The next few days were brutal. Margot would get up early to go on patrol with Preston, and spend her afternoons sparring with Hancock. As per her request-he wasn't holding back. She had been knocked on her ass more times than she could count. His combat skills were exceptional and she wanted to learn everything she could from him. By the end of the day she was hurting in every inch of her body, but she was improving rather well. Hancock had assured her that eventually she would tone up and not hurt as much; and that the strain being put on her body was necessary to build up her muscles. Margot figured he was just having fun showing off.

It was on the fifth afternoon of her "break". She had finally succeeded in blocking his attacks without getting knocked about. They had been working for a few hours while the sky around them slowly turned a sickly greenish-yellow announcing the arrival of a radstorm. They stopped when they felt the first few drops of rain hit and ducked inside the visitor's house for cover. Margot flopped down gratefully on the couch while Hancock walked into the kitchen to retrieve a couple of Nuka-Colas for them both. She accepted hers with a smile and stared absently out of the front window at the coming storm. It slowly got darker outside and cast shadows in the room around them. Hancock lit a lantern on the low coffee table and took a seat in an old armchair across from her.

"You know-I don't think I'll ever get used to these storms. I used to love the rain. I'd sit for hours wrapped up in a warm blanket with a good book listening to the sounds it made hitting the roof." She sighed and took a sip of her soda. "Those were the days." Hancock watched her as she sat there, lost in thought. Eventually his curiosity got the better of him.

"What was it like? Before the war I mean." She turned to look at him and smiled.

"It was nice. We had our problems-don't get me wrong, but there were a lot of good times too. We went on vacations, saw movies on Friday nights...Sometimes I think we had it too good, you know? Like everything we had sort of blinded us to the real problems we were facing. No one expected the war to happen, but it came and broke-up our peaceful little existence. That's why I wanted to become a lawyer. I thought that I could work towards helping people and maybe make the world a better place. Never really got my chance though." She laughed to herself and continued. "I guess that's why I spend so much of my time now helping others in any way I can."

"And you lived here? In this old neighborhood right?" Her smile faltered slightly and he instantly regretted the question.

"This was Michael and Lindsay Jones' place." She gestured around her. "I used to watch their little girl on Tuesdays. We had a few dinner parties here too. I used to pretend maybe someday Shaun would-" she stopped short and quickly looked away. "Anyways yeah-I used to live here." He knew he shouldn't-but for some reason he couldn't stop himself from pressing further.

"What did you find out about your son? In Goodneighbor?" Her eyes flashed back to him and he continued. "I know everything that goes on in my town." She looked down at the floor and was silent for so long he was afraid he had gone too far. But then she looked back up at him and he could see she was trying to maintain her composure.

"The Institute has him." She started. "He's not even a baby anymore. He's probably around eight or nine. If I saw him in a crowd I probably wouldn't recognize him...I missed so much of my son's childhood..." She looked devastated and he couldn't resist reaching out to grab hold of her hand reassuringly. She jumped at the contact but didn't pull away; instead she grasped hold of him and took a deep breath.

"Hey-we will find him, ok? Whatever it takes. We'll get him back." She gave him a weak half smile and blinked away the tears threatening to fall. She nodded and started chewing on her lip. It was a little nervous habit of hers he had seen quite often. After a moment she gently pulled her hand away and pushed herself back on the couch.

"So what about you Hancock? What's your story?" He sat back and scavenged his pants pockets for a canister of Jet.

"Not much else to tell really. At least-nothing of particular interest." She frowned at him and cocked her head to one side.

"Oh c'mon Hancock, I told you about my past. It's only fair." She leaned forward again with interest and he sighed.

"What do you want to know?" He asked resignedly.

"Just tell me more about yourself. For starters..." She paused and smiled sheepishly at him. "Just how old are you?" He looked at her confused for a moment before he started laughing.

"Not as old as you think sister. I wasn't always this good-looking you know. I was a regular guy once. Back when I lived in Diamond City." She narrowed her eyes at him a little as he talked.

"What made you leave?" she asked him.

"Before McDonough took over as mayor it was a half-decent place. That monster destroyed what was good about that town."

"You knew McDonough?"

"Oh yeah-guy's my brother. We grew up together in a little shack on the waterfront." As he spoke he reached over to grab a bottle of whiskey that had been left on the table next to him.

"McDonough is your brother?" Her voice was soft, with a touch of surprise to it. "What happened?" Hancock took a swig of the whiskey and chuckled to himself a bit.

