#crawled0ut

Someone in New Vegas fucked up. Because Robert House was back, in the flesh assumingly as well.

In the back of the room of the Top's entertainment area. He watched Ms. Malone preform. Lighting up a cigarette he tilts his head and listens to her sing. The tip of the cigarettes ember glow lights his face faintly. He wasn't supposed to be here, it was a rehersal afterall.

It's been a long time since he saw a live performance, this was nice. It felt like the old days.

After she finishes, he claps loudly, strong echoing claps as his teeth clench a cigarette between them.

"Bravo! My dear!"

The rain pours heavy outside the boarded windows. It is a credit to his efforts and those of Preston that he feels no water leak through their roof. The wind may howl, but he feels no chill.

The maps on the wall are stuck with aging adhesive, torn and taped in a few places. They show the airport of old Boston with writing to indicate the changes that came with the new. Notes, commentary, plans. A war guide. A plan for unnecessary deaths.

Only when she walks in that it breaks his trance. Nate's eyes dart from the construction of their home to his wife. Still alive. Still breathing. As easy to touch as she is to see.

                   ❛            what ?! christ , nora ! i almost had him !           ❜              even despite having been to war , nate had never experienced the term ' seeing red ' until now. the moment he saw the shape of kellogg , even if it was a hologram , he almost tore apart the apartment's traps & projector to get at him. the monster who attacked his wife , who stole their son , who upended their lives. breath whistling through his clenched teeth , nate finally let the tension leave his muscles & steady his heartbeat , tearing his eyes away from the concerned features of nora to stare once again at the hologram of kellogg.

it was on a constant loop , mockingly congratulating whoever managed to find his secret room. not real. the wall felt unforgiving against his back , the pipe pistol too heavy in his hands , stowing it angrily into his thigh holster & running his palms down his face , shaking his head with a groan. not real.                   ❛            sorry , i just .. i thought ..           ❜              apologies felt hollow , so he sank into a hug instead , burying his face into the crook of her neck with a groan , hoping to hide the pain that etched his features with the threat of oncoming tears. they were so close to finding their son , yet everything still felt so impossibly far away.

The band was gone, and now it was just the two of them. They stand together near the stage, the light wasn’t on them, but he had very much enjoyed the set. She looked pretty, blowing smoke upward into the spotlight that shon down on the empty stage. Robert watches as she takes another inhale, then dropped the cigarette to her side.

That’s when he reaches up and takes her chin gently between his thumb and forefinger. It’s been awhile since he shotgunned smoke from another’s lips. But the tension was palpable, as he leans down to daringly steal a kiss from her lips but stops just short. His mouth opens and as he inhales, Frankie seems to exhale. The smoke from her lungs channeling into his own.

He could kiss her, but the look on her face right now, breathless, looking up at him as he still holds her smoke in his lungs. Perhaps the nicotine made him lightheaded, but he was enchanted by her.

☢ • When Ophelia and Benny reunited, he inquired if the bullets scrambled her egg. There was no denying it was highly probable. No sane woman would fall hopelessly in love with their murderer after some hey-hey and a cuddle. But there was no denying that she was head over heels for Benny Gecko.

      A wanton moan escaped her as Benny pinned her to the wall. Any idea of killing him, long gone from her head. More so concentrated on the way his lips felt so delicious against her own. Mouth excitedly kept up with his, as he pressed into the wall, “Gonna fuck me right here slugger? What if Swank sees?” She teased, “Don’t want to make him jealous of me do you?”

　　' 𝐈 𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐈𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍. i'd like to keep my presence in the commonwealth quiet for now. ' it seemed like the brotherhood wasn't particularly concerned with the various cities and settlements, letting the former sentinel keep a low profile so long as she avoided the outside and sounds of vertibirds. while there was a time where she'd be eager to return back to them, there was a sneaking suspicion in the back of sarah's head that she should bide her time. there were too many questions she had about how she had ended up here with limited memory of the past years.