Talia stared up at Sarah after their fight with several supermutants that just ended soon enough that the encampment from which they came, and into which the pair had practically stumbled, wasn't alerted. She was struggling for breath on account of the exertion and the hysterics that had overtaken her.

Sarah had caught them too, and so she offered a hand but wasn't much help, and the pair tumbled into a pile of laughter amongst the carnage in the dying light.

"What did I do to get paired up with you?" Talia wheezed.

"I forgot how tough these things are without a squad and a minigun," Sarah commented.

"No," Talia continued. "I mean, why am I so lucky? How did we do that?"

"I wouldn't call that lucky," Sarah skirted over the compliment. "Dumb luck. We practically knocked on their front door."

Talia creased up again at the image. "You'd do that wouldn't you? Invite them out for a fight."

"If my guys were up here on this ridge, hell yeah. Set up a killing zone in their front yard and ring the doorbell, why not?"

Talia wiped her eyes and pulled herself to a seat. "Why are they so far out here? They're so… organised."

"Wish I knew," Sarah responded. "We haven't found out yet. I should've seen that though. Don't wanna get taken just yet."

"Taken?"

"They might kill you. Or they might capture you. They do that sometimes, and take people away. We don't know where or why. Unless someone tells me, I'm not planning on ever finding out." She patted her breast pocket knowingly.

"What! Why am I just finding this out?"

"Well now you know. Take my advice- save a bullet for yourself."

"Okay. Great," Talia nodded, wondering if she'd ever find out whether she had the courage to thwart the mutants like that. "Man, I can't wait to find out what's in these caverns. We are just having a great day out."

"That's the spirit," Sarah chirped, grabbing her arm and pulling her up. "They're still a way off and it's almost dark. I suggest we get as far from this mess as we can in thirty minutes and make camp. I want to survey this place in the light first anyway, check the routes in, make sure no deathclaws have made it their home or something."

"And it gets better! Deathclaws," Talia repeated caustically. "Now I have read about those. But maybe I missed the part where they carry you off or skin you alive or something?"

"Nope. They'll just kill ya. With their claws, would you believe it."

"Simple. Honest. I can deal with that."

"You sure? They're big."

"Of course they are."

Sarah took first watch and left Talia to sleep under all the blankets they had between them. They were only two so would swap out of the same bedroll, which would save time, save them a bedroll if they had to leave in a hurry, and share warmth. The woman was a field manual come to life, and Brotherhood of Steel inside out. Talia still wasn't quite sure what the deal with these guys was. They weren't a cult, but they were more than an army or militia. Their beliefs, goals, views on wastelanders or outsiders as Sarah had called even her more than once pointed to a very insular, quasi-religious order. But they were trying to improve the city for the betterment of those very people, and Talia herself had been chaperoned to safety by Star Paladin Cross when she was a baby.

Regardless, Sarah was almost certainly keeping her alive on her current journey, and for that Talia was grateful. She obviously had a natural inclination for the life, but she admired her all the same. It was as if she simply put her 'at home' self aside and lived only the mission. She had no wants, worries, desires while they travelled, only the need to eat, sleep, and maintain her weapon, situational awareness, and (thankfully) a sense of humour. Or perhaps she was always this way. But similarly Talia had initially thought Burke was all business before learning he did actually possess the ability to relax.

The clouds were clearing from the morning's rain and the temperature had dropped. She could not pack away her 'at home' self; the past few months were the only sense of normalcy she'd felt since surfacing (and that was saying something), and it was all she could cling to as the effects of James' actions continued to sweep her further away from safety, stability, the chance of another hot bath. She wriggled deeper under the blankets, peeking out at the moon that peeked back, wondering if perhaps Burke was also looking up from the balcony of Tenpenny Tower.

Burke only arrived back at the tower late the next day. His intention was to head straight home, but as he'd neared the edge of the ruins he thought better of it. It could be dicey enough at the best of times, never mind when the raiders and mutants had darkness on their side, to mention nothing of the nocturnal predators that might roam the scrublands around the tower. So he'd convinced Grandma Sparkle to lend him a room for the night. She didn't generally run an inn, but she seemed to like him, and not only because of his caps. She always said she appreciated his manners.

