War…war never changes! Sometimes it felt like she'd been hearing that phrase for every waking moment of her life. Daddy, an Army dog through and through, had recited it to her and her brothers every day like a prayer. According to Daddy, that had been the motto of every Stevenson who had ever picked up a gun in the service of Uncle Sam going all the way back to Great Great Grandpa Thomas when he charged up Omaha beach. Hell, she'd even found herself saying it in her bunk before bed when she'd done her stint as a ground pounder to help pay for law school.

And now, as Cassandra Woodword-Wright passed through the gates of the newly formed Minutemen Military Academy, those words were the first thing that each of her cadets saw.

Her cadets.

Sometimes she still couldn't believe it. Five years; it had been five years since she'd clawed her way out of the bowels of that damned Vault 111. Raiders, Super Mutants, the DAMNED Institute; it was like something out of those crazy comic books that Nate had poured over…actually no. Cassandra was pretty sure that even the screwballs that wrote some of those comics ever came up with a suburban young mother being dragged into a massive underground vault just as a nuclear war broke out, being cryogenically frozen like some kind of Thanksgiving turkey, and then being reawakened over 200 years later to find herself in a dystopian half radiated wasteland that used to be Massachusetts.

She not only had done just that but IN said dystopian half radiated nuclear wasteland, Cassandra Woodward quite literally stumbled into the rank of General of the ragtag remains of a regional militia that called itself the Minutemen, like they stepped right out the American Revolution. There'd been…what…five of them when she first stumbled upon Preston Garvey in that little museum in what remained of down Concord? And they just so happened to be heading towards Sanctuary Hills, the brand spanking new housing complex that…two hundred years ago…she called home.

Five of them; five…and really only two of them could even hold a gun. Now? The Minutemen numbered…what had the last troop report said? Approaching three hundred troops? 80 power armored cavalry and…an artillery corps of 150? What had started with Sanctuary Hills now included..what…Middlesex, Suffolk, Essex, and Norfolk Counties and…maybe half of Worcester county. That was…a little over 2000 square miles?

She'd been through hell and through it all…constantly by her side had been Piper. Cassandra could still remember it like it was yesterday. There she was, stumbling through the remains of Boston, MA, dodging ghouls, hideous super mutants…when exactly had scorpions come to Massachusetts? Cassandra had leapt past a machine gun turret and into the remains of what used to be Fenway Park. She scrambled to her feet…and came face to face with Piper Wright, the muckraking anti-institute crusading journalist herself, locked out of Diamond City on the Mayor's orders.

From that moment on, the pair had been practically inseparable. To this day, Piper insisted that it was all because she wanted to cover the story of the century, the woman out of time who was battling the entire Commonwealth in an attempt to save her kidnapped baby, but whether it was defending a settlement from a raiding party, sneaking into a gunner encampment to call in a Minutemen artillery strike, hell, even pulling her ass out of a bar fight at the Dugout Inn, Piper had looked out for her like an ebony haired guardian angel.

So…maybe what happened next was inevitable. The wounds from losing Nate…well…they would never heal and frankly she never wanted them to heal but…

The one thing I know about love is that it is infinite. You can always make more if you need it, as Nanna had always told her…

Cassandra could never exactly pinpoint when their feelings for each other began to change but…like the drip drip drip of rain…it just dawned on Cassandra that…she loved Piper. She loved her with all her heart. It had been…what…a week after the Institute was destroyed? The pair had spent almost 24 hours trying to repair that hulking old printing press so Piper could put out the signature issue of Publick Occurrences, "The Institute Falls: Freedom for the Commonwealth". They had agreed to grab a bite to eat at the town square and Cassandra held the door open for her lady love and stepped outside…and practically ran into Piper, down on one knee, holding up a shiny silver ring with a blue gem in the center. Within 24 hours, Cassandra then found herself standing before a Minutemen honor guard, laser muskets at attention, staring at their general clad not in body armor and her uniform jacket but an incredibly well preserved wedding dress, with Preston offering his arm to walk her down the aisle. At the front was Pastor Clemens…and Piper, beautiful and angelic Piper, with her kid sis Natalie and Shaun…her family.

"Good morning, mum," The cheery voice of Codsworth, her family's Mr. Handy robot from before the fallout, now Cassandra's aide, greeted her as she entered her office. "What a glorious morning!"

It had been crazy enough thinking of herself as a general when she'd ended her tour of duty in the Army as a staff sergeant MP. Daddy had never QUITE let it drop that if she'd have re-upped for another tour, she could've made 1st Sergeant like him; God, what would he think of his little girl now? Leading the Minutemen up to Fort Independence like Teddy Roosevelt at San Juan Hill? Charging into a facility with security to rival the Pentagon and planting an explosive charge that blew them to smithereens?

