Author's Note: I know that some of you have already seen this story: Unexpected Reputation. That's because, the truly amazingly author, LillaLu, had discontinued the story a while back. However, she had graciously handed the story to me to finish, and I'm really thankful and glad I'm going to get to finish this amazing story.

Chapter 1 – The Announcement

It was no surprise to have an unexpected vault meeting while Alphonse was the Overseer. For as long as I can remember, he was prone to springing things on the Vault so that we are always on our toes, probably calling it a public service, when in reality it is just a nuisance. At least this time I am prepared, because I'm the reason this meeting is being adjourned. You see, it had been a long time since anyone has called for the necessity of a new career, and even longer since one has been created, so when I called for the need for someone specialized in the field of childbirth, I, along with everyone, was surprised that the Overseer actually took to the idea. Father and I assumed it was because of his wife passing on years after because of complications with Amata's birth, or because of his infatuation with my mother. He was always jealous of Father for winning over Catherine's love, probably blames him for her death as well, but I knew it wasn't Father's fault for what happened. While I was interning to become a Doctor alongside Father and Jonas, I had strayed from Father's word, and looked up the report, who was the interning Doctor at the time, my mother's father being the commanding Doctor at the time. As I was being born, something had torn through her U***, and so when she went into cardiac arrest, it was completely undetectable from someone who hadn't had the proper training, and so nothing could have been done. When Father had found out what I had done, he had kept it to himself, the only recollection I had found was his almost silent sobs in the night coming from his room. I didn't cross his warnings ever again, feeling completely guilty for my complete disregard for his feelings.

In any case, it was a necessity, as my father was scarred from the traumatic event, and so when a woman, though very far and few between, comes in with the intent to give birth, it almost always fell upon Jonas. No matter the motive, I still was able to gain the job of OBGYN within the vault, and so this meeting was to announce the new opening of the career, as well as recruit midwives from the existing pool of working women.

"Do you have your case notes sweetie?" Father queried from his office, rushing to get things ready for the meeting.

"Yes Father, everything I need is ready," I respond as I finish my suture on the forehead on the one man in the entire Vault that makes everyone's life totally miserable (my life in particular always seemed to be his favorite), Butch Alexander Deloria. He started to snicker, coming out warped because he was holding his broken nose from the umpteenth time he decided to pick a fight with an officer who had apparently wronged him in some way. When I moved to set his nose again, I made sure to make it hurt just a little. He stopped snickering, his breath coming out hitched as he glared at me.

"It was an accident," I lied, a smirk willing itself onto my face.

"Bitch. You'll regret that later, girl!" Butch snapped, just for his nose to start pouring out blood. I quickly held the cloth to his nose, beckoning him to take the reins so that I could continue getting ready for the meeting. Just as he takes the cloth, the Overseer, Alphonse, comes on over the PA systems, blaring out for everyone to come to the Atrium.

"And will Jonas Palmer, Lillian Lunah, and James Lunah Head down to the Atrium as soon as possible?" He stated, obviously annoyed at the fact that we were expected a few minutes earlier, but of course, a certain Serpent King came at just the wrong moment, and Father hadn't been able to get his case notes sorted and ready to go, so, to the highness of the Vault, we were holding everyone up.

"Dad, Jonas, we got to go," I state, taking the tray of dirty cloths and other medical tools over to the sink to be washed later.

"We're moving," Jonas stated, a smile ever so prominently plastered on his face. He was always cheery, which is probably why I considered him my second dad. Father wasn't always able to take care of me, so Jonas took the initiative to be there when I needed him. He was always around for the both of them for as long as I can remember.

"Butch, you can go now," I state, seeing that he is still sitting on the gurney in the corner of the room. He grunts in reply, mumbling something no doubt rude before standing and walking out of the medical ward, the exact opposite direction of the atrium. Jonas and I chuckle at this just for Father to come out of his office, a clipboard in one hand, a file in the other, walking like he wasn't holding the two of us up.

"It took you thirty minutes to gather up that?" I ask as I flank him, tipping my head to try and make out the label on the folder. He moves it out of my sight out of instinct, like he expected it, which in truth he should.

"I had to wade through every file for the right one sweetie," He replies, a little calmer than he had been all morning. He was still stressed, for what reason I have no clue, but at least he wasn't snappy.

