Cross let out a sigh, leaning against the edge of the table in the room he had been temporarily confined in. He groaned, his handcuffs rattling as he rubbed at his eyes...he needed a fucking drink. There was a knock, and the door opened.

"Hey." The rosy ghoul poked her head in, followed by a slight shake of a bottle. "I brought you something, since you've been waiting for a while."

Cross gave her a mock salute with two fingers, reaching his bound hands out to accept her small gift. "'ppreciate it."

"Thomas said he'll be along soon; it shouldn't take him long to finish." Penny shifted her weight on her feet, suddenly somewhat nervous at their close proximity, alone. "How are you feeling?"

The merc shrugged, the cork making a loud pop as it was freed. He took a long swig before coming up for air. "Never better."

There was then a period of silence between the two, as though at a loss for what to say.

"I'm...sorry," Cross finally rumbled, a bit stiffly. His gloved fingertip gave a tap on the neck of the bottle. "For everythin', back then."

"Don't worry about it," Penny rasped, a bloom of heat coiling in the pit of her stomach. She had never witnessed this side of the bounty hunter, before. "It's in the past; you learn to move on from it."

A grunt escaped him, and he studied the contents of his drink for a few minutes. Finally, as though after great deliberation, he set it on the table. "Still tryin' to figure that one out myself."

The tone of his voice was just so resolute that she felt her hand twitch to comfort him physically. Of course, physical interaction was all she really knew with Cross, and she had to force herself to turn back to the door.

They could have been seated back at Kretcher's, two wandering souls meeting for the first time nearly twenty-five years ago in this very city, in that dive of a bar they had then met many times afterward.

"Got a look like you're damn lost." A plume of smoke had been blown artfully to the side, mixing with the already hazy atmosphere. The massive, grey ghoul had leaned against the front of the bar counter beside her, raising an eyebrow muscle down at her shy face. "Can I get ya a drink?"

She had held out her small hand instead, and he had stared at it for a moment before giving it a firm shake. She had rasped, "Penny."

"Huh?"

A patient smile had graced him. "Penny...that's my name." She had nervously fidgeted in her seat as he took a drag on his cigarette, his stone-washed eyes drinking her in like a glass of cool water. "It's normally the polite thing to do, introduce yourself, you know."

"Hmm." The merc squinted, and she had shyly turned her attention forward. It had been a very long time since someone had looked at her the way he did- like a person, like a woman. He flicked the ash from his smoke and rasped, "What brings ya to Braxton?"

She timidly wrung her hands in her lap and shrugged. "Same reason as every other ghoul, I suppose... New York was too far, and there's a rumor the Brotherhood of Steel is making their way to D.C." She had then given him another smile. "You?"

The merc stubbed out the remainder of his cigarette in a tray. "Just passin' through... Bounty hunter business."

"Oh?"

"Nothin' worth talkin' 'bout." It had been his turn to shrug at her. "Beer? Liquor? Wine?"

"Vodka, please." She had then watched him go about ordering her a round, and then another, and after a few hours of conversation that had been spiced with some crude jokes and the creeping of his hand up her thigh, they had shared a bed with fierce kisses and fiercer sex, and she had laid there as he had snored in his sleep, and she had believed him to be the best thing to have ever happened in her life.

But Penny's hand was now resting on the handle, and she gave it a turn.

"Yeah...me too," she found herself saying quietly, and she felt his eyes glow at her back. Cross said nothing, and she ultimately closed the door behind her.

Evelyn wiped her sugary hands down her thighs, chewing the remainder of her stuffed snack cake.

Charon kept his arms crossed and his eyes on the door. "I had told you he would come back."

She paused midchew, then forcibly swallowed and coughed in her elbow, her voice small. "...yeah. He did."

"Is that what you want?" Their eyes finally came to meet in the middle. "Will he make you happy?"

Her fingers smeared over the frosting still coating her lips, and she dropped her stare down to his boots. The leather was cracked and soiled in dried mud, blood, and who knew what else. Charon always scolded her on the importance of periodic maintenance, and for the most part, the ghoul had taken it upon himself to inspect, clean, and make the necessary repairs for them both...and she now struggled to remember a time in the past few weeks when she had sat beside him as he had quietly gone about his self-assigned duties.

