A/N: Here we go—the very beginning of my full-fledged fanfiction! I've worked on this from February of 2016 to June of 2017—so about a year and a half. It's safe to assume I've become very attached to these people, the story, and kind of find it difficult to upload and say it's over. But, I'm excited to share it at the same time.

Listen to me ramble. Anywho. Here it is, lovelies. Enjoy :)

1. The Blue Suit

MacCready POV

How To Love by Lil Wayne

I see you looking 'round the corner…

Magnolia starts one of her original songs she says is titled I'm The One You're Looking For. Written directly for anyone and everyone wondering the Commonwealth and unluckily finds themselves in Goodneighbor. Including myself. Why am I here again?

Caps. I need all I can get my hands on. God, why did it have to happen to him? I take a shot directly out of the bottle of bourbon sitting on the table next to me. It won't help me in the long run, but it helps ease the pain right now.

I hear a loud voice booming from the main room of the Third Rail. He's looking for MacCready. Normally, I'd be happy that I might have a customer. Not today. Fu-…frickin' Winlock. Barnes is probably with him. How'd they find me?

Just as I suspected, Winlock walks into the room, his figure being shadowed by his own personal lapdog, Barnes.

"MacCready," Winlock greets me, Barnes looking toward the door to see if anyone followed them in.

I stare at him, trying to make the boredom show on my face. "I was wondering how long it would take your bloodhounds to take me down, Winlock." I give him a smug grin. "It's been almost three months… don't tell me you're getting rusty. Should we take this outside?" I add with a tantalizing tone.

"It ain't like that. I'm just here to deliver a message." He seems rearing to go for a round, but this isn't no town to start a war with.

He doesn't seem to get it. "In case you forgot, I left the Gunners for good."

"Yeah, I heard. But you're still taking jobs in the Commonwealth. That isn't going to work for us."

I notice something just on the other side of the door. Being distracted by it, I try to make my tone as rough as I can. "I don't take orders from you…" What I noticed on the other side of the door moves out of sight—it was a person. I try to finish what I was saying. "Not anymore. So, why don't you take your girlfriend and walk out of here while you still can."

I laugh internally because it seems that Barnes was taken aback. "What?! Winlock, tell me we don't have to listen to this…"

"Listen up, MacCready," Winlock gets my attention. "The only reason we haven't filled your body full of bullets is that we don't want a war with Goodneighbor. See, we respect other people's boundaries… we know how to play the game. It's something you never learned."

Feeling snarky, I retort, "Glad to have disappointed you."

Winlock laughs and responds, "You can play tough guy all you want. But if we hear you're still operating inside Gunner territory, all bets are off. You got that?"

I heave a small sigh. "You finished?" I really want to know what that mysterious figure was up to, creeping around like that.

"Yeah… we're finished." He turns toward the door, still looking at me with cutting eyes. "Come on, Barnes."

As the jerks leave the room, I hear Barnes say, "Watch it!" to which I hear a small apology in a distinctively female voice. Time to see what was going on.

"Hey, you over there!" I call out. I see the person that was peeking around the doorframe a minute ago peek out again, their eyes barely even visible.

"Me?" they ask. It's the same voice as the person with the small apology.

"Yeah," I answer. "What do you want?"

She finally comes out of her hiding spot. And what she looks like… I definitely am not expecting that.

It's a young woman in her twenties, I'd guess. She has golden blonde hair, lightly windblown and resting atop her shoulders. Her skin is the palest I've ever seen, and free of every kind of dirt imaginable. Set behind a pair of dorky-looking eyeglasses, she has the most beautiful, big and rounded blue eyes I've ever seen. They're as clear as polished crystal. They're piercing, but they're set in a timid face—her entire face cries out innocence. And her clothing seems to go right along with that.

She wears a blue vaultsuit. I haven't seen one of those since I was in the Capital Wasteland. The Pip-Boy on her left wrist is the cherry on top—anyone could get a vaultsuit if they tried. The Pip-Boy however…

She breaks the silence. "I-I'm sorry to have bothered you. Someone out front said something about the back room… and I heard talking… so I-I got curious…" She looks around the room, trying to avoid my face from the looks of it.

"Look," I say, "if you're preaching about the Atom, or looking for a friend, you've got the wrong guy. If you need a hired gun… then maybe we can talk." That came out harsher than I meant…

"No, I'm not…" she starts off, taking a deep breath. "Who were those guys?"

Why does she wanna know? "A couple of morons looking to climb the ladder of success by stepping on everyone else on the way up. You shouldn't be surprised though, that's how it goes when you run with the Gunners."

She looks confused. "Gunners?" she asks. "Who are they?"

Wow, she is not from the wastelands. "They're one of the biggest gangs in the Commonwealth. Got a rep for being crazy. You know, so tightly wound, you'd think they were a cult or something." She looks a little scared, so I back it off a hair. "Stuck with them for a while cause the money was good, but I never fit in. That's why I made a clean break and started flying solo." Time to make a sales pitch. "Now, what about you? How do I know I won't end up with a bullet in my back?" Ha. Like she even knows how to shoot a gun.

Her already big eyes rounded even bigger with surprise. "Why would I shoot you?"

Seriously? Why wouldn't you? "Who wouldn't in the Commonwealth?"

She looks down at the floor. "Not me," she says, so quietly that I almost didn't hear her. "What are you asking?" She looks back to me.

"Price is 250 caps… up front. And there's no room for bargaining."

"…I don't know if I have that many." She looks toward a pouch on her leather armor. "Won't you take less?" Whether she meant to look pouty while asking that or not is beyond me.

"I said it was not negotiable." She looks down to the floor again. "It's not like I'm going anywhere soon anyway. If you get more caps, you know where to find me." She looks up at my face with a weird look on her face, like she's uncomfortable. With big eyes—and a look of pure awkwardness—she spins on her heel, pauses for a second, then walks out of the room so fast she could have been flying for all I know.

She definitely knows how to make a first impression. I'll give her that.