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The Lone Wandering Couple	By : XfoXshoreX Category: +A through F > Fallout (Series) > Fallout (Series) Views: 13860 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Fallout 3, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Natalia burst into the intense light of the Wasteland. Her eyes, having never seen true sunlight, snapped shut almost instantly and she stumbled back a step. Supporting Amata’s body with one arm, she retrieved the baseball cap that was tucked away under a elastic band. She slid it on sloppily. It didn’t sit right but without both hands she couldn’t adjust it properly. When she could finally bring herself to open her eyes, she was amazed and somewhat horrified at what she saw. If she had to pick one word to describe it, it would have been nothing. Nothingness in every direction. Sure, there was stuff there but it was a true wasteland. She walked in a daze forward, to a sign that said “Scenic Overlook”. In the back of her mind, she made a chuckle and thought it was a pretty apt description of the view. Dead trees, grey rock, destroyed houses just down the road, and what she could tell were destroyed skyscrapers and office buildings far into the horizon.

What caught her eye though, was what appeared to be a hunk of scrap metal just over the hills maybe 400 meters away. She could somewhat recognize it from the picture of Megaton she’d seen on the Overseer’s computer. Pulling herself away from the overlook view, she walked down a nearby slope and started a light jog down a crumbling road in the direction of the scrap heap. As she moved down the road, a strange machine came into view. It was a strange floating machine stewing some kind of noise. It suddenly turned around and moved towards her. In the blink of a eye, Natalia had shifted Amata’s weight into her left arm, whipped her N99 out and popped off 3 shots. The machine made a buzz and exploded in a small, harmless ball of fire. She holstered the pistol and continued her jog up the road through a small, destroyed village of some sort.

As she made her way through some scattered rocks on some hills, a huge gate of sorts came into view. It looked like the thing was built out of airplane wings with two of them forming what appeared to be doors of some sort with a turbine positioned directly above. Probably for opening the gate. As she got closer, she heard a yell and looked up to see a man crouched on a balcony above the turbine behind a sheet of metal, a rifle rested against he top and pointing right at her. He yelled again. “Who the hell are you?” She knew if he hadn’t shot yet, he wasn’t intent on killing them. “Hey! My friend has been shot and needs help!” The man seemed to scoff. “Yeah, heard that story from the last gang of Raiders who tried to get in. Just piss off already.” Natalia shook her head strongly. “We’re not Raiders or whatever. We just came from Vault 101.” She twisted around so he could clearly see the 101 on the back of her security armor. “Please, my friend has a bullet in her gut and she won’t last much longer.” That seemed to finally set his mind slightly at ease and he stood up. “Alright, if you cause trouble we’ll kill you.” Natalia rolled her eyes slightly. “Yeah, yeah. I get it. Just open the goddamn gate already.”

As she finished her sentence, she heard the turbine spin up and the two wings that guarded the entrance lifted out of the way. Behind it was a huge pair of doors but they pulled open slowly. Natalia jogged through them and nearly plowed face first into a black man in what looked like a duster and a cowboy hat. “Woah there stranger.” he said but Natalia cut him off. “You guys have a doctor?” The man nodded and pointed down into the crater. “Yeah, Doc Church. He’s cranky but he can get you and your friend taken care of. Clinic is directly across the outdoor dinner. You got caps?” Natalia cocked her slightly but quickly shook it, remembering the bag of caps she’d gotten from her dad’s office. “Yeah.” Before he could speak another word, Natalia practically sprinted down the hill. She made the turn and ran up the ramp.

She opened the door to the clinic and looked around. She found another black man sitting at a makeshift desk. “You Doc Church?” The man huffed as he stood.. “Yeah, I am. Looks like your friend here has been shot. Where?” He asked the last bit while motioning for her to follow. They walked into the next room. “Abdomen. High Velocity 10x25mm FMJ round from a N99. No exit wound.” He motioned for her to set Amata down on a operating table. He switched positions with her and looked Amata over. “Good Lord, this’ll take some work.” He turned to the tray beside him. “This’ll take a while. You look filthy but uninjured. If I was you, I’d get a new set of clothes and go wash off, maybe grab a beer or two. Come back tomorrow and we’ll talk payment. Now leave.”

Natalia nodded and looked at Amata. Natalia could tell she was still breathing by the movement of her chest. She quickly moved to the side of the table opposite Doc Church and took up Amata’s right hand with her own. “S’Okay now ‘Mata. Doc will take good care of you.” She kissed Amata’s forehead and then felt Amata’s grip tighten. She looked at Amata’s face but her eyes remained closed. She must’ve done it subsciously to the voice of my voice. Natalia thought before she let go of Amata’s hand and walked towards the door. She stopped in the frame between rooms. “Doc.” she said “If she dies, I’ll kill you.” Unknown to her, Doc Church rolled his eyes. “Got it.” With that, Natalia walked out of the building.

Almost as soon as the door clicked shut, Natalia suddenly felt extremely weak and started to fall forward. Before she could drop to her knees, she felt a pair of strong hands grip her shoulders. “Easy there sister.” She looked up to see the black man from earlier. “Thanks, Mr…?” she trailed off. He gave her a warm smile. “Simms, Lucas Simms. Town sheriff and when the need arises, mayor. And girl, it’s been a long time since I saw one of those Vault 101 jumpsuits.” Natalia returned the smile as best she could. “Natalia Miller, ex-resident of Vault 101. My friend is Amata Almodovar.” Lucas took a moment to look her over. “I gotta say girl, it looks like you fought with a blood bag and the bag exploded in your hands. Natalia chuckled. “Yeah, well it’s a long story and I’d rather not relive it.” Lucas nodded. “No problem. Everyone but a select few in this wasteland has seen some serious shit they’d rather forget about. I’m guessing you’re weak from all the stress of what’s probably happened in the last few hours. Your adrenaline kept you going but now that you’re safe, it’s worn off. How about I help you up to the bathhouse? We might not have the sparkling clean water of a Vault but it’ll clean grime off just as well and hopefully you can also wash some of the stress off.”

