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Chapter Text

Blair, October 23rd 2295

Blair stumbled out of Carlene's vertibird and onto the pavement outside of the old red-rocket that they'd converted into home. It wouldn't have been their first choice when they were choosing a settlement, but Duncan and Abby had been moved to sanctuary by their parents, and none of the houses were quite big enough for their family. The station hadn't been either, but the pump area had enough room for them to build on additions.

They had a small farm, and Blair ran a small clinic out of the old garage serving the surrounding settlements. They pushed through the door, seeing the ghouls and Butch through the large windows as they ate lunch around the table.

"A healthy little girl," they announced, opening the door into their clinic and tossing the bag in. "Little's a strong word, that damn baby weighed nine pounds."

"No wonder she was so big," Butch chuckled through a mouthful of lunch. "I thought you were enormous when Belle was on the way. Didn't know a girl that tiny could make a baby that big."

"Neither did I, but Gin's a trooper," he said, turning around the door into the kitchen and falling into the chair between Charon and Butch. They heard a dull thump, and Butch yelped.

"Jesus, I was just finishing a bite," Butch protested, getting up and rubbing his leg. Blair looked around, frowning as she realized the chair that sat between Gob and Butch was empty.

"Where's Annabelle?" they asked, and Butch looked around.

"I don't know, she was taking the laundry into our room before she went up to Sanctuary to play with Duncan and Abby," He said, frowning. "She usually says something when she leaves." Blair got up and walked into the room that they shared with Butch, and found Annabelle kneeling on the ground by the dresser. the bottom drawer was open, revealing the folded and worn suits from Vault 101, the two pip-boys tucked between. In her hands she held the photo frame, staring intently at the image of the curly haired child that was smiling excitedly to have received a bb gun for her tenth birthday, an older man knelt beside her smiling proudly.

The embroidered bible verse stared up at them from the drawer, making Blair feel sick.

They took a few steps forward and yanked the picture out of Annabelle's hands, making the girl jump in surprise.

"Don't go poking around in our things," Blair scolded, tossing the frame back into the drawer and closing it.

"I didn't mean to, I was just puttin' up yours and daddies things," Annabelle protested. "Who was that?"

"Me and your grandpa," Blair said, picking the child up by her arm and setting her upright.

"I didn't know you were a vault dweller too," Annabelle said, following Blair out the door and back into the main area. "Did you grow up in the same vault?"

"Like mother like daughter," Charon muttered. Blair glared at him, mostly because they knew it was true. James had always said that their nosiness would be their ticket to hell. Now their daughter not only looked like them, but acted like them.

"Yeah, we grew up in the same vault," Butch said with a laugh, putting a bowl of soup before Blair. Belle gasped, looking around the table.

"Wait, Daddy, you said that you were the only other one to leave the vault," she said, and Butch nodded. "But the Lone Wanderer was from Vault 101." Blair went still, their spine going cold. Butch started snickering, and Blair stomped on his foot.

"The truth was going to come out eventually," Charon said as Blair refused to look up from their bowl.

"Mommy, are you the Lone Wanderer?" Belle asked. Blair sighed, their head falling.

"I'd appreciate if you kept that secret to yourself, Belle," They finally said, looking up as their daughter went starry eyed.

"Ohmigosh that's so cool!" Belle squealed, propping herself up on the table. "Why didn't you ever tell me all your stories? Daddies were kinda garbage but there's so many good stories about the Lone Wanderer!"

"Hey!" Butch protested.

"Not all of those stories are true," Blair said softly, looking down. They hadn't been responsible for bringing down Paradise Falls, that had been Charon and Fawkes. If Clover hadn't found Charon and told him that they'd been overdosing...

"Which ones are?" Belle asked, and Blair exchanged a quick glance with Charon, who gave her a stern look.

"I'll tell you, but only if you promise not to tell anybody that I am," Blair said, looking up at their daughter. Belle looked confused, but nodded, taking her finger and crossing over her chest.

"Why don't you want people to know?" Belle asked.

"Because there's things I did that I'm not proud of," they admitted. "And when people find out I'm the Lone Wanderer, or find out that the Lone Wanderer is me..." They sighed and rubbed their eyes. "Okay, what first?"

"Were you and Daddy best friends in the vault? Is that why he was the only other person to leave the vault?" she asked, looking innocently between her parents. Blair and Butch looked at each other as Charon snorted.

"Well..." they said in unison, trailing off as they tried to figure out how to explain to their daughter the relationship they'd had in the vault.

Blair, August 16th, 2277

"Alright, that's enough of that!" Officer Gomez yelled as Blair planted her foot into Butch's stomach, falling backwards with her hands on his arms, and sending him flying into the opposite wall with a hollow thunk as he hit the wall.

"He started it!" Butch yelled, pointing at Blair. Blair, in turn, rolled to her feet and wiped away the blood flowing from her broken nose.

"Butch, you can't just call Blair a boy so that you can hit her," Officer Gomez said, getting between the two as Butch tried to square up again.

"Yeah, though I'm more man than you are, so maybe we're not quite on the same level," Blair taunted, and Butch tried to launch at her again, but Gomez caught him.

"Blair didn't actually start it," Amata said with an exasperated sigh, brushing her hair back from her face, drawing Blair's attention to her lips for just a moment. "He was saying weird things to me and wouldn't leave me alone again so she told him to back off and Butch said "make me" so she made him."

"Butch, we've gone over this," Officer Gomez said, dragging Butch way. "Get back to the hair parlor, Granny Taylor is waiting on you. And Blair, get to the infirmary, that nose needs fixing before you report to the reactor room." Blair nodded and made her way back through the vault to the infirmary. Her father looked up and she could immediately see the disappointment in his eyes.

"Again?" He asked.

"Butch was messing with Amata again, I didn't start this one. I never do," Blair said, walking over to hop on the examination table.

"But very rarely does the situation ever involve you," James said, walking over to examine her nose and the scar that had formed over the years of abuse.

"Turning the other cheek doesn't work with him," Blair said simply. "Direct action is the only thing he understands." James sighed and shook his head. There was silence for a moment as he worked on her nose eventually getting it reset and hitting the base of her spine with a stimpack to quicken the healing of the cartilage.

"Did you at least make a fool of him?" James asked as she jumped off the table.

"I sent him flying across the cafeteria," Blair snickered, which made him smile for a moment. Then he turned serious again, walking over and taking her shoulders so she looked into his eyes.

"You have to get better with these things, I don't want you seen as a nuisance just because you rise when he does. I wont always be here to protect you," he said, making her stomach twist.

"I try," she said, and he nodded, patting her cheek gently.

Chapter Text

Blair, August 17th, 2277

"Blair! Wake up!" Amata squealed, shaking Blair awake from their nap. There was an alarm and a rolling announcement in the hall outside, and Blair frowned at the sounds.

"What?" She put her glasses on and rolled over to look at the clock, she'd been asleep for five hours. Longer than she'd thought.

"My father has his men looking for you!" Amata insisted which drew her attention again.

"Why? Don't tell me he's pitching a fit over-"

"Because your dad left the vault!"

"What?" Blair asked, shooting upright. "That's impossible-"

"Well its not, cause he did!" Amata insisted. "He ran and now they're looking for you! And they... they killed Jonas!"

Blair's blood ran cold. Jonas had relieved her just a few hours ago, her dad had been getting up to get ready for his shift at the clinic. She'd only been asleep for three hours and the world had turned upside down.

"Why did they kill him? It makes no sense," Blair asked, feeling helpless.

"I don't know but you've got to get out of here, they're coming for you next!" Amata insisted, grabbing her arm and yanking her out of the bed.

"Well what am I supposed to do?" Blair asked, looking around helplessly as she put her hair into an unruly ponytail to get it out of her face.

"I have a plan."

"Oh god."

"No, hush," Amata insisted, putting hands on Blair's shoulders. "There's a secret tunnel in my father's office that leads to the vault door. You have to take it and follow your dad out. Its not safe for you here anymore."

"I can't just leave," Blair said, floundering.

"Well its not gonna be good if they find you!" Amata insisted pushing away and reaching into her pocket. "I don't know if it was an accident or a distraction, but when he left a bunch of radroaches got in. Hopefully they keep the guards distracted just long enough." She pulled a pistol out and pushed it into Blair's hands. "My dad's gun, just in case. I'll try and meet you by the door, just run!" With that Amata sprinted out.

She looked around for a moment before her brain finally kicked in. A dash to the dresser to grab a bag to throw her handful of comics and a handful of extra suits in, she scooped her bb gun over her shoulder and pocketed the tin of pellets, used her old capt to pull back her hair and grabbed the baseball bat. She stopped outside long enough to empty the first aid kit into her bag and toss the pistol in, and went sprinting out the door

"You! Stop!" One of the guards bellowed, but the skittering screech of radroaches came from behind him paired with a yell. She kept running until she collided with a leather clad form. She tumbled to the ground with a yell, and Butch grunted under her as her elbow collided with his stomach.

"Sorry!" She gasped scrambling to her feet and trying to launch down to the common areas.

"No! Wait!" He yelled, grabbing her wrist. She turned to look at him, ready to bring the bat down on his arm, but the panic on his face stopped her. "Its my mom, there's radroaches and they've got her cornered, please you gotta help!"

"Do you understand what irony is, Butch?" Blair gasped in amazement.

"I know I get it I-I-I just," he stopped to breath. "You were right yesterday, you're more man than I am. I never meant halfa the things that came outta my mouth I'm sorry. Please, you gotta help my mom." She looked into his eyes for a moment, and nodded. He sobbed in relief and let go, leading her in a sprint down to their family apartment. The room where his mom cowered on the bed was filled with roaches, but Blair launched in with her bat, swinging and stomping on them to clear the way for Ms. Deloria to stumble out and onto the couch, letting Blair close and lock the door.

"The guards can take care from here but I have to go," she said, but she was scooped into Butch's arms.

"Thank you, the other Snakes all pussied out I thought she was gonna die," he sobbed, and she took a minute to pat his back. "You're a real friend, I'm sorry."

"That's great and all but I need to run otherwise the Overseer might try and kill me," Blair wheezed. Butch pulled away and nodded, sliding his jacket off of his shoulders.

"Here, take this, keep your head low and they might thing you're one of the fellas," Butch said, helping her arrange the jacket over her backpack and tuck her hair into the cap. "I'll see if I can't buy you some time." She spared him a smile he returned, and they both ran out.

"Hey, stop!" Someone yelled. Blair looked over her shoulder long enough to watch Butch tackle the guard from earlier. She smiled and put on speed, jumping over the body of somebody, she couldn't bare to see who. She heard Percy further off, saw the flash of his flamethrower, kept sprinting. She turned into the main hall, and collided with Officer Gomez.

"Oh shit!" He cursed, and she pulled the bat out, ready to fight. "You better be glad it was me, the others are ready to drag you kicking and screaming to the overseer."

"You're not?" She asked, Bat in her hands and ready to swing. Officer Gomez shook his head.

"You're a good kid, better than mine, even," he said, looking around as hurried footsteps echoed through the halls. "You and your dad have done great things for the vault, so did Jonas. Mack was put of control I couldn't stop him, but I can keep them busy long enough for you to get out. Go find your dad, if you can." She nodded and he ran around her to head off the guards, letting her take the stairs into admin two at a time. She saw Amata being questioned in a room by Officer Mack and the Overseer, and after a moment of panic crouched and scurried past the window.

She'd almost made it to the office when there was another, "Hey!" and a hand on her shoulder. She squeaked and institutionally swung, crashing the bat into Officer Kendall's head and cracking it into the wall. He fell to the ground, eyes unseeing, his blood splattered on her bat.

She stared for what felt like an eternity before turning and sprinting away, almost tripping over Jonas. She crashed into the nearby wall with a gasp, looking into his bloodied and bruised face as he lay beaten and broken. She saw a holotape just tucked into his pocket, and pulled it out to see her name written in her father's handwriting. She shed a few tears before getting to her feet to cross the remaining distance and break into the overseer's office. She slid across the floor to the terminal, and with a few strokes had the screen up to search for the string she needed. Here eyes skimmed through the code, working away at it until she was finally able to get in and open the tunnel. There were voices down the hall, she didn't even wait for it to be fully open before she jumped into the opening. She barreled past rad roaches, feet pounding against the concrete, footsteps echoing up to her ears partnered by her panting breaths as she tried to outrun the voices.

She almost missed the secret door, a concrete slab that opened and deposited her into the room with the giant vault door, the control panel waiting for her to walk over and throw the switch.

"Oh my god," Amata said, appearing by the opening as the adrenaline started to drain away, leaving Blair shaking and nauseous. "This is actually happening."

"Are you okay? I saw... I couldn't..." the words weren't coming to her as easily as they usually did.

"I'm fine, especially compared to Jonas," she said as voices started yelling on the other side of the door into the main vault.

"You should come with me," Blair blurted out, not wanting to be alone. "When your dad realizes you helped-"

"He's still my dad," Amata said, shaking her head. "It's going to be nothing compared to what you've got facing you, in here or out there." Blair nodded, the shakes having fully taken over as they heard Butch yelling on the other side. Amata looked at the door, and looked back at Blair, finally realizing what she was wearing.

"Long story," Blair said.

"Okay, well, I'll ask him. Get out while you can," she said as the door crunched to a stop. "I'll miss you, you've been a good friend." she started backing away, eyeing the blood on the bat, and Blair realized the sight she must be. The door into the vault started to open, sending Amata sprinting back up the overseers tunnel. There was another crash as Butch yelled, and Blair took what adrenaline was left to sprint out the vault door as guards funneled in.

Above the other guards yelling, she heard the chaplain yell, "She's chosen her path. May god have mercy on her for her sins." She turned as the door began to close, and she made brief eye contact with the overseer as he stood over the control panel. She kept running until she got to a door at the end with an old clean skeleton leaning against the wall. She stopped and leaned against the door, considering just living in the tunnel for the rest of her days in relative safety until her dad came back for her. But there was no food, no water, and she didn't even have time to grab rations.

There was nothing left for her to do but drop to her knees, the bat falling beside her as she clasped her hands together.

"Oh dear god, forgive me for my sins," she whispered into the tunnel, eyes shut tight. "Forgive my father, and keep us in your arms as we pass through whatever wastes are left. Grace us with safety, that we may soon be reunited. Amen." She opened her eyes as light trickled around the door, and she heard something whistling on the other side. She grabbed her bat, using it to help herself to her feet.

She pushed through the door, and was greeted with light so bright she was blinded, falling to the side of the wall, the door slamming shut behind her as air blew at her, almost blowing her hat off. She blinked a few times until her eyes adjusted to the light, and she was able to see a great blue nothing above her with a ball of light shining down from the eastern horizon, bathing her in warmth.

"Let there be light, huh?" She muttered, rubbing her eyes. "You weren't fooling around with that one." She took a second look around, seeing a spread of ruined buildings spread at the base of the hill. For the first time in her life, she had the context for the stories she'd grown up on, for the sun and the wind and for towns and houses that even Grognak hadn't prepared her to see.

She took one last looked down the now very dark tunnel towards the vault, and then out over the ruined landscapes ahead of her.

"Okay Dad, where'd you go?" She asked, and made her way down the road into the unknown.

Chapter Text

Blair, August 17th 2277

Her father's holotape had been of no help. His words had only served to upset her as she knew now that, in fact, the overseer wouldn't care how much she did or didn't know. Jonas had seemingly only known a bit more than she had, and the Overseer had allowed him to die at Officer Mack's hands. She stopped at the base of the hill next to a mailbox as she truly processed that Jonas was gone. She leaned against the box and folded her hands again, closing her eyes both in prayer and to block out the sand blowing into her face.

"Dear God, please welcome Jonas into your-" her prayer was interrupted by a face full of sand on the wind, leaving her spluttering and spitting. "Screw it," she said, looking up at the sun. "Let him into heaven, please. His only sin was letting dad out. Maybe masturbation but come on it was either that or one of the guys and that was out of his control! Amen."

Her bat knocked against the box, and she heard something rattle inside. She opened the slot, and saw that there was a small paper bag duct taped to the depositor. She looked around, then reached in and grabbed the bag, tearing it out and open to reveal three grenades and a weird inhaler that had been painted red.

"There's nobody here, it's not stealing!" she yelled into the sky, pocketing the grenades and looking over the inhaler. She shrugged and pocketed it as well, slowly making her way through the ruined town and to a strange set-up of red pumps with abandoned hoses laying across the ground like dead snakes. A machine flickered to the side, and when she kicked it, it deposited two old soda bottles filled with liquid. Curiosity got the better of her, and she cracked one open to take a sip, pocketing the cap and looking around as she sipped the strangely sweet liquid. Her eyes were caught by a glint of metal to the side with red paint streaked across it. She made her way up the hill until a piece of sheet metal was revealed with the word "MEGATON" painted with an arrow pointed up the road and over the hill. She followed the road up, and her eyes grew as she caught sight of a large metal monstrosity in the distance.

"Oh, now what are you?" she asked, finishing the bottle and putting the empty container in her bag before heading off down the road, following it to the giant metal shell. What seemed like a jet engine spun, and two wing-like doors spread open to allow a group of people through with a two headed cow-like creature. She gasped at the sight of people, actual humans, and sprinted across the rocky terrain, past carcasses of the biggest ants she'd ever seen, and stopping as she hit the rise up to the shell.

"𝚆𝚎𝚕𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝙼𝚎𝚐𝚊𝚝𝚘𝚗," a robot said, hobbling out on stiff legs. "𝙳𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚢 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚘𝚖𝚋, 𝚒𝚝'𝚜 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚏𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚕𝚢 𝚜𝚊𝚏𝚎!" Her head snapped over to it, brows furrowed in concern for a moment. "𝙲𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚘𝚗 𝚒𝚗, 𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚍-𝚗𝚎𝚛, 𝚢'𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚎𝚗𝚓𝚘𝚢 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚢 𝚗𝚘𝚠." She walked a little faster, pulling open the welded up door that let them into the town that seemed to be built on a crater with an enormous bomb in the middle.

"Oh, that can't be good," Blair muttered, taking a few tentative steps closer.

"Well I'll be damned," a man said, and she turned her head to see a large dark skinned man wearing a leather duster and s cowboy hat walking over to her. "A vault dweller, haven't seen one of y'all in a long time." Her heart dropped momentarily, but she smiled as he held out his hand. "Name's Lucas Simms. I'm the town sheriff, and town mayor when the need arises."

"Lovely to meet you sir," she said, reaching out and shaking the offered hand. "I'm Blair Birmingham." He smiled and chuckled.

"Friendly and well mannered," he said, giving her a quick look over now that he was closer. "I think we're gonna get along just fine. You treat my people right, and you're welcome to stay as long as you want." He said this and adjusted the gun that was slung over his shoulders. Blair nodded.

"Understood, sir," She said with a nod. He chuckled and nodded back to her.

"Now, anything I can help you with?" He asked, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Well, maybe," she said looking around. "My father left before me, beat me by a few hours. Middle aged man with a beard, vault-tec lab coat over a suit like mine?" Lucas frowned, crossing his arms as he thought.

"I haven't seen anybody by that description," he mused. "You could ask Moira at Craterside Supply, most folks come through here go in there."

"Thanks, now..." she pointed down the crater to the bomb. "Lets talk about that."

"Its mostly harmless," he said scratching his nose as he looked over it. "Hasn't blown in two hundred years."

"Its still live?" Blair gasped, looking down and back up. "You're living on borrowed time, why hasn't somebody disabled it yet?"

"Most folks don't know its still live, hell I didn't even know till I took this job," Lucas said with a laugh. "And I don't trust most the town with it." Blair looked at him, back down to the bomb, then back to him.

"I used to work on the nuclear reactor in the vault," she said, watching his eyebrows rise. "I can see if I can disable it."

"I mean..." he searched her face, and the following grimace told her he didn't trust her age. It gave her questions about how the wasteland was run if nineteen year olds couldn't run equipment like that. "There's a hundred caps in it for you if you if you can do it safely." Blair shook her head emphatically.

"No sir, I wont be able to sleep at night knowing there's a bomb in the middle of town that could go off," she insisted.

"Well, that's mighty decent of you, just..." he grimaced again and motioned with his hands as he said, "Go slow, take your time and get a look at it first. Don't go exploding us all."

"Yessir," she said with a nod. She turned and made her way down, and she could hear his longer slower footsteps behind her as she got to the base of the crater and the pond that surrounded the bomb. The Geiger counter built into her pip-boy started clicking as she stepped into the pond, but she ignored it. The panel was easy enough to find, so she pulled it off and took a look at the wiring inside, contemplating the best way to neutralize the bomb's control panel.

"What are you doing?" Yelled an old man in a robe coming out of a nearby building. Blair frowned and pointed to the bomb.

"I'm just taking a look to see if I can turn it off?" She said, unsure. The old man's expression quickly turned to anger.

"That is the holy instrument of Atom! Our lord and creator! It is the tool of his great division! You dare to test god? To-"

"Confessor Cromwell," Lucas said, walking up to the old man. "She's new, she didn't know. Please don't scare the poor kid off, we need the business."

"Stay away from it!" The old man yelled, jabbing a crooked finger at her before walking around the bomb to begin preaching. She quickly replaced the control panel and sloshed over to Lucas.

"What the heck was that?" She asked, "people worship that thing?"

"Yeah, that's the Children of Atom," he said with a sigh. "They're... a strange folk. I got so caught up in you wantin' to disarm it I forgot to warn you about him. Best that hes distracted next time you try and take a look." Blair listened to the old man yell for a moment before turning back to Lucas.

"He's worshiping false idols," she said in a hushed voice, making Lucas laugh.

"Young lady, I would advise keeping your religious talk to yourself," he said with a chuckle. "Not sayin' you'll get yourself in trouble, but many folks have a fairly negative view of religion as a whole after the bombs fell. You may not make many friends, but I wont say you'll make enemies unless you start pulling this nonsense." He waved to where Confessor Cromwell was shouting into a crowd of folks with varying reactions to the man. "And as a Vault dweller, you need friends." Blair nodded, though confusion filled her soul.

"Okay, so, where is Craterside Supply?" She asked. He gave her instructions, which she followed up the metal walkway and into a metal shack. The first thing that caught her eye was an armored vault suit kn the wall, the second was the red haired woman in coveralls who looked up from sweeping the floor.

"Oh hi there!" the woman chirped, eyes squinting against the sun at Blair's back. "Come on in, welcome to Craterside Supply! Have a look around, let me know if you need anything!"

"Are you Moira?" Blair asked, closing the door behind her. The woman looked up with a nod before her eyes grew.

"Oh goodness! A vault dweller!" she placed her broom against the counter and walked over to Blair, hands on hips. "Don't get many of you 'round here. Oh, sorry, yes! I'm Moira!" Blair's hand was snatched up and shaken enthusiastically. "This is my shop, though I mostly do my tinkering and research, business usually takes care of itself." She giggled, still shaking Blair's hand as a thought seemed to occur to her, eyes widening and sparkling in a way that concerned Blair. "Say, I'm writing a book about the wasteland, it'd be great to have a forward by a real vault dweller! Whaddya say?"

"Uh, sure?" Blair said, and the woman dropped her hand, skittering around the counter and grabbing a notepad.

"So, just tell me what its life to live underground your whole life! Oh! Or tell me what its like to have gone outside for the first time! whatever strikes your fancy!" the woman smiled at her brightly, green eyes sparkling.

"I mean, I only got here like..." she looked down at her pip-boy. "Maybe two hours ago? Its hot, and bright. I got a sandful of face-" she stopped and frowned at herself, the older woman giggling. "Faceful of sand. I'm honestly kinda surprised there's people up here, I wasn't expecting to need money but now there's you and a store and I heard something about a saloon? Its wild."

"Well, sounds like you're the exact right person for this," Moira said, scribbling the words down. "I'm writing a survival guide, some folks've never had to leave their homes and don't know what to face out there. Like other Vault Dwellers!"

"Got any free tips?" Blair asked with a nervous laugh. "Again, no money."

She didn't like the smile that grew on Moira's face.

"Tell you what," she said, which made Blair even more worried. "I actually need a field tester." The man leaning on the wall gave a sigh of relief. "So, here's my offer. You help me out with my research, I get answers for my book, you can keep what you find, and I'll pay you for your troubles!" Blair felt like there was no way this could go well for her, but there weren't many other options out there. And she needed food and water if she was going to find her dad.

"Alright, you've got a deal," she said, sticking her hand out. Moira's smile unnerved her, but the woman shook her hand anyways with a nod.

"So, first thing's first, you're gonna need food and water. There's an old Super Duper Mart over the hill, near the river. Why don't you take a look in there and see what you can't scavenge up! Just let me know if you find any medicine in there," Moira said, and Blair nodded.

"Yes ma'am," she said, looking around. "Like, now?"

"I mean, if you've not got any caps you might wanna start sooner rather than later," Moira said with a laugh. "Oh! Here, take this old vault suit!" she turned and grabbed it from the hanger. "Had another stray like you come in a few years back, asked me to gussy this up for her. Never came back for it, hope she's okay." Blair took the suit fitted with extra armor and put it in her backpack.

