11 Chapter 11

She usually retired for the night first, exhausted after a day's work. She often felt Vulpes joining her in bed some time later. It was an arrangement she had gotten used to. So she noticed when, one night, he did not go to bed at the usual time.

She tossed and turned on the mattress, unable to sleep because he was not with her. It made her stomach flip with anxiety. She sat up in a panic, deciding to search for him, only to discover that he was already with her in the tent. He sat at his table on the other end, staring into the smoke curls from their brazier.

Her wool dress slipped from her shoulders as she watched him. Then she got out of bed to join him at the table. She placed a gentle hand on his arm. "Can't sleep?" she asked.

Something heavy weighed on his mind, and it became obvious that he would not share it with her. He shook his head to clear it of its current thoughts. "Talk to me, Maria. Tell me about yourself, your family before the Legion."

He probably searched for some sort of distraction, but this did not have his desired effect. She grew inexorably sad. "I have nothing to tell. You know that."

"Your attempted murder?"

"I don't remember anything. I was a courier for the Mojave Express. And then, I was delivering a package. I don't remember details. Just a man in a checkered jacket with a gang of Great Khans. He shot me. In the head. Left me for dead. For a platinum chip."

When she looked at him, Vulpes looked alarmed. His hand suddenly reached for her and knowingly caressed the scar at her temple from the wound. She didn't shrink back from him. His touch was tender but not in the same way Boone's was. Vulpes was practiced, efficient. Knowledgeable in an intangible way. A simple touch should not have been all of those things. She struggled to give it its proper name.

"I see you touching your head frequently," he said. "Does ever it hurt you?"

His words left her breathless. She belatedly realized that his touch was familiar. She nodded. "Sometimes I can feel the heat, the force, like it's happening all over again."

"How did you survive?"

"A securitron happened to be nearby. He dug me out of the grave and brought me to a doctor in Goodsprings who did his best to save me. It's hard for me to discern what part of me is the same and what is new. I hardly remember anything from before. I remember facts, like about computers and medicine. But I don't remember my family or anything else."

He continued looking at her with such alarm and concern, that it began disconcerting her. She worried he might think of her as a freak of nature. Or that other word he used a lot, profligate.

He didn't remove his hand from her head for a while. She closed her eyes and leaned in to his touch. He began cradling her face.

She opened her eyes. "What about you?"

He lowered his hand and offered a smirk. "What about me?"

"Vulpes isn't your real name."

"How can you be so sure?"

"I don't think many parents of the Wastes would name their child 'fox,' or its Latin equivalent."

His smirk widened into a grin. "I am impressed. You are familiar with Latin. There's not much to tell about me. I was a slave in the Legion, but I quickly rose through the ranks because of my strength and skill. And do not worry. Vulpes is my name. Perhaps not the one I was born with, but all the same. We are not able to choose our parents so why must we allow them to choose our name?"

Her eyelids grew heavy, and she reached for his hand. "We have thoroughly discussed our dark pasts. Come to bed now, my fox."

He gave an endearing chuckle as he followed her. "If that is your desire."

"It is," she assured him. She continued holding onto his hand even when they were in bed and she pressed it against her neck. As she drifted off to sleep, she felt him stroking the skin of her throat with his thumb.

---

She dreamed The Dream again.

Far away from the Mojave. Dark, nighttime, hot and thick with humidity. Sweat drenching her clothes and skin.

A soft kiss on her brow, sticky with heat. The whispered promise,

"I'll come back for you at Sunrise. A fox always knows where to go."

Knees aching, crouching and tensed. Waiting anxiously. Looking east for the sun and him.

Hours passed. Night became the gray dawn. Sunrise turned into day. Long shadows disappeared with the high noon sun.

Still crouched, still waiting. Anxiously waiting.

Night once more, along with the heartbreak of a violated promise.

Realizing the lies, she went west where she died and was reborn.

Sunrise. Fox.

---

Before dawn even came, Vulpes was already out of bed and readying himself to leave. This was unusual for him, and she wouldn't had even known if he didn't wake her to bid vale.

She was groggy and half-asleep, but panic began bubbling in her chest. "Where are you going?" she managed in her thick voice.

"Caesar commands."

She didn't need to ask anything else. He would reveal nothing further to her. "When will you be back?"

"We will not be absent for long. Expect my return tomorrow."

"Can't I go with you?" she asked.

He gave a throaty laugh. "It will be no place for a woman, not even one of your spirit."

She would have argued that, but he gently pushed her back to the bed. Her half-asleep state allowed no room for debate.

"You will be safe here, mea Maria," he insisted, kissing her brow. "I'll come back for you at Sunrise. A fox always knows where to go," was the last thing she heard before she drifted to unconsciousness.

The words didn't take shape in her head until she awoke hours later.