Help Me Get My Feet Back On The Ground
(AO3)
(PREV) (NEXT)
An Explicit Courier Six/Yes Man fanfic. Elisavet feels like a boat lost at sea in a storm, she just doesn't know what to do or how to make up her mind-- and if everything was actually alright. She has to tell him. It's eating her alive. So, she does. Elisavet tells him. She loves him, completely.
Elisavet woke with a jolt, gasping for air. She had been dreaming. Dreaming of him again. Dreaming he had held her for hours.
Her hearing was the first thing to come back to her.
The loud roar of wind outside the thick glass windows. Clicking and whirring of electronics. Her Pip-Boy radio playing quietly.
She slowly cracked her eyes open, groaning at the dim light of the early morning. Damn. Her head hurt already, and she just opened her eyes. She looked around, taking in her surroundings. She was wrapped very tightly in her quilt, with her tattered teddy bear sandwiched between her chest and the thick blanket. She still had on clothes, her pants from the night before were uncomfortably twisted around her legs and cutting into the soft spot behind her knees.
The Penthouse. She was in her bed in the penthouse. Safe, and with Yes Man.
Wait.
Yes Man.
She snapped her head to her right, sending her world spinning violently. She groaned and squeezed her eyes shut as she fought off waves of nausea.
Elisavet spoke after a tense moment, "H-hey... Yes Man... Good morning..." She cracked an eye open, surveying his expression, but the aura from the light of his monitor blocked it out. She hoped he wasn't disappointed. "Thanks for bringing me back here…" She awkwardly said, her breathing ragged with pain from her hangover. She hoped she hadn’t made a fool of herself again.
Her head pounded, every second awake was getting more painful.
Yes Man nervously bounced, and cracked an equally nervous smile.
"Good morning, Six." He said slowly, tapping his claws together. "I don’t typically advise consuming so much alcohol, or blacking out on the floor of the Cocktail Lounge, but… Don’t let me stop you."
Elisavet chuckled dryly, "sorry about that, bud. Guess I didn't realize how strong that rum was... Heh, heh..."
The silence was thick, tense with the weight of their shared disappointment.
Elisavet slowly wiggled her shoulders enough to loosen the tight blanket wrapped around her, and propped herself up on an elbow to get a better look at him. She must have made quite a fool of herself while she was blacked out if she couldn’t remember anything but watching the Strip and listening to the radio… and another one of those dreams about him.
Her everything hurt. Her metal spine ached, her metal brain hurt, everything else was somewhere in between. Did she fall over a bunch of times, try to fight someone, or was that just from sleeping on the floor and “partying” on an empty stomach?
"Eh, heh... Right." Yes Man said, drawing it out, tipping one claw awkwardly. "You had a wild night, with all that alcohol and Mentats. Really livened up that old lounge."
She paled, and jumped to check her Pip-Boy’s inventory. She drank a lot more alcohol than she intended to… She had logged the bottle of rum as half-empty, and her tin of Mentats in her pocket felt suspiciously light… She had gotten absolutely wasted in the cocktail lounge after she blacked out, again.
"I'm sorry." Is all she said, all she felt she could say. She had lost control, and tried to handle her problems in the worst way possible. She didn’t want to admit to herself that she was smitten for a robot that had served the guy who had tried to murder her.
Yes Man reached out and touched her shoulder gently, grounding her. She suddenly realized she was shaking, already crying, and uncomfortably close to ugly-crying. She reached up and took his claw in her hand, unable to look at him as the pain and shame in her chest built up and spilled over.
"We should talk." He said gently. "I hate to be that robot, but I can tell something’s wrong."
Elisavet nodded. She knew she couldn't keep going on like this, she had to tell him. Maybe not all of it. But at least some of it.
"I know. Can we just... Pretend like it's all normal? Just until I get done with that dinner tonight." Elisavet said slowly, her heart sinking. "I promise. We'll talk. Tonight. I just… I need some time to find the right words." She peeked at him through the tears, smiled halfway, strained. It felt foreign to admit that she didn’t know what to say, for once. She always knew what to say, but when he became involved… well she felt like a stuttering schoolgirl with a crush on the computer.
