(Dizzy)

"Who the hell is that man?"

I yell at Cain, as if he has all the answers. Well he should, right?

"How do I know? Obviously someone from Charon's past."

"And how did he know you? What you are? How?"

"Dizzy, I don't know. Maybe…he was someone involved? But Charon says he's trustworthy."

"And you believe him?"

"Don't you?"

I eye him really angrily, my gun still tight in my hand.

"No. Because…lots of people tried to hurt mom and dad in the past. I don't ever want to see it. Hearing about it, is a lot different, than actually living it."

"I understand that, but you also have to understand that there's no safer place than with me and Charon."

"I don't want to! This is my family, and everyone else needs to get out!"

Cain doesn't catch me in time. I push right past him, and storm back into the stupid lab. Lights from an x-ray viewer light the path, and a skeleton lies near where mom was about to get surgery. I turn my nose at it, and follow the sound of chattering voices.

"Dad!"

I yell, storming into the small sitting area. Dad looks at me, his arm around mom.

"Dizzy."

He responds, all sorts of cool and calm.

"Dad who the hell is this? You can't just go around trusting people! Isn't that what you told me? Dad! We should go now!"

To my surprise, he laughs. Dad laughs. I don't think I've heard him laugh more than a handful of times in my entire life. He didn't even laugh when we played tea-party together.

"Dizzy, relax. John is someone I once knew, as I said before. He means us no harm. Come and sit."

"No!"

"She has your stubbornness."

That stupid man says and I turn right to him.

"I don't know who you are, or what you intend to do, but this is my dad! He's mine and you're not going to take him away! I'll kill you myself!"

I raise my gun, but before I can do anything else, I feel Cain's arms wrap around me, and my feet lifting off the ground. Dad stands up and takes my gun from my hand. With a bit of a struggle, that is. He empties the bullets, and hands it back to me. John howls with laughter.

"Only you would have to deal with the sufferings of raising a daughter, Charon."

"Her stubbornness comes from her mother, and she's quite the handful."

"I can imagine boys knocking on the door, trying to break it down to get to her."

"They weren't that stupid."

Cain sits me down and I sigh angrily. I still don't trust this man, but the look mom is giving me tells me to behave.

"Dad kept me on a short leash."

"You're still on one, Dizzy."

He sits back down, while John's stupid face smirks in amusement.

"Daughters are a lot more difficult than sons, that's for sure."

He talks like he has kids himself. I cross my arms over my chest, and give Cain the death glare.

"Are you two together?"

John asks me, and the question kind of knocks me off my feet. Mom and dad really didn't ask about us, even though they both knew. I swallow hard, and nod my head, sort of afraid of the reprimand from my parents. Even though it won't happen.

"I see. And Charon, you stated Cain is adopted? That Dezbe found him?"

"No. Charon is not my father, Dizzy is not my mother. They raised me as their son, but I'm not. I am only tied to them now by Dizzy."

Cain blurts in, standing and brave.

"And your connection to Charon."

"I was based off of him. I am not him."

"Regardless of what you wish to believe, know that I designed the original blueprints for your creation. I know a lot more about you, than even you do."

"Yeah? Prove it."

At this point, Cain is more confronting than me.

"You have a connection to Charon, as it was designed that way. When something happens to either one of you, the other knows. Not only that, but the pairing bond is quite strong."

"…Pairing bond?"

I look over at mom, while John and Cain have their stupid tit-for-tat.

"I explained to Charon earlier. Had you been in the room you would also have heard. Yes a pairing bond. The main reason men and women were kept apart during training and even after, was because due to their training, had they worked for someone of the opposite sex, the loyalty to that person would be unbreakable. Life, and emotions, find a way even in the darkest of moments, and even in the most brainwashed person. Since Charon, was so alone and broken, without a mother, he is forever loyal to Dezbe, despite straying. He associates her, with safety, and care, things that nobody before him had been shown. Your bond, is much deeper than that, since it is artificial, not psychological."

"Without Dizzy, I will die."

"Precisely."

"But I already knew that, and I'm sick of people reminding me!"

