He wasn't surprised Madison was in Rivet City. She may have been tough as nails on the outside, but she always had preferred working in enclosed spaces.

He could tell that she'd tried to make something of their research. The Science Lab was a new addition to the old tub, but not an unwelcome sight to him. He could see improvement to the equipment, improvements that he and Madison and Catherine had worked together to develop.

But he wasn't there to sight-see. "Madison," James said, as he approached her.

"James!" she said, startled into dropping the clipboard she was holding. She stared at him for a moment as if she couldn't truly believe that it was him, standing in front of her.

He was tired. Exhausted, really. After running from the Vault, trying to wrap his head around this new plan that Lillie was doing, wondering if she was turning against the Enclave and not believing she'd ever work for better goals than those of that tyrannical supercomputer―and having Jericho dissuade her from being too interested in what raiders did for fun―it was utterly exhausting, doing so much thinking. James didn't believe he'd ever been this tired, even when he and Lillie were almost lost to the wastes.

He had yet to mentally address any issues relating to the purifier. It wasn't operational and never had been, even though he and Catherine had tried so hard to complete it prior to Lillie's birth. He hadn't had much time to dedicate to the matter, during his time in Raven Rock.

But what time he'd had, he'd utilized effectively. That was the only reason he'd sought Madison out.

He hadn't even had the time to think on how he'd convince Madison to return. Or to provide the necessary staff, so that the project could continue. It wasn't going to be easy. Madison was... well the woman hadn't exactly been pleasant to work with, at times.

She certainly didn't look very pleased to see him. "I thought I'd never see you, again," she said, retrieving and placing the clipboard onto a table. "What are you doing here?"

"We're finishing Project Purity," he said, as evenly as he could. He knew there was bad blood about the purifier―memories brought up to the surface reminded him that he'd left behind a rather irritated and not-at-all happy team of scientists. That had led to a bad decision.

"But―" Madison blinked in confusion. "What's going on?" She considered him with a concerned face. "Where's..."

"All in due time, Madison." James breathed out, then launched into a quick debriefing of the situation. Left out his imprisonment by the Enclave, for the moment. Informed her that he was intent to travel to the Memorial, assess the condition of the purifier. "I found the missing component," he added, as Madison watched him with a guarded face.

She sighed, and lowered her arms. "James... too much time has passed," she said. "There's no way we could make the project work again."

"This will solve the problems we faced before, Madison," he answered. "Every time we tried large-scale solutions, it failed. The problem wasn't the science, it was the equi―"

"Look, I don't want to be harsh, but I have problems of my own," she snapped. "After you left, the Brotherhood didn't think the project was worth their time. You abandoned it and you abandoned us, when you left." She gestured briefly at the Science Lab, and narrowed her eyes at him. "I don't have the resources to support you or this...foolish endeavor."

"It will work, and I can prove it," he replied, not backing down. "You remember, we were researching Vaults? We needed better equipment to work with. After I left, I came across more information. The G.E.C.K., Madison―I was right. If we can find one, we can adapt it for use with the purifiers."

"Do you really think that, James?" she asked him, annoyed. "It sounds too good to be true."

"Of course―I wouldn't be here if I thought there wasn't a chance―" He winced at the choice of words. She gave him a look that he recognized, even after so many years of being apart.

It was comforting to know that neither he, nor she, had changed very much, even as dramatic as their lives must have been. His might have won the contest, should it be held, but Madison had always been a straight edge. Catherine had loved her dearly for that determined attitude.

James sighed to himself. "Look, Madison... I know that my leaving wasn't the best decision to make." He grimaced a little as he spoke, his personal knowledge of his situation reminding him just how awful that decision had been. "I had no idea that the whole project would be abandoned. If it makes you feel better, I wish I hadn't left."

Hopefully he sounded rueful enough that she forgave him. Madison was his last chance at getting the purifier up and running.

She pursed her mouth at him, and nodded. "Fine. I'll believe that you're sorry. But the project wasn't going anywhere. We had too many problems to handle―" She crossed her arms and stared at him, almost glaring. "And how do you know the equipment hasn't been irreparably damaged? It's sat alone for almost 18 years!"

James set his mouth and nodded. "I understand your concerns, I really do... but now that I actually know how to make it work, I can't walk away. If it's damaged, we can repair it. We have to, Madison. Catherine deserves that much respect."

The woman looked away for a moment, her face falling. "Yes," she said. She was quiet for a long moment, then glanced back at him with a piercing look. "Where is Lillie, James?"

James cast his eyes downward. "She will join us when she is done with her errand," he said, quietly.

