Gabriel stared upwards, to the moon humming one of his all-time favourite songs while Garry hopped on and off the boat. He started to hum louder and louder.
Morgan's eye twitched. She didn't bother speaking to anyone. Instead she just walked off, looking for some peace.
"You guys want to listen to some music while we are here?" Gabriel asked the group. Whiskers then started to drifting off to sleep, snorting very loud in the process.
"Negative. White noise would mask the sound of a hostile incursion or could give away our position." Said Rook, before glancing around, like he was making sure no one was watching him, and following Morgan.
Morgan had walked over to the deck. She stood leaning on the rail and peering out at the water, taking deep breaths.
Rook followed Morgan's steps, his own footfalls silent, until the android hovered behind Morgan.
"You are upset."
"I am frustrated...yes." Morgan mumbled. "However, I can't just explode at a kid. Ain't his fault."
"That is responsible of you." Rook had noticed similar things between officers and their subordinates. "Do you want to go lie down? Like we analysed in the Vault?"
"Yeah..." She agreed, stifling a snort.
"Feel sick already."
Rook alongside moved next to her and offered Morgan his hand. He would've taken it himself, but was now worried about hurting her.
Morgan chuckled softly and took the Androids hand. "You're such a gentleman..."
Rook smiled at that, probably because she called him a 'man,' and lead her towards the aft of the ship.
"Have you ever been to Fresh Grove?" Rook asked as they walked.
Morgan shook her head.
"Nah. Sounds pretty...out of this world to me, to be honest."
Rook fell silent then, not having more to say. He wondered what a place like Fresh Grove would look like.
The aft section wasn't far, given that the ship itself wasn't big. The cots were simple, like what'd you expect to find on a ship- narrow things with thin mattresses, most likely composed of a vinyl cover and cheap padding.
"This is an ironic step down from the Vault." Rook was not looking forward to placing his back on that.
"Yeah." Morgan sighed. "I wish we could have taken those beds with us. Might just sleep on the floor…"
"That would be counterproductive. This is undoubtedly more providing."
"I was just making a joke..." Morgan sighed before perching on the edge of the cot. It was already really uncomfortable.
Rook sat down alongside her, before stretching out on his side.
"Oh."
"These are really horrid..." Morgan complained, falling quiet and hanging her head awkwardly.
Rook watched her for a moment, trying to come to a consensus, before sliding onto his back and taking up most off the cot. He then reached over and hooked an arm around Morgan, pulling her down to him.
"You are more comfortable than this poor excuse of a bed." Morgan smiled, resting her head on his chest. "Biogel is very...relaxing to lie on."
"Organic substrate." Rook corrected. "Tissue moulded to my endoskeleton. It is as real as yours. But it requires extensive periods of time or biogel to repair."
"Oh right. Silly me for forgetting." Morgan giggled. "It is still very comfy. How...How are the injuries?"
Rook hesitated. "I am healing."
"I sense a 'but' in there somewhere." Morgan uttered in concern for her special friend. "If us laying like this is hurting you, or causing you discomfort, you would say, right?"
He hesitated again. "Right."
"Ah! It is!?" Morgan squirmed free and hopped off onto the floor. She backed away and held her hands to her chest.
"S-sorry! I... I didn't mean to hurt you."
"I am not hurt." Said Rook, looking a little perplexed, like he didn't want to admit weakness.
"Rook, we're special friends. We have to be honest with each other." Morgan said quietly. "Tell me, truthfully.
Are you in pain?"
"My back feels bad." He finally admitted.
Rook sat up on the bed and rolled his shoulders forward, exposing his back to Morgan. The flesh was angry and red, nicely scorched from the acid. The burns covered his shoulder plates, and just over top his spine.
"Can you fix it?" He asked, turning his head slightly to look at her.
"Awh Rook..."
Morgan sat on the bed behind him, gently touching the area around the burns. "We'll need biogel or some stimpaks… but ya, I can fix it."
He had turned ever further, to watch her face as she examined the burns.
"That is good to hear."
Morgan smiled and lowered her voice to a low whisper. "I can't let some burns stop you can I? What friend would I be then?"
"My partner," He corrected, "who does not fix my burns."
Rook leaned over then, and pressed his lips to hers.
Morgan was taken aback by Rook's spontaneity and giggled like a child as she pulled away. "What was that for? I haven't even fixed you yet."
"You do not need to ask what it's for." Rook said, trying to get closer to her again. "Just assume I do it because you are special."
Morgan looked at the floor. "I'm not that special, Rook." She whispered, noting how close he was trying to get. She leaned against the wall and glanced up at him.
Rook canted his head.
"Why say that?"
"Well, I get angry easily and I... I dunno..." She fumbled her words, looking nervous. "I guess I'm just not proud of some of the stuff I've done."
Rook set his hand on top of hers, trying to be reassuring.
"Such as?"
"Letting Liz give away all those people, like they were nothing." Morgan replied, whispering really quietly.
"You are making up for it now, are you not?"
"I guess. But I shouldn't have had to in the first place, right?" Morgan said sadly.
"You had no control. Do you hold me responsible for all the humans and androids I have killed and captured?"
"I do not..."
"Then no one holds you responsible for what Sanford did."
"Mmm..." Morgan fretted. She gave Rook a weak smile. "Thanks."
"It is no trouble."
At that point Gabriel started to dream, and then started to talk. Everybody could hear him. "Mom...watch out, mom, MOM!" Gabriel shouted and then woke up screaming as loud as he can. He curled up in the bed and started to cry and he looked like a mess.
Morgan nodded and sat on the floor, her head leaning against the wall. "That kid man. He's...something else."
