The next day, Tatum woke to her alarm clock buzzing by her head. She clicked it off and stared at the rounded ceiling. She had had a fitful night of sleep, one terrible dream after another. Several had to do with Elder Maxson and Paladin Danse, fighting to the death. Danse always won because of his inhuman, robot strength.

I thought this was a family. The voice inside her head kept repeating. How can he be so quick to sentence Danse to death? She lay in bed feeling cold and alone. She hadn't removed her Brotherhood uniform before sleeping last night and the buckles were digging in to her skin. However, she didn't have the strength to move and alleviate the pressure.

If I was a synth, would he get rid of me too? She asked herself but already knew the answer. A tear glided from her eye to her ear and she hastily wiped it away. Of course he would. I'm nothing to him or the Brotherhood. Danse was a Paladin, I'm just barely an initiate. Her thoughts turned dark, she couldn't believe she had fallen for Maxson so easily. He was a terrible person that did terrible things. And so did Danse; his revulsion towards ghouls, feral and non-feral alike, was overly abundant. Had he been there when the Brotherhood killed her family, she would have no doubts in her mind that it wouldn't have been an accident, he would have ordered them to shoot without hesitation.

Despite that, a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach surfaced every time she thought about him being executed. He had given his entire life to the Brotherhood of Steel and Maxson was just going to throw it all away. So what if he's a robot? Who cares? They have a Mr. Handy inside this very ship. She didn't understand what the difference was, one robot vs. another.

"Good morning." A timid Scribe Haylen had walked over to Tatum's bed. She hadn't noticed the woman approach and quickly rubbed her eyes, pretending they were wet from sleep and not tears.

"Oh. Uh, hi." Tatum said sitting up. Haylen sat on her bed and looked Tatum in the eyes. The young girl wasn't sure she liked having someone else come to her private island, but she decided she would hear the woman out.

"Thank you." Haylen whispered. Tatum tilted her head, unsure as to what she was being thanked for. "I heard you talked some sense in to Elder Maxson." Her voice dropped even quieter. "He let Danse live."

"Really?!" Tatum blurted in surprise. Haylen held a finger to her lips to remind her to keep her voice down. Tatum inched closer and whispered, "He's alive?"

"Yes." Haylen smiled brightly. "Thanks to you and Knight Nina, Danse still lives. Although he's been banished from the Brotherhood and as far as anyone knows, he is dead." She put her finger to her lips again and gave Tatum a wink. "I just thought I'd let you know, between friends." Tatum smiled, she liked that. Haylen was one of her very few friends aboard the Prydwen and she was very thankful that she had come to visit this morning. Haylen was welcome on Tatum's island, any time she wanted.

"I'm so glad." Tatum said, feeling a warmth spreading through her again. "It just didn't feel right, you know?" Haylen nodded seriously.

"But don't mention it to Elder Maxson, I'm not supposed to know." The scribe told her and Tatum promised she wouldn't. Haylen glanced at the clock. "I think you're late?" She asked. Tatum looked at the clock as well, her shift had started ten minutes ago.

"Crap!" She said as she jumped out of bed. "I must've laid there longer than I thought." Haylen gave her a kind smile and excused herself while Tatum quickly pulled her hair in to a ponytail. She stopped long enough to give Haylen a nod and a smile.

Two weeks passed since Danse's exile and Tatum hadn't spoken with Elder Maxson once. She saw him, here and there, but they never made eye contact. She was certain he was avoiding her. Fine, if that's how you're going to treat me then I won't talk to you either. He let Danse live, he knows I was right. Can't he just admit it? That had been how she felt the first week, anger getting the better of her. But as she progressed in to the second week, her resolve was fading. Why won't he talk to me? Did our kiss mean nothing?

All day Tatum had been helping Knight Captain Cade and Proctor Quinlan sort through old medical journals that a group of scribes had found in a broken down hospital. Her hands were starting to feel numb from flipping through page after page. Half of this stuff doesn't even apply anymore! She was tired and felt irritated that the two men were happily talking to each other and almost completely leaving her out of the conversation. Their medical jargon was way beyond anything that Tatum understood and she could have sworn that Proctor Quinlan kept looking down his nose at her.

Just as Tatum was about to throw the journals in her hands, in to the air and scream at the top of her lungs, Mess Officer Sparks came to her rescue. He knocked on the wall of Quinlan's office. Quinlan's cat meowed sleepily from the desk.

