Danse couldn't rest, not with the thoughts he had been having and he didn't quite understand why he was having them. He barely knew Lillian, hadn't even spent much time with her. Hell, even that damn mercenary has spent more time with her and it seems like they were getting cozy already. What did she even see in him anyway?
He was so preoccupied thinking up creative ways to discreetly dispose of the merc that he didn't notice when the man himself walked into the lobby.
"Mornin'," MacCready yawned widely. Danse glared at him. "Hm? Oh, I'm fine, thanks, how are you?" Danse didn't reply. "Oh, that's a shame. I guess a stick up your ass would do that."
"What do you want?" Danse snapped.
"So you DO speak," MacCready grinned, "Thought your type just grunted to communicate."
"I'll ask again. What. Do. You. Want?"
"I want to know what your problem is," MacCready sat across from him.
"I don't have a problem."
"Sure you don't," MacCready leaned back, "So what's your deal about Lillian?"
"I'm just concerned about our recruit."
"You always take advantage of naive women like that?"
"Of course not!" How could this degenerate even think he would do such a thing?
"Oh sure, poor helpless woman comes stumbling at your doorstep and you guys are like, 'Sure, come on in, by the way, join up!' and she does because she thinks it'll keep her safe."
"For your information, she didn't just 'stumble in'. We were being attacked by ghouls and she and her dog helped fight them off," Danse said angrily.
"Huh, couldn't do it yourself?" MacCready smirked, "Big ol' Brotherhood couldn't handle a few tiny ghouls?"
Danse slammed his fists on the table and stood up quickly, knocking his chair over. MacCready jumped up, nearly tripping over his own chair. Before either one could do anything, Haylen returned from outside. She looked between the two men glaring at each other before speaking.
"Getting on well, are we?"
"Who is?" Lillian entered the room with Canigou limping slowly behind her. "Oh."
"How is Canigou?" Haylen asked her.
"Seems okay, still in pain, but better than last night," Lillian reached down to scratch his ears, "I gave him a small dose of med-x, but I didn't want to give too much."
"That should be okay." Haylen looked over at Danse and MacCready who were still staring each other down and shook her head as she went into her room.
"You two done?" Lillian asked them.
"How's your dog?" Danse asked without breaking eye contact with MacCready.
"Fine. So what's happening here?"
"Lover's spat!" Haylen shouted from the other room. Danse and MacCready finally looked away from each other.
"Ah. Should I come back later?" Lillian grinned at them.
"How long will you be staying?" Danse asked.
"We're heading out today," she replied, "I want to get Canigou up to Sanctuary where I'll have someone to care for him."
"Oh," he tried not to sound too disappointed.
"And I need to get some more stimpaks and med-x for you to replace the ones we used."
"That isn't necessary."
"Of course it is," she paused as Rhys came in from his patrol and glared at her, "Besides, I'd rather not piss him off anymore." She nodded towards Rhys as MacCready smirked.
"I don't know why the Paladin lets you get away with talk like that," Rhys sneered.
"I don't know why they let you get away with a face like that," MacCready retorted.
"Okay, that's enough," Lillian spoke up before Danse could, "Anyway, we'll start getting ready to head out."
"Are you sure? Maybe your dog needs more time to rest before walking all that way." Danse tried not to sound desperate for her to stay.
"I'm going to carry him. I've made up a harness to make it easier."
"Wait, when did you do that?" asked MacCready.
"Just after you came out here. There were some old police vests in the storage, which, Paladin, I hope you don't mind my taking," she looked over at Danse who shook his head. "I looped some belts through them and I can carry Canigou either like a tote bag or a backpack."
MacCready smirked. "Hah, I can't wait to see that."
"Wait, why should you carry him? Shouldn't he carry the dog?" Danse nodded towards MacCready.
"Mac's better with a gun than I am, and he'll need to be able to shoot without a dog burdening him."
"Makes sense," MacCready nodded in agreement, "Wasn't looking forward to carrying your mutt around anyway."
"Shut up," Lillian joked with a small smile to MacCready. Jealousy started to rise in Danse again.
"You know, you could leave the dog here," Danse said slowly.
