Madelyn stood at the door of the Sentinel's house. She had just lifted her hand to knock when she heard Nate speak. Pausing, she listened him say he was planning on retiring after finding out what happened to the settlers that had gone missing at Hangman's Ally. He was going to retire so soon? That… that was going to ruin all of her plans.

Suddenly her heart pounded against her ribcage. What was she supposed to do? She couldn't go back to the Prydwen before Nate could vouch for her to be an Initiate, Maxson would…

She flinched at the thought and turned around to leave the Sentinel's home. What was she going to do? She had to delay them.

No that was selfish, there were lives at stake. Settlers had gone missing, and she was going to try and slow them down from finding out where they went? She couldn't believe herself.

"Thanks, Sturges." Madelyn paused where she was when she saw Piper leaving an interesting looking house built up on the foundation next to Nate's. The mechanic was standing in the doorway with a bare chest and heavy pants hanging low on his waist. He wasn't looking anywhere but at the woman leaving him.

"You could stay," he smiled.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you," she waved over her shoulder without looking at him. Madelyn was standing next to the large tree in the middle of the cul-de-sac, so neither of them noticed her. When Sturges closed the door Madelyn sat down between two large roots and looked up at the sky. She didn't know what she was going to do. She couldn't let herself be selfish enough to put her own plans in front of lives of settlers under Nate's care. She already had the weight of her secrets weighting her down; she didn't need the guilt of people's deaths being on her hands too.

The sky was beautiful here. She wished she could see it like this on the Prydwen, or even from her bunk at the Citadel. Sure she could see stars, but the lights hid many of them, and here… Sanctuary turned its lights off at night, so the sky was limitless above her. Just like back in Hangman's Ally.

"There you are, staring at the sky again, I should have known," a familiar voice made Madelyn smile despite her inner conflict.

"Hey," she sighed, looking up at MacCready as he leaned against the tree, his own eyes turned up to the sky.

"Looks just like it did the other night," he shrugged. She copied the movement.

"It's not that it looks different… it's just… beautiful," Madelyn sighed and rested her head against the trunk of the tree.

"You slept outside on your birthday, didn't you?" he asked, and she could feel his stare.

"I couldn't find anywhere to sleep," she said simply, avoiding eye contact.

"There are beds in the bunkhouse… that's what it's there for."

"You… were there," she found herself saying without her permission. She grimaced at herself and closed her eyes, turning her face down so that he couldn't see it in the moonlight.

He didn't say anything for a moment, and then she heard him sit down against the tree as well. "Duncan went to sleep a little while ago. He asked about you."

"What'd you tell him?" she asked, her stare returning to the stars.

"That you were still hurt and wanted alone time."

It had been true. After Nate brought her into the settlement she'd gone to the medic and gotten patched up. It took two stimpaks for her to feel normal again, and she would carry a couple bruises the next few days, but no permanent, physical damage. Mentally, though, she was constantly on the edge of tears. She didn't understand why this encounter had gotten to her so much. She'd shot people, and in the moment she'd been fine….

"I've… killed before, but this time… it was different."

"Have you ever done it with your hands?" the sniper asked, his voice soft. She shook her head, but realized he couldn't see and whispered her answer. "It's different when it's far away, and when you use a weapon… it makes it," he thought for a second for the word, "I guess it makes it easier. You can detach yourself from it."

"He was going to kill me, I saw it," she whispered.

"Yeah," was all MacCready said and they were quiet for a really long time, and Madelyn just watched the stars dance with the branches above them. It was nice knowing he was there, but also not having to talk. Some people didn't understand how powerful silence was.

The moon had crossed the tree by the time Madelyn felt the weight of sleep on her eyelids. She thought about the events of the day again, and then stood up. "Hey, I'm gonna go to bed," she whispered and stepped around the tree. MacCready looked up at her, his eyes coming into focus as if he'd been zoning out. Then he smiled at her. "What?"

"I think I'm changing your name to moony Maddy," he said lazily.

"Hah, why?" she raised an eyebrow at him.

"Just trying different things out, you like the stars," he waved his hand and got up off the ground.

She looked him over and gestured to the missing sleeve of his coat, showing the green one that should have been covered. "What happened there?"

He glanced at it and smirked, "A story for another time, can't tell you everything at once, or you might stop coming back."

"Coming back? You're the one stalking me," she snorted, leading the way to the bunkhouse.

"Stalking? That's a bit of a harsh word." He then laughed a little, "Besides, maybe you're the one stalking me."

"Oh? How do you figure that?"

"Well, you knew I was going to come to Sanctuary, so you were here when I got here. And then you were hanging out with my son this morning, so of course I would have to come talk to you. Oh yeah, and just a few hours ago you were probably hiding in the bushes watching me, so you knew I was going on a walk."

"Do you know just how ridiculous you sound?"

"Nope." She laughed and shook her head. Without thinking about it she reached up and started running her hands through her hair, pulling it into a pony tail then letting it fall back down. "What're you thinking about?" he asked as they passed the clubhouse.

