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i have died every day waiting for you

Summary:

Cooper's eyes always latched on to any hint of blue and gold. Year after year, vault suit after vault suit, his heart refused to let go of the hope that one day, it would be one of his girls. But year after year, suit after suit, it was never them.

Until the day it was Lucy.
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The Cooper and Lucy Have a Baby as a Result of Their Pre-Bombs Relationship AU

Notes:

All the possible thanks to @Silver_and_gold_crow for being my sounding board and beta reader for this fic. It wouldn't be half of what it is without her support. (Also gonna highly recommend her fic cuz it's fantastic.) Another big shout to my Discord friend Kay for all the fan-mix chaos we raised.

I'm a sucker for a pregnancy trope, and I NEEDED Cooper and Lucy to have a baby, and there are soooo many good pre-war relationship AU's out there. But I needed to explore how it plays out within the realm of the show. And that's how this fic was born. It's probably going to be a small series because I keep finding for plot bunnies and @Silver_and_gold_crow keeps refusing to tell me no.

Enjoy lovelies!

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:

Cooper's eyes always latched on to any hint of blue and gold. Year after year, vault suit after vault suit, his heart refused to let go of the hope that one day, it would be one of his girls. But year after year, suit after suit, it was never them. 

Until the day it was Lucy.

Cooper had thought it was a miracle when she'd walked down them steps into the heart of Filly. Couldn't believe it when she'd recognized him even looking like he did. 

The moment he called out Wilzig’s name, Lucy's whole body tensed. She clenched her fists before she turned around to look at him. It was like staring into a mirror of wishful thinking, the kind of wish you dreamed of against reason, against all logic. But when she looked at him, really looked, her eyes filled with tears, and she launched herself into his arms right there in the middle of the damn street. 

“Tell me I'm not dreaming. Tell me it's really you,” she begged in a whisper as she clung to him. He hugged her close.

“Yeah, it's me, sweetheart. Been waiting a long time to find you.”

“You have to tell me everything,” she demanded. She pulled back enough to stare him in the eyes, placing a hand on either side of his face before pressing their foreheads together. 

That was when the old bat he could only assume was the Ma June of Ma June's Supplies spat at them and said, “How sweet, the Vault Dweller and the Ghoul. Now ya can both get lost and get outta this town together.”

“Hold it right there,” he shouted, drawing his pistol to focus it on the good doctor. He stepped around Lucy's body to stand her behind him. “Had a bounty come through last night, all six agencies, for an Enclave defector matching your description.” 

“Cooper!” She hissed at his back. When he ignored her, she tugged on his duster. “Hey you, mister! I don't know what this is all about, but can we put the guns away?”

“Sorry, darlin, but this here’s work.”

“Oh jiminy crickets.” She grumbled, and before he could catch her, she darted out around him and planted herself in front of his target, arms folded across her chest. 

“There, now you have to get through me first. Are you willing to put your gun away so we can talk about this yet?”

“Fucking Vaultie,” the old hag cursed again. Cooper was tempted to put a bullet through her just out of spite. 

The good doctor turned and whispered something to the shopkeeper. She threw her hands up in the air before turning to walk back inside. “Let's go then, all three of you.” 

Lucy and the doctor followed her in. Cooper stared at their retreating forms for a moment before muttering an ah hell under his breath and reholstering his pistol. 

“Are you coming?” Lucy called out from the shop. 

“Yeah, yeah. Hold your horses, woman,” he grumbled as he slowly meandered over. 

“Close the damn door,” Ma June snapped the moment he hit the threshold. “Now how much they put on them bounties?”

“I reckon more than you're willing to pay,” he said sardonically. Lucy sent him the world’s most disappointed puppy dog eyes. “But I suppose I'm willing to listen if you've got an offer.”

She beamed at him. 

“I've been given a large number of caps to get this man out of Filly to my client. I'll give you a share if you'll both escort him to her.”

“Oh, that's sweet of you to include me,” Lucy said with a grimace, “but I really need to find my dad.” She turned to look at Cooper directly. “He was taken by this raider named Moldaver that broke into our vault and killed a bunch of people.”

Cooper's eyebrows rose sky high as he filed the information away.

“My client is Lee Moldaver.” 

Or not for later. Fuckin horse shit. He rubbed his forehead.

“Oh, uhm, wow. That's… convenient?”

“1500 caps,” he opened with. 