Lillian frowned slightly. "You're running low on supplies as it is. Besides, I promised to bring a dog back to Sanctuary for a little girl I met. The last thing you need to worry about is an injured dog."
"Oh. Right. Of course." Danse tried not to sound disappointed. He had thought that if Canigou stayed, then Lillian would come around more often to check in on him. "So, have you had a chance to look into that task I gave you?"
"No, not yet. I haven't been anywhere near Malden or the airport, nor have I heard any distress signals."
"What's that?" MacCready asked.
"Oh, it's a missing Brotherhood patrol. Came in three years ago, haven't been heard from since."
MacCready turned to Danse. "And what, you think they're still sitting about, waiting to be found?" he scoffed.
"We know it's a long shot, but I said I'd still look into it if I can," Lillian said, "At the very least, get some closure for family and friends."
"Malden, huh?" MacCready looked deep in thought, "Well. I suppose we could stop by, see what's what. We'll have to be careful. The area's crawling with ferals."
"Damn." Lillian looked down at Canigou who was lying on the floor, whimpering softly. "Don't suppose you can still take down ferals with one less leg, huh?" Canigou whined loudly. "Didn't think so. Well, let's go get ready."
Less than an hour later, MacCready helped Lillian adjust Canigou so she could carry him on her back. They had divided their supplies between their backpacks so now MacCready was carrying most of it while Lillian could carry her pack in front while still having enough movement to use her pistol. They said goodbye to Haylen, while promising to send along extra supplies with a caravan if they could.
"See you later, Rhys," Lillian said as Rhys walked past. He ignored her. "Don't worry, I'll be back as soon as I can." She jokingly blew him a kiss and he scowled.
"What a charmer," said MacCready as they left the police station. Paladin Danse was waiting outside in his power armour.
"We'll be back when we can, Paladin," she said.
"Be careful out there. Stay safe."
"Always." She smiled up at him and his heart fluttered.
"Later, Tin Can," MacCready mock saluted him.
"If anything happens to her, I will hold you responsible," Danse said tersely.
"Yeah, yeah," MacCready waved him off and followed Lillian out the front gate.
Goddamn mercenaries.
"Damn, that guy has a serious crush on you," MacCready said once they had reached the road.
"Who, Danse?"
"Well it certainly isn't the other one," he smirked.
"Huh."
"Oh come on, it's so obvious. Even Haylen said so."
Lillian scoffed. "I'm sure he has more important things on his mind."
"You should do the poor guy a favour and let him take you on a date or something."
"Tch, I don't have time for that," Lillian rolled her eyes, "Besides, I don't think I can."
"Why not? Oh... because of your husband, right?" Lillian nodded. "Sorry. I forgot. Forget I said anything."
"It's okay. I mean, Danse is nice and all." MacCready let out a burst of laughter. "Shut up, he is! I mean, he's nice to me. But he's not Nate. And I don't think I could get personally involved with anyone in the military again."
"He is pretty intense."
"No, it's just... I've hated the military since things were going to shit back before the war started. And then they took over the Opera House where I danced, forcing all of us to find other jobs. I've even gotten arrested for participating in protests."
"No shi-, uh, no kidding. You were arrested? Damn, never thought you had it in you."
"Heh, yeah. I was nearly kicked out of college for it, but one of the professors pointed out that if I was so passionate about this, imagine how hard I'd fight to win any of my cases."
"Thought you didn't do those type of cases."
"That was in my first semester when I was mostly doing introductory law courses. I started focusing on property and corporate law in my second year."
They continued on in silence, continuously watching for trouble. As they approached Lexington, Lillian tensed up.
"Hold on, I was shot at from the roof of the Corvega plant there," she pointed. MacCready nodded and he brought his rifle up to look through the scope.
"Not seeing anyone now, so let's just hurry along," he said after a few minutes, lowering his rifle.
"When I first got here, there was an explosion in the middle of town. And things running. Oh! I think they were ferals, only I didn't know that at the time."
"I haven't been this far north here. Is Sanctuary far?"
"North of Concord, we still have a little ways to go. We can stop for a rest at the house where I met Charlie and Clinton."
"Who?"
"Oh, Clinton and his daughter, Charlie. I stayed with them while they were temporarily occupying a house up here. I offered them a place to live at Sanctuary since he said they couldn't find anywhere else."