"I need a hair cut… I was thinking about something like what Rowan had. An Initiate girl I knew had something similar but had lines in the side," she explained, gesturing and MacCready nodded.

"That's a pretty intense style for you."

"For me?" she raised an eyebrow at him. "Don't think little Madelyn Alexandria Dangerfield is intense enough for a haircut?" she taunted.

"Well with a name like that," he looked at her in surprise. "You said the Brotherhood named you? I can tell. I withdraw my testimony," he lifted his hands in surrender and she giggled lightly.

They stopped outside the bunkhouse. She wasn't sure why they stopped, but she didn't feel as tired now after the walk through the brisk air from the tree. "So," she looked around at the front gate where two women were talking, leaning against a guard tower.

"So?" the sniper raised an eyebrow at her, a smile pulling at his lips.

Madelyn didn't know what to say or do so she turned toward the door and reached for the handle to let them in. MacCready's hand reached out and gently took her shoulder, turning her just enough that he brushed his lips over her forehead. It wasn't at all what she'd expected and she felt her heart skip a beat. Her breath left her in a soft sound and when he straightened back up he looked at her expression proudly. "That… was," she swallowed, "Unexpected."

"Gotta keep you on your toes, shorty," he remarked playfully and placed his hand on hers to open the door. Once open he slipped passed her and slid into the darkness.

Madelyn stood in the doorway for a second and tried to remember what just happened. He'd kissed her forehead. And it had felt really nice, warming up her belly with a tingle she'd never felt before. Her breathing was uneven and she didn't think she would be able to go to sleep right away tonight.


The sun wasn't even up yet when a hand on her shoulder woke Madelyn. She had went to bed in the bunk next to MacCready's, and damn had it been hard on her to fall asleep. One reason being the moonlight came in right on their faces and she'd spent half the time staring at him and the other half trying to sleep with the bright white light behind her eyelids. The other reason was that MacCready had quite easily went to sleep and he snored. It wasn't a loud noise, but it was just audible and inconsistent enough to keep her from sleep. If she wouldn't have been so tired she might even have thought the little snorts were cute.

And then there was Duncan.

How the hell did that man sleep with that kid in his arms? The boy rolled over every five minutes making the springs in the bed scream in protest. And he murmured in his sleep, talking nonsense, punctuating every other sentence with a furious kick. At some point she'd even seen him kick his father right between his legs. The sniper didn't wake up, though, and released a snore of protest before rolling onto his back and throwing an arm above his head.

Madelyn didn't know how long she had actually slept, but Nate's hand was the most unwelcomed wakeup call she'd ever had. Absently she remembered the Sentinel telling her they were going to head out early this morning. Absently she remembered that she'd promised to be bright eyed and bushy tailed. Absently she remembered she hadn't actually fallen sleep until probably an hour ago.

"Sentinel," she moaned and rolled over, flinging her arm over her face.

"Time to get up," he said and she pulled her arm away when he turned to the sniper. Nate grabbed MacCready's hat from where it hung on the wall above him and threw it down forcefully, striking the man in the face. Shooting up right, MacCready had a knife in his hand and glared up at Nate with narrow eyes filled with sleep.

"Chr–jeeze, Nate, good way to get yourself killed," the man breathed and put the knife away. Nate didn't look worried and patted Duncan on the head. The kid was still sleeping soundly, his fists balled up under his jaw propping his head up on the pillow he'd stolen from his father.

Madelyn took her time getting out of the bed. She had to fix her clothes and adjust some buttons. Apparently she had rolled around a lot. It took her several groans and a strong heave to get off the bed, never before had a mattress been so unwilling to let her go.

"You okay, Maddy?" MacCready was standing beside her, she hadn't noticed him get up and ready so fast. He'd already put on his coat and boots and was ready to head out. How embarrassing, she was normally much better at waking up, even with little-to-no sleep.

"Are you?" she asked, remembering last night.

"I'm great, haven't slept that good in a while," he smiled left her to get ready. He was a strange creature.

As quickly as she could manage Madelyn fixed her clothes and searched her backpack to make sure she didn't need anything else. When she thought she had her bases covered she stood and fixed the coat she wore. She really wanted to get something that fit her better. At this point she was willing to mismatch equipment if she could just get something comfortable and form fitting.

Outside the bunkhouse Nate was talking to Hancock and MacCready. Hancock was smoking a cigarette, and offered a puff to MacCready who told him he was trying to quit the habit. Hancock nodded and took the last drag and flicked the bud into the street to die on its own. Nate rustled her hair when she joined them. "What's the plan?" she asked and tried to brush her hair down and pull it back into a ponytail, but let it go when she realized she didn't have anything to tie it with.

"Hancock, Nick, and Piper are going to check out Sunshine Tidings Co-op, they haven't responded to the radio check ins, and neither has Oberland Station, which they'll check on after. We," he gestured to himself, her and MacCready, "are going to Starlight Drive-in. They reported seeing some suspicious behavior nearby, and if the pattern holds up, they are right in the path of these settlement attacks," Nate frowned. Nate had just checked on Oberland Station, could they have been lost that quickly?

