Chapter Five: The Plot Thickens

Day One

Angela came to their table to collect their plates and take another order or two of drinks and side dishes, stalking away to her father behind the counter of their little slice of heaven as he began to fire up the stove once more.

Bryan looked on to Janny, the angles of her face caressed by the dim light waning from the lantern set in the center of their table. She played with her fork, tilting it between her fingers in a practiced, fluid motion with her chin cradled in her upturned palm. He almost jumped in his chair when her eyes met with his in a flicker of an instant, and she smiled, and for a second it seemed like the room had brightened significantly.

"Don't be afraid to order whatever you like, Bryan. I have enough money to buy this restaurant!" She chuckled, fixing her ponytail by tugging on its thin elastic band.

"That's reassuring," He smiled a little, sipping from his water glass. "So what got you to come back after ten years?"

She sighed deeply, as if bracing herself to embark in some long story that was just as long as her time away from him.

"Well, things in the Wasteland haven't calmed down... If anything, they got worse with the Aqua Pura caravans making their rounds. Wastelanders and even whole communities try to resurrect crops, but they are either destroyed by Molerats, raiders, or just about anything that's hungry, really. The Enclave is still trying to take over D.C., what with their little outposts dotted around everywhere... Towns still require help, populations that are deemed as threats still need to be controlled, and once in a while grunt work or rescue missions need to be done..." Her voice trailed off with a melancholy hint. Despite all that she listed, it almost sounded like the work was far from over.

"If there was so much for you to do, then why did you come here?" He arched an eyebrow at her.

"Because I needed a vacation," She leaned back into her chair with one arm dangling over the back, the other in her lap with her legs crossed one over the other. "And because you deserved a promised visit that I should have given a very long time ago… I hope it's not too late to make it up to you, after all this time."

Bryan nodded his head, accepting the answer and looked down at the glass in his hands. His thick fingers released his grip on it- he didn't know he was holding it so firmly. He remembered that he was thinking about her as he tried to escape the wrath of the Mirelurks at his friends' sides just this morning, and as if she heard his inner torment, she appeared out of thin air like the goddess he remembered her to be... Which reminded him...

Just as he opened his mouth to ask another question, Angela scurried over with more food and drinks for them, skillfully balanced on a tray she had; perched on one hand with the help of her shoulder. She carefully set each dish down one by one.

"I actually can't believe that you're back, but you're sitting right here in front of me!" Angela exclaimed happily, before frowning into a slight pout. "You didn't come to my wedding!"

Janny chuckled awkwardly. "I apologize. Other matters had called for my attention."

Angela didn't seem all that pleased by the answer she was given and grabbed her tray, walking away with her head held high and a slightly angry stride.

"You missed their wedding?" Bryan asked, looking back to Janny once Angela had disappeared behind the Galley counter.

She nodded, sweeping her bowl of squirrel stew towards her along with the small package of stale saltine crackers. She broke up the crackers in the package by pounding on it with her fist, opening it to dump it into the stew.

"I believe I already mentioned that I had many things to take care of, I couldn't drop everything and come back here." She dipped her spoon into her stew, mixing the crackers in, and brought it up to her lips to eat.

"You did that for me," He murmured with his arms folding over his chest, eyes looking away to look at something other than her. This wasn't the goddess he remembered, the one that was so guarded and unwilling to talk about herself. He didn't remember his goddess being so- so- selfish? He didn't want to use that word, but somehow, it felt right.

Janny's cool blue eyes trained on his face as her spoon lowered back to her bowl. "That's because you're more important to me. I'm not saying that Angela and Diego's wedding isn't important, it is, but it's important to them, not to me." She reached across the table, placing her warm hand gently on his arm, and he could feel his heart thump heavily against his chest once- if it had not stopped completely. "You are what`s important to me. You are the main reason I came back, Bryan. More so than a vacation- I came back for you."

Bryan swallowed hard, as if finding the words hard to digest and finally looked back at her warily.

"S-So..." He began shakily. "You really couldn't come back all this time?"

She frowned ashamedly and shook her head, thumb beginning to lightly swish back and forth over his arm comfortingly.

"What happened?" He asked.

Janny sighed, pulling back from him finally as if he had thrown a bucket of acid onto her.

"You said you'd be honest!" He cried, pointing at her accusingly. "You said!"