MacCready sighed. "You really are very trusting, aren't you?"
"What do you mean by that?"
"How do you know you aren't going to get home and find the place completely looted?"
"Oh. Well, I mean, he has a young daughter and he seemed pretty concerned to find a place to live."
"You'd be surprised at how many people will use their own kids as a way to gain sympathy in order to rob you. Or murder you."
"I don't think they're like that," Lillian said, but was now unsure. Had she been duped? Was she going to go back home and find Codsworth smashed to pieces and her own home torn apart?
"This the place?" MacCready pointed to the house just off the road. Lillian nodded. They found the house empty and took off their packs. Lillian let Canigou down and he hobbled around, still trying to get used to being one leg short. She stretched against the wall before settling down on the floor.
"So. Question." MacCready passed her some dried meat. "I know you're trying to find your son and all, but why did you join the Brotherhood when it's just those three? Especially since you hate the military."
Lillian sighed. "It seemed like my best option at the time. You got a better idea?"
"Well, that detective in Diamond City will probably get more done."
"Yeah," she sighed again. "So after we bring Canigou to Sanctuary, we'll go back and see if he's in."
"Do we have to stop at the police station again?"
"Not if you don't want to," she smiled, "I got the feeling you weren't exactly becoming best friends with Danse and Rhys."
"Haylen's nice."
"Yeah, she is. Interested in someone else, though, in case you're wondering."
"Oh. Well, that's fine. I'm not really... um, anyway."
"So do you have anyone special waiting for you somewhere?"
"Ye- no. Not really."
"Really? No one?"
MacCready shrugged and frowned, so she decided not to press the matter. She did wonder about him. He knew a fair bit about her, but she knew almost nothing about him in return. She knew a bit from his childhood and that he ran with the Gunners for a while, but nothing more personal.
They were back on the road half an hour later. Apart from a few words exchanged about Canigou's well-being, they were quiet. It wasn't until they reached a diner when the silence was broken.
"We had a deal, Trudy!" a rough voice called out, "Hand over the goods! You owe us!"
"I ain't giving you poison-shilling chem pushers anything!" a woman's voice yelled from inside the diner. 'You know what that junk has done to my boy?"
Lillian looked back at MacCready who sighed and shook his head. "You're not going to get involved, are you?"
"Let's just see what's happening," she replied, "Maybe we can help."
"Dammit," he said under his breath and followed Lillian to the diner.
"Whoa, whoa, easy there, scavver," the man in leather armour suddenly turned and held his gun up along with a woman in similar armour, "This doesn't concern you."
"Ugh, I'm calling it right here, this world can officially bite my ass," Lillian scoffed.
The man lowered his gun, confused. "Yeah, well, we all got our problems. I'm just trying to collect what's owed to me."
"Well, maybe I can talk to her, see what we can do to solve this," she said.
"Be my guest," the man joined his female companion and gestured to the diner.
Lillian went up to the diner door where a woman in a flannel shirt and jeans was waiting and glaring.
"I saw you talking to them," she said, "And that bastard ain't getting a damn cap out of me."
"What's this about anyway?"
"Oh, he didn't tell you? He got my boy hooked on Jet, sold him a ton of junk on 'credit' and now expects me to pay him off." She looked behind at her teenage son, rocking back and forth on the floor and sighed. "We don't have that kind of money."
"Hmm, could you make a deal in some other way? Like, maybe you have some things they need, like food or stimpaks?"
"I don't know," Trudy narrowed her eyes, "All they really want is caps. If I were able to open up shop again, I could make some caps."
Lillian looked back out towards Wolfgang and his companion. "I have an idea, just hold on." She went back outside.
"Well? We getting our caps or what?" demanded Wolfgang.
"Not exactly, but listen, they can't afford to pay you right now."
"They owe me and I'm getting paid one way or another!"
"Wait! How about this, you two stick around as guards so she can open her trading shop again, and you get a percentage. What do you say?"
Wolfgang turned to his companion who shrugged. "And Trudy's on board with this?"
"Not quite, I wanted to run it by you first."
"I guess it's better than nothin'."
"Okay, I'll let Trudy know."
