Cort woke up with a pounding headache and a calmer frame of mind and body. Charon had half-carried her back to the room, her perception of the correct locations of up and down displaced and her coordination shot entirely to hell. It had taken her five solid minutes to jimmy the hotel room door open again, and by the time she got through she was literally dropping. All she recalled after that were vague memories of the ghoul tucking her against himself, placing one large hand possessively on her chest, and Dogmeat jumping up into his preferred location in front of her after they had settled. She cracked one eye open and spoke, wincing at how loud she sounded to herself. "Charon? Oh, God."
"Over here. Fucking hung over, aren't you." Carefully raising her other eye, she blearily focused in on where the ghoul was sat on the floor, methodically going over their belongings and repairing anything that needed to be.
"Maybe." Cort was fairly certain a large chunk of her misery was due to the knot on the back of her head, but refrained from mentioning it, not wanting to upset him.
"Serves you right after the shit you pulled. You scared the living fuck out of me last night with that jumping shit."
"Well it worked." Sliding out of the bed she started groping for her socks and boots, pausing to grab a bottle of water and a pile of Mirelurk meat on one of their plates when he pointed towards where he had set them on the floor. "Mother hen."
"Batshit loon."
She slumped next to him on the floor, tying her laces and smiling dazedly when he leaned in to give her hair a few tugs, carefully nipping at her damaged ear after a moment's hesitation. Oh, oh wow. Thank Christ. His speed might be fast enough to keep me from shorting out entirely like an oversexed circuit board. Cort finished with her boots and pushed against him, cuddling. "Love you too. Have you seen Dad yet?"
Charon pushed back lightly before returning to his work. "That's what woke me the fuck up. He knocked on the door sometime around dawn and I impressed on him just how fucking tired you were from all the fucking shit you had to go through, and how much of a fantastic fucking idea it would be for you to keep sleeping."
"Christ, did he even sleep?"
"Don't know, don't care. He said you could find him in the Science Lab whenever you got up. Which you can go do after you fucking eat."
"Yes, dear." She chirped facetiously at him and did as she was told before pulling herself together and heading out to look for her father, signalling Dogmeat to come along for company. She found him where he had told her to look, having an animated discussion with Doctor Li, looking up when she clunked down the stairs towards them. Thankfully Zimmer seemed to be absent, and she made a note to check with everyone else she could think of that might have an idea where the escaped android was at the earliest opportunity, not sure how long the odd little man would wait before hiring someone else. If the creepy bastard hasn't already. I need to protect that machine...man. There's all kinds of business I need to catch up on. That, Agatha, and Gob's letter. I really, really need to deliver that. And talking to Barrows.
"Oh good honey, you're up. We need to get moving back to the Memorial." James looked at her, his eyes bright but with dark hollows beneath them. Cort frowned.
"Daddy, did you even go to bed last night?"
"I had an hour or so in there somewhere. You told me that you and Charon cleared the Super Mutants from the Memorial when you were there last, correct?"
"Yeah, but there's probably at least a couple more back in there by now. There's always more, they're worse than the radroaches." Cort frowned. It had been a while since she had given any serious thought towards the ugly creatures and whoever might be producing them. Brightening, she thought about how much easier it would be now that she had her father to bounce theories off of. "Hey, maybe we could find out where and stop-"
"For the moment that isn't important, Cort. Are you and Charon ready to leave? The others will need your protection."
She responded slowly, uncertain and a little hurt. "Uh, yeah, Dad. He's repairing everything and then we just need to repack."
"Good. I'll be helping the rest of Madison's staff prepare, and we'll meet you on the other side of the bridge."
"Oh...okay, Dad."
Cort watched him go towards a small group of people clustered around one of the research tables, then turned back to Doctor Li when she spoke up, surprisingly effusive.
"I can't believe you found him! I'm sorry I was so short with you previously. After seeing James for the first time in so long and then you, it brought back a lot of regrets. Thank you for bringing him back to, to the project."
