Chapter Forty-Four
"Evie you shouldn't be out there baby doll. Not in your condition." Harland admonished. He stared at her belly, almost fearfully. His green eyes were wide and his face was twisted into obvious discomfort. Evelyn sighed. She had been avoiding him. Who knew Arcade was such a gossip queen? But there she stood in his office at McCarran, because Boone had sent word that she was needed. The news he had given her was far from pleasant but she agreed, this was her responsibility.
"Thanks for your concern, but I've got shit to do. The world doesn't stop just because I'm knocked up." She said. Charon hadn't left her side since he had returned, and she could practically feel the rage coming off of him in waves. He didn't like it when Harland was anywhere near her.
Harland stuffed his hands in his pockets and stared at the ground. "About that Evie..." He began. He looked like he hadn't slept in days.
"What about it Harland?" Evelyn asked mildly, her eyebrows raised. She didn't miss the growl Charon couldn't contain.
"Well I just... Damn I don't know Evie!" Harland groaned. "I don't know what I'm supposed to say or do in this situation! The kid... It won't want for anything. Okay? That's all I'm trying to say." She had never seen the charismatic man so flustered and she had to bite back a laugh.
"Really Harland?" She asked, shaking her head. He looked offended.
"Is it so bad that I'm showing some concern?" He asked defensively. He ran his hand through his dark hair, mussing it up.
"You need not concern yourself with my child or my woman." Charon snarled, stepping in front of Evelyn. He glared down at the Freesider. Relief flooded Harland's features and he took a step back.
"Your-? Ohhh man buddy boy, I been grossly misinformed. My apologies." Harland's smirk was back. He shrugged his shoulders and gestured to the barracks. "The soldier boys you're lookin for are in that red tent in the first row there. Boone was in there earlier yellin about a court martial, but I figure that's up to you. You're the lady with the robots after all." He walked away, whistling cheerfully.
Evelyn peered up at Charon with a rather dopey look on her face. "What?" He asked.
"Yours." She choked out, her eyes overflowing.
He sighed deeply. "Yes. Mine." Charon said with a nod. He kissed the top of her head, trying to usher her forward.
"But-" She protested. He gave her a sharp glare. The words died on her lips.
"Will you deny me that?" He asked irritably.
"I didn't know you wanted that." She whispered. "I don't want it." She admitted. Charon stiffened and she quickly continued. "I don't want this." She said, gesturing towards her stomach. "It's just a reminder that I fucked up. And I hate it. I hate it and I don't want it." She prodded at her abdomen in disgust.
Charon set his jaw and grasped her wrist tightly. "Do not ever say that!" He commanded, fighting to keep his voice level. "That child is part of you."
"I don't want it. I'm going to give it away." She whimpered. "I can't look at it every day, reminding me that I fucked up. You'll start to hate me. You're going to resent me."
Charon squeezed his eyes shut in frustration. "You are not giving our child away. You do not hate our child. And I will never resent you. Ever." He sighed. "I hate him. I hate that he touched you. I hate that he gave you something that I cannot. I am grateful though. Our family is complete and without him, that would not be possible."
Evelyn took several deep breaths and nodded. She smoothed her hair back and squared her shoulders before marching towards the large front doors of the main building. Charon hesitated for a moment, then followed her. They walked outside and Evelyn hesitated before the red tent.
Boone had designated the scarlet tent as the "Officers Tent." Evelyn wanted to roll her eyes. She felt like she was playing a game of pretend with all the titles they tossed at her. General? President? Evelyn was Evelyn as far as she was concerned. Amaya had rejected titles before her and she decided to keep up the tradition. Besides, Boone had looked murderous when she asked if she could be Queen of New Vegas.
Charon watched her put on the severe 'soldier' face before they entered the tent. Inside, three young men were on their knees, bound, with their chins slumped against their chests. They all looked up when he and Evelyn walked into the tent, and it was clear that the smallest boy amongst the group had been crying. A severe looking young woman handed Charon a piece of paper and saluted Evelyn before leaving the tent. Charon sighed as he read through the incident report. They were all young, none of them had reached their twenty-first birthday. All three before them were brothers, and they had tried to sneak off in the middle of the night with weapons and supplies. One of their group hadn't survived being brought in by Boone and his trainees.
"Boone already briefed me." Evelyn waved away the incident report. She looked at the boys in front of her and sighed deeply.
"Hello gentlemen. Do you know who I am?" She asked.
The largest of the group swallowed before replying softly, "You're General Evans ma'am." His blond hair was cropped close to his head and his blue eyes were bloodshot.
Evelyn nodded. "That's correct. Who are you?" She asked.
"Private Caleb Matthews ma'am." The boy replied. He stared at the ground. Charon looked back to the incident report. Caleb was the middle brother, at nineteen he dwarfed his eighteen and twenty year old brothers easily.
"And you? Who are you?" Evelyn asked the smallest kid, not unkindly.
"Joseph Mmm-Matthews. I mean, Pppp-Private J-Joseph Matthews." The young man stuttered. He had black hair that was a little scraggly and dark brown eyes. He had been crying recently. He looked absolutely petrified. Charon scanned the report and confirmed that Joseph was the eighteen year old.
