You guys are the best! I love reading your reviews and seeing new people following, all that. So...a few of you have asked for something a bit on the saucy side. Well, this chapter has a hint of that at the end. Enjoy this chapter (and your bit of smut). As always, thanks SO much for following, reviewing, favoriting. You rock!
After being bed-ridden for three full days, Hancock nearly dragged Betty away from the Castle when he was well enough to travel again. Up the coast, down, across the Commonwealth again and back, it didn't matter to him. As long as Betty was at his side, all was right in his world.
Though the day was a bit overcast, Betty walked through the surf in her full General's regalia, boots in hand and her pants rolled up to her knees. Hancock's arm hung over her shoulders as he passed a cigarette between them. It was effortless, to be with Betty, and Hancock couldn't feel more grateful as he wove his fingers through her silky hair.
"You were right about the hat, you know," said Betty as she tipped the General's hat back to get a better view of her ghoul.
Hancock chuckled and said, "I'm always right about that shit. Clothes can make the man. How's the water feel?"
"Freezing, but I missed it so much I don't care," she replied. She gazed out to the ocean and asked, "Isn't it beautiful?"
Hancock nodded and said, "Didn't think anything left out here could still be so pretty...present company excluded.."
"I bet you say that to all the girls you've had," Betty said with a laugh.
"Haven't had you yet, and I'm still sayin' it. Most of the others, well, didn't have to bother with much sweet talk. Hell, I didn't know their names half the time. But I ain't one to say shit I don't mean."
"Yet?" Betty asked with a grin. "You're so sure about us?"
"Surest bet I'd ever make. And really, what's the worst that could happen? We don't fit right together? So what? Ain't enough to sever us or nothin'. But the other side of the coin, though...that's what makes me a gamblin' man. My kinda risk." Hancock pulled out a flask from his pocket and took a few mouthfuls. There was something about the sea and booze that just went well together.
Betty shuddered as Hancock's hand drifted from her ponytail to the bare skin of her nape with a slow and gentle grip. It felt a bit masochistic to have the hand of a killer stroke a spot so vulnerable, but what a hell of a thrill it was.
"Might wanna put your boots on, love. End of the line up ahead and back into the city," he said.
The vault girl waded back into the ankle-deep water to rinse her feet of sand and squealed with surprise as her ghoul scooped her up and carried her back to a bench at the edge of the small beach. She propped her feet on his knee to dry them for a few minutes as they shared another cigarette.
"So, this Cricket who sold you the duds, she's at Bunker Hill?" Betty asked.
Hancock took another swig from the flask in his coat pocket before he replied, "Best place to catch her besides the outskirts of Diamond City."
"You're not going to kill her, are you?"
He shook his head. "Just gonna scare her a little. I gotta warn ya, Cricket's a pain in the ass to deal with. Our...discussion is gonna come off as a helluva lot worse than it is. No matter what happens, ya can't step in unless I ask ya to. Cool?"
"As long as you know what you're doing...is she going to hit you or something? If that's the case, maybe I should wait somewhere else for a while," said Betty with furrowed brows.
"Why, you gonna slug her if she does?" he asked with a laugh.
"...I might point a gun at her," she replied as she slipped on her boots.
Hancock held Betty's chin and said, "In all seriousness, Cricket ain't one to fuck with. Gal's got heat like ya wouldn't believe. Keep your cool and it'll turn out fine."
Even during her wilder youth, Betty was never much of a scrapper. Her cohorts were the muscle, and she was the brain. The wasteland brought a fierceness out in Betty she didn't know she had, and the more it showed, the braver she felt. If any of those punks saw her now, they wouldn't believe their eyes. She knew just who to thank for her new-found bravado, and she took Hancock's hand as they continued toward town.