He greeted Gustavo in the lobby. "Any mail?"

"Here," the Chief handed over a few envelopes. "Not found our girl yet then."

Burke glanced up over the letters with a raised eyebrow, but realised Gustavo seemed only curious and a little disappointed. "No direct contact, no- but I have learned she's now working with the Brotherhood of Steel."

"What? As in, she's joined them?"

"I don't believe so. She joined her father and some scientists at the old water purifier, and the Brotherhood seems to be involved. Oh, speaking of which, have you heard?"

"The Enclave? Yeah. That annoying old radio station finally changed. Pumping out some new messages about their arrival to the wasteland. We've been on high alert since but seen nothing. You mean it's for real?"

"Oh yes, I spoke to them myself. They've taken over the purifier, trying to use it to win over the people, only it's not working and the scientific team escaped to the Brotherhood of Steel. Stay alert, they haven't moved on anything but the purifier out there, but who knows when that may change. I'll write something to tell the residents and keep everybody settled."

"Yes sir. Though I'm not sure what we can do against them if they want this place."

"Charm them," Burke smiled. "It would be nice to keep this place to ourselves but I've seen them, they're equipped beyond anything you've ever seen. Whatever it takes to stop them vaporising the building. Make a deal, offer them free board whenever they want it, give them Susan."

Gustavo smirked but they exchanged looks that agreed things had changed drastically and they weren't at all sure how the future looked anymore. "So what's Talia up to with the Brotherhood?"

"I don't know exactly. Would you believe I just missed her? They wouldn't let me in of course, but she seems to be running an errand for them. I assume it's to do with this purifier. I caught one of the scientists outside who told me a little… terribly cagey woman."

"...And that's it?"

Burke frowned at the question. That was it, and he didn't enjoy being reminded of his failure.

"Well, I'm sure she'll be fine. I've come across the Brotherhood a few times, they know what they're doing."

"I'm sure," Burke mirrored absentmindedly. They were capable and behaving charitably at the moment, but he didn't trust that they had no other agenda. If they had offered safety to the civilian team working on the purifier, he suspected they wanted it for themselves at the very least. With Talia gone on a mission, as Li put it, evidently they wanted more from that team as well.

He winced inwardly. Deals were fine if you knew the motivations of the other party; you could protect yourself if you knew they were selfish, you could exploit anyone that was too open. The problem with the Brotherhood was that Burke had next to no details on how they operated from the inside. The fact the D.C. group had suddenly started engaging with the wastelanders only relatively recently muddied the waters further. But Talia had come a long way since Megaton, where she had accepted his deal which leant rather heavily on her unfortunate situation, hadn't she?

He nodded farewell to Gustavo and took his letters swiftly to the cafe, hoping for a late lunch. He sat in his usual corner table so he could peruse them undisturbed.

Something from a supplier, which he scanned quickly- nothing requiring action.

An update from his sleuth that said as much as he already knew: the purifier was overtaken by Enclave troops, the situation was unclear but the word on the radio was that Talia was in the Citadel. He would send an update when he could confirm this.

Burke ran a hand over his jaw and waited while Miss Primrose set down a coffee. Gustavo's laughter echoed in his mind. Why did he have a spy running after her? It seemed perfectly judicious to him the day she left. She hadn't wanted anything to do with him, or so he thought, but he wasn't about to let her leave alone and never come back, with no way for him to know if she'd been killed or simply moved on. As he'd told his friend, it would be foolish not to use his network to learn more than she had obliged him.

But now? Things had changed. The ground was certainly different with the return of the Enclave and her involvement, but also he had learned what she meant to him. He was no longer just keeping himself in the loop while awaiting her timid return. He needed to find her, to assure himself she was safe and aware of the dangerous attention her actions were drawing. And of course to get to her before Littlehorn could hand off the contract to another when he got bored of waiting for Burke to act.

He felt better knowing his own man was near, but he needn't tail her from the shadows. He would write back to the address given instructing the detective to make contact if he still had a trail, otherwise to end the case.

