Chapter Text
Had Lucy MacLean known it was her last day on the surface, she would have spent more of it outside. She would have lain down in the grass and soaked in the sun like a little daisy. A little weed, like the ones her father so stubbornly pulled every Saturday morning. Instead, she spent her morning unpacking an ungodly amount of boxes. She’d only lived on her own for a month and a half. How had she accumulated so much stuff? Or had she always had it but just never put it all in one small room?
Either way, she wanted to kick Lucy from the past.
It was a beautiful day out and her father was in the garden. Norm was in the house… somewhere. That’s about as much as she knew about her brother these days. He tended to spend more and more time in his room, his relationship with their father was downright awful on bad days and tolerable on days when they weren’t antagonizing each other over Vault-Tec, Norm’s future prospects, and the general state of the world.
Lucy moving in hadn’t helped. No one needed three stubborn adults with differing views on how to save the world locked in a home together. It was a recipe for disaster.
Needing a bit of air after so much time spent with dusty cardboard boxes, Lucy grabbed a few she had stomped to flatness and carried them out to the garbage bins. She had a bit of a fight with the last few but in the end, the lid was near enough to closing that she didn’t worry too much about it. The trash truck would be coming on Monday, anyway.
With most of the boxes out of the way, Lucy was free to start actually organizing her things. Being unceremoniously fired from her brand-new job had hurt. The last six months had been full of rejection for her, so Lucy had allowed herself a few days of wallowing before she tried to become a productive member of society. She’d start updating her resume tomorrow. When she could see the surface of her desk. It was currently covered in books and stacks of framed photos.
No job lined up, no friends within an hour's drive, no real peace at home. Lucy was bored and sad and itching to call the one person she knew would pick up. But he didn’t want what she wanted, and no matter how much she told herself being friends was fine, it really wasn’t and it really hurt.
Cooper Howard had broken her heart and they’d never even kissed. Hell, they weren’t even dating. Lucy was sometimes certain she’d just made things up in her head, projected the way she felt onto him. And sure, maybe he was naturally flirtatious due to all that charisma, and sometimes she’d catch him looking at her in just the right moment… But he had shut her down and Lucy didn’t want to open that wound again.
Though she changed her mind on the subject from hour to hour.
As much as Cooper had hurt her, she still missed him. He’d been interesting and attentive and fun to talk to. No one volleyed a conversation with her like he did and she could feel in her bones he liked talking to her too. From that very first meeting, despite his gruff approach to her attempt at finding common ground regarding their shared belief that Vault-Tec needed to end, along with all its business partners, Lucy could tell he saw something interesting in her. Even if she was just a funny case study in youthful thinking, at least she had his attention, and thirteen-year-old Lucy would die to know that.
From the moment she saw his face on the screen as a child, Lucy had been enamored. He was all suave words and strong angles and soft eyes and of course Lucy developed a little childhood crush. Running into him at that bar, their bar, had been like winning the lottery and to capture and keep his attention was even better.
She had not expected to see him at Vault-Tec when she went to pick up her dad. That had been another great surprise. But Barb suggesting Cooper stay for the tennis lesson was the icing on the cake. She’d always dressed in typical tennis gear for her lessons with Janey. Half the experience of tennis was wearing the right gear, after all. It was a fashionable sport. And well… how would Cooper know she’d chosen her shortest skirt? It had been such a warm day and she needed to stay cool during the hour-long lesson, right?
It was the afternoon at the park that really made Lucy suspicious of just how far Cooper's interest in her went. He’d actually been kind and invested, allowing her to open up about her family, and Jesus H. Christ, the man weaponized eye contact. It had been overwhelming and Lucy loved getting to sink into the role of ‘Important Person to You.’ She was sure she’d felt it. She was almost sure he had too. The way he’d looked at her on the walk back to his house was not the way her friends looked at her.
And maybe it had been real and maybe he had his reasons for changing his tune and maybe Lucy could pick up the phone this evening and see if he wanted to meet her on Tuesday for a drink and a long overdue rain check.
They’d tried, once or twice, after the rejection, with Cooper calling her first and making it sound like a normal thing they would do. But Lucy had felt miserable trying to fake a smile and Cooper was… well, kind of like the first time she met him—closed off and clearly not in the mood for the performance they both seemed to be putting on. She had decided then to avoid that taciturn old man and only call when she felt ready. Maybe she was ready.
