A/N: I'm still kinda new to this stuff and this is a new fanfic I've been working on. Fallout 4 is an awesome game and of course I don't own anything from it nor do I claim any rights.

This story is a slow burn F! SS / Danse. I have a love/hate relationship with him in the game but I think that's why I'm drawn to him so much. He's a really cool character and I did get really drawn to him after I learned more about him.

This is rated M for language, violence, and eventual sexual content. This will contain spoilers to the game too so just a heads up.

In this story, instead of the Prydwen arriving after the Reunions mission like in the game, I have it arriving sometime after the deep range transmitter gets obtained.

Enjoy please!

Chapter 1

It was about a month ago when she finally took the wedding ring off. When the hot sunlight kissed her skin the moment the elevator leading to the damning depths of Vault 111 emerged from underground, she still saw the same world. All around were fences, trees, soldiers and citizens of the Commonwealth trying to gain entry to the vault. When her eyes truly adjusted to the light was when Kait then realized that it was all in her head.

It took several days for her to believe that Nate was dead and that her son, Shaun, was gone. By his tone, she could tell that Codsworth was worried about her. He had given her a tape when she first met him after emerging from the vault titled, "Hi Honey!". She put it in her pocket with a smile. "Nate's so sweet," she said. "I'll just wait until he's home with Shaun from the store to hear his voice."

When she found the first corpse in the wasteland, her eyes had formed a watery film as her trembling hand found her mouth. The meal that Codsworth had fixed for her was all on the ground in minutes as she vomited everything out from the sight. Nate was dead, was what she told herself finally. And Shaun was gone. Kidnapped.

It wasn't until she took the first bullet in the arm that she fully understood that the world she knew was long gone and dead; cremated and spread to the sea, lost forever.

She heard a man yelling to her from the top of a building in Concord but she didn't hear what he said. Kait, with shaking hands and tears running down her pale cheeks, retrieved a pipe rifle from the ground a few feet from her. She was so terrified.

"Come out you little bitch!" A man who appeared as though he hadn't showered in months with rotting teeth, a dirty face and stained brown with old blood hands had yelled. "I want to get to know you better!"

Kait finally let go of her arm; her hand fresh with blood from the bullet wound. Her back was pressed tightly to a destroyed brick building behind her but instead of poking her head out before taking a shot at the raider, she snuck around the building. With several, long deep breaths, Kait ran her non-bloody hand through her jet black hair and pushed her bangs back. Her light blue eyes finally slid over in the direction of the Raiders before the rest of her head moved and she raised her rifle with her. As she peered down the makeshift scope, memories flooded of her father of when he taught her how to fire a weapon. By the time she had met Nate, she was a better shot than he was but she was still far from perfect.

A hard kick to her right shoulder followed as she fired the first shot, hitting one of the Raiders in the leg. A hot blast of red split through the air as the man in the building covered her while the next firefight began.

Somehow, magically, Kait had survived. She met the man in the building along with a few others and learned that his name was Preston Garvey. Little did she know that this man would become a dear friend to her. She spilled everything to him the moment they met. Words of pre-war times, the vault, her late husband and her kidnapped son spilled from her mouth before she even realized it. She was crying again; choosing to trust these strangers that she had just stumbled across. They listened with a seriousness that chilled the room. Soon after though, they had begged her to help them again. She did so and, again, she couldn't fathom how she had come out of the nightmare that had followed.

When night had fallen and all her new allies had worked together to set up lights, power, water, food, shelter and defenses back in her old home of Sanctuary, Kait had found a quiet place to be alone. She was sitting against the wall in her destroyed house, looking at the broken crib that belonged to Shaun before she finally put in the holotape that Codsworth had given her.

"Bye honey. We love you." And the taped had clicked, indicating the end of the message. Kait's chest had tightened to the point it was unbearable. She hugged her knees up to her chest and clutched herself tightly as she buried her head in her arms and sobbed harder than she ever had in her life.

The Commonwealth was a cold place. It was cruel and unforgiving. Kait started to become increasingly distant to any stranger she met yet she never turned down anyone who needed help; she just didn't get close to those she didn't know. Preston was the first human being in this new world to remind her that there were those she could trust and rely on still. He vowed to help her find her son and Kait was shocked when he had pulled her aside one night after clearing out an area of Raiders causing trouble to a nearby settlement. He had told her that if she never arrived, he would have just found some way to kill himself if he ever made it out of Concord. He didn't care if the Raiders broke in and killed them all. He was ready for death. The thought of Preston being gone hurt too much to think about as Kait cast her eyes down and shook her head.

"You saved my life," Preston spoke with a soft smile, "in more ways than one."

"I'm glad you're still here," Kait said as she pulled him in a tight hug. Preston hesitated before gently placing his hands on her waist.

No one outside of the original Sanctuary settlers knew about Nate and Shaun. Kait had sewn a small pouch on her pants by her right pocket with both wedding rings inside which couldn't be removed unless the pants were ripped open. She didn't want anyone else to know about her old life but she still kept her husband and child in the back of her mind. She stuck with a new look too. She found a drifters outfit that she favored and cut her thick black hair short. During her travels, she even obtained a scar on her left eyebrow.

