Taming the Sheriff

You first started tracking these Bandits while you were investigating some thefts in town. It didn’t seem likely it was them; the thefts were all too targeted, too personal, not messy enough. But they did move into your corner of the Mojave around the same time the thefts began, so they were likely enough suspects to deserve a look. Of course, now they’ve taken something extremely personal. To you.

They took your Laura.

In all the years since you survived the raid that killed your family, you’ve never once thought of settling down. Settling down means attachments, and in this cruel world attachments can only slow you down. Hurt you. Even when the people of Goodsprings convinced you to be their Sheriff, you only saw it as a temporary thing. A paying gig to do until you got bored or restless. At least, that was the idea, until you met the pretty gal at the infirmary.

She wasn’t just pretty, though. There was something… more to her. You’ll never forget the moment you met her. There had been an instant connection, a recognition of kinship as your eyes locked. Both of you were outcasts, you by **** and her by circumstance. You saw a loneliness in her eyes, an isolation, that before you’d only ever seen looking in the mirror. You promised yourself then that you’d never let her go.

Enough time for reminiscing later, you need to focus so you can get that pretty gal back. You made sure to wait until you saw the Bandits leave their camp, but you can’t be sure they’re all gone. Especially with a prisoner to guard. Got to be careful. You unsling your repeater from your back and hold its smooth grip in your hands. The knife tucked into your boot, and the comforting weight of Ol Blue on your hip remind you that you’re prepared for anything these Bandits can throw at you. You’ve certainly survived worse.

You approach the camp through the dusky evening light, slow and silent, nearly tripping over their sentry at the edge of the camp, passed out with an empty bottle near their hand. Your knife makes quick work of them. One down. Moving on, you carefully check each tent and ramshackle lean-to, not seeing any evidence of the stolen goods from town. Not seeing Laura.

One last tent to check. Center of camp, a little bigger than the rest. You saved it for last for a reason, wanting to make sure your escape routes were clear before entering it. Just before lifting the flap, you hear a soft snap behind you. Shit. Whirling around, you can’t get your repeater leveled before the Bandit knocks it out of your hand. You go for Ol Blue on your hip, but the Bandit is already on you, knocking you to the ground with a yell and a grunt.

Shit shit shit. He’s much bigger than you are. Wrestling as a gal your size was never your strong suit, but this brute is bigger and stronger than average, and as he easily pins you into the dirt you feel a spike of fear pierce your gut. Pushing through it, you manage to work one hand down to your boot and draw your knife. He senses what you’re doing and squeezes you even tighter, trapping your arm against your side and making you groan with pain. Unable to get the knife high enough for a killing blow, you jab it into his thigh.

He yells in pain and recoils back, up onto his knees, grabbing at the knife you buried in his leg. You need to follow up quickly. Sucking in a breath, you push yourself up off the ground. Not fast enough. He wrenches your knife from his flesh and in the same motion slashes you across the shoulder. Pain blooms like fire and you’re knocked back into the dirt. Looking up with wide eyes, you see a grin full of broken teeth, the knife flashing crimson in the sunset light, and you know it’s over.

Then, a blur. Something comes flying out of the tent with a banshee wail and slams into the Bandit, knocking him flat. Without waiting to think, you lurch off the ground, drawing Ol Blue from it’s well-worn holster and putting a bullet through his skull. The gunshot echoes in the cooling desert air, leaving behind only the sound of heavy breathing. Yours… and Laura’s.

You’re both on the ground, her kneeling near the dead Bandit with you still half-reclined, clutching your bleeding shoulder. Her long black hair is wild, half covering her face, and as you look into her dark brown eyes you feel yourself falling for her all over again. “I… I came to save you.”

She ineffectually blows her hair away from her face. “I knew you would, mi amor. I never doubted. I just didn’t think I’d be saving you as well.” One corner of her mouth points up in a grin. “Now untie me so I can take a look at your shoulder. We gotta get outta here before the rest come back, and I don’t want you bleeding out on me after I just saved your skinny ass.”

“Hey, I’m petite, not skinny. Hngh!” Grunting with pain as you lift yourself up off the ground, you shuffle over to Laura and begin untying her arms from around her back, marveling that she was able to do so much in her bound state. “Just because I don’t have a Brahmin booty like you doesn’t mean it’s skinny.”

“Hey, I like your skinny ass.” Once her arms are free she throws them around you, carefully avoiding your wounded shoulder, and gives you a tight squeeze. “You know I’d do anything to save it. Now, let me look at that shoulder.”

You hear her suck in a breath through her teeth as she examines your wound. “That bad, huh?” You wince as she prods it with her finger.

“Not the worst I’ve seen on you, but I’m glad I’m here. Let me see that Pip-Boy.” She reaches for the thick metal band wrapped around your left forearm and taps a few buttons. Instantly you feel the pain start to dull. Even though you’ve worn it since you were an adolescent – a parting gift from your murdered father – Laura was always better at making it work. Your father had been a doctor, a genius, and your Pip-Boy was especially designed for medical functions. You never would have made it on your own as long as you did without it.