"Are you happy, Charon?"

The question deepened his frown as he deadpanned, "Yes."

It almost made her laugh at the completely unconvincing expression he wore. She took a step to close the distance between them, hesitating in reaching for his palm until his fingers sought out her own. His thumb stroked her skin as her fingers reassuringly squeezed his hand.

"Would you be happy...with us?" she asked a bit more cautiously. "I...I know that's a very unfair thing to ask for, and, and I want you to be honest. Tell me what you really want."

...what was it that he really wanted? The question that hovered over him ever so mockingly. He was bound to a contract- he couldn't really want for anything, but…a couple of people just recently in his life had consistently chipped at that notion in his prewired brain. Their hands were gently guiding him into a new world, and for the first time, he felt the inky darkness begin to ebb away into something…

He stared into her eyes.

A blue sky, the ghoul thought, and he found his palm tenderly cupping the side of her face before his mouth met with hers.

"I wish to be with you...both," he breathed after they broke apart, and she gave a nod of her head, her eyes half-lidded as she leaned forward to exchange another kiss.

"Okay."

The door opened, and Thomas interrupted their exchanging caresses. He blinked as Charon's hand slowly fell from her face. "Evelyn, I need to have a word with you...in private."

"Why? So you can explain why you lied to me?" she snarked.

Charon rolled his eyes and pinched her elbow, earning an obnoxiously loud ow! He gave her a stern look. "Behave. I do not wish for you to be confined any longer due to your stupidity." She growled at him, and he snorted with amusement. "I will be waiting with the others when you are released."

The two remaining watched the door close with a click, and the glowing ghoul gave a weary sigh. "I am sorry I lied to you," Thomas finally said. "...what is it you wish to know?"

She had her arms crossed and appeared irritated, and she shrugged, unimpressed. "Maybe how that creep down there knew you, and us, or maybe that he was apparently Darcy's twin? Or, better yet! How about the fact I do have a brother like you had said I didn't, and I'm some kind of crazy experiment, and-!"

Thomas held up a hand, stemming her sudden tirade before it blew the roof off the station. "I truly did not know anything about your brother, I sincerely mean that...but I apologize for having doubted you."

She stubbed her toe at an invisible speck of dust, somewhat cooled as her tense shoulders began to relax. "...so, is he?"

"He is. We have begun studying the files downloaded from David's Pip-Boy, and there was a very extensive file of him and you... You are twins." The immediate confusion and disbelief on her face made him chuckle. "You are fraternal. I do not know the situation to have separated you two for such different paths, but we are still digging. I will update you with information as it comes."

She bit her lip and looked at her feet; her voice had grown quiet. "Why did Darcy come here? How do you know David?"

He took a seat on the corner of the table beside the wall, clasping his hands together in his lap. He then looked away, contemplating her question for a few moments. "It was not a coincidence for me to have met you, all those years ago."

He was no longer glowing, and she was full of innocence.

The town of Lewis had been extremely ordinary, as far as wasteland towns would go. Passable defenses, not totally up to par to withstand a full brunt super mutant horde, but just satisfactorily enough to deter the local band of raiders. And, like most towns Thomas had passed through, it had its barefaced revulsion towards ghouls.

"If I hear ya causin' any trouble, I'm puttin' a bullet right in that mushy brain of yers, ya got that zombie?" the pot-bellied sentry had spat at him as he had strode past.

The ghoul had ignored the daggered stares spearing him in the back; if he couldn't handle the two hundred years' worth of bigotry thrown at him at that point, then he was just asking to receive some shit from his fellow apocalypse survivors as well. It's not like directing anger much helped...that insufferable bounty hunter had made the previous town a 'no-ghoul-zone' after supposedly riling up a bar fight and proceeding to beat the shit out of its patrons and bartender over some stupid, insignificant insult that had been thrown his way.

The ghoul still had a crick in his neck from camping out on the hard ground. The twinge of dull pain had brought his hand up to caress the said spot as he had then wandered around town, hoping to find the individual that he had been tasked with retrieving.

