Chapter Text
“Are you all set, Scribe Lancaster?” Arthur asked her as she sat down the last book she could find in the abandoned building.
“You know I hate it when you act formally around me, Artie,” she chuckled as she quickly flipped through the faded book. This must have been a prewar childcare of some sorts. It’s filled with nothing but children’s books and nursery rhymes.
“Paladin Danse,” Arthur nodded to their superior as he walked into the room they were currently searching.
“Knight Maxson,” Danse said with a small nod as he acknowledged him before he turned toward Rose, “Are you all set Scribe Lancaster?” he asked.
“Yeah, this place has nothing of importance for us, maybe for a nanny, but definitely not anything the Brotherhood would find useful,” she gave a disappointed sigh as she ran her fingers over the last book she had checked. The only words she could make out were ‘child’ and ‘care’ which led her to assume it was like all of the others, another nursery book.
“That’s alright, we’ll head back now then,” he declared as he flipped on his power armor helmet. Rose gave a glance towards Arthur. He was only 12 years old and was already made a Knight; none of the power armors fit him properly so he was still stuck in his initiate armor until he grew a bit taller – something he was a bit upset about and hated when it was mentioned.
“What is it?” Arthur asked as the pair followed Paladin Danse and the other Knights out of the abandoned building.
Rose shook her head, which caused a wave of scarlet hair to sway side to side. Was I staring? “S’all good,” she tossed a lopsided grin in his direction. “We’ll talk more in your room later tonight,” she decided as she pranced out of his reach.
Throughout the two years, the two had formed a close bond, mostly due to two factors: they were the only people in their age group in the Brotherhood at the time and she was an outsider to the Brotherhood – the name Maxson had no special meaning to her like the others. To her, Knight Arthur Maxson was just that, he wasn’t a legacy child or however the others perceived him as. In an ironic sense, her ordinary treatment toward him was special in ways that the vast majority of the Brotherhood had never given him.
In those two years, she had seen Cade on and off again for her mental health before he finally pulled her out for a year. Today was her first time out on the field for the Brotherhood. Paladin Danse would have to discuss how she performed with Cade and then he would have to interview her again for the umpteenth time. She might get her results back in the next six to eight weeks. It wasn’t that they usually took a while to evaluate their members; they just wanted them to be at their peak health.
“How do you think I did today?” Rose asked as she sat down on Arthur’s bed and pulled her legs up toward her body and wrapped her arms around them.
“I’ve seen worse,” Arthur teased before he plopped down on his bed beside her.
“Not everyone can kill a group of fireants on their first time on the field,” she said in the same note Arthur’s had held as she pushed his shoulder lightly. She remembered how proud he had been when he came back to the Citadel. She also remembered how annoying it got after he told the story how he, Squire Arthur Maxson, killed six fireants all by himself. She wanted to desperately smack him once the tenth telling of the story came around.
“I’m sure if you had a nuka-grenade or two, you could kill one too,” he grinned playfully, but he quickly turned serious as he stared at her. “I need to tell you something,” he began as he eyed her up and down as if he were able to measure her trustworthiness based on her appearance, and not on years of friendship.
Rose rolled her eyes. Idiot, you’d think he’d know he can trust me by now. “You passed the proper time for a dramatic pause, now you’re just purposefully trying to get me to beg,” she noted, which only earned her a nodded in her direction from him.
“S-sorry,” he stammered and then rubbed his hands together, “IkissedSarahandshe-”
“Wait, hold up what was that?” she blinked. Did she hear correctly? And why was her stomach churning like she was going to be sick? And why was her heart beating so hard? Was she – No. Roselyn Lancaster does not get jealous.
“I kissed Sarah,” he said, he looked physically calm, but his voice wavered a bit and she knew right then and there he had been rejected.
“What happened? Are you alright?” she immediately responded with, but she couldn’t ignore that nagging feeling she had in her gut. Jealous, jealous, jealous. Rose is jealous. The little voice in the back of her head sang.
