Dr. Bening looked at Nathan suspiciously. "What did you and Calli find to talk about that took 4 days?", he asked. "You owe Dr. Lorin for covering for you."

"No problem. We had some issues to work out, and then Hawk had some things to take care of. They didn't want me to leave. Calli said you had her records for me", he demurred.

Dr. Bening nodded, taking a chain from around his neck. It really wasn't his business though he had an idea what kind of issues they might have been working out.

He opened the door to the code pad. Calli was much too important to leave her records easily available. Only he and the Elder could access them. He punched in the code and pulled the two large locked metal boxes from the safe. Taking two more keys from a ring in his desk, he handed all the keys to Nathan.

"Dr. Halliday," he said. "You will need to change the code on the safe door. Give it to the Elder only, verbally. It's not to be written or recorded anywhere."

"Hold on," Nathan said. "I haven't said I was taking them as patients."

"Hmmph", Dr. Bening snorted. "If you find that you can't take them on after viewing this material I'll eat a Death Claw alive. But really, just return the material and the keys and that would be the end of it. But you have to know this, Nathan, I've known Calli for over 30 years. She's a cold blooded killer. She'll kill a man and eat lunch on his body without a qualm. But if she loves someone, she does it with a passion that's almost pathological. She can't handle loss. When someone she loves dies she goes into a depressive spiral. It's almost killed her before. Maybe it's how she compensates for what she is, I don't know, but you have to be aware of her vulnerability. You remember when she buried Jack? That was quite something, wasn't it? That was for her, Nathan. Jack had been dead for four years and she still hadn't gotten over his death. She did it to let him go. She can't let go easily."

"I was there.", Nathan mused. "I was only fourteen then and working with Scott. It was the biggest spectacle I ever saw. I remember seeing her up there. She was surrounded by loyal guards and her close friends, but she looked so tiny and alone. I felt like I wanted to comfort her."

They were silent for a minute, remembering the pageantry of Jack's burial. Calli had disappeared for some weeks following the ceremony, but had returned full of life and verve, ready to take on the wasteland.

Nathan nodded. "Calli will be in sometime next week. I'll have her answer", he said.

Nathan quickly became aware that the records weren't a complete picture of Calli's life. They were carefully dated and even timed with her age at the time of recording on the label. He wondered why the mutant's age wasn't on his also. He wasn't looking at the records yet just checking the labels to get an idea of her timeline. There were none for the first 20 years of her life. Her early dealings with the Citadel were spotty, and she didn't begin seeing the doctor as a regular patient until after her exposure to the rad cleaning procedure that had begun her transformation.

Occasionally the doctor would simply note that she had been to the Citadel, either to trade, talk to the scientists, or take on a mission. There were weeks, months, and on at least 2 occasions more than a year passed without her being seen, which indicated this was not the only place she had sought medical care. During one of those periods Hawk had been brought in alone as Calli's name wasn't on the label.

He realized she was even older than he had thought. At 72 she was old enough to be his grandmother, though of course that didn't really matter. There was so much he didn't know. He had been skimming through the records to get a general idea of the extent of her changes. Now he sifted through the records until he came to the time period he wanted to know about most. The time Jack was taken.

Nathan felt his heart constrict as he viewed the video. Hawk had not gone and was uninjured. He stood fast, helping the doctor with the operation. She was in bad shape. Every bit of the operation, of the conversations were recorded. He wondered if the pair knew the doctor had placed recording equipment in their room as well as the surgery. Did they know he had recorded her pain, her agony as the mutant held her tight, holding her to this world? His pain was clear on his face to anyone able to read it. How much they had suffered. Not just because Jack had died, but the way he had died.

Nathan felt a surge of anger at his brother. How could he blame this woman? She had done what she had to do. She had lost as much as they had. He knew then why she didn't want the world to know she cared about someone.

He went back to the first recording which was made after the explosion. She had been unconscious for weeks while the doctor recorded every vital sign, every observation. He stared at the video, barely listening to the doctor's droning description. "Sally Weston, human female, 5'4", 105 pounds, 25 yrs of age. Well formed with oval face, red hair and grey eyes. Large scar from left eye to the corner of the mouth…". Nathan wasn't listening. He was staring at the figure on the table. A large scar ran down her right leg as well as numerous scars making patterns on most of her body. This was not his Calli. Her changes had been more extensive than he had realized.

He skipped through the video, watched as her vitals stabilized and became normal, as she gradually went from coma to a deep sleep. She moved agitatedly, as though dreaming. It wasn't a pleasant dream. Suddenly she murmured, "David, don't. No! Don't go. Please don't go." Her eyes flew open. She was awake at last.

She had seemed perfectly normal when she finally left the Citadel. Hawk had recovered days earlier and had spent most of his time by her side, patiently waiting, book in hand. The doctor had recorded his recovery as well and he seemed also to be perfectly normal for his current state. The doctor had noted his age as 'unknown' although he assumed his transformation from human to mutant had occurred before or during the war, as most of them had, which would make him at least 200 years old. Hawk either didn't remember or refused to divulge his birth year.

He picked up the next video, dated a mere 5 days after her departure. Both of the warriors were in pretty bad shape with multiple wounds and burns. This time they didn't leave the Citadel for almost 3 weeks. They had exhibited the accelerated breathing and heart rate he had come to associate with regenerating, healing much more quickly than a normal human would have.

This time they didn't return for over a year.

He chose the next video, dated for one year, 2 months and 3 days after her last visit. The golden red hair was gone, in its place the short pink blonde cap he was familiar with. The small heart shaped pixie face was now clear of the large scar. So sometime during that year the mutations had advanced. She had ceased being Sally Weston and had become Calli. The name on the chart reflected her change. The super mutant wasn't with her.

