Cooper Howard looked down at his daughter, and saw immediately that something was really, really wrong. The blood looked like it had drained out of her face, and her skin looked like old parchment. The cheekbones stood out like knives, and she was gasping for air.

Janey said, her hands moving to cross over the center of her chest. "It would hurt my heart to leave Lana, but…you're my daddy. You—you can't not want me. You can't go. No. It's okay. I'M OKAY! It's just a bad dream again! Lana! Where did you go! LANA, WHERE ARE YOU! LAAANA!"

"Baby girl, it's okay. I'm right here. Daddy's right here!" he exclaimed, trying to…reach her through whatever was going on.

Lana herself appeared in the door, and dove for the bed. Grabbing Janey and the quilt, she swept his daughter into her arms. "I'm here, Janey. I'm here. I have you, kiddo. It's all right. Don't worry about a thing. Every little thing's gonna be all right." She half-sang soothingly as she rocked Janey in her arms.

Lucy appeared in the doorway. "What's wrong? What did you do?" That last statement was aimed directly at him and her expression was the same as when he was dunking her in that lake with the gulper in it.

"I—I don't know," he said to both women, who were angry at him. "We were talking, and…and—. What's happening? How do I fix this? What can I do?"

"The old towels are under the sink in the bathroom. Get Kirby in here," Lana commanded him curtly.

He sprang up and ran, pausing to grab the towels as he dashed out the door.

"Kirby! Kirby?! Get your ass over here, ya mutt! Janey needs you!" Kirby bounded out of the creek, Dogmeat on his heels. Although he acted a little suspicious, the two-headed dog let Cooper rub him half-dry before rushing indoors all on his own. Dogmeat, still soaking wet, followed.

Inside, Lucy asked, "What can I do?"

"The tea. Plenty of honey. She's gone into shock." Lana ordered while still cradling Janey. "It's been years since…." She kissed Janey on the forehead. "Rose up this morning," she sang to the child. "Smiled with the rising sun."

As Lucy went to go to the kitchen, she was nearly bowled over by both dogs, one half-dry, the other one streaming water. "Whoa!"

Close on their heels was the Ghoul, almost as fast and flailing towels in the air. "Dogmeat, you bitch, you get back here! Goddamn it, don't you dare shake yourself!"

Lucy gave him a dirty look. She reached the kitchen and there was a thing in there. Huge. Eight legged. Furry. Grey and white. Spotted. It had gotten up on the counter and grabbed a slab of ham, which it was chewing on. She skidded to a halt as it tensed up, glaring at her with….six eyes as green as peridots.

It growled like a demon from the pits of hell; she let out an involuntary scream.

"Oh, what is it now?" Lana cried out from the bedroom.

"There's a huge spider….thing in the kitchen and it's stealing the ham!" Lucy called back. "Do I shoot it or shoo it or what?"

"That is my cat! Don't you dare shoot Zenda!" Lana yelled, not so much loudly as directly, like a guided missile of sound.

"Your cat? You didn't say your cat was a—," Lucy struggled with what word to use. 'Abomination' clearly was wrong. So was 'monster'. Freak, too. "Tarantulynx!"

In the bedroom, Lana and Janey were suddenly buried under two dogs of varying degrees of wetness. Dogmeat and one of Kirby's heads immediately started washing Janey's face with their tongues, while the other head glared at Cooper, drawing its lips back in a snarl.

"What is going on?" he asked. "Is it…PTSD or something?"

"Yes," Lana said. She half-hissed to him, "What else could it be? Look, you and your wife divorced, and nobody got Janey any therapy for the end of her world. Then the actual world blew itself up, and you surrendered her to your ex, who handed her over to the medics. She was in solitary isolation for weeks, except for medical personnel, and her mother barely came to look at her. Add in being stuck in cryo, having to adjust to the fact that her mom lied to her, plus then her only support was me, a perfect stranger." She muffled Janey's ears with the quilt as she said that.

"This has happened before?" he asked.

"Didn't you listen to the holotape I left you?" she asked. "It happened several times a day for weeks. If I wasn't where she could see me—."

"But you said she got better," he blurted out.

"She did. I believe I also said this was something she would never get over completely. " Lana frowned in thought. "Or did I tell your ex that? Anyway, I know I put it in the letters. You did get my letters, didn't you?"

"Yes, but…I didn't know it was this bad. Not after five years." He gestured helplessly.

"Five years? Janey re-lives those moments practically every night when she sleeps. People with happy childhoods use their childhoods to heal their adult traumas. People whose childhoods were traumatic use the rest of their lives to heal their childhoods."

He considered retorting something about her being a synth, so what did she know about childhood, but he stifled it. Some things should not be said and he had fucked up things enough already.

He sat down on the edge of the bed, tossing the towels over Dogmeat, and took Janey's hand in his. "Honey, I am not going to leave you. Not now. Not—." He was going to say, until you're grown up, but he caught Lana's eye, which promised death. "Not ever. You're my heart, Janey. I can't go anywhere without my heart, can I?"

Lucy entered the room, balancing a tray with things on it very carefully. "Your tarantulynx has eaten all the ham you brought up, and I turned off the heat under the polenta so it wouldn't burn."

"Thank you for thinking of the polenta. Don't worry about the ham, there's plenty more. Plus sausages and bacon, smoked fish, smoked gulper, smoked lakelurk—we won't go hungry. I'm sorry I yelled at you."

"No problem. It was a bad moment." Lucy set the tray on the dresser top and fixed a mug of tea. "How much honey is enough?"

"Two big spoonfuls, for her. No, make it three, the tea must be plenty strong by now. One big spoonful for me."

Lana held Janey and fed her little sips of tea until the mug was empty. She sang to the girl as she cradled her, and the dogs settled in to snuggle. If the woman cared about the state of the blankets and sheets, which now smelled strongly of wet dog, as did Cooper, Janey, and Lana herself, she gave no sign. Gradually, Janey's color came back, and she relaxed among the dogs. Her hand slipped out of her father's to cup one of Kirby's heads, and she looked ready to nod off.

Lana eased herself out from underneath Janey, who was holding two dogs tight. "Baby, I'm getting up, but I'll be right outside in the living room where you can see me. Okay? Your dad, too."

"Okay," Janey whispered. "As long as you don't leave. Don't let Daddy leave, either."

"Don't worry. He won't/I won't," Lana and Cooper said together.

I'll stay right here," Lucy offered. "Okay, sweetie?"

Janey nodded.

Once they were a little distance from the door, but still in view, Lana leaned closer to Cooper, almost as if she were going to kiss him, but instead, she said, low and softly, "Mister Howard, what the actual fuck was that all about? Because unless you're actively dying at this very moment, I don't see why you would even hint at leaving her."

The look in her eyes suggested she was willing to make his death happen if he tried.

A/N: The lullaby Lana sings to Janey is 'Three Little Birds' by Bob Marley, but Virginia Torres' version.