The flames reached high in the sky. Madelyn had never seen such a fire. It had completely wiped out the farm and surrounding area, catching on everything. The massive metal structure the farm had been built under was dressed in the burning red tongues as they climbed up the moss and vines that littered the construction.

"Oh my God…" was all she could breathe as Nate dropped to his knees.

Minutemen from Sanctuary had beaten them there and tried to contain the fire, but there was nothing more they could do at this point. Madelyn rested a hand on her Sentinel's shoulder and let the empathy of his loss fill her. She hadn't even heard of this settlement, but she knew that this meant something to Nate.

"I… Blake and I were…" he shook his head. "I got him his daughter's locket back from some punk raiders. We had some beers, hell, we were almost friends. He had such a family…" Nate was shaking under her touch and Madelyn swallowed against the lump in her throat.

Nearby MacCready stood uncomfortable. He didn't know these people either, but he knew the loss was much.

"This is the third attack we know of and it's been different each time, what if they aren't linked?" Madelyn said some time later when Nate had finished talking to the Minutemen soldiers and the fire had died down to cinders. It had been lucky that the trees weren't too close. The fire had burned for most of the day, but it couldn't make it across the field to the trees once the Minutemen made it there and were able to slow it some.

"There were no bodies. Blake and his family weren't here," he frowned.

"So we have a settlement that was attacked and almost all of its residents were taken, how many people lived in Hangman's? Thirty?" MacCready asked and Nate nodded his head side to side to convey 'about'. "I found a couple dead, plus the raider, but he wasn't wearing what you said Lana drew, so he might have showed up later, looking for a place to stay." The sniper shifted, gesturing with his hand. "Then we have Oberland, which was small, only ten, right?"

"Yeah."

"And they didn't appear to have put up a fight at all," Robert narrowed his eyes. "Then we have Abernathy which is completely destroyed but no bodies."

"Only thing in common are the missing people."

"Well, the bigger the settlement, the more resistance," Madelyn offered. "And Hangman's was the first right–that we know of? They didn't know what they were doing, maybe."

"That could be," Nate nodded.

"And then Oberland was small enough that a larger group could talk them into standing down. We all know Oberland isn't exactly known for its spine," MacCready frowned and Nate sighed, nodding.

"And Blake would never back down, but that doesn't explain why they burned it." The Sentinel's eyebrows pulled together tightly.

"It could have been an accident."

"Or a punishment," Madelyn offered.

"We don't know enough," Nate decided. "I have to talk to Hancock, find out where they are…."

"No need for that, Natie, we're here," the familiar gruff voice came from behind them. Madelyn turned around and smiled at the ghoul as he tucked his shotgun into his belt. On either side of him stood Piper and Nick, looking tired and depressed.

Nate immediately went to him, taking him into a strong embrace that Hancock returned. The smaller arms strained to reach around Nate's shoulder, but he did it, pressing his face into the man's shaven neck. "Did you find anything useful?"

"I'm sure you know just as much as we do, Blue," Piper sighed, taking a light from Nick when he prepared a cigarette for himself. A… synth… smoking? Madelyn tilted her head and then looked at Nate when he spoke.

"We think they're attacking the settlements for the people. The supplies seem untouched, or at least, not what they're after."

"I agree, Grey Garden is one of the most plentiful settlements around and it hasn't been attacked yet," Nick shifted his weight, his yellow eyes darting between each of them.

"Why take people? Slaves?" Piper frowned, flicking her cigarette to relieve it of some ash.

"What they do with the people is what we need to know first," Nate decided. "Why can happen after we know if our settlers are safe."

Madelyn had a horrible feeling burning in her chest and she began to shake. She hadn't been around slavery since she'd joined the Brotherhood, but it seemed to be her trigger word. Funny, how everyone in the Brotherhood had a trigger word. She knew several people that fell into the three main categories of Brotherhood hate. Just in her group of friends each were represented. Scribe Merrin Debrie hated super mutants for stealing her family from her at a young age. Lancer-Sargent Michael Glass hated feral ghouls for killing his scribe mother on a field mission. And she knew that Knight Reagan Knight would now share Elder Maxson's bias against synths because of Paladin Danse's demise.

