I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.

I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.

It was one of those nights that Revelations 21:6 echoed through his mind. They were happening more and more frequently. It was always while he lay in bed. He would close up the clinic, he would come back to the apartment, have dinner with Beatrice and the girls, sometimes with Paul, then he would retire to his bedroom, get out of his suit, and lay down. Then it would hit him, like the war drums of a raider band. It constantly pounded through his skull all night on a constant loop.

He'd tried various ways to get it to stop, or at the very least make it less frequent. He'd started having sex with Beatrice regularly again, something that made her incredibly happy but filled him with shame. That had helped for a while, but eventually the chant returned. Then he tried doubling his hours in the clinic, working himself as hard as was safe so that he was exhausted when he came home that he simply collapsed into unconsciousness. But he knew that he couldn't maintain that, it wasn't healthy.

He refused to turn to drugs though. He'd promised Cat all those years ago that he wouldn't, and a promise to Cat was a promise to Cat. He didn't break those, ever. He would continue his struggle for sleep without chemical assistance. Tonight however, it appeared that he would fail in that struggle.

James slipped out of bed, leaving Beatrice to her own slumber. Maybe a walk will help clear my head, he thought. So he pulled on his vault suit and stepped out of his bedroom. The room was dark, the only light came from a lamp and the holoplayer. The movie was a war flick, coming to its end.

The kids were spread out in front of the holoplayer. Paul was in one of the armchairs with Christine on the floor in front of him, her back against the chair and her head against his knee. The girls were on the couch, Amata against the back of the couch with her arms around McKenna. The sight brought a smile to his face. Maybe it was odd that the sight of his daughter spooning with her girlfriend made him smile, but his girls were happy, and that was all that mattered to him.

He grabbed a couple of blankets from the closet and draped them over the kids. He bumped something with his foot and looked down. A well-worn book lay open on the floor, the pages were dog-eared, the paper was old and yellow, doodles and notes written by different hands dotted the margins. James picked it up and flipped through it. The notes in the margin, four different hands, first it had been Auggie's, then his, then Cat's, and now it was McKenna's.

She'd asked him about the notes of course, and some of the doodles. He'd told her the truth, that it had belonged to her mother, that it had been a gift from him, and before that, he'd received the book as a gift from a family friend. He was just glad that none of the notes mentioned anything specific, just opinions on the book. The doodles were a little more specific, Cat had been a gifted artist, there were some pretty good drawings of mirelurks, deathclaws, and a few of the more interesting raiders they'd come across. He explained those easily enough with more truth, Cat had an incredible imagination.

It was truly amazing how well dozens of truths could support one massive lie. James marked the page it was on, then closed the book and put it on the table next to the couch. Sun Tzu wouldn't help him tonight. He switched off the lamp and turned off the holoplayer. With that done, he stepped out of the apartment and into the hallway. He just picked a direction at random and started walking.

The image of McKenna and Amata stuck with him as he walked. The girls weren't girls anymore, they were young women. In less than a year they would be getting an apartment, and there was no doubt in anyone's mind that they would be getting one together. He couldn't have been prouder of them, they'd become doctors par excellence. He hated and loved to admit that they had surpassed him in knowledge and skill. He wasn't surprised, they were their mothers' children.

Another thing that filled him with sadness, happiness, and pride in equal measure, they'd grown up. They were their own persons now, the same could be said for Paul. They didn't need him anymore. It was a realization that every father hopes for and dreads at the same time. Memories of the past seventeen years swept over him like a tidal wave. Perhaps these thoughts of the past were what led him to the security office.

There sat Paul Hannon Senior, going over paperwork just like almost every other night. He acknowledged James's presence with little more than a glance, then returned to his paperwork. James stood there for a solid minute before speaking. "Hello Paul."

It took Paul a while to respond. But finally, he turned around and looked at him. "What do you need James?" He spoke slowly, in that same tired voice that he always used when not on duty. Tired, if there was one word James would use to describe Paul Senior since Purity, it would be tired.

"Nothing, just couldn't sleep, decided to take a walk. I heard about what Paul did with the reactor. Apparently he got it running twenty percent more efficiently. Stanley couldn't stop talking about it during his last appointment. You must be proud."

Paul didn't answer at first, he just looked down at his paperwork. James was just about to bid him farewell and leave when Paul responded. "I think that any credit for how Paul turned out goes to you or his mother's genes." He didn't look up as he spoke. There was no hate in his voice like there would be with Alphonse, only sadness.

"Paul, I never stopped you from being involved in your son's life. I just tried to fill in whenever he needed it." James had been expecting a conversation like this for almost a decade. He'd hoped Paul was better than Alphonse, but James had expected that he might eventually blame him for the disconnection between Paul Junior and Paul Senior. He mentally braced himself for the torrent of anger that Paul was sure to unleash.