“800, and a week's worth of supplies.” 

“1200, a week of supplies, and all the elixir I see stashed in your back room there.”

“Damn it, Barv,” the hag said under her breath. “Always moving shit around. 1000 caps, the vials, and 2 weeks supplies.”

“It'll have to do,” he said. There was a loud clanking sound outside, and when he looked out the window, there was a suit of T-60 power armor done up with the Brotherhood of Steel insignia. “Get it loaded up. We got company.”

“What's wrong?” Lucy placed her hand on his arm as she joined him at the window.

“Like I said before, the bounty went out through all six agencies. Everyone looking for a paycheck is gonna be huntin’ for the good doctor over there. And the Brotherhood a’ tin can idiots just sent their delegate to the party.”

“Awww shit.” Ma June began throwing items into a backpack. “You'll have to go out the back.”

“Too late,” Cooper drawled. He pulled out his pistol and checked the ammunition. “Everyone already saw our boy walk in. I'll buy us some time, but you'll have to get goin’ without me,” darlin.”

“No! Absolutely not. I just found you, and I'm not leaving without you. Just forget it!” She sure looked cute, all puffed up and hollerin’ like a wild cat. He just wanted to drink her in, to take a minute and compare every inch of her body and every word from her mouth to his memory of her. 

Two hundred years since he'd seen her. Since he'd held her. Since she'd smiled at him. God how he'd missed this woman.

He grabbed her arm to pull her close. “I’ll find you. Cross my heart, scouts honor, and all that.”

“You were never a boy scout!”

His lips twitched. He hadn't known she knew that. 

Wilzig interrupted them then to offer up the tracking skills of his dog. He wasn't sure who was more pissed off about it- Lucy or the damn dog- but they both came to see reason. Ma June shoved the now filled bag in Lucy's arms and pushed them towards the back door. 

“Best be gettin on your way, Vault Dweller. You too, Wilzig. Try not to die?” Then she slammed the door in their face without so much as a how do ya do. 

Cooper smirked before walking out the front to do what he did best. 

Lucy and the doctor made good speed, Cooper thought. It only took Cooper about five or so minutes to dispatch the pathetic excuse of a soldier the Brotherhood was passing off as a knight. Then it was another ten minutes while the old bat threw more random shit in a bag and drew a map that Cooper was unlikely to ever look at. 

Then when he tried to insist that he was perfectly equal to the task of digging the bullets outta his back out later, she promptly forced his ass into the chair with the promise of another hundred caps and some extra stims. She seemed to think he was incapable of keeping her cattle alive unless he was in tip top shape. 

So after everything was all said and done, it was dusk before Cooper and the mutt caught up to their companions at the edge of the woods a few hours outside Filly. The dog ran ahead to announce their presence and check on her daddy. He meandered a ways behind so he could watch her reaction as he came into the small camp. 

She didn’t disappoint him, immediately jumping to her feet and searching the tree line for him. Her pearly whites coulda outshone the sun as bright and wide as she smiled at him. He couldn’t hear her, but he saw his name on her lips as she launched herself forward to close the distance. He opened his arms wide, and she accepted the invitation to jump up, latching her legs around his hips. He held her up for a good long minute, just enjoying the feel of her in his arms once more. 

“Yall eat yet, sweetheart?” 

“No,” she mumbled into his shoulder. “Was waiting for you.”

“Then we should probably go back to that cozy lookin’ fire over yonder, and get some beans to warmin’ up. What ya say, darlin?”

“Okey dokey,” she agreed but stayed firmly in place. 

“You’re gonna have to get down then.” She shook her head. He glanced at Wilzig quickly. The man had wisely decided to move so his back was facing them. He swatted her ass. “Move it on out. We got some extra brahmin steaks from that crazy hag in Filly for our troubles.”

She sent him a dirty look but finally complied, settling her feet back on the ground. He admired the extra sway she added to her hips as she walked away from him. How did the old saying go? Hate to see you go; love to watch you leave? He might have to ask her to go grab something out of his bag later, just to watch her leave again. 

After a civil hour of eating and small talk, Wilzig made some rather obvious commentary about catching some sleep after the busyness of the day. Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Cooper gladly took his cue to pull Lucy a little ways away for some privacy. The dog could keep watch over her daddy for an hour.

