[Deleted]

?The alcohol was sufficiently flowing and everyone seemed fairly content away from the stresses of day to day life?

9pm struck and it was time to make the announcement. Max went over to find Steven and once he had, said "Come, let's break the news huh?" and with a smile Max beckoned him to follow him. While Max was walking he caught Ashley's and Sarah's eyes and beckoned them over to him as well. Max was a little bit tipsy at this point so with the aid of Sarah, he managed to get onto a chair and then on to a table. He then helped Steven up next to him. The table was conveniently in line with the congratulations sign behind them, what a strange coincidence. Ashley climbed up next to his father on the other side and Sarah stood just in front of them and passed Max an alcoholic beverage and gave a few soft drinks to Steven and Ashley?

"?*ahem*? excuse me, If I could have everyone's attention please" Max called out with a slightly raised voice. Everyone seized the conversations they were having and turned to face Max. "SPEECH SPEECH!" Someone shouted in the crowd. Max chuckled as did half of the room? Max waved his hands slightly for everyone to calm down a bit laughing to himself...

"May I first just take this moment to thank everyone for coming. It's been so long since our last gathering? a whole 24 hours!..." some people laughed quietly at the joke "?but seriously, any excuse for a party huh? Is that what we have become? The wasted generation?" Max laughed as did the crowd, "But no seriously? seriously? it mean's a lot and especially to Steven that you could all be here today..." Max paused for a second and then continued?

"So I bet you are all wondering why it would mean so much to Steven that you are all here today? Well today he found out some very devastating news delivered to him straight from the horse's mouth, or the Overseer's mouth? same thing?" The crowd gasped but laughed at the same time at the guts Max had to call the Overseer a horse in front of everyone? Max laughed "hahah, I'm only kidding!" He looked around and said "he's not here is he?" Max waited for a second as a few others looked around too and then Max gestured the words "Like a horse" while making an elongated nose gesture with his hand and the crowd burst out laughing again?

"*ahem*, no seriously? this is serious? Steven was told that as he was turning sixteen in a weeks time that he could not be kept as a paid repairman in the vault? yep, yep, it's true?" the crowd started to boo and shout gestures "I KNOW!" Max replied. "We all know this lad here" to which Max put his hand on Steven's head "is one of the finest engineers this vault has ever seen!...bar me of course!" Max said sarcastically to which again, got a chuckle.

"Haha, I'm kidding? But seriously, he will not be able to take the G.O.A.T either which every child takes at the age of 16. Now the reason none of you know about this is because none of you had lost both your parents before the age of 16 or have not had a guardian to look after you. Steven on the other hand lost his parents at a very young age?" Max took a few seconds looking at Steven and Ashley. Ashley looked up at him and nodded smiling?

"So if you would all raise your glasses please?" Max raised his and everyone else did the same? "? and I would like to announce that with all our hearts, Ashley, Sarah and I, would officially like to welcome Steven into the Strive family as I have officially adopted him as my son!" Max turned to Steven and then said with a smile, "Welcome to the Family son." to which the whole party went into uproar and Max looked out into the crowd and shouted "CHEERS!" to which everyone clapped, shouted cheers and generally made a lot of noise with a lot of smiles on their faces?

"Hit the music!" Ashley shouted and the sweet sound of the 50's kicked in and everyone got back to the party? Lot's of people were approaching Steven and Max to congratulate them and talk to them about it? Max climbed down off the table as did Steven and Ashley but Ashley ran off to play with his friends? Max turned to Steven and said "Hey, this is your party go have some fun!" and Max ushered him away. After giving Sarah a hug, It was time to mingle again?

Ryan jumped off his seat and was the first to grab stevens hand, pumping it up and down with joy! He was so happy for the lad. For a while there no one was sure of what would become of the foster child.

Ryan released Steven and let out a breath of air. he found Max standing next to him.
"...well that was unexpected." Ryan said.