Nathan ran his hand through his hair wearily. He was tired. He would view all of the videos and look at all the records, but he was sure he wouldn't find anything to make him change his mind. On the contrary, what doctor could turn down the chance to be her physician? As for being her lover, he already knew he was in love with her. He would do whatever it took to keep her.

Calli finished searching the building. There weren't any ghouls left alive. She wouldn't have bothered them if they hadn't been ferals and attacked her without provocation. She had long since decided cleansing the wasteland of crazed ferals wasn't murder, even if they had been humans once. She put the last item in her pack.

"Come on, Hawk," she said. "We've got a pretty good haul. We should make a tidy profit at the Citadel. It's time to go." Her eyes glistened with excitement at seeing Nathan again.

Calli was sitting in Dr. Bening's office waiting for Nathan to appear. He noted she seemed nervous, something he rarely saw in the self-possessed trader. Nathan had seemed distracted this whole week, but he supposed that was only to be expected. He had a big decision to make.

"I sent for him as soon as I knew you were in the Citadel.", he said. "How have you been doing?"

Calli smiled to herself at the old man's attempt to make small talk, something they had rarely indulged in.

"We just completed a good raid and managed to get out without any serious wounds. Pretty good I think."

The old doctor sighed. "When are you going to give up this life, Calli? Surely you have enough now to just trade for a living."

This time she laughed. "Probably, but it's what I do, doctor. I expect I'll quit when I'm dead."

Nathan knocked on the old doctor's door and was told to come in. Calli turned as he entered, and her eyes met his. The old doctor observed the look that passed between them before they both turned to him, their expressions closed. He was pleased to think there was something between them; he had always wondered why Nathan had never married. Now it seemed he was looking at the answer sitting before him. It still perturbed him though. He was familiar with what had happened to Jack and how much it had devastated her. He didn't think she would survive if it happened again.

"So Nathan," he asked, motioning the younger man to take a seat. "Have you made a decision?"

"Yes. I want to take you and Hawk for my patients", he said, turning to Calli. She just nodded.

"We need to discuss this in length then, doctor. Can I meet with you later?", she asked formally.

The old doctor smiled to himself. Like they weren't going to meet later anyway, it was pretty obvious they were in love and trying to hide it. He wondered how long their discussion would take this time.

"If you'll excuse me," Dr. Bening said. "I have some other matters to attend to. You two can work this out between you. Trade well, Calli. Good luck to you, Nathan. Try to keep in touch, will you?"

They both echoed his goodbyes, anxious for his departure. As soon as the door closed they were in each other's arms. "I'm going to have to erase this video", he said softly against her ear and she giggled.

Calli and Nathan spent the night working out the details of their arrangement, among other things. Now that Calli had managed to get some working motorcycles she would make sure one was available to him so he could come to them if needed. Dr Bening had never learned to ride one. The Citadel scientists had finally created a receiver that could pick up a distress beacon from her Pip-boy and follow it to her location. Nathan would be able to locate her if the beacon was activated.

In the morning Nathan had to report to the clinic. He had spent too much time away lately. Calli kissed him lightly before taking her leave.

"When will I see you again?", he asked, pulling the covers up. It wasn't quite daylight. She didn't want anyone to see her leaving his room.

"Well, Hawk and I just made a good score, so we'll have to inventory that and make sure the buildings cleared. It's going to take a week or so. I'll be around soon", she said encouragingly.

"Won't that seem suspicious? Everyone knows you've been avoiding me for years."

"Not if we let it out that Dr. Bening's retired and you're our doctor now. Scott's gonna have a cow, you know. He'll be after you like flies on a yao guai to get information or even to get you to trap me for him", she said.

Nathan nodded. "I know. Let me worry about that. I've handled him all these years. It would be impossible to keep it quiet that I'm your new doctor though, especially now that I'll be moving into Dr. Benings old quarters."

He caught the flicker of concern that passed through her eyes, but she just smiled at him. "I know", she said. "See you later, Doc." Then she was gone.

It took most of the next week to finish clearing the building and taking the haul to the house in Megaton where they had decided to stash it for the time being. It would eventually be inventoried and moved to a warehouse in River Port for sale or utilized in Arhome. It was late when they made the last trip into town.

"Hey, Calli, let's go down to the café for some dinner. It's too late to cook", Hawk said.

"Why don't you go ahead and go?", Calli asked. "I'm not very hungry. I am pretty tired though. I think I'll just go change and do some reading."

Hawk observed her drawn features. "I'll bring you back a sandwich. We have plenty of beer and coffee stashed here."

"Sure, thanks", she said, going into the house and dropping her pack. Hawk tossed his down beside hers. They left the bikes on the porch. No one with a grain of sense would bother them inside the Rangers training compound.

"You just rest. I won't be long", he said as he was leaving.

Calli smiled wanly. He often started gossiping and could be gone a good while.

She cleaned up, picked out a book she hadn't read before, and carried it upstairs to read in bed. She was soon fast asleep.

Hawk came in later. Observing the light still on in her room he went in to check on her. He took the book off the bed and pulled the light blanket over her. Turning out the light he went out to put her sandwich in the fridge. It was unusual for her to be so tired. He thought back three weeks to the time with Nathan in the Cliffside safe house and remembered where he had caught that scent before.

He wasn't at all surprised when he was roused next morning by Calli vomiting in the bathroom. He got up and went to stand in the door.

"I don't expect you'll want any breakfast, will you?", he asked. She glared at him before vomiting again. He turned and went into the kitchen. He wanted breakfast anyway. Soon Calli joined him.

"Guess I better go see Nathan. He is my doctor", she said. "But I don't know how he's going to take it when I tell him he's also going to be a father."