The walk back to Sanctuary was quiet. Preston told Lillian a little bit about the others in their group. Marcy and Jun Long, a married couple who had their own shop back in Quincy; Sturges, the mechanic; and Mama Murphy. Lillian noticed he hesitated when he brought up Quincy and figured something awful must've happened there. Maybe it had something to do with what MacCready told her, that some shit had gone down within their ranks.

When they arrived in Sanctuary, it was early evening. At first it seemed empty but Codsworth floated down the road toward them.

"Ah! Miss Lillian! Welcome back!" he greeted her, "I see you have found some assistance?"

"Yes, Codsworth, I made a few new friends," she said. "Is there anyone else here?"

"Why yes, a Mr. Clinton says you invited him and his daughter to live here."

"Oh good," she smiled. "Could you help these people get settled? They've had a bit of a difficult time and the less they have to worry about right now, the better."

"Of course, mum!"

She turned to Preston and his group. "So Codsworth here will help you get sorted. Most of the houses are okay, but my house is off limits, as well as whichever one Clinton and Charlie chose."

"Oh, anything will be fine, dear," Mama Murphy said as she caught up to the group, "So long as I can sit down somewhere. My feet are killing me."

Lillian crouched down to let Canigou out of his makeshift harness. She gave him a small dose of Med-X just as Charlie came running down the road.

"Lillian! You came back!" she shouted. "Oh no, what happened to Canigou?" She skid to a stop as she noticed the dog was missing a leg.

"He was attacked and we unfortunately had to amputate his leg. He's doing okay, but I need someone to look after him here."

"Me?" Charlie knelt next to Canigou to get a closer look at his bandaged stump.

"Yep. I think he belongs to all of us now and I think you'll do a good job of looking after him," Lillian smiled down at her.

"I'll do my best!"

"Good! So which house did you and your dad choose? We have more people moving in."

"Oh, the one next to yours," Charlie looked down at her hands as if trying to figure out which was which, "The one on the left." She pointed with her left hand.

"Okay, good. Where's your dad?"

"Oh! He's been working in the garden! He got some tato and melon plants from a farm."

"Wow, that's great!"

"We did, um, go into your house, sorry," Charlie said apologetically, "But Dad wanted to see if there was anything we could fix up for you in there and Codsworth let us. "

"So was there anything to fix?"

"We made you a bed! That was all we did, but we hope you like it!"

"Aw, thank you so much, sweetie. I'm going to go talk to your dad, then I'll give you a few things for Canigou."

"Canigou? Is that what you've named him?" Mama Murphy interrupted, "I always knew him as Dogmeat."

"Dogmeat? That's a weird name for a dog," Charlie said.

"Well you know, I like your name better," Mama Murphy smiled warmly as Canigou woofed, "And it sounds like he agrees."

Lillian and MacCready continued down the road to her house. She stopped in front of it and sighed.

"A house?"

"Yep."

"Like, a whole house?"

"No, it's just a pile of wood. Some assembly required. Of course a whole house!"

"Damn, I knew your parents were rich, but... damn."

"I could always tell them we don't need it," Lillian elbowed Nate in jest.

"No! No, it's just... wow. Most people are lucky to get a toaster for a wedding present these days," Nate sighed.

"Way to make me feel guilty."

"I didn't mean it like that. I know that we have all this privilege and sometimes it feels like there's not enough we can do to help other people. I always see long lines at ration centres, and yet we can just walk into the supermarket and buy just about anything we want."

"We're on rations too."

"And we still get more than actual families. It's just the two of us, Lilli, and our allotted rations could feed a whole family. And you know as well as I do that we get more simply because of how well off we are."

"It's not my fault!"

"I'm not saying that. It's just unfair, you know? You were well off before all this happened, and I wasn't doing too bad either. But there are others out there who struggled before and now the government's giving them even less."

"So you want to give them our rations?"

"Well, not ALL of them. We still have to eat too. But surely we can give some to someone with a family."

"I suppose."

"Are you upset?"

"No," Lillian said, "Okay, maybe just a little. I wanted to celebrate us getting a house, but then you had to go and make me feel guilty."

