"Short stack, I have someone who wants to see you."

Noodle trotted into the room and put his paws up on the bed next to her arm. He sniffed at her hand and pushed against it. "Mrrh?" He whined, nudging her again.

"Sorry, boy. She can't pet you right now." Gene sat in her usual spot: the chair at Renee's bedside.

The Nightstriker leapt on the mattress and settled between her legs, resting his head on her right shin. He whimpered. His amber eyes were sad as he gazed at Gene, almost as if to ask her why Renee couldn't play.

Gene sighed and gripped Renee's hand. "They told me you can hear what I'm saying, but… I don't know if that's true." She took another breath. "I'm so tired of being alone…"

Renee, per the norm, said nothing.

Noodle curled into a ball and closed his eyes. He flicked his tongue out once.

Gene rubbed circles into the back of Renee's hand with her thumb. "Dr. Forsythe told me you'll probably be able to wake up sometime next week. Apparently you're doing bettah than they thought." She swallowed hard. "And I…"

She thought again of all the things Renee could say when she woke up and realized her leg was missing. "I'm so sorry. I wish I could go back to the beginning. I wish I'd nevah agreed to go to the Dugout that night. I wish I'd nevah—"

"Listen to me, Gene. You're smart, and strong, and beautiful, and everything I wish I could be."

Gene felt tears well up in her eyes again. "I wish I'd nevah met you. Then maybe you would've been all right."

Noodle lifted his head with a whine. She glanced at him. "I would do anything to make this right. Even if it means that we nevah… That we nevah met." She choked out a bitter laugh. "Maybe I'm cursed. First my parents and n-now you—God, why? Why couldn't I keep you safe…?"

Renee's jaw suddenly clenched and the machines beeped again. She relaxed a moment later.

Gene took a breath to calm herself. "I know what you'd say. You'd tell me it wasn't my fault. You'd tell me everything's fine and you'd pretend that's true. But it's not okay, short stack. Not this time. It… It's not evah gonna be okay." She gazed at Renee's face. "It's nevah gonna be okay again."

Silence settled in the room, broken only by the sounds of the machines keeping Renee alive. Gene released her hand and leaned back in the chair. She closed her eyes and tried, yet again, to think of how to explain to her girlfriend what happened. But how do you tell someone their life is irreparably changed—and for the worse?

Eventually Piper poked her head in the room to let her know it was time for dinner. Gene forced herself to stand, her body sore from being so tense, and she called for Noodle. He licked Renee's hand once before jumping down from the hospital bed and following her out.

"Apparently Curie and Virgil had some kind of breakthrough. We're all eating in the lab if you wanna join." Piper smiled as they walked toward the cafeteria.

"Yeah."

Gene stuffed her hands in her pockets. Noodle walked next to her, his claws clicking on the polished Vault floors. She ignored any of the Vault Dwellers that offered her a sympathetic gaze or a small smile while Noodle was quick to run to them for a quick pat on the head. Everyone knew. They did. Gene couldn't help that. But she hated it all the same.

She said nothing as she and Piper got their food on trays to take to the lab. Maria Summerset knew by now not to mention anything to Gene. She'd received enough sideways glares. "Enjoy your meal," she said anyway, smiling.

Gene nodded in response.

Piper lead the way to the lab. "You know, Gene, these people want to help you. You don't have to push them away."

"I'm not."

"You've been…" Piper sighed. Once they were in the elevator, she turned to the taller woman. "Listen. I can't even begin to imagine what this is like for you. I know it hurts. I know you think it's your fault, no matter how many times we tell you it's not. But I want you to think about what she would want. How do you think she'd act if it were you in there?"

Gene hadn't yet stopped to consider that. She tried to imagine herself in Renee's situation and how Renee would react. Images of Renee angrily lashing out at anyone who came by flashed through her mind, followed by bits of pieces of Renee at her side, trying to keep up her usual perky, happy-go-lucky attitude. "She'd… She'd try to make things bettah. For…for me."

"Exactly. Renee would try her damnedest to fix it. I know there's not a lot to fix, but feeling sorry for yourself isn't helping." Piper shook her head. "I'm not saying that you can't grieve. This is a big change, and you have every right to react the way you are. But Renee is going to wake up sooner than later, and when she does…"

"I need to be theah for her."

The elevator doors opened. "There you go. Now come on, let's eat." Piper left first, followed by Noodle.

Gene took a moment to gather herself before she stepped out into the hallway. She could hear Nate laughing as she approached the lab. They set up a long table for them all to sit at and she took a spot at the end, by Curie. Curie didn't take any notice of this as she was too busy getting flustered with Virgil. "Do you 'ave any idea what you are talking about?!"

"No offense, but I think my pre-war knowledge is more credible than a Miss Nanny that didn't leave one room for two hundred years." Virgil popped a bit of his razorgrain roll in his mouth with a smirk.