"You said caps, what are caps?" Blair asked. Moira hit the button on her register with a cheerful ding and pulled out a single red nuka-cola cap.

"Bottlecaps! Way I heard it, we started usin' these cause some place in Appalachia would give you clean water if you put caps in it. But it's the standard!" She dropped the cap back into the register and closed it.

"Do you do trade?" Blair asked, reaching into her pocket, and Moira nodded. She put the red inhaler on the counter, and Moira's eyes went even wider. "I found this on the way here, feels full. I mean, if you have someone with asthma it would be handy. Could you give me anything for that?"

"Sweetie, that's Jet!" She said, picking up the container. "And you're right, its full!"

"What's jet?" Blair asked, confused.

"Do you know what drugs are, kid?" The guy against the wall asked.

"Pharmaceuticals?" Blair asked.

"Recreational," The man clarified, and Blair felt their face pale.

"Well, I sure can give you something for that, goodness," Moira said with a chuckle, opening up the register and pulling out tied stacks of caps. "Forty-seven work good for you?"

"Sure, but... I also need some wire clippers and a wrench so I can disable that bomb in the middle of town," Blair said, and the man against the wall laughed. "I used to work on the nuclear reactor, I know what I'm doing!"

"I'm sure, but those nice Children of Atom folks will be so sad," Moira said, placing the two items on the counter. "These and I'll give you thirty-five caps." Blair nodded, taking the wrapped caps, and the tools.

"That thing could go off and kill everybody in town," Blair said, tucking away the tools.

"It hasn't yet!" Moira said with a shrug.

"Okay," Blair said with a shrug, pocketing the caps. "Oh, one more thing. My dad left a few hours before me. Did you see him? Middle aged, greying hair." she held her hand to his approximate height, and Moira nodded thoughtfully.

"Think I saw somebody matchin' that description leavin' Moriarty's earlier," Moira said.

"That's where?" Blair asked. Moira motioned for her to move to the door, where she pointed out the building and path to Blair. She sighed and ran up to the bar, where a man seemed to be decomposing behind the bar, fiddling with a radio on the counter.

"I'm telling you Gob, it's not the radio. Enclave station comes through fine, there's something wrong with GNC's radio signal," a red haired woman in very revealing clothes said.

"Excuse me, young lady," a man in a pinstripe suit called, motioning Blair over to him.

"Can I help you?" Blair asked as the man looked at her under his fedora in a way that made her skin crawl.

"I believe you can," he said with a smile that made her want to hurl. "See, I represent a party that is... well, not attached to this putrescent cesspool. You're not from here, you are about as attached to this place as we are."

"Skip to the point, I'm trying to find someone," Blair said with a sigh, making a circular motion with her hand, making him laugh.

"I will pay you, handsomely, to put this on the bomb in the middle of town," he said, holding out an item that she recognized fairly well.

"Why do you want me to put a detonator on the bomb?" she asked, making him laugh.

"And intelligent. Yes, it's a detonator. My client wants to remove this unseemly building from the landscape-"

"Go to hell," Blair said, walking away as the man sighed in disappointment.

"Can I get you anything, smoothskin?" The rotting man asked, looking up at her with wide, wet eyes, seeming something like a wounded child. "Drink? Food? Anything."

"No sir, I appreciate the offer, though," Blair said, and the man's posture changed. "I was hoping you might have noticed if my dad came through. Vault dweller, about this tall, middle aged." He stared at her in amazement for a while.

"You're not gonna call me names, hit me?" the man, Gob as the other woman called him, asked her, searching her face for a tell.

"Who the heck hits a server?" Blair asked, earning a smile from the woman nearby.

"Lots of people do, cause I look like a corpse," he said, motioning to himself.

"That's awful, I'm so sorry," she said softly, and he smiled back.

"Tell you what," Gob said, looking around before leaning over. "Most people don't treat me as nice as you. You need anything? See me, I'll give you a discount."

"Thank you," Blair said with a smile. "But right now I just need to know about m dad."

"Well, I tend to keep my head down, on account of the other smoothskins tryna hit me if I make eye contact. But I can get Moriarty, he probable knows," Gob said with a smile that made what was left of his cheek flap a little. He pushed away and walked off into the back, leaving Blair to smile awkwardly at the woman.

"So... are you a patron here or..." Blair asked awkwardly, looking around.

"I'm one of the wares, sweetie," she replied with a chuckle. Blair felt her face turn red as heat rushed to her cheeks.

"I have been summoned?" Asked an older man with ling silver hair. His eyes quickly settled on Blair's vault suit as she straightened up. "Another one?"

"Hi, sorry, I was looking for my dad?" She asked, covering her chest with the jacket. "Middle aged, this tall-"

"You're sayin' James is your da?" The man asked with a heavy accent. When Blair nodded he barked out a laugh. "Well aren't you a persistent little flower? All grown up and everything. I remember when you were naught but a babe without a tit to suck on." Blair looked at him in disgust.

"We're from the vault, born there," she replied, pointing to her pip-boy. He gave her a derisive snort and shook his head.

"You an' your da most certainly were not born in the vault. Now, the two of ya'came through these doors on the way there, with his big Brotherhood of Steel friend," he waved off. "But you were most certainly fresh born and motherless at my bar."

"Whatever, he came through here, do you know where he went?" Blair pushed. He snorted.

"You seem like a nice kid, so I'll be straight with you," He said, bracing himself against the bar and looking into her eyes. "Your da was here, and now he's not, and yes I do know where he went. But your asking me for information, which is a commodity. Let's call it one hundred caps and I'll tell you where your daddy went. It's a reasonable price." Blair goraned, her head falling back.

"Reasonable is free. I don't have a hundred caps, I just left the vault two hours ago!" She said, throwing her hands up in the air. He stared at her for a long time before slapping the tabletop.

"Alright, kid. I'll help you out, for old time's sake," he said, and she breathed a sigh of relief."You don't have the caps? you can do me a little favor." her smile faded away.

"What kind of favor?" she asked dryly.

"This junkie bitch named Silver borrowed quite a few caps from me, claimed she could start funneling Jet and Psycho to me for a good price. Problem is she beat tracks outa town to get high on the supply," he said with a shrug. "Get them from her, and they're yours. At least, yours to pay me with." He grinned lat her, making her skin crawl.

"I'll think about it," Blair said with a sigh.

"Well, when you get your hands on caps, you're welcome back," Moriarty said. "But since you're not payin' make some room for folks able to." Blair pursed her lips and turned around to make her way out. she almost ran into Lucas as she left.

"Any luck finding your dad?" He asked, moving inside as she shook her head.

"Not without caps," she grumbled, making him laugh.

"How many caps?" Lucas asked.

"Exactly how many you offered me earlier," Blair replied.

"Offer's still on the table," he said with a smile.

"I'm a man of my word, Mister Simms," Blair said with a sigh, making him chuckle again, but she caught a glimpse of the man in the suit behind him. "Wait, Mister Simms." they took his arm as he tried to make his way into the saloon. "That man over there, he tried to give me a detonator for the bomb. He wanted me to blow it up. I told him to go to hell but he said he works for someone who wants the town gone." Lucas followed her eyes to the man and nodded.

"Mister Burke," Lucas said, walking over and slinging his gun back around his bottle. "I hear you're causin' trouble in my town. Come with me, please." Burke shot Blair a poisonous look, but got to his feet. Lucas moved to leave, but Blair watched as Burke begin to pull a pistol out of his pocket.

Her bb gun was up before he could click off the safety, shooting him in the hand and making him drop the gun with a yelp. Lucas turned around, seeing the dropped gun as Blair launched across the room. She plowed Burke into the wall, kicking the gun away.

"You little bitch!" Burke snarled, but Blair brought the butt of hr gun into his nose, making him cry out again as she brought her knee to his groin.

"Move!" Lucas commanded, so she ducked across Burke to grab his pistol off the ground as Lucas fired a couple rounds into Burke's chest. Burke slid to the ground, breathing in a way that made Blair panic. "Nova, do me a favor and get her outside."

"Walks in an' wants to shoot up my payin' customers, what's the world coming too?" Moriarty asked as Blair listened to the rattling last breath of Burke as he stared sightlessly into the saloon.

"Come on kid," Nova said, grabbing Blair by the shoulder and pulling her out, grabbing the dropped baseball bat as they walked out into fresh air.

Though even in her shocked state, she wouldn't have called it fresh.

"First death is always pretty rough," she said, pulling out a pack of cigarettes and offering one to Blair, who waved a hand vaguely.

"It's the second today," she said softly. "One of the guards, while I was trying to run, he came up behind me and scared me."

"The blood on the bat?" Blair nodded. "Self defense, it happens. Better get used to it if you plan on traveling."

"Is this really life up here?" Blair asked as her limbs stopped tingling. Nova nodded, taking a drag of her cigarette.

"Its not all bad, not all good. There's good folks and bad folks. Good days and bad days. But we make it through," she said, tapping off the ash to the creak of the door. "Your turn to babysit, Simms."

"Thank you, Nova," Lucas said, trading places with he woman. "You did a very brave thing back there. He could have killed me if you hadn't intervened."

"I know, it was just..." she looked for words, but it was difficult to find the right words.

"Watching someone die is hard, I won't lie and say it gets easier with time," he admitted, handing her a bottle of brown liquid. "But you eventually learn that you have a duty to yourself to be the one to live to see tomorrow. Sometimes you have to start a fight, sometimes somebody else does, you gotta look out for you." She nodded, unscrewing the top and taking a sip of the liquid that burned as it slid down her throat. She spat some out and started coughing, making the sheriff laugh.

"Goodness gracious," she spluttered, capping the bottle. "I'll try and keep that in mind. Thank you." He nodded, looking down at the bomb.

"You said someone hired him?"

"Yessir."

"We need to do something about that bomb then, can't have someone else try and set it off," he said, clapping her on the shoulder.

"I'm gonna rope Moira into helping us," Blair said, tucking the bottle into their jacket pocket. "I think she might change her tune about the bomb if someone's actively threatening the town." Lucas nodded.

"I'll come with you, we'll try and figure out a plan," he said, following her as she pushed away from the railing.

An hour later Moira and Lucas were putting on quite a performance, she was making a scene about him not letting a courier deliver letters from a lover who may or may not have actually existed. So boisterous was their performance that even the Confessor stopped to watch, with absolutely no eyes on Blair as she sloshed through the puddle. She worked as quickly as she could– removing bolts and screws, and snipping wires, until she was able to take the activation module out of the bomb, slipping it into her bag and replacing the control panel. She sloshed out, and gave the pair a thumbs up before bolting up the hill so she could make her way up towards the shop.

The scene concluded with Moira slapping Lucas so hard that Blair could hear it from the door of Craterside supply.

They split up, with Lucas circling around the road to take the long way to the store. Moira smiled cheerfully at her as she came back up, saying, "Well now that was good fun! And we managed to save the town!"

"You definitely gave them something to talk about," Blair said with a laugh. "Did you knock any teeth out?"

"No," Lucas said, rubbing his cheek as he approached. "But not for lack of trying. I can't believe you actually did it." Blair pulled out the component, handing it off to Moira.

"They're going to have to take serious steps to de-nuetralize it," she said, sticking her hands in her jacket pocket.

"Lemme give you some caps for this, it's a good piece," Moira said, ducking into her store.

"I know you said you wouldn't take my caps," Lucas said, tilting his hat up and looking across town to point at a building. "That building's been vacant the last few years, nobody wanted to pay for it but the Handy unit inside has kept the place in good shape. I know you need to find your dad, but the place is yours if you want it. Gives you a place to return when you find him, and a place to stay until you do." He pulled the keys out, holding them out to her as an offering.

"I'll pay you back at some point," she said, taking the keys from his hand.

"Don't worry about it," he said, patting her shoulder as Moira came back out to hand Blair a handful of caps. "Welcome to Megaton, kid. We're happy to have you." Blair smiled at them both, looking at keys and caps in her hand with a bittersweet feeling settling in her stomach.

Chapter Text

Blair, August 18th 2277

Thankfully the lady down by the pond sold food, so she was able to get a skewer of some sort of meat as a meal before retiring to the house with the rather reluctant robot housekeeper. She slept poorly, hearing the sirens, the yells of the vault dwellers, seeing the guard sliding lifelessly down the wall. she eventually sat up on the bed in the early morning hours, with the crackling sound of music coming from Galaxy News Radio.

"Good morning Capitol Wastes! Three Dog here with your morning news," Said a voice from the depths of the radio. "For those of you not in the know, to the northwest of Megaton there's this vault. Vault 101. Now, believe it or not, this one's still got people livin' in it! And every few years or so, someone comes scrabblin' out. Well wouldn't you know it, someone's come out of it again! And, I kid you not, he came to visit yours truly right here in the studio! Now, this cat, James is his name," Blair shot even more upright, staring at her pip-boy, "had been in a hole for years! He needed to know what was what out here in the beautiful Capital Wasteland! So I, the great and powerful Three Dog, set my brother straight. I told him what was what. Who are the winners, the losers, the movers and shakers. So if you see James out there, you say hello. Be kind to our new brother, and show him that here on the outside, we always fight the good fight. Hey, and in case a light bulb just started glowin' over your head, you can flick the switch and forget about it. You're not getting into that vault. Whoever lives in there sure as hell doesn't want what you're selling, and no, you can't knock down the door. It weighs like 13 tons."

Blair jumped out of her bed as the news moved to some warning about raiders, hopping into her armored jumpsuit and throwing the tunnel snakes jacket on, rushing downstairs and grabbing her bag, launching out the door and running around the crater and into Moriarty's, where she found Gob and Nova where they'd been when she first arrived.

"Where's Galaxy News Radio?" she asked, walking up with the map pulled up on her pip-boy. Nova looked to gob, who motioned her over to show her on her map.

"There's a metro station across the river, its full of ferals- folks like me but their brains were fried by the bombs- so you're going to have to be ready to fight your way through. Follow it through, and then it's gonna be over here." He marked a section on her map. "Just don't tell-"

"I won't, he's not getting anything out of me," Blair assured him. "You're the best, Gob. Thank you!" she rushed back out, running as fast as she could out the doors and towards the gates of megaton. They were just opening to let in a small caravan of two-headed cattle that Blair stared at with big eyes as they passed. A dark skinned ghoul with small braids draped around her face watched Blair intensely over small sunglasses perched on what was left of her nose.

"Don't fuck with my Caravan, kid," she called as Blair watched each beast move.

"Sorry, ma'am, didn't mean to stare," she said, backing away. the woman eyed her suit as she stepped into the waning moonlight, and nodded as she lit a cigarette.

"Starin's fine kid, just keep your hands to yourself," she replied, waving for the caravan to keep going.

"You wouldn't happen to know the direction of the Super Duper Mart, would you?" she asked, calling across as she realized that Moira hadn't told her where the place was besides "along the river." The ghoul pointed away from the town.

"Follow the road down to the river, it'll be on the right, hard to miss. Big ass building, the outside is decorated with settler corpses. Raiders took up inside. If you're smart you'll avoid the place," she said, puffing on her cigarette.

"Thank you ma'am!" Blair called, and the woman waved her off, letting her sprint off down the hill towards Springvale. once she hit the road she slowed to a brisk walk, hiking her bag up her back as she looked around the landscape. She knew from the comics that the land used to be covered in green, and the crackling voice of Three Dog mentioned something about trees and grass, but the land was all rocks and sand, with towering charred husks of trees.

It was its own sort of beautiful. There was a sky turning shades of orange and pink as the sun rose over the horizon, and she knew that it would be a great open blue nothing soon, with white clouds dotting the blue and the sun casting a warm light over the earth. She was able to see land for ages and ages around her instead of the closed metal halls with cold fluorescent lights that flickered and gave her headaches.

She crested a hill and looked out over a desolate cityscape. Buildings crumbled in on themself, giant bridges that ran over the city had started to collapse. A river that sparkled in the early morning light cut through the landscape, reflecting the pinks and orange of the sky.

"Even in destruction there is beauty," she breathed, looking over the world as far as she could see in any direction. "Oh lord your creation is great indeed." She took another moment to take in the beauty before following the road down the hill to the large store. As the old ghoul had said, there were corpses on poles and chopped to pieces in cages.

"Well, they sure don't make it easy to sympathize with them, do they?" she mused to the sky.

She'd only taken one step onto the lot of old cars when she heard a screeching of metal. She looked up to see the faint sight of a round-ish metal above her before she was knocked back by a blinding explosion.

"Oh my lord!" She cried before realizing she had taken the name in vain, and continuing, "Who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." She rubbed her eyes as she waited for the brightness behind her lids to fade away. "What in the world was that?" She opened her eyes and looked around. Bits of metal scattered around the lot, and small blue tubes scattered the parking lot. She walked around, picking them all up and studying each one before putting it in her bag. It wasn't until she found a smouldering body that didn't seem to be the right shape that she found the strangest looking weapon she'd ever seen. The body was shaped almost like a nuka-cola bottle, but with a strange fin that seemed to act like a sight. She kicked the charred body, and observed the figure for a moment before putting the weapon in her bag.

"Very alien looking," she muttered, pulling out the pistol Amata had given her instead.

She limped into Craterside Supply a few hours later, leaning on the counter and looking up at Moira and her excited smile.

"So, have you had a chance to go?" She asked, though the gleam in her eyes said she already knew that part of the answer.

"There were raiders, so many raiders," she said, taking her hat off to run a hand through her sweat-matted hair. "They were using the pharmacy to stash their medicine. Found a good amount of food and medicine, but the water looks questionable."

"Oh, most water is these days," Moira said with a laugh. "But thanks so much! I wonder how many places have hidden treasures like that. Well, anyways." she bent over and put a crate of food on the counter. "Here's some food for you. Oh, and here, keep this in your bag with your food. It'll help boost their nutritional value!" Blair skeptically took the strange box-like item and tucked it in her bag next to her scavenged food, taking the box from Moira.

"So, what's next?" Blair asked.

"Well, next is the my study on radiation!" Moira said excitedly. Blair stared at her for a long moment.

"Yeah, sure, why not," she sighed, shrugging. "What do you need from me?"

"Well, I need you to get some radiation poisoning so I can study its side effects. Not a deadly dose!" she said quickly as Blair started to protest. "Just a bit, and I'll fix you up after! I'll even throw in a stimpack for that leg."

"Alright," Blair groaned. "I'll be be back, just have your medicine ready to go."

"Oh, you're a peach!" Moira said as Blair hefted the box onto her shoulder. "Or, some sort of hardy fruit that grows in the savagely irradiated mockery of agriculture we have nowadays. Your pip-boy should keep track, but come back with at least two-hundred rads. If you can, try and come back with six-hundred or more!" Blair waved as she left, taking the box and her bag to the house, throwing them on the desk and switching into her old work suit. She grabbed the book she'd found in the super-duper mart before walking back down to the crater.

"Don't you try anything young lady!" The confessor snarled as she approached the pond.

"Just here to bask in Atom's glory!" she said, waving a hand at him and wading into the pond. Her Geiger counter started clicking, and she found a spot where she could sit and lean against the bomb while she read the book, watching the rad count on her pip-boy out of the corner of her eye.

"Blair?" Lucas asked around the time she hit three-hundred rads. She looked up to him, and could tell by the look on his face that she must look bad. She certainly felt ready to throw up.

"Mornin' Mister Simms," she said, waving at him.

"Moira got to you, didn't she?"

"Yessir."

"Don't let her kill you, now," he warned, biting back a smile.

"I don't think there's any "letting," sir," Blair joked, getting back to her book.

"It'll go faster if you drink the water."

"I do have some standards, sir." he laughed as he walked away, leaving her to her book.

Moira was about to close when Blair trudged in, fighting the urge to vomit, while also soaked to the bone. She'd tried to stand up, but her legs had fallen asleep without her knowing, so she'd fallen face first into the pond.

"Oh, feeling a bit under the weather?" Moira asked with that same persistent smile. "Or, a bit over the Geiger counter?"

"I'm as irradiated as I can get without burning a hole in the floor," Blair grumbled, shuffling over to a chair and falling into it.

"I can tell! You're positively glowing," Moira said with a laugh. "Now, just sit there, and try not to move. Tell me how it feels, and I'll get you fixed right up!" She began to buzz around, grabbing ingredients as Blair fought for consciousness.

"If I listen really closely," Blair said, leaning her head against the wall, "I can hear my genes crying in protest."

"Oh, I didn't know delusions came with radiation poisoning! Fascinating!" She said excitedly. "Now, after taking a few notes, I'll take care of that nasty radiation with a bit of my own home-made concoction!"

"Oh joy," Blair groaned. She let Moira buzz around her before saying something about magnets and happy thoughts. Something positively disgusting was poured down her throat, and she only managed to keep it down.

After a few minutes, the world stopped spinning, and Moira handed her a small bag filled with radaway and rad-x. She did catch a glimpse of her pip-boy and she saw that the needle was steadily going down.

"Now, the good news is it worked, the less good news is that there does seem to be a slight mutation. But it's benign!" She rushed to say as Blair gave her a skeptical look. "But, here's chems for the future. Take them as an apology for playing with your DNA like a kitten with a ball of yarn.

"I'm not dead, that's fine," Blair groaned, getting to her feet. "What's next?"

"Well," she checked her notes. "Next is how to safely travel through a minefield!"

"On second thought," Blair said with a shudder. "Let me uh, let me take a break from research for a bit, please."

"Well, if you have to," Moira said, sounding dejected.

"Yeah, sorry, see you 'round," Blair grunted, shuffling stiffly to the door. Lucas laughed as her as she passed by him on the way to her house, but she was too tired to say anything smart. She simply climbed her stairs, shed the utility suit, and collapsed into bed.

Chapter Text

Blair, August 19th 2277

She slammed the door to the metro behind her, leaning against her as she stared up at the sky above her.

"Lord, I know you don't give us more than we can handle, but I am starting to question my qualifications for the battles you're sending my way," she said. She'd fought past meaty looking zombies, oversized pig-like rodents, and then a giant green person that had tried to bust her head open with a sledgehammer.

After a moment to take a few deep breaths, she pushed away from the door and walked up into a small road, looking around at the crumbling apartment building to her side, waking up to take in the personal shelter with a slot for some sort of money. She had just taken out a cap to see if it would fit when she heard the sound of conversation to her left. She perked up, moving around the shelter only to see two giant green people.

"Oh crap!" she squealed as they noticed her. She tripped backwards, falling down a slap of concrete as a strange sound filed the air.

"Someone get the civilian!" a woman shouted, and she looked up to see an olive skinned person in a black sweater and a bulky vest slid down another slab of concrete.

"He's a fucking vaultie!" they yelled, rushing up and grabbing her by the back of her jacket. "Jesus kid, can you be more oblivious?" They helped her to her feet, pushing her up the concrete incline.

"What in the world are those things?" she squealed before screaming as a robot rushed her, grabbing her arm and tossing her into the alley.

"Have you lived under a rock your whole life?" A woman dressed in a similar costume asked, her hair in a frazzled bun at the nape of her neck. Unlike the person that had grabbed her, she wore no helmet.

"He's a vault dweller, Sarah," the person in the vest said, ducking under a spray of bullets and grabbing Blair by the waist, pulling her further in.

"Oh goddammit," she muttered, firing into the crumbling building. "Asher, get the civilian out of the way!" the person nodded, and dragged Blair further in, pushing her behind the corner of a building, further down a blond haired man laid on the ground, staring sightlessly.

"Jennings didn't make it?" the person, Asher, panted, and someone else in a suit of armor shook their head as they fired around the corner. Then Asher turned, taking them in with brown eyes. "The fuck you doing wandering D.C. when you can't even fight a fuckin' super mutant? How've you survived this long?"

"I'm sorry sir-"

"Don't call me sir." they snapped, and she flinched.

"Ma'am?"

"Nope." She stared in confusion and they rolled their eyes at her. "You must be the one that wandered out of one-oh-one." she nodded her head. "You can disarm a bomb but you can't handle some mutants?"

"I saw one in the metro- how did you known I disarmed the bomb?" She asked, brows furrowing, making them snort.

"Three Dog hears fucking everything. How the hell you survive the ferals in the metro but scream like a little girl when you see a mutant?"

"Give the kid a break," laughed someone walking around the corner with a woman's alto voice. "Just cause you grew up with muties as next door neighbors doesn't mean that everybody's used to seeing them. I was still shitting my pants for that first year with the brotherhood."

"Yeah, well, you're a pussy, so that tracks," Asher said with a a snort, making the woman laugh.

"Alright, lets get moving," the first woman, Sarah, said as she rounded the corner with another armored figure. Her eyes pierced Blair as she pulled out the hunting rifle she'd pulled off one of the raiders in the store. "Either keep up or stay out of our way. There's a hoard of mutants between here and our brothers in GNR plaza, we can't afford to be held back because of a civilian, understood?"

