The sun shone through the darkness and for a moment it was difficult to see. James lifted his left arm, which held his old, battered Pip-Boy up to block the sunlight. It was then that he realized that Katherine had no such device. He remembered the new model that he had pocketed earlier and handed it to her. She didn't see it. She stepped forward, saying nothing, looking out over the wasteland.

"How long has it been?" James asked after waiting a few moments.

"What?" She asked and turned her head to face him. Her dark, round eyes made him uncomfortable and he avoided her gaze.

"Uh, you were locked in that pod or cell or whatever. How long were you stuck there?"

"I… I don't know." She said once more, turning back and looking at the ruins of what once must have been a beautiful, sheltered community. "It's only felt like a few minutes since I saw the bombs go off. The fallout can't have dissipated so soon." She murmured. She fiddled with the Pip-Boy and wiped the screen. James frowned.

"Bombs?" James asked. "What do you mean? Do you mean someone attacked Sanctuary? Is that why this place is so deserted?" Katherine fastened to the Pip-Boy to her arm and the machine clicked while it turned itself on. A green flash filled the screen with activity and letters.

"Yes." She answered simply.

"Who?"

"I don't know. I'd wager the Chinese probably."

"The what?" James asked.

"The Chinese?" Katherine responded curtly she turned to him, confused look on her face. She brushed a lock of hair away from her face. "Have you been living under a rock? The country full of communists that the U.S. Army spent the last ten years fighting?"

"Um, I'm sorry but I know for a fact that there is no U.S. Army fighting whatever the hell you're talking about for however long. The United States doesn't even exist anymore. Was that pod a simulation machine?" James asked. "I mean, I remember being a couple of those, the images they show can be pretty vivid."

"No, that's not possible. The war ended just last year, we were going to celebrate it. Nate was going to the Founder's Hall for the memorial speech of the victory in China day." Katherine said. Her eyes widened. "What year is it?" James shrugged.

"Let me check." James said as he lifted his Pip-Boy up. He navigated it into the maps menu and saw the bold numbers: 2287 printed on the screen. "2287. Why? How long have you been there?" Katherine stumbled away and began to walk towards Sanctuary.

"This isn't possible." She muttered. James walked beside her.

"What isn't?" he asked. "What year was it when you entered the pod?"

"They said it was a decontamination pod. How long does that take?"

"Uh, what?"

"This can't be happening." They reached Santuary. Marie was drawing on the sidewalk with some chalk James had left in his bag. He grinned at the sight of her having fun. He'd never thought to use it on the road before. Weird. He thought. Codsworth "floated" to James and Katherine.

"It's all destroyed."

"As I live and breathe, Mistress Katherine!" Codsworth guffawed. "Its… it's really you!"

"Codsworth." Katherine whispered. Her eyes began to tear up again. James looked at her. Oh shit, not again. But she didn't cry. "You're still here." She sniffled. "What happened to the world?"

"The world, mum? Well, besides our geraniums still being the envy of Sanctuary Hills, I'm afraid things have been dreadfully dull around here." Codsworth commented. Katherine chuckled. James frowned.

"What's a geranium?" he asked. Katherine looked up at him.

"They're a type of flower." She whispered. Her voice seemed to be almost too soft to hear or hoarse as if she had a sore throat. James had to stoop forward in order to hear her for the most part.

"Things will be so much more exciting with you and sir back!" Katherine's expression changed immediately. "Where is your better half, by the by?" James put his hand on her shoulder to try to comfort her. He felt somewhat compelled to try to take care of her despite hardly knowing her. Perhaps the fact that she was a fellow vault dweller made him feel overprotective of her, similar to how he felt of many Vault 101 explorers late '77 ten years earlier.

"I'll handle this. Codsworth…" James began.

"No. He's in a better place Codsworth. They killed him." Katherine looked down at her feet once more. James sympathized with her, he too lost family and knew how hard it was to get over that.

"Mum… these things you're saying. These… terrible things… I… I believe you need a distraction. Yes! A fistraction, to calm this dire mood. Follow me into the house, mum!" Codsworth hovered back into the blue house that he had left Marie in earlier. Katherine stepped forward, but looked back at James.

"I'll be out here. With Marie. She needs someone to watch her and I think you need to do this alone. I'll just get in the way." Katherine nodded and followed Codsworth into the house. James watched her go, he felt something tugging at his heart. What is this feeling? He asked himself. Then he felt an actual tugging on his fingers. He looked down and saw Marie, wearing his tunnel snakes jacket like an over-sized coat that resembled a cape when worn by Marie.

"Hey there, darling." James said in a playful tone. "How'd you sleep."

"Good. Look at my drawing!" she said. James looked over. He couldn't tell what it was supposed to be, but he was still impressed that she figured she could use chalk to write on the pavement.

"It looks nice. Wanna play tag?" He asked. Marie giggled and jumped. She tapped his leg and began to run away down the road.

"You're it!" she giggled as she ran, trailing behind the sleeves of his jacket. James smiled and jogged after her.

"It's been ages since we've had a proper family activity. Checkers. Or perhaps charades. Shaun does so love that game." Codsworth commented as Katherine entered the ruins of what was once her home. He hovered around the island and stacked up bottles and other kitchen material. As if he were cleaning for guests. Katherine picked up the folder American flag the Army had given to Nate for his service in Anchorage and Hong Kong. She hugged it close to her chest. "Is the lad… with you…?" Codsworth asked, suddenly ceasing all activity.

