I know I know it has taken me forever to update, but I have produced the longest chapter yet AND typed it up with a broken arm. Thanks for all the reviews! Hope you enjoy

Chapter 29: James and Butch

James crept down the stairwell to the lower levels. He was prepared to take most of the night searching this level. Finishing tomorrow then proceeding to the next level and so on until he was certain the G.E.C.K wasn't in Vault 101.

He came inevitably to the door he had discovered his daughter and Butch 'rough housing' against. He paused suddenly taken back to that day and remembered vividly how giddy she had been. At the time it had happened he had been so shocked, now recalling that day he realized it had been some time since he had heard the smile and laughter in her voice.

Two months.
It had been two months since Jonas and Jolene announced their intended marriage. He had been surprised by how fast she had moved their relationship along since their father daughter talk. It was for the best, right?

He wanted to be sure his daughter was taking care of when he left. Wanted to know she was safe. Her marriage to Jonas insured that didn't it? But was she happy?

She had seemed so taken with Butch. Did something happen that made her realize it had been teenage infatuation?

Jonas was happier than ever. They had had a morning coffee a few days ago and Jonas couldn't talk about anything but his daughter; How pretty she is, How smart and kind, especially with the patients. How he couldn't believe she had really picked him.

Deep down inside neither did James.

Jolene on the other hand seemed distant. He'd only ever saw her in the clinic anymore, busy with patients or text books. Maybe she was just overloaded. He had asked her one day in passing if she needed any help. He thought at first she hadn't heard him but it hadn't been that. She had been composing herself. Had she been fighting back tears? The more he thought about it now he was almost sure she had. He had been in a hurry that day and hadn't noticed, like usual, too caught up in his search.

Pausing for just a moment to hear if the hall was clear, caused a flashback to blink blindingly in his mind's eye of his daughter and Butch, her laughter singing in his ears. Shouldn't she be just as giddy with the wedding, planning the day, the dress, the decorations, their vows? He knew of no such plans.

He placed a palm on the cold metal door steadying himself in an attempt to clear his mind and focus on the G.E.C.K. but still his mind wondered back.

Had he not encouraged her to give Jonas a chance? She had made her decision. She was a big girl. He really couldn't afford to let his daughter distract him. He was nearly finished with his search. He needed to keep moving forward.

He checked his Pib-Boy, it wasn't registering anyone on this level. He listened before opening the stairwell door. There was no sound. He thought he saw someone in a Tunnel Snake jacket disappear behind the large door down the hall. He wasn't sure but in his state he could have imagined them. Closing the door quietly he decided to go in the opposite direction just in case.

It was impossible to open this door quietly but that didn't seem to bother the two Tunnel Snakes working at one of the benches. They didn't even look up at the sound. At first James thought he really needed a break 'cause he wasn't sure they were real until he heard them talking quietly. James decided to use his 'adult doctor voice' and make them disappear.

He cleared his throat, "What are you children doing down here? Don't you know this is a restricted area?"

They looked at him, not intimidated in the least. "We could say the same for you old man." He said something that James couldn't hear to his friend and he took off out of the room in a hurry.

"Seems your friend has the right idea, I think you should follow him."

"If you know what's good for you old man you'd pretend you never saw us down here and go back up where you belong."

Okay so, the 'adult authoritative voice' wasn't working on this one. He would try something else; "Look…" he tried to remember the boy's name and couldn't, "So we're both not supposed to be here, why don't I do my thing, you do your thing and we can pretend we never saw each other?"

The door clanked open behind James and he stepped to the side. The boy from before practically stumbled in out of breath and panted to his friend, "Butch wants to see him."

The door remained open and James watched two older Tunnel Snakes walk down the hall toward them. "You need to come with us." One of them said.

~~oOo~~

A few minutes later James found himself standing near a sofa in a make shift living area in a very large storage bay surrounded by Tunnel Snakes of every age and gender. They paced about or flopped casually on the various pieces of furniture all looking at him. For the first time in a very long time James felt uneasy. What had he wandered into? Certainly nothing nefarious was going on here?