He nodded, his screen then bouncing and refocusing. Disappointment.
"Alright, Elisavet. If you say so." He said, and that was the end of it. She slowly let go of his claw, and he removed his hand from her shoulder…
Yes Man rolled away, and Elisavet flopped back into the bed with a quiet, disappointed groan. She closed her eyes, and pulled the blanket over her head. She’s definitely going to go out and burn off this anxiety. Alone.
Elisavet glanced over her right shoulder to peek at her armed guard behind her seat. A standard Mk II OS Securitron. Not Yes Man.
Her stomach twisted. He didn't like the White Glove Society, and she didn’t want him to see this, but something in her was still unsettled without him by her side.
Shining, unchipped plates and glassware glittering in the lights. Vibrant, freshly ironed tablecloths and cloth napkins, and everyone was dressed like it was their last night alive. Soft music filled the air, a light little song that brightened up the room.
It was beautiful. A perfect picture of pre-war luxury, that she was happy to enter and entertain.
Dinner was served with a flourish, waiters and waitresses swarming the room with plates and plates of steak and potatoes. She knew what was being served tonight. Everyone did. They all had the same thing. Elisavet had even sourced the protein herself, freshly killed this morning.
NCR Trooper, with hearty sides of potatoes and carrots.
Something deep inside her must have been broken. She didn’t feel any regret, glancing around the table at the steaks on their plates. She felt hungry, really hungry-- and this was just the thing she was craving.
When she looked discreetly at Mortimer, she couldn’t help but crack a smile. This wasn't the first Society dinner that she had visited. She was quite the gourmand herself now, having become no stranger to other sources of meat during her time in the Mojave.
A sick thrill shot up her spine, she was almost glad she was attending this dinner alone. She never let Yes Man see this side of her. The broken side.
She ate her dinner silently, only making polite conversation with the other guests seated beside her at the table. Business talk. Idle chatter. Vegas gossip.
Not many had the guts to speak to her directly, not with the Securitron looming over her shoulder. That was fine, she didn’t mind butting into a conversation with these high-rollers. Elisavet hummed into her wine glass as she sipped it, the bitter-tart alcohol washing over her tongue and removing the taste of the steak she had been enjoying. Maybe she could convince someone here to buy her a hard drink afterwards. Whiskey was nice, but expensive rum was better.
The lady sitting beside her seemed interesting… She was wearing a pretty pink dress without any stains, and her blonde hair was styled and cared for very well, yet she was actively arguing with her partner at the table. Definitely a high-roller with plenty of caps. Elisavet smiled, and set her glass down. She could make a good impression, maybe get her to spend some more caps, so she finally listened in on the conversation.
“Darling, let’s go out on the town tonight, I haven’t had nearly enough excitement on our vacation.” She pouted, touching his arm lightly and leaning close. “I hear there’s a theater at another casino, and they have a variety of entertainment that you might even like.”
“No, no, we’ve spent plenty of caps at the tables downstairs already and drank all day, we’ve seen it all already-- there’s no need to go anywhere else tonight.” The man said to the lady, who was starting to get upset at his dismissive attitude. The Aces Theater put on a good show, especially on Friday nights.
Elisavet hummed, perking up and finally chiming in, “Oh, I’m sure that there’s still plenty for you to see of my city, especially for a lovely couple like yourselves. There’s even the lovely Aces Theater at The Tops with a few delightful acts.” She chuckled with a wink. “I made sure to select the new talent myself.” That got the attention of the entire table, her silky-soft words quieting the disjointed conversations around her. Perfect. All eyes on her. “Do you like music? Live music? There’s a wonderful man there on Friday nights, and his voice is wonderful. It really ends any date on a high-note.” She sighs wistfully, closing her eyes as she remembers the nights she spent there… All the drinks she had with Swank, the lively atmosphere, and all the… everything. It was the best. She opens her eyes after just a moment, her practiced smile still plastered to her face. The blonde lady smiles, and gestures to Elisavet with a pleased, “Well, someone here has a good idea!” She turns to the pink-haired girl, ignoring her partner. “I do like live music, and there has been a dreadful lack of it here! We’re going to the theater tonight!” She humphs, sticking her nose up in the air with a conspiratorial smile to the ruler of the Strip beside her.
