Chapter 4
"Chicago?" Gob repeated. "Why the hell are you two going all the way out there? I thought that whole area was a death trap."
Rachel sipped her whiskey Nuka calmly. "That's what Charon said too."
"So why are you goin'?" The bartender asked again, running a rag along the inside of the glass he had forgotten he was holding.
"For right now call it curiosity." She told her friend. "Charon and I are working on something but if it doesn't workout I don't want to have to explain why to everyone we know."
Gob cocked an eyebrow but he didn't pester her anymore. Instead he grabbed two bottles and topped off her drink. "So Chicago. You'll be gone for awhile then. I'm gonna miss you around here."
"I'm gonna miss you too." Rachel told him. "But hey, maybe when we come back I can bring you a souvenir."
Gob laughed, "Sure smoothskin. That would be perfect."
Rachel laughed with him, sipping her drink slowly while she fantasized about their upcoming trip. There was a lot that could go wrong in the time she and Charon would be gone. A lot that could happen to ensure that they might not make it back at all. "And if we don't come back Simms knows you get our house."
"You'll be back Smoothskin." Gob insisted, not like the turn the conversation had taken. It was too real a possibility to talk about.
Rachel snorted. "I know. But at least you'll give it back if it takes us awhile to make it home. After All the last time we headed across country we were gone almost a year."
"How long do you have to be missing before Simms decides to pass on the deed?"
"Eighteen months. I know it's usually a year but I got him to extend it since Charon and I wander so much."
Gob frowned at her. "Do you really think you'll be gone that long this time?"
Rachel lifted her shoulders in a slow shrug. "I don't know. Charon and I have been asking around but so far nobody can tell us anything other than that's it's a deathtrap. I guess the place is surrounded by sand storms."
"I don't like it smoothskin. I wish I could talk you out of it." Gob told her seriously. Rachel handed him her now empty glass.
"I know and I really do appreciate your concern. You're a good friend. But this is something we need to do." She told him, standing to leave. "It's important."
Rachel waved goodbye on her way out the door pausing halfway through the threshold. "We are leaving first thing in the morning. If I don't see you again before that it's been great knowing you. Charon and I will be looking forward to celebratory drinks when we get back."
Gob looked at the closed door for a long minute before letting out a heavy sigh. Rachel reminded him of another little smoothskin he'd known. He didn't know what her real name was but eventually people had started calling her Ginger. She'd been short, with fiery orange hair and one hell of a vengeful streak.
She'd blown into the bar one afternoon, scared and confused. She'd been fresh from a vault and looking for her run away farther. Gob had risked one hell of a beating and told her he'd seen a man like that early that morning.
He'd told her she might find out more on Moriarty's computer and warned her not to get caught. After that she'd appear in the bar once every couple months. She even started bring another ghoul around. Lucifer.
Gob had followed her adventures on the radio. After her father had been killed by the Enclave she'd made it her personal mission to wipe them off the face of the earth. She'd done it too. Nobody had heard hide nor hair of the Enclave in years.
She'd disappeared after that. She and Lou had said something about going north. They'd been gone about a year, maybe more and Gob had assumed he'd seen the last of them but then Ginger had returned. Just Ginger, she'd looked exhausted.
"Gob?" whispered the little red head at the bar. Gob turned to her, he wanted to ask what was wrong but didn't want her hurting any more than she very clearly was.
"Yeah kid?"
"Can I get a room tonight?" she already had her money on the bar, sliding it past two empty vodka bottles.
Gob took the money, sliding her a room key. She took it, standing unsteadily. "Gob…I want you to kill him one day." She breathed only loud enough for him to hear.
"What?" He was startled to say the least.
Ginger met his frightened eyes with her red hallow ones. "Moriarty. Promise me you'll kill him."
"Won't you be around to find out?" he asked, getting an awful feeling creeping up the back of his spine.
Ginger shook her head. "No, I'm leaving for good this time. Lou…" her eyes started to water, the sight broke his heart. Ginger held her breath while she regained control of herself. "There's nothing left for me on the east coast. Nothing but the bones of the people I've gotten killed." Ginger ran shaky fingers through her ragged hair. "I wish I could join them," She said suddenly.
"What?" Gob squawked. He'd dropped the glass he had in his hand, only just snatching it out of the air before it could shattered on the floor.
Ginger was nodding. "I do. I walked straight through enemy territory. I told them I was coming and they were ready for me…but…but here I am. I'm still alive. I don't know how but I am. It's not fair!" she yelled the last sentence, causing several patrons to look at them.
On the floor beside her feet Dogmeat whined. He hated being unable to comfort Ginger.
Moriarty came out of his office. "What the hell is goin' on out here?"
Ginger had murder eyes but Gob stepped up quickly in a rare act of bravado. "She was…ah…tryin' to buy a night with me." Gob stumbled, his cheeks turning hot. "I told her she'd have to wait till closing since there isn't anyone to watch the bar."
More than a hint of greed entered Moriarty's eyes as he turned to look at her. "Is that so, oh hero of ours? Fancy a roll in the hay with a corpse do ya? Well, seein' as your famous and all I might be willing to take over the bar myself for the rest of the night…for the right price O' coarse."
Ginger glowered but she pulled a large handful of caps out of her satchel, letting them rain onto the bar from her fingers. Gob's eyes widened. He really hadn't expected her to pay. Definitely not the wealth she was handing over now. He just hadn't wanted her to get into trouble.
A hatful grin split the bar owners face. "Off you go Boy O'. Take care of our favorite Vault crawler."
Gob lead the way up to his room but Ginger stopped him. She took his hand, pulling him into a guest room. "I paid for this room already," she mumbled. "And you're a good man. You deserve a night with sheets on the bed."
"You didn't have to pay him." Gob murmured.
