“Great, just great.”

Drew had woken up with a headache. It wasn’t bad, but it was one of those types that he knew would probably get worse as the day went on. He lay there on the old mattress for several minutes, seriously considering taking the day off, but despite feeling like shit, he knew that he had work to do. Work that he had been seriously neglecting.

With a lot of reluctance, he climbed off the mattress and made his way into the office. Light was streaming in through the grimy windows meaning that he’d already gotten up late. He knew he could check the time on his Pipboy but decided he didn’t want to know.

As he turned to head out of the office, he felt a strange tingling all over his skin, stopping him dead in his tracks. It felt strange, almost like small insects crawling all over him. It quickly passed, but that did little to quell the unease he felt. There was something wrong with him and it wasn’t a dodgy Radaway. More and more he was starting to believe that the diluted FEV he had been bathed in was affecting him. To what extent, he didn’t know, but it didn’t seem like a whole lot. He hadn’t grown any horns or scales yet and he also didn’t feel particularly aggressive, which meant he likely wasn’t turning feral.

Or rather he hoped he wasn’t.

While he knew he should probably go see Sarah for a checkup, much like the time, he didn’t really want to know. Besides, he didn’t have the time to sit around getting tests done. He needed to be on with his work otherwise it wouldn’t matter if he was being changed from the inside out.

Pushing the unpleasant thought out of his head, he made his way down to the cafeteria where he found Jack and Sekka talking.

“You’re looking better,” Sekka observed as she watched him step inside.

“I’m feeling better,” Drew said before adding. “Don’t you ever sleep? You were in here at like two in the morning.”

“Don’t worry, I had a great night’s sleep. Got up, had breakfast then went for a hunt with Neka and Ava., It’s almost lunch so we’ll be heading off soon to eat what we caught.”

“That late, huh,” he muttered as he made his way towards the kitchen.

As he stepped into the kitchen an incredible smell touched his nostrils. Something was cooking and it smelled absolutely delicious.

He stepped back out. “Someone cooking something?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Jack shouted over. “I’m cooking a roast. I did some maintenance on the oven while you were out yesterday and now it’s working perfectly.”

“How long until it’s ready?” Drew asked.

“Another thirty minutes.”

Drew held his rumbling stomach weighing on the pros and cons of waiting. Pros were that he would be able to eat an absolutely delicious roast. The cons were that he’d have to wait.

In the end, it wasn’t much of a choice. He stepped back into the kitchen and grabbed some mutfruit as a snack to tide him over before he headed back into the cafeteria and sat down at the same table as Jack.

“I’ll need your and Amy’s help today,” Drew said to him. “Probably Veronica, Sekka, and Gemma’s too. I want to start bringing the other production lines into operation.”

“You’ve wanted that for over a week now,” Jack pointed out.”

“Yeah, I know, and I’ve been slacking off,” Drew accepted, “Things keep coming up and once I found out the Greenclaws weren’t hostile, I kinda put it on the back burner. Unfortunately, we no longer have that luxury.”

“No, we don’t,” Jack agreed. “Not with power-armored crazies out there.”

They all looked over to the doors as Sarah stepped inside with Suzy the Miss Nanny in tow.

“Morning,” Drew greeted.

“Afternoon, actually,” Sarah answered.

“How are you two?”

“Good,” Sarah replied.

“I am well,” Suzy answered also. “We ’ave been busy bringing the nurse’s office up to scratch.”

“Sounds like a lot of work,” Drew said.

“Oui,” Suzy agreed.

“So, have either of you seen Amy?”

“Not this morning,” Sarah said.

Jack answered. “I saw her at breakfast.”

“I’ll go see if she’s in her room,” Drew said standing up. “See if she wants anything to eat.”

“I hope so,” Jack answered, “because there’s a lot of meat on that roast.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll get it all eaten,” Drew said as he left.

