Quick note to anyone reading this, here is where the M rating becomes apparent, if the cursing hasn't already made it clear.
Chapter 7: Passing Fancy, or Something More?
I took a deep breath and approached the two people. My excitement soon turned to gloom when I realized that the man standing before me was not my father. It was just some guy wearing a blue maintenance suit. He smiled at me as he walked past, but I couldn't smile back. The woman was wearing a white lab coat which covered a blue dress beneath. She had blue eyes, and had her black hair done up in a bun. She looked to be in her early forties, close to my dad, but was still easy on the eyes. She had a puzzled look on her face as I approached her.
The look soon turned to surprise as I came in to the light just inches from her. "My God, you must be Jason!" she said to me, which caught me off guard.
"How do you know my name?" I asked her.
She smiled at me and put her hand up to her chin, "He wouldn't stop talking about you….and you're the spitting image of him." she replied.
"So you've seen my father? Please, where is he?" I pleaded with her.
"Yes, I've seen James, and now I wish I hadn't." she started.
"What do you mean?" I asked curiously.
She placed a hand on her forehead and sighed, "Damn it, did he really expect us to just pick up where we had left off after all this time?" she mumbled to herself.
"Umm, you're not making much sense right now." I said to her.
She suddenly snapped back to reality, "Oh, forgive me. I'm Doctor Li, Madison Li. I'm the head researcher here in the Rivet City Science Lab. About twenty years ago your father was the lead researcher here." She informed me.
This was news to me. I had always thought that my father was born in the vault. "Are you saying he used to live outside of the vault?" I asked.
Madison looked surprised, "You mean he never told you? Well, I'm sure he had his reasons. But yes, he and Catherine used to live and work here at Rivet City. And in fact, you were born here as well."
I was shocked by what I was hearing. "I was born here? And you said my mother's name. Did you know her?" I couldn't help but change the subject to my mother. I didn't know much about her. She died giving birth to me. Dad always said she was the most beautiful woman he ever knew, and wished that I could have seen her.
"Yes I knew your mother. She was a brilliant scientist, just like James. Both of them worked in tandem and were nigh inseparable back when she was still alive. Your father loved her very much, and when she died, I suppose that is what made him leave….but that doesn't excuse the fact that he left all of our research and everything we had worked for!" her tone suddenly changed from calm to angry.
"What was it that you were working on?" I inquired.
Madison collected herself and continued her explanation. "We were working on a way to purify the water in the tidal basin. With that much pure water, we could deliver it to all of the settlements across the Capital Wasteland! We dubbed it 'Project Purity'. We were drawing close to a breakthrough when your mother passed away. James decided that he was going to leave us and all of the progress we had made. He took you in his arms, got some supplies together, and left. Shortly after we had no choice but to abandon the project. Without our leading scientist, we had no idea where to go. I've still tried to find a way to purify small amounts of water, but I haven't been too successful." when she had finished, she gave me a few minutes to take it all in.
"I'm sorry to hear about all of this. I can understand if you're angry at my father, but that doesn't change the fact that I still need to find him. Is he still here?" I asked, but I already had a feeling what my answer was going to be.
"I'm sorry Jason, but you're father left just yesterday. He came back to me and wanted to start up with Project Purity again. Can you believe that? After abandoning us and being gone all this time, he expects us to just up and follow along with him again." she started to sound irritated again, but continued, "He headed off to the Jefferson Memorial just southeast of here. That's where we did most of our research. I doubt he's still there, but that's your best bet." She told me.
I brushed my hands through my hair and sighed, "I figured I would still be one step behind him. Thanks for everything that you've told me. I think I'm going to need some time to think it all over before I head out to find my dad again." I told her.
As I started to walk past her, I felt her place her hand on my shoulder, "Where do you plan on staying?" she asked me.
"I hadn't really thought of that. I'm sure I'll manage though." I replied.
"You know, if you want, you can stay at my place. I can see that you've been through a lot in order to get where you are now. What kind of person would I be not to offer what help I could?" she said.
I was a little confused by her sudden change in demeanor, but I gladly accepted her offer. She told me to follow behind her, and she led me down a few corridors to a single door at the end of one of them. She pulled a key out of her pocket and unlocked the door. She pulled off her lab coat when we stepped inside, and I closed the door behind me.
"I know it isn't much, but it's home." said Madison as she walked over to a sink and mirror attached to the wall. She let her hair fall down to shoulder level, which made her look more natural and attractive.
I cleared my throat from being so nervous, "So, umm, it must get pretty busy around here, no?" I asked trying to keep a conversation going.
"Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't. It depends really. Some days we're stacked with work, and other days we have barely anything to do." was her reply. She then walked over to her fridge and pulled out two beers.
"You thirsty?" she asked.
I took one of the beers out of her hand and followed her to a small table in the corner of the room. The two of us continued to talk and drink with each other for some time. Something just seemed to click between us, as if we had known each other for years. We spoke of so many things. I think it was the alcohol that had loosened me up to a point where I would discuss things with her that I barely ever talked to my own dad about.
Before we knew it, we had talked well in to the evening. Madison got out of her chair and wobbled over to her cot and fell on it. Seeing someone like her in such a state just reassured me of how rough it really is living out here in the wastes. She turned over and looked at me. She scooted over and patted the mattress signaling for me to come over.
