Revelation 21:6 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely…..

Indeed the Wasteland was no place to raise an infant, more or less, a daughter of a mother who wanted to see her desperately. James' thoughts gravitated to the small child lying in his arms, the only reminder of the woman whom he cherished with all his heart; his daughter resting soundly and calm without a care in the world. He envied the ignorance his daughter had of what happened to her mother and hoped that one day she would understand that even though they never met, his daughter would know how much Catherine really loved her. Oh Catherine, he thought to himself, why leave me here with our child? I have no idea what to do. He sighed and rested his face in the palm of his hand as he peered down at his child once again. Her downy soft chocolate brown hair fluttered in the breeze, and her grey eyes closed softly into a gentle slumber. It was true that in the gene projection, she did look immensely like her father but there was one thing that they didn't share that was their eyes, his were brown and hers were her mother's, grey. That was what he loved the most about his daughter, that somehow she carried the spirit of her mother through her eyes. He hoped that his daughter would be the embodiment of goodness and kindness, just as his wife was. He also hoped she would carry her intelligence, as it would be a shame to have someone over lower wit of their parents whom were scientists, and very accomplished as well.

James looked up at his new surroundings, it was indeed a change of scenery but it was the only safe option in the Wastes, or rather under it. It was no secret among the Wastes that there was only Vault in operation in the Capital Wasteland and perhaps even the entire U.S., and that was Vault 101 which its greatest reputation was the fact that it never opened under any circumstance, but James found that was not the case. In order to survive, the Vault had to be opened at least once, and James decided to take that chance after he left Project Purity, albeit reluctantly. The needs of his very young daughter came first even if he left the Capital Wasteland as desolate as it was. Trying to get in however was a different story, after many trials to get in, the Overseer of the Vault finally relented and let James in with his daughter, under two conditions. One, he was to be the Vault Physician, since they were in desperate need of a medical official in there, and two, that his daughter would have no knowledge of the outside world or that she was originally from the Wastes rather than a Vault born. James reluctantly agreed to these conditions, anything for the safety of his daughter. To his surprise there were several other young children around his daughter's age with families of their own, however due to a Radroach infestation recently as said by the Overseer, a few parents had passed away. Kenickie DeLoria and Marianne Almodovar, were among the casualties, leaving their children without one parent. At least she won't be the only one, he thought to himself as he rocked his daughter softly in his arms. Perhaps she could connect with the children here and won't feel like an outsider. He smiled at his daughter as she yawned with her little mouth and cooed. James decided it was bedtime for his little girl and carefully carried her to her small cradle in his room. Setting her down on her back, she moved just a little bit and made a few noises but soon she drifted back to sleep. James chuckled at his daughter rubbed her soft cheek, "Have sweet and safe dreams, sweetheart." He stumbled over back to his own bed getting ready to turn out the lights when he whispered to his daughter in the shadows, "I love you, Caitlan, goodnight, my dear."

One Year Later…

A year had passed and James looked at his daughter with pride. She was developing like a normal toddling infant, perhaps a bit more than expected, as here she was starting to walk before her friend Amata did. After settling in James acquainted himself with several people from within the vault such as Beatrice who helped James learn how to change Caitlan whenever she needed it, as well as Officer Gomez, Stanley Armstrong, and several others. Among them was Jonas Palmer, his new appointed assistant. He was lighthearted and helpful, and because of this James used him as his faithful helper to assist in testing the water around the Vault. Even though he left Project Purity behind, it was never really going away, in the back of his mind he could hear Cathrine pushing to keep her dream alive. But right now his thoughts remained on his infant daughter who made him smile as she tried desperately to waddle to her dad who was in the playpen urging his daughter to walk over

"Come on over here, sweetie. Come on! Walk to daddy." he said to Caitlan.

Her eyes lit up and her face spread into a smile, she walked and babbled as she got closer to her dad with each step. One right after the next she finally made her last step in front of her dad without breaking a sweat.

"There you go," James said with a huge grin, "My goodness, just a year old and already walking like a pro. Your mother would've been so proud" he lowered his voice at the mentioning of her mother, she was still too young to know of her mother's fate but eventually she would know. Remembering that he needed to pick up the results of the latest testing from Jonas.

