Tactics: Withdrawal Effect
Fallout Tactics fanfiction
immo - immo@hamena.org
rating:PG-13
Femmeslash/yuri/goodness. :D Don't read if you not into that shit. Here's the second in the series... I think this
is the first time I've actually gotten around to writing a follow up to something! O.O woooooah. Kudos to me! Last
time, fanfiction.net screwed away with my formatting so my style looks like crap. I'm gonna try to remedy that...
bear with me folks.
~~~
Lex lay on the roof, looking up at the stars. Usually, Stevie would be right beside her, talking on and on.
But she wasn't here now. When she was signing Stevie out, recruits milling about had been clamboring for her
attention, wanted to be picked by her. But she avoided them all. Granted, now she was short one of a full squad, but
that spot on her team could only be filled by Stevie. And so she left in the hummer, the next mission in a holo-disk
and her team's morale awfully low.
"Where Stevie?" Mother had demanded when they were leaving the base.
John tried to explain the situation to Mother, but the deathclaw refused any explanation. When Lex finally
lost her patience and snapped at the deathclaw, the whole car fell into total silence. Mother stuck her head out the
window and purposedly let her drool dribble down the side of the car, scowling at Lex sometimes, or growling
mutinously. Cookie stuck her head out the other side of the window and sniped anything that moved. But she fell into
sullen silence too when Lex yelled at her for wasting bullets. John sat in the front passenger seat, fidgeting
uncomfortably. Lex's temper was legendary. When her old squad was with her, she had beat down a knight for making
unwelcome advances towards her. And she had only been a senior initiate then. Ice sat in the middle of Mother and
Cookie, seemingly oblivious to the tension in the air.
They had finally set camp, and everyone scooted off to do something, to avoid Lex. Mother went to scout out
the area, Cookie cooked while John helped, and Ice went on guard duty.
Her ears caught the sound of shuffling steps, and her hand tightened on her M-16 before she relaxed,
recognizing Mother's steps.
"Can't sleep?" Mother's eyes glowed iredescent green, her tail swinging from side to side.
"No." Lex's eyes searched out the north star, and finding it, picked out the big dipper and the little
dipper.
"Where did you go?"
"Dinner." The deathclaw held up a large lizard. It was gored slightly, but there was still enough pieces
left to identify it somewhat. Laying it at Lex's feet, Mother waited patiently. Lex sat up, and touched the lizard.
"Thank you." Lex had been grilled in deathclaw etiquette by the Elders when the Matriarch had made it clear
that some of her brood wanted to join the Brotherhood. This was one of the things they learned. Pack members only
ate if the leader gave them permission to. And a portion of what they brought down had to be given to the leader as
a tribute.
"I'm okay, you can have it."
Mother nodded, and took the lizard, ripping into it with hunger. It was awesome, and horrifying to watch the
deathclaw gulp down that lizard.
"Lex... I have... question?" Mother crouched down, tilting her head to the side.
"Yes?"
"You miss Stevie?"
Before she could stop herself, Lex answered. "Yes."
"Stevie, I miss also." Mother struggled with her words. "Mother was bad before... ask nicely now? Stevie
come back now?"
Lex sighed and rubbed her eyes wearily. "No, I can't do that, Mother. She's... the general has taken her
away. He wants her to start a new team."
Mother's furrowed brows told Lex that the creature was still confused. She tried again.
"I cannot, because the general wants Stevie to start a new pack."
"She cannot." Mother set her jaw stubbornly. "She cannot without mate. She choose you. She will not start
pack without you. Not deathclaw ways--"
"She's not a deathclaw!" Lex hissed. "Mother, you have to learn that. People are different! Its not so black
and white as what you say it is!"
Mother fell silent, contemplating the words of her leader. "Not deathclaw ways?"
There was a dry panting, that seemed to be what a deathclaw passed as laughter. "Not different from
deathclaws? The same. Very same. You see soon."
