Tattoos On My Mind

Tell Me

This isn't even what I intended to write when I sat down to write but this just flowed out so easily. I hope you like a slightly more Rhyiona take on telling about Jack. Also, I was listening to She's So Mean by Matchbox Twenty while writing this, not that it has much to do with the fic itself but it's such a good song so I figured I'd put it out there.

Fiona was perplexed, nobody else had seemed to notice Rhys acting differently ever since they had met back up in Hollowpoint, before that even now that she thought about it; not even Vaughn had brought up his best friend's nervous behavior and acted like everything was fine. Athena just seemed suspicious about everyone and everything so she wasn't much help either. She was also perplexed by the fact that she in fact did notice, she had only known him a short time and wasn't exactly sure how she felt about the fact that she had almost instantly noticed something off about his mannerisms. After an internal battle that had left her more confused than ever she finally just decided to go with her gut and confront him about it. She made her way to the roof of the caravan, where he had disappeared to earlier, and was shocked by what she found.

"I guess we can work together for now," Rhys said into the nothingness.

Fiona gave a look to Loader Bot and Gortys, they were so cute together, who just shrugged; or at least as much as a pair of robots can approximate a shrug. She took a breath and spoke.

"Rhys," she called out in a steady tone. "Who are you talking to?"

Rhys had been so engrossed in his conversation with Jack that he hadn't even noticed Fiona come up on the roof. Now he stood with an expression somewhere between shock and horror painted on his face. He tried to think of some intelligent excuse, but all that came out was a random jumble of words that even he couldn't make sense of.

"Rhys," she said in a gentler tone than the one she had used before. "What's wrong; you've been acting strange ever since you fell and hit your head; you didn't do any permanent damage did you?"

He was again caught in between emotions as he was touched that she was actually thinking about his wellbeing but also still in horror at what could happen if he told her the truth.

"No," he said completely failing to sound or act normal. "Nothing like that."

"Smooth," he heard Jack say from behind him making him jump; he had forgotten that he was still there.

"What did I tell you about sneaking up on me," he said to Jack forgetting for a moment the situation he was in.

"Like that right there," she said pointing at him. "What was that?"

"It's nothing," he lied.

"Don't say anything," Jack said still behind him. "It was bad enough when you told Mr. Six Pack about me, but there's no way telling a Pandoran you have me inside your head can end well for you, or me."

"You trust me don't you Rhys," Fiona said breaking his concentration on Jack's rambling.

"Of course," he said. "Never doubted you for a second back in the Gortys facility."

"Then you know you can tell me anything right," she said. "We're in this together and if there's something bothering you then I deserve to know about it."

"I know," he said. "It's just a really weird thing to tell people."

"You ever see two skags gettin' it on," she said with a smirk. "I can handle weird."

"She's right," Jack said. "After you see that you're never really the same."

"Okay fine," Rhys said. "Just promise you won't freak out."

"No freaking out here," she said. "Just a concerned friend."

Rhys smiled at her use of the word friend again, it wasn't just a ploy to get Scooter off their backs.

"Handsome Jack is in my head," he blurted out.

"What," she said, a weird expression on her face.

"The drive thing that I downloaded into my head," he explained. "It had some sort of holographic copy of Jack on it; he's in my head now."

"Wow," she said in an unsure tone. "That's not what I was expecting at all."

"It's ok though," he said trying to sound reassuring. "He's only a holographic interface so he can't do much of anything."

"I heard that," Jack said in an annoyed tone.

"Rhys he's in your head," she said. "How is that ok?"

"He's actually been helpful so far," he said. "Helped me and Vaughn escape from Vasquez the first time he cornered us."

"That doesn't change the fact that it's Handsome Jack in your head," she said. "Do you even know half of what he did down here?"

"I always like to hear people talk about my accomplishments," Jack said.

"Yes," Rhys said. "They don't let you get away without knowing every detail of Jack's life up on Hyperion."

"Then how can you think having him in your head is a good thing," she asked.

"I don't," Rhys said slightly aggravated. "But this is how it is so if you're going to shoot me or something can you just get it over with because I don't think I can handle the waiting while Jack makes snide comments about it."

Surprisingly she found herself closing the distance between them to wrap him in a hug.

"Sorry," she said. "I wasn't even thinking about how hard this must be for you."

"Thanks," he said.

"You may have Handsome Jack inside your head," she said. "But we can still get through this together."

"Fiona," he said in a serious tone. "I trust you."

"Yeah," she said. "You've already proven that."

"If something happens I want you to take care of me before I hurt someone," he said pleading with her with his eyes. She didn't know what to say to that, casting her gaze at the ground at the thought.

"Hey," he said in a comforting tone. "It's just a precaution; like you said, we'll get through this together."

"Together," she said pulling out of the embrace.

"Awww," Jack said clapping. "I'd be even more touched if you weren't just talking about me like I wasn't even here."

Before Rhys could reply to Jack's comment he felt Fiona slap him. A look of confusion and surprise spread across his face. At least the blow got Jack to go away, for now.

"What was that for," he said confused.

"I guess we can work together for now," she repeated his words to Jack. "Were you seriously making a deal to work together with that psychopath?"

"Oh that," he said still rubbing his face. "I have to keep him on my good side, otherwise he might try to take control of my systems and then you'll have to act."

"Oh," she said casting her gaze at the ground again at the thought of her having to kill him.

"Let's go see what Sasha, Vaughn, and Athena are up to," he said trying to lighten the mood.

"Alright," she said seeing that he didn't want to talk about it anymore.

After the two had gone back inside the caravan Loader Bot and Gortys once again had the roof to themselves.

"That got pretty deep," Loader Bot said.

"So cute though," Gortys chimed.