Talia's stomach lurched and she dropped to her knees and vomited. "Aw, Jesus Tally. Right here?", Hancock said with a little disgust. He was never too big on other people vomiting, even if it was the woman he loved.
"I can't-"
"Really-"
"Help it!", she gasped out in between each wretch.
"Yeah, but this's gotta be the third time in the past two days! You aren't sick, are you? Could be radiation poisoning", he replied, averting his eyes.
Talia spat on the ground and attempted to stand back up, and promptly fell back down.
"It can't be, I took some Radaway yesterday! Besides, we haven't even gone close to any hot-spots or the ocean", she croaked with a raw, hoarse throat as her lover helped her back up and steady on her feet.
"You know what? We're close to Vault 81, let's go get you checked out", said John, leading Talia in the correct direction. She opened her mouth to protest, but a gurgle from her stomach made her shut it abruptly.
"Yeah, just like I thought. You're in no condition to argue."
"I'm fine, John. I'm just a little nauseated, a little tired; that's all."
"Yeah, right. Hey, maybe you're pregnant!", Hancock joked.
"Hilarious. Make fun of my misery, why don't you?", snapped the exhausted Talia.
"Ah, come on. You aren't usually this touchy. You know I didn't mean any way but a joke", the ghoul said calmly.
Talia sighed.
"I know, I know. Fine, let's go talk to Dr. Forsythe."
"It's good to see you, Talia! What brings you to the vault this time? Supplies? Visiting?", said Dr. Forsythe cheerfully as Hancock helped Talia into the infirmary and into a chair.
"I wish, Doc. I think I'm sick", Talia replied with a strained voice.
Doctor Forsythe frowned.
"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that. Well, let's check you out. What are the symptoms?"
Talia ready herself for the pain of speaking with such a raw throat when Hancock interrupted.
"For starters, she's been throwing up. A lot. She's also getting tired real easily, and she's been kind of, um..."
He cast a glance at Talia, who was glaring up at him from her seat.
"Moody, lately."
Doctor Forsythe put a hand against her head. "Well, you're not running a fever. Mayor Hancock, there are a few personal questions I need to ask Talia. Would you mind leaving the room?"
"There's nothing she'll say I haven't heard before."
"It's my policy. Wait outside please."
Hancock shrugged and walked towards the door. "Let me know when I can come back in, I guess", he said, a little offended.
"Now", the doctor began,"Have you been doing anything differently?"
"No"
"Any changes in your body? Aside from the fatigue, nausea, and mood swings I mean."
"Not that I've noticed."
"I have to ask this, and please don't take offense, but... Are there other men aside from Hancock?"
"What?! No!", Talia shouted angrily.
The Doctor gestured for her to calm down.
"I have to ask. Is there any chance of a venereal disease?"
"...It's possible, but John doesn't seem to be sick. There aren't any signs of him or myself having any STD's anywhere. None that I was ever taught about, anyway."
"Well, I'll have to take some blood, but I can't think of anything that could be making you sick like this."
Talia winced. She didn't like needles.
"Alright. Stick me. But please make sure you have a decent vein first!"
The doctor laughed.
"You got it."
Talia had wandered over to the schoolroom, where an over-excited Katy had insisted upon her telling stories of her adventures to the children. She was in the middle of a story about the Cabot family and her daring attack on the super-drugged Raiders and the telekinetic, ageless Lorenzo Cabot when Hancock appeared and leaned on the doorway. Talia shot him a smile and resumed her story, nodding him over. This was Hancock's favorite part of visiting Vault 81; telling the stories of their exploits around the Commonwealth. He loved to see their little eyes widen when they got in that pinch over in the West Turnpike, as if they didn't know whether he and Talia would live through the story. Kids their age were fun like that; too little to think things through enough, but big enough that they understood a situation.
"When bang!", Hancock shouted as he jumped into veiw of the schoolchildren."A shot whizzes past my head-grazing my hat by the way Talia-and hits the Raider on my left right in the face! While his buddy was distracted, I took advantage of the situation and cold-cocked the guy in front of me with the butt of my shotgun. He was out cold, and-"
"We left him that way, and kept going!", Talia interrupted, giving Hancock a semi-panicked look. Sometimes he got a little carried away and forgot Katy's one rule; leave out the gory details.
"That was the last Raider we saw for a little while. But when we got to the room where Lorenzo was locked up, he had three Raiders nearby that were trying to let him loose! Mr. Cabot told us to go in, and he'd open doors for us one by one along the way. We snuck up on one of them, and... knocked him out. Then we made the next closest one go to sleep too with a special gun called a 'syringer'. I shot a "sleeping medicine" at him, and he fell right asleep!", Talia said.
