Lillie sat on the edge of a metal table, staring at her hands. Jericho was leaning against the wall, working his jaw. The whole... everything relating to this Vault, had gone absolutely―

As expected. If she were thinking in the vein of President Eden, that was. Enclave victory was assured, if... if she could've actually gone into that place and gotten the G.E.C.K. She just couldn't bring herself to walk through that much radiation, even if she treated herself with Rad-Away.

She scoffed, to herself. Jericho shifted his weight, his armor making a clinking noise as his buckles rattled against each other. She glanced up and saw him staring at her, his black eyes catching the light from her Pip-Boy and reflecting it back onto her. He looked like he had something he wanted to say, even though he―

Wouldn't, because he was scared she was gonna feed him the rest of his fingers, maybe. "What?" she asked him huffily, crossing her arms over her chest. Felt defensive. Couldn't help that, she'd had no other choice but to let him get hurt―even if she hadn't wanted it to happen.

Jericho blinked at her and shrugged one shoulder, turning his gaze away from her. Didn't say a word. She was starting to miss the times before when he would have said something rude, or picked on her... or even flat-out ogled her. It'd been nice, to have what felt like a friend.

Now, he was just a―a dog. Just like he kept saying―and she had treated him like one―

Sit, stay, fetch. Lillie felt sick to her stomach. She'd treated him like President Eden had treated her. That wasn't at all right. She sighed, rubbing her eyes. "I'm sorry, Jericho," she said, feeling guilty. "I―I shouldn't have..."

"What's the plan, here?" he asked, roughly. "You always got a plan, so what the hell are we doin'?"

She looked up at him, saw him watching her with a hard face. "I don't actually have one," she admitted, in a small voice. "I..."

She'd been thinking―trying to plan for this―for the last two hours, but hadn't come to any kind of adequate solution. She knew she had to end up in Enclave custody, but...

Couldn't walk out there and give herself up to the soldiers. President Eden undoubtedly wanted her to believe that she was―she hesitated to say it, but―the enemy. Maybe he considered her an enemy, too. She wasn't quite sure what he was thinking.

He'd forced her into continuing, by activating the back-up signal. But... he'd delivered her a message to return. There was nothing stopping him from destroying her inside of Raven Rock―or outside of it, if he so chose―so she must still be of some value to him. He thought she needed pressured, which meant he must think she was reluctant to come back, or―or otherwise that she wasn't willing to play along. She had interfered with VIOLA's link...

But she knew how to pretend. She'd been doing that for years upon years, inside Raven Rock. It made it so much easier to pretend, out here in the wastes. To play along, to get what needed to be done, to... to help him. The only reason she'd not gone out and made the Enclave come and get her, was to help...

She forced herself to stop thinking like that, and focused herself. If she were to go out with her hands up in defeat, it would cause President Eden concern. She couldn't afford to have him think that she was scheming against him, for any reason other than her own desires. In the past, her desires had been―well, she'd hoped it looked like she was helping herself and her dad, but―but she couldn't tell what President Eden might have taken away from her actions.

She needed him to think she was transparent, now―if she acted in a way that he felt was predictable, he would as well. That made it easier, once she got into the bunker. Easier to worm her way back into his good graces and... take him down.

The override had to give her access to his personal area in Raven Rock. There was no other reason that―no reason she would need a code like that, other than to get to the President. Everything she'd hope for had come true, with that single line of code.

And as much as she wanted to make this easier right now, she would have to put up a token fight. President Eden expected that of her.

And... Lillie lifted a hand and bit her fingernails, nervously. ...Still had to deal with Colonel Autumn. She felt the flighty little jump in her chest and closed her eyes. Couldn't afford that sort of emotion tinging her actions, when she got into Raven Rock―

"You said them assholes were gonna be waitin', right?" Jericho's voice cut through her thoughts.

"They're down there," she agreed. Even if she hadn't seen them, she'd heard the familiar sounds of power armor, breathing apparatuses hissing through the eerily quiet Vault corridors. The sound of booted feet, the distinct sounds of plasma weaponry powering up, the hushed voices... one voice she recognized all too well. They were there.

Jericho checked the clip on his rifle and nodded. "So we're fightin' our way out," he said, calmly accepting the situation.

"You―" she started, then lowered her hand and hunched in on herself. "You don't have to come with me, this time," she said, her voice quiet and shameful. "You've earned that much."

"Back to this horseshit, again?" Jericho snapped, his tone growing more rebellious. "Thought you was doin' better than that."

"What―" she began, but he talked over her.

"Them assholes can probably hear us," he said, "and I don't fuckin' care if they do. You gotta get your head out of your goddamn mind games and into this real shit, right here. Said you wanted out of the racket―this here's your fuckin' chance." He held up the rifle with one hand and braced it against his hip, moving toward her over the grimy metal floor. "We gonna pussy out here? Don't seem right, kid."