Everyone's attention turned to the door when it clanked and they all watched as Butch walked in flanked on either side like deputies by Paul and Wally. He watched as Butch shooed someone from their metal chair and placed it center among the other furniture.

"Please, Mr. C. have a seat."

As James moved to his assigned seat he watched Butch acquire another chair in the same manner placing it directly in front of his. Butch chose to straddle his setting his arms across the back. Paul walked up to James and stood waiting by his side.

"Please give Paul your Pib-Boy." Butch directed.

"Now wait a minute…"

"It's just your tracker chip. We don't need any information from it." Butch explained. He sounded bothered, tired, frustrated.

"I disabled it. I didn't want to be tracked down here."

"We just want to make sure is all, you understand." He flashed him an irritating grin.

"No, I'm not sure I do, but I don't mind you checking." He proceeded to punch in his code and released the lock, handing it to Paul. He watched as it was taken over to a table and Paul directed another to it while he turned back to the group.

"What…" James paused wanting to ask the exact question. He knew this was a storage bay. He could deduce this was where the Tunnel Snakes hung out. Butch was obviously their leader. It was evident they wanted this place kept a secret, but why?

Butch watched James as he struggled to make sense of his situation. Butch was angry, he hated that James was sitting here reminding him of Jo. The thought of her caused a clenching in his chest. Jo, the best thing that had happened to him was taken away by a fuck of an Overseer. He would die for it one day. He'd die for taking Jo along with everything else good in Butch's life; his childhood, his mom, a normal life, all gone because of Al Fuck.

Enough of that, Butch pushed his hatred aside for now. James wasn't whom he wanted to kill. No need taking that anger out on him. He actually wanted to speak with James but had been avoiding it because he didn't want to think of Jo it hurt too much.

By the Powers the loss of Jo tore him up inside. He hated thinking of her with Jonas, that spineless speck of a man. What the Hell did Al Fuck want from Jonas that he sweetened the pot with his Jo? Butch hadn't been able to puzzle that one out just yet, but he knew what James wanted and what he wanted from James.

James blurted out his question then, bringing Butch back into the moment.

"Why do you need to see me?"

"We need to talk Mr. C. but let's take this slow shall we?" He stood and addressed the group. "Find some other entertainment for now and back up, give us some privacy."

James watched as everyone but Paul, Wally and the boy working on his Pib-Boy dispersed, some leaving others climbing and sitting on the storage crates, far enough for them to have a civil conversation and not be over heard.

James still couldn't quite grasp what was going on. It was almost surreal for him. He felt like he had entered some movie, the black and white ones he used to watch once a week with Jolene when she was little. The ones where the guy sat under a bright light and the tough guys 'soften' him up.

"James." Butch spoke. "James I know what you are looking for and I know where it is. I'll help you if you help me."

A look of surprise spread across James face that he quickly tried to hide. "What are you talking about?" How could Butch know anything about what he was doing?

The Tunnel Snake with his Pib-Boy brought it back over. "He took the chip out. No one followed him here. He's dark."

Butch motioned for him to give it back. James put it back on and checked a few modes. Everything seemed fine.

"Do you know if you damaged the chip when you took it out?" Butch asked arms draping over the back of his chair.

"I…I don't know," James replied offhandedly. "I can always get Stanley to fix it when I get back. It shouldn't be a problem." Then more emphatically, "I need to know what you think I'm looking for."

Butch sighed and rubbed his eyes with one of his hands. "It can be a problem if the Overseer finds out you are dark. I don't know how closely he is monitoring your movements what with his knowledge of your search, but he may think you've gone dark for another reason."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." James leaned forward placing a hand on his knee and gesturing with his other. "Monitoring me? Why? What does Al know of my research? What do you think you know? How…"He wiped his hand through his hair, "By the Powers what is going on?"

