Edit 8/6/14 fucking typos

Of all the damn things.

So, this is the problem when you set out to write something around 4 chapters and it turns into a much much longer series. I've fucked up the dates/ages pretty badly. Over the weekend I re-read all of Gap Year and yeah, dates are well fucked. So in addition to this chapter, I have to go through and standardize dates and ages in all previous chapters. So that's my next project now that this chapter is done.

This is a little appendix reflecting the new birth/event dates that are known up to this point in the series for those of you who have been reading all along. Disregard whatever I said earlier, I'm a fuck up.

2249 - Benny is born
2254 - Mint is born
2259 - Callie is born
2274 - Boot Riders move to Strip. Mint - 20, Benny - 25* This is the most dramatic change made, story wise. Originally they were 17 and 22, but canonically the families move in 2274. If I'm going to fix this shit, I might as well fix this too.
2275 - Mint dies just prior to her 21st birthday
2278 - Callie leaves Vault 3 just prior to 19th birthday
2279-2280 - Callie with Followers (not a full 12 month period)
2281 - Game/story year, Callie - 22, Benny - 32

I'll also do some editing to Mint's childhood-flashbacks to make sure Benny's not like, perving on a fetus, but let's be honest, he's kind of perving on a fetus and that fits with Tribal life in Fallout. Really I wanted to make both him and Mint even older relative to Callie, but I forgot what a short time the Families actually were on the Strip in the game.

/

The autodoc had entered her at the base of her skull, weaving it's mechanical fingertips along the surface of her brain from a single incision that would go unnoticed. Callie knew the brain had no nerve endings, but she mentally replicated the pain of being punctured and fondled. It was all too much and she could distantly tell she was screaming.

She shouldn't have woken with it still inside her, working away and correcting the damage caused by Benny, Henry, and Mitchell. And Arcade. She should have slowly woken, as if from a wonderful night's rest, even if her mind had actually been swarmed by details she had quite forgotten. Something must have gone wrong.

The pillowcase her head rested on had a bloom of deep, rusty brown. Her blood. It had caked and dried where it had spilled. The amount wasn't excessive, about as much as one could expect given the location of the incision. Still, the petals of the flower it drew were grotesque.

While she had been alone when she woke, she was now dimly aware of other bodies in the room. Two of them, or at least two voices, yelling at each other. Neither knew what to do to stop her screaming. She didn't know either.

Benny and Swank. It couldn't have been as bad as she initially thought, if she could match vocal tones. Her own screaming stopped, although she didn't really mean to. Only her head was becoming clearer and she realized she wasn't actually in pain, she was only terrified of what she had woken to.

They couldn't figure out how to get the machine out of her. Just ripping it out didn't seem like the best course of action, considering they weren't sure what it was attached to on the other end. And it had entered so close to her spinal column. Both men had enough experience killing people to know that was a delicate area.

"It's okay. It's okay." Callie managed to speak but kept her eyes screwed shut. If she looked and saw any evidence of the machine still inside her, she couldn't trust herself to not lose it again.

"Girlie, I'm pretty sure this isn't okay. You're awake and this pile of shit is still in your head." Benny was feigning detachment.

"It doesn't hurt. I just can't look at it. It…" It scared her, but she wasn't willing to admit that. "I think it's almost done. I saw Mint leave. You carried her away." Now she kept her eyes shut so she wouldn't show weakness. Despite herself, she felt as if she was going to cry. Not because she was scared or sad or in pain. None of those things really, although all of them were a little bit true. "She loved you so much, Benny. She showed me."

"How do we get this out of you?" Benny hadn't acknowledged her previous statement. Callie didn't know why.

"I think it's withdrawing now…" There was the sensation of tubing running against the incision in her neck, sliding out like a thin snake. "Yeah, it'll stitch up the incision and I'll be done. It's over." There was still no explanation to why she had woken up too early, but besides probably scaring the shit out of the entire 13th floor, she didn't seem any worse for it. She could sense the little pinpricks of the autodoc sealing up the back of her neck. "Fuck me."

Her neck lowered from its strained position. One of the autodoc attachments had been holding it in place. Other than the stiffness in her neck, she felt fine. Not all that different than she had before she had gone under.