"Don't worry, Sentinel," she squeezed his upper arm, the muscle was so thick she could barely close her fingers enough to actually apply pressure, "we'll find out what happening to these settlements."

The large man nodded and gestured for them to get moving. Before departing he gave Hancock a quick kiss to which the ghoul smiled at. Madelyn watched the interaction and felt a warmth in her chest. She couldn't imagine them not being together like that now. At first she had been so surprised, but it made sense. They were perfect for each other, and she only wished she could find that in someone.

The three of them traveled in a long silence. Madelyn took this time to watch Nate and MacCready's interactions with each other and found it quite interesting. The Sentinel took the lead and the sniper walked beside him but half a step back, and while Nate didn't carry his weapon ready, MacCready's sniper rifle was held across his front, prepared. When Nate stopped, MacCready stopped, and without words between them they maintained the same distance and position in the road, moving in an almost synchronized fashion.

Madelyn, on the other hand, walked behind them, her short form seeming to be exaggerated without the thin ghoul to compare herself to. MacCready was lean, but he was still a bit thicker built than Hancock, and Nate was just… muscles on muscles. With the morning light she was able to see that he had actually shaved: cleaned up his beard and his ponytail was gone. In fact, all the hair she would normally see with his hat on was gone. Shaved clean down to the scalp. It wasn't until he was grabbing his black-rimmed sunglasses from the back of his neck that he realized she was staring openly at him, her mouth ajar.

"Something wrong, Maddy?"

"You're, uh, hair, Nate," she whispered and he smiled. It was so weird to be able to see the skin of his jaw. It was like when Elder Maxson would trim his beard: something you thought about but were still caught off guard when it actually happened.

"Yeah, it was getting out of hand." He lifted up his hat to show her the remaining black mess atop his head. "I don't cut it that often, but old habits die hard, I can never shave it completely."

MacCready coughed something she didn't understand and Nate elbowed the sniper in the upper arm. "Hey, watch it, solder boy."

"Be nice." Nate rested his pointed hat back down on his head and adjusted his sunglasses. Madelyn picked up the pace to keep beside the Sentinel. MacCready didn't have a problem with his long legs, but she wasn't so fortunate. Nate had never moved so quick with her in tow, so the burning in her legs forced her to slow down after they passed through Concord's south side. "We should stop and check on Trudy before we hit Starlight," Nate said casually to MacCready who nodded and then seemed to notice that Madelyn was falling behind.

The sniper slowed his pace slightly, allowing the General of the Minutemen to take point and walk on a few paces in front of them. "He's just worked up," he told her.

"What?"

"Nate. He only power walks like that when he's pissed." She met the sniper's blue eyes and shrugged.

"I haven't noticed."

"And that's why you look like you've just run a mile at a sprint? Obviously you aren't used to maintaining the Walker Walk."

"'Walker Walk'?" she raised an eyebrow at him and he smiled.

"Yeah, apparently his wife did the same thing. Their friends called it the 'Walker Walk' when they look like they are just walking all normal, but you have to run to keep up with them." MacCready shifted the rifle in his arms and stretched.

"Oh," she forgot that Nate had been married to a woman, and that he was from before the war. "Do you know Nate well?"

"Well enough to trust him with my life. He saved Duncan. I'm not sure I could have done it without him, I was… I was almost killed when we went. I got hurt pretty damn bad," he touched his side and she felt a pain in her chest at the thought of him injured. "I told him to go on without me, and to take the medicine where it needed to go…. He wouldn't leave me, gave me our last stimpak even though his right arm was broken." MacCready sighed and looked at her. "I know he would have saved Duncan if I wouldn't have made it. But he didn't leave me, and since then, I've known that I could trust him."

"But there still seems to be something between you two?" Madelyn cocked her head to the side. The morning light was bright, and low enough to show MacCready's face despite his hat.

"He's Brotherhood. And… I just," he shrugged. "I can't really accept that."

Ouch. She looked away. "I'm Brotherhood," she whispered and felt his stare.

"Yeah, but you're young, you don't… act like them. You don't want to kill off Hancock just because he's a ghoul."

"I did," she sighed and avoided looking at him. "But neither does Nate," she added, before he could say anything.

"I guess it's… Danse," it looked like it was hard for MacCready to say his name. She frowned. "I tried to hate the guy, he was Brotherhood through and through, but I was with Nate when he went to confront Danse…." His nose scrunched. "I knew how much Nate cared about him. They were like… real brothers. More than that, even. I'm not sure how Danse felt about Nate, but I knew he respected him and trusted him with his life. What happened was… digusting."

"What do you mean?" Madelyn frowned, looking at him now.

"Nate tried to talk him out of it. He… tried real hard. But Danse was just," he shook his head, looking disappointed. "I can't say I hated Danse, that'd be a lie. I hate what he stood and died for, though. I hate what Danse made Nate do, and I hate what it did to him." His blue eyes flicked toward her. "Nate used to be a pretty happy guy, like, happier than he seems now. He'd always crack jokes and never let anyone get the best of him. He and that tin can were… a great team." MacCready sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "I guess I lost a little love for General Walker when he did that."