Butch stood and paced around the chair as he spoke. "You've been working on something called Project Purity off and on for the last ten years or so. This is an extensive water purifying project for large amounts of irradiated water. Since all our water in the vault is recycled I couldn't figure why this project would be of any use." Butch paused then to glance at James, his mouth slightly hanging open. He sat back down straddling the chair to face James once again. "At first I thought Al Fuck had you working on this. That was up until I found out you needed a G.E.C.K. and were stuck there because, if the Overseer had you on this project you would've moved on already."

James swallowed, his mouth was dry. How could this man know so much and what had Butch said? James found his voice, "What do you mean 'moved on already'?"

Butch watched as James demeanor changed from perplexed to totally pissed off. It was expected of course when a man's life work is threatened. James stood slowly clenching and un-clenching his fist. Butch felt the tension in the room rise and stood slowly preparing for whatever James would do.

James exploded by kicking his chair over and shouting. He lunged at Butch, grabbing his jacket with both fist growling in his face, "You will tell me what the fuck is going on here and you will not leave out anything or so help me…"

Butch put up his palms to stop all the Tunnel Snakes rushing toward them. Paul had drawn his knife and grasped James' arm jabbing the point into his ribs.

"Put it away Paul. James isn't a threat to us." James watched as Paul slipped his knife away and released him.

"Your turn James," Paul said still alert for any fast movements.

James slowly released Butch and turned to see everyone receding back to their original places. He realized he had no power here. No leverage to work with. He was at the mercy of the group of outcasts. Turning back to Butch he beseeched, "You have to tell me…I…after all this work it can't end like this. It can't." He collapsed unto one of the sofas.

Butch felt sympathy for the man but couldn't show it. He needed to play his hand to get what he wanted from James. "Chad." Butch called to someone over James shoulder. "Get this man a drink, the good stuff." Chad jumped off his crate and started to walk toward the back of the bay. "Get me one too while you're at it."

No one spoke while they waited.

They heard Chad before they saw him. On top of a hydraulic cart he pulled a crate of beer down the aisle clanking all the way. Rolling up to Butch he handed him a larger bottle with glasses. Butch handed them back as he opened and poured the liquor into the glasses. Corking the bottle he set it on the floor next to his chair. Taking a glass for himself, he nodded to Chad to hand the other to James. When Chad returned to the handle of the cart Butch asked "You intend to finish that cart?" Chad shrugged. "You and whoever partakes with you will work longer hours to make up the difference."

"You don't care?" Chad asked a little surprised.

"Oh I care, but I know you're good for it, just make sure whomever you share it with is too, or you'll be doing all the work."

"No problem." He said jubilantly and pulled the cart toward an excited maul of thirsty Tunnel Snakes.

James took a drink as he listened to Chad and Butch's exchange. Calmed slightly by the warmth spreading through his limbs he remarked, "This is good stuff. You stealing or counterfeiting ration cards?"

Butch chuckled, "Something like that but let's get back to why you're here. About six months ago our generous Overseer asked us to get all the information we could on the three of you working in the clinic. During our research we found out about your Project Purity."

"But it's all encrypted. How and why would Al ask you to dig into our personal information?"

"The encryption took about a week to break. We have some pretty good coders and all the resources in the vault available to us. It was a tough one to crack but we eventually got it, as for the reason why, that I haven't been able to puzzle out yet." He stood with his glass. "Like I said I thought at first you were working on this project with Al, but he wasn't sharing his information with you so that didn't pan. Then I thought foolishly that your daughter was playing me." He paused and took a drink giving him a moment to deal with his emotions. He spoke quietly looking at his drink, "How could a girl like her be interested in a guy like me right? I was paranoid, preoccupied, and a fool." He stared off at nothing for a heartbeat. "It was your pasts that perplexed me. Why was there nothing further back than eighteen years, nadda, zip, nothing, why?"

"Wait a minute, slow down." James put his hands up, one holding his glass, "Why would Al have you looking into anything let alone the three of us?"

"Jo never told you? I mean I asked her not to but I didn't think she'd keep it from her father forever." Butch thought back to the night of his birthday when she had found out. He had been so angry with Paul because Butch knew he was right. Fuck it. He wasn't sorry, they had been great together.

