Author's Note: I got this idea after I pulled out the old Fallout 3 disc and immediately got to work on this... This is Femslash so you have been warned: If you don't like, don't read. Without further ado, I present you with a short little oneshot about Moira and a female lone wanderer named Ariana.

I Love You

Ariana stumbled through the gates of Megaton, panting heavily. Her red hair was matted and tangled; it hung in her eyes and stuck to the back of her neck. Sweat trickled down her sides under the armored vault suit she wore. The 10 millimeter pistol at her hip was out of ammo and was practically falling apart.

She limped up a rickety ramp towards Craterside Supply, clutching the railing for support. Her right leg burned, the shrapnel in it bit further into the muscle with each step and flex, and the further she went, the worse it got, her head had even began to throb slightly.

She had gotten injured venturing through a minefield for Moira, one had nearly blown off her leg but she had leapt to the side just in time, and managed to escape with her leg intact.

'If only Amata could see me right now…' she thought. She still felt guilty for having to kill her father right in front of her. They had been best friends and she had even had feelings for her at one time. She remembered the whispers from other people; they made fun of her because she liked other girls. Even her father had seemed to have disapproved. But now there was someone else, Moira.

The store owner was… well different. She had a very positive disposition, a little bit too positive. But Ariana had a soft spot for the perky woman.

She reached the door to the supply store and swung it open. Her leg burned, and after a few steps it gave out and she collapsed right in front of the counter.

"Moira?" she groaned through gritted teeth.

She heard footsteps, and a second later she saw Moira appear from the doorway to her left.

"Oh no! Did you get hurt in the minefield?" Moira quirked as she kneeled down next to Ariana. Ariana groaned again as Moira closed the door and it bumped her injured leg, black spots dotted her vision.

"Yeah," Ariana panted, fighting off the waves of searing pain. "I even got a present for you."

"Really?" Moira chirped "a mine of my very own?"

"Yeah… Sure…" Ariana slurred, her heartbeat seemed unnaturally loud in her ears, and the throb in her head had increased into a steady pound. "Moira… I… I don't feel s..so well…" She managed to choke out before she passed out.

Ariana woke up feeling like she had been dragged across the wasteland and back. Her mouth felt like sandpaper and her leg throbbed softly. She opened her eyes and had to blink a couple of times to dispel the bleariness that clouded her vision. As she regained her sight, she surveyed her surroundings; she was in Moira's shop on the couch at the top of the stairs.

She shifted slightly and looked down, a light blanket covered her body up to her neck and it felt like she was naked except for her underclothes beneath the cover. She looked around for her clothes and saw that they were neatly folded on the arm of the couch.

'Did Moira… undress me…?' she thought. After a moment she shook her head slightly and turned her attention to the small table that Moira must've moved there. It had some stimpacks and a bottle of purified water on it… but the last thing on the table made her shiver; it was a small bowl with a pair of tongs resting inside of it and a knife resting on a towel. She tried to swallow but her mouth was dry as a bone. She reached over and grabbed the water and unscrewed the cap, raising it to her lips and drank greedily.

When she had drunk her fill, she put the cap back on and set the bottle back onto the table. She raised her left arm in an attempt to check her Pipboy for the time, and when she did she found her arm bare. She shifted back into a sitting position, and hissed when her leg moved. When she was sitting up she was able to see that her Pipboy was lying behind her armor. She squinted and managed to make out that it was noon. She sighed; she had walked in at ten… So she had only been out for two hours.

She gave a start as she heard footsteps on the stairs and looked over to see Moira coming up. The woman turned as she reached the top and smiled when she saw Ariana.

"Well, look who's up! I didn't expect you to wake up this early, that infection that you had was pretty bad."

"Wait… What? Infection? How bad was it?!"

"You had a nasty bacterial infection in there. I removed most of the shrapnel, but there's still some lodged in there. And unfortunately, it's lodged in there pretty deep." Moira said with a slight frown on her face. Ariana paled and glanced at the knife on the table.

"Y…you mean… you're going to remove it now?!" Ariana stammered, now wishing that she was still asleep.