Oh God… did Reagan know what happened? Had word reached the Citadel? Probably not, not something like that. Maxson would contain that to need-to-know. Reagan and Maxson were pretty good friends, probably better than Madelyn and her. She wondered if he had told her personally or not.

Not only had Paladin Danse been her mentor, he'd been a love interest. Reagan planned on telling him her feelings, but he had been shipped off to the Commonwealth. When Madelyn came with the Prydwen, Reagan had made her promise to talk to him and get him to message her. That wouldn't happen now. Shit, now she had to figure out how to tell Reagan….

An arm wrapped around her shoulders, drawing her into a side. Upon looking up, Madelyn realized it was Robert. "You look upset," he commented. She hadn't realized everyone had left them and she'd been staring stupidly at the ground.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I was…" she sighed. "I was thinking about my friends from the Capital that didn't come with the Prydwen."

"Do you miss them?"

She nodded and met his gaze. "One of my friends, her name is Reagan Knight, she had feelings for Paladin Danse," she frowned.

"Oh," his lips turned down more.

"Yeah, I don't think she's been told what happened to him."

Robert took an awkward breath. "That explains a lot."

"What?" Madelyn tilted her head at him.

"Danse didn't talk much about his past around me, but one time I heard him in his sleep, say something about a Knight Knight, I thought he was just… mumbling, that wouldn't happen to be her, would it?" They started walking, following behind Nate and the others.

"Yeah," she smiled a little. "Knight Reagan Knight. She is far more badass than she sounds, I swear."

"Oh, she sounds pretty scary," he promised and then made a thoughtful expression. "I know Nate… practically loved Danse, and don't get me wrong, Danse was pretty close to him too," MacCready looked uncomfortable. "But that makes a lot of sense, because he seemed like he was always holding back on Nate. If… what happened would have gone down differently, I think Danse may have told him about your friend."

Madelyn nodded, "Yeah, Danse didn't… do feelings very well. I remember Reagan saying she was going to have to hit him in the face with a shovel to get him to notice she just hit on him." Then she frowned a little. "I don't think it helped that she ran around with Rhys so much though. I mean, I get that she's like really… sexually active –and I guess Rhys is better than just random guys every other night– but I think it may have delayed what she could have had with Danse."

"Wait, is this the same Rhys that's here in the Commonwealth?"

"Um, at Cambridge Police Station? Yeah?"

"You know someone who would sleep with that asshole?"

Madelyn's eyebrows lifted. "I mean… he's not that bad. I guess–well, you're not Brotherhood, and he just thinks all civilians are pretty…"

"Stupid?"

"That's putting it mildly…" she sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Reagan is going to kill Nate if she finds out that he's the one who did it."

"Why not kill Maxson? He's the one who ordered it." The ex-mercenary rested a hand on her shoulder, looking at when they came to stop.

"She just might," Madelyn sighed. "She's kind of famous for hitting people. She was in training to be a Lancer, but she knocked her co-pilot out and landed the bird alone. Kells told her he thought her skills would be best used as a Knight. So… Lancer Knight because Knight Knight, and she punches anyone who laughs."

"I'm sure she punches a lot of people then," he smirked and Madelyn nodded, chewing on her lip.

"Yeah, you thought Rhys was an asshole? She makes him look like a pup when she's angry."

"I don't know if I want to meet this friend of yours," he said, sounding just a little uncomfortable.

"Well, you probably will eventually," Madelyn shrugged and smiled. "I can't wait to see her and Merr again, it's been… two years? More? Wow." The squire hadn't been able to keep good contact with her friends, which had added a lot of stress to her positioning on the Prydwen. Another reason she needed to graduate to Knight as soon as possible.

"You said they were still in the Capital? Why didn't they come when you did?" he raised an eyebrow at her.

Oh… shit… here it was. "Their orders were to stay," she said, but her hesitation and tone made him tilt his head, his lips pursing slightly. If only she could play things off. She didn't have to lie, just tell certain parts of the truth. That wasn't lying….

"And you got orders to come squire in the Commonwealth?"

