She must have had the prudence of mind to give herself a stimpak at some point, before she passed out. Bonnie came back to consciousness after a moment, her vision clearing and head remarkably free of pain. After a moment of inspecting the injury to her forearm―which had healed over enough that it was not bleeding―she dashed off of the Legate's prone body and went to Boone.

He was alive. Breathing very slowly, thank God, the blood no longer flowing from his back where the Legate had stabbed him. She had to jab him twice with a Stimpak before he started breathing less raggedly and his eyelids began to flutter. For good measure she jabbed him with another stimpak and then used the remainder on herself. She collapsed over his side and let her tears fall, finally.

It probably isn't over, she thought. But she didn't care.

Boone stirred underneath her, an arm going around her side and back, the other twisting itself around to grab her cheek. She flicked her eyes down to his face and breathed out, exhausted and bloody and torn to hell.

"Bon―," he said, weakly, then cleared his throat. "Bonnie?"

She gave him a thin smile. "I killed the Legate," she whispered.

"Wha―" His eyes unfocused then focused on her arm, and he clutched at her a little tighter, pulling her from his side to his face. She didn't have the strength to return his kiss; she just melted on top of him as he drew it out. She was too tired to really feel the spikes of pleasure than ran down her spine into her stomach, and much too bloodied to enjoy it. She gasped out in pain as her ruined arm slid across his bandoleer, catching the edge, and he released her quickly.

"Sorry," Boone mumbled, and lifted himself off of the ground, slowly. Bonnie moved to the side as he got up, letting herself fall onto her back.

She stared up at a Securitron as it wheeled itself to her, and blinked slowly. Her left arm came up, the Pip-Boy flickering darkly under the bright sun. After a moment, she let it drop to the ground and pushed herself up. There was no way for her to use the knobs and dials on the damn thing now. She winced at the stab of pain through her forearm.

Boone was looking around at the carnage. Other than the Legate's body, there was a semi-circle of Legionaries laid out, and the army of Securitrons behind her stood the victor. Bonnie's hand and wrist lying in a puddle of blood near the edge of the dip in the ground. She toed it gingerly, then wrapped it with a rag and stuffed it into her haversack.

I'll bury it in Goodsprings, she thought. There's already a grave there, waiting.

They stumbled away from the camp, Boone holding her around her shoulder, as the robots followed. It wasn't over, not yet. At the gate of the camp, she reeled from an explosion of sparks and smoke. She clutched at Boone again, blinking through watery eyes. The smoke blew over them and into the camp, drawn away by the steady hand of the wind. In the gateway of the camp, a contingent of rangers and a man in authoritative clothing stood.

Bonnie rubbed her face with what remained of her arm and released Boone. "What the hell," she grumbled.

"That was a fine bit of work back there. Truth told, I'm surprised you made it out of there in one piece," the man said.

"General Oliver," Boone acknowledged him. Bonnie just blinked at him, without a word. So tired.

"I'm impressed to say the least, and that's no easy thing. You've secured NCR's future―the administration sends its thanks, for what it's worth."

She laughed in disbelief, holding her sides and leaning away from the men. Her stomach tightened painfully against her leather armor as she slowed herself to a stop, wiping tears from her eyes. "Oh, you're funny," she muttered. "Hold that thought, General. I wanted to introduce you to some friends."

The Securitrons moved into position around the rangers and Bonnie watched with bleary eyes as they confronted the general. As an aside, she turned her head to Boone and gave him a half-hearted smile. "I won't hurt them," she whispered. "But if you want to leave, now is the time."

Boone regarded General Oliver with an impassive look and then turned his head slowly to face her. A blank look was on his face. "I don't like it," he said, slowly, "but I'm not leaving, Bonnie." His hand snaked its way back across her shoulder.

"And... uh... well. These uh... these boys with you? Hello, there, smiley," the general said, uneasily.

"General Oliver, Hoover Dam is ours." Bonnie stepped forward to meet him, crossing her arms and leaning back a little. "Now... get off of my land."

"Who the hell do you think you are?" The general's face turned red with anger. "No, I came for a fight today, and if you're looking to make me budge, you better have a damn good left hook or I'm not going anywhere."

Surprising herself, she just shook her head at the man. His dig at her missing arm didn't even bother her. "I haven't been killed by the NCR, yet," she said, brightly. "Though... I doubt very much you want to kill a wounded woman. Especially the one who just took down the Legate..."

He looked taken aback momentarily, but recovered quickly. "Do you know what you're doing? Making a nation―" He curled a lip up at her. "Think you got the guts to carve out a frontier?"

"Can't do a worse job than the Republic, that's for sure." She turned herself to look back at the Legate's camp and shook her head. "I know how to play this game, Oliver. Stand down."

The general paused for a moment, then sighed. "Hell. Can't believe we got suckered by a slip of a woman." He shot her a nasty look. "Come on, men, we're moving out."

She watched them leave, without a word. Yes Man's robots followed them with their sensors. It made her smile.

Boone and she walked back out onto the Dam. Staring out over the edge of the wall, watching the sun rise into the sky, she wondered what would happen now. Now that the Legion was pushed back. Now that the world, and her own self, was irrevocably changed by her actions.

He stood with her on the edge of the Dam, staring over her shoulder at the change she'd brought to the Mojave. After a moment, he put his arms around her and held her.

And she hugged him back as best she could. The Mojave was free. What would happen now?

Probably more than we've ever prepared for.

Ending Note: This one's for my baby. If you like my Boone, give thanks to him for providing source material :)

If you want to see more, I need input. I am at a loss as to anything about this kid or where to go from here, so I'm going to go work on some other projects and see if anyone has an idea for me to play off of. Suggestions for gender, name, what have you, gimme gimme.

And thanks for reading! Love you all! :)