Chapter Text
Perfection.
That was her vault summarized in a single word.
From top to bottom she alone ensured the cleanliness, the schedule of the cleaners, the say of the vault. Even the sleep cycle of the vault goers was at the pad of her finger. It wasn't a responsibility to be taken lightly.
But it was a burden she bore all too well.
She, alone.
The sound of her intercom ringing echos through her otherwise quiet office place.
Regina sighs. There weren't even lunch breaks when you were overseer.
"Madam Overseer?" The crackling voice lilts with hesitance.
"What?"
She taps her index on the metal table before her. The man on the other side of the com is quiet for a moment.
"There's a Ghoul here asking for you. By name."
She presses her lips together. This must be the rookie Graham told her about.
"Let him in."
"Madam-"
"I will not repeat myself."
There is a long pause before the line's crackling interrupts the silence again.
"Yes, Madam."
It's as she's reading the radiation levels on her most recent soil scan that the sound of the door sliding opening breaks her concentration.
Then the Ghoul steps in.
"Regina."
"Gold."
Gold's lips are tilted in that smirk he always wears when she sees him. His suit freshly pressed, somehow, his cane raps loudly on his approach to the chair. Regina clicks a few buttons on her PIP-boy, and the floating screen before her disappears.
Once Gold is seated she flashes him a smile.
"Now, let us begin."
Gold says nothing, leaning his cane against the arm rest of the chair.
"I believe we left off on your clans decision to trade in our scientists recent findings in ghoulification with fresh water you've dug up in the desert?"
Gold hums once. Then nods. "Yes. Just that. We've found a natural spring deep in the dunes just beyond Necropolis."
Regina raises her brows and hums. "A splendid development for any poor soul in this wasteland, isn't it?" She charts the note down on the screen on the table between them.
"And you are off the coast of the sea, correct?" She says, finger waiting over the terminal.
Gold huffs. "You vault dwellers ought head out more. The world is much bigger than you think."
Regina squints slightly as he grins.
"I think not. We are perfectly safe and tended to here," she says, interlacing her fingers and setting her joined hands on the desk. "Now, about the water-is it as clean as you say?"
Regina tracks his hand as it slips into his pocket.
"What? Are you nervous I've something...unsavory stored in this pocket, mayor?" He asks, the corners of his eyes crinkling.
Regina scoffs. "You know the importance of safety as much as I do, Gold." She says, relaxing as he reveals a vial of clear liquid, then straightens. "The water..."
"Is clear. Yes." He says, setting the vial down. "It is purified through some process deep in the earth. I've even scanned it for radiation. It's clean."
Regina doesn't notice the way he follows her expressions- a vultures keen hunger in his eyes. She tilts the vial to and fro, then frowns down at it.
"There will be further testing before this is a route we trade in. Until then I will keep you posted on my decision. And with that I believe our monthly meeting has concluded. Thank you for your participation."
She sets the vial into a special container and is about to ring for her scientists, then looks up at the man still sat before her.
"No dearie. I don't think our meeting has concluded just yet." Golds grin stretches unnaturally. "Why, I think we've only just begun."
"If this has anything to do with our former interactions, Gold, then-"
He raises a hand. Regina pauses, and doesn't have the time to wonder why she obeyed until Gold curls his finger and the doors are sliding open.
Regina stiffens further, and watches as a woman steps in. A simple vault suit, oddly clean and with minimal wear, adorns her body. Two guards in hardened power armor flank her. Regina follows their entrance with dark eyes, watching as they stop at a simple gesture from Gold.
"Gold, you know I don't deal in slaves." She states, then looks back to the vial. Now held between clenched fingers. "And you did not inform me we'd have...guests."
Gold is quiet for a moment. Just when Regina is ready to dismiss him again he speaks. "And here I thought the Mills's vault was always true to their word."
Regina grits her teeth together, watching as he turns his back. The Mills had nothing to do with this, she knew. But still...
"What do you want, Gold."
He pauses, then slowly turns around. A grin on his lips. "Why, what I've always wanted, dearie. You're happily ever after." He flares his hands dramatically, the cane scratching as he pushes it back onto the ground.
"Though...with your hostility to my generosity," he sighs heavily, shaking his head. "I may have rescind my offer and...spill a few family secrets."
"Gold. I don't have time for this. Just tell me what you want." Regina spits out, back rigidly straight in her comfortably cushioned seat.
The ghoul smiles. "To offer a new breeder." He steps over to the woman, lifting her hair as if to showcase it, but Regina maintains eye contact stubbornly with him. "You've never seen a stud like this one here."
Regina feels bile rise in her throat at the implication. "I've seen about everything you can offer Gold. Leave. Or I'll make you leave." Her throat strains from how deep and gruff her voice sounds.
Gold shivers theatrically and grins at the nameless woman stood before the two. "She behaves when she feels like it." He says, then devolves into a fit of cackling.
Regina feels the muscle in her jaw jump. Then he turns to her, flashing her a smile that glints with gold teeth. "So what is it. Deal, or...no deal?"
He reaches his hand out, holding it there as Regina stares into his eyes. She stops herself before she can look at the woman before her, then purses her lips.
"The girl stays." She says, cringing internally at the thought of shaking the ghouls irradiated hand.
Gold shrugs, then begins walking to the door. When he notices the guards nudging the woman on he shakes his head.
"You heard her. She's staying."
The guards don't even spare another thought before following his orders. If only her own guards shared that disposition. She watches them go, watching as Gold lifts his hand in a farewell.
"Til next time, Madam Mills," he calls as the door whirs shut.
Once they are properly alone Regina looks the woman before her over. What exactly made her a breeder, Regina could not tell.
Then again, Gold enjoys making a fool of her.
The woman remains where she is, and Regina almost finds herself uncomfortable under her militaristic stare.
"You are no ghoul."
The woman shakes her head. She's tall. Taller than Regina had first assumed, and her shoulders are broader than any woman's she's seen in her vault.
Regina tilts her chin. "Good. Now, I expect you to find your way to our clinic. Tell the receptionist you're the new...breeder. She will know what to do with you. Then, shortly after, you will find the mayoral suite."
She finally meets the woman's eyes. They're a stark green against her tanned face. And Regina is momentarily stunned by the sight, enough that she nearly misses the woman's quiet response.
"Yes ma'am." The woman says. The door hisses closed, and Regina listens momentarily to the footfalls just beyond her offices threshold. Then claps her hands together and pulls up her PIP-boy's screen.