A/N: This is possibly the longest chapter I have ever written for any of my stories. More at the Bottom as to why this took so long. Remember to R&R


Susie looked over at Lucy, as Wadsworth began clearing the plates from the table. James sounded like a completely different person in Lucy's story, which made Susie a little sceptical of its authenticity. But none the less, Susie was curious as to the story itself.

"That sounds like an amazing night." Susie said, a little disbelief in her tone as she drank from the bottle of cola.

"Well it was a great day… until a bunch of ghouls tried to kill everyone in the tower." Lucy explained, causing Susie to return her attention to her.

"What do you mean?" She asked, hearing the pounding of footsteps descending the stairs her back faced.

"Oh yeah. I was just getting to that part. No point in telling you half of the story, is there?" Lucy explained, a smile crossing her face.

"Why did you stop?" Susie asked, raising an eyebrow to the blonde woman.

"I wasn't sure if you wanted to hear the sex stuff, or not. Hello." Lucy greeted quickly, as Butch stared in a bewildered manner at the woman.

"Um…hey." Butch responded, confused as to the identity of the woman.

"I'm Lucy." Lucy greeted, smiling at Butch who still looked half asleep.

"Wait…the ex?" Butch asked, grinning at how awkward this must be for Susie.

"That would be me, yes." Lucy answered, verifying her identity to Butch.

"Butch…nice to meet you. Hey Butler. Can I get some Breakfast?" Butch said, before announcing an order to a busy Wadsworth.

"I am unsure. Are you legs still functioning?" Wadsworth asked, bringing the look of confusion back to Butch.

"Yes?" Butch answered.

"Excellent. Than you can get off your behind, and make it yourself." Wadsworth retorted, causing Butch to grumble as he walked towards the fridge.

"So, will we get back to the story?" Lucy asked, looking back towards Susie.

"Oh…um…maybe leave the sex stuff out." Susie said, not really wanting to hear about James's sex life.

"You sure?" Lucy asked.

"I don't believe Miss Susie would enjoy hearing about the coitus you and my master shared, Madam West." Wadsworth explained, while hovering past them.

"Your choice." Lucy said, smiling as she began to recall where she was in the story.


The door was pounded on repeatedly, causing James to stop what he was doing and answer the door to the suite.

"Oh…sir are you aware you are naked and have a pair of handcuffs hanging from your wrist?" The Mister Handy unit asked.


"Wait! I said no sex stuff." Susie interrupted, her face a bright red from the image of James naked.

"Oh come on, don't be a prude. I wasn't telling you what had happened, just how this started. He being naked is part of the story." Lucy explained, returning to the story.


Lucy lay on the bed exhausted, her naked body spread out across the bed sheets. James still stood naked in front of the Mister Handy unit, glaring at him in great distaste. He was wondering what was so damn important, that the unit had to interrupt them.

"Sir…are you in distress?" Godfrey asked, as James stood with a look of utter contempt.

"Am I in…what kind of fucking question is that? Do I look like I am in distress?" James asked, anger and annoyance in his tone.

"You are naked sir, and appear to have been handcuffed." Godfrey pointed out, causing James to raise his hand to his face.

"I am not in distress…" James glared, after he ran his hand over his face.

"James…" Lucy moaned, raising her hand towards James.

"I'll be there in a minute." James responded, before turning back towards Godfrey.

"Sir… I have been alerted to certain noise complaints from the floors below." Godfrey began, before James interrupted him.

"And I will give you my opinion on said complaints." James responded, as he slammed the door in the robots face.

"What was that about?" Lucy asked, rolling her body up in the sheets.

"Something about a noise complaint…" James smiled, as he approached her slowly.

"We weren't that loud were we?" Lucy asked, a hint of embarrassment on her face.

"Who cares?" James asked, a grin on his face as he stood before her.

"You coming back to bed or not?" Lucy asked, sharing in James's lack of concern for the noise they were making.

"Do I look stupid?" James asked, crawling on the bed towards Lucy.

"You really want me to answer that?" Lucy asked, smiling at him.

At that moment, another thud was heard coming from the door. This one was louder, and somewhat less mechanical than the polite knock the Germanic accented robot had given moments prior. The knocking now had become much louder, but held a constant slow pace between thumps. James rolled his eyes and turned towards the door. Letting out a deep sigh, he was about to tell this robot exactly what he could do with that noise complaint.

"Come on James, just ignore him." Lucy said, as she watched him get up and walk towards the door once again.

"I won't be long." James said, smiling back at her.

As James opened the door, a ghoul tackled him to the ground. The ghoul snarled as it tried to bite out its victim throat.


"Hold up, something like that thing from the bar tried to kill you guys?" Butch asked, astonishment on his face.

"I'm going to guess, you're talking about Gob?" Lucy asked, raising a judgemental eyebrow at Butch.

"Yeah, him!" Butch verified, as Lucy rolled her eyes to this statement.

"Yes, and no." Lucy answered, thinking to herself for a moment.

"More feral and crazy than Gob." Lucy explained, as simply as she thought she would have to, to a bunch of vaulties.

"But why keep him around? I mean if he's dangerous?" Butch asked, voicing both his and Susie's concern.

"Why keep James around, if he's even more dangerous?" Lucy asked.

"Well that's different…isn't it?" Susie asked, wondering what was meant by this statement.