Li began to flush, and Cort felt a momentary surge of jealousy and then pain for her unremembered mother, the desire to break the scientist's nose returning. 'Madison' and 'James' now, is it? Isn't that just fucking special. Schooling her face into a pleasant smile, she nodded towards the other woman. "Don't mention it. This is where he wanted to go, and it was so very important to my Mom to finish this. I'll join up with you all outside." Not bothering to wait for a response, she tipped a cheery salute and jogged up the stairs, heading back to the room while brooding unhappily. On the way she passed more than one resident emerging for the day who gave her a dirty look. Oh great. Here we go. A pageant of the Capital Wasteland's Most Tolerant. I wonder who'll win Miss Congeniality.
"Corpse fucker."
Cort spun in place to face a scruffy-looking dark haired man in a Wastelander outfit hanging out of the Common Room door. And we have a winner. "The correct term is necrophiliac, you irradiated roach jockey."
"You're a fucking piece of filth."
"You're fucking close to getting my knee in your crotch, dickless. What, upset a ghoul can get more than you can?"
"Listen you little bitch, I don't have problems finding anyone to screw."
"The palm of your hand doesn't count, jackhole, and I bet that's all you've been screwing." Cort grinned when he flushed, and got ready to fire off another rapid series of taunts. Verbal supremacy was her favourite game.
"Let's see how much you fucking smile when a bullet blows that piece of shit's brains out. I've got friends, you little fuck, that would just love to do him, and then you. Do you a lot."
Everything suddenly going red as he leered and made a grab for her crotch, she snapped. The next few moments were a blur that ended when three security officers pulled them apart, one of whom was Harkness, his arms wrapped around Dogmeat's chest as the animal snapped towards the man Cort had attacked. "Miss, I'd really have to regret anything unfortunate happening to your animal. Why don't you calm down now?"
Immediately relaxing in the grip of the officer holding her, she looked over towards her dog. "Dogmeat, leave off." He instantly sat back and looked up to her, grinning. "That's my best boy." Harkness cautiously let him go and stood up.
"Now, would either of the two of you like to tell me what the hell is going on here?" The scruffy man snapped out from where he was being restrained against the bulkhead wall, one side of his face raked open from Cort's nails. Noticing, she started surreptitiously flicking her fingers to dislodge the skin she felt stuck underneath them.
"Crazy Vault bitch attacked me, I wasn't doin' nothing!"
"What! You fucking liar, you flung insults like a monkey chucking shit, then threatened to kill my friend and rape me!" Cort suppressed a laugh as the officer holding her quietly piped up from behind.
"What's a monkey?"
Harkness gave him a quelling look and turned to address the crowd on either side of the doorway. "Is that true? Any of you others hear that?"
An elderly man in a brown sweater vest stepped forward, nudging through the front row of people. "I did, Chief Harkness. While I cannot condone the resulting violence, the fellow did exactly what she said he did, and provoked the lady first by grabbing for her." Cort beamed at him, gratified that at least one person she didn't know wasn't being a complete asshole.
"Right. Thank you, Father Clifford."
"You-you're going to believe that ghoul fucker over me?" Harkness frowned. There had been scuttlebutt all over the ship since last night about the Vault dweller's proclivities, which he attributed to Vera Weatherly's complete inability to keep her mouth shut. Unsurprisingly, the majority of the residents found the idea reprehensible, although Harkness himself had queerly never found differences of appearance to be something to get hung up over, and didn't care what the girl got up to as long as she behaved. The negative reactions from others however, he found distasteful on a deep personal level he couldn't quite identify.
"The young miss has a witness, a damned good one, and I have no patience for discriminatory bullshit, and even less for threats of murder and rape in my city, no matter the target. She has also not caused problems before, whereas you have ended up on my radar at least twice. You are going to spend a night in the brig, and then you're out, permanently." He flicked a hand down the corridor and watched the other two officers pull the man down the hall, who was still screaming out profanities, and then turned to Cort after shooing the crowd away. "As for you Miss, I think it would be best if you left for a while. I'm not banning you, but I will if this happens again, and I wouldn't recommend patronizing the Weatherly Hotel in future if you're fond of your privacy. Next time, just report the incident to me or one of my officers."