As night fell, the trading town of Bunker Hill stood out among the ruins with its bright lights and flurry of travelers coming and going. Betty followed close behind Hancock as they walked up the stone steps and into town, the ghoul checking behind trash bins and dark corners as they walked. At the town's center was an open-air market where most of the caravans had permanent trading posts, their wares displayed openly on the counters as weathered guns for hire watched for any trouble.
"Now...where's that fuckin'...CRICKET!" Hancock shouted.
A strung-out young woman lifted her head from a counter at the back of the market, two hulking guards on either side of her, and a needle still stuck in the crook of her elbow. The hood of her yellow jacket slipped back and revealed a mane of wiry, brown hair that hadn't been combed or washed in months.
"Shit!" yelled Cricket. She reached for her pistol with shaking hands as the ghoul rushed over and pulled her by the collar over the counter.
Both guards pointed their rifles at Hancock's head as he grinned and said, "Let's talk about them grenades you sold me last time."
Betty couldn't help but move for her assault rifle, but Hancock lifted his free hand and motioned for her to back away without catching the attention of the others. As much as she didn't trust the guards to be trigger happy, she trusted her partner, and took a step back before resting her hands on her hips.
Cricket cackled with laughter and asked, "How did those handfuls of hot, hot, heat treat you? Better than sex, right?"
"Where the fuck do you get off sellin' me a bunch of duds and a Nuka that damn near killed me?" Hancock growled.
"Duds?" she croaked.
"Yeah, DUDS, ya batshit little psychopath! But the best part was that Nuka grenade you slipped in there, a surprise, I'm sure. Bitch went off early and almost snuffed me! Ask her!" he snarled as he pointed at his partner.
Cricket and her guards turned to look at Betty, who nodded and said, "At least two of the frags were duds and the Nuka grenade did pop too early. Took me a few days to put John back together again."
The junkie arms-dealer glanced back at Hancock and gave him a wide, frightening grin as she said, "Can't control duds, Hancock."
"Ya can by not leavin' 'em out in the rain and shit! I bought those the day after that big rad storm passed over Goodneighbor, you know, where you pick up your weekly chem order? Maybe I've been too generous with my pricing..."
"Ohhhhhh...but that wasn't me! Pete here," she nodded towards one of her guards, "Pete was the one that left them out!"
"I t-tried to dry t-them all," the guard called Pete stuttered. "Even set one off t-to t-test t-them."
Hancock let go of Cricket and asked her, "How're ya gonna make this right, girl?"
Cricket stood in perplexed thought for a moment before she shot her guard in the head without warning or mercy, and looked to the ghoul for approval. Pete fell to the floor at Betty's boots and when she looked around in shock, she found that no one around them had even noticed what unfurled and continued with their business.
"Works for me," said Hancock with an appreciative nod. "Might wanna get better goons next time...or maybe ease off the psycho, and that's me sayin' that!"
Cricket scratched at her neck and arms with a shrill laugh. "New goon sounds good, but I love my psycho...and my bullets.."
"Don't we all?" asked Hancock. "See ya at Goodneighbor soon?"
"Few days! Running low on my stash" Cricket chirped as she searched below the counter. She pulled out a couple of Nuka grenades and tossed them to the ghoul as Betty threw herself behind the counter, waiting for an explosion that never manifested. "To make up for those duds, yeah?"
Doing her best to not stare at the blown out end of the guard's head, Betty gave Cricket a weak smile and asked, "What kind of weapons do you normally sell...when you're not..shooting up or murdering your own guards?"
"If it can chamber, cock, and spit out lead, then I sell it. I sell slashers and clobberers, too, for those maniacs that like it up close," Cricket explained with a nod towards a grinning and very smug Hancock. "But hot death flying faster than the speed of sound...oh, my knees are getting weak just thinking about it."
"See, I ain't the only one who gets hard over a good gun," said Hancock.
"Will you still be here in the morning?" Betty asked as she rolled her eyes and dusted herself off. "We might need some ammo."
"Likely, and a part of every big purchase goes to planting little bitty trees that I'll blow up in your honor!"