It was true, that James was now capable of killing people, but had he really gone that far to garner the reputation of being dangerous? He had changed so much since his days as a Vault dweller, but she hadn't even considered just how much he may have changed till now.

"Because he's human?" Lucy asked, a sense of disgust in her tone.

"You do know that there are things out there in the wasteland that shake in fear at the mention of the name 'The Lone Wanderer'." Lucy stated, her tone more judgemental with each passing word.

"So better question…who should you be more afraid of? A person that looks like a monster? Or the man the real monsters are afraid of?" Lucy asked, her tone finally calming down to a more condescending tone rather than an aggressive one.

"Now, can I go on?" Lucy asked, gaining nods of approval from the two.


Lucy screamed, as James began wrestling with the ghoul trying to overpower the vicious feral. Rolling on top of the ghoul, James gripped its throat and began punching its face repeatedly. Harder and harder he fist landed, as he squeezed its neck tighter. Lucy finally had to pull him off of the dead ghoul, whose death had occurred moments earlier.

"JAMES STOP!" Lucy shouted, trying to hold him back from another assault on the corpse.

James's fists were caked in blood, his breathing heavy and his gaze distant. He snapped out of this state almost instantaneously, but not out of his own free will. Rather he was released from this state by the snarling sound of a second ghoul charging towards the door. Kicking the door shut and lunging towards it to keep it shut and the ghoul out, James looked towards Lucy who was now quickly getting dressed.

"What the hell is happening here!?" Lucy asked, fear and rage in her tone.

James wasn't sure himself, one thing he was certain of was that if he lived through this, he would never let some stupid guard take his weapons from him again. This was not just because James was an outsider mind you, it was simply policy that all people allowed to enter Tenpenny towers be relinquished of their weapons. The only exceptions to this policy were the guards and….

"DASHWOOD!" James blurted out, remembering that on the 7th floor lived the great adventurer Herbert "Daring" Dashwood and his collection of rifles and weapons from his youth.

"What the hell are you saying?" Lucy asked, in a panicked state at the fact they were unarmed on the top floor of a ten story complex filled with rampaging feral ghouls.

"I know someone who has weapons, but we need to get to the seventh floor." James explained smiling, as the door got harder and harder to keep closed.

"And how do you expect us to get down to the 7th floor?" Lucy asked standing up, now fully clothed.

"I have two ideas…but I need you to hold this door shut as tight as you can." James said, looking around the room and noticing some items that he could use to his advantage.

"Why?" Lucy asked, worried if she was even capable of holding the door as long as he had been.

"Because we have to leave this room for part of my plan." James explained, as Lucy nodded and pressed her body against the door. Relieving James of this duty, he began to run around the room, searching for items. Grabbing several items, he cleared off the table without regard to the items on it.

"And this goes…there, and….better forget the pin." He began to mutter as he assembled something.

Running over to her, James held his arm to the door helping Lucy hold back the ghouls. In his other hand, James held a small tin can. Lucy could only think to herself in a sarcastic manner, "Yeah that will help."

"On the count of three, open the door. Wait for them all to pile in and then get the hell out of the room and close the door behind you. If there's any of them out there, avoid them until I get out there with you." James explained, and Lucy nodded in agreement to whatever this plan was.

On the count of three, she and James opened the door and watched ghouls scatter and fall inside of the room, looking around for their meal in confusion. James and Lucy quickly ducked out of the room, and thankfully there was no other ghouls outside. This fact disappointed James for the Mila-second he could think before instinct took hold on him. Throwing the tin can behind him into the room, he quickly slammed the door behind Lucy and himself. Moments later, a chaotic explosion could be heard from inside the room. James slowly stepped away from the door, his breathing quick and his expression uncertain.

"What the hell was that!?" Lucy asked, snapping James out of his daze once again.

"Nuka grenade. They may not let us take guns in here, but they have plenty of ingredients to make some homemade stuff." James explained, smiling with a sense of pride about himself. He doubted he could ever do something like that again, or even have noticed those items in his room any other day. But today, he was just lucky. And he often had to bring into question, how much luck he had left to spare?

"Grab the fire hose, and I'll grab the extinguisher." James ordered, walking over to the fire extinguisher and ripping it from the wall. He then ripped the cord from its metal cylinder, causing the inside form to spray outward. He threw the cylinder across the room, as he seemed to be only after the cord. It landed near the mangled body of the Mister Handy Unit known as Godfrey, who apparently fell victim to the ghouls moments after James had slammed the door in his face.

"Why?" Lucy asked, following her naked lover over to the fire equipment.

"Do you see any other weapons we can use around here?" James asked, talking to her as if she was Jericho.

Lucy didn't appreciate being talked to like an idiot, but realised that he wasn't doing it out of malice, but because he wanted no harm to come to her. She would still remind him of this little outburst later, after they were safe.

"Can't you make more? Of those Nuka grenades, I mean?" Lucy asked, seeing having them as a great advantage right now.

"Not unless you have some Nuka Cola Quantum hanging around." James explained, dashing the hopes of an easy fight.

"Are you gonna get your clothes now?" Lucy asked, realising that James was still naked. A fact that now had occurred to James now, as well as another fact that he had not considered.

"Shit…" James muttered, as he buried his face into his blood caked hands, and then ran them through his hair. His face now baring a new expression, at least one she had never seen before. One that resembled the realisation of stupidity.