Shit. Shit. Shit. Now it was time to lie or tell the truth. Meeting Robert's blue eyes she couldn't bring herself to lie to him. That wasn't what she wanted in this relationship anyway. "Well, not really. I'm... not supposed to be in the Commonwealth."

The confession drew a shocked expression on MacCready's face. His eyes wide and his lips parted in an o. "Then... why are you here?"

She sighed and rubbed her forehead. "It's really complicated. You know how I mentioned Maxson and I are really close?" He nodded. "He's basically my brother. He and I used to eat dinner together in his quarters and he would get me the best squiring mentors and..." she shook her head. "Make fun of me and do brotherly things. We kept it a secret mostly though because we didn't want people thinking I got special treatment. But over time he started to... hold me back."

"Hold you back?" MacCready promoted when she stopped.

"I'm the top of my class. I should be a knight. But no squire graduates before 18 no matter skill without the Elder's permission," she explained.

"And he wouldn't allow you to be promoted?"

"No," she confirmed and huffed. "When he came to the Commonwealth he gave me personal orders to stay and I wasn't supposed to, but I snuck into the Prydwen and came to prove to him I could do this. Since then I've been running constant squiring missions until I could get Kells to agree to allow me to work under the Sentinel. But that meant I had to sneak into Maxson's quarters and send Kells an email from him making it sound like an order..." she knew she was rambling. But this was the first time she'd told anyone since coming to the Commonwealth and it was so nice to finally have it out. "Kells fell for it, I couldn't believe it. But then... Nate... he's so different than I thought he would be, and it became more than me just trying to get him to convince Maxson I should be promoted."

"So you just wanted to squire Nate so he would stand up to Maxson for you?" MacCready's face showed his confusion and she felt so guilty.

"I knew he would just shoot me down if I told him myself– hell, he's already done it. He babies me. I just..." she shook her head. "I thought that if someone like the Sentinel stood up to him he'd have to see it was personal feelings keeping me from reaching my full potential." Robert's jaw was tight and he looked away from her. It killed her to see him like this. "Say something, please?"

He glanced at her. "So you've been lying to Nate?"

"I didn't care as much at first but it's getting so hard now..."

Then he wrapped her up in a hug and rested his chin on her head. "Hey, it could be so much worse. Honestly I think Maxson is going to be the only one upset about all this."

"I've been dreading that day," she confessed, her cheek pressed against his chest. Madelyn played with the fabric of the green coat under the tan duster he sported.

"Yeah, he doesn't strike me as the kinda guy to be quiet when he's angry." Then MacCready's breath left him in a huff, "Oh… fu–crap."

"What is it?" she looked up at him.

"That means… he–" he cleared his throat, looking nervous. Then he shuddered, "I mean, I don't have to get along with him, do I? I don't think he'll like me too much."

Madelyn smiled at him widely, her hands on his sides as she looked up into his face. She hadn't thought of that. Yeah, Maxson had tried to give her 'the talk' but she'd noped right out of that and ended up in the medbay with Cade giving her 'the very informative talk' per Maxson's orders. This had, of course, been before she came to the Commonwealth. "I don't think he would like anyone I brought to him and said, 'Hey, Artie, this is my boyfriend.'"

"Artie?" he coughed, trying not to laugh and choked on it instead. "And what does he call you?"

Her face lit up like a warning light. "Oh, no," she shook her head, denying him. Madelyn dropped her arms and tried to step away from him.

"Oh no, now you have to tell me."

She glared to herself and looked down at the space between them, her forehead coming to rest on his sternum. "Puppy," she whispered softly.

"Oh… my God." Robert leaned his head back to look at the sky as he smiled. She huffed and shook her head against him.

"Don't, please, don't."

"Is there a story behind it?"

"Well, he saved me from a dog, so he would call me puppy-chow, and over time it got shortened. And sometimes he just calls me pup, like you do Duncan." She felt him shake with laughter.

"That's only a little awkward."

"That's why I was curious why you started calling him that." Madelyn sighed and closed her eyes. Then they snapped open with a realization she felt horrible for not having sooner. "Who's watching Duncan?" she pulled her head back to look up at MacCready.