"I wanted to." She told him quietly.
"You paid way too much for a shuffler like me."
Ginger shook her head. "I didn't. A thousand caps is a small price to pay to spend the night with an honest friend. You are my dearest friend Gob. You don't have a hidden agenda, you don't want me to risk life and limb for anything and you have never taken advantage of me. You might be the only one in the wasteland besides Lou who ever treated me so good."
Gob didn't know what to say. He didn't know what to do either so he ended up just standing there awkwardly.
Ginger dropped her pack on the floor and kicked off her boots. Next she shed her armor until she was dressed only in her underwear and a dirty white t-shit. Gob was looking hard at his own feet.
"Gob, I don't expect you to sleep with me if that's what you're worried about. I just want to sleep, and I was hoping that you might sleep next to me. Just for a little while."
Gob finally looked at her. His heart ached for her. She looked so lost.
Gob nodded, kicking off his own boots. "I guess I can do that."
They climbed into bed, the room was surprisingly quiet considering the noise in the bar downstairs.
Ginger's mangy dog hopped up onto the bed when they were settled, curling up into a ball at his mistress's feet.
"Ginger?" gob asked after a minute. "What did you mean downstairs? When you said it wasn't fair?"
"It's not fair that I'm still alive. I really should be dead Gob. I told what's left of the Enclave what road I was taking. I used one of their radio's, gave them and anybody else listening my time table. They were there waiting. Hit me with everything they had…I killed them all. I couldn't make myself stop fighting but I thought if I was outnumbered, out gunned…Gob how am I still breathing?"
Gob pulled her against his chest and hugged her tightly. It was the only thing he could think to do. "I don't know smoothskin but I am glad you are. And Lou wouldn't want you to throw your life away. He loved you."
Ginger nodded against his chest. "I know. I did too." Ginger turned her face so her nose was pressed into Gob's shirt. "I married him up north," she confided quietly. Then she snorted, her tone turning bitter. "We were married for like a minute and then he died. I tried to follow but I couldn't."
Gob hugged her tighter as she started to shed tears. He didn't mind, he loved Ginger. Not in a romantic way, it was more like a boy might love a sister. She cried herself to sleep on his shoulder.
It was a couple of hours before she made a sound. Had she not been breathing steadily Gob might have been afraid she'd died right there. She'd already admitted to taking several risks to get herself killed. Her survival instincts were too strong to flat out take her own life. It was something she was seeing as a curse but Gob was grateful. After everything she'd been through Ginger deserved to find her own happy ending.
"Lou?" her murmured and he looked down at her. He could tell by the way her fingers twitched and the way her eyes with moving behind her lids that she was dreaming.
Gob ran a ragged hand down her arm, making a non committal noise. The corner of her mouth twitched and she snuggled closer. "I've missed you beautiful."
Gob's heart broke for her. He squeezed her lightly, careful not to wake her up. "Me too smoothskin,"
She smiled a little in her sleep. He felt warmth spread threw him, feeling glad that he'd given her that little bit of peace and at the same time he knew when she woke up that peace would shatter.
When Gob woke up in the morning she was gone. It was still early but her dog, boots and pack were missing. Deep in his gut Gob knew that she wasn't downstairs. Ginger was gone.
"Gob!" yelled a voice close to his face.
Gob's eyes snapped open. He found himself leaning on the bar. He didn't know how long he'd been zoned out but Nova was in front of him with a worried look on her face. "You okay?"
Gob cleared his throat, straightening up. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking about the past. Come on, we should get set up for the dinner rush."
Charon was up before dawn. The ghoul had just started coffee on the stove when a knock sounded lightly on the door. Charon picked up a pistol from the table and opened the door a crack. When he saw who it was he cocked an eyebrow, swinging the door wide.
"That last time you were here this early you'd shot somebody." He greeted the other ghoul.
Gob wrung his hands together. He'd been up most of the night thinking about the trip Rachel and Charon were leaving on in just a couple hours. "I… I like you guys. I want to say…don't go to Chicago."
Charon's brows rose incredulously. This was the first time Gob had ever tried to tell him what to do and it looked like he might have a heart attack any moment from the stress it was causing him.
Charon stepped outside and closed the door so they wouldn't wake up Rachel.
"I'm not surprised she told you where we were headed. Did she tell you why?" Charon asked although he had a pretty good idea that the younger ghoul didn't have any clue.
Gob shook his head. "She said Curiosity. Charon I've heard about that place. Nobody has ever come back from that area. Good friends are too hard to come by for you two to leave and me not say anything. I know I'm not gonna change your might but still…don't go. If you do and you don't come back your friends here will always wonder what the hell happened."
Charon was gaining a new respect for Gob. It must be taking all the new found confidence he had to be saying this.
Charon sighed; he might as well be honest with the man. "Look, I don't like it either but Rachel…this stays between you and I or I'll break every bone in your body…but Rachel wants a child. Hell, we both do. There is a one in a billion chance that in Chicago I might be able to give her one."
Charon glanced back towards the house. Gob's mouth had fallen open. "You mean a baby Charon? How is that possible?"
"It's probably not possible. But she has to find out. We both do. And especially after Bobby how can I deny her that chance? So we're going to Chicago. I promise I will do everything I can to get us both home."
Gob nodded solemnly. "I guess I can't ask for anything more." He told Charon. Gob shook Charon's hand firmly, still a little stunned from what he'd just learned. He'd started to walk away but he stopped and turned back to look over his shoulder. "Hey Charon. Good Luck. I hope you all get home safe."
Charon nodded, truly grateful for the bartenders concern. Charon had closed the door and was half way to the kitchen before he realized Gob had said you all instead of you both. Charon smirked, watching the coffee perk. Yeah, he wasn't ready to admit it out loud yet but he hoped they come home with a little someone extra too.