They settled down side by side on a fallen tree trunk that was out of sight but still within shouting distance. He tucked her into his shoulder and buried what was left of his nose into her hair. Not for the first time, he cursed his almost dead sense of smell. Before the bombs, she’d used a variety of floral scents in her shampoo. He craved that smell, curiosity raging to know if it was the same. 

“I can’t believe you’re here,” she whispered into the night. “When I heard your voice this afternoon, I thought my brain was playing tricks on me. That I was just imagining what I wanted to hear.”

“I missed you too, darlin.” He was rewarded with a kiss to his neck.

“I wanted to come find you. From the minute they woke Dad, Norm, and me up from cryo. But when I worked up the nerve to finally ask Dad what vault you were in, he told me that you weren't. In a vault, that is. That,” she choked up on the words. “That you would have died shortly after the bombs if you had survived that day at all.

“Those were some of the darkest days of my life. I cried myself to sleep for weeks. I just wanted you next to me. And you weren't there.”

He squeezed her a little tighter, curled his hand around to settle on her stomach- it was even softer than he remembered- and she wrapped her arms around his chest. Her small frame shook with the sobs she was trying desperately to make stop. He could hear the deep breaths she forced herself to take, heard the stutters as she almost hyperventilated. 

“I'm sorry. My hormones… have been completely… all over the board since I left. And my chest is so sore. Actually, I should,” she exhaled deeply and pushed gently on his shoulders so he'd back up. “I should probably, ummm, well… there's actually something I need to tell you. Now that we have a minute. It’s… do you remember I called you that morning? Before you left with… er… before you left for your birthday party job?”

His heart skipped a beat over the almost mention of his daughter. But he had more than a few years practice pushing it down. And good god, he’d almost forgotten how she liked to worry that bottom lip when she was nervous. So damn cute. And the little tears pooling in her eyes. His girl was pretty as a picture. 

“What's wrong, baby doll?” 

She hiccuped on a short laugh. “Well you remember how birth control is, er was, supposed to be like ninety-nine percent effective?”

“Yeah…”

“Turns out mine wasn't?”

The world froze. He had thought her chest had looked a little bigger, and just now he'd realized her stomach was a little softer. He brought his hand to hover over the zipper of her vault suit. He needed to see it for himself. 

She used her hand to cover his and pull the toggle down. They revealed a white tank top bearing two distinct wet patches. His mouth had never felt so dry. He felt like a mad man as he scrambled to push all her layers- too god damn many of the fuckers- down to her hips. 

She giggled awkwardly as he stared. He pinned her hands down when she tried to cover her nipples.

“I named him Cooper. After his daddy. That’s you . Which I’m sure you figured out. But yeah, Cooper James. You told me once that if Janey had been a boy you wanted to-”

“Name her after my dad, yeah.” The words barely came out of his mouth. He couldn't move, couldn't breathe, couldn't think. He'd dreamed of finding her for two centuries, and now that she was here, he had no idea what to do. He felt frozen in place.

“Excuse me for a minute? I need to go express my breast milk. I can't imagine getting a blocked duct up here. And I still want to breastfeed him a little longer once I go… back to the vault sooooo…. Excuse me.”

She practically ran from him. And he could only sit there and watch her go. 

He had a son. With Lucy. A son he had never met, never even known he was a possibility. He didn’t know how old he was, what calmed him down when he cried. Was he on solid foods at all yet? She was still breastfeeding so he couldn’t be too old. Had he crawled? Said his first words? So many questions, so many things to learn.

But first he had to keep them safe. So he could have time to learn them, to love them. A vision of Lucy rocking their boy to sleep as she sang to him filled his brain. She’d be fucking gorgeous as a mama. 

He kicked himself in the ass and chased after her. Once he’d known every inch of her body. He couldn’t wait to learn it again. She never needed to hide anything from him. He couldn’t bare the thought that she thought she needed to hide herself for this. 

“Stupid freaking hormones.” He could hear her muttering as he approached. “Get in the way of everything. And you!” She looked down at her chest. “I just emptied you out a couple hours ago. Couldn’t you have given me a little more time?” She sniffled, wiped away the tears as her other hand continued to massage and pull at her engorged breast, her milk spurting out onto sandy soil.

He swallowed back the sudden flood of saliva in his mouth. “Need any help?”

She jumped. “Cooper! You scared me half to death.”

“Sorry, darlin. Can’t say I want to let you outta my sight right now.”  

She smiled at him. So fuckin beautiful.