Natalia nodded and Lucas threw her arm around his shoulder. He led her up some ramps to a shack on the second highest level of town. “Here you go.” Natalia removed her arm from his neck. “Thanks Sheriff.” He smiled again. “Well you’re friendly and well-mannered. I’m thinking we’ll get along just fine. Just remember though,” his face got serious “this here is my town and my people. If you or your friend put us in danger, I’ll have to fuckin’ end you both.” Natalia nodded her head. “Right. Message received. Don’t worry, we’re just out here to try and find my dad. He left the Vault just a couple hours before we did. In fact, he’s the reason I left.” Lucas had a look of slight confusion on his face. “Why’d you bring your friend out here though? Surely that Vault would’ve been a safer place for her.” Natalia shook her head violently. “No, my dad was the Vault’s doc and his assistant was killed in the mayhem. Plus she was shot just as I was leaving. I’m sure we’ll have a heated debate when she wakes up.”

Lucas just chuckled. “Yeah, I imagine you will. Don’t worry, Doc Church is a cranky man but he means well and he’s got compassion. Just not in the way most express it. Come to think of it, we did get a stranger in a bit ago. What did your dad look like?” “About half a head taller than me, grayish hair, 5 ‘o'clock shadow?” Natalia replied. Lucas scratched his chin for a moment. “Yeah, I think I saw him. Think he was headed to Moriarty’s saloon.” Natalia’s face lit up. “He could still be here?!” Lucas simply shrugged his shoulders. “Sorry kid, couldn’t say. Though I doubt it. He seemed like he was in a hurry. I’d get washed up then pay the bar a visit. Word of warning though. Moriarty is NOT your friend, no matter what he says. So don’t fall for his lies and for Christ’s sake, don’t trust the man.” Natalia nodded. “Ok, is there also a store around? I got some junk to sell and whatnot.” Lucas swept his arm out and pointed behind him. “Yeah, it’s under the nose of that plane, just behind that giant scrap replica of a atom.” Natalia smiled. “Ok, thanks again Lucas.” Lucas patted her on the shoulder a couple of times. “No problem girl. Hope you find your dad.”

With that, Lucas turned and walked off. Natalia turned and walked into the bathhouse. She looked around the small room. There was a couple of stalls for toilets, a pair of sinks, and a pair of shower stalls against the far wall with a set of wall lockers. Everything looked like it hadn’t seen a ounce of Abraxo in centuries. Then she giggled at her own thoughts. Right, because a bathroom made out of random shit from a 200 year old wasteland would totally be clean. She sighed slightly and then walked over to the lockers and put her bag in it. It was going to take a lot of getting use to but this was her life now. And Amata’s as well. She quickly stripped, tossing all her bloody garments beside the locker. She remembered the paper quote she’d taken and pulled it out of her bra. She unfolded it and looked at it. She sighed again thinking of her dad always talking about it being her mom’s favorite. She slipped the paper into her bag and then shut the locker. We’ll be reunited soon Dad.

Natalia took a quick shower, surprised at how warm the water was. When she was done, she noticed some towels tossed on top of the locker she hadn’t noticed before and took one to dry herself off. Once she was done, she took one of the spare jumpsuits she’d taken from her dresser and put it on. She left her now clean hair flow loose behind her. She looked over the security armor. She’d have to have it cleaned some time. She still couldn’t believe she’d beaten Officer Park so bad she’d be covered in his blood. Thinking of the final minutes of her time in the Vault caused her to shiver. She slung her bag over her back, strapped her gun belt on, picked the security vest up, and walked out of the bathhouse. The sun had gone down and now the area was bathed in a sweet orange light.

She began her walk over to the store Lucas had pointed out to her. As she walked in her modified jumpsuit, she started to wish she just had a normal suit. She’d made three of these customized suits for herself and two for Amata, who wore them as much as she did. Her customizations including cutting the legs off up to the mid thigh. She made what was left into a makeshift skirt. The top half was more or less untouched. The sleeves still hugged her arms tightly but not uncomfortably so. The collar was trimmed off so it didn’t hug her neck, rather sat on her collarbone. She could sense the stares the wasters around her sent her way. She figured none of them had seem such unblemished skin nor such a smoking beauty such as herself. But too bad for them, she was taken. Or at least, not up for grabs. Not that she’d really try dating any man, much less having sex with them. After a bit of walking, she arrived at the door of the store. Scribbled on the wall beside the door, was the name ‘Craterside supply’. Must be the name of the store. Natalia thought as she walked in. She hadn’t gotten more than a step in before...something...came flying at her head. She ducked the projectile and quickly dropped the security vest, whipped her N99 out as it fell. She brought the gun up and pointed it at the face of some redhead who was apparently the cause of the object flying at her.

“Woah! Woah!” the redhead said, while shooting her hands into the air. It was then she sensed something pointing at her. She turned her head slightly to the left and saw the barrel of a R91 battle rifle, leveled at her head. She noted that the man was smart because he stood just close enough to guarantee a hit but also ensure she couldn’t grab the gun out of his hands. “I’d put that down before you hurt yourself.” His voice was gravelly and laced with venom and seriousness. Natalia turned her gaze back to the woman. She could tell the woman was scared pissless. She probably didn’t intend for that to happen and so, after several tense moments, Natalia released her grip on the gun and let it sit on her finger for a moment before spinning it around upside down to face herself and set it down on the counter next to her. The man lowered his rifle before slinging it around his back and the redhead dropped her hands.

“I’m sorry about that.” she said. “I was testing something and it kinda went nuts.” Natalia set her bag on the counter. “What exactly are you testing?” The woman turned around to face a workbench. On it was something that looked like a vacuum cleaner but one that had a bunch of junk wired, screwed, and bolted onto it. “I call it the Rock-It Launcher.” She said as she picked it up and started making motions that correlated to her words. “Cause it fires its projectiles like rockets but it can shoot all sorts of random junk. Want to fire a teddy bear? Load ‘it’ into the weapon. Fire a tin can? Load ‘it’ in and pull the trigger. Whatever ‘it’ is, you can fire it like a rocket with this baby.” Once she was finished talking, she set her creation back onto the table and turned back to Natalia, who stared at her for a few moments. Then her face started to contort in a attempt to stifle her giggle. Soon, she couldn’t hold it in anymore and started to laugh uncontrollably. The woman looked at her, her face scrunched in a look of confusion and sadness as this newcomer was literally laughing in her face at her prototype weapon. She really thought the idea was good and if perfected, it could help many who didn’t have access to guns or ammo or both.

