beast and pretty comfortable to ride around in." I said as I pulled out of the camp and headed towards the park that Panam marked in the on-board GPS.

"Hey V; I was just wondering what ever happened to your first nomad vehicle. It's very rare that a Nomad wouldn't keep their vehicle due to it being sacred to us; what ever happened to it?" Panam mentioned as I looked at her

"It's quite a story." I mentioned as I started telling her my old Thorton Galena "Rattler".

Flashback

"Well shit, been a damn long while old friend." I has muttered to myself as out of sheer coincidence I happened upon the junkyard that had my old vehicle. As a sense of nostalgia washed over me, I examined the Rattlers exterior and found it to be worse for the wear, but overall still in relatively tip-top shape. As I did a walkaround I noticed the faint feeling of heat radiating off the hood of the car, and with my interest peaked I popped the hood open. To my surprise, I found that somebody was restoring the car; well, poorly restoring it considering they made several grievous errors, like filling the break fluid reservoir full of water. While the short-term use of water would be fine to get to the city and into a garage, to take it cross-country would-be suicide. As I continued to exam the car, a woman walked out to me demanding to know what I was doing by "her car".

"Your car? Uh, no, this is my car." I told her which caused her to get defensive.

"No it isn't; if it was, than why would you leave it rusting away in a junk yard?" She demanded as she got closer trying to insert herself between me and the car.

"The car had broken down and I thought it wouldn't run again." I said as

"Well, I've been working on this car for two weeks now and just got it working. If you truly cared for this car; you'd do anything in your power to get it running." She stated which got my blood boiling, who did she think she was telling a Nomad what caring for a car is and isn't.

"Why do you need the car anyways?" I demanded as she started to back away a little bit realizing that I was visibly upset.

"I need to get out of Night City; leave this place and never look back." She explained trying to defuse the situation; once she said this my anger started to subside. I understood why she would want to leave and realized that maybe for once, I can show someone the kindness that Jackie and Mama Welles showed me right after I arrived at NC.

"You'll need to replace the timing chain." I told her as her face scrunched into a confused look.

"Why?" she asked me with concern growing in her voice.

"Because if you attempt to open the throttle up; the chain is liable to break and you'll be stranded. Listen, I gotta go meet with a client, but why don't I give you twenty-thousand eddies so that you can take the car into town and get it repaired before setting off." I told her as I saw her bewilderment at what I had just said.

"Wait, you mean I can have her, and you're giving me eddies to repair her?" She asked me and her tone telling me that she was still in shock.

"It's all yours, and I added a list of what needs to be done to her when you see a mechanic. One, replace the water with actual break fluid; if you don't, you'll find that your breaks no longer work when you need them the most. Two, fix the timing chain and clear the rust out of the engine bay. Three, get a new paint job; if you drive around with Bakker colors, you're liable to get ambushed by one of our old enemies thinking you were one of us. I don't think I need to explain what they'd do to you, do I?" I asked her as she nodded in agreement.

"Wait, you mean to tell me you are a Nomad, and this was a Nomad's car?" She asked me as I nodded before explaining to her the unique relationship between a Nomad and his/her vehicle.

"Former nomad; take good care of that car and she'll get you to where you need to go." I told her as she hugged me before hopping into the driver seat and heading into town.

"Wow, is it possible that our little nomad here has finally decided to plant roots?" I heard Johnny say as he appeared next to me.

"Honestly, I don't think I'd ever join another nomad group again Johnny; gotta make do with Night City." I told him as we went back to my car and got back on the interstate.

"Who was that contact that Rogue has us meeting out here again; Panam Palmer?" Johnny asked as he was watching the night sky.

"Yep, she told me to meet her at the rail freight line on Bonita Street." I mentioned as Johnny light up yet another one of his cigarettes.

"You think she'd help us?" Johnny asked as he took a puff

"Not entirely sure, but I think if we help her get her merchandise back, she might just be willing to hear me out." I said as I entered the city outskirts and pulled up to where she and I were supposed to meet at.

"I sure hope so V." Johnny said before disappearing and I got out, but boy oh boy were Johnny and I both in for a treat when I saw her bent over and tinkering with her car's engine. Funnily enough, I must had been standing there for at least a minute staring at her ass before walking up to her, and in the back of my mind I just here Johnny mutter out "Damn".

Flashback ends

As I finished my story, I could see that Panam was invested to the point that she seemed almost kinda sad that it was over; quality time like this would be rare, and the more we got out the way now, the easier it would be in the future.

"Wow V, I honestly don't know what to say; that was a hell of a sacrifice to make. In a sense, the last bit of your old life, you gave away to some stranger without asking anything in return." Panam said as tears started to form in her eyes.

"Yep, though I do find it kinda ironic that right after that was when we meet for the first time." I said as I grabbed her hand and cupped her cheek with it; seeing her smile would turn even the gloomiest days into a bright day.

"Funny you mention that; I remember feeling you staring at my ass for a bit before actually walking up to me; tell me, did you like what you saw?" She seductively asked me as she lowered my hand from her cheek to her thigh.