It took her a moment to collect herself, but she was able to sit up, to get her head away from the crust of dried blood on the pillow. She was right where she had been when the procedure had started, in Benny's bed. Out of habit she lifted her right wrist to look at her Pip-boy. She had left it on the vital statistics screen and it still displayed the cheery boy's figure that was supposed to non-threateningly reflect their current physical state. Everything looked fine, but then again, everything always looked fine. The autodoc must have finished patching her ribs and shoulder as well.

Oh, her hand. She held her left hand in front of her face and slowly made it into a fist. Opening and closing it no longer induced any pain in her fingers. That had been taken care of too. It had been a really long time since she broke her hand and it healed back improperly. That was even before Benny shot her.

"How long was I out?'

"Five days."

"The fuck?" She was shocked. She was expecting forty-five minutes, maybe a couple of hours, tops. In the vault she had never heard of anyone, no matter how complicated the procedure, being attached to an autodoc for days. Maybe she had programmed it wrong? But it seemed to have worked. She could recall much more about her life in the vault now. Sure, there were still gaps, but the ones you would expect from natural forgetting, unimportant little things. She hadn't yet tried to reach out to Mint, to see if there was still something there that wasn't hers.

"How do you feel?"

"Er, fine, I guess, same as when I went in. Well, better, look." She now held her hand in front of Benny's face and demonstrated her dexterity. He just sort of rolled his eyes at her. Well, whatever, if he didn't agree with her priorities, nothing would change that.

"I meant your head."

"We won't really know, will we? Either I'll have a fit or I won't." There was a way to know about Mint, though, at least in an abstract way. Callie tried to bring up a memory of the Tribe, something she had seen before. Mint was sitting in Benny's lap; Mint was newly seventeen. His arms were crossed around her waist and her back was against his chest. All these years of being so demanding and Mint was finally going to get what she wanted. Him.

But Callie didn't remember it as if she had lived it, or even as if she had seen it in a movie. She only remembered it as if the story had been relayed to her, shared between friends or sisters. The story was there, but not the vividness of the image.

"I think it worked." She didn't elaborate. "Five days, seriously?"

"Is that a long time? Swank and I had no idea. Cass said we shouldn't be worried though."

"Cass?"

"The woman Swank brought back. She helped him find that textbook. She also looked into that problem at the Ultra Luxe for you." Benny was playing with something in the pocket of his slacks.

"Not so much a problem as a giant fucking annoyance." Callie swung her legs over the side of the bed. She wanted to get up, move around. There didn't feel like there were any limitations holding her back.

"Well, it's taken care of. Cass found the Gunderson boy."

"Really?" She went to her drawer and pulled out a tshirt and slacks, pulling them on over her underwear. What she really needed was a shower, but she was actually hoping for some food first.

"Yeah, in pieces in the Ultra Luxe freezer. Which reminds me, I have a present for you, when you're up to it."

"What kind of present, Benny?" She eyed him suspiciously. This could be literally anything.

"Come on." Benny gestured towards the seating room. As Callie went to pass him, he grabbed ahold of her shoulder and pulled her towards her. "Do you still want me?" His voice was low against the side of her face.

"Yeah, yeah I do." She had responded without having to think about it. She meant it too. Only then did he kiss her.

"I'd fuck you right now if I could, Girlie. But there's company in the other room and you're hungry, I'm sure." His hand stayed in place at the back of her neck, carefully pulled away from the incision line.

Swank and a petite woman sat on the couch. That must have been Cass. She couldn't have been taller than 5'4" and was built like a bird, all narrow bones. It was clear her clothing hung off her narrow shoulders. Not that she was emaciated, just small. Her red ponytail cascaded out from under her hat and she was even more freckled than Callie. Probably a combination of her pale skin and extensive sun exposure.

"Hi?" Callie never knew how to start conversations. "I'm Callie." She offered her hand.

Cass bounced to her feet and shoot Callie's hand with more force than she had expected.

"Cass," the redhead offered. Politeness all around.

"So, uh, you and Swank, right?" Seriously, how were you supposed to talk to people? Callie had obviously never figured that out.

Cass laughed and Swank just scowled on the couch. "You managed to sleep through the start and the finish of that one."

"I was out for five days."

