Got the writing bug at the moment so am firing out the chapters. I doubt I'll be doing two a day to often but I'll try to make at least one every day, though not if that interferes with the quality of the writing. Hope you're all enjoying the story.

Jack watched Arthur over the crackling fire with a concerned look on his face. They were on the second storey of an old two storey office building somewhere in downtown DC about a days journey from the citadel. Jack watched as Arthur shifted closer to the fire trying to escape the cold night air. Normally Jack wouldn't have had a fire, to him it was just a beacon to everyone in DC, it just screamed here I am, come and get me. But it was an exceptionally cold winter…or so he had been told. It seemed like he'd been wandering the wasteland for a lifetime he thought grimly but in fact this was only his second winter out here, hell realistically it was only his second winter ever, down in the vault it was pretty much the same climate year round, a comfortable warm temperature, the only time he ever felt an extreme temperature was when the air conditioning had broken and pumped out nothing but hot air for two days until Jonas and Stanley had fixed it. Even then there had been plenty of cool, clean water to keep cool.

He hadn't intended on a fire at first but he'd seen Arthur sitting there, cold and miserable, and felt sorry for the kid so he built a fire, figuring it was the cold making Arty miserable. He'd minimized the risks of course, finding a building where the roof was missing but there will still four walls to hide the light that emanated from the fire. This was a building to remember Jack reflected. There was still a roof but it only covered half the building the rest had collapsed years ago, so there was a place for the smoke to escape and somewhere to get out of any rain that might fall. He had shifted the rubble from the roof as best he could and set up two office chairs and a desk near the fire. The rest of the office equipment formed a barricade by the stairwell where he had set several traps including frag mines and grenade clusters. The windows were boarded so no one could chuck those grenades back at him he noted happily and the blast would be negated by the stairwell if they tried to lob one up the stairs. The stairs themselves were narrow; only two human attackers could come up at a time, only one if they were a mutie or wearing bulky power armour. He sighed as that last thought crossed his mind, which was all too likely to happen now.

The Outcast's were all too happy to shoot him after their latest dealings. First had been the fiasco at the Outcast outpost after he'd got out of that pre-war army simulation. That bastard Sibley had stirred up the rank and file and tried to mutiny forcing Jack to put it down with brutal efficiency. Needless to say most of the other Outcasts viewed him as the bad guy, the situation had just got worse after Lucas Simms had found an old army bunker when he'd been teaching his kid to shoot and emptied out the armoury. The Outcasts seemed to think they deserved the stockpile of laser weaponry, while with all the troubles in the wasteland Simms had, understandably, wanted Megaton to have the weapons stored in the armoury. Jack had come across the stand off on his way back to Rivet City to pick up Arthur. Jack had tried to negotiate but a combination of the refusal of the Outcasts to only take some of the weapons and their disdainful attitude towards the 'local wildlife' had lead to a breakdown of negotiations. Jack hadn't exactly warmed to the Outcast's and their high and mighty attitude so when the time came he had chucked them out their asses. He was pretty sure the only reason they hadn't sent a hit squad was because of the services he'd rendered to Protectors Casdin and McGraw. Still if any Outcasts happened to come across him he'd was sure they'd either kill him or take him in for 'questioning'. If the Protectors tried to intervene then he was confident the rank and file would mutiny, they'd already done it once after all, hell twice if you counted the original defection from the Brotherhood. Jack felt sorry for Casdin in a way, how can you trust your own men when they've shown that they won't obey orders they don't agree with.

Then there was the Brotherhood of Steel, he'd known they'd be angry about Arty but then he hadn't and still didn't plan to be anywhere near them when they found Arty. His plan was watch the last part of Arty's journey through a sniper scope; he'd be safe enough as he wouldn't be leaving his side until they were in regularly patrolled Brotherhood territory. It wasn't that he was scared, Jack tried to hell himself, but even that little voice knew it was bullshit. He was scared. Scared that he'd come face to face with one Sentinel Sarah Lyons.

OH HELL NO

Jack firmly removed the woman from his thoughts, he'd moped around enough after the whole yelling at Elder Lyons incident and he was not revisiting that dark place again. It had taken a whole lot of Moriarty's best whiskey and a more nights than he cared to admit with a more than willing Nova to get over her and he was not going to let her sneak into his thoughts again.

With some difficulty Jack's thoughts turned to the latest in a long list of reasons of why the Brotherhood was pissed with him. In what had turned out to be an eventful trip from Big Town, where he'd dropped a bunch of grateful slaves into Red's lap. Who in retrospect was pleased to have seven extra bodies to fight off slavers and super mutants. The slaves it turned out were not from the capital wasteland but from somewhere out west and so all had chosen to stay in Big Town, after a few quiet words from Jack, to help stop the Big Town residents from experiencing the same fate as themselves.

