I already have the amount of chapters the more I write, so its going to be a full complete fic
If you are very very very delighted with one fic and want a continuation I didn't write or post you can donate me at least $5 bucks, most of this fics have next chapters I don't finish because lack of motivation but hey a $5 is a $5, I see a few reviews and comments that fics that are abandoned months laters receive comments of wanting to know what happens next. Here it is, I finished my handling with you all, enjoy the fic
Arthur sighted, defeated.
Goddamit they were still here.
He didn't wanna do this at all.
It's not that he was unpunctual or anything, but it was the only quarterly meeting he had that he was late for, the only one in the entire year.
Because wasting a little time walking around making it difficult to find him also when someone asked him why he didn't attend the meeting on time he could play dumb saying that he missed it or he hadn't realized what time it is: sounded like a good idea. Maybe they would get tired of waiting and leave, canceling the meeting. But no, they never did, even so he was waiting for the day it would happen and they would actually cancel the damn meeting.
He open the gate and enter like anything happened.
-25 minutes late elder Maxson –said one of the elders of the council sitting on the table.
-Sorry for my delay –answer Arthur
-We sent someone to go look for you –said another more of the elders, a second one.
-Welcome to the quarterly meeting about why Arthur Maxson hasn't knock up any lady yet–said our dearly maester Maxson to everybody in the room
Silence.
Deserved, completely deserved.
-The sarcasm is unnecessary –spoke a third elder with a very tired voice.
-So does this meeting, I have other business to attend
-Indeed, like your dates with Sentinel Nora –says a fourth elder of the council, Arthur look at him and froze in his place, unable to take his seat on the table.
Silence.
Some elders smiled, some others were surprised.
-See? I told you! –laugh the first elder
-You own me 30 caps! –said the fourth one to the second, well.
This was awkward.
So, people have been talking.
-Look at his face! Seems like a little puppy! –the first elder was having a blast
-I do not…-our man tried to defend himself taking a seat in the same table as them to try to be an equal but…
-Grow up Arthur is obvious –said the third elder very calm in his seat- you make it obvious.
Oh no he didn't want to be there. People over seventy judging his love life when the only thing they can keep stiff is their arthritic bones. They were all too old to even be his fathers.
-Why do you say so…-why does he feel small? Most of them were shorter than him due to their damaged backs and bones.
-The elder taking a trip twice outside the citadel for barely more than an hour unarmed with almost no security? Where his only sentinel is? Shooked
-Trust me boy we all did the same
-More times for sure
Oh shit they were all mocking him.
-Next time cover better your trips out, your departures leaves a scandalous record of which we are all aware
Something sounded wrong in the back of Maxsons mind.
-And why im not aware of yours?
-My dearest everything you do we already did back in our days –well that doesn't answer the question.
-With our wifes
-Or mistresses
He suddenly felt bad in this conversation.
-So why do we need to have this meeting if you are all aware…-more than him even from the last day he had that horrible encounter with her.
-Just to remind you –say the first elder, getting a bit serious, sitting better on his seat- than bearing an heir is more important than fooling around –Arthur swallow saliva sinking into his chair- you are still young to name more sentinels, but not so much to bear childrens
-Do not misunderstand us Arthur –said the second elder- we have plenty confidence in the woman you choose
-But not so much in you –said a fifth elder, who didn't talk at all in the entire meeting- you are 33, it's a myth than men can keep having childrens forever, kids made from old parents tend to have genetic problems
-Which means, talking clear –speak the third elder, more quiet- that your sperm may not dry but it's going to cut...turn sour...-he smiled a bit, a joke- do not get cocky, you have not as much time as you think
This conversation was odd to have, always, they don't have any right to interfere in his intimacy. Its not like they were relatives or even that close, not even co workers
-Why is that you have more confidence…in the other side of this…work-gosh that was harsh to say, embarrassing- than mine?
All elders look to each other, and nodded in between.
-She is prewar –yeah but she is 46- has an amazing health –said the fifth elder- the best stats in the entire brotherhood and that's a lot to say for her age, not even our best initiates at 18 have blood tests that are practically indicative of what they should be
-And, the most important thing –said the fourth elder with a dark gaze- Do you know why in an elderly couple the one who makes the broken children is the father? Because elderly women die in childbirth
Silence.
That was dark.
Now he felt more uncomfortable than ever.
He never agree to this philosophy were women only exist to incubate children and that's all, his brotherhood sisters were all important, women are not disposable. Less based on their wombs utility
So…his future sons were compromised…he didn't have much time left either…but in the other hand Nora had even less and much more to loose
-What if I loose them both? –he felt some eyes over his persona, they were testing him on each comment- the mother and the child.
-You must keep trying then –it was cold and horrible to say but the truth needs to be spoken in representation of all the elders- you must secure your lineage before anything happens, pass your blood now that you still can
-Why? –ask Arthur- why something have to happend to me? Im also healthy, my blood levels are good I have very low history with radiation, I will not develop a deadly cancer
-I don't know –said the third elder interrupting- why don't you ask Jonathan Maxson?