Betty nodded slowly and muttered, "That's just what we need, less trees in the Commonwealth."
The pair waved good bye and Hancock steered them in the lodge's direction, far away from the deranged Cricket. The town was much busier than Betty expected it to be, and there were moments the crowd threatened to separate them, but Hancock's grip on her hand held firm.
Hancock's arm encircled Betty's waist and he said, "I'm gonna grab a drink. You wanna get a place to crash for the night?"
She nodded and replied, "I'd kill for a real bed and a hot shower."
"Here, you'll get both, no killin' required," he said with a wink. "Save that fire for another day."
Betty watched him walk over to the bar portion of the lodge, tended by an aging caravanner as she waited in line to rent a room from his son. There was something about the way Hancock held himself that made a grin appear on Betty's face, almost as if he were posing for a royal portrait. Damn it all if he wasn't one handsome bastard.
"New around here? I'd remember if someone like you passed through town," said the bartender's son to Betty with a smile when she walked up to the counter. "Don't see many gals like you out that often."
Hancock studied her face while he waited for the bartender to make his way over to him and decided right then if there were any sign Betty was into the young buck, he'd keep his distance, as much as it would sting. Surprised to see her mouth wrinkle into a smile, he waited on bated breath for her answer.
"That's very sweet of you to say but I'm here with someone," she said.
"Who's the lucky son of a bitch that snagged you? I gotta buy him a beer," said the bartender with a chuckle.
Hancock strolled over to the counter, his grin quite pompous, and answered, "That'd be me. Nice place you got here."
The bartender took a step back and replied, "Yeah, we wanna keep it that way."
Betty and Hancock both scowled as the ghoul asked, "What the hell's that supposed to mean?"
The young man smiled, his cheeks ruddy, and said, "It means, Mayor Hancock, that your reputation precedes you and we don't want any trouble."
"Formal title and everything! Bring me somethin' strong, and charge it to my beauty over there when she's done with our business," said Hancock.
Betty laughed and said, "I heard that!"
The bartender poured two shots of moonshine before passing one to Hancock. The ghoul downed his drink and explained, "You see, she holds the purse strings in our relationship. If it were up to me, I'd blow all our caps on booze and chems, but she won't let me have any fun."
"What? You're high right now!" she chimed in.
The young man lowered his head before he said to Betty, "My apologies; didn't know you were Hancock's girl."
"No harm, no foul," Betty insisted. "Any room for us to stay for a night?"
"Only got a set of bunks left," he said.
"Hey, I'm not going to complain about a real bed."
Betty counted out the few caps for the room and thanked the young man and his father before following Hancock up a ladder, who carried several newly purchased bottles of liquor in his arms.
"So, if I heard right, you're my girl now?" Hancock asked as he held aside the curtained door to their tiny room, containing only the set of bunk beds, an end table, and a lone chair.
Betty smiled and said, "I'm surprised you didn't step in right away when that kid was hitting on me."
"I knew you had it, and 'sides, I wasn't gonna interfere if you wanted to have a good time."
The ghoul set the bottles on the end table and dropped his pack and shotgun to the floor beside the bunks with a groan. He may have recovered from the encounter with a vengeful Queen Mirelurk, but still his ribs gave him a bit of trouble at the end of the day. Getting shitfaced sounded like a proper thing to do.
"But you know I'm happy with...with..." Betty began to say, but she couldn't bring herself to say the words.
"Say it, love," Hancock said, his voice rough.
Betty knew the moment she admitted her feelings for her partner, they'd never be the same again. There was a chance that it would be the one of the greatest things to ever happen to her in the Commonwealth, but if they crumbled...she didn't even want to think of something so awful. It was one thing to lose a lover, but to also lose your partner and best friend all in one shot? Betty wasn't sure if they could go through such turmoil and come out unscathed.