It was strange to hear MacCready talk about this. She'd only heard rumors and what Nate had told her once. He'd said that Danse and him were almost like Hancock and him. Is that what Danse would have wanted? What would have happened if Nate had been able to talk him out of it?

"What did you do? You said you were there?"

"I waited outside," MacCready looked at the back of Nate who was just far enough away he probably couldn't hear them. "I helped Nate take out the protectrons that were there and when we got down to Danse he was… standing there in his orange Brotherhood uniform. I swear I'd only seen him outside of his power armor like five times. The man was huge, probably bigger than Nate," he puffed his shoulders as if to exhibit what he was saying. "I knew they needed to talk alone, so I went back outside. Nate came out about… three hours later? I don't know how much of the time had been them talking, but Nate had…" MacCready frowned, "Blood on him, and he looked like he'd been crying. I don't think I've seen him cry other than that time. He kept saying he 'tried to talk him out of it'. I don't think he was talking to me," the sniper shifted his rifle and let out a long breath. "It really fu–messed Nate up."

"I knew it had been hard on him," she said, looking at her Sentinel. "I saw a pair of Brotherhood of Steel holotags in his house. Those were Danse's weren't they?"

"Yeah, he won't let anyone in the house, it's been untouched since Codsworth…" MacCready winced.

"What happened to him?" no one had told her.

"That was before me… I guess Nate and him had been on their way to Diamond City when they fell into a Gunner ambush meant for– someone, not Nate…." MacCready rolled his shoulders, he was not comfortable talking about this stuff. She should really stop, but she was curious, and she knew it would be painful for Nate to tell her. "He carried him back to Sanctuary and put him in his house with everything else that is important to him."

"Why doesn't he keep it in the house he lives in? Or live in his old one?"

"I imagine it just hurts him too much to be there, and that stuff is… it's everything that he doesn't have anymore. Seeing it every day would probably kill him," he explained. She nodded her understanding.

"Do you have any more questions, Maddy?"

Both Madelyn and MacCready jumped at Nate's voice. He'd slowed down so now he was close. She felt horrible. "I'm sorry, Sentinel."

"Don't be," he looked over his shoulder at her. She saw his blue eyes were wet even through his sunglasses.

"How do you keep going?" she asked.

"Because I have to, otherwise everything was… for nothing, and I won't let all that I've lost be forgotten." Nate stopped and faced her as he spoke.

"No one will forget them, Nate," MacCready promised him. Nate met the sniper's stare and nodded his thanks.

"Come on, Trudy's shop is right up here," he gestured and they followed him in silence.


Starlight Drive in was amazing. It had towering buildings and could be seen easily from a distance. "Wow," Madelyn breathed. It looked more impressive than Diamond City.

"Yeah, this is kind of Nate's baby," MacCready chuckled with a smirk playing on his lips.

They approached the front gate, which had guard towers on either side, and turrets, and spotlights. From here she couldn't see much but the tops of buildings and Minutemen flags pinned up and flapping in the wind.

"It's the General!" someone shouted and the gates opened.

A main street split the settlement from the gate all the way back out of sight. Buildings of all shapes and kinds were built on either side, and spaced so that one could pass between them in ally way like paths. Nate didn't hesitate to head inside, but MacCready stood with Madelyn so that she could take in the sight. Neon lights and powered utilities moved and flashed, catching her off guard. Signs that said anything from 'OPEN' to 'KEEP OUT' kept her eyes darting from piece to piece.

Over the din of people she could hear the army of generators that kept the place running. She couldn't tell where they were until she stepped inside and saw them on top of the original, prewar building, stacked in neat rows with wires extended out to the whole settlement. "Wow," she whispered again.

"Come on, Nate's leaving us behind." MacCready's hand touched the small of her back and she glanced at him to see that his sniper rifle now rested on his back. With his prompting, she moved forward, taking in the streets that smelled of all sorts of things from food to grease, watching as people laughed and fought and worked. "Maybe tonight we'll go to the bar, you'd like Bond."

"Who's that?"

"The best bar tender I've met," MacCready smiled.

Nate had disappeared but the sniper seemed to know where he was going. "You come here often?"

He laughed and used his fist to stifle it. She raised an eyebrow. "You hitting on me?"

Her cheeks flushed and she looked away from him embarrassed, "I'm sorry, MacCready."

"Don't be sorry, and you don't have to call me that. Yeah, I've been here a lot. I try to stop by when going to Sanctuary. Mayor Slade has kept the place nice. I get good deals at the weapon's master down Crater Ally, I knew him before he moved here." They had a Mayor? And street names? Wow.

She was stuck on something he said before that, though. "What am I supposed to call you?"

"Well, you don't see me calling you Trouble-yard. Hmm, maybe I should," he smirked and she frowned hoping he was joking. "Oh, don't give me that look. I know your name's Dangerfield. As cool as calling you Trouble would be."

