Chapter 19: Counseling

I got up and looked around quickly; ready to fight any looters who would try to take what was mine. I ran forward and stopped as I spotted a woman. I recognized her.

"Where am I?" I asked her.

"Your blood is important." She told me.

"Answer me!" I shouted and it echoed in the blurry room.

"You are the answer. Keep her safe." She told me.

"Who are you?!" I shouted in rage.

She smiled at me for a moment.

"Happy testing." She said as I opened my eyes to Vee's face.

She gasped as I held her by the throat.

I let go and fell onto my back as I felt drying blood on my nose.

"What the hell happened to you?" She asked me as she backed away from me.

I looked at her. "What?" I asked her. I felt my head, trying to massage my brain. "Who… who are you?" I asked her.

"Jace… it's me. It's Victoria."

"Get away from me!" I shouted as I threw dirt in her face.

Vee back away and coughed. "Fuck—ing dou-ouchebag." She coughed on the dirt as I crawled away as fast as I could. I got up and ran quickly away until Vee chased after me. "Holy shit, Jace! We don't have time for this!"

"Get away from me!" I screamed for my life.

"Amata! Dad!" I screamed in the wilderness as Vee sprinted after me. She grabbed my shoulder and stopped us both. She turned me around, coughing and breathing quickly. I stared at her with my eyebrow up.

"What is it, Vee?" I asked her as I looked around.

"What… the fuck… dude…" She coughed.

"Why the hell are you out of breath? You haven't gotten out of shape that much, have you?"

"Eat… shit." She spat out.

"Still as beautiful as the day I met you. Now let's go and track Chain. If your lungs can handle that."

Vee shook her head as her face tried to make sense of what just happened.

I wiped my face of my blood and looked at it in confusion. I then spread it on my pants as we walked.

"Seriously, I think you just had a stroke or something back there." Victoria explained to me as we returned to the Gun Shack.

"I literally have no idea what you're talking about. I'm fine now, so let's just pay attention to what we're here to do."

"You see?" She asked with her hands on her hips.

"What?" I asked, ready for an argument.

"You never listen to me, even if it's going to get you killed! You're an idiot, you're not some super solider made in a lab, you're just one person!"

"Are we seriously doing this now? Fine! I know what I can handle, I don't need you holding my hand through it, I'm an adult!" I yelled back.

"Then act like one!"

"What the hell does that even mean?! Am I not sitting here with a gun in my hand? I'm doing that because I'm not a five year old!" I shouted.

"Oh, fuck you Jace! You know exactly what I meant; stop trying to make me look like an idiot!"

"I don't need complex wordplay for that, Vee, you handle yourself pretty well!"

"I'm gonna punch your arrogant mouth right off your goddamn face if you keep talking!" Vee threatened.

"Not like I haven't taken a punch before, Victoria! That tends to happen to me a lot ever since I met you!"

"Then why'd you marry into that life if you didn't want it?!"

I pulled my gun out and fired a round. It whizzed past her head and hit a raider sneaking up behind her. He dropped to the floor as we sat in silence. I walked over to him and we stood next to each other.

"Oh my God… I almost died." Vee gasped as she looked at him.

"Yeah…" I said as I holstered my gun.

I turned over to her and looked at her face for a moment. She looked back at me. I ran my face into hers and forced a kiss on her. She accepted with a smile.

"Jace… I don't really think…"

"Oh my God, just shut up for one second."

"One second's all you need?" She asked me as we kissed.

"You're gonna ruin it, asshole." I told her as we kissed passionately.

When we were done with our fun in the plains we re-attached our badges and holsters and looked around. I spotted empty shells covered in dirt and sand.

"The firefight I think kept on this way." I said as I pointed in a direction.

"Nuh-uh, it's this way." Vee said as she pointed further off to the right.

"Well you're not experienced in this as I am."

"I've been working for law longer than you've been in the Wasteland, Jace."

"Well that was then. And I say it's this way."

"Jace, I'm telling you it's this way. Just listen to me for once."

"Are you saying that I don't listen to you?" I asked her angrily.

"Well you're not listening to me now!"

"Because you're wrong, Victoria! He went this way! The bullet casings show it, use your eyes, holy crap!"

"Oh, now I'm blind?"

"As opposed to... stupid? Yeah, I guess that's an improvement!"

Vee turned around and followed the direction that she thought was right. I shook my head and followed the bullets forward, waiting for her to realize she was wrong. I spotted more and spent the next hour following them until I hit a wall… literally.