"I know this ain't...easy for ya, with all that's goin' on in your life and certain things already stacked against us, with me bein' too god damn handsome for the Commonwealth to handle and all. But I ain't never tread these sort of waters with a dame before, 'specially one I'm so crazy about. Don't feel right if I'm the aggressor, you feel me? You want more for us, just say the word and I'm all yours."
Hancock took Betty's hand and he kissed it before she walked into his embrace. It was times like these that reminded Betty that such a risk could be worth it, and more of her hesitation melted away.
"Thanks for not being pushy about anything," she murmured, fixing the collar of his coat. "I know this can't be easy for you, either and for the record, I don't give a damn what anyone thinks of us. It means a lot that you're willing to give me the time. I promise I won't need much more."
"Ain't nothin'," he said, kissing her cheek. "You can hit the showers first if you want, I'll clean out the guns and go when you come back."
"Here's hoping it's hot water."
When Betty returned from the shower, shivering and wrapped in a towel, Hancock had just finished cleaning out the last of their guns and his arms and hands were covered in grease.
"The...uh...water hot?" he asked, not at all ashamed to stare in such a lascivious manner.
Betty smirked and answered, "For less than a minute, although I didn't stay there longer than I had to. Not exactly used to communal showers. An old woman actually grabbed at my chest and asked how I'm able to keep them so-"
"-Perky? Been wonderin' the same, myself," he quipped. She chuckled and grabbed a clean shirt for him from his pack and hung it over his shoulder. "Thanks, love. Gonna grab some grub on the way back, you want anything?"
Betty shook her head and Hancock dipped beneath the curtain as she searched through her things for something to wear. The pair had no further plans for the night and she looked forward to shooting the shit with her partner. Perhaps this was a night to push herself a little more, and she decided that a simple white t-shirt and underwear would suffice for lounge wear. Besides, she wouldn't admit it to her ghoul any time soon, but she very much enjoyed the way he looked at her and hoped this would be enough to test the waters with someone new. After she dressed, she grabbed a dog-eared issue of Tumblers Today someone left on the nightstand and flopped onto the bottom bunk.
A half hour later, Betty looked up from her magazine and saw Hancock slip through the curtained doorway, wiping his face with the shirt that hung around his neck. His pants sagged dangerously low without a belt and his untied boots forced him to shuffle whenever he took a step.
"I have a weird question for you," Betty asked, an idea forming in her mind. She was positive Hancock would amuse her...and all she had to do was ask.
"Then I probably got a weird answer," Hancock replied with a laugh. "What's up?"
"Here, sit," she said, moving aside and patting the space beside her on the bed. Hancock slipped one arm through his shirt before Betty said, "You might wanna hold off on that."
The ghoul stood with mild surprise for a moment before he rushed over, undoing his zipper and said, "Oh, Birdie, I'm gonna be so good to you-"
"-Whoa, whoa, down boy!" Betty told him with a smirk. While she appreciated such enthusiasm to please her, she wasn't quite sure if she could go further with him just yet, considering there wasn't much privacy to their room. "I believe you, but could you sit and give me a second? I'm trying not to have a panic attack."
Hancock sat and turned to face her, a bit of concern written on his face. His heart beat wildly out of his chest with anticipation for her request. Didn't matter what it was, because it had to be good if Betty decided to wear nothing more than a thin shirt and underwear. As much as the ghoul wanted to admire the bare flesh of her legs that peeked out beneath rumpled bed sheets, he forced himself to look at her eyes and found a lump in his throat instead.
Betty held her hands above his bare chest and asked, her voice soft, "Is it all right if I..if I touch? I just want to-"
"-Go for it," Hancock encouraged.
Betty rested her hands on his chest and dragged her fingertips down the grooves, dips, and smooth areas of his scarred skin. As her palm came to a rest over his thumping heart, he let out a sharp breath and she froze in place. "Please, if I'm making you uncomfortable-"
"-No, not all. Just don't ask me to uh, stand up anytime soon. Heh, full mast over here."
