Calli felt a sense of anticipation as she pushed open the door to the old, deserted building. She didn't know why he wanted it to be here, in the building where they had first met ten years ago. He hadn't shown last month but had left this location and date slipped under the door of her home in Megaton. Only rarely had they missed a tryst in all those years so she was especially anxious to see him.
"Sergei", she smiled, her facing lighting up at the sight of the dark, scarred man. He was sitting on the bench Calli had sat upon so long ago. He smiled, waving at her to join him by the fire. He was stirring a pot of wasteland stew.
"Don't forget to lock the door.", he said.
Calli cocked an eyebrow at the scene then moved to the chair where his weapons lay, his cloak over the back. She removed her own weapons and placed them on top of his, then removed her helmet and placed it on the floor with her pack. She glanced longingly at the blanket covered mattress by the fire and moved to sit beside him. A small radio was playing in the corner.
"And now", a voice from the radio said. "A song from the wasteland's own duo, Rina and Jason." A popular song came over the air.
He reached down and took some beers from a pack by the bench and handed her one, then handed her a bowl and spoon. She silently accepted them, wondering why he was doing this, repeating that first meeting. They ate in silence.
When they were done, Sergei took her bowl and set it on the floor, then turned to take her hands in his.
"Calli", he said softly. "I have something to tell you."
She quivered with a sense of foreboding at his tone. He looked down at their joined hands.
"I'm not that young anymore. I'll be 32 in just a couple of months.", he began.
"But", Calli interrupted. "You're not old. What is this about?"
"I'm trying to tell you. You know my business has really been doing well. I can take care of a family. Calli, I want to have a family before it's too late. A wife and kids.", he said wistfully.
Calli stared silently at their hands.
"You can't give me that can you?", he asked.
"You've met my children, Sergei, so you know I can have kids. But their father was GECK born like me. We've been together nearly 10 years and I've never taken any precautions but I've not gotten pregnant. Maybe I can't have a baby by anyone but the GECK born, I don't know, but it's pretty clear I can't give you a child. Even if I could you know I didn't even raise the ones I had. I was never a mother. But you know all this, so you didn't stage this to ask me to marry you, did you?", she asked, her voice heavy with foreboding.
Sergei gently rubbed her hands. "If I did ask, would you marry me?", he asked.
"No, I wouldn't. It wouldn't be fair to either of us. I can't give you what you need.", she said sadly.
"I understand. I thought it would be like that.", he said quietly. "I've met someone. She's very fond of me. I've only known her for a few weeks but I think we could make a good life together. It's just that, I want to ask her to marry me and if she says yes, well, I won't be seeing you anymore. Not like this. I want to be a good husband and a good father."
"I see.", Calli said, not looking at him. "I'm sure you will be. I'm happy for you."
"Calli, look at me.", he said. She raised her eyes to look into his.
"I want to stay with you tonight. One last night. Will you let me stay?", he asked quietly.
"I'd like that", she said, staring into his ice blue gaze with longing.
A slow love ballad came over the radio. "Dance with me", he said, pulling her to her feet. He pulled her against him and moved to the rhythm. Her body reacted to this man she had been so close to. She closed her eyes and relaxed into him, swaying to the beat, allowing herself to feel the familiar sensations swirling through her.
He leaned into her and whispered, " I want to make love to you. I don't just want to have sex with you. I want to tell you how beautiful you are, how much I care about you. I want us to make love tonight. All these years, Calli, and we've never said it. I want to tell you I love you. I want you to love me. Let me have this, Calli."
Calli raised her eyes and looked at him. "That's such a bad idea."
He gave a crooked half grin. "Life is full of bad ideas."
"Yes," she said. "It is, isn't it? I do love you, Sergei.", she breathed huskily, meeting his lips with hers as he bent and pulled her closer.
The morning sun was trying valiantly to peak through the grime covered windows. Calli snuggled closer to his side, feeling his arm tighten around her. They both knew their time was almost up.
"Sergei", Calli said. "Do you believe in the One?"
"I don't know.", he replied, wondering where this had come from. "Something brought us together that night. I don't know which of us was the more broken. You were so hurt, wanting to die, and I was already dead inside. I didn't think anyone would ever want me, ever love me. Then there you were. You saw my scars, all of them, not just the physical ones, and you wanted me. You needed me! We healed each other, Calli. I don't think that storm was just a coincidence, do you? Something Calls me to where I need to be before the need is even there! I don't know if it's the One, or something else, or if it even matters what we call it, but there's something guiding and helping us, don't you think?"
