26. Arranging

MacCready POV

I wake up feeling pressure on my torso and immediately snap my eyes open. Duncan's laying on me, his mouth hanging wide open, a little bit of his drool soaked into my shirt. I still can't believe it, I think with a grin.

For the following stretch of time, I lay here and watch him sleep while petting his head. I don't want to wake him, but how can I not? It's been so long since I've seen him, it'd be impossible to not be touching him somehow.

After a little while, Kate comes down the stairs, yawning. She sees I'm awake and smiles warmly. "Good morning."

I smile back at her. "Good morning."

"Sleep well?" she asks as she fishes around a shelf for some Sugar Bombs.

"Very. It's been a long time since I've slept that good." All those nights, worrying… I don't have to go through that anymore.

"I was thinking maybe I could show you around Megaton today while you're still here. If that's okay with you?"

"Sure," I reply. "It'd be neat to see where Duncan's been living—be able to meet some people here."

"Great," she grins, abandoning her cereal. "Want some, uh, help with that?" She points to Duncan's sleeping form. I nod with a chuckle as she scoops her arms underneath him, lifting him pretty easily. I squirm out from under him, then she lays him back on the couch, readjusting my duster on him. He wiggles a bit before his mouth opens again, already back to sleep from the small disturbance.

"Alright," she says quietly. "He should be asleep for another hour or two. Let's get going."

"You… You can't be serious." Kate is utterly shocked.

"Would I lie?"

"You used to all the time," she retorts.

I roll my eyes. "I was a kid. It's different."

She sits down on the edge of the hangover near Craterside Supply. We'd been spending a lot of this morning roaming around Megaton. Since I didn't see much of it other than their house the last couple times I was here, she insisted on showing me every last inch of the place where Duncan had been living for the past year.

"I'm dead serious," I say, sitting next to her.

"So. Let me get this straight." She clears her throat. "Beth is Pre-War. She lived in Boston, saw the bomb fall, made it to a vault with her husband and infant, just to get frozen in cryostasis. She woke up in October, and is now waging a war with the Institute alongside the Brotherhood of Steel." I nod. "Beth?" She points toward the house, where we left her asleep. I nod again, a grin slowly forming on my face. "Wow." She shakes her head. "She really is something." I think of the letter I sent her about Beth, how I'd said she was something else, but didn't elaborate too much.

"Yeah. I wasn't kidding," I laugh.

She seems to not be paying attention, caught up in her own thoughts. After a couple minutes, she turns her whole body toward me. "…Are you happy?" she asks suddenly. Confused, I just nod. "No, really," she says. "I've always known you as this little disgruntled kid. You seemed to never have the want to get close to people, but the one time you did…" She looks down. "I don't want you to be that guy that Fate always hits directly in the face everytime. First with Lucy, then Duncan. I don't want you to have to go through that again. You don't deserve it…"

I face her a bit more head on. "Kate. There's nothing—nobody—that could make me happier than I am right now. You don't understand how it is… I'm not even sure I do." She looks on at me patiently to continue with what I mean.

"It's like… all those times Fate hit me directly in the face, as you put it, it's almost like… I'm being paid back for all those times right now. What are the chances of this happening anyway, huh? Pre-War beauty like her, walking right into my life when I needed her most. We're like a perfect match—and I know, that sounds so cliché, but it's true. It's like magic—we've talked about that before. She's brought it up, so it's not just me.

"I never knew I could fall so head over heels for someone so quickly. It's astounding, Kate. And there's nowhere else I wanna be—need to be—than by her side."

Kate looks at me with a small smile. "Okay. I believe you. It's hard to say I know how that goes. Seems like it took a lot of persuasion and time for my meathead of a husband to realize my feelings for him." She laughs. "Okay, maybe not a lot."

I chuckle at her blushing cheeks. "Please. Do tell," I say.