“I didn’t know if you’d want to see this. It’s not exactly pretty.”

Oh, he begged to differ. “You’re gorgeous, sweetheart. Anyone that ever says different ain’t gonna be saying it again.” 

She scoffed. “You should have seen me five months ago. I was bloated up like a whale by the end. I was surprised I could fit through the doors. And my shoes barely fit. Some days I couldn’t zip them closed because of my swollen ankles. I had to get all new bras too. And my nipples look like someone took sandpaper to them.” 

He leaned in to caress her cheek, tipped up her chin to make her look him in the eye. Both of her hands fluttered to his ribs as her focus fell entirely on him staring back at her. 

Gorgeous . Every single bit of you.” He kissed her forehead. “Radiant.” A kiss to her temple. “Stunning.” He slid his fingers into her hair and gently tugged her head back. “A fucking miracle I don’t know what I did to deserve.”

“Cooper, honey,” her voice shook.

“Besides, I don’t know what man ever complained about his woman’s chest getting a little more endowed,” he smirked down at her. Made sure she could see the humor and the affection that belonged to her and no one else. Well, aside from their children. ( And fuck that was a plural now. He had child ren . )

She shook her head at him and buried her face into his chest. “My nipples still look like they went through the meat grinder.” She paused and squinted her eyes at him. “Your son cut his first tooth last week. It’s been a learning curve.”

And what could he do but kiss her? He was mad for this crazy, beautiful woman who had given him a son. He wanted to devour her, spread her open with his teeth and tongue. Cooper Howard had never been much of a religious man, but he would worship at her altar for the rest of his days. 

She moaned into his mouth, and he pulled her tight to his chest. He spared a glance to enjoy the exquisite sight of her breasts pushed high against him. There were a few new stretch marks around their edges, and he promised himself to spend a good amount of time exploring every one of them with his lips. 

He leaned down a smidge to curl an arm under her ass and hike her up around his waist. She eagerly jumped to assist him, and curled those strong legs around his torso once more. He pushed her back into the closest tree trunk, and sucked the skin of her neck between his teeth.

“Cooper, I need you.” She breathed into night air, one arm pushing desperately to rid him of his duster. It wasn’t much of a blanket, but it would have to do.  

“Anything you want, baby girl. You just say the words.” 

“I need your cock inside me. Right now. I’ve missed you so much.” 

He sank to his knees to lay her down as gently as he could. Her legs refused to let go of their vice grip even as he tried to uncurl them. 

“Let go for just a second, baby, I need to get this suit off ya.” 

She whined at the cool night air on her skin, but he needed this moment to just soak in the beauty of her. Her long, pale legs. The pale, dusky pink lips crowned in dark curls.
There was a subtle dome of softness at the bottom of her abdomen with its own halo of shining stretch marks, a testament to the hard work she had done, to the life they created. 

He shed his gloves to trace the glossy lines which drew him in like homing beacons in the starlight. His toughened and marred skin contrasted starkly with her milky whiteness, a reminder of everything he’d- they’d been through to have this moment. 

She propped herself up on her elbows to stare at him, but he noticed she didn’t meet his eyes. 

“Um, if you want to stop it’s okay. I can imagine it's not like you remember. A lot of guys aren’t interested after-”

He covered her mouth with his hand. “Lucy, angel- don’t you dare ever imply I can think of you as anything other than beautiful again. I thought we went over this.”

Her cheeks turned red. “But that was before you saw everything. And you were just staring at me like…”

“Like a man who can’t believe the picture in front of him? Like a sinner at the altar of his goddess? Or like a lucky bastard who has waited two hundred years to hold his girl in his arms again? Take your pick, baby girl. But they all mean you’re the prettiest fucking thing I ever laid eyes on.”

“Even though…”

He shushed her and laid his hand over her mouth again. 

“Especially so. I’m only sorry that I wasn’t there to see you round and glowing, to tell you every day how pretty you looked with our baby in your belly. I hate that I missed it.”

“There are some pictures in the Vault?” she offered shyly. 

“Then I’m a lucky son of a bitch all over again. I can’t wait to see them.” He hadn’t been around to allay her fears as her body changed, but he’d do what he could to bury them now. 

“Hey, Cooper?”

“Yes, Lucy?”

“Can you go back to kissing me? I’m cold.” 

He chuckled as he leaned down again, pushed her back onto the leather. “Sure thing, baby girl. Sure thing.” 