"What?" Lucy asked, knowing that he had done something either very stupid or careless.

"See…Nuka grenades kinda erupt into flames and burn everything…"James explained emphasising everything and trying hard to avoid announcing the predictable faith of his clothing.

"You just burnt all your clothes, didn't you?" Lucy said, an extremely annoyed look on her face. Not only would she be running around with her naked boyfriend, which was just embarrassing, but he had just burnt that new shirt he was wearing just hours earlier. She had liked that shirt on him.

"Yup." James admitted, a guilty smile on his face as he blushed in embarrassment.

"And now, you are gonna fight naked through an army of rampaging ghouls." Lucy asked, not sure if now was the time to literally slap some sense into her blockheaded boyfriend.

"I guess…" James admitted, sounding more like a scared child than the wastelander he would often refer to himself as being.

Lucy wasn't happy about the situation, but couldn't do much to change it now, could she? It wasn't like he did it on purpose, or at least she hoped it wasn't on purpose. But of course, in the back of her mind she knew he wasn't incapable of doing something that stupid on purpose.

"So are we taking the elevator or the stairs to your friend?" Lucy asked, attempting to think of anything else besides her boyfriend's nudity.

"Elevators probably shut down, and the stairs are probably crawling with ghouls. So neither." James said, realising that there were not many safe options for them at the moment. But there was one very unsafe option.

"Then… we're stuck?" Lucy said, knowing the look on James's face either meant bad news or he had an idea.

"Okay… I gotta ask you something." James said, realising he was about to take a huge risk.

"What?" Lucy answered, as James began pulling the fire hose out from the wall.

"Do you trust me?" James asked, opening the door to the public balcony.

There were in fact balconies in each bedroom on the top floor, but just like every other floor it had a public one. One for the visitors of high profile guests to relax on, and enjoy the view while they waited for the guest they were visiting. However, Lucy knew that they were on the top floor, and that the hose wasn't long enough to shimmy down to the ground floor, if that indeed was James's plan. Regardless, she followed him out on to the balcony.

"Um…I don't know if I want to answer that." Lucy asked, weary of the question she had just been asked.

"Do you trust me?" James repeated, holding the long fire hose in his left hand and the cord in his right.

"I guess." Lucy finally answered, bringing a chuckle out of James.

"Okay. Then come here." James called out, motioning for her to come closer. Which she did, causing James to begin wrapping the hose around the two of them.

"What are you doing?" Lucy asked, as James held her closer to his body.

"Wrapping the hose around us." James explained, as he tightened the hose with the extinguishers cord.

"Why do I get the feeling I am not gonna like what's coming next?" Lucy asked, as James stood up on the ledge, forcing her to follow him.

Lucy looked out over the wasteland, this beautiful night that only hours earlier the two sat under in total bliss. Now, it was like a completely different night to her. One of bloodshed and horror. But despite this feeling of dread that washed over her, Lucy felt safe in James's arms.

"Because you're not." James admitted, ripping any feeling of sanctuary Lucy had asunder.

"Is there any point to me objecting?" Lucy asked, holding James close, an unnecessary action but a comforting one despite. James wrapped his arms around her, and rested his chin on her head.

"Just hold on." He silently whispered, as he jumped back off the ledge into the air that separated the cold concrete below from them.


"YOU JUMPED OUT A FREAKIN WINDOW!?" Butch exclaimed, looking in amazement at Lucy.

"It's not like I volunteered to do it." Lucy stated, as she recalled the experience in a rather negative light.

"You must have been so scared." Susie stated, as she looked in shock at Lucy.

"I was…James on the other hand…well." Lucy said, as her face turned to a judgemental frown.


James let out an enthusiastic shout, as they descended down the side of the building. Lucy on the other hand, screamed with fear as they fell. The hose finally reached its limit, and swung them towards another balcony. They swung towards the ledge, and thanks to the momentum behind their fall, through the balcony door. The hose was now suffocatingly tight around them, but James quickly fixed this by undoing the knots he made in the hose that held them together. They sat on the floor and looked at each other. Lucy's heart was pounding a mile a second. Her breath was heavy and strained. And her adrenaline was going into overdrive. She felt like she was about to have a heart attack. James on the other hand, had a different reaction.

"HOLY SHIT! THAT WAS AWESOME!" He shouted with an enthusiastic roar.

"Can you believe how far we fell!? That was so damn cool!" He announced, making Lucy want to hit him very very hard.

Lucy now felt something else. Anger. A lot of pure, unadulterated anger towards the man whose arms she felt safe in a minute ago. Motivated by this anger, Lucy slapped James across his face. Not only shutting him up, but wiping his enthusiastic grin from it as well.

"YOU MEAN YOU NEVER FUCKING DID THAT BEFORE?!" Lucy barked, tears in her eyes as she brushed glass from her clothes.

"YOU COULD HAVE GOT US KILLED! YOU FUCKING SHIT HEADED INCONSIDERATE ASSHOLE!" She roared, as she now stood over James.

It was then that she noticed the glass littering the ground they landed on. It was of course from the balcony door they had crashed into, and normally this kind of thing wouldn't phase her. However, the fact that James was naked meant he was more vulnerable to the shards on the ground. Which, upon closer inspection, was revealed to be indeed true. James had lacerations all over his body now, some of which had pieces of wood or glass in them. James was either trying to play the tough guy, or his adrenaline levels were blocking out the pain.