If finding someone is your objective, you should speak to the bounty hunter, Cross. He usually makes a frequent stop in the city...he would make a better candidate than myself.

Oh, I've heard of him...but I need someone with a little more finesse, for this particular situation. I've been told a few things about yourself, and believe you are much more suitable for the job. For enough caps, of course.

He had come to a small hill that gently sloped, and after he had reached the top, he had spied a young woman sitting in the grass, her head buried in the pages of a book. It wasn't often he had found literate individuals in the wasteland, less so those that read for enjoyment. He had slowly come around to the side, confident his loud crunching over the dried stalks would raise her head to the encroaching intruder...but she had remained oblivious to the world, those eyes scanning the pages feverishly as she twirled a strand of golden-brown hair around one finger.

He couldn't help but stare at her for a moment- she looked young, but she was very eye-catching. A pretty girl, that shouldn't have been left alone for mere strangers to invade upon. He had blinked down at her dress- it was stained with dirt and tattered and torn at the hem. It wouldn't have been for another few weeks that he would have discovered that she had actually just been careless with her clothes, almost resembling a feral animal as she roved about the countryside in search of adventure.

The ghoul had then cleared his throat politely, and she had finally raised her head to him. For the first time since he had left Braxton, he had not received any animosity or repulsion from his presence being too close. Instead, she had given him a curious once-over with the bluest eyes that perfectly blended into the sky.

Thomas had pointed to her novel. "Is that Hamlet?"

A shy shrug. "...it's boring," she had conceded.

"Boring?" Thomas had laughed, shaking his head as he had crossed his arms and then tapped at his elbow with a few fingers. "Nonsense. You just need to learn to read between the lines to enjoy it properly."

Her brows had furrowed. "That's what my mother told me...to which, I replied, then it doesn't make a very good book to begin with, now does it?"

The ghoul hadn't been able to help the smile that had spread across his face, and he had momentarily forgotten his real reason for journeying this far. Whomever he had been meant to find, perhaps wouldn't mind waiting for just a few minutes more.

He then realized all too well, in that present moment, that he had made her wait for far much too long.

Thomas cleared his throat as she said nothing but simply stared at him, that youthful innocence burned to ash by his very fire.

"David had sent me to bring you back here, to Braxton. I was unaware of the Vault, and I did not ask as to why. I was in need of the caps at the time, and he was very generous with his offer."

"Why didn't you bring me here? What made you change your mind?"

He blinked at her as though she had asked a rhetorical question. "Well, you, of course." His glowing eyes softened a bit. "I loved you, very much."

She released a shaky breath. "I loved you, too."

There was an awkward pause as he shoved his hands in his trench coat pockets. "There are many questions I am sure you have of this entire debacle, and I will allow you to remain here in this city for as long as you wish until your consciousness is cleared. It is the least you deserve...after everything."

A smile. "Thank you, Thomas."

He shifted his weight. "It is rather ironic, seeing you now with the man who made me this way..."

"How long have you known him?"

"Cross?"

A faint nod of her head.

"I am going to be very honest with you-" Thomas began.

"That's a first," Evelyn retorted.

He ignored her remark. "-in all the many (unfortunate) years I have known Cross, I cannot say that I care for him in the slightest: he is brash, crude, an alcoholic with obvious issues, dishonest, extremely selfish, and a killer with a questionable moral compass. I have never known him to genuinely care for another person besides himself. I would not say he is a good man- I have personal experience to attest to that."

She giggled without humor. "Oh, please. Cross is honestly harmless- more of a whiner than a fighter."

Thomas had a slight tilt of his head to her disbelief at his claims. "Oh?"

She scoffed. The long drape of her hair came over one shoulder, and she busied herself with a side braid. "He's a big baby. Always complaining, so fucking needy, constantly needs reassurance." Her fingers faltered, and the complicated twining she was performing slightly unraveled. "He's nothing more than a big, dumb-"

The door slammed open, and the frame hit the wall opposite with a shudder. "Fuck we talkin' 'bout? Two hundred years went by faster than this shit."

Evelyn finished the hairstyle and set one hand on her hip with another dramatically flourishing at the merc coming towards her. "See?"

