Max cries out upon seeing Agnes, running into her arms. She holds him tightly, promising to never leave him again. He was only three when she left and now Max is eight, her toddler replaced by a tall boy.
"Oh my child," she grins. "When did you get so big?"
Max smiles, a carbon copy of his father. Her brother, Adam grins mightily upon seeing his long lost sister, embracing her tightly. Meredith, Aria, and Miranda join, enveloping Agnes in joyous celebration.
...
After dinner, Adam and Agnes sit on the front porch.
"Go ahead and ask," she says to his pointed look.
"Who was that man? The one that came by?"
"Did he come up here?," Agnes asks instead.
"No, Jonathan kept a good eye on him. Said the man wandered around but kept to himself."
"Good," she replies.
"Who is he? Should I worry?"
"No, it should be fine. He probably won't be back."
"But who is he?," Adam presses.
"Just someone I thought I knew," she replies.
That night Agnes lay in bed with Max sleeping beside her. The only good to come from the Legion, she thinks as she looks upon her son.
A month after her betrothed left, Agnes found herself pregnant. Pater was very angry. Mother worked hard to reassure her husband that once Maximus returned, the two would be married and everything would work out just fine. When Pater broke the news that Maximus would never return, Agnes cried for days. Grief turns to anger as Agnes began to rail against the Legion, the Bull had taken her Father, her brothers, and now her betrothed.
Agnes and Pater begin to fight almost every day, her Mother is quick to place blame on her daughter's changing hormones for her misplaced anger. After one particular nasty argument, Pater points out that her baby will belong to Caesar since Maximus was a Legionary. Losing all sense, Agnes attacks her Stepfather. Easily subduing the young girl, she collapses against his chest, sobbing uncontrollably in his arms.
Agnes cries again upon seeing she had given birth to a boy, initially refusing the child. Upon seeing his innocent blue eyes, she vows that Caesar would never have him. She names the boy after his father: Maximus Sisco Tutor.
Her Mother comes up with an idea to protect her only grandchild, The Rule of Firstborn. The Rule was created when the Legion arrived all those years ago, something her Father helped broker. Only the firstborn children would be spared from the Legion's never ending need of fresh "stock." It was better to lose some than lose them all, her Father had reasoned. The Rule of Firstborn had protected Adam and it would protect Max.
With the help of a sympathetic doctor, Max's birth is registered under her oldest brother, Adam and his wife Meredith. Meredith is unable to have children due to a pregnancy in her teen years that went horribly wrong. Pater was not keen on the plan but was interested in keeping his dignity intact. Apparently whatever scandal that kept Maximus from reappearing was enough to make the retired Decanus comply with the scheme. It worked like a charm, her son would be free. Even when she fled Arizona, Agnes thought only to keep Max safe, concerned that too much attention would reveal the truth of his parentage.
Seeing his image as she sat at the table of the Bull was difficult for her to handle. The possibility of losing him brought her to heel. Though she loved her brothers dearly, it was her son that she fought to return to.
Her mind wanders to Vulpes as it often does. The spy did bear a remarkable resemblance to her lost beloved; however, she is certain Maximus would have never treated her in such a fashion. To be so willing, only to taken from still upset her greatly. The image of that charred crucifix stump flashes in her mind, his given explanation never sat right with her.
"Perhaps he did it for you," the tiny voice supposes. "An apology of sorts."
"Perhaps he's just a sadistic bastard that likes to set bound prisoners on fire," she mentally challenges.
The voice tuts, "What about the flowers and Siri?"
Siri can be easily explained as Vulpes looking out for his own best interests, Caesar would not be pleased to have his "gift from Mars" die from mistreatment. The flowers are harder to explain away. Agnes sighs, that man is as much of a mystery as he is a proud asshole. Despite being together for such a long time, she knew very little about him.
Drifting off to sleep, her mind wanders back to the Mojave, a place full of sand, blood, and misery, the birthplace of the Courier. A curious voices comes up from the darkness.
"What about Yes Man?"
With the blast doors shut tightly, she doubts that the Legion would be able to gain access to the interior of the Lucky 38. The module installed at the Substation guarantees a steady supply of energy. One day she would return. Fifty thousand upgraded Securitrons sit in the dark confines of their underground bunker, right under Caesar's nose. They have waited two hundred years to serve, what's a few years more?