"Someone as popular as you can’t possibly be here alone, where is your companion, dear?" The blonde asks Elisavet. Elisavet's smile drops a little. It had been obvious that she had a favorite Securitron, then.
"Just a call away. This is... A personal endeavor. I always take the time to have dinner with the Society and mingle with the people who come to visit my city. Besides… my dear friends can take care of any problem that comes my way." Elisavet lied smoothly, she leaned back and gestured to the massive robotic guard with her. Gorgeous shiny blue titanium and a CRT… She sipped her wine to pull herself together, repressing a shudder at the taste… foul. She hated the stuff.
The guest seemed to get her veiled threat.
Don't fuck with me.
Elisavet chuckled and winked smoothly, "No need to worry, it's just dinner, after all." This seemed to placate the woman, and some of the tension dissipated. Elisavet glanced back at her guard, stomach churning. The wine soured on her tongue, and she wished it was just hard liquor instead. She never liked wine anyway.
Dinner finished smoothly, and with quite a celebratory bang... Elisavet somehow still charmed the other guests at her table, and her guard remained silent the entire time.
When her post-dinner meeting with Mortimer was finally over and she had secured extra funding from the Gourmand’s profits, Elisavet slipped away from the dining room, and beyond its lobby. She needed a drink, and to put her thoughts together before she returned. The entire time she was eating and socializing, building up the illusion that she was just as competent and charming as House, she had been thinking of Yes Man.
He was the one keeping it all together. He did tahe planning, the decrypting files, arranging meetings, and calculating all the numbers needed to keep balance and order on the Strip.
All she did was do the people-pleasing. Meeting people, making allies. Making enemies. Killing enemies. Securing resources and solving all the problems that came up along the way.
Elisavet popped the top button of her checkered coat as she left the dining hall, letting a few more inches of her bare chest out for display. She brushes past the other casino patrons quickly, her pale-pink ponytail fluttering behind her in her wake, her Securitron guard tailing closely despite the thick crowd. She had to get a stiff drink. Now. The expensive bar was the closest- that was fine. She liked the bartender that usually worked Society meeting nights. Quickly, she pushed past the crowd, and took a seat at the very end of the bar, as far away from the other patrons as possible.
Elisavet smiled at the bartender, ignoring the feeling of a camera intently focused on her back. She almost wanted to rip off the checkered coat and to run to her safe haven. Back in Goodsprings.
“Two shots of the most expensive rum you have, in a glass topped off with Nuka, please.” She asked sweetly, giving the bartender one of her usual flirty winks and charming smile. He was cute, and well-dressed, just like the many other employees of the casino.
The bartender hummed, and agreed to her request wordlessly. He turned around and pulled a very expensive bottle from the top shelf behind him, poured her requested drink into a sparkling glass cup, and placed it in front of the anxious Strip ruler.
“Here you are, ma’am. thirty caps.” He said simply, but not impolitely. Elisavet smiled. Perfect. She could try charming the man, get a little discount.
“Oh, how about twelve? I mean…” She glanced at her Securitron guard, standard Mk II OS. “You do know who I am…” She giggled and tried not to let her anxiety seep into her smooth words. She smiled and batted her eyes at the bartender, leaning on the bar just a little more to push her breasts enticingly together. That usually works.
The bartender almost frowned, the corner of his mouth twitching, unconvinced yet. However, once he glanced behind her, he seemed to lose all the color in his face that wasn’t hidden behind that pale white mask.
He shook his head quickly, taking a step back from the counter.
“O-oh, no need for any caps, ma’am. Have this drink, courtesy of the White Glove Society.” He said nervously, sweating profusely. He nudged the drink a little closer to her, and quickly walked to the opposite end of the bar to serve another patron without so much as looking at the register.