Their kiss was gentler this time, but he packed as much love and worship into it as he could. He wrapped her brown tresses around his fingers to hold her in place as he caressed the skin of her hip. Her trembling fingers found their way to his bandolier buckle, his vest, his shirt, slowly working each layer free until his torso was as exposed as hers. 

“So many buttons,” she giggled. As some of the grime wiped off the shirt, she scrunched her nose and stared intently at it. Then she burst out into a full blown laughing fit. He raised his eyebrows knowing full well the shit she was about to give him. 

“And just what’s so funny, little miss?” He laid the drawl on thick. Her belly jiggled delightfully against his abs. 

She licked a thumb and rubbed it across suddenly gold-once-more threads. “You… you…” She was apparently having a hard time getting the words out around her glee. She snorted and rushed to cover her lips. It failed to contain another round of boisterous laughter. “You’ve been dressed up as Sheriff Walker for two hundred years. I gathered you’d turned into something of a bounty hunter, but you made it your whole persona.” 

She dropped her voice into a bad imitation of his movie star voice. “‘Listen here raider, I’m the sheriff in these here parts, and I want you out of my town by sundown.’ ‘Drop the gun, and maybe I let you walk out of this bar alive.’” 

“Yeah, yeah, hot stuff. Everybody’s a critic. Get it outta your system.” 

“Aww snap, my stomach hurts. I haven’t laughed that hard in forever.” 

“That ain’t the only thing you haven’t had hard in forever.” 

She shrieked and playfully smacked his chest. “That was bad, Cooper Howard! A bad, bad joke! It’s not even funny.” But the peal of uncontrollable giggles continued, completely undercutting her words. He wiped the hair attacking her lips off her face with a smile. Two hundred years later, and he still had it.

“Whatever you have to tell yourself, baby girl. You know you like it.” He tenderly palmed her throat and applied a hint of pressure he knew she liked to bring her back to focus. It worked beautifully too. His girl practically snapped to attention under him, just waiting to be told what to do. Her throat wobbled under his grip as she gasped in anticipation, and those oh so pretty, dusky pink nipples pebbled right up.  

“Should hog tie these arms back and put you on your knees for all that sass. I’d have to hold you up, maybe by your hair, maybe with an arm wrapped around your chest and the other one stays right here.” He emphasized the point with another small squeeze over her neck. Her pupils dilated, almost eclipsing the inner brown of her irises completely, barely leaving behind a trace of the green at the edges. 

“Sir?”

“I thought it was Sheriff Walker?” She shook her head. “You gonna be a good girl, baby doll?” She tried to nod, but he flexed his grip on her throat, cocked his head. Tutted down at her. “Use your words.”

“Yes, Sir. I’ll be good, Sir.”

“Atta girl.” His eyes raked down over her naked body spread over his coat. Fucking hell, how he wished he had a camera. “You look so fuckin pretty laid out like that. Like a dessert buffet that’s all for me.” 

She flushed red from her cheeks to her chest. Tiny drops of milk swelled up at each swollen teat. Dessert buffet indeed. But that was a boundary they’d never come up against before. He needed to know which side of the fence she stood on. 

“Hey, sugar,” he said gently, dropped the commanding tone so she knew he was just her Cooper at the moment. He needed Lucy’s honest answer, not the one she thought he’d want to hear in the moment. “You’re ah… leaking out again. You wanna pause while you do what you gotta do? I know I kinda interrupted ya earlier.”

She smiled softly and reached out her hand to him. It was an invitation he was too weak to resist. She pressed their mouths together and ran her hand over the back of his skull. He’d always loved when she played with his hair, but this was a pretty good substitute. “Help me out?” she purred and pushed his shoulder lower. His pants tightened to an uncomfortable degree, but that was a problem for later. Right now, he needed to take care of his girl. 

“Your wish, my command, angel.” He closed his eyes as he gingerly cupped her heavier-than-usual tits. He licked the accumulated drops free of each peak before settling in to work on the left one. The milk flowed easy, coating his tongue in sweetness. Never before was he so bitter about his deadened taste buds. He wanted to savor all the little individual notes of ambrosia, but he was grateful that the sweet profile came through so damn well. 

He tried to be gentle, didn’t want to put too much pressure when she’d already told him her nipples were in rougher shape than usual. But she moaned so prettily and squeezed the back of his head, forced it further down onto herself. Her legs came up to twine with his as she angled her hips to seek out some friction. 