"Little Missy, would you please keep it down?" A voice from behind them asked, one clearly coming from an aged man.

"We don't want to attract further unwanted attention now do we?" He continued, his calming yet familiar voice ringing in her ears.

"Hey Herbert." James greeted, sluggishly getting to his feet.

"Why if it isn't my good friend Jimmy, and who may I ask is this enchanting lady?" Herbert asked, smiling as he took Lucy's hand and kissed it softly.

"This is Lucy, she's my…..Um…I don't know." James said, looking over at Lucy with a perplexed gaze.

"WHAT?!" Lucy shouted, taking her hand from Herbert and turned to face her boyfriend.

"Well your super pissed at me again, and I don't know if I am supposed to call you my girlfriend anymore or not?" James said, unsure if he and Lucy were still together as he had never seen her this pissed off before.

"WHY THE HELL NOT?!" Lucy barked, as she pushed James to the wall. Which in his weakened state, had caused James to almost lose his footing and fall to the floor again.

"Because you're super pissed!" James repeated.

"MAYBE I WOULD BE LESS PISSED AT YOU, IF YOU STOPPED DOING STUPID SHIT! Example: Jumping off a fucking balcony and getting cut up by crashing into the door of another balcony." Lucy continued, her face red with rage and her words carried by the anger she felt.

"That saved our lives!" James argued, shouting back at her in an attempt to show her that he was doing it in their best interest.

"It could have killed us!" Lucy argued, feeling like she would kill James herself now.

"Excuse me! But could you two stop bickering long enough to answer my question." Herbert announced, now feeling a little irritated at the two young people.

"I'm sorry. My name is Lucy, Lucy West." Lucy said, embarrassed at her outburst, but still angry at James.

"Herbert. Herbert Dashwood. Herbert "Daring" Dashwood." Herbert introduced, as James realised that Herbert was really laying the charm thick on Lucy.

"Oh wow, you mean the guy from the radio?" Lucy smiled, letting the fan inside of her come out for a moment.

"Yes my dear, in the flesh." He smiled, as he shook her hand.

"Say, Herbert can I get a stimpack from you?" James asked, reminding the two of his presence once again.

"I will do you one further my boy, and give you some clothes as well." Herbert offered, as James smiled back at him.

"Thank you sir." Lucy said, feeling honoured to meet the legend himself.


"So who's this Dashwood guy?" Butch asked, looking at the woman with a strange gaze.

"Herbert Daring Dashwood was an adventurer, and had a radio serial about his adventures that ran on Galaxy news radio." Wadsworth explained, revealing the identity of the man in the story.

"Yeah. I can't believe you guys never heard of him." Lucy said, a look of smugness on her face.

"We were living in a vault, remember?" Susie reminded, not overly fond of Lucy's assumption.

"Oh right. Sorry." Lucy apologised.

"Why wasn't there any ghouls on his floor?" Susie asked.

"Herbert must have killed any that were there before we arrived." Lucy answered.

"So what happened then?" Butch asked, waiting eagerly for the conclusion to the story.

"You know, for someone so interested in this story, you sure interrupt a lot." Lucy pointed out, smiling cheekily at the two.

"Sorry." Butch said, much to Lucy's delight.

"Okay. No more interruption." Lucy said, waging her finger at them.


Entering Dashwood's room, Lucy was still amazed that James knew Herbert Dashwood. The man whose exploits were announced over the radio every day at 5pm. Was meeting him part of the idiots plan to make up for almost shooting her? It wouldn't surprise her if at some point he was going to introduce her to him. Dashwood handed James a bundle of clothes, and a stimpack. He washed the blood from his hands and his face, and injected himself with the stimpack. The wounds on his body began to close and heal slowly. He began getting dressed right there in the middle of the room. Dashwood pulled out something from under his bed that was wrapped in a very old blanket, and dropped it on his bed. Unwrapping it, Lucy saw the weapons and ammo it held on display. There was a shotgun, two rifles, and two handguns before her. James had just finished getting dressed, when he walked over to the bed to look at the guns. He was wearing a brown sweater, darker brown pants, and a brown pair of shoes.

"Any explosives?" James asked, looking over the weaponry.

"Sonny, I would prefer to keep your hands free of explosives." Dashwood explained, causing a grin to pass James's face.

"Didn't know you were so concerned about me." James smugly announced, before Dashwood slapped him across the head.

"You are quite foolish to believe I am just concerned for your wellbeing. More for hers." Dashwood explained, as James rubbed his head in pain.

"Understood." James agreed, remembering that Lucy was in fact there.

"We are pulling out all the stops against these poor creatures aren't we?" Herbert asked, looking over at the young couple.

"Well, I wouldn't really call it that. I'd say we're just defending ourselves." James answered, looking at Lucy before looking back at Herbert.

"Tell me, was this your first time here?" Herbert asked Lucy, a sad smile crossing his face as he looked at hers.

"Um…yes it was." Lucy answered, an eyebrow raised at the question.

"Shame that you had to see it like this." Herbert responded, the sadness growing in his tone.

"The Tower we knew is gone, replaced with this…this hell." He continued.

"I never much cared for this place as it was, always seemed rather stuck up for my liking." James confessed, looking around the room for a moment.

