Maverick was in deep shit.
He kept his hands intertwined on his stomach and he stared up at the ceiling, trying to do the mental exercises he learned with the Brotherhood to not focus on the warm body next to him. He knew this was a bad idea, but they had no other options right now.
He looked at her out of the corner of his eye and his heart thudded at what he saw. She was curled up into a ball and facing him. Her cheek was squished against her hand, reminding him of how young she was. He could feel the soft puffs of her breath against the skin of his arm.
Maverick was in deeper shit than he thought.
It had been a while since he was in a relationship at all. Now, having Leyah here and with moments like before, his libido and emotions were skyrocketing.
He was so close to giving in and finally kissing her. Crowley had shitty timing.
Or good timing, a sarcastic voice grumbled in his mind.
What would happen if he started something with Leyah? Would they eventually fall apart like his past relationships or would something good come out of it? Then there was their age difference. She was barely an adult, she was naïve about the ways of the world and she had a pure soul.
He was a washed up soldier with no direction and the crabby personality to go along with it.
Yet, she stayed with him. She stared up at him with unguarded eyes and she tugged at his heart in a way no one has before. Finally giving up trying to ignore her, he turned in the bed and faced her. He grinned when he saw drool starting to dribble out of her mouth.
He was able to get a few hours of sleep before the diner started to get business. Maverick finally got up and left Leyah to sleep while he got breakfast. She deserved a good rest.
By the time he got back with Brahmin milk and Sugar Bombs, she was awake and fixing her hair back into its usual ponytail. He stopped and stared for a moment. She was in her tank top still and her vault jumpsuit's sleeves were tied around her waist. His eyes followed the strong lines of her arms as she held her hair up and he told himself to snap out of it.
He tossed her the bottle of Brahmin milk when she was done and set the box of Sugar Bombs on the bed. "Alright, first things first, you get new armor. Then, we go back the way we came. We take the metro until we get near the outskirts then we keep going to either my house or Megaton."
She nodded and picked up the bottle of milk and tipped it back. Maverick felt his whole body heat up as he watched her swallow.
Fuck.
Maverick berated himself, rubbing the back of his neck. He was acting like a teenager again.
She only set the bottle down after she chugged the whole thing. "Okay, and I want to visit the doctor here and see if he has any medical supplies for sale."
Of course she would.
Maverick nodded and ate his Sugar Bombs in silence. Leyah bought as many stimpaks as she could, no matter what. He supposed it was a good thing it was high on her priority list. He remembered when some initiates in the Brotherhood would just scoff and claim they didn't need them.
They finally left the room and dropped the key off with Carol before making their way down to Tulip's shop. Leyah's eyes were wide as she took everything in and Maverick felt a fluttering feeling settle in his chest as she looked around in wonder.
God, this was part of why she got under his skin so quickly. Her innocent curiosity was annoying to him at first, but it showed him how open she was. She was like a blank holotape waiting to be filled.
"I remember reading about this building in the Vault. I can't believe I'm seeing some of this with my own eyes. Do you think we can explore the rest of the museum sometime? I think there is a special exhibit on Lincoln and a few other Presidents around here somewhere."
Maverick gave her a wry grin. "Maybe…but the rest of the museum is infested with those damn feral ghouls you love."
Leyah's face turned white really quick. She sighed and let her head fall back. "Of course. Feral ghouls ruin everything."
Maverick found himself not being annoyed for once when Leyah was stopped by Winthrop. He wondered why people immediately flocked to her for help. He supposed it was what Three Dog mentioned. Leyah did carry a certain air about her that screamed 'I'm going to get shit done' and that was hard to find in the Capital Wasteland.
After agreeing to sell Winthrop any scrap metal they found, he and Leyah finally made it to Tulip's.
"Hey Tulip, Vaultie here needs new gear. Have any armor?"
Tulip dropped whatever book she was holding and she beamed at them. "Zombie Lover? And a new person? Wonderful!"