The deathclaw lumbered over to the fire, and curled up beside it. In a little while, Mother's rumbling
breath told Lex that the creature had fallen asleep.
~~~
The mission had gone without a hitch. It was as if Stevie's presence made no difference at all. John had
stayed by Cookie while she calmly cut down any enemies in her way. Mother was on scouting duty, removing obstacles
where she can, and going back to the core group for backup when there was too much to handle. Lex handled the
situation, moving people where they were needed, being everything a leader was supposed to be. Only thing was that
John caught a bullet in his hip, but from every mission, it was expected.The wound was easily patched up and a week
or so's resting at the base would soon have John back up to speed.
And in the aftermath, when Lex sat on the hood of her hummer and helped Ice clean her sniper rifle, she
thought of Stevie's usefulness in the squad.
'She didn't have any set job for her. Of course, the more guns in the team the better, safety in numbers...
but we handled ourselves pretty well, even with one person short of a full team.'
"Pass me the scope, Lex?"
Lex passed her the scope, and continued thinking.
'She would've done better, heading her own team, anyways. She's replaceable... but I wonder how she is right
now...'
"Lex, the barrel."
"Hm?" She shook herself out of her thoughts. "Oh. Here."
Ice made a face when Lex passed her the magazine for the rifle, while Lex just sunk deeper into her
thoughts.
"I said the barrel, not the magazine."
"Hm? You said something, Stevie?" Lex looked up again.
"FORGET IT!" Ice threw her hands up. "You know what, just forget it!"
"What... what did I do?"
"You are in your own little world, I don't even know how you got out of that last gunfight alive without
Stevie around to pull your ass outta the line of fire," Ice raved. "You keep on radioing for Stevie when you radio
me! And just now you called me Stevie--"
"Ice--" Lex winced.
"If you miss her that much, god, why don't you just go get her!" Ice was on a roll. "I swear to god you're
so fucking in love with her. And Mother just keeps asking me every chance she gets, 'is Stevie coming back?', 'is
Stevie coming back?'!! Fucking Christ, its like a broken record!"
"Ice!" Cookie had come up from behind, and now lifted the girl up with a hug from behind. "Calm down!"
"Put me down! I'm gonna fucking kill them! They're driving me crazy!" Ice wriggled in Cookie's grip, but was
unsuccessful.
"Let her go, Cookie." John came out of nowhere, a frown on his face. When Ice was let down on the ground,
she stomped off, away from camp.
"She needs some time alone." John explained. He turned to Lex now, and he looked every bit the disapproving
father. "And YOU need to seriously rethink your decision of kicking Stevie from the squad. Everyone misses her. But
I think you miss her the most."
"He's right," Cookie agreed.
"Shit, this is like intervention or something?" Lex suddenly felt so angry. She felt angry at her squad for
going against her, felt angry at Stevie for being the cause of this, Dekker for offering a way out. Most of all,
angry at herself for going the easy way out.
"I'm going for a walk." Lex huffed. She went and got herself a bottle of hard liquor, before heading out
into the wastelands.
"Blasted squad..." Mummbling to herself, Lex popped the top, and took a swig. A couple of swigs later, she
was done in. Paladin Lord Lex was notorious for not being able to take her alcohol.
When night fell, and Lex was still not back at camp, Ice and Mother went out in search of their leader.
"Found her, over." Ice radioed back to John and Cookie, who were guarding the camp. Lex had camped out under
a tree, and was currently talking to the knothole in said tree.
"And let me tell yoouuuu somethin'..." Lex burped, and covered her mouth. "Scuse me... but... yeah... what
was I saying?"
"Its really kinda funny, but sad at the same time." Ice tried to hide the smile on her face, but couldn't
help it and doubled over, laughing.
"I miss youuuu, Stevie." Lex had the saddest look on her face. Red hair had escaped the neat ponytail Lex
usually put her hair in, giving her a dishevelled look, adding to how hilarious she looked.