Lunch arrived and he bit down half of his sandwich while turning over the last letter. He recognised the handwriting from somewhere. He tore it open and checked the signature to see it was from Talia. He basked briefly while finishing his bite, almost missing his heart skip a beat. He probably would have enjoyed more knowing she had written first if time wasn't pressing due to Littlehorn. He set aside his surprisingly small sense of triumph along with his sandwich to read.

Dear Burke,

I hope you're well and not mad with me. I'm fine. I'm at the citadel with the brotherhood of steel- it's a long story. I'm writing because I'm about to go out on a trip. It shouldn't take too long but I'm sure you've heard what's happened with these enclave people. I wanted to let you know what I can. (I should have written sooner. So much has happened, I wish I could tell you. You can write back here I guess. I don't know if they're funny about mail from outsiders though, they're kind of weird people but they really saved us)

Obviously the radio has been reporting everything. The city was really hyped for the water purifier. It went about as badly as it could have. I'm not sure what I should say in case this is stolen.

I don't know when I can come home. I want to but I still have some things to do here and everything's got really crazy. Is the tower OK? I don't know if the enclave will be coming that way. Are you OK? Please don't get in their way. They don't mess around.

Can I still come home? I don't like how I left things. Don't think I don't appreciate everything you've done for me. I wouldn't have made it through this week alone. I miss you and I really hope we can talk again soon.

I have to go.

Yours,

Tali
xxx

Burke quelled the satisfaction in his chest and immediately reread. "Where are you going, Tali?" he whispered at the page, searching for anything that gave away what exactly this trip was. But damn it, she was smart enough to keep it out of the letter. At least it confirmed what Li had almost said, that the Enclave were after her or whatever she was going out for.

But what she didn't say caught his attention too. What had happened? Why couldn't she tell him? Perhaps it was sensitive to the situation, perhaps she was in a hurry. She did say she was about to head out. Why had she only just written? There was no hint of the stubbornness that had driven him to let her walk away. She clearly had more to worry about now than her pride.

He cleared his tightening throat, reminding himself how capable she had proven herself already. He had to wave off Miss Primrose who thought he had got too much gristle in his sandwich again.

He sipped his coffee and let his eyes trail the page once more. He let his chest swell at her first thought. It was gratifying how much she needed him to be pleased with her, though the thought she may have spent the last nine days in upset since their argument caused him to scratch the back of his neck. Evidently she wasn't sure if he had let it go. He had let her walk expecting her to be back very soon with her tail between her legs, or probably still with an attitude, but clipped enough to request help and forgiveness all the same. He hadn't expected her to ask permission to return.

Hadn't he known he had such a perfect creature in his midst? He scratched harder wondering if she might have written or returned sooner had she not worried she was not welcome. Why he had let her walk away would bother him every second until she was back where she belonged.

And it would be so. This was her olive branch. She told him things he already knew deep down. She was not ungrateful. Though she'd needed a reminder, she showed it in how she performed, how relentlessly she tried to improve her competence, the way she doted. Even in her precarious circumstances she wished to warn him.

His eyes lingered on her sign off. They'd never been apart long enough to miss each other before. His limbs grew heavy as he echoed the sentiment with a ragged sigh. He held the very paper she folded not two nights ago and yet she may as well be on the other side of the world.

His thumb grazed the girlish string of kisses that admittedly he loved to see. Often overused and insincere, knowing what Gustavo told him these felt like a chaste, indirect attempt to tell him what had not been said. She must make it back from the mission. To receive his reply. To greet him. She must!

Miss Primrose laid a hand on Burke's shoulder. "Are you alright Mr. Burke?"

He looked up to see the old dear nodding at his hand, which was resting over his chest.

"Is it heartburn?" she inquired. "I can make up a remedy if you want."

Talia and Sarah approached the Lamplight Caverns sometime around noon. It turned out they had been some kind of tourist attraction before the war. The entrance was lit up with fairy lights, just beside it stood a ticket booth and gift shop, and a couple of rusted former school buses littered what used to be a parking lot.