Thomas crossed his arms, suddenly aggravated at the interruption. "I am going to ask you to return to your assigned room. I have some questions for you next."

Cross rolled his eyes. "Look, I ain't goin' anywhere, just got some business I need to discuss with her- give me five minutes, then I'll answer whatever the hell it is you fuckin' want."

"Business-?"

"Bounty hunter business." The merc gave a mocking wave of his chained hand at the other ghoul, an indication of shoo shoo. He grumbled, "C'mon, before we start usin' the words vernacular."

Thomas remained in his spot for a moment considering a proper response, but arguing with the merc was akin to reasoning logic with a toddler. He sighed defeatedly and left. "Five minutes."

Cross twisted the lock. "Finally." He turned around to her. "Take off your clothes."

She tensed and crossed her arms over her chest. "So demanding!"

He rattled his bound hands at her. "Rip this shit off-"

An eyebrow raised, and she smiled toothily. "No...I kind of like it."

He narrowed his eyes. "I'm bein' serious-"

"Me too."

A visible count of his fingers. "That puts you up to four now, you damn pervert." He then cracked his knuckles and swiftly advanced towards her. "Let's hurry up- knowin' Thomas, he's probably already started his fuckin' pocket watch."

Six Months Ago

"Hey, Charon-" Evelyn called to him from her perch, hands on her hips and a wide smile set on her lips. "-think I can make this jump?"

The ghoul didn't bother peering over the edge for betting grounds; it was a solid no, either way. "Get down from there." When she didn't immediately comply, he sighed irritably. "I am not going to ask you again."

"My God, you have never been this...demanding, before."

He gave her a pointed look, and he held up his arms for her to jump down to him. "Evelyn, I am going to give you until the count of five."

"I'm coming- I'm coming!" Her fingers intertwined through his own, and he swiftly pulled her into his embrace. "Jeez, make me feel like a kid."

"Then do not act like one." She was set on her feet, and he tilted her chin slightly to view the colorful bruising along her face. "It is getting better."

"I honestly can't tell," she muttered to the side, feeling his hand fall away. "Still hurts."

A snort. "The bruise? Or your pride?"

There was a flash of mild annoyance at his comment- but he was right. Having your own face slammed into a closed doorframe (as a failed escape attempt from radscorpions) was a story she didn't bother to share with those who had curious stares.

"Whatever." A huff, and she bypassed around him to continue their way down the empty side avenue. "Someday, I'll-" There was a sudden sound of skittering from an alleyway, and both turned their heads as something emerged from a rusted dumpster.

"Eek!" Evelyn's feet seemed to magically teleport her, safely shielding herself behind the crimson ghoul as he lifted a boot and grumbled incoherent nonsense.

Smash

The radroach blew out along the sides of his foot in a gory display; he pounced on another; the chittering screams they produced pierced their ears. A flutter of wings to the side- one had caught them unawares and was attempting to crawl up her legs. A very distorted human sound escaped Evelyn's mouth as she left the ferryman's side and jumped over the side of the wall separating them from the canal. A splash was heard, followed by Charon's curt chastisement.

The mutated roach was quickly disposed of in his hands as it skittered up his chest. He attempted to wipe the gooey residue from his torso and arms, peering over the side where she had fled over. "Evelyn?"

A spew of bubbles in the river and she emerged, blowing water from her face. She twirled around, her braid following along behind her in the murky water. "Are...are they gone?"

An aggravated sigh. "Yes."

Something slimy brushed against her, and she shrieked. "Charon!"

"Ch-!" He was spinning around, searching for something to reach down and grab her with. With two long strides he disappeared from her view, and he could hear her splashing frantically. Evelyn swam to the side of the wall and was making pathetic, mewling noises as whatever was in the water with her was letting itself be known. He reappeared, bending over the edge as far as his body would allow, a metal pole being offered to her. She gripped it with both hands, and he easily hefted her over. He dumped her unceremoniously at his feet, and she hacked up some inhaled water from her lungs; a rather large splash could be heard back down below.

"Stupid," Charon merely growled.

And he thought the Lone Wanderer was a handful.