"Yes ma'am," she replied with a nod. "Now that I know there are more of them, I'm ready." Sarah and Asher gave her skeptical looks, but they moved along. One of the armored figures lightly touched Asher's shoulder as they passed by, and for a moment the expression on their face shifted from surly to sweet as they gave the figure a smile. Blair took a deep breath and pushed through, seeing the crumbling elementary school ahead of them and raising her rifle.

The mutants started to flood out, and though she was focused on killing the mutants, she still screamed when one fell in front of her as she charged ahead.

"Get used to it vaultie!" Asher laughed as they sprinted past, skirting a mutant that swung at them with a wooden plank covered with nails. In a flash of blood, the mutant was falling over with a roar, its ankles sliced open by the bloody knife in Asher's hand before they spirited off into the school. she tried to follow their lead, but ended up staying flanked to the woman.

"Sarah for fuck's sake you should have known that Asher was going to steal all the kills, what's left for us?" she joked as Sarah and the other two armored figures methodically moved through the school.

"If a scribe is out-shining you then maybe that's a reflection of your own poor skills," called one of the men from beside Sarah. Blair moved forward to fire at a mutant that was lifting some sore of launcher, sending them plummeting to the ground.

"Hey! Which one of you bastards was that?" Asher called, turning the corner with a glare.

"The vaultie's not to bad with that rifle," the woman next to her said with a laugh.

"My name's Blair, if you don't mind," Blair yelled, dashing forward to pull the ammunition bag off the mutant so she could get more shells for her rifle.

"Cutler, nice to meet you Blair," she said with a laugh.

"Strange name for a woman," Blair said, looking up.

"I'm not one, so that'd be it," Cutler chuckled as one of the other armored figures snapped to stare at Blair.

"Sorry," she yelled, pocketing the shells.

"No worries, everyone makes the mistake," he said, and she could hear the smile through the helmet. Blair followed Asher around the corner as they ducked under a super mutant swinging a sledgehammer. The jumped over a set of ruined doors, and she followed them through and into a large plaza with a fountain in the middle. Asher sprinted through the battlefield of more armored fighters and super mutants and up the stairs, Blair and Cutler helping the other fighters pick off mutants until everything was calm.

"Credit where credit is due, you weren't terrible out there for a civilian," Sarah said as she walked up, breathing hard.

"Thanks, I was always criticized back at the vault for not being feminine enough cause I trained to fight," she said stretching her arms. "At least I didn't leave the vault completely unprepared. Sarah nodded, and looked up as one of the armored figures went up to where Asher was leaning against a wall of sandbags.

"We're going to run the perimeter before the building can open back up, but you're more than welcome to come inside to rest when the building opens up," she said, but Blair was more interested in Asher furrowing their brows and climbing up, using the armored figure to keep them steady.

"Uh oh, I think they see something," Cutler said, approaching.

"Behemoth!" someone bellowed from the stairs as Asher jumped down.

"Paladin Simmons had a fatman!" someone else yelled from the stairs as booming footsteps grew closer.

"Get the vault dweller out of here!" Sarah yelled, and Blair yelped as she was scooped up and all but tossed up the stairs by Cutler. Asher grabbed her and pulled her behind the sandbags as the armored person they'd been speaking with ran into the plaza. Blair readied her rifle as Asher's grip on their knife tightened, watching the figure with concern as Cutler ran back to grab a launcher off the corps in the fountain.

There was an explosion, and a bus went flying through the air as a super mutant the size of the bus burst into the plaza.

"Danse be careful!" Asher yelled as the armored figures scattered. Cursing filled the air with the roar of the behemoth as it brought down a club with the end of a fire hydrant was brought down in the plaza, knocking many figures off their feet. Blair watched as they struggled to get shots in, and the thing knocked someone into the school.

Blair watched the people that had rescued her scramble for their lives, and felt in the pouch at their side for the five grenades she'd found at the mart.

"Didn't want to play this particular bible story out," she muttered before launching over the sand bags.

"Kid get back here!" Asher yelled, but she rolled down the stairs, bringing her gun up and firing at the behemoth, drawing its attention. She grabbed a grenade, pulled the pin, and pitched it into the behemoth's mouth as it roared. A second later there was a thud and it roared as Cutler whooped.

"Now there's a thought!" he laughed as Blair pulled another one as the behemoth tried to chase her around the plaza. She pulled the pin again and pitched it once again into the behemoth's mouth.

"How sturdy are these things?" she screamed, grabbing another grenade as the monster roared. Another pin, another pitch. This time she was rewarded- if you could call it rewarding- with the head of the behemoth blowing into big hefty pieces. One of which smacked her in the chest, sending her crashing to the ground with a grunt.

"Hot damn, that was brilliant!" Cutler said, and she heard a hissing sound and the sound of footsteps.

She opened her eyes to see an angel in an orange jumpsuit offering her a hand. Blonde waves stuck with sweat to a heart shaped face smattered with freckles, joyful blue eyes smiled down at her. She took the offered hand, and was helped up.

"I've never seen that technique used, especially by someone who's only been in the real world for less than a week," the angel said with Cutler's voice. Cutler was about the same height as Blair, with wide hips and a feminine set to his body that confused her.

"Thanks, I used to be the pitcher for the vault baseball team," she said, waving her hand. "Comes second nature." Cutler laughed, and the way his face lit up did things to Blair's insides.

"I think it messed something up in my knee joint," said one of the armored figures as Asher came sprinting down.

"That was fucking stupid," they snapped at her before dropping to inspect the offered knee joint from the armored figure.

"But she saved your precious knight," Cutler teased, earning them a one-fingered salute. "What were you doing coming this way in the first place?" Cutler asked, looking back over.

"Oh, my dad came here, apparently," Blair said, waving a hand. "I heard Three-Dog mention him on the radio." Cutler nodded and waved a hand at the building.

"Head on in, we're gonna be right behind. We had to bring Asher to see if we could fix the signal," Cutler said with another smile that made Blair feel some interesting things that she was sure must be sinful. She nodded and made her way up as Asher scolded the armored person, Danse, for not being more careful in caring for his suit.

She was let inside, complimented on her combat skills, and pointed up into the building, where a dark skinned man a little bit taller than her leaned against a wall with his arms crossed.

"the look on your face says it all," he said, spreading his hands and creating a rectangle with his fingers as if framing her face. "You're wondering who the heck this guy is and why you should care." He spread his hands as if mocking an explosion. "Well prepare to be enlightened." He placed a hand on his chest, offering the other one. "I am Three-Dog– Jockey of discs and teller of truths. Lord and master over the finest radio station to grace the Wastes–" he spread his hands out before him in a welcoming manner. "Galaxy News Radio."

She couldn't help but think the man embodied pride, just a bit.

"And you, well..." he chuckled. "I know you who you are. Heard about you leavin' the vault, travelin' the unknown. Just like dear old Dad, hmm? Met him already..."

"Is he here?" Blair asked, looking around frantically. "Please, I've been looking for him!"

"Hey, hey," he said with a laugh, patting the air. "One thing at a time. Nah, your old man ain't here anymore." her shoulders slumped and she sighed heavily. "He heard ole Three-Dog on the radio, figured I knew what was what out here in the Capitol Wasteland. And he was right. So I filled him in. But he split." He shrugged. "Looks like I've got my own way on contributing to the Good Fight, and he's got his own."

"The good fight?" Blair asked, walking closer. Three-Dog pushed away from the wall ans straightened his duster.

"Imagine a picture, okay? A picture of the Capitol Wasteland. All that brick and rock. A whole lot of nothing, right?" He asked. She nodded. "There's people out there trying to just barely make it by from day to day. Fighting to stay alive and make something of what they got. " Blair nodded again. "But then you've got all kinds of shit... Slavers, Super Mutants, Raiders..." he waved a hand as he scrunched up his face. "They all want a slice of the pie too, and aim to take it by force."

"So you fight the Good Fight with your voice," Blair said, looking around as s grin spread on Three-Dog's face. "With your voice on Galaxy News, keeping people informed."

"Well, holy shit," he laughed. "Aren't you a chip off the old block? You are as smart as your dad." Blair tried not to smile too big. "Since you know all about the cause, no need to explain the effect. Let's get yo on your way." She nodded.

"Anything you know about my dad, please..." she trailed off. He sighed, and put his hands on his hips.

"So here's the deal," he said, waving a hand and making her shoulders fell. "You wanna find your dad, I know where he went. When he was here we had a great conversation- he's a real stand up guy- but if you want to know more, you're going to have to contribute to the Good Fight."

Part of her wanted to say "if you don't tell me where he is you're gonna get a a good fight right here," but instead she said. "Whatever it takes to find my dad." which almost felt dumber.

"Good, cause this ain't gonna be easy," he said with a snort that made her want to jump off the building. "Galaxy News Radio is my baby. I love it, feed it, keep it changed. But you were out in Megaton, you heard how bad my signal was." she nodded. "Nobody outside D.C. can hear her cry. You see, some brainless Super Mutant thought it would be funny to shoot at the shiny round thing on the Washington Monument."

"I see where this is going," she groaned, and he nodded.

"Yep, that shiny thing was our broadcast relay. Now its swiss cheese. Without it, our broadcast range is limited. And of course, the factory that made the relay dish is long gone. Leveled. Unsalvageable."

"So how am I supposed to fix it?" she asked.

He smiled at her. "One of these brotherhood guys mentioned seeing a dish in one of the old museums. It's the dish off the old Virgo II Lunar Lander in the museum of technology. And I won't lie to you, it's gonna be risky. But you've got this look in your eyes. A look that says "I can get shit done. Your dad had that look too." he said, walking forward and putting a hand on her shoulder. "Go get it, take it to the monument. "I'll send these brotherhood folks along behind to meet you there so that Asher kids can help you replace the bad one."

"Why not," she said with a sigh. "You got a deal." He laughed gleefully.

"I sure know how to pick'em," he said, squeezing her shoulder with another smile. "You're gonna be the best thing that happened to Galaxy News in a long time. You need anything else, I'll be right here. Good luck, kid." She smiled and made her way out as he returned to his desk.

She made her way downstairs, found the team she'd encountered in one of the rooms with the power armor lined against the wall with Asher working on one. Cutler leaned against a wall next to an enormously tall man with a swoop of brown hair looking lovingly at Asher as they worked on the suit. Sarah sat at a table, wiping sweat from her face and neck while the other man echoed her actions.

"There she is, woman of the hour," Cutler said with another stomach churning smile. "Find your dad?"

"Nope, he's not here," she said with a sigh. "And now I have to go find the museum of technology."

"You're gonna die," Asher said absently from the suit before glaring at the brown haired man. "I told you to come to me when the suit started making noise, I can see the coolant coil pinched, there's no way you didn't hear that." Cutler snickered as the man looked like a kid caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

"Oh, uh..."

Asher gave him another scolding look before reaching in and fiddling with the suit.

"Well, I either go there and help replace the relay dish or I wander around lost until he pops up again," Blair said.

"I should probably go with her, Sarah," Cutler said, looking to the woman. "She managed the behemoth but there were also like, ten of us keeping it busy."

"Rothschild would kill us if something happened to Asher," the other man across from Sarah said. "We need all four of us to get them back."

"I'll be fine, I can run faster on my own," she said with a shrug. "I just got caught off guard earlier. Thank you though. But one of you mentioned supplies?" Cutler pushed away at a gesture from Sarah.

"Come on killer, let's get you outfitted," he said with another smile, and she followed along behind like a lovesick puppy.

Chapter Text

Blair, August 20th 2277

Cutler ended up talking her into resting for the night, so she spent the rest of the evening watching the group that called themselves Lyon's Pride interact. Vargas seemed to distrust Asher, always watching them if they got close to certain areas, but got along well with Danse and Cutler. On the other hand, Danse was absolutely smitten with Asher, any time they called his name or touched him as they passed by, his normally stern expression melted into a sweet smile. Cutler seemed closest to Danse, but was also pretty friendly with Asher. Asher mirrored these feeling back, joking around with Cutler, smiling sweetly at Danse when his hands brushed their shoulders, and glaring right back at Vargas when they caught him staring.

Everything was fine until Blair got up to use the bathroom in the early morning, only to walk into the dimly lit room to find Asher and Danse tangled in each others arms against on of the sinks, with some rather intimate sounds echoing in the small room. She ducked out with a yelp, which they seemed to ignore as she skittered down the stairs, tripping and landing at Cutler's feet, blood rushing to her face.

"Let me guess, Asher and Danse are going at it in the bathroom?" Cutler snickered, and she shook her head. "Never walked in on your parents getting nasty before?"

"My mom died when I was a baby," she said, accepting a hand he offered to get back on her feet. "So, no."

"Jesus, how bland are these vaults that nobody ever got caught having a quickie in the janitor's closet?" Cutler asked, still smiling.

"Is... Is it not..." Blair struggled for her thoughts, knowing very well which parts the two lovers seemed to have and how they were being used, even from her brief glimpse.

"Asher's on a different chain of command, so they're not going to get in trouble for fraternization, no matter how much Vargas pitches a fit," Cutler assured her.

"Well, that's not what I was going to say," she said. Cutler raised an entertained eyebrow at her, still smiling.

"What were you going to say?" Cutler said, blue eyes glittering with mischief.

"Um..." Blair wrung her hands as she contemplated her answer carefully. "God created man and woman to lie together. Their parts were made to fit together-"

"And yet he still made it pleasurable enough for two men and two women to lie together," Cutler whispered in a conspiratorial manner, the mischief never leaving his eyes. "I don't think that's an accident."

"Its still sinful," Blair whispered.

"Whats sinful is how little "godly" men know about how to give their wives pleasure, despite professing they were made to lie together," Cutler said with a snort. Blair had no reply for this. "Listen, Asher grew up in a situation that would make even the most pious man question the existence of a loving creator, and Danse has never been religious. They're not hurting anyone by being in love, no matter what Vargas or Kreig try to say."

"Is it love or is it lust?" Blair asked before covering her mouth, realizing the inside thought had slipped past her lips.

"I mean, a good relationship can have both," Cutler said with a laugh. "Believe me, they're very much in love. I watched those two idiots fall for each other. Give them some time, you'll see." He clapped Blair on the shoulder and pointed up the other set of stairs. "More bathrooms are over that way, and they're not occupied by Danse and Asher." Blair nodded and walked off to use the bathroom Cutler had indicated.

By the time she finished relieving herself and using the rather pathetic bathing accommodations to clean up, the building was waking up. Danse and Asher were wide awake and having their breakfast as if they hadn't been committing sodomy in the other bathroom not too long ago. Blair couldn't look them in the eyes, and every time he passed by, Cutler would poke her in the side with a knowing smile.

The small brotherhood team agreed to escort her to The Mall, where they would then make sure Asher got safely to the Washington Monument. It would be up to her to find the dish and get it back to he monument in one piece.

"Good luck kid, don't die," Cutler said, pushing her towards the nearby museum as the other rushed out and along the side. Blair sprinted as the super mutants caught sight of the group that was now making a dash for the monument. Danse was holding Asher close as the couple ran, with Sarah taking the lead and Vargas taking the rear. Cutler ran up, taking Danse's other side and shooting so that Danse could focus on Asher. She slipped inside the museum doors, unmolested, only to find two super mutants on the inside ready to fix that.

Some screaming and a few bullets later, she was making her way through the museum. There was an exhibit on the vaults, and walking through them made her homesick. She wondered momentarily if this had been how Adam and Eve had felt when they were cast out from Eden, staring back at where they had been safe and cared for from the outside as they remembered the good times. She forced herself to push the thoughts from her brain and kept moving

Butch, August 20th 2277

"Your dad's goin' fuckin' crazy Amata!" Butch hissed as the guards watched them all like hawks in the cafeteria. "We gotta do somethin' about this!"

"Give him time, I think he just need to regulate after the Birminghams got out," Amata replied, though he could see the doubt in her eyes.

"Mack was tryna kill Blair, would have if I hadn't intervened. He did kill Jonas! You really think that this is gonna just "regulate?" Its not!" She shot him a dirty look.

"Just give it time, once Paul gets better it's gonna get back to normal," she said. He rolled his eyes and left the cafeteria, feeling the eyes on him. Officer Gomez nodded to him, and he nodded back. Gomez was the only officer that seemed to have a heart, he stopped the Overseer and Mack from throwin' Butch in the cells in the wake of Blair leaving. Butch was sure it wasn't cause of Freddie, he knew that Freddie and his pops had been on the fritz since Freddie joined the snakes. But he'd watched Gomez stall for Blair, and he'd been buddies with James before hell broke loose.

"You've been really quiet since Blair left," Gomez observed from just behind Butch, who turned to study him.

"You complainin'?" Butch asked, and Gomez shrugged.

"I know somewhere in there is a good kid, I'm just checking on him," Gomez replied.

"Somehwere in there," Butch snorted. "The so-called "good kid" flew the coop. Overseer's not careful the other good kids will follow, leavin' him with the bad eggs." Gomez chuckled.

"You know, I think you accidentally did her a favor," Gomez said, walking alongside him as he made his way to the private apartments. "All those years of fighting her, now she's not out there completely unprotected. She can defend herself. I know James was disappointed that she took it up, he was trying so hard to protect her from the wastes, he didn't want her to go back out there." Butch stopped and stared at the officer, who looked back at him with confusion.

"What do you mean back?" he asked, and watched the officer's face drain of color.

Blair, August 20th 2277

"Hey look, he lived," Cutler laughed as Blair lugged the disk over, he leaned against his suit, using an old box of cookies to fan his sweating face, and she tried not to follow the sweat droplets hugging his face and neck as they trickled down.

"Why are there so many super mutants here?" she gasped, handing the disc over to Asher so she could lean against the monument to catch her breath.

"There's a vault up north that churns them out," Asher said with a shrug. "They've got a few big areas between here and there, but there's a bunch of caravans that come through DC to trade in Rivet City." she nodded and caught her breath behind the safety of the walls guarded by more brotherhood knights.

"Alright, once Blair can catch her breath we'll send her up with Asher to work on the disk," Sarah said with a brief glance to Blair, who gave her a thumbs up.

"Sentinel, I don't like sending them up alone with a civilian with no battle experience," Danse said. Blair watched Asher and Cutler exchange an eye roll.

"I think the kid's got plenty of experience after helping kill a behemoth yesterday," Cutler said, patting on the armor before waving their hand at the heat of the outer suit.

"I'll be fine with him, Danse," Asher said. "He said he's got experience-"

"Show some respect scribe, that is a woman," Vargas snapped viciously, the sentence making Blair want to hurl from rage.

"They can talk about me like that," Blair snapped back, surprising the paladin. "One of my friends in the vault used to call me a man and a him and whatever, it's not an insult."

"Are you sure you're not a man?" Cutler asked, a small smirk on his lips. Blair nodded.

"Yeah, it's just never bothered me. I mean, he started it at first as an excuse to fight me cause you can't hit girls, but he means it as a compliment in his weird way," Blair said. Asher and Cutler exchanged a knowing look, but both shrugged.

"If you say so," Cutler said. "They'll be fine, if nothing else Blair can be the one hanging out of the monument. You two head up, we'll make sure any mutants down here don't get any funny ideas." Asher nodded, hefting the disk up. Blair pushed away, and followed them into the monument and the elevator.

"Don't look up and don't look behind you," they advised, hitting the button as Blair entered the small box. Of course, Blair immediately did the exact obvious as the elevator began to move, and she was able to see the very rickety scaffolding holding the monument together, as well as the wobbling cables above them. "Told you," they laughed as she closed her eyes tight.

"I have a strange question," she said after a moment.

"Oh joy," Asher said dryly.

"Are you and Danse married?" There was quiet as they slowed to a stop, and the door dinged. She opened her eyes to watch Asher take the disk out.

"No, we're not," they finally replied, looking somewhat sad. "We met in the brotherhood, which means we have to go through all the red tape to get married. My commanding officer is more than happy to approve the form and pass it on to the elder. But neither of his commanding officers approved of me, so Kreig and a Vargas have both been obstacles."

"Why don't they approve?" Blair asked, following them over to where some wires were set up and a dish that- to use Three-Dog's words- looked like swiss cheese.

"Kreig is from the western brotherhood, and they won't approve of a union that doesn't have a chance of providing children," Asher said, fiddling with the machines. "Think you can lean out and get that disk so we can replace it?" they asked, pulling some tools out of the pouch at their waist and holding them out. Blair nodded and put her backpack and rifle on the ground.

"Just hold onto my belt, please," she said, and they nodded, grabbing a handful of belt and suit so she could lean out and work at the disk. "What about Vargas?"

"He said he doesn't like my attitude," Asher said.

"But he gets on with Cutler?" She asked, and they laughed.

"Cutler thinks he's jealous, says he's seen Vargas checking out Danse in the barracks," Asher said, and she could hear their smile. "But since they're in the same chain of command that would absolutely never be approved, he'd honestly probably get booted cause Sarah doesn't play around when it comes to her paladins flirting with their subordinates."

"So you're kinda short on luck, huh?" she asked, "Unless something happens to Vargas- Oh crap!" she tried to catch the disk that had slipped from her sweaty grasp and plummeted to the ground.

"Oh please let that have hit Vargas, that would be so fucking funny," Asher cackled, pulling her back in, and she could see the sheer joy on their face as they leaned out. "Dammit, hit the wall. Ah well."

"I don't know if I should apologize or not," Blair admitted, making them smile at her again, this time without the sarcasm in their eyes. She could see how somebody could fall for them when there was sincerity behind the smile.

"Its fine," they replied. "Danse has to prove himself to Star-Paladin Cross, show her that he can lead others since he's already proved his prowess in battle. Could be another few years, could be tomorrow if we play the cards right. But Sarah's already promised that once he's promoted she'll approve the forms and let us get married. So we're just waiting."

"How long have you been together?" she asked as they pulled the wires into connect to the new disk. they puffed their cheeks out as they thought it over. "Three or four years now? Practically forever." They had a small smile that made Blair's chest twist in longing. Wanting that same thing that they had that would make her smile like they were.

"I never knew that..." she trailed off as they looked back up with an eyebrow raised.

"Never knew what?" they asked, connecting the wires without needing to look.

"That... I don't want to say two men since you apparently don't like that," she said quickly, making them snort. "But, I didn't know that love could be so strong between two people with the same parts. God always warned against it."

"I've known more unhappy couples that, to use your words, had "different" parts," Asher said, hefting the disk up. "Its about the core of our being, who we are inside instead of the body we're trapped in. Danse makes me a better person, makes me happy, shouldn't that be what matters?" She nodded with a sad smile on her face. "We're already living in this hellscape, no reason not to grab what happiness we can while we can."

"You think this is hell?" she asked as they walked over to where they'd set up the disk, motioning for her to come over.

"That implies I believe in hell and heaven," Asher said with a smirk. "the religion that believes in heaven and hell damns me for killing and stealing to be able to live to see the next day. If that's the creator they're a sick son of a bitch." Blair held the words as she contemplated the words as Asher grabbed her suit again, and she leaned out of the monument to re-install the disk.

After pulling her back in, Asher flipped a switch on the console, and watched the screen for a minute before nodding.

"Looks like it's working just fine, it's boosting the signal all the way out," they said, pointing to something on the screen that made no sense to Blair. "Good job."

"You did all the hard parts," she said, waving at the wires.

"Says the kid that dangled out of the tallest structure in the area," Asher laughed, clapping her on the shoulder. "Come on kid, lets get out of here. Fuckin' hate heights." She nodded, picking up her things and making their way back into the elevator and down.

"I hope that you can get married sooner rather than later," she said as they hit the button, and Asher smiled at her with a nod. They went back down in a more comfortable silence, but as they neared the bottom Asher turned to her.

"Something to think about," they said softly. "Most people that are men or women or neither don't like being routinely misgendered. Its like wearing someone else's clothes, they don't fit and they make you feel uncomfortable." She frowned at them in confusion.

"But I don't mind people thinking I'm a woman," she said.

"There's more options than one or none," they said as the elevator came to a stop. "Just food for thought." they walked out, leaving her in the elevator struggling with the words as they walked to the door, opening it and motioning for her to walk through.

"Scribe, you should know to be careful with metal objects of that size-" Vargas started, but Blair stepped in front of them and glared at him.

"That was me, butthead," she snapped, making Cutler and Sarah snort and cover their mouths. "I was the one leaning out and I'm the one that dropped it. Don't yell at them when they did their job just fine."

"Yeah butthead," Cutler snickered, "Yell at the kid that's been a person for less than a week. Go on." Vargas looked around, then walked out the gates. "Good job kid."

"We have to get back to the Citadel," Sarah said, straightening up her face. "You had to return to Three-Dog, yes? You can tell him that everything is set."

"Of course," Blair said. "I can handle the metro from here." Sarah nodded, and waved a hand. Cutler winked at her before climbing back in his armor, Asher nodded to her, and the group made their way out to a nearby metro station.

She looked up at the sun trying to set on the other side of the sky, and decided it would be safest to find somewhere to sleep for the night. She ducked off to the side, to the nearby museum of history, She swore she heard the sound of casual conversation floating through a set of doors under a skull. She eyed it carefully and made her way in, opening the door to see a bunch of ghouls wandering around inside. One looked up at her in surprise, and walked over.

