Project Procreation

12


Butch was so ecstatic that his mom turned out to be okay that he gave Janis the biggest kiss on the cheek with more than enough enthusiasm.

Janis wasn't peeved at all, as she merely waved him off and told him she had to give her mom a thorough check up. While doing just that, Butch watched the two with the biggest, goofiest grimace on his face, looking like he was in complete awe. It made Janis scared that his moms miracle recovery gave him some kind of false hope that she'd have an extended life.

Butch stated when Janis concluded her check up that he was to escort his mother back home, and with slight dread in his voice, as only a few minutes ago Ellen had told them she was fighting for that grandchild. He told her he somewhat hoped that this 'false alarm' would knock some sense into her about this whole plan the overseer devised was nonsense but Ellen was stubborn and requested to return home.

So as Butch and Ellen crossed the threshold into the hallway and out of the clinic, Janis sighed as she rubbed the bridge of her nose. The entire day that Butch followed her around like a lost puppy she had been preparing herself mentally for the time to come when Ellen would slip into the coma - not that Janis was hoping for it, but this recovery was something both her and her father did not see coming, so she saw the next best course of action was to prepare for the coma and eventual death. She knew the death would be somewhat easy to handle, she'd been taught how to handle the body and inform the family, but with Butch it was a completely different story. That was what she was really trying to prepare for because she honestly had no clue as to what approach she'd take, or even how exactly he'd react. It was definitely lifting that Ellen was alright for now and Butch's mental health was not in danger.

When she finished cleaning up the clinic Janis padded down the hallway, still barefoot from sleeping, and unlocked the front door to their apartment, finding it void of Butch. The only thing there was to do was to dive into those magical looking sheets, so with a sudden burst up energy, she climbed into the bed and curled up into a neat little ball under the sheets.

She sat up straight with a furrowed brow and reached over to Butch's side of the bed, gently patting his pillow. "Oh." She remembered how she splashed water on Butch's face to wake up up and that was the reason why the pillows were cold and damp.

Flipping over her pillow with a content sigh, she could finally feel the effects of sleep, weighted eyelids, her body beginning to feel heavy, breathing beginning to regulate - she was so close to sleep when said sleep was rudely interrupted by a large kiss smack on the lips.

"Wha-"

"I can't believe it! You fixed my mom up real good Janis!" He bellowed with a big toothy grin as he climbed into his side of the bed, laying on his side so he could stare at her with big googly blue eyes. "I mean I know my moms clock is tickin' but I didn't even get to say bye to her..!"

"I really didn't do anything Butch, really, it was all your mom."

"You n' your dad could have given up on her a long time ago but you didn't! Sucks that y'know, she ain't got that much time left, but... She can actually remember what she did the night before."

She rubbed her face with a sigh. "Well that wouldn't be very ethical would it?" He shook his head with a smile. "Jeez, what time is it?"

"Uhh, I dunno, I left the clinic with my mom about an hour ago."

"Seriously? What took so long? I remember her pointing out how tired she was."

"Apparently she'd rather hound me about givin' her grandkids than sleep. Jeez that woman's got a lot to say.."

Indeed she was sleepy but it seemed Butch was in that weird once in a while type mood where he liked to talk so she'd take advantage of that. "What exactly was she saying that she didn't say in the clinic?"

"Butchie all I want before I pass is to at least know that you're going to have a little one on the way and you're not getting any younger, I had you at seventeen, blah blah blah. Almost nineteen ain't an age I want to have kids at."

It wasn't unknown that Ellen wanted to be a grandmother more than anything at this point in her life, so rightfully so that pressured both Butch and Janis, both of which weren't too keen on letting in anytime soon."Yeah.."

"She's sayin' bullshit like she's not afraid to die anymore. She almost goes into this coma n' now she's suddenly fearless, what kinda crap is that."

She shrugged. It was common vault knowledge that Ellen was raised in a regular Italian household, religion and everything, so Janis just kind of assumed that death wasn't something she would be scared of, as death would bring her peace. Maybe since becoming sober Ellen made more of a connection with whatever God she was raised with. "Isn't that a good thing? At least she wont be fighting something that's going to win."

"Yeah, guess you're right there." He folded his arms behind his head as he dreamfully stared up at the ceiling. "When I brought back the blankets to the cafeteria this mornin' I noticed they were pulling out the Christmas decorations."

