The Brotherhood of Steel had a huge fucking habit of showing up after all the battles had died down.

Most of my own skin was burning and ready to peel away in places where I'd been shot, and it felt a shitload worse than radiation poisoning. All feeling in my right leg had disappeared, but that wasn't before it sent a sharp, contagious sting up my body, and I had to haul my limb- with loss of total circulation- by my pants leg to move forward. Blood was leaving a trail behind me, but I had no idea exactly where it was coming from. I was limping along, ignorant, but not by choice, of the horrible physical state I was in, and the Brotherhood were so concerned for me, that they were going to wait for me to limp all the way over to them... just to try to help. They were all such wonderful people.

There were about four of them, but I didn't know for sure. I didn't care enough to look any harder. The leader of their unit wasn't wearing his helmet, and he had his back turned. It wasn't until the bitch in front of him pointed to the 'wildlife', that he turned around and rushed over to me, but I wasn't all that grateful. 'Wildlife' didn't need the Brotherhood. They needed her, if I recalled correctly...

"Civilian! Are you alright?"

I had no fucking idea who he was. I thought I knew every shit-faced Paladin in the BOS, but I guess I'd been proven wrong before. Dark hair, tan skin... but it had to have gotten darker from not being accustom to his time in the sunlight. He looked a little unnatural out here. Maybe he spent all his time indoors?

"...Not likely." I called back in response.

I noticed the haircut next. Out of style, but I guessed time never moved forward after a post-apocalyptic war...?

"I have a stimpak. You should be fine until we can get you someplace safe." He yelled to me reassuringly.

He was beginning to get pretty close, and pretty he was. He had to be young, around my age. Twenties or thirties, maybe?

He finally reached me, and bent over to examine my leg before I could get a full glimpse of his features up close. "Ran into a handful of Enclave soldiers." I watched over him as he removed the cap for his stimpak, and searched for the right spot to inject me with it. "I came out alive, but as you can see, it was pretty hard for someone as small as me to take them all down without being reduced to a pile of green glop afterward." I smiled as the needle broke through my skin. "Maybe if you guys had shown up sooner..."

Not even a crack. What a hard ass.

...Or maybe he knew I was mocking their timing?

"We can't automatically detect pockets of Enclave. There aren't a lot of us that can sense people from a mile away."

He pulled the empty needle from my leg, and dropped it in the dirt as he stood up.

"I know, I was just..."

I was confused at first, but a little afterward?

I wanted permission to freak the hell out.

"Just... just..."

The blue eyes pushed me over the edge, and after I realized where I recognized that hairstyle from, it all came crashing down. There was no fucking way this could be him... no fucking way! He was immature. Stupid. Weak. Immature might make it through the front doors of the Citadel, but stupid and weak wouldn't fit into power armor.

His brows furrowed, and it was probably because I was staring at him. With my mouth open.

"Just.. what, ma'am?"

His voice had drowned every little spark in my conscience, and I was ready to faint.

This.

Could.

Not.

Be.

Him.

"Ma'am... are you sure you're alright?"

No. I'm not alright. And I'm not going to respond. I'm not going to respond, because holy shit, it was actually Butch fucking DeLoria.

x x x

A/N: We'll learn more about my LW as we go on, of course, and we'll learn more about Butch's journey from escaping the Vault to joining the Brotherhood of Steel as well. The chapters will be longer, I just didn't want you to have to read forever to get a feel of the rest of the story.

I hope you'll stay along for the ride, and please, R&R.