"Hi there," Jacob came up, resting his hands on either side of Nate's head. Nate let his eyes slide open for a moment, then he closed them again, trying to relax. "Oh, don't be that way."

"Here to cut me up some more?" Nate asked, keeping his eyes closed. It had only been a few hours since the woman left. He'd been counting.

"Nah, we're trying to make you last, least until we get some more of the prewar meat to test our theory, but they won't be as good as you," he sighed. "You're fresh."

"Thanks, I bathe twice a week."

"More than most of the Commonwealth," Jacob scoffed and straightened up. "You have questions?"

"And you have answers."

"I'm curious what your first one will be," Jacob confessed and Nate opened his eyes to look at him.

"You said they hadn't found John yet, you were lying," he said and Jacob's brows tugged together.

"I wasn't, actually, why would you think that?" Jacob was a great liar, but it was too easy for Nate to see an honest truth. John hadn't been found yet, and it hurt him.

"How long have I been here?"

"That's your first question?" Jacob grinned. "You're just worried about that… thing," he growled the word, but Nate knew it was to avoid using the other word now. He waited, and Jacob sighed. "Four weeks and two days, if you want anything more exact you'd have to look at the ledgers."

"You keep track of when you bring people in?" his brows quirked and Jacob smiled.

"And who," he added, pulling up a chair that sat out of his field of view. "Mother told me to answer all your questions at my digression, but she knows you aren't leaving here alive, so might as well set you at ease, it'll make you taste better," he tilted his head and resting his chin on his hand.

"Why did she stop you form talking before then?" he lifted a dark brow.

"She had to see the status of your friends. Turns out the Maxy hasn't sent those Midwest hounds on us yet, so we have at least two more weeks before any of his vertibirds even come close to here, and another week before a squad makes it this far west." Jacob grinned and ran a hand through his black curls. "She expects you won't make it till this time next week. Not with how delicious you are."

"You know, you say you're not interested in men, but you sure know how to talk dirty to one," Nate smiled and Jacob jerked up, standing quick enough to send his chair to the ground behind him.

"You're disgusting."

"I thought you said I was delicious?" Nate braced for the punch that came down right to his nose, cracking it, and sending blood out over his mouth. "Bet it wasn't that hard for you to draw me in, either," he grinned and gave him a wink. "I know I'm a looker, but you stared at me too right to have been faking."

The next punch was calculated, and right to his nose again, but the angle blacked him out. Before his mind went dark, though, he grinned.

Nate came to and the woman was standing above him. He groaned slightly and closed his eyes. "Good morning, Nathaniel."

"What should I call you? I'm starting to think 'Bitch' is appropriate."

"You don't think that's a little strong?" she tilted her head at him, her lips turning into a disapproving frown.

"Cunt works for me too," he breathed and she slapped him.

"I told you it's hard not to hit him, Mother," Jacob's voice came from the other side of the room and Nate sighed.

"So you're Cunt and he's Dick," Nate tilted his head as much as he could at the woman above him. "That… means he fucks you right?"

This time the woman knocked him out.

"We know what you're doing," Jacob sighed when Nate opened his eyes and blinked against the light of the lamp over his head.

"Is that so?"

"Don't worry, I took a Calm-X, you're not getting to me this time," he came over. "I have a couple questions, though."

"I thought I got to ask the questions?"

"You missed your chance. You pissed off Mother."

"Oh… she making you sleep on the couch now?" Jacob didn't even blink, he just tilted his head.

"Preston's your second in command, but he won't step up and take the lead to the Minutemen if you… die, so who will?"

"You don't already know, oh wise one?" Nate gasped in mock shock.

"I know a lot of things, but my knowledge on the Minutemen is rather… limited since they don't have much…" he searched for the word. "Experience, as of late."

"Of course, besides, hard to look at the Minutemen when you're sucking Brotherhood dick, am I right?" Nate lifted a brow for confirmation.

"Wouldn't know, but… I'm only mildly curious, but did you ever kneel for Maxson? I bet he'd be into that; he probably has a dick shoved up his ass every night."

"Used to be yours, wasn't it? And that's why you're so jealous now?" Nate frowned in sympathy.

"Cute," Jacob grunted and folded his arms over his chest. He must really have taken a Calm-X. Well shit. "You going to answer me?"

"You first," Nate narrowed his eyes. "You're Brotherhood?"

"Seeing that you're Sentinel and you've not heard my name what would you think?" he raised a brow. "Don't you think you would have heard of me if I was?"

"See, I don't know everyone on the ship… I had a pilot once, flew me to Fort Strong," he explained. "His name was Glass, he was a Lancer-Sergeant, but that couldn't have been you. He was a ginger," Nate watched his face and noticed the wince before he frown and composed himself. "That was your brother, wasn't it?"

"Half," he choked and stopped himself, swallowing. His jaw snapped shut and he looked away with furrowed brows.