Despite it not being very far to Amy’s room, Drew had the misfortune of running into Bek who was stalking down the corridor. He noted that she looked decidedly more like a deathclaw in her movements. She was menacing, like a beast on the hunt.

The moment she caught sight of him, she moved to his side of the hallway and shoved him hard. He staggered slightly but somehow managed to keep his footing.

Bek stopped and stared at him, seemingly surprised that she hadn’t sent him crashing down on the floor. She leaned in close and stared at him before she began to sniff, almost as though she had smelled something on him.

A deep frown crossed her face before she moved on, all without uttering a single word. Drew stared after her, wondering if she had sensed something, or rather smelled something on him. Without her telling him, there was no way to know, at least without asking her and he certainly wasn’t going to do that.

After standing there for a minute or so lost in thought, he decided to continue on to Amy’s room. As he rounded a corner he saw Amy further ahead facing away from him. Even though he couldn’t see her face, he could tell she was upset about something, it was all in her posture.

“Are you alright?” he asked as he walked over to her.

She turned around with her head down. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.”

She didn’t sound alright. She sounded upset and considering that Bek had come from this direction it didn’t take him much to put two and two together.

“Did Bek do something to you?”

“No,” she said as she turned around and walked past him in the direction of the cafeteria.

He followed. “Are you sure?”

“Yes,” she said tersely. “It’s just that things have been difficult. You have Gemma and Kiki, and Jack has Grace.”

She was trying to give a reason as to why she was upset other than the obvious, but Drew wasn’t buying it.

Amy continued. “I was hoping that maybe one of them was Angela, but I don’t think any of them are.”

“It’s been difficult for all of us,” Drew said.

“I guess,” Amy accepted. “I just wish everything was back the way it used to be.”

“I know that feeling.”

Drew didn’t believe her. Bek had upset her, he could tell, and Amy was not saying something either out of fear or because she didn’t want him confronting the Greenclaw and risk getting eviscerated.

He stepped in front of her, stopping her in her tracks. “You look like you need a hug.”

She nodded and he wrapped her arms around her, hugging her tightly. She hugged him back.

“Things will get better,” he said. “I will make sure it does.”

“I hope so.”

They hugged for a few more moments before Drew let her go.

“How was that?” he asked.

“You squeezed way too hard, but overall it was a nice hug.”

“I did?” he asked. “I guess rebuilding all the production lines has bulked me up a bit. Don’t know my own strength.”

“How are the other lines doing?” she asked.

“I want at least to have the Assaultron line operational by tomorrow or at the most by the end of the week and I’ll need your help to do it. I have no doubt that within the next few weeks, we’ll have an unwelcome visit.”

“Those guys in the power armor?”

Drew nodded. “Yeah. We have to be ready when they do show up.”

“What if we aren’t?”

“We will. We don’t have any other choice.”

“No,” she agreed solemnly.

“Come on, the others are in the cafeteria and Jack is cooking something up.”

They continued on, only stopping when they saw Sekka and Axa leaving the room.

“Hey,” Axa greeted. “We’re heading to eat with the others in the big warehouse.”

“You don’t want to try some of Jack’s cooking?” Drew asked.

“Thought about it,” Sekka said, “But cooked food isn’t something we really eat anymore.”

“Have you eaten any cooked meals since becoming a Greenclaw?”

“No, but it’s just not appetizing anymore.”

“Besides,” Axa added, “we eat a lot. More than Jack can possibly cook.”

“Fair enough,” Drew accepted. “See you later then.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll be there to help you make your robots.”

“Good. We have a lot of work to do,” he said before he and Amy stepped inside the cafeteria.

The delightful smell that drifted over from the kitchen only made Drew more glad that he had decided to not have any breakfast.

“Smells amazing,” Amy said as she and Drew sat at the same table as Sarah.

“Haven’t eaten a proper oven-cooked meal since I left the vault,” Sarah said. “On a fire, sure, but not in an oven.”