"Well, I mean, we shouldn't let ourselves get carried away," Nate put his arm around her, "Anyway, let's go see this new house."

"You okay?" MacCready asked.

"Yeah, just remembering when we got the house," she replied. "My parents got us this huge house as a wedding present, but Nate pointed out that we didn't need all that space since it was just the two of us."

"Wait, you had something bigger than this?" MacCready gestured to the one-level bungalow.

"Yep."

"Geez, did your family own half the state?"

"Ha, no. My parents had their own construction business. Built it from the ground up before I was born. So I was kinda spoiled as a kid."

"Must've been nice."

"Yeah," she sighed.

"It wasn't?"

"No, it was nice, but I didn't have to worry about anything," she said. "Like, I didn't have to worry about where my next meal was coming from, or whether my parents would still have a job at the end of the week. I didn't even know that happened to other people. But Nate knew. It was our first real argument."

"You argued because you had it better than others?"

"Pretty much. But we talked it out and we ended up declining the larger house in exchange for this one," she led MacCready to the front door, "Far more suitable for two people."

"Even though you had a baby."

"Not yet. And Shaun was, well, a surprise. We had discussed having kids, but figured we'd wait. But I guess fate had other plans."

"I know the feeling."

"What?"

"Oh, uh, nothing," MacCready looked at the door, "So you lived here, huh?"

Lillian narrowed her eyes slightly. "Yeah." She opened the door and they went in. "So we can stay here tonight, then head back to Diamond City in the morning. Um, do you mind sleeping out here on the couch?"

"Sure," MacCready tossed his pack on the ragged couch.

"Unless you want to find another bed. Codsworth and I made what we could before I left."

"No, this is fine."

"Our, I mean, my room's just down the hall here," she headed down the hall with MacCready following. She opened the door and smiled when she saw the bed. Gone was the old wooden cot and in its place was a basic bedframe that looked very similar to the one she and Nate shared before the bombs dropped.

"Wow, that girl's dad made this?" MacCready ran his hand across the headboard as Lillian sat down.

"So not quite the type to loot the place and murder us all, huh?"

"Yeah, yeah, you got lucky." He sat next to Lillian. "So, you sure you want to sleep in here alone?" He waggled his eyebrows jokingly at her.

She elbowed him hard. "Shut up, the couch is your spot."

"I know, I know," he laughed and stood up, his face turning more serious. "This is yours and your husband's place. I get it. I'm more than fine with the couch."

"Thanks." She stood and looked across the hall. "This is Shaun's room." She put her hand on the doorknob, but didn't turn it. She didn't move for a minute.

"Hey, it's okay," MacCready put his hand on her shoulder.

"We were going to go to the park. It was sunny out and warm for October. But then we heard on the news of nuclear detonations in Pennsylvania and then in New York. Nate had Shaun and we ran up the hill to the vault. The bomb hit as we were going down."

MacCready didn't say anything but put his arms around her from behind. She didn't react at first, then put her hands on his forearms and leaned her head toward his. They stayed like that for a few moments before she pulled away and turned to him.

"Thank you." She looked at the closed door and went back to the living room. "Anyway, I need to go talk to Clinton."

"Sure."

They left the house and found Clinton near the ruined playground, tending to a number of crops. Lillian was impressed.

"Well, hey there," Clinton greeted her and MacCready with a smile, "I don't know how I can ever thank you for letting Charlie and me live here."

"Just knowing you're both safe is good enough for me," said Lillian, "And thank you so much for the bed. It looks amazing."

"We wanted to do something for you, and that robot let us into your place so we could fix up a few things. We didn't touch anything that seemed important," he added.

"I appreciate it. We have more people here now."

"So I see. The tatoes and melons are doing pretty well, but with more people we might need to get some more plants."

"Anything I can do?"

"Abernathy Farm is just over there," he pointed to some hills just west of the Red Rocket, "I got these from them and they'll probably sell us more."

"Nice people?"

"A bit stand-offish, but they won't shoot you right away."

"So downright saints, got it," said Lillian with a smile, "I've given Charlie a new job."

"Oh?"

"My dog was injured and needed his leg amputated. He's still trying to get used to it, so I told her she can look after him."

