Note: ugh, still feel sick to my stomach. Sorry about any delays, life sucks right now

minor edits. mostly inaccurate wording

"Any news about Lillie?"

Augustus stepped into the prison laboratory and hit the door locks before answering, yawning slightly. It hadn't been his idea to come and see the doctor; President Eden required some input or other, if it continued prompting him to visit. He'd rather have been following up with his men, regarding new developments, but arguing with the supercomputer would delay that.

Some horseshit about the modified deathclaws. It hadn't been going very well; the program's mortality rate for both researchers and test subjects continued to rise. He didn't know what they'd expected, when dealing with the damn things. Anything wild with that descriptive colloquial name should be given respect.

Another one of Eden's mad science projects. It was all he could do to hope he wasn't still a test subject, himself.

"...Lillie made her way to Megaton," Augustus said, turning and running a hand under his collar. "She's spent time reconnoitering the area, gaining knowledge."

James stared at him for a brief moment, then turned his head away. "Did she go to the Vault, yet?" he asked, in a manner that indicated he'd been looking for that answer all along.

"No," Augustus said. "And, in fact, if she does not make her way to the Vault, soon, she will be treading some very dangerous water." He sighed and ran a hand over his temple. The spike of pain caused by even thinking about her―he wished he were not so vested. "She has proven her adequate worth in combat, but President Eden is growing... impatient."

James turned back to his microscope and shook his head. "Colonel," he said, "I'll thank you to leave me to my work."

"Would that I could," he replied, crossing his arms over his chest. "But I've been ordered to check on your welfare, and as much as I enjoy your... enthralling conversation, I am required to remain here until I have adequately done so."

"My welfare," James said, spitefully. "Other than my being alive, and providing consistent data, I doubt Eden would care about how I am faring."

"Apparently there has been some concern regarding your behavior," Augustus said, turning himself to the side and walking across the room. He placed himself in front of the intercom light and faced the man.

"My behavior has been model, Colonel," James replied, adjusting the setting on the microscope.

"Exactly," Augustus said. "You do realize President Eden can plan for multiple outcomes, simultaneously?"

"I am aware of what it is capable of," James said, looking into the lens. "I really don't care what Eden thinks of my particular good behavior. Or what you think, Colonel."

"Whatever front you are putting on―" Augustus stifled a yawn. "It will not succeed, Doctor."

"I am not putting on a front," James answered, his voice irritatingly calm. "I have accepted the inevitable."

"Good God, man, are you seriously attached to this ideal?" Augustus sighed, rubbed his forehead, and put his elbow in his hand. "This is why I had to take time out of my already busy schedule to see you."

"If you have concerns, then act on them." The doctor peered into the microscope, jotting down a few words onto a piece of paper. "Otherwise, leave me to my work."

"One of the reasons I asked for your termination." Augustus moved his gloved fingers along his head to his temple, rubbing it lightly. "Your marked determination to provide absolutely no information of note while remaining obstinate. Idealism only gets one so far―"

"I've no time for your florid insults," James said, glancing at him. "Every moment you spend here is a moment better used."

The pain in his temple had increased to a breaking point, putting him into a weakened state. Without―Augustus sighed. Honestly, without Lillie around, he felt the heaviness of the supercomputer's manipulation. Understood how much he'd been handled, prior to James and Lillie arriving, even. Before that, he had willingly followed the suggestions because he had not believed the computer was aiming his people into disaster.

Every new development was suspect, now. The other elements had come to light, and even a small deviation from previous behavior was something that could have been provoked by the ZAX bastard . Deviations such as James' suddenly perfect behavior.

He stared at the doctor. Didn't quite understand what purpose this perfection would prove. But with the migraine rocketing around his head, he couldn't make a proper conclusion.

"If you have a headache, Colonel, you ought to move somewhere less lighted." James was watching him move his hand on his temple, in constant motion.

"It's a migraine," Augustus said, dismissing the thought. "Nothing to be done."

James stared at him for a moment. A slow half-smile came over his face, and he turned away, pulling open a cabinet. "I didn't realize," he said, pulling out a first-aid kit and sorting through the contents, "that teenagers could cause people other than their parents, pain."

Augustus breathed out through his nose and closed his eyes. He had not slept much. That was why he had the migraine; his overactive and overtired mind provided him punishment. "It is not your concern how I am, Doctor," he said, opening his eyes and staring at James.

James was measuring out something into a syringe, eyeing it with a calculating glance. "You may think so," he said, turning and leaning onto the edge of the counter. "But we both understand that being at one's peak condition is preferable to confusion."

Augustus couldn't argue that, pathetically enough. James approached him with the syringe, holding it toward himself, and directed Augustus to a chair. "What are you planning, now?" the Colonel asked, shooting him a hard glance.

"No plan," James said, preparing a site on his arm for injection. "You've been having migraines for years, Colonel. If you hadn't, maybe your efforts would be more successful." He held up the syringe and looked down at him with an amused face. "I'm merely doing my part for the Enclave."

"This is exactly what―" Augustus turned his head as the needle went into his arm. "What I meant about ideals."

"Where do you suppose I fit, in this transtheoretical model?" James asked, removing the syringe and applying a piece of gauze to the site.

"Action," he replied. "You've had plenty of time for contemplation."

