Something was patting her face. When Madelyn looked she met MacCready blue eyes, then she rubbed her face and Duncan's form came into focus. "I have to go potty," he whispered his cheeks red.

"Oh..." she sat up. She'd fallen asleep on the ground. "Um, where's your daddy?"

"Sleeping, he doesn't feel good."

"Did you tell him you have to go potty?" she asked. He straightened up and she stood.

"No, I thought I could go by my self," he said, his little voice giving her a smile despite everything. "My belt got stuck."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I can help," she whispered and he reached out for her hand and she took it and followed him to the bathhouse where she helped him unbuckle his belt and adjust his pants. "I'll wait outside," she promised, "let me know if you need more help."

Outside she stood with her back to the wall and her arms across her chest, nodding off as she had closed her eyes against the pale morning light. She tried to remember her dream but she couldn't think of anything. The shuffling of feet made Madelyn open her eyes and squint at someone coming her way.

It was Nate who was rubbing his head and running his fingers through his hair. He looked like shit. He didn't say anything to her as he passed to go into the bathroom, he probably didn't even notice her. The bathhouse was built with multiple stalls so she didn't worry about Duncan.

"I need help," a little voice whisper shouted and Madelyn answered the call. When they were leaving she walked him over the water pump people used to rinse their hands after going. "Thank you, Ma-ddy." He seemed to try really hard to pronounce it like that. She frowned just a little wondering if his father had coached him.

"You're welcome, sweetie," she knelt onto the sidewalk to put herself at his level. "Did you wanna go back to sleep?"

"No," he shook his head quickly, grinning.

"Then what did you wanna do?"

"Breakfast!" he said throwing his arms up. He was far more awake now and she felt ages behind him.

"Okay, I think I can do that," she looked around. Most of the settlement would be nursing hangovers so she didn't imagine she'd get much help from them.

Upon finding a cooking station she tried to throw together some things that were stored near by but she didn't have the foggiest idea what to do with the meats that she couldn't even name. "This is Brahmin right?" She looked at Duncan who was sitting on a chair swinging his feet happily, but he shrugged.

"That's deathclaw, actually." The voice came from the bunkhouse where a woman was putting her hair up as she crossed the street. It was red like blood and shaved on the sides despite the length of the ponytail. Madelyn had seen a few women on the Prydwen wear that hair, but this woman wasn't military, she was one of the pair that looked like raiders. "I should know, I killed it," she added as she came up to the cooking station. She wasn't wearing her armor now, but she had on her road leathers.

"You killed this deathclaw?"

"Probably, I sold a bunch of meat to the settlement when I got here, so more than likely that's on of mine." She bent and flipped the cooler open to check it out. "Yeah, that's mine, fresh. Only a day old." She straightened up. Her face was spattered with blood and dirt, which masked most of her features under the texture. Madelyn couldn't really get a read on her.

"Um, so how do I cook it?" Madelyn looked down at it.

"Oh, not a breakfast thing, noooooo," the woman took the slab of meat from Madelyn's hands and dumped it back into the cooler. "No, no no, you'll be hurting after that puppy, fills you up way passed full and that's not what you wanna do at breakfast."

"Oh, thanks," she looked at the other coolers.

"Mmm, radroach is pretty good for breakfast, or, oh, mongrel," the woman picked through the meats, picking them up to show them to Madelyn who couldn't tell the difference.

"Um, whatever you suggest." The woman looked at her and smiled, the action squinting her eyes because of her full cheeks.

"I like you, what's your name, kid?"

"Madelyn," she answered.

"Oh, you're the birthday girl, sorry I didn't get you anything, we weren't really… invited? We just happened to be here. I'm Rowan," she dropped a cut of meet and offered a hand to Madelyn. She tried to smile and nodded, reaching out to shake the woman's hand.

"Nice to meet you," Madelyn said politely and the woman smirked.

"Not met many wastelanders have you?"

"Well, I don't…" Madelyn didn't know how to answer that.

"We're a bit different than settlers, I don't really have a 'home'– makes me weird to some people," she explained and then picked up a large, round, thick hunk of meat. "Bloatfly for the win."

"Why don't you live here in Sanctuary?" Madelyn asked as she got out of the way so the woman could cook the meat.