"I bet she's over the moon about that," he smiled, "She kept talking about how nice your dog was on our way here."

"I know he's in good hands. So is there anything else you need?"

"Oh, we have everything we could ask for here. Thank you."

Lillian turned and was promptly greeted by Preston Garvey.

"Hi, nice place Mama Murphy found for us, huh?"

Lillian frowned slightly. "Yeah, she sure did."

"Lillian found it long before any of you," MacCready smirked.

"Oh, right, you've already been living here for a bit. Well I'm sure you wouldn't mind helping out around here."

Lillian and MacCready looked at each other. "I can do a bit, but I have some other things to do."

"Yeah, it's not like she has a kidnapped son to find or anything," MacCready said sarcastically.

"Your son was kidnapped?"

"Yeah. While I was frozen in the vault."

"Hold up, what?"

"My family was frozen in these cryogenic pods in the vault, up the hill over there," she pointed towards the vault, "My husband was murdered and my baby boy was taken, but there was nothing I could do because I was still locked in my pod." Lillian bit her lip to fight back the tears that started stinging her eyes.

"Oh. Damn. Well, if there's anything I can do to help."

"Thanks."

"Anyway, I better make sure we're getting settled in. Oh, and talk to Sturges if you want to help out." Preston turned and walked away.

MacCready let out a burst of air. "The nerve of that guy. This is your damn home and he just walks in like he's the boss?"

Lillian didn't reply.

"'Oh, your baby was kidnapped? Darn, better help us out here.'" MacCready said sarcastically.

"I mean, they have had a hard time," she said quietly.

"Well so have you," he grabbed her hand to turn her towards him, "Listen, what they've been through? There are a lot of people like that out here. Being forced out of their homes, nearly starving, it's normal out here. But you? No one else has been through what you have. You're probably the only person from before the war who is not a ghoul. The ghouls have had two hundred years to adjust, but you've been out here for barely two weeks."

"Yeah, but-"

"You can't save everyone. Your priority is finding your son. These people are capable of helping themselves."

Lillian didn't say anything, but nodded. She squeezed his hand and they headed back to her house. She bid him goodnight, went to her room, and shut the door.

"Lilli."

"Hm?"

"Lilli, wake up."

Lillian woke up to see Nate sitting on the bed. "Nate! You're alive!"

"What are you doing here?"

"I was sleeping."

"How can you find our son if you're sleeping here?"

"I'm trying!"

"Are you really? Seems like you're trying to avoid finding Shaun."

"I'm not!"

"You're back here instead of being out there looking for Shaun."

"I have to wait for the detective."

"What do you need a detective for? Just find Shaun yourself!"

"I don't know where to start!"

"What about that man you've spending time with? Isn't he helping? Or are you trying to replace me?"

"No, it's nothing like that. He is helping!"

"If you say so." Nate stood. "I suppose it's only fair you move on."

"But I can't move on, I need you."

"Clearly not."

"Nate, please. Why are you being like this?"

"Just... find Shaun." Nate walked out of the room.

"Wait!" Lillian sat up quickly. The room was empty and cold. She pushed off the blanket and wrenched the door open. She ran into Shaun's room and looked in the crib. She gripped the side until her knuckles turned white and let out a wail of despair.

Suddenly she was grabbed from behind. She started punching at them, but MacCready got hold of her arms tightly.

"Lillian, stop! Stop, it's me."

Her vision seemed to clear and saw MacCready's worried face. She broke down sobbing as he pulled her in and held her close. She cried into his shoulder as he rubbed her back.

"Sorry," she sniffled as she pulled away, seeing the large wet spot on his shirt.

"It's fine." He gently wiped away the tears on her face with his thumbs. "Let's go back to sleep."

She nodded as he put his arm around her and led her out. She stopped in the hallway.

"No, not there."

MacCready nodded and they went into the living room. They sat on the couch and she curled up against him. He wrapped a blanket around her and waited for her to fall asleep.

When Lillian woke up, she snuggled closer to the warm body beneath her. The rhythmic rising of his chest was comforting. She lay there with her eyes closed for a few moments before realising where she was. She opened her eyes and found herself lying on top of MacCready. Before she could move, he wrapped his arms around her and held her close.