"Well would you lookit that? We got us a smoothskin visitor!" He laughed with a whooping sound. "We ain't seen one of you in a long time." She smiled, trying not to look too long at how much of his neck and lower face was missing.

"What's this place?" she asked, motioning at the area.

"You're in Underworld, smoothskin. It's the only safe place for we ghouls in D.C. We're out of sight and out of mind. The mutants leave us alone, and the Slavers don't come this far into the city, so it's not bad," he said with a shrug.

"And are you like, the mayor here?" she asked and he chuckled.

"I'm the maintenance man, name's Winthrop, by the way," he held out his decomposing hand, and she shook his hand. "I keep every hunk of old rusted pre-war garbage around here in operating condition. We got lights, water, and ventilation all running off the old crap they used to keep this place going for the tourists. I've managed to keep it going so far..."

"But?" Blair pushed, hearing the implicit sound in his voice.

"Well, I'm not sure how long I can keep it up," he said. "We scavenged just about all the scrap metal from places we can safely get to, I might have to-" he stopped and looked at her before his eyes brightened. "You get around, don't you?" he asked, and she nodded. "Tell you what, bring me back any scrap metal you find out there, and I'll trade what I can. We got stuff around here that we don't need, but a smoothskin might make use of!" she nodded, and he pat her on the head. "You're a good kid, just come back when you got some." she nodded again, and he let her wander around.

She made a few trades, got some better armor at the general store, and eventually wandered into a place with a sign calling itself the 9th Circle.

A man in the corner watched everybody with clouded blue eyes that managed to pierce through everybody walking through the bar.

"Hello sir," she said, walking past him.

"Talk to Ahzrukhal." he snapped.

"I was just-"

"Don't make me say it again." he kept looking, so she walked off to the bar, where a ghoul in a suit.

"Well, lookee here," he said, looking over her in a way that made her uncomfortable. "We got us a smoothskin that I ain't seen before. "I'm Ahzrukhal, and this..." he swept his arms to motion to the bar around them, "this is the Ninth Circle. Folks got problems, and I got liquor to sell to'em. You need anything, just let me know."

"Well, I was wondering about the guy in the corner," she said, pointing over her shoulder.

"That's Charon he's... a loyal employee," he said, again in a way that made her uncomfortable. "Don't mess with me, and he won't mess with you."

"Why did you say employee like that?" she asked.

"I hold his contract, which makes me his employer. He will do what I ask, when I ask, without question." when she stared at him with a quizzical expression he sighed and crossed his arms. "He came from an interesting group of individuals. They... well... they brainwashed him." she felt her eyebrows fly upwards. "He is absolutely loyal to whomever holds his contract. Unfailing, unflinching, until the day that employment ends. Don't get me wrong, he said with a laugh. "I have no doubt he holds no end of animosity towards me. But so long as he is my employee, he is as gentle as a teddy bear."

"That's slavery!" Blair gasped and the ghoul glowered at her.

"No, he is not!" he insisted, though she though she heard a snort from the corner. "Ma'am, you insult me. I do not believe in slavery, it's an abomination." she pursed her lips, skeptical. "I am a firm believer in personal choice. To force another person into bondage is unthinkable. Chains are earned, never forced."

She was struck with the sudden urge to beat him over the head with her bat.

"Charon made some choices that landed him in my employ. the matters of our contract is between him and I– no one else," he said with a look at her.

"Let me buy his contract off you," she said, the words, spewing forth before she could think about them properly. He burst into laughter.

"He's a valuable asset, what do you have to offer?" he asked, and she floundered.

"I can come back with caps!" she said, and he laughed again.

"Okay kid, you come back with, let's say..." he trailed off before saying. "Two-thousand caps, the contract's yours." She turned and looked at the man in the corner, who was looking back and gave her the tiniest shake of his head, with a small defeated shrug.

"Deal," she snapped, holding her hand out. He looked at it for a moment, then took her hand and shook it.

"Good luck scrounging those caps up," he said with a snort as she pushed away from the bar. Thoughts of finding a place to stay for the night were wiped from her mind, and she pushed back into the mall, sprinting the distance back to the metro to make it back to Three-Dog.

If this didn't count as fighting the Good Fight, she didn't know what did.

Chapter Text

Blair, August 21st 2277

"Damn kid, it's the middle of the night," Three-Dog said with a yawn, hand wrapped around a cup of coffee.

"I wouldn't have been able to sleep if I'd stayed in the Underworld," Blair admitted. "Where's my dad?" Three-dog laughed, shaking his head.

"He said something about a "Project Purity," ring a bell?" Blair shook her head. "Well he said he was going to visit a Doctor Li in Rivet City before he left."

"Where's that?" Blair asked, getting exasperated at all the running around she was having to do. He motioned for her pip-boy, which she handed over while bouncing on the balls of her feet.

"What's got the giant ants in your pants?" He asked as he scrolled over the map.

"There's a ghoul in the Underworld being kept as a slave," she said, still bouncing. He clicked the button and looked at her in confusion.

"Didn't think those folks tolerated slavery," he said, handing it back.

"It's- oh lord have mercy on me that's far- The guy said it was a contract, and the poor man was brainwashed into having to do whatever the person holding it said," she replied, buckling the pip-boy back on. "Said it was two thousand lousy caps to buy it off him. I have like, a hundred."

"And then you're going to be the owner," Three-Dog pointed out.

"I want him to be able to hold the contract," Blair said, looking back up. "I don't know how to fix it for the long term but he deserves to be able to be his own person." Three-Dog smiled at her.

"Well, look at you, kid. Fightin' the Good Fight. I bet your old man's gonna be proud of you," he said, putting a hand on her shoulder, and she smiled up at him. "Now get your ass in a bed and get some sleep. Can't save the world when you need a nap."

"Yessir," she said, and let herself be shoved into a cot in the corner of the radio, where she fell asleep to the sounds of him making announcements.

Butch, August 21st 2277

"Oh my god, you're right," Amata gasped. Freddie kept guard, poking his head out to make sure nobody snuck up on them. "They've opened the vault before! And they let in Blair and Mister James when we were all babies! They've lied to us our whole lives!"

"They're punishing the Birminghams for something that our ancestors did," Butch said waving a hand at the screen. "How many of us have wastelanders as grandparents? How many of the residents came from up there?"

"Let's gather everybody," Amata said, getting to her feet. "Meet me in the Classroom." Butch nodded, and they all snuck back out.

It took some time, but eventually all of the younger folks of their generation were inside the classroom with a barely awake Brotch.

"What's going on?" he asked, rubbing his eyes.

"Why did nobody ever tell us that the vault used to be open?"Amata asked, which woke him up as everybody started to murmur. Brotch took a deep breath and sighed.

"The Birmingham's came in from the wastes before the door closed," Butch supported from where he leaned on the door-frame. "James brought Blair in to keep him safe from everything out there, and the overseer made him lie to his own kid. All of us were lied to!" The room burst into noise as everybody had varying reactions to this. Brotch whistled at them, which triggered old reflexes and made them all quiet down.

"Yes, the overseer made us all keep it from everybody who was too young to remember the vaults being open. It made things especially hard for some of our dwellers when it happened," Brotch admitted. "Know that it wasn't easy on many of us, but you see how he's been acting lately. It would have gone poorly."

"Well what are we supposed to do about it?" Susie asked, a cup of coffee in her hands. "Start slowly telling our children the truth?"

"We demand that we open to the outside world!" Amata insisted. "We should reach out, there's probably more families like theirs that need somewhere safe to raise their kids! We should do trade with people out there-"

"Yeah your dad's gonna be so into that," one of the other girls snorted.

"We make it clear we know and we ain't takin' no for an answer," Butch said. "We're gonna hafta put up a fight, they killed Jonas over this shit, but we gotta make it clear it's time for a change."

They all looked between each other, one by one nodding.

"We have to make a plan, we can't just go at this will-nilly," Amata said, picking up chalk and wiping down the board. Butch watched, his end of things taken care of. Brotch walked around to him as the others moved closer to the board, throwing out ideas for how to proceed.

"What's going on in that mind of yours?" he asked, watching Butch carefully.

"S'all talk," he said quietly, waving at the room. "We'll open up but I don't see anybody actually goin' out. They've always been nothin' but talk. Me'n Blair were the men of action 'round here. I just want'em to talk long enough I can get outta here." Brotch raised an eyebrow.

"Did you just compliment the girl you spend nineteen years bullying?" Botch asked.

"When push came t'shove, Blair was the one that saved my mom," Butch said, looking to his teacher. "None of the snakes showed their faces, none even left their apartments. Blair was runnin' for his life an' still stopped to help me. I gotta make things right with him. I'll find him, start fixing things." Brotch chuckled.

"Must be the wasteland in the two of you," he said softly. Butch thought about that for a minute. His whole life he'd wondered which of the men around him had been his father, and why he was worth making but not worth claiming. For a few years he was sure it was James, the adults always seemed to treat the Birminghams the same way they treated Butch. Maybe that was why.

"Apparently Wasteland blood does good things for the vault," Butch said, "Not so bad a thing." Brotch nodded, standing with Butch as they watched the others talk and make plans.

Blair, August 21st 2277

Getting into the city was a bit of a pain, having a painful conversation back and forth with the chief of security as well as an even more painful one with an old man that had asked her to find an android that was most definitely a runaway slave, she finally made her way into the lab, asking around until she was pointed to an older woman with greying black hair.

"Excuse me, Doctor Li?" she asked, walking up and clinging to her backpack straps. The woman huffed a sigh and turned.

"Look, this is a restricted area. I'm tired of telling you people..." her words trailed off and her eyes grew as she caught sight of Blair. "I...Its you... My heavens, you look so much like him. "You're James's daughter, aren't you?"

"How do you know who I am?" she asked, walking closer. "Have we met?"

"Oh, you were too young to remember me, and apparently James never spoke of me. Typical." She practically spat these last words. "I worked with your parents many years ago. Now I run the science lab here in Rivet City. It was all I had left. When your mother died your father decided to leave with you. He abandoned our work. We had no choice but to do the same." Blair made a face, but decided not to comment too much.

"I'm trying to find him, have you seen him?" Blair asked, this time Li made a face.

"You haven't? I assumed he sent you here," she quipped before putting her hands on her hips. "For that matter, aren't you supposed to be in a vault? James said he left you there."

"This isn't about me," Blair snorted. "This is about my dad, now where the heck is he?"

"Don't take that tone with me young lady," Li snapped, crossing her arms. "He's not here."

"How many times do I have to ask where he is?" Blair asked throwing her hands up. "I'm not gonna apologize for taking a tone when I've asked like a hundred times already where he is. I can tell he's not here, just cause I'm wearing glasses doesn't mean I can't see!" Li rolled her eyes.

"Your father insisted that we should return to work on Project Purity. I tried telling him that it's been too long, that there's no way it would work. Predictably he refused to listen to me. Said he can prove it will work and headed off to the old lab."

"Which is where?" Blair pressed, not bothering to fight the eye-roll that followed.

"It's in the old Jefferson Memorial building to the northwest," she said, motioning in the vague direction. "But don't bother, it was foolish of him to think about going out there alone. He'll probably- young lady!" Blair didn't care to listen, turning tail and sprinting back up the stairs to the market. The Jefferson memorial was visible from the walkway to the city. It took some looking around once she'd gotten past the super mutants that had camped out, but she eventually found her way into a room with a bunch of water swirling around a tank.

More poking around found her a series of holotapes that informed her of work on a water purifier that her father referred to as Project Purity, until he finally said he was off to a vault off under some garage or other. She yelled her frustration, leaning against a wall staring at the water swirling as anger bubbled up in her stomach.

She was forced to follow her father on goose chase after wild goose chase, and what would happen then? Would she simply be sent on yet another wild goose chase once she found this hidden vault? When would the trail finally lead her to her father?

Her mind sent her back to the Underworld, to the poor man enslaved with invisible chains.

"Lord, you work in mysterious ways," she whispered into the empty room. "Have you kept me from Dad so that I could help this poor soul find salvation? Is it your will that I serve you by serving the wasteland?"

Silence followed, always did after she prayed.

She pushed off the wall, slowly making her way down the road, she'd take the metro back to the super-duper mart, and from there she'd return to Megaton. Maybe Moira would have some work that didn't involve landmines. But she knew now where her father would return, and if he tried to talk to Doctor Li then she'd be able to tell him that his daughter was trying to find him. Or maybe not, she seemed to be the self-serving type.

She'd finally made it back to the Super-Duper mart when a young child in broken overalls ran through the lot, yelling something in her direction.

"Hey whoa," she said, holding her arms out as he stumbled into her. "What's going on? Where are your parents?"

"There's things! Monsters!" the boy yelled, clinging to his arm and looking back over his shoulder. "They were chasing me, make it stop!" he clung to her waist and she pat his back awkwardly. She wasn't used to children that young.

"It's okay, I'm tough and strong, maybe I can help," she said, gently pushing him away and crouching down. His face was dirty with soot, with streaks down his cheeks from tears. The boy looked her over, eyes hovering over her arms that were uncovered under the leather armor strapped to them.

"I mean, you do look stronger than the other grown-ups were," he sniffled. "Can... can you protect me?" he asked, and she nodded.

"I can, but I need to know what's going on," she said, and he nodded, wiping a his snotty nose on the back of his blue glove.

"There's..." he stopped and thought before spreading his arms wide. "These big things. They're all over Greyditch... They killed everybody..." he screwed up his face, trying not to cry more. "My pappa was still in the house when I ran, can you find him?"

"Yeah, I'll do my best," she said, and he nodded at her with the tiniest smile.

"Thank you," he managed, sniffling through the snot bubbling in his nose. "My house is next to the diner and the big sign. Please find my pappa, make him come back.

"Okay, I absolutely will if I can, but right now we need you to get somewhere safe," she said, straightening up. "Come on, my house isn't too far, you can stay there where its safe until I find your dad." He nodded, taking her hand and letting her lead him off to Megaton. She sent him into her house, and jogged over to Craterside supply to get him some food that the Mr. Handy could feed him, and to have Moira point out Gryditch on the map.

Once he'd gotten a little cleaned up and there were noodles on the stove being babysat by the Mr. Handy, she made her way back out. It was starting to get dark, but it felt time sensitive.

She made it back down the hill before she came across a rugged looking man dragging another man with a blinking collar on his neck. The collared man looked up with pleading eyes, hands bound together with ropes.

"Get outta my way, bitch," the rugged man snarled, "Or you'll get the same treatment." He said, pointing to the collar with his gun. Anger boiled again in her stomach, but this time, she gave into the anger.

The slaver turned his eyes away from her, so she took her bat and launched at him, bringing the wood crashing into his skull. He cried out in pain, and she brought the bat around to crash into his nose. The slaver managed to get one bullet off, skimming her cheek before she brought the bat back into his face, crushing his head repeatedly into the rock beneath until the soul had left his eyes and he'd breathed his last breath.

"Thank you, thank you so much," the man with the collar said, reaching out for her. "Please, can you get this thing off me?" he asked.

"Shouldn't be too hard," she panted, waving him over and sliding the bat between her bag straps. She snipped a couple wires and tried to get it open, but was forced to look through her bag for something else.

"Uh, is it supposed to vibrate like that?" he asked, and she looked up in time to watch the collar- and his head- explode. This blood splattered over as she screamed, and his body fell to the ground. she stared at it for so long before she covered her mouth and tears began to fall down her face.

"I'm so sorry," she whimpered, sitting down and continuing to stare at him. After she finally got her wits about her, she pulled his body over to a house, where she found a shovel and got to digging. She couldn't make the grave especially deep, but it was better than leaving the poor man to be picked at by the wildlife.

She turned off her radio, and silently made her way to Greyditch.

"Yeah, definitely monsters," she muttered to herself as she watched an ant in the distance breath fire, sneaking around one nearby and ducking into the house near the diner. There were parts of the house on fire, and on instinct she grabbed a nearby fire extinguisher, doing her best to put out the fires, seeing the bodies of ants in the main room and hallway, and then finding the charred corpse of a man on the floor near the kitchen.

"I'm so sorry Bryan," she sobbed, looking down at the man. There was a set of keys nearby, and she grabbed them, ducking out to look in the nearby shed, hoping that maybe the man hadn't been Bryan's father, and his father was in the shed.

Instead she found an empty room with a terminal talking about an experiment on ants happening in the sewer.

"Damn it all," she sobbed, falling against the wall ans sliding into the fetal position. "God, what kind of tests are these? I don't understand..." she sniffed and wiped the tears away from her face.

Chapter Text

Blair, August 22nd 2277

An older blond man screamed at her as she opened the door at the end of the tunnel, and she screamed right back.

"You really mustn't creep up on people like that," he said with a nasally voice as he clutched at his chest. "You startled me!"

"Says the man that almost got shot for scaring me," she gasped. "I though you were a ghoul, I wasn't expecting anybody to be alive down here."

"Well, it's the ideal place for my work," he said, motioning her further inward and closing the door behind her, "You realize you're trampling about in a delicately balanced and highly sensitive experimentation area?"

"I'm slightly more concerned with the fact there's fire breathing ants that seem to have killed an entire town," Blair said, leaning against the wall and snatching a piece of jerky from his desk to chew on. "But sure, I'll entertain this. What kind of experiments?"

"My experiments are of a complex nature and would take a scientist to explain," he said, crossing his eyes and looking haughtily at her. She raised an eyebrow back.

"What are you then, a turtle?" She quipped. "I thought you were a scientist." His eyes lit up, as if she had just made him realize this was the case.

"Oh, wait! I am a scientist! How marvelous-"

"Okay, never mind that," Blair said, waving her hands. "What can I do to end the fire breath ant problem?" She asked, and the man deflated a little while. She went back and forth for a while with him, talking about the four warrior ants guarding the queen, and what he'd do once she had dispatched them, and he offered to repay her once it was done.

That had been the easy part.

She returned nearly twenty minutes later, slightly charred.

"Well, the way is clear," she coughed. "Can I get my payment now?" He perked up and nodded, fussing around his desk before looking up to her.

"Ah yes, I have... hmmm, which mutagenic bio-enhancer injection would you prefer? At this time I have one for enhanced perception and one for enhanced strength." Blair stared at the man blankly as her stomach dropped in disappointment.

"Strength is fine," she muttered, realizing that experimenting on ants probably wasn't a particularly lucrative avenue.

"Did you find my pappa?" Bryan asked as she walked into her house a couple hours later.

"So, yes... but..." Blair sighed, rubbing the back of her neck as she leaned against the door. "He's... I'm sorry but he's dead." The boy looked down as he processed the words before sighing heavily.

"I guess I already knew," he muttered, breaking Blair's heart. "I wanna cry but..."

"I understand," Blair said, walking over and sitting down across from him. "The good news is that the monsters are gone. Its not gonna happen again." He nodded absently, poking at the mirelurk cakes on his plate. "Do you have anywhere you can go? Anybody you can live with?"

The boy thought for a long while, eventually pushing the mirelurk cakes to her, which she gladly ate.

"Dad always said I had an Aunt Vera in Rivet City," he said, looking up to her. "Maybe she'd take me in?"

"Better than nothing," she said with a shrug. "I'll head over there tomorrow, but right now I need to sleep." The boy nodded, letting her make her way upstairs to pass out on the bed upstairs.

Blair, August 23rd 2277

"Can I at least stay for the night?" Blair asked Vera as Bryan ran off into the room he was going to be living in.

"Sure, if you have one-hundred and twenty caps," Vera said cheerfully.

"I have a hundred," Blair grumbled, faced only with the smile that seemed to be losing light. "I'll figure it out, you're welcome for rescuing your nephew and making sure he got here safe." She turned a back on her heel and marched off and muttering under breath. "Gee, thanks Blair, least I can do for you bringing my Nephew in is to give you a place to sleep for the night. No trouble at all that you housed and fed him for two days and all you got out of it was some weird serum." She sighed and shook her head, making her way out of Rivet City as the sun lowered towards the horizon.

A small caravan waited at the base of the bridge, with some folks dragging trunks past her and into the city. The same ashy-skinned ghoul leaned against an old trunk bed attached to a brahmin, with two sets of trunks that looked big enough to lay in. She spoke to a figure with an abundance of blond waves, wearing a stained tank-top over old military cargo pants and combat boots, arms crossed as they spoke back and forth.

"You're still in one piece, guess you took my advice and didn't go into the Super-Duper Mart?" the ghoul called, and the head of curly hair turned to reveal Cutler's face, scarred brow raised inquisitively.

"I didn't, but I did survive," Blair said, hooking her thumbs behind her backpack straps.

"Figure out where your dad went?" Cutler asked as she came even with the group, and in the tank top she could see faint scars along cutler's chest through the armholes.

"Kind of, but not really," Blair said with a hefty sigh. "He went after something in a vault hidden in a garage, apparently."

"Oh, so you're the one that Three-Dog is calling the Lone Wanderer," The old ghoul said with a shoulder shimmy that made Cutler laugh.

"He's doing what?" Blair asked, brow furrowing.

"He's calling you the Lone Wanderer on GNR," Cutler said, nodding with a smirk that made her stomach do a loop. "Talking about you disabling the bomb in Megaton and fixing the radio signal."

"Oh joy," she muttered, looking around. "Sorry to ask this, but are you camping out here tonight?"

"Yeah, why?" the old ghoul asked, understandably suspicious.

"I need somewhere to sleep tonight that's safe," Blair said with a shrug. "I don't want to take the trip back to Megaton in the dark and I want to try and look for work in the market come tomorrow morning."

"I thought you were looking for your dad, why are you looking for work?" Cutler asked. Blair sighed and explained the situation in the Underworld, and she watched both the ghouls and Cutler's eyes grow dark.

"How much do you need to gather?" The old ghoul asked, flicking a cigarette butt into the water.

"About nineteen-hundred caps," Blair said with a sigh.

"I can't go over there, I don't want to have to explain to Danse where I went," Cutler said, looking up at the setting sun. "But you should go blast some heads off Ron."

"This is what happens when I don't come down here myself for so long," she grumbled, looking off into the sky while seeming to do some calculations with her fingers tapping rhythmically on her shotgun's stock. "If you can scav up enough scrap for a thousand caps, I can cover you the rest."

"are you sure, I can't-" Blair started, but the old ghoul raised a hand and held her eyes.

"I don't abide slavers receivin' my cargo kid. You're obviously willing to put in the work, and when they're free we can talk about how I'll get the caps back. I'm not due in the Underworld for a while... I should have known that slimy bastard would try something. I'll be out here for the next week, you're free to stay the night but I highly suggest you try scavving outside of D.C.."

"Thank you, I really appreciate it," Blair said with a smile. The old ghoul gave her a smile.

"Of course kid, and call me Ronnie," she said, sticking a hand out that Blair accepted and shook. "I'll be here then back to Megaton to get Moira and Moriarty their stock for another week. After that I'm headed to The Underworld. If I beat you to it, you may not need to pay him the caps." Blair grinned wickedly, and watched a spark of sadness spread through Ronnie's eyes.

"Thank you Miss Ronnie, I very much appreciate it," Blair said before walking off into the crowd to find a place to spread out a bag for the night.

Cutler, August 23rd 2277

"Someone's getting soft," Cutler teased, poking Ronnie in the side. the old ghoul's eyes returned to their usual state of exasperation and she smacked him over the back of the head.

"Oh some thanks that is," she quipped, a half-smirk on what was left of her lips. "I take the slave collar off your neck and get you a good job and you go and call me soft."

"Yeah and you looped me into the Railroad," Cutler snorted, eyes darting around. "There's more to it than that. What's going through your mind?"

"She reminds me of a girl I knew," Ronnie said with a sigh. "Something in the eyes..."

"Another vault dweller that escaped one-oh-one?" Cutler asked, watching a deep melancholy spread over her face.

"No, a kid from before the war. One that had to grow up too fast, I always wondered what happened to her in the vault she ran to. Nobody ever came out," Ronnie said softly.

"If nobody ever came out, they probably died in there," Cutler said darkly, rolling his shoulders as his own mind flitted back to the mutant hive outside of Little Lamplight.

"I mean, its been two hundred years since they went in, I figured she'd died by now," Ronnie said with a sad laugh. "I just wish I could have known what happened to her."

"Well, spilled milk now," Cutler said, looking around and moving towards the truck bed.

"You're sure your pals won't walk in on this?" Ronnie asked, looking up at the main entrance to Rivet City.

"Oh yeah, I paid for two rooms and they're gonna use and abuse every inch of theirs," Cutler said with a laugh, climbing in. "I'll be lucky if they decide to leave in the morning instead of making me shell out more caps."

"You're making me glad that Weatherly doesn't let me in there," Ronnie said with a snort.

"Imagine having to dance around the showers with them," Cutler said with a chuckle, throwing open a box to reveal a person blinking at the setting sun above them. "Welcome to D.C. T6-32."

"Why is it all so green?" The synth coughed as Cutler pulled him to his feet, holding him as the legs registered that they'd fallen asleep.

"Perpetual layer of ambient radiation," Cutler said, passing him down to Ronnie, who helped him stretch his legs so that they'd wake up faster. He then opened the second box, waking the sleeping synth within.

