Note: Well, reviewers spake and thus I chose. But! I'm not done yet. ;)

Also I feel bad, I made him cry. :'(

She was in a lot of pain when she woke up, wet and sore on a hard rock. The rushing sound of the water nearby was loud in her ears, making her head ache worse. Ruby moved her hand out from under her side, pried open a pocket and pulled out a stimpak. ...Only the one left? Damn, it was probably a good thing she'd ended up―wherever this place was―

After she'd injected herself, she felt a little better. She was at least able to push herself up with one hand and rub her eyes free of blurriness. She'd been unconscious... but for how long? Vaguely, she remembered something Nate had said about that. Something about how it wasn't good to be knocked out for even two seconds―

MacCready! Shit! Ruby's head jerked around, looking at the small sinkhole basin, trying to get her bearings. Where was MacCready? They'd―

She groaned and covered her face. Still a lot of pain in her head and her arm was going off like a siren, probably broke it. She tried to remember what had happened.

She'd been running, someone was shooting at them. Lost McCready in the mad dash to get away, going way too far north and losing her bearings. He had always managed to find her when that happened, before, so she'd stopped at the sinkhole and waited. When she'd heard the gunshots, she knew it was him―that .44 of his made a distinctive noise―

Ruby lowered her hands, blinking away the weariness. He'd been shooting at Stingwings. She remembered that. Scared him, or something, he'd lashed out at her when she came up behind him. Knocked her down into the sinkhole.

She remembered thinking that it wasn't fair, how often he ended up accidentally causing her trouble. She wouldn't hold that against him, though. He was really, really, good at playing Whack-A-Mole with bullets and someone's head.

She pushed those thoughts away and tried to collect herself. Okay. She'd been pulled into the sinkhole when the Deathclaw threw her down, she remembered that. She hoped MacCready had gotten out of the way when it was no longer attacking her, because otherwise...

Didn't really want to think about what could happen to someone once a Deathclaw got a hold of them. Ruby looked around the basin for a distraction, and her eyes caught on a mottled green hat lying at the entrance to the exit tunnel.

She got her feet underneath her and pushed herself up, hobbling over to the hat with one arm dangling at her side. Yeah, it was broken. MacCready probably had a couple of stimpaks, he usually kept some squirreled away for a a rainy day. Needed to find him.

She'd broken her ulna playing tennis, once. This felt about the same, really. She'd kill for the chance to go back to those days―when all she had to worry about was getting to practice on time, or if her clothes looked good enough to fit in... or if Nate really did like her as much as he said he did―

Ruby smiled to herself, sadly, and breathed out. Those days were gone. Everything had changed, for the worse. Had to keep moving.

She reached down and picked up the hat, brushing off some mud. MacCready's hat. So where was he? Had he come down into the sinkhole with her or had he lost his hat in the fight with the Deathclaw? Was... he dead up there?

Her chest panged in pain, but she ignored that. She'd almost perfected that art, by now. Especially when it came to thinking about the former Gunner.

She looked up into the tunnel, grabbing out her rifle. Her arm hurt too much to hold it properly. After a moment of trying to adjust herself by leaning on the tunnel wall, she gave up and shouldered it, pulling out a pipe wrench.

It's better than nothing, she thought. She swung it slowly, trying to remember those old tennis lessons. Just like riding a bike, she told herself, making a thoughtful face.

...MacCready probably liked her as much as he said he did, too. Maybe things really hadn't changed that much, after all.

Brandishing the pipe wrench in one hand and squinting into the darkness, Ruby began to creep through the tunnel toward the other end.

She wasn't expecting what she found. Came up through the tunnel into a small basement with a dryer and a washing machine, eerily reminiscent of her previous thoughts.

Laundry, Ruby thought. Laundry never changes.

She had a funny smile on her face that melted away as she noticed the dismembered remains of several ghouls scattered through the room. One of the bodies was a Glowing One, and the luminescent blood glowed brightly in splatters on every wall.

In the middle of the room, MacCready was sitting on the ground with his back to her. He was covered in gore―unsurprising, given the scene―and wasn't moving. She watched him for a moment before she cleared her throat to attract his attention.

"MacCready?" she asked, softly.

He jerked and turned his head to look at her, eyes wide and shining in the dark room. Ruby tucked one corner of her mouth up into a contemplative look and moved forward into the room. "Are... are you okay?" she asked, slightly confused. He didn't really look okay, even though she could barely see him. Only the brightness of his eyes stuck out in the gloom.

"I'm fine," he said, putting his hand down onto the ground and trying to push himself up. "I'm fine." His arm wobbled and slid to the side, and he caught himself before he lost his balance. "I'm fine," he repeated, but his voice was flat.

He definitely wasn't fine. "MacCready," she muttered, shaking her head and went to his side. "Looks like you took a beating."

"Was only a couple of ghouls," he muttered, slowly wiping his hand on his pants. Ruby stared at his face for a long moment, before she realized―he'd been crying. That was why his eyes were so bright. And... he was trying to hide it from her, too, turning his face away from hers. His expression went dull to stricken, then back.

