Fallout: Fury Blood

Chapter 52: It's A Sin To Tell A Lie

The familiar features veiled behind those damned sunglasses were replaced with a look of sudden fear as Kelly rushed Deacon and pounced a mighty hug on him. He had little hope of escape.

"Oh, no. Don't do it. No no no no. Oh fu!—" he let out as she barrelled at him, before his words were clipped in half by her thrown weight. He almost lost his footing, but managed to catch Kelly and stay upright. "Geez, woman," he wheezed while she just laughed in glee and crushed him in her arms.

"Shut up, you love it! I missed you like crazy, D! How did you find us?"

Deacon gave an atypically embarrassed chuckle when Kelly released him, his cheeks flushed a smidgen. Another one of hers that wasn't used to physical intimacy, she reminded herself with a guiltless grin while he recovered. "Just a little tenacity and luck... but mostly just dumb luck," he confessed with a shrug, then gestured to Clay-Crawler, who was standing offside with one of his creepy-ass grins aimed at her, showing the full range of his broken and decayed teeth. "Not that your pet raider here made it easy for me."

Kelly regarded the young raider with a warm smile, putting aside the question of his escape from the Brotherhood for now. Seeing him again filled her with more relief for his safety than she realized she would feel. The little shit was growing on her. "Hey, Clay."

"Hi, Whisper!" He revved to life at her acknowledgement, as if given permission to interact with her, and came at her only to bow at her feet. "Please? Hug, too?"

She had to snap down on a chuckle. "You don't need to bow or ask permission to hug me, Clay. You're not my slave, and I don't bite." He peered up at her from his stooped bow when she crouched down on her haunches to his level. "You're no one's slave now, remember?"

"So... can hug you?"

This time, Kelly did chuckle. "Yes."

Her chuckle was severed into a stunned gasp when Clay-Crawler engulfed her in his wiry grip and bowled her over into the grass. "Boss-Man not eat you! Not eat Dancer! Was so scared Boss-Man eat you!"

Kelly's chuckle returned while Deacon helped pry the ecstatic raider off her. She was also aware that Danse had taken a defensive step in from behind, despite his hesitance to get involved in the reunion. He really thought Clay-Crawler would hurt her?

"Somehow he got it into his head that Maxson is a cannibal and ate you two," Deacon explained with a peculiar look of innocence. "Not that I did anything at all to encourage it..." He held Clay-Crawler back like some over-excitable dog while Kelly climbed back to her feet, then he aimed his shades at Danse. "By the way, hi Danse. Good to see you weren't indeed on Maxson's menu."

Kelly glanced back over her shoulder, seeing Danse only reciprocate Deacon's greeting with a grim glare.

"Good chat," Deacon nodded in acceptance of the snub and went on. "Honestly, from watching Maxson stalk around the airport while I was in sneak-mode, I wouldn't have put the cannibal thing past him. I know you liked to play with him, Kells, but you've got some ovaries to get him that pissed off. What the hell happened between you three? This bullshit about Danse being a synth and you killing him on Maxson's order? Talk about power-play gone wrong. I thought you guys were in a happy threesome and set to save the world together."

Kelly's glee was sapped away at the reminder of how traumatically the alliance had fallen apart, and specifically, why. She felt Danse's presence shift uncomfortably behind her, and wanted to reach back and take his hand. But that would likely embarrass him in front of Deacon and Clay-Crawler. Feeling like it wasn't her place to reveal the truth, Kelly cast her eyes back to Danse, part questioning, part supportive.