"I think that should be what I call you, seeing as you're the one that shot me. I don't know if I should be alone with you anymore." She raised a brow at him as they tuned onto an ally. She wasn't really paying attention to where they were anymore.

"Bad first impression, but you've been alone with me a lot since then. Seems like that's the only time you're safe," he added softly and Madelyn felt his thumb trace her skin where her neck met her shoulder and disappeared under her baggy clothing.

Her breathing had picked up and it took her a moment to realize they'd stopped. She wet her lips and swallowed, unable to tear her eyes away from his. Why did this keep happening? Never before had she been so captivated by someone. Sure she'd seen men on the Prydwen that were unnaturally attractive, and she's had her fair share of crushes. But something was different about MacCready. He… was new, exciting. He was different from all those men in the Brotherhood, and the more she learned about him the more she liked what she found. If anyone would have asked her before what she thought of a guy that had a kid from a previous marriage she probably would have said something like 'um, no thank you'. Add civilian to that, and one that actually exhibits a distain for the Brotherhood at that, and she would have told them she couldn't even make up someone she could tolerate like that. How narrow-minded.

Madelyn had, like most girls, imagined her future man, life, and kids. She just knew she was going to fall in love with a Brotherhood soldier, scribe or knight, maybe she'd meet them while an Initiate and they'd grow together. Or maybe she'd meet them when she was higher ranking, a paladin maybe. Either way she had plans on waiting for that person to experience a lot of her firsts. She didn't feel the need to just get into bed with anyone, and felt that plenty of other girls were like that. She wanted to be different, so she'd make her man wait, prove to her that they were going to be with her and her only.

They'd have a Brotherhood wedding, small, though, just close friends and family. Perhaps on the Prydwen's command desk. It would be perfect, and they'd both take leave and visit somewhere secluded and romantic for their first night together.

She would bring into the world strong, beautiful children that would grow up in the Brotherhood. They'd have their father's eyes and her auburn hair and…

MacCready had beautiful blue eyes, and he'd given them to Duncan. And Duncan had gotten his mother's auburn hair. She loved spending time with the boy, and he seemed to really like her too.

Madelyn's breathing was quick and shallow, and she noticed that MacCready's was too. What was he thinking about? Should she ask? Her mouth parted and she almost said something, but her lips were dry and no noise came out.

"R.J., Maddy, I think we have a lead," Nate's voice broke them from their trance and they both looked at the General as he stopped to stare at them. "Am I interrupting something?" His brows pulled together and he looked at MacCready with narrowed eyes. Whoa, what was that for?

"No, we were just talking about visiting the bar if we had time tonight," MacCready said easily, waving a hand as he spoke. She noticed when he explained things his head tilted forward, opposite the hand he was gesturing with.

"Okay, well, Slade said that a scavenging team saw a group dressed in odd clothes with what looked like prisoners. The prisoners looked like settlers and there were about fifteen of them."

"That's a lot of people, how could they pacify them? How big was the group taking them?" MacCready's brow creased.

"Something between five and ten. But the scavenging team assumed there were more elsewhere, and these were just the ones taking prisoners." Nate frowned and looked around the space they were in. Madelyn also took the moment to look. The Mayor's house was a large metal one that looked far nicer than the other buildings, and quite spacious. It was built in the shade of the prewar screen, and up on stilts to give it a high, leveled appearance. There were two giant lion statues on either side of the entrance.

"Where were they headed?"

"Southwest," Nate sighed and put his hands on his hips. "I don't like this. I…" he glared, chewing on his lip.

"You want to check on Hancock, Piper, and Nick, don't you?"

"I don't think I could forgive myself if something happened to them," Nate frowned.

"They'll be fine, Nate, you can't do everything. I'm sure they're already at Sunshine. Hey, we'll go to the radio tower and see if we can get them to respond, yeah?" MacCready flung his thumb over his shoulder.

"I think I'm going to buy some clothes, if that's okay," Madelyn said, smiling warmly at Nate when he glanced at her.

"I'm sorry, Madelyn, I should have offered you something more comfortable at Sanctuary…."

"Don't worry about it, I'll be fine, I have some caps I've been saving up."

"And I gave her the two hundred that Hancock paid be fore slapping Sturges's ass–" he winced. "I mean butt. Whatever," he waved a hand.

"Okay, I'll meet you two for lunch, the bar up front should be open by then."

"You're payin' right?" MacCready raised an eyebrow at the larger man who snorted.

"Depends on what you buy."

"Deathclaw steak, of course, you know me better than that, Natie," the ex-mercenary smirked and the General rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, okay," and he left without another word, obvious that he was not comfortable anymore.

"Why'd you do that?" she lifted an eyebrow at MacCready.

He looked surprised. "I enjoy messing with him. So we getting you a haircut too?" he took a lock of her hair between his first and middle fingers.

"I'm not sure," she looked upward as if she could see her own hair. "It is getting out of hand… and I can't wash it as much as I would like to."

