Author's Note: As of the last chapter, this story now has over 10,000 views. When I began writing this story, I honestly didn't know how good of a response that I would get from it, but this has far exceeded any expectations that I may have had back when I first published it. Enjoy the chapter, and reviews are always welcome and appreciated.

Mark got back on the elevator and went back to the Presidential Suite. Mark found everyone seated around the table, eating what looked like some eggs mixed with some meat and spices. 'This is what Veronica meant when she said she was making eggs 'a la Veronica,'' Mark thought. "Mornin' Captain," Cass said as she shoveled eggs in her mouth. "Sit down, Mark," Veronica said, motioning to a seat between her and Amata. There was already a plate of eggs at his spot. He gave Amata a quick peck on the cheek and sat down. He looked at the plate. "So, what's in these eggs, anyway?" Mark asked as he went to take a bite. "Well," Veronica said, "it's gecko eggs with bits of gecko meat, and some cinnamon. This isn't the first time I've made the eggs with the meat, but I've never had access to any type of spices like House has here." Mark took a bite. It was actually not bad. "Mmm, it is very good, Veronica," Mark said.

"Speaking of House," Arcade said, "what kind of suicide mission has he given today?" "Well," Mark said, "compared to the first assignment, this one actually seems relatively easy. He wants me to go across the street to Gomorrah. He thinks that the Omertas are up to something." As he anticipated, Amata was not exactly thrilled with that idea. "Uh, Mark," she said, "I'm not exactly sure if I'm comfortable with you going into a place filled with a bunch of whores." "Amata," Mark said, "I'm not going in there to look at the strippers. You know I only have eyes for you. If they try anything, I'll let them know that I'm already taken." "Aww, how sweet," Veronica said. "You two were really made for each other." Mark and Amata looked at each other. "Yeah, we really are," Amata said softly as she and Mark kissed. "Ecch, y'all are gonna make me barf," Cass said as she got up and put her dish in the sink. "Hey, uh, didn't y'all promise ta help me find my caravan? I'm not rushin' ya, I was jus' wonderin when we're gonna get ta that."

"Well," Mark said, "technically, Amata promised you that, but since she's in no position to go anywhere, I guess the responsibility falls to me. We can actually do it today, if you're up for it." Cass stared absentmindedly at the bottle of whiskey. "Yeah, uh, today's good. I think I need closure." Then something dawned on Mark, who then turned to Amata. "Amata, why aren't you in bed? You need to be resting." "Arcade said it was okay for me to be out here, right, Arcade?" "Well," Arcade said, looking like he didn't want to be involved in this conversation, "I said you could be out here for a few minutes. You're a little better, but I'd still rather not have you overwhelmed just yet. Better safe than sorry, I'm afraid."

"Arcade," Amata said, "I feel-" "Amata," Mark said a bit more forcefully than he had intended, "you heard what he said. Go back to bed, or I will restrain you to it." "Really? Using my own words against me?" "Well, they were some good words," Mark said. Amata looked annoyed, but got up anyway. Mark got up and went to follow her. "Mark," Veronica said, getting up, "why don't you let me keep an eye on her for now?" Mark and Amata stopped in their tracks. "Are-are you sure, Veronica?" Mark asked. She waved it off. "It's no problem. We're a team, remember? We look out for each other. It sounds like you have things you need to do. I don't mind sitting this one out." Mark didn't put up much of a fight. "Well, okay, Veronica, by all means." Veronica followed Amata out of the room, and they heard the bedroom door open and close.

Mark sat back down at the table and continued to eat the eggs. "So, uh," Cass said, "what was that 'bout usin' her own words against 'er?" "Oh, yeah," Mark said, "after I got shot, and after I woke up from the coma, she wouldn't let me leave the house, so she threatened to restrain me to the bed because I tried to sneak outside." "Sounds knida kinky if ya ask me," Cass said, grinning at Mark. "Yeah, I may have made a joke about that, too. She wasn't exactly in a laughing mood at the time." Arcade got up from the table and put his dish in the sink. "Well," he said, "since it appears that you guys won't be needing me, I'll be down in the lab." He was about to walk out into the hallway, when Mark spoke.

