A/N: Hey guys! I'm sorry I've been away for so long D: Needed a break from fanfiction, you know? Hit a pretty thick brick wall for some of my Fallout 3 stories and needed a little time off to collect my thoughts and relax my mind- if I didn't, I wouldn't have been able to bring you guys some good chapters!

Anyways, I hope this chapter came out good 'cause a bit of angsty stuff is coming up soon! Aiyah, I need a breather -scrunches up face and pinches bridge of nose- This is mostly just a dialogue chapter- kind of a catch-up of all the information Janny has collected thus far. Thought it'd be good to have a chapter where all the information is collected so I'm not pacing through the chapters, trying to find information that I need so future chapters don't have the wrong information. If any of the information I've given in this chapter is off, conflicts with something previously said, or is confusing/vague- PLEASE let me know, point out where I need to go and I'll fix it.

Thanks guys, and I hope you enjoy the new chapter!

Happy reading, happy writing!

~Konfessionist out!~

Chapter Fifteen: Redrum and murdeR

Day Four

Janny sipped at her bitter coffee at one of the tables in Gary's Galley, a thick book perched in her hand with her eyes darting over the pages like mad. She had always been a fast reader, even when she was younger. She could finish an entire book, at least 200 pages, in about an hour flat- sometimes even faster than that if the book had caught her interest.

She gave an obnoxious yawn and sipped her coffee again. She didn't know why she didn't just go back to sleep if she was so tired- no one else was up yet- well, no one but Gary who was working behind the counter. He couldn't sleep so he just went down for an early morning snack. She came in as well to take another look at Seagrave's three lock trunk again when they spotted each other. To not seem suspicious, she said that she couldn't sleep either and needed to walk around to burn off the pent-up energy she had.

Janny looked up from her book momentarily, watching Gary as he groggily wiped down the counter of his little restaurant before they panned over to Seagrave's cold and empty kiosk. With a sigh, she closed the book and placed it on the table, tossing back the rest of her coffee when she spotted black armor moving her way.

In alarm, she reached for the switchblade she had hidden in her boot hem but relaxed when she saw that the black armored figure was just Harkness. She shrugged off the tenseness in her shoulders and settled back into her chair, eyes following him as he walked across the marketplace all the way to her.

"You're up early," He commented as he stopped at her table, clutching the back of the chair that sat across from her.

"So are you. I thought Lana worked this early?" She raised a brow at him inquisitively.

"She does. I just couldn't sleep…" He murmured, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "Thinking too much- and I'd have to get up in a few hours for the day shift, anyhow.

"…Same." She replied with a nod. "I had trouble going to sleep and staying asleep… I woke up a numerous amount of times during the night."

"Mind if I sit down?"

Janny gestured to the chair across from her, signaling that it was alright and Harkness pulled it out, promptly plopping down in it as Gary scurried over to ask if he wanted anything.

"Just coffee," Harkness replied and waited till Gary left and was out of earshot till he turned back to Janny. "Look, I wanted to say I'm really sorry about overreacting like that… After I left, I thought about it a little, and I realized that you were right. I was being a prick, and I got carried away."

She smiled a little, folding her legs one over the other as she clutched her book in her lap.

"You certainly are a man of many words,"

"Knock it off, Jan…" He muttered almost pleadingly, rubbing the back of his neck again with his eyes keeping away from hers. "I'm trynna apologize here- give a man a break, I really am sorry…"

"Harkness?" She called, leaning across the table to brush his hand. "I know you are. I'm sorry too."

"You're sorry?" He asked with a slight cock of his head. "What are you sorry for?"

"I thought about all this, too… It's obvious that Bannon has something to do with you, and he could be the one that contacted Zimmer for whatever reason he had to do so. I don't know why I ignored it, and just swept it under the carpet… I think it was because I didn't want it to be true. Bannon is most definitely difficult to get along with, but outing you like this is completely underhanded!"

Harkness shook his head as Gary returned with his cup of steaming instant coffee and placed it on the table, rushing back to his counter as the commander took his first sip.

"You can tell Vera I'll pay for the damages with that mirror," He directed stiffly.

