Scribe Haylen adjusted the straps of her field kit as she trekked over the top of the rickety wooden bridge. She breathed a sigh of relief when saw the sign up close, impressively well maintained-'Sanctuary-Population 27'. It was a little surprising how fast River was turning this refugee settlement into a structured city. Then again, it was a little surprising that no one had seen or heard from River for two weeks.

No one expected the Brotherhood's prized Paladin in the Commonwealth to go AWOL. The first week she had checked in once over radio. The second week however had come and gone without so much of as a sighting of a redhead in Brotherhood power armor, and that was simply not acceptable.

River was a private woman. She didn't really fraternize with many of her Brothers and Sisters, save a handful she used as her go-to squad. Haylen was just about the only person she ever shared anything personal with. That's why Maxson sent her to locate River.

Unbeknownst to Maxson, Haylen and River weren't exactly on good terms. Not since Danse. Not since River killed him in cold blood.

When Haylen heard about Danse's death, she cornered River on the Rec Deck aboard the Prydwen. She tore her a new one, crying and almost shaking with rage and sorrow at the loss of her friend. How could she? How could River just murder the man who stuck his neck out for her, taught her everything she knew? Even now she felt her stomach rise at the thought of seeing River. She didn't know if she was alive or dead-and frankly? As bad as it made her feel for thinking it, she didn't care either way. She was to locate River, and if found alive bring her back to the Prydwen for a reprimand. There was just about no situation where River was getting out of this without some sort of serious consequence, and the thought of her getting some form of punishment-though not for the murder of Danse-gave her a small amount of satisfaction.

The long asphalt road was obstructed by a huge wooden gate, with an angry looking woman standing at the top.

"You. You here for trade, or looking for a place to make a life?", she barked as she stared down at Haylen.

"Actually, I-"

"Because, it looks to me like you've got a lot of stuff in your pack there. And that laser on your hip looks like it means business. So I'm going to give you one chance to tell the truth about why you're here; Do you mean this settlement or it's people harm?!", the glowering woman interrupted.

"Marcy we talked about this!", a southern accent piped up from behind the gate, out of view.

"You said I should watch out for anyone suspicious Sturges! And she looks suspicious."

"Yeah, and I'm starting to regret saying that. Everyone looks suspicious to you! Now make room, I'm comin' up!"

Marcy grumbled and shuffled to the side of the guard post, allowing the overall-and-grease bedecked Sturges to climb up and see what the commotion was about.

Once he caught sight of Haylen's uniform he turned to look at Marcy with disbelief.

"Maarcy... She's not a threat! She's with the Brotherhood! Field Scribe from the looks of her. Ain'cha?", Sturges called down to Haylen.

"That's right."

Sturges patted Marcy on the shoulder.

"Let 'er in Marcy. It's okay"

Marcy reluctantly opened the gates and Haylen strode into the busy little village. Traders' booths were open and attended, and to the left there was a large section cut off for farming. They certainly had begun to make a real home out of the place.

"Now, Ma'am, what does the Brotherhood want with our little homestead here?", Sturges said with a friendly smile, clapping his hands together.

"Actually, I'm here looking for someone. A woman. Her name's River? She's hard to miss, she's usually in a suit of Brotherhood power armor and-", Haylen began.

Sturges held up a hand and nodded.

"Yeah, we know River. This whole damn settlement's set up so well because of that girl. Why you lookin' for her anyway?"

"She's gone AWOL. She hasn't made contact in a week. I was sent to look for her", Haylen explained.

"AWOL? What do you mean? I know for a fact she sent some scrawny lookin' guy out with a holotape towards the Airport not a week ago!"

"She-she did?"

"Yep. Guy came through here lookin' for work, River was in town buyin' supplies and set him up with a job. He never got there?"

"No."

"Damn. Poor guy must've gotten lost... Ah hell, more than likely worse than lost. Well, I can assure you that River's fine. She's not runnin' out on the Brotherhood or anythin', she's just ah... got her hands full right now. She can't really be runnin' around soldierin'."

Haylen lifted a brow.

"What do you mean?", she asked in a deep voice.

Sturges hesitated.

"You know what? You'd better see for yourself. You know the Red Rocket you passed on the way here? That big shack set up off to the side? She and hers live there", he answered, pointing off in the distance at the gas station.

Haylen looked towards it, her interest piqued.

"Oh! And, uh... Since yer goin' that way in the first place... Do you think you could drop this off with 'er?", Sturges asked as he held out a bundle.

Haylen silently took it from him and shifted the insides. It was a bunch of small plastic cylinders, wrapped up inside a pair of soft blankets.

She thanked Sturges and headed off, the gate closing behind her.

What the hell was going on?

When Haylen finally made it to the Red Rocket, it was quiet. A little red dog house sat outside by the stilts of the shack, and a sleek German Shepard dozed in it, his big black nose shining in the afternoon sun. As she approached the front door, the dog awoke and sat up alert, panting at the sight of her. Haylen had met this dog before.

And he seemed to recognize her, too.

He padded up to her and barked, and she knelt down in front of him, rubbing his head and making his ears flop from side to side.