But it never came, Paul just looked back up at him and motioned for him to sit. "Don't you think I know that?" To say James was surprised was an understatement. He hadn't thought Paul to be this self-aware anymore. Not since Victoria left and he just shut down.

James sat down in the chair opposite to Paul. The question burning in his mind was obvious. "So why didn't you?" James had always assumed that Paul wasn't really aware of how he'd distanced himself from Paul Junior. He'd just seemed to have tuned out the world after the events of Purity.

Paul went quiet again, then reached into his desk and pulled out a bottle of scotch and two glasses. He filled each glass halfway and pushed one towards James. It was only after downing the scotch that Paul spoke. "I can't look at him James, I don't hate him, but I can't look at him."

James looked at the drink for a moment, thinking about his promise to Cat. But what the hell, one drink wouldn't be breaking his promise. "Paul, you can't blame your son for Vikki leaving. She was always a free spirit, she wouldn't have lasted a month down here. Hell, neither would Cat or Amara for that matter."

Paul poured himself another drink. "I don't blame him James. I could never blame him. I love my son… but he took after his mother, and every time I look at him, I think of her. And every time I think of her, every part of me starts screaming, demanding that I storm out into the wastes and find her. Either that… or take my pistol and blow my brains out."

James didn't say a word, he just accepted another drink and let Paul speak. "After Purity fell… after Vikki left… I just lost it. I went on autopilot, going through the motions every day. I was so far into this… fog, that's the only thing I can think of to call it, I barely even thought of Paul. It took me years to halfway drag myself back to reality, and by that time you'd become a father to the boy in every way that mattered. And you were doing a damn better job of it than I ever could, so I just tried to help where I could, keep security off the kids and that sort of thing, and mostly just stay out of your way."

James found himself at a loss for words. That Paul Senior had let him take on the role of father to Paul Junior… James just didn't know what to make of that. "Paul, you didn't have to do that. He's your son, you wouldn't have gotten in the way." James paused, unsure if what he was going to say next went to far. "I think you and Paul should talk about this."

Paul actually laughed, a bitter chuckle that turned into a dismal shake of the head. "And what would I tell him? That I can't be around him because his mother, who he's grown up thinking died in childbirth, is still out there in the wastes somewhere. That she left us because she couldn't stand the idea of spending the rest of her life in this metal hellhole. We'd have tell them everything, and I mean everything. Purity, Auggie, the Brotherhood, their heritage, everything about what happened when we were outside the vault. And you and I both know the kids, you better than me, we tell them there's a big world out there, and they'll want out even if they have to fight their way to the door and blow it up on the way out."

James hadn't thought of that. But the more he thought of it, the more he realized that Paul was right. The vault may be home to them, but all children eventually grew up and had to leave home. Their children were geniuses, James would even go so far as to call them polymaths, just like their mothers. But he still wasn't sure if they could handle the wastes. This time, it was Paul that broke him out of his ponderings. "So what's keeping you up?

He was changing the subject, and James was just about to deflect the question when Paul stopped him. "James, I'm the security chief, and I'm not delusional like Alphonse, so I know what goes on in this vault. And, if there's anyone in the world who can recognize when something is haunting a man, it's me." Paul smiled, a slow sad smile. "What's on your mind?"

Seeing no other option, James decided that he might as well talk about it with someone. "It's pounding through my head. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the waters of life freely." Paul nodded, understanding.

"Purity."

James nodded. "This is going to sound crazy to you, but back in the old days. Or a better way of saying it would probably be just after the old days ended. One night during that first week in the vault, I saw Cat. I was high and a fair bit drunk at the time, and it was right after she died, so more likely than not I was just hallucinating. But I promised her that I'd fulfill our dreams. I promised her that I'd be there for our daughter, and I promised her that I'd finish Purity. And a promise to Cat is a promise to Cat."

Paul nodded once again, seeing where James was going with this. "So now that McKenna is almost all grown up, you've fulfilled one of your promises. That leaves one more." Paul reached into his desk pulled out two items. One was a simple key, the other was a small folded up piece of paper. "I know about your late night excursions into the restricted zones, and I know that you haven't come up with anything. The key will get you into Alphonse's office, the password will get you into the terminal. Alphonse and I meet on Saturdays from nine to ten at night in my office for a security briefing. If the piece of Purity we couldn't find the first time is in this vault, it'll be in there."

James took the key and the paper. Paul was right, Alphonse's office was the only area of the vault that he hadn't searched. He wasn't willing to risk leaving any evidence. "Thank you Paul. You'll never know how much this means to me."

Paul just nodded once more and poured them both another drink. "After all you've done for Paul, it's nothing. Just make me one promise. Whatever you find in there, if anything."

"Make sure that you know what you're setting in motion."

Started this after I uploaded my latest Dominance chapter, I'm bouncing around again.

I decided it's time to start setting things into motion. Show the first crack in the metal cocoon before havoc and destruction is let loose.

R&R people.