*yes, I know, you have all been expecting this update for weeks upon weeks. apologies, obviously, it's hard to update when the show let me down so very much. I still love these characters so I will continue it but slowly in all probability*

*Yeaaaaa… I can't have Vera dead so sue meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee for this very lame, and improbable survival story.* *When I started writing this I read up on u-boats and I thought I had found somewhere that people did survive a u-boat attack by getting out of the u-boats before they had been struck. I can't find that article now so who knows if this is as ridiculous as it sounds. Apologies for lameness. Love.*

Fallout Shelter: Chapter 3

Part I

In the hospital, Sheila was talking to Ned who had received Vera just an hour before.

"I can't even believe this, Ned. How on Earth did she survive?"

"Life boats! There were a few lifeboats! From what we've heard, when the bombs started coming in, they were hitting the lead u-boats. Some of our crew had time to anticipate their attack and abandon ship." There was a sparkle in Ned's eye while he relayed this harrowing story.

"How many are there?" Sheila asked, astonished.

"Far as we know? 50, 80. But that's those the reported ones. Vera was an accident." Ned's face lit up for a moment and then fell. It was sad to be excited about 80 survivors when really there had been a tragedy that lost them thousands of Canadian soldiers. "It's a small gift." Ned conceded feeling sobered after the initial excitement of finding Vera alive.

"I can't believe it. And to survive this after the factory accident." Sheila's thoughts were back to Vera. The anxious couple hovered impatiently near Vera's body. Discussing private things away from the prying eyes of all those in the hospital, Ned and Sheila were both secretly overjoyed by Vera's presence with them today.

"If there's one thing we know, it's that Vera Burr has always been a fighter." Ned smiled softly and they both looked down at Vera. They didn't know it yet but for a long while she had been swimming for her life, floating helplessly among those large and never-ending swells. In her mind she was still there, still gasping for breath as the bombs raged all around her.

Part II

Gladys pulled her car into the hospital parking lot. She barely stopped before Betty was out of the car with the door slamming.

"Christ!" Gladys exclaimed, using her friend's choice swear word to highlight her frustration.

"Come on, we better catch her." Kate conceded softly. To Kate this was all a miracle. She tried to calm herself for the hard task of entering the hospital once again. So many revelations had come to her in that hospital. She was beginning to think it cursed, even for all the saving it had always done. Walking out of that hospital, she was always a different person than the girl who had gone in.

In the hospital there was crying and laughter. People were arriving just as they had come. So many families looked overjoyed and nervous. They were all there for the surviving soldiers from one of the boats that had just docked less than two hours ago, a boat that had taken days to find land due to lost oars and it's particularly small size.

"What do you mean, you found them in a lifeboat?!" A man was yelling at a woman in uniform.

"Sir, I'm going to need you to calm down."

"Calm down?! You told me my son was dead and then you woke me up in the middle of the night to tell me that the military had lied and my son was alive and adrift on some tiny raft in the middle of the atlantic ocean?!" The man was livid and growing red with each second. The woman before him wore a police uniform. Despite what the man had been saying, she had not been the one to rescue anyone at all on this night.

Betty saw the scuff and walked over to the police woman.

"Why were so many families informed of their loss?" Betty asked dazedly, trying to remain calm. She wasn't mad, just lost.

"The police had no part in that matter, ma'am." The officer cleared up.

"Oh…" Betty mumbled, with less answers than she had before.

"Betty! Come this way." Kate had entered and seen Betty standing awkwardly between the front desk and the doors like a lost lamb with nowhere to run. She grabbed Betty by the arm and took her straight down the hall. Kate has spent many of her off hours comforting patients in this very place. She knew where most of the soldiers would be if they were well enough to breathe on their own. Nervously, Kate ushered Betty towards that one large room she remembered so well where the non-critical cases could converse together and heal under supervision.

Gladys walked in late and looked all around. Her friends were ready to turn a corner at the end of the main hall when Sheila peeked out of Vera's room near the front closer to where Gladys was standing.