Steven took all the congrats thrown at him, but he ran over to Jessica on the side of the room, picked her up and span, laughing loudly, a wide smile creased his face. "Haha! Now I'm Steven Strive! I'm staying a repairman, taking the G.O.A.T.!" In the spark of the moment, without thinking, he kissed Jessica firmly, still holding her in the air. The world froze, he stood there. Steven had all he ever wanted. His job, a family, and to hold the girl he loved.When they finally let go of each other, they both smiled wildly, and danced some more to the great songs that now filled the room.

"I know! But look at him... he looks so happy... I look at him and i definitly know i made the right decision... He has his whole life ahead of him now" Max looked at Ryan and smiled, "thanks for being here. I know how busy you are. Really shows who your true friends are..." and with that, he gave Ryan a little manly hug. "Thank you"

Ryan smiled at the Max.

"Heyyy. what would you expect me to do?" Ryan looked out at the party.

"You made the right choice Max...Thats for sure." Ryan said as he clapped the man on his shoulder.

7:00 pm

Jonathan was finishing his last drink when Steven invited him to his party, but before he could answer Steven was already off asking other people. Yeah i'll go. Jonathan got up and looked down at his lab coat. Arghh this svcks, theres blood all over it. Hope other people haven't noticed. He got up and went to his room to change. He was thinking about who he was going to take to the party. He hadn't been on a date in a long time due to him being always buried in his work. Who should I take? He pondered on who he knew.I guess i'll ask Sheena. He tried to remember where she lived. He eventually remembered where it was and went to her door. He was about to knock but refrained. Jonathan didn't know what to say. He hadn't seen her in years, the last time he saw her was before his dad died. Jonathan eventually summoned up the courage to knock on the door.

"Hi hows it going."

"Oh wow Jonathan I haven't seen you in a long time. Oh yeah i'm good by the way."

"Yeah, well Steven's having a party and I was wondering if you would like to go with me."

"Wow I haven't seen you in a long time and you just come to take me to a party."

"Yeah, well you kno-"

"Don't worry I always liked you yeah ill go with you. So what time is the party."

"7:30."

"Okay i'll meet you there."

"Okay."

Jonathan was in his room getting ready and was waiting for the party.

7:15 pm

Jonathan went with Nikolai to the hydroponics lab, pvssyd for a while and got some food

7:45 pm


Jonathan was nervous. He didn't know what to say to Sheena after all this time. He saw Sheena walking up to him.

"Hi how's it going. You took a long time"

"I had to go to the hydroponics lab with Nikolai but wow you look great!"

"It's okay and thanks Jonathan."

She was blushing and they went in the door with Nikolai with them. They pvssyd and drank for a while but missed the speech. After he heard what happened Jonathan went up to Max and congragulated him. Then he went back to Sheena and they continued chatting.

Nikolai and Jonathan entered the hydroponics bay and got to work. When Johnathan asked why they didn't just use the mechanical harvester. Nikolai chuckled a little,"that thing hasn't worked in 37 years. It wasn't considered a priority system,so it had all of its major components removed to be used for other systems. Ever since,all harvesting has been done by hand". Nikolai sighed a bit,remembering the troubles his department has faced since he took the job. "Sometimes it feels like all of this is considered as a non-priority system. Well anyway...you're cutting that all wrong."
A little while later,they had plenty of food for everyone. These little acts of showing off the fruits of his passion(no pun intended) made the work he does more rewarding. When they arrived at the party again with the food,everyone was already eating some snacks from the food dispenser they just repaired. The sight made Nikolai feel like his thunder was stolen from him by the mechanics again,but he was used to it by now,instead of anger he only felt dissapointment. At least he was able to work with Jonathan for awhile. "Hey did we miss the announcement?" he asked one of the guests. They told him they did miss it,but informed him what the announcement was. "Goddammit,the garden claims another memory,oh well at least it isnt over. I'm sorry about this Jonathan,maybe I could make it up to you."

Steven walked over to Max. "Thanks so much. you have no idea how much this means to me. Plus, tonight, I got my job back, got a family, and kissed the girl I loved." He smiled up at his new foster dad and laughed a bit.