"And that means you're Eric?" Evelyn asked the last kid. He looked like a bigger version of Joseph, with shorter hair.
"Yes ma'am." Eric said, the first to meet her eyes.
"Gentlemen, I'm sure you know why I'm here." Evelyn said. None of the Matthews boys responded so she continued. "You stole from me boys. You stole from New Vegas. You took an oath to defend the territories and people under the New Vegas flag and you broke that. Major Boone tells me that's an offense punishable by firing squad."
Joseph started crying again and Caleb looked near tears. Eric closed his eyes and set his jaw.
"This is my fault ma'am. My brothers didn't want to do it." He told Evelyn. "Don't punish them for my mistakes."
"Eric!" Caleb protested. Tears filled the young mans eyes and he was shaking his head.
"Shut up Caleb!" Eric barked.
"You can't just-" Caleb argued.
"Enough!" Evelyn snapped. The siblings fell silent. "Joseph, why don't you tell me what happened?"
The dark haired teenager took a steadying breath. "Oh. Okay. Uh. Www-We were pppp-patrolling with Riley. And he sss-said that if we left nnn-now then we could get Ma out of Vegas bbb-before the gggg-ghouls ggg-got here." He cast an apologetic look towards Charon. "Said we would need the www-weapons and food. And Ma... Mmm-Ma is all we got."
"Riley is the man you went AWOL with that refused to surrender and was subsequently killed during detainment?" Evelyn asked.
"Yyy-yes ma'am." Joseph said with a nod. Evelyn nodded for him to continue. "So we, www-we left. Bbb-but it wasn't all Eric's fff-fault." He blurted out defiantly. His brother shot him a dirty look.
"Thank you Private. I've heard all I need to hear." Evelyn said after a moment. "Charon, please release Private Joseph Matthews and Private Caleb Matthews." Charon complied, untying the younger siblings. He offered them a hand and each took it in turn. The stared at their bound brother sadly.
"Report to your commanding officers immediately." Evelyn ordered. They each gave her a halfhearted salute before hurrying from the tent.
Evelyn knelt down in front of Eric and untied him. He rubbed his wrists and looked at her in confusion. She sat in front of him cross legged. "That was so stupid. Noble, but so fucking stupid. Riley was going to shoot you all, take everything and leave your bodies there to rot. His journal was recovered with his body."
Eric looked sick and Evelyn shook her head. "Look, I understand wanting to protect your parents. I really do. But you went about everything wrong. You should have talked to one of your superiors if you felt like civilians weren't safe." She admonished him.
"I'm sorry ma'am." Eric said, his head bowed in shame.
"Major Boone suggested that I make an example of you and your brothers, show the other recruits that I run a strict, no nonsense army. He said executing you all would prove that I'm a good leader."
Eric swallowed loudly, but didn't look away. "I understand ma'am." He replied softly.
"You took full responsibility, so the full punishment falls on you." Evelyn said decisively. Charon glanced at her in surprise. She was really going to have the boy executed?
"Yes ma'am." Eric said quietly.
"You're to clean all the latrines. I want them to sparkle. And then you'll report to Corporal Hodgens for kitchen duty. In a month, you're going to meet me here. I'm going to put together a task force to clean up the South Vegas ruins, that way we can start moving civilians in closer. The whole purpose of this army is to protect the citizens Private Matthews. I want you to know that." Evelyn stated firmly.
Eric was gaping at her in shock. "You want me to clean the latrines ma'am?" He asked, his voice lifting an octave.
"I trust you can handle that Private?" Evelyn asked, her eyebrows raised.
"Yes! Of course!" He said, before quickly adding, "Ma'am."
"Then get out of my tent." Evelyn ordered, a smile twitching at the corners of her mouth. The young man scrambled to his feet and rushed out of the tent. Charon smiled when he heard him calling for his brothers.
"That was kind." Charon remarked, lifting her to her feet carefully. "Boone will be disappointed that you went so gently."
Evelyn snorted. "Boone can suck it. I'm not here to scare these fucking people. They're all here because they are scared. I'm here to show them that I'd we all work together, they have nothing to be scared of." She said. "Those kids made me realize that an army isn't any good if the civilians are left vulnerable. I'm gonna talk to Marcus about taking the Nightkin into the south side and making it livable so people who want to feel a little safer can go there. Get some Securitrons to patrol like they've got on the strip."
Charon nodded. "How will you feed these civilians?" He asked.
"So I was thinking..." Evelyn said, refusing to meet his eyes.
"Evelyn you are not exploring those vaults!" Charon snapped.
"Oh come on Charon! Amaya wrote that Vault Three is cleared out and loaded down with supplies that the Fiends were too stupid to access! That would give us a good start and then we could find an expert on farming, some of those people who were sharecroppers but never left?" Evelyn cajoled.
Charon sighed. "Fine." He grumbled.
Evelyn let out an earsplitting shriek and threw her arms around him. "Thank you love." She said, kissing his jaw. He pulled her tighter against him and rubbed his rough cheek against hers.
"You would have done it anyway." He grumbled.
She grinned up at him and said, "Of course I would have, but I love that you gave me permission."
"I love you." Charon told her, laying his forehead against hers.
"And I love you."