"What?" he looked confused. "How often do you want to wash it?"

She looked uncomfortable. "Oh… I don't know, like… every two or three days?"

"Jesus…" he breathed. She swallowed suddenly feeling gross was that not normal? Did he think she was gross? "How do you have access to that kind of water?"

Oh. "Well, the Prydwen is right above a massive body of water…." She shrugged.

"I'd love to shower more than twice a month," he frowned a little, looking away from her as his ears turned red. Awe, was that his embarrassed face?

"Don't worry, I don't think you smell," she smiled, then added, "Much."

"Nice," he nodded, smiling. "Come on, the stores are this way."

MacCready led the way back into the town and down Crater Ally. She wondered why it was called that until they came up to a pool of water in a massive hole in the ground. The water had two purifiers stuck in it and a gate to keep people out. Around the pool were shops of all kinds and trades, even a couple of the same with different prices advertised.

"What were you wanting? One piece? Several pieces?" MacCready asked and paused for her answer.

"I have no idea… I've never…" she looked at the stores. "I've only ever had a uniform. I've never picked my own outfits."

"What about when you were off duty?"

Her cheeks burned. "I, uh, just… wore my uniform."

"Wow," the ex-mercenary nodded once, it was slow dip of his head and then he looked around. "Well, lets see what they have in your size then."

Madelyn had never really gone shopping before. And she decided she hated it. It was a huge waste of time. She spent well into two hours with MacCready going from shop to shop trying to find something that would fit her and that she felt comfortable in. She had tried on some ridiculous things and didn't plan on going back any time soon.

"I still think that harness was pretty nice, shorty."

She sighed and rubbed the back of her hand over her forehead realizing just how much she was sweating from all of the on and off of the clothes. The make the process quicker she had just stayed in the dressing room and allowed MacCready to hand her clothing through the curtain. She had done her best to keep him from being able to see her between dressings and realized half way through that she'd never been shy about her body with the Brotherhood, so why was she with him all of a sudden?

"Yeah, if I was a raider and thought my breasts could stop a bullet," she sighed and looked down at herself. She was rubbing raw in places because of the ill-fitting wears.

"Hey," MacCready stopped and looked at her, straightening himself on her so she had to look at him. "What's got you down?"

"I… I don't like this, shopping," she scrunched her nose and shrugged. "I'm tired now, and I guess I'm still a bit cranky from last night."

"'Cranky from last night'?" he frowned. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have kissed you. It was rash of me." MacCready's blue eyes shifted away and suddenly he seemed like he couldn't look at her.

"Oh, no," she whispered, her voice thick all of a sudden. "No, it wasn't you, well, not really," she verbally stumbled over herself. "I just… I didn't sleep much, and I forgot we were waking up so early." She swallowed and he peaked back at her. "I, uh, liked… the kiss."

At that he looked at her again, his expression soft. "I was worried I'd moved too fast for you."

"Oh, no," she shook her head. "If anything, I'd been waiting for it," she blurted and then her cheeks went red. His eyebrows lifted and she was just as shocked as him. "I can't… believe I said that."

"There's not taking that back," he smirked.

Her face was red as a tato. "Okay, but if you bring it up again, I won't forgive you for shooting me."

"That's a bit intense, don't you think?"

"Well, intensity is my thing, remember?" she ran a hand through her hair. "Maybe it's time for that haircut, and then we'll look at more clothes."

"Okay, shorty," he waved ahead of them, "Barber's that way."

"I still don't know what I want," she sighed as they made their way over to the very cheery woman who was quickly clipping away at a lady's hair.

"Thought you wanted the shaved sides and lines," he looked confused.

"Well, I don't want to regret it. Last time I got a hair cut I was pretty disappointed." She frowned at the memory. She had let her brother talk her into getting just the standard Brotherhood cut.

"What did you get?"

"Oh, it's just," she circled her hand around her head, "Uh… short? I guess, all over, and then I hand bangs."

"Oh, bangs." He looked just as horrified as she did at the thought.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure my brother just wanted me to look like a boy."

"Probably to keep the boys off you," MacCready smirked.

"Oh yeah right, he did that himself," she shook her head at the memory. "I've only been kissed by two boys, and both got beat up afterwards. That ended anyone's interest in my pretty quick." She sighed at the memory and then looked at MacCready who chuckled.

"Sounds like you have a pretty great brother."

"Yeah," she smiled and folded her arms over her chest in thought. "I had to spread a rumor about him having a penis the size of a squire's pinky as payback."

MacCready's eyes snapped wide and he breathed in shock. "Wow, that's pretty… mean."

She shrugged. "You should have seen the cluster of women at Knight-Captain Cade's med-bay. Of course he couldn't confirm nor deny it, so they believed it," she laughed a little at the memory.

"Well, your brother must be pretty important for a group of women to care that much." His smile told her he was only mildly interested, probably because it was to do with her, not so much the Brotherhood aspect of it.

