Old House Blues.

Author's Note: This story takes place about a year after the ending events of my fanfic.  It also takes place post-Old World Blues, so if you haven't played that, some parts of this may not make sense.  I'll do my best, though, and feel free to comment or note me with any questions.  I don't bite (usually.)



It felt so good to be home.  It didn't feel quite right, though.  For the past however long she was trapped at Big MT, Andy had suffered through the strangest obstacles of her young career, seeing things that made her question the very philosophy of technology and how it bettered lives.  Even worse, she'd been traveling alone when she got transported, and for the first time since before she met Boone, she was utterly and completely alone in the Wastes.  After Arcade's mysterious disappearance, and the birth of her first child, it was traumatizing to say the least.

Boone basically made her swear to never leave the Lucky 38 again, and his euphoria over re-joining First Recon had been dimmed by Andy's disappearance without a word.  The other council members of the Republic; the King, Nolan, Julie Farkas, Crocker, all echoed their horror at the Courier's unannounced leave, and even Dolly had a scolding to dish out.  Perhaps the only member of her family who didn't seem bothered by the flighty woman's actions was her son, Benjamin.  He merely clapped jovially at seeing her familiar face again, and when she hugged and coddled him, he butted heads playfully.

With the school in Freeside open and flourishing, Dolly was all too happy to get out of the huge casino she called home to romp around conspiring with her dinosaur toys at school.  She was still an oddly withdrawn child, but she had an uncanny intelligence, the kind of hidden intuition that Boone possessed.  Boone, after making multiple attempts at threatening to tie Andy up while he was at McCarran, gave up and went to work, leaving her and mini-Benny in the hands of Swank, who was intent on teaching the baby how to walk, talk, shoot, dance, and run a casino.  

So while the hilarity of seeing Swank speak in his curious manner to a youngster didn't wear off too soon, Andy often drifted off into her own mind while the pair played nearby.  Doctor Li would've suggested she was suffering post-partum depression, but Andy didn't like the process of being diagnosed with yet another mental illness.  Especially after the events at Big MT, she wasn't comfortable confiding in anyone.  On this particular day, she excused herself from the massive sitting room to go find a moment's peace in her haven: the penthouse.

The expanse of post-War Vegas lay before her, but just like her predecessor Robert House, she turned away from it and instead lurked in the luxurious master bedroom.  She didn't intend on napping, but instead sat down glumly on the edge of the bed and put her chin in her palms.  Andy was terrified of the tech at Big MT, to put it bluntly.  She loved science, was a scientist in her own right, but now thanks to those happenings, her knowledge surpassed that of people like Nolan McNamara and even Arcade.  She hadn't spoken of much of her findings to anyone, and they plagued her daily.
Now Andy sighed and turned toward the nightstand; there several pictures, miscellaneous items of Mr. House's lay neatly stacked and tucked in the multiple shelves.  She withdrew a small framed portrait of him, one she'd never bothered to notice before.  Looking very relaxed, the smug robotics expert reclined in a chair, a very dignified and almost guarded smile on his face.   Seeing the long-dead man brought a touch of nostalgia to Andy; with her altered intelligence, she understood him better, it seemed.  She if no one else respected him, was silently grateful for all he'd given her.  

Big MT was brimming with RobCo technology, though the scientists there refused to admit it.  Every time she saw the familiar logo, she'd thought of him.  Several conversations, including the time she hacked 8's 'dialogue' were directly related to the man, and now that the Dam and Vegas were secure, her thoughts were not too occupied to regret her actions.  Shooting the miserable creature rotting in his tank.  For the first time since returning home, Andy allowed a few tears to slide down her face.  She blinked rapidly, staring down Mr. House in the tiny frame.  Had she done the right thing?  By all means, a man so obsessed with being a dictator that he turned himself into a half-machine probably wasn't the best man to become business partners with, but he was so inventive, so driven.....

Andy sighed, mopping her wet cheeks with an edge of her sleeve, and placed the photo back on the stand.  Several books were tucked into the first shelf, and intending to go on a pointless scavenger hunt while reminiscing of the true savior of the Wasteland, she pulled the first text out.  Immediately, the intuitive woman noticed something seemed amiss.  The book was too light for its size; thumbing it open, she realized it wasn't a book at all.  It was a storage box disguised as a book.  Inside was a huge stack of pre-War money.  Now the Courier's attention moved to the other two books; placing the one in her hands aside, she withdrew the next.  It too was a hidden box, and it contained pictures upon pictures, all of the same woman.  The Courier, feeling as though she was intruding, flipped through rather rapidly, seeing the signature "Jean" on some of the photos.  One book remained, and now it was plucked up and opened.  

This was the most curious by far, of all contents.  It seemed to serve no practical purpose; a rather foreboding title; Frankenstein, hid several holodiscs that were neurotically stacked and labeled in tiny, neatly written binary code.  Before, Andy would've passed the unreadable discs to Arcade, who would've scratched his head momentarily before decoding, but thanks to her altered intelligence, she could read them on site.  

Age 0-15
Age 15-30
Age 30-Present
Special Programming Needs
Robert House, 2077
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The voice of Jane, the Securitron, in her sweet Southern drawl, suddenly echoed in the Courier's ears. "Well, sugar, my neuro-computational matrix is a copy of a woman Mr. House knew before the War."