Even with the pain dulled, you still grunt as Laura ties a strip of cloth torn from her dress tightly around your shoulder. You glance over and see the dirty white cloth quickly turn red. “Shit, it really is that bad.”

“Yep.” Laura grabs you under your good shoulder and pulls you to your feet, and you feel that familiar tingle inside as she uses her strength to lift you off the ground. “You’ll be OK, but I need to get you back to my infirmary now. Come on.”

Night had fallen by the time the two of you made it back to Goodsprings. You sit on Laura’s bed in her house that also serves as the town infirmary as she finishes stitching up the wound in your shoulder. This is far from the first time you’ve put yourself in her care. Whether you’re keeping the peace in Goodsprings, or questing in the Mojave for some fancy medical supplies Laura needs, you’re no stranger to pain and injury. It’s not just my body she takes care of, though. Nobody soothes the pain in my heart like her.

“There! Good as… well, nobody would call you new with all those scars, but you’re not gonna bleed out anytime soon. At least not from this.” Laura gives your freshly stitched shoulder wound a gentle kiss, the gesture filling you with giddy butterflies like it always does. How can this woman make me feel like a blushing schoolgirl so easy?

“Well now, Laura, if I didn’t know better I’d say that was a threat.” You give her a wink and a grin as you gingerly test your shoulder’s range of motion.

Laura’s eyes give you that smoldering look that always makes you weak in the knees. “That depends on if you behave.” She leans forward to give you a hard kiss and a sharp bite on your lower lip.

“Nh! I missed you, too, darlin.” You return her kiss, giving her back some of the same spice, your tongue meeting hers and doing that familiar dance. Her hands come up your side, squeezing you tightly like she can’t quite believe you’re there in her arms. You run one hand through her thick hair while your other reaches down past her ass toward the hem of her dress. You missed her too much to wait.

Just then Laura pulls her mouth off yours and looks down. “Chloe, I… before we get too carried away… could I… I want to take my shot. It’s… it’s been a few days.”

Fuckin hell, of course. Here I am going straight for her panties after she’s just been through all… that. “Oh darlin, yes, here!” You grab the syringe from the bedside table and attach it to the output nozzle of your Pip-Boy, tapping a few buttons to bring up the formula for Laura’s special cocktail. You’re not sure exactly what it is, Laura calls it estro-somethin, but you know it helps her condition. Makes her body more like a woman, more like how she feels in her heart. That heart I love so dearly.

You stroke her hair as she pokes her smooth brown thigh with the needle. “Laura… darlin… I didn’t think to ask. Are you… ok?”

Laura’s sweet mouth twists into that sour smile you see far too often. A smile that says she’s fighting through the pain of the world. “The big one, the one you killed, kept threatening to… to put a baby in me.” She gives a solitary dry chuckle. You’re amazed she can laugh about that; as far as you know her condition makes that impossible. “But my mouth managed to convince him not to… not to reach between my legs.” She looks away as she finishes her injection and places the syringe back on the bedside table.

You take her soft face between your hands and make her look at you. “Your mouth can be quite convincing, darlin.” Pulling her face onto yours, you silence her reply with your tongue. You pull in a sharp breath through your nose as her tongue pushes back, wriggling into your mouth. That shot of hers always did make her extra frisky. Wanting to feel that frisky tongue somewhere else, you push her face down between your legs, one hand reaching for your belt buckle. “Now why don’t you convince me how grateful you are for bein rescued all heroic like.”

Laura laughs as she finishes undoing your belt and pulls your pants off your slim legs. “Oh I don’t think that will be hard at all, my heroic Chloe.” She smiles as she takes in the sight of your trimmed red bush and glistening pussy before diving in.

Letting out a long groan of relief, you dig one hand into her thick black hair as your other reaches for the bottle of whiskey sitting on the table beside the syringe. As your lover’s tongue wets itself with your juices, you wet your own with the burning brown liquid, letting it all wash away the stress and pain. I don’t care what you had to do to survive, Laura. I’ve done worse. You’re mine, and nothing can change that.

After a few delicious minutes of her mouth between your legs, you know you need more. You pull her up onto the bed, both of you laughing like carefree girls, and position her under you so she can keep working on your pussy. Eager to return the favor, you grab the hem of her dress and pull it up past her smooth hairless crotch. Smiling at the familiar sight of her long beautiful cock, you lick your lips before taking her all the way into your mouth. Other folks might look at you sideways cause of your condition, but you’ll never hear a complaint from me, darlin.

Laura gasps and pulls her mouth away from your dripping pussy. “Oh Chloe! You can’t just-AH! You can’t just take me all the way like that with noooOOHHH! No warning. Ahhhhh…” She trails off, lost in bliss as you expertly work your mouth and tongue over her length.

This is the problem with 69, I’m just too damn good and she can’t focus. Your pussy needs more attention, so you pop your mouth off her and turn around. Grabbing her behind the knees, you lift her legs up and back. “Hold that cock of yours steady for me, darlin. Here I come.” You grin as she follows your instructions, reaching a hand between her legs to push her cock forward so you can slide onto it. Your dual moans blend together as your tight channel grips its favorite cock. Oh that’s better. Been too long.