Arthur sink completely in the pressure frozen in his place, feeling his limbs weak.
Most of the times the council of elders were assholes.
-What we are trying to say –said the second elder- is that we approve this union with Sentinel Nora and hope for the best
-As quickly as possible –interrupted the fourth elder- as this is one of the few times we see you with a woman
-That's not the subject to discuss today –nonono he wouldn't be mocked as a sodomite today like when he was a teenager, just because he was timid back then doesn't mean anything…
-With her clean genes, good health and excellent trajectory in the brotherhood we encourage you to…
-Fulfill your duty to pass on your blood –complete the sentence the fifth elder- and secure the Maxson lineage for good
Silence, again, Arthurs heart began to pound hard on his chest, it hurts, the pressure, physically hurts, he didn't want to be here anymore, never wanted to cross the door in the first place, sometimes his lastname hurts.
-You are at the edge of your best years Arthur, don't waste any more time –spoke the second elder, apparently the most chill one, perhaps not the most empathetic but the one who was looking for the correct and softest way to communicate things.
The only reason why they didn't married him since youth to multiple wives among time is because polyamory isn't acceptable on the codex, its against the old American society values in which Roger Maxson was born and found the brotherhood.
-Right now Sentinel Nora is the perfect match for you
-But she can die in childbirth, her age is also… -she was confident, she say it, but the possibility was still there.
-As any other woman in the wasteland –the second elder place a hand on top of his, seeing him nervous and stressed- my wife died in childbirth also, our fourth child at 35
-So does mine, and I remarried –say the fourth elder with a dry voice.
-I didn't –responded the second elder- like I say, Sentinel Nora is at her top prime, at least for our standards, she right now is your best choice.
-And you should take it now –said the third elder- before you are the one with problems
Its true, he always knew this since the beginning, but he was delaying it, he knew he couldn't run from this forever.
-For the next reunion we hope to have good news, at least an official union –said the fifth elder- that way my daughter will stop asking why you didn't respond to her file of presentation
Arthur open his eyes wide and look at him.
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh
So that's why he was so quiet.
-I hope this meeting wasn't too intrusive –say the third elder with a sarcastic smile- but as always our best interest are with the brotherhood. Ad Victoriam.
Well Ad Victoriam I guess…
Arthur walk back to his quarters without any energy or will to live.
Then he remembers something: she said that if she gave birth, she was going to retire from the brotherhood, will the council accept that? with her work, achievements, career and trajectory? Of course they will, she could die at birth if that gives them an heir to his lastname Maxson. He breathed out, Arthur didn't want that, he didn't want her to die at all.
She had confidence, in herself, her health and body, she was prepared for this, wanted it, wished to be a mother so much so surely knows how to manage the pregnancy and childbirth.
He was more scared for her than him, and he could be the defective one.
Until the last time they both see each other, she still wanted a baby from him. And now he wanted…no…needs to have a baby, if possible, with her so that way no one would stare at the back of his head in a long time, following when he goes out the citadel.
For that sack of old gags, he was still a Maxson child to be protected, a turbulent teenager with a sodomite past to hide under the carpet, until he knock up a woman and have a baby in his arms with his ADN he was still a blood to reproduce and multiply.
He sighted, breathing with pain.
He can't have a broken child, no he can't, that was purposely cruel, it will not survive in the horrifying wastelands. And it wasn't surely what it was expected from him.
Its okay, he never expected or developed the idea in his mind of making a son with love, pure love between a couple, desire a child made from two loving parents, he always saw it as an obligation, never even internalized it as a goal, as a product of a successful relationship, just like a duty he didn't know or I didn't know when it was finally going to happen
So he schedule a date with Sentinel Nora, no hurries, just in a free time in his calendar, so as she can see his avaliblity didn't want to scare her cancelling all his other appoiments making her his top 1 priority, nono, he wasn't a psyco, but scheduled her anyway, someone will inform that she needs to present at that day and hour in his office…to talk…just talk, maybe that same night dinner and…
Bear a baby…
For Nora it was strange, being called two weeks later since the last time they see each other at the cinema, didn't exactly end that date in good terms, didn't actually expect anything else from him and there she was.
And there he was, standing a side of his desk as handsome and masculine as always, the fact that they weren't good doesn't change anything of his persona.
-Thank you for coming Sentinel, there's something important I want to talk about today –he took a moment for himself to breath, looking at the ceiling and then look at her- I know I have been purposely delaying this and I must apologize, im sorry, im really sorry for not being clear from a first instance –she didn't understand, but he seems nervous and…upset, very very upset to be talking about this- I accept your proposition to…have a child together.
Nora eyes open wide, gasping outloud from her red lips.
-Arthur? –she mumble out of words, frozen in her place, standing on her trembling legs almost falling to the ground at any second.
-Lets as Elder Arthur Maxson and Sentinel Nora have a child…for the sake of the brotherhood of steel