"Oh, man. We gotta record this. Come on, Lex, give me your Pipboy."
"Hairyago." Lex handed it over willingly. "Ya-ya want my shirt too?"
"Thank god for technology." Stevie activated the camera on the pipboy. "Thank god that scribe insisted we
install this camera add-on to her Pipboy."
Mother sat down, grinning, as Ice recorded Lex, fumbling to strip herself.
"She's soooo going to kill us tomorrow."
"Kill you." Mother said proudly. "I do nothing. Hope not kill me."
"Look, I got boobies." Lex looked down at her chest, as if this was the first time she realized she had
breasts. She bounced on her ass a bit, then giggled. "Jiggly."
Mother let out a wheezing laugh. "Dead me, soooo worth it."
"Oh. My. Lord." Ice quavered in helpless laughter.
"T-Thas Paladon LOOORD Lex to y-you shouldier!" Lex put her hands on her hip. She lost her balance, and fell
over onto her back, where she lay giggling.
"Don't show Dekkerrrr." Mother rumbled. "Get Lex in trouble."
"Course not!" Ice smiled. "But lets have a little fun! Lex?"
"Yuppers."
"Wanna do a little dance for the camera?"
Lex struggled to her feet. "Strip dance?"
"This just gets better and better." Ice turned the camera onto herself. "Senior Knight Ice here, and I would
like to say I in no way regret recording Sexy Lexy, supahstar Paladin Lord Stripper. Let the show begin!"
"Gotta have some music!" Lex protested, but started shuffling around in a horribly unsexy drunken dance. To
give her a bit of credit, she had a bit of rythym. But to whatever music she was dancing to, nobody knew.
~~~
"Oooooooh GAWD.." Lex woke up, feeling the sunlight pierce through her eyelids, into her pain. She felt
totally sick, and the sudden nausea didn't help either.
"Stick her out the window, stick her out the window--!"
The warning was just in time, as Cookie almost threw Lex out the window, and John kept a steady grip on Lex
as she yakked out of the car.
"Good morning, you sexy thang, you. Sleep well, princess?" The sickly sweet tone in Ice's voice made Lex
panic a bit. And suddenly, it all hit her. The ridiculous dance she did last night... dancing nude under the full
moon...
"So I hear you bared your tribal ass for all to see, Lex." Cookie casually said, as if it was a normal thing
to bring up, like commenting on the weather.
"Heard you had a tattoo." The usually uptight John put in.
"Marked at birth, more like." Mother wheezed.
"Fuck." Lex suddenly remembered her spectators. "You assholes! You recorded it, didn't you?!"
Everyone laughed, which confirmed her worse fears: they HAD recorded it. Last night wasn't just some
horrible, horrible nightmare.
"I'm gonna be sick." She hung out of the car window, and emptied her stomach some more.
"Here," John handed her a canteen of water, that was sweetened with something. She took two big gulps, and
puked even more.
"It helps you get the alcohol out of your system." John explained.
"Fuck... you guys..."
"We love you too!" Ice called back.
"Sexy Lexy the Paladin Lord Stripper," Mother's panting laughter was joined by the rest of the squad's.
"We're heading back to base, Lex." John informed. "Meanwhile, you just keep drinking those liquids. Don't
want you to get dehydrated."
"I was always nice to you, John. " Lex looked at John with pleading eyes. "Can I get my Pipboy back?"
"Sure." John gave it to her promptly. "I already erased the video."
"Not before putting the footage on a holodisc." Cookie guffawed. "Hey, Lex: 'Got me lookin' so crazy right
now, your love, you got me looking so crazy right now'!"
cookie swung her arms around wildly, and even though she hit a couple of the people in the car, everyone
laughed at the impresson Cookie did of a part of Lex's drunken dance.