"Gladys! Vera's in here." It was the first room on the right. A prized room that was normally reserved for severe cases and births. Kate and Betty heard Sheila's voice and turned back to quickly find Vera.

"Sheila, thank God!" Gladys exclaimed.

"She's still out cold." Sheila spoke firmly, holding her arms.

"Pneumonia?"

"Not quite." Sheila confessed sadly. "Ned said she must've fallen unconscious because of the traumatic circumstances."

"It's true." Ned confessed. He pat Gladys on the arm and removed himself from the room.

"Hi Sheila."

"Kate! Betty! It's so good to see you all." Sheila confessed. They hugged just inside the door waiting mournfully for Vera to have a change. Gladys took up shop by Vera's side in an armchair that Ned had brought in.

"Are you sure they won't be needing this room?" Kate asked, knowing full well that this room in particular was meant for worse conditions than just surprisingly unconscious war-heroes.

"It's fine, Kate. Ned made sure. There are so many soldiers in today, we've already transferred a few of the stronger ones to the old clinic near Sandy Shores. They re-opened just for tonight. Special circumstance. It rarely ever happens." Sheila felt herself rambling but Kate cut her off before she could apologize.

"Stronger ones? Is Vera not well?" They all looked down at Vera and noticed the paleness in her skin, her lips purple and skin cold.

"Should we be burying her in blankets?"

"She's got to come out of it on her own. It's the healthiest way. We've done what we can. Her body temperature is normal. There are other patients far worse off and Ned's the primary doctor here, as you know." Sheila admitted. "Also, intense heat can have a reverse reaction now, it's best if she fights it, like this." Sheila sighed.

"So, there's nothing we can do." Betty said nervously, she walked to Vera's side and looked down at her sorrowfully as if maybe she'd never open her eyes.

"We can wait." Kate said, walking over to Betty and clasping her hand and arm, holding herself to her in support.

Sheila had nothing else to say on the matter. She could talk forever on all the things that Vera probably went through but she knew it wouldn't help to drag out the details and make the girls worry.

"I'll go see if I can get you some chairs." Sheila offered. They looked up at her with half smiles, unsure of how to be happy at a time like this. Quietly, Sheila left them.

Together in the room, all eyes were on Vera, all thoughts and all prays.

In the lobby, Sheila rushed to the supply closet, opening it to find that the excess chairs had already been fetched. Looking around she saw that all the seats were full. The people stared back at her in their conversations. She was glad she wasn't in uniform, they'd have pounced on her without question.

She walked back down the hall and looked in all the stability rooms. Most rooms were filled up with quiet. Women sat next to their soldiers, held their hands and wept. In one room a whole family sat on the ground in a circle around a few lit candles. They were singing and Sheila instantly felt like crying at the sight of them. The pain in the hospital was raw today, she could just about taste it in the air.

Eventually she used a key to unlock the nurses common room. She hoped the Nurses wouldn't mind a few missing chairs. Ned caught her struggling on the way out. He watched as his wife tried to pull a chair out of a door frame, her large pregnant belly was really keeping her from finding ease in the situation. Across the hall Lorna came into the hospital, at once seeing Sheila and running to her there.

"My dear, let me." Ned said.

"Oh Sheila, it's a miracle." Lorna said on the verge of nervous tears.

"Mom!" Sheila cried, losing the chair and falling into a hug.

"The things this girl has been through." Lorna said. She was speaking of Vera but she could've been speaking of all of them.

"She's over here," Sheila said, taking her mother's hand and pulling her to where Kate, Gladys, and Betty were waiting by Vera's side.

"Girls!" Lorna cried. She was surprised to see them there so quickly. As soon as she hung-up the phone she had gone straight away to the hospital. Somehow the girls had beaten her.

"Mrs. Corbett!" Betty cried, moving to hug Lorna instinctively. Kate and Gladys just watched, afraid to move.

Vera stuttered a breath and they all grew even more quiet than before.

"Is she?"

"Yes, she's waking up!" Sheila cried in relief.

"Vera?" Betty said, moving back to Vera's side. She grabbed Vera's hand and squeezed it. Just then Ned swooped in with the chair and placed it right behind Betty. Kate pushed Betty's shoulders down lightly until Betty sat.