"Oh yeah, and you can still captivate me; though it is nice to finally be able to touch without fear of risking your wrath." I joked with her as she burst out laughing and adding her two eddies in as well.

"Yeah; I think if you'd pull that shit off when we first me, I would have beaten you senseless." She said as she tried to suppress her laughter.

"I just thought of something; this park we are going to, doesn't it have a hotel nearby?" I asked Panam as she pulled up the GPS and noticed that ten minutes east was a small town.

"Better yet V, it's got a small town. I think we could use this to our advantage and get some contacts to spread the Aldecaldo's influence." She said as the cogs in her brain started turning; gotta admit it would be great to have a hotel room to sleep in for a change, and a nice shower to go along with that.

"How much further to the town?" I asked her as she looked it up.

"About ten minutes, and the name of the town is Tusayan." She told me as she flicked me the deets so that I could change course.

"According to this, there is a small hotel that we can rent a room in for a few nights; kinda cheap too." I told her as she thought it over; while it did suck that we would be away from the camp for a few days, I figure that Mitch could hold everything down and we could get some preem information on the surrounding area which would benefit the family greatly.

"Sounds like a plan V; let's head to this hotel and get a room." Panam said as she looked out over the arid landscape.


To say this town is tiny would be an understatement; judging by the looks of it, I'd wager that the total population must have been less than ten thousand. A far cry from Night City which was huge; though looking back on it, even being in a crowd somehow felt lonely. As I pulled into the parking lot of the hotel that Panam had put into the car's GPS, I noticed that there were quite a few other nomads here as well. As we were walking through the parking lot and I was taking in the clan colors that happened to be here, I noticed something peculiar; my old car happened to be here as well, though sporting a new red paint job. I didn't mention it of course as I figured the woman who has it now must be resting here before continuing on her journey, but boy oh boy was things about to get interesting. As we entered the lobby, I noticed that same girl that I gave the car to all those months back was behind the receptionist counter; guess she must had gotten a job here and settled.

"Welcome to the tumbleweed hotel, oh my, it's you." She said as she instantly recognized me and Panam giving a concerned look.

"Hey Lana; I'm surprised to see you here. Was this the place you were heading to?" I asked her as she walked up to greet me.

"Aye; my parents own this hotel and told me to come stay here after I left Night City. Say, what brings you here, and who is this?"

"Well; a portion of my job was finally finished, and I decided to leave NC for good and this is my girlfriend; Panam." I told her as both Panam and Lana shook hands.

"V; who is she?" Panam asked me.

"Panam, this is that woman I was telling you about; the one that I gave my old car to." I told her as Panam's eyes went as wide as saucers, no doubt this was just as bewildering to her as it was to me.

"Anyways; what brings you'll here?" Lana asked me and Panam told her that we had come not only to visit the town and see if we could get some contacts going with the local fixers.

"Guess you will be here for a while; listen, I'll speak to my parents and see if we can arrange a free room for you two." Lana told us as she walked into her parent's office.

"Damn; never thought I'd see her again." I said as Panam silently agreed with me, and within minutes both her parents had come out to meet us.

"You must the man that our daughter told us about; I must say it is finally good to meet you." The father said as he shook my hand.

"And as a small token of our gratitude for giving our daughter a fighting chance; we would like to allow you to stay a few nights for free." Lana's mother added as she handed Panam a keycard.

"You really don't have to do this; we can pay you the fee." Panam and I said at the same time but were kindly rejected by Lana's parents.

"Nonsense; three days' worth of rent is inconsequential to our daughter's life, and thanks to you sir, you have given her something that money cannot buy. Once you are settled in, come to my office and we can talk business." Viktor said as showed us to the room. After we went inside, we were surprised at how nice the room was; must be worth at least five-hundred eddies a night, but best of all, there is a shower that was calling our name on it.

"I'm going to take a shower V." Panam told me as I sat down on the bed and took my shoes off, as I heard her turn the water on; I figured I'd join her in the shower.

"Panam, mind if I join you?"

"I was hoping you would." Panam said as she gave her ass a little wiggle to beckon me to join her and without a moment's thought I immediately jumped in with her, to bad I still had my clothes on.

"Shit" I said as I jumped right back out with Panam laughing at my expense; though I'd do the same if I saw that happen to someone else.

"A little too excited, aren't we V." Panam teasingly said as she winked at me and I rejoined her after removing my damp clothing. Showering together become a tradition not to long after the whole Mikoshi ordeal; we were too exhausted to return to the Aldecaldo camp, so we ended up staying at my apartment that night before leaving the next day to rejoin the Aldecaldos. As I entered the shower, Panam pushed her ass straight into my crotch and looked at me with a mischievous grin on her face, one that told me I'm gonna fuck you right here and right now. Placing my hands on Panam's shoulders, she turned her body so that we were facing each other. As I turned the water off; I picked her up and carried her to the bed where we would end up spending the rest of the night.