“She said when I’m older she’d consider it,” he stated emotionlessly. Now that she thought about it, he had been acting a bit down during their expedition out to find more prewar technologies. She had been so worked up over the whole thing that she didn’t even realize the state of her friend. Paladin Danse must have, that’s probably why he was assigned to stand guard by me at all times rather than help clear out the building with the others. I thought it was because he was younger than everyone else…
“But are you okay?” she asked as she put a heavy emphasis on her words and looked him directly in the eye when she spoke. She had to make sure her friend was alright. Rejection stung, but it wasn’t like she was going on from experience, just from all the books she had read in her spare time. Unlike the other Scribes, she loved collecting and reading any type of book, with her favorite genre being fantasy.
“It wasn’t a no,” Arthur replied nonchalantly, a blush appeared across his cheeks, which he attempted to hide by laying down on his stomach.
“But it wasn’t a yes,” Rose pointed out as she followed his suit and laid down also. Before her friend could grumble out a response, she turned to him, “Did you get an estimation for how long you’d have to wait for her?” she asked. Physically she was calm and collected, on the inside, she was breaking down and screaming at herself for encouraging him to seek after Sarah.
“I’m going to bed,” Arthur quickly said as he pushed Rose away from him just hard enough for her to get the idea that he wanted to be alone right now.
“Well… Alright, but if you’re up to talking about it more, I’m right across the hall,” she said as she patted his shoulder sympathetically before she left his room and headed for her own room. Poor Arthur, he seems pretty down now.
“Stop joking,” Rose gasped as she took a step back. “That’s not-” she choked back a sob, “He was perfectly fine last night! He can’t be gone! He can’t!” she exclaimed, on the verge of screaming.
“Rose,” Arthur said as he embraced her in his arms. “I know how you feel, but please, keep your voice down. It’s not just you who is in pain. Listen,” he whispered the last part.
Rose whimpered but obeyed his order. The Citadel does sound empty today. Wait… Her eyes widened in shock. She could just hear the muffled cries of the other members of the Brotherhood softly echo throughout the building. “It’s just not fair,” she said shakily as she shrugged him off of her and wiped her eyes clean of all her tears.
“He was a good man,” Arthur said as he collapsed on Rose’s bed and stared down at his hands.
“We have had the honor of serving under his leadership,” Rose sighed as she sat next to him. “How’s Sarah handling it?” she asked as she rested her head on his shoulder.
“How would you handle it if you lost a loved one?” Arthur asked back.
“I’m not sure. Not good, that much I can tell you,” Rose admitted as she looked down at her hands. Despite all that she’s been through, she considered herself lucky to have not lost anyone she considered close… Well, up until now. She never knew her parents, but she had a good feeling that this was what it felt like to lose the father-like figure in your life.
“I want to see him,” Rose said aloud in a hushed tone. She wasn’t sure why she was whispering; maybe it was because she didn’t trust her voice at her normal volume at the moment.
“They’re having a ceremony later tonight for the higher ups before letting everyone see him…” Arthur began, “I can see about getting you in,” he said as he glanced over at Rose.
“Please, if you can. It would mean so much,” Rose said as she turned to face him and clutched his shoulder tightly. She looked into his eyes and relief flooded over her when she saw that he was hurting just as much as she was.
Arthur coughed into his elbow as he stood back up, “I can’t say for sure, but it appears Sentinel Lyons will become the next Elder,” he told Rose.
Rose smiled softly, “Well, I can tell you for certain that she will be.”
“Vanessa?” Rose asked as she slipped through the broken door, she had just snuck away from her squad. “Vanessa?” she called out again. This was the location that Vanessa had asked for her to meet her in and it wasn’t usual for the wanderer to be late like this.
“I’m here, kid,” Vanessa choked out as she stood up from the prewar chair she had been sitting on and pressed a button on her pipboy, which caused a green light to illuminate the area around them.
“What did you want to meet with me about? Couldn’t we have done this in the Citadel?” Rose asked as she cautiously stepped closer towards her old friend.
“There’s been talk on the West Coast Brotherhood. They want that other kid, Maxson, to be the new Elder for this branch or whatever. I don’t really know much about how you all operate, just what you do,” Vanessa mumbled as she unstrapped the pipboy from her wrist. “Look over the documents I’ve found and then meet me here same time next month,” she said as she placed the pipboy on the table and then left the building.