"Half brother… probably your dad, right? Sleeping around with anyone and everyone? Who's the bastard? You…?" Nate lifted a brow and then nodded. "It's him. Wonder how his relationship is with your father now?"

"You don't know what you're talking about," Jacob growled and leaned over him. "Tell me who takes over the Minutemen after you!"

"No one, I never lined anyone up, it could be anyone," he said simply and shrugged. "What does it matter? So you can grab them too?"

"Without a leader, they stay out of our way," he breathed, looking like he was trying to calm himself.

"Uh… huh, well, looks like with me gone they're still causing you trouble."

"Not as much so as those Brotherhood bastards."

Nate narrowed his gaze at the man in front of him. "Why'd you leave?"

"What?"

"Why'd you leave the Brotherhood?"

"I'm not answering any more of your questions, Natie," he growled and went to the door.

"Give your mommy a kiss for me. Right on the mouth, with tongue," Nate called after him. The door slammed shut. He sighed and closed his eyes, wishing the man would have knocked him out again so he didn't have to lie here and stare at the ceiling.

Nate was able to hear conversations going on out in the hall when he quieted his breathing. From what he gathered, he was father west than a Nuka World Monorail station, which was constantly flowing with some odd raiders coming and leveling the Commonwealth. It had, apparently, only started within the last few weeks, after a massive group of them took over the Park and slaughtered most of the traders that were there.

He frowned at that, wondering if anyone would be able to stop them.

He also learned that Mother was growing ill, and so were a lot of the older members. All but Jacob. There were some suspicious whispers about him Nate decided to keep note of, and continued to listen as the time without contact wore on.

Gossip. Singing. Drunken speech. More comments on the same things he already knew. And talk of Midwest hounds.

Nate perked up and frowned. The man outside his door was speaking with someone else.

"Yeah, I just got off guard duty, I saw the sons of bitches, there were three, when I told Jacob he said they were the Midwest hounds that that the Elder sent after that little bitch with the merc." He laughed throatily, and then continued, "Those two followed the trail Jacob had me and Gill make out east, all the way to the end. How stupid, right?"

"Wow," the door guard sighed in amazement. "So… what about these hounds then? We… gonna get 'em?"

"They were already off before I got to tellin' Jacob, but that means those Brotherhood dicks are gonna be here within the week. He's talking about us moving, but Mother thinks we should dig in and close up, hope we're too much trouble."

"They ain't gonna let their boss in here go so easy…."

"That's just it, he's the only brother we got, right? She was talkin' about making a truce if nothing else, give them him and get them to back off. Why would they fight for the Minutemen if they aren't affected?"

"Oh… but… we haven't all gotten to try him yet?"

"You'd rather get shot by laser rifles?"

"No."

Nate's heart pounded and he gritted his teeth. Would Maxson abandon the attack just because they handed him over? He'd like to think not, especially when his arms and legs were taken and eaten.

"Well, wait a minute, why don't we just shoot them back? The mezzers worked on those settlers," the door guard broke in and Nate's brows furrowed. 'Mezzer'?

"These aren't settlers, dumby, these are Brotherhood dicks that have armor and are trained to fight. They won't be so easy to subdue, and soon as they saw some of their brothers and sisters turning on them they'd only get harder and harder to pacify," he sighed.

"I… I'm sorry, I guess I didn't think about it like that. I just remember those bitches at Oberland were so easy to get, just walked up and bam, had them all following us like a bunch of puppies," he chuckled and stopped when the other hit him.

"Shut up and leave the planning to Jacob. It's the only thing his deserter ass is good for. I still can't believe they let one of them in…."

"He's been here longer than any of us," the door guard protested.

"I know, dumby, but how the fuck did they even get him? How he just up and decides he's tired of living cush in that airship, to live down… here in this mess?"

"I heard he was a pilot, and he crashed. They saved him in exchange for his help, and he just stuck around after that."

"You're an idiot."

"It's what I heard."

The conversation ended then and one of them left. Nate had a lot to think about then. He didn't know how much of the conversation was reliable, but considering neither seemed to know or care if he could hear, there really was no reason to think it was set up. So Jacob had been here longer than the rest? But not the first. It stood to reason that 'Mother' was an original and recruited Jacob. Maybe he was the one to get them to where they were now? That stood to reason, seeing that planning was the only thing he was apparently good for.

Nate swallowed and stared at the ceiling, listening to the hall again, but he wanted Jacob to come back in here and give him some more information. He wanted to know what 'Midwest hounds' meant. He'd been in the Brotherhood for over two years and sure some of their terms were different than prewar military, but he had never heard a Midwest anything mentioned.

Nate's jaw set and he took long, slow breaths through his nose, trying to keep his thoughts away from his body. It was too easy for him to drift back and try to wiggle a finger or toe just to prove that they were lying to him, that they were still there. He knew they weren't, but he could feel it sometimes and it only made it worse.

His heart picked up and he bit down on his lip to distract him. He wished that Jacob had just knocked him out again…. At least in his dreams he would be able to use his arms and legs.