One thing Maverick liked about Underworld more than anything else was how quickly ghouls did their work. Tulip didn't hesitate to get all of the armor she was selling out and she didn't interrupt as Maverick closely inspected every piece of it.
"Shit. Shit. Double shit. No…fuck, is there any-Ah!"
Maverick finally found a chest piece and other parts of combat armor that would work. It even came with the fatigues they were paired with. "What size are you?" he asked, holding it up. Most of the metal was intact and nothing was torn. Maverick did a closer inspection as Leyah studied it herself.
"Well…that looks like it should fit."
Maverick arched a brow down at her. "Leyah, what size are you?"
She bit her lip and she finally sighed, running her fingers through the fringe of hair that always escaped her ponytail. "I'm a large in pants and a medium in tops."
Now was that so fucking hard?
Maverick bit the question back. He remembered how Rachel used to be self-conscious about her body. It confused Maverick to no end. He didn't think Leyah had anything to worry about in that department. He peeked over at her, eyeing how her short stature had the right amount of curves. She lost a good deal of weight since he first met her, but she was still nowhere near the typical wastelander.
She had round hips and…everything to match.
Maverick couldn't tell how many times he found himself getting distracted when walking behind her lately.
Fuck.
He quickly handed her the armor. "Here, this is in the best shape. We'll make adjustments as we go." He gestured to the stalls.
Leyah walked into one of the bathroom stalls and Maverick leaned back against the wall as he waited.
"Your girlfriend is really pretty, Zombie Lover," Tulip giggled.
Maverick stiffened and he let out a tired sigh. "We're friends, Tulip," he weakly argued.
"Oh."
An awkward silence hung between them until Leyah walked out of the stall.
She obviously didn't know what she was doing. "Mav, I have no idea where to clip this part and does this go here or-"
Maverick just stared as she turned around in circles trying to reach a certain piece. Fuck, she was adorable. He huffed out a laugh before stepping forward and helping her. "Jesus," he laughed, staring to clip everything in the right place.
Maverick was so focused on what he was doing, he didn't notice how closed he stepped to her. They were almost chest to chest when he was done clipping everything in place and she had to literally look up to look at him.
Their eyes met and Maverick used every ounce of goddamn willpower he had to not give into his urge to kiss her. Fuck, she never guarded herself around him and he wondered if he was reading the signs from her right. He couldn't remember the last time he felt this much tension around someone before.
All of the little details he didn't notice before suddenly were obvious to him. He could see a wash of freckles on the bridge of her nose. He noticed just how long her eyelashes were and there was a tiny scar on her cheekbone.
An awkward clearing of the throat caused Maverick to pull himself out of the spell Leyah put him under to look over at Tulip.
"That will be 117 caps, Zombie Lover," Tulip mumbled, glancing between the two of them.
Maverick quickly pulled out the caps necessary before Leyah could protest and he slapped them on the counter.
He walked out, trying to calm down his heart and thoughts.
He waited out by the statue in the middle while Leyah finished doing her 'nice' thing with Tulip.
Fuck, he couldn't keep going on like this. He was going to go crazy if he didn't say something soon. Maverick wondered why he was so torn about this. He had never been this unsure and afraid in his life. He was always the type to make decisions quickly and not hesitate to carry them out. Now, just the thought of telling Leyah how she was affecting him was terrifying.
Maybe because you actually care about how this one turns out, a voice sarcastically laughed in his head.
He sighed and let his head drop back as he glared at the ceiling. His romantic life wasn't exactly shining points in his life. He 'dated' a girl when he was an Initiate, which didn't really get farther than kissing.
But then there was Jessica.
She was a fellow Knight in his class and she was the one that pursued the relationship with him. Thinking back on it, Maverick supposed he only started a relationship with her so she would stop bugging him about it. Sure, she was beautiful and the physical part was good, but they fought constantly and she didn't like how he was advancing ahead of her, despite the fact she was Elder Lyons' niece.