“W-wait!” Rose exclaimed as she chased after Vanessa, but instead came face to face with her squad.
“Everything okay Scribe Lancaster?” one of the knights asked as he shined his light from her face to the ground. “Thought we lost you,” he admitted.
“Y-yeah,” Rose stammered, “I just need to grab something,” she said before she raced back into the room. First, she grabbed Vanessa’s pipboy and then she grabbed a few books that looked semi-important off of the old bookshelf. Before she stepped into the view of her squad, she shoved the pipboy in her bag. “I thought this house might have something important in it,” she explained as she held up her books, “I think I was right, but we’ll see what the other scribes think when we get back to the Citadel.” With Rose back with her squad, they continued on toward the Citadel.
“What’s going on?” Rose asked an initiate that had raced into her room. She was in the middle of putting away her items she had collected from her previous mission
“It’s Sentinel Lyons!” the initiate exclaimed as she continued her mission down the halls without further explaining what had happened to Sentinel Lyons. Arthur should know what happened. She decided and knocked on his door.
It took a minute, but the door finally opened up to reveal a broken Arthur with puffy red eyes. At that second, it finally dawned on her why the Citadel had been in such a buzz when they came back. Sentinel Lyons was most likely dead or injured, and this was perhaps the only time she had hoped that the new leader was just injured.
“She’s dead,” Arthur croaked as he finally looked up at her from his place on his bed and she immediately sat down on the bed beside Arthur. Guilt enveloped Rose as she remembered all the times that she had wished for Elder Sarah Lyons to be dead just because she had been jealous that Arthur liked her more. I didn’t really want her dead.
“Who killed her?” Rose finally asked. She did and didn’t want to know what had happened. A part of her had to know that she wasn’t ambushed. All she could think about was the documents that Vanessa wanted her to read.
“You mean ‘what.’ She was killed by super mutants on her way back from a patrol,” Arthur spat the words out with such malice that it made Rose both snap her eyes back towards her broken friend and take a couple steps back in shock.
“Will there be a-”
“Please, just get out,” Arthur interrupted as he pointed at the door. “Just go.”
Rose felt a lump swell up in her throat that prevented her from at least attempting to give her condolences, so instead, she gave him a small nod and rushed out of his room. She wanted to be there for her friend, but a part of her also understood that he needed time to mourn alone before they could all grieve together for their fallen friend.
It had been exactly one month since Rose had met up with Vanessa and exactly one month since Elder Sarah Lyons death. As she had expected, Star Paladin Cross was officially made into Elder Cross. Already, she could see the shift of change in power. No longer was the Brotherhood for the people of the Capital Wasteland, and it made her feel uneasy. That’s not the Brotherhood I joined up with.
At the moment, Rose had been following Arthur Maxson. For the past week repeatedly snuck off to who the hell knows where and she was determined to figure out where. She was certain that others had caught on; they just had no true desire to tail him or didn’t want to be the one to bring a Maxson in for disobedience.
Rose lasted up until Arthur was halfway to Megaton. She had witnessed Arthur fight off a horde of fireants and it had taken everything in her to not assist him, but now he was injured. She couldn’t see the full extent of his wounds, but she could tell from her hiding spot that it brought him intense pain with every step he took. She inhaled sharply and braced herself for his anger that she would receive once she revealed herself.
“Arthur. Stop, you’re injured,” Rose ordered him as she stood up.
Arthur spun around and stared at Rose with wide eyes, and then his face contorted into the anger she had prepared herself for, “You have no right to follow me!” he yelled once he got over the shock of coming face to face with her.
Rose put her hands up and nodded, “You’re right, I know. I had no right whatsoever to make sure my friend was okay.” She approached him slowly, “I just need to check out your wounds, or at least let me bandage it up for you,” she offered. Because she had been frequently visiting Cade, he had helped taught her how to patch people up – and also because he was in desperate need of an organic assistant that wasn’t a Mr. Handy.
Arthur sighed but nodded, “I saw a house in that direction,” he pointed southwest, “It wasn’t too far back. We could go there and take a small break.”