Cain slams his hand down. My dad and mom are stuck together for life. I bet mom can move on if she wanted, but dad is kinda stuck in the mud on this one. Cain's issue is a lot more pressing, and I decide to keep my head down. For a minute.

"Charon, the boy is so much like you."

John says. It's not mocking, or cruel, more like an obvious statement. Cain looks away, angry now. I stand up and keep my arms folded. I don't like John any more than Cain does at this point.

"We don't even know who you are, or what you meant to my father, and you're sitting here passing judgment on us. I'm his daughter, and damn if nobody has taken that lightly."

"Dizzy, calm down, child. I can understand why people would rather run from you, instead of towards you. Your father is a powerful, unstoppable force when angered. I have seen so firsthand. Have you?"

All of a sudden, I hate to admit it, but John's right. I've never seen my father entirely angry. I've never seen the passion of him caring so much, that he'd tear apart towns to protect my mom. I've never seen it, but I want to. I don't know why.

"No."

"I have."

Cain says, and I look at him, confused.

"Before you were born, Dezbe was pregnant. Like, big pregnant. Raiders attacked Megaton, and I was too little to fight then, too. But Charon…the things he did to some of them. Anyone who got near Dez was killed almost instantly. And what he did to the Raider that almost shot her right in her stomach…"

Cain shudders and trails off. I look at my dad, and he nods his head.

"I'm not proud of what I do, when threats come close to my family. But I do what must be done, as anyone would."

I know my dad is strong. He's a killer, a mercenary, and powerful. To me, he's strongest in the world, and Cain is second. But to picture him hurting people so badly, it makes Cain shudder, is hard. I get why he did it, I don't think less of him, I just think of how close I really came to pushing him over the edge with all my antics. What if someone, a friend or something of mine, really got hurt?

"It's just hard to imagine. We played tea-party together."

John laughs at this. While my family is use to my dad being soft with me, he obviously, isn't.

"Did you answer a fake phone when it rang and she handed it to you, too?"

John asks my dad, who shamelessly nods his head.

"When your child does something like that, no matter how big you are, you answer it."

I'll admit it, it made me smile too. To think back to when I had a pre-war phone, taken from some rubble. I would hit the broken buttons, and play with the broken piece. Whenever dad walked by I would make this annoying buzzing sound and hand him the face-piece. I'd say 'For you! For you!' and he would take it, and pretend it was someone very important on the other line. They'd give him orders, and together, we'd execute this very intricate mission. Although it always ended with me going to bed. Or nap. I hated naps.

"I remember that, dad."

I tell him, giving him a soft smile.

"Being a father…is one thing I never expected from you, Charon. A normal life, yes, but to go as far as to make a child…"

"It was hard to envision what I once was, transforming into who I am now. I understand."

It's hard for me to see my dad as anything other than my dad. I can't imagine him being a ruthless killer, though I don't doubt that he ever was. It's just maybe, since I'm his daughter and grew up with him always loving and caring about me. I rarely, even now, see him angry.

"Your daughter…she reminds me of pre-war…"

John says, and everyone looks at me. I light a cigarette and jut my jaw out. Mom does it too when she's mad.

"I'm not pre-war."

Between you and me, I have this deep-nested hate for pre-war. Mom would show me the clothes and pictures and whatnot. It seemed so dull. So boring. What I could get from Gob growing up, was that pre-war had these things called 'taxes' and 'law'. Megaton has rules, and that's fine. Step outside the boundaries though and you're free as a Mirelurk in the open sea. Gob said it wasn't like that. That there were rules even in the open sea. I don't like the clothes. I don't like anything about it. The only thing I do like is possibly putting an awesome twist on pre-war when I get to New Vegas. I can picture those ladies mom showed me holding guns and looking all sorts of badass classy. That's the kind of stuff I like. None of this stupid, pre-war lawful bullshit.

Absentmindedly, I rub some dirt off my face. I glance at the back of my hand to see the smudge. I can't picture my mom coming over and making a fuss over how dirty I've gotten. In pre-war, moms did that. I don't want that.

"How so?"

I hear dad ask, and I look over at John.

