She had enjoyed playing with their nieces and nephews and had been impressed with little Tyrone, Sarah and Aaron's son. She couldn't help feeling just a twinge of jealousy as she and Jack had been married before them, and she didn't have any kids. She thought she had healed completely, but it just hadn't happened, which was probably just as well. She wouldn't be a very good mother.
Sarah had brought the boy and come back to the wasteland. They would spend a few weeks visiting her father, the Elder of the Brotherhood, at the Citadel before sailing back to their home in Baton Rouge on the Tradewind's next visit. It was a well earned vacation for the head guard, who would get to spend the time with her husband, and Calli had enjoyed their company on the voyage.
Jack and Calli went first to Rivet City to take care of business there. While Jack went to bargain with the merchants Calli chatted with the head guard, her old friend Harkness.
"Hey, Harkness", she greeted him. "How's things?"
"If we keep growing at this rate we're going to run out of room.", he said. "That boy Brian's turning out to be a pretty good Ranger."
"Oh, yeah, I heard you sent him to Megaton to train under Lucas for a year. Where's he at now?", she asked.
"He's here at the moment. He's part of the Ranger Alliance. He helps patrol the wasteland between here and Megaton. The Rangers mostly work on their own, you know, though Lucas is the nominal leader." , Harkness said.
"Yeah, I saw Lucas a couple months ago. He had half a dozen or so recruits then. Megaton's getting bigger now, too. Well, I see Jack's waiting on me. Keep safe.", she said.
"Good travels", he replied, and she wandered over to see if Jack was ready to leave.
Hawk was waiting with their motorbikes when they returned to River Port. Calli allowed Jack to drive. She clung closely to him mainly to enjoy the feel of his strong body as they headed out on the west road. They were headed for the Dunwich building. They passed the Deathclaw trail that lead to Cave Entrance but Calli didn't point this out to Jack. That was their private place, her and Hawk, and even Jack didn't need to know about it.
Calli paused outside the door to the Dunwich building. She was clad in her favored Ranger armor with an Enclave Hellfire helmet that made her look very much like some kind of alien with its solid bug eyes and pushed out snout. Jack and Hawk both had on the best leather armor money could buy, with a damage resistance equal to Calli's, but they hadn't been trained in power armor use. Their helmets had only a fraction of the damage resistance of hers. She was going to take point.
"Ready?", she asked, combat rifle in hand. Hawk shoved open the door and she slipped inside. She hesitated, sweeping the hall with her rifle, but nothing stirred. A soft, eerie voice seemed to be echoing in the building.
"What is that?", Jack asked quietly. Calli laughed softly.
"Do you believe in ghosts?", she asked.
"No.", he replied a shade uncertainly. Just then the door down the hall seemed to creak open by itself but nothing came out. Calli grinned.
"Neither do I. I think there's a radio playing somewhere. They're often left on when people vacate or die or maybe something's here. Smell that?", she asked, scenting the air.
Just then a growling, choking sound caught her attention along with a waft of the musty scent she recognized. "Oh, good, ghouls, I thought we were going to have a hard time.", she said drily. She pointed at the items scattered down the hall. "A lot of stuff there. If this place hasn't been scavenged out then we're up against more than just some feral ghouls. If there's a nest then there'll be Roamers and Reavers. Roamers, they're tough, but we can handle them. Reavers are a hell of a lot worse. They can kill you quick and they're hard to kill. Glowing ones aren't as hard to kill you just can't stay too close to them for long because of the radiation they emit. You can tell them because they, well, glow."
"Let's try that door on the left.", Calli said. She went in first while the men covered her flank. The first thing she spotted was the flickering Nuka Cola machine. The second was the small table piled with holo tapes. "Cover me while I play these", she said.
"You're going to listen to them now?", Jack questioned.
"Yes, you never know what kind of information is on one. You could learn something important." What they learned was that a man named Jamie was searching for his father who had a book and had come into this building.
She dropped the tapes back on the table. Jack was checking the food dispenser. "Look here, this thing has Stimpaks in it.", he said.
"Take 'em, you might need them later.", Calli responded. "But don't take anything you find unless you need it to help heal or to fight. Weight will just slow us down. We'll scavenge when the buildings cleared. Let's try the door across the hall."
Calli hugged the doorway on the other side of the room and peered up the staircase. She could sense the presence of the ghouls up there.
"We going up?", Jack asked when she hesitated.
"Not just yet. I saw another hall around behind the staircase. Let's check that out." They went behind the staircase and into the small room tucked there. It seemed to be a storeroom and didn't have much of interest in it, but Calli seemed very interested in it. She nodded to herself as she sniffed at the air and studied the doorless room. "This will do. I'm worried about leaving the bikes outside since it looks like we'll be in here a long time. Let's bring them in and secure them in this room. The ghouls never come in here."
"You sure?", Jack asked. Hawk grinned.
"No scent", he said.
Calli stayed to watch for ghouls while Jack and Hawk fetched the bikes, pushing them quietly down the hall. Once they were secured they headed into the room directly across the hall from the staircase- the one where the door had opened by itself.
The large empty room was missing most of its ceiling but she could hear the slight sound of human voices along with the raspy growls of prowling ghouls. The ghouls heard the invaders too. They had to take them out as the stupid ferals attacked as ferals always did, but they found the room with the radio playing. Another holo tape lay on the desk beside the radio. Jack didn't ask this time. He and Hawk guarded her back while she played the tape. All the rest of the rooms on the ground floor were empty of ghouls. It was time to go up.