A:N/ Sorry this took so damn long, I've been really busy with a number of projects as I've started writing a book, that I plan to publish. I'm afraid that double dissapointment must come from the fact that I was hoping to make this a two part story but that might not be the case now, might have to be more parts than I originally intended. This won't be a Peace and Future Cannon Fodder case, where it's like 10+ parts though (PROMISE!)

Annieway, enjoy this chapter and I hope to have another chapter out there soon. Thanks so much for the reviews, I felt truly humbled to get so much positive feedback from people on this one. I hope that all of them get to see the ending, if they liked it as much as they said they did. :)

Thanks! :)\\

Denis didn't sleep at all that night, which wouldn't be a problem, if his ordeal hadn't exhausted him. The Regulator's eyes constantly shifted in the dark, feeling like a child again, waiting for something to go bump in the night.

For the first time in his life, he had no idea what was out there, he had no idea what to expect.

Eventually, he sighed and rolled out of bed, furiously rubbing at his face as he doubled over. It was an odd feeling, that he struggled to put his finger on... Could it be that the reason that he didn't know what to expect was that he knew nothing? That all of the threats of yesterday were now... figments of his imagination.

Supermutants... What were they, without an image to put them to? The ramblings of a comic geek with a huge imagination. There were just too many things that bothered him, not just the lack of threat but the lack of... anything. Yes, he lost his old life, leaving the Vault but he had a new one. Megaton, Harden, Bryan Wilkes... It was all gone.

Or more accurately, it never even happened to begin with.

Denis sighed, realising that he had gone full circle as he staggered out into his room. He took a seat on his couch and hung his head, sighing heavily as he did so...

The worst part was that he didn't even know if he hated this... Did he want to give it all up? A life of safety, the Father he lost? The life that was stolen from him?

Even if this was an illusion, a dream... It was still a good dream, a second chance at a life that he didn't realise how much he missed it. How simple and... easy it all was.

Though, that was part of his distress, it was simply too easy...

Denis slowly curled up onto the couch, sighing heavily as he stared at his table, wondering... thinking and then over thinking, until he finally drifted off to sleep.

The Lone Wanderer's dreamless sleep was interrupted the following morning, by two loud clangs, coming from behind him. He slowly sat up and brought his hand to his head, shaking it heavily as he adjusted to this new world, slightly disappointed that it wasn't all a dream.

At least that would have been... Easier.

It wasn't so much that this could all be real that scared him anymore... it was that he wanted it to be, he wanted it to be real so badly that he wasn't sure how he'd be able to take it if he found out it wasn't.

His eyes fell onto the coffee table, seeing a small bit of blood on it, dry from Jonas' impact on one of its corners...

Denis' eyes fell further, straight to the floor as he hung his head, feeling increasingly guilty.

Jonas...

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It was then that he heard the familiar sound of a mechanical door opening, prompting him to look back, over his shoulder. He honestly didn't know why to expect at this point, so he didn't even try and guess...

There he saw her, dark brown hair, tied back in a bun, the curvy outline of her body as she stepped inside his room. However, she seemed almost... hesitant.

"It's okay Amata..." He muttered, turning his attention back to the table.

"You can come in."

Still hesitant, Amata eventually stepped inside Denis' room, constantly examining her surroundings as she approached him. She could tell that something had happened in here, so many things that had been untouched for years had been moved or damaged during Denis' rampage...

"Are you...?" She began, stopping just next to him and resting a hand on his shoulder, meeting his gaze as he looked up to her. His eye met her's, prompting him to stop as his lips parted, leaving his mouth slightly agape.

"Okay?" She finished, prompting Denis to close his lips again, with a faint nod as he stared ahead. He hated being treated like a mental patient but looking at what his rebellious nature had caused to a potentially resurrected loved one, it was... too much.

"You seem different..." She observed, as she gently sat down beside him, continuing to rest her hand on him.

"The way you look at me, I... I'm not sure that I can describe it."

Denis paused before turning to face her again, he eventually paused, forcing a smile.

"Nice to see you to, Amata." He said, in response, getting a faint laugh out of her.