She sighs. "We ended up in the same bed one night when I found him sitting sick in the Muddy Rudder. There was only one bed in my hotel room. But yeah. I kinda woke him up in the morning with a kiss, I guess." Her cheeks deepen in colour. "Let's just say it didn't end there… and we've been together ever since." She giggles.

I gawk at her in a comical, sarcastic way. "Why, Kate!" I push her shoulder. "You dog."

"I know," she nods, her cheeks still a shade of pink. "I thought that myself—like I jumped him as if I was a dog in heat." She laughs again, and I join in with her. With a sly smirk, she adds, "Well, hey. It worked."

Beth POV

I'm woken up by a small voice. "…Hey." I feel a finger poke my arm. I open my eyes to Duncan practically in my face, making me jump slightly.

"Hey, Duncan." I rub the sleep out of my eyes. "What are you doing up?"

"It's nine-thirty. I usually wake up now." He looks down with a pause before asking, "Do you know where Dad and Kate went?"

I look over to the couch and see Robert's duster crumpled up in a pile. "They didn't tell me, so I'm afraid not. Is something wrong?" I ask him, suddenly a bit worried, knowing his shyness toward me, and his action of waking me up conflicting against that.

He shakes his head. "No. Just wanted to know where Dad is."

Butch comes down the stairs at this time. Having heard Duncan, he says, "Kate wanted to take your dad out and show him around Megaton today. So, that's probably where they went."

The boy looks relieved. "Oh, okay."

Butch says to me, "Ellis is already at school, so it'll just be you two here. I have to go out for a while."

"Okay," I reply. After he leaves, and the door is shut, I notice Duncan is just standing in the middle of the room, looking down as he plays with his hands. "Duncan?" He looks at me without a word. "Are you sure you're okay?" I switch from asking in general to asking him specifically. He shrugs. "Are you nervous because I'm here?" After a moment, he nods. At least he's truthful. "You don't have to be," I tell him. "Here." I fidget in my seat. "If I'm making you nervous, how about you tell me what it is, and I can try to help with it."

He thinks for a bit, and shrugs again, as if he can't exactly pin point what it is.

"Is it because you feel like I'm a stranger? That we didn't get to talk very much last night?" He nods slowly. "Okay. Let's start from the beginning, then. We can take turns. I'm Beth."

"I'm Duncan." Is it working?

"I live in the Commonwealth."

"I live in the Capital Wasteland. Here in Megaton. I used to live near Arefu." I think it's working…

"I've known your dad for a while now. He's told me a lot about you."

He perks up a little, dropping his hands to his sides. "He did?" It's working!

"Yeah, he did. I've been looking forward to meeting you for a long time now." He smiles a bit. "I got a good one. What's your favourite toy? You're bound to have at least one."

"I do!" He bounds up the steps so quick, I'm surprised he didn't fall down. Yet again, I'm sure he's had the practice. He comes back with an armful and dumps them onto the couch. Waving me over, he says, "These are my toys!"

I get up slowly, as to not make him any more anxious—although I'd guess his anxiousness left as soon as I mentioned his toys. He rearranges them in neat rows. "These are my favourites!" He points to the first row. "Those are okay," he points to the second row, then the third, "and those were Ellis's. He gave them to me when he got bored of them."

"From your favourites, which ones are the best ones?" I ask.

He picks up a couple toy cars. "Don't tell the others," he whispers, looking at the rest on the first row, "but these are the best ones." He hands them to me.

"Wow," I enthuse. "These are great." I whisper back at him, "I see why they're your favourite." He giggles, and I can't help a smile, seemingly have cracked his shy-shell a little bit.

MacCready POV

"No, no, no. Takahashi's noodles are way better," I argue.

"The Noodle Stand serves some killer noodles," Kate retorts. "Nobody's can possibly top Jenny's."

"You wanna bet? When you guys come up to Boston—I mean, the Commonwealth—" Beth has me saying Boston now. Cool, I think sarcastically, then continue. "You need to try the Power Noodles at Diamond City. We don't live there anymore, but it'll be worth the trip—not only for you to have them, cause they're awesome, but to prove you wrong!" I laugh. Kate opens the door to her house, and the scene playing out in the living room has my jaw going slack.

