I looked at my wife as she struggled with the small thing coming out of her. Madison was working with me, working to get our child out. Oh such things, even now, as I worked to make sure both my wife and my child stayed alive, another part of my brain was imagining a dozen different things, playing baseball, teaching him or her to shoot… But, I put my mind away from those things, focusing my full attention on the miracle in front of me. My child was almost out, and I could already see it was a girl. I watched as her head finally came out, beautiful, and finally declared the words. "It's a girl… A beautiful baby girl!" Catherine lifted her head, getting a little peek at the tiny girl, and moaned in delight, and more than a little weariness. She looked so glad, and I probably did too, which made my smile even wider. I looked at the small girl, feeling my spirits lift in a way they never had before, except when Catherine and I were lying together, simply basking in each others warmth, and I could hear her small breaths as she slept. I refocused upon the small girl in my hands, and I crooned before I spoke. "Look at you… Hi there, princess, I'm your daddy! Daddy! You're gonna need a name, aren't you? How about… Terra? That's a beautiful name for a beautiful girl…" I smiled happily, then shifted my face to Catherines' beaming with pride and feeling joyful, though I did note she looked a bit green. Nevermind, it was normal, and then I heard something whir. I looked behind myself, and saw the monitor that was supposed to show what a person was likely to look like when they reached the age of twenty.
I looked at the picture, and felt in awe by the beautiful features. She has a smooth curve of a face, like a round ball that was made of stainless steel, and her eyes were the brightest blue. Her nose was small and precise, giving her the picture of innocence, and her mouth was small lipped. Even as an adult, she looked so young, and the projection even stated her to be short. I loved it, and I vibrated with happiness as I heard Catherines' words. "Oh… Look at her, just like her daddy… So beautiful…" I beamed once again, though I knew she looked much more like Catherine than me; I was large, and bulky, and had dark skin, and had a much more angular jaw. Nevertheless, I was proud. "Look at that Terra, you'll be the picture of beauty, and people will love you. There are so many people, so many different kinds, I wonder what kind you'll be… Wait…" I looked at the heart monitor, and for a moment I couldn't move. Then I was rushing into action, belting out commands. " She's in cardiac arrest, get Terra out, move it!" My voice had force, and Madison followed the orders without questions as I began working on my wife.
It wasn't until an hour later that I left. It wasn't until an hour later that I finally accepted it. With the birth of my child had come the… the… of… my wife… I don't know what to do… What should I do…?
I looked at Terra, how cute she was, trying to get steady on her legs. Then she looked into the lights on the ceiling, and winced, falling on to her small little rump. I gave a little chuckle. "Don't look into the light Princess, it'll hurt your eyes. Come on, focus on me." My little Terra did just that, and for the first time ever she steadied herself. She took a few tentative steps forward, then got the feel for it and sped towards me. I laughed, picking her up into an embrace as she came up to me. I smiled, and then I started exclaiming. "You did it! You did it! Just a year old and you're walking so well! Hahahaha! Catherine would have been so proud of you, I can imagine her, tears in her eyes…" Then the moment was interupted by a small beep on my pipboy. I winced, setting Terra down to check. Damn, Stanley had ripped his hand up while working on some old bot he had found. Planned to name it Androy or something. "Listen sweetie, I need to work for just a little bit. I'm sorry. I'll be back in a bit. I set her down and closed the gate, smiling warmly as I hurried to get the work done quick. After ten minutes of healing up Stanleys' hand, I returned to my room and heard excited giggling. I tapped the button on the door, then tapped the stop button before it opened all the way. Through that little peek hole, I watched as my daughter scanned through a little picture book called You're Special!. I watched, and saw that she seemed to go to the S, E, and I pages quite a few times, and she visited L about two or three times. Finally, she seemed to leave the book alone, and seemed to stare at the door. I suddenly felt a shivver run up my spine at her look.
I dismissed it, and fully opened the door. She instantly brightened up and called out "Badda!" before charging unsteadily forward to me. I laughed and caught her, lifting her up and getting her high in the air. Finally, we both settled down and I pulled her on to my lap. I was holding her right in front of the frame that held Catherines' favorite revelation: 216. "See this Terra? This is revelation 216, your mothers favorite in the whole bible. I am alpha and omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of life freely. Now, do you want to play with Amata?" Terra clapped her hands and shouted out "'Mada!" as I hoisted her up. I grinned, and we both headed to the overseers room. I couldn't shake that strange feeling I had.
I looked at my daughter as she was handed the pipboy by the overseer. She looked happy and… smug, I think. Yes, my daughter looked smug about owning a pipboy. Probably something involving Butch, the little bastard. Of course, I would never say that outloud, but he constantly bullied Terra, along with his little friends. Of course, she always insulted him right back, and I had even seen her trip him or flick in the head a couple of times. I never called her on it, but I made sure later on to tell her something about being nice to people. I then realized I was simply standing there, staring at empty space, and quickly made my way over to Terra. "Happy birthday sweetie, I can't even think of how quickly you've grown! Go on, enjoy your party, talk to people! Let loose, after all, you only get one life!" I laughed, and went back to my seat, watching her. She talked to Amata briefly, who passed her a comic. One of the more violent ones, that I didn't really approve of for her, but she never tried to act out something in the comics, so I let her have them. Then she preceded to talk to people, and she was even given a cupcake from Miss Palmer! Yes, she indeed liked those cupcakes, and she quickly sat down to eat and read. After that, she continued along, and I started going through my pipboy, talking to Jonas about our little 'surprise'. Suddenly, I heard a loud cry, and when my head bolted up, I saw a very bad scene. Terra was crouching down, looking at Butch as blood poured from his nose and mouth. I sat speachless, before both I and Officer Gomez rushed to the spot. Gomez went for terra, picking her up and setting her roughly in a chair, while I fingered Butches face, figuring out how much damage had been done. By the time I had returned from the infirmery, I saw Terra sitting in a seat, wearing a little red baseball cap, and Gomez standing near the door, waiting for me. "What happened?" I asked, and Gomez answered as Terra lifted her head to stare blankly at us. "Apparantly Butch was angry about her eating a cupcake, and he lashed out. She says that she ducked and fought back. Amata agrees with her, though she looks a bit pale." I thought about it for a moment, and then asked the question. "What do you think?" He held his eyes closed for a moment, then spoke without opening them up. "I think she's telling the truth, but I also think she really meant to hurt Butch." I wondered about that for a moment, then passed Gomez and grabbed Terras' arm gently. "Come on, I wanna show you something." She followed without comment, still holding that blank expression, and I led her down to the reactor level. There, we met Jonas, whom I'd told the situation to on the way there.
I handed her a BB gun and pointed towards the targets I had set up the day before. "Go ahead, shoot." She looked at me, startled, for a moment, then nodded and grew a smile. She fired off six pellets. Two hit. Over the next two hours, she used up about sixteen hundred pellets, without a word, and by the time she was done, she shot every single target without fail. I ruffled her hair and we turned around. There Jonas was, with a camera, and we both grinned into the camera as it gave us a picture of my daughters' first time shooting a weapon. Of my daughters tenth birthday. I felt something cold inside me, and the hair in my hands barely moved.
Reveiws, please. What do you think?
