Author's note: The song for this chapter is Clean Bandit - Stronger.
Interludes
Angela
"Diego, honey," I called from the small cubby in our room that I affectionately referred to as my dressing room. "What do you think of Chief Harkness and Elle as a couple?"
Diego grunted in response and I pursed my lips in annoyance. I loved my new husband with all my heart, but sometimes it seemed like we were polar opposites. I loved a good gossip, and he was a man of few words who refused to speak ill of anyone. I suppose that was one of the things I loved about him, his idealistic nature and the goodness of his heart that led him to think the best of everyone. Nevertheless, I was determined to win this one.
"Diego?" I put a pleading tone in my voice, and he relented.
"I think they'd do well together," he said in his wonderfully deep voice that always gave me shivers. "She brings that spark of happiness and innocence that our chief needs, and he contributes a restraint that she sorely needs."
"Diego!" I squealed. "Elle's perfectly nice. I thought you didn't believe in saying anything bad about anyone?"
"Elle is a wonderful human being," Diego agreed. "After all, she brought us together. But love, you have to agree that she is a bit on the wild side and needs someone to steady her."
I chose to ignore that. "Elle's been gone for a month now, trying to finish her father's project. Poor Chief Harkness looks like someone kicked his puppy, and he's been grouchier than usual since she left."
"I do feel for the man," Diego said. "Being separated from the one you love is never easy."
"You think he loves her?" I asked.
"Absolutely! It's all over his face every time he looks at her," Diego said.
"Aww," I cooed, utterly entranced by the idea that our hard-assed Chief Harkness could actually be in love with Elle, who had blown into Rivet City like a breath of fresh air. "That's so sweet. I just know she loves him too."
"I believe you're correct, Angela," Diego said gravely.
"Speaking of love, husband," I said, having finished getting ready for the night and ready to blow my new husband's mind with what I was wearing, "you're gonna love this. Elle gave it to me, and I've been saving it for just the right moment." I stepped out of my dressing room and watched Diego's eyes bug out at the sight of me in the very revealing red nightie that Elle had given me as a wedding present.
"Angela…!" he managed to choke out, and nothing else needed to be said.
Mei
"…and then she says to him "Is that a mini nuke in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?" And it was a mini nuke, though he must have been breaking the laws of physics to get it into those tight pants he was wearing." Flak guffawed at his own story while Shrapnel and I laughed appreciatively.
About a week after Elle left Rivet City again, that idiot slaver, Sister, managed to come by more liquor than he'd ever seen in one go, and got so drunk that he thought it was a good idea to rob Flak and Shrapnel's right before the marketplace closed for the night. I happened to be walking by just as Sister was pulling out a gun to shoot the momentarily distracted Shrapnel in the back, and thanks to Elle's training, before I had time to think about it I had whipped out my own little pistol and shot him point blank in the back of the head. Flak and Shrapnel figured out pretty quick what had happened, and not only did they straighten everything out with Security, they hustled me over to Bannon's to get me some clean clothes, then whisked me away to the Muddy Rudder for a sit down, a wet cloth to clean my face and arms with, and a restorative drink.
Flak made no secret of his past as a slaver in Paradise Falls, or Shrapnel's as a raider, though both were now reformed businessmen who didn't take kindly to anybody messing with their friends. And, as they informed me, I was now included in their small circle of friends because "Elle likes you, so we like you. Plus, you got rid of that annoying asshole." So this night, as with every night since then, I found myself in the Muddy Rudder, sharing a table, drinks, and a lively game of cards with my two unlikely companions.
"You look sad, Miss Mei," said Shrapnel, who wasn't nearly as rude once he counted you in his good books.
"I just miss Elle," I said. "She would enjoy this." I gestured to the cards and the drinks.
"She would at that," Flak grinned. "We'll have to invite her when she gets back from whatever epic quest she's on this time to save the wasteland."
"I do like Miss Elle," Shrapnel said suddenly. "She's like a beautiful wasteland flower, fragrant and soft on the inside, but tough and deadly on the outside. Chief Harkness is a lucky man." He raised his glass in a silent salute to the absent Elle, drained it, then slammed it back down on the table.
Dead silence greeted him, as neither of us had ever heard the normally laconic and mostly downright offensive Shrapnel wax poetic before. Flak squinted at his partner for a long moment, and then thumped him on the back.
"Well spoken, friend, well spoken," he proclaimed, "but you might want to take it easy on the whiskey for a while. It's making you maudlin."
We all had a good laugh at that, and the card game resumed.
Vera
"Buckingham, I'm going down to check on the stills," I said to my Mister Handy robot as I headed around the front desk at my hotel, the Weatherly, and out the front door. "Make sure that Bryan stays out of trouble while I'm gone."
"Yes, mum," he replied, as he always did, and I knew that the hotel, and my nephew, would be well looked after.
I knew I should have picked up an escort to take me down into the bowels of the ship, which weren't the safest place during the day, and got downright scary at night, but I foolishly thought I'd be okay on my own. After all, security had just cleaned out the latest crop of mirelurks, so there shouldn't have been any hazard to going down for a quick peek at the stills to make sure that our latest batch of vodka was coming along nicely. I was drawing a little of the potent liquor out of one of the stills to check for purity when I heard the telltale squishing footsteps and small growling noises that heralded the approach of a mirelurk. I whirled around to find the monster right behind me, menacing me with its claws, and I'm ashamed to admit that I screamed at the top of my lungs. I thought I was going to die down there in the dank underdecks of the ship, but a bullet whizzed right past my shoulder, impacting the crustacean in the face with a sound remarkably like the twang of a guitar string, and it collapsed in a stinking heap at my feet.
"Wh…what?" I stuttered, and heard a voice from behind me.
"Sorry to scare you like that, Miss, but I didn't think you wanted to become some oversized crab's dinner."
I whirled around for the second time in as many minutes to find a handsome stranger in a beige trench coat and matching fedora, who was just holstering his .44 magnum revolver. My legs gave out from the shock, and he quickly scooped me up in his arms and carried me to a small room off the distillery that contained a couch and not much else. The man set me down on the couch and sat down next to me with his arm still around my waist to steady me.
"Who…who are you?" I muttered weakly.
"Well," he chuckled, "your purple haired friend calls me 'The Mysterious Stranger,' but you can call me Farmer."
"Oh," I said stupidly. "How did you know that I needed help?"
"I saw you heading down here and figured you could use someone to watch your back, so I followed you. Lucky for you."
"Indeed," I said. "You watch me often?"
"Who wouldn't watch a pretty girl?" he said suavely.
I honest-to-god blushed at this. "You…you think I'm pretty?" I stammered, acting just like Angela when she used to get tongue-tied around Diego.
"I think you're downright gorgeous, doll," he murmured.
"I…I…how can I ever repay you?" I said hesitantly.
"I can think of a few ways," he drawled, eyes roaming suggestively up and down my form. When I blushed again, he dropped his gaze. "Kidding," he muttered.
"Really?" I purred. "Because I wasn't." Throwing my usual proprieties to the wind, I put my hand behind his neck to draw his mouth down to mine. "Let me show you just how thankful I am that you saved me."