"Hm, it's that time of the year again, huh. Christmas time..." She completely sheathed herself in the blankets. "Christmas, Christmas, Christmas, my favorite time of the year."

..

Butch was right the night before. Most of her morning shift was spent transferring Ellen's file to the terminal and informing her father of what had happened the night before, so when lunch time rolled around and she stepped into the hallway a few volunteers were on their tiptoes on stepladders taping Christmas decorations to the walls. The decorations weren't anything specials, as they were the same things every single year for as long as she could remember - in the ninety degree angle where wall met ceiling, the fake fir trim was placed with mismatched plastic bulbs hanging loosely. Every public space was adorned with the old decorations, more trim, tiny trees, red table clothe, Christmas music on the radio, but the real kicker was Janis' favorite part of the decorations. In the large atrium where most of the vault meetings were held was the large fake Christmas tree, where on December 12th a lot of people would go as they were welcomed to help decorate the tree. There would be fresh baking to enjoy, courtesy of Ms. Palmer, and listen to music while (mostly) the children helped decorate the tree. The vault was a cold cold place but the holidays really brought everyone together.

She paced down the hallway with a small smile on her face, as she tried her best to walk as slow as she could to take in all of the decorations. As she passed by the diner she glanced inside, the jukebox blaring 'Silver Bells' by Margaret Whiting & Jimmy Wakley. Through the thicket of people she could already see Butch at his booth with Freddie on one side and Paul on the other, and for a split second, she locked eyes with him until she passed the doorway.

When Janis put one foot into the cafeteria she could already hear Amata calling her name from their regular table.

Guiltily, Janis strode up to the table. "Sorry about yesterday, a few things were happening at the clinic-"

"Pfft, Janis, I knew where you were at lunch." She scooted over, allowing Janis to sit beside her on the bench. "And who you were with."

"Oh relax, I was treating his mom so to save time we went to the diner."

"Mhm~" Amata giggled as she poked at her 'mystery meat' with her fork idly, scanning her best friend over. "Go get your food before they close access."

"Yeah, I'll do that." Janis hopped to her feet and stood before the bar of food, contemplating between the disgusting grey mystery meat or the sloppily made raunchy smelling sandwich in the cooler. Feeling rather daring (probably rubbed off from her half a year with Butch she guessed), she went with the mystery meat. She scanned her lunch card through the self serve check out and made her way back to her friend, taking a seat across from her now. "I thought you couldn't handle the mystery meat? Making you sick and all."

"Yeah..." Both women eyed the things called 'food' on their plates with disgust, both pushing the meat all around their plates. "Well the sandwich's today really weren't as appealing... As this.."

"Once you succeed your dad maybe you can finally change the menu so we don't have to live eating this crap forever."

"That will be the first thing I do, I promise." She chuckled as she took a small mouthful of the mashed potatoes. "How're you liking the decorations? I know Christmas is your favorite time of the year."

"I'm excited! I hope they don't leave out half of the boxes like last year, or the baking mishap with Ms. Palmer, but her health is a lot better now so I don't see her opting out of baking for the vault."

"Aw yeah, all those kids crying because they didn't get their Santa and reindeer shaped cookies." They shared a laugh for a moment, ate for another, and Janis met Amata's prying eyes.

"So, what's going on with you and Butch, huh? I overheard some of the girls, surprisingly not Susie, talk about how close you guys looked at the diner."

"Like I've said before, I'll tell you anything, but in all seriousness, nothing is going on! Strictly friends, Amata."

"You don't have feelings for him? At all?"

"Of course I do.. Just not in that way.."

"Well how do you go from hating him to having 'feelings' for him? I mean, I still really dislike Wally."

"I don't know.. I just know him on another level since I moved in with him so I can better understand his emotions and why he does what he does. He's not a complete jerk all the time, not wanting to dismiss what he's done to us in the past, but I can stand him most of the time."

"Gee, I have yet to see that side of Butch."

"Well, you're not seeing me with a big black eye or a stitched brow, so I say you've already met that side."

...

After lunch in the cafeteria Janis began to walk back to the clinic, but as how everything she does in the vault was interrupted, the reputation couldn't be tarnished, so of course she was dragged into a room that was not the clinic... But instead the diner. "Hey - I've gotta get to work."

"Lunch don't end for 'nother twenty minutes."