"Oh, Sanctuary has kid-care," he said. "Mrs. Stone is in charge of it. She has several helpers. They watch the kids twenty-four/seven when their parents are out on missions or dates, or work," he added.

"Oh," Madelyn nodded, looking down.

"It makes me happy that you worry about him," he commented. "I've been worried I wouldn't be able to find someone who could love him like he needs."

"He needs a mom," she agreed. He nodded and held her face gently in his hands.

"I know that this is a lot to ask of you. You're very young," he gave her a meaningful look. "I know you're older than you thought you were, but age is how you act."

"Well, then, I'm an old lady," she smirked and he laughed leaning in and kissing her forehead.

"That's fine, I could get into the whole cougar thing for you."

"Am I supposed to be flattered by that? I don't think it worked," she sighed and he chuckled.

"Hey, you two going to join the rest of civilization?" Hancock called to them. Madelyn looked up and waved at him to show him she'd heard, then returned her attention to Robert.

He looked down at her with a smile that was hiding something, but then he took her hand and led her toward the ghoul.

"So, you'll send him emails for me," Madelyn explained as she packed her backpack. Merrin shifted uncomfortable.

"You mean I'll be lying to the Elder of the Brotherhood of Steel."

Reagan gave a huff and slapped the scribe on the shoulder. "Calm down, Merr, you're using her messenger, long as you sound like her, the big guy won't even notice."

"But you plan on telling him… eventually, which can get me in a lot of trouble," Merrin complained, looking between the two of them.

Madelyn frowned and rubbed her forehead. "I don't like lying to him any more than you do. But we know he'll never let me graduate," she pleaded with her best friend. Reagan sighed and folded her arms over her chest.

"She'll do it, Lynnie, don't worry," the knight promised and Madelyn smiled.

"Thank you, both of you."

"You just make sure you tell Dansey he needs to call a certain Knight," she confirmed and Madelyn grinned.

"You could just come with and see him yourself."

"Oh no, I want him to come crawling to me," she said and leaned against the wall, her head resting against the concrete. For a moment her honey colored eyes drifted off into a memory and Madelyn smiled, knowing it was something about Danse.

"So, anything else I have to worry about?"

"Don't let Proctor Teagan see you, he's the only one I think that knows about your orders," Merrin said. "If you run out of squiring missions just go to Proctor Quinlan and offer to aid with a research patrol. He won't want you at first, but just offer to carry stuff for them or something."

"Good to know, I have to stay off the Prydwen as much as possible, otherwise Artie might see me," she suddenly started to nibble on her lip. "Maybe I shouldn't do this…"

Reagan let out a frustrated sound, drawn back from her thoughts of Paladin Danse. "Lynnie, for Christ's sake, just go. You'll do fine. Find the highest ranking person and squire the fuck out of them and then get them to vouch for you and you'll be fine."

Madelyn nodded and continued to think, her eyes narrowed. "I'll miss you guys," she said, looking between them. "And Glass," she added with a pout.

Reagan huffed out a snorted laugh. "Yeah, he won't even know you're gone. Say hi to Rhys for me, also, if you see him."

"Oh, and Haylen," Merrin added with a smile.

"Okay, so 1. Avoid Arthur. 2. Tell Danse to write. 3. Say hi to Rhys and Haylen 4. Squire highest-ranking field officer. 5. Get promoted. Am I missing anything?"

"Pet Emmett for me?" Merrin added and Madelyn rolled her eyes playfully.

"6. Pet the cat."

"Yes," Merrin nodded, her eyes closed in satisfaction.

"Love ya, Lynnie," Reagan grabbed the squire in a quick hug. Merrin then hugged the girl and they smiled at her, sending her off so she could slip onto the airship before it took off.

Madelyn woke up from the dream to a dark room. She frowned, remembering where she was quickly. The bunkhouse in Sanctuary. They had only gotten there a few hours ago. Why couldn't she sleep?

Sitting up she thought about her friends and then about the list they'd given her. She had avoided Maxson, and was squiring the second highest brotherhood soldier, and she'd pet Emmett. That was a fifty percent. That was a failure. She had failed. "Ugh," Madelyn rubbed her forehead. Sure, two of them could still happen. She hadn't had the chance to see Haylen or Rhys, and she could still get promoted. But… Danse.