"It was over in three." Swank offered up. "She's insane."

Cass rolled her eyes in response. "I hear the same about you, Callie." When Cass smiled she had two crooked incisors, one on each side, but overall her teeth weren't terrible. Not like Swank's and Benny's. They hadn't been tools, Cass's teeth, just ill cared for.

"More or less, yeah. I'm hoping less, now."

"I followed your lead on the Gunderson boy," Cass sipped from a glass of whiskey.

Benny and Swank each had a glass as well. She hated the stuff. She had always preferred vodka, since she was fifteen and her enjoyment of it hadn't decreased after she smelt it in Marco's mouth.

"I knew his Pa a little. Everyone back West will say that, but I did transport for him a little when I was just starting out with the caravan business. I found Ted chopped up in the basement freezer of the Ultra Luxe. I could ID him by the ring on one of the hands. Showed it to his Pa."

"Who did it?"

Benny put a finger to his mouth. "That'll ruin my gift. Eat something and we'll go."

"I can eat and walk." She grabbed a prickly pear fruit off the table and looked for a knife so she could cut it in two. Benny would always bite through the skin, but it wasn't to her tastes. "Where's my pistol?"

"I'll get it." Benny excused himself to the bedroom. It must have been back with Yes Man. Callie ate from the fruit while she waited.

"We were worried for you, Cal." Swank seemed to adopt familiarity with others quickly. Callie didn't particularly mind. He had never given her cause for concern and had risked his own skin for her based on nothing more than Benny's request of him. While she couldn't say she was a good person, and she definitely couldn't say Benny was a good person, Swank was. Callie was reminded of something Arcade had said and she wondered if maybe Swank was a little bit stupid.

"I feel fine, Swank. Don't worry about me."

He hadn't moved from his place on the couch, as much space as possible separating him and Cass even though they shared the same piece of furniture.

"Nah, we know you're tough. Ya did kill Caesar after all."

Cass couldn't have looked more shocked. "That was you?"

"Er, maybe," Benny had returned with her pistol. He passed it to her grip-first. She took it from him, double-checked the safety, and looped it into her waist band. "It might have been him," she nodded towards Benny. "We weren't really keeping track."

"I'll let you take credit. Are you ready? It's not far."

"Yeah," she grabbed the last two slices of the pear and all four of them made their way out of the suite. "Are you coming too," Callie asked even though her mouth was full.

"I've got some logistics to handle back here. Benny and I are addressing the Not-at-Home issue once you're done with your task and if you go 48 hours without an attack." That was right. They had days to work while she was out and she still hadn't finished the replacement Chip.

Callie gestured at Cass, asking-but-not-asking if it was fine to talk in front of the other woman.

"She knows about the Lucky 38," Benny lit a cigarette.

"I'll work on it tonight. It won't be 100% finished but I'll have to make adjustments on site." Benny hadn't said that Cass knew everything. Only that she knew about the Lucky 38, so Callie kept her statements vague.

"I get the feeling that you'll have other things on your mind tonight, Cal." He patted her on the head, which was kind of awkward since they were the same size.

"I'm going to go get drunk downstairs until I'm useful," Cass sure was matter of fact.

Benny and Callie parted ways with Swank and Cass in the lobby. Once they were outside the Tops Callie felt more comfortable asking about Cass.

"I thought you didn't want to involve more people."

Benny had finished his cigarette and started on a second.

She had tried smoking when she was fourteen. It wasn't entirely pleasant and she hadn't gone back to it. Cigarettes were rationed like everything else in the vault. Kids got it via contraband. She spent her resources on vodka and Mentats. The second only had the underground trade, but while she had been fooling around with Valerie she had pretty much unlimited access to the medical supply.

"I want to keep my boys out of it as much as possible. It might be impossible, but I don't want this coming back around to them if I fail. And I couldn't keep sending Swank out. Cass has got weapon skills and can work independently. She's useful to have around. And she's expendable in the end."

Callie nodded. It felt a little like a replacement. Cass had literally finished the mission she had started. But, then again, she had made it quite clear to Benny she wasn't about to be anyone's errand girl. And it wasn't as if she could have helped anyway. Five fucking days.