"I would agree with you sonny. I never saw eye to eye with Tenpenny, but…the people here felt safe and secure in his tower. The stores, the food, the people, all made this into what the other wastelanders perceived it as. A safe haven. You could always rely on Shakes to have the coldest beer, and neatest whiskey in the wasteland. This was good, because the only thing worse than warm beer was Shake's horrible jokes. I always told him to get a new humour emitter, but he never did. Everyone knew of my exploits, and I knew they would mock me behind my back. But that Susan Lancaster, she was always so nice to this old man. I knew what she was, but that never changed how I felt about her. I felt warm and happy when I was with her, especially when we would talk afterwards. She was always so interested in my old tales, said she was my biggest fan. She would make me feel so young with her smile, and yet had the saddest eyes when I would notice her with other men. And then there was Margaret Primrose, she would always have such a variety of meals on her menu. Some with French names, but those were just for show. Her cooking wasn't amazing, but I didn't have the heart to tell her that I had my best meals in a Brothel called Blue Destiny. So I would swallow the truth and her food, bite after bite. No matter the taste." Herbert confessed, sounding so sincere in his tone and yet so sad in his voice.

"Herbert…" James said quietly, realising that this must have been hard to say.

"I am not going to miss this tower, but those people who lived here. Everyone from Shakes, to Miss Lancaster herself. These ghouls were welcomed with open arms, and then they took advantage of the generous folks that lived here. And now, they're all probably dead. Men who had a sense of justice. Children who had their loved ones taken from them. Those who fought to protect someone else. Why did they have to lay down their lives? You and me, Jimmy. We will avenge all the innocence that were lost today." Herbert announced, a look of utter anger and sadness now on his face. A look in his eyes, that James was sure had not seen the light of day for some time.

"You got that right, Herbert." James announced, smiling at the old man as Lucy's eyes watered with tears of compassion. Wiping them away, Lucy smiled at James, forgiving him for now.

"Now! Any preference of weapon?" James asked, looking at the two of them.

"A rifle will do me fine." Herbert answered, grabbing a rifle and two boxes of ammo.

"I'll take a handgun, and the shot gun." James said, grabbing the shotgun, loading it, and then slinging it over his shoulder. Taking both handguns and loading them, before handing one to Lucy.

"I suppose I'll take the other rifle too." Lucy stated, grabbing the one box of ammo that remained for the rifle.

"So is there a plan, or are we just going to kill every ghoul we see?" James asked, ready to either follow a plan or shoot the hell out of all the feral bastards he saw.

"There's a utility tunnel below, that's where these ghouls are coming from. Someone must have opened it." Dashwood explained, catching both James and Lucy's attention.

"And I guess it's my job to close it." James smiled, realising that the old man couldn't get down all those stairs.

"Take my key, and try not to lose it please." Herbert smiled, handing the key over to James.

"No promises." James smiled, as he knew Herbert was just trying to lighten the mood in his own way.

"Lucy. Let's go." James smiled, walking towards the door.

"Okay." Lucy followed behind him, before James stopped on the verge of exit.

"Herbert." James said, before turning to face the old man.

"Yes?" Herbert asked, confused as to what the young man was doing.

"It was truly an honour to serve with you." James said, saluting the old man like a soldier.

"Thank you. Protect that fine young lady of yours." Herbert said, gratitude in his tone.

"I will." James agreed, smiling and walking towards the stairwell. Lucy followed.

Standing just before the stairwell, the two could hear the snarling of the ghouls below. James took a deep breath, and readied himself to kick the door open and attack the ghouls below. Putting the pistol in pants, he slowly reached for the door knob. But was suddenly stopped, by the grip of another's hand. Lucy's.

Lucy was scared, and didn't want anyone else to get hurt. After all, this wasn't going to be an easy fight and their ammo supply was pretty low. To top it all off, she didn't want the last thing her and James did was fight. She would have preferred if they made love one last time before they died, or something like that. Anything but fight like they had. Releasing James's hand, she raised it high and rested it on his face, as tears swelled in her eyes. His stubble was prickly, but she didn't care. She knew she couldn't ask him to just leave with her, go out the front door and forget about this tower. He would never do that, no matter the risks involved, if it meant saving people. At least that was the impression he always gave. James placed his hand on hers, and smiled at her.

"Stop smiling…please." She pleaded, as James kissed her palm softly squeezing her hand a little as he looked at her.

"We're gonna make it through this...I swear." James said, smiling softly at her.

"You promise?" She asked, looking down to her feet.

"I promise. Just stop crying." James pleaded, Lucy raising her head to nod in approval.

"You ready?" James asked, smiling and turning back towards the door.

"Yeah." Lucy said.

"So… here's the plan. We run like hell down each flight until we get to the bottom floor. There, we make it to the utility door as fast as possible." James explained, putting his hand once again on the door knob.

"And what if we run into some ghouls on the way?" She asked, knowing the answer before it was even said.

"WHEN we run into ghouls, we use the guns." James answered, predictably but clarifying Lucy's belief.

"Got it." She smiled, readying herself.

Running down the stairs, they encountered little to no ghouls at all. James explained that they were probably all on their way to the top, and that Herbert would probably face the worst of them due to the noise they were making taking care of what little ghouls they encountered descending the tower. This was indeed the case, as she could hear the rifle being fired on their way down. Reaching the bottom floor with little to no trouble, James and Lucy stopped at the door leading to the lobby.