"Well? He gonna leave my boy alone?" Trudy asked when Lillian returned.
"So here's the deal. You can open up shop and they'll be your guards in exchange for a bit of the profits."
Trudy sighed. "Fine. Not like I have much choice, do I?" She looked past Lillian out to Wolfgang. "You hear that? You'll get your damn money, but I better not catch you selling chems to my boy again!"
"Fine by me, Trudy! Your son's broke as shit anyhow!"
"Well, guess I'm open for business again, you may as well have a look," Trudy returned to her counter.
"It's only fair, right?" Lillian bought some tins of dog food and some extra ammo. She was about to head out, but suddenly turned back. "Oh! I almost forgot, can I arrange to have some chems delivered to the police station in Cambridge?"
"I'm not sure when the next caravan will be by or where they're going," said Trudy, "But I'll see what I can do."
"I can't afford too much right now, but every little bit helps," Lillian bought a few stimpaks and Med-X to send on. "Bear with me for a moment, just going to write a quick note." She removed her backpack to take out a notebook and pen.
"So, I have to ask," Trudy leaned forward on her counter, "Why are you carrying the dog?"
"He had to have his leg amputated," Lillian turned to show her, "He's still hurting and still needs to get used to it. Carrying him is easier and faster right now."
"Huh."
Lillian wrote what turned into two page letter to Danse and folded it into the pouch Trudy had put the chems in. She thanked Trudy then headed back out with MacCready.
"Well, that went better than I thought it would," said MacCready.
"You can get pretty far if you talk things out instead of trying to shoot everyone in the face."
"Except the Gunners."
"Yes, except them. They weren't exactly ready to talk when we rolled in."
MacCready chuckled a bit and gave Canigou a quick pat before taking his place behind them. It wasn't too long before they reached Concord and could hear gunfire.
"Hey, can you have a look to see what's happening?" Lillian looked back at him. "Last time I was here there was something going on, but we just passed by."
MacCready nodded and crept closer into town. Lillian followed but stopped near the ruined church and readied her pistol. Canigou growled and she reached behind to reassure him. She considered removing her backpack and Canigou, but preferred to keep him close. The thought of being separated from her dog made her feel panicked.
She watched MacCready crouch at the corner of the building and peer around the corner. The gunfire was interrupted by a tremendous roar and a mangled body flew past MacCready and landed at the steps of the museum. Against her instincts, Lillian rushed to MacCready.
"What the hell was that?" she asked in a loud whisper.
"Deathclaw," he replied.
"What?"
MacCready gestured for her to crouch and pointed around the corner. She looked around and saw what could only be described as a strange dinosaur with horns tearing a raider in half.
"What the fuck!" she shouted. The deathclaw looked their way, roared, and ran towards them, the ground shaking with each step. MacCready grabbed Lillian's arm, pulled her into the building they were crouched by, and hid behind the counter. He held his hand over Lillian's mouth to keep her from shouting again, while she tried to keep Canigou from growling.
The deathclaw prowled around the open door and broken windows, but couldn't find a way in. It swiped some dirt through the windows, causing them to cough. The deathclaw roared again and tried to force itself through the doorway. Lillian pulled Canigou close and buried her face in his fur. MacCready shot at it over the counter, but it only seemed to get angrier.
The sound of a laser gun was fired from somewhere outside, distracting the deathclaw away from them. MacCready took advantage and fired more shots. Lillian couldn't bring herself to help, instead holding Canigou for comfort. Between MacCready and the mystery shooter outside, the deathclaw finally fell dead to the ground.
"You okay?" MacCready turned back to Lillian, who still had her face buried in Canigou's fur.
She nodded without looking up.
"You sure?"
"No," she sniffled and looked up, her eyes red from crying, "Where the hell did THAT come from?" She gestured angrily towards the door. "Like, how is it a THING? I've seen giant flies and giant roaches, but what the hell did THAT evolve from?"
"Huh, I don't know," MacCready crouched next to her, "They've just always been around for as long as I can remember. Never thought about what they could have been before."
"Jesus, what the hell else is out there?"
"I'm going to be honest, deathclaws are probably the worst of the worst," he leaned forward and gently wiped a tear from her cheek. "If you see one, it's best to turn and get as much distance away from it as possible."
