Chapter 6 - Sanctuary

"Cait!" Nate shouted, making Curie jump. "I swear to god, if you are hiding anything from me." The atmosphere in the house had turned suddenly from celebratory to ice cold.

Valkyrie, as surprised at the speed of Nate's mood change as everyone else, tried to interrupt.

"I think I need to …" She began in a conciliatory tone.

Nate ignored Valkyrie, his eyes burning into Cait. "On patrol, if I ask any of you a question, I expect an answer. When lives are at stake it is imperative I get nothing but honesty from my team. We all agreed this, and I don't make any exceptions. I can't, not even for you Cait." Nate's frustration was building in his voice, "As of now you have earned yourself one hell of a hiding, when we get back home, might I suggest you tell me what is going on before it gets much worse."

"This!" Valkyrie interrupted in a firm tone, "has nothing to do with her." She glared at Nate, "Leave her alone."

Nate looked at Valkyrie, his face portraying the hurt that last comment caused, why is she saying that he should leave Cait alone. When any of the girls are not being honest, they will get told off, and even earn a spanking … that is what they agreed.

"And what's more, you should be thanking her as it was Cait that saved my life back at Olivia's." Valkyrie nearly growled at Nate, a fierce expression on her face.

Nate, looked around, his team a tableau of negative expressions. Piper and Curie were looking at him, pure shock on their faces, Valkyrie looked like she was about to attack him, and Cait was still looking tiny, as she stared down at the floor. Suddenly all the anger just flowed out of him as he was hit by the realisation that none of his team needed this, most especially his Cait, what was wrong with him?

"Sorry," Nate stated softly, "That was out of order." He looked up to see if he could catch Cait's face, but she was still looking down, sat on the floor, arms wrapped around her knees that she had drawn up in front of her. "Hey," Nate got up and moved to sit down beside Cait, Valkyrie shifting over a little to make room. No sooner had Nate sat down than Cait stood up and headed outside.

Nate caught a glimpse from Piper that showed exactly what he should do next. He nodded and followed Cait outside.

"Hey," Nate tried again, catching up with Cait and taking her gently by the arm to stop her walking and to turn her around. "I am sorry for that little outburst, I really am." Cait allowed herself to be stopped and when she turned to face Nate, he could see her eyes full of tears. "I am not sure what has gotten in to me recently, but it's all good now. Oh, and you can forget my threat for when we get back home." Nate smiled at Cait, looking for any signal of an easing of the pained expression she was wearing.

"I've been so scared…." Cait finally said after a long pause.

Nate looked puzzled, "scared, in what way?" he asked.

Cait looked down the street towards the glow of the little settlement growing up in the ruins of Nate's old Neighbourhood. "That you no longer liked me." She said quietly.

"Because I just told you off?" Nate was about to smile again but seeing Cait's expression decided he needed to push further. "How long have you felt like this?"

Cait took in a deep breath but before she could say anything the couple were interrupted by a voice from behind them.

"You have been treating Cait like shit since we first set off on this patrol." Piper commented in an obviously disapproving voice. "Here, I came to bring you these," she then handed over two coffees before heading back into the house.

"Thank you," responded Cait, although Nate wasn't sure which bit she was saying thank you for, the coffee or the support. So, he had been acting like a shit to Cait whilst on the patrol. Nate wasn't sure what to say to that, although Piper could be bossy and forthright when the team were at home, he had never heard her this scathing.

"If I ever gave you the feeling that I was mad at you or unhappy with us, I am truly sorry as I am about as far away from those two feelings as anyone can be." Nate pleaded with Cait.

"You have a funny way of showing it," Cait scolded as she wiped away a tear threatening to roll down her cheek. She looked up at Nate and could see a confused look on his face, and she rolled her eyes. 'Men!' she thought to herself.

"There was the 'didn't expect you to be slow' comment, the avoiding me in the evenings, the curt response to my attempt at banter and the general shutting me out as you fawn over your new bestie, Valkyrie." Cait's voice grew in strength as she spoke.

"You aren't jealous of Valkyrie and I, are you?" Nate responded almost smiling at that.

"Oh no you don't, you don't turn this on me." Cait stated firmly. "I am not jealous of you and V, she is great, this doesn't have anything to do with her. I am just pointing out that being your girlfriend sucks right now if this is how you are going to treat me."

Nate felt like he had been punched in the chest. Was that really how he had made Cait feel? He took a deep breath. "I can see that I have fucked things up here really seriously, and I now understand I need to make things right, but I can't have you thinking it sucks being my girlfriend."

Cait smiled at Nate's response, even when he was apologising, he was giving orders. "Ok, to start can you sound a little less like you hate me every time you talk to me." Cait raised an eyebrow at Nate.

"Yes, absolutely." Nate answered immediately, "how about I sing to you?" he chuckled.

