Silver Lining

Shut Up and Dance

Friday, October 22nd, 2077

Kent Connolly accepted the fact that he was tall years ago. He was the tallest kid in school for most of his primary years and was even one of the tallest in high school. Kent, despite being a few years younger, outgrew his older brother, Buster, and now stood at least an inch or so taller. To most people, it didn't seem like much of a height difference. But to Kent, a few inches may as well have been a few feet. It became very obvious that Kent, while not the tallest man around, was still pretty tall.

This thought was being contemplated while Kent stared at himself in the mirror. Kent had bought two new suits earlier that week. A blue one, and a tan one. Tan seemed to look better on him, but blue would probably match whatever Hannah was going to wear.

Hannah Howard…

He repeated that name in his thoughts all day. He couldn't think of anywhere else he'd rather be than with her. Kent was considering stopping at the store and getting some chocolates for Hannah, but realized that the convenience store would be closed by now. Even so, a lady like Hannah deserved more than just discount chocolates from the corner store. He had a gift in mind for her already and it was sitting in a small, newspaper wrapped package in his pocket.

Kent tried everything to get his hair to work, but nothing happened. It was shaggy, it was russet brown, and it was starting to get long. He had no excuse not to get a haircut now. Kent put his hat on over his impossible hair and decided that tomorrow, after the ball game, he was going to the barber if it killed him.

Shaggy hair or not, tonight was a big night for Kent. Hannah had asked him to escort her to a dance happening at her college, Massachusetts Bay University. Kent wasn't sure why things seemed to be happening in reverse for him. He always thought the guy was supposed to ask the girl to dances and socials and all those things he actually had no interest in. But Hannah was making all the moves. If his parents were still living with them, they'd mutter (unapprovingly) of "the modern woman" and how things have changed since they were kids.

When he finally gave up and fixing his hair and just decided to wear a hat over it all night, Kent left the bathroom and found Buster sitting in the living room. Kent had been in the bathroom for a good two hours at least, fixing up anything he could find wrong with his appearance. He had brushed his teeth so many times, the mint smell out-did his cologne. It was probably for the best, as the only cologne either brother had was the strange smelling stuff their father left behind in the bathroom.

Buster was reading what looked like an advance copy of an article one of his coworkers had given him earlier that day. This one, Kent could see, was by a reporter named Mags Veccio. Kent couldn't remember if he'd ever met her, but Buster spoke very highly of her. He particularly liked reading articles written by his fellow reporter, Mags Veccio. Kent wondered if Buster had a small crush on her.

"Mags did a good job reporting on that Eddie Winter bastard." Buster mumbled, not aware Kent was standing next to the couch. He looked over and saw his brother, but didn't seem too concerned about being overheard. "I did a piece on some crime bosses that worked for Winter a while ago."

Kent remembered that. Buster didn't want the assignment, but took it anyway because the Editor wanted almost his entire staff working on the Eddie Winter case. Kent read the last article Buster did regarding the Eddie Winter trials. Buster had uncovered evidence that another public works project might have been funded by Winter and the other Boston mob families. A secret source told him that the families were defrauding the public out of millions on a project that was going nowhere. He wrote how he believed they were behind the disappearance of a safety inspector that wouldn't take bribes and the article seemed to get the public's attention. It got other attention as well. The day after his article went public, the Connolly Brothers found a small unmarked box at their doorstep. Upon inspection, it seemed to contain nothing but a holotape with Buster's name on it (with Connolly spelled wrong, again). Kent heard Buster put the tape in the portable holotape recorder he used for assignments, but didn't hear the tape itself. After a minute, Buster left the apartment with the tape in hand, saying he needed to check something downtown. He told Kent to lock the door and not to answer it no matter what until he came back. He also said to leave the apartment through the fire escape if anything happened. Kent remembered Buster sleeping in the living room that night, armed with a baseball bat.

Buster had been taken off the Eddie Winter story after that, though Buster felt relieved at not putting himself or his brother in any danger. Even now, sitting on the couch reading Mags' story, Buster couldn't believe Eddie Winter was going to get off scot-free. This made Buster, and everyone else working on the story, very upset. "After everything that scumbag did, he just gets a slap on the wrist and a chance to skip town!" Buster growled. Kent didn't know the details of the article and if it made Buster this mad, he didn't want to know.

