"Uhhhhh," Raina tried to open her eyes and thought better of it. Her eyelids were too heavy and they seemed like they were coated in something…possibly sand. Where was she? What had hit her? It felt like a raider with a lead pipe had landed one upside her head. And why did her mouth taste like something died in it?

"Welcome to the end of the Party Train," a very familiar voice remarked. "You have just crossed the border into the joined townships of Hangover Valley and Regretsville. Prepare to disembark, whether you like it or not."

"Uh. G'morning, Nick," she replied.

"More like early afternoon, but we didn't have anything urgent planned for today, anyway. I don't think you're gonna want to hit the road right away, either. Let's see. The Mayor sent over several cans of purified water and a dose of Med-X, plus a note. I haven't read it. I don't recommend you use the Med-X—not for just a hangover."

"I won't," she whispered. "I have salicylic powders in my pack."

"That's the stuff that's in aspirin, right? Good. I'll just take King for a nice long walk and by the time we're back, hopefully you'll be feeling better."

"W-where are we?" she whimpered, not unlike King when he was angling for an extra treat.

"The Hotel Rexford. Last night you floated that proposal that Goodneighbor should start growing weed, remember?" he prompted.

"Um. Yeah. Okay." It was coming back to her. There had been a lot of joints passed around, and even though she had only had a little of each kind, combined with the drinks—and then afterward….

'If you're in love with a junkie, you're not really in love. You're self-destructive.'

That thought cut through the headache and nausea. Whose memory was it? Theodosia's. It had to be. None of her foresisters in the vault had that sort of worldly experience, except for the first of them. Was it something Theodosia had learned from experience, or observed, or just read?

Whatever. Raina was in no mood to figure it out, at least not right then. She mixed the powder in with the water and drank it, nasty as it tasted, then took a shower. Afterward, when she felt better, she read the note. Hope ya feel okay, Sunshine. If not, here's a little something to help. P.S. That was about as nice as a first kiss can get. No getting embarrassed now, ya feel me? Hancock.

It was no good saying not to get embarrassed; not now that she remembered. Worse, she had really liked the kiss, too. However, when sober, things were much different than when drunk.

Well, at least Hancock had recognized that at the time. Waking up next to him would have been really awkward for everyone involved except perhaps King.

She toweled off and got dressed, then started packing. When she got to the syringe of Med-X, she paused. It was very nice of Hancock to have sent this over, but it was also cause for concern. Using Med-X for a hangover was…like using a sledgehammer to kill a cockroach, except that since this was the Commonwealth, sometimes that was exactly what she did. Poor analogy, but correct in that it was overkill. Unless you were so used to hangovers and massive doses of painkillers that was what you did.

I'm being a hypocrite, she told herself. I'm planning to spread cannabis throughout the Commonwealth, so I have no right to judge him. But for her, work had to come first. And hangovers interfered with work.

Right now, though, she wanted to be ready when Nick came back with King.

It's a shame I can't meet someone like Nick, only closer to my age, she thought.

Meanwhile, at Somerville Place, Haylen was hauling the last bushel of rubble from the house to the trash heap with the help of Jack, the son of the family. "Hey, do you wanna see our trees?" the boy asked.

"Uh-Sure!" Haylen replied. She cast a glance back at the house, where Dance and Mr. Somerville were still working on the roof, aided by Danse's jet pack. They had been talking about making a flight of stairs so the family could access the attic space, perhaps for storage but maybe for the kids' bedroom. Danse had loosened up a little bit since the Prydwen arrived. He was a good man as well as a good officer, but now he was more human.

"They're this way," Jack pointed.

"Hey! Wait up! I want to go too!" Judy rushed to catch up. "Have you seen gingko trees before? I bet you haven't. You'll be amazed!"

"I'm sure I will," Haylen laughed. She had already grown fond of the family, especially the kids. In many ways, this was the life she might have led, had she not chosen the Brotherhood. She had known, when she signed up, that she was probably giving up her chances at motherhood, because she would be exposed to more rads than was safe. Some genetic damage couldn't be fixed with Radaway, so the chances of having a child with birth defects was high among members of the Brotherhood, both male and female.

There was a slight slope to the land, heading down to the water on the Glowing Sea side of the property, and that was where the trees were planted. There were four of them, and they were even greener and more flourishing than the ones on the Prydwen. They had also clearly been planted deliberately—their even spacing attested to that.

"Be careful where you walk," Jack advised her. "There are little trees springing up from the roots, see? There and there. In twenty years, this could be a whole forest!"

"I see," Haylen said. "But where did they come from?"

