A/N: HEY EVERYOOOOONE! Alright, so lemme explain why I'm posting this chapter early...

I was looking at all the "traffic stats" for my stories, and found that my story "Another War For Your Textbooks" has been viewed 10,000 TIMES!

I was SO stunned to find that so many people have read that story that I wanted to do a "thank you" for all my readers by posting chapters for all my ongoing stories as a sort of celebration! Lucky you, guys ;3!

So I hope you guys enjoy the newest chapter of Bryan and Janny's adventure!

Happy reading, happy writing!

~Konfessionist out!~

Chapter Four: I Need You

Day One

Janny had appeared in the doorway of the Weatherly Hotel a little before 8:30, hair combed and pulled back into a tight pony tail, looking clean and fresh in her new clothes- a long tank top and tight olive green pants with black boots. She sat down at the bench near the door with her legs crossed, bouncing her heel slightly to keep her entertainment as she waited for Bryan. She glanced up, watching as Harkness came in grumbling to himself.

"There you are," He spoke in a soft tone as if he were relieved, finally catching her in the corner and walked over.

"Ah, Harkness!" She smiled up at him kindly. He shifted nervously in front of her, as if something were deeply bothering him. "Were you looking for me?"

"I was." He nodded. "Can we talk?"

She glanced down to the time on her Pip-Boy and nodded. "I suppose I have a few moments..." She looked back up at him. "What is it that you require?"

"I saw the plasma rifle you had strapped to your back when you came in." He spoke with his arms folding over his chest. "It looked like it's in pretty good condition."

"Of course, I've taken attentive care in it. It was a gift from you, after all." She smiled. "If you would like to take a look at it, I'd be more than happy to retrieve it for you from my roo-"

"He's returned." Harkness interrupted her suddenly and breathed unevenly, looking around to make sure no one was around before leaning in closer. "Zimmer's back on the ship with a new bodyguard- apparently you killing Armitage wasn't enough to keep him away."

Well… That explained what had been deeply bothering him.

"What?" Her eyes widened in shock. "Are you positive?"

"He's taken over Madison's old Science Lab, he says he's using it for "scientific endeavors" but I know that he's trying to resurrect a HQ here to continue looking for me."

"Why haven't you taken care of him? I was told that he was a security threat!" Janny exclaimed in horror. "Ten years or not, he should be as much a threat now as he was then!"

"Don't you think I know that?" Harkness hissed, intense blue eyes darting up to her. "The council is refusing my request to kick him off this rusted tub... After Madison left to help your father with Project Purity, my council seat was bumped down because someone else rose up in the ranks- my word doesn't matter as much as Bannon's does now. He's denying that Zimmer is a threat to our city, no matter how much evidence I give him otherwise."

"Well, I don't expect you to give the true reason that ignorant man should be removed from Rivet City… I don't think people would sit right with an android on their ship." She rubbed her chin with thought, glancing up to him. "Someone took Madison's place on the council, you say?"

He nodded with a certain mixture of frustration and sadness swelling in his eyes.

"Who?"

"His name's Rogue- appropriate name if you ask me. He's a petty criminal, a smooth-talker, and he has everyone believing that he can turn this ship around."

"And Zimmer's new bodyguard?"

"Cadence. Tall, big boy, black skin with a scar from his collar bone to his jaw. The guy is hard to miss, he never leaves Zimmer's side."

"Unless he is an android, like Armitage proved to be." She frowned slightly. "How could this have happened? I gave Zimmer your component, he shouldn't have returned!"

"Apparently, someone gave him information about me." He began to frown as well. "Someone told him that I was still on the ship- that he was so close to finding me and that I was still alive and kicking, so he returned from the Commonwealth with a new grunt to continue searching."

"He just won't quit..." Janny snarled, squeezing the bridge of her nose in irritation and sighed. "You said someone gave him information. Who else knows that you are an-" Her voice dropped in volume, eyes darting around to make sure no one was listening. "Who else knows that you're an android?"

"Well… Anyone who received a holotape from the Railroad, asking for help for me. It was supposed to keep people from finding me…"

She shot him an inquisitive arch of her brow as a thin smirk tugged on her lips.

"And how did that work out when anyone could just pluck up one of those holotapes?"

"Obviously, not so well …" He sighed and gave her a wary look from the corners of his lidded eyes.

"All joking aside, could anyone else know?"

"The receivers of course, Railroad- they helped me come into contact with Pinkerton, but they wouldn't out me if they were striving to help me in the first place… Of course, Pinkerton knows my before and after identity-" Harkness' eyes narrowed in realization as something clicked in his mind. "You don't think-?..."

"If you're suspecting who I think you're suspecting- Horace Pinkerton is a selfish man that would sell his own mother if it would mean getting his hands on a piece of advanced technology. He was vulgar and brute when I found him, so he's hardly someone I'd ever find myself finding the pleasure of conversing with again!" She groaned. "All those years ago, he did whatever he could to get his hands on you, did he not? What if he's in league with Pinkerton to take another look at you? He did say that you are one of the most advanced pieces of technology known to the average Wastelander."

"I guess you're right," He nodded. "But Pinkerton must be dead by now! It's been ten years since any of us last heard of him, so he should be at least-"

"Seventy years old, I know. But stubborn men like that don't just keel over, Harkness. Besides, he's quite safe down in the broken bow, if you may recall." Janny got up from her seat, patting her clothes off from the dust that collected from the bench. "The Mirelurks are his own personal guard dogs, but if anyone gets past them he has traps set out- and due to the fact that everyone believes that he's nothing but a ghost, no one ventures down there to try and rob or even bother him."