Max looked around the party? Everyone seemed so happy. The vault had been under a lot of stress these last few days? hell all year if not the decade. The comfortable living environment certainly had its surprises? but for now, everything was just? right?

?As Max looked around the room, his eyes fell on Steven. He looked so happy? not that he hasn't looked happy before but the poor kid had had a difficult up bringing? One can only imagine how lonely he felt? None of that mattered anymore. He was a "Strive" now and you could see it in Steven's eyes that something was different?

?For tonight was a good night... Within the sense of hope that filled Steven, brought hope to many people's hearts. The bond between father and son rarely exceeded by anything else... As Max was watching Steven with his friends, Steven caught Max's eye and for a second they stared? nothing more? lost in thought? then Steven and Max seemed to just smile at the same time and Max blinked and nodded slowly? Max then turned to Ashley who was running toward him with a massive smile and arms stretched out? Everything seemed to be running in slow motion? Max bent down and embraced Ashley, picking him up in his arms and held him. Ashley had his arms around Max's neck and gave him a kiss on the cheek?

"That was a very nice thing you did for Steven daddy?" Ashley said to which Max replied "Thank you son..." Ashley then said "?and now I have a big brother to play with!" Max laughed and in that second Ashley and Max both looked at Steven smiling as Steven looked back? It was a moment that caught everyone in the canteens eye?

I don't think it was just Steven, Max and Ashley that felt like a family. I think tonight was the night that everyone felt united under one name? under one roof?

?Max looked around and wondered just how long this peace and happiness would last? It was a moment in his head that would last forever?

Caine had already returned to his quarters by the time Max started giving his speech at the party. He soaked a rag and began scrubbing his jacket, the rest of his clothes absolutely soaked in both Jimmy and Kyle's blood. "Just like two swine to bleed like stuck pigs..." he said while changing into fresh duds. He suddenly heard Max's voice over the intercom speaker in his room, quickly turning it off. "Last thing I wanna hear is Mr. McPreachy right now."

He then got a bottle of whiskey from his stash and killed it in two swigs, getting incredibly buzzed off it. He left his quarters and walked to Christine Kendall's house, the girl he insulted earlier that day. He'd said some pretty cruel things to her but it was an easy thing to make up for verbal insults when alcohol was involved.

He knocked on her door several times and walked inside as soon as the door opened, grabbing Christine by the waist and shoving his tongue down her throat. She resisted at first but eventually gave in to him, just as he thought. Caine was a frightening, cruel bastard but when it came to ladies his Devil-May-Care attitude always won them over.

A few hours later Caine exited her apartment and realized not one person had confronted him since killing two people in cold blood. He decided he'd head to the party afterall, obviously no one had discovered the scene yet, or they had and for some reason didn't place him as the culprit. He arrived while everyone was dancing and knocking back brew "What an intelligent bunch. Two homicides in one night, two of their own slaughtered like cows in Texas and they couldn't care less... Pfft, their all just like me. They just don't realize it."

Paul was happy. Nothing could ruin this great day. Then Caine walked in. Paul frowned, but decided to be a good guy, Paul walked up to him. "Great that you come to the party, Caine." Paul said greeting him," While you were gone Max announced he was adopting Steven."

Caine shot the chaplain a confused look. "Uh. Why are you telling me this? I couldn't care less about either of those people." he said while walking past the holy man, toward the table with various snacks strewn upon it. He began jamming deviled eggs into his mouth while stealthily removing a silver flask from inside his jacket and pouring it's contents into a nearby punch bowl. "The kiddies are gonna get all kinds of effed up tonight." he said in an amused tone.

It was a good night...Maybe Ryan would have a few drinks...

Ryan looked at the clock. His eyes lit up as he realized how late it was.

time flies when you drink i guess. He thought, even though he only had one beer in three hours.