"Oh, Chad wouldn't have that, he doesn't really… like people," she explained and Madelyn noticed that her smirk seemed forced now.

"Who's Chad?"

"My mate," she said simply and this time she frowned, but it disappeared behind a stoic look quickly.

Duncan tugged on Madelyn's shirt and she looked at him, "Can I play and come back? This is boring…"

Madelyn laughed a little and nodded, "Please don't go far, I want to be able to see you."

"Promise," he said and slid off the chair to run off to a playground that had been built up around an old, prewar one.

"He yours? He's absolutely adorable," Rowan said, stirring the meat over the flame.

"Oh, no, he's a… uh, friend's kid…" she didn't know what to say and stopped the explanation there.

"Sorry, he just looks a lot like you," the wastelander said and looked at the meat. "I want kids, but…"

"But what?" Madelyn raised an eyebrow at the woman. She had to be a few years older than her. Well, maybe not as many as she thought, learning that she was two years older than she was still hadn't sunken in. She was eighteen? She felt like she had lost two years of her life. Like they were ripped away, not just that she'd forgotten them.

"Chad doesn't want them. I…" she flinched at a memory and then shook her head. "Sorry, I shouldn't be talking about that, here."

"Why not?" Madelyn's confusion was apparent and Rowan just shook her head, her green eyes meeting Madelyn's just long enough for her to see the sadness deep inside the woman.

"Ro, where the hell are you?"

Both women looked at the man in the bunkhouse doorway. He was large, barrel chested and fit, but nothing compared to Nate. And until MacCready stepped up behind him, he looked tall, but the sniper had several inches on him.

"Here, Chad," Rowan waved, smiling, but it didn't crease her eyes.

"We need to get out of here," the man said, coming up to the cooking station. MacCready hung back, leaning against the wall of the bunkhouse.

"Can't I just finish breakfast first? This kid doesn't know how to cook to save her life," the woman smiled, trying to lighten the suddenly heavy mood.

Chad turned his glaring eyes to Madelyn and then back to Rowan, "And I care why? Because you're suddenly responsible for her?"

Madelyn frowned, getting a bad feeling about this guy. "She was just being nice."

Chad turned to face her now, and Madelyn had never felt so small. "I wasn't aware I was talking to you," he growled. Courage swelled in her chest and she stood from the chair. His eyebrows rose and she could see that passed all the dirt and scars on his face, his right eye was bruised, swollen a bit more than his left. "Oh, think you're gonna do somethin', cunt?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. I'm gonna have to stop you right there, Chad," MacCready was suddenly standing beside Madelyn, his hands ready to either separate them or grab a weapon. Madelyn didn't take her eyes off of the man.

"Come on, Chad, we'll leave," Rowan stood, reaching for his arm.

The man swatted her away, the back of his hand slapping her face. She turned and held her cheek but he didn't even seem to notice he'd done it. "No, I wanna hear what you got to say."

"Back up, Chad," MacCready growled, stepping in front of Madelyn now who was still –stupidly– standing her ground.

"You first, MacCready." Chad probably would have been an attractive guy if he had learned how to use a razor correctly and cleaned up his face. But that would only help so much as fighting, Madelyn could tell, was very important to him. Scars of all ages littered the skin she could see, and not just on his face. He wore a harness across his chest showing off almost everything above the waist. The man's hair was almost shaved, but not cleanly, and his jaw was no better.

MacCready took a step back, pressing against Madelyn to show Chad he wasn't looking for a fight, but her eyes looked at Rowan who rubbed her cheek and showed a gnarly scar over her right cheek going up her nose. Was that from him too? How often did he hurt her?

Madelyn didn't know Rowan, but she was a good person, she could tell that, and this guy, Chad, was horrible. Madelyn stepped around MacCready, pulled out her switchblade, ejected the blade, and thrust if forward all in a fluid motion she'd practiced too many times. But she'd never practiced it on a living target.

Chad's hands moved quick and he knocked the blade sideways and out of her hand with the wrist of his right hand and then grabbed hers with his left. He pulled her forward and to the side, tripping her over her own legs. But Madelyn growled and used her other hand to grab the front of his harness and lift her legs up so that the fall turned into a swing. Chad hadn't expected her to land on her feet, but before Madelyn could do anything MacCready had thrown himself at the man, knocking him to the ground, his fists landing blow after blow, practiced on the other man's face.

