Today's chapter starts Carmen's life as a true Wastelander.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, settings, or other properties except Grey and Carmen. But you knew that already.

Grey woke up the next morning to Wadsworth hovering over him. He quickly rolled to the side before the robobutler's thrusters could burn off his hair.

"Good morning, sir! I hope you slept well."

"As well as I could, I suppose," Grey moaned as he picked himself off of the ground and stretched his aching back.

When Carmen had found out the house only had one bed, she was understandably reluctant to share it with the man she had just met. So, like the gentleman he was, Grey kindly surrendered the bed to her. At least, that's what he tells people. In truth, Carmen had locked him out of the bedroom, forcing him to sleep on the couch downstairs. Unfortunately, the piece of furniture had been salvaged from the ruins of a Springvale house and couldn't be less suited for sleeping if it were covered in nails. In the end, he had opted to spend the night on the floor instead.

Grey hobbled over to the refrigerator, cursing to himself, and rummaged inside for something to eat. A few minutes later, Carmen came down wearing the Vault jumpsuit she apparantly now used as sleepwear.

"Morning, partner." She said the second word almost endearingly, as if it would make up for the fact she had stolen his room. Grey just sneered as she took a bottle of water out of the fridge and raised it to her lips. Something made her stop before she actually took a drink though. "Do you sleep in those sunglasses?"

"Of course not." He tapped the ever-present lenses. "I have a special pair for that. Though I barely had time to grab them while you were hurling me from my room. Do you do that with all the guys you know?"

"Nope, you were my first."

"Good to know."

"Shut up."

After Grey finished his breakfast, he stood up and paced the room like a drill instructor as he began his lecture. "Today's your first real day as a Wastelander, and Wastelanders have to be able to pull their own weight. That means that you will responsible for keeping your gear in working condition as well as having a sufficient amount of ammunition and supplies. Most of what you'll need will be collected in the field or looted from your enemies." His pacing brought him in front of a door under the staircase. He turned to Carmen and smiled as he gripped the handle. "But that doesn't mean I can't help you get started."

With a flourish, Grey pulled the door open and ushered Carmen inside. What she saw inside both impressed her and made her a little more wary of her partner. Shelves, tables, even the walls were covered with every weapon imaginable as well as their respective ammunition.

"Is it not glorious?" Grey said in a way that reminded Carmen of the time the Overseer had conducted a tour of a holographic art museum in Vault 101. "Take your pick, Carmen. I've got assault rifles, shotguns, a missle launcher or two, even a laser pistol. Good luck finding ammo for them though. I also have a couple of swords and other melee weapons if you're into that kinda thing."

After browsing the selection, Carmen eventually armed herself with an assault rifle and some brass knuckles in addition to her pistol. Grey's weapons of choice were the scoped magnum and a custom built shotgun he called "Minerva." He told the story of one day when he was performing maintenance on a scavenging trip and ended up with some spare parts. Earlier that day, he had picked up some schematics from some ruins and he used them to make a shotgun with the loading mechanism of a revolver. He claimed this allowed faster reloading and intimidation value.

Half an hour later, Carmen sat on the couch lacing up her boots while Grey stitched a tear in his hat.

"What's the plan for today?" she asked him after the repair was done.

"Well, if what Moriarty says is true, your dad went to the radio station in the D.C ruins. I've never been to that side of the river, but I've heard that place is a warzone filled with Super Mutants, hulking monstrosities with just enough brains to know how to use guns. That and the fact that you're so new to wasteland life makes me think we should put that off for a couple of days."

Carmen was disappointed by this, but she did admit that he had a point. "Okay. So what do we do until then?"

"You are going to get a job."

"What?"

"The best part about being a Wastelander is that everyone else always has something that needs to be done with our help. You can make some money and learn the ways of the wastes while you're at it."

"Ways of the wastes? Come up with that yourself?"

"It was one of Wadsworth's attempts at humor. I'm not proud to say that I found it clever. Anyway, you need work and I know just who to ask."

The two made their way across town to Craterside Supply, the closest thing Megaton had to a general store. Carmen went to grab the doorknob when Grey grabbed her by the arm and shook his head. He pulled a knife out of the sheath inside his sleeve and slowly pushed the door open. The room contained several tables covered in assorted junk and devices in different states of disrepair. There didn't seem to be anyone inside, but as they crept further in, a man also wielding a knife jumped out of an adjoining room to the left. Grey leaned back just in time to avoid a swipe at his throat.

