Veronica Santangelo was another lesbian who loved dresses, but she was short and chubby and slightly mischievous. Her childlike nature was endearing, even if her love for punching things was kind of scary. Elizabeth didn't mind though, she was happy to have another member of her little team.
Team Six, Veronica offered as the team name, and Elizabeth shrugged. Boone was too grumpy to give an opinion, so the vote was a landslide.
Veronica was chatting with Elizabeth about her role in the Brotherhood of Steel before Boone pushed both of them down behind an old military truck and peered around it, looking through the scope on his gun. "You could have warned us," Veronica huffed, and Boone waved her off.
He took four shots, then stood up, "Legion raiding party."
"Seriously?" Veronica gasped.
"Who were they looking for?" Elizabeth asked. She hoped they weren't looking for her…
While she wasn't too popular she had been making a name for herself in the NCR with small things like getting Primm into NCR control, or killing Legionaries when they got too close. Maybe Caesar was mad at her?
"They're not looking for anyone anymore." Boone said, slinging his rifle back on his shoulder and continued on.
Boulder City, or what was left of it, was just little ways ahead. After being blown to heck during an NCR ambush, what remained was a memorial and sad, sad saloon on the outskirts of the ruins.
The ruins were guarded by the NCR, and forbid Team Six to enter without permission. Somehow, Elizabeth was able to convince him to let her, and only her, inside. She gave the other two a pre-determined "wait here" signal and disappeared into the ruins.
Apparently, some Khans were held up in the ruins after getting into a firefight with the NCR and had taken some of them captive.
She took a deep breath to quell her anxiety (once more) and entered the building holding the Khans.
The man inside looked familiar, and pleasantly surprised. He grabbed his gun and unlocked the safety, aiming it at her, "What the hell? You're the courier Benny wasted back in Goodsprings. You're supposed to be dead!"
"I got better," Her voice shaking, but she wasn't trying to hide her fear. She reached for her gun, and the man's aim wavered, "And here I thought us Great Khans were tough to kill. So, what happens now?"
"Where's the Platinum Chip?"
He put the gun down and sighed, "Don't have it. Benny stole it, right before he stabbed us in the back. He's probably back at the Strip by now, laughing at us." he snarled. Clearly, he also didn't like Benny.
But there were other problems she promised to talk about, so she negotiated a deal to get the Khans out of Boulder City safely with the return of the hostages. She was about to leave when he spoke again.
"Here, a souvenir for you," He pulled something out of his pocket and tossed it to Elizabeth. She caught it and raised an eyebrow. It was a fancy lighter; silver, and had some pretty engraving on it.
"It's Benny's lighter. Shove it up his ass when you catch up with him."
The blue fog was brighter tonight, Elizabeth noted. Usually, it was just a soft glow, but tonight, it was much harsher. It was like a full moon was out, but it was a new moon.
Veronica was happily cooking everyone's meal, Boone was cleaning and fixing up his rifle, and Elizabeth was staring up at the fog, drifting off into space and listening to her playlist on her Pip-Boy.
The soft music was filling up the comfortable silence between the three almost-vagabonds, and relaxing them from a long day's walk and stress from whatever was troubling them.
Elizabeth sighed rather loudly, causing both of them to glance at her.
"Sorry, I was just thinking."
"About what?" Veronica asked, looking back at their meal. She wasn't wearing her ever-present hood, and it was the first time Elizabeth has ever seen her hair.
She was eastern Asian, with very soft and delicate features and pale skin, brown eyes and short, straight black hair.
Elizabeth breathed in deeply, then out slowly, "I don't know."
"You don't know?" Boone spoke, surprisingly. He didn't look up from his gun.
"Nothing makes sense anymore. Not since I... never mind."
He just grunted, and Veronica turned over the cooking steaks over the fire, then sat next to Elizabeth.
"What're you thinking about?" Elizabeth sat up on her elbows, wanting to change the subject. Veronica tucked her hair behind her ear.
"I've just... been thinking..." She sighed, "The Brotherhood is failing. I've always known that. If we don't change course, we're going to fall apart or... fade away. But until recently I haven't understood where we went wrong or how to fix it. I think I need to go home"
Elizabeth was a little taken back, but still she smiled, "Of course, first chance I get."
Veronica smiled widely, if that was even possible. "Great. Thanks. Thank you. I'll encourage people to name their non- ugly children after you, seriously," She hugged Elizabeth, which hurt from the angles they were at.
Elizabeth caught Boone smiling just a little, and then it was gone. It made her feel better, for some reason.
Veronica finally got off her when Elizabeth started to feel crushed, and returned to the steaks, which were almost done.
As the song on the radio ended, another one began a little while after that, and Elizabeth sat up, to eat dinner and then get some rest.
Elizabeth talked to the woman in charge of the Crimson Caravan, Alice McLafferty, for some work. She, in turn, gave her a job to convince someone to quit and something Elizabeth didn't expect.
"There's a small trading outfit, Cassidy Cravens, that I'm interested in acquiring. They've been rather competitive, so it's time to buy them out. I have it on good authority that the owner, Cass, wants out of the caravan business. Cass frequently trades with the NCR, so you'll likely find her at the Mojave Outpost."
Elizabeth's heart fluttered as she remembered the drunk, yet cute, woman at the Outpost. She gladly accepted the job.
It took about three days, but they made it to the Outpost. Elizabeth sent her companions off to do whatever they wanted and sat down in the stool next to Cass. She set down her bottle of whiskey and smiled at Elizabeth.
"You come around like a bad habit. What's on your mind?"
"Actually, the Crimson Caravan sent me, they want to buy out your caravan," She took out the paper and slid it over in front of the other woman.
Cass set her drink down rather harshly, and it startled the other. "They want to buy Cassidy Caravans? Don't they know it's burned to ash? No... even in times being that they are, not sure I'm looking to sell, even for all the whiskey in Reno."
"What? Why not?"
"If someone came up to you and offered you a thousand caps for your name, would you take it?"
She was about to answer, but Cass cut her off. "Actually, you know what, fuck it, I don't want to hear your answer anyway. Point is, I made the caravan what it is, it's me."
"This is the offer letter here, the terms are fair." She wouldn't know though, since she can't actually read.
She picked it up and read it, then glanced up to Elizabeth, then back to the paper. "Alice McLafferty, eh? No, I see the zeroes... and I know she's good for them," She set the paper down and sighed, "still, it's not about the money. Dad'd spin like a twister if he ever heard I sold our name for anything."
"Are you sure?"
"Look, I know you came all this way, and that takes some drive, especially these days. Just doesn't feel right, trading history for a slip of paper."
"This outpost is the last place you want to be trapped," Elizabeth tried, and Cass seemed to agree.
"That... that's a good point, it's the caravan clearance that's got me stuck here. I'm sure this bar's getting tired of propping me up. I'll put my name to it. No sense trying to hold the past between your fingers when it's nothing but dirt." She signed the paper, "All right... there you go, caravan's yours. Feel kind of relieved, actually. Guess I didn't realize how much I was carrying around with just the name." She sighed in defeat.
"What will you do now?"
"No idea. Maybe... head back West? Though the idea of heading back there with me tail between my legs isn't appealing."
"You could come with me," Elizabeth was thankful Cass couldn't hear her heart beat faster.
"Go with you? And why the hell would I do that?"
"Stay here, you know exactly what's going to happen, day in, day out."
"So fighting boredom is your argument, huh? Walking the Mojave with you can't be any worse than here, that's for sure. All right, I'm in." She smiled, then stood up and grabbed what little she had with her.
"Caravan of four now," She said, smiling toward Boone and Veronica.