"Too late- I already paid for it."

"Then I'll pay you back."

"Deal," She nodded, leaning forward in her chair and propped her elbow on the table, cradling her jaw in her upturned palm. "I was able to get my hands on Seagrave's file from Dr. Mayfield, by the way."

"You were?" He asked with wide eyes, leaning forward in his chair as well with his coffee mug sitting between his cupped hands. "How?"

She smiled, winking playfully. "You can call me Doctor Jenkins."

"Doctor Je-?" His brows furrowed together. "Isn't it illegal to impersonate a doctor?"

"In the Wasteland? There are many people without any schooling that are doctors. Most of it is trial and error coupled with experience." She replied with a shrug. "Besides, I have enough medical knowledge to become a doctor if I wanted. My father was a doctor, as you know."

"Then why aren't you a doctor?"

"I said if I wanted."

"Touché," He smiled, nursing his coffee. "Did you find anything unusual?"

"A few things caught my eye, yeah." She frowned just as she did while she was reading the medical file.

"Uh oh, that doesn't look like a good thing…" He muttered. "Gimmie the straight skinny Doctor Jenkins."

Janny snorted, fingering the book in her lap. "The "straight skinny" is that Seagrave was poisoned."

"Wait- poisoned? Are you serious?" His eyes widened, and he lowered his voice so Gary wouldn't start staring at them. "So he was murdered?"

"For all we know, something he ate or the source he got his water from could have been tainted- not on purpose- just from some freak thing because freak things happen in the Capital Wasteland," She pointed out.

"Then wouldn't everyone else on the ship be poisoned, too?"

"I checked in on that. I spoke with Dr. Mayfield once I had a thorough look in his file and asked for the files of anyone else who died between his death and now. There were only a few deaths, but nothing like what I found in his file because most of them were severe injuries that resulted in death, or something else. Such things as drunkards falling off the bridge and drowning, people tripping down the stairwell and hitting their heads- that sort of thing… Oh, and something about a Mirelurk attack. All strange occurrences, but they still have the high probability of happening around here."

"Damn… Then this whole ship really is in danger."

"Not exactly- as my search through the other medical files showed that no one else was poisoned. This was controlled- whoever did this only wanted Seagrave dead."

"No offense to Seagrave, but it's not exactly the way I'd off a guy- a nice round to the skull works just fine for me." Harkness shrugged.

"Unless you want to make it look like an accident or a natural cause- something similar to that." She rubbed her eyes. "And he had red-lung, which was soon to be fatal with how close he was to the final stages of it- it'd be easy to cover up poisoning him. I went through the document at least three times thoroughly. Apparently, in the few months previous to his death, Seagrave had been experiencing headaches, vertigo, confusion, difficulty breathing, and soon enough, it was noted that he was getting weaker and weaker. Dr. Preston had attributed it to new symptoms of his severe case of red-lung and exhaustion from overworking. About a week before he died, he had also passed out in front of one of the marketplace shops- Bannon's shop, actually, after he had claimed he gave Seagrave a glass of water because he looked just about ready to pass out."

"Coincidence?" Harkness asked with a raised eyebrow as he brought his coffee cup to his lips.

"I think not, considering Bannon and Seagrave hated each other. Seagrave would have cut his own legs off rather than go anywhere near Potomac Attire." Janny shook her head, prodding at the table with a stern finger. "While Dr. Preston did his autopsy, he made several notes as he worked."

"Notes?" He lowered his cup away, not even bothering to take a sip.

"He made footnotes stating that Seagrave's skin was unnervingly pink in color- and that his mouth smelled faintly of roasted almonds. He made notes because he found it quite strange."

"How is that strange? Maybe Seagrave was out on the flight deck, enjoying a little too much sun and eating those packages of irradiated almonds that are lying all around the place," Harkness scoffed.

"The symptoms prove otherwise." She reminded him. "The headaches, the vertigo, the confusion, difficulty breathing, growing weaker and weaker by the day… Coupled by the smell of almonds on his breath and his unnatural skin color? Harkness, those are symptoms of cyanide poisoning at low doses."