Carmen tried to draw one of her weapons, but Grey told her to stand down and aimed a thrust at his opponent's midsection. The man danced out of reach then unleashed a flurry of slashes Grey dodged by swaying to the side. After three or four slashes, Grey deflected one of the blows with his blade and closed the distance, placing his knife against the other man's neck.

"I just killed you," Grey whispered.

"That may be true, but I took your reason for living."

Grey looked down at the knife point positioned right below his belt, then back up at the man in front of him.

Then they both started laughing.

Carmen was trying to wrap her mind around this when she heard clapping and looked up to see a woman with dark-red hair on the walkway above.

"Eight seconds, Grey. A new record! Your visits are always so exciting, but do you think you could actually buy something for once?"

Grey took a minute to catch his breath and dry his eyes before he realized that Carmen was still by the door looking increbibly confused. He waved her over, and Carmen slowly approached.

"Carmen, this is Moira Brown." He indicated the red head above them. "She owns this place. And this guy is...I don't even know his name, but he watches the shop to make sure nobody steals anything. Whenever I come over, we have these sparring matches like you just saw. He's not exactly friendly towards most people, but I think he liked something about me when we first met."

"Really?" The mercenary spoke up. "The way I remember it, I threw you out of here on a daily basis."

"Details." Grey waved off his remark. "Anyway, I'm here on business. Carmen here is fresh out of the Vault and needs some work."

Moira's eyes lit up at this. "Is that right? Well, I think I have the perfect job for her. Wait there." She stepped through a doorway and descended the stairs in the room her guard had ambushed them from.

While Moira was making her way around the shop, Carmen noticed out of the corner of her eye that Grey had a mischievious smile which could only mean one thing. He'd set her up for something. Well, if she was falling into a trap, she was going to pull him into it with her.

"Before you give me the job, Moira, Grey is my partner, and I'd like for him to be included." She was pleased to see that cheeky grin disappear as she spoke.

"Why of course, dear! The more the merrier." Carmen smirked at her companion while his extreme displeasure glowed from behind his sunglasses. "Recently, I've come up with an idea for a book that will help teach people how to survive out in the wasteland. The problem is I have no way to do the research myself and no one to help. Until you came along, of course. All you need to do is carry out the experiments and bring me the results."

"Sounds good. We'll start right away."

"That's great! The first thing I want to work on is the effects of radiation on people. So if you don't mind, could the two of you go out and get a little case of radiation poisoning? Since we live in the middle of a nuclear wasteland it shouldn't be too hard. Oh, but don't worry. I'll fix you up once you get back."

"No problem. Let's go Grey." Carmen grabbed him by the arm and pulled him out of the shop. Once outside, he turned on her.

"Why did you do that?"

She put her hands behind her back and looked up at him like a lost child. "Because you're the big bad Wastelander teaching a helpless girl how to survive out here." She laughed when she saw she had caught him off guard. "What do you have against Moira anyway?"

"It's not that. I like her well enough, in fact she's one of the few friends I have. She's just a bit...quirky. I mean, did you hear what she wanted us to do? Radiation poisoning? And she asked it so casually you'd think she had asked to borrow a pencil or something."

"Like she said, she's gonna heal us when we get back, so it's not a big deal. Question is how we go about it."

Grey's head turned to the side, but before Carmen could see what he was looking at, Grey tells her to wait there and runs off. A few minutes later, he returns with a pitcher and a couple of glasses. He hands her one of the glasses and pours water from the pitcher into both of them.

"What's this?" Carmen asks.

"This is how we're going to get those rads for Moira." He moved over to a table outside Moira's shop and set the pitcher on top. "All the water out here that doesn't go through a purifier is radioactive to some degree, some places more than others. All I did was scoop some up from that pool around the nuke."

Carmen spat out the sip she had just taken. "Is that even safe?" It may have been her imagination, but she could feel her tongue tingling.

"I guess we'll find out." He clinked his glass against hers and sat down in a chair next to the table. The two spent the next hour sitting quietly, sipping their drinks and watching the townspeople go about their daily routines. Customers going in and out of the Brass Lantern and Moriarty's Saloon, Lucas Simms patrolling the area, Confessor Cromwell standing in front of the bomb preaching about some entity known as "Atom." Only when she went for her second refill did Carmen say anything.

"You've been unusually quiet over there, Grey. Is this not the glamorous lifestyle of a Wastelander you were hoping to teach me?...Grey?"

She turned to where the Wastelander had been sitting across the table from her only to find an empty chair.

"You son of a bitch!"

I think it's safe to say Grey has a pretty high Sneak skill. The first part also seems to imply he's a bit of a Gun Nut. Get used to these perk jokes, I have a lot of them.