Danse double checked that the door was secure and glanced out the one small window. The door was a blast door and the glass in the window was bullet proof, but that didn't mean they were 100% secure. If the raiders were to manage to break in, he could hold them off while his visitors escaped through the emergency tunnel.
He had been alarmed when he saw the flare. He and Nora had worked out a code with a few of the Minutemen flares she kept on her, and she had altered and marked them. One color meant pinned down. Another meant injured. The one she had sent up meant she was coming in under fire. He was supposed to, by their agreement, just get the turrets ready to fire and open up the door for them, but when he heard the gunfire, he couldn't stay and wait. He owed her his life. She had saved him and those who served under him countless times, starting with the second she had walked up on them in Cambridge being overrun by feral ghouls. And later, when she had been sent to kill him, she not only spared him but stood up to Elder Maxson for him. Because of her, Arthur had promised to leave him alone, provided he had no further contact with the Brotherhood.
He didn't hold it against Arthur. He really didn't. After all, he had been the same way himself. He had abhorred technology taken too far. He despised scientists' knowledge outstretching their understanding.
And here, all the time, he had been that which he had hated. It was hard to come to terms with. Even harder to come to terms with was the fact that he had been branded a traitor, although he'd never done anything to betray his brothers and sisters. He had even felt anger when he saw that Nora was with a Railroad agent. Then he remembered that Railroad agents were saving others like him...not what he thought he was, but what he was.
"Paladin Danse."
"I've been stripped of that rank, Paladin. As you well know. I'm placing you in danger just talking to you. If Elder Maxson finds out..."
Nora smiled grimly.
"Elder Maxson can go to hell. I'm sorry, Danse. I know you had a lot of respect for him. But I've come to realize he's dangerously unstable." She walked up to him and rested a hand on his shoulder. "Besides. You saved our asses. What am I going to do, report you?"
Danse gave a bitter chuckle.
"How is your friend? Deacon, was it?"
"Very, very grumpy. Keeps insisting he's OK, and won't let me so much as give him a stimpak."
"Wait until he's sleeping?"
"I'm afraid to let him go to sleep." she admitted. "In fact, I should get back to him. I just wanted to come out and thank you for coming to help us."
"It's nothing you haven't done for me." Danse replied. "Go on. I'll come check on you in a bit. Maybe I can intimidate him into accepting the stimpak."
Nora laughed in spite of her concern, and it was good to hear. She'd gone through so much it was wonderful she even remembered how to laugh.
"He doesn't really intimidate easily, but I suppose it would be worth a shot."
She turned around to head back to the inner rooms.
"Nora?"
She stopped but didn't turn around. "Yes?"
"Thank you."
"For...?"
"For still believing in me."