The wastelander tried to grab at MacCready, but his leg shot out, pinning his rival's hand to the pavement with his boot while the other was stuck under his knee. Madelyn watched her eyes captivated by the side of Chad's head taking the hits as the sniper rained them down like an unholy hail. Blood sprayed and the sound of bone and cartilage cracked, but Madelyn didn't feel sick like she expected. This wasn't like when she'd seen fights in the Brotherhood and the sounds had always made her want to throw up.

Rowan pushed Madelyn aside and grabbed MacCready by the dusters and threw him off of Chad. "Get off him," she yelled, her voice had an animalistic sound to it.

"Rowan, you don't have to live this way," the sniper rolled over, meeting her eyes. But she ignored him and went to Chad, bending beside him to examine his broken face. When she reached out, he swatted her hands roughly and tried to get on his feet. Again she tried to help him, but he pushed her away with enough force for her to nearly land on her ass, but she caught herself. Madelyn looked at the woman so confused as to why she would protect him.

"Rowan," she whispered, and the wastelander looked at her, her green eyes filled with tears. "Stay…."

"Come on," Chad grunted and started for the gate. They were just going to leave all their belongings? Did they even have weapons? Madelyn frowned and looked around for her switchblade.

She ran after Rowan and took the woman's hand. "Hey, I have to–"

"Take it, and please… please, use it on him," Madelyn pressed the switchblade into the woman's hand. The woman looked at it then at her, her eyes sad.

"Thank you, but I can't," she said. Madelyn saw her tuck the knife into her pocket and then run to Chad's side.

"Daddy, what happened?"

"Nothing, pup, it's okay," MacCready was taking the meat off the fire. Madelyn wandered back over, but her eyes followed the wastelanders until the gate closed and she couldn't see them anymore.

"Did you know them?" Madelyn asked, still looking at the gate.

MacCready took a moment to answer. "Yeah, I've known Rowan since I came to the Commonwealth, she has been with him longer than that…" he was frowning, she could tell by his tone.

"Why haven't you killed him yet?"

"Same reason that I didn't just now, she always stopped me."

"Why?"

Madelyn looked at the sniper now who shook his head. "She thinks she loves him. He makes her believe no one else can love her. I don't think she had a real family, either, he's… all she has ever really had, I think." MacCready cut up the food into three equal parts and placed them on plates for the three of them. "We should sit inside, there are tables," he explained and led the way.

Madelyn sat across from Duncan with MacCready to her side. She just looked at her food for a moment before eating it, while both boys started right away. Duncan consumed his before she'd even had three bites and was asking to play in the park again.

"Go on, pup," MacCready said, taking his son's plate and putting it under his out of the way. The boy ran off, stumbling, but catching himself with impressive agility.

"Why do you call him pup?" Madelyn decided to ask, changing the subject away from Rowan and Chad.

The sniper smiled. "I've been called a fox for more than one reason, and Lucy, his mother, always liked the nickname, so it just kind of… happened," he shrugged and looked at her, his blue eyes bright in the morning light.

"Lucy was your… wife?"

"Yeah," he nodded, looking down at his food now, his smile fading. Madelyn felt bad for asking. "I, uh, lost her to a pack of ferals when we held up in a subway station…. I just… took Duncan and ran, there was nothing I could do, they'd already torn her apart before I could fire a shot," he swallowed hard against a lump in his throat and then stood up, leaving the table to go into a kitchen nook and dig through a couple coolers before reappearing with a couple of Nuka Colas. "Not long after Duncan got really sick, I came here hoping to find something to help him, and shi– crap happened, and I took much longer than I thought I was going to. But Nate helped me, then he learned what I was doing, and we got him the cure, and I brought him here, so I could be with him whenever I wasn't out on missions."

He handed her a drink and she took it, popping the cap and pocketing it. He popped his off and slid it to her. "No, it's okay," she said, and pushed it back toward him, her fingers pressing up against his as he refused to move his hand. The cap slid upward and the distance between their fingers diminished completely.

"You didn't take the caps I got for you last night," his voice was soft, and his eyes were on their touching knuckles.