"Don't breathe a word of the NCR to her though. Far as I can tell she still has loyalty there. She'll help us against Not-at-Home because she lacks a sense of direction. Swank said she lost her caravan and was looking for some thrills. Practically tore his pants off," Benny chuckled. "After we take the 38 though, I don't think she'll stick by us. She's fickle."

"You could say the same thing about me." She smiled, revealing her white teeth in perfect rows.

"Nah, Girlie," Benny swung his arm across her shoulders as they continued walking out the back security gate to the Strip. "We're stuck together and you know it."

Benny waved to the bot that showed them out the rear gate. The walls of the Strip might have been dotted with these little entrances and exits not known to the general population. They were nearly invisible as they blended into the mosaic of wreckage the walls had been constructed of.

Callie heard the buzzing of bloatflies first. Second was the intense smell of rotten flesh. The Wasteland always sort of smelt that way, but this was more concentrated, forcing her to take notice. Third, only third, she saw it. Bloated and torn, an eye already missing and the other one glossed over but looking outward; unmistakably him. That eye, and the other one, now missing, had appraised her as meat, and now he was reduced to that. Mortimer's head on a stake. It wasn't showy, like the Legion's crucifictions. It was actually quite a humble scene, standing only about waist high and showing considerable signs of decomposition. It had been five days, after all.

Benny came up behind her, cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth, the heat of it smoldering close to her face, but not close enough to burn. One hand wrapped around her, coming to rest on her waist. The other one he left free to handle the cigarette. "Do you like it? I'm glad you woke up in time to see."

"I don't need you to protect me, Benny." Her words weren't angry or unkind, just a statement.

"I know, but let me do something nice for my girl. Besides, it fit into the plan nicely. Marjorie was more than happy to turn him over." The second cigarette went out. He dropped it to the ground and pressed his lips against the flesh of her neck.

"I like it." She pulled away from him and went for her laser, drawing and aiming. Benny stopped her before she could fire.

"Use mine, you'll get more shots at him before there's nothing left to shoot at." He gripped the silver barrel of his pistol, offering her the pearl-inset grip. This was the one he had shot her with. Handing it to her like this was as much of a gift as Mortimer's literal head. The weight of it was different in her hand than the laser. It was smaller, lighter, more compact. It felt like nothing in her hands.

Unfamiliar with firing a conventional weapon, she widened her stance and looked down the sights, something she typically didn't have to do with laser, which fired off shots so quickly that even if her precision hadn't been great on the first shot, it was only a fraction of a second before another round could go off.

There were thirteen rounds in the clip. She emptied it into Mortimer's skull. The first three were uneventful. By the fourth, she was shaking. By the seventh, she had regained her composure. Bits and pieces of bone flew off, scattering in the dust. There was no blood left to splatter, but it was still satisfying, watching the bullets chip away at what used to be a human but was now just meat. All of her shots hit but the fifth. That had gone somewhat askew in the distance. When she was done, the head was no longer recognizable, well, it had barely been when she started. The clip was dry.

She wasn't really thinking things through. Only an impulse gripped her. Benny had been standing behind her, observing the scene but not really commenting. She turned on her heels to face him. His hands were shoved into the pockets of his slacks, manipulating something in his pocket again, something he hadn't shown her.

The impact against his thighs sent him to the ground in a single blow. Either he hadn't anticipated her attacking him or he made no move to stop her. He was good in hand to hand, though, so it must have been the later. Callie squeezed her thighs against his torso, locking in his arms and pinned him to the ground. Shame that his white shirt would be dirty now. There was no doubt she was stronger with her lower body than he was with his upper, but in any case, he didn't fight her.

The pearl handle was slick and cold in her left hand. She gripped it without pain or discomfort. In fact, it fit better into her comically small palm than the bulky heft of the laser.

She pressed the barrel against his right temple, holding it there impossibly long. Benny's eyes were wide and a little bit wild. They both knew the clip was empty, but it didn't change the peculiar intensity of this moment between them. He had killed her. Killed her. With this compact little gun in her hand. She pressed the barrel against his temple until he winced from genuine pain.

Over and over she pulled the trigger, listening to the empty clicks. Benny kept his eyes open and locked on hers, but he didn't fight, he didn't struggle, he didn't do anything but stare back. When she had enough she tossed the gun away, into the dirt.

