The Tradewind ll docked at River Port to complete her schedule before heading to the Island. Nathan and Calli bid farewell to the crew and went over to the diner to get some breakfast. Nathan observed the short, heavy set man when he entered the diner and said something to the cook. The cook waved in their direction. Calli looked up as the man stopped at their table.

"Are you Nathan Halliday?", the man asked.

"Yes, that's me", Nathan said. "Who's asking?"

"I'm Dennis Dantworth", the stranger said. "I own a rooming house over on Sea Weed Lane. Your brother's been renting a room from me but I heard he isn't coming back. Do you know if he is? He owes me for this month's rent and his stuff's still there. What should I do with it?"

"My brother isn't coming back to get his things", Nathan said grimly.

"Well, if you want them you'll have to pay his rent and come get them", Dennis said.

"How much?", Calli asked before Nathan could say anything.

"300 caps", Dennis said.

Calli nodded. "We'll bring you your money when we come to get Scott's stuff. What's the address?"

"34 Sea Weed Lane. I want to get the room rented out again. Can you come pretty soon?", he asked.

"We'll try to make it today", Calli said.

Nathan glowered at Calli. "Why did you say we'd go get Scott's stuff? I don't want anything to do with him", he growled. "You should have left it up to me!"

Calli frowned at her plate, struggling with a memory. It seemed fuzzy; maybe she had just dreamed it. "Listen, it's hard for me to remember everything that happened just before Scott hit me with that grenade." She frowned, her brow furrowed.

"That's normal with a head wound like that", Nathan snapped, still stung by her high handedness.

"But that's just it", she said earnestly. "I remember Scott saying something and I just don't know. Did he really say it, or did I just hear it in my head? But I don't know why something like that would occur to me."

Now Nathan was curious. "What do you think he said?", he asked.

Calli bit her lip. "He said you were a bastard."

"Yeah, well, I think he's a bastard too", Nathan said, lifting his cup to his lips.

"No, I mean, he said your father wasn't your father. Your mother was already pregnant when he married her. Scott said you weren't his brother", Calli said seriously.

Nathan slowly set his cup down and stared at Calli. "Scott worshipped Marcus, and he never had much use for me, but really, I think Mom would have told me, don't you?", he asked.

"How would I know? I never got to know your mother", Calli said. " But we need to get Scotts things and go through them. He was only 6 when you were born. Would he really know something like that unless someone told him? Maybe it's just in my head. I want to know."

"All right, we'll go as soon as we finish breakfast ", he said, picking up his fork.

The boarding house was easy to find. The proprietor accepted their caps and showed them to Scott's room. It was a rather untidy room. Scott hadn't been a neat person. They set about cleaning up the clothes and personal items and packing them in containers to take away. Nathan found the small box on a shelf. It contained 2 old photographs and a letter. He took out the photos and looked at them. One was a shot of an average looking man with two boys and a pretty, buxom woman, obviously pregnant.

"That's Mom and Dad with Marcus and Scott", Nathan said, handing the photo to Calli.

She smiled, running a finger over the swollen belly. "And that must be you." He grinned.

The second photo was torn. It showed an older Marcus, perhaps 13, with Scott, who would have been 11. The torn section showed just a portion of a small hand that had been clutching Marcus's hand. Nathan would have been five. He looked at the photo sadly, then placed it back in the box and picked up the letter.

He opened the letter and began reading it, his face draining of color. Without a word he handed the letter to Calli and went to stare out the window. She hesitated, watching him, then read the letter.

"My darling Nathan:

If you are reading this letter then I have passed away and you are clearing out my things. There is something I feel you should know but I could never bring myself to tell you. Your Dad loved you very much. He was so proud of you and always called you his 'special little man'. I know how much you loved him too. You had a very special relationship that most boys would give anything for. That's why I couldn't tell you.

Your Dad isn't your father. Before I married your Dad I was married to another man. He was a sailor. He was going to set us up with a house in Baton Rouge and get permission to bring me there. I didn't have any family. I was making a living waiting tables in a bar by the river. He was only supposed to be gone 3 weeks, but he never came back. There was a hurricane and his ship was wrecked. His body was found a few days after the hurricane. His name was Fred Rensing.

I was devastated. Your Dad comforted me and when I found out I was pregnant I agreed to marry him. Maybe I didn't love him at first the way I loved Fred, but I came to love your Dad very much. He was a widower with 2 sons. They weren't his natural sons either, it seems he couldn't make kids himself due to some radiation exposure. He took them in when his first wife and their parents were killed by raiders when Scott was only four and Marcus was six. Harold was a wonderful person and the best father a son could want. He was good to all you boys. I don't know why Scott turned out so angry. Anyway I thought you should know. Please don't think badly of me.

I love you.

Mom"

Nathan didn't turn from the window as he said, "Scott was the one who told me when Mom got so sick. I stayed with her until she died and we had a small funeral. I told Scott he could have the house. I was busy with the clinic then and Scott needed a place to live. I'd already been away from the clinic for too long so I was glad that Scott said he'd take care of Mom's things. He must have found this letter and kept it from me all these years. Why would he do that?"