"Two hundred caps is far more than I need," she whispered, unable to look away from his face. He had a pointed face, his straight nose splitting it down to his pointed lips. The scruff around his mouth was getting out of hand, he grew it pretty quick, and he would need to shave soon unless he wanted to look like Elder Maxson. He tilted his head down and the bill of his hat hid his face. She slowly drew her hand away from his.

"I forgot they hand you everything on that airship, don't they?" He sounded like he was trying to put more negativity in the question than he did.

"No, actually," she said, giving an awkward smile he couldn't see. "They make us pay for all of our gear and supplies."

He tilted his head, "That sounds kind of counter productive."

"What do you mean?" She looked at her plate and realized she hadn't been eating, so she tried to start.

"They pay you, right? And then they get their money back by charging you for things you need…" he raised an eyebrow at her.

She'd never thought of it like that. She swallowed her bite and said, "Well, we get our money back if we turn in our uniforms in good condition, so it's more like… borrowing?" She shrugged and then took a sip of her Nuka Cola. Madelyn could feel his eyes on her.

"Why did you join?"

She cleared her throat and bit her lip in thought, should she tell him the truth? She wasn't sure if she was ready for him to know. But he had told her of his past, so she felt like she should give him something. "I joined because they saved me, back in the Capital Wasteland, when I was about Duncan's age."

"You grew up in the Capital Wasteland?" he asked, his eyebrows lifting.

"Yeah, I came here with the Prydwen, a little over a year ago," she said and gave a shrug before taking another bite.

"I… I guess I thought you had joined them when they got here, like a lot of people seemed to." He straightened up. "I came from Little Lamplight, I was…" he smiled and his cheeks reddened a bit, "the mayor for a bit."

"You? A mayor?" she raised an eyebrow at him. She'd heard of Little Lamplight, but had never talked to anyone from there. "What's that make you now, a mango?"

"Mungo," he corrected, and smiled. "And you are too, young lady." He leaned back against the table, supporting himself with his arms.

That reminded her. "How old do I look?"

MacCready's smile faded and he looked worried, "Is that a trick question?"

"No, I really want to know, how old do I look to you?" she asked.

He looked over her face and she suddenly felt shy and couldn't look at him. So she distracted herself with her last bite of food. "Well, I'm no expert, but I would say about…" he swayed back and forth. "Sh– ugh, I don't know nineteen?"

Absently she wondered why it seemed he never allowed himself to curse, but she was more worried about him thinking she was a year older that she just learned she was. "Why do you think that?"

"I was wrong, wasn't I?" he frowned and sat up, looking uncomfortable.

"I mean, I'm apparently eighteen, so not really."

"'Apparently'?" he raised an eyebrow at her.

"Yeah, I… I thought I was turning sixteen yesterday, but Mama Murphy told me she saw my birth… and I wasn't born where I thought I was, and that I'd basically forgotten the first two years of my life." She didn't look at him while she explained.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Maddy…" he said, his hand sliding across the table to hold hers. She hadn't realized she was picking intensely at the skin on the sides of her thumb opening small wounds.

"My… uh, name is Madelyn," she said, glancing over at him, "Squire Madelyn Dangerfield."

He smiled, but it wasn't an amused smile like she thought he would give, not like when Hancock had laughed at her name. "Robert Joseph MacCready," he replied, and squeezed her hands. She looked down at his hand on hers. His fingers were long and callused.

"So that's what R.J. stands for," she smiled, and he raised an eyebrow.

"I heard Nate refer to you as that," she said and he nodded.

"Yeah, he's one of the few, everyone else just calls me MacCready," he shrugged, his hand pulling away from hers. She resisted the urge to grab hold of it and keep it from leaving her. "I'm sorry if me calling you Maddy made you uncomfortable, I'll stop, and I'll teach Duncan to say Madelyn."

"Oh, no, it's fine," she said, looking at him now. "I don't want to confuse him, Maddy is okay. No one but Nate and Hancock call me it anyway, it's kind of refreshing, on the Prydwen I'm just 'Dangerfield' or 'Squire' or a combination there of."

"Well, I'll have to think of something creative then," he smiled and took a gulp of his Nuka Cola. She did also and then looked at her hands where she'd began picking again. "It's something about your eyes," he said, and when she raised and eyebrow at him he continued, "Why I thought you were nineteen. You just, seem like you've seen so much."

