Dogmeat ran towards the South. Marian wanted to run after him, but she found her legs were too sore to do much more than walk. She considered telling Nick and letting him know, but the idea of him teasing her for being so weak was enough to make her keep her mouth shut. It didn’t matter, it was her fault for being sore, she needed to pay the price to learn better.

She tried running to keep up with Nick and Dogmeat, but she still found herself falling behind very quickly. Every step was agony, and the faster she tried to achieve the next step, the more pain she would find herself in. Dogmeat was out of view, and Nick was disappearing fast. If she lost Nick, she would be lost. She wouldn’t be able to find him, she didn’t know where Dogmeat was going.

She tried to put on another burst of speed, but instead of going faster, she found herself fighting her own weak, sore legs. A cry of frustration escaped her as she tried moving faster.

Nick must have heard her, because he turned around and returned to her. “I’m sorry, Doll,” he said as he placed a hand under her elbow. “I forgot to think about how you would feel today after all of your running yesterday.”

“I’m just slowing you down,” she told him. “Why not just leave me and I’ll make my way back to my friends? They’ll be happy knowing someone competent is doing the job.”

“How are you going to pay for my work?” Nick asked.

Marian was silent. She had no caps. She had no way to pay him back. The idea of being in debt to someone else was enough to make her want to give up. Maybe not leave with a debt, at least, not physically leave. All debts expire when the debtor does.

“Marian, Doll, it’s okay,” Nick called her back to herself. He moved an arm behind her and kept her moving in Dogmeat’s direction. “Dogmeat doesn’t have to run from place to place, he just likes to. If he gets too far, he’ll wait for us.”

“What about Lisi? We have to find her as fast as we can,” Marian pointed out.

“You’re not going to do your friend any good if you don’t survive the search for her yourself.”

“I’ll do better for her if I’d stop slowing you down. I can…I can,” Marian tried thinking of how she could pay off her debt to Nick, all she could think of was working for him. Bogging him down with other cases, not just this one. Causing strangers to die, not just her friend. The idea was not any more satisfactory for her. “I don’t know, I’ll find a way to pay you. Maybe we can go back to me just bringing people to you, you won’t have to feed me.”

Nick squeezed her shoulder before turning his attention back out to the wasteland. “I like our arrangement,” he insisted. “I figure you can help me out with this case and some other cases as payment for finding your friend. And before you argue, you are not slowing me down. You have helped out a lot in the cases we’ve done together so far.”

“All one of them,” Marian pointed out.

Nick was silent for a moment. He looked like he was about to speak, when they heard a playful bark. Nick took off to see what Dogmeat had found, Marian grabbed a hub flower and chewed on it as she continued moving at her slow pace. They came to what Marian guessed was a public restroom before the Sino-American War. Just as she was catching up to Nick and Dogmeat, she heard a buzzing. She instinctively raised Faenus, moved her body so she was battle ready, and watched the door to the restroom. “Don’t go in,” she quietly ordered Nick.

Luckily, the synth didn’t bother arguing. He gently pulled Dogmeat to the side as Marian looked down Faenus’ sights waiting for the buzzing to get louder. Soon a bloodbug hovered out of the door. Marian felt the calmness that rushed over her whenever she fired Faenus. She gently pulled the trigger and watched the bloodbug fly backward in a downward arc. She waited two more seconds before lowering Faenus.

“And you were just saying you were dead weight,” Nick pointed out.

Marian turned to the detective who was trying to convince her not to leave him for some reason. “It was only one,” she said. “There are often several in places like this. Let me go in first.”

She didn’t wait for Nick to respond. She walked into the bathroom, ready to fire Faenus in a heartbeat. She inspected the stall door for any bombs. The soreness in her legs made kicking the door harder than it should be. Luckily there were no surprises behind it. Luckily Nick wasn’t there to see her stumble backward.

“Clear!” she called.

Nick and Dogmeat entered to room. Dogmeat started smelling around. Marian started looking around trying to figure out what the dog was smelling for.

“She’s not here,” Marian announced. She didn’t want to sound petulant, but she felt the need to voice that thought.

“It’s okay,” Nick told her. It sounded like he was trying to reassure her. “Dogmeat sometimes looses the scent he’s looking for. Just give him a moment and he’ll find it again.”

Marian looked around. There were no coffee cups, that that could mean anything. “Do you think she was here?” Marian asked out loud. “I don’t see any coffee cups.”

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“I don’t know,” Nick admitted. “Coffee cups weren’t something that was often brought into a bathroom before the war. Finding them would mean more than not finding them. If there were cups, it would mean she wasn’t here.”

“But not finding them, just means there are no coffee cups in the room,” Marian finished the thought for Nick. She didn’t look at him through the whole conversation. She just looked around.

Nick didn’t answer, but Marian knew she was right. As Dogmeat walked in a circle with his nose to the ground, Marian remembered what was right between the two doors to the building. She slipped out to find the cigarette machine laying on its back. She opened it up and found more than she was hoping for. Dogmeat barked and ran out of the building, Nick followed closely behind him.

Nick stopped when he saw Marian looking at him as he exited the building. “Everything alright, Doll?” he asked her.