Natalia couldn’t stop laughing. It was starting to actually hurt her sides. Unknown to the store owner, she wasn’t laughing at the basic idea. She had seen all the garbage lying about the wasteland on her jog to Megaton. If you could somehow get a device to fire that junk at a high enough speed, it could really injure someone. What she was laughing about was the idea of firing soft, fuzzy teddy bears at someone. After about 2 minutes, she could feel herself being able to regain control of her laughter. As she quieted down, she could hear something coming from the redhead. When she’d just about finished laughing, she suddenly realized the poor girl had her head hung and was actually sobbing quietly. Natalia quickly realized what she had done. This girl, who couldn’t have been more than 5 years older than herself, had created this invention that could turn garbage into deadly projectiles. It had probably taken quite a lot of time and effort to create and she had just laughed in the poor girl’s face.

Now that she thought about it, this girl seemed sweet and she was pretty cute. While her heart belonged to Amata, she could still appreciate the beauty of other girls. She now felt horrible. She rushed and suddenly took the redhead up into a strong embrace which shocked the young girl. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel bad. I wasn’t laughing at your invention.” She rubbed the redhead’s back, much the same as a mother would rub the back of her son who had just been crying. These actions started to make the young store owner feel strange. She hadn’t been hugged like this since her days living in Canterbury Commons with her parents. It felt...good. She stopped her sobs and sniffled a little, getting her composure back together. Before she realized it, she was hugging the raven haired girl back. They stayed in each other’s embrace for a bit longer before Natalia pulled back and gave off a bright smile. “I’m so sorry. I just couldn’t help it.” Now it was the redhead’s turn to speak. “Then what were you laughing at?” she asked. Natalia left off another giggle. “Thinking about what it would be like to shoot fluffy teddies at people.”

It took a moment but then it was her turn to start laughing. “Yeah, I guess it is kinda funny when you think about it.” They finally separated fully. “By the way, what’s your name?” Natalia asked, realizing they’d never introduced each other. “My name’s Moira Brown. I run this store.” Moira said. Natalia smirked. “Moira huh? That’s a cute name.” Moira's face suddenly turned a light shade of red. “Uhh, what’s your name? She asked, trying to avoid the fact a complete stranger managed to get her to blush just by saying her name was cute. “Natalia. Natalia Miller. Ex-Vault 101 resident.” Now it was Moira's turn to smirk. “Natalia? That’s a pretty sexy name itself.” Natalia giggled. “My master thinks so too.” Moira cocked a eyebrow. “Master?” Natalia went a little wide eyed. She hadn’t noticed that she’d called Amata her master. She hadn’t called Amata ‘Master’ since they broke up, though she still considered her a very powerful influence. Plus she’d never revealed the extent of their relationship to anyone before, even her dad. “Oh...well...uhh…” She started to scratch the back of her head. Moira giggled. “I see. I might be young but I can already put the pieces together. That other girl you came with, the one Doc Church is taking care of. Let me guess, she’s your girlfriend. Or as you put it…” She put on a playful smirk of mockingness. “Your Master.”

Natalia’s face lit up in a bright red blush. “Umm...well, maybe.” Moira's eyes stayed locked on Natalia’s, giving that ‘Oh come on now, just give it up.’ look. Natalia sighed and then smiled. “Ok fine. She is...my master.” Moira picked up on the pause but let it go. Not her place to pry. “Well now that all of that is out of the way, welcome to Craterside Supply. I pretty much sell junk and junk accessories. Though I do occasionally get more useful stuff in.” She walked around to behind the counter. “Could I interest you in anything?” Natalia collected herself and opened her bag up. “I couldn’t take much from the Vault but I grabbed these bits from a storage room.” She and Moira sorted through her stuff. She had a pair of conductors, a several bottles of Turpentine and Wonderglue, and a sensor module. She sold those to Moira, as well as her spare police batons, Pre-War money, and the Pre-War cigarettes. Moira also convinced her to sell her security vest and associated bits under the reason that most people had guns in the wasteland and a stabproof vest didn’t offer much more protection than a regular jumpsuit while adding a dozen pounds of extra weight, with a person’s weight carrying ability being a valuable resource in a open wasteland you had to trudge around in.

With her selling taken care of, she brought her eyes back up Moira's. Then she noticed something interesting hanging on the back wall, something she hadn’t taken notice to yet. “Hey Moira , what’s that?” Natalia asked while pointing over Moira's shoulder. Moira looked to where she was pointing and chuckled. Natalia was pointing to what looked like a normal Vault jumpsuit but it had a leather guard sewn into the left forearm as well as leather elbow pads and a thick leather chestpiece stitched on. “That old thing? Oh about 10 or so years ago some girl came into town clad only in her Vault suit. Since it has the number 101 embroidered on the back, I guess she came from your old Vault.” Moira turned back to Natalia. “Anyway, she didn’t know anything about the wasteland and had no money to buy some armor. As someone who grew up in this place, I knew she’d get killed wearing only that so I offered to armor it for her. She left a little while later, saying she was going to scavenge in Springvale, the nearby ruins you probably ran through on your way here.” Moira's face saddened a bit. “She never came back. Probably got snatched by the Raiders over in the old school there. Why do you ask? You want it?”