"Sorry Missus Filmore-" she gasped, before looking around in confusion. "Well this most definitely isn't the Institute."

"Glad you got some sleep," Cutler laughed, helping the woman out. "Alright, lets get you two your new faces and memories." The synths nodded, allowing Cutler and Ronnie to lead them off to Pinkerton and Virus.

Chapter Text

Blair, August 27th 2277

"Bongo bongo bongo- that stupid song!" Blair snapped, kicking a can that was in her path. "Lord what moved you to inspire that man to write that song? The most annoying earworm on the set list. The list of sins I'd commit for better songs..." she trailed off and shook her head, walking up to another big blue mailbox and peaking inside.

"What do you think you're doing?" A woman snapped behind her. She just about wet herself as the bin snapped closed in surprise, turning and spinning to face a

"Sweet merciful heavens!" Blair gasped, leaning against the mailbox. "I was just looking to see if there was anything! I didn't realize-"

"You've been poking around asking all sorts of questions lately," the woman quipped, brown hair falling around a brown face. "Asking questions, "investigating." Are you some kind of investigator? A detective?"

"I've just been looking for work I swear!" Blair squeaked.

"Could fool me, sounds more like you have a personal grudge against an innocent android trying to live his life!" The woman said, poking a finger into Blair's combat armor. She looked at the older woman with mild confusion.

"I'm so confused," Blair whispered, clinging to the mailbox as the woman searched every inch of her face. The woman eased up after a moment.

"That old man from the commonwealth, he hired you to track down the missing android, right?" She asked, watching Blair's face.

"Yeah, but he never put a number on the caps so I wasn't prioritizing him," Blair admitted.

"Then why ask Moira?" she pressed, eyebrow riding higher up her face.

"Because I was curious, I didn't realize that was a crime," Blair said, feeling her neck turn red. "Listen, it sounds like slavery so I wasn't going to do much about it, just say nothing came up while I was poking around." the woman's shoulders relaxed.

"Alright, well... If you want to help the android," she said, and she pulled a small chip from her pocket and offered it up. "Give this to him, tell him that you found it on a scav stand or on his corpse." Blair took it and frowned at it.

"And this will get him to back off?" She asked, eyebrow raised.

"It should, yes," the woman said. Blair looked up at it a moment later.

"Why do you care what happens to him?" She asked.

"I'm part of a group of people trying to rescue androids from their Commonwealth-imposed slavery," she said proudly. "We help them... disappear."

"Oh cool, do you help other slaves too?" She asked, hoping she was about to strike gold- technically caps, but still.

"We help human slaves when we're able," she said with a grimace. "But there's other groups in the wasteland who give them aid. The androids only have us."

"What are the other groups then?" Blair pushed. The woman trailed off and stared at her for a moment.

"Just take that to Doctor Zimmer, tell him the android is dead," she said before walking off.

"Some help you are," Blair grumbled, turning and walking back down the road until she found a small rope bridge across a deep trench following yelling that was happening on the inside.

"What fucking good are you!" A teenager yelled at three power armored figures. "You want us to join but don't have the balls to go rescue our friends?"

"If they're willing to join then-" a man's voice asked from he tinny speaker of the power armor. The teenagers cut him off and continued yelling, with one picking up a rock and throwing it at them.

"What's going on?" Blair asked, walking up to a boy that couldn't have been much older than her, who was watching from the edge as the power-armored figures tried to continue speaking over the yelling of the teenagers.

"Brotherhood's here on another recruitment run," the boy said, doing a double take. "Who the hell are you?"

"Blair Birmingham, I was looking for scrap, followed the voices," she said, waving to the crowd.

"Should sell that pip-boy, you'd make a fortune," he said with a scoff.

"Why are they yelling?" Blair asked.

"Mutants raided and took some of our folks, including the closest thing we had to a real doctor," he said softly. "Now these brotherhood assholes are wanting to recruit the few able-bodied fighters we have left but aren't willing to rescue our folks."

"Where did your folks get dragged to?" Blair asked, watching as the teens fought the brotherhood folks and each other.

"There's an old police department the muties use as a base, folks usually get dragged there," he said, motioning in a vague direction. Blair looked over at the brotherhood members and marched over.

"Hey! Whats the deal here?" She yelled at them, distracting the crowd as they stared at a newcomer marching up.

"Unless you wish to join the brotherhood then its none of your business-"

"I mean if you want them to join the brotherhood then maybe you should listen to them," she said waving to the crowd. "They want your help getting their community members back-"

"This isn't a community, this is a drop zone of abandoned teenagers," one said with a snort.

"How are they supposed to think they're going to be taken care of in the brotherhood if you wont help rescue one of them?" Blair asked, hands on her hips. "Though with how ridiculous that sentence was that just came out of your mouth, I'm not surprised you're too stupid to understand a what a community looks like when its literally yelling at you." The other teenagers started their yelling back up as the brotherhood members looked around. "Get out of here, they don't want you here." They exchanged looks with each other, and then one nodded, and the crowd split to let them go.

"We're still screwed without Red," somebody to the back muttered.

"He's right," somebody nearby said, looking around sadly. "If they won't go get her, then... We may as well go with them the next time return. It's safer than staying here."

"And Lucy's still six years from leaving Little Lamplight, she's the only one that listened to Red," Someone else muttered.

"What does Red look like?" Blair asked, turning to face the group, who all stared at her in a mixture of shock and distrust. "I'll go get her." This was met with laughter.

"You're gonna go up against a whole station filled with mutants?" One asked as they laughed.

"I cleared the Musuem of Technology in D.C. of them," she said, somewhat confidently. They teens looked around, laughter turning to murmurs before a girl with dark skin walked forward, studying Blair before nodding and walking the rest of the way, taking Blair gently by the arm and walking her to the road, describing Red and pointing the way to the police station that the mutants hid out in.

Blair, August 28th 2277

Red and Shorty were squat behind her as they snuck out the back of the building. She held a hand up, sneaking forward to look around the corner to be sure they were clear before waving them on. They stayed as low as they could for as long as they could, with Red covered by Blair's sleeping bag so that her red jumpsuit wasn't quite as visible. Once they were beyond the front gates all three broke into a sprint, headed for the cemetery and out of sight of the mutants. The two younger teens collapsed and gasped for air.

"I didn't think we'd make it out," Red gasped, almost sobbing from the relief. "They took so many of us-"

"Don't think about that right now," Blair panted, waving a hand. "You made it out, that's what's important." Red nodded, wiping away tears of either relief or grief.

"Its just gonna happen again," Shorty said as he got his breath back. "They're gonna come again and take more of us."

"I took their weapons as I was killing them, I can at least get you all outfitted to some extent," she said, gut twisting knowing that she would have to sacrifice the guns to keep the town safe, and they'd have to find the remaining three-hundred caps somewhere else. The smile Red gave her was almost worth it.

Breath caught, they decided it was worth the risk of traveling at night to get back to Big town faster, and thankfully the trip wasn't too bad. The town had been asleep, but as yells among the night-guard went up more woke up to greet their saved friends with tears and hugs. After the reunion was done, as the sun was rising, Blair handed out the weapons that she'd taken off the corpses, distributing a handful of appropriate ammunition along with the guns and being sure that everyone taking the machetes and baseball bats had the strength to wield them.

The rising sun caught on a pile of scrap, and a large robot that was slumped forward among it.

"Hey, Red," she called, getting the pseudo-mayor's attention with a wave of her hand and pointing to the pile.

"We've heard through the generations that its leftover from when the Army was camped out," she said, walking over and looking to it. "Word is that every so often somebody from Little Lamplight would come along and fix it up to keep it running. The last mayor of Lamplight was pretty good with bots like that..."

"what happened to them?" Blair asked, and the girl shrugged.

"Word is they died before they could make it here. Good fighter, good scavver, bad health problems," she said with a sad shrug.

"Let me see if I can fix it up, last you till the next robot savant comes over," she said, handing off the last pistol and a handful of bullets.

"If you think you can, then by all means," Red said, waving a hand. Blair nodded and walked over, pulling out the small set of tools that she'd bought off Moira when she passed back through Megaton on her way out.

She'd been working on it for a couple of hours when the shouting started again, and she turned to see more Brotherhood folks. The three power-armored folks, and then some wearing brown fatigues, along with somebody wearing a vest with a tool set around the waist that she'd learned was a field scribe's uniform from the team in GNR. The scribe had peeled off around the crowd of arguing teens and headed over to where Blair was tinkering on the bot.

"We have to stop meeting like this," Said Asher's smooth voice, and she looked up to see their brown eyes looking over a respirator that hid the lower half of their face.

"Give me your schedule and I'll do what I can to meet under better circumstances," she replied dryly, making them laugh. "What's going on over there?"

"There was a brotherhood team that came here on a recruitment run yesterday," they said with a sigh. "Got yelled at by a- and I'm quoting here- "belligerent teenager." The Scav Team I was with got pulled to help because half of us are from Little Lamplight. Some of them are too old for these folks to remember though. I didn't even know half of them were Lamplighters until they got pulled."

"I heard some of them mention Little Lamplight, what is it?" She asked, looking up as they looked over the robot with a critical eye.

"Place where abandoned or orphaned kids end up. Sometimes parents leave their kids there cause they can't feed them and know that the older kids will help raise them. When we get too old we get sent out, most people end up here," they said, waving a hand around.

"So the brotherhood knows both of these places exist and doesn't do anything to help?" she asked, brow furrowed. Asher shrugged.

"Leave them undefended and when the kids get old enough they come here, once they're here they're scared and-or don't know how to survive in the wastes. Brotherhood comes through and offers them a better life if they join. Usually its an easy score," they said with a shrug.

"That's horrific, I thought the brotherhood was supposed to help people," she said, and Asher sighed.

"The brotherhood exists to help itself," they said, walking over and looking over her work. "You put the wires in the wrong place. These two should be swapped." Blair looked at the wires, then back to them.

"Well then you help me fix it," she quipped.

"If I fix it then it'll have to come with me," they said with a shrug. "Brotherhood rules."

"I'll fix it then," she grumbled.

"Trasher? Is that you?" Red asked softly, and Blair saw the spark of panic in Asher's eyes. She focused on the bot so that they didn't know she'd heard.

"Don't tell anybody else, but yes," they whispered as Red got closer, Blair making more noise.

"We all thought you died!"

"Shh! If they find out-"

"What are you doing with these assholes? We needed you here!"

"I wanted a new life, Red. And I was trying to get out of here as fast as I could, Now keep your voice down."

Blair made more noise as Asher backed away to stand with Red, who stood with her back to the other brotherhood members.

"We needed you, we've been desperately trying to fight off the Slavers from one side and Super Mutants from the other!" Red continued.

"I had to get away, I was... I was becoming too much like Scabs, and you're old enough to remember how that went for him," they said, voice barely audible.

"Well you're here now, stay and help us!"

"It's not that easy, Red, I'm sorry," they replied, and she watched Red's face go through a handful of emotions.

"Did... did you just-"

"Things have changed, Red. I'd stay and help if I could but I can't abandon the brotherhood. Not yet." Blair watched Red's face soften, still trying to pretend she was totally focused on the bot.

"Why?" she asked, watching their eyes over the mask as silence stretched out.

"I fell in love, and he joined the brotherhood to be more than a scav so I can't leave until he does," Asher replied, voice cracking. Red smiled a little bit, then poked their arm.

"You got soft."

"Fuck off."

"Big ol' softie over here."

"Don't make me regret coming here."

"Trasher the Vicious Raider turned into a teddy bear!" She teased, eyes glittering with mischief.

"I will take you to Paradise Falls if you don't cut that shit out," they said, sounding affectionately exasperated.

"I don't believe that anymore!"

"Fuck off," they said, shoving her away gently. "Go focus on your people." She stuck her tongue out them before walking over to the crowd of yelling folks.

"Any pointers?" Blair asked as they got closer. Asher looked over their shoulder to look at the other brotherhood members trying to convince the teens to join.

"Let me know if anybody starts coming this way," they whispered, pulling tools out of the pouches along their belt. "And give me a hand."

They worked for at least twenty minutes before the yelling turned into disgruntled murmurs, and they could hear the brotherhood folks slowly doing intake. Blair kept an eye out while holding wires and tubes that Asher told her to hold.

"Someone's coming over," she whispered after fifteen minutes of intake, watching a figure in power armor walk over. Asher gave a heavy sigh and fixed the panel back on the bot.

"Damn thing isnt fixable," Asher said, turning to look at the figure. "Sorry Vance but it's not even good for parts."

"We're about to leave," Vance said with a high pitched voice and a nod. "We can meet everybody at the scrap yard."

"Yeah, just give me a minute," Asher replied. Vance nodded and walked off, and Asher turned towards Blair. "All you have to do is connect the colored wires together, but wait until we're gone." Blair nodded, an Asher left with a nod of their head before walking off, eyes covered by their hat as the remaining teenagers watched a fifth of their community walk off with the brotherhood. Blair watched Asher pat Red on the shoulder before passing by and sidling up to Vance's side, another person in fatigues taking up their other side and walking out with them.

Blair gave them about fifteen minutes to walk off before she connected the wires Asher had told her to, and the bot began to whir to life.

The remaining teens were grateful, and Blair was basically passed around for hugs and thanks before ending with Red in front of her, holding out a tin of caps.

"Here, for what you did for us," she said, offering up the tin. "It's not much, but its what we could scrounge up." Blair opened it up, and saw the bundled caps. It had to be at least a hundred and fifty, enough that she could sell the remaining scavenged guns and be able to meet Ronnie for the other thousand.

"Keep it," Blair said, closing the tin and handing it back. "You need them more than I do."

"Are you sure?"

"I wasn't even the one that got the bot operational, that was Asher," she said with a shrug. Red smiled wider, and tried to hand the tin back. "Please-"

"Nope, keep the caps," Blair said, sticking her hands in the air over the girls hands and backing away as Red tried to follow.

"Take the damn caps!"

"Gotta catch me first!" Blair yelled, bolting off to the laughter of the teens left behind. Her stomach sank as she skirted the bot and off into the distance. She knew it was the right thing to do, but it was another day she'd have to spend scavving. She slowed to a walk once she was out of range of Big Town,

She made her way back across the river, and towards a scrapyard she'd seen in the distance when she was headed to the police department. In the distance she saw a small team walking towards the scrapyard, and vaguely wondered if that was Asher's team.

she didn't have long before she got her answers. She caught up to them fairly quickly as they overlooked the scrapyard, hearing yelling and barking and gunshots.

"We should help them!" Cutler snapped, and she saw them in the brown fatigues that she recognized from the other group. "We're going to have to-"

"We will wait until the raiders are done fighting the civilians and finish them off while they nurse their wounds," an unfamiliar voice said as Blair got close enough to overlook the scrapyard, seeing multiple people buzzing around, and the echoed snarls of a dog. "It might be a trap, they're probably waiting for us to get down there to ambush them."

"Coward," Blair said, pushing past and making Asher snort with laughter as she ran down the hill and towards the scrap yard.

The raiders weren't expecting her, and were either rummaging through belongings or trying to fight off the dog that was snarling and biting at them. They didn't know she was there until the first man's head was burst open by her shotgun. The second didn't react in time either, receiving a bellyful of buckshot and toppling down. She pulled out her baseball bat as the others charged, breaking arms before busting heads in, with the dog tearing out the throat of one of the men before returning to sniff at a man that lay against the wall with his organs spilling out of a cut. It whined as it sniffed at him, and Blair went over to check on the dog.

"Hey bud, was that your owner?" She asked softly. The dog looked to her with big sad eyes. "I don't have much, but you're welcome to stay with me, if you want." It gave her a hushed boof, walked over to sniff her outstretched hand, and then let her give it pets while also searching for a collar. "Dogmeat, huh? Well, welcome to the family, Dogmeat. There'll be more of us soon, once i find my dad." Dogmeat flopped into her lap, rolling to give her access for belly rubs, and to see that the dog was a girl.

After five minutes of belly rubs and about twenty minutes of scavving, the brotherhood members finally trickled in, all arguing.

"You know," Blair said, walking around an old rusty vehicle as the first large figure in power armor walked around the corner. "If y'all hadn't been such big cowards, these poor bastards may have stood a chance." Cutler gave her a bittersweet smile as Asher shot a hidden dirty look at the power armored figure while a couple other scribes split into the yard with somebody else in fatigues or power armor.

"Our first priority is protection of brotherhood assets," the towering figure said as Asher and Cutler stuck together, walking off. But that seemed to strike a nerve with Cutler, who turned and glowered at the figure.

"Oh, protection of assets, but you still wouldn't sign off on their marriage request so Danse would get bereavement if something happened?" Cutler snipped, and even through the helmet, Blair knew that the figure was shooting him a dirty look.

"Just because Sentinel Lyons claimed you as a squire doesn't mean you get to talk to me in such a manner," was the clipped reply. "And I was doing Knight Danse a favor by not letting him couple himself to someone too confused to understand his place in the world-"

"You shut your fucking mouth Kreig-" Cutler snarled, pushing forward, but Blair jumped between Cutler and Kreig, catching Cutler as the power armored figure raised his rifle.

"It's not worth it Cutler," Asher said, reached forward and trying to grab his arm as Blair tried to act as a shield- though she wasn't sure who she was protecting.

"You heard the scribe, woman," Kreig said. Blair watched the spark of anger in Cutler's eyes fan into a flame. She then found herself yanked away by Asher as Cutler rushed the figure. With a few movements the armor was open, and he hurled the older man out of the armor and across the ground.

"For fuck's sake Kreig," sighed one of the power armored figure who accompanied an older woman as Cutler launched to the now undefended Kreig, who looked up in fear as Cutler pinned him to the ground with a knee in the gut and began to punch his face in.

"Help me, Lynn!" Kreig yelled before receiving a rifle butt to the mouth. the older woman snorted and shook her head.

"Y'all west coast folks are mighty pathetic," the scribe beside who Blair presumed to be Lynn said with a thick accent that Blair couldn't quite place."Thought you was the big dog here."

"I don't think he can talk around Cutler's fist," Asher said with a snicker, and the other scribe joined in the laughter.

"What's happening?" Blair asked Asher softly.

"Something long overdue," Asher said with a sparkle in their eye. "Danse was always around to keep him grounded and play referee when Kreig ran his mouth. He should have known better to run his mouth. Cutler was born a woman, our medical team gave him a procedure that helped him feel more like the man he is, but like I said, Kreig's from out west. Western brotherhood's too close-minded for their own good sometimes." Blair watched as panic spread through the older man's face as Cutler continued to wail on him.

She pushed away from Asher and ran up, catching Cutler's arm as he reared back for another punch, which made him look up as she shook her head.

"I think he's had enough, two of his teeth are missing," she said softly, which seemed to reset something in him. "And your knuckles are messed up, he's not worth hurting yourself." Cutler processed her words, and slowly nodded, though he mad a point to stomp on Kreig's crotch as he got up, making the man roll over and whine as Lynn and his scribe cackled.

"Lookit that Kreig, needed a kid to save your ass," the scribe cackled as Asher walked over.

"Maybe don't run your mouth like that next time," Lynn said with a shake of his head, touching his scribe on the shoulder and heading off into the scrapyard with the scribe.

"Lyons will hear about this, he'll have your head-"

"Considering that Lynn and Parton witnessed you making a giant ass of yourself, I think you're the one that's going to have shit to worry about," Asher quipped over their shoulder.

"Is Sarah back at GNR?" Blair asked as she pulled out her first aid kit and began working to clean Cutler's hands as he worked to calm himself down. "I can probably get back faster than you two-"

"She's at the Citadel, and you're not going to be able to get in without approval," Asher said, shaking their head. "But he'll be fine. She knows this has been a recurring issue. Danse and Cutler were moved to her command partially because Kreig pulled this bullshit on the regular. Unfortunately he's an old friend of Elder Lyons so he gets away with a slap on the wrist." Blair nodded, putting a clean cloth over the broken and bleeding knuckles, and wrapping them as gently as she can while keeping the binding tight.

"Thanks for stepping in," Cutler said softly after a while. "They'll understand me beating his teeth out, but if he'd died it could have been bad."

"No worries," she said, smiling and switching to his other hand, which was in slightly better condition. "It's my fault it got started anyways, I gave him an opening to run his mouth."

"None of this is your fault," Cutler said with a sigh. "I should have made a bigger fuss when Kreig was assigned to this scav squad. Or asked for Danse to go instead. I thought I'd be able to handle the bait better. The way he said it just..." he shook his head.

"Kreig probably would have found a way around it. There's a reason I asked for you," Asher said, watched Kreig get to his feet with a groan. "You got the Sentry bot going?"

"Yup, everyone was super thankful, tried to offer me caps," Blair said, gently patting the back of Cutler's hand and trying to to think about the butterflies that his smile gave her. Especially knowing now that she really shouldn't be feeling any kind of way about him since their bodies weren't compatible.

Even if his question of why god made it pleasurable for two individuals of the same sex to enjoy relations with the other kept running through her mind.

"Tried? Did they not have any caps?" Asher asked.

"They gathered up all they had, I wouldn't take it," Blair said with a shrug.

"Did you get all the caps for that contract?" He asked, watching her face.

"The fuck're you talking about?" Asher asked, looking at Cutler.

"I met him outside of Rivet City when we took leave," Cutler said with a shrug. "Talking to an old caravanner that I used to work with. He's been trying to track down caps to free an enslaved Ghoul in the Underworld." Asher nodded understandingly, but it meant Blair now had to voice the truth.

"I've just about got everything," she said with a roll of her shoulders. "Just need a few more caps." Not technically a lie.

"You should have taken them," Asher said, adjusting the strap of a duffel bag that hung from their shoulder.

"They needed them more. Didn't want them to feel completely powerless," she said with a shrug. "It feels wrong to take a hundred-some caps from them when they're struggling." The corner of Asher's eyes crinkled, as if they were smiling at her. Cutler exchanged a quick look with them, then pushed away.

"You're a sweet kid, thanks for everything," he said, pulling her into a hug, which sent her brain into hyper-drive as her arms instinctively returned the gesture. He smelled of leather and sunlight and something that she couldn't place but found rather alluring. "Its a good thing you crawled out of that vault, i think the wastes are going to be better for it."

"Thank you," she said weakly, feeling a hand clap onto her shoulder.

"Come on, you're gonna short circuit the poor kid's brain," Asher laughed, gently pulling her by the shoulder out of Cutler's arms. Cutler chuckled and smiled at her.

"You should probably head back, Ronnie's only gonna be outside Rivet City for a couple more days, and you look like you need some sleep. You got a place to stay in Megaton right?" Blair nodded. "Yeah, I think if you do a hard march you should get there before they close the gates for the night." Blair nodded, then looked around for Dogmeat, who sat nice and quiet by her feet.

"Come on girl, lets get going," she said, the dog woofed her agreement, and trotted alongside Blair as she made her way out, Asher and Cutler going back and forth behind her about whether or not they should tell Danse about the day's events or let him find out organically.

Apparently she didn't march hard enough. She was still in the ruins of Springvale when she watched the gates of Megaton close for the night. She gave a hefty sigh and looked around, noticing an old ranch style house was in good shape, so she decided to bunk up in there for the night, only to find a pistol in her face.

"Who are you?" A woman demanded as Dogmeat slipped in behind Blair. "Are you one of Moriarty's bastards?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," Blair said, instinctually raising her hands to show off a lack of weapons. She backed up and accidentally closing the door behind her, which made her wince. "I didn't know anybody lived in here, I promise. Its just too late to re-enter Megaton." The woman scoured her face for any signs of dishonesty and finally lowered the gun.

"Sorry, Moriarty has been sending people after me since I left," she said.

"You're Silver?" Blair asked, hands still in the air. The woman eyed her cautiously again. "I tried to get information on him, said if I got his caps back from you he'd tell me but I ended up getting what I needed from Three-Dog." Silver's shoulders relaxed.

"Its not his money, its mine. I told him I was done working for him, even slept with him to seal the deal," she said, leaning against the opposing wall with her gun still in hand. "Said he wouldn't let me go so I took my savings and ran."

"If you want, I can tell him that you're dead," Blair said with a shrug. "Say that whoever killed you took the money and chems with him." Silver studied her face one more time.

"Why would you do that?" She asked, confused.

"Because its the right thing to do and he's a slimy fartknocker," Blair replied, making Silver burst into laughter. "I think God will forgive me considering Moriarty's attitude."

"I like you," Silver said with a smile that lit up her face. "There's an extra bedroom, you can stay the night in there. And if you want to tell him I'm dead I'd appreciate it." Blair smiled back, lowering her hands

"Thanks, I'll be out of your way early, I need to sell scrap in Megaton then book it to Rivet City," Blair said.

"Whats the rush for?" Silver asked, eyes kinder and brow raised in curiosity. She explained the deal she had with Ahzrukhal and Ronnie to Silver, who nodded thoughtfully.

"How much do you need?" Silver asked.