She scrambled for his pants, fumbled with his belt. He tried arching his back to give her better access, but she still struggled to make it past the buckle. He gazed forlornly at her tits as he sat up to fix the problem for her. 

“Off!” she demanded, pushed the fabric as close to his knees as she could. 

“Easy there, tiger. I’ll make sure you get what you need.”

She glared cheekily up at him. “Do you realize how horny I was while I was pregnant, Cooper Howard? Horny and alone. I was taking Dad’s holotape stash of you to watch in my own unit while I had to work myself off with my fingers and a freaking blue and yellow dildo that I got courtesy of a vault doctor.”

He grimaced. “Sounds exhausting,” he cajoled her. She narrowed her eyes at him.

“It was. So don’t you dare tell me to slow down or take it easy. I want your cock. In me. Pronto, Mr. Cowboy.” 

The moment the offending garment cleared his ankles, she had her legs rewrapped around him like a vice. He had to shift her thighs higher up on his hips so he had enough room to line himself up. He stroked himself once, gathered up the gathering pre-spend to lube the head of his cock.  

He’d planned on starting slow, was only going to press in with the tip until he could better evaluate her reaction. But she dug her heel into his back and curled herself up into him.

He groaned as she took what she wanted. Her body offered no resistance as he let her bury his cock right down to the base, her ass nestled tight to his groin. She was so fucking wet and warm, like velvet encasing him tip to root. 

He knew he was damned to hell, but fuck if she didn’t feel like heaven. 

After two hundred years of nothing but his own hand, he had to center himself. If he moved now, he was gonna come like a teenager who’d never gotten his wick wet. But Lucy had clearly decided on torturing him the way she started rocking her hips, little circles of bliss as she tried to gain friction on her clit.  

He let out a gust of air as he pinned her hips to the ground. “Slow down, baby, or this rodeo is gonna be over before it has a chance to get started.”

“Cooper,” she keened, “I need you to fuck me. I don’t want soft or slow or gentle. After everything we’ve been through, I need to feel you. Please, honey.” She widened her doe eyes at him, battered her lashes and pouted her lips. She clearly hadn’t forgotten how to bend him completely to her will.

He put his thumb to her lips, and she obediently took it in her mouth. She swirled her tongue around it, hollowed out her cheeks as she sucked down. He sighed in appreciation of his little minx’s efforts. 

“Good girl,” he praised her, dropping his voice back down into that bossy tone he knew she loved. Her eyes closed as she hummed over the digit. He almost-regretfully slipped his thumb from her mouth. A trail of spit connected the tip of it to her lips, and he watched it entranced until it finally snapped. 

But the sacrifice was for a good cause. He parted her folds just a little farther until he found her clit. She moaned as he worked it, rubbed down in small, deep circles. She flexed her cunt around his cock, and he hissed in pleasure. 

“Such a sweet pussy, baby girl. You don’t know what it does to me.”

He used his knuckles to pinch her clit as he started a slow thrust. Her pussy locked down hard around his cock, enhancing the drag, the push and pull, as he picked up speed.

“Cooper,” she gasped. They’d barely gotten started, but she was already so far gone. It wouldn’t take much to send her over the edge. He let go of her clit to slide his hands up to her ribs before bringing them back to the curve of her waist. He curled his fingers around her until he had a good enough grip to slam her down onto his cock. She cried out as he hit deeper, her ass slamming into his pelvis.  

Her tits jostled with every thrust, her milk beading up before falling in tiny rivulets. He gathered up her wrists, pinned them to the ground beside her head as he leaned back down. “Sorry, angel, I seem to keep getting distracted. Let me take care of this for you.”

He lapped at the almost translucent trails marking her skin, cleaned her up as best he could. Then he moved his head to drink from the source. And if he thought that cunt was tight before, it was nothing compared to the way her body shuddered around him now. 

Playing with her nipples during sex had always got her going. Before the bombs, he’d wondered before how close to coming he could get her from just this, pinching and suckling on her tits. He hadn’t gotten the chance to fully explore the idea, but from the way she bucked and writhed under him tonight, he expected it might be enough. 

He brought one hand over to massage her breast when the stream slowed to a trickle, making sure he’d emptied out every drop he could. After interrupting her efforts twice, he wasn’t going to be the reason she had to try a third time to find relief.

“I’m so close,” she mewled as he let the nipple go with a pop.