"I'll take any punishment from you over having to listen to you try to sing, so please don't." Cait laughed back, putting her hand on his chest as he drew her close.

"I am sorry for being such a…" Nate was searching for an appropriate word.

"Dick … douchebag … jerk…." Cait was in her stride.

"Hey!" Nate feigned a look of hurt, "We are still on patrol, don't you have to be respectful to me whilst we are in the field."

"I think that goes both ways." Cait gave her boyfriend a knowing look before letting him lead her back into the house.

Passing Piper on the way in, Nate leaned over to her and said a quiet 'thank you' before squeezing her shoulder.

"Everything OK?" Curie asked.

"Yes, thank you Curie," Cait smiled at her.

"I owe you all an apology for being such a jerk towards Cait over the last few days. It wasn't warranted and I am glad you guys made me realise that pretty sharpish." Nate smiled, "I don't think I want those looks you gave me earlier, but I am so happy you have each other's backs, even when it is against me."

"It sucks, doesn't it?" Piper asked looking at Nate. "Discovering that you are actually just human like the rest of us." They all laughed at that.

"So would it be totally inappropriate to try that toast again", Nate took hold of his whisky he had left by the fire. "And I don't care what it was you guys were up to when Cait gave you that look earlier, V, I just want to say well done to you all." Nate held up his cup.

The girls all joined him in the toast and silence descended the camp as everyone was lost in their own thoughts for a few minutes.

"It wasn't quite perfect." Valkyrie said quietly as she broke the team's silence.

Nate, Piper and Curie all gave Valkyrie a quizzical look.

"I wasn't quite the perfect team lead that you said I was." Valkyrie looked at Nate and then to Cait, "And Cait saved my life." She nodded to her companion.

The team remained silent giving Valkyrie an opportunity to continue to tell her tale.

"When we reached the bottom of the stairs, you know, inside the bunker, I knew Cait was behind me. I was pumped that we were really doing this, we were really operating, and we had breached the complex. I just didn't think, I allowed my emotions, my relief, my joy, my just being free to make me bold, and that was where I fucked up." Valkyrie was looking into the fire. "I opened the door, and I just didn't check…." She shrugged, "such a fucking rookie move, and I just didn't check." She then laughed and looked at the ceiling, "And do you know what the really fucked-up part of it was, Cait was going to warn me, she was going to tell me to check, but she didn't want me to get on the wrong side of you." Valkyrie said looking at Nate. "It was Cait saving me from a spanking that made her not warn me, because she thought you were going to overhear."

"Hang on, hang on," Nate interrupted, as Valkyrie's confession continued to flood out. "Slow down, we are not following." He admitted, indicating himself, Curie and Piper.

"Just take your time, V." Piper offered her a reassuring smile. "You were at the bottom of the stairs, right?"

Valkyrie nodded, "and as soon as Cait arrived, I opened the main door and started to sneak through."

"Only there was a raider waiting for us, hidden out of sight. As he pointed his weapon at V, I introduced him to my friend." Cait tapped her knife.

"Way to go Cait." Piper smiled, "she is pretty impressive with that knife, I have to say. Certainly makes me want to stay friends with her, that's for sure."

"So, instead of Cait warning you, she killed the raider instead?" Nate asked.

"Well yes, but I should have checked the door." Valkyrie looked down at her hands.

Cait placed her own hand on Valkyrie's shoulder, "and I should have warned her, rather than trying to keep you from over hearing. I was trying to be nice." She smiled sardonically.

"But you dealt with it, you both did." Nate said in an encouraging tone.

"Yes, Cait removed the threat and so you were safe, yes?" Curie shrugged.

"But I forgot to check the door, that's why Cait was going to warn me. I made a rookie mistake and if it hadn't been for Cait's quick reactions, I would be dead." Valkyrie looked at Nate. "I am so fucking cross at myself."

"Certainly a lesson to learn, don't you think?" Nate asked.

"That was the problem, I just didn't think, so fucking stupid." Valkyrie wiped a tear away from her eyes. "And look at me, crying over it as well."

"I have lost count of the number of times one of these guys has saved my ass." Piper grinned.

"Me too," Nate responded, he then looked at Piper, "that super mutant in Fallons." They both nodded.

"We are a team now, ass covering is a thing we do." Curie smiled.

"Yeah, but this is also an ass tanning situation, right?" Valkyrie looked at Nate. "Such a noob move." She shook her head.

"Is that what you think?" Nate asked.

Valkyrie took a deep breath, "it was a straight up omission on my part. A piece of unit drills I have done a thousand times before, and yet I forgot it when I needed it the most." She shrugged.

"So, such a simple thing that you should have done through habit, but you forgot, yes?" Nate looked to his other girls. "Or, what about a different perspective? What about …" He paused, tapping his chin in an exaggerated fashion, "a unit drill you last did over 200 years ago. Since then, you have been kidnapped, injected with some juju juice to make you all but immortal and you have been locked up in a cell for two centuries." Returning his gaze to Valkyrie. "I know which one of those I am going with and I might not be the only one."