"Three hundred, hopefully the scrap will sell for enough I can convince Ronnie to spare a few extra caps," Blair said with a shrug. Silver's eyes lit up again.

"You know, since you're helping me, let me help you," she said, waving Blair into the living room. "I ran with five hundred caps. Two hundred is enough to get me on the next caravan to Appalachia, which is due to leave next week and already agreed to pick me up on the way out." She pulled out a couple tins and did a rough count. "This should get you there." The tins were presented to her, and she stared at them for a moment, stomach churning as she contemplated her options.

"You need them more-" Blair tried to say, but she was quickly silenced by Silver's eyebrow rising and a spark glimmering in the woman's eyes.

"Honey, you're scraping together caps for a poor bastard that's been enslaved and have shown me more kindness in the last few minutes than anybody in the last year. Take the damn caps."

"But I won't be able to pay you back," Blair said, twisting her fingers. "you just said-"

"Take the damn caps, kid," Silver said with a laugh. "It's a thanks not a loan. I'll be fine once I get to Appalachia." Blair broke into a smile and tentatively took the tins from Silver. "So when you wake up, you can head straight to Rivet City, deal with Moriarty when you get back."

"Thank you," Blair said, exchanging smiles. Silver pointed her to the spare room, and went around putting the lights out before taking up in her own room. Blair laid out her sleeping bag, then sat down and pulled her bag over to her. she counted out the three hundred caps Silver had given her, then opened her bag and went through double checking her math. She had a couple tins crammed full with two-hundred, and the rest with one-fifty. At the end, she stopped and frowned, then recounted.

She had a twelve hundred caps.

She went back through, and realized that she had an extra tin. She should have had two tins with two-hundred and four with one-fifty. That's how many she'd had when she had woken up the morning before stumbling upon Big Town, plus the two that she'd gotten from Silver. But she had a third tin with two-hundred caps. She did a mental recap, trying to figure out how she'd done her math wrong, but she'd double checked every night for the last few days, she knew she should have only had seven hundred total before Silver's.

And then she remembered the look that Cutler and Asher had shared, and how Asher had moved from Cutler's side to just behind her to pull her away.

"You little turds," Blair muttered, looking at the handwriting on the tin that announced the number as she'd had on hers, and sure enough the script was rougher than hers, maybe written by somebody who hadn't been born in a vault but maybe instead in a colony of children and kicked out at sixteen. She put the tins away with a smile, determined to find Asher and Cutler again so she could thank them.

"Dear lord," She whispered, clasping her hands before her. "Thank you for the gifts you've given me through others. Please look over Big Town, and Little Lamplight, those poor kids abandoned by the world. And please bless and look over Cutler and Asher. I know they may not be following your ways, but they're good people. Please forgive them and care for them as any of your followers. Bless Ronnie for her help in freeing Charon, and please lead me in the proper ways of helping him break from the binding of his contract. Amen."

Chapter Text

Blair, August 29th 2277

Ronnie was surprised to see her when she showed up around sunrise, running as fast as she could manage with Dogmeat hot on her heels.

"Holy shit kid, have you slept?" she asked, taking in Blair's face, making Blair realize that she didn't sleep the night before because of Big Town.

"I got about four hours of sleep but I got up to pee and couldn't get back to sleep," Blair admitted, making Ronnie chuckle. "I've got my end, twelve hundred caps."

"I thought you were just going for a thousand?" Ronnie asked, raising an entertained eyebrow.

"I got an extra donation," Blair said, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

"Alright, one sec," Ronnie said with a laugh, going to her bag, which was set up in a tent not too far away.

"Why don't you sleep in Rivet City?" Blair asked as the woman walked back with five tins that she handed over. "Is it to protect the Brahmin?"

"They don't like Ghouls up there "unattended," so I stay down here," Ronnie said with a shrug. "Easier for everybody." Blair made a face, which made the old ghoul chuckle. "It's not uncommon, hon. Ghouls aren't trusted cause we could go feral. But humans are too dumb to realize its a gradual thing."

"I'm sorry," Blair said.

"Well, you go be sorry while you free that poor bastard. Bring him back around this way and I'll see what I can do to help. I try and free as many of those poor bastards as I can," she said. "I know how to get the collars off."

"Wish I'd known that a while back," she muttered, and Ronnie raised a deteriorated brow. "I tried to help a guy... Thought I knew how to get him out..."

"They'd rather have death than keeping the collar on," Ronnie said, putting hands on Blair's shoulders and making her look into the shiny black eyes in the old ghoul's face. "I promise, he's probably glad that he's free in either direction. And never feel bad for helping somebody, you understand?"

"Yes ma'am." Ronnie nodded and let go.

"Good, now you've got a ghoul to save," She said, snapping Blair out of her pity.

"Right, yes!" She said, turning and dashing off for the nearby subway.

The sun was barely cresting the line of museums when she snuck out of the metro, double checking for mutants before skittering around and sprinting for the museum doors, pushing through the first set, and then into the doors of The Underworld and making her way upstairs to the Ninth Circle.

"Look whose back, two thousand caps are hard to find, huh?" Ahzrukhal said with a smile that made her feel slimy. "Well, I have a job for you if you-" she brought the bag around and slammed it onto the counter, startling him and a few nearby customers who watched her.

"Two hundred, four," she said, pulling each tin out and placing it on the counter. "Six, eight, one-thousand." His eyes grew as she glared a hole into his head. He snatched a tin up and opened it, looking over the rows of caps. "Twelve hundred, thirteen-fifty, fifteen." Three more tins joined the stack, and she heard footsteps come up behind her. "Seventeen, eighteen-fifty, two thousand fucking caps." She slammed the final tin down, keeping the extra from Asher in the bag and holding out her hand. "We had a deal."

Ahzrukhal stared at the caps, then at her, then back at the caps.

"I suppose we did," he said, reaching into his coat pocket and pulling out a rolled up sheet of paper. "The contract... As agreed." Blair took it triumphantly and turned, bumping straight into a broad expanse of chest. She looked up into the ghoul's blue eyes as he looked down to her and the paper in her hand

"Hi," she said, watching his eyes flit between her, the paper, and Azrukhal. "I got your contract."

"That you did," his voice rumbled over her.

"We can leave now-" she tried to say, stopping when he placed a hand on her shoulder.

"One moment," he said walking to the gap between counters.

"Now, lets not do anything-" Ahzrukhal never got the chance to finish his sentence. Two gunshots echoed through the small room, blood splattering over the bar and barback as Ahzrukhal fell, headless, to the floor.

"Oh..." she managed, looking at the headless body. Charon gently moved her back, and repacked the caps into her bag. "But-"

"He doesn't have a use for them anymore," Charon said plainly.

"I guess not," she said weakly. He handed the bag to her and she nodded as conversation started back up. She led the way out of the place, stomach churning as the lack of sleep hit her like a truck. Once outside, she heard Charon stop and take a deep breath. She turned to look at him as his face turned to the sun.

He soaked it in, taking in deep breaths of the warm late summer air.

"How long were you in there?" She asked, looking at him sadly.

"I haven't come out since he decided he didn't want to pay for a bouncer in seventy-five," he replied. "But he's had my contract for longer than you've been alive. He was an evil bastard, constantly using that damn code to make me do his dirty-work. The world is a better place without him." Blair nodded, looking around.

"Oh, here," she said, realizing that she still had the paper in her pocket. She offered it up, and he looked to it in confusion.

"What are you doing?" he asked, brows furrowed as he looked to her face.

"Its yours," she said, taking a step closer to him. "Take it, you can live your life the way you want to." His expression softened, and his shoulders slumped a little bit. After a moment he took a step to bridge the distance, took the paper, and placed it back into her hands, wrapping her fingers around it.

"It's far more complicated than that," he said, voice rumbling like thunder. "Keep it, at least I know I'm in good hands." Blair looked up, seeing the resolve in his eyes.

"If you're sure," she said, and he nodded. "Well, okay then." she tucked the paper into her armor where it'd be safe and looked around. "Okay, well, she wasn't due to move to Megaton for a couple days, she should still be outside Rivet City... Come on, the metro is the fastest way back." She motioned for Charon to follow, picking the pace back up and making her way down into the metro, his soft footsteps following behind.

Blair led him around the teeming Caravan, who looked like they were getting ready to make the trek back to Megaton in the morning.

"Who are you looking for?" he asked, the first thing he'd said since they entered the metro.

"A caravan guard who loaned me a thousand caps, I wanna get them back to her," Blair said over her shoulder. She spotted the ghoul, who sat at the fire in front of her tent, tending to a pot that hung from a support. She jogged up, and the old ghoul looked up with a smile.

"Back already?" Ronnie asked, pulling a cigarette out of a nearby box and picking up a bit of burning debris to light it.

"Yeah, and with your caps," Blair said, squatting down nearby and lowering her bag. But Ronnie's eyes didn't linger on her too long, instead drifting to Charon and widening.

"Good to see you again, Ronnie," Charon said. Blair looked between them as Ronnie seemed to process what she was seeing, then launched over the fire.

"I though you were dead you old asshole!" She snapped before pulling him into a hug that he returned. "I went to the rendezvous point and you never showed up."

"It's a long story," He said, patting the top of her head. Ronnie pulled away, shaking her head.

"Jesus kid, if you'd told me his name I would have gone with you and blown Ahzrukhal's head off myself," Ronnie said, walking over and tugging on Blair's mess of a ponytail.

"I'm glad she didn't, I wanted to do it myself," Charon said with a snort.

"I didn't want to presume you knew each other," Blair admitted sheepishly.

"The one time a smoothskin doesn't think we all know each other and its the one time we do," Ronnie said with a shake of her head. "Yeah, he might as well be my dad in this hellscape." she fell back into her spot at the fire and motioned for Charon to join them, which he did.

"Might as well?" Blair asked before realizing how insensitive the question sounded.

"I was eighteen when the bombs fell," Ronnie said before motioning to Charon. "My parents died, I came down here to see if my extended family had made it. He saved my life, took me under his wing, taught me how to survive."

"You had a good foundation already," Charon said, but Ronnie waved him off.

"So, what's the deal with this contract?" Ronnie asked him, looking over the flames.

"My memories of it are fuzzy," Charon replied, motioning for Blair to show Ronnie the contract. "All I know is that I went to accept a job, next thing I know I'm in somebody's basement and there's chanting and and I'm seeing things... Wake up and there's some brat with the contract in his hand ordering me around. Don't know how much time I lost before I got passed around, but Azrukhal's had me working for him for at least the last twenty-five years." Blair unrolled the paper so that she and Ronnie could look it over.

Look was a strong word, the page was unreadable, and if Blair didn't know any better she'd have thought the lines on the page were moving. Flipping it over didn't help much either, the other side was the same, but the motion did make Blair realize the paper looked like it had been torn from something. All sides were uneven, as if the paper had been made by hand, but one side had bigger dips in it that weren't consistent with the others.

"Well that's the weirdest cipher I've ever seen," Ronnie said, blinking and looking away. "We'll figure it out." Blair nodded, rolling the contract back up and tucking it back in her armor. She looked up to see Charon watching Ronnie as if he were trying to memorize her face.

"So, what's the next step, kid?" Ronnie asked, kicking Blair gently to get her attention.

"Oh, uh," Blair said, looking down at her pip-boy. "Well, looks like I can start looking for my dad. I'll probably head back to Megaton to stow some of my caps in my house, resupply and head out. Oh!" Blair scrambled to get the loaned caps out of her bag. "Here! It's the whole reason I came back this way."

"Keep the caps kid," Ronnie said, shaking her head.

"No, you loaned them, and they didn't even get spent properly!" Blair insisted, pulling out the five tins of caps.

"You just saved my oldest friend in the wastes, keep the damn caps!" Ronnie insisted. "You have three mouths to feed, shit gets expensive." she motioned to where Dogmeat was sniffing at the edge of the fire. "And if you find your dad there'll be four. Keep the caps and take care of your new family." Blair looked down at the tins, then at Charon.

"You're the only person in the entire wasteland that would turn away free caps," Charon replied, so Blair tucked them into her bag and closed it. Ronnie nodded, satisfied, and started serving up whatever she was cooking. Blair had learned not to ask what was in given food up here, so simply accepted the bowl and said a soft grace while Charon and Ronnie caught up.

Chapter Text

Blair, August 30th 2277

She was locking up to leave for the day, catching the glimmer of the rising sun catching on Moriarty's. She looked up at it, contemplating her choices for a moment before leading Charon around the house and into town. He followed, not asking questions, just trailing behind as she made her way up to the pub. A young woman looked up as Blair walked in, taking in her and Charon with interest. Moriarty was busy talking to Lucas, so she waited, noting that Gob and Charon met each other's gaze with a slight nod, but also no small amount of interest. Both Ghouls sneaking glances at the other when they thought the other wasn't looking.

If ghouls lived forever Blair sure couldn't blame them for finding their love where they could.

"Sorry, I know you're the new girl," The woman said, leaning forward, Blair turned to look at her and her hair pulled into a messy bun atop her head. "I was wondering if- sorry, I'm Lucy West," She held a hand out and Blair took it, shaking it firmly.

"Blair Birmingham," Blair replied, and Lucy nodded.

"Nice to meet you, I've noticed you coming and going from Moira's over the last little while but you always seem to be on your way out," She said, waving a hand at the door. "I was wondering if you planned to be headed up north?"

"Ish?" Blair replied with a shrug. "I'm looking for... something. And I don't know where it's at. Why?" Lucy sighed and pulled a letter from her pocket.

"I haven't heard from my family in a while, I'm getting concerned," she said. "Would you mind running up to pass this along?" She held up the letter.

"Sure, where do they live?" Blair asked, holding her pip-boy out. Lucy helped get a place-marker about where the overpass town was, and Blair tucked the tape away with a smile.

"thanks so much, I appreciate it," Lucy said with a smile.

"No worries," Blair said as Lucas peeled away from Moriarty, exasperation all over his face. "If you'll excuse me." Lucy nodded and Blair walked to Moriarty, who gave her that predatory smile.

"Ah, come back with my caps have you?" Moriarty asked, leaning on the bar. "Heard you been comin' an' goin' from Moira's, you ought've gotten the caps by now, or found Silver at the very least."

"I found Silver, but raiders already got to her, so she didn't have the caps or the chems," Blair said, surprised by how effortlessly the lie rolled off her tongue, though she was sure that lying to a creeper to protect an innocent probably canceled the sin out. "But yes, I've managed to scrape up a decent amount of caps."

"Well, you know the number," he said, holding his hands out.

"I'm not going to give you any caps," Blair said with a laugh, and his smile fell. "But I'll leave you with a tip." She smirked at him as his brows furrowed together. "Next time you want to try and extort somebody for caps, make sure Three-Dog isn't broadcasting the information you're selling all over Galaxy News Radio." Nova snorted into laughter as Blair turned away and marched out of the bar, rather content with herself as she made her way up to Arefu.

She heard Charon grumbling to himself as the sun began to set, and she looked over her shoulder with an amused expression to see him scraping a sharp rock out of his shoe.

"Not used to being outside anymore, huh?" She teased. He looked to her with exasperation, then there was an explosion at Blair's feet. She screamed as Charon jumped forward and dragged her behind him.

"Hang on, you're not one of them," an old man yelled from behind a concrete barrier. "I nearly blasted you in two! Get over here before they spot you!" He waved them over emphatically, and after a quick concerned glance with Charon, skittered up the overpass to meet the man behind his barrier. "Now, what the hell are you doin' all the way up here?"

"I've got a letter from-"

"I don't have time to play mail man!" The man interrupted, and Blair glared at him.

"I wasn't asking you to, I was answering your question," Blair snapped. "I just-"

"The shit's about to hit the fan in this cesspool," the old man snapped again, and Blair threw up her hands, "And I don't think I can stop them!" Blair stopped, waiting for him to continue.

"What kind of trouble?" She asked as the man seemed to be waiting for a cue from her.

"Well first they'd do typical gang bullshit," he said, as if she knew who they were. "Break stuff, make noise, but they always kept their distance. But this last time they went too far! They killed our brahmin! That's our lifeblood out here you know!" Blair didn't know, she also wondered how they'd managed to keep brahmin on an overpass with a grand total of five buildings.

"What's got you so spooked?" Blair asked with a shrug. "Just shoot'em next time they show up. Throw a grenade at them like you did at me."

"Look, you can call me crazy if you want to-" She truly did, but didn't think it would help anything. "But there's something odd about those creeps! I mean, they got guns and they got muscle... Why don't they just bust down our doors and take us out already?" She blinked at him, wondering why he suddenly wanted them to act like normal thugs.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Blair asked, though at this point she was nearly certain that she'd just be fighting phantoms.

"I don't want to take my eyes off the ramp, there's no telling when The Family will return," he said, shaking from nerves or the drugs she saw poking out of his pocket. "Can you do me a favor and check on everybody else?" He asked, motioning backwards. One of the doors was maybe five feet away, and she wondered why he hadn't already asked them himself. "Make sure they're doing okay? There's the West family at the end of the ramp, Karen Schenzy, and the Ewers."

"Yeah, sure," She said, backing away.

"Just watch yourself, I have an itchy trigger finger," he said, turning to look back over the ramp.

"Yeah, I can tell," she muttered, wandering over to the door nearby.

Three strained and strange conversations later, she made her way to the house at the end of the ramp and knocked, fully expecting a fourth conversation that was a trial, only to find the door swinging open under her touch. it opened to a horrifying scene. A man was sprawled out on the floor, and a woman hung limply off the bed, both of their necks and faces mutilated. Blair rushed to the side of the overpass, her stomach forcing its contents back up. Charon held her hair back from her face and rubbed her back until she was able to straighten up.

She returned to the house, and investigated the bodies, realizing the mutilation was the result of bite marks, though the blood puddles were suspiciously small for the size of the marks. She backed out, closing the door, and walking back down to the old man who the locals had informed her was named Evan King.

"The Wests are dead," she said, shuddering as she walked up, rubbing her arms as the night was starting to get a bit chilly in the absence of the sun.

"The family must have gotten them in the last attack!" He declared, slapping the concrete divider before him. "Those sons of bitches! If only we had more men, we could stand up to them. I'm sick of them terrorizing this town. Wait-" He said, turning to Blair as she was about to voice that they were heading back out. "Did you searched the West's place, did you find their son, Ian?" Blair shook her head.

"There was a man and a woman, I'm assuming their parents," Blair replied.

"This has to be the work of The Family!" He yelled, which Blair was fairly certain they'd already established. "I've caught their weirdo leader of theirs talking to him down by the river!" Blair gave him a minute to look around, ready for him to pick the train of thought back up. "Listen, I know I've asked a lot from you already, but you need to find that kid... he deserves better than all this."

Blair sighed, but shrugged and said. "Yeah, sure, why not."

"Sugar bombs?" Blair asked through a laugh. The ghoul nodded emphatically.

"Yeah, I'll give you fifteen caps for any you find," Murphy insisted.

"Got any samples?" Charon asked from where he leaned against the door frame.

"Charon! We're working!" She insisted, trying to grab Dogmeat as she trotted over to try and steal Murphy's dinner off the table.

"I didn't say I'd use it immediately," Charon said, waving at her. Murphy looked between them for a minute before shrugging and pulling an inhaler out of his pocket and tossing it to Charon. "Don't use it all at once."

"Oh my word," Blair sighed, shaking her head. "Yeah, if I find any I'll bring them your way. Now, how did you say we could get to The Family?" She asked. Murphy pointed behind him. "Third door, there's a manhole that leads to a cave that will take you to the train station. Just be careful, there's mirelurks down there." Blair nodded, and led the way.

Getting Dogmeat back down then tunnel was something of a trial, but between the two of them, they got her down and made their way through the tunnels. They fought their way through, but spent a good long while poking around before they found a lone guard camped out behind some sand bags.

"Whoa there," the man called. "This area's off limits to everybody but The Family. Where the hell do you think you're going?" He called as they approached. Blair raised her hands to her shoulders, pistol temporarily tucked into her jean pocket.

"Hey, sorry, I'm just trying to deliver a letter to Ian West from his sister, is he here?" She asked. The man's posture eased.

"Oh, the new kid?" He asked, tucking his rifle behind his back and letting Blair drop her hands. "Vance said we should be expecting somebody. Talk to him first, he's usually on the mezzanine over the common area."

"Thanks," she said. "I'm just gonna move this so I don't accidentally shoot myself in the leg." He nodded and wandered back over to a small camp set up as she tucked the pistol away properly and made her way through.

The common area was in better shape than any other section of the metro that she'd see, with plenty of picnic tables and benches for the collection of people to sit and chat softly with each other. They each nodded to her and Charon as they passed, with a couple young women cooing at Dogmeat and trying to pet her. Blair's eyes trailed up to the mezzanine, where a man leaned against the half-wall, watching their progress as they moved through the room, a lit cigarette in his hand.

"Hi, are you Vance?" She asked as they walked around to where he was leaning.

"That's what my people call me, yes," he said, straightening up and turning to study her. "I lead this weary group of travelers and outcasts who need a home. To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" He asked, looking her over in a way that made her body tingle but her brain send off alarm bells. She wasn't completely sure which one to listen to.

"I'm trying to hand off a letter to Ian West from his sister," She said, holding up the letter in question. "I've been all over this part of the wastes to give it over." Vance nodded.

"My newest charge, yes," he said, nodding. "Unfortunately, I don't think that receiving the letter is in his best interest." Blair groaned.

"And why not?"

She realized too late that asking why was a bad idea.

"Stupid vampires," she muttered as she walked down the hall towards. "Why does it make sense?"

"You think it makes sense?" Charon asked.

"Oh don't give me that, I heard you take the chems while he was yammering. Maybe it'd make sense if you hadn't," she quipped.

"Well, they're not even take- do you see bats?" Blair sighed and looked around the tunnel that was entirely free of bats.

"Charon, go sit down. I thought you were like three hundred and knew better," she teased.

"Well I didn't think it was going to take like that," he grumbled, shuffling down the hall to lay down on a bench.

"Lord, grant me patience, as all men in the wasteland seem to be oversized toddlers," she said, looking to the roof of the tunnel. "And please keep sugar bombs out of reach. Amen." She opened the door and was greeted by the teenage boy that she desperately wanted to just hand off the letter to. "Ian?"

"Yeah?" he asked, looking up from where he was doodling nothing into the table with a knife.

"Great, hi, I've been looking for you," she said, reaching into her pocket.

"Yeah, I bet Evan's pretty pissed at me, huh?" he asked. "Bet he's got the whole town looking for me. He's about as bad as my parents." Blair looked at him, about ready to shove the letter in his face and call it a day.

"I'm sorry but, you parents are dead," she said softly, trying to offer out the letter.

This too, as it turned out, was the wrong thing to say.

Blair, August 31st 2277

"Okay," Blair grumbled, walking back into the train station, having walked all the way to Arefu and back with Vance's deal. "They said yes." Charon was right where she'd left him, Dogmeat laid out on top as he slept off the bad trip.

"Excellent, I knew you would serve as an ambassador in good faith," he said with a smile that made her insides melt. "I'll dispatch Alan immediately to serve as their guardian and honor my end. Your efforts surpass those of the average human. In fact, I feel like you are almost a member of our flock. If you ever wish you have to learn our ways, all you have to do is ask." The smoulder than followed killed all thoughts of reason from her mind.

"I mean, if you're willing to take the time," she said with a smile back.

Chapter Text

Blair, September 1st 2277

"What does your religion have to say about learning the way of "vampires" from some weirdo?" Charon teased, Blair's cheeks turned colors as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Shut up," she grumbled. "It's not like I plan on doing anything. I just like hearing him talk. And if you wanted to stop me you shouldn't have taken the ultrajet." she stuck her tongue out at him. "Besides, its not like it's the worst thing people could do. He's conscientious and helpful and-"

"Married," Charon said, making her stop and stare at him. He nodded. "The blonde lady with short hair." Blair pouted, crossing her arms tighter. "Kid, I've seen his type before, you're better off without him."

"This is bullhockey," she grumbled, making him laugh.

"I'd say you're allowed a swear, but I'd save your next freebie for later," he said. Blair sighed and shrugged, trudging across the landscape.

Night was about to fall when they ducked into a small building. The molerats inside looked up for a moment as they entered, and Blair got ready to fight them, but was pleasantly surprised to watch them mind their own business and skitter off. They got settled in when Blair realized she could hear more snuffling and skittering. She got up and wandered into the garage, letting Charon finish setting up in the small lobby area. A black sheet of metal stood out among the concrete, and it was from under the metal that she heard the snuffling.

Some poking around helped her find a control panel hidden among the shelving, with a big red button. She clicked it, and was rewarded with the metal pulling away to reveal a set of stairs.

Charon walked into the doorway, meeting her gaze as she looked up to him. He grabbed his shotgun, and she pulled out her pistol, and they both made their way down, passing more molerats that were setting up a next, though they quickly jumped up the stairs to join the ones in the garage.

Further in, further down, they moved until they opened a door to find a large vault door emblazoned with the numbers 112.

"Jackpot," she said, tucking her gun into its holster and jogging over to the control panel. It took some fiddling, but she was eventually rewarded with the sound of the opening process begin.