"The short hair. The blue eyes. She has this…Charon, you remember them, right? They ran the streets at night?"

"The hoodlums?"

"Ah, yes. You see I never saw them as lawless, though. They were always free in my eyes. A freedom I still can't obtain. That's who Dizzy reminds me of. One of those wild and free children."

"My mom was one."

I say blowing smoke. I still do not like this man one bit. I toss a backwards look at Cain, asking with my eyes if we can please just go home and meet the parental units there. To my anger he looks away. As much as he's disowned mom and dad as his parents, he misses them just the same. Dumb boys.

"Dizzy, you have no idea what I was like."

"Are you going to tell me, in real detail?"

Mom gives me a smirk, and flips her hair back in this real smug way. I think this is the most time we've spent together in one room, all of us I mean, without someone trying to rip someone else's head off.

"I was wild…"

She says it like she's talking about sex. Weird as that sounds. I'm not too good with words. Dad rolls his eyes, and I eagerly listen as he looks at me, then John.

"Dezbe was a character back then."

"I still am."

"Regardless. Dizzy, it's hard to describe really, what your mother was back then. It was something, you'd simply have to see."

"Your father isn't the best on telling moments when he wasn't there."

I cock an eyebrow, and sit at their feet. Cain sits beside me. Although he's known their history far longer than I have, this part…is new to both of us. Mom and dad have three people, eagerly listening for their unedited version of one another. All they do, is sit a bit closer to each other.

"Before I met your father, I had two or three months to myself. Fresh in the Wasteland, I didn't know how to survive out here. But I had to learn fast, or die. I became…more or less a one-woman Raider gang, with a slight Jet addiction. The silence and solitude caused me to develop an independence, yet dependence on myself, that I didn't have in the vault. I was…am, free, in a much different sense than you are, Dizzy. You have parents who love you, and worry. My mother died before I was born, and my father at that time was off working on Project Purity. I was completely, and utterly alone."

"What about when you met dad? Did your freedom change?"

Mom shook her head at my question. It seemed for a minute, tears were going to come out.

"No, my emotions did, though. I suddenly found myself dependent on your father. There was a time, where…you see, Dizzy, your father had terrible flashbacks. It would control him, and he became someone else. During one such moment, he attacked me. I had to defend myself. I believed, for five years, that I killed him."

"You and dad were separated for five years?"

She nods, looking at the ground.

"I spent those five years in a town far south. Alone, not talking to the townspeople, not wanting to. Eventually, I returned to Megaton. During this time, your father was dealing with his own demons. To protect me, from him, he hid that he had survived the fight between us. But, fate would have it, that we both return to Megaton at the same time. Shortly after our reunion, we found Cain."

Chatter emits from John, dad and mom. Cain is quiet, and I poke my cigarette out on the ground. I knew my entire life, that my parents loved one another in a way that nobody else could compare to. But, to hear that their love, was strong enough to survive five years of being apart, saddens me a bit. I mean, how many couples do you know have no communication for that long, and then suddenly pick back up again? None. What mom and dad have…I don't think I'll ever feel that way about anyone.

Standing up, I smile at my parents.

"I'm going to wait outside. I want to go back to Megaton tonight. Or at least try to. Is it okay if I wait outside and relax?"

Asking permission to do something at this point in my life is redundant. Still, I find myself doing just that. Dad and mom simply nod their heads in my direction, as they're distracted with John. It's best to give them time to catch up. Dad seems close to this old man. I don't know why, or how. Frankly, I don't want to know, really.

Cain follows me out. Through the deep water, up the stairs, around the lopsided platforms, and out the door. Our clothes weren't fully dried from our entrance, but the air outside is warm enough to keep us comfortable. Together we find a small, secluded spot to sit. We can see the door carefully, in case mom and dad walk out. They'll wake us, if we fall asleep. Worse to worse, we all just head back to Megaton and meet up there.

Sitting down, I put my gun on the ground and stretch out my legs. Cain does the same, and above us a million, billion stars litter the night sky.

"What's on your mind?"