God, she could not make up her mind about that stupid, annoying, antagonist actor.
She needed to focus on the task at hand because she couldn’t change his mind but she could get her life together.
Distracted by the clutter on her desk, Lucy wondered if Miss Williams might have a position for her, or maybe know someone who could get her connected. She certainly knew a lot of people. However, whatever she had to offer may get Lucy kicked out of the house. She couldn’t attend those ‘communist meetings’ and expect to live under Henry MacLean’s roof. Ha!
Getting kicked out would sure beat working for Vault-Tec. Her dad had already asked her to come by the office, ‘Just to talk to some of the folks about their amazing careers,’ and Norm was practically begging her to save him from their dad’s constant pestering about his own future. Now Lucy had no reason to protest, and her excuses were getting weak. It’s not like she had a job to back her up.
After shoving as many books back on her childhood bookshelf as she could, Lucy stopped in the kitchen and began peeling an orange over the sink. Her dad was outside dealing with a particularly stubborn patch of weeds and Norm was upstairs doing who knows what. He’d made it down for breakfast, so Lucy knew he was awake at least. He tended to sleep in on the weekends.
The sharp, inviting scent of citrus surrounded Lucy as she looked out the window over the kitchen sink and out onto the yard. She couldn’t see her dad from here, but she could hear the radio he had taken outside with him. Gentle Nat King Cole vocals drifted in through the open back door, and Lucy hummed along to a song she didn’t know the lyrics too as she continued her work on the orange. She was almost done and had already bit into a few slices when she heard a terribly loud booming noise. Lucy didn’t even have time to look over her shoulder when every single window at the front of the house shattered inward.
Lucy curled in on herself, ducking her chin to her collarbone and pulling her arms to her chest. She didn't think any glass had blown into the kitchen, but her body had reacted on instinct.
It wasn’t what she thought.
A neighbor had left their stove on and lit a match without thinking. A car accident in the street had ignited the fuel in one vehicle and both had caught fire and exploded. This wasn’t it. It wasn’t happening. The end of the world wasn’t here right as Lucy was ready to reinvent herself.
Henry MacLean burst into the back door, gardening gloves still on and covered in dirt.
“Where’s Norman?” He asked, looking around wildly.
“I… I don't know…” Lucy stammered, looking about the kitchen like her brother was supposed to be there beside her.
The sound of feet pounding down the stairs suddenly fell on Lucy’s ears, and she turned her back on her father to see her brother sliding into the kitchen too.
“Is this it?” He asked. He wasn’t even wearing shoes.
Henry looked between his children for a moment before walking between them.
“Come on. Upstairs.” He said, not turning to see if they followed. They did. It didn’t take long for Henry to reach into the back of his closet for three blue and silver metal briefcases. “Grab anything sentimental you want to bring. You won’t need clothes or anything like that. Just… just get the things you can’t replace. Put as much of it as you can in your Vault Box. Put the important stuff in first so you don’t have to leave it if it doesn’t fit.”
“Dad, what are you talking about?” Norm asked, tears now streaming down his face.
Lucy lifted her hand to her cheek and her fingers came back wet. Huh. She was crying. She didn’t even feel herself begin.
“A van will be here in ten minutes to pick us up. You have nine minutes to pack. Go!” Henry urged before starting to add to his own case.
It was already half full when he opened it on his bed.
“I don’t understand.” Lucy said, making no move to go to her room and start filling her own little blue case. Henry paused, his hands hovering over his, papers caught between his fingers.
“They dropped the bombs, but we have a spot in a Vault. Go. Pack.” He said, the last two words coming out with a harder tone than Lucy had ever heard her father use. She glanced at Norm. His lip was quivering and his eyes were glassy and wide. A MacLean trait.
“Come on.” She said to Norm. She had to be a big sister right now.
Lucy stepped into her own room and set the case on the bed. She looked at all her worldly possessions, half of it still unorganized and scattered on whatever surface where it would fit, and swallowed back a sob. She could do this. She could pack what mattered most in the world into a single box after spending her morning unpacking it all. God, what time she had wasted.
She was Vault-Tec, her little suitcase was the vault, and now she had to choose who made it to safety.