"Yeah V, your screw up was completely understandable. Had you come out of Parsons and not been affected by your imprisonment, then we would have known you were a synth... oooh!" Piper smiled holding her hands up in a pantomime of a ghost. "No offence, Curie." She smiled at her synth friend.

"You are being human and Nate promised he wouldn't punish any of us for being human, even me." Curie said happily. "And besides, if the raider was staying very still you might not have heard him even if you did listen at the door?" Curie was clutching at straws, trying to help her newest teammate.

Nate turned to Cait. "I know I didn't impress any of you with my little outburst earlier but what do you think Cait, am I right now?"

The team all looked at Cait, who in turn looked to Valkyrie. "We haven't known each other for that long, but I am going to go out on a limb here and say that V is feeling like I am right now." Valkyrie smiled in understanding and began to nod.

"When I first met you guys and you told me about your use of discipline, I was thrilled. Here, in all this world of crazy fucked upness, was somewhere I could get what I needed, what I lived on and what I had missed for such a long time. Cait is absolutely right, my screw up back there at Olivia's needs to be punished. It needs to be punished as much for the fact that I just need that right now, as it does for the fact that it was a rookie move." Valkyrie relaxed as she said that, obviously grateful to have got that off her chest. "You let Cait ask, don't you?" She looked at Nate, "when she feels all out of sorts, right?" Nate nodded, "so even if you don't think I deserve this, I am asking because I know I need this."

"Why do you feel the same way?" Piper asked as she poured some whisky into Cait's cup.

"I didn't warn V because I didn't want Nate to hear. I didn't want him to hear because I feared he might want to spank her for it. Ha! Sounds ridiculous now, doesn't it?" She smiled. "It was a stupid move and one that was, as it turns out, dangerous."

Nate nodded and then taking a sip from his drink, he looked at Valkyrie. "I have promised this before to the others and so I will make the same promise to you," he indicated Cait, Curie and Piper. "Should anyone want to use our discipline agreement to make themselves feel better, to sort themselves out and to basically just be happier, in a better place, then I am not going to stop that."

Nate placed another small piece of wood on the fire. He continued, "When the girls suggested the use of corporal punishment, it has always been, for me, a way of keeping my teammates safe. As you know, it was introduced as an instructional aid to keep the team focused. What has become entirely evident since then, is that it serves a much wider purpose than just a penalty for not listening in class." The girls laughed at that. "The glue that binds, right?" Nate looked at Piper.

She smiled, "You've got that right."

"That's a nice way to put it." Valkyrie also smiled. "It has always been that way with me. For as long as I can remember, I have felt the need for discipline in my life, to feel controlled but cared for. This," she Indicated the rest of the team, "is what you guys have all the time. It is what I was lucky enough to have with Dean, but even with him it was limited, what with work and life getting in the way. Here you guys live my perfect discipline dynamic 24/7."

"You won't be saying that when we get back home." Piper blew out a breath.

"I won't, but I will." Valkyrie smirked. "Cait, back me up here as I am starting to sound like a proper weirdo." Cait leant forward signalling her willingness to jump in if needed. Valkyrie continued, "wanting and needing discipline stays as strong as ever, even when you are faced with a spanking which you definitely don't want." Valkyrie then pulled a face clearly showing that she wasn't happy with that answer.

"I think that sums it up perfectly." Cait nodded, showing that for her the answer was spot on. "These guys," she said, hooking a thumb at Piper and Curie, "definitely don't enjoy the spankings and are not what your book describes as spankos." She looked at Nate.

"So, PBS and now books, you have been thorough," Valkyrie laughed.

"If a jobs worth doing…" Nate smiled back.

"It was one of the novels that Nate bought back in Diamond City from Percy when he was beginning his journey into bossyhood." Piper stated.

"Yeah, so these guys are definitely not spankos. In that I mean they don't miss it when it is not there, nor do they enjoy the sensations and feelings afterwards, but even they can see the benefits of this new arrangement we have." Cait looked for some agreement from Piper and Curie.

"Oh, I do not enjoy any of the actual spanking," Curie exclaimed. "Not like you describe," she indicated to Cait, "but I do feel better afterwards, I feel like I have earned the right to feel better even after I had done something bad." Nate smiled at her naïve but fairly spot on description of alleviating guilt.

"For me, it has become so much more. I now don't know what I would do if it wasn't in my life." Cait admitted.

"If this is really what the two of you want to happen when we get back home, then I will not step in your way." Nate looked at both girls in turn. "As you are both asking for this, then you will both get an opportunity to change your mind up to the punishment itself, but as you know Cait, when I begin, you will both see it through to the end. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal." Valkyrie said with no hint of sarcasm.

"Yes, sir," Cait acknowledged in a quiet voice.