“There’s some good places in Colville to get cooked food,” Drew said.

“I could never afford it,” Sarah admitted. “I mostly ate berries, to be honest.”

“But you’re a doctor,” Amy pointed out. “You’re a sought-after commodity.”

“Yeah, but I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m a bit weird around people I don’t know.”

“You don’t seem that weird,” Drew said. “In fact, you seem fairly normal.”

“I guess I felt at ease with you all. But generally speaking, I can be really awkward. I kinda have a hard time getting to know people and I tend to keep to myself.”

“We have noticed that much,” Amy said. “But yeah, even if we don’t see you much, you’ve become part of the group. Suzy too.”

“Glad to be here.”

“Me as well,” Suzy agreed.

They all looked over as Jack peered out of the kitchen. “Will be ready soon,” he called over. “I will need some help bringing it through.”

Drew stood up. “I’ll come help,” he said.

“Thanks. It won’t be long.” With that, he disappeared back into the kitchen.

“If you’ll excuse me,” Drew said to the others before he made his way through to find Jack peering into the oven.

“Missed this,” he said as he closed it back up.

“We never did get a proper oven back in Colville.”

“Not one that worked properly,” Jack added.

“So what are you making?”

“Cooking that Radstag. Mixed those berries and some herbs for some added flavor, but only a touch. Too much and it would make it taste disgusting.”

“Berries?” Drew asked. “What berries?”

“Veronica and Axa collected them this morning.”

“Are they safe to eat?” Drew asked, feeling a modicum of concern.

“Don’t worry, they’re blackberries,” Jack assured him. “I even made some berry juice from them.”

“Taste good?”

“Yeah, actually. It’s in a jug in the refrigerator.”

Drew stepped over and opened it, taking out the jug before giving it a sniff. “Smells good.”

“Why don’t you go grab some glasses and take them through. There’s enough for everyone.”

“Good idea,” Drew agreed, closing the refrigerator door.

After grabbing some glasses, he headed back into the cafeteria and placed them down on the table.

“Need some help?” Sarah asked.

“We might,” Drew said as he headed back to the kitchen.

Sarah followed him and watched as he picked up the jug of blackberry juice.

“What do you want me to do?” she asked.

Jack answered. “I’ll be serving up. You start taking them through when I do.”

“Okay,” Sarah said.

Drew headed back into the cafeteria and placed the jug down in the center of the table before returning to the kitchen.

As he stepped through the doors, he found Jack taking the meat out of the oven and it smelled really good. It had been a long time since he had looked forward to a meal as much as he was looking forward to this one.

“A nice Radstag roast. Just what the doctor ordered.”

“I didn’t order it,” Sarah said. “But it’s welcome all the same.”

With the cuts of meat on four plates, they took them through with Sarah and Drew carrying two plates each with Jack bringing the cutlery.

“Looks and smells delicious,” Amy said as Drew placed her plate down in front of her. “The fruit juice is nice, too.”

“Blackberries,” Jack said. “Veronica and Axa picked them this morning.”

Amy laughed at the thought. “Greenclaws picking berries? I honestly can’t picture that. Must be a really bizarre sight.”

“I’ll bet,” Drew agreed. “Surprised they didn’t crush them.”

“They can be gentle when they want to be,” Jack said.

Drew agreed as he grabbed the jug of juice. “That they are.”

He poured himself a drink before having a taste. He nodded his head in approval. It certainly was nice, though considering he had been drinking mostly stagnant or flavorless water, he supposed anything would taste good

“I was just thinking,” Jack began. “When are we gonna open some of that alcohol we grabbed from the Mega Stop?”

Drew put his glass down. “I actually want to sell most of it, but what we keep I want to save for a special occasion. That stuff is vintage, it would be a shame to just drink it all up without a care.”

“I suppose.”

“Besides, you can get some fresh beer from town.”

“A long way to walk just for a beer,” Jack said.

