"Are you sure we're doing the right thing?" Katherine asked. "I hate to think that leaving the Commonwealth for so long to the Brotherhood is good for it."
"Trust me." James responded. "A few months is nothing. They'll get a lot done, but we'll have something much better." James grunted as he hiked up the hill. Dogmeat panted as he ran past James and Katherine, enjoying the spring breeze on the trail and playing with Marie as she ran through the tall grass that grew along the trail.
"It's been so long." Katherine thought aloud.
"Since what?" James asked.
"Since I've been to D.C." Katherine said. She smiled at James, who smiled back. She almost seemed giddy to James, as if she were about to break out into skips at any second.
"Trust me, it's nothing like what you knew it as." He said.
"Well, it certainly can't be as bad as the Commonwealth." Katherine responded. James stepped over the ridge and reached the viewing area that stood above Raven Rock. He could see the Washington Monument in the far distance.
"I guess that depends on perspective." James said. Katherine stared out at the ruins of the city. She covered her mouth with her hand.
"I'm sorry." She said. "I guess, after all the stories you'd told me and the difference you and the Brotherhood tried to make, I'd hoped that the Capital would've been more restored than the Commonwealth."
"She definitely needs work." James said as he rested his leg on a rock. "But things are farther along here than in the Commonwealth for sure."
"Why did you leave?" Marie asked.
"Well, I've left quite a few times." James responded. "Always for a different reason."
"Why this last time?" Katherine asked.
"I was warned by an acquaintance that something was coming. Something I couldn't stop. So me being me, I'm trying to stop it." James responded.
"What is it you're trying to stop?" Katherine asked. James turned to Katherine and opened his mouth.
"No need to say any more, Colonel." A familiar voice called from behind the three of them. James turned to the direction from where the voice came from. He recognized the blond haired man immediately.
"Arcade." James said.
"When I heard the recall signal sent out by Eden, I couldn't believe it. The dead organization that my father worked for was suddenly alive again. I simply had to investigate." Arcade shot James a smile. "Welcome home."