"Fuck's sake," she leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes. Canigou rested his head on her lap, not being able to move much from his place beside her. She opened her eyes and patted him on the head. "Oh, Cani, I bet you would've tried to bite that deathclaw's leg off, huh?" Canigou woofed quietly.
"Not to ruin the thought, but if a deathclaw got at him, he'd be lunch," MacCready said with a small chuckle.
"Yeah, you're probably right," Lillian slowly stood up, taking care with moving Canigou behind her.
"Isn't he getting heavy?"
"Just a little, but I'll manage," she patted her dog with a smile.
"I guess you prefer to keep him close."
"Yeah."
"Okay. So. Want to see a dead deathclaw?"
Lillian followed MacCready outside where the deathclaw lay dead. She wrinkled her nose as she got a closer look. What the hell was it before? She toed its leg.
"Hey! Up here!" a voice called out. They looked up to see a black man standing on the balcony of the Museum of Freedom. "We could use some help!"
"What sort of help?" Lillian asked.
"Food! Please, we've been stuck in here for ages," the man was clearly desperate.
"Of course, we have a bit to spare," Lillian nodded at MacCready.
"He helped bring the deathclaw down," MacCready pulled off his pack and dug into it, "Looks like one of those Minutemen types, shouldn't be too bad."
"Minutemen?"
"Yeah, bunch of do-gooders," MacCready pulled out some tins of pork and beans, "Well, they were. Heard some sh- er, some stuff went down within their ranks."
"Oh."
"Anyway, we better get this up to them."
"Look at you, being all charitable," she elbowed him with jest. They went into the museum where they were met the man from the balcony.
"Am I ever glad to meet a friendly face," he greeted them, "Preston Garvey, Commonwealth Minutemen."
"Nice to meet you," Lillian shook his hand, "Lillian Parker, and this is, uh," she turned to MacCready, "I just realised, I don't know your first name."
"Oh, I'm so used to people calling me MacCready," he said, "It's Robert. Or RJ. But I prefer just MacCready."
"Well then. This is just MacCready."
"And this is for you," MacCready held out the tins. "I hope it'll be enough."
Preston sighed. "It will be for now. If it were a couple weeks ago, it wouldn't have been." He paused. "We started out with twenty, but now there's only five of us."
"What happened?" asked Lillian.
"If you don't mind, I'd like to get this food up to what's left of us," Preston said apologetically. She nodded and they followed Preston through the museum and up to a room on the third floor. There were four others inside, two young men, a young woman, and an older woman laying on a ragged sofa. Canigou woofed softly at the woman.
"Ah, Dogmeat, I knew you'd find someone for us," the old woman said weakly.
"Dogmeat?" Lillian looked down at the dog, then crouched down to remove the straps from him. He wobbled a little then limped over to the old woman and licked her face. "Oh, so he's your dog?"
"Oh, no, he ain't my dog. He's what you'd call his own man." She paused as the young man in overalls helped her to sit up and gave her a tin of pork and beans. "What's this? I tell you, I need something else."
"No, Mama Murphy, no more of that junk," Preston said sternly.
"Aw, Preston, we're all going to die eventually, and we're gonna need the Sight." She turned to Lillian. "And our friend, she's going to need it too."
"The Sight?" Lillian asked.
Preston sighed. "Mama Murphy, she... uh... she has these visions, I guess. She used it to get us out of Quincy, and she used it to tell us of somewhere we can go. Where we can finally be safe."
The other woman in the room scoffed. "So now we're just going somewhere that probably doesn't exist because Mama Murphy 'saw it' while being stoned off her gourd?"
"Well, Marcy, you have a better idea?" the man in overalls asked. "Anybody?" No one replied. "Well then, Sanctuary Hills it is."
"Wait, you're going to Sanctuary?" Lillian asked.
"See? The Sight hasn't failed us yet," Mama Murphy said with a smile.
"You know it?" asked Preston.
"Yeah, I live there."
"Ha! Our luck is finally turning!" Preston said cheerfully, "We'll head out as soon as you're all ready."
Lillian sat on the floor with Canigou as they waited for the group to eat and prepare. This new world was bullshit, but maybe it wouldn't be so bad.