"Well of course silly! We can't just leave it in there, can we? Now hold on while I go and get a chair!" Moira disappeared for a moment and returned with a chair, setting it down, she peeled the blanket back to reveal Ariana's unnaturally pale legs, from living in the vault. "Now I'm going to need you to swing your left leg off of the couch and put your right in my lap." Ariana did as instructed, and could not help but notice how clammy her palms felt, and how she trembled slightly out of nervousness as she maneuvered herself.

But Moira didn't seem to notice as she carefully examined her leg turning it slightly until it was at the right angle. Ariana's breathing hitched as Moira then grabbed the knife off of the table. The woman narrowed her eyes and moved the knife into position and when the first dig came, she could not hold back the cry of pain that escaped her lips. She tried to jerk her leg away, but Moira held it firmly in place.

"Now, now," Moira chided "sit still!"

Ariana bit her lip and nodded, and the next ten minutes were an absolute hell, tears streamed freely down her cheeks as Moira dug into her leg with the knife. "Now, there's one piece left, but this one's the deepest." Moira warned. Ariana closed her eyes gripped the edge of the couch with white knuckles and whimpered pitifully.

A couple of agonizing seconds ticked by and the anticipation stacked up until Ariana was ready to bolt down the stairs and out of the shop, but before she could move the first stab of the knife was made. She screamed and her hand right hand flew up and clamped down onto Moira's shoulder. The cheerful woman seemed to flinch away from her touch and the knife's sting receded from her leg and Moira froze.

"M… Moira?" Ariana whispered, removing her hand, frightened that she had done something wrong. Moira blinked a couple of times before she turned and focused on Ariana.

"Oh… No, I'm fine…" Moira said distantly. "Now, uh where were we?" She said, digging in deep with the knife, causing Ariana to throw her head back in pain and let out a scream. "There!" Moira cheered, back to her usual perkiness. "All done! Now I just need to stitch up this gash and then put some salve on it and dress it!"

"Uh o… ok…"Ariana said weakly, letting her head fall back onto the pillow exhaustedly.

After Moira had stitched her up and bandaged her leg, she'd fallen asleep. But now she was wide awake, thinking about Moira and what had happened when she'd touched her shoulder. The woman was overly positive… And when Ariana had gotten close… Was Moira trying to repel people with her disposition? Ariana found the thought intriguing… And why hadn't she gone out into the wastes before? Had something happened when she was younger? Ariana found herself staring at the doorway through which she knew over the walkways, Moira's bedroom was. And if she listened intently enough she could hear soft snoring.

Ariana shook her head, why did she care so much about Moira anyway?

'Because you like her' her conscious piped.

'Do not...' She retorted.

'Oh, you know it's true, quit lying to yourself…'

Ariana scowled, she had resorted to arguing with herself now. But her inner self had spoken nothing but the truth, the question was: how to approach her? And are your theories even correct, or is she just mental? And even if they were, the woman seemed almost unapproachable. But was this just a minor infatuation, or was it deeper? How could it be deeper? She had just walked into town fresh from the vault just a week ago.

Ariana frowned and cleared her thoughts.

'Best not to think about these things… they just happen.' Or at least… that's what Amata had once told her. She turned over onto her side and closed her eyes hoping to get a little bit more sleep until the next day rolled around.

With Moira's help, in just three days time she was already doing minor exercises, she even sat behind the counter selling to any adventurers or wanderers that would wander in while Moira was out with her mercenary getting more supplies from the caravans that had stopped by Megaton. Ariana was improving but she still had yet to walk unaided.

When she woke up she saw Moira down by her leg rewrapping her leg in a fresh bandage. Ariana quickly narrowed her eyes, pretending to still be asleep and just watched Moira.

Moira moved with a subtle gentleness as she gingerly wrapped her pale leg. Ariana flitted her narrowed eyes up to Moira's face, what she saw there surprised her; instead of her usual perky cheerful expression, she wore a tired almost… depressed expression. But her eyes… her eyes held an almost… affectionate glow. Wait… affection for who? Her? Ariana was just able to prevent herself from squirming.

Moira finished wrapping her leg, and turned to leave, hesitating at the top of the stairs before making her way quietly over to the bed and knelt down next to the couch. Ariana closed her eyes waiting to see what Moira would do. She was taken completely off guard when she felt Moira's breath on her forehead, and her warm lips being pressed to her brow. She tensed and held her breath. When she felt Moira's lips pull away she risked cracking open her eyes and saw Moira disappearing quickly back down the stairs.