Calli went over and put her hand on his arm. "He still hoped he could use you to get to me, I suppose. But it's ironic, isn't it? He wanted to kill me because I'm a mutant. Maybe somewhere inside him that's why he hated you too."

"What do you mean?", Nathan asked, turning to look at her.

"Nathan, Fred Rensing was part of the original Tradewind crew. He was GECK born." She watched his face as this fact sunk in.

"I wish I could check my DNA profile", he said, straightening. "Let's finish cleaning this up."

"I know", Calli replied. "After Moira died I did check with her heirs about purchasing the sequencer but it had disappeared. I'm sorry, Nathan."

He took the letter, folded it carefully, and put it in the box with the photos. He put the box in his pack to take with him.

Nathan's mare had been retrieved by an Arhome guardsman and returned to Arhome days earlier so they took Calli's bike from the warehouse where Hawk had left it after bringing it back from the wasteland weeks ago. It would take less than half an hour to make it to the path leading to Arhome. Calli was silent as they stashed the boxes with Scott's things and climbed aboard the bike. Nathan drove as he usually did if they were on the same bike, but he was silent on the way home. He had a lot to think about.

They dismounted at the top of the path before entering the carefully maintained bush maze. Calli stared out over the landscape. "We'll need to widen this road and remove the Deathclaws now", she said. All the local Deathclaws had actually been trained to avoid humans but Calli knew they couldn't take chances with the amount of traffic that would now be entering the town.

"Yes, we'll discuss it with the council", Nathan replied absently.

The guard greeted them as they entered the cave. Nathan noticed his bike, sitting upright in the parking area. The cave had already been cleared of debris and looked much as normal.

"Did someone fix my bike, Derek?", he asked the guard.

"Yes, sir, Dr. Halliday. That young new mechanic, the one that was sent to Canterbury to train, he came out and fixed it a few days ago. He took it for a run and it looked like it worked just fine", the guard replied.

Nathan nodded at him. "Good, I'm glad. I expect I'll be needing it." He wheeled Calli's bike down and parked it beside his. They took their packs and entered the Shuttle to Arhome.

"Nathan", Calli said hesitantly after they had ridden in silence for a few minutes. "We should talk about this."

"About what? About my father being GECK born? It explains a lot, doesn't it? I knew I always healed quicker than other people, though not nearly as quick as you or Hawk. I mean, I've never had a life threatening injury. Sure I got shot a couple times, and knifed once, and I've had some run ins with wildlife, but none of them were serious. At least I didn't think they were. I healed so fast I just assumed they weren't that bad. I guess that explains the triplets too, doesn't it? You had lovers before me and never got pregnant. Why would Mom keep this from me? Why wouldn't she TELL me?"

"I don't know", Calli said quietly. "Maybe she didn't know. We were trying to keep anyone from finding out because we were afraid the wasteland would react badly to our mutating. Maybe Fred just hadn't got the nerve to tell his new wife he wasn't all human anymore. Then Fred got killed and the crew went missing for almost a year. Fred had asked permission to bring her on board and take her to Baton Rouge, so Jack knew about her. After he got back we tried to find her but we never found out what happened to her. It had been nearly a year and she had just disappeared."

Calli slid over and put her hand on his arm, looking into his face. "I'm sorry Nathan", she said.

He looked down at her. "For what? Are you sorry I have GECK blood?", he asked harshly.

"Oh, no, I'm not sorry for that. If you didn't we wouldn't have our babies, and I can't be sorry about that. I'm sorry that it hurts you", she said compassionately.

He put his arm around her and drew her close to him. "That's not what hurts, hon. I just need to adjust to it. It might take a little time. I always knew I was different, but mutations are common in the wasteland. I never suspected I could have GECK blood. No, it just hurts that my family had so many secrets. I wish we could have been closer. I loved Marcus you know. He was always good to me and we had such fun times. I think Scott was jealous. Now they're all gone. This vendetta you have against the Enclave, I understand it, but they're not all bad. Some of them are just soldiers, like Marcus was. You should keep that in mind."

Calli laid her head on his shoulder. "It's not my vendetta now. The council will deal with the ones they bring in. I expect they've already dealt with those that survived the Arhome battle. Do you know if they found out how the Enclave found the place and how they knew just when the entrance wouldn't be fully guarded? I don't think it was a coincidence they attacked when they did", she said thoughtfully.

"No, it wasn't", he agreed. "I heard from Joe the council was going to try Julia Mason. She was in the wasteland a few months ago for training at Vault 101, and it seems she got to know Scott. You know who she is, don't you? She had a hard time adjusting to Arhome when her family moved here. Her father is one of the engineers that works at Tunnel B6. She never really liked it here. I understand Scott promised to make her rich and take her south."

Calli shook her head sadly. "You just can't save some people. What are they going to do with her?"

"I don't know, love. She's betrayed Arhome. A lot of people could have been killed. I don't think it's going to go easy for her", he said.