The sun rose over the edge of the world for the third time before Lionel bothered to wonder if Celia had made it back to Grayling. He didn't feel guilty. She didn't have to follow him two hours away from town, out into the wastes. He might have let her stay the night in the shack again, if Lilian hadn't shown up. But the girl needed to learn that this world was cruel and heartless, just as he'd had to learn. The hard way, too.
Lionel mentioned that there were new people in Grayling. He could see the starry-eyed look that Lilian got in her eyes, hear the excitement in her raspy voice. "Imagine that," she cooed, dreamily. "A real Vault, somewhere around here. And full of actual people, not just assholes or our kind."
"Most people are assholes," he countered, fiddling with the radio wires. He'd almost gotten it to work that morning, but it only picked up static. "Their Overseer is definitely one."
"Let's go and meet them!" Lilian said. She put a hand on his arm.
"Already met 'em," he grumbled. But he put away the radio. He wasn't about to let her traipse off into the wastes again, on her own. He gathered up his things and they went off to Grayling.
Lilian's laughter rang through the trees, as they walked. She talked about everything and anything that remotely looked interesting, and speculated about the Vault dwellers. Lionel smiled, pacified to hear her voice. He was very glad she was back; he melted like an ice cube when she was around. Even her raspy singing voice made him feel fifty years younger.
"Tell me more about them?" she asked.
"Like what?" He turned an eye to watch a bloatfly bouncing away from them, toward the south.
"How many of them are there? Who are they? What are they like?" she gushed.
"You'll find out," he rasped. "I'd just ruin the surprise."
"Oh, you're right," she agreed, and laughed at him.
Lilian was still very popular in Grayling, something Lionel hadn't managed. The two ghouls were stopped frequently as they walked through the streets, until Lionel put his heels in and refused to move. "Go talk to people, already," he grumbled. "I'll be here."
He never asked her where she went when she left him. She hardly ever volunteered anything, and he was content to let it lie. Worked better that way. Ignorance is bliss, Lionel thought. That made him remember the Vault girl and he wondered where she was.
Lilian spoke with the red-haired woman about a place called Samson. Lionel's legs ached as he stood, watching her with a smile. If he couldn't talk to people... at least she could.
"Oh, thank goodness," a voice behind him said.
He grunted. Answered that question, anyway. He turned to face Celia. "Survived the night, I see," he rumbled.
She hopped down from the Mayor's front porch, coming to a halt beside him. "Yeah, I'm lucky," she replied. "...Is that Lilian?" she asked, pointing at the ghoul woman.
He nodded. "She's come to meet real, live, Vault dwellers."
Celia didn't reply for a moment. She looked like she was thinking very hard about something. Lionel found it a little amusing, the way her face screwed up in concern.
"Can you talk to Calhoun about taking us out to the military base?" she asked, abruptly. "I'm getting tired of everyone arguing about it."
He looked at her from the corner of his eye. There was a cut above her right eye, various smears of dirt on her ever-browning skin, and a few stains on her knees. Farming, he thought. Been busy. Good on her.
Didn't really want to face down the asshole again, though. He'd rubbed Lionel the wrong way, the last time. He looked back at Lilian and then faced Celia. "That one does what he wants," he said, roughly. "Don't see how I can change any minds."
Celia's face fell in disappointment. Ah, shit. Lilian would give him hell if he didn't try to help these people. Her and her bleeding heart.
"Lilian!" he called, without taking his eyes off of Celia's face.
The ghoul woman took her time moseying back. The air between them grew awkward. He sighed in relief when Lilian finally came over, her eyes lit up with excitement.
"Oh!" she said. "I thought you'd be paler." She put her hand to her mouth, in embarrassment. "Gosh, I'm sorry."
"Why?" Celia asked, shaking out her arms. "I was. Been working in the sun."
Lilian looked embarrassed, still. "She means she's sorry for assuming," Lionel teased. "Queen of the land of Foot-in-Mouth, over here."
Both of them looked at him. "Lionel!" they said, scolding him at the same time, then looked at each other curiously.
That was his cue to leave. As happy as he was to have Lilian back, he didn't need to be chewed out for being playful at the wrong time. Didn't know how the girl would react. "I'm going for a drink," he grumbled, and meandered off, leaving them to talk.
"Tell me again why it would be such a bad idea, to have the ghoul escort us?" Calhoun asked for the third time that day. He kept hoping Pesaro would come up with a better excuse.
