The Best Place in the Whole Wide World

It's time for some Fallout 3 fanfiction.
Life in the Capital Wasteland, through the eyes of a little girl named Moira Brown.

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   This is a story about Moira. Moira is a girl and is five years old, so she gets to hold up her whole hand when people ask how old she is. She lives in the best place in the whole wide world, Canterbury Commons. Moira loves it so much that she learned how to spell it: C-A-N-T-E-R-B-U-R-Y C-O-M-M-O-N-S. She can say it faster than anyone else.

    Her whole name is Moira Kathleen Brown. Brown is like dirt and trees and chocolate cake. She has a mommy and a daddy, but her daddy goes to other towns and sells people stuff, so she doesn't see him very much. They live in a little house that was built before the Wasteland was the Wasteland, which is a really long time ago.

    Moira's mommy's name is Lacey. She wears pretty green dresses with twirly skirts and has red hair just like Moira's. When Moira goes out to play, her mommy tells her to be nice and gives her a big hug. Then she sits outside the house and watches, to make sure that Moira is being nice and that people are being nice to Moira.

    Moira's daddy's name is Jonathan. He's tall and wears funny hats. She misses him a lot when he's away, but sometimes he gets people to come to Canterbury Commons with letters from him! He writes all weird and loopy and Moira's mommy has to read it for her sometimes.

    When Moira's daddy comes back home, Moira runs really fast and jumps on him, and he spins her around like a wheel! Then he puts her on his shoulders and she's really high up, and Moira's mommy comes and hugs him.

    Moira's parents aren't like other parents. They love each other, but not like kissing-love. They're just best friends forever who hug and talk a lot, and they don't get mushy like Moira's seen some adults get. They had Moira because they wanted to start a family!

    Moira's best friend ever is Scott Wollinski. He's all grown up and likes robots. Moira likes robots too, and sometimes when he's not working he'll play games with her, like robot tag. Robot tag is like regular tag but you have to make beeping noises. Scott thinks Moira is a really smart kid and sometimes teaches her fun stuff.

    Moira really wishes there were more kids to play with, though.

    One day, Moira's daddy came home really early, and he and Moira's mommy told Moira they had really big news. They told Moira they were having another baby, and that she was going to be a big sister! Moira was so excited, she jumped around the house until she had to go to bed, and then she couldn't fall asleep for a really long time.

    Moira knows where babies come from. Her mommy and daddy explained it to her really good, except that Moira didn't really get it because it didn't make sense. She asked once if you need love to make a baby and they didn't really say yes or no.

    Every day, Moira talked to her mommy's tummy and said the nicest, sweetest things she could think of. It never said anything back, but that was okay, because it wasn't supposed to. She kept asking if it was going to be a boy or a girl, but nobody knew.

    She would teach the baby to play robot tag and do the robot dance and talk like a robot! Maybe the baby would like robots as much as Moira! She thought about it all the time.

    Moira woke up one day and it was too quiet. She felt wrong inside and got dressed really quick, and ran down the stairs. Moira smelled something weird and heard people crying so she ran really fast.

    Her mommy was lying in the middle of the floor, crying. She was wearing one of her green dresses and there was blood on it and on the floor, all over. Her daddy was holding her and he was crying too, and Moira didn't understand what was happening but she felt sick from all the blood. Did her mommy get hurt? Moira started crying just like them and the tear drops made her lips hurt but she couldn't stop.

    Later, Moira's daddy took Moira out for a walk. He bought her some chocolate cake at Dot's Diner and they sat far away from everyone else. Moira's daddy looked tired and old, and he told her they wouldn't be having another baby after all.

    Moira asked him why not, because she didn't understand. He just stood up and hugged her tight, and he sounded like he was going to cry, and that made Moira want to cry. He told her that her mommy was feeling very sad about the baby and that Moira should be extra nice to her and not talk about the baby. Moira understood that.

    Things were very sad for a long time. Moira's daddy didn't go away to sell things, and Moira didn't go out to play with Scott as much. Moira's mommy got really thin and cried almost every night. Moira kept wondering what it would be like to be a big sister, but she didn't ask.

    But then things were kind of normal. Moira's daddy went to go sell things. Moira played robot tag with Scott. Moira's mommy started eating lots again and even smiled sometimes. Moira still wondered about the baby, but she wasn't supposed to ask, so she didn't.

    Sometimes, Moira likes to do science. She makes her hair stick up all crazy and puts on her special scientist dress. Then she mixes different kinds of food together, or tries to build stuff out of other stuff, or runs around the house and sees how long it took her.

    But doing science sometimes gets Moira in trouble. Like when she sneaks into places she's not supposed to be in and gets caught. Or when she makes something really gross with food and they have to throw it away. Moira thinks science is worth it, though.

    Moira thinks about making the Wasteland a better place with science. Then, people will never cry, all the water will be clean, and nobody will ever lose their babies. Everybody would be really happy if the Wasteland was better.

    Moira once told Scott about making the Wasteland better. He laughed and patted her head and told her she was a big dreamer. Then they did the robot dance before Scott had to work again.

