They had found temporary shelter from the super mutants and their laser weapons. Belle was half sprawled on the ground, hissing as she pulled the shrapnel from the various wounds before stitching them closed. Not much was left of her vault suit, she had taken out the suicider before it made it to them but not before he had detonated the mini nuke in his fist. She winced as she poured water over the burn on her thigh. "I'm glad you were behind me, Piper. At least only one of us is busted all to the hell."
"You think you should walk on that leg, Blue?"
Belle glared at it. "I don't have much choice. Sitting here and waiting for them to find us is not how I want to go." She braced to get up, cutting a gasp off between her clenched teeth. "Help me?"
Piper hauled Belle to her feet and winced with her when she immediately fell back against the wall. "You can't walk on that. We might get lucky and the stims will kick in soon."
Belle gaze a soft chuckle. "I regret selling all the medex."
They both heard the crunch of super mutant feet nearby. "Come out, little humans."
Belle's face pinched in concentration and then held up five fingers. Piper checked her gun. She had four bullets left and Belle cursed softly when she found she was out. "Trade me, Blue. Your aim is better."
"And pray one of them has something that's loaded. That's your job. You grab whatever they drop and open fire." They froze when they heard several more join the first group.
Piper shook her head and kissed Belle softly, pushing her into the wall. "Our story was good, Blue." And then she took off out of cover, screaming like a banshee.
Belle's eyes watered as she shoved herself forward. She wanted to scream but it came out a broken whisper. "Piper, no."
She opened fire, grateful she had talked Piper into a decent gun. She picked off two before cursing at her lack of ammo. The mutants had turned to her, ignoring Piper's still body. Belle glanced around her before seeing the broken stop sign. Adrenaline pumping through her veins gave her the strength to wrench it free and she turned on the remaining six mutants. "Come here, little human."
She stood still, waiting for them to come into reach. One reached toward her grinning and she swung the sign into his face. It made contact with a sickening crunch and the mutant fell to the ground. She tossed the sign at the others and grabbed the fallen weapon. The stimpacks finally kicked in but they didn't make her invincible. By the time she dropped the final mutant she was riddled with more burns and her hair had caught fire.
She stumbled towards Piper's still form, only to trip and fall. Cursing, she dragged her beaten body the rest of the way. She rolled Piper over. "You can't be dead. Don't you be dead. I love you too much for you to be dead." Her hands shook as she tried to feel for a pulse.
"Hey, Blue."
"Oh thank god." Belle managed to get herself sat up and dragged Piper into her arms and lap. "I thought you were dead."
"I feel like they sat on me. You smell awful."
Belle choked out a laugh before the tears started streaming down her face. "Don't you ever do that again; you hear me?" She gave her a little shake. "You'll be lucky I don't tell Nat."
Piper reached up to caress her cheek. "I'd do it again, Belle. Nat could take care of herself. I don't want to watch you die."
"And you think I do? Piper Wright, I love you and if you ever think of doing something stupid like that again so help me I will lock you in the armory at the Castle."
Piper smiled up at her. "You love me then."
Belle grumbled. "I've said it twice now."
Piper drug Belle's lips down to hers. "I love you too." Their kiss was short, a promise of more to come.
Belle sat up and dug around their bags for more stimpacks. She injected both of them and they sat and waited for them to work while eyeing the terrain around them. "Wasn't this supposed to be a quick pick up and go and we don't need to carry all that crap kind of trip?"
Piper chuckled. "Yeah."
Belle shook her head. "Not doing that again. Let's go back into Diamond City then. The noodles are calling me."