"Lucy," he sighed.

"Um, hey," she patted his bicep. He squeezed her tighter then opened his eyes.

"Oh!" he sat up quickly, sending Lillian tumbling to the floor. "Crap, sorry." He sat up and helped her off the floor.

"Sleep well?" she asked.

"Sort of. You're kind of bony."

"Heh, so are you," she poked him in the ribs. "Bony, but warm." She swallowed.

"You okay?"

"I think so. I need to stretch." She went back to her room and picked up her Pipboy. She sat on the bed and tried tuning it to one of the radio stations, but it was too staticky. "Dammit!" she yelled in frustration.

"Can I help?" MacCready poked his head in the door.

"I'm just trying to get a signal," she held up her Pipboy. I think I've heard a classical music station, but I can't quite get it."

MacCready smiled and took the Pipboy from her. He fiddled with the radio tuning dial until they heard classical music through loud static. He then smacked the Pipboy against the wall, causing Lillian to jump. Piano music suddenly played loud and clear.

"Fixed." He handed the Pipboy back to her with a grin.

"Ah, the ol' smack-and-fix," she took it from him and adjusted the volume, "I didn't want to try that because I didn't want to break it."

"I thought you were pretty handy with that kind of thing."

"To a point, yes. I'm not too familiar with Pipboys."

"But you fixed a power armour helmet."

"I've seen schematics of them back when I had military training," she then lowered her voice, "Plus I may have peeked in Nate's manuals a few times when he brought them home."

"No schematics of Pipboys, huh?"

"Nope. Plus they're far smaller and everything's more condensed."

"Anyway, I'll leave you to it," he looked around the room, "Where do you do your exercises?"

"In the kitchen."

"Mind if I watch?"

Lillian raised her eyebrows. "Why?"

MacCready shrugged and blushed slightly. "I like watching you do them. It's... um.. nice."

"Nice?"

"Yeah."

"Okay." Lillian smiled at him. "I just need to change first."

"Right, okay."

MacCready returned to the living room and sat on the couch. Lillian came out a few moments later wearing her tank top and shorts and carrying her Pipboy. She placed it on the kitchen island and took her place beside it. She closed her eyes and started her warmups, happy to finally hear music she could get lost in.

She forgot there was someone in the room with her, imagining she was back at the dance studio, participating in ballet class with her friends and fellow dancers. Watching Patricia Hartley do exaggerated impersonations of the ballet master behind his back. Hearing Joey Reynolds repeat everything in a whisper, as if he was making sure he was doing everything correctly. Madame Lafontaine sitting in her chair in the corner, tapping her cane in time with the piano.

Tears stung at her eyes as she continued. She missed them terribly. She missed everyone. She tried to stay in touch with as many of them as she could. When the bombs dropped, she did spare a few thoughts for them, hoping they had been able to find shelter before the radioactive shockwave hit them.

She finished up and opened her eyes. MacCready was still on the couch, but he was facing forward with his elbows on his knees and his head down. He didn't move until she sat next to him.

"What's on your mind?" she asked.

"Hm?"

"You're miles away. Something's been bothering you."

"It's fine."

"No, it's not." She put his hand on his shoulder. "It's okay. You can tell me."

MacCready tensed then stood up. He paced in front of her for a minute before speaking.

"I need your help. Again." He ran his hand through his hair. "I didn't want to ask because you've already helped me once before."

"Of course. What do you need?"

"We should find your son first."

"Robert," Lillian said sternly.

MacCready stopped pacing and faced her. "I had a wife. Beautiful wife."

"Lucy."

"Yes. We have a son, Duncan."

"Oh."

"But he's sick, I don't know what's wrong with him," his voice wavered, "He was playing in the field behind our farm and then started breaking out in blue boils."

"Blue boils? Goodness."

"I know what you're thinking. Why did I leave him?"

"You must have a very good reason."

"I need to find a cure. I met a guy who seemed to know of something. I didn't believe him until he mentioned his friend had broken out in blue boils. They told me about a place called Med-Tek where I could find it."

"So why didn't he get it?"

"His friend died, and then so did he. But not before he gave me the passwords to get into Med-Tek."

