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It had been a week since Lucy and the Ghoul set off to track down her father and confront the group of people who destroyed billions of lives all for monetary gain.
The Ghoul had said it best himself before they left: you look out at this wasteland and it looks like chaos, but there is always someone behind the wheel.
Lucy now knew the truth of the world and she wanted the makers to pay for what they had done.
As she and the Ghoul traveled for miles on end with no company but their own and Dogmeat, she learned bits and pieces of the Ghoul’s life and why he was insistent on following her father. She had heard him mention a family during the stand-off at the observatory, and how he wanted to know where they were.
He was looking for his daughter, Janey.
His ex-wife, Barb, was one of the central executives of Vault-Tec. It had been her prerogative to drop the bombs across the United States to guarantee her company's success.
She had been behind the wheel, and Lucy’s father was right there with her.
The Ghoul and Barb had gotten divorced due to what she had orchestrated while working for Vault-Tec—he said that nothing hurt worse than learning that someone you loved was lying to you the entire time.
Lucy felt split between who she thought her father was, and his true self. Knowing what he had done to her mother, to all of Shady Sands… it made bile rise in her throat.
The sun she had felt on her face when she was a child had been real. She let the memory of being with her mother wash over her. The golden light made her mother's eyes twinkle as she smiled down at her, softly cradling her face.
When she had first left Vault 33 and encountered the Ghoul, she thought they couldn’t be more different from one another.
Now? She was glad to have someone at her side who understood exactly what she was going through.
She couldn’t be more thankful he was alive, avoiding the same fate as her mother.
Lucy had called him a creature before, but walking beside her was simply a broken man. She believed he did want to do the right thing. He only got lost along the way. Centuries was a long time to see the end of the world.
Together, they would figure everything out.
And yet, after getting all of this information out of him, Lucy still didn’t know his name.
He refused to tell her.
They were coming up to a spot in the wasteland that had various abandoned warehouses. It was nice to see something other than endless nothingness. They also knew that there was a vault of some sort up ahead straight in their path, and they wanted to be cautious when nearing it. So, they chose to rest in the shade of the shambling buildings and recoup before continuing on.
As Lucy gave Dogmeat some water, she tried again. “Will you tell me your name now?”
“Like I said, just call me Ghoul…” He tipped back another one of his special vials that stopped him from going feral and she thought that was the end of it, but he continued on as he threw the empty glass into the sand at their feet. “It’s what everyone else does anyway.”
She could read the Ghoul better than he surely thought, for there was a twinge of sadness in the last part of what he said. The Ghoul was who he had become, but wasn’t who he had always been. And she reckons it wasn’t who he fully was; even now with his appearance completely changed due to radiation.
His leathery red-tinted skin and lack of a nose was inhumanly strange, but Lucy couldn’t help but admit (only in her mind, never said out loud) that she found him quite handsome. There was something appealing about him that she noticed upon their first meeting. After everything they have been through together, she simply felt connected to him.
She accepted his need for privacy, and would respect what someone wanted to call themself, but she hated that he was still trying to pretend.
She wanted to know him, all of him.
No better place to start than his name.
Lucy screwed the top of her water canteen back on and put it in her backpack before leaning forward a bit to make her statement. “It sounds like that’s not what you like to be called.”
The Ghoul looked up at her from under the rim of his cowboy hat, seeming unimpressed.
In answer, she crossed her arms and pursed her lips, not shying away from the stare-down.
He tilted his head at her, and she couldn’t help but crack a smile. Teasing him was fun. It was something that has been happening a lot—being honest with herself, it had been blatant flirting on her end.
She just couldn’t tell if he ever caught onto it.
But, it was time to be a bit more serious.
“I think we…'' her face began to heat a bit at realizing what she was going to say. She had never been one to shy away from something like this. But, things were different now. The Ghoul was different, and she liked it. She dropped her arms and straightened her back. “We have built something here, together. And I want you to know that there is no need to pretend with me. You don’t have to tell me your name, but you can trust me…” After a beat of silence she added, “I trust you.”