They all hung on the suspense looking haggard.

"W-wh-water." Vera uttered, with eyes still closed and a desperate look on her face.

"Water," Sheila said, pouring a cup from the water pitcher near the door. She quickly handed a full cup to Gladys.

"It's right here, Vera," Gladys said, taking the cup to Vera's lips and spilling a little in and then a little more. Vera swallowed harshly and asked for more. A couple minutes went by like this with all the girls watching as Vera drank and drank and drank with closed eyes. Sheila kept refilling the cup and Gladys kept feeding it to Vera.

After a while, Vera finally shooed the cup away and wiped her mouth. It worried them all that she hadn't opened her eyes.

"Thanks," Vera said in a relaxed sort of way. Before they knew what was happening, she had fallen back to sleep.

"It might be a while." Sheila finally said.

Ned had brought more chairs for them all, stealing away a few moments after having sedated a hysterical man who was angry beyond belief at his fellow soldiers who were no longer in his presence. It wasn't rare for Ned, this certain type of chaos. Somehow he thrived in it, molding it to his will, taking charge of these situations and fixing them in ways.

He looked at Sheila's friends and knew that Vera would be just fine physically. But words could never really appease the minds of those who had been grieving. Sheila joined Ned outside of the room and offered him a kiss.

Part III

As the hours went by, the women talked softly, within the room, about all sorts of things. With Kate next to Betty and Lorna next to Gladys, they sat across from each other, Vera resting still in between the four of them.

"What are you going to do now, Mrs. Corbett."

"I'll do what's best." Lorna said, "always do." She smiled lightly at Kate, setting an example for those in town without family to support them. "And you, Gladys? You certainly won't be working as a spy any longer." Lorna smiled.

"No thank you. I am done with the intrigue." Betty looked up at her with tears hanging in her eyes.

"Good to hear it." Betty affirmed.

"It was never right." Gladys said, taking care to look at each and every one of them.

"I'm going to sing. Full-time. No more bombs." Kate offered without being asked.

"That's lovely." Lorna said. "And can you afford to do that? Will it pay enough?" Lorna always thought of things practically. She would love for Kate to be able to sing and also have a good life. She herself would never consider singing an option, even if she had been born with the voice of a stunning sky-lark.

"Money will be tight." Kate admitted.

"She won't need much now that I've got us a house." Betty reassured.

"Oh that's right! Your house!" Lorna exclaimed, forgetting all about it even though she had just been there and seen those walls and new rooms, seen that kitchen and that phone. "I couldn't be prouder!" She smiled.

They were quiet for a while so Kate decided to sing a song.

I don't want to set the world on fire, I just want to start a flame in your heart…

They all smiled, looking over at Kate.

In my heart I have but one desire and that one is you, no other will do. I've lost all ambition for worldly acclaim, I just want to be the one you love. And with your admission that you feel the same, I'll have reached the goal I'm dreaming of.

Betty felt as Kate squeezed her hand hard and tight.

Believe me, I don't want to set the world on fire. I just want to start a flame in your heart.

The lyrics were so lovely and none of them had heard it but Kate. For VicMu girls it really meant something new. None of them really wanted to start fires and kill men. They all just wanted to live and find love. They were human after all.

"Such a lovely song, Kate."

"Leon found it for me. He brought sheet music to The Jewel Box one night after work. He knew that a blue-shift girl would love it. He just knew."

"And he was right." Betty smiled. Her nostrils flaring as they did every time the deep adoration she felt became too much for words.

Vera shook too. Her eyes fluttered and she struggled to move, her arms reaching and then dropping.

"Wh-where am I?" She asked.

You're here, with us. Gladys said, standing above her and lowering her face close so that Vera could see that she was not at sea.

"G-Gladys?" Vera said, a smile coming to her lips.

"Vera Burr." Gladys smiled, moving a hand to Vera's bangs and pushing them off of her forehead lovingly.

"W-what happened?" Vera asked. She vaguely remembered the events.