A sewage grate was hanging off the wall and lead into the D.C. ruins. I spotted more casings. Someone shot off the grate to get into it. I stepped inside and looked around the sewage area. Toxic filth surrounded the pipes as radiation clearly held dominance here. I backed away and shook my head as I heard footsteps behind me. I turned around to Victoria walking over to me.

"You figured out you were wrong?" I asked her.

She walked up to me and slapped me across the face.

"Ow! What the shit?!" I yelled as I held my face.

Victoria knocked me into the wall and pinned me against it. She looked at my eyes and kissed me.

"Wha—what?" I asked between smooches.

"Shouldn't question it." I told myself as we continued.

After we were done venting, we took a look at the sewage grate. We weren't going to get in there without some tech. So we decided to go back to Megaton to meet Sarah for dinner. We stayed silent for the trek home, not wanting to set off our short fuses with our fiery breaths. We opened the front door to see Natalie sitting next to Sarah in the most awkward and uncomfortable way possible.

"I ran out of things to do five hours ago." She told us as they sat in silence.

"I take it everything went well?" Vee asked her as she put her weapons in a bag on the fridge.

"Yeah, she got hurt when I wasn't looking and her head hurts. I suggest ice it, but I don't really know how ice works."

"God, it's like talking to a Joe with a vagina." Vee muttered.

"A what?" Sarah asked.

"It's a type of beef." Vee said quickly.

"Ew." I muttered at the comparison.

"Good save and I'll be going now." Natalie said as she bumped into me on purpose.

"Oof, I am veerrry sorry, good sir." Natalie said in the weirdest tone of voice.

I sighed and gave her money.

"See ya." She said in her normal tone of voice as she closed the front door behind her and walked away.

She counted the money and whistled until she stopped dead in her tracks. She spotted a brown haired man in a white t-shirt and black sweatpants crutching over to her. His beard was shaved clean off his face. They stopped and looked at each other.

"Hi…" Joe told her.

"Hi…" She said back.

"You look… uh…great." He told her with a warm smile.

"I look like I haven't brushed my hair in months. I feel like I haven't slept in longer."

"I know that feeling." Joe nodded at her.

They stood in silence and looked at each other.

"I'm sorry things didn't work out the way I wanted them to." He told her.

"We broke up six times and you almost got me killed by a raider."

"I obviously didn't want that to happen; neither one of them."

"Well it did, so…" Natalie turned around and walked away.

"Natalie, wait!" Joe called after her as he crutched up the hill, grunting in pain as he tried to chase after her.

She turned around quickly. "Joe, it didn't work out, face it, okay?"

"Don't you at least want to try?"

"I did. Six times. We're not compatible people. I can't stand next to a guy who gets shot at every day. One of those days, those bullets are going to hit me."

"I promise you that won't happen."

"You know you can't do that." She shook her head and turned away.

Joe knew she was right. He knew a lot of things, I've learned, more than he let on. He knew he couldn't provide what she wanted, but more importantly, he knew he wanted her with him. He knew he was going to try his hardest if she gave him the chance, because he's seen what he's capable of if he puts his mind to it. Joe wasn't a mindless idiot, if only I could have figured that out sooner. He had figured out that he can do more than he even thought was possible. He was ready to try; he was ready to do something I never expected.

"Natalie…" Joe called after her as he crutched painfully after her.

"Just go back to the hospital; please don't get yourself hurt for me."

"I… already did." Joe groaned as he crutched forward.

"Goodnight, Joe." Natalie said sadly to the wounded man.

Joe grunted loudly in pain as he crutched closer to her. His arms gave up and the crutches slipped out from under him. He groaned as he collapsed to his hands and knees, holding his stomach in pain.

"Joe!" Natalie walked closer to help him up.

Joe released his hands from his stomach and put his front knee forward, holding out a ring to her, standing perfectly on one knee, as if he was never hurt at all.

Natalie shook her head. "What the hell is this Joe?"

Joe licked his lips and stared at the ring, realizing what he was about to do. His heart raced more than it already was after the accident.

"You…" Joe tried to think of words to say.

"You… say you don't want me to get hurt for you, Natalie…" He breathed in. "But the truth is I would rather get hurt every single day for the rest of my life if it means you'll be there next to me at the end of the day." He said to her in silence on one knee.

Natalie breathed in hard and shook her head, wiping a tear from her eye.

"You can't do this, dammit." She told him quietly.

"There's a lot of people telling me I can't do things recently. I stopped listening to them."

Natalie looked back at him and fought tears.

"Listen… I know there are going to be a lot of guys who want to do this for you, I mean, look at you... All I'm asking is that you put my name down on the list… that's all."

Natalie looked down at him and shook her head.

"Shut up, you idiot." She told him as she bent down and kissed him.