"Is that this morning's paper?" Kent asked, holding onto his gift to Hannah in his pocket. "I thought we already got it."

"No…" Buster sighed. "This is for tomorrow's paper. Mags wanted me to proof read it for her. She's coming to get it tonight and it's going straight to the printers." Buster looked like he wanted to throw the report across the room, but didn't. As upset as Buster was, one would think he had to write the column.

There was nothing Kent could say to lighten the mood. "I heard about th-that Jennifer Lands woman." Kent murmured, fixing his tie in the reflection of the window. He was looking out onto the city below, hoping what he was about to say was a good idea. "She was the fiancé of one of the detectives on the case."

Buster sighed, put down the report and leaned on his knees. "Yeah, she was engaged to that Detective Valentine. I interviewed him a few times during the case. Great guy, and top notch detective. I was hoping to get another interview before…" Buster cleared his throat. "…well, you were here when that unmarked package came."

Deciding not to go into that horrible night any further, Kent went back to making sure he was fixed up right. "I h-hope everything goes right, tonight." Kent whispered to his reflection.

"And why wouldn't it?" Buster asked, now completely ignoring the advance report.

"I just…I don't know if I can do it, sometimes. I like Hannah a lot, b-but I just can't seem to get what I want to say out of my mouth." Kent sighed and started rethinking this entire evening.

Buster could see Kent was thinking of taking off the suit and running to his room to hide. Buster would not allow that anymore. "Kenny, you're going to that dance at Massachusetts Bay University. You're going to meet up with Hannah, you're going to sweep her off her feet, and you're going to have a good time if I have to follow you all night to make sure it happens! You can't retreat to your room every time you get scared of something new. If you did that, you'd never see all the great things in life. Yeah, things are screwed up with the world right now, but when you look past all that, you see the good things. I know the world is going to Hell in a handbag, but beyond that, I see my little brother becoming a man and finally getting over all the things that kept him from being happy. That gives me hope for this crazy world."

Kent nodded and asked Buster to make sure everything was set right on his suit. After some dusting off and readjusting the hat, Buster sent Kent on his way. He'd have to take the last bus to the university and then catch a cab home, since the buses didn't run that late.

Kent looked out the window and tried to keep his mind off how nervous he was. The night time buses took strange routes, he noted. This one was going right past C.I.T., the technological college. Probably to pick up students taking late classes, he assumed. Only two or three people got on at the C.I.T. stop, though. Kent had never actually been inside of the Commonwealth Institute of Technology. Very prestigious and secretive from what Buster told him. Every time he and Buster went anywhere near it for whatever reason, Kent got the feeling that it was a sterile, unfeeling place. He heard rumors that sometimes people volunteer for experiments and never come out again.

From what Kent knew, Hannah was going to Mass Bay (as it was referred to by most students), but he never asked what she was majoring in. He wondered if she was the artsy type. She might have been, given her interest in comic books. But she seemed to have at least a little technical know-how, so maybe she was an engineering major. As soon as Kent thought about stopping and getting flowers again, the bus stopped. Kent looked out his window and got up. He was hoping there was a flower stand or something nearby, so he could sneak some quick flowers for Hannah. That idea died when he saw Hannah waiting for him at the bus stop.

He disembarked only seconds before the bus left. There was no going back, now. He was here, she was right in front of him, and the bus was gone. Nowhere to run now, Kent he thought. You're here. You can't back out, now. His gift to Hannah seemed to be burning a hole in his pocket.

"You made it, Kent!" Hannah fluted, grabbing his arm. Hannah practically dragged Kent to the courtyard of the University, where a large group of people were dancing, talking, eating, and overall having a good time. Kent felt himself relax a bit. The night was pretty crisp, but Kent still thought it was odd to have an outdoor celebration in the fall.

There was something wrong with all of this, and Kent felt this happy occasion was forced and all the students around him were doing their best to have fun. How the students stayed warm when they were so close to the river in the autumn was beyond him, but he still tried to blend in. He had noticed the construction equipment when the bus made its way there earlier, but figured they were probably expanding some of the buildings.