"No. They took him, Codsworth. Those bad men… They took him." Katherine whispered. She hugged the flag tighter and tighter.

"It's worse than I thought." Codsworth commented. Katherine placed the flag on its position on the shelf. She clambered over the sofa and fell into it. It was stiff and smelled. She groaned as she caught a glimpse of her prized holotape player. "hmm hmm. You're suffering from… hunger-induced paranoia. Not eating properly for 200 years will do that, I'm afraid." Codsworth began to hum a tune as he continued to clean the house.

"200 years." Katherine muttered and placed her hand on her forehead. "Has it really been that long?"

"A little over 210, actually." Codsworth corrected her.

"Thanks a lot, Codsworth. You really know how to make a woman feel good!" Katherine shot back. She closed her eyes. She saw Nate, a clear image, holding baby Shaun as the nukes fell behind her.

"I love you." His voice filled her ears. She began to cry again.

"That means you're two centuries late for dinner! Ha ha ha. Perhaps I can whip you up a snack? You must be famished!" Codsworth buzzed. Katherine chuckled. Nate used make stupid jokes like that. She found herself thinking. She sat up and hugged one of the pillows. And now he's gone. A little girl's laughter broke Katherine's thoughts. She looked out the window and saw James playing with her. She lauged as he gave her a piggy-back ride and ran through the street. Katherine smiled. Nate and I would've done that with Shaun when he grew older. She sat back down and smiled. She looked at Codsworth who continued to hum a tune as he dusted the counters.

"Codsworth. Are you okay? After all of this, I'd imagine it'd be hard to keep perspective." Katherine asked. Codsworth stopped working and paused as if he were thinking.

"Mum, quite frankly it's been just horrible! Two centuries with no one to talk to, no one to serve. I spent the first ten years trying to keep the floors waxed, but nothing gets out nuclear fallout from vinyl wood. Nothing!" Codsworth continued dusting talking as he worked. "Don't get me started about the futility of dusting a collapsed house." Katherine nodded as he continued dusting. "And the car! The car! How you polish rust?!" You don't. She thought.

"So how did you last this long alone? What made it all worth it to just keep living rather than shutting down?" Katherine asked. Her eyes drifted to Marie and James, whose sounds of laughter and joy drew her attentions.

"Well mum. I'd have to say it is the view of the sunrise over the horizon every morning. I always position myself in the optimal position to witness the glorious ball of fire rise up over wasteland. It always gave me hope, mum. A new beginning. A fresh start. A brand new day."

"A brand new day." Katherine repeated. She looked back at Codsworth. "I'm sorry you went through all of that Codsworth. If I had only known…"

"It's quite all right, mum."

"I'm so sorry that I never got to say goodbye."

"Your survival was of the utmost importance mum. Especially young Shaun's. You have nothing to fear." Codsworth said. His "claw/hand" reached into his body and produced a holotape.

"I do believe sir Nathan was making this for you. I believe it was to be a surprise, but given the circumstance… This day has had enough surprises, mum. I'll leave you alone." Codsworth left to clean some other part of the house. Katherine held the holotape in her palm. She pondered playing it or not.

"Hey!" James's voice startled Katherine. She hid the holotape. He strode in, Marie still on his back, flapping the oversized jacket sleeves like wings. "I have a great idea, why don't we set this place up as a settlement?"

"A settlement?" Katherine asked.

"Yeah! Like a place for people to live in and stuff. We'll fix the place up, have a small area where we grow crops, place for people to sleep. If we had the parts I might be able to set up a water purifier. It'd be great to have a place where I can do stuff without having to worry about Marie." James grinned. His white and perfect teeth astonished Katherine. If he's someone who's lived out here, shouldn't he have bad teeth? Too many bad late-nite movies about the apocalypse presented themselves in Katherine's mind. She breathed in and out. They were memories of a world now gone. A world that no longer tolerated or had movies. A world without Nate.

"I don't know if I'm comfortable with that." Katherine whispered. James's smile disappeared.

"Um, okay. That's cool. You lived here and stuff, but uh, I can't exactly leave Marie here with just Codsworth." James said, he shifted Marie's weight on his back while she somehow maintained her attention elsewhere. "It's not safe, and I'm not sure this place has all the basic necessities for people to survive."

"And I'm not sure that I'm willing to let random strangers into my home." Katherine responded. Katherine's eyes widedned, she knew what she said. James nodded. "I'm sorry."

"No, no I get it. We'll play it safe. We'll find some people we know are good people and let them stay here. We'll keep this place secret. Fair?" James proposed, the corner of his lip curled upwards, ready to break into a smile at a moment's notice. Katherine frowned.

"I guess." She relented. She saw the look in his eyes and once again was reminded of Nate. She felt like her heart was tugging at her. James looked up at Marie.

"You ready to get off now, little girl?" he asked. Marie nodded. He tossed her off onto the sofa. Marie giggled as she jumped off the sofa and ran into another room.

"You're really good with kids." Katherine commented. James sat down and reclined on the sofa next to her. Too close for comfort. He shrugged.

"Guess deep down, I'm just a Child-at-Heart." James flashed his toothy grin once more. Katherine smirked. She didn't know why, but she felt like she could trust this man. He really reminded her of Nate but she wasn't sure exactly what part of James reminded her of Nate. She frowned and maintained her straight posture in her seat.

"What does a settlement need?" Katherine asked. This question seemed to surprise James for his eyes widened while he leaned back in the sofa. Then he flashed that grin that made Katherine was starting to love.

"I'm glad you asked."