Natalia scratched her chin for a moment and then nodded her head. “Yeah, I do. I’d like to get something for Amata when she gets up. Something to help protect her.” Moira nodded back with a smile. “Ok, tell you what. I’m working on a book about surviving in the wasteland and I think it’d be pretty cool to have a foreword by a Vault Dweller. You help out and I’ll give it to you, free of charge.” Natalia pondered the idea for a minute. “Sure, why not?” Moira's face lit up with joy. “Great!” She crouched under the counter and grabbed a pencil and a pad. “Just give me whatever strikes your fancy.” Natalia thought it over for a bit while Moira waited patiently. Finally she spoke. “I guess you could say life in the Vault was decent. It was more or less safe, long as you stay away from the radroaches that creep in. It was cramped though and the food sucked. I’m curious to see what the food out here tastes like. As a last word, I’d say my first impression of the Capital Wasteland would be ‘Holy fuck!’. How is that?”

Moira finished copying Natalia’s words. “Yeah, it’s great. Thanks.” She set the pad down. “Now for your reward.” She turned around and pulled the armored Vault suit down. She walked around the counter and folded the suit up. As she placed into Natalia’s waiting hands, she suddenly went a step further and leaned in, to give Natalia a quick and chaste peck on the cheek, instantly turning Natalia’s face into a beat red almost as dark as Moira's hair. As Moira pulled back, Natalia could see Moira's face was only slightly less red than hers. “Thanks for the foreword. And for being so nice to me. No one has treated me like you have since the time I was a kid living in Canterbury.” Natalia smiled as Moira's compliment. “Well where I come from, treating people nice is just general kindness. But my dear, I must go. It’s getting dark and I need to get a place to stay. Does Moriarty’s bar have rooms.?” Moira nodded as she moved away. “I’m pretty sure. Just be careful in there. It’s a lively place at night, with half the town in there drinking.” Natalia smiled at Moira's concern while picking her pistol off the counter and holstering it.. “It’s okay. I’ve dealt with bad people before. I’m sure I’ll be talking with you a lot in the future, what with you being the only store around I know of. Later.” With that, Natalia turned and walked out the door. Moira used all her will not to blurt out that she’d be fine with Natalia staying the night at her place. Her feelings were surprising her. She’d barely had known Natalia for two hours yet she found herself drawn to her like a magnet. She shook her head at her own thoughts and returned to work on her weapon.

Dom, the mercenary Moira had long employed to protect her store, watched his boss’ actions closely as he usually did. In his nearly 8 years of service, he’d never seen her like this. She looked like a flustered schoolgirl and he smirked to himself. He’d never had romantic feelings for anyone. Hell, he didn’t even really have friendly feelings with anyone. It wasn’t in his nature. He’d even been the one to gun his mother down after she tried selling him to Paradise Falls for money to feed her drug habit. He was a true waster, a hardened man who had few emotions that were capable of being considered kind or compassionate. However, he was still a human man so seeing the interaction between his boss and this Vault Dweller, he’d gotten a little aroused at Moira's kiss. Tonight, he knew he’d be rubbing one out thinking about those two getting it on. Seemed times were going to get interesting in the future. Well, more interesting than normal considering the crazy experiments he was always witness to.

As Natalia closed the door to Moira's shop she could see it had gotten dark. However, she could clearly see the bright sign that stood above Moriarty’s Saloon. She made the walk up to the saloon and as she got close, she could hear the noise coming from within. She took in a deep breath and walked in. As she entered, the noise hit her full force. There was about a dozen people inside, some sitting at the bar on stools, a few sitting in chairs, with others just standing around talking. One thing they all had in common was they all had drinks in their hands. She made her way to the bar and sat down in the last open bar stool. When she looked up, her eyes snapped open wide. Standing before her was what looked like a man but all his skin was gone as well as his hair. His muscle and tendons were taunt against the clear membrane that now served as his skin. “Hey smoothskin, what’s your poison?” His voice was deep and gravelly. It sounded kinda like his throat was permanently sore. The only reason for his condition she could think of was radiation. He seemed to be a nice person so she could forgive his zombie like appearance. It was a wasteland afterall.

“I actually need a room my good man.” The ghoul’s face made the motion of lifting a eyebrow if he had one to lift. “You’re not gonna berate me? Or insult me? Not even a little?” Natalia shook her head with a smile. “No, of course not. You haven’t done anything to me so why should I? Just because you...look like that?” she said, motioning to his body. “Well, yeah.” he remarked, scratching the back of his head. “Most everyone hates us ghouls for looking like corpses.” Natalia slowly nodded her head. “So that’s what you’re called.” Now the ghoul made what passed for a surprised face. “You’ve never seen a ghoul before?” Natalia nodded her head, twisting so he could see the 101 on her back. “Fresh from a Vault. I take it you’re like that because of severe exposure to radiation?” Again, the ghoul was surprised. “For someone who’s straight from a Vault, you sure know your shit.” Natalia simply shrugged. “Only thing I could think of.” The ghoul thought for a moment and then shrugged. “Yeah, I guess so. Anyway, the name’s Gob. I tend the bar. For that room, you’ll need to talk to Mr. Moriarty. He won’t let me deal with room rent. He’s the man with white hair and the leather coat.” Natalia smiled again as she stood up. “Thanks Gob. My name’s Natalia. Don’t worry, I’ll be back. I never miss the chance for a drink.”

She looked around and saw Moriarty behind the bar next to a cabinet and a refrigerator writing in a notebook. She moved through the small crowd of people and came up behind. “Hey, you Moriarty?” The man turned around, still writing in his notebook. “Yeah, I’m Colin Moriarty. Welcome to my saloon, home, my little slice of heaven in this backwoods little town. What can I help you with?” Natalia moved to set her bag down with the jumpsuit sitting under it. “I need a room.” Colin smiled, putting his notebook into his pocket. “Good. Good. It’s 100 caps a night or 225 for a group of 3 consecutive nights.” Natalia stopped her motions. She couldn’t believe it was so expensive. She looked up at Moriarty. “That’s a third of my money!” Moriarty simply shrugged his shoulders. “I only have a handful of rooms and I only have one open. Plus the room comes with a working lock on the door, a comfortable bed, a cabinet to put yer stuff in, and a chair to sit in when you can’t quite go to sleep or want to enjoy a nice drink by yourself. It’s either that or you can sleep in the commons house with the rest of the town.”