"We were hoping you could tell us," Betty said with a soft smile.

"Betty?" Vera said, pushing herself up so that she could lean back on the wall and see all the women who were here with her somehow.

"That's right." Betty said.

"And Kate."

"And Lorna." They all chimed in.

"Golly, who knew I'd cause such a stir."

"Are you kidding?" Gladys scoffed. "The whole factory would come if they knew."

"Well there's an exaggeration." Vera smiled.

"Somehow, I don't think so." Lorna made sure to say. They were all together now.

"Are you alright, do you feel okay?" Kate asked.

"I-uh, sure. I feel swell." Vera said, bracing herself and taking stock of things. She moved her legs and her limbs, they were all sore but nothing felt worse than the throbbing in her head. "This headache might kill me but at least I'm on land." She joked, feeling the pain of it. "Dying for a gasper." She admitted.

"Oh here," Gladys said, pulling a cigarette shakily from her bag. She set it in Vera's mouth and lit a match, allowing it to burn until it was almost all the way out. Vera took a long grateful drag before allowing herself to breath.

"It's like sex." Vera joked, exhaling, looking relaxed and almost good as new with that smile on her face.

"Can you tell us what happened?" Kate asked. "Do you remember it."

"I remember…" Vera thought, her mind swimming back to the deck of the u-boat. It was all frantic at the end. "I was on the deck awaiting orders when this large wave. It knocked me overboard. I had to swim in the water, try ta float." Vera stared out at nothing as if she was seeing it in her mind. "The enemies, they were taking the other boats easy. They had more fleet, more bombs. Since I was a new recruit my boat was last to action. We all knew we were losing even before the bombs started to come." Vera scoffed, speaking on. "Orders were preparing us to get ready to go inside. We were going to retreat, dive down, it was the only way. I had just received an order to fall below deck when the wave came out of nowhere and knocked me down. It hit me hard and pulled me off the ship, feet-first, straight into the water."

"Oh Vera," Kate sighed, her hand coming up to cover her mouth. Hearing it now, Kate could see it in her mind.

"I-I struggled." She choked, clasping at her neck and feeling her throat sore. "As soon as I hit the water I had to fight hard to find the surface again. I had been pulled way under. After that I had to get away from the boat, it was dangerous. I knew it was going to dive any minute. In our training we're taught, when the boat dives, if for some reason you're in the water, you want to get as far from it as you can. I was panicking." Vera said, her eyes glowing wide with almost regret.

"The pull." Gladys said bleakly, imagining Vera's small body against the natural pull of several tons of water being pushed down by the weight of a powerful war machine.

"Another girl had been smart. She had a life ring somehow, I don't know how she got that. There were lots of us in the water." Vera smiled remembering the frenzy. There were a lot of them, all panicked and wanting to cling to each other. Looking back now it almost seemed romantic for people to want to swim to each other just for company even if the sea was so vast that it was sure to win and suck them down into it. This girl, "she swam over to me and told me to hold the ring. So I did," Vera smiled, almost shocked herself by all that had happened. "Together we fought to swim away from the boats."

"Did the boat go down?" Betty asked.

"I never saw it go. The enemy was too quick. They had too many bombs. I just swam away, I had to."

"So you just floated?"

"For a long while." Vera said, remembering how unbearably long it had felt. The water had been cold but that pain was nothing to her own panic. "Eventually, when we had almost given up, a man came by in a life-boat. He was picking up strays. Those that had fought enough to live."

"So there weren't many then."

"No, not at all. Those waters were littered with bombs." Vera said coldly. How strange to have things you make come back to get you.

"Vera, you should've died." Gladys said with alarm.

"Not the first time." Vera sighed, smiling finally and seeing her legs.

"And the girl who was with you?"

"Didn't know her." Vera admitted.

Sheila suddenly entered.

"Oh good! You're awake!" She sat down on the end of the bed to look at her friend. "You're quite the survivor."

"I'm nothin' much, Doc." Vera joked while she smoked.

"You say that now but think of all you've been through!" Sheila marveled.

"My life is a circus, and boy do I know it well."