It was more a rhetorical question than a literal one, but Judy answered. "Everybody got four of them at the harvest party in Sanctuary. They're from long, long ago. Before the Great War, before America—even before Jesus! And they clean the air and water."

"That is amazing. Who gave them to you, do you know?" Haylen squatted down to examine one of the little trees. It was a gingko, all right. Oddly enough, even the little sprouts were evenly spaced, as if they had been designed to pop up where they wouldn't interfere with each other when they were grown.

The kids looked at each other. "I dunno," Jack said. "We were at the kids' table. Mom and Dad probably know. Anyway, they grow like—like gangbusters! And they're going to eat up all the rads coming off the Glowing Sea before they get to us."

"That's wonderful. I'd love to see these trees growing everywhere." Haylen rubbed a leaf between her fingers, gently so as not to hurt it. "Can I see your fields next? I don't often visit farms, so I'd like to learn what people grow around here."

"Sure!" Judy chimed in. "But when I'm grown up and have a farm, I'm going to have enough people to do the work so all I have to do is run it."

"That isn't going to happen, Sis." Jack predicted.

While they spatted, they also led Haylen to the fields. "Okay, that's corn, and those are beets, those are carrots, over there are raspberry canes, and this patch here is stinging nettle. Don't go touching that without heavy gloves, cause it really does sting. The raspberry canes have thorns that scratch, too."

"What is it good for?" Haylen asked.

"Lots of stuff. It's a medicine for when Brahmin don't give milk, but you can eat it too. It's all in the catalog." Judy told her. "On the other side, we have sunflowers and barley. Then there's the kitchen garden, but that's for things we're gonna keep for ourselves."

"What catalog?" Haylen asked.

"You haven't heard of the catalog?!" the siblings gasped almost in perfect unison.

A few minutes later she was sitting on a rock looking at the pages of the Queen Of The Commonwealth Seed, Plant and Tree Company, (first year, third printing). It was incredible. In a world where there were—where there had been— only half a dozen viable food crops, here were dozens, and plants that were useful in other ways. They were even giving away seeds and plants—the basic garden package included free seeds for flowers, while the full farm package included four free gingko trees.

There was even a 'Soil Remediation Duo' which combined clover and ryegrass to both stabilize and enrich the soil while feeding livestock or wildlife. Exactly like that field they had passed earlier.

Danse had told her earlier that she needed positive proof that someone was reseeding the Commonwealth. Well, here it was, printed on cheap paper but with carefully hand-colored illustrations.

Rarely had such a miracle simply dropped into her lap.

Then it hit her. Queen of the Commonwealth—the baby, who they were always pointedly calling 'Joshua Rainier'—the generous friend who gave them seeds after they ate all of theirs—Raina Queen.

Raina Queen, who'd had those syringes made by the botanist they were looking for-the only person to date who had them. Raina Queen, who came back to ask for help with the Atomics General robots because she needed them to help plant things.

Raina Queen.

Right there in plain sight. The logic took a few leaps getting there, but she was certain she was right.

Keeping her voice as normal as she could, she asked. "Raina's the one who runs the whole outfit, right? We know her too. She's helped us out a couple of times, and we've done the same for her."

"Uh-huh," Judy nodded. "When Joshua Rainier was born, she came out a couple times a week to help look after Mom. Mom was real sick after having him. She and the baby," the girl's voice grew small and thin, "could both have died. Raina saved her life. We're sure Raina's the one who gave us the seeds, too, but she left them on the porch at night anynmmy—anymouse—without saying who it was."

"Dad says she's our good angel," Jack confirmed. "I mean, I know that sounds sappy, but she's all right."

"I see,"Haylen said. She looked up at the house again. Now she knew. The question was, what was she going to do with that knowledge?

The Brotherhood of Steel regulations demanded she disclose everything immediately. Everything.

But here was a family who wouldn't have a mother and a baby brother or crops to plant if not for Raina Queen. Haylen remembered the young woman very well, and her synth companion too. She was a little odd, and it seemed like the synth was looking after her, or at least watching over her. Maybe you had to be a little odd to be that generous and kind. There were a lot of positives about the Brotherhood, but they weren't kind to people who didn't fit. There was no way she would be allowed to bring a synth bodyguard, either.

If Raina wasn't willing to be recruited—and it was Haylen's hunch that she wouldn't—what then? Eradicate and seize all the materials and notes, as Maxon had said to do?

Haylen decided to keep silent for the moment. But...how long before somebody else put the pieces of the story together? What would happen to Raina, and all the people she was helping, then?

A/N: Wow, what an enthusiastic response I got to my return! Thank you for still reading and caring about this fic!