"Never told me what? And by the way how long were you with my daughter?"

"Since her time in the Core 'till about four months ago," He did his best to hide the anguish in his voice.

James watched as Butch finished off his drink and refreshed his glass. This young man seemed to have cared for his daughter very much. He was at least heartbroken over her.

"Anyway," Butch continued, "I'll not go into the whole back ground of it but the Tunnel Snakes are essentially Al Fuck's lackeys. He wants dirty work done we do it. He keeps his hands clean that way. If you don't believe me check your Boy, all of us in this room don't exist."

James scrolled through to the tracker mode and sure enough no one was in this room with him. How could all these people be absent on the Pib-Boys and Security not know? "And you do this because?"

"Suffice it to say years ago I traded one evil for a lesser evil. I'm not going into it any further, but you should know I don't enjoy it nor am I proud of it. 'Nough said."

"It must have been a big evil if this is the lesser."

"It was."

"And the information you found about my project?"

"Took it all back to the big boss."

"So that's how he knows about my research."

" 'fraid so."

James reflected for a bit. "How long has he known?"

"A little over four months. I asked him too about the dark period in you and Jo's past. Didn't faze him at all. He said something about a computer glitch, but I didn't buy it."

James put his glass out and Butch refilled it. "So he's known for four months. But nothing has changed. I haven't been stopped in my search."

Butch sat down next to James on the sofa, "I'm guessing it's because your search is of no threat to him at this time."

"But you said he knew."

"I said I know where your G.E.C.K is and Al would too if he bothered to look."

"But he doesn't seem to care."

"Or he's watching you and at this point you simply entertain him."

"But you didn't want him to know I came here, which is why you checked my Pib-Boy chip."

"Yes." Butch nodded.

"Why is my coming here a concern if he knows I'll be searching all over the vault for the G.E.C.K.?"

Butch filled his glass with the rest of the liquor and stood. Sighing heavily he said, "This isn't easy to tell and if you care for Jo even half as much as I do it won't be easy for you to hear."

"What does my daughter…" fatherly concern screaming out.

Butch put his hand up stopping him. "Just let me get through this and you will see."

"Alright," James tone worried.

"While we were doing our digging on you three for Al Fuck, he got what he was looking for big time. Like I said Al's got something going on that I haven't puzzled out yet but I know who he's got doing it." Butch paused letting James put two and two together.

"Jonas? But…"

Again the hand. "Yeah, Jonas that slimy little fuck had naked stills of Jo and a vid of her and I from the girl's locker room in the Core."

"What! Jonas! That's absurd I've known Jonas for years. He must have been set up."

"If they had been placed we, the Tunnel Snakes, would've done the placing and I sure as shit wouldn't've put a vid of myself on his personal."

"Fuck it." James finished his drink. "So Al gets this dirt on Jonas and blackmails him with it, why?"

"I haven't figured that one out yet. If it's any consolation he paid someone to keep them from circulating. We haven't seen them in the slew of porn circulating through the lines."

James stood hand on hips. "Fuck it, fuck it. You think you know someone…" but how can he trust Butch, Maybe he's lying. "Prove it."

"I can show you the stills, but that doesn't prove where we got them. The Vid we erased. We never coughed that up, unfortunately that didn't keep the information from Al Fuck. There must have been a hard copy we didn't get our hands on."

Butch was right, seeing the stills didn't prove Jonas had them, but if they existed then maybe some of his story was true. They certainly seemed to have quite the set up here and how would this be possible without the Overseer's help or purposeful disinterest?

"Fuck. Show me"

"Wally." Butch, Paul and James followed Wally as he sat behind a personal and tapped his fingers on the board.

Butch leaned against the desk at Wally's side. He didn't need to see the stills again. Not here with everyone watching. He ached for her.

James gasped when Wally brought up the first still. He started thumbing through them.

"Stop. Stop, I've seen enough." He turned from them pressing his fingers to the bridge of his nose. "I …I needed to know…how can I trust you?"