Her hands flew to her lap and she said, "Oh c'mon, really? That? I barely touched you!"
Hancock laughed and said, "Just messin' around, I ain't that easy. Go ahead, I won't tease ya anymore."
Gaining back some assurance from his words, Betty thought that a more impersonal area would be best for her next bit of exploration. She traced the muscles carved into his forearms and biceps before she took his hand and brought it up to her face for a closer look.
"Make a fist?" she asked. Hancock curled his fingers into his palm and Betty wrapped both hands around his one. It was solid and surprised at such heaviness, she said, "I'd never want to be on the receiving end of this when you're pissed."
"Never."
"I know."
Hancock raised his brow and suggested, "You should give my face a closer look, too, if ya like. That was the craziest change when I turned. Couldn't keep me away from a mirror; kept seein' a stranger starin' back at me."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be. Ain't been an easy road, but it was worth it to get to you."
Betty smiled and peered into his dark eyes, her face closer to his than it had ever been and he had to fight his instincts to kiss her. Not just yet.
"Your eyes weren't always so dark, were they?" she asked as she ran her thumb over the ridge where his eyebrows would be.
"Nah, just a side effect from the chem. Used to be green."
"And your hair?"
"Blonde, wavy, and wild. Wore it in a bun, that's how long I kept it," he answered.
She chuckled and said, "Sounds like it suited you."
"Oh, it did. Only part of me I really miss."
Betty's hands drifted down to feel his cheekbones and jaw, and she was even bold enough to brush her fingers over his lips, a hint smoother than the rest of his skin. She began to lean away and Hancock turned his face and kissed her on the corner of her lip. She sat back, startled, and he laughed loudly.
"C'mon, I had to, you were right there!" he said to her. She laughed as well until he held out his hands over her chest and asked, "My turn?"
Betty gave him a light punch in the gut and he keeled over to the floorboards, mocking her strength.
"Ass. Go read a book," she said with a grin before she picked up her magazine again.
"A cold shower would be better but I already had one of those and I ain't standin' in line again." Hancock sat down on the bed beside her and asked, "You gonna tell me why you felt me up? I didn't even get dinner, candy, nothin'. You'd think you didn't love me at all."
Betty chuckled and answered, "Honestly? I was curious, but you're not as different as I thought. It's nice. Familiar."
"Ain't fair I can't play a game like that. I think I'd get shot."
She rolled her eyes as she grabbed his hand and put it on her breast before she went back to reading. "There, you big baby. Now we're even."
Hancock laughed at the new, bolder Betty before he laid down beside her and said, "I can die a happy man now."
"Because you felt up my chest?"
"Nope, 'cause you felt up my chest."
She got up, tossing the magazine on the table and looked over the labels on the bottles of liquor, opening the ones without to smell their contents until she found her prize: a dusty bottle of bourbon.
"Make me one would ya, please?" Hancock asked.
She held up the bottle and asked, "How about we skip the glasses and just get lit instead? I think we deserve some fun for a night."
Hancock reached for his pack and pulled out a small green bottle of Daytripper, one of the chems Betty had given him as a gift and one of the few he didn't sell off to Trashcan Carla.
"Is it cool with ya if I add this into the mix?" he asked. "Been saving it for a night like tonight."
"Of course," said Betty.
Hancock opened the bottle and shook several pills into his mouth as Betty offered him the bottle of bourbon, but the ghoul held his hand up and swallowed the pills dry with a wince.
"Hardcore," said Betty before taking a few gulps of booze. It burned all the way down, but the warmth it created beneath her skin made up for it in spades.
He climbed up into his bunk and settled beneath the sheets with a short whistle, excited to see where the night, and chems, would take him. She climbed into the bunk as well and sat across from him before she propped her feet up in his lap. They chatted back and forth about their lives until the bottle was nearly finished. Betty turned up the radio on her Pip-boy and "The Wanderer" began to play. Her partner tapped his foot to the beat as he hummed the melody.