The Ghoul’s expression went slack. Rarely had he ever looked shocked before and it made her panic. Had she said something wrong? Ruined it all?
But then the softest of smirks graced his face. His eyes were shining with a sort of admiration that took the breath from her lungs.
He looked away from her, staring off into the distance of the Wasteland with a deep inhale. After a moment, he seemed to come to a conclusion. He faced her again with such an expression of surety that she could only hold her breath in anticipation.
Slowly, he stepped toward her, looking her up and down as he moved. Now, they were only feet apart. Her heart began thundering in her chest not at just their proximity, but the intense look in his eyes. He was a man on a mission, but for what?
Just as the Ghoul began opening his mouth, presumably to tell her his name, Dogmeat let out a fierce growl that startled them both.
The Ghoul’s eyes flicked just to the side of her head.
Before she could react, the sound of a gunshot ricocheted across the Wasteland.
The Ghoul’s gun was smoking as he kept shooting only feet from the side of her. He grabbed her quickly by the arm and spun her around so she was behind him. She watched in awe as the Ghoul took down multiple raiders as they ran away—giving up on either trying to rob or kill them, or both.
“That was impressive,” Lucy couldn’t help but chirp up as the shock ebbed away.
He grunted in response, clearly not caring about the heroism of his act.
As she finally began to relax, the Ghoul’s head snapped to the side at the slightest of sounds.
One last raider popped out from behind a barrel, raising a gun.
The Ghoul shot them within seconds, but not before pain exploded in Lucy’s stomach.
She let out a garbled groan as the Ghoul whirled around to face her.
If she weren’t concentrating on trying to stop the steady flow of blood spilling from the bullet wound in her abdomen, she would have teased him for how scared he looked. Because that was something she had never seen etched on his face before: unbridled fear.
His hazel eyes were blown wide in a panic as he lurched forward to grab her. He pulled her tightly into his chest as her knees gave out on her.
“I was stabbed in the stomach once,” Lucy croaked out as her cheek pressed into the fabric of his jacket that he never takes off. “So this can’t be much worse, right?”
“We need to get you a stimpak!” Is all the Ghoul said as he began shuffling them inside of the warehouse, his gun at the ready.
Her feet were dragging in the sand. “I can’t walk,” Lucy gasped out as she realized her legs were beginning to go numb.
“Fuck!” The Ghoul roared as he bashed down a door and swiftly brought her through it, basically carrying her with one arm. “They poisoned you. They were cannibals who like to eat people while they are alive. They like their victims to be screaming and unable to fight back. There is a specific drug that will rob you of your agency that they use. I don’t even know why they were here!”
He was upset, and she wished to comfort him, but all she could do was focus on her breathing as she realized she may be doomed. What would happen once her whole body went rigid, she would suffocate? It was a horrifying thought to be trapped in your body.
The Ghoul kept swearing up a storm as he frantically crashed through the warehouses.
What was he looking for? There would be no stimpaks in this place.
And then they spot it at the same time: a makeshift automobile that looked like it ran recently.
“Those dumb fuckers actually figured out how to use this thing?” The Ghoul let out a slight laugh in disbelief as he laid her on the bench seat before getting behind the wheel. Dogmeat hopped into the back, ready to go.
The side of the Ghoul’s thigh was brushing against the top of her head as he struggled to start the car. “C’mon…” he whispered desperately.
She couldn’t move her legs at all now but sat up on her elbows to get a better look. “What's wrong?”
“Hang tight,” was all he responded as the engine started and the car jolted forward.
Because of the way the Ghoul sped out of the warehouse, Lucy fell back into him, gripping his thigh for stability. She tried to adjust so she could lay back onto the seat, suddenly feeling nauseous, but the Ghoul gently eased her down so her head was resting on the top of his leg. He kept an arm protectively laid over her while the other steered.
Her vision began to blur—she felt so light headed. The numbness was creeping up into her stomach. At least the bullet wound didn’t hurt so badly anymore.