"Maybe.", she said intently. "But then why does such terrible things happen to us? Why would Jack die like that? Why would the Enclave and Raiders be allowed to torture and maim and kill for so long? I don't know. I'm not sure I can believe in anything that lets that happen."
Sergei considered this. "Maybe it's not the questions.", he said. Calli was quiet, holding him tightly against her. He turned on his side and taking her chin in his hand, looked into her eyes. "Maybe we're the answer.", he said softly.
The morning was getting on as they lingered, reluctant to part for the last time.
"Do you love her?", Calli asked. Sergei was silent for a moment.
"Yes, I do love her. Not the same way I love you. You're all fire and ice and passion. You're a hurricane full of energy and power. Loving you is an exciting adventure. Sharon, she's …quiet, calm, a rock you can lean on and shelter in. I need her, my love, but I will miss you."
Calli sighed. "That's good.", she murmured. "A rock to shelter you from the hurricane. She'll keep the darkness away like Hawk does for me. I'm glad."
The door of the old building clanged shut behind them for the last time.
"Live well, Stranger.", Calli said.
"And you, Calli. Good travels.", the Stranger said. Then they walked into the brilliant sunshine, each going their own way. Sergei paused to watch Calli walk away. With a pang he realized she didn't even look back. He turned and walked on.
Calli sat in the building where the Mercs had once targeted her and watched the sun spread its warmth over the old building. The environmental unit in her helmet whined quietly as it absorbed the tears softly falling down her cheeks. She wanted to be happy for him but she couldn't help feeling a deep sense of loss. She cared so much for Sergei but she knew she had never loved him with the passion she had had for Jack. It would be hard when she went into his shop, and saw him there with his wife, but she would get over it. She finally rose and headed for Megaton. Hawk would be waiting to take up their lives again.
They spent the evening in the bar as was Calli's habit when in town.
"On the house." Gob grinned passing a whiskey to Calli and a Nuka-cola to Hawk. He took his drink and went over to the corner where Hardin Sims was sitting with a dog sprawled at his feet. He chatted amiably with the Ranger about past memories, people now long gone and the changing town while they watched Calli downing whiskeys.
"You'd think she would know us well enough to take off that helmet when she's in town.", Hardin said. "Is she really so ugly as they say?"
Hawk snorted. "You're asking me? I'm a super mutant in case you haven't noticed. I'm hardly a good judge of human beauty. She seems all right to me, but what do I know? Besides she's so used to wearing it now I think she'd feel naked without it. You wouldn't go out in public naked would you?"
Hardin guffawed.
Calli leaned over the counter, poking at Gob's chest, laughing drunkenly at something he said. He grinned and said something in reply Hawk couldn't hear. She patted his face and picked up her drink.
"Guess I better take her home soon." Hawk observed.
"Guess so." Hardin concurred as she nearly fell off her stool raising her glass. It clinked against her helmet as she tried to maneuver it to the open mouthpiece. "Do you ever get tired of taking care of her?" Hardin asked.
Hawk watched her, thinking back over the past. How she had opened his cell door holding the flamer ready to take his life if he threatened hers. She stood tall and alert, covered in gore, her flaming red hair flowing out from the small helmet, dripping with sweat and grime and singed with the heat from the flames, dressed in the blood of his captors, eyes cold as stone. He was ashamed to admit he had felt fear of the small human female, fear she would flame him, fear she would leave him there to starve with the captors dead. He had been desperate.
Their first fire fight together at Raven Rock, back to back as they held off the Enclave, her frail human form kept from destruction only by her agility and her wits. Taking care of him when he got berserker drunk. The many times she had treated his wounds in the field and stood guard over him or held him and talked him from the dark rage. Standing by him, challenging any who questioned his right to be with her, to be there. Watching her grow and change and become stronger and more vulnerable at the same time. Her light laughter and her terrible anger. Her darkness; the dark pain creeping into her eyes, turning in on her, even as his darkness seemed to be fading. Holding her to him, keeping her from the great beyond when Jack died, when she was slipping away. He saw the future, holding her and talking her from the pain, the pain of the world she carried in the darkness. She had given him a purpose, a life, a reason and she didn't even know it.
"No.", he said to Hardin as he put down his bottle. "We take care of each other." He got up to take his partner home.
