Okay, here's my third Fallout fic. This one is rather rough (to me, anyway) and I will be editing and cleaning it up within the next few days. One of the few relationships from fiction that had a lasting effect on me was James and the Lone Wanderer from Fallout 3. Just...I dunno...their dialogue was always very natural and it made for great tension and yet really heartwarming moments. I think this is because you get to watch the character grow up and James get older.

Inspiration: the songs "Maybe" by the Inkspots and "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" by Elvis Presley.

Disclaimer: Only the story belongs to me. That's not saying much XD

Walking down one of the dimly lit passageways alongside her newly found father, the lone wanderer couldn't help but hold repressed resentment against the man. His face broke into a great, big smile when they had the chance to properly reunite. James wrapped his daughter in a tight hug, bringing tears to her eyes. How she wanted to yell at him, pound her fists into his dirty vault suit, and remind him of how much of a hopeless idiot he was. Yet all she could do was blink back the tears and squeeze tighter - as if he was ready to slip between her fingers.

But the reunion was short.

Really, really short.

James quickly moved on to Project Purity. It was obvious by his enthusiasm that the project meant a lot to him. After all, it was his life's work: what he had hoped to accomplish with her mother. Seeing him so close to seeing his dream through brought the lone wanderer joy. She loved seeing her father so ambitious. But after being apart for so long, she expected him to at least sit down for a minute and ask her what she had been through - what she thought about the whole thing, what she had experienced.

He never asked.

Soon enough, it was just them walking side-by-side, only pausing to exterminate the less friendly creatures of the wasteland.

It had been an hour since they arrived in Rivet City and James could already tell the sudden mood swing in his daughter. Every time he tried to ask her something, the answer was a short and icy: "Yes" or "No" or a bitter: "I'm fine."

It didn't help that all he brought up in conversation was that damned Project Purity.

Taking a sidelong glance at her, James noticed for the first time that she was an actual woman. Her baby fat and short curls had long disappeared. Her skin was tanned and burnt, with freckles beginning to stretch across the bridge of her nose. His daughter stood alongside him not as the little girl he remembered in the Vault, but as a mature and intelligent woman who was thrown into the reality of the Wasteland.

The silence irked James to the point where he had to say something -anything- to break it.

"Is there something bothering you, Sweetheart?"

An exasperated sigh escaped her lips. She ran a hand through her hair, one of the many habits she inherited from her father. "Can't...can't we just talk for a minute?"

"That's what I've been trying to do-"

"In private?"

James opened his mouth to speak but quickly shut it. He led his daughter to one of the extra rooms they were renting for the night before they headed off. As soon as the gears whirred and the door shut, he turned to face her.

"I've been hearing good things about you," James said, pride beginning to swell in his chest. Her eyes flickered up before slowly drifting back down to the floor.

"Have you?"

"Is it true? Did you really disarm the bomb in Megaton?"

The Lone Wanderer tried to focus on the radio playing in the background but ultimately failed. She longed to be back in Megaton and to be surrounded once again by its residents. Thinking about it made her realize just how far away she was from the Vault.

"Yes. I disarmed the bomb."

James sat down beside her on the bed, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her closer to him. "I'm very proud of you," he praised, "even though you put yourself in harm's way. Just...please, be careful out there. This is a dangerous world; far more dangerous than anyone in that Vault knows."

"I'm not stupid; I know that," she snapped, immediately wishing she could take it back. She didn't mean to speak out so harshly, but there was so much she wanted to know. Why didn't he see what was bothering her? It wasn't that he left the Vault: he left her behind, stuck in the middle of chaos with the Overseer hunting her down.

Before her father could react, she spoke again. "I wanted to ask you some things," she told him, her voice surprisingly steady.

"What's on your mind?" As if sensing the emotions bubbling in her, James removed his arm from her shoulders and only watched as she stood up and paced the room. When she stopped in front of him, she lashed out.

"How could you leave me like that?" she shouted, her voice trembling. Hurt and anger danced in her eyes as they reflected in his own. "What the hell were you thinking?"