"I hate all of you." Lex sat back in the seat. She had a pounding headache, but it was fast fading, thanks
to John's stash of medicine. But that only let her mind feel how clearly mortified she was.
Oh yes. Life was a bitch. And it was biting Lex's ass at the moment.
The rowdy atmosphere soon died down. It would be a day or so before they reached camp, and this was with
non-stop driving. Everyone settled in for a nap, and after a while, only Ice and Lex was awake.
"So are you going to talk to her?"
Lex had been dozing off, but woke up at Ice's words.
"I... don't know." Lex shrugged. It had been two weeks or so since they left the base. Two weeks and...three
days, counting today, of not seeing Stevie.
"You really should talk to her." Ice glanced back at Lex. "Its really not good. You're missing her a lot, I
can tell. And I bet you she's missing you too."
"But what she wants from me, I... I just can't give her!" Lex blew out her breath in frustration.
There was a brief silence, then Ice spoke again. "Well... if you really feel that way, no-one can force you
to like her like that. But you know, I think you two would make a good couple--"
"Ice--"
"No, seriously!" Ice forged on. "Why don't you stop being so stubborn and try it out? I mean, it won't kill
you, right? Just tell her its a trial period for you."
"Thats... I dunno... it doesn't sound right. Like I'm just... using her." Lex glared at Ice, who was looking
at her from the rearview mirror. "You know, for the loner of the group, you sure do talk a lot to me."
"You do that to people, Lex." Ice gave Lex a small half-smile. "You bring them out. People just... like you
because you're so nice. And I kind of envy stevie. She just let herself go and loves you and isn't afraid of how
humiliated she gets, how much rejection she gets from you. I sometimes wish I could have done what she did."
Again, there was silence.
Lex cleared her throat nervously. "Are you saying...?"
"Yeah, it was a small crush, though." Lex could clearly see the blush flower on Ice's pale face. "I just...
you know what, its over. Just forget it. Go to sleep."
Lex, not wanting to really deal with the issue, fell silent, but stayed awake on until the sun set.
Fallout Tactics fanfiction
immo - immo@hamena.org
rating:PG-13
Femmeslash/yuri/goodness. :D Don't read if you not into that shit. Here's the second in the series... I think this
is the first time I've actually gotten around to writing a follow up to something! O.O woooooah. Kudos to me! Last
time, fanfiction.net screwed away with my formatting so my style looks like crap. I'm gonna try to remedy that...
bear with me folks.
~~~
Lex lay on the roof, looking up at the stars. Usually, Stevie would be right beside her, talking on and on.
But she wasn't here now. When she was signing Stevie out, recruits milling about had been clamboring for her
attention, wanted to be picked by her. But she avoided them all. Granted, now she was short one of a full squad, but
that spot on her team could only be filled by Stevie. And so she left in the hummer, the next mission in a holo-disk
and her team's morale awfully low.
"Where Stevie?" Mother had demanded when they were leaving the base.
John tried to explain the situation to Mother, but the deathclaw refused any explanation. When Lex finally
lost her patience and snapped at the deathclaw, the whole car fell into total silence. Mother stuck her head out the
window and purposedly let her drool dribble down the side of the car, scowling at Lex sometimes, or growling
mutinously. Cookie stuck her head out the other side of the window and sniped anything that moved. But she fell into
sullen silence too when Lex yelled at her for wasting bullets. John sat in the front passenger seat, fidgeting
uncomfortably. Lex's temper was legendary. When her old squad was with her, she had beat down a knight for making
unwelcome advances towards her. And she had only been a senior initiate then. Ice sat in the middle of Mother and
Cookie, seemingly oblivious to the tension in the air.
They had finally set camp, and everyone scooted off to do something, to avoid Lex. Mother went to scout out
the area, Cookie cooked while John helped, and Ice went on guard duty.
Her ears caught the sound of shuffling steps, and her hand tightened on her M-16 before she relaxed,
recognizing Mother's steps.