The walk to the old, abandoned house was silent, save for their footsteps and breathing. The silence felt heavy to Rose, and she felt as if she had to speak. “Where were you going?” she asked and broke the overwhelming silence.
“I had to see it. I had to see the scene for myself,” Arthur explained quickly.
“I’ll go with you. You shouldn’t have to do that alone,” Rose said sympathetically as she lightly touched his shoulder for a brief moment. Instead of giving a verbal response, he nodded and then walked up the steps to the old house. “It amazes me that so many of these buildings still remain standing. Perhaps we have much we still need to learn from our ancestors,” Rose said in awe that the building was still standing. Arthur grunted something in response before he cracked open the door.
“There, your burns are cleaned up as best as I could do for now, but after we go to Sarah Lyons grave we need to get you straight to the clinic,” Rose said after she finished bandaging Arthur’s wounds.
“Is there anything to drink in here?” Arthur asked as he looked down at Rose who had been crouched down on her knees to better care for his wounds.
“Well, I’m not sure if we’ll get lucky in the water department, but maybe there’s some alcohol…” Rose mused mostly to herself as she stood up from her spot on the floor. During her time out in the wasteland, the main thing she noticed was the abundance of alcoholic drinks and the scarcity of water, purified or not.
“It doesn’t matter, anything would do,” Arthur said gruffly and she gave a nod before she headed into the kitchen.
The obvious place would be the fridge, although she doubted she could pull a cold one out of there, but she knew that she would most likely find something. “I found… Vodka!” Rose exclaimed and slammed the fridge shut. “That okay?” she asked Arthur as she walked back into the living room. “I hope so because that was all that was in the fridge…” she muttered quietly to herself.
“That’s perfect,” Arthur practically purred and his eyes lit up slightly. She sat the drink on the coffee table in front of him and returned to the kitchen to find two cups that weren’t damaged to the point no one could drink out of them. He watched her as she came back into the living room and poured them both a small glass.
“Sorry, these were the only cups that weren’t broken. Awfully tiny, though, we’re probably better off with just drinking from the bottle…” She joked as she studied the cup.
“They’re called shot glasses,” Arthur said as he picked up his cup and downed it in one sip. “They’re meant to be small.”
“For someone who drinks alcohol a lot, you honestly can’t hold it,” Rose teased as she tossed a smirk in Arthur’s direction. It had only been his third one and he already looked like shit. She giggled to herself as she watched his whole attitude change in just minutes, she had yet to take a sip. She had never had alcohol before and was afraid of who she would become under its influence, she’d seen many good men and women turn violent from too much alcohol consumption and didn’t want to have to add her name to that list.
Arthur’s cheeks flushed a light red before he narrowed his eyes at Rose, “And you can?” he retorted defensively as he poured himself another glass of vodka.
“I don’t know, I guess we’ll just have to see, won’t we?” Rose asked with a wink and took her first sip.
Rose’s pale eyes fluttered open, her surroundings were unfamiliar to her and a part of her wanted to ask ‘where am I?’ but then she heard the soft snore and felt muscular arms wrap around her and pull her closer to his naked body. She had to bite back a scream and it took everything in her to roll over to face the person she was sharing a bed with. Oh shit! Shit, shit, shit! You seriously fucked up now! She thought as she stared at a sleeping Arthur.
Immediately Rose began to carefully work her way out of the bed, which proved to be a struggle from the start. She didn’t want to wake him and most importantly didn’t want to touch any part of his naked body. Oh god, I can’t believe we were naked in the same bed! What the hell did we do last night?
As soon as Rose was free from both the bed and his grip, she quickly collected her uniform and put it back on her in a mad rush. I need to get out of here, was the only thing that raced through her mind. As soon as she slipped her backpack on, she heard the bed squeaking and moving coming from the bedroom, and then, “Rose?”
Rose felt her heart skip a beat as she quietly slipped out of the prewar house and instantly bolted for the house she was supposed to meet Vanessa in last night. If she was lucky, Vanessa stayed overnight and was still waiting for her. And if you’re not lucky and she decided to leave? She shook her head; she didn’t have the time to think of ‘what ifs,’ she had to make it to the house north of Megaton.