Kent noticed, before he could react, that Hannah was dragging him over toward a snack table that had been set up near a building that kind of looked like a bank. "Here, drink this!" Hannah shouted, giving Kent a paper cut. Hoping it wasn't laced with something, Kent took a slow swig. It tasted alright, for being watered down fruit punch. Kent looked around, noticing the decorations seemed rushed and so did the food and music.

Hannah's face didn't seem to share the forced happiness look that seemed to be going around. The music switched quite clumsily to an old Ink Spots song, but Kent couldn't make out which one. The sound system sounded like someone had put a microphone up to a holotape player's speakers and it might have been for all he knew. He couldn't tell where the music was coming from, only that the speakers squeaked and desperately needed to be recalibrated.

Kent's nervousness was replaced with pitied confusion, though he wasn't sure who or what he was supposed to be pitying. He looked over at Hannah, who seemed to be having a jaunty conversation with the girl that was running the food table. Something was definitely wrong, but like the rest of the world, the students here were ignoring it.

Feeling Hannah grab his arm, Kent tried to look like he was having a good time, despite how he felt. Deep in his mind, Kent was starting to wonder if his entire friendship with Hannah was just one elaborate practical joke. Kent started bracing himself for a public pantsing and the pointing and laughing part of this entire evening.

"So, you said this was s-some kind of charity event?" Kent asked, looking around. He was hoping the charity was to help them have a better dance next week.

"That's right." Hannah answered. "One of the clubs here at school is holding this dance to raise money to send goodie boxes to the soldiers rebuilding Anchorage. Since both my brother and uncle served there, I felt I needed to do my part. I volunteered and I made some of the girls in my building do so, too!" Hannah looked around at the pitiful turnout of the dance. "Admittedly, I wish some of the other students were more patriotic. A lot of the students had family serve during the war, but most of them only have negative things to say."

Deciding not to push Hannah into an anti-war tirade, Kent just left it at that. War was a scary thought, and he believed everyone here knew that. It had come so close to home that most people were still denying it even happened. War did that, though, he supposed. Kent knew what that kind of fear could do to a person. When his cousin came back from Anchorage, he was never the same. Kent felt his cousin would never truly adjust to being home again. Despite that, Kent couldn't begin to know how scared Hannah felt. He was never close to his soldier cousin, but Hannah adored her older brother and uncle.

"Kent, are you feeling alright?" Hannah asked, tugging on his arm again.

Shaking his thoughts away Kent looked down at Hannah, who was giving him a worried look. Maybe, if this was some elaborate plot to humiliate him, his life could return to normal. He could return to reading comic books in his room, listening to The Silver Shroud every Friday with Buster, doing his maintenance rounds in peace, and being plain old Kent Connolly. The more he thought about that, the more he realized he didn't want that anymore. It sounded great in his head, but when he thought about not seeing Hannah every day or not thinking about her, it made Kent's stomach turn.

"Hannah, I can't dance." Kent said, finally. "I've only been to a dance hall once in my life and that was b-because my building manager owed a favor to the hall's owner and one of the light fixtures needing fixing. I don't even dance when I'm alone. I would have asked Buster to give me pointers, but he's got two left feet and they're on backwards."

Hannah looked at Kent like a puppy waiting for its food dish to fill. "It's probably for the best." She murmured. "No one is really in a dancing mood right now. They're forcing it. You can tell. I mean, how can anyone really dance with all that's been happening? A lot of weird construction has been happening here on campus and several buildings have been closed or demolished." Hannah and Kent sat down near a row of potted plants, though still in plain sight of everyone. "Some army guys come in and give everyone these weird tests. Some of the questions didn't make sense. There are rumors that they are working on something under the school, which is why there is so much construction going on."

Somewhere, a slow tune came on. Kent recognized the song. Skeeter Davis' "End of the World" played over the now hush crowd. Kent didn't pretend to understand irony, but felt this was pretty spot on for the air of the evening. Kent looked over at the couples paring off to dance to such a sad tune.

"Something is coming." Hannah whispered. "Something is coming and they want us to keep going on, business as usual." Hannah looked away. "How can they expect us to turn a blind eye?" Her voice cracked, and she tightened her grip on her dress. "They talk about another war with China, and building more Vaults for some reason. Do you think that's what all the construction is? I heard they built a vault under a school up in Malden. That's a silly place to put a Vault, right? And what if my brother is called to the front lines again? What if they make Uncle Nate reenlist? Can they do that?"

