FORGED IN STEEL
BY KRIS CALLAHAN
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Fallout or make any money from this story. Also, the song Shipwrecked is the property of Jars of Clay. I took the liberty of changing 'he' to 'she' to fit the story.
She put it in a bottle and she threw it out to sea
But the tide would not surrender and it floated to the beach
So the message of apology her love would never see
She walked around that island all shipwrecked
And heavy
The scars of early childhood still showing on her skin
Necessary enemy so healing could begin
From the message of apology her heart might soon break free
For now she walks that island all shipwrecked
And ready
Though beyond horizon lines across the salty sea
A boat without a captain makes its way to some city
She prays that it will sail its course to lover or to kin
A fan of thirsty searching and finding her again
Finding her again
Finding her again.
Shipwrecked by Jars of Clay
A/N: I have to make an author's note to correct a blunder I have made here. I failed to give credit for the Roadrunners' tribe to Ghoulmask, the tribe's creator. I beat myself up pretty bad when she brought it to my attention, but she is a very gracious and understanding friend and knew without my telling her that I meant nothing bad by it, that I was only very excited that she let me borrow her concept, and that she is the very first person who ever allowed me to and I neglected to mention it, or add an Author's note at all. I was embarrassed by the situation and learned from it. Meanwhile she and I talked it out and are still best of friends. She has taught me a lot about writing and it shows with every new chapter. Also, I could honestly give her credit for the nickname Kazzy, as she was the first to use it, but that's really just splitting hairs lol. Thank you Ghoulmask for allowing me to use your Roadrunners to make my story that much better. You are a great writer. Go read Human Nature!
CHAPTER ONE: A BRIGHT FUTURE FOR A BRIGHT GIRL
"Wake up. Wake up dear, the sun is out and we have another day to live our lives." Her father called out softly as he shook the small girl's snoring form gently, calling her to awaken and enjoy the sunshine.
"Good morning daddy. Sleep well?" she asked groggily. She rubbed her eyes adorably before stretching hard and yawning her early morning sleep away.
"Of course. And you look like you did as well." He answered with a deep chuckle. He tickled her belly with a single digit and she giggled uncontrollably, trying to hug her father's arm tightly to stop the delightful sensations that manifested themselves in loud bouts of laughter from her small frame.
He took her small hand and led her out to the mouth of the cave that they used for their home. The journey toward the daylight showing a hundred feet away or so was always painstaking as her father reached carefully, disarming the mines that stood in between her family and whatever horrors of the wasteland decided to rear their ugly heads.
Mine after mine was deactivated as she curiously followed her protector towards the light that promised a busy day of adventuring. If she were lucky, she would be able to talk to Danny, her father's friend and a travelling caravaner. He was always chatty and spoke to her as an equal rather than as a child as every other caravaner that her father served with had done.
She supposed they had that right. She was not exactly a prodigy, but she was smart enough, smarter than most girls who shared her eight years of life. Coming into contact with the light, she brushed her shoulder length black hair from her face, simultaneously blocking her eyes from the glaring rays until she was sufficiently used to them.
Her blue eyes fixed on her mother, lovingly preparing a plate of breakfast staples onto the plate of her favorite caravan driver.
"Hey Kazzy, you awake yet?" Danny Patera asked with a crooked grin. His skin was unwashed and caked in wasteland dirt, but his face showed fondness for the eight year old girl. She smiled happily up to him and made a beeline toward him for a hug.
"Oh Kaz, you're going to get filthy. I'll have to bathe you double before too long." Her mother chastised, clucking her tongue, but she would not deny her little girl the embrace of her life long friend and her husband's favorite co-driver.
"Where you guys goin'?" Kaz asked curious about where her father would be going all day long.
"We got a long trip ahead of us, kiddo. We'll be going to Galveston." Danny said, while forking food into his mouth, a bad habit he had that always made Kazdin and her father laugh and her mother scorn.
"Close your mouth, Daniel." She said in a motherly tone.
"Whatever you say, Samantha." Danny said his mouth still full of food.
It's like he doesn't even know he's doing it. Samantha thought to herself, but she couldn't stop a grin at his own shit-eating smile.
"I swear your woman thinks she's my mom." Danny joked well within Samantha's hearing range, earning a well-meaning smack behind his head.
"Daddy, will you bring me a conch shell? I can use it for Barbie to live in. I think I can make a little house for her from a nice big one." Kazdin grinned triumphantly.
"You are very resourceful, sweetheart." her father said admirably.
"She's your daughter after all, Matthew." Samantha said, making a plate for her daughter.
"What does 'sourceful mean?" Kazdin asked confused by the new word.