“Found what I was looking for,” she announced. She walked up to him. She always felt overpowered when she stood too close to him. She never feared him, which sometimes made things worse. Why did he have to be so nice? Why couldn’t he just yell at her and tell her to go away? Then she would be able to understand him. “Here,” she said as she put a cigarette pack into his hands. “Now you won’t have to wait until you get home to smoke again.”

She placed the other pack in his inside jacket pocket. As soon as she did so, she regretted it. Maybe he wouldn’t appreciate her doing something so familiar. Maybe he would just want their relationship to be professional. It was best if they stayed professional.

Nick just looked down at the pack in his hand. He stood there, staring at it. Dogmeat barked, but Nick didn’t seem to hear him.

“What’s wrong?” Marian asked. “Oh shit, it’s not your brand, is it? I’m sorry Nick, I just, I…”

“No, it’s okay,” Nick insisted as he pocketed the second pack. “Any port in a storm. I just…I thought you didn’t like it when I smoke.”

“This isn’t about me,” Marian told him. “It’s about Lisi. I’ll deal with it. I just thought that smoking was your comfort, and I want you to be comfortable.”

Nick looked at her for a moment, he seemed to smirk at her. Marian realized what she said, and blushed. She couldn’t take it back, she just had to deal with it.

“You’re looking for Lisi, and she matters to me. I don’t care if that means you’re going to blow smoke in my face, I’ll deal with it. It’s better than…” Marian looked at the machine, not ready to accept the other possibility. “Lisi may have been my first real friend, ever. The idea of her dying, especially since she came here on my idea, it’s too much. I don’t want to lose a friend.”

Instead of saying anything, Marian felt Nick’s arms wrap around her and pull her against his trench coat. She couldn’t help but relax in his embrace. She laid her head against the fabric; she’ll hold out on scratching as long as she could. She didn’t realize how much she was hurting. She was so used to preparing for her own death, the idea of other people dying scared her more than anything.

She felt Nick’s hand stroke her head. She kept her hair short so it wouldn’t get in the way. Shaving it was easiest since she never knew when her next haircut would be. Having Nick rub her head made her feel self-conscious in a way she wasn’t used to. She wondered if he would enjoy playing with hair more than what he was doing. Maybe next time she had the caps, she could get another style.

“I’m not going to lie to you, Sweetheart,” Nick said. “I won’t say she’s okay, and that everything will be fine. I respect you more than that. But I promise you I will do everything I can to make sure your friend is alright.”

“Why don’t you hate me?” Marian asked. She felt so safe in those arms, an alien sensation to her. Safety normally meant she wasn’t paying attention to death. Safety scared her. Nick Valentine’s gentleness scared her.

“You don’t need that right now,” he told her. “How about this,” he pulled away slightly, cupping her chin so she had to make eye contact with him. She shifted away herself, so they were looking straight at each other. His left arm was still around her, his right hand placed against her cheek; she was still so close to him all she wanted to do was kiss him again, but she restrained herself. “After we are done with this case, you become my partner.” Marian opened her mouth to respond, but Nick kept talking. “Not forever, just for a few cases. Say, one case for every day we look for your friend. You have until you work off your debt to convince me to hate you again.”

Marian thought about what he said. She saw so many problems with the deal, most of them were that she would be near him more. More chances to hear his voice. More times when he would touch her arm or her back. More restraint she would have to maintain to not kiss him again.

Then the logistics of staying in Diamond City hit her. She would need to take time to hunt every day in order to eat. She could probably convince Yafim to wait for another payment, especially since she understood her debt was to keep her in The Commonwealth, not to have her pay anyone back. What would she do between cases?

Dogmeat barked impatiently, bringing Marian back to reality. Nick was looking at her with so much expectation, it almost hurt to give him any answer. “I need to eat,” she finally said. “If I do help you, I will still need to go hunting every day to get food.”

“I will pay for three meals a day, and you can stay in my house,” Nick insisted. “I had a friend who is a proud Mister Handy clean my place recently, so you shouldn’t have to worry about your allergies.”

Marian was scratching her cheek right where it was pressed against him. “I will be alright with my own living arrangements,” she insisted. She wasn’t going to impose on him to the point of stealing his bed. “But if I convince you to kick me out of your house again, then the debt is cancelled.”

“Sweetheart,” Nick said leaning his face close to hers. Marian feared and wished he was going to kiss her. “You drive a hard bargain. I accept your deal. As of right now, you have two cases after this one to convince me to kick you out of my house. Now, let’s catch up to Dogmeat before it becomes three cases with us talking.”

Nick walked towards Dogmeat. His expediency was probably to show her that he wasn’t going to waste time to have her with him for more cases than necessary. She was surprised he didn’t try to ask for more from her. He had all the bargaining power. Instead, he just asked for her to provide help he didn’t need. She wondered if he would be upset if she continued escorting people between cases. Then again, she would be able to make sure he did do diagnostic checks between cases. Those details would sort themselves out.

Marian followed the detective. She took a hubflower and chewed on it as they moved farther south. She was not doing a good job at being a bodyguard with her sore legs, but something told her Nick Valentine didn’t mind.