“Rest, sweetheart,” the Ghoul said, almost so quiet she couldn’t understand him. “I’ve got you.”
And that was when she allowed herself to close her eyes and focus on staying alive, even as her body was being ripped away from her because of some stupid raiders.
Then there was the lightest touch of him moving her hair out of her face as the car traversed the difficult landscape before them. His fingers smoothed out the creases in her forehead as she was trying to hold herself together. It allowed her to relax despite the dread that filled her—she didn’t want to lose herself.
The serenity was short-lived.
Within seconds of the Ghoul soothing her, she projectile vomited onto the car's dead radio and onto the floor. It was non-stop, and she let out a cry of pain as she began dry-heaving. There was nothing left for her body to give, but the poison wanted more.
“Shit,” the Ghoul murmured as he held her hair back and rubbed her back. “We are almost there, I promise.”
Just then the car engine cut and their speed began rapidly decreasing.
If she could be coherent and move, she would take a look at the engine. Her training in the vault taught her a lot about maintaining and fixing machinery. It would be fascinating to explore a car that survived so long on the surface.
“No, no, no!” The Ghoul shouted as the car rolled to a complete stop. He grabbed her and hauled her out of the car easily with a strength that amazed her. “Come here, I need to carry you.”
Lucy tried to speak, but instead choked on a mixture of vomit and spit that was lodged in her throat.
He scooped her up bridal style, and it internally made her laugh bitterly.
She had been married once, now she may never have the chance to do something like that again.
To try again. To do better.
And she wanted to do it with the Ghoul.
Her ear was pressed to his chest, and she focused onto the steady rhythm of the faint beat of his heart as he began to run.
Time seemed to slow down. She had no concept of what was happening. How far had he been running? His breaths were becoming ragged. It couldn’t be easy to carry her.
Lucy wished that she could raise her arms and wrap them around his neck. To give him some semblance of an embrace as a way to show she was grateful for everything he had done for her.
Then it hit her.
She couldn’t move her body.
Only her head.
The end was nearing, and there was nothing she could do about it.
The Ghoul must have sensed her want for comfort, because he somehow squeezed her even closer to him.
She fluttered her eyes open, one of the last ways she could control on her own, and stared up at the Ghoul; admiring him.
Lucy was happy in an odd way. What the Ghoul was doing for her, trying to find help… well, it was an act of devotion. Never in a million years did she think he would do something like this for her. Screw everything else to save her.
It got her to smile a little bit.
“Thank you,” she whispered hoarsely. His stride messed up for a second at her words, but he corrected himself quickly and kept going. “If I don’t make it…”
There was no hesitation in his response. “No, you will.”
“Sounds like someone will miss me,” Lucy couldn’t help but joke as the numbness began creeping up her throat.
The Ghoul scoffed but it was pure sadness.
“You name…” Lucy asked, her dying wish, “what is your name?”
She couldn’t go without knowing.
She didn’t believe in fate, but she liked to think they found each other for a reason.
And she hated that this was how it had to end.
He ignored her question as he halted sharply and instead began to yell. “Help me! She has been poisoned by raiders!” His voice cracked. Could he be crying? “Just please, save her if you can.”
There was a sound that reminded her of leaving Vault 33 for the first time and then footsteps thundered toward them.
She was unable to focus her eyes anymore, but she couldn’t look away from the shape of him above her as blackness coated the corners of her vision.
For a moment, she could make out tears falling from the Ghoul’s eyes.
Her heart shattered then, realizing that he had been around for over 200 years. How many people had he lost in that time?
“Please,” she begged, but she didn’t know if she was able to say it outloud.
“Cooper, my name is Cooper Howard.”
Cooper Howard!?
“This way!” Someone shouted.
She was being jostled again as Cooper moved forward fast, intending to get her somewhere.
The sunlight receded and the air smelled like home in the Vault. No, her old home.
Home now smelled like the radiated ghoul who clutched her to his chest like she was the only thing in the world that meant anything to him.