Elisavet’s eyebrow twitched. It was beyond obvious that her charm didn’t do it, but the presence of the armed guard with her did. She must’ve been losing her touch. She snatched the drink from the counter, and took a deep drink of it with a sour expression trying to work its way to her face.
Hopefully Yes Man hadn’t picked that moment to check in on her. She twitched, almost instinctively spinning around on her stool to check the robot behind her, just to be sure. He had done it before.
“Yes Man,” She said with a sigh, and the fans picked up in the robot just behind her, “I can feel you watching.”
“Eh, heh… Not that, I don’t….” Yes Man said, and she could hear his metallic claws clink together nervously. She was also nervous.
“Let me just finish this, and I’ll come to the Penthouse.” She said, a sort-of peace washing over her. She hadn’t been alone after all. She took a sip of her drink, and felt the presence behind her change again, the Securitron turning back around to watch her back while she drank.
Elisavet finished her drink leisurely, occasionally being approached by bold casino patrons. Her flashy coat stood out. Her pink hair stood out. Her metal guard stood out. She wished she could go back to being plain, sort-of sneaky, Elisavet.
Not the public ruler of the Strip.
A frown tugged at her mouth, and she found herself inadvertently scowling at her conversation partner, scaring them off. Oh well.
She tipped the last of her drink into her mouth, then set the cup on the polished bar. She reached into her breast pocket and procured five-cap Lucky 38 casino chip, dropped it beside the cup, and left without a word to the bartender or the others around her.
The guard followed Elisavet out of the Ultra Luxe, then wheeled off to resume patrol once they cleared the entryway. She walked just a short ways down the Strip, brushing against other patrons and robots as she went. The weight of the Platinum Chip in her pocket brought her back to reality when she bumped into a Securitron.
The force of the bump startled her, and she fell onto her ass. She let out a soft, “oof!” involuntarily as she hit the ground. They were made of titanium, after all… She frowned at herself, and picked herself up off the ground. She patted the robot fondly, and it turned around slowly as she moved to walk off. She smiled weakly. Weird, it didn’t say anything or turn before she had picked herself up off the ground and put herself together. “Sorry about that. Be there soon.” She said, even though she knew it didn’t matter much. But it would’ve pinged back to the server.
The Securitron oddly didn’t say anything, just turned back around and wheeled off to complete its patrol. Elisavet sighed, and crossed the street to open up the Lucky 38. Something wasn’t right with him, either…
Just like she said, Elisavet went immediately to the Penthouse, ignoring the budding worry building up in her stomach that threatened to make her spill her dinner. She took down her ponytail to relieve some of the pressure in her head, letting the pink hair fall down her back and brush her knees.
Elisavet called the elevator, and stepped into it as soon as the doors opened. She grabs her tin of Mentats, and pops one in her mouth before digging in her breastpocket. She needed to hold the chip. Ground herself. Elisavet rubbed the grooved surface of the platinum chip, leaning against the back wall of the elevator on the ride up. The weighty, shiny metal grounded her as the elevator shuddered on its way up. She had so much to say to Yes Man. Or, more accurately, to try to say to him.
When the elevator dinged and the doors opened, she almost panicked. Almost.
It was silent, not even the radio playing for once. She wasn’t even playing it on her Pip-Boy. She almost wanted to turn it on, to break the tense silence in the room.
Elisavet walked to the mainframe monitor, and tried to smile. Yes Man was still there. Still connected.
“Hey, Yessie.” She greeted casually, like she usually did. “I think that dinner with the White Glove Society went well. Mortimer promised to send over another five-percent revenue from the resturaunt.”
“Oh! That’s good news!” Yes Man cheered. “That’ll help boost our savings for Securitron maintenance!” Elisavet smiled, and nodded. It would help a lot.
“How’s…” She asked, almost not wanting to breach the topic. “How's the uh, update treating you?” She asked, trying to distract from the fact she didn’t yet know what to say to explain her odd behavior.