Madison blinked slowly at him when he looked back up, and sighed. "Why don't you sit down and tell me how you expect this will work."

James took the chair offered to him.

Lillie made her way to Rivet City after another day, and he waited for her. Not because he intended for her to follow through on any plan he might have offered to her, and certainly not because he wanted her to be there; after all she had done, he knew that he would rather see this through on his own. Lillie could appreciate the concept of the purifier, but she might still intend to claim it for Enclave purpose.

He would rather see Catherine's dream destroyed before he would allow that to happen.

He might have done poorly by raising their daughter, but he would finish the project for Catherine. God, he wished Catherine could have been there for Lillie. Everything that had happened―Catherine would have kept Lillie from turning into...

He'd screwed up too much in their lives. It would have been better to perish than to allow himself to be captured by the Enclave, as he had. He knew that now.

Once again, hindsight was crystal clear. Like the waters of life, that Catherine had dreamed about. How... poetic.

Lillie stomped into the Science Lab, the older man still following her. Her combat armor was battered and she was missing an arm piece, her face bruised and hands bloodied. Jericho appeared more or less himself. James wondered if the man actually bathed, or if he simply existed in a state of grime that all other grime refused to come near.

"What's the plan?" she asked, appearing fairly happy with herself.

He considered Lillie for a moment, before addressing her. She looked tired, but she was also wearing a smile, as she put her hands on her hips and stared down in his general direction.

"Did you manage to work something out?" he asked her.

"I'm as much blind as Jericho smells," she said. Her nose crinkled up as she spoke. Jericho grunted and rolled his eyes at her.

James could hear the Pip-Boy on her wrist making noise. The low sounds of music and Three Dog's chatter came through the air. He stared at Lillie, then sighed. She'd lied, but GNR was up and running better than it had been.

"What's next?" she asked, her eyes moving upward but not focused on him.

"We need to get to Project Purity. The computer there will have more information, and we need to make sure it hasn't been overrun."

"Overrun?" Lillie tilted her head slightly.

"I... realize that, in your state, you won't be able to stop a threat. But there was a significant Super Mutant presence in the area, before." James kept his eyes on hers, watching her carefully. "I hate to ask you to put yourself into harm's way..."

"Okay," she said, smiling in a happy way. "Jericho and me got this, no problem."

"Let's go, then," he said, quietly, and stood up.

"I fuckin' hate mutants," Jericho muttered, picking his nose. James shot him a disgusted look before he turned to let Madison know that they were ready to leave.

He couldn't even bring himself to wonder why Lillie was lying, now.

"I need you to go in and make sure that it's safe for Doctor Li and her crew," James told Lillie, once they'd arrived at the memorial.

"I'll be right back," she told him, and turned toward the door.

James watched her walking away, saw how unsteady her steps were. She was... definitely having trouble seeing, but he wasn't sure. Part of him had come to the conclusion she'd lied about being able to see―

Maybe she'd been referring to Jericho. James kept his eye on her back, noticing the foul-mouthed man walking behind her. She was not being kept in good company, if that was the case. If she was trying to lure James into thinking her opinion of the ex-raider was poor.

How appropriate, for her to be thrust into another sordid educational opportunity. Like she had been taught by Eden, her traveling with Jericho was yet another way of learning to be... terrible.

The thought actually hurt him. He'd thought her antics could no longer affect him, but... her wobbling steps reminded him of how vulnerable she'd been, as a baby. To see her as a child, the child that he'd always remembered her as, but to know that she was no longer immature. Her mind was so much different than his―shaped differently, molded into something far worse by that demented mind inside of Raven Rock.

Her innocence had been stripped away from her. She'd grown up without him and had changed from a sensitive soul to a terrible example of what the wasteland made of people. Everyone out for themselves. Lying, killing... lives destroyed, for what was perceived as a greater purpose―

Lillie had become someone who was willing to sacrifice others to get her way, just like Eden. Catherine had sacrificed herself, her time, her science, to bring the opposite back to the Capital. Where her goals were for the common good, Lillie's were...

James rubbed his eyes and watched Lillie moving into the memorial. She was the product of his bad decision and although he had hoped she would not hang onto the ideals of the Enclave, she clearly had. Even when those ideals were in question, she still preferred them over his attempts to guide her.

The threat of the Enclave taking the purifier from them loomed over him like the sword of Damocles. He could almost hear the droning sound of Vertibirds in the distance. Looked around the area to reassure himself that it wasn't real―

Catherine, I wish that everything had happened differently, he thought. As it is...

Even now that her dream was closer to being completed than it ever had been, he didn't know if he could believe that it would happen.

All he could do was try to hope.