You don’t waste any time fucking your lover. Still pushing her legs back toward her chest, you squat over her and pump up and down, fucking her cock with your greedy snatch, forcing yelps and cries of pleasure from her throat. It feels so fucking good to take her like this. You start to pump harder, working out all the tension from the deadly rescue, letting her feel just how much you missed her.

“Aie! Fuck Chloe you make me feel like a woman!” Her face is flushed, her mouth hanging open with a look of pure lust in her eyes.

That’s right Laura, you’re my woman. “Call me Sheriff when I’m showing you who’s boss.”

You grin as she squeezes her eyes shut in pleasure. She always loves it when you talk like that. “Oh Sheriff oh fuck I’m coming!”

She spasms inside you, the feeling setting off your own orgasm. You slam down against her one last time, groaning in release as you ride the wave. When you both finally come down, you release her legs, letting them fall limply back onto the bed as you shuffle up to sit on her face. Stroking her hair and smiling, you coo as she licks and sucks her own cum out of your trembling pussy. Fuck I needed that.

What in this bomb-blasted world would I do without her?

Some time later, you’re lying on your back, staring at the ceiling, trying and failing to sleep. Laura’s arm is draped across your bare chest, her slow steady breathing a comfort. A reminder of what you have, of the happiness you’ve torn from the clutches of this cruel existence. We’re so much alike, the two of us. I’ve found my calling protecting this place, and I’m gonna do it and do it well no matter how many people tell me it’s a man’s job. No matter how many people tell me I can’t be a woman and a Sheriff.

And Laura… sweet mercy how strong she is. Living her whole life with people telling her she can’t even be a woman. Wrestling her own body to live her truth. I’m bound by honor to protect this town, even if they do treat my Laura like a freak sometimes. But my own beating heart binds me to protect her. No matter what.

You hear a knock at the outer door, so faint you at first think you imagined it. It comes again, louder now. Cursing under your breath, you slip out of bed, careful not to wake Laura. She’s been through enough. Pulling on your pants and shirt, you quietly walk out of the bedroom, through the sickbay to the front door.

Opening the door just as another, louder knock begins, you see a greasy-faced man with a surprised look in his eyes. Just about the last person I wanted to see. “How can I help you, Nick? You need a doctor?”

Nick runs a hand through his scruffy black hair. “Oh, well, evening Chloe… er, Sheriff. Guess I shouldn’t be shocked to see you here.” He gives you a leering grin. Nick is the town busybody. He used to style himself Sheriff before you showed up and the rest of the townsfolk immediately recognized you as the superior option. He’s never forgiven you for that.

Especially because you’re a woman.

You loudly clear your throat as his eyes start to wander down below your neck. “I’ll ask one more time, Nick, then I’m shuttin the door. What do you want?”

“Oh, wait, don’t do that.” He throws a hand up to push the door open a little wider, and just then you notice a few of the townsfolk are standing behind him. “I just wanted to welcome our nurse back to town, see if she needed anything… hold on now, what’s that?” He’s looking over your shoulder into the sickbay.

You sigh. “What’s what, Nick?”

He jabs an accusing finger past you. “Jake, isn’t that your missing bone saw?”

Jake, the town butcher, jostles up next to Nick and peers inside. “Shit that is! I shoulda know it was her!”

There’s a gleam in Nick’s eyes you’ve never seen before. “You’re right to be suspicious, Jake. And Sally, didn’t Laura tell you how pretty she thought your necklace was just before it went missing?”

The blonde seamstress behind Nick puffs up her broad chest. “You’re right Nick! And just days later it – and her – went missing!”

Your eyes go wide. Jake was one of the first people to report a theft, and he’s been nagging you about your investigation for weeks now. And Sally has always been one to say Laura’s condition makes her untrustworthy. “Hey now folks, she didn’t take nothing, she was took. I just had to rescue her myself. Why would the Bandits take her if she was on their side? Let’s talk about this!” I gotta get this under control before things get out of hand.

The people behind Nick are yelling now, and you see lights coming on in other buildings. Nick lifts his chin and gives you a smug look. “What’s there to talk about, Sheriff. We caught your little lover red handed. You really expect us to believe you’ll tell us the full truth when you’re sleeping in her bed?”

There’s more yelling as the crowd behind Nick grows. Apparently the accusations have spread already, and you can tell from the tone of people’s voices they’re not interested in hearing reason. Shit. I knew these folk were suspicious of Laura because of her condition, I just never thought they’d turn on their town doc so quick. C’mon, Chloe, take charge, do something!

“Alright, Nick, that’s enough, I’m gonna—”

Nick shoves you to the side and points behind you again. “There’s the culprit!” The crowd behind him yells for blood.

You turn to see Laura standing in the doorway between her bedroom and the sickbay, clutching a robe around her and rubbing at her tired eyes. “What’s going on, Chloe?”

A cold lump of fear forms in your chest. You know that if you don’t do something soon, now, you won’t be able to stop the crowd from taking things into their own hands. At least, not without bloodshed. And you can’t turn your weapons on these people. They took you in when you were barely better than a Bandit yourself. They gave you a home and a purpose.

But the alternative is to turn on Laura.

How can you do that?