She bobbed her head down to the kids surrounding her, and Hancock walked up behind her. He clasped his hands around her shoulders and knelt in front of them, getting close.
"The last guy put up a big fight. He wasn't a friendly character, I'll tell you that much. He grabbed my coat and tore a chunk of it off! Rather the coat than me, I guess. Talia fixed it up later, though", he said, standing up and spinning around to point at a poorly-stitched-back-on flap of red wool on the the back of his coat.
"We got them good. Then we were told we needed to flip a bunch of switches for the Egghead that hired us. Would've been easy, except ol' Lorenzo was trying his best to shall we say... sway our opinions. I wasn't particularly conflicted myself, but Talia here was getting really confused. So, I flipped the first switch. She snapped out of it, and we got all four of them. Lorenzo was pleading at the last switch, and when we turned it on the Egghead told his father goodnight. Lorenzo fell asleep, and he won't be waking up any time soon.", Hancock said, finishing the story with a theatrical bow.
The children clapped and cheered with delight, and were abuzz with questions. Talia was about to take one when she noticed Dr. Forsythe, rather pale faced, beckoning them out to him. The children groaned and waved goodbye when Talia told them she had to go now, but she'd be back again soon!
"Any news, Doctor?", Talia asked him, a little worried due to his almost fearful expression.
"Ah... Well... Your bloodwork came back normal. Healthy. A little anemic, but that's normal."
"And?"
"And you... Uh, well you..."
"Spit it out, Doc!", Hancock said impatiently.
"You are, somehow, by the grace of God... Pregnant."
Both Talia and Hancock stood completely still.
"I... I'm sorry, she's what?", Hancock stammered, completely floored. There was no way...
"Pregnant. Somehow. I didn't even think it was possible."
"It's not! It's... It's not, right? There's got to be some kind of mistake!", Talia blurted out.
"That's what I thought too. I ran three more tests to make certain. You, Talia, are pregnant", said Forsythe matter-of-factly.
Hancock stared at Talia, his eyes going back and forth from her stomach to her face. He was about to speak when Talia punched him on the arm.
"Ow! What the hell was that for?!", he cried.
"I know what you were thinking, and I swear to God I've been faithful this entire damn time, asshole!", she hissed through her teeth.
Hancock sulkily rubbed his sore arm, but said nothing else. That was what he was about to ask, after all.
"Listen... As great of a miracle as this may be, there are some unpleasant realities of this situation you two should be aware of. This child is very unlikely to survive through the pregnancy. It's amazing that you two could even conceive in the first place, considering the fact that you," he said, pointing at Hancock,"have had-and this is a medical term-the absolute ever-loving shit irradiated out of you. A child that you managed to help conceive is probably not going to be healthy. I'm amazed you still have testes. That's not me being rude; I am genuinely amazed. I mean, your nose fell off, so why wouldn't any other soft tissue? Perhaps it's the way you received the radiation? Over how long a period did you-"
"Doctor. Now is really not the time for this. What the hell is going on? And wouldn't the fact that this... baby, has survived this long indicate to you that it's healthy enough to survive?", Hancock said with more than a little aggression.
"Yeah! How long have I been pregnant, anyway?", Talia added.
"About two months. Didn't you notice that you weren't getting your period?"
"Well, yeah, but I figured all the exposure I've had over the past five years made it so my body had... Y'know, stopped it."
"That happens sometimes. But it didn't for you."
Talia sighed, scrambling desperately in her mind for the right questions.
"Can I have an ultra-sound? I mean, you have the equipment, don't you? And even if you don't, I can go and yank the stuff for it from a hospital."
"I don't see why not. It would be good to see how the fetus has developed up to this point."
"I'm sorry. One more time; Talia is pregnant, and I'm the... the...", Hancock started.
"The father?", Talia suggested.
"Yeah. Um, that."
"Yes. I really don't know how. I'm sorry. Or, congratulations?", the Doctor said, quickly correcting himself.
It was Hancock's turn to feel sick. This was... a very strange, very unexpected surprise. He'd never seen himself as being anyone's old man; not when he was human, and especially not now. He wasn't sure what to feel, what to think. He was afraid, for the first time in a long time. He found himself not just being afraid for himself and for Talia, but also afraid for the... baby, inside of Talia. The doctor was right; in all likelyhood, this kid wasn't going to live long. Even if it did survive long enough, it probably wasn't going to come out healthy, or at the very least, not normal. He imagined extra limbs and eyes, a weird looking amalgamation of human parts swaddled in a blanket. This was too much for him at that moment.
"John? Are you coming?", Talia called to him, already across the hallway.
"Uh, yeah. Be there... Be there in a minute.", he said weakly. He needed a hit in the worst way. No way was he going to check out this 'ultra-sound' thing sober.