    Moira really wants to make the Wasteland better because of something that happened one time. She was talking to Scott's robots outside her house when all of a sudden the robots got scary. They brought out their weapons and said mean things, but not to Moira. Moira looked at where the robots were looking and saw a bunch of people with guns and mean faces outside the town.

    Moira screamed at the bad people and Moira's mommy ran and picked Moira up and carried her inside the house. She put lots of stuff in front of the door and told Moira to hide really good. Moira got inside her mommy's closet and closed the doors and tried to stay really quiet.

    She heard the bad people yelling and the robots talking to them. Then she heard gunshots and lasers and got so scared she almost screamed, but she had to be quiet. There was a lot of screaming for a while. Moira put her fingers in her ears because it made her really scared.

    The screaming stopped and Moira could hear somebody walking inside her house. She got really still and quiet and hoped her mommy was okay. Then she heard her mommy's voice telling her everything was fine and that the bad people were all gone! Moira jumped out of the closet and ran to her mommy and hugged her really tight.

    Moira looked out the window and saw the bad people all lying dead on the ground. Moira didn't like looking at dead people and it made her feel kind of sick. She saw a robot lying dead on the ground too, but Scott could fix it because you can fix robots but not people.

    Moira asked her mommy why there had to be bad people. Moira's mommy told her that the bad people were angry because the Wasteland isn't a good place. So Moira wanted to make it a good place and nobody would be angry anymore.

    Moira knows that her daddy goes around the Wasteland because he sells things to make people happy. Food and water and toys for kids and ammo for town guards and a lot of other stuff too. Moira wants to be just like her daddy and make people happy, but maybe with more science.

    Sometimes Moira worries about her daddy, especially after the bad people came to Canterbury Commons. Moira's mommy always tells Moira that her daddy has lots of guards to keep him safe from bad people and monsters and that makes Moira feel kind of better.

    Right now, Moira's daddy is off selling things. He hasn't come back for a while but he isn't supposed to. She still misses him lots, though.

    In the morning, a man comes up to the house and Moira thinks he might have a letter from her daddy! She runs up to the porch where her mommy is and looks at the man, but he doesn't have a letter.

    The man tells Moira and her mommy to sit down. Moira's mommy sits in a chair and Moira sits on her lap. Moira's mommy takes Moira's hand and holds it tight.

    The man tells them that monsters got to Moira's daddy's caravan and killed everyone. Moira's mommy looks at him with her eyes wide open and then starts to cry. The man tells Moira that her daddy isn't coming back and Moira cries too because she loves her daddy and how can he not come back?

    The man leaves and they go inside the house and don't stop crying for a really long time. Moira thinks about how they all sleep in a big bed together, with Moira's daddy on the left, Moira's mommy on the right, and Moira in the middle. But now it will just be Moira and her mommy forever and ever and the bed will be too big for just them all the time.

    It's been a really long time now and Moira still can't stop thinking about her daddy. He will never tell her bedtime stories or spin her around like a wheel or hug Moira's mommy ever again. She will never tell him about science or ride on his shoulders or jump on him when he comes home ever again.

    And when Moira draws pictures of her family in the dirt, she always starts drawing her daddy but then she remembers he isn't here anymore and she starts to cry.

    Moira's mommy is really thin again and doesn't ever smile. She gives Moira lots of hugs still, but she doesn't tell Moira to be nice and she doesn't watch Moira from the porch. Moira is worried that she'll get so thin she'll disappear, and then Moira will be all alone forever.

    Moira is six today. Her daddy always comes home for her birthdays, but this year he can't. Moira and her mommy get some chocolate cake from Dot's Diner and take it home to eat. There's too much for just them to have all by themselves, though.

    Somebody knocks on the door. Moira's mommy gets up to answer it, and Moira follows her. Moira's mommy opens the door and there's a nice-looking man in a leather coat.

    The man asks Moira's mommy some questions and Moira's mommy says yes to every one. Then the man moves to the side and there's Moira's daddy leaning on him, alive and everything!

    Moira's daddy looks tired and messy but he smiles really wide, and Moira's mommy starts crying and throws her arms around him, and Moira runs really fast and hugs them both and she's so happy she starts crying too.

    The man in the leather coat smiles and says that Moira's daddy is really lucky to be alive. Moira's mommy thanks him over and over again and tries to give him caps for bringing Moira's daddy back, but the man shakes his head and says that seeing this is reward enough.

    Moira's mommy and Moira's daddy and Moira all hug each other really tight and don't let go for a really really long time. Then Moira's daddy picks Moira up and spins her around like a wheel, and he puts her on his shoulders so she's really high up, and he hugs Moira's mommy and says he loves her. Moira's mommy says she loves him too, and Moira says she loves them both very much. They laugh and Moira's daddy puts Moira down so they can all have one last big hug.

    Then they go into the kitchen and sing happy birthday to Moira, and Moira's daddy finishes off the rest of the chocolate cake because he's really hungry. Moira thinks that having her daddy back is the best birthday present ever.

    Then they all go upstairs and climb into bed. Moira's daddy is on the left, Moira's mommy is on the right, and Moira is in the middle. For a bedtime story, Moira's daddy tells them about how he got away from the monsters and found the man who brought him back to Canterbury Commons, the best place in the whole wide world.

    The End