Hey guys! Quick break from Love Across the Wastes to bring you this, as requested by josueb. Hope you like it!

The lights in the bar kept getting dimmer and dimmer. The people around them were leaving one by one. It was late, he knew that, but this was Vegas! People were supposed to stay out all night and spend as many caps as they could. The Courier looked down at his pip-boy. It was almost four in the morning.

The Lucky 38 was newly opened. People from all across the Mojave came to see what had been locked up for years, finally figuring out what it was exactly Mr. House was hiding. So many people had come; where were they all now? The cocktail lounge was empty. It was just him and one securitron standing guard by the elevator.

After the war had been won, the Courier's merry band of misfits went their separate ways. Veronica went back to the Brotherhood. Lily back to Jacobstown. Boone had rejoined his snipers in the NCR. Arcade was helping the other remnants of the Enclave. Raul had vanished from the Mojave entirely.

And then there was Cass.

The Courier hadn't heard from her in months. Last he knew, she was in on her way out to D.C. to see what kind of business ventures she could get into there. She had been the last to leave his side, and man, did he miss her.

He hated to admit it, but he was a little lost without her there. She had always been there. Since the beginning.

The Courier was feeling nostalgic after having just downed his seventh shot of whiskey. Was the alcohol muddling his brain or bringing everything into focus? He couldn't tell, and at this point, didn't care too much.

Looking back on all those months he spent with her, and all the times they had come so close to - no, he couldn't think like that. She was his friend. And despite their constant flirtation, he knew that that's all she thought him as. But damn it all if he couldn't help but miss her.

He looked at his pip-boy again: 4:03. He should have gone to bed hours ago. He knew that the day before him was filled to the brim with shit he didn't want to do. Just because he was the liberator of New Vegas, that didn't mean he wanted to rule over it.

Right now, all that sounded good to him was another whiskey and Cass by his side.

Wait...what?

Did he really just think that? The Courier shook his head to try and rid his mind of the painful places it had gone to.

He fixed himself another shot and sat back down on his lonely barstool in his lonely bar.

He hated being alone.

His eyes fixed on the bottles behind the bar for the longest time, he didn't notice the elevator doors ping open. He didn't notice someone sit down next to him.

He did notice that the room seemed brighter all of the sudden, even though the lights were as dim as the could possibly go.

He also noticed that he no longer smelt his choice of whiskey, but instead he smelt her choice of whiskey. And flowers. And sweat. It was intoxicating him more than the alcohol ever could. Was his mind doing this to him or was she actually-

"Hey, stranger. Got anymore of that whiskey or did you clean the bar out?"

Cass. She was here. But, when did she get back? Why hadn't she contacted him in months? Was this actually her or did his mind conjure her up?

"Are you real?" the Courier asked stupidly. He reached out and cupped the side of her face. His hand was immediately slapped away and he knew she was real.

"What kind of stupid question is that? Course I'm real, why wouldn't I be? God, how much have you been drinking?"

Cass looked behind the bar at the several empty bottles that littered the counter. Same old Courier, she thought.

"Where is everyone?" she asked, settling back into the seat beside him.

He looked around the room and shrugged his shoulders.

"Don't know. Gone, somewhere. When did you get back?" he looked at her then. Really looked at her. She looked different somehow. Her skin was a little more tan. Her hair had grown out farther. She looked more alive now. Her trip to D.C. must have done her good.

"I just got back, came right here. Don't know where else I'd go, to be honest," Cass said as she grabbed his shot of whiskey and downed it. She hadn't had any all day, and he had had way too much.

The Courier didn't know what to say to that. He figured she was right. Her parents were gone. She didn't have a lot of people out in the Mojave...except him.

He reached out and took her hand in his. She didn't seem surprised by the sudden contact. She laced her fingers through his. It was comfortable. Like they had been like this for years.

"Hope I'm wasn't interrupting anything by showin' up here," Cass said playfully. She was always trying to make him laugh.

"Never," he replied a little too quickly. She didn't seem to notice.

He absentmindedly stroked her knuckles with his thumb. She was here and she was real and this all felt so right.

"I missed you, you know," he said into the darkness of the bar.

"I missed you, too. Gets awfully lonely out there by yourself."

The Courier stood then and surprisingly only wavered a little bit considering how much he had had to drink. Cass stood up after him. She didn't realize how close they were until she looked up into his face, just mere inches away. She smiled at him.

God, I missed him, Cass thought. She had left his side so long ago. To be back finally was better than anything she could have hoped for. She had a lot of time to think during her trip to D.C. All that thinking can lead to a wandering mind. She thought back to her time with the Courier. He had done so much for her, with no complaints. Traveling by herself led her mind to clarification. She loved him. She knew that now and wasn't afraid to admit it. Cass wasn't planning on leaving his siege anytime soon, as long as he would have her.

The Courier still held her hand. He pulled her along towards to the elevator and pushed the button that led up to his penthouse. He led her towards where his bed sat in the middle of the room. He laid down, not bothering to change his clothes. He looked at Cass expectantly. She smiled and shook her head, moving to the other side of the bed and sliding in next to him.

The Courier wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. She snuggled into his chest and sighed in contentment.

"Don't leave again," he whispered into her ear,

"I won't. I promise."