"Cyanide poisoning?..." He ran his thick fingers through his neatly combed hair. "Wait, how do you know all this?"

"Doctor Jenkins", remember?"

"Then why didn't Preston recognize any of the symptoms when he's a doctor, as well?"

"Because cyanide, even before the war, was considered a rare poisonous substance. It'd take a miracle and a half for anyone to get their hands on it nowadays, so it's understandable that Dr. Preston was not well versed in it. I just happened to catch it in an old medical textbook I have- interesting read, in all honesty…"

"Then explain to me this- how was Bannon able to get this cyanide stuff if it's so hard to find?"

"I have absolutely no idea… I don't doubt that it's impossible, it's just extremely difficult, and possibly even more difficult now that the radiation from the Great War has destroyed almost everything. He could have stumbled upon it by accident and decided to put some use into it."

"You said at low doses… What about in larger doses?" Harkness had completely abandoned his coffee, letting it grow cold in its porcelain cup in his hands. "What are the symptoms at larger doses?"

"In larger quantities, one can experience seizures, apnea, even a coma before the poisoned party succumbs to cardiac arrest or even death in a mere matter of minutes." Janny answered.

"Cardiac arrest?"

"That's what gets me…" She explained, rubbing her suddenly heavy eyes. "If Bannon wanted to kill Seagrave, why give him low doses of cyanide and drag it out?"

"Maybe he thought he could get some use out of him, or maybe he just liked watching Seagrave squirm. They never liked each other, remember?"

"Of course, of course, how could I forget?" She rolled her eyes. "A bunch of bickering schoolgirls when they were in the same room together..." She looked to the ceiling. "No disrespect to the dead, Seagrave but you know I speak in all honesty." She looked back at Harkness. "I think he wanted to drag it out because everyone had their fingers pointing at one thing- his red-lung. Anyone, experienced in medicine or not, would have simply chalked up all the new symptoms to his condition. They wouldn't have thought anything of it when he died. It, technically, would have looked like a silent passing away that was inevitable."

"Well, we got Bannon with the poison in Seagrave's room. Is that enough evidence for 'ya, Jan?" Harkness asked impatiently.

"No, it's not enough, Harkness." She shook her head, folding her arms over her chest. "We finally have a clear interpretation of how Seagrave died- the cyanide poisoning led to his death. He was probably too weak to get help, and no one was around, so he died in his room when Vera came in and discovered his body when she came to deliver his meal."

"I guess it doesn't give us much if we still don't have anything solid against him," He groaned in frustration at the bitter realization, holding his head in his hands. "All we can prove, and even barely, is that he knows I'm an android and he knows my codes- and he could be planning on doing something with them because of the nature of the codes he asked for."

"It's hardly something to nail him for," Janny raised a thoughtful brow. "Unless you want everyone on this ship to know that you're an android as well?"

"Help me figure it out, Jan." He pleaded. "How did that pompous prick figure me out?"

"I wish I knew, Harkness… But there are still some things that have come to my attention as well."

"Like?"

"Like… It's obvious he knows that you're the android Zimmer is looking for, so why contact Zimmer and tell him that you're alive but not reveal your identity? It doesn't exactly make much sense to me."

"Well neither does slowly killing Seagrave by way of cyanide poisoning instead of just doing it quick and clean. There are other ways he could have offed Seagrave and still made it look like an accident- he could have even waited till he did die of red-lung." He huffed. "Maybe he's a crazy bastard with a fetish for smearing peanut butter all over himself or something…"

Janny snorted with small chuckles at the image the commander had implanted in her head.

"Maybe he couldn't wait for Seagrave to die- maybe he just wanted him gone."

"You think so?"

"He must have had reason for killing Bannon, not just because they disliked each other, and there must be a reason as to why he's trying to indirectly help Zimmer come and find you to take you back to the Commonwealth. Either way, there's a bigger picture going on. I believe that we're still missing a few things, we only have the little details of this puzzle, and it's going to kill us if we don't find these missing pieces."

"I hope you don't mean literally, I'm partial to living…" Harkness murmured, finally downing the rest of his cold coffee with a bitter look on his face. "And I don't exactly want to leave this world by way of self-destruction sequence."