"I have," she whispered, looking at a couple settlers who came into the breakfast area. She suddenly felt self-conscious about talking about herself.

"Hey, I wanna show you somewhere," he said, seeming to notice her discomfort.

"Okay," she stood grabbing both of their Nuka Colas and followed him after he put their plates in a bin in the kitchen. They stopped by the park where he grabbed up Duncan and threw him over his shoulder where the boy thrashed and kicked playfully trying to wrestle his way out of his dad's adept grip.

MacCready led the way across Sanctuary to a gate she hadn't noticed between two houses. When it opened she was able to see a small footbridge that crossed a cute creek. They crossed the bridge and then followed the creek to the east some ways. As they walked, no one spoke, not even Duncan who had already worn himself out and was lying limp on the sniper's shoulder.

Madelyn realized then that she wasn't armed, not since she'd given her switchblade to Rowan, and MacCready didn't seem to have anything on him either unless he had a knife or small firearm tucked away in one of his pouches. She started to walk a little closer, and that was went she noticed the blooms of bloodleaf in the creek. They were huge and numerous, and as they walked there were only more and more. She let out a long breath and then looked at MacCready who was smiling down at her.

"It's just up there," he gestured up a steep incline to a manmade structure she could just barely divide from the trees, had he not pointed it out she wouldn't have noticed it.

Duncan was put down on his feet when they got halfway up the hill and he scrambled over himself to get up to the building. Once they reached him, both MacCready and Madelyn turned around to gaze at the landscape the little structure had a perfect few of.

"Wow, this is just… beautiful," she breathed, and peered over at MacCready who was looking at her now.

"Yeah, I found this place a while back, no one's been here to claim in, I think having Sanctuary so close scared who ever lived here off." He turned around and started walking up the steps to the building. Madelyn looked back at the sight, Sanctuary was close, just down the hill, across the creek, and up the other hill; its walls were clear in contrast with the trees around them.

"Daddy, I wanna fish!" Duncan ran up the stairs.

"Later, pup, daddy's gonna talk to Maddy for a little while, you wanna look at a couple comics?"

"Yeah!" he shouted. While they spoke Madelyn had made her way up to join them. MacCready pulled out a couple of comic books and offered them to the boy who took them and ran down the stairs and then crawled under the building's stilts for shade from the warming mid-morning sun.

"You have comics?" Madelyn grinned and he shrugged.

"I love reading them, Nate collected them for a little while, and then gave them to me for Duncan, but I…" he smirked, "I think I enjoy them just a little more, since I can actually read the words."

Madelyn smiled and looked around the room. There was a half wall, and a full wall across from each other. Between them was an open side where you entered from the stairs, and the other side was pushed up against a rock side. A shelf held food and drink that could sustain a single person for a couple days, and there was a sleeping bag on the ground by the half wall. Other than a single chair and a footlocker where MacCready kept his comics, there really wasn't much else here. "How'd you find this place?"

"I was on watch, looking through my scope and I saw it from my perch. I waited until I was off to come over here and since then I've just kinda kept it as mine and Duncan's place. We're close enough to Sanctuary that if something happens we can either get back or get help fairly easily, beside, I keep a flare gun here," he lifted the sleeping bag's foot to show her and she nodded.

"I didn't bring a weapon," she whispered, feeling guilty.

"It's okay, I'll protect you," he smiled, standing up and gestured for her to sit in the chair. She sat down and looked at the Nuka Colas in her hands.

"I uh, don't remember which one is whose," she said, her cheeks flushing. He smirked and knelt beside her, his blue eyes examining the identical glasses.

"Moment of truth," he said, smiling wider now, "Do germs bother you?"

She flushed more red and didn't miss how his eyes seemed to drink in the sight. "I feel like that's a trick question."

"Oh? Why's that?"

"No matter my answer you can give me crap for it," she whispered, looking down at the glasses. To be honest she didn't mind if she drank after him. Her mind was already spinning, though, and she wondered what it would do if she learned she had drank after him.

"You think I would make fun of you?"

"Well, we did have that whole… Hangman's Ally scene." She avoided looking at him, and oh was it so hard.

"Oh yeah, when you told me to wipe that butt-hole off my face, right?"