"Morning, Codsworth," Cassandra smiled as she took the offered cup of coffee…or what passed for coffee in this century…and took a seat behind her desk. "What's my schedule look like today?"

"Oh nothing too horrible. You have a faculty meeting in exactly 23 minutes…and there is a PILE of requisition forms requiring your signature. You also appear to have a lunch meeting with the Governor."

A smile spread across Cassandra's face…and a fire ignited between her legs. She knew EXACTLY what that "lunch meeting" with Piper Wright, Governor of the Provisional Republic of Massachusetts, was going to devolve into. It was amazing enough that her wife, the muckraking journalist always sniffing up the Institute's tailpipe, had made the decision to run for Mayor of Diamond City. It was even MORE of a shock when she actually won. And city block by city block, the ever expanding Diamond City became less of a city and more like the old State of Massachusetts that Cassandra remembered. With her wife's ever expanding political career, the Minutemen taking more and more territory and having to hold it, Cassandra couldn't face the thought of having to spend so much time away from her family.

So she stepped down. Despite his best efforts, Preston Garvey found himself the newly promoted Commanding General of all Minutemen forces in the Provisional Republic and Cassandra his deputy, in command of Capitol security and commandant of their newly formed academy. Gone were the days of surveying the countryside from a vertibird, ducking bullets as she hefted a minigun. Instead? Making her family breakfast in the morning, running a school, OCCASIONALLY sneaking away to play President and Secretary in her wife's office, school plays, first dates; she felt downright suburban; it was almost like…

Cassandra's eyes fell onto the framed picture on her desk; her and Piper, Nat, and Shaun. It had taken years…more suffering than anyone should've ever had to experience in a lifetime but…she had a DAMN good life!

"Well, Codsworth, best not to let the faculty wait!"

"YES; OH FUCKING GOD, YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!"

The pair collapsed onto the couch in a tangle of sweat and blankets.

God, if it weren't for these…not so little…distractions, with the unending reports and meetings, benefits, petitioners…Piper Esmerelda Wright would've lost her mind ages ago. Of course, if not for the auburn haired goddess that she was currently laying on top of, Piper likely would still by trying to jury rig that junky old printing press, living one newspaper edition at a time, living in constant fear that the Institute would finally decide her number was up; but…the Institute was now a crater, never to darken another doorway again, and Piper was…she was the leader of the mother fucking free world!

"Is…gasp…there any more…gasp…dictation I can take for you," Cassie gasped as she rolled around, those shimmering green eyes framed by that gorgeous freckled face. Nnnngggghhhhh…Piper felt a jolt shoot through her as a delicate finger danced across her nipple. "Madame President?"

God…what was she going to do with her? Piper let out a little chuckle as she leaned down and planted a delicate kiss on the tip of her wife's nose.

"You know, Cassie Woodword Wright, you are not as charming as you THINK you are," Piper slid off the little minx and climbed to her feet. Now…where did she leave her under…

…EEEEEP…

Piper jumped. That little minx thought she could pinch HER on the ass?

"Yes I am," Cassie flashed her that devastating smile. "I think your panties are hanging on your office chair."

Piper immediately felt the blood flow to her cheeks. Okay…maybe she WAS that charming! She darted over to the office chair and snaked her underwear off the armrest. Wow. The dynamic duo could get pretty physical and…hey, they had managed to only shove HALF the documents off her desk. She should have everything back in order by the end of the day. Okay…pants were under the coffee table, bra was…huh…how did it end up on the ceiling fan? Button up a semi-clean shirt…and she was booted, spurred, and ready to ride, as Cassie used to say.

"So anything interesting today?" Cassie smiled, once again clad in her uniform.

Ugh; why did reality have to rear its ugly head? When Piper had started her political career, she was elected Mayor of a "city of about fifty people in the remains of what Cassie referred to as a "baseball field" and maybe a half a mile in any direction. Now? Bunker Hill, the Vault dwellers is 81, just about every settlement in the commonwealth, and…okay. Good Neighbor wasn't TECHNICALLY part of the Republic…Hancock always made that ABUNDANTLY clear…but as much of a headache as that little burgh was, the Brotherhood of Steel was infinitely worse! While they didn't really claim territory per se, they still had a galling habit of acting like they had salvage rights on just about everything under the irradiated sun. As Diamond City began to expand and the Provisional Republic of Massachusetts began to take shape…well…thank God for Cassie's little "in" with those kooks. Piper had heard stories of the Brotherhood of Steel, never really met any of the group, but if the headaches they gave her now were any indication…what in GOD'S name helped her wifey to deal with them?