Cort goggled at her luck. "Can-can I please go to the Marketplace first? I'm setting out with Doctor Li and her staff to the Jefferson today and I'll need more ammo if I'm going to protect them properly."
"Fine, but you bug out right smart after that."
Cort tipped him a salute and beat feet the instant he nodded back, Dogmeat loping behind her. She entered their room just as Charon was packing the last of their belongings away, digging the remaining bloody tissue out from under her nails. "We're heading back to the Memorial now, just need to go to the Marketplace for stuff and then meet up with everyone outside the carrier."
"What the fuck happened to your face?" Charon went over and carefully grabbed her chin, peering at the swollen tissue over her left eye, purple starting to blush out around the socket.
"I, uh, just got in a fight. It's fine, don't worry about it. He looks worse!"
Cort smiled up at him, clearly believing that this was an appropriate trade off for the massive shiner she was starting to get. Unsurprisingly, he found it did nothing to dispel his temper, particularly when the split in her lip started to bleed at the movement. "He's going to look dead when I get the fuck through with him."
"No, no no, I told you it's fine. Security dragged him away for the shit he was saying, but we've gotta leave now." He narrowed his eyes at her and she tilted her head down to blot her lip on her shirt sleeve, avoiding the look.
"What shit."
"Stupid shit, it doesn't matter. I pounded the snot out of him for it anyway, so let's go." Cort squeaked when he pulled her against him and he buried one hand in her hair. Frowning, he looked down at the top of her head. While short fused in combat, she was remarkably good at keeping her temper outside of it, even when people were antagonizing her on purpose. Charon smelt a molerat.
"Fucking bullshit. I've seen people piss you off before without you attacking them, so something's wrong. What fucking shit, Cort?"
He felt her breath rush out of her as she pressed her face into his shirt and sighed. "I got called a...mean name for being with you and...and then they threatened to put a bullet in your head. It doesn't matter, I took care of it."
Belatedly, the ghoul started to get an idea of what James had referred to by being close with her, and the consequences. Leaning forward, he picked her entirely off of the floor, cradling her head against his neck as a rush of unsettling emotions ran through him. Fuck. This love shit is fucking complicated. "You're not going fucking anywhere without me the fuck again, ever." He squeezed her harder when she wrapped her own arms around him and patted at his back, comforting.
"Don't be foolish, I had Dogmeat with me. He could kill at least half the ship if I told him to. Besides, I'm the one who threw the first punch."
"I don't care. You keep getting hurt and it's my fucking fault. This shit, the fucking cannibals, the-" He shut up, startled as Cort pulled back and lightly pressed her lips against his. He spent a long, pleasurable moment re-exploring her mouth before she broke away to talk to him, flushed.
"No, not your fault, I keep telling you. I'll get hurt no matter what, and I'd rather get hurt with you. So knock that off and stop worrying about the shit you can't change. Besides, we're leaving here, and we won't be staying in this shithole hotel again. We can find a room in the Metro to hole up in or something next time we're through." She looked at him, expression going from serious to teasing. "Now, how about we go have some fun and blow the guts out of stuff, huh? If you know, you can manage to hit anything with that piece of shit shotgun."
Charon decided to let himself be distracted by her kiss and the familiar game and played along with her. "More than you will with that gutless, jumped up hunting rifle."
"Lousy shot."
"Jackass." He slid a hand up the back of her shirt before setting her down, Cort pushing up on her toes to press her cheek against his.
"I love you too."
Okay folks, I need a break. I took one around 25 chapters ago, or something, but it's been well over 125,000 words and I'm getting kind of crisped around the edges. Won't be too long, probably about a week, and then I'll be back in the saddle. Thanks again soo much for those of you who have favourited and taken the time to review, I seriously wouldn't still be writing this if not for your encouragement. Truthfully, I was an inch away from not even starting this in the first place, so it means a lot to me that you guys enjoy it. I had no idea I could go this far! I hope you'll all stick with me when I start a new installment once this part of the story concludes.
