Fallout 3 - Beautiful Stranger

Chapter 28 Part 2

He had a room to himself. Patience stood by the doorway, leaning on the drip stand, and stared. They hadn't removed the top half the armour and he looked strange, almost as if he was half sat up, but the bunch of pillows beneath his head told her that he wasn't laid like that to relax. Half his face had bandages and dressings covering it, the other half looked battered and broken. Where he should have hands, she only saw stumps, enlarged by the dressings.

"You have five minutes." The Knight Medic put his hand on her shoulder. "You should make your peace now, while he's still conscious."

Patience nodded without looking at the medic. She hesitated longer than she wanted to and then stepped towards the bed, pulling the drip stand with her. He didn't move, at first, the one visible eye shifting in continuous movements, as if reading from a book. By accident, she scraped the drip stand on the floor and the eye stopped flickering and turned towards her. He smiled and grimaced at the same time.

"Hey. If it isn't the Hero of the Mall. I'd get up, but, apparently the armour's the only thing keeping my body together." He grunted and Patience knew he was trying to laugh. "If they take it off, my internal organs'll flop all over the floor and I'd have to clean it up, even if it killed me."

"And you'd clean it up too. Gotta follow those orders." Patience tried to smile, but only tears emerged. She covered her mouth with her hand. "And I heard it was you they call Hero of the Mall. Took out about forty Super-Mutants alone. I have some catching up to do."

"That's a dirty lie! It was never forty." Vincent blinked. Patience knew it was a wink, however. "More like thirty, thirty-five. Tops."

"Vincent. I ... I ..." She wanted to clasp his hand but, because of her, he no longer had one.

"Don't you dare! Don't you fucking dare come in here and start that shit!" Vincent glared at her, trying to turn his head and wincing. "I made my choice and I won't have you take that from me. You didn't do this. I did this! To be honest, you're pep talks are shit anyway. They need work."

Despite how she felt, Patience laughed. She gripped the bed sheets, staring down at her hands, no longer green or huge. The wound from ripping her hand from the knife not even a scar. She had got out of the battle with nothing. No injuries, no damage, only a bald head. And her hair appeared to be growing back at a fast pace.

"Thank you." She wanted to stroke his forehead, to kiss it, but it looked raw and painful. "Without what you did, Valrie and Gia might be dead, or worse. I just want you to know, I'm sorry. I know we butted heads, a lot, but you ... you ..."

"Hey, Patience." Vincent lifted the stump of his arm and placed it on her hand. "Do me a favour? Say goodbye. Not that 'see you later' bullshit people say when they don't want admit someone is dying. I want a proper goodbye. A real one."

"Okay." She continued to stare at the bed sheets.

"Oh, and I want you to have my .45." Patience glanced at a table beside the bed where Vincent's pistol lay, still covered in his and the Super Mutants dried blood. "I know you prefer that pea shooter but, I don't know, maybe you can find a use for it. Now, I'm feeling kinda tired, so, if you could fuck off, that would be great."

"Okay." She picked up Vincent's pistol, testing the weight and the balance. "Goodbye, Vincent. I'm glad to have known you."

"Goodbye, Patience." Again Vincent tried to smile and she smiled back before he raised his remaining eye back upwards. The conversation over.

She turned, not looking back, and headed for the doorway where she found Three Dog leaning against the frame, hands in his pockets. He stepped aside as she left Vincent's room and joined her as she walked back towards the infirmary. They said nothing for a while, but Three Dog broke the silence.