Okay…that wasn't EXACTLY fair. The friends Cassie had among the brotherhood were influential enough to get the brotherhood to technically recognize the Republic as a legitimate government and even assign an ambassador. As far as brotherhood cronies went, Miranda Haylen was actually decent to be around. Prior to being assigned as the Brotherhood's official Envoy, she had been kind of a techno-nerd, what the brotherhood called a scribe. The times when Piper was able to get a face to face audience with Miranda, they were usually able to head off any trouble…but her bosses surrounded her with an army of bureaucrats.

"I've got to try and secure a meeting with Miranda," Piper groaned, bending down to pick up the documents that the couple HAD managed to knock off the desk. "The Brotherhood faction is trying to throw their weight around regarding an old General Atomics factory Jack's techies had identified. They were at the factory all of five minutes when a Brotherhood squad popped up and tried to throw their weight around. Preston had a company of Minutemen escorting them and now we've got a good old fashioned…what did you call it…a Mexican standoff?"

Piper dropped the bundle of papers onto her desk and collapsed into her office chair. In SOME ways, the Republic was indirectly responsible for a lot of these headaches. It had been not long before they met that Cassie had fallen in with that Brotherhood squad led by Paladin Andrew Danse. She'd helped them recover some salvage, had uncovered the remains of a Brotherhood squad that had come to the commonwealth, and her wife had managed to find herself an honorary "Knight". Cassie was always a little cagey about that time but…after the fall of the Institute, Danse's star was on the rise and he'd worked his way up to a slot on the Brotherhood's governing body…and the guy was actually becoming quite the progressive voice and a friend to the Republic…but those same progressive views were leading to a fair amount of splintering among the the Brotherhood's…

…nnnnnggggghhhhh…

All thoughts immediately vanished as her wife's magic hands descended on Piper's shoulders, working out the knots and tension.

"I'll see if I can get a hold of Miranda, maybe smooth things over before you get there," Cassie assured, her iron thumbs pressing between Piper's shoulder blades. "Don't work too late. I'm making dinner!"

"Who's home?"

Cassandra ducked through the door and dropped her knapsack on the bench.

It wasn't 2077…but it was starting to look pretty damn close.

As the Minutemen began securing more and more territory outside Diamond City, eventually the expansion reached Cabot House. Piper and Cassandra had helped Jack Cabot with a little raider problem that…wound up being something a little more serious…and the three of them were on relatively good terms ever since. It seemed that Jack had been monitoring the progress of Diamond City and when Piper and Cassandra had shown up on the Cabot House doorstep, backed up by a platoon of Minutemen, the pair were greeted by a smiling Jack Cabot stating "I expected you both here much sooner!" Piper had gone inside with Jack to start the negotiations while Cassandra had retreated back to her troops to set up a perimeter. She'd been gone…what? All of five minutes? She entered the foyer just in time to see Piper and Jack shaking hands.

Piper had her first major campaign initiative! In exchange for taking on Jack as the city's…now Republic's…head of R&D and giving him first crack at salvaging any robotics that the Minutemen got their hands on, Jack was going to devote his family's resources to a massive home construction project that would completely revolutionize the housing industry.

That had been three years ago. Now?

"In the kitchen!" A bright feminine voice called out.

Cassandra shook off her uniform jacket, hung it up and stepped toward the kitchen, coming face to face…with her beloved daughter Bonnie, darting around the kitchen in a cloud of flour.

"Hi, sweetheart," Cassandra leaned in and wrapped her daughter up in a one-armed hug. "How was school?"

Every time she looked at her baby girl, she couldn't help but feel a surge of protection towards her. Shaun…or at least the Shaun that she knew, that six month old baby boy that she had traveled across the wasteland to find…was dead. Her baby boy had died a long time ago; but from the ashes of that tragedy came Bonnie.

She could still remember that moment vividly. The Minutemen strike team that she and Preston had assembled had just planted the explosives on the Institute's core and were about to make their escape when Shaun…or at least the 10 year old synth that "Father" had created to look like him…had seemed to appear out of nowhere, begging his mother to take him with her. Maybe it was a flare of maternal instinct or…or that she just couldn't leave an innocent life behind when the building was about to be demolished…but whether it was a synth child or "Shaun", she grabbed him in her arms and darted into the transport, finding herself back at The Castle.

For the longest time…Cassandra…she…she never quite knew how to feel about the boy. He…he wasn't…Shaun but…both she and Piper agreed that it was their responsibility to see to it that the child was cared for. Synth or no, Shaun or no, this boy didn't ask for any of this. From that moment on, they were going to see to it that he would feel like he had a family; and in the end…it took far less effort than she expected. Shaun may not have been…well…Shaun…but he was still her son, whatever that meant in this crazy world.