"Hey, uh, Arcade, I forgot to ask. How is the lab? I never actually had a chance to check it out." "It is…something else. I wasn't even aware that some of those machines still existed, let alone functioned. I've only read about them in books. I've made more progress with my research in the past few days than I had in the past couple of years. I still don't know how to thank you." Mark stood up and put a hand on Arcade's shoulder. "Arcade, you're helping make sure that my wife and my unborn child are healthy. That is more than thanks enough. You're a good man. I know that you'll do good work." Arcade smiled. "Thank you for the vote of confidence," Arcade said, "you don't know how much that means to me." "Don't mention it," Mark said as he patted Arcade on the shoulder and sat back down. Arcade headed down the hallway towards the elevator, humming a happy tune.

(5 minutes earlier)

Amata and Veronica walked into Mark and Amata's room and Veronica closed the door. Amata laid down on the bed and let out an exasperated sigh. "Something wrong?" Veronica asked as she walked over to the bookshelf behind the desk, looking for something to read. "This is stupid," Amata said, "I feel fine." "Amata, last night, you could barely stand up. I know you're walking a little now, but a concussion isn't something you recover from overnight. There could still be problems that haven't surfaced yet." "It's just…I feel like Mark is smothering me. He wouldn't let me come with you guys, he told me not to go into Freeside, and now he's ordering me to go to bed like I'm a kid." Veronica stopped looking through the books and turned to face Amata. "Well," Veronica said, "can you honestly blame him for being careful?" "What?"

"Amata, you are pregnant. With his child." "Thank you, Veronica, but I am fully aware of my present condition," Amata said sarcastically. "Are you now? Because I think that someone who's pregnant would know better than to go into an area that you are completely unfamiliar with. Now, Mark's told me that you're smart, but that doesn't seem like something a smart person would do. Then again, maybe all of those hormones are affecting your judgement." She paused. "Look, Amata, you've known him your entire life, and you know things about him that I probably will never know. Now, granted, I've known him for less than a week, but I think I've got a decent read on him. He goes into a heavily guarded casino, kills the guy who runs it, and no one's any the wiser on whom actually did. Doing that, doesn't even seem to faze him. Now, once Benny's dead, the first thing he does isn't to search for the chip, but to make sure that you're okay."

"He also meticulously planned and successfully executed an infiltration of a massive slaver base, with only maybe a bruise to show for it. That doesn't bother him in the slightest. Hell, it sounded like he did that kind of thing for a living. But when he couldn't contact you, the first thing that he thinks is that you're likely severely hurt or dead. There was fear in his eyes over the thought of losing you. Hell, he and Cass almost came to blows. Everything that he's doing is to keep you safe."

Before Amata could respond, the door to the room opened, and Mark came in. Both Amata and Veronica stared at him. Mark froze. "Oh, sorry," he said, "was I interrupting something?" "No," Amata said, "just some girl talk." "Ah, well, don't let me interrupt. I just need to get changed." As Mark put on his armor and armed himself, Veronica noticed something under the desk. It was a small silver briefcase with a three number dial combination. "Hey, guys," Veronica said, examining the case, "what's this?" "What's what?" Mark asked as he turned around to face her. When both he and Amata saw what she was referencing, their eyes went wide at the same time. "No, no, no, please don't touch that," Mark said in a slightly panicked voice, as he walked over to her quickly and took it out of her hands. "What is it?" Veronica asked.

"Something only to be used in severe emergencies," Mark said as he put the case under the bed. "Is it some kind of weapon?" "Yes," Mark said, "and like I said, it's only to be used for emergencies." There was silence as Mark finished getting changed. "How do I look, babe?" He asked Amata. He had his combat armor on, his assault rifle in a harness attached to his back, his silenced 10 mm pistol on his right hip, Benny's pistol on his left hip, a trench knife (courtesy of the Anchorage simulation) in a sheath strapped to his right leg, and three frag grenades on the front of his belt. "Mark, you look like you're ready to storm a military base by yourself," Amata said. "That's good," Mark said, "because that's the look that I was going for." Veronica had come over to look at him as well. "Mark, what's that other pistol you have, the one that looks ornate?" Mark pulled Benny's pistol out and showed it to her.

