Chapter 51: Basement Lovin'

"Ah, sweetie. It's always good to see you."

Dad held out his arms and hugged me tightly upon our arrival to the Jefferson Memorial. Freddie had almost died more times than I could count and his uselessness was wearing Charon's patience thin. We had come to the decision that it was best to show him the true nature of the outside world so he could really know why the vault was closed.

"Hey, daddy. We came to see if you guys were ready yet for more help."

"Yes, we just have a few more problems to work on shortly before we can get the purifier up and run-" he paused when Freddie appeared in the room. "Eleanor," he turned to me with a panicked expression. "What the hell happened?"

Freddie shrugged. "Stuff happens. She came to visit for a few minutes and I wanted to see what the outside looked like before I closed the vault again and got stuck outside. It was pretty stupid."

Dad looked at me as if to see if this was a joke. "Is he the only one that got out?"

I nodded. "I saw Butch and Amata for a while and it wasn't too pleasant."

He swore under his breath and shook his head in disbelief. "Whatever. It can't be fixed now. I need to focus on the purifier."

"What do you need to be done?" Charon asked from the other room.

Dad jumped, not expecting him to be here. "Uh, we need you to turn off the power to the flood control pump in the basement. There are working intercoms you can use if you need any help."

I saluted lazily and swung out of the room with Charon towards the basement. Freddie stayed behind to ask about the purifier and what it would do when it was working. Dad seemed more than happy to explain his vision of saving humanity.

When we were alone in the basement halls, Charon pulled me to him and wrapped his arms around me. His embrace was so tight that it almost hurt.

"What's with the teddy bear thing going on?" I asked quickly as the air was being squeezed out of my lungs.

"I can't want to be near you?" He asked jokingly.

I shimmied into a more comfortable spot and leaned my head against his chest. "Never. You have to be a hard ass every waking moment."

He lifted my chin with his knuckle and kissed me deeply. His fingers grazed my jaw and wrapped around the back of my neck. My cheeks flushed in the moment and I pulled away slowly. "We can mess around when we're done with all the stuff dad needs us to do."

He sighed and slumped against the wall. "You're killing me, Elle."

I stuck my tongue out and skipped the rest of the way to the pump control. Charon followed with a pout and half a hard on. I punched the button to the control and the intercom filled the room with static, and then Dad's voice.

"Good job, sweetie. The power is off but we still need to replace the damaged fuses. Come upstairs and get the fuses from me and get back to the fuse box in the basement."

I stared at the intercom in confusion. "Dad, why the hell didn't you just give me the fuses when I was already there?"

He was silent for a moment and then the intercom turned back on. "Slipped my mind. I'm getting old."

"You're only 51!"

He chuckled. "The life expectancy out here is only 60 years, honey. Come get the fuses."

The intercom buzzed off and I huffed. "Asshole."

"I heard that," Dad buzzed back in.

"Whoops," I shrugged and headed back up the stairs to the ground level.

Charon walked beside me with an arm around my waist. I shook my head with a smile.

"What?" He asked nonchalantly.

"I know what you're doing, Charon."

He shrugged. "I don't know why you think I can't be like a normal boyfriend, or whatever I am."

"Because you only do it when no one else is around," I muttered.

He stopped, willing me to stop too. "I only want to keep you safe. Not everyone will take kindly to us... being together."

I shook my head slightly. "I don't care, Charon. You deserve to be treated like a person and that's what people do. Don't worry about other people. You can protect me if things get nasty and we can laugh when they can't get that foot out of their ass."

He looked away and continued walking to the ground level. "The world isn't sunshine and rainbows. And I know you know that very well. You need to stop pretending like nothing is wrong."

Pretend like nothing is wrong, my ass. I've seen the dirty looks thrown our way when we pass through town or when I just want to get something to eat in Rivet City. "Charon, I know what other people think, but I don't let it get to me. Why are you being so self-conscious all of a sudden?"

He grunted and pushed the door open. The door wasn't heavy at all, so the grunt was his stupid answer. The scientists avoided us completely on the way to the rotunda and I could really see things the way he saw them. He was a pariah. A leper. And they thought he was tainting someone who is no longer salvageable. I ignored them and Charon opened the door for me. I whispered a thanks and headed up the stairs to meet Dad and Freddie.

