Eep, I cannot contain these plot bunnies. I'm starting a separate story for Gehenna very soon - but it'll still be a beat - and I'm curious to what you all would like. Maybe a start to finish on what led up to this? Like from being shot in the head to pregnant? Maybe I should have done that first but to be honest, I never expected to post any of this. Ideas, opinions, lay em on me.

The boat ride is slow and painful, the walk to Searchlight even more so because of the incline and Arcade is carrying the bags; Vulpes refused to allow use of one of the utility trucks that were in perfect working order at the cove, so walking it was. We carve past the radiation, to shack where freshly killed trooper ghouls litter the ground. Vulpes makes us wait and I have to thank whatever God there is that the sun is setting and we're not roasted alive in our shoes.

"The hell is he doin' in there," Arcade grumbled, stretching his right arm over his head.

I shrug, sitting in an old plastic chair outside the door. I can faintly hear beeping inside and recognize Morse code; thank you friendly Ranger bored out of her skull.

"It's kind of a half way point because of Searchlight, he must be radioing in," Arcade gives me this funny look. "What?"

He looks over the shack, waving a hand at it. "How'd you figure that?"

I chuckled. "I listen, Arcade," he looked skeptical. "Okay, fine, I went through his desk and marked off a bunch of locations they have hidden around the Mojave."

He chuckled. "There we go."

Half an hour later, we walk again. No breaks, a strict regime until we crest over the sloping roads and I find that Vulpes has invented new ways to torture me. As if baring this child was bad enough.

When I see that big green dinosaur, I'm fresh again. I'm nursing a gun shot wound to the head and limping through the desert heat into that damnable dinosaur where I interrupt a heated discussion on schedules between a black man and this guy with a red beret.

"What are you doing up here," there's a barrel of a rifle in my face.

Boone.

"Just making new friends."

Jeannie May died that same day - or night, depending on your position - and I earned a room key. A permanent room key, might I add. Its down the hall from Boone's and I resist that urge to look at it because of how spiteful Vulpes is; he'd raze the entire town to destroy my soul.

Vulpes and Arcade are at my back as I jam the key into the lock, praying I didn't strip it, a swing the door open for them; Arcade lingers when Vulpes enters, staring at an older woman leaning against the opposite steps to the second floor.

"We're here for a couple of hours so get comfortable, take a shower, there's food in the fridge - Manny stocks it when I'm out cus he never knows when I'm coming back."

Arcade follows my instructions wisely and soon, I hear the shower and a deep sigh of relief where as Vulpes peers through a broken slit in the blinds. I stare at his back until he becomes uncomfortable enough to look at me.

"He was from here, yes?"

I tense but become coarse, daring him with my stance. "Briefly, yes."

He nods. "Pity," he shakes his head. "I wanted to be the one to kill him, but it seems you beat me to the punch."

I want to wretch. "He would have attacked the Fort," I whisper.

"He would have died at the Cove," Vulpes sits in a chair. "A fool."

"He was no fool," I bite out. "You are the fool thinking he would have only made it that far. He may not have made it to Caesar but he would have killed you. He'd have tortured you!"

As my chest heaves, I see Vulpes smirk and feel like throwing up again. I look around, at this old suite, at the memories crumpling the sheets and staining the floors and remember...

I'm defending a dead man.

I remember the Strip.

I remembers the flashing lights welcoming bad habits and well, fun; promises of liquor and other dainties. I had never been the boastful or bold type, when it came to simple human pleasures anyway. Battle was always my field, not the strip club or the pricey dresses sold from a shop between the rail station and the Ultra Luxe.

Vulpes lets me linger there, staring at the shop with nostalgic, mournful eyes, and then he tugged me along. I don't put up much of a fight, we'd been walking for over an hour and my swollen, pregnant, feet needed a rest. Where I offered the Lucky 38, he pushed us towards Vault 21; made sense, I suppose, but I wouldn't leave the Strip without swinging by and plucking up a few things.

"Vaults always have the best beds," I sigh, tugging my slippers from her feet at the edge of her separate bed.

"And how would you know," Vulpes muses, tugging at his bow tie.

I chuckles and set the slippers aside then get to work on my jewelry; I'm surprised we weren't mugged in Freeside. "When I was the Courier, I had to jump through a few Vaults with my team. Sometimes fleeing wasn't an option and we had to crash there..."