The sound threw her back to 101, the blood that still stained her bat, Butch tackling the guards as she ran, the chaplain's words following her into the tunnel out. She shook the memories out of her head, leading the way into the vault with Charon just behind her. In the second room she was greeted by a robobrain with a chipper voice.

"Welcome to Vault One-Twelve, Resident!" She said, waving her strange arm. "According to sensors, you have arrived two-hundred and two-point-three years behind schedule!" Blair raised her eyebrows and nodded slowly. "Please redress in your Vault-Tec issued vault suit before proceeding. If you have misplaced your suit, I am authorized to issue a new one."

"She has," Charon said as she tried to figure out if this counted as lying or not. The robobrain helpfully listened to him and issued Blair a suit.

"Once dressed, please proceed down the stairs to the main floor so that you may enter your assigned tranquility lounger." With that, she rolled off into the vault. Blair shrugged and shoved the the suit into her bag. She saw a large floor filled with strange pods, presumably the tranquility loungers. She made her way towards the stairs, but stopped when she saw the sign pointing to a clinic.

She cut through to look inside, Charon still behind her though Dogmeat had long since decided to peek around inside. The clinic had plenty of x-ray pictures up, but... nowhere to receive patients or work on them, no sterilized side room for procedures, and the lockers lining the wall barely had anything in them.

"I don't like this," she said softly. "We should split-up to look for residents.

"Considering that time-line the robo-brain gave us, I don't think we have to look for them," Charon said, still at the door and looking over the main room. She came back out, following his eyes to see people inside the pods that had aged so far beyond where she thought the human body could go.

"Oh what in the world?" she asked, dodging back towards the stairs and making her way down the stairs towards the loungers. Closer inspection wasn't a terribly pleasant sight, as it just allowed her to see how withered the individuals were as cataracts filled their eyes staring into computer screens as probes pierced hairless scalps.

"Blair?" Charon called, and she jogged around the circle to where he stood, and looked into the pod he motioned to. The figure inside wasn't old and decrepit, middle aged to be sure, but with a full head of graying hair with an accompanying beard, and a vault 101 jumpsuit.

"Dad!" she shouted, banging excitedly on the lounger, but he didn't budge. "Dad! Wake up!"

"I don't think that's going to work," Charon said, looking around the circle. Blair walked around so that she could see the screen over her father's shoulders. She saw the view looking around a park, from a height, occasionally turning to other people.

"They're in a simulation," she said, pushing away after a moment. "I have to go in."

"And get stuck?"

"Well, I'll go in, you see what you can figure out while I'm in there," Blair said, walking over to the other working lounger. Charon sighed and shook his head. "Hey, look on the bright side. If I get stuck in here you never have to worry about somebody else getting your contract!" she said, pulling the paper out to wave it at him before jamming it back down her under shirt. This did at least make him chuckle as she climbed inside and got settled.

She took deep breaths as she got closed into the lounger, something notching into place around her head, and found herself dragged into the simulation.

She opened her eyes to a small cul-de-sac devoid of color, watching adults wandering around the street and the park that sat in the middle of the cul-de-sac. A young boy sold lemonade at a lemonade stand, and a young girl played in the park with a dog that kept going up to people and barking at them.

"Hey there sport!" a middle aged man said, walking up to her and making her realize she was far smaller than she should have been. "Beautiful day isn't it? Say, you should go talk to Betty. She's waiting for you over on the playground. Have fun, sport!" He walked off with that, and when Blair looked down she saw herself wearing a Vault-Tec watch and a little polka-dotted dress. She pushed herself off the bench and made her way over to the park.

"Oh, somebody new to play with!" the blonde girl in the park, presumably Betty, said, looking at Blair hungrily. "What good luck I have lately! I was just starting to get bored. Oh, we're going to have so much fun!"

"I'm guessing you're... Betty?" Blair asked with a young voice that wasn't hers, and the girl nodded.

"Yup! I live here on Tranquility Lane. Do you want to play a game?" Betty asked, staring at her with that hungry expression. Blair stared back for a moment.

"What the heck is going on here?" She asked, and Betty's eyes narrowed.

"We're going to play a game now, silly. That's what's going on," Betty said with a tone saying that Blair should stop. But the last time she'd heard that tone had been the overseer so she wasn't going to listen to it.

"I'm looking for my dad, have you seen him?" She asked, and Betty grinned in a horrifying fashion.

"Gee," she said, tone poisonous and eager. "What's he like?" Blair contemplated how to respond for a moment.

"Look, I know he's in here," she said, deciding she didn't want to deal with this. Judging by the condition of the other residents, she knew that "Betty" would know if a new person had shown up. "In the vault, I mean. I saw him in the lounger."

"You mean the man that came here is your daddy?" Betty asked, and Blair's spine froze up. "And you're only here because you're looking for him?" Blair nodded hesitantly. "Oh, this is just too much fun! We're going to have such a good time! Let's play right now!"

"No! No freaking games!" Blair snapped, stomping her foot in an embarrassing display. "Tell me where my dad is right now you little fartsniffer!"

"Oh, don't be mean," Betty said, voice slick and frankly horrifying. "That's not a good way to start. I said we're going to play a game, so that's what we're going to do."

"I'm not interested in playing games, I just want to know where my dad is!" Blair snapped.

"I said I want to play a game!" This time a grown man's voice snapped at her, heavily accented in a strange manner that she didn't recognize. She jumped back, fists up and ready to fight. "It's easy," this time the voice was once again that of a little girl. "You make Timmy cry, and I'll help you. If you don't..." the smile that crossed her face chilled Blair down to her very soul, "I guess you'll never find out where your daddy is. Go on." Betty continued smiling, and Blair backed up, before running off. The boy had left his lemonade stand, which seemed as good a reason as any to start poking around.

Her dad had said her nosiness would be her ticket to hell, but right now it seemed like their ticket out of this simulation. She'd made a loop around looking for the boy, and also any hints of what to do, but was unsuccessful for a while. She was poking around a house that looked less well-kept than the others when an old lady walked up to her, looking concerned.

"You... You don't belong here. You shouldn't be here!" She said anxiously. Blair was about to get defensive about investigating the house when the lady continued, saying, "It's not real! None of it is real! It needs to end... The suffering must end!"

"Oh praise the lord," Blair breathed, taking her hand off the gate. "Someone who knows what's going on here. How do I get out?"

"We're not really here, we're not really talking," the old lady said in a hushed tone, which Blair thought was obvious. "It's all made up. It's make-believe. We're sleeping, dreaming. The dream became a nightmare. It has to end, it just has to! But we're not in charge. He is, and he doesn't want us to wake up."

"Who, Braun?" Blair asked, mimicking her hushed tone. The old lady nodded.

"He calls himself Betty now, but he's still the same. He can put on a new face all he wants, but he's still evil. Bastard thinks that because he created this place that he's God here. But I know he still uses the Failsafe Terminal. I know it."

"How come you're the only one who knows?" Blair asked and the lady shrugged.

"Don't know... Can't sleep sometimes... Hear voices... My own skin doesn't feel right... None of this feels right, you have to believe me!"

"I do, I promise, where's the Failsafe?" Blair asked, taking the old lady's hand in an attempt to help her calm down.

"It's in the abandoned house, he doesn't let us go in there because he's afraid we might find it," she said softly. Her eyes shifted, and Blair followed her gaze to the house behind her. "It's the only terminal to the outside; the only way to shut this all down. You have to find it!"

"I will, I promise," Blair said. The old lady wandered off, and Blair briefly met the eyes of the dog, who immediately went to the other side of the park and started barking and snarling at one of the women, who drew away Betty's attention long enough for Blair to disappear inside the house.

She didn't know what she was expecting to find inside, but she found a strange assortment of objects on abandoned and overturned furniture. She looked around for a moment, trying to figure out where the terminal was, but unable to find even so much as a desk. She came back down and she bumped into the couch with the ceramic garden gnome balanced atop it, which emitted a strange tone followed by a buzzer sound. She frowned, poked the gnome. Again the tine followed by a buzzer.

"Huh..." she muttered, poking the other things in the house, finding that the cinderblock, the pitcher, and the nukla-cola bottle also emitted a tone with a buzzer, but the radio only emitted a tone. She stared at the items for a moment, contemplating what to do.

So she touched the radio, then the pitcher, and this time the pitcher tone wasn't followed by a buzzer. She touched the cinder block, and that tone was once again followed by a buzzer.

"Oh for crying out loud," she said, realizing that the items were a musical code key. She shook her hands out, and began working her way around the room, trying to figure out what the code was by process of elimination.

She didn't know how long she was going at it when, after managing to get six tones in with no buzzer, she touched the bottle. With a seventh tone a terminal fizzled into existence against the wall, and she whooped with excitement. She ran up and started picking through the terminal entries. She learned that they'd gone through a few different simulations before Braun ended up on Tranquility Lane, and that there was a failsafe that would end everything. Kill each of the original inhabitants, except for Braun.

A few more key strokes had the command page up for the Chinese Invasion Failsafe. She took a deep breath and entered the command.

The outside was immediately filled with gunfire and screaming. She sprinted out, finding a small army gunning down the residents. All of the residents but Betty and the old lady were running. Betty was screaming, but the old lady welcomed the bullet spray with widespread arms before crumpling to the ground. Blair waited for the army to pass her by, then ran up into the playground.

"Do you realize what you have done?" Betty yelled with the grown man's voice as a door appeared on the edge of the playground. The dog sprinted for it, and was let out. "You have triggered the failsafe! Ruined everything! The subjects will all die, and I'll be stuck here in this hell! Alone! You've ruined everything!"

"Whatever, just answer my questions," Blair snapped, her own voice emanating from her mouth instead of the small child's voice that she'd been using.

Then they stood as themselves in the playground. Blair in her combat armor and Braun in a lab coat. He snarled at her angrily.

"How dare you, you insolent-" he was interrupted by Blair slapping him across the mouth, looking around as the bodies of the residents were replaced with people wearing vault suits.

"Too bad, so sad, if you'd answered my questions and let us go then you wouldn't have had to be stuck here," Blair snapped. "Now where the hell is my dad?" Braun sighed, shoulders drooping, and waved a hand at the door.

"He was the dog, he was pestering me to leave, so I turned him into a dog," Braun said.

"So he's safe?" Blair asked, heart fluttering in hope.

"Yes, I'm sure he's probably waiting for you on the other side," Braun said softly. "But there is nobody waiting for me..."

"Sorry not sorry. I guess this is God's punishment for trying to take on his roll in the universe," Blair said, walking away and pushing through the door, eager to finally see her dad again.

Chapter Text

Butch, September 2nd 2277

There were gunshots and yelling. Butch grabbed a table with Freddie, and together they threw it at the Mack officers, sending them toppling back down the stair as the other snakes kept yelling.

"Fuck the overseer!" Wally yelled at his brother and father as they toppled down the stairs, his sister echoing the call behind him.

"That's enough!" Officer Gomez yelled, pulling the guards away. "God's sake, enough blood has been shed! Regroup! Let's go!" He pushed the guards away, along with some of the more mobish residents.

"Barricade, now!" Butch yelled at the snakes. The boys hopped to action, dragging furniture out as Butch followed Amata and the rest into the clinic, where they started doing inventory of the rations they'd grabbed before making their stand. "Well?"

"Thanks to you and Paul distracting the overseer, we were able to get enough to last us a couple weeks," Susie said, taking her hair down to retie it. "IF we're really careful, we might be able to last a full month. Butch looked to Amata, who had lowered her backpack to the ground and began pulling out weapons.

"Keep to the batons until they start opening fire on us," she said, throwing them down before slowly pulling out pistols. "Officer Wolfe caught me before I could get enough packed for a full assault. If it comes to it, we'll have to make the bullets count." Butch nodded, gathering up the batons.

"And the broadcast?" He asked. She sighed and tuned her pip-boy to a new radio frequency.

"𝙸𝚝 𝚏𝚎𝚎𝚕𝚜 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚎𝚏𝚝 𝚑𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚊 𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝚊𝚐𝚘, 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝙸 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚢𝚘𝚞'𝚛𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎," her voice said over the speaker. "𝙸 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞'𝚛𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜. 𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚐𝚘𝚝 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚜𝚎 𝚊𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚎𝚏𝚝. 𝙼𝚢 𝚏𝚊𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛'𝚜 𝚐𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚖𝚊𝚍 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚙𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚛. 𝙸𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜, 𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚙 𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚍𝚊𝚍 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚙 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚙 𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚎. 𝙸 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚍𝚘𝚘𝚛 𝚙𝚊𝚜𝚜𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚢 𝚗𝚊𝚖𝚎. 𝙸𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞'𝚛𝚎 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚎𝚗𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝚝𝚘 𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚙 𝚖𝚎, 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛 𝚒𝚝."

"Low blow, Amata," Butch muttered, and she shot him a dirty look. "It's not like he left cause he wanted to."

"Please, like you care," she muttered, getting to her feet. "It's playing on a loop, and it's on an emergency frequency set by the vault door, I snuck it into a storage container out there. Hopefully she hears it." Butch wanted to bite back, but kept to himself.

The plan had already gone off the rails, they were supposed to have gotten the Overseer to step down and name Amata his replacement. But before they'd even gotten everything and everybody together, Paul's dad had died from his injuries during the infestation.

"He's a good man, he'll come," Butch muttered to himself, taking the batons out to the snakes and pulling out his switchblade, adjusting his jacket on his shoulders and the armor beneath it. The boy nodded to him as they took the batons and straightened out their own armor.

They just had to hold out for Blair.

Blair, October 23rd 2295

"Alright, that's enough of that," Blair said, getting up from the table with their empty bowl. Charon looked at them sadly, meanwhile Annabelle had stars in her eyes. "You've been waiting with us long enough. Go play with Abby and Duncan. Go on."

"Aw, but I wanna know what happens next!" their daughter insisted.

"You heard your mom," Butch said, getting up and dragging Annabelle from her chair. "It's called a cliffhanger. Get on out of here. We can pick this up later." Belle sighed dramatically, her tweenage years finally coming out. There were a billion tiny knocks on the door, followed by yells from her friends. The door opened, and Abby and Duncan tumbled in. Duncan still had scars from when he'd been sick as a kid, and was just as weaselly in appearance as his father even though he was already bigger than RJ had been at his age.

Abby, however, was immaculate in appearance, and caught herself, looking in excitedly.

"Auntie Gin had a girl!" She crowed excitedly.

"I know, I helped deliver her," Blair said, the dishes being pulled from their hands by Gob, who pushed them away. Abby gasped, hands flying to her mouth.

"Ohmigosh, was she cute?" She demanded. "What did she look like? What color was her hair and her eyes and-"

"She looks like a newborn baby, which looks like an adolescent molerat. Go take a look at the Long's new baby and that's the approximate shape of the kid. That said she's got a head full of her dad's curls, no wonder Gin had constant heartburn," Blair said, getting a laugh out of Butch.

"Daddy said that Nate took too much after him and that he hopes that Lizzy takes after Auntie Gin," Abby insisted as Belle struggled into her coat. "Does she look like Auntie Gin?" Blair smiled at the eager little girl who clasped her hands together hopefully.

"It's too soon to tell, like I said, molerat. By the time the next big bi-annual meeting happens, she should be big enough to tell," Blair said, and Abby got excited.

"I'm gonna go tell Daddy we're all going in March!" She squealed, dashing out the door and dragging Belle and Duncan with her, the whole lot giggling as they dashed up the road to Sanctuary.

"I can tell her the next part of the story, if you want," Butch said softly, and Blair sighed.

"You'd think after near twenty years it'd be easier to tell," they said softly. Butch walked over and pulled them into a hug. "No, I need to tell her the next part. You can tell her what comes after." Butch nodded, patting their back until they pushed him away. "Okay, I need a nap." They all let Blair make their way back into the bedroom, closing the door firmly and shedding their clothes to get the clothes out of their dresser. An old worn Grognak shirt and their favorite pair of underwear, and they collapsed into bed, their hair spread over the pillow.

Their mind swirled as they stared at the ceiling, hearing the murmur of their boys in the kitchen. The next part of the story wasn't the hardest part, no that was still to come. But when they closed their eyes they saw the shape of their father behind their eyes, telling her to run.

They sat up, running a hand through their curls, attempting to get enough knots out to allow them to braid it. They noticed their side drawer was in sideways, which mean that Belle had snooped their too. They pulled out the drawer, seeing the old grognak comic on top, a piece of paper tucked into it to mark Belle's place.

"Little shit's been reading my comics," Blair snorted, shoving the drawer back in and getting up to kneel back at the dresser, pulling the drawer out to reveal the picture of their dad, the bible verse still staring up at them. "How did you still hold onto God?" She asked the still image of her father. "How could you hold onto faith despite anything? More than you held onto me?"

There was no answer.

There never would be.

Chapter Text

Blair, September 4th 2277

She groaned as her vision flashed, but she heard the lounger open above her.

"Blair?" She heard her father yell from further off as she rubbed her eyes.

"Dad?" She called, trying to climb out and falling to the ground with a grunt, his footsteps echoing as if he was running from the second floor. Her vision came back as she scrambled to her feet, just in time to get scooped into a hug. She clung to her dad, leaning into him and finally happy to no longer be sent on wild goose chases.

"You saved me," he breathed into her hair as he rocked her back and forth. "I was afraid I'd be trapped in there forever." He pulled away, cupping her face in his hands and looking down with a mixture of concern and happiness. "I'm so glad to see you, but what on earth are you doing here?" He asked, brows and expression growing stern.

"I mean, I thought it was pretty obvious," Blair said halfheartedly teasing him. "I came to find you."

"You know that's not what I mean," he said firmly, and her heart dropped as he voiced his disappointment.

"Well what are you doing here? You could have gotten killed!" She insisted, taking a step back and putting her hands on her hips. He looked over her gear, her stained hat and the grime that had settled in her face in a seemingly perpetual manner.

"Well I hardly expected to find Doctor Braun alive and insane," he said, crossing her arms as he studied her. "I was expecting notes or holotapes. I needed information on his work and the G.E.C.K., now-"

"Did you find what you were looking for?" She interrupted, and his raised brow told her she was flirting with trouble.

"I did," he said, measuring her stance before continuing. "Braun's work, the G.E.C.K., was designed to re-adapt the environments after a nuclear event. Its not entirely stable but I'll be able to use certain components to get the water purifier working, which is what we've been waiting for this whole time. Now I need to return to Rivet City. Once Madison knows about the G.E.C.K., I can convince her that this can work."

"Okay, well, I guess we're headed to Rivet City," Blair replied, turning to grab her bag and bat, only to find them missing.

"Who is this we, and what are you doing out of the vault?" James asked as she looked around the other side of the lounger. "I don't want to know how you got out, but you were supposed to stay behind! You were supposed to make a life for yourself there, not out here!" She sighed and turned to face her father, chest tight. "You were supposed to stay put, you could have had a good life in the vault-"

"I didn't have a choice," Blair snapped, frustration growing in her stomach as her father re-assumed the expression that said she was bordering on trouble. But she didn't care. "The overseer was out for my head, the entire security team was trying to track me down, except for Officer Gomez."

"You're being dramatic, he was probably just-"

"Officer Mack killed Jonas!" Blair sobbed, tears falling down her cheeks, and she watch shock hit her father like a truck. "The guards were coming at me with batons and guns! If Butch and Amata hadn't intervened then I probably would have ended up just as dead as Jonas and you would have been stuck here thinking I lived a long life without you!" She wiped the tears away angrily. "I know you wanted me to stay behind but I couldn't, I had to run."

"Well, its too late now, in either direction," he said softly after a while. "Come on, lets start heading for Rivet City." She nodded and lead the way out, looking for Charon and her bag. When she didn't see them, she figured he headed up to have dinner. She and James walked in a tense silence as they wove through the tunnels and into the garage. Dogmeat started barking, and Blair turned to see Charon starting, the fire smouldering out. She also noted that the molerats had all disappeared.

Charon stepped around the door frame and sighed in relief when he saw her.

"Ronnie would have kicked my ass if you hadn't made it out of the vault," he grumbled. "Its been three days." Blair stopped, eyes wide.

"Oh my gosh," she breathed. "Seriously? Three days?" Charon nodded, picking up her bag and the blood-stained bat. She could feel her father's disappointment roll over her, and she did her best to ignore it. "I'm sorry, it didn't feel that long."

"As long as you're safe," Charon said, handing her things over and studying James. "You're Blair's father?"

"Yes, Doctor James Birmingham," he replied, and she turned to see him studying Charon right back. "And you are?"

"Call me Charon," he replied gruffly. "Blair rescued me from a bad situation, so now I travel with her. You should be proud." She spared him a smile and knelt down to give Dogmeat belly rubs while she checked the date and time. It was early and, as he'd said, three days later though very early in the morning.

"We should be able to make it to Megaton before dark," Blair announced, cutting through the tension. Charon nodded, picking up his own things and stomping out the smoldering fire.

"We should push on to Rivet City," James said.

"Its not like Project Purity is going to happen today," Blair said with a sigh, facing James and his disgruntled expression. "I have a place in Megaton, we can rest there before meeting with Madison." James stared at her for a minute before nodding slowly and allowing her to lead the way.

She couldn't handle the tension between the three of them as they moved, Charon keeping a step behind her, and her father a few steps behind, watching them. She didn't know what was going through his mind, what he was measuring her against.

The sun was setting when they arrived outside Megaton. Ronnie's caravan camped outside, they were too big for the town.

"I'll stay out here for the night, talk to Ronnie," Charon said, speaking for the first time all day and squeezing her shoulder.

"Okay, see you in the morning," Blair said with a small smile, waving him off and continuing into the town, stepping around the water pipe and leading James up to her house, unlocking the door and letting him in. He took in the rickety house as she moved around, storing her weapons in a locker and the remainder of her rations in the fridge that was still clinging to life.

"You can take the bed, if you want," she said as he looked around upstairs. "I'm used to sleeping on the floor now. Kind of. If you want fresh food I can run down to the Brass Lantern and get some mirelurk cakes or noodles-"

"How did you afford all of this?" He asked, studying her from the railing.

"Oh, uh," She twisted her hands in front of her as she went over what to say. "I had to spend a couple week scavving so that I could buy Charon's contract off Azrukhal, got most of my weapons off raiders and super mutants that tried to kill me first, but Charon made me keep the caps cause he killed Azrukhal and said he didn't need the caps anymore-"

"I meant the house," He said, waving to the interior.

"Oh, that," she said, not knowing he would react to her next words. "Mister Simms gave me the deed cause I disarmed the bomb in town."

"Don't lie to me, young lady," he said, and the words sat on her like a jacket that was too tight. Asher's words flit through her mind for a moment before she steeled herself and looked up at him.

"I'm not lying! I did and he did because I refused to accept payment but he said I-"

"Blair Elizabeth-"

"I'm not lying!" she yelled, looking up at him with tears in her eyes. "Is it so hard to believe that not all parts of the wasteland are bad? Mister Simms saw I didn't have anywhere to stay and gave me this place for my help! If you don't believe me then fine, whatever, but it's the truth!" She stomped away, grabbing her bag and slinging it over her shoulder. "There's food in the fridge, I'm going down to the Brass Lantern." She barged out the door, ignoring him calling her name as she walked into the night air. She wiped the tears away angrily, shaking under the cool night's breeze as autumn began to sneak into the wastes.

She planted herself at a stool outside of the Lantern, Jenny smiled at her and raised her eyebrow in concern. Blair shook her head, so Jenny nodded and pulled a Nuka-Cola out of the cooler and made her way inside to yell for one of the boys to make up some mirelurk cakes. Blair sipped on the soda, noticing her father walking down the path towards the Brass Lantern and being intercepted by Lucas. Lucas shook his hand hardily, and James motioned back, their voices out of earshot. Lucas nodded, and surprise filled James' face. She looked down, hearing Lucas's laugh floating down towards her.

"How's my favorite scavver doin'?" Moira asked, sliding into the stool on Blair's left.

"I don't know," Blair admitted.

"I mean, it looks like you found your dad, what's wrong?" Moira asked, looking up the walk to where James and Lucas were talking, Lucas now motioning to the pond around the bomb and miming a splash. He and James laughed, and Blair looked back down.

"It's complicated," Blair muttered.

"I understand," Moira said, patting her hand. "Well, once you an' him get settled, I still got that work out in Minefield for you so we can get back to the book." Blair chuckled and nodded.

"Sounds good, thanks," She said. Moira pulled her into a side hug and walked back up, introducing herself enthusiastically to James.

Moira's voice lifted over the wind and the confessor, letting Blair hear her say, "You should be very proud of her, Doctor Birmingham." Blair looked up and smiled at Moira as she peeled away to return home. Lucas and James exchanged another hand shake and James continued down the road to sit down next to Blair.

"I owe you an apology," James said, taking Moira's seat. "Though, you have to understand that hearing that somebody just gave you a house was hard to believe."

"Yeah, not like anybody ever let us into their community and gave us a house before," Blair grumbled, eyes on her bottle. "I know that it was all a lie. I met Doctor Li and Moriarty, I know that we weren't born in the vault." James sighed.