"I used to be a wanderer way back when," he said as he lit up a cigarette.
"You mean a month ago?" Betty teased as she looked at him with a devilish grin and whispered, "How many notches do you have in your belt?"
Hancock laughed and said, "Aw, come on, no dame wants to hear that shit."
"I'm serious! I can only imagine the free for all out here with the way things turned out."
"Close to 150 by now," he answered with a smart-ass grin. "Not that I...keep track of that kinda shit.."
Betty's jaw dropped. "And thought my friends and I were a wild bunch.."
"You gonna answer, too?"
Betty smirked and whispered, "Nine."
"Didn't even break into double digits," he said with a laugh. "I can't fuckin' believe it."
"I just might!"
"Oh yeah? I did say I'd show ya the ropes...might even have some in my pack," said Hancock as he sat up and pulled the sheets away, the effects of Daytripper in full swing. His hand slid up her leg, giving his partner chills, and when he reached for the waistband of her underwear, Betty held him back by pressing her bare foot into his chest. He moved her ankle so it rested over his shoulder, and when he glanced between her legs at the thin piece of fabric that separated him from heaven on earth, he growled, "How 'bout I just bury my face in you, then? I can't even imagine how good you must tast-"
"-Do I have to get a chair and a whip?" she asked with a smirk, her face flushed upon hearing such forwardness. "I-I feel like a lion tamer with you around."
"Dunno what the hell a lion is, but I'm all for that chair and whip ya mentioned."
Betty jumped down from the top bunk with a squeal as Hancock threw himself at the now empty space.
"One day, you'll say yes," he said, his voice muffled by the sheets. "And you'll say it again. And again."
Betty climbed into her bunk and beneath the sheets as she replied, "Yeah, yeah."
The ghoul's fist appeared by her head, a bump expected. She smiled and wrapped her hand around his instead. Hancock wasted no time in uncurling his fingers and clasping hers.
"Night, John...and if I feel that bed of yours shaking in the middle of the night, so help me-"
Hancock laughed hysterically and looked over the edge of his bed. "I was wonderin' if you ever noticed that shit!"
"God, really?!"
He couldn't stop his howl of laughter even if his life depended on it. "You know," he said between breaths, "You know I was just fuckin' with ya all those times, right? Just wanted to see what you'd do."
"What the hell did you expect, for me to go up and check on you?" she asked.
"Yeah and then...maybe you'd give me a helpin'-"
Betty pulled her hand away and laughed. "-My god, I can't stand you sometimes."
"Send me back to Goodneighbor, then."
"Never," she said with a smile. "Where would I be without you?"
"You'd still make it," said Hancock reaching for her hand again. "It just wouldn't be as fun."
They were quiet for some time before Betty whispered, "John? You asleep yet?"
Hancock scoffed and answered, "'Course not, I'm trippin' balls up here."
"Come down here with me?"
"Gonna spoon with ya if I do; hittin' the 'warm and fuzzy' stage of the trip."
Betty chuckled and said, "That's all right."
Hancock climbed down from his bunk and under the sheets beside her. She nestled beneath his arm and pressed her face into his bare chest. Like Hancock, she felt she'd finally found her place here in the wasteland. Her eyes drifted to his ruined skin and she kissed his chin at the thought of what he went through and saw it more as an unorthodox badge of honor. It drove her desire forward, to be loved by someone so wild and strong-hearted.
Hancock beamed as he looked down at Betty against his bare chest. Fate was never something he put much thought into. If anything, the ghoul often wondered at night what he'd done to deserve someone like her, beautiful and brave. He entertained the idea of settling down some time ago at Fahrenheit's suggestion but he never met someone worth doing so with until her. She was it, and all he had to do was lean forward and-
-Betty's soft snore almost sent him into a fit of laughter. Not tonight it seemed, but the moment seemed closer than ever.