"Can't sleep?" Mother's eyes glowed iredescent green, her tail swinging from side to side.
"No." Lex's eyes searched out the north star, and finding it, picked out the big dipper and the little
dipper.
"Where did you go?"
"Dinner." The deathclaw held up a large lizard. It was gored slightly, but there was still enough pieces
left to identify it somewhat. Laying it at Lex's feet, Mother waited patiently. Lex sat up, and touched the lizard.
"Thank you." Lex had been grilled in deathclaw etiquette by the Elders when the Matriarch had made it clear
that some of her brood wanted to join the Brotherhood. This was one of the things they learned. Pack members only
ate if the leader gave them permission to. And a portion of what they brought down had to be given to the leader as
a tribute.
"I'm okay, you can have it."
Mother nodded, and took the lizard, ripping into it with hunger. It was awesome, and horrifying to watch the
deathclaw gulp down that lizard.
"Lex... I have... question?" Mother crouched down, tilting her head to the side.
"Yes?"
"You miss Stevie?"
Before she could stop herself, Lex answered. "Yes."
"Stevie, I miss also." Mother struggled with her words. "Mother was bad before... ask nicely now? Stevie
come back now?"
Lex sighed and rubbed her eyes wearily. "No, I can't do that, Mother. She's... the general has taken her
away. He wants her to start a new team."
Mother's furrowed brows told Lex that the creature was still confused. She tried again.
"I cannot, because the general wants Stevie to start a new pack."
"She cannot." Mother set her jaw stubbornly. "She cannot without mate. She choose you. She will not start
pack without you. Not deathclaw ways--"
"She's not a deathclaw!" Lex hissed. "Mother, you have to learn that. People are different! Its not so black
and white as what you say it is!"
Mother fell silent, contemplating the words of her leader. "Not deathclaw ways?"
There was a dry panting, that seemed to be what a deathclaw passed as laughter. "Not different from
deathclaws? The same. Very same. You see soon."
The deathclaw lumbered over to the fire, and curled up beside it. In a little while, Mother's rumbling
breath told Lex that the creature had fallen asleep.
~~~
The mission had gone without a hitch. It was as if Stevie's presence made no difference at all. John had
stayed by Cookie while she calmly cut down any enemies in her way. Mother was on scouting duty, removing obstacles
where she can, and going back to the core group for backup when there was too much to handle. Lex handled the
situation, moving people where they were needed, being everything a leader was supposed to be. Only thing was that
John caught a bullet in his hip, but from every mission, it was expected.The wound was easily patched up and a week
or so's resting at the base would soon have John back up to speed.
And in the aftermath, when Lex sat on the hood of her hummer and helped Ice clean her sniper rifle, she
thought of Stevie's usefulness in the squad.
'She didn't have any set job for her. Of course, the more guns in the team the better, safety in numbers...
but we handled ourselves pretty well, even with one person short of a full team.'
"Pass me the scope, Lex?"
Lex passed her the scope, and continued thinking.
'She would've done better, heading her own team, anyways. She's replaceable... but I wonder how she is right
now...'
"Lex, the barrel."
"Hm?" She shook herself out of her thoughts. "Oh. Here."
Ice made a face when Lex passed her the magazine for the rifle, while Lex just sunk deeper into her
thoughts.
"I said the barrel, not the magazine."
"Hm? You said something, Stevie?" Lex looked up again.
"FORGET IT!" Ice threw her hands up. "You know what, just forget it!"
"What... what did I do?"
"You are in your own little world, I don't even know how you got out of that last gunfight alive without
Stevie around to pull your ass outta the line of fire," Ice raved. "You keep on radioing for Stevie when you radio
me! And just now you called me Stevie--"
"Ice--" Lex winced.
"If you miss her that much, god, why don't you just go get her!" Ice was on a roll. "I swear to god you're
so fucking in love with her. And Mother just keeps asking me every chance she gets, 'is Stevie coming back?', 'is
Stevie coming back?'!! Fucking Christ, its like a broken record!"
