(Charon)

By nightfall, Dezbe is almost back to normal. She has no memory of the fits or outbursts during her illness, and can only recall the small instances where the disease was not eating away at her mind. We sit in our bedroom, as I brush through her hair. It comes out in clumps still, but her hair is so thick, it makes little difference. Right now, we are trying to simply take off all the loose strands. From the Trog, Dezbe's ears have slightly pointed. It is obvious, but she seems to like the added effect. She also doesn't mind her slightly sharper teeth, either. That, is not as noticeable. It is more her canine teeth. She claims, it makes her feel more different.

"You know, Charon, I don't think I could have asked for anything more."

"What do you mean?"

Dezbe sighs, and lights a cigarette as I bring the brush through her hair once more.

"Look at us. Remember, where we once were. Our children…travelled to The Pitt. They saved my life. They…they're just like…they're all I could've ever hoped for."

I stop, and look at the back of her head. Letting the brush fall, I wrap my arms around her waist. When it is only Dezbe and I, there is nothing we cannot do. Now, I feel when it is the four of us, together again as a family, impossible is nothing. Her hands rest atop mine, as I hold her close.

"I want them to be together."

I tell her, feeling her head turn towards me. I loosen my grip on her waist. I have yet, to tell her about Cain. To tell her of the danger he is unknowingly in.

"Who, Charon?"

"Cain, and Dizzy."

Dezbe stands up, looking at me as if I have finally lost my entire mind.

"Be together? As in…yeah. We talked about this."

"Dez there is more at stake, than I have let on. While you were sick…Barrows discovered something about Cain…and it puts him in danger."

Dezbe listens intently, while I talk and tell her of Barrows' proven theory. The papers he brought still lie on the downstairs table in the kitchen. Waiting to be read over. Waiting, for Cain to return. Water forms and molds into tears, that stream down Dezbe's face, as I finish telling her. I am not sure, how I feel towards it. Not towards the romance, but to…Cain. How…must it feel like, to be a machine?

"…It was only…only a kiss, Charon."

"What?"

I stare at her, as she cries like any mother would, at hearing this news. Cain, as far as she is concerned, is her son. She loves him, and has raised him as her own. Just as I have.

"A kiss, it was only a kiss. A kiss and it turned…it turned into…"

"How do you know what they did? How? Are you sure?"

She nods, and the tears stop.

"A mother knows a lot more about her children than she lets even their father know. I'm not stupid, Charon, I can see how he looks at her. I see how she…runs to him."

"And how is that?"

"Like I would run to you. Like…the night in Megaton, after my father died. That's…how she runs to him, for everything. And he opens his arms to her, just as you did to me. To Dizzy…Cain is everything. The only man greater than him, in her eyes, is her father. Is you."

I am silent, as Dezbe smokes her cigarette. If they did kiss, which I am sure they have, Cain is forever stuck to Dizzy. Losing one, would ultimately mean, losing the other. As parents, our worries just doubled.

"I never would wish this on anyone."

She says, and I reach over and take her hand.
"Although I was not as bound to you as Cain is bound to Dizzy, I was still there for you. For everything. Even before, I burned my contract. There is no doubt in my mind, if Cain is anything like myself, that he will not fail at being there for Dizzy."

The moonlight streams in, and Dezbe steps into my open arms.

"You've been there for me, since I was nineteen. Even when you weren't near me, I could still feel you."

"Cain…Cain must be even more careful, than I was. He mustn't leave her, for even a day. To be constantly close to someone…it must…I cannot imagine it."

"What about the nights when she was gone? When she wouldn't come home? Charon, he was fine then, wasn't he?"

Her eyes plead with me to look for an exception. But I cannot. Stroking her cheek, I kiss the top of her head, in hopes that it will bring her some form of comfort.

"That is an empty hope, Dez. We both know when Dizzy would not return, he was fatigued, sickly, and you remember it as well as I."

Knowing this information now, I recall how when Dizzy would vanish, Cain would seem to…lose strength. Although at the time we did not make the correlation, it is understandable, now. He truly needs her. Without Dizzy, Cain will die.

"Charon, go get them. Bring them home. Let's both go. Let's…let's go get our babies back…Charon…"

I wrap my arms around her, as her cigarette falls to the steel floor. Dezbe cries into my chest, a mother, worried for her children. I feel water rise in my own eyes, as it begins to sink in.

"…They are no longer babies, Dezbe."

With small fists, Dezbe hits my chest in bottled-up anger.

"They're my babies…my babies…I'm their mother they need me!"

"They do not even know, of the danger that is in front of them. I have not…had a proper chance to tell them."

"Charon…"

To feel helpless for yourself, is one thing. To feel helpless for your children, is another. You as a parent, are meant to love, nurture and protect your children. When you cannot, it is a feeling of failure and despair unmatched by anything else.

"What if…what if…they're our children! What if an enemy finds them? Hurts them? Charon! They're my children!"

Anger replaces sorrow, as Dezbe thinks of the newfound dangers in depth. I grab her hands in mine, and squeeze them tightly.

"You would have to be a fool, to attack our children, Dezbe, and everyone knows it.

She looks into my eyes, and I look into hers.

"…You really think, anyone who hates us, wouldn't hurt our children, when it's the perfect way to get at us?"

"Yes. I do."

"Why?"

"Because, I have very few things I treasure in this world. You, and my children. Anyone, who has harmed you is dead. Anyone who will harm them, is dead. They simply do not know it, yet."

"You're like a Yao Guai when it comes to us."

"You have no idea, Dezbe. I have yet to meet the man brave enough, to come near my family."

I hold her close, as I think about the future. Wonder when Cain and Dizzy will return home, and wonder if perhaps, everything for them will be alright. It is the only thing we can do now, is sit, and wait, and wonder.