"The bullets have stopped." James said in concern, looking upwards at the above floors.

"We have to keep moving James." Lucy said, pulling James towards the door.

The door swung wide open, and before them was about a dozen feral ghouls. Between them, James now had one pistol full of ammo, and a shotgun with six shells left, Lucy on the other hand had only five shots remaining on her rifle and a half empty clip in her pistol. This was partly due to James's preference of using the environment to his advantage. Pulling out his pistol, James jumped on the welcome desk and began firing his gun at the ghouls. To his own admission, he had always wanted to this. Missing a lot of his shots, Lucy covered him by firing what remained in her rifle at the coming ghouls, before having to switch over and empty her pistol doing the same. James smiled when the last ghoul fell to the floor, and dropped the now empty pistol to the floor.

"Great work!" James smiled at Lucy, as she nodded back at him. Her breathing quickened, and her rifle empty.

"So…where do we go from here?" Lucy asked, looking around the empty lobby.

"Through that door." James answered, looking towards the finish line to their journey.

"Um…" Lucy started, causing James to turn and face her.

"Yeah?" James asked, looking in confusion at the woman.

"It's just that, I didn't see a lot of bodies on our way down." Lucy pointed out, stopping James in his tracks.

"Actually…now that you mention it. Neither did I." James agreed, a wave of unease now filled the air.

"That's a good thing right?" Lucy asked, feeling the same uneasy feeling James felt.

"Maybe." James started, and then looked off into the distance.

"Maybe not." He continued, a glare forming on his face as he said these words.


"Actually…maybe I should stop here." Lucy stated, a look of concern crossing her face.

"What, why?" Susie asked, now incredibly interested in the story. Hanging off every word the woman before her was saying.

It was true, that at first Susie was unsure of the legitimacy of the woman's statement, but now she found herself believing everything that came from her mouth. Butch was no different, as he too was on the edge of his seat for this adventure down a tower.

"I just don't know if you guys should hear the next part." Lucy explained, feeling a wave of unease spread over her.

"Why the hell not?!" Butch asked, rather aggressively.

Lucy bit her lower lip, as if she was thinking very hard about some reason for her not to finish the story. She looked over the two vault dwellers, and their intrigued faces. It was hopeless now, she realised. The box had been open and she would have to deal with the results.

"You're sure you can handle it?" Lucy asked, still weary of telling the remainder of the story.

"Damn right! This story has everything: Gun fights, diving out of windows, monsters. It's like an action hollo-Vid!" Butch said, a smile and eager gaze on his face.

"Lay it on me baby." Butch said, his overconfident tone a way to further persuade Lucy to finish the story.

"Okay…first off. Never call me baby. Second, I warned you. And third, Wadsworth darling?" Lucy called, smiling innocently at the mister handy unit.

"Yes Madam Lucy?" He asked, welcoming a request from her.

"Could you please prepare us something to eat?" Lucy asked, her tone shifting from strong and mature to childlike and dependent.

"Of course my dear." Wadsworth cheerily accepted, as he floated over to the refrigerator.

"How come you do it when she asked, but when I ask you tell me to get my own?!" Butch shouted, as he erupted from his seat in anger.

"Because Madam Lucy has my respect and friendship. You, I find, are just an annoyance." Wadsworth stated, in what seemed like a much colder tone.

"Wadsworth, please" Lucy asked, causing the robot to return to his work obediently.

Susie would admit, she was impressed with the loyalty Wadsworth seemed to have for Lucy. However, she also had a level of surprise at just how much time had passed since this story began. She was eating breakfast when the story started, and now it was almost 3 pm. Still she wanted to hear the end of the story.

"Why do we need food?" Susie asked, wanting Lucy to return to the story as fast as possible.

"Because I am starving, and if I have to finish this story I want something to eat afterward." Lucy explained, cracking her knuckles as she stretched out in her seat. Her body clearly agitated from sitting in the one spot for such an extended period.


They moved slowly down the corridors leading to the maintenance door. James was quiet, making Lucy very uncomfortable. With all the death that surrounded the corridor, Lucy felt like she was walking through a valley of corpses. James on the other hand kept his steady finger on the trigger of his shot gun. Lucy jumped every time she heard a noise, but James remained calm. He was always calm in these kind of situations. Or so it would appear to those on the outside, really James knew that there was only two ways this could end. Either they would die, or they would survive. James stopped before the door, lowering his gun in disbelief at what he was seeing. He had found the bodies.

A pile of bodies thrown atop of each other, just inches from the door leading to the utility tunnel. Their wounds varied from bite marks, to scratches, to bullet wounds. James's fists clinched, swallowing hard as his eyes were set ablaze in rage. Lucy felt like she was going to be sick at this sight. These were people that were alive just hours before, and now here they were. Sliding the key card across the scanner, sealing the door shut before them.

"What are we going to do?" Lucy asked, realising James wasn't about to let these people die in vain.

"You're going to take this shotgun, walk out the front door, and wait for me outside." James said slowly and angrily, as he handed Lucy the shotgun.

"What are you going to do?" Lucy rephrased, stepping closer to James who now refused to make eye contact with her.

"End this." James stated, his voice carrying a hatred Lucy had never heard before.

"James don't be a fucking hero. Let's just get out of here!" Lucy barked, not wanting him to die after they had come so far.