She grabbed her mother’s necklace first. That went into a special padded compartment, along with a few other pieces of jewelry her dad had gifted her over the years. The necklace had been her high school graduation present, a gift that brought her to tears in her high school gymnasium.
Next, she reached for her childhood toy, a stuffed orange cat that looked more brown than yellow these days. Lucy was 22. She had no use for a stuffed animal. But what else did she have?
The disaster that was her desk was full of old papers, cards, and photos. She snagged a family photo, one taken before her mom had died, and then a photo of her and her girlfriends from this past Christmas. They looked so stupidly happy and for a moment, Lucy wanted to tear the photo to bits.
She yanked open her desk drawer and saw a familiar envelope on top of a pile of other sentimental cards. She grabbed it and stared at the graduation card Cooper had given her. She held it for far too long, her eyes glazing over as she looked at the creamy paper and the message inside. ‘The world isn’t ready for a girl like Lucy MacLean.’
It didn’t matter what the world was ready for, because it was over. Lucy wasn’t going to call Cooper tonight. She wasn’t going to meet him for a drink on Tuesday. She wasn’t going to give Janey her tennis lesson on Sunday. She wasn’t going to find a new job to help make the world a better place. She wasn’t going to stop all of this from happening because it had started without giving her the option to try.
She wasn’t going to worm her way deeper and deeper under Cooper Howard’s skin until he realized he was a fool not to fall in love with her.
Fuck.
Lucy put the card in the briefcase and looked around her room again. The case was only half full and she had an entire life she was about to abandon for the hope of an underground tin can.
What do you grab in a fire?
She’d heard the question before in a psychology class and in a magazine once. She had never been good at answering the question. Even now, with the fire coming down upon her, Lucy still didn’t know. It’s not like her family or her friends would fit in this little blue case. Her hopes for the future wouldn’t fit, either. Career, justice, friends, family, love, children, a dog, sunsets, sunrises, morning coffee in bed, job fulfillment, seeing Europe, holding her baby, laughing with her brother, finally going sailing with her father, kissing her husband, retiring, relaxing, lying down at night with the person she loved.
You can’t grab your hope in a fire.
So Lucy reached for her fear.
The suitcase was half full and there was nothing else that mattered to her now. She slammed the case shut and ran to Norm’s room. He was clicking his shut as well, and their dad was right behind Lucy.
“Let’s go.” He said, ushering his children down the stairs and out the door. He didn’t bother locking up. What was the point?
It was the second time Lucy went outside that day. She looked down and realized Norm was still barefoot.
A pale blue van was already waiting outside. Two men in helmets and bulletproof vests were waiting by the doors. They instructed the MacLean’s to place their briefcases in the back, and then guided them to the open sliding door on the side.
Hank climbed in first, quickly followed by Norm and then Lucy. The door was slammed shut, and through the window, Lucy could see her neighbors spot the van. As they pulled away, people began to run toward it, after it, in line with it until they picked up too much speed and they were leaving everyone behind.
Lucy began to hyperventilate.
She paid no mind as to where they were going until the van pulled up to a gated community. The guard at the security hut waved them in and the van idled through, picking up speed once they cleared a roundabout.
“Is the vault in here?” Norm asked, looking out at the large homes of the gated neighborhood.
“When Hollywood was getting big, the elite—the producers, directors, actors—wanted a way to travel to save time and avoid the riffraff. They built private roads under hills and between neighborhoods to ensure private travel.” Henry said. “We’re taking those roads to reach the vault.”
Norm scoffed.
“That’s an old rumor. I’ve read about it. It’s been debunked.”
“Not a rumor.” Henry said, offering no further clarification.
The van pulled into the driveway of a home tucked at the foot of a steep hill. The garage door opened, and Lucy’s mouth fell open when she saw the garage extended back into the hill itself. Like a tunnel through a mountain, the pass was lined with yellow lights. Lucy couldn’t see the light at the end, but she could tell they were traveling at a slight downhill angle.
The buzz of a radio went off at the front of the van, but Lucy paid little mind to what was being said. It didn’t matter anyway.
“Sir, we have a priority one pickup that was not at their home at the time of detonation. No detour necessary.” The man in the passenger seat said, twisting a little to look back at Henry.