Natalia thought it over for a minute then sighed as she poured out some caps onto the floor. She counted out 225 caps and closed her bag. “There. 225 caps.” Moriarty smiled as he fumbled in his pocket, pulling out a key. “And here you go. It’s right at the top of the stairs. Feel free to enjoy the bar tonight.” Natalia stood up and walked to the stairs. She was glad she’d been able to sell some stuff to get more money. She stood of the door and inserted the key. Opening the door, she shut it behind her and locked it again. She looked around the bare room and shook her head. It was as Moriarty said, a bed, cabinet, and a chair. A single light bulb illuminated the room. It was a dank place. But she knew she’d have to start dealing with it. She placed her bag and the armored Vault suit into the cabinet, unhooked her gun belt and placed it on a hook inside. She was feeling extremely exhausted and decided to leave the drinking for another day. She stripped off her jumpsuit, hung her baseball cap over her gun belt, set her boots next to the cabinet, and slid her bra and panties off as well unhooked her Pip-Boy and set them on the top of the cabinet. Shutting it, she walked over the bed and slipped in under the covers. The second she got situated and her head touched the pillow, she was asleep. She was in a unfamiliar and strange new world and she’d need all the sleep she could get from now on. Unknown to her, sleep would almost become as uncommon a thing to her as non-irradiated food.

Natalia awoke to knocking on her door. She sat up and yawned. “I’m coming.” She slipped out of bed and stretched. Moriarty had been truthful when he said the bed was comfortable. She stood up, got dressed, strapped her gun belt on, and latched her Pip-Boy onto her wrist. She moved to the door and unlocked it. When she opened it, she found Lucas Simms wearing his cowboy outfit and a assault rifle slung over his back waiting on the other side. “Mornin’ Sheriff.” she said with another small yawn. Lucas chuckled. “Morning indeed. It’s about noon.” Natalia put on a perplexed look then checked her Pip-Boy. It was near 11 am. Her surprised look gained another chuckle from Lucas. “I’m not surprised girl. You might not have noticed, but your face yesterday looked like that of a person who hadn’t slept in days. You must have had a rough day.” Natalia looked away and Lucas mentally slapped his head. “I’m sorry Natalia I didn’t mean to…” She raised her hand to stop him. “It’s ok It’s the past. Now I must figure out how to survive in this world with Amata. Speaking of whom…” She stepped out of the room and locked it again. “I’ve gotta go check on her.”

Lucas nodded and stepped out of the way, then followed her as she left the bar and made her way into the clinic. When she walked in, she found Doc Church sitting at his desk, his upper body sprawled over it. He was fast asleep. Lucas looked to Natalia. “He must’ve been up all night helping your friend. I’ll try getting him up.” He unslung his assault rifle and thumped Church lightly on the back a few times. “Come on you grumpy old bastard. Get up.” he said light heartedly. Church woke with a start. “Sonofabitch! The hell do you need?” He looked up to see Natalia. “Ahh, I remember. You brought your friend in yesterday.” Natalia nodded with a stern face on. Church stood up and glared at Lucas, who just smiled.

Natalia didn’t understand what was going on but couldn’t care less. Church motioned for her to follow and they walked across the room to a door. Church opened it. Inside was three beds but only one was occupied. Natalia’s eyes welled up a little as she saw her beloved Amata lying motionless on the bed, a blanket draped over her. A IV stand and bag stood beside her, feeding her a slow, steady stream of plasma. “I stopped the bleeding and stitched everything back together.” Natalia looked to him, a look of deadly seriousness on her face. “And the bullet?” Church shook his head. “It’s still stuck inside.” Natalia felt a slight tint of anger. “Why didn’t you remove it?” Church gave her a face of something between uncaring and impatience. “Because it’s sitting right next to the splenic artery. If I go digging, I might cut that artery and your friend will bleed to death. She barely survived anyway. If you’d taken another 10 minutes to get here or hadn’t slapped that pressure bandage on, she’d have certainly died. Once she heals up, she’ll be good to do whatever anyway. So be glad she’s alive.”

Natalia sighed. She was glad Amata atleast was alive. She walked over to the prone girl and crouched down, taking her hand into her own and placing her free hand on Amata’s head. She stroked her lover’s hair, murmuring softly to her about how much she loved her, tears starting to lightly stream down her face. Doc Church and Lucas Simms simply looked on, a smile on Lucas’ face while a even neutral look was present on Church’s. After a couple minutes, Church made to speak but Lucas held his hand up, turning Church’s gaze to him. He motioned for Church to follow him. They walked quietly out of the room and into Church’s operating room, putting as much distance between themselves and Natalia as possible.

Once certain they were out of earshot, Lucas spoke softly. “Hey Henry, how much were you going to charge her?” Church thought for a moment. “Well the girl took up a lot of my plasma. Plus I had to use most of my dissolvable stitches to make sure her insides would heal properly. All taken into account, I was gonna charge her 250 caps.” Lucas rubbed his forehead. He didn’t know if that poor girl would have that kind of money this early into her time in the Wastes. Church could read at least a few of Lucas’ thoughts. “I can tell you’ve taken a liking to her.” That drew Lucas’ gaze back to Church’s. “I’m sorry but her wounds were more severe than most because unlike most of my patients who I treat for gunshot wounds, she wasn’t wearing any armor so the bullet tore her up pretty good inside. And to be honest, the cost really should be higher but I’ve already taken into account her being fresh to this place.”

Lucas returned his gaze to the floor, racking his brain for some way to help Natalia out. Finally, a idea came to him. He wasn’t too excited about it but it was the only thing he could think of. “Alright Henry,” he started. Church sighed inside because he knew what was coming. “I’m calling in my favor. You owe me for helping you get here.” Now it was Church’s turn to rub his forehead. He did owe Lucas for getting the Regulators’ help in getting him away from the trouble in Rivet City all those years ago. And he always honored his debts. “Fine, Lucas. I’ll give her a free pass. But just know, if I don’t get some more plasma and dissolving stitches, I won’t be able to take care of the next person who comes in shot. Also, this means we’re even.” Lucas gave him a firm nod, already having considered he would say that.