"It means you know stuff, dear." Danny answered. Kaz beamed before she forked a forkful of Brahmin sausage into her tiny mouth.
"Wow, thank'ya." She said, her mouth stuffed with sausage still. Her mother groaned.
"Kazdin! Swallow before you speak." Samantha corrected. She turned to Danny.
"You see what you teach her?" Samantha said, clucking her tongue again, as was her custom when she was annoyed.
"Nah, she's just learning stuff right." Danny said laughing. Samantha slapped his head again, making him laugh harder.
"Come on, Sammy, you're gonna beat him up and I'll have to make this Galveston trip myself." Matthew said laughing himself.
"You won't get there unless you two overgrown children go now." Samantha said.
"Strict but fair." Matthew said finishing his Nuka Cola and taking four caravan lunches and loading up the Brahmin that he and Danny had bought together.
"Just let me say goodbye to my Sugar Bear." Matthew said. He rushed her lifting her into the air easily and throwing her high before catching her, making Kaz squeal happily before she hugged her father goodbye.
Once her feet hit earth again, Danny held his arms open and she ran to him, hugging him hard.
"Buh-bye Danny!" she hollered happily.
"I'll see you later, sport. If you're good I might even bring you a spear. We're gonna see the Roadrunners a piece." Danny said with a wicked grin.
"I'd prefer a poultice." Samantha said drily.
"Don't listen to him Kazzy, he's just a boy." Samantha hit the final word with as much sarcasm as she could muster in her 5'7" frame. Kazdin scrunched up her nose.
"Eww. Boys are gross, huh mommy?" Kazdin agreed with a sour look.
"That's right dear; boys aren't just gross, they're extremely poisonous." Matthew joked to his daughter. The day she started dating would be the worst nightmare of his life. Worse than the raiders that sprinkled Galveston.
"But if they were really poisonous mommy would be dead." Kazdin stated smartly, crossing her arms and closing her eyes while she schooled her father. She was too smart for his comfort.
"And that's our cue. Danny, after you." Matthew said, his face an interesting shade of red. Danny laughed well into their long journey to Galveston.
"Mommy, did I make daddy mad today?" Kazdin asked innocently as she was tucked into bed later that night by her mother.
His reaction to her intelligent response had baffled her. She took Mr. Fluffers on many adventures, making their way to the water towers to the North before heading to the creek to the south. She kept thinking about her daddy's red face and it bothered her. As usual Mr. Fluffers had no answers for her.
"He just wasn't ready for what you said." Samantha said softly, sitting on the edge of her bedsprings while she spoke softly to her daughter.
She loved her mother. She felt she had a deeper kinship with her than with her daddy. Well, she loved her daddy dearly too. She loved both of her parents and wanted to be a good girl for both of them, which was why her father's reaction had bothered her so.
But her mother always explained things well to her that her daddy would shy away from. She had asked her mother what kissing was as well as where babies came from and her mother explained everything well.
"Why not?" Kazdin asked innocently, her eyes wide with her wonderings.
"Well, you see daddies usually don't like the fact that eventually their daughters will find a wonderful man one day. It's because he loves you so much that he does not want to be replaced with another man in your life, and you're so smart that daddy had a hard time with what you said. When you are a little older you will know just why your answer had made him blush." Samantha explained calmly.
"If my smartness makes daddy sad, I would gladly make myself dumber, but I can't." Kazdin said sadly. Samantha chuckled warmly.
"Your daddy doesn't want you to be dumber. He is very, very proud of you, as am I. It's just an embarrassing subject for him. Any man really." Samantha explained.
"But why did what I said 'barass him so much? What did what I said mean to him?" Kaz pressed. She got her determination from her mother. Samantha smiled inwardly at the notion that her daughter would not let this go.
"You see, what your father meant was sexual in nature. And when you answered him so calmly, it made him uncomfortable." Samantha sighed.
"Sexual?" Kazdin repeated, more to herself than to her mother.
"Yes dear. One day when you get older you will fall in love with a boy your own age and you will start to feel feelings for him. It's hard to explain. But on that day, you must promise me that you will only fall for a man who is nice, respectful and loving to you." Samantha said sternly.
"I will." Kazdin said happily.
"Say it dear." Samantha said. Kazdin nodded.
"I promise I will only love a boy who is nice to me." She repeated like a good girl. Samantha smiled and kissed her nose, making her daughter giggle sweetly at the motherly contact.
"That man will be the luckiest man in the world." Samantha said proudly as she rose from the bed. Kazdin hugged Mr. Fluffers close and drifted into a sleep fraught with sweet dreams.