"And you shot me," she said, gesturing to her arm, now looking at him.

"Well played," he stood and took the Cola in her left hand. When he did so she remembered he'd sat to her right and she'd grabbed his first with her right hand. She had his now, and he had hers. A warm feeling swelled in her stomach as she watched him turn and press the soda to his lips to take a drink.

"Why don't you curse?" she asked, remembering that she hadn't actually used the word 'butt'.

"I promised Duncan I would clean up my act, some time ago, and I've done pretty good I think, I'm an official Minuteman, and for the most part I don't swear… too bad."

She smiled and nodded, "That's a pretty good reason." Madelyn lifted the glass to her lips and took a long, slow drink.

"What did the Brotherhood save you from?" MacCready asked, suddenly.

Taking a moment to get her thoughts together, she decided she should tell him the truth, especially based off the advice that Mama Murphy had given last night. "I was… I thought I was born in a slaver's camp, in the Capitol Wasteland. Not Paradise Falls, but I spent some time there when I was moved between camps." She figured he knew the landscape about as well as she did. "I was in a small camp near the Citadel when the Brotherhood decided to end the camp and free the slaves."

"Free them?" MacCready seemed surprised.

"Yeah, they came and liberated us, I was… I guess six, but I didn't know how old I was, I'd no reason to know how much time had passed. Elder Maxson was just a squire then, and he saved me from a hunter's hound…." She was lost in the memory now. "All he did was throw a rock at it, but it was the kindest thing that had ever been done for me…. I knew he would have done it for anyone, but he ran up to me to see if I was okay, and I…" she swallowed, looking at him then. "He named me, him and Elder Lyons. They, uh, took me in, and I became a squire, and I've been so since."

MacCready nodded his understanding. "I'm sorry for what happened to you, Madelyn."

"They thought I was four, I guess it's because of how small I am," she said, looking down at herself. Her clothes were much too big, and now she realized how funny she might look. Now she was embarrassed to sit in front of the sniper dressed as she was. Her arms folded over her chest and she crossed her legs.

The ex-mercenary knelt in front of her. "Hey, the Brotherhood isn't exactly praised for its smarts is it? Just for those big suits of steel." He smiled at her, and she smiled a little back. Scribes were generally the 'smart' ones, but what he said was true in the eyes of civilians at the least. "There it is, that little mouse smile of yours," he reached up and traced a smile along her lips where the corners curved up. "There it is, your nickname, mouse."

"Really?" she asked, raising her eyebrows at him.

"Yup, doesn't matter if you like it, it's official," he stood and his hand left her, her skin felt cold where he'd touched her.

"Well, sorry to disappoint you, but I actually like it."

"Damn, I guess I'll have to change it," he sighed and leaned against the wall of the building.

"Daddy, I wanna go back to the park," Duncan came up the stairs and handed his father the comic books.

"Okay, I'll walk you back, pup." He looked back at Madelyn. "Do you want to stay here?"

"Will you come back?" she asked, trying not to sound too hopeful.

"If you want me to," he replied with a smile the brightened his eyes.

"Then I'll wait here oh so patiently," she said with as much extra drama as she could.

"I'll be right back," he promised and she watched him as he strode back off to Sanctuary. When he was out of sight Madelyn looked at the comic books that Duncan had given back. She didn't get that far when she hear footfalls coming back up the stairs.

"Back already?" Madelyn asked, looking up to meet the goggle of a sacked hood. Her smile dropped and she let go of the comic, which fell between her legs to the ground. As the raider grabbed for the gun on his hip, Madelyn stood, moving as quickly as she could. She didn't have a weapon and she was going to have to make sure she got his, or kept him from having it.

Instead of grabbing the gun she just tackled the raider, using the force of her movement and his uneven stance on the steps to throw him to the ground where they both rolled down the steep hill, separating and hitting rocks and trees until they came to a stop. Madelyn ended up in the creek and the raider got caught on a tree. She coughed, trying to catch the breath that had been forced out of her. "I really need to do some'more hand-to-hand training," she whispered to herself and rolled over onto her hands and knees.

"Set'ler bitch," the raider growled and kicked her in the stomach as he had recovered quicker than her from their fall. Madelyn landed back in the water, deeper here than it had been up stream.