The question put her on edge though, and she suddenly regretted bringing it up. "Yeah, he's pretty high ranking," she tried to act like it was nothing and gave a casual shrug, but her nervousness caught his attention and he raised an eyebrow at her.

He opened his mouth but the barber called out, "Who's next? Who needs a hair cut? Oh, deary, you do, come here, sweet cheeks."

Madelyn looked at the woman and then stepped up. "I need trim, but I don't know what I want other than that."

"Oh, deary, I just got these new colors in," the woman spun around and picked up a bunch of dyes. "I can blend this right into what you have, don't even have to bleach it, my son cooked it up," she explained but Madelyn just sort of stared.

"I can't have unnatural hair color," she frowned, her eyes fixating on the green dye in the woman's hand.

"What kind of bullshit is that?" the woman frowned.

"I'm in the Brotherhood of Steel," Madelyn explained and the woman continued to stare as if that wasn't enough of an explanation. "It's against regulation."

"Well, I see you looking at that green and green is a natural color," she said and dropped the other colors onto a counter. "Them Brotherhood types don't know who they're dealing with. You tell them, Lady Penelope, Dyer of Hair, Cutter of Strands, Reaper of Split Ends, Cleanser of Grease, the Beautifier, Queen of Style and Sass says they can kiss my ass."

Madelyn stared at the woman in surprise and then looked at MacCready who was grinning widely. She mouthed for him to help her and he shook his head. "Oh, MacCready, you're a site for sore eyes," Lady Penelope smiled, realizing who he was now as she started to brush out Madelyn's hair. "How's that boy of yours?"

"He's great, maybe I'll bring him by and you can give him a hair cut. He liked that red dye to put in his hair last time," MacCready leaned against a nearby pole and watched Madelyn's hair soften under the taming bristles

"You getting a hair cut too?"

"Oh no," he shook his head. Lady Penelope stepped around Madelyn and snatched his hat off his head and dropped it into the Squire's lap. Her fingers ran through the man's hair roughly.

"Bullshit you're not. I'm taking care of that before you leave, it's a mole rat's nest." She returned to Madelyn who was now smiling up at him, holding his hat.

"I'm not going to get that back, will I?"

"Probably not," Madelyn smiled and looked at it while Penelope whipped out a pair of scissors. It was unique, like the dusters he wore.

She could feel her hair being cut, but she didn't pay it any mind, instead she just closed her eyes and relaxed, letting her legs rest for the first time that day. Lady Penelope moved her head as need and made comments about her pretty round face and asked about doing some styles once her hair had been dyed and dried with a towel. Madelyn shrugged, "Honestly, you can do whatever, I'll probably just wear a hat if I don't like it. No offense."

"No one has left my shop unhappy."

"Then I trust you," she smiled and the woman paused. When she opened her eyes she saw Lady Penelope staring with a smile herself.

"MacCready you got yourself a beautiful one right here," the woman said over her shoulder. The sniper was looking off at the crowd, and seemed surprised by the statement.

"Yeah, she is, isn't she?" MacCready breathed, his eyes now looking at Madelyn. She wondered what the woman had done to her hair to make his expression turn toward that level of awe.

"Well now I'm curious," she tried to look up again but she couldn't see any of her own hair.

"Wait, let me style it, then I'll show you, deary." Lady Penelope took her brush and had Madelyn's hair up and styled in moments with skilled fingers. It felt nice to have someone wash and brush her hair for her. It was like a head massage. "There we go."

"Okay, I think I'm ready to look at this."

The mirror was put into her hand and she took a breath before looking. "Oh," she watched herself say, but it didn't look like her. The green looked amazing, it went well with her freckle dotted skin, and the style that Lady Penelope put it up in made Madelyn's round face look longer, and thinned it. She let out a slow breath and stared into her grey eyes that now looked blue with the new hair. "That's so… cool," she smiled and stood up, throwing her arms around the barber.

"I told you, deary, no one leaves unhappy."

"Looks like it's my turn. We better hurry if we're going to get you something to wear before meeting Nate. I'm sure he's wondering where we are." MacCready stepped around them and sat down in the chair. "I'm paying for both of us, by the way, Pen."

"Like a good gentleman," she nodded and he handed her a handful of caps. She looked at it and nodded. "Thank you. Do you want the usual?"

"Always."

Madelyn watched as she trimmed up the sniper's hair taking it back down how it had probably looked a month or so ago. She didn't realize she was staring until MacCready smirked at her and she looked away. "I'm going to go back to the armor shop on that corner," she pointed and dropped his hat into his lap.

"I'll be there in a moment," he promised and she nodded.

Once she was away from him she felt her breath steady. Man, things were getting so… weird between them. They needed to talk about this, she couldn't just keep thinking about it. Sure he'd kissed her, but it might not mean the same thing to her. He'd seemed surprised at her saying she'd been waiting for it. She was surprised she had said that. Since when had she wanted that? How long has she wanted it? And after a moment of thought she nodded to herself. She wanted more than just a forehead kiss. She wanted a real kiss.