"Astute," James said, nodding. "...If you get another migraine, you should return here."

Augustus sighed, imperceptibly, and returned his coat to its proper state. "We will see." The pain had already begun to lessen, but he felt sleep beginning a slow shade over him. "I've already trusted you enough that you won't kill me in some professional manner. It is a stretch to allow you lull my sympathy into a deception."

"Now, now, Colonel," James said, moving away and returning the first aid box to its station. "I have no reason to kill you. You're the only person in the world who tells me the truth about Lillie."

Augustus stood and ran a hand along the inside of his collar, turning his head to the man. Tired though he was, the injection had rapidly removed all of his pain. He felt much more sharpened.

"I suppose I ought to thank you," Augustus said. "But I'd rather not be known for my delightful manner."

James laughed, put his eye back to the microscope. "Colonel, if you knew half of what I do, in this moment, you would outright murder me."

"I'd certainly like to."

James laughed again. The banter between them was not by any means friendly, but rather... an understanding. A cautious truce in the name of a greater goal, namely the liberation of James and his daughter. And the liberation of the Enclave from the thumb of the supercomputer performing mad plots against them.

"Action is only a precursor to relapse," James said, pointedly. He smiled under the microscope. "We will all be back to our established behaviors, soon enough."

Augustus nodded to himself. He had thought of the possibility, that the change was brought on by a sudden disruption and would not be supported. "I'll report your behavior as expected," he said, giving the man that much respect.

"Thank you, Colonel."

"Good day, James."

Augustus had returned to his quarters and sat down to review reports, his migraine gone but not forgotten. After a long day, and having no pressure in his temple, he was sufficiently able to prepare himself against all attack.

But, of course, he couldn't out-think Eden. He was sitting at his desk, shuffling between two incident reports and attempting to understand why the handler of the modified deathclaws was killed, when a voice surprised him into startled motion.

Eden was torturing him, for sure. Played back a recording of Lillie in the training room, stopping it abruptly after―

"When a commanding officer speaks, you must respond!"

He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and composed himself. "Sir?" he asked, keeping his voice calm. Playing back to him that awful day when he'd fully understood his failure―

"I rather miss Lillie," Eden said, slowly. "I haven't anyone to say the Pledge with me. And you haven't told me good morning in over twelve years, Colonel."

True enough, though Augustus had been mostly ignored for the first six years as Eden pursued other friendships. Such as Dr. Isben, or the woman running behavioral models down in the computer labs. "Was there something you needed, sir?" Augustus asked, flipping a paper up.

"Of course," it said. "Lillie has not been as efficient as I prefer, in her completion of the mission. In fact..." a momentary pause. "She's been unconscious for the last twelve hours. I find that slightly alarming."

Augustus blinked, unable to form any thought.

It was alarming. Given that the summary reports from the orchestra had indicated that Lillie wasn't sleeping much, and had been exhibiting signs of low glucose from her apparent dislike of eating food from the wastes, it meant she might have gone into a coma, or―

Or worse, that she was dead and VIOLA was still filming. Augustus' hands shook slightly. No, he―she wasn't dead, he didn't think that was a possibility. It... it didn't bother him that she might be, either.

He told himself that even though his heart hit his rib cage with a pulpous thump and his mouth had gone dry.

"Regardless of why she has not opened her eyes for half the day―" the damn thing knew how he felt, and there wasn't a single thing Augustus could do about it "―Lillie is not performing as expected. I knew we should have included radiation acclimation in the training," Eden said, regretfully.

"Deliberately exposing her to radiation would have delayed your plans, sir," Augustus said, lowering his hand from his chest to the papers. "And unnecessarily shortened her lifespan. That is why you ultimately vetoed radiation training."

"Yes, pity, that." Eden sighed. "Hindsight is twenty-twenty. Colonel, I want you to arrange an escort for the good Doctor to Megaton. Deliver him as quickly and as quietly as possible into the area. He will find Lillie and compel her."

Augustus closed his eyes. James would compel Lillie into the Vault as a means to escape from the Enclave. She would be trapped by her father―inside the Vault, forever. He frowned. The Vault would certainly have the necessary equipment needed to remove VIOLA from her orbital cavities. Why would James not desire protection and safety?

"Is that wise, sir?" he asked, after a moment.

"I love the little silences as you come to realize what I've already known," Eden jabbed. Augustus' jaw clenched in anger. "I have done nothing but plan for this, Colonel. I realize that we may lose the VIOLA feed. Other preparation was made for that occurrence."

That bade something horrid, something so awful Augustus didn't want to imagine what it could be.

"I will draw up an itinerary," he muttered, staring blankly at the paper in front of him.

"Good man. Make sure that our Doctor arrives as soon as possible, Colonel." The light on the wall faded.

There was nothing he could do. Eden had planned for contingencies that even he, himself, could not. Lillie was not safer in the wasteland. She had been safer in Raven Rock, and now she was without―without his, or her father's protection, or even a hand that was comforting to hold.

His heart flopped painfully, at the thought. Eden's devious plotting had been successful, if he was feeling such awkwardness toward the girl. If he had been allowed to have a proper relationship with her... he didn't know that he would be feeling quite the same.

Augustus picked up one of Lillie's holotapes and inserted it into the terminal. If James was set into motion, and located her―

He would leave with the man a message that only Lillie could interpret.