James stoked the campfire and huddled around it for warmth. He took off his tunnel snakes jacket and wrapped it around Marie. It had been a couple months since he took Marie from the Pitt and made his way into the Commonwealth. Mostly by taking up jobs with trade caravan companies. He cursed himself for never having invested in caravans that moved farther north than the Pitt. Most of his investments? His returns? Gone. All went into the Pitt. What caps he did have were spent on the Capital Wasteland Rebuilding fund and any revenue he had with his holdings down South in the aristocratic Richmond and the democratic Republic of George all sent his hard-earned caps straight to the Capital where James assigned Butch to watch over. Now, he wondered if that was a sound judgement. James sat by the fire and looked up. The fire made it difficult to see, but there were stars. There was hope. Stars always amazed him, all the books in the vault never prepared him for the beauty of the stars. His time on Mothership Zeta made sure he'd never want to go up close enough to see them either. But they were beautiful. They always gave him hope. He found himself smiling. He too was a kid, who hadn't truly aged since the day his Dad died. He looked down at Marie who slept with her head leaned against his thigh.

"I won't die on you, baby girl." He whispered. Marie was the closest thing James had ever had to family ever. Now she was his family. He looked around, all the buildings were foreign to him. He had chosen a closed, hidden community of houses called "Sanctuary" to spend the night. He sent the caravan on ahead of him. He was to meet with Jones, the proprietor of Jones Shipping, at Oberland station before they traveled together to Diamond City for more leads for his educational search for answers. What unifies a group of settlements into a country? How stupid must I be to come all the way up here for that! James sighed and brushed Marie's hair. How stupid can I be not to have taken her back home? To come up here anyways despite the dangers of the Commonwealth? James felt guilty. He only had enough money for one trip, not a two-way for a long time. And now, he was here, with her. James popped open a beer and stashed the bottle cap into his bag. He took a sip and sat there, leaned against a tree. Suddenly, he heard a humming sound. James slowly reached for his 10mm, he was careful not to wake Marie with any sudden movements. He attached the silencer and squinted at the surrounding area. He couldn't see, it was pitch black and the fire made it somehow much harder to see. He turned and there floated a Mr. Handy.

"Oh shit!" James cried and fell over. He sat up and saw Marie also sit up. She rubbed her eyes.

"Is it time to wake up, Uncle James?" she mumbled, half-asleep.

"No, no. Go back to sleep darling, I just need to do something really quick." James whispered. He stood up and the Mr. Handy floated back. Marie nodded slowly and fell back asleep, wrapped in his oversized coat. The Mr. Handy floated inside a nearby house. James turned and dropped a proximity detector. A small gadget he had rigged with the help of some Brotherhood scribes and captured Enclave technology that would warn him of incoming objects inside a 300 foot radius. He held up his pistol and walked carefully inside. He checked his corners, the way he was trained. Nothing. He saw an overturned chair, wrecked table, baby bottles and other kitchen materials cluttered around. He turned on his Pip-Boy light.

"Oh, good show there, sir!" the Mr. Handy chirped.

"Good God!" James jumped. "Stop that!" He breathed in and out. He still had his gun at the ready. "You're pretty friendly." James commented.

"Well, of course, sir! I am a Mr. Handy robotic butler built by General Atomics for domestic care. The name I have been designated is Codsworth. Good to meet you." Codsworth stated.

"Okay, so no tampering as far as I can tell." James commented. "Codsworth, huh? I always you guys were called Wadsworth when you have names."

"Well, I do say!" Codsworth huffed. Can robots huff? "I'll have you know that the Wadsworth model is the defective and store-brand model. I am made of a higher caliber of materials and held to even higher standards."

"Really?" James asked, amused. "And can you show me any proof for these claims?"

"Uh…" Codsworth trailed away.

"Don't worry, Codsworth. I can keep a secret." James smirked.

"Of course, sir." Codsworth said. "I assume you are here for the Vault?"

"Vault? What Vault?" James asked.

