Fallout of the Heart

Chapter Six

Irritated, out of sorts, and left with a bad taste in my mouth, I led us back through Sanctuary to drop some crap off, then back to Cabot House to check on Deegan. I knew that I wasn't technically employed by them anymore, but for some reason I found I had a soft spot for the ghoul who'd been with them for years, only to be treated like a scrap from what I could see. I wondered if his loyalty would be rewarded by being cast off as well, honestly.

The conversation I had at the Manor didn't make me any happier, but at least Deegan looked a lot better and not like he was going to be tossed to the wind any time soon. Gritting my teeth, I stood outside the house trying to figure out what I wanted to do next – was it time to go to Diamond City? I caught Hancock out of the corner of my eye as I was checking my map, and I suddenly remembered the job he had given me before was just around the corner. I'll admit, I felt just a tiny bit of deviousness well up inside me, but it was time to check out Pickman's Gallery.

I repressed my smile as I led us close, making my way through the raiders camped around outside. This was going to be fun. Picking off a bunch of ordinary raiders after dealing with the assholes hopped up on the immortality juice was a walk in the park, and did wonders for settling my nerves. Hancock's snarky comment about not expecting me to actually bring him to the place when he hired me to check it out caused me to let out a giggle before I could suppress it, though I did have the presence of mind to bite back the retort on the tip of my tongue telling him he could consider it a first date. For some reason I didn't think that would go over too well.

Once we'd cleared the place out and put an end to Pickman as well – I didn't think him drawing more raiders to his place was that good of an idea for the Commonwealth overall – I decided it was time to head back to Diamond City and find this detective Mama Murphy had mentioned. As we walked, I tried to stop mentally and make more sense of just why I had asked Hancock to join me – after all, I had turned down Codsworth and left Dogmeat at Sanctuary because I wanted to travel alone, not worrying about them fucking up my stealth vibe.

The dog wouldn't have brought any more undue attention to me, but the floating robot might have, which was one of many reasons I turned down Codsworth. But then I went and picked a ghoul? Remembering what Bobbi said about ghouls not being welcome in Diamond City, I briefly thought about asking him to wait outside. Then, a wicked smile briefly curved my mouth, and I realized one of the reasons I had asked him to join me – he was definitely going to get a reaction from certain people. People I might not be able to trust, or want anything to do with. He was using me to cure his wanderlust, I was using him as a natural filter.

So what if being around him gave me butterflies I couldn't understand? That really didn't factor into much of anything, at this point. I didn't even know what they were or why they were bothering me anyway, so I ignored them. Either I'd figure out what they were and why they mattered, or they'd go away and become a moot point. Not far from the stadium, he cleared his throat from behind me, and I paused a bit, looking over my shoulder at him. He'd made a couple attempts to say something since we'd left Pickman's, but hadn't gone through with it, so was it finally coming out?

"So, there was a moment there where I kinda thought maybe the raiders weren't the only ones who were going to end up with a bullet through the dome, back at the asylum." He said softly, not looking at me. I tilted my head, then nodded.

"Yeah, you're right. I thought about shooting Jack as well, for a moment. There just wasn't enough time to tell if he was being truly malicious, or if he really was still trying to cure his father after all this time. Either way, he knew the threat his father posed in this post-war world – he said it himself, this world was made for monsters." I sighed, and shook my head. "Besides, a bullet through the head is too kind of an ending for all of them, even if their actions were really innocent." I finished, and started to move away.