About this image

We arrived at Rivet City late in the evening of the second day, and without even resting or getting a drink, we went straight to Madison. We had talked a bit more, during the second day of walking, about what we might find there, and he expressed confidence that she would go along with his plans. But getting there and seeing him, I didn’t think that he really knew which direction she was going to leap.

I remember, when I had first met her, that I thought there had been something, that I didn’t know myself, that was standing between us, preventing us from dealing with each other. Now, though, seeing him and her together talking to each other, I thought that I knew what it was. It was him. No, that wasn’t true at all. It was my mom. Whatever relationship Madison and my father had when they worked together before, all I had to do was look at her, and see the myriad of emotions in her eyes when she looked at him, to know what she felt about him. I didn’t like her, I doubt that I ever would. He had told me enough about her on the way, and I had heard other people in Rivet City before talk about her reputation, and I respected her. She was well known in the Wastes, as one of the movers. Her and the Lyons with the Brotherhood, Three Dog, and of course the Enclave, who I’d not yet had a run-in with at all. She was brilliant, all you had to do was look at her to know how smart she was, and everybody said how talented she was. But her personality was abrasive, impatient. Selfish. I would never like her, no, but seeing her look at my father, and he look at her, I felt a little sorry for her, all the same.

I had never seen them together in life, my father and mother, but I had seen him talk about her before, and now I had heard their voices together on the old tape in the basement of the memorial, and it was clear to me: he had never loved another woman. I doubted that he ever would. Never like he loved her. Even with Madison, whatever they had been together before, she would always be second in his thoughts, and a far-removed second at that. She would have been far behind my mother, always, and even now that my mother was dead, she was still second. She would see it as second to me now, I thought. My mother’s heritage. I could see it in the way she looked at me.

She took a good deal of convincing, but he handled it well. It felt, watching it happen, like it had happened many times before, her giving in to his enthusiasm and purpose. In the end, she agreed to help him again, and her and her staff started preparations to leave on the morning. He stayed behind to work out the details, but I was tired and hungry and wanted a drink, so I left for the bar for a while, and then made my way upstairs with Mongo to see Bryan and Vera. They were happy to see me, and Bryan simply loved the dog, and I ate with them that evening and they gave me a private room to stay in. In the morning I woke early, before light, and took Mongo to where Bryan was sleeping, and left them tucked in bed together. Mongo gave me some long glances under his brows, but he clearly also thought it was far too early to be up mucking about anyway, and as I left he just thumped his tail a little, staying put and allowing me to leave him behind. He was a good dog, and it was a bit of a pull to leave him, but I had a crazy life right about then, and I thought he’d be happier with Bryan and Vera, getting fed regularly. They’d take care of each other.

When we arrived at Purity, of course, everything fell into barely-controlled chaos. We were met on the bridge by five Brotherhood knights. I don’t know how they’d been called so quickly, but the Citadel was not far away, no more than a few miles. They could only spare the morning, but they were there to help with security, and any other non-scientific work there might be to do, which wound up mostly being the clear-out of the mutant corpses I’d left there. I was glad it wasn’t on me the mutants didn't smell good at all. Besides, I had done my part already, making them dead in the first place. I can’t imagine that they enjoyed it too much, but there was a good relationship between Madison’s facilities and the Brotherhood, and everybody knew my father.

Apparently, as I was to find out, they all knew me now, too.

The Forgotten Past, Chapter Two: The Loss Of Purity

Page One: Hope Springs Eternal Part 1
http://fallout3.nexusmods.com/Images/28843
Page Two: Hope Springs Eternal Part 2
http://fallout3.nexusmods.com/Images/28844
Page Three: The Meeting Of Minds
http://fallout3.nexusmods.com/Images/28848
Page Four: The Waters Of Life Part 1
http://fallout3.nexusmods.com/Images/28852
Part Five: The Waters Of Life Part 2
http://fallout3.nexusmods.com/Images/28853

The complete story, unedited, can be found as downloads in the optional files here: http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16864
Or can be seen in my gallery at Deviantart.
http://jonas66.deviantart.com/gallery/