"Can androids even die?" She asked curiously.

"You killed Armitage, didn't you? And he was an android."

"Fair enough," She nodded. "Anyways, I feel that whatever is going on is… Connected in some way."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I don't know…" She scratched her head. "Just a feeling I have… And speaking of feelings- you remember that gut feeling I told you I had?"

"Yeah? What about it?"

"It's getting worse…"

"Glad I'm not the only one who feels like he's about to spew out his shitty morning cup of coffee." He replied, rolling his stiff neck.

"…Bryan wants in on this." She replied offhandedly, biting her lip as their eyes met.

"Jan, are you nuts? What's gonna happen if the kid is too deep into- into whatever this is? He could get hurt, or worse, killed! Besides, what right does he have knowing that I'm an android?"

"He knows I'm up to something Harkness, and he knows I have an accomplice." Janny glanced up at him. "He's a lot smarter than you make him out to be. Soon enough, he'll put two and two together and figure out that it's you," She pointed at him. "Besides, he doesn't have to know that you're an android."

"I guess so… Wait- me? What will make him think it's me?" He scowled.

"I only talk to two people on a regular basis- him, and you." She replied with a shrug. "I've told him so before. If he hasn't figured it out yet, he will soon enough."

Harkness grumbled quietly to himself, rubbing his tired eyes with a lackluster hand.

"Do I have a choice?" He asked after a few moments of contemplative silence.

"I'm not exactly sure," She answered with a hint of a smile in her voice. "Think about the benefits of this, Harkness! We'll have someone else on our side- someone who will believe us- it won't be just the two of us anymore, and believe me, sooner or later we're going to be screwed nine ways till Sunday if it's just the two of us."

He stared at her with wary eyes, finding some truth in her words.

"You know he won't breathe a word of this to anyone. We can trust him."

"No, you can trust him. Me? No way." He shook his head.

"You trust me, don't you?" She asked with a small smile, leaning across the table to grab his hand. "Harkness, please? We can trust Bryan- me and you. He won't let either of us down."

"You think so?"

Janny nodded certainly. "I know so."

Harkness took a moment to close his eyes, pondering over it to himself in silence. After a few moments of thinking, he sighed, opening one eye to look at her.

"Well, I suppose he's a good kid…"

Her small smile began to grow.

"But!" He pointed at her across the table, as if to halt her mini-celebration with his other hand on his knee as he leaned forward. "If he even thinks about double-crossing us, or saying a damn word to anyone, I'll gut him myself!"

"You can tell him that yourself."

"Gladly," He replied briskly as he got up from his chair.

"In a few hours, though. I'm sure everyone is still sleeping while we're wide awake, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, talking about murder and androids." She smiled. "Come down to my room during your lunch break, we can greet him into the club together."

"We have a club now? Like, "Oh hey, welcome to the club! We got a secret handshake!" kind of a club?"

"No, that's too simple." Her smile broadened into a grin. "More like "Oh hey, welcome to the club! We've got jackets and a theme song, and if you learn the group dance, you'll get an honorary members pin!"

Harkness stared at her peculiarly.

"…You're strange."

"Would you have me any other way?"

"No. No- probably not." He shook his head.

"Then stop complaining," She replied with an arrogant smile as she got up with her book in her hands and placed some money on the table, walking with Harkness to the staircase that led up and out to the entrance bridge of Rivet City.

"…I'm not complaining." He shot back once they went up the stairs, ladies first, and she held the door open for the both of them.

"Sure you're not, El Capitano." Janny winked and saluted him playfully. "Now if you excuse me, I'm going to go get a few more hours of sleep under my belt."

"Sweet dreams," Harkness called as she opened the door to the stairwell.

"All the sweeter when you're in theeem," She replied in a joking singsong voice as she closed the door and darted up the stairs, leaving the commander to snort and scoff in stifled laughter as Lana eyed him with a strange look on her face, having seen the entire thing from the moment the door opened.

"Did you two love birds make up already?" She teased with a lighthearted sneer.

Harkness stopped laughing, eyes darting to her sharply.

"Alright, what is everyone on this damn ship saying now?"