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Madison Li had known that having sex with James’ son was a mistake. Even at her age, she could have been impregnated, which would have meant either a messy and dangerous childbirth and losing half her workday to a child, or an almost as dangerous abortion from Doctor Preston and dirty looks from the more religious half of Rivet City for years thereafter. Not to mention he could have had God-knew-what wasteland disease.
She'd tried to work out later why she'd done it. Maybe his flattery had "worked"; he wasn't that naturally charismatic, but he seemed to have learned just the right words to use, oh-so-earnestly declaring that he couldn't believe she was old enough to have worked with James. Maybe she'd been exhausted from months of constant struggle to keep the mini-trees and plants in Rivet City's belly producing apples, pears, and carrots (with the added nuisance of using nuclear-powered floodlights because Harkness and Bannon were too afraid of mirelurks to put planters topside), and she'd just needed an orgasm...or two. Or maybe she'd just wanted the ego boost from fucking a man less than half her age.
Well...she had done it. Twice, in fact. The second time, she'd watched with trepidation as he grinned and swallowed about half again the proper dose of Buffout, but then he'd pounced on her, and pounded her like a heavy-duty water pump, her right ankle over his shoulder (she hadn't thought she could even bend like that anymore), until she was gasping desperately for breath and felt like her brain would short out from the shotgun blasts of pleasure, and her scientist's vocabulary couldn't describe her orgasm, except with "OH GOD FUCK YES!"
She'd been sore for two days afterward, but that had been worth it.
She hadn't expected he would actually go and bring James back here. She certainly hadn't expected James would insist on an immediate return to Project Purity, and she could hardly turn him down. So here they all were, walking down the Rivet City ramp, and that man...that kid, really...smirking at her. She made the mistake of looking at him again as they turned the ramp's corner; he gazed right back at her, then slowly licked his lips. She rolled her eyes, annoyed beyond belief, and turned away. Then fucking James ran up, to catch up.
She desperately tried to think of something to ask Janice about, but was just a little too slow.
"It's very good to see you again, Madison," James said. "I have lost track of how many times, down in that Vault, I thought, if I just had Madison here, she would make this so easy."
"Flattery will get you nowhere," she answered. "I'm doing this for the Capitol Wasteland, not for you." She realized how harsh that sounded. "But, yes, I'm glad to see you again, too."
"Of course, my son has been very helpful for the last few years, though he didn't know it," James went on. "He was able to modify the Vault computer's software to carry out the calculations I needed. It must have come from his mother. I was never any good at programming."
"I see." God, this was awkward.
"You met before, yes?" James asked, with not a hint of entendre. "I would hope you found it a pleasure to meet him. You know, he can be a little rude sometimes...he just thrusts right into things, goes through what he needs, bang, bang, bang. He acts like he doesn't ever have time for preliminaries."
How was it even possible for James to be making this worse?
"Don't get me wrong, now. Back in the Vault, he would always take care of what other people needed. Once he worked it out, he had amazing stamina...he always made certain his fellow students could finish," he coughed, "their schoolwork. His classwork partners were always in for a good time. Well, except Bu...well, you know how it is: some boys just never get along."
Madison was blushing. Stop that, she told her face. I don't need oxygenated blood there. Her circulatory system didn't seem to agree.
“Uh, well,” she stuttered, “I heard, that, not that I would know the details or specifics of his actions, but I heard, on Galaxy News Radio, that he had disarmed the atomic bomb in Megaton. Also, er, something about saving a settlement way up north from, well, from something. The details seemed a little, uh, implausible.”
“Madison, are you feeling all right?” James asked, genuinely concerned. “You usually speak more smoothly...and your face looks flushed...”
“I’m fine!” she snapped. “Come on, we’ve got a ways to go still.”
“Madison. If you are ill, I am a physician. I have a duty to -”
“I told you, I’m fine! I’m just excited. I mean, not excited, but my emotions are aroused...what with us getting working on Project Purity again. So, er, how exactly did you solve the scalability problem?”
To her immense relief, James dropped it. He started explaining about the need for a GECK and what could be done when (“when”, not “if”, she noted) they could obtain one. She slid back into her element, and the technical discussion lasted them until they reached the Memorial bridge.
“Ah, Doctor Li...isn’t that a Super Mutant camp, over there?” Janice pointed out nervously.
“I took care of it,” the “Lone Wanderer” (stupid title, made up by Three Dog for stupid people, who needed larger-than-life heroes, so why was she thinking it?) declared, striking a subtly heroic pose against the railing. Madison rolled her eyes.
“I’ll admit, son, I’m impressed,” James said after a moment. “I had always wanted to keep you safe. But it seems you can handle yourself out here.”
“Oh, I can handle all sorts of things,” he answered, staring straight at Madison. She swallowed several choice swear words, and turned sharply to continue toward the Memorial. You're a professional, she told herself. You're a doctor, even if PhD's are little more than hereditary these days. She carried on briskly, trying to refocus her thoughts.
"How have you been faring out here?" she heard James ask his son. "Are you getting enough...safe...food to eat? You have to be careful with the squirrel meat; it comes from inland where there are still squirrels, and sometimes it isn't preserved properly."
