Fallout 4: AR

59. Conflicted

"Oddly enough," he finally said, very quietly, "I believe you."

Before I could relax, he continued, his voice coolly sullen. "As perceptive as you can be about spotting minute details in targets or terrain, you have an absolute talent for misreading people."

Stung, I pressed him. "What do you mean?"

He turned his head into the pillow. "I mean... geez, Boss! You were lecturing Maxson, the fanatical leader of the fuc- err, freaking Brotherhood of Steel about ethics?! I'm surprised he didn't toss you right off the flight deck of the Prydwen!" His voice was low, but intense. "Trusting Deacon wasn't exactly one of your shining moments, either. You keep looking for the good in people that just isn't there. I'm supposed to protect you, but there are times when you make my job damn difficult."

Boss? What the hell, he never calls me that in private anymore! "How? I ask your opinion constantly! I try to follow your advice as much as I can, but sometimes I have to follow my own instincts." And right now, my instincts are screaming at me that something is seriously wrong here, and I can't figure it out.

But MacCready had the bit in his teeth and he wasn't about to be derailed. "And how could you not notice that Sturges had a thing for you? Hell, I saw it as far back as Concord!"

"What? No way..." my feeble protest was cut off when he shook his head in anger, clutching my hand painfully tight. "Ouch! I didn't know, okay? You said you believed me. What is this really about, RJ?" At the sound of his name, he shifted restlessly, pulling away and freeing my hand. "Maybe I can't read people right, but I can tell something is bothering you right now." I caressed his side, gently moving up to massage his shoulder, but he didn't react. "Please, talk to me."

"Are you going to accept his offer?" The words were bitter, reluctantly drawn from his throat.

"No." And not just because I have to get home.

"Are you going to listen to me about the Vault?"

I hedged. "Do you think this Vault is going to be filled with Super Mutants?" We both know it's not. Apparently Vault 81 is populated by perfectly normal people who were just lucky their ancestors survived the dropping of the bombs.

"No. But that doesn't mean it's not dangerous." He sighed, a bitter growl escaping his throat. "Vault-Tec ran all kinds of experiments on their residents. We don't know what we'd be potentially walking in to."

"What other choice do I have?" I asked him, miserably. "I have to try, even if it's a dead end. I have to know. This is about getting back to my world, my family..." I pressed my face into his unresponsive shoulder, suddenly feeling very alone, and as scared as the day I arrived in the Commonwealth.

"Family is sacred," came the almost inaudible reply. "No one should ever try to separate someone from their family." A shudder ran through his lean body, and I held him close, trying to comfort him or myself I didn't know. He didn't pull away, but he also didn't relax; his breathing slightly ragged, the occasional tremor twitching across his limbs. He clutched my hand to his chest again, holding tight. In this knife-edge of emotional tension, we eventually drifted into restless slumber.

-0-

General Preston Garvey was pleased to see us when Sturges brought us to his office the next day. However, his pleasure at our arrival was soon dampened when we caught him up on the latest news from our journeys. "Damn it," he said, pounding a fist onto the map table marking all the Minutemen/Brotherhood protected settlements. "I wish I knew for sure what the Institute was up to! We're working too hard to rebuild settlements just to have it wiped away in some kind of mass experiment."