“Just fine, really! It was just some minor adjustments to my personality matrix, to help you run the Strip better.” He explained, smiling like always, but it was a little different than his usual insistence on helping her. It felt more pointed, more intimate, like he was actually meaning just her. Elisavet raised an eyebrow.
“Don’t you usually classify adjustments to your personality as… well… Major updates?” Elisavet asked gently, furrowing her brows with concern. She lifted her wrist and fidgeted with the latch on her Pip-Boy to stop staring at him and the soft halo of gorgeous green light from the monitor. “Minor and personality matrices don’t typically go in the same sentence, after all. And, ah, don’t you usually ask me to stay a-and hang around for those?”
Yes Man was silent for a moment, and Elisavet tensed, focusing more on the latch. It was scratched up, the paint chipping off… And the paint around the edges where they meet was also chipping… Damn. She should disassemble it and repaint it just like she had with Yes Man’s chassis years ago.
“This one was minor.” He said, stressing the minor. Elisavet looked up at him and dropped her wrist. “I just needed to change a few variables, add a few lines in to take advantage of some new code, and reboot.” He said, gently, but it was still so vague. But… she couldn’t help but understand, she had things she didn’t want to tell him about her personality.
“I-- I guess so.” Elisavet said gently, stepping closer and sitting at the desk, trusting that he wouldn’t lie to her on something so important. “Your code is quite the feat of programming… I’m sure you had no problem if you say it’s minor…” She trailed off, blushing and nervously chuckling, then rubbing her neck. She could feel that Mentat kicking in, and she was feeling almost smart enough to understand. Her tongue was talking before she could think about it… flirting.
“Nothing to worry about! I handled it all while you were at the Atomic Wrangler yesterday. I had finished rebooting by the time you entered the Strip again.” He said confidently, sort-of nodding as best he could. Did he miss her subtle compliments, or even worse… noticed and didn’t like it?
Elisavet gave him a half-smile, worry creeping into her again. That sweet feeling he had been giving her was slowly growing cold and souring in her stomach. She rested her hand on a keyboard on the desk, running a thumb across the spacebar. The closest thing she could do to seek comfort from him.
“I would’ve stayed here, watched over the Strip so you could update…” She trailed off, looking away. Whenever he went offline, she got nervous. Especially since she was out of the casino… everything was unguarded for quite a while. “I wouldn’t want to leave the Strip unmanaged while you’re taking care of yourself.” She tried to say it casually, like he wasn't the world to her, like the Strip was much more important than him. Like she was more upset that their stuff could be taken.
Anything but someone breaking in and--
“Elisavet, there’s nothing to worry about. You needed to take a break, and the Securitron defense system can run independently without me. We both made sure of that before the battle at Hoover Dam.” He said softly, shocking her from her thoughts. He could see her anxiety from every camera in the Penthouse.
Elisavet slumped a little, and looked away from his display sheepishly. She had been working closely with him in the Penthouse recently, longer and later nights at the terminals writing updates with him.
“I… I know.” She sighed, but smiled a little. “The backup programs that make up their systems are… Well, they're quite impressive. It’s secure, even should we both be… indisposed…” She blushed a little. They had done a great job stabilizing a backup program that effectively patrolled and could defend the Strip, and most especially… themselves and the casino.
“Right you are.” Yes Man chuckled. “Not to brag, but.. The Mark II OS is quite the upgrade, and with our updates on top of that, all Securitrons on the network are more than capable of handling any attack while I update for a few hours and you visit friends.” His gentle, kind reassurance was the soothing balm to her frayed nerves that she had been seeking for a long time.
Elisavet nodded, and glanced around the room with a fond smile at all the robots in the room with them. It felt like something they had made together that worked. Still working. And just by everything still standing and secure after all these years… Well, it gave her a little hope for the future of New Vegas, and made her heart flutter. And maybe she could take a break to drink a bunch of alcohol, take a bunch of chems, and cut loose more.
“Yeah, you did a great job bug testing on those updates we worked on.” Elisavet admitted, warmth creeping back into her body. However, that gave her pause, the odd encounter with a Securitron earlier popping back to the front of her mind. “Eh, but… I think I may have fumbled something in there… The standard OS fellas outside have been acting strange.”