Kent saw something familiar in Hannah at that moment. Her hang-dog look was the same one he had right before he met her. Kent hadn't realized until that moment how much of an impact she had on his life. He decided he wouldn't let it spread. Kent decided to do something the old Kent Connolly would never do. Though, whether the new Kent Connolly should do this was a matter for debate.

"Hannah Howard…" Kent started, holding out his hand. "…may I have this d-dance?"

The music became a jaunty tune neither recognized. Or maybe they did, but it didn't matter. Hannah just looked up at him. "But you said-"

"It doesn't matter what I said." Kent said, still holding his hand out to her. "All that m-matters is what I do. What we do. If I fall down, break a leg, knock down other people, or if the war comes while we're dancing, then at least we got one d-dance out of it. Until a few weeks ago, all I had in my life was Buster, my job, and the Silver Shroud. I thought that's all I wanted. Then I met you. Now I want more. All the things I didn't realize I was missing out on, I want it all, starting with this dance. Hannah Howard, let's dance. I'd rather look like an idiot for f-five minutes than feel like a one for the rest of my life for not taking a chance."

Before another word could be uttered, Kent found himself tapping his foot to the beat, waiting for Hannah. She soon joined him as the beat became happier. When most of the students were doing their own little nod and shake here and there, Kent and Hannah shimmied to the beat. Hannah and Kent indeed looked like something crazy. Most of the students were wondering if an earthquake was happening only under those two. When Kent took Hannah and twirled her around, he shook his shoulders to no particular rhythm. People were laughing and pointing, but for the first time in his life, Kent didn't care.

After a while, everyone else seemed to get into the spirit of things. To Kent, it was like they were two children on the playground, spinning as fast as they can while holding each other's hands. Whatever was happening outside of this little area, he didn't care. He didn't care if they fell down. He didn't care if everyone laughed. Hannah let go of his hands and watched Kent fly back into a potted plant. He laughed when she did. She shook her hips to the tune. Kent dusted himself of and ran back up to her, taking her waist and dancing alongside her.

When they finally gazed into each other's eyes, it was like seeing destiny. In Hannah's eyes, Kent felt like he could see his future. War be damned, Kent wasn't going to waste his time anymore.

After their moment in the spotlight had ended and they watched everyone else make fools of themselves, Kent and Hannah escaped the festivities and ran to a nearby park. They were laughing like two school children playing hooky and felt like it too. Hannah couldn't keep her excitement contained and she burst into laughter when they found a bench by the waterfront. Neither sat down.

"Kent!" she shouted through bursts of laughter. "That was amazing!"

"Th-that was crazy!" Kent replied, shaking a bit with his laughter. To the old lady walking her dog a few feet away, they probably looked like two loonies that escaped from Parson's and crashed a party. "I don't think I've ever done anything th-that crazy! I d-danced! Well, I did something resembling dancing anyway!"

Hannah jumped into Kent's arms and gave him a big hug. "Oh, Kent! Thank you so much! I was so disappointed when the turn out to the dance was so dismal after all the hard work we put into it, but if you hadn't started dancing, or what resembled dancing, it would have been a bust! Thank you!"

Kent and Hannah stood there, staring into each other's eyes for a bit. The night was young, but so were Kent and Hannah. Kent knew he liked Hannah a lot, but right now, he felt more. Hannah understood him and even danced with him when he looked like an idiot. She never judged him for his anxiety and never nagged him. He figured, once they got serious (if they did), that would change. Kent always wondered why his father didn't seem to mind when his mother nagged him. But now he understood. It didn't matter that Mr. Connolly forgot to take out the trash or was spending too much time listening to the radio, it was that he had someone who cared and loved him enough to try and get him off the couch. For Mr. Connolly, it was Mrs. Connolly. For Kent, it was Hannah.