"...My father died, Bryan." She looked back at him, her eyes endless abysses of pure inner agony, and a whole mess of other emotions. "Only a little over a week after finding him out there, he died from radiation poisoning." Her eyes dodged away from his. "And I- I never got the chance to say good-bye... Or tell him how much I loved him, because it was so- so sudden... It was difficult for me to comprehend at the time, so I-... I threw myself into whatever missions I could find to forget. I still can't forget, but I guess that's what I deserve for even bothering to try to forget such a great man. It's something that you can't just wipe away, but the missions were catching up to me. So I decided to take a much needed break."

He suddenly felt a pit of guilt rolling around in his stomach along with his dinner. He felt horrible for thinking that she was being selfish! She lost her father, just like he did, and she wanted to forget, just like he tried to forget his own... He'd sometimes wake up, even now, at ten years after his father's death, with nightmares of him being pulled apart limb by limb by hungry, enraged fire ants. After gobbling up his dad, the ants chased him into a dark place. He'd wake up in a cold sweat, trembling and shaking with a concerned Aunt Vera in the doorway, asking what was wrong.

She knew of his night terrors, they were quite frequent when he first arrived. He'd sometimes wake up the entire floor with how loud he was screaming!

Bryan looked up at Janny; her forehead was pressed into her palm as she stared into the table, shaking her head slightly with a thin sheet of sweat glistening on her skin. The vision of her only made the pit bigger, and before he knew what he was doing, he reached out to hold her hand on the table. She looked up at him with glistening eyes, confused and unfocused.

"I know how you feel." He nodded, as if to confirm it more for himself than for her. "Believe me, I know all too well... You get nightmares too, don't you?"

She nodded, squeezing her fingers around his slightly. "Ye- Yeah... They're horrifying." She swallowed hard, almost as if her throat was strained.

His eyes darted up past her as he saw movement making its way towards their table and he inwardly groaned, pulling his hand back from Janny's to recoil under the table as casually as he could possibly manage.

"Speaking of horrifying," He muttered as James plopped down next to him with a broad grin on his face. He was chewing on something sticky, and it caused his teeth to make loud popping and smacking noises- as if it were bursting tightly packed air bubbles- like a sheet of bubble wrap he found once.

"Heeeey Bryan," He swooned, hooking an arm around his shoulder playfully. "Whatcha doin', man?"

"I was having a nice dinner," He replied with a slight roll of his eyes and glanced over to Janny with a slight shrug of his shoulders and an apologetic smile. "Sorry..."

She smiled, shaking her head. "It's quite alright."

James looked back at Janny, his grin broadening (if that was even possible with how big his grin was already) as he carefully looked her up and down- almost undressing her with his eyes. It made the muscles in Bryan's fists curl angrily.

"Who's this?" He asked smoothly, unhooking his arm from Bryan's shoulders to lean into the table casually, still smacking on whatever was in his mouth. "You keeping all the hot ones from me, 'ya prick?"

"This is Janny," Bryan replied while doing his best to ignore the jab, trying to relax his rolled fists under the table before he walloped his best friend in that big mouth of his. "She was the woman from earlier."

"Janny... Janny..." He tapped his chin with thought, still grinning at her flirtatiously. "Why does the name sound familiar? Are you from my dreams, baby?"

"My name may sound familiar because we've actually met before," She answered with a knowing smile coming to her lips. "Not just from this morning, but from when you were eight."

His eyes widened with shock, and his grin turned into long grimace. "Wait a fucking minute- that Janny? Holy shit!" He exclaimed. "Glad I found out before I laid the moves on you 'er somethin'... That woulda been shitty."

Janny chuckled in a low tone, not at all offended by his remarks. "I see your charm hasn't failed you after all these years, James. I can also see that you seem to be giving Harkness a run for his money."

"You can bet your ass on it! The old man can't keep up with me," He winked arrogantly, kicking back in his chair to prop his dusty booted feet up on the table, crossed at the ankle.

C.J. came stomping over the moment he was in comfortable seating. "James, Bryan! There you two are!" She looked to the woman apologetically. "I'm sorry that my friends are bothering you. They're not that smart..."

"Speak for yourself!" James retorted angrily, chewing on his candy still.

