Jericho looked at the kid in amazement, ignoring the painful wound on his right ear from where the bullet had grazed him.

He'd pulled the trigger. After all these years, he'd taken aim at his head, made peace with himself, and pulled the trigger with every intention of splattering his grey matter across the shoddily put together walls of his filthy metallic shack.

The girl was breathing heavily, as if it were her who had the gun to her head instead of him. She had her arm out. Her hand was still on his wrist. She was shaking and it seemed like if she'd let go she'd collapse to the floor.

Somehow, she found the strength to straighten herself up and asked very calmly, "Are there any more bullets left?" He shook his head, still too shocked to speak, "Good." Cassie raised her hand and brought it down hard on the back of the older man's head, "WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?!"

The smack seemed to be just the thing to snap him out of the shocked state he was in as he jumped to his feet and growled, "What the hell were you thinking? You think it's wise breaking into my house?"

"You're one to talk," She spat shoving him back down onto the bed. It wouldn't be easy to look down on him with him towering over her, "And what was with the gun? Did you think, 'Hmm… I'm hungry. Maybe I'll go home and bite down on a bullet.' You're supposed to be some badass raider guy not some pussy who takes the easy way out."

"I TOLD YOU," He shouted back, "I'M NOT A FUCKIN' RAIDER!" Sick of this kid thinking she could push him around, Jericho raised his leg and kicked her in the stomach, sending her into the chair. He stood up and went into his main room to grab his assault rifle off the table and aim it back at the girl he just forced to gasp for air, "What the fuck are you doing here kid?"

Cassie coughed, clutching her stomach where he had kicked it and hoping that he hadn't broken anything, "I…" she wheezed, "Came here… to h-hire you…"

He slid the rifle into his back holster and pulled out his pack of cigarettes, "Hire me," He shook his head. "Somehow I don't believe you."

The girl staggered to her feet, what a weakling, "I'm serious. I want your help."

"Why should I help you?" He hissed crushing the empty cigarette box, another disappointment in his day.

"Because, I just saved your life," Jericho shook his head and turned to face his dented front door, "Hey don't turn your back on me!" The kid reached out for his shoulder and guided him to face her again.

"I never asked to be saved… And you wanting my help is hilarious. Ha fuckin' ha kid," However, upon saying this an idea struck the former raider, "However… If you really want me to help you out…" He grabbed the girl by the shoulders and pushed her back against the wall.

"No, Jericho… anything else… just not that…" She wouldn't even look him in the eye. She just kept her gaze to the teddy bear lying on the floor, cast away when Jericho had jumped to his feet before. And when did she learn his name anyway? It wasn't fair… saying his name like that.

"Fine," He grit his teeth and released her, "Instead," he backed up, giving her room to breathe, "Tell me something."

Cassie blinked, unable to believe that he'd release her without hurting her or yelling at her for something, "S-sure… What do you want to know?"

"Who did you kill when you went to Minefield?"

"W-what?" It was such an odd question. Out of all the things he could have asked… "I told you, I killed a bunch of raiders." Her gaze dropped. She was lying and he knew why.

"No, I'm not talking about them," He grabbed her chin and pulled her eyes upwards, forcing her to look at him, "I'm talking about the other person you killed… The innocent one."

Her eyes began to get red, like she was holding back tears because she didn't want him to see her be weak and cry, "I-I didn't---"

"Cut the bullshit," He growled, "I could see it all over your face when you got back. You killed someone. Someone you think didn't deserve to die."

"But I did---"

"Don't you fuckin' lie to me kid," Her eyes finally couldn't handle the pressure building up anymore and a couple tears escaped her and her lips began to tremble.

"He was an old man… holed up in Minefield," Her voice was quiet and shaky, "He shot at me first… he was just scared…" She ran her fingers through her hair nervously as she recalled what had happened, "I tried to sneak up on him but he caught me and held his rifle right to my head, but he was out of ammo," the tears were leaving trail marks down her cheeks, "I could have let him go. I never would have seen him again… I don't know…" She seemed to be using the wall for support now.

"You shot him anyway?" Jericho finished, "So what?"

"W-What?"

"I said 'So what?' Your survival instinct took over," The girl looked at him confused, like she had expected to be shunned by someone who used to go around the wastelands killing for fun, "He could've had a fuckin' knife. You didn't know," He didn't know why he was helping the girl justify her actions but he felt he just had to. Maybe it was his bizarre way of thanking her for stopping him from shooting himself, "If you'd have hesitated he prob'ly would have grabbed your gun and killed you with that!"

"I… I hadn't thought of that," Cassie seemed relieved and a hell of a lot less shaky.

"What did you want my help with anyway?" He asked, vaguely remembering that she had a request for him.

"Oh… Um…" She stood next to him and held up her pip-boy 3000 which was housing the image of a map of the capital wasteland. The girl pointed it all the way to where the GNR building was located, "I need an escort to here."

"And you need me to keep an eye on your vault pampered ass?"

Normally, this was the part where she'd get all huffy and make an attempt to storm off but instead she smiled slyly, "Basically yeah," The kid put away her display and placed her hands on her hips, "And you can stop pretending to be such an asshole."

"What do you mean pretending?" Jericho raised an eyebrow to the girl's change in attitude towards him.

"I know you were just saying those things to cheer me up," She poked his chest like a little kid teasing and grinned, "So, are you coming or not?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll come…" He answered, opening his door and stepping outside, "Just as soon as you give me one thousand caps for supplies."

The lone wanderer who, with the addition of Jericho, wasn't so alone anymore, stood in his disheveled shack, dumbstruck.

"…Asshole."