"What is it?" Quinlan pushed up his glasses and scowled at Sparks. "Can't you see we are very busy?"

"Yes, I can." Sparks wasn't going to take any of his shit, even if he was his superior. "I've come to retrieve Initiate Tatum." He gave her a smile and she eagerly set down the journals. He directed his attention to Cade. "Elder Maxson sent you a message but you never answered so he had me come instead."

"Elder Maxson?" Tatum was surprised. After all this time, he was finally going to talk to her? Or maybe he just wanted her to do something for him. Her mood dampened as her thoughts grew darker.

"That's right. He'd like you, and me, to report to the airport immediately." He said with a smile as her expression showed how confused she was.

"Well, then." Cade nodded his head. "Can't be helped. Dismissed." He told Tatum and she saluted him before the two left Quinlan's office.

"So what's going on?" She asked once they were several paces away. She noticed that he walked with a slight limp.

"You really don't know?" He asked and she shook her head.

"I haven't talked to Elder Maxson in weeks." The look on her face told Sparks that she was not in a very good mood.

"Uh…" He didn't know if telling her what Maxson wanted would make her even angrier. "Maybe it's best that he tells you." Tatum was known as kind of a wild card and he didn't want her to run away from him. Luckily she didn't press for more information.

They walked to a vertibird that was docked but ready to go. Sparks hopped on to the bird and helped Tatum up. They took their seats and flew down to the landing pad at the airport. Tatum followed Sparks to wherever it was that they were supposed to go.

She looked all around her, observing the people walking by, their heads full of duties and responsibilities. No one paid any attention to the two of them as they made their way to a large and empty room. The only things in the room were people, no chairs or tables, computers or supply crates.

About twenty people were in the room. Some were talking, others stood around looking nervous. Tatum felt like she was one of the latter. Sparks pointed discreetly in to the crowd. Her eyes followed his finger. In the middle of the group was Elder Maxson, talking with several people.

Tatum's heart fluttered excitedly before her head had the chance to tell it not to, that Elder Maxson was a bad man. She took a deep breath and tore her eyes away from him. He wasn't wearing his coat like he normally was, his suit fit in all the right places.

"OK, now are you going to tell me what's going on?" She looked back at Sparks and put her hands on her hips.

"We're training." He said while rubbing his ear; it was a nervous tick that he had. "Elder Maxson said that since you're an initiate, you need to be trained physically as well as mentally."

"I'm going to be exercising?" She wasn't thrilled about the idea.

"Yup!" He said happily. "But don't worry, you're not alone." He gestured to the room of people.

"Who are they?"

"New recruits." He said as he gently took Tatum's wrist and pulled her closer to the group. "Come on, let's go meet them."

"Wait." Tatum turned on the brakes and Sparks stopped in his tracks. He looked back at her, his brow furrowing. "Why is he here?"

"Elder Maxson?" He asked and she nodded. "Because he's training too. Cool, huh?" He smiled but she didn't return it.

"Why?"

"I'm not sure…" He rubbed his ear again. "You could go ask him, he seems to have a soft spot for you."

"Yeah right." Tatum laughed without humor. "Maybe he used to, but not anymore. I told you, I haven't talked to him in weeks."

"Why not?"

"Because, no offense, he's a big jerk." She crossed her arms over her chest. "He's definitely not the man I thought he was." Sparks stared at her, trying to figure out what exactly had made her so mad at him. The last thing he knew, she was taking pancakes to him. A light clicked on inside his head.

"Is this about—" He lowered his voice and bent forward to whisper in her ear. "Is this about Paladin Danse?" Tatum tensed slightly and he knew he had it right. "I don't get it. Are you angry that he had him executed? Danse… well, Danse hated you."

"I know!" She yelled louder than she meant to and several people looked at her. She turned her back to them and stepped closer to Sparks. "I just thought that Maxson had a heart. I was wrong." She didn't look him in the eyes, she didn't want him to see the tears that longed to escape.

"As Elder, he has a really tough job. The hardest anyone could ever have." Sparks talked in a soothing voice and Tatum, although not wanting to forgive Maxson, couldn't help but listen. "I don't envy him, not a bit. He has to make all the hard decisions. The actions of every man and woman in the Brotherhood reflects upon him as the leader." He gave her a kind smile, the kind her father would give her when she had done something stupid and hurt herself. "Try to put yourself in his position."

"If I did, the Brotherhood would be completely different." She said stubbornly. "We wouldn't be killing our own, that's for sure."