"Nobody wants to see a guy crying," she remembered him saying. She sighed to herself, ran a hand over her face and tried to assess the situation.

Good friends listen to your problems, and don't complain. Ruby laughed inwardly, because―well, that was all MacCready did some days―but he deserved a shoulder to cry on just as much as she had, back when she was upset. It was the least she could do to repay her debt to him, for letting her cry on his shoulder.

"You aren't okay," she said, grabbing his shoulder with her good hand and lowering herself onto her knees. "You've been crying. What's going on?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all," he said defensively, but his voice started shaking again. Ruby clucked her tongue, and patted his jacket pocket, locating his stimpaks. She applied one to his shoulder before she jabbed the injector into her upper arm, hissing in relief as the medicine flooded through her.

"Listen," she told him, once her arm stopped hurting quite so much. "I know you didn't mean to do that, up there. Sometimes things go the wrong way―"

"No," he said, very firmly, wiping his eyes on the back of his sleeve and looking away from her. "No, I shouldn't have―"

"It's okay, MacCready, really―"

"I keep messing things up," he interrupted again. "Just leave me here. Go."

Ruby sat back on her feet and screwed her face up at him. "What?"

"Just―leave me here," he muttered, looking down.

"I won't do that," she said, confused at his attitude. "Why would I do that?"

He didn't answer, just sniffled a little and wiped his nose with his sleeve. She looked over his jacket and frowned, turning on the light of her Pip-Boy to get a better view. Based on the condition he was in, she would have to repair his coat and hope it held up. ...And wash it, he was covered in ghoul entrails and what looked like snot. The stains weren't as bad as the gore, but...

She sighed. Whatever it was, that was running through his head, it was enough to reduce him to this vulnerable state. Ruby remembered feeling that he was the same as Nate, before. It hurt to think about that, but they really were the same.

It never stopped hurting her, that sameness. She still missed Nate so badly her chest wanted to explode in pain. She remembered when he'd woke up with nightmares after being discharged; how he didn't want her to see how badly his nightmares affected him. Seeing that wall come down, how strong he'd been on the outside and how she never thought she'd see him cry―

How shocking it was to watch him crumble in her arms at night, and feeling like she could do nothing to help. It wasn't a good feeling. But she'd never let it get to her, before.

Watching MacCready go through the same thing was just as painful as watching Nate. All she could do was try to be there. Be that shoulder that... that he didn't have, anymore.

"MacCready..." Ruby said, slowly. His head swiveled to look at her and she saw how red his eyes were, lit up with the Pip-Boy light. She kept talking, maintaining eye contact. "I'm not going anywhere. I owe you that much."

"You don't owe me anything," he said, looking away with a shame-filled face. Didn't say anything for a long time, and she'd opened her mouth to speak when he strained out, "...If anyone owes anyone, I owe you."

Ruby's eyebrows drew together over her face, confused. "What―"

"I do," he said, more firmly. His voice still shook a little, but he clenched a hand into a fist and stared at his feet angrily. "I owe you. You saved my son. And I couldn't... couldn't help you with Shaun."

"Finding Shaun was almost impossible," she said, soothingly. "Even the Brotherhood had trouble making that device to get inside. Neither one of us could know what was going to happen once I got in there―"

"No," he said, shaking his head. "No, I―I promised. I didn't keep―" MacCready groaned in a low way and closed his eyes. "I never keep my promises."

She frowned. Was he thinking about Lucy? He'd told her about lying to his wife. About wanting to tell her the truth, and about... how she'd died. He might have promised Lucy that he'd keep her and Duncan safe. He hadn't.

Nate made that same promise, too. Ruby swallowed a thick lump in her throat. And he hadn't, either.

MacCready... even though she didn't feel right letting him be there for her, he had been. He'd been there when she didn't need or want it, whether she was grieving in the Vault or thinking about Shaun or even if she was just having a bad day. He listened when she talked even if she didn't hear what she was saying.

Just the same as Danse, but without any connection to her. Without the bond that being in the Brotherhood brought―MacCready had stuck by her side through her troubles, trusted in her without much proof, and put himself out for her to grab.

And she'd... she'd left him hanging. Because she wasn't ready to face that he reminded her so much of the past. Because it didn't feel right to fall in love again―after what happened―

MacCready hadn't asked her for much. The ghouls that infested Med-Tek... she was pretty sure he'd been thinking about Lucy when he'd gone there the first time, and it affected him more than he wanted to let on. It was why he'd almost died trying to get in there, she suspected.

She'd felt the same, going into the Institute. Thoughts about Nate, thoughts about Shaun―wanted her son back, some kind of justice for the losses. But all she got was lies and a smug face declaring himself the best hope for the wasteland. She lost herself, that day.

Maybe MacCready felt that way, when he couldn't get Duncan's cure. Maybe her coming along and showing him she wasn't letting Nate's death get her down―that she could keep going even without someone to hold her up―maybe that made him regain the hope Lucy had given him when he was full of doubt for lying to her.

And maybe that was why MacCready felt something for her, too. Because she'd helped him out like Lucy would have, encouraged him to keep going.

