Aim to Please

15 | Unforgettable

The time had finally come; MacCready was so eager as they headed toward Daisy's shop to see if her contact had arrived yet. When they walked in, Daisy talked with another Ghoul: male, armed, and wearing various pieces of armor—a caravan guard.

"Ah, MacCready; I'm surprised you didn't come running in here," Daisy said when she caught sight of them and turned. The man turned with her—he had soft brown eyes.

"I wanted to," he admitted; Aurora chuckled at the image in her head of him running through Goodneighbor with her on a shoulder.

Daisy angled around to see her. "And you would've been dragged along, right, Aurora?"

"Probably."

MacCready shot her a look, but because of her smile, his softened with a smile too.

"Anyway, MacCready, Aurora, this is Mikael," she introduced.

The Ghoul gave MacCready a friendly handshake and nodded in greeting to Aurora. "I think I have something to tell you, right?" he asked with a smile.

"Yes, please," MacCready said quickly.

Mikael's smile widened. "You don't have to worry any longer, MacCready—the cure took; Duncan's cured."

He gave out the biggest sigh of relief she had ever heard; his tense back relaxed like the world had finally been lifted off him. Aurora was so relieved to hear it too; Duncan wasn't her own son, but she felt invested in his well-being. She couldn't save Joshua, but at least she saved MacCready's son.

"That's... that's what I've been longing to hear," MacCready said. "Can I ask you for one more favor?"

"Bring him here?" Mikael beat him to asking his own question; he smiled. "Of course. I thought about bringing him already, but I wasn't sure whether you wanted to go back or stay here."

"I'm staying here; I found something to keep me in one place." He looked over at Aurora; she smiled and ducked her head.

"It won't be a problem; he's a good kid. You raised him right, MacCready. I guess we'll see each other again in five weeks."

"Five weeks then." MacCready thanked him, then turned to head to Aurora. She shared his smile, then he threw his arms around her for a hug. "This is all because of you; thank you." He kissed her on the cheek.

She hugged him back. "It was both of us."

Over his shoulder, she saw Daisy and Mikael looking at them with smiles pulling at their lips.

***

They slowed down in going to look for Clive by preparing MacCready's home for Duncan. The pile of caps they had been stockpiling helped tremendously in purchasing materials and supplies to build. His place wasn't that big to begin with, but they split his bedroom to build a room for Duncan.

Quite a few evenings, they collapsed on the bed and instantly fell asleep. Once they got used to the extraneous labor, they didn't pass out from exhaustion anymore but didn't get much more sleep from exploring the other intimately.

One night, as they lay in bed talking, he confessed the full extent of her hallucinations. Aurora wasn't angry that he had kept it from her, just chuckled that she had known they had been worse than what he told her. She told him he should've just given in instead of fighting her—she obviously wanted him too.

"You have no idea how much I wanted to," he whispered into her ear as he kissed her neck.

"Then you should've."