“That’s fine, boys.” Henry said.
“We’re picking up someone else?” Norm asked.
“Well you can’t schedule things like these, Norman.” Henry said, sounding like he’d hit traffic on the way to an appointment. He kept checking his Pip-Boy, tapping at it, turning dials, and frowning.
When they finally drove out of the tunnel, they were still in a wealthy neighborhood, but it was on the opposite side of the small mountain ridge the MacLean’s lived on. A drive that would typically take 30 to 45 minutes had lasted only 10.
“Approaching priority one pick up.” Passenger Seat Man said. The van was now rumbling down a road that curved one side of the ridge. Cars lined the side of the road, but no one was traveling. At least, not in a car. Up ahead, galloping down the road was a cowboy on his horse. Had he been in a movie, he would have been riding off into the sunset. In reality, he was following the only road off the mountain and the scene was lit by orange fire and smoke instead of the setting sun.
The van slowed as it approached the man and horse and it only took a moment for Lucy to recognize him.
“Oh my god.” She breathed.
Cooper turned and spotted the van, immediately pulling back on the reins and turning the horse around. That’s when Lucy spotted Janey, looking tiny in the saddle in front of her father. Lucy began to fight with her seatbelt, but it seemed to be jammed.
“Lucy, what are you doing?” Norm asked, trying to wiggle away from her fidgeting hands between their hips.
“I need to get out.” She said, fighting the seatbelt. “Let me out, let me out now!” She cried, her voice rising with each word, but the driver and his partner were getting out of the van and completely ignoring her. One came around to open the side door while the other approached Cooper. He slid off the horse first and then reached up to pull Janey down, her little legs dragging over the saddle like wet noodles. Holding her tight and whispering in her ear, he followed the guard to the van door, where he dropped to his knees and squeezed Janey for a moment before kissing her forehead.
“Daddy, you’re coming too.” She said, fat tears streaming down her face. Cooper shook his head, and Lucy clawed at the seatbelt some more. Why did it feel like it was getting tighter?
“These men are gonna take you to your momma, ok?”
Janey began to cry harder, heart-wrenching little sobs escaping her lips.
“He has to come with us!” Lucy screamed at the man by the door, who was trying to pull Janey’s arm so she would get in the van. “That’s his daughter. You can’t take her and not him!”
“Lucy!” Cooper gasped, finally spotting her struggling in the back. He stood then, his hands on both of Janey’s shoulders as she was still reluctant to let the strange man load her up. He pushed Janey forward, urging her to get in the van.
“See, Miss Lucy will be with you. She’ll look after you until your mom gets to the vault.” He told Janey, urging her as much as he could without scaring her. “Go on now.”
Henry was now grabbing at Lucy’s arm, trying to pull her hands away from the jammed belt, which she was beginning to suspect was an intentional design flaw.
“Can we sedate her, please?” Henry asked. Norm was arguing with his father. Lucy hardly heard them.
“Cooper, get in!” Lucy shouted. One of the guards was already buckling Janey into a seat. They wouldn’t let Cooper onboard to do it himself. He could only watch as Janey was strapped in and Lucy was held back.
“Lucy, you watch out for Janey, ok? Make sure she gets to Barb.” Cooper said, settling his eyes on her for a moment before Janey called out for him.
“Daddy!”
“Love you, Janey.” He said, pressing his hand to his heart.
Lucy only struggled harder.
“Fucking sedate her!” Henry yelled, his arm, which was wrapped tightly over her chest, now covered in scratches from Lucy’s nails.
Lucy watched in horror as the man who had buckled Janey’s seatbelt quickly reached in her direction and jabbed her in the shoulder with something. Almost instantly, the world began to melt and tilt and spin away from her.
She was crying and Norm was crying and Janey was crying and Cooper was crying and a door was being slammed in his face and an ocean moved under Lucy as her body fell slack.
“He’s supposed t’ come. You were ‘spposed t’ let him come.” She slurred, her head now in Norm’s lap.
“Sugar Bomb, he’s just some actor. Why are you so upset?”
Henry MacLean’s words blurred together. And Lucy only saw a movie star and a horse and a dog and a shotgun and a broken fence and a tumbleweed and a sunset and she saw Cooper Howard, his face red with tears and a cowboy hat fixed on his head.