"Ice!" Cookie had come up from behind, and now lifted the girl up with a hug from behind. "Calm down!"
"Put me down! I'm gonna fucking kill them! They're driving me crazy!" Ice wriggled in Cookie's grip, but was
unsuccessful.
"Let her go, Cookie." John came out of nowhere, a frown on his face. When Ice was let down on the ground,
she stomped off, away from camp.
"She needs some time alone." John explained. He turned to Lex now, and he looked every bit the disapproving
father. "And YOU need to seriously rethink your decision of kicking Stevie from the squad. Everyone misses her. But
I think you miss her the most."
"He's right," Cookie agreed.
"Shit, this is like intervention or something?" Lex suddenly felt so angry. She felt angry at her squad for
going against her, felt angry at Stevie for being the cause of this, Dekker for offering a way out. Most of all,
angry at herself for going the easy way out.
"I'm going for a walk." Lex huffed. She went and got herself a bottle of hard liquor, before heading out
into the wastelands.
"Blasted squad..." Mummbling to herself, Lex popped the top, and took a swig. A couple of swigs later, she
was done in. Paladin Lord Lex was notorious for not being able to take her alcohol.
When night fell, and Lex was still not back at camp, Ice and Mother went out in search of their leader.
"Found her, over." Ice radioed back to John and Cookie, who were guarding the camp. Lex had camped out under
a tree, and was currently talking to the knothole in said tree.
"And let me tell yoouuuu somethin'..." Lex burped, and covered her mouth. "Scuse me... but... yeah... what
was I saying?"
"Its really kinda funny, but sad at the same time." Ice tried to hide the smile on her face, but couldn't
help it and doubled over, laughing.
"I miss youuuu, Stevie." Lex had the saddest look on her face. Red hair had escaped the neat ponytail Lex
usually put her hair in, giving her a dishevelled look, adding to how hilarious she looked.
"Oh, man. We gotta record this. Come on, Lex, give me your Pipboy."
"Hairyago." Lex handed it over willingly. "Ya-ya want my shirt too?"
"Thank god for technology." Stevie activated the camera on the pipboy. "Thank god that scribe insisted we
install this camera add-on to her Pipboy."
Mother sat down, grinning, as Ice recorded Lex, fumbling to strip herself.
"She's soooo going to kill us tomorrow."
"Kill you." Mother said proudly. "I do nothing. Hope not kill me."
"Look, I got boobies." Lex looked down at her chest, as if this was the first time she realized she had
breasts. She bounced on her ass a bit, then giggled. "Jiggly."
Mother let out a wheezing laugh. "Dead me, soooo worth it."
"Oh. My. Lord." Ice quavered in helpless laughter.
"T-Thas Paladon LOOORD Lex to y-you shouldier!" Lex put her hands on her hip. She lost her balance, and fell
over onto her back, where she lay giggling.
"Don't show Dekkerrrr." Mother rumbled. "Get Lex in trouble."
"Course not!" Ice smiled. "But lets have a little fun! Lex?"
"Yuppers."
"Wanna do a little dance for the camera?"
Lex struggled to her feet. "Strip dance?"
"This just gets better and better." Ice turned the camera onto herself. "Senior Knight Ice here, and I would
like to say I in no way regret recording Sexy Lexy, supahstar Paladin Lord Stripper. Let the show begin!"
"Gotta have some music!" Lex protested, but started shuffling around in a horribly unsexy drunken dance. To
give her a bit of credit, she had a bit of rythym. But to whatever music she was dancing to, nobody knew.
~~~
"Oooooooh GAWD.." Lex woke up, feeling the sunlight pierce through her eyelids, into her pain. She felt
totally sick, and the sudden nausea didn't help either.
"Stick her out the window, stick her out the window--!"