"Well you are wearing a RobCo Pip-Boy 3000A and a vault suit at that. I assume you are from Vault-Tec finally releasing the inhabitants of Santuary's very own Vault 111!" Codsworth was ecstatic. "I am so excited! This home belonged to my owners, since the bombs dropped I have maintained it to the best of my programming. They were one of the lucky few that were assigned to the vault. It is my enduring hope and belief that they Mister Nate and the madame arrived at the Vault safely with young Shaun."

"Huh. Vault. Where is it?"

"Just behind the town, sir. There is a billboard you will be able to see when the sun rises in about a half hour. The vault is not far from there, you cannot miss it."

"I see."

"So are you going to go on your duty and inspect the vault or are we just going to jabber on with small talk?" Codsworth asked, almost sarcastically. "I truly wish to see the descendents of young Shaun and the family. I do hope they had good stories to tell of my service. Perhaps I can even serve the new family!"

"Okay, Codsworth focus here buddy. I'm going to head to the Vault now, can you watch Marie for me?"

"Of course, sir."

"All right hold on a sec here." James walked out and picked Marie up gently and as carefully as he could, walked across the street and into the house. He laid her on the couch gently and kissed her forehead. Then he went to Codsworth and sneaked behind him. He tapped the emergency off button and inspected the insides of the home butler. He inserted a conductor built to reprogram General Atomics robots and waited for Codsworth's systems to recalibrate. James took it out and watched Codsworth whir back to life.

"As I live and breathe, I have never experienced such a good sleep, sir." Codsworth said. "What did you do?"

"I just did a routine check-up of your systems and ensured that you were operating at peak efficiency." James added a grin to throw Codsworth off the scent that James had actually just reprogrammed Codsworth to never have the ability to target James or Marie should Codsworth ever prove to be a danger or a hostile. These conductors were not really conductors, only James called them that because the Scribes found them at the Enclave dig site at Addams and have called them that since. James pocketed the conductor and headed for the Vault. He left his packpack at the house and only carried his 10mm pistol and short-barreled shotgun. He walked up to the top of the hill and discovered that the door was actually an elevator.

"Cool." James whispered to himself. He walked to a booth he guessed was the control center for the elevator. He tapped the button and heard a whirring and a click. He rushed to the elevator platform and rode it down the levels.

James walked through the vault he heard a clicking noise and instantly recognized it. Radroaches. They made James's skin tingle. Ever since his escape from Vault 101, James had developed a phobia of all bug-like creatures. If they got too close, he'd freeze. He spotted a few radroaches from the distance and picked them off with his pistol. It was silenced so no other roaches were notified of his dispatching of them. He walked next to the door button and discovered a skeleton. He picked up the Pip-Boy that was on its arm.

"The hell happened here?" James muttered. "I guess it wasn't as safe as Codswroth hoped." James clipped the Pip-Boy to his belt and took the door on the left of the room. Whatever was on the right could wait. James found himself surrounded by roaches, he almost froze before adrenaline caused him to pull out his shotgun and begin blasting away at the roaches. He panted and slung the shotgun when all of the roaches was dispatched. God, I hate roaches. He continued down the hallway and found a locked doorway. He stooped down and begin to pick the lock. He broke two lockpicks and on the third try managed to unlock it. He found himself in the Overseer's office and was reminded of Amata. Why did you do those things? I thought you were better than your father, Amata? James frowned and spotted a gun in a locked cabinet.

"Cool. I'll be back for you later." James grinned. He searched the office and pocketed a few boxes of ammo for the 10mm. Which was good, he was running low. He dispatched two more roaches as he continued into the Vault reactor and eventually a long hallway. He walked left and discovered a room filled with pods. Suddenly, the alarms begin to whir and ring.

"Oh shit, what did I do?" James held his pistol out, ready to confront whatever was in the pods. Nothing happened just the alarms. "What the?" James muttered and he began to inspect each pod. They're all dead. Or at least not moving. The intercom repeated the same phrase over and over: "Warning! Catastrophic Pod failure!" James shook his head and noticed that the room was extremely cold. He could see his breath. He neared the last pod and peered inside. The pod burst open, James jumped and a woman flew out of pod, James caught her in his arms. The surprise and the sudden weight that fell in arms caused him to stumble and fall to his knees.

