I noticed there were hardly any Dean Domino fics out there and decided to make a small piece. I'm not even sure he was in character but he was fun to write anyway. Not sure either if I'll continue or not either, depends on if a plot comes to mind. xD

Dean's so snarky I couldn't help but just adore the guy, despite his past and attitude.

New Vegas: Dead Money and Dean belongs to Obsidian and Bethesda.

New Vegas could be the best place in the world, if you had the caps for it and enjoyed its entertainment. Casinos, card games, bright lights, singing and women, or men, if one preferred that. Its neon and white lights stood out in the Mojave, like a beacon. Whether it was a beacon of hope or something else, you could argue however.

The Courier went there often, not because of the numerous ways to waste money. No, she enjoyed the lights and the people. It wasn't dark like out in the Mojave and God knew, she had spent a lot of time out there already.

Granted, the people on the Strip weren't the friendliest out there… some were surely as bad as the raiders and other scumbags she had killed out in the desert. Hell, she'd be surprised if the Legion didn't have more than one spy in there already.

But it didn't matter. She did her best to avoid confrontations with the people there. Only once had she done so, and that was to pay back to the bastard who had shot her in the head. After that little… event, she had been cautious about heading back into the Strip for a while, especially the Tops where she had in fact killed the man.

Her concerns had proven to be misplaced though. So far none had tried to take revenge on her for it, hell, some people even seemed pleased with Benny's death.

Which she was glad for, because the Tops were one of the places she enjoyed going to, despite the memories. More specifically the Aces Theater had her fancy.

But then, she had helped the boss, Tommy, in there with recruiting a few more entertainers. An interesting job for sure and Tommy was so grateful to her now, that she was allowed free entry; as long as she paid for any consumables she might want to get in there.

And she did, sitting in her favorite spot in one of the corners of the room, enjoying a glass of wine, something she rarely did. Running around in the Mojave while under the effects of alcohol? She didn't even want to imagine what could happen.

Unlike many of the female visitors, she wore no dress but rather light, practical clothing, because she never knew when she'd need to be fast. This evening she almost wished she hadn't chosen a discrete clothing though. Things were slow; having some drunken idiot flirt with her would almost have been amusing. At 9 pm, she was mostly just waiting for the Lonesome Drifter to start playing. She did enjoy his guitar playing, a thing she rarely heard beyond the radio music.

She was about to take a sip from the wine when a familiar man sat down in the chair across the table, looking very pleased with himself. Tommy with his black hair, tidy features and eye patch hadn't looked this pleased since she had brought in the new acts for him, which had been a few months ago now.

"Enjoying the show?" he asked amused, leaning his fingertips to each other. The Courier could only arch an eyebrow; hell, he looked as giddy as a schoolboy.

"Well… yeah?" she replied. "What's up? You look very excited about something."

"I got my reasons. Haven't you seen the numerous posters about a special guest star tonight?"

"Oh, right. I did, but… must have slipped my mind. Was a few weeks ago I was here last and I'm rather… slow today," she chuckled, tapping her head with a sigh.

"Hah! Well, you won't be after this. It's going to be so great! I can just see all the money flowing in after this, all the requests and demands. I just hope I can convince him to stay for as long as possible…" Tommy frowned, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. The Courier rolled her eyes, recognizing that scheming look well enough.

"Him who?" she asked.

"You'll see!" he grinned, as he got up on his feet again, walking off while still grinning like a fool. The woman shook her head with a smirk. Money would make any man happy and Tommy sure didn't try to hide it.

So she waited, intrigued as to who this new guest would be, even if it meant her favorite performer's show had been cancelled tonight most likely. About 30 minutes later, Tommy himself went up on the stage, catching the attention of the audience at once and to be honest, there were quite a lot of them here now. At least her table had remained free, giving her ample view to the scene.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," Tommy started as he stopped in front of the microphone, «it is time to introduce our newest addition. A survivor from Pre-War, you've seen his face on old posters, maybe heard old songs… I give you no other than Dean Domino!"

Tommy had barely stepped away from the microphone as the suit wearing ghoul stepped up from behind the stage curtains, causing a wild cheer in the crowd. If someone doubted the genuineness of Dean's presence, they certainly made no notion of it.

The Courier on the other hand, choked and spat out the wine she had been drinking over the table, throwing her hands on it as well in utter shock. What the hell was Dean doing here?

Her arms and hands remained outstretched on the table, as she stared at the scene, gaping for surely a minute while Dean did what he did best, started singing, with the faint music in the background.

She finally gathered herself, rubbing her left temple in puzzlement really, as if her brain had a hard time processing it. It did, because she had never expected to see Dean again. Like, ever. Not because they had parted in bad ways, other way around really. But like with the others, she hadn't expected to see any of them again. As if all of Sierra Madre had just been a dream… or a nightmare.

The Courier was so shocked she hardly noticed his singing; after all, she had heard it before, even if it was interesting to see him up there. Tommy had snuck up behind her again, looking as smug as a mole rat in its den. He did arch an eyebrow at the Courier's rubbing her eyebrow.

"Not the kind of reaction I had expected," he admitted, as he sat down next to her, keeping his tone quiet.

"Huh? Oh. Just… shocked," she laughed it off quickly. Shock sure as hell didn't cover it. Tommy looked up towards the scene, smirking slyly.

"Well, don't look now but I think you've caught his attention," he snickered.

"What?" she exclaimed with such force that Tommy nearly jumped back in his chair. She followed his look, up to where Dean was standing, occasionally turning his head to the side enough to indicate that he most likely had recognized her. Despite the dark sunglasses, it surely felt as if he was looking at her. The chance of her not being discovered were even slimmer with the place's manager sitting next to her.

