"Honey please, just hear me out." Maccready says as he follows me to my room in the Predwyn.
I walk through the predwyn looking for the only think that motivated me to come here in the first place, my son. He may be a synth, but he's still my son. I look everywhere, all while maccready follows. Finally, after a half an hour searching, I give up and turn around.
"Where is he?" I ask Maccready crossing my arms.
"Who?" He asks.
I walk a step closer to him, "my son, Mac." I say.
He sighs and looks away from me.
"What? You told me he was here, yet I'm standing here and shaun is yet to be seen. So where. The fuck. Is my son?" I ask taking another step forward.
"He isn't here." He says scratching the back of his neck.
My arms fall to my side and the look of confusions is plastered on my face.
"What?" I say gritting my teeth.
"I'm sorry." He says.
"Then where the hell is he?" I yell.
"That's the question we're still trying to find an answer to." He says not looking at me.
"Wait, so my son is missing? Again?!" I yell with venom in my tone.
He nods his head, "yes, I'm so sorry. We've been trying to find him for months, but there are not traces of him or his kidnappers." He tells me.
I smack him across the face and walk away from him and straight to elder maxson on the flight deck.
"You better have a damn good explanation as to why my son is yet again, taken from me." I tell him.
He sighs and looks away, "Sentinel Rogers, I'm so sorry about this kidnapping of your son, again. I have blamed myself all these months for allowing this to happen, especially to the son of one of the best soldiers I have. But we are actively investigating the case of your missing son, and you have my word that we will find the boy." He says with sincerity and guilt.
"You damned well better." I tell him.
I begin to walk away when he grabs my shoulder and turns me around grabbing on to me, "Ellie, I truly am sorry." He says looking me in the eyes.
I shake his hands off my shoulders and walk away, back to my room.
When I get there, I shut the door gently and break down. I fall to my knees and begin to slam the floor with my fist in anger until my hand begins to bleed. I get up and yell and cuss while throwing things across the room. Broken glass and miscellaneous items are strewn across the room, with me sobbing and bleeding in the middle of it. I go through my pip-boy until I find my whiskey and choose it. The pip-boy generates it into my hand as it was designed to do and I frantically screw the top off and take a swig of the alcohol.
It burns as it goes down my throat, but each sip makes me desire more. Sip after sip, and the bottle is empty, and my problems have gone away.
I barely remember getting another bottle and taking a few sips before passing out in the middle of my chaos.
VVVVVVVV
I wake up with a pounding headache. I look around to find my bottle but find that I'm in the infirmary aboard the prydwen. I look to my left and see Knight-Captain Cade going through boxes of various medical items in the corner.
I try to stand up from the bed, but Cade notices that I'm awake and rushes over to set me back down.
"Whoa there. Take it easy now. You had quite an amount if alcohol last night and you're looking rough." He tells me.
I shake my head and push him out of the way.
"I need to go see Maxson for my assignment." I tell him and walk out of the room and to the flight deck.
On my way there, I bump into Maccready. He stops me and puts a hand on my arm that I immediately shake off.
"What do you want?" I ask him in anger.
"How're you feeling?" He asks.
"It isn't your concern." I tell him and walk away.
I go to the command deck and salute to Elder Maxson.
"Sentinel Rogers reporting for duty sir." I tell him.
"At ease Sentinel." He says.
I relax but put my hands behind my back and wait for him to give me my assignment.
Just give me something to keep my mind off of shaun. I say in my mind.
"Sentinel, I understand that you spent the night in the infirmary last night. I would advise you to take a day off and rest. The news can wait until tomorrow." He says.
"No sir." I say shaking my head, "I would much prefer getting back to it." I say.
"Rogers, getting so drunk until you pass out isn't good for your health. Now I can assure you that we will find shaun." He tells me.
"Please." I say closing my eyes, "just give me the assignment." I tell him.
He sighs, "very well, but know that I am her to talk if you need me. We're still friends, at least I hope we are." He says.