The warning was just in time, as Cookie almost threw Lex out the window, and John kept a steady grip on Lex
as she yakked out of the car.
"Good morning, you sexy thang, you. Sleep well, princess?" The sickly sweet tone in Ice's voice made Lex
panic a bit. And suddenly, it all hit her. The ridiculous dance she did last night... dancing nude under the full
moon...
"So I hear you bared your tribal ass for all to see, Lex." Cookie casually said, as if it was a normal thing
to bring up, like commenting on the weather.
"Heard you had a tattoo." The usually uptight John put in.
"Marked at birth, more like." Mother wheezed.
"Fuck." Lex suddenly remembered her spectators. "You assholes! You recorded it, didn't you?!"
Everyone laughed, which confirmed her worse fears: they HAD recorded it. Last night wasn't just some
horrible, horrible nightmare.
"I'm gonna be sick." She hung out of the car window, and emptied her stomach some more.
"Here," John handed her a canteen of water, that was sweetened with something. She took two big gulps, and
puked even more.
"It helps you get the alcohol out of your system." John explained.
"Fuck... you guys..."
"We love you too!" Ice called back.
"Sexy Lexy the Paladin Lord Stripper," Mother's panting laughter was joined by the rest of the squad's.
"We're heading back to base, Lex." John informed. "Meanwhile, you just keep drinking those liquids. Don't
want you to get dehydrated."
"I was always nice to you, John. " Lex looked at John with pleading eyes. "Can I get my Pipboy back?"
"Sure." John gave it to her promptly. "I already erased the video."
"Not before putting the footage on a holodisc." Cookie guffawed. "Hey, Lex: 'Got me lookin' so crazy right
now, your love, you got me looking so crazy right now'!"
cookie swung her arms around wildly, and even though she hit a couple of the people in the car, everyone
laughed at the impresson Cookie did of a part of Lex's drunken dance.
"I hate all of you." Lex sat back in the seat. She had a pounding headache, but it was fast fading, thanks
to John's stash of medicine. But that only let her mind feel how clearly mortified she was.
Oh yes. Life was a bitch. And it was biting Lex's ass at the moment.
The rowdy atmosphere soon died down. It would be a day or so before they reached camp, and this was with
non-stop driving. Everyone settled in for a nap, and after a while, only Ice and Lex was awake.
"So are you going to talk to her?"
Lex had been dozing off, but woke up at Ice's words.
"I... don't know." Lex shrugged. It had been two weeks or so since they left the base. Two weeks and...three
days, counting today, of not seeing Stevie.
"You really should talk to her." Ice glanced back at Lex. "Its really not good. You're missing her a lot, I
can tell. And I bet you she's missing you too."
"But what she wants from me, I... I just can't give her!" Lex blew out her breath in frustration.
There was a brief silence, then Ice spoke again. "Well... if you really feel that way, no-one can force you
to like her like that. But you know, I think you two would make a good couple--"
"Ice--"
"No, seriously!" Ice forged on. "Why don't you stop being so stubborn and try it out? I mean, it won't kill
you, right? Just tell her its a trial period for you."
"Thats... I dunno... it doesn't sound right. Like I'm just... using her." Lex glared at Ice, who was looking
at her from the rearview mirror. "You know, for the loner of the group, you sure do talk a lot to me."
"You do that to people, Lex." Ice gave Lex a small half-smile. "You bring them out. People just... like you
because you're so nice. And I kind of envy stevie. She just let herself go and loves you and isn't afraid of how
humiliated she gets, how much rejection she gets from you. I sometimes wish I could have done what she did."
Again, there was silence.
Lex cleared her throat nervously. "Are you saying...?"
"Yeah, it was a small crush, though." Lex could clearly see the blush flower on Ice's pale face. "I just...
you know what, its over. Just forget it. Go to sleep."
Lex, not wanting to really deal with the issue, fell silent, but stayed awake on until the sun set.