When Rose had made it to the house she was to meet Vanessa in, she didn’t have to open the door. Vanessa stood in the doorway of the house in front of her with an arched eyebrow, “And here I thought you ran off with my pipboy,” she joked as she opened the door wider for her to come in. “Don’t just stand there, come in, come in,” Vanessa urged her as she beckoned her further inside the dark house.
“S-sorry I’m so late, I got a bit distracted last night,” Rose admitted sheepishly as she followed Vanessa into the house. Her mind drifted off to the possible things she could have done, despite a large part of her not wanting to know and to just live in blissful ignorance.
“No kidding. You smell like sex,” Vanessa said as she sat down on the couch. “Who was it? Arthur? It better be Arthur, he’s the only age appropriate guy over there for you,” she said as she stared at Rose intently, eager to know who she slept with.
Rose swallowed nervously as she sat down, “We were drunk, he doesn’t love me. He loved Elder Sarah Lyons,” she confessed. She’s lying, we wouldn’t have had sex. But, then again, we were drunk and we did wake up naked in the same bed…
Vanessa leaned back in her couch and crossed her arms, “Is that what you think or is that what you know?” she asked after she stared down Rose for a couple of seconds.
“It’s what I know,” Rose decided after she thought about it for a second. It was just something she couldn’t put into words about how she knew.
“How do you know?” Vanessa immediately shot back as she leaned forward slightly and rested her elbows on her knees.
“I…” Rose wasn’t sure how she could explain it to her. Gut feeling?
“How do you know?” Vanessa repeated but this time she put more emphasis on the words as she stared into her friend’s eyes.
“I don’t know-”
“Did he tell you specifically?” Vanessa interrupted.
“No, he didn’t tell me,” Rose finally admitted after a brief moment of silence.
“Okay, so after you give me back my pipboy, I want you to go to that boy and tell him how you feel. Don’t sugarcoat it, if you want to be just friends, you make it plain and clear, if you want to be more, you make that especially plain and clear. Guys can’t take a hint for some reason. Oh, but only after you tell Madison Li that two months is the earliest that I can do,” Vanessa said as she stood up.
“Two months till what?” Rose asked as she started to dig through her pack for Vanessa’s pipboy, everything about Arthur slipped her mind.
“She wants to get away from the Brotherhood. Said she’s had it with them or something like that,” Vanessa shrugged. “Madison had to help Cade and a few other doctors rip apart a ‘synth’ a few weeks ago and she’s been pissed to the max about that ever since. Said that he was an old friend of hers and they made her kill him,” she explained as if it were old news, but that was the first the Rose had ever heard about that.
“W-what? You’re joking right?” Rose had heard about synths, she just wasn’t sure that they were actually real. Immediately, she thought of the Underground. She had been told that they weren’t going to bother it, but if they were willing to tear apart a synth for what – information? – then who’s to say that they would leave a ghoul sanctuary alone. “What about the Underground?” she asked.
Vanessa smiled sadly, “Sorry, Rose, but that place was a massacre. I went by there just a month ago after I finished talking to you and that place… I’ve never seen anything as sick as that, and I’ve seen a lot of fucked up shit in my young life.”
“In two months, when you and Madison leave… Lili and I are going with you. These people… They aren’t the same without Elder Lyons leadership,” Rose whimpered as she squeezed Vanessa’s pipboy, she had forgotten that she had been holding it.
“I should never have taken you there… I should have taken you to Little Lamplight instead,” Vanessa murmured sadly. “I’m sorry if I had known what they were going to become, things may have been different,” she apologized.
“No,” Rose winced at the name she hadn’t heard of in a long time. “I’m glad you didn’t take me there, I would have just gotten weak. I got the help I needed here, and now it’s time to move on,” she decided to not tell Vanessa that she was originally a Little Lamplighter. “Here’s your pipboy, I guess I better get going to Madison,” she said after a few moments of silence and placed the pipboy on the table.
“Wait,” Vanessa stopped her from leaving. “Do you know how long it took me to gather all of that information? You can at least tell me what you think,” she huffed childishly as she crossed her arms across her chest.