"I think that you are worrying too much about this presentation. Lilly is very qualified, and I doubt she will need anything more than her smooth words and calm demeanor," Jonas praised, winking at me just out of Father's peripheral.

"I understand that Jonas, but it doesn't hurt to be prepared." He snapped. He realized quickly how he had been asking, apologizing quickly.

As we neared the Atrium, I felt the worry seep in, the thought of making a fool out of myself very persistent.

'What if no one wants to join my cause?' I thought, knowing that my friend, Amata would never join. She likes her Supervisory job too much to leave for something in the medical field, and only women are allowed to take the job as the only mandatory regulation. When we entered, my nerves were set tenfold as I looked across the room at the almost full Atrium. The percentage of women to men was a little over 50/50 favoring the women's side, only because a few of the elder women outlived their husbands. Out of the 100 Vault dwellers within the vault, there was a considerably prominent amount of people considered "Over the Hill" as some people call it, taking about 50 people younger than 45. Out of the other 50, a lot of the women were at the top of the age limit, like Beatrice, who is a lot older than my father (But still feels the need to flirt with him). There are very few under the age of 35, like Ellen, Butch's mother, who is the same age as both my Mother and Father. Her and Father Get along well enough, still occasionally going over to each other's houses to drink coffee and chat, even after everything that happened when Butch and I were still childhood friends. Wow, I had almost entirely forgotten that. As we walked up the makeshift stage and took our seats on in the back opposite of the councilors.

Butch and I were friends, an odd thought. It happened naturally, as we would spend every waking moment either at Ellen's home or my own. It was an agreement that had happened shortly after Ellen told my parents she was pregnant, and Alexander, Butch's father, had passed away from a freak accident in the reactor room, sacrificing himself so that Stanley and the rest of the maintenance track could get out safely. He hadn't even gotten to know that Ellen was pregnant, and Ellen tried to slip into drinking while she carried Butch, her own father shutting her out of his life after he found out she was pregnant without being married. She had even moved in because my mother was worried about her and the baby, so she came up with the idea that her and Father would help Ellen raise the baby, which when Butch was born and Mother had found out she was just out of her first trimester with me, she was ecstatic that Butch would have me to play with in his boredom. It hit hard when my mother passed away, and Ellen decided to help my father take care of me.

Beatrice always tried to say she helped the most, but Ellen even breastfed me with Butch so that I wouldn't miss out on the nutrition I needed. We would spend the weekdays with Ellen for the entirety, and with Father the rest of the time. At one point, Butch had a bed in my room, and we would share at his home, never squabbling with each other. That all changed when we went to school. The first couple of months had gone off without a hitch, but it didn't take long for the two of them to get made fun of. Wally had called me a name, and Butch naturally tried to fight it, but when the insults turned on him, he couldn't handle it. He ended up calling me nosebleed, and tripped me just as class was getting out. I don't know if he did it on purpose or not, all I do know is that I ended up getting a nosebleed, and cried all the way to the medical ward, where I told on him, and that was the last time I saw Butch outside of school.

I was shaken out of my daze by the Overseer greeted the crowd, his voice resonating through the speakers right behind our heads, causing an awful ringing in my ears.

"Hello," The Overseer greets as enthusiastically as he can, which isn't really much to be completely honest, "Sorry for the intrusion on your daily lives, but this was a matter that is a matter that I wished to bring to the light, seeing as it has crippled many of our Vault Residence over the ye…" the Overseer was rudely interrupted by a slamming noise at one of the entrances at the back of the Atrium, followed by a muffled guffaw of multiple owners as the door slides open, revealing none other than Butch Deloria, and his band of misfit boys that use to make up her class. They all silenced themselves somewhat, a few chuckles erupting as they stared at each other.

"Sorry oh grand Overseer, we got caught up with some unfinished business," Butch stated as his friends and him took their seats, forcing a group of men a few years their senior get up out of the seats they had come on time to get. It made me mad, but I spent enough time fighting others battles and getting the tar knocked out of me to worry about them at this minute.