Shit. Although Tommy had taken her shock as interest, it was far from it. She had learned enough from Sierra Madre and Dean himself to know he wasn't someone you wanted get the attention of. Especially out here, where he would quickly grow popular enough to become a powerful enemy to anybody who got in his way.

Parting on good terms, yes, but that had been in Sierra Madre and with the intention of never meeting again. Out here… she wondered if he would be just as 'friendly' now that his life wasn't at stake anymore. She would have left the Theater, if it wasn't for the fact that Tommy was sitting next to her and she didn't want to make him upset. Not to say she doubted he'd let her leave if he now thought Dean had an interest in her. He could probably make more caps out of that, somehow.

What was worse, she was curious as to why Dean would even pay attention to her at all. He didn't need her help anymore, and hell, she wasn't anything near him when it came to popularity and charisma. Nothing good could come out of this…

When the music and singing stopped, Tommy went back up to the scene, talking about what a great performance it had been and giving out more information to the audience. Dean on the other hand went to the side on the scene, pushing one of the drapes to the side, before he looked back at the courier. He crooked a finger for her to come with him, which was certainly aimed at her because none else was sitting between them.

Reluctantly, the Courier got up and followed through the drapes, even as Dean had exited the stage behind them by now. This surely would cause shitloads of rumors, she sighed. One more or less really.

She spotted him walking down the corridor with his hands behind his back before he took a turn into a room. She caught up, pausing for a second before stepping inside the room. His stage room, she quickly realized.

Dean was already sitting down in one of the comfortable chairs in the room, lightning up a cigar, a habit he had dragged all the way from Sierra Madre; probably since before the war.

"Sit, please," he said, gesturing for the chair across of him and the small table between them.

The Courier arched an eyebrow, before she leaned down a bit to check under the chair.

Dean scoffed, as she eventually sat down on it, with her arms folded across her chest.

"Really. There are no explosives this time around. You think I prepare an explosive chair in case I find someone I do not like, to blow up?" he asked coolly. "Although, there are several I don't like here already…" he added more quietly.

"Sorry, old habits die hard," the woman smirked briefly.

"So now you check every chair you come across, hm?"

"Just around people I think might want me dead."

"Dead? You think I want you dead?" Dean chuckled. "We're partners! Or… were at any rate. I hope you haven't forgotten. I'm not sure how many blows you might have taken to your head since we last met."

The Courier rolled her eyes; at least he hadn't changed much. It was a relief at the same time as it was worrying.

"I can't see any other motive for you to want to speak to me," she said carefully.

"Is it so strange? You showed yourself more capable than the other morons back in Sierra Madre," he huffed. "Brainless lumps, all of them!"

The Courier figured she could be happy with that answer. Coming from Dean, it was an accomplishment, as she knew what he did to people 'better' than him.

"Alright, I can accept that. Why New Vegas though?"

"And why not?" Dean laughed. "You told me about New Vegas, you know, and I'm not about to go to any place. I need casinos, an audience… gullible people."

He tapped the cigar to the ashtray on the table, leaning forward a bit, as he noticed her somewhat suspicious frown.

"Sorry, the world doesn't revolve around you, my dear," he smirked amused.

The Courier downright narrowed her eyes this time, at his assuming she figured it was because she was in New Vegas.

"That's not what I meant, Dean," she said, though it was difficult to remove the frown from her face. He probably would have taken offense by it, if it wasn't for the fact her protest was so… shallow.

"What I did mean is that why leave Sierra Madre?" she continued, mostly to get rid of that annoying smirk from his face. Perhaps not the best question to ask but anything worked.

"I spent many, many decades in there before you came. There's only so much I can take of the place and after you departed… well ,a lot of the mysterious were opened up. I explored a little, find out about some things," he explained, as he looked beyond her for a moment, as if recalling back to those days. His attention was returned to her very quickly though.

"I… let go," he said amused, flickering his hand along with the cigarette in the air for a moment. "So I came here, where I assumed I could find the things I need. Quite recently got here so I haven't been able to take in much of the… scenery. Not that it's anything like it was before the war, but I guess I'll have to make due. I mean, you're surviving here and you're not exactly a star."

He got up from the chair suddenly, dropping the cigarette in a trashcan before opening the fridge.

"Granted, it's easier to actually enjoy things here than in Sierra Madre," he admitted, as he returned with two glasses and a wine bottle. "With all the Ghost people… out of the way…" he continued, as he poured wine in both glasses, taking one for himself before gesturing for her to take the other.

She did, if mostly to be polite for now.

"So you're going to stay here for a while?" she asked casually.

"Yes, I think so. Lucky for you, huh? Like I've said before, being my partner pays off. Having me in town can be good for you. In many ways."

"Should have come to me before you found Tommy then. Could have scored a lot of caps by suggesting you," she said smugly, as she took a sip from the glass.

"Hah, you're his little errand girl then?" Dean huffed amused. "He mentioned that many of these so called 'talents' was found by one person. Should have known it was you. You'll need to visit here more often now that I'm here, in order to work on that horrible taste of yours."

He lifted the glass in his hand briefly, studying it in the light, before looking back to her.

"Being partners with you was certainly worthwhile, on both ends," he said thoughtfully. "If I were to suggest it again, you'd be a fool to say no," he smirked.

The Courier arched an eyebrow at him, somewhat relaxed now that it seemed he wasn't out to kill her. Was she a fool? No, but Dean wasn't someone you recklessly stayed around. Of course, all of her life was reckless already. What more harm could come from that?

"Well, I am no fool…" she said slowly, smiling almost mischievously.

"A toast then! To future partnerships," he smirked with a nod, lifting his glass.