"Sorry but you... Well, I did hear that you had done some... Worrying things with Jonas and... I just wanted to make sure that you were okay."

"I am." Denis said, glancing up to her.

"I'm not a threat to you or the baby, I just... Went into a bit of a panic, that's all." He explained, trying to not sound crazy, thought this brought her more concern.

"Did you... Panic, because of the baby?" She asked, she seemed so put out that she wasn't like the Amata that he remembered but how could he blame her, when he had just assaulted someone?

"No... Not at all, I wasn't even aware of the baby at this point." Denis explained, with a sigh, he hung his head and paused as he tried to think of a way to explain it, without sounding too insane...

"It's... Okay, what would you do if you woke up in the Wasteland tomorrow and were told that this conversation never happened? That the baby never happened, that your father was dead and so was I and that you now had a life, out in the wasteland. You had a husband, maybe a kid... A life but it's not yours, it's a life that you've just had sprung on you and no matter how preferable or horrible it might seem, compared to how you live now, you just have to accept that it's reality now." He paused, keeping his gaze fixed on her.

"What would you do?"

Amata said nothing, what could you say to such a strange hypothesis... all she could do was pause and think, think of a comforting answer.

"You... Believed that you weren't born in the vault?" She asked, trying to make sense of it.

"No, I was... I wasn't born in the vault but I grew up in it, from my understanding of reality, my Father left two years ago, his departure caused the vault to be invaded by radroaches... Your Father blamed me, tried to have me killed but thankfully people like you and Gomez were there to help me.

I... was exiled, had to make a life for myself outside. I did and... now I'm back here, none of it happened." He explained, turning his attention back to the table.

"Two years of... fighting to stay alive, fighting skirmishes, battles... hell, even wars and I wake up to find that none of it happened." He paused, looking up to him.

"But it did happen! I saw Paladin Cross, a woman like my own mother, have her arm blown off and bleed out in my arms! I... Tore people apart with my bare hands, like an animal, just to make it through the night! Hell, I blew some poor defenseless woman's head off, because I thought she betrayed me.

It's all real to me! I still dream about those... monstrous nests, that the mutants made, where the walls feel like they're alive, because they're coated in the dripping wet flesh of the dead. I remember the stink of a Trogg's breath!

I... I remember what made it worth it." He paused, no longer caring, he felt himself go hollow, shaking a little as the grime slowly peeled off him, like the shell on a nut, revealing the scarred Vault Dweller inside...

"I remember seeing a guy, Carlos, drinking clean water for the first time... I remember seeing that huge door lift off of the Citadel, the first time I set foot in it and I remember freeing the people of Pittsburgh from their Slaver Masters." He explained, eventually making eye contact.

"It all seemed... worth it, up until now. Now it's just..."

Amata shook her head, forcing Denis' hand into his and looking him in the eye.

"Denis, Denis look at me." She insisted, at the snap of a finger, she had his undivided attention as their eyes interlocked. He paused, waiting for some sense, some... reason not to lose it, not to lose everything in one collosal freak out.

"Did you have a family in this world? A wife? A child?" She asked, this got him to pause, though the answer was bleedingly obvious.

"No." He admitted, plainly, slowly looking to the ground as he swallowed his fear back.

"Nothing like that..."

"Did you have the safety of a Vault? Heating? Clean food and drink? Great healthcare?"

"Not always."

She then grabbed him and made him face her fully now, staring into his war torn eyes.

"Did you have me?"

Denis felt himself relax as he continued to stare into her eyes. He had always wondered how he and Amata had become a thing until now. He could feel it, he felt safe in her hands, like he was the size of a small roach and her delicate hands gently cupped around him to keep himself.

"No." He said, answering her question, after a brief moment and finally managing to break eye contact once again. This seemed to be all that Amata needed to hear, she lunged forward, wrapping her arms around him and locking lips with the Regulator as she kissed him deeply. She held the kiss for, what felt like, a thousand years before eventually prying their mouths apart as she went back to gazing, lovingly, into his eyes.

"It was worth it..." She whispered, prompting Denis to do something that he hadn't done naturally for three years.

He smiled.