I always secretly loved the time the team and I had gotten stuck. I loved chatting and laughing, teasing Arcade and seeing if Cass really had a limit; turns out she did and that was set by Veronica - who hated alcohol. If I thought on it enough, I could remember Boone sulking in the corner but watching me, always watching me. My first friend in the Mojave, the first one that didn't ask me for something petty; carry this, kill that, poke her, stab him. Find the person who sold his wife, not petty; I sometimes wonders if Vulpes would have bought her - Boone's wide - if not to just torture the profligate wife of an NCR dog.

I looked up when I heard a thumping and saw Arcade leaning against the doorframe, as incognito as he could get. "Do you know how hard it is to sneak into the Lucky 38 without Yes Man wanting to throw you a party?"

My heart leapt into my throat. "He didn't catch you, did he?"

Arcade shook his head and entered the room, looking more relaxed than he had in a long time. "No, I think he had an idea someone was there. The place was empty, but it hadn't been for long. Someone has been sleeping in your bed, in two of the spare rooms."

I furrowed my brow. "Who the hell could be doing that?"

"Maybe Cass and Raul?"

I shook my head and stood, gesturing at the zipper up my back; Vulpes undid the zipper as Arcade drew the blinds. "Raul disappeared and Cass...last I heard she was headed to D.C. to catch up with Veronica."

Arcade leaned back against the glass. "How do you know that?"

I gestured to Vulpes as I shrugged out of my dress. "He wanted to inform me..."

Arcade 'hmph'd and Vulpes then decided to cut in, looking pointedly annoyed. "Its late."

I hesitated but had to agree. "Guess you're right," my first night in a year getting to sleep in a bed by myself; were those angels singing? "You gonna be comfortable, Arcade?"

Arcade nodded. "Sure. I'm in a room two halls over, big '7' on it."

I smiled and waved at him, sliding into bed while Vulpes moved to his own bed. I could almost see relief, maybe he felt the same way I did. Of course, he didn't have to adjust accordingly to whatever his stomach decided. So while I lay on my back, him snoring softly in the dark, I stroked my belly and thought of my green eyed sniper.

"Need some company?"

Boone looked back at me, glaring when I wiggled my eyebrows; I had caught him off guard, a natural born assassin I was called on many occasions.

He leaned back against the boulder he was stationed in front of, staring off at the Fort over the hills. We were camping in front of the BoS safe house (well, the others were actually inside, but Boone and I had stayed outside to keep watch) and the night sky was overcast. The fires smoking up the Fort was bright even from where we were, like the whole hill was on fire; they thrived in red.

"What're you doin' out here," Boone mumbled.

I plopped down beside him, cradling La Longue Carabine in my hands as I pressed unconsciously against his side; I didn't notice him tense up.

"You had me watching hills, Boone," I chuckled. "And I don't want to go in there, ED - E and Rex are growling at each other and Arcade is whiny tonight. The only one of them not getting on my nerves is Cass, and that's because she and Veronica are passed the fuck out."

Boone watched me pull a thermos from my 'scape bag, gratefully taking the warm tea I had brewed inside; it wasn't anything special, but it had enough sugar to turn a Fiend.

"Where's Raul," he passed me back the lid and I refilled it, taking a slow sip.

"He slipped off to Bitter Springs, said something about checking on a friend...or something," I didn't come over here to talk about Raul. "You mad at me?"

His head snapped to me and, even with those glasses on - it was past midnight, dammit - I could see his astonishment; what's I say?

"Gehenna, why would you think I'm mad at you?"

I shrugged, running my finger around the rim of my cup. "Dunno," I mumbled, looking back up at him. "You've just been very...short with me lately and I wondered what I did to piss you off."

He chuckled softly and did something I don't even he expected. He wrapped his right arm around my shoulders, pulling me even closer. He rumbled for a moment longer and I was immensly confused.

"I'm not mad at you, Gehenna," he hesitated then. "I just...I was trying to be cautious."

My turn to be confused. "Huh? Cautious, why?"

He sighed and loosened up but his arm stayed around my shoulders. "You just...six months and I guess I've grown...fond of you."

"Oh."

I knew what that meant and now quite a few things made sense. The staring, the distancing, the short sentences and the absences at dinner in the tower. It made all of these fuzzy feelings bubble and roll in my tummy and I smiled at Boone.

He smiled down at me too. It was hesitant and still cautious, but when he moved in, I registered no hesitation. The slate was wiped clean.

And the kiss wasn't magic, there were no fireworks and time certainly didn't stand still but it made me feel all gooey and I supposed that was good.

For me, it was perfect.