"Ah, hello. Here are the fuses for the basement. Sorry for forgetting about it earlier."

I took them wordlessly and he stopped me as I was descending the stairs.

"Something is wrong," he said. It wasn't a question.

I nodded. "People are assholes," I mumbled.

Dad's mouth thinned into a straight line. "Is this about your relationship with Charon?"

I nodded again. "People either avoid us or make things hard for us. I don't know why since it's literally none of their business."

He squeezed my hands and gave me that dad look that says "I may not know personally, but I understand what you are feeling." I smiled sadly and slipped his grasp to meet Charon at the end of the stairs. Charon held the door open again.

I stared at my feet and avoided the stares of the scientists as we walked to the basement door again. As my hand reached for the handle, an idea sprang forth. I turned around and gave Charon a devious grin. I blocked the door and pushed my chest out for show.

His brows furrowed and he tried moving me away without force. "Whatever you're thinking about, it's not a good idea."

I bit my lip and gave him that look he couldn't resist. He closed his eyes and exhaled.

"I want you to kiss me, Charon. In front of all these people like no one is watching."

He shook his head and tried moving me again, a little more forcefully this time. "No."

I pushed back against him and he huffed. "I'm not moving until you kiss me like you mean it."

"Then we aren't going anywhere."

I rolled my eyes and moved my hands to his chest. He leaned into it, against his will. More stares were being cast our way. Good.

"Why don't you want to kiss me, Charon?" I whispered into his ear.

He shivered and swallowed loudly. "I never said I didn't want to kiss you. I want to push you against the wall and show everyone you're mine... but I have impulse control, unlike some people."

I nipped his jaw and ran my fingers up and down the length of his torso. "Then do it. You want to do it."

His body tensed and he swung the door open while I was away from it and threw us in. He pushed me against the cold concrete wall and held me there with his lips on mine and his hands on either side of me.

I pulled away and slipped under his arm. "That's not what I meant, Charon!"

"I can't put you in danger like that," he said as he wiped his mouth.

I growled and stormed off towards the fuse box the map marker led me to on my Pipboy. He followed behind at a safe distance. I fumbled with the fuses in my hands and dropped them.

I swore under my breath and picked them up. I examined them to check and see if they were damaged. After I checked them, I pulled out the fuses in the box that had gone out over time. The intercom buzzed in the room and Dad told me to backup the mainframe on the upper level.

A loud groan escaped me and I turned back to see Charon in the doorway looking frustrated. "Eleanor, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you or something, I really didn't. But please understand why I couldn't do it."

I pushed myself up onto one of the generators and crossed my arms. "I feel like you care more about what everyone else thinks than you do about what I think."

Charon sighed and moved towards me. He stood in front of me with his hands on the generator and my legs around his waist. "I don't think about them. When they stare at you, all the awful things they could do to you race through my head and I just want to get you out of that situation."

His lips were so close and his big, cloudy blue eyes bore through me. I felt like I was falling. "Touch me," I whispered.

His hands automatically shot towards their designated spots: one on my waist and one on my neck. He looked at me for further instruction. I closed my eyes and leaned my forehead on his. "You can do anything you want to me."

He nodded wordlessly and pulled me to him with a sad expression. His body was warm and I felt safer than I ever had. His strong arms were careful and delicate when they wrapped around me and he buried his face into my hair. "I love you so much."

Time seemed to stop when Charon held me like this. I felt like nothing can touch us. It was moments like these that made me grateful for being alive. I nuzzled into his chest and wrapped my legs around his waist tightly. "I love you, too."

His rough lips ghosted my neck and his arms loosened enough for him to kiss my shoulder. I melted in his grasp and he whispered things I couldn't hear. My hands found the buckles to his armor and the metal plates fell to the ground.

Before I even knew it, we were naked and holding each other tightly. Charon was running his fingers through my hair loosely. The generator was warm now under my skin and Charon left trails of kisses up and down my arms.

"Charon," I whispered. "I need you to promise me something."

He held my hand to his lips and looked at me expectantly. "Anything."

"Promise me that if, one day, you stop loving me, you'll tell me instead of letting me believe otherwise."

He slowly lowered my hand and held my face in both hands. "I would rather kill myself than go a single day not loving you."