(Dezbe)

Charon thinks this is all fun and games. He smiles to himself as we make our way back into the underground bunker. Dizzy is overly excited, talking to Cain in a loud whisper about how much Legion ass they're going to kick. I'm relieved to know Charon is okay, my place is beside him and we're forever together and all that bullshit. But there's an undertone. There isn't only the Legion to worry about, and there's a lot more at stake than Megaton.

You see out here we're resourceful. We know how to build up from nothing, I mean, you have to living out here. I didn't know how to at first, but learned fast. It isn't Megaton, or the surviving citizens I'm worried about. It's Dizzy. Gob and Zack have everything in order back home. They know what to do, and how to act. They won't panic. Charon and I have the hold over here with Caesar and his Legion. Dizzy and Cain…they're along for the ride. I've sheltered them. Charon, and I, have sheltered them, from the sufferings of the Wasteland. Rightfully so, we didn't want them to lead the same life that we had. And also, because we've been concerned, worried, and secretive.

Charon and I didn't shelter Dizzy, or train her, because she's a girl. It's because she's more special than she knows. More special, and more in danger, than Charon and I have let her know. We felt that by keeping her close, in Megaton, in the Capital Wasteland, we could keep her safe. That she'd never have to be put through what we did, and suffer. And that her trigger would be left alone. That nothing would spark it. I was okay with her going to New Vegas, because it's lawful there. I didn't think she'd get into so much trouble. I forgot for a moment, that she is my daughter, and trouble follows us like a curse.

"I need to speak with you."

I say to Charon in a hushed and hasty voice. Charon looks at me, still beaming with joy over us being alive, and catches the serious look in my eye. When your only child is in danger, everyone else, and the world, can be put on hold. He turns around to see the kids, and comes up with a halfway decent lie.

"We're going to investigate the operations room. You and Cain stay here and keep watch. Do not let anyone follow us. We'll be back."

Cain and Dizzy don't argue. They nod their heads, Dizzy more eager to please than Cain. There is no such thing as an 'operations room'. At least, not that I know of. But it gets us away from them, and behind a steel door. This place reminds me of a decrepit vault. One destined to fail, like so many did. It gives me shudders, and I feel cold, even though I know above ground there's radiation, and heat to spare. Radiation warms you from the inside out, like that hot drink they'd give us in the vault on special occasions. Sun heat warms you, but radiation…it's a sensation only the lucky can feel, I think.

"What is it?"

Charon asks, taking his gun off of his back and quietly setting it down. We talk in hushed voices, in case they can hear. I trust my child, and I trust Cain, but I cannot bring myself to share this with them. I've hidden it for so long, I feel as if all my parenting was wrong. That in trying to protect my daughter, I've just put her in more danger. A danger she doesn't know about.

"If Dizzy…if she fights alongside us, it may be the trigger. It may…cause what we've tried to prevent."

Charon is silent, as if he's forgotten the entire thing. But I know he hasn't. I know as I stand across from him, the steel walls closing in on me, the air becoming tighter and tighter, that he's just thinking.

"Legion may not be strong in numbers after this, Dezbe. The radiation will have cut them by more than half. It should be no worse than a Raider battle."

"You may be right, but Charon, Dizzy expects it to be a war. Haven't you heard of the placebo effect? What then?"

He sighs deeply, blinking, and looking at the ground. Shaking his head, his shoulders drop. Maybe he had forgotten, and for a while he was happy in knowing we were alive. I feel bad for ruining his momentary joy, only to remind him of this.

"We have to help her through it. There's nothing more we can do. We can try to protect her from it, but you are right. We may be unable to."

A stiff silence falls on us. It's uncomfortable, and I feel like the walls close in more and more around me. Here's the thing: Dizzy was never meant to be born. Of course she knows that, everyone does. She's the product of a pill Doc Barrows cooked up in the basement of Rivet City. But, there's a reason, people like Charon and I shouldn't have children. A reason ghouls cannot procreate even with humans. With other ghouls, it's fine, but with a human, it causes…mutations. Sometimes for good, sometimes for bad, and sometimes…like Dizzy, we don't know.