"Lucy…We both know I won't leave even if I tell you I will." James admitted, a sad smile barely crossing his face.

"I have to finish this." He stated, the smile vanishing from his face in a micro second.

"By giving me the only loaded gun we have?!"Lucy pointed out, her passionate fury showing her true concern.

"Can you kill a ghoul without a gun?" James asked, rolling his eyes and shoving the gun into her arms.

"No…" Lucy admitted, sounding like she felt guilty about this fact.

"Can you?" she asked, reflecting the question onto him.

"I think what happened up in the room, proves I can." James reminded her, annoyed at her reluctance to listen to him.

"Now take the gun, get out of this building, and wait for me there." James said slowly and aggressively, showing that he was not in the mood for further objection.

Don't worry about me Lucy. Just go." James said, turning from her and walking back towards the Lobby.

Knowing she couldn't stop him no matter how much she wanted, Lucy did as she was told. She waited for what seemed like hours outside of the building. Her nerves were in pieces as her mind went through all the different worst case scenarios. This was especially the case after she had heard what sounded like an explosion from one of the above floors. She had been biting her nails down to nothing since she began waiting outside, and now there was nothing left to bite. Suddenly, one of the two entrance doors creaked open slowly. Lifting the gun up, Lucy was prepared to kill whatever stepped out of there. She prayed it was James that was behind that door. To her horror however, it was not James. The face that opened the door was that of a ghoul, whose face was stitched up like some kind of grotesque holo-movie monster. Lucy quickly pulled the trigger, fuelled by vengeance for her possibly dead boyfriend. The ghoul ducked behind the door, narrowly avoiding the gun shot.

"WHAT THE FUCK, LUCY?!" The familiar voice shouted in outrage at the frightened girl.

"James?" Lucy said in confusion, recognising his voice.

"You fucking shot at me!" James snapped, clearly in shock over almost being shot.

"What happened to your face?" Lucy asked, wondering what the hell happened in there.

"YOU FUCKING SHOT AT ME!" James roared, as he charged out of the building.

"I didn't know it was you!" Lucy shouted, explaining her mistake to James.

"Oh I'm sorry. Here I was thinking you would be happy to see me, and then you try to kill me instead!" James shouted, not picking up on the irony of the reason they were here in the first place.

"Stop being such an asshole! What's happened to your face?" Lucy asked, trying to change the subject.

"You mean this mask!" James asked, ripping the mask off his face.

"It's a mask?" Lucy said in shock at the flesh like mask in his hand.

"Yeah, I made it so I could sneak around the upper floors and not get killed by ghouls. But apparently it doesn't work on my girlfriend who just tried to fucking make my face look like this guys!" James explained, pulling the mask up beside his face to emphasis what could have been.

"So…what happened?" Lucy asked, still trying to change the subject from almost shooting him.

"What…what kind of question is that? You know what happened!" James pointed out.

"YOU SHOT AT ME!" James shouted in anger, raising his arms into the air.

"You were wearing a mask!" Lucy stated, now getting as angry as he was.

"Don't you dare make me the bad guy here!" James warned, pointing a finger at her.

"Oh so I guess I am the bad guy then!?"Lucy responded, slapping the pointed finger aside.

"Um…DAH!"James agreed, dropping the mask as he spoke.

"I am so pissed at you right now!" James exclaimed.

"Oh I am so not taking this from you!" Lucy barked, ready to slap him across the face.

"Oh boo hoo, my boyfriend saved my life after giving me perhaps the most romantic night of my life. Someone tart a church in my name!" James mocked, rubbing his eyes like he were crying as he spoke.

"OH WE ARE SO OVER WHEN WE GET BACK TO MEGATON!" Lucy shouted in anger and embarrassment at his actions.

"Oh yeah?!" James asked.

"YEAH!" Lucy shouted, as James grabbed her arm.

James pulled Lucy towards him and kissed her softly. Lucy's eyes closed slowly, as she sank into the warm embrace of her lover. Both wrapped in the other's arms, as they embraced outside the former monolith of social upper-class. Lucy's arms were linked around James's neck, while his were wrapped around her back. Lucy's heartbeat raced, as she pressed her lips to his. Words could not describe how happy she was to see he was safe, and that they were together again. He had kept his promise to her, and made sure they got out alive. Her fingers ran through his hair, and gripped it as he kissed her. She felt like she would cry in this moment, just out of the pure happiness she felt. James slowly pulled his lips away from hers, causing Lucy to re-open her eyes and look at him. There he was, stubble, scars, and all looking back at her. He then rested his forehead against hers, and ran his hand over her face. She hated that he could make her feel so helpless, and yet so safe at the same time. She wanted to beat the crap out of him for worrying her, but never wanted to leave his side either.

"Sooo…" She said, breathing quickly into his chest.

"Don't ruin it, Lucy." James said, running his hand through her hair.

"Okay…I won't." Lucy smiled, accepting his objection to speak about it.

"Good…just shut up and let's go home." James joked, as he released her from his grip.

"Want to come over to my place tonight?" Lucy asked, smiling as they walked out the front gates.

"I thought we just broke up." James stated, as he raised his hand to his chest. As if he was cradling something in his arm.

"Yeah, but I am inviting you over as a friend." Lucy explained, smiling as she walked with him.

"Will there be booze?" James asked, feeling like he needed a strong harsh drink right now.

"Of course." Lucy verified.