"I'm Brotherhood, fuck-face," she growled and lashed a leg out, getting him in the shin enough to get it out from under him. He fell into the water, the slick stones keeping either of them from being able to keep decent footing.

Madelyn tried to get up, but her boot slipped and she landed back on her hands and knees. When she looked over the raider was almost back on his feet, but the leg she'd kicked wasn't supporting much weight. She must have really hurt it. Good. The squire grabbed a rock from the creek bed and stood up, throwing her weight up, and then taking a single step back to catch herself. She used her arms to stead her balance, and then she was face to face with the raider.

"Leave now, or I will be forced to kill you," she ordered. The man laughed and reached up, pulling off his soaked hood.

"Set'ler, Brothahood, makes nah difference, ya die, now," he reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of brass knuckles. "Real slow like."

"Let's dance," she widened her stance, lowering herself so she could get better stability on the slippery stones.

The raider attacked first, just like she expected him to. Moving to the side she let him force all his weight forward and she took only a slight impact to her left arm. With that motion she grabbed him by the collar of his leather chest piece and directed him around, countering the weight with her own. This put him in a slight bend and then his face collided with the ledge over the creek. When he hit, she lifted the rock and brought it down, the back of his head being his target.

But he rolled away, his weight greater than hers, which forced her forward, on top of him. He grunted and grabbed her by her ponytail and pulled her head down toward the water at his side. She lashed out, reaching with her fingers and kicking with her legs. Her fingers found his face, and she grabbed for his eyes but she felt his teeth snap, catching the flesh at the base of her thumb enough to make her jerk away. Her face was now submerged and she was breathing much too quickly to conserve anything, or push air out of her nose to keep from drowning.

What a stupid girl, why hadn't she gotten them away from the water? Now it was going to kill her.

Madelyn reached for his face again but his other hand grabbed hers and wrenched it up behind her back. She heard a pop and pain engulfed her shoulder. Damn it, he'd pulled it out of socket. She used her other hand to reach for anything she could. The rocks were too small, and they were on the other side of his body, his legs, she couldn't even position herself to get him in the balls.

She was almost out of air now, she could feel her lungs burning and water filling up her mouth and trying to get up her nose.

The Daddy-O. She had it in her pocket, she could reach it and use the needle as a knife, it was thick enough she could stab him a few times before it broke, maybe that was enough.

She reached for the syringe and grabbed it as the water started to take her. Madelyn jammed the drug into the man's thigh, and then pulled it out and repeated.

The pain shocked him and he arched his back, throwing her off of him as he tried to see what had hurt him. She coughed, landing on her back in the water, her head hitting a rock, but not hard enough for her to lose consciousness. The raider stood up and came for her. She held the drug like it was a knife and when he was in range she lashed out, trying to kick his leg, but she hadn't recovered, and he was not as damaged as her.

He knocked her feet out of the way and then grabbed her wrist, his fingers pressing into the space between her ulna and radius so that she dropped the Daddy-O. Her other arm was limp and useless. He held it above her head and then used his other hand on her throat. "What'a shame, ya got a purty face, ma'be I'll fuck it when ya die. Leave ya for ya Brothas to find."

Big mistake. She used all her strength in her legs to push him forward where she shot upward enough to hurt her own arm, but also to head-butt the raider. He fell backward. Her head hurt so bad, but she knew he'd broken his nose against her frontal bone.

She stood up, ignoring all the pain in her body best she could and grabbed a rock from the water and threw it at him, hitting him in the chest. She heard the air leave him in a whoosh, and then she grabbed another, bigger rock. She stood over him. "What a shame, you have such an ugly face, no one but me got to see what happens when a sister and a brother love each other very much."

His eyes widened, and she brought the rock down on his face, hard, shattering it, but she heard him make a noise, and wondered if he could still hear her. "Maybe I'll leave you for your uncle dad and aunt mom to find," she whispered, leaning in close to his ear, before lifting the rock up and bringing it down again, effectively killing the raider.

His body twitched for a moment, and then went still. And that was when she realized just how much pain she was in.

"Madelyn?"

She looked up and saw MacCready standing on the bank, looking at her with wide, blue eyes filled with shock. How much had he seen? "Hi," she whispered and then looked at her hands wondering whose blood dripped into the slow creek.