"Recent events are making me question our friendship." I tell him, "Now please, get on with it." I say.
He shakes his head, "well, our chapter has encountered a group that we've encountered in the past. They are known as the enclave." He says.
"The Enclave is a post war U.S. military group gone corrupt. They are a threat." He says.
"What sort of a threat?" I ask.
"Well, at least ten years ago, they tried to take over project purity, a project intended to purify the waters of the D.C. Wasteland. They, however, wanted to use it as a way to 'purify' the wasteland itself. They wanted to kill the imperfect and repopulate with their idea of a 'pure' people." He says.
"So did they do it?" I ask.
"No, they were stopped luckily. They were hunted down for years after that, but they managed to regroup out west somewhere and want to take out the brotherhood once and for all and continue with their original plan." He says.
"Huh, sounds like dé ja vú." I say, "so how'd you find out?" I ask him.
"MacCready ran into them a few months back while on his search for you. They offered to help him but once they found out he was brotherhood, they tried to kill him. So, in order to protect him, we created a fake name for him and changed his look so he wouldn't be recognized." He tells me.
I nod my head, "that makes sense." I say, "so where do I come in?" I ask him.
"We are going to send you out west with a small recon team and you will relay with the California brotherhood chapter. They are small, but we hope that it will help you and your team go undetected." He says.
I nod my head, "okay. When do we leave?" I ask.
"In a day. Your team has already been assembled. Go meet with them and make sure they're ready, as well as yourself." He says handing me a piece of folded up paper, "come back tomorrow morning once you and your team are ready. You ship out by noon tomorrow." He says.
I nod my head and salute, "Ad Victoriam Elder."
He returns the salute, "Ad Victoriam, dismissed."
I relax and walk to the main deck to meet my crew. I look at the paper and see a list of five names, including Maccready's.
Goddammit Maxson, I say in my head.
I decide that he will be the last one that i'll see.
I walk to the upper level living quarters and look around for my team. I look to my left and see recruit Meader packing a backpack. He is a black haired teenager no older than 19 with a small build. I walk over to him and clear my throat, interrupting his packing. He looks up and clumsily stands up and salutes.
"Ma'am." He says.
"Relax. I'm not Maxson, you don't have to salute for me." I say.
He relaxes but still looks timid, "sorry ma'am, I just really wanna do good. I was born into the brotherhood and I just wanna do my part." He says.
I chuckle, "well don't worry recruit, I was just coming in to check on you and make sure you're ready for tomorrow." I say.
"Of course ma'am." He says.
"Stop calling me ma'am. You make me feel like I'm 230 years old." I say chuckling.
"But you are." He says.
I immediately give him a look.
"I'll just shut up." He says looking away.
I shake my head, "as long as you do that, I think you'll be fine." Giving him a pat on the back and walking away to another set of bunks.
On the opposite side of the room, I find two knights on my team. Knight Cade, and Knight Masters. Cade is a red haired woman working on a set of power armor beside her bed, and Masters is a blonde haired man watching her with a smile on his face.
Masters notices my approach and throws a glove at Cade. She turns around and nods her head in acknowledgment.
"Sup boss." She says and turns around and continues to work on her power armor.
Masters chuckles, "you'll have to excuse my girlfriend here. She is practiced in the art of not giving a shit." He says.
I laugh, "no it's fine. If anything, humor is most certainly welcome." I say.
Cade laughs, "thank god." She says.
"So," I say, "are you related to Knight-Captain Cade?" I ask her.
"Yea, he's my uncle. My parents were killed at the battle for project purity when I was a baby. He's been taking care of me all my life." She says.
"Wow, he's an amazing man." I say.
"Yeah, he is. But of course, he's concerned for me leaving." She tells me.
I laugh, "well I would be too if my daughter were leaving for something like this." I say.
She just laughs.
"Well he's got nothing to worry about because I'm here to take care of you." Masters says.
She looks at him with all the love in the world, "I know." She says.