They walked back into the room with Natalia, who was still knelt by Amata’s side. After a few moments, she turned to the two of them. “So how much?” The look on Church’s face was one of near expressionless. “Nothing. The Sheriff and I had a discussion. This one is free.” Natalia was astonished. She was expecting to have to pay a good chunk of her caps. “Don’t think this means anything. I owed the Sheriff and he called it in. Also, if you happen to come across any dissolvable stitches or bags of plasma while you’re out, bring them to me. Your friend sucked up most of my plasma like a baby drinking breast milk and I used most of my dissolving stitches to put her insides back together.” He turned on his heels but stopped for a moment. “It’ll take time for her to come around and even when she does, she shouldn’t do anything stressful for a while. In about two weeks, you can take out her surface stitches and she’ll be technically ready to go. If you can afford it and want to speed it up, have her take a Stimpak once every couple of days. If you do that starting now, she’ll be ready to travel AND fight by the time the stitches come out.”

With that, he walked off. Natalia was too happy to move. A satisfied smile spread across her face as well as Lucas’. She then turned to Lucas. “Sheriff, I gotta ask. Why help me?” Lucas chuckled as he motioned for her to follow him outside. Once they were in the warm light of the Wasteland sun, he spoke. “Kid, I’ve lived in this Wasteland for four decades and I’m starting on my fifth. I also have a kid, Harden. Not sure if you’ve seen him. He’s my only child and I love him more than anything in this world. I’ve only seen that kind of love a handful of times. Between the Stahl siblings and between Creel and Maggie. That was until recently.” He paused to rest his hand on the back of Natalia’s neck and gave her as soft of a look as he could muster. “When you bumped into me when you entered Megaton, I could see the worry in your eyes. Only the look of worry a person can give off when someone they truly, truly love is in danger.”

Natalia looked down for a moment. She knew just how close he’d come to losing Amata. Right then and there, she silently swore that absolutely no matter what happened, no matter who else might be put in danger, she would protect Amata’s life with her own. She would always put Amata first, over everything and everyone else. Lucas watched her with interest. He’d seen a lot in his time in the Wasteland and he had become adept at reading body language. He could see her determination. Her love for her friend. He could tell he made the right choice. He patted her on the back. “You’re a good girl Natalia. Come on, let’s get something to eat. My treat.”

They walked over to the Brass Lantern and ordered some food. They ate for a while, making small talk. Natalia told him about her life in the Vault and her relationship with Amata. He talked about his son and how his father had read him stories about the cowboys that influenced his attire and his decision to take up the role of sheriff for Megaton. After they finished, Lucas paid for their food. He led her up a couple of ramps before stopping in front of a curved roof building. “I thought I’d give you one last gift since I know you don’t have a lot of money yet and Moira doesn’t usually like to stock weapons.” Lucas said as he pulled a key out of his pocket. He unlocked the door and they walked in. As the door swung open, Natalia was suddenly face to...body with a robot. It had a sphere for a body and a trio of arms. One held what appeared to be a blower of some kind, another was a set of pincers, and the last was a chamber that glowed green. From her books, Natalia recognized it as a Mister Gutsy. The blower was a flamethrower and the green chamber was basically a plasma pistol.

It swirled its arms around to point its plasma pistol at Natalia but Lucas waved his hand down. “Stand down Deputy Steel. She’s authorized.” Whirling his arms around, he made a rough and robotic version of standing at attention and saluting. “Yes sir, Captain Lucas.” Natalia moved to ask a question but Lucas again held his hand up. “A junk trader brought him in a while back. We had Moira and Walter, the man who runs the water purifier, fix him up. We got him to recognize me as the leader of Megaton, which he recognizes as his home. However, we couldn’t program out his military makings so he sees me as a Captain in the Pre-War US military and Megaton as a military base.” He walked over to a dimly lit table. She couldn’t make out was on the table. “Most of everyone in town has a weapon. Some got N99s or .38 caliber pistols, others nothing more than lead pipes and knives. Creel has his M29 Magnum and Jericho has a Type 84S like me. Stockholm, the man who guards the entrance, carries a Model 70 hunting rifle and he’s deadly accurate with it.” He moved his hand up to the wall where a switch was. “Those are everyone’s personal weapons. Something to protect themselves in case of a bar fight or some psycho manages to sneak in. Sometimes however, Raiders gather and get the big idea that they’d like to take us on and we need everyone to have better weapons. That’s where this stuff comes in.”

He flipped the switch and lights flickered on. On the table, lay eight Model 70 hunting rifles neatly arranged in two stacks of four each. At the right end of the table sat what looked like three MP5A4s. On the wall, sitting on hooks, were eight R91 Battle Rifles arranged like the Model 70s. Lucas then bent down and opened a series of cabinet doors grouped in pairs of two for a total of six doors, flicking on small switches hidden behind the support between the openings. Inside were stacks of ammo and magazines. The middle and right sets of doors held magazines for the R91 rifles and MP5s while the left set had large piles of .30-06 held in stripper clips. Natalia grinned. This was a good arsenal. Lucas too smiled. “I can see you’re a lover of weapons.” Natalia nodded her head violently and quickly. Lucas let out a good laugh. “Then today’s your lucky day. As my last favor to you, I’m giving you one of any of these weapons and five reloads of whatever ammo it takes. Remember, whatever you chose here will probably be your primary weapon for the foreseeable future.”