Ryan said his goodbyes and headed back to the med-bay to check on his patients. He swiped his card, unlocking the door. The first thing he saw was James passed out on the floor. Ryan quickly knelt down and checked his pulse. He was still breathing, and had a steady pulse...He was fine. Ryan let out a sigh, and tilted his head back. Suddenly, Ryan realized that a high pitched screeching was emmitting itself from both Jimmy's and Kyle's BPS meter. Ryan quickly jumped up and ran over to Jimmy's bedside. the poor boys neck was slashed. Ryan whipped around and ran over to Kyle, finding his face crushed into the wall. Ryan jumped back, and stumbled on something. He fell backwards and hit the ground hard. He grimaced in pain and clutched the back of his head. He looked to see what he had tripped on...It was Rob.
Ryan stood, and simply stared at the scene before him...
He began to feel nausious. His head was spinning. Ryan gripped his head, as if to steady it.

Come on, you've seen worse! Your a doctor for christ's sake! Pull it togath...Oh god...I'm going to be sick.

Ryan rushed over to the trash and Threw up the single beer he had.

"Who would have done such a thing?" Ryan said aloud.

His eyes fell on James...The only person in the room.
Ryan shook his head.
No. Thats impossible! James would never!

Ryan turned and ,with a loud and angered yell, brought his fist down on the nearest dolly.

His vision became blurry. His head spun faster than ever, and Ryan could hear himself breath. He slowly collapsed to the floor, his back propped up against the dolly he hit, and stared at the wall, lost in his own world...Unable to take in everything around him.

Steven looked at his Pip-boy. "I need to mull these moments over." He walked out ofthe room to go look at Rob. As he neared the Med Bay, he noticed the scent that was around before Rodney had died. He quickened his pace and found the door open. He saw one arm of the Mr.Handy just inside. Steven rounded the corner and stopped dead. He saw Jimmy in his bed marinating in blood, same with Kyle on the floor with a shattered skull. Then he noticed the docter scared stiff on the floor. Steven's eyes widened and he booked it back to the canteen. "HELP! HELP ME IN THE MED BAY!!" he screamed at the top of his lungs.

Richard looked at the festivities with a look of joy and thought, "Nothing could ruin this night." He turned around and saw Steven kiss Jessica, who he'd fancied for the longest time, and Steven and Max ugging. Richard thought, "Good job my friend, I'm happy for you." Richard then sat down and ate some of the food that Nikolai had grown. After the festivities concluded, he and Judith left to go to their rooms. After seeing Steven screaming about trouble in the med bay, they both saw a scene that would be burned in their minds forever.

They could see Rob the Mr. Handy destroyed in the corner, how they didn't know. Kyle was lying not too far from Rob, his head crushed into the wall. Jimmy was lying in his bed, his throat slit. In the center, James had passed out on the floor, while Ryan appeared stuck in a different world. Richard thought only one thing, "Caine!" He was about to try to track Caine down when Judith grabbed his arm and said, "Don't." Richard then compensated by clenching his fist in sadness and rage. Judith then pressed the emergency button, while Richard tried to resuscitate Ryan and James while thinking, "Caine is going to pay for this. I'm sorry Kyle, maybe if I'd just left you on the ground you wouldn't have died." Richard then started to tear up.

Harley was walking through the corridor back to Kate's room with some drinks and snacks for them when Max intercepted him and asked him to join everyone else at the cafeteria at 7:30 for a bit of a party, and a special announcement.

"Oh great, I missed the last party. I'll tell Kate, we'll both be there Max" he replied.

He returned to Kate's quarters to find her asleep on the couch. Harley started yelling "Kate! Kate! You're on fire!" which got her up pretty darn quick. She jumped from the couch and started running in circles frantically, until she realized he was joking, and saw him standing there laughing so hard he had tears in his eyes.

She looked at him for a second and then started laughing herself then threw a pillow from the couch at him playfully.

"Here, I got the drinks and snacks" Harley said as he put the food on the coffee table, "And guess what, Max has asked us to join him in the cafeteria for a party and some sort of announcement he wants to make, at 7:30"

Kate threw another pillow at Harley, picking a pillow fight with him. 'Not smart Kate' he thought as he picked up the pillow and threw it back, hitting her in the face. Kate put both her hands over her noise, as if she were injured.

