Chapter Thirty-Seven: Finally Here
"I can't believe we're finally here," Sunshine says as they walk through the entrance to Rivet City. She stretches, and the yellow '101' on the back of her Vault suit becomes distorted and bunched up underneath her new shoulder guards. Moira, in addition to repairing the suit better than Charon thought her capable of, improved it by making lightly armored. Sunshine loved it and had been wearing it since she got it back.
"Suits me," she had said with a grin.
"Feels like a lifetime," James agrees, ruffling her hair. "Do you think Madison will still remember us?"
"Oh, she didn't seem too likely to forget the last time we saw here," Sunshine says, remembering the woman's perpetual scowl. She smiles down at Bryan, who looks at all of the shops with wide eyes.
"You excited about seeing your Aunt Vera?" she asks.
"Scared," he says quietly, craning his head around her as they pass Flak and Shrapnel's. "There are so many people here."
"It's the safest place in the wasteland," she reassures him. Looking around and remembering the last time she and Charon were here, she amends, "As safe as you can get."
"Sunshine!" A voice echoes throughout the Rivet City marketplace. Her head perks up at the sound of her name.
"I know that voice," she says, looking around.
"So do I," Charon grumbles. Sunshine catches sight of the one who called her name and her mouth seems to explode in a grin.
"Harkness!" she calls back, waving furiously. The android smiles with ease and walks over to the group with a slight limp. "How's your leg?"
"Healing up," he says. She hugs him and he laughs, giving her a tight hug back. "I see the wasteland isn't disintegrated into green goo yet."
"Give it time," she says. "We've barely gotten started."
"I wouldn't say that," Harkness says, eyeing her rifle. "Have you done any maintenance work on that thing at all?" She turns red, avoiding his eyes.
"I've been taking it to Moira," she says. "I don't really know how to fix it myself." He laughs again, ruffling her hair.
"We'll have the fix that, don't you think?" Charon scowls, arms crossed over his chest and fingers digging into his biceps. Sunshine smiles up at Harkness with a light chuckle.
"Maybe, if I can find the time," she says, gesturing to her group. Harkness eyes her group with a raised eyebrow. Charon scowls at him and he gives the ghoul an infuriating wink.
"Let me know," he says. Catching Charon's eye again, he chuckles. "If you can find the time, of course."
"Chief!" A voice calls. "Chief! There's a bar fight down in the Muddy Rudder!" Harkness groans, rolling his eyes heavenward.
"Well, I guess that's my cue," he says. "Gotta go throw someone off the bridge again."
"Best part of the job," Sunshine says. He grins and ruffles her hair before striding off.
"Yeah, good riddance," Charon mumbles. Sunshine elbows him in the ribs playfully.
"Be nice," she chides. He fights the urge to stick his to tongue out and grumbles to himself instead. She smiles down at Bryan and he gives her a gap-toothed smile in return. She wipes some dirt from his cheek.
"You ready to go see your Aunt Vera?" He nods and she ruffles his hair. "Don't worry. She's a bit of a gossip, but a good person. She'll love you."
"I told you it would work, Madison," are the first words her father says to Doctor Li. Doctor Li freezes, and then turns. She's gone pale and her eyes are wide as she looks at James. Its almost like she's seen a ghost.
"You're alive," she says. James grins at her.
"I was right," he says. "About the G.E.C.K. If we can find one, we can adapt it to work with the purifiers."
"And what makes you think I want anything at all to do with this?" Li asks, her eyes narrowing and her voice back to normal, albeit with a noticeable tremble to it. He steps forward and places a hand on Doctor Li's shoulder.
"Because I know you, Maddy," James says gently.
A loud slap rings out through the Rivet City Science Lab. Charon looks over at Sunshine, who bares her teeth in an almost snarl. James holds his hand up to her and she stays in place, glaring heatedly at Doctor Li. Immediately after the slap landed, Li looks almost regretful.
"I'd like to believe you, James," she says. "But this is all so sudden. And it's failed before."
"I know it has," he says. "But I'm telling you, Madison. This is real. I talked to Braun himself. He confirmed it. Don't you see? This is what we've been waiting for-for all of this time." She shakes her head.
"No. What you've been waiting for, James. Not me."
"Madison," he says. "I know you, remember? We can purify the entire basin."
"We've tried that before!" she snaps. "And what did we end up accomplishing? Nothing!"
"Please," he says. "Trust me. It will work this time."
"So many years have passed," she says, her eyes drifting to Sunshine. "So many years. I don't know if it's even worth trying."
"Doctor" Li spends all of her time working on hydroponics pipe dreams, Pinkerton's voice plays in Sunshine's head.
"How could it not be worth improving the lives of everyone in the wasteland?" James asks, and he sounds almost like a young man again. "What could be a more worthy endeavor?"
"And worth a shot," Sunshine pipes up, swallowing her anger. Both Li and her father turn to look at her. She smiles. "After all, what've you got to lose?"
"You haven't lost any of your passion, James," Li muses. Her eyes drift over to Sunshine and the girl squares her shoulders. "And you-you seemed to have inherited it. "
"This is important to me, Madison," he says. "And I know it's important to you too." Hesitantly, he reaches out and puts a hand on her shoulder again. She reaches up and places her hand over his. "Let's finish this together- all of us, together." Sunshine smiles up at Charon, swaying a little on her feet. Acting on instinct, he wraps an arm around her to steady her. She leans against him comfortably and her eyes find his.
"'Together," she mouths up at him. He smiles, his arm tightening around her.
"James," Li says. "We don't have a G.E.C.K. I can scrounge a small team together, but they're going to need proof that it works before people start to believe." James nods.
