Leo sat on the steps that led up to the Lucky38, lost in memories so pleasant and painful that he didn’t know if she should cry or smile. He settled for the latter, staring at his hands, and tried to piece together how long ago this had been. Five months, was his conclusion. Five months since he had fought for Hoover Dam and won. That New Vegas had won. Had fought for survival for a time after that, but had won.

After an uneasy truce with the NCR, he had been able to establish a cautious peace with them and custom on the Strip had slowly increased again. Everything had begun to fall into place.

Leaning back, Leo let his eyes wander across the Strip, watching the whores in front of the Gomorrah, the securitrons guarding the place and the drunks and stragglers milling between them. And a single man entering through the gate who seemed neither drunk nor straggling, wearing heavily used, dusty boots, jeans and a simple, chequered shirt, a duffle bag slung across one shoulder.

He seemed somewhat familiar and Leo slowly got up, dusted his backside off and took a few steps towards the stranger only to stop dead in his tracks when the man turned to face him. A huge grin spread on his face, covered in untidy stubble, and he dropped the bag and broke out into a run.

“Leo!”
Leo stood frozen to the spot, shaking his head in mute disbelief.
“Leo...” Knight came to halt before him and the grin on his face slowly died. “Leo... it’s me... Will. Remember?”
“You came back?”, Leo finally managed to choke out, fighting his tears.
Knight, however, seemed to misinterpret his expression and faltered, the happiness in his eyes replaced with a wary kind of disappointment. “I... yeah... I resigned.”
Leo blinked. “You what?”
“I resigned”, Knight repeated. “I... I was fed up with it all, the being ordered around and the... the hushing up. Know what I did? I went to my mom after I was home, had her sit down with me at the kitchen table and told her.”
Leo blinked and felt a tiny smile creep onto his face. “And?”
Knight shrugged, an embarrassed grin appearing on his face. “She said: ‘Oh boy, why didn’t you tell me before? You could’ve saved us all a lot of trouble.’ Then she fed me some apple pie she had just made and told me not to worry about my dad and she’d work him round, but... you know. I thought I’d tell him myself. And you know what?” Here he chuckled and shook his head. “All he said was: ‘Yeah, well, good thing we’ve got grand kids already.’ Just like that...”
Leo couldn’t help but grin, but Knight’s grin softened into a smile.
“And you know... Leo, I...” Knight rubbed the back of his neck with his left hand. “I couldn’t... I mean... the way you came running for that chopper... I...”
Leo avoided his eyes and shrugged. “I don’t know what...”
“Hey.”
Leo looked up again to find Knight stare at him.
“Leo.”
“Hm?”
Knight took a step forward. “I... Leo... oh fuck it.” He took a deep breath. “I came as fast as I could, Leo. Do you want me back?”
Leo blinked as if he’d been slapped. “Are you serious?”, he rasped, his voice suddenly hoarse.
“If I wasn’t, would I have trekked hundreds of miles through the desert to catch up with you?”

They stared at each other for a moment longer before both of them moved simultaneously, throwing their arms around each other and slapping each other’s back. After a few moments Knight leaned back to look at Leo again, realising that his own cheeks were as wet as Leo’s. “God almighty, I’ve missed you, Leo.”
Leo wiped a hand across his face and smiled, a huge grin of disbelief mixed with joy. “I missed you too, Will. Missed you like hell.”
Knight felt his heart race as if it meant to break free of his ribcage, but unable to stop smiling he slung an arm around Leo’s neck and pulled him close.
When their lips met, a few people around them began to cheer and clap. Ignoring them, the two men deepened their kiss, forgetting everything around them as their tongues toyed with each other, each of them aware only of the body close to him.

The voice from a passing securitron chirped up like a sound from another world.
“Move along please.”