1 Part 1

It was cold and raining as she slowly made her way through the gates of Goodneighbor. Her old body was stiff and every step hurt as she made her way past Kill or be killed. She pulled her thin coat tighter as a cold wind blew some of her loose gray hair from her face.

She walked past the ghouls standing guard at the state house and knew she was getting closer to her first destination. Thinking of the warmth that was ahead made her walk a little faster. She looked up at a sign above a door and smiled when she read it. The third rail.

She pushed the door open and sighed as the warmth welcomed her in. A well dressed ghoul looked at her and nodded, "Good morning Miss Murphy."

Mama murphy smiled back at him as she walked to the stairway leading down to the bar. "Good morning." She said as she started her decent. She took each step slowly as she gripped the handrail with an old frail hand.

She stopped for a moment to catch her breath when she reached the bottom. She scanned the room looking for a good place to sit and rest as she listened to Magnolia sing.

She noticed the room was empty and saw her favorite couch was open to sit in. She slowly moved across the room and moaned as her stiff joints protested her movement. She sat on the couch letting out a sigh of relief as she leaned back and tried to ignore the throbbing pain.

Traveling from Sanctuary hills was becoming harder and harder for her body to handle. She remembered when she used to enjoy the short journey to her favorite place. She never carried a weapon, never liked the damn things in the first place.

The wild creatures were friendly to her and the raiders respected her, they even helped her through the ruins occasionally. She closed her eyes for a moment as her cold body absorbed the warmth of the room.

She sighed as memories of her past flowed through her mind. She had lived a long hard life and it felt like it was finally coming to an end soon. She opened her eyes when Magnolia stopped singing.

She watched as Magnolia walked off the stage and sat at the bar. Charlie placed a glass in front of her then went back to wiping out dirty glasses.

She pulled an old photograph from her pocket and looked at it with a smile. It was an old picture of a young woman. The picture had no color, but she still had her memories of how it should have looked. The woman's hair was long and untamed with a silvery shine to it. Her face was expressionless, but her eyes were fierce. Mama Murphy let out a silent laugh as she scolded her self for not smiling.

She felt the couch move as someone sat next to her. She looked up from the photo and smiled when she saw the red coat.

"Good morning John."

"I wouldn't say it's good, but it is morning Mama." He put a hand on his forehead and moaned. "I hate waking up sober."

Mama Murphy laughed softly as she started to put the picture away and dropped it. Hancock leaned forward and picked it up before she could grab it. He looked at it and whistled. "Damn, who's the sexy dame?"

Mama Murphy blushed as she took it back from Hancock. "That's me John."

Hancock paused as he looked at the old woman sitting next to him. The thought of her being that beautiful was a bit shocking to him. "Ya don't say?"

Mama Murphy rolled her eyes and laughed. "Wasn't always an old crone ya know."

Hancock sat back and laughed. "Yeah, just never thought of you being young I guess." He stood up and stretched, "I need a drink, cant stand this sober shit. Want something? Its on the house if ya do."

Mama Murphy nodded her head. "I'll take a scotch if you don't mind."

"Scotch it is then." He turned away as he started walking to the bar. She couldn't hear what he was saying, but watched as he spoke to Charlie. She put her hand into a large pocket in her coat and felt her old journal. She pulled it out and looked at it as she pulled out an old pen. She opened it to its last few blank pages and started writing as quickly as she could. She wrote her last few words when a glass of scotch appeared before her eyes.

She closed her journal and laid it on the small coffee table in front of the couch. She took the glass and smiled up at Hancock. "Thank you dear."

Hancock sat next to her and tipped his hat in her direction. "No problem sister." He looked at he journal on the table "Ya writing a story?"

Mama Murphy sipped her scotch and felt her chest warm up with the fiery spirit. "Kind of, I've been writing it ever since I learned how to write." She took another sip and smiled as she felt the pains in her body dull a bit. "I started it when I was about six."

Hancock whistled as he looked at it with wide eye's "That's a lot of writing, I try to avoid anything that requires my handwriting. Got the stack of papers on my desk to prove it." He pushed his hand into his pocket and pulled out tin of mentats. He opened it and popped two pills into his mouth. He held the tin out for Mama Murphy and grinned, "Want one, its grape flavored."

Mama Murphy was tempted, but she needed to stay level headed for what she planed on doing later. "No thank you, maybe another time dear."

Hancock closed the tin as he looked at Mama Murphy. "Ya shur? Never knew ya to turn down chems before." He slowly put the tin back in his pocket.

Mama Murphy nodded her head. "Yeah I'm sure John. Its just a bit too early is all." She hated how it felt to lie to him. She reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a small box that was wrapped in brown paper. She smiled as she handed it to him.