Ariana swallowed, did Moira… like her as well? She raised her hand up to the spot on her brow where Moira had kissed her; it had been tender and undeniably affectionate. Ariana frowned mystified at Moira's intentions and feelings towards her.

'Talk about hard to get…' she thought scratching her head. Sitting up, she grabbed the baggy shirt that Moira had found for her and pulled on the matching leggings and boots. She rifled through her the pockets of her folded armor on the arm of the couch, and found a hair tie and used it to messily pull her hair back.

She then grabbed the crutch balanced on the table and carefully stood, leaning heavily on the crutch. She shambled over to the stairs and carefully made her way down. When she made it safely to the bottom, she turned and saw Moira standing at the counter looking over a clipboard. She shuffled over to the counter as quietly as she could and leaned over the counter.

"Hey! So how's your leg? Think you're ready for some normal walking yet?" Moira queried cheerily, her normal disposition had returned and all of the tenderness from earlier was gone replaced with her usual perkiness. Ariana smiled halfheartedly and tried to sound enthusiastic, despite the storm of feelings that raged within her.

"Yeah, maybe… Do you need anything done?"

"Oh! Well I could use some more food from The Brass Lantern, if you feel up to it of course!"

"Um, yeah sure, I think I could handle that." Ariana replied.

"Ok! Great! Here are all the caps you'll need!" Moira handed her the caps and gave her a list. Moira opened the door for her and made sure that she got out alright, closing the door behind her.

When Ariana stepped outside she had to squint at the bright sunlight. She made her way down the ramp and she stopped at the store and smiled at the man behind the counter. She gave him Moira's list and he told her that it'd be about seven or eight minutes until it was ready. She then found a seat and propped her crutched up against the counter and turned around in the chair and looked around the makeshift town, it was rough around the edges but could eventually become a place one could call home. But the cultists from "The Church of the Children of Atom" got old very fast. Ariana had even contemplated disarming the still-active bomb, but she decided that it was best that until she learned a bit more about explosives before she attempted anything.

She continued her musings until a commotion at the gate caught her attention. It was a group of four armed men were talking with Lucas Simms, the mayor/sheriff of the town. Simms shook his head about something and gestured for them to go. The leader grimaced and threw up his arms, eventually turning and signaling for his men to leave.

Lucas turned and strode over to where Ariana was sitting. Ariana glanced around and when she found nobody in the general vicinity of her she looked back to Lucas and gulped. He came up next to her and leaned on the counter.

"Those men," he began, gesturing towards the gate "they came here looking for you, somebody wants you dead."

"Ok…" Ariana said quietly. "Do you know who they work for?"

"Nope, just know that they were lookin' for you. Just thought I'd tell ya' because I think you're a fine gal and I wouldn't like to see you get killed right in my town." Ariana nodded her thanks as he turned to leave.

The man returned with Moira's food and she paid him the caps and made her way slowly back to Craterside Supply. She wrestled with the door for a moment and finally opened it. She expected to see Moira at the counter or sweeping, but the woman she felt so conflicted about was nowhere in sight.

She set the food down on the counter and shuffled up the stairs and looked around for Moira. She found the redhead sitting at her desk typing away at a terminal.

"Moira?" She called softly, leaning against the doorway. Moira turned at the sound of her name being called.

"Oh, hey! How is the food coming?"

"It's down on the counter." Ariana replied.

"Great! Now I'll go and make something nice." Moira stood and brushed past Ariana. Ariana couldn't stop herself from inhaling Moira's scent. It was strangely sweet; and smelled like something that she'd never smelled before, Moira also smelled strangely clean and she couldn't stop her eyes from fluttering as she exhaled softly. Gosh Moira made her practically melt…

Later on Moira and Ariana were both seated on the couch with the table cleared off and both of them eating cold noodles and drinking bottles of slightly dirty, filtered water. Most of the meal was spent in silence until Ariana spoke up.

"Can… can I try walking tomorrow?"

"Well sure, I think we can remove the stitches tomorrow too!" Moira replied. Ariana nodded and they lapsed back into silence.

"Um… I saw some bounty hunters come into town today when I was getting the food. Lucas talked to them and told me that they had been looking for me…"

"Oh… well you're nice, I doubt that Simms would sell you out, he's a nice, nice man." Moira replied distantly after swallowing another mouthful.