Oh my, she thought to herself, the image of him sweeping her up into a kiss taking her breath away. Was this moving too fast? Was there really a standard? It was the wasteland. You moved as fast as you felt comfortable, and she was comfortable with him. Madelyn smiled and felt her cheeks pick up some color. She would have to get him alone later and see what his thoughts were.

"Hi, I'm back," she smiled at the clothing trader. She was an older woman, heavy around the torso with a small head and friendly smile.

"Oh, hey there, child," she cooed and straightened something on a shelf. "Did you change your mind on something?"

"I actually wanted to try on that pair of cargo pants you have," she pointed it out and the woman nodded.

Madelyn picked out some other pieces to complete the outfit. It was nice, she thought as she looked in the full body mirror. Cargo pants tucked into combat boots, a black tank top and braces on her upper arms and thighs for some protection. She watched as she twisted in her reflection, looking to see if the clothes would ride up anywhere or expose her skin in a way she wouldn't like. But it fit nicely. "Damn," she whispered to herself and smiled. Now she just wanted a hat, as much as she loved the hair, she liked the idea of a cap too much. "Excuse me, do you have a–"

Madelyn paused when she saw MacCready standing with his back against the wall, talking to the saleswoman. "Oh, child, I knew that would look great on you."

"Thank you," Madelyn said and looked down at herself. She could actually see her stomach for its size instead of it lost in the folds of her clothes. "This fits me so much better, I think I'll find travel easier, too," she smiled at the woman thankfully. "Do you have any hats?"

MacCready was still staring. She tried to ignore it, enjoying the feeling of his eyes locked on her. She had to admit, part of why she liked this outfit so much was that she thought she looked pretty cute in it. "That's not fair," she heard him say, suddenly.

She looked at him, confused, "What?"

He shook his head, the smile on his face telling her he wasn't mad. "You know exactly what." She did. She felt her cheeks redden and she looked away, focusing on the hats the woman offered her.

"Oh," she picked up a black one. She pulled the tail of her hair through the back of it and rested it on the poof of her hair so that it wasn't crushing the work that Lady Penelope did, but rather, accented it. "What do you think?"

"You know what I think," MacCready breathed, passing her and then asked the saleswoman how much it all cost.

"I can pay for it," Madelyn protested, touching his arm.

"One hundred and twenty caps," the woman smiled and Madelyn watched MacCready take out the caps. She frowned, knowing she didn't have the full amount without what he had intended on giving her for her birthday. "Thank you, you two have a great day."

"Thanks, you too, Ma'am."

"Thank you," Madelyn smiled and followed MacCready out.

"How do the clothes fit?" he asked as they headed back toward the front of the settlement.

"Really well, better than my squire's uniform," she said, looking down at the clothes. The others were too warm for the season. The days were hot and she needed something that would allow her to breathe.

"That's good, it looks great on you, Madelyn," he said, his voice sounding off. She looked at him and noticed he wasn't looking at her. She wondered if she'd done something wrong. Was she trying too hard? Her cheeks flushed and she looked back down at herself.

"I'll pay you the caps back," she said, looking for something else to talk about.

He frowned at her. "No, you didn't take the caps for your birthday, so I bought that for you."

"I thought the smile and laugh were my gifts?"

"That was more of a gift for me," he smiled. She hadn't expected that and fought the grin that pulled on her lips. "Ah, there we go, there's another." She flushed and smiled, unable to say anything. MacCready's arm wrapped around her shoulder and he pulled her into his side as they walked down the wide main street. "Do you know what you want to eat?"

"Um, not really, I'm still not used to having choices," she glanced up at him. He was warm to lean against, and the hand on her shoulder felt nice. She liked this.

"They don't have options on the Prydwen?"

"Well, they do, but not everything's good. And when I squired I just ate whatever my knight or paladin would eat." She shrugged.

"Nate's a bit different than other soldiers isn't he?"

"You have no idea," she breathed and looked up at the bar. It had to be about three hours passed midday. The open sign was flashing, and already she could see people inside. "This looks nice," she said as they stepped inside. It was dim, and had a long corner bar with stools and a few booths against a wall, a jukebox, couches, a dance floor, and a second story above the dance floor where people could be seen sitting around talking.

"Bond keeps the place real nice," MacCready's arm fell from her shoulder to the small of her back to urge her forward.

"I can see that," she breathed and looked around as she was guided to a booth with a very familiar man sitting so that he was facing the entrance. She was about to slide into the booth across from him, but Nate stood, allowing her in on his side. She didn't miss the soft glare he was giving MacCready.

"You look great, Maddy," he said and she smiled. When he looked at her his gaze softened. He had taken his hat off and his sunglasses hung on the back of his neck where they normally did.

"Thanks, Sentinel," she grinned.

"Is that… green?" he cocked his head to the side and perked a brow.

"It is, yes," she flushed, looking away from him.

"Well, I don't know how Elder Maxson will feel about that, but it looks nice."

She let out a snorted laugh, "Arthur would flip his–" she stopped herself realizing both men were gaping at her then. She swallowed, staring back at them like a radstag in the crosshairs.