"I was here already, having dinner with Janny." Bryan explained, fists finally coming undone. He knew that with C.J. around, James might tune it down a bit. "C.J., this is the woman from this morning, remember? She's the one that helped James get out of it with Harkness- Janny, this is C.J."

C.J. blinked at him with a strange glint in her eyes, glancing over to Janny awkwardly. "He- Hello... Thanks for getting James out of trouble with Harkness earlier." She gave a tight, half-hearted smile.

Janny nodded with a smile. "It was no problem at all, C.J." She looked back to James. "Eighteen years old and you are still in need of someone to keep you out of trouble. Why am I not surprised?" She shook her head.

"Stay out of it, lady," He hissed. "No one tells me what to do. I do whatever the fuck I like!"

She furrowed her brows together. "You sound just like Butch..."

"You know Butch?" Bryan asked with slight curiosity.

"I'm not some dead-beat, alcoholic bitch of a hairdresser!" James snarled.

"She said you sounded like Butch," C.J. reminded him. "She didn't say you were some stupid hairdresser..."

Janny lightly banged on the table top as she laughed, harder than anyone expected, and they all gawked at her strangely. "Oh my! Is he still a "barber" here?" Her question only made herself laugh harder. Bryan was surprised by her sudden outburst, and scratched at the angle of his jaw.

"You know him?" C.J. asked, for Bryan's sake once more.

She nodded, wiping away the tears as her laughter calmed down. "We grew up in the Vault together. He was given the job of hairdresser while I was appointed as the Vault's physician- so I was put into an apprenticeship program under my father- who was the Vault's doctor at the time- and alongside his assistant, Jonas."

"You came from a Vault?" The three exclaimed in dubious unison.

"That's right," She smiled a little fondly and glanced to Bryan. "I'm slightly surprised you didn't know that, Bryan. But, I suppose that back when we first met, we didn't talk much... I'd prefer if you all keep that little tidbit between us four."

"How did you even meet Bryan?" C.J. asked with her arms folding over her chest protectively, narrowed eyes burrowing down on her. He stared up at her with his brows crinkled together. Why was so acting so angry all of a sudden?

"I'm sure that is a topic that I do not have the right to discuss, given the circumstances." She glanced over to Bryan with a warm smile. "That is a question that he will have to answer, and only if he feels like it."

James gave him a questionable look with a tilt of his head while C.J. simply grumped, tapping her foot on the ground impatiently, waiting for him to answer- as if expecting that he was going to say anything at all on the matter.

"L- Later, guys..." He stammered, motioning for them to go away politely. "I'm in the middle of catching up with Janny... I'd like to talk to her a little more about some stuff, and-"

"Fine!" C.J. suddenly boomed, causing James to cringe and almost fall out of his chair with the sticky stuff he was chewing on falling out of his mouth and plopping on the ground with a tacky noise. She stomped her foot down, hands on her hips still. "We'll go, then!" She began striding away with an angry kick in her step.

"We?" James asked in a whiny tone. "But it was just getting good!" He motioned to Janny and Bryan in a swooping gesture, arm still hooked over the back of his chair and his feet propped up on the table.

She came back over and grabbed him by the nape of his shirt collar, strangling him out of his chair mercilessly and dragged him after her in a stagger. They disappeared to the far side of the marketplace, going up the stairs that lead to the entrance of Rivet City and left with the open and close of the shrieking door ringing throughout the slow bustle of the marketplace.

Bryan sighed with relief that they were gone and looked back at Janny, who seemed to have concern riddled all over her beautiful face.

"C.J. seemed a little... upset." She noted, looking back at him with her eyebrows crinkled together. "Is she alright?"

"Yeah, she's fine... She gets all weird like that sometimes." He replied with a reassuring smile, but Bryan wasn't all too sure about that statement. C.J. had never acted like that before, and he had no clue why she was starting up now. He just supposed it was a girl thing and decided not to touch on the subject any longer.

"I see." Janny smiled even more, a knowing smile, as if she knew something he didn't. "Are you and C.J... Dating?"

"Wha- What?" He could feel his cheeks and the bridge of his nose heat up with a scarlet blush as he gawked at her in surprise. "No!"

"Oh." She blinked in surprise as well. "I believed you were due to the way she was acting... Not that I can speak on her behalf, but she was acting similarly to a jealous girlfriend."