Sparks let out a soft sigh and straightened his back. He pat her on the shoulder and gave her another kind smile, as if saying: "you'll see." She wanted to run away from him, to run out of this room and find the nearest exit. She hated the Brotherhood and all they stood for, which was not family.

"Welcome!" A man in his early 40's greeted the crowd. He had a loud voice and a friendly face. His hair was shaved close to his head, like most the men in the Brotherhood, and he had a mustache that curled around his lips like an upside down "U".

The talking quickly died down as everyone in the room looked at the man. Maxson turned to face him as well, pointing his back to Tatum. Her eyes lingered on Maxson and the way his uniform hugged his strong body.

"I'm Knight Sergeant Garrett and I'll be your fitness mentor. Together we'll make the Brotherhood stronger, but it will take ambition and determination."

He gave a speech about how physical health was the key to being a successful member of the Brotherhood. Tatum barely paid attention, she didn't want to be a member at all. She waited impatiently for him to finish.

"I'll be whipping you in to shape, building up your muscles and then teaching you basic combat skills." He paused and looked around, gave Elder Maxson a nod, then continued. "Let's begin. We'll start with a couple stretches then we'll do some basic sit-ups, pushups, and squats."

Everyone fanned out, giving each other plenty of room to exercise. Sparks led Tatum in to the group and they found their positions, in the middle of the back of the group. Maxson made his way over to them and stood beside Tatum. She didn't acknowledge his presence and he didn't say anything to her.

Garrett led them through the stretches, which were no big deal to Tatum. Then the group was split into pairs, Tatum tried to get with Sparks but Maxson was faster. He stood in front of her; she scowled at him but laid on the floor with her knees up and her feet flat against the tile. He knelt and held her feet in place.

"Why are you here?" Tatum asked as she laid, arms folded over her chest.

"Because you need a partner." He played dumb.

"You know what I mean! You're not a new recruit, you don't need to train." She was losing her temper, fast. If other people hadn't started talking, everyone would have heard her.

"Since my injuries I have been neglecting my training. Now that I've healed, I figured that I would start slow." He explained.

Tatum sighed loudly and sat up, her face coming close to his. "You haven't talked to me in weeks." She laid back down before sitting up again. "And now here you are, acting like everything is fine." She repeated her exercise.

"Everything is fine." Maxson said with his usual cold expression. She sat up, slightly out of breath and stared him in the eyes.

"No, it's not." She laid back down. When she sat up again, it was significantly more difficult. She knew that Maxson wouldn't have been tired already and it made her furious.

"Tatum—" He said quietly.

"Don't talk to me." She barked. Several people around her stared but she ignored them. Maxson, however, could not. His integrity was on the line.

"Initiate, do not forget your place. I am your Elder." He warned but she didn't care. With a bit of a struggle, she sat back up.

"I'm done." She said simply as she tried to push herself up to her feet. Maxson reached out and shoved her roughly back to the ground. She laid in shock on the floor. "Wha—" She balked.

"You still have 15 sit-ups left." He said dangerously, his eyes flashing with anger.

She took a deep breath before sitting again. Slowly, and fueled with rage, she finished her sit-ups. The two traded places and Maxson laid on the ground. Tatum sat her butt on his feet and rested her back against his legs. She was severely out of breath and didn't want him to see her sweaty red face. He began his sit-ups, quietly counting out how many he did. His numbers increased much quicker than hers had.

In less than half the time it took Tatum to do 30 sit-ups, Maxson had done 35. She glanced over her shoulder at him when he sat up.

"Show off." She said before quickly turning her head away from him again. He didn't lay back down, he just chuckled.

"Maybe a little." His voice was playful and Tatum peeked at him from the corner of her eye. He had a mischievous smile that made her heart swoon. "But men always show off for the girl they like."

"Hmph!" Tatum crossed her arms over her chest, she wasn't going to be swayed by his words, not after what he was going to do to Danse. No, that's not it. She thought for a moment. I'm mad at him for turning against his family, Danse had nothing to do with it. It didn't matter that it was Paladin Danse that was the synth. It could have been anyone in the Brotherhood, she'd still have been angry.

When everyone in the group had finished with their sit-ups, Knight Sergeant Garrett had everyone start their pushups, twenty five of them. Tatum got off Maxson's feet and knelt on the floor next to him. Everyone got in to position and bodies started dropping down, then back up. Tatum tried but failed her first attempt. Maxson, she saw from the corner of her eye, was on his sixth. She pouted and tried again, failing to lower herself without dropping to the floor.