"I understand."

James paced his frustration growing inside, "He'd been asking for permission to pursue her for what? Two years? He seemed to really care for her."

"I'm sure he does. In his sick little way."

"And what about you!" His over protection father mode got the best of him. He jabbed his finger in the air at Butch, "You talk like you care for Jolene yet here you are hiding down in the vault's lowest level with your tail between your legs? If you cared for her you would tell her or something! She can't continue to stay with him if this is true!"

Fiercely Butch threw his drink against the wall, it shattered spraying the little group with liquor and tiny bits of glass. He came at James shoving him hard. "I love your daughter." SHOVE "but that shit fuck of an Overseer" SHOVE "has warned the both of us not to see each other or try to contact each other" SHOVE " or I'll end up in the Core indefinitely." SHOVE. He turned and circled, James braced for a swing that didn't come, "Which is why he can't know you were here because he may think you were bringing a message from her." If only he was, then maybe his torment would lessen if just a little.

The whole bay went completely still. James reeled from the assault and stood collecting himself as Butch headed to the crate of beer. He grabbed one, opened it, and flopped back unto the sofa. After a few moments James joined him. "The things you have told me tonight I…I'm not sure I can believe them all but if any of this is true I…Jolene…" he would need to ask her but he also needed to get back to the reason he was here in the first place. "You said you know where the G.E.C.K is?"

Butch sighed and shook his head. He wiped his palm over his eyes composing himself.

"Do you plan on sharing this information with me tonight?"

Butch pulled a data pad from his jacket, tapped the screen a few times and handed it to him.

James was looking at a picture of himself holding his baby daughter. "What's this?"

Butch leaned toward James and pointed to the picture, "That is the very first still of you here in the vault."

Paul and Wally brought their chairs over and sat for the first time during the evenings palaver. Butch had spoken quietly and they wanted to hear.

"The first?"

"Yes James, the reason there isn't any information on you and Jo before this day is because you didn't exist until you walked through the vault door."

James was silent for a moment, could he really know? "How could you think such an irrational thing, we are all from the vault."

Butch chuckled, so sure of himself. "There isn't anything irrational about this in fact it's probably the most rational thing we've discussed tonight."

James just sat staring at the picture. That had been so long ago. He had come through Megaton thinking he might have to stay there but he tried the vault. That was the safest place for his daughter. It was pure luck that they were in disparate need for a doctor. "But how?"

"It's your skin color James. The man in the picture has been under a great deal of radiation, solar radiation, you can't get that inside a vault. That, plus your missing files and lack of any vid images of the two of you until that day. Even your jumpsuit looks crisp and clean. It's so obvious I don't know why it took me so long to piece together."

Again James sat staring. "So what does this have to do with the G.E.C.K.?"

Wally piped in, "So you mean it…you really came from…outside?"

"Look I'm not saying I did or I didn't okay. Who all has seen this?"

"Just the three of us," Butch said. "If this got out you could have total anarchy on your hands. I'm not sure how you covered it up in the first place."

"Exactly…if I came from the outside don't you think there would be others who know? Anyway I don't see what this has to do with my project."

"There is no purpose for a water purifier here in the vault. Only if you were planning on leaving does this project even begin to make sense, which is another reason I believe you came from the outside."

James stood and then sat back down. "Where is it?"

Here it was the climax of the evening."I tell you only if you take me with you when you leave."

James sat staring hard at Butch, then grazing his eyes over the other two before he spoke. "Fuck it… you've thrown a lot of information at me tonight that I need to think about. I don't know if I can trust any of you. You say you are working for Al well maybe this is some set up to get me in trouble. Damn it." He suddenly needed to leave. This situation was getting too uncomfortable for him. He was so close to finishing he didn't need to get thrown in the Core for any length of time. He stood nervously, "I…I need to go."

They all stood.

"You're free to go. Get your tracker fixed tomorrow. If you need to see me again, see Carl, Stanley's apprentice first." James started for the door. "Oh and James, tell Jo I'm sorry."