"What always happens. We grew up. It wasn't a bad childhood-we got along pretty well actually. He was the typical big brother type. But then he decides he's gonna try and get elected as mayor. Even comes up with this anti-ghoul campaign to fuel his crusade." He laughed darkly. "'Mankind for McDonough.' All about pushing the ghouls out of Diamond City for good. There'd always been a pretty big gulf between the folks living in the stands and those down on the field. So he runs with it; and somehow manages to get folks who used to call each other neighbors lining up to drag innocent ghouls out of their homes and throw 'em to the ruins." Margot just stared back at him, a look of shock growing on her face.

"My God...Hancock-I'm so sorry..." He took another drink and stared down at his boots.

"Those people in Diamond City may not have pulled the trigger-but in my opinion they as good as signed the death warrants of countless ghouls. Folks who were my friends. I felt like I was the only one why saw how screwed up things truly were, who couldn't pretend things were fine. My brother had changed-he wasn't the same man. I remember his hideous fucking smile as people were being led out of the city. I didn't even recognize him..." He was quiet a minute as he took another long drink.

"I'd been sneakin' off to Goodneighbor for years to get decent chems so that's where I went. I tried to find some of the families of ghouls-lead them there...they weren't cut out for that town. After a while they just disappeared." The rain beat down harder outside and an electrified flash of light lit up the dark room around them. "I failed them...and I gotta live with that." The room was silent for a few minutes and he finally looked up. Her eyes were red as she stared back. She didn't say anything at first, they just looked at each other quietly.

"That's terrible Hancock, I'm so sorry. But it wasn't your fault. You did everything you could-you have to know that." He just chuckled and shook his head.

"Where were you a few years ago? You have no idea how many times I told myself that. But every day I saw their faces. I grew up with these people; I knew all their names. And they were gone-just like that." He snapped his fingers in the air and looked back down at his boots. "I started spending a lot of time down in the Third Rail. Drinking myself silly and taking as many chems as I could get my hands on. It was one of those such trips that I became the handsome devil you see today. I woke up at the foot of some old display case with these clothes in it. I realized I had fallen so far I hardly recognized myself anymore. So I figured I would re-invent myself. John McDonough is long gone. John Hancock is who I am now. A man who was of the people, for the people."

"Me and some of the other residents of Goodneighbor banded together to form a militia and take down this mob boss, Vic, who was running my town. After that they made me mayor. Huh-funny how life works out." He passed the bottle over to her and she took a drink.

"I'd be lying if I said I didn't think about how different life would have been if those bombs hadn't fallen." She mused. "But they did. I not only lost my past-I lost everything. And I became the soul survivor of Vault 111." She took a pack of cigarettes out of her pocket and offered him one. He took it and leaned forward to offer her a light.

"Did you have a good life? Before everything went to shit?" He asked her with a touch of amusement. She smiled back at him and winked.

"My childhood was awesome. I had the best parents a girl could ask for. But I couldn't wait to grow up and explore everything life had to offer me. I was a bit of a hopeless romantic when I was younger. I was only eighteen when I met Nathaniel. Our town had a function to honor those who were serving in the war." She was staring straight ahead and Hancock had the distinct impression she was looking into the past. "There was a dance. Young ladies dressed in colorful dresses spinning around with the dashing young heroes in uniform." Her voice grew softer-her eyes were misty. She described a scene so vivid he could swear he saw it too. "I remember I had just finished reading a novel where the main character was kissed by her handsome true love and they lived happily ever after. So-when Nathaniel kissed me in the rose garden naturally I-" she trailed off, suddenly coming back to the present. Her gaze drawn to the floor. Hancock could guess the rest.

"But it was different-after the rose garden wasn't it?" He supplied. She met his eyes slowly and nodded.

"We got married within a week, then he was off to war. I had this stupid romanticized vision of marrying the gallant hero, settling down and happily...ever...after..."she enunciated those last words with just a touch of bitterness. Then she laughed a hollow laugh to herself and took a long drag of her cigarette. "Foolish dreams of a foolish girl." She was silent again-lost in thought. Hancock hesitated with his next question.

"Margot...was he...I mean...did he...?" It took her a moment for her to register his words and she smiled slightly.

"No-nothing like that. I didn't know my husband when we got married. That was my fault. I was young and impulsive, and he was every bit the hero I wanted him to be. We made a dumb mistake and didn't realize it till it was too late. He came home from the fight and we tried like hell to make it work-even thinking a baby would make us into a family." She smiled and shook her head again. "Shaun was a wonderful baby-and for a time we were happy. But we just couldn't get past the fact that we had little in common. In truth-we didn't really love each other. He was a good husband to me though, and a great father to Shaun. It was never enough though. " She took another drink of the whiskey and held it out for him to take.

"Seems like we both got some damage huh Mr. Mayor?" He took the bottle from her outstretched hand and laughed.

"You got that right sister."