"No one but those three kids," He grimaced. "It's getting harder and harder to keep them out of trouble..."

She snorted. "Kids? Harkness they're hardly children anymore! Mr. Wilks must be at least eighteen, along with Mr. Hargrave, and I'm aware that Miss Young will be turning nineteen next month."

"What's with all the 'Misters' and 'Misses'?" He asked with a crease between his brows.

"They are of an adult age, so I will treat them as such."

"I'll start treating them like adults when they start acting like adults," He shot back snidely. "So until then, they're still kids in my book."

"Oh don't be so harsh, Harkness!"

"Jan, I'm serious." His eyes narrowed significantly as he folded his arms over his armored chest. "Those kids are going to get hurt down there with all the Mirelurks and the traps Pinkerton set out! They're gonna get a leg blown off, or worse. I'm commander of the security squad because it's my job to keep everybody safe- and I intend on doing just that."

"You can't save everyone..." Janny murmured, glancing up at him with solemn eyes, her lips pursed into a hard white line on her face. "I know- I've tried so many times in my earlier years. There are hundreds of people you can save, but in the end, if out of those hundreds one dies-…The heartache can just be too much to handle..."

"So, that's just it?" He outstretched a sympathetic hand towards her, palm facing up. "Is that why you never came back to Rivet City? You just gave up?"

"I'm still standing, but it only means that I'll be facing the fall one of these days if I haven't already stooped so low." She replied in a hushed voice, staring down at the floor as she tugged on her ponytail nervously. "I never came back until now for my own personal reasons."

"And what reasons would that be?" He asked indifferently.

"They are called personal reasons, for a reason, Harkness." She replied with a forced smile. "But I'm not going anywhere anytime soon- I'll be staying in Rivet City for two weeks. I suppose I have excellent timing, considering your predicament."

"Wa- Wait, what?" Harkness' eyes widened considerably. "You're going to do something about Zimmer?"

Janny nodded. "Of course I'm going to do something about this, Harkness! I see everything that I do to the very end! I refuse to let Zimmer attempt to take you away again."

"You're not planning on killing him, are you Janny?" The edge of his mouth twitched into a smirk.

"Of course not!" She exclaimed sourly.

"Damn," He cursed with a disappointed sigh, looking away to hide his childish grin.

"You're quite violent, aren't you?" She asked with a chuckle.

"When did you notice?" He turned his chin over his shoulder to see Bryan making his way to them from the back room.

"He- Hello Harkness." He greeted with a slight nod politely, glancing to Janny. "Is something wrong?"

"Not at all, Wilks. We were just catching up on old times," He glanced to Janny as well. "I still plan on coming down to check on my old plasma rifle."

"I will certainly hold you to it- my door is always open to an old friend." She smiled, waving goodbye as the commander stalked off and turned back to Bryan as she got up from the bench. "Are you ready to go?"

He nodded.

"Good. And don't you worry about dinner, I'll be paying for it." She announced, motioning to her side as she walked, signaling that he should walk with her.

He quickly scrambled after her. They made their way down the stairs quietly, stewing in awkward silence and not quite sure what to say to one another. Well, Bryan didn't know what to say, but Janny seemed content with the silence other than their feet pattering down on the metal flooring like rain on a rooftop- so he said nothing.

"Bryan," She spoke in a soothing tone, and it immediately caught his attention. His eyes rapidly snapped up to her, meeting with her own bright blue orbs. "I understand that you probably have many questions... If there is anything that you feel that you need to ask for peace of mind, I am an open book- and I will only tell you the truth and what needs to be said."

"I never thought that'd you lie to me in the first place, miss..." Was all he managed to murmur.

"I'm glad you feel that way," She smiled softly. "So is there anything that you would like to ask me?"

"...Why didn't you come back?" He stopped walking, staring at his boot toes, and she stopped as well to stare back at him over her shoulder. "You just dropped me off on Aunt Vera and never came back- you promised that you'd visit!" He immediately regretted sounding like a whiny child.

"I promised that I would visit whenever I could, Bryan." She corrected him impassively.

He winced at her harsh wording, she wasn't exactly all sugary sweets with her words and would tell it to him straight. He somehow knew she would.

"So you-... never could?" He murmured once more.

"Bryan..." She sighed, turning around and clasped one hand on his shoulder while cradling the other under his chin, tilting it to look straight into her face. "It's a bit difficult for me to explain… I wished I could have come to see you as you grew up, but-" She sighed, removing her hand from his chin to hold his other shoulder. "But some things happened that I needed to sort out, and it prohibited me from coming to you. If I could have, I would have dropped everything just to come back and see your smiling face! There were other people out there who needed me to help them."

You didn't think that I needed you too? His mind whirred gloomily, and he immediately blinked at the thought. What was wrong with him? The moment he saw her, he felt like he was eight again!

It would explain why I'm being such an ass... He thought again with an inward sigh.

"I'm sorry." Janny whispered, smiling up at him apologetically. "I truly am sorry- and if you do not believe me, I will do whatever I can to show you how sorry I am."

"O- Okay..." Bryan nodded, looking at the steel door that led out to the marketplace floor.

"C'mon, we can talk more over dinner. You must be starving!" She exclaimed in a quiet giggle, walking to the door and opened it with a menacing creak, waiting for him.

Bryan followed with a nod, allowing her to go in first before doing the same. He still had so many questions flying around in his head as quickly as a jet plane, and if he were to try and cover them all over one setting of dinner, he could tell that they'd probably be at Gary's Galley all night long.

Or until security kicked them out... Whichever came first, he supposed.