Bioshock: The Story of Henry Walker

Chapter 26: Introductions

"Now this one here's got herself a fine appetite, hooowheee!" Louis cheered as he watched Jenny devour a plateful of fresh blueberry pancakes.

The little girl finished off her second plate and let out an enormous burp. "Mister Louis, these are the best pancakes in the whole world, can I have some more?"

The massive chef laughed. "You most certainly can little miss!" And with that, he was off to whip up another batch of his famous Blueberry Hill pancakes.

It had been two weeks since Henry had taken the girls as his adoptive daughters. He showed them his apartment and they had  settled in just fine. There was more than enough room for the two girls to have their own bedrooms but they decided to share one room. Jenny was enrolled in school starting tomorrow. She was ecstatic to start her first days of real school. Teaching in the orphanage was fine on it's own but it never really gave her a full experience of learning and meeting new people.

Elizabeth, on the other hand, was at the age of employment in Rapture, and she needed a job soon. One day when Henry had come home from work, he had found his bedroom door open, and the secret entrance to his invention area was revealed. Inside he found Elizabeth tinkering with the old radio she had recieved from Henry way back on The Odyssey. She apologized for entering the room without permission, granted she didn't even know it existed just a few hours before. 

Elizabeth explained to Henry that the radio was broken and she wanted to fix it. To Henry's amazement, not only had she repaired the radio, the teenage girl had improved on many of the aspects. Longer range, clearer transmission and so forth. He asked her if she would like to work with him in Hephaestus. She spared no hesitation in answering, she wanted to be an engineer, just like Henry. 

With the help of Kyburz and Pablo, the three men were able to pull some strings and find a spot for Elizabeth in Hephaestus' crew. She began immediately as an assistant for a man named Bartley down on the lower floors. Only time would tell if she had the will to secure a place for herself in Ryan Industries.

Louis had taken the winnings he had earned from Henry's fight and put it all into his diner. With that money he hired the best team of renovators in Rapture. Construction was already under way, massive expansions were being put into the small building. However, the renovations didn't stop him from still turning a profit, he continued to keep the diner open as long as he could while the workers dealt with other areas. Within the month Louis would finally have the restaurant he always deserved.

Fontaine was nowhere to be found. Henry had not heard from him since the night of the fight. He even went to see Peach but the old dockmaster had no idea of the mysterious man's whereabouts.

As for Annabelle, she had been keeping a low profile as well. Henry hadn't seen her since the fight, but he'd recieved a number of letters telling him everything was alright, and that she was clearing up a few loose ends. She asked if they could meet tonight at his apartment, she wanted to meet the girls.

After a dozen more pancakes they said goodbye to Louis and made their way back home.

Henry and the girls walked along the coobled stone roads, their shoes clacked in unison. He cleared his throat. "So...we've a guest coming over for dinner tonight." 

Elizabeth looked at him curiously. "Who?"

Jenny chimed in. "Yay, new people to meet!" She broke the foot step rythm and started skipping.

"Oh, nobody special. Just a lady friend."

"Just a lady friend huh?" Elizabeth nudged him in the side.

"Hank has a girlfriend, Hank has a girlfriend!" Jenny chanted.

The girls proceeded to prod poor Henry for information all the way home. He didn't give them a single detail.