Rose thought for a second. The information in the pipboy did reveal what she had always suspected about the Brotherhood. That they were just as evil as the Enclave, perhaps even more power hungry than the Enclave. Granted, the Brotherhood of Steel was relatively good under Elder Owyn Lyon’s leadership, but that time has come and gone. “It was…” she sighed, “It helped confirm what I feared all along, which is why I have to leave.”
As soon as Rose entered the Citadel, she was bombarded by Arthur who had been looking for her after she had fled the house earlier that morning that they had shared last night. She tried her best to ignore him. If she were to leave then she didn’t want to miss him, but once they were alone she finally cracked. “Do you remember what happened last night?” she asked, her voice wavered slightly.
Arthur looked confused for a moment, “I only remember what happened that morning: me waking up naked in a bed and you were gone. Why did you leave? You need to tell me what happened last night!” his voice began to rise and was close to yelling at her as he started to lose his patience.
Rose winced, she had only ever heard him yell during his training sessions with Paladin Gunny, but he had never personally yelled at her in such a manner. Usually, it was playful yelling, but she could see the raw anger beginning to form on his face and she genuinely felt scared. “Please,” she whimpered as she looked away from him, “I don’t know either. I woke up naked in a bed with you and got scared. I left as soon as I could,” she admitted before she burst into tears.
Rose knew Arthur had said something, she could hear him speak, but she couldn’t make out the words, and then he had enveloped her in a tight hug. “We can work this out,” he finally said as she gave into his embrace.
“We have about five minutes before the next shift starts,” Rose said to Madison as she unchained Lili. Despite being promised to be able to work alongside Lili when she was older, the Brotherhood had had her chained up like a savage beast since day one.
“We should get moving then, we can save the reunions for on the road,” Madison said briskly as she brushed past Rose and towards the only exit out of the Citadel.
“Come on, Lili, we’re leaving now,” Rose said softly as she helped guide her old friend in the direction Madison was headed. She gave a small glance behind her and felt her heart break a little. In the two months, it had been revealed that she was expecting, but the only one that knew was Cade, she couldn’t find it in her to tell Arthur if she wasn’t planning on staying.
“Where did Vanessa want us to meet her at?” Madison asked once they passed an old entrance to a metro station. So far they had been lucky enough to not run across anything big, then again there weren’t too many raiders willing to fight two women when they had a deathclaw following them around.
“Ever heard of Bigtown? The plan is to stay there overnight, pick up supplies, and gather our strength, and then carry on with their journey in the morning,” Rose explained.
“And what do we do if the Brotherhood finds us?” Madison asked.
“We run,” Rose simply offered. In all honesty, she hadn’t thought about what they would do if they were caught. She would probably be locked up. It’s not like they would risk killing a future Maxson. Madison would either be forced to continue serving the Brotherhood or shot, depending on how she acted, and Lili would most definitely be killed on sight. They already saw her as a monster.
“You guys took forever,” Vanessa commented as she pushed herself off of the wall she had been leaning up against. “So I figured we could use the extra help getting to the Commonwealth,” she began as Rose, Madison, and Lili came closer toward her.
“That sounds good, I’m not that great of a shot anymore and it can’t be just you doing all the shots from here to there,” Rose said lightheartedly as she petted her deathclaw.
“They’re pretty young, but they’re the best shots I’ve seen around here,” she paused briefly before adding very quietly, “also the only ones willing to come,” before she continued, “so I figured that they could come along,” Vanessa said excitedly and suddenly Rose realized she wasn’t sure why Vanessa wanted to leave the Capital Wasteland so badly.
“Who are they?” Madison asked before Rose could ask Vanessa why she was so caught on leaving. I’ll just ask her when we’re alone later tonight, or whenever I can get the chance to.
“Mira and Mila, they’re about twelve. Mira! Mila! Come over here!” Vanessa called for the set of twins.
“What?” Rose immediately asked out loud. Those were two names she didn’t expect to ever hear again, let alone from someone who didn’t truly understand what had happened in Raven Rock. “Mira and Mila are here?” she asked Vanessa.
