Early September. Another fall cooling the wasteland. Soon it would be time for Calli's annual trip to the south. Maybe she'd just go early, maybe even this trip. Everything seemed to agitate her lately. Even cleaning out the new group of Raiders holing up in the old mill hadn't made her feel any better. She was just so tired.
Calli was leaning over the toilet, throwing up again for the second morning in a row. She could smell Hawk preparing breakfast but the thought of food wasn't very appealing. Hawk glanced up as she came downstairs.
"Feeling better?", he asked.
"Not really", she answered. " I don't want any breakfast. I don't get it, I never get sick."
Hawk considered her thoughtfully. "You know you're not sick.", he said.
"What do you mean? Of course I'm sick!", she insisted.
"Calli" he said. "Denying it isn't going to make it go away, you know. You're pregnant, aren't you?" Calli stared at him as if he'd slapped her.
"No! I can't be pregnant. You know I can't have kids.", she denied.
Hawk sighed. "Everything else healed. You healed completely. You know that, don't you?"
"Yeah, maybe, but I'm a mutant! You know mutants don't have kids. Their genes aren't compatible." Hawk shook his head slowly.
"Come on Calli. You mutated by the GECK. Who else was GECK born? Hmmmm?"
Calli was quiet. Jack too had mutated by the GECK. Maybe over the last 17 years since their exposure they had somehow become compatible.
"Maybe you're right.", she said slowly. "I do have all the symptoms. But, Hawk, how can I take care of a baby? Do you think Jack will be happy? Maybe Aileen would take care of it. I'm… I don't know. I just don't know what to do."
"I guess you and Jack have a lot to discuss, don't you?" Hawk said. Calli didn't answer as the smell of cooking meat reached her, sending her scurrying for the toilet.
They took the safest route they knew to Rivet City to wait for the Tradewind. It was due in 2 days. Calli observed the darkening sky worriedly. The ship should be just off the Carolina coast about now. The short wave radios had been buzzing about the weather. It was early for hurricane season, but not unheard of. Calli hoped the Tradewind had gone to port even if it would put her behind schedule.
The howling storm swept through the area all the next day. Calli and Hawk stayed indoors, trading, mending items, or playing cards with the residents. The following day the storm died down and Calli went out to watch for the Tradewind. She didn't come. She watched for the next three days, until a message arrived from the post on the Island. Not only had the Tradewind not shown, but there was word that a ship had broken up off the Carolina coast.
Calli donned her most protective gear and left. She was pretty sure she was more than 2 months along. She didn't ask Hawk if he was coming with her. She knew he would. He was the one person in her life she could always depend on. Hawk didn't have to ask where they were going as they headed South. There was only one place where Calli would feel safe now.
Calli hung back while Hawk scouted the area, making sure they could get past the Deathclaws without engaging them. They slipped quickly into Cave Entrance. The heaters Hawk had hauled in had done their job and the cave was warm and inviting. Calli sank onto the couch dispiritedly.
"He could be alive, Calli.", Hawk said. " Maybe it wasn't even the Tradewind. It could've been some other ship."
"He would've come. You know he would have. The hurricane hit right where he should have been. Maybe he is alive, maybe he's not. I don't know. He isn't here, Hawk. What am I going to do? " She looked dully at her Pip-boy. "My radiation's down to normal, and I don't dare raise it now. I don't know what it'll do to the baby. I need it to heal if I get injured! I can't risk getting hurt, or risk my life when it's not just my life I'm risking. How am I going to work? Just being out there is risky." She looked at him desperately. "I don't know what to do."
Hawk knelt beside her. "We're going to stay here a few days. You've just had too much at once. Rest awhile, then we'll think about the future. I can take you into the valley in the shuttle, you'll be safe there."
"No", she said. "Not yet. I have to think. I don't want to go through the Valley of Death just yet. We're safe enough here for now. I just need some time." She gently rubbed her belly, noticing that it was just as flat as usual.
Calli spent the next week feverishly working on Cave Entrance. It was becoming a nice place to stay with comfortable furniture and sleeping and cooking facilities. The lighting was easily controlled in all parts of the cave and tunnels. As she worked Calli formulated plans, discarding them almost as quickly as they formed. Finally one began to take shape in her mind. A feasible solution.
On the sixth day Calli rose and stood in the morning light coming in the cave entrance. She turned to smile at Hawk as he stirred.
"Morning, big guy", she said. "About time you got up. Come on, I've started breakfast. When we're done, I'd like you to head over to Rivet City and see if there's any news of the Tradewind. I have some things I need you to pick up too, okay?" Hawk grunted with relief.
"Sure. Can I get out of bed first?", he asked, eliciting a laugh from Calli.
Hawk returned later in the day with his pack full of the items Calli had requested. He had taken his motorcycle so the trip had been considerably shorter than if he went on foot.
Calli greeted him as he shut off his bike and shrugged out of his pack. He turned to her, his face solemn.
"What is it?", she asked, her heart constricting. "Did you have word of Jack?"
"No, not Jack. Calli, they found Fred Rensing. Some fishermen found his body on a small island off the Carolina coast. It was washed up with the wreckage from a ship."
"Oh, oh, no. Then the Tradewind's gone. And Jack, oh my god, he must be dead to." She turned away from him, collapsing on the couch, sobbing. He sat down beside her and put his hand on her shoulder. There really wasn't much he could do to comfort her.
"They didn't find any other bodies, Calli. The others might be alive. Jack's an experienced sailor, if anyone could survive he would. Don't give up on him just yet." Calli shook her head. The tears wouldn't stop.
"F-Fred's a-a experienced sailor, too", she sobbed. "P-p-poor Fred."
Finally the tears ceased and Calli straightened, hiccupping. "I want to go to the valley now", she said dejectedly.
"Tonight?", he asked. Her voice was tired and dull.
"We can go in the morning. You must be tired and hungry after your trip. I'll get us something to eat." Hawk didn't object. She needed something to do.
The next morning Calli and Hawk loaded the shuttle with the items she had requested. She stepped into the shuttle with a book to while away the time. Hawk set the controls on the shuttle operations center and joined her, carefully sealing them in. It would take the slow moving shuttle over an hour to traverse the radiated valley.
The house had been added onto over the years they had been coming to the valley. Calli was glad now they had added the second story though she hadn't thought it worth the effort when Hawk had wanted to do it. The downstairs consisted of the large living room, a large kitchen, bathroom, two bedrooms and a combination utility and workroom. The upstairs now had five empty rooms.
Hawk had moved his things to the larger of the upstairs rooms. He then helped Calli move furniture into the larger downstairs room he had vacated. They needed the extra space to set up the crib and dresser for the baby along with the bed and wardrobes. Calli's room was the smaller bedroom adjacent to it.
Calli looked around, approving the way the house looked, the quiet peacefulness of the small green lawn and slow moving, tree lined river. The trees she had planted around the house now spread welcoming shade over it. She so hoped Joe and Mattie would like it here. Hawk came up behind her.
"Are you ready to go now?", he asked. She gave a half smile and nodded at him. She hesitated long enough to pick a perfect red rose before going to the shuttle.