"Well, if there are no more interruptions," the Overseer paused, getting an approving grunt out of Butch before continuing, "Alright, as I was saying, many of you know, whether it is from personal experience or otherwise, we have seen a number of mortality in both infants and their mothers." I grabbed Fathers hand, knowing that this bout of information would be hard to hear, "In the past, we never really saw this problem because of the high number of doctors the past, but since about fifty years ago, with the drop of our population, we have seen fewer and fewer individuals with the knack for the medical field, now being the highest amount of doctors in a very long time. Before the war, doctors would go to special schools for ten years for all the information they need to know before choosing the specialty they wanted. We don't have that luxury, and so we are stuck with cramming ten years' worth of information into a couple months of training. There is no wonder why the mortality rate is so high, and this scares a lot of young women into second guessing if they want to become mothers in the future."

"One woman in particular has brought it to my attention that with the population dwindling to almost nothing, there would be less doctors, which would continue the unprepared nature of things. She stated that we can't have a doctor for every field, but if there was at least one specialist to help make sure the mother and child come out of childbirth process, than that will help the continuation of this Vaults success. So I would like to announce for the first time in this Vaults history, a new career as an Obstetrician Gynecologist or OBGYN. The career will only be given to women," There was booing in the back of the Atrium, no doubt from Butch and his boys, "And only one can stand in this job until she is reaching the end of her years and wishes to train someone to take her place. Now this woman has also brought to my attention that in the case that the OBGYN is unable to help with the birth of a child, that she will need some associates to help with this endeavor, as well as check the in home life. Well, I think I have done all I can to explain it, so I will let the newest addition to our medical staff to the stage to explain the rest."

The Overseer outstretched his hand in my direction, calling me to the microphone. As I stood, I straightened out my lab coat and dress beneath it, walking as gracefully careful as I could. I could feel my palms sweating, along with the urge to run and hide in a distant supply closet somewhere within this vault. What was worse was that I couldn't get the ideas that everything wrong was going to happen out of my head, enticing the fight or flight subroutine more and more plausible. I stopping just beside the Overseer so that he could move out of the way.

I stepped in front of the microphone as he does so, greeting the crowd with a, "Hello. Okay, let's get down to business." I look down long enough to pull my notes up on my Pipboy, looking back at the crowd before continuing. "I am not going to lie to you, in this career you will see a lot of upsetting things, as well as things you would label nothing less than a miracle. Birth is one of the most amazing things our bodies can do, and it is also a grueling thing that task to not take lightly. This job will be a lot of work, and isn't for the light hearted, or the light stomached…" The room began to set into a little fit of laughter, meaning people were definitely listening, "I have 4 job opening that I need to fill, which will in tale helping me with exams, the birth, and care for the mother and children while they are in our care. It will also be teaching the women things like how to breastfeed properly, how to change diapers, and whatever else she needs to know to care for her baby. There will also be times when the woman goes into labor at home, or when I am already helping a woman in labor, that you will have to help women give birth. As of now, there is no one in the Vault expecting any children, and even if there was, I will not expect anything of you until you are completely trained. Now, I won't dawdle any longer," I state, glancing over to see the Overseer tapping his watch, "Those of you who wish to take this job instead of your current one, raise your hand. Know that this is your only chance to sign up, and that if there is more than 4 people volunteer." As I finish, the worry sets in only to be obliterated by the sheer number of women who have raised their hand. I start marking all the names down before calling them out to place their hand back to their side, pleasantly surprised to see Christine had raised her hand. She was the only girl in our class that didn't outwardly go between hating me and liking me as Susie and Amata had. We were always polite and quiet, sitting together because of our names. She and I worked well together, and she would most likely take one of the few spots.

When I finished, I took a small bow before returning to my seat next to Father, watching as the Overseer returned to the Microphone, probably ready to close the meeting, or bring something up unrelated to what had previously adjourned. I was completely surprised he had something more to bring up, a pit in my stomach forming out of worry.

"There was one more thing I must discuss with the Vault, along the lines of this Population crisis…"

'This isn't good,' I thought, the worry increased tenfold as my father grabbed my hand. When I looked over to see why he had taken my hand in his, the look on his face of regret and sadness was directed at me, giving me every reason to be worried. I placed my attention back to the Overseer, hoping that I was confused as to what I read on my father's face.

"If we continue down the path we are on, as the resent class that have become working class citizens are a mass of only 8, our next only being 4, we will be down to one young vault member in only 2 more generations. We have seen this complete downfall for almost 100 years, as the majority of this vault as it stands are over the age of being able to conceive any children. The Overseers prior to my election into office were too lenient in this endeavor, placing it on the common vault dweller to withhold their duty to procreate, and that simply cannot happen anymore." He pauses for dramatic effect, only allowing the gasps of the many who have come to the conclusion faster than others to be heard.