Elisavet started to frown, glancing around the room at the three standard model guards she had stationed in the Penthouse with them. They all looked normal at first glance, perking up and looking around once they picked up on Elisavet paying close attention… Only once they noticed she had started paying attention more than from the corner of her eye.
Yes Man seemed confused by this, and Elisavet frowned. He was always aware of every securitron attached to the network… and what she was doing. It wasn’t like any robot around her to be so…. Distracted. “Hm, well… I suppose… They… they keep following me very closely when I’m not here with you. Sometimes, they seem… distracted. Noticing ruffians a few moments too late, not noticing important guests, either." Elisavet said, pausing as she paced the floor in front of his monitor. "Earlier on my way back from the Ultra Luxe, I bumped into one and fell over… but it didn’t even seem to acknowledge me, just looked at me after I got its attention, then wheeled off.”
She sighed, stepping away from the monitor to walk a little closer to one of the active units nearby. She lifted one of the hands of the one in front of her, turning it over in her hands while she squinted and scrutinized the machine for any changes in demeanor. “Hm…” She hummed, her eyebrows furrowed as she thought.
No obvious changes, but she wasn’t sure. Still alert, but silent. It shouldn’t suddenly turn on her, but the memories of them all turning and shooting at her was still all too fresh in her mind. It took forever to get her blood off the tiles in here.
Was it a bad update? Did she accidentally remove something she shouldn’t have? Or was it that extra bit she included disrupting the rest of the code? She stepped back, gently pulling it away from its post by the monitor. It went along with her after a second unresponsive.
“There it is…” She mutters. Elisavet felt a twitch at the corner of her mouth and she couldn’t stop herself from following her impulse to investigate more. She released the claw from her hands, and discarded her checkered coat on a chair behind her to reveal the bandage top covering her chest and the scarred plane of her stomach. She hummed and looked at her Pip-Boy, starting a memo with her notes. "Delayed reaction times. Occasionally unresponsive to verbal prompts."
Pressing a few buttons on its torso panel opened the service panel. Elisavet clicked on the light on her Pip-Boy, and hummed before taking a peek into the unit, completely forgetting Yes Man was watching closely.
Yes Man's gentle voice brought her back to reality, “I haven’t received any reports of failing hardware, nor any maintenance requests from any of our main units outside.” Elisavet stepped back just a bit, and looked up at him. She hummed, and shrugged. “Maybe there’s something wrong with the software, then?” She muttered, shining her light into the robot after a second. Nothing but dust. There weren’t any leaky capacitors, any dirt on the boards, no stray wires or electric shocks, not even an improperly seated chip or board. It was all… factory standard.
“Maybe…” She thought aloud, shining her light into the cavity again, then gently pushing some of her hair out of her vision. “It’s… this?” She reaches inside the cavity, pushing a few stray connectors back into place, then closes the unit up. Nothing seemed to have happened, but that’s alright.
Elisavet looked over to Yes Man with a tense smile, rubbing the back of her neck.
“Ehm… I’m not sure right now.” She said sadly. “I just think I fumbled something in the last update. I’m sorry.” She looked around the room, the units were still… just barely off, just a moment too slow to respond and react.
Now they were all completely focused on her.
Elisavet fidgeted awkwardly, lifting her wrist to add another note to the end of her log: Completely focused on me.
Yes Man was shockingly quiet for a moment, and Elisavet started to grow nervous.
“I-- I…” She stammered, grimacing and looking away. “I’m sorry. I’ve been too distracted, and it’s started affecting you. Affecting the Securitron network.”
“Elisavet, you haven’t done anything wrong, the last update didn’t have any incorrect code, and if there had been, I would have corrected them before implementing the update across the network.” Yes Man finally responded after a long moment. Elisavet didn’t feel any better, the guilt building in her stomach instead. It didn’t make any sense why he was acting strange, and she couldn’t handle trying to sort her own emotions out right now.