His hopes were dashed, almost immediately. "I don't have a problem with him," Pesaro said, "but he makes me nervous. He wants paid. How are we supposed to afford it?"
Calhoun stared at the gray-haired older man, wondering how he could disguise his obvious detest for the ghoul. Outside of the Vault, Pesaro had become stubborn and intractable. When we get our new home, I need a detention center, he thought, grumbling. "You think he won't take something in trade? We aren't completely untrustworthy, Pesaro."
"We need everything we can get, remember, Overseer?" Ed said, snarkily.
Calhoun shot him a look. "You Landises," he said. "Quick to a fight, but never end one."
Ed sputtered, unused to the temper. Calhoun sighed. "We're learning, here. We need the young ones in the fields, learning how to farm. We need Ida in with Dr. Jen, Benjamin out with Holcomb in the garage. The only people who haven't been working is you, me, and Ann. We need to learn how to deal with unpleasantries such as... ghouls."
Pesaro curled up his lip. "What if the ghoul decides he wants to live where we are?"
"I doubt it. Celia says his house is hidden very well above the dry lake bed." Calhoun raised an eyebrow at the security officer. His veneer was cracking. He couldn't hide it, after all.
"He does get taken advantage of," Ed said. "Holcomb mentioned that he's right terrible with money, and gets fleeced a lot. What if he wants more than we can offer?"
"I don't think he's smart enough to figure out if we were cheating him," Calhoun drawled.
The men looked at each other for a moment. "You may have a point," Pesaro said, "but I don't want him getting close to any of us. Especially not the girl. She doesn't think straight."
"He's not contagious!" Calhoun said. "Dr. Jen was specific about that."
The security officer only crossed his arms and asked, "But are you sure?"
Behind him, the door to the common area opened, and Celia entered with someone trailing behin her. "Hello? Who's this, Celia?" Calhoun asked, craning his neck to see.
Oh good Lord, he thought, when he saw the female ghoul. She was... in better condition than brawny old man, but still terrible to look at. He didn't think he would want to have a ghoul around for very long. Looked like a walking horror scene with those exposed muscles, tattered skin, and patchy hair. Oh god! She did have hair!
Celia introduced the woman. "This is Jack Calhoun. Overseer Calhoun, this is Lilian Harper."
It was like she'd dissolved halfway, and baked in an enormous oven for too long. He suppressed his flip-flopping stomach, and managed to give her a quick peck on the hand offered out to him. Pesaro suddenly found something else to do, in a different place. The door slammed behind him. The ghoul didn't seem to notice.
"Miss Harper?" Calhoun asked, offering her a seat. She sat, and smiled gruesomely.
"Oh, he's a gentleman," she rasped, and winked at Celia. The effect made his stomach flop again. "I'm so happy to have new people around."
"Lilian stays with Lionel," Celia said, quietly.
"Ah, yes. Our grumpy friend." Calhoun sat down across from Lilian.
"Friend!" Lilian laughed. It sounded to Calhoun like a power saw going through a sheet of metal. "Lionel doesn't have friends."
Celia parked herself on a couch. "Dr. Jen says we shouldn't give up on him, since he's such a crummy jerk. Says he needs the help as much as we do."
The power saw sounded again. "He's such a mess when I go away," Lilian said. She looked bashfully at Calhoun. "He's quite old, you know. I've only been on this earth for sixty years. I'm quite young compared to him."
"Sixty?" Calhoun said, coyly. "I would have guessed forty."
Celia stiffened and looked down. Lilian was flustered. "Oh," she said, nervously.
"Has Celia told you that we'd like the old lion's help?" Calhoun asked, smiling.
"Yes," Lilian said. "I admire your tenacity. I know you will do fine, if he helps. I will talk to him."
"You're a doll, Lilian," Calhoun said, smiling wider.
"And you're too much, Jack," she said, and patted his hand with a smile.
Lilian stayed a little while longer, speaking to Ed and Ann. "Celia has such wit," she told them. "She reminds me of my daughter."
"Back home, we called it being snarky," Ed said, being serious. "She's a right pain in the behind, that one."
"Edward!" Ann said, horrified. Calhoun found it amusing that Ann's disgust at Lilian's physical appearance was only trumped by her love for propriety. Celia pointedly ignored the comments, staring at a tin can in her hands.
The visit was cut short when Lionel retrieved Lilian, shaking his head as he escorted her away. Calhoun watched them leave, thankful the view had dramatically improved.
No, he didn't want to have the ghouls around, if he could avoid it. He looked over at Celia. Not when the view was much nicer, without them around.