Duncan and Beth are on their hands and knees, spinning in circles, making car sounds as they race a couple of his toy cars—and no doubt he's only making car noises because she told him what they used to sound like, as he's never heard a car engine before. All this is incredibly shocking, as Duncan doesn't trust people easily, or get comfortable with strangers quickly.

Beth finally sees me and stops, nearly falling over from spinning for who knows how long. "Oh, hi." She smiles widely.

Duncan notices her halt and looks toward the door. "Dad!" He gets up and dashes toward me, although he nearly falls over as well. Jumping up on me, he gives me a big hug as I mouth to Beth, What did I miss? She mouths back, A lot, and smiles again.

I set my son down and he runs back to her on the floor and sits down, ramming his car into hers while making a loud crash noise. I go up to them and sit on the couch, equally as entertained as I am confused by them. Beth looks up at me, then to Duncan. She looks so content. "Should we talk?" she asks me. I know she means to Duncan about our future living arrangements. I nod. Kate figures the same, and goes upstairs to give us more privacy.

"Duncan?" I grab his attention, and he looks up at me immediately, dropping his car onto his lap. "Can we talk for a little bit?"

"Yeah." He gets up and seats himself next to me on the couch. Beth stays sitting on the floor.

I start off easy. "I see you and Beth were having a good time. You like her?"

"Yeah," he looks down to her and grins. "She's cool."

"I'm glad you think so," I tell him. "Have you guys talked much, or have you been playing this whole time?" I laugh and tickle his ribs, making his giggle.

"We talked some earlier."

"About what?"

He looks to Beth for her to fill in this blank. She responds, "He was acting a little nervous, so I asked him what I could do to help him with it. We started talking about his toys, and he just… blossomed from there."

He laughs at her wording. "Blossom."

"I also said that I've known you for a while. I didn't know how to describe it, though," she tells me, while a look of slight panic is set in her eyes.

I'd been thinking about how to break this to him for a while now, so I pick up from there. "Duncan, I want you to understand something, okay?" He nods. "Beth is a great friend of mine. We really care for each other—and we've almost died trying to save each other's lives many times." He looks a little concerned. "But, we're okay. We're here now, because we were there to watch each other's back." I pause for a second, trying to remember how I wanted to phrase the next part. With a deep breath, I continue, "Do you remember Mom?"

He squints his eyes and looks far away. After a few seconds, he shakes his head. "Not really."

"Do you remember me talking about her? How I loved her very much?" He nods, his brows scrunched ever so slightly. With another breath, "I love Beth like that now, since Mom's not here."

He looks down, and although it's hard to see his face, from what I can see, he looks like he's thinking hard. "So…" he starts. "It's like Beth is my new Mommy now?" He looks at me, his eyes round, proud, that he's come up with that conclusion all by himself.

"Yeah," I say, impressed. "It kind of is like she's your new Mommy. …Would that be okay with you?"

"Yeah!" he exclaims. "I really like her a whole lot, Dad! She plays with me and everything. Like how Mommy used to." He smiles down to her.

I look at her myself, the first time in a little bit, and see she has tears pooling at her eyelids. She smiles back at him, and opens her arms. "Can I just… get a hug, Duncan?" He hops down from the couch and sits in her lap, hugging her with his little arms, and being completely enveloped in hers.

Here I thought last night that I couldn't be any happier. I'm glad I was wrong.

"You'll come visit me, right?" I can hear Duncan ask Kate as she helps him pack his toys upstairs. Butch is downstairs with Beth and I, going through the fridge for some food for our trip back.

"Absolutely, Duncan," Kate replies easily. "I've grown too attached to you—I don't think I couldn't." I can only imagine him smiling.

Beth looks at me. "He doesn't know about his room, does he?"