"You need to put your arms out to the sides." Maxson said, pausing in the proper position. "You're putting your arms under your body and it's preventing you from lowering yourself. You have no stability." He informed her and she sat back on her knees.

"I don't care. I don't want to do this. In fact, I just want to go home." She stood and headed towards the door. With a low growl, Maxson got up and chased after her. He caught up to her in the hallway.

"Stop." He commanded, grabbing her by the wrist. Her free arm swung out, her hand balled in to a fist.

"Get off me!" She screamed as she threw a punch. Maxson caught it and twisted her arm around, pinning it behind her back as he shoved her in to the wall. She cried out in pain when her face hit the brick, angry tears already falling from her eyes.

"Get a hold of yourself. Your reckless attitude is going to get you killed." He warned, his body pressed against her back, holding her arm tightly and at an angle that made it very difficult for her to move without causing pain.

"You're hurting me!" She sobbed, her right cheek scrapped against the wall.

"Then listen." He spoke in her ear, his voice low. "I know you resent me for what happened to Danse but I did what needed to be done."

"He was family!" She yelled out, completely distraught by the whole situation.

"He was not!" Maxson's voice raised too. He took a breath and spoke again, quieter. "He was a machine, not a person. He was created in a lab, artificially, not in the womb of a loving mother."

"And your mother gave you away!" She said intentionally trying to hurt him. He didn't respond immediately. "It doesn't matter if you're born in your mother's womb because not all mothers love their children anyway." She tried to argue more but she suddenly found herself on the floor.

Maxson grabbed her away from the wall and harshly threw her to the floor. She landed with a yelp and he threw himself on top of her, trapping her. She struggled against him but his weight alone was too much for her.

"Shut your mouth!" He had her wrists in his hands, holding them above her head. "You don't know anything. My mother loved me. She sent me to be a part of the greatest military in the world." His chest heaved, full of emotion. "I would be nothing if not for her."

"You are still nothing. Nothing good." Tatum wailed, wiggling her body underneath him. "You are a monster! Let me go!"

"You will die out there." He warned.

"I'd rather be killed by one of those monsters than one that disguises himself as a hero." She tried again to free herself, but Maxson didn't move an inch. "You're worse than Paladin Danse. He may have been a synth that looked like a man, but you're a demon that looks like a man."

Maxson's lip curled in to a snarl, he raised his fist. Tatum threw her, now free, arm over her face to protect herself from his punch. Her eyes tightly shut, bracing for impact but it never came. The hand on her other wrist unwrapped itself from her, finger by finger. Maxson sat back, allowing Tatum to pull herself out from under him.

"Go." He said as she scooted away from him. "If you want to leave, then leave." He masked his emotions and looked in to her eyes. "Take the vertibird back and get your things. Leave your uniform, you won't need it." He stood and looked down at her. "And then never come back. I don't want to ever see your face again."

She got to her feet and cautiously backed away from him. "Fine, I will." She said, still watching him closely to see if this was a trap. He turned his back to her and took a step before stopping and turning his head to the side, his eyes not meeting hers.

"Maybe you'll run in to Danse… because I decided to spare him." He didn't wait around for her to reply, he didn't care what she had to say. He walked back towards the training room even though he didn't feel like doing anything except killing something. Maybe he would go on the next mission and work through some of his pent up anger.

Tatum didn't follow, she didn't retreat either. She was glued to the spot, too many thoughts in her head. It was true, he did spare Danse's life, but after everything that had happened, she couldn't stay any longer. The things she had said to him and the way he always resorted to violence to prove his dominance, she knew things would never get better.

Without a second glance she ran back to the helipad and climbed in to the vertibird. She didn't look at or talk to anyone on her way to her bed. Her clothes were folded in a chest and she quickly put them on. The Brotherhood uniform that had been given to her was thrown carelessly across her bed. She thought about Haylen, Cade, and Sparks; her three friends. She would miss them but truly felt like they wouldn't think about her ever again. They might even be glad that she's gone and not causing trouble for anyone anymore.

No one stopped her as she marched through the Prydwen. No one really paid attention to her at all, which was fine by her. They would all be a distant memory soon enough. She had the vertibird pilot take her back to the airport and from there she found a hole in the wall that she crawled through and stepped out in to the Commonwealth.

A small smile spread across her face. She was finally going home.