Even though she adored the Minutemen, Kait knew their technological help and resources could only go so far and she was forced to expand. She found a surprisingly nice settlement called Diamond city where she found two new friends that joined her in her journey before she had known it. Piper, a brave, strong willed woman with a knack for the extreme had eagerly joined. Kait didn't know it until Piper had joined, but having another female around that wasn't rude 24/7 or high off her mind every second was a relief.

The other follower was a synth named Nick Valentine. Kait was shocked, almost scared at first when she met her first synth but she soon melted to his warmth and damn, did she love Nick Valentine. He was the next person she spilled her story to. She learned from him who may have her son and he stayed by her side when she killed the man named Kellogg who sure enough, was the piece of shit who had murdered her husband.

Her next victim would be the boogeyman of the Commonwealth, the Institute. But tracking them down proved to be near impossible.

One day, after a month had passed, she had picked up a station on her pip boy that was new. She and Nick were in the middle of laughing over something that happened the day before when she noticed and tuned in. It was a distress signal, a cry for help, coming from the Cambridge police station. Kait cast her blue eyes to Nick's gold ones and without a word spoken, they agreed to help.

When they arrived they found a barricaded police station with three people within. A yell came from one of the men as a pack of feral ghouls swarmed the area with a rabid ferocity.

"Go!" Kait yelled to Nick and he ran forward with a nod, gun out and already shooting. Kait stayed back and knelt behind a car she was near. She pulled her custom, and most favorite, sniper rifle out to the front of her and took aim. She fired her first shot and a ghoul's head exploded from the impact. She pulled the bolt back and readied another shot.

Every time it seemed like they were about to be victorious, more and more ferals would pour out of nowhere. Kait cursed under her breath as she started reloading her sniper and failed to hear the growl that sounded from behind her until it was already upon her. Eyes wide, Kait turned just in time and moved her head out of the way as the feral swung its clawed hand down where she was.

A sound of panic rose from Kait's throat as she kicked the ghoul back away from her but it came back faster than she could react. Kait ducked low to the ground and crawled enough away under the ghoul before rising to her feet and breaking to a sprint towards the police station. She only managed a few steps before a painful, sharp, burning pain hit her left calf and forced her to fall to the broken asphalt with a thud.

Kait saw the blood pouring from her leg before rolling on her back to watch the ghoul that struck her almost tackle her. She closed her eyes tight and threw her hands up to try to reduce as much pain as she was about to endure but suddenly, blasts from a laser rifle hit the ghoul three times and it was reduced to nothing but ashes all over Kait.

A hard breath shot out of Kait's chest and she panted as she opened her eyes and looked up. Towering proudly over her was a giant of a man in magnificent armor looking back down at her. He had dark brown hair and well kept, trimmed facial hair with matching brown eyes and a long scar going down the right side of his face.

"Get up soldier," he spoke with a strong voice and held his large, metal hand out to her. Kait quickly took it and he pulled her up to her feet with ease. Pain surged through her leg as she put weight on it but she wasn't going to let that get in her way as there were still a swarm of ghouls left.

Kait knew she was no good injured and exposed on the ground. Before her savior stomped off back into the fight, she noticed a broken fire escape next to her on a building. She couldn't get up there on her own so she grabbed the man's cold metal arm.

"Hey," she breathed and pointed up at the escape, "get me up there."

The man looked at her suggested sniping spot and nodded. It felt weird to Kait by how easily he lifted her. It was if she didn't weigh anything at all as he raised her up enough for her to do the rest. Kait adjusted, her leg still throbbing like a bitch, but took aim none the less.

Maybe 20 minutes passed and the ghouls finally stopped coming. Nick, having done well, adjusted his hat casually before finding Kait and approaching the bottom of the escape.

"That's a nasty wound, doll." He raised his hands up as she dropped into them. He steadied her as she tried to stand on her own.

"I'll," Kait grunted as she looked down at her bleeding leg, "be fine. I just need a doctor." Nick looked over at the police station and noticed the metal tank man loudly stomping towards them.

"Kait," Nick spoke with haste as he looked back at her, his arm still around her to help her stand, "we should get out of here now."

"Why?" Kait replied. She looked forward to the man that was now at them. She noticed a symbol painted on the chest plate of his armor but she had never seen it before.

The man was silent at first before evaluating the injured woman before him. "That was some good shooting you did. If you hadn't shown up, I don't know if we would have made it."

"Thanks," Kait said with an almost weak smile. "Nick and I were in the area when we found your broadcast. It was the least we could do."

With the mention of Nick, the man finally glanced in the detective's direction. Kait noticed a look in the large man's eyes that weren't exactly friendly and she tensed from it. He slowly looked back over at Kait and noted how she tightly held onto the synth to hold herself up. She trusted him, the man realized with near disbelief.

"What's your name soldier?" The man asked finally.

Kait abruptly answered, taken off guard by his sudden question, "Kaitlyn - uh, sir. But just call me Kait." She lightly shook her head, "but I'm no soldier. Just a wanderer."

"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance Kait," the man spoke. "My name is Danse and I'm with the Brotherhood of Steel."