Curie's face turned red. "You—you—Bon dieu, pourquoi suis-je entouré d'idiots…"

Piper rolled her eyes. "Oh come on, Curie, it's not that bad."

Curie continued to grumble to herself in French.

"So, Dr. Virgil, you said you and Cures found some kind of solution to our Deathclaw problem." Nate glanced at him where he sat at the head of the table.

"Indeed." Virgil took a drink of his Nuka-Cola. "We finally came to the conclusion our best bet is to use their FEV to our advantage."

"Oui. We make a counter-virus." Curie smiled.

Piper tapped her chin. "That makes sense, I guess. But how are you going to do that?"

"We 'ave some ideas, but…"

Virgil swallowed his bite of casserole. "It's going to take a lot of experimentation."

Everyone stilled. Nate ran his tongue along his molars. "What do you mean, experimentation?"

"Ideally we would be able to test zhe viruses in a lab such as zhis." Curie glanced around. "But as time is of zhe essence, we figure it would be better if we 'ave, ah, live test subjects."

"Super Mutants make the perfect guinea pigs." Virgil continued eating as if nothing happened. "So we capture a couple and test our theories and serums out on them."

Piper shifted where she sat. "I-I don't know if I agree with that…"

Nate shook his head. "I know I don't agree with that. Super Mutants used to be people. And they're still living creatures, no matter how mutated. You can't treat them like animals."

"With all due respect, monsieur, we don't really 'ave a choice." Curie furrowed her brow. "Zhere 'ave been similar sacrifices made in zhe past for science. And zhis must be theirs."

"We can talk about that latah." Gene reached down to offer Noodle another bite of food. She was tired of science.

Piper cleared her throat before the silence got too awkward. "I have good news."

"Oh, wonderful! We could do with some good news, n'est pas?" Curie grinned.

The reporter looked to Nate. She smiled and reached for his hand. "Nat is going to be an aunt."

"Well of course, she's already Shaun's aunt technically—" Nate's eyes went wide. "Wait. You're…"

Piper just nodded.

Nate jumped up and pulled her from her seat in a hug. He kissed her. "This is great!" He laughed, whirling her around and around. "I'm gonna be a father! Again!"

Virgil gave them a genuine smile while Curie gave her congratulations. Noodle stood up and barked, wanting to join the celebration. Gene couldn't help but feel a bit lifted by the news herself. She allowed herself to grin as Piper began to laugh at Nate to put her down. "That's really wicked, you guys."

Once Piper's feet touched the floor again, she turned to Gene. "Oh! Didn't Dr. Forsythe give you some good news too?"

Everyone turned to Gene, who nodded once. She averted her gaze. "They… He said they'll be letting sh—Renee wake up next week. She's healing fastah than they thought."

"Hey, only three weeks in a coma isn't bad. For what she went through." Nate gave her a thumbs up. "You must be excited!"

She wasn't.


On the day they were taking Renee off the sedative, Gene couldn't have felt more nervous if she tried. She stood in the room as Dr. Forsythe and Rachel worked, rearranging Renee's machines and redoing anything she was personally plugged into. Rachel gave instructions as they worked. "Now Miss Dandridge, she's going to be pretty out of it at first so you'll have to be patient with her. She probably won't even remember waking up the first few times."

"She's not going to wake up immediately, is she?" Gene glanced down at Noodle where she held him back by his bandana. He whimpered and tried to get to his owner.

"Goodness, no. It'll be a few hours for her to wake up naturally. You're welcome to stay by her, of course. If you'd like." Dr. Forsythe wrote something down on a clipboard. "There. She's good to go. Rachel, I leave her in your hands."

Rachel smiled and finished up. She turned to Gene with a sigh. "Do you want me to stay? Or maybe get Piper or someone…?"

Gene shook her head. "No. It's okay. I've got the snup." She let Noodle go and he immediately jumped up on the bed to lay against Renee's right side, curling into a ball.

"I'll leave you alone then. Let me know if you need anything. Or if she wakes up." Rachel left and let the door slide shut behind her.

Gene sat in the chair she'd come to know too well. She immediately picked up one of the books on the bedside table and flipped to the page she left off on. Clearing her throat, she began to read aloud. "What if you read to her? I know she likes reading in her free time anyway. That might help pass the time and keep your mind off things," Piper had suggested a week or so ago. Gene took it upon herself to grab some of Renee's books from home when she last went back to Diamond City.

She actually found herself getting absorbed into the novel and nearly missed Renee's small whimper. She glanced up. "Short stack?" She put the book to the side and leaned forward. "Short stack, can you hear me?"

Renee shifted and her brow furrowed. Her eyes cracked open and searched the room before landing on Gene. "…Gene…"

Gene felt a few tears trail down her cheeks but did nothing to stop them. She gripped Renee's right hand. "You're finally awake."