"Listen, kiddo, I know you don't like it when Daddy leaves you alone, but I need you to take care of yourself for a minute." James said as he placed his child in the play pen. She looked anxious and a bit upset, she was always a bit of a daddy's girl craving his attention, but he resisted her heart melting gaze.

"Just stay here while Daddy runs to his office. You'll be okay, honey, I'll be back in a bit." He told her as he head out the door.

Quickly he headed down to his office when he heard a sudden commotion coming from the DeLoria residence. Curiosity ensued as James peered down the hallway to see what's going on, but was greeted by an all too familiar scene. Several times security officers would come down to check on Ellen DeLoria as she was deeply affected by the death of her husband, Kenickie DeLoria. Even though Ellen truly did care for this man, apparently it was not the case for the man. Kenickie was a womanizer, and pretty much had his way with any woman in the Vault due to his charm and charisma, from what James heard from the overseer, but that was probably an exaggeration. From Officer Gomez, Kenickie was a selfless man whose weakness was for the affection of women, he adored it, but it was incredibly looked down upon. When he and Ellen got together for a one night stand, she got pregnant and instead of leaving her, he decided the right thing to do was to marry her. After all, a man must be there for his child, so he married Ellen quickly after hearing the news, but to say he loved Ellen was an overstatement, he more or less tolerated her. He was essentially paying for the mistake of being an adulterer. After his son, Butch, was born he became a happier man, investing time into his child and playing with him, but that was shortly cut off when a Radroach infestation happen taking a number of casualties, including Kenickie and Amata's mother, Marianne. Although Amata was living a semi normal life, Butch's mother, Ellen was drowning her sorrows in another bottle of Vodka. James had detoxed Ellen before but she always seemed to find her vice somewhere. One of the officers was carrying little Butch in his arms, when James came over.

"What's going on here?" James inquired.

"Ellen's drunk as a skunk again. Butch is going to stay with the Mack's for a while." Officer Gomez.

"Again? You'd think that a mother would care for her son a little more." James said

"Yeah well, that's not Ellen. I've known her for along time and the only person she cares about is herself and her indulgences," Gomez sighed and stared at the child who was screaming and crying for his mama. "I have two boys of my own, to think she doesn't have a clue of what she's doing to her kid, it's quite sad."

"I guess, but its not my place to say." Said James, "two boys, huh?"

"Yeah almost a year apart, Johnny is the oldest, and my youngest is my wife's favorite, little Freddie. How's your kid? Caitlan, isn't it?"

"Yeah she's fine, already walking."

Gomez flashed a huge grin, "Really? That's amazing, any words yet?"

"No, she babbles but no words." James replied

"I'm sure she will."

Just then Jonas came around the corner with a clipboard rushing to the good doctor.

"Hey Doc, I got those results you've been waiting for." Jonas handed him the clipboard as he went over the findings quickly. After realizing how much time had passed James decided to head back to his apartment as he waved goodbye to his fellow Vault residents. To his surprise he saw his daughter, Caitlan, out of her playpen, with a book in one hand and a teddy bear in the other. The sight of him made her babble in joy as she sparked a smile across her and her father's face.

"Hahaha, you're quite the little explorer, aren't you?," he chuckled at his child, "Serves me right for trying to pen you in."

Caitlan walked over to her dad with her arms waving to be picked up by her daddy, and James complied, bent down, and placed her in his arms.

"Come on over here, I want to show you something." James walked a little ways to an end table with a Bible passage written in it.

"See that," James pointed at the frame, "It was your mother's favorite passage. It's from the Bible. Revelation 21:6; I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely." James sighed, "She always loved that."

Caitlan touched her father's face lightly as he looked at his daughter, and suddenly she said, "Dada"

James teared up as he stared into his daughter's beautiful grey eyes that were once Catherine's, he smiled and gave her a snug as he carried her out of the vault apartment. "All right, come on. Let's go see if your little friend, Amata, wants to play."

I will stay strong and not fall apart for her, and i will always be there for her, he thought to himself, just need to take one step at a time...baby steps…

Hey guys this is my new story for Fallout 3, since I found my old one to be underwhelming, but if you want to see for yourself, you may. I feel as if I have improved as a writer and don't want to focus on the sappy aspects too much, but hey I like fluffy, when it's appropriate. So please read and review, I love good input as it does motivate me. Thanks!