He asks, lighting his own cigarette. I sigh, and lie back with my arms behind my head.

"Mom and dad."

"What about them?"

"Cain…that's something unbreakable they have. It's…almost unbelievable. I know they've been together since forever, but knowing that they're so much in love, that five years of no contact meant nothing…it…puts things into perspective."

"It must have been hard for both of them to be without the other, though."

"Yeah but aside from that, think of the reunion. How wonderful it must have been."

Cain shrugs, puffing smoke from his lungs.

"Charon told me the story. It wasn't as romantic as you're making it to be."

"Oh yeah? How so?"

"Dezbe was sad. Distraught. Five years had taken their toll, and it wasn't like she took care of herself. Charon said when he first saw her, she was skin, bone, and sunken eyes. He felt so much guilt for what he'd put her through in their time together, that at first, he didn't even want to renew the romance."

I sit up, as if I'm hearing my own love story.

"Really? What happened?"

"Dezbe took some old, pre-war medicine she found. It made her sick. Charon had promised to bring her here, to Rivet City, so she could have tests done. Between that is when she took the medicine. She got sick. Charon said that during their time laughing and joking, he just fell so much back in love with her that he didn't want to hurt her anymore. So when he knew she was safe, he left."

"…Dad left mom again? Then what happened? Do they get back together?"

I don't realize how stupid that sounds until Cain looks at me. For my own sake, and probably out of fear of what I'll do to him if he doesn't continue, Cain ignores my stupidity.

"Dez went back to Megaton. To wait. And she waited, but someone from that southern town came around looking for her. Charon went to escort an old man and a Brahmin back to The Pitt. I guess the old man had some good advice, because all of a sudden, Charon realized he was letting the woman he loved go to someone else. He felt guilty for hurting her, but I guess the guilt of hurting her in the past, didn't compare to the pain he would cause her if he didn't go back. So, he did. And then, they went to the Citadel Ruins, broke a bunch of shit, found me, and lived happily ever after."

I hang on his every word. I know they live happily ever after, I was a big part in that. But still. I guess you never really realize just how much moms and dads go through until it's all explained one day. And then all explained again. And so on and so forth.

"…You think, we could ever love one another like that?"

Since we've already seen one another naked, and done naked things together, I don't feel the need to tiptoe around him anymore. Once you see someone naked, there's not much else to be embarrassed of.

"No. I think what they have is special in its own way, and what we have is special in our own way. We haven't even started our own adventure yet, Dizzy. We don't know what the future will hold."

I shrug, displeased.

"I guess you're right but…imagine being so in love, that…nothing in the world could compare…"

"Imagine the suffering that comes with earning that love. Nothing worth it is easy, Dizzy. Even in this world. If it was, it wouldn't be worth it."

I want to argue him, but I know he's right. Instead I turn my head away and look up at the big, yellow moon. Well really tonight it's silvery, and blue-ish. I feel Cain's hand wrap around mine, and the roughness of his fingers.

"We're going to have fun, in New Vegas."

He says, almost as if he's actually excited about going. I look over at him, making sure he can't let my hand go even if he wanted to.

"You sound excited."

"I am. It's our life now. Ours. Nobody in the world can tell us what to do, how to do it, or anything. Nobody will know us there. We can even make new names for ourselves. Develop whole new identities."

"I like my name, and my identity."

"I'm just saying, it's a possibility."

I smile, and nod my head. I know what he means. While he's excited to get out of dad's shadow, I'm more excited to start my own adventure with him. I want to dance. And feel alive. People who've been to New Vegas either love it or hate it. Mom says there were too many laws for her, and she got into far too much trouble, too easy. Dad says he never went, and doesn't want to go. Something about the moral standard, or whatever.

It isn't long though, before we hear the steel door of the broken bow open up, and mom and dad walk out. They're all in this world together. So engrossed with what's going on between them that they hardly notice me and Cain walking up. We could have very well been laying there dead and they wouldn't even have noticed. I don't really blame them for that, though.

"Ready to head back?"

Mom asks me, and I give her a smile. As much as I can't wait to leave home, nothing can replace the feeling of going back to it