Despite Preston Garvey's gut instinct - despite his knowledge of super mutant and Brotherhood relations - despite their current place of camp - despite it all, Preston was willing to give Danse the benefit of the doubt and chose to believe that the Paladin wouldn't murder someone in their bed.

He wasn't sure if he meant himself or Strong, in that regard but he did know that the Paladin's rigid code of honour would - at the very least - make him pause.

At somewhere shy of 2 am, Danse approached and offered to take the rest of watch and Preston couldn't very well refuse him. He would have liked to get at least a few hours of sleep before they set off again, especially with the way that Danse and Strong walked. He would have liked to have enough energy to keep up with their massive strides across the wasteland.

He had chosen to settle down somewhere in the outer ring of Strong's snoring and used his pack as a pillow. He tipped his hat down to cover his eyes and most of his face.

It was a good thing that the Commonwealth's weather had decided to stick to hot. The night was barely any cooler than the day but hell - it wasn't raining and it beat freezing his ass off. The coldness of the rock actually felt soothing against his back.

That brought to mind the first time that Thea had seen a radiation storm. He'd thought she was mad. She had the self preservation instincts of a Radstag too - out, dancing in it as the built in geiger counter in her Pip-Boy had pinged and sparked. Preston had thought the damn thing going haywire was going to be the last straw and it was going to explode from the strain - and take her arm with it. He'd had to drag her back inside and fuss with a pack of Rad-Away but Thea hadn't given a damn.

He felt himself smile from under the hat and settled down, shouldering the lumps in his pack until they evened out. It was moments like that which made him laugh. There she was, covered from head to toe in irradiated rain and she simply didn't care.

He didn't remember at what point he dipped into sleep, but he did remember he had been thinking about that particular memory.

Somewhere past dawn, The Paladin approached. Preston snapped into awakeness almost immediately, well accustomed to becoming alert at the slightest bit of noise. Perhaps it had always been the case, perhaps it was the many, many incidents - both in Quincy and in Lexington - that had left him attuned to focusing on the slightest change (along with the paranoia, insomnia, other things ending in Ia). Those who were deep sleepers or not morning people didn't tend to survive long. Especially since most raider activity happened at night - super mutant activity - any time at all. There was just as good a chance that you would be caught sleeping as you were any other time. Whatever it was, it meant that Preston Garvey was awake.

'I'll get Strong,' Preston stood and stretched, feeling the stiff bones pop.

'I'll get the abomination.' Danse argued. 'You have the food, Garvey.'

Preston was just about to argue the point when Danse turned on his heel and marched away - Presumably to add another footnote to the annals of poor mutant-Brotherhood relations. He probably should have stopped him.

Instead, he ran a hand down his face and muttered something that sounded like 'Urgh.' He needed a shave, he needed breakfast - but really, he was just hoping he wouldn't have to get between Strong and Danse today. Yesterday had been encouraging - mainly because they were ignoring each other - but that wouldn't last.

He almost wished he'd brought Dogmeat, just so the canine could keep an eye on the two of them. But Dogmeat was off with his mistress, the only person that he seemed to fully listen to. Oh he'd cock his head when he was addressed but he would pass any order that did not come directly from Thea through a generous layer of consideration and if he so felt like it, he would do so. Otherwise you were lucky if he'd bend down to clean his...well.

What kind of name was Dogmeat anyway?

Preston was dragged out of his reverie by an inhuman roar and he cursed. Abandoning his pack, he raced further down the cliffs, towards the sounds of smashing.

He found them, Strong holding Danse by the front lip of his suit, with a fist peeled back and Danse with his favourite laser pistol in the mutant's mouth.

His presence had caused the brakes to the situation to be slammed on - thank goodness. He was almost hesitant to ask how one could go from ignoring each other, to all out war.

Strong seemed the first to consider that, and mumbled around the laser pistol like a petulant three year old 'He started it.'

Danse, possibly reacting to the situation replied 'The abomination wouldn't wake up!'

Preston could almost see what was coming, judging by the large, shiny, fresh scorch mark somewhere just above Strong's thigh. With a tired, somewhat horrified conclusion, Preston realized that Danse had decided that if all else failed, there was one thing that human or mutant could not ignore - being shot at. A warning shot over his head would have possibly gone down better than frying Strong's leg, since he clearly hadn't realised the full implications of a raging, pained, angry super mutant in close quarters.

Or maybe he just wanted to fry Strong's ass that badly. Preston wouldn't pretend to know. 'Strong,' Preston sighed. 'Put the Paladin down.'

'He shot Strong!' The mutant argued. 'Strong should be allowed to take a limb.'

The rest of what he was about to say was garbled as the gun was forced further down Strong's throat by Danse who snarled 'Try it.'

If he so chose to, one bite from Strong would leave this entire quarry deeper than how they'd found it - and highly radioactive. The small explosion of energy from Danse's gun would possibly be enough to set off the Fusion Core currently being used in his power armour. Forget about an arm - they would be lucky that there were bits left at all. Preston wasn't a trained negotiator - nor did he consider himself a particularly good amateur.

He had, however, learned a thing or two from Thea in the art of righteous indignation. He puffed up and demanded 'What are you two doing?!' Hands firmly on his hips, the way Thea used to do it when she caught people scrapping in sanctuary, a tone of shrill outrage to cut through the snarling. Both people stopped struggling with each other and turned to look at him.

'Garvey-' Danse snarled.

'Get that gun out of his mouth, Paladin. And you, Strong! Put him down right now! Have you forgotten that we are on a mission?' Both parties paused, rigidly and Preston pushed that advantage. 'We are never going to get anywhere near the Science Museum if we don't work together. All that technology, all the killing will not happen unless you two work together! That mean's no shooting Strong in the ass and no ripping limbs off! Because Thea will notice and Thea will ask questions. Do either of you want to tell her what you did to each other?'

There was a moment where Preston's little speech sank in. It was cruel and unusual to bring up Thea's wrath but when all else failed, the Sully Mathis warning won out. You do not want to be in the Sole Survivor's bad books. Even so, Preston was seriously concerned for a second that Strong was going to rip a limb off, or Danse was going to shoot but slowly, hesitantly, the gun was withdrawn and the Paladin plus power armour was lowered to the floor.

Man and mutant stepped away from each other under his glare.

'Good. Now how about breakfast?'


A/N: A short update! (when did a short update become just over a thousand words? I need my head looking at.) Anyway, this is practically unedited for me. I've only stared at it in frustration about a dozen times and edited it just over half that. Cried once. I still don't particularly like it - but at least the action's starting! And it's going to get even better in the next episode.

And yes, Thea is apparently that scary. She would be horrified to know that, I imagine.

And my usual thanks to all the watchers/commenters/favouriters! You guys encourage me to keep going! I've gotten some lovely reviews lately, and that makes me incredibly happy! I really should start responding properly. Yes - it seems my absolutely solid rule about monthly updates went out the window. Ah well. More fun for the readers! Also: apparently, I am also not the only one to do the whole container in Shaun's bedroom thing which is awesome to hear. Hoarders unite!

Thanks for getting to the end! Leave a review! They always spur me into writing the next chapter!