So Jack, feeling quite pleased with himself, had headed south to Megaton where he'd managed to anger the Outcasts. Feeling, rather foolishly in hindsight, that he couldn't get into any more trouble he had headed to Underworld, not the most direct route but Jack had convinced himself he had scrap metal to turn in. Nothing, he told himself, to do with the possibility of running into she who shall not be named as she led search parties around the area where he'd rescued Arty. So he'd dropped of the scrap metal and was just heading out of the mall when he noticed two ghouls hiding behind a mound of earth from the laser fire of two Brotherhood knights.

This had reminded Jack of another reason why he had a particular dislike for the illustrious Brotherhood. Their attitude of shoot 'zombies' on sight was just barbaric and moronic, Jack hadn't been in the best of moods because of his inability to discover who was pulling the strings behind the 'no killing super mutants' rule and the encounter with Outcast had only worsened that mood especially where self righteous jerks in power armor were concerned. So without any attempt at diplomacy he'd stormed up to the nearest one disarmed and smashed him in the head with the guys own laser rifle, which was probably very embarrassing. The other had dropped his gun and come at him with a combat knife, Jack had dropped the rifle and drawn his own knife from his belt. The knight's power armour had given him a strength advantage but Jack had been quicker and more skilled. Regrettably even after Jack had knocked him down at least five times the guy just wouldn't give up. Eventually Jack had just snapped and stabbed him through the weaker armor that connects the body armor to the leg armor. Jack had regretted it as soon as he'd done. The frustration of the Brotherhood, the Outcasts and Sarah bloody Lyons had all just been bubbling under the surface and it had just burst through the pile of sex and alcohol that Jack had buried it in. Overcome with remorse Jack had dropped a few stimpaks as a way of saying sorry I stabbed you in the gut and, seeing more knights running towards them, promptly disappeared. He knew they'd recognised him and when he added the kidnapping, as he was sure they'd see it, of Arty they were sure to be in pretty much the same place as the Outcasts. No actually, he reflected it would probably be worse as the leadership in the Outcast were ironically fonder of him than the leadership of the Brotherhood were. He hadn't intentionally set out to individually piss off the entire Brotherhood leadership but some how he managed it.

So in short it was probably just as well that only one power armored soldier could come up the stairs at a time. Now how the hell had Jack came to this particular train of thought. Oh yeah Arty was still looking miserable. How on earth had he gone from that to 'who have I pissed off this week'. Jack shook himself quickly not wanting to get sidetracked again and he refocused his mind on Arthur and his apparent misery. When Jack had picked him up from Rivet City Vera had reported that Arty, Bryan and James had got on like a house on fire. Either something had happened or he just missed his friends. Shit he hadn't made things worse by showing him the good life and then taking it away had he?

"Arty?" He asked gently. The boy looked up quickly and smiled attempting to hide the downcast expression he had been wearing only seconds before. "Oh no you don't Arty, I know something's up" softening his tone Jack continued "If you tell me I might be able to help. I'm quite good at that you know" Jack said that last sentence with a grin, he and Arty both knew that was a bit of an under statement.

"It's nothing…I'm fine"

"Arty" Jack growled. He was determined to know if this was his fault. Jack had made too many mistakes, ruined too many lives and he was not going to add Arty's name to that particular list

"Do you…are you ever scared?" Arty stared intently at Jack waiting for the answer to question he had quietly uttered. So quietly had he said it that Jack had had to strain to hear it and Jack had very good hearing. The question puzzled Jack but what the hell, sometimes people went in a rounda bout way to get to the heart of an issue.

"Hell yeah, I'm scared all the time. I just don't let that stop me doing anything. Anyone who tells you their not afraid of anything is lying. Why are you scared of something?"

"There was a bully and…and I ran. I mean I wanted to fight but he was bigger and older and I was scared. I never been in a fight before, I've seen Sarah stab a mutie and I've seen people fight but I've never had to do it myself so I just ran. Am I a coward?" Jack listening carefully, suppressing the rising feelings when Sarah's name was mentioned, so that was it. He was afraid he was coward. Bloody Brotherhood, Jack thought sourly, their damn obsession with the Maxsons had probably made poor Arty feel he had to be perfect or he wasn't good enough.

"So what? You said he was bigger; you retreated from an unwinnable battle. That's just good military tactics isn't it"

"I suppose" Arthur considered this, but then continued unhappily "But you wouldn't of ran, Sarah wouldn't of ran, none of the Pride…"

"So what" Jacked interrupted angrily. He hadn't meant to be so aggressive but he was annoyed that every time her bloody name was mentioned his heart skipped a bit. Its just a bloody name he told himself furiously. Seeing that Arty was looking upset he swore under his breath and continued in a much kinder tone "You're younger and you've got a lot on your plate, next time it'll be fine."