Madison couldn't hear the brief answer from the "Lone Wanderer".
"I'm glad to hear that. Are you staying well-rested? Watching your rads?"
He must have nodded, she thought. She was definitely not looking at him. But now she was thinking about him again. Focus!
"And I know you can get alcohol out here, but I hope you haven't been drinking. That is, it is unhealthy, and out here, it can become contaminated with methanol."
"Ghh, don't worry, Dad, I know the yellow-flame test. Anyway, with how often I get torn up out here, least of my worries..."
"I know, I know, son. I can only say again that I'm sorry. I never meant for this to happen."
They neared the doorway to the Memorial. "What now?" Madison broke in, turning to James and very carefully looking straight at him and not at his...offspring.
James and his son conferred for a few moments, and then the latter raised his hands and sighed. "No, I understand. Can you be ready to block the door from this side, in case I have to retreat with a super mutant in pursuit?"
"Of course, son. Be careful in there. This isn't worth your life."
The kid put his helmet on, checked his weapons, and nodded firmly to the group before slipping through the door. They watched him go, standing silently for a few moments.
"Nineteen years," James said to her, finally. "I can hardly believe it's been that long. There were no seasons in that vault, no sunrises, no sunsets...sometimes, it was hard to believe time was passing at all."
Madison said nothing. She knew she shouldn't be angry at him for abandoning them: without the Brotherhood's protection, the project had been doomed anyway, and it wasn't...proper to blame him for putting his child before the hundreds of people in and around the Capital Wasteland. His child...maybe it was his smile: not many people outside a Vault have a full set of clean teeth these days.
"I know," James began again, "that you're still upset about all this. But what else could I have done?"
"I don't blame you, James," Madison insisted. "I just wish you would...slow down, sometimes. That is, I didn't even have a chance to tell the council what I was doing! And the ability of the personnel remaining in Rivet City to operate the reactors and hydroponics without our assistance is...questionable." She lowered her voice. "A working Project Purity won't bring back Catherine."
"I know that, Madison," James answered. "I let Catherine go years ago." He seemed to want to quickly change the subject. "How are you doing? I'll admit, I made a quick exit when we last spoke. Are the smaller-scale projects in Rivet City going well?"
"As well as can be expected," she said, almost as thankful for the distraction. "The fusion reactors are performing adequately, though the high neutron loss and low thermodynamic efficiency continue to be serious problems. The constant need for more lithium to absorb -"
A gray bird flew low overhead, bound north-northwest, screeching loudly. Everyone looked up at it.
"Larus delawarensis, I believe," Dr. Li said. "I'm surprised to see it in an area this irradiated. In any case, fusion...these two decades have - in these last two decades, I have finally come to appreciate why fusion could not replace fission in time to prevent the War."
"Well, you would know," James answered. "I never did understand plasma physics." He sighed. "Coming back here, I feel as though I wasted twenty years. But then I think of my son, and know that it was not a waste."
Assuming he comes out of there alive, she thought but did not say. In the pause, he went on.
"So, did you ever find someone special, Madison?"
"No! That is, no. Unlike you I was married to my work. People needed me...and still want me constantly. Ah...residents of Rivet City, that is. To maintain and upgrade the systems."
"I'm sorry about that, Madison. I had always imagined that some, suitably dashing, young wastelander would 'sweep you off your feet' eventually," James smiled.
"Mr. Dashwood is no longer young, and it would appear that no one else qualifies as 'dashing'," she answered, again really wanting to change the topic. "So...so, where and how are we to obtain a GECK?"
They speculated about this for a few minutes. Then he returned, spattered with Super Mutant blood and carrying the smashed remains of a combat helmet, but with no apparent injuries. James rushed to him.
"Are you all right, son?"
"I'm fine, it's just a few bruises," he answered. "If we're going to do this, let's do it."
The next half hour seemed to pass in a minute, as Dr. Li and the rest of her team focused completely on checking the myriad systems of Project Purity: consoles, pumps, filters, and telemetry...Li worked on the nuclear generators, slowly bringing the power supply to full capacity. For each generator, she had to check the coolant supply, withdraw a few control rods, check for radiation leakage (one generator had to be turned off again because it was spewing neutrons), check the electrical connections and rotor clearance (another had a rusted magnet), and so on. In the rush, she noticed one activation triggering a broadcast on a pre-War government frequency, but didn't stop to consider what that meant.
She was nearly done when that "Lone Wanderer" strolled jauntily up to her. "Well, it's sure nice to talk again, isn't it, beautiful? I just haven't been able to stop thinking about you, Madison."
She wanted to scream. "Address me as Doctor Li. Ask James what he wants you to do now. And stop pestering me!"
"C'mon, Doctor Li." He stepped forward, smirking face inches from hers. "I know you want to Li with me...Madison."
"We don't have time for this!" she snapped. "I don't know why I...fornicated with you in the first place. But I have no interest in - well, that is, not now! Also, your puns are awful!"
"I know why you fornicated," he did his best to send his eyebrows into the ceiling, "with me the second time, though," he answered. "It's because I made you cum so hard, you just about -"
"Madison? Son?"
That was James' voice. And he was standing behind them. And he had heard every word they'd said.
Shit.