“Oh no, I’m just calling them for the hell of it.” Vanessa replied sarcastically before she smiled brightly at Rose, “Of course they’re here, they might be in the clinic still getting healing supplies for the trip,” She explained.
“Which house is that?” Rose asked frantically. She had to know if it was them or not. Please be them, if anyone deserved to live after Raven Rock it would be those two.
“Last house on the right,” Vanessa replied confusedly and tossed Madison a worried look.
Without wasting any more time, Rose bolted toward the clinic. She could feel her heart beat faster as a mixture of fear, apprehension, and excitement surged throughout her body. Do they hate me? How did they survive Raven Rock? She shook her head to clear her head of her thoughts and opened the door to the clinic. “M-Mira? Mila?” she asked as soon as she saw the familiar set of pale blonde hair.
“PV-11?” the one with the pigtails asked as she dropped her supplies. Mila!
The girl with the long, straight hair stared at Rose with an arched brow, “We thought you were killed by the Enclave long before it blew up,” she simply said after she gave her a good look over. Definitely Mira.
“It’s so good to see you again, PV-11! I told my sister here that we should never assume the worst with you!” Mila squealed, oblivious to the fact that Rose had winced each time she addressed her as PV-11.
“So what do we call you now? Sorry, Mila is too blind to people’s expression,” Mira said bluntly with little to no emotion as she stared blankly at Rose.
“People call me Rose nowadays,” She smiled lightly at Mira, grateful for her perceptive eye.
“Lucky you for remembering your name before Raven Rock,” Mira muttered angrily as she marched past Rose.
“Are you going on Vanessa’s expedition too?” Mila asked as she bent down and picked up her supplies that she had dropped. “It would be so lovely to have you with us! My sister might not admit it, but she did miss you after you disappeared in Raven Rock,” she confessed.
They must not know… Rose realized and she decided that it was best to not tell her and Mira the truth about why she had disappeared from the other children in Raven Rock. “Yes, I’m going with you all to the Commonwealth,” she couldn’t help but grin.
“Great!” Mila exclaimed excitedly, “Well, I’m going to go check on Mira,” she said after she finished placing the supplies in her pack.
“I’ll come with you,” Rose said as she held the door open for Mila.
“Vanessa?” Rose called out in the dark room that they were all currently sleeping in. She knew she was still up, she could see Vanessa as she fiddled around on her pipboy.
“What’s up?” Vanessa asked as she looked up from her pipboy and stared off into the general area that Rose was in.
“Why do you want to leave here so badly?” Rosa asked as she turned so she was on her side. She was curious as to why her friend seemed to be in such a rush to leave the only place she ever knew.
“Let’s just say all the things that I did back then are all catching up with me now,” Vanessa said as she gave a nervous laugh.
Rose narrowed her eyes slightly, she had only ever heard positive things about her and many people, including Three-Dog himself, considered Vanessa a saint. “But you’ve only done good? How can that cause you to leave?” she questioned.
“I’ve angered a lot of bad people here and they all want me dead. It’s just best I leave here and fast,” she explained as she yawned. “Now, was that all? I’m starting to get really sleepy.”
I guess I should go ahead and tell her now. “Is it okay if I’m…” Rose swallowed nervously, she had to tell Vanessa, eventually, she would know and there would be no getting around it.
“Well?” Vanessa asked impatiently, and, in the green light of the pipboy, she could see her arch an eyebrow up at her.
“I’m pregnant,” Rose finally confessed to Vanessa and to any of the others who might still be awake.
“Hopefully you’ll be in a nice settlement before you give birth,” Vanessa hummed after the shock had passed, and Rose could tell she was smiling. “Now get some sleep, you’re sleeping for two now. No, wait, shit it’s eating for two. Please ignore me, I’m extremely tired,” Vanessa laughed lightly before she turned her pipboy light off.
Rose sighed and leaned back against her pillow, a part of her just couldn’t believe she was out away from the Citadel. Everything about this felt surreal to her. Before she drifted off to sleep she placed a hand over her stomach. I won’t let my child be raised by the Brotherhood. My child will make their own destiny, she decided before she finally succumbed to sleep.