“Just a little,” Drew agreed with a smile as he picked up his knife and fork and finally started tucking in.

It was absolutely delicious. Jack had always had a knack for cooking. It was one of his many, many talents.

“How is it?” Jack asked.

“Incredible,” Sarah answered first. “I’ve never eaten anything better.”

“What she said,” Amy added.

Drew grinned. “It’s definitely delicious.”

Jack beamed at the praise. It was clear that he took pride in his work, be it cooking, fixing things, or making clothes and armor. He always tried his best and it always showed in the result.

As Drew reached out to grab his glass of blackberry juice he felt a tingling at the base of his neck. He reached back and rubbed it only for the sensation to spread down his spine and across his arms and legs. It was as though his whole body was covered in static, though it quickly started to feel more akin to pins and needles.

That was when he started to sweat. Normally, he would put it down to meat sweats, but he hadn’t eaten nearly enough for that. No, he’d felt something like it before just that morning and he still didn’t have an explanation beyond the scary possibility that it had something to do with his FEV exposure.

He shivered at the thought as he gulped down his juice. The last thing he needed was to turn into a Greenclaw, though, in all honesty, he doubted that would happen. It was more likely that he’d get some crippling disease instead. That or maybe mutate into a tumor-filled blob.

He shivered again, though this time it was more than just because of the unpleasant thoughts. He was starting to feel cold, just like he had last night when he had awoken drenched in sweat.

Just as things had finally started to take a turn for the better, life had found a way to throw another metaphorical lump of radioactive sludge in his face. He had finally started to get the plant back online and had discovered that Gemma and some of the others from Paulson were still alive. Things had looked like they were on a positive, but with the splinter group of Brotherhood in the region and now his exposure to that mutagenic, it appeared that his rotten luck had finally decided to make another house call only this time instead of fucking over those he cared about, it had decided to actually fuck him over instead.

“Are you alright?” Sarah asked, a look of concern on her face.

He wiped the sweat off of his brow as he focused on her. “Uh, yeah. Just feeling a little warm.”

“You look sick,” Sarah said.

All the others were staring at him now, including Suzy.

“Just feeling hot for some reason,” he said, pulling on the neck of his shirt to let some air through.

“You’re looking a little green,” Jack said. “I hope I haven’t poisoned you by accident.”

“I’m fine,” he said as the tingles started to subside. “Just been feeling a little off lately.”

“Maybe I should give you a checkup,” Sarah offered.

“No, I think I’ll be fine.”

“Certain?” Amy asked. “You look really sick.”

“Yeah. I probably shouldn’t eat so much so soon after getting up.”

“No,” Sarah agreed. “You probably shouldn’t. Must have been a tiring day yesterday?”

“Yeah, it was,” Drew said with a nod.

“It could be stress,” Sarah said. “You should probably take the day off.”

“I can’t,” Drew said. “Need to bring all the lines online as soon as I can.”

“In that case, I suggest being foreman and getting the others to do as much as they can. You won’t be doing anything if you burn yourself out.”

“She’s right,” Jack agreed. “We’ll take up the slack for you.”

“Thanks, guys,” Drew said, feeling thankful. “Means a lot.”

“Still, I’d like to do a checkup,” Sarah said. “Best to catch anything early than late.”

“Maybe tonight,” Drew said even though he had no intention of doing so.

In all honesty, he was terrified of what Sarah might find. He felt that it was probably best if he didn’t know.

Not wanting to think about it any more, Drew focused on eating the rest of his roast. He had a busy day ahead of him and he needed his head in the game if he wanted to accomplish his goals before the enemy waltzed up to their front door and blasted it open with a missile launcher. It was imperative that he meet that force with not only an equal one but one of greater strength. He couldn’t allow some shivers and sweats to delay what had already been delayed for far too long already.

“Alright,” Drew said after finishing his last mouthful as he pushed himself up onto his feet. “It’s time to get to work.”