Okay this is the new and improved version of the chapter i hope everyone likes it

It was evening now; the trip toBoulderCitywas uneventful for the most part only a few scorpions and a two hour rest at the 188 Trading Post. The group came to the destroyed part ofBoulderCityand saw an NCR soldier standing by a junk wall.

"Lieutenant Monroe? What's he doing here?" James asked out loud.

"You know him?" Ashlyn asked.

"Yea I did some stuff for him and he owes me some favors for it." James said as he walked towardMonroe.

"James its been too long."Monroesaid.

"What's going on here?" James asked as he shook the man's hand.

"Some Great Khans have some of our boys." The Lieutenant said.

"I'll see what I can do." James said knowing his uncanny ability to diffuse most situations.

James turned to Ashlyn "These guys might have been with the one who shot you. We might have finally found him."

"I remember there being more than just him, even if he isn't here I'm sure that they can lead us to him." Ashlyn said as her eyes got ever so slightly tinted red.

James pushed open the door to the ruins of the pre-war city. Ashlyn, ED-E and Rufus followed behind the Rogue Ranger. James set his helmet and riot vest near a pile of rubble.

"Why are you taking off your armor?" Ashlyn asked as she petted the dog who had just pawed at her leg.

"I'm still recognizable as a ranger. This way I can join you." James said.

"Your smart." Ashlyn said with a smile.

"Rufus stay." James said "Have ED-E stay here too."

Ashlyn said a command to the robot and followed after James as he walked towards an NCR trooper. James asked where the Khans where. The trooper said it was the building at the end of the street. The Ranger again began to walk with Ashlyn soon falling in behind him. He walked cautiously down the rubble covered street as he observed the Great Khans in their hiding places.

James stopped at the door to the building and opened it for Ashlyn. She walked in and James followed. The Ranger never saw such shocked looks on a Great Khan in his life.

"You're the courier Benny wasted back in Goodsprings." The Khan said as he slowly began to step back.

"Yea I got better." Ashlyn said "Now where the hell is Benny I've got to take care of some things now."

"He stabbed us in the back and took of with that chip he took from you. He's bound to be at the Tops back in New Vegas by now." said the Khan.

"Thank you, now I hear your in a bit of trouble with the NCR." Ashlyn said "I'll help you get out of here since your helping me get revenge."

"You'd do that? Oh, here's Benny's lighter stick it where the sun doesn't shine when you meet him." The Khan said handing her the lighter that brought back memories for The Courier.

Ashlyn walked out of the building and back through the ruins to the Lieutenant. James knew exactly what she had planned he was going to use his favor to free the Khans and that's just what he did. After the Khans and the NCR had begun to leave James rounded up Rufus and his armor as Ashlyn had ED-E begin to follow her again. The sun had begun to set as the group left the ruins for the final time.

"We're gonna stay here tonight." James said walking towards one of the half destroyed buildings.

"Sounds good to me." Ashlyn said yawning.

James walked into the building and closed the doors as best he could. He walked into what would have been the bathroom and noticed that it was completely empty having all sanitary devices removed. James noticed that it would be big enough to fit Ashlyn, Rufus and himself.

"This is gonna be where we sleep if you don't mind being kind of close to me and Rufus." James said setting his helmet in the corner of the room near the entrance.

"I don't mind at all. I'm guessing that ED-E will be our guard?" Ashlyn asked.

"Exactly." James said, happy that he wouldn't have to cause a fuss about the matter.

It took just minutes for the group to settle into the room. Both removed their armor and set the items in one corner of the room. Then Ashlyn pulled out a hot plate she had to help heat their meal up. James knew that he and Rufus would simply eat some Pork and Beans. Ashlyn pulled out a small pot and filled it with some water and placed noodles inside it. She cooked the noodles then set the pot on the ground and pulled out a spork to eat it with. James placed his can of Pork and Beans on the hot plate and opened the one for Rufus with his knife.

"What's your favorite food?" James asked Ashlyn who was just swallowing a mouthful of noodles.

"Any type of meat I guess." Ashlyn said.

"You're my kind of person." James said smiling.

"What's yours?" The Courier asked.

"Meat or Pork and Beans." James said pulling his can off the hot plate then shutting the device off.

"So where you from?" James asked as he stabbed open the can.

"The east." Ashlyn said trailing off.

"I'm from a small town in the NCR." James said knowing that Ashlyn's home was a touchy subject based on her answer.

The three sat in silence and ate for a time. James stared at Ashlyn as she curled her legs up to her chest and stared straight forward.

"What the hell has she gone though?" James thought to himself "For that matter what is it that possessed me to go with her?"

