Authors Note:

Time makes the heart grow hornier... if you like your company anyway.

"Jesus." The word was empty. Breathless.

I stood over the radscorpion, knife wedged hilt-deep in a plate of exoskeleton. With a grunt I popped it off, slicing the meat underneath it.

"Afraid of getting your hands dirty, Mayor?" I teased.

Hancock grinned wickedly, "I've dressed up my fair share of game." Awe replaced his tone as he plunged his knife into his own kill, "Never seen someone get a scorpion in just a couple blows like that before."

I wiped the sweat off my brow before it froze. Winter had finally arrived in full force, I'd convinced Handcock to hole up in Sanctuary with me for about a week before he went stir crazy. Said he'd left Goodneighbor to be out on the road, not to trade one town (a town he liked better) for another. Now we were God-knows-where taking shelter in an abandoned shitty lean-to. I felt like that kind of living suited us both better. I went to work on removing the poison pouch located just within the tail.

"What you saving that for?" Hancock grunted.

"Stay in your own lane." I complained, joking. "No, it's great for building with. And making chems."

"You make chems?" I could hear the doubt in his voice.

"Yes I do. Jack of all trades you know. I do a bit of it all. Welding, carpentry, lock-picking, so on." I wrapped the sack in cloth, gently placing it in my bag.

Hancock plopped his pile of raw meat down with mine, "Ready?"

I looked up, wiping my hands off in the snow. I nodded.

We sat by a fire in our small hut. The heat made the holey cabin cozy enough to lose our winter gear. The smell of roasting radscorpion, carrots, tatos and corn was mouthwatering. Hancock popped a mentat into his mouth, his eyes closed as the chems hit his system. I listened to the howl of the wind and snow outside.

"So tell me sister," He rested his head back on his hands, "how did you get so good at everything?"

"Being out here in the wastelands. I," I cleared my throat, ducking my head, "I was a lawyer before this."

He raised an eyebrow, "A lawyer?"

"Kind of like-"

"I know what a lawyer is. I read, unlike most of these commonwealth folk." He sat back up, "I'm just surprised that you were one." He shook his head, "Another lifetime I guess."

I nodded, not responding.

"I used to be very handsome." He paused for a moment, I watched as his dagger danced over his knuckles. "You can see that in Fahrenheit. She got my good looks. She's smarter than me too." He shook his head, "The things you take advantage of when you have them."

I frowned, poking the fire. "But I heard about your... "tours"...?"

He looked startled, then laughed. Full belly, shoulder shaking laugh. "Oh, oh man! Sorry. Sorry, I'm good. It was a long time ago. I was really, really drunk. Kind of high. Some dame with a Ghoul kink hit me up. I told her I'd give her a "tour of the town". It stuck. Somehow that one woman turned into ten, turned into twenty, turned into every female that came in and out of Goodneighbor.

"Don't get me wrong, I am not against having sex just for fun. But... well, the options are far more limited now that I am the way I am. Not a lot of people want to get down and dirty with someone who looks like me. It's part of the deal... I guess I knew what I was doing when I took that drug though. I knew I'd be a ghoul, I knew I wouldn't be a pretty-boy smooth skin anymore. I knew women wouldn't want me like they used to." He rubbed his jaw where stubble would have been, "I deserve this though. I let all those people in Goodneighbor die. I didn't want to see the man I was in the mirror."

I didn't know what to say. We'd gone over his past before, no matter what I said he still felt guilty. Still blamed himself.

"What did you used to look like?" I hugged my knees to my chest, toeing my chest plate further across the room.

"Blond hair, brown eyes. Very handsome. I didn't slouch so much, I looked taller back then." His voice sounded forlorn.

"You're still handsome, Hancock. Why would so many people lie about sleeping with you if you weren't?"

I looked up into his smug grin, heat flared across my face.

"You think I'm handsome huh?"

I rolled my eyes, "I didn't say that."

"Mmm, you don't need to Doll, I can tell. You want this piece of jerky."

I laughed despite the heat rising low in my gut. "Sexy jerky."

He leaned back against the wall, placing his tricorn over his eyes. "That food smells good."

"It should." I shot back, "I've been playing with these flavors for almost a year and a half now trying to figure out what would taste best."

He was silent for a while, unmoving but for the slow rise and fall of his chest. I looked at him from my vantage point. He looked peaceful. He looked serene. His scars weren't nearly as pronounced when he was resting, his lips weren't pressed so tight that it looked like he didn't have any. I noticed he had plenty of mouth to enjoy.

Heat flooded me. God it's been a long time.

I shifted to try and distract myself from the arousal I was feeling. Dinner would be ready soon, I didn't have time to ditch out and find something to rub myself against. I ground my teeth, willing away the mental image of Hancock touching me again, even if just a small caress down my throat. I blinked, very aware that the cabin was too warm and too small. I stood suddenly, throwing open the door and walking outside in my leathers, no shoes. I threw myself into the snow, rolling onto my back. It took maybe a minute for the cold to seep in and extinguish the flames of desire. When my teeth were chattering I went back inside, closing the door firmly behind me.

I was surprised to see Hancock eyeing me warily.

"Going out for a frozen swim?" I could barely catch the undercurrent to his words.

"It was just a little too hot in here. Close quarters, roaring fire-"

"Sexy jerky." His voice was strangely husky.

It woke things up in me that I was desperately trying to avoid. I smiled, knowing I should have laughed.

"Sexy jerky."

"A month." He repeated.

I nodded, pulling the armor off my leg.

"We've really been out here a month?"

I nodded again, taking out my hair. The moan of satisfaction escaped my throat before I could stop myself. I looked at Hancock hastily. He was busy looking somewhere else, acting like he hadn't heard.

"Nice that we found place to stay." I commented. "After a month on the road a bath sounds like heaven right now."

"Yeah." He chuckled tersely, "A bath..."

I paused, frowning. "Hey, Hancock, are you okay?"

He paced away from me, pulling out an inhaler of Jet. "Yeah I'm fine. I'm fine. Just a little tense. Too long on the road. I need some chems and a bar. Too much fresh air and sunshine."

I smiled, running my fingers through my hair. It had grown considerably. I needed to cut it. I eyed Hancock again, aware he was watching me out of the corner of his eye. For a few weeks now, ever since we'd had to strip down after fighting a Mirelurk Queen, he'd been awkward around me. Hell, I'd been awkward too. Watching him throw Raiders to the ground like they were down pillows was a huge turn on. He'd bulked up some too now that he'd backed off on doing so many chems. Every now and again, after a hard fight or a long trip he'd take a hit and space off. He wasn't even using daily.

I watched as he pulled his coat off, his shirt thin and threadbare. It was baggy and stained, but it still displayed his muscles as his arms moved. Even beneath the myriad of scars I could tell he was ripped. I licked my lips without thinking, the mental image of him taking me against a wall was titillating.

His eyes locked on mine. He winked.

Hastily I stood, grabbing my clothes.

"I-I'm going to wash these and this." I gestured to my body and waved my clothes in the air. "I'll be back."

He nodded, pulling his shirt up. I all but ran out of the room.