Wasteland Tales

Fathers and Daughters

This fic has been sitting around my computer since I first finished Fallout 4. I mean, McNamara isn't exactly a common name and who's to say Elder McNamara didn't have a wild youth. Anyways, now that I finally have this written out I just wanted to use it as an excuse to reupload several of my other Fallout one shots into one fic since I've done that with everything else I've written. Hope you like it.

Elder Nolan McNamara slowly made his way to the first level of the Hidden Valley bunker in order to check on the facility's newest member. The birth of a child was always cause for a particular amount of celebration as it meant not only the continuance of the human race as a whole but also the Brotherhood in particular. The Brotherhood, just the thought of the organization he had once sworn his life to protect now gave him an intense headache. In light of a certain young Elder's actions in the East things for the Brotherhood as a whole were only becoming more and more complicated and he unwittingly found himself stuck in the middle of it all.

He inevitably made his way into the med bay and walked over to where Senior Scribe Schuler was running several tests on the newborn as its parents looked on to make sure that there were no unforeseen complications following birth five weeks ago. He had been present then too, but the formal congratulations would have been inappropriate at the time. Senior Scribe Schuler still wasn't his biggest fan anyways after the whole situation with Head Scribe Taggart and while she had more or less accepted her position as medical officer over the years spending an exorbitant amount of time in the same room as her wasn't exactly his idea of a good time. There was no avoiding it now though, unfortunately.

"How is our newest member fairing," he said figuring that was neutral enough.

"I still need to run some tests, but preliminary results show that both mother and baby are perfectly healthy."

"That's good," he said.

"Congratulations are in order I think," he said turning towards the parents. "You've helped assure both humanity and the Brotherhood's survival for at least another generation."

He stuck out his hand and the Paladin that was the baby's father took it and gave it a firm shake. The Scribe mother just sat back in the chair she was occupying and nodded her head. They probably thought he was being too formal, but in his experience formality was better than false joyousness every time. It wasn't that he wasn't happy for them on a personal level, what kind of person wouldn't be happy about someone starting a family, the outward emotions for doing so just weren't his strong suit and left a lot to be desired; at least that's what Veronica kept telling him.

"Carry on," he said as he made a quick exit.

Happy to finally have the awkwardness over and done with he allowed his mind to wander back to a time in his life that he found himself thinking about more and more in recent days. He had given up long ago on the idea of having children of his own, his duties were far too important for distractions such as that, but there had been a time where it had not seemed like such a far flung idea. He had been just a young Knight then still hoping to catch the attention of Father Elijah and other high ranking Paladins and Scribes so that he could continue his rise in the ranks. Her name had been Anne; she was an outsider who wasn't even planning on staying in the Mojave long as she made her way East. A relationship with an outsider would have been hard, possibly even reason enough for his ousting from the Brotherhood entirely, and that combined with her desire to continue East made sure that they never got to fully explore their relationship. They had several nights of passion together before her departure and he had been left wondering ever since about what might have been.

Maybe she was still out there somewhere in the East, hopefully not too caught up in that Maxson boy's holy war, though maybe it was for the best that he never found out what happened to her. He wasn't that same young Knight, so much had happened since then, HELIOS One had happened, him becoming Elder had happened, Veronica had happened, the Courier had happened; he wasn't sure if he would meet with her approval if she met him again today. With a sigh he sat back in his chair and tried to prepare himself for more meetings with the rest of the West Coast Elders about the whole Maxson situation. It was going to be a long day.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the wasteland once known as the United States, Overseer Gwen McNamara sat back in her desk as she contemplated the recent events regarding Austin Engill and the woman who had showed up on their doorstep and fought to save him. The woman was apparently looking for her son who was taken by the Institute for whatever sinister purpose they had planned for him. While she couldn't exactly take an active role in helping the woman out herself, or send anyone out into the wasteland with her aside from Curie, she was determined to help in any way she could while still maintaining the wellbeing of Vault 81 and its residents.

The whole situation with the Brotherhood of Steel was equally disconcerting if not more so for a number of reasons. Gwen didn't believe for a second despite what Maxson and his lackeys were spouting that they had Vault 81 or the Commonwealth in general's wellbeing in mind. It was all simply a grab for power that they were masquerading as some sort of liberation. Freedom from the grips of the Institute would do the Commonwealth some good, but having it come at the hands of the Brotherhood would only serve to trade one boogeyman for another that was much more visible.

Her mother had once let it slip in the waning years of her life that her father was a member of the Brotherhood of Steel out West. The fact that she hadn't been born inside the vault had definitely been used to rail against her enough after she announced her intention to run for Overseer that she knew how the people would react if they knew whole truth. The people inside of Vault 81 may be sheltered and warry of the outside world, but they weren't stupid. It was hard to ignore the wanton invasion of the Commonwealth that the Brotherhood was currently embarking upon.

No, it would be best if that little kernel of knowledge never made it outside of her head. In her reasoning, if her father was anything like Maxson and his ilk he wouldn't be a man she would want to call father anyways. Maybe it was for the best that she never met him. With the personal crisis reasoned out in her mind she began making her way towards the elevator. She needed to make the necessary security arrangements in case the Brotherhood or Institute decided to attack Vault 81, especially now that they were offering safe harbor for the woman who seemed to be their greatest enemy.