"Oh… no. There was a field trip inside when the nukes landed?" Talia pondered out loud. All around the wasteland were grim tableaux depicting what people were doing the moment it all stopped. The roads were littered with cars, their drivers having failed to make it to a Vault or some hopeful distance from any built up area. Others had tried to take shelter anywhere they could; Vault entrances, upturned bathtubs, she'd even found a skeleton bundled inside a fridge. She wasn't sure the warning sirens were all that great if that's what they drove people to.

"Relax," Sarah replied. "They will have been fine in the caves. Probably went exploring after it calmed down and made new lives like everyone else."

"Or starved to death. Or started eating each other… like that movie."

"You have an active imagination, you know that? If the Vault is connected, they probably just moved in there. In any case, I'm sure it's nothing but rats and fungus in there now."

Talia wasn't so sure given her experience of Vaults so far. But maybe this one was different. They passed through a stiff wooden door into the entrance tunnel. As they walked deeper inside, the air grew warmer and damp. Having lived underground most of her life, it was nothing like the air conditioned Vault, but a welcome change from the biting cold they'd been walking through for a day and a half.

"No mungos allowed. Is this some wastelander slang Tali?" Sarah pointed to some graffiti on the welcome sign.

Talia shrugged. "Not that I ever heard."

They rounded the sign and came up against a ten foot scrap wall blocking their progress further into the caverns. They jumped as a high pitched voice screamed at them from somewhere.

"Hold it right there! Don't take another step or we'll blow your fuckin' heads off!"

The pair did as they were told and scanned all around for the source of the threat. Up to the left, peeking just above the parapet, was a face almost buried in a pre-war helmet that was far too big for the head inside. A rifle was pointed at them, held by small hands engulfed in an oversized jacket to match the helmet.

The face was that of a young boy, apparently very serious and trying to appear very threatening.

Talia wasn't sure whether to laugh. Sarah didn't worry about that. "Whoa, hold on there little guy. We're friends."

The boy replied with scorn. "Don't talk down to me. You're big, and I don't have any big friends, so you better turn around and go back the way you came in."

"What is this place?" Talia asked.

"It's Little Lamplight. We live here, and we don't need no mungos around messing it up. So take a hike."

"What is a mungo?" Sarah cut in.

"Ugh. You are! You big people. We don't need nothin' to do with any of you."

"Oh I see. You mean grown ups?"

"No, I mean mungos," the boy sneered.

"You might want to write that in words grown ups will understand," Talia commented, pointing back to the sign.

"Not my fault you're all so dumb. Now what did I tell you- scram!"

Talia eyed Sarah. It was odd, but the kids did have guns and there was no reason in the wasteland to assume they wouldn't use them.

"And who are you?" Sarah continued, cocking her hips and ignorign his order.

"I'm MacCready. I'm the Mayor-"

Talia couldn't hold back a snort, which earned her a scornful look from the little Mayor.

"Shut up. I'm the Mayor because they made me the Mayor. I run this place, and you mungos are trouble I don't need."

Talia wondered what a town of children could possibly be like, but this kid seemed to take his position as Mayor seriously. And it sounded like he'd been voted in, which was an improvement on the Vault where Amata's dad had been in charge since she was born.

"We're no trouble, we're just looking for a way through. Can we come in?"

"I already told you no."

"You know what MacCready," Sarah carried on with a smirk, "your face looks like my butt."

Talia quirked her eyebrows but the kid seemed unable to resist a juvenile slanging match. "Oh yeah? Well you must like having such a good looking butt," he replied.

Talia wasn't sure that was much of an insult, but Sarah turned it around instantly, apparently an expert at deflecting young boys' strange comments. "Well at least it doesn't smell as bad as you do."

MacCready sniggered. "You're pretty funny for a mungo. And that dog is really cool. I guess you can come in. As long as I can pet it."

"Thank you, Mayor." Sarah grinned and Talia curtsied, and another kid swung the gate open. "I had a lot of practise while looking after Squire Maxson," Sarah clarified on their way in.

Dogmeat followed and obliged the Mayor's request, revelling in the attention several pairs of small hands gave him.