But that hadn't quite been the end of it.

As their makeshift family, Cassandra, Piper, Piper's little sister Natalie, and Shaun, began to settle into what passed for domestic life in a radioactive wasteland, Cassandra couldn't quite get past feeling like there was something…different about Shaun. She couldn't quite put her finger on it. It wasn't really anything major but…she couldn't get it out of her head…

…and then came April 23, 2288.

Cassandra had been serving as Piper's speech writer for the campaign and the pair had been working on a speech when Nat barged in.

"Piper, Cassie, I'm calling a family meeting," She barked, very matter of factly. "There's something that's been going on here that we need to settle!"

Nat darted upstairs and there was a series of raised voices before a pair of footsteps coming down the stairs. Both Piper and Cassandra turned and…Cassandra could still remember her breath catching, the look of surprise that had to be plastered across her face. Coming down the stairs were Nat and Shaun…with Shaun wearing one of Nat's old dresses, his mole rat's nest of chestnut brown hair neatly braided, and was there a hint of makeup on his face? Cassandra was practically at a loss for words! Where…where had this come from?

"Cassie, Piper," Nat fixed them both with an iron glare as she held Shaun's hand firmly in hers. "This is my sister, YOUR daughter, Bonnie Woodward Wright."

And that began one of the most intense conversations of Cassandra's life. The four of them spent practically the entire night talking things through. Apparently Shaun…or rather Bonnie…had been feeling like this for months, feeling like something was wrong, like she was in the wrong body. Apparently, several weeks ago, Nat had walked in on…Bonnie…going through Nat's closet and trying on one of her old skirts. The poor thing had broken down in tears, BEGGING her not to tell anyone, to please keep it between them. God bless Nat; she marched right up to the child, pulled her into a hug, and said "I've always wanted a little sister" and that she would keep her secret for as long as needed.

Transgender individuals were nothing out of the ordinary in Cassandra's time. Hell, Cassandra's college roommate…and sometimes lover…Rebecca was a transgender woman; and Patrick, the head of her study group in law school, was a trans man. Somehow, though, she never thought…

As Bonnie described what she had been going through, moment by moment, Cassandra felt like she was on the verge of tears! She just wanted to run up, grab that sweet little girl, and promise her that nothing would change. Given everything that had happened to bring their little family together, Cassandra was still more than a little surprised but…in that moment, the child standing before her looked like she felt absolutely alone in the world.

Before Cassandra even knew she was moving, she felt her arms wrapping around the child standing before her…her baby girl!

"I love you so much, sweetie," Cassandra gasped, holding her baby girl so tight. "I love you so much and I love you no matter what!"

That had been five years ago. And now? Her precious Bonnie Woodward Wright was growing into a stunning 15 year old young lady. Being a synth, Cassandra wasn't exactly sure what puberty would be like but…the most amazing thing was that Bonnie began developing exactly as a normal young woman would…emotionally unbalanced and everything. She went to school, had all of the boys…and several of the girls after her, and she and her mother ruled the kitchen with an iron fist! About a year or so ago, Bonnie had managed to get a part time job at the Oberlin Station grain mill and bakery…and the girl took to baking like a duck to water.

""School was fine," She smiled as she returned her Mom's hug. "I aced my chemistry final!"

"That's my girl," Cassandra cheered. "We should celebrate!"

"Try this first!"

Cassandra had barely opened her mouth when a cookie was practically shoved into her mouth. Okay…very moist; that was always a plus. She detected a hint of cinnamon and nutmeg and…wait…was that CHOCOLATE?

"Oh my God…Bonnie…where did you get CHOCOLATE," Cassandra gasped. "Mother in Heaven, I don't think I've had pure chocolate in…technically centuries!"

"You really like it?" Bonnie squealed. "The mill got a new herd of dairy brahmin! Erin Combes and I have been experimenting with their milk!"

"Sweetie, these are hands down the most delicious thing I've ever tasted!"

"Hey family," Piper called out as the door clanged shut.

"Honey, you'd better get in the kitchen RIGHT NOW because if you don't, I'm going to wolf down all of these delicious completely rad free CHOCOLATE cookies that our daughter made…"

"Son of a…DON'T YOU DARE!"

Author's Notes:

It feels SO good to write again! I feel like it's been ages! So this is my first fanfic that has nothing to do with Kim Possible and with the new Fallout series on Amazon doing so well, it seemed like the right time.

So I've always tended to play Fallout 4 as a female because I just always thought that that was a much more interesting story, a woman fighting her way across a hellish landscape to save her baby. When I play through, my favorite companion is usually Piper so I figured it was pretty obvious to ship the two of them together. I just find it hilarious that muckraking Piper would wind up with a career in politics!