"I know," he says. "There are some old pre-War computers we scavenged at the old lab. They might be useful in finding a G.E.C.K."
"There's no power at the facility," Li says, stepping away from James brusquely. She's all business now. "Even if there was a database, we couldn't access it."
"That's why we're going to make our way there right now and get it running the best we can," James declares. Charon looks down at Sunshine, whose eyes are closed and her head resting against his chest.
"If this were anyone else, I'd have Harkness throw them off the bridge," Li says wryly.
"I know, Maddy," James says softly. "But I wouldn't be here if I didn't think it would work. It's time." Li makes a frustrated 'augh' and Sunshine stirs, lifting her head.
"Damn you, James," she says, pointing her finger at him. "When this is all over, you owe me a drink." James smiles.
"My pleasure," he says. "It's good to be working with you again, Madison." She waves him off, moving to assemble her team. James gins at Sunshine, who moves away from Charon on shaky legs, and holds his arms out. Sunshine hugs him and he laughs.
"We're on our way, honey!" he says. "Project Purity is almost a reality!"
"So what now, dad?" she asks with a smile.
"We'll head to Project Purity and begin working immediately," he declares. "Those computers are out best chance at locating a G.E.C.K." Sunshine stifles a yawn and nods. She slaps a closed fist into her palm.
"When do we start?"
"You should get some rest first," Charon says. Sunshine looks at him like he's grown another head.
"No," Sunshine says. "I'm fine."
"You're dead on your feet," Charon says. She winces. She'd been having trouble sleeping but she didn't think it showed. She'd wanted to get to Rivet City so they could start work on Project Purity, and she had wanted to stay distracted. Sleeping hadn't been coming easy to her and the nightmares that had been plaguing her were something she'd rather avoid. James looks down at her and she ducks her head.
"He's right," he says. "Honey, have you been sleeping?"
"Sure I have," she lies. "But we've just been so busy! I mean, what with the fighting and the science and the saving people. And now we have a clear shot at making Project Purity work. I'm excited!" Charon and her father eye her doubtfully. She purses her lips. "You're not buying it, are you?"
"It wouldn't hurt anything for you to rest, sweetie," James says. "You can meet me at Project Purity when you wake up." Sunshine's lip extends into a pout and when she realizes it, she bites down on it.
"I want to help," she says, stifling a yawn. James laughs and ruffles her hair.
"We won't make any life-changing breakthroughs until you wake up. Pinky swear."
"All right," she grumbles. She turns and makes her way to The Weatherly Hotel, and Charon follows close behind her. Her footsteps seem to echo with every heavy step she takes. It'd be good to check on Bryan, she thinks. And, admittedly, an actual bed did sound a lot better than her bedroll. She wonders if Vera had been able to find any sheets.
"Sunshine!" Bryan waves at her from behind the counter. Vera stops cleaning it long enough to look up and ruffle his hair affectionately. He runs around to the front and stops in front of them. "What brings you guys back so soon? I thought you were going to work on the water thing?"
"Gonna rest up a bit," she says. "How's your Aunt Vera?"
"Well," he says. "It's only been a few hours but she's fine. She makes me do chores but she's nice. A lot like my dad," he says wistfully. He looks up at her with wide eyes. "Thank you again for bringing me here."
"No trouble, kid," she says. She looks over to Vera. "You have any rooms to spare?"
"Just the one," she says, eyeing Charon strangely. "You and your, ahem, friend, going to be okay with that?"
"Perfect," Sunshine says, a little annoyed while counting out the caps to pay Vera. "We sleep in the same bed all the time. Is that a problem?" Charon chokes on his words from behind Sunshine, coughing loudly. Vera flushes and putters about, knocking various things off of her desk in her haste to find the keys to the room. She thrusts them out toward Sunshine, clenched in a trembling hand.
"Here are the keys to your room!" Sunshine takes them with a mutter word of thanks and they make their way down the hall to their rented room. She pushes the door open and immediately heads toward the bed, Charon trailing behind her.
Sunshine plops down on the bed, watching the blankets fly up around her. Charon leans against the doorway, arms crossed and eyes on her.
"We can sleep in shifts," she says, clearing her throat awkwardly. "Taking turns with the bed. I won't make you share-I just said that to rustle Vera." He nods, titling his head against the door frame.
"That would be best," he says. Best, but not what he wanted. Her eyes lift up toward the ceiling.
"Yeah," she says. "It would, wouldn't it?"
"Get some rest," he says, his hand on the doorknob. She perks up.
"Where are you going?"she asks, sounding a bit like a lost child.
"To get some more shotgun ammo," he says. "We're probably going to have to defend the memorial from super mutants or worse." She nods, blonde hair a stark contrast against grey sheets. He moves to leave her to her rest but her voice stops him.
"Charon," she says, her voice small. "If you ever wanna, you know, go back to Underworld, just say the word, okay?" He looks at her over her shoulder.
"You gettin' sick of me already?" He had meant for the words to come out playfully but they just sound clipped and forced to his ears. She sits up like a shot.
"No never!" she says. Clearing her throat, she adds, "Its just that you've done so much, and I don't want you to feel obligated. You-" He makes his way next to her in three long strides and, without thinking, places two fingers against her lips to quiet her. He crouches down so he is eye level with her and says,
"I am with you until you get sick of me. For good or ill." Wide-eyed, Sunshine nods and he tries not to focus on how soft her lips feel against his fingertips. He removes his fingers. "Understand?" Licking her lips, Sunshine replies,
"I understand." He nods and moves back toward the door. Her voice, so quiet that he pretends he doesn't hear it, seems to echo throughout the room.
He closes the door behind him.