"Can we take her home now Sheila?" Betty was eager to dodge the hospital. Bad things always happened there.

"I'll go ask Ned. He may want her to stay over-night."

They watched as Sheila left.

"Sure wish Marco was here," Vera sighed. All she could think about now was getting to him.

No one had the heart just then to tell her where Marco had gone.

Part IV

Once Vera woke, Ned was eager to speak with her. It appeared she had no brain damage. That was Ned's main worry since she had been out for an immeasurable amount of time. Vera remembered everything from before the morning, and after. Ned noticed right away that talking with her now was like talking to her last year. There was no change in her. She was still strong as ever.

"You can stay or you can go. It's really up to you."

"I'd like to go home." Vera admitted finally. She hadn't said anything before when Betty mentioned leaving but the hospital did give her the willies. It always reminded her of how once she almost killed herself and she hated to think of that, especially now.

"You can come home with us," Betty offered.

"I'd like that." Vera said.

"First we have to see if you can walk." Ned confessed. Sometimes patients were unaware of their bodies. Vera moved the bed covers and swung her feet around to touch the floor. She moved to stand and Gladys backed away, offering her hand for support should Vera need it.

"Looks like I'm good." Vera said, standing up and trying to appear stronger than she was, everything ached.

"Alright, alright," Ned conceded, Sheila came out of a nowhere with a wheelchair and Vera sat down it in knowing well that she shouldn't even try to walk far.

"Thanks for the call Mrs. Corbett."

"No, thank you for coming!" Lorna said. "Do you girls need any help?"

"I think we can take it from here Mrs. Corbett." Gladys confessed.

"Good, I'll see you all soon."

"See you soon!" They responded.

It wasn't hard to load up the car and start the journey home. There weren't enough beds at Betty's yet but there would be a room for Vera if she wanted it. Who knew what would happen now that Vera was home. Would she have to go back to service? Would she be able to rest?

They all decided not to think about things for now since it was too hard.

"You must be starving." Gladys said.

"You know me well!" Vera smiled contagiously.

"I could make us something at home." Betty suggested.

"You keep saying home!" Vera laughed, "Since when is the rooming house home?"

"Vera! You don't even know?" Kate gasped. "Betty bought a house! We're all gonna live there."

"No kiddin'?" Vera asked skeptically.

"Signed the deed days ago."

"Well, shit, we gotta celebrate!"

"We sure do!" Gladys agreed.

"Let's stop at Sam's, I can buy us some booze."

"Don't you think you should take it easy?" Betty asked cautiously.

"Betty, I can't even count the number of times I have almost died in this lifetime. If I don't live for today, I'll never live at all!" Vera explained.

Kate was sitting beside Vera and thinking on how absolutely true those words were. They were both in a place to appreciate that sentiment. Kate had lost her father and even he had died young for his age. Then there was that whole bombing at the factory. Vera had nearly drowned and her soon-to-be-husband was off at war.

For some reason, Gladys was quiet up front. She was distracted by her own thoughts of death. She had lost so many friends along the way and seen so much pain on the home front. To her, living was pain.

"You okay Princess?" Betty asked from the passenger seat. "You're lookin' a little pale."

"It's just, it's nothing." Gladys said.

"It's not nothing." Betty noticed.

"Can't shake a feeling is all."

"Oh…" Betty said, seeing the solemnity in Glady's face.

They stopped at Sam's. Vera sent Kate inside with orders and a few bills she carried in her uniform hat that somehow made it all the way back to the hospital in that lifeboat with her.

"So, you two gonna tell me what's goin' on up there?" Vera asked.

"They held a wake for you at VicMu." Gladys said, changing the subject. She would talk to Betty in time about her issues but right now it was important for Vera to know what had happened in her absence.

"What do you mean they held a wake?"

"Soldiers came, they wrote to Marco. He enlisted, Vera. It all happened so fast. Without you he wanted to fight."

"Marco thinks I'm dead?!" Vera asked.

"Marco and everyone who knew you."

"'cept us," Betty added.

"Holy doodle…" Vera couldn't think.