...If he was feeling the same as he had for Lucy, right now, for Ruby, on top of all the accidents he caused and them being trapped with those ghouls in this dingy basement―

Well, no wonder he was crying. He must feel as useless as could be. And it certainly wasn't the first time he'd made things difficult.

"You kept your promise to me," Ruby said, as firmly as she could manage around the lump in her throat. "I'm not dead, yet. You shouldn't beat yourself up for this―"

"No," MacCready sighed, his fists shaking. He hit himself in the thigh, angrily. "I meant... I said I got you, Ruby."

She blinked in surprise and squinted at him in the near-darkness. "You―what?"

MacCready breathed out through his nose, noisily. "I said I got you," he repeated. "I said I was gonna be there for you." He opened his eyes and stared into the darkness without looking at her.

She didn't know what to say. That―what he'd said back in the Vault, and at Natick―she remembered. She also remembered the wrenching pain her heart that now filled up her chest. Couldn't ignore it, this time.

"You gave me hope," he said, before she could reply. "Hope for Duncan. You helped me, and I figure I owe you something... and I always pay my debts. But all I've done is make a mess of things and―" he hit his leg again, angrily. "And hurt you, and―"

"MacCready, listen to me," Ruby said, pulling herself up as straight as she could. "If you think you're the only person who's messed things up―" she grimaced. "Well, you're wrong. I'll have you know Piper once shot me in the leg, and I'm always being winged by Danse. Him and that damn minigun," she scoffed. She had the scars to prove it, too, and Danse was calmly accepting of the situation because that's what happened in combat.

Friendly fire. MacCready was really bad at friendly fire. "I forgive you for hitting me," she told MacCready, patting his shoulder. "And for setting me on fire. It happens. I'm still alive, and that's all that matters."

He looked into the corner of the room, miserably, without saying a word. Ruby moved her hand to his back, adjusting herself to sit down beside him. She put her arm around him and leaned her head down to look at his face like he had, back in the Vault. Tried to remember what he'd said, how that had gone... how to parallel his actions. To make him feel better.

He needed comforting. She didn't know if she could, but she would try.

"Come on," she said, softly. "Least you could do is talk to me."

MacCready loosened up a bit, leaning away from her in a dazed rocking motion, then turned and threw his arms around her. She was taken aback by the quick motion, but the strength with which he held onto her―

It was weird. Pretty much the same as what had happened at the Vault. And―well, it was reversed, but―

"You were thinking about Lucy, weren't you," she murmured, wrapping her arms around his back and holding him gently. "Because of these ghouls?"

A shuddering motion met her questions, his bony nose poking her in her unarmored shoulder. He didn't talk, but she could tell he was crying―her suit was thin and the air in the basement was cold, a chill running through her as she rubbed his shoulder blade in a circle.

"It's okay if you want to be a blubbery mess." She smiled a little, remembering how he'd let her cry on his shoulder. "I promise, I won't say a word about it to anyone."

He muffled something into her shoulder and she looked down at his mess of black hair, covered in ghoul guts. Sounded like he was saying something about getting her killed―Ruby chuckled, breathily. "If you think I'm going to let myself get killed by the likes of you, MacCready, you are sorely mistaken."

"You don't understand―I―" he started, and she shushed him.

"I understand," she said. "I know. It's hard. You... you did a lot of things that you didn't want her to know about. You didn't like lying."

"I should have told her the truth," he muffled.

"Yes... but she loved you, anyway." Ruby gingerly patted his hair, searching for a spot that wasn't covered in gore. Seemed impossible. "And this... well, you said it. It won't kill you." She settled her hand on the back of his neck, coughing a little from the smell.

MacCready held onto her for a while longer, the shudders slowly tapering off, before he abruptly pulled away and scooted across the floor away from her. "I'm―I'm sorry," he sniffled, wiping his face. "I shouldn't be acting like..." His face turned a little red.

"It's fine," Ruby said, dropping her hands to her lap. She crinkled her nose at the goop that was now covering her suit. "Everyone needs a chance to let it out. And... I guess we're even now."

"Yeah," he said, wiping his face again. "Yeah, I guess."

"Look, MacCready―" Ruby sighed and looked up at him, tiredly. "I know... there's a lot going on, right now. With, well... with everything. But if you need to talk―"

"I'm fine," he said, quickly, pushing himself up from the ground. Looked around the room, jerkily moving around and searching for something. Ruby tilted her head at him, smiled, and held up his hat.

"You should take a bath first," she said, holding it out to him.

MacCready stared at her hand for a brief second before snatching the hat away and jamming it on his head. "Let's just get the hell out of here, okay?" he said, strained.

"Yeah," she agreed, standing up and rubbing her arm. Stimpaks, she thought. Wished they could cure the hurt in her heart.

MacCready took the stairs two at a time, jerking open the door at the top in his rush to get away from the basement. Ruby followed, slowly, hearing rattling chains and a creak as the door opened on the upper floor.

Really wished the Stimpaks could cure the pain caused by the fact that she was definitely falling for the Gunner, despite her efforts not to. Because this... this was going to be a long walk home.

A really long walk.