"It's not a bad place to spend the apocalypse, as caves go." Talia commented on the enormous size of Great Hall in which she and Sarah were resting. Rope bridges and wooden platforms hung halfway up the main chamber, making a village-in-the-air above the mirror-like waters below. The whole place was illuminated by fairy lights like those outside. Luckily for the inhabitants, the caverns shared a reactor with Vault 87 so they had power for all the amenities that had been set up for visitors spending the day. (The Vault could indeed be accessed from inside, but one door was password protected and the other door was down a channel known as Murder Pass, so they had not been in a rush to go knocking and instead settled in for the night until they formed a plan). Sitting up amongst the stalactites that reached down from the roof, it felt slightly magical.

"Yeah," Sarah agreed, "and these kids have saved everything they don't use in case they can trade it. Here." She plonked down a case of beer and shrugged. "They said they use spirits for medicine and this is only good for drinking, but they think it's gross."

Talia grinned and opened one, draining most of it before taking a breath. "Not long ago I might have agreed.

"I tried to unlock that door, but I never really got computer stuff. My friend tried to teach me some basics of hacking but I guess it was set up properly by Vault-Tec or something. I've only ever guessed passwords of people I know."

"Damn," Sarah sat down in the corner they'd claimed for the night and opened a beer. "I got us fresh ammo. Murder Pass has been blocked off as long as any of these kids can remember. They say there are monsters in there, which sound like supermutants from their descriptions.

"Oh- and I traded my rifle with some kid for this." She showed her new laser rifle which looked just like the old one. "It's had some modifications. I did a calibration and it packs twenty six percent more joules per shot."

"Not a very fair trade?"

"The kid said he didn't need it anymore as he got taken off the scav team, but if there are mutants next door it didn't feel right just buying it, they might need the defences. He can sell my old one if he wants. I just wish I knew where he got this."

Talia smirked as Sarah stroked her new toy with such excitement in her eyes she had come to expect only from Brotherhood tech junkies. "You ever give people that much attention?"

"I'm sorry?"

Talia just raised her eyebrows and swigged her beer.

"Huh. We're this close to the Vault and you want to talk about men?"

Talia rolled her eyes. "I just want some gossip Sarah. We've been walking for days with mutants and an army after us. We got drinks, thank you by the way, but we're surrounded by this depressing cave of orphans. Did you know they have to leave when they turn sixteen? I saw a boy being kicked out earlier. It was his birthday today. Just tell me something normal or fun, please."

"The first part is normal for me," she shrugged, but settled into the bedroll after another enormous eye roll from Talia. "Oh fine. Men huh? I don't know. They're just not very… interesting."

"There must be someone…"

"Hm. Okay, for your entertainment… Don't say anything but, I had a very brief, kind of, interest in Knight Captain Gallows once. Did you meet him?"

Talia shook her head.

"He's one of the Pride. I wouldn't call it a crush. I think it was because he's so mysterious. Does spec ops. Barely talks."

"Ooh, and in the Pride as well. Can you date your own men?"

"I probably wouldn't recommend it. Anyway that was nothing, years ago. And... I liked a Scribe for a while. I liked that he was smart. But, eh, I don't know. Just not exciting."

Talia looked at her like she was mad. She'd met the Head Scribe who had a giant laser robot in his lab, and that was too dull for her? "Maybe his world would be exciting, because it's different?"

"Okay, that's enough, you sound like my father."

Talia's face softened. "He's trying to get you set up?"

"Always. I tell him, I'm a Sentinel, I'm not in a place to be one of the procreators. I'm better on the field."

"Hmm. It's nice he tries though…"

"Is it? Sometimes I wish he'd just leave me to my work and stop still trying to coddle me."

Tali scrunched her nose. "I don't believe you were ever coddled, Sarah."

Sarah snorted and downed her beer. Talia had already opened another and was sipping quietly. Her eyes had misted over, already miles from their conversation. "Oh shit, sorry girl. Here I am whining about my father… how are you doing?"

Talia shrugged.

Sarah clinked their bottles together and drank in silence.