Leyah was different in every way possible.
She was just as big of a sarcastic asshole as he was, but she was just nice when she wasn't kidding around. She was intelligent, compassionate, and had something that made him feel accepted no matter what he said or did.
Leyah was…Leyah, and that made her special somehow.
Maverick huffed out a laugh to himself.
And that made him wonder why the fuck she would act interested in him. Last night and just now just confirmed all of his hopes and suspicions.
His heart thudded in his chest when she basically skipped out of the shop towards him, beaming. Shit, since when was her smile so pretty?
"Maverick! Look at what Tulip gave me! It's apparently the book they based this exhibit off of."
Maverick glanced at the beat up book in her hands and gasped. "A book! Holy shit that's rare!"
Leyah rolled her eyes with a grin. "Snark all you want, but I'm going to ignore you and read this when we aren't on the move."
With a huff, Maverick started to walk toward the clinic.
"Thank you, by the way."
"For what?"
"For the armor. I was going to pay for it on my own but you—"
Fuck, did she really think he wasn't willing to go to those ends for her? He would buy all the armor he could if it could keep her safe. "Hey," Maverick interrupted, stopping so he could look her straight on, "we're a team now and I…"
Shit, he never was good at this.
Her clear, striking blue eyes zeroed in on him and he forgot to think.
"I want you to be safe," he finally finished.
They stared at each other for many moments and the tension from before was back with a vengeance. A burp from a nearby ghoul helped dissipate it and Maverick finally was able to force himself to the door of the clinic.
He opened it and let Leyah walk in before he did. A sharp gasp from her was his only warning that she stopped as he walked through himself.
He looked down and arched a brow at her stiff form before following her line of sight. "Well fuck, you don't see that every day," he stated, looking across the room.
Two feral ghouls were prowling around in what looked like a containment room and they were glaring at them through the glass.
"Mav, I want to leave," Leyah squeaked.
Knowing she would complain about not getting stimpaks later, Maverick stepped in front of her. "Just keep me in-between you and them. Let's find Doctor Barrows."
She clung to the back of his armor and Maverick kept an eye on the ghouls to keep those feelings from before from rising again. He really had to tell her. Soon.
"May I help you?"
The clunk of a door opening caused Maverick to turn and see Doctor Barrows stepping in from the containment room.
"Yes, do you have medical supplies for sale?" Maverick asked, since he knew Leyah was probably more focused on the feral ghouls than anything else. He pushed Leyah in front of him and stood so he could block the sight of the ferals better than before.
Leyah finally snapped out of it and started to barter with Barrows. Maverick looked around the Chop Shop, trying to remember if he had ever been in there or not and something caught his eye in the far corner.
A woman was lying on the cot in the corner and Maverick couldn't help but wonder if he had ever seen her before.
He waited until Leyah was done with her business before walking toward the cot. He peered over her, trying to get a good view of her face.
His heart sunk when he realized who it was.
"Holy shit."
"What is it?" Leyah asked.
"That's Reilly."
Leyah looked up at him in confusion. "You know her?"
"Yeah, she runs a merc company that used to do missions with the Brotherhood. What the hell is she doing here? And what's wrong with her?"
Leyah stepped closer and she started to examine Reilly. Maverick watched in slight fascination as she started to feel for pulses, shined her Pip-Boy light in Reilly's eyes, and looked inside her mouth and everything.
"Her pulse rate is really fast and her pupils are slow to reacting…" Leyah hummed in thought and reached forward and pinched the skin on the back of Reilly's hand. "Just what I thought. Her skin has lost turgor. She's severely dehydrated. She might be in a state of alkalosis right now."
"Vaultie. English."
"She's so dehydrated that her kidneys are losing the things they need to keep the pH of the blood at a certain level and it's destroying her organs due to the fluid loss. I wonder what her IV serum is."