James mentally shrugged at the questions he asked himself. He was happy he went with Ashlyn at this point. He'd have hell to pay if he was caught by the NCR but he never really liked them in the first place, only becoming a ranger to get a means to gain caps.

"Have you ever been in love?" James asked The Courier.

Ashlyn obviously shocked by the question nervously answered "N-no….I've never tried to be with someone, I always was worried about getting attached and losing them."

"I thought I was in love before. She stabbed me in the back." James said "I was gonna ask her to marry me the day that she did what she did."

"I'm sorry." Ashlyn said "What did she do though? If you don't mind letting someone like me know."

"I found her with another man in the hotel room I was renting in New Vegas. The man was lucky that NCR soldiers can't carry weapons onto the strip. I would have more than knocked him out cold." James said rubbing his right knuckles through his glove.

Ashlyn turned on her pip-boy light and it cast a greenish light against the walls. She looked into James' eyes at this point. He had tears about to roll down his cheeks. Ashlyn had only seen one man cry before this, her father. As she saw this happening a flush of bad memories came into her mind. Ashlyn crawled over to James and hugged him in an attempt to help him and her both to forget about the past for the current moment. It worked.

James curled his arms up Ashlyn's back until his hands gripped her shoulders as he pulled her closer as they hugged. They both cried, whether they where crying from the sadness or for no reason it didn't matter to either of them. They both enjoyed feeling the warmth of the others body against their own. They held each other for a seemingly endless time until something caught their attention. Music, piano music to be exact.

They both looked to see ED-E hovering just on the other side of the doorway playing the music from the radio built into his body.

"I'm starting to like him." Ashlyn said smiling "He knows how to set the mood."

"Yes he does." James said "You said you never loved anyone, but have you at least been with someone before?"

"Yea I've been with a couple guys but never did anything much with them." Ashlyn said slightly embarrassed at her lack of experience in the romantic department.

James looked into Ashlyn's eyes contemplating what his next move was going to be. After a few seconds James spoke.

"Let's get some shut-eye shall we?" James said.

"Oh…okay…." Ashlyn responded obviously disappointed that he didn't kiss her at the perfect moment that had been created.

James leaned against the wall and Rufus took his position under his arm as usual. The only thing different was Ashlyn set her head on James' shoulder and leaned against him. She soon drifted off to sleep; James knew she had because he heard her breathing slow. He stayed awake and succumbed to the endless barrage of thoughts thrown into his mind.

"I can't do this. If I get attached to her it will only end badly, like it did before." James thought to himself "She seems too perfect, too kind."

Ashlyn rubbed her head against James' shoulder and exhaled the air in her lungs.

"At least she's sleeping. I've got to protect her for as long as she wants me around regardless of what happens between us." James decided.

James closed his eyes. He didn't realize how tired he really was. The Ranger fell asleep in seconds unable to open his eyes again. His sleep began with darkness then he was in the world of dreams. He opened his eyes and saw green. Something uncommon in the wastes. There where roads, intact with paint that looked fresh and not at all faded.

James also saw cars that where just like the roads. He saw people in pre-war clothing. The sky was blue not the grayish color that it was in the wastes. He saw tall buildings all of which where intact (excluding the one that was currently being erected). All of the people around him where smiling and talking to one another.

James thought this whole scene was perfect and peaceful. He was caught off guard as he heard a loud sound. He turned to see the whitest light he had ever seen. He could make out the faintest hints of a mushroom cloud behind the light. James fell as he felt the wave from the explosion push him. He was out of breath heaving trying to refill his lungs.

James didn't catch his breath because the immense heat came next. He could feel it cooking him, charring his skin, burning all the way to the bone. Then the light was gone and his body too. His vision let him view the world freshly burned by the strongest weapon of man. Fire was covering everything along with ash. The roads and building where now almost completely leveled only small towers remained where they once stood.

James looked at the sidewalks where the people where standing. He saw blackened charred skeletons in their place. Everything was destroyed in a matter of seconds. He was angry. Angry that anyone could be so heartless as to do this. As he reached the point that he was about to scream in anger he awoke.

His face was covered in tears and Ashlyn was lightly shaking him asking him if he was okay.

"Yea…I'm fine…bad dream is all…" James said looking at Ashlyn in the darkness.

Rufus rubbed his head against James' chest then pawed at his leg.

"What did you dream about?" Ashlyn asked The Ranger.

"I saw what it was like to be inside the blast radius of one of the atomic bombs that caused the world we live in…..all of those people…." James said feeling deep sorrow for all of the people that died during The Great War those two hundred and four years back.

Ashlyn hugged James again. It was close to four in the morning. The Courier and Ranger didn't sleep anymore that night. They simply held each other until the sun rose.