His jaw popped with shock. C.J.? Liking him? No way! A snowball's chance of rolling through the fiery pits of hell! Only when Molerats can fly and Mirelurks can sing like silk-tuned sirens at sea! The thought was deniable, and a little worrying, because he knew James had a huge crush on C.J., and everyone knew about it- except for her!

"Forget I mentioned it," She shook her head with the smile still on her lips. "It was probably just my imagination."

Bryan heeded her suggestion and drank from his water glass once again, trying not to waver or ponder the thought of C.J. possibly liking him anymore when more questions popped into his head, overcoming C.J. screaming at him mentally. It tuned the mental yelling down to a dull roar.

"I've been meaning to ask… I want to know more about what you did with those fire ants." He looked up at her, almost pleadingly. "I want to know how you stopped them."

Janny smiled a strange smile and nodded. "Of course. How about we finish our dinner and return to my room, where we can speak in private?" She glanced up to where C.J. and James left a few moments ago. "Unless you can stand a few more interruptions?"

"No," He smiled a little. "I don't think I can."

With that, the two finished eating and Janny paid for both of them, much to Bryan's disapproval. He tried to convince her not to, but she told him to get used to it because she'd be doing it often as long as she was in Rivet City. Not wanting to further argue, or risk upsetting her, he shamefully agreed and they left to return to her room.

But from Potomac Attire across the way remained an extremely tall man with sharp hazel eyes, one of them (or lack thereof) hidden by an eye patch. He had sharp cheekbones framing a slim nose and thin lips pulled into a loose scowl. His dark hair was pulled back into a high ponytail. He ran his thick fingers from his moustache to drape them down through his full beard, which had a streak of ashen white down the center. He was a tall figure, masculine and built like a true soldier, but his stature was hidden by a long coat of black leather- kept closed with his strong arms crossed over his broad chest.

The man had watched Janny and Bryan pack up and leave with a questionable look in his narrowed eye.

"So… We have a new visitor to Rivet City?" Rogue glanced down at Bannon, being almost a foot taller than the clothing proprietor. "Who is she?"

"Uh- her name's Janny," He replied with a slight stammer. "But her last name escapes me right now... She hasn't been around for ten years, so she's been the talk of the town since she arrived late this morning."

"And the boy?" His good eye narrowed even more so. "What's her interest in the boy?"

"That's Bryan, Bryan Wilks. The reason she was here ten years ago was to drop him off to Vera Weatherly- the woman who runs the Weatherly Hotel." Bannon looked on to the empty stall of the marketplace; it was the stall that Seagrave had owned before he kicked the bucket. "Janny rescued him from Radroaches or Molerats or something. They killed his father, and Vera's his aunt- the only blood family he has left."

"Interesting…" The man commented, still stroking his beard. "Is she here now for him?"

"Probably- I don't quite know." He shrugged. "But everyone is gossiping about it."

"I'm not looking for gossip, Bannon, I'm looking for answers!" He boomed, glaring down at him. "I'm looking for the truth!"

"We- Well," The clothing shop owner backed away with horrified eyes, holding his arms out as if it would protect him if the man lunged at him. "I don't know the truth, but I can tell you what everyone else is saying. I don't know how much of it is true, but knowing the people on this boat, not much of it will be."

The man sighed hopelessly, squaring his shoulders. "Enlighten me."

"Some say she's returned to visit Bryan after so long to see how he's doing, others say she's on vacation, and some say that she's on the run."

"On the run, hrmn?" This caught his attention, and Bannon nodded. "Do tell."

"Some say from the Talon Company or the Regulators- I'd say Talon is a more plausible choice, she'd kill herself before harming an innocent person. Others say she's running from the Brotherhood of Steel or the Enclave, though I can't imagine why either would have any interest in a simple Wastelander as herself. Like I said, a lot of it is probably just Brahmin shit."

"Remember, Bannon- a lie can be born and travel half way around the world before the truth even has a chance to leave the womb." The man walked away with heavy footsteps, almost making the ground quake under him as he stepped.

"Sir?" Bannon asked, not quite sure if he was being dismissed.

"Your task is to dig out the truth, Bannon. I've taken an interest to see why she is here." He replied over his shoulder. "Figure it out."

Bannon nodded obediently. "Yes, yes… I'll do as you ask, Rogue."