"But I want to be a warrior like you. But I can't I'm a coward. And I can't even shoot; last time I did I just shot Sarah" He continued hurriedly "It was only a flesh wound…but I still shot her"

It's just a fucking name. Control yourself man.

Jack had listened as Arthur had quietly wheeled out his insecurities. And he couldn't help but smile for a couple of reasons. One for once it wasn't his fault and two, this was something that Jack could help with.

"I think I can help with the shooting Arty" As Jack said he stood up and stood an old wooden table on its side so that it stood up almost vertically resting on two of its legs to stop it falling backwards. Grabbing a piece of charcoal from the collapsed roof, evidently a fire had caused it to collapse, he drew the rough outline of man, well he drew a stick figure, Jack couldn't draw if his life depended on it.

"I happen to be a decent shot you know" Jack said with a grin as Arthur watched him a puzzled look on his face. This puzzled look turned one of delight as Jack pulled a laser rifle from his pack, it was the one he'd had taken from the Brotherhood knight, Jack had taken it so as not risk been shot in the back as he left the scene.

"So perhaps I could remedy the whole being a bad thing"

"That would be awesome"

"Well then" Jack grinned "Let's see what you got." The room target was not more than 10 metres away but Arthur's first three shots all flew wide, the last managed to hit the table but only the lower right corner.

"Not that bad" Jack reassured a disappointed Arthur "The gun is a little big for you. Still I think we can get you hitting that table every time. First off exhale before you fire, squeeze the trigger don't jerk it"

Jack demonstrated thudding three shots into the head of the 'man'.

"Now you" Jack watched as Arthur took position "Try kneeling, it'll help your accuracy. Take your time and pick your shot. If you're ever in a fire fight you need to let your squad know who you're firing at. Stay focused on the target, don't get distracted." Arthur still shot wide but he was getting closer, Jack smirked the kid was getting better each time.

Jack watched, amused, as Arthur attempted to hide a yawn. They were sitting on a crumbling brick wall that had marked the front garden which had seen better days. The kid was tired but happy. The two of them had stayed up into the early hours of the morning practising not only Arthur's shooting but a bit of hand to hand combat. Both of which he had begun to show some skill with. Jack had assured Arthur that as long as he remembered his stance when he was shooting and he practised every day that he'd become a good shot, jack doubted he'd be shooting any more Brotherhood knights. As for the hand to hand combat Arty was a natural, jack was pretty sure that little Arty would be able to kick his ass in a few years. He was sure that the training would give Arthur confidence in himself and more able to stand up to bullies. From what he could see it had worked, he had gifted the laser rifle to Arthur and fashioned him a sling from an old leather belt, the boy wore it proudly over his back imitating how Jack wore his rifle. Standing up he moved off towards the Citadel, arty falling into step behind him.

Checking their location on his pip boy Jack realized that they were in a part of DC that was regularly patrolled by the Brotherhood. Sure enough he could hear the tramp of power armoured boots heading towards them. Motioning for Arthur to stop moving jack stood still as he tried to work out their location from the echoes that bounced off the ruined buildings. They were approaching from the right. Time for him to leave and make sure they found the boy from a safe distance.

"This is where I take my leave Arty. Stay here and the patrol will find you and take you home. Keep practising and good luck. Remember if you are ever afraid take deep breaths and face it, overcome it and then do what's best whether that's running away or fighting. Trust me you're no coward. That's it I guess nothing more to say except goodbye Arty, see you around"

"Bye Jack" Jack gave him a grin and returned the wave. He pre-warned Arty he'd have to leave soon, he hadn't told the boy why, he wouldn't understand, the boy was after all a descendant of the founders of the Brotherhood. Still, Jack mused, hopefully the experience had made him a bit more sympathetic to the wastelanders.

Jack ducked down an alley about when he reached the end of the street and looked back to check the patrol had seen Arty. They had. When he was sure the kid was safe Jack turned and left heading for Rivet City. A blonde headed knight had reached the kid and was checking him for injury. Jack's heartbeat quickened but no it wasn't…her. Jack swore as he tried to erase her from his mind. Arty had mentioned her a lot when they were practising and somehow she'd wormed his way back into his head. Marking Rivet City on his pip boy Jack headed east; the Muddy Rudder was as good a place as any to bury his feelings under a mountain of liquor and there was always Trinnie if that wasn't enough.

Arty waved as he recognised Knight Walker who had moved out ahead of the patrol. The Knights eye's widened as she saw the boy and she rushed up to him. Arty rolled his eyes as she grabbed him to check him for injuries. The Wanderer hadn't been this fussy and he'd rescued him from super mutants.

"Are you ok Squire Maxson?" It took Arthur a few seconds to remember that he was Squire Maxson. It seemed ages since any one had called him that.