I grin. "Nope. But he's gonna love it." Butch sets the bag with the grub in it by the door along with our two bags we brought and Duncan's suitcase full of clothes. Kate and Duncan come down the stairs with his small duffel bag full of toys. His "favourites," as he put them.

"About ready to head out, little man?" I ask him. He nods a bit reluctantly. "You're going to miss it here, huh?" He nods again. Crouching down in front of him, I say, "We can come back and visit sometime. But you do want to come with us still, right?"

"Yeah. I just want to be with you, Dad." His expression and tone combined is almost too much to handle, and makes me question leaving him all over again.

"Well, you get to be with me now." I try my best to smile past the emotions of it. He smiles back at me. I stand and walk up to Kate, Butch and Ellis having joined her a minute ago near the door. "I know I've already said it, but I just want to thank you again. I don't know what would've happened if you hadn't of helped me."

Butch shakes his head. "You don't gotta keep thanking us. It was no problem at all. He's a great kid." I look down at my son, who is looking up at me with a grin on his face. Butch sees him. "Yeah, I'm talking about you." He bends down to hug him. "Be good, okay, kiddo?" Duncan nods.

Kate now kneels and embraces him tightly. "I'm going to really miss you, Duncan. It's going to be a lot quieter around here without you." She looks to Butch. "Maybe we should've had another child."

He laughs, then shakes his head. "Nah. The last one took a toll on you. Probably not a good idea, Nosebleed." I remember how she said she'd almost died in childbirth with Ellis. And as for the reason he still calls her Nosebleed after all these years… it's beyond me.

Duncan walks up to Ellis, as he hasn't made a move since standing next to his mother. "I gonna miss playing with you, Ellis," he says.

Ellis looks at him with a look of mild despondence. "Yeah…" He looks down for a second before dashing up the stairs. I can't help but to think how rude that was.

Duncan feels like he is his brother of sorts, so he looks sad at Ellis's response. Yet, when I look at Kate and Butch's faces, they're smiling. What?

Ellis comes back with a red toy car in his hands. He stands in front of Duncan for a moment then hands it to him. "You always said your cars were better than mine. But this one has always been the best. I still think it is, but… I… I want you to have it." Duncan is shocked, as am I.

With a smile on his face, my son steps forward and hugs the DeLoria boy. Ellis is now the shocked one, his whole face shaped into a loose O. Finally, he puts his arms around Duncan and hugs him back. "I'm gonna miss playing with you, too, Duncan."

Beth POV

I've never traveled with a kid in the wasteland before…

As Robert, Duncan, and myself trek back to Rivet City—where we left our boat—I can't help but to be nervous. What if a rabid dog pops up out of nowhere? What if deathclaws are twice as big here? Or worse… What if those things Robert told me about are around here? I think of the terrifying sounding creature he called a centaur, and shiver at just the thought of one. It doesn't help that the sun has started setting and the light breeze has made for a chilly night.

"Do you think we should stop in Rivet City?" Robert asks, as if he can tell I want to get out of the elements. I nod.

When we reached the boat town last night, I was happy to realize we had made it there with little conflict. A couple giant ants could hardly count toward the whole "death and ultimate doom" factor. We rented out a hotel room and crashed for the night, Duncan sleeping between us on the bed. In the morning, we took all our luggage—so much for the wasteland, so little for Pre-War times—and boarded the boat. Duncan seemed excited since he was out of Megaton, away from Kate and them. He could hardly sit still for the first hour, before falling asleep in the cabin, using one of the bags as a makeshift pillow. Kids and how they fall asleep on trips, I thought to myself as I looked at him with a grin.

On our second night of the journey, I lie down outside the cabin, looking up at the stars, as Robert takes his shift of driving the boat—soon after laying down, I'm asleep. I wake up for the briefest of moments, and hear him talking quietly with his son.

"Would you help me with that?" he asks the boy.

"Yeah. No problem, Dad."

Before I know it, I'm back to sleep.