"Yeah, that's what he told me…" Ariana trailed off and ate her last bite of noodles. She set the bowl down and finished off her water. As she finished her water Moira finished off her soup and stood up. She collected the bowls and disappeared down the stairs. She returned with fresh bandages and Ariana laid down and prompted her right leg so that Moira could change the dressing.

Moira moved the chair back beside the couch and began the normal routine of unwrapping, cleaning and re-wrapping Arianna's leg. Ariana watched Moira intently, and caught faint signs of the tenderness that she had seen before, but the affection in Moira's eyes was hidden behind a veil of concentration.

When she was done she looked up at Ariana and smiled cheerily while draping the blanket over her body.

"Goodnight! Get lots of rest for tomorrow so we can start walking!" Moira chirped before disappearing down the stairs to lock the store. Ariana closed her eyes and listened as Moira came back up the stairs and walked to her own room. She heard Moira shuffling and then heard the creak of the springs as she laid down in her own bed. Ariana inhaled, trying to remember Moira's scent. She exhaled sadly, unsuccessful. She imagined Moira with the affection in her eyes gesturing her forward with both of her arms extended.

Ariana obliged and was swept into Moira's arms and her scent washed over Ariana all over again. Ariana wrapped her arms around Moira's waist and she looked up into her green eyes with her own equally green ones and smiled. Moira leaned in a little and Ariana copied the movement, their lips were inches apart. Ariana closed her eyes and leaned in, she brushed her lips against Moira's and…

Ariana's eyes snapped open, wrenching her from the vision. She laid there in turmoil for a few moments before turning over and squeezing her eyes shut. She eventually fell into a blank dreamless sleep.

The next morning Ariana awoke to see Moira disappearing down the stairs, already dressed and awake. Ariana sat up and took up her crutch and hobbled down the stairs to find Moira with her back turned away from Ariana. Moira's shoulders were slumped forward and as she got closer, she could tell that Moira had a hand on her temple.

Ariana did her best to be silent as she got closer to Moira's slumped form. She placed a hesitant hand on the other woman's shoulder. Moira jumped violently and flinched away from Ariana's hand.

"Moira…?" she said innocently.

"Oh… hey, didn't see you there…" Moira turned to look at Ariana before she continued, "Let's get those stitches out, shall we?"

"Uh sure…" Ariana replied, with her eyes narrowed slightly.

"And then we can see if we can get you walking!"

Ten minutes later, Ariana's stitches were out and she was trying to put weight on her right leg without aid of her crutch.

After a minute, she had successfully managed to stand upright unaided.

"Ok, good start!" Moira congratulated. "Now I'm going to stand over here," Moira walked over to the other side of the room, "and you're going to walk over to me!"

Ariana nodded, and steadied herself before she took her first step. Her lips thinned into a firm line of concentration as she placed one foot in front of the other. She was a couple feet away from Moira when she glanced up and smiled, before looking down again and lapsing back into concentration.

Just when she thought that she was in the clear her leg gave out and she fell forward right into Moira's arms, their faces inches apart. Ariana breathing hitched as she looked up into Moira's wide, distant eyes. She noticed that Moira had gone completely still, supporting Ariana all by herself.

After a moment of awkward silence Ariana found the sense to put her legs beneath herself and support her own weight. As she stood, she didn't pull away; instead she stood unmoving like Moira and stared into the other woman's unfocused green eyes.

After what seemed like hours, Moira was the first one to stir, she frowned and looked down, seeming to take in the close proximity of their bodies.

"Oh…" she heard Moira whisper. She saw an alarming flash of pain cross over Moira's expression, and the woman recoiled and her cheery disposition returned in full force.

"Well… umm… if you'll mind the shop for me, I'll be up in my room…" Moira said, avoiding Ariana's eyes. She skirted around Ariana and dropped the keys on the counter and abruptly headed up the stairs. leaving Ariana dumbfounded in her wake.

After a slow day in the shop Ariana was ready to lie down and scream. Didn't Moira like her? Or was she mistaken? Thoughts like these flooded her mind as she dragged herself up the stairs and flopped down on the couch.