Why had it taken her so long to start to think so heavily about this? Had she really been that self-centered? Focused just on getting herself established and on missions so that she didn't compromise her entire reason for blatantly disobeying Arthur's orders. Reagan had been so pissed when Danse asked her to stay back. She had been nice and polite and understanding in front of him, but Madelyn had been there when she started to over turn people's bunks and knocked three Initiates out. What would the Knight do when she learned that the man she loved was not only a synth, but had been executed without being brought in even for questioning?

Shit, Madelyn had to make sure she prepared Nate and maybe even Maxson. Reagan was closer to Arthur than she was to the squire, but that only meant she would be more willing to hit Maxson. Ranking only meant so much. Sure, she could be dishonorably discharged for hitting Maxson, but Reagan didn't seem like the kind of person to care in a fit of anger so hot she would strike the Elder of the Brotherhood of Steel. As cool as it would be to watch, Madelyn didn't want that to happen. So she had to figure out a way to at least be there and help with damage control.

Madelyn got out of bed and looked down at the bed next to hers where Robert was holding Duncan. The moonlight was light and pale on them. She smiled at the two of them and knelt down to kiss Duncan's auburn hair. He had been asleep when they got him, and cranky that he'd been woken up, but she had offered to take him and he seemed to calm down a lot.

Robert stared at her when she carried his son to the bunkhouse. She couldn't help to think it was because he enjoyed seeing them together. She loved holding the boy, and having him fall asleep against her shoulder, his thumb absently lying between his lips as he made quiet snores against her neck.

He would make a great little squire. She wondered if he would be interested in life on the Prydwen, or just with the Brotherhood at all. Despite his distain, Robert would be great in the Brotherhood. She wished he was more open to it, but she didn't want to force it on them. It brought a smile to her face to imagine Robert in a flight suit with pieces of armor clinging to him and his sniper rifle across his chest. At his side Duncan stood at attention dressed in a squire's uniform.

Madelyn grinned stupidly as she left the bunkhouse to find something to occupy herself. From the bunkhouse she could see the faint light from the Sentinel's house, and made her way over there, but when she got closer she could hear Nate and John talking about very intimate things accompanied by some noises she didn't think would be right to interrupt.

So she went to the bar which was nothing compared to Bond's, but it was alive with a few people despite the hour. She sat down at the counter and the bar tender, an older man with silver hair, came to stand in front of her, waiting for her to order something. "I'd like a Nuka-Cherry, if you have it?" she asked simply and he nodded, disappearing then returning with one. She gave him a few caps and he disappeared, leaving her alone.

"What's a young lady like you doing here so late?" a man's voice asked. Madelyn didn't jump, but she tilted her head at him and eyed him before answering.

"Just can't sleep."

"So you get something caffeinated? Sounds like you don't want to sleep." He sat in the stool next to her. He was dressed in a long blue coat that looked odd, kind of cloak like. He had a thick black scarf wrapped around his neck neatly, tucked into his coat in an appealing fashion. His face was young and clean shaved with the exception of a dark line linking his side burns from jaw to chin to jaw. Dark, curly hair was cut short on top of his head, but it had been flattened by sweating while wearing a hat; a hat that he sat down on the bar in front of him. It was a simple thing; she believed Nate had called something similar a fedora once. His lips drew her attention as they curled into a smile, the only scar on his face was there, on the left side. It was thick, and still healing as it cut his upper lip right down passed the lower one. "You always stare when you meet new people?"

"It's a bad habit," she breathed and looked away from him now. She needed to get better at that.

"Oh, I don't mind, I just wanted to know how special I was." He waved for the bar tender to come back and he ordered two beers. Madelyn hoped he wasn't expecting her to drink one. "So, what's your name?"

If he didn't know who she was then he probably wasn't from here. And that put her on edge. "I'm Lyn," she said and turned to look at him politely.

"I'm Patrick Grime. But everyone calls me Rick." He stuck a hand out to her and she shook it, feeling how soft it was.

"What brings you to Sanctuary?"

"You can tell I'm not from here?" he raised an eyebrow.