"It is my duty as Overseer not to let us fall into disarray, and it would be a sin to turn a blind eye to this sort of problem." I felt the pit turn into complete nausea, gripping even tighter to Fathers hand subconsciously. "For an event like this, Overseers are given a set of guidelines as to what we must do to ensure a healthy growth. In an event that we have dwindled to one hundred or less, the entirety of the population between the age of eighteen to thirty five will be matched with another as diverse as we can muster, will be paired with one another, and will have to produce a total of four children, two boys and two girls, before they reach the age of thirty five."

I sobbed loudly, not even realizing I was weeping. As I clamped a hand over my mouth to stop the noise, Father pulled me into his arms, placing a hand on the side of my face to guide it to his chest, letting my tears drain onto his lab coat.

'This can't be happening! This can't!' I thought, wanting to shut the world out. I remembered how when I would get beaten up by Butch or ridiculed by the Overseer I would ask if I could leave the vault. Father would always shoot it down, saying it wasn't safe outside, and that my mother wouldn't have wanted me to, but now more prominently I wanted to leave. I remember the first time I had read my Birth file, how she had drowned in her own blood trying to bring me into the world, how my father had been admitted into one of the special medical rooms because he had almost died of shock and had to be placed under special care for two weeks after I was born. I had caused that kind of havoc to my family, and I don't want to deal with that, I don't want to cause that to the father of my children. I can't! I won't!

"I understand that this is a lot for me to expect. I know this isn't what any of you wanted…"

'All I want is for him to drop dead with his stupidly constructed plan, but that wasn't going to happen.'

"So I have decided to make an example out of a pair of individuals among you…"

'Screw this pair! They won't make it any more appealing that it already is.'

"These two will be wed for the sake of those whose belief is that two people cannot have a child without being married first. For most of you, I will give you up until you are 21 to find a suiter and do whatever you must to be comfortable with the idea, but these two will have only a month. The rest will also have a total of four years to conceive their first child, and continue to conceive until they are at the age of thirty five, but these two will only have a total of two years before they are required to conceive…"

'I'd feel sorry for these two, but I have myself to worry about.'

'And being the example, they will be required to conceive 6 children, 3 boys and 3 girls. Because of this, I will be more relaxed on the penalties that will ensue if these individuals are a little defiant on their duties…"

'I don't care if they force me to conceive in front of the entire Vault, I won't do it.'

"As an incentive, I will be giving them whatever their heart's desire, to my abilities of course…"

'They could give me an out so I wouldn't have to do this. That might help.'

"Oh, and these two will be taken from the most recent addition to our group of working class citizens," I didn't even have time to react to the fact that he was pooling from my former classmates before he announced the first of the two, "And the lucky lady will be the oldest girl of her class, Lillian Lunah."

I pulled my head away from Father's chest, a sense of dread and panic rushing over my entire body. At one point I thought I would faint right then and there, but, unfortunately, I didn't. In a blink of an eye, or at least to me it felt like it, Father was up, pulling me to my feet and trying to drag me. It took me a second what he was doing, and so I started to fight back. That second counted, for he was able to get a good grip, realizing he would need it right away as his hold made my resistance fetial. As we stopped so that everyone could see me, I buried my face in Fathers coat again, not wanting to stare at anyone in my state.

This couldn't be happening. This really couldn't be happening. I was a good girl. I never would lash out at anyone, no matter how much I wanted to (well, other than Butch and his goons). I never did anything to deserve this! It was ridiculous.

"She is blushing already," the Overseer quipped, using my innate action as something it wasn't for his benefit.

I just wanted to shut everything out, so as I began to stop listening to what the Overseer was spewing, hoping to god it was someone like Paul. He was the only one in my age group I would be able to get along with. He wasn't completely idiotic, as he held his job well as an engineer, which also proved he would be good with taking care of a child, not running away out of fear like Freddie would. He also wasn't as sharp and quick as he might want to be, like Wally, who may be as sharp as me, but too cold for me to handle. And of course, he isn't Butch.

'Oh I hope it is Paul,' I thought, not realizing I had stopped listening. I zoned back into what the Overseer was saying just at the wrong time, for the name that was muttered was the exactly the opposite of what I had hoped for…

The name that was uttered was none other than the Serpent King:

Butch Alexander Deloria