"Oh no, I'm sorry Kate, I didn't mean to hit you in your face" Harley said, worried that he had hurt her. He moved closer to see if she was alright, at which point she removed her hands laughing, reached down for the pillow and threw it straight back at him.

This is how the pillow fight started. They were both on one side of the room, laughing and hurling pillows at each other. It was now not a pillow fight, it had become a pillow war. A few things were broken, a few picture frames, a vase, all of which were casualties of war. Neither of the two won the war, they just stopped and fell onto the couch exhausted.

At about 7:20 the woke up, with Harley lying on the couch and Kate lying on top of him. He tickled her awake, it was better than when he yelled that she was on fire. Being Kate, there was only one thing she had in mind after being woken up by being violently tickled. And that was to tickle back, and she gave as good as she got. For the next five minutes, these two advlts were like little children, laughing hysterically and making lots of noise, all in the name of tickle.

Harley jump up off the couch, taking Kate with him and realized they had to be at the party. They ran out of the room, holding hands with Harley pretty much pulling Kate down the corridors. They were greeted by Sarah at the cafeteria door and went inside, towards a corner booth and sat together talking and laughing like school kids on a date.

They sat in the corner booth and listened to Max's announcement. Steven was one lucky kid. When Harley's parents died, it was Kate's parents that took responsibility of him. Along with the rest of the Vault of course. They didn't adopt him, just looked after him and gave him direction, but it was Kate's parents 'at the top of the form', so to speak. That was why Kate and Harley were so close, but now it was more than just friends.

It was good that Steven was being taken in by Max, he could really give him 'direction' and thats what all kids need, and if their parents aren't around to give them that, it can be very hard to get anywhere else.


After the party, Harley congratulated Max and his family. And Kate and Harley went back to Kate's room and flopped on the couch together, falling asleep almost instantly.

(OOC: Suddenly a man jumped out of nowhere and said, "Boo,"... Sorry, this just seems a bit lonely for some reason.)

Max looked at his pip-boy and the time read "10:47pm". Hmm it was getting late Max thought to himself, way past Ashley's bed time. All of a sudden the vault emergency alarm went off... Urgh, stupid alarm, I'm just going to ignore it like everyone else does, besides i've got two kids to take care of now, and it's both passed their bed times... Max was slightly wreckless from the few drinks he had had...

Max grabbed Ashley, "Come on, it's bed time for you Mr..." and with that Ashley said goodbye to his friends and they went off. Max looked around the room to see if he could see Steven but he was no where to be found... Hmm that's strange, Max thought to himself, he put himself to bed early? Well, it was a lot for one kid to handle in one night, I will check on him tomorrow.

Max walked up to Sarah and said "Hey, thanks for everything tonight..." "No problem" Sarah replied giving Max and Ashley a hug each. "I'm gonna take Ashley to bed, he's a tired one" Max said to whch Sarah replied, "Ok well I won't be staying here much longer. I will see you tomorrow?" "Most certainly, sweet dreams Sarah" and with that Max smiled and walked out of the canteen door towards his and Ashley's quarters. The alarm was still going off but Ashley had fallen asleep somehow, that's how useless the alarm had become...

...When they arrived back at his quarters he tucked Ashley into his bed and whispered, "Sweet dreams son..." He looked at him for a while, and then gave him a kiss and turned off his bed side light. When Max was back in his room, he decided not to give himself a chance to think, and just put himself straight to bed before he could grab a bottle... It was only when he was left alone and after he had taken a good look at Ashley when he got really upset. Max fell asleep the second his head hit the pillow, it was an exhausting day for him too...

((OOC:Damn, i didn't want anyone to enter the med-bay....))

James regained consciousness (in the morning)? "What happened...?" He thought about what had happened but soon realized what had happened when he looked at the blood on the floor and followed it. He rubbed his eyes and stood up. "[censored]!" He kicked a nearby med stand with the front of his foot, causing everything on it to fall out and the whole stand fall over. James lost his balance and fell over, but eventually stood up by using the wall. He then took a good look at Ronnie and Jimmy before throwing up. He had noticed Ryan earlier. He looked at Ryan. "We have to get him, before he does anymore harm."