She couldn't argue with that, as she looked at the clock and the hands were still saying twelve forty. "Still-"

"You ate at the cafeteria?"

"Yeah I did, why?"

He meandered back over to the booth, which had an absent minded Freddie staring at the television set. "Because we all know nobody gets full from any food there."

She idly paced over in front of the booth. "Food access is closed anyways, so there's no point in me staying."

"Like the nice guy I am, I bought you extra food."

Still slightly estranged, she took a seat on the edge of the seat. "I didn't know bought was part of your vocabulary." She took the tinfoil wrapped burger in her hands and unpeeled it carefully, eying him in the process. "Did you check on your mom this morning?"

"Yeah I did. She was up pretty early with some tea watchin' an old Christmas movie on the tv set."

Janis carefully nodded as she took a bite into the burger - boy was this delicious, well, at least compared to the disproportionate grey meat she was served half an hour ago. "That's good. Thank you, by the way."

"Yeah.." He leaned back in the booth as his own eyes were drawn to the tv set, A Christmas Carol was playing, absorbing eyes all around the diner. "I don't see the big deal with Christmas." He bit out rather sourly, crossing his arms and tearing his eyes away from the tv.

Janis stayed quiet. He liked Halloween, so she assumed he liked Christmas but the more she thought about it - Christmas was about family and she could only think about Christmas days in the DeLoria household. When she finished her burger she leaned back in the booth and stared at the tv for a a few minutes while Butch stared blankly at the wall behind Andy. She was watching as the Scrooge came onscreen when a glimmer caught her eye - a silver tray beneath the wall mounted tv set. Her brows scrunched and she leaned forward - a tray of sweetrolls!

"Where did those come from?" She gawked as she pointed to the tray and looked at Butch with a flabbergasted expression. Sweetrolls were special occasion type things and only a few people in the vault could make them the right way - one of them recently passed so Janis was starting to think the delicious recipe for the best sweetroll would be lost.

"Old Lady Palmer said she wanted to start early this year to make up for last year." He shrugged it off and watched with a raised brow as Janis managed to get the second to last one on the tray and return. Watching her, as that look in her eyes made him grin ear to ear. "Why do you like those so much?"

She took a dainty yet satisfying bite. "Because they are delicious and the only baked good I really like." Reveling in the taste, the cutest smile formed on her face.

"Remember when I stole your sweetroll on your birthday?" Her face went from total bliss to completely void of emotion, pressing her lips into a thin line. She locked eyes with him, he squinted at her suspiciously. "Why do you look like that? What's your problem?"

"I remember.." It then contorted from being blank to the smuggest little smile he could ever imagine. Her heart raced in her chest. "Can I tell you something?"

"Sure.." He stated slowly, as if he were hesitant on learning, but still, he looked somewhat eager.

"You have to promise not to be mad, okay?" She scooted in closer with a serious look - making him looked frightened, as she'd never done this before.

"I can't promise nothin', but you're gonna tell me."

"Well.. I didn't want to fight you on my birthday, but I was really mad at you for practically forcing me to give you my sweetroll..." He leaned in closer, now looking mighty suspicious.

"What..." He hissed as he squinted at her.

"I spat on that sweetroll." Once it left her mouth she let out a large sigh and she looked right up to the ceiling, placing a hand on her chest as if a big weight was suddenly lifted off her. "Oh my God I've been holding that in since I moved in!"

Almost immediately Butch leaned back, a completely astonished look written on his face, blue eyes looking rather befuddled. "You what?"

The biggest smile he ever saw on her face sprouted, followed by a breathy giggle. "Yeah - I spat on that sweetroll before I gave it to you!" She was reduced to the most idiotic fit of giggles he'd ever seen in his life.

"I can't believe that."

"I-I'm not making this up."

He shook his head at her. "I can't believe you!"

"I know! That's what you get though, that was a birthday gift." She took another small bite and in that split second her mouth touched the biscuit, he slammed her face into it (not hard enough to hurt her).

As she whined about her ruined treat, Butch laughed. "Heh, and that's what you get for spitting in my food."


this will not be the end of christmas! usually when I play F3 and the Butch/sweetroll decision comes up I mock him and his mom about her drinking up the rations.. and I don't feel bad about it because I make up for it by telling Butch Amata is sensitive about her weight. I'm a bad person. What did you guys choose?

Thank you for the great reviews! Love them all! Keep them coming!