"What if it's a trap?"

"It can't be. I won't think that. I need to find this cure."

"Med-Tek. Wait, that's in Malden, isn't it?" MacCready nodded. "Right. Let's go then."

"Wait, you mean you'll help me?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't I?"

"You have your son to find, don't you?"

Lillian sighed and stood up. "I don't know if I'll ever find him. But I don't think he'll go more missing if we take a day or two to get that cure."

"I... I don't know what to say. What you're doing... I don't think anyone has cared for me that much about me before. And even if it takes the rest of my life, I'll repay this debt to you. I swear it."

Lillian started for her room, then turned back to him. "Your wife. What happened? You told the bartender in Diamond City 'she didn't make it'."

"We were traveling. It started raining so we took shelter in a metro station. I should've known better. It was infested with ferals. They snuck up on us and were on her before I could fire a shot. Ripped her apart right in front of me."

"Oh god, I'm so sorry," Lillian raised her hand to her mouth, horrified.

"Took everything I had to escape with Duncan in my arms," he paused, wiping his face, "Maybe it would have been better if we died there with her."

Lillian crossed the room to him and hugged him. "Don't you dare say that. I'm so sorry about what happened to Lucy, but it's not your fault."

"Metro stations are prime locations for ferals. I should've at least done something." He hugged her back tightly.

"Come on, let's go get that cure for Duncan." She pulled away, squeezed his hand and returned to her room.

Paladin Danse sat at his terminal, typing up his most recent report. Since Lillian and that man left, things had been quiet apart from Rhys's griping about the use of valuable chems to help her dog. They had finally received word back from the Citadel in the Capital Wasteland that they were readying the Prydwen for travel to the Commonwealth. Not too much longer now.

"Sir? There's a caravan outside," Haylen interrupted, "Said they need to speak to you."

Danse nodded and stood to get into his power armour. Can't take the chance of it being a trap. He headed out to see a caravan trader waiting with a guard.

"Paladin Danse, Brotherhood of Steel," he greeted them.

"I have a package for you," the trader handed him a small box, "Picked it up at Drumlin Diner, just outside of Concord. It's from Lillian Parker."

"Oh! Thank you," he took the box eagerly.

"Yep. Good day." the trader tipped his hat and left with his guard.

Danse brought the box inside, set it on the table and exited his power armour. He opened the box to find a pouch containing few syringes of med-x and stimpaks. On the bottom was an envelope with his name on it. He gave the box of chems to Haylen and took the envelope into the hallway to open it.

Dear Paladin Danse

Thank you so much for your help with Canigou. Or rather, thanks to Haylen for her expert assistance. I don't know what I'd do without my dog. He's not entirely happy with being carried instead of running about, sniffing everything in sight, but he'll be free to run around in Sanctuary.

I bought as many stimpaks and med-x as I could. I know it's not much, but I'll try to send more along when I can. I hope Knight Rhys isn't cursing me too much, though I'm sure he is in his mind.

I hope things are going well. When we left, I didn't see any more ferals in town, so hopefully they won't be a problem.

I'd say that MacCready sends greetings, but we both know that would be a lie. But I do want to clarify that there is nothing going on between MacCready and I. Nothing romantically. He's become a very good friend in the short time I've known him, and has helped me learn to survive. I know he came across as crass and rude, but that's just how he is. I'm not making an excuse for him, just telling you how it is.

We're still on our way back to Sanctuary. I bought these chems from a diner outside of Concord. Afterward we will be heading back to Diamond City to hopefully meet this detective and we can finally continue the search my son. With any luck, the next time you see me, you can meet Shaun.

I know it seems impossible to hold on to the hope I will find Shaun so soon, but I need to. I don't know if I could go on without that hope and so long as it still exists, so can I.

Sorry, I didn't mean for this to go on for so long. Nate always said they needed a separate truck to deliver just my letters to him when he was stationed out west.

I hope we'll see each other soon. Please give my regards to Haylen and Rhys (even if he refuses to acknowledge them).

Yours, Lillian.

Danse re-read the letter, especially the last lines.

I hope we'll see each other soon.

Yours.

He smiled to himself and tucked the letter in his pocket.