“Right. You… we… we would have caught it.” She muttered, uselessly. It was getting obvious why they needed to talk about what was really going on. “But, ah, I said I would talk to you about what has been bothering me recently…” She said quieter, even more meekly. She was going to tell him.
Yes Man perked up at that. “What’s been bothering you?” He asked gently.
“I… I guess it’s just… I’m having a hard time with…” She stammered, blushing. “Something important to me? I.. I found something out about myself, and it’s kinda eating me up. I like a guy, a real nice guy, but I don’t know if he actually likes me.” She sighed, rubbing her neck again. She looked away, frowning.
Her throat felt tight, and she wanted to shut up already.
“I suppose I just don’t know what to do, I love the guy, I can’t get him out of my thoughts and dreams-- and… and sometimes I just don’t think he likes me, or even wants me around sometimes. I think he resents me sometimes, actually.” She finally said.
Yes Man was quiet for a while, the silence and tension in the Penthouse getting thicker and more uncomfortable by the moment. Elisavet only had two friends who could’ve possibly fit the description-- Swank and Yes Man. She had been seeing Swank on-and-off-again since the Second Battle of Hoover Dam, but… she wasn’t terribly interested in pursuing anything too serious with him. She hadn’t even seen him beyond business meetings recently, either.
“I-- I suppose it doesn’t take a genius to know who I’m talking about.” Elisavet said flatly, trying to disguise her anxiety and guilt. “I…” She muttered, looking at the tile floor with a grimace. She let her sentence die on her tongue, before she could even say it. She sighed, and picked up her checkered coat, draping it around her shoulders. It was silent in the Penthouse, neither Yes Man or Elisavet saying anything. All the Securitrons and cameras in the room were turned to face her, taking in every minute detail of her posture, demeanor, shaky breaths.
“I’m sorry. I love you. I love you, and that’s not something I want to change anymore.” Elisavet said weakly, her voice sounding far away to herself. “You don’t have to love me, hell, you… you could hate me. I would hate me.” She slipped her arms in the sleeves of the coat and pulled it over her shoulders. “Honestly, I killed Benny, Mr. House, lots of NCR diplomats and troopers, and a lot more assholes. Ate most of ‘em along the way, too.” She sighed, glancing over her shoulder to the main monitor, to Yes Man watching her as she buttons up her coat again. “That’s not very polite. Murdering and eating people. I know you don’t like the White Glove Society doing that.” She chuckled dryly, imitating their banter. She waved her hand in the air. “But… If you hate me… I’ll find someone better suited to running Vegas with you. You won’t have to see me again.” Elisavet said finally. Everything in her screamed at the thought of him hating her. The thought of leaving Vegas. She would start all over again. Find somewhere all alone, to hide her shame away. The Penthouse was still quiet.
The hot tears finally fell from her eyes, and she turned away from the monitor once it was obvious he wouldn’t answer. She wouldn’t order him to answer, either. “But, hey, I’ll see you around. Yeah?” She said with a pained smile. She couldn’t stay in the Penthouse for the night, she was going to fall apart if she did.
Elisavet quickly rushed up the steps. The Securitrons turned and watched her.
She quickly tapped the call button for the elevator over and over, and threw herself in it as soon as the doors opened just enough to squeeze her body through. She wanted to run. Run far away. As fast as her legs could take her.
The elevator shuddered, and slowly sunk down to the Cocktail Lounge. She shouldn’t run. There’s no way to run from love. She had to wait, and, and hope she hadn’t just ruined everything. When the doors open, she races out of the elevator, and recklessly fumbles to make herself another drink. Can’t run from this. Nowhere to run to. Can’t hide. Elisavet pours herself a few shots of rum into a clear glass, and grabs a cold Nuka-Cola. Quickly, she pops the cap off the soda bottle, and tosses it on the bar carelessly.
With a shuddering, deep breath, Elisavet sits down on one of the barstools and starts downing her drink.
She wouldn't run this time. But she would damn well try to drink away the guilt of loving him.
She'll wait until he's ready to talk.