When they kissed she bit his lip so hard that he bled into her mouth.

"Well," that goddamn smirk of his. She was kind of fond of it. "We know you're still crazy."

She put her head on his chest and laughed. The vibrations of his laughter caused her head to bounce a little bit. It was the same as when they had escaped from the Legion and fell into the Colorado. Absurd.

"You killed me. I should hate you."

"This isn't exactly a new revelation, Girlie."

"I had an excuse before. Mint loved you so much it was overwhelming. She dragged my body across the Wasteland to find you. Now she's gone. I don't have that excuse anymore."

"Must have not been an excuse then."

"I guess not." She scrunched her face. "Benny."

"Callie."

"Don't take this the wrong way, okay?"

"I'll take it whatever way I want, but given our history it seems unlikely that taking something the wrong way will ruin this. You did just mime emptying an entire clip in my head. Let's be fair, I only shot you once."

Her hold on his arms had loosed and he slid his arms out and placed one hand on each of her hips. His eyes were squinted, the sun must have been coming right at him. Callie shifted slightly until she blocked out the sun and his eyes opened again.

"It doesn't mean anything. But I love you, Benny."

He rolled his eyes at her. "Yeah, doesn't mean anything."

Shifting his weight, he flipped their positions so her back was against the ground and his hips slid between her thighs.

They both kept their shirts on, keeping their backs from scraping against the little pebbles embedded in the packed earth. Benny only bothered pulling his pants down far enough to free his cock, but Callie had the dubious honor of being pantsless in the desert.

He ended up coming in long ropes in the dirt, carefully aiming away from her.

"Okay, so, ah." Callie was in the process of re-pantsing, brushing debris off of her ass before pulling up her slacks. "You came in me before, now you're clearly not." Holy fuck was she awkward.

Benny had wandered off searching for his pistol.

"Fuck me, they don't teach Vaulties about where babies come from?"

Callie laughed. "It's about the only thing they teach us. I'll admit, I wasn't really thinking about that."

"Truth is, when you first showed up at the Tops I didn't know you and I didn't give a damn. Now I'm pretty sure you'd stick my head on a pike if I knocked you up. Now ain't the time, anyway." He had retrieved the pistol and headed back towards her.

"Never. Never is the time."

"Fine by me. I got a few already."

She wasn't sure if he was serious or not. She wasn't really sure that she wanted to know. But Benny, true to form, just kept on fucking talking.

"They're...around. But all little."

"Right." Where was a building for her to smash her head against? This was the last fucking thing she wanted to talk about. The absolute last. Her and her big fucking mouth and not putting two and two together on her own. And Benny and his random fucking tangents.

"There's a clinic, just outside the Strip. They do implants. Dr. Usanagi, I think her name is. She can arrange it so you can't get pregnant until you want to. You're really healthy, eat well, we have to be careful."

"Can you just shut up, Benny?" There was a tight fear in her chest. She did not want to address this, not now, not ever. Part of her felt like she should disclose more about what she learned about her life in the vault and condition of her birth. Then he might understand. But this wasn't the situation for it.

"Sure thing, Girlie."

The rest of the short trip back to the Strip was quiet. Which of course meant Callie actually had time to think. She tried to occupy her thoughts with lines of code rather than anything else. The more she could prep beforehand for the Chip replacement the better. Benny and Swank and Cass could storm the Lucky 38 and when the fighting was done, she could stroll in with Yes Man and get a better look at the Securitron set up. Once she knew more about the upgrade procedure she would be able to finish off the program.

When they passed the Ultra Luxe, they found Cass topless, dancing in the fountain. Her tits were kind of big in proportion to her small frame, but also sat kind of flat against her chest without a bra on. They weren't bad. Her chest was sprinkled with freckles, just like her face.

What was with people and this damn fountain? Cass was clearly drunk and happy. A male NCR soldier, also clearly drunk, pulled off his shirt and joined her in the water. Moments later they were vigorously kissing with little accuracy, mostly just kind headbutting each other and laughing.

"Are we supposed to help her?" Callie cocked her head to one side.

"She'll sober up by the time we need her."

Callie couldn't be too bothered by it.