Charon turned at the peak of his physical and mental fitness. It's like he's frozen in time. Three-hundred something with the body of a twenty-something-year-old. His body does not gain weight, and he's constantly burning off calories. If he wanted to let himself go, it would take a lot of time and effort. Aside from your skin falling off, when you turn ghoul, whatever body you have you're stuck with. Explaining it like Barrows did to me, like I was a five-year-old, it's similar to freezing. You're frozen in place. Your body will not change. Immortality, at a cost. Most ghouls deal with it, or become feral. But then again, most ghouls, were not Charon. Only Charon, is Charon, and this is why he's different.

His training caused him to be tolerant of most biological warfare. He's resistant to great amounts of radiation. For him to turn, it took a lot. A whole lot. A lot more than a normal irradiated puddle would be. It was dumb luck that Ahzrukhal's little plan worked. Mainly because the bombs that fell were…modified. Like super radiation. Charon took a year to look as he does now, while most took days. Some are still decaying, but not Charon. Not only is this due in part of his training and resilience, but also because of his abnormally strong immune system. They pump you full of every disease known to man in that facility he was in. Then, tell you to fight through it. His muscles were torn, and rebuilt, only to be torn again. He's strong, and being a ghoul enhanced that. So think of Charon is some freak-super-ghoul with freak-super-ghoul-powers. Following? Good.

Now there's me. I carry the ghoul gene, like Zack. But! I was not born a ghoul. Zack is hundreds of times weaker than me. I'm stronger, more resilient, and it's easier for me to heal on smaller amounts of radiation. I was made, and mistakenly so. The amount I was exposed to was enough to turn me into a ghoul, and then kill me shortly after. But the Brotherhood saved me. With the technology, they got me to wake up, but they didn't save me. No, it was me who did that. At least, that's the only thing I can think of. That I am too stubborn to die, or become a ghoul. So I did neither, and took the best of both. But with my 'miracle case' and Charon being either a scientific marvel or some sort of abomination, you get a really fucked up kid. You get Dizzy.

Doc Barrows took blood from her as a child. She's always given him blood, but always assumed it was for regular tests, since Zack does the same. Any child born to a ghoul and a human parent gets the tests done. But Dizzy gets special tests. There's an abnormality in her blood. We don't know much of it, but Barrows says it's something to change her. It can be in a good way, or a bad way. He knows that it's from Charon, and that it's definitely abnormal. Because I am a human, with human genes, only slightly modified. Charon has completely modified genes. His underwent an entire transformation. All ghouls do when they turn, which is why they're hardly ever sick. But Charon was also stronger than before. In our own senses, respectively, they've improved our lives. You'd think in Dizzy's case, her life would be doubly improved. It's not like that, though.

Dizzy's body may not be strong enough to handle it. Barrows claims the trigger would more than likely be extreme stress. If she were in a severe situation, similar to the one we're in now. One she's never been placed in. If that is true, she could be set off for a drastic change very soon. I can't tell you what will happen, since nobody knows. She wasn't strong enough growing up to handle it, or we would have forced it. Now…she's only a bit stronger. Barrows anticipates that Dizzy won't ever be strong enough, unless she was put through the same training Charon was. You can see why we chose to hide the triggers, rather than put her through that. Thing is, we can't hide them anymore. She could very easily die from this. We don't know what exactly will happen, or if we should be this worried. But we are her parents. We do whatever we can to keep her safe. Only this time, we can't.

"She's my baby."

I tell him, whispering and fighting off tears. Charon, usually pessimistic, doesn't want to see the negative in this. He wants to only see positive. I understand why, and any other day I'd be totally on board. But right now, after…after everything…I just can't.

"It may not even happen. It may not even harm her. We are simply putting all of our eggs into one basket. We cannot do that."

"Eggs?"

"Never mind. Come on, Dez. We can't keep them waiting."