((OOC: Please no one else go to the med-bay, unless your character lost an arm or a leg and is bleeding all over the vault.))

OOC: In these last few posts before the end of Part 1, i ask that no one pushes the time past midnight. Let's finish this thread off and move on to Part 2

The emergency alarm had stopped and many people had started to go home from the party now, after all the 2 hosts were no where to be found. Some people remained at the bar, some at the tables having a merry old discussion, but this was the second place now, first being the hall, second being the canteen, that looked like it had been hit by a party bomb...

Sarah decided she couldn't leave it like that and grabbed a bin liner and started to tidy up. While she was tidying she overheard a conversation between a group of ladies and listened in...

"...Well I heard that Nikolai has a drug problem..."
"Really? And this man is in charge of our hydroponics lab?!"
"Yep! It's true, and Francois experiments on himself. Coupled with Jimmy and Ronnie, i think this whole place is going to hell"
"Yeah... I didn't realise our society was going down hill so badly..."
"...and you know who I blame it on?"
"Who?"
"Max..."
"Max? Why..."
"He has a drinking problem and what with his encouragement standing up drunk infront of us promoting us all as the wasted generation..."

Sarah was fuming and before the woman could finish her sentence Sarah interrupted... "You really have to control that mouth of yours and don't let it run off like that. Max is my brother, and what he has done for this vault is a life time more than you will ever amount to. How dare you talk about my brother in that way, especially about things that aren't true and you know nothing about! You should be ashamed of yourself..." and Sarah started walking away and then turned around and said, "Oh and by the way... i saw your husband buying Jet off Caine last week. I wasn't going to say anything because I respected you, but after this little episode of you spreading rumours that aren't true, I thought you should know the truth... Who's got the gossip now?"

Sarah walked off to the other side of canteen and carried on picking up the litter... She felt a bit better for venting...

OOC: Should I go to the med-bay? Oh and PART 2! :celebration:

Jonathan and Sheena were still talking, talking about old times. How they used to play together when they were kids. When they grew up she was always there to back him up on any decision he made, even if most of them were bad. How could he not see that she fell for him, after all that he never noticed. Thats when his pip-boy alarm sounded.

"[censored], I have to go."

"Ohhhhh, come on stay pleeeeeeease."

Jonathan couldn't resist staying especially with the sad face she was making and the way she said it.

"Fine i'll stay, Ryan can take care of it."

"Yay."

She was bouncing in her chair and they just sat there looking at each other. They had a few more drinks and by this time they were beginning to get drunk. Both of them eventually fell asleep on the couch in the canteen.

Richard decided he'd seen enough. He left with Judith and closed the med bay so no one else would see what had transpired. Richard then went into his room in a daze, almost in disbelief in what he had saw. Richard got unto his bed and buried his head in his hands inn sorrow. He then felt a pair of arms wrap around him. Richard said nothing, and the duo just consoled each other for the rest of the night.

Caine casually walked back to his quarters and heard a crash coming from the Med Bay "Eh? Almost as if someone found something upsetting in there..." he said while passing it. He'd also heard someone say something along the lines of "We have to get him, before he does anymore harm." Ha! Let them come.

He'd take out a good chunk of the population before they could take him down. He lit up a cigarette and walked inside his quarters, peeking around the corner to see if anyone had followed him. He opened his closet and carefully picked up the canister of nitro he'd created earlier that day. Caine then held it in his hand for a few moments and considered the damage it would do. "Anyone within 30 feet of my front door will be vaporized after this baby drops." he said after replacing the boobytrap he setup earlier.

Caine then walked back to Christine Kendall's house opened the door, she'd stupidly given him a key last night. He crawled into her bed and went to sleep, wondering who the brave soul that opened his front door would be. "I hope it's Max.", he thought.

To Be Continued...

(Part 1 is Over, Please Go To: http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=1003316...)