Leyah reached over to look at the IV pouch that was connected to Reilly and she gasped. "Holy shit! Are they idiots here?!"
Maverick's heart rate started to pick up. "What is it?"
"This has too much sodium in it. Shit shit shit." Leyah started to frantically look around the room and Barrows came over to see what the trouble was.
"Poor thing. Willow brought her in early this morning. We already have her on an IV and-"
"And it's the wrong concentration! It's hypertonic!"
"Fuck!"
Both Leyah and Barrows were running around the room now, looking through every drawer they could and Maverick just wanted to know what the fuck was going on.
Leyah finally let out a whoop of victory and she hurried back beside the bed, holding a new bag of IV fluid. She quickly started to change the IV bag and Barrows was shoving Maverick out of the way and doing the same things Leyah was doing earlier.
Leyah reached into her bag and pulled out a stimpak and Barrows gave her an incredulous look as she started to inject it into the IV port. "What are you-"
"Her organs are probably damaged by now. The stimpak fluid should help. How long was that solution in?"
"Not even 5 minutes. I had my assistant put it in right before you guys got here."
"Shit, they could still be damaged."
Maverick opted to just stay out the way and let Leyah work her magic.
Shit, he never realized just how good she was at being a doctor. Hell, she probably would have been a damn good one if she stayed in the Vault.
It was about 30 minutes until Reilly finally started to stir. Barrows nodded to Leyah and stomped out of the Chop Shop…probably to rip his assistant a new one.
Reilly's eyes suddenly shot wide open and she started to struggle.
"Hey! Hey! It's alright, you're in Underworld," Leyah said gently, grabbing Reilly's hands before she could rip out the IV.
Reilly stared at Leyah in shock, breathing heavily. "My team! Oh God how long was I out?!"
Leyah kept a hold on Reilly's hands and she sat on the bed next to her. "They found you early this morning. You were suffering from dehydration, and by the looks of it your leg is pretty beat up."
"Fuck, so they might still have a chance. Thank God."
"Where the fuck is your team?" Maverick finally asked.
Reilly's head whipped up to look at him and her eyes became saucers. "Maverick Barrington? What the fuck are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same. Where's your team?"
"At the top of the Statesman Hotel."
Maverick sighed and sat down on the bed across from Reilly's. "Start at the beginning."
Maverick then proceeded to listen to the textbook definition of 'things went wrong'.
"I used our last Stealth Boy to get me out of there and the last thing I remember is collapsing in front of the museum. Maverick, please," Reilly tried to reach across to him. "If anyone can help my team, it's you. You're the best mutie killing machine I know and my boys know you. Please."
Maverick opened his mouth to say 'you're shit out of luck' but Leyah's expression stopped him. Oh shit, she was going to want to do her 'be nice' thing to Reilly now.
"Let's do it, Mav."
"Why, Vaultie?"
"Because," Leyah stood from her spot with a confident grin, "we have been able to handle ourselves in Super Mutant infested tunnels so far. And we helped out at GNR. We can do this too."
Shit, now both women were looking at him with big eyes.
Maverick honestly thought the mission was suicidal. But, then again, Leyah had enough stimpaks to get them through anything and they both were really stocked on ammo and other supplies right now.
Memories of what happened yesterday outside of the Jefferson Memorial had him reeling. Leyah didn't listen to him then, would she pull a stunt like that again going up against these Super Mutants?
"One. Fucking. Condition," he finally said, standing up and crossing his arms. "You have to follow my orders to the T. No exceptions and no arguing. Am I clear, Leyah?"
Leyah's eyes hardened for a moment before she nodded, looking determined.
Maverick let out a long, tired sigh. How did he let her talk him into this shit?
"Okay Reilly, I need numbers. How many are there and I also need a layout of both the hotel and the hospital."
He never saw Reilly smile in the past, but she had the biggest smile on her face now.