Taken back by her anger, James only stared back. So, that had been what she was dwelling on; his disappearance from the Vault. She must have felt like he abandoned her. Guilt began to build in his stomach.

"I wanted you to be safe. I didn't want this for you - a life out here in this godforsaken war zone." He stood up and walked towards her, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I couldn't tell you what I was doing because I didn't want you following me; a plan which clearly was not as successful as I thought it would be."

"You see? You think you didn't cause any damage - you think you did the right thing!"

"Oh, and I'm wrong to think that?" James countered, standing up straight as if to reinstate his authority. "I was wrong to want to keep you safe - to shelter you from the Wastes?"

His daughter squeezed her eyes shut and let out a sigh. Tears streaked her cheeks which she hurriedly wiped away. The protective side of James kicked in, and at that moment all he wanted was to hug her and make her tears go away like he used to when she was a child. He stood as still as stone.

"Dad...Amata woke me after she left." The Lone Wanderer sniffed and forced herself to remember the events she had worked so hard to put behind her. "Her father and the guards were looking for me. She gave me her dad's pistol and told me I had to escape. She was scared that..." Her voice broke in to a sob. "That the guards would kill me like they did Jonas."

James' heart stopped. He never thought the Overseer would go to such extremes. Jonas was dead...his best friend was dead.

"There were radroaches everywhere..." she continued, "and that bastard had Officer Mack beat Amata for information...just because she was my best friend!"

James pulled his daughter to his chest and rested his chin upon her head. The more she explained the more clearer the images became. She mentioned how the Holdens were shot, how she wasn't able to stop and help Paul Hannon Jr. when she ran by him, and how she could only depend on Amata and Officer Gomez to help her escape. There was so many lives lost and all because of his negligence. A part of James wanted to break down and cry himself.

"I am so sorry," James whispered into his daughter's hair. "I am so, so sorry."

His daughter suddenly stilled in his arms before pulling away from his grasp. "Yeah, well, you were only trying to do the right thing...even if it's not the practical thing to do."

"Yes. No matter what I try to do, I always seem to make situations worse."

For a moment, the lone wanderer saw her father vulnerable. It reminded her of the one time she had walked in on him sitting at his desk in the reactor level, nursing a scotch and crying over a picture of Catherine. She realized that when her mother died her dad never had a chance to mourn, and she had to live as the constant reminder of what he had lost. Her mother was the one person her family was missing - the crucial part of her life her father desperately tried to fill and pretend they were complete without.

"Is this about Mom? Are you trying so hard because of what happened to her?"

"Oh, my child." James cupped her cheek so gently she barely felt the warmth of his palm. "If only you could have known how much it meant to her. She believed in the work we were doing and was so determined to see it through. She gave up so much for this project. We all did, and I don't want that to have been for nothing."

It wasn't a clear answer, but an answer nonetheless.

"I hope you understand what I'm trying to say." James' aged face shredded years as his eyes regained a twinkle and his lips curved into a smile. "I don't want to lose my daughter."

The lone wanderer knew she had to say the one thing she had wanted to tell her father since he left the vault. Despite the lingering hurt and anger, it was time to clear the air. Bigger things were going on than family squabbles, and she knew it would be a long time since they had a moment alone again.

"Dad, I-"

The door suddenly opened, revealing a younger male scientist.

"James, Dr. Li is asking for you."

"Is something wrong?"

"No, but she seemed impatient."

James shook his head, chuckling. "She never changed after all these years."

The scientist nodded before retreating back to the lab. James slowly met eyes with his daughter.

"I kept her waiting long enough." Pause. "I should go."

"Guess you better."

James swept back a few stray hairs from her forehead, then jokingly brushed his knuckles against her jaw. She grinned and punched his shoulder in return. James never admitted it but he was taken back by her sudden strength.

As he walked out the door, the lone wanderer suddenly found her voice. "Dad, wait!"

"Yes?"

Her eyes lingered on her feet before she found the courage to look him straight in the eye. "I love you."

James smiled, the very same smile she had inherited. "Love you too, sweetheart."

AH GOD JAMES WHY DID YOU-

Er, anyway, hope you enjoyed the story :)

-PK