I smile and shake my head, "well, I got to get away from all this sappiness. I'll see you two tomorrow." I say.
They both laugh, "alright." Masters answers for the both of them.
Three down, two to go. I say in my head.
I look all around the prydwen before I find the fourth team member, Paladin shire, in the mess hall eating some fancy lad snack cakes. He is a tall, muscular, greying haired man about in his fifties. I walk over and sit down beside him and he looks at me with a confused look on his face.
"Can I help you?" He asks with a deep, rough voice.
"I'm sentinel rogers. I just wanted to check up on you and make sure you're ready for tomorrow." I say.
"Ahh, so the runaway has finally returned." He says.
"Excuse me?" I ask.
"Look, it's bad enough that I'm going to be shipped to the middle of nowhere with a clumsy recruit, two annoying knights and a lone wolf sniper, but now I'm stuck with you." He says looking at me with all the hate in the world, "do me a favor, and don't worry about me." He says.
"Look, I had some things to sort out. That's why I left. But I'm here now and ready to serve." I say defending myself.
"Oh yeah? Well where were you when your son was taken?" He asks.
I clench my fists and grit my teeth, but decide to let it go, "be ready tomorrow." Is all I say before I walk away.
Finally I seek out Maccready which, by no surprise at all, is at the forecastle. He is sitting down with his legs crossed, overlooking the commonwealth. He turns around and looks at me, and I just look at him.
We sit in silence for who knows how long until he finally turns back around and looks at his feet. He brings a bottle of whiskey up to his lips and takes a sip. I see a tear escape his eye before he throws the bottle off the balcony and to the earth below.
"It's duncan's birthday today." He says.
I walk over and sit beside him, crossing my legs and looking at him, waiting for him to continue.
"He would have been three today." He says with another tear escaping his eye.
"Would have been?" I ask confused.
He looks at me in pain, "the caravan never made it." He says.
Realization hits me as to what he's implying.
Duncan is dead.
A tear escapes my eye and I bring him into my embrace and he begins to sob uncontrollably.
"I'm so sorry." I say.
He shakes his head and holds onto me desperately.
"It's all my fault." He says.
I shake my head, "no it isn't. You did everything you could. Just know that Duncan is with lucy now. She's taking good care of him. They will always be with you." I tell him.
He nods and eventually stops crying. He lets me go and wipes his face dry while taking deep breaths.
"I'm sorry. I know we aren't on the best of terms right now. I just needed to tell someone." He says.
I make him look at me and I shake my head, "it's okay. I understand what you're going through, and I'm here for you if you need me." I say.
He nods and looks out to the commonwealth again.
"We should get some sleep." I tell him.
He nods, "yeah, okay."
We stand and walk into the prydwen.
Once we get to the living quarters, We stop at his bunk. I look over at him and see a distant look on his face and think back to how I had no one to help me through Nate's death in the beginning.
He shouldn't be left alone. I think to myself.
I grab his hand and drag him downstairs to my room. I close the door and bring him over to the bed and tell him to lay down.
"But this is your room." He says.
"Well I know that. I just don't want you to have to be alone through this. I know how that feels." I say.
I lay down on one side of the bed and hesitantly, he lays down on the other faced away from me. I close my eyes and try to sleep but it never comes. Hours pass by like this, yet I still can't sleep. I turn my head and see that he's messing with the seam of the mattress. I turn over and face him and he looks at me with confusion. I turn him over so he's laying on his back and lay my head down on his chest and he wraps his arms around me.
"I'm sorry." I tell him.
"For what?" He asks.
"For getting angry with you. I know you were busy with finding me and you would have done anything to keep shaun from getting kidnapped." I say.
"It's okay." He says.
"I love you." I say.
"I love you too." He answers, "and we'll find shaun. I promise." He says.
I nod, "I sure hope so."
He kisses my forehead and rubs my back, "I know we will."
I nod and we both, eventually, find sleep.