Hired Gun Turned Fun

Breathless

Robert watched as you were hit with a huge blueish-white beam of energy and seemed to disintegrate on the spot.

His heart pounded in his chest as he fumbled with his new Pip-Boy, trying to get it tuning into the signal of your tracking earring. The plan that you two had devised the night previous, was for you to turn on the tracker once you'd arrived safely, or to make it flash if you needed an immediate rescue.

He managed to get it searching and within the next 30 seconds, the tracker's signal appeared, pulling up your location on the map. Robert finally breathed in relief, seeing that your red dot was steady and not flashing in danger or injury.

Now he knew that he must be patient until you signaled your return with a series of flashes that would come in threes. He was glad that he'd thought to make you pack your Minutemen flare gun with you, to help with finding you on your return back home.

The crowd that had gathered around the device to see her departure, now started to disperse.

Robert anxiously started walking the perimeter of Sanctuary, like he did the very first night he was here. He thought back to that night, when Charmer had shown him around on a 'tour' of the place. 

It was clear to him that she intended to make him feel comfortable and at home, right from the start. She didn't realize that as a result, he'd also become vulnerable with her and began to trust her. 

He'd just arrived at the spot near the trail up to the vault, where you two had shot bottles together at the bridge. He smiled to himself, remembering how he first noticed how determined she was to learn how to shoot better at a distance.

I didn't know it at that time, what she would have to face. Everything that she was trying desperately to prepare for.. It must have felt daunting... Robert thought to himself. 

He checked the map on his Pip-Boy, seeing that she was moving around slowly. Making her way around cautiously, it seemed. He sighed in relief, hoping that this was in fact the case.

He continued walking around, occasionally stopping to make small talk to people about how things were going. It wasn't long before he arrived at Preston's main guard post near the entrance to Sanctuary and figured he'd strike up a conversation with him.

"Hey there, Garvey! How's it going?" He asked, trying to sound more cheerful than he really felt. He was more anxious than he'd been in a long time, worrying about (Y/N) while on her mission.

Preston turned around, grinning as he recognized the voice. "MacCready! I didn't expect you to pay me a visit at my post. What can I do for you?"

Robert stood next to him, lighting up a smoke and offering one, to which he declined. "I need to find a way to waste time until Charmer comes back. I can't stand not knowing if she's okay or not." He blurted out in confession, feeling like he could trust Preston to understand and also wanting to relate more to him.

He nodded, replying. "I get it. It's clear that you two care about each other, it's not that hard to see." He joked, indicating that it was obvious you two were affectionate with one another.

Robert couldn't help but flush in embarrassment from being called out. He did end up falling in love with his 'boss'. He coughed nervously, and figured might as well confess and fully open up.

"Yeah, well.. she's kind, charming, resilient, and not to mention as smart as she is beautiful. I'd be a complete idiot to not notice how amazing she is. ..She's like a breath of fresh air in this stagnant world." He finished, hitting his smoke to shut himself up and stop rambling.

Preston looked slightly shocked for a moment, before regaining his composure, now grinning. "That was oddly poetic of you.. I didn't expect that.. Sounds like you love her." He stated as a fact, but was waiting for confirmation.