"Is it a sleepover?" James questioned, asking the thing he really wanted to know.

"Yup." Lucy smiled, a hint of red in her cheeks.

"Well okay. Just no pillow fights, I think I broke a rib in there." James stated, revealing why he was holding his chest.

"No promises." Lucy teased, walking towards the town with him.


"So, what was the explosion?" Susie asked, feeling like she wasn't getting the full story.

"I don't know. He wouldn't tell me." Lucy admitted, looking at Susie with a smile.

"You two sound like you were great together. What happened?" Butch asked, before getting kicked in the shin by Susie.

"Ouch!" He cried out, glaring at Susie as he rubbed his shin.

"Butch…" Susie whispered, giving a look that said shut the fuck up.

"No its okay." Lucy stated, smiling sadly at the two.

"See Butch, they weren't all good times. But they weren't all bad times either. In the end, James and I…just kind of ended. I didn't want him to go out into the wastes one day, and then never come back. And…well…it's easier to kill a brotherhood of steel paladin with a spoon, then it was to keep James from trying to save the world." Lucy admitted, smiling to herself and looking down at her lap.

"So, is that why James stayed behind?" Susie asked, curious now as to why James wouldn't just leave with Lucy. He didn't sound like he even liked the place.

"Honestly? I think he blamed himself, for what happened to them. Like it would have never happened, if he didn't get involved." Lucy explained her theory.

"Lunch is served." Wadsworth announced.


"And then what happened?" Nova asked, taking a deep drag of a cigarette as she looked at Susie.

"We ate, and she left. Then Wadsworth and Butch argued. It kind of felt like I was at home in the vault again." Susie explained, staring off into the distance of the night.

"Any word from the man himself?" Nova asked, enquiring about the whereabouts of James.

"Nope…" Susie answered, a worried tone in her voice.

Susie was sitting at the same table she had been her first night in Megaton, talking to the same woman and the first friend she made here. Nova was on break, and was enjoying a cigarette when Susie arrived to tell her about her day. Nova would admit, she did like the naivety of the girl. It was kind of cute. Susie smiled, as she saw a shooting star rip across the sky. She made a wish, as all those hollo-movies stated was customary to do upon seeing one. Then, turning to Nova, Susie asked the question that had been bothering her for a while.

"Actually, could you tell me something?" Susie asked, not wanting to sound rude to her friend.

"Anything, sweetie." Nova smiled, flicking her burnt out cigarette away.

"When James came back, the first time, almost none saw him for a month, right?" Susie asked, looking at Nova with an inquisitive look on her face.

"Yeah, what about it?" Nova asked.

"Well…why did he lock himself away?" Susie asked, hoping she would not have to ask the likes of Jericho for this information.

"The only people who know that, are him and…" Nova started, causing Susie to gulp in fear at the thought that Jericho was the next person.

"Wadsworth." Nova smiled.


A/N2: Finally in the Next chapter we will find out why James Locked himself away. About time. So confession time. I am burnt out. I have worked really hard on this chapter, as I didnt want to dedicate more than two pages to the Tenpenny story. So that is why this chapter is so long. This was a very hard chapter to edit, re-read and finish, so right now, I dont have a great opinion on it. But hey, I finished it, so that accounts for next chapter will probably be much shorter than this one. Now rather than mark all the points I want to make about this chapter, I will state the more important stuff.

1. Nuka Grenades were always my fave explosive, so using them in this story was fun. Also explaining them.

2. The Broken Handcuff bit is my tribute to Fight Club in which Tyler answers the door naked wearing a rubber glove.

3. Tenpenny Towers has about 10 floors, as I counted them in game. Now I could be wrong still, but I am keeping it at a nice ten.

4. The fire Hose scene is not to be tried out in real life. I wrote that in, because frankly I thought the image of it was really cool.

5. Herberts monologue about the tower is something I am truly proud of. So no complaining about it.

6. As with all my works, each weapons in game ammo capacity is taken into consideration when I write these chapters.

7. I will be using a lot of Lucys account for the Tenpenny Towers story I will be doing in the Future, as well as James's. So consider this a spoiler/preview for whats to come. The story will not be long, but will tie up the loose ends in Lucys story.

8. James has not come home yet for a reason, but if you read each chapter carefully, I have left hints as to where he is and what hes doing.

9. Important: My stories are labelled teen because they do not have excessive gore, graphic sex scenes, or hardcore torture. I am basing all my writing on that of movies pg-15 certificate. So I swear a lot in my stories, yes. But that is more to do with the characters of the wasteland. I cant write Jericho and not have him swear. I would suggest if you wish to complain about swearing, or violence, or whatever. Write your own fic where your characters dont swear, have tea parties, and discuss flower arrangement.

10. You will, no doubt, notice by now that each person is telling a story with a different version of James in it. These are how I perceive the characters interpret James as a person, or how he was during the time of the story. So just because one person labels him a hero or a childish vigilante, does not mean that this is him now, or ever really was him.

11. Wadsworth being the only other person that knows why James voluntarily isolated himself should not come as a major twist. I mean who else would have access to the house but him and James?

12. This chapter is over 9000! words. I cant fathom how I managed to keep going with my writing, but somehow I did it. Yay.

13. I love you guys for your support and do enjoy reading the reviews and PM's you send me. If it were not for these I would have not been able to finish this chapter. Remember to R&R