She slowly moved to pick up one of the Model 70s up, worked the action a few times, and looked down the sights. “The Model 70 is a good weapon.” Lucas said, arms folded across his chest. “Powerful, accurate, reliable. You can pick targets off at 350 yards easily, if you can aim good. However, it only holds 5 rounds and is unwieldy in close combat due to its 24 inch barrel.” Natalia nodded her head and set it back down. She moved over and picked up one of the MP5s, again checking the weapon over like the Model 70. “Now that looks like a MP5A4 but it’s actually the MP5/10. It’s the 10mm version of the MP5. It’s a light weapon at only six pounds. Thanks to the 10mm round, it’s more powerful than the normal 9mm version but it’s also somewhat troubled mechanically but the town got them since several of us already use 10mm weapons. It was used a lot by Pre-War police and military as a weapon since it was easy to handle in close quarters due to the short nine inch barrel. Hell, overall from buttstock to muzzle, the thing is as long as the Model 70’s barrel alone. It’d also be nice since you already use the N99 so you only need to buy or find one ammo type but if you run out of ammo for your MP5, you’ll also be out of ammo for your sidearm aside from the 12 rounds in the magazine. Plus, you’ll also be fighting a lot in the open so the limited range of pistol rounds will really hinder you in most fights.” Again, Natalia nodded, checked the weapon over once again and set it down.

Then she reached for a R91 off the wall. “Ahh my girl, you’ve now picked up my personal recommendation.” Lucas said, a even brighter smile on his face. “The R91 battle rifle.” She looked it over as she had the others but this time, a look of intrigue was clear on her face. “It’s heavy at nine pounds but that helps to control the recoil from the 7.62x51mm round, especially when on full auto. With its 12.4 inch barrel and a total length of 35 inches, it’s longer than the MP5 but shorter than the Model 70. That makes it better in close quarters than the Model 70 but once you get outside, you’ll be able to hit bad guys at least twice as far away effectively than with the MP5.”

Natalia nodded for the final time but kept the gun in her hands. “Alright Sheriff, I’ll take the R91.” Lucas nodded and patted her on the shoulder. He walked around to Natalia’s back and stuffed four magazine into her bag, leaving the last one in his hand. “Alright Natalia. Each magazine holds 30 rounds so you’ll have 150 rounds till you can find or buy more. Every couple of days, caravans come around and stand outside. Ammo, armor, meds, whatever you need. Now let me show you how to operate everything.” Lucas proceeded to show Natalia how to reload her rifle, how to aim it and switch between single shot and full auto. He also helped her learn how to better control the recoil. When they were done, he walked over to a nearby shelf and grabbed a sling, hooking it up to her rifle. It was a simple 2 point adjusting sling and Lucas showed her how to properly wear it and the different uses it had.

When they were all done Natalia, her rifle slung over her back, gave Lucas a bright smile and a firm handshake. “Thank you Sheriff. You’ve probably saved my life or at the very least, made it much easier.” Lucas laughed as they walked out of the building, locking the door behind them. “It’s quite alright. Plus it was enjoyable to show someone else a bit of my knowledge I gathered in my youth of roaming the Wasteland.” They walked along the ramps and catwalks towards the bar as the sun was starting to set. “Hey Sheriff, what did you do before you took up being the law around town?” For the first time since she met him, Lucas showed a bit of a dark face. “That’s...ahh... a long story dear. Let’s just say I was apart of a group that is the closest thing to law enforcement the Wasteland has.” Natalia could tell he wasn’t willing to speak of it so she wouldn’t push.

They soon were down in the carter about to walk up a ramp that led towards the women’s bathhouse. She looked over her shoulder towards the center of the carter. She had noticed the giant metal object in the center of a pool of water. It looked like a huge bomb, probably some 10 feet from end to end. It lay in the ground, poking out at a 45 degree angle. In front of it, stood a old man. He was blattering something about atom and being divided. Her stopping alerted Lucas to something being up. He turned around partly. “What is it Natalia?” She turned back to look at him. “What is that? Some kind of monument?” Lucas shook his head. “No, my dear. That there is a five ton C-23 atomic bomb. The same kind that produced this lovely landscape. We also guess it somehow produced this crater. It’s also the way the town got its name.”

Natalia’s eyes went wide. This entire town is built around a fucking atomic bomb? Are these people fucking crazy? Lucas could easily tell her thoughts. He’d seen it so many times. “Don’t worry. That thing has been sitting there since the war. The water is radioactive and we guess the warhead is still active. But if it hasn’t gone off yet, most think it never will. But…” He took a deep breath. “I’ve witnessed a lot of things I thought could never happen. I’d like if someone could disarm it for good but I can’t trust anyone to do it safely. One mistake, and this entire town and its inhabitants will be vaporized. And then…” He twisted a little further to look at the old man preaching. “We’d face the ‘Division’ they wish for so desperately.” They continued their walk up to the bar, Lucas telling her of the Church of the Children of Atom and how they had been instrumental in the building of Megaton. When they reached the bar, they parted. She glanced at her Pip-Boy and saw it was nearing 8 in the evening. It was happy hour in the bar. This time, she planned to enjoy it thoroughly.

She entered the bar. Again, about a dozen or so people were inside, drinking happily. As she looked around, she noticed a man in the far corner inside of a small side room. He sat in a comfortable looking chair and wore a gray business suit, a fedora, and dark sunglasses even though it was dark inside the bar. But what she noticed most was he was waving for her to come to him. He gave off a cold evil vibe that could felt across the room. But there was a lure about him. Silently calling her to him. Before she realized it, her legs were carrying her to him. She stood before him. “Ahh, good evening my dear. How do you do?” His words carried a calm and calculated feel about them, like he was already working towards something. She smirked at him. “I am doing fine. But I can tell you don’t really care. You want something. So spill it.”

Now the man smiled. “Quite right. My name is Burke and I work for a certain wealthy individual. He has a taste for good views.” She could feel his eyes look her up and down. “He finds the look of this...town...on the horizon to be a bit of a eye sore and he’s willing to pay quite a lot of money for someone to help...remove it.” Natalia crossed her arms under her breasts. “And to do that, all someone would need to do is tinker with the megaton-class atomic weapon in the town center.” Burke nodded slowly and carefully. “Yes, and I have the materials necessary to make that happen. The offer is 500 caps, 250 now and 250 after its done. Plus a space in a luxury tower.” Natalia made to appear as if she was considering his offer. She obviously had no intention on blowing up a town of innocent people, several of whom had helped her despite being a stranger. She decided to see how much she could get out of him and to see if she could use her looks to get it. She leaned in a little, trying to maximize his view of her chest. “Come now, these people have done right by me. It would take more than that to entice me to blow them up.” Burke started to get a little hot. His cool was evaporating by the minute. “How about...500 caps up front, the room, and maybe a little visit by you when I get there? That good?” Her voice had taken on a slight seductive tone, the kind she used when she was talking to Amata. “That’s...more than my employer has permitted me…” She leaned in even further, gripping his chair’s armrests. Her face was close enough for him to feel her breath when she spoke. “Come on Burkey, you know I can rock your world. All you need to do is accept my offer. It is final. It’s your choice.”