"It's the coat," she said and drank some of her cola.

"Ah, yes," he looked down at himself and took his beer when it arrived. "So what's a Brotherhood soldier doing this far away from that fancy airship?"

Madelyn barely stifled her shock. "Deserted," she browned. "Couldn't stand it anymore."

"Ah, well, don't let Sentinel Nate Walker hear about that–" the man cut himself off. "Well if he would get his dick out of the 'abomination' his people want exterminated, maybe he'd actually have something to say."

It was very hard for her to play dumb on that one. "Well, you seem to know a lot for a new comer."

"Just every perceptive," he smiled. It was a hypnotizing sight.

"Mmm, nice to know."

"You can relax, Madelyn, you're in no danger here," he said suddenly nd she turned to narrow her eyes at him. His killer smile stuck as his blue eyes bore into her.

"I'm totally relaxed." Her voice was enough to convince herself but she knew her stare made it a lie. He did too. Without looking away from him she took her cola and finished it.

"Of course you are." He stood up and pushed his second beer toward her, his thumb pressing against the cap before he released it. "You tell Mac I said hi, and he's got himself a pretty little squire."

Then he was gone, leaving her staring after him.

Madelyn threw the bottle of beer away without touching where Rick had. Then she practically ran to the bunkhouse. "Rob –Robert," she gasped running up the stairs. She wanted to be quiet, but she also wanted to scream.

When she got to him he was still asleep holding Duncan. She shook the ex-mercenary, trying to keep her fear down. "Mommy…?" Duncan whispered.

Madelyn didn't mind, she touched his face to sooth him. "Hi there, precious."

"Madelyn?" Robert's voice was thick with sleep.

"I need to talk to you–" she breathed and he immediately took in her fear.

"Okay," he rolled out of the bed, holding Duncan against him.

When they were outside she looked around before explaining what happened, feeling her paranoia. His face twisted into anger as her listened. She grew more scared as she spoke and eventually stepped up to him and wrapped her arms around him. He made her feel safe, she knew that he would protect her. Duncan stirred in his sleep and touched her hair. "I don't know how he knew so much. I feel so… violated," she said shakily.

"He's been watching us," he said, his voice low. It scared her more to see him like this, with his nose wrinkled and his brows furrowed.

"Can I…?" she reached for the toddler. Robert's face softened.

"Yes, of course," he knelt down and helped hand over the bay. She held Duncan close, squeezing him against her. He rested his head on her shoulder and breathed onto her neck. She ran her fingers through his hair and closed her eyes, kissing the boy's forehead. It was mostly for herself, she wanted to feel the contact.

MacCready watched her hold his son and sighed softly, his hand running through her hair. She looked up at him. "We have to tell Nate about this." Madelyn nodded her agreement and started to lead the way. "Madelyn," he whispered and she stopped, looking back at him. "Thank you for coming right to me," he said, his hand resting on her shoulder. She looked up at him, her grey eyes soft despite her fear.

"I just… I don't want to be scared anymore. I spent most of my childhood in fear. I never felt safe until I was in the Brotherhood. Now I'm as far away from them as I can be without leaving the Commonwealth and… it scares the hell out of me," she breathed. He nodded, looking into her eyes.

"I understand, I hate being alone, ever since I left Little Lamplight, I haven't been able to trust anyone. Nate… Hancock… you," he squeezed her shoulder, "I trust you three with my life. And that's not something I just hand out." Then his other hand rested on Duncan's head. "Even more importantly I trust you with Duncan."

Madelyn rubbed her cheek against his face and closed her eyes. "I don't know what I'd do if something were to happen to either of you."

Robert shifted his hand from her shoulder to her chin and gently tilted her face up. Her eyes opened and he leaned in, his face close to hers. She expected another forehead kiss, but this time his lips hovered in front of hers. He hung there and she stared into his eyes, then closed hers and the distance. The kiss was soft, loving, and short, as she pulled back away after only a few seconds. Robert smiled and touched his forehead to hers. "I don't want to even think about it."

"We should do this more often," she commented and then sighed. "But we have to go tell Nate."

"Yes," he agreed and held her close to his side while they walked to the metal house on the far side of the settlement.