Hancock took the small package and looked at it with a puzzled look. "What's this for?"

Mama Murphy smiled as she shrugged her shoulders. "Just something I figured you might like."

Hancock unwrapped the box and opened it. He grinned as he took the lid off and saw an ultra Jet. "I do like it, what's the special occasion?"

Mama Murphy took anther sip of her scotch before answering him. "Nothing special, just something I've had for awhile. Can't use the stronger stuff anymore and I knew you would be the best person to give it to." Mama Murphy watched as he held the Ultra jet in his hand.

Hancock looked at her as he put his arm around her and gave her a hug. "Thanks Mama, I promise it will be put to good use." He let go of her and leaned back as he put the Ultra jet to his mouth.

Mama murphy slowly stood up and finished the last of her scotch. "Your welcome, I'm going to walk around for a bit. These old bones get stiff if I sit too long."

Hancock nodded as he pressed the top and inhaled the chem. He held his breath for as long as he could before letting it out. "Take it easy Mama, I'll be here if ya need anything." He smiled as he tilted his head back and closed his eyes. "That's what I'm talking about."

Mama Murphy wished she could feel the high he was probably riding. She gently patted his shoulder as she walked by "Enjoy it John." He just grinned at her before closing his eyes again.

Mama Murphy walked up the stairs and looked back as she stood on the top step. She prayed he wouldn't come out of his high too fast before finding her journal that she left for him to read.

She nodded at the ghoul standing guard and kept walking as fast as she could. She knew Hancock would be at the bar eventually. He was the only person she truly liked and felt it was fitting that he know about her past after she was gone.

Mama Murphy walked out of the Third rail and looked across the way at her last stop. The memory lounge.

She slowly made her way across and pushed the door open. She smelled the heavy musk of whatever it was that Irma smoked before going in. She took a deep breath and stepped inside. She walked down the small hallway and turned to see a large room with memory loungers lining each side. She walked in and looked at each lounger as she approached a woman that was laying on a parlor chair.

Mama Murphy stopped walking as looked at the well dressed woman. She had a book in front of her face and was deeply entranced with whatever it was she was reading. Mama Murphy coughed to get her attention.

The woman put the book down and glared at Mama Murphy for a moment. Her face lit up when she saw it was Mama Murphy and tossed the book aside. "Well, if it isn't Miss Murphy! Been quite a long time since your last visit." She stood up and hugged Mama Murphy. "How have you been?"

Mama Murphy gave the woman a soft smile as she hugged her back. "I'm doing ok for the most part dear, getting old can be a bit rough though. I wouldn't recommend it Irma."

Irma let go of Mama Murphy and laughed. "I'm going to try and avoid it if I can." She motioned at the loungers, "So, what memory do you want today?"

Mama Murphy walked to the closest lounger and took a deep breath. "I want to start with the earliest one if that's possible."

Irma nodded as she prepared the machine. "I can do that. No need to pay me anything, your memories are always quite exquisite and I enjoy watching them. Don't think I remember you ever asking to go back that far though. I have to warn you, the older the memories the harder the machine has to work."

Irma picked up a vial from behind the machine and pushed a syringe into it. She approached Mama Murphy and motioned for her to remove her coat. "The machine is going to be working harder at pulling your memories and its going to drain you. This session might be shorter then what your used to. I'll have to pull you out when your vitals drop below the safety threshold. Do you understand?"

Mama Murphy nodded her head. "I understand Irma."

Irma gently grabbed Mama Murphy's arm and held the syringe against her skin. "Have you used any chems recently?"

Mama Murphy had been planning this for months and had stopped a few weeks ago. "Been about a month since my last chem dear."

Irma nodded as she pushed the syringe in and pushed the tracer serum into Mama Murphy's vein. "All right, your ready to relive your memories, I already know the answer but I have to ask anyway. Do I have your permission to copy your memories?"

Mama Murphy nodded her head. "You can copy all you want dear."

Irma smiled as she clapped her hands together. "Thank you! I cant wait to see them!" Irma helped Mama Murphy into the lounge and pushed the top down locking it into place. "I'm going to get a fresh holotape before I start you. I'll be right back." Irma smiled at Mama Murphy before turning away.

Mama Murphy watched her rush away and disappear through a doorway. She quickly pulled a piece of metal from her pocket and jammed it into the handle preventing the lounger from being opened from the outside. She quickly sat back when she heard Irma's footsteps as she rushed back through the door and held up a Holotape with a smile on her face.

Mama Murphy let her head lean back as she listened to Irma push the holotape into the machine. "All right, were set."

Mama Murphy felt the lounger vibrate as it turned on. She felt her limbs get heavy as her eyes closed. She took a deep breath and let herself drift into her mind knowing she wasn't going to wake up from this last trip into her past.

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