"Holy shit. Miss? Ma'am? Are you all right?" James asked. He looked at her face, she was unhealthily, pale. Nothing that seemed normal for anyone who lived in the wasteland. Even in a vault. He shook his gently. James's medical training took hold and he laid her on the ground. He brushed her hair to the side and found himself transfixed. Holy cow, she's beautiful. James shook his head. Not now, dammit! James opened her eyes and saw that her pupils were dilating which was a good sign he began to check for a pulse when suddenly she slammed her fist into his throat. James choked and hacked as he doubled over form the sudden attack. The woman screamed and kicked James in the chest. He fell to his back and the woman jumped on him, pounding away at him. It was all he could do to avoid being hit.

"You killed him! You killed him!" she repeated as her blows slammed against James's arms. He still couldn't speak. Then the blows stopped. James looked up. The woman was now staring at him too. Their eyes locked and James felt his heart skip.

"uh…" He began. She punched him in the jaw. "Jesus what the hell lady?!"

"Where is he?!" She screamed once more. "Where did you take my son?!"

"What?!" James cried. He blocked another blow. Again with the hitting! "What son?! I just got here!"

"What are you talking about?" she stopped and asked. Her expression changed once again. Softer. Her eyes caught James's attention. Hers darted away as soon as he looked. She rubbed her eyes and shook her head. "I… I just saw it. Somebody took my boy… Somebody killed my husband." James fell back and rested his battered head against the floor. He now noticed that she was practically sitting on top of him. Why is that what I'm noticing right now? He asked himself. He looked back at the woman.

"Gee, I'm sorry lady. But I swear, I have no idea what you're talking about! I just came to investigate the Vault is all." James said in his most comforting voice. "Everyone else didn't make it. I didn't even know you were alive." The woman nodded before breaking into a sob. James couldn't move. Not without moving the woman. So he lay there while woman cried.

"I'm sorry." He repeated. He must have repeated for at least an hour when the woman decided to move and stand by the pod across from hers. James stood and stretched. He opened his mouth to talk but saw what the woman was looking at.

"Is… Is this your husband?" James asked, his voice soft.

"Yes." The woman croaked, her voice so soft it was almost wasn't even heard. She nodded. She began tugging at the door. "I need to open the door. Maybe he's alive. I need to-" James grabbed her arm.

"Stop." He ordered. She glared at him but she obeyed. James noticed a big red button on the side of the pod and pulled it. The door hissed and flew open. The woman's knees buckled and James felt compelled to catch her.

"Shh. It's okay. I'm here." He blurted. His eyes widened. Holy shit, why did I do that? He asked himself. She nodded. She placed her hand on the cheek of the dead man. With her other hand she took a wedding ring off of him.

"I'll find who did this." She whispered. Once again, he voice was so soft it could barely be heard. "I promise." The woman held the ring tight and rubbed her eyes.

"Can you stand?" James asked. The woman tried to speak but couldn't find the strength. She nodded. James let go but was ready to catch her again. "I know it probably isn't the best time to tell you this, but everyone here is dead. I'm the only one alive here. I might be your only chance to survive out there." The woman rubbed the wedding ring. "I'll wait by the entrance, just go straight and there it is. Take all the time you need. I'll take you to Sanctuary and then we can talk about what to do from there, okay?" the woman nodded once more, her jet black hair covering her eyes. James walked off. The woman stood there, silent, rubbing the wedding ring. Then she pushed the tab, the door closed and she left.

James was standing by the elevator when the woman walked down the stairs.

"Hey, you ready?" James asked. The woman nodded. He too nodded. They both stepped into the elevator and felt it take them up to the surface.

"You have a name?" James asked. She looked at him funny. "Okay that came out wrong, of course you have a name how stupid of me." She almost let out a laugh. James looked at her funny. Is this amusing to her?

"Okay, let's start over. My name's James, and you are…?" James grinned and held out his hand. The woman was reluctant to take it for she was holding her wedding ring in it. She switched hands and shook his.

"Katherine." She whispered. James's heartbeat skipped a beat again.