Burke shifted uncomfortably in his chair. The growing heat in his loins slowly but surely eroded his will. “Umm…” He tried to take a few more moments to think but then she exhaled through her mouth, the warm air on his skin sucked the last of his resistance right out. “Alright, 500 caps now, 500 when it’s done. Here, this fusion pulse charge that will help to detonate the warhead. This manual has the details you’ll need. Please, let me know when it’s done and I’ll escort you to my employer.” He pulled a sack of caps out from his bag that sat beside him as well as a book and a small device. She took them and backed off. “I’ll see you soon Burkey.” She turned and walked to her room. She chuckled to herself. She had played him just right. Now she had what she needed to disarm the nuke that threatened this town since its founding.

She entered her room and quickly put all of her stuff into the cabinet, save for her gun belt and a bag containing 125 of her caps. She left the remaining caps secure in the cabinet. She tied her hair back into a ponytail that came out from the crown of her head and left her room. Locking it, she headed downstairs. It seemed a few people that entered while she was busy. She didn’t see Burke anymore. He must’ve gone home. She noticed a open bar stool and sat down. Gob walked over with a smile. “Evening Natalia. Sorry about the price of the room. I should’ve warned you.” Natalia waved her hand. “It’s fine. I had plenty to cover it and with a deal I just struck, I managed to get back twice as many caps as I paid him.” Gob chuckled. “Geez kid, you’ve only been in this Wasteland a couple days yet you’re already striking deals and strutting around like you’ve lived out here all your life.” Natalia shrugged. “I guess you could say I feel more at home out here than I ever did in that Vault. So, what do ya got to drink?”

Natalia proceeded to drink most of the night away. She started with some shots of Whiskey then moved onto Vodka, her personal favorite drink. Unfortunately, they didn’t have much and she had to return to Whiskey. After about 4 hours of drinking, she was pretty well drunk. Not so much she’d puke anytime soon but enough that she wouldn’t be dancing the jig without falling on her ass anytime soon either. At 1 in the morning, most people had left and gone home. Only her, Gob, and a man dressed in some kind of leather armor and a Type 84S assault rifle strapped to his back who Natalia guessed to be the Jericho guy Lucas had mentioned. He had been going as hard at it as she had but he didn’t seem as drunk as her. She stood up, whiskey bottle in hand, and moved over next to him. As she sat down, he grumbled a bit. She saw he had his own bottle of whiskey but it was empty with what was left in his shot glass.

He downed it when she turned to him. He flipped this shot glass upside down, signalling he was done. “Sorry girlie, I’m broke. I’m going home.” As he went to stand up, Natalia rested her hand on his shoulder. His gaze turned to hers, a look of slight confusion and anger. “What do you think you’re doing, Vault Dweller?” She used her free hand to flip his glass back up and then filled it with whiskey from her own bottle. “I doubt you really want to stop drinking so here, on me.” She removed her hand as he sat back down. She filled her own shot glass. They both downed them at the same time. “So Dweller, why you giving me free drinks?” Natalia shrugged as she filled their glasses again. “Mostly I just want someone to stay here with me and drink. I can’t drink alone.” She knocked back her shot. “Not anymore at least.” Jericho laughed as he drank his. “So they do got alcohol in that shithole?” Natalia nodded as she filled their glasses . “Well they did till I got at it. Now I doubt they have enough alcohol to disinfect a scratch.” Jericho laughed again as he picked up his glass. “Christ Vaultie, you’re a little rougher than I imagined.”

They saluted each other with their glasses and downed them again at the same time. They talked for a while till the whiskey ran out. Mostly about Natalia’s time in the Vault and experience so far. She got little out of him except that he was a ex-raider and he helped defend the town when it was raided. When they were done drinking, they stood up. “Well sister, it was a fun time. I gotta say you surprised me. Not many can go shot for shot with me and stay standing, let alone coherent. What’s your name?” Natalia made a mocking bow. “Natalia Miller” Jericho chuckled. “Well Natalia, what do you plan on doing now?” She thought for a moment. “I guess I’m gonna wait till my friend wakes up then go after my father, since he’s the whole reason we’re out in this wasteland.”

Jericho thought for a moment then nodded. “Well Natalia, if you could scrounge up 500 caps, I’d be willing to go with you. I may like you but that doesn’t mean I’m willing to risk my neck for nothing. Plus I figure you and your friend could use a experienced fighter.” Natalia mulled the idea over. “I don’t know Jericho. Let me think me it over.” Jericho nodded. “You got it kid. You know where to find me.” With that, they parted ways. Natalia headed up to her room. She laid down after undressing and grabbing the armored vault suit as well as a pair of scissors she’d found in the cabinet. She spent the next couple of hours customizing the suit like she had the others, occasionally taking a sip from a beer she’d bought with the last of her spending money. After she finished it, she folded the suit up and set it on the floor. She then snuggled into the covers. She needed some good rest. She wasn’t looking forward to the hangover.
A/N
Not much to say. Just let it be known I'm really into making big scenes of getting guns and armor and talking about them and their specs. I also hope no one was disappointed in the seeming lack of sex. I never planned on this being kind of PWP story. I want my sex scenes to mean something or have some importance. I don't them to be put in just for the sake of sex. Also, I just wanted to let everyone know the story, while based off the in-game one, will be going a MUCH different way. I won't say how but you'll get a taste in the next chapter. I'm also thinking I'll have to reduce the time to a chapter every two weeks. I'm just not much in the mood for writing. Till next time, Morgan signing off.
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The Lone Wandering Couple