Chapter 21: I Miss You

Almost 2 months later...

The King was sitting on his bed, trying not to think about his current woes. The NCR was still crawling into Freeside like nobody's business, and there was a certain dark-haired woman missing for about 6 weeks now. It was driving him nuts. The King did not like the fact that she ran off on "business" somewhere, especially without telling him first. Not that he needed to know her every move, but he considered Raven Wagner a friend. Perhaps even more than a friend. He wasn't sure, and he was not quite ready to admit anything other than friendship had bloomed between the pair. Although, the King couldn't exactly deny his attraction to the woman, either. He missed those green eyes of hers, and the way her lips frowned when she was upset. He spent a lot of time looking through the letters Raven sent him back when she had Rex up in Jacobstown, and he couldn't help but laugh on the memory of it. Sometimes the woman had the temperament of a Deathclaw, and the King was enamored by that trait. He loved seeing her get mad. In the middle of his musings, one of his underlings came in out of breath.

"King! Miss Wagner was seen just outside of Freeside!" he said.

The King shot up immediately and Rex stood up as well with a bark. "Well, go tell her I'd like to speak with her," he replied calmly.

The man nodded and left, and the King rushed to his mirror to check his appearance. Perfect as usual.

Raven staggered to the gates of Freeside, out of breath and with dried blood all over her face. The trip back from Utah had been harsh. Very harsh. As the gates of Freeside opened, Raven was stunned to find a few Kings members welcoming her. She smiled and waved weakly to them before walking into the city. Some offered to help carry the bags she had and she gladly accepted.

"This sure is a lot of stuff, " said one of the Kings. "What the heck did you get?"

Raven chuckled as she walked with them. "Oh, just some things I picked up in Utah. You guys are going to love what I got!" It wasn't very long after that Raven and the group found their way to the King's School of Impersonation. When they walked into the door, they were greeted by the King. Raven smiled at him softly and held up a bag. "I've got some surprises for you, Mr. King."

The King walked to her and started checking her over. "Are you ok? You're completely covered in gunk!" he exclaimed.

"Oh I'm fine," Raven replied. "Just had a rough trip back. Don't you guys want to see what I brought?"

A bunch of murmured yeahs and uh huhs were uttered and Raven began opening the bag she had. She pulled out a long, rolled up piece of paper and handed it to the King. The King started pulling it open and his jaw dropped when he saw what it was. It was a poster of the original King, and it even had the man's name on it.

"Oh my, this is...this is amazing. Where did you find this?" the King gasped.

"I was out in Utah and I came across some sort of old shop that had a bunch of this stuff. See there," she pointed toward the man on the poster, "that was when he was performing in a place called Jacksonville, Florida. I figured I had to bring some of this stuff back for you guys because, well, how could I not? That little shop was a treasure trove of the King."

The King ran a finger across the letters that were stamped below the man's form, and he looked at Raven happily. "Miss Wagner, I can't thank you enough. You've done us a great service."

Raven waved her hand at him. "It was nothing. Really. There's more stuff in the bags if you want to go through them."

The King grabbed her bag and started rummaging through it. She had brought back little bobble head Kings, lunch boxes with the King on them, necklaces, a few King suits, and a bunch of other little knick knacks that had the King's name all over them. The other group members started going through the other bags and found more posters, as well as a few old film trays. Raven yawned a little and watched as Pacer came walking in. Pacer stopped and looked at all the stuff from the bags.

"What in the hell is all this stuff?" he asked.

"Miss Wagner was kind enough to bring back all this stuff from her trip to Utah. Wasn't that nice of her, Pace?" the King asked.

Pacer bent down and grabbed a bobble head, then smirked. "Sure was." Pacer looked at Raven and chuckled. "How convenient."

Raven raised a brow at him before turning to the King. "Oh, and I found some old films of the man himself. Apparently he was in some movies back in the day."

The King smiled and before Raven could react, he wrapped his arms around her. Raven's eyes got wide and she returned the hug. "Miss Wagner, you are a real saint." The King released her and looked at Raven with proud eyes. "Tell you what? You're going to go upstairs and take a nice, long shower. Then you're going to slip into something real nice."

Raven gulped. "Uh, say what now?"

The King laughed. "I won't take no for an answer. I'm not one to comment negatively on a lady's aroma but...this particular smell you have on you does not suit you at all, Miss Wagner."

Raven's eyebrows lifted before she began laughing. "Ok, Ok. I know. I smell bad. Alright, I'll go take a shower."

The King smiled at her. "Just use mine. I also have some shampoo and conditioner you can use. And I'll have something nice to wear brought up to you, ok?"

Raven nodded and turned towards the inner door to the hallway. "I'm not going to like this, but ok Mr. King."

As the courier disappeared to the hallway, the King turned to his gang and spoke loudly. "Alright. Tonight we're going to have a party to honor Miss Wagner for what she's done. It'll also be a "welcome home" kind of thing, too. So let's get this stuff put away and let's get started on making arrangements for this party!"

I know the last couple of chapters have been really short, and this one kind of was too, but trust me when I say there's a reason for it. And that reason is...because I'm lacking inspiration toget the chapters to be longer, lol.