“I know, baby, almost done. You want me to take care of you, right?” She vigorously nodded her head up and down and used her freed hand to wipe tears from her eyes. “Just relax, angel,” he soothed. 

She seized up again as he returned to her other leaking nipple. This was the finest meal he’d had in a good long while. He wasn’t about to let a single drop go to waste. It was almost emptied out when he reached back down to her clit. One touch was all it took. 

He dipped down to where they were joined to slick his fingers back up and rolled her bud between two fingertips. Her eyes screwed shut as her mouth fell open in a silent scream. She dug her fingers into the back of his head, and her whole body spasmed, her back arching up into him. And her cunt, well fuck… her cunt gripped him like there was no tomorrow. 

He fought the urge to close his eyes. He wanted to savor the sensation of being completely wrapped up in her, but he couldn’t look away from how beautiful she was. 

Then all that wonderful tension released and she sank back to the ground, her eyes blinking slowly open as she tried to focus on him. 

“Holy crapoly, I love you,” she murmured happily, her delicate hand reaching up to caress his cheek. It was the softness of her touch that did him in. He felt the tension as his cock and balls tightened, and he quickly pulled out of her. He kissed her palm before bringing her hand to his dick so she could finish him off. 

He pressed his face into her chest as he came, spurt after spurt splattering across her stomach and chest. Just when he thought he was done, a particularly violent round landed on his chin. He sat up to wipe it off, and she giggled at him. He tilted his head to pretend like he was irritated, but they both knew better. He loved nothing more than making his girl happy. 

Lacking anything else to clean her off with, he ripped off a small tatter from the bottom of his duster. It was barely hanging on as it was, but it still pained him to admit how rough the old thing had gotten. 

(And now that she’d found him, he gave the ole duster two weeks- tops - before it vanished and another one mysteriously ended up with his things. He could only hope she didn’t throw it out entirely. After two hundred years, he couldn’t just let the poor thing go. It felt like a second skin at this point.)

He whistled as he wiped down her skin, carefully making sure to catch every drop. He’d have her take a Rad-X once they returned to camp, but he didn’t want to waste a RadAway.  Once he was satisfied with his cleaning efforts, he bundled her up in his arms to enjoy the afterglow. 

She was curled into his side, using his bicep as a pillow and idly tracing nonsensical patterns over the weathered ridges and valleys of his torso. He watched the stars twinkle above as he carefully asked, “So what’s the little champ like?” 

“He’s perfect,” she sighed in the contentment only a mother can have. “He’s always so happy. He barely even cries when he’s hungry. He just gives me that grumpy look you perfected. I didn’t know it was genetic. He really does look just like you.” She paused for a moment.

“It was… a blessing and a curse when I thought you were gone. Looking down and seeing all the little pieces of you in him… it was like recapturing all our best moments. But then I would remember you weren’t coming back to me, and all the walls closed in again.” 

He kissed her cheek. It was one of those times where words wouldn’t quite cut it. He knew. The first few years after the bombs dropped had been almost unendurable. He had no way of knowing what happened to Janey after her mother took her away, and Lucy had been with her father that day for a family birthday party of her own. She'd called him that morning and asked to see him the next day, said she had some good news. It had bothered him for 200 years- the wondering what she wanted to share. He guessed he knew now. 

There was a low simmering anger in his mind that she'd had to experience her pregnancy alone, that Vault Tec had kept them apart for so long. They'd been robbed of some of life's best moments. He didn't know if her pregnancy had been easy or not, hadn't been there to rub her sore feet or fetch the random shit a pregnant woman got cravings for. He didn’t get to hold her hand or push back her sweaty hair as she brought their child into the world. 

But they'd just have to make up for lost time. 

“You know, I forgot to tell you earlier, I have a picture of him in my bag. I was going to ask, but then I had to go, well…”

“I’d love to see him,” he finished for her. “Just as soon as I’m ready to move from this here spot, baby doll.” 

She hummed in pleasure as he lazily scratched along the crest of her ass. “We probably should head back to camp. We've been out here a long time.”

“The doc’s got his mutt. She ain't gonna let anything get close enough to be a problem.” 

The sound of sniffles reached his ears a second before something wet hit his skin. She angled her face down so he couldn't get a good look, but he knew when his girl was upset. He just didn't know why.

“Penny for your thoughts, angel?”