"He has definitely," Rook did air quotes, "'killed the mood.'"
"We had a mood?" Morgan asked before sighing in frustration at the crying. "Will you go make sure he's alright? I suck with children."
"No, no, no!" He screamed. His bed got wet, and he was crying all over.
"Yes." Rook said, rising to his feet. He stepped out of the room and hunted down Gabriel. "Child, you are emitting an irritating noise. Why?"
"Nightmare!" Gabe snapped as he sat up, out of his bed.
"Mom died by raiders, he had a creepy smile, I thought I saw him...he tried to kill me! And it's not irritating, but of course you never had a nightmare, your just an android! A slave for her! You don't know any feelings! GET OUT!" Gabriel shouted.
Rook looked at Gabriel with a blank expression before walking out, shutting the door behind him. He returned to Morgan, looking a little confused.
"He told me to leave."
"Did you say something mean?" Morgan asked, genuinely feeling like an idiot for sending him in the first place.
"No. I only asking him why he was irritating you."
Morgan laughed quietly. "Rook, asking why they are irritating someone, can be seen as hurtful..."
"Oh. Why does it matter? We do not bother Garry or Heather when they make noise. Why does the boy matter?"
"Because he is young." Morgan explained, glancing a glare at the wall. She placed a gentle hand on Rooks arm. "And emotional...and... alone. Sorta like how I was before I found my way here."
"So, I must be his friend?"
"Mom, mom, I need you, I'm all alone!" he shouted. He was a mess. Then everything got silent.
"I... think it is best if I was his friend." Morgan decided. "You might just annoy him a little."
With that, she headed to the boy's room and knocked on the door, entering before she was given permission.
"Kid, are you alright?"
What Morgan saw was Gabriel in a corner tears streaming down his face. The bed all wet and his face looked like a mess. "No... I have no one, I'm all alone, I want to be with my mom again, and I can't." The whole room was also messy from the colossal tantrum that he'd just thrown.
Morgan looked around, not really bothered by the mess. She wandered over to the corner and sat next to Gabriel.
"You...aren't alone kid. You got us and uh...Rook as well. Sorry about him."
"I hate him, I despise that android, he is just another one form the Commonwealth. And I thought you hate people." Gabriel said. The room also started to smell.
"He's more than that you know..." Morgan mumbled. "And I don't...hate people per say. I just find them highly annoying sometimes, and it makes me incredibly angry. Don't you feel that way too?"
"I first thought that I could get along with everybody but when those raiders killed my mom, I hated everybody, the man who killed her, his smile while looking at me, haunted me. So I hated everybody, and never wanted to do anything with them. My uncle died a couple of days after too, he was only the only person I liked after the incident. He worked at Broadway or times Square, killed by two people..." Gabriel then got silent after that.
"Pfft… hope you get the pricks responsible." Morgan scoffed. "Should just stab them if you ever run into them again."
"Wait, I heard one of them was a android, I'm talking about the ones who killed my Uncle after my mother, one was said to be a android, was it Rook who did that? Was it? Also the ones who killed my mother, there's something else about them." Gabriel explained to Morgan.
"Rook wouldn't have done that to your Uncle." Morgan reassured the child. "He's a good man. Better than some actual men I know."
Hammy...
"What about the ones who killed your mother? What something else?"
"His smile, the way they killed her, it's not normal, he had a blade, it feels he's more powerful than any raider I saw." Gabriel then got goosebumps and shivered. "Are we there yet?" Gabriel finally asked.
"I will keep an eye out for you, alright kid. You ever see him again, call for Rook and I. We'll explode him." Morgan said, nodding in determination.
"As for being there, we haven't been moving, kid. We're resting here before we head out to Fresh Grove in the morning."
Morgan stood up. "I'll come get you in the morning, don't worry." She gave him a small smile and headed back to her room.
Rook was sitting on the bed, cleaning his guns.
"Is he secured?"
"He is calm now." Morgan smiled. "I could be a totally great mother." She added with a snicker as she sat next to Rook.
Rook couldn't tell if she was joking or not, as always.
"You would." He agreed, just for the sake of agreeing.
"That room is no place for him. It is a mess." Morgan mumbled, feeling like she was going to regret this.
"Should he...bunk with us?"
Rook looked over at the bed, then at the floor, knowing he'd end up there if Gabe did.
"It is your choice."
"I'll take the floor, don't worry." Morgan sighed. "You need the bed so your back doesn't get all infected. It's fine."
"You will not sleep on the floor. You are ill."
Gabriel appeared in the doorway. "Can I sleep with you guys?" he asked them. His pet behind him.
"Yeah of course, kid." Morgan said sympathetically. She hopped off the bed and sat on the floor before Rook could move.
"Sickness, is better than risking infection, Hun. You should know that. You get a bunk too."
Rook relented, sitting back on the bed. He did need a cooling cycle, and Morgan was right.
Gabriel then hopped onto the bed and got out his stuffed bear. He hugged it tightly, and Whiskers hopped onto the bed too, sleeping on Gabriel.
The stuffed bear emitted a sound that his mother made, and put her voice in there, so whenever Gabriel pulls the string his mother talks. Gabriel then pulled the string.
"I love you Gabriel." the bear said. After a couple of minutes later Gabriel finally spoke. "I love you too, momma." And Gabriel then drifted off to sleep.
At least he got to know his parents for a little while...Morgan thought, rolling onto her side so she was facing away from everyone. She curled up into a ball on the floor, feeling strangely...emotional.
I miss mine too...
Rook looked around, like he was unsure what he was supposed to do. He ended up not sleeping, just spent half the night cleaning his guns. Halfway through he moved to the ground next to Morgan and stayed there until morning.