After ten minutes of tossing and turning trying to fall asleep, she gave up and sat reclined on the couch with a miserable expression on her face.

Moira had been in her room all day, should she go and check on her? Or should she just leave her? After minutes of vigorous thinking she made up her mind and found herself standing out Moira's door her hand hovering in the air as she tried to find the courage to knock.

'Well… you're here… so might as well do it…' she thought, before she finally knocked on the door. There was no answer she knocked again. 'What if she's asleep?' Ariana thought nervously. After a moment she cracked the door open, wondering where in the wasteland she was getting this confidence from.

She saw Moira sitting hunched over on her bed with her head in her hands.

'Oh shit… What have I done?' she thought worriedly.

She opened the door all the way and limped cautiously over to Moira and sat down, careful not to touch the woman.

"Moira? She whispered, worry etched all over her face. "Moira? Can…can you tell me what's wrong?" after a few minutes Ariana was just about to give up and go back to the couch when she heard Moira speak quietly.

"I… I never wanted to get close to anyone ever again after… after…" Moira faltered, her cheerful disposition gone once again, replaced by raw sadness and misery, Ariana thought that she saw tear tracks down the woman's cheeks as well. She had never seen Moira, or as a matter of fact anyone look so vulnerable in her life.

"It's ok Moira, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to… and… and I can leave if you want…" Ariana replied quietly, getting ready to get up, but she was stopped when she felt Moira's hand on her shoulder.

"No… please don't… I want you to know why… why I'm like this and… and what happened…" Moira choked.

"It's ok, take your time, I'll be here."

"Thanks… "Moira paused, looking for a place to start. "Well... I grew up in Canterbury Commons until I was oh about fifteen." She began, slipping into a tone that almost seemed like she was telling the life of another person instead of herself. "When I was around that age, I was curious about the wasteland and what mysteries it held so I set out all out on my own to explore the wastes."

I was about a week in when I encountered some raiders… I took a lot of them out before one of them found their way behind me and forced me to surrender with a pistol pointed at my head." Moira swallowed and looked to Ariana for reassurance. Ariana met Moira's eyes and nodded signaling for her to go on.

"I thought that they were going to kill me… but one of them whispered something to the guy holding the pistol to my head and they had chuckled. They took me as their prisoner and returned with me to their camp and… and…" Moira broke off, and tears began to flow down her cheeks again.

Ariana then took the blanket folded up at the edge of the bed and scooted closer to Moira before draping the blanket around the both of them and wrapping her arm around the helpless form next to her.

Moira took a deep breath before she continued, "and later that night they chained me up and I could hear them talking with their leader about what to do with me…"

Then not before long I was taken to their leader and he… they all… did… horrible things to me…"

Ariana hugged her tighter and let Moira rest her head on her shoulder.

"They… they took advantage of me for days until I wished that they would have killed me when they'd had the chance… and when they moved camp they left me there to die out in the sun…"

But just when I thought I was going to die finally, a shadow blocked out the sun and I wished and prayed for a quick death… but the shadow picked me up and carried me… and when I woke up I found myself here… and it was Simms that had saved me…"

And I swore that I'd never go back… not out there… never… even going outside of the gates to get supplies scares me… and the things that they did to me… I promised myself that I'd never let my guard down again… so I tried my hardest to be overly happy to push people away…"

But then you came along… you were so nice and you even offered to help me with my book… everyone I had asked before had turned me down… and you ... you helped and then you got hurt and… I felt myself getting close… a…and I didn't know what to do about it… and I still don't know what to do about it because… right now… you're so close… but it feels different… almost… good… almost like lov-" Moira stopped herself and found Ariana's hand, cautiously entwining their fingers.

Ariana turned and took Moira's chin in her thumb and index finger and lifted it so that their eyes met.

"Moira, I will never let anything like that happen to you ever again… and I won't do anything like that to you…" Ariana said her voice barely above a whisper. "But you have to trust me and let go first, it's all in the past. I know it will be hard but I'm here for you… if you'll have me…"

"I wouldn't have anyone else…" Moira whispered, leaning in slowly until their lips met in a tentative kiss. When the kiss ended they looked at each other with mixed emotions on their faces, foreheads lightly touching and both hands intertwined. "I… I…" Moira paused as if looking for the right phrase before uttering three simple words "I love you."

THE END