Author's Note: Thank you to those that reviewed the first chapter. I'll admit, I got excited that someone other than me found the story interesting. As always, please enjoy and keep sending those reviews.

(5 PM, Vault 101, one week later)

Amata was sitting in her office. That still sounded weird to her. The office that her father had occupied for as long as she could remember now belonged to her. She looked down at her desk. One of the first things that she discovered was that her father had no discernable filing system whatsoever. It seemed like he shoved papers wherever he pleased, with no idea on how he was going to find them again. She was now poring over years of old scouts reports, disciplinary records, and all of the other assorted reports that accumulated over the years.

In the week following Mark coming back to end the standoff, she had all of the residents, including her father, clean the entire vault from top to bottom. She told the residents to think of it as a team-building exercise, which in a way, it was, but the vault had become absolutely filthy during the standoff. She was surprised that radroaches hadn't overrun them by now. She had also reorganized the security force, installing Herman Gomez as her Chief of Security. He was one of the few officers that actually did his job, instead of acting like her father's goons.

She had begun to read the book that Mark had left her, and some of the things written in there scared the crap out of her. It did, however, include a map of all of the major settlements, as well as areas to avoid. Hell, even Vault 101 was included, but it looked like it had been written in after the book had been printed, leading her to believe that this copy of the book, originally Mark's copy, was the only one that included the Vault's location. Whether he put it in because he had originally meant to give it to her and then forgot before she had stopped him before he left, or if he had put it in just as a reminder of home and gave it to her out of pity, she wasn't really sure. It wasn't like she could exactly ask him at the moment. Or ever, if he truly meant what he said.

She flipped through some old reports, not really looking at them, when something caught her eye. The top of the page was dated twenty years ago, which she found strange, since none of the other documents she had seen seemed to go back no further than six or seven years. The heading read "new arrivals." She put down the other papers and began to read:

"A man and his infant son showed up at the entrance to the vault today. The man, who identified himself as James Franklin, was asking for sanctuary for him and his child. I had security keep him in the entrance hall while I came down to interrogate him. I asked him as to why I should let him in. He told me that his wife had just died and he was looking for a safe place to raise his son. He also told me that he was a doctor. Under normal circumstances, I would have sent him on his way. However, we needed a new physician since our old one died unexpectedly of a heart attack, and the person he was training was woefully inadequate. I agreed to let him in, under certain conditions. I let him know that I was in charge, and that my word was law. He was also told not to reveal any information about the outside world to anyone but myself. That included his son. His son is to be told that he was born in the vault, just like everyone else. I told him that if he did reveal any information, I would have him and his son thrown out. He did not like it, but he begrudgingly agreed. I must make sure to swear all of the other adults to secrecy."

Amata finished reading it, put it down, and leaned back in her chair. It wasn't anything that she didn't already know. She had deduced the fact that neither James nor Mark were born in the vault from listening to the various reports on the radio, in addition to reading the terminal entries that James had left on the computer in the clinic. Mark had confirmed it when he had come back, prior to him talking to her father. Of course her father would cover that up. He didn't want illusions of his controlled world shattered.

Her thoughts drifted back to Mark, like they had so many times over the past week. Two things stuck out to her about their conversation. The first was when he asked her if she knew what he had done. During the first few days of the standoff, someone found an old radio that still worked. They tried to pick up any signals from the outside; they found Galaxy News Radio. The first report they ever heard from the outside world was how Mark had found a new satellite relay dish for the station. Everyone was shocked when they heard Mark's name. Every day, it seemed like Mark performed some amazing feat of heroism. Apparently, Mark had also been given a nickname: the "Lone Wanderer." Upon hearing that name, something began to bug Amata, so the first moment she had alone in James' office after hearing it, she analyzed each word of the name:

Lone: defined as lacking companions or companionship. Synonym: Alone

Wanderer: defined as a person who moves about without any destination; sometimes a person without a true home. Synonym: Vagabond

Taking those together, Mark was alone, moving around constantly whilst looking for his dad, and was without a true home. Sure, he had that house in Megaton, she later learned, but she believed that a home wasn't just a house. A home is a safe, comfortable place with people you care about in it. Alone in James' office, she put her head on the desk and groaned. That was the first of many times she had wondered if she should have accepted Mark's offer and gone with him. At least she could have offered him moral support, if nothing else. Maybe they would have grown even closer, without her dad interfering, free to develop a romantic relationship.

Now, after his second, and probably final, departure from the vault, all of her fantasies were looking like just that: fantasies, and nothing more. He seemed close with that Sarah Lyons chick she had heard so much about. They fought together, and they seemed to be always mentioned together, more so in the past few weeks. Her stomach twisted uncomfortably at the thought of him with another woman.

Three Dog mentioned Mark's dad, and that he was killed. She could only imagine the pain that Mark was in. He mentioned the purifier, and how Mark's mother and father had started working on it over twenty years ago. Three Dog reported how Mark was in a coma after having started the purifier. Every day she listened, hoping for good news, but days passed and nothing changed, until two weeks later when he finally woke up. Three Dog had reported on all of the things Mark said he did. She wanted to tell him that she knew exactly what he did, but she never found the right time.

The other thing that stood out was when Mark said that she didn't care for him. 'Dammit, Mark,' she thought, 'we've been friends since before we could walk. We shared everything with each other. How could you say I don't care for you? My father got in the way of any romance, you idiot.' It was true. Once she hit puberty, her father had her watched like a hawk. She yelled out in frustration and angrily swept the papers off her desk. As the papers settled on the floor, she got up from her desk and walked over to the window that overlooked the atrium. There were a couple of people talking to each other. One was Freddie Gomez, and the other one she couldn't remember the name of. She thought it was John or something. Freddie looked up and smiled at her. She smiled back and Freddie went back to talking. She had looked out this window plenty of times when she was growing up, but it seemed different, somehow. 'I guess it's all in the perspective,' she thought.

Then something dawned on her. 'Perspective…this whole thing with Mark, I need to look at it from his perspective. Why didn't I think of this sooner?' She started to pace around the room, talking to herself. "Ok. I'm Mark. Out of nowhere, I get a distress call from my best friend. She's running out of options, and getting desperate. I drop what I'm doing and come back to the vault. I see my friend for the first time in over a month-and-a-half. I'm so happy to see her. She asks me to talk to her father, and convince him that the vault needs to open to the world. I talk to her father, and he eventually relents. Her father comes down, and tells her that she's the new overseer. Once he leaves, I go over to congratulate her. I tell her that this is great news, that the vault finally has a real leader. She tells me that I'm a hero, but that I need to get out. We argue, and then I leave. What am I feeling right now? I'm feeling...angry, I'm feeling… betrayed…" Her voice became somber as things started to become clear. "I'm feeling…like I was used." She slumped down in her chair and hung her head. "Oh my god," she said, her voice barely audible, "what have I done?"

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. From this point forward, I will be jumping back and forth mostly from Mark and Amata's points of view. This chapter was just from Amata's point of view, but the next chapter will include Mark's point of view.