"Lucas said that you're the age of his oldest daughter who works in Rivet City, that he gave you the house because he knew he'd want somebody to do the same for his daughter if the situations had been reversed," James said, not acknowledging the lie he told her for years. "He and Moira had mostly good things to say, though it sounds as if you've put yourself in perilous positions."

"No more perilous than waking up to find out you were gone and that the Overseer was on a rampage," she said as another breeze cut through the town, so she reached down and pulled out the tunnel snakes jacket jacket at put it on.

"Now, what's the story here?" he asked, plucking on the sleeve. "You said Butch helped you earlier." Blair nodded.

"When I was running, I bumped into him and he was panicking cause Miss DeLoria was trapped in her room with a bunch of radroaches that had gotten in. I helped him, which apparently the other Tunnel Snakes refused to do," she said, taking another sip. "Got Miss DeLoria out, and he gave me the jacket so that the guards would think I was another Snake, and helped distract them so I could get out." James chuckled.

"Well, how about that, never too late for a change of heart," he said, and she nodded, Jenny appearing before them with a steaming plate of mirelurk cakes. She took James' order and disappeared again, leaving them alone.

"So what really happened?" Blair asked, looking up at him. "Why did you end up taking me across the wastes to live in one-oh-one? Did mom really die in childbirth?" James sighed and rubbed the back of his neck.

"She did, I never lied to you about that," He said, taking his own drink from Jenny. "The only lie I told you about her was that she was also from the vault. She was a brilliant scientist, a wonderful woman, and she loved you so much." He looked to her, and she knew that he was taking in all that remained of her mother. Her eyes, her hair... "She devoted her life to helping others. She gave almost everything to Project Purity."

"So why leave it behind?" Blair asked, taking a bite of the cakes. "If she cared about it so much, why abandon it for almost twenty years?" James thought about his answer for a while, letting her stuff her face.

"We hit a wall about the same time we realized you were on the way," he said. "We were missing something, but we weren't totally sure what we needed. Nothing we tried worked, frustrations were growing and then..." He looked to her sadly. "You were born, and we lost Catherine. I was left holding her hope for the future and all I had left of her, and a project that seemed- pardon the pun- dead in the water. You were more important than project purity."

"But not important enough for you to stay." James turned to look at her, and she could see the depths of his sadness in his eyes.

"I saw you to adulthood, and I knew I had an opportunity to finish the work that Catherine had left behind after sneaking around the Overseer's files. I was leaving behind a young woman that Catherine would be proud of, knowing she was safe from the wastes. I took the chance to secure her legacy. I realize that I should have expected that Alphonse would go for you and Jonas in his paranoia," he finally admitted, rubbing his face. "I should have left a clearer trail to prove that both of you were innocent."

"You should have taken me with you," Blair said softly. He chuckled.

"That certainly would have made things easier. Maybe we would have already finished work," James admitted, looking over and tugging on her hair. She smiled at him, and she smiled back.

"So, what's next?" she asked, shoving a mirelurk cake into her mouth. "After Project Purity, obviously."

"That's a good question," James said. "I don't know, I suppose we can see where the wind takes us afterwards. You already have this house, though it's a bit small for when you start a family of your own." The thought made Blair's skin crawl, she'd never really been sure about having kids. She knew it was her role in God's eyes, but she'd never had a mother so how could she know how to become one?

"That feels quite a ways off," she said, making him chuckle.

"It always does, until it's happening."

They sat in a more comfortable silence as Blair finished her mirelurk cakes, and her father ate his own kebabs of mystery meat.

Chapter Text

Blair, September 4th 2277

"What happened to trying to keep you safe?" Charon asked as they walked around the lower levels clearing out the remaining super mutants. "A team of grown ass adults and they send you in."

"I mean, to be fair," Blair said, raising her shotgun to meet one that ran at her with a double-tap blast, "I already cleared this area out some looking for him a couple weeks ago."

"Still, it doesn't sit right with me," Charon grumbled, but he still helped her get everything cleared out. But each time she stopped to talk to her father she could feel the heated glare from behind her. James sent her running all over the facility, making sure this switch was flipped and that there were good fuses in the fuse-board, then sending her down an old intake pipe. They were waiting on the pipe to drain when a strange sound met their ears and Charon cursed.

"What?" she asked, looking at the old ghoul.

"Enclave," Charon replied, readying his shotgun.

"Everyone, it seems we have some visitors," James said over the out of reach intercom. "I don't know who they are or what they want. Please remain in you assigned areas while we get this sorted out... The Enclave? What are they doing here... They're where? Madison, lock that door!" The intercom cut out, and the sign flipped to clear. She bolted forward, and fell down with a scream, bouncing around a few grates until she hit a puddle at the bottom. Charon landed just behind, helping pull her to her feet and rushing out with her.

They burst into the maintenance area, and were met with soldiers in power armor shooting at them with laser rifles. She did her best to fight back, fight her way out, pushing through to get to her father and the scientists. She didn't know how many soldiers fell, as they pushed through, happy their faces were hidden behind masks so that she could pretend they were just robots.

She slammed open the door into the main work area as a man's voice said, "-authority of the President, this facility is now under United States Government control." she sprinted past Madison, running into the bulkhead that just raised up in time to keep her from her father. He gave her a look that told her not to act as the man in a long white coat said, "The person in charge is to step forward immediately, and turn over all materials related to this project."

"That's quite impossible," James said, hands up to show he had no weapons. "This is a private project; the Enclave has no authority here. I'm going to have to ask you to leave at once."

"Am I to assume, sir, that you are in charge?" The strange man asked. Blair counted the soldiers inside with them, four power armored figures and the man in white. If her father would just lower the bulkhead-

"Yes, I'm responsible for this project."

"Then I repeat, sir, that you are hereby instructed to immediately hand over all materials related to the purifier."

"I'm sorry but that's-"

"Furthermore, you are to assist Enclave scientists in assuming control of the administration and operation of this facility at once." the man stared expectantly at James, and James stared back. Blair tried to get Madison's other scientist, the woman inside with her father, to open the damn bulkhead, but the woman wouldn't take her eyes off the Enclave shoulders, her hands shaking from their position in the air.

"Colonel, is it Colonel?" James asked, far too relaxed for the situation at hand. "I'm sorry, but the facility isn't operational. Never has been. I'm afraid you're wasting your time here." The colonel narrowed his eyes at James, and his hand twitched towards the firearm on his hip.

"Sir, this is the last time I'm going to repeat myself. Stand down at once, and turn over control of this facility!"

"Colonel, I assure you that this facility will not function. We have never been able to successfully replicate test results-" the colonel's firearm was in the air, and with a crack that made Blair's ears ring, The scientist collapsed to the ground, blood staining the lapel of her lab coat.

Between the ringing of the gunshot in her ear, the blood rushing in her panic, and Madison's screams, Blair missed whatever the Colonel said, only seeing the mild panic on Jame's face as he looked at the scientist, then up to Blair. She watched his expression turn into a hardened resolve, but his eyes held a deep sadness as he held her gaze.

"Yes Colonel, I'll do whatever you want; there's no need for more violence,"
James said, turning away from Blair to face the Colonel.

"Then you will immediately hand over all materials related to this project, and aid us in making it operational at once!" The Colonel snapped. James nodded, giving Blair a significant look.

"Very well, give me a few moments to bring the system online." He turned to work on the terminal across from the bulkhead. It felt like the ensuing silence went on for ages, only punctuated by the Colonel snapping in a back and forth with James over how long it was taking.

"I grow tired of waiting!" The Colonel snapped, and Blair watched her father flip a switch. There was a kick in the engine, and she heard her father's geiger counter kick up to a frequency that made her stomach drop.

"James!" Madison yelled, pressing up against the glass as the soldiers in power armor collapsed, the colonel stumbling and jabbing something into his own leg before collapsing. James stumbled towards her as Blair tried desperately to get the bulkhead to open, she saw the signs of the radiation poisoning on her father as he collapsed into the glass of the bulkhead, yellowed eyes holding hers.

"... run..." he gasped, taking a deep breath before yelling, "Run!"

A scream was ripped from Blair's throat as she watched his eyes roll back into head as he slid to the ground.

"Dad!" she screamed, trying to break through the glass as her own geiger counter kicked up. "Dad! Dad, no!" Charon's arms were around her as she tried her fingers fumbled over the bulkhead controls. "No! No I have to get him!" she screamed, tears blurring her vision as Charon pulled her away.

"If you go in there you'll be as dead as him," Charon said softly, sympathy in his done. "Let's go."

"No!" she screamed as he pulled her down the stairs.

"We have to evacuate," Madison said through her own tears. "They'll be coming for us next."

"I'm not leaving him!" Blair screamed, fighting against Charon's arms.

"There's nothing you can do, the door is programed to not open until radiation levels are safe," Madison said, wiping away her tears as Charon gently pulled Blair towards the door. "We don't have time."

"How do we get out of here without running into their forces outside?" Charon asked her, pulling Blair tight as she buried her face into his arm and started sobbing.

"We used an old abandoned tunnel as an escape route once before," Madison replied. "Everyone should know how to find it, I already sent them the message to get in there until further notice. Follow me."

"Come on Blair, let's go," Charon said, his voice soft. Blair managed to stumble behind Madison, Charon still holding onto her arm as she tried to gather herself. But she couldn't get the haunting image and words to leave her mind.

There were gunshots, and Charon pushed her after Madison as he took shots and Enclave soldiers trying to push their way in. Madison made her way down a manhole cover, Blair knelt at the mouth, looking up to see Charon trying to fend off three soldiers in power armor.

She pulled out her baseball bat and ran at the power armored figures, taking her bat to their eye sockets. The first stumbled back, letting her move to the second one, who tried to slap away her bat, only to take a slug in the face from Charon. When she brought the bat down on the third, it broke in half, but was successful in dislodging the helmet enough to give her a glimpse at his neck. So she jammed the splintered end into his neck, hearing his cries of pain. The soldier tried to reach it, but it was jammed to firmly in his neck, and she'd managed to hit the artery. Charon took the first one out as the soldier shot into the nothing, trying to remember where they'd been, then grabbed Blair and dragged her into the manhole.

She lost her grip on the ladder, and fell until her back cracked against the floor, a set of hands helping her up some so that she could lean against the wall, shaking, tears still blurring her vision.

"That was reckless," Charon scolded once he reached the foot of the ladder.

"I couldn't let them kill you too," she sobbed, and his expression softened. He pulled her close again as the scientists gave their own shaky and panicked breaths. Charon tried to lead Blair away, but Madison's hand shot out, grabbing Blair's arm.

"Don't wander off, we're going to need you two!" She snapped.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Charon asked, Blair turning away to look at the older woman who was shaking and crying as well.

"We need both of you right now," she repeated, sounding almost angry. "You two are the only ones here with combat experience!"

"She just watched her father die, do you really think that this kid is in any shape to be in combat?" Charon growled back.

"We've got the Enclave and who-knows-what in front of us!" she snapped back. "We're going to need both of you to make it through here!" Blair took a deep shuddering breath and pulled away, readjusting her cap so that her hair was out of her face.

"Come on, I can do it," she said, voice hoarse.

"Absolutely not," Charon tried to say, but Madison had already turned Blair around to face her.

"We need to stick together, but we need to move quickly," she said firmly, and Blair nodded, trying to wipe way the tears that wouldn't stop falling. "We'll be right behind you, now let's get moving." Blairn nodded, wiped her face one last time, and swung her shotgun around, taking the lead with Charon down the tunnels.

At first it was quiet and easy, just a couple eyebots that were easily taken care of with a single shot. But then there was a locked door, and Madison had to work to unlock it, and there were half a dozen enclave soldiers that bared down on them. She had swapped out the shot gun for her assault rifle when a laser shot clipped her ear, making her ear feel like it had caught fire, and a scream came from behind her.

"Anna!" One of the men yelled as Blair took the last shot she and Charon needed to take down the last soldier. She turned over her shoulder, hot liquid dribbling down her neck, to see one of the older women looking up sightlessly at her.

"You were supposed to keep her safe!" Madison yelled as a rock settled in Blair's stomach.

"Then she shouldn't have gotten behind us," Charon barked, pushing Blair ahead. The remaining scientists tried to reach for the woman. "Nope, we keep pushing forward. Like you said with James, there's nothing we can do for her anymore." Madison glared at them, but Charon pushed Blair ahead. "Come on kid, just a bit further."

She knew he didn't know how far the tunnel reached, but the words comforted her anyways.

They'd been clearing out some ferals when she heard one of the men gasp behind her, "Doctor Li... my heart..." and Madison took care of him for a moment before turning to Blair.

"Garza has a heart condition. He needs medicine, or he may not make it. I'm not moving until he gets the medicine he needs," she said, arms crossed and looking to Blair expectantly.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," Charon groaned, earning a more heated glare.

"He needs medical attention!"

"If we don't move then we're fish in a fucking barrel!" Charon yelled.

"what does he need?" Blair asked weakly, going through her mental inventory, she didn't have too much by way of medicine but... "I have... I have some steroids, buffout. I wasn't expecting this so I left most of my stimpacks in Megaton. I was gonna sell these in Rivet City but..." Madison screwed up her mouth, but eventually sighed.

"If the situation weren't so serious, I'd disapprove," Madison snapped, walking up with her hand out. Blair handed the bottle over, flinching at Madison's look of disapproval.

"Better be glad she had those, I would have made him stay behind," Charon snapped, pulling Blair forward. "Come on, make sure the way ahead is safe. Garza managed to get to his feet and keep going, so it was the three men and Madison behind them.

But not for long.

There were ferals, and they got overwhelmed. Charon tried to stay between her and the bulk of them, but she was forced to watch as some ferals got on top of Garza and started tearing him to shreds. She tried to fire at them to get them off, and then one of the other men got between her rifle and the ferals. She screamed as his head exploded under the rapid-fire bullets, spraying her with blood and making her lose her window to save Garza.

"No!" Madison screamed as the last feral fell to the ground, and Blair turned to see that the other man was also missing part of his throat. "You were supposed to protect us!" she screamed, but Charon squared up between the two, glowering down at her.

"Maybe if any of you had been bothered to learn how to fight, we wouldn't have been overwhelmed and you would all be leaving," Charon growled. Blair looked down again, to see Garza staring up, his life's blood soaking the tunnel around him. "Be glad you're alive, and get moving. Come on, Blair." He gently pulled her away, and the three traveled in painful silence to the end of the tunnel. Madison took the lead from there, making her way up the ladder and fighting with the metal cover until they were able to climb to the surface.

They came out to see a giant fortress towering above them, with power armored figures surrounding it, but she recognized the symbol on their armor as one walked over to them.

"Blair?" Cutler called through his mask, laser rifle held in his arms. Blair burst into tears at the friendly voice, falling to her knees. Charon comforted her as the thumping steps came over.

"What's going on?" she heard Sarah ask as Charon rubbed her back.

"Where is Lyons?" Madison barked, her own voice taken with grief knowing now that she was safe. Blair heard the hiss of power armor being exited, and felt another hand on her shoulder.

"Blair, what happened?" Cutler asked softly, but it only made her cry harder. She heard Charon answer back softly, but it was drowned out by the interaction between Madison and Sarah.

"Elder Lyons is inside, why? What's going on?" Sarah asked. Blair tuned out Madison's yelling, her own sobs getting harder and harder as the loss and the grief and the guilt tried to crush her into the ground.

"You're not going to be allowed inside, let me get in my suit and I'll take her in myself," Cutler said above them.

"No, what if-" Blair started, looking up.

"Ronnie's nearby, Mama Dolce's. I think she was planning to head back up north after dropping off a package, but if you catch her then you might be able to keep her down here a while longer," Cutler said softly, hand on Blair's arm and eyes on Charon. "Oh, don't give me that look. She told me you were running with Blair. Just let me get in my armor." with that he got up and climbed inside.

"I'll run back to the Underworld with her," Charon said softly. "It looks like you have friends here, so you should be in good hands to recover from what's happening. When you've had time, come get me." He squeezed her arm, and she nodded, letting him lift her up and transfer into Cutler's arms. Cutler basically dragged her the whole way as Madison continued kicking up a fuss.

She missed some of the conversation as Cutler pulled her into the fortress, which had a pentagonal courtyard in the middle, where Madison was yelling at an old man in blue robes. Cutler stopped and let go, promising to be right back, and left her there, tears streaming down her face as she held herself, knowing she was shaking like a leaf.

"And you!" Madison yelled, noticing her, tears streaming down her own face. "You were supposed to help us! You were supposed to keep us safe but they all died because of you!"

"I tried-" Blair choked, but that only made it worse.

"You dodged out of the way of the gunshot that took Anna! You let Daniel and Garza get eaten and you shot Alex!"

"He jumped in front of me!" Blair sobbed. "And I didn't know she was behind me and I tried-"

"No you didn't!" Madison screamed. "If you'd tried harder you'd have made it in time to keep James from closing the chamber off and he wouldn't have killed himself!"

"I ran as fast as I could there were soldiers all over the place and I had to fight my way in!"

"They're all dead because of you!" Madison screeched, walking up with her finger pointed at Blair.

And then there was somebody between them, someone with dark brown waves and broad shoulders squared up like they were ready to stab Madison with the knife Blair knew was in the apron pocket their hand was tucked into.

"Maybe take it up with whoever put the vault dweller in charge of protecting a group of grown ass adults," Asher said, an edge to their voice as they stood between Blair and Madison. "You and your team of scientists have been adults longer than this kid's been alive, if they couldn't defend themselves that's their own failings." Blair started crying again, shaking so hard that she couldn't see more than Asher in front of her.

"How dare you!" Madison gasped.

"Scribe Asher, you're out of line," the man in blue said, a man in red robes coming up behind and placing a hand on the blue robed man at the same time Blair felt an arm wrap around her shoulder.

"Elder Lyons," Cutler said from her side. "If anybody is out of line, it's Doctor Li. I spoke to a ghoul Blair's been traveling with and he informed me that her father was one of the scientists that died earlier and that she watched it happen. She's nineteen, grieving the loss of her remaining parent, and apparently has had this lady riding her ass for the last hour on top of it."

"Knight Culter-"

"Sir," the old man in red said, voice soft but firm. "I worked with this team, as you remember. I can tell you right now that this young woman is James and Catherine's daughter. I was there when they named her, and I can see both of her parents in her face. Doctor Li, you said that James died earlier, yes?" Blair couldn't see Madison's expression, but saw Madison nodded. "It seems as if Miss Birmingham and Doctor Li are both grieving. Scribe Asher and Knight Cutler are not out of line for stepping up for the child." A third blond figure stepped up in the orange jumpsuits, and Blair watched the blue robed man lean down as words she couldn't hear were exchanged.

"Thank you for your input, Sarah. I do agree, that's an adequate solution for the time being," he said, and Sarah nodded. "Doctor Li, Miss Birmingham, emotions are high, and both of you have experience tragic loss. It's for the best right now if you two are able to process your grief separately. Scribe Asher, assist Sentinel Lyons in getting Miss Birmingham set up in temporary lodging, Scribe Rothchild, please escort Doctor Li to suitable lodging within the scribe's quarters, it seems she'll be staying here for some time while we figure this out." Asher nodded, and Blair found herself shuffled between.

While Cutler had been gentle with her, Asher grasped her shoulder roughly, and tugged her along like they wanted to get away from Madison as quickly as possible. Which, honestly, she did too. They also muttered a string of curses under their breath as they dragged her along.

"For the record, I'm with you on that one" Sarah said softly as they reached a door. "I remember when she came here, must have been right after Blair was born. God she was being such an insufferable bitch." Blair managed a choked laugh around the tears, and Asher snorted.

"Yeah some of the older scribes told me about that," Asher replied, not bothering to keep their voice low. "Said she was bitching and moaning the fact that James had abandoned them when they needed him most blah blah blah. Rothchild said she acted like James was cheating on her with Catherine. I've been enjoying the stories I've heard from them since I told them Blair was on the surface looking for him."

"I swear, Rothchild likes you more than my own father likes me," Sarah muttered, and then louder she said, "Okay, just get Blair settled in here for a second, see if she can stomach any field rations or water. I'm going to see if I can go find the squires, they're the only ones who wouldn't mind sharing so that someone can have some privacy."

"Yeah, since you're not willing to give up your own bed," Asher teased. Blair heard a smack as she was pushed into a plastic seat.

"I'll be back in a moment," Sarah said, disappearing.

"I'm not hungry," Blair said softly.

"Too bad," Asher quipped, and she heard them walking around.

"What's going on?" Asked one of the men, Blair couldn't remember which at the moment.

"Short version is that he found his dad then his dad died. Long version will circulate at some point," Asher said, pushing a carton into her hands, and dropped something on the table next to her. "Drink, for fucks sake. He's not coming to life because you dehydrated yourself."

"Jesus, Asher," Cutler sighed, quick footsteps following his voice in.

"Listen, the comforting isn't helping, might as well be honest," Asher said above them.

"How you've stuck around this long, I've no clue," The same man's voice said with such vitriol that Blair knew it was Vargas.

"My winning personality, same as you," Asher said dryly. Cutler snorted, his hand squeezing Blair's shoulder. "And they know that if they tried to make me leave, I have Danse so wrapped around my finger that if they kicked me out they'd lose their most promising soldier in the process. So I can do whatever the fuck I want and get away with it. Meanwhile you have to suck so many metaphorical dicks that you've got ballsacks coming out your ears just to stay in this unit."

"Does Danse know how much filth you spill from your mouth?" Vargas asked as Cutler snickered, leaning into Blair. Her tears had stopped blurring her vision, so she was able to see the look of disgust on Vargas's face and the smug expression on Asher's.

"Oh, he knows," they replied with a suggestive tone. "He loves it, I've said far worse and it just-"

"Heyheyhey!" Cutler yelled, and Blair managed a choked laugh. "Not around me, I have to look that man in the eyes still!" Asher smirked, and Vargas floundered at the news.

"Think that's bad? You should hear what he says," Asher said, winking at Blair. "Its the most by-the-books one that are the wildest in bed." Cutler burst out laughing at the shock on Vargas's face.

"Enough, I don't need to know details about my subordinate's love life," Sarah said, walking in. "Vargas, don't open yourself up to it either. You've been in command long enough you should know better." she rolled her eyes at Blair and motioned. "Come on, I'll show you where you'll be staying, and where the showers are. I've already gotten you a change of clothes and a towel." Blair nodded, getting to their feet with Cutler's help.

"Hey, Asher, maybe you and Danse shouldn't let the bathroom be a fuck-zone while the kid's here, huh?" Cutler teased. "You already scarred the poor thing at GNR."

"Oh shit, I thought that was you," Asher laughed, and Cutler joined in as Blair shuffled off behind Sarah, who was shaking her head.

"I swear, those two are going to end up in trouble one of these days if they're not careful," she muttered, checking over her shoulder to make sure Blair hadn't fallen too far behind. she kept checking periodically until she reached a door that opened into a tiny room that Blair was pretty sure used to be a supply closet before the war. It was very neatly kept, and there was a small teddy bear that leaned against the pillow that had patches of fabric stitched onto it with little embroidered flowers.

"That's a cute stuffed animal," Blair said absently, and Sarah looked at it. She sighed and picked it up, tucking it under her arm.

"Kara's probably going to want that for tonight," she said, shaking her head before pointing down the hall. "Officer's showers are in there. And don't listen to Cutler, neither Danse nor Asher are officers so they wouldn't be in this showers. It'll get a little more perilous once Danse gets promoted to Paladin but that's not going to be happening tonight. Change of clothes right there, towel under them. I'm assuming you have your own cleaning supplies?"

"Yes ma'am," Blair said softly. Sarah gave her a sad smile.

"I'm sorry, I can't imagine what you're going through right now. But it looks like at least Cutler would be willing to sit down with you and talk if you need to talk about it. I'd say Asher wouldn't listen but I've never seen them step up like that for anybody except Danse and Cutler. Well," she stopped and tilted her head. "No, that's not fair. They stick up for the squires. I've seen them hiding the squires under their workbench when their tutors were being mean."

"You've said squires a few times," Blair said softly, and Sarah took a deep breath and looked around, making sure nobody was in earshot before leaning in.

"They're just kids. Eight and ten right now. But they're like me and come from important families so they're in training. It's a good bit of pressure on them," she said, sadness in her own eyes. "Scribe Rothchild used to do the same thing for me when I was their age, let me hid in the lab under his desk. So I appreciate that they do it for them. But you don't have to worry, neither will bother you tonight. I told them they could stay up for an hour past lights out reading comics if they let you take one of their rooms." Blair gave a small smile and nodded.

"Where's this one going to sleep?" She asked, motioning to the stuffed bear.

"She'll stay in my room," She said with a shrug. "Arthur hesitated too long after Kara said she'd share, so I told her she could stay with me and stay up while I finish reports." Blair nodded, and lowered her bag to the ground. "I'm just down the hall to the right if you need me."

"Okay, thank you," Blair said with a nod. With that, Sarah left her alone to her feelings.