"This was Benny's personal weapon. I took it for myself, kinda as a war prize. I'm guessing he liked it a lot, because he gave it a name." "How do you know that?" Veronica asked. He showed her the bottom of the grip. "Maria," Veronica said, reading the engraving. "Yep," Mark said, "so I've decided to name my pistol as well." He pulled out the 10 mm pistol. "So, say hello to Amata. The gun, not the person." Veronica chuckled and turned to Amata. "So you must feel pretty honored, to have a gun named after you." "Yeah," Amata said, rolling her eyes at Mark, "he sure knows how to make a girl feel special." "Hey," Mark said, "you should feel special. Most people don't get anything named after them until after they're dead."

Mark looked down and saw the envelope Amata had been give yesterday on the ground near her armor. "Amata, what's this?" Mark asked as he picked it up. "Oh, um, an NCR soldier gave it to me yesterday as I was leaving. Said it was for you." Mark opened it and read it. Veronica, who had sat down at the desk and propped her feet up on it, asked, "what does it say?" "Apparently," Mark said as he tossed it in his bag, "NCR Ambassador Dennis Crocker wants to meet with me." He picked up his duffel bag and slung it over his shoulder. He gave Amata a kiss. "Alright, babe, I'll be back at some point later today. Call me if you need me, ok?" "Okay. I love you." "Love you too, babe." He went towards the door, and reached for the door handle, when he realized he had forgotten to tell her something.

"Oh, yeah, Amata, by the way, I'm gonna be picking up some new armor while I'm out, and you're gonna get this armor," Mark said patting the chest plate of his combat armor. "Your leather armor is getting too restrictive for my liking." She turned over and looked at him. "Mark, are you calling me fat?" she asked playfully. Mark was silent for a moment, and then shook his head. "Nope. Not answering that. That's a double edged sword, and no matter how I answer, somehow you're gonna be mad at me." He opened the door and walked out.

Mark went into the kitchen and found Boone staring out the door to the balcony. "Hey, Boone?" "Yeah?" Boone responded, not looking away. Mark pulled out the note. "This note was delivered here yesterday, and it says an Ambassador Crocker wants to meet with me. Do you know anything about him?" Boone turned around. "He's a nice enough guy, I suppose. I met him once, but I didn't really care for him." "Why not?" "He's a politician. I hate politicians." Mark smiled. "Yeah, me too," Mark said. "You wanna come with me and Cass, help find her caravan?" He stared at Mark for a few moments. "Ok," he finally said, "give me a minute." About five minutes later, Mark, Cass and Boone stepped in the elevator and made their way towards the ground floor.

(15 minutes later)

Amata and Veronica had sat in near-silence since Mark had left. The only noises were from Amata occasionally turning over, or Veronica turning the pages of the book she was reading, titled "The Iliad of Homer." "So," Veronica finally said without looking up, "did you wanna talk about anything?" "Like what?" Amata asked. "Oh, I don't know, maybe we could talk about you and Mark. Amata groaned. "Veronica, I get it. I screwed up. I really don't wanna talk about that anymore." "No, no, not that. I was just curious as to when you knew that you were in love with him, if you don't mind me asking." Amata's voice softened a bit. "Um, well, okay. I mean, we were best friends when we were growing up. We did nearly everything together. When I turned thirteen, however, my dad had a guard with me at all times, so it was near-impossible to do anything romantic."

"Why?" Veronica asked, "Did he not trust you?" "No, I think he trusted me. He just wasn't Mark's biggest fan." "What, did Mark pull some prank on him?" "No, Mark isn't exactly the type to pull pranks. I'm pretty sure that it was because my father and Mark's father never really saw eye-to-eye, and disagreed with my father on a lot of things. I think my father thought that since Mark's father disagreed with him, Mark would be inclined to as well, and since Mark and I were best friends, that some of that rebelliousness would rub off on me." Veronica was silent for a couple of moments. "Well, you two seem all lovey-dovey now, so what happened? What changed?" All of a sudden, Amata frowned and got a far-away look in her eyes, remembering everything that happened. In a barely audible voice, Amata said one word: "Everything." Veronica put down the book. "Amata, what does that mean, 'everything?'" "You know what," Amata said hurriedly, "I'm tired. I don't feel like talking anymore." She turned over and faced away from Veronica, silence once again taking over the room.

Hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Until next time, and reviews are always welcome.