"Hey, Dogmeat. Long time, no see buddy", she said with a reminiscent voice.

He whined when she stood back up and took a deep breath, readying herself walk up those stairs and knock on that door.

When moved towards it, Dogmeat ran in circles around her, barking loudly and wagging his tail excitedly.

"No, Dogmeat, be quiet!", Haylen begged the bouncing dog.

She wanted this moment to be serious, and having a dog give away the surprise was not part of the scene that had played out in her head.

She was still shushing Dogmeat when the door pulled open.

River stood at the top of the stairs with a gun aimed at Haylen's face, a steely expression on her own.

It melted away in surprise as she realized who it was on her doorstep.

"H-Haylen?!", she sputtered.

"Good to see you're okay... Now come with me", Haylen said bitterly.

"What? No! What the hell are you doing here?!"

"Well, you see River; when you don't check in with anyone in the Brotherhood for two weeks, it tends to make folks angry."

"What are you talking about? I sent a holotape explaining everything a week ago!"

"That's what Sturges said. And I'm here to tell you; it didn't reach us. So let's go. Get a move on. Maxson's pretty pissed."

River set the gun in her hand on a cabinet by the door, and leaned against the doorframe.

"See... That's where we've got a problem. I'd go, but I can't go. Which, the holotape would have explained..."

"Yeah, Sturges gave me this to give you", Haylen said, tossing the bundle to her.

River caught it and put it under her arm.

"Thanks. But yeah. I can't go."

"Why the hell not? What's going on River?", Haylen asked angrily.

River open her mouth slightly, trying to think carefully and concisely about what to say next.

A sudden shrill crying answered Haylen instead.

Haylen's eyes darted from River to the inside of the house beyond her in disbelief.

"Oooh no. No fucking way", Haylen said with wide eyes.

River tried to block the door.

"River. River what the hell is going on?!", Haylen said, walking up the steps.

"Haylen, you can't come in. You know why I can't come back to the Prydwen, and honestly? It's going to be a few months before I can. Tell Maxson I need Maternity leave or whatever, and just go."

"No, uh-uh. I'm not gonna believe it until I see it."

River shifted her legs.

"Fine. Stay here and I'll go get her", River finally agreed.

She let go of the door frame and turned around. Haylen pushed past her and made a beeline for the sound.

"Haylen, stop! You can't go back there, stop!", River shouted, making a grab for Haylen.

But it was too late.

Haylen stood in the back room, her hands over her mouth.

River resigned herself to the events, and calmly closed the front door, walking carefully towards the back room.

Sitting on a couch, slack-jawed and not sure what to say, was Danse-holding a crying baby swaddled in blankets.

River pulled a chair from the front room behind her and let go of it a few feet in front of the couch, plopping herself down beside Danse. She gestured to the chair and Danse handed River the shrieking bundle.

"Okay. You obviously are going to have a lot of questions, but this is going to take more than a few minutes to explain, and I have a hungry baby here, so... Sit", River said quietly.

Haylen obeyed, silent. She placed her hands in between her knees, trying to process what was happening.

Danse was clearly unsure of what to say himself, his hands sitting atop his knees in fists and a blank look on his face. He wasn't looking up at Haylen. He couldn't meet her shocked gaze.

Haylen's eyes started to prickle, and brimmed with tears.

"What...", her voice broke, looking back to River, who had unbuttoned her shirt and began nursing the baby.

Silence stayed thick in the air for what felt like eternity. The anticipation of an answer sat painfully on Haylen's shoulders, pins and needles pressing into her back from the heavy weight of it all.

"I refused", she said finally, matter-of-factually.

"But you... And Maxson said...", Haylen squeaked.

"We convinced him. By the grace of God,we convinced him to let him go. Haylen, I was never going to kill him. I went there with every intention of helping Danse get the hell out of here, out of the Commonwealth! I didn't know what I was going to tell Maxson, but there was absolutely no fucking way that I was going to kill Danse!", River said, raising her voice.

She was clearly getting worked up, and choked a little at the last three words. Danse put a hand on her back.

Haylen looked to Danse now, squinting at him in confusion.

"But why are you...?"

Danse finally looked up at her with a tensity about him, and shifted a quick glance at River.

"Haylen...", he spoke finally.

Haylen took a sharp breath at that one single word. It really was Danse. His voice... His face... Him.

"Things... Happened after that encounter with Maxson. I was banished and pronounced dead, for starters, but... Well, things happened between us, too...", he said, gesturing between himself and River.

"He was supposed to leave the Commonwealth, but... Decided against it, I guess. Pretty much every time I'm away from the Brotherhood, or doing something for the people of the Commonwealth, I do it with him. We uh... We live here. We built it together", River continued as Danse trailed off.

"It goes without saying-I hope-that you can't tell Maxson about this! Or-or rather, you can't tell Maxson that Danse is here. You, uh... You obviously need to tell him about Hope", River quickly added.

"Yeah...", Haylen laughed nervously.

"Hope... That's a nice name. Um, one question though; where did you get a baby?!", she asked with an anxious little twitch.

River cradled Hope close, and she and Danse exchanged a pained look.

"That's where things get dark, Haylen. Really, really fucking dark."