“I just miss him so much. I've only been gone a couple days, but it feels like forever.”

“It won't be too much longer. How far off is 33 anyways?”

“It’s over by the Santa Monica Pier. It was about a day and a half’s walk to Filly? So about two days back from here probably.”

“Well that ain’t so bad. Just two more days then, and he’ll be back in Mama’s arms.”

She sat up to look down at him. Her eyebrows were furrowed hard as she stared at him with those damp bambi eyes. “But we have to get Wilzig to the observatory to get my dad.” 

He sighed and tried to mentally prepare for the tongue-lashing he knew she was gonna unleash. Lucy MacLean had a stubborn streak a mile wide, and she always kept a promise. But this was one he needed her to break.

I will get Wilzig to Moldaver without a scratch, starting two days from now. You are headed straight back to that Vault until I come back to get you.”

“Absolutely not!”

“You ain’t gonna win this one, Lucy MacLean. Under no circumstances are you walking into that madwoman’s den. You’re still healing for fuck’s sake.” 

“Healing?” she hollered. “Healing from what? I gave birth five months ago! I am perfectly capable of walking a few miles.” 

“Maybe so. You up for gunfights and all that taekwondo, gymnastics shit you’re so fond of?”

“I’ve resumed my training regimen, thank you very much.”

“That don’t answer the question, baby. You back to laying other people out on their asses? Can you take as many hits as you used to? Because this world will try to chew you up and spit you out. It ain’t anything like the one you grew up in.”

“Ugh! You are such an… ass!  Stop trying to treat me like a child, Cooper.”

“Imma take that as a no then. You ain’t goin. Decision’s final.” 

“Decision not final! I’m not going back without my dad!” She tore his hat off his head just to throw it at him before rapidly gathering up her clothes. 

“Where do you think you’re off to, Lucy?”

“Back to camp. Where we should be anyways. We have a long walk tomorrow to get to the observatory.” She shoved her feet back in her boots.

He growled as he snatched his pants off the sand. “Get that idea outta your little head. You. Ain’t. Going.”

“Why are you being so difficult?” she screeched at him. With her garments all back in order, she started to storm off. He bundled up his remaining items and jogged after her. 

“God damn it, woman. Get back here.”

“No!” she huffed over her shoulder.

“You really gonna ask questions and not even wait for a fucking answer?”

She at least stopped walking away from him even if she didn’t turn around or uncross her arms. He pressed himself against her back. When she didn’t move away, he folded his available arm around her, and she let herself melt into his embrace.

“You can’t go, Lucy MacLean, because I can’t lose you again.” Her head thudded into his chest as she sighed sadly.

“Two hundred years, baby. I didn’t know if you were alive or dead. I kept it goin’ on a hope and a prayer that one day I’d find you, find Janey.”

“Oh, Cooper honey.” Her fingers covered his in a death grip.

He could hear the heavy swallows as she fought not to cry again. He pressed the advantage. 

“So it’s just like you said to me in Filly: I just got you back. Don’t ask me to watch you walk headfirst into danger. I’ll beg ya on my knees if I have to. I just, I can’t do it again, Luce. If something were to happen to you now, that’s it. Game over.” 

She twisted just enough to kiss him. Her lips were wet from tears, but hell, so were his. She held his heart in her hands. He’d have to trust her not to break it. 

“I love you, Cooper Howard,” she whispered against his jaw. “I’m so sorry I haven’t been here.”

“I love you too, angel. I’m so glad you’re here now.”

The smile she gave him still carried a tinge of sadness, maybe a little guilt. “Yeah, I’m here. And so are you. We made it.” 

He pressed his lips to her nose and held up the quickly gathered bundle of clothes. “Hold on a second while I finish getting dressed?”

He couldn’t be mad at her even when she giggled at the disheveled state she’d caused. “Sure thing, hot shot.”

He moved to stand beside her and offer an elbow which she immediately wrapped both arms around. They walked back to camp with her head on his shoulder. 

“We’re still gonna talk about this in the morning, you know.”

It was his turn to laugh. He stopped where he stood and threw back his head. “Of course we are, darlin.”

(And so, dear readers, they did indeed argue about it again in the morning. Lucy won, of course. Cooper Howard was an expert at identifying a lost battle when he saw one.)

Notes:

*Tiny edit 6/9/24 because I realized Cooper didn't actually say i love you back and that felt important, so I tweaked that single line of dialogue.*

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