We were perhaps an hour into the Wastes when my employer suddenly turned around and stared at me.

"Charon, are you scared of heights?" She asked in complete (and rare) seriousness and I frowned more so than usual.

"… No." I replied at length and she continued to stare at me, her eyes slowly narrowing.

"Y'know, you don't have to lie. Butch and Jericho aren't around to laugh at you or anything." She gestured in the general direction of Megaton where the other two members of our party waited as I struggled to process her words.

"If you permit it, may I ask where this is coming from?" I asked and she shrugged.

"Well, every single time we need to get down a cliff or something, you always look for a way around. It's not very fast." Her reply was.

"And climbing down is not very safe. It is a function of my contract that I try to minimilize risks to your safety." I intoned and she blinked then laughed.

"Oh, Charon! All this time I was worried that it was cos you're actually a big fraidy Ghoul under all that muscle and armour…'

I scowled.

"… But since it's just you being worried about me, it's ok.' A particularly unnerving grin had appeared on her face "Boy, it's a relief that you're not scared, because we've gotta start moving faster!" She started walking over to me then, and I was surprised when she gently rested her hands on my chest.

"What are you doing?" I breathed and she looked up into my eyes as her arms slowly encircled me.

"Charon…' She whispered "… Hold your breath."

… What?

My employer suddenly pushed me with all her strength. This normally wouldn't have done much, her being neither all that big nor all that strong, but it was enough to make me stumble back a couple of steps. That normally wouldn't have done much either, except that in this case a couple of steps back lead to a rather long drop off a rather high cliff.

"Holy shit!"

Even though with our combined weight we hit the water below in perhaps a few seconds, it was still enough time for my entire life to flash before my eyes. Being a ghoul, my life hasn't exactly been short either. The freezing cold radioactive water that invaded my nose and mouth reminded me that swimming usually helped when forced into these situations and I began to kick towards the surface, my employer still clinging to me.

I wonder if she knew that ghouls don't particularly relish getting wet. Even though the radiation heals us, it does have an inclination to soften out our skin and make it peel off easier.

It's never a pleasant sight to see some of what little left you have of a thing floating away downstream…

"Are you crazy?!" I snarled at her the second I broke the surface and had my breath back. She simply laughed.

"That was brilliant, you were so scared." She giggled as I kicked towards the shore. It was only my contract that prevented me from removing her from my shoulders and holding her underneath the water until the bubbles stopped.

"You're fucking insane." I growled and dumped her into a patch of mud. She shrieked indignantly and I felt a little better.

"You got me muddy!" She yelled.

"You got me wet." I replied calmly.

She glared at me for a while and I began to wonder if she was going to punish me for my actions. Perhaps she'd make me carry her all the way to Northwest Seneca Station. Nothing would surprise me after that.

Then… She began to laugh. A big, warm sound that was infectious and annoying in the sense that it made me not want to be angry at her anymore.

"I'm sorry, Charon.' She said when her laughter died down, though a big grin remained on her face "I did the same thing to Butch and Jericho, The only way I could make 'em stop trying to kill me afterwards was to say I was going to do it to you too."

I sighed.

"You are truly the most insane employer I've ever met...' I said and offered her my hand.

"But perhaps, you are at times the most interesting too."

Her grin widened slightly as she took my hand and I helped her up. "Did you just compliment me?" She asked, brushing mud off her pants. I couldn't help but smile.

"If you permit me to say so, don't get used to it." I said and she rolled her eyes.

"Come on big guy. Murphy's waiting on his Sugar Bombs."

As we walked along, slowly drying off in the early morning sun, I stole glances at my employer; I'd never met anybody like her. There were Smoothskins who hated Ghouls and those who preached dogmatically that we were just the same as everyone else. My employer was one of the few who honestly saw no difference. I could always count on her to treat me like an equal and for that, I could only be eternally grateful.

… Even if she did push me off a cliff and laugh.

This was going to be chapter two in my other Fallout story, which is now discontinued as a standalone piece. I may rewrite the first chapter and include it here.

This chapter is based on all the people who take the quick way down in the game and get pissed off that the followers won't do the same. :D