Since he had already done something stupid tonight, Kent decided to do something so stupid, Hannah would either reciprocate or slap him. Kent leaned forward and kissed Hannah while a nearby radio in someone's window played "Stranger in Paradise" by the Ink Spots. Hannah didn't scream for the cops, she didn't slap him, and she didn't laugh. Hannah kissed back. Her lips were soft, like a Fancy Lad snack cake that had been warmed up. This feeling, this sensation, is something he'd remember for the rest of his life.

It seemed like forever, but it was only a few seconds. Kent didn't want to leave this moment. It was like the episode where the Silver Shroud finally kissed the Mistress of Mystery after ten whole episodes of will they/won't they tension. Kent nearly ripped his hair out at that episode.

When they parted, Hannah smiled and leaned against his chest. The water reflected the moonlight and the lights of the city across the river. Maybe tomorrow wouldn't be so bad. Maybe, all this panic and all this fearmongering was pointless. The future seemed bright and for once, Kent wasn't scared.

They found themselves at an all-night diner not far from the University later that night. Kent knew Buster would be worried and decided to call him from a payphone when he and Hannah finished eating. There were only three other people in the diner with them. One was a student doing some last minute test cramming while nursing a constantly refilled cup of coffee, and the other two looked like men that were about to go in for the night shift somewhere and were grabbing a quick bite.

Kent and Hannah sat in a booth far from all these things. If they hadn't been laughing and carrying on like two crazies about to be taken to Parson's, the waitress would have forgotten they were there. Kent knew this diner well, because he and Buster used to eat here all the time when their parents moved. It was cheap, it was close to the University, and late at night, when the day manager had gone home, the night crew turned the juke box off and turned on the regular radio. It was well known that the night crew liked listening to late night repeats of radio shows to pass the time.

"Oh! Before I forget!" Kent whispered, knowing the waitress was getting tired of coming over and telling them to hush. "I wanted to give this to you." Kent put something wrapped in old newspaper on the table and Hannah opened it. Kent couldn't afford jewelry, but he could give her something that meant a lot to him.

Hannah shouted excitedly and jumped up, holding her gift tightly. The waitress glared at her and she sat back down. "Kent! I love it! I can't believe it! Are you sure?" Hannah asked, standing the Silver Shroud action figure up beside her untouched coffee.

"Y-Yes, Hannah." Kent mumbled. "I wish I could buy you something nicer, but I know you were upset that you didn't get one of those Silver Shroud action figures in time. So, I'm giving you mine. The Silver Shroud means a lot to me. But you mean more."

Hannah smiled, ignoring the radio saying it was doing a repeat of the earlier evening's broadcast and playing the promo for it. Kent did something else at that moment. He put his hand on hers and didn't take his eyes off her. Nothing else in that diner mattered. Nothing else in the world mattered. Tonight, Kent danced with Hannah and tomorrow he'll be sitting with her and her family. Maybe it was time to ask Hannah if she was comfortable taking their friendship to the next level. Kent couldn't wait to tell Buster about this.

When evil walks the streets of Boston, one man lurks in the shadows. Shielding the innocent, judging the guilty. That guardian is…the Silver Shroud! Today's episode: The Mechanist Unmasked!


Hi, hi!

So, should we tell Kent the bad news? Nah, let's let him have one more day…or, at least a day and a half.

I would like to apologize for being about a month or so late with this update. I had some…personal things happen that I'd rather not discuss and it ate up a lot of my free time. That and drama at work and my life yada-yada you don't care. Let's just say my mind has been in a VERY dark place recently. But everything is semi-fine now!

I did some spring cleaning in earlier chapters, fixing spelling mistakes and grammar mishaps. I changed a few things too. For example, Hannah goes to Massachusetts Bay University now, not CIT. I thought I had something there, but I didn't.

Anyone else having uploading problems? I tried uploading an updated chapter the other day and it wouldn't let me. I had to use an older format to upload it. But, whatever works I suppose. I hope they fix that soon.

Ahh, but all good things must come to an end, yes? This story has about two chapters to go, maybe three if I decide to do that epilogue.

So, how did I do? Yes, I know, I'm terrible at writing dancing and fighting scenes, but I did my best! Just ignore that and tell me how I did! Write me a lovely review (or a hateful one, but please keep it clean) and keep this story going!

Read, review, and be merry! (not particularly in that order lol)

Kent Connolly and Fallout belong to Bethesda