"I can't complain," Talia croaked after another beer was sunk. "These fuckin' kids don't have anyone. He was an ass, but at least I knew him until now. At least I didn't grow up in a literal goddamn cave."

Sarah clapped a hand over her mouth as she snorted. "Sorry… you got that right."

Talia shook her head to say it was okay. "Imagine going on a field trip and being stuck there with your teachers for eternity, geez."

"...Weren't you sealed in a Vault?"

"Imagine going on a field trip," she corrected dryly, causing Sarah to chuckle again. Her eyebrows refurrowed as her thoughts returned to her situation. "Is this what Amata felt like? Is this what I did to her?"

"Who's Amata?"

"My friend, she- she was my friend. But that's not true is it? Friends don't do what I did, do they?"

"What did you do?"

"…I killed her dad."

Sarah blinked.

"I had to get out of the Vault, they were killing people. And he was beating her and he killed Jonas and he set security on me, but I went in there and I, I don't know, I came out and he was dead. Was he even in my way?"

Sarah entered the conversation tentatively. "There's… a lot going on there. But we all have to make a call sometimes. Doesn't sound like you could just be on your merry way."

Talia continued as if she hadn't heard. "But I didn't even think about Amata. He deserved it... but she didn't. And I'm surprised I lost my dad too? I deserve it."

"But did he? It doesn't work like that."

"Sure it does. Anyway, he did it to himself. I was never good enough for him, and now I get to taste what I served my- 'best friend'-" She choked up on her last words and tried to drown the sob in beer.

It didn't work. Sarah put an arm around her as tears streamed her cheeks. She buried her face in her hands and wept into Sarah's shoulder. "I'm a terrible person."

"Hey, I didn't have you as the weepy kind," Sarah only half joked.

"I'm sorry," Talia blurted through sobs. "This place is just so depressing." She felt Sarah shake with a chuckle, and her other arm stroked her hair.

"Well we'll get out of here in the morning huh? Password or Murder Pass, we can handle it."

Talia groaned.

"Come on, it's just supermutants. We smashed 'em out there yesterday didn't we?"

"Mmhmm," came Talia's muffled reply.

"I know I've been fighting them since I passed basic, but I don't just come waltzing into infested caves on my own for fun you know. But I'm totally happy to shoot my way through that pass tomorrow with you next to me."

Talia peered out from her hands. "Really?"

"Uh huh."

She wiped her tears and smiled. "Aw, thanks… You would do it for fun though."

Sarah chuckled wistfully. "Maybe if I had a gatling laser and some of that Enclave armour…"

"I know what to get you for your birthday."

"No need if we ruin those bastards back at the purifier. Sooner we get out of here, sooner that happens."

Talia closed her eyes and tried not to think too much about that. Janice and James lying there on the control room floor. Sarah, a total warrior, but someone else she didn't want to see get hurt.

But everybody got hurt. These kids barely had six years before they experienced loss and found their way into MacCready's sanctuary. Maybe she wasn't a terrible person, but it was just a terrible world. Or maybe it was both. She had to remember the company she kept. She thought of Burke, her saviour and her temptation. He taught her to survive and prosper, often at the expense of others. Only she'd started that all on her own; her escape was what enraptured him when they met. He said she had the will to live.

She wouldn't deny that. She wasn't going to give in or be snuffed out like one of her marks if she could help it. Maybe living sometimes meant making the world a more terrible place. As Burke had commented once, it can be both, can't it?

Tenpenny returned to his chair on the balcony and picked up the phone, mildly annoyed it was the girl who set it up. He stared at the empty space where Megaton's lights used to twinkle faintly on a clear night. Maybe I did ask for it to disappear. It was so damned difficult to think around this place.

He dialled Burke's extension and drummed his fingers on the table. "Mr. Burke, good evening! I heard you were back today. Come out to the balcony would you. Right." He hung up and toyed with one of the pieces from the chess board. Whose turn was it now? He couldn't remember their last session.

The door clicked and footsteps approached. "Sir. I trust you're well?"