"Let them rest. Let them…just rest. Megaton is reduced to nothing right now, and Caesar won't find the G.E.C.K. Everyone is either dead or hiding, Charon. Just…for a minute, stop."

He stares at me, and I stare at him.

"If we leave without telling them, they will follow. They will be sitting ducks."

"Can we stop with the use of pre-war idioms? Because I don't know what the hell a 'duck' is."

"It means they'll be easy targets. You and I both know that much. They follow us, or they die."

"We lose Dizzy, we're going to lose Cain…maybe they could go back to Megaton? Help out Gob?"

Charon shakes his head.

"If Legion is there already, then we're risking their lives…again. It is best for them to come with us."

I know he's right, but I just don't want to admit it. Time is running out, though. If I could, I would freeze time right here in this tight and stuffy room. I'd do whatever I could to protect my family. Even though I know, there comes a point, where I can't protect them anymore. Dizzy is a woman now, a young woman. She will always be my baby to me, but I have to treat her like an adult. I have to hope for the best, and prepare for war. Hopefully, Charon understands that, too.

Watching him, I don't think he does though. He wants to protect Dizzy, above all else. That's his daughter, his little girl, and although she's not little anymore, to him, she's always going to be. Fathers…are like that. I learned it too late with mine. Maybe, that's why I don't get on Charon's ass about how he babies Dizzy. I mean I do, but not as much as I could. I like watching my daughter have the father I didn't, and unlike me, Dizzy accepts her father for who he is. She loves him more than life itself. He's her hero, and he's going to play that role until the day he dies. Looking into his eyes, I realize Charon isn't going to listen to my advice, or his own logic.

"Come on."

He says, leading me from the room. My heart pounds with adrenaline, because I'm scared. Scared of what may happen to my child. I don't care for Legion, for Caesar, for any of those fools. I already know we're going to kill them, and we're going to outlive this radiation, no matter how good it feels. When it's over, we're going to rebuild Megaton, and in time, resume life. That's the pattern, that's how it always goes. But if Dizzy sees this fight, and survives…I want nothing more than for her to leave this place.

In my mind, I make the choice that if she lives, I'll tell her to stay far away from here. Because if Legion knows about the G.E.C.K, then more likely than not, other gang members and groups of organized crime do as well. I want her to stay far away from here. From Megaton. From the Capital Wasteland. From all of us. Trouble follows this family like a curse, but maybe, if she gets far enough away, she can be spared.

Walking back into the room where Dizzy and Cain wait, I notice instantly the two of them sitting on the floor, using one another as pillows, and sleeping.

"Let's not wake them."

Charon whispers. I say nothing, staring at my child, and at the man that I raised since he was six. Tears come to my eyes, as I remember when Dizzy questioned morality. When…she was so innocent then. So young, a child. There was a raid in Megaton. Dizzy had never seen anything like it before. After it was done, and I was washing the blood from both myself and Charon, she stood on the stairs, and asked if we were evil. Charon and I looked at her, and she saw us kill all those people. That only evil people killed other people. It was the first time Dizzy ever questioned right from wrong, and told us she didn't know the difference anymore. For a time after that, she didn't come to me or Charon. She strayed from us, and would sit alone, just thinking. She was different from the other kids after that. She would sit and think, and spent her time alone. She began to think and talk like an adult. Yet…she never wanted to be alone. She was always near us, but far enough to where she seemed distant. I suppose she was scared of us, but knew that we were her parents and loved her. She didn't have anywhere else to go, anyways.

"They'll wake and find us, Charon."

"Hopefully by then this will be over. They've been up for a few days. They could sleep for just as long."

No. Not my daughter. I don't share this with Charon, but instead allow him to take the lead out of the facility. When I know he can't see me, I look at Dizzy, and I tell her what I used to tell her growing up.

"You're different, Dizzy. But you're not alone. I love you."

I don't want to turn my back on her. I don't want to leave her here, alone. But I have to. When she wakes up, she's going to be angry at first, and then worried. Soon after, she'll come looking for us. I can only hope by then, this fight is over, and things are just slightly better.