And the smell of him was the last thing she clung to before she succumbed to the darkness, but not before slipping one last thing past her lips. His name.
“Cooper.”
***
Lucy was back in Vault 33, watching her favorite cowboy movies, before startling awake.
She clutched at her chest, remembering how it felt as she passed out, not being able to breath. But, everything was miraculously fine. She felt great actually, comparatively, other than being a bit dazed. She wiggled her toes for good measure and found her body worked just as it should.
She did a quick scan of her surroundings, but knew she wasn’t in danger.
She was in what looked like a typical hospital room in a Vault. She sat on a comfortable bed. Dogmeat curled up on the ground next to the bed, looking content as ever. And to her right sat Cooper Howard, her hero as a child, propped up in a chair facing the door which was directly ahead of them. His gun was in his lap and at the ready to defend her at any moment
He was asleep and she took a moment to soak him in. He must really trust the people that have helped her to be able to close his eyes like that. He always had a hard time sleeping as they traveled.
Honestly, learning that he was the Cooper Howard was more shocking than almost dying.
It seemed staring at her favorite movie star from 200 years before was enough to tire her out, and Lucy slipped off into a peaceful sleep again.
She dreamed of him.
***
Cooper found himself snapping awake. His eyes immediately found Lucy, who laid peacefully on the bed next to him, fast asleep. Dogmeat was curled up at his feet, keeping a watchful eye on the door.
Pure relief flowed through him knowing she was safe. You couldn’t even tell she had been shot with how her cheeks were a healthy pink and the deep even breaths she took. The Vaulties said she would make a full recovery; she just needed some rest.
She snuggled closer to the side of the bed he sat next to, and he couldn't resist reaching out to gently brush her hair from her face.
He almost lost her.
It was too close. He had lived a long while now, but he would be damned if he let Lucy get taken away from him.
He didn't want to leave her side, but nature called. In record time he found a nearby bathroom and did his business. Many stared at him as though he were a monster as he passed. It made him miss Lucy's sweet gaze and he was happy to get back to her.
As he opened the door to the room she was staying in, he was surprised to see she was awake.
“Hey, whoa there, take it easy,” Cooper said automatically and strode over to her as she stood next to the bed on wobbly legs.
Instead of sitting back down like he expected, Lucy jumped into his arms.
He couldn't remember the last time he was hugged and soaked in the warmth of her body, the smell of her hair; everything about her that he loved.
They stayed like that awhile, just embracing each other until Cooper set her feet back on the ground and she cupped his face.
“Cooper?”
“Yes, sweetheart?”
“Kiss me.”
The command startled him for a moment and his mind flashed with a million reasons why it was a horrible idea, but he was simply a man falling in love, so he did just as she said.
He leaned down to brush their lips lightly together and it was her who deepened it and sought him out further. The taste of her ignited something within him and all the passion and hunger that he experienced before he was changed came rushing back, he pulled her into him tightly and a slight moan escaped her mouth at the action.
Kissing Lucy, his Lucy, made him feel reborn.
She broke apart and gasped for breath as she swayed slightly.
"You need to rest," he scolded her as she tried to kiss him more.
"I can rest later."
"No, now."
Lucy sighed with a smile and allowed him to lead her back to the bed.
As he was about to sit back down on his chair, she pulled him into the bed with her, making the mattress dip deeply under the weight of both of them, but it was still the comfiest thing he has laid on in a long time.
And it was made even better by Lucy situating herself in the crook of his arm, resting her head on his chest with her arm wrapped over his abdomen.
"Thank you," she whispers, "for saving me."
"Always," Cooper responded automatically.
Within seconds, she was back asleep.
Dogmeat hopped onto the bed and cuddled up next to them, making the bed completely filled.
It was the early morning, and as the sun rose up in the sky, it shone a beautiful warm light throughout the room.
Lucy glowed beside him like an angel.
If Cooper believed in a thing such as soulmates, he knew Lucy would be his.