"Well enough. You're keeping busy." Burke didn't sit down, but hovered to the side as usual. He'd always taken it as a sign of respect, or simply time efficient given the man was never in one place for so long. But today it bothered Tenpenny. He wanted to swat his supervisory gaze off him like a fly.

He answered smoothly, of course. "Yes, I arrived back late this afternoon. In fact I've been investigating this Enclave situation myself. Oh, and while I'm here, I'm assured it's nothing to worry about, but expect a brief shortage of brahmin steak due to an outbreak out there-"

"Yes yes yes," Tenpenny interrupted. "I don't care, I only eat iguanas… are they going to be affected?"

"I shouldn't think so."

"Fine. Now this ah… Enclave situation…?"

"I was going to talk to you in the morning about it after I-"

"Exactly! Tomorrow, tomorrow. Everything is later with you now, isn't it? No, let's discuss it now. You've been investigating after all."

Burke cleared his throat. "Very well. I can assume Chief Gustavo has briefed you initially?"

"Yes. But what have you learned? He didn't know very much at all."

"There's nothing to be immediately concerned about. In fact I was just writing something that can be emailed to the residents as a matter of urgency, to reassure them…" He smiled. "Keep the rent coming in."

"Ah, excellent. Well start with that. Show me." Tenpenny raised himself from his chair.

"Oh don't trouble yourself, I can take care of it."

"I can read! Not that I do very often. Haven't found much worth reading by you Yanks to be honest." He ushered Burke back indoors. "Come on, it's bloody cold out here anyway." He followed Burke into his suite, closing the door behind him.

"Wouldn't you prefer to go over things in your place?"

"No, no, your place is fine. Not running around the whole damn, building, just for you to tell me things." He lowered himself onto Burke's couch and motioned for him to get on with it.

Burke walked to the desk and retrieved a piece of paper.

Tenpenny sat forward. "Oh! Damn, we better have something to drink. I left mine outside."

"I'll send for someone to bring some up."

"No, no, I don't want any of that piss. It was my best bottle. Been saving it. Just go out and get it would you, I just got sat down. It will be a lot quicker. Not leaving it out there, that Cheng might have it, shifty sort you know."

Burke put the paper back down and stifled a sigh. "If it will help with this… briefing, of course." He left for the balcony.

When he was safely out of the room Tenpenny sprang from his seat, which was an adequate way to describe his laboured, creaking movement given the actual springs in the salvaged couch had seen much better days. He scurried over to the desk and rifled through the papers on top. Enclave brief, numbers, lists, dull, dull, dull. He opened the drawer. Letters. More letters addressed to Burke by the looks of it. But another, by him, to the girl. Tenpenny peered toward the doorway, hearing nothing. He'd left his booze halfway around the tower where he had been shooting, so he would have a minute or two.

He plucked the letter from the drawer and leant closer to the lamp, squinting at the neat script.

My dear Talia,

It is good to hear from you. I'm glad you are alright. I do know about the Enclave, but they only seem to be interested in the area around the city for the moment. I and everyone at the tower are fine, though it hasn't been the same without you.

You are most welcome back but I think you are safest where you are for now. When you return to the Citadel and receive this, send me word and wait for me there. There are things in motion which I must tell you about. Do not worry, but do not go anywhere after you get this.

I look forward to being with you again. Though you may not think so, this past week I have missed you terribly. The things I have realised in your absence… Write when you get this.

Yours truly,

Burke

That bloody girl! The man was bewitched! He bundled everything back into the desk and hurried back to the couch. At least he could sit comfortably now knowing he was right. Not that the knowledge was much more comfortable than this manky old sofa, but he had been starting to feel paranoid. This was evidence! Things in motion… he could imagine what. At least the Enclave seemed to have put a crimp on their plans. You are safest where you are for now. Did he know? He wasn't sure. But it was so hard to think in this place. He needed a drink. He'd held back so he could pull this off, but how could anyone endure it at all like this?

He got up to retrieve another bottle from his own room. He hadn't seen Burke touch a drop for a while. Unless he shared in the bottle he had gone to fetch, Tenpenny would drink something else. He couldn't be too careful.