"What? Oh yes I'm fine"

"What happened? Did you escape? Are you hungry?" A flood of anxious questions were fired at him and Arty interrupted the flow before she could really get going.

"I'm fine the Wanderer saved me like five minutes after I ran away. I've just been at Rivet City before he brought me back here. I even learnt…" Arty trailed off as he noticed the pursed lips of Knight Walker. He assumed from the other knight's body language that they also had, under their helmets, similar expressions of distaste. Great, he thought to himself, I wonder if they'll ever tell me what he's done. He fell into formation with the other knights as headed back to the citadel, eyes scanning the ruins, his other senses alert for signs of ambush, just like Jack had taught him. He couldn't wait to get back and show Paladin Gunny his newfound marksmanship; he wouldn't be shooting Sarah again that was for sure.

Sarah walked into the council room with a relieved expression on her face, the Squire was back found almost right by the Citadel of all places. Her father was back to normal and had, after spending some time with the newly returned Squire, called an urgent meeting. Sarah assumed it would be to discuss what he missed while he had wallowed in his grief. She was therefore surprised to see the Pride present, including Gallows who returned earlier from his mission, shortly after the return of Squire Maxson. She took her place and couldn't help a smile as she realised that everything was normal again. The Squire was back and with him had returned her father's spirit and energy. He seemed ten years younger; personally Sarah was just pleased to see him up and about again.

"We are here to discuss the rescue of Squire Maxson." Sarah frowned as she heard the inflection her father used when he said rescue. She sat up a little straighter and listened more intently as the Elder went on. "From what I have learnt from him, the Squire was rescued almost immediately after the ambush by the Lone Wanderer." There were some gasps round the room including an involuntary one from Sarah. She curled her hands into fists under the table as she thought angrily about that…that…man. "The fact he did return him immediately shows a lack of respect and a willingness to insult that adds to a long list of misdeeds. Knight Pendleton is in the infirmary with a knife wound as we speak and her comrade has a severe concussion. This can not continue." Elder Lyons brought his hand crashing down on the table to emphasise this point and she could hear mutterings of agreement from around the table. It was no wonder she thought the wanderer wasn't a popular man with this crowd.

First there was her father, he took all the wanderer's misdeeds to the brotherhood personally but the Squire and the yelling in the bailey took precedence.

Then you had Rothchild. He had been angry with the Wanderer ever since he refused to share the technology he had recovered from the Outcast Outpost. Rothchild had been particularly keen to see the Chinese stealth armour.

Star Paladin Cross, hers was more personal. The wanderer had both refused to take her with him to fix the purifier or tell her where his father was buried.

Paladin Tristan was actually about as neutral as you can get. A new addition to the council him and the wanderer had had no confrontations. Still he was a loyal man and took offence at the man's distrust of the Brotherhood.

Knight Artemis, well he didn't like anyone but the Wanderer had broken his nose after he had confronted him over Defender Sibley's death (They had been best friends). That one hadn't been too controversial actually as most people were pleased to see Artemis put in his place, still than mans nose had never set straight so Artemis had a visible reminder of the man's 'misdeeds' everyday.

Kodiak loved her father like a father and so the bailey incident and infuriated him just as much as it had Sarah, although most of her anger came from what she saw as a more personal betrayal.

Dusk, well she and the Wanderer had never got on ever since he made that crack about her first name being dawn. Dusk had taken offence to the sarcastic comment and been even more pissed off when he'd beaten her score on shooting range. Seeing it as a deliberate attempt to aggravate her, she was probably right.

Vargas felt the Wanderer had overshadowed the death of initiate Reddin, a loss he had never truly gotten over, and blamed the Wanderer for the cancellation of her funeral.

Glade thought of her as a little sister and so was angry that the Wanderer had hurt her, he had been the only one to figure out how she felt for him and he was almost as angry as her.

Gallows actually seemed to like the Wanderer, he was loyal to the Brotherhood but she saw what she believed to be a mutual respect between the two of them. Still he never said anything so it wasn't like he was going to defend the Wanderer.

And her, Sarah Lyons, who thought she'd loved him. He'd kissed her after all, just once, before he stepped into the control room of the purifier. But obviously he'd been toying with her or he wouldn't have yelled at and insulted her father, dumped the armour she'd given him at his feet and left for six months. Now, now she just wanted a little revenge. Realising she'd zoned out she re-focused on her father.

"…and because of these many acts of violence and disrespect towards the Brotherhood, we will take action. I am sending the Pride under Sentinel Lyons to track him down and bring him in. We will find out where he has hidden the technology he has amassed and imprison him, where he can impede our efforts no more."

Sarah let a smile grow on her face. She would be getting her revenge, because Gallows could track any man alive even the Wanderer. They'd leave immediately and be back the next day with the Wanderer in tow.