I took one last swig of my beer and slammed it on to the table. I reckoned she was acting this way mostly because she was so drunk. But I could also tell that she was probably a very lonely woman. Sure there were lots of people on this ship, but she's probably so busy with her work that she rarely has time for "extracurricular" activities.
I stood up and stumbled over to where she was lying and plopped down right next to her. She suddenly straddled me and began rubbing my chest with her hands. She undid the straps of my armor and ran her fingers across my bare chest until her fingers found the bullet wound.
She quickly pulled her hands away, "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were wounded." she said.
I smiled, then took her hand and kissed it, "It's fine, it doesn't really bother me anymore." I replied.
She caressed the wound once again, "What happened?"
"A mutie scouting party caught me off guard a few days back, but they got theirs." I told her, and technically it was true, even though I hadn't been the one to put them in their place.
"And it's already healed this much?" she asked a bit puzzled.
I conjured the best smile I could, "Amazing what the right medicine can do nowadays, huh?"
She suddenly leaned in and planted a passionate kiss on my lips; it must've been the alcohol taking over. I placed my arms around her and kissed her back. We kissed for who knows how long, everything had sort of become a blur as the alcohol continued to stream through my system.
Madison sat back up and gave me the most seductive look. Silver had given me that same look, but something seemed different about hers. I could see the desperation in her eyes, and I couldn't blame her.
She slowly slid the straps of her blue dress over her shoulders, and down her arms until the upper half of the dress had been brought down to waist level. She sported a cute little lacy bra which covered her supple breasts. I leaned forward and placed my arms around her back and gently kissed her stomach as I undid her bra strap.
Her breasts were quite impressive for someone her age; I would grade them as C-cup, and they were fairly perky. I led my kisses up and up until my lips had found my way to the valley between her mounds. She let loose soft moans as I teased her, which only served to turn me on even more. She grasped my head and pressed it in to her chest as I continued to lick and tease her.
The sensation climbed higher and higher as we continued to explore each others bodies. I soon found my way to what would be the main course of the night; the sacred entrance between her thighs which begged to be filled to the brim with raw man power.
Madison positioned herself over my manhood and waited, and waited, and waited. Without warning, she lowered herself and completely engulfed it. We moaned together in tandem, and the rest of the night faded in to darkness.
I suddenly found myself awake again. I could feel the warmth of the bare flesh of the woman lying next to me. I smiled and ran my fingers through her hair. Streaks of silver ran through it, signifying her age and experience. My head was still pounding from all the liquor I had consumed from the night before. I sighed and placed a hand on my forehead. What a day I'd had. Cornered by mercenaries, chased down by Super Mutants, caught in a huge firefight, and to top it all off I had made love to a woman nearly twice my age whom I had just barely met. The last one didn't seem to upset me so much though.
Madison moved around a bit in her sleep and laid her arm across my chest. I smiled again and kissed her on the forehead. A shame I would have to leave such a beautiful creature behind to continue the search for my father. I figured she would understand though.
Her eyes slowly opened and looked up at me. She suddenly jolted in to a sitting position and covered herself with her blanket. "Oh my god…what happened?" she asked. I could tell she was still quite drowsy and probably still piecing together all that had transpired the previous night.
"Well, let's see. We talked, got drunk, and then had ravenous, guilt free sex with each other. I think that about covers it." I explained.
She rubbed her forehead and grunted. "I can't believe I just slept with my old colleague's son…" she mumbled to herself.
"Heh, it was great for me to." I said sarcastically in response to her comment.
"No, I didn't mean it like that, it was great for me too, and I think it's just what I needed to help get me out of this rut of depression I had been in. Still, I can't disregard the fact that we were drunk and got caught in the moment." she replied.
I chuckled a bit, "That's good enough for me. No one ever said the circumstances had to be perfect for lovemaking."
She smiled warmly, and I could tell it was good enough for her as well. She looked so cute trying to hide her naked body from me even though I had explored every inch of it the previous night. She soon lightened up and let the blanket fall to her waist. She got up off the cot and walked over to an old wardrobe by the wall, shaking her ass at me the entire way. She pulled a white blouse and a knee length black skirt out, along with some new underwear.
She quickly dressed herself and did her hair back up in a bun. I objected and told her she should wear it down, but she just said she liked wearing it up. She applied some red lipstick and a dash of make-up. She walked to and fro in a frantic matter as she gathered up various assorted papers lying around her room, then threw her lab coat on and headed for the door.
"Help yourself to whatever's in the fridge, I've got some business to attend to. Meet me back at the Science Lab whenever you're finished. I have something I'd like to give you before you leave." she said, and with that, she rushed out the door.
A present, huh? I should make love to women I barely know more often. I made myself a quick breakfast, got dressed, readied all of my things, and then headed for the ship's lab. Madison was busy tinkering with a few odd looking devices when I started down the stairs.
"Here, these should help you on your quest to find James." she said as she handed me four of the devices she had been tinkering with.
"What are these things?" I asked. They were circular in shape, but had smaller hexagon shaped markings all over them, and neon green lights flickered on and off around the entire circumference.
"They're plasma grenades. Just push this little button right here and let 'em fly." she explained. "They should come in handy against most of the enemies you'll find out in the wastes."
I thanked her for the extra firepower and attempted to lean in and give her a goodbye kiss, but she quickly pulled away and eyed her coworkers, who thankfully hadn't noticed my advance. I understood, so I opted for a quick hug and then headed out.