Lillie looked up with a pained expression on her face. "They only want me," she whispered, curling her hands up in her lap. "They're going to execute you, Jericho."

His face was deadly serious, as he came closer and closer to her. Suddenly, when he was as close as he could get without touching her, he grinned, shaking his head. "Fuckin' Christ, Lillie," he said, laughter in his voice. "I coulda gone out in a lotta worse ways. You saved my ass from them fucks at the Mills―" He reached out with one hand and lifted her chin up, staring right at her, that serious look back. A funny little smile went across his face. "I owe you one."

"No," she said, blinking back what she knew was the beginning of tears. "I don't want to see you get yourself killed, for me. Everyone else―"

"Gettin' fed my own fuckin' fingers wasn't right," he said, pinching her chin with his fingers, shooting her an annoyed look. Went back to the little smile, though. Lillie frowned at him, confused by his actions. "But I get that you're all fuckin' noble and shit. Maybe I got some of that, in me. I owe you for paying off that stupid shit I did to the raiders, kid."

Lillie felt the pain starting in her ears. Why she cared―she didn't know, but she did. "But you―you don't have to," she said, moving a hand up to wipe her nose. "Don't have to die here, not if you don't want to."

"That's the noble part," he said, dropping his hand. He leaned forward a little, tapping her on the side of the head where her scars were―she jerked at the sensation. "I went around with a lot of fuckin' idiots, back in the day. You... you got a whole different way of things. You're not a fuckin' idiot, for one." He grinned at her. "I wouldn't do this kind of shit for nobody else, you know."

She screwed up her face. He didn't make a whole lot of sense, sometimes. "Jericho," she started, but he smacked her on the side of her head and grunted.

"C'mon, kid. We gonna go down swingin', or you gonna sit here and cry over some washed-up old ex-raider asshole who ain't got nothin' left to live for?"

She felt her breath catch in her throat, and cleared it noisily. "That's two double negatives," she muttered.

Jericho just rolled his eyes at her. "The fuck I care?" He coughed, spitting a wad of snot across the room. "I ain't goin' anywhere I'm gonna need fancy words."

Lillie sighed, and pushed herself up from the table. "I don't know," she murmured. "You... I just don't know, anymore, Jericho."

"Lost that hard shit again?" he asked, standing so close to her she could smell the Brahmin shit he'd stepped in the week before. "Need a fuckin' reminder, maybe."

"I didn't lose any―" she protested, but Jericho leaned down, grabbed the back of her head, and―

She was startled so badly by what he did, she didn't know how to react. She'd never―not like that―and the last time it'd been her starting it―Jericho's breath stank to high heaven of cigarettes and booze and rotten teeth―

He had her in a really awkward position, leaning over her like some kind of vampire, mashing his mouth into hers. Lillie threw up a fist, punching him under the jaw. His rifle clattered to the floor, echoing loudly through the room, as her knee came up and anchored itself firmly in his groin. He reeled backward, groaning in pain. "There it is," he belted out, laughing and moaning at the same time, his body slumped into itself defensively. "That's what I wanna see―"

"What in the―" Lillie shook all over. "The hell do you think you're doing?!" she shrieked.

Jericho landed himself against the wall, his bad hand holding onto it, still bent over and chuckling under his labored breaths. "Worth it," he strained out. "You still got it, kid."

She stared at him, furiously, balling her fists up at her sides. "You―You asshole!" she shrilled, unable to contain her temper. "That―" She couldn't think of anything to say, she just wanted to hurt him bad―

Jericho righted himself, still laughing. "Fuck, kid, ain't gonna say you ain't never, c'mon―"

Lillie colored violently. Jericho took one look at her, then started cackling hysterically. "Fuckin' worth it!" he yelled, reaching down to grab his rifle, one hand on his stomach. "Goddamn, you're such a stupid little bit―"

Lillie stomped across the floor and punched him in the teeth as hard as she could, knocking him sideways. She shoved him with both hands, down onto the floor. "How dare you!" she shrieked, kicking him in the stomach. "You vile, rotten, old―" She kicked him again, but this time in the temple, knocking him unconscious.

Lillie calmed herself down with a few deep breaths, staring down at Jericho's unconscious body with a pinched face. That―that asshole! What gave him the right to―she closed her eyes and breathed out, as calmly as she could.

She kicked him in the stomach again, before she moved away from him, out of the room. Dammit―that―nnngh! She wanted so badly to shoot or stab or main him―

But she couldn't. She owed him for sticking around, even when she'd done horrid things to him. For playing along with her games. For―for backing her up when she'd gone loopy, at the very least.

Lillie sighed, closed her eyes, and held up Colonel Autumn's sidearm. It's been a good run, Jericho, she thought. ...Thanks, I guess.

She opened her eyes with a snap and stepped into the room where the Enclave soldiers were waiting.